Green Pastures

The Lord is my Shepherd,  I shall not want.  He maketh me to lay down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters,  He restores my soul.  (Psalm 23)   

   

Those words are so incredibly beautiful I cannot express the amount of peace the Lord has given me from them.  When I was sick and overwhelmed with depression my Hubbub would simply speak Psalm 23 to me in its entirety and I would be able to find my way back to peace with the Lord right beside me.  He is my comfort, my happiness and my hope.

In todays world it is difficult to slow down, to breathe to take a step back from the busyness of this life... now, I am taking that step.  I am so thankful to God that He has given me this time to restore my soul... to heal my body. 

I am not working so I can concentrate on Physiotherapy and working with the Doctors on my medication.  I plan to start walking on my treadmill a little bit at a time and get some strength back in this body.  This is, once again, my time of healing.  We all need that every now and again.

I pray you are all well.  I am sorry I have been so absent from all of your blogs.  I hope I will do better soon.

Hugs and many blessings to all of you.



Within The Cross

This week I was consumed with getting the results of my MRI.  I was trying so hard to trust in the Lord but I found I didn't know what to pray for... was I supposed to pray for God to completely heal me? or was I supposed to pray that they would find something in the MRI so that I could have the surgery and would be completely healed from that???  These are the questions that were hard for me. 

In this drawing it was God leading me... I never really have a plan when I start to draw, I usually start from the middle and work my way out.  It wasn't until I was completely finished my drawing that I realized what God was doing inside of me.  I placed myself in the cross ~ and then I thought, wow, yes Lord!!!  I was giving myself permission to place myself on the Cross and realize that what Jesus did on the Cross was for ME too!  His grace, His love, His devotion to US... is sufficient for me too!  I needed to place my worries and concerns on the Cross and completely hand them over to HIM.  The words surrounding the cross are from the Psalms "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not upon your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path."  I further realized (upon completing this piece) that I was talking myself into fully trusting in the Lord, to acknowledge HIM in EVERYTHING and that HE will take care of me.

So, a few days later... I call the specialist to see if the results are in... they are.  After being forwarded from one place to another I am finally at the moment of truth; "what did they find?"  and "when will my surgery be?"... these are the questions going through my mind. 

After a few moments of listening to the nurse describe the results it took me a few moments to realize that they did not find what they were looking for, only a couple of bulging discs that would not need surgery!  Much more went on in the discussion but the sum of it all was that I would not need surgery... and what did I do when I got off the phone???

I cried and I freaked out!!!!  Say what????   Yep, I was very foolish.  You see I set myself up for months thinking and preparing myself for surgery and months of recovery and then suddenly everything changed!  I hate change, I can't process change and sometimes I just need a good swift kick in the butt to realize that it's not the end of the world!!!

I should have been praising God.  I WON'T NEED SURGERY - PRAISE GOD!!!  But I was so concentrating on the pain I was suffering that I thought I knew how I was going to be fixed and that was that!!!!  God however has severely humbled me and since than has slapped my hand (figuratively speaking of coarse) and has helped me realize how very foolish I was for not trusting in Him. 

HE is MY GOD, my creator, my maker, my sustainer and my provider; HE is my healer and redeemer and my shelter and MY GOD.  HE knows me so much better than anything or person in this world will ever know me and HE certainly knows how to heal me.   

It was such a GOD THING that my son was home from school when I received the results.  He prayed with me and His words were filled with wisdom that I never could have grasped had he not been with me at that moment, he prayed "God please heal my Mom, God you are the maker of it so you know how to heal it, so we just ask that you heal it in Jesus name!"  Simple prayer really and he prayed other things but those words were like a light bulb going off in my head (TRUST IN GOD - they said to me.)  Yes God, I will trust YOU.

I will continue to see the Doctors and the Chronic Pain Clinics and the Physio for my pain, but I will trust in GOD to be the healer of my body and that He will bring me to my healing whether it be by His direct hand or through the Doctors.  Oh how I love my GOD.

I hope all of you are doing well and are finding the joy that God so richly gives.

