Jan 29 Gong Hay Fat Choy

Two pages today for Chinese New Years. 2006 is the year of the dog
The robe was stamped on paper made last summer with the nailpolish technique and it dosnt show up in scans very well. It has beautiful iridescent colors of sapphire, fushia, turquoise,gold and variations thereof. it reminds me of the colors seen in puddles at shopping centers - somebodys leaking oil. I had my chop carved in marble when i went to China and unfortunately i've forgotten which way is up.
The right hand side bckgrd is joss papers, stamped picture and the good luck symbol was punched and layered over a bit of my chocolate bar wrapper. I think i might have made the knot wrong or maybe didnt tighten it correctly, because it dosnt look quite right. Anyhow, Gong Hay Fat Choy!

Jan 28 Bargello

This is the bargello technique from Nancy Currys book Texture Effects and the paper is the other half from yesterday, the resist technique. The bckgrd in the scan dosnt show up as the right color, although its a different tone, it looks ok in real life. The cracks between the strips also show up too much, due to the shiny paper i think because again, irl, its not noticable. This technique is a lot harder than it looks and i had to "fake" it in a few places. If i ever make another one i'm sure it'll be better now that i understand the technique a little better.

Jan 27 Ophelia

Bckgrd is the resist technique on glossy paper. I made 1/2 sheet to have enough for tomorrow. I stamped Ophelia first with Stazon black then again a little offset with Brilliance gold. It dosnt show up in the scan but the effect is very nice.

Jan 26 Volcano

for todays art i used textured wallpaper and an old calendar. First i spray painted the wp with gold paint and when it was dry distressed it by picking and scraping off some of the puffy texture. The calendar has all pics of Hawaiian volcanos. i chose the little one from the back of it of a distant view and glued it onto a bit of fun foam so its a little raised. The full size main calendar pic is a close up of running lava. I tore little bits and glued them in between the puffy areas of the texture then overdid the gold outlining of everything. Stamped the Japanese word or words? and i dont know if its upside down (sorry if you know it is; it was an accident)

Jan 25 Time flies

Ain't it funny how time slips away! Yes, time really does fly and kids sure do grow fast these days.
For the bckgd of this piece i used a napkin that i had blotted another piece of art on. I had reinked the pad a little too heavily, stamped, and it was way too wet. i grabbed a napkin; one of those big fairly heavy ones from certain restaurants. I sort of floated it down over the wet mess and pressed with my hand all over. When i peeled it off i was surprised to see alot of the stamp pattern remained and although it wasnt very clear it had a beauty all its own. I set it aside to dry not really expecting it to be useful as a bckgrd because after all, it was just a napkin. When it dried i thought it was beautiful! I applied gluestick all over a piece of paper and carefully pressed the napkin onto it for added strength then added a little more color dtp with pigment inks. Then i covered up some of the nicest parts with this growing boy and the time flying by!

Jan 24 Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Jan 23 with added lady

I was thinking this page was missing something but i didnt know what. So, i took a tip from Dale Anne and just let it rest until it told me what it wanted, and it did! I was looking for something to inspire me for todays art and came across this picture. I knew right away she was was the missing element from yesterday! Then i was thinking she might not want to stick because the page is highly embossed but she did with just a glue stick. Also the image of the little girl at the window looking out at the fairies was well attached too because i put heavy weight on it overnight. So, 2 problems solved!

And now back to my regularly scheduled Blogger problem. Does anybody know what to do about pictures that come up over and over? Its taking me sometimes up to 4 or 5 tries before the one i want will load. Meanwhile i try things and as a consequence i'll get the wrong text with the wrong picture. Thats what happened here and i dont know how to move it, and it takes me so long to retype; i'm a 2 finger typist. I despise how messy this looks and Blog help people are no help. I've cleared my cache so many times and dont know what else to do.

The segment of poetry i used for Jan 24 is from Invictus by William Ernest Henly. Its been a favorite since grade 8 and sometimes it gets in my head and i'll go around reciting it all day. Here it is in its entirety

Out of the night that covers me,
black as the pit from pole to pole,
i thank whatever gods may be
for my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
i have not winced nor cried aloud
under the blungeonings of chance
my head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
looms but the horror of the shade,
and yet the menace of the years
finds, and will find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
how charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.

