While I was creating my interpretation for the week 40 of the Documented Life prompt, I was reminded of how my husband and I met.
We had a chance meeting at a dance club here in NM 30 years ago and it was love at first sight. The club was named after the car on the page but alas the club no longer exists.
We lived away from NM for 25+ years and since we moved back 5 years ago, we haven’t been able to figure out where the club was located. Did it ever exist or was it just magic? Hum….
Surprise, I joined another group. Documented Life Project - 2014. I’ve always wanted to combine a planner and art and this was the best way for me at the moment.
I made the journal I’m using for the project using letter sized file folders and my sewing machine. I wasn’t sure the sewing machine wouldn’t tear the paper but it didn’t. It’s holding up really well. The gesso I add to it will strengthen the seam line.
Wk – 47 - Ojo Landscape – This is a spa we frequent in Northern New Mexico named Ojo Caliente. We love the place and I painted this after our last trip…This is a picture of the cliffs that are next to the hot springs pool. The spa has them lit up at night and they are beautiful. They even look cool when you’re in the pool as the snow is falling as it did this last trip in November.
Wk – 48 Gratitude – What else would you journal about over the Thanksgiving weekend?Quotes this time as there are too many, to name, things to be grateful for.
Wk 50 – Dream Vacation – As long as I’m dreaming I might as well go in a hot air balloon.
What new groups have you joined recently?
Thank you for your service.
The tag says:
Thank you for the sacrifices you and your families are making.
Our Vietnam Veterans have taught us that no matter what our positions
may be on policy, as Americans and patriots, we must support all of our soldiers with our thoughts and our prayers. ~~ Zack Wamp
Today is also the 8th anniversary of my dad's death. He was a vet having served during WWII, stationed in France. Miss you dad!
Ever since we moved into our new home and my new studio, I can’t concentrate on one art or craft technique. I want to do it all and there are just not enough hours in a day. So what happens? Well, a whole lot of little crafty items that I normally wouldn’t do.
So other than getting the studio set up, and that’s not done to my satisfaction yet either, it’s a whole lot of little “getting to know you again” projects, most of which are inspired by Pinterest In fact, I’m blaming 50% of my craft ADD on Pinterest; 25% on the unpacking of some of the supplies that have been in storage for 2 years; and the other 25% is just my natural tendency to flit from technique to technique.
So what have I been up to? And just so you don’t think I’m exaggerating, here is some proof of my actual “craftiness”.
This first one is directly attributable to Pinterest. If you use Pinterest, tell me you haven’t seen this before? I made it for my grandson’s room in our house.
Then I decided I wanted to add Crochet lace around the edge of some, not yet made, homemade pillow cases. :) However, I didn’t know how to crochet, so I had to teach myself to crochet. And yes, with Pinterest help, I found some great sites that would teach me how to crochet. (Sensing a theme here?) My first project was a scarf…just as winter was waning.
Second crochet project is a multicolored afghan that I’m working on at night as I watch TV if it isn’t too hot to work on. It does get warm under all that yarn.
Recently I’ve let my hair grow, at my husbands request, I might add. So much so that it’s getting in my face and annoying me. So before I cut it, I decided to make some barrettes using blanks I found at Hobby Lobby. Here are the first 3 I made….any body who snickers will be….What? Patted on the back for having good taste? Yeah.
The barrette below was finished yesterday and I do like this one. The main body of the barrette was made from a watch band that belonged to my mother. The actual watch part was missing and all that was left was the cool looking band and the glass crystal face. So I removed the bottom portion of the band leaving only the decorative portion. Then I found a metal shank button that seemed to be made just for this piece. I removed the shank and glued the button to the glass crystal using some E6000 glue. When it was dry I glued the piece you see here to the barrette blank. After drying for 24 hours, it’s ready for use.
What’s next? Yesterday I finished digging out a 13’ x 4’garden plot and I plan to do some Square foot gardening. It’s not crafty but it’s something we’ve been wanting to do for the last 2 years. I’m a little sore from all that digging.
As for crafting/Art, if I made a list of everything I want to do, I’ll drive myself crazy.
