visiting friends...

I have not been out blog hopping, visiting my wonderful blogging friends for a while so I took a little time this morning to see a few. 

I have to share one of my finds today that was really a surprise.

Gregg over at Gospel Driven Disciples has a new look to his blog and posted this super yummy looking recipe for Braised Hawaiian Pork over Rice.

Normally I learn something new and interesting from Gregg every time I visit, although it is usually related to religion. Once again I have learned something new, a recipe! Thank you Gregg!!!

Connie over at Dirty Footprints Studio posted a great reminder on The Currency of Kindness.

My dear sweet friend Heather at Little Red Henry has posted some of her fabulous artwork to go along with the poem Something Wicked This Way Comes. She's got me all excited for Autumn now.

And my new, wonderfully creative friend Sandra at Alchemy-Art Memories got me thinking about "PLAY" with her Playmakers post from Monday and links to the Life Is Good Playmakers blog and to Stacy Julian's blog Playful,Productive.Present who did a wonderful post about Why Play? on August 26th.

Reading Stacy's Why Play post is really worth it! This is the first time I ever visited her blog and was so glad I did! And I consider blog-hopping around play too!

The Life is Good Playmakers have a wonderful YouTube video about the importance of play:

The links to the posts may be several days old, but great nonetheless. 

As you can tell I am a little behind in visiting and will try to catch up and say hi to everyone in the next few days..

This beautiful morning out having coffee at my friend's blogs has been wonderful!

What will you do for PLAY today?

i've been getting aligned...

in balance

This painting is from the Total Alignment 2nd Invitation.

I have to say this has been the most exciting thing I have ever done with paint/art/creativity!
Connie suggested painting BIG so I got some new BIG paper (18x24, at 50% off!)) and a BRAND NEW Grumbacher long handle round brush (also at 50% off!). I am IN LOVE with this brush. It is the only brush I used on both paintings!
Oh and I hit a bonus sale (Shout-Out to Aaron Brothers awesome sale that allowed me to get all this fun stuff! Your store and staff ROCK!) on Amsterdam Arcrylic paints. They had several colors (that I guess were not popular but I really loved) on clearance at only $2.48 each and then there was an additional 50% off!!!!
I have been using the inexpensive craft acrylics and cannot believe the texture, the feel, the pigments, the yummy-ness of using some good paint and a great brush!!!!!  

There is something about Total Alignment that has my creative juices flowing! It gets my creativity out of my head and allows it to just flow through my heart to my hands!

Really if you have not checked out Connie, Total Alignment or Fearless Painting I highly recommend you do.

It's really not about the art at all.

It does not matter what I create or even if I like it.

It is learning to release all that junk that gets in the way of my true creativity.
It just feels oh-so-good!

I had so much fun doing "In Balance" that when I was done I did not want to stop.

So here is what I continued on to do:

after balance

I look at these paintings and really wonder where did "that" come from?

This is not what I normally do.

It is SO freeing and fun I do not even care.

And honestly the joy that I have found doing these exercises is priceless!!!!

Connie is starting up an online workshop at the beginning of September called Inner Breath!

This one is so on my wish/prayer list!

AND she is one of the teachers in the upcoming HUGE YEAR LONG class Life Book hosted by Tam over at Willowing.org.

Now there is a couple of juicy delicious classes to get inspired by!

I also have finished a couple ATCs. 

One of them will be sent to a Willowing and Friends member Yolanda in Puerto Rico whose house was flooded by Hurricane Irene and she lost all her art and supplies. Willowing and Friends members are banning together to send her ATCs and art supplies to help her out and cheer her up. You can read about it HERE.

I pray that all of you that were in the path of Hurricane Irene are safe and sound. And know that your cyber-community is a strong and supportive community ready to help if needed!
God bless all of you.
Hope you are having a Marvelous Monday!

got a picture of the twins...

Mama Deer and BOTH the twins together for a moment,

The babies still have spots! They are getting so big!

Within moments the little rambunctious one runs off leaving mom and sibling behind.

I think this little independent one must be a handful to keep track of.

Reminds me of when my boys were young.

I took these pictures really, really fast through my dirty back porch window.

The sun was shining directly on the window too and made for some not-to-good photos.

I was just so excited to get a couple pics of them all together.

Soon the babies will be on their own.

And speaking of taking photos:

Today's Shout-Out!

Today's Shout-Out goes out to Tracy Verdugo 

and her blog called Heartful Musings. 

Tracy is an incredible artist and teacher.

She did a post about taking pictures of your artwork. She even shows different effects of editing a photo.

 If you are like me and feel that your art or prints are not being presented well in pictures, Tracy has some great tips for you.

(I probably should have used these tips with the deer photos)

You can read her post "Taking pics of your art...simplified :)" HERE.

Or you may want to just go out and visit her blog HERE.

