Travel Entries - Journal Your Travels

I always bring my journal on our travels. We usually go on trips with my husband while he works. I will sit at night while the kids are watching a movie in the hotel with their Daddy and journal away. Whenever we go to our "home" province and visit family and friends I usually have many emotions swirling around in my head. Journaling helps me to understand those emotions and also helps me to get them out of my head so that I can sleep. One of these entries we went to visit my sister in-law and I was just in awe at her home and how artistic it was. This would be the colored artsy entry above. She loves collecting art pieces of 'local' artists and there are some really beautiful pieces.
The black and white entry shows how claustrophobic I felt coming into Vancouver area. I hate all the traffic and the houses upon houses with no yards - yuck! We lived there for many years and I didn't feel it then, it was just our life back then, but going to visit I sure feel how crowded it is getting. I used to live in a small town and going back it feels really strange, it is almost like downtown Vancouver with all its' high rises. Many small homes are gone and in place of them are many mansions built on the property that used to hold about four houses. My sisters look at this entry and go, "What are you talking about?" They both live there and don't feel how crowded it is. Strange. But then they live there and it doesn't bother them.
So next time you go on a trip pack up a pencil case with all your 'doodle-gear' (that's what I like to call it) and see if you can spend some time capturing your travels in your journal. Enjoy.

Re-done Lady 2

I am much happier with this one. I re-did Elegant lady number 2. I find she is much less harsh now that I took all that black from her eyes away. I also tried to make her smile more than the others. I think I kind of accomplished this. I also changed the background as it didn't go with the picture very well.

My New Garden - Paper Quill

I have wanted to do a paper quill picture for a long time now but never had the time to do one. Now I have found the time. We are renovating our home and I needed a nice picture for our downstairs bathroom so I decided on a garden picture. Paper quilling is rather an easy process, the most difficult part of the process is plotting out your picture and laying everything out. I bought a paper quiller from Michael's, basically it is a stick with a slit in the top of it for holding the strip of paper while rolling it. It certainly makes it easier to have. You can buy paper already cut for quilling or you can cut it yourself (which I did). You choose your colors and start cutting strips about 1/4" or less. Place one end of paper in the quiller and roll it to your desired shape. For the grass I used different colors of green rolled tightly so that it kept its shape, then I stretched out each strip and glued them in different directions that curled over one another. With a felt marker I made little marks on each strip to look more grass like. For dirt I rolled bigger balls of black and brown. After I had all the dirt and grass in place I painted a light layer of self-leveling gel to make the paper glossier and harder. For glueing I used glue from Stampin Up that I bought from my rep Nancy. I found a picture frame at Urban Barn for $28. It had to have enough room to hold the 3D picture, I believe it was called a display frame. It is fun and easy to make, if you give it a try drop me a line and let me know how it went for you.

Elegant Lady 3

My mom asked me why my ladies look so sad and I didn't realize it until I looked at them again that yes, they do look sad don't they? Number two looks really harsh with all that black around her eyes. I might change that somehow. Number 3 I tried to make her smile and that is the reason her mouth is open. I don't think I really accomplished that though did I? She looks more surprised than smiling. I can draw a smiling expression with pencil or pen but have yet to accomplish this with my Adobe. Oh well, that just gives me something to work with doesn't it. I still like this process. I am going to re-do number two though because I can't stand looking at the harshness of her eyes.

Still Playing With my Photoshop Drawing

I can never sit still. While I was watching a movie with my family I continued to play around with my Adobe Photoshop. I started from my previous 'Elegant Lady' and this time I changed all the colors and opened her eyes. I find that this is an awesome way to experiment and learn as I play. I wonder where I will go from here? I think maybe I will try and a number of different elegant ladies and then put them all in one picture. This should be a fun experiment. I will keep posting my progress and you can let me know what you think.