Hugs and many blessings to you all.

Finding Joy

What does it mean to find Joy?   Is joy lost that we should need to find it?  Actually, I believe it is!  The way of our fast-paced highly technological busy world makes it rather a difficult process to experience true joy.  I believe we have moments of joy that we grab here and there while we are living our busy lives but are those moments TRUE JOY?  or are they just little bits of happiness on the go?  When was the last time you took time out of your day to go off in search of finding some real "JOY" for your day? 

I have been very guilty of closing my eyes to the joys around me because I have busied myself with too many other things I think needed to have my attention. 

It helps not working now... for I can see the light that always surrounded me.

God is with us always, He is everywhere all the time and He has such Joy waiting for us to grasp!  We need only ask; we need only open our eyes.

Today the sun is shining brightly and I could hear the birds singing outside my window, a rabbit happily bounced up and down making me giggle.  Then he tried to force her body through an opening in our fence and I literally laughed out loud when she didn't fit and had such a chagrined look upon her cute bunny face.  I believe she was full of babies and that is why she didn't fit through the opening.

What an amazing JOY it is to think of Spring and to think of new life happening around the world, this very moment, every moment really.  God is constantly creating new life all around us.

I found my JOY for the day by just opening up my senses and being aware that God is with me.

I encourage you to take this on yourself... seek and you will find!

Hugs and blessings everyone!

Hello Again My Dear Friends

Well hello again!  I know I have been extremely absent from my blog for awhile, but guess what?  I am back.  I was on a 40 day fast from my blog for Lent and now it is done.  So much has happened in these last 40 days...  I am no longer working but concentrating on my healing of my body from FM and Hypermobility issues with my joints.  I will be doing a lot of Dr's visits in the next little while and praying for good results! AMEN!  My Sister is out of the hospital and at home recovering, although frustrated with the slow healing process, I think she will eventually be okay.  She will most likely feel the effects of this tragedy for the rest of her life in her body and soul but I know that with God she will find her true healing. 

I made her this Angel as per her request (she has always wanted a red-headed Angel because she has beautiful red hair herself).  I drew her as a very serene look to her face, one of almost deep concentration within trying to reveal the power of healing the Angel was giving to my sister from God.  I hated seeing my sister in so much pain, it truly broke my heart, but hearing how much joy she received from receiving my Angel for her I was blessed indeed.  I wrote her a long letter to go with it that it might entertain her and she loved that too!  She told me that when she feels well enough to sit up and actually use her hands to write, she is going to write me a long letter back:)  I had the biggest smile on my face due to her words!  I cannot physically be with her but I can certainly send her things to cheer her up!

I will share some more work that I have done during the 40 days later this week.

Many hugs and blessings Dear Friends.

Against Drunk Driving

I am extremely frustrated these days and I am sorry if this is going to turn out to be a venting session... however... my Sister was just in a horrible car accident, hit by a driver under the influence of alcohol.  She is very blessed to be alive and will be recovering for a long time.
It frustrates me that some people do not think, do not plan ahead (if they are going to be drinking) and do the right thing ~ get in a taxi or get someone to be a designated driver for the night.  Many innocent people suffer for their thoughtlessness!
My Sister is a fighter and she will recover, but there are many who die in these accidents that will never have the blessed opportunity to recover from their injuries. 
My Sister has a broken neck, she was almost scalped from flying glass that has left her with a head full of stitches and staples holding her head together), she has a broken collar bone, 3 broken ribs, a broken deformed wrist which she needs surgery on in a couple weeks... physiotherapy has to come to her hospital room everyday to try and help her to relearn how to walk.  It's a mess!  My nephew said that she lost A LOT of blood at the accident scene ~ he almost fainted when he first saw her at the hospital.  By the time I got there (which was an airplane ride away) she was all stitched and stapled shut but her hair is still washing out dry blood and it's been over a week! 
I pray for her quick recovery as she has two young daughters at home that need their Mama! 
If you have any influence over anyone in your life to stop them from drinking and driving, PLEASE, PLEASE stop them!  I am one of the lucky ones, I still have my Sister... but who know's who will not be so lucky.

