Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Skipping town



I will be quiet for close to a week..........we are going on vacation!

Hopefully I will come back all recharged and ready for more art! I am gonna miss it!

See you all next week :)


I am attaching a couple of samples I did yesterday for Innovative Stamp Creations using a couple of their new large backgrounds-Woodgrain and Batik Flower.


Tuesday, June 24, 2008

They Fit!!!!


Okay, I am just a WEE bit excited today!! So I am casually trying on a pair of new pants. Hmmmmmmm.......they are too big! So I go grab the next size down. The FOUR. No way, I think to myself. But yes indeed, they fit, and they fit well! Woohoooooooooooo! It made my entire day. I have wanted to be this size for the past 2 years but had never quite made it.

So of course, that is what my art journal page is about today :)

I used Gouache paints for the background. The poor things have been in my drawer, crying to be used.

Monday, June 23, 2008

2 New Journal Pages



I was able to work in my journal quite a bit today. I did these over the entire course of they day.

I am working on this week's assignment for Samantha Kira's Art Journal Workshop.
I am really loving this Visual Journaling-I can honestly say its probably my favorite thing to do right now. I love the non-seriousness of it, and how I am just able to play around and try new things.

TMTA: Tickets


This is for the TMTA challenge. This week it's Tickets. My background here is stamped with a bus ticket from the Time To Stamp line at I Brake For Stamps

The image I used here is from Bernie Berlin.
Background created using Gesso and Caran D'Ache crayons

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Today's Art Journal play


I got just a brief moment to play in my art journal today. Another one of Mr Rogers' quotes spoke to me today.....so thats what I used :)

I have been so into reading Twilight that pretty much thats where most of my free time went today :)


I used Caran D'Ache Watersoluble Crayons (my favorite), acrylics, electrical tape (another favorite), graphite, and some handmade papers. And yes, that is me in the picture (or part of me). I am getting brave and using more pics of myself.
The quote says:
"As Different as we are from one another, as Unique as each one of us is, we are much more the same than we are different." I love it! That quote really says alot, methinks.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Samples for Inkastamps



Did a couple of new samples tonight for Inkastamps and I can honestly say that on the Fish Post sample that that was the smallest alphabet set I think I have EVER used! I love her Post-a-Bet Set. I am real sucker for Faux Postage so I was really excited to get that set.


The World According to Mr Rogers


I got this great book today at our local Walgreens-Its called "The World According to Mister Rogers" and it has some GREAT quotes and wisdom from Mr Rogers. AWESOME!!

I sat there in amazement as I thumbed through it, and I knew I just had to have it.

The clerk at walgreens I am sure thought I was a nut when I said "He's the Man!" LOL

Thats okay, I know I am a goof :) I don't care anymore :)


This quote on my page today reads:

"There is no normal life that is free of pain.

Its the very wrestling with our problems

that can be the impetus for our growth."


Neat eh? I thought so. I think its so true. This quote really spoke to me today. Not that I am necessarily hurting today-I'm not at all. But, it really made me think.
I guess you will probably be seeing words from
Mr Rogers in my pages in the future. I am just in awe of the uplifting things
that wise man had to say.
This page is more messy than normal but I had fun with it.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Photos-YUCK!



Photos of myself, that is. That's what this page is about that I did today.
Lots o' stuff on this page:
Pics of me of course, ink, calligraphy ink. black gesso, misc. handpainted papers, electrical tape, old text, graphite, acrylics and water soluble crayons.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

You Make Every Day Beautiful


I started this page with a black and white photo of this woman. She was painted with Acrylics and I used some graphite pencil to accent her features. I really like how she came out. Lots of layers of paint on this page! She needed flowers in her hair :)

And its true, You make Every Day Beautiful! Some days it may not seem that way, but it IS true!

Wednesday Stamper: Twinchies



This week's challenge at Wednesday Stamper is "Twinchies"-what a word!LOL

Thought I would give it a try! I do have to say I like these better than "Inchies"-I have always found the inchies difficult to do because they are so tiny.


Images by Time To Stamp-available through I Brake For Stamps

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

New Book: True Vision


LK Ludwig is one of my favorite FAVORITE (imagine Steve from Blues Clues saying that LOL) artists. She has another book coming out soon and I am just so excited. I preordered it (shhh, don't tell Robert I am spending money) and I am going to be on pins and needles waiting for it. But just my luck, it will probably come when I am out of town :(

Created By Hand Challenge: Pattern and Fancy Paper


I haven't done this challenge in while.......it was time to get my beautiful marbled papers and new crow stamps from Quietfire for this challenge!

Monday, June 16, 2008

This morning was utter chaos


So what better theme to do my page for today?

