The heat continues. Art 'n Soul is air-conditioned and welcomes you to come on in to work on your latest project or to stop in and say a "cool" hello. Here in Italy, we're enjoying the same kind of heat wave, only air-conditioning is not the norm. In our room at night, we have a large fan. This morning (while you were sleeping), I stayed in the room so I could stay cooler with the fan going. Everyone else was playing in the lake.


On the Magenta blog, Mariette has made a lovely card using one of my favorite stamps, the Apple Blossom stamp.

by Mariette van Leeuwen, Design Team Magenta

For Mariette's detailed instructions, click on this link:

http://www.magentastyle.com/2015/07/apple-blossom-how-to-fleurs-de-pommier.html

Sherry Jackson also shows the versatility of the Magenta stamps and templates. She has made an artsy scrapbook page to use with pictures of her daughter.

by Sherry Jackson, Design Team Magenta

Click on this link for Sherry's posting:

http://www.magentastyle.com/2015/07/art.html

Olga shows off the delicate foliage dies from PoppyStamps to make a very elegant card.

by Olga Direktorenko for PoppyStamps

Click on this link that includes a tutorial &

all of the panel measurements for this card:

http://poppystamps.typepad.com/poppystamps/2015/07/delicate-foliage.html

Over at the Studio Sessions blog, Jill Foster shows us how to make the most colorful tag using dies and watercolors. Her choice of colors came from this color combination.

by Jill Foster for Penny Black

Click on this link for Jill's how-to:

http://www.studiosessionsart.blogspot.it/2015/06/color-combo-3-of-10-jill.html

From Impression Obsession, Kittie has made a gorgeous card using an assortment of dies.

by Kittie Caracciolo for Impression Obsession

Click on this link for the details:

http://www.kittiekraft.com/2015/07/quatrefoil-framed-rose.html

Sandy Allnock has a great video tutorial using the Inktense colored pencils as she tries to duplicate a Van Gogh painting. Check it out!

This is the link to the video tutorial:

http://sandyallnock.com/category/inktense-pencils/

That's all from my side of the world today. Here are a few pics from our visit to the Safari Park the other day.

This particular giraffe had a curiosity for the vehicles passing
by and came right up to the fence line. That little cage on the right
is a little car you can drive and you sit inside the cage; we had no
interest in doing that since the outside temperature was nearing 100 F.

The zebras were taking a late breakfast or an early lunch. There were many
more zebras on the property but these 3 were apparently the hungriest.

I learned that giraffe eat the leaves from the eucalyptus tree, like koalas.
I also learned that the more white the contrast to the colors are, the
younger the giraffe is. This group of giraffes had moved from one tree
after following the tractor to this new bunch of trees.

The ivory horns on these guys were huge. We were talking about
how sad that there are so many poachers wanting these for the ivory,
and kill the animal for just that. Tragic for the animal, sad for the breed.

We saw 3 males and a few more female lions. We were wondering
how they all got along together . . . hmmmm.

These were the two grazing hippos we saw . . .
the highlight of my trip!

Thanks, again, for stopping by. See you next time!