Playing Again With Adobe - Painting/Drawing

I was up late again lastnight. I had a caffeinated tea at 7:30pm and that kept me up until 2am. What was I doing? I was playing with my Adobe Photoshop Airbrushing and drawing another picture. I am slowly getting the hang of working with my pen tablet and the airbrush/pencil tools, the colors and learning how to find, clone and mix colors. I am enjoying exploring this entire process, just not so much at 2am. LOL. I love drawing elegant looking women all dressed up and ready for a night out of romance and dancing - probably because that never happens in my world. I remember years back when my husband was going to buy me a ballroom dress, it was an exquisite bronze silk gown with darker bronze threads interwoven in the braided seams. It was gorgeous! The concept was a nice thought, however, where would I ever go ballroom dancing? I don't even know how to dance! Nor does my husband. He never bought me that dress and I am glad because it would just be hanging in a garment bag in my closet getting all dusty. I used to take hours getting ready for wherever I was going, everything had to look just right, every hair in place etc., then life happened, marriage, kids, the usual. I don't want the same things anymore. However, I do think about what things will be like in Heaven - if things that I believe are beautiful here will even compare in Heaven. Will there be fabrics that are so amazing there? Will we even where clothes? Who knows. While I am here I will enjoy drawing romantic pictures.

My Flickr.com

I have just discovered flickr.com and I must say it is very cool. I have seen it on many other blogs but have never understood what it is - that is until today. As you can see on the right I have added my flickr pictures. I love the presentation, don't you? I am very pleased with the results and I enjoy looking at other peoples collections also.

Journaling Some of Your Passions

I find when I start a new entry, many times I will begin to draw trees. Obviously it is a passion of mine. I am in awe at the root system of any tree, how it grows beneath the surface seeking out moisture, how it is nourished and grows into such and amazing creation of nature, God's creation. It amazes me how many different trees there are and how unique each one is. I am learning about different kinds of wood as I begin the process of understanding wood carving and as I learn I am seeing the different places in the world the tree's grow and flourish, how they are cut down and used. I am learning about the different grains and ages of trees. All of it, I am just soaking it in. Why? You might ask. I am not a 'horticulturist', but I am in awe of God's creations. I love to study the differences, to feel different leaves and textures of trees. I cannot grow them to save my life, but I do enjoy looking at them, especially how they become homes to many creatures. As I get older I think I am beginning to mature in my understanding of life and I will never stop learning, afterall there is so much to learn and gain from studying.
I hope that you will be able to draw some of your passions and forward me a copy if you will as I would love to see them. www.ksun_1999@yahoo.com

Playing With Corel Draw Elements - Mood Entry

I am up in the middle of the night because I have taken medication that does not mix well with my normal medicine. It makes me wake up through out the night, so now I am up playing with Corel Draw. Having fun but am frustrated that I cannot sleep. I am finding journaling on-line to be something that I enjoy, though I will not do it all the time as I miss the feel of the paintbrush or the markers in my hands. I was in quite a bit of pain today, my back is out again (unfortunately I have chronic back pain). I tried my best today helping my husband to make dinner, cutting my youngest son's hair, dropping off dvd's and going to the library today. I was able to do some errands but my pain was pretty bad through out. I am thinking I will have to head back to the Chiropractor soon. I do so hate going because I always hear the same thing - RELAX! You are too stressed out! Why am I so stressed? I have no idea. I am happily married, have two wonderful children, live in a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood and mostly I am a child of God. Really, what do I have to be stressed about? Why can't I just learn to breathe and take things slowly? It is a coping mechanism I have yet to learn.
Well all you artsy friends out there in dreamland I pray that you are all able to sleep well and are able to inspire many tomorrow (or today).

