Day #30 AEDM- Saying Goodbye to November

Today is the last day for the Art Every Day Month Challenge run by Leah Piken Kolidas at Creative Everyday.  Leah has been a wonderful host and I thank her for the inspiration.  

I will say that I will truly miss this challenge.  I fizzled out at the end in regards to blogging about my creative endeavors, but I was truly creative everyday.

Not one day went past this month without me picking up a paintbrush

 or a pencil,

cutting up paper

or working with metal. 

It may not have been a completed project everyday, but it was art.  

When I signed up for the challenge I had only been blogging for about 2 weeks.  This has been a wonderful way to get my “feet” wet in this blogging world.  I had very little time to worry too much about what I was going to say or to fret over a topic.  My goal was to play along with the challenge and I think I did a bang up job!

As we close out the challenge and November, I just want to say Thank You to all the fantastic people who stopped by and left comments.  You all kept me excited and motivated during this challenge.

Can’t wait until next November!

Day # 28 AEDM- Sunday Sketches and E-Course

Hi everyone!  I took a mini blog break for the holiday.  I was definitely creative, but just didn't take the time to blog.  Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving.  You can check out mine here at my Mom's blog. 

I am jumping in late to Sunday Sketches. But here are some sketches from the week.

Are we all ready for Christmas?  I am not, but I did start the Christmas shopping this weekend.  We will begin the decorating tomorrow. 

Also, I wanted to let you know about a great E-Course  Big Dreams, Small Wonders by the lovely Louise Gale.  I have known Louise for a little while now and she is truly wonderful person.  She has a wonderful spirit and is just so inspirational.  So, if you are looking for a great E-Course to get your 2011 off an running on a fantastic start, check this out.

Also, check out all the talented participants at AEDM at Creative Everyday.

AEDM Day #25- Thankful!

I am thankful for my Family.

I am thankful for my friends (cyber and the touchy ones.)

I am thankful for all the wonderful experiences that I have had this year.

I am thankful for the renewed sense of creativity I feel.  (Thanks AEDM)

I am thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!

Day #24 AEDM -Clean Up (WOYWW)

I had to skip Day # 23 of AEDM due to this mess!

Not even my chair was safe from my mess.  

So I cleaned that up and started new messes.   I can't even show you a clean workspace, because it has been eaten by more projects.  Although, I will say that I can sit on my chair.

And now I am off to a special "Get you ready for Thanksgiving Binge-a-thon" 1 ½ hour Zumba class.  I love Zumba!  It is creative exercise.  If you haven’t tried it, it is like a cross between aerobics and salsa dancing.  It is super fun and addicting.  

Then I need to finish my Turkey Girl for Turkey Day.  

XOXO


Day #22 AEDM- Flora Bowley's Bloom True Workshop

I was introduced to Flora Bowley’s work by Beth Nicholls and Louise Gale who had met Flora at Squam. I had checked out Flora’s website and fell in love with her style. About a month or so ago, my friend Sylvia alerted us that Flora was coming to the Philadelphia area. There was no way I was going to miss this.

The workshop was in a Yoga studio in Media called Soul Source. It was such a beautiful building, of which I forgot to take pictures.

After a quick meet and greet we headed outside and did some guided stretches to clear our minds and loosen up our bodies. I think I might start every art play session with this as you truly feel relaxed after a few good stretches and cleansing breaths.

The morning was very easy for me. Flora was great about prompting us with different techniques of getting the paint to the canvas. Really, there was no thinking involved. Listen to the prompt and do. We even went round robin on other people’s canvases with the same prompts. It was fun to come back to your own canvas and see what everyone had done. This was just play and super fun.

We got to watch Flora work on a painting. It is so magical to watch an artist paint.

After lunch, that is where the old conditioned tension settled in with painting. Flora said something along the lines of “making choices” on color palette and composition. I could feel the shoulders rising up around the ears.  But then we got to watch Flora paint a little more and I consciously reminded myself to breathe, relax and have fun.



If I had photoshop and could put twinkle stars and wings on her in this picture, I would.  She's my new fairy princess!



Flora showing us some magic.

 

This is the beginning of one of my paintings.  Not sure which one.

After a bunch of play time.

More play.

This was just so much fun!



Some more Flora Magic.




Getting there.  This one is still not finished. 






Almost there. 



This one is finished and ready to hang in my bedroom. 




My Mom's paintings. 




Sylvia's paintings.



