WOYWW

Happy WOYWW!  Julia's blog is where you play! 

Here's my desk this week.  I'm working on a card in the style of art nouveau for a swap I might sign up for (if I can finish the cards).   It's been a lot of fun so far. I'm hoping to finish it today since I'm off today!  Hoorah for having a day off in the middle of the week!   Also, I'd like to complete cards for a whole bunch of swaps: flower and butterflies, sunflowers and black birds, me and my crystal ball, wild watermelon, whimsy dogs.... We'll see how far I get tomorrow!  If you visited last week, you can see the inky backgrounds have been gessoed and stamped..and are ready for a subject...not sure what yet.  In the top middlish portion of my desk there is a bottle of wine.  I was thinking about painting it for a still life swap, but I'll probably drink it before I get around to it.  Oh well :)


Thanks for stoping by!  All these ATC swaps are over at ATCsforALL.com.  I'm Ethereal_sheep over there if you want to start doing ATCs...I'd be happy to help you get addicted...er...start trading ATCs!


Mid day update on my mini-ATC-athon:

 
Here's what I have done by 3:00pm.  The watermelon swap is finished, 2 to go on the Art Nouvaeu...the 4 cards for all the other swaps too.

Peace and love, y'all!

Beautiful weekend

Fall was in the air this weekend. There was a cool, crisp breeze that flowed through our open windows. We mowed the lawn, weeded all the flower beds, and got our yard looking respectable. Then we spent our Saturday afternoon watching the sunset at the local winery.

The weather couldn't have been any more beautiful as we sat sipping our wine on the bluffs overlooking the Missouri river.



I felt inspired to finish cards for the swaps I'm hosting.   Colorful Hot Air Balloons and Watercolor Still Lifes :)

Sunday was our day to help at church on the hospitality team.  We loaded the back seat with 50 dozen donuts or so by 7 am and set up the breakfast table.  Then I made my grocery list, and baked a cake...all before noon! 

This evening we had community group.  This week we discussed the first chapter of Tim Keller's The Meaning of Marriage... which was ironically what was covered in the sermon this morning.  I guess we all need a reminder that marriage is much deeper than 2 people coming together for self-gratification.  Marriage is a sacred commitment between 2 imperfect people.  Through marriage, God teaches couples many lessons...in patience, the meaning of true love, and unity.  So far the book has been great, and the discussion even better.  

Peace and Love, y'all.  It's back to the daily grind tomorrow!

Saturday Morning Reflections

It's a lazy Saturday morning here in mid-MO.   We woke up to a beautiful, fall morning.  While drinking our coffee, we watched Jack Hanna's Wild Countdown and shows about dolphin rescues.  Then I changed the station to a movie on ABC Family... Some Cinderella themed movie.  Well the main chick (played by Lucy Hale) sings a song called "Bless Myself."   As I listened to the lyrics I was really surprised by what they said.

There's a little secret/ I would like to tell you/ There's a book of lies/ I know they'll try to sell you/ and they'll try, and they'll try/ To convince you to buy you need 'em/ So the next time you're down/Look inside not around./  I can bless myself/ There's no need for someone's help / There's no one to blame/ There's no one to save you but yourself/  I can justify all the mistakes in my life/ It's taught me to be, it's givin' me me/  And I'll survive/ 'Cause I have blessed myself.

Maybe it's just a song about self empowerment, but the lyrics' references to "bless" and "save" seem to me be referring to religion. I think it's really sad, because the book of truth tells us that blessings come from God.  We're helpless to justify ourselves in the eyes of God; only Jesus' atoning blood can do that.

WOYWW - Acorns, Totoro, Chinchilla

Happy WOYWW!  Thanks to Julia for hosting!  http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ 

So here's my desk!  It has watercolor paper that I had fun with the new iridescent inks.  No idea what I'll do with them yet.  Maybe cut them up and make ATCs.  Then we have some acorns and dogwood seeds.  I'm hoping to use those as a subject for a still life painting.  Then...maybe I can get the dogwood seeds to sprout! I could use an oak tree too... My yard is rather devoid of trees. Anyway...back to my workspace.  The picture on the right is from my sister in law.  She did a great job drawing my chinchilla (Chimichanga) in his Totoro dust bath thingy.  I also have some new brushes on my desk. 

