Creation Destination

Joy Is.....The Actual Kelly Class Journal Pics

2012-02-15T14:21:00.001-08:00

5 classes = 3 Journals

I did most of the pages in the first journal we made so I would end up with one journal with quite a few completed pages in it.

Just a plug for Kelly.

She is willing to travel just about any where to teach. If you enjoy working with lots of collage and playing with TAPE and more tape and making new forever arty friends, then Kelly's classes are what you should be taking. Kelly puts her heart and soul into her classes to make them enjoyable for her students. You will never be disappointed. Email her and get some classes started in your area. Kelly is the BESTEST!

Joy Is.....More Kelly Class Pics

2012-02-14T06:50:00.000-08:00

I told you I would share more Kelly Class pics....well here they are. Enjoy!

Kelly always creates all of the same journals at the same time she is teaching us. This pic shows her working away in her own journal to show us how to use the materials. Cool!

Next post will be the Around the Studio Pics. Maria the owner, in the first one above takng pictures at the same time I was taking a pic of her. I love love her studio!!

Joy Is.........A Sneaky Peek to a Fabulous Arty Weekend

2012-02-13T05:31:00.000-08:00

Just a small peek into my weekend that was spent with the great Kelly Kilmer. Friday, Saturday and Sunday we had 5, count them, 5 journal creation classes! Woot!! This is my third trip around the classroom with Kelly and I will never stop. Kelly is the most patient instructor I have ever taken classes from.

Just check out this table full of TAPE!!!

Kelly brings all of her own tapes with her for us to play with. Nothing is off limits, NOTHING!

Lots of fun and lots of laughs reuniting with "Kelly's Gang" in Niles.

I called this post a Sneaky Peek as it is short. I apologize, but it is early Monday morning and I should be trying to wrap my brain around work again, but I will post the other photo's I took soon.

Hope your weekend was fabulous!

Joy Is.......The Day Job That Lets Me Travel

2012-02-05T18:18:00.000-08:00

Hi folks, while everyone is busy watching the Super Bowl, I decided it was a good time to get my post done.

This past week found me in Morro Bay at the Ocean. Morro Bay is close to San Luis Obispo and has a landmark, called the Rock for this reason:

This shot is from my hotel window. It is very beautiful, and this one is zoomed from the same place:

But this one is the best, since I drove only 2 blocks to the edge of the water to take it:

Absolutely gorgeous!!

These were taken on Tuesday morning when the sun was shining bright, but this next one was taken on Wednesday morning when it was foggy:

Still beautiful.

Other than that I had a very sucessful time working and visiting with the manager down there who is interested in my art journals. We met Linda Ortiz on Tuesday afternoon, the artist who lives in Morro Bay and who had a piece in the last Cloth Paper Scissors. I showed her my journals and she showed us hers. She is a very talented artist, and I loved her beautiful journals. She teaches art classes in San Luis Obispo most Wednesday evenings and Susan was suppose to go to Linda's class on Wednesday night. I have not talked to her since, but hope to this week, to find out how she liked it. She is interested in Art Journaling. As we left the resturant after our meet up, this greeted us:

A very nice sunset! Ahhh, and I was glad I had my camera.

So this time next Sunday I will just be home from a complete weekend of art. I am taking Kelly Kilmer's classes in Fremont all weekend!! WOOT! I promise to tell you all about it and take pics. I promise!

Bye!!

Writing on the Wall

2012-02-04T10:26:00.001-08:00

I have missed at least 2 weeks of WOTW for my friend Cheryl. So here is my submission.
I went to Morro Bay this week to conduct an audit. Not the happiest thing in the world to do, but I had to and it took me to the ocean which is a few blocks from the office.

This is the wall on the outside of our office there. Cool! Don't know why it is painted like this, but it is and it is a wall.

Check back tomorrow for the "Rock" pics that is Morro Bay's landmark.

Until then go to Cheryl's WOTW this week and cruise.

Joy Is........Learning New Things

2012-01-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

"My name is Sharon and I am an Internet, Pen and Pen Storage Junkie."

This is where I am or have been this week.

I am learning Pinterest. And I must say I am not addicted to it yet, but I am addicted to learning how to use it. So if that makes me addicted, well OK, there ya go!

I AM also addicted to mark making tools, as most of you know. My art friend Beth is addicted also as this shot shows, that I took at our meet up this week. Great minds think alike:

And that takes us to the new 100 Pen Case I bought and received this week. First empty:
This one shows the pen flap closed.

This one shows the pen flap open.

Here it is with my Inktense Pencils on the lid loops and my Copic Multi Liners on the flap.

Here it shows the flap back and the inside filled with mark making goodness! And it will hold more.

And here is a shot of the case that I keep my very special pens in, as in fountain pens.

And the best part is, it came with this guy hanging on a key chain, attached to the case, with the attitude:

His name is Daniel.

How appropriate!

I have also been conducting a Study of Doodles, as you can see here:

I also found this book at B & N in the Close Out after Xmas sale bins for 2 Bux!!

Too Cool, since I adore Sherlock! And who cares if it is a new write? I certainly don't. Did I tell you I recently read one with him and Watson fighting the monsters from The War of the Worlds? Love SH!
I was given the new Stephen King Book, 11-22-63, for Xmas, but have not picked it up yet with trying to keep up with my LOA studies and reading The Hunger Games and now a new SH. I will, soon, but it might take me awhile. It is 4" thick!! Wowsers!

Oh and have ya been keeping up with all of the new Tim Holtz stuff that will be coming out of CHA this week?? Go check out his blog!

Yikes!!

I am off to the ocean next week to conduct an audit and meet a new artist that had an art piece in the last Cloth, Paper, Scissors. She lives in Morro Bay and yea I stalked her in Gooogle after I saw her piece and it said she was from Morro Bay. We are meeting up on Tuesday afternoon with the GM of our office who wants to get into AJ! I have been slowly working on her over the years, and I may have now got her hooked after I show her my journals and we met up with Linda Ortiz. YAY!

Have a great week. Oh and go check out Ginny's new store.

Joy Is........Fun Storming

2012-01-22T09:52:00.000-08:00

Fun Storming: "A gathering together of arty folks to share their wisdom" Author unknown. If you know who said this, please let me know in the comments so I can credit it back to them. Cause, honestly, I know it came from somewhere on the net and I wrote it down, but neglected to put in the name of the writer.

Another week gone! Only 9 more days of January left! Whew!

Anyway, not much to report this week, except I counted and catorized my Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books that I have been gathering since I was a kid before I had a kid. Drum Roll......100 Nancy Drew's and 78 Hardy Boys. Both ND and HB range from very old (1927) to newest (1992). I have quite a few doubles, triples and quadruples. I am missing 11 of each for complete sets. My friend Beth also has Nancy Drew's and Hardy Boys and she has been doing the same thing. Hopefully she has doubles of my missing one's and the same for her from me. We will try trading them up someday. Cool! Makes me want to read them again and makes me feel like a kid again. *Smile*. Here is a couple of pics of the shelves where they live with all of their other buddy's:

I have a Fuji Instant Camera that takes baby poloroid type pics that I have not used in a very long time. So this week when I discovered that my fancy HTC Thunderbolt Android Cell Phone won't pair with my PoGo Printer, of course, I decided to get out the Fuji camera again and use it again. Here is a pic of the camera and a pic of a pic that it takes. The pic of the pic is laying on a StazOn ink pad to give you an idea on the size:

And here is the bag it came with:

It is a Orange Pink color and the material is like Indoor-Outdoor Carpet only softer! Gross!

I have been working in my Journal more this past week, so I have a ton of pics to show of what I have been working on:

Some of these are finished kinda and a few are not, but on the way. And speakng of journal pages and arty endeavors, I found another cool art journal artist on You Tube through Less at ComfortableShoesStudio . This guy is great. Check him out.

And that is about it for this week. At least I got some art in for a change

My Name is Sharon and I Am Addicted to Art Journaling

2012-01-15T18:33:00.001-08:00

OK, I can't help it, and I admit I have a disease. But enough of that!

This was a great week. I met up with a new art friend, Beth, who lives about 85 miles from me and in a straight line between me and my divisions down south of here in Visalia. We met at a Starbux on Thursday afternoon and 3 hours later we had decided that we follow the same folks on line, and we both like freaky stuff and we both love, pens, tape, stencils, books and cool containers for our art supplies we must have for traveling. YAY!! Beth is a very talented art journaler. Cool!! I have a new art friend, and I didn't even have to really stalk her, well I sorta did. That is another disease of mine.

Yesterday was my parents 45 year wedding anniversary and so I took them to a casino that is close by. We came away quite a bit lighter in the pockets. But it was good to get away to do something else. But next time I must win! That is also a disease of mine.

I have been writing and drawing this week with my new Fountain Pen that Less at Comfortable Shoes Studio sent me. Wow, this is so much fun. It writes so smooth. Wheee, I am in love. I am going to buy more pens and start drawing with them in my journal.

Today I went to Eva's and helped her create a single signature journal. Wow!! I actually helped someone make a journal. It was fun and I almost learned how to use an ATG, Automatic Tape Gun. Almost. Too big for me. I will stick to the small tape runners.

My friend Cheryl, had a photo of her's published in her home town magazine recently and she also has a painting on display in an art Gallery in Bellingham, Washington.

Cheryl's painting is above her on the left. Look at her smiling BIG just like a proud Mom. Go Cheryl! I know famous folk. Cool!

Since I now have a passion for wrting with a Fountain Pen, I have decided that I want to learn to write antique, which means, the way folks used to write about 100 years ago, all swirly and fancy. I am going to start practicing writing antique-e, pronounced like, tiki.

So, I do believe this will end the story for this time. Hope everyone has a great next week. Until you wander this way again............Adios

Writing On The Wall

2012-01-14T17:40:00.001-08:00

This is my part for Cheryl's Writing on the Wall this week. This is my 2012 Vision Board that is on my wall in my Craft Cave. It is next to me so I can stare at it while singing crazeee songs in my head about new cars and $$$ heading my way.

See that Million Dollar Bill on top? Yep that is where I am headed in 2012. I will be a millionaire this year. Woot!

Please go to Cheryl's Blog and check out her WOTW for this week.

Joy Is.........Entering the Positive Zone

2012-01-08T05:22:00.000-08:00

Hi folks, Do I need to say more? They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well.....?

I struggle to stay positive at all times. And when I say struggle, I mean STRUGGLE! I am loving my new happy abundant life, but I am around too many negative vibes all of the time. But, I can't dwell on that negative force here.

Yesterday I went to Niles, up by Fremont to take a Zentangle class. I had a blast! Here are the two tiles we did, but I need to finish them. I love the doodle part of art journaling and this is the shot in the arm I needed.

What fun!

Yesterday I posted my Writing on the Wall post for my friend Cheryl and showed a pic of the canvas that Lotus made me for Xmas. Here are a couple more shots of it:

Beautiful! Lotus had a very tough 2011. I am sending her positive vibes so she can begin to build her life back and begin to make her art a positive part of her life again. This canvas was a struggle for her to create. I am touched that she created it for me.

Less Herger sent me a drawing I had bought from her a couple of weeks ago and included this:

OMG!! I love fountain pens and had been having trouble with one I bought recently, not working right and had been talking to Less on Twitter about it. I was so stoked when I saw this. WOW! This is actually a waay better pen than I was trying to use. So I just need better ink and I have some on order. I have always loved how they write. Woot! I am in love!!

I have been taking a Strathmore Online Class with Traci Bautista. And the best part, it is FREE! Traci Bautista is a genius when it comes to painting and doodling in journals and on canvases, etc. This is a 4 week class and there are videos that show step by step how she creates. Run, Run and sign up NOW! You will love it!

My friend Eva is tearing up her studio and rearranging this month and she has got me thinking that way too. Gasp!! I actually did that last January and now thinking about it again. But just thinking...............I can't sweat while thinking!! LOL

So looks like I have run out of steam for this week.

Tootles ~

Writing On The Wall

2012-01-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

For this week's Writing on the Wall, I am using a painted Mandala my friend Lotus made me for Christmas. And even though it is not on the wall, it is in my studio.

Lotus had a rough 2011 with her husband passing away. She is the most talented person I know and as you can tell by looking at this canvas. She is simply an amazing artist.

Thanx Lotus for showing me your art journal 6 years ago.

Don't forget to check back here again tomorrow for my regular weekend post.

Until then...........

Joy is..........Having The Best Year Ahead

2011-12-31T13:27:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a great Xmas. I did. I got a Kuerig Coffee Maker and I have been in a caffiene stupor ever since. It is the best!! I am having a most magnificient end to 2011. I am very happy and am looking forward to 2012. This is why:

This will be the year that I get out of debt, drive a new car, take trips, help my son and family, and a whole ton of other things that I will attract to me in 2012.

I have two good friends that are LOA followers and are go getters in that dept. One friend just told me last night that she attracted the exact amount of money she needed to pay off a couple of credit cards, and she received it in a check yesterday. Woot!

The other friend, I have spoke of often, had a great 2011 and is continuing into 2012 head on! These two ladies are amazing. I can't wait to hear what happens to them next. I have been reading and practicing the LOA head on since the 12th of December, so stick around and see what I will be yelling about the stuff that will be mine very soon.

On the arty side, I created this Inky Monster by dripping ink on the page and blowing it around with a can of air. I added the eyes and little sharp teeth to make him look like a Real Inky Monster.

I like him. He needs a name, though. What do ya think?

I am on my way out to the Nissan Dealership to test drive the new car I will be driving later on this year, that the Universe will provide. This one:

Isn't it cute?? Mine all mine!!!

I will leave you with this:

Happy New Year, my friends.

Writing on the Wall

2011-12-31T13:06:00.001-08:00

I love this pic. It is the back inside cover of Journal # 4!! Wheeee!

Just call me off the wall!

;-)

Joy Is..............New Stuff's

2011-12-24T06:23:00.000-08:00

Hi folks,

Another week has strolled on by and tomorrow is Christmas Day. I think I hear a very loud whooshing sound blowing past me trying to get to the end of the year to take 2011 into history! Whew!

Yesterday, I posted a Writing on the Wall for my friend Cheryl, but now it is linked to her last weeks WOTW. So please go here to see Cheryl's WOTW post for today.

Kelly Kilmer had a Journal Sale a couple of weeks ago, and I really have a hard time not purchasing her journals, so of course I got one, but I was good and only bought one. But this one was THE one to grab as it has 12 Kelly collaged pages in it! Oh yea, baby! Woot!!

This is the front cover.

And this is a shot of 2 collaged pages inside. Simply beautiful.

I know I have been talking some lately about completing Journal # 3. Well it was complete as of Friday. Here is a great pic of it standing up to show off it's completedness:

And now it is on the shelf with sibling's 1 & 2.

I began immediately working in # 4 so the blank white pages would not intimidate me. Here is a pic of the inside front cover, that you saw in my WOTW post:

And a shot of the first page, that I have already changed, but I am now too lazy to take another pic:

I added the BEST definition for Art Journaling on this page, I have ever found, thanks to Tammy at Daisy Yellow
I am going to get this memorized and use it. So my own definition; "You know what Scrapbooking is, right? Well, Art Journaling is Scrapbooking on drugs." will be a thing of the past!! Tammy has a great blog and ton's of ideas, and her Art Journaling 101 class is free. I simply love her stuff's. Please go there and check out her blog.

So with that, I will say Merry Christmas to you, and which will be quiet for me as we are staying home and I am making Spaghetti, and baking up all of the frozen cookie dough in the freezer that I have bought this year from the kids that needed the $ for school. I think I have 3 tubs, Yikes!!

So while we eat spaghetti and cookies tomorrow and you do whatever you do on this holiday, remember to be good to yourselves and each other and the next time you hear from me, will be with a New Years post of what I will be looking forward to in 2012!!

Stay Tuned...........

