What's in bloom in your garden? These are a few flowers that are in bloom in mine right now. My roses are blooming like crazy. I'm particularly fond of these Happy Chappy Shrub roses in shades of orange, apricot, pink. Their scent is sweet, very aromatic and they will bloom all summer. A couple of varieties of poppies are in bloom, these pink poppies are amazing and grow 3-4 feet tall and will bloom all summer. I grow as many flowers from seed as possible. There is something about nurturing and watching things grow that appeals to me very much. Many of my flowers were started from seeds that friends gave me. This is also another favorite past time, collecting and sharing seeds. My mother had amazing gardens, I'm sure that is where my love of flowers originated. Do you enjoy gardening? What are your favorite flowers?

Another Technique Junkie technique called 'Two Tone Crunch'. Using pigment inks you smoosh them around on the paper, wet the paper and use something to move the ink around. I sprayed the ink with a pearl mist, to give it a little glow. The stamp is from Inkadinkadoo. When I finished the card, I decided it was just too pretty for me, so I tattered the ribbon.

There's a free 2 week online class at Creativity Boot Camp. Although I'm starting it a little late...better late than never. I felt I could use the inspiration. The word prompt for the day is 'Ivory'. It took 12 seconds to come up with a theme, which is amazing for me. I apologize for the lousy pic, it is actually part of my bound art journal, which does not lay flat. The journal page is called My Ivory Tower. This is significant to me on many levels. It is about a young girls hopes and dreams, and about my faith. The verse says 'Windows & wings, so I can fly.' If your creativity could use a boost, visit the link above, you might surprise yourself. Thanks for taking a moment to stop by. If you are participating in 'Boot Camp' please leave me a link.

Just some simple brayer work, a little masking and stamping on this card. I really like these colors. The stamps are from Club Scrap. Hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Another Technique Junkie technique, Frog in a Blender. Silly name, but marvelous results. You float inks on top of floor wax, swirl, and dip your paper. I made several of these background sheets a couple of years ago. It's such a messy technique, that I made several at that time. The stamps are from Club Scrap...I really like this verse.

I just received a new Technique Junkie newsletter and this is one of their new techniques, called Up and Over. Basically, you stamp with black ink and then metallic pigment ink and emboss with metallic powder. I'd say this looks quite summery. The stamps are from Club Scrap and Paula Best. Thanks for looking.

My faithful companion and I walk every day, all year round. Nature provides an ever changing view on the property. The spring and summer months are my favorite with all of the wildflowers. Each week the view is transformed and it's always a delightful surprise. Ben is my 14 year old golden retriever and soul mate. If you've ever had a close relationship with an animal, you know what I mean. I shaved him this spring for the first time and he is much more comfortable. The vet says it isn't often she sees a retriever this old. I think we can contribute his good health to our daily walk, a lot of pampering and just good luck. I prefer to walk early in the morning because the bird song in the meadow remind me of the ebb and tide of the ocean. Do you have a special place that you like to spend time? Your sanctuary or private place? I'd love to see a pic...

Inspired by my morning walk, garden and a little day dreaming, this art journal page is just a collage of walking though a garden. This work was done for my art journal round robin group. On the book plate in the center I wrote 'May all your days resemble a walk in the garden'. The materials used were gesso, distress ink, a lovely napkin and several different pictures that were in my ephemera box. I really love using napkins on pages as they become so transparent when you use medium on them.

Normally, our family celebrates a traditional Christmas in Michigan each year. My children live all over the country, so it always requires travel. This year we all spent the holidays at my daughter and son-in-laws home in Florida, and had quite a non-traditional Christmas. This layout for my grand daughters scrapbook is of our Christmas Eve on the beach. (You can double-click on any image to get a larger view if you like.) The photo of mother and daughter squatting is a classic. Mom just squatted down to enjoy the view and daughter mimicked momma, and followed suit. We definitely made a memory. All materials are from Club Scrap and the layout is a sketch from Sketches by Suzy.

This was the view from my front porch this morning. I was hoping there would be a fawn with them, but not today. I love living in the country, it has always been my dream to own a little property. Maybe I'm a throw-back from the '70's. I hope your day offers a beautiful view of God's lovely handiwork.

Thought I would give a little update on the garden. This is my first year for a square foot garden. As you can see the boxes are spaced every foot with twine to maximize planting space and better utilize fertilization and watering needs. I've read that (1) 4x4 box could feed 1 person for a year. Last night we put up trellises for the vining plants, cucumbers, melon, squash. The idea is that the vines will run up and over the trellis and do their vining in the grass. Stakes were added for the tomatoes, and we have little tepees for the sugar peas. We've started putting up a temporary fence around the garden area. Hopefully the deer won't find the delicacies. I picked a little basil last night and it looks like we'll have some radishes to pull any day now. It's a beautiful thing this garden.

Another layout of my grand daughter visiting the pumpkin patch. She was so excited that day to get her pumpkin. This is my first layout intentionally working with 'white space'. I have to really fight the urge to fill in all the empty space. The supplies I used have been in my stash for probably 5 years, but they seemed to work on this page.