12.31 Holiday Journal

I have been taking the 12.31 Holiday Journal from Dawn Sokol for several years. I had to sign up again.  I highly recommend it!  This year I decided to make my cover using a Little Golden Book.  I used random vintage papers,
scrapbook paper, and wrapping paper.  Using a duct tape bind I bound it using a pamphlet stitch and covered it with duct tape.

I hope you are having a great Christmas season.

Michelle

To Do Without....

It's been a while since I posted....It has been so busy with the end of summer and school starting back.  I have also just needed some time to just Be Still!

Well, today's my birthday!  This past year has really been a time of reflection.  I have struggled with depression over the past year, and have really needed to do some soul searching.  We must go through those dark times, as in it the Lord refines us.  I am grateful for this past year.  I cut back on service, and really strove to put my attention on listening to the Lord's leading.  While I still have much to learn, I have come to many conclusions.  The biggest is...."TO DO WITHOUT"....

Right after I turned 40 I read the book by Bob Buford, Halftime.  That was an awaking.  There is so much in the book.  I thought about it for a while, and put it back on the shelf.  I reread it not too long ago.  It's a humbling thought to think that in your 40's you are more than likely halfway through your life here on this earth.  In my first half I strove to success.  Success in education, career, marriage, raising a family.  What's next?  How do you go from success to significance?  What have I missed?  Where do I go from here?  What does the Lord what me to do with the rest of the time I have here on earth?

Psalm 32:8 "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go, I will counsel you with my loving eye on you."

While this path is still being paved, I go in faith and obedience:  SURRENDER.

Galations 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with it's passions and desires.

Colossians 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

I must create room for the Lord.  He wants me to have a...2 Timothy 1:7 a spirit of power, of love and self discipline.  My obedience and sacrifice show my heart and my devotion to Him.  Laying down my desires is an expression of love which demonstrates through tangible action that God is my chief delight.

Ephesians 2:7  You see, Jesus is seated on the throne in heaven.  God raised us up with Christ, in the coming ages so that he might show the surpassing riches that he has shown us through grace.

If I am to move forward I must...Do Without.  There are rewards for giving up things for spiritual gain.  A fuller experience of Christ is possible when I commit myself to the discipline of  giving up "good things" and sticking to the plan.

So....In light of all I can gain:  What do I have to lose?

In Christ,
Michelle

Taming the Critic with Diana Trout via 21 Secrets

Life has been crazy busy since we got back from vacation. The busyness of summer, and now school is in full swing.  As a result I haven't had a lot of time to post anything.

I have managed to find time here and there to make a few things.  Mostly, just creating in order to stay sane.  I need ME time.  Don't get enough of that these days!  (But that's another blog post) 

I am in the process of taking the 21 Secrets Workshop. 

A while back I made this little journal to take Diana Trout's "Taming the Critic" Workshop.

I thought I'd share my creations with you.

I love her Doodle Game challenge.  Once I start I can't stop.  I filled in the edges with black ink like she suggested.  I then used watercolors to fill in the doodle.

More Doodle Game fun.  This time I used my Derwent Inktense pencils to fill in the doodle.  I also added a few collage pieces.

Doodle Game using Crayons.  I then filled in the doodle with my Koi watercolors.  I added some black ink splotches.  I was just moved at the time.  Trying to just play and not let my inner critic set in.  I think this might be my favorite one.  

Five Minute Collage

Five Minute Collage using one color Palette.  I love white.  Don't know why?  Just do! I like this one!

Hope you are all well!  Take Care!
Michelle

Savannah, GA travel journal

Hi all!  

Trying to finish my Mary Ann Moss inspired Remains of the Day travel journal from our trip to Savannah, GA.  Almost done!  It's getting full!

Hope you are having a great weekend!


Michelle

Road Trip To Savannah, GA Part Two

I thought I'd share a few more pictures from our trip back east.

