Think Monday Think ATC: Countdown

This weeks Challenge is "Countdown" over at Think Monday Think ATC-what a fun theme. I know I for one am really looking forward to the new year!

Image from Bernie Berlin, background clock stamp image is from Stampinback!

Full of Life-4th in series and Wow! 500th post!

First off -wow! This is my 500th blog post! I can't believe it!I will be coming up with some sort of giveaway to celebrate-so stay tuned!

This is the 4th piece in my "Butterfly" series , entitled "Full of Life"

This has acrylics, collage, image transfer and graphite.

Flight To Heaven-3rd in series

Here is the 3rd piece in my Butterfly series, and I think this one is my favorite.

I will really have a hard time parting with this one!

Acrylics, image transfer, graphite, collage, dip pen and ink

Spirit's Motion

Here is the 2nd in my series of butterfly pieces.

Again, a small 6x6 canvas board. Will list this later on at my Etsy Shop, when I am done with the series

Unshaken Faith-First in a series

I am trying very hard to get back to working on canvas-its been so so long! I need to get moving because I have a workshop I am teaching in February and have loads to do for that-I need to get some larger pieces done. But, one problem is that with my surgery I had my poor muse has not been around , at least not for working on canvas. So today I thought I would start small, on some 6x6 canvas boards I have. I am enjoying working on these so much that I am doing a series of these, all butterfly related :) For some reason I am into butterflies at the moment :)

These will be going in my Etsy store when I am done :)

11th and 12th days of Christmas...

Here are the 11th and 12th days of Christmas-I had forgotten to post the 11th day yesterday. To this day we don't know who did this, but I do have my suspicions. What a great thing this has been though-it has truly helped us be in the Xmas spirit more. Yesterday we got cheese spread and crackers-today we got an indoor smores kit and a booklet on the "Spirit of Christmas." What fun!

Created By Hand Challenge: Pattern Paper

Very simple challenge at Created By Hand this week-using Patterned Paper!

Piece of cake :) Basic Grey paper and I used images from Quietfire Design (both collage image and rubber stamps too)

On the 10th day of Christmas...

This is just too funny........... our secret santa is aware of me posting about their "good deeds" on my facebook and asked us to "involve us in their future secret santa efforts by helping them decide which of three poems we like best." They were all great but we liked this one the best.

The suspense is truly killing me. Tonight the bag had some hot chocolate and a box of cookies.

Along side of that was a plate of cookies someone had made, I am assuming its from this group of people. I swear I am gonna gain 50lbs from all the goodies we have been getting!!!! I sure look forward to being able to go back to the gym!

On the 9th day of Christmas

We got some Rolos and bite sized snickers!

Aren't these people so creative???

TMTA:Waiting for Santa

This week's challenge at TMTA is "Waiting for Santa"

Stamps used here are by Artistic Outpost

On the 8th day of Christmas

We got what it said-fruit! Bananas, apples, pears and oranges.

Along with that they sent candy-look at the picture LOL What a riot

More fun with masks

Here's another one. This one uses stamps from I Brake For Stamps, from the Stampinback line.

Its hard to tell from the scan, but aside from the Phrase, I also used a stamp image of a Pen Nib Background under the mask. It looks so much better in person.

Fun with Masks

I am loving these Tim Holtz Masks! I had one Heidi Swapp mask I have used quite a bit and decided it was time to get more, so I grabbed some of the Tim Holtz masks to play with.

I can see a zillion possibilities for these!

Here are some samples I have made for Inka Stamps

On the 7th day of Christmas

They brought us some M&M's-I think I am looking forward more to the poems than the contents-they are so imaginative ! This is so fun.

On the 6th day of Christmas...

I am just in awe of how creative these people are! Each package goes right along with the "poem" that accompanies it. Today we got a Cinnamon Stick scented candle (my favorite) and a sugar cookie mix with a cookie cutter. Strange, because I was just telling someone recently (or maybe a couple ) people that I wanted to bake cookies with my daughter next week.......

Theme Thursday-Green and Brown

This week at Theme Thursday the theme is Green and Brown

I had these wonderful images I recently got from Inkastamps and wanted to put them to use :)

On the 5th day of Christmas..........

What a riot! These folks totally startled me today-they pounded on the security door so loud I almost jumped out of my skin!LOL

Today we got a bottle of Sprite and some kettle corn!

