wisdom

I just finished this ornament and wanted to share it with you.
Below is the excerpt from my etsy listing.

Wisdom is more powerful than beauty.

As women, when we get older and start to lose our beauty, we may feel
like our value is diminishing.

But it's not. It's increasing.

The specific wisdom that comes with age, is a gift.
You can use it to keep yourself from making the same mistakes,
to grow in many facets of your life,
and to share compassion with people that are suffering the same hurts
that you've already experienced.

Memorial Day

Thank you to all the men and women who serve our country.

Thank you for the sacrifice you make every day to protect us and make us secure.

Thank you to all of the families of the military. We know it is a great sacrifice for you as well.

And thank you to all of the men and women who have served our country in the past.

We appreciate all that you and your families have done for us.

On this Memorial Day, we honor all of you.

Don't misunderstand

Let's celebrate this wonderful idea of haiku my heart Friday brought to us by the lovely Rebecca. You can read her inspiring haiku @ http://corazon.typepad.com/recuerda_mi_corazon/ along with links to many others. And as always, you are welcome to join!

Here is my offering for today entitled, "don't misunderstand"

You see me alone
know that it is by my choice
I am quite happy

Have a wonderful weekend my friends!
love & peace

restless

uneasy - restive - anxious - fidgety - troubled - unquiet
but why? There is nothing "majorly" wrong. Here is the journal page I created based on my thoughts today.

I forget where I read this, but someone said that when you journal, your subconscious comes through.  Sometimes when I'm glueing papers down, I'm not sure why I place things where I do, or why I choose certain elements. But now I see it.

Be quiet, go about mundane duties............every day. Day in, day out.

But I can't deny the fact that my heart longs for adventure, travel, the freedom of a bird. Here's a shout out to all of the women that stay at home to serve their families. They go unnoticed and are expected to hold everything together. Sometimes you don't feel like you exist because you are not part of the career world.

But be assured, there are women out there (like me) who know you exist. And also know that it takes a lot more than people realize to do what we do.

41

It's my birthday today and I wanted to celebrate by sharing two journal pages with you. The first one was prompted by a challenge to write a haiku by http://putitonpaper.org/. Haiku? I never wrote one before. So, I gave it a whirl. I really enjoyed writing it. AND I just discovered a blog that hosts haiku my heart EVERY Friday.......how fantastic! You can find it @ http://corazon.typepad.com/recuerda_mi_corazon/. yay!:)

I used red washi tape for the border around the woman and some Artchixstudio elements on the dress.  They have fantastic art supplies for the mixed media artist. I especially love their collage sheets. Helga and James are the owners and wonderful human beings. You can find their stuff @ http://artchixstudio.com/. And Helga has a great blog too. You can find it at http://myartisticlife.typepad.com/.

The second journal page is a thought I have on getting older. Typical, right? But I had to get it out of my system. I think it's a shame that in the United States we almost feel sorry for women as they are getting older. It seems to me, age is celebrated in other countries for both men AND women. I'm choosing to celebrate today!

Dear God,

thank you for my life.

As promised.............

Yesterday I mentioned how I use to colorize black & white photos with food coloring. I wrote an article back in 2007 for Artitudezine and here is what it looks like:

The bride on the left of the page is my mom and the sailor on the postcard is my father. Both have passed away at fairly young ages (59, 60) and I miss them very much. I was so happy to include them in this article. I only wish they could of seen it. The bottom two pieces of art were made using food coloring. And the top two pieces of art were used with window envelopes from junk mail.

I also created an assemblage called, "awaken" which was printed in the gallery section of the magazine.

My thought process behind this piece was about my childhood. The message, "awaken the nest" means awaken your thinking about your childhood and realize how it has affected who you are today. I know a lot of people say "the past is the past", but sometimes I feel like I spend a lot of time untying the emotional knots that were made in my youth.

This is the cover of the Artitude zine issue and I believe you can contact the creator Suz, if you are interested in purchasing back issues @ http://artitudezine.com/

I will be back in a day or two with a journal page that I just finished. Ta ta for now friends:)

mini works of art

Hi everyone.........just wanted to share some artist trading cards I've made. This is the most recent one, entitled, "behind the smiles".

this one I made for an Artchixstudio swap:



and here are some using magazine images:

They are just the size of a baseball card and fun to collect! I remember making collage art in my basement when I was growing up, before there was "mixed media" art. I use to mix and match magazine images of women's faces. It was so much fun! Time would just slip by and I would be lost in the moment. I also used to colorize black & white photos with food coloring. A few years ago, I wrote an article about it for a magazine called, "Artitudezine". I'll post a picture of the article tomorrow. Have a great day:)

treasures of the sea

I went to the Salvation Army store yesterday with my daughter and found the most amazing shell collages. They were made in Brazil by an artist named Patricia Watt. They are stunning! 

I didn't care much for the ocean and beach when I was growing up here in New Jersey. But now, I could sit on the beach at Cape May for hours and stare at the tide rolling in. So peaceful, calming, and serene. I just love it! It also brings me comfort because I feel God's love very strong there.

church memories

I grew up in a Catholic home. I went to church every Sunday morning with my parents and although it provided some spiritual background to my life, there were things that made me ponder. Like, why was everyone smoking on the front lawn after mass? And why didn't anyone seem happy?

I felt it was lacking something. We didn't have a piano or organ, or any other instruments played. Just a cantor, who was really good by the way, and the rest of the congregation singing. I didn't connect everything we did with my relationship to God. I needed to know that the Lord cared most about my heart and not about outward sacrifice.

So, now as an adult I go to a church that is much more expressive in worship, and I like that. As an artist, I love to use vintage and antique items in my art. I find that I am particularly drawn to catholic statues, rosaries, and other items with a catholic undertone. I guess in a way, it's comforting.

Even though there were certain things I found to be mundane, Good Friday was something else. At the evening service, the entire congregation would walk around the outside of the church. Each person held a lit candle, and we walked in silence. The only sound was of an alter boy that had these small wood board things that when you raised them, and then lowered them, it was supposed to mimick the sound of the nails going into Jesus's hands. The other sound I remember was the priests incense holder. It was attatched to a chain and it would open and close as he swung it, like a small cymbal sound.

I came across this beautiful shrine of Mary and baby Jesus. I love the gold paint and the angels on the sides. You can see more photos on my vintage shop, http://plainandfancyvintage.etsy.com/

I have to say that the icons, shrines, and other catholic art is something that I find truly beautiful.

I love me some berries!

Ok, usually my breakfast consists of grabbing a cookie or eating that "extra" piece of toast my husband doesn't want. But today my friends, I made some Trader Joe's multigrain waffles topped with some warm berries coated with a little maple syrup.

The wonderful mix of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries are also from Trader Joes. You can get them in the frozen section. The flavors of these berries are heaven! AND I actually sat down to eat it! To top it off, it makes me happy because I know these little guys are packed with antioxidants! yay! Have a great day everyone.

oh, to create!

I just finished these folk art bird magnets. I made them with wood hearts, painted with acrylics, used vintage bird images, and antiqued with a walnut stain. I'll be sending them off to a gallery in PA.

So many art projects swirling in my head today. I want to do so many art challenges for magazines and zines, but where's the time?! I guess it's probably the frustration of most artists, unless you do it for a living........I don't know. I love to create. Sometimes if I don't create for a little while, I get crabby. And I'll find I have to just grab something and slap some acrylics on it! Thankfully, I usually have items out that I can grab, otherwise my daughter, husband, and hamster might be in for a treat:)