I’m back to art journaling again. Christmas prep was super hectic this year and I used my journal as a relaxation tool. I randomly pasted down scraps of decorative napkins and papers and then doodled and painted what I saw. This was a fun flower in the depths of winter that brightened both my day and my mood. It was soothing to just doodle and glob paint where I saw fit.
Today I’m working on a composition for a painting I got the idea for yesterday.
Super fun. I can’t wait to pick papers and colors and scraps and goodies and bling and… and… and… This promises to be a joyful experience for me. I’ll share it with you as I journey down this villages path. Come back tomorrow to see if anyone home in there.
I saw something very similar these “Word Birds” in the most recent edition of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine and I knew instantly that I had to make these precious tweeters. I used recycled cardboard from Coke Zero boxes. (My morning crutch…) I love a boost of cold, caffeinated carbonation in the morning. Very unhealthy indeed, but it does the job while the coffee perks.
These are covered with decorative tissue papers and paper napkins. Then I embellished them with oodles of ephemera and bling… adding fishing line to hang them with and stringing some beads as well for a boost of shimmer and color. I hung them in my studio window for inspiration and the occasional grin they give me. I love how they swing in the breeze of a slightly open window or on colder days… the soft breath of the forced air heater. Super fun… Super easy, and super cute! I encourage you to make some tweetie birds for yourself!
After a week of extreme wind storms all thats left on the Maple tree outside the landing window are two gorgeous gems that God painted extremely more radiant than the rest of the tree. I have been enjoying these two leaves for weeks as they’ve been bursting ever brighter with vibrant color. To me they are a special gift from God letting me enjoy autumn even more. Each time I climb the stairs I pause a moment and enjoy them.
Aren’t they just beautiful? What a joyful thing… two tiny leaves clinging tightly together to hang on as long as possible to the beauty that is Fall.
I’ve been busy with things around the house. Thanksgiving was my birthday, our car died… literally. We had to buy something new. We went out of town for the day on Turkey day for dinner… we bought our Christmas tree and ornaments over the weekend and I’ve been decorating for Christmas this week. It’s wonderful not to decorate the same way as I had to the past 6 years in our rented home. Tomorrow I will show you my Christmas tree that I put in my studio. It’s absolutely adorable. For now I’m off to work on Christmas gifts and use up some of my creative energy. I’ll share SOON! Have an awesome Wednesday and keep the faith.
I’m finally at peace with my blogging tool. I’ve been emailing the help desk off and on over the past few days and this morning I got my solution. And I got my old version of ScribeFire back! I’m a happy blogger now. I could not make heads or tails out of the new …simplified… version. As they say, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!” Word!
I’ve been working on this peace banner over the past week and it’s finally ready to share. I still have to put eye hooks in the sides for stringing it but for the most part it’s… Internet ready.
Next I’m working on price tags for my auntie. She wants around 200 of them so I’ll be very busy with Photoshop and scissors making tags with a statement. Wish me luck. As for now it’s time for me to Occupy my Studio! See you tomorrow with something or another.
God Bless!
Mom’s greenhouse is like falling into the looking glass. A lot of what she does in her experimental lab is to grow things that would not have been grown otherwise. The cactus at the top is a lethal weapon! The hens and chicks come back from the dead in the middle photo and the bottom picture is an amazement all it’s own. The cluster of web-like cacti looks amazing…. yet when mom put just a few in a different pot… this was the result….
It’s like two different plants! I LOVE plants. There was a time in my life when I had well over 150 healthy house plants. I was going to grab a few of these little websters for my own indoor garden but I’ll have to do it next visit. When we were house hunting we came across a home that was ideal! It had gorgeous hardwood floors… and we aren’t talking laminate. It had an extra potty in the garage with a pencil sharpener in it… I thought that was awesome. AND it had a green house. Sadly the house was just a bit too small for us. But I still think about it. And I long for a greenhouse in heaven!
This is what I wanted to share today. This is my mom’s rosary collection. (or at least part of it.) Being raised Catholic I can appreciate her love for these meaningful prayer beads … as you’ve seen in photos of mine before I have a small collection myself…and some are still in storage. I love how she’s displayed them in her bedroom with delicate scarves framing them from behind.
