Take Captive My Thoughts Lord

I hate it when my thoughts go all over the place and I can't seem to focus. This is when I start doing too many things at once and then I get all flustered because I can't remember all the things I have going.

This is also when doubts creep to the surface and I begin to question my abilities to accomplish anything at all ~ I hate it I tell ya!

One thing my hubbub tells me is that I think too much! Do you have that problem? Last night he asked me if I am even capable of holding only one thought in my head at a time... I thought about that and realized that I CAN do this, but only when I am Art Journaling. When I am focused on a page I can actually manage to think about only the topic of the page. I realize that this process is a meditative healing balm to me as I think about how God has and is working in my life.

I pray that He holds captive my thoughts and so that they do not go off in all directions. I pray that I stay focused on Jesus so at the end of this race we call life I will receive my crown.

I hope and pray you are all having a very blessed long weekend. Hugs and many blessings to all of you.

Tshirt Image

I am helping with a fundraiser for my Church and I am trying to come up with some t-shirt ideas to sell. I was really wanting to design a t-shirt that would speak to women in regards to God's love for them. I'm not too sure how these images would look on t-shirts. What do you think? Do you think they need a border around them? Hmmmm... I will have to think on it some more.

I hope you all have a wonderful long weekend - forecast here, sunny and warm! Yay!

Hugs and many blessings to you all.

Journaling While Camping

My family and I just had the coolest weekend of camping at Glennifer Lake. I am posting three days later because it has taken me that long to recover... but it was so much fun. Our entire Church booked a group site so there were so many people and the best thing was that we actually got to know many of them over the weekend that we hadn't been able to connect with yet! Awesome times, great fellowship and beautiful beach time!

I was able to pull out my journal a few times and work on the above page, I call it my 'James Tree' as it is covered in scripture from James. I drew the tree really whimsical looking, and I was thinking about the 'taming the tongue' part of James. Why is it so hard to tame anyway? I think it is because our brain just doesn't think about what is going to come out of our mouths most of the time! As Christians we represent Christ so shouldn't our speech also represent Him? So I ask God to help me, to bless the words that come out of my mouth, to help me encourage others and build others up... I guess that should include myself too! I tend to put myself down at times... I think I need to tame my thoughts too!




My youngest (14) had some journal time too, when he had a headache. He loves to draw crosses. He went and spent some time in our van (where all my journal supplies were) and he came out with this lovely page. I knew art journaling was healing! His headache was gone by the time he finished! :)



Here's Ben and his friends at camp getting ready for their awesome tube ride behind a speed boat! Ben went on twice and loved it! Josh was gone most of the weekend with the youth but he had a blast not having to check in with his old mom and dad!

I snuggled in to the back of our van at night with a mattress, memory foam topper and all my warmy blankets. I brought tons of extra blankets and sheets to cover the windows and had my own little sanctuary to sleep in. I felt so safe in there I slept like a baby! The boys and hubbub all slept in the tent!

I Just Found A Lovely Blog Filled With Inspiration

Cori Lynn Berg of Sacred Art is now another favorite of mine. Just by chance I found her website and I LOVE her style.
Click on Sacred Art to link to her blog.

This piece spoke to me and the words that went with it, read her words on her blog. She is such an inspiration. This painting is the cover for a journal, wow! I am amazed. Thanks Cori for sharing your inspiration with the world!

I hope you enjoy her blog and are as inspired as me!
Hugs and blessings everyone!

The Truth Shall Set You Free From Comfort Cottage

I have been unable to post lately, sorry. However, today I would love to share with you a friends post over at Comfort Cottage. Terri really shares her heart and it is truly apparent in todays post.

Please go take a look at her blog and see her lovely art work. http://terrimorse.typepad.com/comfortcottage/2011/07/true-freedom.html

Many hugs and blessings to all of you.

Hypermobility of The Joints

Do you remember doing this as a kid? I think I must have lived in this position as I layed on the floor watching tv. To me it was the most natural position to be in. I remember my sisters teasing me about how double-jointed or flexible I was and I was happy to entertain them.