I‘m having fun but why can’t I just win the lotto so I don’t have to work for a living? My husband says “You have to play to win.” Oh yeah, there is that.
Hi again. It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I hope you haven’t all moved on to someone funnier, smarter and who posts much more than I have been lately. But if you have, I totally understand. :)
Until lately, I’d been completely uninspired to do any art work. Back in November we learned that due to our short sale in 2010 we wouldn’t qualify to buy a new home for at least another year. It didn’t matter that we had enough saved to pay 20% down. It was depressing.
I hated renting….especially renting from someone who was more than a little anal about his lawn…of all things. We lived in that house for over a year and never fully moved in, if you know what I mean. We never wanted to make the rental a home and get complacent about living there. So it was depressing to find out that we would have to stay for yet another year.
But My Guy and I decided to get creative. Instead of going for a conventional mortgage we decided to look for a home whose seller was willing to finance the purchase. I’d done it before so I had no qualms about it. But we had a lot of “Wants” and “Must haves” so we were sure it was going to take a while. We got lucky, after few short weeks of looking we found one and WE MOVED!! Packing, moving, cleaning, unpacking, rearranging etc… it all takes a while.
Among the wants and must haves was a studio/office for me. This place has a detached studio space that is 18’ X 15’ ---how cool is that? Here are some pictures of the space just before I moved in.
This is my art side: Love those shelves! I plan a painting area, a paper crafting/collage area and a sewing area. I have lots of fabric that’s still in storage that I want to pull out and play with. I also have glass and plates to mosaic with and I want to paint furniture..see there is no end to those “wants.”
This is my office side….there is room for a desk, file cabinets and printer on this side.
And it has two huge windows on the north and west side.
I’m excited about the possibilities. To date I have moved in, the shelves are filled, but it’s not exactly right yet. It’s a work in progress.
Speaking of work, my first journal page in weeks:
Thanks for stopping by, Come back again soon. I hope not to make a stranger of myself for too much longer.
I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to paint or post this week. It’s been a busy week. We had two birthdays this week. My G’s have a birthday only 1 day apart. Little G is 2, and Big G is his Papa. We had a lovely birthday birthday dinner for Big G on Monday and although Little G’s birthday was on Tuesday, we’re having a birthday party for him on Saturday complete with 10 or 11 other little ones.Yikes! And we still have gifts to assemble. Oh my!
Here are my two birthday boys, Little G loves his grandpa, and wants to go everywhere with him.
This is what I worked on this week:
Linking to Paint Party Friday!
Even though I have a office/studio I have been spending awful lot of time in there due to my day job (I work out of my home). So last night I sat down in the dining room to start this drawing and noticed the picture of my grandson laying close to me. I started looking at the shadows on his face and decided to use them on this girls face. Is that weird? Have you ever done that?
Yesterday I mentioned that I’m happy if the eyes line up. Well, I just noticed that one eyebrow is higher than the other. I’m glad I saw it while I still have the chance to fix it. I don’t want her to look like she plucks funny.
My husband thinks she resembles Christina Ricci. I think he must have been squinting and looking away when he came up with that. ;-P (see my last post) Just kidding, honey pie!
Oh yes, this is my little inspiration (but not the same photo). He was 22 months yesterday. He’s proudly sporting his new haircut and new shoes. I’m not fishing for comments but isn’t he adorable?
On March 28th, my husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. If you’re married you know marriage isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination. But to be lucky enough to remain in love all those years is a freaking miracle … A miracle that I am so grateful for every day of my life.
We celebrated our 25 years by going to one of our favorite places, San Diego, CA. We have always loved San Diego for it’s weather, for the people, the art and especially the beach. Even though we haven’t spent as much time there as we would liked to have, we have some wonderful memories there. We got engaged in San Diego so it was the perfect place to go for our 25th.
Here is my journal page about the trip. Simple but true:
This page is for Darlene in our traveling art journal group.
This is from the previous day. The page background is made of stencil prints. That is, the paint left over on the stencil which I turned onto a blank page then lifted--> print made. I really liked the print and couldn’t bring myself to write on it. Below is a better view of the print.
Here it is with the tags moved out of the way.