Journaling Our True Identity In Christ

This entry was inspired through my thoughts while reading the Word and pondering what our true identity in Christ is. Ephesians 2:10 says we are God's work of art. He is the Creator after all. I picture God with a chisel and a new piece of wood, chiseling out each and every detail of everyone of us, as we are all unique. As He made me a creative person I love this verse - I can appreciate this verse. I would have never understood it as a confused teenager or new adult. It wasn't until I asked God for deliverance from my sins, for salvation for my life, for wisdom and understanding through His Word that I could read His Word and understand His purpose for my life. Now I read it and see nothing but purpose. He is so good.
In this entry I mention many verses, some of my favorites are; 2 Corinthians 5:17 We are a new creation; Ephesians 1:3 We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ; Romans 8:2 We are set free from the laws of sin and death; Romans 8:1 Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus; Ephesians 1:13 We are marked as belonging to Christ by the Holy Spirit. That last one is such a beautiful thought. All of Christ's people are 'marked by the Holy Spirit' as belonging to Christ. That brings so much hope in the darkness of this world as to me it means not only salvation and deliverance but protection also. Thank you Lord that you are such a wonderful, amazing God. I am so thankful that I have been chosen to serve You, what a blessing and an honor.

Inspiration From Other Craft Sources

Stampin' up is an excellent source for inspiration. I like to draw different things that interest me within their catalogues. They were getting new catalogues every year though now I believe they are changing over to new catalogues twice per year. My Stampin'up representative is my girlfriend Nancy - she has been an awesome inspiration to me, she is so knowledgeable when it comes to card making and stamping, in fact most of the stuff I have learned in those regards I have learned from her. You can reach her blog by going to the link in my 'Cool links' Nancy's Creative Mess. Take a look at her talented blog.
I got inspiration for this journal entry from the stampin'up borders page - I also added borders from my own imagination. I love to doodle so this is a great way to learn to doodle (I usually do it while watching one of my 'chick-flicks'.
When I was a young girl I learned to draw by looking at little stickers and then drawing them, from there I went to bigger items 'still life drawing'. Then magazines etc., Drawing is an easy process if you start small then go big. If you have the desire to learn you can pretty much learn anything you want.

Exciting Tree Pages Entry

While going through other artist' journal pages I came across an entry that really intrigued me (because I am not organized and am forgetful I didn't record where I saw it - so if the person who made the 'tree journal entry' see's this entry please comment with your site address and I will be glad to post it. So, I went about creating my own tree journal entry. This was so cool.
First thing: I drew a picture of a tree with vines going over it and lot's of leaves. Secondly, I turned it over and drew another tree in a different style, this time with larger leaves and lot's of ladybugs. On the right side of the two trees I joined them together with a piece of small cardstock. I used a slot punch from "Stampin' up" and punched out three slots. In between two journal pages I joined the tree's to the pages by placing small strips of cardstock through the slots and glued the trees into my journal. Now that my tree's are bound into my journal I began to draw different tree's on each journal page - one entry is of a tree which is full of doors and multiple other things that represent my past, always changing, moving from house to house, an uprooted tree with no foundation to sink its roots into. The second journal entry, (which would be the fourth tree) is a tree that is solid and full, a tree nourished by the streams of living water by Jesus. What a creative process this was for me. I enjoyed every minute, every detail. If you try this, please send me a comment and let me know how you liked it.

My Day - Wanting to Create - Creative Errands

I woke up this morning with a start as my husband asked me to wake up early with the boys to get them ready for school. That was no problem once it took me a half an hour to get awake to do the task. That left me fifteen minutes to make my one son's lunch and my other son's snack. No problem, still had ten minutes left. I do not wake up quickly, but once I wake up I can never seem to fall back to sleep. I hate that! I then had a huge desire, once again, to create something artistically but did not know what I could make. I phoned one of my friends to see if she would come on some creative errands. We stopped at Lee Valley Tools (my first time there) and I liked it! (Insert drool here****) I managed to find a big piece of beech wood and a small wood carving tool kit - Now what do I do? I can't explain how I felt, I had a huge desire to create something beautiful - now I have a chunk of wood and some chisels! Let's see what happens from here. I will keep you posted.

