It has been a while

But I AM alive and well and enjoying my free time. I started on the bedroom reno during a week vacation and got some much needed painting of trim done in the hallway. Do you know HOW MUCH I dislike painting trim. I've got the grasscloth all ready to hang on the focal bedroom wall but then I got sick with a HORRIBLE sinus infection, then came down with a wicked cold that progressed into a mild case of bronchitis. I blame this all on the new found germs that I come in contact with since our office relocated to the mall downtown.

Anyhooo....that along with a major patch job under the bedroom window has put my wallpaper hanging on hold for a bit.

In the meantime hubby and I took a trip to California in September, YES, to follow our guy Dave Matthews and his band. We flew into LA, drove to San Diego and spent a couple nights there to take in the sights of Coronado Island and tour an aircraft carrier. That was WAY COOL! I thought ya, ya...it's a military ship...but so not JUST a military ship....more like a floating city....WAY COOL! We saw Dave in San Diego and the next day we drove back to LA for concert #2. Enroute to our hotel we detoured so I could plant my feet on Rodeo Dr. in Beverly Hills and make a pitt stop at Tiffany's. Then we drove through Hollywood, ate a coney at Pink's and drove down the walk of fame. Concert #2 behind us, the next day we flew to San Francisco for #3. With the concerts done we settled down to spend a few days in San Francisco. It was a busy three days taking in a couple wine tours in Napa, a tour to Muir woods, Sausalito, and Alcatraz and a 5 hour bike tour of some of the city sights. Josh, our bike tour guide only had us bike up two hills so it was doable!

The last two days of our trip was spent in a rented convertible Mustang driving the Pacific Coast Hwy 1 back to LA and our flight home. I was a little freaked at first thinking we would be driving south with cliffs out of my passenger window but I survived and the view was spectacular. I think I could definitely be a west coast girl!!!!!!

When we got home, I spent the next 3 weekends SMASH booking some of my fav photo's and spots we visited....I thought I'd share some with you here....

Graffiti in Clarion Alley....I was in awe of the artwork here!

Rutherford Hill and Mondavi wineries...can you see my happy face there!
Just look at all those barrels of wine!

Our 2012 tour calendar and some pics from the summer.
YES, we stood on the grassy knoll and had our pic taken on the field
of the Dallas Cowboys stadium.

Rodeo Drive and Hollywood



Dave has taken us to some pretty amazing places.

Finally I'll leave you with a some of my fav pics of the coast and our trip.

Muir Woods redwood forest

Alcatraz

That's me, walking the halls of the prison.

Before I go, you might be wondering if I've been colouring...well, I haven't, until this past week when I decided to get my gears going for Christmas so stay around and I'll have something to show you soon!

 

'till next time, Linda!

Happy Birthday to ME!

YUP...today is my birthday and I am not at all afraid to say that I am a whopping 53 years old....you know what that means...one year closer to retirement. My g'friend dreaded turning 49 this year and I say...hey it's all good! Another birthday is just a good excuse to get myself something I don't really need. This year I think it is going to be that Singer 160th anniversary sewing machine that Paula talked about here. She sent me a pic and over the weekend I slipped in front of my hubby and said in my sweetest voice....don't you think I need one of these for my birthday? When you throw in the 'B' word how can he possibly say no...not that he ever would...but it just makes the 'game' more fun.

Speaking of the weekend, we were back on 'tour' with Dave Matthews and on the way home we realized we drove around the entire shore line of Lake Erie! We started in Chatham and drove east to Toronto. Dave played to the crowd there for sure belting out all of the fan favourites. Then we headed east crossing into the US in Buffalo, NY en route to Cayahoga Falls, Ohio. A very different crowd there, much older and the set list was very eclectic and so different than the night before. Blossom Music Center is a beautiful venue tucked away in a heavily wooded area. It really is a peaceful place and if I were ever temped to park my butt on the grass somewhere, that would certainly be the place I would do it. From there we headed back to Chatham by way of Detroit! An entire loop of Lake Erie!