Sorry for the content of this post, I am really needing to vent my frustration.
Many hugs and blessings to you Dear Friends.

New Tree Of Life

It seems like every few years or so I am inspired to create a new "Tree of Life".  This time for some reason I chose faces... I was thinking of the past generations sleeping while they wait for the New Jerusalem.  Come Lord Jesus, Come.

This was my "Tree of Life" in 2011

I'm not certain why I did two trees in 2007, one (the top) is my crazy tree of life, and (the bottom) is my "Tree of Life" with all the different fruits.

The "Tree of Life" symbolizes something so precious that we often take for granted.  It is a gift from God and when we accept His Son into our hearts we become apart of the Family of God which is blessed to partake in the fruit of the Tree of Life.  So beautiful.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. I'm off to celebrate my son's 17th Birthday.

Hugs and blessings

Inspiration From a Lovely Artist

I discovered a lovely artist named Dorina Costras today.  I found this painting of hers and it really spoke to me of the emotions in the girl with the mask.

I wanted to use the exact same pose but do this up "KELLY" style to speak to women who have just come off the streets.



There are sayings all through her hair and the words on the drawing are;

I Choose Love

I Choose Joy

I Choose Freedom

Open my heart and allow wonderful things to flow into my life.

The idea of the mask spoke volumes to me as I went through a period in my life where I felt like I was always wearing a mask of some kind ~ unable to find myself.

Just sharing some inspiration with you all.

Have a wonderful week.

Hugs and many blessings!

I Will Worship

I started this piece last week when Hubbub and Son were in Arizona.  It is a 16x20 Canvas done using Copic Marker Inks.  I am in love with the way these inks flow down the canvas!  It is called "I Will Worship".

Have an absolutely lovely weekend!

Hugs and blessings

Building Foundation

This piece was inspired by an urging of the Holy Spirit. I was inspired to bring my markers and journal to Church on Sunday and this is what I drew during the service.  (Normally I would not be able to do this as the seating at Church doesn't really allow for me to journal during Church, but this Sunday morning God prepared a place just for me!  Our Church is in a highschool gym, as I walked in that morning I looked to my right and was so blessed to see two leather pieces of furniture, one being a big leather chair with plenty of room for my supplies and the best thing was that it was off in a corner so that no-one would really notice me journaling ~  God is so good!
Lately God has been pressing on me the importance of prayer; for our children, for our spouses, for ourselves, for our homes, churches, work places, cities, and Country...  I picked up this book on my Kobo called "The Veritas Conflict" and this book literally brought me to my knees in prayer praying for my teenagers.  It describes in great detail what happens all around us as we pray, a Spiritual battle that we cannot see but that we are VERY much a part of.  The vision I had for this piece was in seeing people praying for each other and being on fire in the Holy Spirit, being surrounded and enveloped, protected and made stronger as they prayed.  Their words were building a strong and solid foundation in God.  This vision came to life in me as our Youth Pastor called the Columbia Missions Team to the front of the Church for prayer and a young teen prayed over them. 
I love, love, love it when God speaks to me in images and allows so graciously for me to develop the vision onto paper.  I love being close to God as I put color on the page.  I cannot express enough the delight I have in this process. 
So, keep praying peoples because great and mighty things are happening for the Kingdom, be encouraged.

Big hugs and many blessings my dear friends.

Journaled in some of my journal tip-ins

These journal tip-ins look so different when they are filled in with journaling.  I am going to tip them into one of my journals and then work outward by coloring in the backgrounds in a subtle way as not to take away from the tip-ins themselves.  I really like the faces as it looks like they are talking to each other.

I hope you are all having a fabulous Friday!  It is cold, cold, cold here in Calgary and half of my family is in Arizona at a wedding (Hubbub and youngest son).  I had the option to go but chose it would have been two quick of a trip for me, darn it!  However, I get to spend the whole weekend with my eldest son who just started driving!  He loves it and is doing really well.  Hold on tight to your seats and stay off the sidewalks!  Just kidding.

