Finally Some Art

I am participating in this journal round robin over at Art from the Heart. It is done in one of those Japanese folded moleskine journals. The journal started in Norway and has been to England, France, Canada and now the US. They started with four journals and the postal service lost one of them. There was a lot of art in that one so its heartbreaking for that to happen.

I got the journal on Wednesday and haven't felt up to doing it but I knew the next person is anxiously waiting. I thought I could do it this weekend but I got a burst of energy last night and this lady was the result. I like her even though her nose is kinda wonky but that is sort of how noses are in real life so I decided to let it be.

I can't begin to express how good it felt to do this page. The background was fun to create and the face came together easily. I learned more about mixing colors which is something that holds me back. It felt so good to be creating again. I also managed to finish the last gifts I have been working on. It feels great to have the obligations over with and to be able to enjoy doing some fun holiday things.

The Stars Have It

Its been a couple rough days with this cold. I thought it was going into my lungs so I made a hasty retreat to the the Doctor's office only to find out I was wrong. I did not have strep or fluid in my lungs just an ordinary cold. Could have fooled me, I haven't felt this miserable in a long time. Thankfully I am feeling better today.












On Tuesday I got together with my friend Kate and we made these garlands. Its a garland of metal stars. I glued on decorative paper to make it festive and added some ribbons and wala a new decoration. I haven't figured out where I am going to put it yet. This project took really a long time but it was fun doing it with another person.












Now you would think that a face like this would be innocent, don't let that sweetness fool you. This little girl chases everything and gets into to everything, but at least she hasn't climbed the Christmas Tree yet.

Gifts of Gratitude

One of the things being ill does for you is besides slowing down you are forced to look at your life a little differently. I've spent more time doing nothing in the past couple weeks. I found reading again and picked up my knitting once more. When you slow down there really is time for more. This is a wonderful book on Gratitude that I have in my bathroom. I picked it up to read today and thought I am really grateful to be alive. Life is such a precious gift. Gratitude can put all your issues in perspective.

Today I am grateful for:

...The way my barren willow trees look orange when the sun hits their branches and there is a blue sky behind them. Its quite beautiful in its simplicity.
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... the winter landscape this morning that looks frosty and cool
... the birds at my feeder busily chatting away.
... that I am feeling better today.
... that my house is almost all decorated.

What are you grateful for today?

December Delights

Its been bitter cold here but its supposed to end in a few days. I ventured out yesterday and had lunch with a friend, ran some errands and managed to pick up a sore throat somewhere. The meds I am on lower your immune system and I had forgotten that. I don't recall being near anyone who was sick so I don't know how I got it. It is annoying to say the least. So today I didn't even get dressed and slept most of the afternoon away, I am sure I needed it.

After seeing these wonderful lists on a few blogs like Kim and Sherry I thought I would try one of my own. Just a list of things you like about the holidays, a focus on the positive.

WHAT BRINGS ME JOY THIS TIME OF YEAR


Hearing my favorite carols once more. This is my favorite.



Beautiful falling snow that covers my trees in a blanket of white

Real Christmas trees - We always have a Grand Fir because it smells the best

Peppermint Bark

Seeing little kids excited about what Santa might bring

Seeing the lights in my town, people have some amazing displays

Fresh baked cookies

Getting Cards in the mail especially those with hand written notes

Wrapping my gifts, making gift tags.

A Miracle on 34th street with Natalie Wood B&W version

Those sappy Hollywood Christmas movies on Lifetime

Candle light

Afire in the fireplace

My daughters smile on Christmas Morning

Gatherings with friends

Sending out Christmas Cards

Some years actually making all the cards

Making my own snowflakes

Decorating the house all a new

The years I have had a sister come for Christmas.

The list goes on and on..... What's on your list.....

One ornament on the tree

We got our tree on Friday but due to a lot of things its not decorated yet. On Sunday I found this cute Eiffel Tower ornament that reminds me of my trip to Paris. Its the only ornament on the tree.












I also have a small aritficial tree that I like to do a theme on and this year its birds. Here is the cardinal that I bought in honor of my mom. She really like to see the cardinals in our yard back In Michigan where I grew up. We don't have cardinals here and I miss seeing them. Lately though I am seeing the image everywhere.












Then I saw these cute felt birds at a craft store, this one has a glittery hat and wings.












This one had a cute knit stocking cap on that I couldn't resist. I usually go for birds I can recongnise but these two were so fun looking I had to bring them home.












Of course I have to have a crow too, so its on the top. I will be taking them off adding lights and more birds but just thought I could share a little of what is going on here.

Yesterday we bought a new TV so now my house in totally disarray. We have the new 46" TV on a table. The old entertainment center next to that. Then all the DVD's and VHS Tapes out of the cabinet are in laundry baskets or on the kitchen table. Stuff that was also on top of the entertainments center piled onto my fireplace mantel. So I can't really do any decorating till will figure out how everything is going to work and where I am going to put it. TV guys come tomorrow to set up the HD and DVR. Its a slow process so I may not get to decorating till the weekend. It will be great when everything is set but for now we deal with chaos.

I have been trying to take it easy which is not real easy for me. I have been working on Christmas Card addressing and a little cleaning. I've got some sewing projects to work on so I just do them a little but at a time. This removing stress from your life is a real challenge.

I hope you are all finding some quiet amongst all the hustle and bustle of the season

I love this

I found this on Rice Freeman-Zachary's blog and its wonderful. Get the tissues out. Rice also has done a whole group of posts on getting organized that are wonderful. Scroll down to find them, they are well worth reading.

I am feeling a little better, getting used to the meds I am on. Thanks for your support.

Contest Winner

I finally got around to choosing a winner for my 100th post giveaway and the winner is Kim from Queen of Arts I chose the winner with a random number generator. I will pack up the goodies and send them to you when I am feeling a little better.

Now for my not so great news, I will probably be blogging less and not visiting your blogs as much so if you don't see a comment from me its not that I am not looking or don't care about you I just have to focus my time elsewhere for awhile.

After a little incident at my neighbors house on Tuesday where I was almost turned over in a ditch. I know again already, I am saying the same thing to myself. I thought my neighbors horse was outside the corral and went to look. Anyways a farmer neighbor of mine pulled me out. In looking at things now it was perhaps one to many stressful situations for me.

The past few months I have been doing too much but thought I could do it all but I am realizing now I need to step back a little. To make a long story a little shorter I have developed Bell's palsy which is an inflammation of a nerve that causes paralysis on the right side of my face. Treatment includes taking steroids for a small amount of time.

Usually when I am taking medicine it seems to affect me stronger than most people. So now I don't have the pain in my face but nausea and that cloudy feeling in my head that lets you know you are on heavy meds. I know that will go away in a week as soon as I am done with them. It can take up to two months to really heal this and I have a 20 percent chance of it reoccurring. So I have decided to slow down my life a little. I won't stop blogging but I probably will only blog a few days a week.

I am still in Misty's class which has one more week and in a new one on Revising a Novel which lasts 4 months but they are both self paced so I plan to do what I can and not put any undue pressure on myself. Maybe slowing down a little won't be so bad after all.

My first Zentangle

Why I was in Missoula, I thought I would try a zentangle. There is a nice article on how to do them in Cloth Paper Scissors. After doing a few patterns I could see a woman so I left that blank and drew a face in pencil This was really fun. I think I will be doing more of these. If you are interested in these I suggest you check out the zentangle website. In all their old newsletters they have different patterns you can try and all sorts of great information.