Pin Cushions & Altered Bottles

More projects that were started some time ago. The pin cushions are done, but the bottles are not.

And of course stickpins. You have to have beautiful stickpins.

And my much loved Starbucks bottles still waiting to be completed.

Thank You Pinners!

I was going through some Pinterest sites tonight and found a pin of this journal I have from the wonderful Yolanda Pasillas (see previous post here). Then I found this article about Pinterest and Blogging. Took a quick peek and saw that there was a way of finding all the pins made from your very own blog. Had to try it and holy cow, I've been pinned a few times. What fun!

Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to send a thank you message to those people that pinned me. I think I may need to follow them first, (geez, didn't think of that)!

So here's the deal. If you pinned me, Thank you! If you'd like to read the article on Pinterest and Blogging follow the link below.

Pinterest and Blogging

Sharing My Rose Journal

I've been thinking about my journals. I haven't been doing much in them, not adding any "junk" or making any "art". They're just sitting around with the exception of the two or three I manage to make backgrounds in. I was suppose to do An Attitude of Gratitude this month, but I haven't been accomplishing anything in that journal either. What I've been doing is putzing. Putzing around with pin cushions, starbuck's bottles, whatever. Probably to avoid my commitment to the Attitude of Gratitude journal. I find this to be a pattern lately. I'll move furniture, revamp my supply stash, or a dozen other busy things to keep from doing what I've committed to. I don't know what it is but I think it's best that I not make any new commitments in the future.

On the other hand, I don't do a lot of normal crafty things and this downtime has allowed me to finish some projects, like this tag I made for a friend.

Not bad, I say.

But Ms. Rose is still my #1 girl. I just love this book, so I'm going to share a few more pages. Mind you, this isn't an "art" journal, nor is it a "junk" journal. It's "My" journal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Stuff

I don't always finish what I start. Sometimes my projects will sit for a while and "cure" when I move on to something else. These are prime examples of things that "cure", one finished, one unfinished.

I started working on this tussey mussey at the beginning of the year, sometime around Feb-Mar. Who knows why I set it aside, but I like how it turned out.

Then there's the balsa box I put together back in ....??? It's still waiting to be sprayed with the Lindy's Flat Fabio's that I bought just for this project. You can see the original color of some of the pieces bleeding through the gesso.

I may just leave it this way.

I've been doing stuff...

Lots of stuff. I just haven't been showing it because I'm too lazy and/or Facebook has taken over my life. I don't show much on FB either but I DO spend a lot of time there! I spend a lot of time on YouTube too, OMG, do I spend time on YouTube. So many videos! I rarely leave comments anymore because I think it's getting a bit redundant. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the video, but it's almost impossible to leave comments on 583,921 videos every day! Okay, not that many, but it sure seems like it!

I don't want to bore you with my medical issues and the 6 days I spent in the hospital due to a Ruptured Appendix, HOWEVER, while I was there I became even more aware of the time that was wasted. Time wasting away while I waited for my bladder to work again after surgery. Geez. If they just left me alone and gave me some privacy I was sure everything would work properly. But 6 days in the hospital really bothered me... the time, the money... omg, the money, but that's a whole 'nother issue and far too political.

Once home, I was fine, except for the silly drain attached to me, and how quickly I would tire out from doing nothing! It took 3 weeks for me to feel normal again but I was ready and raring to go! I decided to tackle a small closet that had a life of it's own. After 3 years of moving stuff in and out, organizing and reorganizing, I was finally going to master the damn thing. I should have taken a before picture, but I had no idea I was going to end up with so much space!

There's another shelf at the top and two shelves at the bottom for miscellaneous items that refuse to be contained, but the goodies are tucked away safely in the boxes and canvas bins.

This over-the-door rack made all the difference in the world, and it closes without interfering with anything inside.

Yoohooo! I'm still here......

Good Grief! I never published this page I wrote in September! I have so much catching up to do... lots of blog updates to write!

It seems like I haven't done a thing since Ms. Rose (rose covered journal) came into my life, but I have! I really have! I'm cleaning up again. Finishing a few things that were started and never finished. Like journals. I have this one book that has a few blank pages in it and I'm working on filling them up. The funny thing is that I started this book a long time ago, and it's a true Mixed Media journal. I've thrown everything in there, including photocopies of pics from Flickr. I love Flickr for inspiration! I've certainly learned a lot since I started this book. The first page was hideous, and I mean HIDEOUS! So I painted over it and made a new page.

As for Ms. Rose...Well, she's getting a little chubby. I think I've been feeding her too much, but I love her so much!!

I'm still not writing a whole lot, but I do pick her up every day and do something. I start a new page, embellish an old page, write a word or add a picture. Sometimes it takes 10 minutes, sometimes an hour or two. I worked through the first signature during July and August, started the second signature Sept 1st, and now I'm sharing my time between Ms. Rose and the old sadly ignored journal.

The Art Bar Studio Tour 06_2013

I want to share this tour with you of the Art Bar in Santa Ana, California.  I had the pleasure of visiting this fabulous studio (with my mouth hanging open) last summer when I took Dina Wakley's class at Jenny Doh's studio.  (Is that enough name dropping already?) 

At the lunch break, I wandered over to Subway where two more students wandered in and we started to chat.  They invited me to walk around the art village with them and to this day I'm forever thankful.  I never would have known that the Santora building we were in was hiding so many secrets!  It was magic for me.

I had my camera with me but the lighting was so low that none of the video I took turned out well.  So I was thrilled to see this video tour.  It's such a great place!