Showing posts with label Soul Restoration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soul Restoration. Show all posts

Friday, July 29, 2011

The Two Most Beautiful Things and Some Art

I have to start out showing you  my two favorite things in the world.

landon, chloe and me1And, no, one of them is not me!  I love my little Great Grand Nephew, Landon and my sweet pup, Chloe.

landon, chloe and meI think I’ve mentioned before that my sister comes over every week to clean my litter box and help me with things around the house.  Well, lately she has brought my niece and this little guy with her.

I usually grab him as soon as they come in the door.  Tonight he fell asleep on my chest and Chloe came up on the chair to join us.  My sis mentioned that it all looked so sweet so I handed my niece the camera.  Let’s say it all at once--Awwww!!!  I love that little guy so much.  I think he’s gained at least a pound since I saw him last week.  His arms and fist have fattened up a bit.

Okay, now for my art.

I have mentioned that I’ve been taking Soul Restoration 2 and I’ve really been procrastinating week 2.  I’ve have never been one to set goals.  Even when I had a professional life, I would take classes or other actions to improve my position, but I didn’t really set goals.  I guess those were short term goals and I had a “picture” of what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I didn’t set goals.  It’s just not me.

 

art journal coverThere are a lot of details and layers in my collage so I didn’t resize it for the blog.  Click on the photo for a larger view so you can see the details.

I used journaling cards, tickets, lots of accruements and ephemera for the background.  Most of it is October Afternoon but you can see some Tim Holtz tags in there as well, and I know there are some misc. things too.  Lots of paint, Mod Podge, texture from bubble wrap and from spackle compound mixed with paint and stenciled on.  After completing my girl (a representation of me). I added a bunch of rub ons and the the words “The Life I Want to Live.” 

Can you see the butterfly wings in the background?  That’s the next page that I will show you tomorrow when it has had time to dry.

Today was such a wonderful day for me (now I’m being all mushy)!  I hope your’s is just as great!!!

Blessings,

Christine

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Art Journaling

I mentioned before that one of the things I’ve been doing this year is Art Journal Everyday.  I’m pleased to say, that I have journaled everyday.  I have to admit that I have considered my Soul Restoration class to be journaling but I don’t know how it couldn’t be considered art journaling.  You are thinking about your feelings on a subject and then creating art about it.  That’s art journaling!!!

So, other than Soul Restoration (which I’ve already shown), this is what I’ve created.

 

art journal everyday

This is the inside cover of my main art journal.  I spent the first several days working on this spread to get myself excited about art journaling. 

 

marily monroe

This is a page I’m working on for the Strathmore class.  They suggested using your own artwork but since I don’t really have any, I found a picture that would fit with what I was going to journal about.  The journaling will be a quote by Marilyn Monroe.  This seems to get put aside and hasn’t gotten completed yet.

 

restoring my soul_opt

I completed this spread in preparation for my Soul Restoration class.  What I didn’t realize is that this was very similar to our first lesson.

One of the things that I’ve been loving about art journaling is gathering things from around the house and my craft room to express the things that I want.  This page didn’t turn out exactly as I wanted but it was a lot of fun to put together!

 

daisy day

A couple of weeks ago, I was having a really bad couple of days and just wasn’t feeling very Brave.  Are you signed up for the Brave Girls daily emails.  If not, you should be.  They send out some very inspirational emails each evening.  I remembered a particular email where Melody wrote about your good mood being a flower and I decided when I read it that I was a daisy.  So the day I wasn’t feeling very brave, I wrote my sad feelings on the right and then drew daisies all over the page.  It really did help me feel better.

Another nice things about art journaling is to try out new products.  I used two new to me products on this page, watercolor crayons and Pitt pens.  As you can see, the pens ran a little bit on the left but not on the right.  I did some water coloring before the pens had completely dried on the left.  I kind of like that look better!!!  It really softened it.

Also, I’m getting a little more comfortable drawing.  I know, I was only drawing simple flowers here but I’ve drawn more this month than I have in the last 25 years and that’s definitely a good thing!