Writing on the Wall

2011-12-23T06:42:00.000-08:00

Here is this week's, Writing on the Wall for Friend Cheryl

A new journal which is # 4. This is the inside front cover, on the wall, of course! And a sneak peek of the first page.

It is officially broken in. 96 100% cotton fiber pages, 9 1/2" X 6 1/2" on it's way to a very arty life. Woot!

Joy Is.........The Writing on the Wall

2011-12-18T04:02:00.001-08:00

Good Morning to all of my good friends!

I am starting this post off with my Writing on the Wall contribution for Cheryl

Everything has a purpose in life, and when you are slapped in the face, you need to sit up and take notice.

I have a friend Dale Anne Potter who is in short, AMAZING! She began really paying applying the Law of Atttraction, (LOA) in the spring of this year. She has since manifested soooo many great things, it is unreal, actually. I found Dale in the chat room's from going to Ustreams and watching arty folk like Paula Phillips and a few others. So I began to follow Dale on her blog and Twitter and really started paying attention to what she was doing. Almost every week or so she would be gifted with something else, that the LOA gave her and she would tell us on Twitter. Some of you that know me well, know I have been "trying" to practice the LOA for years, since I became aquainted with it in 1989. I have not been very successful in all of these years because of life but I would like to think I have a few brain cells left, LOL. So you don't have to tell me twice or slap me in the face. I have seen the writing on the wall.

So last weekend, I really got down to it and began by, first writing a $$ amount down that I want on or before my birthday in April. I then went from there to writing down, what I call, "My Ideal Life". In short, it is a narration of what I want, beggining with a house, etc. Since I have given it to the Universe, I know this will happen, and with Dale's help, I will win. I have made a POSITIVE change in my life; that to be happy, with NO drama. Ya'all know how I feel about that. LOL. It is actually already happening. I was up at 2:15 this morning as one of the room mates is flying to Michigan this morning for Xmas and Hubs was taking him to the San Francisco airport and needed my car. So I got my coffee and headed here to my laptop where I live, LOL, and looged into Blogger and saw that my friend Aileen had posted the winner to a give away she did for little Xmas Trees she made, and lo and behold, there was my name as the winner!!! Woot! It's working, folks. Follow along and see what happens to me in 2012. And make sure you check out my fabulous friend Dale. I'm telling ya folks, she is simply amazing! Then follow her and watch the magic!

I have also been shopping lately. Here are my new baby's:

Yes, I am a pen freak! These are the little Pilot Lattes and the Uniball Signo .38 all color gel pens! Sweet!

And my other fab friend Cheryl, sent me this new Blue Retro Smashbook, after I told her I had bought the Yellow one and wasn't the happpiest with the papers inside, so we traded for Xmas. YAY!

Cool, huh?

And with all of these new arty things, I had to have this to carry it all around in:

Totally cool bag I got at Hobby Lobby for $19.99, but I had a 40% off, so approximately 10 Bux!! Cool!

OK, I know that this a very long post, but I had to share my happiness with everyone.
Yep, Xmas is now officially 1 week away and the plan at this house is to stay home, kick back and eat spaghetti and garlic bread! Well, that's the plan anyway. We will see what the Universe and/or Santa delivers.

Be Positive, my friends.

Tootles....

Joy Is.........Trying to Remember What I Learned Last Week

2011-12-10T16:44:00.000-08:00

I told you last week that my friend Cheryl is doing a Writing on the Wall post each week here. Well this is another wall shot that is the inside back cover of my art journal. I will try to link it up with her Linky dealy bobber thingie when I finish this and see if I remember how to do it.

This week I traveled around Northern California quite a bit. I was in San Francisco on Monday, and Sacramento on Wednesday. But the best was when I would come home and find cool stuff in the mail I had bought last weekend, like these great Automatic Drawings from Less Herger here. Here is "Out My Ears",

This one is called, "Mind Infiltrated".

I drew this sketch from Less' Inspiration from those drawings, last week:

Then I bought some cool rubber stamps from Journal Girl

They are made from red rubber and came on a sheet and I cut them all out and used them so I could see how they stamped. Love them cause the lines are fat, see?

I am still working my way to the end of this journal, so I worked on this page by making a back ground and striping the paper off of a piece of cardboard and exposing the corrugate, then painted it black and stamped with it for journaling lines. Kinda cool.

The Saturday after Thanksgivingremember I told you that I went to a Indie Craft Fair. Well I bought this very cool sticker, from a couple that create their own drawings and are very talented;

And then today, my friend Eva came over for a while and we made some ATC's that I didn't take pictures of, of course, and we took them to the local art store and traded our's for a couple that was there and that I will show you next week. Remind me. But I found this cool tape while there, which is Kraft Paper Tape that was used in the back yonder days for taping boxes for shipping. LOL. The cool thing about it is that you can draw, sketch, paint or whatever on it and wet it and stick it in your journal. Cool.

So I am going to draw and write stuff, lick it, yuk, maybe not, and stick it places, like in my journal or maybe on walls.

Guess what? 3 more weeks of 2011 or another way of looking at it, 21 days left!

Gotta go! Have a creative week!

Joy is............Linking to Friends

2011-12-04T15:42:00.000-08:00

Wow! Two posts for me today. No, I do not have a fever, hee!

My bestie, Cheryl, that lives in Washington has started a new blog thingie call Writing on the Wall that includes a link thingie to hook my blog to hers with a theme about writing on the wall.

So it just so happens that my # 3 Art Journal has two wall shots in it, so I will use that for this!

This is the inside cover of my current Art Journal.

You know, the one I am suppose to be working on to finish by the end of 2011!!

I have to go to San Francisco tomorrow for work. Maybe I will take my camera and take some pics of some cool City Graffiti while there.

Now check out Cheryl's blog, here, and have a look see.

Joy is........Doodling

2011-12-04T12:37:00.000-08:00

Hey folks,

Another week down, and I have been super busy, but that is what I am used to.
This week I decided that since I am on quite a few Conference Calls every week for work and when I am, if I am not speaking, I doodle, and on everything that is laying near me. So I have decided to carry my small cigar box sketchbook I made, with me for this purpose, so I can try to keep those doodles in one place.

This is some doodles I have been working on for a couple of years:

The loose paper is covering an address on the left page. My favorite doodle is faces, as you will see.

I also like to doodle zentangles. I need to practice them more so I don't have to really think of something different. They should come more easy to me.

Since I am a huge Teesha Moore fan, I love to doodle her folk alot like here:

Anyway, if I make sure I have this liitle book with me when I work I can keep my conference call doodles in one place. I have actually thrown away a ton cause I would just draw them on post it notes or on the margin of the notebook I was carrying with me at the time.

I went on a major spending spree this weekend. And only a small part was for Xmas, but I have to get stuff, perscriptions, supplements, etc when I have the $$ and only one check a month allows me to do that.

With only 4 weeks of 2011 left, I am on a rush to get my 3rd journal completed that I told you about in the last post. Yep, and didn't do one thing in it this week except a couple of doodles!! Yikes!! I am looking around and see that the new year means a cleaning, organizing of the studio kind again. Hmmm seems like I did that last January also. Yikes!

Have a great week.

Joy is.......Working to Finish Journal # 3

2011-11-25T18:54:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, hope everyone had a great Gobble Day. We went to the Casino and I came home with more than I took, so I was happy.

I have been having trouble with my ankle. Started on Monday, like a sprain, but I didn't sprain it, and now I am wearing a brace and gimping around!! Grrr!

I dedicated a journal page to it here:

It will get better soon, I know.

I have been working like a mad women in my 3rd Journal, so it will be completed by years' end. Here are a few peeks:

On these pages is where I have been practicing some doodling. I love to doodle and make marks.

Here is what I have been doing with nanojoumo this year. Just writing the date, the phrase and something about it. Good enough for me this time around.

I spent a Saturday afternoon recently with my art friend Eva and we played with Black Gesso, Color Wash and stencils learning how to do Ghosting. It was so fun to watch the color wash come up through the gesso through the stencils. I really love this technique that I learned from Paula Phillips http://www.journalartistaart.com/.

This one is with Copic Markers, Stencils, one packing tape transfer, etc. Cool spread.

This is another cool spread with multiple layers of paint, ink and paper. I scratched paint and ink with a scratcher tool to make some cool effects.

For this spread, I found 2 images from a Free People Clothing catalog. I love their paper catalogs for the model images. I took the title from my Sticker Nation 2 book.

This spread was the first time I had tried using Light Molding Paste for texture. I really like the way it feels, and you can really see it, but this is not finished yet.

A few of you know that I follow the LOA, Law of Attraction. I do as best as I can with all of the negativity that I have to deal with in my day job. My current car is a 2005 Nissan Sentra. I drive it for my job. Today it has 154,000 miles on it and even though I expect another 75,000 miles from it, I worry that it will quit and I will be in trouble. So with that said, I need a new car and because I like Nissan's Sentra's (we have owned 3 with great results), I have decided that my next car will be a Nissan Cube, because it has the same engine as a Sentra, but it is much cuter. And it is like a hatch back which means no trunk, which means Hubs will be happy that I won't be able to junk up the trunk with all of my work stuff. I have put this photo on my desktop so I can see it all of the time and know it will be in my driveway very soon, paid off completely by the way. I have no room for car payments in my life at this time.

So another week goes by, creeping closer to the end of 2011. Psst, 5 weeks left!! Have a great rest of your weekend and hope next week is kind to you.

Joy Is......Happy Mail

2011-11-19T20:34:00.000-08:00

I was gone every day last week conducting a class in Vallejo, which was exhausting. So I dragged myself home yesterday afternoon and I had a great surprise when I walked in and saw a box on the diningroom table. So after I emptied my suitcase and put everything away and started laundry, I checked out the box and almost fell over when I saw who it was from! Paula Phillips! I was so excited I ripped it open all wonky but that was okay. I took these pics after I got my breath back!

This book is so cool to me. Both Paula and I are in Safety. Paula in a Box Factory and me of course in Public Transportation, so she sent me this cool log book for work related accidents. Wow!

This is an assortment of papers and some cool napkins! Love the one with the bird but the coffee cup one is the best! I love to glue napkins in my journal for backgrounds. And the white cardstock on the right is some punch out small file folders and tabs and she sent two bottles from Lindy Stamp Gang. One is a Moon Shadow Mist called Mystic Malachite and the other is a Starburst Stains called Black Orchid Silver! One is a spray and the other is in a dauber bottle. These you add hot water to and make them, since they come dry! They really shimmer!!

More cool papers.

And Stencils!!! Although I guess I only took this picture of 2 of them, she actually sent me 3 Crafter's Workshop stencils. Woot!

This rubber stamp Paula said is to be cut apart to make textured back ground stamps. But I don't think I could lay a pair of scissors to it. And I may have misunderstood her also, but I don't care. Isn't it great?

This is a old fan fold out ink guide for inking the text on the boxes they are making? (I am guessing). I can see me using these for pages in Junk Journals with someone looking through the holes!

This stamp I am sure could only be found in Canada, eh? LOL!

Last weekend for Veteran's Day, Interweave http://www.interweavestore.com/Mixed-Media/DVDs-Videos/Layered-and-Textured-Backgrounds-DVD.html?SessionThemeID=21 was selling all of their DVD's for $11.11 for 12 hours. That is when I said, OK now is the time to get a copy of Paula's Video. And that was also here when I got home.

Go over to Paula's Ustream channel, http://www.ustream.tv/channel/journalartista and watch the recording of what she created tonight. Wow!! This girl is a genius and I am so proud to call her one of my bestest friends.
And go here to see Paula's latest article in the newest Art Journaling Magazine, Pages
http://www.clothpaperscissors.com/blogs/pages/archive/2011/11/18/pages-premiere-issue.aspx

So that wraps up another week.

Next week is Thanksgiving, so the next time you hear from me I will be too full of all of the trimmings plus a little Turkey!

Have a safe Holiday!

Joy is.......Art Journaling a Bunch

2011-11-13T08:22:00.000-08:00

I found a definition on someone's blog for Art Jounaling. I cannot claim it as my own. I am in the process of changing it around to make it my own, but here it is the way I found it:

Almost perfect, but again, it is not mine, so I am borrowing it for now.

I have been busy busy the last week creating art journal spreads. For some reason, I always kick it into high gear at this time of the year. Here they are in no particular order:

I have a bestest friend named Dale Anne Potter here http://daleannepotter.com/blog/ who is an avid EVERYTHING Creator. This lady is an amazing artist and quilter. She is a profound follower of the LOA, Law of Attraction, and she is a great inspiration. She sent me this quilted postcard:

Please check out Dale's Blog for everyday inspiration. And pssst, she is selling these fabulous quilted postcards right now.

I have been trying to keep up with Nanojoumo http://www.dblogala.com/nanojoumo over at Dawn's site:

I have only been making a few notes, everyday. But at least it is something. I do like the way Dawn is doing small phrases instead of just one word this year. Cool.

I did actually get to do a small amount of shopping yesterday. Ya know those 50% off coupons burn holes in my pocket! Hee! So I went to Aaron Brother's Art and Frame joint and almost had a heart attack when I found these:

I have been looking for these Inktense Blocks since I saw Paula use them on her DVD. Woot! And since I had that 50% off coupon I was justified into buying these. *wink*

And then I walked around the end of the aisle and saw this, and again almost had heart failure:

And this was already marked down 50%!! Woot! Been wanting one to work on, and now I had one cheap. Woo Hoo!

I know this is a long post but I have one more picture to share:

This is my new snack. OMG! There should be a law on how good something this small can taste and I can have a couple a day. Yay!!

My friend Eva came over yesterday afternoon for a while and taught me how to make a paper box that folds down into a card. Cool. It will come in handy to hold small Xmas gifts this year.

So that is all of the news and food going on with me. I am leaving today to spend the week in Vallejo to teach a Government Bus Trainer Instructor Course to 20 folks who on Monday will be a feared to speak in Public but on Friday, they will be trying to beat each other to be the first to speak in front of us. Hee! It is so fulfilling to watch folks come out of their shell and come alive right in front of your eyes. Wow! It is an amazing experience.

Have a great week and remember there are only 7 weeks left of 2011, if you are interested.

Joy is.......A Nap

2011-11-06T16:07:00.000-08:00

I flew away to LA again this past week.

And then I flew back.

I went there to attend a PAT, Passenger Assistance Training Class. Good class, but it put me behind in my regular work by 3 days. Yikes! Not good. So I have spent most of the weekend trying to catch up and get even. I can breathe again now.

I went to Elk Grove yesterday though to pick up my Tim Holtz Winter Limited Edition Distress Ink Pads. Cool colors, but again they will not be kept in the main line and will not have reinkers.

The Hubs hurt his back about 3 weeks ago trimming the Fruitless Mulberry Trees in front of the house, and it is getting worse and worse, so he called in sick for tomorrow and I have to take him to Acute Care in the morning, which has to be early and which means that I will have to work from there on my laptop and phone. OK!

Tim Holtz is selling kits in his Etsy Shop beginning at 9:00am tomorrow. Hopefully I can check them out at the Dr Office, cause I might want one of something. It will be a mad dash to beat all of the other thousands of folks tha want something.

I am exhausted and want a nap, but it is late and I have to go see my folks in a little while. So I will keep this short and say have a great week.

Joy Is....Having an Art Day with Friends

2011-10-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

Another week gone.

Only two photo's today, since I did not take even one pic of yesterday's art day!! WOW! I am lame!

But that just means we will have to do it again soon, so I can. Bhwahahaha! Yes I am evil when I need to be!

Friends, Eva and Lotus and new art friend Dee came over for a few hours and played. I put my Vagabond, and my air compressor out for my copic marker's so we could play with them.

I attempted to make my own decorated tape. First I taped wide masking tape to the slick side of freezer paper, then I spray inked some Color Wash over some stencils to make decorated tape, so here is a shot of that:

I am going to work on this again, since I want happy bright tape and this is more drab ucky tape, but it was fun to mess with.