The New Jerusalem post

God gave me a vision of the New Jerusalem a long time ago. He has impressed it upon my heart until finally I drew it out. This is a very basic sketch. What I would really like to do with this picture is a huge watercolor or possibly acrylic painting to show the beautiful colors and the 12 foundations of pure gems listed through out the bible. I am just waiting on God to give me direction as to how to proceed. He gave me the image and now I know that I am supposed to paint it... so maybe it's my decision on how to go about it. We shall see.

Enjoying my Photoshop/Drawing Tools

As I was watching a movie with my family "Gremlins" I was playing around with my Adobe Photoshop 5.5 and my Wacom Tablet. What an awesome device this is! I am no longer limited to just creating on my own, now I can create on my computer too! I have zero experience with this so I am just playing around. It was referred to me by another blogger on a MyChurch.org site, Heather and since I got them I have been very excited. I drew this yellow lotus flower while I was watching the movie. I used the paintbrush tool and then I used the airbrush tool and I was able to mix colors - what fun! Okay, I need to get out more! I think it turned out pretty well for my first one. There is something about flowers and leaves and trees that I find so peaceful, I tend to put them in most of my drawings. The colors in this drawing was inspired by a painting I saw on art.com so I used the 'clone' tool to find the exact color from that painting to use on my piece. I am lovin' this! I purchased my Wacom Tablet at Future Shop, I am certain you could get one for less than I paid which was $139.99, however it comes with Adobe Photoshop Elements, and Corel Painter Essentials 2. I think it was well worth the money. I purchased the 4x6 size as I have found that I can maneuver through the entire drawing by just moving the margins - plus the bigger sizes are way more expensive!!! Let me know what you think.

Paper Mosaics

These mosaics were made the same way the journal mosaic was made, but with more detail. With the shell mosaic I added beads to make it take the desired shape of a shell. With the sunflower and the red I cut the pieces instead of having them all one uniformed shape. As you can probably see on the sunflower I got a little impatient with the red squares near the end and they came out different sizes than the rest of them. Oh well, you live and learn by your mistakes. Mosaics are not only fun but they are very relaxing too. I have found you have to enjoy lot's of little details in order to do them and therefore must have patience for details. If you enjoy that, then you will enjoy doing some of your own.

Mosaic in Journal

I got this idea to do a mosaic in my journal while looking up mosaics online (this was awhile back). I went to the art store and purchased some self-leveling gel, cut out my squares and went to work. This was a fun piece as it came together. On top of my journal entry I also did a mosaic mirror and a picture frame which make great teachers gifts! In order for the squares to stick I used paper cement and painted the page first and then placed the squares down. Once those were in place I spread the self-leveling gel overtop of each square and in between. I had an empty bottle of (in the scrapbooking and cardmaking world is called) crystal effects that had a pointed tip, so... I sucked up some self leveling gel into this container and that became very useful for spreading the self-leveling gel onto the page, or piece of work. It is important to allow this page to dry fully (about 24 hours), so place it somewhere it will not get damaged. And have fun!

For Nancy

A year ago yesterday my bestfriend Nancy's Daddy passed away. I did this page for her when she was engulfed with so much grief. My mind was thinking about her and my heart was so sad for her yesterday. I know what she is going through and it is a pain that is so deep and a longing to see the one's we've lost, to be with them, to just have even one more minute with them to say, "I love you". I prayed for her and her Mom that they could seek comfort in each other's arms and that somehow Jesus would surround them with His arms and bring them peace. I know that Jesus has filled the holes that have opened because of the loss of my Father when I was 22, I pray this for Nancy and Bev, and for all of Nancy's family too. For me it has been 14 years and the pain will never go away, but the thought, no the hope and the peace in knowing that one day I will see my Dad again in Heaven is so wonderful. I will never lose him completely. People are on loan to us, for they do not belong to us but to God. We need to think of the times that we had with them while they were with us, the good memories we shared, the laughter, the funny quarks they had, the bonds that were made. I drew a gerber daisy on this page because it so reminds me of my friend Nancy, her love for her father, the vibrant colors of the love she shared with her father. God please give her and her mother peace and discover the joy that only you alone can bring. Amen

Master Cleanser Lemonade - Finished With It!!!

