2011 in a nutshell

well the countdown begins for the beginning of 2012

in 2011 i blogged 238 times

made some good and bad art

took alot of courses and learned alot

have 112 followers (thank you)

made many good blogging friends

grieved over the loss of my mother

had a few scary health concerns (good now)

took a few trips

had fun times with good friends

watched my daughter grow as a woman

celebrated my 39the wedding anniversary

helped my sister

tonight we are staying home having a quiet new year

sometimes we don't even make it up for new years,

we are going today at 1:00 pm to have lunch with

friends at the Red Lobster...my favourite place on earth.

What are you doing tonight?

Favourites

Do you have a favourite drawing, painting, sketch that you

like above anything else you have ever created?

I do, this one, its not pretty, its not even that

good technically, she looks like she

has had a bad batch of botox, but

it represents me who I am as an

artist,where I want to go as an artist.

I cant draw or paint realistically, no

matter how hard I try, so I decided

I have to go a different path, the

path is a little wonky, funky, edgy (i try)

I want people to look at my work and

say, that is her style for sure.

What do you say, whats your style,

Imperfection

When you make art do you love what you produce immediately?

I must say sometimes, I am satisfied with it, sometimes

I hate it, sometimes I am happy with imperfection.

I think that some of the great painters of years ago

struggled with the same worries about

there art, as we do.  I am sure Picasso must

have produced a few stinkers in his time.  But

I guess what we all have to remember

is what we see as an imperfection\

others see as perfection.

Mrs. No idea

I quess you can tell, I have no ideas, no art ideas i mean

the well has run dry this week.  The feeling of blogging

is not there.  Is it the season? Is it sometimes you need

to take a break.  I kept going by Zorans blog, but

she had not posted in awhile.  Finally a post

a bunch of bloggers had emailed her and asked

if she was alright.  She was she had just

up and quit her blog, she thought nobody

would miss . she came

back, explained she had enough for now,

and goodbye.  Do you feel like that sometimes?

Or am I the only one, or is blogging going

out of style, now with different ways to

communicate. thru face book, twitter etc.

Personally face book or twitter is not

for me.  Ok lets take a poll, do you

like to blog, facebook or twitter, which one the most

Me.  its blog when I have something to say

Its all over except the mess

Had a great xmas

lots of great gifts

lots of turkey and stuffing, chocolates and on and on

listening to Adele 21 from the Shopper

went for a great long walk with devil dog to walk of the food

the weather is perfect

not venturing to far today

Boxing day sales will be on all week

leftover turkey and trimmings tonight

turkey soup in the crock pot

twas the night before christmas


and Lee wanted to wish everyone a

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Family Traditions

Every year I buy my daughter a christmas ornament, have been doing this

since she was born, she now has 23.

Do you have a family christmas tradition you want to share

lets get together

Today was a lunch with best friends, and exchange of gifts,

I bought a couple of prints from one of my favourite artists

on her website, mounted them, painted the canvas, and some

other things for them.  They loved them.  I love giving

gifts that mean something.  We had a great lunch

and a good time.  We don't just do it at Christmas

we try to all get together at least once a month

you need to keep in touch with friends.  We need

family, but you also need friends.

Snow Birds

Where I live in Alberta, we have long, cold winters, and

for those that can afford it, usually there winter holidays

or winters are spent in either Arizona, or California.  Now if

you lived on the east coast of Canada, your winter

destination would be Florida. They call us

Snow birds, going south for the winter. If you

know Anne Murray a Canadian she had a number one song

called Snow birds

 Just a little information you might not know today

spinning my wheels

I have been out of commission these past few days, with a fever,

heavy cough and really bad cold  But today, I am feeling a bit

better, I have a few things    that need to get

done.  Hubby is home on holidays so he is doing his

best with the  errands that I give him, but you know

men, they dont get exactly what you want.

Other than that no news, this is a postcard I did a while

back and never showed anyone.

