Princess Bubbles Creates

 I have been having a lot of fun creating small collaged mandalas.  I glued seven of them onto a page in my art journal.  I love the riot of colour!

  A while back, I found a fat quarter bundle of unicorn fabrics at a thrift store.  I had no idea why I needed it at the time.  I bought it anyway.  Of course!  Who could walk away from sparkly unicorn fabric, especially when you have granddaughters! This fabric luxuriated in my stash, knowing it would be perfect for some wonderful project.   The project is a unicorn stuffy.  It will go along with the wonky dolls that I have created.  This is the start of that unicorn.  There is loads more embroidery to do and I am enjoying every bit of it.  These creatures are going to be characters in the book I am writing for one of my granddaughters.   I am now noticing that all of that fabric came from thrift stores.  Fun! I am linking to https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

  LeeAnna  has asked snow cone or ice cream cone?  what flavors? I don't care much for ice cream or snow cones, really.  I like sherbet or, even better, Dole Whip.  Yum!  The first time I had it was in Hawaii.  I was delighted to find it at an ice cream shop in town.  I have it maybe once a year.  That reminds me I haven't had any yet.  Oh, I do like a banana split from Dairy Queen.  I had one for my birthday this year.  Yikes, so many calories! I like that my hubby goes camping every August.  He loves it.  Usually, at least one of our sons can join him.  His brother, BIL, nephews and a friend join him as well.  It is a good, relaxing time filled with outdoor activities.  All good.  I particularly like having a week where I don't have to cook much.   I like filling my world with colour and beauty. So does Yinka Ilori His TED talk was interesting.    

 This is a collaboration with my two-year-old granddaughter.  While I was taking care of her on Monday, she made lots of art.  It was her happy place.  She made loads of art and I kept a piece.  It was fun for me to add my own marks to it. I may or may not add more to it.  We will see.  

 Hmm, this one seems rather dark.  The shimmer and shine are not showing in the photo.  I sure wish I knew a good way of capturing the glitz!  Even if I did, I feel like this could use a little something else.  I will ponder what is next for this.  

  I have added more stitching to this mandala.  There is very little space left to fill.  I imagine I can finish it today.  I love a good finish!  It has been such a pleasure working with these lovely bright colours.  I might need to start a scroll using these colours!  Fun! I am linking to https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

LeeAnna  has asked a vivid memory of a family vacation you'll always remember... when you were young? or after you grew up, either. What made it stand out and memorable? People, place, activity, etc We took the boys to Disney World in Florida when they were kids.  That was the only real vacation we had with our kids.  The rest of our vacations were camping in Ontario.  Disney was fun, and we did some camping along the coast afterwards.  So many good memories.  The wildlife was particularly entertaining.  Raccoons tried to steal our dinner.  One morning, while having coffee, dolphins swam by!  That was cool to see! Right now we are looking forward to our trip to the UK.  So much history to see!  My hubby's favourite vacation is when we went to New Zealand.  It was good and I enjoyed it but my favourite is when we went to France.  Paris did not disappoint! I like having art days with friends!   Yesterday was a lot ...

 I have some linen samples that I have been wanting to stitch into.  They are mostly shades of beige and off-white.  I find I rarely use those colours.  They feel so blah to me.  I decided to get out some dyes and make the linen samples more appealing to me. I had some leftover dye and really hate to waste anything, so I did up some paper too.  I used a variety of papers and love the way they turned out!

 This is a mixed-media mandala playground.  My mandalas are a lovely distraction!  I could certainly be doing other things but in my mind, creating art is rarely wrong!

 I didn't manage to do a lot of stitching this past week.  I did finish a few more of my wonky flowers though.  When I first started making them I had no idea what I would do them.  I am now considering covering one of my dining room chairs with some of them.  My chairs are painted in a fun and funky way so this would work well. I can also imagine using them in the book I am doing for one of my granddaughters.  They might be a fun garden for a wonky doll! I am linking with https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

  LeeAnna has asked did you or do you keep a diary? what kind of things did you put in yours? ever have a summer crush or vation romance? I had a diary when I was young but I barely used it.   I keep multiple forms of diaries now.  My favourite is an art journal.  It is a lovely safe place to express myself in whatever form I see fit.  Often my journal pages look like what is pictured above.  Not really special but I had fun doing it.  Yes, to more fun! I like that hubby and I got to go to the Royal Botanical Gardens this past weekend.  There was some amazing art there! So fun and whimsical!

