Good Morning!

Make Every Day

A Day To Remember

It must be pink day!

It's ICAD (Index Card A Day) day!

Be sure to visit with Tammy at Daisy Yellow to see what a little time each day might lead you to create!

I'm not all that fond of pink.

I wonder what got into me?

!!!!!

Wishing YOU well and a joy filled day!

Friday: A Little Color

It's Friday and it's time to share a few more ICADs

(Index Card A Day).
Thank you to Tammy at Daisy Yellow for hosting and
her wonderful idea.

I try to give my ICADs a title.

This one is Everything Began to Sing.

Down Below The Waterfall

Sail Away

I decided I must have been in a mood when I made this one.

Looks like stormy seas to me! 

Wishing YOU well, much joy, and a wonderful weekend!

Good Morning!

Index Card A Day

I came to the ICAD (Index Card A Day) party a month late.

Better late than never!

It has been bittersweet.

I am getting paint on my fingers which is sweet.

But I am also going through Mr. Dragon's art supplies which is bitter.

I am almost finished getting all of his artwork framed. 

On with the ICAD show!

This ICAD #1 ... my elephant period!

Where am I going?

First, get up in the morning ... see what the day brings.

ICAD #3

Buster Says Be Peaceful

Buster is one of my favorites.

I was going through old magazines,

cutting out words, phrases, images that appealed to me.

When I was putting things away,

Buster and be peaceful were stuck together.

Sure brought a smile to my face!

Yes sir, Buster! I'm listening!

 

ICAD # 4

To celebrate the 4th of July holiday.

I'll try to post ICAD's more often.

Next Friday I promise to return to the regularly scheduled programming

Haiku My Heart and Postcard Friendship Friday! 

Wishing YOU well and fun filled weekend! 

This and That

A little fun in a short amount of time.

I took an unfinished page from my journal.

Added a found leaf.

Did a little scanning.

Added a Haiku by Basho.

And this is what I got.

Autumn approaches

and the heart begins to dream

of four-tatami rooms

~Basho

***

- We are back to summer here. High humidity and temps in the 90's. 

Argggggh.

- I am going to the museum today. It has been a very long time since I've been there.

Having lunch with a museum friend and I'll see the new China Gallery.

Perhaps pick up a research assignment for the Japanese Gallery ... the last to be added.

- Mr. Dragon has taken some steps backward. 

We try to laugh as much as we can!

- The Houston Zoo has been featured on the National Geographic Channel in a program called

Zoo Confidential. Three episodes were filmed here. The second one was last night.

I've enjoyed each one. One of my favorite keepers was on last night ... Lynn ... primate supervisor along with one of my favorite lemurs ... Sifaka.

One more episode next week.

- Almost forgot! The squirrel family (famous for eating the hibiscus blooms), finished off the tangerines yesterday. Little buggers!!!!
The bird food just isn't enough or all the acorns on the ground.
Does this mean a *real* winter is coming?????

Wishing you well!

Joy!

Journal Friday

It's been awhile since I've posted just journal pages. I've been spreading them around in other posts. So, today -- Just Journal Pages -- sort of!

Flower Bomb
This just fell right into place.
No thinking involved!

B is For ....
Birds and Butterflies
This took a while.
Mostly paper, a stencil, stamp, clip art.
I wanted to do this in my journal before I tried it on canvas.
I'm thinking about transferring it to cloth and making something.

Lastly, this is Teddy when he was a baby.
Always ruling the roost!
4 x 5 canvas kept simple

Enjoy your Friday.

Joy to You!

Take It For A Spin

I wanted to share part of my Monday with you. I had lunch with my tribe member, Mar. We both had birthdays in late May and hadn't celebrated yet. We lunched at Benjy's, one of our favorite restaurants and after, we played with paint. This is what I came home with.

Take It For A Spin

Here are a couple of close-ups of the texture.
It was my first time using modeling paste and I think I'm in love.
I already had several projects running around in the little gray cells.
Now we'll see if I can get the plans to come together!

We both collect collage elements for each other -- stamps, napkins -- we never know what will be in a package. Mar is a shopper extraordinaire. You name it, she can find it and it will be a great deal. I never know what she's going to find for me. Here's is my latest surprise. Do you remember the post on the linens from Provence? Well, look what Mar found for me -- a round tablecloth from France. The colors are perfect for my dreamsicle kitchen!