Happy weekend to you all, hugs and many blessings.  And for those of you going through tough times... remember I am praying for you okay!  With much love.

Learn From Me

Monica from an All woman's school in Texas contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in creating something for their pamphlet for their annual spring retreat.  Their theme would be "Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart" - focusing also on forgiveness, trust in God and humility.  I told her I would pray about it and see what God would give me for it.

The above drawing is what I saw.  I saw Jesus hands holding His healing streams of living water with a reflection of a woman (representing all women), being in the knowledge of our hurt, pain and unforgiveness within us.  The rocky background being His foundation.

I hope this is the vision they are looking for, I haven't heard back from them yet.

Well I wanted to share with you this blessing.  I love it when people find my blog and I am able to bless them in this way and especially when God gives me a vision for them.

I hope and pray you are all enjoying your week. 

Hugs and blessings dear friends, with much love.

Journal Tip-Ins Now Available

This past week I was going through some magazines and found some wonderful pictures to use as silouhettes for my journal tip-in pages.  I have decided to sell them on Etsy.  I have had such a blast creating them and I will probably be making a lot more of them. 

I am totally in love with this pose as it is "cheeky", like she is saying "Whatsa' matter with you?"

I love these two heads because when you put them together they look like a vase or heads depending on your view of things just like that well known picture of heads/vase. 

This was so much fun because the actual advertisement was of a model hugging a bottle of Chanel perfume ~ I turned her into a fairy and voila ~ awesome journal page don't you think?

I added the circles to this little lady to add more space for journaling.

All these lovely doodled journal tip-ins are available in my Etsy shop @

www.kellysartjournaling.etsy.com

I hope you are all having a wonderful beginning to a brand new week ~ just think of all the possibilities this week can hold for you!

Hugs and many blessings to you all.

Hurting For The Lost

If anyone asked me what my GIFTINGS are I would have to say one of them is definitely COMPASSION.  I usually take peoples pain into myself and hurt deeply for them.  God sends people into my life that need comfort, compassion, encouragement and I am THERE for the task.  I do everything I can for them... but honestly... it HURTS so much!  To see them hurting, to see them making wrong choices, to see them not turning to GOD ~ WOW!    I know that God has His reasons for sending these people to me, I guess I wish that I could believe in the strength HE obviously believes that I have.  I LOVE these individuals as if they were born of my own womb, they become apart of me and when they HURT, I HURT, when they CRY, I CRY.  The most difficult thing for me is after I have done all I can do to help them through what they are going through and they no longer listen to me... then I MUST walk away and allow them to go down the path they are going to go.  Although I am praying all through this journey, it's at the end of the journey for my part that I pray to be able to let them go and leave them at the foot of the CROSS.  To TRUST in Jesus to take it from where I NEED to leave off.  When I do this it feels like I have lost a limb... I mourn for the loss of their presence in my life as I have come to love them so deeply.  However, GOD comes and fills that loss with HIS love and with HIS peace and I know that in a little while I will be okay.  I trust the Lord to take care of them now. 

For all the people God has placed in my life... each and everyone of them has an honorary place in my heart and I am forever changed from having them in my life.  I thank God for using me in some way to hopefully touch their lives so in the future when they think of me, maybe they will see Jesus.  THIS is my prayer.  I know it's not for NOTHING!  AMEN!

Be blessed my Dear Friends, be very blessed indeed.

The Depths Of HIS Love

This painting was done on a 16"x20" canvas with COPIC inks.  My first experiment with

using the inks instead of the pens.  The inks are very sticky and goopy when they are

drying which worked really well for this piece as the top looks like blood, which I was

actually trying to achieve.  The Depths of HIS Love, portraying the blood shed for

our sins.

I pray you are all having a very blessed Sunday.

Hugs and blessings to you all. 

Totally Out of My Comfort Zone

I'm taking the "Doodles Unleashed" free course from Strathmore Artist Studio, taught by Traci Batista and it started out good...