Here is a picture of our little prince…just turned 19 months old. He is getting so big.
If you will recall my posts, stretching out over several months, whining that I didn’t have a space to call my own for art….well, no more whining (well not about that subject anyway). We’ve moved and I have my own space again. Yay!
It took me about a month to find the “right” rental house. By “right” house, I mean big enough, cheap enough and in the right location. The more inexpensive rentals were on the west side but neither My Guy nor My Girl wanted to live there…too windy and dusty. But now were are close to Little Man’s daycare, and both My Guy & My Girl workplaces and in an area we all like. Little man is loving having his own room, with enough space for all his toys, and not sharing with Nana’s office.
So, now I don’t have any excuse to not make art. So this is my first piece in the new space …. trying to get back in the groove again AND work on the next Traveling Art Journal. I’ve only had that journal in my hands for a month. (sorry but I did have a good excuse…moving)
Yellow is a happy color isn’t it! I feel happy to have my own refuge again.
One year ago today this little guy made his first appearance.
Since then he’s grown so much:
At 1 month: Here’s what I think of Skype.
2 months - A Post it, really? Sorry G, it’s tradition.
3 months - Shssh, I’m getting my beauty sleep
4 months - I love these fish
5 months - Tell Santa what you want
6 Months - Yes. I eat carrots, what of it?
7 Months - Mom, don’t kiss me in front of my friends.
8 Months - Just as long as it’s not bedtime after this bath.
9 Months - Yes Nana, I did brush both of my teeth.
10 Months - There has to be more toys in here
11 Months - The guys say I look cool in these duds.
12 Months - Finally, my own slice of pizza.
It’s been a while since I blogged. It’s not a self imposed stoppage, just been so busy with other things that I haven’t gotten around to it.
Here’s what been keeping me busy 8 am to 5 pm most days:
However, last weekend I was asked to help out at booth at the Oasis Gift show, a wholesale show. It was a 2 day show with set up the day before. The booth next to ours was one named Poetic Earth and they sold the loveliest leather handbags and journals. Well, I’m not one to turn down a good deal on something I love so I bought this, at wholesale no less. It’s a 7” x 10”, 220 pages of handmade paper, book full of Awesomeness! Regular retail price is $79.00 and I paid $35.00, making it even more wonderful.
I also scored a walnut flute for My Guy.
So in an effort to get back in the groove of creating art I worked on this background page. I figure if nothing else, I can work on some background pages. I’ve got another one in progress but not so far along that I want to show it.
The journal paper takes paint well, without tearing or pilling. My last journal, while I loved the feel of the paper, it didn’t hold up under scrubbing or erasing. This one appears to be much better.
This weekend I had a wonderful excuse for not creating art. This weekend my guy and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary. We drove to Santa Fe for the weekend and stayed at the La Paloma Bed and Breakfast, visited a lot of wonderful art galleries and ate some great food, and just had a wonderful time in general. Having two whole days alone with my husband and best friend was simply awesome. We have already planned on visiting again on our 2nd 24th anniversary. (our 48th) LOL.
365 Creativity - Day 8
Well I’m so far behind on my 365 creativity art journal it’s not even funny. I haven’t had any creative play dates in quite a while. Too many other things going on to be make art. Oh hell, that’s a lie, with the exception of the busy weekends, I just haven’t felt like working on art. I’m feeling stifled and I can’t concentrate on it.
I’m feeling like the person in the anecdotal story told by Julia Cameron about the artist she knew that couldn’t create because he didn’t have a large art studio and the space he did have was too small for him to paint in. And a year later when he finally got the studio space he wanted, he started painting tiny works of art. And yes his original space had been large enough to create the tiny works -- had he found the motivation to actually work.
I’m very much like that. Half of my art supplies and my office equipment are sharing a room with my precious grandson but if I don’t get the supplies I need from that room before 7 pm, well, I’m out of luck. When I feel that I may get stuck without the supplies I need, I think ‘why start if I may not be able to use what I need?’ It’s a damn excuse and a lousy one at that. I’ve moved enough of my supplies to the dining room to make due and yet still I can’t work. Why? Another excuse -- The dining room is not “my room”, know what I mean?
