Flooding, sigh.....

So apparently our basement flooded! 

We had some incredible rain that flooded a tremendous amount of homes, rivers, roads, etc, in our area! Since I've been in a good (and I mean crappy) depressive state lately and my husband's mind was busy with work stuff 

(which surprisingly got no water), 

we didn't think to check the basement! 

Big Duh moment for us!

It's unfinished so other than laundry, we don't go down there often. 

Anyway, I was out of the house for hours yesterday 

(dr's appt, grocery shopping & breathing fresh air)

 when I got back & opened the door, I got hit with the overwhelming smell of mold, so I put my groceries away and went downstairs and found a whole lot of wet mess! 

Things were apparently floating!

All the boxes of stored stuff (photos included, sigh) blankets, carpet, and so much more...soaked! 

These picture are only a small part of the basement.

I didn't take pictures before starting to clean

(there I go again...no before pics)

I just dove in and started bagging the soggy mess and getting it out of there!

The guitars are still in good shape...yay!

Thankfully it's an unfinished basement so no big furniture items were down there!

My washer is fine!

A whole lot of people are dealing with so much worse than us after the flooding!

We are grateful for sure!

It's a gelli kinda day...

I've been off lately,

depression wise,

not feeling very creative.

Though I've had a nagging thing going on about getting out my gelli plate.

So not feeling like doing anything else I did just that!

Here's the messy stencil debris on my work table...

A look at my desk 

or 

the pile on top, 

of the desk that you can't see!

And a couple closer shots of my prints...

I wanted some a little Christmasy

hence the green red & white ones.

More everyday ones down below.

I had a lot of fun with browns, white & golds.

This was so much fun! 

Don't know if it was enough to get my out of my craftless funk but I enjoyed myself and that's what counts right?

Art Journal page

I drew a face again! 

My second time! 

It's taken,

 at least,

 a year to get up the nerve to do this again!

I used inspiration from this video from Kraaft It Live

These ladies are all incredibly talented and so much fun to watch!

Thanks for the boost ladies!

Here is my page.....

I'm so proud of me!

Not only that I drew the face but the whole page was done so freely!

I usually think too much but I let go with this and couldn't be happier!

I think this looks so retro...

I love it!

Have a great weekend everyone!

30 Days of Art Journaling

Lately, I haven't been in the mood to think about these prompts.

I'm still keeping track of them but some of them provoke such internal thought that I need time to do them.

So in the mean time 

I've been playing with my art journal, 

simply making backgrounds.

Today in the midst of my play, 

making several backgrounds,

 I made this background and couldn't help but think about 

The Flintstones!

To make this a funnier thought to me

today's prompt (day 16) is 

to create a page about a character from a book, movie or tv

that resonates with you...

someone you relate to, admire, want to be friends with, etc...

Now I can't say that I admire them or

want to be friends with them (well maybe friends), 

however, 

I may relate with them diet wise!

I'm Paleo!

LOL

No brontosaurus burgers or those huge ribs that never quite fit into the car,

but definitely meats & veggies!

Here is my page...

Yabba dabba doo!

 

30 Days of Art Journaling

Ok,

once again, 

I have some catching up to do! 

So I'm going to post a couple days here together

Day #4

Things that make me happy now as well as when I was a child

Strawberry shortcake always topped the list

however I haven't been able to have it in years! 

That changed a couple days ago when I found a recipe for

AIP (Auto Immune Protocol) shortcake!

Oh, what a happy day!!!

Sorry for that little distraction but I was so excited and it tasted so good!

*****

Day #5

Pet 

(this is just one of our little girls)

She's so cute! 

Comfortably laying her head on the table!

*****

Day #6

A song with personal meaning to you.

This one was a tough one for me!

I love music but I don't really hold one or another as more meaningful to me.

So as days past and I kept trying to figure out a song that I could journal about, 

I went ahead and made a bunch of random background in my journal.

My aha moment came several days later
when I was looking through my journal for something to do,
 I came across this page.

The thought...
"spread your wings and fly"
came to mind when I saw the feathers.

So I got on my computer and googled those words and I came up with this song 

sung by Susan Boyle.