My doctor visit went well this week! He was blown away with my lab work results. Hee Hee! He said whatever you do, keep doing it. I go back in 3 months and hopefully my glucose will be lower. It is not crazy high, but it needs to be under 100.

This was also my last week for the Diabetes classes I have been taking on Thursday nights. They were very informative. I need to sign up for the weight loss classes to get it in my head better. Maybe I will.

Just an update on my friend Lotus. Her hubby's service was this week and she is doing OK. I am sure you noticed above that she attended the art day. She finished a beautiful Mandala canvas that she had been working on and made a couple of ATC's for us. Here is mine:

The best part of yesterday is that Eva and Dee are not into Art Journaling, except for Dee who has taken a ton of Tim Holtz classes and so she likes the concept from that direction, but I am working on dragging them them to real AJ'ing side. You know, This is Scrapbooking---AJ'ing is Scrapbooking on Drugs! They will be AJ'er's in no time! Hee Hee!

Please have a safe and Happy Halloween, Bhwahahaha!!

I am headed back to LA next week for a training class, good for the class, bad for me to be gone away from my divisions for a whole 'nother week.

PS: 9 weeks left of 2011. Just thought you would want to know this.

Joy Is....Stick A Fork In It, This Week is Done...Thankfully

2011-10-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

Whew, what a week! Totally a roller coaster ride.

In Review:

I was south of here all week working at a division with a ton of Drama!! Grrr! I was conducting an Audit and found a few things that have to be corrected soon. Grrr! But while I was preparing to come home, a very serious acccident occured with a bus and I had to stay and work on that. Serious accidents/collisions take a ton of mental work to ensure that all of the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.

In the middle of that, I received a very sad text from my art friend Lotus. She texted to tell me her hubby, Danny had died that day! OMG!! And even though it was not a shock because of his health condition, it still knocked me for a loop. I love Lotus as a friend and we have talked so much about this day, and now it had happened. WOW! So sad for her and her kids. Please remember her in your prayers. Thanx!

Now on to the better news. I believe I have told you about my health with my very high Cholesterol, diabetes, being too fat and high blood pressure. Well, I had to go get another lab work done on Friday because I go back to see the Dr next Wednesday. So late Friday afternoon I received an email from Sutter Health that I had new messages in my inbox. Well my blood work was already back and OMG!! My Cholesterol was 299 on August 26th and on Friday, my Cholesterol was 199!!!! I have dropped 100 points in less than 2 months!! Woo Hoo!! You ask how? I have changed my diet as much as I can by eating waaay less carbs, very very little fast food, I did have one JIB Jr Jumbo Jack this week as I had not eaten since breakfast and it was 2:30pm and I was 150 miles from home, on my way home. I am trying to get into the exercise habit, but have only walked maybe 30 to 45 minutes since August. So the only major thing that I am doing now is taking Fish Oil and Red Yeast Rice twice a day. I was told by the health food store guy that these two together would bring down my C very fast, and it has!! It does not mean I get to eat like a crazy person again, because my Glucose was still high at 123. But it means that I will continue to take the supplements forever!! I was doing the happy dance Friday night and I am still dancing today!

Yesterday I went to a Craft Boutique in Lockeford to see my friend Eva since she was selling stuffs with her cousin, Martha. There was so much cool stuffs everywhere. I bought this from Martha as a gift for Lotus:

She makes great Rossettes from the Tim Holtz die.

Then I got these great bottlecaps fom Eva, cool huh?:

This guy is a magnet. Cool

And I found a vendor that was selling these great Hippie Duckies:

And they joined the other Duckies to become part of The Yellow Duckie Family (Journal Pals) that lives in my Craft Cave!

Wow that is actually a good photo. They look like they are looking up at the camera!! WOW! Someday, a how to take good photo's with a point and shoot class needs to be in my future!

Anyway, thanx for listening to my high and low week. Drive safe, stay safe until next week, my friends!

Joy is.......A Full Week

2011-10-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

Back from LA. Had a great time, even though it was work. Any time I am on the receiving end of learning, I am stoked!! And I got to come home a day early, better yet!

So now to the new Sacramento Airport Terminal B and some drama. First of all the new Terminal is amazingly beautiful. This 50 foot Rabbit Art Installation is amazing.

WOW! So cool. There are more beautiful art installations through out also.

Now to the drama. for those who know me well, you know that I travel for work and fly when I have to. I have never had any issues until this week. After learning my way around the new Terminal and getting to security, I got through only to be pulled aside to have my hands swabbed for ?? I don't know, gun powder residue? Oh well, it only took like 3 minutes. No big deal, no body scan, and no bag search. But when I was leaving Ontario on Wednesday to come home, again I was pulled out and this time, got the full body scan, pat down, hands swabbed again and bag searched. OK, wanna know why?? When the security guy took me and my stuff to the side, he unzipped one compartment in my back pack and reached straight down deep and pulled out a short 8 oz bottle of water, that I had no idea was in there and had been in there on Monday when I went through security in Sacramento. LOL! Very interesting Drama.

I just realized that October is my Twitter-versary. A whole year I have been keeping up to date with my arty tweet friends!! It is a fun thing to do. I am following 46 people and 161 are following me, but just like this blog, I only hear from a very few folks. Oh well!

New Toy:

I bought this Rotary Cutting machine on Craigslist this week. Cool! Says it will cut paper. We will see!

And I also found these:

7 Gypsies Tissue Paper. They are called, Keys, Frames and Silhouettes. Yes!

And this is a set of 7 Gypsies Steampunk clear stamps. Woot!!

And the best part of this week?? I stalked out a new art friend at Michael's. Hee! Anyone is fair game, if they are in the Tim Holtz aisle, making comments like, "Michael's just doesn't carry a lot of TH stuff." So I struck up a conversation with her, and found out that her name is Dee and she is a die hard scrapper that loves Tim Holtz!! She gave me her email addy and so I came home, emailed her my cell number, and to make a long story short, she called last night and we chatted for over an hour. She knows tons of stuff about everything but art journaling, so I have volunteered to guide her into this fascinating world!! AND she doesn't do drama!! Oh yes!! I love her already!! Woot!! Can you tell that I am a tad stoked! My name is Sharon and I am a Stalker. Ha!

I went to another Diabetes class Thursday night. I don't plan on having this disease very long so the more education I can get about it, the better to learn how to get rid of it faster.

Well that's all folks, have a creative week.

Joy is...........Hobby Lobby is Open!!

2011-10-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

Yep as you can see above, our brand new Hobby Lobby opened Friday. It took our old Mervyns building that had been empty, well since Mervyn's closed about 3 years ago. They have sooo much cool stuff there. Tons of craft stuff but the home decor stuff is the best. I am in love!! I have went twice and only spent maybe $60.00, that's all.

Here is a new Halloween journal spread I have been working on:

I felt like I needed to do something for fall, and with Halloween around the corner, this felt right.

We went to the Stockton Flea Market today and I found an IPod Player for my desk:

Now I can listen to my music through my IPod Touch and not itunes which I perfer while working in my Journal. And the best part is it only cost me $7.00. And if you click and look at the photo, it will show you Matt Nathanson's new album playing on it. Love his new music. Woot!

The last weekend of October either that Saturday or Sunday, I am hosting a Play Day at my house for my friend's Eva and Lotus to come over and play or make art stuff or whatever they want for one whole day. Lotus brought it up, so I am crossing my fingers that she can come, even if it is a half a day. Eva wants to learn how to bind journals which Lotus can show her and I want to create my pen storage boxes. Can't wait and hope all goes well.

As you can see by this photo, tomorrow morning I am flying to LA for a week for a meeting with my Boss and the other ASD's. Can't wait to see the fancy new Terminal B at the Sacramento Airport in the morning. Should be cool. And just now, the hubs came in and told me the dryer belt broke! Great, now I have to figure a way to dry my clothes tonight!! Don't want to fly in wet britches. Yikes!!

So with that I guess I will get off of here and find a laundry mat. Have a great week and create some art, my friends!

The Faces of a Genius

2011-10-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

I know by the time this hits the blogisphere, people will be tired of hearing about Steve Jobs, but I have to write something.

We would not be where we are today with the way we communicate if it wasn't for this man changing the way we communicate.

Just think of the soldiers that are in the war at this very moment. They can not only talk to their families, but SEE them very clear as well with the invention of the iPhone. This is huge for the young Mother or Father with a young family that has to be away from home for months and/or years at a time.

Genius!

Think Different!

RIP Steve

Joy is.......Letting It Go

2011-10-02T20:46:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,

This week was a whirlwind of non stop work and planning and another doctor visit, that has me now sticking my fingers with a needle. YIKES! And I ain't even liking that. Yes he says I have Type 2 Diabetes, very high Cholesterol (299), High Blood Pressure, etc, etc. Oh and just a tiny 100lbs too much weight. OK, so I must behave and eat right and take new meds, and exercise. YIKES, again! He only gave me a Blood Pressure Pill for now, but I have to go back in a month, and then he will decide if I need a Cholesterol pill too. So I have to be good and stay away from Bread, Potatoes, Pasta, no Fast Food, and Salt. OMG! That is all I eat. So I have to let go of all of my loves and figure this out, because I refuse to be a sick person with this disease. So today I worked in my bedroom to "unload" my treadmill, because I must walk on it come hell or highwater. OK enough of that!

Next I received some papers from a paper swap I was in.

This first one is my favorite. This is a piece of "Driveway Art" from Dede at http://inkiwell.blogspot.com/ She actually tapes large pieces of paper to her driveway and paints and stencils them while recording on Ustream Live, then cuts them into 8 1/2 X 11 inch papers for her paper swap. Please go watch her Ustream recordings for the fun. The next two Dede sent came from others who sent in papers to swap.

This is a paper from my friend Kerri at http://ikerrilove.blogspot.com/

And this one is a paper from Shannon. I sent in 2 Deli Papers and so I got 3 back, just cause Dede knew I was after at least one piece of driveway art.

OK so I have been kicking around some ideas for a place I could store all of my pens and markers, laying hortizontal and where I could have easy access to them. I finally think I have it, although I don't have pictures yet, just an explanation. Michael's had photo boxes on sale for 3 for $5.00 and I bought 6. So picture this: I am going to attach 3 to each other end to end for a length of about 36 inches, then do the same with the other 3, then put them together as a 6 pack, 3 on top and 3 on the bottom. Then divide each box in half longways with a piece of form board so each box will have a shelf in the center and THEN, (I know this is long,) divide each shelf in into 3 sections with more form board. So each box will have 6 spaces which will give me a total of 36 spaces to put my pens. Whew!! Since I am down sizing everything I own right now, I have the room to put up this creation and use it. I will show you pics when I get it built.

My friend Paula at http://www.journalartistaart.com/ made a journal out of a magazine. Go see what she says about it on her blog. So I found those Apts for Rent books at CVS and I think it will work. It is small, 5 1/2 X 8 inches, see here:

And here:

The pencil box is next to it for size reference. Paula painted and collaged in hers and I just think it might be fun. You could also use a regular size magazine and paint the text out but keep the photos for journaling and backgrounds.

And lastly, I got my new Tim Holtz limited edition Distress Ink Pads. Woot!

In this pic they are stacked on top of each other, but the colors are, Seedless Preserves, Ripe Persimmon and Gathered Twigs. They were released only for this fall and will not have reinkers. There is a winter release coming out too, just once. I already have mine on reserve, of course.

This has been a very long post, but sometimes I get long winded. Tomorrow I have to stay at home cause I am having my car looked at for a very loud roaring sound coming from the back. Since it is my work car and my everything car too, I have to have it.

Have a great week.

Joy is......Knowing My Friends Are Happy

2011-09-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, the above says it all. I am the happiest when I know my friends are happy. I have 3 very close friends that I talk to regularly and this week, all have been happy.

Eva came over on Thursday evening and played on deli paper, painting and stamping. She had a ball. But I did not take a pic of that! Shame on me! Next time I will remember.

I just read a blog post from my friend Cheryl and she has been happily creating this week.

And my good friend Lotus actually had a creative week.

So when friends are happy, so am I.

This is what I have been up to this week. Remember to click on the pics for a larger view:

Watching Eva make deli paper backgrounds made me decide to make some more. I was not the happiest with the one with the birds, but it's ok I guess.

I got bored with the deli paper quick, so began working on this spread using a piece of the new 7 G's paper I got last weekend. And that is certainly me hanging onto my computer for dear life!! I would be insane quickly if I couldn't surf.

So onto the weekend haul:

The paper is Teresa Collins World Traveler in a 6 X 6 pad. Love it! And got the TH Die at JoAnn's today with a 50% off coupon. Yippee!!
The fall napkins and the Hallowen Bottle Labels are from the 99 Cent Store. I feel I need to do a Fall/Halloween spread, and that napkin will make a great fallish background.

And last is these 99 Cent Store Rubber Stamps. Yes, I needed those for sure!! Yea right!
I also found out that Ross Stores and T J Max sell some scrapbook items, so I have been visiting them, but only bought one punch, cheap. A small star burst.

This weekend I also got a TV installed in my bedroom so I can watch some TV, since Hubs and the Room Mates watch the main TV all of the time and I don't get to see much of it ever! So I can pick up about 6 local channels. Good enough.

So that is my weekend and I will be south of here for a couple of days next week, until more Dr Appts drag me home again.

Till next weekend, color me gone!

Another Busy Weekend

2011-09-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

Joy is......Friends and Sales

This was another busy busy weekend. On Friday I went to a friend's Fall Garage Sale. She and her husband have a sale in the spring and another in the fall each year. She is an artist that does alot of collage and card making. So she has the best journaling things for sale. And I was able to get friend's, Eva and Lotus there so they could meet. I bought quite a few old paper bundles, old cabinet cards, etc. But this is the best thing I bought:

It is a Book Shelf. Hee! Here's a different view:

I know that this is not the best photo, but I couldn't resist in showing you what this really is. Someone actually cut the books down and glued them into this frame and added 3 little pegs on the bottom to hang stuff. This is the best!! I love it, and plan on trying it myself someday.

I also bought a cool Alice in Wonderland hardcover book, that I didn't show you last weekend:

This has a ton of colored sketches in it, suitable for framing. Cool book.

Next is another book:

This is a new book called 1000 Steampunk Creations. And my good friend, Lotus at http://whymsicallotus.blogspot.com/ created a Steampunk Doll for this book and it was accepted to be included in the book. Here's how it looks in the book on page 85:

Amazing work. And she autographed the page for me:) Check out Lotus' Blog and see more of her amazing creations.

I also bought some new 7 Gypsies paper packs:

I love the maps, and each sheet is 2 sided with maps on both sides. Score!!

All in all another very busy weekend, that was fun. But I still did not get my treadmill unloaded so I can walk away my ailments. Ah, maybe next weekend. Have a creative week everyone.

Joy is......A Full Weekend

2011-09-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

Remember the little "Love is...." comics back a few years ago? I loved those and looked forward to reading them each day in the newspaper. So I am beginning a new bloggy thing where each week I am going to do the same thing, but call it "Joy is...." So the first one is the title of this post, "Joy is....a full weekend." This weekend began Friday night with an art friend of mine, Eva, dragging me to the Dark Side, yes Scrapbooking, *Gasp*. Another scrap buddy of hers was there at Eva's house and I had a great time making a Halloween Mini Book with them.

These were made from toilet tissue rolls flattened and painted and wrapped with scrapbook paper. Pretty cool. I need to continue to add more stuff to them. And believe me, Eva has it all. Boxes and bags of everything Halloween. She also made me these two very cool spooky fun things, a spooky hand magnetic clip and this cool bat dress form:

Saturday I had to work. UGH! But I have to do that onnce in a while, so I was OK with it.
Today I went to the Antique Faire in Sacramento where I found these great altered cabinet cards for Halloween:

I will be making some of these, Fun!

Oh, also on Friday, my friend Lotus texted me to let me know that she had seen on Rice's blog, http://voodoonotes.blogspot.com/ that I had won a give away. Woo Hoo! I won her new book:

Can't wait to get it.

