Pieces of me

I Caved

2012-01-21T20:52:00.000-08:00

My husband and my son have been hounding (no pun intended) me for a dog forever, but I have not been easily convinced. It's not like I don't like dogs. In fact, I really like dogs. Good dogs. Dogs who don't jump up or growl or just be plain obnoxious. Dogs need to be trained and I was afraid that I would be THE ONE. You know, THE ONE who doesn't know how to handle their dog and he would be the obnoxious dog and it would be all my fault. I also wasn't keen on following an animal around my house with a bottle of carpet cleaner 24/7. My family tried to sell me on the whole "we'll take care of it, we promise" thing but I wasn't born yesterday. I know who will be taking care of the dog and frankly, there are days when the fibromyalgia acts up and I'm not sure I can take care of myself and my kids. Why would I want to throw a dog into that mix?
I rolled my eyes when many Saturdays my husband and son could be found checking over the cages at the local Petco when the Humane Society would bring their adoptable animals. They could look at dogs all they wanted, but I was NOT interested. Sometimes my daughter and I would even tag along. Just window shopping and then we met Dee. Dee is the best home finder at the Humane Society I swear. I'm pretty sure she was a successful used car salesman in a previous life. She had us walking all kinds of dogs for weeks. Once again, I thought "go ahead, walk all the dogs, but we are not taking one home." I was resolute! I could not be moved! I meant it!
With that said, I would like to introduce you to Mick....

He's our new dog. Dee rescued him and was fostering him but she didn't want to just let anybody adopt him, so she had been hanging onto him until she found just the right family. We traded information and even though this might sound funny, I knew he was our dog even before I met him. So today, we adopted Mick, which is short for MacGreggor (said in your best Scottish brogue). He really is a good boy and even though he hasn't even been around 12 hours yet, I kinda really love him. He's already not the obnoxious dog. And I haven't even had to use the carpet cleaner yet!

Bird and My Word

2012-01-16T11:59:00.000-08:00

It all started with a late night test of my new Tulip fabric spray paints. I bought the party pack and I just wanted to see what all of the colors looked like. Let me just say, all together, they definitely looked like a party. The next day when my kids and I were examining my experiment, we saw kind of a creepy face and a bird hiding in the background. I opted for the bird and painted it in with some gesso. Then for a reason that I cannot explain, I painted leaf shapes in red, pink, orange, purple, blue, and green. I don't know why, just did. I started adding layers of paint and Sharpie paint pens but I still wasn't happy with the background, so I decided to experiment with my brand new, super, amazing, Caran D'Ache Neocolor II's. Have I mentioned that I LOVE those things? I may have mentioned it every single day to any member of my family that is pretending to listen to me. I also may have GENTLY hugged the tin a time or two. I still can't believe that I have waited this long to buy some. They are definitely an example of the joy GOOD art supplies can bring to your life. I was so frustrated with the other water soluble crayons I had tried that I couldn't imagine why I would want a crazy expensive box of them. Now I know.
I also included my word on my little bird's wing. I had this great idea to write it somewhere, on some layer of all my pages this year. Then I'll remember it. I probably won't be able to see it when I'm done, but it will be there somewhere. My little secret.

We Have A Word

2012-01-12T18:56:00.000-08:00

I have been racking my brain lately, trying to come up with my word for 2012. There are just some really great words. Narrowing my list down to one word was a challenge. So, as I doodled for THIS class, I pondered what I wanted my year to look like. As I neared the end of creating the absolute riot of color I ended up with, I still wasn't sure. The word "persist" kept coming up so I pulled out one of my old dictionaries and fortunately for me, I hadn't already torn out the "persist" page and glued it to something. When I read the definition for "persist", it felt close, but not quite right. Then as I glanced up the page, I happened upon "perseverance" and fell in love with definition #2. "2. Theol. Continuance in a state of grace until it is succeeded by a state of glory." Perfect!

And just like that I have a word. PERSEVERANCE. I cut it out and glued it to my riot of color right away. By the way, this was fun to do. I'm pretty excited to get my hands on Traci's new book, but it's still not out yet so I'll have to be patient. I had to force myself to use the oil pastels in this class, because normally, I hate those things, but I persevered (see, my word's working already) and I also learned that I love a script liner brush and some India ink.

Hello 2012

2012-01-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

After I said goodbye to 2011, I needed to say hello to 2012, but after my resolution revelation, I decided that I wasn't going to do resolutions this year. Many of my artist friends choose a word to focus on during the year, so I decided I needed a word. The trick is coming up with the right word. I know that we are already 9 days into the new year and I should have my word already, but I haven't decided on the right one. There are lots of great words! I've narrowed it down but I'm not sure just yet. I've been working on Strathmore's Online workshop with Traci Bautista, so as I doodle away on my journal page, I'm pondering on just the right word. Oh, and if you haven't been following along with Strathmore's workshop, I suggest you look into it. It is FREE. (Free is the only word I can scream without having to put a quarter in the swear jar!) It is Traci Bautista and it is awesome. Hopefully by the end of my doodle, I will have a word of the year.
By the way, the flowers on this journal page started out as a napkin that my friend Kate gave to me in a GIANT box of paper happiness. After I separated all the layers of the napkin and collaged the flowers on, I started adding paint and pens and it now no longer looks anything like the original, but I still like it. After I got it all finished I found a fortune that was hanging around on my desk, so I had to stick that on there too.
And now, I must go. Fibro is kicking my butt today. All this typing has set me up for a nap. How sad is that?

Got Gum?

2012-01-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

It all started when I couldn't find my favorite gum anymore. I had to try something new. So, I bought a package of Sweet Mint Orbit gum and when I unwrapped it, I noticed that it had some great graphics on the box. Graphics that could inspire a doodle. So when the box was empty, I thought I would hang on to it. When I bought a new package, it had a different graphic, so I had to save that one too. I started thinking of a gazillion little ideas for using those boxes, so I saved the next one too. After a while, I had a ridiculous number of Orbit boxes that needed to be used up, so I just started cutting and gluing onto a background I had started.
The rest of the page is assorted, goofy randomness. After I finished with the gum boxes, the friendship bracelet that my daughter made for me finally fell off after wearing it for months. It was the same colors at the gum boxes, so I formed it into a heart and stuck in on there. I also did a few doodles that were inspired by the boxes, and found the words "plumb bob" in the background. I just happen to like saying "plumb bob"...it's just fun to say! Try it!
And that's my very random gum box page.

Love This

2012-01-04T21:30:00.001-08:00

Goodbye Twenty Eleven

2012-01-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

I was looking back at my journal page with my resolutions for 2011 and this is the exact thought that went through my head, "if I didn't like this journal page so much I would run it through the shredder RIGHT NOW!" There were only 4 things written on my list of "to-do's" for the year and, at first glance, I didn't accomplish A SINGLE ONE OF THEM.
As I was just starting to silently berate myself for my apparent failures and waste of an entire year, I began thinking back...I really liked 2011. How could such a good year been a "failure"? I had so many opportunities and adventures and good things happen in the past year. Things that I could have never envisioned for myself when I wrote those 4 "failures" at the beginning of the year. For instance, my first resolution was to "get control of my health" and while I certainly don't feel "in control", I ended up weighing less than when the year started and I have made great progress in small steps.
My #2 resolution was "get a passport". When I wrote that I really didn't have anywhere to go but I figured that if I had a passport, the travel would follow. Plus, having a passport is just plain cool. Well, no, I still don't have a passport but I did do more traveling this year than I have in a long time. My family and I went on a vacation to the Oregon Coast and I went with my parents, kids, and nephews to California to be a part of a once in a lifetime opportunity to see my brother's U-2 solo. I wouldn't trade either of those experiences for a passport.
#3 was to run a successful Etsy store. Well, I don't have a successful Etsy store, in fact, I don't have anything in my Etsy store right now but I have been able to get a better feel for Etsy this year and what I want to do with my art. I have also been able to identify better what I do not want. It has been a year that has helped me grow and move more towards the true me. Which means my resolution has turned out to not really be a big priority right now.
Resolution #4 was "art everyday (Sketchbook Challenge and get published)". I know for sure that I didn't do art everyday and seemed to gravitate away from the Sketchbook Challenge. Not only that but I didn't even send in a single piece of art to be published so unless editors are also gifted in the art of osmosis (which would sure make my life easier, by the way), I don't expect to be published in the next few months. I have, however, done quite a bit of art this year and I am proud of the growth I have experienced. I also did something else that I have never done before, I took an online class. Not only that but I took three! I took Mary Ann Moss' Remains of the Day (and I just signed up for Full Tilt Boogie, both of these AWESOME classes are ON SALE right now and worth every penny), Christy Tomlinson's She Had Three Hearts, and my daughter and I are working on Brave Girls Club's Brave Mothers and Daughters. I am also teaching a high school age art journaling class this coming semester which is definitely "putting myself out there".
So, despite, my initial failure response to my 2011 resolutions, I have had a good year. I've had the usual ups and downs but all in all, 2011 was good to me. I've seen much growth and realize that much of what I thought I wanted in the beginning was just the tip of the iceberg. The actual path that I was supposed to take was better than I could have imagined and all along I was (as the sign above my desk reminds me) "right where I should be".

A Letter

2011-12-30T19:53:00.000-08:00

Dear U.S. Postal Service,
Recently I placed an order from Dick Blick for my very own set of these.

In case you are unaware, these are Caran D'Ache Neocolor II Watersoluble Artist Crayons and just looking at this picture of them is making my heart rate increase to what quite possibly could be an unhealthy pace. They have been out of stock and I have been patiently (or not) waiting for them to become mine. I received an e-mail today from Dick Blick and they are on their way.
I know that money is tight for you right now and special requests are likely not in the budget, but could you please be kind to my crayons until you can place them safely in my hands? I would appreciate it. Also, when it comes time to deliver the box to my house, I might suggest sending a mailman who is slightly hard of hearing. There might (probably) be excited screaming and happy dancing going on. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jolene

While I have been "patiently" waiting, I have done some work in my journal.

Don't you just love the image of the orange? It makes me happy, even when I have a headache. LOVE it!

Under the Christmas Tree

2011-12-28T10:08:00.000-08:00

Recently my friend Kate, posted THIS video on painting faces. I rarely paint faces but I watched the video and decided to give it a try. I spread out a plastic tablecloth on my living room floor and painted under the Christmas tree. (Well, not exactly under the tree but next to it...you know what I mean.) It reminded me of rocking my babies, in the quiet of night, next to the sparkling lights of the Christmas tree. Now my babies are getting too big to rock and so I had to settle in with paint instead.
While there is much I could criticize about this face, I think it turned out OK and I certainly enjoyed painting it and isn't that what it's all about?

What Do You Do With Notebook Edges?

2011-12-22T15:22:00.000-08:00

Recently while playing around in my art journal, that was the question I asked myself. I had used a piece of notebook paper and was left with the torn out strip. "Self," I said, "there has to be something I can use this edge for." (I often talk to myself while journaling. Ask my husband.) And then...lightbulb. "I wonder what it would look like if I made flowers out of it." So I watercolored it and this is what I came up with...

Now I know what flowers made from notebook edges look like. It's why I love art journaling. I love the experimentation. I always journal with "you win some, you lose some" running through my head. Then there is no pressure when an "I wonder what will happen if...?" pops up. I can just go ahead and find out. If I hate it, I can just close the book or break out the gesso. Sometimes I just might like how things turn out.
And speaking of experiments, my awesome friend KATE came over to bring me an ornament for my tree and her collection of Caran D'Ache Neocolor II's to test out. I have read it all about the Neocolor II's. I know that so many artists love them. I know that I am just about the last artist in the world to own them. I know that everybody raves about them. So why don't I have them? Because I have used every available watercolor crayon that I can find around here and NOT been too crazy about them. They all leave a weird build-up and are really difficult to write on with my pens. So I thought that I wouldn't like the Neocolor II's and they would become a very expensive paperweight on my desk. Well, after testing out Kate's, I am here to publicly admit that I was WRONG! I am crazy in LOVE with those things! Kate had an duplicate of her Malachite Green and SHE GAVE IT TO ME. Everything that can be colored on around here is now Malachite Green. Good thing it's a beautiful color. I am having dreams about the rainbow of color that awaits in my very own set of Neocolor II's. I MUST find my lonely Malachite Green some friends. Fortunately, my parents gave me some art supply money for my birthday (aren't my parents awesome?) so I can place my order ASAP on a beautiful box of Neocolor II's. Until it arrives, I will just continue to color everything Malachite Green. Thanks Kate.

Angelia

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

A few weeks ago, I was on Pinterest and saw a pin of an art journal page that I absolutely, positively, fell in totaly L.O.V.E. with.

Isn't it AMAZING? I HAD to know who painted this page. I followed the original pin back as far as I could but could not find the actual artist's name anywhere. I became obsessed. I REALLY HAD to know who painted this page. I spent over an hour googling and searching far and wide for the artist of THIS. I knew whoever painted this would have to be on my favorites list. They would have to be inspiring. They would have to love color! And guess what? I finally found her! Her name is An'Angelia Thompson and I was right...she is all of those things and more. Of course, I promptly put her BLOG in my favorites and started quietly checking in on it for a week or so, soaking up inspiration. Then one day she announced it was her "birthday week" (how can you not love someone who has a "birthday WEEK"?) and that she was having a giveaway. I decided to remain quiet no more and left a comment every. single. day. of her birthday week and guess what??? I won!!! WAHOO!!!

I won her Sugar Skull! How cool is that? (Angelia said I could use her pictures by the way.) But not only that, she sent along the sweetest card, stuffed full of cool papers from her stash for my daughter and I to use on our "arting endeavors". (She read about the Brave Girls class that my daugher and I are taking together.) We are in art heaven over here. Thank you Angelia. You are awesome!

If you haven't checked out Angelia's blog...DO IT! I am betting that you will love her just as much as I do!

Happy Birthday!

2011-12-01T13:58:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to send out a little Happy Birthday to one of the kindest, most loyal, strongest, talented, beautiful people I know, who also just happens to be my best pal. I'm so lucky! Happy Birthday Jenny!

Pink!

2011-11-14T12:14:00.000-08:00

Just a little journal page about my LOVE for pink. It can't just be any pink though. It must be a deep, dark, lovely "Panther Pink". I don't remember when I fell in love with pink but I know it was before I was 14. I know that because when I was 14, my dad and I started building this...

...my car. My 1968 VW Bug. It's name is "Panther Pink". It took 2 years to finish it and it was my baby. It is the means by which my dad taught me the difference between fuel lines and air hoses, tachometers and temperature gauges. It was also under his tutelage that I learned the art of "detail oriented" (or OCD, whatever you want to call it). Whenever we entered it in a large car show like this, I would stop driving it a month before and we would go through every millimeter of the car. I spent hours laying underneath the front end polishing chrome with steel wool and wax. My dad practically pulled the entire engine apart and cleaned each and every part. And we had that car beyond spotless (and perfectly centered on the car show carpet, I might add, I know because a measuring tape was involved). We worked hard and it always did well with the almost equally "detail oriented" judges. It was pretty amazing for a car that I drove to the high school everyday. I had to put it in storage when I just plain wore it out AND when my daughter was born. It's not very car seat friendly (no back seat belts). But my car and I had 12 good years together and on a nice summer day I still think about nice drives on curvy roads and going under the Yellowstone railroad bridge while revving up my engine to hear the awesome sound it makes. I loved sharing that time with my dad. He really is the most awesome dad.
Well, needless to say, I love pink, besides my car I have lots of other pink items. My I-Pod is pink, my purse is pink, my pillowcase is pink (my husband is opposed to the rest of the bed being pink), the bag I carry my scriptures in is pink, my flip-flops are pink, etc...basically if I need to buy something and pink is an option, that's the way I go.
And hey, while we're talking about spending quality time with parents, my daughter and I are signed up and ready to start THIS tomorrow. I wasn't sure I wanted to work on a class during the holidays but my daughter was so excited about signing up for a class with me. How can I say "no" to that? I can't. So we are going to be BRAVE GIRLS!

