Crazy, Sexy Cancer

Did you watch this edgy documentory on TLC last night? What courage and tenacity this women shows! I encourage you to check out her website and blog...even if you don't know anyone with cancer. She is an inspiration in so many ways! She's a true warrior, fighting the battle and living fully!

Here's to Life!

Calling all Muses...

I'm in a creative rut! I teach people strategies for getting out of these, i.e. take a day off, look for inspiration in the environment and/or books and magazines, just start playing with backgrounds, organize your studio, but what I think I really need is a REAL vacation! Sure I've done some traveling, had lots of really cool things happen for me this summer...but, there has been no REAL, walk on the beach, sightseeing, soak it all in vacation! I have lots of exciting deadlines coming up, but I'm wondering if I should take a day and pretend I'm on vacation...maybe a pedicure, a matinee, a good read...that sounds nice and refreshing! When I told my DH that I needed a change of pace, he said...get this..."would you come sit in a TREE STAND with me?" I DON'T think so! He said I'd have to sit quietly so as to not scare the deer away. I love this man...but we have to work on the area in our marriage that includes Vacation plans...my idea of fun has nothing to do with wearing camo!

Mind, Body and Soul

What a beautiful day we had yesterday! Kindred spirits, a glorious morning nature walk in the garden to gather foliage and inspiration, an abundance of art supplies, and a full day to play...doesn't get much better than that.

Some of the treasures we gathered and used in our projects...



For our Souls... Watercolored banners glistened with shimmery mica sprays as they dried on all available surfaces in the room. Once dried they were hung from freshly gathered twigs, and were decorated with beautiful ribbons, and nature/art related inspirational quotes.



For our Bodies... With fragrant essential oils, beautiful colorants and other special ingredients we created the most lovely bath salts packaged in tubes with tinted text, leaves, blossoms, and shells all bundled and wrapped together beautifully with twine and tags.



For our Minds... We hand-stitched journals using natural papers, yummy fibers and special embellishments. These little treasures are perfect for holding notes from the day, gardening notes, or personal thoughts.



We had such an enjoyable time together and the projects turned out so lovely that Memphis Botanic Garden has asked us to repeat the workshop, only this time as a three part evening series so that it will fit more people's work schedules. I'll keep you posted with dates and details, in case you're interested.

Digi-world, here I come...

I love learning new stuff! Never really considered myself much of a "geek" (although I've always used and depended on my 'puter) but I'm willing to give it a shot! This page was done with a digi page kit from CK Media. So, I have this whole studio of art supplies that could never be replaced by digital elements, and the touchy feely side of me could never be satisfied with the strokes on a keyboard...but I thoroughly enjoyed working on this simple page. Everyone should own Adobe Photoshop Elements...without an exception; easy to use and so many tutorials to help you along the way. What I need to figure out is a way to organize my digital elements so that I don't forget what I have...I'd love suggestions from my techy friends out there. I think the bottom line for me is that I could get into the hybrid thing...a little bit country, a little bit rock-n-roll...errr I mean a little bit digi, a little bit actual. As far as I know there is still no way to hand-stitch an art journal or get paint and ink on your fingers digitally...so for now I'll just work with both.

Just NOT fair!

So they say my second book is out. The publisher says it's in their warehouse, Amazon has it listed as "in stock", our local scrapbook store has ordered it...now one of my contributors says that UPS delivered her copy yesterday. Shouldn't I get first peeks of a book I wrote? You see why I said...Life's just not fair! Now you know I'm not really complaining...after all I was blessed with the opportunity in the first place. I'll quit whining now... and go hunt down the UPS man instead!

Art in the Garden

Check out the "Rock Candy" workshop at "Memphis Botanic Garden" here's
the link... http://www.memphisbotanicgarden.com go into adult programs then Art in the Garden workshops.
The two mixed media artists they are referring to
are Candice and Me. The day should be a beautiful and relaxing time
creating art that will feed your artistic soul. There will be three
projects with the theme of "Nature Arts for your Mind, Body and Soul.
We'll be creating a watercolored flowing banner, an artist journal and
something special to soothe your body. Consider calling in for a
wellness day and join us in this beautiful setting for an uplifting
day with kindred spirits!

You know you want to join us...splurge on yourself for one day!