Just thingz...

Leaves are opening up!  Trees are blooming. It is beginning to look a lot like spring now.  A few warm and sunny days and all will be green again!

Next moth the doll club I belong to is having a program on Annalee, felt dolls and figures.  I started putting some in a box and as I passed by the box it was so colorful on a rainy day that I had to take a quick photo. Colorful!

As I was wandering through the area. I took a few more photos of thingz.

A trip out in a downpour for errands and a quick trip to the shore to our favorite book store...

Soon there will be leaves and flowers there, too. We have more rain in CT than in many years. Ponds are filling, rivers rising and there is an element of lushness everywhere.  This has been a long drought so the rain is welcomed-- at least by me. 

Next week it is going to be REALLY arm here and I think all the leaves will open at once and the lilacs will bloom. The fragrance of lilacs is something I love. What is happening in your world?

Onward to the weekend...

until the next time,

enjoy the day! 

 

 

Things that live on the shelves...

Confession:  I have a lot of books shelves and they are home to many objects.  Cluttery? Yes. Fun?  Yup! Make me happy? Yes!

Here are few of the things 

occupying bookshelf space.

Some are gifts, some are made by me 

and some are collected.  

All are fun!

What do you like to place around your environment that makes you smile?  Even a decorated desk at work can be fun and brighten a day. Maybe it is your table by your bed or your kitchen window.   Would love to know.

It is snowing again after summer weather.

Wherever you are 

whatever you collect

enjoy the day!

A bookish idea...

Recently, I was able to obtain a variety of art papers By Jane Davenport.  I already have a huge stash of papers collected over the years.  So my friend and I decided to swap books. The theme was hearts and flowers.  I had a chipboard book here for ages and went to work. I used a glue stick, tacky glue, a glue gun as adhesives.  Fun project I think.

The cover is built up layers of papers and cutouts, ribbons and yarn and a piece of recycled cardboard that was in a package I received.

There is a bracelet in the book attached with safety pins and the ribbon lifts up to reveal hearts underneath.  I added paper clips and other clips along the edges.

A recent drawing I did was used in various ways.  As much as I like using  art papers, I like to add my own art work, too.

This was an easy project that could be done on paper as well.  I used up a lot of scraps and odds and ends. My goal was not to buy anything for it.  I am going to start another project soon and use what I already have.

To be honest, it is difficult to feel creative right now.  The topsy-turvy nature of the national mood has affected my ability and mood  to get up and get going and create.

Are you creating? I know some of you have made little dolls and I need to  make a little doll, too.  I made one doll for a swap recently called "winter."  This is a very poor photo of it...kind of like my mood that day.   And so it goes...I need  to make another and take a better photo!  Until then...

Be creative!

Enjoy the day!

One a day...

Over the decades I have been involved with many artistic endeavors...from a sewing/jewlery business... to selling paintings... to calligraphy...even  to illustration on buttons.  (Sold several hundred to button collectors all over the world.) 

With a background in graphics and fine arts and sewing skills learned in early childhood, I like to apply my creative process to many things.  You know about the  doll making...like art dolls...

carved some Hitty dolls, made a LOT of cloth dolls,

needle felted gnomes and monkeys 

and other such creatures....

 

Collages and paper art galore...

 

 all manners of books from teeny-tiny....

...books from tags

 ...books from bags!

to full sized altered books...

The past few years I have been drawing whimsical little figures. Occasionally they show up in this blog like uninvited but welcome guests making cameo appearances!

Have notebooks filled with them going back for many years...and I have been drawing one a day for a few weeks since about November. My goal is to draw one every day this year.  If accomplished...imagine!  That would be 365 new drawings at the end of the year!I They won't all appear on line....but here is one for you today!

I don't like resolutions...preferring goals that might be attainable.  (As in "don't bite off more that you can chew!) Like getting the laundry done today...or some other chore that is do-able. It leads to a feeling of accomplishment and doesn't allow much regret if it doesn't get done!  Do you have any short term goals or projects? If you do, I love to hear about them to stay motivated.

 

As always,

enjoy the day!

A rare find...

by Ouida Pearce, 1932

It was a stormy weekend here in New England. It has been raining for many days now. We were fine here but high wind brought down trees and there was much damage elsewhere. (Our whirligig was spinning rapidly!)

We spent a great deal of the weekend at home-- and the rest of it helping a friend whose husband has been hospitalized. It was not a weekend to travel hither and yon.

On Saturday our mail carrier brought some packages I had been waiting for. In one of the packages were the above books.

The book on the right is not a rare find but the complete set of patterns is something I have been thinking about for a decade and never expected to find. The patterns are intact and pristine which is amazing since they were once in a library. The book is pristine as well. (The original price for the pattern book was 29 cents.) Serendipity!

It's continues to rain and rain and rain.

We brought our friend home from the hospital and less than 24 hours he was taken back by ambulance. There is no accurate diagnosis but there have been dozens of tests. We were back at the hospital once again. Very stressful for all involved--especial since it was storming so much.

Busy, rainy day ahead. I wish I could go right back to bed!

Hope that you had a good weekend...

enjoy the day!