Today

"Today I shall behave as if this is the day I shall be remembered." Dr Seuss
Walking unspoiled beaches like this, we leave trails, foot prints, hopefully no rubbish, and simply enjoy the show that nature provides us.  Click the link for Sky Watch Friday to see what bloggers from all over the world have found in their sky to share this week.
 

Courage

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to ones courage" Anais Nin

Love these quiet salty marshes full of nooks and potential adventure.  Sharing a vacation photo with friends in Sky Watch Friday the biggest and best linky party celebrating the simple joys of watching the sun go by.
 

Light

In the right light at the right time, everything is extraordinary, Aaron Rose

How very true, a pretty afternoon and view can turn spectacular with a change of light.  Am sharing a photo from one of my favourite beaches showing off a pretty play of light off encroaching clouds.  Click the link to Sky Watch Friday to see what 100s of bloggers from all over have found in their sky to share this week.

Putting the finishing touches on a new mixed media workshop for My Creative Classroom. 

Blue Sky Afternoons

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"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life, it turns what we have into enough and more"  Melody Beattie

Am grateful to have taken time out to travel, enjoying beautiful blue sky afternoons, spending time with family and friends.  This cool weather vane is typical of the New England and Maritime regions and sits a top the Loring Cranberry Warehouse.  This beautiful old building is for sale,  you can click the links for a walk through to appreciated and the interesting crafted details.

Adding a link to the Sky Watch Friday party with 100s of bloggers from all over the world sharing their view of the horizon.

Colourful Post Cards

Jot Magazine is a new digital publication from Kim Archer with a fresh new look to papercrafting, Project Life, off the page and more.  This month's colour challenge is pink & yellow that makes me feel all fresh and summery.  Click the link to see what Kim and the creative team have going on.

 

I am road tripping for the next few weeks and researching my next mail art workshop.  Click this link to My Creative Classroom to check out my current workshops.

 

Friends have been asking what is happening with my OLW (one little word) project with all that is going on how does one maintain their 'zen'.  When I picked the word it was all about finding a balance between the unexpected events, things that take too long to happen, where we would like to be or what we have to do. 

So far zen has been fun, then I found a post about the zen of chocolate and a yummy new find The Nutty Islander from Cape Cod ~ life is full of discoveries ~ life is good.

  

À bientôt   

Little Treasures

Treasure this day, and treasure yourself. Truly, neither will ever happen again. Ray Bradbury

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Happy Sky Watch Friday my friends, our days have been busy with creative projects and things that have to be done.  Looking forward to a beach holiday with the family soon and trying to remember to enjoy every day in any way we can.                 

Where & What

Catching up on lots of creative posts.  Next week we double celebrate with Canada Day and then 4^th of July.  In celebration of the town we called home for a large part of my childhood am sharing a project life style page on Plymouth.  If you get to that part of the country, Plymouth has so much to offer in history and culture and a magical environment.

Whatevers is a challenge site hosted by 3 creative friends, Cat Scanlon, Vicki Chrisman, Nat Kalbach to celebrate found photos and the stories they tell or could be told if someone took the time to write them down.  Found photos at tag sales and antique centres always make me curious, who are these people and where are their families.  There are interesting things to see with different clothing styles or old motor cars and pieces of life in days gone by.

My first post tells where I started the story and these are my last few contributions and their stories.

 

Featuring Maya Road stamps, Julie Fan Balzer stencils and Splash ofColor paints

Dear Charles
We are having the most amazing adventures in the East. The photo is of my exchange school tutor with her amazing collection of origami balls, she does the most amazing things with folded paper.  The circle is my attempt at calligraphy, it looks so simple but the symbols mean so much.  The symbol for ZEN is curious, almost full circle but not.  Practicing these graceful skills takes lots of concentration and I often find my mind wandering and wondering about how busy our lives are, almost out of balance and certainly out of zen!  warmest hugs from Chelsea 

 

Dearest  Chelsea

The last few months have flown by.  Your newsy letters always full of interesting snippets from afar bridge time and miles. Reading words can’t beat being together but for now all those words and letters a building a strong bridge.  warmest hugs from Charles

Whatevers photo challenge, this time I took the boys to Paris, using Liz Hicks new number stamps, Luminarte paints, Graphic 45 papers, and Balzer Design stencils

Dearest Chelsea,

This will be a quick message as we are off and racing again this morning and heading towards Paris.  This Great Race as they are calling it has taken weeks for our little motor car to cross oceans, tundra, hills and many many miles, often without a real road as we know it.   What a wild adventure this road trip has been, so many different cultures and styles of living but you know one thing that struck me is that no matter where we go, people are people, they are all curious about the motor car and excited about the potential for more people to be able to travel great distances to see the world for themselves.

Hugs and looking forward to seeing you soon. Charles

 

A project life page with a bit of a mixed media twist on the theme of ‘our town’ Using Bo Bunny Anthem paper collection and a lot of stamps and inks.  Lately I have been using Donna Salzar Mixed Media Inks from Colorbox, they blend so beautifully.  I love using papers and trims in a new way and building pop out journaling into the pockets. We counted ourselves very lucky to have an opportunity to move to Plymouth. We were there for  bicentennial celebrations, record breaking blizzards, and many fun adventures on the beaches and around the pine scented forests.  Pretty amazing to see history on most every street corner and to go to school with descendants of the original settlers. 

Happy Canada day for everyone north of the 49^th parallel and happy Independence Day to everyone in Plymouth.

 

 Blog links to Jenny Matlocks' Alphabe-Thursday, a fun party with weekly themes rounding the alphabet and really fun to see how people interpret the theme, cooking, photos, funny stories, always something interesting.

A little stressed

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"Our greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another" William James
A colourful sky from a recent trip to the country to share with my friends in Sky Watch Friday along with a little nature photo.  Aren't they just the cutest things. Northern Rivers Wildlife Carers is a large voluntary association that rescues and cares for native animals, their web page provides lots of information about the local habitat.  

Am working on new creative projects to share soon, till then hang loose and stress free.
 

Good Thoughts

"If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely" Roald Dahl

Have lots of fun new creative projects on the worktable to share soon, for now a wintery full moon from the beach because I know my Sky Watch Friday friends always enjoy a beach view.
 

Celebrating Life

Project Life is making a big impact on the world of papercrafting and art journaling.  Those little pockets unleash a different kind of creativity and I love that focus on writing the story to go with the photos.  

Last month we held a celebration of life for our mother with the kind help of Nici who helped us embrace the message of celebrating the beauty of our days.  At the same time friends were asking me how to save special cards in the Project Life format and how to make use of the collections of scraps we are all hoarding.  The questions became the inspiration for these pages as a celebration of life with journaling about the creative journey we shared.

 Maya Road Stamps with a sewing theme were the creative spark that called for a handicraft theme.    CratePaper Fourteen has a Valentines Day theme with a bit of creative cutting gives you lots more options.   

 

 

The base of the page is Cupid paper cut to the 3x4” size with faux stitching.

Everyone love stencils and I love being creative in recycling.  Kiddies stencils can double duty in the craft room.  

Being creative with trims we can focus on  love hearts.

All the photos on these pages are from special times with stories to tell and that was the inspiration for flip up journal cards.

Our last card for mother’s day now has a home and a story to share.

Love to hear your thoughts on the Project Life style and don’t mind a good challenge ~ just like the question of how do you save special cards in the pockets ~ you never know where they will take you.