Quick post

A quick post tonight.

Today, I had lunch with Catherine. It felt great to be out and about in the middle of a week day! After our meal, we went to Chapters and I ended up buying on book: The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery by Karen Michel. I had been wanting to look at it for a while and today was the day. I really like some of her ideas so I treated myself. One book isn't so bad. It used to be that whenever I walked into a bookstore, I'd end up leaving with at least 3 books and or magazines. Even though I'm still buying stuff, I'm at least thinking about the pros and cons before buying said stuff. Heck, after 5 years of living on my own, 2 years of scrapbooking and altered arts, I finally bought an embossing gun! Used to be I would only heat emboss when I was crafting with mom.

Anyway, I'm off to bed soon so I leave you with the 4 paper spool collages I made for a swap.

A productive day

Today's eye candy are my latest Daily Art Cards. The first one you see is #60 and the last of the 4" x 4" I made. For March, I decided to try a new format: 4" x 6". It gives me a bit more room to play with but sometimes, less is more.

Disturbing dreams last night. It had been a while. I woke up in tears twice during the night. I kept dreaming that someone close to me was dead. I know it doesn't mean this person will die soon. One thing that was weird in the dream though is that I found an old foreign newspaper. Probably from Asia (I saw characters that looked Asian instead of our alphabet.)

I've had a productive day. I have one painting in the works, made 4 ATCs for a swap, made 4 paper spool collages for another swap, made a card for the Deck of Me challenge, finished last week's page for the Art Journal Challenge and made my Daily Art Card. Plus, I went grocery shopping and washed some dishes. And I always do my Morning Pages (between 15 and 30 minutes every morning.)



For the 21 Days Challenge, I've picked a small journal. I'm mostly using the quotes provided by Rhonna and journaling about meditation. So far, for my first 2 days, I've only done 5 minutes, focusing on the flame of a candle in the dark, before going to bed. Tonight, I want to do 5 minutes without the candle. We'll see if it works.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Catherine. That's always something to look forward to. We have so much fun together. Now I'll just go relax in front of the television.

I see a red door...

But unlike Mick Jagger, I don't want it painted black.

I attended a photo shoot today with my brother in an industrial building that is usually used for Paintball and Airsoft games. My brother and his friends are Airsoft players and some of them who were present were all dressed up with their paraphernalia. It was really cold though since the building isn't heated and I didn't shoot many pictures but it was still good practice and I liked watching my brother and his friends setup for some shots and try different things. We definitely want to repeat the experience when it's warmer.

And speaking of warm and red... guess what I did yesterday!

At first I was thinking of maybe a few red highlights but then we went for a lot more. My hairdresser is really great and doesn't push products or cuts or colours on us. She lightened about 1/4 of my hair for the colour to really show and have depth and volume. I've been wanting red hair for about 15 years now and I finally did it. I love it!

This week is March Break. I already have at least 2 days booked (but with fun stuff and with my favourite people.) Hopefully I'll be able to get some rest too.

Another present from OWOH arrived Friday. I'll show it this week. Cheers!

Another month bites the dust

Can you believe it? It's already the end of February! Time really flies by!

Today was fun. It was a ped day which means more hours and fun activities for the kids. And today, we went to Fort Angrignon which is a really cool place for kids. They have all sorts of activities, mini challenges and more. The staff takes care of everything and we could follow the kids or sit in the main hall and relax. I usually follow the kids when I go there but this time, I sat and talked with my boss and coworkers. We're all still getting to know one another. One of my coworkers is really into The Secret and Law of Attraction so it's really nice to have someone to talk about that stuff with.

Lately, I've been feeling a little bit icky. Not really sick but not 100% well either. I've regained some of the weight I had lost but not all of it so that's positive.

To try and recenter myself, or whatever (:-p) I've decided to start meditating. And what better way to start a new habit than with Rhonna Farrer's 21 day challenge. They say it takes 21 days to make or break a habit so I've decided to give it a go. I'll keep you all updated on my progress. I've never really meditated before but I think I'm ready now. And there's no better time than the present, right?