She also has a collection of tiny crosses that are from necklaces and rosaries and objects long ago broken. Most of her rosaries and crosses she’s picked up at flea markets, antique shops both local and from travels to relatives scatter around the country. It’s fun to listen to the stories of where each one was discovered and what state she found them in.
I’m busy working on some art today but needed a break to shop and to clean house. We have a birthday boy celebrating his big day tomorrow and I’ve been wrapping presents are the UPS has been delivering them… one at a time! The last one just showed up… got wrapped and is ready. I made a tiramisu for his birthday and it’s chilling in the fridge for tomorrow. The cheese is setting back up so it won’t be too squishy. I hunted high and low for ladyfingers but had to finally settle on biscotti. We thought it would work just fine. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.
Until then… Have a great pre-Friday and take time to smell the autumn air… it’s crispy and full of promise.
Over and out till tomorrow my mateys~
Second in my Seasons Series. Simply titled… “Winter.” The cool of the blue and the dark of the black contrasting with the white pretty much encompasses the ice, snow, and loss of daylight of the season. I added stars instead of snowflakes to emphasize the dark and cold starry nights with shimmer with snow crystals on the ground. Winter is a gorgeous season in odd ways. The lack of life adds a stillness that prepares you for the new season to come. Such is life. We all go through such seasons in our lives when things change and turn and twist and finally renew. I’m in the bit of a winter right now… I’m ahead of the calender this year but I feel confident that come spring I’ll be bursting with new freshens and growth.
It’s time to download a few books I’ve really been wanting to read onto my Kindle. The first being The Christmas Sweater. The sequel to this book is coming out next week. It’s called The Christmas Angel and I’m very excited about reading them both. I need a kindle partner… so I can share books and have someone share with me. I guess I’ll hit Google to see how to find one. No one I know has a kindle that doesn’t have a partner. Twice the books… half the price. I’ve finished reading Killing Lincoln. Excellent read. Now I’m reading a free Kindle book about Lincoln… very informative and telling about that period of time in history.
In keeping with sharing my photography I indulged in at my moms last week I’m including this picture to depict winter.
The Chives are spent for the season and will be totally gone on the first frost… I found something intriguing about this capture and love the speck of life among this death. Always remember there IS hope!
See you tomorrow my friends… and God Bless You!
Winter, Spring, Summer and …
Here’s the first in the series of the four seasons that I’m painting over the next couple of weeks. I finished the final touches on this one this morning and started on winter. Yep! It’s cold! Time for baked squash and roasts, not to mention hot spiced cider. Comfort food to keep your tummy warm after coming in from raking the autumn leaves. Total gorgeousness of color!
Keeping with today’s Fall theme I want so share a picture of my mom’s Sumac tree. They are absolutely a burst of color in the fall and a lust shady green in the summer. They grow like mad though and would soon consume my back yard so I have to pass sadly.
No one paints like God! And all we have to do is enjoy it.
It’s Tuesdays Toys again and instead of sharing a toy… (I won’t drop the last shoe till next week.) I’m sharing something I saw this morning that tickled my funny bone. I hope you get the same chuckle I got from it.
♥ Psalm 12 ♥
Happy Sunday. Another week has come and gone and I have another week of prayer and faith under my belt. I helped my sister do some moving this past week while visiting my parents. I got some really cool stuff to share as well. I’ll post pictures this coming week of some of my newly acquired treasures as well as photos of around my parents property.
We had a visit from a wandering coyote and I was able to get a few photos of him to share. I’ll show those tomorrow. I got to spend time with my sis and my brother, his wife, and my niece. It was a good time and I’m already looking forward to the next time I go visit… Next month! The weather is definitely autumn now. Time to dig the winter coat out of the closet for the season.
I’ll leave you with today Psalm. Psalm 12. God Bless you!
Psalm 11
In the Lord I take refuge. Amen to that. I’m getting a few Sunday’s closer to making it 10 percent of the way through the Psalms. I was partially inspired to focus on the Psalms by Deitrich Bonhoeffer. He was a marvelous person during the most trying times in Germany and his faith is an incredible story to read about. He is the author of several books including Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible. Check it out here.
I will leave you with today’s prayer in it’s entirety here…
God bless you and keep you. Until tomorrow when I’ll be back with a pink poodle to share. =) Yep! You heard me right.
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