The Documented Life Project

WOOT WOOT!

a day in the studio and maybe a little art

Fifteen minutes of ART at a time might be all I get these days, but at least it is something. I look forward to that time and I look forward to being in the studio. Sometimes just being on that stool is all it takes to make a less than perfect day better.

To be honest, some days I get on that stool and nothing happens. I sit, I look around, I rearrange some things. I rearrange some more. Every day isn't always the most inspiring. This is real life people and it just has this way of butting to the front of the line.

Other days you get a break. You grab a brush and the ideas flow out of you. You create five journal pages before you realize you ever sat down. You end the day with muddy water and painted hands. These days make the days we sit on our stool and wonder what the hek we are doing in the first place worth it...so enjoy the good days and the bad days will just have to take a back seat.

currently: ten things

1. Writing it down. I have had to crack down on myself lately when it comes to journaling in and on my artwork. I have always liked to write. It has been easy for me to write IF I thought no one was reading. To ask me to write in my journal was like asking me to sing on stage. It wasn't happening. SOMEONE might see it. Read it. My writing was for me only. How could it help someone else? For as long as I can remember I have written down what I was feeling. As a teen it was the usual- he said she said stuff. The stuff you write down to make yourself feel better, prettier, more loved. Writing things down kept you from saying them outloud and regretting them later. It was, is a perfect way to get things off your chest. It wasn't until my son died that I turned to writing as grieving process. I was young. 25 years old. He was my first born child, my only son. I was so upside down in my feelings that writing was the only way I could communicate with myself, and God. I would write pages and pages at a time, the words coming faster than my pen could keep up, the tears flowing thicker and faster than the ink itself. My world was over and I had to write it down. You never heal from that kind of tragedy. It is the kind of wound that if treated with time and love and tenderness FEELS better, but it never heals. It breaks open time and time again, raw and new all over again. Getting through those first few years was a whole separate tragedy in itself. I lost more than my son that day. I lost a huge chunk of my heart, my marriage, my faith. And so I wrote. It took many years to get to the point that I could rebuild my life, regain my faith- one tiny piece at a time, but writing helped me to get there. I write in my journal now. A little bit. I write on my artwork. A little bit. If words could help me heal, A LITTLE BIT, then maybe they could help someone else.

2. Relishing the chaos. Christmas at my house has always been a big mess if not a big deal. With five children how could it be anything else. I like order. I crave order. I need order. It is part of who I am. Sitting me in a room filled to overflowing with kids, gifts and unending wads of torn paper was like sitting me in the middle of a dust storm with no mask. I panicked. I wanted to pick up every scrap of paper as it flew from their hands. I wanted a system. But it was Christmas. There can be no system that does not disrupt the pure joy that a child feels on that morning. And so I sat on my hands and let the paper fly. All these years later, our children are now no longer "little." 12, 15, 20, 22, and 24 they still sit around our tree, giddy with excitement over what is about to transpire. They are old enough to know my torment now and tease me lovingly with their messes, opening their gifts with the greatest of care only to crumble it at the last minute and toss it my way, letting it land just outside the provided bin. I no longer have to sit on my hands. I can take their heat. They love me and my quirks, just as I love theirs. I know my time with them encircling me is bided and so I relish the chaos and the mess and look forward to all they leave behind.

3. Dressing up my planner. It sounds weirder than it is. I am lucky enough to be part of a fun group of artists who will bring in the new year with something awesome- The Documented Life Project. (Click on the link to read all about it) It involves using your daily planner or agenda as a springboard for creatively documenting your everyday life. This week I played around with my sewing machine and some vintage quilt blocks and came up with a "dress" for my planner. A removeable fabric cover really. It is so cute. I may not use it every day, but I have the option to take  it on and off. Cool. The bonus? It also fits my small Dylusions art journal- yahoo!

4. Playing with my kids. It doesn't matter that most of them are taller than me- time together in any form of play is needed for a family to thrive and be healthy. We are a big game family. Let me clarify. Board games, card games, not video games. We do not own a video gaming system. ONE of the things we have stood our ground on. I think maybe because of this one thing we have come back to the table time and time again to "play." There is the usual family banter and bickering. EVERYONE can't be the winner of course, but we love it and we stay true to this tradititon. Every year we get a new family game. This year it was Dominos. We spent the entire Christmas evening playing it and in the process learned three new jokes, listened to the same CD twelve times and laughed harder than we have laughed in weeks. I guess the old saying IS true. The family that plays together, stays together.