Damn it, I miss my California studio. It was tiny (8 x 10) but it was mine. It was messy but the mess was mine and I didn’t have to clean it up immediately if I didn’t want too. All my art stuff was where I could see it. Now some is still packed away in boxes in the garage, some is in the Nursery/Office/NoLongerStudio and the rest in the dining room hidden in the buffet or desk. Everything all put away so it looks neat and tidy.. Choke, choke ARGH !!!
And yet the following pages say everything I need to know in a few words….If only I would really listen to the message. I need to start seeing my flowers again.
These flowers are a rubber stamps on math book pages, colored with watercolor pencils. The colored circles on the left and right side of the pages is also a rubber stamp on math book pages and colored with gel pens. The challenge was to transform an old book into something new. Obviously I didn’t use a whole book just enough to get the spirit of the challenge. Some of the flowers were stickers from the $1 bin at JoAnn’s.
What excuses are you using for not being creative? I want to hear yours.
Yeah, I’ve been in a very pissy mood lately. Family issues started it and my job isn’t making it any better. My day job, as you may know from prior posts, is in tech support and for the last two weeks I have been dealing with a, much more than usual, number of people who just don’t read for comprehension. Or don’t listen. Why, why do you call someone for help and then refuse to listen to what they say? You are wasting my time and yours. So stop it!!
It really doesn’t bother me when someone doesn’t know how to use the computer, in my industry, I kind of expect it. What makes me pissy is when I have to repeat myself 3 times to get them to hear me (and no they are not physically deaf) or if they think they know what they are doing so they jump ahead and we have to start all over again. I don’t know how many times I have said “Do this and when this happens, let me know but don’t click on anything”…..and they click anyway. I wish I could say ‘if you knew what you were doing you wouldn’t have to call me. So stop it!! ‘
Last week I emailed a co-worker and told her “if Jonesy (name made up to protect the not so innocent) calls back, tell her I died and went to (insert program name here) hell.” Sure enough the “Jonesy” emailed me saying she didn’t understand the instructions. Yeah, what a surprise! These are the same instructions I’ve been sending out for over a 2 years to other people who did understand them just fine. “I’ll send you pictures next week” I said, if I haven’t blown my head off by then.
This is a result of my pissiness:
I designed and made a quick Christmas ornament with my Cricut and my Make the cut software. But I have exported the file into an SVG so that it is usable with other die-cutting programs. It’s very simple and quick to make:
You can download the file from here: FrameOrnament.svg but do it this way: Right click the link and choose “Save link as….”
This is how it looks:
The cute family is my girl, her husband and of course, the always cute Little G. Can you tell I adore them?
Merry Chrismas all.
Just thought you’d like to see an updated photo of my grandson, Gregory. Here he is inspecting the art on the playmat in his room at Grandma’s. Yes, he has his own room at our house too.
He’s almost 4 months now and we have been having a grand time getting to know each other all over again. Although it’s easy to get a big smile from him these days, he’s still a very serious little boy. He seems to study everything intently. He is especially fond of ceiling fans and his friend Scout. LOL!
Saturday will be our last full day in California. We're almost done packing and we leave Northern California on Saturday morning. We'll be on the road all day and spend the night in Needles. By Sunday morning we'll leave the great state of California (and I do mean that sincerely) and head to our new home and new life in NM.
It's hard to believe it's already time to go and, at the same time, it's taken a long time to get here. I've made my peace with the notion that we are moving and, in fact, I'm really looking forward to it. Excited you might even say. I have plans.... big plans. They involve children, grandchildren, reaching out to family and friends, a new art studio, hiking, biking and more.... My head is spinning just thinking about it.
Needless to say I haven't created much art lately, well, not unless you call lettering "Studio" on packed boxes art. No, I don't either.
Good news, my guy got a job offer in New Mexico on Thursday and he starts October 11th. They are giving us a lot of time to get there and get settled before he starts. The timing couldn't be better. It's such a relief. He's been looking a long time. So I guess it's all meant to be.
It's late, got to pack some more so I'll say goodbye from California. Talk to you again from New Mexico. Wish us luck. Waves Bye.
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