My baby is 16!

Hard to believe that 16 years ago I had my baby.  He was a difficult pregnancy, but well worth it!

Happy Birthday Zach!!!
(Dave, what are you doing?)

Here's a piece I made in my HeART scrap journal today.  Thinking about the kiddo!

He stole my HeART!  

HeART Love...feelin' it!

Great doctor's visit last night.  However, it took HOURS to get through it all.  Still can't sleep well so I got up and made some HeART art in my scrap journal.  I think the theme will be HeART for this one.  Seems to be the path I'm taking.

This was made on one of the huge tags: acrylic paints mixed with a baby wipe, stencils and spray mists (I totally messed up and needed to cover some of it), handmade paper, Caran D'ache crayons (I love how they can be rubbed...), Staz-On inks.  Fibers will be added at a later date.

Fun in New Journal

I'm going through a bit of a health crisis right now.  Too early to post what it is, but it does have my mind preoccupied when not doing art.  I love my art journals.  They give me an opportunity to just tune out the world and the stress that I'm under.

Here is the first page in my new journal.  Background is Caran D'ache, some acrylics, Sharpie paint pen, my new stencil, spray ink.  I love the heart but not too thrilled with the star.  C'est la vie!

Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose

I chose to repurpose.  I'm still on my "need to use all my crap before I buy anything else" mission.  I decided to go through all my stuff to see what would make a fun journal page.  Wow, did I find stuff!  Look at what I did with them:

 I found huge tags, old unused time cards, and the cards you use to stick in the pockets of library books.

I also found lots and lots of water color paper pieces of various sizes.  The largest pages are 9 x 6.  there are some as small as 2 x 4.  I used my Rubicoil machine to bind it.  Can't wait to see how it will look when it's all finished!

Art Itinerant Week 2

Week 2 was acrylic paints, magazine images and being a woman.  I NEVER just slop paint onto paper (well, sometimes I do..) but I just took some bright colors and painted.  Nothing fancy, just sponge brush and paint.

Sketchbook Project Page 2

I just wasn't feelin' it.  Too much on my mind right now.

I Love My Toes!

Barb, this one's for you! Smooch!!!!!

Art Itinerant Week 1

The theme was LOVE...

Sketchbook Project 2012

I FINALLY sat down to get this started.  I pulled the book apart and replaced the paper with watercolor paper.  Instead of having a bazillion pages to complete, I now have just 16 (8 pages front to back).  I think this is much more manageable.  The book can't be wider than an inch when completed so I feel pretty safe with this.

The cover needs tweaking.  I'm not completely satisfied with it yet.

I haven't touched the inside covers yet.  The back cover is complete but nothing to write home about.  Here is the first page:

I like the way this came out.  BUT I NEED TO MOVE AWAY FROM ORANGE!  (I can't help myself sometimes.  The color makes me so happy...)

Circles!!!

This is in honor of my day today; trying to get a hold of my doctor to discuss a test result. I was not a happy camper!

Using more crap, I mean, scrap...

Here's another journal page using only the items found on my work table (and on the floor!)

I was gone for a couple of days...

I spent a GLORIOUS day boating on Lake George (NY).  Gary rented a 20 foot speed boat that MOI got to drive.  We rented water skis, a wake board and a humungous tube and spent 8 awesome hours in 82 degree, extremely low humidity sunshine.  Of course we had 2 of the 3 boys with us.  But it was still amazing!

My studio was calling to me this morning.  I am now challenging myself to use up all the CRAP that I own and/or have on my work table.  Well, it's not really a challenge because there is so much stuff sitting on top of and on the floor surrounding my workspace that it's easy to find things to play with.  I don't want to spend any money on supplies.  However, I did find that the new Sharpie PENS (not paints or the markers as we know them) write BeAuTiFuLlY on ANY SURFACE!!!!!


I bought a three pack of black and a pack that had one of each of orange, green, purple.  And I didn't actually use real money.  I got them at Staples using my ink cartridge recycle check.  Here's what I created:

Let's see...I used beach blue spray mist, acrylic paints, gesso, more acrylic paints, stencils, glue caps for small outline of circle, Staz-On inks, my lovely Sharpie Pen, painted papers...I think that's everything.  I'll journal on it later today...

Ta-da!!!

Happy Heart!

No news could be better than finding out you have a healthy heart.  (Well, maybe finding out that Brad Pitt would like to meet me, or that I won a 5000 sq. ft. beach house in Hawaii might be better news).  However, today's news was EXCELLENT!  After finding out last week that a routine EKG was abnormal, I was FREAKING out!!!  I went for a stress test on Monday and waited until this morning to get the results of that.

Apparently, the stress test also produced an abnormal EKG.  However, the films and photos of my heart showed no plaque, no clogged arteries, no muscle damage, etc.  What may show up as abnormal is, hence, quite normal for me.  More than likely born with this.  I am considered a VERY LOW RISK for a heart attack and my doctor and the cardiologists gave me their blessing to exercise my ass off if I choose to do so.

A Happy Heart makes a happy owner.  I am a VERY happy person!

Pink?

I am so NOT a pink person.  However, after two glasses of Pinot Grigio, pink started to look really good!  Here's my journal for today...

Before and after...

The finished page using Roben-Marie's technique.  However, I curse the
pen that managed to RUN OUT OF INK as I was journaling. Urgh!  I'm
NOT happy with the lettering...C'est la vie...

Heart Health

OK...I thought I was doing the right thing.  I'm turning the big 5-0 in October and I thought it would be a GREAT idea to get a complete, and I mean complete, physical.  So, I endured the girlie exam, the blood work, and surprisingly, an EKG.  My doctor does that routinely with all people over the age of 21.  Now just imagine my shock when my EKG came out ABNORMAL!!!  Now, I'm an extremely healthy person, good cholesterol, blood pressure, vitamin levels, calcium levels, negative girlie exam...but my ticker has a glitch?

Off I went to take my stress test today.  After almost 24 hours of fasting and 4 hours of staying completely still, running,staying completely still again, probing, pricking (let's talk about STRESS!!!!!!!!), I'm home and able to journal.  Here's the last page in my 'Orange Journal'.  Time for a nap.

For Those of You who Love to Art Journal...

There are great videos to watch:  here is Roben-Marie Smith's techniques.  Lots of wonderful ideas...she shows you how she made this page.  Very cool.  I think I may have to give this technique a shot today!  I'll upload when I'm finished...

OK...pre-journaling...not exactly like Roben-Marie's example; I used a previously gessoed page and I don't own Adirondack Spray Mists.  But I did use a lot of gesso, acrylics, a stencil, inks, etc.

Enjoy Life

It seems like all my art has been so morose lately.  I needed a lift.  This is for a 'Bird' swap in one of my art groups.

Is This Piece Scary?

Gary thinks it is.  Not really what I wanted to hear after working on it for 2 hours.  Sort of hurt my artful pride, if you know what I mean.  This is a 4 x 6 piece for an animal themed zetti swap.  Really, is it THAT bad?

Crazy Love

Just another adventure in motherland.  Anybody want a couple of teenagers?

A New Blogging Venture!

geri centonze over at My Heart Art is starting this.  Please check it out!

Mail Art Altered Envelope #3

It was just so dreary out yesterday so I decided to spend the day in my studio where it's nice and cool and FAR, FAR AWAY from the chaos that is my life!  Created Mail Art instead!