Monday, October 28, 2013

A Memorable Evening

Last Saturday my husband Sandy and I had a most enjoyable evening in St. Augustine, Florida. Intending to have dinner at the Columbia Restaurant, we parked the car and went for a walk on St. George Street.


Sandy took some local color shots including a few of local reenactors dressed for an event to take place that evening. Well, we got to our favorite eatery and found it to have a long wait.







We headed back to the car and arrived at the Conch House Restaurant, where we enjoyed two great dishes. Sandy had tuna and I had a wonderful shrimp and pasta dish with mushrooms.

From the Conch House we drove a short distance to the St. Augustine Amphitheater. All along the way cars were parking where they could and lights were glaring.  We got to the entrance of the amphitheater and found the parking lot full! But just up the street was an area turned into a parking lot with 2 spaces left. So, we payed, parked and briskly walked back to the entrance, taking along a large envelope that says Happy Birthday Mom and Dad, Grandma and Pop. In the brown envelope were 2 tickets to the evening's performance by John Fogerty!


At the gate we were checked in and as we made our way to our seats, I made sure to flash the envelope and say the tickets were gifts from my wonderful kids and it would be so nice to have Fogerty perform "Center Field" my favorite of his songs. Of course I heard lots of happy birthdays, but what was really fun was when not only Sandy, but the men sitting on either side of us said, they are singing your song! So I got up and danced in the isle!

The concert was everything you would want from the talented  John Fogerty. He was energetic and sang every one of our favorite songs. The audience enjoyed every moment of his great performances, dancing in the isles and cheering him on. At the end Fogerty came back on stsge and repeated several of his much loved hits, while the audience stood cheering and dancing!

This was an evening to remember!

For information on the legendary performer go to:  www.johnfogerty.com


Saturday, October 26, 2013

Washington Oaks State Park

Last Saturday my husband Sandy and I spend most of the day walking around Washington Oaks. The formal gardens are the centerpiece of Washington Oaks, but it is also famous for the unique shoreline of coquina rock formations that line its Atlantic beach. This unique state park is situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Matanzas River and was once the property of a distant relative of President George Washington. Louise and Owen Young purchased the land in 1936 and built a winter retirement home. They established gardens and named it Washington Oaks. In 1965 the couple donated most of the property to the State. The gardens are filled with native and exotic species, including azaleas, camellias and the exquisite bird of paradise in a picturesque setting.
A lovely tranquil setting.
An artist takes advantage of the beautiful floral display.




Visitors are welcome to picnic and fish from either the beach or the seawall along the Matanzas River.
Playing among the many rock formation along the beach.

A stroll along the beach.
Short trails provide opportunities for hiking and bicycling. Visitors learn more about the park in the visitor center. Located two miles south of Marineland on State Road A1A.

The Homes, Gardens and Groves of Louise P. and Owen D. Young have been placed on the National Register of Historic Sites.
My Hubby Sandy Brooke takes the best pictures!
Friends of Washington Oaks:
Established in 1998 as a non-profit corporation to function as a Citizens Support Organization (CSO), to work for the preservation, protection, interpretation and promotion of Washington Oaks Gardens State Park. This is accomplished through special work projects, programs, and events. There are also outreach programs, exhibits, interpretive programs, fund raising activities, guided tours and additional activities which are designed to meet the needs of Washington Oaks State Gardens.


Washington Oaks State Park
6400 N. Oceanshore Boulevard
Palm Coast, Florida 32137
(386) 446-6780

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Edwin Smiles







 Here's how to color Tilda's brother and have a scenic background. You will also notice I have added a nose and mouth to his cute little face. My friends and family like Tilda and her brother this way best! So I took my Micron 01 archival ink pen and drew a couple of curved line and there you have his face and of course his sister has a face now too.

Supplies:
Artm Impression Stamps:
Fence UMP 1499
Floral Set UM 3521
Heartfelt Creations:
Scenery Builders Precut set HCPC 3459
Marvy Markers (water based)
Ranger Archival Ink
Cool Edwin stamp by Magnolia 51 3003
Colored pencils by Prismacolor
Gamsol by Gamlin


Stamp Edwin

Edge outline with colored pencil

Blending colored pencil
Blended colored pencil
Cut out Edwin
Stamping fence
Stamping grass
Stamping vines
Stamping bushes
Smiling Edwin adhered to the background.
Two cute faces!

