I created the cover in June but didn't give it life until late last night. Boy, did it feel good! By the way, lately I have fallen in love with Instagram on the iPhone (thank you Karen for convincing me to try it!). If you want to join me and my daily pictures, my ID is Lilywith1L. Maybe I'll see you there?
Before we left for the lake I re-did the cover of my art journal. And here's a spread I did while there inspired by Christine Mason Miller's book Ordinary Sparkling Moments: Reflections on Success and Contentment
A box of Godiva Chocolates from my best friend. She knows me so well.
A new set of colored pencils that I asked for from my husband. I opened them up immediately and started testing all the colors - so vibrant and smooth!
Flowers from my parents. Lilies because I'm a Lily, Gerber Daisies because I had those at my wedding and yellow roses because my dad loves them (and me)! These are not only beautiful they smell wonderful, too! The weather was also gorgeous. It was a great way to start 35 - hoping it's the best year yet!
Now that the weather is warming up in spurts I am thrilled to start my routine of walking my beagle again. I always love my dog's enthusiasm for walking around a neighborhood we've walked literally hundreds of times.
So today I made a point to stop and take a picture of the little buds of spring. I'm amazed in all the crevices that life is pushing forward and reaching up for the sun. They don't think about it, they literally can't help but come back to life. I hope this spring I do the same.
This past weekend I had my beloved sister-in -law and niece over for our monthly crafting afternoon. My SIL gave me this idea to decoupage a clipboard.
With the help of my beautiful Somerset magazines my onetime boring brown clipboard turned out downright inspiring. Check it out here - front above and back below. Pictures taken with Hipstamatic iPhone app - love it!
This page is the front inside page of my transformed art journal featuring words & details from Living the Wisdom of the Tao: The Complete Tao Te Ching and Affirmations
"From mercy comes courage.
From frugality comes generosity.
From humility comes leadership.
Now if one were bold but had no mercy,
if one were broad but were not frugal,
if one went ahead without humility,
one would die."
P.S. If you want to see.... here's the front and back of the journal decorated with old Winnie the Pooh books.
Here is another decoupage project - a transformed old journal - where I used more words & details from Living the Wisdom of the Tao: The Complete Tao Te Ching and Affirmations
"The five colors blind the eye.
The five tones deafen the ear.
The five flavors dull the taste.
The chase and the hunt craze people's minds.
Wasting energy to obtain rare objects only impedes one's growth.
The master observes the world but trusts his inner vision. (My favorite line!)
He allows things to come and go.
He prefers what is within to what is without."
A few years ago I bought the Dr. Wayne Dyer book, Living the Wisdom of the Tao: The Complete Tao Te Ching and Affirmations
The jar below reads, "Because I know that I do not know, I am guided to find my own way."
Happy New Year to everyone! I have lots to write about and don't really know where to start. However, here is one of the many wonderful things that happened over the holiday break.
Over the summer we went on a fun and laughter filled family vacation to California and took along one of our nieces. She's only a few years older than my stepson and our families have vacationed together for many summers. She fits in very well and rounds out our little family nicely. She and my stepson also happen to look a lot alike (their fathers are brothers) and I'm sure no one questioned that they weren't siblings. Anyway, I've been meaning to make a very nice designed album about our California adventure since we got back in June and my goal was to finish it by year end. So, this holiday break was do or die time!
In addition, I am grooming my niece as a creative professional and thought this was another opportunity to spend time together & keep honing her skills. So, together we designed over 40 pages and had a ball doing it. (I can't wait to get it in the mail this week!!) The next day my niece (pictured in BW shadow photo) wrote this on her blog, which was almost exactly what I wrote in my art journal that night:
"Just a fun little day, involving fun little activities with my aunt Lily. I was excited to hang out with her for the day. Our little activity planned actually turned into a long project, and our hanging out was taken well into the night. But it was lovely. I love sharing creative thoughts with her because she understands me and I like her ideas. We just work swell together! We were creating a photo album from our summer trip to California. And oh man, looking at all those pictures made me so happy. And remembering the funny things that were done and said, good memories. I love looking back at pictures, I get so sentimental! And I do have to say, I am very lucky that I have an aunt that I can relate to, and hang out with, and create projects with. It's all quite fun."