The Truth Hurts

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

Well, I don't know if anyone actually still checks on this neglected blog anymore but if there is someone reading this right now, it's time for me to come clean...to be honest...to share some things that I really haven't wanted to put "out there". It's nothing shocking or horrific or worthy of a article in the National Enquirer or anything. It's just that I seem to save my blog for what my idea of a "perfect" blog post should be. I want to share positive, happy thoughts and I have FEAR that if I talk about what's really going on with me, I will be perceived as a "whiner" or "crazy" or some other unsavory descriptive (all of which I have probably already placed upon myself).

Basically, October was NOT a good time for me. You see, I have been dealing with fibromyalgia for the last little while. I began taking medication for it a few months ago and it's been pretty helpful but when the weather turned colder and other stresses started piling up, I found myself almost unable to move. I have just felt miserable. My body seemed to be in a full revolt. Many tears have been shed as I have tried to come to terms with this new way of life. I am trying to find a way to describe what is happening, how I feel, why it's a big deal to just get my dishwasher unloaded and I haven't found a way to put it into words. I don't understand it myself, so finding the words to explain the absolute exhaustion that follows all the simple little things I used to do easily, seems impossible. I am just trying to find my way. I feel lost sometimes and like dead weight other times. I'm grateful for my husband who goes the absolute extra mile to help me and treats me with such compassion and concern. I have had to learn to let him help me (still not great at that, though). My kids have been amazing as well. In all of this, the thing I have felt the worst about is that they had to have the "sick mom". My parents have been willing to move heaven and earth to help me feel better, and I am so grateful for them. I really do have the best family! I don't know where I'd be without them. I actually don't want to think about it.

So, I am starting to feel a little better now and I'm hoping to be on a bit of an upswing. My kids wanted to paint the other day and I even felt well enough to drag out the paints AND join them. I did a little work in my altered book journal. That's progress.

I made a page about this quirky little Yellow Page habit I have. The journaling explains my silliness. It reads, " I'm not sure exactly when it started, but I know it's something I've done since I was young. I don't even know why I do it, but whenever I stay in a hotel, one of the very first things I do is open up the phone book . I open the phonebook before I unpack even. I turn to the letter "A" in the Yellow pages and look up "Art". I find the art stores and try to figure where they are in relations to where I am staying. The funny part about it is I never actually go to any of these stores unless I happen to run across one. I just need to know what's possible and where to find it. When I think about my quirky Yellow page habit and how it's something I've always done, it amazes me that it has taken me this long to realize that I'm an artist." Does anyone else do that???

Well, while I realize that my feeling crappy really isn't that big of a secret. I mean, everyone does from time to time. I just have to be genuine about it. It isn't always rainbows and butterflies around here and I don't expect that is happening in anyone else's life either. I am just living a real life with real joy, real gratitude, real disappointments, and real pain just like everybody else, so if I disappear from blogland from time to time, just know that I'm just finding my way through fibromyalgia and I'll be back soon.

Blessings of Heaven

2011-10-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

My blog still is making me CRAZY, so I'll keep this short and sweet. This is a page I finally finished in my altered book I am using for Christy Tomlinson's "She Had 3 Hearts" class. I've been busy working on other things and would work on this when I had a minute here and there. The blue background and some of the heart papers, I made using the technique taught on peonyandparakeet.blogspot.com. I'd love to give you a link to that but, alas, the whole crazy blog thing. But check her blog out, it's worth the extra effort of copying and pasting. The papers she makes boggle my mind. Simply amazing!

It's Finished!

2011-09-30T18:24:00.002-07:00

It's done! My painting for Hunter's Wish is done! Still have major issues with my blog, so, still no links, sorry! If you don't know what I've been working on this for PLEASE read my last few posts.

"Take A Big, Deep Breath"

9x12 mixed media on cradled hardboard

This painting, although it is meant to help raise money for Hunter, for me, is all about Perrin. I used roses to represent Perrin's disease, cystic fibrosis.The message is intended to inspire, uplift, and remind whomever looks at it to just breathe. But for me it will always have a deeper meaning, as Perrin never really just took a big, deep breath without effort. I also used the closest thing to "Laker yellow" as I could stand. I'm sure Perrin would be seriously bugged about that but it's not like it's the easiest color to just slap on a painting.

Well, there it is. The raffle will be at the Blue Hashi on Monday night from 5-7. Please come out and help Hunter go to Disney World with his twin brother (who also has the same disease, by the way) and his parents. Hope to see you there!

Still Working

2011-09-29T16:24:00.001-07:00

Still working on my painting for Hunter's Wish. I'd love to give you a link but my blog hates me lately and I cannot figure out the problem. AND since I could spend the rest of my day banging my head on my keyboard, while trying to figure it out OR actually finish the painting, I decided that I would just have to tell you to look at my two previous posts if you need caught up and get this painting done. Sorry. I wish I was more technologically saavy. I've never had to try to figure out a problem on my blog before. I just typed my stuff and pushed "publish" and it all magically appeared on my blog. Now that it doesn't, I'm not real sure what to do about it.

The raffle for this painting is coming up quick, so I better get back to work. I'll be back with another update.

Progress

2011-09-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

Still working on my little painting from my last post. So far it has been painted, rubbed with alcohol (hated the color), painted again, rubbed with more alcohol, painted one more time, sanded, transferred on, and bubble wrapped! It's always an adventure, but I want LOVE it when I'm done. I hope whoever gets to take it home from the fundraiser loves it too. Don't forget: If you are anywhere near the Blue Hashi on October 3rd, to come out and help support Hunter's wish. By the way, if you are wondering what his wish is, it is to go to Disney World with his twin brother (who has the same disease) and his parents.

I'll be back with more progress. Have a great day and do a little something to make your own wish come true for you.

Honored to Honor

2011-09-22T20:37:00.000-07:00

The other day I received a call from my pal Jen. Let me just say right now that Jen is awesome. She is a crazy, amazing runner and athlete. She runs 50 and 100 mile marathons FOR FUN!!! She also started "Butt In Gear" and sponsors a couple of local runs. She set up the runs to raise money for Make A Wish and specifically works towards filling the wish of a local child and right now she is working on Hunter's Wish. Isn't he the cutest little guy? That smile could keep me going for days. Well, Jen asked me if I would be willing to donate a little art to the raffle on October 3rd. She said she just had a feeling that she should call me and I told her I know why.

You see, it has always been a secret dream of mine to walk into the Make A Wish office, checkbook in hand, and write a check that would cover all the wishes they had that day...anonymously. I LOVE Make A Wish and I have since the day they granted my friend Perrin's wish so many years ago.

Perrin was born with Cystic Fibrosis and I don't think he ever took a clear breath of air in his life. Perrin was also a sports fanatic. He loved them all but wasn't able to play them much because he couldn't breathe if he ran. He did get to play baseball (with a designated runner) and it made him so happy. But the thing he loved more than anything was the Los Angeles Lakers and Magic Johnson was HIS guy. Make A Wish sent he and his family to Los Angeles, took him to the Lakers locker room, and introduced him to Magic Johnson. Then after the game, Magic Johnson sent him the shoes he wore. By the way, I am still in awe at how BIG those shoes are. Needless to say, it was one of the happiest days of Perrin's life.

So, the piece I am donating is in honor of Perrin and his wish. Here's the beginning.

This is the first layer of collage. I am using a primed cradle board for the first time and I LOVE it!

I have used a map of California (specifically L.A.), an old encyclopedia entry on cystic fibrosis, a vintage book page about roses (the symbol for cystic fibrosis), and "wish" from an old dictionary. I thought it so fitting that "wisecrack" was just above "wish" so I made sure not to tear that off. That made me smile. There is also a page from a book on how to draw a baseball player, a chapter from the Bobbsey Twins titled "The Fresh Air Camp" (since all he really wanted was to be able to breathe), an early stat page that listed the NBA champions up until 1988 (it didn't list the year that MY Bulls beat HIS Lakers though...closest I've ever seen him to tears), and a corner of a book page with the date June 13 (since that is the day that Perrin left us 10 years ago).

I miss that guy. He was really my brother's friend but he just became part of the family and we were all happy when he was happy...and Make A Wish made him happy.

I'm not 100% sure where this painting will go when it is finished but I am sure it will have 100% of my heart put into it. And if you are in the area please help us fill Hunter's wish. Come out to the Blue Hashi on October 3rd and don't forget to check out http://buttingear.net to sign up for the Wish Walk Run on October 15th. Let's make this little guy happy!

What's On My Kitchen Table?

2011-09-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

I live in a small house that is the perfect size for our little family but not exactly the perfect size for all my projects and the collection of supplies that goes with them. My desk has usually got at least one work (let's be honest here...it's more like many) of art spread all over it. Therefore, my kitchen table, which is also quite small, frequently ends up being project central when I have something big in the works. So, in what might become a regular (definition of regular for me: whenever I take a moment to snap a picture, download it, post it, write about it, and still have time to actually finish the project) feature here at my little neglected blog, I ask, "What's On My Kitchen Table?"

Drum roll please....

It's juice box robots!!!!

My kids and I are making these for my son to take to preschool for his birthday treats. I saw the idea posted on Pinterest (oh, how I love Pinterest!) HERE from THIS clever blog and knew they were the perfect treat for my little guy. He is a very picky eater and even doesn't like most treats, but he LOVES apple juice, Laffy Taffy, and chocolate. My daughter read all of the Laffy Taffy jokes as we went along and both my kids collaborated on their own joke. "What do you call a Laffy Taffy with no jokes?"

"Taffy!!"

That's right they are hilarious. So stay tuned for future installments of "What's On My Kitchen Table?" Odds are that it's not dinner! (Ha! My kids aren't the only funny ones around here!)

Finally!

2011-08-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

My awesome friend, Kate and I have been planning to get together for an art date forever. One thing after another would come along and we would have to cancel. Before we knew it, it had been over a year since our last one. Kinda crazy considering that we live in the same city. Well, we finally got together last week and swapped books, worked in our art journals, looked at each others latest work and taught each other our new tricks. For instance, Kate taught me how to make a stamp out of sticky back fun foam. Here's my finished stamp. Since I am taking Christy Tomlinson's "She Had 3 Hearts " class, everything is hearts around here right now, so of course, I made a heart stamp.
I also finished working on this page for that class. It's called "My Art Heart". Art seems to be in everything I do, whether it's for myself, my family, or the world. It all comes back to art for me.
I think I used every supply I have in this, plus a few of Kate's. There are layers and layers on here. In fact, I have had to keep a small piece of waxed paper between these because there are so many layers. They stick together when I close the book. I especially love the bits of color samples from an old Dick Blick catalog. Going to have to remember to use more of those.
Kate completely finished her altered book journal while I was there. We had to have a little celebration. I have so many journals that I bounce back and forth in, but I don't think I could call any one of them finished. So I think that finishing a journal is a BIG DEAL.
Kate and I had a great time and I can't wait to get together again. Hopefully it doesn't take us a year this time. Thank you Kate!

Smarty Pants

2011-08-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

Another page in my "3 Hearts" journal for Christy Tomlinson's class HERE. I went back to my old standby (acrylics) and used about a gazillion image transfers. Plus side: My finger tips have never been so smooth. Minus side: They are also slightly numb from all of the paper I have rubbed off during transfer, but I am looking past that because I LOVE the look of transfers. I also stamped, bubble wrapped, collaged, charcoaled (made that word up, I think), doodled, and gessoed the heck out of this page. Then I added Gelatos and splatter. All in all, this page is a mess...and I LOVE it.

One of the things that people say about my personality is that I am funny and quick witted (that's just what they are saying). I just say that "I come from a long line of smarty pants." It's true. I do. And I'm proud. There's some pretty funny people in that line and I love them all!

Lighthearted

2011-07-28T14:21:00.001-07:00

Water media. I have the hardest time using water media in my art journal and I just don't know why. I paint with watercolors all the time but not often in my art journal. In Christy Tomlinson's "She Had 3 Hearts" workshop, she demos lots of water media, so I decided to make myself use them in my journal. This page was done with watercolor crayons and Gelatos and it was a struggle! It is just a different mindset for me. In the end, I did enjoy myself and the experiment, but I will definitely have to work with these things more. While I'm not crazy about the page, I had a learning experience and isn't that what it's all about? At least that's what I keep reminding myself.

3 Hearts

2011-07-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

Monday I started Christy Tomlinson's "She Had 3 Hearts" art journaling workshop HERE. This is the very first art journaling class I have taken and even though I have been around awhile (when it comes to art journaling), it has been nice to learn a few new things and be reminded of some things that I already knew but forgot about. It's easy to get into a rut in art journaling sometimes and just reach for the paints and supplies that you "know". Know how they will behave, know how they will turn out, etc., which is nice but art journaling is about the experiments too. I always have to remind myself while working in an art journal of my "art journal motto", which is "you win some, you lose some". Sometimes you end up with something you really love and sometimes you end up with a complete disaster but it's all about the process. At least that's what I have to tell myself. I once saw a blog by someone (I wish I could remember who) that she called "mostly nothing, but sometimes something". I loved that and it is exactly how my art journal could be described.
I wouldn't call this first page an absolute disaster but I also can't call it a stunning success. But the process was fun, which is all that matters. It is almost entirely done in acrylics (fluid and heavy body) with some Pitt pens, gel pen, charcoal, stamps, and a teeny bit of collage thrown in.
Christy's class is based on an old Chinese Proverb that says: "a woman has three hearts, one she shares with the world, one she shares with her family, and one she shares only with herself." Isn't that a great thought?
Well, since I was starting a new class, I decided that I needed to start a journal just for this class (because the 6 others I already have going is just not enough). I bought a book at my local thrift store to alter. I chose one with good paper and a good spine and, since Christy told me to, I gessoed my pages which has helped with the stability of the paper, which I already knew (Isn't that was gesso is for anyway?) but being impatient, I usually skip. So that's been my biggest reminder...DON'T SKIP THE GESSO, especially when working with book paper.
And so I'm off to work on my "3 Hearts" journal some more. There is an enormous amount of videos to watch in week one (like 28). If you, too, would like to join the "3 Hearts" workshop, it is still open to sign ups. I'd love to see you there!

Where Have I Been?

2011-07-25T19:08:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned before I left for my big adventure, I finished a new Remains of the Day journal just in time to go. I LOVE (I know I use the word "love" a lot, but I really do mean it!) to use vintage bits and pieces in my journals but I have a hard time running across them and when I do, they are usually more money than I want to spend. I mean, after all, I am just going to cut them up, tear them, paint over them, etc. I don't want to spend a wad of cash. Plus, my kids usually don't appreciate "the hunt" as much as I do. SO here's my major discovery: Just Something I Made HERE by Cathe Holden and Graphics Fairy HERE by Karen (I'm sure she has a last name, but I don't know it). Oh my goodness, these two blogs are FREE VINTAGE HEAVEN!!! Did you catch that? FREE!!! Both these blogs have like a bazillion followers and so, as usual, I am one of the last to know, but I love them so much! It's like I've been living under a rock and someone just turned it over. I really don't know where I have been but I'm happy to be educated in Just Something I Made and Graphics Fairy. My printer has been working nonstop since I discovered them. Awesome. I'm so grateful they both share their treasures. So grateful.
Here's a few pages from my journal. The blue "Seal of Approval" is from Just Something I Made. So is the vintage tag. The eyes are from an old journal page.
And so are both of these tags. There are so many little bits that I printed for this journal and they make me so happy! You can see more pages with my little vintage treasures HERE.
And speaking of happy, I know that I have been going on and on about watching my brother's solo but I just have to post ONE MORE picture (well, maybe one more). It might be the best picture of the entire trip and it doesn't even have a plane in it...
...Isn't that the best. Makes me start to tear up.
How's that for the cutest thing?

