Spinning once more

I am loving the True Vision Journaling book. It is really fantastic. I finished the SARK book and it was really good too. Refreshed me with old ideas I knew and some new techniques to keep me going.

Some of you know I am an Barack Obama supporter. I was invigorated by his speech last night. You know if he managed only 10% of what he said this country would be so much better but I know he'll be able to do so much more. I swear that McCain's choice for VP has to be a gift for the Democrats. I look forward to seeing the debate between Palin and Biden. I think he'll be having her for lunch. I haven't been enthused by politics in years. I do believe that Yes We Can this time.

On to other things now. I've got company coming for the weekend. Some spinning friends from Salt Lake. I have been working on this in the meantime.













Its the fleece from my old ram Robbie. Its a beautiful silver grey. I would love to make myself a sweater or a vest, maybe with some cables or other texture. I am preparing the fiber on wool combs so it is coming out very nice to spin
















This is some of the singles yarn spun. I plan to get a whole lot more done this weekend. Perhaps a skein and a sample swatch soon. It looks much better in person.

Have a great weekend....

A few books in the mail

Look what the mailman brought today.I ordered these a couple weeks ago. Sometimes Amazon is so slow.

















This is the new book by Esther Hicks, I can really use this right now. I haven't cracked it yet but I am sure it will be great.
















I have already read half of this book, some of it I knew but its a great reminder and some of it is new to me but its all inspiring. I love SARK's attitude about it all. It is so freeing. I haven't written since I got back from New Mexico and I think this will get me back to writing something besides a blog entry. If it wasn't 12:30 in the morning I would write now but I do need some sleep.

















This one I added just so I could get free shipping and I really love it. I want to go deeper with my journal pages, go beyond the pretty page and explore things in more depth and I think this book will take me on that journey. There is some great artwork in the book. I have looked at all the artwork twice so now I need to spend some time truly reading it and then doing my own version.

Journal Pages

I worked on this page last night and then this morning finished it off. It felt good to be putting it all on paper. I really love this picture of Sarah and me. It was not a pose at all. She just put her arms around me when Kyle had the camera and he captured such a beautiful moment. I need to thank him for that.

Well the lunch out I thought I was going to apparently was a mis-communication. I went to Michaels instead and bought this.
















I think I may spend the afternoon looking at its wonderful pages, it looks like a good issue but then all of them usually are. Blogger has been problematic so now its a day later and I haven't finished this post.














I have talked about doing Sarah Whitmore's soul journal pages. Well I thought I would make a journal just for them but then I changed my mind. I made the journal anyways. This was a kit from 7Gypsies. I used the paper I bought in Taos and then uses some gold moire paper for the inside.













I just need to sew in the signatures. I like the way it looks.

















I really liked Sarah's idea of making an Soul Armor and here is mine. I took the clip art from here and combines a few of the images. I used water color pencils and then a niji brush for my color. I thought adding myself into the armor was a great idea. Don't I look awesome! You can click on it to see it a little better.

Dancing, Making Stamps

This morning I still find myself in a funk so I did some free form dance this morning with a few of the tunes I downloaded the other day. What a difference that made now I feel great. So I just spent some time downloading some more from a list I got at the Taos retreat. I want to dance every morning if I can. I have always known that sometimes you have to find ways to bring yourself up and I think that dance is one of those things for me.






















I was intrigued when Sharon from All Norah's Art talked of making a name stamp like on Elizabeth Bunsens blog Be Dream Play so I tried my hand at it. The green one I did first where I cut around the name. I typed my name and then reversed it and printed it out as a guide when I carved the stamp. Then I ended up doing K backwards so I cut an extra K and just do it in two steps. It works, but then I looked on the blogs are realized they all used an eraser and carved the name and not the background. I tried one of those and it was much easier. So I found the Staedtler erasers on sale at Staples and bought a 3 pack. The new erasers are embossed with their logo. I tried cutting it off with an exacto knife but that didn't work well. Next I tried a sandpaper block and sanded it off. That worked best. I made the word SAVOR on that one. It is my new word of choice that I got from friend Annelle in Taos. I hope to savor the moments from now on. I have used these stamps on some unfinished journal pages. I think you will see them used a lot on work I do in the future.






















I made this booklet from Kelley's blog. She is taking Suzi Blu's journaling class and they made these little books that are called Art Healing Journals. You record your feelings about working on projects and when they are negative you then record something positive to turn it around. i thought it was a great idea so I made one for myself. I followed Kelley's directions and added some beads to the end.

