So Happy It's Thursday!

S.H.I.T...So Happy It's Thursday!!

I love making awesome and full-of-texture backgrounds to use in my art journals and on art projects, so I'm always playing around with stuff I find around the garage, the kitchen, the kids' room, the neighborhood...really, nothing is sacred when it comes to trying some found object for texturing!

And I do love stamping!  My one hangup is I feel a bit like I'm not so original when I'm using a stamp I bought.  A bit like I'm cheating, really.  So often the stamps that are for sale are totally limiting.  I can't find exactly what I'm looking for, I can't find the pattern I want, or in the right size, that sort of thing.  I find myself making do with what's available.

Voila!! 

I started making my own stamps!!

Making your own stamps can become a huge art form all on it's own.  You can use carving mediums and tools, you can draw your own patterns, you can really get involved with that whole genre. 

What I was looking for was a quick and easy and cheap way to make stamps for using in my backgrounds and textures.  That way I can make new stamps quickly and every time I get the wild hair to make something new.  All of the carving stuff like linoleum can add up the denaros quickly.  My habit would get really pricey that way.

Self Adhesive Foam Sheets

One easy and fun way to make stamps is using self adhesive foam sheets that you can find in the kids' section at the craft store.  The foam cuts like butter...you just draw the shape of your stamp, cut it out, and stick it to something.  Ta-da!  You have a new stamp!

Here are some pics of my most recent stamp creations:

And here are some pics of the stamps as used on old book paper (I think we call that vintage, heehee):

A couple of tips for you:

• If you don't have a flat back to the stamp, the foam likes to give in places, keeping your stamp from totally printing.  Try putting the image shapes on another foam sheet for support.
• You can use just about anything for the "stamp block".  You can see in the pics I have used play-doh lids, old gesso lids, old CD jewel cases, and the lids from a cotton candy plastic bucket from one of the kids Easter baskets.  I have also used wooden blocks, sour cream tubs, and pieces of wood from the scrap pile in the garage.
• If you're using paint, it works a bit better if the paint is not too thick.  If you have a thicker paint, get your paint brush wet to spread the paint around the foam before you stamp.  If it's too thick, the image won't come out very clearly.
• Lastly, if you have an image that seems too tough to cut out of the foam, try cutting pieces of the image individually and then piecing it together on the foam backer sheet.  That was my process for the flower on the left side in this stamp:

Grab some foam and get to it!  Making your own stamps is super fun and incredibly satisfying!!  You can do all of those images that you have been wishing you could find in the store, and it's way cheaper than buying a stamp every time you need a new bit of texture. 

Have fun!!

Follow Your Bliss

Joseph Conrad had a philosophy: "Follow Your Bliss". 

That is the direction that I am keeping in mind as I re-define my paradigm (which I do on a regular basis).  I really got buried under building my business and realized that I had lost my joy in the business. 

I was hesitant to hire other people in my business to do anything...afraid that I wouldn't have enough business to pay them, afraid that they wouldn't do the job as well as I would like it done, afraid that it would all be too much responsibility.

Fear Was Holding Me Back

I was acting so much from fear, that I forgot that I actually used to enjoy the work.  Then in my time away from work, my energy was so clouded and so blocked that I just sat and stared and didn't get much of anything created, art or business ideas or blog writings or anything that needed my creative self.  I could only wonder what had happened to my blossoming business and how the heck I was going to pay my bills next month.  My joy was slipping, my hope was turning into despair.

So the past year, and especially these past 6 months, has been about evaluating where my business is, where my financial life is, and where my focus is.  I have found that while some of it is not where I want it to be, much of it was just poorly defined.  How can I possibly know if these things are in accordance with what I want if I haven't even clearly defined what I want?

That's a million dollar question, huh.

Now I am working on clearly defining what I want to be doing, how I want to be doing it, and for what results I am working.  And how to incorporate into what I'm doing the things that I LOVE to do...and how to delegate out the things that I really don't love to do.  By focusing my time and energy, and LOVE, I send out positive and loving energy.  Positive energy and love itself, can manifest our dreams and goals and desires.  The passion behind all of that energy is strong enough to move mountains.