I was so excited I took this photo of the tablecloth straight out of the package.

Whatever you do today -- take it for a spin!

Joy to You!

It's Friday!

The Next Chapter book group is doing Wreck This Journal. They started last week and I guess I started last week too -- I slept with the book last Thursday. You read that right -- sleep with the book and then write about it. Well, it was sort of lumpy and the bed got a little cozy with the book, Mr. Dragon and three kitties and, it is HOT here, so the book was sort of clammy by morning. But that's what wrecking is all about! I'm supposed to break the spine of the book. I've walked on it. Tossed it and flung it about. Walked on it again. Turned it bass akwards (!!) and still the spine won't give! Isn't that the way it always is? I have a chance to do something I'd never do with a book and THIS BOOK WON'T COOPERATE! I'll keep trying.



This week I worked on the page For Four Letter Words. I played with it off and on and soon it became like a game. GAME! It's a four letter word. I wonder if it's on my list? I'll have to check.



I had a great time with the circle page. Soon I was drawing circles in circles and over circles. I don't know if you can tell, but there is sort of a little circle man in the upper left. I plan on coloring him in and playing with more circles later. I started numbering the pages. Got to 50 and then thought -- why am I following directions????? Don't do that! Break the rules. Wreck the book.

Remember this?
It was the first background I did for Visual Journalism 101.

This is what it looks like now!

I love it!
It really is a journal where I can write about what's happening in my life.
And, it's a journal where I can try new art techniques.
I'm going to do the same kind of thing with the blue page.

Thanks for stopping by.

Joy to You!

I'm Taking Another Class ....

I'm taking another online class.
This time with Pam Carriker called Visual Journalism 101.
I'm really enjoying the process.
Here are scans of the first page -- Lesson 1.

Remember, I'm working in a lined composition book --
a little different than water color paper.
I'm going to start another page today with different colors.
Stay tuned!

Head over and see the other classes that are being offered.
Several new classes have been added.
Creative Workshops

It's Done!

The lap afghan was finished just in time for a cold day at Minute Maid Park.
(In case anyone wonders, our Owls won all three baseball games last weekend.)

I plan on making several more lap afghans.
They are just handy!

I've talked about some of our *tribe* members in other posts.
Here is a frame that my favorite niece made.
Her mother (one of my best buddies and one of my chosen sisters) went to visit and
came back with the frame for me. K is a wonderful artist and unfortunately
doesn't have the time right now to spend on her art. Her husband
is a marvelous photographer. K and Z have a new home
and a baby on the way.
They have a blog OUR TIMES. Go by and say *Hello! Your Auntie sent me!*

Back to the frame! I couldn't decide what picture to put in the frame. Then I thought
that I had been hanging on to a picture of K and Z, just waiting for the perfect frame and voila. This has to be the perfect one!
Here they are -- mom and dad to be -- precious members of our tribe.

The frame wasn't the only surprise in the bag.
K made these wonderful note cards
in two different sizes.
They are mixed media with stamping and collage.

Aren't they great?!!!

I love note cards and I love that she made these for me.

Happy Tuesday everyone!
I hope the sun is shining brightly wherever you are and there is a smile on your face!

Creative Weekend

I had a creative weekend that I hope will continue into the week. With dark, cloudy, cold weather, it is the perfect time to stay indoors and play! I had a dream. It was about my favorite niece (the daughter of one of my best buddies). Then I got an email from her Mom telling me my dream was right on. So I hit my stash of baby yarn.

Stash of Yarn

This is what I have so far. Sort of an afghan jigsaw puzzle! Granny squares in different sizes all put together. I figured when I ran out of yarn in one color, I'd just continue on with another. What do you think? It is so soft. I'm having fun with it, but am sad that I put up the lacy stole once again!

Sunday I decided it was time to put together a journal. I have lots of composition books and thought I could recycle them into a journal. I hate to go out and buy some more paper. I love paper and between Mr. Dragon and me -- we are being overrun by art paper! I'm making a list of things to order from Dick Blick. Mr. Dragon will start another art class at the end of the month and between the two of us I'm sure we'll have a nice size order.

So I pasted pages together on Sunday. And pasted. And pasted.

