WOYWW #361

Good Wednesday all my crafty friends! Another busy day for me here in good old Georgia, but I thought I would make a quick post for Julia Dunnit's WOYWW weekly blog post. I have enjoyed playing along with these blog postings, although I certainly don't do it every week, but I have met some wonderful other super talented artists and it's been fun!  Join in if you will!

LOT'S OF BLANK SPACE....EEEK!

Ummmm.........blank space you say! Yep, you would be right! LOLOL This is in fact what is on my work desk today however! I thought I would have a little more to show you, but here it is none the less. 

I had posted previously that I was commissioned by a friend of mine at work to do a piece for her son and soon to be daughter-in-law for their upcoming wedding. I a HUGE Tree of Life fan for so many reasons and she has seen a couple of my pieces involving the tree of life and wanted me to do something along those lines on a canvas that could be used as a "guest book" if you will. Except, of course, it will be a canvas that will be displayed as the guests come in and they will sign it and then the happy couple will have something to hang on their wall! Pretty cool huh? She had actually seen something like that somewhere and wanted to do it for her son.

We searched many things online so give her an and myself an idea of what to do and we came across several things that we will use as models. Sooooooo......back to the blank space! LOLOL Pretty scary for me as I have NEVER done a canvas this big before! This canvas is like a 24x36. Probably not big to some, but for me, 8 1/2 x 11 is the largest thing I have ever done! GULP! So as I sit an look at this canvas it seems rather overwhelming! LOLOL BUT, I am up for the task!!! I never turn down an opportunity to bless and minister to another!

My hopes are to incorporate either scripture or a poem onto the actual tree and then, of course, their names and day of wedding, etc....We shall see how that goes!! Wish me luck! I have gesso'd the canvas thus far and aim to really start cracking at it tonight!

So, that is what's on my desk today! Thanks for stopping by friends and many blessings to you today! :)

Love in a Gift!

Good Tuesday all my crafty friends! I am stoked that I am actually posting again today. Although I did mention it yesterday, so I had to make it good didn't I? LOL Today I am going to post two pieces that I have been working on for my step mom whom I will be visiting in a couple of weeks and I am contemplating busting out another one before I go and taking it also with me. Phew......three pieces to take on the plane. I may have to rethink that as frames get heavy, but I do usually tend to push the envelope, so who knows! LOLOL

Santa Fe, New Mexico is my heart and soul. I moved back to Georgia from Santa Fe and to this day, if someone pulled a truck up into my yard and said "hey we'll move you, do you want to go?" there would be no question! I wouldn't be able to load the truck quick enough! I left a piece of my heart there and one day, it is my aim to move back. God may have other plans for me, of course, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it! LOLOL

If you have never been to Santa Fe, New Mexico, you must, must plan a trip. Now granted, New Mexico it is not for everyone, but they don't call it "The Land of Enchantment" for nothing. There is something so spiritual there and moving that once you go, it embeds into your very being enough to the point that even if you are states away, that spirit calls to you and beckons you to return! So, I return as often as purchasing a plane ticket allows me! LOLOL My step mom, whom I call "Mama Doo" and my sisters had all moved off for jobs' sake, but have since all moved back and it makes me pea green with envy!

Santa Fe is a bevy of arts and culture, which is right up my alley! There is A LOT of commercialism there as it is, in fact, a tourist trap, but you can
remove yourself from that and enjoy all the wonderful culture of Native American, Hispanic/Spanish, Anglo culture mix in the forms of food, festivals, art (pottery, painting, jewelry) and scenery. There is nothing like it on earth to me. By far, eating is my favorite thing to do there and I FILL UP on green chile while home as well as my other favorite thing to do which is hiking! There are amazing trails as you make your way up to the ski basin as well as in other areas of New Mexico. To say that I get myself lost while I am home is an understatement! LOL


One of the Native American spiritual traditions that has been turned into a gorgeous art form is called the Kachina Doll. It's history dates back to aroundI DON'T own one! LOLOL But they are beautiful to look at and I have a huge respect for the artists that craft these dolls. They are made of of cotton wood and carved as one piece, which you can image is a hard and lengthy process, hence the price tag!
1857 and has turned into a huge collectors item for locals and visitors alike. "Authentic" Kachina Dolls can set you back anywhere from $800 up to thousands of dollars! Needless to say,

It is said that the Native American tribes thought of the Kachinas as spiritual beings who taught them how to live on earth after they were born. The dolls are icons that represent the spiritual essence of everything in the world that they worship through various kachina spirits. The word "Kachina" means "life bringer." I love that!  Each one, visibly, is just beautiful to me!

