When we are first learning how to walk we fall on our butts.............alot.....and that is just what I did. I took my first samples up to Redlead for my demos........I am learning and sometimes learning can be frustrating but that is ok. The first piece I made for my December demo I totally trashed and at the last minute I put this piece together, it needs some bugs worked out, but it is what I would consider to be pretty close to my style. So I am back to the drawing board....and that is ok because in the end this helps me to grow and challenges me to think about things from many different angles. I think if an artist only creates pieces that are their 'style' or to their liking that they can get stuck in a rut, so I look at this as just paving new roads in my creativity. So I am back off to my studio, trying to learn to walk and hoping not to fall on my butt again......... 

Here are a couple of samples for my Redlead demo in October. I have a few more things to do to these puppies to tweak them up a bit. It is funny, I thought I knew what I was doing when I made these because I have made them for myself before, but I used different papers and different closures on these, so by the time I got these up to Redlead for show and tell they weren't working like I expected they should be...........just a bit frustrating, and I feel like a major dork.........but I am embracing my dorkness and loving..................at least I am trying....... 

My first samples to submit for my demo at Redlead. This is not my personal 'style', but it is what I think they are looking for. It was hard to come up with these, but that is what I like. I look at this as an overall challenge, just like I do with the monthly ATC's. I think all artists at some time should challenge themselves in some way, shape, or form. I enjoy pushing myself to do things that are out of my norm.  

Life just keeps happening around here!

I swear, Murphey's Law should have been called Farmer's Law! Friday when my daughter and I dropped my hubby off at the house of 1 of the 4 guys he was going out of town with, we unloaded our Flinstone mobile of what seemed to be about a zillion and one things for him to take on the trip (they say women are bad about packing!) , and as our daughter went to shut the hatch one of the shocks stuck and the glass shattered everywhere! The poor thing was so upset, and we assured her over and over again that it was no big deal, and that her daddy would go get a replacement back window at the junkyard on Tuesday and it would be like new. Well, today my hubby went to the junkyard and called me on the way back to let me know he was able to find a new back glass, and that he did not bring all of the right tools with him but was able to make the tools he did bring work to remove it from the blazer at the junkyard, he was going to go vacuum out the back of our blazer to get all of the glass out and he would be home. A bit later my hubby, or should I say Knight was home, and went to work right away putting the back glass in............things never 'just' work for us, so I peeked every once in awhile to check his progress, but too scared to actually go outside in case things weren't going well. Not very long after he had begun he popped his head in the house to say he got it put in and all was well.............my first thought was......... this was wayyyyyyyyyy to easy.........not only did he find the back glass at the first junkyard he went to, but found it easily, and quickly, and there were lots of them, then I thought you really need to stop thinking like this..........the glass is half full.....not half empty.............afterall, it did not rain the whole weekend, none of us managed to get cut by the glass, stop thinking so negative. It is ok, and sometimes things actually can be easy without the world coming to an end. With my thinking adjusted to a glass half full attitude I went down to my studio to go create! yeah! I am gonna have some eye candy to put on my blog by the end of the night...........just about then our daughter comes downstairs with a big grin on her face and tells me that daddy broke the back glass. I kept working in my studio and told her you can't fool me I know you are joking. She insisted she was not, and we began to play word ping - pong.......ya know ..........no he did not......yes, mom he did......no dear he did not.........yes, mom he did........well, the score was tied and neither us were going to give up, so I went upstairs and thought I'm gonna ring her neck when I get up there and find out she was joking! I walk outside to my hubby, shaking his head, with broom in hand............................he felt it needed a slight adjustment and tried to move it over just a bit when it shattered. I had our daughter grab me the other broom and helped him sweep up glass.......in trying to keep with my glass half full attitude I told him at least this time he would know what tools to bring, and at least there are several more and he knows just where they are, and at least it is not suppose to rain for at least the next week...............we finished sweeping up the glass and sat down on our swing and stared at where the glass should be.......it was too quiet, I hate quiet, then we laughed...................that I liked............it was not the end of the world, and it was normal for us this 'luck' of ours................I felt better, now things were just the way they were suppose to be, not easy, never working the first time around......the world is good, at least for this moment. We watched the sky change colors, pinks, blues, oranges, and a color that I don't think they have a word for that was so beautiful, the clouds looked like they were made by the quick and carefree strokes from a painters brush, not real at all, kind of like the ones in the velvet paintings of Jesus my grandma had in her livingroom when I was a little girl, the locusty bug thingys were making noise, the kids were inside, quiet, and the skeeters biting.........yup, all is good and just as it should be for this moment......I will have eye candy on my blog tomorrow.................

