This is me . . .

I didnt imagine that this would be such a difficult blog post to do.  But I've taken a deep breath and here we go...

* I was born in... the late 60s
* I had a... difficult but happy childhood
* I was born and have lived in.... the same town for almost my whole life (except for 4 years)
* I've never.... been abroad
* I have... two sons, aged 25 & 20.

 Jordan (on the left) 25 and Daniel (right) 20    


* I have been.... divorced for 8 years (my husband decided he wanted to start a new life with someone else)
*I have suffered from .....Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia for the last 16 years (which is very      debilitating most of the time)
*I ADORE ....dogs
* I am passionate about .....all arts and crafts
*When I was a teenager .....I wanted to be a psychiatrist (now I need one :-) )
*I enjoy reading .....self-development/ motivational books
* I take care of .....my 71 year old Mom who suffers from Chronic Lung Disease

* I like..... learning new skills
* I wish I had ....  a swimming pool
* If I didnt have CFS I would ....... adopt two children
* My greatest goal is....to have a book published
* I am a follower of.... Jesus
* I love.... trees (real tree hugger)
* My wardrobe consists of ...... jeans and t-shirts

* My mentor and best friend was..... my grandmother
* I am..... Neil Diamond's biggest fan ever
* I hoard... scrapbook supplies, stickers and art supplies
* I am a .... coffee-holic
* I spend far too much time.... on the internet
* I havent got a clue about ...... economics, politics or star gossip
* My favourite season is..... Autumn

* I would love  to have been..... a very rich Lady in the 1800s
* I'd love to.... swim with dolphins
* My favourite artist is ..... Vincent van Gogh

* And finally my life motto is:

"If  I can stop one heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain;
If  I can ease one life the aching,
or cool one pain, 
or help one fainting robin
unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain."
(-Emily Dickinson-)

What I'm Lovin' Right Now.. . .

1.   My garden in all it's spring splendor !!!

2.  My new leather sandals from Ground Cover.  So comfortable - such quality footwear!

 3.  100% Bamboo wool from Woolhogs
       (see my previous post on 14 October 2012)


















4.  Brown Seeded Low GI bread from Albany - delicious!!

5.  The FREE e-course I am doing at willowing.ning.com called "ART HEART AND HEALING"

"When you learn something NEW - you BECOME something NEW"
-Leo Buscaglia-

Those Special Touches.....

Isnt it so true that just a tiny bit of extra attention to detail, a tiny bit of kindness, doing just that little bit more than is expected - can make such an impact on someone else's life?
I experienced this , this week , when my order arrived from WOOLHOGS .  I have been feeling quite sick most of the week and a little bit "down".  I had to go into town for groceries and stopped at the Post Office to collect my parcel.  It was posted in a bubble wrap envelope - quite the standard thing to do these days.
BUT:
when I opened the bubble wrap envelope I found a brown paper- wrapped parcel with "old-fashioned" string tied around it and a woolhogs tag plus a little free gift (bamboo crochet hook).  Well THAT just made my whole WEEK.  I didnt even have to unwrap the wool.... :o)

And THEN:
I unwrapped the yarn - Oh My Word -
100% pure Bamboo Yarn - softer than a newly hatched chicken - heaven in a ball. hand-dyed.
AND the colours .....  yummy !!!!

The other great thing is that it is stranded (like embroidery cotton) so you can seperate the strands and use it to do embroidery!!!  So far I have only made several little crochet flowers - but I am going to try some embroidery with it in the very near future. (I will detail the results of that endeavour in a future post. so WATCH THIS SPACE!)

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH Maryanne at Woolhogs for this wonderful experience.

"Every life is a confession of faith and exerts an unavoidable and silent influence on others."
-Henri F Amiel-

Bloomin' Awesome. . .

After the rain my garden is looking lovely.  My roses are performing especially well- giving their best Spring-Flush performance. What Joy!

If only I could "load" the fragrance of them onto my blogsite for you ......

"Life brings  simple pleasures to us every day, it's up to us to make them into wonderful memories."
-Cathy Allen-

More Art Journal Pages...

Hello all

Hope that you are all well and being very productive and CREATIVE this week already!