My mom actually has quite a few and so I got the brilliant idea to do a piece for her a couple of years ago using water colors and the Zentangle art! It really turned out well and she liked it so much that she had commissioned me to do three more. Of course I said yes, but that is as far as it went!
Several years later, I figured I better make good on that promise! LOLOL So I will be taking two or three more home to her when I go in a few weeks.

I actually drew them out in pencil and then went back over them using Micron pens in various sizes, incorporated various Zentangle patterns, of which I NEVER know the names, and then used my Derwent Water Color pencils to add color. I then put them in floating frames so as to capture the

piece and not all the matting, etc... I think they turned out pretty good! As I have mentioned before the only way for me to display pieces is with my cell phone, so although they aren't quality photos, maybe you get the idea! LOLOL I have shown one in the floating frame and I still have to do the other one. If I decide to knock another out, I will post it before I go!

As you can tell, I am VERY passionate about my beloved Santa Fe! It is a weakness that I am afraid I will never be able to let go of! I CAN'T WAIT to go home and see my family and although I am VERY BLESSED that God has provided a way for me to go, no time is LONG ENOUGH! I am sure you all have a special place just like that in your own lives!

Hope to share the starts of my canvas tomorrow, we shall see.....the best laid plans of mice and men! LOLOL

(Please note that NONE of these photos are mine, they were all downloaded from the internet from various travel sites, etc...!!)

We'll Go Round In Circles!

Good Monday all my crafty friends! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I had a much needed CLEAN weekend! My house was so dirty I wouldn't have even invited the neighborhood canines in for a visit! LOLOL But, all is well, we are back squeeeeeky clean!

It seems there a lot of crafters doing "circle" challenges here lately and I posted my tag challenge for last month that involved circles, but I wasn't through yet, no sireeee. I had to do just a bit more! I did a quick little crafty session to keep me in the art loop with some left over panels from that oatmeal box that I did a post on here not too long ago. I have this Donna Downey stencil that I was able to get last year when I went to her studio that I just love, love to use. So I pulled it out again and used it on one of my panel cards with my homemade texture paste. Circles are happy and fun aren't they?

The other panel I used another favorite stencil of mine from the Crafters Workshop   for great texture, and again with my texture paste.  I then just simply pulled out my spray stash using everything from Lindy's to Dylusions to Tattered Angels. At this point, I really can't remember! LOLOL I also spritzed a little water to move the sprays to get the effect I was looking for. They were fun to make to have in my stash for a background for something something sometime. Who knows, right?

Tomorrow I will share some pieces that I have been working on, when I had time, for my step mother whom I will be visiting in a couple of weeks! I made them for her for Mother's Day, but since I will be flying out to see
her, I won't be giving them to her until then (that way I won't have to pay the inflated shipping costs!). I had made her an initial piece of art a couple of years ago and she commissioned me to make three more, but I never got around to it.....hard to believe huh? Anyway, I thought now would be a good time to do that since I will be going to see her, so I have been busting something trying to get them done before I fly out on the 20th. 

I have also got to get started on the big canvas that I was commissioned for by a friend at work for her son and soon to be daughter-in-law's wedding. Maybe I can show snippets on Wednesday for WOYWW! We will see! I always have these lofty ideas, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way! LOLOL

Hey, is your heart hurting today? Do you feel all alone? I pray for you today my friend that someone will come across your path to show you the amazing love of Jesus Christ! In God's Word it tells us that Jesus will stick closer than a brother and not only that, but he will never leave or forsake you! He loves you and wants to heal you in ways you never thought possible! Father God is in the restoration business and wants to restore you from top to bottom that through His Son, Jesus Christ, that you be reconciled back to Him whereby you would have one of the most wonderful, loving relationships you could ever ask for! There is always hope, my friend!

Bless you as you seek the Most High God today! :)

Circles You Say?

