seeing red ....

okay, once again i am a day late on a' lilhoohaa's photo blog challenge ... but I am here just the same ...
the theme for February was "red" .... here are my contributions to the challenge

although the title of this tile installation in a sidewalk is called "yellow dog" it is the bright red eyes that got my attention.  This is located just outside of the Firehall Theatre.

I love these red doors ... and there are many more ... this is part of the Firehall Theatre ... the building was originally a firehall built in 1906 and it is now a theatre and arts centre.  It is located on the downtown eastside of vancouver in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the country (canada) ...

This used to be quite the grand firehall ... it has been put to a wonderful purpose

Next to the theatre sits the Vancouver Police Museum ... and right on the corner of that building this fabulous red fire sprinkler

and at the intersection ... a red light ...

Everything is from the same little corner and bit of street, it was a beautiful warm sunny afternoon ...

Thanks you so much for stopping by ... if you want to see more red just hop on over to PJ's blog.

peace love and paper
Jo

The other side of Christmas ...

staring through the window of a local coffee shop i am reminded that we are now on the "other" side of Christmas ....

The tree is down ... and in the neighbourhood houses are being stripped of their bright lights ... the roadside is littered with dumped real trees .... all of my much treasured decorations are safely packed away ... and now i don't know if my house looks "crisp & clean" or totally devoid of personality ...

I love Christmas decor and crafts ... so this year I am aiming to create at least one Christmas gift, or decor item each month ... Yup .... thats my plan ...

but before i start ... i just wanted to share a few little Christmas projects from last year ...

I made loads of these paper ornaments using a Tim Holtz die from last year ... they were fun to make but time consuming ... each one was individually inked and then glittered ... but they made gifts or sat in the tree oh so pretty!

little tins decorated and ready to go ... and one sitting in the tree!

I also made loads of paper stars to decorate gifts .... also made with a Tim Holtz die

And finally a tiny altered altoids tin ...

and when the lid is opened ....

who doesn't want Paris at their fingertips!!!  ... a little "desk" gift for a friend ... I printed the little Paris from Made by Joel, which has other pocket sized cities as well as colouring pages for kids ... and hey, big kids as well ... and now ... Paris ... anytime, anywhere!

I have one more project to share with you  ... but that will have to wait until another day .... my pile of laundry is calling me back to reality ...

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Peace, love & paper!
Jo 

Photo blogging challenge - December 2013 "Festive"

Festive .... festive, festive, festive .... what is festive?...   yeah, i was kind of humming and ha'ing on this challenge ... what to photograph to show festive ....

I could do trees, decorations .... pretty packages tied up with pretty strings and bows ... maybe even a fat man in a red suit ...

.... yeah ....

so I went with ..... Bitches!!!!

yes, i said it .... Bitches with a capital B .... let me explain .... years ago, a group of 8 women met at a large paper crafting group ... we enjoyed each others company so much that we broke away from the large group and became a small group of good friends.  We decided to give our group a little brand and decided on the oh so appropriate and happy "Paper Dolls" ... we even made paper dolls of ourselves  and took them with us on photo shoots and exotic locals ...
Then one night .... during a pj party crafting overnighter, we got into lemon meringue martinis .... in a very heavy way .... all i remember is a whole lot of laughter, many many delicious lemon martinis and the "Bitches" was born ....

 Our annual Christmas crafting event ... yeah ... nothing says festive like moustache shaped sugar cookies frosted in pink! (and note the festive christmas necklace)

 and what would our Christmas event be without Feuerzangenbowle!  Izzy is soaking the zucker hut in rum ...  (and check out that festive top!)

and then the cone is lit .... and what is that rum soaked sugar zucker hut melting into you ask???  well a good three bottles of merlot that has be simmering in spices ... yum!

 Every year, one of the bitch's husbands (he is a chef) makes our lunch ... open faced turkey sandwiches, with french onion soup, and a couple of amazing salads ... don't those sandwiches look festive!!!

Amazingly, one of the girls bought us all glasses that say "Merry Christmas Bitches" ... much laughter ensued .... 

and that is my festive contribution to this months Challenge.  Make sure you stop by PJ's blog a'lilhoohaa to check out all of the Festive posts by other bloggers ... 

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year ...

Peace love and paper

Jo

wishing you Joy!

... and peace .... love and laughter .... light and being .... and all of the beauty each moment of the day offers ....

I kind of had those thoughts running through my brain when i met up with a friend to make picket houses ... you know ... you just have the wood cut in the shape of a picket ... in this case we were working with 2 x 4 pickets ...

