Upside-down rainbow!

My husband was out barbecuing hamburgers for dinner.  He came in the house and said there he could see  a rainbow if he stood by the loquat tree and looked straight up. I thought maybe he had to many too gold fish crackers or something (couldn't blame it on beer as he hasn't had one today! lol) because it hasn't rained at all here.

 Being one who LOVES rainbow I went out to look anyway, just in case. (And smartly grabbed my camera!)  I stood by the loquat tree as directed and scanned the sky.  At first I didn't see it  as I was "just" looking over roof lines and tree lines.  When he said "look straight up" he really meant straight up! When I finally looked straight up this is what I saw - an upside rainbow!

No, I have not altered the photos, this is the "rainbow" as I saw it..I didn't have any landmarks (like trees or buildings) so I had my son stand in the frame to get a little perspective.  The battery on my camera was dying so I only got the 4 shots.  By the time my son ran in the house,  grabbed his camera and got back outside it was gone.

I searched the Internet for "upside down rainbow"  and found that technically it is called a "circumzenithal arc". It happens by sunlight refracting through a thin layer of ice crystals high in the atmosphere.  You can click the link to read more about the "smile in the sky!

Have a fabulous week!

A series for another challenge

It's been awhile since I have participated in a challenge over at Collage Obession . As soon as I saw the image, an idea popped in my head! And since I am in ATC mode, I decided to make an ATC (SURPRISE!). When all was said and done I actually created  a series of 4 ATCs using the image!

The "What's New Pussy Cat" & "Nice Kitty" images were cropped using my camera's software and then inserted into MS Word.  I added a text box and used "white" text.  A couple of thing you can't tell in the photo, is the Nice Kitty's face is actually cut & popped and the leaves around him are embossed in "tinsel green" (glittery).  The leaves in the "What's New. . ." ATC were embossed, cut and glued on top of the image!  The crown is from Tim Holtz' "Distressables Elements" (Digital images).   The other 2 ATCs were pretty simple - printed, matted, add the "buttons" and bling.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a fabulous week!

Linda

Gingersnap Challenge #65 Famous Painter or Painting

Gingersnap Challenge #65 Famous Painter or Painting closes on Sunday.  I couldn't come up with anything.  I had a few ideas, but they involved looking for some postcards from an art class I took a year or so ago.  The thought of trying to find anything in any of the places they might possibly be staying safe is daunting.   So I was going to let this one go.

In May I was in an antique store and they had bags of used postage stamps for a dollar.  I grabbed a couple of bags.  One bag has stayed in my sight since I purchased it, the other one disappeared.  Tonight the 2nd bag just materialized (things do that here).  It was stuffed full, I found some stamps that fit perfect in the Gingersnap challenge.  So I made a quick, simple ATC!

The artist are Mary Cassatt, John Trumbull and Thomas Easkins.  Art history is definitely not one of my strong suits, so I did a little research.   Each name is linked to an article on Wikipedia.

I guess the art classes I've taken have left a small impression on my brain!  I didn't remember Mary's name, but I recognized one of her paintings, "The Boating Party"!!!  I am totally impressed! lol I thought I recognized John Trumbull's name before I looked up his art work, after I looked him up I didn't recognize any of the paintings.  I didn't recognize either Thomas Easkins' name or paintings.  Like I said, art history is NOT my strong suit.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Linda

CCC Week 11

Week 11 lesson in A Compendium of Curiosities Challenge over at Studio L3 is "Blended Batik", which can be found on page 36.  Hop on over and take a look at all awesome ART others have been creating.

I created 2 ATCs  using the technique.   The image on the first ATC is from AlteredPages.com "mini images".

This is the 2nd version of the 2nd ATC.   On the original version (that will never be seen),  I stamped the sentiment directly onto the ATC.  It was hard to read as it was so faint.  So in addition to the technique for the week's lesson, I stamped the sentiment on tissue paper, then applied it with Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Multi Medium.   As you can see, the tissue paper all but disappeared, but the sentiment stayed "on top".  

Hope the rest of your week is fabulous!

Linda

CCC Week 10

The weeks are flying by and we are already finishing up week 10 of the Compendium of Curiosity Challenge over at Studio L3!  If you haven't already dropped by, you don't know what you are missing!

This week we were instructed to turn to page 46 for the Distress Stickles technique.  Part of the instructions this week were to name the colors of Distress Stickles we use.  I created 3 ATCs, on each one the base the stickles were applied to is different.

The image on the "Live" ATC is a sticker (you remember those, don't you?)  I used Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap (I think) and Scattered Straw Distress Stickles on the center of the sunflower.

On the "haunted house" ATC I used Vintage Photo, Antique Linen and Peeled Paint Distress Stickles on the cardstock tree.  (The eyes and mouth of the Jack O'Lantern  came that way and are not Distress Stickles to my knowledge.)

On the "Autumn" ATC I used  Fire Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Scattered Straw, Peeled Paint and a bit of Walnut Stain Distress Stickles on the grungepaper leaf.  (This ATC looks WAY better in person than it does in this photo.)

I am up to about 55 ATCs for the cruise!  Still have a bunch to go!  For those of you who asked, YES!  It IS the Tim Holtz Cruise to Canada and New England!  I am SUPER excited. 

Hope your weekend is exactly what you want it to be!

Linda

Another ATC, another challenge

I have been working on ATCs for the cruise for awhile and try to work them into challenges as much as I can.  Today I created a couple of ATCs for the Gingersnap Color Challenge #64  -Yellow, Orange, & Red.  I could not decide which one I liked better so I am posting both, since they both fit!  Be sure to check out the link and see all the other creations for this challenge!

This first one I used a piece of "recycled" tea box, covered with gesso, then added yellow, red and orange oil pastels, covered that with a thin coating of multi-medium.

For the 2nd ATC, I used Alcohol Inks-including copper (it looks brown in the picture). The stamp is one of Tim's.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Linda

I am honored!

This morning I noticed there was a new comment on my grandkids post, so I jumped on to see the comment.  I was very pleasantly surprised when Terry congratulated me on being selected as a GingerGem over at Gingersnap Creations for my "Sunshine" challenge ATC (GC#63)!  You can view the other AWESOME GingerGem's creations here!  

Doing the happy dance,

Linda