Happy Birthday to my Knight in Shining Armor

Yesterday was the day my Knight in Shining Armor was born many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many......(recent tests show he may actually be older than dirt! ha! )....years ago! This man is the reason I am today. The reason I am alive, the reason I am happy, the reason I am successful in my world of art, the reason I have 3 beautiful children who at the time of this writing are driving me crazy, but they are beautiful none the less.

When he and I first met, I was at the end of my rope with life. I never seemed to be able to please my family, I was the 3rd wheel, the black sheep. I had always wanted to be an astronomer, or a scientist of some sort, but school was always a struggle, and I had been told I was not living up to my potential, I was lazy, I was blah, blah, blah.............many years later I would discover I had learning disabilities, and art became my outlet for pent up 'stuff'. I had not been in a relationship for about 2 or 3 years, my last relationship was with an abusive alcoholic.......can we say 'no self esteem'.............I knew ya could....... I thought I would never meet my Knight in Shining Armor, and have my Happily Ever After...........
My to be hubby and I met at a bar, it was a setup, kinda, a friend brought me and another friend and her boyfriend brought the man who would become my hubby......he was to choose between the 2 of us, but he was told the other girl would be the better choice. So, we meet, fall in love, and marry. He is the first person, besides my one grandma, who loved me for me, unconditional love. He had made me feel loved, he accepts me completely (blonde dorkiness and all!) He believes in me and has encouraged me in the 19 years we have known each other to do and try new things, and when I fall down he taught me how to get up and dust myself off and try it again and told me what I did right, not reminding me what I did wrong. If it was not for his encouragement, his belief in me, his support, his love I would have given up on art and life completely. He tells everyone how proud he is of me, he shows everyone that walks a foot in the house everything I have done, he shops with me, he even looks through the books I am always bringing home. My hubby and I have had more than our share of the bad times, in sickness, or poorer part of the vows we took when we married, but that just makes the good times, in health, and for richer parts of our lives that much sweeter. This man loves his children and will do just about anything for them and learns just what it means to be a father everyday, he lost his when he was 6. This Knight in Shining Armor has stopped and helped people on the side of the road when they have broke down, he has walked for an hour in 6 inches of snow with a single mom and her baby trying to help her find a car in a mall parking lot that ended up being stolen and then helped her find a security guard. This Knight stopped on the side of Mid Rivers Mall drive and almost got himself killed trying to dodge speeding cars while trying to save a huge alligator snapping turtle that wanted to eat him for dinner and did not understand the person he was trying to eat was trying to save his life. This Knight just last week saw a woman at a gas station in tears and went to investigate to find out what was wrong.....she had run out of gas in front of the pump, she would not get paid for another 5 days, and she had no money.......he put some gas in her car for her and paid for it. His only regret is that he did not put more in her tank than what he did. This Knight has the gift of gab, and can talk to anyone like he has know them forever. Sometimes maybe he does not know when to shut up, and sometimes he gets a little loud, but to know him is to love him. This Knight is a man who has made many sacrifices for his family, and has more than his share of testosterone flowing through his veins, but he has a sensitive side and he bleeds when cut. This Knight most of the time forgets he does not have a big 'S' on his chest (like Superman) and needs to be reminded, he too, is only human. This Knight is the man I love, my best friend, my soul mate. He and I enjoy spending time together, and maybe more than most couples, but he and I were all each of us had for many years, and we have both enjoyed our time apart this weekend, but we miss each other terribly also. This Knight was sent from Heaven by Angels.............This Knight is my husband, and yesterday was his birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY........................ Love you always and forever, bunches and bunches.......mwa.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

When the boys are away, the girls will play.........

Friday my hubby and a few of his friends went out of town to Indy for the drag races.
Yesterday a few friends came over to my house for a day of art and conversation. We were together for about 8 hours, but the time seemed to fly by. As usual it went by way to fast.

stop and smell summer.......

