The impossible dream

Last post of the year. Let me just say 09 kicked my butt royally! But that's okay, I was caught unawares and unprepared. I was blind-sided and bamboozled. IKnow I didn't say much but I felt it best not to spew my bitterness all over my blog. I'm feeling much better now. I already know 2010 is going to be a kinder gentler year. Good things are coming. Some not so great things too but I am optimistic, even after all that has gone before, I remain optimistic for the future, and this I feel is a very good thing. So Thanks for your love and prayers. Let's continue to dream impossible dreams and reach for the unreachable together.

I know we can do it, I'm optimistic. Blessings and much love, La

A soulful celebration

Ukraine's got talent!

Whoa!

freebie

Tis the season, please accept these sugar-plum fairies with my good wishes of a merry, merry! Blessings, La

Alma's blog

Alma Stoller had this on her blog in praise of her name, looks like it's gonna be a cute film.

Alma - Teaser from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Crescendoh!

When art meets music

Oh the things I find when I blog-hop and facebook. This is so fun!

Milliande

You've got to go to youtube and do a search for Milliande. She is awesome and I love her. She was on a live chat today and she is just an inspiration. Way cool artist and person. Way. Cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMj4iT1UzlI
http://www.milliande.ning.com

here

and here

while i was away

I want to share a few pics of what I was working on these past months when I wasn't blogging or goofing off on facebook. Bear in mind that neither of the cameras is working properly... okay well they are now but weren't when I took these photos. The young man that took care of Gypsy while I was in Ohio shares the same birthday as I do. Sooo we exchange gifts, belatedly. So I made him a thank you gift for caring for my precious girl and a belated birthday gift. It is an envelope that held the thank you note, a "painting", a rainstick and personalized pillow. with gift bag. Once again I apologize for the grainy darkness going on in the photos.

Rain, rain.....

It has been raining all day, so my moods been a bit blah. I've got work drying on a recycled shower curtain remnant on the kitchen floor. I watched "Battle for Terra", it was both beautiful and sad. Well to me anyway. Gypsy is horribly afraid of the rain so she has been in and out of the crate. More in than out. She just begins to pant and shake so hard that I eventually have to save her from her own fits. No matter how soft or hard the rain hits the house the fits are always the same. You know I love my dog, but there are days when she is an absolute pill. Today is one of those days. Anywho, I haven't been blogging cus I've been working on some really interesting projects. Keeping myself busy and trying not to stress over every little thing as I am wont to do. I still haven't figured out the new camera but as its the weekend and raining like Noahs on his way I guess I will do it now. There is love in my heart for you who are not there yet but soon will be. See u soon. La

Take two

I was trying to tell you about the cool crow ornaments I found over on violette clarks blog She also has a video showing how she and a few friends made the ornaments.


It is the entry dated Nov. 30 entitled crow orny and purse. I make ornaments for my daughters each year and was at a loss this year when I saw these cool crows. I put my own twist on things and made a black cat for Kat and a pig for Sely. I will share pics when I can. Ta for now.

This is so cool!

I always find the coolest things on facebook. Isn't this neat?

It's a beautiful thing!!!

Sometimes you run across a thing so good you just have to watch it over and over and each time it gets better and better. This is one of those times!

Ohio

went to see my parents, both are very ill. long story short, i made it back safely. what can i say, there will be alot of praying being done for my parents from here on out. needless to say my stress levels have been through the roof so i've been distracting myself with art. a very nice young man took care of gypsy while i was away. so i've been making wonderful little goodies for him, i will post those pics when i can. also before i left i rushed to get my 10 zines shipped out in time for the i heart zines swap, phew, that was fun but hellacrazy. also it was my first zine so there are a few things i already know i will be doing differently for my next zines. but i did enjoy it so i will make more. sadly i didn't really take any pics of them before they went out. you can see the envelopes though.

system failure

my computer went to sleep several weeks ago and didn't wake up. I begged, pleaded, cajoled and bribed, but it would not wake. I was lost, forlorn, desperate but still it would not wake. I tried every self-help remedy i could find, nothing worked. I became immersed in my art to keep my mind off my dilemma, but everytime i went to show u my progess i was cruelly reminded that the link had been severed between us. I was adrift, no longer a part of the world wide web. sad, sad, pitiful me. Finally my daughter drove me to best buy. I hugged my friend and confidante the whole way, assuring her that all would be well. I promised that the nice geeks were just gonna take a little look-see and she would come home soon. the nice man at the door put a little sticker on her back and pointed us to the help desk. the little geek at the desk was a snotty female with a crabby old lady smirk stretched across her very young face. I rushed to the desk and cried, "my baby is sick!" the snotty geek looked over my head to my daughter who translated my dilemma in geek speak. lil snotty then proceeded to open my laptop with her pinky finger and pressed the on button. and whaddyaknow, my baby woke up and said "good morning!", just as if she hadn't been in a self-induced coma for weeks. I was so happy, I could have hugged lil snotty but she smirked even wider and said "yes, these computers have minds of their own." but her tone said, you idiot you probably never turned it on. I knew i would become a geek joke in the breakroom but i didn't care. I walked away with my baby in my arms, away from lil snotty and her nasty smirk, away from bestbuy and their 200 dollar diagnostic fee and away from the disconnectedness i felt when i couldn't plug-in and log-on. She is alive and well, I've missed her and we have alot of work to do. I pray you are all well, we are!

