All Done!

Ta-da! I have reached the end of Rhonna's 21 Day Challenge and my journal is finished. I am proud that I stuck with it till the end and hopefully my goal of thinking positively will continue on into the future. Reading A New Earth in conjunction with writing this journal has definitely been the added boost I needed to reaching my goal.
It feels good to have accomplished this, especially in the midst of working on swaps, special orders and Easter preparations. It's important to make time to do something for ourselves once in a while. As wives, mothers, daughters, friends, employees, etc. we tend to give and give to other people all the time. But what is left to give, unless we take a break to refill the well every now and then.
My journal is complete. My pages are finished and have been added to the binding. I always love the way a completed journal looks in the end. It's the same feeling I got when I finished a big project back when I was in school. (Back in the dark ages, as I tell my daughter!) If you'd like to see the entire journal, click here.This is the fourth 21 Day Challenge that I have completed and I feel I have grown as a person with each and every page. It's exciting to look back at these journals to see just how far I have come.

Today is Day 10 of our Hippity Hop Easter Swap and this gift is from Beth. She wrapped her present in this lovely swatch of ivory lace with a hint of what's inside peeking out of the top.And look! It's a tube full of SPRING topped off with the most darling pale yellow chick (he looks vintage to me) donning a royal crown made from a page right out of an old book. Of course there is glass glitter and vintage posies too. I adore it! Thank you Beth!!! :) In case you forgot, there are 4 other groups exchanging gifts in this swap and you can see pics of all of them by clicking here.

Hippity-Hop Days 7 and 9

Happy First Day of Spring! It is a beautiful day here in the midwest even though it is only 45 degrees. But the sun is shining, which is somewhat of a rarity here lately, so we can't complain. However, we are under a winter storm warning right now as they are predicting 4 -10 inches of snow overnight. Isn't that crazy? This has been a l-o-n-g winter and most of us are sick and tired of looking at snow. The Easter bunny may be wearing his snow boots when he comes to deliver the baskets on Sunday.

Okay, on to a brighter topic. . .Isn't this the most clever wrapping for a swap gift? Donna made it and it just arrived. I couldn't wait to see what was inside, but I had to be careful to preserve that cute gift wrap.

And here it is. . .in all it's Easter Glory! Donna told us she was worried about the colors, but I think they are festive and fun! Afterall, what is Easter without lots of different colored eggs and jellybeans? I think it is GREAT! Thank you Donna!!!
Today's gift is from sweet Debra and she wrapped it in this delicate rose tissue paper...I'm saving this also to use on a future collage. I can't throw anything away! LOL!!!
And just look at all the goodies that she sent! The angel-bunny-girl on the left is the actual gift and it is an ornament which will look great on my Easter tree. She sort of reminds me of the pin that Martha made here. I love that Debra sent extra faces so we can play around and maybe make our own creation. Thanks Debra!!Only 2 more days left in the 21 Day challenge, but I didn't have time to journal today. Maybe I'll get to it later tonight. It's been fun working on this challenge and I want to continue it since I am on a roll now. I'd like to start a new art journal after Easter, where I can experiment and play around with new techniques, colors, mediums, etc.

Swap Day 8/Journal Days 18 & 19

In my rush to get things posted yesterday, I forgot to show you Karin's wrapping from Day 5 of The Hippity Hop Easter Swap. I always think the wrappings are just as special as the gifts inside!
Pictured above and below is Day # 8's gift from Jenny of Everyday is a Holiday. Those happy pink polka dots are handpainted onto the kraft paper wrapping paper. And this is what what inside! Doesn't it look good enough to eat? I can't believe I have my very own Jenny Heid original! :) Such beautiful colors - this photo really doesn't do it justice. Thank you SO much Jenny! I will be sure to hang it in a place of honor.

We are getting close to the finish-line on the 21 Day Challenge journal. Here are my pages from Days 18 & 19.

Odds & Ends

Did everyone have a great weekend and St. Patrick's Day? We didn't do anything special for the holiday. We did go to look at new houses on Sunday though, as a part of our never-ending struggle with the question, "To move, or not to move." We have lived in our current home for a long, long time and this subject has come up time and time again over the years. We love our lot and backyard; we don't love our house. It's as simple as that. And yet when we think about moving, we haven't a clue as to where we would like to move to. So occasionally we go on these treks to look at new homes and new areas to see if anything interests us.

We didn't find any homes that sparked an interest, except for the one pictured above. It is from Bethany Lowe Designs (I just love all her glittery creations) and I simply could not resist. The sweet vintage chenille chick with flower hat is from a trip earlier in the week to the antique mall.
Yesterday was Day 6 of our Hippity Hop Easter Swap and this is the lovely gift I opened from Karin of Creative Chaos. They are the palest yellow crystal earrings and they sparkle and shine so beautifully! Thanks Karin ~ I plan to wear them on Easter :)
I just completed Days 14 thru 17 of my 21 Day Journal this morning. The page above features a wonderful tag also created by Karin. I've been using my sewing machine to embellish more and more of my artwork lately. As long as I can keep my desk in some sort of order, then I can leave my sewing machine out and use it more often.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I am reading "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle and participating in the online classes with Oprah and Tolle on Monday nights. I am thoroughly enjoying both the book and classes. It is an amazing book and I find that my enthusiasm is spilling over to my journal pages.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Days 2 - 5

The Hippity Hop Swap continues. . .

Day #2 from Martha

Day #3 . . From Shosh

Day #4 . . . From ME!

Day #5 . . .

From Heather

Five days down ~ seven more to go....Stay tuned!

To see all the swap items click here.

It's Time!

The gifts have arrived for The Hippity Hop Swap that Heather is hosting. A BIG heartfelt hug goes out to Heather for packing and shipping all these gifts out. I believe are 60 people in the swap, with each participant sending in 12 gifts - that's 720 gifts altogether! Yikes! It is good that she had Donna, Tamy and Shosh assisting her in this huge undertaking. THANKS LADIES!
I am in the pink group - the swap was so big it had to be broken down into smaller groups! Day #1 in my group belongs to the one and only Miss Holly Doodle.
Holly created this precious little nest with a sweet bird and eggs. It looks all vintage-y and yummy, but then all of Miss Holly's creations are that way. Thank you SO much Holly! I LOVE IT! Everyone from all 5 groups will be posting their gifts for you to see on the Hippity Hop Swap Flickr page here.


I am still continuing to work on my 21 Day Journal pages. If you want to see the lastest pages click here.

And you can still vote for my daughter's Beagle in Bissell's Most Valuable Pet Contest through Monday, March 17th by clicking here.

We Need Your Vote!

My daughter entered our Beagle, Shooter, in Bissell's Most Valuable Pet Contest.
Please click the link below and VOTE for him!!
Thanks so much and happy voting!

To vote for Shooter, you can do so by clicking HERE:

Catching Up

I went shoe shopping with my daughter on Saturday after doing laundry and working on a couple swaps I needed to get in the mail. Glad I got those done BEFORE we went shopping, because we were gone all day! Of course we had lunch and ran a few other errands, but most of our time was spend hunting down this particular pair of New Balance shoes in her size. I just love the yummy colors - taupe and pale aqua blue - but the swirls are the best part, don't you agree? I thought of getting a pair for myself, but they didn't look quite as fabulous on my feet as they did on hers :(
Did some catch-up work on my 21 Day journal pages. Kept them pretty simple and basic. Here's Days 8 - 10.

I changed the colors up a tiny bit by adding some greens and browns. Still staying on track with my goal of keeping positive. Eckhart Tolle's book, A New Earth is helping me with that as well, by teaching me to stay in the present instead of focusing on the "running commentary" in my head.

Also put together this title page for the journal using Rhonna's challenge graphic.

I found this neat idea last week on Rebecca Sower's blog (love her). She suggested picking one day to Disconnect. I like that and think I may try it myself one day soon. Somedays I find myself too attached to this computer and a day without anything electric sounds rather delightful!

I think the crud that I have is just another bad cold. It is much better than it was. Thank you all for your "feel better" wishes - I think they really helped!

Springtime Swap and Days 6 & 7

This is a swap I just completed called, "Hanging Up Springtime" which is hosted by Gypsy Mermaid Life. We each were to create and send a dress, bird, hat, gloves, butterfly, and bloomers and in return we will recieve a clothesline filled with other artist's creations. I had the most fun making the dress. It made me feel like a fashion designer on Project Runway. I finished up Days 6 and 7 of my 21 Day journal. Some of the papers I used were from Rhonna Farrer's Urban Junque digi paper kit which I printed out and pasted the portions I wanted to use into my journal. We haven't made any specific plans for the weekend yet. We'll probably just hang-out here at home. What do you all have planned?

Day 5 and Easter Shopping Spree

I was very bad yesterday. I was scheduled to be a stand-by juror, but alas, the court didn't need my services. I wasn't feeling too well and thought I would just stay at home and rest. But that didn't seem like too much fun, so I went shopping! Isn't that the cure for whatever ails you? I wanted to check out a store my cousin had told me about at Christmastime called Raven and Dove. I had to do a search on mapquest to find out where in the heck the place was. After a few wrong turns, I finally found the little shop.

I got the sweet little nest pictured above complete with a silk egg filled with lavender. I could barely detect the scent through all my congestion, but the shop owner assured me it smelled heavenly. I couldn't resist this darling reproduction "Our Bunny" book, with it's vintage artwork and text.
And then there was this pair of serious looking bunnies nestled in the prettiest pastel glitter forest and well. . .I couldn't resist ~ they were calling my name!

And some yummy velvet flower bunches. . .
And a gorgeous paper umbrella fan with precious birdies perched on the edge.
Then it was time to come home and work on my page for Day 5 of my 21 Day Challenge journal! And after that, I was totally exhauted and needed some R & R before making a chicken pot pie for dinner.

21 Days - Day 4

I finished up Day 4 of my 21 day journal late last night after everyone had gone to bed and the house was finally quiet. Although I love my family very much, I do enjoy those times when the house is still and I can be alone and do things for myself that I have been putting off all day. Making art is such a pleasure to me and the one thing that always keeps me going and fuels my spirit.

I am currently reading "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle, which happens to be Oprah's latest book club pick. I am finding it very interesting and was wondering if any of you are reading it as well. Would love to hear your thoughts about it.