NON-WOYWW babbling
 Over the weekend I got to go back to Arkansas to visit my grandpa and all of my family (on that side) and my in-laws.   I have the most awesome family and in-laws.  I love them so much.  What a blessing to have such a great family!

Peace and Love, y'all!

WOYW- T

So I'm late, as usual. This is a special WOYWW (http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/) since this week I was was visiting my grandpa over the last few days.  He's in hospice care at my parents house 6 hours from here.  I had a few days just to sit with him and chit chat while he was awake, and read or paint while he rested.   We had a great visit.  I was amused to see this 94 year old farmer fall in love with my parents little dachshund, Rusty.  Rusty has refused to leave his side since he first started getting sick (when he aspirated).  The little stinker crawls right back into his bed and snuggles by Pa after we place him on the floor.  Pa says he does more good than any doctor ever could.   On Wednesday, I was back on the road so I could go back to work today.

 

Painting while my grandpa rests

   

Rusty snuggling with Pa.

 

Pa has had lots of visitors.

While I was in AR, I dropped by to say hello to my in-laws at Art Outfitters in Little Rock.  Of course...I had to make a few little purchases.  So here are the additions I made to my art stash :)

WOYWW

Wednesday finds my desk again.  I'm so tired I had to retype today's name 3 times before my brain got the right spelling. Play along at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ 

*Begin random babbling*  My grandpa is hospitalized now with aspiration pneumonia.  He's 94 and has had a full and wonderful life.  If you think about all the world events that have happend in the last century and what he's lived through, it's really mind boggling.   Women didn't even have the right to vote (in the US) when he was born (1919), the empire state building was built when he was around 12 (1930), The Great Depression, WW2 ( during which he fixed torpedos in Hawaii), television invented, first man sent to space, Civil Rights Act, 9/11, first black US president.  As a simple carpenter for a local paper mill and a farmer, he sent his 4 sons to college.   It's really quite incredible to think about.   The truth is now that he's ready for eternal rest.  He's told us that he's ready to meet God.  The whole thing has me spending time reflecting on life and death...and letting go.  What a beautiful, beautiful life we have.  There's so much to experience...so much to learn, enjoy, love, create, explore, discover, do... I want to make the most of it, and, God willing, help change the lives of those around me (both animals and people) for the better.   So go hug your families now, create a little more this week, and thank God for all your blessings.  *End random babbling*



Soo.... My desk.  I took the picture of the flowers earlier so there was better lighting :)



I bought these flowers just so I could use them as a painting subject to practice watercolor still lifes!

Here's my desk today.   A pile of cards I got from swaps and one card that I did ( the flower, of course).  I don't like at all the way the flower turned out so I'll keep right on practicing with my watercolors.  Lately, I've just been playing around with my set of plain old Prang watercolors.  I have a really nice set of fancy-shmancy watercolors, but for some reason...I've just felt like using the basic set.  There's a news paper, a remote...random art odds and ends and a note book with a list of trades/swaps I'm participating in.  I need to work on cards for the swaps I'm hosting (Watercolor still lifes, watercolor landscapes, and colorful hot air balloons).but maybe I'll do that next week!


Peace and Love, y'all!  Thanks for visiting. 

WOYWW - late as always :)

Play along http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

Here's my workspace this week!   My little crafty corner.  I have all my craft supplies in my wardrobe - neatly tucked away. 




And here is a close up of my desk.   It's got some cards I got in the mail, a list of swaps I'm participating in, prang watercolors, to-do list for today, grocery list..

On the floor are these books from the library. :) Lots of things to inspire...

Thanks for looking! 

Peace and Love, y'all!

Recent Swaps and Art

I've been signing up for as many swaps as I can lately over at ATCsforALL :) Here are some of the cards I've mailed:
Coffee swap!


Top Hat swap

Sheep Sheep

Big Eyed creatures

It's been a lot of fun creating cards and getting back in the swing of creativity :)  Chase and I have both been somewhat stressed by work.  So this has been my outlet.