Musing about art

Some days, if it weren't for my Daily Art Card, the Deck of Me and Art Journal Challenges, I think I wouldn't create anything. Other days, I create so many things, I wonder where I find the time and energy for it.

Here are some of the above mentioned creations from the last few days.

The Deck of Me card. The theme was Someone or something you miss... Sometimes, I miss my beautiful long hair... You can't see it but on the upper left corner, there's an eyelet with lots of fibers hanging from it. Like a pony tail!


Monday's daily art card. Using up some rub-ons I have (and am tired of seeing!) Metallic gel pens are my new favourite pens to use lately. All around the border, I wrote Smell The Flowers.









Tuesday's daily art card. The background is layers of watercolour crayons, gel pens, coloured chalk and oil pastels. And then I searched through my stash and found the monkey picture. The other pieces of ephemera just followed. This one makes me smile.








Finally, a page for the Art Journal Challenge. The inspiration word was FLY. I had first done something on the page with lots of rub-ons and it didn't turn out the way I liked. So I gessoed everything lightly, re-wrote the words with indian ink and a dip pen, stamped the bird and nest with StazOn and then had fun with oil pastels, my white Poster Paint marker and a pencil. Now I like the result.

The landlord came to change my water heater this morning. Yay! I have hot water again! And now it's rust-free! Woohoo! Thank you Universe!

What was in the mail today...

What's this? A present for me? After a full day of work, including extra tasks to help out my boss, I came home to find a padded envelop in my mailbox. Oh goody! And I need some goody in my life as I have no hot water since Sunday morning and the landlord has yet to change my water heater... can we say dirty dishes and hair??? *sigh* This too shall pass...




Anyway, back to the envelop. When I unwrapped this lovely package, this is what I found!


One of my OWOH gifts! Isn't it lovely? I haven't decided yet where I'll display it. Thank you Jeny! Be sure to visit her Etsy shop if you'd like one of her lovely canvases.

That's it for tonight. My mind's a bit quieter. I need to create something.

Too often, like many people, I tell myself that "starting right now I'm going to take better care of myself." You know, exercise, healthy food and all that. And every time, like many people, it lasts a couple of weeks and then I fall back into my old habits. I've tried using visualization and positive thinking to reach my goal. But I guess I'm still not getting it, for this anyway. I don't know. Maybe I need to read The Secret again.

Doing my Daily Art Cards is really helping me in trying to step out of my comfort zone. I'm giving myself permission to try new things, new products (in moderation), to make mistakes and messes. Anything goes on these. My intention at first was to use a different size for every month but I don't know that I can find a total of 12 different card sizes. We'll see. For March, I want to do more of a postcard size.

Recently, I found that my little drawings speak to me. Like the girl below. She didn't like the dress I picked for her so she let me know with that little line. M'kay.

My thoughts are all over the place tonight. Sometimes I wish my blogging were more profound or witty or something else. But it isn't because, well, it is me, my thoughts, my memories, my ideas. I have so many ideas brewing in my head that I don't always know how to get started. For instance, a few weeks ago, I suddenly had a flash that turned into a story which I want to turn into a book for kids à la Neil Gaiman, with grungy looking illustrations and dark humour. But I don't know how to get it all started. Not yet anyway.



March break is coming up next week. (Our version of Spring Break.) There are so many things I want to do but the week won't be long enough! I need to spend less time on the computer and more time in the world. Or at least in MY world. You know, the one where it's okay to talk to animals and imagine they talk back. Where it's okay to have paint splattered on your hands and arms and clothes and maybe in your hair too. Where it's okay to dance in the rain and chase snowflakes around.

I'm ending today's post with another image. A new layout for my scrapbook. It's completely different from anything I've done before. I love that cluster of vintage buttons at the top.