Jan 22 the fairies come out tonight

Well, maybe i'll learn from this little episode that i should plan ahead! I had attached 4 pastel colored foils to the cs then remembered i'm trying to get out of my pastel stage so i colored them again with a variety of products and finally ended up happy with the alcohol inks. They looked real nice, vivid deep jewel colors. I then foolishly tackled it with the bone folder and wrecked the center, and then wrecked it some more trying to fix that. Since my original plan was to display 4 buttons in the 4 sections and that wasnt an option anymore i had to think of something else. Well, i had been bumping into this little stamped thing lately every time when i was rooting around looking for something else. I had stamped and embossed it about 6 yrs ago but then i didnt like it so it didnt make it onto a card. And yet i couldnt throw it because it was so well done with the sparkly black sky and all gel pen colored. The rubber was given away and the image long forgotten and its bumped around in the drawer ever since, waiting for this chance to come out and shine. And shine it did cuz i now thought it looked great on these foils and it is kind of cute...

but unfortunately it might not be able to stay because i dont think theres been a glue invented yet that'll hold it onto the foil. Cant use brads or eyelets because before i found out, i had made and attached tomorrows dd art today (Jan 23)because i might not be able to tomorrow and it wont look good with their backsides on it. I also attached gold foil around the edge, catching it onto the next page and unfortunately thats not holding very well either because its too narrow to go around the double thickness. So, the art of Jan 22 and 23 might change without further warning due to poor workwomanship. I went from one of my best pieces-the sunrise over Haleakala to the two worst the very next day! Does anyone know of an adhesive that'll hold foil to paper? I tried http://www.thistothat.com but its not listed there.

Jan 21 Aquarius Sunrise over Haleakala

yayyy its working again. I made this picture with white caulk that i spread with an old credit card thinly and as evenly as possible over a recycled piece of acetate. When it was dry i used a pin and the tip of an exacto knife to mark and pick out the outlines i wanted. It was chippy going and would have been easy if i could have found the tools i know i have somewhere for lino or rubber block cutting. Alcohol inks for the color and scraps of foil attached on the back. It would have been more brilliant if i hadn't sanded the back of the acetate but thought i should to make sure it would adhere to the page in the book.

the spine of Aquarius

ok i'm going to try and get the rest on then hit the sack. So heres the spine; i like it a lot. I painted the skewers with purple Lumieres acrylics

Jan 20

Sorry for the mix up and the cover being with the text for this page. Blogger has been doing this so much and its tiring and annoying to upload, write and then publish only to find out it keeps putting the cover back up....i dont know how much longer i want to go on with this crap because when you delete it also deletes the words and i have to retype, and i'm a slowwww typist. I've written to them so many times and they either dont respond or they take a week then tell me to read the help, which i do but it dosnt tell me what to do. Its like the last picture gets stuck and wont let a new one come up. Except this one will but i wont be able to get the text from the cover to this so hope its not too confusing. I'm just way too tired.

Jan 20 Daily Devotions

My first art entry in the book of Aquarius is the grid stamping technique with an Artchix lady centered. For some reason i had a lot of options for trimming the oval, which surprised me. I thought most of my stuff was pastel but there i was practically all afternoon deciding what to use - the orange ribbon with the clear hanging baubles; the varigated ribbon that perfectly matched every hue in the bckgd; the beige with black and beige beads, the fraying fabric; the orange with gold balls; the black one; the black and red; the brown one....the ecru lacy trims...or the gold stuff. I never would have guessed i had that much stuff that matched those colors. So guess what i picked? The one that was a pita and took hours to attach. well, i should have known that masking tape was on the ends for a reason. Its actually one of those trims with a little fabric attached that has a sort of slot...it probably has a name but i dont know it. I've used this type of trim before on the edges of ab pages but not the braided kind. You glue half onto one page and the other side goes over the edge and glues on the back of the same page, then glue the next page down to hide the excess leaving just the nice part along the edge. Piping, i think thats it. Anyhow, this had to be applied all on the back and around a very small curve. I finally figured out to slash it every half inch or so to take the curve. But the biggest problem was the ends fraying before i could even get the Stop Fray on to them, and cutting it enough to just meet without overlapping, and the fraying and the stop fray on my fingers. Then i needed something, to cover the join. A button? No, too big. a bead? i didnt have anything that looked right. Finally this tiny thing didnt look bad; i cut it off of a dollar store kids bracelet. It could have been bigger but it actually looks a little like her cameo.