Another thing I am doing is some of the exercises for the Soul Journal at Caspiana I have done some of her ideas before but others are new to me. I especially like the armor pages. If you go look go to her blog make sure to go back to her July entries where she started the journal. It really is worth a look. I am loving all the inspiration I am getting from new blogs I have found recently. I hope you have time to make some Art today.

Sunflowers make me Smile - Sacred Sunday

Its Sunday again so I thought I'd share my sunflowers with you. When I got back from Taos I saw that they all had started to bloom. These just grow from where my bird feeder is and perhaps there are some remnants from the year that Dave planted them too. There is something about a Sunflower that makes me smile whenever I see one. I am not sure what that means but I am hoping that it brings a smile to you too!
















I would like to introduce you to Kelley's blog. She was my roommate in Taos and she is an Art Journaler too. She is doing a 100 days of Sacred Art, sometimes its art and sometimes writing and poetry. I know you will love her posts so check them out.

Have a wonderful Sunday.

Missing her already

I am back from Missoula and slowly trying to put things back in order again. It was a short trip. Sarah is all set for the next semester. Its always hard for me to let go and today was no different. I guess it never truly gets easier, maybe we just learn to cope better. i am hoping that being busy in the coming week will make all the transitions easier. Its like there is this incredible silence now. There is now a void in my life that was filled up before, an ache in my heart that just can't be filled. OK enough sadness, it is time to get to other things.


















Here I am being hugged by Sarah, I think the picture turned out really cute



















This is my friend Jullie, she is a fiber artist and writer studying at U of Montana. We had a great visit together. We headed out to a quilt store on Friday and Saturday we went to the Farmers Market which was amazing. She is the house mom for a sorority and she gave me a tour of the house and I got to meet some of the girls and so forth. She has a really nice apartment she gets to live in. It will be nice to be able to visit her whenever I am in Missoula.















Here are the papers I bought This blue is a deep blue and the surface design is silver.
















I fell in love with the pink one first, I hadn't realized they were both embossed with silver until I got them home. I still like them even though they are similar.



















The third one looks like moire fabric, the actual color is the blue on the right. I do not know why the picture came out grey. It just shimmers. I think all these papers will really be fun to work with.

In Missoula

I am up in Missoula enjoying a little quiet. I brought Sarah up yesterday and she's all settled back into her apartment. Here is how the morning went. I ventured out this morning and bought some food to cook breakfast. I didn't get lost either. I came back and cooked the kids breakfast and then I while they cleaned the house I went to visit my friend Jullie. She is my age and has gone back to school here. She is in her senior year and has taken on the job as a house mother for a sorority.

I found her place and we visited for awhile and then went to a quilt store which was very nice. It was great to see her.






















Then I met back up with the kids to see The Dark Knight. I liked it and really liked the music too. you can't beat a flick with Christian Bale in it. Great eye candy. Heath Ledger was really incredible. While watching I found it hard to believe it was him.

... and yes I have been to the bookstore. I found some beautiful papers. I'll have to show pics of them later, they were really gorgeous. I had to get a new moleskine sketchbook as mine is almost full.

Glimpses from Taos

This is the Mabel Dodge Luhan House where the writers Spa was held.

















I stayed in the Gatehouse which was a separate building. You can see my car through the archway. It was just a short walk away from the main house.


















This was the door to my room. Luckily we never had to use the ladder.

















The top floor was all glass and here you can see the chicken sculptures that adorned the building.


















A close up of one of the chickens.

















I loved these birdhouses, I took lots of pictures of them. You'll be seeing more pictures in the days to come. They had pigeons in them.

















A picture of our little sitting room. I spent a lot of time sitting on that couch and writing. It really was a peaceful place to be.


















The Pergola was a little shaded area where our coaches were during our writing sessions. If you needed to discuss a project or needed help with blocks or whatever this was the place to go. It was very nice and I got some great advice in this very spot.















Here is Kelley my roommate, and she is from Oklahoma. She has a really sweet soul and a good heart. She wrote poetry at the Spa and it was beautiful.

















Here is is Mary-Antoinette from Seattle, she is a professor in English at Seattle University. She was our housemate and another beautiful poet that I really enjoyed spending time with.

That's enough for today...

Sacred Llife Sunday

I've admired those who do Sacred Life Sunday but have never managed it myself. I also don't know if I will be a regular but decided today I wanted to post. This is a picture of a lotus taking in the gardens near where I stayed in Taos. It was a lovely day and a perfect way to enjoy the beauty found in this world.

