Zenning It Again!

Well here I am again... completely taken in by "zendoodles". Over on "Sketchbook Project" yahoo group I have joined a swap for what I call "zen circles". I'm not certain as to the correct definition of "zen mandala's" so I don't want to call mine one of them. (I'm wierd that way I guess)! Plus I think zentangles are supposed to be one continuous line and mine are not. Anyway, on the SPG (sketchbook project group) one of the ladies posted her zen mandala on black paper and it was gorgeous! It started my mouth watering and I knew I had to try this technique myself! I am glad that I did... now I am thinking of getting a sketchbook with black paper only! That is the wonder of being a member of certain art groups... there is amazing work out there to see!
I really enjoyed creating these little doodles... I find doodling very peaceful and relaxing. I don't usually watch tv (because we do not have cable,or satellite, or digital tv... or whatever the newest greatest form of t.v. there is - lol), however, I do tend to like certain shows every once and awhile and will watch them online via global tv. I especially like to watch "The Good Wife" and "House".
My husband tried talking me into getting rid of cable for years and finally I said yes to getting rid of it and I must say it is one of the best decisions we have made for our family. The only problem is that when we go on vacation (like this weekend) my boys (including hubbub) spend a lot of the time glued to the set! I however, have changed from a cable-addict to a not-liking-cable-at-all person! I absolutely hate all the commercials and to be honest most of the shows do not appeal to me either.
We went to Banff this weekend and enjoyed a much needed family weekend with waterslides, games and of coarse... tv for my boys! Sounds exciting yes? My hubby lovingly purchased a beautiful Garnet necklace that matches my Garnet Ring that I purchased at the Lilac Festival last June, for me for Valentines day. What a sweetheart! (To see my ring just scroll down to June postings). My necklace is the same pendant as on the ring.

Well I hope all of you are full of inspiration and positive creativity! Happy creating everyone!

FINALLY - MY WORD FOR 2010 - BREAKTHROUGH

I am extremely slow this year it seems. It has taken me 30 days to finish my 'Word of the year" page! I changed my word from Blessings to "Breakthrough" as Blessings just didn't sit right, I couldn't get inspired. Two Sunday's ago our pastor mentioned that this year was going to be a year of "Breakthrough" in evangalism. That struck a chord with me - hmmmmm.... breakthrough????? Yes! That's my word!
I knew it immediately. I even drew a picture in my mini journal and everything! It took me a long time to finish working on it because unfortunately WORK gets in the way of my play time lol.
So this year I have already seen many breakthrough's. I have a new job, I was off work since June 2009. I am learning new things, Accounting, Human Resources, Payroll, Taxes etc... thanks to my new job. My hubby's career is changing. We officially have two cars (Hubby always had a company car)... and most exciting is that I have weaned down my anti-depressants by 75mg!!! I didn't even realize I was going down that much, it just happened as I thought I was taking the beads out of the 75mg caplet, but I was taking them out of the 150! God is so good! I am doing great and it has been about a month and 1/2!
Looking forward to a great "breakthrough" year! I hope you have a fabulous year as well!
Hugs to you and Happy Creating!

WELCOME TO THE WORLD BROCK!

Official business here: I AM A GREAT AUNTIE!!!!! Baby Brock Bousquet came into the world at 4:47pm on January 28th 2010 weighing 9lbs 7oz's. My nephew Randy is a proud daddy, and Alessya (his fiance) is doing well after the Caesarian birth. Everyone thought that Brock was going to be born in early February but he came early - I can't imagine what he would have weighed in a few weeks!
Isn't he gorgeous????

Proud Great auntie here!

NEW JOB and learning tons!

I must apologize to you all for not having any recent art posted. Almost two weeks ago I started a new job and have been challenged with learning the position of book keeper. I have had some experience with book keeping but not nearly as much as this position requires. I am certain I can learn how to do everything, it will just take time. My brain is on overload so I do not have many creative juices flowing right now. I am enjoying the new position though and I like the challenge.
I have been slowly weening myself down on my antidepressants and have been experiencing some side effects, it has been about five weeks now. Beginning to experience some anxiety, although I have found that if I am busy (like with the new job) I don't get trapped in thinking about the side effects as much. If I continue to keep myself busy and my brain nourished with good supplements like vitamin D, fish oil, vitamin E and a multi vitamin maybe I will be okay. It may take me a long time to get off the medications, but I have a long time. I am willing to do it nice and slow so as to not experience so harsh of a withdrawal period. With God I can do all things! I am trusting in HIM.
For now I will post one of my favorite pieces of art for you to enjoy again!
Happy Creating Everyone! I hope all of you are doing well! I'm thinking about you.

