So I Was Just Thinking

Time to eliminate the things that are holding me back. Let's start on the artistic front. I was talking to a friend on the phone the other day. I was telling him about my creative endeavours. He asked if I would send him a sample of what I have been doing. I laughed because my friend is interested in clean lines, modern Scandinavian furniture and somewhat masculine art. The only curves you will really find are of nudes hanging on his wall. I explained that I have only been drawing flowers and cutesy things. He agreed that cutesy was not his thing. But the conversation got me to thinking. Why can't I draw other subjects? So I got out a notepad and started drawing curved lines. (I hate drawing really bad work in my sketchbook.) I tried several times and then realized I needed to switch from pen to pencil if I was going to get the effect I wanted. After a little experimenting, I felt confident enough to pull out my pocket sketchbook. Here is the final result. Much different ...

In January, I decided that my word for the year would be creativity . I have done a good job of keeping up with it, too. Last month, I decided to draw a face a day. I enjoyed that, but decided that I had enough of faces. So, I was reading Julie's blog, Balzer Designs: Art Journal Everyday when I saw a guest post from Carolyn Brady . She had a method of filling an art journal page by tangling a little each day. I decided to use that on the back of my calendar journal pages. I call it "A Doodle A Day." Here are the most recent entries. 1. Dentilles; 2. Finish Line; 3. Polish Pottery 4. Oobleck; 5. Mum's the Word; 6. Swiss Cheese 7. Fishnet Stockings; 8. Walk This Way; 9. Secret Garden Similarly to Carolyn, I drew a grid on my page - a total of 30 squares (6X5.) Everyday, I get out the Millennium fine points from Zig and place one pattern in a square. Now, Carolyn colored hers but I am a strictly black & white girl. I have some more water color pa...

And so it continues... The cover of my book A page in my moleskine book. I have found that I have a fear of white space. I really want to fill in the area around the eye. It is all I can do to keep from grabbing a pen and start marking in it.

Another way I want to be creative is with the food I prepare for my kids. For years I fed my kids to keep them fed with no mind to what how interesting it was. Convenience was key because of our hectic schedules. I began missing when I would cook creatively, so I am looking to add that spark back into my food while keeping meals simple. A few weeks ago, I used Betty Crocker's pizza dough mix to make pizza with the kids, but something went wrong and it was too crispy, the reduced fat pepperoni dried up and in the end no one was happy. I had bought two packages of the dough mix and only used one, and since the first go round didn't work, I had to get creative. I mixed the dough as the package directed, split the dough into four balls and then spread the balls into circles about 5-6 inches across. I spooned some pizza sauce onto the dough, keeping it away from the edges and then added the cheese and pepperoni. I folded over the dough and sealed it with a fork and brushed it with a...

As a girl, I loved The Police. I still do. Part of it might have had to do with the fact that my friend Renee used to sleep with the radio on and The Police was really popular at the time so I probably got a lot of it poured into my subconscious during sleepovers. When I saw Message in a Bottle on the TOP 2000, I knew I had to do it but couldn't figure out what I wanted to do. That's usually the case. I got this picture in my head and here it is: Lots of little circles. There is still one day left at Marit's play-along for the TOP 2000. Go on over and hear some good music and check out the great work everyone is displaying over there. Marit has some very creative friends. Just click the blinkie at the top of this post. I am done creating for this project. The last one was emailed last night. For once I was ahead of the game. I only missed one day of playing along. But this has given me the kick start I need to work on my word for the year: CREATIVITY. I already have in mi...

This past weekend while I was relaxing in Salado with my bloggy friends, I pulled out the paper and glue and said we should all make trading cards to take from the weekend as a memento. Earlier in the day I was listening to Wendy say how inspiring the village was since it is packed with products made by so many creative people. SO I decided that we needed to get our creative juices flowing and you would have thought I said it was time for a root canal. NOT REALLY Actually, one or both of them might have rather had a root canal, but I persevered and continued pulling out the paper and goodies and sample ATC cards that I had received over the past two years. In the end they both made some really cute cards and replicated them to trade with me and each other. They even made extras for the two ladies who were unable to be with us that night. (Oops Roban, Julie, I let a little secret slip.) When we were done, I began talking to them about an online workshop I participated in earlier this y...

I have decided to focus on creativity this year in a different way...art journaling. This is something I have admired on many other people's blogs and portfolios. My friend Marit started her first workshop - Let It Loose. The first prompt was to look out one of our windows and describe what we saw. (click on the photo for a view of the journaling) We have really tall grass right now. Today was also Superbowl Sunday. Caitlin was invited to a Superbowl party at church. I have been trying to encourage her to socialize with others and to think about how she looks when she leaves the house. (She is not much on combing her hair.) Today I thought she looked really cute. This is a little crocheted hat I bought her at a craft bazaar last year. I am loving it. She's going to be a teenager next month!!!!

When I started blogging almost two years ago, (In a month and half it will be exactly two years) I had no idea where it would lead me. I had no clue as to how many people I would become acquainted with. I was unaware of the affect it would have on my life. I did it because we learned about it at school and our campus tech said it was a tool we could use with our students. (Haven't done that yet.) After I created my blog, I occasionally would click the "next blog" button at the top of the screen. I was fascinated to see how many blogs there were out there on so MANY different subjects. I still don't understand how the "next" button works as each time I click it from my home page, I get a different blogger. Today as I write this, the NEXT blogger is a mom who tells all about the growing up of her daughter Charlotte - cute little girl. There are many blogs out there like that. I figure they are meant for their family who lives far away, so I usually feel like ...

If you saw my Discipline collage , you can tell I have a thing for tissue paper. I have used it make inchies and to paint mountain/sunset scenes. Now I am working on some ATCs . I have done some before using the same cardstock I am using this time. However, I am tired of this background and want to alter it some how, so here's where the process went. (Note: I did try it on some sample-sized pieces of cardstock first so you might see those pop in from shot to shot.) I began with a plain piece of cardstock (it is supposed to be green/yellow.) I lightly drew a line on the card. I then squeezed some glue onto the card (don't ask why it's blue...that's another story.) I used scrap piece of stock to spread the glue to get a perfectly straight edge. I laid the tissue paper onto the wet glue and pressed out the bubbles. (You could use a brayer, it gets messy.) I trimmed the excess tissue. (I have torn it before, too, for a different effect.) After the glue dried, I took the c...

I ran into something called moleskine notebooks. Take a look at a couple I found on YouTube then read on. (If you work in a place that blocks YouTube like my district does, you will have to wait until you are home to view it, but believe me it is good.) Who thinks of these? I used think I was pretty creative, but I certainly couldn't fill an entire book with artwork all based on a central theme like these artists have. Somehow I ended up clicking link after link that led to more moleskine books. I then began to feel a little jealous not because these people could draw or paint better than I (although most could) but because they were focused enough to fill an entire book with their artwork. I am so NOT that person. I start things that I never finish. I am sure my garage (closet, attic, office) is full of projects that I began but never found the time to complete. Case in point: My #1 turned 11 years old this week. Somewhere in a drawer is a quilt that I started when I was pregnant...