A Little Imagination and a Pile of Junk

good gift.

We have a winner, folks: the talented and  frighteningly literate Janet. Do you remember Stand by Me? I must have been 12 or 13 when it came out. It could have been about the history of mathematics in Latin and I would have loved it just because River Phoenix was in it--he was oh so drooly at the time. I even remember buying teen magazines and cutting out his pictures to put in my journals. Did you do that, too? The book is one of Stephen King's best. Different Seasons includes the novella The Body, aka Stand by Me and also Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption which made a great movie, too. This was one of those seminal right of passage growing up movies that my best friends and I quoted endlessly. Just in case, like me, you need to be reminded of just how great it really was, check out the memorable quotes here. Some favorites:

Gordie: Mickey is a mouse, Donald is a duck, Pluto is a dog, but what's Goofy...?
Teddy: He's a dog, he's definitely a dog...
Chris: He can't be a dog, he wears a hat and drives a car...
Vern: Yeah, that is weird. What the hell is Goofy?

Teddy: Ha,ha Gordie loses! You lost Gordie! Ol' Gordie just screwed the pooch!
Gordie: Does the word retarded mean anything to you?
Teddy: Gordie, just go get the provisions, you morphodite.
Gordie: Don't call me any of your mother's pet names.
Teddy: You're a real wet end, Lachance.
Gordie: Shut up.
Teddie (and the rest, chiming in): I don't shut up, I grow up, and when I look at you, I throw up, Aghhh!
Gordie: And then your mother goes around the corner and she licks it up.
The Writer: [voiceover] Finding new and preferably disgusting ways to degrade a friend's mother was always held in high regard.

Teddy: I am acting my age. I'm in the prime of my youth and I'll only be young once.
Chris: Yeah, but you're gonna be stupid for the rest of your life.

Vern: Geez, Gordie, why couldn't you have gotten breakfast stuff like twinkies, Pez and root beer?
Gordie: Sorry, Vern. I guess a more experienced shopper could have gotten more for your seven cents.

Gordie: Do you think I'm weird?
Chris: Definitely.
Gordie: No man, seriously. Am I weird?
Chris: Yeah, but so what? Everybody's weird.

Chris: I'm never gonna get out of this town am I, Gordie?
Gordie: You can do anything you want, man.
Chris: Yeah, sure. Give me some skin.
Gordie: I'll see ya.
Chris: Not if I see you first.

I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things since we returned from our trip. Maybe tomorrow I can actually get up some journal pages.

elk join

I always wish I could skip the day before leaving town and just go straight to the leaving. The day before leaving is always filled with worry, tension, forgetfulness, anxiety, running errands, running in circles, making piles, sorting piles, loading piles, forgetting and remembering too late. That was my day today. Now, yesterday was a good day. Since we are going out of town for a few days to visit family and we have a 10 hour car ride--ugh--I organized and packed my art-journal-on-the-go-bag and painted a ton of backgrounds for new journal pages.

In my art-journal-on-the-go-bag:

• alphabet stamps (2 or 3 sets) and Staz-on black ink pad
• baby wipes
• fat glue stick
• AOL box of found words clipped from old books
• envelope of photographs
• alphabet stencil
• water soluble oil pastels
• date stamp
• pouch full of pens, markers, paint pens, etc.
• sharp pointy scissors
• bag of inspiration cards, some of my own and some of these
• tin of bird stickers
• paper carrier stuffed with random collage bits (scented soap wrappers, painted tissue paper, sheet music, interesting text pages, magazine cutouts, shards of scrap paper, bits of daily paper ephemera, lots of stencils, crumbly old book illustrations)
• paper carrier full of hand-picked favorite papers, stickers & rub-ons
• package of mini ink pads

I'll be gone for a few days relaxing, journaling and maybe some thrifting. Oh, how I love going to the big city. Before I go, here are a few of the backgrounds from yesterday. Each one is very different. I never know what mood I'll find myself in. Hopefully, they will be finished pages by the time I get home. See you next week. Not if I see you first.... (First one to tell me where that last line is from will be sent a few goodies.)

   

whaler radish

I've been working my butt off on some new art journals that I'm afraid I can't show you yet. Thankfully, they will be all packed up this morning and I will be moving on to something new. It is always when I have to work on one particular thing that all the new ideas come flooding in. I have a new skirt to make, jewelry for a few friends, journal pages to finish, summer clothes for Maisey, new painted fabrics because I used every last scrap in these last journals, some paperwork to send, and a few studio touch-ups I've been having to put off. Because all my creative energy has gone into these books, my journal pages have been pretty simple lately. But that's not a bad thing.

I finished up the background I shared earlier. Hopefully, I'll get to more later today. But now I've got to get started on school before the kiddoes start thinking Mom has forgotten about school. Now why would they think that??

Art Tip #2

I originally had hopes of posting arts/crafts tips to my blog every once in a while, but like many of my grandiose ideas...well, you know what happens. I'm going to give it another shot, though, and thought I'd start with Cheap Tricks, which is also the theme for Michelle Ward's Crusade #8. My tip is this: don't think that you have to have expensive art supplies to make "real" art. Top quality products are great but, let's face it, the term "starving artist" didn't come from no where. When you feel compelled to create, you've got to use what you can find or afford. So here's a little secret: Art products made for kids rock!!! There are so many products made for kids which are awesome resources, particularly for journalers and anyone else who makes art on the go.  Here are two of my new favorite things.