The Princess and the Pea

The shopper and I have been busily making magic bags.

For those of you who don't know what magic bags are

these ones are full of Flax Seed, all you do

is heat them up in the microwave for a couple

of minutes, and you can put them on achy spots,

or if your cold to warm you up, you can also

put them in the freezer if you need a cold compress.

I have been using mine all weekend, as I have

come down with a really bad cold, and congestion

aches all over my body.  I love mine not shown,

These ones are for her co-workers, we have

quite the assembly line going, she cuts, I sew,

we fill, and I sew closed.  Most of this is done

on the machines, except the end bit, which

is much nicer done with hand stiching

Card Zone

http://suescraftcupboard.blogspot.com/

this beautiful card was made by Sue, don't you just love it

so smartly made I would never of thought of making a tree like that

I love it

http://www.opportunitywithdanger.blogspot.com/

this gorgeous card was made by Jan, don't

you love it, its got that ethereal quality to it

This beautiful card is from http://joyfulploys.wordpress.com/ she is a great artist and has a wonderful blog, full of great art, great color

this is made by my blog friend janet

http://jkbees.blogspot.com/ isnt it beautiful

when I opened it I was dazzled, the

picture does not do it justice

go on over to her blog she

explains how she made it

so how are you all doing were almost to the countdown, the presents will be

opened, in how many minutes (lol) the food you loving prepared is

over in how many minutes (lol) and the mess is all yours to clean up

in how many days

Moo

The picture says it all, that is how i feel ...

Today I feel weepy, and I have a cold, and a cough, which I haven't had in about 8 years.  I must be run down, the holidays this year are getting me down, and I vowed not to let them.  I have been thinking about my mother and sister and father who have all passed away.  And feel my family shrinking, and worry about my own mortality, and my other sister.  There are things that I need to do and I have put off this but I made a new bucket list of 12 things that I want to accomplish in my life and I vow to do them.  They are not impossible things they are doable.  Christmas time is always a season of soul searching and gathering of
all the people that you love close beside you and letting everyone know how much they mean to you.  I have vowed for 2012 that I will let the people I know and love everyday how much they mean to me.

Oh for heavens sake I am being so overly dramatic here, must be the fever (lol).  Well today I am laying low, feeding a fever and starving a cold, (or whatever it is).  Tonight the shopper is coming over after work and the family is having pizza and we are baking.  The hubby needs some stuff for work on Friday and so does the shopper, tis the season. 

Snack Attack

Do you leave Santa a snack and what was it?

Back in the day, we always left Santa a snack,

but not a traditional snack.  Because my

parents always told us, Santa must be

sick of cookies and milk by the time

he got to our house.  So our snack

was crackers, and ham sausage and a bottle

of beer.  When we woke up in

the morning we always checked to

make sure Santa had his beer

and crackers (loll)

The Truth

How old were you when you knew that Santa was not real?

And Who told you?

I cant remember how old I was , but my sister told

me, when she was mad at me.  First I wouldn't

believe her, then she pointed out some valid

points, like we didn't have fireplace. Every time

we went to see Santa he was a different Santa

etc.  So then when we both knew it became

out mission in life to find every present

before Christmas.  One year we

saw a phone jack in our room, hidden

behind something, so we knew we were

getting a phone, so we searched the

house found it, plugged it in

and had phoned my mother

at work to ask her some dumb question.  She

never knew we found it.  It was princess phone

in pink. Our favourite that year.

busy busy

even with being so organized, having all the presents bought and wrapped,

tree up, house decorated, outside decorated, I am still busy.  I thought

I would be down in the studio, sipping a diet coke, with my feet

up just thinking about art.  But no my mind is still thinking

we need more, more presents, more stuff.  But yet

my heart says you have enough, its not suppose

to be about the presents, but we all know

that is crap, ask your kids what it is really about.

