Field of pretties

Some months ago, I found a tutorial online to make these cute little felt flowers. Unfortunately, I don't remember where I saw the tutorial but I do remember how to make the flowers. My first one was that light lavender one. All the others were done in the last few days. Just trying to keep my hands busy!

If you know where the tutorial for these flowers is, please let me know and I will link to it.

Edited Feb. 8th: At last I found the tutorial! See it at Jeweled Elegance, here.

Happy Holidays

Christmas eve was spent at my parents' house with my brother. We had a delicious meal and then unwrapped gifts. Many gifts in my case! I received pretty much everything I had put on my list, which I didn't expect would actually happen. I'm happy about it all. I've been playing with my new Nintendo DS all afternoon yesterday and some today. I started watching my DVDs. I've used one of the embossing powders for swap cards.

Yesterday, my brother and I were on our way to a family lunch, 2 hours out of town. As soon as we were out of Montreal, his car got a flat tire. He doesn't have a spare (Mini's are too small for a spare to fit in) so we had to get towed to the garage. By the time we got back home, it wasn't worth getting in my car to go to the family lunch. So after explaining the situation to our parents, we both went our separate ways and spent Christmas day on our own. I took this time to complete 2 swaps which is a good thing.

I also worked on something for the One World One Heart giveaway. I decided to participate again. It's such a fun event and it did allow me to find new blogs I probably wouldn't have found otherwise. So be sure to come back on January 19th when I'll be posting my giveaway (the winner(s) will be announced February 12th.)

I've finished reading the Twilight books. They've renewed my passion for vampires. So it's a good thing that I received the whole DVD collection of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Christmas!

Today's art is my Daily Art Card for Desember 24th, done before going to bed, representing most of the gifts I received from my family. And yes, that IS a sock monkey.

A nice cup of...

Hello blog readers. I'm sorry that I haven't been around much in the past few weeks (not to say months.) I can't promise to be around much more in the coming weeks. Not that my holidays are busy. Because they're not. I just don't have the energy to do much lately. Not that I'm sick. Because I'm not. And it's not like much is happening in my life to drain me. Because, well, it's not. Happening, that is. Except that I finally read Twilight and saw the movie last night with CeeCee and bought the rest of the series today. So I'll just escape reality for a few hours and join my new vampire friends for a while.

Today's art is a 4x4 mixed media chunky page made for the "Gotta Have Coffee" swap on atcsforall.com. Enjoy!

(Désolé, pas de traduction en français aujourd'hui.)

Nothing deep

A page in my latest art journal. It's 5"x7", made of recycled paper. Every day I draw, doodle and write about what I see, do, think, etc. Nothing deep. Just every day stuff. All in brown.

***

Une page de mon dernier journal d'artiste. Il mesure 5"x7" et est fait de papiers recyclés. Chaque jour je dessine, gribouille et écris ce que je vois, fais, pense, etc. Rien de profond. Juste des choses de tous les jours. Tout en brun.

Well hello there!

Just posting to let you all know I'm still alive. November has been a harsh month but now that it's over, I feel a lot better and I'm ready to tackle my to-do list.

***

J'écris pour vous laisser savoir que je suis toujours vivante. Novembre fut un mois difficile mais maintenant que c'est terminé, je me sens beaucoup mieux et prête à entreprendre ma liste de choses à faire.



Photograph by me of Diesel and myself.

Non-traditional Christmas card

Here's the second non-traditional Christmas card I made this weekend. Using different colours is harder than I thought but I like the final result on this one.

Bazzill cardstock, Bo Bunny paper, Italian paper ribbon (unknown brand), Queen & Co. felt, Stampin' Up! sentiment

***

Voici la deuxième carte de Noël non-traditionelle que j'ai fait en fin de semaine. Utiliser des couleurs différentes est plus difficile que je l'imaginais mais j'aime le résultat final.

Carton Bazzill, Papier Bo Bunny, ruban de papier Italien (marque inconnue), feutrine Queen & Co., sentiment Stampin' Up!

Getting ready

I decided to get started on my Christmas cards this weekend. I decided to only use what I have on hand, not buying new stuff to make the cards. So I have to use non-traditional colours since I don't have a lot of Christmas-y colours in stock.

Stampin' Up!: kraft cardstock, Notebook paper and Alpine ribbon; DCWV: red and green patterned papers; Hero Arts: Merry Always clear stamp; Others: ink, coloured pencils, Gamsol, gel pen.
***

J'ai décidé de commencé mes cartes de Noël en fin de semaine. J'ai aussi décidé de n'utiliser que ce que j'ai sous la main, donc ne rien acheté de nouveau pour faire les cartes. Alors, je dois utiliser des couleurs non-traditionnelles puisque je n'ai pas beaucoup de couleurs de Noël en stock.

Stampin' Up!: carton kraft, papier Notebook et ruban Alpine; DCWV: papiers rouge et vert; Hero Arts: étampe Merry Always; Autres: encre, crayons de couleur, Gamsol et stylo gel.

Timed-out

I don't have much to say these days. So this is a mosaic of my Daily Art Cards from November 1st to the 12th. All done with a ballpoint pen.

***

Je n'ai pas grand chose à dire ces jours-ci. Alors voici une mosaïque de mes cartes artistiques journalières du 1er au 12 Novembre. Toutes créées avec un stylo.

Winner

The winner of the altered slide is:

frankenhut said...

Often we commit ourselves to do more than we can handle and it compromises our comfort. You gave yourself a fine gift by taking something off your plate, and it is OK.

