Making Cards Lately

Another thing I enjoy doing is creating my own handmade cards. I'm not one for making my own paper and all that, just creating my own designs or using others design ideas. I like to sell my cards and give to charities within our Church. This year I think I will be making some Christmas cards to raise money for Children's Ministry as well as for hampers for less fortunate families. I don't know why, but when I make cards I never end up sending them in the mail. This way I don't have to send them I can just sell them and put the money made from them to good use.
I will post some of my other designs as I go. Right now I'm dealing with a back that does not have the energy to sit at my craft desk as it is currently "out of alignment". Pain in your body makes it very difficult to find energy to create!
Well happy creating everyone.

Kids Bible Camp

This year we went with our kids to "Kampers For Christ" Bible Camp only an hour away from our home. I helped in the kitchen and my husband was brave enough to be a cabin counsellor. We all had a blast! It is amazing to me to think about how much God has healed me in just this past year. No way would I have been able to help in the kitchen last year during camp (besides the fact that there was no camp)... I would have not been physically nor mentally prepared to help. I still had many issues weighing me down from my depression. However, this past February I was prayed over and healed of so many things that I was set free to fly and soar above all my previous illness issues. It was such a great joy to my heart to witness my children being witnessed to by a wonderful teacher of the Lord. My son Ben (the one in the picture) got right into every lesson (as you can see). God is so good to me, to us as a family. I am able to do things I was held back from doing before,. such as having the creativity to start this art journaling blog. Depression takes it all away... and when you become free from it's "death-grip" on you, a whole new world opens up! Only God can heal the emptiness depression leaves in your soul; Only He can take it all away and help you to fly again! For all things are possible for Him. If you are hindered in any way, trust me God can and will help you! He is faithful. He has done so many miraculous things in my life I cannot help but have faith in Him. If you want to know what He can do in your life... seek Him out... ask Him to show you... open a bible. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Trust in Him.
Happy Creating and God Bless you.

Camping In Kanaskis

Last week I was over at my girlfriends house from Church and she told me that her and her family and some other families from our Church go up to Kananaskis for August long weekend every year... I didn't know this but was quickly excited about the idea. So... I got on the phone to the campsite as soon as I got home. Sad news... there were no spots available. I phoned my girlfriend and told her that we couldn't come and then we chatted a bit and the idea came to her that maybe there was room on their site for us and our giant tent. It turned out there was room on their site and not only that but our tent was able to accomodate her and her husband and their seventeen year old son too! Bonus! It was Wednesday when we decided we were going camping and would leave Friday afternoon. I ran around frantically trying to get everything organized making list after list of things we would need to take with us. As it turned out those lists were not needed as I got so flustered that I forgot everything anyway! It was kind of funny, I went grocery shopping and brought all the groceries but forgot to pack anything extra from home, such as utensils, bowls, salt and pepper or other seasonings etc. The weekend was a blast however and all the families shared whatever they needed to. Except for the one rainy day it was a beautiful weekend and very nice to sleep out in the great outdoors. We are planning on booking a few weekends of camping next year!
Now it's raining when we are home... hmmmm... I hope the sun comes out soon again.
Happy creating.

Zechariah 4

I really loved reading Zechariah 4. The images that God gave to Zechariah are so beautiful... so majestic it is difficult to picture. As I was reading it I wrote down the each image that was presented to Zechariah and this picture is what came out of it. A huge lampstand (I pictured a pedastal), a large bowl on top of it, with seven lampstands with light or fire. Two olive trees one on each side dripping into the large bowl its generous oils. God is so rich and the images that He gives us are so rich and overflowing in abundance. He has that abundance ready to be poured out over us if only we accept it.

I did this picture in Adobe and then I made it into a painted glass picture because I just love the effects. The painted glass truly picture the richness of the image with all its colors.

Happy Creating!

