Round here…

Listening to old tunes…

Welcoming the day.

(sticky note pad found at Michaels Craft store for $1.00)

Black kitty in the studio, ready for anything on a Monday morning.

Toes painted and toe ring on for FLA in two days.

Saw this at Barnes & Noble yesterday for $14.95

Decided to make my own out of a Strathmore 5.5X8" Visual Journal (Watercolor) hanging around the studio.

Today’s sketch – India Ink and dip pen – “Seek”.

Today’s art journal page “Love is a Super Power”

– inspired by a heart-felt Lovefest I experienced this weekend.

(Acrylic paint background with ink blobs, hand carved stamp houses, trees and flower on dictionary pages, photo of Kim at 6, India ink & dip pen with large nib details, white gel pen)

That’s Monday morning, February 6th, 2012…

‘Round here….

 

Happy Monday, Beautiful Ones !

Rocking it in the Afternoon !

Last year, I “met” Ross Kinney, who was running one of his many 26.2 mile races to help raise funds and encouraged awareness for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

I donated some rocks to his project to be used as talisman gifts for his supporters.

This year, Ross is supporting a 15 year old wonder woman, Cassandra Perkins, who is running in the Colorado Rockies later this year for the same wonderful and inspiring reasons.

Ross asked me if I would like to help out again. I mean, how perfectly do the Rock My World rocks fit with Cassandra’s tag line, “Cassandra Rock the Rockies !”

The only thing that gave me pause was when Ross gave me the numbers.

He was thinking about 500 rocks…

or even 1000 rocks if I could do that.

Could I do that ?

I have to say that I almost said no.

But then I thought, the Rock Fairy doesn’t have to spread the love all by herself ! And  many hands make very light work ! So I called on my wonderful group of arty friends to help out with the rocking task.

Yesterday afternoon, Patti and Terry,

and Barb and the other Terry

all earned their Rock Fairy wings when they helped me paint the base coats on

885 rocks !

(David and I counted them this morning)

We had a delicious lunch of quiche (store bought life-savers !) and salad provided my me.

And then we had got our hands dirty…

And of course, there was a sweet break in the middle of the afternoon, for coffee, tea, chocolate and the cutest little cupcakes that Terry H. brought. (Which I forgot to take a picture of but man, were they cute and yummy !)

With the help of these beautiful, extra sets of hands,

the Rock Fairy’s work was made a whole lot easier !

And the message of showing Love for One Another

will get spread a whole lot further !

 Cassandra, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,

the Rock Fairies have your back !!!

And this Rock Fairy in particular

is feeling so very, very blessed

to have such wonderful, generous, loving and caring women in her life.

And also to know so surely in her Soul what her job is on this planet.

LOVE is the answer to every question, Baby !

I hope you find some simple ways to join in and spread the LOVE today too, Beautiful Ones !

Happy Weekend !

Share the Joy Thursday– A Half-Dozen…

A half a dozen from Today’s Joy List…

1. This man’s kisses…yum.

2. Sweet time with friends that goes by in a blur of smiles, laughter and understanding…

3. Revisiting my art and being blow away by what I have created.

4. Furry kid love…

5. New funky haircuts that match the “Me” on the inside ! Thanks to Deb, my great stylist !

6. The incredible gifts of beauty we are presented with everyday on our journey…

Life is so joy-filled…

especially when you

Happy Thursday, Beautiful Ones.

I hope yours is filled with joy too !

Carving my way…

Mary from Joyful Ploys was doing it this week. Julie shared a whole bunch that people she knew had done on Balzer Design. I did a little bit of it with my friend Kim in Montreal last week.  I watched a couple of videos on You Tube this morning to inspire my own, like this one from Journal Artista, Paula. Then, I spent a couple of hours today, getting really into doing it myself.

I am talking about carving my own rubber stamps.

I love creating my own tools, ones that make my journal pages even more uniquely mine.

Most of the stamps I carve are simple, bold kind of designs. Nothing too specific. That way they can be used in a lot of different ways.

One thing I got from Paula in the above mentioned video was using both sides of a piece of carving rubber or a white eraser. Then you can make twice as many stamps with the same materials !

I carved this kind of lollipop tree shape on one side of the rubber…

And this second tree shape with random dots on it on the other. I also carved a teeny house with a chimney.

I tried out the stamps on this piece of dictionary page, using acrylic paints in a few colors and a make up sponge to apply it to the stamps.

I was kind of on a roll after that.

I also carved a tropical looking flower,

a kind of chicken foot, or leaf pattern, a crosshatched heart,

another heart with an edge around it, and some kind of weird tribal looking design with a scrap piece of the rubber.

I will probably add some more paint to these dictionary pages and use then in bits and pieces in my journal.

I will definitely use these new tools in my journal pages as well.

Maybe some will end up in some other places too, like this strange bird one that I carved at Kim’s house :

I stamped it with black Staz-on ink on a sheet of sketchbook paper and then added some more pen lines.

With some yummy Neocolor Watercolor crayons, my kooky bird turned out kind of cool.

Perhaps a Valentine for someone special ?

*************

Off to dinner and a movie with my pal Sonia tonight. Tomorrow, haircut and lunch with Lois.

Friday, some artsy friends are coming over to my house for a special project. More on that later….

Next week, I leave to going south to FLA to meet up with some special blog friends !

Looks like February is going to be another great month for time with friends !

Happy Friendship February, Fabulous Ones !

Big Love !

I will always be with you…

Monday morning means a settling back into the home routine after being away most of the week last week.

I took some time to record some of what my trip meant to me in my journal.

Heading up north to be there for my friend Darlene’s Dad’s funeral ended up being combined with a lot of sweet friend time.

Not only with Dar, but with Suzanne, Andrea, my Mom and Kim.

There were some moments during the week that felt like “memory makers”.

You know, ones that you will never forget.

That become part of the tapestry that makes you.

My time with my friends made me so grateful.

Grateful for friendships and the gifts that they bring.

But also deeply grateful for my own wonderful ability to let them in.

To feel, appreciate and celebrate those connections so essential to my Being.

My friends and I, we love BIG.

And that is some good stuff in this bittersweet life !

**********

I’ll hold on to you.

You hold on to me.

The winter long.

I will always be with you.

(lyrics from Winter Long, by Strawbs, 1974)

 

***************

Big love and happy Monday to you, Beautiful Ones !