Here are some of my recent Art Journal pages for inspiration:

This is the double page spread of the purple haired lady page. The background for the quote page is a cheapie handkerchief - which I glued to the page using Dala Gel Medium (magic stuff!!!) Then I added some oil pastel colour to it - to make it blend with the portrait on the opposite page and printed the quote on my PC and adhered it with gel medium.

This page was done with oil pastels, acrylic paint, scraps of patterned paper and rubber stamps with Brilliance black ink.  I was really happy with how this one turned out.  It has such nice texture.

The portrait was done with oil pastels.  The background on the quote page was done with oil pastels and brayered over with white acrylic paint. I glued the little singing bird on and the butterfly and once again printed the quote on my pc and glued it on with gel medium.

These drawings were done while watching a video tutorial by Tam at Willowing.ning.com .  I then decided that I liked them so much that I glued them into my new journal - made from a recycled book.  I was testing out my new Promarkers so they are coloured in with those. Tam presents a free e-course called ART, HEART & HEALING -which is what I am doing at the moment .  She is a fantastic teacher.

This is a page Idid on a day that I was not feeling so great and didnt want to do anything too taxing- so I just doodled some flowers and coloured them in with art markers.

This is a simple little oil pastel drawing which I really enjoyed doing.

This is a collage page using scrapbook paper, acrylic paint, stickers, black marker and little very thin wooden bits from a broken chinese fan (the fence).  Absolutely love this page and the quotation!

This page you have seen before (unfinished)  .  I am so inspired by this quotation and the page turned out quite well I think!  I used acrylics which are actually for painting bisque work (ceramics) and I stenciled and stamped on some images plus did some spattering with a toothbrush and added a "fabric patch" onto which I adhered some stickers to make the word "HOPE".

And finally I want to leave you with this question:  WHAT IF ? 

What if . . .   you started dreaming again?
                    you started believing for the best again - despite all the disappointments?
                    you started giving thanks again -  even when things are at their worst?
                    you decided to just be happy - no matter what the circumstances?
                    
WHAT IF - TOMORROW YOUR WHOLE LIFE TURNED AROUND FOR THE BETTER?

It can happen - it can - REALLY!

Meet SPARKLE. . .

Hello all,
Today I would like to introduce you to a very special artist friend of mine. Her name is Cornelia but I call her SPARKLE.  Why?  Because she literally "sparkles" with enthusiasm.
She is not only a very talented mixed-media artist but she is also a LIFE artist.  She exudes joy, love and enthusiasm where ever she goes.  She is one of  the kindest, most REAL people I know.

And this is the most beautiful  OIL PAINTING she did for me , of an angel:

                       90 x  116 cm

I had never had a painting before which I could call  "friend" - now I DO !
This angel hangs in my bedroom - across from my bed - so I see it first thing every morning and last thing every night.  I wanted to try and describe my feelings about this painting - but I think the painting speaks for itself much better than I ever could.

"A good painting to me has always been like a friend.  It keeps me company, comforts and inspires."
-Hedy Lamarr-

Fun with Doodles

Hi everyone,

Its so encouraging when one's blog starts to grow and  I get so excited everytime I get a new follower - thanks everyone!  Please leave your comments too - I would love to hear from you.

Isnt paper shopping just SOOOOOO   FUNNNNN !!!!! ?

I went paper shopping on Saturday to get some different types of paper for the new journals I want to make.

Now for  some photos of some tiny art journals I made last week.  These are very simple little hand-made books but rather cute!  Remember the doodling I was doing and posted pics of last week?
Well, I did them on A4  size cardboard and took them to the print shop and colour photocopied them onto nice glossy photo paper. They turned out gorgeous!

photocopies of the doodle pages I did

These little journals were made with a cardstock cover,   assorted coloured sugar paper pages and I cut pieces from the doodle sheets (photocopies) and glued them onto the covers . They are all bound with a single ribbon at the spine.

This journal is 15 x 14 cm

These are the inside pages - just plain coloured paper - very simple.

These are the two tiny ones 10 x 8 cm

DO WHAT YOU CAN, WITH WHAT YOU HAVE, WHERE YOU ARE.
-T. Roosevelt 1858-