Mixed Media Collage

I made a collage this weekend for my oldest son. We picked some graphics out together online. And I used some photos I have taken. Used my paper artist software on my phone to give them some cool effects. Arranged with a few maps with locations that have meaning for my son. He hasn't seen the finished work. I hope he likes it.

Now let us welcome the New Year ... Full of things that have never been.

This definitely describes my new year. 2014 will be full of things that have never been. It will be letting go of things that have been for so long. It will be exciting and scary all at once.

I have had the feeling of "what the hell am I doing", off & on for weeks now. And I always come to the conclusion, I am going to live a life filled with possibilities. God gave me my favorite verse years ago. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I have also said it as" all things are possible through Jesus Christ my Lord". So I have this in me to live by faith and to try new things. I always have. But that doesn't mean it is easy.

I haven't done a great job of recording my feelings and thoughts over the past few years. So my only New Year's resolution is to take time this year to do this. It has been amazing to look back over years worth of journals and remember all that has been a life well lived. I have not always thought of it this way, but when you have a chance to take it all in at one time, it truly is that.

And I will miss not being able to look back in detail at the past few years. But can't go back and this year will be one not to miss all the details.

The title of this post is from German poet Rainer Maria Rilke.

January

And what does January hold?

Clean account books,

Bare diaries,

Three hundred and sixty-five new days,

neatly parceled into weeks, months and seasons.

A chunk of time, of life ...

those first notes like an orchestra tuning up

before the play begins.

~ Phyllis Nicholson

Country Bouquet (1947)

College Text Book turned into a Journal

I made a video and put ideas through it on how I turned this college text book I bought for only 25 cents into a cool journal.
http://youtube/P6ZtxJhYI7c 

Mixed Media Collage "HOME" video

I am having so much fun creating these videos and art while being snowbound at home. 
Here is my latest. Mixed Media Collage "HOME"
I think this would be the prefect project for an Art Gathering at our Bed & Breakfast. Busy planning all kinds of fun.

Another video - My Ireland Paris Travel Journal

Here is my 2nd YouTube video. I am taking you through my travel journal I created before we left and took with me and then finished after coming home. I find it is best to take my journal with me so I can journal in the evenings. I look at the pictures I take during the day and get a feel for what I will include. We collect things all day too. So I create pages. I take decorative tape with me and a tape runner. I usually take some watercolor crayons. I didn't really use them this time. We were exhausted at the end of each day. It only took a few weeks to get pictures printed and then finish the journal when I got home.
Click here to view video.

I have always kept some type of record of vacations. It used to be only a written account. Once I got into scrapbooking I went back 10 years into my travel journals and created awesome scrapbooks. My sons could not believe the details of  my memories ... then I showed them the journal. They were so grateful for the very specific accounts of our family vacations put with pictures.
So I encourage everyone to keep journals. I have journaled my whole life... sometimes it is in the format of a daily calendar, but I also take time every month to write about life.
It has been really eye opening, while packing for our move, I took time to read through parts of my journals. I was writing about how cool it would be to run a bed & breakfast for the past 15 years. Each year there were multiple entries about this dream. And of course having an art studio to invite others to come to has been very consistent for the past 5 years. Just confirmation that I am on the right path ... even when it feels scary.