Last week I had an appointment with a Rheumatoid Specialist and they did a head-to-toe exam on me (the first I had ever had which is pretty ridiculous considering I have had pain in my joints since I was 9 years old). Anyway, they tested ALL of my joints and what they discovered was that I did not have Rheumatoid Arthritis, or Lupus (which is good), but what I do have is a hypermobility of all my joints.



Most people grow out of this (double-jointedness). But some do not. I still have it and this is the reason for all the pain in my joints. I am still in shock that no-one has told me this before! I don't know that it effects everyone in the same way but for me there is too much movement in my joints and this causes immflamation and pain ~ that is why I cannot exercise like everyone else because my joints are already overextended as it is.

They also told me I have a bad case of Fibromyalgia (which I already knew) but it was funny because the specialist knew exactly what points on my body gave me pain (and unfortunately she kept poking at them! (OUCH! QUIT IT! OUCH! QUIT IT!...LOL)
I was so impressed with this clinic because they really understand pain and were so helpful in explaining what was actually going on in my body. Chronic pain is not understood by many in the medical field but the specialists are so understanding and they treat you like a person, unlike others who treat you like it's all in your head.

For some reason I have extremely sensitive reflexes and at one point during the session there were two Rheumatoid specialists, one physiotherapist and an RN all using me for entertainment because my reflexes were so brisk and sensitive! Because they were all so nice, and that day was a good pain day, I was once again happy to entertain.:)

I am so glad to finally know the reason for my joint pain, and now the Specialist clinic is going to set me up with exercises that are for people with hypermobility so that I don't keep hurting myself. It feels good to get some answers and to be on the right road to not hurting myself anymore.

Well, I hope and pray you all have a wonderful day. Here it is raining... but I'm okay with that as this gives me time to work on my book.

Hugs and many blessings to all of you.

I Am My Beloved's

Yesterday was a doodle day for me as I watched some movies/tv shows we have on DVD. As most of you know we do not have cable tv or satellite or whatever they do these days... LOL! We are not completely out of it when it comes to world news, we still listen to the radio and whenever we check our emails the news comes up... so we aren't COMPLETELY out of touch. We like it this way... we do not like all the STUFF that is thrown at you in commercials and some tv shows ~ NO THANK YOU! We are simple people I would like to think, and we strive for the simpler life.

Anyway, yesterday I got to doodle some and as I doodled I thought about my Savior! I can't help but think of Him... where would I be without Him? My life could have taken a far different path and I would have been lost forever! Jesus came and rescued me right at my breaking point... and for that I will always be thankful. So many are lost to the world these days, left in pain and sorrow. HE can take it all away, we need only ask Him.

This reminds me of the week after my Dad passed away, I went to Church that Sunday. For some reason Pastor Barry called an altar call (which was highly uncommon for this Church) and I went up for prayer. A tall grey haired man came to the front to pray for me, I had never seen him before and he did not know my situation having just lost my father. He looked into my tear-filled eyes and said these words, "Jesus takes the place of the ones we lose." Then he prayed for my healing. I never saw that man again but many years later our paths crossed in a most peculiar way... He was head of the Board of the Foursquare Church in Canada and I was working at a Foursquare Church as secretary. I was given the task of putting together a scrapbook for him and I saw a picture of him and knew instantly this was the man who prayed over me after my Dad passed away. For years I thought he was an angel because the words that he told me began my healing journey to grieving for my earthly Father. Because of my job, I was able to place a tribute in the scrapbook telling him how thankful I was for that prayer. He may not have been an angel, but he was certainly like an angel to me by saying those words.

Jesus cares for us and looks after us when we are hurting. I am so in love with Him. Thank you Jesus for this beautiful memory.

Hugs and many blessings to all of you. I hope and pray you are all having a lovely weekend.

D.T.W. (Aka Duck Tape Wallets!)

