Note To Self

This year has been a challenging one for me, and creating has kept me balanced during many difficult times.  November has been exceptionally challenging, and I realized I hadn't worked in my journal all month.

So tonight I decorated a new page in my journal. 

and I wrote a note to myself. 

(On the days that are particularly hard - find a way to create and you will feel better)

I decorated the page with lino cuts I made and printed some time ago. 

Now  I will add some words to the page, and continue to remind myself to create every day!

Fundraising

My daughters hockey team is having a silent auction fundraiser, and so I made a new picture to donate.

It is a mixed media piece created on a tea bag. 

 

I then added a white mat to go around it

 

and it is ready to go. 

 

 

I am also donating this hand made book  

 

and one of my necklaces with a handmade bezel I made that I filled with river rocks. 

 

 

While I was creating, I made this piece as well

 

That I put in a white mat....

and a frame, and hung it on my wall, where I have decided it will stay.

Finding Some Light

Life has held many difficult storms lately, and I needed to spend some time creating without thinking.  To create whatever was inside me that needed to come out.

I have a few boxes of left over bits and pieces of things I have made or worked with at different times that I used in the making of this piece

 

I thought I was making a collage that was going to be folded into an accordian book.

 

And soon the book turned into a larger collage on watercolour paper.

I added a white matt to it and thought it was finished.

After looking at it for a while I added a bit of shading around the eyes of the drawing of the girl.  I now think it is finished, but we will see in a while.

 

The storms although still there, are beginning to show some light. 

 

Pendants From Old Bits

I have been wanting to make some more jewelry for a while, and finally got around to it.  These pendants have a piece of reclaimed metal on the back that I cut out of a piece of strapping metal. I filed them down, added a layer of paper out of an old book that I painted and stamped onto and then covered them with a layer of resin and wax. 

I usually make short necklaces, as I tend to wear those more than longer ones, but I have been noticing many lovely longer necklaces, so I added long pieces of chain (two types of chain) to these pendants.

This image does not show off the pendant well, as it has much more depth then you can see here.  I did want to show that you could wear the necklace long....

or if you wrap the chain twice around your neck before fastening it you can wear it as a short necklace as well.

I have a few other ones in the making that I will hang on a cord instead of a chain.... but I would love to know if you prefer to wear long necklaces or short ones!

Continuing On

This week I have enjoyed playing with some photos I took, tea bags, collaging and mark making.  

 

I then put the pieces into a mat. I like the way they look surrounded by a large area of white.

 

This close up shows a bit of the layering of the piece. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOTE......

I don't know if anyone has taken the Life Book 2012 course.  But I have been thinking about taking the Life Book 2013 course.  If you haven't heard about it, you can check out the following link.   If you have taken the course, I would love to see what you have created! 

The Thread That Weaves

I feel very fortunate to have been involved with an online workshop with Roxanne called

"The Thread that Weaves".

Roxanne has been giving us wonderful inspiration, instruction and support in the development of a art book.  I just finished mine, and it is shown above when it is closed and standing up. 

 

Here it is open

It is a triptych style book.  So has three panals. 

 My first one is an image inside an old cabin.  The second one is of a bird amongst the first snowfall,

and the third one shows the transition from fall to winter. 

 

We also created a little book that we sewed into the bigger book.

For me this book tells the story of transitions.  Transitions from fall to winter, transitions of places that contain many stories from years gone by, and the transitions that I am going through to become the person that I am supposed to become.  It all takes time, some of them good, and some of them hard, but all of them there to make us each the individual we are to become.  

This is the first spread in the little book.

The second spread

The third spread

And here is the back or the outside of the whole book showing a bit more of the threads that I wove through this project. 

 

I really enjoyed this project, and the wonderful time spent with Roxanne and the others that joined in creating  with "The Thread that Weaves"

 

Exploring Again

Here is a little accordian book I made a while ago, using my drawings of birds.  

I don't know what it is about accordian books, but I love creating them, and I love looking at them.

I think they are like a little surprise package just waiting to be explored. 

And they can be displayed open showing off the whole story, or one section, or closed inviting exploration.

When I looked at this one today, it made me want to add it on my "Want to Create" list, that is already loaded down with ideas!