On the 4th day of Christmas

Today we got a jar of Honey Roasted Peanuts and a reindeer and a santa that poop out candy LOL

Soooooooo funny. We heard a VERY obvious thump at the door-my son came running into the kitchen to tell me that someone had been at the door!

Created By Hand Challenge:Christmas Ornament

This week's challenge over at Created By Hand is to make a Christmas ornament with the instructions given at the Quietfire Design Website. I used a scalloped circle punch for this and the stamps are from Quietfire Design. Rather than using a charm for the top I used a Daisy punch and punched it out of copper tooling metal-it came out really cool! I know you can't really see that in the picture, though.

This was a fun challenge!~

Today was a Very Full Day

I did an art journal page-it felt SO good! I have really missed my journaling. The quote here is one I got out of a foil wrapper of a Dove "promise" and I had to do a journal page with it! I want to be able to look back and remember that quote.

I had my 6 week post-op checkup today and it went SO well. I am healing nicely and was able to get some restrictions lifted! I was able to vacuum and I am able to push a shopping cart now and even go to the gym again (small increments) as long as I don't rush into things too fast. I still cannot lift heavy things. Today is the best I have felt in months-no pain at all, and much more energy. I did rest today though, like a good girl!

Our secret santa brought us yet another wonderful bag of goodies today. I LOVE the "poems" they are putting with these bags-so imaginative! We got a bag of mint chocolates today-couple boxes of Junior Mints, some Hershey miniatures in mint flavors and a bunch of candy canes

What fun! I am just dying to know who is doing this!

art play today

Just another journal page background. I am REALLY exhausted today so this was all I could manage. Despite how tired I am I forced myself to do this! Its the only way I am gonna get my creativity to come back is by doing...........and even though I really didn't feel like doing anything it felt great to do it anyway! It will be great already having some backgrounds ready to go when I feel up to doing more.

On the 2nd day of Christmas....

Look what I found on my doorstep upon returning today!

It was a box of YUMMY Cinnabon cinnamon rolls!!

I am still trying to figure out who this person is!

Its fun!

(and yes, I know the date on my camera is wrong!LOL)

Journal Page Backgrounds

So I am trying to get back to being creative every day again. I have been pretty busy today-but I managed to get a couple of journal page backgrounds done. I love the way they came out and I just LOVE sitting and making journal page backgrounds. I think I need to do more these days-it really helps me to relax and jumpstart my creativity, which I need desperately right now :)

Something interesting that happened today that totally made my day was that I came home from a breakfast to find the most BEAUTIFUL poinsettia I have ever seen sitting on my doorstep. Attached is a note that reads " On the first day of Christmas, We send a warm hello! With this pretty red Poinsettia, To give your day a special glow."

Now I am trying to figure out who put it there! It made us feel very loved :)

Gift for a teacher

I was trying to figure out what to give Gillian's teacher as a small gift for Xmas. I know that teacher's get alot of stuff and I wanted to give her something "consumable."

So, I came up with this. I made a card folio from a 12x12 piece of cardstock and made a ribbon enclosure for it. Inside are coordinated Thank you cards and envelopes. I hope she likes it. I noticed she wears alot of purple so it must be her favorite color, so I made them purple :) I am going to wrap it real pretty in a cello bag or something -it seems it would present this nicely.

Stamps are by Quietfire Design.

Its not the best scan-I need to clean my scanner! But I will admit it, I am too tired and lazy right now :)

Created By Hand Challenge: Tree Trio

This is my contribution for the Created By Hand Tuesday Challenge although I am a bit late :)

All images are by Quietfire except for the crackle background that is by I Brake For Stamps

I am still on the road to recovery-I know I have not blogged much. I am now 5 1/2 weeks out of surgery and seeing differences each day. I am feeling really good, getting back into somewhat of a normal routine. But, it takes all my energy, not leaving much to do anything creative. I often get great ideas while I am resting but am usually too tired to actually DO anything creative at all since by that time my energy is zapped. I look forward to having more energy to do creative things. :)

Theme Thursday:Children ATCs

Here is my contribution for Theme Thursday

Stamps from I Brake For Stamps

Illustration Friday-Balloon

I have wanted to do Illustration Friday for ages.............this is my first time participating.

For some reason today I was just inspired to do something for this topic :)

This is an art journal page. The stamps and image that were used here are from Quietfire Design. This includes

pastel pencils, acrylics, pit pen, collage , and rubber stamps.

Theme Thursday-Santa

Here's an ATC I made a while back using a Santa from Artistic Outpost

I know I am sort of cheating-I did not actually make this yesterday or today, but thought I would share it anyway because it went with the theme :)

I love this old fashioned santa image!

