Day 11: Lots of pins, lets get covered up in Jewels!!

Do you ever look around you and say, I have too much stuff? Well for this project, I did just that. Somewhere along the way, I picked up a hundred plus vintage pins, earrings, necklaces to make mirrors. so after making lots of mirrors, I got bored and needed to make something new and different. So on this creativity adventure, I decided to cover a wooden heart with vintage pins and earrings. WOW did it turn out better than I thought. It is always fun to see something come together. So now I will have to send this a very lucky valentine. I still have lots of vintage jewels and will have to keep reinventing that I can cover in jewels. Maybe I will buy a chair and cover it with jewels. It might hurt to sit on it. Maybe it is just to look at. Any ideas on what else I can cover in Jewels? I should do some research and see who created the first jewelry and was it for weddings only? Jewelry used to be used as a symbol, now we just use jewelry as an accessory. I am pretty sure I could not go a day with out my fun jewelry. How about you? Could you go a day without jewelry and be in public? I might feel a little naked... Well at this moment I am feeling very tired after a call w/ Shanghai. It is nice to travel to the other side of the world without leaving your  house! Thank you WebEx!! Stay warm wherever you roam!

Day 9 & 10 Friends and peace make the world go round

So day 9 was the art of being with friends. No pictures to share, but love in my heart and gratitude for having 2 amazing women in my life. We celebrate each others birthday with dinner and way tooo much wine. But there is never too much fun when we get together. We share stories about our kids and our families. We give advice, we take advice and we feel free to say how it is. We determined we have been celebrating our birthday's for about 14 years. It just gets better with age. I look so forward to our birthdays every 4-5 months. It is so special. Women are very lucky to be women. We get to have bonds with other women and most men never get to experience the closeness with other men that women can have with each other. We get to have girls night out and drink martinis or wine. Women will use any excuse to get together. We use purse parties, jewelry parties, wine parties, clothing parties to get together, when in fact all we need is some wine and chocolate and we are celebrating just being with the girls. We are sooooo lucky!! I would raise my wine glass in celebration, but a little too much Malbec last night! So i will raise my water glass with an advil chaser to all girls out there!

Here is to Peace, Love, gratitude and Birthdays with Friends!

Day 10: Peace Collage
Canvas
alphabet beads
glass bead flower
pins
ornament painted with the peace sign
recycled vintage buttons
recycled sweater
upholstery tacks
type-writer keys
mah jong tiles
recycled bird from antholpologie
St. Christopher medal for peace
Sea glass found on Don Pedro Island, FL

So much fun to make. You can never have too much Peace around. although I am going to have to find a place for all my projects or make smaller projects. What fun is that!! That's what walls are for.

Day 8 "Love is in the Air"

Today I went out to do some craft shopping for the crafting adventure I am on. And Christmas is barely off of the shelf and all you can see are hearts galore!! Love was on display in the simplest of form: A HEART.

So this inspired my next project. A multi-medium "love project".  Taking an 11 x 14 canvas, painted it black and used old wall paper with cardboard letters spelling love. I love using beads to add texture and the mah jong tiles to add detail and a second dimension. The masculine upholstery tacks add some bling, while the clay heart is decorated with some bling. Such fun to make and see what it is like to work with many items in a second dimension. Now I think I will make a canvas for Peace and gratitude. Stay tuned.

The piece really does hand straight, but my picture taking ability seems to be a little off!!

Love is the thing you know!!

Spread love wherever you go today/tonight and make the world a better place!

Day 6 and 7 rolled into one!!

What a day Friday was. I basically worked a 16 hour day because of travel and just had not energy left to post to the blog. So glad Day 6 has moved into Day 7. Day 6 was a life lesson. You can never judge a book by its cover and you can never trust the book, because the chapter does not always end the way you anticipated. I would of said hoped for, but "Hope is not a strategy" So we move forward to start a new chapter and learn from the previous chapter. So any advice on writing a book? or at least a new chapter in  a book? Or maybe just a new strategy.....

Yesterday, i pulled out a belt buckle I made a year ago from old earrings and necklaces. IT is gorgeous!! There is a fall bronze look to it with glitz and glam to show off! This is a piece I wear very sparingly. IT can be over powering. Well some might say that would fit me just fine. Lately I try to keep my over the top edge for the ones who enjoy the energy. Thanks to all my buddies!! So this is for all the midwest cow-girls out there who are urbanites, who says you have to have a horse to ride high in the world!! AIM high and never look down!!

Day 7 was going back in my story to my love of knitting. I still remember when my grandmother-in-law taught me to knit 8 years ago. It was Christmas at the Cabin in Idaho. She had so much patients and understanding of how my type A personality has a hard time of not being in charge of the situation, but letting go and respecting her 81 years of knowledge to guide me. So for me learning to knit was a a new experience and also a joy. So when I get the needles out and start a project, it relaxes me and puts me in the calm zone with yet a feeling of accomplishment, which nurtures my type A personality or on the enneagram, my 8-ness. So the project I did today, was easy and fun. I made a cowl. IT is on a size 15 needle. Cast on 15 and really make it to fit your neck. It was quick and easy and I think it looks pretty good. So stay warm wherever you might be physically, spiritually and emotionally. It's all good!!

Love the colors!!

Day 5 Wearable Art

"The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize", STEEL Magnolias

Ever since I was a little girl I have loved Jewelry. Even when I did not have pierced ears, I would still walk around with clip-on earrings, until it just wasn't cool. So when I was 10 I got ears pierced. What a big deal that was for me. This only deepened my love for jewelry and for a glamorous look. I still have a love of jewelry, so much I have taken classes to make jewelry. I have even taught classes on how to make jewelry. It is lots of fun to share my passion for jewelry. The project I did today takes my collection of old and broken or missing parts to create a beautiful pin. The fun part of this piece showcases my love of jewelry, bling, tulips ( my favorite flower in the whole wide world) and the color red. It is a home-run in the world of creative art for me. 


