final day of october

today is the last day of october, it has gone by so quickly. but november is one of my favorite months just like october so it's not so bad. :) there are so many nice things in november, my husband was born in november, we were married in november, thanksgiving is in november, and i like the poetic sound of "november" :)! anyway i have been so busy and not at all in the mood to create things. which is a shame because that means no fun halloween costumes. you might think that extremely odd since i profess to be such a costume nut. but busy and tired mixed with no money makes nothing at all. so instead i am showing you my book i made for my dad. it has various quotes about dreams and inspirations on one side and his favorite poem on the other.

mood movie

i recently got to go and see Marie Antoinette. my loving husband stayed home with the baby on a sat. morning so i could go which was very sweet. :) and since i love to see movies alone and like to get away by myself once and awhile it was really nice! i wasn't dissapointed with the movie really. though i do have to admit that i wasn't really expecting it to be all that great. (other than the amazing costuming of corse!)
i also must confess that i have been known to see and judge a movie entirely for it's costume. this was no exception. anyway, you are wondering where i'm going with this. it was a sad film, such a boring life they lead, with nothing to look forward to, no real reason to live other than to have children. now by all means i think having children is wonderful i just think that there is also more to life. and then even though they stop well before the end of MA's life you know that she is going to die...again, very sad. but i thouht it was beautifully done and kirsten was amazing! she has always been a favorite and didn't let me down. :) but all in all my favorite part was of course the costumes, a feast for the eyes it was indeed! i have been drooling over pictures for some months now so it was fun to see them and more on screen! here are my favorites so far....

journaling

these are my two more recent aditions to my art journal. the flower one is actually so not me but for some reason i was feeling colorful and wanted to create something with paper. the verse is Isaih 40:8 "the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever." wow i love that! the other page was kind of a venting page. my husband was frustrating me by just being a guy about something. (not that he can help it right? ) so i went down stairs and did this page, if you read what i wrote there is a bit of hostility though. lol, anyway, i was also feeling lonely and ignored so when i saw the sheet music with the title, "how long wilt thou forget me?" i was like..."Perfect!" :) so, there you have it, a glimps of two moods. one feeling happy and like the world is bright and lovely, the other lamenting at the folly of husbands and being completely selfish and moody.

sinister femininity

this piece has been sitting on my easel for a couple weeks now as i decide whether or not it's finished. today i decided it is. a friend was over today, she was telling me how it spoke differently every time she came over and saw it. she mentioned that the first time it came off as feminine and the second time much more sinister like a murder mystery or something like. I'm not really sure what i was trying to say through it but i now it was on the darker side. i was originally going to do the peeling paint in a cream or lighter shade but then on a whim decided it needed to be dark which i almost came to regret later. anyway, take what you will from it, it is sinister femininity.

my brain

Your Brain's Pattern

Your mind is a creative hotbed of artistic talent. You're always making pictures in your mind, especially when you're bored. You are easily inspired to think colorful, interesting thoughts. And although it may be hard to express these thoughts, it won't always be.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

You Are 45% Left Brained, 55% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

my beloved lake

this is my home, this is where i grew up, this is what i miss. Hume Lake Christian Camps, here is the website if you are interested. (www.humelake.org) it has been almost three months since i was last there and it's three months too many. not only is it where my parents live and where i grew up etc... but it's just an amazingly beautiful place! you are surrounded by the glory and the splendor of God's amazing creation. add to that an awsome group of people who love and are dedicated to our lord and savior. every day they are telling others about God, and what he did for us! bringing people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ! who wouldn't love a place like that? :) you should go visit some day! but until then at least visit the website and check it out.

are you as excited as i am?

just for fun, this is a gift card i made. just thought i'd share it for fun....but really i just wanted to tell you how very excited i am that my husband is coming home today!!!!! i get to go pick him up in an hour or so! yeah! plus the timing is right too because we'll get home just in time for gabriel to go down for a nap which means i'll have some no being mom time right away! anyway, i am excited, you should be too! :)

art journalling

this is my second art journal page i did. they were done on the same day i just didn't get a good picture the first time so didn't post one till now. it's still a little off with the glare and all but you can see it better this time round. it was fun to work with the hot pink background. i love that shade of pink but don't use it in my art that often. i think it may start a trend. :) i did another page last night but didn't take a pic yet, i'll post it once i have one.