November 10, 2008 11:07 AM

Congrats! I'll contact you for your mailing info.

Knowing when to stop

I decided to stop participating in Nanowrimo this year. I have too much on my plate right now and it's just not fun anymore. The idea behind this project, for me, was to have fun.

I decided to give away this altered slide tonight. It could be used as an ornament or a necklace. The back has an image of the Eiffel tower. If you want a chance to win, just leave a comment and I'll announce the winner tomorrow at 7PM (eastern time.)

***

J'ai décidé d'arrêter de participer à Nanowrimo cette année. J'ai trop de choses à faire présentement et ça ne m'amusait plus d'écrire. L'idée du projet, pour moi, c'était d'avoir du plaisir.

J'ai décidé de faire tirer cette lame de microscope altérée ce soir. Elle peut être utilisée comme décoration ou comme collier. L'endos présente une image de la tour Eiffel. Si vous voulez une chance de gagner, laissez-moi un commentaire et j'annoncerai la gagnante demain à 7pm (heure de l'est.)

29 gifts - Week 3

Even though I haven't been blogging the past week, I have been doing my daily gifts. And Daily Art Card. And writing in my "Every Day Brings something new" journal. And... well, I've been busy. And for the rest of November, I'm also busy with writing a novel. This year I've decided to go with a fantasy novel, in french, my main character being a character I created about 15 years ago. So far, I'm on track and am already surprised with the way my story is turning out.

These four ATCs are for an Affirmation swap. I made the backgrounds with wax crayons, watercolour paint, ink pads and a stencil. The words are written in Indian Black Ink and White Acrylic Ink. The faces and bodies are coloured with coloured pencils and blended with Gamsol. I'm really happy with these cards.

***
Même si je n'ai pas blogué dans la dernière semaine, j'ai donné mes cadeaux à tous les jours. Et j'ai fait mes cartes journalières. Et j'ai écrit dans mon journal "Chaque jour apporte quelque chose de nouveau". Et... bien, j'ai été occupée. Et pour le reste de Novembre, je suis aussi occupée à écrire un roman. Cette année j'ai décidé d'écrire un roman fantastique, en français, mon personnage principal en étant un que j'ai créé il y a environ 15 ans. Jusqu'à présent, je suis sur le bon chemin et je suis déjà surprise de la tournure que prend mon histoir.

Les 4 CAÉ montrées ici ont été faites pour un échange sur une thématique d'affirmation. J'ai fait les fonds avec des crayons de cire, de l'aquarelle, des tampons encreurs et un gabarit. Les mots sont écrits en encre à dessin noire et en encre acrylique blanche. Les visages et les corps ont été colorés avec des crayons de couleurs et les traits sont estompés avec du Gamsol. Je suis vraiment contente du résultat.

29 gifts - Day 8

Diesel is yawning
Originally uploaded by MissKoolAid

I love this picture! Looks like she's screaming or about to attack or something! Makes me laugh.

Today was a great day. Sunny and warm. I went for a walk by the water. Took photos. And found $20! I couldn't believe it! So I used that as my "excuse" for a gift... Meaning: I made a donation online but I doubled the amount I found. So $40 were donated to the Elysia Skye Surgery Fund via a link from the 29gifts website.

***
J'adore cette photo! On dirait que Diesel crie ou encore qu'elle va attaquer! Ça me fait rire.

Aujourd'hui a été une belle journée. Il faisait beau et plutôt chaud. Je suis allée marcher au bord de l'eau. J'ai pris des photos. Et j'ai trouvé $20! Je ne pouvais pas le croire! Alors ç'a été mon "excuse" pour le cadeau du jour. Je veux dire par là que j'ai fait un don en ligne mais j'ai doublé le montant que j'avais trouvé. Alors j'ai fait un don de $40 au Elysia Skye Surgery Fund grâce à un lien sur le site de 29gifts.

29 gifts - Day 7

Today being the 25th of the month, I've been taking photos for the Scrap Your Day project. Since it's been raining all day, I couldn't go for a walk and didn't bring my camera while running errands. So I took photos of Diesel a few times and of some of my projects. The one you see here is a macrame pink owl which I completed in a little over an hour. Can you believe that this was the first time I was doing a macrame project other than the friendship bracelets? I found the pattern while browsing one of my new favourite websites, One Pretty Thing. It's great for people like me who are always looking for new crafting ideas. Go take a look.

Today's gift was a small donations to students for a special event (not even sure what it was for but I donated anyway... ) And, well, this owl will be a gift for a faraway friend. I will be mailing it this week.

Off to create more stuff...

***

Aujourd'hui étant le 25 du mois, j'ai pris des photos pour le projet Scrap Your Day. Puisqu'il a plu toute la journée, je ne pouvais pas aller marcher et je n'ai pas amené ma caméra pour faire mes courses. Alors j'ai pris des photos de Diesel à quelques reprises et de quelques-uns de mes projets. Celui que vous voyez ici est un hibou rose en macramé que j'ai complété en un peu plus d'une heure. Pouvez-vous croire que c'était mon premier projet en macramé autre que les bracelets d'amitié? J'ai trouvé le patron en me promenant sur un de mes sites préférés du moment, One Pretty Thing. C'est génial pour des personnes comme moi qui recherchent toujours de nouveaux projets de bricolage et d'artisanat. Allez y faire un tour, même si ce n'est qu'en anglais.

Le cadeau du jour consistait d'un petit don que j'ai fait pour des étudiants du coin pour un de leurs événements (je ne suis pas certaine de l'événement en question mais j'ai quand même fait un don... ) Et, aussi, ce petit hibou est un cadeau pour une amie qui vit très loin d'ici. Il sera dans la poste cette semaine.