So i was wanting to make some vintage styles winter white houses to go with 2 houses i made last year ... but sometimes,  the company of a good friend, and a lot of laughter, changes your art mid course ...

 this is my "joy" .... plain wood with layers of vintage hymnal paper, gesso, acrylic paint and patterned paper.  The words were originally cut out of Christmas scrapbooking paper, but that all changed witht he addition of paint ...the hand was painted about 4 times ... then i decided on white ... this shares the table with a very old quilted table runner i made about 15 years ago ..

detail ... some floral patterned paper still shows through ... there are many flowers in joy!

I think my favourite part is the eyes ... the all seeing house .... looking for joy and it is right there ... it just has to see it ...

the second house ..."the daily dance" ... sometimes this is what my days feel like ... I have a bright pink key to wind myself up (really .... just strong coffee does the trick) and i am walking on fragile little pearls all day ...

the pair ... not even close to what i had in my mind but i am so glad they turned out as they did!

and back to my original thought .... "wishing you joy and peace .... love and laughter .... light and being .... and all of the beauty each moment of the day offers ...."

thanks for stopping in, and have a very merry Christmas!
Jo

October 30 - Fall ...

fall this year has been amazing ... October passed by with mostly clear blue sunny skies, warm temperatures and hey, i'm still running around in my birkenstocks ... no need for boots ... yet!

The streets and lawns are littered with beauty ...

I head off to the Playground of the Gods on the side of Burnaby Mountain ... it's always a fabulous place to walk and enjoy the views ... this day, it was so crowded with photographers it was crazy ... 

Fall also brings out the crazies in us as we try to get a decent shot of Honey in her Halloween costume ... this year, she was pouting big time so this is the best i got ...

and don't you just love the abundance of the season ... ornamental pumpkins and gourds ... squash of every kind ... 

summer roses start to fade ...

I love the colours of the season ... hope you are enjoying your fall ...

Trying something new and hooking up with a photoblog challenge at a 'lilhoohaa

a page a day ...

... okay so one, or maybe some ... of my friends suggested we do a challenge ... specifically do one art journal page a day ... for one month ...

i dont know where my friends are at with this, but i decided to take up the challenge ... despite the fact that i am very new to art journalling ...

I am starting with some pages that have a bit of a background on them ... not much but a bit of colour ... and i will be adding background elements to them (well most of them) and adding the "me" stuff as well.  

I am currently having problems with my camera, it being the victim of a very dusty atv ride this summer so the lens does not always open, so i will take photos when i can ...

so here is Sept 1

 I actually started this one on vaca this year .... totally inspired  by a Foo Fighters song and the mass of stars in the night sky up by Merritt ...

 I started the background at a class using Tim Holtz Distress stains ... I added some paint and ink and Gelatos (love Gelatos and friends who teach you techniques wink wink)  I did stamping with paint as well ... total fun.

 September 2  sometimes I just love basic backgrounds as they are ... i like free form rather than patterns or structure in art so spreading and misting distress ink worked for me on this one, and  a soft sketch using my white uniball signo gel pen did the trick .... i still have my penciled in sketch lines on the paper, but i figured that it was part of the process and thought i would leave them in rather than erase them.

And my other photo obstacle .... bad enough having a camera that is not working properly, but i also have my little Honey, who expects to be in every photo ... oh the obstacles she creates .... gives me a happy heart!

thanks so much for stopping by

peace, love and paper, all ...
jo

goodbye summer ...

 good bye to lazy days on the lake, and in the lake

good bye cabin ... good bye long summer grass ....

 good bye to watching summer storms roll in and out ...

good bye to glorious sunsets ...

good bye to friends old and new...

 and to endless trails ...

endless days ...

 till next summer ....

I feel autumn in the air ... hoping you all had a glorious summer ....

Peace, love and paper!
Jo

baker's dozen ...

... if you are in Vancouver, you gotta go ... just a quaint little antique shop .... that isn't so quaint .... more quirky than quaint,  a gallery of all things timeless ... and you can buy the items!!! ... tight and crowded but loads of fun ... you really gotta go ....

Ah, Signage ....

 The windows are always amusing ...

 i would have killed for this typewriter ... well almost ...

 love the mix of old meets new (vintage styled bunny) ...

 religious icons ...

 vintage and reproduction toys ...

 baseball anyone ...

 not your most fetching family ...

 vintage reproduction sign ....

 every mirror needs a skull .... there were tons of skulls in this shop ...

 vintage plushies ....

I had this teddy bear growing up, only mine was the yellow of the stuffed bunny .... but this loveable face ....

and as an added bit of enjoyment, there is a gallery in the back, well side ... it wasn't open the day we visited ... and no photos allowed .... i cant wait to go back and see it.

peace love and paper!
Jo