Art Slam

I am very happy to have Vee be the Guest Slammer for this Friday’s installment of the Art Slam. Her is what she had to say about her challenge:I love seasons and spring is my favorite season by far. It is like my new year, seriously. I love the feeling of everything in bloom, crisp morning air, and the promises of warmer weather- it is totally like a do-over or start of the year for me. So my challenge this week is to journal about the season that makes you happiest and use at least three mediums to convey your feelings. I used paint {no surprise }, fluid chalk and ink.

Friday, it begins again with a wonderful guest Slammer. I am in the process of creating a blog just for the Art Slam and I plan on having all kinds of interesting challenges and inspirations to share with you. Art is so freakin’ cool!

I am a curious person. I like being in the know. I am usually the person people come to to get in the know. Sometimes, I think I should have been a P.I.

I miss doing my art journals bad. So bad in fact, I am going back to creating art everyday. When I don’t do something artsy, I feel like my skills get a little rusty. The lemonade in that situation is I can learn something new. I’m on the hunt for my newest technique. I think it will have to do with sewing. Sewing and art journals…love that combination!

“Look at everything as though you were seeing it for the first time or the last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.” Betty Smith

It rained for two days here and I have to admit that kind of weather can be a little depressing. Today, it is sunny and I can see signs of Spring. The hostas in my flowerbed are starting to come up. That along with looking at my son earlier today made me think about all the things I overlook. I look at my kids and wonder when did they get so big. When did that grey hair show up in my curly locks (it is not there now because I yanked it out!)? When did things that were important to me five years ago stop being important? It started with my kids. I look at them and realize just how quickly time passes and how time waits for no one. You either live to the fullest or you get left behind wondering. When I get up each morning, I have the intention of living the day fully. Does not always happen, but my intentions are good. My priorities are becoming clearer and things truly do seem bright. It is amazing what prayer and the power of positive thinking can do for you. If you let it.

I found this amazing website today. It is called Picnik and it is an online photo editing service that has a lot of the same features as Photoshop. You can import your images from Flickr, MySpace, Photobucket or Facebook (to name a few) and edit them. Seriously, it is worth checking out. Those rounded corners on my portrait I did with Picnik. Took me all of a few seconds to pick the degree of the corners, save it and replace my original file.

I love finding new stuff on the web!

It is raining in Cincinnati today and I am not sure it is going to stop any time soon. I hope with all this rain we have a beautiful spring without a bunch of bugs and sneezing. So, today, I will have a nice cup of dark hot chocolate and lots of marshmallows.

I think I like it here. I think I will stay!

“Gratitude is indeed like a gearshift that can move our
mental mechanism from obsession to peacefulness, from stuckness to
creativity, from fear to love. The ability to relax and be mindfully
present in the moment comes naturally when we are grateful.” – Joan
Borysenko

There is not a whole lot you can do when snow has been steadily falling and blowing for 24 hours. I got up this morning and looked out my back door to see this.

Wow. Haven’t seen anything like that since I lived in Montana. The Cincinnati weather people started calling this a blizzard last night. I could not help but laugh. This is not a blizzard!

I had plans to go to the new Ikea store in West Chester. They are having a sneak peek before the grand opening on the 12th. If other families are anything like mine, we will be there just to get out of the house today. Kids inside on a weekend is not cute at all.

In the meantime, I have been crocheting again. I made this scarf so I would have something to match my navy pea coat. I like it lots!

Cincinnati went under a blizzard warning yesterday. People were losing their minds over all of this snow. When I got up this morning, I noticed we have a good foot of snow on our deck. I wonder if it is really that much since the wind is creating some amazing drifts. The snow has been steadily falling and blowing all over the place. The one thing I forgot to pick up from the store was marshmallows. I really wanted a big cup of hot chocolate to start the day off.

Ikea opens in West Chester today for a sneak peek before the actual grand opening on the 12th. My family and I intended to check it out, but it will all depend on how the roads are. My kids get restless being at home on the weekends, so hopefully, we will be able to do something today.