WOYWW #455

So Good Wednesday all my crafty friends! I'm glad to be posting this week, and actually earlier than I usually do, because I didn't get to post last week! Work got in the way!! Can you believe that????? Wonders never cease! :) LOL I'm thankful to have a job that DOES get in the way! And let me assure you that I thank my Father in Heaven for that every day as well! :)

So some of the photos that I show you today are actually what was on my work desk LAST week that I didn't get to post as a part of WOYWW!! I assure you there is WAY MORE menagerie on my desk this week.....and not in a good way! So much for keeping my work space clean and void of clutter! LOLOL Anywho.....if you want to play along with us, step on over to Julia's blog Stamping Ground and see what crafters around the world are up to on their own desks! :)

So I believe the last time I posted I mentioned that I did have a few more lovely items coming in the mail to me, BUT IT IS THE LAST for awhile! It was all still part of using the last bits of Santa funds! LOL As I have been soooooo into my watercolor painting and journaling lately, I simply HAD (hee hee) to get this set of Dr. Ph Martin's Bombay India Inks!! I have been lusting after those puppies for quite some time! There are actually two or maybe three sets of them and I knew I wanted this set because the tone of the colors is more to my liking. I'm not a real "flashy or bright" color person, which is the first set, so these were perfect! I actually have some others, that I have bought individually, which are the pearlescents. They are fabulous as well!

So when these guys came in the mail, and I opened them up, I think I heard choirs of angels in the background!! LOL LOL I think I ewwwhheed and awwhheed for a good 5 minutes! LOL These guys are luscious and I really have been wanting them to use in tandem with my GORGEOUS Schmincke watercolor paints. The aim is to use with my dip pen, but I'm know I can use them in all sorts of mixed media projects as well!

So the other items that came in the mail with the puppies are this lovely Pentalic Aqua Watercolor Journal and this Blu Tack adhesive. I did not have a proper watercolor art journal and also really wanted to have one to start down my watercolor/sketch journaling road! I had other journals, but not with proper quality paper. So far, I am really loving this guy!

The Blu Tack, I bought after much research online to stick to the bottom of my watercolor pans in my Schmincke palette because they kept sliding around everywhere and I couldn't figure out how to make them stay put. Well, funny story, just before this came in the mail, I came across a YouTube video where the person actually showed me just what to do that REALLY worked (unlike other YouTube videos I had watched!) So now, I have this adhesive that I guess I will put to use elsewhere! LOL Story of my life! LOL

So push ahead to this week, I will show you the first journal pages that I couldn't wait to get started on! My hope is to continue this right on as long as I'm on this earth and leave something for my girls and their children. You know, kind of like diaries, but in a different way! So they will see who I was through my journals. What I saw and how it made me feel or respond to life around me! That's something tangible that I can leave!

So, on these first two pages I really just wanted to spell out, if for nothing but in my mind, what I would be using in this journal. Because I only want to use my watercolors, sketch pencil, dip pens and ink in these journals, I wanted to show those. So I simply sketched out my tools and my watercolor box with the pencil then went over with my dip pens and then washed with my watercolors. I then noted that it was Journal #1 (of many, I hope) and that it signified "Beginnings" for me. A little elementary, I know, but for me, this is an all new journey and it put it right in my mind!

So, just a few close-ups of those pages! The lines on the page with my watercolor box are nib lines. I just wanted to clarify the nibs for myself and see which I could use for various projects. I love the outdoors and am constantly taking photos of trees, plants and landscape. Especially when I am hiking and those are the things that speak to me, express "me," and where I feel like I can express my love for God's creations in my journal. I can be driving down the road and see something and stop to take a photo! I get honked at A LOT, but I don't want to miss the "moment," so to speak! LOL So I have years of photos from my phone that I can use to start me off on my memory road!

Well that's it for me today folks! What's on your work desk today? I'll go have a look see and share in your moments as well! Have a great Wednesday and blessed rest of the week!

Blessings

WOYWW #453

Good Wednesday all my dear crafty friends!!! I hope today finds you joyous in whatever part of the world you are in!!! It's a rainy day here in my neck of the woods and after my heartfelt post last week about wearing my father's coat, would you believe today that, that coat is already back in the closet!!! Yep right now it's 61 degrees and it is supposed to be up to a high of 71!!! Uggghhhh is all I can say!! Oh well, if only for a moment right??? LOLOL

Well it's time for our weekly desk visits as a part of WOYWW over on Julia's blog Stamping Ground! Come over and take a peek, join in the fun and browse other crafters desks! It's great fun to play along!

So last week, you remember I showed off my new Schmincke watercolor paints and was starting a small piece? Well this week, I will share the finished product. Can I just say that it was glorious using those paints????? They were simply yummy! If ever there were a time that I felt right about spending a pretty penny on something, this would definitely be one of those! You won't regret it. They are just lovely!