In honour of my birthday, it is only fitting that I colour up a birthday card! This is Stamping Bella's Ramona loves cake. Me and cake, not so much...if I'm gonna indulge I'd much rather eat an entire bag of potato chips or some really good keilbasa...yes, I am more salty than sweet.

At the risk of repeating myself, she was stamped on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured with copic markers, topped up with some prismacolor pencils. To make that cake extra yummy, I added some 'icing' with liquid applique. Don't forget about our masculine challenge this week and be sure to keep checking out the sneak peeks over at bloggabella.

As I always do, I'll leave you with a couple pics from the weekend....

Dave rocks Toronto

inside Blossom Music Center - LOVE it...reminds me of an old wooden rollercoaster

Blossom, view from the lawn.

And that's it! For the non-Dave fans...I'll be giving you a break because we don't have another 'date' until he plays DTE in July.

On the road again

No card today so if you are here for that you might want to come back in a couple days. However, if you are even remotely interested in my non-crafting adventures you can stick around because this is a TOTAL NON-CRAFTY post.
 

You might recall last week I was taking a hiatus from my blog and that is because hubby and I were 'on tour' with one of our mutual fav bands Dave Matthews. We do have musical interests aside from Dave that don't really cross paths but this is one artist that we both enjoy so we take advantage of it and venture off to cities we might not otherwise visit.

This trip took us to Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Charlotte NC. Hubby spends a good deal of time working in Houston but this concert was in an area called the Woodlands which is a distance from his office in a beautiful tree lined neighborhood with an outdoor mall...there was even a Tiffany's there which sadly I didn't get to.

 

The first night i met my cousin Vinney, okay, so he is not my cousin but his name is Vinney and we had the best time sitting with him. I will never forget his face and throwing his arms up in the air hugging us when Dave played one of of the crowd favorites. 

While Vinney was younger than us we did meet another couple sitting near us who were more our age and they were from just outside of New Orleans.  He is an engineer by trade but plays drums in a band as a side hobby....obviously Carter is his guy and he never took his binoculars off of him.

 

The next day we head to Dallas for concert #2 and shock of shocks we sat behind the New Orleans couple and ran into cousin Vinney in the crowd.  See, despite what some of my friends might think, we are NOT the only people who 'follow' Dave from concert to concert.

Before heading to concert #3 in Atlanta we spent an extra day in Dallas to take in some sights. First on the list HAD to be the JFK Memorial in the old Texas book depository, the grassy knoll and the spot where JFK was assasinated. Ya, that is hubby standing on the 'x' where Kennedy took the second bullet to the head. I was just over 4yrs old when it happened and although I don't recall the events of the day I do vaguely remember the funeral. The thing that struck me most about the exhibit is how security has changed in the 48 years since his tragic death.

Our second tour of the day was at Cowboy Stadium. Cousin Vinney told me that Dallas was one rich city and if this stadium is any indication of that, he is bang on! This place makes Ford Field in Detroit look like a dump and I thought Ford Field was pretty nice. Of course, that is speaking from someone who does not like football at all...(and even after the tour, I still think that Ford Field is still pretty nice) For any of you Cowboy fans out there you might appreciate this pic of hubby taking the players walk out onto the field. He really liked this pic...must be a guy thing.

Me, I was more smitten with my lace scarf and swarovski studded belt that I purchased at Wild Bill's Western wear

Now we were off to Atlanta. Our flight was delayed due to weather and when we finally got there Hertz rented more cars than they had so another delay. When we finally got to our hotel we were tired and found a pub that we thought we be nice and quiet but it ended up being karaoke night! Free entertainment!

We didn't have much time there but did manage to get to the Georgia Aquarium. The huge aquarium was quite impressive, but overall I think I like the Shedd in Chicago better.