... And then I added the green... and completely lost myself falling out of my comfort zone.

After days and days of going over the painting again and again with Gesso I finally decided to put a face onto the page... even then I was just not feeling right.  I do not know what it is about the process of working with a chaotic doodle design and forming it into some masterpiece that has me so uncomfortable?  I can't get my brain around it!

I should have just left the pink and not added the green... maybe I could have worked with it?

Anyway, I simply added the layer of circles and filled in the flower pattern on the top right hand side and texturized different places on the page... I think I'm done but I still am not completely happy with it!

I think I do not work well with creative chaos!  What do you think?

Well, I hope you are all having a lovely weekend.  Many hugs and blessings to you.

Deep Thinker Friday but Post For Monday

Friday was a most unusual day for me... I woke up and walked on my treadmill for twenty minutes while listening to my new tunes on my ipod.  Huge step for me considering I am trying to do this a couple times per week even if I am hurting.  Listening to my music was so peaceful and fun I continued to do it for the majority of my day.

After my walk I put the ipod on the charger and listened through the speakers to my new tracks "Music Inspired By The Story" and "WOW Worship 2012" as well as the new "Kelly Clarkson" track.  My son Ben taught me how to add a cd to my itunes... wow do I feel old!  (seriously!)  It is strange to have the memory of myself in my bedroom at around the same age as my son's, listening to my stereo blasting away ~ it seems like just yesterday... and now my children are at the age of listening to their own music but it is done so differently these days. 

I really listened to the words of each song and allowed the music to flow inside of me... then I went into the 'manic' zone of creating not knowing what I was really doing but had so many ideas coming into my head and swirling up with color. 

I started with a good layer of white gesso, then watercolor crayon (which mucked up a bit but not allowing this to stop me... continued).  I could not get the texture the way I was feeling until I finally set the brush aside and worked it with my fingers.  For some reason I was in a dark color mood trying to capture a storm with my hands, this is why the top of the page is so dark.

I immediately cut out hearts using the text of magazine pages and went to my Twinkling H20's for shimmery colors.  My thoughts were focused on the CROSS as I brushed the rich poppy red pigments followed by spiced pumpkin.  I still was not certain as to the direction of the page until I saw the drops of blood on the bottom.  Then I knew it was going to contain the Life and Death of Jesus (symbolically). 

The piece took on a life of its own after that.  I sat working on these pages completely content as I listened to my music ~ this was a good day, a very good day!  Yes I over did it, and YES it was worth it!!!  Some days you just have to say YES and get out of bed and DO IT! 

Have a very blessed day everyone!  Many hugs and blessings to you.

Thinking In The New Year

Wow, I am really loving the new editing format for blogger that I just installed last week... things are so much less frustrating than they were before!

Anyway...

So far in the year of 2012... this is my first page of the New Year and I put a lot of thought into it.  I finally used my adhesive faux flock border that I purchased from Walmart a couple months ago ~ do not you just LOVE the look of it?  I discovered, however, that there is only enough border for one page so that's almost $4.00 spent on one page (not including the paint...)  but it's so darn pretty so I feel it is worth the splurge every now and then.

I do not want to do your 'typical' New Years Resolutions that everyone and their dog does every year... to be honest I started out this page in just such a fashion... eat better, be less of a perfectionist, lose weight... blah, blah, blah.  It felt very false to me.

Then Milliande (over at Milliande Art Community) began this new project called Seeds... she did this page called "Be The Seed" and it really got me thinking about being the seed of life in the world, the seed of love, joy, peace, patience, light... all those good things.  I love the concept of a new beginning, the seed bringing new life ~ doesn't that concept just burst forth a visionary feast?  On my journal page I used Milliande's idea of BE with the seed on it in two places.  Her image captured my heart and I knew that I needed to draw the same image (this lady is amazingly talented and full of beautiful ideas and has a HUGE heart, I highly recommend checking out this community for inspiration!