it has grown chilly at my house lately. of course by chilly i mean just under 70 with a light wind. :) but for us it's chilly. i am loving it though! i miss the mountains, the fall weather, the snow. i wish i were this little girl, wondering through a little wood trail. all cozy in a warm coat. :) wouldn't that be nice?
we had a beautiful sunset last night followed by a brilliant moon! i tried to take pictures but as i'm sure you know that never works. so i just messed around with one and here is the result...

oh how i wish.....

so i have a delema... I want my life to be perfect but it can't be. I want to have enough time in the day to be able to get up, spend time with my Lord and savior, workout, take a shower andget ready for my day. then Gabriel would wake up, we would eat breakfast and then do what we normally do in the morning. (play) then we would have lunch, followed by a nice long nap (which he actually does take...3 hours to be exact so i can't complain about that one). duringthe nap i would have time to do any household chores as well as be able to work on whatever project i am currently working on. then once he woke up he would play by himself while i made a wonderfully delicious dinner for the family. my husband would come home to a nice home cooked meal everyday, and i stress everyday! then we would get gabriel ready for bed and have a nice evening to ourselves. now not all of what i have just written is pure fiction or unatainableso let me point out fact from fiction.
FACT:i do try to be diligent about getting up before gabriel to spend time with God.
when gabriel gets up we do have breakfast together and then play time. after lunch he does take a nice 3 hour nap. i do get some chores done during that time.
occasionally i'll get to work on something fun. to often i sit in front of the tv watching dr phil, lol, how lame is that! we do have a regular bed time routine that gets gabriel to bed by 7-7:30 pm which means that we do get to have a relaxing quiet evening together.
FICTION: working out every morning (try not at all). getting ready for the day before gabriel wakes up(i'm lucky if i get ready for the day before my husband comes home). time to get bothchores and fun stuff done in the afternoon(rare indeed! but oh how i wish!). and then the big parts, having time and skill to make a delicious hot meal for my husband to come home to.ha! that will be the day! i can't say that i'm a good cook,(sadly) but i would love to have more time to learn. and lastly that my husband would come home EVERYDAY! oh what i would give for that to be the case! saddly military life rarely allows such regularity in schedule. :( and since my hubby wants to make it a career i guess i'd better get used to it huh?
so, that is my wishful thinking, not to mention that i would have enough money to be able to go buy a magazine or some mascara without regreting my "splurging" purchase. i know that there will come a day, but today is not it. we do ok but life as a low nobody navy sailor with a wife and a baby is finacially rough. like i said, someday, and in the mean time my wonderfulhusband's love and provision is all i need. as long as we are fed and loved we will continue to thrive. for these earthly things have no true value anyway, they are merely things that willrot and turn to dust one day. so may i be truly thankful for the bounty of blessings that wedo have! and may i not covet what others have that i don't. because let me tell you, as i look around online i find so many blogs and websites with amazingly talented women who are into
the same things that i am. but here is the one huge difference...20 years of age! almost all of them are in there 40s, they are becomeing moms of teenagers or empty nesters. i however am a 21 year old mom with a 1 1/2 year old son living in Sad Diego on the salery of a low ranking sailor. i know my day will come. :) in the mean time i will just look on and drule and dream of the things that i might one day be able to do or have....

missing home

so i am sitting here drinking some sleepy time tea,(my favorite)it has been one of those days when you just need someone you love and know well to talk to. my obvious first choice would be my husband who cannot be reached when out at sea except my e-mail. the second my mother who isn't answering her phone right now. and that is pretty much where the list ends because i just don't know enough people "really" well. and the kind of thing i need right now requires that kind of "knowing". :) the reason is that i am just feeling a little worn out and stretched thin. i've had bible study the last two days which is always nice but there are a couple down sides. one being that my son goes through mommy withdrawls after not having his normal morning mommy dose. and the other being that i'm really not a big people person yet i'm a facilitator of a "small" group of 18 women. which means that they all look to me! aghh, run away! lol :) and since my lover of a husband has been away not only have i missed him more than normal but i also got a flat tire, and gabriel is getting his mollars in, very painfully i might add! so i just need a good warm hug and an ear i can complain to.
on to the art! i made this for my mother this may as a mother's day gift. the picture is of my grandmother(her mom) in highschool. this very same grandma is the one my mom named me for. AnnaMae :) i decided to use the green shade because she has been redecorating her room and is planning to paint the walls a pale "bamboo" green. her bathroom is also a pale shade. so i though these would work the best. i found the quote online. "the most important thing she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to me a perfect mom and a million ways to be a good one." -Jill Churchill
so there you have it. my mother's day collage in the fall. :) but hey, i'm missing my mom right now and can't just jump in the car to go visit so this will have to do.