Jan 19 medallion

This is the last page in my book of Capricorn. It ended up almost 2" thick. I used the dates from Dec. 22 to Jan 19th. The dates of the zodiac calendar are different depending on where you look and some have it Dec 21 - Jan 20. I'm going with the dates in my newspaper. Even though i didnt mention Capricorn very much in the book, some of the art was inspired by it and/or people i know born under this sign. Other ideas were from something mentioned in the daily horoscope but mostly its just random art.

The medallion is an Anna Griffin image by All Night Media. I pressed wet single ply toilet paper into the rubber one at a time with a pouncing brush. I used 2 colors, drops of reinker and water. i think theres 3, maybe 4 layers in this one. When it was dry it just popped right out with very little help. The effect is cool because its a reverse image from what you stamp when looking at it in person but in the scan it looks the same as when you stamp it! I dont understand that or why it happens. In the picture it looks like theres holes in it but in reality they're actually raised bumps. i added a little more color to the raised parts with Color box petal points but it dosnt show up in the scan. The edges turned out differently as well because i took the tp right to the edge. Thats why its flat and slightly frayed there. It looks and feels like hand made paper. I also made some with patterned paper napkins. They were harder to manage than the tp because they tore easier. I couldnt retain the pattern because of all the patching but they're nice enough anyhow. Maybe they'll end up in another Daily Devotions book.

Jan. 18 Spring is in the air

I've always liked drawing but don't get much practice. I like drawing people, especially women. They're imaginary of course, and usually not in proportion. i erase and erase and they still look funny. Well, this one certainly looks funny but thats only because she has a boat instead of lips and the sail makes her nose look funny. Not only that but she had such long eyelashes she went and had them permed. i guess another reason is that she has stars instead of pupils, otherwise i'm satisfied with her and her friends. One of these days there'll be a beginners drawing class offered around here and i'll sign up. I usually leave the faces flat because i've spent so much time trying to shade them unsucessfully. i study the shading in other peoples art and it sort of looks like common sense but it sure dosnt work when i do it! It probably all comes back to proportion and angles and placing the eyes nose and mouth in the correct places. Well i usually think i'm putting them in the correct places. arrrghhh, i'll learn sometime. lol. Also maybe i need to invest in proper drawing pencils and papers, but then again, that probably wont improve my my drawing skills. Another thing is i never try to draw real people and maybe i should. I've got a feeling i'll be trying it before this year is over because its been so very inspiring to see what others do.

Rachel, your self portrait is absolutely awesome! You have so many talents and i didnt know drawing was another one. You should and could be making big money with this talent. If you like drawing children i bet you could get tons of commissions from your kids school friends. Everybody wants a nice drawing of their kids. Have you drawn your children? If so i'd love to see them.

Jan. 17 window of opportunity

Window of opportunity. I've seen these words or heard them in conversation so many times lately. This is another Photoshop technique where you take one butterfly and make as many as you want with a few clicks of the right buttons. i hope i can remember which buttons!

Jan. 16 freeform cut mermaid

Jan 15, rain expected

Now people are hoping it will continue at least another day in order to break the record set in 1953 for 27 consecutive rain days. i dont care about records, i just wish the water would stop arriving like an open faucet. Actually, you know, its not all that bad. You have to have the rain in order to have all the lush greens and the flowers that will be blooming soon in the lower mainland of beautiful British Columbia. Snowdrops, daffodils and tulips are already pushing their way skywards and the buds on the trees are swelling. You can't have the rainbow without the rain. i just wish it wasnt so .... well, wet.

