OMG I did it!

When I was a little younger

(ok a lot younger)

I wanted to be able to draw.

Oh I could draw a Santa face, 

or a bunny, cat, horse or dogs head...

all cartoony!

I'd sit in front of the tv,

watch a cartoon and draw a character, 

but I wanted more.

I wanted to draw faces, landscapes.....

It wasn't until I was in High School that I found out that there was an art class I might have been able to take,

 if 

I knew enough!

And I didn't!

They were drawing and shading and who know's what else!

I was drawing cartoony things that pleased my young nephew!

Well,

 I'm still not drawing but I was recently moved,

while watching a video, 

of a woman (CeeCee) who was painting a woman's face!

I cried...

not just because I hadn't been able to do that but also because I felt like 

I could.....

I felt like I was there with her!

(In all honesty there was a bit more emotion going on in me while watching that video, but I'll keep that to myself for now.

Lets just say it was a therapeutic cry,

much needed!)

Art Therapy here I come!

With the "I think I can do that" idea in my head & hands

 I decide to grab some paints and get to it!

I started with my art journal,

but quickly decided that if I was going to do this I was going to commit and do a canvas!

That way I can hang it in my office when I'm done and see it every day! 

In the video she used her fingers to paint the face, 

I found that I needed to use a brush!

 I was pretty happy about that. 

Why?

 I don't know, but it felt good!

LOL

It took a few days but I finally finished! 

This was the best therapy I've gone through!

Here is my painting.....

The title reflects a part of my therapy...

I haven't always felt like I fit in

 and

too often, felt like I wasn't good enough...

I am me,

like it or not.....

Perfectly Imperfect Me!

Enjoying the (therapeutic art) journey!

*****

Here is a link to the video I cried to! 

*****

Thank you for stopping by! 

Hope you are having a great week!

Canvas fun with desperately needed inspiration...

It's winter,

cold winter,

cold cold winter!

I'm not a fan!

I don't like the cold weather, 

especially when Mother Nature decides to add in some wind!

BRRRrrrrr....

I don't like ice,

snow is okay once or twice but it get's old quick!

(I am so thankful I no longer live where they are being hammered with several feet of snow in one storm, these last couple of years...yikes)

Also not a big fan of the seasonal depression that comes and hangs around way longer than it is welcome!

It's like that bad house guest you can't get rid of!

It robs me of my energy, my mojo and my happy!

In an effort to fight this unwelcome guest I've been doing a lot of putzing around the house

Cleaning, cooking, baking.....

I've also zoned out with the internet or the tv!

On occasion I make it down the hall to my crafty office.

Not making cards, tags, altering anything.....

Looking for something outside of the norm I actually got my sewing machine running and made my kitchen curtains I'd been wanting to make.....

well one set anyway! 

One set to go and the dining room needs a set too!

I'll get those done eventually!

Thanks to my New Years Creative Goals

I have been keeping up with my 

Art Journal & Donna Downey's Inspiration Wednesday

Lucky for my winter mood or maybe not so lucky,

 it's every other week!

In between, while surfing the net, I found that Donna also has
 Artist Gang Tuesday videos that she shares on her blog.

 In watching them I found another artist I'm fast becoming a fan of,

and that would be CeeCee.

Now thanks to Donna and her inspiration I've been finding nerve I didn't have before and have tried to venture off the art journal and onto canvas.

I made this canvas you can see HERE

It's a little guy! 

Didn't want to go too big and end up overwhelmed and have a mess.

With all Inspiration Wednesday & Artist Gang Tuesday videos,

then jumping over to CeeCee's blog and seeing some more of her videos,

I found a bit more bravery and with this post of CeeCee's for inspiration I made this larger canvas.....

I'm so proud of me!

I used the painting techniques from CeeCee's video & Donna's layering techniques and had so much fun with this!

I was going to add a word or quote but my daughter liked it the way it was so I ended it here.

Hope you are finding inspiration that keeps you going this winter.

Thanks for visiting and sticking with me through my winter blabbering!

Stay warm!

Inspiration Wednesday 2015 #4

Hi everyone!

This Inspiration Wednesday came up on me quite quickly!

I've been either busy or hiding in my room, with headaches/migraines, for the last couple of weeks!

Time apparently does fly and not just when you're having fun!

I won't say that the headaches are totally gone yet but I am feeling better.....

for now!

But anyway.....

As usual I don't have all the pieces that Donna used in her demonstration this week so I improvised and this is what I came up with.....

Donna used 2 colors in her inspiration but my stencil reminded me of peacock feathers so after getting the 2 colors (raw umber & teal) I chose on there,

 I felt it needed more so I added a purple.

