i brake for tumbling leaves...

happy new year everyone!!!!

today is also happy holy crap school is back in session day over here!  the holidays were wonderful but pezza HATES to play by herself, hates to be out of school, hates to be stuck inside when it's cold and gets dark early, hates hanging out with her mom every day...well you get the idea.  she IS the child who complained at 2 about never getting to be put in daycare.

i am here with a new journal page for y'all.  we all do alot of reflecting when the new year hits.  whether it's thinking about how the past year went or how the new year will go.  i am not one for new year's resolutions per se.  i do the resolution, evaluation, new resolution, re-evaluation thing throughout the year.  however, the new year does sort of magnify it.  one thought that washed over me very strongly is that if i live to be 250 years old i don't know if i will have time to delve into all of the things in life i am interested in!  and it sent me into a bit of a panicky feeling for an afternoon.  so i grabbed my journal and some stamps and this is what i have:

 

 of course having interests is a wonderful thing - and probably keeps people going as they get older.  the fact that i am in a position to explore many of them is an enormous privilege too!  life is a lot of things but one thing it is never for me is boring!  ok there are occasions i wish for a smidge of boredom but really i am never one to sit still.  heck i can't even sit and watch tv - i always have to be doing something else at the same time.  and though i started this page in my studio i finished it off in front of the tv with a collection of neocolor II crayons, rubons and my zig pens.

i made the paper i used for the body of my house using stamps from two I Brake For Stamps sets - Collage Elements 1 and Floral & Leaves Plate. the leaves tumbling through the faint (but definitely present and lurking) clock and watch images was exactly how i felt.  creating this piece of paper to incorporate into my journal work is precisely why i love IBFS images.  endless versatility!

what can YOU create with the fabulous stamp sheets available in the store???  find out by heading over to the IBFS website and picking some out!  use the code SAVE10MARTI and save 10% on your order too!

it takes a village...

hi all!

did everyone have a fabulous christmas???  we certainly did - probably one of the most perfect christmases ever except for the fact that we did not get to see my oldest boy.  we did our family-present-unwrapping-big christmas breakfast time on christmas eve so we could spend christmas day at the in-laws.  my youngest boy came over and played with pezza and ate and napped and ate and napped.  we got several inches of snow for even more fun play time.  pezza loved all of her gifts - we didn't go overboard and instead picked a few really good ones and it worked out perfectly.  she loved her stuff and was not overwhelmed and flinging things aside to be forgotten.  christmas day we headed to my in-laws for lunch and more gifts and everyone had a good time.  hubby and i said no gifts for each other since we are both pretty spoiled and get whatever we want throughout the year but OF COURSE he broke the rules and got me something anyway - a docking station speaker for my ipod which i have been wanting so i was quite pleased!  i am a HORRIBLE gift getter.  i WANT to get perfect gifts but i am completely terrible at it.  but i have something in mind to get him with next year...just gotta see if i can pull it off...!  i think the nicest thing about this year was that i did not overdue it and i took it easy on myself.  not everything on my wish list got done but i decided i am done trying to set impossible goals for myself and killing myself trying to reach them.

so i am fascinated by whimsical houses - ok let's be honest - i am fascinated by whimsical anything but i LOVE houses as a subject matter.  a few weeks ago pezza and i were relaxing in starbucks and started doodling a little village together on one of our bags.  i LOVE how she is SO much freer with her doodling - years of conditioning on what is "right" are totally absent when you are only 6 years old!  then last week i came across a post on Cathy Michaels Design and knew i needed to start bringing our little village to life.  not only was i IN AWE of her work - and ALL of her posts are seriously awe-inspiring - but i loved her method of couch potato art.  i do something similar in the summer when we head out to camp - i can't bring my whole craft room so i gather a few items to bring with and make do with what i have!

and so i started a page in my studio and got the basics down and then i grabbed some rubons, zig pens, neocolor crayons, gel pens and a water brush and headed to bed.  yes bed not the couch.  pezza wanted to do mommy bedtime which basically means she gets to hang out in mom's bed and fall asleep with me instead of having to go to bed in her own bed.  here is the end result:

my background consists of washes of watered down Luminarte Silks Acrylic glaze - LOADS of shimmer even with the additional water.  I added a bit of stenciling with straight Silks too.

i gathered some papers - a french book page, music pages, scrapbook papers and cut out some basic house shapes, added washes of watered down Silks on each of those and glued those on with my tape runner. then i sponged on some cream and white paints very lightly across the whole thing.

