Just A Quote

If you read my Story Telling Sunday post, you've already seen this photo.  I loved it enough to use it again!

Mixing It Up - Post Four

click on the photo to see larger and read quotes

The week five Summer of Color combo is candy apple red and yellow.  Initially I resisted this color combo and had a hard time getting started because all I could think of was McDonalds (yuck!).

I created this page with a wash of yellow acrylic, layered on the b&w wrapping paper, red tissue paper heart, and white heart shaped doily. Then I used purple spray mist and dripped red ink.  Added texture with yellow and orange acrylics.   Added some word and music washi tape. Inked the edges of my quotes and applied them with gel medium, allowing some of the paint and spray mist to smear onto them.  And then finished it off with some stamps with red ink.  Nice and messy!

The week 6 Being Me topic is being kind to yourself, banishing negative self-talk, etc.  I found a handful of quotes that I really loved to include with this page as personal reminders.  You can click on the photo to make it larger and view the quotes!

Story Telling Sunday - My Precious 7

I was at a loss this month. Not in the mood to discuss another piece of jewelry with specific meaning and honestly couldn't think of a travel related "precious" having already shared my pin vest and my sea glass collection. I'm just not really into tchotchke type souvenirs.  So I waited and thought about it.  And thought some more. And wandered my home aimlessly, looking for inspiration.

Then I decided to just start reading other bloggers' Story Telling Sunday posts.  I got through the first six on the linky list and observed that "precious" really does come in all shapes and sizes and styles.  And that's when my idea came to me....

Today I'm celebrating something that is precious simply because it brings me pleasure.  It has no history, no back story, and isn't anything I would grab in the event of a fire. It is all easily replaceable.  My Precious this month is:

Tools of the Trade:

*warning - mildly racy tongue-in-cheek commentary follows! ;-)

If you follow my posts regularly, you won't be surprised to know I've been having a bit of a fling with these guys the past few weeks. I couldn't believe how much I really missed them until I started hooking up with them again on a regular basis. 

No, I don't have a favorite. Each one of them has a place in my life and meets my needs in their own unique way. So whether I'm rolling around with my brayer, turning up the heat with my Ranger gun, sticking to the sheets with my washi tape, or just spreading color love with random brushes and paints, you can be certain that I'm having a good time! 

But please don't think less of me.  I can assure you this is no tawdry affair, no one-night-stand, no short term thing. It's honest-to-goodness real L.O.V.E. love!  These guys just know how to make a girl happy... seems to be built into their DNA or something. And I intend to keep them around for a long time.

For more Precious Stories visit Sian's Story Telling Sunday.

Scavenger Hunt - 3

It has been a wild and crazy last couple of weeks, but with lots of photo ops!

We went to D.C. for the weekend of June 29/30 to visit Sarah and celebrate her 23rd birthday.  D.C. is always good for scavenger hunt photos and this weekend did not disappoint:

#3 - The Capitol - how about the Capitol of the United States?  Up close and personal:

We had scheduled a tour of the Capitol. This is the wall inside, just above where you pick up your tour tickets:

Once inside, we got to see the Rotunda and the Hall of Statues and hear some fun facts.  But what was even more exciting for me, was later that evening we went to the movies to see "White House Down" (I can't understand why this movie is only getting 3 out of 5 stars in the ratings - I thought it was fantastic - drama, comedy, action - it had it all! And was way more engaging than World War Z.  IMHO).

Having just been inside the Rotunda, watching the scene where the bad guys blow it up was so much more real to us. and Crazy.

After the Capitol, we used the passageway over to the Library of Congress where I captured #14 a stained glass object:

One of six identical stained glass windows in the ceiling of this lobby area  AND

#14 a mosaic:

This was one of a series of three mosaics reading "Theology", "Law", and "Medicine".  Again, on the ceiling. From the distance it is hard to even see it as a mosaic, so here's a closer look:

I also caught #15 a police car:

It was mid-day and the sun was particularly harsh, so I'm definitely going to be on the look-out for a better shot for this one...

and #8, a tower:

Here is the Washington Monument, completely ensconced in 500 tons of aluminum scaffolding to enable repairs to damage caused in the August 2011 earthquake.  Apparently it is going to look like this for about a year while the repairs are being done.

