Mysterious Flowering Sucker Vine

I'm not very good at identifying plant life.  I know what a daisy looks like.  I know what a rose looks like.  And a few other things.  But not much else. 

I have this vine growing in a pot on my deck.  My mom gave me a clump of it a couple of years ago, and when I got home, I put it in the pot while I decided where its permanent home should be.  Needless to say, it never got transplanted.  She may have told me what it is called, but I don't remember.

Most of the time, I forget it's there, because it stays dormant most of the year.  With this summer's drought, I figured it had finally died a sad, neglected death.  Then we had some rain, and it leaped from its sleep and began its routine.

First, it extends it long, spindly vine - reaching and searching for anything to attach its little suckers to.  If it can't find something, it contorts itself backwards and attaches its new growth to itself.  Occasionally, it sets forth a little red flower, such a brilliant red that it's almost fluorescent.  The flowers only last a day, so I have to act fast if I want a picture.

And with all that fascination right on my deck, that's how this nature study came to be.

 

 

Pretend You Know What You Are Doing

I've been practicing sketching my nature objects. 
They didn't look so great sketched in pencil.
They didn't look so great when I added watercolor.
But once I outlined them in black and scribbled a few notes, I could almost pretend I knew what I was doing!

Whoooooo Do You See?

I have been hunting and gathering in my yard.  I'm taking the online class "Ode to Nature" by the talented Alisa Burke.  Go see her post about the art of collecting here.

In my immediate surroundings, I have an abundance of sticks and weeds!  However, I do have a long list of nearby places to venture out to when I get the chance.

Meantime, these walnut shells make me laugh - don't they look like little owls peering at the camera?

 Feather collection:

 Off to collect more things....

Another Postal Book

What do you do when your postmaster retires?  Especially if she is a friend more than a postmaster, one who "gets" the crazy stuff you send and receive through the mail....

You make another postal book and wrap it like a package.

I am happy for her, but it's hard to break in a new postmaster....

Stampaway

When August rolls around, it's time for Stampaway in Cincinnati, Ohio!  Hard to believe this is the 20th year. 

Gaye and I headed up to Ohio on Friday, where she taught two classes - everything went well, and it was great to see familiar faces again. 

Friday night is always a treat with the Preview Party - shopping, eating, visiting, and of course checking out what people wear for the costume contest.  The theme this year was Prom Night.  The first people we saw were Mary Jo McGraw and Elaine Madrid, decked out oh-so-fine in their prom attire (even though Elaine had a dead critter around her neck!) 

Later when we saw Mary Jo at the booth, she had added "Chaperone" to her dress.  Too funny!  I could have watched her demo all night - she was making amazing journal backgrounds with stamps, Micro Glaze, and pan pastels.  You can see what she's up to here.  And of course Elaine's booth (Carmen's Veranda) has always had the fun-nest stamps over the years.  You can find Carmen's Veranda here.

This lovely trio of Prom Queens were found at the Coffee Break booth.  Left to right, the most lovely Chris Meador, Kris of Coffee Break, and Bianca.

As usual, the Stampers Anonymous folks were dressed to the nines.  Ted was hilarious with his long hair and pink ruffled prom shirt, but those teeth!  These two had their "hillbilly" teeth and had the accent down pat. 

I always look forward to seeing what these ladies come up with.  Last year, they were four identical flower pots for the Flower Power theme.  They really outdid themselves this year, when they came as the prom limousine.  I cannot imagine the work that went into this!

And there they go.....

They eventually had to ditch the limo so they could shop.  We saw their limo "parked" in the hallway later, complete with orange traffic cones around it.  Honestly, no detail forgotten!

It was fun shopping old vendors and new.  Jenni Bowlin was there with all the great products she sells (journal cards, stamps, papers).  They also had a lot of vintage things, and I bought this L&N train record book.  Most of the pages were blank, but some had train maintenance records written on them. 

I got a couple of rolls of fun tape from Coffee Break, stamps from Stampers Anonymous, and some Dylusions stamps and stencils. 

After we shopped a little more Saturday, we hit the road south around mid day.  The World's Longest Yard Sale was the same weekend, and when we crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky, the first stop was Covington, where we know there are a lot of booths up and down Main Street.  Gaye is the yard sale professional.  Nothing will keep her from this event.  Not even 100 degree temperature!  Me, I'm a big wimp.  Hate that kind of heat and humidity.  But we only get this opportunity once a year, so we were not deterred.

We shopped one side of Main Street, then stopped to rest and cool off inside at Chez Nora, where we had a burger for a late lunch.  Outside, we finished up the other side of the street, where I bought several ink bottles.   

The trip was great overall as always.  Way more fun and exciting than my description here, but I am one tired traveler today and have a hard time being clever!  Happy August!!