1. Crayola Slick Stix - These are very similar to oil pastels but way more creamy and smooth. They are not really meant to blend as well but you can't beat no mess on your hands, portable, and cheap (about $5). What I love most about these is that they dry completely without leaving the oily residue of oil pastels and--are you ready?--you can write over them! Joy in a twist tube. The only thing they need now are sets of 48 colors. Here's a background for journaling I made using them.

2. Blow pens - You just blow through the tube for your own mini airbrush! This set is particularly cool because it has a Magic Blo-pen Activator that turns each color into a new one. Lots of versatility. I've seen them bigger, but these are a perfect size for sticking in my already fat art bag.

Here's another background. They are super fun to use with stencils and masks.

And there are so many more.  But here is one more important tip: if you have kids, buy two of everything. It is so much easier to give them their own set then trying to explain why they can't borrow your cool art supplies. And since they're cheap, no problem.

• Air dry clay in natural colors like terra cotta
• Sidewalk paint!
• Cool effect markers
• Paint brush pens

"Tyger Tyger burning bright").

Did I tell you that I lost 10 lbs? I did and suddenly I can fit into my pre-baby clothes of 6 yrs. ago. Now, I don't fit into them exactly the same way I did before--giving birth changes your body in some ways forever. I'll never have those skinny hips again, but then who wants to look like an 18 yr old? I can't say much more than that b/c I am often mistaken for a 20-something. A blessing I humbly accept. Now, if someone told me I acted like a 20-something, that would be different...not to insult 20-somethings...it's just that...oh, you'll understand when your 30.

Anyway, so I lost 10 lbs and you know what I did? Just in case you're looking to make a few habit changes for the better. First, we went from eating out 3 times a week to about once every 2 weeks. Second, I went from drinking 3-4 12-oz.Dr. Peppers a day to only 1 6-oz can. I guess when you cut 500 calories out of your daily diet, you gotta lose some weight.

Saturday and yesterday I had the most fun. I spent most of the day building up my stash of painted fabrics & papers to make some new fabric journals.

   

And that's not even including the stacks of tissue paper and paper towels.

This is my favorite, favorite thing to do. I wish I had a week to just make fabric pieces. Next these will be cut, torn, stamped, doodled on, stitched on and whatever else I think they need to be perfect journal backgrounds or starting points. Hopefully, I'll have some finished books in a few days.

exacting flea

Just in case you were wondering--I know you were!--the title for the last entry did come out of the spam box. Wasn't it perfect? Who would have known...such wisdom. Anyway.

Something occurred to me after last night's post that I've still been thinking about. When I was a youth, for lack of a better word (school age thru early college), it took so much for me to have a good time. So much for me to feel really happy. (Contentment was not even a consideration.) I always had to get more presents, party a little harder, stay out later, have one more guy attracted to me. There was never enough. It was trying to jump from one high to the next and avoiding the lows at all costs. Today--dare I say, as a grown up?? You can say that at 34 right?--it is the smallest things that blow me away. I couldn't get the glow of Soren's wildly happy face out of my mind all night. I found 2 or 3 delicate pieces of shell that I excitedly protected all the way home. John and I have had the best time for the past few nights staying up late cracking up to  YouTube videos. Distinguishing the songs of the birds. That kind of contentment. The ability to experience the beauty and the joy in the simplest things. Maybe that is part of the definition of adulthood, or is it childhood?

My heart literally leaps in my chest when I hear, "Oh, Momma! Isn't it a beautiful day!?" "Momma!! Come quick! The cactus is blooming!! Let's count the flowers...1, 2, 3...there are three new flowers!" "That was a fabulous time playing with our friends today." "Momma, I made a new friend on the slide! I just love making new friends!" Did your heart just leap, too?

The lesson we are working on lately is that you don't have to own something to just enjoy it. You don't have to bring home every dolly or summer dress for your very own to appreciate it and get joy from it. Hm, I'll need to run to Target later today. I might need to review that one before we go, ahem.

Yeah, um, here's today's creative work.

relax and take the time

Today we celebrated my sweet Soren's 6th birthday. My loving, brilliant son. My first born. The one who started it all. I won't even go into the "I just can't believe he's 6 already". We had a wonderful day. We got up early and spent the day at the beach. It was clear and a bit windy but not too hot. And I got sunburned sitting under the umbrella. How does that happen? The sun is fierce nearer the equator. The kids dug in the sand and rode in the kayak. I relaxed in the shade, just me and my art journal. I'm glad I brought my fat selection of paint pens, etc. Cut and paste is a little harder than usual at the beach. And I even got to create for about 30 minutes total--if you add the quiet snippets together. All this for only 4 hours of preparation and set up plus another 2 hours take down and clean up. What a day.

The sweetest part wasn't the chocolate cake with fudge and cream cheese icing but the round of sincere and loving hugs that we all received after each present Soren opened. I hope I never forget that look on his face, brighter than the sun. Strangely, amidst all of this joy and love, the song that ran through my mind all day, even now:

When did my heart get so petrified?

When did it get so hard to feel?

When did my heart get so afraid to love?

When did it get so hard?

Strike this rock with your love,

I’ll take the blow,

Until your living water begins to flow,

As it flowed from the man of sorrow’s side,

On that day when his body was torn for the twelve tribes.

I forgot the camera at home today, but I'm actually glad I did because I got to soak it all in without the distraction of recording every adorable moment. But since I don't have any pics to share, here are a few new art journal pages.

Well, the dog's noisily pushing the dog bowl around in the kitchen so I guess that's my signal. Plus, having fun is exhausting, I might not make it to 10pm tonight. I hope your day was blessed with even one-third of the joy that mine was...bliss....