A Most Amazing Experience

2011-07-22T21:27:00.000-07:00

Watching my brother's solo U-2 flight this week was such an amazing experience. Our family had the opportunity to ride in the chase car that helps the pilots land the U-2. This video shows what it looked like from a chase car. The video was filmed at the same AFB with the same make, model, color, and heck, might even be the same car that we rode in while following my brother. There were 8 of us so we split up and each rode along for 5 of my brother's 10 "touch and go" landings. We hit at least 100 mph every ride and my dad saw the speedometer hit 130 mph. Although we didn't really watch the speedometer because we were so focused on the plane right above us. It looked close enough to touch. The kids were obviously impressed. Oh, who am I kidding, I was equally as excited as my 4 year old. Maybe more (since I'm being honest here).

It was a once in a lifetime experience for me and I am so grateful that I was able to go. Being able to solo in a U-2 is a pretty remarkable accomplishment. They give you a number when you complete your solo and my brother's number is 898. That means that he is the 898th person to solo a U-2 since the plane was put into service in 1955. I kept telling my kids what an amazing experience they just had and I hope that when they grow up, they will realize that they were able to do something that most people just don't get the opportunity to do, but most of all, I hope they learn, from my brother's example, that you can accomplish anything, even the "impossible", if you are willing to do the work. Congratulations Brent!

So Excited!

2011-07-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to be going here:

To watch him:

Fly this:

I have never seen my brother fly in real life and this flight will be his U-2 solo. It's a BIG deal! I can't wait to spend all night driving with my parents, kids, and nephews (we rented a Suburban) to get there. 3 adults and 5 kids, 13 hours one way...what could possibly go wrong? Wait don't tell me. I want to be an optimist! But really I don't care how I get there, I just can't wait to see my brother. He is awesome. No matter what, it will all be worth it. I even made another Remains of the Day journal to take with me. I ran out of time posting pictures of it, but I will when I get back home. I kinda LOVE it.

I'm so glad my husband supports me in all my craziness. He really helps me try to accomplish all the "brilliant" ideas that pop into my head. Maybe he just likes all the quiet when I am off on another adventure with the kids but I so appreciate him. I am blessed.

And we are off! This is truly going to be our California Adventure!

Sketching, Journaling and Catching Up

2011-07-12T18:35:00.000-07:00

I know that you all probably think that I have been in some sort of artistic rut or something, based on the number of posts here lately, but no. I am alive and well. I have just been too "busy" (read "lazy") to take some pictures and get them posted. So here's what I have been up to the last little while. 1. I have been journaling. I have been working in my 9x12 Canson Mixed Media journal lately. Love the paper in that thing! As much as I enjoy altering old books for my journals, it's almost like heaven when you work with decent paper.2. I have been sketching in "Molly" the Moleskine. I love the feeling of a Moleskine sketchbook in your hands but I am not crazy about the paper for watercolors. I think I am turning into a paper snob. Wish I was able to bind a book as well as the people at Moleskine. Then I could have the best of both worlds.
3. I've been working on finishing up my travel journal from our vacation.
Look how fat and juicy it is getting, and we were only gone a week! I saved a colossal amount of stuff along our journey and I LOVE this thing. I made one for my daughter and one entirely full of pockets for my son too. We had a great time relaxing at night and working in our journals while we were gone but I still have a bit more to work on before I can say that it's finished.
Well, that's it! That's what I've been doing, well, besides weddings, laundry, barbecues, parades, sparklers, vacuuming, and attending my 20th class reunion. That's right 20th! I guess I no longer qualify as a spring chicken but I did have a great time. Our class really is an amazing group of the best people on the planet. Just GOOD people. I really do love them. Probably couldn't have said that WHILE I was in high school but now that I am older and wiser, I can say that for sure! I guess it's good that I am no longer a spring chicken...well, at least in that regard. I'm just hoping that my mid-life crisis involves a black Dodge Charger with a Panther Pink stripe. If I have to get old, that's the way I want to get there!

Came Home to This

2011-06-27T14:58:00.001-07:00

I just came home from our family vacation to the Oregon Coast to find THIS in the mail my neighbor picked up for me.
Now there are very few things in this world that can make me feel better about leaving the ocean. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the ocean. How I am landlocked in Idaho is a bit of a mystery, but coming home was a bit easier knowing that my copy of Artist's Journal Workshop was waiting for me. I was a little concerned when I found out that it arrived on the only rainy day they had while we were away and had gotten pretty wet, but when I opened it, it was the only thing in the box that was not wet. Yay! Talk about a miracle. I had been reading the Artist's Journal Workshop BLOG while I waited for the book to be released and I LOVE it. It is not a book about smearing around paint, collaging, and making a big, fun, juicy mess with every art supply I can think of, like my usual art journal. This is more like a sketchbook to me, at least how I keep a sketchbook. Sketches, notes, observations, etc. done in pencils, inks, and watercolors mostly. I love looking at other artists' sketchbooks and learning their processes and Artist's Journal Workshop has already helped me arrive at a few decisions regarding my current sketchbooks. I am always growing into them. Letting go of rules, changing the rules, accepting the rules, mostly learning that my sketchbook is just that, MY sketchbook and it needs to feel like my safe place. Does your sketchbook feel that way to you? How do you make your sketchbook your own? I'd just love to know.

Ready To Go!

2011-05-28T16:20:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! My Remains of the Day journal is ready to go on vacation. Of course, I'm not ready yet. We still have a few more weeks until our family hits the Oregon Coast, but I can't wait to travel with my spiffy travel journal. Is it too much to stop the next town over from my house to pick up a postcard? I just can't wait to start filling this thing up.
I used up an amazing amount of paper treasure that I have had stashed away for just such a project.
Here's one of my favorite treasures in my book. It is a receipt from 1964 from my grandpa's service station. It is written in my dad's handwriting. He worked for my grandpa in high school. I especially love that 18.8 gallons of Dino Supreme gasoline came to the total of $7.30! How cool is that? I posted some other pages HERE. Thank you Mary Ann Moss. I loved it so much, I think I'll go make another for my daughter to take too.

Truth in Advertising?

2011-05-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

Just so you know...
...happiness is total electric living!
This ad I found in an old Relief Society magazine just makes me smile. I LOVE it! I just had to put it into my altered book journal. Every time I think about happiness now, I just remember that all I have to do is call the people at the power company and my problems are solved! How awesome is that? It's so simple and what kind of human being would I be if I didn't pass on the solution to finding happiness?
And speaking of happiness, just look at this pile of pages I have been working on for my Remains of the Day class. I am loving this big stack of paper and I can't wait to attach it to my cover. Doesn't paper just make you so HAPPY? Oh, wait, that's total electric living!

Fully Immersed!

2011-05-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

I am fully immersed in THIS and LOVING it. It is MARY Ann Moss' Remains of the Day class and I couldn't be having more fun. We are swimming in scraps of fabric, paper, junk, trim here at our house and I am in heaven! My family might (probably would) disagree as they like eating at the kitchen table and having clean laundry but sometimes a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.
I have been racking my brain lately, trying to decide what kind of sketchbook/journal I wanted to take on our family's trip to the Oregon Coast this summer. I wanted one specific to our vacation, but wasn't sure, with 2 kids, if I would have the time to fill up a whole book. In my own happy thoughts, I envision sitting on the beach, waterbrush in hand, and painting amazing watercolor sketches of the ocean. That's my dream, but the reality is, this is a family vacation, my kids' first sight of the ocean, and I don't want to miss seeing it all with them. My time will be spent with my family, with the occasional waterbrush. Enter Remains of the Day. It will be the perfect travel journal, with lots of places to tuck pictures and odds and ends from our travels. AND it is beyond fun to make. Above is the cover for my journal. It is made from fabric and trim scraps and piece of a vintage handkerchief that I have been saving.
This is the back. It just screams Jolene and vacation to me. Now I must go back to work (if I must) on the inside pages. I have lots of long saved treasures just waiting to become part of this journal.

Sunday Thought

2011-05-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

Today's Sunday thought, brought to you by President Thomas S. Monson HERE. It reads: "We can lift ourselves and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude."
LOVE IT!

Can't Resist

2011-05-13T14:47:00.001-07:00

Hallelujah! We have finally had some sunshine around here. It was such a welcome treat that I couldn't resist quitting my housework (like that took much convincing) and took my son to the park. While I waited for him to wear himself out playing, I sat in the sun and worked in my sketchbook on a sketch for the long neglected Sketchbook Challenge. The theme for may is "Can't Resist It" so I sketched the park that we couldn't resist going to.
Just quick sketches here. This is a very inexpensive sketchbook from the Target, so not exactly ideal for watercolors but it works. I like it because I spent like $2 on it and so I don't feel like I have too much to lose if I do a horrible sketch (of which there are a few). I have one rule about this book, I can only use permanent ink (Sharpie). No pencil or eraser. The goal here is to practice loose sketches instead of my tendency to over think, overwork, and be to concerned about "perfect". Oh, and it is also a practice in courage.
Later, my super sweet, amazing husband watched the kids while I went on an "Artist's Date". My artist dates usually consist of heading to the tables at Barnes & Noble or Hastings, getting myself something to drink and sketching or working on an art journal. This time I noticed a shelf of juice bottles lined up. The colors were striking and the light from the window made them sparkle. I couldn't resist a quick sketch of them. Then as I started with the paint, I remembered that there is no such thing as a quick sketch of bottles (see tendencies above). Bottles are beautiful and they take just the right highlights, shadows, reflections, etc...to make them look like bottles. I had to remind myself many times to not get too perfect. Perfect just causes frustration, frustration causes anger, and anger causes me to have a strong desire to launch my sketchbook across the Barnes & Noble. Not wanting to cause a scene or be liable for damage, I opted for decidedly NOT perfect but I still love the color of these bottles all lined up. The colors still make me just as happy as when I first saw them. Amazing colors and sunny weather...what more could a girl want?

The Best $8...

2011-05-03T20:04:00.000-07:00

...I ever spent. Well, maybe not EVER. Especially since it wasn't on art supplies but still a very worthwhile purchase. Saturday, my family and I were heading to the grocery store when I saw a stand selling flats of strawberries for 8 bucks. I made my husband pull over and I bought a flat of beautiful, red strawberries (don't you just love spring?). I brought them home and began the task of cutting them up and getting them ready to make strawberry sauce to store in the freezer. I had my trusty sidekick (my son) next to me helping when a sort of miracle happened. You see, my son, is quite possibly the pickiest eater I have ever had the "opportunity" to deal with. He refuses to try anything (even a cookie if he hasn't eaten one that looks like it before) and dinner generally involves tears. I, being certain that I could fix him with all the parenting tricks, threats, and my fierce talent of standing my ground, have discovered that I know NOTHING! Turns out that my son has (of all things) inherited my fierce talent for standing my ground! ARGH! Well, for some reason, he decided he wanted to try a piece of strawberry. I was shocked and cut him the tiniest of slivers, certain that he would barely touch it to his tongue and declare it "gross". He nibbled that tiny piece for at least a minute and liked it. I tried to remain stone faced and not let him see me do the "happy dance" as he asked for another piece. I gave him one and then another, and another. Pretty soon I was starting to worry about overwhelming his stomach with the sudden introduction of fruit that didn't come in a box with a straw, but I just let him eat as many strawberries as he wanted. I was seriously dumbstruck. I don't know what got into him but I am sure glad I kicked down the $8 for strawberries. I had to journal about it (it was that big of a deal).

In fact, it totally made my other purchase that day pale in comparison. Inspired by Sabrina Ward Harrison and Pam Garrison, I have always wanted to try a dip pen. So I bought one and used it to journal my strawberry page in my altered book. I was trying to go for "sloppy sophisticated", but mostly it's neither. It's something that I still need to work on. That's what I love about an art journal. It can be whatever it ends up being and that's OK.

Is It A Piano?..And Some Journaling

2011-04-29T17:43:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, I just HAD to do something in my art journal and while I was busy playing with art supplies, my son was busy finding a new use for my piano...

Isn't that the cutest thing? Every single big space between the black keys has a car parked in it. I just had to let them stay until my daughter had to use the piano to practice. I honestly have NEVER thought about the B-C and the E-F spaces as the perfect Hot Wheel parking stalls. I am finding that much of the learning that takes place in Mommyland is really just the mommy saying, "Well, gee, I have never thought of it that way." Plus, the adventures in Mommyland are way more exciting/bone rattling/exhausting/comical than anything that Disneyland could come up with.

On that same note, here is a little something I have been working on in my altered book journal.

I even convinced a little finger to hold it open for me so I could take a picture. Truly I am grateful to be able to be a stay at home (or car...whatever) mom. Even though some days I feel like banging my head or screaming into a pillow (and I would if I wasn't just so dang tired), I really am blessed to have this opportunity. I have the 2 best kids. LOVE THEM!AND...Don't you just love this quote? I had glued the top of a paper bag into my book a month ago and yesterday it occurred to me that it would make a great fence. I also received a sheet of address labels from the good folks at St. Jude's and since I really don't use them on mail, I stuck them all together into strips. I then wove the strips together as I stuck them to my book despite having no real reason to do so. After I gessoed and painted over them, I really liked the texture and I didn't have to feel guilty about throwing away the gift from St. Jude's, although I will have to feel guilty about not sending them a donation. I know they do great things but my philanthropic budget is a little tight these days, and since, I guess, mom's are supposed to feel guilty about something, that will have to be it for me. But, thank you for the new collage fodder, St. Jude's. I really do appreciate it.

Thank You Kate

2011-04-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

Well, lately I have felt a little like I'm drowning. I haven't spent much time doing anything creative, and that gets me into a funk. The funk makes me just feel tired and uncreative, which causes an even bigger funk. It's a vicious circle. I needed an out and the other day my good friend KATE provided me one with THIS post.
She posted about a blog she found called peonyandparakeet and she makes these most amazing doodle backgrounds. Kate found her tutorial and posted the LINK. Holy cow! These papers made my heart pound, my head spin, and the paint fly. I had to try it out at the first possible chance. Here's my first try.
It is basically layers upon layers of watercolors, Sharpies, gel pens, colored pencils, correction pen, and black Pitt pen. It was such an adventure! The hardest part was knowing when I was finished. I think that you could just doodle on this forever. It was nice to just experiment and now I have a background paper that have scanned into my computer. I can print it and manipulate it any way I like. As I was doodle-ling along, I thought of all kinds of ways to use this technique with other paints and supplies and I am excited to try it. So thank you Kate! I am now excited to do some more art experiments and I couldn't be happier! I owe you one.

Another Snowy Spring Day

2011-04-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

Well, here where I live, it has been snowing off and on all day and all I can say about it is: BLAAAHHHH! I am so sick of cold, wind, and brown grass. I need spring to come to my neck of the woods. So I had to break out a few tricks to boost my happiness level and I thought I would share them with you. Maybe they would help you think spring (even if it is snowing).

First up, THIS video by the incredibly awesome Pam Garrison. She posted this over a year ago but I must have watched it at least a dozen times. It just makes me SO HAPPY!!! All those stacks of her amazing journals. The colors. The shabby fabric. The vintage images. It is just happiness to me. I LOVE THIS video (so much so that I posted the link twice). If you love art journals (and maybe even if you don't), you have GOT to watch it!