Quarky Things About Me

I was looking through some scrapbooking idea wesites and I saw that some women did pages on themselves and their quarky habits. Some of them were really interesting. So as I was sitting waiting to get inspired I decided I would do one of these pages of my quarky things I hate or do. I started by tearing scrapbook paper. Why did I do this? Because I absolutely hate doing it, and since that was going to be one of my quarks I decided to go for it! This was a fun little project to do and it gave me an inspiration to do another journal page.
I have a challenge out there for all you other creative people out there. Do your own quarky pages and then send a copy to me and I will post them on my blog.
Happy Creating Everyone!

Pretty Flower Lady

I did it again... another strange drawing for the journal. I was just doodling while I was relaxin a bit. I had these flowers that I had bought (with my girlfriend Nancy) and I they have just been sitting ther for months not being used. I tried to think of something creative I could do with them and this is what came out of it! I also used Making Memories Scrapbook Shimmer Glitter ut you can't really see it. I used it to look like there is wind around her hand with the flower. I really like the glitter and if you get a chance to pick some up it is a very fine glitter that is easy to use. The flowers were 'Prima' Flowers. I colored them all red to go with the picture but they came in a variety of shades and colors. I think if I had girls I would have been able to use them for scrapbooking... but I don't so I use them to be creative in my journaling. That works too! As always... Happy Creating!

My Second Tree Painting - Surprise... Surprise! LOL

Late this afternoon I decided it was time to paint another painting. So I got out my paint gear, my acrylic's etc., and went at'er. I told my hubby I felt like painting another painting and he said, "Well, it's about time!" I smiled and went to work. He does support me very much and I am truly blessed with such a wonderful hubby. I saw a tree like this in a picture of a mural that someone painted on their wall, I wanted to paint a swirly looking tree and dress it up a bit. So... as my habit is I put in another 'chick'flick and painted my own rendition of the picture I saw. I like my vision much better because the other one was rather plain. I sponged the background with sea sponge. When I had no colors on the tree my hubby said that it looked like a painting from "A Series of Unfortunate Events"... I couldn't have that! I didn't want it to look gloomy, so I added some color to it. Yep, much better!
Happy creating everybody!

Rock Mosaic - Possibly for Kitchen

After the boys made their rock mosaics I had to go back to Michael's to purchase some more rocks for me to be able to make my own mosaic. So I sat down and spread over a canvas "Hard Moulding Clay Paste" and began to place my rocks. I didn't plan on any design because I have found that to be hindering in my creativity at times. I just sorted the rocks into shades and went to work. I really enjoyed this process, for one thing I am a sorter (I love to sort things into different colors - which includes my son's lego (which annoys my husband very much)) and secondly this placing of the rocks was a way to create a pattern that soothed me. I don't know why things like this relax me, I just find it so comforting.
After I finished and let it dry I had an idea... I went downstairs into our kitchen (which is of coarse in the process of renovations) and I placed the mosaic between the new cabinets. We have been thinking a lot about what we should do for the b
backdrop between the cabinets, wondering if we should tile it or paint it in some way. As I placed the mosaic down I knew right away... this is what I want to do for the entire back drop. It will be a lot of work but it is going to look amazing when it is all finished. It will give the kitchen an artsy look to it and sort of finish one of the last projects needed to be done. We are also trying to decide what we should do for counter tops. We were going to do granite, but have sort of run out of funds and so now we are tossing some other ideas around in our head. We'll have to wait and see and be patient for the end process. We are not really in any hurry.

Swirly Tree

I have been searching my brain for ideas to paint because I really want to do a mural in our kitchen and possibly up our stairwell, however I have been unsuccessful so far. I painted this picture lastnight while I watched the movie "The Aviator". I like it, but not enough to paint a mural out of it. I am really wanting to incorporate all kinds of nature into the paintings, all God's creations. I hope it will come to me soon because it is driving me crazy with my head being so full of ideas yet none of them the right one. Oy Vay!!!!