inviting juiciness

alright, alright, i know they're not juicy. i've got alot on my mind today and lost my mojo. so i can't produce the juice. and for those of u who don't know what i'm talking about, go get kelli perkins' new book, "stitch alchemy". it's all in there. but for those of u who know I'm doin a book study with Belinda Spiwak and mmartfriends, I gots no juice today. I put a watercolor wash on the cotton shirt remnant, colored pencil and ink pencil on the tulle, and permanent marker on that damn dryer sheet. scuse my french. that dryer sheet is still annoying me. I didn't juice up the denim cus I want to put acrylic paint on it, and I just didn't feel like dealing with acrylics today. I will go back later and actually make them juicy just not today. I worked on a bunch of stuff for my zines and some atc stuff. u know I'll share when i can but today i am just not feeling it at all. but i love youse guys, hope u have a creative weekend.



watercolor wash


colored pencil and ink pencil


permanent markers

ovo

preview of new cirque? I have no idea, i just found it so it's new to me. lol

frustrated!!!

Yahoo won't let me post my first fabric paper results in my group album. grrrrrrrrr!!!! Okay, I know I've been around the dogs too long. Ah, well, anywho. Here are my first swatches. they are, snippets of paper and fabric on a cotton shirt remnant, a denim remnant, tulle front and back, and a fabric sheet. let me just say that the fabric sheet was annoying. And I think my best results came from the tulle. Also let me go ahead and admit that I did the process WRONG!!!!! remember earlier when I was working on Violettes' "Crazy quilt background page" Yeah, well the processes are similar and i must have forgotten I was working with fabric cus i totally laid a layer of tissue paper over the whole thing, so keep that in mind when ur wondering why you can't really see anything. anywho once again, these are the results, don't laugh


snippets on shirt remnant


snippets on laundry sheet


snippets on denim


snippets on tulle back

I've got a feeling.......

I received some really good news today. A lot of bad things have happened over the past decade. I have been a bit lost, aimlessly wandering about, now suddenly I am determined and focused. It's about bloody time. That's it ladies and gents, it's a new day, time for a new me. A positive change in the right direction. On my own path. I am soooo over following EVERYONES lead. What am I a pack horse? Nope, I'm me, I'm La, I'm new, I'm differant, and that's FANTASTIC!!!!!!! Lots of changes and happenings in the works, Watch for it!

Wyanne's bacK!!

WOOHOO!!! anyone following her blog wyartjewels.blogspot.com knows she hasn't posted new work in months (sound familiar?) well she's painting and posting again!! turns out she had drama too soooo anywho, I caught up with her on facebook and she was letting everyone know about her new painting "She has the magic" and of course the ever-cool Wyanne also posted a video of her working on said painting and she was playing this really cool song, pony by erin mccarley so i had to have the song because i love it!! okay enjoy, then go create something beautiful fun and fabulous!!

alegria

i just think cirque du soleil is awesome, beautiful and inspiring. wish i could take a break and paint something inspired by this trailer alone.

more silliness

some silliness

the power of shout

more journal pages

okay so, 3 of these pages is from my spiral notebook journal, I am getting thoughts down on paper and painting over them. this helps me vent and just let go. I'm still hving trouble with the relax and let go thing. you should see me gripping that pencil. the other two large pages are actually one piece inspired by violette of journal bliss. her site is www.violette.ca i can't believe I never mentioned that. I can be so me sometimes. anywho that's everything i think. except for a bit of silliness i may share if i can find it. i really do have to get back to things now, byeeee

journal pages

these are some journal pages before I read Journal Bliss by Violette. i sort of work on many pages at once. drawing images i find on my many net surfing adventures. I also use the spare paint approach so i only use leftover paint from other projects on my journals. which is why the colors are so similar. these journal pages are made from an old desktop calender. each time a month is done i fold it into fourths and make pages. see, i'm green. lol

background papers

I have been trying out Violette's "crazy quilt" background page technique, from her book "Journal Bliss". I don't quite have the desired effect yet but it is quite addicting. i had to make myself stop and get back to the task at hand. anywho, here are a few samples of that.

the omo people

I saw this on facebook and just had to share it!

i heart zines swap 2009!

i joined today, tomorrow is the deadline so hurry up and join at iheartzines@gmail.com they are due in before Nov. 13, go to iheartzines.blogspot.com for all the info. I am psyched because I've never made a zine before so there's one challenge. I have another deadline, so there is another challenge! I'm almost done with this month's challenge and will be mailing it off on either the third or the fifth. also I haven't been blogging cus I've been creating and working on this month's challenge soo there are more pics. I'm also joining a bookstudy for Kelli Snellings' "Stitch Alchemy" over at mmartfriends yahoo group. I will post a link when i figure out how. the bookstudy starts this weekend. Belinda Spiwak is hosting the study and moderator of the group. i know there is tons more to tell but in all honesty, I've got to get some stuff done today before i lose my mojo. alright you know i love you. okay coputer's acting up, so no pics on this post, sorry. still love u though.

journal bliss

just read "journal bliss" by violette, couldn't put it down. woke up hella inspired this morning, couldn't wait to try her techniques. totally botched the gel medium transfer but loved everything else i tried. i went to her blog and she has tutorials and workshops. I love her work. I think u will too.



