A New Year's Thought

Dear Extraordinary Person,

As the year draws to a close, beautiful friend, please remember that you get to decide what heads into the next year with you and what doesn't. It would be worth some of your precious minutes to sit down and really think about the baggage that you have been carrying around that you just don't need anymore....and then decide that it is not invited to come with you into the next year...and that it will no longer be a part of how you view yourself, your possibilities, your commitments, the way you spend your time, and what you have to give in the world.

We often are taught to collect, collect, collect, gather, gather, gather, hoard, hoard, hoard...that we never even consider the possibility of starting over with a clean emotional slate by letting EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF BRAIN BAGGAGE GO and starting over with fresh hope, fresh faith, an open mind and endless possibilities. Some things that would be wonderful to leave behind are shame, blame, specific expectations, outdated beliefs, outdated identities and a scarcity mentality. It would be wonderful to let go of grudges, fears and beliefs that make us feel stuck.

When we decide to spend our time on loving others, and feeling loved...there is no room or time for feeling angry or for being worried about unkind things others may think of us. When we decide to spend our time working towards the life that our heart is yearning for....there is no room or time to think about things from the past that have been holding us back.

So please decide, amazing person.......YOU GET TO DECIDE!!! Decide what you will focus on, what you will think about, where you will spend your time and how you will think about everything and everyone around you. This could be the best year of your life! Make it so.

You are filled with endless possibilities!

from Your Daily Truth by Brave Girl's Club

My Hiking Journal

I have created an album on photobucket of my latest art journaling. It is about hiking and being outdoors this past year. I have more pages started and hope to finish them soon. I wish there was more time to do everything I love. But I am doing the best I can with the hours in each day to enjoy each and every one. Hope you are too.
Here is a link to my slideshow

The Happiness Project

I have borrowed this book from the library and am just starting it, but it seems like it goes hand in hand with my life the last 12 months. I have been really working on my happiness day to day. It seems like the more I take care of myself and those closest to me, the happier we all are. I am not saying I am responsible for the happiness around me, but it is contagious. So if you want to learn more about this project click on the title to this post and check out her website. There is a cool toolbox for creating your own happiness project.
Lot's of things in the works right now for getting art back into my schedule. More on this soon. Thanks for stopping by . . . only 7 more followers and I'll draw from everyone and send out a nice little prezzy!

I have started a Meetup group

I created a Meetup group for getting together with other women who are mixed media artists or who want to learn more about this type of art. Our first meetup is scheduled for Nov. 5th. I haven't found a meeting spot yet, but am working on it. I am going to provide workshops for those interested in learning and kits for those who do not want to invest in supplies. We have 4 members as of today. So if you live in Central Ohio and want to join us, we can be found by clicking on the title of this post.

90 Followers woo hoo!!

I posted a while back that I would have a drawing of my followers once I reached 100. Only 10 more to go. I want to make something awesome . . . any suggestions??? Take a look through my older posts and if anything looks interesting let me know.

I took my first spinning class today. It was HARD!! But fun. A new goal for the month, to stand for a whole class by the end of the month. I did get my cardio in, just need a stronger core. I am so glad it is Friday!! Can't wait to relax for a few hours at the pool this weekend. I love summer! Hopefully we can pick another couple of buckets of blackberries this weekend too. Hate the stickers but love the berries in my smoothies.

I'll try to post Sunday some new art. 

My Dad's ROD Journal

I made a slideshow of some of the pages in the ROD journal I am making for my Dad. (Click on title of post to get to slideshow) I'm keeping it pretty simple. I do want to embellish a bit more. But it's a guy's journal so I don't want to go over board. I'm making it with the same purpose in mind as I made my mom's. For him to write about his life & memories. It will be a treasured keepsake.

Thanks for looking  . . . now I'm off to the gym :-)

Update: This "not buying anything except gas" is HARD!! I forgot my flip flops at home so now I have to wear my gym shoes all day at work. Any other day I would have run to the dollar store and bought flip flops, ugh!! I did my first Pilates work out today. It wasn't real hard but I can already feel my body responding to the fact that I have given it a very different work out . . . so this is good . . . I think??