Jan 14 rain rain go away

It was a dark and gloomy day with the rain continuing all day. The lady actually has tears running down her cheeks. She has SADS. Notice how pale she is from the lack of sunshine? Heres a wish for sunshine and a dry day.

Friday the 13th abstract

Friday the 13th

Today is my sisters birthday. I phoned her and this is the doodle i did while talking to her. It was in regular pencil and i did some little texture marks in some of the spaces. Later i went over it with colored pencils and most of those marks were obliterated. Sandra works with and is very much into native issues and arts while i dont know much about it. However i hope the little beaded thing i made in her honor looks like a simple native piece. The dangly bauble is a bead i made with paper and wire and the round thing at its tip is a metal do dad with a clear stick-on thats supposed to make the bird beneath appear larger but its hardly recognizable for some reason. Maybe the effects of Friday the 13th?

Jan. 12

Tag on sewn papers. Again the desire for some sunshine and warmth is evident.

Jan. 11 a photoshop mess

I played so much and for so long to finally get something today. Its simply two scans combined. I know you can actually move them around to get the best placement but that function was faulty today, lol. so i left it where it landed. My problem is not playing enough and then forgetting what i had accomplished previously. Theres so much to learn and so little time. i'm thinking of buying PS Elements as i hear its much more user friendlier than the PS7 i have.
The images in this pic are of atc's i had made some time ago. One is from my scrap metal series. It consists of metal looking papers and foils, brads, staples etc. Its a lot brighter in my files than how it printed out. Then it loses a lot online as well.

Jan 10, Basking

The picture dosnt show the nice golden background very well. This page was inspired by the rain. Its been raining and dark and dreary for about 3 weeks. The words i wish it would stop raining were being said by everybody a lot! So, the lady is dreaming of basking in the golden glow of beautiful sunshine. The cs was originally orange and i tried to crackle it using a two part process that took hours to implement and it didnt turn out. So i tackled it with inks of many colors then finally rubber and gold ink.

Jan. 9 Memories

memories, pressed between the pages of my mind
memories, sweetened through the ages just like wine
quiet thoughts come floating down
and settle softly on the ground
like golden autumn leaves around my feet
I touch them and they burst apart
with sweet memories
sweet memories
of holding hands and red bouquets
and twilight trimmed in purple haze
and laughing eyes and simple ways
and quiet nights
and simple days with you
memories, pressed between the pages of my mind
memories, sweetened through the ages just like wine
sweet memories

Jan 8 Elvis' birthday

My little tribute to the King. I was lucky to find the playing cards at Rubydogs Arthouse in Vancouver http://www.dxmarket.com/collagejoy because they were in a well picked through deck. The ace represents the first month, Jan. and the 8th day. Elvis came into my life when i was 12. He was my knight in shining armor and he came to save me. He's still my favorite singer and i'll always love him. He would have been 71 today.

Jan 7 serendipity squares

I cut these squares from a left over page of 4 x 4" technique lfb that was sent back. It looks better as serendipity than it did whole! This is how to make the technique:
Misc lace, ribbon, and fabric store trims
card stock, any color. Use your uglies
gesso
acrylic paint
3/4" stiff bristle brush

Paint cs with gesso to cover completely. Paint a piece of trim with gesso and place it on the cs. Pounce it on well adding more gesso if needed to ensure good adhesion. Add more lace in the same way designing as you go until the cs is completely covered. Let dry thoroughly. If it warps from the moisture place it in a thick book and add more weight on top. Leave it for a few days and it'll be flat.
Paint with acrylic paints, let dry and flatten again if necessary.

Jan 6

well, blogger isnt allowing me to add the pic for Jan 7. It keeps putting the Jan 6 pic up and adding my post for Jan 7. oh woe is me with trouble and strife and these new fangled machines. But maybe by adding text here it will let me carry on with Jan 7. wish me luck.

Jan 5 Canada 5 Russia 0

2006 World Junior Hockey game and Team Canada won the gold. It was awesome.
This was the most amazing game i've ever seen. It was so exciting, they're all incredible players, and soooo young to be so good. Our seats were on the blue line and we were able to interact with some of the players. The Russian boys played so hard and were devastated by the loss. Our goalie is a well deserving national hero; wish we could get him for our NHL team. It was the most memorable and best game ever.

