Another summer done...

And another garden full of weeds. I'm pretty sure that I want my next house to be in the middle of a corn field so that I don't have to do any gardening. Give me a house in the middle of 40 acres of tall something or other where no-one will see the house but me and I'll be happy. I hate gardening. I hate having to pull the weeds because of what the neighbors think. Frankly....I LIKE the tall, prickly thistles. Have you ever watched a bumblebee try to scramble his way into the fuzzy head of a thistle to get at the pollen? It's hysterical! All you see is this fuzzy purple thistle head with a fuzzy bee butt and two little bee legs kicking to try to get as far into the pollen as possible. Then later, when the thistle goes to seed, the bright yellow and black birds (can't remember what they're called at this moment) will come along to eat those seeds and when they land on the plant it doesn't always hold their weight and they have to balance carefully to get at their treat.

I have goldenrod that is over 6 feet tall that the local honeybees absolutely love. I have a weed that is what butterfly bushes were cultivated from. The hummingbirds love it. 

But all of my neighbors aren't as appreciative of the weeds. Even though the thistles in my yard come from the birds that eat the thistle seeds in the feeders in every other yard. I have trees and the birds that feed in their yards come over to my yard to nest.

I have song sparrows in my yard. According to all of the experts I'm not supposed to have song sparrows but here they are enjoying my weeds.  *sigh*

40 acres of wildflowers and weeds. I'll be happy and so will all of the birds, butterflies and bees.

Where to go now?

I just don't know what to do next with these.  I rather like the Chinese feel of the clouds and sunshine of the first one. I'm thinking of journaling the words to make it look like rain falling from the sky. 

 This second one came to me when a friend gave me the chipboard waste from a game that he was setting up for all of us to play. The shapes of the game pieces reminded me of PacMan so I went with it.

 And this last one is part of my recently renewed obsession with the Moody Blues. I just love listening to their music in the summer. I'm still loving my white ink pen, too. That's what I used to draw each little circle using sequin waste as a guide. eek!  That took awhile!

Sometimes....

I'm just not fit to be around. You know how it is. There are times when I sit and search for snarky quotes and picture everyone that day that deserved their share of karma. And I laugh. Those days I try to stay inside.

It's better for everyone that way.

My favorite color

I just love red. I have tried many times to put other colors in my wardrobe. Each time I've ended up with clothes that I never wear because they just don't feel right to me when I wear them.  That's kind of how this page started out. I tried muted colors that I don't usually like and this page just sat there. Then I broke my wrist and the red started to come out in me because I was mad about how little I was able to do in my journal. I grabbed my hand stencil, some alphabet chipboard waste and my red paint and let it rip.

I think I'm going to call this one done.

OK....where did summer go?

It's gone!  Last  night was a four quilt night! It's not supposed to be this cold yet! *sigh*

I didn't get very much done aside from the main calender page of my journal in August. Between doctor visits and trying to get things done around the house there wasn't as much art time as I was hoping there would be. But when your back goes out...again... you just have to do your best and move slowly so that it doesn't get worse. Yeah...I know....sometimes it already feels like it can't get worse. I figure that if I can still walk then I'm ahead of the game. Even if it is with a back brace and a cane. :)

Here's my calender page for September. I had a vision of falling leaves and as my yard is populated almost entirely with maples I decided to cut a stencil of small maple leaves. Then I got out my acrylic craft paints in all of the fall colors I have and started stenciling. I kind of like how it came out. This stencil is definitely a winner.

I'm envisioning a little guy there at the bottom playing around in a pile of maple leaves. I'll have to work on that one.