Yesterday was the last day of my staycation,
and the weather was gorgeous.
After playing in the garden I packed a lunch,
armed myself with my camera and copy of
Creative Wildfire, and headed to the beach
to join my boyfriend for a boat cruise.
A recent storm really made a mess of his lobster traps.
At one point while the engine was idling, he realized the
rope had tangled around the rudder.
All traps were filled with seaweed,
and some had only female lobsters.
This big mama was loaded with eggs.
The tails are notched before getting thrown back
so that if they are trapped again,
the next person will know it's a female, and
should return it to the water.
In between taking over 300 photos, I read my
Creative Wildfire by L.K. Ludwig from cover to cover.
I am so impressed that this book includes a blank journal
made from the makeready (waste from printer
calibration tests) and scraps (mill ends).
I love that in addition to her advise on art journaling,
she includes interviews and insights from 21 other
contributing artists, (including my favorites; Teesha Moore,
Mary Ann Moss and Misty Mawn).
Earlier in the morning, I stumbled upon her site,
and learned about her really big sale on her
online workshops from Aug 20th - Sept 13th.
If you sign up before Sept 20th, your name gets included
in a chance to win a signed copy of her book.
If you should visit her site, I highly recommend that you
take a few minutes to listen to her visual jounaling
manifesto on podcast.
I wound down my day with some experimental playing
with my knew nib pen and Daler Rowney Acrylic
Artist Ink. I'm in heaven with this stuff.
I made a flower collage with a pattern from
Carrie Huber of 40th and Plum, using pretty
polkadot scrapbook paper, vintage dictionary pages
and distress inks and charcoal.
It was a glorious staycation day!~
I have taken 3 badly needed days off from work this week.
It started with a road trip out of town to see family.
During the 2-1/2 drive, I stitched on these black cats.
They are made of felt, embellished with floss,
needlepunch, beads and a skeleton fish bones charm.
They are extra-weighted,
which makes them a great door stopper.
I started this day with leisure browsing on the
computer. Usually, I squeeze in as much as I can
before I'm running out the door late for work.
This day will be spent on errands, a little housework
a little homework, and setting goals for the next 3 days.
I want to work or plan on some new projects.
These cigar boxes will be collaged and altered,
once I figure out exactly HOW I'm going to do it.
I have a cigar shop nearby, and I happened to stop in
recently, and to my amazement had a huge selection
to choose from.
I enjoy making needlepunch toppers for boxes,
and just might have a couple designs in mind.
Hopefully, if I'm productive in the next few days,
I'll be posting some of my plans.
Please visit American Holiday Artists
to learn about their giveaways,
and announcement of their new artists studio
Grand Opening!
I have not been blogging for 3 weeks.
It all started when my hard drive was zapped,
and then my mom's hard drive was zapped as well.
I feel as though it was the blue screen virus...
my computer hero thinks I just had some bad luck,
but it's all behind me now.
Subsequently, I needed to take time to re-install
programs, and figure out what I lost....
and realized staying off the computer for a while,
allowed me to focus on projects that needed
my full attention....
I also highly recommend this site
for backing up your valuable documents.
As a bonus, you can access your files
from any computer remotely.
I'm going to do the same thing for my son
before he goes back to college.
If his laptop fails, he can still do his studies
from the library if necessary.
Peace of mind for about a $1 a week!
My biggest project lately, was the decision to install
a farmer's porch....
Look what we found under the existing porch!
So all the shrubs (except 3 special dwarf lilac shrubs)
were extracted to the woods, and construction began.
EVERY day at 7:00 SHARP!
Going to the dump!
3 weeks later we have a beautiful farmer's porch,
and new black shutters.
Today we are washing the walls and floor,
and we can begin enjoying our new porch!
I will spread the loam, and prepare to
transplant the plants I removed....
and draw up a plan for my new garden.
We are going to check out pavers today,
and plan out our new walk way.
This explains my absence of late.
I think I'm pretty close to getting back
on my creating routine!
Hope you are having a fun summer!
See you soon
Out of the blue
my computer was zapped by a power surge
I think...but my hard drive is toast, and I'm waiting
for computer hero to return from vacation....
I miss my computer so bad,
and I've been borrowing this one til
things are back to normal.
Meanwhile I'm getting things done!
Imagine that.
I had to get my online surfing fix,
and stumbled upon this site:
Dirty Footprints Studio
Now this is going to take come time
to get through, and I'm still pacing myself.
Incredible interviews filled with juicy
wonderful information on journaling.
This girl Connie, she's a talented one!
I love this site.
I haven't been journaling long, and I have to
say, I couldn't figure out how to begin.
Honestly, I just felt confused by it all.
I didn't want to wreck my pages, and I
couldn't decide if it had to be organized,
or if I should have a "theme" and I just
felt paralyzed about it.
I bought all these yummy supplies and a molesine,
got my studio cleaned up an organized,
bought some really cool journaling books
by various artists, learned how to make
my own journal, and experimented a bit,
and then I was stuck.
So I got this blank lined journal with a
Kelly Rae Roberts design on the cover.
I started a "diary" of my days, filled
with events, and lists, and goals...and
then I started gluing in photos, and cards,
and bits of ephemera here and there,
to spruce it up a bit,
and I realized I felt lost if I didn't
have my journal with me,
...and it hit me.
I've been journaling all along...
I just had to give myself permission to chill out!
It just all falls into place.
My moods and my life ARE the "theme"
and the time is NOW!
I can't agree with Connie more...
Turn off the computer - Make Art!
