MMM Memories

This week at Mixed Media Monday the challenge was memories. That is a wide open field for sure! But I had found some pictures of my brother and me in front of the playhouse my father built me for my, 10th birthday, I think. I LOVED that little house. My mother had put a crystal tea set inside for me to find. Life was good! They had recently taken the trip of their lifetimes to Austria and these were the outfits they brought us as gifts. I laugh everytime I look at my brothers face. Doesn't he look like he's about to say "Bond, James Bond" LOL! Anyway I'm still on a dress kick...they are too fun! This little dress is my take on my Austrian outfit. It is also my early November dress for Alice and Camillas since my birthday is in November.

I stamped the leaves with clear embossing ink and powder then went over it with TH's Barndoor distress ink. Love that red! Thanks for looking if you are still with me......I know do go on sometimes !

Creative Spirit Monthly Challenge & Dezinaworld

Sweet Cindy is having a new monthly challenge called Creative Spirit . As she puts it "Whatever celebrates the creative spirit in each one of us! Please post something on your blog, whether it is artwork, photography, a recipe--whatever it is that exemplifies your creative spirit!"

For me the main thing that makes me feel the most creative would be finding old things and doing something artsy with them. (I think the latest term is upcycling) A close second would be color. I'm always inspired by color when I'm out and about. Shouting at Mr. S to pull over to take a picture NOW or pulling over myself and circling back to take a picture of that perfect color on a sign or house...whatever it may be. So that will be what I show you...mostly old stuff fluffled up a bit.

This time it is a plate I made for my old altered art group...now defunct...sigh...it was a rare flower in our rural community and I miss it horribly but thankfully I have all of you wonderful creative ladies in blogland to play with! Can't wait to see what you all put up for show!

I am also entering this in Dezinaworld's Spot Prize challenge for fairies because it is my favorite fairy piece i have done and I am having to combine a few challenges to be able to play. I have limited studio time until after the first week in September.

CC #8 The Secret Garden

"I feel good...nah nah nah nah nah na...you know the way that I should....so good... Whoo!" Ok, that's just a little James Brown for ya cause I feel all better and ready to rock the studio again. I have the best kinesiologist/chiropractor in the world...seriously. He's kept me walking and moving for years and I dedicate this weeks post to Doctor B. ! Not only do we laugh way too hard sometimes but he lets me take pictures of his amazing tie collection for inspiration. :)

Anyway...I had so much fun making this piece from Linda's Compendium Of Curiosities challenge today. I usually do it on Monday but Thursday it is. You should read TH's book..page 39 and have some fun. It involves ink and grunge. What's not to love? And I did a bit of organizing. I made labels for each ink I used and a chart of how they look on grunge too. I'm just too proud of myself tonight for getting a bit of organizing in with the fun stuff......LOL!

MMM Past Loves and August Dress Up

It's time for Mixed Media Monday and August Dress Up at Alice and Camillas. I combined these two challenges this week because I enjoy both of them so much and didn't want to miss them. I am on a dress kick right now though so there may be a few more until I get caught up. For the MMM theme of revisiting an past love I thought about how much I loved to dress up , even in my twenties. Then I thought about an old stamping technique I used to love. I stamped into hot UTEE powder and then used Perfect Pearls powder. I forgot how much fun this is and will be doing it again. Update: I just couldn't leave that leftover couple feet of ribbon sitting there so I started messing around around adding ribbon...tweaking and playing. Hence two pictures now :)

I usually don't combine challenges just because I enjoy doing each one if I can but I am on limited studio time this week because I hurt my back last Tuesday while (overdoing) redoing my studio. Off to the chiropractor on Wednesday! My studio is a never ending challenge! I need to do a before and after of it this time because it's taken on a life of it's own. It's hard for me to be in my creative mode and in an organizing mode at the same time. My brain kinda goes on overload and nothing gets done right. Does anyone else find this to be true?

Compendium Of Curiosities 7 The House Call

Another week gone by and another lesson at StudioL3 for the Compendium Of Curiosities challenge......hurray...love this one. Thanks Linda! This was a lesson in making fragments look old. You can get a copy of Tim's book and play along. It has been so much fun. I used many inks and several little watch parts on this piece. You may be able to see them if you look closely. I got a bag of them on Etsy and it did say the biggest ones were 3/16" ! I realize I am ancient now because I can't see anything tiny anymore....getting old is not for sissies as my dad used to say!