One of my son's friends at school came to school one day with a DTW (duck tape wallet) and he sold 10 of them, quite the entrepreneur I would say! Ben really liked the idea of these wallets so I 'you-tubed' it and found a great video tutorial




We went to Michael's this morning and loaded up with all sort's of Duck Tape! Ben spent two hours making his very first wallet!



Then we kept going and I made one and he made another.







These wallets have two main pockets to hold money and receipts or whatever, card holders and a window slot to put I.D. They are so cool and fun to make!



I love the window slot ~ every wallet needs one right?



When we finished making them Ben turned to me and said, "I enjoy making new things with you Mom, we should do this more often... yes indeed." I agreed. LOL! I love my time with my boys!

Hope you enjoy this awesome video tutorial and our wallets.

Have a blessed day!

Paper Dolls

I have not had the opportunity to load these pictures and tell you about my fabulous Saturday with my girlfriend Charlene and her adorable daughters Brooklyn and Tessa! Hubbub went on his very first motorbike trip to Fernie, BC with a group of guys from Church and I had my girlie time!

Girls are so wonderful ~ it's true! I am not used to having girls around and I'm definitely not used to making arts and crafts with them, well let me tell you what a treat this past Saturday was!

When the girls sat down at the table to look at the book (Julie Nutting's Collage Couture) their eyes were so dreamy and full of wonder, they couldn't wait to get started! I had already cut out the paper doll parts and attached them with brads (it could be kind of tricky for little fingers to do). Now, they needed to decide what kind of outfits their dolls were going to have... Brooklyn chose an elegant style dress that is sort of country-like in the book, but we made it more into an evening gown; Tessa was frilly all the way, she chose the most colorful dress in the book and she wanted to use just as many colors!

After choosing their dress styles I had them choose their colors of papers (I had a number of beautiful scrapbook paper that are all girlie that I was just waiting to use), again their eyes went all dreamy as they ooooed and aahed their way through the pages. I LOVED SEEING THIS and was so blessed by this girlie time.

Now it was time for cookies and milk while I drew out their gowns on tissue paper then cut out each piece separately. The girls were so patient as they waited for me to finish.

When their gowns came together they were in awe, they LOVED them! After placing the dresses on their dolls I created some hair and headbands for their new dolls.

Brooklyn named her doll Jessica using her middle name and Tessa named her Kelly after ME! (Super awesomeness!)



And here are Jessica and Kelly fully finished! I hear they played with them the entire day at home.

Thanks Charlene, Brooklyn and Tessa for coming to play with me, I had a wonderful time!

Hugs and blessings Everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Introducing #714 Kerry Estey Keith

Hello everyone. I hope you are having a fabulous summer day! I have not shared inspiration from the Artists on the All Kinds of Artists Blog Hop in a while and a new member has joined today and I just had to share with you her beautiful photograph. Her name is Kerry Estay Keith from A Woman and A Wild Place (LOVE THIS NAME BY THE WAY!)
Her blog took me on a mystical journey through wildlife and photography as you can tell by this fantasy-like photo of hers. If such a journey appeals to you go take a look at her blog.
Can you believe the number of Artists linked up is at 714????? What a blessing!
Hugs and happy sunshine blessings to you.

All I Have I Give To You

Yesterday was not so good of a day, but today is much better. I have been blessed with such amazing wonderful readers that have truly encouraged me... thank you... everyone... seriously... thank you.
I woke up today with great strength, I even went for a walk at 6:30AM before work and listened to my praise music... what a fabulous way to start my day...
Then, to open up my emails and find such love in the comments of my blog post yesterday... WOW! You are all so amazing! My piece today is on a much more positive note.
Thank you all, I am so very blessed by all of you.
Many hugs and many blessings.
Happy Long Weekend everyone!