Bon, je vais créer d'autres trucs...

29 gifts - Days 4-5-6

Here's my layout for Scrap Your Day September 25th. I love this project because even if I don't take photos for the rest of the month, I will at least have photos from one day each month for a full year.

My gifts for Wednesday and Thursday were: an apple to my co-worker, right-of-way to many drivers, compliments to kids at work, snacks to kids and, for today, I gave my co-worker the opportunity to leave 20 minutes early (with our boss's ok) to pick up her son from daycare. Meanwhile, I got in return lots of hugs from kids, smiles and hellos from strangers on the street and some extra hours at work! Finally!

***

Voici ce que j'ai fait pour le projet Scrap Your Day pour le 25 Septembre. J'aime beaucoup ce projet parce que même si je ne prends pas de photos pour le reste du mois, au moins, à la fin de l'année j'aurai des photos d'une journée par mois pour toute une année.

Mes cadeaux pour Mercredi et Jeudi ont été: une pomme pour ma collègue de travail, droit de passage pour plusieurs personnes sur la route, des compliments pour des enfants au travail, des collations pour certains enfants et, pour aujourd'hui, j'ai donné à ma collègue l'opportunité de quitter 20 minutes plus tôt (avec l'accord de notre patronne) pour aller chercher son garçon à la garderie. Pendant ce temps, j'ai reçu plein de calins d'enfants, des sourires et des bonjours de gens dans la rue et des heures supplémentaires au travail. Finalement!

29 gifts - Day 3

This is my living room closet, all cleaned up, all sorted out.

It rained all day today which means over-excited kids who can't go outside to run around and have fun. So they were a bit too much today. But that's ok because tomorrow is another day.

Today's gift was a toy car I found at the bottom of the closet which I gave to my co-worker for her 3 years old son.

I received a bouquet of flowers from one of my students with a handmade card. Lovely!

***

Voici le garde-robe du salon, tout propre, tou rangé.

Il a plu toute la journée alors les enfants n'ont pas pu aller jouer dehors pour se défouler. Ils étaient très énervés. Demain est un nouveau jour.

Le cadeau du jour a été une voiture jouet que j'ai trouvé dans le fond de mon garde-robe que j'ai décidé de donner à ma collègue de travail pour son garçon de 3 ans.

J'ai reçu un bouquet de fleurs d'une de mes élèves avec une carte qu'ell m'a fait. C'était joli!

29 gifts - Day 2

Today, I took a day off of work. Because sometimes, we just need a day off. So what did I do then? Lots of things!

First, I went to the second-hand store to give 2 bags full of CDs which I no longer listen to. I had cleaned up my CD collection yesterday which is now about 120 CDs instead of something like 300! So that was my gift for today. Then, I went to Staples to get ink for my printer as well as photo paper AND banker's boxes. I also wanted a pack of acetates but the ones I wanted were all sold out. After that, lunch at the mall and a bit of window shopping then off to the pet supply store before coming back home.

I didn't do much for a couple of hours but then I decided to clean my living room's closet. A task I've been dreading for a long time. And now, it's done! The banker's boxes are all full and IDed. One of my plastic storage unit (the kind with drawers) has been emptied in the process also and is in the closet to eventually house some of my supplies. A lot of stuff has been put aside to either bring to work or send to Salvation Army. All in all, a very good day. Feels like I can breathe better!

Today's artwork is an ATC I custom-made for someone on Atcs For All.
***

Aujourd'hui, j'ai pris congé au travail. Parce que des fois, on a besoin d'une journée de congé. Alors, qu'est-ce que j'ai fait? Plein de choses!

Pour commencer, je suis allée au Village des Valeurs pour donner 2 sacs pleni de CDs que je n'écoutais plus. J'avais fait le ménage de ma collection de CDs hier. Elle compte maintenant environ 120 CDs plutôt que les 300 quelques que j'avais avant! Alors ça, c'était mon cadeaux de la journée. Après, je suis allée chez Bureau en Gros pour acheter une cartouche d'encre pour mon imprimante ainsi que du papier photo et des boites de rangement en carton. Je voulais aussi un paquet d'acétates mais celles que je voulais étaient toutes vendues. Après, j'ai diné au centre commercial et fait un peu de lèche-vitrine avant d'aller à l'animalerie et de revenir chez moi.

Je n'ai pas fait grand chose pour quelques heures puis j'ai décidé de faire le ménage du garde-robe du salon. Une tâche que j'appréhendais depuis un bon bout de temps. Et maintenant c'est fait! Les boites de rangement sont pleines et identifiées. Un de mes meubles à rangement en plastique (qui a des tiroirs) a été vidé en même temps et est maintenant dans le garde-robe pour éventuellement contenir des fournitures. Beaucoup de choses ont été mises de côté pour soit amener au travail ou donner à l'Armée du Salut. Finalement, une très bonne journée. J'ai l'impression de pouvoir enfin respirer mieux!

L'oeuvre d'aujourd'hui est une CAE que j'ai fait spécialement pour quelqu'un sur Atcs For All.

29 gifts

A couple of days ago, I found out about this project: 29 gifts in 29 days and thought it was exactly what I needed to do. I'm officially starting today by giving away this little book (which I told you about back in January) to the first person who leaves a comment saying they would love to have the book.