Whew! What a weekend! Hope yours was creative! And one last thought.

Please remember those folks who died 10 years ago today in NY, DC and Pennsylvania and their families. I remember exactly where I was that day, what I was feeling and thinking.
I will never forget!

3 Day Weekend Stuff

2011-09-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, I was in my art room all weekend, working on cleaning and organizing mostly. But that is OK, So I won't post any journal pages this week. I will just show you what I have acquired this weekend.

This a 60's mail and recipe sorter that looks like a book when closed, that I found at an Estate Sale this weekend. I used it to put all of my packages of Rubber Stamps in, that I didn't buy a Tim Holtz Binder for. Here are a couple of more pics of it. It doesn't close good at all now, but I can live with that.

At the same sale I found this small binder that was used for a salesman to show floor coverings to folks. It is 4 1/2 X 6 inches.

I decided it could become a small "Stash Book" for me.

So that has been fun to work on. Because it only has 2 binder rings I had to adjust my 3 hole punch so I could punch the 2 holes I needed. It is not finished yet. Then I found out that Michael's has a new Martha Stewart Art section. So I had to go check that out of course, and I found this new fancy tape! And it was not MS but in the same aisle. Woot!

And last for this week. My good art pal, Paula Phillips, http://www.journalartistaart.com/ was published again in Somerset Studio's Apprentice Zine, so I had to have it, of course.

So that is the update on my busy life and 3 day weekend. I am still trying to diet and exercise, but it is hard, very hard! Right now I am sitting here posting this and eating baby tomatoes out of the box! Yum! But I am reallly wanting a Cheeseburger!! Grrrr! Next week I am off to Morro Bay right on the ocean to do an audit. YES! It is a very cool resort town! And I know where there are 2 used book stores there. I love my job!

Doing Strange Things in the Name of Art

2011-08-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

Good Morning Friends! The above button says it all. I have been making myself get back into my journal and actually work in it instead of looking at it.

I will show you in pictures what is going in this CRAZY art room where I bury myself.

First I made what my friend Paula http://www.journalartistaart.com/ calls a flopportunity:

I found this super cool bird image in a bird book. I then made a copy. My goal here was to make it into a packing tape transfer. So I put the tape on it and because I am a little OCD, when the tape wrinkled, I freaked and pulled it off and the image became this:

OMG!! Is that cool or what?!? The tape pulled off some of the black ink to show the white underneath. A total Flopportunity! WOW!! But I still wanted some packing tape transfers for my next journal spread. So to the old National Geographics I went looking for cool images, and found these, that actually worked when I taped them and put them in water:

Very Cool, huh?

So at this time I am working on this Spread in Progress (SIP):

And the bird oops is there on the top looking waaay cool.

So the next strange thing going on is; If you know Less Herger from ComfortableShoesStudio, she creates the best small travel watercolor boxes out of tins:

http://www.comfortableshoesstudio.com/2011/07/make-a-watercolor-tin.html

So I have this cool car tin full of cinnamon mints I picked up at a vendors show once:

Driver's side.

Passenger side with hinge.

Open with the mints, that will have to find a new home. It is 3 1/2" long by 1 3/4" wide by 3/4" tall. Perfect for this new art creation?!? And a car is perfect for on the go arting!

I must give it a try, because I am, "Doing Strange Things in the Name of Art".

Oh PS: My good friend Cheryl http://mysticmissive.blogspot.com/ was the ONLY comment I got back about what the heck is hanging between my diningroom and livingroom in my last post, even though she called it something I had never heard of and had to look up; LOL. Cheryl will get a little something extra in the package I am sending to her soon.

It is a Vintage Over Entry Way that actually had hung over the top of an entrance to a parlor in one of THOSE houses! I guess it had drapes hanging from it. Cool! It was a gift to me from my old boss and dear friend Pam, who died from cancer in May.

A Couple of New Journal Spreads and a Stash Book

2011-08-21T08:56:00.001-07:00

Hi all,

I have been a very lazy person recently. Seems like I have no energy to even do my day job very well. I think it could be because I stopped taking my One A Day Women's Vitamins when I went on vacation because I had ran out. So with not taking any for a month I bought some more One A Day Women's yesterday with an energy part in them. Hope it helps. I am constantly exhausted.

Enough whining, on to some photos.

This spread is about me finding the 2 "real" Post Secrets in a Post Secret Book in Springfield Missouri. Remember to click on them to get a better look see. The secret on the straw paper reads: "Today is the day. Go for it because I love you." My mind went to a few places on that one. Ha!

This next spread is about my new water buddy! This is the best tasting water because it is sparkling:) Aww, so refreshing.

I don't know for sure if I am completely finished with the Pellegrino one or not. Anyone remember the old Hamm's Beer Commercial from the 60's? That is what popped into my head about this. I could hear the Cool, Clear, Water being sung while the Hamm's Bear ran around. WOW!

I took these photo's with the Canon I found last week. I downloaded a User Manual to try to figure out how to take better photos with it.

Oh, one more:

Does anyone know what this is? Hee Hee! It is hanging between my living room and dining room. I will await your answer's and maybe send you a prize for the correct answer.

On to other matters. I want to make a Smash Book. I know you know what this is. K & Co just created this wonder recently. It is a book, and/or journal with misc paper in it for "Smashing" your daily stuff into, with a glue stick and writing about it. There is a You Tube Video out there about it. But I figure this is an excellent way to use a ton of my paper stash (and have an excuse to buy more) and use my Bind It All. I can pick the size I want, cut it, bind it and add fun magazine, book images, etc.

The original Smash Books are silly, But they have great cool accesories. Like, what I call a "Stick Pen" cause it is a pen with a glue stick in one end and a pen in the other end. Perfect for adding bits of daily fodder as you go and being able to immediately write your thoughts. They are really called "Smash Pen's".
I already know what you are thinking. Just carry a glue stick and a pen. OK yes, but this is made together in one body. And I could have thought it up years ago and be a millionaire by now. (maybe a thousand-aire? Maybe a hundreds-aire?)

Check out the video. I will be cutting up paper. I will call mine a Stash Book! Bye!

# 160 Is About My Shiny New Baby's

2011-08-14T19:12:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

Well, here I am writing this blog post on my new laptop. If you look at the previous post about my messy art room, you will see a laptop in the first photo. Well that one has crashed. Last Wednesday afternoon it gave up the fight to live. I believe the hard drive is kapoot. I went today with my most generous hubs and he bought me this one. Toshiba, 14", 5 lbs, cheap. It will do until I can get enough $$ saved up for a Mac. I had decided a while back that my next laptop would be a Mac, but Mr Dell decided that that decision must be eliminated and not thought about until a later time.
I have been using my back up, a Gateway Netbook since Thursday and I must say, I was losing my mind a "little" at a time. Just can't do it. (Kudo's to you Cheryl, that you can). Just too small for my old tired eyes.

Then later today, I had a 25% off anything, even sale items for Michael's and while driving there and taking a route I never take to go there, lo and behold I saw a camera in the street. Pulled over, room mate ran and got it before it got run over. It is a Canon Powershot SX120is, 10 mega pixels and 10X Optical Zoom. Not fancy, but I believe better than my Sony point and shoot that I use. There was an sd card with pictures of houses for sale that I guess a real estate agent was taking. Guess they laid it on the top of their car and drove off.

Sad Story!

If you follow Mary Ann Moss at http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com/dispatch_from_la/ you already know this. Her cat Buck was killed this week from 2 Pit Bulls and Mary Ann was there to witness his demise. She has been posting pictures of Buck and telling stories about him this week. Too bad! People, don't let your animals run loose if they are in danger of getting hurt or killed. OR, if your animals will attack and hurt or kill another animal. My heart has been aching all week since I read this. Just too sad!

Oh yea, only bought one small set of Tim Hotz Rubber Stamps at Michael's with the coupon. But I got the one with the pen nibs!! WooT!

So, I got a new laptop and a new for me camera, and an art goodie in one day. And now the excitement of going back to work tomorrow. WOW!! Hope I can hold up!

Have a great week everybody!

Too Much Stuff is an Addiction, Yea I Said It

2011-08-06T06:56:00.000-07:00

Not too much to report this week, except I got sick from the heat in Reno last week and stayed in bed for almost 2 days. I am OK this week though. Ya just have to know when to come in out of the sun! LOL!

I have realized that my studio is a BIG MESS again. So I have decided to try to clean it up AGAIN. I did clean and purge some in January and my goal then was to organize my supplies in an orderly fashion so I could find them for one, and the room wasn't such a mess. That worked for a while until I brought in more STUFF!

Photos below: Please click on any to get a bigger understanding of this mess!

This is what you see straight ahead when you walk in. My computer area is a big mess, but I don't really see that as a hindrance to my art area. (in denial already)

This area is to my left if I am at the computer. This table is where everything lands that I drag in until I can find a place for it. WOW!! And I would like to get to my sewing machine again, you can see it at the end of the table, since my friend Barb in Missouri talked to me about how to sew on paper.

This area actually begins the arty side of the room. Books for ripping out images and an eye that is part of a pair of glasses that should be hanging on a wall, but no way to get to a wall! LOL

This is the area above my art table where I try to keep my immediate wanted supplies. Whew!

This is actually my journaling table. Well it would be if there was a space to actual work in my journal on it!

Now this mess is under a table. Extra stuff I have a hard time getting rid of. I just know I will need this someday for my art journaling! Yea, right!

This is under my journaling table. Magazines, books, etc for images. I must have 300 +. I tried to organize that too in January. WOW!! What a job! I just need to be more spontaneous in my journal and grab any magazine and use only the images from that one and no others.Almost done with the photos;

This catch all is on my right if I am at the computer. Every little nic nac finds it's way here! This shot is of the top.

This is the bottom portion of the catch all. I have TOO MUCH STUFF! But I love stuff!

A story: When I left my first husband in 1973, I owned a 63 Chevrolet station wagon. All of my STUFF fit in it in ONE LOAD. That was all I had of my own in 1973. No furniture, etc. I moved into a furnished apt. Friends and yard sales supplied the furniture, etc.

So jump ahead 38 years. What happened?? I don't know. But I do know, something must be done and soon. I am almost to the claustrophobia stage in here! LOL!

I need nothing new when it comes to art journaling. But I want to buy or feel I must buy every new thing that I see on the net! Call it hoarding, treasuring or whatever. I have an addiction to STUFF!

Have a great weekend while I try to figure this mess out!

Vacation Haul, So Far.......

2011-07-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

I am back again to show you what I have acquired art wise since I have been out and about.

First is this great wooden box of upper and lower case alpha rubber stamps that I found at a book and toy store in Missouri. Love! In the beginning, I was kinda bummed out because they were boxed in by a border, but after opening them I found they do not have the border! Yeah!

I am a pen freek as you know. So I could not resist these new Markers. First are Twistable Crayola Slick Stix. WOW! These things are the creamiest I have ever saw. They will blend with your finger. Next is the Crayola Twistable Extreme Colors Ultra Bright Crayons. OK, but they need to be used on white paper. Next is the Crayola Color Sticks. All color, no wood. YES and cheaper than Prismacolor Sticks for the budget aware group, but just until Inktense Sticks show their face! Moving forward; is the Crayola Dry Erase BRIGHT Crayons. These are for Black and White Dry Erase Boards. They are great for Black Paper. Hmmm, new journal Lotus made me............ And last is the Faber-Castell Gel Sticks. OMG, these are heaven also. I did not pay more than $15.00 for any of these.

OK now that concludes the purchasing haul for now. Remember in my last post I told you about my new art friend I visited in Missouri. Well, when I arrived she gave me my choice of 3 notepad covers with the note pad. OMG!! I chose this one because I am a grunge fan. The notepad is an inch thick!!Isn't it great? Love, love it!

And lastly is this great Domino that my friend Eva came by and made for me this week. She stamped the Teesha Moore image on white tissue paper with black Staz On. Next she used Alcohol Inks on the domino THEN she painted Mop & Glo on the domino, laid the tissue paper image onto it , brushed out the air bubbles, then covered it with Glossy Accents!! OMG!! It is sooo cool. My poor quality photo does not do it justice. It is beautiful! And I have a whole bottle of Mop & Glo to practice this. Hee!

I also found new Garbage Pail Kids Stickers, but forgot to photo them. Next post? Yea!
Off to Reno for the rest of the week = More Shopping!!

New Friend and a Must Have Book

2011-07-25T19:10:00.003-07:00

Hey everyone, I am very excited to tell you all about a wonderful new friend I was able to spend some time with on my vacation.

Barb Owen is a mixed media and fabric artist that lives in Columbia Missouri. I met her in the chat room of Paula Phillips on Ustream. She lives about half way between Kansas City and where my son lives in Missouri. I went to her beautiful home on my way to my son's for a few short minutes, and then, again on my way back to the airport the next week.

Folks, this lady is simply amazing. She has a beautiful studio where she can create wonderful creations. But the best part I must tell you about is this:

Barb, with the help of her son wrote this book for the folks out there that has dealt with or will have to deal with becoming a caregiver for someone in their life, whether it be an elderly parent or someone else. It just became available in paperback, and she just finished the audio portion, reading it herself. There is an ebook in the works also, plus a website. Whew! Busy lady! AND she illustrated the book herself from her journals!

Barb has put her own personal experience in this project to help others. Please check it out on Amazon, or go to the website that she and her son has built, HopeForCaregivers.com.

Thanx for supporting this great lady that I am proud to call my friend and this cause. Unfortunately a lot of us will be there someday and the strength of this book will help us when we actually have to deal with this type of situation.

Thanx for listening.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

2011-07-24T12:19:00.001-07:00

Hey everybody, Just a quick post to let you know that I am home from the very HOT state of Missouri. Whew! So hot it takes your breath away and you feel like you are smothering at all times. Yikes!

Had a great time getting to know my two Grandkids, Austin Lee and Megan Marie, again as I haven't spent any time with them in 4 long years. Austin is named after me. Hee! A small puzzle for you. *wink*

My Grandson's goal in life right now is to be taller than his Dad!

And since he is only 15, I think he has a shot. What do you think?

Stay cool, everyone!

VACATION, I SAID VACATION!

2011-07-16T01:36:00.001-07:00

OK I am up waaay too early! But have a 6:00am flight to Missouri this morning! Woo Hoo! Yesterday was DRAMA day of course because of the storm at the Denver airport that canceled my flight!!! Grrr!! Got it fixed, but OMG!

And I took a tumble in the kitchen on Thursday that almost put me off of going completely. DRAMA!! I am very sore, but OK to get on the road and suprise my Grandkids tonight:-)

Here is my Dad with my BD gift to him. 93 one dollar bills! Every year since he turned 90. He loves it. Right after this we took off for the casino where he came home with another hundred! Cool!

OK, I have got to get in the shower and get outta here!! BYE!!!:)

OMG!! How Soon Can I Get One of These??

2011-07-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

You have to see this!

I found it on FB after Teesha Moore posted it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ-aWFYT_SU

Simply amazing!

Crazy Drama & Cool Stuff

2011-07-08T06:17:00.000-07:00

Today is the day that my Brother from another Mother comes to stay for a couple of weeks because of my Dad's 93rd Birthday. Which also means that I have had to deep clean the house the last couple of weekends. Ugh! Because of my work schedule, I don't keep it up as I should and since NOBODY else living here see's anything that should be kept up, mopped or dusted, it just does not get done most of the time. So when we end up having company that has to stay here, this place gets fixed and cleasned! It also means that the entire sleeping arrangements must change also. UGH! Drama! Remember, I don't like Drama!! Enough of that!

I will post picx of my Dad when I give him his 93 one dollar bills on Sunday before we leave for the casino :-)

Today I woke up with what I think is some kind of an ear infection. It feels like it has water in it, so before 8:00am I will have breakfast at the Urgent Care! Ugh! Not a good time for me to be sick at all and especially when I am gone next weekend for vacation.