Sketchbook Project - Almost Finished!

I guess I have been a busy little bee trying to finish up my pages for the Sketchbook Project: Danger! Danger! theme. A friend of mine showed me her zentangle doodle, she colored hers in rich earthy colors, and it gave me the bug again! I had to doodle another one! I can't believe how addicting yet relaxing they are! I was thinking about Jesus and how complex He is and how He is everywhere at anytime and so awesome... this is where my thoughts led me. As I drew out His name I felt so much peace enveloping me. What does this have to do with a Danger! Danger! theme? I added this because to me knowing Jesus is life and without Him what do we have? I guess this is the reason for the last three pages.
I just finished reading a fabulous book called "Blessed Child" by Ted Dekker and Bill Bright. It was an amazing read. The story taught me a great deal about what really is important in life. There was a saying that a pastor said in the book that went something like this..., "Whoever said that a twisted hand made straight was more miraculous than a healed heart?" What a great question! We concentrate so much on the flesh in this world that we tend to forget that it's the heart that is important. I am thankful my mind and heart have been on Jesus lately. I did get busy there and I hate it when I do this to myself! Why is it that when we know the answer to what we need in our lives we do everything but what is good for us????
Well, Happy Creating everyone!

Next Few Pages Danger Danger Journal

These are my next installments towards completing my Danger, Danger Sketchbook from Arthouse Coop Project.

The first one is the World of coarse with the signlanguage letters of "Love". I think it's pretty self-explanatory as our world is lacking love in many areas and therefore it is in "danger".

The second one I loved doing because of it's calm and fairytale like colors and shimmer (I'm not sure if you can see the shimmering effects of the paper, I used my twinkling H20's of coarse!) Early on in my relationship with my husband I realized that I placed really high expectations on him to be my 'Knight in Shining Armor', I even jokingly called him my 'Knight with No Armor' because of my disappointment that he wasn't as 'Prince Charming' as all the fairytales I read and gave much too much importance too. I think girls are drawn to fairytales as children and then it matures into romance, but not realistic romance really. It all looks great on the page or in a movie but try and duplicate that in real life and things usually aren't as grand! My hubby found it very hard to live up to the men on my soap operas that I used to watch. God has shown me since then that this was not fair to my husband. A relationship is nothing like a fairytale and the "Love" that is shown in fairytales or in "Romances" or "Soap operas" is not real. Real love is the complete opposite where you are not even thinking about what you will receive but what you give to the person you are in love with! It is a oneness that only comes from God and it is meant to be beautiful and everlasting. It is a team effort where it takes two to build the team and work to becoming one with each other.

The last page... this idea came to me from my youngest son. He told me the idea and spread the image around my mind until it came out on paper. I remember bringing home my report card when I was little and it usually was me disappointed in myself for not doing better, I know that as a parent it would be a lot different if my boys came home with report cards like the boy in this drawing. Scary business indeed! lol.

I am having fun with these pages and have seven more spreads to go. I hope the ideas continue to come to me! If you have any ideas let me know.
Happy creating everyone!

Next Danger, Danger Pages

Next installment of journal pages for my Danger Danger sketchbook. The Tempation page: My oldest son gave me this idea as we were reading the Bible where Jesus was tempted for 40 days. He said that I should do a page on temptation and this is what came out of it. I used my "Cuddlebug" for the lettering of 'Temptation' and worked my way out from there. I prepped the page first with my Twinkling H20's. The saying on the page has been one of my favorites for many years because it is so true... those people who do all they can to deceive others are really creating tangled webs around themselves. When we give into tempations around us this does the same thing. I asked myself... what comes out of giving in to temptations? Maybe temporary pleasure, but in the long run it isn't a good thing. It puts our lives in Danger, like too much chocolate makes us gain weight and then there are health risks etc... or giving in to temptation takes us away from God and essentially away from life with God - it puts our eternity in Danger. This page really made me think a lot about my life and what things I give into... such as drinking Diet Coke when I know it's bad for me! It is definitely a temptation that I give into.

The next page I had a little fun with! I drew a young girl almost druelling over the new shoes in the window of a store. If you notice there is a credit card coming out of her pocket just waiting to be used! lol. I tried to show how stores display their items for sale to look like "THE BEST SALE EVER!" and I wanted to show how easily we are drawn into sales - especially SHOE SALES! LOL. I put it in a TOP SECRET folder because I wanted to have a little fun with it. I wrote a warning sign on top of the folder stating it was a sensitive subject and viewer discretion is advised to kind of play with the reader. I hope it is enjoyed! I had fun making it!