Yesterday was my birthday. Mom and I went to a restaurant to brunch and then we went shopping. I actually didn't buy anything but we ended up sitting down to make a card at our favourite stamp store which was fun. Dinner was spent at home with my parents, my brother and one of my aunts. Good food, good wine, good company. It was a fun and relaxing birthday. And when I got home, I decided to treat myself to a little gift: a handmade journal by a wonderful Canadian artist! I love Etsy!

***

Il y a quelques jours, j'ai découvert ce projet: 29 cadeaux en 29 jours (site anglais seulement) et je me suis dit que c'est quelque chose que j'aimerais faire. Alors je débute officiellement aujourd'hui en donnant ce petit livre (dont j'avais parlé en Janvier) à la première personne qui laisse un commentaire disant qu'elle aimerait recevoir le livre.

Hier, c'était ma fête. Je suis allée bruncher au restaurant avec ma mère avant d'aller magasiner. Je n'ai rien acheté mais nous avons fini par nous asseoir pour faire une carte à notre boutique d'estampes préférée. C'était amusant. Le souper a eu lieu chez à la maison avec mes parents, mon frère et une de mes tantes. De la bonne nourriture, du bon vin et de la bonne compagnie. Ce fut une journée de fête très agréable et relaxante. De retour chez moi le soir, j'ai décidé de me faire plaisir en achetant un journal fait-main par une artiste Canadienne talentueuse. J'adore Etsy!

Super Ordinary Boy for Jan

Super Ordinary Boy for Jan
Originally uploaded by MissKoolAid

Remember this little guy? Tonight I decided to make an ATC with him and render him in colour. I drew him in pencil at first and then inked him with a Micron pen. After erasing the pencil lines, I started colouring him with my Prismacolors and blending the colours with Gamsol. I love this technique which I learned from my Glitter Sister CeeCee. I use it all the time now.

This ATC was made for Janet as an addition to the giveaway prize (it's definitely going in the mail Tuesday Janet!)
***
Vous souvenez-vous de ce petit bonhomme? Ce soir j'ai décidé de faire une CAE avec son image et de lui donner un peu de couleurs. J'ai commencé par le dessiné au crayon-mine pour ensuite refaire les lignes à l'encre avec un de mes stylo-feutre Micron. Après avoir effacé les lignes du crayon-mine, je l'ai colorié avec mes Prismacolors et j'ai utilisé du Gamsol pour estomper et mélanger les couleurs. J'adore cette technique que j'ai appris dans un cours de ma Glitter Sister (Soeur Brillante, hehe) CeeCee. J'utilise cette technique souvent maintenant.

Cette CAE a été faite pour Janet pour compléter le paquet du tirage que je posterai finalement mardi.

Always learning and growing

When I saw this project (via Colette's blog) I knew it was something I had to try with my group of kids. The brown bags were recycled from some of the kids' lunches. We're lucky enough to have two huge trees in the school yard so once the mushrooms were made, we ran outside and placed our mushrooms under one of the trees. I told the kids they could place theirs anywhere they wanted under the trees and we ended up with a nice little group of mushrooms, some close together and some a little to the side. We then had a little photo session before gathering the mushrooms again and running back inside. A really fun project and a good way to reuse paper bags.

PS The kids are 3rd and 4th graders.

***

Quand j'ai vu ce projet (par l'entremise du blog de Colette) j'ai tout de suite su que c'était quelque chose que je devais essayer avec mon groupe d'élève. Les sacs en papier bruns ont été récupéré des diners de certains enfants. Nous sommes chanceux d'avoir deux gros et magnifiques arbres dans notre cour d'école alors aussitôt les champignons fabriqués, nous avons courru à l'extérieur et planté nos champignons au pied d'un des arbres. J'ai dit aux enfants qu'ils pouvaient placer leur champignon où ils voulaient sous les arbres et le résultat fut un beau petit groupe de champignons, certains collés les uns aux autres et d'autres encore, un peu à l'écart. Nous avons ensuite eu une petite séance photo avant de cueillir nos champignons et retourner rapidement à l'intérieur. Un beau petit projet amusant et une bonne façon de réutiliser des sacs de papier.

PS Les élèves sont de 3e et 4e années.

Altered Slide Mailer

I've been quiet, I know. Better be quiet if you don't have anything good to say. And lately, my thoughts do not focus on the good. Since my blog is called Good things and Good thoughts, I will not let my negative thoughts take center stage here.

This is an altered slide mailer I made for Janet, the second winner from my giveaway last month. I hope she likes it.

***

J'ai été silencieuse dernièrement, je sais. Il vaut mieux être silencieuse si on n'a rien de bien à dire. Et dernièrement, mes pensées ont tendance à aller vers le négatif. Comme mon blog est intitulé "Good things and Good thoughts" c'est-à-dire Bonnes choses et Bonnes pensées, il n'y a pas de place ici pour mes pensées négatives.

Voici un "porte lamelle de microscope" que j'ai altéré pour Janet , la deuxième gagnante de mon tirage du mois passé. J'espère qu'elle l'aimera.

Altered Canvas

One of the prizes from my last giveaway. Made especially for Cheeka. It's an altered canvas.

In one month, Nanowrimo will be starting. I'll be trying once again to attain the 50, 000 words goal. I have one month to get prepared.

***

Voici un prix qui a été gagné au début du mois sur mon blog. Il s'agit de canvas altéré que j'ai fait spécialement pour Cheeka.

Dans un mois, Nanowrimo va commencer. Je vais encore une fois essayer d'atteindre le but de 50,000 mots écrits. J'ai un mois pour me préparer.

Exquisite Corpse

***(J'ai traduit en français plus bas.)

In the art community, there is a "game" called Exquisite Corpse. The way it works is simple. You get 3 or more people together and you follow these simple guidelines.

