Mail Art

Mail art received from Kristine

in Denmark! Beautiful green leaves

stenciled onto cardboard, then green

duct tape to create a sturdy envelope.

Inside was this beautiful dried leaf

with white painted dots, and a quote:

"Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead

has never watched them dancing

on a windy day."

~ Shia Tamir

So pretty, and just what I needed on the

winter day that I received it! Thank you Kristine!

In return, I've sent...

...yes, two envelopes. One inside the other.

Inspired by the style of Nick Bantock's art work

 from the book series "Griffin and Sabine."

Includes stamping, drawing, labels,

colored pencil, reinforcement circles,

and a bird image from an old magazine.

Postcard inside the second envelope

I love Bantock's seemingly random, exotic images

juxtaposed with each other.  Since I had 

used watercolors on this postcard, I knew

it wasn't safe to send through the mail 

system 'naked.' And getting to decorate a second

 envelope was fun too! Across the bottom

 of the postcard I used some images from my Ohio petroglyphs research, done for a

Fake Journal in 2013.

It's really fun to get art in the mail!

 I recommend it!

Back of postcard with images and faux postage

Joining up for T Tuesday,

a beverage and a chat...

 

 

Wheels, Food and Beverages

 

We recently visited a sports bar/restaurant

 called The Wicked Wheel. The menu was

called the 'Owner's Manual.' The décor is

themed around wheels...

 

 

especially motorcycles!

 

Had to take a photo of the 'rocking

motorcycle.'

 

 

You could even sit astride a motorcycle at

the bar, if you didn't mind being a little far away

from your beverage...

 

 

I think maybe the fellow in the dune buggy

had overstayed his welcome!

 

There were fabulous examples of various

brands of vintage gasoline pumps. I didn't

want to annoy the other patrons by going

around snapping more photos, so just took

this one near the front door.

 

 

 

James Dean seemed to think the vintage

bicycle was quite amusing. Why would

anyone ride a bike when you can ride

a motorcycle?

 

The food and service were excellent,

even on Super Bowl Sunday!

good times with family...



 

Linking up for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's

Tea Tuesday blog hop. Click the link and

join us for a 'drink related' post.

 

 

 

How To Do A Planner Page

How do I create a page in my

Hobonichi Techo? (daily planner)

 ○  Check the weather and temperature outside 

I use an app on my phone to check the 

temperature in my town, or just look out the

window! If you are a gardener, you may want

to check your rain gauge or how your

 plants are doing this season.

○ Record my steps from the day before

I use a FitBit to record my daily steps. 

I try to get 11,500 steps a day. (a little over

5 miles)  My grandson asked me why I

am "so obsessed" about exercise.  I tried

to explain that since I am Type II Diabetic,

exercise is part of my "medicine." Any 

other activity that you do could certainly

be recorded, like Zumba or Yoga.

○ Food, breakfast, baking

On this day I just drew my coffee cup,

toast, and my Hobonichi planner. You've

probably also seen a muffin or two on

my pages!

○ A project you're working on

like the fairy house I drew, above. I got

some E6000 adhesive and glued stones

to the outside of a birdhouse. My daughter

made a little door, and I camaflaged the round

bird entrance by gluing twigs around it to

look more like a window.

○ To Do List, or what happened that day

I am not so good at 'To-Do' lists. I usually

write down what happened after the fact!

Many times I will write appointments on a

small Post-It note and put it on the 

page for the day. That way my page

 isn't "messed up" if something

 doesn't happen or gets changed.

○ Add a quote or saying

This can be a lot of fun when I fine

something funny, (like the B.S. quote above!)

or you can go with inspirational quotes, or

even philosophical. It's up to you. Pinterest

is a great resource for quotes. But you can

also just type in to your browser:

"quotes about _____ " whatever you're

interested in. 

○ Challenges to illustrate or write about

I often draw from prompts in the monthly

Hobonichi Challenge, which can be found

on Instagram.  But there are days (or months)

that it doesn't strike my fancy, so I don't 

use the prompts. You don't have to be able

to draw. You can glue in magazine images

or write about the prompt-totally up to you.

There are lots of challenges on the intranet,

so you could probably find something

to suit your fancy.

○ Things you noticed or thought about

I don't usually get too philosophical or serious

in my Hobonichi, but there are days when

something just strikes you. If it's too personal

for me to post on my blog, I can just choose

not to post that page, or I can cover it up

with a flap, or temporary Washi tape. Those

of you who are tech-savvy could blur 

the writing before posting.

○ Use doodled borders, Washi tape, and stickers

Self explanatory I think. You can use to decorate

the space between items, top and bottom 

borders, or corners. I've noticed that if I want 

something to stand out a bit from the rest of the

text on the page, draw a little border around it:

dots and dashes, curlicues, lines, etc. I often

do this for quotes.

○ Vary the page layouts

It's easy to get in a habit of putting your

drawing or other decoration on the same

area of each page. I think it's more 

interesting if you change it up from page

to page. Look at a children's book. The 

illustrators often change the layout from

page to page to make the book more engaging.

○ Do fun stuff so that you will

have something to write about! This could

be a little like "which comes first, the chicken

or the egg?" Either way, it is great to have

new things to journal about... and if you

don't draw, you can stamp, paste or add

 photos to your journal.  I understand that 

there are some little cameras

out now that are like the old Polaroids,

but they make miniature photos.

All images from 2017, Dianne Bishop Carey

Don't feel that your life isn't interesting

 enough to journal about. It's all relative.

Your life is yours. You are the one who

makes it interesting. The Hobonichi company

had this on their site:

♥

This is my LIFE.

I can’t trade it with anyone.

These are my days,

and they belong only to me.

This is my LIFE.

This is my BOOK.

LIFE BOOK.

Hobonichi Techo

♥

How cool is that?!

Joining the T Tuesday gang for a 

nice warm beverage and a chat...

join us!

What would you put in your Life Book?

White Sands

Panama City Beach, Florida...

white sands and deep aqua

Gulf waters.  A far cry from snow!

Just trying out my hubby's Notebook,

and whether or not I can post to my

blog with it. See you on Tuesday

for tea!