If this works out, I'm going to make a cover like one that was in this month's
Cloth, Paper, Scissors
from an old embroidered dish towel.
Recycle, Recycle, Recycle!

This is what I worked on this (Monday) morning. Sorry about the picture. Someday the scanner will be working! My word for the year is Listen. I need to listen FULLY. I think I'm a good listener, but sometimes I respond too quickly -- sort of miss the real point -- if you know what I mean! I also need to listen to what the universe is telling me -- or hitting me over the head. Yo! Girl! Listen up! The word for the month of January is PLAY (thanks Leah). The little birds have musical notes on their bodies. I'm happy with my first page and it was FUN!

TNC and AEDM

I guess your first questions are what is TNC and AEDM. TNC is The Next Chapter where the group is reading and discussing Soul Coaching by Denise Linn. AEDM is Art Every Day Month - a group the lovely Leah from Creative Every Day put together to get us motivated to be creative. I signed up for both of these groups with the best of intentions, but life (or the universe) sometimes interrupts what we think we would rather be doing. I tend to listen to the universe or I get a headache! So, when the contractor called and said they could begin repairing the damage from Hurricane Ike, we said come on.



Here's a picture of one of the walls that had the drywall and insulation removed after getting wet from Ike.


The two humans (Mr. and Mrs. Dragon) and the fur babies are the only things not covered by plastic or dry wall dust. YUCK. But, things will get back to normal (whatever that is) and we will have a new paint job in the living and dining rooms. We will take the opportunity to clear the clutter (one of those Soul Coaching suggestions) and really clean the house (more Soul Coaching). We've been spending a lot of time on our balcony listening to the birds and watching the squirrels (Soul Coaching again) while the dust and dry wall fly inside the house. Guess I've been more with the TNC group than I first thought. I'm just doing things in a slightly different order!


One of the suggestions in Soul Coaching is to set up an altar. We have two altars in the house. One large one near the front door (covered in plastic) and this small one in the bedroom. I love the St. Francis. He reminds me of nature -- animals -- birds -- that we are all in this adventure together. The candles are ritual candles -- one for health and one for my guardian angel. There is a small piece of obsidian on the table -- a gift from a dear friend of some 40 years -- to remind me of the earth and to keep this Gemini grounded. Also on the table a small tag that says Bless My Cat.


As for AEDM -- I haven't finished the collage I started in the organic background class I took with Paulette Insall. You guessed it -- all my supplies and working area are under plastic. However, I did pull the canvas out and placed on my focal points. The Buddha is a photo we took in Maui many years ago and the lotus is from clip art. They are both just sitting on the canvas as I decide if this is the final placement. I will have a few words on the canvas: Listen With Your Heart.


And I am crocheting dolls for my two little girls in California. Aren't they cute?! They were designed by the same woman who designed the Favrielle dolls. My fingers are itching.

Creativity

Creativity. So what is it? The dictionary says:

• Creativity - creative ability; artistic or intellectual inventiveness

So what is creative? Back to the dictionary and:

1. Creating or able to create
2. Having or showing imagination and artistic or intellectual inventiveness
3. Stimulating the imagination and inventive powers
   

Why the sudden interest in creativity? The July/August 2008 issue of UTNE READER had a series of articles on The Future of Creativity in our schools, our businesses, and our lives. Frankly, it was a little frightening. It seems to be one of those use it or lose it things. One of the articles suggested that we are robbing our kids of their birthright: the access to free, unstructured play of their own making. Remember playing with an old cardboard box and in your imagination making it into anything we wanted: castle, fort, car, plane, cave? Some kids, when you tell them to go play look at you and say "what should I play."

It got me to thinking about being crafty and if that counts as creative. Then I thought about just having fun! Why stop playing when you become an adult? Why not continue to play? Learn to play a new instrument. Learn a new craft. Finger paint!

I spend time looking at blogs featuring mixed-media artists/crafts people. I decided I wanted to try and here's my first collage. This is what I collected all laid out on watercolor paper. The little girl in the picture is me. Lots of clip art butterflies. An information sheet on butterflies printed out on ledger paper.


Here's the finished project. I call it Too Cute I. I have more pictures of this little girl doing things she loved. I think there are several more Too Cutes to come!

Too Cute I