The words in the song are

"Want to spread my wings and fly

Away into the sky

How I dream to be so free

No more sadness..no more pain

No more anger..no more hate

How I dream to have those wings and fly into the sky"

How very pretty!

And so appropriate for so many reasons

not just for me but for so many these days!

*****

Skipping Day #7 for now

*****

This one is Day #8

An early or earliest memory

That's me hiding behind mom's skirt.

I've always been shy 

(hasn't changed)

More to come when I get them uploaded or finished!

Hugs!

I (heart) coffee...

Well 

Actually

Not Me!

I'm a tea girl!

My daughter, however, is most definitely a coffee girl!

So while browsing through Pinterest 

I found this cute wall hanging and decided I had to make one like it for her dorm room decor.

I also used some inspiration from this art journal page

Here it is.....

She and her roommate love it!

Yay!

ICAD a day

Today we come to the end of my finished 

ICAD's for the Yellow Daisy ICAD group

Day 16

Prompt - wallpaper

I used some more of my handmade washi tape that I made for 

Mixed Media Morsel's

and laid it like stripes on a wall

(can't say I'd do this to my walls but I'm sure someone would)

Day 17

Prompt - Landscape

I went with the love of Paris

Although I can't say I really love Paris because I've never been there.

I do love this card though

And finally

Day 18

Prompt - Orange

I not only have orange in the background but I also sprayed it with an orangy glimmer.

I'd really love to get the rest finished but who know's how long that will take!

Only 43 days to go.....

Thanks for stopping by!

Nicknames...

Day 3 of 

30 days of Art Journaling 

I may have cheated on this one a little bit!

The background of this page was done a couple days ago 

but

I couldn't figure out what I wanted to add, as a sentiment!

(this is a trouble spot for me)

I was talking to my daughter,

showing her my day 2, 

talking about day 3

 and browsing through my journal when

I had an ah-hah moment!

I don't remember ever having a nickname growing up but here are the names I'm called now...

I added my "nicknames" to the hearts on my page and did a little more doodling! 

More ICAD a day and a Mixed Media Morsel

ICAD a day with Daisy Yellow

These 3 I kinda went on my own a bit

Day 13 

Prompt - playground

I went with a brightly colored background, 

a couple of inchies (one with a butterfly),

and the word Happy.

Butterflies and happiness are found in brightly colored playgrounds right?

Day 14

Prompt - Venn diagram

Not so much!

LOL

I decided to play with the washi tape that I made for the background here and added a butterfly die cut that had been on my desk for far too long!

This one also works for a Mixed Media Morsel

also a Facebook group

I made the washi tape for the MMM #23

       

Day 15

Prompt - Bouquet

Although I did not make a bouquet I did go with some doodled flowers.

The background was sprayed with some neglected 

glimmering sprays (wish you could see it)

I hope you all are having a wonderful summer!

Thanks for visiting me!

Letter to younger self

A little late but...

Day 2 of 

30 days of Art Journaling

This was a little tough.

The prompt was to write a letter to your younger self.

How young?

What do I want to say?

Do I really want to think about all that?

Do I want to bear it all for anyone to see?

And so many other questions!

It took a couple of days of searching and this is what I came up with.....

I wrote my letter then covered it up with art! 

I used some torn, scrap, painted papers and a couple stencils. 

When I was done with that I thought it needed a pop of red so I doodled some flowers and painted them.

Then...

Oops!

I got some paint on my fingers and it ended up on the page so I guess I'll add some more!

Finally, I finished off with some paint splatters.

Below is a close up of my sentiment

and 

my doodled flowers

(I'm kinda proud with how they came out)

With love, 

sunny days will come! 

Wishing you all sunny days!

ICAD a day

I'm back with day's 10, 11 & 12 of the 

ICAD challenge at Daisy Yellow

Day 10

Prompt - cobalt blue

I used a couple different blues for the background on this one

Day 11

Prompt - baseball

Obviously I went out on my own with this one!

I'm not a sports fan

I really love how the background came out on this one, 

it was just scrap paint smeared on the card with an old credit card!

Day 12

Prompt - TV

Another smeared paint background and everything TV

Thanks for stopping by,

I love when you visit!

Home...

I joined another group! 

