January 2014 So Far

Started this needlepoint project, it is enormous and I expect it to take about ten years. Really.

Watched my Sooners beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

Allie went.

She is with her adorable cousin, Lee, from New Orleans here.

Visited my parents.

Experimenting with Italian wines.

Participating in Root, a 30 day journaling project.

Obsessing with this girl and her abundant doggy ears.

Figured this out...

 

And Another Winter

Evolution. Evolution of a page.

Of a middle-aged woman.

Every winter I get low. Blue. Depressed.

Having, in the past, recognized it as a necessary hibernation,

as I enter it now I find myself low but not sunk.

Tired, hungry, unmotivated...

Depressed? Or just a need for quiet and low stimulation? Rest?

Because that's okay.

Wits Please Grow Sharper

Here is the development of a page.

I just want to draw bubble letters and color.

Also make journals and knit.

I feel a hibernation coming on...

My Hands

I am so grateful for my hands.

Paper and makers are simple and joyous together with my hands.

 

They look like my daddy's hands.

Just 20 Seconds

A friend, Lisa, posted on FaceBook:

 

"You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it."

It was shared amongst her friends. Its brilliant of course.

I had to get it down in my Inhale Exhale journal.

So I did...

Bloggy Again

 

I feel renewed interest in not only my own blog but all blogs I follow. Now that the whole change of reader since Google Reader closed has happened, I am following blogs daily again via Feedly. After the new iPhone update I am also able to comment on blogs again.

 

So thanks for keeping it going and looking and reading and all of that.

Also a journal spread.

I'll Fly Away

 

Oh Lordy

I'll fly away,

 

And when I die,

Hallelujah, bye and bye,

Lord,

I'll fly away...

Might Be

There's a chance

my eight year old self 

might be

 kind of a brat...

Eight Years Old

Recently, I texted Alisa that after all my creative work and growth,

 it comes down to paper, pen and Crayolas.

 

Full circle...

 

Creating is very much about being present... being in the moment.

But...

this morning I could not help but see my eight year old self, head tilted to the left, looking at the junction of pen and paper...drawing and coloring....

 

Creating is a quiet connection to the self, past, present and future.

A time machine.

Eternal...in God's imagine.

 

These thoughts came to me.

 I feel 8,

and happy.

Full Tilt

 

Once I found Mary Ann Moss and her Remains of the Day Journal tutorial, I found IT. Everything I had been saving and learning came together in a sewn handmade book.

I signed up for her next online journal class, Full Tilt Boogie in November 2011.

I don't think of myself as an optimist or even a hopeful person, but I somehow believe in this future Utopia of feeling centered and having loads of time on my hands.

Since that hasn't happened I embarked In May of 2011, only a year and a half after my initial purchase, to watch the videos and make a journal.

Using the 30 minute chunks of time I pieced this together over several weeks.

And I am in love.

I utilized an old celluloid album I bought in November 2012 at the Rose Bowl Flea.

I employed the sewing collage page technique from Remains of the Day.

I made my pages the same size, mostly.

And it is fabulous.

Look!

I made it!

I love it!

 

Remember that childlike enthusiasm for things you made? I have that now!

And I will not apologize for tons of photos of my baby!



The back...

I want to remind you about the Hope For Oklahoma online auction which ends 14 June 2012. My dolls are currently at $10 each with free shipping. You an get a deal here and help Oklahoma following the May tornado devastation.

 

 

Life Journal

This is a journal I challenged myself to in January of 2012.

The goal was to have an entry each month. 

 

A title page.

Answers to this 'Currently' prompt.

A favorite photo from the month.

 A self portrait.

Finally anything that marked a highlight of that month.

It took very little time each month, but the overall effect is quite satisfying.

I put to use a Rebecca Sower journal I  have been holding on to.

I was so proud of letting myself use it.

At the end of the year I did a 'Reflect" section...

which included mini booklets of things from the year.

Things I created...

This journal tells a personal story of the year one month at a time.

I decided not to do the same thing thing year.

I put together these pages with the thought of doing an art journal page each month. 

Haven't started in it, though. Seems this thing keeps getting all up in my grill...