Jan. 4 photoshop smudge

This is a dictionary page with the word art at the top and i almost lost askance at the bottom. I'm trying to learn a few things with Photoshop and one of my favorites so far is the smudge thing; you can go crazy and stir the colors around all over and i stopped myself just in the nick of time with this. I like smudging faces; you can make people look real goofy, or do it so much they end up being unrecognizable. Then its an abstract. I'll have to make one for this project sometime.

jan. 3 Resist stamping on glossy

Trying to get away from pastel colors. oops there they are again. The image is a Rubber Poet stamp. I bought a 5 1/2" width of the grid stuff at a fabric store and not sure what its usually used for; maybe rug hooking? i'm trying to fit it into atc's and its going to last a longgg time because the piece is about 4' long. I patted it with a pigment ink and added a few threads

Jan 2, Its a puzzle

Jigsaw puzzle piece, about 5 x 3". paint and stamping with napkin wine names on a bckgrd of the same napkin

Jan. 1, 2006 Time to connect

My first collage of the year.

Mona starts the new year as a loser.

Dec. 31 2005. Tomorrow i'll join the rest of the group starting Jan 1, 2006 making daily art. I used my finger to apply Goldens gel matte medium over this collage then added the 3 bingo chips. Happy New Year!

Dec. 30

Abstract with silver gel pen. The lion on the opposing page is smucking it up where it hits when the book is closed. I've got to think of a solution for that.

Dec. 29

I was trying to get a textured image with Aileens 3D Accents design paste by stamping into it. It was either too wet or too dry and i couldnt find a happy in between so theres just a little bit of the textured diamonds showing and the rest is random. It was difficult to get the paste off of the rubber so in the future will use it for only stencil designs.I painted it with Lumieres after it was dry. Its hard to read but it says treasure. Then i tried using a stencil for the letters but it turned out oddly because of not planning ahead so the R went sideways. I kept messing up the previous letters because i was too impatient to let them dry in between letters. It was a frustrating art experience. I ended up smoothing them over and reshaping all the letters. I made the lions head several years ago from a product i believe was called Envirotex. It was poured into a mold i had made with a plasticine type of product. I think i molded the lion from a piece of jewelry, or maybe a drawer pull ornament. I painted it with Pearl-x.

Dec. 27 and 28th 2005

Dec. 27th collage with a variety of stamped images, little beaded and painted heart and stitching on paper.
Dec. 28th the fly is another Window Clinger art filled in with the glass paint. I made the background paper with Marvy Markers on damp glossy paper, then sprinkled with sea salt. I just randomly cut the paper. I know it looks like a bird or other winged thing but i really didnt plan that.

Christmas day and Boxing day

Rubber stamped Christmas ornament and tree branch on vellum. I wrote Merry Christmas in various languages.
Angel image by Stampers Anonymous

Christmas Eve 2005

Two pages for Dec. 24th. The rubber image is "Illuminate" by Acey Deucy. She reminds me of my sister Sandra, a Capricorn. I wrote a little description of Capricorns and some of it fits her - tall, proud, independant, stylish, fun to be with. She deserves the crown and jewelry i added. The tag is an image i used many years ago on my hand made Christmas cards.

Dec. 23, 2 pages

There were enough pages in the book to add both atc's; good thing since i couldnt decide which one to use. They're made with Crayola Window Clingers from the kids dept. Its a kit with a bottle of thickish black liquid which you squeeze out to make the outline on vinyl. When its dry you can pick it up and place it elsewhere and add other shapes or cut odd bits to add to it. Then fill in with the glass paints provided if you want to. Nice if its to hang in a window but i didnt like the effect much on cs so i left most of my abstract atc's unpainted except Initiation. The outline dries to a nice shiny black but when i wiped it with a baby wipe it became dull and refused to shine again. Looks something like a road runner dosn't it. I added silver metallic Rub-Ons to Emergent. It looked better when it was shiny black because the bckgrd is very matte and it was a nice contrast. If i make any more of these i'll try harder to not get glue on the front because if you wipe it the shine also goes. Its tricky because the shapes are limp and dont always want to lay the way you plan. Maybe using the Xyron would be a neater and cleaner way to apply the adhesive.

