Monsoon Season is HERE!

               (Look! Not even blue sky in Puerto Vallarta!)

Welcome Back!
(at least to me, I've been away from my blog for a couple days). 

I see the last blog was November 17, and now, it's the 22.  I will briefly say that it is pouring /pooring  rain! and no real signs of letting up for a couple days.  Today is 80% chance, tomorrow 100% chance, and Thursday/Thanksgiving is down to 70% chance!    Woowee!  It's gonna be a Thanksgiving MIRACLE, I tell you!

(enough sarcasm)


Let's catch up on the 'Thankfuls':

Today let's all be thankful for a dry spot (hopefully, you have one), to work, and live.  I certainly am!  my work kitties are banded together into a little shelter I built, and they're not coming out except for canned catfood! 


Yesterday, was Monday, and hard to get motivated w/ the rain.  I really wanted to write, but felt tired--  Sometimes I just don't sleep well.  Oh!  I know!  I can be thankful for the show, 'Raising Hope.'  Have you seen it?  Hilarious!  Last night trying to unwind, i opened my Hulu IPhone app, and watched a couple episodes.   I love to laugh!  It feels soooo good.

Sunday, I saw sunshine at the Oregon Coast--specifically, Cape Kiwanda.  I stopped there to look at the ocean, and sunshine before I drove back to Salem.  (jogging  your memory--I went for a retreat w/ some quilting girlfriends).  It was glorious!  Thankful for SUNSHINE!!

Saturday, I slept in, and then grabbed my gear, and drove to the 'retreat'--friends Shawna, Lori and Phyllis were there, and going great-guns.  Because I was too tired Friday night, and got to the retreat late, I held off on quilting projects, but instead worked on my Affirmation Journal. 

That turned out to be a great thing--  I had been kind of stuck on a new book.  Had gotten one w/ a spiral binding, thinking the pages and cover could expand, but one problemo--I love to use decorative papers, cut to size, adhere them, and then collage over the top.  With the spiral binding...the break between the cut paper, and the spirals left a white space which was really bugging me.  (I've spent the last couple months at a standstill w/ this project; trying to make myself go ahead, in spite of the white space-- just wasn't happening.)


(One thing that is an iron-clad rule in my book: if something bugs you when you're looking at it, it will probably continue to bug you later--so, best to remove it!)

This has seemed to work on my quilts--look at them, and if a certain fabric or block draws your attention (in a bad way), then it may be best to remove it.

--However--!!   What do 'they' always say?:

rules are made to be broken!             haha!

What's an exception?  If there's something in a quilt or project that bugs you,                                                   
                                                           ADD MORE!!

                                                                    huh?

Adding more 'troublemaker' fabric diverts your attention.  Once, a quilt I made needed white.  I hate white, and brown...they're non-colors in my book.  So, when making the quilt, I left out white.  What happened?  No 'sparkle'!  so- the things you learn from color-study!


Back to the book: as I drove to the beach, contemplating my book, I remembered I could take the pages out of the spiral binding, and 'do something' to them (colored felt markers didn't cut it)...I remembered that i had just purchased a couple containers of Inka Gold; in Copper (why isn't it Inka Copper?!), and Gold, AND it was riding along w/ me in the truck with my art supplies!! 



This cool stuff, which I had no definite plan for (other than being cool, and have to have it!..), is like a creamy metallic shoe polish.  Get a little bit of water on a sponge, smoosh it around, and start wiping it on.  I decided as I drove, that it might be the perfect remedy for the white paper issue!


So, once I got the layout of the retreat-house (very nice, but no ocean view--can't compare to Coccoons, Mom!  but there were surfboards!  haha) and settled in, I went 'rogue' and took all the pages from the book, got out the Inka Golds, and the stamp-pads I had, and started sponge-painting the spiral part of the pages.

(oh, i SO love the copper!)

after i did a bunch of copper, I did some gold, and some Tim Holtz 'Vintage Photo' colored pad, and black.  The stamp pads, I just randomly pressed onto the spine of the papers, to make a 'grunge' look.

Once I got the covers back on, and a couple of the finished pages re-inserted, then things began to happen.

(My first page in the book--love, love, LOVE the dragonflies!)

(I love the Inka Gold-Gold! on the spine, too!)

I had been bugged about the spine, and now it was fixed, and the paper, imagination, quotes and photos begin to emerge in random ways; and as I go, I'll add in some rubber stamps, and/or maybe embellishments.

('Imagination is the eye of the soul,' says this PaPaYa art postcard.)

Friday's 'Thankful', looking back now, was flannel Jammies!  I was so tired, that when I got home, I knew I was not going directly to the beach, but instead, go my Victoria's Secret Pink polka dot jammies on, snuggled on the couch w/ Maggie, and took a nap for a couple hours.  This time of year, you just GOTTA HAVE 'EM!