One World One Heart~Winner!!!!!

Well, if this wasn't the most Blog fun I've had in a long time!!! Because there were so many comments, I used a number generator. I think that was the easiest and most fair way for me to pick the winner. Drumroll please:

Kris Tuey AKA Contessa Kris!!!


Congrats sweet girl! So happy my doll will have a great home!!!

First Wire Wrapping Necklace

I had this awful virus the past week. Runny STUFFED nose, sneezing, coughing...but the worst part was the headache. It just wouldn't go away! So now that I'm feeling somewhat human, I decided to try my hand at wire wrapping jewelry. I had a 5 minute lesson on how to do it about 3 months ago...can't say I did much with it after that. But I have so many beads for my art dolls and fabric pages that I just had to do SOMETHING!!!

So, here it is!!!

Not bad for a first timer.

4 down and 117 to go!!!

I'm in an Art Techniques Yahoo group and we are putting together a book of techniques only. We have to use something that is recycled and I chose to use paper from my 1948 Funk and Wagnalls dictionary. I covered the pages with my cheapie metallic acrylic paint; you know, the craft paints that cost 89 cents at Michael's! I like the sheen to that paint when it dries; makes for a nice smooth surface to work on. I then used sequin waste and Staz-on inks to make the circles.

I use this technique A LOT for my collage backgrounds. Give it a shot...it's real easy.

BTW...there are 120 people in this swap!!! I've made 4 so far. So that makes 116 (and 1 extra just in case something happens) to go!

Some Tip-In pages for Elizabeth...

In my Mixed Media Madams group, I have Elizabeth as my partner this month. Ironically, we both have houses as our page shape and we both love doors, birds, nests, eggs, etc. She made my pages first, so I tried to make these pages as different as possible from what she made. Of course, since I love these images, it was a joy making these for her.

Soul Journal~Power Images

This is for Prompt 17 of my Soul Journal group. We had to use our power images~"images that speak to us". These images are the ones we use all the time. I find myself using birds, eggs and nests ALL THE TIME!!! There has got to be a subliminal message in them for me. I can only guess...taking flight (bird)? New life/ The cycle of life(egg)?

I guess you can call these images my warm fuzzy images.

Let me get back to the prompt. Here is a partial message from Kathryn:
Basically with this page there are a couple of ideas to consider:

1. Painting with paper rather than paints, or pencils.
2. Creating a landscape. (Oops! I didn't do that...)
3. Starting from a place of gratitude and in this case thinking back
on the things you were grateful for in 2008.
4. Create a place for your power image(s) that will inspire you
towards reaching your vision in 2009.

What I did do, instead of covering my words with my art, was make a flip page. If you lift the bird, you can read my text and also view some more thoughts and art. Again, a very relaxing journey.

I really do encourage all of you to art journal. It is very cathartic. Now, can it help me lose weight?

Jen's Journal Prompt~Zendala

The prompt on Jen's blog this week is Zendala, or Zentangles. Here's mine! I have to tell you that this can be addicting!

One World One Heart

Today is the day!!! We get to post our giveaway for this wonderful event started by Lisa Swifka in 2007. Here is a quote from her post: "I wanted to talk about something else to do with OWOH and that is the connections. The whole idea behind doing this and trying to get as many as possible to join in, was and is to meet new and wonderful people."

There you have it. It really is as simple as that.

In order to win my entry, all you need to do is leave a comment on THIS post. I will not be able to move comments from one post to another...sorry. This giveaway is open to everyone who leaves a comment, however, my comments are moderated and will not show up right away. SO DON'T DESPAIR!!!!! Your comment will not be lost! Also, I need to be able to track you down, so I'm asking that you please leave your email address on the post so I can contact you if you are the winner. This event will end February 12th and the winner will be announced on that day. BTW, I'm an equal opportunity kind of gal, so I'll be using the random number generator to pick the lucky person.

So now here she is.....
She is a sweet little doll who stands at about 6 inches tall. I used a combination of fabrics on the front; heart fabric on the back. She needs a good home! So leave a comment and good luck!
Click the logo if they want to know more about this event.

Journaling Zetti Style

I have been journaling every day. Some entries are just too personal to upload. This one, however, provides a little insight into what I've been dealing with with my 17 year old son. We've gone through so much with him already; it just seems never ending. I shared this entry with him and he smiled. He just loved my "mind's eye" and was so happy I was willing to share it with him!

My little Zetti Valentine...