 Still creating flowers!  I love that I can turn the tiniest of scraps into something of beauty!  I was raised by parents who were born during the depression.  Things were certainly hard for them.  They made the most of everything they had.  They taught me not to waste things.   Wouldn't it be great if we could stop wasting?  I see more people getting on that bandwagon and that is a good thing.  I realize that these scraps not going into the landfill won't make a big difference.  Still, it feels good to me.

At first, this mandala being off centre bothered me.  I have grown to really like that now.  Working on black paper allows me to play with all the metallic colours I like!  So fun!  

  I have started another butterfly.  I love doing this collage style and using up bits of fabric.  Slow stitching on these butterflies is such a pleasure.  I have cut two circles out of sequin waste and want to apply them to the butterfly.  I have yet to decide where to place them. I am not sure how much stitching time I will have today.  We are planning to go to the Jazz Festival this afternoon.  It is an outdoor event, and thankfully, it looks like the air quality will be good.  I can bring this project along.  I am not confident I will actually get to do any stitching on it, though.   I am linking to https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

LeeAnna  has asked   what do you think makes a good picnic lunch? sit on the ground or picnic tables? I like to sit at a picnic table or at least a bench.  One of the best picnic lunches we ever had was at Giverny.  We stopped at a bakery in Paris and bought our lunch.  When we got to Monet's Gardens, we found a bench right by the  Japanese bridge he painted so often.  We enjoyed our lunch and waited until there were no tourists on the bridge so I could get a good photo.  I only managed to get a partial photo of the bridge as there were always people on it!  That has to be our all-time best picnic! I like clean air!  There are fires in Northern Ontario and the smoke from them has settled over our area.  It is funny how much you appreciate something when it is missing.  So many little things in life go unnoticed until they are gone.   I like participating every Thursday with all the lovely people who are concentrating ...

 There are some free taster workshops that I have been enjoying this week.  Not all of them have appealed to me.  This little mushroom was fun to paint with gouache.  I found a new package of gouache at the thrift store a while back.  This was the perfect time to experiment with it.  I like that it is opaque and I could use it over top of this bit of watercolour background.  It made for a quick little project.  

 I have a stack of these mandalas that I have coloured.  As always, using my own designs gives me a lot of pleasure.  I haven't put any of them into a journal as yet.  It certainly isn't because I don't have a journal to use!  What am I waiting for?

 It was a busy week!  I love that my granddaughter has learned to enjoy stitching.  It made our time together productive and enjoyable! The doll pictured above was created by my granddaughter Juniper.  She is delightfully wonky!  Her fairy wings are slightly askew.   I love the little fangs.  They are a bit hard to see in the photo.  She has a crown, tutu and a wand.  Forgot to get a photo of those.  This is the wonky doll I created this week.  My DIL thought her legs looked like a jellyfish.  Even more so now that I have added the tutu.  Next, I need to get started on a wonky stuffed unicorn.  They will be illustrating a book for another granddaughter.  Juniper very generously offered me the use of her doll when I do the book!  So sweet! I am linking with https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

LeeAnna has asked how do you make potato salad? what do you put in it... I hardly ever make potato salad.  I am not even sure when the last time I made it was.  My go-to salad for the summer is a pasta salad with loads of vegetables in it.  It is a family favourite.  I use Olive Garden Italian dressing for it.  So good. This week is flying by.  My granddaughter is here every day.  She loves making things so we are busy creating and going to her swimming lessons.  She is at a lovely age.  She can do a lot of things on her own and has developed good manners.  We are having a lot of good conversations as we create.   I hope she remembers this time as fondly as I do. A friend showed me a photo that she had AI modify into a cartoon. I thought it was such a fun idea and had to try it.  I love that you can get rid of the wrinkles!  Or at least most of them.

 Do you remember making God's Eyes when you were a kid?  I do.  The rhythm of the wrapping is quite meditative.  I found a craft kit at the thrift store to make something slightly more complex.  My granddaughter and I completely enjoyed working on them.  The instructions were well written so that is always good! I hope my granddaughter has fond memories of the two of us doing arts and crafts together.  I know these times feel special to me!