Boxing Day Official Holiday (big smile)!!
I had a wonderful but sad Christmas. Just before Christmas my Uncle passed; then I learned that my soul sister may have cancer and her hubby has cancer; lastly, my cousin's (second cousin) hubby has swine flu and is in an induced coma and critically ill...this is so sad to begin with but they just had a baby and were visiting his parents so they could enjoy the new baby.
My heart goes out to Faith and I pray her hubby will pull through...a little prayer please!!
So there are other things that are making me sad also but I'll get through them.
I couldn't settle myself to do my art before Christmas so I am going to make a concerted effort to start now and finish up the things left undone.
On the brighter side my darling husband redid two laptop computers for the grandkids and they were so happy...that made us excited for Christmas to arrive because they have wanted laptops for a couple years now and had just given up on getting one each....hahahaha..
I got the best buttertarts in the world from my grandaughter (10 years); Mom coached her along in baking them...oh thank you Nicky....hahaha now when you are being bratty instead of saying go to your room I will say go to the kitchen and make me buttertarts!!!!!
My grandson Jacob (13 years) did the most beautiful card that I am going to have to put up here I think for everyone to enjoy....he wrote a note about the things I did for him and of course both Grandpa and I cried. He did the most beautiful zentangles on the back of the card....I am so impressed with his art....
I must say both Jacob and Nicole are naturals for art...they come up with the most beautiful work. It makes me so proud!!!

Actually, we have no problems - we have opportunities for which we should give thanks... An error we refuse to correct has many lives. It takes courage to face one's own shortcomings, and wisdom to do something about them.
Edgar Cayce

Tuesday morning and feeling okay!!.....
Working on some art and swaps which I will put up later... meanwhile here is a picture of my Cali Cat...she is a big girl for four months and likes to help me on the computer...here she is taking a break.


"After scolding one's cat one looks into its face and is seized by the ugly suspicion that it understood every word. And has filed it for reference."- Charlotte Gray

I have just uploaded some journal pages...I love my journaling!! I am having so much fun doing this...just a beginner but hey we all start somewhere....

I tried a word program for one of the pages....and stamps on the Teesha style page and one of my favourite artists DJ Petitt ....I tried drawing one of her portrait faces and altering it a bit....made lots of mistakes but have to look at someone's art to try and draw to get me going and I love her work....if you haven't visited her blog or website run your fingers over there because this womyn is an amazing artist....

I have spent two days tryng to get in to my blog....grrrrh....after 3 more attempts this morning a light went on and I tried something different and it worked....I have no patience with the little people inside my computer....I call them "thumb" people and they are always playing tricks on me......

It is a winter cold windy day outside and that alone puts me in a rotten mood...Why am I in Ontario you might ask if I hate winter so much.....duh me!!! I want to be in Vancouver and maybe one of these days I will move there.....

so much for my bellyaching....I am supposed to be a positve person after all....so here is my gratitude for the day....

"I woke up this morning"......

Today I am uploading some pictures for you ...
the first one is from my dear friend Maer. Maer sent me this lovely atc on a card...what a great idea...of course being a female "Milton Berle" I will steal her idea....(anyone out there remember Uncle Milty?)....and I have put up the envelope also because a lot of patience and work went in to it and my hubby thought it was too beautiful to open....Ya like I am going to leave it closed and just gaze at the envelope.....

the Second one from my new wonderful friend who happens to live in the part of the world I want to be in....teehee...Sox...
she sent me postcards and they are beautiful !! I love what she did with both....
Two very talented womyn and I am so lucky to have them in my life......

Enjoy....

I will use the quote that was on the inside of Maer's card for my quote of the day (I'm a redhead).....

"Red is the cure for sadness"......Bill Blass

Now go make yourselves a wonderful day....

oops I didn't do that winter wonderland with striped paper I did a page with alcohol inks and then did computer altered art to make it winter wonderland...I guess the back if effecting the brain....

Some people skate to the puck. I skate to where the puck is going to be.
Wayne Gretzky

Saturday and I am bent over with a bad back....however I did suffer it and go to my grandaughter's hockey game...she got two goals...I am so proud of her...
Between laying in bed with the heating pad and sitting in my computer chair with the heating pad I was getting pretty frustrated...so decided to play with some altered art...
I up loaded this piece that I took from plain striped paper to make a winter wonderland background...what fun....