My friend Beth, whose Zettiabilities are out of this world, is hosting a Zetti Hanging Valentine swap over in the ZettiZoo Yahoo group. Now, my Zettiability is, shall I say, just beginning to merge. I always give it my best shot; I'm hoping one day to be able to compete in the "big Zetti-league".~LOL

12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women

Okay...this is NOT my favorite journal page in reference to the art, but I do love the message. I was just playing around with some techniques I found at Art Journal Gypsy and combining it with the first prompt from 12 Secrets...Women (yeah, I really am all over the board, aren't I!) which was to Acknowledge Your Creative Self. Too much on the gel pen, I'm afraid. But it's the journaling...the release of my feelings that have been bottled up for a while. More of what's been going on here at the homestead at a later date. However, do check out the journal sites. I swear, you won't be disappointed!

Soul Journal~Defining Words

This week the prompt focuses on finding our defining words. Since my word is RELEASE, I chose to move on from there. We were to look in magazines for words that help to define our selves, our goals, dreams, or whatever tickled your fancy when it comes to defining ourselves.

I have uploaded some links under Friends To Visit that you may be interested in if you are on a journaling mission this year. Look at Jennifer's Weekly Prompt, 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women (this site is based on the book of the same title, but you don't need the book to do the prompts), Kathryn of Soul Journal/Collage Diva blogs, and Vale of Art Journal Gypsies. I'm sure there are MANY others; these are just a few that I found that I really liked.

Happy Journaling!

Thanks Jen!

I got this award from my friend Jen today. What a sweet thing. Now I have to list 7 things I love and then 7 people to awad this to.

1. Love my family.
2. Love my dog, Petee.
3. Love my art time.
4. Love to get pedicures!
5. Love to travel.
6. Love to teach (although I'm not right now)
7. Love the friends I made through my art groups!

Now for 7 people...
1. Elizabeth
2. peggy
3. Barb
4. Marion

Hmm...I need time to think of 3 more!

Soul Journal Doodle Prompt

One of the older Soul Journal Prompts was "Doodle". For whatever reason, the Coca-Cola jingle from the Seekers (recorded in 1971) was playing in my head so I decided to make it the basis of my doodle. "I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony!!!!! I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company!!!!! Yup, that's the song. So here is my doodle...and I hope the jingle stays in your head for a little while.

I think if you click on the picture it will come up bigger on your computer and you can see all the detail.

Happy Birthday Moniqui!

Moniqui at A New Leaf is turning 40, so she is doing a giveaway everyday of the week before her actual birthday. I won the first one; I never win anything. She has a very sweet blog, so stop by and wish her a Happy Birthday!

Oy! I'm always getting tagged!

Martha tagged me! Here are the rules:
* go to your 4th picture folder
* go to the 4th picture in the folder
* tell everyone 4 things about that picture
* tag 4 more people

Oh Heck! Blogger isn't letting me upload any photos. I'll come back to this post in a bit!

OK...it's the next day and look what happened! I was able to upload my photo. Now I have to tell you 4 things about this photo

1) This is a picture of my dad when he was about 5 or 6.
2) It is one of the very few photos I have of him as a child,
3) This photo is cropped. The original has my 2 aunts (who are much older than my dad) and his father, who died when my dad was 7 years old.
4) My dad was of Moroccan decent. We have NO IDEA where the blond hair came from!!!

My "Self-Portrait"

Jennifer has a weekly Journal Challenge on her blog. I do believe she is also doing the Creative Every Day 2009 Challenge as well. Anyway, her last challenge was "self-portrait". Now, I CANNOT DRAW! I have monocular vision (I do not have depth perception) so my way of interpreting the world is a little skewed. I have tried to draw...tracing is my best bet!

I took a photo of myself and just had fun with it. I saw the grapevine picture in a magazine and voila! I don't know what I enjoy more, painting the background, journaling or creating the page. But whichever one it is, my SOUL is being RELEASED of whatever is stressing me out!

Creative Every Day 2009

I want you all to know that I have really been Creative Every Day! It's just that things needed to be done in steps; things needed to dry; a journal needed to be bought; etc. So after a few days of arting, this is what I came up with. I joined a Yahoo Group called Soul Journal which I just happened to chance upon while blog surfing. This was like a gift from above! There are prompts there every week, if you need one, and now my Creative Every Day 2009 journal and Soul Journal are one book. I do have other journals that I will art in and post from time to time. But this is my year for healing and I do feel that this is the journal I will probably work in most often.

The latest prompt for the Soul Journal is Dream Weave. I chose a couple of my favorite water color mists and sprayed hot pressed water color paper. After weaving, gluing and trimming, I pasted it to the back inside cover of my journal. It's actually a pocket:
The pocket holds Dream Strips that I'll write on. These strips will be a great way for me to RELEASE (my Creative Every Day 2009 word...) those bad vibes and dream of a healthier and more creative way to live my life. Are you getting the inter-connectedness here???

Here is the first page of my RELEASE Soul Journal. It's a little cluttered, but boy, did I have a GrEaT time making it! I guess because I made it for ME!!!!!