i sprayed the whole thing with workable fixative before moving on.  i knew i would be using more wet media and the silks are water soluable so i wanted to "set" them and prevent them from running.

and then i just doodles and colored and doodled some more.  and learned some things.  some of my doodles i liked.  others i did not.  i LOVE the way the neocolors "behave" on the workable fixative surface.  i am NEVER very good with the gel pens.  and the rubons are perfect additions - especially the ones that are actually double sided adhesive that you rub the foil on top of!  i am going to need some more of those!  i never really used rubons for anything before now!  i think i will be doing some more of this!

mixing it up - challenge 11!

seriously? i didn't write a single blog post last week????  EGADS!

last week was busy busy!  i started my after school mixed media class with some kids at pezza's school - CRAZINESS and MESS!  i am having them work on three boards over the course of 6 weeks.  we have 2 kindergartners, 2 first graders, 2 third graders and 1 fifth grader - 3 are boys and the rest girls plus pezza.  thank goodness we are having class in the art room BUT the art teacher was LESS than thrilled about us being in her space so i try very hard to make sure we leave no sign of ourselves after class!  if the class goes well i may do more.

we also had pezza's birthday party this weekend and i took her to the melting pot for dessert as her birthday treat.  melting pot did not impress me as much as i felt like it would - too much sweet i think!  i am not a huge chocolate person so that was my first problem BUT pez loved it and had lots of fun and it was a good mommy daughter outing.  then we had family and a few friends over for cake this weekend - of course i made her cake:

 our sunroom is a horrible setting for taking pictures - the cake was much brighter in person - just the thing for pezza!

daddy was in charge of balloons as usual and came back with a fabby bunch as usual!

now onto my projects for today - yep i have TWO!

we kick off a new challenge today on the mix it up group on Color Me Creative - we are using circles!  in addition i am entering this one in the Diva Zentangle challenge to do something mickey mouse/disney related.

i chose to use minnie mouse's bow to hold my doodles.  when i was done i used my twinkling H2Os to add some color and my charcoal pencil to add some shading.  i like doing the zentangles while i wait for pezza in gymnastics class - easily portable!  don't the twinks sparkle divinely?!?!?

this challenge pezza joined in too:

isn't it adorable!  she came up with this completely on her own!  we are going to use this for the front of her thank you cards :)

she began with some glass bead gel and green tea luminarte primary elements.  then she used some of her new fluorescent acrylic paints to paint the flowers on.  this is so HER!  in fact i may have to get some things made with this one over on Original Works!


we have THREE wonderful prizes up for grabs this month to one lucky winner!

 

$20 for Paper Temptress

 

gift certificate to Floppy Latte Digital Designs

 

FIVE jars of gorgeous shimmering Silks acrylic glaze paints from Dreaming In Color

ok now it's your turn!  what can YOU create using circles and more than one type of media?!?!!?  come join in the fun with us!

just be...but how?

hello all!

what a week! pezza turned SIX on thursday.  and we all made it this far alive!  there have been some moments along the way where i wasn't sure it would happen! hahhah!  in addition i had my very first kids mixed media art class at pezza's school.  it is a 6 week after school activity.  i have 7 kids in the class including my buddy Amy Sheffer's little boy Gabe - he and pez may have to be separated though.  together they get mischievous!  my goal is for them to have three completed mixed media pieces they can hang on a wall - class 1 was WILD but we accomplished what i wanted so that's good.  and we didn't do too much damage in the art room (though the art teacher was OBVIOUSLY displeased with us being in there :P)

i have an art journal page for y'all today.  and guess what - it has JOURNALING on it!  i have been working on more doodling and once i was done i felt it needed some wording in the doodles. 

i painted the picture with Twinkling H20s.  i'd really like to get better at both - the doodling AND the Twinks! I am usually better with the pics of the twinks but there is a fine line between capturing the shimmer and accidentally getting too much glare!

originally i was going to put blocks on the side with the colors i used to paint the picture but then i changed my mind

life has been extremely rough on me lately and i was thinking about it while painting.  many of you who follow my blog (or facebook) know i have been having quite a battle with health issues lately.  and it's been frustrating - an wide array of issues from annoyances to debilitating headaches to ulcers and a whole lot of pain.  my doctor has been NO help - just blows me off.  several specialists have gotten to the bottom of a few things but no widespread relief.

