More artsy stuff

School is underway and I feel like I'm never going to get caught up!! Aargh! But I did make time on the weekend to do some artsy things. I went on a paper-buying binge at a recent sale at JoAnn's with the intention of using it to make more little books. So on the weekend I decided I'd better get started.

I had some papers that reminded me of ... yeah, yeah ... a prairie landscape! So I made my little book. Then went into Photoshop to create some layouts of the pictures from my latest trip and glued them into my little book. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out! I was going to add some sewing, but was afraid I'd mess it up and accidentally stitch over a picture, so decided to quit while I was ahead.

Here are some pictures:








I'm looking forward to making more books! I cut out the pages for one with all the colours of the rainbow (each sheet of paper has pictures of flowers or leaves in the different colours). I also bought paper for a blue book, a pink one, a brightly-coloured one ... and probably a few more besides!

And finally .... my sunflowers are blooming! Each year I buy seeds at the dollar store (as you know, I'm not the world's greatest gardener; okay, I have a brown thumb!; so I don't see much point in spending a lot of money) and not much grows except for sunflowers. I was late planting them this year, so wasn't sure if they'd even flower, but here they are!

One last artsy blast before school starts!

Yes, the start of the school year is looming. I've spent the last few days playing with artsy things (or, as some might put it - avoiding doing work!) and thought I'd show you some of the results. It all started with Adele coming over one day to make fabric paper (basically, a muslin base, with lots of glue and scraps of paper and paint layered on top of it) and issuing a challenge that we should actually make something using the fabric paper!

You'll be stunned, I'm sure, to hear that I decided to make one piece of paper into ... yes, a prairie landscape!! (I'll pause for a moment while you get over your shock!)

And here it is ...




I cut up another sheet of fabric paper and used it in this little piece, which also uses some of the charms I've bought:



I've also been making little books (based on an idea in the latest Sew Somerset magazine). It's a fun way to use up some of the paper I've been accumulating, and I like the way it combines paper and stitching and rubber stamping and pretty much whatever else you want to include! I'm not sure what (if anything) I'll use the books for; maybe they're complete as is.

Here's the cover and a few pages from my first attempt:










And here's my second one:








And, finally, a little accordion book, which uses up some old Artist Trading Cards I had lying around (sorry about the slightly blurry pictures!):



And now, it's time to start doing some work. No, really!

Hello! I'm back from my annual visit to Winnipeg. As usual, I spent lots of time driving around enjoying the landscape - and, as usual, taking lots of pictures! Here are a few. (I'll post some black-and-white shots to my other blog, too - see the link at the right if you're interested.)

First, some beautiful flowers. These were taken at some of my favourite places, like Assiniboine Park's English Garden and Sculpture Garden.











This statue is in one of many by a sculptor named Leo Mol; there's a garden containing a collection of his works in Assiniboine Park.





And now .. the usual prairie landscapes. Ho, hum, more beautiful scenery. I never seem to get tired of it! Hope you still enjoy it, too.









Here's a little cemetery in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. What a peaceful place to rest.



I had to take a Rufus with me, of course. (His brothers went to stay with their friends, the Rufi, who live with their person, Jackie.)

Here he is enjoying a nice healthy dinner (I'm sure he was the happiest naked mole rat in Winnipeg!) and surveying the view from his perch on the dashboard.




I always go to Gimli when I'm in Manitoba. It's on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg and it's a nice little beach town with a stony beach and a few cute little shops and a restaurant where I always have a pickerel dinner! (Me, a creature of habit? Nah!) This trip I went for the first time to Grand Beach, which is on the other side of Lake Winnipeg. It's a provincial park; no shops but oh, the beach! Beautiful white sand. Shallow water - good for wading. I walked for about an hour from one end of the beach to the other. Here's a picture of the sand dunes, and of some interesting tracks in the sand.



I enjoy walking the trails at Assiniboine Forest and Fort Whyte Alive (a nature centre). Here's a view of the forest.



So that's it! Another wonderful trip. Can't wait to go back next year!

(Check out Jill Blogz for some black & white shots, too!)

Thanks for stopping by!

I've been playing some more with Photoshop Elements and having a great time! Here are some of my "altered" pictures, along with the originals. I've enabled comments to the blog (I think!), so let me know - which ones do you like? Or dislike, for that matter!

(By the way, sorry about the funky spacing on the blog. It looks fine when I type it in, but then changes a bit when I post it. I may have to learn HTML at some point!!)



Somehow, this makes the original look bland! If only I could remember exactly what I did to get this effect. I think it involved increasing the saturation and adding a warming filter. Maybe.









Again, the original pales by comparison!!






















Yes, well, we have to get a prairie landscape in here, don't we?! I think I used "diffuse glow" to brighten this one up. It's not exactly realistic, but I think it's kind of cool.









Here's another shot that I like even better with the Photoshop manipulation.


















This next one didn't come out quite the way I expected. There's a filter that's supposed to make the picture look like a watercolour, but I don't really see the effect here. (I think it might look better on a larger scale.) I do, however, like the canvas look.





And now, starting with a pretty flower picture ...



... and going wild and crazy!





So those are my latest experiments. I really love the extra intensity. I've just signed up for a digital photography class at the IMA in September - I'm looking forward to learning more!

(I've also posted a couple of black-and-white shots to my other blog - see the link at the right if you're interested.)