Check out this cool book charm my friend Lotus made me!! (Sorry Lotus, I could not get a good pic so I took yours!)

Here it is with the tiny 3/4 X 1/2 inch book opened! And she even wrote in it!

This girl is super talented!! This is the best!

I had better get busy if I am going to the Dr this morning! Grr

Oh yea, did I tell you that I leave for vacation in 8 days! Woot!

I Need Therapy, Seriously

2011-07-03T08:09:00.000-07:00

See Below......

Barnes & Noble is having ANOTHER 50% off Sale!

The owner of my LSS (60 miles away) told me that Copic is raising their prices in August! Ugh!

And SHE was having a great sale. Wendy Vechi Stamps for 60% off. And I found this great Rocket Age Paper!! Well ya gotta know.....

And here is an assortment I have gathered over a couple of days. Absolutely love the 7 Gypsy's Tissue paper. The Radient Rains Daubers at 50% off of course. And these cool watercolor markers I found at Joann's last week.

And new new magazines with all of the stars in them. Teesha Moore is in the new Somerset Studios! Had to have it!

But the biggest score of the day was finding the new Art Journaling magazine that my friend Paula Phillips, AKA Journal Artista is in!! And have you heard that her new Cloth Paper Scissors DVD is up for pre order here: http://www.interweavestore.com/Mixed-Media/DVDs-Videos/Layered-and-Textured-Backgrounds-DVD.html.

I had a great Saturday when I called my new art friend Eva that lives in Stockton to ask if she wanted to go up to Elk Grove to the Stampers Corner Scrapbook store with me cause they were having a BIG Sale! She said OK so I picked her up and sale-ing we went. Eva makes jewerly and is a more conventional scrapboooker but is very intersted in getting into AJ full swing. I of course will be there with the nudge button to help her along! She gave me a great assortment of old cards and some temporary tattoos and other cool stuff's! We had a great day, but the elusive Art Journaling Magazine could not be found! Ugh! So after a short nap and watching some of Paula's Ustream, http://www.ustream.tv/channel/journalartista, I tried one more tactic and called Border's in Turlock and the nice man said it was there. So at 8:30PM me and a room mate drove down and grabbed it! Success!

Now, if you know me well, ya know I don't venture out much after 5:00PM. There is a reason for that. Very unusual things happening out there after dark! Whooee!! And I saw them all last night! I will stay in, Thank You:)

The title of this post says it all! Ya Think?!?

Have a safe 4th. Please check back next weekend when the Family Drama begins!

14 more days till my vacation begins!!!! Woot!

Cleaning House YUK! But I Am Famous!

2011-06-24T16:31:00.001-07:00

Yes, cleaning the house this weekend. Yuk!

My brother from Virginia will be here on the 8th for Daddy's 93rd BD! And he will be here until the 25th. BUT I will be gone for a week of that to Missouri:-) I won't see him much this year, cause when I get back, he will leave the next day to go back home, but we are OK with that this year. He will have to entertain the old folks all by himself while I am entertaining in MO.

I am famous!! Thank you, please save your applause for the end. HA!

On my last post, see above, a nice lady named Laura from thealteredbooknook.com commented and asked me if I would be interested in being a featured artist on her web site. Well I wrote a very short bio and sent it last night with a couple of phtos of journal spreads and she put me on her site!!

Go here to see: http://thealteredbooknook.com/index.html. Scroll down on the left to find me. Another lady has also been featured, and my good friend Lotus that got me into this craziness was asked also, so that will be fun to see both of us on there.

Oh yea now, applause please. Awww Thanx!:)

Oh yea, I am back in the water business. Hubs fixed all of the broken pipes last weekend, so I can use the kitchen and the dishwasher again. YES!!

And just now while I have been writing this, Hubs sold his restored 1969 Mustang Mach1 Fast Back, and a few months back he also sold his restored 1956 MGA convertable. Sad when you have to give up the things you love the most to pay the bills. Sigh!

Oh check out what Lotus brought over tonight!!! Weeeeeee! And she added a book mark.

I gave her the book last week and here is the result! Filled with some kind of cool black paper.

Hard to see the Copic Binding.

And she added a library pocket in the front, and I have one of those stamps that they use to use on them. Thinking this just might be my next journal. Gel pens would be fun to use in this!

Gotta go and begin cleaning!!

Have a great creative weekend!

All Kinds of Stuff Going On and Some Journaling

2011-06-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

Hey happy Friday, folks. This has been a whirlwind week.

First up is the reorganization of the company I work for. Any time that word is used I begin to stress. But it is actually a positive change even though it means that some times now I won't get to come home every night, but I am OK with that.

Next I guess, will be the delightful story of living in a house that ALL of the water pipes have been broken under it for I don't know how long. This includes 2 bathrooms, 1 kitchen, and 1 washing machine. So for the last 2 weeks I have not been able to run water in the kitchen and use the back bathroom. The Hubs has been tunneling under the house every day and digging dirt/mud out so he can get to the problem(s)and replace the pipes. As of last night, we are back to being able to use the washer and the back bathroom again. He is replacing all of the pipes, because honestly they are all broken and water has been running loose under the house for we don't know how long. Unbelievable!! Just plain Drama! No, we can't afford a plumber, before you ask, and Hubs knows this kind of work so there ya go! But it is very yukky because it is muddy down there, since the water was just going on the ground!

My neck is beginning to want to spasm occasionally after the epidural quit working by mid May, after only 2 1/2 months. Never had a neck muscle spasm in my life until the Dr asked me at my appt last week. No I never have spasms. ARG!!

I am now more of a twit! I am learning TweetDeck!! It is a little confusing in the beginning, but after a couple of days it is getting easier, and it makes cool noises:)

I have been actually working in my journal some this past week.

The spread with the photo of the guy sitting on a camel, I found that pic in a book I bought at a yard sale. A Real Deal Poloroid! And notice the 7 Gypsie's Numero Tissue paper I used with my new good Buddy, Matte. Matte Medium that is. Be Gone, stick the pages together, Gel Medium.

29 days till vacation! Woot!

Happy Father's Day to all of the Dad's out there and for the Mom's out there that are the stand in Dad's! My son still calls me on Father's Day to tell me, Happy Father's Day, Mom! There are some good things about being a single parent. And he is 35 yrs old, and has told me that every year since he could talk. Cause he wanted a Dad, and I was all he had!

A Stencil Challenge

2011-06-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

Paula Phillips AKA Journal Artista has a challenge on her blog, http://www.journalartistaart.com this week to see what we can come up with using stencils. Well this is the "Hot Mess" I came up with.

It is a Hot Mess too. But at the bottom you will see the letters; WWPD, Which means What Would Paula Do? Well, Paula, my friend, What would you do with this craziness??

Go check out her blog and make some stencil art journaling, and put it in her blog and have a chance to win some great Crafter's Workshop Stencils cause she is having a give away! Woot!!

And Psst folks, Paula just recorded a DVD for Cloth Paper Scissors that will be ready for pre order soon AND she will be featured in the next Stampington Art Journaling Magazine which will be out on July 1st. This girl is a STAR, I'm telling you! Look her up on You Tube as Journal Artista. She has quite a few basic supply technique videos, etc. You can always learn something new from Paula.

Have a great week folks. I am counting down the days before I leave on vacation:-) Today is 34 more days! Woo Hoo!

I Have a "Treasuring" Addiction

2011-06-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

OK there I said it!

I have a horrible addiction to Stuff when it comes to arty supplies! I must admit I have an addicting personality.

When I was young, I drank alot of alcohol. I beat that addiction 27 years ago without anything but my mind to do it!

Then it was smoking, which began at 16 or so in HS which had an open campus for lunch. Insert funny story here: Everyone smoked Marlboro's. They were cool because they had a brown filter. Well if you ever smoked in HS you know that you had none left after school, cause everybody bummed them off of you all day. You were NOT cool if you smoked a white filtered cigerette. So I learned very early on that if I smoked Kool's with a brown filter, I was still cool, but got to keep my smokes, cause no one else wanted to smoke Menthol's. And Marlboro's made my throat burn, I ended up always smoking Menthols End of funny story here! I beat that addiction 17 years ago again with nothing but my mind!

I have however never been able to stop the addiction of food, usually junk food that I was never allowed to have as a kid. I admit I am in love with Mickey D's, Sonic, Taco Bell, Five Guys Burgers, and anything else that resembles fast food! And this helped the cause of putting on 100 lbs when I quit smoking.

So you get the addicted personality of me??

I am also addicted to books. I must have thousand's of books in my house. I am going to stack up all of my art journal, drawing, etc, type books, take some pics of the spines and post next time. I am sure it will take me all week to find them all just to get a picture AND I also know it will not be just one photo. They will never fit in one.

So now on to the gist of this post. I went and purchased NEW art treasures yesterday, when I said I was not going to. I have an addiction, sigh....

Just how many different adhesive's do I need?? I am sure this is not all.....

These were gift's from friends, thanx Lotus and Cheryl. I am intrigued to find more of the Sakura Paint marker. See? Hear what I just said??

These two new books were bought just yesterday. There are 3 in the series of the little drawing books, but of course the other 2 that I bought before are no where to be found today for a snap shot! Agh! And I also am a sucker for book making/binding books!

And this is a little booklet I made from some cheepo file folders. Just taped the pages together with tape. This holds brain storming ideas for a special friend of mine that is in the middle of "just thinking" about writing a book. So without her knowledge, I am making notes and creating an outline for her to begin at a swifter pace. I know she doesn't look at my blog much, so I am not worried about her seeing this and putting 2 and 2 together. I will mail her this hopefully in a month or so. And I may do it anonymously, just to see what happens. This is just a nudge.

Well this has been a very long post. But I feel better and now I just need an addiction counselor appt soon for my "Treasuring" not "Hoarding"!!

3 Day Weekend Art-complishments

2011-05-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! I can say that since it is a Monday and I am not working. Woot!

I have been doing some serious work in my art journal this weekend that i want to share.

I am using a Composition Book that I glued 3 pages together throughout to make it stronger. I am liking this. A little larger than a Moleskine, which is my first love, but with a larger surface to challenge me. And it cost me 25 cents at the back to school sales at Target last fall.
I still have to do some writing for this, thinking maybe something about falling in love? Or maybe something about having someone there to catch me? I will figure it out.

On this spread I used some new 7 Gypsie's 6 X 6 paper called Lille. I love 7 G's. I put a different sheet on each side. The word Abundance means so much to me everyday that I had to use it. The other sheet that says Life is Good, is another happy place for me. I added a bit of corrugate that I made with a paper crimper that I learned from Paula Phillips, my friend in Canada. Please check her out as Journal Artista on You Tube. She is the bestest teacher for learning the basics. She is going places, folks, I'm telling you. And I am glad she considers me a friend. I added the Lille tape to match. I still have work to do on this spread also, but wanted to go ahead and post them.

I took the leap and booked my vacation flight and car rental. It is done! I will be heading to Missouri in July to see my son and his family for a week. I have not been there since '07! I have not seen my Grandkids since then, except for a short 30 hour stay in 2009 when I had traveled to Iowa for work and we all met in KC for the weekend before I flew home. I am looking forward to it so much.

I am stopping in Columbia MO for a couple of hours on the way there to meet Barb Owen who joins in on Paula Phillips Ustreams on Wednesday and Sunday's in the chat room. Can't wait to meet her. I would also like to drive to OK City while I am out there, and meet Jonathan Manning, AKA The Artistc Biker, who has restored an old building to create a Art Studio for kids. I doubt if I will get there, but I certainly would like to. Since I am only going to be there for one week, time will fly!!

OK I am off thinking about a Monday Only Flea Market here, that I never get to go to. Byeeeeee!!

Gotta Share

2011-05-27T05:31:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, I know that Blogger has been giving everyone some trouble lately, but I needed to post my every weekend post anyway.

If you are anything like me, you are connected to folks on Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc, or just love to be on the internet in ANY capacity.

Since I have been "technologically" enhanced in the last couple of months with acquiring an Ipad 2 and an HTC Thunderbolt Smart Phone, I am now connected more than ever to cyber space. I can now check in, and share what I am doing at any given minute of the day. Or I can check out what everybody else is doing or checking into.

Let's face it; Hi my name is Sharon and I am an Internet Junkie!!
In short, I love it!!!

And so since I love to share what is happening with me and what I find out there surfing all the time, I had to share this new "Improv Everywhere" Musical. If you don't know about Improv Everywhere, you need to connect and check them out.

Have a safe and fun 3 dayer................

RIP My Friend........

2011-05-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my friends' memorial service, who passed last Friday, (see previous post). I met Pam in 2002 and worked for her for 7 years. We became co workers, and she became a mentor to me. But most of all, she became my friend. She and I shared a common thread; both of us had raised our children as single parents, working away from the home everyday, and still gave them the best that we could.

Pam shared my love for antiques and vintage anything's, and often, we would extend our lunch and shop the antique stores downtown by the office.

Pam was a Breast Cancer survivor for over 13 years. And then last fall, it returned with a vengeance. She left her home in February for a routine Chemo Treatment and because of other medical complications, she was never able to return to her home. I visited her weekly in the Hospital and watched this strong, beautiful, spirited woman slipping away.

She made sure that everything for her final arrangements was perfect. She did not want to be a burden to her daughter and son. And as soon as that was finalized, she left us as graceful as she had been, her entire life.

Today she is on her way home to Montana, where she wanted to retire and be close to her son and his family. And now she will be forever.

I love you, my friend.

The Pain has Ended, let the Healing Begin

2011-05-15T05:10:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

This has to be a quick post, cause I am up early and leaving. I have to!

On Friday the 13th, 3 people I know, died!!

The first was a beloved friend and former boss, who died of Cancer. CANCER SUX!!

The second was a bus driver that did not work for us now, but I had hired in 2005 when I worked at another location in Merced. Drove his motorcycle into the side of a BUS and died!

The third was one of our bus driver's who worked at one of the division's I support. Sucide!

I will never look at a Friday the 13th the same again.

This morning the hubs and I are driving 500 miles away to a secluded location with a few hundred slot machines and Black Jack tables.

I have to!

The pain has ended, let the healing begin.

Interesting Mother's Day

2011-05-08T16:38:00.000-07:00

When would my life not be interesting??

I started my Mother's Day with the chance of going back to bed and sleeping 2 additional hours after getting up very early like always, but never getting to return. So that was great. I didn't drag my lazy self out of bed until 8:00am! Next my son called and I talked to the Grandkids and Daughter in Law. They are struggling, but surviving.

Next, I purchased a fancy new smart phone, and I know it will be smarter than me! But My Crackberry is starting to drop calls a lot. Not good, since it is my work phone also. It will arrive on Tuesday. then the struggle begins of trying to learn how it works kicks in! Ugh!

After that fiasco, I went to visit my Mom and then................

This is when the day started going downhill just a little..........

The hubs has to have a colonoscopy tomorrow, so I am in the process now of making him drink a gallon of prep so everything gets cleaned out! Yuk! I get the day off tomorrow because he has to have a driver and a nurse after the procedure!! And that be me! Double yuk! Because he is getting ready to be a Grumpus Gus for the next 24 hours at least. Lovely!

I have no photos today of any arty activities, but I am just a wee bit busy at the moment!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. Mine has been interesting;-)

Just a Little Late, But that's OK

2011-05-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, This will be a short post.

I was ready last night to post like always on the weekend, and while I was watching Paula Phillips on Ustream, someone in the chat mentioned some stuff happening on the news. So I was there the rest of the evening and did not get this posted. So now I have to cram before the day job kicks in.

This last week a few things of importance took place:

A Royal Wedding, a devastating tornado in Alabama and the end of a terrorist in Pakistan. Here I will only speak of the tornado. My friend Barb Smith of Craft Therapy lives in Alabama and about 20 miles from that huge tornado that killed over 300 lives. I texted her on Wednesday evening to see if she and her family were alright and held my breath. In about 10 minutes or less she came back and said yes, but things were an extreme mess. Please think positive thoughts for the folks there, that they can begin to heal. And go to her blog and find the donation button and donate the cost of the Starbux drink you can do without this morning to help those folks. Thanx.