and then for other reasons i decided several months ago to stop taking the antidepressant i have been on since after pezza was born.  i was tired of feeling numb.  it takes away the depression and sadness but it also takes away all other emotions as well.  i tapered down slowly, went through the withdrawals and issues with that and i am finally OFF.  guess what.  EVERY single health issue i was having - large and small - GONE.  just gone.  things i would have NEVER connected to it.  how could my doctor have missed that?  isn't that why they are prescriptions - so they can monitor side effects?  so that is HUGE good news! 


however, it is rough - i have battled depression, HUGE depression problems since i was a kid.  and the adjustment to being off the meds is tough.  My coping skills are lacking.  so i have been thinking alot about how to get myself into a better place.  i do feel, in some ways, like i am coming out of a fog.  i am working on being kind to myself - it's hard. and on who i am.  and i was reminded of something a very smart woman told me once.  at the time she was talking about relationships but i am realizing it is applicable to more than that.  and simple - but not.  i just need to BE what i admire and perhaps i will begin to feel better.  instead of spending my time being/doing nothing and beating myself up for it.  not helpful at all!  or perhaps i am having a mid-life crisis?  i look in the mirror and it's like - wow!  who the heck is that old person?  maybe it's the fog of being home with a pre-schooler i am coming out of!

so that is my long ramble for today!  we are having a birthday party for pezza tomorrow - just a couple close friends and some of hubby's family. i hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

i tangled!

Happy Halloween!

well we survived hurricane sandy - sigh.  in reality we live to far inland to have been in any real danger of anything other than a strong windy rain storm.  we WERE prepared to be without power though which seemed a likely possibility.  we installed a generator years ago because we lost power so much when we first built this house.  of course, we have never lost power again and this time was no different.  having been through several major hurricanes on the coast of louisiana i know how bad it can get and i feel for all of the people who were hit hard with this one and my heart goes out to those that died. 

pezza will be happily back in school today - she seems much better since our foray to the ER thursday - now THAT was an adventure.  schools have been closed anyway but she was happy about it because she would have had to stay home anyway and this way she knew she didn't miss anything.  because heaven forbid she who never sleeps should miss anything right?!?!  i knew something was up when she got home from school last wednesday, curled up in front of the tv and DIDN'T MOVE.  she even asked me at one point if it could be bedtime - it wasn't even 5:30.  this is NOT how pezza usually is!  the ER adventure was amusing NOT.  of course it didn't start until after bedtime.  she had a bad case of croup which i had never dealt with before but she was not just coughing she was having trouble breathing at all.  a steamy shower fixed it for about 20 minutes and then it came back worse along with a sudden fever that shot up to 102.3 so off we went to the ER.  when we got there the fever had hit 103 so we headed to a room pretty quickly.  turns out for croup they can easily get the swelling down and relive the problem with a dose of steroids and a breathing treatment.  well, the nurse comes in with the meds and hands the cup with the steroids in it to pez, she drinks it and promptly spits it out all over the nurse and yells OMG that tastes like car tires!  the nurse is all shocked and taken aback.  i was trying not to laugh but man it was funny.  the nurse did not think it was funny though but i mean come on!  if you are giving a 5 year old nasty meds come in with a plan right?  and leave it to pezza to be generally obstinate about anything anyway right?!?!  next up breathing treatment which she wasn't overly cooperative for at first either but i got her to do it

she eventually thought this part was kind of funny.  she has had a congested cough lingering but by yesterday she was well enough to drive her dad and i bananas - she has basically been cooped up in the house for 5 days straight!
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newsies - a new mixed media challenge starts TOMORROW on color me creative and i hope some of you will join in!  I have 3 mixed media classes up and running on CMC so if you haven't done any and want to get started JOIN ME AND JUMP RIGHT IN!

also - Leslie - the creator of all of the gorgeous shimmering Luminarte products i love so much just released NEW COLORS for the Silks and Twinkling H2)s.  i have used them and they are oh so gorgeous!  i will have a few of them featured in my next post!  see them at Dreaming in Color.
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so what else have i been up to?  well, i LOVE LOVE the look of doodles/zentangles - the zentangle style has been around far longer than the term zentangle but i know most people recognize "zentangles".  my mom has been doing this same thing on china for AGES.  i really want to be able to do it but i really struggle with it!  i do not find it relaxing as i tense up and over-think it!  however i started a piece in my art journal quite some time ago and have been working on it little by little while i wait for pezza in gymnastics.  it is finally done!

what do you think???  overall i am pleased.  the perfectionist in me has issues with it but i try to shut her up as often as possible!

