Random bits

This week I am in love with green and gold. 

The local art store got a face lift. I pass it every week on the way to the library for the 25 cent magazine sale. This art store (Visual Supply) is a small space but the prices are good and the owner features the work of local artists on the inside.

           "The great planting is finished", she says waving her arms with a flourish.  Since the plants were a little too short to fit into the box I filled each of the holes with a bit of burlap. The entire planting took about 2 hours and I ripped all the labels off the containers and put them in order in my book so I know what each of them are. 

            I left the two spaces by the handle free so that I can still use the handles to pick it up.  I am going to look in the floral section of the craft store for some decorative moss to put inside and add a bit more green.   

              In case you were wondering you can buy a giant piece of  80x80 inches of burlap for under four dollars at your local hardware store. I also bought a small bag of succulent grade soil to fill in the holes and the rest will go towards replanting some sad little cactus for a friend.  They have become the playground for some spiders so I'm trying to get the cobwebs out without impaling myself on the spikes.
              I found the little bird at a craft show for under $5 and it came with the stake attached so I just cut it down a bit so it wouldn't tower over the big plant.  I think I'm officially in every free rewards program around town so the big plant was free with my $5 coupon from the local hardware store.  I thought about breaking it up into smaller units but it makes a fun focal point in the corner.

Updated Journal Bag

Before



After



 I love my French Army Journal Bag but it was looking quite sun damaged and sad so I punched up the color a bit and added a bit of stitching.  I simply put the bag in a bucket with a powder dye and left it to bake in the sun for a bit.  Gave it a thorough rinsing and put it back outside to dry and finished it in the dryer.  The back of the bag has a sewn in piece of press board so I didn't to encourage secret mold.  People of all ages talk to me when I walk around with this so it's kind of fun.    I have more than can fit on this bag so I rotate them.I can't wait to find more buttons.

    Runaway...

Good News comes in the mail

       

      I found out last week by mail that  a few of my journal pages made it into the galley section of Art Journaling Magazine.  It's on the newsstands now and a nice motivation to get cracking on a new journal. 

July

    We spent the 4th in Julian, a sweet little town known for it's Apple pie. We caught the tail end of the town parade and had a nice lunch and went through a number of shops and saw an inspiring quilt show.  The car was a bit north from our normal spot and I just had to walk up this winding stairway carved out of the hillside to see what was at the top.
   It was a nice old cemetery with plenty of benches and old grave markers that were well worn with time.  It was interesting to see how headstones have improved over the years.  The sky is full of giant rain drops that are threatening to fall.

I would love to come back and spend the day drawing.

 

It rained for a bit as we took the curvy road back to San Diego.
I always fall asleep on long trips but I did make it down the mountain reading my summer book before drifting off.

Happy July.