late when i'm tired

so it's almost 11 pm, i don't think i've stayed up this late in a long time. but i always have a hard time sleeping when my lover is gone. but that wasn't really the reason i was going to write. i did take a pic. of one of my journal pages entitled "yourself". i had a lot of fun watching this emerge, it turned out even better than i'd hoped. see, since i have never made an art journal before i didn't really know what i was doing so i just kind of winged it. i used elmers glue to stick pages together for thickness. i later got a tip that glue sticks don't leave wrinkles in the pages. my pages do have wrinkles which is why i wasn't sure how they'd turn out. but in the end i used some walnut stain ink and the wrinkles made it so much more interesting! also this is the first thing i've ever done where i put wings on some one. i always liked it when i saw other people do it but never found the right thing to make it work with. anyway, i had fun and that's all that matters right? :)

time flys when you're having fun

well so maybe it can fly when you're not having fun too but i always liked the expression. the month of september has flown by so quickly in my little world! (i say little because i am mostly just home with my baby and hubby) i think it got extra busy because i started bible study at the begginning of the month. which means that i have to be making phone calls every week and am out of the house two mornings in a row. it's been really good though, we are studing joshua right now and will continue through judges ruth and the samuels. it's so in-depth i'm learning a ton! i have also been creating a lot more lately! which is fantastic! i have been so inspired by so many fellow bloggers/artists out there that i realized i wasn't doing what i love most nearly enough. and if i truly loved it i would make time for it. granted, summer was hot and who wants to concentrate on anything when it's hot. (we don't have air conditioning, just ceiling fans) plus my hubby was gone a lot so i went to my parents a few times always for a fair chunk of time. but now we are here for awhile and since my hubby is still gone a lot i have more time to myself. to be honest i would much rather be doing stuff with my beloved than anything else but since there's nothing to be done about that i'll just create art! like i've stated before, my best creations come from depressing emotions. anyway, i have recently started to make an art journal. it's turning out better than i thought it would and i am really enjoying the process. :) i can't wait till it's completely full of my art/thoughts. i will try to remember and take some pics of some of the pages tonight and maybe i'll get them on here by tomorrow. anyway, one of the projects i did in the past month was making cards. it was a nice break from getting my fingers dirty. (a commmon ocerance when i am creating) i used some new stamps my mom gave me on my birthday, and took advantage of those wonderful double sided sticky squares for scrapbooking. here are some pictures... i made 10 toltal these are just some of them.

expressing emotions

so first of all sorry i acidentally posted the same pic before. :( oops! anyway, this is how i'm feeling right now... (i know that technically i don't know what emotion she is feeling but the look on her face seems to mirror mine.) my hubby just left for over a week long trip out to sea. it was kind of last minute too because he was supposed to stay here but then the captain decided he had to go. :( so now i'm all alone with gabriel and he doesn't talk much. i feel lonely and sad. :( i think i'm going to have a pity party.
i hate being alone, and yet there are moments that i need it. but i especially don't like being away from my husband. it's just too bad that he's in the navy and has to be gone a lot huh? but i think i will try to use my emotions to create art, since that always seems to work. i find that some of my favorite pieces came from a moment of intense sorrow, pain, or frustration. so i will just try to chanel my loneliness this time too.

so i've been pretty busy lately doing what i don't even knoe. l0l! but i have been able to clean my house and get some stuff like that done. :) which always makes life feel better in my opinion. the two things that seem to be never ending in my chore list are dishes and laundry. (the dishes are my least favorite to be completely honest) anyway, in view of cleaning i decided to share this collage i made for my mom with you all. i made it on a whim when i came across the old Tide add in a 1949 good houskeeping magazine. then i looked through and found a couple others. the tide one stuck out to me though because my mom has always used tide and now out of habit i use it too! :)

so our computer has been having some trouble connecting to the internet which is why i haven't written anything lately. but i've also been fairly busy. my husband had to work this weekend so i cleaned the house and tried to do some art but i just wasn't in the creative mood. so instead i watched a couple movies and was lazy! i did do some sketching but nothing too exciting since i'm not a very good artist in that media. :)
here's something that's making me sad though. i have been hearing about artfest over and over in the altered artist blogging world. it seems like "THE" weekend workshop to go to. problem is it's in washington state, which means i'd have to fly. and it also costs a lot just to go anyway. i mean yes you are getting a lot so i'm not saying it's over priced, just that there is no way i could ever aford it! and if that wasn't enough it's on the last weekend of march. which is when my husband will be deploying. :( so basically, instead of going away on a trip to make new friends and learn more about altering things etc... i will be sad and depressed because my husband just went away and i won't see him for 6 months! (tears!) do you have any idea how sad that makes me feel? not that you even really care but it is very disapointing!