If you're writing a poem, the 1st person writes a verse. The second person writes a second verse, starting it with the last word (or so) from the previous verse and then folds the paper to hide the first line. The 3rd person writes a verse starting with the last word from the second line (never looking at the first line) and then folds the paper to hide the second line before handing it to the 4th person (or back to the 1st.)

If you're doing this in drawing form, the first person draws a head, extending the lines of the neck beyond the folded line; folds the paper so the head is hidden but the lines of the neck can be seen. The 2nd person draws the body from the neck to the waist or hips (waist if there's more than 3 players). Paper is folded again with only extended lines to be seen. 3rd player draws from waist to knees (3+ players) or hips to feet. If there's a 4th player, the paper is folded again and the 4th player finishes the drawing.

These can be very fun. The drawing you see here is 3 ATCs representing a character I drew for a swap. Everyone in the swap does 3 cards (head, body, legs) and when the swap is over, we all receive body parts from 3 different players. I created mine with a Micron pen for the outline, watercolour and coloured pencils for the rest.

***

Dans la communauté artistique, il y a un jeux qu'on appelle le "cadavre exquis." Le processus est très simple. Ça se joue à 3 personnes ou plus.

Si on veut faire un poème, la 1ère personne écrit un vers puis passe la feuille à la 2e personne. Celle-ci écrit un vers commençant par le dernier mot de la 1ère phrase puis plie la feuille pour cacher le premier vers et passe le tout à la 3e personne. Celle-ci écrit un vers commençant par le dernier mot de la 2e phrase et ainsi de suite.

Si on veut faire un dessin, la 1ère personne dessine la tête et plie la feuille en laissant paraître seulement une partie du cou. La 2e personne dessine le corps du cou à, soit la taille ou les hanches puis plie la feuille laissant paraître le bout des lignes. La 3e personne continue le dessin. S'il y a une 4e personne, celle-ci fait le dessin des genoux aux pieds.

C'est un jeux amusant. L'image que j'ai affiché est un personnage que j'ai créé pour un échange de CAE (Carte artistique échangeable.) Tout le monde qui y participe créé 3 cartes (tête, corps, jambes) et reçoit à la fin des parties créées par 3 artistes différents. Mes cartes ont été créées avec le feutre Micron pour les contours ainsi que de l'aquarelle et des crayons de couleurs pour le reste.

Warm & comforting

Mixed Media on cardboard. 12"x12"

Gesso, acrylic paint, Prismacolor pencils blended with Gamsol, inks, pencil.

Inspired by Kal Barteski's Tiny Art series.

My best friend

This is my mother with her two dogs: Magy (pronounced "majee" as in the french word for magic=magie) the black Pomeranian and Mopette (pronounced "muppet") the grey and white poodle/schnauzer mix.

My mother (MamanKoolAid) is my best friend. We do a lot of things together: shopping, crafting, talking. We even have the same job but in 2 different schools.

When I moved out of the house (almost 6 years ago now) I promised to her that I'd visit every week, even though we don't live THAT far apart. And I've kept that promise (and still keeping it.) I usually go to the house on Wednesday night because it cuts the work week in half and also to watch Lost with her when it's on TV. I also go to the house on Saturdays. It used to be every Saturday but now I'm cutting it to every other weekend so I can do other stuff like go out (which hasn't happened yet) or clean my apartment (hasn't happened yet either!) I get along great with my mother, I'd say 95% of the time. After all, we're only human! We give each other a lot of inspiration and ideas and it always keeps us busy and happy.

I just wanted to share a little bit about myself and my mother today. After all, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her! Merci Maman pour tout ce que tu fais pour moi! Je t'aime!

Inside the artist's studio

So. This is where the magic happens. My living room/studio. It's small and I have way too much stuff for it but I've gotten used to it in the past 5 (closer to 6) years.

Now. I've already talked about my belief in signs and messages from the Universe. And this summer, I received a message in the form of a new-to-me blog. She calls herself the Mermaid and lives in a cottage near a beach. She teaches "fat, messy journal" classes to young girls in her home during summer. And the way she writes... it got me thinking...

I could do this. I could teach "fat, messy journal" classes of my own during summer. Yes, my apartment is small but with a bit of de-cluttering and reorganizing, I really think I could make my living room kid-friendly. All through this year I've been taking small steps to de-clutter my life. And I've been experimenting with new art techniques. I've also been reading about organization more (and seeing Violette's posts on this subject and the progress she's making with this is very inspiring.) I already have access to kids so that won't be an issue when it's time to get started. I even have 2 girls in mind to "test drive" this new project. Thoughts and ideas are swirming in my mind day and night (making it hard to fall asleep but that's a whole different post that I won't bore you with!)

Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted to be an artist and to teach kids (without actually being a school teacher.) So I think, no, I KNOW that this is one of those dreams that can and WILL actually come true! I'm very excited about this and will do everything in my power to make it happen. And I'll keep you all updated on my progress.

On a different note...

Yesterday, I was at my parents' house to take care of the dogs for a few hours and decided to make 2 cards (I hate the term "greeting card" but that's what they are, not ATCs.) They are both very similar: same colours, same stamps. The differences are: this one has 4 birds while the other has 2 AND this card has punched flowers with a bit of Gold Liquid Pearl while the other has Turquoise Sticklers on all the leaves of the tree. They both came out great. The other card is for an ATCSforALL member who lost family members last week. The one you see here is for a 5 year old girl, Ellie Bouchard, who is going through chemo because of a brain tumor. If you want to brighten this little girl's day, go to her website to find the address where you can mail her a card or anything else that you think she might like.