Well GOOD Friday all my crafty friends!! It has been a HUGE gap of time since I have posted! It has been crazy for me for the last several weeks. We went on vacation and then when I came back it was, catch up and then after catch up its been budget, budget, budget at work!!  So needless to say, it has been busy for me and I haven't had a whole lot of spare time! But as has been my norm to "ssskkkiiiidddd" in at the last minute (that was for you Zsuzsa) so today I will be FINALLY sharing my Tag It Tuesday challenge tag from over on Cards and More By Sheri blog!

Sheri's challenge this month involved us using the Pantone colors of Serenity and Snorkel Blue. Well since I didn't have either of those colors, it allowed me to get out my paints and go to town mixing and playing! I came up with the closest I could with both colors.  Then we were to use circles in some way. As a rule, I don't like things like polka dots, but since doing mixed media, I have grown to love using circles in projects in any fashion. They have become FUN!!!

I began this tag with a coat of gesso and then laid down a few pieces of book page and washi tape.  I then took my mixed version of Sheri's Pantones and just started layering down with brush, fingers and art knife. I love seeing what kind of texture I will come up with. I then knocked it back a little bit with a little bit more of watered down gesso.                                                                                                                                I then took one of my favorite stencils, which is a bubble stencil from Donna Downey and put some of my homemade texture paste through for some texture and the required element. I then took some of my all time favorite Daler Rowney Pearlescent Ink in Galactic Blue and some Inka Gold in Steel Blue and dripped scraped and shaded here and there.

I had some emphemera, scapbook papers and gelli print papers that I used to make further circles and the took the cute little wooden element, and metal heart and added as well. I added the stick on "Hope" with some ribbon and voila!

This was a quick tag this month, BUT I guess it had to be huh? LOLOL  I feel terrible because I didn't get to do my Pick A Stick Challenge, but I've got a whole other month coming to me....they just keep coming! LOLOL

I feel very blessed because I had a lady at work that commissioned me to do a large canvas for her son and soon to be daughter-in-law's wedding! I'm so excited and I hope I do it justice. I will be posting some snips from it or at least the finished project. 

I will be flying home next month.....YIPPEEEEEEE.....to see my family in Santa Fe, NM and I am so, so excited. It's been three years since I went home so I am about to bust something! LOLOL I have been working on some projects that have been taking a lot of my time as well to take home to my stepmom. I did her a piece a couple of years ago and at that time she wanted me to do three more and I was like, oh sure, no problem! Well.......that was three years ago! LOLOLOL So I am making it good and going to take them home with me when I go! I will be posting those soon as well!

I hope everyone is gearing up for summer! It's full fledged here in Georgia! It was 92 degrees when I went out earlier! Yikes!!! Imagine what the dead of summer will look like???? GULP!

I hope you guys have an AWESOME weekend filled with lots of fun! Blessings

Surprise in a Box!

Good Monday all my crafty friends! I pray you all had as beautiful weekend as we did here in Georgia! It was perfect Spring weather all weekend!! It did, however, come following terrible storms in our part of the country! It's terrible when you are in a storm but God brings all things a new after the storm!

Today I want to share a surprise for me in a box! What box you say? A Quaker Oatmeal box!! LOL I was pulling a last pack of oatmeal from the box last week at work and rather than throwing the box away, I just cut the panels out of the box and thought I would just paint on them in lieu of any canvas right now! To my surprise, it went quite well! Hence, surprise in a box! LOLOL

Coating the box panels with the gesso was probably the hardest thing to do and it wasn't necessarily hard, I just had to coat it three times and even then I could see a little through, but it worked for texture anyway. I decided just to work on the two bigger panels for now and use the smaller in another project!

