kandeland

some things I'm liking right now

1. This wonderfully scented shampoo. I usually survive on the 99 cent shampoo deals but occasionally I up-it a notch, like when I'm doing a lot of sun and surf and the hair has recently been victimized by a paper shredder.

2. Cute little packets of Maple Almond Butter. I'm not a big fan of nut butters, but I AM a big fan of single-serving things in nice packages! (take that as you will...ha!)

3. Drinking this. Because it straightened out a really bad stomach situation I had going on for like four days.

4. Seeing my Halloween ornament in the current issue of Somerset Gallery. (Although I'm not liking that I didn't see a copy in my mailbox!).

5. This CD, which I mentioned on my last post. But seriously, it's one of my all-time favorites going way back. It gives me chills. Love every inch of it. I put it away for a couple years and just busted it out again and love it like the first time.

6. This book that I finished a couple weeks ago but still chuckle about when certain parts cross my mind.

What are you liking at the moment?

3 days isn't long enough...

Well that was fast! The weekend, that is. Tomorrow is Monday, and I'm off, but that's gonna fly too, I just know it! Such is life.

Friday night was pretty interesting. It started off at a Mexican bar, and ended at a Burlesque show! All I have to say about that is: You wouldn't imagine some of the things your local cashier may do in her free time! A nice girl I thought of as possibly shy who regularly cashes me out is apparently not shy at all...think Statue of Liberty show-clothes with sparkling tassels and lots of vigorous circular movement! (All I know is had those nip-stickers had pencils on the ends and she was near a wall, she seriously would have drawn perfect huge circles!). Should I compliment her on her performance the next time I'm in the check out? Hmm. Anyway, I didn't plan to attend this show...it just happened to be booked in place of a band at one of the regular spots I sometimes go to. But it sure made it more interesting! (I'm still kicking myself for not snapping a pic or two!).

So then Saturday was beach day! Swam, relaxed, watched Scarlet make a bunch of beach friends and got some sunburn. Followed by hot dog stand stop and nice evening at home.

Today (Sunday) it was on to my parent's house for a relaxing evening with family. I love hanging out in their picturesque yard...

All winding woodsy paths and pretty nature everywhere.

Here's Scarlet and my aunt having a little swing together:

So here it is Sunday night and I'm home working on slapping paint, and glue and other things around, while listening to one of my all time FAVORITE CDs .

And tomorrow, well, I'm hoping for some sun. It's going to be in the 90's and I hope that means 90's with sun so I can spend it at the beach, not 90's and rain, so I can't. We'll see.

Hope you are having a fun weekend....

happy memorial weekend!

This is where you can find me:

It's super hot out so I will be residing at the beach for most of the time, but besides that my plans for the weekend are: hit the city tonight for some Cabernet-induced fun and relaxing, go to a cookout at my parent's house, and get my yard work completed!

What about you? Have a fun LONG weekend! See you Tuesday...

texture, texture, texture!

How I love playing in this journal! I think it's because it's so full of texture and messiness. I've made some mistakes, and ripped them out, and did something else, and there's been no stress...just play. Trying new things. So here's some more ways I used texture...

Burlap, brocade ribbon, twine and heavy-body paint...

close-up...

Embossing chip board (although I screwed up the "n" in my name a bit), drawing with a hotglue gun, layering paints...

Look at how fun it is to use hot glue and paint over it...

Using fabric, textured (then painted) wallpaper and a wood embellishment...

Keeping thicker embellishments to the outer corners of the book...

Using shells, glass bead medium, broken jewelry and more burlap...

The glass bead medium mixed with brownish paint gives a faux-sand look...

And using textured paper with paint, more fabric and twine with seed beads...

This circle was originally in the inner corner, but prevented the book from closing too much, so I simply cut it out and patched over the damaged area (now a painted heart)...

Messy and fun. Love it! I have a few more pages to work on to complete the book...and I may then have to turn another cardboard box into a journal!

weekend recap

Such a fun weekend! Friday night my family and I went out for dinner at one of the yummiest-spots-around for my brother's 27th birthday. Here are the grounds leading up to the restaurant...

I had the most magnificent Macadamian-crusted Sea Bass! After dinner Scarlet chased some black ducks around on the way back to the car and then had us laughing so hard on the ride home that my mom peed her pants! Scarlet sang her own made up blues song that might make her famous on YouTube if I recorded it!