Inside front cover and first days collage

The spine

I colored the skewers first with dye inks but they looked pale and washed out. I colored them again with Tombow markers and liked the effect better. The cuts i made are too deep for the size of the skewers. Next time i'll make them only half as deep.

The cover of the book of Capricorn

Not sure if i'm doing this right. Pic first or words first? Title first? Type after all the blogger jargon or get in and type ahead of it? I don't know if the pic is going to appear. oh dear i can see this is going to be very tiresome until i get the hang of it.

Daily devotions art is underway

When i decided to title my 12 books of daily art with the names of the astrological signs i forgot that would have me start and finish my art on a different date than everyone else. Most calendars start with Aries March 21-April 19th. To get a little bit more even with the rest of the group i decided to start my first book with Capricorn Dec 22 - Jan 19th. I started my first days art on Dec 22 2005. I got a little behind at Christmastime and am now 4 days from being caught up to the group and the current date.

Once i get caught up i havent decided if i'll post the art from Dec 22 -31st or to start posting with Jan 1 and then when those dates come around in 2006 i could post them then, but then it'll be a year old art. Lol,this is starting to look like it was a dumb idea especially since so far i havent used much of the astrology theme at all; just the cover and a little bit. But then, at least i know i have pictures of all the signs for the covers so that makes me feel better. Its that sort of thing thats important to me to make it stress free so will stick with it.

Well, so far so good except my art is turning out sorta greeting cardish and very amateurish compared to others. But then i can only be me, and it wouldnt be me if i didnt feel inferior. I'm only finished with a piece of art when i like it, and if i didnt like it i wouldnt use it or show it to anyone. So, you'd think i must like my art. But i dont. I know this sounds crazy. I guess it stems from some yearning way down inside me which makes me regret not learning more. I wish i would have taken every art class that was available and read every book when i was younger. I would so love to be able to draw and paint portraits of people that look like the person. I'd love to know and understand what abstract is all about and do it with acrylics. I'd love to be able to learn Photoshop and to remember what i learned. Unfortunately i have the auto immune liver disease PBC and the fatigue and fuzzy brain that comes with it. I do all these arts the best that i can anyway.

My own personal challenge for the 365 daily devotions is to try not to use my old stand bys of pastel colors and vintage images as the focal point too much, and to do a wider variety of arts using lots of different techniques. So far i've rubber stamped; used Crayola window clingers in abstract form; i've written a little bit on my art and thats brand new for me; also gel pen abstract design; putty bckgrd with stencilled letters that didnt turn out well but added it anyway; freeform cutting paper; decorated a jig saw puzzle piece; attached velum; sewed on paper and some Photoshop art that i printed out. Todays art is a pencil drawing of an imaginary woman...this is a hard decision whether to add it or not. I dont know how to shade properly to make it less flat or how to color it. I'll start uploading my art in a few days when i'm caught up to date.

Still planning

Well, so far i've made little 3 piano hinge book and a different type of book that i sewed with wire. It has only 8 pages that have the fold of the cardstock at the fore edge. I figured because its open on the top and bottom maybe i'd make all tags for this one. So, that would be 1 glued onto either side and 1 inserted in the top slot and 1 in the bottom slot....except the bottom one would probably fall out easily...
Its a cute little book but maybe thats just pride because i'm a new bookmaker. But its probably not practical because its really tight and dosnt open easily. But it would hold 32 tags so guess i'll think about this some more. I was hoping to make as many varieties of styles of books as i could learn and i have a few instruction books on the subject. Unfortunately, the instructions for other types look real difficult and/or too vague, and too time consuming. Well, the piano books are simple to make; they open flat and thats definitely a plus. If i mess up on a page its easy to take it apart and replace the page. Most importantly i love the way they look. OK talked myself into it. I'll make 12 piano hinge.