My Aunt Heidi's paintings-she's going to kill me for putting this on here- Too Bad!

Betty- She was a work of art herself.

Let me tell you, if you get the opportunity to take a class from Flora, TAKE IT! This was only her 3^rd workshop! I could not believe it. She was so calm and encouraging. Something about her presence is really just magical.  This workshop was all about having fun and allowing your creativity to Bloom True. 

 My experience in this workshop was just pure bliss. 

XOXO

Day #21 AEDM and Sunday Sketches

 Today, I am going to play along with Sunday Sketches over at the Blue Chair Diary.  These were a couple of sketches that I worked on this week. 

I was trying to make her a little less mature.  She just isn't quite right for the bow in her hair and that was what I was working around.  I want to paint a picture with a ginormous bow like my grandmother wore when she was a kid.   I didn't have an eraser with me, so this is how she stayed. 

The caption reads:  She decided that reaching for the stars wasn't good enough, she wanted to dance on them.  I may turn her into a painting.  She needs more work, but again no eraser so this is how she will stay. 

I am still swimming in the happiness of my workshop with Flora Bowley.  I am still trying to process all of the wonderfulness that I learned and absorbed.   I can't wait to show you all what a fun and inspiring workshop Flora teaches.  

Day #20-AEDM FLORA BOWLEY!!!!

Just wanted to check in for AEDM.  This is what I did today!

I spent the day with the super fantabulous Flora Bowley. 

She deserves a proper post, and I will do that tomorrow.   Right now it is off to bed to dream of this wonderful day!



Day #19 AEDM- Mail

The mail has been very good to me this week.  On Tuesday I received my postcard from the The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap organized by Beth Nicholls.  I had the pleasure of meeting Beth this last September when the Flying Sisters of the Northeast met in Hoboken for a meet up.  Today in the mail, I received this beautiful postcard and note from Beth. 

The colors and textures are so gorgeous.  I am just loving them and can't wait to add them to my inspiration wall.  Beth has a wonderful podcast on her blog today with Juliette Crane.  Go have a listen.

Also today, I received a sweet note from Sarah Wilson, one of my Mondo Beyondo classmates. 

Just loving this snail mail thing!

But it doesn't end there....Somewhere along the way, I came across the Polymer Clay Artist Guild of Etsy.  I voted in one of there challenges and it automatically entered me into a drawing to win a piece of art from one of the guilds member.  Well, I won!  I got my prize in the mail this week also.  It is a Poppy Pendant by BeeTree by M.E.  I could not get a true color photo of this.  It is much richer in person.  Just so sweet!

I also wanted to share with you the postcard that I sent out.  I sent it to Vanessa at The Clip Cafe.  She has some lovely pictures of the postcard on her blog.  But here is the scan.

Someday I will tell the story of taming the beast (sewing machine) to finish this postcard.  Right now I am off to bed because I have a wonderful adventure ahead of me tomorrow that I can't wait to share.

Check out the other participants in the AEDM Challenge here.

XOXO

Day #18 AEDM- Sleep Deprived

I am not normally the girl who cannot sleep.  Ask anyone who knows me, I am a sleeper. I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow and I stay asleep until the alarm goes off.  There is not much that wakes me up at night.  

But last night I woke up in the middle of the night, 3:40 AM to be exact, to go to the bathroom.  When I went to go back to bed, I could not fall asleep!   To put this into perspective, this  is 3 hours and 20 minutes before I normally get up!  I laid there for a good hour and then decided to just get up.


I guess there were a few things that I needed to get done today that I was thinking about.  And I was worried to find out if my postcard that I sent to Australia would actually make it there (it did).  Not, that I am a doubter of the US Postal service but…..


Mainly what kept me up was the excitement to work on these.  

Now I know they look terrible, I have toasted the crap out of the solder and the metal, but that is not the point.  These are from Stephanie Lee's Homesteading class and this has got to be the most exciting thing that I have learned in quite a long time.  I have always wanted to work with metal and just thought it was going to be too difficult and expensive for that matter.  


It will take practice, but what fun practice it will be.  And today, my husband (who is a contractor) was sent off with a list of things I needed from Lowe’s.   But I am just deducting the cost from the Christmas budget.  Not the kids, I mean the rest of the family.  And I don’t mean I am not going to buy them presents, I mean I will be making them presents from the stuff from Lowe’s.


Anywho, I am terribly tired and ready for bed.  I hope I can sleep and not dream of the toys that will be waiting for me to play with this weekend.    