 i began by covering my page with a wash of twinkling H20s so i wasn't working on stark white.  then i drew my squares and got to work.

i did not keep track of the names of all these designs but you can find loads of designs right on the zentangle website!  for FREE!

of course the kitty in the corner is my fave part!  you will probably see one form of this kitty or another pop up on some other things!  i did get a bit better and more relaxed as i went and i may even start another one......think i should?

in my garden

hello!!!

i just had a moment of panic typing that because i realized i had no idea what day of the week it is BUT I'M OK!  it's friday!  holy cow.

so week 1 of pezza in big school has been a great success!  she already doesn't want any hugs or kisses getting on the bus.  she had her very first babysitter last night and loved it and her teacher says she has done quite well. last night was parents night.  it's funny starting all over again.  this time is very different though.  i shared with y'all my apprehension regarding school and how tough it was with the boys.  i was awfully young, single, always moving around and never knew anyone there.  this time around i knew half the parents in the classroom and quite a few more at the school in general.  i hope it makes it easier.

i have had a long day and a long week.  on top of starting school and having the schedule we got used to go all out of whack i picked up a teeny 4 pound momma cat and 2 teeny babies.  momma has not got enough milk so i am doing bottle feedings every 2-3 hours.  they are sick too so i am doing all i can but...think good thoughts for us :)  in addition hurricane isaac went right over my mom's house.  luckily they did not have any damage and even still have electricity.  she cannot call locally but she can call me.  my stepdad has been going through chemo so he is pretty weak and of course they both go out and try to start clearing the debris from their 4 acres of yard and now are at the ER with my stepdad.  sheesh!  old people!  i called my step sister and she went to meet them at the ER and i told her to make them quit with the crazy yard clearing!

i played around a bit more with my inktense pencils

i drew the flowers first and added some doodling to the stems

next i added some color with the inktense pencils - not a lot - i put in my darks and lights all at once.

then i used a water brush to blend it all.  after it dried I splattered some Luminarte Silks across the page.  i am thinking i may make a garden series or something :)  ok i am off to bottle feed teeny kittens!  check in tomorrow to see what i did for the new color me creative challenge!

watercolor pencil play!

hi all!

well, my foster kittens are still here :(  no adoption yesterday for us.  don't get me wrong i love them to bits but they need good homes they can stay in forever.  the good news is that we did have alot of adoptions of other kittens.  last count i heard we the rescue i work with had 110 kittens needing adoption!  and more keep coming.  please please please if any of you want a cat or dog do not support breeders or puppy mills - adopt a cat or dog from a rescue instead.  or maybe you like kittens but can't have one - contact your local rescue and ask if they need help.  we go to petsmart every wednesday morning to take care of the kitties in the cages there and it's a great way to get a kitty "fix"!

i have also been working on a new class for the Color Me Creative online class room - it is all about Mixed Media and is going to be quite fun!  this is a basics class - so if you have been wondering what all the fuss is about regarding mixed media lately head on over and take my class!  It will be up soon!

yesterday i was a blur of total inactivity and un-productivity :P  i had a crazy hectic week.  (i will tell you all about the cake making tomorrow...it did not have a happy ending.)  in the afternoon i decided to bring down my watercolor pencils and a water brush to play with in front of the tv.  i do not have very many - a small set of derwent inktense and a small set of albrecht-durer.  these are both the very best in my opinion.  i got a set of derwent student grade water color pencils years ago and was never happy with them.  well you get what you pay for sometimes!  i doodled for awhile, colored in some stamped images and then i decided to use them to color in a page i had doodled a couple weeks ago

i love whimsical flowers and i really like these!  i drew them in ink and then added the watercolor pencil - this one uses the albrecht durer.

next I spattered them with pink azalea and sunburst luminart silks using a stencil brush and a toothpick.

i am thoroughly enjoying my pencils and waterbrush! 

drawing and doodling...

ahhhhh summer vacation....here we go!

we had the camper in for service and kevin picked it up friday.  his afternoon work was canceled so we decided to do a last minute weekend trip.  i wanted to go check out a renaissance faire saturday about 3 hours south of here and kevin said - how about we just head down there for the whole weekend.  so off we went.  there were not a lot of campgrounds to choose from - it was right off Lake Anna which i had never been to.