One of the things I'm enjoying with these classes is mixing my own colors!

Not because that is what we are suppose to do but because I can't afford to buy every color I want to use!

The flower stamping on the bottom picture didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped but it works!

I added the leaves to the bottom and corners with a stamp I designed and carved a year or so ago.

 Playing is fun!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Bird house

Good morning!

Normally when I craft anything I wing it...
no plans...
just let the creativity flow...
let the spirit move me...

However with this birdhouse I had a plan!

I want to go country/prim!

Went shopping for pieces to fit my ideas!
Unfortunately, I found nothing that made me happy!
Between the internet and craft shops I was at a loss!

Now what?

New idea!

I love a good cup of tea and a good book!
And where better to have them but outside on a beautiful day right?

All I need is a chair, table and a tea set...I can do the rest!

UGH.....
chairs, tables and tea set,
all too big or too small, no in between!

REALLY?

Can I catch a break here?

What to do, what to do!

Went to the antique mall and after two rounds through the place,
looking in each booth,
I found a little tea set!

In the first booth I looked at...of course!

Might have saved a bit of money had I saw it the first time but these things happen, came home with a little haul...heehee!

Now for that table and chair...
hmmm...

Ooo, there's some heavy gauge wire laying there under my table...
I wonder if I can finagle that into a chair.....

It was tough,
that wire didn't want to bend easily,
sliced my hand a bit...
but I won!
Crochet a little piece for the seat
and
I have a chair!
YAY

The table took a little more thinking...
I started with winding the wire around itself to make a circle for the table top...
that was wonky!
I switched gears and started with the legs instead,
then headed to the kitchen for a jar lid...
good ole smuckers did the trick!

Oh yeah, I have a table now!

Here's my finished birdhouse! 

The background paper is one I made myself years ago with chalks then didn't know what to do with it! 

Below is the piece that is left over after cutting it...

I used Heather's freebie banner sheet she is giving away!

Hurry if you want it the give away ends Feb 14th!

Info for that below

The fence was made with Popsicle sticks and wire...

I stained it with vintage photo distress ink and then used a cream paint in an old paint dabber container to spread across it a bit.

I made the book with a book cover image I found at Graphics Fairy.

I used moss for the grass. 

Below is my chair before I added the same cream paint as on the fence...

A closer look at the chair, book, fence and part of the banner...

I used scrap bits of trim on all the banner pieces.

My table in the making...

I used a couple different paints to smear on top in an attempt to give it a woody look

then added a bit of ribbon around the edges.

The tea set was just a bare wood set that I painted.

The breads I had in my stash and I made the plate simply by putting 2 pieces of scrap paper together cut in circles. 

There it is on my mantle/shelf with a couple little birdhouses,

part of the little haul I found at the antique mall!

*****
Links...

I got the birdhouse from Laurie at her
Moore Art from the Heart Artfire store

Heather's freebie banner set info

Graphic's Fairy book cover

*****

Thanks for stopping by!

Sorry I was a bit wordy...
guess I'm just so really pleased with how this came out I wanted to share everything!

Hope you are enjoying a great week and keeping warm!

Clean & Simple card...

Good morning everyone!

I want to show you my Gecko Galz DT project for this month.

I wanted to go with a clean & simple look with this one because I love the papers so much

and

 that beautiful flower went so well how could I not use it?

The papers come from the Couquette Digital Kit

and the floral image is from the Flower Garden Jewel collage set

I added a bit of blue card stock, die cuts from my Cameo, silver stickers and ribbon.

For the inside I reversed the order of the pretty papers 

and added another die cut so I can add a simple sentiment to later. 

That's it!

Clean and Simple!

*****

Hope you can hop by Gecko Galz and join our challenge this month! 

The theme is Vintage Ladies!

The rules are simple...

create any project using at least one of the Gecko Galz products!

Then go over to the Gecko Galz blog and link up your entry!

*****

Gecko Galz Blog

Gecko Galz Blog Challenge

Gecko Galz Etsy

Inspiration Wednesday # 3

Good morning everyone! 

It took a while to do this one but I finally finished my 3rd Inspiration Wednesday Journal entry.

I started this one following along with Donna Inspiration video 

then took a left turn and ended up with a totally different look, 

then in finishing, I ended with a few similarities!

LOL

I didn't have the paint spray Donna used to add the letters so I tried Dylusions spray!

Between the dylusions and the stencil I started with I ended up with a BIG fail! 

I got lucky though...

I grabbed a wet wipe and immediately started wiping it off.

Since I used a yellow I ended up with a yellow tint to my pages.

Figuring it was going to stay yellow, because dylusions can be that way, I continued on my way but I soon noticed that I was still removing more of the yellow as I was wiping at other stuff.