Our first day in Savannah we took a tour of Fort Pulaski National Monument.  Very interesting place. It was a Confederate fort for the first 16 mo. of the Civil War.  The Federals overtook it with the aid of riffled canons.  You can still see remnants where the shells struck the walls.  There was one piece of ammunition still lodged in the wall.  

Guard watch window near drawbridge

Moat surrounding the entire fort

In the center of the fort was this enormous fig tree.  They think it's the largest fig tree specimen possibly in the world, but they aren't positive.  It had the most amazing sweet smell.  They believe the lighthouse keeper planted it over 100 years ago.

We couldn't wait to put our feet in the Atlantic Ocean.  

We then took a tour of the 250 yr old Tybee Island Lighthouse.  200 stairs up to see a great view of the island.  It was well worth it.  It's hard to believe the lighthouse keeper climb those stairs multiple times an hour!

We left the island and headed into Savannah to check into our bed and breakfast.  We stayed at the amazing Foley House Inn on Chippewa Square.  One of the scenes from Forest Gump was filmed in Chippewa Square.  The bench is now in a museum, as people were vandalizing it.  It was the perfect place to stay.  It was within walking distance of everything!  

Cozy Room


More later!  Hope you are having a great Sunday!

Michelle

Road Trip to Savannah, GA Part One

Hi Everyone!  

It's been a fun-filled month around our home.  My husband I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this month.  To celebrate we decided to take a road trip to Savannah, GA.  You might be asking....Why Savannah?  Well...neither one of us had ever seen the Atlantic Ocean. We wanted to go to the beach, but also wanted a place that was filled with art and history.  Savannah was the perfect place! 

Our first stop was Nashville, TN.  We aren't big country music fans, but had to say we stopped in Nashville. We stopped to check out the Parthenon.  Interesting!  

Parthenon, Nashville, TN

Headed on toward Atlanta, GA.  Stopped in Chattanooga, TN on our way.  Troy decided to check out Lookout Mountain.  Checked out the observation deck at the Incline Railroad.  It was so hot.  Didn't spend too much time in one spot as a result of the heat.

Incline Railroad, Chattanooga, TN

View of the Chattanooga area from Lookout Mountain

Spotted this random mailbox in the side of a stone wall on Lookout Mountain.  I loved their ingenuity!

Visited Point Park National Military Park.  The Battle of Chickamauga and Chattanooga took place on Lookout Mountain.

 Troy loved it!

Spent the night outside Atlanta.  Hadn't planned on doing anything in the city, but were intrigued by a sign that said State Farmer's Market.  Of course, we had to stop and turn around to check it out.  It was enormous!  I have never seen so many aisles (26 giant aisles) of produce in one spot.  They said it was the largest farmer's market in the U.S.  They sold both wholesale and retail. 

On our way to Savannah, we stopped at a Visitor's Center.  We were informed about Lane's Peach and Pecan Orchard.  You can't be in Georgia and not visit a peach orchard!

Lane's Orchard had 3,000 acres of peach trees and 3,000 acres of pecan trees.  It's the perfect combination.  A peach tree matures after 16 years.  A pecan tree doesn't reach full maturity until 16 years.   They rotate the crops and plant peach trees among pecan trees.  They grow 16 varieties of peaches, and harvest from May to September.  

The women inspect the peaches.  They said women have a "better eye" for it than men.  They are more detail oriented. (Of course!)

Pecan Tree Grove

They had a large retail store that sold everything you could possibly make out of peaches and pecans.  

  

We had a "Peachy Time" exploring the countryside on our way to Savannah.  I will show you more of Tybee Island, GA and Savannah, GA later!  

Here is a sneak peek of the Remains of the Day Travel Journal I made to document our adventures to Savannah!  

Hope you have a great weekend!

Michelle

Blog Break

Hello All,

I am taking a little break...Be back soon.  Enjoying Tybee Island, GA and Savannah with my husband to celebrate our 20th Anniversary.

Take care,
Michelle

Intuitive Painted Layers at 21 Secrets with Dina Wakley

I have been taking Dina Wakley's Intuitive Painted Layers workshop through 21 Secrets.  It was so much fun! 