My other little trick today was making some "springy" cookies. I actually made them for my super cool friend Kandice. It was her birthday over a week ago and I finally finished a little something I was making for her and I wanted to bring cookies too. I made these:

These are the Orange-Kissed Cookies from Our Best Bites. You can find the recipe HERE. These are ridiculously yummy and taste like spring. And while I'm on the subject, I must say that I love ourbestbites.com. I have yet to make anything from their site that hasn't been delicious, especially their Chicken FAJITAS. They might, in fact, be my favorite thing to eat. Make them. I'm not kidding. Do not try to add things or omit things. Make them EXACTLY as they direct. I have not met anyone who doesn't love them. While I am not being paid in any way by the girls at Our Best Bites, I can tell you that I also bought their cookbook over the weekend and I must say that it is really good. I had sworn myself to not buy another cookbook again but when I saw theirs, I decided it was good enough to break my self imposed rule. My only complaint was that they neglected to include the chicken fajita recipe (did I mention it was awesome?), but I've made it enough that I almost have it memorized. I'm sure it was just an oversight. Between Pam Garrison's video and the Our Best Bites Orange cookies, I'm feeling pretty good despite the weather. And now I'm off to deliver some joy to Kandice.

Looking for Balance

2011-03-30T16:35:00.001-07:00

I'm sure I'm not alone in this. It seems that we all have times when we feel all "out of whack". When we have to take some time to reassess, refocus. To DECLUTTER. Well, that has been where I have found myself the last little while and why I have been lost to the blog world. I haven't been completely uncreative, just finishing up all my unfinished projects. Well, OK, maybe not ALL my unfinished projects, but I take pride in the fact that I have finished a few. When the organizing, finishing, decluttering feeling comes along, I just have to ride the wave all the way to the shore, especially since it doesn't seem to come along all that often. When I do, I find that it makes me so much more creative in the long run and definitely more balanced....AND isn't that what we are all searching for in the long run...a little more balance! So, don't give up on me, I'll be posting something artsy soon, but first I've got to get a few more bits and pieces of my little world organized and then the paint will be flying! Thanks for hanging in there with me. See you soon!

You Wanna See the Cutest Thing?

2011-02-16T10:58:00.001-08:00

Remember Halle and Og the Frog from THIS post. Well, this is the "thank you" that Halle sent me. I did a little happy dance when I saw it. I love the frog, the fish, the seaweed, the bug, EVERYTHING. Halle's mom said that she spent 30 minutes studying each step in the frog drawing process and she drew nothing but frogs for a few days. Thank you Halle. I couldn't be more proud.

I am finding through teaching art to my daughter's class that the kids really love these step by step doodles. They start by saying, "I can't draw a frog." and end up wanting to show the whole class their drawing because they are so proud that they can draw a frog. The more doodles that I show them, the more confident I see them become. I hear a lot less "I can't" than when we first started.

The other day, while doing some on-line research for art class, I found the coolest little card game. It's called Pick and Draw and we have been anxiously awaiting the mailman since I ordered it. You have got to check out the website for Pick and Draw HERE. It was made by a man named Rich Davis and the funnest thing was when we checked out his BLOG. He has a bunch of step by step drawings posted, like Ekey the Running Robot, Doodlebugs, Ralph the Dog and other treasures. My daughter and I spent Sunday evening going through tons of doodle tutorials there. So fun! In fact, my daughter has been doing quite a few Doodlebug drawings. We have Doodlebugs everywhere!

I cannot believe the impact of these simple little drawings, not only on kids, but also on myself. Speaking of which, I have got to go check the mail...hoping for our Pick and Draw!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T10:58:00.001-08:00

I am a huge fan of Alisa Burke. I'm sure I have mentioned it before. Her sketchbook posts especially amaze me. The other day she posted THIS on her blog. She used simple, cheap construction paper to make some cool doodle valentines. I loved her post and set out to make my own doodle valentines, Jolene style. It was easy to get right to work since I had everything I needed. I used my favorite white cardstock (110 lb. smooth from Office Max), black Pitt pens (or Sharpies), watercolors, AND since Alisa is into dimensional paint, I thought I'd try some too. My mom happened to have a ton of it leftover from a "grandma sleepover" and let me have it.
I have a little notebook in my purse that goes with me EVERYWHERE. I keep random quotes, notes from church, cool color combinations that I see, phone numbers, blogs I'd like to look up, ideas that come to me, and doodles (tons of doodles) in it. So if you see me standing in the middle of the mall, staring at a store window and writing in a little notebook, don't be concerned. If life was a cartoon, you would see a little lightbulb above my head, because something, somewhere has given me an idea and if I don't write it down immediately, I know it will be gone before I ever even make it to my car. Also, you might see a cute girl patiently waiting for me to finish up some sketch and silently hoping no one notices. I almost NEVER go to the mall without my daughter's cute persistence.
Most of my doodles are flowers it seems but there are a few other things in there too. Some of them I have really liked, so I opened up my notebook and used some of those doodles for inspiration on my valentines.
I doodled along with my Pitt pens and then used my watercolors to paint the colors. I then used dots of dimensional paint (mostly the crystal sparkly kind) and glued it on a piece of colored cardstock. I like them a lot. They were easy, inexpensive, and fun to do. How I wish I could send one to each of you. I have been so grateful for the blogging friends that I have made and the kindness that you have shown to me. Sometimes, the little things that you leave on my blog for me, are exactly what I need when the days are tough, and the boost I need when they are not. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
My love to each of you and Happy Valentine's Day!

Broken Things

2011-02-10T13:38:00.001-08:00

Do you ever feel like this little flower? All tired and bent over and broken? Yeah, me too. Sometimes life just feels so heavy. Like you will never be able to straighten out. Recently I came across a little quote that made me feel a little lighter, helped me stand a little straighter, and reminded me of how much I am loved. It made me feel so good, I wanted to hurry up and paint the words and feelings, so I could share it with you.

"God Loves Broken Things"

18"x14" mixed media on canvas board

Sometimes it's good to remember that when you're feeling a little broken, that's when God shines his light on you the most. We just have to look up and feel the warmth to remember that we are loved more than we can imagine.
So remember..."God loves broken things....because God is in the business of fixing broken things."

My Unexpected Painting

2011-02-02T14:33:00.001-08:00

So, the other day I set out in search of the top of my desk and I don't really remember if getting it cleaned off inspired me to paint something or if I just lost focus and decided painting was funner than cleaning my desk (most likely scenario), but to make a long story short...I sat down to clean my desk and ended up with a painting. Because it was sort of unintended, it is kind of an odd size but I had a piece of 9x9 watercolor paper and this is how it ended up.

"Unintended Love"-SOLD

9x9 mixed media on watercolor paper

It is very textural, which I love. I used much of the collage pieces in the substrate to dictate pretty much everything. For instance, I used a piece of ripped out notebook paper on the substrate and it left a row of torn little circles which ended up as a little scallop along the top. I had 6 little rectangles of colored scrapbook papers which I decided looked good together so I used those basic colors for the entire painting. I enhanced the colors of the little rectangles with paint and then used them for the "LOVE" title. I didn't even know what I was going to put there and after I doodled in the heart on the first one, I decided I needed a word there. I could only think of two, so I asked my husband to help me think of a 4 letter word that wasn't "love" or "s***" (sorry, it was all I could think of, and in my usual way, I am probably a little too honest). At that point, I felt the painting could go either way, and "love" or the other, could prove to be an accurate description. But in the end I really do love it. I am continually amazed by the creative process. I truly don't know how I ended up with this little painting, but now, once again, I must go in search of the top of my desk. Who knows what will happen?

Random Productivity

2011-01-31T12:59:00.001-08:00

I have been a busy little bee here the last few days or so. I am amazed at what I have been able to accomplish. Recently I have been reading THIS book by Danny Gregory. It shares peeks into many amazing artists' sketchbooks and their feelings about their process and materials...and I LOVE it. Anyway, somewhere in there one of the artists said that spending the time in their sketchbooks seems to create more time for other painting. With two kids, and tons of other responsibilities, I thought that I would be sacrificing painting when I made the commitment to work in my sketchbook more, but now I am a believer. I certainly have been more productive since beginning my goal of sketching daily. Sometimes I don't get it done but so far, I've been pretty good.
I did a few pages in my altered book and I really like this one. I am determined to have 2011 be the best year ever, I don't know what will come but I will make the best of it.
I also did this little fantastical flower study in my cheap spiral sketchbook.

I even managed to complete 3 new sketches in "Molly the Moleskine". This one was a good reminder that I HATE painting foil, glass and other shiny things. My watercolor skills need work in the shiny things area. It's just so hard to get them to look "right".

One of my annual primroses. I absolutely rejoice when I see the first rolling cart of primroses in the grocery store because I know that spring is coming and I always buy 3 for my kitchen window. The help me get through the last of winter with a little hope. Every time I see them, I am reminded that I am on the downhill side of winter. I really don't love winter, in case you hadn't noticed.

My friend, Sheena, took me to her spa last week. In fact, last week at this time, I was in the middle of an awesome facial. I had my first pedicure and came home with some sparkly, blue toes. Those sparkly toes make me so happy to look at. They are still looking pretty good and sometimes when I get brave, I take my wool socks off my frozen little feet and just smile at my blue, sparkly toes!

Not only have I accomplished all this, I finished a little painting too, but alas, I have run out of blogging time and must pick up my daughter from school, so I will have to post it soon, but I must say that I really like how it turned out. I can't wait to share it with you. Be back soon.

For Halle

2011-01-28T15:02:00.000-08:00

My friend Chris has the cutest little girl named Halle. The other day, she needed a frog on the drawing she was making for her book, about a frog named "Og", and asked her mom to draw her one. Her mom says that she can't draw (which I don't believe at all) but since Halle is so cute, she drew her a frog. I figured if you were writing an entire book on a frog named "Og", you should definitely know how to draw that guy! Once you know the steps, frogs are pretty fun to draw, so Halle, here's how you draw a doodle frog: Hope that helps, Halle. With a little practice, I know that you will be drawing oodles of frog doodles! And speaking of doodles, if you have a girl in your house that likes to draw, this is a must have:
We have had "Doodle Studio" by American Girls for years and we have definitely gotten our money out of it. It has a book with all kinds of doodles, like dogs, cats, turtles, and yes, frogs, all written in easy, doable, step by step instructions, just like I demonstrated the frog. I have been using it to teach a few doodles to the kids in my daughter's class, and they LOVE it. They are always begging for doodles. AND lest you think it's just for young girls, my daughter and I have spent hours together doing the doodles in the book, and it is a BLAST! In fact, lately, it has spent more time on my desk than in her room. Honestly, this little book not only helped my daughter increase her confidence in drawing, but it helped me too!
Well, Halle, hope you have lots of luck in drawing your own "Og the Frog". I know you can do it!

Hello! My Name Is:

2011-01-26T14:12:00.000-08:00

Well, for those of you who have been waiting on pins and needles (and I'm sure that you have) to hear my final decision on my first Moleskine sketchbook's name...drum roll please...
Yes, that's right, I went ahead with my daughter's suggestion of "Molly" the Moleskine. And can I say, I love her more and more with each sketch. I am still getting used to adding watercolors to the smooth Moleskine paper, but I am loving the practice. I am planning on adding a few more things to this name tag sketch but here is my start.

I've been just doing a few simple sketches about my day. I haven't been able to work in it everyday but I am trying to not put too much pressure on myself about the Moleskine. I don't want to have too many rules or I will be too scared to draw in it. Although, my daughter spilled an entire glass of water on my bag and Molly was the only thing I was worried about in the excitement. I rescued Molly right away and fortunately she came out unscathed. But I learned that I was OK with a little water spilled. My sketchbook is supposed to be a representation of me and my life and what better way to represent the fact that right now, I am first and foremost, a mom. And speaking of moms...my mom had the MOST amazing amaryllis this year. The blossoms were as big as my head. I went to take a picture and realized that I had left my camera at home. I wanted badly to do a sketch (a good one, you know, with pencil and lots of eraser) of it before it was gone and I tried desperately all day to get a chance to work on it but, despite my best efforts, all I ended up with was 10 extra minutes before I had to pick up my daughter from school. I just did a quick sketch with a Sharpie and put in the highlights with my waterbrush and raced out the door. I had to finish the painting from memory (which ANYONE who has ever spent any time with me, knows is not great) so this is what I ended up with and it doesn't even begin to show how amazing this amaryllis was. I just loved it.

It's Official!

2011-01-21T16:07:00.001-08:00

I am a "REAL" artist! In fact, my heart is just pounding right out of my chest and here's why:

I just got my very first Moleskine sketchbook in the mail today. Now I know that to many it's just a overpriced, fancy sketchbook, but to me, it's a little dream come true. It is the sketchbook that signifies "artist" to me. I can't wait to take it everywhere with me. I have opened the little elastic band, felt the beautiful paper, checked out the pocket (that will soon be crammed full of my treasure) and read the "History of the Moleskine Notebook". It is just so exciting. I am in the habit of naming things and my daughter has come up with "Molly". I'm living with that name for awhile but I think it is a keeper. Kids come up with the best stuff.

In other news, (it has been quite a while since my last post), I have been reading THIS book and THIS blog by Chris Guillebeau. I have had a goal to get my own passport (even though I am not really "needing" it for any specific travel) and I am getting closer to attaining that goal. I feel the desire (burning) to travel and see the world but my travel budget is approximately $0, so I figure that if I get a passport the action will bring the travel. I have also been working alot in my altered book journal. Most of what I have done in it is feeling pretty personal and not ready to be shown to the world but I did do this layout based on THIS post by Chris Guillebeau. I'm not sure it's "done". I may go back and do some journaling but I loved his message.Other than that, I have been working on some sketches in my now, less than cool, cheap sketchbook for the Sketchbook Challenge. Ever since sketching my children's treasures, I get almost daily requests to sketch another of their toys and I am growing tired of what is now known as my "Fisher Price Collection" of works. While they are treasures to my kids, they are mostly just vacuum grenades to me. So, in an effort to deviate from toys, I did this quick sketch of my hand. I think I may go back and add a little watercolor, but it makes me glad to know that I can sketch something besides toys. And speaking of kids, I guess I should go and take care of their dinner...they whine when you don't feed them, you know?

Highly Prized

2011-01-05T19:47:00.001-08:00

Well, I've been doing pretty well on my goal of a sketch a day despite the fact that I've been hit with a GIANT (did I mention giant?) migraine. So, basically that's all I've been able to do. The Sketchbook Challenge announced the theme for January as "Highly Prized". So I've been sketching some pretty valuable things around here.
Here's something I very much value. It has taken me a while to assemble this collection of Golden Acrylics. I LOVE them so, but they are true to their name when it comes buying them...they really are "golden".

Here's two of my daughter's (two of a gazillion, I think) favorite Littlest Pet Shop pets. Littlest Pet Shop anything is highly prized to her.

My little guy is learning that letters have sounds and he loves spending time spelling words with me. We spend quite a bit of time "spelling" with his plastic letters. We don't even use the magnets, just lay out words on the floor. It's some of our favorite time together. To me, the letters represent our "highly prized" time together.

I've been pretty impressed with myself at keeping up with my sketchbook each day and with the exception of an rather unfortunate rendering of my daughter's Blythe doll, I've been OK with sharing the sketches. Blythe was good for some laughs around here and is now known as "zombie girl". Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to share but for now I think it best that she stay hidden in the book. She can cause nightmares. And speaking of that, I think I had better head off to bed. I have got to get rid of this headache.

It's Here!

2011-01-01T16:40:00.000-08:00

2011 that is. Which means that the SKETCHBOOK Challenge has begun. I'm so excited. Which means that I'll be packing this around with me wherever I go....