MMM The Summer Dance Dress Up

I found this great site called Alice and Camilla.....there is an ongoing monthly Dress Up challenge and the dresses are all so wonderful. I am starting late in July but plan to try and do one a week for a while to catch up. This was FUN! I had so many ideas about what I wanted to do but when I saw the pack of..yes, you guessed it, TEAL napkins, that was it. I really did consider peach and purple but teal is just always my favorite. Maybe I'll do peach next week.....

Update....Steve walked in my studio, saw the dress and said "You sure do use that color a lot..it must be your favorite" Well yeah! I do use green and teal very often. I also love glitter and shiny too so I think this qualifies for my Mixed Media Monday favorite things piece as well. Thanks Cindy for the idea to use this as my entry there as well. Her's is so lovely.

Anyway go take a peek at both sites. They are both wonderful !

Three Muses Postal Art Letters

The Three Muses had a postal challenge this week and I decided to use one of my favorite stamps from PSX. The image is a Flickr photo from a library in Miami. I used chalks to color,

TH fired brick, spiced marmalade, mustard inks and another stamp from A Stamp In The Hand.
Now let's see if I can do a hyperlink tonight. My photo gremlin invited his hyperlink cousin to visit this week and I could not get any of my links to work! Period. It is possible that I may have forgotten how to do all these things in the year I was away but I prefer to blame the gremlins. :) Thanks for looking...

Compendium Of Curiosities 6 Play Collage

This week at Linda's Compendium Of Curiosities we worked on collage tags. I used a a chipboard frame as my covered piece. I am hoarding my TH numbers...I know, I know...to quote one of my favorite rubber stamps "You can't have everything..Where would you put it?"

This was great fun and when I use my favorite colors teal and green I also do not know when to stop. I can imagine this little cartoon animation of myself with blue and green ink, flowers and stamps all flying around my head as I go into a frenzy of creative joy! Also in this frenzy of creative joy I managed to make it a tag that must be read from 3 angles. My little interactive gift to you...LOL! Can't wait to go see what everyone did!

PlayThings MMM

This is my piece for Mixed Media Monday. The theme is Play Things. I used an image I had from Flickr but I don't know the source anymore. The cartoon figures are from old tin whistles

The background is a Tim Holtz paper and an old harlequin SU stamp.

On The Go.....

This was my first magic carpet...I felt like I could go anywhere! Unstoppable! This is my entry for Three Muses. This is a page out of my journal. I am a too little foggy headed from my cold to be as creative as I would like today but thought this page was just right!

Compendium Of Curiosities 5 Distress Embossing

This is my tag from the lesson of the week at StudioL3 Compendium Of Curiosities challenge. I used Antique Linen embossing powder, Shabby Shutters, Bundled Sage and Faded Jeans. I couldn't resist embossing the number with some Broken China. I did 2 of these first because I can't seem to get much of the powder to release. Anyone else find that happening?

I had intended just to do technique tags and make a booklet at the end of the challenge but I love some of the beautiful work I'm seeing and may have to branch out ! Thanks for looking...can't wait to see everyone's projects!

Blue Secrets

This is my piece for Mixed Media Monday. I know it seems a little morbid...maybe its because I got a cold this weekend and I'm slightly grumpy! This is for my secrets journal I've been working on. I've got "secrets" stuck in my creative loop I think! Actually it's a song I heard called "Secrets"...it's by a band called Pierce. Whatever happened to solid names like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin...oh never mind :) I guess it's all perspective, right? I'm putting a link to the video here just in case you want to hear it. Steve is entirely over me wandering around the house this weekend singing this song. Especially since I have this cold. I'm sure I sound like a cat caught in a tree. LOL!

Three Muses Rusty Secrets

Well it's been awhile since I played on Three Muses but I always loved doing this challenge and I'm happy I finished my piece tonight and could share it.