Instead of birthday cake we shared a variety of yummy gourmet birthday cupcakes:

Scarlet was happy to see that Grammie and Poppy's pool is now open!

It was a gorgeous evening and we sat outside and relaxed.

And visited with poor little Katie, who is getting put to sleep on Monday due to kidney failure. I adopted her 13 years ago when I was living at home for a bit after moving back to the area from CA. And though I moved out of my parent's house a  few months later, no one wanted me to take her, so she's been with them ever since. Poor thing. She lost half of her body weight in this past year. She's not suffering now, but she will be soon, so Monday she will be sent off to kitty heaven.

Saturday was the peak of beautiful weather! At dinner on Friday Scarlet talked everyone into going to the zoo the next morning, so that's what we did!

After the zoo Scarlet and I spent the rest of the day relaxing, grocery shopping, running errands, reading,  journaling, doing laundry etc. And then we woke up to our pretty lake looking like a mud puddle!

Every 5-6 years they let out the dam to drain it and repair the walls. So ugly! Hopefully it will be filled back up soon!

So today (Sunday), another incredible day weather-wise, had Scarlet begging for the beach before I even opened my eyes! So off we went!

I was in heaven! This here is where I am most relaxed and living in the moment! And I couldn't believe that it's only May 20th in Buffalo and the water wasn't too cold to swim in!!

Though chilly, we both got in up to our chests! It was beautiful.

Once we got home and showered I made my favorite summertime edible: fresh salsa!

And then since we were in the A/C decided to put the old bananas to use and make banana bread, which smelled up the house in the best way!

And now I'm hanging out for the rest of the evening on the back patio relaxin' like it's my job.

Hope your weekend was nice too! xo

life in photos...

cactus

blackberries

beachwalk

teacup

gumbo

gift for my mom

freshly cut lawn

washi tapes

Happy Friday and Happy Birthday to my brother and to Linda !!

working on the inside

I've been having fun on the inside of the journal from the last post! Only a few pages so far, but it's been so fun to think of texture as my goal with this one, while still allowing for the book to close. I've been using all kinds of fun stuff...here's a peek...

Textured wallpaper painted in pearl paint with scraps and strips of fabric for the opening page:

(This journal has the added benefit of all pre-printed statements, therefore eliminating the steps of writing, which is a nice change)

Using a metal spiral with dimensional glaze and seed beads:

Lots of scrap and gaffer tape:

Raised plastic flowers:

Heavy-body paint for thickness, metal plate attached with brads, more fabric, lace and dimensional stickers:

Will be back soon with more...

this was a cardboard box!!!!!!!!!!!

Want to see what's been OBSESSING me for the last 48 hours?! Creating this:

Ok, so it's not like I needed to make another journal, but I couldn't resist joining up to make a Soul Book taught by Melody Ross. I just love her art style and products and since I pretty much get fueled off of making journals I figured it was a given I'd see what she had to offer.

So I grabbed a box knife and an old cardboard box (formerly a box to hold playdoh equipment) and cut that baby up and made myself an AWESOME book!

This one is all about TEXTURE and play. And the wording and photos are all about me and my personal truths. Love it!

Notice that thick heart? Made by filling a cookie cutter with glass bead medium (that I had right in my cabinet!). Now that's texture! And those mini glasses? Found them at the doll show!

Can you tell I'm excited?!?! I've only just started the inside but I'm having so much fun. I just love texture, and working on cardboard is making it a fearless process. I will definitely show more of this as I go along!

Doll Show

One of the things I'm thankful for (especially when times are rough!) is the quality of my friendships. This past Saturday I was happy to get the chance to meet up with one of my favorite long-time blog buddies Vivian for some girly afternoon time!

We had breakfast, shopped at Michael's and got to browse and shop at a Doll Show. I only snapped a few pictures but there were tons and tons of great, old, pretty, creepy, big, little, expensive and cool dolls.

It was fun to browse around and see so many wonderful treasures from the past. So much homemade skill.

These are the little items that jumped in my bag and followed me home...

Thanks for stopping by and come again soon to see the project I'm working on that is making me so happy and inspired! happy Monday...

excuse the crudeness but...

After a week filled with totally annoying things including (but not limited to) getting my hair sucked into a paper shredder at work...

But enjoy yours!