God Grows Me Even When I'm Sleeping

Honesty is always best right? Well, to be honest... today has not been a great day. I'm just a little bit cranky (a lot!) and irritable (a ton!) and a wee tiny bit lost (a whole bunches!)
It has been a couple days really, since I got my first rejection letter from the publisher regarding publishing the AKOA Healing Expressions Book. Apparently there are so many Art Journaling books on the market and/or are coming out very soon that there isn't a great need for my book! The Editor that emailed me also said that the "Healing" aspects of journaling is really not selling very well! Hmmmm.... okay...
God, what are you doing?
She also said that the type of book I am proposing might sell better in the self-help area. Hmmmm... okay again...
God?
My whole purpose for this book was to help others find their healing by being inspired by the pages of other artists who found their healing in art journaling, maybe it should be a self-help book?
If you have been reading my blog from the beginning you will know my story, but for those who have not... (in short/blunt form) here it is;

Abused as a child by Grandfather, alcoholic Father, Abusive Boyfriend in high school, Stalked and raped, highly dysfunctional family, Married (couldn't trust Hubby because of my past) Father dies at 23, had first baby at 24, bedridden for 8 months of second pregnancy, second son born, he gets sick and hospitalized at 6 weeks old, and basically I have Mental Break Down. Right away I'm hospitalized in the Psych Ward for 3 Months with Post-Partum Depression. 4 years of complete memory loss and literally in my bedroom during the beginning of my depression...

7 years later... introduced to Art Journaling and the healing begins, it was a slow process but well worth it. God has done such an amazing miracle in me through His Word and through Art Journaling. The journey that He has taken me on is nothing short of pure mercy, forgiveness, letting go and most of all LOVE. There is a lot more to my story but this is just the basics to show you that I needed healing and the Lord has given me HEALING!

14 and 1/2 years later... still on medication for depression and sleep disorder, but stable and feel that I have completely healed from depression (I just have to take meds to keep me stable and I am finally okay with that).

Sure, I have Fibromyalgia, but God has brought me healing for that through my journaling too! I am not healed physically, but emotionally I am doing much better!

I believe that Art Journaling was used as a tool to my healing and continues to be used as a tool for my healing every day. I want others to find this release and I know that God wants to give that release to others too!

So that's it, in a nutshell... now God needs to show me the rest! Where to go from here...

Well, here's to life's many adventures!
Happy week to all of you ~ HAPPY LONG WEEKEND!
Hugs and many blessings

Julie Nutting Page ~ Take 3... and... ACTION!!!

I do not claim this page as MY work, but it is more of a COPY of Julie Nutting's work out of her book. I traced one of her gals on tracing paper and then switched it up a bit. Julie's gal had a fuller dress and straight hair, I gave her less layers and waves or curled hair. I know, "Way to switch things up right?" However, I am just learning Julie's style and then I will let loose with my own style.

For now, this lil' missy was a great page to vent on, LOL! I LOVE my venting pages as they are so releasing! This gal makes me think of a 1950's wife who wears high heel shoes and a dress to clean the house! I could personally never do that! For one thing... I can't wear high heel shoes and for another I married a man who takes care of me and hopefully I take care of him too, but I don't serve him as a waitress every night and bring him his paper and slippers! LOL!

I hope you all had a wonderful week filled abundantly with creativity, love and good things!

Hugs and blessings to you all!

Fun in Setting Goals

What does a girl blowing kisses have to do with me setting goals???

Well... I am sooooo glad you asked! LOL!

I have had to set goals twice this week, once for the Chronic Pain Clinic and second for the Rheumatoid Specialist and what I learned through the group session and the phone calls with the nurse etc., is that me setting goals is a GIFT to myself, kind of like me blowing myself a kiss!

The more goals I set for myself the better/healthier I will become. I am starting off slow... for example, one goal I have is to walk on the treadmill for twenty minutes three times per week. Another goal is to learn how to breathe, so I am listening to some wonderful relaxation cd's from the clinic that help me to breathe, visualize and relax all my muscles. There are so many goals I have it has been somewhat overwhelming so I decided to make a FUN journal page capturing my feelings in text and a fun picture reminding myself that it is a GIFT. Sometimes you just have to make things fun ~ especially when life isn't at times! This page helps me to see things in a positive way and not to concentrate on negative thoughts!