A New Year's Giveaway!

Karina from my Arttechniques group is having a wonderful giveaway. She's giving away the book Art Journals and Creative Healing, so for those of you who are doing the Creative Every Day 2009 challenge, this would make a great addition for your journey. If I don't win, I'll be purchasing it!

You can find the link to Karina's blog, Herland Story, here.

Wahoo!!!

Here are the Zetti pages together!!!

Zetti Pages for Deana

Deana in my Mixed Media Madams group had a great theme. We had to express ourselves Zetti style. For those of you unaware of what Zetti is, just go to Teesha Moore's blog; the link is on the right. This was A LOT of fun to do; it just takes many, many hours!!!

Hope you like them Deana!!!

Creative Every Day 2009

This has been one heckuva year. We moved across country, bought a house, watched the economy go bust, watched friends lose jobs, homes & family members. In my own home we have dealt with drug addiction (son's), rehab (son's), a new dog (life savior), a new job...and the list goes on and on.

On the upside, we voted in a new, and dare I say, biracial president who is MY AGE!!!!!! He's not perfect (smokes cigarettes), has kids with allergies (they're not perfect either) and has a wife with big hips! You just gotta love that family.

As for art...I felt like I was losing my Muse. She was getting darn sick and tired of doing art for everyone else, so she has taken many a holiday. It has caused me days in my studio feeling frustrated and depressed. When I needed her most, she bailed!

Many of my Round Robins and Tip-Ins are coming to an end in the next month. So I decided to make a New Year's resolution that I can live with. I'm going to take on the Creative Every Day 2009 Challenge (see link at right). I'm going to do it for ME. I'm going to do it to get emotionally, mentally and physically healthy. I think about all that I have given up and done for others this year while I have gone to hell in a hand basket (figuratively, that is).

Click on the link if you feel you want to do something for yourself this year. It doesn't need to be art; it can be photos, poetry, a list...anything. But it should all be based around a WORD that will be your guide for the year. My word is

RELEASE

I need to release my anger at my son. I need to release my resentment from my early "retirement" from a job I loved. I need to release my sadness from moving away from close friends. I also need to release my creative soul; I NEED to be free of the things that upset me the most...RELEASE them and let them go somewhere far, far away.

I'm typically a very upbeat person, so I can release positive energy when I want and release that negative energy when the poop hits the fan. But I just love this word...RELEASE...rolls off the tongue like a wave in the ocean...

So join me, won't you? Let me know if you decide to do this. I think it will be a positive trip for all of us. Pick that word or theme. Do something positive for yourself. Be Creative Every Day!!!

Have a happy, healthy and creative 2009!

Love,
sandee

Happy New Year!!!

May all your dreams come true!!!

W and X Pages

We're coming to the end of our ALPHABETICA Tip-in Swap. This month I had to make Mimi's W and X pages; her theme is Vintage Birds. Do you know that there are hardly ANY birds whose names, English or otherwise, start with the letter X!?! It took me an incredibly long time to find something. I sure hope she likes these pages. They were a lot of fun to do; birds are one of my favorite subjects to work with.

Genesis for Gina

I have a tremendously hard time with anything religious. I have not a clue why. Maybe because religion is such a personal thing, or maybe because it is difficult for me to translate what has actually been written in the bible. I don't really know.

Gina in my Altered Art Swap Yahoo Group has a Bible Stories themed journal. She is a fairly religious person and I really wanted to make her something that she would love. I chose Genesis because it really is the beginning of everything. I just hope I did it justice, and I sure hope that Gina likes what I made for her.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

I hope you spend it with the one's you love most!

Blog Giveaway at Cart Before the Horse!

Jo James at Cart Before the Horse is having a blogaversary giveaway:

http://thecartbeforethehorse.blogspot.com/2008/12/100th-post-and-giveaway.html

Her work is absolutely amazing; you may want to go over and check it out!!!!!

Paul McCartney and Wings

It is absolutely FrEeZiNg outside. We had 15 inches of snow since Friday and it is absolutely gorgeous. But today, the wind was blowing and the temps were real low. I decided to stay inside and get some art done!

I've been humming Beatles songs all damn day! These pages are for Judy in my Alphabetica group. Her theme is "Beatles Songs"; problem is, there are no Beatles songs that start with U or V! I used 2 songs from Paul McCartney and Wings. I chose Uncle Albert and Venus and Mars. with the owners approval, of course!!!

Card for a Friend

There is a friend in one of my Yahoo groups who just had surgery. This is the card I made for her. I hope she's getting bombarded with goodies from her art friends. I'm sure it'll make her healing time go a lot faster!!!

I'm ready for 8 Crazy Nights!!!

