Winter is here.....

Blessed is the season

 which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.  

This week for the Zendala Dare, Erin from Brightowl.blogger.com provided a wonderful template to play with...and the theme was winter.  With today being the Winter solistice, I decided to play along.  Snow flakes and ice are supposed to arrive later today...so this is what I came up with.  I made a watercolor background and photo-shopped the lettering...wanted to get finished and posted today!  

Happy Art Swap

I am fortunate to participate in a wonderful art swap with some very talented ladies.  We swap out art on a monthly basis and Mama Sandie handles all the swapping.  This month I won some extras...here they are!

I would  be hard pressed to say which one is my favorite...they are all so awesome!!!

Off to the couch to doodle and catch up on some recorded television...sick today...yuck!  One of those nasty sinus crud things!  Gotta feel better for later on...my friend Dorothy and I are going to brave the cold weather and bit of snow to go on a Cookie Walk in downtown Lees Summit.

grace and peace....Sharon

class begins!

As usual, Joanne Sharpe has come up with another fab class! We are creating an art journal using watercolors...not my favorite medium to work with at times.  But it is always good to stretch...

 So far, this is what I have finished..another new lesson today!

And this is a new canvas created this week..12x12 mixed-media collage using my gelli plate prints. It will be for sale in my Etsy shop.
Have a great week-end..do something creative just for YOU!
PEACE AND GRACE...

Joanne has another new class starting tomorrow!!! Yippee!

Monday will be a good day...why would Monday be a great day you may ask?  Another great, online class is getting ready to start!  Joanne Sharpe from Whimspirations is starting another new class.  She is an amazing, inspiring teacher...and her classes are so reasonable.  I have learned so much from her and from the other talented members in our classes.

This weekend, I have been playing in my art journal and watching videos by Teesha Moore...love her style.  My FB friend, Ginny Markley had a wonderful blog post describing how she has journaled using Teesha's style.  If you like to cut and paste, paint and journal, doodle...you will love this!  Check out both of these fabulous ladies! Teeha's YouTube videos are just great.

Here is what I have so far......

Now to add some lettering!

Oh my..it has certainly been awhile! Just needed to take a break from blogging...not to mention TIME!  I feel fortunate to be able to play in my studio whenever I can.  Last week I made costumes for the boys to wear to the Renaissance Festival. As you might be able to see...Max is right in the middle of it all!

I have decided that I would much rather work in an art journal than on canvas.  But this one turned out pretty well, it is a 12 x 12 canvas.

I am so far behind on my online classes, 21 Secrets And Lifebook 2013.  Got to get busy on 21 Secrets before it expires! 

And I will leave you with a doodle and a bit of advice...

Old Man Winter is BAAACK!

Doesn't he know it is officially spring?????

Last Tuesday, we went to PreSchool with our 4 year old grandson, Jack.  He was presented with the honor of being the Star of the Week.  It was so cute, his teach interviewed him about various things.  I was so thrilled to have the day off so that I could go!

Jack age 4

I have been busy playing around with a couple of online classes.  One is Lifebook 2013, it has a variety of teachers all year long, so we are exposed to many different styles and interpretations of art and journaling.  March was all about connections.  I don't know how mine wound up looking like little China dolls, but it did!!   I try to copy the teacher, but sometimes it just does not work for me and I have to do my own thing before I get to frustrated.  I do try to learn whatever technique they are showing and use it if I can. 

Connections taught by Mindy Lacefield in Lifebook 2013

And a very fun class is Cotton Candy Girls by Natasha May...love her girls!

And on April 4th, I get to go to a Art and Soul retreat!  Yippee!  I chose to take Joanne Sharpes art journaling class.  I have so enjoyed all of her online classes, so I knew I wanted to meet her in person!

Wishing all of you a Happy Easter and Spring!

What's on my worktable...I mean playtable

A Cotton Candy Angel on an 8x10 canvas...my first canvas!

This is lesson one with Natasha May...she is fabulous.  Isn't the internet a wonderful place? 

 Natasha lives in Slovenia...do you know where that is?  I had to Google it of course.

Sunday Postcard challenge... Toadstools and Mushrooms!  

Most of the art is from Deviant Scraps...awesome site!

LetterLove 201 with Joanne Sharpe...not sure which lesson this is, but so much fun!

My 4 year old grandson, Jack, loves to play with gramma's markers. 

We drew dragons  and practiced letters.

Inky fingers and paint all over the place....oh well...fun times in my studio!

Thundersnow!!!

We are in the midst of a drought, so the snow is most welcome.  Plus I was feeling very cheated by a winter without snow!  Now we are having record breaking snowfall...not feeling cheated anymore! 

Jim was not and is not feeling cheated at all.   He really hates winter!  So glad we closed the office and I did not have to make the drive in.  Probably would not have made it anyway...the roads are terrible according to the news.

My mom has celebrated her 88th birthday.  We took her out to eat at her favorite restaurant and let her be entertained by the great-grandsons.  She is to be admired...healthy and alert, getting a bit slower because of her darned knee, but keeps going as much as possible. 

I am not getting any quilting done, keeping up with my online art journaling classes are keeping me busy.  Plus with the price of fabric..who can afford to quilt?  But I know I will continue to make small quilts...they are my favorite anyway!  This month, I am taking a fabulous class with Joanne Sharpe, Letter Love 201.  And working on my A to Z's of Me journal, as well as my Lifebook 2013.  Lots of things to get caught up on...better get off this computer and get to work...I mean play!

And in March, I hope to take a class with Natasa May...check out the class she has coming up.  Hope I win a free pass!!!  I really do love her whimsical style.

All of the above is from Letter Love 201...off to create more!

The A to Z's of Me project

For the month of February, there is a great art journaling challenge going on over at An A to Z of Me.  Bernice Hopper has organized this challenge and has put an immense amount of work into into it.  Every day will be another letter in the alphabet, she provides inspiration and journaling prompts for us to play along with.  Go check it out...you might want to join up with us!

Hope you are finding time to create this week!

Groundhog day

Don't know about you, but I am always glad when January is done...spring is that much closer now!

This year I decided to join up with the Calendar Art Journal challenge with Kate Crane on Facebook.  And I actually had my February pages done before February arrived...wonder how long I will be able to keep that up? 

Keeping busy with other artsy things.  Lifebook 2013 is in full swing, and I am enjoying it very much.  And yesterday a new class started with Joanne Sharpe....LetterLove 201.  28 days of lettering lessons...that should make a cold February easier to tolerate!

My son, Matthew graduated from the Highway Patrol Law Enforcement Acadamy on January 18th.  I am so very proud of him, as he went to school full time and worked full time.  As you can tell, Jordyn is also very proud of her daddy.

Grandkids are always so much fun...like these silly Boys Scouts! We took Caleb bowling...wild and crazy times :)

 Jack is trying out a new toy that Santa left at Camp Gramma...the Crayola Marker Airbrush toy!  I think the most fun for Jack is pumping it up.

And here are a few of the other projects I have been working on in January.

What are you going to do today?

Lifebook 2013....Intentions



a new zentangle page using watercolors