#144 mermaid {two}

It's so hot, we should all be mermaids and live under the sea...

#140 it was then...

that I learned how much love one heart can hold...

#139 the best sound...

in the world, is without a doubt, for me anyway, the sound of children laughing. It is pure joy.

I think Marla may have taken this photo of the girls, maybe in Puerto Rico, I came across it and knew it needed to be hanging on my wall, it's got such great emotion!! & they're wearing their cute matching Mimi dresses!

life is but a dream

Still not back to my author cards...I barely stay in the realm of literacy these days.  I think it's because I've so much stuff to do at work and so many books to read for my committee that I have had it a bit with libraries and books.  Yikes, did I really say that?  But, that's just today.  Tomorrow, after all, is another day. 

so many books...

So little time!  Remember in grade school when our teachers would read to us?  We'd put our work away, and lay our heads on our desks, ready to be transported away....    Some days I think it would be lovely to relax and listen to a story that someone is reading to me...I know there are books on CD but that requires work!  I don't want to have to listen in my car or get up to change a disc...I just want to hear a good story.  Mom? Care to read to me?

a promise

I have decided to stop taking this art thing as yet one more thing to do today and embrace it with a more relaxed attitude.  I love making stuff, I love this blog, and I need to remember that.  So, I promise to smell the flowers along the way on these beautiful days and create as I can.

tiptoe through the tulips

I found this newspaper photo of Tiny Tim a while back and every time I go looking for something he pops out.  So today, while waiting for my daughter to get ready for school, I made a tulip page for Tim!  

The Spy Who Loved Me

I have a pile of old catalog cards that I just can't throw away - when I came across this one this morning as I was searching for something else, I decided pay homage to Ian Fleming instead.  These old cards are great!  They are all hand-written, some in ink, not ball-point, and the cursive writing always charms me.  This one had no publication date so I can't age the card but I can appreciate this relic from my library's past!

#76 Can you play croquet?

Yesterday when I got home, I was so exhausted, all I could manage was the unpacking & cleaning of supplies... so I decided I had to just create with whatever photo I picked out of the box. The photo of Adriana at the Children's Museum in Boston playing with the gigantic chess set was the one I picked, so although it's not been long since I created an Alice project, how could I not create another with this photo?

#67 Happy Mother's Day

Some days just aren't enough hours in a day, this whole week was one of those days!!! Who knows what will happen tomorrow!!! Thank God for this set of cards I bought where you just added your own details, but don't have to start from scratch!

I have this book of Cape Cod butterflies, and in it, it spoke of this trail along the power lines where there were masses of butterflies. So poor Adriana, I dragged her out on probably the hottest day of the year, to a spot with absolutely no shade whatsoever, in search of butterflies... We did find some, but it wasn't exactly as we were expecting! The butterfly in the bottom left of the card is one of those we found, an American Lady (quite appropriate for Mother's Day!!! Although of course, our mum, is a naturalized American lady!!!)

#64 A good book

Well, after reading Marla's posts, we all know where a good book can take you... on so many amazing journeys... What a marvelous gift reading is... I came across this photo of Adriana and immediately thought, 'oh the places you'll go' because as she's grown her love of reading has grown and grown and grown. (And of course, the colours couldn't be more Seusslike!) So I guess it'll be a scrapbook page element or collage element or something, I can see the folder filled with lists of books she's read...

#56 - Does anybody really know what time it is?

The other day this song came on the radio, back when we were kids, Chicago was one of Marla's favorite bands. I still always think of her whenever I hear them.