Good Night!  

Check out the other participants in the AEDM challenge here. 

AEDM Day #17- Conversation between Brothers

This is a conversation that went on in my back seat today. 

Sam (8 yr old):  "Jake I know what you have. You have got the puberty"

Jake (12 yr old):  "Don't talk about my medical problems!"

Gotta love boys!

AEDM Day #16- Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap

About a month ago I signed up for the Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap organized by the lovely Beth Nicholls.  I did my postcard and sent it out last week.  I will blog about it when I know that my person received her postcard (Don't want to spoil the fun.)

Today in the mail I got this postcard from the lovely Kate Potter.   The theme is home and this is her view from inside her home on a beautiful windy autumn day.  It is so beautiful.  I am loving the texture of the leaves and the beautiful blue thread that is blowing over the postcard. 

It is a really clever interpretation of "home."  I believe that it came all the way from England.  I am loving it! 

I love receiving these little pieces of warmth from across the world.  This Internet thing is really amazing.  I am amazed how it can connect people from all over the world who would never know each other existed.  I have cyber-met so many people in the last month since I started blogging. 

I am babbling I know, I have a headache, but I was so excited when I got this postcard, against my better judgement, I went straight to the computer to blog about it.

I love my postcard.  I love Kate Potter.  I love Beth Nicholls and her Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap. I love blogging.  I love you!  I think I better go lie down!

XOXO

Day #15 AEDM- Half-Way

When I signed up for the AEDM Challenge, I never really thought that I would complete any of the days let alone 15!  I am half-way there.  I will miss this when it is over. 

Anywho, I had recently blogged about signing up for Stephanie Lee's Homesteading Class.  Well class started last week.  This is the results of step one.  I got to try out my mini blow torch!

Up close they look like little metal Cheez-its.

This is what I have learned.

1.  My hands are weak and puny. 

2.  I must get a bench grinder!  Hand filing is for the birds.

3.  Lighting the torch was no big deal.  Not scary at all. 

4.  I am really going to love this class!

Day #14 AEDM and Sunday Sketches

I discovered Blue Chair Diary after I asked for suggestions for ongoing weekly challenges (thank you Kristin and Jenny)

Blue Chair Diary runs a weekly challenge called Sunday Sketches.

Sketching is something that I have only recently picked up.  I had purchased a set of 3 Moleskine journals and didn't realize they have those really thin pages.  I new there would be no mixed media going in those without serious prep to the pages.  So I decided to start carrying one around with me and sketch in them when I have time.

Play practice this last week was an ish time.  You know it will be done 9-ish.  So while I was waiting in the car, I pulled out my sketchbook and started to sketch.  I didn't realize how a very mundane task, waiting, could be so much fun.  

This is a good thing as swimming season is coming up and there is a whole lotta waiting involved.   Bring on those 3 hour swim meets! 

Day #13 AEDM- Old Fashioned Letter Writing

This is a letter from Jenny.  We were in the Mondo Beyondo Dream Lab-Fall together.  One of the Mondo Beyondoers (Jennifer)organized a Pen Pal list for anyone who wanted to participate.   About three weeks or so ago, I received the list of participants in the mail.  I kept saying to myself that I will get around to writing letters to some of them and just never made the time.  

This week, I received a letter in the picture from Jenny .  It also had the cutest little leaves all the way from Oregon!  To say that it brightened my day is an understatement.  It was the sweetest letter and just full of questions and wonderful descriptions of where she was when she wrote the letter. 

Letter writing is such a lost art.  I can remember as a kid getting letters from my Grandma who lived 2 hours away.  They were wonderful snapshots of what was going on in her life.  They were simple and usually included a picture or two.   I never wrote back.  I just didn't take the time.  At 10, I didn't realize just sending a snapshot of your life to someone could lift your spirits so high.

Today I sat down an wrote back to Jenny, my wonderful new friend.  And to my Grandma.

 

Day #12 AEDM- Turkey by Sam

Yesterday I took off from work (yippee!) because the boys had off from school.  Sam wanted to do some art.  I saw this project in the Family Fun magazine to make paper turkeys.  I had envisioned that he would make them for his Nan and Nannie and all his Aunts, but we only squeaked out one that was designated for his teacher. 

This was the finished product that we put a magnet on and he gave to Mr. Derr. 

That was the end of turkey production.  Next came ghost elephant production. 

Check out the other participants in the AEDM challenge.  It is never too late to play along.