I was sitting at my daughter's with the kids the other day...Jacob 13 and Nicky 10...I was doing some Zentangles...the next day Jacob is on the computer doing them digitally...he made some beautiful ones; cut them out and put them on a page...I want to take a picture of them and put them up here as they are beautiful....

I have two very talented grandkids that are teaching their Grandma new things in art all the time.

Here it is Tuesday and raining. I knew that it would because my legs were really aching yesterday....I should be the weather person. this morning I woke up with the worst headache...another indication that rain had started... so today is a rainy kind of day and foggy to boot.

I am uploading today the little atc envelopes I made for my atc swaps I sent out yesterday.

I am going to work on my rose and music canvas for awhile today...more I want to do with it...I thought it was finished but it is beckoning for more so I will abide by its' call and do some more on it....

I want to work in my journal also....Mondays and Tuesdays are my croweded but loved days.

Grandkids in Volley ball, hockey and gymnastics and Grandma is having a great time filling in for Mom's busy work schedule...makes me feel young again hahahaha. Also Grandpa and I don't have to make meals if we don't feel like it etc....Great life being grandparents....you get all the pluses in life...

Okay today's quote should be this one I think:

Family: A social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space. Evan Esar

This morning the sun comes out then goes in...and some gray clouds in the sky...hmmm wonder what we'll get...I vote for rain over snow....

Well I am putting up today 3 atcs that I did for swap....one word prompts...what fun these were!!
I do love doing atcs....

Now I am off to finish up some other swaps and upload them....

Have a wonderful day .....Monday's can be good days sometimes...


The primary benefit of practicing art, whether well or badly, is that it enables one's soul to grow.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

I haven't been very dilligent lately blogging but I have been doing art....journal pages and will be putting them up tomorrow or Tuesday.

today I am trying to finish up swaps so I thought I would put up a card I did for the swap.
It is done with music sheet layered on card stock a cut out bird in Christmas paper (my bird)..and overlayed with a transparency of Christmas berries. The inside is also done with transparency...

I love working with transparencies...they make my heart sing.

Since this is a Christmas Night theme card I think it is only fitting that I add a Christmas quote.

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale

Ahhh Friday....sun is bright and it is very nice out for a November day...that makes me smile.
I am putting up another journal page...what fun these journals are...they really make you think and sometimes just go with the flow of things.

This is a take on me as a child and my nieve way the thoughts go....

Enjoy!!

You get the best out of others when you get the best out of yourself. Harvey S. Firestone

I have spent the morning working on a canvas in progress...the one I did years ago with the roses I didn't like (I was a beginner)so...I started playing with it and this is what I have come up with...some painted acrylics, watercolour crayons, mixed media....layers and layers....
Please be critical as I need all the help I can get ....




Bernard Malamud’s The Natural (”We have two lives…the life we learn with and the life we live after that.”).

I have been working on some journal pages. It has taken me a long time to get around to doing this...a bit here and a bit there but too scared to jump in for fear of ????....I took the plunge to work on them...
A page in progress, picture of my daughter and my animals past and present etc...still a work in progress.
Another work in progress page is the Black and Yellow one...it depicts dark days and hope for some light for survival...
the next page is a Brown and Pink page that was supposed to represent tears but went off in its' own direction and I think it is finished...last night I didn't think so but this morning I am thinking a yes...


I always knew looking back on my tears would bring me laughter, but I never knew looking back on my laughter would make me cry.” Cat Stevens

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

I did a couple atcs for a group I am on and thought I would share them with you.
One is downsized card that I designed....and wanted to use it again as I like what I did before...
hope everyone has a wonderful Friday.

I think a little menace is good to have in a story. For one thing, it's good for the circulation!
Raymond Carver

I just had to add this guy...I saw a commercial on TV and this was my take on it.

Ahh I feel better now...I added the word ecclectic and spent most of my day working on my canvas...

The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.
Paperbag Studios

A rainy Friday morning and I have been in the creative mood this week...and that makes me very happy!! I have been working on an old canvas of music roses etc...didn't like it before. (I did it a few years ago). I pulled it out and have been changing it quite a bit, lots of good ideas from my new friend Julie Pritchard...she is amazing...
Along with that I seem to have gotten sidetracked in to word art and I am putting up a new piece today...a work in progress, so that you can enjoy the journey with me if you would like to.
These are words that describe me...but I left off the most important word...."Ecclectic"....well I will be refining it anyway so I can add that later....
Now I will upload the piece, but remember this is just the beginning....ideas are jumping around like crazy in my head so I have to organize them and get them out to my subrate....