 

my whole self

The final page I’m sharing this month is a page I did about this week’s Soul Restoration lesson.  This week was kind of hard for me and I realized so many things about myself.  I needed to write some of the things down about how I was feeling.

I used a painting technique that Melody showed us in the Soul Restoration class.  I’ve seen it before but hadn’t tried it yet.  You squirt a bit of craft or acrylic paint on the page and then you spread it around with an old credit card.  I LOVE this technique and have already used it on other things.

I will share this weeks Soul Restoration project plus a couple of truth cards I have made with you on Monday.

I have finished my project for the One World One Heart giveaway.  It’s drying now so I will be photographing and posting it tomorrow.  After that, I’m going to work on some DT things for the week so I can get right back to my Soul Restoration when the new lesson is posted on Tuesday!!!  I live for Tuesdays lately!  I’m not sure what I’ll do when the class is over.

Speaking of Soul Restoration, registration is now open for a new session that will start in April.  They also have Soul Restoration II that will begin in June.  I’ll be in on that one for sure!!!

I guess that’s enough for now.  Have a peaceful Sunday everyone!!!

Blessings,

Christine

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Missing but Busy

Sorry I haven’t been on the blog much lately, plus not visiting as much.  However, I’ve really been busy in my studio.

First of all, I bought myself a new camera for Christmas and when I received the confirmation page, it said that it was on backorder until February.  Well, it came yesterday and I’ve been taking pictures of EVERYTHING around my studio including…

chloe camera practice

my Chloe!!!  Isn’t she sweet!  I have to watch her around my sister because she want’s to take her to the orthodontist to get her teeth fixed!

A few weeks ago, I outlined my schedule for the first several weeks of 2011.  I have mostly been working on Brave Girls Soul Restoration class and Art Journaling Everyday.  I have been working on my art journals each day and I’ll share some of that with you in the next few days.

So, we’re nearing the end of the second week of Soul Restoration and I want to share some of the projects with you.  Some of them are very personal and I don’t plan to share them on the blog.  I have purposely made many of these photos small because the are very personal and contain a lot of raw emotion.

Our first assignment was to make a book cover and title page for our Soul Restoration book.

closed for restoration cover

I love the Oregon Coast and it’s my favorite place to vacation.  It recharges my batteries!!!  I found a photo on a realtor site for a beach cottage.  (I want to own this house if anyone would like to give me $295,000-1bdr-yikes!)  I used the cracked photo technique (with UTEE) to make it look like an old postcard.  I forgot to put the postmark on it before I embossed it. Confused smile

I made the album cover with duck cloth canvas and then colored it like sky and sand with watercolor paints—back and front.  I don’t like the ribbon I used so I’ll be changing that out with some crinkled rayon seam binding in tan colors.  Then, when the book is finished, I’ll add some more crinkled ribbon in blues and tans to the rings.

 

close for restoration title pageThis is the title page for the book.  I’m not going to get into much of the meanings behind these out of respect for Melody Ross and all the work that she and the rest of the Brave Girls Club staff put into this class.

 

my soul houseMore pages in my Soul Restoration book.  (DP is from Melody Ross’ paper by GCD that is now available at Paper Maniac.  Love this stuff!)

 

truth tellerThe principle of a truthteller is a big part of Soul Restoration.  A truthteller is a very private decision that must be made before the Soul Restoration process can be completed.

 

time line 1-40We only had one main project for week two—our timeline.  time line 40-80Since I’m over 40, my timeline went onto the second side.  Can you see the three small manila pages in there.  I’ve reserved those for actual photos from those periods of time.  I’ll probably be adding bits and pieces to these in the next few days.  I already see something that I left of.  I want to put a chipboard heart at the time point where I received my transplant.

Thanks for taking a look! 

 

I’ve been working on a project that I will be giving away at the One World One Heart blog event.  I’ve got everything done but the embellishing—the fun part!!!

I’ve got a few images colored and ready to make into cards so I’m hoping to get a few of those done soon.  Tomorrow I’ll have another new M5D image from Thursday.  That’s the first thing on my list for tomorrow!

Plus, in a few days I’ll be back with some things from my art journals.