Before I go, I also wanted to share with you this video (found through iHanna's blog.) It makes me happy and I could watch it over and over.

Over the rainbow...

As I was walking home after work yesterday, the sky was spitting huge cold drops of rain on me. I arrived soaking wet and changed into more comfortable (and dry) clothes. Then I went about my usual business. Turned on the computer. Turned on the television (I always watch an old episode of The Simpsons right after work.) Relaxed. Then, I figured that if I wanted to eat, I better go into the kitchen and cook something. And that's when I heard a crow. I looked out the window to see where the bird was (it sounded really close by) and saw it perched on the clothesline's post. I looked at it briefly and then turned to get dinner started when it cawed again. So I looked at it again and asked it what it wanted. Believe it or not, its beak went up as if it was pointing in that direction. And that's when I saw the rainbow. I had time to get my camera and got a few photos, this one being the best. After the second shot from my camera, the crow flew away, as if its job was done and it could move on.

For a couple of weeks now, I've been asking the Universe to send me a sign, any sign. Some people I know asked for a hawk and saw one right after. Or a feather. Or a heart-shaped rock. I got none of those. I got a crow showing me the way to the rainbow. Reminding me to take the time to look, really look, around me and see the beauty even in the midst of uglyness. The sky was still grey and heavy with clouds but that rainbow was so colourful and bright. It made my day.

Today was a rainy day and the kids at work were over-excited. Some of my coworkers have started talking against others, not necessarily to be mean but to get "stuff" off of their chest. I let them talk and I nod or shrug. I don't take sides. I keep smiling. And I spread the good stuff by lending CDs to my friend Anik and giving her books and toys for her 3 year old son. It's all good. Life is beautiful, no matter what. So whatever happens, look for that sign. Look for the rainbow. Or the hawk. Or the feather. Or a heart-shaped rock. Or whatever else floats your boat.

Have a great one (day, evening, night, week, month, year, life!)

And the winners are...

Congratulations to JAN and CHEEKA! You are the 2 winners for my giveaway. Please contact me via email (sophietousignant[at]videotron[dot]ca) so we can discuss your prize.

For those who didn't win this time around, do not fret... I'll probably have another giveaway before the holidays.

For those new to my blog, today's image is one of my paper spool collages (the winners will get one similar to this in their gift package.)

CeeCee's Colour Challenge : Halloween

My friend CeeCee's offering her colour challenge again. With this one, the colours were Black, White, Glitter (I know it's not a colour but it should be!) and a colour of our choice. I went with a brick red. We also had to make the card on a Halloween theme. While shopping with mom this weekend (go visit her blog, she has beautiful cards including one made with a photo taken by my brother,) we found glittered halloween stickers so I just had to use this skull for my card! I also added more silver which doesn't really show on the card with the embroidery floss wrapped around the red piece. The scalloped edges were done with the new Stampin' Up! scallop border punch! It's absolutely great!

You still have a couple of hours to be entered in my giveaway below. The winners will be announced on Monday.

I smell a GIVEAWAY

In honor of my 200th post, I am offering a GIVEAWAY. I thought I'd make this an even more personalized giveaway by making it "winner's choice." In the past, I have given away an altered canvas, altered slide mailers and an altered CD. I thought it would be a good idea to offer these prizes again but this time, the winners (yes, there will be more than one) will decide which prize they want, what colours I should use and a specific theme if they are so inclined. Of course, there will be other things included in the prize like a paper spool collage, an ATC and maybe other things too (have to keep some surprises, right?)

To be entered in this giveaway, all you have to do is comment on this post. You have until September 7th 11:59pm to be eligible. I'll announce the 2 winners on Monday the 8th. Good luck!

Making a list

Maybe it's because I work in a school but to me, September marks a new year. And often, it's when I make my "resolutions." This year, I decided to take it one month at a time. So my list is as follows:

1. Be ACTIVE every day of the week

2. Eat HEALTHY food

3. GO OUT at least once downtown

4. Be CREATIVE (that one is easy enough)

5. Be THRIFTY/frugal

6. Be POSITIVE

7. Do at least one NEW thing

8. READ in my spare time (forget television for a while)

9. mostly, have FUN

10. and SMILE whenever possible

It all starts today.

I had promised a giveaway for today. Last week was a bit chaotic and overwhelming so I didn't get a chance to post here or to do anything specific for a giveaway but it will happen anyway. See the post above for details.

Back to work

Work started officially today. School, though, only starts with half-days this Thursday and full days next week (after Labour Day weekend.)

What do kids do when the schoolyard's lawn has just been cut and there's grass laying everywhere? Well, they make nests for the soccer balls and basket-balls of course! Half a dozen of the kids were doing that this afternoon for well over an hour! And they weren't even bored yet! I told a couple of 6th graders who were there that they should enjoy their last year in elementary school, that it's their last chance to still do childish stuff and getting away with it because in high school, you can forget about playing "baby" games. They loved that I said that and had a blast all day long! Hopefully it'll spread to their friends and they'll have a fun year.

My muse came out of hiding. We made peace and she helped me finish one swap and get another one well on its way to being done. It feels good.

Now I'm off to bed because I have to get up in less than 7 hours! Yikes! Time flies when you're having fun...

Imperfections

For a couple of weeks now, I've been struggling. Struggling with my art (my muse is playing hide and seek most days.) Struggling with my weight. Struggling with my thoughts and beliefs. Struggling with my choices.

Today, I give myself permission to accept that I am not perfect. And my imperfections make me who I am. I am imperfectly human.