Isn't that what Follow Your Bliss means?? 

For me, Follow Your Bliss means finding the paths that allow me to do those things about which I feel passionate.  If all other things being equal, and what you focus on is what you manifest, the smart thing to do is focus on what you really do want.  You feel most passionate about what you love doing.  You feel most passionate for what brings you bliss.

Follow Your Bliss, and you will feel joy and passion, and you will send out positive vibrations, clearly and loudly letting the Universe know what you intentions really have.  Makes it a lot easier for the Universe to move the energies around to manifest those intentions, make sense?

Joseph Conrad spent a lot of time studying the mind and the subconscious and how it all works.  How do you sum up the best of it all?

Follow Your Bliss.
  

Do You Take Time to Reflect on Gratitude?

Reflections on Gratitude

We can find inspiration and fodder for our art anywhere.  Sometimes the inspiration is as surprising as the creation itself.  But keeping our heads and hearts and spirits in the right place is as important as the art we create.  If we aren't open to receive the inspiration, it might fly right on by without us even noticing!

How Do You Get Prepared?

If you have ever known any Texans, you'll understand when I say that I spend time fixin' to get ready...haha!  Getting ready to art is like stetching before you exercise.  You gotta get the ol' noodle focused in the creative source, instead of the other million things you could be doing with this time and space.

A great way to get your head in the right place, and to make sure that your mindset is in the right place to receive inspiration, is to feel thankful for what you have in this moment.  Be thankful for what has already come into your life.  By reflecting back out a grateful attitude, you show that you would appreciate more good stuff...like inspiration.

I always feel happier about giving to someone who is grateful for what I can give them, don’t you?  Even if my motivation was not to be given thanks, it still helps.

My aim is to be grateful all day long, every day.

At the end of every day, my hubby and I have a regular bedtime ritual with our four kids.  We read a story first.  Then we used to take turns starting bedtime prayers, and after a while, the kids were stuck saying the same thing every night.  It started to turn into just a forced routine.  So we re-arranged the routine.

Our new ritual is Thank-You-For’s

Each one of us says what we are thankful for and then calls on the next person to say his or her thank-you-for.  It can be anything from cartoons to a particular toy to a person to a new customer to the lovely weather.  (With kids, you never know what they are going to come up with!).

I certainly have evenings on occasion when I think that I have nothing new for which to be grateful.  Then I look around the bed and see the little faces of my kids with their eyes squeezed shut while they are feeling reverent and know that I have everything for which to be thankful!

The most amazing effect is that we all sleep better for having closed the day on a cumulative thankful note!

EXPRESS Your Gratitude

No matter what the circumstances seem to be each day, we can always find something for which to be grateful.  The more genuinely grateful we feel, and the more gratitude we express, the more stuff for which to be thankful enters our paradigm. 

So, tonight when you quiet down, or tomorrow morning when you are reflecting on your day ahead, or right before you start your art-ing time, try taking a few moments to ponder what in your life is good, and for what you can be thankful. 

By reflecting a grateful spirit, you open yourself to all of the other wonderful energies the Universe can send your way.

Another Fun Online Class

About the same time I started the 21 Secrets Class, I also started Christy Tomlinson's class, the She Art Workshop. 

What a fun class filled with tons of great ideas, not only for the girls themselves, but for background techniques and products and so on.

Drop by and take a look at Christy's site (and her really great store Scarlet Lime).

The best part of this class has been that my 6-year old daughter really has gotten into it!  She has even gotten ahead of me in the videos!  Watching all of these techniques has really helped her understand what kinds of things she can do with art, and she has now moved from little girl stick figure-type drawings, and away from painting a sheet of paper so much that it turns into one muddy color, into an art piece that has a focus and a stopping point :)

Check this out:



And here's the first one that I created :) 



More Really Cool Stuff from Craigslist

From the FREE section on craigslist...two of those plastic bins you carry at the grocery store when you don't need a whole buggy...two of those bins filled with books!!