Have a beautiful Sunday please!  After what seems like weeks and weeks of rain, we will be having sunny weather in the 40s!  Yay-maybe things will dry out a bit!  My lawn is so soggy you  can see my footprints when I walk across!!!

Blessings,

Christine

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The Pursuit of My Happiness in 2011

…and Creating Art Makes me Happy!!!

As I’ve mentioned many times, I’m lucky enough to not have to work (because of the health issues I mentioned in the previous post).  As a follow up to that post, I wanted to share the things that I will be doing in 2011 to pursue the peace and beauty that I want in my life.

First of all, if you remember last year, I chose a word of the year – Believe.  I’m going to continue choosing to believe in myself this year.  To believe that I’m worthy of a healthful life, to believe that I am and can be an artist, to believe that I deserve a comfortable home containing all the things that make me happy and to believe that I can achieve those things.  Belief in myself is always something that I have struggled with.

I have enrolled myself in a few creative classes/pursuits for the beginning of the year and will continue to do so throughout the year as time allows.  If you would like to join me in any of these, I have included links for each one.  Just click on the applicable photo or section title in pink.

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Brave Girls Soul Restoration.  This, I’m sure will be an event not to be missed.  Melody Ross and her sister Kathy have planned a curriculum similar to that which we used at Brave Girl Camp and I believe in that so much that I have also signed up for this class.  If you want to see the things that I shared here on the blog about Brave Girl camp, click here.

Soul Restoration will probably consume most of my free time for the entire 6 weeks.  I’m pretty excited that I will be going to my sister Rose’s house for a few weeks during the course. I will enjoy the time spent creating Brave Girl art with her once again.

I received my class materials in the mail the other day.  (If you decide to join now, the materials are no longer available.  But don’t worry, everything is easily obtainable and most things you probably already have around the house.)  I’m so excited to get my fingers inky, painty and Mod Podgey again!!!  I’m so ready for that soulful feeling of Brave Girl camp.

 

ArtJournalEveryDayLogo-500

Art Journal Everyday.  Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is another giant (along with Melody Ross just in case I haven’t mentioned that before) in our artistic/scrapbook industry that we love so  much.  She is challenging us to simply work on your art journal everyday.  There is no need to actually finish a page everyday, just spend a few minutes each day in those creative pursuits.  Of course life will get in the way at times but I’m going to give this one my very best attempt.  When I’m creating, the body pain that I almost constantly endure, seems to go away.  I wish I could create 24 hours a day!!!

There are many similar challenges out there in blogland but I have chosen Julie’s because I love her style of art, especially her water coloring and doodling.  Of course, I like the more pastels colors than the bold bright colors that she prefers, but I’m sure that I will be able to learn a lot from her techniques and adapt them to my own style.  I also love that she alters and paints all over patterned paper—even the stuff that she designed for a French scrapbook company.  Click here to have a look for yourself at Art Journal Everyday.

 

Visual Journal Cover

Strathmore Visual Journal Art Workshops.  A Brave Girl sister talked about this on her blog.  It’s a series of workshops:

  • Jan 1 – Recycled Art Journal Pages.
  • March 1 – Start Where You Are.
  • May 3 – Building Your Visual Journal from the Page Up.

I’m excited about these workshops for two reasons.  I will learn many new techniques and THEY ARE FREE!!!  Click here for all the information and detail about each class!

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I started a few things in 2010 that I’m excited to continue into 2011.

Iw122310

Donna Downey Inspiration Wednesdays.  Another giant in this industry, I have been following Donna’s blog for sometime now and find so much inspiration in her store, her products (especially her stamps) and of course her Inspiration Wednesday posts where she shares a video tutorial of an art journal page each week.  I have yet to play along with her although I diligently watch each week.  I’ll definitely be playing along with her this year.  I haven’t watched the video on the above piece yet but plan to follow along with this one!!!  If you click here, you’ll magically be transported to Donna’s blog.