OK I will get off the soapbox.

I have been trying to make my own corrugate/cardboard this week for some de-lish distressed projects I am involved in. This is just the beginning. More pics when I finish.

Next up are a couple of journal spreads:

This one was started and sat on my table for a month. Finally I feel it is good to go.

This one is a practice piece from my new found fun drawing/doodling/killing time art. Yea for Austin Kleon! Google his name and be amazed! Cause someday I will learn how to insert links in my posts.

Oh one more thing this past week.............I got a $33.00 parking ticket while working at my old office. Lovely!

Well it is already 6:15 and I gotta run to get out the door by 7:00 to get to Sacramento.

Have a great creative week, my friends!

Stuff That I Want You to Know

2011-04-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

I have been on a learning streak this past week. I am an educator first and if I am not in a learning mode 100% of the time, I feel that I let others down because I can't share my knowledge with them. So this week I have learned:

1. That if I keep my studio clean, I am more creative, and I want to work in my art journal all of my free time.

2. That I love "Newspaper Blackout" that Austin Kleon created. Here is one of mine:

Cool, Huh? It is cool what you can create from a newspaper or magazine and a couple of pens. Amazing! In case you can't enlarge it to read, it says: Impatient- people are growing impatient without peace.

3. Good News, my hubs found my lost Ipod Touch under the seat in my car!! (insert happy dance here). Since it was missing for 2 weeks and during that 2 weeks I bought my Ipad 2 and learned stuff on it, now that I have the Ipod Touch back, I know how to do things on it. I only used it for a music box before. I feel waaay more learn-ered and cool now. "My name is Sharon and I'm a Geek"!

4. Refering to number 2 and 3 above, I want to do this: Create Newspaper Blackouts on my Ipad:

5. On another learning trek this week, I discovered this project. Called, Before I Die, this is the best thing I have learned this week.

So I decided to tell you the 5 things I want to do before I die:

1. Before I die I want to: meet all of my favorite artists and have one on one instruction from them
2. Before I die I want to: become wealthy
3. Before I die I want to: not have to work a day job (see # 2 above).
4. Before I die I want to: see my Grandchildren often so I can be an influence in their lives.
5. Before I die I want to: Make a difference

So there you have it. Another creative week from my life.

Have a great Easter and I will hit ya back next weekend!

Birthday Stuff

2011-04-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday and it was an OK day! I got a great present from the Hubs. Of course I told him what to go get and since it was at the hardware store, he was happy to go fetch it! Ta Da!!

My new art toy!! The Air Compressor for my Copic Air Brush System. I told you way back that I had a small one but it was old and so when I found this one, I freeked:)
I put the adhesive tape runner next to it to show just how small it really is. It is gauged at 58 PSI (pounds per square inch). And it was a measley $79.00. Even better. I know because I had to look it up so Hubs would know what to get.

I also got an iTunes gift card, Barnes & Noble gift card, a great card from my friend Cheryl, lots of BD wishes on Facebook and when I get over to my folks today, another $20.00 cash, (every year for years). So I had a great BD! Woo Hoo!

This afternoon I am going to the Apple Store to a class to learn how to use my IPad correctly. Cool, cause just when I think I know what I am doing, the darn thing tells me otherwise! UGH!

Hope everyone has a rest of a great weekend.

Ah, The Smell of New Technology

2011-04-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

Well my friends, My State Taxes came to visit on Friday and I was able to get my IPad 2 this weekend. Drama was the word for this weekend. Whew! Apple should be ashamed of the way they do things some times. What I thought would be an easy purchase, turned into a marathon.

Friday afternoon I went to the Apple Store in Modesto to inquire about buying a IPad 2. I wanted a certain one, and they didn't have it in stock. They told me they would have some more Saturday morning and if I wanted to come to the store early, they could tell me then what was available. OK so I went at 8:00am and at 8:30 a guy came outside and told us they had only certain one's, and the one I wanted they didn't have any. OK, so I drove to Sacramento, which turned into Roseville, which turned into Pleasanton, which brought me back to Motown late in the afternoon after a call back to the Modesto store, that said yes they did have it. But someone doesn't understand customer service, cause they didn't actually have any!! Grrr after I drove over 200 miles chasing one.

But this morning when I went back to the Modesto store, they had plenty. WOW! Wierd! They must be getting secret midnight deliveries!

It is very cool, but it will take me a while to learn how to use it. Oh Well! Love the smell of new technology! The first thing I did...I went to ITunes and downloaded the song," Today I'm Gonna Try and Change the World" by Johnny Reid, of course!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I'm Back, Safe, and I Have Found a New Hero

2011-04-02T08:35:00.000-07:00

Well I am back home, safe, I might add since I always fly Southwest when I can and just this morning I saw on the news that a plane FROM LA had a boo boo!! I was on a Southwest plane last night from LA! Whew! But anyway...........

I have a new Hero this morning:

This is Austin Kleon. He writes poetry from blacking out text in newspapers, Called Newspaper Blackout!

If you know about this:

You will understand the genius behind this type of art. WOW!

Please take a second and go to Austin Kleon's blog http://www.austinkleon.com/blog/ and be amazed! Me? I am on my way to ordering his book and trying this myself. Now all I need is a Black Sharpie.

Have a great weekend!

Busy Busy

2011-03-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

This title represents my life. I am busy in my day job life and busy in my private life. There is never a dull moment. Sometimes I get so tired of it all I just want to go away and veg to a life somewhere with NO DRAMA!

Although life must present Drama at times, I understand that. But what I don't understand is why is there so much around me all of the time in either life? They say you get what you ask for, and I say yes for my day job life. I chose that life, so OK, that one is on me, but I did not have a lot to do on what the drama is that goes on in my private life. Those close to me will understand that statement.

OK enough of that Pity Party. As you can see from the photo, I am off in the air again this time to Whittier CA to teach a week long class to folks who want to be comfortable getting up in front of folks who want to be bus drivers, whew! I am leaving this afternoon and returning on Friday night. And the best part? I will be out of the busy private life for 5 whole days! Yippee!

Have a great artful week!

Making Up for Lost Time

2011-03-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

OK, am waaay late in posting pictures of my last journal I completed last weekend. So here are a few:

These next few are of my new Comp Book Journal, Journal # 3:

This is the front inside cover and first page:

This is the back inside cover:

The first spread:

Spread in progress:

So this is what I have been up to lately in the artful world. I am reading two different books at this time; Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle, fiction of course and another fiction called The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe. Love these once in a while. I usually have at least 2 or 3 books going at the same time. These I bought very cheap at my closing Border's in Modesto.

I also just found out this weekend that we got the fixed route contract in Reno. Guess where I will be spending my weeks again soon!! UGH!

New Journal & The "Will Have" List

2011-03-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

I began a new journal this past weekend. No I don't have photo's yet as I am still working on the cover's. But I will tell you that it is a Composition Book that I paid 25 cents for at Target's Back to School sale this last fall. I glued 3 pages together throughout to make strong pages, and found out they will hold up great to paint. I want to write more in this journal, so that is the goal. We will see......

I did not have a great week last week, with the day job. So I am going to do just a tad of preaching here for a sec.........Never trust that a driver will do what they are suppose to do while driving a vehicle. Always pay attention and be aware of your immediate surroundings when walking and crossing streets where traffic and you occupy the same areas! Never ASSUME! OK that is all I am going to say, but please take note of what I just said and practice making eye contact with driver's before you try to cross a street! Thanx!

I bought a new fun book this weekend, "Picture This" by Lynda Barry. Got it cheap at my closing Border's. And I bought Traci Bunker's new book, Art Journal Workshop on Amazon that was released early. Can't wait till it gets here next week.

I have begun what I am calling, The "Will Have" List or the "Save $ For" List. On this list is a few things, you guessed it, that I want! The first is to go to Teesha & Tracy Moore's Journalfest or their Play Retreat by 2013. My friend Cheryl moved close to Seattle recently and we started discussing attending in 2013. So the first thing on the list is funds for that, since it will include the price of the retreat AND airfare.

Next on the list is funds for an IPad 2. Now before ya'll go nuts, give me a sec. The main reason I want this is so I can carry a personal computer with me easier when I work. My company frowns on us doing anything personal on my work issued laptop. But before I ever actually buy one, I am going to check them out in the Apple Store here at the mall very thoroughly. They will know my name and be saying, Hi Sharon, every time I walk in the store!

I also "Want" a Monoprice Grapic's Tablet that is cheap on Amazon. Like $51.00. You can draw on the tablet and it shows on your computer screen. Very Cool!

That is all I have on the list right now. But those are enough since the first two require large amounts of $$ for.

Well I have bored you enough with my musings. I will be back next weekend, Byeeeee

More Journal Pages & Procedures

2011-03-05T11:16:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to show you some journal pages from Journal # 2. It is almost complete and then I am going to start another, but this time in a Comp Book that I have already glued the pages together to make them tougher, for lack of a better word.

This page was dedicated to the Pink, Love and Kindness weekend recently.

This one was just a silly page. Sometimes I must do silly pages to help me dissolve the drama I have to deal with on the day job everyday!

This was another fun silly page, but when my friend Lotus brought me over these cool images that she can cut out so perfect, I had to use them. So these were my picks.

This one started with a piece of music paper. I tore it for back ground pieces and when I glued it down, I saw the line that said "Dare to Stand Alone". And since this was the time I was still trying to clean and organize my studio, I had found the little cardboard letter's, and they were perfect for this.

I have been having issue's with my neck, not being able to turn my head very much due to my degenative disc disease. A couple of weeks ago, I had to have 10, yes 10 trigger point injections with cortisone in my neck. They were suppose to last 2 months. Well that procedure lasted exactly 2 weeks. So yesterday I went to the hospital and had a cervical steriod epidural! I survived but not by much. The so called nurse, almost killed me with trying to put in an I V in the back of my hand. OMG! It hurt so much and she tried three times until I said, "OK, can you try somewhere else?" She said yes, she blew it. I am thinking, YES you did! Anyway, then she put in the side of my wrist and I didn't even feel it!

The actual epidural was a piece of cake! They knocked me stupid with stuff in my I V and I didn't really even know it was going on, even though I was sitting up on the edge of the bed.

Drum roll...........Today less than 24 hours I can turn my head almost shoulder to shoulder without any pain!! YEA!!! I am having more trouble with the bandage!! If I could dance I would! I don't want to take any chances. And I slept 8 hours! Hope this lasts at least 6 months like he said it should! Woo Hoo!! I am healed!! Well until the next one:)

Hope you are all well and journaling everyday.

Kelly Kilmer Class Weekend

2011-03-01T18:25:00.001-08:00

Hey, I am a little late with this week's post, but I always have trouble's with my camera and laptop fighting. They don't play well together.

Anyway this weekend was spent in 5 classes for a total of 12 hours. Yippee!! Even though I don't look like it in this photo, I was excited. I look like I am praying back there against the window. Probably praying for time to crawl. Hee Hee! This is Maria'a studio in the Nile's District. She is very fortunate to even have studio space, but she deserve's it. She is the Queen! We played with building journal's and working in them with ton's of cool collage paper's and ton's of Kelly Tape! She brings SO MUCH when she teaches! I love it.

I took some pics of some journal pages that was being worked on. There were bunches of very talented people there. I saw some amazing things being created.

I took an art journal book with me to donate to the class and we did a drawing and Maria's sister visiting from Wisconsin won it. Then Kelly did 3 more drawing's and my name was picked and I won a choice of an online class OR a journal made by Kelly!! I said a journal! Of course. Yea!! I never win anything, so I was very excited.

Hope everyone had a great journaling weekend!

My Life is Nevr-Dull

2011-02-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

So here is the second post this weekend. Why not? Might as well. Ain't nothing else going on. Can't complain. Nobody would listen! HA! Anyway, just hung out in the studio most of the weekend, working on the last few pages in my journal.

The big news is that the Modesto Border's is closing and so yesterday I went out there and bought some magazines and stuff. The magazines were 40% off, so I bought 4. Three for me and one car magazine for the husband. I stood in line for 30 minutes. Oh well.

Here are some more journal pages that have been hiding in my camera for awhile for your enjoyment:

If you have never heard of http://www.createmixedmedia.com/ you need to go and check it out. It is a nice site for learning lots of cool stuff within Mixed Media. This week Mixed Media Artist, Katie Kendrick is featured in a free tutorial where she uses Nevr-Dull, a household polish, to distress magazine images into collage pieces. Folks, her pages are amazing. Go check her out and join the site. Great ideas and great people contributing to it, like the great Rice Freeman-Zachary, who interviews everyone! I love to learn what the other artists like to use in their art.

Since I do not get the Holiday off tomorrow,I will get off of here and get things done for the work week. Make art not war!

Leslie Herger Painted Me

2011-02-19T20:39:00.000-08:00

I can't post the pic of it here but go to the link below and see how Leslie Herger painted me with water color from this photo I sent her. Wow cool! She evn painted in the reflection glare from the windows on my glasses.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leslieherger/5460555358/

How cool is that?

Very Busy Weekend

2011-02-13T19:03:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, well I am trying to unwind from a very busy weekend. Our room mate returned from NYC and I immediately sic'd him on my computer to see if he could fix the problem of my camera and computer NOT being nice to each other. Well he kinda got it to work better and I was able to save some pics of my recent journal pages. Oops, I thought I had turned it around. Sorry. This reminds me sorta of a Traci Bautista page.

This one I dedicated to my friend Cheryl who had to move back to Washington because she lost her job in California. I miss the the times I could jump in the car on a Saturday morning and drive 100 miles to her house so we could have a play day together. I was still practicing with my Copic Airbrush System here, with the Peace Sign stencil, which actually turned out cool.

This pic is where I sprayed ink through a Mendhi stencil. Such fancy detail, I love it.

This is a "Floputunity" as Paula Phillips would say. I wasn't exactly sure what I was actually going for, but I took the page out of my journal put it in an embossing folder and ran it through both directions in my Vagabond. Then I ran an ink pad over it so it inked on the raised areas. Taped it back into my journal. Cool.

Here is the other side.

I have more pages to show you, but it is late and I have to get to bed for the next work week awaits! Grrr!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was extremely busy, and I am bushed.

Arting Away the Game and Decisions

2011-02-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

Well since I am not the biggest football fan, I am arting away the game. Of course I don't even know if it is on yet. But I don't care.

I have made 7 pages in my journal since last Wednesday. Woo Hoo!! I have 6 more pages to complete until this one is pretty much finished and then I will move on to another journal. This time I am thinking about a composition notebook. I have one that I have already glued two pages together all of the way through to give them some strength so I use paint, watercolor's, etc on them.

I made a commitment to myself when I started this blog a couple of years ago that I would use it to share my art journaling and art activities with the other blogger's out there that decided to follow me. I feel I have kept up my end of the bargain, by posting almost once every week, usually on the weekend since my day job takes so much out of me. But today with 37 follower's, I still only get 1 to 3 comments each week. I guess since I always leave comments on blogs I follow, that I assumed the same would hold for my followers if they stopped by. I have been rethinking this blog stuff, but today I have not made a hard decision whether it stays or goes.

I made many new friends in the art journaling world last July when I began watching Ustreams of folks journaling live. And that led into Twitter, where I made even more friends and since I have no real journal buddy's close by except Lotus, who I seldom see even though she lives 2 miles away and my fiend Cheryl who had to move to Washington, because she lost her job here, I treasure those friendship's online. I don't expect everyone to leave comments all of the time when they stop by, but I would like to know that someone is looking once in a while.

Enough soapbox and feeling sorry for myself stuff. My I T Tech person is coming back next Friday and before he is allowed to do anything HE wants to do I have a list of stuff I need hinm to work on for me! Number 1 is why does my laptop freeze every time I try to download pictures from my camera!! UGH!!