 Finally, I just can't leave without posting a couple of my fav concert pics....see ya in Toronto Dave!

AJ Monday

Hi All...I had a very busy and productive weekend and it all started with my AJ Monday journal page. The challenge this week was to use an actual picture on your page. I already did that a couple weeks ago so this time I took a different route to use some pictures.

A couple years ago hubs and I took a trip to Nashville and Memphis on our quest to follow the Dave Matthews Band around North America. We didn't see much of Nashville, but did get to spend a couple days in Memphis. We LOVED it there...the music, the food, the atmosphere, the history, all of it was amazing. We took in as much as we could and took a lot of pictures of our favourite spots, some of which I collaged in this page.

I selected a few of my fav's and inserted them into a word document mirror imaging the pictures. I printed them on my Epson ink jet printer on regular printer paper, nothing special. Then using any of the image transfer techniques you may find on the web I transferred them to my page. It was necessary to print mirror images of the pics because you glue them 'image side down' and this way they end up right side facing when you are done.

The technique I used was with gel medium, mod podge or PPA. I used PPA here, but I think mod podge or gel medium works better for this technique. Cut your pictures down to size, or even tearing the edges gives a nice effect. Apply some gel medium and stick it down onto your page. Now you do not want to paste over that piece of paper because you don't want the paper completely sealed. Just use your fingers and press it down good.

Wait for it to dry, or if you are like me take a heat gun to it. Speaking from experience, it does work a lot better if you can wait and let it dry naturally....but I wasn't seeking out perfection here! Then spritz your paper with water and start rubbing it off. The paper will roll off and your image will be revealed! It's like MAGIC! I dried it again with my heat gun and gently sanded it to remove any 'hairs' and soften off the edges. Then I sealed it with PPA because when I overlapped my next image I didn't want to chance any of my first one coming off.

The hardest part was that I five pictures so I had to repeat the above process 5 times so there was a lot of drying involved. Then I added some ink, some paint, some gesso...more ink and paint and I was almost done.

I stamped the word 'Memphis' and the date with a VERY OLD acrylic River City alphabet set, and because Memphis is all about the music I couldn't help but stamp some of Stamping Bella's eclectic music on there.

I hope this has inspired you, and be sure to check Emily's blog for her AJ Monday post sometime today. The gals who have been playing along in this have been wowing me week after week and I can't wait to see what they do this week.

Linda.

Take these chances....

Place them in a box until a quieter time,
Lights down, you up and die

{sniff} That is the final verse of a Dave Matthews Band song called Ants Marching and was the final song of the bands tour this year, and the final concert until 2012, according to the band. This may not sound like a big deal to most, but for a band that has toured EVERY summer for 20 years, to NOT play a concert for an entire year IS A BIG DEAL! And a HUGE deal for us devoted fans. Equate it to people who go down south every year and suddenly 'down south' is gone!

I'll tell ya now, this is NOT a card related post, it is totally personal, so if you are here for a card, you might want to exit now and come back tomorrow.

You may or may not know, that hubs and I are TOTAL HUGE fans of the Dave Matthews Band. For the past few years we have travelled around the US and Canada taking in as many concerts as time and money would permit. Some think it is strange, but for us, every trip is an adventure and takes us to cities and places we would never otherwise venture to. These little jaunts are how we vacation. Early in the year we had our 6 concerts planned which included Toronto, Michigan, Cleveland, Scranton and two in NYC. We were happy, 6 concerts is our typical quota. THEN, they announce the band won't tour in 2011 and the last concert of the summer tour will be in Chicago! So, of course, we get tickets for two shows there. THEN, they announce a final tour finishing up in Charlottesville Virginia (Dave's home town) and OMG.....how could we resist! Plus we love the mountains! So C'ville is where we have been for the last 5 days!