I have a drawer, as I am sure all of us do, of gelli print paper stash that I rip up and use from time to time, so I went through and just pulled from the color scheme I though I wanted and just collaged here and there with Mod Podge. I love collaging, it is so much fun! Messy, but fun! :)

I didn't take pictures in between the layers, but the end result turned out pretty good. I various Paper Artsy Fresco paints as well as some Silks Acrylic Glazes with fingers, old credit cards and through some stencils. It has been pull old stash week for some reason. I often forget about some of my stencils, so I had to pull out the oldie but goodies and it was fun. I did distress the edges with some Distress Inks and did some shadows with my Stabilo pencil and then of course added my stamped sentiment words and some stick on phrases from my Illustrated Faith word collection. I really did like how they turned out, just from an old oatmeal box! LOLOL

The two words I used on the panels were brought to my remembrance in our services on Sunday at church. Thrive.....Emerge....Both of those words resonate through me because I KNOW, without a shadow of a doubt, that I can "Emerge" through ANYTHING and "Thrive" in life because of my relationship with my Lord and Savior! In Romans 15:13 God's Word says "May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace as you TRUST in Him, so that you may OVERFLOW with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit!" That says a whole lot about thriving! You have to "just believe," trusting in an Almighty Savior that fills you with that joy and peace to sustain you through ANYTHING that would come your way! You can't thrive if you don't KNOW His promise concerning you and His will for your life!!!

In Psalm 40:2 God's Word says "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand!" WOW, what a promise! You can "Emerge" victorious "out of" ANYTHING if you have this promise written in your heart! He IS your Rock, He IS the Solid Foundation by which you stand! You can't KNOW that unless you have a personal relationship with Him whereby the Holy Spirit ministers those truths to you on a daily basis!

People in this day and age get hung up on the word "Success!" How do you know you are successful? I may not be what "you call" successful from a visual point of view, but in my heart I am successful in every way that I want to be, FULL of His grace, love and mercy which usher's me into every day living, preparing my steps, correcting me when I need it and honoring me when I follow His path! That very thing is what enables me to "sing His praises" every day! :)

Well, we are off on our wild adventure camping trip! We always look forward to our trips! We would stay ETERNALLY camping if we could! LOLOL We always have extra kiddos with us and other couples. It makes for soooooo much fun....I always say, the more the merrier! LOLOL If you are Spring Breaking it too this week, I hope you have the best of times making wonderful memories!!! 

Have a blessed day! :)

Throw Back Thursday!

Good Thursday all my craft friends! I have one more day and then next week is Spring Break for the kiddos and we are planning on going camping.....YIPEEE! It is well over due, we haven't been since the first of the year, so we are chomping at the bit! :) If it's the season in your neck of the woods, I hope you have something special planned as well! :)

I have some things on my desk that I am working on, but nothing done save a little something, something I will share today. So, I am going to share a favorite piece that I did years ago as a Throw Back Thursday project.

I've mentioned before that I got into this whole art adventure by way of the Zentangle art form. I happened upon mixed media journaling and the like quite simply by accident. I was looking for something else on the internet and came across what is NOW my favorite thing to do! Since that time, because I went into mixed media full force, I haven't really done a whole lot of Zentangle, save doodling here and there in some mixed media projects. While doing my Pick A Stick Challenge for this month, we had to do some Zentangle and it kind of resurrected it in me. So, I pulled out a Zentangle tile and went to town!

As I am no CZT or even close, I couldn't begin to tell you what patterns these are, but hey, they all looked good together, so I just put them on there! LOLOL It really didn't take me long to do this tile because I was so excited about doing it after so long. It was fun and I will have to try to do more of these in the future. They really are relaxing to do as I am sitting around watching one of my favorite channels....Food Network! 

So, now for the Throw Back Thursday.......This was something I shared at the beginning of 2015 on my Google+ sharing. I don't think it ever made it to my blog, but some of you who have been my pal on Google+ for a couple of years, may remember it? I love, love this piece (can we say that about our own work?) and I don't think I will ever part with it because is really has deep rooted meanings for me!

The tree of life has been my mantra and in my spirit on several levels for a couple of years and I could talk about it every day! If we, who are called by His name, are rooted and ground, the fruit of that relationship will be full and blessed! It is my desire to continually seek a deeper relationship with my Father that I be the light He has called me to be! You can't be that unless your have a relationship with Him! God's Word says "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, CONTINUE to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness!" (Colossians 2:6-7) Yes!! That is the fiber I am talking about! That fiber is the very thread that holds it all together! Are you rooted and grounded? Seek Him today and allow those Living Waters to inundate you with amazing love, grace, mercy and LIFE!