Compendium Of Curiosities 4 Shabby Fly Tag

Here is my tag for StudioL3 COC this week. I used a Lettuce and Willow daubers and stamps from Artful Flight and Urban Tapestry. Once again a slight..cough cough...learning curve but love the technique! Then on to more of Nan's adventures in photography. I have a gremlin who shakes, tilts, and fogs up my camera and has the ability to make the sun go away the instant I set up a photo. I decided to let you see my first photo so you can see why I believe in gremlins. LOL.... Thanks for looking!

mine

The Mad Hatter's Other Hat

Gingersnap Creations is having a Once In A Blue Moon challenge this week. I'm guessing this is because there is an extra Wednesday in the month and they do something different and fun. This was a CASE...copy and steal everything... challenge. We picked our favorite design from one of the GS designers and copied it. This was a really a fun challenge for me. I loved Lynn Steven's Mad Hatter card the moment I saw it and instantly knew it was what I wanted to do. I took her idea and decided to make it very bright but with the high contrast I loved in her piece which you can see here. This is the Mad Hatter's Other Hat which he keeps in the closet for those very special occasions.

I also used this for Mixed Media Monday because their challenge is Something Borrowed and I not only borrowed this theme from Lynn but I borrowed the skyline stamp from Isabelle and the idea to use it on MMM from Willie. Thanks! :) I have missed doing MMM a lot and will be doing many more of the weekly themes there!

Sorry for the crookedy photo but it's night as usual and I'll put a better one up tomorrow if we have a sunny day and then this sentence will magically disappear. :) Thanks for looking!

Deep Purple

Another week, another great Compendium Of Curiosities challenge at Studio L3 . This was a lesson in using alcohol inks to create a mono print. I THOUGHT I knew how to use alcohol inks but I really did learn a lesson this week! I used Wild Plum, Meadow and Bottle Green with a touch of gold. Took me three tries to get this right but it really was fun! Thanks Linda!

Compendium Of Curiosities 2 Fragments

It's time to play at Studio L3's Compendium Of Curiosities challenge...well actually I'm a few days behind probably but I was happy to get this finished. The challenge was to do a lesson from Tim Holtz's book on fragments. Lot's of fun...I've never used them before but will be using them more often now. Lot's of fun...go check it out! Linda Ledbetter is the queen of this blog and has another fun looking project she does called Drunken Stampers. They are doing a Twilight theme this week.... I may have to play....hmmmmm

Gingersnaps Mad Hatter Blog Hop

I'm late, I'm late, I'm very very late to the Mad hatter blog hop on Gingersnaps! I decided to try one more time with this stubborn piece of art! Maybe a better photo tommorrow....sigh! Oh well better late than never, right?

Sweet Life....Gingersnaps Blue Challenge

I love the Gingersnaps blog......they have the best challenges. I've been lurking there for quite a while. Once I finally decided it was more important to play than to have a perfectly organized studio I have had so much fun. I love using my stamps again. And my inks and whatever else I can round up in this explosion of art supplies I have going!

I was visiting my so very creative friend Lucy today and we were digging through her bits and pieces and she was kind enough to donate (uh, let me swipe, LOL) a lot of the neat stuff I used. It's good to have a friend who saves her little scraps and doesn't think you are crazy for doing so either! I used TH Distress Ink in Faded Jeans distress ink and Glimmer Mists in Seaglass, Suede and Old Brass. So lot's of sparkle which makes me very happy too except I have a hard time getting photos of sparkles and transparencies especially at night and I'm much too impatient to wait til tomorrow. :)

He Went To Paris

I've been following Lynn Steven's Trash And Treasures site for a very long time and always find some lovely artwork or a cool link to something neat. I love Gingersnaps site that she designs for and this week found a great blog, Studio L3 , where they are doing a project a week based on the lessons in Tim Holtz's A Compendium Of Curiosities. This week was water stamping. It took me two days just to round up all my TH goodies and then another couple to get comfortable with my stamping techniques again. This is one of my fav TH stamps and the words are from a Jimmy Buffett song that I love.

Home Is Where I Want To Be

I just did this page for my weight loss journey journal. I followed the Color Room palette. It was pink, blue and burgandy this week which I love.
I have been feeling more and more like staying home recently. It is getting very hot here and it's soooo much easier to stay with this restricted food plan I've chosen if I stick close to the hacienda! This page reminds me a bit of Alice growing huge in the White Rabbits house and then shrinking....that's me, shrinking, slowly, but shrinking!

