Guest Post!

I'm so excited to be the guest poster over at Dirty Footprints Studio today! Go check it out here!

Cardinal

Here's a less-than-ideal photo of my latest painting. I forgot to scan it before I whisked it off to the handcrafted arts fair at work this week. I donated this and the little angel painting below to the silent auction. I've never really put my work out there for sale before, so it was exciting to see people bid on my paintings. And also a little weird to see them happily scoop up their winnings and take them home. I'm so used to having my work here in my home for me to enjoy. The person who bought this painting is sending it to his elderly mother in Denver who loves cardinals. Which makes me incredibly happy and a little bit in awe that someone so far away will have my work in her home to enjoy.

Snowed in

These pictures are actually from last week. The snow was prettier then. Also, I am too lazy to go outside to take new pictures.

The sun is shining today, but it's really cold. And my street is an icy rutted mess. I only got in and out of my driveway yesterday because I have really really really nice neighbors who came over and pushed me when I got stuck. People who "love" snow must not have to drive to work in it for months at a time, that's all I can figure.

As for me and my cat, we shall stay inside and watch sports all day. And then maybe do some more painting. Because it was sooooo much fun getting back in my mixed media groove and painting this little angel last weekend!

The Library

I. Love. This. Room.

This is the third and smallest upstairs bedroom. Mom came up with the genius idea to turn it into a library. She was so excited by the idea that she came over and painted the walls a yummy dark green. And then it was fall and I was too busy to do anything more. But now I've painted the ceiling white (it was peach, of course) and polished the floor and moved some stuff in. And suddenly I have this warm cozy space where I could just sit all day, with or without a book. It's just dreamy.

Go read this.

My excellent cousin Nathan has started a blog, Nathan Explains Science. You should go read it. Really.

See, Nathan is a scientist and he's a really great writer. He makes things you've never heard of interesting and understandable and cool. AND he's also a political scientist (in addition to being a former astrophysicist) so he writes a lot of very cool stuff about why people act (and vote!) the way they do.

Have I ever told you how creative scientists are? Nathan and his brother Marcus (a physicist) are two of my favorite people to talk to. And it never ceases to amaze me how many parallels there are between the way they approach their work and the way I approach making art. At some level it's really all about exploration and curiosity.

So go check it out!

P.S. Pistol wanted to say: relvv xzaa
He just typed that.

How To Be Alone

I love this video. Tanya speaks the truth.

The Perfect Protest

Brene Brown is hosting The Perfect Protest this week in honor of her new book: The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are.

Doesn't the title just say it all?

Really, it's such a relief to just relax into yourself. I've spent years planning how great things will be when I finally get it all together. Problem is, I'd always rather have fun than do all the yucky work that I think I need to do to get it all together. Endless yucky work that can never all be done. So I'm finally learning that if I let go of the idea that I am something less until that mythical day when I get it all together, I can have the fun without the icky anxiety that I should be working harder to get it all together. I am enough. I really don't care if I have messy hair and a messy house. I am enough. Such a powerful message.

I am enough.
And so are you.

And on a very thrilling side note, I have a dishwasher!!
An adorable little miniature dishwasher!
I think I actually jumped up and down when I got home today and walked into my kitchen and saw this. It was the only thing on my "must have" list that my house didn't already have. And now it's here and I'm so happy! Now if only I hadn't washed all the dishes by hand last night to make room for the handyman to work - I don't have any dirty dishes to put in it!

Blessings

I'm counting my blessings today. Here's a few:

Warm, soft cozy bed with a pretty reminder from a dear friend.

Window I can look out of into a big tree while lying in the bed.

Lovely sturdy house with pink and aqua walls that is ALL mine. The whole thing!

Sweet funny cat friend who wakes me up at 5 am because he wants to cuddle.

Family who are fun to hang out with.

Warm, smart, funny, supportive friends.

Garbage service.

Lawn service.

$$ to buy art supplies.

Sunshine!

What blessings are you counting today?

Ohmigosh!

I'm tired. I have an ear infection. I'm living on iced white mochas and delivery pizza. And my heart is full to bursting with happiness and excitement over my new home.
No, I'm not moved in, I'm not even done painting. But I'm starting to get glimpses of what it will be. It's even better than I imagined. Pistol and I will sleep there tonight and tomorrow we'll just hang out and rest and get used to the new place. Lovely!

Art Journal LOVE

I'm indulging in some delicious art journal LOVE with the excellent Connie over at Dirty Footprints Studio.
Check out her 30 Journals 30 Days project!
Here's my contribution for the 31st day:

• How long have you been Art Journaling?

I started art journaling after my first trip to ArtFest 2.5 years ago. It seemed like EVERYONE had journals at ArtFest and they were all so AMAZING! I wanted to get in on the fun.

