Early Morning Thoughts

once upon a time....

Wow, hard to believe that it has been over a week, since my last post.  It has been a bit busy here...

Let's see...last week, I was working outside and was in the barn, reaching for a broom and knocked another tool over and whacked myself in the head and ended up with a slight concussion.  I am ok, but boy...did I have a huge knot on my forehead.  Then I was on the lawn mower and we won't talk about me running over my flowers....lol.  It just wasn't my day....:)  

So, since I was not up to working outside, I decided to create a journal wrap.  The theme of this one is....

"once upon a time"

I have listed this in my etsy.

Happy Mother's day....

I just wanted to pop in and say, Happy Mother's day....  I hope that your day is everything that you wished for and more....:)

Also, I have some journals that are finally ready.  Some are remakes and some are new ones.

The first one is...   a friend

My next one is....   Lost

The poem on this journal is one that I wrote.

My next one is...  I will always...

This one is... " Art does not..."

My next one up is...  inner child

My last one is...  wonderful love

I have listed these in my etsy.

remakes

I decided to take a break from some of the work that I have been doing in my studio and remake some of my journals that I have done in the past.  

Here are a few that I have done so far....

dream

This has always been one of my favorites....

unconditional love

Of course, this one has always been close to my heart....

wings

we all need hope, to have the faith for our wings to work...

I listed these in my etsy.

Change....

My next piece is about learning to embrace the person that you are becoming.  Now, for this to happen, we need to allow change to happen.  

We are always evolving and changing, but change is sometimes... the unknown.  This is scary, for there is always the what ifs and the whys.

What I have learned from this process is, every thing happens for a reason, even if we cannot understand the whys. Where you are, at this present moment, is where you are meant to be... but doesn't mean, that it is where we are meant to stay.

Who and where you are at this moment, is a stepping stone to get you where you are heading.  Learn from mistakes, failures, loses, but also from the happy, joyful and wonderful moments and embrace that those were things that will help you to become who you are meant to be in the next phase of your journey.

One of my changes that I am working on is, accepting that even though I am still old school and for the most part, probably always will be...:)  I have to accept that we do not live in the old ways when it comes to technology.  

So, I decided to finally sit down and see if I could master some of this darn Photoshop stuff.  Computers and me do not mix well....lol.  I have worked with Photoshop for a number of years now and for the most part, get it.  So, for a while now, I have been trying to figure out this darn overlaying, masks, etc.  To me, it is like a foreign language.  But, hey....one must move with the times, so after 3 hours, I think that I just might have a small and I mean small bit of understanding on this.  I am one that would rather spend my time in my studio creating...not working on the computer...but, one must move forward with change....:).

I thought that I would let you see what it looks like...lol. Please be gentle with me...:) For my first attempt, I would say that it is not too bad.

 

  

Now, since it took me 3 hours, just to get one of my images done...lol.  The rest is going to be like I always do.  I am soooo ready for a piece of chocolate...:)

For this top portion, it involves a vintage metal ceiling tile, a vintage drawer pull, vintage rosary beads, rusty metal chain, ribbons and metal.

I layered a number of vintage and commercial fabrics together.  The pocket was created using a piece from a late 1800's vintage ball gown dress.  I tucked some inspirational cards in there.

I created a transfer of a tree onto cardboard.

The lower portion of this piece is constructed out of plaster.  I created a scene of walking on the beach, along a path.

One small step for Nellie....lol.  If anyone out there knows of a way to do this layering, please let me know.  I am sure that I did it the hard way.  That always seems to be the way that I do things, but hey...one never forgets it that way...lol.

Geez....after 3 hours, I still need to list this in my etsy...lol

Newest pieces....

My next group of pieces that I have done, are ones that would make a wonderful Mother's day gift, end of the year teacher's gift, birthday, for that special friend, a thank you gift, etc...

Up first is my piece....  "Trust your heart"

I created a book, but with a different twist.  Now, alot of the techniques that I used to create this piece are the same ones that I will be teaching in my class for Artful Gathering.  "Not your ordinary photo album".

I love taking the ordinary and making it not ordinary.  If you haven't checked out my class yet, click on the link below and it will direct you there for all of the info.  From the techniques that I teach in this class, you can create many different pieces and each one, being unique in itself.

Artful Gathering

The base of this book is attached to a vintage tin...:)

My next two pieces are mini journals.... "love" and "gift"

I have listed these in my etsy.

An overdue thank you....

Sometimes, life gets in the way and we think that we have covered all of our to do's and lists that we make each day...but, sometimes we overlook things, such as a thank you.  

I received this gift a while back and wanted to say, thank you to a sweet and special friend, Dorthe.  She is always sending me uplifting messages and I am very thankful for this.  But, I was also honored to receive a gift from her as well.  

Dorthe creates wonderful pieces and sells them too.  I was thrilled to have been blessed, with one of her pieces.

The driftwood that she tucked into the pocket, are from the shores of Denmark....how cool is that!

If you get a chance, check out her blog for her sweet creations....

Den Lille Lade

Our final blog hop....

Ok, everyone, this is our final blog hop...yes!  You know what that means...we are almost here for our big on-line art convention.  Dont' forget, doors open, May 3rd...:)

This is one event you don't want to miss!  There are so many classes to choose from, that I am sure that something will catch your eye.  How awesome to be able to view your classes, 24/7.  The best part, you don't have to leave home to do it.  You can even watch your class in your jammies!  

Final Destination Blog Visit!


Our last and final blog destination belongs to  and this is the final location where you'll find the last TWO words left in our secret word collection.


Pick up the last two words here.
Bring ALL your secret words here.

All Entries will Close May 5

Winners will be Announced May 7 at : ArtfulGathering.com

Winners will be drawn at random through random.org. One winner will be chosen to win the $200 e-card gift certificate to Jerry's Artarama, and two winners will be chosen at random to win a $25 e-gift card to Jerry's Artarama.

Please leave all the necessary contact info with your secret words in the moderated comment section of Artful Gathering's Hop Page.

Thank you so much for hopping with us and we look forward to seeing you at Artful Gathering 2012. Special thanks to Jerry's Artarama, Artful Gathering's prize sponsor of the blog hop event.

Good Luck, and thank you for playing!

destination....

For my next piece, I decided to do a book...:)  Now, you had to know that was coming...lol. 

These are some of the pages from this book.

I have listed this in my etsy.

Life's moments...

My next piece of art that I have done is....

"LIfe's moments"

I have taken a  lined compositon notebook and altered the front, inside and back covers.  

Each of us, have our own path/journey that we are on...if we are not careful, we can sometimes forget and think that life is all about the milestones.  When in reality, it's really all about the moments that matter in the end.  Each of us, hold the key to this discovery, we only have to look within ourselves to find it.

I have listed this in my etsy.

photo album

I have a number of items that are in the drying stage, so I thought that as each one is done, I would just post them for you to see....

The piece that I have done for today, is a heart canvas.  Now, this is from the line of canvas photo albums that I desgined and created last year.  I will be teaching this in my on-line class for Artful Gathering, this July.  If you haven't had a chance to visit the site, click on the link below.  I had the honor of being part of this amazing on-line art convention last year and it was awesome!  I am so thrilled to be able to be part of it again this year.  I will be teaching two classes.

Artful Gathering

 

Ok, I am off to my studio...

I have listed this in my etsy.