I am adding another giveaway for One World One Heart!!!

To celebrate over 100 posts on my OWOH post I am adding another painting/collage canvas to my giveaway! Thanks to all of you who commented and entered my giveaway. I have had a blast visiting blogs and being blown away by all the different styles and talent! 

A special thank you to everyone who has given me feedback on my blog "makeover". I found the magnificent Trudi from Canada who worked her magic and made it for me. I just LOVE it!  

If you would like to hire a fabulous digital artist contact Trudi. She was wonderful to work with and super fast!  If you want to enter the drawing make sure to scroll down and post your comment on my original OWOH post from January 19th. Remember to leave a blog address or e-mail in your comment so I can contact you if you win on Feb. 12th!

Getting into the ZEN making Zendalas... New Weekly Journal Prompt!

First of all, let me say how much freakin' FUN I am having with Lisa's ONE WORLD ONE HEART event. I have been blog-hopping all over the place!  It is inspiring to bask in all the creative, loving, friendly vibes! Thanks to all of you who are participating!  My journal challenge this week was to make a zendala, and I am posting 2 of mine.  I found it very relaxing to work on these serendipitous designs! I even taught my second graders how to do these on Friday and they had fantastic results! They asked, "When can we do this again?!"  

This week in my blog travels, I have been completely bowled over by the expressions of GOODWILL, HOPE, and LOVE for our country!  After a year of feeling I had to supress my feelings and wishes for our country and the world, it  is wonderful to connect with so many who are feeling the same way as I do!  So, even though we had a recent DREAMS theme, I cannot get away from the theme of HOPE!  I think there is a subtle difference in expressing DREAMS and HOPES.  Dreams sometimes stay in the clouds, but hopes we can breathe  life into.

Let's try to focus on articulating our HOPES FOR THE FUTURE and HOW WE CAN BRING THAT HOPE  INTO OUR LIVES AS A REALITY !  Journal about your hopes and the plans you have for channeling that hope into action!

One World One Heart Give-Away Begins Today!

 I am participating in the One World One Heart event this year. You can read about the history of the event and join in by clicking on the logo badge on my sidebar. Lisa "Oceandreamer" started this and it has grown by leaps and bounds each year. I didn't have a blog last year, but I did enter a few give-aways.   It is so exciting to be an actual blogger this year and I want to connect with even more blogging artists! 

The rules are simple- you leave a comment on THIS post by Feb. 11th.

                        1. I will draw a name for each of the 3 items I am giving away.  

                        2.You MUST leave an e-mail or blog address so I can contact you if you win. 

                        3.You do not have to have a blog to enter my give-away, but it is a requirement on                             some blogs. 

                        4.If you join in the event- be sure to connect Lisa so she can list you on her                                          blogroll of participating artists.

This is what I am giving away:  Two collaged wall-hangings approximately 8"x 7" and an altered tin colored with alcohol inks and collaged on the front.  Have fun looking at all the incredible eye-candy and meeting lots of amazing artists! Good Luck!!!!!

If you like my blog be sure to check back and join in my weekly art journal challenges!

What's a Zendala? This week's art journal challenge!

While I was pondering this week's journal theme, I came across a blog featuring a zentangle journal page and some stunningly amazing journal pages you should check out!  Go see Ingrid's blog after you read this post!

I have always drawn and doodled mandalas, so I googled zentangles to see what the difference was.  The idea behind the drawings are similar, to draw lines and designs that repeat, to fill in spaces with many types of lines and designs, to make it a meditative exercise, let the drawing go where it wants to go, don't worry about erasing, perfection, or what the end product will look like.  I found a cool video on Milliande's blog that shows how to draw a Zendala, which is just a circular zentangle!  So, find your trusty Sharpie, Pitt, or whatever marker you LOVE and try to make a zendala or zentangle in your journal this week.  If you  decide to add words, you can just journal what comes to you while you are drawing.  I am going to throw out a word theme as well...

RELAX!  This is supposed to be fun and relaxing.  How do you relax? Do you need to give yourself permission to relax?   This week's challenge is to relax and draw a zendala or zentangle and then share it with us!!!!  I posted  My Dream pages, but they got cut off along the bottom edge, so I'll fill you in.  The issue that I am passionate about on the first page is Arts Education, and I want to find the kep that unlocks the magic door!  Last week, I found some interesting music to go with the Dream theme. They are on my playlist, Kelly Sweet's version of Dream On, is really beautiful! If you don't see it on the playlist, click at the top of the list, it's the first song.

I'll be back tomorrow to post my One Heart give-away!

Experiments from Taking Flight!

My wonderful buddy, Tamara, sent me Kelly Rae Roberts book and I love it!  I made these two

pieces using some of her techniques.  I really liked how they turned out and I have some ideas for a few more in this series.  The top one is called My Story, the photo is of my sisters, my cousin, and me around 1972.  The second one is called Teacher, and the background is actual letters and cards I have gotten from students and parents over the years.  I will probably add more details to the teacher's dress.    I would love to get more feedback from blogland!

This week's Journal theme... IN MY WILDEST DREAMS I...

This  page is a 6 x 6 for a tip-in group I'm in with my friends. I made this for Peggy and her theme was "What do you see when you close your eyes?"   Making it made me think about dreams and the power of visualization and really seeing your future the way you want it to be.In that light, I would like this week's journal theme to be "IN MY WILDEST DREAMS I..."

You can take that idea anywhere, silly, serious, heartfelt, or even literally illustrate a dream you've had.  I want to be fearless and bold and ponder what WOULD I do if my wildest dreams came true.  I want to try to capture what that would look like and what it would FEEL like!