• How has Art Journaling impacted, changed, or enhanced your life?

Art journaling has really freed me up creatively. I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist and a lot of a procrastinator. With art journaling, all the things that were holding me back just don't exist. My journal is a place where I'm just goofing off so it doesn't matter if I mess up or hate a page. That freedom to experiment and play is contagious and spills over into my other artwork.

My art journal is also my ambassador in my regular, everyday world. I carry it everywhere and show it to anyone who's interested. It explains the art that I make and my creative nature much better than words ever could.

• What are a few of your favorite Art Journaling materials?

Cheap acrylic paints, my brayer, mod podge, chisel and brush tip pens, sharpie poster paint pens

• Who are some of your favorite Art Journalers?

Pam Garrison, Judy Wise, Teesha Moore

• What kind words of encouragement would you say to an Art Journal newbie?

You can do whatever you want in your journal! And there are no mistakes!

• Where can we contact you...give us some link LOVE!!

www.artquiltplay.blogspot.com

• Short Bio.

I am a mixed media artist in LOVE with color, texture, words, sunshine, flowers, books, fabric, embroidery, embellishment, raspberries, my cat Pistol, art journaling, creating, cool grass between my toes, tank tops, pizza and tons of other things.

Paint Party!

Saturday was a beautiful day for painting. Painting my house, that is. No more peach! I was up early taping all that lovely white trim that I wanted to keep.

This hallway has 8 freakin' doors!!

Girlfriends absolutely ROCK! Bridget, Kathy and Maureen worked so hard and had so much fun!

The peach was quite determined and required a coat of primer before we got to the lovely blue.

The color is weathered glass and it's everything I wanted. Lots more to do, but thanks to my amazing friends, the bulk of the painting is done!
I need to finish painting, do some heavy cleaning on the floors, get a dishwasher installed and install the new sink/vanity in the bathroom. In the meantime, carloads of stuff are going over every day. I'm hoping to actually start living there the first week of August!

I've got skillz

I spent a wonderful weekend in Tacoma at the Puget Sound Bead Festival with my mom and Aunt Susie. In addition to a ton of fabulous shopping, I took two classes and greatly expanded my jewelry making skills. I learned to solder with Stephen James and I learned mad metalworking skills from Linda Larsen. Hammering and torching and sawing, oh my! The pic above is the wearable journal pendant I made in Linda's class. Both classes were SOOOOO much fun. Now I have to buy a torch!

creating a home

Yikes, apologies in advance for the crummy pictures - the iphone camera doesn't like bad lighting!

Yes, I'm moving and I'm still putting things on the walls in the current place. I have an intense need to "see what it will look like". LOL! I bought some chipboard letters that are about a foot high and covered them with a patchwork of pretty scrapbook papers. Then I randomly brayered them with gesso to shabby them up a bit.

I finally got the keys to the new house yesterday, so I took the cat and a load of stuff over last night. Pistol was kinda freaked out, but he liked the back yard. I made this little altar of blessings on the mantle to start things off on the right note.

And I taped an impromptu welcome up in the hall.

And yeah, I totally tagged my house! This is in a corner of my studio space, the beginning of what will become my graffiti wall. It's my house, I can write on the walls if I want to!

painting again

What a relief to be painting again!
I tricked myself into overcoming my inertia by joining the Mixed Media Monday challenge. Once I decided to join the challenge, I put "paint something for the challenge" on my new TODO app on my iphone with a due date of today. I love my TODO app! Somehow actually writing things down makes a big difference in my accountability level for getting them done. One of the many amazing things I learned from Kelly Rae's Flying Lessons ecourse!

So the theme for MMM this week is "something borrowed". And my mortgage paperwork was completed on the new house this week. I'm "borrowing" money from the bank to buy the house, so I decided to paint something about the house. This piece is 9.5" by 13", painted on a found canvas, the inside of an old book cover that was on it's way to the garbage.

The other half of the doodle...

Here's the other half of that doodle:

The theme of this journal is Big Girl's Coloring Book and we were encouraged to play with our favorite color. Here's my full spread:

I like this a lot but sorta wish I'd kept the colors in the green/blue range. Next time.

Still stuck in creative inertia for the most part. My momentum is getting used up on house stuff (closing by July 8!) and on just enjoying the glorious loveliness of summer.

This I know

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more you have in life to celebrate.
--Oprah

Ash and I at Arbor Crest last Friday.

Tomorrow I'll be 40. I can't wait.