 

Art, Heart and Healing by Tamara LaPorteI originally started this class because I wanted to learn this beautiful style of portrait collage but am really enjoying the healing part as well.  I will be continuing this class to learn more of Tam’s healing and art techniques.  She is a beautiful soul and has such a cutie patootie family!

My mother came over the other day and asked me to download the class materials for her as well so I guess this is a workshop for all ages!!! lthough she offered this as a free e-course that started several months ago, the classroom will remain open indefinitely.  What a gal!  If your interested in this class, click here.

 

Of all the above creative pursuits, I will/have only paid for one, yes ONE!  It just goes to prove that you don’t need to spend a lot of money in your creative pursuits!!!

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And now for the things on the horizon.

 

One World One Heart 2011.  I will be participating in the One World One Heart event this year.  When I first started blogging I stumbled across this even and have met MANY of my blog friends through One World One Heart.  Plus, I won a few goodies!!! 

From the event organizer:  “One World One Heart is a worldwide event for bloggers only. It gives all those who blog a chance to meet and mingle and form connections with those they may not have otherwise met from all over the world.  In the past 4 years this event has grown to over 1,000 participants with lasting friendships (and even one love connection) formed along the way.  Think of it as a GIGANTIC open house allowing you to travel without ever leaving your home........going from blog to blog (in various countries) seeing the wonder each one has created and meeting all the fabulous people behind those blogs. As a bonus each blogger participant will offer up a "door prize or prizes"....just for dropping by, saying hello and seeing their world.  It's really that easy.”

Added bonus:  If you sell handmade goodies or supplies online, this is a great way to get traffic to your blog and, likewise, to your store.

 

Suzi Blu Workshops.  I am in love with Suzi Blu.  Her beautifully whimsical style of art is what I aspire to!!!  One of Suzi’s classes is definitely on my to do list for this year and I WILL be signing up for one of her self paced workshops as soon as I finish Soul Restoration.

 

441848Collage Basics and/or the Vintage Glue Book.  I fancy myself as a collage/altered art artist and look forward to learning more about the art of collage.  Almost every collage I make starts with vintage book print.

I have admired and wanted to make an altered book ever since I saw the first one a long time ago.  I’m looking forward to learning more about these types of art.

 

Mixed Media Mayhem.  I love this class for all the new techniques that I will be able to learn.  A few of my Brave Girl sisters are or will be taking this course.

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So that’s my 2011 in a nutshell.  What’s on the horizon for you?

Happy 2011 to all my blogging buddies!!!

Blessings,

Christine

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Reflecting on 2010

Warning—this is a long post regarding the personal aspects of my life.  I really wrote it here for me and for posterity so please don’t feel that you HAVE to read this.  Also, as promised I will be having a giveaway for my blogoversary but just haven’t had time to get things together.  I placed an order yesterday and plan to post a picture and start the giveaway as soon as I receive that order in the mail!

I have had this post saved for the last few hours wondering if I really wanted to share it but I’m going to.  I started this blog to talk about my life and through this blog, I found my love of sharing my creative pursuits.  I don’t share personal stuff very often and, as I said above, if you don’t want to read it, you don’t have to!!! *giggle*

I don’t usually reflect back on or even forward at the New Year but I think 2010 has been an exceptional year for me as far as learning more about me, Christine, and the person I want to become.

Brave Girl Camp was a big part of that, but even before that, with events at the beginning of the year, I started looking more about who I want to be in my life.  However, I’m going to leave the events at the beginning of the year unsaid here in this post.  Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile will know and if you would like, you can look at some of my posts starting at the end of January.

Of course, one of the highlights of my year was Brave Girl Camp.  It quite simply, changed my life.  Plus I was so blessed to go with my sister, Rose.  We each needed it in so many different ways.  I have tried so hard to keep the things that I learned at BGC in my life—continuing to learn from the things shared their and with making my Brave Girl Art.

I will continue to grow more in the Brave Girl aspect of my life with the coming year.  One of the ways that I will be accomplishing this is to take the Brave Girl Soul Restoration course starting 1-11-11.  I received my packet in the mail yesterday and can’t wait for the class to start.  As the year progresses, I will be taking (and finishing) other courses to grow my soul and my artistic pursuits.