It's just a cheap sketchbook that I got from Target on clearance last year. I didn't want anything too fancy or else I would be too scared to mess it up. As my confidence improves, I dream of making beautiful Moleskine sketchbooks, but for now, it can't be "too precious". I have set a goal to sketch something in it everyday and I have actually been doing that for the last week or so (just to get myself ready for 2011). Now, in order to pack this around, as well as my pens, pencils, and little watercolor box, I wanted a messenger bag. I looked around and couldn't find anything too inspiring, so when I saw Lisa Engelbrecht's pattern for one in this magazine...I decided to make my own. I started with Lisa's pattern, and using raw canvas and a few alterations, I made my bag.Once the bag was made, I painted the entire thing with a wash of Golden Fluid acrylics in blues and greens.I painted 4 flowers, a flower center and 2 leaves on another piece of gessoed canvas and used my sewing machine to "doodle" the details. I also used my sewing machine to free stitch the swirls. Then I tacked everything together in the center so it is sorta dimensional.I added glass beads to the center, just cause I like things sparkly! And, it turns out, I like sparkly enough to have pulled a needle and thread through 6 layers of canvas and paint. My fingers are a little sore today.Then I added the word "create" by using my computer to print a font I liked onto a piece of paper and cutting out the letters to make a pattern. I measured a strip of paper and laid it along the straight edge of the bag to use as a guide (I knew I wouldn't be able to live with it if it weren't straight) and traced the letters. I then filled them in and lined them with acrylics AND here's a lesson I learned about trying to paint detail on raw canvas: I don't EVER want to do it again. I will kick down the extra $$$ for the medium (I don't remember what it's called off the top of my head) that makes painting detail on fabric easier.

So this afternoon, I decided to take my new bag, loaded with my sketchbook and supplies and head out to the bookstore on an artist date. I have been not so patiently waiting for the new ART_JOURNALING to hit the shelves around here and I was determined to pick it up TODAY! I eventually found it (and it is great) after some hunting, but I met an awesome lady named Lisa while I worked on a sketch. Lisa makes jewelry from antiques and things and we had a lovely conversation about our love of old doors, windows, and just plain anything old. We both enjoy turning old stuff into art. She is selling her jewelry at a shop not too far from my home, so I am going to be checking it out this week. I can't wait to see it and it was fun to hang out with her. I really do run into the BEST people at the bookstore.

Two More

2010-12-30T14:45:00.000-08:00

Remember THIS post. Well, I used some more of my painted canvas to make two more pencil/cosmetic bags and I just added them to MY Etsy store. I LOVE this piece of canvas and I am working on getting paint onto another large piece of canvas. I have a little project I have been working on for myself (I know, it's amazing, I am never working on my own stuff) to get me started on The Sketchbook_Challenge. It starts in just a couple of days. I've got my sketchbook, pens, watercolors, and whatever else, all ready to go. Just have to finish my project (it's so exciting). I can't wait to show it to you. But I had better get going...or I won't make it in time.

If You Love Good Photography...

2010-12-28T09:26:00.000-08:00

...check this out. THIS is my extremely talented brother Brent's smugmug gallery. Brent is an USAF pilot and has had a fascination with planes since he was born. He is also very artistic. A few years ago, he took up photography as his art form and his photos are pretty amazing. Of course, I am probably a little biased, but at the beginning of the year he set a goal to get one of his photos onto airliners.net and he just posted his 100th! So I feel pretty justified in saying that he's AWESOME! He also has the above photo listed in the photos of 2010.Brent has always been an inpiration to me when it comes to setting and achieving goals and his accomplishments this year have been amazing. Makes my little (big) list of resolutions look much less daunting. Thank you Brent! Love you!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T17:16:00.000-08:00

Wishing you a peaceful, wonderful, Merry Christmas!
With love,
Jolene

Painted Canvas Tutorial

2010-12-22T11:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a little project I have been working on for Christmas. I took some pictures along the way so that you could see my process. It all began with a piece of inexpensive canvas that I cut to fit my kitchen table (the biggest work space in my house). If I had a bigger kitchen table, I would have made it larger, but when it comes to art, part of the creativity is finding ways to work with what you have.
I started by making some acrylic yellow/orange sort of circle shapes all over the canvas with my palette knife. Then I made some petal shapes with my palette knife using magenta, orange, white, and a little bit of yellow around my circles.

Then using a angled bristle brush, I added leaves with green, dark green, yellow, white, and a little blue. I then filled in the empty spaces with a mix of turquoise and white.

Using black fluid acrylics and water, I lined the petal shapes I found in the flowers and leaves. I can't seem to line anything without going back and lining it again. I LOVE to double line things. I also added dots for details.

Afterwards, I go back in with white fluid acrylics and add some more dots before I call it done. And that is the condensed version of how I painted this piece of canvas. Do you want to see what I did with some of it?

I made it into a pencil bag for a friend for a Christmas gift. And now I am off to finish sewing the rest of my canvas into more treasures. Have a good one!

On the Subject of Sketchbooks

2010-12-13T12:01:00.000-08:00

Today I joined the Sketchbook Challenge. It begins January 1st and I am pretty excited. You can find out all the information HERE. I have been working in my sketchbook quite a bit lately because it seems that it is the only bit of art that I can find time for during the busy Christmas season. I can take it with me anywhere and work on it every free moment that I get. With my little compact watercolor set and my Koi waterbrush (Have I mentioned that I LOVE that thing!), I can even paint while helping out at my daughter's school or taking a shopping break at the bookstore with a Diet Coke. I am finding myself fascinated with other artist's sketchbooks too, that's why I am amazed at the timing of the Sketchbook Challenge. I know that I shouldn't be surprised at the timing but I am. I have been doing this art thing long enough to know that what you need always comes to you when you are ready for it, but I still find myself in amazement when it happens. I hope that I never get used to the "magic" feeling when the thing that I need appears at the perfect time. Now if I can just get better at the "trust" part of the whole thing. When things become frustrating, I need to trust that when the time is right, the thing I need will appear.My grandparents gave us a beautiful poinsettia for Christmas and I did a little sketch in my book of one of the flowers. I have been teaching art to my daughter's class at school so I decided to have them do a study on poinsettias. I had them do a quick sketch to understand the shape of the bracts and flowers before they tore the petal shapes out of tissue for their ornament project. They did great! I took my 4 year old with me and sat him down with all the supplies and just let him do his thing while I was teaching the class. I was shocked at what he did. His was every bit as nice as the rest of the class but I noticed something interesting. He just sat down and boldly did his thing while the majority of the older kids were somewhat panicked and critical of their work and not doing it "right" and using the word "can't". I HATE the word "can't". I had to ban the "can't" word from the classroom when I am teaching art. When do kid's develop this self critical attitude and fear of making mistakes? My little guy doesn't seem to have developed it yet but so many 9 year olds have. It is so interesting. What happens to them between 4 and 9? They had no reason to be critical of themselves, they all did wonderful art, but were so hard on themselves and some even seem paralyzed before they even tore a single tissue paper petal. I just found it so interesting, especially because when we become adults, we spend so much time trying to get rid of our fear of mistakes and critical attitudes. Apparently we didn't come into this world with these fears...when does this happen? Can it be avoided? I don't know but in an effort to combat this fear of making mistakes, I think I will go work on something scary...I think.

Book Fair

2010-12-01T19:06:00.000-08:00

I LOVE book fairs! I am a total sucker when it comes to buying my kids books. I try to volunteer for at least one shift every time the book fair rolls around. I LOVE visiting with the kids at the school, most of which I have witnessed grow up during my daughter's time there. They are sweet, goofy, fun, and just plain adorable! LOVE them.
So, this afternoon was my shift to work the book fair. I brought along my sketchbook, pens, and watercolors to play during the down times. I was totally inspired by THIS amazing post by Alisa Burke. You absolutely must go check it out...now. Don't read another thing until you see it. Go ahead...I'll wait. Waiting....waiting....waiting.......

Unbelievable...I know! She totally amazes me. Here is the beginning of my Alisa inspired sketch.
I very much enjoyed working on this while there was no book shopping going on. The best part is, if you have a Koi waterbrush, you can pretty much do this anywhere. Everything I needed fit into a pencil bag. In fact, I think this page is calling me to finish it right now. So off I go. I show the finished product later. Go...get out your sketchbook...I'm telling you, this is great fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T07:57:00.001-08:00

My daughter and I made these little turkeys last night for Thanksgiving. She made them at an activity and we decided to make some more to share with our BIG family today. It brought back memories of my mom helping me make turkeys out of gumdrops and toothpicks and I can't remember what else, to take to my grandma's for Thanksgiving. And for me, that's what Thanksgiving is all about...family. I have the best one. I'm sure that I am biased (a little) but my family really is awesome. I love being with them and I am so grateful for them. I am truly blessed. My hope is that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving too! Enjoy your day.

A Big Announcement

2010-11-11T11:33:00.000-08:00

I have been hard at work here getting my little Etsy store up and running. Last night, I finally achieved my goal. Wahoo! I am excited to announce that my Etsy store is off the ground. This is something that I have wanted to do for such a long time. I had to overcome the fear of putting myself out there and just do it! I hope that my little prints and things find good homes and that they bring all of the joy to others that they bring to me. Right now, I have listed 6 prints and I will soon be adding more. Watch here for my Grand Opening Celebration, coming soon. It will involve another giveaway. You can check out my progress HERE.

Happy Day!

2010-11-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

I finally made my way back to my blog. It has been a little crazy around here. There have been meetings for school, church, etc., house organization, an appraisal, teaching art at my daughter's school, cookie decorating, running an election, then, of course, there was Halloween (which is now a week long event apparently), and a thousand other little things. On top of that I have been working on getting my art business set up so I can sell some things. This is turning into a frustrating process. Do I register as a sole proprietor, LLC, or what? I have been asking around and am now more confused than ever. I could hire an attorney but that seems a little drastic to just sell a little art, not to mention it would seriously cut into my paint budget. Does anyone out there have any advice? I'm open to it all. I did, however, manage to finish another painting to have printed as a card.

Happy Day

5"x7" mixed media, on watercolor paper

I started this a while ago but I had it on the backburner while I have been working on other things. I'm trying to wrap up a few unfinished pieces and one that has been intimidating me for months. It's just sitting here staring at me every day and I really need to just be brave and work on it some more. OK I just talked myself into it. I better hurry up and get to work before I change my mind.

And The Winner Is...

2010-10-15T10:57:00.001-07:00

Before I announce the winner of my little giveaway, I just want to give a BIG thank you to you all. Thanks for your kind words (I actually can't quite believe you were talking about me), thanks for your support and most of all thanks for being the wonderful friends that you all are (whether we have actually met or not). I'm so grateful for all of you and for the opportunity I have to share with you. And now without further adieu....

Here's my little random number generator. He's pretty dang cute if I do say so myself. And here's who he chose...
Congratulations Kandice! I will get it to you soon. Thanks again to all of you and I hope to have another giveaway soon (like to celebrate my Etsy store opening, for instance) so keep checking back.

My "Very Cool Surprise"

2010-10-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I was feeling so discouraged. I had been having a very crappy week and then my phone rang. It was my mom. She said, "Dad is on his way and he has a very cool surprise for you." The only thing she would tell me is that I needed to open the boxes in order, which only piqued my curiosity. When my dad arrived, he started unloading all of these boxes, 8 in all, and I recognized that they were from my most amazing friend Deb. When I opened box #1, I found this:Sorry the picture is not great, but inside the box were prints of 6 of my art. There were six 5x7 prints and one 8x10. Underneath was an entire box full of 8x10 prints of my "Follow Your Heart" painting. On the back of one of them was a note from Deb. Here's part of it: "So I was figuring the other day that I've been VERY fortunate to follow my heart and I think you should too! I took the liberty of printing your first run of prints." Each box after contained hundreds of 5x7 prints of the other paintings. I just sat there speechless (and if you have ever spent more than 5 minutes with me, you know the significance of that statement). I am still in a state of shock. Deb is my absolute idol. She finds a way to make everything she decides to do a success and no matter what, she always follows her heart. For instance, she recently felt she was supposed to be living in Portland, so she sold just about everything, closed her storefront in Idaho, and moved herself and her two sweet boys to Portland. I just think that is so cool. She's such an example to me of just taking the leap, when your heart says "leap". You can see more of her work HERE. She's pretty amazing! As a going away present, I made her a little Scrabble tile pendant. I painted a heart on a piece of a 1958 map of Portland. In my boxes of treasure that she sent, she included vinyl prints of her pendant and Scrabble tiles, so I could share them with others.Once again, not a great picture, but hopefully you can get the idea. Diamond Glaze is used on the top, which makes for a difficult picture, but it makes it a bit dimensional, which I love. Deb's purpose in having my art printed was to help me jumpstart my art business and so I have been working on legalizing my business so that I can finally open my Etsy store and realize that goal. It is such an amazing gift and I haven't even been able to find the words to adequately express my gratitude. Here's is my altered book art journal page.
I used the quote from Anais Nin because it accurately describes my art journey and inspires me as I continue on this path. I also thought that I was an accurate description on Deb's journey too, so I used it again to make a painting for her as a thank you.

"Blossom"

8x10 mixed media on watercolor paper

I started with a reference photo of one of my neighbor's roses. The photo was of a white rose but this one is much more colorful. I under painted it with turquoise, purple, orange, green and then finished it with a pinkish red. I think that I LOVE this painting. I really just went with the flow and overcame my desire to chuck it early on. After all of the layers of under painting, it was starting to look a mess, but I just reminded myself to trust in the process and keep going. I'm so glad I did. It very much reminds me of Deb and I hope she loves it too. She deserves it! Thank you Deb!

So with that long story being said, I feel like celebrating here on my blog, with my very first blog giveaway. I am going to give the "Follow Your Heart" Scrabble tile pendant (just like Deb's) to one lucky winner on Friday, Oct. 15. All you have to do is leave a comment here on this post before Thursday, Oct. 14, at 11:59 p.m. MST. You can also have a second chance if you post about this giveaway on your blog or Facebook page. Just leave another comment saying that you did so. The more the merrier! I want to celebrate my "very cool surprise" with everyone! Heck, I want to shout it from the rooftops! Good luck to all!

Powerful Words

2010-10-04T10:27:00.001-07:00

When I was young, I remember my mom listening to Brian Tracy's "The Psychology of Achievement" cassette tapes while she did just about anything that she could do while listening to tapes. Even though I have never met Brian Tracy, he sort of feels like a part of the family. She credits Brian Tracy with changing her life and if you know her then you know that she is pretty incredible! While I was at her house, I noticed that she was reading this book.

She told me that it was also life changing, so I headed out to my local Barnes & Noble, and picked myself up a copy! I have listened to the "Psychology of Achievement" a gazillion times, but this book is even better. I LOVE it. If you are looking to make changes in your life, Brian Tracy is the guy for you. My mom just finished reading his "No Excuses" book and loves it too. That will be my next read. Anyway...Brian Tracy emphasizes the power of thoughts and words in your life. So I did a little journal page in my altered book about some of the words I want to be described as. Some of them I already am, some of them I am some of the time, and some of them I am still working on.
I painted the background with the palette knife and it was so much fun. I have been slopping around a lot of paint with my palette knife ever since. I love that thing!
And speaking of positive things coming into my life, I just received the most amazing surprise the other day, but you'll have to wait to see what it is. It is a GINORMOUS (is that even a word?) blessing to me! Stay tuned because it might just involve a giveaway (my first ever on my blog). Have a good day and go out and change your life!