5. Giddy over a great find. You know that feeling when you find a great deal? The kind of deal that makes you want to buy the whole truckload? Well I stumbled on that deal this week- and while my husband was relieved that I restrained myself and did not need the truck after all, I did score big time. I have been going through a ton of washi tape these days with that project I talked about. I walked into my local Dollar Tree this week and found this awesome display of yummy washi tape. I was impressed with the quality and color and pattern choices, so I loaded up. If you would like to see it for yourself, they sell it online too, HERE, but you have to buy a case. Maybe that wouldn't be so awful after all!

6. Working on a new pattern. If you have read any of my posts before, you know that counting calms me. The repitition has a way of helping my mind let go of some of the worrisome stuff for a little while. I have been wanting to make a scarf that felt less rigid, more like it was knitted. I like it so far. It is a much more "open" stitch and so it feels lighter, softer already. I think I will make it an infinity scarf. Maybe that much counting will calm my heart for good.

7. STILL catching up on December Daily. I want to be caught up, but I have learned something about getting behind. Once that hole is dug, it has an uncanny way of getting bigger, wider, deeper, every day, IF WE LET IT. But we don't have to let it. I know that December Daily is just a little thing, something I could never finish and my life would still go on, but there are bigger things. I have shared a little in previous TEN THINGS posts, about how life can catch you off guard. REAL LIFE has been in my face just about constantly the past two years and with it there have been holes dug. Some are small, some are big. Some  we can climb out of , some we want to hide in forever, but there are holes. But holes don't have to be so deep we can't see the light above. I know, for myself, that the hole I have been in all year felt like it was closing in on me. From the bottom I saw nothing but a pinpoint of light. It was scary. But then I remembered that every garden starts with holes. An arena for life, for growth and thriving has holes. My hole in life did not have to be so deep I could not get out. I just have to tend to it. My garden, my life, was never perfect. But it was something I had put ALOT of time and effort into. Now I find myself in a place where I have to leave it behind, climb out, and start over. That sounds scary. It is scary, BUT where I am headed, my holes will be little holes, new holes. I am starting over.

8. Learning to like night photography. It is a tricky thing. I am not a pro and I do NOT know the rules, but I am experimenting and learning along the way. So many cool things happen at night, in the dark. I hope that I can one day take advantage of more night shots that actually TURN OUT.

9. Taking the time I can get when I can get it. I don't get to see my few real friends that often. Jobs, location, schedule, LIFE sees to that. I have learned that I need to focus more  on taking what I can get and less on planning the perfect outing. Life is short. The people we love and the time we spend with them is a treasure and our time is always measured. I KNOW we don't always get notice on when our time with them is up. I KNOW that life can come out of the blue and suddenly someone you love it gone. I think that if we could get past the worry of planning the perfect outing, making good use of our time, and making sure we meet "for a reason" we would find that every moment counts. I will meet in the middle for an hour anyday- just to have the time.

10. Spending a few minutes on art as always. I think that out of all the lessons I have learned this past year, one factor has made itself known over and over again. Time. I can't get back what I have lost. I can't count on tomorrow and I have to use what I can get. 15 minutes in the studio might as well be 15 hours for how it makes me feel. I love art. I love to create. Why wouldn't a few minutes be enough when I might have none at all?

tutorial: 1 mini project, 4 mini gifts & big happy new year

I have been a little behind since the second half of this year started. Not my fault. Seriously. I never let art or meetings or appointments or shopping take precedence over family life. Never. So I am a teeny tiny bit behind in making and delivering a few of my gifts. Nothing huge. Just a few little THANK YOU's I wanted to make sure to deliver to people that matter in my life, but might not know it, like the postman, the kids teachers, and even my bank teller. I thought since I was behind anyway it might be nice to change things up a bit and surprise them with a NEW YEAR gift instead...it works for me. And the best part is you just need some scraps and a few supplies!

I made all four of these in just under an hour. Grab this stuff to make your own: * scrap of canvas or duck cloth. Mine was only 2 inches high by 12 inches long. * some paint *paint pens *hole punch *eyelets *scissors *sewing machine *cotton balls *bakers twine *bead ball necklace chain *bead ball key chain *aircraft cable key ring *felt or fabric scraps *glue gun *silicone finger caps

Step 1. Paint circles on your canvas scrap. **If you want both sides of your canvas pouf to be the same, you will need TWO of each color circle**I took mine all the way to the edges to allow cutting and stitching later.  Add little designs using paint and pain pens. Let dry completely.