I chose this photograph today because it is NOT perfect. My settings on my camera weren't right and I just couldn't work them out that day. But I love this photo anyway, for all its imperfections. Diesel looks like she is surrounded by light, by a presence bigger than us all. And, well, truthfully, it had been quite a while since I had posted a photo of my baby! (I just checked and the last photo of Diesel was in January!)

Work is starting next Monday. We have a meeting this Friday, in the morning, to get our group list and other important infos to start the school year. Even though I have done a lot of stuff this summer, I feel like I barely made a dent in my to-do list. But that's ok. Tomorrow is another day. ( I did do more sorting/cleaning than I thought I would though!)

Last thing: I'm planning a giveaway for Labour Day weekend which should be when I reach 200 posts.

New hair, new painting

So I did get my hair coloured but decided not to go for the "fireman" red like last time. I went for a dark brown with red highlights. And I got a new haircut. I love it!







Today, I got the urge to paint. It hadn't happen in a long time. This is the result. I have no idea who or what she is. But she wanted to be painted. She doesn't have a name yet either.

The canvas board is 12"x16" and I only used acrylic paints. For the building, I used Light Modeling Paste from Liquitex mixed with black acrylic paint. The lighter streaks were made with reinkers that I let drop down the canvas board (I turned it upside down afterwards to complete the painting) and then wiped off.

I don't have much else to say.

First Fabric ATC

This week, I worked on my first fabric ATCs for a round robin. The base is couch fabric sample. The second player added the coffee cups with fumes. I did the beading, fabric painting (white) and added a heart charm. To attach the fabric to the cardstock backings, I used my trusty Crop-a-dile and eyelets in all 4 corners.

Tomorrow, I'm getting my hair re-coloured and I'm going for the bright red again.

Welcome love

Some time ago, Brandy sent me a blank journal in a beautiful cover that she made herself. I had put it aside with all my other blank journals, waiting until I finished the other one that I was already working in. Well, when I got sick of working in that one, I pulled Brandy's journal out and began drawing in it. The first drawing is only pencil but I plan to eventually colour it in. This is the second entry in that journal and it was done late at night. I was about to fall asleep when this image appeared in my head and I just had to put it to paper before forgetting about it. The page came out exactly as I had envisioned it which doesn't happen all that often. I simply drew with a regular HB pencil and then added colour with my basic watercolour kit and my AquaPainter brush (you fill the handle with water and just go from there. I love it!) I used Micron pens for the heart border and the letters, a gold gel pen for the outer border of the heart and finally, the next day, I used my date stamp with StazOn ink to complete the page.

While working in my journal, on my ATCs and Chunky pages lately, I've challenged myself to use less colours. I try to stick to the primary (red, blue and yellow) and secondary (purple, green and orange) colours with some black and white. I find that sometimes, less is more.

If you haven't already, go read Judi's latest blog post. It's uplifting and inspiring. Definitely made me smile. I wasn't feeling down or creatively blocked at all when I read her post but it STILL helped me to get ready to create. And create I did! Yesterday, I spent the whole day working on ATCs, chunky pages and skinny pages while watching DVDs from my collection. And this afternoon will probably be the same!

Get inspired! Get creative! Have fun!

Living in a chunky world

Before this year, I had never really done any chunky books or pages. Now that I do them for swaps, I am obsessed with them. I sign up for way too many swaps but I love doing this kind of artwork. One of those swaps is a House Shaped Chunky swap. I wanted to do something with my houses and not just collage and paint over them. So I cut out the windows with an exacto knife and then layered a piece of printed transparency over each of them before covering the surface (with the window's hole cut-out first of course) with a piece of patterned paper. But that wasn't special enough for me so I also added images of doors (from ArtChixStudio, where else!) and made it so they can open to reveal an image inside (also form ArtChixStudio.) The rest of the house consists of stamping, inking and collaging different things. These are 2 of my 8 houses, before adding fibers and dangling elements to the right-hand side. Now, I have to work on chunky book pages on a Halloween theme and Skinny Book Pages (same idea but they're 3"x8" instead) on a Day of the Dead theme. Should be fun!

Art Journal Love

Remember a few posts ago when I said I didn't like my art journal? Well, after a few weeks of leaving it on the side to gather dust, I decided to pick it up again and force myself to work in it. Last week I was browsing on a few of my favourite blogs and got inspired by one of my favourites: Emily Falconbridge. This girl has so much talent and I like the way she uses and reuses stuff from everyday life even in her scrapbooking. I read through all of her articles at Today's Mama and I just had to try one of her projects. I didn't want to do it 12X12 so I thought my art journal would be the perfect place for it. I found a bunch of photos my mom had printed for me after I got my head shaved last year so I took one of them for this page. You can see that I also started adding things to the other page but I haven't done anything else yet.

I'm still on my quest to get rid of stuff. Last week, I spent a good portion of a day sorting through all the papers I had accumulated in the past 5 years (since I've been living here.) About 3/4 of the pile went to the recycling bin. The rest I plan to use to make messy journals (again inspired by Emily... I think this girl is my new muse! ha!) and collages. I still have a lot of stuff to get rid of but I'm slowly getting there. And I've learned to say NO to saving some things. I find that it's actually OK to throw away some stuff and recycle some other. Really, it's OK! Of course, I still buy things but I try to limit packaging as much as possible. For one thing, I always have my cloth bags with me and use them all the time.