A Joyful Song

2010-10-02T16:24:00.001-07:00

I've been working on this page in my "big journal" for a while. I find it funny (but not in the HA! HA! kind of way) that I found myself even working on this on the week that I was SO NOT singing a joyful song. I'm not sure if it is me hoping to sing a joyful song or my twisted sense of humor that caused this but that's the way it worked out. I'm also not sure that I am done with it but I'm sure I'll find that out later. Maybe add some journaling later or something. That's just the way art journaling works! You just never know.

A Few Questions About Mr. Tutt

2010-09-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

Since I posted my little altered book journal "Yankee Lawyer: The Autobiography of Ephraim Tutt" (or Mr. Tutt, as I like to call it), I have had a few questions about it. Mostly about the size of the book. Well, the cover measures about 8 1/2"x5 1/4" and it approximately 2" thick (but that changes every time I work in it). "Mr. Tutt" is an old book, there's a label inside the front that states that it was manufactured during wartime (WWII) but I chose it because 1) I like old stuff. 2) The spine was in good shape and I knew that it could handle being altered. 3) I like the color of the paper and felt it could hold up to a little paint and water and well, abuse. 4) It had interesting content that I felt I could work with.
I started by gluing together 2 or 3 pages with Mod Podge to give the paper good thickness. After gluing together a few pages, I'd tear out a few pages, to give the spine a bit of room when I started adding in extra paper and things. After tearing out a few pages, I found that some of the other pages would start to separate from the spine so I would Mod Podge a strip of fabric, scrap of paper, piece of patterned paper, or whatever I had sitting on my desk at the time, down the middle of the book to keep the two pages together. The page below had a crazy floral print fabric in the middle of the book. It's just there to keep pages from starting to fall out.
This "Tenth" page is about an awesome quote that my new friend Phyllis gave to a friend of ours and I just had to sit down and copy it. Here it is:
"For every nine people who denounce innovation, only one will encourage it...
"For every nine people who do things the way they have always been done, only one will ever wonder if there is a better way.
"For every nine people who stand in line in front of a locked building, only one will ever come around and check the back door.
"Our progress as a species rests squarely on the shoulders of that tenth person. The nine are satisfied with things they are told are valuable. Person 10 determines for himself what has value." -Za Rinpouche and Ashley Nebelsieck "The Door To Enlightenment"

This is a page about the party I met Phyllis and many other amazing women. Every single one of which, I would call a "tenth person" The Mark Twain quote (another of my favorites) was printed by my friend Deb on canvas and it was a lovely little sailboat and very much NOT me, so I cut it up and added my own touch. I glued the envelope for the invitation to the page and painted the background similar to the canvas colors. After it was dry, I added journaling and put the invitation back into the envelope.
Yesterday, my friend the wonderful Kate, came over for an art day. My aunt Ilene joined us, too. I just love getting together and creating with Kate and Ilene and we had a great art day. My son also was involved in the art making process and made me this picture. He was so proud when I glued it into my journal and used it for a page. The marker drawings in the middle are Jake's and the acrylic paint around the outside is mine. I think this is my first collaboration piece.

One other question I have had about "Mr. Tutt" is what brand of watercolors I used in my watercolor sketch. I have a small set of Windsor Newton travel pans that I take on the go. I use a Koi water brush (I LOVE Koi water brushes, I think they are, by far, the best water brushes) that I can fill with my water bottle or whatever I can find (gas station bathrooms, etc.) when I am travelling. I think that I have answered all the questions about "Mr. Tutt" but if there is anything else you would like to know, I'm happy to tell you about it. As for now, I'd better head off to bed.

The Best Way To Remember

2010-09-11T20:48:00.000-07:00

Nine years ago today, our country suffered a tragic loss. People's lives were changed and it was a dark day.
Four years ago, I remembered the five year anniversary in a hospital while bringing this sweet guy into the world. I can tell you for sure that he is a bright light in my life and the best way to remember September 11th. Happy Birthday Jake! I love you!

Getting Back Into Routine

2010-09-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

Wowzer! I am always amazed by how difficult it is to get my kids back into school. It surprises me every year. I am one of those moms who isn't excited when my kids go back to school but after the summer I've had battling my health, I'm sure they are excited. I've been pretty boring. The last few weeks have been spent traveling and squeezing the last bit of summer out of the year. So most of my creative time has been spent with this little traveling treasure.
This is my altered book art journal. It started out as "Yankee Lawyer: The Autobiography of Ephraim Tutt". I picked it up at the thrift store. I'm not sure how Mr. Tutt feels about me cutting, gluing, and painting over his life story, but I sure am enjoying it. I also pick up bits and pieces from Ephraim Tutt's life and it is fascinating. I like to take it with me because the size is so portable and I use it more to document my daily happenings. At some point I intend to alter the cover too, but until it decides what it wants to be, I will just pack it around "as is". Here are a few of my favorite pages as of late.

The page on the left I painted in the hotel room on a trip to Utah. I was practicing with my acrylics. The page on the right I did about my trip when I got home.

The page on the left, tells about a GREAT day I had last week, when my aunt, Ilene, came over and I introduced her to art journaling. She did a flower similar to this in her art journal and it was AMAZING! I saw the scraps on my desk after she left and wanted to document the day for myself, so I made a sort of replica of her flower in my book, therefore, I can take NO credit for this page. I just wanted to remember the day. The page on the left is about my son's first day of preschool. My baby now leaves the nest two times a week for a couple of hours. I'm not sure I'm happy about that!

One of the things that goes along with my autoimmune issue I'm having is a complete intolerance for the sun. Even a little exposure has made me sick and I have to be very careful now. So, while my family was swimming at Lagoon, I sat under a tree and sketched what I saw. I was just doing a loose pen sketch and trying to work quickly before we headed off to something new. I finished the pen and the underpainting while I was sitting there and added the rest of the watercolor when I got back to the hotel.

I used the map of Lagoon as a base for the page and added journaling and ephemera from the day. I recycled patches of tissue paper to Mod Podge onto the places that needed more coverage and dry brushed a little paint on them.

Used the little notepad from the hotel to make a list, then glued it to a painted background.

Had to document our family's first visit to Chuck E. Cheese (we don't have one where we live) especially since my son ended up with these cute pictures. I copied the pictures on plain paper and used color pencils to color a little background on them. I also used the wrappers from his first PEZ dispenser, which he got when he turned in all of his tickets. Speaking of tickets, I found two in his pockets this morning while I was doing laundry, so I found a place to stick them in too.

This little book has been so much fun to take places. Yesterday, my son went to preschool and I came home and painted. I began a canvas board and an art journal page (in my big journal) and now I am wishing that my house wasn't such a disaster because I am dying to get back to work on both of them. So I am off to finish my housework ASAP. I've got some painting to do! Hope you do too!

Follow Your Painting...

2010-08-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

...wherever it goes. This little painting had a mind of it's own. Very little of it ended up how I thought it would when I began. I started it as a potential greeting card design so I made it a small 5x7. I'll tell you a little secret: I have been trying to build up a little starter Etsy inventory so I can open my very own little Etsy story and fulfill a dream/goal. I, so much, want to get my little art business off the ground. I wanted to make up some small paintings that would be great little card prints. Uplifting, happy, great message, card prints. I started to feel a little panicky about this little painting because each and every time I touched a brush to it, I ended up doing something completely unplanned. Sometimes the trusting is just so hard. Magical, but hard. In fact, after I finished it, I realized that I, completely unknowingly, changed an entire word in my painting. I'm still a little annoyed about that, but I'm trying to take my own advice here and follow wherever it goes. So I'll just have to let it go.
It all began with a piece of vintage map of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, that I picked up at an antique store. I then glazed over it with blue liquid acrylics and a baby wipe. I painted the wings and the heart began as a collage piece, but you would never know because by the time I was done with it, it was completely painted over. The flower petals were painted on book text and the leaves are small green scraps. When I finished the whole thing, I glazed over it with some brown fluid acrylics and a baby wipe, then I added charcoal, because I just love charcoal. Charcoal changes EVERYTHING! Well, that's that! I'm off to bed soon. Tomorrow is a big day! Not only am I going on a little "girl day" adventure with my daughter, but my sister is going to finally get to have her baby. Hopefully this time tomorrow, I will be the aunt of another sweet, wonderful, new baby girl. Wahoo! I'm so excited!

Be The Bright Spot

2010-08-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

This is a little painting I have been working on for a while now. I wanted a VERY textural background so I started with a piece of watercolor paper and added torn bits of book text, some of which was my grandma's. I love using meaningful things in backgrounds. It's like a little hidden treasure that only I know about. Then I added some stamps, a piece of lace, some fabric from the quilt I made for my daughter when she was born, and some random bits of ribbon from my ribbon jar. I then used my sewing machine to sew random spots of stitches here and there. I gave the whole thing a coat of gel medium and then painted over it.

"Be The Bright Spot" 9x12, mixed media, on watercolor paper

And here is my bright spot. It's my daughter's 9th birthday. I can't believe that she is 9. She is the best girl ever and makes my day....each and every day. She is always the one to give hugs and kisses and is so kind. We crazy love her. I have always LOVED making cool birthday cakes and parties for my kids' birthdays but this year, since I have been so sick, I have had to really simplify. I honestly can't do it this year and it's killing me but my daughter doesn't mind. She tells me it's OK and I just love her for that. She is so compassionate. I love this girl! Happy Birthday to my sweet Miss A! LOVE YOU!

Today's Art Adventure

2010-08-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

This week, my little ones, have been showing signs of the big "B" word. That's right. The word that makes moms crazy (at least this mom). The word that kids use when they think that their mom needs to entertain them. Yep! They're BORED! Which means for me that I haven't been spending too much time painting. They were needing something to do and I was needing an art adventure, SO we decided to paint rocks.
Here is my 3 year old's paint experiment. It didn't take him long to finish his rocks, but he thoroughly enjoyed mixing paint and seeing what color he could make his rinse water.
Here is my 8 year old (at least until Monday) working on her masterpieces.
And here's our finished rocks. Since after applying paint to rocks, they are now too special to part with, my kids' rocks are now living in our home on a semi-permanent basis, but mine had a special purpose. My daughter and I headed out to the walking path that runs along the river and left my rocks for others to find.
She helped me find just the right spots for each and every rock and we had a great time trying to decide where to put them and wondering what the people who would find them would think. Where will they end up? Who would be the lucky recipients? Would someone throw them in the river? And if they did, what would the fish think? It's just so exciting to think about.

Hopefully, one of them will brighten someone's day. Because painting rocks just made a pretty happy art adventure for the three of us today. Now hopefully, I can spend tomorrow at my desk getting some painting done on one of the many backgrounds I have started that are awaiting my attention without having to hear the "B" word. Hey! A girl can dream.

More Doing, Less Thinking

2010-07-25T20:01:00.001-07:00

Which is just counterintuitive to me sometimes. What wrong with thinking about things, right? I'm finding that there's nothing wrong with thinking about things, the problem comes with OVER thinking about things. It begins to be a little paralyzing. So I did this little journal page with that in mind. I am learning that if you just sit down and do, all of the answers just fall into place, in the EXACT time that they need to and whether it's art or any other situation we face in life, it's the doing that brings those answers to us.
This page started out with as little thinking as possible. The background was painted over a few painting sessions with the small leftover bits of paint on my palette. I just hate wasting paint (it's so expensive, I think that's where the term "starving artist" came from, the paint's a killer) and my friend, Kate, gave me the idea to just paint it on something for a background later. She's so smart! So I started doing that with my leftover paint and ended up with this background. It was very random and I paid no attention to whether or not I thought certain colors should even "go" together. When I looked at the background, there was this green shape that looked like a leaf, so I added a couple more collage leaves and cut petals from book text, then painted over it with fluid acrylics. I stuck some pieces of collage with NO thought as to where and just started "doing". After I started doodling on them, I realized that one of the collage pieces had only one word on it, "DO", and it was further confirmation that I was on the right track. In the end, I really LOVE how it all came together. The answers came and it was a good reminder that I don't have to have an entire piece planned out in my head. I just need to start and TRUST that is will all come together when the time is right. I still may journal on it later, but for now, it's on to the next project that calls me to just "do something".

Freaky Cats

2010-07-21T20:20:00.001-07:00

Well, here are my "cats in bed" from lesson one in "Drawing Lab". You are supposed to draw them while your resting the paper on a pillow, mattress, or something soft so you have less control over the lines. Obviously I had not much control over the lines. The assignment was to draw 30 or so cats and since I drew a few pages with my non-dominant hand (those are way freaky), I ended up with some pretty goofy looking cats. The page on top is actually the best of the bunch, I think, the rest get progressively scarier.
Then you are supposed to chose a favorite (which is a challenge considering they are all a mess AND I discovered that drawing cats is NOT AT ALL interesting to me) and render it in another media. I was really bored with cats by the time I finished my drawing in bed assignment and needed a way to make my alternate media cat exciting enough for me to be willing to finish it. Then I thought, "I wonder what would happen if I applied some of the techniques I used in my Liesel Lund flower tutorial to this cat...hmmm....well, let's find out". As my art teacher used to remind me, "It's just a piece of paper, what's the worst thing that could happen." (Of course, I would usually smartly respond that a $10 piece of watercolor paper is NOT JUST paper, it's $10! Oh, how she must of loved me.) Oh, how surprised she would be to see me painting this cat:

Whoa! This is one freaky cat. My husband thinks it's kinda cool. He tells me that someone is going to relate to that cat. I'm not so sure, but I do know that it made my cat assignment MUCH more exciting. It kind of reminds me of something else my art teacher used to say to me when I was painting "too tightly" (which was most of the time), "You just need to go out and get drunk before you start painting", which is a problem for me considering I don't drink, but looking at this cat some might wonder about that. But nope! Completely sober.

OK! So I Skipped Ahead!

2010-07-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

Recently, my long anticipated "Drawing Lab" book arrived and much to my absolute excitement, I discovered that one of my all time favorite artists had a tutorial in it. Which I found to be super exciting because whenever I look at her work, I always find myself saying, "How'd she do that?" I am fascinated by her things. She is Liesel Lund and although we have never met, I love her. I check her blog for new things every, single day, I think and when I found that she had posted the pictures from her "Drawing Lab" tutorial, only bigger, I decided to give it a try, even though it was found at the back of the book, I just went for it. So instead of drawing "cats in bed" (lesson 1) I skipped ahead. I NEVER skip ahead. This is SO unlike me. I have to do things in order, especially if a book tells me to. But I was so excited and I just did it.
Here's what I ended up with after following Liesel's tutorial, which can be found on her blog HERE. I started with a teeny, tiny, picture of a pink geranium and "Lieselized" it. This was so much fun. It used just about every type of medium, except collage, and did I mention it was fun? You just have to try it. In fact, I ended up trying it on one of my "cats in bed" (yes, I went back to lesson 1, I'm not completely liberated yet) but I will have to show you that another day. Oh, and here's another great reason to check out Liesel's blog today, she's giving away a copy of "Drawing Lab". Trust me, you really want it.

A Fun Day...

2010-07-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

...and a not so fun follow up.
OK, so I am a little behind in updating my blog, so first let me start with a couple more journal pages I finished while answering the hard questions in Creative Awakenings. First is my things I would wish for if all that was involved is a wave of magic wand. While going through an old magazine, I found the Fairy Godmother. The image was perfect.I having the best time with cutting the edges of my journal pages.
So much fun, in fact, that I cut this one into a lightbulb. I loved it and then I turned it over and realized that I would have to come up with something lightbulb shaped for the back page. And then EPIPHANY! I got it. But you'll have to wait a bit before I show you what it is.
I had a great day on Thursday. I spent the day with Kate in her home. We worked on our journals, we looked through her beautiful journals and collaboration books, learned about Copic markers from Kate's super talented daughter, I met her critters, saw her flags, and had an all around great art day.
Here's Kate and I in her studio. Check out that wall of stamps behind us. Wowzer! Also, please disregard my very round Prednisone face. Argh!!!
Here is Kate's page that she worked on . It was lovely. You can see more of her art HERE.
And here's what I ended up putting on the back of my lightbulb page:

That's right! A question mark. I made it while at Kate's house and I am LOVING that irregular stack of pages that I am making. They just look so cool together. I had a great day with Kate and I hope to do it again really soon. Thank you Kate!

