The Kingdom

I finally got around to watching this last night -- I've had it from Netflix most of the summer.

The movie is a fictional account of a terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia. The victims of the attack are western oil workers and their families, relaxing in their highly-secured compound at a Sunday softball game. A special agent for the FBI is on site, and is killed after the first wave of attacks by a huge car bomb that destroys an apartment building(a la the Kobar Towers blast in the early 1990's).

An elite team of FBI agents -- Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman and Chris Cooper -- finagle their way into the country to investigate the deaths of the Americans. They join forces with a reluctant Saudi police chief, who grows to appreciate the American's dedication and expertise.

As the movie ends, and loose ends are tied up, we are reminded that the terror will continue so long as revenge figures into motivation for violence. The movie was very engaging, and I found myself several times with muscles clenched, ready for the next bomb. Yeah, it's very violent.

Wine Country Watercolor

I've been watercoloring images lately, following a summer of Copics. For this card, I used the traditional Adirondack ink pads, the colors which are slightly greyed. This is probably my favorite pallette.

Image is by Stampendous; sentiment is Hero Arts.

I'd enjoy a class of wine right now, if it weren't only 1:30 p.m. ;O

Autumnal Tag

Despite the fact that it was 103F here today, my tag for the weekly "Tag, You're It" challenge is all about autumn. I also had to cheat -- the challenge was to use punches, but I used my die cutter instead. I got a chance to use my leaf dies to make this tag:



I got to use my favorite fall sentiment, the Emily Bronte quote: "Every leaf speaks bliss to me, falling from the silent tree." I am not a good enough photographer to make that show clearly. But I hope you will note that I've created a foam core white board "studio" for my shoots! Ha Ha.

Poppy Prototype

I wanted to use my Flourishes poppy stamps. Each flower, bud and leaf is an individual stamp, allowing you to build your own bouquet. This can be a challenge.
The card started life as a 5 x 5 square, and I cut it down after stamping and masking to about 3.5 x 5. The size of the card is about 5 x 7.

Tropic Thunder

Crude. Obscene. Profane. Offensive. And very, very funny.

That is all.

P.S. I am so glad Robert Downey Jr. found his way back into acting. He is tremendous in his role as an over-invested method actor. He's also got beautiful blue eyes.

P.S.S. This is the first movie I've paid to see Tom Cruise in a very long time. He is very good as Les Grossman(perfect name), an over-the-top Hollywood producer in search of big box office $$.

Christmas Tag

I made this tag for the challenge on the "Tag, You're It" blog. I found this blog on a mention from another blogger.

This week's challenge was to make a tag for Christmas. I used one of my favorite angel stamps to make this tag:



The stamp is from Stampington. I watercolored her with Adirondack ink, and a touch of Twinkling H20s. All the papers are Club Scrap. I ran the cream piece through a Cuttlebug embossing folder, and then sprayed it with gold Radiant Rain. You can't really see the glitz on the photo.

In my first iteration, I used a Distress ink pad in Antique Linen on the embossed piece. In real life, there is a little too much contrast, and the background fights with the angel in the foreground. This angel has more Twinking H2O paint, her wings are an attempt at a copper patina:



This was a fun challenge. You can find the challenge site at http://weekendtaggers.blogspot.com/

Good Read

I finished "When Montana and I Were Young" by Margaret "Peggy" Bell last night. I hadn't intended to read the entire book in one sitting. I intended to watch the Olympics; a water polo match was on, so I thought I'd read until that was over. Wrong. I couldn't put this book down!

This is a memoir of the author's first 18 years, from her birth in Great Falls, MT in 1888 until 1906. She suffered terrible abuse from a step-father, and the step-father's brother, but she doesn't dwell on it. Peggy is no victim. She details her life, including her memories of meeting Charles M. Russell, Montana's cowboy artist, and her near-entry into the novitiate of the Sisters of Providence (I think) in Washington. She offers fascinating and vivid descriptions of the prairie and livestock she loved, and the daily rigors of life without running water, electricity, and central heating.

Chocolate Chips

Got this dollar stamp of the little rodent -- hamster? gerbil? prairie dog? -- who loves chocolate chip cookies. I popped him up from the card with some foam tape. Made the giant cookie with my Nestablilities die, and hand-cut the chips.

Inside, the sentiment says "Friends are the chocolate chips in the cookies of life."

"When I'm old . . .

I don't want them to say of me, 'She's so charming,' I want them to say, 'Be careful, I think she's armed.'" —G. Stoddart