I am off to work on Total Alignment with Connie Hozvicka!

This is the most exciting, awesome, creativity-opening thing I have ever done!

More updates and pictures to come.

Have a Splendid Sunday my friends!

sunflower saturday...

Earlier this year I got three sunflower seedlings. They were so tiny. 

Our local food co-op was selling them for $1 each as a fundraiser to get the co-op going.

Here is the first one that bloomed.

It's not very tall, only about 4'.

Another one is budding.

The third is not doing too good, crooked and stunted in growth but beautiful nonetheless.

Hoping you are smiling on this Sunflower Saturday!

paper towel atc's...

I really get lost in creating backgrounds with my used, painted, messy cleanup paper towels from other projects. I have made lots of backgrounds for ATCs using this technique. 

Here are a couple ATCs that are almost finished. 

I wish I had taken before pictures of the background so you could see how the image appeared. 

And I am sure you understand how that goes. 

For me, I get this spark of inspiration and I just start playing. 

The last thing on my mind was the camera since it was in the other room.

this is "sad eyes". She is almost complete, I think?

here is "hummingbird in flowers"...

a few touch ups and a thick coat of Liquitex gloss gel medium and it'll be done too.

Below are pictures I took today of some backgrounds for ATCs that I finished.

I played around with my Liquitex Gloss Gel Medium; I tried light gel medium, heavy gel medium, scrunching up the paper towels a little and even tearing up pieces of different paper towels and making a collaged background.

It is so much fun seeing what comes out when they dry!

These backgrounds really inspire me to look for the image they hold.

I 

It'll be fun to see what appears

out of these!!!

Do you see any images?

My prayers go out to all who are affected by Hurricane Irene, may you be safe!

what would you be if...

I have questions today.

What would you be if you could be the person you dreamed of being?

Have you become that person already?

Is there a dream you have that you have not taken action towards?

Do you know your purpose or are you on a path of finding it?

These questions came up for me over the past several days.

I took some time off to do nothing but rest.

no phone, no computer, no television or radio.

and I thought,

and I listened,

and I decided to take action,

because I am worth it,

my dream is worth it!

I don't know how IT will happen,

I don't know when either,

but I know if I do not take any action,

IT will never happen.

Do you have a story of a dream of yours coming true?

Are you working on an action plan to become who you dream of being?

Have you ever been afraid to try?

Has your creativity sparked a new direction in your life?

I believe sharing our stories helps everyone.

What do you think?

Hope you are having a WONDERFUL Wednesday!

mama doe has twins...

This is Mama Doe (as I have lovingly named her). 

She has been my backyard visitor this summer.

Well Mama Doe had TWINS!!!!!

So now, twice a day, her and her two cute, bouncy, rambunctious babies stroll through my backyard!

(which is more like a back-hill)

I got a picture of one of the babies this morning.

The little ones are still a bit camera shy

(or maybe they are not use to me or Charlene's crying at them yet).

I did get a good picture of one as it was trying to catch up to Mama.

Look at the little spots!

This one is a little more independent and bigger than it's sibling,

usually tagging behind Mama or bouncing like Tigger!

Hopefully I can get a picture of both the twins together to post.

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!!!!

Oh, I almost forgot...

Today's Shout-Out!

I LOVE this site: UCreate at http://www.u-createcrafts.com.

This crafty site features DIY projects from other crafters with links to them.

Its a great way to find other creative DIY blogs too.

 There is a Kids Create page, a Submit Your Idea page,

a page for fun party stuff...and more! 

Today's DIY project is a Flat Screen Frame Tutorial!!!

This is one project you gotta see!

opening my heart center...

this is what came out of me through the first lesson of Total Alignment

I was out visiting some of the wonderful blogs I follow and stopped by Natasha May Art World. 

Natasha May is a super cute, artsy girl from Slovenia.

She had posted about these videos she was watching and what she created

so I just had to follow the link.

The videos are Connie Hozvicka's  TOTALLY FREE & AWESOME online Workshop

she calls Total Alignment.

Connie is also the creator of FEARLESS (tm) Painting.

I do not want to tell you much about the workshop, 

Connie explains everything much better.

What I will say is that this workshop is NOT about the art!

It is NOT about planning what to create!

There is no lesson on how to draw, or shade.

This workshop is about unblocking & opening up to the Creative Force within.

It's about letting the painting talk to you.

It's amazing!

Connie is amazing!

Check out Total Alignment HERE.

Hope your week is starting off GREAT!

my fantabulous best day ever surprise...

 Ohhh..getting excited! What's inside?

 Such a pretty card from such a special lady!

