CED '08 ~ Almost Daily Journal' con't.

For the past week, I've been working towards getting things prepared for creating in my "Almost Daily" art journal. I've made trips to the studio, sorted through and organized supplies, purchased a new Fiskar's cutter! {my guillotine styled one is simply too heavy to be lugging around!}, stamped some images on scraps of paper and cut those out, and today, I cut a 3' stack of cardstock and printed papers just for this project. I figured I don't need to attempt to try to re-invent the wheel with every collage I create for this journal so those pieces will come in handy while I work and journal. I've still a long way to go on this project, supplies to gather up yet, determining a space just for them within our home, and creating the actual pages that will one day bring it all together.

Today, I couldn't resist the urge to just create something and the pages above are the results. I started with creating the collage for the title page of this section of my loose leaf book using an image that was shared through Flickr. After cutting it out, adhering it all together, I began working on the journaling. The journaling is personal in nature but I'm willing to share. My pages read, "God's promises."

Lately I've been pondering about promises - the ones I make to myself and to others. In truth, I rarely make promises because I consider them sacred. Promises end --- one of 2 ways --- either kept or broken and I figure them literally as being as good as one's word. People who keep them have integrity; while those wo do not honor them cannot be taken seriously or trusted. Sometimes, others forget how powerful their word is, and when promises are made haphazardly or unconsciously, they fail to realize that someone may have created certain expectaions that may not be fulfilled and those leave disappointment and distrust behind. Then, there are those promises that we make to ourselves --- the ones we forget about over time as they begin to slip away from conscious mind.... like after a early heartache that was followed by the promise to NEVER trust Love again. Those promises slip deep into our conscious minds and without realizing it, we keep fulfilling them, over and over, like a self-fulfilling prophecy. That is until one day, we awaken to remembering and ask to be released from them. I might also ask for love, light, and healing to be sent to those I inadvently disappointed and hurt and Seek wisdon to do my best from this point forward, to help me to be TRUE to my Word --- just as God's word is to ME and to others. And I ASK God to help me make promises tha I truly intend to deliver... But just for today, I PROMISE to focus on God's promises. Promises I know, in my heart of hearts, that I can trust and believe wholeheartly within. Because... ~ He is the Lord, My God, and He promises to never change. {Malachi 3: 6} ~ He is full of mercy and grace and overflows with love. {Psalm 103:8} ~ He created ME in his image with a Special Blessing. {Gen. 1:27-28} and delivered me from the darkness. {Col. 1:12-13}

These thoughts have been sort of lingering in my mind for some time now so I'm hoping that by getting them out and down on paper, I can begin the process of letting go and learning to trust again. Hopefully, and with God's assistance, I can do that with intregity this time around.

Travel Moo

Madonna of the Trail

A statue near Springfield, Ohio. Image taken from a photograph.

Friends Moo Card

I'm playing "catch up" today as I've had my dear little grand-daughter, Alexxis, the last several days. Poor thing hasn't been feeling well and a trip to the Dr.'s discovered her left ear and her throat is red. Thankfully, no other tests were performed on her as Grandma had a hard time simply holding her hands and arms down just so the Dr. could "look". But today is "My day!" and I'm creating!

CED 2.18.08 - Faux-finishing home decor...

While the guys repaired/replaced the broken water line, I did some online research into decorating and home decor. When I was laying in our nice, soft, warm bed, prior to waking, I remember dreaming of creating this beautiful home, starting with the outside and working in. The images in my mind's eye were so beautiful and vivid, you could reach out and touch them. Needless to say, it's too cold to actually do anything outside, so my mind quickly began considering what I could do inside, so I browsed discovering things I like and love, and before you knew it, I was up, dressed, and ready to go to Hobby Lobby.

On my last visit there, in search of some Sophisticated Finishes, I had spied these beautiful black and white rosette styled plates. I knew I should have picked them up because on this visit, they were nowhere to be seen, let alone purchased. I know better than to do that, but didn't heed the advice that I so often give --- if you see, want it, buy it! Right there and then... Darn it! I certainly missed out. Perhaps, I can find them again in another store; at least I certainly hope so...

But all was not lost, as we did manage to discover a lot of neat items at 80% off! We purchased a set of crown bookends, that had sustained minor, yet repairable damage; an ornate wire decorative assessory, a few small magnetic frames, a decorative accent lamp and shade, a silk planter with some tropical themed plantings, and a beautifully textured toss pillow. Then, we ventured over to the picture frame area of the store, where I found two gorgeous style frames perfect for assisting me to create a grouping on one of our endtables or scattered about the living room, and on sale for 50% off.

The finishes were not what I was looking for, but after reading Rhoda's blog @ http://southernhospitality-rhoda.blogspot.com/, I knew not to let that stop me. Rhoda has successfully refinished a lot of her own home's decor items and you can find step-by-step how-to information there. Her home is beautiful, filled with lots of second-hand and recycled treasures! Anyways, after returning home, I quickly removed tags, temporarily placed some of the items around our home, set up a re-finishing station, and got to work.

The crown bookends were a bit damaged on top. I wasn't quite certain what was on top of them, but believe I remembered seeing them with a small cross on top of them once. I didn't pick them up then because I didn't like the look that those crosses added, but since they were damaged, I loved them! A quick sanding with my Dremel tool, wiping them down to remove any dust, and I was all set to refinish them. The bookend on the right side of the photograph above is more accurate of how I purchased them, only they were all gold-toned in color. I added the black using acrylic paint and touched up the left one using one coat of the Renaissance Brown metallic glaze, both will received the same treatment, and one additional coat before I'm finished with them.