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Embossing Paste and Stenciled Palm Trees

I love this technique and used it for some of my Christmas cards this year. 

Supplies:

Craft mat
Card stock
Masking Tape
Embossing Paste
Brass Stencil
Pallet Knife
Marvy Markers
Stencil Brush
Pallet
Glitter

Before you work with the paste, you might want use a stencil brush over the metal stencil to lay color inside the cuts. I tape the stencil to the card stock and the craft mat to hold it still.


Stenciled design

Clean off the stencil carefully, without bending it. Place the stencil on top of your card stock and tape the stencil to your craft mat on all 4 sides, using the masking tape. I like to tape it to the mat so it can't move around when applying the paste, you can tape it to just the card.



Using the pallet knife take some embossing paste and spread the paste over the stencil. Remove all the excess paste, you see the paste stays in the holes in the stencil. Clean the knife in warm water.



Carefully remove the masking tape from 3 sides of the stencil, make sure you don't move the stencil or you'll smudge the embossing paste!Take hold of the bottom edge of the stencil and carefully lift it towards the taped edge of the stencil, a bit like turning the page of a book. Undo the last piece of tape and clean your stencil straight away in warm water.

Place your embossed card onto a piece of scrap paper, being careful not to catch the embossing paste as you move it around. Now take your glitter and sprinkle it over the embossing paste, giving it a good covering. You can use more than one color glitter, just add one at a time, making sure to remove the excess before changing colors.Remove the excess glitter to reveal your finished stenciled image. Add additional trimings such as the little pearls I used to represent the coconuts on the trees. Leave to dry for 24 hours then mount onto your card.

You can color the embossing paste with marker color, then you don't need to use glitter. This is as effective, but the glitter is great for Christmas cards.
I had a couple of small stencils and a set of large cards with windows cut from them. I worked on the stencils and then glued the designs inside the card with the design facing out.

These are cute cards for any occasion!

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Coloring My New Tilda Stamps





Ever since I saw this little girl, I have wanted to adopt her and take her home and when I saw her in ballet shoes, I knew it was time to get her. She is in honor of a young lady, who will soon be a teenager!

Colored pencils and Gamsol (a brand of odorless mineral spirits) is a favorite way to color my stamped images. It's possible to use other brands of colored pencil for this technique, but I find that the Woodless Coloured pencils are soft and are heavily pigmented, good for blending.
To blend my colors, I use inexpensive paper stumps. I buy pencils, paper stumps and Gamsol at Hobby Lobby.
I stamp my images on my paper with Black Ranger ink. It is an acid free, archival, fast drying solvent-based waterproof ink and can be bought at Michaels. I start adding color to the places color would be the darkest and for Tilda that usually is at the edges.
I dip my paper stump onto the Gamsol sponge and begin blending the colors in a small circular motion towards the center of the image, pulling bits of color as I go. You can leave as little, or as much highlight area on an image as you'd like. By simply not adding as much color to the edges, or not pulling as much color towards the center of your image, you'll be able to have a bigger highlight area.
It's always better to start with less color and add more as you need it, than to start with too much color.
As you color your image, you'll be able to see where you'd like to add darker shades of color in places you want to emphasize color, or create shadows. Always start with your lightest colors and work with your darker colors sparingly once your lighter colors are in place. Gamsol tends to make colors pop! Color gives images life.


Stamp Tilda with  Jet Black Ranger  Ink

Cut an oval around Tilda using Classic Oval Die by Spellbinders, Nestabilities and the Cuttlebug.

Cover edge of oval with gold Stickles.

Begin coloring the edges of Tilda's costume.

Using Gamsol to blend, pulling the color toward the center of the shapes.



Blending the green background and making it a bit darker nearest to Tilda                              
Edwin looks so handsome at the gate!


Tilda looks so pretty in her butterfly dress.
Tilda and Edwin look so good added to my watercolor scenes. As long as there is a distance between the character and painting the sizes seem to work very well.

I entered this blog post in Tilda's Town Challenge #73 Anything But Square
http://tildastown.wordpress.com/2013/10/04/challenge-73-anything-but-square/