Wait, there's more. Look at this absolutely AWESOME magnet that Sandra from Alchemy-Art Memories sent to me!
The amazingly, creative & talented artist Sandra just started her blog last month!!!! Looking at her blog you would think she's been doing this for years. She even posts every day!
To celebrate her ONE MONTH anniversary of her blog, she offered up any of her artwork posted on her blog in a magnet for any of her followers!
This art magnet is from her original "Art Saves".
I chose this piece because I truly believe that Art Does Save
and that is what is happening in my life right now!
Thank you Sandra, my new blogging friend!
This magnet and the beautiful card and envelope will be forever cherished, as will you!

Today's SHOUT-OUT!!!
A blog anniversary giveaway over at Ayala Art!

Ayala is celebrating the SIXTH YEAR anniversary of her blog by giving away one of her pieces of art, a precious painting on wood, to a lucky winner!
If you have never visited Ayala, now is a great time to check out her wonderfully inspiring blog.

more playing with paper towel art...

Although my paper towel art is pretty simplistic, I have to say it's a blast to create. 

I am having the best time playing with paper, Liquitex Gloss Gel Medium and lots of watery watercolor.

A simple, messy, creative playground without knowing the outcome.

This is "Sunrise in the Sierras". I created it by re-using my cleanup paper towels.

Instead of making a background with the paper towels, this time 

I collaged the images I wanted with pieces of the paint stained paper towels.

For my next couple projects below, I used Liquitex Gloss Gel Medium (I am really lovin' this stuff) to collage the clean-up paper towels as a background and then used watercolor paint to create the images I saw in the background.

I started with this:

and it became this:

This is "Becoming".

I saw a woman emerging from her cocoon becoming the beautiful being she was created to be. 

I kept trying (too many times to count) to re-paint her to how I thought she should look and each time she dried she was back to looking like this, so I stopped trying to change her and just accepted her for the way she is!

Now that's a good life lesson too.

At first I saw my dog Charlene in this background.

then other images appeared also:

This is "Summer With Charlene".

I just brought out all the images I saw:

Charlene (my beautiful dog)

hummingbirds

butterflies

flowers
and some other images hidden within the colors

can you see all of them?

WIP:

backgrounds for some ATCs in progress.

That's what I have been up to these past couple days, resting, a little art and great music.

The perfect prescription for healing!

SHOUT-OUT:

I realized I was so excited to get my art space completed that I had not done my Shout-Outs on the last posts. I apologize for that one.

There is an INCREDIBLE, CREATIVE, UNIQUE artist, Diane, over at My Art Journal. I thought I had put her in one of my Shout-Outs and found out I had not. So sorry Diane!

Diane makes the most beautiful mixed media wall art and altered boxes!

Her blog has SO MUCH great stuff ; tutorials, tips for arts & craft shows, 

along with lots & lots of eye candy!!! 

Diane is also a sweet, encouraging, sharing woman!

If you want to get those artistic, colorful juices flowing, visit Diane HERE!

Hope you are having a WONDERFUL Wednesday!

art space done...time to create...

Here it is! My new space for creating!

The left side shelf is great for storing paper and WIPs.

The red pull out box holds my acrylics. I dabbed a bit of paint on the tops to easily find the color I need.

The blue box holds everything I use for ATCs and little paper collages.

 

To save space, I use the back of the storage easel to hold my paper towel roll, watercolor pallet and the silverware drawer divider that I converted for my paint pens, colored crayons & colored watercolor pencils.

My new birdie friend needed a job, so she's gonna hold little gems for me!

I used one of my first collage attempts (that I totally over-painted and really messed up) as my trash can.

It's nestled under the table now. Nothing boo-boo'd goes to waste!

Remember the boxes in the empty room?

These boxes are actually mine, full of fabric & other sewing crafty things.

I found places to store the smaller boxes however I was out of room for the two bigger boxes.

I knew just what to do from a previous experience:
Several years ago my son was in Iraq. Towards the end of his tour, whenever he could get access to a computer, he was buying specialty car parts (online) to fix-up his car when he returned. 

Soon my little apartment was getting overrun with boxes full of car parts, including a car body ground kit! I had no storage space so I got creative and turned those boxes into usable, attractive "furniture" until he returned home.

I used the same idea to hide the two large storage boxes that are full of fabric. 

First, have to get something that will cover-up the writing.

I knew this old pillowcase that matches nothing would come in handy someday.

Then I used a sheer curtain with a lace edge to cover the body.

I only had to tape the curtain in several places to secure it in place.

The outside is looking good.

Now to cover the top & sides.

I used two valances that matched the curtain to cover the top and sides.

Wow, the colors from the pillowcase showing through the cream sheer fabric of the curtain actually match the color of the room!

I am so glad I saved that lone pillowcase.

Add a few accents and VIOLA! A cute table. 

I can easily get into the boxes for fabric when needed.

I still have to turn the twin bed into a sitting area.

I would also like to add some more decorations/furnishings.

Time to go get messy in my new wonderfully creative space!

Please share any "creating space" stories you have.

Hope your weekend is starting off great!