His grace is sufficient

my little muchkin is growing up so fast! he is almost 20 months, which means in only 4 short months he'll be two! i can't hardly believe i am the mother of a child let alone one who's almost 2 years old! anyway, i am very happy with the situation none the less. :) he is such a precious gift to us and i couldn't be more in love! i took this picture while we were going to the park, (he loves stairs! ) i thought i'd share it with the world since it's so adorable. on to other things. my bible study has kept me pretty busy which is why i haven't found much time for art or blogging lately. my hubby is working this weekend though so i'm hoping to find some time to create in the middle of mommy stuff and the much needed cleaning of my house. :) in honor of cleaning, here is a little collage i made for my mom out of old adds for laundry soap. i loved that there was a Tide one because my entire life growing up that's what my mom has used. :) hope you like!

"my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." -2 Cor. 12:9

the verse that really spoke to me today. :)

relaxed and in another world

i just finished watching pride and prejudice (the new one with keira knightley) it has the most beautiful no gorgeous soundtrack! i really do think i shall have to buy it! so relaxing and so emotional. i love emotional music! anyway, the movie itself is also great. although i still love the A&E version. i decided i must just look at them as two different movies entirely. well yes this is short but that's all i have to say today for now. :)

Marie Antoinette

i am so excited about the new "Marie Antoinette" film coming out in october! i have been trailing it's progress ever since i first found out it was being made, which was sometime in april. being a huge movie costume fan especially with historical films this one looks to be extremely promising! here are just a couple pictures that i like. but to be honest i can't just put a couple of my favorites on here so i'm putting four. :)

creative inspirations

i was recently inspired by one of the greatest stories ever written and made into a movie; "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen. i love love love the book and have watched the A&E version countless times since i bought it on dvd. but recently i have been dying to watch the newer version with keira knightley. so i made my husband run to blockbuster and rent it. :) anyway, after watching both versions within a couple of days of eachother this is what emerged. two small collages each with a line from the book. the first one being; "he's handsome and wears a blue coat. " which i later found out i got wrong for it really goes; "he's very handsome and wears a blue coat." o-well right? :) anyway the second one is; "for a single man in possesion of a large fortune must be in want of a wife. " oh i just love that line! :) lol, and so there you have it. i used clippings from a 1949 "good housekeeping" magazine my mom gave me for my birthday. it's filled with the most amazing adds for dishwashers and refrideraters! as well as lots of little adds for the best panty-hose, shoes and girdles! absolutly fantastic! there are several things that have given me ideas of whole collages i could create! oh but there is just not enough time in the day to do all the things one would like. well to continue on....this next picture is of a mini matchbox i
altered. it was fun to do and conveniently only took one afternoon mostly while i was waiting for the paint to dry. :)

this piece took me almost a year. mostly because i had a few large interuptions. first i had a baby and then we moved. but it was my first large piece of art so it was a loving and lesson learning endeavor. this next one was a valentine i made for my husband. :) i used some old lace and a broken piece of jewelry that was my great grandma's. in my other one i used some sheet music that was from my great grandma's collection of "Etude" music magazines dating from as early as the 1920s! i love that i am getting to use things from my family.

a new chapter

recently i have much enjoyed reading other's blogs. so today on a whim i decided i'd have my own. though it's doubtful that anyone would care to read it, as i am no great writer. mostly it will just be a place to think out loud, post pictures and art, repeat back to you favorite quotes and poems, tell you of my current emotions....etc.
i enjoy expressing myself through art. my current passion is altered art, collaging , and the like. i am continually amazed by the talent of others, which then leads to ispiration. i also have a passion for movie costumes specifically historical films. the most recent obsession being the up-coming marie antoinette film! in all honesty i believe i was born into the wrong era and was really meant for a time when women wore beautiful gowns and it was part of your upbringing to learn how to dance. since that is not the case however i will leave it at that. to continue on, i think the best part about altered art is that you are recreating someone's creations. when you use an old photograph that was taken by a photographer. when you use books, someone wrote it and thought it was brilliant! when you use so much of what is known as ephemera it was at some point a product of someone else. and you take all of those things cut them, tear them, paint on them and create your own expression. i also like that you are using things that someone else would see as nothing and probably just throw away. lastly i love that there is no specific right way in which it should be done or how it should look.