Have a wonderful creative day no matter what you do...

I am trying something new in my work.....

Here we are...another day but not another dollar...hehehehe
I am working on my journal today and hopefully tomorrow I will have a couple pages to put up...that is if I am satisfied with them....



I am convinced the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones. For the common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed. L. Frank Baum (1856-1919)

Here is Mr. Word Dog....I am off on a tangent....what fun and I am thinking of more things to do with word art...I distressed the sides and on the words themselves to give an aged look to some of the parts...

when I was perusing some blogs today I came across a lady named Vicki who put up a word art piece...what a good idea...so I also did a word giraffe but that credit goes to her....I also photocopied from a colouring book on dogs (got this years ago because it had my Papillion in it and would be good for tracing and painting)....I just grabbed a dog and photocopied the page...now I will put words on him that describe a dog...
These things that I do will go in to my journals at some point somewhere (big smile)....
Here is a great idea especially if you have kids....print out a picture of their pet and get them to write words that describes it and then you can cut out the words and glue them on or you can print out all the words and make a template of the pet and glue them on....the ideas will keep coming once you start....

“"But I don't want to go among mad people," said Alice. "Oh, you can't help that," said the cat. "We're all mad here."

Well I had the best of intentions today!! Organized myself as to chores and art...hmmmm, I got the bed made, the kitchen cleaned then stopped in my studio...wrong thing to do...here I have been all day and I have to go out in a while and my chore list not completed!!
The good part is I got swaps done and did some creating....so that's a good thing I would say...
I have put up a couple of atcs for a swap I am doing and a Spooky Cat card which I really like...
started off with a completely different technique then the Art God sent me in this direction and I am very happy with it...

It is layered paper, transparency and the paper underneath was to make the cat black and orange which I achieved and love...

Now I am off to do a couple more chores and will no doubt end up back in here working on my journal before I leave....


We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs.

Kenneth Clark

Here we are a bright and beautiful Sunday. Yesterday instead of doing any art I adopted a beautiful little four legged girl in to our home...Cali is 8 weeks old and just the sweetest little girl...Of course my old Echo (Papillion..18 years old) was disgusted and my grandboy Tucker (cockapoo) came over and was excited to have a new playmate....and was quite the gentleman...
I have uploaded a picture of my new darling who, btw, I think, is going to be a Daddy's Girl...

”Every artist dips his brush in his own soul and paints his own nature into his pictures.” -- Henry Ward Beecher.

Since my Miss Molly passed I have been putting off getting another cat...but I feel it is time now; maybe because it is Halloween? Could be.....
This morning I busied myself with the Harvest Moon Arch swap...loved doing it, but of course,
anything to do with wicca, cats and spell is me!!!
I have uploaded a picture of it for today's work...Enjoy...

Still plugging away on various projects and still excited as the first day I started this journey...
Going to concentrate on my textured boards and my art journaling I think for awhile...really want to get some of this underway...

I have uploaded a couple of atcs I did that are flying their way to Australia for a swap...
What a trip these butterflies and baby birds will have....

The value of your art does not have to depend on the opinions of others. If you create something, and you love it, why let the opinions of others take that joy away?

Here is a little Fairy in a Jar I made....I got the pattern from Feathered Nest...
Love this fairy and she sits in my kitchen

I have been so bad in not blogging. Please forgive me..I needed to try some new things and
wanted to finish them before I came back.
Lots of new techniques to try and I want to do it all....
I have uploaded a small heart I played with wood with texture and alcohol inks...I like the look but of course went on to add more layers of embellsihments.

The next technique is a large masonite piece a layer of texture, stamps and various found objects stamped in to the paste; a build up of approx. 5 layers of paints and glazes...hmmm
still not sure if I like it and may add more paint still...we'll call it a work in progess right now.

I just got as a gift from my hubby a book on media transfers. I never knew there were that many ways of doing transfers...wow....

have a good Monday...it rained here this morning and now the sun is shining but it is windy and cold today...

Here it is Sunday already and trying to finish up chores so I can "create"...so far I have read email and downloaded tutorials...so many great artists on this web....such inspiration...
Okay hopefully by this evening I will have something new to put up here...

Well I am managing to get this blog up now....so we'll see what else I can do with it...
It is far too "black" right now but I will change that I think....

My muse has always been Tlazotoetl...so now she will guide me in my new venture of art...mixed media....
Here we will display my journey and hopefully have a good trip together along the way.