I was kind of hoping for old books in not-so-good shape so that I can use them for mixed media projects.  It turns out the whole pile of books that I might pick out for myself to actually read!  And most of them books that I haven't read yet.

One of my faves is a book on calligraphy styles, with written history on each style, as well as detailed pictures of how to draw each letter.  Wow, how cool is that??

Along with the calligraphy book, we got books on investing, spiritual and mental motivation, animals, poetry books, quote books, picture books about faraway lands, photography, law, and a couple of fiction books.  Quite the treasure trove!

You just never know what someone is going to throw out on the porch with a Come and Get It sign.  Keep your eyes open, you never know from where opportunity and inspiration will come!

Fly for the Sake of Flying

I finished up the weekend with the completion of my newest art journal creation: Fly for the Sake of Flying.  I suppose it's sort of a tribute to the Jonathon Livingston Seagull living inside my heart. 

The page is the result of the class on 21 Secrets, Improvisation Station.  Funny, I thought it would somehow be a class on acting, which I was NOT at all thinking I was into...heehee, and I couldn't figure out what acting had to with art journaling!

Not About Acting at All

Turns out, it wasn't an acting class at all, go figure...it was a superbly fun workshop on free-ing yourself from those shackles that keep your imagination all locked up.  I sat around pondering the class and the first two videos and exercises for like a week and a half.  We started with introducing ourselves to the class, and then we re-did our introduction in a less traditional way.  The re-introduction was more metaphorical, getting away from old titles and inside-the-box definitions.

The Metaphorical Challenge

I guess the challenge I had was getting my brain out of the picture and using my heart to define myself.  Whew!  Definitely felt like a real effort for me.  I didn't know I was going to have trouble free-ing myself from old shackles so that I could just play.  And the challenge wasn't so metaphorical for me, it was reeeaaal.

Here's what I created during the workshop...and I ended up loving it way more than I imagined!  I guess the point for me here is once again, just keep going and see what happens.  Don't give up halfway through :)

Sunday Morning Kind of Love

I love Sunday mornings...I mean, I really really love Sunday mornings! 

We don't get in any hurry for anything, and the kids somehow seem to know that's the way a Sunday goes.  This morning, I snuggled on the couch with the three little ones, curled up in a blanky watching Pingu.  Fasha (Far-ger? Oh, Dad) brought me yummy foffee, some people call it coffee...and we snugged with the babies while watching what could have been a scene from our home in the Pingu family.  (Our family life compares to so many cartoons!).

As the Day Blossoms

As the sunshine brightens up our little corner of the world, we start poking around our day.  This mid-morning has been filled with the laughter of the kids playing fort in the back room with the moving boxes from our move almost a year ago.  Fasha and I are art-ing in the kitchen, we just sort of move around each other as we ponder our next move, adding paint here and there, picking up and setting stuff down...we both have several projects going on at a time.  And we throw comments and ideas out to each other as we create. 

We end up choosing playlists on either the ipods or on Pandora radio to fit our mood.  Sunday mornings are for Nina Simone or Herb Alpert or Benny Goodman.  Now that it's closer to lunch-time, we've moved on to They Might Be Giants and The Barenaked Ladies...great art-ing music.

Another Perfect Saturday

We have a saying in our house, Another Perfect Saturday. 

We have a tradition in our family of grilling out and listening to da Blues on Saturday evening.  Dry hot air, and a summer Saturday nite, drinking a beer while grilling out chicken fajitas and corn and peppers on the wood fire, listening to Muddy Waters and John T. Hooker and the like...that's a magical evening!  We started our Saturday nites like that, and for a long time we had the count of how many consecutive Perfect Saturdays we'd had. 

Another Perfect Saturday became the measure by which all of our days are measured...and this day, Sunday, is Another Perfect Saturday.