NEW YORK CITY TRAVEL JOURNAL

I just finished making a New York City travel journal out of 140# watercolor paper and watercolor illustrations along with some hand carved stamps for my mother. I used one 22" x 30" sheet of Fabriano hot pressed watercolor paper, cut it and sewed it to make the journal. I lined some of the pages to make it easier to write and journal.   She and five friends are leaving for NYC in the morning for a five day trip to see four plays and tour the city.  I know she really wants to see the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero.  My husband and I were in NYC two years ago and I took many photos.  I used my photos to paint the illustrations in the journal.

One of the plays they will be seeing is JERSEY BOYS.

One day the tour guide will take them on a tour of Broadway.  When my husband and I were there, I think we saw David Letterman's studio around this street corner.

I've been playing around with carving my own stamps.  Below is a NYC taxi.

And some of NYC's famous bagels.  One of my photos was the inspiration for this hand carved stamp.

I have a collection of snow globes and I bought this one on our trip.

Radio City Music Hall is one of the landmarks I'm sure they will see.

And, this is one of the bagel stands you see on many corners selling their bagels and hot dogs.

Below are some of my photos from my trip in 2009.  I love looking up and finding something unexpected.

We were at Ground Zero when the Ladder 10 truck pulled up.  Those guys are true heroes!!

A carriage ride in Central Park?

And, I happened to catch this little girl on her way out of the American Girl doll store.  This looks like a commercial I think with her big bow, doll and shopping  bag and turning the revolving door!  So NYC!

I captured these Chinese women in a park in ChinaTown playing mah-jongg on a hot Sunday afternoon.

I love walking the streets and finding REAL people doing REAL things in the city.  These kids were enjoying a cool dip in the Washington Park fountain.

Had to get a photo of the famous bagels on the street.  I liked all the color of the soda cans in the background.

And all of the excitement, lights and color around Times Square at night is a must see!

MEMORIAL DAY AT WOODSTOCK CITY PARK 2011

Hope you're having a wonderful Memorial Day and remembering all of our vets and soldiers for serving and many for giving the ultimate sacrifice so we can be free.  It's a beautiful day here in Georgia and our little town came out in full force to honor our heroes.

One of our veterans of WWII giving ME a salute.  It was a hot day and these guys came out in their uniforms and were so proud.

Tessa Basford, my next door neighbor and one of our City Council.  To her right is one of our State Senators, Chip Rogers.

Laying the wreath to honor those fallen.

The honor guard from Etowah High School.

Woodstock lost a soldier this year to the war in Iraq, Gary Lee Nelson III, who was only 20 years old.
His name was unveiled on the memorial today.

Talking to some of our veterans.

Gary Nelson's family was at the Memorial Day Celebration.  They were honored along with their son.  It was very sad and very moving.

Tessa and her daughter Katie who also spoke at the Celebration service.

A wall mural of Woodstock, GA on the back side of Canyon Burgers.

I LOVE LEGOS

I love legos!  My boys love legos, I used to work for LEGO, Inc..  We even have a room devoted to legos, in the basement closet adjacent to my sewing room.  My youngest son used to play legos while I sewed.  I recently saw a cafe that had a kid's room where the walls were lined with legos.  How cool is that?  It's Cafe Boocah in Brooklyn, NY designed by I-Beam Designs in NYC.  I also saw a post where a library has "Lego Afternoon" where kids and parents can build little creations out of legos at the library.  What fun!  That is one of my goals.........to design and sell the idea to our library for a "Lego Afternoon".  Below are two photos of my LEGO closet.

Below is Cafe Boocah in Brooklyn, NY.  They've lined the walls with lego foundations and the kids can create to their heart's content.

And this is a photo from the El Dorado County library used with permission by glitzypursegirl of their Lego afternoons.  There's a video here .  Now, don't you want to pull out your old legos?

MUNCHKIN GROCERY CART

Bad idea - To go to Kroger on a Wednesday when it's Senior Citizen Day.  I always get bumped into by other carts or almost run over in the parking lot by people forgetting to look in their rear view mirrors.