I have scheduled time off in September to hike the AT for a long weekend. I am so excited. My oldest son, Chris, is coming with me. I hope to get to the summit of Mount Rogers in VA. So all this extra training will help me I am sure and makes any discomfort so worth it, when I get to top. :-)

OK now it's time to work . . .

My New Art Studio

Here's my new sunny art room . . . well part of it.

I LOVE IT!!

I'm working on a type of ROD journal for my Dad to journal about his life. I will take some pics soon.

I plan to post a picture and how I am doing on my journey of consuming less this month . . . in all ways!!

My August Self Challenge

For the month of August I am challenging myself to not buy anything except gas. I have to pay my bills too. My DH pays for the groceries so this is something I can do, if I put my mind to it and have self control.

I am also going to move my fitness journey to the next level by using a personal trainer for the month. Provided by my DH for my birthday this month.

I am planning on organizing my new art studio and making some awesome new art too.

So I will be kept busy and do not think I will miss shopping in the least. And once I get down a few more sizes I can have lots of fun buying new clothes. I have been doing my best to take in what I have so I can continue to wear what I have.

I will be posting my new art and about how my self challenge is going all through the month . . . So come back and see me in August!!
The picture is a close of my art desk in my new sunny art room. More pics to come  . . .

Got my new art room(s) set up

I have my new art rooms with all my stuff in them... yeah!! I am so happy! My DH and oldest son helped move desk and go get a desk from my mom & dad. So I have two desk now and lots of storage, but way too much stuff. So it is time to organize and trim down my supplies. I cannot create in chaos!!
So I have about another week of work of ahead of me, but it will be so worth it to be able to have a true guest room for family & friends to visit more often and to be able to CREATE more art!!
I will post pictures when I am done.
Have an awesome rest of the weekend!!

Why I am not posting as often

I am so happy to have 83 followers. I am not sure you all are so happy with me lately. I am sorry for not posting more often. Life is very busy these days and I have not been creating much art.

I am doing very good on my journey of weight loss and exercise. I have lost 45 lbs and want to loose at least another 30. My energy level is awesome and I am having fun hiking this spring. I enjoyed a hike and camp out in Cuyahoga Valley National Park just up the road from us. My husband went with me. We hiked 9 miles Sat morning in about 3.5 hours. A little faster then I like, but I did it. There were awesome ledges to walk up to and beside. We camped overnight and had to suffer through a half hour thunderstorm. But campfire time was fun. Got a good 5 hours sleep before things got uncomfortable. My DH says this is not for him. He likes the hiking but wants a real bed at the end of the day. So I will have to find someone to backpack with later this summer.

Right now I am getting the house ready for my youngest son's visit with his wife. They will be home the first part of July. So I have to move my art/scrapbook room back downstairs. Having it in the guest room is not working at all. So besides working full time this is what I have been up to. Hopefully I will have fun creating some things with my DIL and I'll post about that soon.
Thanks for following and I'll try to post some creativity soon . . .

My Planes & Trains Adventure

I recently went on an adventure with a friend. We went to Minot North Dakota by way of planes to Minneapolis MN, then train to Minot ND. The first leg of our journey went pretty smoothly. Only an 90 minutes late into Minot. She was going to surprise a friend from grade school and I went to surprise my son who serves in the Air Force up there. We both had wonderful reactions to our surprise visit.

We went our separate ways for 4 days and had a wonderful time with family & friends.

We met back at the train station at 9:30 pm and then began our real adventure.

You see I had wanted to take the bus from the airport to the train station, but we were told this was too dangerous by a kind gentleman at the airport info both. So we took a taxi.

Well our journey home was not to be that easy. We ended waiting until 3:15am for our train to arrive into Minot. We then slowly made our way to Minneapolis. The train was already 7 hours behind schedule for those that had started in Seattle WA. I knew we would never make our flight at 10:30 that morning, so we contacted Delta on our trusty cellphones to see what we could do. Everyone flying was having to re-book their flights. Some had to pay over $200.00 for this. Delta was very easy to work with. We just had to know what time we would be at the airport, which we didn't. So we said our prayers and waited until we arrived in Minneapolis. We met a gentleman that also would need a taxi to the airport, so we shared a cab with him. This turned out to be a little tricky. I went to the first taxi van in line and asked how much to get to the airport, he did not speak English well and I thought he said $35.00, which was 10.00 more than when we took it to the train station. I asked why and he said it might be $40.00. He had already started the meter and grabbed my bag and put it in the van. I went to the next car taxi and asked the big burly white man how much to get to the airport and he said $20.00 at the most. I went over to the van and grabbed my bag out of it and said no thank you. He got upset and I then said I did not feel like getting screwed that day. The poor gentleman sharing our cab just watched . . . I got his bags and threw them in the back and he got in the front seat and said what just happened? I said I saved us $20.00. He laughed. We were on our way to the airport . . .