My Handsome Son and Me

This lovely little picture was taken at the wedding Ben and I went to this past weekend. We were able to get away on our own little holiday and Josh and Daddy stayed home and did their own thing. It was so nice to have the one on one time with Ben. We explored the beautiful hotel we stayed in. We rented a car and discovered the town of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. We had to take a small plane to get there (only 12 rows of seats in total - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!) I had to put on my brave face for my son's sake but I really do not like flying in such small aircrafts. I was 'airsick' because of the turbulance - yuck! However the rest of the trip was wonderful. It went by rather fast because we flew in Friday night and went home Sunday at 6:30am. That is early in my world. I was barely able to keep one eye open. Ben made the trip for me, he has such a great personality and made me laugh a lot. We watched the movie "The Last Mimzy" which was a rather strange movie, it was good still though. Ben was excited to see that he had some friends from our church at the wedding and he barely knew I was there (meaning he was pre-occupied the entire evening). I was able to sit with two close friends from Church as well so that made it even more lovely. A very successful trip indeed. I was unsure about how to do everything such as check in at the airport and rent a car and then check in at the hotel (as my hubby usually does these for me), but everything went smoothly. I need to do more things that are independent of him because I know that I should know how to do many more things than I actually do know how to do. I am usually off in my own little 'artbrain' world and he fixes everything around me! Bad Kelly! I know! I will now go about doing more independent things! I hope! We get so comfortable don't we? I will try, how's that? Well, happy creating.

It's Wedding Season

Using my Adobe Photoshop I created this bride as I was watching my 'Chick Flicks'. This weekend my youngest son and I flew out to Saskatoon to go to a wedding of a young couple in our Church. It was a beautiful wedding, they all are aren't they? The couple wrote their own vows and this is when their true personalities shone through. Jason, the first to say his vows, on cue put his hand behind his back and snapped his fingers and one of his groomsmen quickly put his sheet of vows in his hand (everyone laughed - this was soooooooo Jason). When it came time for Amber's vows she grabbed her sheet of vows from her bra (really classy - but soooo Amber) Again everyone laughed. It was so nice to see a wedding that wasn't so nerve racking and perfect, this was full of love and laughter; clearly what weddings should be. The little flower girl (Amber's little two year old sister)ran down the aisle straight for her Mommy at the front of the Church, her Dad scooped her up and tried to take her back to the doors to do it again, she did the same thing and ran down the aisle... her father then (who was holding her basket for her with flowers) proceeded to daintily throw out the flowers down the aisle. It was so funny and cute and wonderful. Both families welcomed one another like it should be, like it has never been any different. We had a wonderful time as God joined this young couple together in 'holy' matrimony.

100 Things If You Had Unlimited Resources...

My artist friend Alice (From Aliki's Art House) gave me this idea for a journal entry. She told me to write down the question "If I had unlimited resources, money, time... etc... I would..." You are supposed to write down your answers with your left hand. I was not so good at this. I am very particular about my printing, I become obsessed with the way it looks and have written things over numerously until perfecting it, including previous journal entries. I love writing with pen and paper, I love the way ink looks on a fresh sheet. Strange I know, I mean I salivate when I get a new pen!
After this entry I learned so much about myself and what I would do, what my desires were and how my longing to serve God is so much greater than my longing to serve the world. I also learned that I have to be okay with not being and having everything perfect. The world see's how much I have given up to come closer to God and my heavenly future and providing ways for my family to look to God and all of our futures, but I do not see it as giving up anything that I want to keep. I have given up vanity and pride and anger, lust and self seeking, self centeredness; to me these are not things that I want to have or be. This was a great exercise in learning about what is on my heart.
The different colors helped me to think about each answer as I was writing it down. It really helped me to focus on my answers.

Making Mosaics With my Boys

The other night I was sitting at my desk finishing some details on an art piece when you youngest son came up to me and said, "Mama, I want to do something with you?" He had this mischievious look on his face and I asked, "What is it that you want to do with me baby?" (Please don't mention to anyone that my ten year old still calls me Mama - he would hate it and would stop calling me that and then I would have to kill you! lol.) Anywho... He opened up his hands and had four shiny coloured rocks - one clear, one blue, one red, and one brown. He has made a game out of his little collection sort of like rock, paper, scissors. Each rock is either water, air, fire or earth and one more powerful than the other. He has an incredible imagination. However, I didn't feel like playing that game again... so instead I took out my bag of tiny pebbles that I had just purchased from Michael's (two bags actually). I was going to use them to make a pebble mosaic for our house... however, I found a much better use for them; quality time with my sons. Ben and I started sorting the pebbles into colours and before we knew it Josh started in on the sorting. After all that was done, we all began to make little mosaics on the floor. Josh wanted to keep his so he asked his dad to cut him a board to fit his mosaic on and Randy (my hubby) covered it with drywall putty (I think) and he began to place his mosaic on the board. Ben shortly followed with his same request of Daddy and put his brain to work on a piece of his own. The pictures above are the results of their hard work that night. Ben's is the sword and Josh made a lizard surrounded by rocks. I however, did not have enough rocks left over to make my own though I certainly enjoyed watching their creative minds at work. Thank you God for this special time that I was able to have with my sons. We are so very blessed.