Although we usually fly by the seat of our pants on these trips we were pretty organized this time cause there was lots we wanted to see. Day 1, Blenheim Vineyards (owned by DAVE!). There was only us and a couple of other ladies in there so we had an amazing time chatting and when the staff found out we were Dave-heads they shared some cute stories and showed us Dave's original sketch of how he wanted the winery to look. Actually, she called him David! {melt} We wanted to get one of the 2009 limited edition bottles with the label sketched by Dave, but it was not being released until the next day...and 2008 was sold old....sadness....a reason to go back!

Then we headed to Miller's, the place where it all began. For any Dave-head, no trip to C'ville would be complete without a stop at Miller's. It is kind of a dive bar-restaurant type place, but the food was really good and our waitress was exceptional! That was pretty much it for Day 1 and we crashed about 9pm in our hotel room.

Day 2 was our guided semi-private wine tour of the region. Mark, myself and another couple toured 4 wineries guided by Chris of Arcady Vineyards. Chris and his wife run a B&B and conduct wine tours in the region. Mark found them on Trip Advisor and it was AMAZING! Chris was SO knowledgeable and completely NOT a wine snob (which is what I was afraid of)! Just passionate and so eager to teach and share his knowledge. If you are ever in the region and looking for a tour, I HIGHLY recommend them!

A great dinner of calamari and seared scallops at a place called Bizou before we head to the DMB pre-concert party at the Jefferson Theater to watch Tim Reynolds band, TR3...although Tim is not an 'official' member of DMB he has been touring with them for a couple or so years now. I'm not a total Tim lover, but Mark was a happy guy and snapped some great pictures. I particularily like this one. Me, I spent a lot of time sipping wine, playing with my phone and chatting about Dave with other patrons!

Day 3 we head to Monticello for a guided tour of the home of Thomas Jefferson. An amazing piece of architectural splendour and another great tour guide. After the guided tour we walked thru the tunnels under the house then took a stroll to his grave site. I think all ancestors of TJ can be burried there and we saw some as recent as 1997. Pretty cool! Since Monticello is just down the road from Dave's winery we decide to go get a bottle of the 2009 limited edition. We have decided not to crack it open until Dave and the band tour again! Kinda like keeping the top of your wedding cake for you first anniversary!

That evening we head to the first concert at the John Paul Jones arena on the campus of UVA. A smaller venue, built for basketball I think and OH SO STEEP! Like I think the upper bowl is directly above the lower bowl so you aren't any further away, just higher up! We are in the upper bowl, but fairly close to the stage. I'm happy.

Now the real fun begins! After the concert we head back to the Jefferson for the DMB after party to see Trombone Shorty, the band that opened for Dave this same evening. He is amazing!!!!!! We are standing there watching the show and Mark whispers to me, Jeff Coffin is standing RIGHT behind you! LIKE OMG! Jeff plays sax in Dave's band! So do I faint, ask for a pic, an autograph, I don't know! I'm in shock! He is so close to me I can almost feel him breathing down my neck! A couple peeps get their pic taken with him and I ask Mark if we should ask...he says, don't bug him...but I'm like OMG it is JEFF COFFIN...i MUST say something! So I turn around and say we saw the show tonight, it was great, and we'll be back tomorrow! Then he just starts chatting it up...asking where we are from etc, regular small talk...so I cave and ask for a picture! I got a couple, but this one of Mark and Jeff is my fav! Look close, Jeff has his arm on Mark's shoulder!

It was pretty exciting and when we finally got back to our room WELL after 2am I was so pumped I could hardly sleep! So I posted the couple pics on facebook!

Day 4 we decide to take in the scenery and drive up to Shenandoah National Park and take in the views along the Skyline Drive. Mark insisted on stopping at EVERY outlook so I'll NEVER ask him to stop at another outlook again! Sort of a private joke, we often drive to Myrtle Beach thru the mountains and every time we do I ask him to stop for me to get pics, but he flatly refuses cause he just wants to get to where he is going, plop himself on a lounge chair and read a book. Sadly we missed the peak of colour by about a week! But I didn't care...it was SO quiet and peaceful up there and I could have just perched myself on one of those outlooks and coloured all day. Almost made me wish I was a tree hugger who loved to camp...but that thought swiftly passed and I enjoyed my couple hours. This is my fav pic I took along the drive!

