The Game Changer

I am lovin' all the gratitude vibes permeating the blogosphere this month!

Just a few little "blisses" on my mind this morning...

Choices...I love that I get to choose every day what my attitude will be.  I get to decide how I will respond to my experiences and emotions.  This is huge.  It means I am in the driver's seat.  

Beginnings...Every day I get a fresh start. Everything I put my hands to has potential. Beginning something affirms that I have hope.

Community...Being connected to creative, kind individuals keeps me centered and makes me more courageous.

As I was perusing the link-up for Art Every Day Month yesterday I came across a tutorial for a painted paper mosaic by Marcia Beckett.  Marcia is an art teacher and a very gifted mixed media artist and her blog is full of beautiful journal pages and inspiration.  Her paper mosaic really caught my eye so I decided to do my own take on it.

After "scrubbing" some gesso onto an old book page I picked through my little pile (okay, it's really a big pile) of paper bits and came up with these.

The fun and relaxing part was the doodling...

In a way these two images illustrate how practicing gratitude can change our experience. Sometimes life is like the first image...just a bunch of bits: unrelated and sometimes chaotic. Like the pen lines and colors in the second image, gratitude connects the bits, creating a vibrant, complex composition where each element relates to and supports the others.

Gratitude is a game changer.

A grateful life is alive with hope and possibilities.  If I can manage to be thankful for something, then I can trust it is somehow going to be used for something good.  The really great news is that gratitude isn't something we have to strive for, it is something we choose to allow into our lives.  When we allow it, gratitude flows just as creativity does, washing away strife and leaving peace in its place.

Choosing gratitude = Choosing to let your heart rest

I can't believe it is Friday already.  I hope you find a little time to celebrate, rest, create, or do whatever brings you joy this weekend!  

I'm linking up today with:

Art Every Day Month, Little Bliss List, and Joy Jam.

These link-ups are a great way to connect with other artists and creatives and see a lot of inspiring work.  If you have the time, it is great fun to check them out and follow a few rabbit trails!

Art Every Day Challenge

I did it!  I took the plunge and added my name to the list of participants in Art Every Day Month at Creative Every Day, a website that encourages its readers to "be an everyday creative and be creative every day".

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For the rest of the month of November I will try to create and share something with you every single day. No joke...I'm really going to try to do this!  (I might post about it on weekends...haven't quite decided yet.)

During the weeks of my Flying Lessons course I was so focused on learning from Kelly Rae Roberts how to build a creative business that I didn't have time to actually create much.  Now I'm ready to get back to making art and I hope this challenge will help me stay focused and productive!

Since I like to work on blog posts first thing in the morning I will post each day's project the morning after I create it.  So, without further ado,  I give you yesterday's project...a chandelier crystal collage necklace.

I was in the mood to do a little wire-wrapping, so I put this piece together using a mixture of stone and Czech glass beads, leather, and hand-made findings.

To make the pendant, I antiqued a blue butterfly image with a brown ink pad and affixed it to the back of a chandelier crystal using heavy gloss gel medium.

After forming the connectors and clasp from anodized steel, I hammered them for strength and polished them for a little extra sheen.  The steel looks a lot like oxidized silver to me.  It's a little harder to work with, though, as steel is not a very pliable metal.

It seems that I've focused my studio time mainly on collage and art-journaling lately.  It was great to make jewelry today.  The pliers and wire felt good in my hands.  Sometimes I think my favorite medium is simply the one I am using at any given moment!

Thanks for having a look.  Hopefully I'll get a few pieces together and reopen my Etsy store in the next few weeks.  I will definitely let you know when that happens.  This necklace may be the first new item I list!

Have a happy, creative Monday!

New Journal Project!

I started a new art journal today following a tutorial posted some time back by Ashley at Lil Blue Boo.  She transforms everyday composition books into beautiful colletions of lists, images and all sorts of things worth remembering.  (See her tutorial here.)

I, of course, immediately veered away from the directions, skipping the cover and going straight to work on some pages.  (I promise to show you the cover when I get around to that part.)

I incorporated some burlap a friend gave me and definitely had to use some heavy duty adhesive for that.  Matte gel medium did the trick.  When in doubt always use gel medium for collage!

I hope that as the pages of this art journal begin to fill, I will branch out a bit...try new things. I'd like to try some stitching and more hand drawing and calligraphy in this journal.  Today, though, I felt like I was just "limbering up" since I haven't done any collage work in a while.  My, how I've missed it. 

Stay tuned...I'm really going to try to stay faithful to this project and I promise to post pics along the way.  There I said it...Now I'm committed!

***News Flash!!!!***  I just took a look at Lil Blue Boo and Ashley is posting daily journal prompts!  She's calling it the Lil Journal Project and it looks like fun.  It's great timing for me as I just started this journal today and really want to stretch.  If you post your pictures you can link up as well and guess what!?!  This weekend's prompt is to explore different handwriting and lettering styles.  (Did I not just say I want to do more calligraphy?)  Oh, I am so there!  (Check out this weekend's prompt here.)  Don't worry about it if you don't post your work...just have fun using the prompts to get those creative juices flowing!

Nesting

My son brought this butterfly to me yesterday.  It's wings were a little tattered and it moved very little as he held it on his hand.  I'm sure we were witnessing this marvelous creature's last few moments of existence.  What a privilege.

A little later he brought this flower to me...It was the last spider lily left blooming.  I'm glad he brought it in.  A big rainstorm moved through last night and this exquisite bloom would have been pummeled.

I sense a theme emerging.  The fading butterfly...The last lily...The world around me is in transition.  Fall is settling in and nature is preparing for winter.  I notice my own thoughts are turning toward my nest, wanting to create a warm and inviting environment where my family will take refuge from the chill of winter.  Time to pull out some soft blankets and make soup!

What do you like to do when the weather turns cool?

Becoming

How does one become a butterfly?" she asked pensively."You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar."~~Trina Paulus

Winged Creatures

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

I've been very busy in the studio lately! Here are some images of the winged creatures I've been creating in polymer clay. It was fun putting them in a natural environment to take the photographs...sort of makes you take a second glance.

Tomorrow I will begin turning these into necklaces. Hope you enjoyed looking!