Peace and Love, y'all.

WOYWW

Play along here http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/  

Nothing really interesting on my desk today.  It's kinda a mess with all the stuff I used to make some ATCs for swaps (already mailed).  Since it was a boring day for my desk...




Here is my shelf :)  It's got all my books about art, altered books, art journals, and some boxes of supplies. 

Peace and Love, y'all!

WOYWW - almost forgot!

So I spent this Wednesday spaying and neutering animals at the local shelter.  Last time I resisted looking at all the available animals, but this time I decided 1 peak wouldn't hurt.  I walked down the halls, and all the animals peered through their doors with their sad little eyes.  Sorry loves...I'm not the one your waiting for.  I wish I could save them all, but I'll have to settle with volunteering my time preventing more unwanted animals from being born.  Anyway...I almost forgot what day it is!  

It's WOYWW hosted by Julia over at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/.  On my desk is a notebook with a list of swaps I want to do and trades I have going (ATCs), stamps, envelopes ready to mail, cards I've been working on, and assortment of other goodies :)




My workspace in crafty disarray...  Hubby got me a "little" television for my craft corner and it can stream netflix :) Fun fun. 

And right next to my desk, there's a little Ruby-dog keeping me company :)

The to do list for me today:

-Save all the unwanted animals...er...maybe just spay/neuter a few so they can find good homes.
-Clean up the vegetarian cages (ie., the guinea pigs and chinchilla)
-Tackle the house "Hot Spots" (those spots where clutter seems to breed and multiply)
-pay bills and organize our finances
-PAINT!!


Peace and love y'all!

WOYWW

Play along here:  http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/




So here's my workspace this week.   It has some ATCs I've been working on for trading over at ATCsforAll .  Also there are some new stamps that were on sale at Michaels, stencils, watercolors, etc.

Thanks for looking!

Sassy Models ATCs

I've finally started ATCs back up again.   My style is shifting again as I'm trying out altered art :) 

Signed up for this swap:
http://www.atcsforall.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23815

 

 

 

 

"Love" Altered book page

I haven't done much in the way of art lately so I decided to put some time aside just for art today.  I'm sort of working through one of Willowing's classes (art, heart, and healing), but I got distracted by the idea of attempting a male whimsical character.   Seriously...have you ever seen a dude in that new style of whimsical art?  You know the style I'm talking about...google Willowing or Kelly Rae Roberts.  The style is pretty popular right now..but there are no guy faces.  Anyway..this is the result of my attempt to paint a whimsical dude.  My husband asked who the girl on the left was.  *sigh*  Short of giving him face hair or a box for a face, I'm not sure what I can do.  Ah..mysteries to ponder, techniques to practice.


Peace and Love, y'all!

WOYWW - AC unit, Animals, Armoire, Abdomen, Art/Heart/Healing,

Welcome to WOYWW!  Hosted by Julia over at the Stamping Ground every Wednesday (http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/) :)  I had such great intentions of posting early this week, but it just didn't happen! 

The babbling about random events:
First of all, on Monday night my brother called to tell me that my mom had to call an ambulance for my dad b/c he was having severe abdominal pain.  He's doing fine now.  The docs said it was likely just a stomach bug and sent him home for supportive care.   After that call, I noticed the temperature in my house was 78...3 degrees higher than what it should have been..and approaching too hot for some of my animals.   We realized the condensor thingy outside wasn't even running any more.  Long story short, we were without AC yesterday, but they fixed it today. So there's was a lot to take care of before I could snap a picture. 

The tour of my workspace:
 I thought I had it all squared away last week, but my folks brought up an armoire they are giving to us.  Armoire...that word never looks right.  Oh well...I fit almost all my craft supplies in it :)  Ewedora is the sheep on top of it.  She's rather an old sheep now - 9 years old!  She was a high school art project.
 

My crafting supplies and Ewedora on top. 

