Wednesday Gratitude

 
 I haven't done a Wednesday Gratitude for a while now. Life and work just got busy and I didn't make time for it. Isn't that how it goes? Things get busy and we get into our routine and forget about certain things for a while until sometime down the road we think, "Oh, I haven't done that in a while." or "Oh, I used to do that." That's just how things go. We go in spurts sometimes. Letting my Wednesday Gratitude's go for a while made me realize that I liked doing them. Not only did it give me a way to bring out my gratitude thoughts in a purposeful way, but I really enjoyed reading others comments about what they are grateful for. Really, it's so encouraging to me to see what other people are grateful for. I really believe that when we share our gratitude with one another, we feel encouraged to keep on, keeping on. Because we are all trying the best we can, to be the best we can be in this life and play the cards we've been dealt. Some days are up days and some days are down days. None of the days last forever and neither do the ups and the downs. Everything is temporary. And gratitude helps to feed our souls and to encourage us to take another step...even if it's a down day and we can only manage to take just one.

So, this week, I have gratitude for:

Quiet, cozy evenings at home with the candles lit

Some beautiful sunshine this week

A flexible schedule that helps me manage everything I'm responsible for

and the fact that the roses are still blooming

What do you have gratitude for?

Freebie!

Thanks for dropping by! 

Here's a freebie word art. Feel free to use in your personal artwork. 

Just right click and then click Save Link As...

Enjoy!

Fine Fingerless Gloves

Here are my Fine Fingerless Gloves made from Suri Alpaca in a rich coffee brown. I got the cozy, super soft yarn and pattern from Nancy, who raises alpacas and lives not far from me. I'm so excited to wear them and since we're having an early fall here with cold mornings and evenings, I will be...

Soon...

Maybe even tomorrow!

Dancing in the Rain

Halloween Party hosted by Fanciful Twist

Witches flying past on broomsticks,
Black cats leaping here and there,
White-robed spooks on every corner,
Mournful moaning in the air,

From Halloween by Mary Jane Carr

A Magical and Perfectly Enchanted Halloween Party!

No Brushes Allowed!

It's Street Team Challenge time!

 

Last month was Text Messaging and thank you to everyone who encouraged me with their kind comments. It is truly a joy to participate in these challenges. I learn new things every time not only from working on my own project but also from seeing what all of you come up with in your interpretations of the challenge. It is so much fun to meet and hear from new friends from all over the world.

This month: In A Scrape, No Brushes Allowed. This month we were to scrape on layers of gesso and paint using an old credit card or flat edged tool to result in a grungy, textured background. My cup of tea, I love to work in layers and get messy! I was really excited to experiment with gesso as I have not used it that much. Now, I will use it a lot! The gesso and paint react to each other in interesting ways and create really cool textures together. So, without further adieu...

I began by layering brown acrylic paint over a layer of gesso and layering another coat of gesso over the brown. The layers created an interesting effect together. While that was drying...

I went back to a couple of earlier challenges (#27) & (#19) and created some stencils and masks. I made them out of old manila folders. I used these and scraped colors onto my background.

Then, using my stencils, I added a couple of stars in the corners and wrote a couple of quotes with a white gel pen.

I couldn't stop there, so here are a couple of others:

This one was made with some cool stencils I purchased from Tattered Angels. I absolutely love them. I think they work better with brushes or by spraying paint or ink on them. Scraping the paint across them required a lot of paint to cover the intricate details and it became really thick. After drying overnight, however, it has a really cool texture.

On this one, I started with gesso and scraped on some black plum acrylic paint. Then I spritzed on some water and let it set for a few minutes, scraped again and voila, cool splatters. I'll use this grungy background for something else later. 

Thanks, Michelle, for another great challenge. I learned so much on this one! 

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

At the beginning of September, I and my family took a end-of-summer fling to Seattle.We were lucky and had a beautiful day there, as you can see. So gorgeous that we just had to get out on the water. Since moving from Southern California a year ago, I badly miss my ocean mama. I couldn't wait to breathe the salt air and feel the moisture of the water. I just had to get as close to it as I could! It was too cold to swim, so we went out on a boat. Aaahhhhhh! Just what I needed. It just didn't last long enough, but it did the trick. 

Back at home...

My thirteen year old daughter just started school, as I'm sure your students did. This year, however, is different for us. Instead of a normal brick and mortar public school, like she has always attended, she has decided to attend a virtual school. It requires a bit of a mindset change and yet it will bring much freedom for her to learn the way she learns and at her own pace. She will be able to meet others that she would not otherwise have the opportunity to meet. She will have the opportunity to become even more self-responsible for her work, how she manages her time, and her relationships with her teacher and others. She will also have the opportunity to participate more in the activity she loves the most...

Ballet. 

I have a good feeling about all of this. I am looking forward to connecting more, communicating more and participating more. I'm so grateful and excited about what technology can do for us in these ways and the wonderful people we meet along the way as we continue in our process of becoming.

Happy Back to School,