The frame, right behind the right bookend pictured, was also a bright gold with splatters resembling an aged technique. Way to bright for my taste, although I loved the style of the frame itself. A quick wipe down to ensure it was clean, two coats of black acrylic paint, a layer of the Renaissance Brown metallic glaze, and a layer of Antique Gold Rub-N-Buff, produced the beautiful effect you see here. I believe I may add a light coat of lacquer, just to protect the faux finish, at a later date. I added a photograph of Don's godmother, Evelyn, to the frame. It is only temporary, as I quickly printed it out onto copy paper, instead of making the trek out to the studio for photo-quality paper.

In the background of the photograph, is the $8 accent lamp and lampshade. The lampshade was a separate purchase --- at 80% off, it was a steal! for only $1.60

Behind the scenes....

As I puttered around our home yesterday morning, following my morning routine, making coffee, and heading to the computer, I kept hearing the sound of running water. Not quite awake yet, I simply figured I needed to go jiggle the handle on the toilet, perhaps it is what I am hearing running? You'd think after 3-4 trips, it would sink into my head that the toilet has nothing to do with where the sound is coming from, but, "No. Not here." LOL!

It wasn't until Don woke up a half hour or so later, that the realization hit is that we have a broken a water pipe somewhere between the wall of the laundry room and the bathroom. We had this problem before, near the end of last winter, and believed we had the problem fixed. An older outside spicket that is was no longer in use, was the culprit. Our heating/ac/plumber friend, cut the line and had capped it off, so problem solved, right? Well, little did we realize that when a water line is capped off, pressure inside the line builds, and is more likely to the possibility of freezing and bursting when temps fall and the winds blow up under our home, resulting in yet another repair.It had turned moderately cold , with winds blowing, and a light snowfall of approx. 1-2" accumulation overnight, setting up the perfect conditions for the pipe to break. Sheesh, somedays you just can't win. Anyways, after having the water line repaired and instructions given to prevent this from happening again in the future, we are all set once again.

CED '08 - 2/18/08 and a birthday update!

I've managed to find time to be CED this past week. Spent some time with family, loving on Alexxis, watching her grow... time to clean our house, think about what I desire for my life, time to be grateful for all that I have, family, friends, and to celebrate the simple joys of life, as well as other things that have required my attention.

It felt wonderful to be creating again this past week and I'm excited to have the opportunity to do and explore more. Thank you to those who visited and left me a comment on my "Moo!" card. I'm excited to participate further.

Thank you to everyone who sent me a birthday card, called, sung or said, "Happy Birthday!" to me, and gifted us with a gift. {Bob & Carmella --- we'll certainly enjoy those bottles of California wine!} Thank you to Don for making me a wonderful birthday cake, purchasing the MM Embellishment Center for my day, for giving me $$$ to spend on whatever my heart desires. And spend, I did... along with engaging in my love to travel!

Today, we took a trip to Home Goods, where I purchased myself a new bulletin board to use as a vision/inspiration board. I cannot wait to begin actually creating it, using my hands, finding pictures of the precise images I desire, and placing them perfectly on my vision board to incorporating my mind, my vision, developing my subconscious mind to attract what I desire in my life through the Law of Attraction. Those you see on the above photographs came in the packaging and are beautiful images of Venice and Florance, Italy --- someplace I'd love to one day travel to!

I also purchased two new 5x7 picture frames as I've been desiring to create a grouping of frames on one of our end tables within our home, so these are for beginning that process. I'm excited to begin the hunt for a few more, an 8x10, and a couple 4x6's. You know how you find the right ones when you see them... {smile} Mom recently gifted us with some of her B&W pictures of Don as a child and some photographs of other family members, which I believe I'll scan and copy to use within this grouping. {And I cannot forget Aunt Alice's wedding gift of her wonderful frame and photograph.}

We made another stop into Scrapbook Art at Polaris. I didn't purchase too much, but got quite a bang for the bucks I did spend! I was able to take advantage of a "making room for CHA items" sale, and utilize a $15 in-store credit! Gotta love that! So what did I purchase? Two 8" MM chipboard letters, P's, of course for Partly Paper; 4 new stamps - one Rhonna Ferror acrylic and three Fontwerks red rubber stamps for journaling with; a Carolee's Creation AdornIt for Alexxis' album; and a tin of Maya Road Chipboard Crowns. Did younotice those two crushed velvet ribons? Aren't they luscious? I only purchased a yard each, something I'll probably desire to kick myself over later. Anyways, I also managed to save some of the $$$ I was given. I'm thinking I'd love a Moleskin journal, just to art around in and junk up, and a few more bottles of Golden's Fluid acrylic paints on our next trip to Dick Blick's.

I found some time to seek some new inspiration through the pages of Somerset Memories, Somerset Studios, Artful Blogging, Cloth Paper Scissors, and a Book Art book, and through some "new to me" blogs. I've really been desiring to get my links added here, so I need to focus on that and get some categories for organizing them together. Perhaps, one day soon....

Happy Heart Day!!!!

And, here's some quotations I received in an email, just for the occassion:

Listen to your heart

"To know how to choose a path with heart is to learn how to follow intuitive feeling. Logic can tell you superficially where a path might lead to, but it cannot judge whether your heart will be in it."
-- Jean Shinoda Bolen

"When you have compassion and surrender to your own heart, you are surrendering to the hidden power in your heart, God. You are surrendering to love, because God is Love, the cohesive force of the universe that connects us all. Surrender is not just a religious concept; it's a power tool for listening to the voice of your spirit and following its directions. When you surrender your head to your heart, you allow your heart to give you a wider, higher intelligence perspective. Remember the phrase, ‘The real teacher is within you.’ Very simply, that teacher is to be found in the common sense of your own heart."
-- Sara Paddison

"Surrender is faith that the power of love can accomplish anything... even when you can not foresee the outcome."
-- Deepak Chopra

Happy Valentine's Day!