And look! My desk isn't completely empty this week!  HOORAY! On it is a book I'm about to alter...it's going to be my Art, Heart, and Healing Journal.   That's a free course offered by Willowing (linky thing on the side bar) that I think is going to be a lot of fun...and really good for me since I'm a little anxious lately.   Also on my desk is a stack of pages from a bird calender.  A bird a day to create art with!  What else?  random things...key to unknown car (maybe hubby's), new light switch i need to install, graduation card, coupons, speaker, tools to remove splinter from husband's foot... that's all!  Thanks for looking!  I can't wait to look around this week at everyone's crafty corners!


Peace and Love, y'all!

Random non-Wednesday post

Phew! I'm so tired this week...and it's only Monday.   This last weekend my parents came up for a visit to bring the piano and a wardrobe.  Thanks to the help of some people from church, the two new pieces of furniture are happily settled in.  I'm so happy to have my piano here... I'm not very good at it, but I like to putter around with it.  Music is therapeutic.  My mom and I rearranged all my crafting supplies so they are all contained within the wardrobe thingy.   That freed up a couple of shelves to put in other places.  I'm even letting Chase have a shelf all of his own :)   My dog chewed my SD card for my camera, and I don't at present know where my backup cards are.  Whoops.  Bad Ruby Dog!  Otherwise I'd take a picture to share.   We also checked out every one of the used furniture shops and flea markets in the Columbia area, and we found a bed frame for the "girly" guest room.  This room is red and white with lots of pictures and mementos from our wedding.  The bed we bought is a simple frame with a cherry veneer.   The bed just completes the ambiance of that room :)  Anyway...the weekend was a lot of fun, and it went by too quickly.    I wish our family lived closer - I miss them.  Sometimes having the 2 extra bedrooms just makes me feel lonely.  I miss my family, and I miss all my wonderful vet school friends.

I've been wondering lately how I can get my creative spark going again.  Graduating, moving, and starting a new job sort of drained the creative juices.  Work is sometimes stressful.  My patients often take a large portion of my brain after I clock out each day.  I carry my patients in my heart - always.  Sometimes that burden is not easy to carry.  I'm learning to rely on God to take care of them and guide my decisions with regards to my patients.  After all... true healing comes from God, but I like to think He works through me as his instrument of healing :)


Back to the creativity!  I have another blog that I've set to publish weekly art subjects, but I've been too busy to keep up with it.   I haven't really felt like doing it anyway.   So I decided to maybe do another online class... Art Trader discontinued their classes *sad* so I had to try somewhere else.  I'm not very good at actually finishing classes I sign up for, but I enjoy puttering around with them just the same.  The class I've decided on is a free one over at Willowing:  Art, Heart & Healing  (Look! I added a shiny new blog tag thingy linking to Willowing on my sidebar).  It sounds like a fun, whimsical class with a little bit of art therapy mixed in :)  Sometimes in my art I write my prayers down as the first layer..then gesso and paint over it so it's not legible to others.  It's a way for me to get my feelings down and process some of the more difficult things to deal with... like having to put down an animal I just can't do anything to save.


Peace and Love, y'all!

Time for "What's on your Workspace Wednesday"

Sorry I'm late (as usual).  If you want to playing along...check out Julia's blog http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ on a Wednesday! Today was a day off, but I volunteered at a local animal shelter the first half the day.  I spayed and neutered some animals for them and managed not to go look at all the adoptable critters.  Then I got so hungry...I gobbled down a meal from the first fast food place I saw...and fell asleep again for 4 more hours.   Whoops.   Anyway.  I finally have my crafting space all organized and the walls painted.   Maybe now I can finally get some art work done!!  Now what should I do? Hmm...ATCs...paint some art work for my new house.. :)  I'm so happy to have a space of my own just for crafts!!


My craft corner (and the chinchilla)

Chase's half (and Ruby's crate and Gary's dog bowls)

The "Vegetarian Corner"  Chimichanga the Chinchilla and Chorizo the Guinea pig...

Panda Piggy died (something wrong with his liver and kidneys as best I can tell) Since he was a abandoned pet, I have no idea if something was wrong with him before now or how old he was. :(  Chorizo is still doing great!


Peace and Love y'all!