Step 2. Stitch around the edges of each circle a few times.

Step 3. Cut each circle out. You can trim your threads or leave them dangle. Cut tiny pieces of felt or fabric and stitch on for a little 3-D embellishment. Using a coordinating thread makes it pop!

Step 4. Place one of each color circle RIGHT SIDE DOWN on protected surface. Place a small dot of glue on cotton ball and lay on WRONG SIDE of circle. Run a small line of glue along outer edge of circle and place MATCHING circle on top of cotton ball RIGHT SIDE UP. Using silicone finger tip protectors, quickly press edges of circle together.

Step 5. Punch a hole near the top edge of each of your canvas poufs using a heavy duty hole punch.

Step 6. Add eyelet to hole you have punched.

Step 7. Add twine, chain or rings to complete your canvas poufs.

Enjoy what my little girl likes to call "those jelly fish things!" Hey I see an UNDER SEA party theme somewhere in there!

merry merry christmas

I am thankful for each reader I have, and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I will be sending well wishes your way and hoping your New Year is a blessed one. Enjoy!

15 minutes of mixed media

New to the blog? This has turned my time in the studio around.

For this layout I started with a gelliprint background and had the following supplies at the ready before I started the timer---> *3 paint colors *black & white paint pens *permanent marker *a few scraps of painted deli paper *scissors *glue stick *number stamp set

Want to see some of my other creative exercises like this? Here you go! --->

 

Enjoy!

december daily: re-purposing & catching up

December Daily, with Ali Edwards. I decided to play along this year thanks to the friendly nudging of my pal Sandi. She has been playing for years and has the most awesome collection of memory books to prove it. There are a million different way artists, scrapbookers and journalers are interpreting this project. I chose to keep it real. No buying new pretty stuff. No staging photos. Just good ole' daily life in December and a whole lotta leftover papers and trims from projects past.

I didn't want anything too big either. In my mind I was thinking coffee table book. SMALL coffee table book. MINI coffee table book. Short, squat and chunky. I love the way this book feels so much I decided to create a quick mini workshop on how to make one. It will be available sometime after the New Year.

I stitched vintage style papers the base of each page of my book and added nature cut outs, stamped tags, fabric tabs and punched words. A little bit of doodling and paint plus some sparkle made it more "me" and less "scrapbooky."

I have to admit. I jumped on board for this project with more than a little skepticism. I just wasn't sure I would stick with it. What I should have been more worried about was actually STARTING the project. In all honesty I didn't start it on the 1st, but I DID start it and am now playing catch up.

I have enjoyed working in a small format, with everyday photos of "us" AND re-purposing the art supplies I had in the studio. As far as catching up- well I will be there soon! But the very best part of this project of all is the VIEW!

I will post more page peeks soon. Hopefully in December, wink wink! Have a very Happy Christmas and a Merry Merry New Year! Enjoy!

currently: ten things

1. Trimming the tree. A huge tradition in our home has been that we ALL trim the tree together. I usually surprise the younger kids each year by hauling a truck load of baubles, berries, garland and lights from storage locker while they are in school. I get most of the house to resemble something out of the North Pole by the time they arrive home, but leave the tree for ALL of us to trim together. This year that proved to be almost fatal to our tradition. Just like the family Christmas photo, it was next to impossible to get everyone here at one time. It worked out in the end, but by the skin of our teeth. Our tree sat shimmering with nothing but 1500 white lights until this week. I am sad because I don't want our tradition to end, and yet I know the time has come to ALTER our tradition. Three of our five children are over the age of 20. This alone speaks volumes as to why we can't all agree on a date and time to be present together. I know LIFE is happening around here, but I am clinging to last bit of time I have with my "kids." To me, that is what they still are. Kids. I don't want them to stop trimming the tree with me because they have families of their own. Instead, I want to enlarge that circle of custom to include their children too. So maybe we won't all be present on the same day next year. Maybe we will trim the tree as we go. Adding to it, little by little, like we have added to our precious family over time. Maybe I will embrace the fact that instead of ONE day with all of my children I will get SEVERAL days with them as they come and go according to their harried schedules. I think I could live with that.