We talked to lots of Dave fans over the last few days and have heard everything from:

• they are never going to tour again
• yes, they will back in 2012
• he wants to pursue other interests
• he won't make it through the year, they'll be back

I can't even speculate what to believe! But even if they never tour again, I'm happy knowing I saw the last concert they performed as a band!

Lights down, you up and die!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Yup, it is the hubsters b'day today...a mere 49, yes I am a couple years older than him, but I don't think two years makes me a cougar or anything! LOL!

Being the good soul mate that I am I endured a Lions football game yesterday. Not on TV folks, like the real deal, we are talking LIVE....5th row, 10 yard line! Mark has seasons tickets with his buddy and I go to two games a year...his b'day, and American Thanksgiving. We have the tickets with our friends we travelled to Vegas with so Colleen is the ONLY reason I go, although she does wear lions 'gear' and beads and stuff...but I try to overlook it. The remainder of the games our son Alex goes with Mark, he's a football junkie even worse than his dad!

Back to the card, if you are new to the blog you may not know that Mark and I are (hate to say it)...GROUPIES! Yes, we follow the Dave Matthews Band around on tour and go to as many concerts as time and money permits. Dave has sort of an eclectic following that includes a mix from a young university/college crowd to aging hippies...since we are WAY beyond the university age group we sort of fall into the hippy group and we are often kidded by friends that we need to invest in a VW Van to fit our lifestyle. Ain't gonna happen! Just Saying!

The closest Mark will ever get to a VW hippy van is this Peace VW that was stamped on Bella's BESTEST paper and coloured by yours truly! Of course, I was quite impressed that the first thing he noticed was that I personalized the license plate! For curious minds, NO, I did NOT do this myself....I used my trusty teeny tiny Karen Foster snap alphabets and was so grateful that it fit perfectly. I really think he needs to put this on his desk at work next to all his other DMB stuff!

I started with copic markers, but as always, finished it off with pencils. And note the browning grass under that van, that would represent us tailgaiting in some dry browned grass parking area with all the other groupies!

Y0000, 00, 11, BG0000, 72, 75, 78
G40, YG01, 03, W0, 1
C00, 0, 1, 3, 4, 6, 8

And if you are wondering, it was the Basic Grey Oliver paper that gave me the inspiration for the colours and I LOVE them!

Now it is only Monday so you still have PLENTY of time to join in on our 1-2-3 challenge, ONE image, TWO designer papers and THREE embellishments! Mine is done and guess what....ya, it is a Christmas card! But before then, I'll be popping back in with something TOTALLY different, and in my own opinion, TOTALLY spectacular! I'll give you a hint...I dappled in Art Journalling!

Till next time....Linda!

If I were a golfer...

I would be certainly enjoying the cooler temps we have had the last little while...and even though I don't golf, I'm still enjoying it! However, I'm NOT in ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM ready for snow...not even a dusting...thinking of you Dana and hoping some better weather comes your way soon!

In honour of what I consider perfect golf weather I coloured up Mo's Big Guy Golfing. I'm gonna gush a bit here, I LOVE this card...the colors, the paper, the ribbon, it all came together perfectly for me and that always makes me happy.

This Big Guy was stamped with Memento Ink on Bella's BESTEST paper and coloured with the following copic markers.
E50, 51, 53 (i always use these colors for flesh tones on my 'male' images)
E40, 41, 42, 43, 44
E13 for his little bit of hair
B0000, 000, 41
Y0000, 00, C00, 1, 3
W00, 1, N0, 1, 2

As always I added just a small amount of shading on the image with pencils, and all grass and hint of blue sky was also with pencils.