They are doing a regulated burn in the state park behind our house tomorrow so I may take the furry ones and go out just to get away from the smoke! AGH!

Relax

This is my piece for the Color Room this week. I've always loved lilac and green so this was an especially enjoyable palette to play with. I took this picture of my old man kitty PJ or Mr. Handsome as I call him most of the time. He is retired now and when I saw him on the porch curled around the herb plants it reminded me how good it is to relax sometimes. Still on my weight loss journey but I really wanted to do his picture this week. Back to the journal next week and hopefully some mixed media. Time, where art thou? :)

Obstacles

Well I usually love a vintage shabby look. A pretty look. And sometimes I love a bright sunny look but this was not a pretty sunny week. I'ts still a struggle to regulate my medicine after having my thyroid removed and sometimes it really effects my best efforts at weight loss. Not to mention my energy and creativity! In retrospect I wish I would have tried harder to lose weight before all my surgery but that's the old hindsight's 20/20, right? So I really had to work hard to overcome some serious obstacles on the weight loss plan that I chose and this reflects that.

Also couldn't quite decide how to handle the color scheme on this week's palette at the Color Room. I was sitting in a waiting room and decided to find all my elements in a magazine if I could so this is more of a collage I guess. But it was fun and all's well that ends well, eh? Now I'm going to work on my sunny "reward" piece because I'm feel better and think I may have this under control for a bit. Thanks for the kind comments and encouraging emails as I keep moving forward on this path and I wish you all the best on each of your endeavors as well.... :) See you soon!

How...

This is my second page for my weight loss scrapbook. I really am enjoying recording this journey. I have lost 11 pounds which is amazing but I want it to be faster! Ah, impatience. This being one of the finer traits I possess. One that has contributed to my weight gain, I'm sure. Anyway I did this for the Color Room using their beautiful color palette as inspiration. Blues, greens and all the lovely shades in between are my favorites so this was a lot of fun for me.

Glimpse

I'm starting a new weight loss program for the first time in years and I'm going to journal and scrap the journey. This is my glimpse of my slimmer self in the future...the younger looking me is just a bit of wishful thinking :) I did this for the Color Room challenge this week.
I have been thinking about starting a separate blog just about scrapping and journaling weight loss. I haven't really seen one that focuses on both. Hmmm? Any thoughts?

Breathe

I so happy to be feeling more like myself and hallelujah, feeling more creative. I've really been enjoying the inspiration from the weekly color palettes at the The Color Room. There are AMAZING scrapbook artists on this site. Beautiful layouts. I haven't done much scrapbooking but I love all the papers and goodies available and they don't seem to mind if I throw in one of my pieces with no photos. :) Had fun time making this with bits and pieces from my scrap pile. I saved this dress form from a project I deconstructed a while back and it fit the color scheme just right. Go visit just to see all the pretty work if you get a chance.

Beautiful Day !

I really love April in Florida.....It's cool and sunny. things are blooming and green. Babies are being born... I've been away so many years in April and I always seems to miss the dogwoods blossoming and the miniature horses having their teeny tiny new babies and all the things that are so good here.
Today was a wonderful day. I had a great visit with Lucy who shared some wonderful techniques with me. I had someone renew my faith in people today and remind me that sometimes you just have to turn it over and have a little faith.(thanks Fredia!) I joined a new site called the Color Room. I was drawn by the name alone as well as the wonderful talent there. Color has always been a major inspiration to me. I finished a mixed media piece last night. I didn't love it but I am inspired and hopeful that I will find it easier as I stress less about my creativity returning (thanks LOML !) and when I get back to creating more regularly (thanks Lucy!)because a rusty artist is...well, rusty ! LOL!

Blog Silence

No.....I haven't run off to Paris or fallen down a well. But I've experienced several very painful personal losses since November as well as a surgery earlier this year that is taking far too long(IMHO) to recover from. I've been trying to push through these times by painting and journaling. But I'm just not the type of artist who paints or journals their pain or darkness. I love pretty flowery girly happy art for the most part. So I have come to the conclusion I need to take a break from my blog for a bit while I work through this period of my life. I'm sure my imagination and creativity will come swooping back in when I have worked through these times. I will spend some time with family and work on other projects which sorely need attention.