This one is an art journal group

30 days of Art Journaling 

The prompts will be sent to my email every day.

The first prompt was.....

Our sense of smell

and we were asked to think of the word

 "home"

 and what smell comes to mind.

I thought about the great outdoors 

(yay sunshine and fresh air)

and all the years we spent our whole summers at a campground

(mom & 4 kids...dad came up on the weekends and vacations)

and this is what I did...,,

This page started out as a leftover paint page that I blotted a couple greens on.

I added the trees...

first time making trees like this and loving how they came out!

Then I used a couple of paint daubers,

"pool" for the sky & "butterscotch" to add some dirt to the ground.

Also brushed on some grasses on the bottom of the page.

I tore a piece of book page for the camper shape 

then 

painted & doodled it.

Finished with some shadowing, done with a

Pitt Artist pen 

and my sentiment.

I'm hoping these prompts help me to do a little more personal art journaling. 

We'll see!

Thanks for stopping for a visit!

More ICAD a day...

Here are 3 more ICAD's for the ICAD a day challenge at 

Daisy Yellow

The prompt for day 7 was 

pinball or bowling

My husband is in the bowling business and for the life of me I couldn't think of what to do 

so I went with the option of using old book text and I added some tea cups because that is a love of mine (sorry dear)!

Day 8's prompt was 

island....I went with blues and greens and a bit of a wavy border 

and decided to send a post card to mom & dad!

Miss you both dearly!!!

Day 9's prompt was 

compass....overlapping a bunch of stamps and of course the compass stamp I made this little card

the sentiment is rub on's from my forgotten stash!

Amazingly enough I've been sticking to the prompts pretty well

I didn't think I would.

There was the option of going in your own direction as long as you did one ICAD a day!

I only veered slightly on day 7! 

Thanks for dropping by!

ICAD a day.....

Today I have 3 more ICADs to share 

that I had done for the ICAD 2016 Daisy Yellow group.

These are days 4, 5 & 6

The prompt for day 4 was

Typewriter...amazingly enough I had a typewriter stamp!

Day 5's prompt was

Cloud...I used a stencil that I cut for the mountainy look on the bottom, 

a couple stamps for the trees 

and I tore & distressed some paper for the clouds.

Day 6's prompt was

top ten list...I used a couple pieces of gelli printed paper 

(one for the background & the other for the blue circles)

The flowers I had made ages ago and have been sitting in a box waiting to be rediscovered!

Thanks for stopping by!

Daisy Yellow ICAD 2016

Ok, well I joined another group

It was started at Daisy Yellow

and there is a Daisy Yellow ICAD group on Facebook as well. 

It started in June and was to go 61 days. 

I started late and wanted to try to catch up,

although they tell you you need not catch up just go on for the 61 days,

I went at it with a vengeance.....

for a little while anyway

and of course,

I didn't blog about them!

(I've been so bad at this for too long now...must get back on track)

Nope I didn't finish!

Not by a long shot!

Here I'm going to show you the first 3...

The first prompt was 

mix tape...I used a lacy ribbon tape.

I also used a couple of stamps that I carved myself (flower, leaf & grass)

The second prompt was

pyramid...I went with a cake! 

Why not?

The third prompt was

Snoopy...I went with Peanuts! 

LOL

I'll be sharing more soon! 

Thank you for stopping by!

Inspired Art Journal Page

So I was watching this video 

by KissMyCreative

and I got so excited about her using a baby wipe to wipe her paints on and off her page so I couldn't wait to try it myself.

This is my start.....

and when I was finished with that my thoughts went to

"oh no now what, I don't want to mess it up"

I love how the colors all blended so well!

A day or two later I found a spark of bravery

 and added some stamping & a couple of circles I punched out of 

patterned paper and a gelli print paper.

Another day or two later

I convinced myself to stop thinking and just go nuts!

I got out some more paints, a stencil, my uni-ball white pen, & my fingers  

and just had fun!

And I even added some wording...

something I've always struggled with!

Never knew what to say but these words seemed appropriate!

Believe

Breathe

Let Go

Be Yourself

Create your freedom & enjoy the ride!

(Ooh, that looks like a quote for another project!)

Have a wonderful week!