2. Treating myself to a Christmas coffee. I was a long lover of coffee. An over-indulger to say the least. I have recently made the choice to let go of that habit, that addiction- at least on the scale that I was partaking before. Most days I have no coffee. It was a long haul getting to that point. Headaches, cravings, more headaches, but I feel better not drinking so much of it anymore. Once in awhile I treat myself to a special cup '0 joe and it is just that- a treat. It tastes better, smells better and I enjoy it more. This week I treated myself to a cup of Christmas at Starbucks. Awesome.

3. Digging through all my drawers and bins to purge old papers, tags and trims so I could make something cool like this. There are so many projects going on out there right now in the art world, and I, like most of us, want to try them ALL. Over the last two years our lives have changed so dramatically around here that I have gone from never batting an eye at spending to budgeting everything in my life, right down to that aforementioned coffee. I hated it in the beginning. I have never had to worry over money and it was a huge life change. Did I say I hated it? I cried, I whined a little, and most of all I worried. I worried about lifestyle changes and what people would think. Crazy, right? But human. It took me a whole year to realize that I have always been thrifty. Just because I could no longer go to the mall on a whim and spend $200 didn't change who I was. I have always shopped thrifty, always cut my coupons, always looked for the deals. The only difference was now I HAD too. And guess what? In the end it didn't matter at all. No REAL important thing changed. So I didn't have a new outfit every time I met my pals for lunch. So what. The big picture is this- I am happy. I like re-purposing, recycling, reusing. It is WHO I am. So when it comes time for awsesome projects, I no longer allow myself to head to Dick Blick. I can't. I use what I have and I like it. AND I feel good. I stick to my budget, I use up some stuff that I have on hand and I move on. The end.

4. Enjoying the lights. Much to my surprise they are everywhere this year. One of the things you do on a newly formed budget is ALL THE FREE STUFF YOU CAN FIND! Turns out I wasn't the only one in the family who loved taking drives to see the Christmas lights. When we took our daughter back to college last week we took the long way. The scenic route, no highways, just lots of stoplights and neighborhoods. We were thrilled at the amount of good cheer we witnessed in the form of lights! Regular people were still making an effort. It made me smile. We are not the only family in the world to be affected by the economy over the last several years. Certainly we are not the only ones to put what matters first. GOODWILL TO MEN. Just the idea of spreading cheer through beauty and art is heartwrenching.  Every other house we saw was spreading the cheer. But the thing that touched me the most was this- most homes weren't decked out with 6 million lights. Most homes were humble in display- a simple lit wreathe on the door, or a single strand of lights strung over the railing- they were spreading their cheer, sharing their light of the season, no matter how small it was, and it made me realize  that this world might just have a chance at healing itself.

5. Finishing up the prepping of my planner for a big project starting next year! This is going to be the best way to document your everyday life. The good, the bad, the busy. Even the ugly sometimes. Life is real. It is happening. Every day, whether we like it or not. It took a long time for me to realize that, but despite if it is perfect or not, it is still ours, and for that it is worth remembering. I hope you will read more here about THE DOCUMENTED LIFE PROJECT and join in on the challenge! I will be documenting my life alongside of Lorraine, Roben-Marie, Barbara and Sandi as we host a year long project that will leave you smiling!

6. Catching up on December Daily. I was not great in the beginning, but I am getting there and will be on target by the end of December. Hopefully. I have enjoyed creating the entire project from all of those re-purposed supplies I talked about earlier. I have been using photos of every day life. Not necessarily things that remind you of the season, but to me will represent OUR December this year. This year has been filled with trials and lessons learned- something worth remembering. It has been rewarding to see it come together, especially knowing you started with a handful of stuff you thought you would never be able to work with. I will be posting a few peeks of my miniature book and pages along the way on the blog! You can also find some peeks on Instagram here.

7. Taking my busy stuff with me. I spend a great deal of my afternoon in the car. Like many of you I am the head taxi driver in my family, and from the moment that last school bell rings we are on the go, shuffling kids from here to there until dark. Having some busy work with me not only passes the time, but often sparks inspiration. I usually take my art journal, a book, my camera and some fabric or yarn project. Crochet is a great and easy thing to do in the car!