The Accidental Sketchbook

I didn't plan to have this little sketchbook with birds in it.  In the fantasies in my head, what I really had was a wonderful watercolor sketchbook full of my perfect drawings of birds and nature.

I recently came across this little book I bought ages ago, because I'm a sucker for anything with graph paper.  I was doodling in it with words and birds, and before you could blink, I have myself a bird sketchbook.  It's not the best paper for watercolors, but I like the crinkly sound the pages make once they dry.

This is the original doodle made from looking at a magazine picture.

Playing with pens and markers.

This is what my birds look like if I don't have anything to go by.

From magazine pictures:

Stamp that used to be mine, became Gaye's when I had it in a yard sale, which I now want back.

Scrap paper from Gaye's desk.

From magazine page:

Where I get my inspiration.

This has the potential to be a nice little book. (There is also a 50/50 chance I'll lose interest before the book is half full.)

Making Books

I see I am getting behind on posting again - rest assured when I realized that, I made myself sit in the corner for an hour.  (Never mind that the "corner" contained a comfy reading chair and a cold beverage.)  No good excuse for not posting, just doing stuff and trying to stay cool.

Last week, I made another fun quick trip up the road to friend Gaye's to make books.  It was a dual purpose bookbinding session.  She is teaching at Stampaway in Cincinnati in August, and my job was to help work out the kinks in her class instructions.  I loved making my own "Takin' Care of Business" book.  It's meant as a place to put all those business cards you accumulate over time.  Of course, you can also use the book for ATCs or moo cards, or even photos.  Here are Gaye's samples:

 This is the book I made.  We decided the covers need a big old button to look awesome.

After I got home, it was a few days before I started putting cards and postcards in my book.  It was way harder than I expected.  For one thing, lots of cards have information on both sides, so those need to be hinged with tape.  Some card were postcards and needed accomodation by folding or other tricky means.  Then there is the whole problem of whether to group by color or by type of business, etc.  Frankly, though, I've had a lot of these cards for a long time, and I'm sure the contact information on them is out of date.  But that's not why I kept them anyway. 

I like how it's turning out.  I still have lots to add and pages to fill.  I think there are still openings in Gaye's class, if you are going to Stampaway (her classes are on Friday - info here). 

I've also been playing in a bird sketchbook - I'll share that later...

Number Three

It's been too hot to really go out and do anything, so this weekend I've tried to catch up on some UFOs (unfinished objects).  One of them is to make another postal book, because Gaye made one a few months ago and I wanted to make one too.  I made the cover weeks ago, but finally got some pages sewn in.  It started out with a mailing box - here's before and after.

Various patterns from security envelopes were used on the covers (and I managed to use a lot of my new tapes from Target too).  I used half of an airmail envelope to make a pocket in the back, and inserted a library card. 

The library card has a place for title.  Hmm.  After careful introspection and thoughtful consideration (of about 5 seconds, because I'm nothing if not Thoughtful), I brilliantly proclaimed the title of the book to be Postal Book 3.

And I put a big old 3 on the back cover.

It now joins books 1 and 2. 

And then I had ice cream.

Tape Thursday

This didn't start out to be Tape Thursday.  Tape was way, way back in my mind when I headed out the door early this morning to drive up to friend Gaye's to spend a fun day off from work.  We hung around, did some things, made some things, played with things.  Then we headed to Target because I had read on someone's blog about some cool tape.  We thought we'd check it out, on the off chance the local Target had some.  This is it - comes in a pack of 9 rolls of bright tape for $6.99.

Did we buy some?  Of course we did.  Nine rolls.
Then we saw these packs of 4 rolls.  Oooh, it comes in blue... and red... and green... and orange.  Only $4 for each pack of four.

Did we buy some?  Of course we did.  Nine rolls + 16 rolls - up to 25 now.
We saw lots more, but we only bought one more roll.  This is a clear duct tape, with school type stuff on it. 

Yep, 26 rolls of tape I had no thought of owning mere hours earlier.   When I got home, I had to put a piece of each tape in my journal.  It's nice to refer to, with notes about where I got it (cause I sure won't remember a month from now!)

And what about the four sets of four tapes?  Would you believe all 16 rolls fit Perfectly in an empty wax paper box!

So do I feel guilty about buying 26 rolls of tape?  Not in the least.  You should have seen the things I didn't buy.  Like this tiny Hello Kitty working refrigerator.  It probably holds a couple of soft drinks and a couple of sandwiches.  It was the cutest thing ever.

But I had No idea there were so many Hello Kitty appliances.   Shelves of them!

I think I'm happy just having a picture of the little fridge.  Although I may be dreaming about it when I fall asleep tonight.  If I had that basement art studio I've always wanted, that is just what I'd need to have some cool beverages handy.....