Hello Winter

Winter has officially arrived this week, bringing extremely cold temperatures to most of us here in Canada.  Sure, we should be used to it, we are Canadians after all (as my sister keeps pointing out when any of us complain)!  But this is seriously cold, leading to somewhat amusing stories in the news about people not getting their mail on time because it was so cold, the delivery trucks wouldn't start - which is what happened yesterday in Winnipeg (affectionately known as "Winterpeg"), Manitoba, where early morning temperatures were as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius.  Believe it or not, minus 40C is the same in Fahrenheit - minus 40!  Brrr!

Here in Toronto, it has been cold too, although thankfully not quite that cold ("only" minus 25C overnight).  We had snow today too. I actually thought I was going to have to brush off my car for the first time this winter (that's how spoiled we've been this year, barely any snow accumulation) but luckily, it was very light snow and most of it blew away as soon as the car got going fast enough.  Still, this kind of weather means lots of accidents on the roads and cars that won't start due to dead batteries.

Unfortunately, it's not all ice skating and hot chocolate, cozy flannel pyjamas and Jack Frost nipping at your nose when this kind of winter comes to town. These bitterly cold temperatures are also dangerous to both humans and animals.  One homeless person in Toronto died last night, probably the result of hypothermia.  The city opens additional shelters and issues extreme cold alerts to encourage homeless people to seek out warm places to stay but it's not always enough.  There are also stories in the news urging people to bring their pets indoors and sadly, stories of people abandoning animals to fend for themselves outdoors.  It's heartbreaking.

On days like this, I am very grateful to be lucky enough that I can go from home to car to office with a minimum of exposure to the climate conditions if need be and even more glad that I can contribute in my small way to bringing some of those homeless animals in from the cold.  I'm giving my foster cats extra snuggles tonight while they hang out on the couch.

Guess The Theme (continued)

Here's the second half of my post about last week's Journal Junkies meeting (you can read the first half here).

Susan had attended the Stampotique demo at the store the previous Saturday, bought a number of the stamps and used them on her journal page. As a result, her pages were based on the theme of what she jokingly called "the money pit" (because she bought so many stamps!). She figured the stamps were saying to her, "you bought us, now what are you going to do with us?"

 

The top photo was layered above
the second picture, to great effect!

Donna's page had a techniques theme and was made using various products and techniques.

Marissa used a cold laminate technique for her Leonardo Da Vinci theme.

Diana couldn't make it to the meeting but sent her finished journal page, which focused on the theme of tea with the old masters.

Kelly made a totally beautiful, awesome pink and white page based on the theme of "change", because her pages are always, always black and this page did not even have a speck of black on it. Alas, I forgot to take a photo of it! :(

Next month's theme is "fugly", as in things that are (pardon my French) f'ing ugly.  So far, I don't have any ideas for my own page but no worries, there's lots of time. But I can't wait to see what everyone else does!

Wacky Weather Today

We interrupt our regular programming to tell you about today's weather.  It's much colder than yesterday - at least 10 degrees so and even colder with the windchill, since the wind is blowing strongly enough for the authorities to issue a wind warning.  If that weren't enough, it kept changing from cloudy to sunny to blizzardy to clear to cloudy, over and over again.  But at the end of the day, it was a pretty as these two pictures:

 

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming...

Guess The Theme

This past Monday night was the January meeting of the Journal Junkies at Bizzy B.  Yours truly didn't have a journal page to show, as I'd been soooo busy working on finishing my Sketchbook Project entry (I took that for show and tell instead).  My fellow group members took turns presenting their pages and the rest of us had to guess the theme.

Laura's theme was recycling Christmas cards:

 

 

 

Louise also had a recycling focus - her page was made using paper from the blue box:

Barb's theme was "channeling Marilyn" (who was unable to attend this time but often makes several pages for each month's theme).  Barb had several pages to share with us:

 

 

Tune in tomorrow and I'll share the rest of the group's pages...

A Dangerous Outing

I went out at lunch today, braving the bitterly cold temperatures, to pick up a copy of the latest issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Studios magazine, the Winter 2012 edition.  I had to get a copy because the Australian studio of my friend Jane Davenport was featured in it.  Jane and her husband have now moved to a new home so these photos are all that remain of that wonder studio, which those of us who took her Supplies Me course online often viewed and admired from afar.  In fact, if you watch any of Jane's videos on YouTube, you'll be able to get several peeks as well.  But still, I had to have the magazine.

Of course, after I'd found that magazine on the shelf, I had a peek at the others on display.  And ended up coming home with 3 more:

 

 

A dangerous outing, indeed, and an expensive one because I couldn't resist the temptation to add these magazines to my collection. So much for that New Year's resolution!

My Sketchbook Project 2013 (Part 2)

Here are the rest of the pages from my Sketchbook Project which I mailed in on Tuesday.  As you may have read in yesterday's post, my theme was "mystery".  (click on any photo to see a larger view)

 

with flap closed

 

with flap open

 

 

 

 

 

I really enjoyed putting this book together. I don't think I've ever worked on a journal where I had to focus on a single theme all the way through, I kind of liked it. Limiting myself to use just black and white with a touch of red was both a challenge and helpful at times. Although I must say, while I was finishing the book with the deadline looming, I didn't let myself do anything else for about 2 weeks solid and during that time, I had so many other creative ideas going through my head, it was amazing! Of course, I didn't write them all down and now I can't remember half of them but perhaps they will come back to me! :)

My Sketchbook Project 2013

I had been wondering whether to go ahead and post the contents of my Sketchbook Project when I saw that my fellow artist Fran Meneley (whom I met at Journalfest 2011 and then got to know a little bit better at Teesha and Tracy Moore's art retreat PLAY a year ago) blogged about her book today (can you stand how awesome her pages are?!?!?) and thought I would go ahead.

There were several possible themes to choose from. Fran chose "Almanac" but ended up with more of an "Atlas" flair.  The other choices were:  travelogue, memoir, narrative, chronicle, sketchbook, chapbook, documentation or photo log.  Or you could also go with:  dwellings, strangers, participate, diagrams, warnings, lists, creatures, dinosaurs, upstairs or mystery. 

I knew I wanted to use some of the vintage black and white photos in my collection so I chose "mystery" (click on any of the photos to enlarge and/or for a slide show format) as my theme, based on the fact that photos of strangers that I find at flea markets, auction sales and antique shops are full of mystery.  Who are they (or who were they) and why are their photos available for me to take home, instead of with their families or descendants?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I picked up a box of vintage papers
at a yard sale that turned out to be
a bunch of paperwork from a local funeral home
- how cool is that?!

 

 

Stay tuned, tomorrow I'll show you the rest of the pages!