I have been battling a cough for the last couple of weeks and decided on Friday afternoon, that I should probably go in and have it checked out. I have been hesitating because that would have been my third visit to the doctor in a month and that is just crazy! Can you believe I have pneumonia?!!! I just want to bang my head. Apparently when you have an auto-immune issue, little bugs become big bugs rather easily. Now I know. I had to have a shot on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday which brings my grand total of visits in a month to 5! Crazy. And that doesn't even count the opthamologist and the LSA scan and the rheumatologist. I didn't see a doctor that much even when I was pregnant! Gratefully my visit with the rheumatologist is tomorrow. I have been waiting for a month to see him and get an "official" diagnosis and hopefully be on the road to feeling better. I'm tired of living in limbo. I know that tomorrow, my life will change forever, but I'm ready to know...knowledge is power, and I have felt powerless for far too long.

What's More Difficult Than a "Whiny" Page?

2010-07-06T18:10:00.000-07:00

A page about my strengths. That's what!
Still answering hard questions about myself in my "Book of Dreams" and still LOVING the not square edges. I still have a million and one ideas for page edges that I can't wait to try. It's just so exciting. Thank you Ingrid! I thought the "whiny" page I did earlier was difficult, but it turns out, thinking about nice things to say about yourself is even harder. When I thought about strength, the picture of "Rosie the Riveter" came to my mind and then the idea of plane panels with rivets. I started with a collage background and rubbed gray acrylic on with a damp baby wipe. I then used charcoal around the collage pieces and dry brushed with white acrylic. I then added Rosie, my journaling, and metal brads for rivets. I LOVE her.

Book of Dreams

2010-07-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been working on the book "Creative Awakenings" by Sheri Gaynor. I have been s...l...o...wly working on the assignments but I have really enjoyed them. One of the first was to create my "Book of Dreams Journal" to use for the remainder of the exercises. I finally finished the covers on Friday.

First I did some metal embossing. The book suggested silver, but I already had copper so I decided to use it. Then I cut the square in the front and gessoed the whole thing just like the book said. That's when artistic license started to really come in. I really didn't care for just glazing over the gesso like the book suggested so I decided to take the covers out of the spine, and gel medium vintage tissue pattern papers to it and then paint it. Then I glued patterned paper to the inside of the covers, and put the book back together. I wanted my journey to be about the heart so I chose to emboss a heart that would hold meaning for me. The book suggested adding glitter to my metal piece, but once I did, I really didn't like it, so I scraped it off. The scraping took off the alcohol ink from the heart and make it look really interesting, so I left it. Then I was ready to begin working in it.

My kids went with their grandparents camping for the weekend, so I spent all day yesterday, playing with my journal. Good day. My first page was a note to self:And here's the most exciting thing: While perusing my new Art Journaling magazine I came across an article from Ingrid Dijkers about using varied page edges. When I read it I thought, "DUH, why didn't I think of that!" I loved it immediately and found myself thinking about, dreaming about, obsessing about, all the different page edges and shapes I could include in my newly finished book of dreams. No more rectangles for me and it makes me almost giggle.

For the back side of my new not rectangle page, I had to answer a question (honestly) about the last year of my life. I feel a little unsure about sharing this one because, (honestly) this has not exactly been my year and mostly this page comes off as whining to me. It was more difficult than I expected to write a whiny page. I felt so ungrateful. I really do feel grateful about all of the good things that have happened to me but at the beginning of the year when I imagined 2010, it really didn't look like this. Don't get me wrong, I feel grateful, hopeful, and optimistic about things right now, but if I have to (honestly) look at how it's been going, I'm not going to lie. It's not been a party. But I really do like how the colors in this page turned out so I thought I would share. So my suggestion would be to enjoy the colors and EDGES (I really love those) and ignore the rest.

Thinking Alike

2010-07-03T16:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my sweet husband took me out to dinner to celebrate our 18th anniversary. After dinner, I asked him to take me to the Barnes & Noble so I could pick up the new copy of this:Of course, since I was at Barnes & Noble, I had to peruse the art book section, just in case I find something that just makes my heart beat faster. I was visiting with a woman who was looking at the bead art books (I meet the coolest people in the art book section) when another woman began checking out the mixed media books. I noticed she was carrying a copy of "Art Journaling" too and I realized she looked a lot like Kate's (see previous post) picture on her blog. I looked at her and worked up my nerve, "Are you Kate?" It was Kate! Amazing. Although we live in the same city, we had sent messages about getting together, but we just hadn't worked it out yet. Anyhoooo...Kate is wonderful! We visited for about 20 minutes about all the mixed media books as if we had known each other forever. So much fun! Not only were we both carrying the same magazine, but we both were checking out the same book. I ordered this book on Thursday but I was so excited to see it, that I wanted to check it out.I know, I'm impatient, but I am just so excited. And now that I've seen it in person, I'm even more excited. I may or may not have checked UPS 3 times today already just to see where it is now. The holiday is making my little "Drawing Lab" treasure SO SLOW. Kate was looking at "Drawing Lab" also, to see if she wanted to order it herself. What's that about great minds? Oh yeah, that's right. They think alike! It was so great to meet Kate and I look forward to visiting with her again soon.

For Kate

2010-06-24T16:23:00.001-07:00

My friend Kate, (whom I've never met even though we live in the same city) put out a call for "prayer flags" to help her through a difficult time. Read HERE to find out more. I loved the idea and took a spare few minutes to make my contribution.
I hope that it brings her a little bit of happiness on her road to recovery. It was fun to make too. So, if you have a bit of time and would like to send one to her as well, check out Kate's blog and help her cover her backyard in flags.

Life At My House

2010-06-17T18:33:00.001-07:00

It all started with a rash and being unbelievably tired. Then, suddenly, my wrists and ankles started to hurt. Since I had never had joint problems before, I decided that I should head on in to my local clinic. I figured that I had shingles or something. My kids had been sick with a virus and I assumed I had inherited a bug from them. As I told my symptoms to the nice PA, he agreed that I could have a virus but he wanted to take some blood just to rule out something else "more serious". "Like what?" I said. "Oh something like an autoimmune issue, like Lupus for instance." Then he told me that my test results would be back in a few days. He sent me to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for prednisone to help with the rash and inflammation of my joints. I mostly slept and the prednisone made my little fingers swell up like sausages (I had to use one of my kid's Otter Pops to get my wedding ring off). My mom took my kids for couple of days and I slept and added paint slowly but surely to my little bird painting.
Soon the results of my blood tests were in and it was not good. There is definately some sort of autoimmune issue and although they haven't given my an official diagnosis, Lupus is the strong front runner. The rheumatologist is going on vacation, so I won't have any "official" diagnosis until I see him in the middle of July.
I finished my little bird painting and started a new one. I am having to rely on the Lord and others for much more than I like to admit. I really need to invest in more jammies. I am learning to listen to my body more and help it by not piling on lists of to-do's.

"Me & My House"
11x14 mixed media, collage

But even though I feel that my life is changing and that the road will likely be difficult, I am so grateful. Grateful to a PA who picked up on a difficult diagnosis. Grateful for family and friends who support me. Grateful to maybe have answers that give me reason to hope. Grateful to be able to paint. Art is a life saver. It has saved me from difficult times in the past and I know that even though I may be slower, I can still paint and feel the joy that comes from expressing myself. So while I may not be having the best time ever, right now, I am still happy, contented, hopeful and mostly grateful. No need to worry about me!

Join The Fun!

2010-06-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

Only You Hold The Key

2010-06-12T14:59:00.001-07:00

"Only You Hold The Key"

11x14 mixed media on cavas board

I've been working here and there on this little bird for a while now. The idea came to me a few months ago and I have finally finished it. The picture is not the best but I really like my birdie and the message it sends. I have learned that only you have the power to get yourself out of the little "cages" we put ourselves into and this is my interpretation of that lesson. So whatever little cage you find yourself in today, I hope you remember this little bird and find hope in that, somewhere in you is the way out. Go ahead...fly!

To Frame or Not To Frame...

2010-05-31T10:18:00.001-07:00

...that is the question here.
My sister is having her first baby girl after two boys. She bought the cutest little quilt for the nursery and asked me to make canvases of some of the flowers on the quilt for the wall. Well, I came home and promptly painted two of them as I saw them and HATED them. I just couldn't continue. And here is the lesson I learned...when you try to mimic something you haven't created, it will never be "you" and you will never like it or be proud of the work.

So, I started over. I began by laying a foundation of old sheet music, children's book pages, a french lesson book, and scraps of scrapbook paper. Then on each canvas I cut a shape, a butterfly for yellow, a flower and a heart for pink, and a bird for blue. I then painted over the whole thing and wiped away some of the paint to make the foundation show through in places.

Then I used scrapbook paper scraps to cut petal shapes and after sanding and distressing them, glued them all together. I added hand stitching, buttons, and ribbon to each flower and glued them to the canvas using double layers of foam mounting tape for dimension. I like them MUCH better now. I hope my sister does too. Girls don't come along very often in our family so we are all super excited. Now a decision must be made about frames. Should we frame them, leave them as is (I wrapped the paper and painted the sides, too), or should I adhere ribbon to the sides? Decisions, decisions. I think I'll leave that one up to my sister.

The weather has been very overcast and rainy all week so I haven't been able to take any pictures. Here are some of my "Wreck This Journal" pages that I have finished lately.

I decided to choose glitter glue over plain glue. The reason seems obvious. I just LOVE color.

Here is the doodle page. I did it while I was working the Primary Election. Primaries are pretty slow. So I finished this and the page below also.

The only thing on this page originally were the little circles for poking with a pencil. I drew the rest of it with Sharpie's and then poked the holes. So much fun poking holes in books...who knew?

And finally, I received a most awesome gift this week. My mom and friend Deb Evans who owns myvinyldesigner.com asked to borrow my art journal and returned with this:

It is a giant print of my journal page. It is printed on a stretched canvas and it awesome! I crazy LOVE it! I wish the photo could show just how big it is but I can tell you that it is about 2 ft. x 3 ft. and did I say awesome? After they brought it to me, my heart was pounding all day and my mind was racing with all of the possibilities Deb's scanner could bring. It is just so exciting. Well, that pretty much sums up my creative life lately. I'm off to get some more work done.

I'm a Wreckie! Are you?

2010-05-21T12:39:00.001-07:00

After some crazy amazing inspiration, I bought "Wreck This Journal" by Keri Smith last week. I was looking for something to do during the slow moments of working a couple of elections that didn't require me to pack up an entire studio's worth of art supplies and would still be fun enough to hold my attention. Then, I found all the "Wreckies" on flickr.com and the amazing things they are doing with their books. I thought it would be perfect. It is SO much fun.
Here is the cover of the book before it is too "wrecked". You know that it won't remain boring black for very long around me. I fully intend on adding a little color to that cover, which is one of the many instructions found in the book. Along with tearing, scribbling, cutting, collecting, tying a string to it and dragging it along on a walk, taking it to bed with you, and bringing it in the shower. Not to mention about a hundred other crazy creative exercises intended to help you think outside of the box. One thing that I am finding challenging is collecting the stamps from my mail. My mail seems to be pretty boring. Nothing but bills and junk mail that don't have any stamps. I haven't collected a single stamp yet. I need to work on that.

Here's is the page that says "Fill This Page With Circles". You would be able to read it if I hadn't filled this page with circles. I'm nothing if not obedient. This took me a couple of days but it was a great project to work on during the election. You just have to check out the great "wreckie" pages on flickr.com. Search for "Wreck This Journal" and hundreds of pages of "wrecked" inspiration will appear. It's addicting and so much fun. Well, I'm off go rub dirt in my journal. Be back soon.

Happy Birthday Kasey!

2010-05-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

What do you get the 10 year old boy who has everything?
A bunch of shirts! That's what! 20 of them to be exact. I found this little tutorial HERE. There are some amazing things that people can do with dollar bills out there. It boggles the mind. These are a little complicated and it took awhile to fold 20 of them but my dad just gave me five more dollars to fold some for him, and I got them done in no time flat. I guess all that practice has added a new skill to my repertoire but I think I will have to wait until I can regain feeling in my fingertips before I do any more dollar bill origami. $20 (and $5) is hard on the fingers. But they are fun and worth it for my nephew (and dad). We wrote on the card "we heard that you wanted clothes for your birthday, so we got you a bunch of shirts." He wasn't terribly excited about a bunch of shirts until he realized they were hard, cold cash (which is what he wanted for his birthday. Just cash) He loved his shirts and I bet he has never been able to say that before. He is the sweetest boy! I just love him and I can't believe he's 10. Wow! Happy Birthday Kasey! Love you.

Wise Counsel

2010-04-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

Well, the week before last in church, the speaker quoted a talk that I absolutely loved the first time I heard it and I still love when I hear quotes from it. The original talk was given by Elder Wirthlin shortly before he passed away. He talks about finding joy amid trials and how we can love the lessons learned from our difficulties. You can find it HERE if you would like to read the whole talk. It is one great talk and it inspired me to paint a picture in my art journal about it. I liked it so much that I refined it a bit and painted my first (ta-da) canvas board(i.e. real art).
"Wise Counsel" mixed media, painted on 11x14 canvas board.
I even had to practice my signature to sign my piece because I have never painted anything that needed a signature before. This piece started out with a collage of patterned paper, old book pages, old stamps (I knew my old stamp collection would come in handy one day) and gel medium. I painted the rest with liquid acrylics and charcoal. I really kind of LOVE it. Maybe because it's my first "real art", or maybe because of the quote, I don't know but I do know that I love the texture of it. I wish you could see it. I know that as my skills continue to grow, the time will come when I look at it and see "beginner work" but for now, I will just love it for what it is: My first piece.

100!

2010-04-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

How do you know that spring is finally here? Well, I'll tell you. You open the door to find this on your porch.
That, my friends, is a beautiful, handcrafted "mud cake" that my children made just for me. Normally when I find a muddy disaster on my porch, I am not happy, but this muddy disaster 1) was a gift from my kids and 2) means that the ground has thawed enough to be able to make mud, and the thought that spring might stay around for a while makes me ecstatic! Usually, where we live, it is either blazing hot or below freezing. Summer and winter are much longer here and spring and fall usually involve some form of snow. Plus another sign I look for is pansies. When the primroses begin to disappear from the store and the pansies arrive, that means summer is not far behind. And guess what Jake and I smelled on our way out of the store today...that's right...pansies. Wahoo!
As I was signing in to post this, I noticed that this is my 100th post. I can't believe that I have had 100 things to say. Amazing. I know that some people do something fun for their 100th post but I guess this just caught me off guard. So not so fun I'm afraid. But thanks for reading my little blog anyway. It's been great to catch up with friends and meet new ones.
I've been working on a little page in my art journal after my last post. It was inspired by the word "shine" from the Nelson Mandela quote I used. After I finished it, I sat down to read my scriptures and was inspired by another "shine" quote, so I started that one too. I'm still working on it but "shine" seems to be the theme this week.
I truly didn't know where this was going to go when I started it. I just had the word in my head. The painting just led me along. I love the bright colors. I really haven't decided on what medium I prefer. Tonight I am going to "Open Art Night" at the local art guild and I am nervous. My painting is very different from anything that I have seen there but I hope to learn from the artists and have a good time. I just can't decide what to work on. I copied some of my brother's awesome photographs to paint but we'll see. I guess I can always gesso over whatever doesn't work. Well, I guess I had better get some things done so that I can go tonight. And thanks again for sticking around for 100 posts.