So until that is resolved and I can once again show you my journal pics, I leave you th another cool video I found on YT. I call it Corrugated Animation that I dedicated to my friend Paula Phillips who is a Safety Manager for a box factory, how cool is that? And she is The Journal Artista. Please Google her name and check her out and say, WOW!!

Until next weekend..............enjoy,

Ya Learn Something New Everyday

2011-01-30T07:48:00.000-08:00

The following short You Tube video is about a Fore-Edge Book. I had never heard of this before yesterday. OMG!! I did some google research and was fasinated for a couple of hours.

As much as I have been a book freek for my entire life not to know about this is beyond me.

Oh, by the way, my next post will be about not receiving comments on my blog except from a very limited group(3-4)of friends.

Enjoy this wonder,

Weekend Over

2011-01-23T20:43:00.000-08:00

This is an old photo of when I took a Tim Holtz class about 3 or 4 years ago. But since I still can't take pics and get them to play nice with my computer, old memories will have to do.

I actually cleaned up my studio this weekend, just rearranging supplies, etc. Now I will not be able to find anything for a while. HA!

I got a new toy too. I got a Sticker Maker machine. And it is Safety Orange, of course. Anything that moved was made into a sticker this weekend.

And it looks like my job will be changing some in the next few months. The company is reorganizing the Corporate Safety Dept, which I am a key component. I don't know exactly where I will be or exactly what my new role will be yet. But at this time all I know is I will still have a job and my wages are not being effected. Whew!!

Well I am off to bed as I have to leave early tomorrow and drive a 100 miles in the bad fog we have been having lately! Ugh!

Camera/Computer Help, Please!!

2011-01-16T20:41:00.000-08:00

I am so upset with my camera and/or computer. I can't get pictures from my camera to my computer here lately. When I plug in my camera, my computer freezes up and stays there until I have to hold in the power button to get it to shut down, then start it back up again, it is a major hassle! So I have been working in my art journal some the last two weekends but have nothing to show you. Hopefully I can get it looked at soon. And if any real life geek happens to stop by with suggestions, I am all ears.

I have been learning how to sew paper for journals. Very fun! And I have been cutting and embossing stuff with my vagabond too.

But the most fun I have been doing on the weekends since the 1st is following Paula Phillips, Journal Artista, working on her art studio for her 31 day challenge. She has done an amazing job in just 2 weeks and we are helping her as she streams by giving her words of encouragement *cough*. (Sometimes we get a little pushy). Hee Hee! Please go look her up on YouTube under Journal Artista, and have a peek at the great progress she has been making.

Well back on the road tomorrow to work. Tomorrow I am driving 100 miles. But the traffic will be light since it is Martin Luther King Day, and alot of folks won't be commuting in the morning. That will be great for a Monday.

Gerry Rafferty 1947 - 2011

2011-01-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

The pain has ended, let the healing begin................

We shared the same birthday.

Rest well my friend.............

Psst, More PoGo Print Fun with Cool Music

2010-12-31T06:08:00.000-08:00

OK I found another PoGo manipulation video. This one is way gooder than the other. Someday, I will figure out to make them smaller, but for now, enjoy.

Happy New Year everyone. Thanx for coming here to see my adventures in journaling.

Christmas Has Come & Gone!

2010-12-27T05:01:00.000-08:00

Just a short post on the Xmas thing. It came, it sucked my wallet dry, it moved on. That is pretty much what happened.

We had dinner at the parents. My Mom is 88 and almost cooked the whole meal alone. (Well that's the way she wanted it) For gifts I got my TH Vagabond from Hubby, $20.00cash and dish cloths from the parents, B & N gift card from my adopted daughter, Starbux gift cards from my neighbor's, GPS from my boss, a baggie of small images from Lotus, some pictures from my son and his family and finally a mixed media collage painting from Cheryl. Ahhh, great Xmas.

Speaking of Cheryl. She and the folks she is traveling with are in Grants Pass Oregon this morning. They have about 500 miles and approximately 8 hours left before they get to Belligham probably this evening. I am so glad we have cell phones to chat it up, cause now I can't just jump in the car and drive 100 miles to see her for the day.

Well off to the races again and back to work. I have to drive to the Bay area this morning along with all of the back to work commuter's. Ugh!

New Toy's and Friend's

2010-12-18T10:41:00.001-08:00

Here is what I was talking about last week on my last post. I got my new Vagabond last weekend and only got to play a little with it so far, but it is so cool. On the left of that on the bottom shelf of a bookcase, is the air compressor and the copic airbrush attachment. Click on the pic to get a better look. And also a chunk of my sewing machine is in the picture. And if I ever find that elusive darning foot, I will be set.

I recently went on a road trip to meet up with my friend Cheryl and we went to Berkeley. OMG!! I got to go to Dic Blick's and every other art store I could cram into one day. Her job with Verizon was out sourced to India and she is leaving right after Xmas to travel back to her home in Washington and we won't see each other for a while. We had such an excellent day, exchanged Xmas gift's and if my camera would stop crashing my computer each time I try to download pictures all of a sudden I would show you one of her paintings she gave me. WOW! It is so cool. I will post it soon. Please go to Cheryl's bog at http://mysticmissive.blogspot.com/ and see what we actually did that great get away day. She took some fun pics.

If my day job doesn't kill me, I will be back soon. Have a great weekend.

Hard Picture to Post

2010-12-13T18:57:00.000-08:00

WOW this is a very difficult photo to post anywhere. UGH!

This is a pic of what I did when I was practicing with my copic air brush system. Looks cool because of the colors I used with the stencils. I will do some more soon.

More on this, the great art get away today, and the rat hunt!

1902 Studio and New Toys

2010-12-12T13:51:00.000-08:00

I love this pic of this artist studio from 1902. The best part, he has a bed in there that in case he needs a nap, he can just walk less than 3 feet and snooze to regain some strength and refresh his creative mind. I like that idea.

Tomorrow I am looking forward to taking a day off to spend some time with someone very special to me. I will use that subject for my next post.

My camera has been crashing my computer lately every time I try to import pics from it. As soon as I get that figured out I will show you my new toys. But until then I will just tell you about them.

First I got my Tim Holtz Vagabond Machine. OMG! It is very cool. I only have a naked tree die to play with right now and a couple of texture fades but I am learning how it works.

The next happy thing is my hubby found a very small air compressor at the flea market and worked on it this weekend and got it hooked up so I can use my Copic Pens for air brush painting. That looks totally cool with stencils. Amazing.

They last thing I want to get is a darning foot for my sewing machine so I can doodle freehand on fabric and paper. But the darn darning foot is not as easy to find as I thought it would be. So I have to wait on that.

Well, I have blabbed long enough and I need to go get a hair cut as I am looking pretty shaggy.

Have a great week and be safe out shopping. Tis the season....unfortunately, if you know what I mean.

Clean Studio?? Who Me?? Yea Right!

2010-12-05T12:59:00.001-08:00

Well this seems to be a lazy but fast weekend. The only thing I got accomplished was doing some laundry and bought a fav song for my Ipod, and, well not much else. I actually thought about cleaning up my studio, but it was just a thought.

I worked a little in my journal, but nothing earth shattering there either.

I am just being lazy. WOW! I need a shot of instant energy and motivation.

Where I am Amazed at a Couple of Things

2010-11-30T05:28:00.000-08:00

OMG!! First, I figured out how to put a you tube vid in my blog post. OK, I know you are all rofl right now, but this is a BIG thing for me. Anyway, Traci Bunkers just wrote about this technique on her blog. http://www.tracibunkers.blogspot.com/ and since I have a PoGo Printer, I watched this video and wow, this is going to be fun to mess around with. Watch the following video:

Well? Cool or what?

I will be back this weekend..............

OK so I don't know it all. The video box is too big for my blog, but I will try to learn how to fix it for the next one. Enjoy.....

4 Days of Rest & Creativeness

2010-11-28T15:56:00.000-08:00

OK while I wanted to post two pics of what I have been up to this weekend, alas I cannot because of dumb computer problems. This pic is just some doodles I have been messing with. Remember the orange monkey, cause he may be seen again.

I can tell you that I did actually get some rest these 4 days, though.

Thanxgiving was good being that we stayed home and didn't venture out because the husband was sick with a cold and cough. I made spaghetti, worked on my art journal, watched a few Ustreams and we were good.

On Friday, I caught up with some work email and worked in my journal some more. I bought gold and silver leafing paint pens and deli paper and did some backgrounds with them. You take the gold or silver pen and make a puddle of paint on the deli paper and blow it with the heat gun and it splatters around and looks very cool. And if my dumb computer would not be a jerk, I would share the pic I took of that back ground. I got the idea from Roc on her blog, http://whatsuproc.blogspot.com. She and her friend Terri make some great videos.

Last night I went to the Hand Born craft fair downtown and only spent 45.00, not too bad. I won't say what I bought cause one thing is a special gift for a special friend, but I met some great folks as always, and it didn't rain, Yeaaaa!

As a family we had a very bad tragedy. On Friday, my BIL fell about 100 feet down concrete steps and an embankment at his lake house. He broke his back in 3 places. He had to be air lifted to 2 hospitals before they could do surgery. Today they told him he had a year to get back to walking and if he could not by then, he would probably never walk again completely. Unfortunately, his age, (71) is against him. Please pray for a miracle for him. He had polio when he was a kid and he has no upper body strength for crutches, walkers, etc. My SIL is a very strong lady and she is determined that he will walk and she will make him believe he will.

That is about all of the news from my side of the universe. Hope everyone had a great Thanxgiving and got to be creative this weekend.

Ghost Journaling for Lack of a Better Description

2010-11-21T15:44:00.001-08:00

Thai picture doesn't really show you what really happened, but I am not feeling the best this weekend, so I am not going to try to take anymore.

In short, first I saw this technique when Paula Phillips showed us on her UStream last week and I flipped out.

She painted the page with cheapie black craft paint. Once it was dry, she took stencils and sprayed a green color wash ink on the page. You couldn't really see the stencils but that is OK. After that was dry, she took a circle stencil and a spouncer and spounced gesso on the page in circles, and the inks showed thru the gesso. It is really a very cool technique. Looks like ghost journaling.

Please go here and watch Paula's recorded UStream, http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/10843297

It is the coolest thing I have ever seen, and I know you will love it.

Oh yea, if ya don't know what a spouncer is, it is a sponge on a stick used for stenciling. Very cool tool. Spounce, spounce, spounce.

One more thing, if you are on twitter, look me up as journalchic. I am following a bunch of great art journalers. We have quite a time, at times.

Na No No Mo and Flop

2010-11-14T18:17:00.000-08:00

Well work is almost killing me, so I am so far behind now, UGH!! But I did make a couple of pieces of journal art pages, but not in my journal. And one turned into a floportunity! Before Flop:

After Flop:

I was trying to put a rub on of ink running down on the top and instead of cutting what I wanted off of the rub on sheet, I was lazy and just laid the whole thing down and some of the other rub on stuck to my page. of course I freeked cause I actually liked this page. So I went looking for something to cover up the flop. Found a piece of an old paper tape measure, rubber some distress inks into it and used that. So I guess it is OK, but it was looking cool as I had added alcohol inks to some paper tape and stuck them on there.

So on this one I tried to continue the paper tape distress grungy looking page. This one turned out ok except for it being a little too dark.

I hope to get back to NaNoJouMo, but this week I am teaching a class 8 to 5 everyday, so will be bushed at night. Hey, maybe I will go on strike from my job for a week so I can just play, take naps, play, take another nap and play some more. But ya know what would happen? That week would be gone before I could turn around, way too fast, but maybe I could have some time to do some art.

Twitter, NaNoJouMo, Chat, etc......

2010-11-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

I have now become a twit, LOL:-D. I am on twitter every chance I get. How much I have missed by being stubborn all of this time. It is definiately interesting meeting new arty folks. I am learning so much cool stuff from so many. I am in heaven.

This is my first installment for nanojoumo with the word inception. It is very lame, but I did something at least. Click on these to get a bigger view.

This is for the 2nd - choice - 3rd - fortune - 4th - quarter - 5th - equanimity 6th - esoteric. Again, not alot of creation here, just trying to get some thing down in my journal.

For the 7th, the word was moment and George Strait has a new song out right now called The Breath You Take. It is so true, that I used the chorus of it for my journal entry, since the word moment(s) was in it. Today the word was virtue and I haven't even thought of how I want to use it yet.

I have been in a slump if you have read my previous post, but am trying to pull out of it, and I will, but the sadness of the circumstances for me is strong. But I WILL get through it and get back to my crazy self, just watch me.

And if you don't know it, I am an Area Safety Director for a Passenger Transportation company and I was over seeing 13 divisions, but on Friday I was gifted with 4 more for a total of 17. Still all in Northern CA but whew, I thought I was busy before. Yea right.

Sadness Of the Times

2010-11-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

I am having a major melt down this evening and even though I am not going to put the particulars in this blog post, I have a very heavy heart. It is a Sadness of the Times we are living in that has caused these feelings for me.

I have been trying to keep up with Nanojoumo each day, but it is getting a little too much right now.

My job changed yesterday and even though I can handle it, it will take alot more effort on my part to keep going at the pace I like.

I need to get out of this slump and be happy for the reason of this post.

Good night

I'm Baccck and in the Groove

2010-10-31T08:57:00.000-07:00

Made it home Wednesday afternoon. And even though I dreaded the trip, I actually enjoyed myself. The workshops we attended were the highlight for me because I am all over any kind of education. Phoenix was beautiful and never got above 85 degrees, so not bad at all. We got together in teams and built 25 wheelchairs that we donated to the Indian Nation whose reservation we were staying on. It was fun! Never would have happened if we didn't work together. Great experience.

This is what I have been doodling lately. I like it. I will add it to my journal as I measured it to the page size. It's all in black with a Uni-ball Signo RT Gel 0.38. Cool!

Please check out this: http://craft-therapy.blogspot.com/ and sign up for Barb's Into the Groove Micro Workshop. It is wonderful for beginner's and experienced journalers alike.

And then go to Dawn Sokol's site: http://www.dblogala.com/blog/2010/9/8/the-return-of-nanojoumo.html and have a month load of fun with "nanojoumo" each day of the month of November. I am on it!!

Hope everyone has a safe productive week ahead.

ATC Trading

2010-10-23T17:15:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, just wanted to show you the ATC's I traded for today at the local art shop I go to. The one of the bat is cut from a velvet board. And the post card on the right? That is the announcement of this year's downtown craft show for indie artist's called Hand Born. I missed last year so hope I can go this year. They have such cool stuff and this year there will be 50 vendors!! Wow!! I already feel lighter in the pocket book;-)

I am leaving in the morning to go to Phoenix for a 3 day meeting. It is for the corporate support side of the company, which means I have to behave and dress nicer. Grrr!! I like being me, just a good ole girl simply but nicely dressed. But when I have to attend things like this, I must become someone that dresses better and fancier and I am never comfortable like that. But I guess I will get by, and it won't do any good to complain. So I will be home Wednesday afternoon, and back to ME!!

Have a great week.

Artful Weekend

2010-10-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

Had a great artful weekend. Spent yesterday with my friend, Cheryl, in Folsom. We hadn't been together for awhile so we caught up chatting, eating, shopping and then her teaching me about mono printing as you can see from this first photo. I had to choose blue as it is my fav color. Then Cheryl said we needed some yellow and gold and green luminares. WOW!! I know you can't really tell how shimmery they are but believe me they are! There is just something cool about smooshing paper onto alot of paint poured on freezer paper and making back grounds. Fun!

Another WOW!! Cheryl recently learned how to do Iris Folding and here is an ATC she made with this cool technique. And this other one she made the back ground look like leather. I'm telling you folks this lady is super talented.

I worked all week on making a few ATC's to trade and here are the rest that I had not completed from the last post. They are fun to make. Remember just ckick on any of these photos to enlarge them for a better look.