The last couple of weeks have been totally nuts. I feel like a dog chasing its tail....getting use to 3 hours of sending kids off to school in the a.m., then spending 3 hours in the p.m. with kids coming home. 6 hours of the day! Several times my daughter, who is the first home, and I have run to the store before the boys get home. She and I can do the shopping in a tenth of the time by ourselves versus having the boys with us. I am in the middle of eleventy quadzillion projects around the house, my hubby has been working 12 hour days (or should I say nights) this last week, so he sleeps all day and has not been able to help. Next week though he says he is only working his normal shift so that he can help me with stuff. We built our house 17 years ago and now everything is at that age where is it suffering from old age and it seems like we are having to replace all of the expensive stuff, and I am always 'redoing' something........I have never lived in one place this long my whole life, so I am also discovering how much junk you can accumulate in that time and trying to rid my house of stuff. Today my hubby 'only' worked 11 hours, we ran to Redlead to catch a demo and a few great things on sale. We ran him home so he could literally crash into bed. I nursed a 3 day old headache by trying to take a quick nap for just an hour after popping 3 tylenol. (one for each kid! ha just kidding) I hate tylenol, but that is all I can take with my other meds. My RLS (restless leg syndrome) kicked in which made napping almost impossible, during my hour nap my oldest son informed me several times what time it was and how much longer it would be until we picked up his DS (nintendo ds that is) from the layaway department at Wallyworld. My sister called to say her hubby had been admitted back into the hospital. At 4:00 we all hopped in the Flinstone mobile, ugh I can not wait until our dually is running again, we ran to return movies, ran to Michaels to purchase supplies to make a brain model, my daughter got a call on the cell from a friend wanting her to go to the mall in an hour. We ran out of Michaels, drove to Wallyworld did 15 minutes of shopping in and hour, during this time all 3 kids talking to me at once, and I remebered half way through that the reason I could not hear them was because I had turned my hearing aids down earlier, duh! I really did not want to turn them back up, but I did! My head started pounding again. We got the DS out of layaway, swiped the ATM card, went and bought my youngest son a new earring in the jewelry department, he lost his other one in the pool and we had to discuss again that he could not buy the c.z. bling bling earring that was almost the size of his head, that he needed to go with the smaller size, swiped the ATM card again, went and payed for the other stuff, swiped that ATM card again. Loaded up the Flinstone mobile, peddled the boys home, the daughter touched up the make up and we picked up her friend and drove them to the mall. I have never heard 2 people talk so fast and be able to understand each other. I thought about how I can not believe my baby is in high school. My head was pounding again, ugh I can not wait to put my comfy clothes on, pee, and take out my hearing aids! The air does not work in the Flinstone mobile, so my hair keeps blowing all over my face and I spent the whole drive to the mall thinking I must be losing my eyesight because I cleaned my sunglasses before I left the house and my vision is all blurry.....maybe it is a brain tumor......or my eyeballs are getting ready to pop out of my head from stress like some disgusting cheap horror movie effect........after I dropped the girls off I pulled over and took my glasses off and discovered I did not have a brain tumor, I just apparently cleaned my glasses with a towel that was dirtier than my glasses! ewwwwww! For the first time today I was alone............................................mmmmm imagine that ! I could breathe for a second. I started thinking about all of the things I planned to do when I got home......I don't wanna be a grown up I wanna play in my studio and put some really neat piece of eye candy on my blog............all of the sudden I realized I was smelling fresh mulch, not a smell many people like, but I do, then I could smell fresh cut grass, as I pulled up to a stop light I could hear the locusty buggy critters that make that loud noise, ohhh that was so relaxing......and peaceful to listen to the sounds, to smell the smells, and to watch as the sun was starting to set and the sky was so many beautiful colors blending together perfectly, and those colors were muted by just a touch of August haze...........I got home and checked to make sure the boys were not hanging from the ceiling fan trying to fly or that they had not tied each other up (their daddy was home but he thinks when 2 boys are quiet that is a good thing......silly man!) I stepped back outside and caught a quick lightning show off in the distance, the smells outside had changed to that smell that can not be described. It is like the soil and the concrete and plants are cooling off from the heat of the day that is now cooling because the sun has gone down......now the locusty buggy thingys had gone to sleep and the crickets and frogs are chirping.............then I remember how important it is to take the time to stop and take in what the season has to offer, soon it will be fall and there will be new smells, sounds......and summer will be a memory.......and I remember this just in time for reality to come back into focus and the phone rings, the puppy is barking, and the boys are running through the house making noise and my hubby is yelling his good byes as he is walking out the door..................