July 4th was a quiet day around here.  Our girls took off to the shore, but we couldn't join them because Jay was on call.  So instead, we drove to Country Junction, billed as the "World's Largest General Store".  The interior has a "yellow brick road" pathway to guide you through the various sections of the store. They sell everything from groceries to furniture to puppies and chickens to home repair supplies.  If the Scavenger Hunt had included a pirate, I'd have been in luck, several life-size options there, including Johnny Depp himself.

I found # 20, a dinosaur:

I know you can't get any scale from this photo, but this guy was the size of a very large dog or small pony.

And # 7 a funny sign:

This one was a good play on the word "pour/poor" but what I thought was funny was that the word "judgment" was misspelled.

But I liked this one even better:

My apologies to anyone whose sensibilities are offended by the language, but this one really made me laugh out loud, right there in the store.  It is one of those retro-style signs on tin. I was tempted, but, no, I didn't actually purchase it.  In fact, all we purchased was some blueberries.

On the drive home I saw a large red metal dinosaur on a property on the side of the road - a sculpture that looked ridiculously out of place.  Unfortunately, no place to pull over and snap a shot.  And then, a billboard about Girl Scout cookies... in SPANISH???  We have no significant spanish-speaking population in this area, so that also struck me as odd and out-of-place. At some point I'll be in a place where I can actually take a photo when I see these things!

We capped off the evening with some television - knowing Sarah was attending, we were watching bits of the televised July 4th celebration from National Mall on PBS.  And we caught Sarah ON NATIONAL TELEVISION!!!  Jay and I were both pointing at the television and saying "oh my god!"  Rachel and Becca thought we were both insane (why don't they think this is a BIG deal???)

Sarah and her co-worker Chad are at 1:14, immediately after the shot of the Washington Monument. 

We didn't make it out to the Perkasie fireworks last night. Both of us were just way too tired after a day of house work.  Maybe next year...

Mixing It Up - Post Three

The week four Summer of Color combo is pale pink and charcoal grey.  I created this page with a wash of pale pink acrylic and a little bit of "Diva Pink" for depth.  The flowers and leaves are created with light modeling paste mixed with a couple drops of black ink to create a dark grey and then applied in a thin coat through a stencil.  The quote was provided as part of week 5 of the "Being Me" course.

One Little Word Blog Hop - June version

Whether you arrived here from Margareta's Blog  as part of the One Little Word Blog Hop, or you are here because you love me and drop by regularly... Welcome! I love visitors! The One Little Word Blog Hop is a monthly hop run by Lee for members of Ali Edwards' One Little Word class over at Big Picture Classes. The hop goes live on Monday at 6:00 a.m.  You can always check back later if someone's post isn't live yet.

June brought us a writing assignment which I finished early on in the month.

And since the page speaks for itself, I'll let it go at that.  

If you are continuing on in the hop, your next stop is  Missus Wookie's blog.

And just in case you get lost, here's the entire list:

Lee: http://thelinarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife

Michelle: http://www.table-for-five.com/

Margareta: http://www.paperpilekitten.com

Cheri: http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com

Missus Wookie: http://mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com

Amy: http://lemonandraspberry.com

Melanie: http://mellybirddesigns.wordpress.com

Naomi: www.poeticaperture.com

Lisa: http://backtoallen.com/category/challenges/one-little-word/

Veronica: http://www.veronicanorris.typepad.com/

Scavenger Hunt - 2

Here is my submission for item #13 - a fence:

This felt like a massive practice shot for everything I've been learning in Photo Style - framing the subject, capturing the light, playing with post-processing filters... and I'm in love with the very dappled bokeh behind my little fluffy-tailed subject.

But just in case you happen to think that is a photo of a squirrel, not a fence, here's another one to fit the bill:

This one was finished off with a RadLab action called "Sparta" and I love the way it warmed up the colors. It's a shame that more fences around here aren't as beautiful as this one!

And not on the Scavenger Hunt list, but included just because he was such a willing subject, this not-quite-timid-enough-for-his-own-good baby bunny: