Gaga over Glimmer Glam ...

Glimmer Glam, by Tattered Angels ... have you tried it??? I have and i gotta say I just love it ...

For those that don't know, glimmer glam is a paint, a very liquidy paint filled with itsy bitsy bits of glitter (yeah, I don't use technical words) and this wonderful paint comes in the same colours as it's counterpart Glimmer Mist.

Now why would you get glimmer glam if you already have glimmer mist??? easy peasy ... because you can paint with it ... and it paints on just about anything including metal and acrylic. I've tried it on the tattered angels frames as well as patterned paper and white prima flowers and it leaves a beautiful glimmery glittery (but not in a garish way) finish.

You don"t need a lot, and it dries fairly quickly if you apply it in moderation ... ie using several thing coats rather than one big wet coat.

So far I only have one bottle of "Chandelier" which is kind of a crystal shade, but i can sure see picking it up in several colours in the future ... its quick, its fun, its blingy and its super easy!

pssst ... PJ, if you are reading this ... this one is for you!!!

Blue ....

Here we are at my very favourite colour ... and i'm a bit perplexed when it comes to saying something about it ... it's the sky, it's the sea ... it's kind of the question isn't it??? what lies in and above those beautiful blue skies, and what lies below those beautiful blue seas ... it almost begs you to believe in something ... almost anything ... as we might never know the answers to those questions ... so blue in all of its glory, holds many secrets and things still undiscovered.

Blue, especially a robins egg/turquoise type of blue has always been my favourite ... never red ... never yellow, or purple or pink ... When i was young ... my bedroom was the most beautiful shade of robins egg blue. and i loved that room, the room of my childhood ... and the house .... such a great house ... and then we moved when i was 13 to a brand new house ... with builders beige on every wall ... to a house that i felt was devoid of personality despite its gold and green 70's decor ... and i absolutely missed the blue of my old room .... and i think i have been searching for it ever since ... sometimes i come very close to seeing it. My blog is almost but not quite that same blue ... my blog is a little creamier than the blue that i hold in my memories ... every paint colour has always been too green, too yellow, too bright, too dull ... so i guess this room and the beautiful walls will reside inside my head as a memory ... never to be recreated ... with all of those other memories of the old house ...

this post was brought to you by the colour BLUE, the beautiful and soulful Jenny Matlock and her Rainbow Summer School Meme ... check it out ... and enjoy the day reading some very interesting takes on the colour blue!

here are some blue photos from my part of the world ....

a blue sign

another blue sign ... this one with wonderful art

speaking of art ... love the blue window panes on this art supply store

also loving this blue bottomed rainbow water taxi

blue water and sky ... the blues are always changing

even the mountains look blue ...

yesterdays summer sky ...

my bucket list ...

I was doing a circle journal ... and the topic ... What is on your Bucket List ... and you know … I really don’t have one …

That’s not to say that I don’t have dreams...

that I don’t have goals...

that I don’t have wishes and desires …

I just don’t have that “something” I would call a bucket list …

I hope to live long enough to see my daughter as a happy healthy self supporting productive adult …

Emphasis on the happy …

I hope for an improvement in my health

I do want to fall in love one more time … and see Paris … maybe both at the same time …

I want to keep having fun …

Laugh … experience more joy …

Create more ...

Give back more to my community …

And love … always love …

So ... do you have one? a bucket list? whats on it?

Peace. Love & Paper ~ Jo

What would you do???

Oh i just love back to school shopping ... in my case it's all vicarious .... it's daughter's back to college shopping ... but look what she came home with!!!

Okay, I know ... it's a paper bag ... and you are thinking "so not wow, so not exciting, it's just a bag"

and over here, yeah ... me ... I'm thinking this bag just saved me!!! I have been in this creative slump for a bit ... i think a lot of it was hot weather driven ... not wanting to sit and sweat while creating ... but it was a lull ... a long one ...

and now looking at this bag, my new muse ... I am totally inspired! I'm thinking titles .... what i can make out of those letters and numbers ... i'm thinking embellishments, i'm thinking flowers, i'm thinking retro, vintage, grunge, paint, glimmer mist, and what those handles will look like once i untwist them ...

Now in all honesty daughter came back with more than a bag, she came back with jeans and stuff in the bag ... i wonder if i walked into AE if they would give this enthusiastic wannabe artist a bag sans purchase??? i think i need at least one more ...

So dear readers ... i know what i will be doing with this bag ... what would you do??? And what's sparking your creative vibe these days???

Peace Love & Paper ~ Jo

I can feel it coming in the air tonight ....

actually it's more like I can feel it in the air this morning ... yup ... it is here ... i felt it this morning when i was driving daughter to work ... moisture in the air ... a coolness in the morning air that wasn't there yesterday ... we drive past a maple tree in the park ... one small branch is full of vibrant red leaves ... and as we drive, dried leaves fall from trees and litter the street and sidewalk with brown ... and yet it is still summer .... most of the trees are a beautiful green, but autumn and all of its colourful glory is making her way here ... taking the green away ... replacing this one beautiful & vibrant colour with the first three colours of the rainbow ... kinda funny how that works ... I will miss the green, even though there are plenty of evergreens, i will miss the brilliant green foliage that is here all spring and summer ... i mourn the day when i look out my window and just see stark naked branches ... no leaves ... no chirping birds ... no insane squirrels ... well okay ... that is a lie ... those damn squirrels are always around ... but i will miss the green ...