Woohoo...lucky me!

I'm not a polka dots kinda girl but I ended up with dots all over this one and I like it!

I'm liking the india ink scribbles too...that was fun!

I might have to add more!

I'm so loving this artistic adventure!

It's been so much fun!

Can't wait for #4!

*****

Inspiration Wednesday 2015
Inspiration Wednesday Facebook

*****

Thanks for the visit, I so appreciated it!

Have a great week!

Just me...

talking about my diet and exercise again.

I wrote a post back in August mentioning my newest diet adventure

(you can see that post here or in the tab above),

nothing has really changed diet wise...

Still eating a Paleo diet

No gluten

Accidentally tasted a fingertip bit of a batter my daughter was making for herself a month or so ago! Yikes there goes the stomach! That pain came fast and strong! Won't be doing that again!

Don't miss breads as much as I thought I would!

Don't miss pasta either, which I thought would be a tough one to lose but I've found zucchini noodles to be a great substitute!

 No processed foods

I don't miss any of these...

so much so that I can't even think of the things I would buy before.

I guess cake mixes, cereals, cookies, crackers...all also gluten-full

I'd rather make my own, they taste better homemade anyway!

My sugars are mainly raw honey or a little maple with 

an occasional coconut palm sugar for something different.

I try to keep that at a minimum

This was another thing I thought would be missed greatly for I've always had a very sweet tooth!

Since reducing my sugar intake that sweet tooth has been tamed! 

It does rare its sweet head once in a while but not as voraciously as it used to be!

As a matter of fact I made a recipe recently that called for some sugar and something told me...as I was about to add the 1/4 cup of sugar in the bowl that it might be too much so I only poured half or even less than half in the bowl only to find out that that was too much too!

I redid the recipe without the sugar and I was so much happier!

Even the chocolate cravings have eased...this I didn't think would ever happen!

I'm kinda glad it did though. 

I think, actually I've always suspected, that I have an allergy or at least an intolerance to chocolate but it was so good I just ignored the signs. It's another thing that will upset my stomach if I indulge too much! I'll still eat a little here and there but now I can get away with a couple of allergy friendly mini baking chips instead of whole bars or those organic truffles I found and indulged in over the holidays! 

In a perfect world I would only be eating everything organic

but lets face it we don't live in a perfect world.

I eat organic meats when I find something that's not going to break the bank other than that I eat the best, leanest cuts I can find.

Same with veggies, I look for the freshest! Hopefully organic,

 but again sometimes those are just too hard to find or too expensive.

One of the things I like about eating this way is even though I know everything is not always organic, as long as I know I am making the healthiest choices I know I'm on the right track.

And my body seems to agree!

I still deal with depression...

seasonal being the worst in the last few years, 

however not as bad this year!

My weight loss....I'm down 20 lbs! 

Oh YEAH!

And speaking of the weight loss.....

Something I notice since eating this way, my weight fluctuations don't jump around by the pound any more. No more jumping on the scale and finding that I gained 2 or 3 lbs! When I think I've eaten too much of the gluten free muffins or waffles that I've made and I probably gained a couple of pounds I am pleasantly surprised to find that I've either only gained a couple ounces or nothing at all!

Now that is cool!

My exercising hasn't changed much either...

I lift hand weights occasionally...I should do that more often!

Yoga is my main exercise.

Admittedly I do have days when I don't even want to do that!

I have recently joined a 30 day yoga challenge. 

My hope is that this will get me used to the daily routine, 

making it more of a habit and keep me going past the 30 days. 

So that's it for now,

just me mumbling about my diet.

Thank you to those of you who stuck around to read about it!

Hope you have a wonderful day!

My Artistic Adventures Challenge #3

Good morning everyone!

*****
This is my second post this morning so if you are looking for the Gecko Galz Steampunk post please go HERE
*****

It's time for a new challenge over at 

My Artistic Adventures! 

Our theme is

WARMS THE HEART

Create any NEW tangible item, Card, tag, ATC, Layout, altered art piece, Banner, pretty much anything you can come up with that is tangible using some of my digital images (or others).

(Sorry no digital entries)

Here is a look at what I created.....

A cup of tea and a good book always warms my heart,

body and soul as well!

From My Artistic Adventures Etsy I used the new paper line 

Shabby Chic Valentines Sweethearts Bitty pack of paper for the background

and 

the freebie Valentines Banner set that Heather is giving away.

(info below about how to get that)

After I printed out the banner pieces, full size, I though 

"I want to make a little banner to go across the top of the card"

so I printed another set, smaller! 

Unfortunately they weren't small enough so I printed another set...even smaller!

Did I use them?