In case you were wondering where my usual Sunday morning post went...it was because hubby and I spent the weekend in Chicago. No, not a shopping and eating adventure (although I did manage to squeeze in some shopping)...we were there to see Dave...ya...Dave Matthews AGAIN...this time at Wrigley Field. I'll admit, seeing a concert at a sports venue is NOT my fav cause there are just wayyyyy too many peeps for my liking and the place is just too big...but on the other hand...to see so many fans in one place is pretty cool! So here are some pics...

Mark bought me a new scarf...and I was glad I had it because the temps were on the nippy side! Hmmm....shoulda photoshopped that zit off my forehead!

Wrigley Field....CA-RA-ZZZZY general admission fans!


And finally, this is so cute....Bessie had a little vacation of her own and spent the weekend with my friend Kathy, and her friend JD. The two were born within months and have know each other since they were pups. Kathy took this pic with her iPhone while they were out on a walk and sent it to me. JD is the laid back relaxed one on the right, and that is Bessie taking the lead (as always) on the left! Aren't they adorable!!!! Thanks Kath!!!!

Now don't forget about our challenge this week...FAUX or SEW...can't get any easier than that. And I also want to shout out a HUGE thanks for those who played in the sketch challenge last week...I took just a quick peek at the cards on the Bellablog last night and I've got to go back and take some closer looks because they were amazing!

That's it for today...I have the pleasure of a day off work so I'm gonna finish up my class stuff for this weekend and maybe get some colouring time in!

I'm baaa-ack!

hold on....don't get toooooo excited! I'm only part time for now but I'm soooo excited to be colouring again! It is a challenge...somewhat painful and I HAVE to take it slow to allow plenty of time to stretch my hand before it really starts to cramp bad, but it still works!!!! and i'm colouring again and it makes me soooooooo happy! I've missed my markers and pencils more than you know!


I thought this week's challenge was the perfect time to try and jump in because the theme was a bella or a stella...nice and easy...i can do that! Like Jeannie, I LOVE Stella and I just happened to have one that had not seen ink yet....shocking...i think she is the ONLY one. This is Stella has her fix and I think she is drinking coffee...but i'll fess up, if this were me she would be holding a big fat wine glass in her left hand while icing the thumb on her right hand! I do like a coffee, but one or maybe two a day is all the coffee fix I can handle.

For you copic fans, these are the markers I used (but I did add some extra shading with prismacolor pencils):
E0000, 000, 00, 11, 13, 17, 18
E95, 97, 99, 42, 43, 44
Y00, 11, YR01, 02, 68
YG11, 06, R20, 24, 27, 29

Monday I may NEED the extra coffee fix to keep me going because I'm starting back to work on 3-4 hours a day, increasing by one hour a day until I work myself up to a full day again. I'll fess up, I'm a bit scared! I'm a programmer and work on a computer ALLLLL DAY and for the last couple months I have sent emails from time to time and the occasional blog post, but certainly not worked on a keyboard for any length of time! Quite honestly I have not done ANYTHING for any length of time since the accident except for watch the Today Show, Ellen, Rachael Ray and HGTV! Pretty sad eh! At least I did not get hooked on daytime soap opera's!

Thinking of the Today Show I did get to NYC last week because it was our last scheduled Dave Matthews concert of the season. However, once he said he would not be touring in 2011 and announced his last U.S. concert in Chicago we quickly put in our request for tickets so Chicago in September here we come!

Here is a pic from our second night of Dave at Citi Field in New York....we had VIP seats this night so we were pretty close, well as close as you get when you are at a ball diamond! grrrrrrr....I much prefer outdoor amphitheaters to sports venues....just sayin...