I've learned by now that there's A LOT that I don't know, but I have figured out a couple of things. I've been through some fire and I know my own strength (and my weakness). I know that life goes on and is filled with incredible sweetness. I know who I am and what I want and I'm getting better at saying no to what I don't want. I know that being kind, being thankful and being forgiving, to myself as well as to others, will take me to places and moments that are really worth seeing. And I know the true peace that comes from letting go of anxiety, jealousy, resentment, grudges and all that other negative junk. And knowing these things gives me so much confidence and optimism going forward.

I'm so blessed. I'm ready to celebrate.

inertia and momentum

half a doodle I'm working on for a circle journal page

Trying to find some balance between inertia and momentum this week. There's a lot to do and once I'm in the swing of doing, momentum carries me along. But when I stop, it's full stop and inertia makes it hard to get going again, both creatively and in other aspects of my life. I'm conscious of the need to pace myself, to enjoy the journey, to keep myself rested and refreshed along the way. I just wish the transition between action and stoppage was easier.

Here's a little something...

Here's a little something I've been working on. It's been a crazy week and things are pretty messy around here. I'm really looking forward to the (hopefully!) slower pace of the weekend and having some time to do some making.

Eureka!

Meaning "I have found it!" I've found my home, ready and waiting to be turned into the funky little cottage I've been dreaming of. It's got everything I wanted, all the quirky little things like a studio space with painted concrete floor so I can be as messy as I want and a private backyard so I can drink margaritas in my pjs.

I thought about this for a long time, wavering really. Did I really want to take on the maintenance of a house and yard? Would I qualify for a mortgage in today's tighter market? Could I afford something that I would be happy with?

Then, one day a few months ago, it suddenly all felt right. It was time. I applied for pre-approval of a mortgage the same day.

I've been looking at houses for a couple of weeks, but nothing was quite right. This house popped up on the market Thursday and my excellent realtor Celia took me to see it Friday at lunch. We made an offer that night and it was accepted yesterday. I still have to get through inspection and all the other closing details, but I am feeling remarkably calm about the whole thing. Everything has just fallen into place so far.

There's a little bit of work to be done. The fresh peach paint is ok, but not what I want and the whole point of having a house is to have it the way I want it, right?

Farm Chicks!

I went to the Farm Chicks show with my friend Korri on Sunday. Ohmigosh, it was beyond yummy! 3 big halls at the fairgrounds filled to the brim with wonderful vintagey, crafty, arty beautiful stuff! And that was on Sunday after it had been picked over by 4300 people on Saturday.

Honestly, Farm Chicks can be a teensy bit overwhelming if you try to look at the big picture. You have to just dive in and enjoy the gorgeous little details that call to you. I LOVE the blackboard in the ornate picture frame!

And that green picnic basket!

The thing that really sets Farm Chicks apart is the amazing creativity of the vendors. Each booth is a delicious little world, inviting you in to view its delights.

Korri and I found a few treasures and a TON of inspiration. We are wanting to start our own little creative business. The vendors we talked with were so encouraging, we are really feeling the possibilities.

Excellent Seattle Weekend!

When I was a little kid, my dad used to take me to Mariners baseball games at the Kingdome. That's the story I told my dad as we walked in to Safeco Field Friday night, our first Mariner's game together in a long time. The Mariners lost, but we had fun anyway, remembering those old games and talking about how we don 't know very many of the current players.

Saturday we went to a sports memorabilia show, another thing we used to do back in the day. There were lots of cool things to see and yummy grilled burgers to eat for lunch. Dad found quite a few things to add to his collection and I found a couple of things as well. Yep, I collect sports memorabilia. Artist and sports freak: a rare combination.

In the afternoon I wandered up to Bothell for the Eastside Miniatures Show. My Artfest buddy Lisa was there lecturing and selling copies of Mixed Media Dollhouses. Lisa is a major contributor to the book, written by my Artfest buddy Tally

and Julie Molina.

After the shows, we headed to Golden Oldies, an awesome record (yes, vinyl!) shop. The neighborhood featured some cool graffiti. Love the doodly patterns on this one.

Here's Dad engaged in one of his favorite pastimes: searching for cool records. He found some good stuff and I did too.

An excellent trip. The next day we hurried home so I could round out the weekend with a trip to the Farm Chicks show. Pics from that up next!

doodling around

I loved my Artfest doodling class with Traci Bautista so much that I decided to take her online Creative Doodling class. Tons of inspiration and fun!

Doodling around is pretty much the only creative activity going on around here these days. This has been a horrible allergy season and I'm spending a lot of my free time with my head on a pillow next to the humidifier...

I heart Hipstamatic!

I really, really love my iphone, but I have to say I'm not a big fan of the camera feature. I only use it if it's the only camera I have handy. That may change. I downloaded the Hipstamatic app the other day and ohmigosh it is sooooo fun! Here's a couple of quick shots from this morning. Yummy!