I guess the big question is would I even realize it and  stop and breathe the moment in ?

I challenge you to let this theme rattle around for a few days and try to define and shape and

articulate your wildest dreams.  Then we can record them in our journals and set them free on their way into our realities !!!!!!

How's YOUR balancing act?

Look! I finished my pages this week! Which is impressive since I was in an all-day writing class yesterday.  The writing class was geared for teachers, but focused on writing for ourselves in order to understand what we ask kids to write.  We did a fun exercise called "found poetry,"  This works- but you have to give yourself a strict time limit. We would drive ourselves crazy if we took time to ponder over this one!  Try to talk someone else into doing it with you ( my husband  and 14 year old son declined this offer last night, hmph!) .  Give yourself 5 minutes to cut out random words ( nouns, adjectives, verbs and conjunctions,  and, if, but, etc.) You will need about 10 of each. Don't worry about them going together or making sense!  We used magazines and newspapers.  Then give yourself another 5-10 minutes to arrange them on plain piece of paper into a poem.  Force yourself to do it quickly and glue stick them down!

Amazingly, these turned out so cool! I posted mine after the journal pages!  Did I tell you to check out Tamara's self-portrait pages? Well you should- they rock!  Opehlia has posted her Believe pages, go look! I'll be back later with next week's theme...

7 Things I love !!!!!

Wow! Eileen has given me a blog award!!!  I am so excited and happy to pass it on to 7 more people.  First I need to list 7 things I love and then the links to the 7 people I am sharing the love with.

1. My family who love and support me in all my quirky glory !!!!

2. Making art where I get to get my hands messy! 

3.  Getting a 90 minute massage!

4. Chunky baby and toddler legs- just want to squeeze 'em!

5.  Partying with my girlfriends!

6.  Making art and music with kids!

7.  Going to Musicals and concerts !

***********************************************************

I will pass the award on to 

    my East coast homegirl, Megan

    my art compadre, Sandee

        my rockin' North Carolina pal, Cathie

    my shoe diva, Peggy

    my kitty-lovin' sistah, Tamara

    my journal warrior, Ophelia

    my  nearby art buddy, Julie B. 

Now you need to post 7 things you love and pass it on to 7 other bloggers!

 I need to get working on this week's journal challenge.   The new theme is BALANCE,

and I added a song to my playlist that goes with the theme. Check out Both Sides Now, a rockin' version of Joni Mitchell's classic.

My attempt at a self-portrait page- anyone else?

This week I added a few simple pages featuring my first attempts at self-portraits from my new book, Mixed-Media Self-Portraits.  The first one is a photo I copied and traced and added some color details.  The second one I traced on vellum and colored in non-traditional colors.  I feel like I would have fit right in on the original Star Trek show- Captain Kirk might have thought I was pretty hot, huh?  So if you are hesitant to draw a self-portrait, this is a good way to start AND you can pick a photo you like!  We will definitely have to re-visit this theme to try some other techniques and versions. Don't worry I WILL get to the gritty, super-realistic self-portraits, I just didn't want to scare you so early in the year.  Who else did this theme and is brave enough to share? Let me know and I'll post a link to your blog or post the scans. Don't leave me hanging here.... 

 I will go ahead and post a New theme for next week a little early because I have to go back to work tomorrow and my son is going back to school in Connecticut. I don't think I'll remember to post in the morning!    In this week of fresh starts and promises of resolve I have been thinking about a powerful one-word prompt-  BALANCE -  How do you manage your life's balancing act?  The constant yin and yang, give and take, ebb and flow ?  I know it takes thought and effort and hopefully some teamwork is involved!  I hope this prompt gets you thinking, writing, drawing, cutting and pasting !!!!!

One World One Heart Event Gearing Up...

 I am so excited to join with hundreds of other bloggers in Lisa's One World One Heart give-away event this year! I commenting on several blogs last year but did not have my own blog to participate.  The first give-away starts January 19th and whoever leaves a comment can enter to win. You must leave an e-mail or blog address in the comment, so I can contact you if you win! If you click on the badge you can find out all the details and e-mail Lisa if you want to be a part of this.  She was featured in Somerset's Artful Blogging magazine and the interview gives all the background about this awesome extravaganza.  In December, I made my very first necklaces from the many charm swaps I've been involved in.  I gave several as gifts, but I have one left so I think I'll start with my Fabulous Flowers charm necklace as my first give-away.  Remember to check back on January 19th to  begin leaving comments to enter to win! 

Feelin' Fine in 2009! Starting an Art Journal...

Happy New Year! I had several people leave comments and e-mail me that they were going to start a new journal with the new year! Hooray!  I had no idea WHERE to start when I decided I wanted to do this.  Luckily, I went to a stamping convention and heard Teesha Moore give a mini-class on her style of art journaling.  You can click on her name for more info but what I loved hearing is that she doesn't sit down and do all the colors, layers,words and embellishments at the same time! Whew! She paints 8- 10 pages in her journal any colors she likes.  Just experiment with your paints, pencils, sprays, glittery stuff, and play with color.  Then collect cut-out images you are drawn to for any reason.  Try them out on the different background colors and glue them down where they look good to you.  Then when we have a challenge just flip through your painted pages and choose the color you feel like working on! You don't have to work on the pages in order!  This really helps me with the blank page intimidation phase. Preparing pages is also soothing to do when I want to play with my stuff without worrying about a finished project.   I am posting some of the self-portrait exercises 

I 've done from  my new book , Mixed-Media Self-Portraits.