Fa La La La and all that stuff

the daily question is "Do you like the Old Christmas Songs or the new 20 the century ones"

I like some of the old ones, and some of the new ones, some

bring back memories I have forgotten.

  What is your favourite

Christmas song?

I am taking a little poll, are you sick of all these Christmas questions and

art that I am doing for the month of December? Are you thinking

of not coming back till January? Let me know, because I

can change it up.

Checking the mail

Do you send christmas cards to your friends and  Family?

This is the year I have decided to stop the sending

of Christmas Cards period.  Last year it was to

just family.  Christmas Cards I quess are

old school now, as you can send your

emails, and facebook, and skype, your

wishes.  Years ago (here I go again) my

family (mother etc) would get

a zillion cards, with letters on how

everyone was doing, etc.  But now really

there is no need, we used to have christmas

cards strung all over the house. 

Sometimes its just black and white

do you put candy canes on your tree?

When I was growing up, our tree was loaded

with handmade ornanments, and candycanes.

So do you think candycanes are old

school, because I think I am going to

go and get some and put them

on my tree, old school or not.

Be a rebel and start a new

tradition and make candycanes rule.

string them up

Do you decorate the outside of your house?

We only put lights on the trees in front of the house

and on the front of the house.  They are turning

on tonight.  In the neighbourhood where we

live they have a "light up" night, they

make a big deal, have a tent, have horse

sleigh rides, and everyone turns on

the Christmas lights.  At the front of

the entrance to where we live, they have

a fountain and some big tall trees,

and they are lighted up.  Tonight

we turn on the lights?

Dedicated christmas tree space

Tonight the tree comes up and decorations appear

Question of the day

Do you always put your Christmas Tree in the same place

and do you have more than one you put up?

I can tell you I only have one tree, I always put it in the

same place. I will tell you a little secret if you haven't

figured it out yet, I am quite the precise and that's

a nice word,  kinda of gal, so it goes in the same

space every year. 

Now I guess the next question would be:

Do you decorate your tree by a theme, like

same colors , all balls, or bows

Now I must admit my tree is not a theme tree,

its kinda all over the place, things the

shopper made me when she was little, things

I inherited from my parents, things we

bought when we were married.  But

I do admire beautiful trees that have

a theme, and beautiful ribbons, but

its not me. 



Deck the halls

Its December 2 and the question of the day is

"When do you decorate your house and put up the tree"

Well usually I do all this stuff on the 18th of the month

and take it down on the 26th.  But this month

i am breaking my stringent rules, throwing caution to

the wind and putting the tree up and the decorations

on Saturday.  I am going out of my comfort zone (lol)

and breaking free as the shopper says.



Hello December

making a 4x6 index card each day in December

going out with friends tonight to see Breaking Dawn, and drinks afterward

bringing up the tree to the family room

having leftover chicken pot pie

working on my December craft

enjoying my day by doing things that I love

what are you doing this December 1

wordless wednesday just reading the newspaper

Do you feel crafty?

I had a little laugh when I read this in the paper, and had to share it

so true.  I always make one craft at christmas, it started when

my daughter was born, I wanted to be a good mom and

make crafts with her.  She wasn't the least little bit interested, could be because I
was a pushy mom and always had to be in charge (lol) or because it was my way or the
highway...  because don't we always know right (lol) I have since learned I am not the boss of her (lol)
So this year without assistance   I have decided to make a cone shaped styrofoam
tree filled with bows made from the newspaper, and water colored.  In my mind
its going to be beautiful, reality may step in and say differently.  So stay tuned for that

Here is a link if you feel crafty from robin Marie site

for a bunch of homemade ornaments, just

click on the writing and you will get the

instructions and let me know if you make anything
 http://www.robenmarie.com/blog/2011/11/29/ornament-love.html