Here is my finished piece.  I entitled it "Cherish Every Moment of This Beautiful Life".  I love her "Nellie Olson" sized bow in her hair.  

Art Room Reorganized

I don't know about you, but my art room is constantly evolving.  I think I have the best placement for stuff, and then realize it just doesn't work.  I had to do something!  I've decided, I must to be able to see all my supplies in order to feel inspired.  My husband is amazing, and had extra peg board in his shop and installed it for me.  He spoils me really!

I then asked him if he could build me some shelves so I could put all my vintage books, papers, etc. on it.  Who knew I would have it the same day!?  He also put a metal strip on the bottom of my ink shelf for me.  I hot glued a magnet on the bottom of my stickles.  It's a perfect place to hang them.  There is nothing more annoying than Stickles with air bubbles!  I tend to do most of my painting on the center table, so I made that my paint station.  It's very difficult to organize it, as all three of the people in our home are creative.  It was most important to put all the tools so everyone could find them easily.  I think we accomplished that.  I have a few more things to tweak, but I am pleased with the end result.   

Happy Creating!

Michelle

21 Secrets Intuitive Painting with Dina Wakley

Now that summer is here, I am finding more time to create.  I have been taking the 21 Secrets Workshop.  I am currently taking Dina Wakley's workshop on Intuitive Painting.  She instructed us to gesso the page and then make scribbles all over.   When I was a kid I used to do this and then fill it in with different colors of crayons.  Fun and mindless!  Then, we were to find some design within our scribbles.   If you couldn't find anything ask someone else.  Just for fun I posted it on FB and some of my friends thought it was a dog, person wearing a beanie hat, a person riding a moped, or a person pushing a baby carriage.  What do you think?

I'm not done yet, but having fun!  I like to try something new, and really not have a plan as I create.  The whole point of the workshop is to create and just let it flow. You should try it too!  Happy creating!

Chair Swing

My daughter found this cute chair swing on Pinterest over the weekend.  We modified it from the original design, so it would be more comfortable to sit.  Such a cute idea.  She and her dad had it whipped out in no time.  Simple and fun!  Now she has the perfect place to swing and view the fairy garden.

Fairy Garden

Happy Mother's Day!  I hope you have had a great day!  I know I have!

My daughter, Maisie, has been wanting to make a fairy garden for several years now.  We had problems finding the right plants, but were finally able to find some this year. 

It was a special thing to do with her this Mother's Day.  I'm glad that she still likes to do these things with me.  We had such a blast!

I have a thing for galvanized metal wash tubs.  I love to plant my flowers in them.  We had an extra one hanging in the shed, so we used that as our container for our garden. 

We made a trip to Michael's to find a few things to decorate our garden.  We found a birdhouse that was perfect.  Troy worked his magic and sided the house with barn wood. 

He roofed it with some extra copper flashing we had in the garage.  He also made a fence out of the barn wood.   It was the extra special touch we needed!

We used the following plants in our garden:

Irish Moss

Brady's Duckfoot Coleus

Ferns-2

Chicken Gizzard

Hypoestes Red

Hypoestes White

Sheff Arboricolainini

Violets Elfin Thyme

Kay Kay's Angel Vine

Viola's Cigar Plant

Then the fun began.....all the fun details!  We found some black stones and river rock at Michael's  We used the black stones for the path up to the house.  Wooden spools were the perfect choice for the table and stools.  We used the river rock for the  "patio" floor.  We had dad cut a table top from a log we had in the firewood pile.  We also had him cut some logs for stepping stones.   We have acorn tops for "teacups".  Michael's had some cute fairies in the plastic toy section. Troy cut a log to use as a stool for one of the fairies to sit on.   Maisie had dad paint her Polly Pocket Pool black for the pond.  She added river rock to the bottom.  Perfect!  We added Spanish moss for extra color and texture. 

It's so AWESOME!  A special memory we will cherish always! 

Happy Mother's Day!

Michelle