I have been encouraged and inspired by the wonderful friends and fellow artists who have visited my blog as well as my amazing friends in real life. Often the encouraging comments or emails you write have inspired me so much and I can't thank you enough for that. Who knew I would find such talented and good friends here? So I'll say good bye for a while and will stop by your blogs when I get a chance because you all inspire me so much. Happy creating and I know I'll be creating and back here again when the time is right.



Forever In My Heart...Little Girl

New Classes Kit SAVED 1/2/10 POST

AWOL ; "Absence without proper authority from the properly appointed place of duty"...."one who is away or absent without leave"...."absent from one's post or duty without official permission but without intending to desert" .....I think I like that one the best :) Anyway I am apparently feeling much more creative because I have a lot in the works for the next month or so.

I don't really scrapbook because...well I don't know exactly why, just not what I'm best at. But I found this wonderful site called Scrapbooking From The Inside Out . It is Rachel Kaufman's concept. She is very welcoming and I love the concept. It feels similar to journaling as it revolves around a monthly one word prompt using a gorgeous kit. October was Loss, November Gratitude and this month the theme is Peace. I got my first kit today and it is just full of wonderful papery goodness, stencils, stamps, ink and more. So I will be trying my hand at a couple monthly projects using my kits.

I'm involved in several good online projects now.....signed up for one more month in Kelly Kilmer's class "Prompt a Day". Also working on Karen Grunberg's Reclaiming My Time project. I start Dispatch From LA Remains Of The Day class with Mary Ann Moss on the 15th and then I'm taking DJ Pettitt's upcoming photo editing class. I've loved her style of painting for years and I'm sure her new digi class is going to be fun. A bit intimidating but fun! Her sample photos are beautiful and I'm looking forward to it. Last but not least I'm doing a Wacom Bamboo class with Jessica Sprague in January.....Take that rusty muse! Break time is over! :) Welcome back !

January 2 2010 Post Saved
No, I haven't run away and join the circus or come down with a horrible case of hobokorokis. But I did abandon my 30 Days Of Happiness project. I've been trying to stay positive through a lot of personal losses recently by working in my art journals but had to take a break finally when my sweet little dog Mina took a turn for the worse in her battle with brain tumor she's been fighting. We had to let her go two days before Christmas so it's been a very sad time for me personally. Everywhere I turned was a reminder of her so when my brother called and asked me to go to Homosassa Springs with him for a day and then come back up to Georgia to be with family I jumped at the chance. I knew it would be very good to spend some time with them. That's a picture of all the girls except Loni the wiggle worm when we woke up today. I'm hiding in the very back row. None of us were feeling very glamorous but we were all here in the main house at the same time which rarely happens. It's always a full house here and everyone here is a night owl like me. Love that and waking up to a house full of family and friends. I'm really enjoying spending time with my nieces and nephew, especially getting reacquainted with my youngest nieces Loni and Lily as they are growing up so fast. My niece Lucy and I are definitely cut from the same cloth as we both love thrift stores and shopping. I am, however, going through some communications withdrawal. I left with an hours notice to pack and forgot my cell phone charger and laptop among other things. Today I hijacked the computer in the family room. Lily is at my shoulder demanding to know what I am writing and WHY is it taking so long ? :) Anyway lots of time to think about about my journal projects but not much time or many supplies to actually do much about them right now. I plan to take a long meandering drive home next week sometime and hit every thrift store I can in search of neat fabric and "stuff" to add to my journals, especially my "Remains Of The Day" journal. Sorry I haven't been answering my phone or emails but I truly hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and I will talk to you soon!

Happiness Day 9 It Was A Dark & Stormy Night

It WAS a dark and stormy night.....I didn't post for Happiness Day 9 because we had no power last night. It was peaceful and INCREDIBLY quiet though. You don't realize how much noise your house makes until the power is off at night! Or that your dog snores ! Even kitten makes little ghostly groans as she sleeps....I read by flameless candle light!

Little Orange Crocs !