We spent 4 days in NYC and OMG........IT WAS HOT!!!!!!!!!!!! like DREADFULLY HOT! but since I have never been there I just sucked it up, bought a hair band (and other stuff {smiles})at J Crew, nixed any and all makeup and made the best of it! I will say that when we got back to our room the first thing I did was dunk my swollen thumb and wrist into a bucket of ice!

We walked MILES and toured our butt's off and now I have a NYC bucket list of things I still need to do:

• walk the Brooklyn bridge...weird I know, but it is truly an architectural masterpiece and I thought it was breathtaking!
• be at the plaza to see Matt, Meredeth, Ann and Al on the Today Show
• ride a bike through Central Park

The food lovers we are, Mark did some research before we left and we ate at some AMAZING restaurants including

• Lombardi's (in Little Italy, established as the first pizzaria in America)
• Gotham Bar and Grill (totally upscale but not stuffy)
• 2nd Ave Deli (recommended to us by a friendly Jewish resident who told us not to go to Katz!...I owe him!)
• Lupa (an amazing Italian Restaurant.....yummmmmmmmmmm!)

Finally, before I hit the pillow, these are some of my fav pics/places from NYC

the metropolitan museum of art, apparently Picasso was into art journalling before it was a fad!

statue of liberty...I only saw her from the ferry, and it was a hazy day but she is absolutely beautiful!

Chinatown...I LOVE cultural neighborhoods!


NYC from the top of the Empire State building at night. I'm a quiet sort of person, not much for being in crowds and noise and it was absolutely surreal up here. everyone was so quiet, concentrating on taking a still picture at night, you didn't hear the sounds of the city and I'm sure you could have heard a pin drop. I really LOVED it up here!


That's about it for today folks...join us next week for our next challenge...Christmas in July....ACK!...I don't know 'bout you, but I have not even thought about Christmas yet...I still have not had a chance to enjoy summer!

on the cover of the Rolling Stone...

Remember that song? Okay…maybe I’m showing my age! For you youngin’s, google it…I’ll give you a tip….Dr. Hook and you’ll likely find it on you tube.


so have you ever wanted to be on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine? Well you can…with a trip to Cleveland, a $22 per person admission, getting your picture taken in front of a green backdrop, touring the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, spending too much money in the gift shop and on the way out spending another $20 on a customized picture, YOU TOO can be on the cover of the Rolling Stone! After shelling out the twently bucks for the cheezy pic Mark and I chuckled that we will put this one in the archives with our cheezy Graceland picture! did ya all get a glimpse of the UGLY black and blue brace on my arm? Nothing new to report there. I’m doing my physio exercises 2-3 times daily and am seeing improvement in my range of motion but still have a LONG way to go….and swelling is STILL an issue so I continue to ice after my exercises.


And check out my mug! Pretty darn cool eh! I was gonna bring it to work, but I’m having second thoughts cause I reallllly realllly like it and think it should stay home to make me smile while I have my morning cup of coffee before I hit the day job. I FREAKING LOVE IT! (we also bought a matching VW bug fridge magnet bottle opener that has found a home on the basement fridge…fyi…there are NO fridge magnets on the kitchen fridge…I have my limits!)

You may have realized by now that we are home from the Cleveland area after our third Dave Matthews Band concert of the summer tour…typing continues to be tiring, I can’t color, but I can certainly still get my groove on (albeit, I often rest my hand on top of my head to elevate it when I feel it starting to swell…much to the dismay of the peeps behind me I’m sure!). This is a pic I took at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls! WAY COOL place for a concert! I’d say it hits the top of my list along with Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin. (BUT I have not been to Red Rocks or the Gorge YET!)


Do you know the band will NOT be touring next year? After 20 years of summers on the road they have decided to take a year off. OMG! SADNESS! But kudos to Dave for giving us lots of notice so we can plan an alternate vacation. I’m thinking 5-6 DMB concerts across the united states each summer has GOT TO be equivalent to 2-3 weeks in Europe? What do ya think??????

Ciao Bella’s…

No fair girl!

