Art Inspired By Boredom

Sorry I have not been able to post for a couple of weeks. Getting back into the swing of things at work and in Calgary (due to the recent annoying snow storms) etc., etc., has been a lot harder than I expected. After having a blissfully warm sunny week in Arizona and then coming back to the cold and snow stormy weather well it has done tuckered me right out! I haven't been able to get warm since I got back! I honestly believe that Calgary does not know it's May! Today however, is the first beautiful sunny day in awhile and I plan to enjoy it, starting off with going to the dentist and getting a cavity filled!!! whoo-hoo! LOL.

I have gotten all caught up at work after my trip and now things have slowed right down... so... I have been extremely bored with nothing to do. I brought some of my art supplies to work and have been creating a bit of 'Mail-Art' which I plan to send out today. I have enjoyed creating these little artworks as I know that when I receive them it always warms my heart and I am certain it will warm the recipients hearts as well.

Also, I have been thinking about my nieces a lot and decided I would doodle their names... I haven't done one for Shanice yet, but here is the doodle I did for Destiny. I hope she likes it. I plan to send it to her soon.

Finally, the Art-house Co-op is having a project called "The Things I Dream About" and the idea is to draw out the things you dream about on a 4x6 sheet of paper, then send it in and they will display it in their library. I just started doodling one day at work but I am not "okay" with this one, it's not "the one" so I will keep trying...

I hope that all your days have been fantastically filled with glorious color and sunshine and a beautiful burst of creativity!
Happy Creating Everyone!

Fill Those Pages

The pages I prepared before my trip to Arizona worked out wonderful for recording special times from my trip and helped me to pack lighter as we all know supplies take up a lot of room and can be heavy! My bags were heavy enough as it was, I even bent the metal handle holding one of my heavy bags! I really have to learn to pack a whole lot lighter even still!
One page worked out tremendously as I had prepared it darker than the others and it captured the mood of one of my dreams while I was away rather well! Dark colors can capture moods amazingly, I think this is the reason certain colors are known for provoking certain moods in people (for example red is known to bring out anger...) or is that only in bulls??? lol. Yellow always makes me feel happy and I am sure that's why my bedroom is yellow. It is my safe happy space.
I am going to prepare my journal pages before every trip I take... I found it was so much easier and surprising how the pages worked out so nicely.

Happy Creating Everyone!

Jesus Rap

This page was inspired by Tamara Lowe, a professional speaker. It is called Jesus Rap. I loved it so much that I searched for the words on line and could not find them... then I found a you tube video with caption and wrote down the words from the caption. (I was desperate). What an inspiration this has been to me. I pray that it reaches out around the globe showing people how important it is to accept Jesus into their hearts before it's too late!
I doodled around the rap and then zentangled doodled the bottom. I think I might just frame this one for myself I love it so much.

Happy Creating Everyone!

Prepping Pages For Arizona and New Pages

Wow... much catching up to do. I have been so preoccupied and busy with work and getting ready for my trip to Arizona that I haven't had the opportunity to update my blog with new work. So...
I have created a few pages since my last update. One is from a woman's magazine from the rec centre that I belong to of an artists work that I really love. Another is of a song that I really like and the last page is a venting page! I have many of these in my journal's. They are so therapeutic!
I don't remember if I have ever prepped pages before a trip but I decided to for this trip... I didn't want to lug around all my journal supplies because I usually put my back out with heavy bags... so I'm being smart and very prepared for this trip! I am so excited as the weather has been, let's just say not-so-springlike and the winter was let's just say not-so-much-fun! I am being very nice with my words! LOL. Venting again... oops sorry (leave it for another journal page! LOL.
Happy Creating Everyone!

It's Official - Two Teenage Boys!

It's official - we have two teenagers! Ben is 13!!! Teenage birthdays are SO different from when they were little guys. When they were little they were much more taxing physically and mentally with all the little kidlets... now they seem to be more taxing on the old cheque book! Ben needed a new bike so this was his birthday present this year. For his celebration he had two of his friends sleepover and we went to see "How To Train Your Dragon" at the theatre. It was a calm celebration for the most part, there were no mishaps and no-one got hurt which is a major bonus. I remember having to have a box full of bandaids and icepacks when the kids were little. One party Josh's soccer team dog piled him! Oy vay!

My baby's a teenager!!!!! Happy 13th Benjamin!

Exciting New Post! Packing Material - who knew?

Boy did I have fun with this project: Gemming Packing Material! I cannot for the life of me remember where I picked up these pieces of cardboard in beautiful shapes just ready to be gemmed... I am certain I was in the right place at the right time! They have been under my art desk for about a year now... finally... I woke up yesterday morning and wham! it hit me... I needed to gem these beauties! So what did I do???? I went and dragged out all my gemming supplies... sat there for about an hour figuring out what to do... realized that I didn't have enough gemming supplies (charms, beads etc.) so... I went to MICHAELS of coarse!

After an hour or so of browsing the bead and charm section I found the perfect material. I came home ($100 poorer) set out all the supplies, placed them on the shapes and tried to picture the finished product. An hour later I began "icing" the face of the cardboard with molding paste and started the gemming process. The whole piece took me about 4 hours to do - mostly thinking about what I wanted to do! I am eventually going to paint the outside with white paint and in the openings in the front I am going to add pictures of my family.