I am working on a page my youngest son suggested and I will post it soon.
Hugs to you all.
Happy Creating Everyone!

New Pages for my Danger Danger Sketchbook Project Theme

I know there are a number of pages here... I have been busy. For some reason Blogger and Yahoo would not let me post the photos last week. So... you get them all in won bang!!! What can I tell you about these pages... First of all... the cover. The cover was completely out of my comfort zone as those who know me would agree... I am pretty much the last person to care for skulls! I think they represent death in such an ugly way in this world ~ but to me death isn't a skull, it is our soul being released to our Heavenly Father. It's not an ugly bone that encases our brains!
I chose the skull however after much pondering on my theme from the Sketchbook Project: Danger! Danger! because it seems to represent danger in this world. I think anyone who is an 'adrenaline junkie' more than likely owns some sort of clothing with a skull printed on it! Not that you have to be an adrenaline junkie to wear things like that! For the cover I found a skull rub-on though I did not like the way it looked, it wasn't representative of what Danger is enough... so I added glue to it, then added red glitter, then I added self-levelling gel, and on top of that I painted it with 'Poppy red' Twinkling H20's. The effect sort of looks like blood and blood is dangerous right??? (This theme is so not me... but in good sportism I continue on to finish).
The dark blue page I have used a number of techniques here... I painted it first with a matt watercolor, then over that with a twinkling H20 dark blue. For the border I painted a magazine page with a lot of text on it with twinkling H20 in blue and cut out the round shapes. Then adhered it to the edges of my page. For the envelope I used a 'coin' envelope and covered it also with a painted text page from a magazine, then added the skull stickers, beaded a rope to lift the lid of the envelope. Inside I am still working on... I am going to do a few "adrenaline junkie" paper charms. This page is on all the extreme sports people do for an adrenaline rush. In researching this idea I discovered that people do a lot of CRAZY and I mean CRAZY things for a rush! And I have to wonder... WHY???? What are they looking for??? And what will happen when they have done every adrenaline rush they could think of? Where will they be then?
The Twilight: New Moon page is pretty much self-explainatory. I went to see New Moon on the premiere night and was almost run down by a bunch of teenage girls getting to my seat! LOL.
The Red page with the woman walking down the street... I completed the page one way and then my son Ben said, "Mom, you wanna know what I would have done for that page?" and so he told me to make it darker so it shows that it is night and not put all the journaling down the middle of the page. He is one smart cookie with a great eye as his idea is much better than mine. The poem I wrote about four years back while reading the Bible. I remember reading on how much evil there is in the world and that we need to be wise in what we do to not be entrapped by it.
The Green page is from a writing technique I have learned called 'word-webbing'. It helps you to think through your ideas and possible connections to your ideas. The main idea on the page being Danger, it stems into all sorts of other ideas that I can use with this project. I thought it would be interesting to put my thought process down on paper for others to see.
Well, that's about it. I hope I haven't forgotten any pages.
Happy Creating Everyone!

Sketchbook Project: Danger! Danger! Theme 3rd Page

My third page for the Sketchbook project: Theme: Danger! Danger! is done! I did this page on "Family". Why? Well, I think many families are lost in 2009. The idea of 'family', two kids, a dog, a happily married couple... white house picket fence and all... Is there a family today without some sort of dysfunction? Are families getting worse or better? I think Families are in Danger of being molded to the world. We text back and forth and have no human contact between each other, we are busy busy busy doing all sorts of things but where is the quality time? It is pretty sad actually.
I love my family. My hubbub and my two sons - the family that God has blessed me with. We try to be strong in the Lord and not be 'worldly' in our wants and needs. It is hard to stay strong though. We all know families who are broken and it is sad for us to see. We pray for God to strengthen our families and to bless each and every one. We pray for those families that are broken that they might find wholeness again. Amen
Happy Creating!

Sketchbook Project: Danger Danger Next entries

Well I have had a little bit of time to work on my sketchbook for my Danger Danger theme. My book has arrived with the due date for December 1st. That gives me 10 days to work on 20 2page spreads. I have finished four pages. This particular page I was able to work on while I volunteered for the program "Inn From The Cold". My Church hosts one night for this program to house 15 homeless people. My hubby and I volunteered for the first time the other night and I had the first part of the night to stay awake for five hours. I was able to work on this page during that time.
I set up the page before I left by painting it with my H20 Twinkling watercolors in Green. Then I cut out the border from a magazine with a lot of text on it and painted it with blue H20. Once dried I outlied the border in black sharpie and adhered to the green page.
I used a white and a black poster paint pen for the lettering.
This was a very mind numbing but fun page to do as I practiced my lettering styles.
Hope you enjoy.
Happy creating everyone!