Glamour Girl

I was feeling kind of blah and wanted to draw something different, something with color that stood out. I started drawing from a picture of myself trying to get my eyes, nose and mouth in a relatively similar comparison to mine... then I thought that was boring so I added a shape that I found on one of my husbands drafting ruler thingy's (I'm sure there's a name to it- I just don't know it!) So... that shape became my hair and I just kept going and going (like the energizer bunny - lol) Then I added some bling and some color and hence my creation of "Bad Hair Day Glamour Girl" came to be.
Let me know what you think. Happy Creating!

Creating A New Banner - Out With The Old...

I wanted to change the look of my blog but I wasn't quite sure how to go about it. Here I am with this new Adobe Photoshop program (well it's new to me anyway!) and I hear such great things about it regarding creating banners for blogs, new websites etc., Soooooooo... my brain keeps thinking... tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock as I stare aimlessly at the walls of my living room (which are now amber orange thanks to our new renovations)... what do I do when I don't know how to do something? My fingers scale over my keyboard (effortlessly I might add) searching for ways to add banners using my Adobe Photoshop (older addition - yet surprisingly still "upbeat"... sorry for my humor if you have not seen "How to lose a guy in 10 days")... anywho... B-I-N-G-O! I have found a tutorial! I follow the steps even though they are meant for Adobe Photoshop 7.whatever! I am thrilled to see that I can find the tools mentioned in the tutorial and slowly piece together my new creation... A banner made just for me! (Insert barf here!) In this blogger program through Google I simply chose the "dashboard", "layout" then the "Edit" option of my "header" and inserted the image that I "Saved for Web" in GIF Format. And just like that I have a new header for my blog. How sweet is that?
If you are like moi and do not know (did not know) how to create a banner for your blog just follow the oh-so-simple instructions (okay not-completely-simple) and you will have your banner! Go to http://getit.rutgers.edu/tutorials/banner/index10.html If it does not take you right there send me an e-mail and I will find it for you and get back to you! ksun_1999@yahoo.com Happy Creating!

Creating Artistic Photography

The other day my oldest son and I were playing around with my digital camera and taking pictures of our eyes (because we have the same eyes). My son didn't believe that we have the same eyes so I needed to prove myself... let me explain further. When I was born I had blue eyes, okay same as Josh... however when I started into my teen years they began to change color eventually changing to all green by the time I was 17. Josh's eyes are in the process of changing and he has one greenish blue eye and one almost all green. He believes they are going to stay like that. Okay... now I have proof. After gathering up this proof I went further... I took pictures of my youngest son and of my husband, their eyes are very similar as well. I found this to be not only an experiment to prove how right I was (lol), but I began to put an artistic photogpragh together. I put them all into my Adobe photoshop and put them on the same page (for some reason the file is too large to actually show you)(so you have only the cropped shots). If you use your imagination you can line them up and see what I am doing. I am going to frame it and put it on our wall as "The Watts Family Eyes". It was such a cool experiment. I love how we can see ourselves in our children. I don't know how anyone cannot acknowledge God when you can so clearly see Him in our children and in all creation. He is so amazing. Well that's my bit for today... maybe you can give it a try. Need instructions? Just contact me at my e-mail address or leave a comment here and I will put them on here. ksun_1999@yahoo.com Happy creating!

More Stained Glass Mosaics of my Journal Entries

I am loving this stained glass mosaic filter!