I am really happy that one, I finally got to this project that has been on my mind for over a year now, and second that it turned out exactly what I expected it to look like. I will post the finished project when I get to it. I hope it won't take me another year to get the pictures and painting organized.

Let me know what you think.
Happy Creating Everyone!!!!! Hugs to you all!

Hello Everyone! New Zendalas... Again.

I finally finished all my eight zendalas... then I read that they have added one more! So... I still need to finish one final one. These two are a little different than my previous ones. I was racking my brains for ideas of what to do as 8 is alot and there are only so many things to do in them right? Well, if I'm creative enough I am sure I can come up with one final idea.
The first one I went to the library and took out a book on patterns. After searching through this book extensively I finally found a flower pattern motif that peeked my interest. So... this is where the flowers came from. I colored them in with my Sharpie Poster Paint Pens and then used my Gelly Roll white gel pen to accentuate the colors.
The second one "the Hand" I got the idea from Milliande, on her site, she shows a video tutorial on making a black and white hand circle zendala. I was so amazed by her creativity that I tried to do one for myself. I think I would have liked mine if it were simply black and white... I am not a fan of the colors as much. Hubbub loves the colored ones, "don't figure?"
Now I must create one final zendala circle and I have a few ideas different from what I have already done... we shall see how it turns out!
Happy Creating everyone!

Newest Zendalas

Well as most of you know I have signed up for the 'zendala' swap over on the yahoo group 'Sketchbook Project'. Here are my most recent additions as I have 8 in total to do... these are 5 and 6.
I thought I would give the black paper a try again and use my chalk writers and sharpie poster paint pens (thanks Arlene for that link!)! I love the way these turned out!
I have two more to do... I think they will be on white paper and done in colors again as the swap is to include colored zendala's.
Let me know what you think of these two.
Happy Creating everyone!

My Son's 15th Birthday

On March 6th I had my first experience watching paintball. My son Josh turned 15 and this is what he wanted to do for his birthday! I was pretty useless at his party as I was only able to take pictures. I wasn't about to partake in the events! I have enough bruises as it is thank you very much!
Happy 15th birthday my "One Eyed Joshy" (when he came out of my womb he had one eye open and one eye closed and he was bobbing his head around - I immediately called him my one-eye'd-Joshy and I still call him that sometimes...) My baby's 15!

Happy "Mail" Day

HAPPY MAIL DAY TO ME!!!! So... here's the deal... I wake up Friday morning with a horrible nasty cold and with the knowledge that in about an hour I have to go and have my first Cortisone shot EVER! Not starting out too great is it? I make my way downstairs to the kitchen preparing to make myself some tea and here is this beautiful "Mail Art" addressed TO ME!!!! Suddenly my day is looking much better and after staring in glorified amazement at the beautiful piece of art work from my wonderful friend Alice (a.k.a. 'Aliki')I gracefully slit the top of the envelope open not wanting to damage my new precious gift of art. Inside she has explained that she has just discovered the joy of "Mail Art" and she wanted to share it with ME! How beautiful is that??? I forgot all about my cold and my soon to be shot in the arm and basked in the beauty of her 'Mail art'... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
What ever happened to the whole 'sending physical letters' thing anyway? Why has it died out? Because of things like what I am using in the comfort of my home as I type and share with the world my wonderful experience of receiving "mail art"! Is it a gift or a curse? I really don't know. On the one hand I love the convenience factor of having a laptop, I love that I can share with people I don't even know my joys and experiences in life, I love that people contact me from all over the world and bring smiles to my face... but is it the same as receiving a hand crafted gorgeous piece of "Mail art"??? Knowing that someone took time out of their busy lives to sit down and make something for me... now that's a precious gift we take for granted these days! I know the time that goes into making these things and I appreciate every second and every ounce of creativity that goes into them.
I love the excitement however, of coming home and walking to the mail box and discovering a letter addressed to me!
I hope I can give Alice (Aliki) the same joy she gave to me. I also enclosed the mailart that I am sending back to her. Thank you Alice for making my day with all the love you sent my way!
Want to spread some love and smiles to others???? Make some 'mail art' and send it to someone you are thinking about! Guaranteed smiles everytime! Maybe 'snail mail' has not died out afterall, maybe it's coming back???? Wouldn't that be grand?
Happy Creating everyone!

Here they are...

Silly me, I forgot to actually add the pictures of my colored zendalas - DUH! Here they are for your enjoyment.
Hugs to you all!
Happy Creating

New Zendalas

So the zendala swap went so good that I made four of them... the ladies at the Sketchbook Project Group mentioned the idea of doing more than two and that got me started. I fell in love with using chalk markers on the black paper but for these ones I used the color markers on white paper. I don't know why this was so hard for me... I used the same techniques I used with the chalk markers zendalas.
The effect is completely different, that must be it!
I LOVE the way the chalk markers appear on the black paper! I think maybe I need to experiment with colors more, blending and such. Maybe if they were blended I would be more in love with them.
I am going to keep on going though. They say practice makes perfect!
Happy Creating Everyone!