Routines

It's amazing how much we take little things for granted. I was so thankful last night to be able to sleep in my own bed, to take up all the room I wanted in it and to have my darling Diesel purring away next to me.

I've gotten so used to doing my Daily Art Cards, my Morning Pages and writing in my "Every day brings something new" journal that when I went to bed at my parents' on Saturday, I felt like I was missing or forgetting something. And same thing when I woke up on Sunday morning. My routine was all out of whack!


I'm a routine person. There are certain things that I do at certain times and in certain ways. If I can't, for some reason, do one of my routine things, I feel almost incomplete, like something is missing. I shouldn't let those little things (or lack of things in this case) bother me, I know but I suppose it's part of who I am.

Okay. So I haven't been able to NOT buy stuff for the past two months. I'm thinking that maybe taking on a challenge to not buy anything new for a year was a bit much. So I need a different approach. I need to go about it on a smaller scale. Let's say one week at a time. If I don't buy anything (other than groceries of course) in the next 7 days, I'll be that much closer to my goal. I'm still planning on using up all that stuff I have for my art, scrapbooking and other creations... you know, all the little things we keep saving for that "special project" that actually never comes along...

Vacation is over now. Tomorrow is back to work. Which is a good thing for someone who needs her routines!

Mother Nature's Mood Swings

We did indeed get that storm. And because of it, my brother and I both spent the night at my parents' after having dinner with them. There was no way either one of us would drive in that mess. Snow, ice, rain and a mix of some and all of these with crazy winds. At some point, you couldn't even see on the other side of the street!

And I just learned that schools are closed tomorrow! So an extra vacation day... woohoo!

So with all this, I forgot to do my daily card yesterday. But that's okay. I'll do 2 tonight instead. And this morning, I didn't do my morning pages. Oh well.

If there hadn't been so much snow everywhere, today would've been a perfect day to go out for a walk. But since the street were cleaned just enough for cars and buses and no sidewalks were cleaned, I stayed in with mom and did some cleaning. We'll see what tomorrow brings...

Altered photo and a mandala

Ok. So it had to be expected. We're supposed to get yet another snow storm starting tonight and going well into the weekend. I'm trying not to complain. Really, I'm trying.

So on to something else then. The image you see to the left (I feel like a tour guide or something) was done using some of the techniques from the book I bought this week. I chose a blurry photograph from my trip to the UK back in 2001 (which wasn't all that hard since more than half the pics came out blurry... the joys of pre-digital photography!) I sanded the edges and liked the colour that came out of that so I continued sanding the building in the foreground. Then I used a piercing tool to scratch lines all around the clouds. And then I sanded and scratched some more and finally added a bit of watercolour in the sky and on the horizon. Voilà! I really like the final result. Really!

Next, my very first mandala made with Outlines stamps. My mom has been doing mandalas for a while now. I love the way they come out but until last night, I wasn't tempted to try my hand at them. You can't see it much in this picture but parts of it are 3D, raised with dimensional foam squares. Now, I haven't decided what I'll do with my mandala meaning, will I do a second one and attach them back to back so it can hang from the ceiling? Or do I want to frame it as is? I'm not sure. But I do love the way it came out. The image was heat embossed and coloured with various markers and Glaze pens.



And finally, here is the OWOH prize I received from Vallen over at Queenly Things. This is beautiful! And I might just have to find the perfect hat to attach that beautiful "S" pin she sent me too!

An update on my 21 days challenge. So far, I've taken the time to meditate every night even if it's just 5 minutes. The first 3 days were hard: I kept fidgeting, trying to find the perfect position, my cat coming in to get some attention, etc. But now, it's already a bit easier. I'm keeping a journal for this but it's mostly journaling and the quotes provided by Rhonna so not much to see visually.

My spiral bound journal is full. I finished it today. I already had another one started which is smaller and I kept it for more messy pages but now I'll just fill it with whatever I feel like putting in there. And when that one is full, we'll see which of my many blank journals I'll pick.

Well, that's it for tonight. I have some more ATCs to make for a swap.

Early "Spring" Cleaning

This week, I've taken on a big task. Cleaning up the files on my computer. All the pictures I have since December 2005 are being renamed, refiled and saved on CDs. It's a big job even though I don't have as many photos as a lot of people I know. But still, it's something that needs to be done and sooner rather than later. All my 2005 and 2006 folders are done. 2007 will take a bit longer but I'll work on it Friday. And as for 2008, I already have probably as many photos as the whole year of 2006! Of course, having been on 3 photographic adventures with my brother has greatly helped this!

Like a lot of people, I'm getting tired of this harsh winter. Snow storm after icy rain after icy snow... I mean, come on! Enough already! I had to shovel my car out of the snow to move it on Sunday because they were going to plow the snow that night. And again today! Sheesh! I've got biceps again! Which I suppose is a good thing. But still, I can't wait til Spring when I can walk by the waterside and plant some herbs and flowers in my outdoor pots. Soon...

Before I forget, Lisa Vollrath is having a St.Patty/Easter countdown soon. Check it out!

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!