Good idea - These cute little munchkin carts Kroger just received yesterday.  Perfect size for a quick run into the store, no holes in front for all your veggies to fall out of and they turn on a dime.......good thing, because I had to weave between all the senior citizens........Yea, I know, I'm one of them, or soon to be.  And......I know it's lame to take a photo of a grocery cart in the Kroger........  :)

BAGELS ANYONE?

When my husband and I visited NYC a couple of years ago I took tons of photos.  I even took photos of the street vendors selling their famous bagels.  This hand carved stamp was inspired by one of my photos.

.........just in the mood to make an Artist Trading Card.................

MORE TRAVEL STAMPS

........a couple of more stamps I carved.  My mom is leaving for New York City for a Broadway play trip in a week or so.  I'm making her a travel diary and decided to carve the taxi stamp.  Here is a preview...

WOODSTOCK FARMER'S MARKET 2011

Yea, the Woodstock Farmer's Market is back!  This morning my son, Ben, and I drove down early to check out all of the booths.  I bought some yummy jelly from Bettie's Blueberry Jams & Jellies.  I bought Raspberry Beet jelly, Blackberry jam and Muscadine Grape jelly.

And, oh my, is the Raspberry Beet jelly delicious!!!  Note to self "Buy more jelly from Miss Bettie!"

HAND CARVED STAMPS - Novel Destinations

I hand carved some "travel" stamps today to use at our library's adult summer reading program titled NOVEL DESTINATIONS.  As each patron reads a book, we stamp their passport.  I thought it would be fun to have some interesting travel stamps.  I sketch out my drawing on grid paper, cut it out and press onto the carving block.  I burnish with a bone folder which makes an exact copy of my drawing onto the carving block.  I then carve with my speedball carving tool and print.  I like to use permanent ink like StazOn.

NOVEL DESTINATIONS DISPLAYS

Here's the iPhone display for the Young Adult Summer Reading Program.  Hopefully we will get some curious teens looking at the display.

Our NOVEL DESTINATIONS display at the Woodstock Public Library.  This is the second year that adults have participated in the Summer Reading Program.  The adults will receive a Passport to record their books and continue their journey.  Below we have a globe with an airplane and train attached, a car, ship on top of travel photos and maps on the table.  The faux vintage suitcase with travel stickers is where each adult will attach a short review of a book.  Hopefully we will have a lot of interest and adult participation.

Sally making her "Novel Destinations" necklace to promote our Summer Reading Program.

WE HAVE AN APP FOR THAT

Here is a display I made for our Young Adult Summer Reading Program.  It displays all of the categories that they need to fulfill for the summer reading program but displayed on a fun iPhone.  I used a black foam board, printed out app buttons and found images relating to the topics from google images.  Hope this will get the young adults' attention!

NOVEL DESTINATIONS - LIBRARY DISPLAY

The theme of our summer reading program at the library is Novel Destinations.  We will be putting up the display tomorrow and I made a faux leather suitcase out of an old piece of brown poster board.  I distressed it, cut the top so it looks like it has an handle, added faux leather reinforced patches to the corners with brads and topstitching with marker.  I downloaded vintage travel stickers and glued them with matte medium.  All in all, I think it turned out pretty cute.  

NOVEL DESTINATIONS NECKLACE

A friend wrote about the Pirate Party she had for her two children and the very clever pirate necklaces they made out of little plastic compasses.  That got me thinking.  Our library is having a Summer Reading Program themed "Novel Destinations" for the Adults, "You Are Here" for the Teens and "One World Many Stories" for the Children.  I thought we could use the same little compasses (50 cents each from Wal-Mart), add funky beads to make our own necklaces to wear to our kick-off party.  So, here is mine..........

Children's Book Character Costumes

More Children's Book Characters costumes for National Children's Book Week.  Below Debby as Where's Waldo, Kathi as Rapunzel, Lisa as Pippi Longstocking, Linda as Amelia Bedelia, Emily as Emily Elizabeth & Clifford, and Debby again as Eeyore.