We arrived just before 3pm and made our way to the Delta counter to tell them our sad story and hope for the best. It was just like you see in the movies, he tapped on his keyboard for a few moments then said I have 2 seats on the 3:55 flight, do you want them? How much? $50.00 each. Praise the Lord!!!

We then breezed through security and what pull sup as I am putting my shoes back on . . . an airport taxi thingy . . . you know the ones that fly you through the airport . . . He asked if we needed assistance and I looked at him and thought why not. Never had this luxury before. It was a good thing, because our gate was clear at the other end of the airport. We arrived in time to board and be seated right next to each other.

Home by 8pm. Slept like a baby. I love a good adventure!!

Art paper scrap collage

          I loved doing this page.

First I covered the background with black gesso.

Then I tore my paint paper scraps. (These are the papers I put behind the pages in a book when I paint them. I use them over and over again so they are very colorful.)

Then I used gel medium to adhere them to my book pages. I allowed everything to dry overnight.

I came back with black acrylic paint and painted the words. I used painted stamps for the word believe.
       Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I have been trying to get our huge lawn mowed and also keeping up with my 60 minutes of hiking and exercise each day. Doesn't leave much time for anything else before I head into work for the afternoon.
        I posted a slideshow of my North Carolina hiking vacation on the side bar of the blog.

Remain of the Day Slideshow posted

I finally got around to creating a slideshow on photobucket of my ROD journal. I made this for my mom, so she can journal about her memories. I am making one for my dad too. But I am taking the idea and using double sided tape into a blank journal I have. It's somewhat bigger. I will post some of it when it is finished. The slideshow is only of about 1/3 of my mom's journal. I ended up making 3 signatures. It went real fast. I do love this format.
I used wallpaper from a sample book. Love it!! Lot's of scrapbook papers.

WooHoo!! I am up to 79 followers. When I get to 100, I'll be sending one of them an altered composition book. I haven't made it yet. I may even wait to interview the winner so I can make something with them in mind. You are all so wonderful to drop in now & then to leave comments.
Take Care.

My first ROD journal

I finally made my first Remains of the Day journal / keepsake.

I made this for my mom. I will make a slide show in a few days to show the inside. It has pictures from her childhood and young married life. I left lots of room for her to write her memories. She helped me with the cover. She knows how to sew, I do not. But this kind of sewing I can do. She pressed the slipcover before I made it into the cover.

Anyways  . . . it's late and I have to get to bed. So I'll do more later.

Collaborative Art Journal Auctions

In January 2010 a small group of artists agreed to participate in a collaborative art journaling project. The idea was for each artist to create three art journal entries based upon a theme – one was about “Love”, the second was about “Friendship” and the third was left “Open”. Each artist was asked to include an introduction page and two art entries about the theme of the journal they chose to work in. Each journal contains 36 different art entries. All three journals traveled throughout the United States and Canada for about twelve months. Two have returned safely and the third is slowly limping home – it ran into a few unexpected road blocks along the way, but will be traveling again soon.

It was proposed that these journals be auctioned off and the proceeds from each sale donated to a charity. The Love Journal would benefit a children’s charity. The Friendship Journal would benefit a women’s charity. The Open Journal would benefit Bernie Berlin’s no-kill animal shelter - known as "A Place to Bark".
Here are the links -


Love Journal = http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330544745796&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Friendship Journal = http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250792003391&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123

The picture is my introduction page from the Love Journal. There are sooo many great pages in both of these journals. Lots of ideas to get your muse going . . .

Collage Layers technique

I save everything . . . how about you?

