Being patient

I am going to have to use that word in 2 ways in this post. First, Chris came through his rotator cuff surgery really well. He is not in too much pain and is learning to use his left hand for everything. He has to wear an immobilizer on his right arm for at least 10 days until he sees the dr again. He always has a wonderful positive attitude, so I know he will be fine. My cute little patient!

What I need is Patience. I want to be able to create the beautiful and meaningful artwork that I see others create. I know I am doing well, and I know I am taking the baby steps (lol!) but I want to be this wonderful artist NOW! But I need to relax, tell myself that expressing myself is more important than the end result right now, and be happy that I have this ability at all (and 2 good hands to do it with!). So... here are days 6-10 from my 100 cards in 100 days challenge. Enjoy, and I am going to get ready to go out and enjoy this BEAUTIFUL weather!!!

Gonna be one of those days!

Today we will be running around like busy bees - DH Chris is having rotator cuff surgery tomorrow and will not be able to use his right arm for a little bit. Couple that with my bad back which keeps me from doing a lot of bending and stretching and we should be loads of fun in the weeks to come lol! So today we will be tackling household chores and a major grocery shopping as well. Thank goodness Megan will be here to help us old folks out! Tonight we are heading to my mother in law's for dinner, so that will be something to look forward to! Please send good vibes this way for quick healing, if you would be so kind.

Since I am talking about Chris, I would like to share my literal altered book that I made him for father's day. I took an old Hardy Boys book which was in a big box of old books I purchased at a yard sale for $1. I hollowed out the inside with a craft knife and then glued and stained it. I decorated the cover with cardstock stickers, and decoupaged pictures of us taken in a funky old photo booth in Ocean City in the bottom. Lastly, I printed out the lyrics to "Upon the Journey's End" by Taylor Dane, which was our wedding song and decoupaged them to the inside cover. He absolutely LOVED it and keeps it right next to his computer. Fun to make and loved by the recipient - what more can you ask, right?




Hope you all have a safe and productive day.

Sleep is over rated

Ok - night 87 of getting no sleep ( or at least it feels that way). I fall asleep just fine, but I wake up in the wee hours, lay there looking at the clock, and finally give up and go downstairs. Thank goodness for my art room and my DVR! I have to admit though - I get my art supplies out, put some George Winston on the media player, and just go to town. Something about the peace of the house at that hour makes my creativity come alive!

This page I made last week at about 4 am. I found the background paper at Scrap This! and thought it was so perfect for me lol! My buddy Cooper (he's a Morkie - a Maltese/Yorkie mix) is a super sleeper, and when he curls up on my lap and takes a nap, he is just so sweet.

I hope all you dear readers had a great night and feel renewed and invigorated this morning. Enjoy your Tuesday!

100 day challenge!

I recently found out about an art challenge where you take a 100 package of 3x5 index cards, and then create soemthing on one a day for the next 100 days. I have never done a challenge like this before, so I thought I would give it a go. I think the original challenge was to decorate both sides, but I am just doing the blank side (hey, it's artistic license, right?). The idea is to not spend too much time on each one, and NO working ahead. Here are the cards I have completed so far.

On another positive note, the weather FINALLY broke and I was able to turn off the AC and open the windows - yay!



This one I did with scraps that were laying around my work desk lol! What better way to use them ,right?
I attempted to copy a picture of this beautiful bird from a sketchbook. Sorry, little bird!

A scrap paper flag!

What a sweet little girl

I saw the measurement picture on an old pattern, and the rest of the words were easy to find in a Seventeen magazine!

Life is beautiful

Good morning, everyone! Preparing myself for yet another over 90 degree day here in New Jersey - ugh! This summer has cosisted of heat, humidity, and terrifying thunderstorms just to break things up a little (groan!). Oh well, when we were getting 3 feet of snow last winter, we prayed for summer and we sure got it!

This page is out of my first book - I had gotten a mother's day card with the "life is beautiful" line, and so I took parts of that card to create this page. I was feeling peaceful and happy while doing it, and so my colors I hope reflected that. In art therapy, I used my altered art as a barometer of my moods and feelings, and so my altered books mostly represent my state of mind when I was working on it. The art has become my therapist!

As always, thanks for letting me share.

Broken wings

This is a page I did in my 2nd book. I let the materials and my mind lead me and it seems that angels are frequently something I gravitate towards.

Baby steps...

Well, I am not sure if this is a baby step or a leap off the cliff, but I am now a blogger! Not a very accomplished blogger, but a blogger nonetheless! I learned about altered books a few months ago in an art therapy program, and I will have to admit that I thought the whole idea was sort of silly. What's the point? I knew from back when I was a kid that I couldn't draw or paint, so doing anything artistic, would just be a waste of time. But I started a book, and slowly, slowly, I started to enjoy it. I first just worked on it in class, then I started bringing it home to work on. I stepped foot in AC Moore and Michaels for the first time to purchase supplies for my book. I was getting so excited by what I was doing - creating art and being able to express myself. I now have just completed my 3rd book, I have an art corner in my house (my "studio", lol!), and I have a whole new way of viewing myself. I'd like to share some of my work on this blog and share some of my stories too. I just joined a challenge to complete 100 3x5 pieces of art in 100 days - am I nuts? I also am in an inspirational card swap and will be joining my first round robin next month. let the games begin!!