Geez, was that like the shortest post ever for me??? I'm sparing you all a great deal of reading today ... As ever, this post was brought to you by the colour GREEN, the beautiful and soulful Jenny Matlock and her Rainbow Summer School Meme ... check it out ... and enjoy the day reading some very interesting takes on the colour green!

Some pics ... most of them are very recent

dd was 5 when this photo was shot ... love the green grass and the great big autumn coloured leaf

The rec centre has a "green" roof, with plants growing atop it

Yummy Carleton ware

love the old green felt lining in my Mom's bronzed baby shoes

the bike police wear green safety vests ... now this is on the side of a highway ... i shot while driving (don't try it) these officers actually had a car pulled over ... I find myself wondering how fast they must have been pedalling

just a great big beautiful leaf

bamboo

shadows of green ....

at the conservatory ... leaves against the glass roof

Hey ...

Check it out, ... my latest post at The Inspired Scrapper ... the challenge is to use music or a "soundtrack" in your layouts ... take a peak here ... I hope it will inspire you. And make sure you check out the posts by other members of the Design Team ... they rock ... and roll ... and ... ah ... yeah, so corny ... but do check them out and leave them some love!

sneak peak!

following my yellow brick road ...

No ... no tornados here ... my house wasn't tossed in the wind and thrown into some strange dimension ... although i must admit, some mornings i wake up feeling like i have left some strange dimension behind ... not Oz ... but something similar I'm sure. Other times, I feel like i haven't left that strange dimension upon wakening ... that i am still there in part ... looking for my yellow brick road without a gaggle of munchkins to point out the way. No lollypop guild members singing ... no dying witches, no scarecrows ... just me ... and my sometimes present yellow brick road. Sometimes I think i have found it ... and i follow ... only to realize that it is full of blinds and traps and alleys that lead to dead ends. Other times i realize right away, without following, that the bricks ahead are strewn with danger... and sometimes, just every once in a while, i realize that maybe i don't need the yellow brick road ... maybe this is a quest that doesn't need doing ... maybe i should create my own path instead ... forge ahead in a land of my own creativity ... and allow myself to inhabit and live in the process ... instead of looking for and ending in some distant castle ...

So this is what happens when my creative flow is missing and i have spent the past couple of weeks with my (not so) dear friend insomnia ... you get to read a very disheveled post ... my intent was to write about everyone living in their own yellow submarines and battling their own blue meanies, what ever they are ... instead i am lost in some parallel Oz and you my dear reader are witness to this spontaneous post ... hang in there ... i am nearing the end ...

Some photos of late ... some not so recent ... some brand new ... loving the yellow!

golden kiwi (that counts as yellow doesn't it??? and pineapple

This post was brought to by Insomnia, the colour Yellow and the uber fab Jenny Matlock's Rainbow Summer School meme!

graffiti on yellow

making soap ... added some sweet almond oil and got this colour

at the Lion King

a graphic shirt calls for a graphic sign

a pretty yellow bike

an even prettier yellow bike!

amazingly gorgeous but hard to get a decent shot of, golden pheasant

yellow flowers

Peace, Love & Paper ~ Jo

Diane ... This one's for you!

Remember that day .... yeah, that one ... it was so much fun! You, me, our cameras, and blue sky during a late winter/early spring day (that was code for I forget the exact day tsk tsk.) So after a morning of shooting the beach, the shells, the ocean, the gulls ... we moved into the park and had fun in front of this great big structure that used to be part of a brick or cement factory (again code for i don't remember.) We finished the day with a delicious tailgate party for two ... fun all around! (now that I do remember.)

Geez, i just love using bling on layouts and i did use lots here. the three little daisies were coated with glossy accents and sprinkled with Martha's tinsel glitter. I used three little rows of Kaisercraft bling, one cool embellie from The Girls Paperie and all patterned paper is IOD. As always, thanks for stopping by.

Peace, Love & Paper ~ Jo

Knock Knock ...

Who's there !
Orange !
Orange who ?
Orange you even going to open the door !

Okay, you can totally see that my little mind is totally blank on the subject of orange ... which is kind of fitting, because i seem to be have a total creative block ... must be the heat or the sun or the dog or ... well just about anything other than saying "it's just me" ... so yeah, the block ... it is so weird that i am having a block on the colour orange ... i love orange ... especially in the fall .... the vibrant foliage, the pumpkins, the pies .... and orange is the colour of the 2nd shakra ... the seat of creativity ... maybe it's just because i have been living life to the full lately, with out time to stop and create that i am actually feeling this creative lull ... so I am leaving you this week with some photos featuring orange in all of its joyful, happy, creative glory ...

When my girl was much smaller ...

more beautiful pumpkins ... this was last fall at an apple festival

These signs are everywhere this summer ... traffic is mayhem in some parts of the city

and orange lilly in all her glory

at a daffodil festival ... not all daffs are yellow ... i loved this cream and orange daff

darling daughter, once again as part of an art installation

a life ring ...

on the wharf ... highly visible

and owl plushie for my daughter ... a reminder to keep learning

a japanese maple in full on fall colour

This blog is brought to you by the colour ORANGE and I am playing along with the fabulous Jenny Matlock's Rainbow Summer School meme. Make sure you check it out, there will be so much orange ... and that is a totally good thing!

When the local 711 became a Kwik-E-Mart ... it was hilarious! The inside was all decked out, they sold pink frosted donuts , boxes of frosted Krusty-O's, Buzz cola, Squishees instead of Slurpees .... and all things Simpsons ... so much fun ... the lineups were huge during the day ... everyone was snapping photos ... so cool! summer of 2007.