Created By Hand Challenge: Christmas Music Cards

Here is my contribution for the Created By Hand Challenge this week. I used new Christmas Images from Quietfire Design.

Mixed Media Monday-Eyes

Here is my attempt today for Mixed Media Monday. I just made an ATC-stamps used here are from ISC -lots of masking and sponging and also used Pastel Pencils too.

3 Weeks Down, 3 More To Go!

Thats what this journal page is about.........I noted a few things that stuck in my head about some of the progress I have made. It felt great to do a journal page........when I sat down to do it I had no idea what to do it ABOUT. So, this is what I came up with. I have made notes on some of the progress I have made over the past few weeks.

My poor brain feels like jello........I don't know if its from the anesthesia I had or what. I heard it takes quite a while for it to exit our systems. I really want my creative mojo back! Its killing me!

18 days post-op and I am driving again!

I haven't done much.........haven't done anyting artistic at all the past few days and I am missing it but at the same time have had no energy to do any! I am hoping tomorrow I will feel up to it-we will see. I am easing back into my routine a bit-doctor gave me the okay to drive, so yesterday was the first day driving my car since before the surgery. I have to say I was nervous and it felt so strange. I just have to watch for bumps in the road-those hurt. But, it feels good to be getting SLOWLY back into my routine again. My mom left me yesterday so I am on my own now. I was a mess yesterday, but I feel good to have been able to do SOME normal things, even if I am slower than a snail! I just look forward to having my energy back, and I look forward to going back to the gym, and doing my art again every day!

Did something else today

I am taking things slow......I got really tired yesterday so I thought I would just do one thing. It makes me sad because I really want to do more ;(

This image from Inkastamps has been calling to me for a while now. I got this before I went in for surgery but had no time to play with it. I used markers to watercolor the image, and to add to it, I used the waterbrush with a black marker and made some speckles on it. I love the effect.

12 days post-op...

...and I just could not stand it, I had to try stamping something. I am literally going stir crazy-I cannot stand just sitting around doing nothing. But I am officially worn out now. I also had my first outing to the store-I rode around in a cart! It felt just weird and awkward, but it did me alot of good to get out. My pain level has really gone down alot, but I still can only do so much before I just get exhausted.

Images used here are from I Brake For Stamps

Vitamin V

Oh man, in my doped up state I remembered something that just HAS to be blogged here.
Okay, you know when you go into surgery and they give you the medication to relax you-its called Versed. Anyway, apparently I got REALLY lively. Doctor said people normally are quiet and relaxed-NOT me. She said that I was talking about how I got SO much inspiration from the medicine and how I could create all this great stuff being on it..........LOL!!!!!!
Apparently the whole operating room was roaring. The following day of the surgery the 3 anesthesiologists came to see me and they all said how funny it was. LOL
Oh well, at least I was able to make them laugh. My doctor said she had never seen me that way before-she said I am always serious and in pain, so she really thought it was something .

Ouch Ouch double Ouch

I am home now............surgery was successful but boy do I hurt! she had to do extensive work that was not expected-all thanks to lots of scar tissue from my C-section 6 years ago! My pain level right now is high, but when I am up walking a bit it seems to help for some reason. Right now, my "Tummy Pillow" is my best friend! I don't go anywhere without it.
I don't feel like doing much but resting, and my appetite is slowly coming back-I had a couple days where I was sick because they fed me solid foods too soon (big booboo-it was an accident).
So I am taking that slowly and just eating small meals of soft foods. I am trying to be positive-yesterday was bad and it took all my energy just to get home, but I am SO glad to be home.

Over and out.........and least for a while.

Tomorrow is my big day for my surgery. I am the FIRST one tomorrow morning. So today, the last time for a while, I did a little stamping. These are some images I have been dying to play around with from Artistic Outpost. I LOVE Einstein, so I just had to have some fun with these today and made a couple of ATC's.

I have to say, I will miss everyone! Hopefully I will be back to my art in no time. I have canvases screaming to be painted , art journal pages to scribble on, and stamps waiting to be used. I look forward to creating again.

xoxo!!

Wings

These are a few samples for IBFS using a new Wings Sheet they have coming out this next week!

African Themed Stamps from IBFS

These are some samples I did up for Della of I Brake For Stamps using a new African Themed sheet she has coming out this next week!

Fancy Elements

New Stamps from IBFS that I made samples for :)