As I was singing along, I thought what a great illustration this would make, all I need is a busy street scene (not so easy on Cape Cod this time of year...) So when Marla brought us to NYC last weekend, I made a point of taking some shots to play with! Times Square won.

for Matt

We recently had this very cool artist hang a show at the library, Matt Wood.  His work is large, mainly black and white and some of it is a bit alarming.  But it's all fabulous.  Matt is also a compulsive journal maker - he left out reams of paper for patrons to interact with his art (although he invited them to write/color/draw in his journals, no one actually did - they all preferred a blank sheet to create on).  Matt is then going to create another piece of artwork from the doodles & drawings left by patrons (including my sister who was inspired to create her hammered flower piece) so I couldn't let the exhibit end without adding to the pile!  I used a press release I had sent out to the papers for his exhibit and included so words from the article, too.  I am going to miss the gigantic, bold pieces (I think next month's exhibit is bird photos....no comment).

#55 - Alice

Happy Easter. I started this collage this morning, and after everyone had left and we'd cleaned up all of the mess, I went back to it... everything I tried to add I didn't like... so it stays the way it started this morning... simple...

I took this photo of Adriana wearing the aforementioned Queen of Hearts dress made by our Nanna on my old cell phone at the pumpkin patch! I came across it yesterday, and couldn't resist it!!! You'll see her again in it, I'm sure! The book the page is from is one from my collection, it was given as a Christmas gift in 1919!!!

#53 _ Aunt Ann

We lost Ray's Aunt Ann today, and when you've been with someone for 23 years, his Aunt Ann is also your Aunt Ann. She was one of the most lovely people I've ever known, truly.

Everytime I saw her she always talked about the white peaches from Connecticut (and her photographer grandson who she was so proud of), I will miss those conversations. I will miss her.

#51 F is for Face

and fairies and flies...

#50 _ Tyger Tyger

When we spent the night at my nephew's in Brooklyn, we were discussing William Blake at an ungodly hour... seems appropriate that my first block was T for 'Tyger' (okay really it was T for telephone booth, which is my photo on the other side!).

yet another unfinished but presentable enough project...

#48 - spring

Today I'm at my sister's, panicking because I need to create... so I borrowed a hammer from her husband, and made a impression print of leaves & flowers I found in her garden. The stems & leaves are photos by Marla of some tiles she loved at a potters in Pennsylvannia years (& years) ago...

#46 - 16 tiles of inspiration {one}

Many years ago, we were tiling a window sill and my husband, Ray, bought a set of tiles he just knew I would adore. They were about 3x3 and came in a sheet of 16. Kind of light blue with explosions of other blue in the glaze, I couldn't stand them. Thought they were hideous. Uggh*. (The sill remains un-tiled, and un-finished to this day). But I kept them, because well, that's what I do. I'll make something with them. But of course, everytime I looked at them I thought, ugghhh... Yesterday I was reading an article about an artist's studio, and she had on her wall a collection of images that inspired her. So I thought to myself, that's what I'll do with those nasty little tiles... So today it's these beautiful foxgloves from my garden, I find much inspiration in the beauty of flowers. Would have been way more inspiring, except I got home from a seminar this evening after 10, so it's kind of rushed. I've decided I can revisit anything at anytime if I feel like it, because I hate feeling like I'm not done all of the time.

Oh, & P.S. *(Marla who has some of the best taste in anyone I know, liked them, so perhaps he could have been right).

#32 - Mina bird

One day I decided I wanted to do newborn baby portraits and put them into actual bird's nests I'd found (using Photoshop of course!)... the first baby I thought of was Mina (my dear friend Mouse's daughter), in fact I think I have a scrap of paper somewhere that has a note about putting Mina in a nest... but I never got to photograph her the way I wanted, nor did I find a perfect nest, plus it sounds a little odd now... but today, after finding a cute photo of Mina I'd taken when we met her last Feb. I scanned in a nest I have and created Mina bird... might not be exactly what I'd planned, but it makes me smile!!

(So it being April fools day today, Ray is enjoying himself immensely, normally he plays tricks on both Adriana & I, sometimes collectively they play one on me, but today he didn't do anything... so both Adriana & I have been very cautiously turning on taps, filling tea cups, opening doors, etc. Ray says he likes not playing any tricks even better than when he did play them!!!)