One eyed wonder

• still working on cone project and collage
• had spring like weather all weekend
• going to the shoppers house to let the floor guy in
• today is wifely duties, and get your mind out of the gutter, its not that, its cleaning the house
• some art supplies bought on the weekend some wood boards to paint on, spalette knifes, sennier pastels, only 4, as I cant afford them all at once, so I buy a few at a time they go on like butter

so what di you do on the weekend,,,,

mish mash friday

Thanksgiving is over, and all that is left is turkey sandwiches

turkey pot pie, and should I go on, until all that

damn turkey is gone.  Now its shopping till you drop,

fighting the crowds back when they have what you want,

and coming home with an sense of accomplishment of

getting what you really did not need but had to have

and a little lighter wallet, now isn't that what

thanksgiving is all about (lol).

In Canada they did not like all us Canadians going down ac cross the

border to spend all our hard earned dollars, so they

got into the spirit and now we have Black Friday

shopping, but it doesn't give you quite the

thrill of going across the border just

so you can get that one item

and come back and brag to all your friends

of what you got?

All right who of you went shopping raise your hands, and let me know what you

got, so I can get the thrill of the hunt to.



Back to the future

did the transfer and it worked thanks Julie

one of the secrets is use toner based copies

and let the gel med dry

still a little work needed on the transfer

and lots on the collage this is just

the start

I am also working on another project on the cone

on the table, if it works I will share it with you

if it doesn't you might see the garbage

are you full of turkey now



do you feel crafty

Is this the time of year you feel crafy, well have I got some sites for you to

check out, really great projects, dont wait run over and check them out

this one I might try today

http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2011/11/from-the-archives-newspaper-flowers-tutorial.html

here is another one from her for a chevron stamp, and you know chevron is this season
http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2011/11/from-the-archives-chevron-stamp-tutorial.html

and make your own teacups with a pattern so simple

http://annwood.net/blog/2011/02/24/paper-mache-teacup-pattern/

heres another site, this site is so full of information and
tutorials, and she shares so easy go here and try it out

http://annwood.net/blog/2011/02/24/paper-mache-teacup-pattern/

i belong to a group called art geeks run by Gulfspirt free
and she shares,  and here is her youtube channel
check it outhttp://www.youtube.com/user/GulfSpr1te?feature=mhee

here are some tutorials from Julie Pritchard, her art is
amazing, she has amazling online classes, and she
shares what she knows
http://julieprichard.squarespace.com/blog/category/tutorials

so that is from me to you, happy thanksgiving

Transfer Magic

I haven't given up on my collage, I am

working on it today, I will take pictures .  I am going to try another transfer, this

time one that I learned in  http://www.julieprichard.com/blog/
class titled Complex Collage, that is a great
class if your interested in taking one, I learned alot, and
its on sale  .  I was not paid to say that.(lol)  Dont ask
me why I never did that transfer to start with, you know the I can
do it my own way and it will work but never does way
Other than that, I have already been to the airport, to drop
the sister inlaw off to go home, to the vet, to
get devil dogs, leg checked she was limping,
she only stretched the ligament, get her
nails cut, and buy some dog food, $166 dollars
later, I left.  But the good news is
in two months she has lost 2 lbs
she is on a diet, unlike her owner who has
not dropped two pounds.  Anyway
I am off to work on my collage, stay tuned.

failure does not deter me

so i decided that i should do a transfer on her head,

i know what you doing? The funky piece I had

looked like hair.  Now every transfer I have

ever done, with every supply i can think of

has failed. But undaunted I vow to try again.

 so I start pict 2 on the head, you cant

see me praying off camera

 picture 3 the reveal, failure, you cant see

what words at that moment are coming

out of my mouth

 picture 4 I decide to leave the transfer

area and never do another one again, and move on

until I can think of something else.  Next painting

the girl. Stay tuned

The Ugly Stage

I started working on a collage,

first step pickingout some of  the collage items

went very monocromatic on the colours

 Next step place them and see if you like them,

this is what I call the ugly stage, but

hopefully it gets better. 