I just LOVE the name of this stamp, No Fair Girl...gosh, I don't know HOW many times I whined that while I was a little stinker! And then she's got that little hmph look going on! It is seriously just too darn cute! A bunch of little sentiments come with her and I used my stamp positioner to align a couple of them up for the tag.

I should be making a whole stash of these cards because even though I HAVE a whole stash of cards sitting in my house, I am THE WORST about actually mailing them out and I'm notoriously late getting birthday cards in the mail.

The paper used on this card is a piece of Making Memories that I bought last time I was at da bella's. I really love papers that have a border built into them because it gives a nice layered look without all the work! And heck, after I spent all that time colorin' I'm all about finding the easy way out. In case you are wondering, I typically spend 30-45 minutes to color an image of this size. Longer if they are bigger. Oh ya, and I finally got new specs so that should help to ease my pain, and if I'm lucky, speed it up a bit cause I'll spend less time holding the darn thing out at an arms length to get a good look at it! LOL!

I pulled the following copic markers for this image and stamped her on Bella's Bestest paper. All shading was done with pencils and Versa magic thatched straw was sponged on the edges:
E00000, 000, 00, 11, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47
E31, 15, 50, N0
Y11, YR02, 12, 20, 21
R20, 22, 24, 29
BG0000, 000

Stay-cation update: Last night was our final Dave Matthews concert of the season, so sad to see it come to an end but it was a fantastic show and he sang soooooo many songs from the new CD. We had great seats, 22nd row to the right of the stage. From there we could see into the side of the stage where they walk out and who was sitting watching daddy sing...Dave's twin daughters. They looked so unimpressed, not even toe-tapping! I'm sure it was just a run of the mill day for them. Oh ya, I got busted for taking pictures. You aren't allowed cameras at his shows but every other person seems to sneak one in and I am the one to get busted...likely because I was sitting on an aisle and the security people last night were like Nazi's! So I didn't get as many pics as I normally do, but I'll put this one out here just for my own personal enjoyment!

Classy and Fabulous

That is exactly what this Diva is! AND, this Diva clearly uses a lot of hair dye! How do I know? Because when I was colorin' up miss ADDY'tude on the deck Sunday night it was just starting to get dark and I kinda messed up her hair...Since it was the last thing left to color I REALLY didn't want to file it under 'G' so I attempted to repair my mistake. That ended up with a LOT of color on that head of hers. I think she ended up with a decent dye job though and it isn't nearly as dark IRL as it is in the pic!


I picked my copic colors to match the Basic Grey Wisteria paper...I'm not a purple person, except when it is a nice deep regal looking purple like this! I cut her with my rectangle nestie and added some glitter after 'dotting' her dress with my quickie glue pen. Finally added some Making Memories gems and adhered them with Micro Dots...my hands down fav adhesive for teeny tiny things! I think when I finish the inside of the card, I'll definitely be using the Classy and Fabulous quote!

Now for those who NEED to know, these are the copics I used for my little Diva:
BV000,00, V12, 15
B91, 93
E000,00,11, 31, 33, 35, 37
C1, 2, 3, 6, 7
Black and colorless blender
(pencils were used for the shading below her feet)

For all you Bella fans, you still have one more day to play along in this weeks sketch challenge. You can read all about it on da Bella's blog here.

I'll leave you with a pic of Mark and I taken at the Dave Matthews concert last night in Toronto...We had FANTASTIC seats and I got a ton of really good pics. WhooHooo! Last time I was in Michigan visiting sistah Paula I picked up some Karen Foster mini license plates from all the states and provinces we have seen him in and I plan on making a little scrapbook for Mark with the the location, the concert date, the setlist and my fav pic from the concert! How cool is that! Don't hold your breath though, it might end up being a retirement project!



If you are still with me, and if you care, here is a pic i took last night...Dave! I'm pretty darn sure this one will be featured in the scrapbook!