Sunday, June 24, 2012

Post-Op

Orpheum Bell at The Ark, Ann Arbor, June 23, 2012
Survived my surgery just fine, but recovery is slow. I overdid last night; we had a babysitter lined up and I had purchased concert tickets for us to enjoy (E's birthday gift), but E was worried it would be too much for me. He even suggested he could scalp (!) the tickets outside the venue, which is when I took action and said I'd hang in there for the show.


The band is fronted by a friend of his, another Russian expat, although this one came to the States when he was about 9. You can hear the music they play at their website, Orpheum Bell. I'd describe it as The Civil Wars with 3 times the members, fronted by Tom Waits, and heavily caffeinated ;) Several of the members played more than one instrument, and those varied wildly - from violin to banjo to spoons, accordion to harp to trumpet - we laughed every time someone brought out a new instrument to play...it was comical, but awesome.
More Than A Puddle
Studio Calico bg paper and journaling label,
various pp from My Mind's Eye and Echo Park
Hambly rub-on, Tim Holtz filmstrip, old transparency
MM glitter letter stickers
Back to my usual programming ;) This page is a recent favorite of mine. It was a challenge in one of Ali Edward's books (this one, I think...I have them all), using triangles of patterned paper to mimic a quilt. I didn't notice the large rectangle I created through the middle of the layout until I glued everything down and stood back. Pretty cool, huh? This page records a flood of water over a nearby road that was the deepest I'd ever seen. I used Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's rain stencil to tie some of the papers together.

Easter Sunday, all supplies by Authentique, Blissful collection
I had these Authentique papers pulled for another LO, only to realize they were not at. all. what I was looking for. They worked perfectly with Easter Sunday photos from inside our church. All of the embellishments are Authentique, as well. From a sketch in Memory Maker's Quick and Easy Scrapbook Pages.
Easter Bubbles - Basic Grey Plumeria papers
This is straight-up Becky Higgins sketch work. My friend Kelly, whose house I scrap at every other Friday or so, has the Best of Becky Higgins' Sketches, and I borrowed it while there. She couldn't believe how much it was selling for on Amazon - I had heard upwards of $200, but the most recent listing shows $54.50 for a used copy, $95 for new (!!!). I don't really regret not buying this when it first came out (I was too busy collecting Ali Edwards' books) as it's taken me a while to "allow" myself to play with BH sketches - they seem to need more advance planning (photo sizes, placement, etc.) and I'm more of a spur of the moment, play with 4" x 6" photos kind of scrapper.

It's taken me a long time to allow myself to *crop* photos, but these had plenty of empty space (grass, mostly) that gave me the freedom to cut many of them down to the 3" x 4" size the sketch showed. Overall, I'm happy with this - although I have the opposite problem of my Good Friday LO...*no* "extra notes, LOL. Well, I finished this near midnight at Kelly's, and decided "done is better than perfect." Oh, and I got to use the Plumeria papers I bought recently. Using recent purchases always makes me happy :)

One last photo - my Kool Aid dyed yarn. I've decided to name this colorway "Morning Glory," because it reminds me of the ones that grow near my front porch.
I'm pretty sure 110 yards will make me a French press cover - this is not the pattern I'm using; mine is from a UK magazine, uses sport weight yarn like what I dyed, and features a little lip for the spout. Adorable! You'll just have to wait until I have a finished project photo to show you.




2 comments:

  1. Glad you are doing ok!! I loveeeeeeee all your lo's!!! GORGEOUS!!!!

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  2. Thanks, Julie! I'm feeling a little less like Frankenstein every day, LOL! ;)

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