A few months ago, one of my Brave Girl sisters posted on Facebook that she was going to “live with peace in her heart.”  I have used this as a kind of life motto since and it really does make a difference in how I live each day.  It was difficult some days like when the property managers drove a backhoe through my very rain and snow soaked lawn including over top of my sprinkler heads (we’ll see how that works out in the spring).  I kind of forgot to repeat my motto until the next day and when I put it into prospective, at least I wasn’t the one with a big hole in my yard!!!  (It’s still there so I think they have a lot bigger complaint than I.)

Anyway, my motto of “living with peace in my heart” has been the biggest change I have made in my life since BGC.  If I’m stuck in traffic and getting frustrated, I say to myself “I choose to live with peace in my heart,” and I feel so much better.  If my neighbor starts his very loud, low rumbling classic muscle car and allows it to run for several minutes just a few feet and a wall from my ears, “peace in my heart.”  When I’m trying to untangle a pile of wire hangers (one of the single most frustrating things on earth), “peace in my heart.”  You get the idea.  It works for almost any situation. 

If you live with peace in your heart, there just isn’t any room for the bad things.  Thanks so much Jeri Lynn for suggesting this.

On the health-front, it’s been a great year for my heart and transplant news.  I continue to pass all my medical test and doctor visits with flying colors!!!  Yay!

The last few months I have been suffering from a past illness that has reared it’s ugly head again.  It’s more annoying than anything but at times, I’m just plain sick and treat myself accordingly.  I haven’t really done much for this yet.  I went to the doc but everything they suggested is just icky and I didn’t want to do it so I was trying to control it with diet.  That just hasn’t been helping much so I started on the medication (has a lot of bad side affects) on Sunday and will take the other med and run the test that the doc wants.  Hopefully, I will start feeling better soon but if not, I’m sure the doc has some other things up his sleeve.

I have had a lot of issues with pain this year.  Sometimes the migraine headaches would last for days at a time.  I’m not complaining here, just reflecting.  The doctor tried a couple of new things on me this year, one being a procedure that didn’t work and the other, a new med that did work.  To make a long story short, my Medicare prescription insurance has run out for the year so I won’t be able to get the VERY expensive prescription filled until January 1.  That’s pretty soon now!

The last several weeks, the body aches have been almost constant.  I will be calling the doctor to see if I can get some relief without taking the narcotics.  However, starting yesterday, I have been just pushing through that pain and doing the things that need to be done.  If I don’t have to leave the house, I take the drugs but really hate relying on those.  Hopefully the doctor will have some alternatives for me.

The neuropathy continues but that will remain constant because of the immunosuppressant medications that I must take.  However, the only real issue I have with that is itching in my legs.  It gets much worse when I go to bed.  When it get’s unbearable, I have a way of treating it with very hot water which I had to do last night but now they feel fine.

I’m also feeling some weakness in my legs when I’ve been working around the house for awhile.  I’m hoping that is because I don’t perform that type of activity much and plan to restart my daily walks—hopefully the weather will cooperate.  The next few days are going to be rainy/snowy and then cold so I won’t be starting that up until I can get outside more.  Hopefully, January 1.

I continue to move things around my studio.  I just can’t come up with a system that is working for me but I keep trying.  I’ve got a couple of other ideas in the works and hope to have “a place for everything and everything in it’s place” soon!  Then comes the decorating aspect!!!  Since I spend 90% of my waking hours in here, I can’t wait!

As most of you know, I’m a blog writer for the Charity Wings/Scrapbook Royalty organization.  I have really enjoyed giving back in this manner and plan to find other ways to give of my time in the new year. 

I sent an email off to an organ donor organization in hopes to start something up here in my community but haven’t heard back.  I plan to go further up the organization’s ladder until I can find someone to listen to me to see if I can get that started.  It is a really important cause to me.

So how does that sound for New Year plans?  It’s not resolutions, those just don’t work.  Really, I’m just going to continue trying to live the best life I can each day and then begin each new day with a fresh start.  That’s one of the best things, everyday is a fresh start!

Blessings,

Christine