I hope this works, otherwise check out the video for "collaged daytimer" on her blog. pretty cool stuff.

Count it all joy!

I have made up my mind from here on I will stop being miserable and angst-ridden over things I have no control over. I'm letting the trivial things go. I'm looking for and experiencing the joy in life now. I'm done crying over the proverbial spilt milk. when lemons come I will make a killer lemonade. And I'm looking for the good in all things. I'm tired of frowning and being grumpy, so I'm not going to be that dwarf anymore. Unrealistic expectations? Perhaps, don't care though. Here are some wip's. i'll finish something here shortly. Then I'll post it on etsy or something. no more being scared that noone will like it or that someones going to flay me for daring to try and sell my work. That dwarf is gone too. I'm happy I love to create, it gives me great joy. Be joyful, u'll feel better, I promise, but if u don't i have no control over it, it's up to u. Joy, Joy, Joy!

wip fabric postcards

I've been working on these since sunday. I was inspired by the Nick Bantock books. My sewing machine STILL isn't here so I'm going to have to sew them by hand I guess. Ah well.

In love

i have fallen in love with Nick Bantock and the Griffin and Sabine series. I first heard of it through Stampington Co.'s Creative Impulse Newsletter. I immediately put the entire series on hold at the library. When I went to pick the books up the librarian just gushed immediately "Oh, this books are so beautifully written, I just love these books and the artwork is astounding!" Well I can tell u that was a first for me. and what do u know she was right. I absolutely love these books. they are set up in a series of postcards and letters and the deeply moving story just sucks u in. the postcards, stamps and letters are so incredibly beautiful. My daughters are going to kill me for buying more books, but I gotta have these. I just gotta. I mean I was so inspired by this work , I actually got off my butt and did some work of my own. And today some of my daughters friends took me out to dinner and shopping. Wasn't that sweet. anywho, Be Blessed, I love ya.

She's blogging again! YaY!

Sharon Thomlinson over at allnorahsart.blogspot.com had a small accident a few weeks ago and couldn't blog for a while. Well I have followed her blog religiously ever since I found her in one of the Stampington company magazines, I think it was Artful Blogging. Well she's feeling a little better and finally trying to blog again and more importantly create. Although right now she is concentrating on her studio space. I'm just glad she's back and I am still praying for her.
In the pics this time is a funny from canhazcheezburger.com and pics of the things i made my daughter for her 29th birthday. Neither of my daughters even looks 20 let alon 28 and 29 so it is always fun to make stuff for them. the blue and black dolls are pincushion dolls she specifically asked for and the front and back of the frame i painted for her dog Jolie. OMG I forgot to tell u that in January my now ex son-in-law brought home a sick puppy and gave it to my daughter. that poor thing was sick for a long time. It had worms, mange and some other parasite oh,hookworm or something, anyway that poor animal was a mess. Wasn't fixed or potty trained just a mess. well naturally after all the drama we went through with the dog we fell in love with her and now she lives with me. I will post pics of her when i remember. Anywho. I'm journaling now so when I get a scanner or a camera I can show u what I'm up to. til then we'll just continue to recap. Love to all, La

feeling loads better!

so I've been crying and feeling sorry for myself because i had words with a family member. she was not holding up her end on important matters that were holding me up creatively, professionally and financially so i went into a mope. and then she disrespected me on facebook. Me being me, I fully expected to be humiliated and curl up into a ball and put the covers over my head. well apparently I've got more gumption than I thought cus I got angry and cleaned everything I could get my hands on and then I went shopping, out to dinner and to the movies. Haha, I didn't think much on miss thing and her ugliness, I got on with living MY life. She has since called to show nothing is amiss on her end but there it all is on fb in black and white so theres no denying it. Ah well, whatever.
while i was gone i joined an international charm swap so here are the ones I entered plus a very wierd pic of Gypsy and oh, I was on diet too. I found a new asian market and bought sesame leaves and made wraps of a sort. They were good. I also made hats over the holidays, they came out really cute but as usual I overestimated my big head and made my hat too big. lol! I do it every time. the charms were fabric and found objects plus shrink plastic. yes I'm still doing the old pics first cus the printer/scanner i planned to buy this weekend sold out. sooo no new pics, sorry!! Love La