I was not liking this page after I wrote on it in my own handwriting... it wasn't flowing nicely, so I went crazy with letter stamps and stamped out my main message which was God (first and foremost), Love (which I want to exude) and Time (which I want to use to the utmost).  Then I added a few vines to join all the words in a fashion, making it flow together more freely.

To stay with my effervescent word of the year I added just a touch of shimmer mist, which I will be adding to every page I produce this year!!!!  "SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE HAVING FUN" right?

I hope your first week of 2012 has been a wonderful, joyous filled one.

Hugs and many blessings

The Year of 2011 and Word For 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

The last day of 2011... wow this year flew by. Here's a recap of my year...

January had me experimenting in my journal with things I was thinking about...

Things that were really on my mind...

Then I had an Emergency Appendectomy which kept me in bed for a few weeks.


February had me take part in a Community Art Project over at Phoenix Peacocks Blog...

March had me....




April had me in Phoenix for 10 days with my family...

as well as working on an idea for a book through my All Kinds of Artists Bloghop... (I only received about 10 submissions so needless to say this project fell through:(

May kept me in the Texturizing mode as I worked on a few pieces in this medium...

June kept me busy as I worked on a number of different journal spreads...

And worked on setting goals at the Chronic Pain clinic.

Also, June was the month I was diagnosed with Hypermobility of My Joints, Degenerative Discs in my neck and an appointment was set up for an MRI for April of 2012.

July had me making paper dolls (through Julie Nutting's book) with neighborhood girls...

as well as learning to make Duct tape wallets with my son Benjamin.

August had me working on my FIRST piece for friends of ours for their daughter Madelyn's room... this project was so much fun - I soaked in every moment of being engulfed in this girlie procedure!!!!

September had me taking an online class through Doll Dreams on Eyes and I was able to create this "Sisters" piece (which sold out during my art fair in November).

October kept me busy as I worked on piece after piece for my upcoming Art fairs in November. I also wrote my first "booklet" called "The Art of Zen Doodling".

November was the "BIG MONTH" for art fairs having FOUR in a row, weekend after weekend! It was an eye opener for me as I have never sold my art work before. I also learned that I will NEVER again plan to do four in a row :)

December was a relaxing month for me after the busy past few months... I worked on a few more mood charts, a few joural pages but mostly I just chilled out with my family.

Every winter I get the "Fever" for a winter project (which is usually knitting or crocheting some blanket I never finish)... This year I chose to do a cross stitch but only with strict conditions laid out by my son Josh... I must finish this project to completion within 8 months! He likes to bug me about all the projects I don't finish.

AND FINALLY, THE BIG REVEAL... my word for 2012 is...

My Hubbub chose this word for me. My process for choosing my word this year was to google "positive words"... it came up with a list of over 300 words. I worked my way through this list and circled the ones that jumped out at me. There were a number of them. Then I drew lines from one word to the next of the words that related to each other (sort of like word webbing)... my logic was pretty solid (or so I thought)... I then attempted to show my hubbub my process...

um... ya...

why oh why do I do this to myself??????

Within seconds he see's the word 'EFFERVESCENT' and say's... "That should be your word for the year!"

I just stare at him and say with sad looking eyes, "But I haven't shown you my process yet!"


He says, "Nope, your word is Effervescent! That's how I think you should be this year, bubbly, high-spirited, full of life, sparkly... it's perfect! DONE! Your word is EFFERVESCENT.

I looked from his face to the page, back and forth, back and forth... it took me a few minutes to 'let go' of my entire process and see things his way!

Then I settled into my new word of the year... EFFERVESCENT... hmmmm... yes... I could work with this word. Yes... I want to be high-spirited and bubbly this year! Yes, it will work just fine!

How does my HUBBUB know me so well???

It took me a few weeks to finish this page dedicated to EFFERVESCENT. I did it completely with my Twinkling H20's (watercolors that SHINE). I thought it suited my word of the year perfectly. What do you think???

Wishing you all a wonderfully Happy New Year - may you all be richly blessed with goodness, love, joy, peace, prosperity and anything else in these categories!

Big New Years Hugs!!!!