Sketchbook Project: Danger! Danger! Page 1

I have yet to receive my moleskin journal from "The Sketchbook Project" that is due the beginning of January... so ... I decided to start on the pages myself and I will add them as tip-ins later. My theme is Danger! Danger. I have had about a month to digest my theme and I have pondered upon many ideas. This page came to me as I was watching the movie Lethal Weapon. Not that the movie had anything to do with my page, however, there was alot of violence and drugs, alcohol, murder, immorality etc., in the movie... so... maybe it had more influence than I give it credit for.
I started by simply drawing the words, "Losing Ourselves" as I thought about our world and how we as a society, as the people of this world, truly are in danger of losing ourselves. I thought about the state of our world and how dark it really is, how there is so much violence, anger, hatred, depression, pain and suffering... I realized how easy it is to lose ourselves in this world. Like I say on the page... the world has kicked God out of our schools, government, marriages, even out of our minds as it is being made clear that we are not even allowed to speak our religion to others in some places... we have created a world without protection from God because we have insisted that He not be present in this world! What a sad state of affairs our world is in! I am going to be doing more pages on this as I feel our world is in danger of many things.
Stay tuned...
Happy Creating Everyone!

New Journal Series: Past/Present/Future - My Past

I am going to try and teach art journaling classes at some different Churches and so I am coming up with different prompts to try out. This first one is a prompt from a series I made up called: Past/Present/Future. This page is the first of the series from my past.
I divided the page in half from one corner to the other and drew an outline of my hand in each space. The top space I used for things that I liked in my past. The bottom was for things I disliked about my past. I used the hands to represent myself during that period. As I was doodling I asked myself questions about my past... what were my personality traits? What was most important to me? What did I think? How did I feel? What did I love about being young? What did I hate about being young? What were some things I conquered from my past? (eg. fears, personality traits I didn't like about myself)
I doodled things that I felt were pertinent to myself during my past such as a web because I felt stuck in the "role" I was playing. I didn't know myself back then. I drew a border that was like a movie clip because that is how I see my past ~ in pictures etc.
I think I am going to have to do a less detailed page to teach as I know that not everyone is as detailed as I am. I LOVE detail as I am sure you can tell from my previous works. I think I will do a simple one with suggestions of what to right about or doodle about for those learning for the first time.

Hope you like it!
Happy Creating!

Teesha Moore Inspired Journal Page

So... after following along the conversation on Blissfully Art Journaling I went to the Teesha Moore Website and watched her recent video postings on how to create her fabulous art journaling pages. Her videos are easy to follow and she gives very clear directions and tips as well as revealing which products she likes the best. From watching these videos I was able to create this page and had a great time doing it!
I always wondered how she created her beautiful pages so full of bright colors. Now everyone can know. I highly recommend checking this out! She did a great job! More video tutorials are coming on how she does her lettering! I can't wait!
Happy Creating Everyone!

My Community Pumpkin Walk

Last night the community where we live held a 'Pumpkin Walk' and it was very beautiful and such a fun experience. They gave out free hot chocolate as everyone walked through the aisles of lit up pumpkins donated from the people in our community. There were some amazing pumpkins as you can tell from the selection of pictures. My favorite was the face of the cat. The intricate carving of the skeleton coming out of the pumpkin left me baffled as I had no idea pumpkin carving could be as elaborate ~ same with the skeleton eating the mouse.
Next year my family vowed to take part in the walk and carve some pumpkins too. We don't do 'Halloween' so we don't usually carve pumpkins - but next year we will be sure to have some fun with it!

I hope you enjoy the pictures. Let me know what your favorite is?
Happy Creating!

Just Another Alien...

Just Another Alien In This Foreign Land

A sorry place where my body dwells
Living in this world inside my shell
My eyes as the window to my soul
And what is seen within me holds.
Just another alien in this foreign land.
In this world but ‘of it’ I am not
Though here for awhile to cast my lot.
To build up treasures above my eyes
For the next place I go, and so wait in disguise.
Now here I observe and learn as I can
How precious every life beheld in His hands,
I watch and I ponder as I see darkness and light
discerning the battles of spiritual fights.
Not seen with the eyes but felt with the heart
The struggles of others until sorrow departs
Compassion and sadness fills me to despair
As I wait for our Saviour as His Word declares.
Praying through tears that the others will come
To know Him and love him as we have done.
We wait… and continue to stand firm and strong
In this world… in this sadness… where we do not belong.
Just another alien in this foreign land.


By Kelly Lynn Watts
October 29, 2009