So guess who was waiting for me this morning? Yep, Mr. Tigger! It wasn't too long after this shot that he assumed his position in my lap to warm me up as I filled the atmosphere with God's holy Word! I love my little buddy and companion! He sends a shout out across the waters to Oreo today! Meow! :)

Well that's my throwback today! What do you need to drag out and dust off! You never know what you may find! :)

Make it a blessed day today my friends!

March Pick A Stick Challenge & WOYWW #356

Good Wednesday all my crafty friends! It's skid in time as I bring to the table my March Pick A Stick Challenge from the Pick A Stick Group over on Facebook!  It also happens to be WOYWW #356 from over on Julia Dunnit's blog, Stamping Ground and obviously this is what's on my desk this morning! So far, CHALLENGE has been right! Phew! I may have even grown a few inches here lately due to all the stretching I have been having to do! LOLOL  It has been a lot of fun and I have so enjoyed seeing how everyone else has been stretching as well! Come over and join us if you will!! :)

This month's challenge was as follows:

The challenge this month turned out to not be so bad because mainly I got to use that marvelous gesso to COVER up a HUGE mess!! LOLOL I took photos to a point and then I forgot to take more...hee hee hee (one track mind at that point!) so then you will just see what I came up with.

Step 1 was to use something old. Well I decided to use a spread towards the back of my journal that had old run off sprays and paint on it. Perfect, since I couldn't think of anything else! LOL Step 2 called for some random stamping, so I had a few different stamp sets on my art desk, but the first one I saw was my February Layers of Life Kit from Unity. I had an idea whereby I would incorporate two or three, as it were, for one here. I did the random stamping and then took some scrap paper for Step 5 and stamped the same flower stamp on it and then decided to cut it out to use on top for Step 8! Yipee, check, check,check!!! LOLOL

Moving on to Step 3 YUCK and YUCK!!! I have never been successful with the whole transfer and image thing...not sure what I consistently DO WRONG!! So after a big gulp of coffee, I had to give it another go. So I took an image I had in my stash that I liked and got my gel medium out and tried to proceed with the transfer! Well as you can see from this picture, IT WAS A BUST! That was the biggest mess I could possibly make,to be sure! All I can say is THANK GOD FOR Step 4!!! LOL Step 4 was use......hello....BIG MESS COVER UP! LOL
gesso to cover up something

Step 5 was addressed earlier so on to Step 6, which was use your favorite color. Well I have a few which are all in the "fall color range." So I took one that I love in that range, which is burgundy or wine, whichever you want to call it, and scraped it on here and there with an old credit card. And then I moved to Step 7 which was use paint or ink and then close the book. So I got out my fave Daler Rowney Pearlescent Ink in Waterfall greene and did the whole drippage thing using some water and then closed it shut! It was quite the site when I
opened it back up, but I kind of liked it. Now, I deviated a little and added a little bit of Glimmer Mist Spray in Lily Pad to try to get some sparkle, but it didn't give me that much.

Step 8 was to add a picture, which was the stamped images I previously did on the scrap paper from Step 5. I actually colored the flowers using my Caran d'Ache crayons, but it was not vibrant enough for me so I ended up painting over that with my lovely Silks Acrylic Glazes. I loosely Mod Podged them down for placement because I knew I had two steps to go.

Time for Step 9! I loved this step because this actually brought me back to how I started art and art journaling in general!  I drug out all my old journals, dusted them off and pulled some ideas from them. With March going into April, it got me thinking about flowers, so That is why I used the stamped flowers as well as did the Zentangles in flowers. I thought it would be fun especially since I had planned to use Step 10, which was print out your own photos and cut them up, So I used my own photo and cut it out and put me amongst the flower garden!! I did some shading with my Stabilo pencil here and there and voila!!!

Lot's of fun and can't wait to start April's challenge where my brain will further stretch be perplexed! It's all good! LOL

I hope all is well in your neck of the woods and some of you are getting a glimpse of the light at the end of the Winter tunnel! We have had lovely Spring weather here and the trees are budding out and of course some of the sweet flowers are raising their little heads! The smells are in full blossom and it's still pleasant to sit outside in the evenings! I am enjoying it while I can because in Georgia, it doesn't last long! Can you say MOSQUITOS???? LOLOL

Have a blessed Wednesday full of the joy of the Lord, which is the gladness of heart that comes from KNOWING God, abiding in Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit!