Stand beside her...and guide her...

 Good morning and Happy 4th of July to my friends here in the states.

I thought the piece was perfect for today!

As you can see,this is a metal plate.This type of serving wear was huge back in the 50's and 60's and now you see it all over,at thrift shops,garage sales... why not repurpose it- right?

I made this piece to bring out to California for my son Lindsey and his gal Hannah.
The kids loved it and said it was the best gift ever!

Seeing that the gift went to California with us...I thought this was a great segue into photos of our trip out there with the kids!
If you have some time,photo heavy post, so grab a cuppa and relax.

 On Friday we took a couple hour drive to Monterey.
Here are a couple of quick facts(via Google)about Monterey Beach.
Monterey is a city on California’s rugged central coast. Its Cannery Row, one-time center of the sardine-packing industry, was immortalized by novelist John Steinbeck. Today, it's a popular strip of gift shops, seafood restaurants and bars in converted factories. Also famous is Monterey Bay Aquarium, with thousands of marine animals and plants on display.
We opted for eats and walking...

 Linds showing his good side...

 Hannah always has a good side!

 Me and Riley posing for the camera.I should have moved my chair closer!(yes,the stretch was uncomfortable!)

  I was having fun,snapping photos!This one came out pretty neat!

Below is where we ate breakfast.at Lulu's. You give them your cell number and they call you when they have table and chairs available.it took 35 minutes for our call back.

 

 








 Riley and Linds got these huge wraps,Hannah had a Normal size waffle...

 And I asked for the HUB,not realizing exactly what it was. The HUB as in Hub Cap size! YIKES! Hannah helped me, but we still left much on the plate! We all could have had a quarter of this and that would have been plenty! lol

 

 We strolled the shops and Riley was into trying things on! heeheee 

and kayak-ers on the ocean-how funny was that? Something I have never seen.

 Back at the house,our host and hostess did a fine job with preparing delicious meals for us, and they really worked so well together. Made me feel good to see this ")
on another note,Mom was not allowed in the kitchen when they were cooking-What?! lol

 This is Rae she is a sweetheart and would walk over me while I was sleeping. They have another kitty named Trevor,but Trev is totally camera shy!

 So we went to this really cool store called the World Market and they actually sell this stuff! heehee We opted for a couple bags of delicious coffees instead!

 Another day out brought us to this park for walking.This park is all trails and salt lakes.

 














This photo reminds me of Linds when he was a little boy.It makes me tear up every-time 

 I guess this spider forgot to move before the sun dried up the water"( Cool photo though!

 This is summer in California- the green grasses are now gone till next spring again-and this is why fire safety is so important!

Now back home for another meal,Lindsey indulges me for more photos! lol And tonight Mom gets to cook Lindsey's favorite meal-Chicken Kiev.It was yummy!

 Rile lounging and chillin. The weather was perfect all the while we were there.

 and...Hannah loved making mixed media! She was a fast learner and has taken to modeling paste, stencils and stamps like she was born with them in her hands! heehee

 Hannah is a big fan of Distress Oxides as well-she takes after me! LOL

 Rae posing for Gramma
(yea I know she is a cat,but till they give me grandchildren,the kitties are my grandkitties!)

 Beautiful flowers on the trees outside their apartment

 Hannah snaps some photos from above

  having Mom and Son time.

I miss them so much already. Linds is my baby at 32-I can't believe it was that long ago he came into this world!

 My sweethearts are moving to Texas in August to start a whole new life! Stay tuned,I may end up a MIL and grandma yet! ")

 Family=LOVE

 Bless us,Everyone!

Well my friends,this was a heartfelt post today. I cried when I edited my photos and I cried when uploaded these as well, now as I look over my post...here I am tearing up again! I better get this posted and move along before my eyes start to swell! heehee

 My love for my children is something that is too hard to express and you other parents reading this know what I mean.

So,truly, thanks so much for being here and indulging me!

And in spite of all that is wrong right now in our country right now, I have a great love for her and pray that she will be guided by the light to what is right. 

I wish you all,

Peace & Love

Jackie ")

DecoArt Products used :

DecoArt Chalky Finish~Everlasting
DecoArt Chalky Finish~Honor

DecoArt Americana Acrylic~True Red

DecoArt Americana Decor Stencil~Americana Tribute

 

Art journaling

 Back again this morn,squeezing in one last post for Gwen's Tribe for the month of June

back into the Sari journal I went and tried out some new paints I recently purchased.

To start with,the left page was already black,so all I needed to do was scrape modeling paste and paints mixed together through Gwen's beautiful 

Decorative 6 Petal Flower Screen Stencil

I just love how the pink highlights Gwen's stencil against the black background.

While this was drying,I printed out,glued onto heavier cardstock and then fussy cut a handful of butterflies from Gwen's Stunning!Downloadable Digital Cutouts.

 I used the Beautiful Butterflies Collage Sheet Gwen's collage sheets are truly gorgeous.The colors are brilliant and imagery is so clear.You can order them as printed sheets or as a digital download-have a look at the others.

 

Once the page was dry,I molded my butterflies and glued each in place with E6000. When the glue had set,I added either DecoArt Crackle Glaze or Rangers Glossy Accents,randomly to the wings of the butterflies.

Onto the next page,which was red in color.

  Here I used Gwen's Chinese garden Plum Blossom Stencil,

from Gwen's Spring 2018 Collection

Again,using the same paints along with modeling paste,I scraped this through Gwen's gorgeous Plum Blossoms stencil.

  This was a bit more tricky as I wanted a lot of dimension and texture as well as there were different colors to move through the stencil.

After the stenciling was done,I decided I did not care for the black background,so I gently brushed some paint around the stenciled piece and onto the whole background.

Being a glittery type of gal,I really love the look of the shimmery-ness of these pages.I really think the shine brings the Plum Blossoms front and center!

Here you can see the beautiful handmade yarn,my Tribe Sister Lynda Shoup sent me.Lynda weaves her own yarns using bits of leftover papers and string and other yarns,she is so talented and I just LOVE my yarn,thanks my Sister!

then...

remembering that this was my Sari journal...(Kate) I decided I needed to add bits of Gwen's Irresistible India-Embellished Sari Scrap.

But how to incorporate the Sari now that the pages were complete?

 Well,where there is a will there is a way.I looked at all my colorful matching Sari and found pieces to cut out and add to each page!

here...

and here...

 Two more pages complete!

 

And,recently I received Gwen's stencils from her brand new designs!!

Gwen's Boho Stencil Collection. 

 I swear I have to get one of each of these!!

well I had to have a go with them immediately and created this page...

 here again I used my new paints and began with base coating the  page-I love this color!

Next using Gwen's new stencil,Collage Textures and Patterns-Circles Stencil from the Boho Collection,and a mixture of modeling paste and paint,they were scraped through the stencil with a palette knife. 

Just look at how cool this design is!

When this was dry,I went on to stenciling in black with Gwen's Decorative Folk Flower Stencil

from her Decorative Collection.

 

don't you just love how the black pops on this background?!

But my love for more color won out and I continued on to paint in the stencil with other colors

 

 and in the end? I was happy I used more color,because,I really love this way it turned out!

 I truly love my  stencils by Gwen and hope I was able to inspire you to stencil something beautiful today!


The challenges I am linking up with:

And I would like to link this post up with 

Art Journal Journey as I was so "Inspired by" Gwen's unique stencils and other products!

Also Linking up with Mixed Media Place as the colors of summer so inspired me~

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday:Bright and Cheerful

and for my Plum Blossom page which has a time worn feel to me I would like to enter  A Vintage Journey's June Challenge - Stencil It 

That's Crafty Challenge Blog:A Summer's Day Challenge

And as always,thanks so much for sharing your time with me today! It truly means so much to me to read your comments and feel the love! ")

Peace & Love

Jackie

Gwen Lafleur's products used:

*Gwen's Decorative Folk Flower Stencil-from Gwen's Decorative Collection

*Collage Textures and Patterns-Circles Stencil-from Gwen's newly released Boho Collection

*Gwen's Chinese garden Plum Blossom Stencil- from Gwen's Spring 2018 Collection

*Decorative 6 Petal Flower Screen Stencilfrom Gwen's Decorative Collection

*Beautiful Butterflies Collage Sheet-from Gwen's Digital Downloadable Collage Cutouts

*Gwen's Irresistible India-Embellished Sari Scraps in Fuchsia

Other Products used:

Finnabair's Art Alchemy Paints-

Metallique~RedWine,MermaidTeal,Pink Blush,Opal Magic Violet-Green,Vintage Rose,Ice Queen

Art Alchemy Sparks~Butterfly Spells

E6000

DecoArt Media Modeling Paste

DecoArt Crackle Glaze

Ranger Glossy Accents