Let Your Light Shine

2010-04-13T15:56:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this little journal page for a couple of weeks now. I knew I wanted to add a quote but nothing seemed right until the other day when I was reading my friend, Chris' blog and she had this one posted on the side. I had never noticed it before (I don't know why) but that day I did and I knew immediately where it belonged. Then when I began to glue down the words, I knew again that this was where it belonged because, it fit perfectly on the collagey (made up that word) area (which by the way, the little guy I was watching last week informed me was "the color of poo". Everyone's a critic). I LOVE this quote and since it is pretty small, here it is:
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear it that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; It's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." -Nelson Mandela

Great quote, huh? Thanks Chris for this and the inspiration. Not only did it finish this little page but gave me an idea for the next one I have started. You are the best!

A Sketch A Day

2010-04-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

I have been working to improve my drawing ability lately, so I have started a sketch a day journal. I sometimes don't have time in my busy day to get a big drawing done but I know that I can complete this tiny rectangle each day, without being overwhelmed. As soon as I am overwhelmed, I start to panic and when something I'm working on becomes more stressful than fun, I have a hard time finishing it. This is just a way to make sure I have at least a few minutes of drawing done each day, no matter how simple.

So far, I've kept it up for a week and it's still fun. Well, I'm off to do the not so fun task of feeding my family.

The Family That Paints Together...

2010-04-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

...needs lots of stain remover.

We are having a great Easter today. We've been watching conference and I made Sunday dinner. That's a big deal because normally I take Sunday off. The rule on Sunday is: If you can find it, you can eat it. Oh, and also, don't wake me up from my Sunday nap! Anyhooo, after dinner the kids and I got out the paints (Alexis got new ones for Easter, lucky girl) and we've been painting.
Here's Alexis' watercolor. She painted it in her new art book. She is an awesome painter.

Here's Jake's painting. I LOVE the colors on this. Usually he doesn't want to join in the paint fun, but today, he really enjoyed himself.

And finally for a declaration I made in my art journal:

I never call myself that. It comes with much uncertainity and fear, but alas, there it is, I have said it. I don't know what that means for me yet, but I'm open to finding out. We're off to watch some more conference and clean the paint off my son's hands. He's freaking out about having messy hands. How is it that I love waking up with paint stains on my hands but my 3 year old can't cope with it? That seems backwards to me. Oh well, have a good Easter.

Brown Baggin' It

2010-04-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

After seeing THIS post on Pam Garrison's blog, I decided to use some of her doodles to practice my ink sketching. Pam Garrison is an incredible artist and I LOVE her art journaling. I had this bag sitting on my desk and decided it would be the perfect thing to practice on. No expensive paper to ruin equals no pressure if it turns into a disaster. Just wad it up and toss it.
Here's my Pam Garrison inspired doodles on the back of the bag. I've been painting it a little here and there when I'm not working on another project but want to improve my painting skills.

I really like how it turned out. It's been a fun, "no pressure" little practice piece. You will just have to be surprised what I turn it in to. Actually, so will I. I'm not sure exactly what to do with it yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something. I'm always open to suggestions.

Some Weeks Are Like That

2010-03-28T09:13:00.001-07:00

Balance seems to bee one of the recurring themes in my life. I seem to gravitate towards all or nothing. I either clean my house or paint. I either spend all day working on a project or all day playing with my son. I am constantly reminding myself that I need to do a little bit of each daily in order to feel more balanced. And also that the perfectionism has to be relaxed a little. I can have a clean kitchen floor but probably not one you would want to eat off of, and that's OK. I don't have the time to spend on the things that really keep me grounded when I'm spending all of my time on cleaning. Clean is clean enough. Organized? Well, that's a different story. Let's not talk about that one, shall we?
This week I had a bazillion things to do but in the end, I felt like I balanced them pretty successfully. I really tried to do things a little at a time and it really does make for a better week. We women sure do have a lot of things to do. Here's hoping that we all have a balanced week this week. Good luck with that.

Happy Birthday Lexie!

2010-03-25T11:13:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a year since our family welcomed Lexie. We were so excited to finally have another girl and my sister in law was especially excited to finally get a girl in their home. She's certainly the princess in our family and she really likes me. Aunt Jo is her favorite. Well, OK, Grandpa probably is, but he cheats because he feeds her ice cream. How am I supposed to compete with ice cream? My sister in law asked me to make Lexie's birthday cake and here it is.
And, because, what would a first birthday be without Lexie's own cake to destroy? Here's a little one just for her. I try to make little cakes from buttercream because fondant is just too hard for one year olds to find the cake. The get bored with it and give up.
Well, I'm off to spend the next 6 hours protecting my creation from my 3 year old and look for my kitchen under all of the cake stuff. I'm sure it's there somewhere. Then we'll go to this sweet girl's birthday party.

Happy Birthday Lexie! I LOVE you.

More Art Journal Pages

2010-03-24T07:25:00.000-07:00

Just taking a few minutes to share some more pages from my art journal. I have been spending most of my extra minutes, here and there, working in my journal. It has been a great experience for me. Some people call it cheap therapy, but in all honesty, I've probably spent enough on art supplies to afford at least an hour from a good therapist. Yikes! But I am LOVING experimenting with different types of paints and techniques. If there was an art supply store around here, I'd probably spend more trying all different types of paints and things. LOVE IT!
This page is about courage (obviously) and since I NEVER seem to use purple, I decided to be brave and force myself to do something purple. I wrote all the things that I didn't want people to see in 3 different colors of Sharpie going 3 different directions then painted over it with diluted gesso. Then I laid down a purple watercolor wash and began splattering it with some glittery watercolors, just to see what would happen. The metallic watercolors acted somewhat like a salt resist and then I splattered it all with rubbing alcohol for an additional resist pattern. It looked really cool once it dried. The henna pattern is based on one that I found somewhere on the internet.

Here I was just playing around with my acrylics and came up with this background. I also had been sketching faces. I love the quote by Da Vinci and before long it became this in my mind.

Well, I'm off to make a 1st birthday cake for my niece and the good news is, there are no birthdays in April so this is the last one for a while.

Hope & Beauty

2010-03-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a little page from my art journal. It is a little primitive, but that's kind of what I was going for. Many years ago, I had the opportunity to take some watercolor lessons from Ruth Sauerbreit when I lived in Pocatello. Ruth is an amazing artist and I loved learning from her. After my kids came along, I let life take over and my paints and brushes ended up dusty in the basement. Little by little, while working with my art journal, they have found their way into the light, and I have missed them! It's like finding old friends.

I tend to paint everything "tight" instead of just letting things go and going with the flow. Once Ruth told me (jokingly, I think) that I needed a few drinks to loosen me up. Which is tricky considering I don't drink. I just needed to care less about what I was painting. That's what I am trying to accomplish with my art journal. I'm learning to not care what it looks like, as long as I have a good time making it. All without the use of alcohol. I just keep reminding myself that if it really is attrocious, I can just cover it with gesso, and Mod Podge and make it all go away.

Anyway...the story behind this page is: I have been struggling this winter and when I saw the new primroses at the store, I was so excited. Primroses mean that spring really is on the way! After it snowed a few weeks ago, I decided I couldn't wait for spring and when the primroses went on sale, buy 2 get 1 free, Alexis and I picked out 3 for the kitchen windowsill. I love those things. They are absolutely beautiful. Then my son brought home a cup of dirt from Primary on Sunday with what I can only assume are seeds buried in it. Jake wasn't really full of much information on the specifics but he was really excited so we put the cup next to the primroses for some sun. As I was looking at my beautiful primroses next to Jake's cup of dirt, I was reminded that the primroses once started out as a cup of dirt too. With a little hope and care, who knows what can become of a little cup of dirt. That's what I am reminded of every time I look at my kitchen windowsill.

Know a Deserving H.S. Senior?

2010-03-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

I just have a quick minute before I head out the door, but I wanted to let you know about my most amazing friend Bree's contest over at her blog. Bree is a super talented photographer here in Eastern Idaho and her business, THE FRAME is having a contest. They will be giving away a FREE senior class picture session to the most deserving senior people send into vote on. Believe me, a free photo shoot with The Frame would be AMAZING. If you have a senior in mind you have got to nominate them. But hurry up. The nominations end tonight at midnight. You have to check out all the details on her blog and while you are there, be sure to take a look at all of her amazing photos. You can find the details HERE. Well, I'm off. Have a good one everybody.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

2010-03-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

Today is my nephew Tyler's 4th Birthday. He found a Star Wars cake at the Wal-Mart with little guys on it and their tiny light sabres lit up. Needless to say, I was off the hook in the cake department. How could I possibly compete with tiny light sabres THAT LIGHT UP! They were really spiffy. He kept going between Transformer and Star Wars for his birthday party theme, so he had mostly Star Wars with a Transformer pinata. My son and I went to the store to find him a present. We planned on getting something either Transformer or Star Wars. Imagine our excitement when we found a Star Wars Transformer. Well, of course, we had to get that. What could be more perfect? We came home to wrap it and my daughter offered to make a birthday card (of the hook, again). When she showed it to me, I just had to take a picture.
This is the front. She made cake that was black and orange with tiny light sabres for candles. Isn't that the smartest thing? Well, maybe I'm a little biased, but you have to admit, that's pretty clever.
Here's the inside. Two Star Wars guys holding, what else, but light sabres. Tell me that is not the cutest thing! Tyler recognized them immediately, so I know she knew what she was doing. I loved this card. I could have spent 4 hours making a most amazing card that would have nothing on this one. Love my girl!

While my kids were at the party I came home and did a little painting in my art journal. I am really loving that thing. I might even share but the light at night is not so good for picture taking, so maybe I'll take a picture tomorrow.

Well, I'm off to bed. Happy Birthday, once again, to my sweet little Tyler man. Your aunt Jo loves you tons.

Well, Here Goes

2010-03-15T16:42:00.001-07:00

The last little while I have been working on art journaling but I've been too chicken to share my creations.

Well, Friday was NOT a good day. Everything seemed to be going wrong. I was sad and mad and down right depressed. I came home and wrote a stream of consciousness entry in my journal and when I got done I found it to be mostly not nice things about myself. It made me mad so I took my watercolor crayons and scribbled over what I had written. Then I poured a puddle of gesso onto it and smeared it around. I ended up with WAY too much gesso so I used a plastic knife to scrape some of it off. It left a cool texture so I left it. Then I just left it alone to dry. I decided to make a trip to the bookstore after the kids went to bed. I LOVE going to the bookstore. The art books and magazines (can you say Somerset Studio?) make me happy and excited to work on something new. I had decided to buy the latest Somerset Studio, Art Journaling magazine. I'd had my eye on it for a while but it costs $15. After the day I was having, I was mad and I was buying it! When I got to the bookstore, I searched high and low for my magazine and guess what? That's right. It was gone. I was so disappointed. And I added it to things to ticked off about. I was just going to leave and go home and sulk but I decided that since I was there, I would just go look at the art books. It didn't take long for me to feel better and I was glad that I didn't just go sulk. I was just about to leave when I found this:

Journal Bliss by Violette. She's so cool, she's like Madonna or Prince. She only needs one name. She even lives in a purple house. I loved her doodles, the colors, the textures. It spoke to me and I became an owner. I came home and read the first page. She begins with telling you to put on your "magical boots" as you begin your art journal. I looked at my gessoed over ugliness and became determined to turn it into something happy. I decided to make myself some "magical boots" (pink, of course). I used watercolors, alcohol resists, acrylics, permanent ink pens, old book pages, glitter, charcoal pencil, and two kinds of Mod Podge. And I ended up feeling SO MUCH better because I turned all those ugly things I had floating around in my head into a pair of "magical boots". How often can you say that?

So there it is. My own magical boots. Shiny and glittery and pink. I love them so much. I'm not sure how often I will share my journal. It's still a little hard for me to just smear paint around and make a mess although I am getting better at it. And let's face it, messy paint is so much fun.

Happy Birthday Karon!

2010-03-13T11:31:00.001-08:00

Here is my final cake for the week. It is for my mother-in-law's 70th birthday. We are having a family get together this afternoon to celebrate and my sister-in-law asked for a small cake. This is my first real attempt at gum paste roses and they were super fun. I am so grateful that they turned out! I hope she likes the cake. She is such a great mother-in-law. I love, love, love my husband's family. They are so great. Whenever I hear someone's mother-in-law horror stories, I give a silent prayer of gratitude that I have been blessed with such a good one.

Well, I'm off to get ready for the big party. I have an entire week before I have to start thinking about the next cake. I'm grateful that there isn't a single birthday in April. I can have a little break from cake.

Happy Birthday Isaac!

2010-03-11T16:52:00.001-08:00

Today is my nephew, Isaac's 2nd birthday. I can't believe that he is already 2. Time goes by so quickly. My sister asked me to make him a train cake and this is what I came up with. I hope that he likes it. I also hope that nobody is offended by the disaster behind this cake. I just barely finished it and am currently sitting with my hair in a towel, as I speak. In fact, if I don't make this quick, Isaac's cake won't make it to the party on time. Needless to say, I didn't have time to set up a beautiful backdrop and professional lighting. It is really "true to life".

I so LOVE my niece and nephews like my own and I hope that Isaac has a great day and enjoys his party. Which reminds me, I better get going.

More Digital Learning

2010-03-08T14:36:00.001-08:00

I haven't had a chance to work on my Jessica Sprague class in a while. I have been working on my art journal and making cakes. I made a giant blue and gold cake for our Cub Scout's banquet and this week I am making a train cake for my sweet nephew and a small cake for my mother-in-law's 70th birthday. So this is probably my only post for the week. After that I am making a cute 1st birthday cake for my niece. March is turning out to be a busy cake month around here.

Here is my latest creation for Jessica's class. Once again, most of this was already done, but I did learn about brushes in Photoshop. Those are pretty cool. Well, I'm off to get my house in order to work on cakes the rest of the week. Hope you all have a good one.

Digi-Jolene

2010-02-19T21:59:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been quite the digital learner during the last few days. I not only finished my first Jessica Sprague lesson, but I finished the bonus lesson too. And I don't want to brag or anything (well, maybe a little) but I aced the little test at the end. I also learned about organization and found myself learning about and buying ACDSee software to organize my growing collection of digital stuff. Here's the bonus page I made.
Once again, it was finished for the most part and I just followed along with the instructions. Not alot of creativity was used here. I certainly can see myself as more of a "hybrid" scrapper. I love the options with digital but I'm not big on flat pages. I AM big on the idea that I can put together some great pages in less time, because, while I LOVE cutting and using glue, I have come to the realization that I am, in fact, a busy mom who would like to focus what little creative time I have on other projects too. Not to mention, I need to become a little more technically savvy. Don't want to get left further behind, you know. For those of you who are worried that I am going totally digital...I promise that I will continue to play with real, live paper. I could never give that up. I have loved paper my whole life and I don't see that changing.

Looky What I Did!

2010-02-18T18:07:00.000-08:00

One of my goals for this year is to learn how to become proficient on the Photoshop. My parents gave me Elements 7 last year for my birthday and I have only the very basics down. So I bought a book (thank you mom!) and an online course from Jessica Sprague. This is my first project. Now in all honesty, she has most of this done for you and you just follow her instructions to add in all the details, but, still, I'm pretty proud of myself. Yay me! I made it through lesson one of my course.
If you're ever finding yourself wanting to be more Photoshop saavy, Jessica is your girl.