8. Finding new uses for old things. I had a bunch of leftover tags and stuff from another project that I was packaging up for the school when I came across this cute card. It asks you to list the contents of your pockets. I must confess. I am a weirdo when it comes to pockets. A. I try to have them in all things I buy. B. Anything small I pick up off of the floor I stuff in them. Yes, I know, this is usually a healthy mix of  lint, threads and paper scraps. I toss them all when I pass a trash can. I have been stuffing garbage in my pockets since my first child was born. Don't want anyone crawling around and choking on something now do we? C. I have my hands in my pockets whenever I can. I do not know why. This is something I have done since I was a child. I think maybe I used to hide my hands because I bit my nails. Who knows. I just know that this little card spoke to me! I had to use it in my planner for The Documented Life Project, along with a few art pops from my friend Roben-Marie.

9. Tis the Season to do puzzles. We always seem to drag a big, complicated puzzle out at this time of the year. We leave it set up and all take turns working on it. At any given time one or all of us will be at the table looking for that sure to be lost piece. This years' puzzle might just prove to be the toughest. Coincidence? I wonder. Our year has been, continues to be the biggest, toughest puzzle to date. We are a big family. We don't ALWAYS agree on everything but we do always find a way to work it out, work together in the end. To some degree, each one of us has been lost this year, like that puzzle piece- Just waiting to be found. And somehow we always manage to pick one another up off the floor and dust each other off. Next year will be better. Maybe. Who knows. But I do know this- we have each other. We will continue to support one another, look out for one another and count on one another to make our lives whole. Not unlike our puzzle.

10. Sitting on my stool while I can. I would sit in the studio all day and make art if I could. Which one of us wouldn't? I have been blessed these last ten years with a big beautiful studio and I love it. I took my time, over the years, making that space mine. It has served as more than a studio though, it has been a lot of things to all of us. This room is the birthplace of winning science fair boards, countless works of art, and loads of school projects. It has seen some of us huddled over a pile of beads with the glue gun making Harry Potter wands for the entire family. It has seen some of us printing dozens of term papers, year after year. It has seen some of us sneak in to write his Christmas cards late on Christmas Eve. It has seen some of create the first beautiful thing we ever saw published.  It has been more than a craft room, an art studio, a print center. To me, it has been a haven. A perfect place to retreat too when I want to be alone, think, dream. It has been a blessing. Today as I write this I am faced with the fact that I will be leaving this room behind in the New Year, and it has been sad. I will miss everything about my home, our home. We built it, we tweaked it, we worked on it for years to get it just so- we made it ours. It was perfect. It is perfect. But LIFE is not always perfect, and so we must make adjustments, arrangements, concessions. All along I have known it would be difficult to move after so long. We will be giving up alot when we do so. Alot of hard work, time, money and love went into this place. Times change, I know that. Jobs change, the economy changes, and so we must adapt. I will have a studio again, big or small, and it will be mine. I am a smart person. I know this, and yet I grieve. I saw my little girls grow into women here, my son a into a young man, my baby mature into a teen. I welcomed my first granddaughter into this home. That 's a lot of years to leave behind...and so I won't. I will grieve this "house", I will mourn the loss of my little haven, but I for one, I am taking my HOME with me.

last years christmas projects revisited

Time was not on my side this year when it came to creating ten tons of christmas crafts. Luckily for me I had whipped up a few quick and easy ones last year that I could revisit. If you need a few last minute homemade holiday gifts just click on the images to find quick and easy tutorials!

 

Enjoy and happy holidays to you all!

art stuff: 15 minutes of mixed media

So my journal is filling up and I am still loving it. This is keeping me honest- getting me into the studio, onto my stool, paintbrush in hand.

This is what I had on the table ready to go: a few colors of paint, a scraper, two paintbrushes, a fine tip sharpie, two fat tip acrylic paint pens- black and white, one roll of washi tape, scissors, a glue stick, and a sheet of painted deli paper.

I allow myself to have a few supplies on hand so that I do not cut into my 15 minutes looking for stuff. I never spend more than 5 minutes gathering these things, to keep the challenge honest- which is to say, QUICK!

Pre-selecting some supplies also adds to the challenge. I must work with what is in front of me- no sneaking into the paint drawer without cutting into my time. The clock is always ticking.

I love how this one turned out. The colors, the design, all of it. I am loving those glossy blue dots. If you haven't given this a whirl yet, I hope you will hop on board! Enjoy!