Well, this cleanse did not go the way that I wanted it and it was all my fault. Note to self: Read ALL instructions before starting cleanse! I know I said that before but I really messed up. I poisoned myself with the seasalt and not having enough water with it and so I was extremely sick the last few days and had to go off the cleanse. I woke up one morning all puffy and feeling sick to my stomache. My 'killer' headache was actually my body saying "HELLO! You're killin' me here!" I was supposed to drink 32oz of water with the sea salt and not 10oz. so all that salt in my system made me so sick. What did I learn (besides the fact that I'm blonder than blonde when it comes to reading instructions), from this cleanse... is that I obsess over my weight when I really do not need to! My husband loves me just the way I am! God loves me just the way I am! And really I am only 13pounds over the weight I want to be so why kill myself over 13 pounds. I'm me and I'm okay with me! So basically, I need to suck it up buttercup and get over it!!!! Lol.

Master Cleanser Lemonade - Day 6

I read over the instruction booklet for Master Cleanser Lemonade and discovered why I was having such killer headaches the last few days. Basically I was making myself sick because I was drinking the seasalt flush with only 10oz of water when it is supposed to be 32oz. I should have learned by now to read things completely! Even my Mother told me that was too much seasalt for my body! DUH! Sometimes I wonder if I have any brains at all! Why do I do that???
So, I went on the scale today and was the same weight as yesterday. I am okay with that because I am still under the mark that I wanted to get to. I think I have messed up this cleanse in a few ways though. First not realizing to include the seasalt flush, and the laxative tea at night... then not drinking enough water with the seasalt. I woke up this morning feeling as though I looked a little puffy. I wonder if this is from the seasalt, not having enough water with it? I am sure it was! By the time I finish this cleanse I think I will have perfected it! OY VAY!
I also had wierd very intense dreams lastnight about my Church. Very bizarre.
Anyway, onward and upward.

Master Cleanser Day 5

Well day 5 came quickly and I have been feeling okay. I was very tired today because I have been so busy with my son's play, but regarding the cleanse I am feeling good. I woke up this morning and did a little 'happy dance' because I got on the scale and am down by 4 and 1/2 pounds. It has taken me five years to be at this weight which is more than I want to be, but still it's getting there. I have been at a standstill with my weight and I hated looking at the scale. Now I have hope. I am determined to get past the weight issue. I want to lose at least 15 pounds.
I have a killer headache today - it keeps coming and going. Not sure if it is from the cleanse, but I am thinking it might be. I don't have the white stuff on the tongue like Thea (From www.colorsonmymind.com) so I will have to wait and see if this happens tomorrow. The headache was there yesterday and I am hoping that this will go away for tomorrow. One thing that I have found really refreshing is the dry bath, body sugar butter. It is so nice to feel invigorated by this body butter after a few days of the cleanse. Now that I have been taking the seasalt flush and the laxative tea I am feeling much better. I continue to keep myself hydrated with lot's of luke warm water and peppermint tea. Not feeling really hungry today, in fact I was able to make muffins for my family and I wasn't even tempted to eat one. It's like my senses just have been cleaned out and I don't want to eat. That is a good thing I guess, for now anyway.

Master Cleanser - Day 4 (Early Morning)

Okay, so day 4 comes in the middle of the night. I had laxative tea before I went to bed, the only problem is that I went to bed at 7:30pm as I was so tired. At 1:30am I woke up with cramps. So I remember that drinking the Seasalt water will help what the laxative tea has loosened to eliminate. So... I decide to have my sea salt water now. Almost 3hours later I am awake because I have been on the toilet for over two hours now. So what have I learned? Don't go to bed too early and have your tea too early as you will be awake in the middle of the night with cramps and then will have to have your salt water and will be up all night eliminating the toxins from your system. Okay... well, may check in later but there's probably a good chance I will be sleeping in! Ya think?