I will share this journey with you if your intersted.  In other news there seems to be alot of blog drama going on, lots of people stealing others ideas and claiming there own.  I see no ones stealing my ideas, because your welcome to them (lol).  Pretty soon nobody will be blogging because they dont want their ideas taken. So those out there in blog land who dont have any ideas of your own, get a life and start thinking of some.  Because I like reading everyones blogs....keep posting

Moments

wind is howling and snow is swirling

fireplace on
 hotchocolate in hand

wrapping christmas presents (yes I am )

mailed christmas cards (yesterday)

enjoying the little moments today



A bit of drib and drab

painted background papers

I have a busy morning

•  haircut much needed
• pick up the shoppers contact lenses
• return some bottle to the bottle depot
• pick up mother inlaw take her grocery shopping
• walk devil dog

This afternoon I plan on devoting some time in

the studio, a quick clean up and then its time

to think of working big, thats right I am

going to try and work big .  I dont know

yet what I am going to do but its going to be big.

christmas card chaos

I am in the process of making Christmas cards

I had all my Christmas stuff all together

so I decided just to make them in the kitchen

instead of the studio, so I could

visit and watch tv with the hubby.

I know , I know, what a nice

wife, what I wont do for my man (lol).

So I managed to make 5 cards so far,

lets just say it not production line

fast.  If you squint really hard

you can see some in the back

on the counter.

Reflections

Today is all about reflection my mother passed away 1 year ago today

hard decisions had to be made and I had to make them

I still wonder if I made the right decision

but sometimes its the only one

Fridge Art

Sometimes i just create art for the fridge, the other day I had a paper bag and created two peices of
art, I will show you the  other one  tommorow.  Not the best of works of art I have, but done fast and easy, 10 minutes.  Sometimes I just like to do fast art and not care if its not perfect.  Well last night I said to hubby how do you like my fridge art, and he say's what fridge art.  Ah dude were you dropped on your head as a baby,are you blind. How many times does he go in that fridge in 24 hours lets just say more that you want to know, and he cant see a big honking peice of art, oh the joys of having a husband

Floating

I feel like I have been floating lately, just floating and not doing what

I want to do, which is stop doing tthese damn postcards, and do

something else.  So I have been thinking about what to go onto

next, my friend  janet  http://jkbees.blogspot.com/ works
on all sorts of things, big canvas one day, her journal the next day
draws on newsprint. I am thinking of doing a mixed media
on clayboard, I would love to be one of those people that
could work on more than one thing at a time.  I am going to try that,because
pretty soon I will need  some intense therapy if I continue to make postcards

I dont do cutzie

I know this is bordering on cutzie, gag me with a spoon.  Its started just as a piece of textured paper, and a card with fish on it.  I started with a pink marker, the fish I used as a picture, and it went from there.

(disclaimer: IT not that I dont like cutzie art, I just dont like if I do it.  I asked my daughter the
shopper if it was cutzie and she said no, but she is related to me, she has to lie. 

The day

postcard, hand drawn fence and background, girl from magazine, drawn over

with sharpie, white out, and markers

Hello Monday

turkey soup on the stove

no snow here yet

homemade bread to be made

laundry to be done

dog to be walked

art to be made

Molting

I know you probably thinking is that all she ever does is birds, I promise

you i will do other things, I am getting a little sick of it to.

But I had a good time with this one, I kind of made him

look like peeling paint, or molting, i used tiny scraps of handmade

paper, and glue, and white out, and black pen.

Imperfection

I like drawing buildings, not perfect, because truthfully

try as I might I cant get them perfect.  So imperfect it is, this is another

postcard, but a big one, I got out of the garbage by the mailbox.

Yes I am a garbage picker......Well today looms in front of me,

with possibilities to go out and enjoy the last of the fall

weather , so I better get out of these pjs and into some

warm clothes and get myself out of here and get

a hot chocolate and a muffin, the paper at my

favourite coffee shop...what are you doing for yourself today?