Using regular 8 1/2 x 11" cardstock the pages turn out to be about 3 1/2" x 5 1/2". It takes 5 sheets cut in half (with 1/2 piece left over to use in the next one) The 9 folded pieces make enough working space for a month of daily art, with something left over or not depending on the month. And the insides of the covers also available to art on. Now, for some reason, not sure why but it used 10 skewers to make this book. One pkg from the dollar store will probably be enough for all 12. I tried making one using pencils but they were wayyy too thick for a book of this size. I also made one using 7 thin paint brushes from the dollar store. It looks cool. According to my notes its got space for 30 days of art. Now, theres a little discrepancy there....32 spaces to art on used 10 hinges; 30 days used 7 hinges....hmmmm, i dont know and i'm too tired to figure it out, lol.

365 days of art

I've been lurking on the Daily Devotions site since it began. I wasn't sure if it would be something i could do, or would want to do. I art just about every day but i was afraid this would be an urgent - have to do whether you want to or not sort of thing and i wasnt sure i could or would want to make the time for the commitment. So i lurked and i read and i learned. Mostly i learned that i didnt know what they were talking about - inner child, inner voice, artistic voice, right brain, left brain, arting for oneself or arting for others and tons of other deep thoughts....i dont know what any of this is. I feel odd and that stuff dosn't apply to me so i dont even want to find out. I just make art. Plain and simple.

So, everyday i read and it started to sound like a good idea, then it was a real good idea, then i like it! and finally, yes, i want to do this.

Once that decision was made a whole new series of doubts took over. What kind of a format would i use? I decided almost immediately it would be various small paper arts, atc's for sure and maybe 4" x 4" collages and misc. attempts. But what would i put them in to show them? Some people were talking about simply putting in boxes, some were putting in books, some were going to work in the grids of a calendar etc. I'm such a worrier and i have to figure out exactly what i'm going to do and where all this art is going to go, especially since i already knew my art would be small papers that i wouldnt want to just leave loose and floating around.

Some people were so widely talented they were going to be doing a variety of arts; painting, clay jewelry, dolls, scarves, photography, knitted items, quilts and much more so obviously they wouldnt go into books or boxes. Others wouldnt be saving their art at all; they would be selling it or doing art in ab's for others and atc's for their swaps. But of course anyone could scan them or take pictures to share on blogs and all versions were acceptable. But, i wanted to think of a way to keep my pieces all together because for me it would be more of an incenitive to keep it up and actually be able to send it in for the show they hoping to produce.

I'm a member of several Yahoo groups and they were talking about the piano hinge book on one of them. I had always wanted to make one and someone gave the instructions, i tried it and woopeee, success! It was easy and i loved making them. I decided to make 12 small piano hinge books in which i'd do my art or make the art separately and glue onto the cardstock pages. Since this project was to start on Jan 1st i thought i'd simply title the books with the names of the months. The next day while reading my daily horoscope in the newspaper, the idea came to mind to name each of the 12 books for the astrological signs. My brain then went crazy thinking of finding out what color each sign was associated with and making the appropriate color book. I thought i have to go shopping and buy lots of new colored cs even though i have tons already, but i have only 5 or 6 colors. I knew each month has a birthstone and maybe i could make charms or beads with clay to hang off of each one. I'll have to learn how to do that.... Then there were the characteristics, animals,elements, flowers, herbs and spices, trees, metals....omg! i have so much work to do to get this all ready. My mind was racing and i was thinking as for the art itself to put in these books i could work off of an idea every day from the daily horoscope, maybe even incorporate the horoscope itself! I'm not even a big astrology buff, lol! I read my own and dh's and the kids and then forget it.....

Oh yes, i get carried away when i get to thinking what i could do, and what i'd like to do. And then reality sets in and i realize i'm stressing myself out. First do i have time to do all this? Do i really want to study all about astrology in order to do it, especially when i dont think i even know anybody born under the signs of Virgo and Sagittarius.....

And then finally - the decision to go for it but in a simpler way; just make the dam books, use up some of the cs i bought by the ream but didnt need that amount then or now and probably never will use all up. Name them for the signs but dont even think about doing all that other stuff. No specific size so they all match! No color co-ordination, no symbols etc unless one falls into my lap. Ahh, relief, now thats off my mind, maybe i can do this now and with no invited stress.