The pin is made from an old broach that lots its flower and all that was left were the leaves. The crystals are old austrian crystals with amazing shine. I could not throw the glitz away, so I found and odd clip on earring, very poignant for the project, kind of back to where I came from when I was a little girl, and that became my red tulip pin. Tulips represent my relationship with my dad. He would plant a tulip garden every year and I would cut the flowers in the spring to have fresh flowers on the table. It is a  memory I love and think of so often. My father taught me the importance of gardening and a love of the 4 seasons.  I am not sure where the color red came into play. Red is me through and through. Must be why I went to IU, go Big Red!!


The moral of today's art is to look at old and broken objects in a new light. You might create something be-you-to-full all over again!

Day 4 Happy Birthday to me!! Anybody know a good place to have custom artwork made?

Today is a special day. Not only is this the day I was born but the day, my birth mother made the decision to give me up for adoption. A decision I am sooooo very happy she made. A decision that allowed my parents to provide unconditional love, a loving home with support and a wonderful sister and 2 great brothers. I could not of asked for anything more in my life. As my mother also said to me, say a prayer to for your birth mom on your birthday, because it had to be a tough decision to make. So today my peace, love and gratitude is dedicated to my birth mother and to all the moms who make the loving decision to give a child up for adoption. It is a gift you have given me every day of my life for 46 years. Thank you!!

So because it is Day 4, I am still connecting to my Peace, love and Gratitude project. Today, I created my "symbol" for the project. Maybe I will make stationary for the occasion Any body have some connections? That is the first picture. It was fun to make and after several versions, this one felt right.

The other special thing about my birthday, is my mother in law, who rocks, sent me the most amazing quote, a quote from Buddha. The quote makes me realize how lucky I am in my life. Because she had the quote made, it is a part of my art project and it is my b-day, so I am breaking the rules to share the quote and to express my gratitude for so many people and things in my life. So here is to the sky and looking up everyday!!

As I was looking up into the sky being so thankful for celebrating another year with family and friends, iI noticed on our crabapple tree a large number of robins eating the berries off of the tree. They were having a 6 course meal. They did not seem to mind me in the window taking pictures of them. I am sure by the end of the week the tree will have very few berries left on the branches. So I was happy my husband planted the tree and now the robins have some winter nourishment as they fly into the sky and laugh, because it is a perfect life for them. I need to borrow my friend Janet's camera for better pics!!

So as I wrap up day 4, I am surrounded by peace, love and gratitude for this wonderful day! Thank you to so many family and friends for your love and support. So now I need stationarypeople!!

Day 3 and my heart has been upcycled

Tonight I was going through my magazines and getting ready to put lots of them in the recycle bin, when I thought about today's creativity project. How simple it was to take an old catalog and a heart paper puncher to create a big valentine. The picture is somewhat color challenged.  The big paper is pink anf ted the bottom is turquoise. I will try and scan it tomorrow. The glue needs to dry. So, Normally I would try to be all matchy, matchy and make a Valentine  look together and cohesive and somewhat store bought, but I really looked for all different colors and wanted a sense of randomness. After all isn't love random and full of adventure? Not quite sure where it will take you next? Who wants to plan everything in life? I think my project should be a PEACE, LOVE AND GRATITUDE ADVENTURE!! Who knows where my heart will go from one day. I think what matters is to stay grounded and true to myself. What I know in my heart every day is I love me!! I love my husband, I love my kids and I love my family near and far, everything after that is a cherry on top. How great is that? So here is to a great day filled with peace, love and gratitude... YIPPEEEEE

Thank you Universe for a be-you to full day!

Day 2: I've gone to the dogs

My 2 golden retrievers understand more about Peace, Love and Gratitude then I will ever know. My dogs offer me peace when my life gets out of control or OOC in texting lingo. They sit at my feet or ask for a shake and sometimes they smile. They show love by just being accepting of me and my family no matter what kind of day we are having. They even love visitors when they come calling by wagging their tales and squealing in excitement, all they want in return is a pat on the head or hug. How great is that. Those dogs are sooooo great-ful for food, water and shelter. They demonstrate it by getting so excited when it is time for breakfast or dinner, and they get the same thing just about everyday. They don;t mind sleeping on the floor or drinking out of a bowl. We can learn so much from our dogs. Remember to breath deeply and find peace in the small things and love everyone around you, even a stranger and say Thank you at least 100 times a day for all the wonders in your life. Now take a look at my first drawing of a dog. In all my creative years, I have never really attempted to draw, so now I have an elementary level PEACE dog, LOVE dog and GRATITUDE dog!! Just see the nose... a dogs nose, knows best!!

Day 1 Heart Pin Mirror

I was fascinated by the movie Julia/Julie and the concept of doing a blog everyday for a year. I know I could not do cooking, because a chef I am not. One thing I love to do is make stuff. Creativity is the drug that gets me going. Being a positive person is another pick me up. So why not combine them all. You will see me focus on creativity and thoughts on making the world a better place. Please join me in the process and add your thoughts and fun ideas. Here is to day1.

today I created a mirror with vintage heart pins I had been collecting. Pretty cool to take a mirror (something you would put a candle on) and a knife, glue them together with super strong glue and presto chango, I have created a hand held mirror. The magic follows with beads and pins. So fun to make something very creative and love the results.