Garden Therapy

Tuesday Therapy...

a garden retreat is 

food for the soul, as well as

tomatoes for your tummy! 

Belatedly showing swap pages sent

to Chris of PearShapedChris*

whose book theme was 'anything

in a garden.'  Above, a peony that I

painted in watercolor, then cut out and

created a large pocket for tags.

Flowers embroidered on fabric, with

a bit of running stitch, lazy daisy, and 

French knots. Mounted on watercolor

paper. Couldn't resist adding the

cross-stitched bee.

Folk art flowers in watercolor

with a quote...

and more watercolor ~ with 

flowers adhered from napkins, as well

as watercolor painted flowers.

Since Chris had specified 'anything

in a garden - except frogs' I decided

to draw a little mouse just for fun!

The arrival of these pages took way

longer than it should, due to my inexperience

with shipping internationally. Thanks Chris

for being so patient! I hope everything 

arrived in good condition.

Linking up with Bleubeard and Elizabeth

for T Tuesday...yes, I have still been

journaling in my Hobonichi Techo!

Above, tiny sketch of biscuits and coffee,

to qualify as my T Tuesday

 photo reference!

Yes, we were crazy enough to go

tent camping at our age!

Stop by to visit the other 

T Tuesday bloggers to

see assorted shenanigans...

Long Overdue Swap Art

Finally showing some swap art that

I made for Annette. (Scrap Happens Here)

The theme for her book was

'Proverbs.'  The page above says

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket."

(click on any image for enlargement)

"The early bird catches the worm,"

with fabric, lace, silk greenery, buttons,

and my watercolor of an American Robin.

Small pamphlet-stitch book to go in

the pocket of

"You can't judge a book by its cover."

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,"

created with scraps of cardboard,

paint and paper. The charm unfortunately

caused the scan to blur the details

of the image.

"One woman's trash is

another woman't treasure." 

I used a discarded 

music library card, brown paper

bag, scrapbook paper, and the gentleman

in the bathing costume is from a carton

of hard cider I believe.  Multiple

layers of paint were applied to the collage,

along with the spiral clip, beads

 and a vintage charm.

"A smooth sea never made

a skilled sailor."  This is made from

some pretty scrapbook paper that

has an ocean/fishy theme.

Tags in the "sailor page" pocket.

Many thanks to Annette for being so patient 

and understanding about the late arrival

of her package. Hopefully, it is a case of

"good things come to those who wait!"

Word and Number Play

 Art Swap pages that I received

from Elizabeth. My theme was

"Word and Number Play."  I

love that Elizabeth attached ink pen

nibs to the fibers on the tag!

"J" is for Junk...

an obvious source for 

mixed media art!

True Grit~ there is a sand paper

type of texture to the squares!

"B" is for Beautiful...

and Ball.

"A" to...

"Z."

This is so cool in

real life!  Very heavy metal

zipper contrasting with the short

lightweight zipper...

T-A-G, with a great

"shrinky dink" image on

the vintage text tag.

3 Faces...

Great vintage flash cards...

this pocket actually swings open

to reveal more images of 

alphabet blocks.

I keep looking at this and thinking...

(heavy) metal music!

This page flips open (the fold is 

concealed beneath the black lace tape)

and the word music is spelled out in

chipboard letters on the back.

I haven't seen music flash cards 

before...brilliant! The tree on the left is

embossed on metal...

Elizabeth really spoiled me with the

abundant pages she sent -- with tags...

flaps...and flash cards!

Elizabeth did say she got pretty

tired of using the color pink...

but I love it!

Since I have family visiting this

week from out of state, it will take me

a few days to visit all the blog hop

participants for T Tuesday...

but I will stop by.

I think I need to make a page

for this swap book that says

"Fun and Fabulous!"

Thanks so much to all of the swap

participants ~ you've been so

generous!

***

Next week, I will share what

I've received from Norma.

Techo and Swap Art

I am relieved to say that Valerie

finally received her swap art from me,

and she has blogged about it for T day.

Apparently, customs held onto it for

about ten days.  I'm just glad it

arrived safely and intact.  Above is

one page that I made for Valerie's

"Bird" theme.  Couldn't resist including

some fabric in the collage.  Please

visit Bastelmania to see the rest of

the pages, and some of Valerie's

beautiful art work.

A random quote...too funny.

And true.

(Click on any image for a larger view.)

I did, indeed, have the urge to stitch,

and made up one of the little felt

stars in red, white, and blue. It worked

up pretty quickly--though a bit wonky--

with beads, buttons, and felt. Why is

it so hard to get stuff to stay centered?

Even though I pin it first, it seems to

move off center as I stitch...

One of the fun things about getting together

with art friends, is that they share their 

techniques, and even let you try out their

hand-carved stamps! 

And when the permanent ink you used to

stamp the cicada on the previous page

bleeds through to the next page, it's the

perfect opportunity to use the new flowered

duct tape that was purchased to 

reinforce the mailed overseas package!

That is a tick you may have spotted on the

left side of the wildflowers...found him 

crawling on my clothes when I got out 

of the shower. Ick!! It's fun to get out and

investigate a new place to walk- enjoy the

sunshine and get some exercise- but don't

forget the insect repellent!!

Recycling a couple of beverage images

from previous weeks...

and encouraging you to visit the

T Tuesday group over at

Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog.