Once in a blue moon

The last blue moon on New Years Eve was 20 years ago . A blue moon is a full moon that happens 2 times  in a given calendar month. I think this is a very good sign for us all in 2010 .....Once in a blue Moon!!!

Party Angels

It is said that  how you spend your new years is how you will spend  the rest of the year. I am spending mine  creating fun art  and filling my heart with thoughts of those I love. It  will be the BEST, oh  and calling my sister to  see how   she likes the "thrown' her husband gave her for Christmas.  V-day better be the diamond crown to go with it as his "thrown" was a toilet  all wrapped and   under  the tree with the excuse that she said they needed a new one. Can any one top that story !!!!  He is  a good man, but a bit off center. ( maybe more then a bit).  So anyway, how will you be spending tonight? I am wishing  for you that it  is the  way you want to !!!

Art saves Lives

Jenny Doh has a theory ( Jenny is the editor  of Somerset Studios and Stampington ). She is leaving to start her new project Crescen-Doh . Jenny says many times "Art saves Lives"  this  has so often been true  for me. 17 years  ago  I went to Upstate NY and took the  Skidmore College Summer Six  ( art program) and did it in Metal Smithing . You stayed in the dorms and ate in the cafeteria. I was the only on in the program and had the studio all to myself . I worked 12 hour quite days, way into the wee hours of the night creating without anything to bother me  . Just  creating !! I had access to all the campus had to offer. I could wander off to  the fine arts painting, printing and ceramic studios and  library .Watch and visit with  other creative souls  doing the same thing. It was the best  6 weeks of my entire life and helped me focus on what I REALLY wanted from my life. I then went back home and got it!!! Fast forward 13 years and on a much shorter scale a few days at Art Fest and  the magic   happened again.  Now this coming  year I am teaching art Art  Fest a dream come true. These events pulled me out of a stuck place and helped me focus on what I wanted. It happens daily in my studio on an even smaller scale. Once again I would love to have  you share "art  saving" stories  of your own  and P.S. This photo posted today is one of the tiny pieces I made at Skidmore  College Summer Six so long along ago and  no, I did not use PMC it had not been invented yet!! Darn.... wish it had .

I measure mine in art ..

Some reckon their age by years,
Some measure their life by art;
But some tell their days by the flow of their tears
And their lives by the moans of their hearts.
- - - -Abram Joseph Ryan

Question of the day?

An old saying /question came to mind this morning.  "You can either be happy or right"  I am one of those people that is passionate and thinks totally with the creative side of her brain ,so much so that I can never remember what side that is ?!? . I  grew up in a very small town in the Midwest in a time and place where no one knew about the different ways creative people live  and learn in this  world. It was just the  3 R's  go to church and  always  wear clean underwear  and you did it that way or you were considered  a slow learner. To make up for this "slow learning"  I   needed to try extra hard to be" common sense smart" so that I could earn peoples respect even if I was not book smart. All my life I have tried to "do it right " and it has turned me into a controlling, self righteous B*&%H at times.  It has not made me happy when I try so hard thinking "what will others think?"   and it has made lots of people unhappy when I am in my self righteous frame of mind ....wow and my  voice  that goes with it !!. The gift I am giving my self this year is the gift of just doing it  with my heart be a "happy fool" and with  passion. Doing it " right" has not seemed to make that much difference in saving me  from life's painful lessons  and maybe just the opposite, as life keeps telling  me  " let go of the CONTROL you self righteous B*&^#H" .So why not just try  being  happy rather then right? This may be a bit tougher then I think but I am going to give it a try . I would love to hear any of your thoughts as to this question as it is an interesting one that I think many creative souls  struggle with.

Hope

When my  husband  Mark was dying , Hospice had to be called in. The two of us  did not want to face what  that  meant.  I told the  Hospice workers that having them on board took  our hope away. The social worker told me ."  No, you just have to learn  to hope for something different" . I learned so much from Mark's  death, that being one of them. I learned to look to the unkown in Mark's case . Maybe his dying was not the end for him and I had to "hope" that some thing was still ahead for him, something I could not see or be a part of  but still something good for him . As I deal now with my " friends"  loss I have to face that maybe for  her I must hope for something different too. Maybe  instead of life with this man  there will be another life for her without him.  I thank you for your prayers as I think they are reminding me of that lesson about life. There is always  hope you just  need  to adjust  your focus. 

A prayer

A woman whom is  very close  to me is in deep pain . She and her husband have gone through a very tough year . The husband  lost his business and his  emotional health . They then  lost all they had worked for   and have had to start over. They have both felt much  fear, pain and  insecurity . The insecurity of both  has lead the husband  to believe that   he has lost his love for her and  so a few days ago he left her.  Please if you believe in prayer would you take the time to say one for  both of  them and ask our  Spiritual  Creator to give her  the  courage to face the loss of him and find her way. Thank you so much my dear friends  and Merry Christmas .

My christmas gift to you!

This Christmas I thought I would give a little "how to" to my bogging friends. It is a simple little
Snowman made from a light bulb. Here it is and Merry Christmas to you all!!! Hugs julie

 After adding some ribbon  and silver pipe cleaners . He is done!!

Next I added a layer of glitter to his cap by spreading it with Mod Podge

And then sprinkling it with clear glass glitter. I used a black sharpie  to make his eyes and then a white and red ( not shown Oops ) Stabillo pencil  to make his checks .I  blended  them together in

Circular motion to make pink. A Stabillo pencil will work on all surfaces, even glass.

He is all glued together.

Next I glued his nose , base and cap on with E 6000.

               I used a clear water bottle cap for his base and covered it and his nose with

White glass glitter. I used Mod Podge as the glue  for the glitter.

I sewed a few fun findings and beads to the tip of the cap.

I picked some fun ribbon and sewed it on the rim of the cap.

 Using black velvet I cut a flower shape for his collar.

I stitched  the cap together with black thread. It is hard to see but the raw edge of the

felt was cut with pinking shears.

I used wool felt  to make the cap,which is part rayon , part wool .

I buy this at Joann Fabrics by the yard.

To make a cone shaped hat pattern I just folded the edge of a piece of paper. I made sure the

base was  the width I wanted. I can always trim the bottom base edge later to round it off.

For his nose  I made a jelly roll from paper clay and then by pressing firmer on one end

 while I rolled, I  tapered it into a cone shape . When it is dry you can sand the rough  edges .

For starters I sprayed a small clear light bulb with frosted glass spray paint.

Workshop Specials for one week only!!!

Glenny, at Art and Soul is offering a wonderful deal for her fabulous Art and Soul Art Retreat in Las Vegas  Feb 2010. Each week,  starting today she is featuring one of the instructors and for  that week their classes will be 20% off . I am the instuctor she is featuring  this week, starting today . These are images of the classes I will be offering !

Pneumonia!!!

Poor Scooter Last night his  cough got even worse. So off in the middle of the night both Cal and a raced to the emergency vet clinic. And it was pneumonia and bronchitis. Poor wee guy, Peanut has been so worried!! But with some new antibiotics, a few steam treatments ,some really strong cough syrup and He should be feeling better in 48 hours.  Maybe  then we can all rest .   Thanks again for all the supportive helpful emails .  But boy !!!!all those meds sure  give him gas!!!! PEWWWWW!!! My eyes are watering as I write he  is laying by my feet on his night night bed.

Scooter

My blog list came back!!! But thanks everyone for the comments !!Now I get to spend some time visiting and seeing what everyone is doing to get ready for Christmas. Oh, I also have a question.I still am taking care of Scooter for Mom and he seems to have kennel cough. We took him to the vet and they put him on antibiotics . But two weeks later  and he still has this constant little cough. Does anyone know if this is normal ,does it take some time for the cough to go away ? He only coughs when he lays down and it is this constant kind of hiccup sound. I only know it is a cough because he then needs to cough up phlegm every once in a while? I just thought I would see if anyone has experienced this  with a dog with kennel cough. It seems to be common with rescue dogs. thanks fo any help

BIG BOOO BOOO ON BLOGGER!!!

OHHHH NOOOOO !!! To all of you, who's blopgs I follow (Over 100 ).Blogger has erased  my list . PLEASE leave a comment so that I can easliy find you again!!! Has this happend tpo anyone else????

Happy

Scooter and Mom are happy and so are we!! Thanks for all your kind words!!!