So this "little birdie" got its start with a sketch in pencil because I am not confident enough to do anything straight from paint to paper. Then after I was satisfied with that, I then used my new dip pen and india ink to further sketch the little guy. Then came those fabulous paints! I had great fun doing this little guy. I got the idea from watching the birds over at my father's house. He loves birds and has many bird feeders outside his kitchen window. In the mornings when I go to administer his meds, we sit and watch those lovely birds and its precious time together. So it got me wanting to draw one!

My hope is to take a class from a resident artist here in my small town. We are lucky to have him here and I happened to catch him one day and ask if he would be willing to teach a class. We haven't made it happen yet, but hopefully soon. I would love to learn some techniques as I don't know ANY! LOL I've always been a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of girl! LOL It would be nice to actually know what I was doing sometime! LOL Hopefully this year I can do that!

I've never been fond of drawing people or animals, I am a HUGE nature lover and landscapes have always been my "dream" to paint! People connect with God in different ways, but I connect with Father God through His lovely creation, earth! We've made a mess of it, to be sure, but nevertheless, I see the beauty underneath all that, that He intended! I'm astounded and my breath is taken away, EVERY TIME I gaze upon a vast landscape, an amazing soulful tree, a whispy, intricately colorful flower, a powerful sunset or sunrise or even a tiny mushroom! God is in them all! So my dream is to try to depict that through watercolor! We shall see! Until then, I will keep plugging away at it! LOL

So that's it for me today guys! I hope you all have a great week! I hope to share another goody (I know, I know, I just need to chill out! BUT this IS the last goody for awhile) that I have coming in the mail next week! Eeeek! It's those darned sales, I tell you! LOLOLOL

Peace and blessings!

Friends from Afar!

Happy Thursday all my crafty friends!!! I can't believe I am posting two days in a row! LOL Wonders never cease, right???? LOL I hope today is finding you all healthy, at peace and FULL OF JOY! :)

Today, I am not going to be sharing any of my craftiness partly because my project is not done yet, but MOSTLY because I want it to be about someone else's craftiness!! I came home several days ago (I know.....what took me so long to share!!!) and found surprise HAPPY, SPECIAL, PRECIOUS mail! Yep, that's right! For those of you who get "happy mail," I'm two up on you cause mine was happy, special...andddd...precious mail! LOL Ok, I'll share the floor with you! LOL I went by the postbox fully intending to find yet ANOTHER bill but instead found love in an envelope!

Look at that goodness right there folks! My wonderful friend Jackie P Neal, who incidentally is a published star.....you can check out her claim to fame RIGHT HERE...... and yea, I know her......hee hee, sent me this envelope of love! I bet anyone passing by who saw my face as I pulled that precious envelope out of the box probably thought.....boy that's the biggest cheese grin I've ever seen! LOLOLOL I couldn't wait to get inside and open it!

Jackie, like so many of you out there, is just a gifted artist! She creates some of the most wonderful pieces and I'm grateful to call her friend! When you have the opportunity, go check out ALL of her GORGEOUSNESS on her wonderful blog Creating Without Crayons!

I'm a tag girl and I love creating them as well as receiving them. I have been on several online tag swaps and really need to get back into another one! They are great fun and you meet so many wonderfully talented people and learn some lovely techniques when you receive their goodness! As I have been involved in many swaps, I have so many art pieces displayed on my art closet wall. But a tip from another wonderful online friend Zsuzsa, who is also an amazing artist,  brought out the discussion of a "Friendship Wall!" How cool is that right??? So the current wall that I do have will at some point have a "billboard" on it and all of my precious online friends's art displayed. I have so much that needs to be put up that I still haven't displayed yet, so it will be a work in progress!

So all that got my thoughts flowing. I have spoken about this before, but I really want to express my EXTREME GRATITUDE for my online arty friends!! I've never personally met you, but you all still feel like family as I take a peek into your every day lives either on social media or on your blog. Online friends can be like your at home friends......they come and go...., but there are some of you (and you know who you are) who I met over five years ago online and we have all followed each other and shared our art with one another all that time! You develop just as special a relationship as if they were right down the road! Now, I'll admit, I wish you WERE right down the road, to hob nob with across a craft table, go to the coffee house with or even sit by the fire with a glass of wine and laugh with, but even though I don't have that luxury, YOU are still just so special to my heart!

Thank you never seems quite enough, but know it's NO LESS sincere and heart felt! So today, THANK YOU sweet, sweet Jackie and all my other online friends who bring a smile to my face and heart each and every day, who inspire me, encourage me and bless me without even ever knowing it!

Today, I encourage you to take the time to share a smile, a hug, a text or even a "blog post" with those who mean so much to you! We aren't assured another day, so live today, like there is no tomorrow!

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of YOU!" Philippians 1:3

Blessings