Start of a new journal...

When Heather and Michael went California last February I stayed with their furbabies and Nyassa.  I posted some pictures on the WOYWW post Wednesday but thought I would share a couple more and show you what I made with part of the gift they brought me back!
I think everyone knows I am a serious crafter...harrruummmmpppffff....well something like that anyway!  It was such a hardship staying up at their house cause I was so bored and lonely...NOT!
The puppies love it outside and the first few days it was nice and warm and I would sit outside and watch them play.  Late in the week we got a light snow and while I stayed in the house they still were outside enjoying it!  

Outside playing in the snow.  WOW talk about excited they were rolling, jumping and playing like crazy. 

Inara really did think they were nuts and wouldn't go outside at all!

Horace checking out what was to eat!

After all that running and playing they had to take a nap don't you know!  I got to sit between them watching TV most afternoon.  They would let me up to go to the toilet or to refill my coffee and that was it!

Just before midnight playing again! 

In the afternoons and evenings we would go up in the craftroom they all settled down for naps and seemed most content while I did some painting and crafting.  I think they realized this place had a lot of their Momma and Dad in it!  Nyassa would say "go upstairs?" and the dogs bolted for the stairs so it didn't take a lot of coaxing to get them up there. We would spend hours up there and everyone even the bird enjoyed it.

Big Burdle!  Nyassa Bird a 19 yr old African Gray Parrot.

Rough life!!

My place in the room was just as rough as the critters.... This shot is taken standing by Nyassas tree looking to the other end of the room.  You can see the dog bed with the red blanket in the picture above on the lower right and in the picture below in the lower left.  It is a huge room!  Heather hosts a Monday Night Art night each Monday and we always have room for everyone!

It is a huge room!

My corner of an 8 foot table.  Lots of room to play and have coffee too!

Needless to say I had a lot of fun babysitting and taking care of the furbabies and Nyassa.  When they came back they brought me a bag of awesome goodies.  I had been complaining to Heather I didn't particularly like the art journal I had been painting in cause it always seemed to weep or run and the paper was too thin for the mediums I wanted to use so she brought me a big 9"x12" multimedia heavy weight paper book by Stillman and Birn.  It is really nice!  I had been wanting to try acrylic ink and she brought me 6 bottles of Daler-Rowney inks and 4 rolls of some of the most luxurious MT ex masking tape or washi tape to those in the know...Oh Yeah!  a 2# box of See's chocolates.  I just ate the last two chocolates tonight so I guess I know where the extra 7# I have on my hips came from!

So what was that I heard?  Want to see what I made with the new inks?  Okay here it is!  Isn't it awesome?  Aren't the colors vibrant and bright?  I decided I love acrylic inks and went out and bought me a few more different colors!

All the background is hand done,  I used a wedge white ink pen to go around each one and did faux stitching with a Sharpie fine marking pen.  The stamps are from Stamper Anonymous and Tim Holtz.  The Echinacea is from the Flower Garden set.  Butterflies are from the Framelets with Stamps set 660189 as is the creativity sentiment.  Other sentiments are from the Perspective stamp set.  BTW the Perspective stamp set has a butterfly stamp that is larger...25% then the one in the framelets set but it is the same stamp.  Coloring on sentiments done with Sharpie alcohol ink pens.  Flourish in the lower right done with liquid pearls from Ranger Ink.

This post became picture heavy quickly and it seems my dialogue increased also.  Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it!