For those of you who celebrate, have a great holiday. For those of you who don't, find a friend who does. The food is ALWAYS great!!!

Thank you Marva!!!

Marva at Purplepaint's Muse just bestowed upon me this loverly honor!

..."This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY -nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers, who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Wowsa!!! This is quite something. Now I have to pick 8 people...this is going to be a challenge and I need a little time to think of this list! I want to reach out and give it to people who are not just "my friends" but to others who really fit the bill and may be unknowns.

Thanks so much Marva for thinking of me!!!

Been Making Gifts Like a Wild Woman!

The only good thing about this economy is that it's forcing me to make holiday gifts! Due to the lack of TIME I usually buy gifts for Hanukkah and Christmas. However, since I moved to Connecticut, I haven't been able to teach, so I've been watching my pennies. I have spent the past 2 weeks making gifties for my friends.

This is a little sample of what I've been making. Looks simple, doesn't it? However, I painted and stamped the background paper and that took forever. I love making my own background papers; makes them seem all the more personal!

Image is compliments of Lisa's Altered Art!

Don't ya just love giveaways!!!

Susan Tuttle is having a contest giveaway of her new book on her blog. You can link to it here:
Susan Tuttle

I'm always amazed how people can create art and get a book published. Wouldn't that just be an amazing thing? To see what you do and how you do it in the hands of 100's (really 1,000,000's) of artists! What a great retirement gift that would be.

If you're interested in purchasing her book, you can get it at Amazon. I'm sure it is AMAZING!!!

Keep Rivka's Flame Alive

I know that most of you are aware of the heinous crimes that took place in Mumbai. So many innocent lives were lost because of the selfishness of a few. What was so devastating was the assassination of Rivkah and Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, simply because they were Jews.

After spending three weeks in Israel this summer, I've come to a point in my life where I have embraced my Judaism even more. Especially after visiting the Holocaust Museum at Yad Vashem. Why people have to be so cruel because people don't worship the same religion is beyond me. Isn't there just one ultimate higher power?If you are Jewish, please keep the memory of Rivka and her husband alive by lighting Shabbat candles every Friday evening. And if you are not Jewish, please pass the link below (Keep Rivka's Flame Alive) on to your friends who are. Please do not let these innocent people pass on without acknowledging what they gave of themselves in India.

Keep Rivka's Flame Alive

Shabbat Shalom...

29 Days of Giveaways!

Chrysti of The Altered Abbey is having a huge giveaway. Please go to her blog here and post your comment. This is such a generous thing to do with our economy being in the state that it's in. I think I'll probably do a giveaway for my 300th post! That should be coming up rather soon, I do believe!!!

Mickey and Judy

Peggy's theme for one of her journals is Famous Hollywood Couples. Of course, this Tip-in Swap is almost over and I'm one of the LAST people to do this theme. It took me FOREVER to find a "couple" that I liked!

I remember watching the Andy Hardy movies as a kid. When I came across these photos, I knew that this was the couple for me!!! I tried to make the pages look old-time scrapbook; like when we were kids...you know, the acid infused yellow pages with the photo corners??? Yeah, that kind of scrapbook!

Lisa Vollrath Countdown Giveaways

As we approach major holidays, Lisa Vollrath at Go Make Something always does a countdown giveaway. She just asks that you hyperlink to the site so that others can go there as well.

You can find her giveaway here; have fun with her free collage sheets!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

May you all be surrounded by loving family, good friends and great food!

Circles and polka dots!

What a fun piece to make! Megan in my Mixed Media Madams group had a theme of polka dots with a round 8 inch in diameter circle as her base. What a great change of pace. I even found polka dotted flowers in my stash! Sure hope she likes them!

There's a red piece of thread across the bottom photo's face. I didn't realize it until I was done uploading everything. Oh well.....

Finally, a new post!

These ornaments are for a swap in my Zetti Zoo Yahoo Group that my friend Beth is hosting. I love Zetti; I'm just not very good at it. Beth's Zetti is fabulous and if you would like to see for yourself, you can find Beth's work by clicking on her name.

What do you see when you close your eyes?

There are themes that are easy and then there are themes that wreck havoc with my muse!!! Peggy's theme in my Mixed Media Madames group is "What do you see when you close your eyes?" Now...I see the inside of my eyelids for the most part. I'm not a vivid or lucid dreamer. When I first started this, I was thinking Fall colors and leaves. Trashed it. Then I was thinking birds and flight. Trashed it. Then I started something silly. Trashed it. I had a whole lot of nuthin' for a month!

Today my muse played nicely. I just put together the things that I love like the wings and eyes, with the colors that I know Peggy will love...her blues and greens. I'm a MUCH happier camper!



Hope ya like them, pegster!!!