well.  what a disappointment the campground was.  WOW.  the camper (which is not huge by any stretch as campers go and has no slide outs on the side) BARELY fit in the site.  so our picnic table - which was severely bowed in the center and unusable, was actually in the site next to ours.  the sewer connection was up so high out of the ground that the pipe was running UPhill to drain.  which does not work....BUT we were going to make the most of our getaway and i do love staying in the camper.

unfortunately the people behind us were rowdy, noisy, drunken idiots for half the night so no one got a whole lot of sleep.  but we headed to the renfaire to check it out.  i have never been to one but always wanted to go.  it was pretty small but i loved looking at all the costumes folks were wearing and they had some cute booths and such set up.  not alot i wanted to buy (boo).  but pez and i decided i DO need to make us each a jingly gypsy skirt.  the highlight was the magic show we watched - they guy was HILARIOUS!  part magician and part comedian.  he had me rolling laughing before his show even started.  then he asked for volunteers and pezza got picked.  so he puts this rope around her and asks if she is a good girl.  she says yes and then he says if she is good it will come off but if she is bad it will cut her in half.  weeeelllllllllll boy did the worry come out on her face!  kev and i were dieing laughing.  she also got a super fancy braided hairdo - pics are at the end of this post.

that afternoon we took pezza to the swimming/beach area of the campground.  wow.  we thought the campsite was bad...so at this point i am thinking i have become QUITE the serious diva compared to when i first started camping in a tent 15 years ago.  pezza had fun of course - it was water - that's all she needs.  but it was pretty much an old boat launch area they roped off i think and kind of gave me the creeps.  however - it was nice to get away and we still had a good time.

it also gave me a chance to do some doodling while driving and sitting at the campsite so i thought i would show y'all what i came up with.  not zentagle-y exactly but kind of close...

i have SUCH an urge to add doors and windows to these - i think perhaps i should....

i also wanted to experiment with adding some color...

tried out a Goddess one too - not finished yet...

i like the way these have turned out and plan to do more BUT i do NOT find this to be relaxing at ALL!  i am very tense and stress when i do them so hopefully that will change...?

what do y'all think?  leave me a comment and tell me your favorite one!

and here are pics from our weekend - how cool is pezza's hair?  i need to get better at french braiding!

doodling time

hi all!

boy the DVR sure does get full when on vacation doesn't it?  i don't watch the shows i see most of my friends chatting about - dancing with the stars, glee, bachelorette or whatever it is.  i love fringe, ncis/ncis LA, mentalist, unforgettable - yes i am a total sci fi and crime show junkie.  we are watching fringe episodes today - that show is just getting weird but i have to keep watching.  summer is so disappointing with no new episodes but luckily we have netflix so i have been watching the Tudors - another fave genre - historical fiction.  there are several others like that i want to try and watch.

i am also getting ready for my classes this weekend at the Outlawz Retreat AND my awesome buddy Cat aka silly skittles is coming for a visit!  SO excited!  the inner harbor will not know what hit it once we are on the loose.  AND she we are doing some sort of royal high tea - oh can't wait!

in the meantime i wanted to post something else i did - i doodled this at my mom's and in the truck - i am determined to get the hang of doodling. 

it is supposed to be mindless but for me it i not :P  but i am sure having fun working on it!

 i added a bit of color with pezza's colored pencils.  it was the only thing handy in the truck!

i am blessed...

hi all!

well today is my meeting with a school psychologist about pezza.  last night we had to fill out a super long questionnaire type thingy about her.  the questions were SO bizarre and alot of them totally irrelevent.  not to mention not properly put together.  i took MANY MANY statistics classes in school - it is one of my most favorite topics - and i rarely come across a properly composed poll or questionnaire.  anyway, we filled it all out and her teacher filled out one as well.  after this meeting we will have a final meeting with a group of folks from the school to decide if she is going to require an IEP in school to help her (and them) manage next year when she goes to kindergarten.

in other news...i still have openings in my classes in May in Baltimore!  you can see all the details on the Workshops page.  they will be lots of fun!  in fact the whole weekend getaway will be lots of fun!  i am also hosting a Pinterest Party on the friday night before the workshops at the retreat hotel.  you can get full details on The Outlawz page!

i also have a little project to share with you:

this page was lots of fun to do!

i started by misting my blank journal page with ink - no it's not Dylusions.  i don't have any of those yet.  i just did what i have always done and mixed half water and half adirondack dye reinkers in a mini mister and misted away.

next i doodled away along the bottom border - not bad for having just begun attempting to doodle.  i added some flowers too.  then included some prima flowers for a bit of dimension.  glittered skittles in the center of course!