I have lots of church bulletins, sewing patterns, scraps of pretty paper from scrapbooking, old song books from flea markets, my postage stamps, etc.
I have file folders of magazine pages. I try to organize them how I think I will use them. My categories are faces, people, places, texture & pattern, text (large & small separated), architecture. So then I can just pull a file and look for something to add to a collage.
I have used an old suitcase to store all my scrap paper pieces. Sometimes I just pull it out and make several collage pages all at one. Then I can go back and add paint and stamping.

• I first added the yellow and gesso paint over the top of the collage.
• I added the black paint to the outlines before doing the last steps. 
• On this collage I added some bubble wrap stamping, some brayer painting, and then stamps with black acrylic paint on form stamps. I also use a medicine bottle to make the rings. The bird stamp is with a pigment dye stamp pad.

The hardest part is waiting for it to dry so I can do another page. But usually I try to finish a page right before heading off to work at 2pm. This way it will be dry when I get home!
Now it's your turn!!

Lots of layers

The technique was found in the Autumn 2010 Somerset apprentice magazine. I used it for my composition book cover posted back in Dec 2010.
Start with a sturdy material, chipboard or heavy weight paper.
Then layer your first color using acrylic paints and just move the pain around with your fingers. I used several colors of blue and white to get my effect. I may have used a brush too. Leave the paint thick in spots and then use a heat tool to dry the page. This makes the thick areas crackle and bubble. Then use brown distress ink and cover the whole surface. Then spritz with water and scrub the ink off certain areas.
Using a brayer I add white gesso to areas mostly around the edges.
Then I used dark brown Stazon ink to stamp script and a few quotes.
I added a piece of old music sheet. Then I stamped the nest and bird.
I added some stickles to the flowers around the nest. It takes overnight for everything to dry well. Then I brushed gel medium over the whole cover. I did the back cover with the same technique but did not add the stamped images. This was a lot of fun to do. I did two books at the same time so I could let them dry in at the same time. They each looked a little different.  I will probably due a few more for presents.
I just started the "Remains of the Day" class with Mary Ann Moss. So I expect to be totally immersed in these for a bit. I am hoping to get my mom interested. She has always been a quilter and sewing was her passion, until she lost the feeling in her hands and has a hard time with the precision of quilting. I think these journals maybe just the ticket for her. On my way home tonight.

Just doodles and journaling

This is a picture of Florence when she was very young.

I decided to leave her picture on this page. This time-period sort of fascinates me. To me, her look is timeless. Sometimes just working around something already in the book you are altering is a challenge. I decided to use some coffee sleeves on the page next to it and then journal about coffee on this page.

Collage of stamped images

Using stazon ink and one flower and leaf stamp.

I stamped over the text on this page. The design to the left was used to journaling some of my favorite lyrics.

This page reminds me of summer  . . . aahhh . . . can't wait for the warm days.

Subscribing to my Posts

Sorry if you are subscribing to my posts and only see 2 month old posts listed. There appears to be a glitch with Yahoo & Blogger world. I actually went as far as to delete the post that appears. But it still shows up as my most recent post. I subscribe to others blogs and can see this same thing has happened to a few others but not to everyone. So I guess we will have to wait and see how long it takes to fix the issue. Until then, please know my intention is to update my blog weekly if not more often and I love to have vistitors and followers!!
And to show my appreciation, I am going to giveaway an altered compostion book to one of my followers when I get to 100. Can't wait to see who gets it!! I'll post pictures as soon as it is done.
Thank you so much for all the lovely comments and encouragement over the past year or so.
Today's picture is of ATC's created for other artist's 2011 Word of Intent. We are doing a swap in my BAJ yahoo group. The bottom is for the word "today" as is one of my favorite quotes and something I struggle with sometimes. To just realize we never get back today and to make it count!
Love to all!

BAJ Art Challenge ~ A + Red + Hearts

I got to stay home, and I love a day off that is unplanned. Also can't go anywhere due to the ice we have over the snow on our road.



So I made a new recipe with butternut squash from yesterday's TODAY show. It turned out yummy.

Then went upstairs to take on Kim's weekly challenge, I punched out hearts from paper I use under my journals pages when I paint. I love to use these for abstract collage stuff. Then punched a few from scrapbook paper laying around. Used old credit cards to smear the paint around, then a brayer to add some "grunge". I used watercolor crayons and poster paint pens to add some details. Also a few stickers for some added "bling". Using the letter A had me stumped for a bit, then I decided to journal all my hearts in my life right now.