NO 

I used one of the first print...original sized!

Now I have a variety sized spare collection! 

The book cover, tea rose image and the label are all from Graphics Fairy.

The teapot and cup are cute stamps from my stash.

And the hot cup of tea...

that is always sitting right beside me on my desk!

The image below is a closer look at the Heart background paper and a little bit of the pink banner.

I used a bit of vintage photo & tea dye distress inks for the stamps and edges of the images & papers,

rusty hinge distress marker to make the stitching lines around the background and banner,

diamond stickles on the rose, tea cup steam and the drip coming out of the teapot

and 

a piece of twine around the book image

(also inked with what was left on my inking sponge)

I hope you enjoyed my inspiration piece and will hop over to the challenge blog to check out the rest of the DT's projects!

(there is a link below to the blog & etsy)

*****

Please remember you can use other images to play along & win the "Top three badge" 

but in order to win the Random Draw (a free collage sheet) and Designer's Choice (chance to Guest Design and receive free images) 

you must use one of My Artistic Adventures images.

I can't wait to see what you create!

*****

Links...

My Artistic Adventures Challenge Blog

My Artistic Adventures Etsy
Graphics Fairy
Really Reasonable Ribbon

(Click on the image to go directly to this paper pk in the Etsy store)

*****

Don't forget running through Feb 14th if you purchase $20 or more Digital Collage Sheets, you can receive the collage sheet set to create this banner below for free!!

(just mention it in a comment when purchasing)

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Crafting!

Stepping outside of my comfort zone.....

Good morning everyone!

Today I am stepping outside of my vintage/shabby chic comfort zone 

and into.....

Steampunk!

YIKES

LeeAnne, over at Gecko Galz, 

asked those of us on her design team if we would like to make a project,

using her Industrial Digital Stamps to be featured on Gecko Galz Blog during the month of February!

And,

while our creations are being featured on the Gecko Galz Blog 

the Industrial Digital Stamps will be featured in

Quick Cards Made Easy magazine! 

Woohoo!

So exciting!

Now, normally I would run from a request like this, that takes me out of my comfort zone

but that little voice inside my head said

 "Do it!"

 so I said "Sure I'll give it a try!"

Then of course came that

"OMG what am I going to do...I don't know this steampunk stuff!"

Good old internet to the rescue.....

A little search here, a little search there 

and 

a spark of bravery and this is what I came up with.....

I printed a mirror image of the stamp and did an image transfer onto a couple of canvas's

Then I used a couple sprays for a bit of color

(suede & dragonfly by Tattered Angels)

I used a variety of Tim Holtz gears as well as other trinkets I found in my stash.

The center piece holding them together is a piece off my stove! 

(It's ok...I didn't need it!)

LOL

The wings are Dusty Attic. I painted them with pearl paint dabbers and topped them with some clear glitter.

The chain is from my stash.

The picture below is slightly crisper than the first one.....

I hope you like my creation!

*****

Don't forget to stop by Gecko Galz Blog for this months customer challenge

the theme is 

Vintage Ladies

Also don't forget to check out the Gecko Galz Blog all month long to see all the design teams steampunk creations!

*****

Gecko Galz Blog

Gecko Galz Customer Challenge

Gecko Galz Etsy

Industrial Digital Stamps

Quick Cards Made Easy

*****

Thanks for stopping by! 

Have a great week!

Gecko Galz Challenge.....

The theme...

Vintage Ladies

There is only one rule, and that is you need to use at least ONE product from Gecko Galz!!

It can be one of the free products, stamps, collage images, or digital papers!! It is up to you!!

The winner will receive a $25 Gecko Galz Shopping Spree

Here's a look at my inspiration piece.....

I started my tag with a piece of plain card stock that I painted, textured & stamped.

I cut the tag shape and used my Martha Stewart border punch for the top and bottom,

then matted it on a piece of black card stock.

My Gecko Galz Vintage Lady is from the Cute Little Couquettes collage sheet 

and the little tag I mounted it on is from the Vintage Tags collage sheet.

I had the butterfly in my stash for a while,

it is on a piece of grunge board, fussy cut and topped with clear rock candy distress paint.

The bitty tag is just a piece of scrap cut, painted, the word Beauty, topped with crackle accents and a little bit of twine.

A little bit of rosy trim and 

a bow made with my bow it all and some Really Reasonable Ribbon.

Below is a close up of the texture I did with a mask and modeling paste...

and of a bit of the stamping and my little bow...

Thanks for stopping by

Please hop over to the Gecko Galz Blog to check out the rest of the Design Teams creations 

as well as to link up your creations

Gecko Galz Vintage Ladies Challenge

Gecko Galz Etsy