On another subject... It took me one year to complete my first 100 posts. Well, I'm now closing in on 200 and it hasn't been one year since #100. So there might be a small giveaway before I go back to work (late August.) I'm thinking maybe 2 prizes this time. I'll have to see what I can come up with... Stay tuned!

Glitter Toe Day

My friend Mahala declared today to be Glitter Toe Day! I had to go buy some nail polish to do this. It brought my inner child out for a few hours. I actually bought 2 kinds of glitter nail polish but the one on my toes has big pieces of sparkle in it. Perfect! The other one is a sparkly pink which is now on my fingernails. And since it was raining all day, this was a perfect "activity" to partake in! When was the last time you painted your nails, just for fun? Or any other "silly" thin like that? Why not do something fun this weekend? Let your inner child out to play!

Keeping Busy

It's been a while since I updated my blog. Well, I'm keeping busy most of the time. Creating ATCs and Chunky Pages for swaps. Cleaning my brother's apartment (doing it for one year to pay him back for the Nikon camera he sold me.) Helping my mother getting settled in her art room. And creating cards in said art room! This is one of those cards. I wanted to use more masculine colours and used new stamps that mom bought this week. (Bird is from Sandylion and sentiment is from Magenta.)

Alberta and Ava have nominated me for an award. Thanks!

Just a quick note

I'm still alive. And enjoying life.

Today I was awake at 5:45am and just couldn't fall back asleep so I went for a walk. 40 minutes of pure bliss. Well except for my ankle starting to hurt but that's my fault (I wore sandals instead of walking shoes...) And then I created and cleaned and created some more. I caught up on some projects I had almost abandoned. I worked on cards for swaps. I even opened my art journal. I tried to do a page and realized I really hate working in that journal! The paper. It's just not working for me. Maybe it's time to start a new art journal... Time will tell...

Getting your name out there

This Mixed media Owl ATC has been published in Art Trader. Page 33.

You too can get published. Just submit your artwork. You never know!

Today, I went to the movies with Anik. We went to see Sex and the City because we're both fans of the series. It was fun. Too bad she couldn't go out for coffee after. Maybe another time.

Yesterday, I was very productive. I started and completed 4 cards for a swap (they're ready to mail.) I also worked on some cards for a round robin and other cards for another swap. I'm really having fun with these swaps.

Alright, that's all for now. Go check out that zine. There's a lot of interesting art in there.

Found poetry

One of the swaps I'm participating in is about reusing/recycling and Found poetry. I've always loved writing poetry but it's been quite a few years since I've done it so I thought that doing this swap would be a good way to play with words again.

The idea of the swap is to use discarded papers or left-overs from another project to make the background. Some people have used images from magazine. I personally use a lot of patterned paper and cardstock so I just picked a few pieces from my big baggie of left-overs. The tarot paper is a wrapping paper I've kept for many years because I loved how it looked. I had used pieces of it on chunky pages for another swap so I decided to use some more on these cards. The text is from "The house at Pooh's corner" which is, for those who don't know, a Winnie the Pooh story. The text itself was already full of poetic words so it was easy to create beautiful found poetry.

I liked making these cards so much that I made a second series with different papers and a text page from an old National Geographic about rock climbing/trekking. Completely different for the poetry but a lot of fun too. I plan on doing even more of these types of cards so if anyone wants to trade Found Poetry ATCs with me, don't be shy and contact me. It's a good way to get started with ATCs if you've never tried them before: a simple background collage and assembled words/phrases to complete. The only thing I added other than that was inking the edges for a more uniform look but even that is not required.

Well, I'm off to create more ATCs for swaps and for fun. Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends. And if you're moving today or helping someone move, stay safe!

CeeCee's CC#9

Two posts in one day! Lucky readers!

This is my contribution to CeeCee's colour challenge. I had a hard time finding similar colours to those posted but eventually, it all worked out. Very simple card. It will end up being my aunt's birthday card.

There's a festival in Lachine. It started yesterday and ends tomorrow. I went to see one of the many free shows. It was amazing. I'll see if the photos are good enough to post tomorrow. The act itself consists of clown-type people playing music with drums, bells and other "ringing" instrument and also 3 acrobats. Everyone's on a metal structure that gets lifted in the air by a mechanical crane and which is lighted and can open up and close in the form of a flower. Very impressive. The group is from France and they've been all around the world. Go here to get a glimpse of the structure.

I'm off to bed now. And looking forward to sleeping in...

Summer vacation

It's official. As of 11:30 today, I'm on vacation for 7 weeks! And I have lots of plans. Which all include having fun! And it starts tonight with free shows by the lake.

I updated my Flickr gallery recently so go look at some of my art.

CeeCee's CC#8

A new colour challenge is up on CeeCee's blog. The colour palette really called out to me and I had fun creating this card. Of course, I don't have the official Stampin' Up! colours but these came close enough. I love how the card turned out. I used one of my new stamps (All Kinds of Happy Collection - Cupcake from Imaginisce) and played with my corner punches. I also used a big square brad which doesn't look quite that yellow in real life.

Last day of school is Monday. Lots of kids won't even be there. It should be a pretty laid back kind of day. I'm officially on vacation as of next Friday at 11:30 am. Meanwhile, I'm still creating a storm for all the swaps I'm signed up for.

Scrap Your Day - May

May 25th came and went. I took photos and scrapped about it last week. This is the end result. The album template was a bit of a challenge for me because when I did my album, I forgot to add an extra inch to the background cardstock (I did 6" x 12" instead of 7" x 12") but that's ok. I made it my own. I added a few rub-ons and stickers to fill in some blank spots. And voilà! a scrapbook layout representing a day in my life (a lazy Sunday at that!)