Using magazine pictures in your art

Here I used the design of the page in the book and magazine pictures to create a page I love!
The heart is a sticker. I used watercolor crayons to shade and outline areas. I use an almost dry wet wipe to rub over the watercolor crayon. I cut text from a magazine and blocked out some text and left other to tell a story. I had this picture cut out from a magazine for awhile and just decided to use it on this page. I came back later to finish it. I do this quite often. Start a page with some collage work and then come back to journal on it.
Another thing I do once in a while in the evening at work (call center) waiting for the next phone call, is cut images and text from old magazines. I have always subscribed to lots of magazines and I have kept them all. So I have started to go through them and get what I want out and then recycle the rest. I have a few file folders I sort things into. Some of my categories are: text & quotes, texture, places, people, and buildings.
If you try this a technique or any of the others I have posted about and want to send me a picture I'd love to see them.
Have a great Sunday and week!

Strathmore Artist Papers Workshop 1: Recycled Journal Pages

Here is my finished art journal page from the workshop. The instructor is Pam Carriker . She has done a great job taking us through the steps of recycling our art journal pages into something brand new.  Here are some pictures of the stages to this technique. If you want me to describe in more detail let me know. I think a lot of you have taken the workshop, so you know.  


1st Stage



Final Stage



2nd Stage



 

Embossing layer technique

This page was accomplished using black gesso and then clear embossing of snowflakes stamped images. Then paint over all with acrylic paint. When it dries almost all the way you take a damp baby wipe and rub over the embossing and the paint comes off.
The was one of Tim Holtz's 12 days Christmas tags techniques. It may have been from a past year. I tried to find it on his blog but my internet wireless service is too slow today with all his pictures. I think I explained it pretty well though. It's easy.

I then used a white gel pen to outline the embossing.

Journaling within the design of paper or picture

In this book I took out most text pages and left her wallpaper design pages. So then I used a lot of them to journal through her design, or used the design in my art. This is part of the fun of altering a book. Using what is in the book.

I found a book titled the Back Roads of America. It has lots of pictures of places I have been. It's an older book I got at the Withdrawn Book section of our city library for 25 cents.

I am going to altered it into my Hiking Journal. I'll post some pictures soon.

Technique for this "trash" collage

This journal has a lot of ephemera I took from my everyday life "trash" and used the pieces to collage about my life.

This one has an old English rose name tag I found in the garden close to where the rose plant used to be. It has long since died. Fortunes from lunch at work. A favorite snack package. My favorite green tea with pomegranate and a caramel chocolate bar wrapper. I also added a quote I liked.

These kinds of collages are fun to do once a week while you collect things. I have lots of materials still saved to use in the future.

Give this one a try and see if you like it.

2011 Word of Intent ~ Aspire

Hi all,

I chose ASPIRE as my word of intent this year.

ASPIRE ~ to have an earnest desire or ambition, as for something high and good. to long for; seek after. to reach or rise upward.

I am hoping to do a long distance hike this year. What that looks like I do not fully know yet. It may mean a weekend, 3 to 4 days, or a full week. I have been reading AT (Appalachian Trail) journals on trailjournals.com. They are very inspiring. The hiking is one thing I aspire to.

A few other things I aspire to are: in the process of all this hiking, to loose weight (25 lbs so far, woohoo!!) and get my cardio ability strengthen; to be a kinder, more patient person; to find ways to do good in my little corner of the world; to stretch myself in my art; to move from wanting to hold an art retreat . . . to doing it :-)!

So there is my word and all it means to me . . .


The art journal page is from a traveling journal I participated in with the theme LOVE

New Partnership Journal - 2011

This is the cover of my partnership journal this year. I am partnering with Kim in PA. We worked on an art journal rr about a year ago. Her journal was kidnapped by of the participants. I had worked in it and it really pissed me off that she didn't get it back. I got mine back and loved her work so I contacted her about a month ago to see if she just wanted to go back and forth with a journal this year. Thankfully she was game.   So mine is on it's way to her next week and we'll have fun creating this year in each other's journals and in our own too.