Journal Page Made Into a Mosaic

I took one of my favorite journal entries and put it into Adobe Photoshop and used the Filter once again. This time I made it into a mosaic. I am extremely pleased with the results, it makes me feel like purchasing mosaic tiles and actually sitting down in the lengthy process and making this full mosaic piece.

True Worship

I wanted to draw what true worship was and this is what came out. God is so good to me I pray that I give Him the glory in every aspect of my life.

New Journal Entry

I was looking through my links and I really enjoyed looking at Violette's Journal Pages. I decided to try to journal like she does, not as great as her's but fun still the same. I am a stickler for detail and I really enjoyed drawing, watercoloring and writing this entry. On her site she talked about using Twinkling H20's (watercolors), they look really cool and I would love a set. I didn't have those but I did have my watercolor crayons from Staedtler. One day I will purchase the H20's but until then I will dabble with the crayons.

Sneak Peek Of Some of Our Renovations

We are so excited to have one (small room) completely finished in our renovations. This is just a sneak peek as I am waiting until everything is completely finished to reveal what the rest of the house is going to look like. Still waiting on kitchen cabinets, countertops for kitchen, railings for stairwell etc., but all things will be done in God's timing not our own. I really love the dark copper color of the bathroom and that the cabinets go so nicely with it. Please see my previous posts of my 3D Garden to see the two pieces of artwork I made for this room. My husband did all the work! Thank you Lord that I married a handyman! (See previous blogs for a picture of him at work - not exactly happy that I was taking a picture- lol)
Anyway, stay tuned for more pictures as we finish more of our renos. I love before and after shots don't you?

Tree of Life - Revelations Painting

I finished my second 'real painting'. The Lord gave me this image a long time ago and I was finally able to capture it on a canvas. I love reading Revelations and the visuals it gives me. One of them is this one, The Tree of Life, The streams of living water flowing through it, the many different fruit on one tree. It is so flourishing and abundant and full. I was frustrated at first and then I prayed and then gave this painting to the Lord that I might finish it for His glory. I pray that it does so. Please let me know what you think.

My 2nd 3D Garden For My New Bathroom

I am finished with the pictures for the bathroom. I created a 2nd paper Quill with a darker orange flower to accent the walls. We are going rather bold in our colors as we renovate our home. Oranges/Camels and Rusts. I am certain it will look absolutely stunning when we are finished. Right now, being in the middle of things is a little difficult to live with but we are very blessed to be able to take on this project and do it ourselves. The second picture is of my hubby painting the front closet. He wasn't happy I was taking pictures. Funny guss.
We have chosen rich colors to blend in with the warmth of our home. We are making our home so that we can fellowship with others and be good hosts to all. I will be (hopefully) painting some paintings for our dining room but am a little frustrated as I work with the more expensive acrylic paints than I am used to. I am going from kids murals to actual paintings so it is a difficult process. I might just need a lesson or two in acrylic paints. Oy vay. Well, happy creating!

Provoke Me Lord! Entry

When I wrote this poem I was feeling trapped by the world, led astray and far away from God. I desperately needed God to stir up my spirit within me so that I could feel His glorious presence in my life. Sometimes the world seems to close in all around us and it is so hard to feel God in our lives. We get so busy we lose track of our first love, God. I like the image I put with this poem because it portrays my feelings at the time of the poem. God has used poetry as such a gift of healing in my life as well as a time of renewal and restoration of my relationship with Him. I thank God that He is in my life and allows me to vent in this way.

Experimenting with Basic Grey Papers

I was at my girlfriend Nancy's house the other day and she showed me her new scrapbooking papers she got from her girlfriend. The papers were from Basic Grey ( www.basicgrey.com ) and what they do is make a number of designs that go together and are grouped according to name. The selection I liked the best was called Pheobe. The colors and designs on this paper were mouthwatering, they instantly made me want to draw them. Although Nancy doesn't scrapbook she does make cards and she couldn't resist the entire new collection from Basic Grey. When I looked at all the designs they made me want to add them in some way to my journal. I am looking forward to working with more of this brand of paper. It is not only beautiful but is an excellent quality of paper too.