Cheryl works for a company that (I won't mention the name because I am VERY upset with them right now, but that is for another time) gave them new phones for their offices and so she brought home these super cool boxes that the phones had come in. They are 14" long X 9" wide X 3" deep just perfect for mounted rubber stamps, short tubs of paint, paper or a gazillion other things. She gave me 6 of them and so now I am going to begin to reorg my studio. I have too much stuff, even though I share with my two art friends, Lotus and Cheryl tons of stuff when I see them, I still go buy more. I am hopeless.

Hope you all have a great week.

PS: Kelly Kilmer is coming back to the Bay Area next weekend to teach some more classes and guess what??? Yes, you guessed it, I can't go because my work is sending me to Phoenix next weekend for a 3 day meeting!!!!!!! Can you believe it?? Just my luck.

ATC Time

2010-10-07T20:10:00.000-07:00

I have been working on some ATC's for the last couple of days as you can see above. They are a lot of fun but I want to make each one different and then I want to keep them and that is NOT what they are for. I need to make several of the same type and then keep one and trade the others.

This has been a crazy week and I usually try to use Friday's to wind down, but tomorrow I have a full day scheduled. Yuk! I have to sit in on alot of Conference Calls and Friday's I always have two. One that I conduct with my divisions and one with my boss, cause we all travel and never see each other and that is the only time he gets to have a meeting with us. So then after that I have to drive only 35 miles away and sit in on a interview for another Safety Manager at one of my divisions. Then I will come home and be the weekend artist again. YES!!

What are you planning for the weekend art wise?

Looky Looky at what I was Gifted>>>>>>>>

2010-10-05T18:50:00.000-07:00

Extraordinary if I do say so myself!

Thanx to Cathe over at somethingimade.com for creating this image and my friend Lotus for putting it on my blog, cuz I just could not.

I love the blogging dancers!!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

Journaling Classes Up the Kazoo

2010-10-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday folks.

Just wanted to say hi to everyone and tell you about the fab classes that are going on right now.

If you haven't heard about 21 Secrets, please take a minute and go to Dirty Footprints Studio and check this crazy out. 21 different workshops with 21 different instructors like Paula Philips, Samantha Kira Harding, Dawn Sokol just to name 3. All of it bundled for $59!! It comes out to just about $3.00 a class. Tons of videos, PDF's, fun and enough classes all in one place to get a little overwhelmed but this IS the place to be at the moment for instruction! Click on the badge on my Blog and go check it out.

Also check out Barb's Craft Therapy blog to sign up for a workshop that begins on Oct 18 called Into the Groove. It is a Micro-Workshop, and only costs $15.00!! WOW! A great deal. Head over to her blog http://craft-therapy.blogspot.com/ and sign up.

This is a page I used alot of purple on. I am not a fan of purple so I had to push to make it, but I like the way it turned out. You can see up on the right that I have added two tabs to a couple of pages. A tag and a bird.

This is a pretty good attempt at another collage jumble. It has another conference call sketch included. AND something brand new I just found out about this week.............I will let you figure what:)

Have a great week and be safe!!

More Journal Time

2010-09-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

I have actually been working a lot in my journal this last couple of weeks. I have created a couple of "Flopportunities", a new arty word I learned last night on Paula's UStream. But I kept changing them until I was satisfied. And I went out searching for Golden's Colbalt Teal paint this weekend. This must be the most popular paint color in the world, because I could not find it anywhere. I wanted it in liquid but alas I finally settled for Liquitex Heavy Body in a tube because the lady that sold it to me gave it to me for 50% off. I actually bought a craft paint turquoise that I thought I could live with BUT it goes down very grainy so that was out.

This is a journal page I worked on this weekend. That creepy face above it (that I didn't know I got a shot of) is for a another page I am thinking about. I have a ton of books and magazines that I buy only to cut images out of and that is where he came from. You will see him again soon.

This page is what I created along with Paula last night on her UStream, Journal Artista is Paula's name on everything she does. Look her up, you won't be disappointed. I used the insides of some security envelopes for the strips on this. I was glad I thought of those. I think it came out OK. Don't know if I am completely finished with it or not yet.

And one more page. This time I used alcohol inks on it and then I didn't spritz enough water on the ink to make them run real good, so this is what I got. I do believe I see about 5 faces in these, including a couple of bunny's. So I will have to get them to peek out soon. Faces are fun to create. There is a technique that I don't know the name for where you just look away from the paper and scribble, and then try to create something out of that scribble. That is always fun to do when you just don't know what you really want to do arty. I always try for faces.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

What's Going On?

2010-09-18T06:39:00.000-07:00

The title of this post reminds me of a cool song Marvin Gaye song. But besides that, thought I would catch up on what's been going on around my studio.

So here is the first shot of a new comp journal with cool kraft paper in it, and some japanese papers.

This next shot is of my new Pip Squeak's Color Mixing Markers. You pump them to mix the colors and they write with two colors. Awesome, and cheap. These cost $10.00 at Target. Remember, Crayola makes a ton of very cool art supplies for kids on the cheap. And we are still kids, right??

This is a face I created with the markers. Great color and I simply have to buy makers when I see something new or I think I just have to have them. Yes, ya all know what I lust for...............Art Supplies:)

Now I am getting to the good stuff. Remember these?? Garbage Pail Kids cards? Well I recently picked up some at a Estate Sale and couldn't resist them. I am thinking of trying to make a journal spread and use these in it. Or maybe a give away to my kind friends who follow and actually leave comments on my blog......I'll think on it awhile. Anyway these are the goofiest things to look at. Love them.

And now the best for the last. This Steampunk ATC was sent to me by my very good friend, Cheryl. Isn't it the bestest? WOW!! I was so amazed when I opened it. This lady is very talented and I wish we could get together more often for creation days cause she could teach me so much. I am very blessed to have two close friends, Cheryl and Lotus that love to make art and help me. Color me lucky.

And so I am actually off again this weekend, thinking about buying a new, but very cheap new camera. Mine is a old Sony Cyber-shot 6.0 megapixel. I am not a photographer and can't spend a lot of $$ on a fancy one that I will never use all of, but I can afford something like I have now only with more pixels, and stay withing $75 to $100.00. I will wait until the ads come out tomorrow and see what's on sale.

This post is crazy long, but I really try to post at least once every week if for nothing else just to entertain you.

I'm Almost Back to Normal

2010-09-11T17:52:00.001-07:00

Well, I only have a few days next week to wrap up the project I have been involved in since July, and then my Boss promised me I could stay in my own area and work with my divisions that I haven't seen since March and not have to go to the next start up that is going on now in LA for a November 1st start. And I have this weekend off, the first one since July, so I am happy and I took a nap, wow!!

The only journaling I have done since this began is a few pages I am dedicating to Paula Philips the Journal Artisita, because every Wednesday and Saturday nights she has a Journaling UStream. I try to watch when I can and the ladies in the chat tell her that we see faces in her pages. So my pages are about faces just for Paula. It is on tonight on 6:30 Pacific, 9:30 Eastern. Check it out, you won't be disappointed. She does cool journal pages.

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

2010-09-06T05:33:00.000-07:00

Just wanted you to know that I AM alive, although just barely. 12-15 hour days, 7 days a week are not the best, but yesterday I was at the peak and beginning tomorrow, I will begin the descent. This has been a challenging adventure for my health also, because of the heat and dust where I am working at. I have been working in a humongous warehouse that is dirty and dusty and of course very hot. I have been sick twice with bronchitis and asthma and sinus problems. Yesterday was the mini first day of revenue service and we got posession of the offices and so the "war room"(temporary office) moved into them yesterday. I immediately moved into the war room and now have AC and less dirt and dust when working except when I am in the shop or the yard.

I have been trying to work in my journal, but verrry little. I get up at 4:00a, leave at 6:00a, get home at 9:00p, go to bed at 9:30p. So not much time for play. But tomorrow is the BIG first day and then I will begin to see a "Get out of Jail" soon card on the horizon.

I will be back soon.................

Doodling Away

2010-08-15T15:43:00.000-07:00

OK so here I am back again with a new thing. I told y'all a while ago that I doodle when I am on conference calls and I am on a few every week, whew! Since I have to have a notebook to write notes of the call in I also doodle on the pages.

Well, in my studio, I have a table next to my computer and I always cover it with newspaper. So for quite a while now, every Wednesday and Saturday if I can get home from work by 6:30 I have been watching Paula Phillips work in her journal live on UStream, and while that is going on when I am not in the middle of the chat I have been doodling on the newspaper on my table, hence the photo above. I have found that I love to draw and doodle on the small print on the public notices pages and because of the state of the economy, there are a lot of public notices.

It is now almost 4 o'clock. I actually came home early from work and fell into bed for a 2 hour nap. Now I want to work in my journal and make a page with the above doodle drawings, maybe I will, and I have to go over to my folks this evening to see how things are with Daddy.

Oh well, Later days and better ways!! Ha! You thought I was going to say something else, didn't you? Never *wink*

100th Post....Irony

2010-08-12T05:43:00.000-07:00

Here we go. My Dad came home from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon. Here he is looking all cool in his shades on the porch after the drama of the weekend calmed down. We were told that his heart is now beating at only 20%. 3 years ago when he had his heart attack, it was beating at 40%. So if you do the math.......

He always said he wanted to live to 100, and so that is the gist of the title of this post. I now know that will not happen. They did not give us a month/year range, but I'm thinking a year or year and a half, IF he does not have another heart attack or something else. And I hope he beats my prediction and knowing him, he just might do it.

The Dr told him he could still drive, so the first thing he did when he got home was to grab my Mom and the dogs, jump in the car and head for KFC for grilled chicken, cause he ate very little in the hospital and he was starving or so he said. Last month he turned 92 and renewed his driver's license for another 5 years and told me that this would be the last one. I teased him and said Thank God, the other driver's on the road thank you!! We laughed alot over that one, and then he said, I can drive just fine cause I have Cat Eyes!! Obviously cats can see damn good while driving!! He is a funny old guy. He will tell you a VERY dirty joke, just to watch you freek and then just laugh and laugh!! I am going to miss him desperately when all this happens.

I wanted my 100th post on my blog to be a happy one, maybe the 101th.

Just a Quick Update

2010-08-08T05:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has taken me this long to post. But since I am now working 7 days a week, I am not taking the time to post, and work in my journal?? What's that?

So yesterday, my husband called me to tell me that he had taken his OWNSELF to the Hospital ER because he was having some issues that we had talked about, well he talked, I bitched..........So I came home, dropped my laptop off and went straight to the ER to meet him. Imagine now that we were there beginning at 2:00pm. At 3:15, he got called in, yea, not too bad, at 3:30 my Mom called and said my Dad was having problems, so I left husband at ER and took off to my folks, took one look at my Dad, called an ambulance, and he went to another hospital. So I had to take my Mom to Daddy's hospital and we waited, waited, waited, while my husband was waiting, waiting, waiting at the other Hospital. We texted all evening back and forth until finally he went home at 9:00pm, after 7 hours at the ER. My Dad ended up being admitted after, are you ready??? after 8 hours in ER. I got home at 1:00am and got up at 5:15am, cause yes, I have to work today, and so here I am with sand in my eyes and that's the rest of the story.

# 98

2010-07-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hi all, just a quick note to say that I just ended my last free weekend and beginning now until after September 1st, I will be working 7 days a week. Yuk!

I just realized also that this is my 98th posting! WOW!! A couple of years ago I didn't even know how to blog! And even though I have 24 followers, only 3 read my blog on a regular basis, ladies, you know who you are, I am happy cause I have those 3 folks interested enough in my craziness to post comments. I certainly wish I could get more comments from the followers, but patience is a virtue..............

I am thinking about having a giveaway for my 100th post, but just thinking about it at this point, cause with only these 3 that I already give stuff to on a regular basis it seems goofy when i can just say all 3 win something. I will think about it.

Have a great cool week ahead. I am off to take an online Business Ethics course that I only have until Friday to complete.

Just Plain Fun

2010-07-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

I have been having some fun this weekend. First check out this fabric package I received yesterday from India. WOW!! This the coolest piece of mail I have ever received. I ordered Mendhi Stencils for Henna on Ebay. And they were shipped in this! It looks like muslin cloth. Check out the way they wrote the R's in my name and address. Very cool.

Another shot of the address on the back.

This envelope was hand whipped stitched closed. OMG!! I have never seen anything this fabulous in a while and I get to keep it. WOW!!

And these are the stencils that I ordered. WOW! I don't actually remember how many I ordered but this is what I got. I can't wait to try them out in my journal. Remember to click on any of the pics for a bigger view.

And speaking of journals. I went to a yard sale this weekend that was being given by a guy I know that deals in antiques. And I found this cool cabinet card of this guy in a velvet suit. Well of course it must have been red velvet. So I made a copy of it and altered it with a red glitter Spica pen, and a pink Souffle gel pen. He is headed for a journal page that is circusy looking. I am looking for some ballons for his hand and maybe some other circus looking stuff to finish the page. I will show you how it turns out next post.

Hope everyone is staying cool or at least trying to. And I hope you have had an arty weekend.

Where I Learn a New Word....Hauls

2010-07-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

Hello folks, well I survived another Daddy BD, and of course he is very happy he survived another LOL. I wanted to tell you all about a new word in my vocabulary. "HAULS". I have been doing hauls forever, but never realized until recently, that this is a class all of it's own. So this begins my hauls posts. I actually drove into Reno this week 3 times for business and found a Joann's, (yes business). I found these stencils, had to have them.

And then I had to have these black and white napkins. Love black and white anything. And I happen to know someone that is in a journal swap right at this moment and her journal's theme is Black and White and Red All Over. Lotus, are you listening????

Next is this cool cardboard traveling trunk I found at B & N last weekend. It has faux leather handles and straps. For $11.95, I couldn't resist.

And as you can see as soon as I found this, I changed journal bags again. I got all of my portable paper all of my pens, markers, etc in it. It is packed. And I cut from 3 bags to 2 for when I travel and take my journal and supplies with me.

And I just counted this week and realized that I take 58 pens and markers, and 15 water color crayons with me. That of course does not count the tissue tape I have to have now, and my Peerless Water Color Sheets that I can't live without and everything else I think I need. But this is a thin cardboard piece, so I must be careful or the handle might break and then I would cry.

My brother is still here because of Daddy's BD and I know that a great yard sale is going on today and so I am sneaking over there with him and get back here before I have to get on my every Friday Conference Calls, Yuk!

But the good news is.......................No more Truckee!! I packed up and left for the last time (I hope) for awhile. Woo Hoo! But I am going straight into another start up next week, but it is only 40 miles away and at least I can come home each night. No living out of a suitcase again for a while, just a trunk, LOL.

Daddy's 92nd Birthday Weekend

2010-07-12T06:08:00.001-07:00

Hi folks, just an update to what has been going on in my life the last week. As you can see from the title and pic, Daddy has had another BD. Big party yesterday with too much food and too much heat in a small house. Of course the plan was to have this shindig at my house, and so after all of my deep cleaning, we had it at my parents little very small house, because of their dogs!!! Too much hassle to bring them over and I have cats, etc. Grrr!! And half of the neighborhood came to join in so it worked out.

The cake says "Hot Rod Lincoln". This came about when I was there last weekend, he got up and went outside to mess with the water.....and their yard is very uneven and I thought he might fall, so I said, "Where do you think you're going, Hot Rod Lincoln?" My Sister thought that was the funniest thing she had heard and had it put on his cake.

I also gave him his annual age dollars. This time I handed him 92 one dollar bills. I began this when he turned 90. My Mom is waiting for her turn.. She just turned 88. He takes that to a casino as soon as he can get to one every year. Big gambler's, always have been. Guess that is why I love it also, but I work too much to get there much.

I did get one journal page complete, but will show it next time as I am suppose to be working in the real world.

Hope ya'll have had a great weekend.