I took Gilly to the first day of summer school.......OMG!!! The teacher was unprepared-according to his roster there were supposed to be only 8 kids in the class, when all actuality there were close to 20. It was noisy and unorganized. I ended up staying there for an hour. The teacher told me that he was not even able to get into the class until this morning at like 5am-so I don't think he really knew WHAT to do today. I realize its really not all his fault.

The teacher told me a bunch of stuff off the record-and don't ask me why but he kept grabbing my hand and holding it LOL It wasn't like in a perverted way, I think the poor guy was overwhelmed LOL

He kept calling Gillian by the wrong name-the girl's name he was calling her is a bus rider. So, I gotta be sure I get there to make sure Gilly is not loaded on the bus!LOL


Sunday, June 15, 2008

Marbled Paper Journal





I was itching to bind yet another journal. I am not done with my other one, but at the rate I am going, I will be needing another one in no time. So, while Gillian was napping I took advantage and had my creative time.



I LOVE this paper. Its my two favorite colors-purple and blue marbled with black and gold.I always forget about the large amount of beautiful handmade papers that are hiding in my closet-I felt this was a good chance to use some, so I jumped on it when I saw this beautiful paper. I am also including a pic to show the binding-hopefully you can see it. Its black, it blends in with the spine that is also black-but in person it looks fabulous. I wanted to include beads but the beads were too small to fit on the thread, so maybe next time :)


Something happened this week that I wanted to share. One of the things I have been nervous about (thanks for art therapy helping me get through my anxious times) is my Gillian......again.Whats new, right? Something is always going on with her! She is now going onto first grade.........she has been in a special ed class-mostly due to needing a smaller class size, and she has some developmental delays. Well for first grade, she is going to an entirely different school, and she is going into a regular ed class, because they are making some big changes. I have been nervous because I have had no answers from the people I had called-luckily, the principal of the school was my son's Kindergarten teacher-so she has known Gilly her whole life, and also about the challenges she has faced. She was also the preschool director. This all has been a real blessing. She assures me she will be taken care of, and in a situtation that will benefit everyone involved. This is SCARY. She will be there allllll day. I worry that she won't go to class once she sees the playground equipment, etc. How will I know she will be where she should? And what about her lunch-is she going to sit and eat it or just go play?? YIKES!! Well, I also know the yard duty folks. I already got to talk to one of them and made her promise me she would keep an eye on her for me. The school Gillian WOULD have been going to before these changes were made did not sound too good-this was from people who worked with the teacher herself. I was stressed beyond belief-I wondered how I would get out of that. So these changes seem to be good. I just need to have more faith-everything seems to have a way of working out.

Above is Gillian, enjoying a Shake from Ruby's diner. I love that picture.




Saturday, June 14, 2008

Art Journal Pages



Did a few more journal pages today!

One is a two page spread-I scanned it as best as I could-it did cut off just a little bit but you get the idea of it. That two page spread is inspired by Juliana Coles -lots of repetition in this spread.

The other page is one of the Assignments for the Art Journaling workshop I am participating in-this week's assignment is on External Color-and my favorite color is blue, so thats what I did the page on :)



Wednesday, June 11, 2008

New stamps





I played with some of the new ISC Stamps that I recently received. These are from some new sheets called "Artsy Victorian" and "Thoughtfulness." The Face is from the "Thoughtfulness" sheet and I just adore it-its large!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Be Brave




In this one I did I basically am telling myself to be brave.......to be honest and straightforward. To just get it out!!!


Today was fun-we went to our local Cherry Festival-here where we live there are lots of cherry orchards and the Cherry Festival is always the kick off. I screwed up my REALLY good eating habits today by Eating something I HAD to have-I will probably be paying for it the rest of the week in laziness, but trust me, it was so worth it!LOL
Chocolate dipped Cheesecake on a stick! It doesn't get better than that! It was worth it to go to the festival just for that! Then I went back later to see the 80's band "Berlin" play! So cool! I got some good shots-I darn near went deaf in the process as I was right next to the speaker, but it was worth it. LOL
Again, for me, its about being brave. Taking Risks. Thats not something I would normally do either :)

I am tired. I hope I did enough walking today that I walked those calories from the Cheesecake off LOL

Friday, June 6, 2008

No Trespassing


This "spilling" thing is really going deeper! Its kinda scary! This page is venting out feelings I have had for a long time. I am shaking just doing this, but to confront these feelings feels great. I had some emotional abuse growing up, and (gulp) I have always sort of felt rejected. Its something VERY difficult for me. To protect myself from being hurt, I throw up barriers. I don't mean to, but in the end, it makes things horribly painful for me. Anyway, thats what this page is about.
The Photo on this page is one that I took this past week, on the way to one of Gillian's appointments. There is this abandoned building and I always love passing by it, just to see the cool graffiti.