Still going through my piles. I love mixed media but there is almost nothing ever that I want to get rid of because I will use it someday...ahem....seriously..no REALLY! Anyway in my mini sort today I found these tiny baby crocs that I probably planned to send to my neice a couple of years ago when they would have fit her but they are so darn cute they are going up on my "sparkle" shelf. My happy stuff shelf. I'll share a picture of that soon. :)

Happiness Day 7 STUDIO CleaNuP !

I have realized no one pays too much attention to my blog when I'm not doing artwork ( there are exceptions....thank you Lynn and Becky)..... :) you both are so sweet to notice when I need a bit of a pick me up comment! Truthfully it is pretty liberating doing these 30 Days Of Happiness posts. No rush rush to meet challenge deadlines or trying to create when I'm just not there yet. But the happy news is that I found out Thursday that a lot of my feeling so bad the past couple months was due to a prescription problem. When I had my thyroid removed I was told it could be a rocky road but I was just glad to be cancer free. Now I am starting to understand how the wrong dose of thyroid RX can take the wind out of your sails and if there are any stressful things or sad things going on it is amplified. So I'm looking forward to feeling much better. I know it takes several weeks to feel really better but I am noticing a little difference already. I feel more creative and can do a bit more without being short of breath or heart flippy flopping. Yeah! I worked today on my art supplies/thrifty finds storage area today with my friend Lori and we really did some work. I have totes. They are labeled. They are accessible. This makes me very happy! Next my studio!

Lazy Days & Journals

Well it's almost midnight and I have been so lazy today that I forgot about my happiness post. Is it wrong just to be happy to have a lazy day? I hope not because I'm happy I did!

I painted 14 pages in my journal last night so I can start adding collage and writing. What a messy fun thing that was! Here's a sample from my daily journal prompt with Kelly Kilmer. The prompt was about your feet! Ugh but fun to do! :)

I also signed up to take a class called Remains Of The Day with Mary Ann Moss from Dispatch From LA. It is a journal made of all sorts of bits and pieces with sewing and well...just too much goodness to believe. Can't wait til class starts on the 15th!

Happiness Day 5 Cat Houses & Cookies

What a great relaxing day. Full of homemade cookies and homemade cat houses :) We had a big box and I was laughing, saying that it would make a neat playhouse for Yoshi. Next thing I look up and see said house in progress. Two windows and an escape hatch ! I should mention that this fur ball has the man of the house wrapped around her little stub of a tail...completely. The second it hit the floor in all it's glory it was occupied. Definitely made me smile.

Next off on the "Home Improvement Store date". I'm sure most of you married ladies are familiar with these. A quick meal, a trip for hardware necessities and there you go! I even got some shelves for my studio redo.....repainting and rearranging to be more organized. Art stuff sure does seem to multiply!

Home to make cookies while the Florida Gators played in the SEC Finals. Only glitch in the day was when they lost and Tim Tebow cried. He's such a nice guy as well as a great quarterback. Hated that they lost their first game of the year! Still a good Saturday was had by all.....especially one spoiled kitten.

Happiness Day Four The Perfect Gift

Gosh , where to begin...first the obvious when I opened up a box with no return address. We live very remotely so I order a lot thru the internet...etsy...eBay...art supplies...QVC..etc so I'm thinking it must be from eBay or etsy. Imagine my delight when a shock of teal followed by bright purple followed by shiny followed by warm fuzzy! And finally a sweet sweet note buried down in the depths of all this goodness from my wonderful SIL and my niece Lily. A birthday gift because I missed our Thanksgiving get together when we sometimes have little somethings for each other. So here's a pic of Lily and Steve playing the last time we saw them and a couple photos of teal and purple goodness :) Grinning still! Thanks so much you two ! I love you!

Drawn To Digital....

I have been resisting doing too much digital art as I really REALLY enjoy getting all messy with paint, pastel, ink.....all of it! But I keep signing up to learn more with Jessica Sprague and I keep updating my Photoshop Elements software and then I asked for a Wacom Bamboo Craft tablet after seeing Rhonna Farrer doing digital doodling with hers. So I must somewhere on some level be yearning to master this new set of skills! I just found PenScrappers which is a dedicated Bambooo blog so off to see what I can learn today.

Happiness Day Three TEESHA StUff

"Nothing is so personal as Happiness...Each soul is fitted for a joy entirely individual....Often a whole life is required to discover it. Jeane De Vietingghoff "

Today I was struggling with my new happiness project. The dark and twisties were really trying to get a hold of me. Among other things I was on call #92...the "on hold in a foreign country" type call and waiting for the oven repair man to show up to fix my broken (NEW !) oven (he didn't). I was really trying to find my happy thought yet alone take a photo of it when the mail showed up with a little box with neat stuff from Teesha Moore. I had ordered some beautiful teal twine so I could bind the journal I'm working on and was surprised to see all the neat little goodies that were in the package with it! And in that little pile of treats was the long stamp on the right that has the above quote on it about happiness....how serendipitous ...LOL! I had to look that up after it popped into my mind to be sure I was using the word right and found this definition "the phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for" ...... Sometimes it is indeed the little things that make you happy. So thank you Teesha Moore !

Happiness Day Two STaRfiSh !

I am amazed at how many little things make me happy when I am looking for them. It really is a whole new attitude adjustment.

This morning I was considering putting away my starfish to decorate for Christmas and realized that I really like my starfish out and they are pretty enough to be Christmas decorations themselves. So I am digging out a few silvery blue candles to add to the mantle and we will have a simple but beautiful reminder that it is indeed that time of year.

I relearned how to cut stained glass again. Like riding a bike...rolling eyes here :) and have a simple but oh so pretty design started. I felt happy being around other creative women today. Hope you had some fun today. N

31 Days Of Happiness....Day ONE

I have had a good day. I woke up and things just went well. My copy of Artful Blogging is here and the first article I read was by Erin Wallace. She has a blog called Bluebirdbaby and she talked about blogging "30 Days Of Happiness" and it really struck home with me. She wrote that she was struggling with with hard personal issues and decided to step out of her normal blogging routine and try something new for 30 days. She wanted to find the joy in every day. Take a picture and talk about what made her happy in that photo. I am a believer in that old saying "You are about as happy as you make up your mind to be" so it made me sit up and take stock. I am happy today for a lot of little reasons.....In no particular order....I found my pink eraser that I had been searching for forever :) I had lunch with a new friend....my little Mina feels pretty good today...I had an comment from Lynn that warmed my heart...the weather is beautiful...I am taking a refresher stained glass class tomorrow...I had a neat package from Hannah Grey Curiosities & Dry Goods full of neat little stuff to art play with. Wow..that's a lot of happy! Hard to do just one picture so I picked one I took of little girl snoozing in the sunbeam because it makes me very happy! Hope your day had some happy in it :)

A Moment To Remember A Friend..LYLAS Deb

I had forgotten how life can change in a instant....I lost my growing up, unconditional love, best friend this week. She died very suddenly with no warning from a brain aneurysm. We were preparing to celebrate our shared birthdays this weekend as we are a week apart and try to see each other every year. I have had a lot of other things going on this year but to lose such a dear friend so suddenly puts most everything in perspective and in a different light. There's not a moment to be lost in this life. Let the people you love know it right now, everyday....

I miss you Deb.....so many firsts we shared. You were one of the bright shiny people and the world is worse off for having lost you. I am worse off for having lost you. I am done with tears now and I am moving on to celebrate your life this weekend as we were planning on doing. This is a photo I love of us when we were 14 and off to the Charles Chips Christmas party your parents had every year. We were so fancy and felt so glamorous. I remember it like it was yesterday. Dana, Tom, Carla, Harriet, David, Karl ....let's all just keep on loving her the way she loved us. Unconditionally

I'll be back in a while after I regroup and can think creatively. I wish you all very peaceful loving holidays with those you love most.

I am PINK today.......

Two posts in one day.....it must be a blue moon tonight! I thought I'd share my inspiration for a journal page from scratch and then I will show you the results in my next post. Yesterday was my checkup day with two docs and I just hate waiting rooms so I always take a sketch book and a magazine. I had quite a few of those ah ha inspiration moments looking through Elle and Real Simple. Unfortunately these were NOT the magazines I had arrived with. I hate it when people tear up magazines in the waiting room...you know half way through an article and RIPPPP....you're left hanging so I went to the window and quietly explained "I had to have these magazines or my inspiration would be lost and I would gladly bring two magazines to replace these next visit"......by now the girl is "Good..sure..just back away from the sliding partition lady" So now I am off to work with these gorgeous images. I am pink inspired ! I keep singing that color song from the Dell laptop commercials..."I am green today...." but inserting pink! Here are the lyrics for anyone who has managed to stay with me this long :)

Colors By Kira Willey
'I am green today, I chirp with joy like a cricket song,

I am grey today, gloomy and damp like a morning fog,

I am orange today, loud and messy like finger paint on the wall

I am red today, hopping mad like a playground ball

I am black today, strong and tall a great big bear

I am purple today, bright and happy like a butterfly in the air

I'm a rainbow today, all the colors of the world

I'm a rainbow today, all the colors of the world are in me

I am yellow today, I shine my light out like the sun

I am White today, soft and quiet like new snow

I am Blue today, calm as glass and cool like the sea

I'm a rainbow today, all the colors of the world are in me.'

Beautiful Day To Be Getting Older :)

I just took a walk down our drive today with little pup in my arms and my big girl trotting beside me. The sky is an amazing shade of blue. I had to go back for my camera to record it and share it. I did not do anything to this photo other than throw it up here to remember that we do have absolutely beautiful days here at the Sandspur Ranch. This is fall for us. It's in the 70's and clear as a bell. Fall takes it's sweet time, granted, but when it sticks around for a few days I am happy!

Lines blur.....

I realized I've missed my blog. A lot. It seems as if I've been struggling forever to get back to a semblance of normalcy after my surgery this summer. I've had to make choices about how I've spent my time. Blogging just didn't make the top 10 when I couldn't seem to create the smallest thing or cook or properly take care of my household. I have had a lot of time to think of course and that can be a good thing or a bad thing as I'm sure you know. I've come to realize that I love being able to have a communion of sorts with other artists as we create and if we share some personal info along the way I am good with that. The reason I mention this in particular is that the way I've been pulling myself up out of my artistic dry spell has been to read other artist's blogs and finally to take a journal class with Kelly Kilmer. Now this is not my first journal class. I took a wonderful class with Pam Carriker and one with Dina Wakely but I was more interested in technique. I considered my journal pages more personal than my other artistic endeavors and wasn't sure how I felt about the overly personal posts I'd seen other artists blogs. Did I want to read about other peoples thoughts or have them see mine. Big question...did I want to mix art with my personal life? Now it's not like I have a huge audience but still....However as I spend more and more time playing in this art I find I am drawn to this very aspect of the whole thing. It's wonderful to see how art and emotions come together. So my blog may be taking a slightly more personal direction as I share a little bit of life with you through my journal art. I still want to do my favorite mixed media challenges when I get up to speed. I've met some very wonderful and creative people doing those. But I also love to look for old things to create with as well as things to decorate myself and my home with. I'm going to share those things too. So here's to living the lives we love and never taking a single moment for granted.

Hello Again....Halloween Class!

Well, I have been organizing and playing with all my fun things but as for my creative output...well...my muse must still be recuperating! I am very happy to say that I will be teaching a class at our LSS L & M Scrapbooking in Branford called "Use Every Scrap". I think most of us are being cautious with our expenses these days so I thought it would be fun to take 2 or 3 sheets of paper and some supplies most of us have and make a couple of Halloween projects using the new Spook Alley line by Making Memories. I made a "BOO" banner, a card and had enough left over scraps to make a book mark and a magnet. Kim, who is scrapbooker extraordinaire has made a great LO to go with the pieces I made. It was fun and a jump start for me. I did not take pictures though before I dropped them at the shop so I will try and do that soon.

Missed everyone and hope to be back doing my favorite challenges soon. Oh and for those of you who have been following the great kitchen remodel....I have a SINK !!!!! The kitchen is functional on all levels as of tonight and only needs to be painted and trimmed out! Woo hoo! It took a year but it is wonderful! Would I do it all over? Not only no but no no no ! Kitchen installers need to work too...right? And electricians and plumbers.... I am glad to have my DH back as just that, my DH !