Hydrangea Love

It's the last day of the month....so Paul and I continued our new ritual of Monthly Celebrations.  We've had a few challenges this month....but there was also much to celebrate.

At the end of every month we are lifting up things we are grateful for and want to celebrate.  I described this new ritual here:

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2023/05/monthly-celebrations.html

I stopped at the bank today....and a beautiful hydrangea shrub was blooming at the entrance.  You just never know when and where you will be stopped in your tracks. One shrub....and every bloom was different.

 

These soft colors take my breath away!

And just a quick follow-up from a few days ago when I shared the 4 x 6 cards with the translucent stones.  I wondered what the 3rd one was (there were three of us in the exchange) and it was the one I did for me....so I it was right in my studio.  There's a little too much going on....but here it is.  And here's the link again to the post about this card exchange and my tracing paper stones....with a touch of gold.

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2021/03/round-10.html

Beach Day

I spent a few hours  at "Jane's Beach" this afternoon.

We walked several miles.....

...and had a good visit under the umbrella.

And there's always blooms at Jane's.

Inside....

...and out.

This morning I had a good visit with Margie.....and as usual there as a finished puzzle on her board.  Opps....I forgot to take a photo before I took it apart. She had fun with this one....it was a quickie and I look forward to doing it.

I couldn't resist this one....which she finished a week or so ago featuring 

the crazy notion of banned books.  "Every story deserves to be read."

Open Hearted and Kind

"Shout out to everyone who is still trying to be an open-hearted and kind person even while having to process a lot of heavy things."

This quote came across my Facebook feed...and it has resonated with me all day. It can be found here.  I think we all have to process heavy things once in a while. Here's to hoping we can stay open-hearted and kind along the way.

I wanted to get it written down somewhere....so decided to add it to my art journal.  

I started with a piece of aqua cardstock that was just sitting on my table...

drew some chunky lines with a wide posca paint pen...

and added an additional darker line with a maker.

This page on the right was already in my art journal...and the quote will land on the opposite page once I figure out what else I want to do around it. This gelli print is one of my firsts from years and years ago. It's a little rough...so I'll see what I can do to improve it...and bring the two pages together.

The translucent stones above are left over from a project for some of my 4 x 6 cards that Becky, Brenda and I exchanged several years ago. You can read about them here: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2021/03/round-10.html

I have lots of these background cardstock laying around....and now they're all fair game for white stripes for writing quotes. I think this one was done using pan pastels. The big chunky Posca pen is pretty slick making these stripes and the acrylic surface is great for writing. The soft white stripes improved this paper already.

 

What's Going On

"I came, I saw, I forgot what I was doing, retraced my steps, got distracted on my way back, and now I have no idea what's going on." Author unknown...but it could have been me today.

My biggest accomplishment today was finishing this fabulous "Pebbles" puzzle.
I enjoyed every minute of it.  

I do love a colorful found object....and this bobber came complete with quite a length of fishing line....and matched the evening primrose blooming at the pond.

Small chunky mushrooms are popping up in the yard.......and I find them fascinating.  And it just keeps misting and raining....so there will be more.

That's what's going on.

Chalky

I was quite taken with this sidewalk art by Waylon and...? I think I need to have some chalk in the house so I'm prepared when kids are visiting.  Or maybe I would just forge out on my own.  

A few days ago when I was scrolling through Melissa Sweet's Instagram page....this video made me smile. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHaWADBnbZY/

She likes sidewalk chalk too! 

When I made my little doodle collage card yesterday....I started a second one at the same time and I finished it today.  Same idea....same partial zig zag....same polka dotted envelope liner idea. Time to move on.

I did a light whitewash on this one....so it almost has a chalky look! 

Scrappy Doodle

I'm nearly finished with my aqua/teal card for the next Rainbow Connection card exchange....but I can't share it for a while. 

In an effort to keep the creative juices flowing....I made a little scrappy doodle collage card today.  I don't always succeed....but I do try and do something creative almost every day.

I started with some gelli print scraps....

and added some plant doodles and paper plant pots.

  

I think the partial black zig zag stitching helped pull it together. 

It moved the needle from OK....to better.

And what's not to love about a polka dotted envelope liner!

Standing Tall

Something simple today....just a few beautiful blooms standing tall. 

I am not a huge daylily fan....but I do love my little yellow one that has moved with me from house to house for as long as I can remember. 

This morning there were several blooms all at once....standing tall...making me smile.

And....I've never seen a hosta boom shoot up quite as tall and straight as this one.  As a matter of fact it was almost 43 inches from the ground.

And this foxglove...standing tall...stopped me in my tracks on our walk.

The Other Three

When I see blooms like this....I think Mother Nature has a bit of a sense of humor....or at the very least loves a little whimsy!

Since this time around we kept our own green cards in our shared art project I'm only seen my card in person. Here are photos of the other three.  

If you are new to the blog, this Rainbow Connection project is an art trade I'm doing with three friends from Wisconsin.  You can read about how it works here:

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2023/05/rainbow-connection.html

Becky created a green weaving.....it's fun from both sides.

Tracie painted whimsical green cats....they made me smile!

 

And Brenda created a fun frog from a gelli print and  

collaged images of real plants for the background!

Here's everyone's line-up at the 1/2 way point through our rainbow.

I think we're all having a good time with this...aqua/teal is up next.

MaryAnn's

Becky's

Tracie's

and Brenda's

Today's rainbow comes from our recent morning walks....and my garden.