I Am Just Me.


Another Journal Page. I am loving this journaling again. Its been a while and I had forgotten how much I really loved doing it. I am still shaky though-this getting personal stuff is kinda scary. At the same time though, its therapeutic.
I felt like sketching today-so thats what I did for this. I don't sketch too often-its kinda scary LOL But I don't think it came out too bad!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Nothing Ever Lasts Forever


Another journal page.............This morning on my walk I was listening to my Ipod and "nothing lasts forever" by Echo and the Bunnymen came on-I had forgotten it was on there and so I have had this song going in my head alllllllll day. So, I had to do a page in my art journal on it .

A Day to Myself


Another art journal page.........again, getting more personal. I had a day to myself today (well, from 8 till about 3) so I am REALLY happy 'cos I really need these days once in a while!~

I think its kinda corny and I am still not used to this.....yet. LOL

Samples for Inka



Did a couple samples for Inka Today :) My poor inka stamps have been a little neglected lately and needing some loving.

Wednesday Stamper: Eyelets


Here's my contribution for Wednesday Stamper using Eyelets!

Stamps by Time To Stamp :)

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Here's my new journal


Handpainted covers, and you see the "K" at the bottom where I bound it? I hammered it with my ball peen hammer-I love to add some age to things and that seemed like the perfect thing to do :) Its hard to get a good scan of it but I LOVE this journal. I added some old french text and an old theatre ticket to the cover so it wasn't so plain jane :)


Kira's Art Journaling workshop


As I mentioned a few days ago, I signed up for Samantha Kira's Art Journaling workshop that she is doing online. I actually bound a journal yesterday for this.........despite the fact I already have one and even had quite a few pages all prepped. I just felt like making a journal yesterday so I dragged out my bookbinding materials and made one while Gillian was napping.

I used that for this page-this book is smaller than I am accustomed to, but I like it. I will be honest-this is a bit out of my comfort zone though! I normally do art journaling that has more to do with collages and trying new techniques. I realize there's nothing wrong with that, but.......I guess the good thing about this is that I will be able to loosen up more and just be myself and maybe get in touch with myself more. Lately I have been doing ALOT of that-so this is good timing.

This week's assignment was about our Journaling space.
It was great to get the Ipod out with my beloved 80's tunes and just create for a while!
I look forward to doing more :)


Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Super Duper Nervous!

Well its confirmed now-I am teaching a workshop (6 hours) at Redlands Art Center and Gallery on February 28, 2009! I have taught classes before but never a 6 hour one!LOL So I need to get to work and get some inspiration going on my end.
I am not as nervous about the workshop though as I am about the Program! A few days before the workshop I am going to display some of my work and do an actual demonstration-yikes! In front of people-YIKES!!! Did I say YIKES??????? I am a very social person. But, get me in front of a crowd and I can't speak. I guess I am gonna have to say alot of prayers!LOL I used to teach some classes and of course did some demoing at stamp shows and felt very comfortable with that-but that was a long time ago and I am really out of practice.
I am sure once I get comfortable with how I am going to do the demo (of course got to plan all that out) I will feel more at ease. But still-YIKES!!!!
I spoke to the lady today about it and we were laughing about it-it should be a fun group-hopefully I will be able to loosen up :)

Sunday, June 1, 2008

The Weekend





Whew-what a weekend! As for Art-I have been working on some backgrounds in my art journal for a workshop that starts tomorrow from Kira . I LOVE art journaling. Its been a while since I have done any, and I miss it, and want to get back going on it again. I also am really needing more inspiration to do some more art pieces-I need to get some canvas' done for a workshop and program I am doing in February! This may be the ticket.

I did a sample card today for ISC using the About Me Sheet again. I made the backgrounds using the Caran D'Ache Crayons that I love :)
Yesterday was really great! My husband and I have had NO ONE to watch our kids-we have not been out by ourselves for over a year. Anyway, after talking to one of the leader's at my church he told me to bring them over to his place-his family has horses! So, while we were out the kids got to go ride the horses and chase all over their neighborhood seeing Koi Ponds, ducks, peacocks, raccoons (yes! they are caged!) and just having a blast. It was really a nice break.
Of course now that he had the kids over to his place other people have stepped forward to say that they will watch the kids too-now maybe we can get out more often. I think it scared people to watch Gilly because of her past health history-but I won't elaborate anymore, as it just gets me upset and I will just go off on a tangent :) We went shopping and I got a magazine and picked up some more art supplies while we were out too :) Sometimes picking up just a new paint color can give inspiration, so thats what I did-I picked out a couple of new colors :)