Sunday Thought

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

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...

...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

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

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

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

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!