today it came...

Daily blogging challenge day #2

This afternoon I have been working on my skirt, last night I'd sewn up the pleats but by morning decided I didn't like the way it was turning out. As everyone knows, if you don't love it, you won't wear it. And I want to love this skirt!
So, I brought down my dress form and began pinning and playing around to see what I could come up with.

I ended up putting one larger pleat in the front, two small pleats, one on each hip, and lots of little knife pleats in the back. which is what you see pictured.

Earlier in the day I had gone to check the mail and was pleased to fine my package from Amazon had arrived!

I had ordered the book on Terrariums and the newest Enya CD, which although it's the winter/Christmas one and it's now summer, I got anyway. For anyone who really knows me knows how much I adore Enya! I'm excited to sit down and read the book though, I've been wanting it for some time and can't wait to glean knowledge and start making my own little terrariums!
you likely noticed that there are other items in that photo which I did not include in my list of arrivals from Amazon. That is because while I was sewing away the ups man arrived with Two more packages!!! One of which is the book and CD set of "Growing Kids God's Way". I'm really excited to start listening and learning from that one as well.
The third package was from Forever 21...

I have decided that while Nathan is away, and shopping with kids is so difficult that I would try some online shopping. So I got plain white and gray tees (cause I am rather boring), a skirt and top, and a black cardigan which has a lovely lace cutout in the back!(and it all fits!) You'll also notice the pink flower head band and the necklace.

The necklace was a fun find, I liked the poetry of the heart with the anchor seeing as my love is out at sea. And since the heart is a locket I can even put his photo in it! Man I love being a girl! :D
So, it's been a fun day.

a walk with jane austen

For Christmas i was given a book called "a walk with Jane Austen" by Lori smith. i have gotten to about the middle of the book so far and am quite enjoying it. it makes me want to travel more, and also to re-read all of Austen's books. (which i received for Christmas last year! thanks mom!)
reading always takes me to another world that i have a hard time pulling myself away from. i revel in the distance from my own life and in disappearing into whatever subject i am reading. be it a romantic love story, a true story of historic events, a fantasy world that doesn't exist, i love pretending i am there. however, as i stated before, i have the hardest time pulling myself out of those worlds, i tend to act according to what i have just read and how it makes me feel. this might not be so strange were i all alone in the comfort of my house when it happens. but usually that is not the case, and so my dear husband must put up with my sudden moodiness as i brood over some fictional character's tragic situation, or my sudden desire to be disgustingly romantic and sentimental. i don't fully understand why i feel the need to take on the stories i have read as if they were my own, changing in and out of them like costumes. i begin to wonder if it's my love of costumes and the ability to change your character in life for a moment that causes me to do this. or is it a deep boredom of my own quiet life?
i am not entirely sure of the answer, and don't plan on changing. for now I'll just continue to disappear into books and enjoy every minute of it.
by the way, one of my favorite books in the fantasy genre is Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.
i just found out that it is being made into a movie! i'm so excited! :)

finished product....

well, i finally purchased and eyelet setter kit! i've been wanting one for awhile but just never felt like spending the money. (happy early mother's day to me!)as i started working on these pages last night i could just see using an eyelet or two and decided that now was the time to get one! it was so fun to watch this come together, but i always enjoy the process. :) i have decided that this will be an inspirational journal of sorts. i'll have a verse on every page and then a space for me to journal whenever the journalling bug hits. :) i'm glad i finished it tonight though because now i have a week to start and finish a larger canvas i want to do for a friend. i just thought of it tonight and i only have till next fri. to get it done. we'll see if i can actually accomplish my set goal, i actually have a rather busy week....however one can always make time for art right? :) well, time for bed, goodnight world!

playing again...

at it again, it feel's so good to be creating again! however i find that i wish for more tools. i almost bought a kit to do holes and brads etc.... but decided to wait, boy am i sorry. i ended up wishing i had it tonight. i guess that means i'll go buy it tomorrow, :) anyway, i'm going to keep this short cause i need to get to bed. :)

back to work

well, i finally got some inspiration and decided i had the time to get back into art. it's been a busy month since my husband left, but that was done on purpose so i wouldn't get to lonely and go crazy! :)
a few days ago i went onto pamela garrisons blog, (as i do quite regularly)i was struck my her post on art fiber fest. specifically the fabric journal. it took a couple days still to get my head in gear with my body and schedule but now i'm thrilled to be back at it. creating is so much fun!!! so thank you pam, though i doubt you'll ever read this. i'm hoping to create my own fabric journal soon, my plan is to use the scraps of fabric left from my daughter's bedding. my mom is going to make it all for me! i'm so excited and am now on the look out for the perfect fabric combos. anyway, just wanted to update my blog since it's been yet another month!

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.

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.

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.

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? :)

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. :)