Into the woods

Today's adventure was a search for blackberries along a favorite old woods road.  I carried lots of empty containers.  As it turned out, most of the blackberries were not yet ripe, neither were the elderberries.  But it was not a wasted trip.  I did pick a few blackberries, red raspberries, wild cherries, and blueberries.  Gentle breezes swirled down through the tree branches.  Filtered sunlight added golden highlights to patches of ferns.  An occasional colored leaf brightened the forest floor.

Old woods road

Sunlit ferns along the path

A red-leafed plant

Lovely patch of moss

A one-inch-long toad was hopping through the moss, but he was camera-shy and didn't wait for me to take his picture... By the time I was ready, he had disappeared into the leaf layer below.

Very tall trillium going to berries

Colorful leaf on fern

Besides the little toad I saw a half-eaten mouse in the path.  Then a mink was sighted, brownish long sleek animal with a long tail.  It ran up onto a low branch, then slipped away. No time to photograph it, of course.

Two tiny ferns in the path

It was a delightful day which ended with a pizza run.

A few more post cards...

Thank You Red Rose..

The first layer of this card is a food-coloring-dyed coffee filter.  Rubber stamp inks work well, too.  I really need to make up more backgrounds.

Someone sent me a piece of graph paper over-painted with pink and purple, accented with metallic copper paint.  Truly lovely.  I also received a folded length of white cardboard "punchinella" with one piece painted with copper metallic colors.  NOTE:  IF ANYONE KNOWS WHAT THIS PAPER STENCIL STRIP IS REALLY CALLED- PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!  Adding stickers made for an easy collage.

I hiked to this lake in the 1970's to pick wild blueberries.

Cat Challenge Cards

I was so glad to see that someone is guest-hosting a "Cats" Group Challenge on the MMSA site. After pulling out my file folder with cat clippings (no, not their claws) some ideas came to me for a few simple but amusing collages:

"Knock!  Knock!"

Unlimited Pawsabilities

Perspective
Above It All

Tourist Cat Selfie
Double Exposure

The One That Got Away

Is this a cat?

Looking Back - A Little Vintage

After wandering through the tempting aisles at AC Moore and Hobby Lobby, I ended up with a handful of wonderful images.  And then sat down and began to put some post cards together:

Red Orange Gold Handcrafted Paper

Last week a lovely piece of fibrous paper at AC Moore caught my attention.  A post card making session followed my purchase. Starting with orange and burgundy acrylic paints combed on a Gelli Plate, I added torn paper.  Circles punched from some gold cardboard food packaging pieces were a fun accent. Then I added gold ink rubber stamped images. Eight post cards emerged.

My Studio/CraftRoom

Now I'll only show you parts of the space, and only the neat areas, of course.  I am very blessed to have room to create, but the strange thing is, I mostly enjoy working in the dining room.  Each time I try to move my supplies back to the dedicated area, they migrate.  It seems perplexing at best...

Six 5-inch binders hold in-coming post cards and envelopes
Rock tumbler/polishers are buried on the coffee table
behind my languishing sewing machine
Heavy-duty paper cutter in right corner of picture

Glues and pens are on the top four shelves
Picture Albums from past quilts shows are on the bottom
Quilt bats, some fabrics, and polished rocks to the left 

Watercolor and oil paint supplies are here
Post cards from 2 online fabric PC exchange groups
are displayed in clear plastic hangers to the left

Washi tape collection fits perfectly in a large printer's type tray

Some of my rubber stamps, plus fancy fibers, Gelli plate,
stencils, trays of buttons,  and collage elements mess!
Stack of clean pizza boxes holding more rubber stamps 

One half of work table is mine, but I rarely
can see it... Acrylics bottles on shelves

Vintage Birds Postcards

I recently found vintage bird images and had an idea for a simple collaged arrangement.  Besides music, I wanted to incorporate doilies.  They couldn't just be white doilies, however.  Now was my chance to try shaving cream marbleizing.  It was very messy.  I was not happy with the results.  I'm sure that Gelli Plate printing would be more predictable.  I almost tried buffing on some light strokes of acrylic paint with a sponge or scrunched-up paper towel.  Or I could have coffee-stained them for a vintage effect.  Next time?  Anyway, this is what I put together today: