Catching Up

It's been a while...

But I have been busy :) I am trying to lose weight and I now go to the gym 6 days a week - I do yoga, pilates and zumba! But it is working - I have lost inches and feel great!

I have created two journal pages (I just didn't have time to blog) the first one was created around some decorative tape that I bought at Michael's for a dollar - love it! As you can see I tried some of my own handwriting and I really need to practice!



The second was inspired by a website I visit (but I can't remember whose) and I used a paper napkin for the art work - I have to say I am happy with the result!



Tomorrow I will share some beautiful pics of two wonderful swaps I participated in!

Life is a Rollercoaster

Both hubby and I have been sick with the flu - I sleep well and then get up and go to the gym and run my errands and then come home for a quick nap - it seems to give me the energy to do what needs to get done and not let the flu get me down.

Poor hubby doesn't have that luxury - he works all day and then crashes at around 7 pm - so tonight I decided to work on my journal and I didn't want to sit around and play with all my supplies - I grabbed a cup of markers and sat there staring at the empty page for 45 minutes before coming up with an idea.



I think it sums up my day - Life is a rollercoaster - today I just want to throw up! I learned two things from this - I really don't like my handwriting and I just played around with markers and my black pen. I think I just need to play and practice until I like what I see! Also - I always put a positive spin on everything and today I didn't - it's ok.

Until next time!

The Lotus

Do you have a favorite flower? I do I love purple roses they smell fantastic!

But lately I am drawn to the lotus - there is something about the birth of something beautiful arising from the murk of a pond. There is a beauty and grace to it that is truly symbolic.

I wrote my tru feelings on my page and decided that they were too painful to rehash - so I covered it with black paint and aqua - the color of healing - I took papers I wouldn't normally use on a project and cut some petals from it and viola - a lotus!

I couldn't resist printing some pretty pics and I have a page that will always remind me of rebirth.



Until next time!

In Need of a Break

It's been a while! It's funny how life throws you a curveball sometimes! I ended up getting a rude awakening a couple of weeks ago and I am currently taking time to lick my wounds. But as a very dear friend of mine always reminds me "This too shall pass".

I thought I would share a swap that I am preparing to ship off on Friday. I am participating in the Speckled Egg Petite Inspiration Box Swap - the idea is to decorate the box and fill it to brim with inspiration that you would find if you were shopping at a great flea market.



I have two great swap partners Elizabeth from Oklahoma and Jan from England - I can't wait to see what great ideas they come up with!

Here is a peek at what I will be sending out!





Tomorrow I am working on my tags for another swap - maybe I'll be ready to journal again!

The Dogs are driving me crazy!!!!

It is below freezing in EP and everyone is going crazy! I know that the in the rest of the country/world - cold weather isn't really a big deal, but here in Texas it is huge! The dogs can't be left outside during the day - so they are in with me and they are fighting (just playing around) playing tag, taking their toys out and stewing them all over the house, begging, the list goes on and on.

Well enough about that - today I worked on charms for Roni's charm swap at Ink Stains and they are ready to go!





As for the bottle today it asked what "What is the Stupidest thing you have ever done?" Seriously - I do something studpid every day!! I think the winner is when I went to work with different shoes (I am color blind) not just different colors though, different heels and everything I was walking with a limp and I am not even the one who noticed!! Wonderful!



Until next time!

Snow Day!!!

Today the bottle asked about the craziest day in my life. The memory is bittersweet - it was the day I got married. Hubby and I ran around all day and ended up being late for our court wedding. My mother decided that she didn't want to go and she didn't. It's hard to believe that that day was almost twenty years ago!



For some happier news - it snowed in El Paso! It snows about once a year here (if that) but it rarely sticks. Today it stuck and of course the city is closed down!!

Until tomorrow!

February First

Today is my lucky day!!

I won a wonderful Heart Holder from the lovely Wendy at Bliss Angels!! Her blog is absolutely amazing!



I also had lunch with the hubby - and that always makes for a great day!

I worked on some Valentines Day cards and they are almost ready to send out - I am just putting some little goodies together before I mail them. They are for the ladies who participated in the Alteread Art Junkies Annual Valentine Swap. I can't wait to see what everyone creates.





Todays spin the bottle question is "What was your most embarassing moment?" My response is oh please, which one of many? I chose the instance of my Mom in hair rollers and her red robe (at 3:30 p.m.) running into my elementary school to talk to my brother's teacher. Who does that?



Let's see what the bottle asks tomorrow!

Spin the Bottle

I have noticed that now that I am journaling and getting more involved in swapping - I have truly been using all the goodies that I have been accumulating. As I started to sort some stuff on Sunday - I realized that all of my embellishments are in three different places - so I started to look around my office and I have determined that I really need a nice chest of drawers that will let me put everything in one place - so now I am on the hunt!

By sorting a drawer I found this cute Spin the Bottle board and I thought what a great way to determine what to joural about!


Todays spin landed on my first kiss - that took me back! I just remember how embarrased I ended up being!


Until tomorrow!

Crayons

Yestday, I wanted to play with a new color and I looed through my assortment of colors and I decided to use Crayola Crayons. As you can guess I was one of those kids that hated when my crayons broke!!! So I bought these great mini twistables, the only downside is they dont have the crayon names on them.

I sat there and wanted to see if I could fill a page with all of the crayons and although I liked the effect - I didn't feel very moved to do anything with it. My usual move is to glue the pages together and start again, but I chose not to this time - I left it to see if I could use it another day.

I was watching Dinner for Schmucks with my hubby last night and they used the famous line sung by John Lennon "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the one." and it struck a chord with me! I just wrote it and doodled a flower and I drew a childish sky, you rememer blue only on the top, and grass, green triangles only on the bottom.

I had fun and in my journaling (quite long, not shown) I really searched through some childlike qualities I wish I still had.



Todays journey reclaimed yesterdays crayola colors! As I looked at it - It brought to mind a magazine page I clipped out with girls at a wild slumber party!

I stamped some words that looked like the girls were experiencing!



Until next time!

I did it my way.

As I approached my art journal today, I wanted to PLAY, I didn't want to scour through books, blogs, and websites to look for inspiration. I wanted to find my own!

So today I used my favorite colors, pink and black, and one of my favorite topics, books for my journal.

I like it!!



I also just got news that I made the cut! Joanne at Vintage Dragonfly is hosting a Thinking Spring Tag Book swap and 10 of us will create 10 tags and submit them to the lovely Joanne and she will create a book for each of us! I can't wait to get started, I have a few ideas up my sleeve!



I also had a visitor today, Roxy usually stays outside during the day, but since she just got groomed, she wanted to hang out inside!



Until next time!!

Finished!

Ok I tried and liked (maybe) the multi-day layering journal page(s).

I sat and looked at my journal and then I went and looked at the progressive pictures and I realized that I needed to "play" a little more with the page and dress it up a bit. I think that I am finished, but ya never know - I may just have to play a bit more:)



Ok I hate to admit it, but one of my pleasures is the show "You're cut off" Seriously these women/girls are just plain out of their ever loving mind! But sure enough I DVR the show and watch it with pure pleasure - I cannot believe that human beings are so incapable of even the simplest day to day tasks!

Until tomorrow!

Monday - small additions

It is Monday and as usual, I find myself running around! Not a bad thing the morning was a beautiful day to be out and about.

I am busy trying to create some vintage Valentine's day cards so my desk is a disaster area. I spent a few minutes on my journal and there are little bits of additions. I used some fabric tape that I had stuffed in a drawer and I am really trying to hold back on using all the supplies that I have on my desk!!



Until next time!

Layering....

I sat down at my desk and looked at my journal and was thinking if I liked/disliked the layering project I had started. The jury is still out.....

I love the effect that journal artist's use for their projects - I just don't like my effect so far.



But as I sat looking at my page from yesterday - I focused on the rub on that I used that says "Be Yourself!" as I added my touches today - I kept that in mind and enjoyed myself. So perhaps I have focused too much on what I love in someones else's technique, and not playing around with what I love in my own!

Until tomorrow!

Journal Day 2

Ok, I got around to working on my journal and I decided that the hearts needed to be balloons and then I stamped my beautiful Art Fairy, and I started to HATE my black and red border, so I paper pieced a new border.



Let's see what tomorrow brings!

Book Club

I truly hate missing a day on my journal and on my blog! I end up feeling like I am not following through on my goals...

But perhaps there is a lesson in that.

Yesterday I attended my monthly book club meeting and our book was Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts. It was certainly not a book I would have purchased or chosen to read, but this book was incredible. The book focuses on the women behind the men behind the founding of our nation. The research Cokie did was immense, and the result was a great read. I found it incredible how much women had to do just to survive day to day. Bear children, run the household, entertain quests, feed everyone, make food (literally) and then prepare the food, make cloth, make clothes, educate themselves their children, flee the enemy, help their husbands business, and then when they have a second keep their friends and family informed about the day to day business of life.

I have to say I was extremely disappointed in Benjamin Franklin! Talk about an ass!

So I chose to journal about that.



I decided to follow Julie's (from Balzer Designs - Art Journal Everyday) example and layer my next entry over a period of time. So far this is the basis of what I have...



Until next time!

Pain!!!

I have been out and missing my creative time!

Today I traded out my office chair in hopes that my back would be better and I think it helped quite a bit!

I created 2 journal pages and the background for a third! It's amazing how time away can just generate new ideas and time to absorb the wonderful techniques of amazing artists. If you havn't had a chance, go take a look at the Winter 2011 issue of Art Journaling.



For my first page, I wanted to address the pain I have been experiencing, it seems like I can't admit that I am in pain and really take the time to cure it! It makes me feel weak in character! So I used some layering technique to write out the pain and then I covered it up with gesso and paints! then "pretttied" it up with bright paper and the cutie girly who seems to be pondering the burdens of life! Oh and Starbucks always makes me feel a little better!



For page 2, I just took some vintage dictionary paper and used a doily to give it some texture - let's see what I decide to journal on that page.



For page 3, I received a thank you card from my SIL and it came with a great quote, "Reach High, for the stars lie hidden in your soul, Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal." Pamela Vaull Starr



It inspired me to write about a past that I think all SIL's go through together, particularly after 20 years!

Ok I really need to get a group together that will talk me down from buying new pens. As I walked through Target I was doing some regular shopping and happened across a great deal on these Pilot G-2 pens, they are perfect! They write on gesso and dried paint perfectly!



Until tomorrow!

Prayer is like that.....

Today has been a wonderful lazy day...

As I searched for inspiration - I looked through my favorite quotes - I hand write them into an inspiration notebook that I keep on my desk. I found this one and it absolutely speaks the truth on so many levels.



Prayer is like that she whispered, sometimes it can take days... months... years... and then sometimes when I am really quiet, I can see, hear, and feel the answer all at the same time.

As I played with gesso and acrylic paints - I added some baby blue and sage ink pad (just rubbed it along the top of the page) and added a feather. It is not in my nature to leave soemthing too simple - but I need to try new things, right?

Have a great day!! Until tomorrow