I had no idea how easily negative thoughts can creep into our minds and create so much strife within us until a Dr. once pointed out what was actually happening in my thought process, this was many years ago when I had post-partum depression. The brain is such a complex thing, it baffles me just trying to think about how it works. Apparently negative thoughts come because our mind is actually distorting our thoughts, what's happening in our mind may not be reality! At least that's what was happening when I was depressed. I think much clearer these days and am able to recognize the basis behind negative thinking, for example I could choose to be negative in my thoughts towards my Fibromyalgia but instead I choose to be positive and create positive lovely things to combat it! I think it's all a matter of attitude!

I know that God has healed me tremendously, He has taken me under His wing and given me guidance, nurtured, taught and protected me and now I am able to fly. He can do that for you too!

Happy Week to you all. Hugs and many blessings.

Father's Day and a Princess

Hello and happy weekend to all of you! I hope you are all having great weekends! We are! I entered my husband in a Fathers Day contest with our local radio station and HE WON! We all can't believe it... so this weekend we are moving all of our furniture around, from one floor to another to make room for two brand new leather theatre recliners!! I am so excited because not only does it bless my wonderful hubby and father of our sons, but it also blesses me too because I will have a relaxing place to lay, sit while watching movies or listening to my new relaxation tapes from the Chronic Pain Clinic! Thank you God!!

He also won some "Extreme Dad" prizes like throwing the first pitch for the local Vipers Baseball game (he's a little nervous about that one thinking he's going to hit the batter! LOL), some golf games, scuba lessons, river kayaking, zip line (which should be interesting considering his fear of heights! LOL! I may give that one a try!) Our summer is planned out for us with all these fabulous activities, again, thank you God.



So... now onto my art. I was able to work on my second piece from Julie Nuttings awesome book "Collage Couture" and this lil' gal is what I came up with. First of all her cute little face...

I had a little trouble with her hair and am not quite sure that I am fully satisfied with the results! Julie uses higher end Acrylic paint for her girls hair, I did not have that on hand... so I used Adirondack brown paint from their paint dabbers, then went over with a redish copic marker and then some gold highlights. I really love drawing the face over the typing of the magazine text, it gives the face such a different look than what I am used to.




Next I want to show you a REALLY fun aspect of Julie's designs that she shows in her book... the lace bottom of her dresses, or crinolines I guess is what it's called. I love the final look that transpires as you place the lace on the bottom! This is so feminine and what girls are all about right???



Julie suggests adding embellishments as butterflies or other feminine items as flowers and bling. It really does fit in well with fashion!


And here she is... "PRINCESS"



As you can see, I added bling and butterflies to her. I am enjoying this process so much by the time I am done I am going to have a whole book of these cute lil'ladies. I would love to see the designs you come up with, so please do share them if you get a chance!

Have a great Fathers Day Weekend... please wish all your Fathers many Father's Day blessings!

Girlie Girl - I Love Julie Nutting!!!!!

I received my new order yesterday!!! What might you ask was my order????? The lovely new book by Julie Nutting called "Collage Couture: Techniques for Creating Fashionable Art". This book is as tasty as its title!

I prepared myself for work today by taking some of my scrapbook paper and my new book. Since it was super slow today I was able to create this lovely little darlin'. Isn't she fabulous???? I am in love with Julie Nutting's work and she explains all of the how-to's in her book!

What a fabulously fun project this was!



I ordered my book the second I discovered her book was coming out! It is now available on Amazon or at Chapters. I ordered mine from Chapters (as I live in Canada) and it arrived just a few days later! Fabulous! I have since devoured her book from cover to cover and can't wait to create more of these babies! TRUST ME, YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK JUST AS MUCH AS I DO!!!!

So now, I must wish you a wonderful week full of color, fun and creativity!
With much love and many blessings