Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Hubby's got a new job!







OK, I only occasionally post family-related stuff here. But this is pretty cool. After 16 years of self-employment doing landscaping, my DH Craig has taken a position with a local non-profit called the Center for Land Based Learning. All his volunteer work with kids, community and horticulture paid off in terms of getting this position.

The Center introduces students and others to environmental restoration and sustainable agriculture. He's thrilled to be managing the farm facilities for this terrific organization, which is located on 40 acres of mostly walnut orchards in rural Yolo County. My man is a farmer at heart!

Our family visited the farm this past weekend and I wanted to share some pictures. It's about a 15-minute drive from home. Oh yeah, it's right on Putah Creek, which means we'll have some nice picnicking, swimming and perhaps even canoing opportunities this summer on the weekends.

Here are pictures of some of the mature walnut orchards; the 100-year-old farmhouse where his office is located; hens from the farm's small flock; the Bearded One himself in one of the greenhouses; oak seedlings almost ready to plant out; and a view from the demonstration garden looking out to some of the younger orchards.

Love these little collages



I've probably said this already, but I'm having the best time working in the decos for the swap on NGS. I find these small collages great "block busters." I've been continuing to feel creatively stymied on some of my bigger projects, but these small collages help keep the creative juices at least flowing. Here are two sets I finished last night.

The pink/orange/green set uses Color Mists, various inks and stamps and an acetate overlay. Though you can't tell on the purple set, the left-hand panel is embossed and has a really nice sheen to it. The right-hand side actually has a tag with fibers and a starfish charm inserted into it.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Decos for days!





Wow, I am really enjoying working in these little books--what a hoot!

I received three in the past week and I am sending them on their merry way--to very diverse locations--today. Here's a peek at what I've been doing in these little books o' fun. I should mention that the backgrounds for all of these involved my recent tattered scraps experiments; just one page was done on an acrylic background.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Tattered scraps





My muse went walking last week and in a frustrated moment, I rounded up scraps on my work table and starting slapping them down on 12 x 12 paper with gel medium. I did three, dry brushed one with gesso and left it that way; washed a second with a mix of gesso, teal acrylic and some gold acrylic and the rubbed most of it away with a paper towel. The third was brushed with a diluted wash of cadmium yellow and left alone.

The pics show the raw collages, then the one that I wiped with the blue mixture. These'll get used for...something!

Image swap



Adrienne generously provided this sheet of images (link here) and then challenged us to make something for a swap. I made this interactive ATC for Susie; hope she likes my grungy little creation!