Today I wish you a little piece of beauty in your own world.

Namaste

My new shelf

Work on my studio continues, it goes so slow. This is the shelf that Dave made to hold my stamps. It took an entire week to get this done since parts are glued and then we wait 24 hours and then the next section is done. I haven't decided if I will paint the shelf or just varnish it. I am going to mount on the wall above the counter top that he installed. Plans are to make another one that will hold the smaller stamps better. Then we will see what else can be done. I really do have a lot of stamps. It will nice to be able to see them. The new counter top works great. My table top easel fits on it really well. Before I had to move everything off the desk to set the easel up so this will work much better.

We installed an overhead light above my sewing machine table and of course to do that I had to move everything off the table and then move the table and then put it all back. I feel like I have cleaned off every surface a dozen times. Once I get it done I end up going through other drawers and weeding out some of the stuff and there I am finding new places for everything and one big mess again. I know this will continue more and more before its done but its hard living through it all. For those of you with nice orderly workspaces consider yourself blessed.

Six Quirky Things

My friend Gemma tagged me for a Quirks about me meme!
Here are the rules:
Link to the person who tagged you.
Mention the rules.
Tell six quirky, yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself.
Tag six other bloggers by linking to them.
Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged.
If you participate, let the person who tagged you know you've posted your quirks!

Quirks , moi no I am a simple ordinary girl. Ok I'll try:

1. I too am directionally challenged. I do know right from left but I don't pay enough attention to roads and find myself going the wrong way a lot. I won't mention how many times I turned around in New Mexico.

2. You know those little codes you need to enter after commenting on blogs, well sometimes I like to make words out of the letters.

3. When I buy something for myself on a trip I don't like to wear it until I get home, I have lost things too many times, I'd like to at least get home before I lose something.

4. When going on a trip I like to have breakfast at McDonalds... Sausage biscuit, hash browns and a small orange juice. Its become a little ritual and feels weird when I don't do it.

5. I also like to make words out of license plates.

6. I can't think of any more I think I have dome these meme's too many times.

I am tagging

groggy froggy
angela
judiredhead
ninnie
tinker
naturegirl

A day out....

We had one of those marathon shopping days with my sister Marianne and my daughter Sarah. The problem was we all wanted to go to different places.
First we had breakfast and the clowining began

















Here are Marianne and Sarah at first.

















and then they got silly...






















Here I am as I wait for our food to arrive.

















And my lovely daughter posed too. This definetly was one of those fun but tiring days. Marianne leaves on Friday and Sarah goes back to school next Thursday so it was great to spend such a fun day together.

Gifts from Taos

I am still cleaning the studio and just needing a little break. So I thought I would show some of the treasures I got while in Taos.

















First there are the animals. This turtle I found at the Taos Pueblo and it is horsehair pottery.


















This was a pin I found at Bandelier National Monument. Its very colorful and a turtle to boot. I couldn't resist.


















Then there were the papers I found in Taos. I really like both of these.


















Then there was the jewelry.






















I found these at the Taos Pueblo.


















These were my reward for meeting my comfort challenge at the retreat. The symbol stands for Emergence. It seemed so appropriate.

















I found these last, the stone is an amethyst. I found these while buying a gift for a friend.

















Then the yarn....














This looks better in person, the colors are clearer.

















I decided on this for a pair of turquoise socks to remind me of my trip.


















and then the fabric... Its a group of celestial prints, I am not sure what I will do with them but they looked so inviting.























And last but not least, my new Raven buddy. He has a button to make him talk. He makes wonderful raven caw sounds.

A night at the Pow Wow

On Saturday I attended the Pow wow put on by the Shoshone-Bannock tribe in Fort Hall Idaho. I had been before but this was way more than I had seen the last time. There were 650 dancers and the paraded into the arena one at a time just like at the Olympics. It was awe inspiring to see. All the regalia they wore was truly stunning. There were dancers from tribes all over the country. I had forgotten my camera so these shots were taken by Marianne.










Here are some of the women dancing. I loved seeing all the different clothing that they wore. Lots of color and embellishment. They also had a moment of silence to honor the Grandmothers of the tribe. That was really neat to see the elders honored with such respect.


















Here are my friend Gari and myself just waiting for the next event.

Later in the evening the audience was invited to come into the arena and dance and the three of us jumped at the chance. It was so much fun, the sound of the drums the energy of all those dancers surrounding us was really incredible. What a great time was had by all. I can't wait to go again next year.