March 21-25 Journal Pages

Even though I haven't been busy blogging it doesn't mean I haven't been busy creating! I've been making charms out of found objects, painting journal pages, cutting images, collaging, journaling and cooking up a storm. My boy and I have been spending some serious time on Wizard 101 so I've been busy slaying banshees, cyclops, fire elves and other denizens of malice too. I'm just doing my part to ensure the cyber world is kept free of malicious beings, as any kick-ass Artzy Diva should!!!!

Here are five of my most recent journal pages:



The focal image in this one is odd indeed. But intriguing because of its oddness:

The focal image in this one is from a photography show invite. The photo is one my friend Tasha took then digitally edited. I'd painted the background of this page using a floral stencil made from a piece of scrapbook paper (those new, fancy ones with the cutouts). I was thrilled after the image was glued on and I noticed the flowers in the background and the one on the image matched! Serendipity in art is a wonderful thing!!!!

March 20 Journal Page

The first page in my new journal:

And the cover of it:

You can easily see that the journal is much shorter than it was when I showed it here. That's because I realized it was too big to fit on the scanner bed so I lopped the top off to make it smaller! In it's current incarnation it is roughly 8" x 8.5" but the pages inside are of various sizes. I love a journal that has different width and length pages. It makes working in it so much more interesting and challenging!!!!

I also love a fat journal and this one is certainly that: 112 pages total. I may have to take a some out once I really get working in it as the paint and collage work does add extra bulk. But, since I ring bound this one, removing pages is easy-breezy.

Full Journal

My completely full, awesome to behold (in my opinion) Prompt A Day journal.

The Final Five

The Final Five pages in the journal I've been working in since January 1. There's 80 pages of emotion, laughter, tears, memories (both good & bad) and attitude in there. Lots of my personality and personal life. I didn't share every single page, but most of them. Which is fine because holding a little something of SELF back is the way I am. The way most people are I believe. Do you know anyone who shares everything about themselves with the world??? I don't.

Anyway, here they are. The Final Five in the BIG journal. Though, this journal won't seem so big once I'm done with the new one. It has even more pages. I didn't think I'd want to work in one with so many pages again, but I do so I am!

UPDATE: My boy's Lyme test came back negative. That's both good news and not so good news as it still means we have no idea what's going on with him & his health!!! He was definitely more lively today and managed to get through the week of school (no school tomorrow--teacher's only day) with no absences. A bonus for us as he's had more than his fair share of those lately and we're starting to get letters from the school.

I don't want to get my hopes up that whatever he has is gone now because every time I do his fever comes back and he gets all listless again. So far we've only managed two days in a row without a fever spike, but his temperature is still above his norm on those days (99.5 is the lowest it's been since Feb. 2). It's all very baffling.

Update On My Son

First off, THANK YOU to everyone who was kind enough to keep us in their thoughts & to leave me a comment. It means a great deal to me to know that people took the time to let me know they were thinking of us.

My boy ended up not having to stay in the hospital because they felt it was OK for him to be at home. They did an EKG, blood sugar test, blood pressure in various positions and everything looked OK. As for the fever he's had for weeks they *felt* it was most likely a long duration virus. However, Monday we brought him to his regular doctor for blood work and she called yesterday to say all of it looks perfect. No signs of a virus or bacterial infection, he's not anemic, white blood count looked good, etc. So that rules out the long duration virus theory.

She did notice that there was a slight abnormality on the EKG though and the abnormality usually indicates Lyme disease. The results for that portion of the blood work won't be back until today or tomorrow so it's a wait and see on that one.

He did go to school yesterday and was feeling fine in the morning, but the minute he got off the bus in the afternoon I could tell he was miserable again. Pale, listless, not chatty at all. And sure enough his temperature had gone back up during the day. This has been the pattern for weeks now. We get a day or two where he is back to his old self again then the fever comes back and he's feeling sick again.

I want to know what is going on!!!!!! We've ruled out a lot of the bad stuff, which is great. But I want to know what is making this happen to my boy. It very well could be Lyme disease. If caught early it is easy to treat, but if he has it it wasn't caught early because tick season was over months and months ago. If he has it he got it last fall or earlier and that means treatment is a bit more complicated. Not seriously complicated, just not as easy as it is when caught right away.

Basically we're doing the wait and see routine until the blood test for Lyme is back. If negative then I don't know what the next step is. More test I suppose. Not a pleasant thought because I hate putting him through this and he is getting rather fed up with it all! But, sometimes you just have no choice.

Quick Post

Just a quick post today. My son is in Children's Hospital in Boston. He has been running a fever for over two weeks, keeps getting a strange rash and has been getting awful frontal headaches. We've been to his primary Doctor 4 times in the past month (this started Feb. 2 with Strep throat) and have essentially gotten nowhere.

After he passed out in our kitchen we decided a more thorough exploration of what is going on was needed!!!!!!!!

Please send him your hugs, prayers, energy, WHATEVER you want to call it. He's only 7 and is scared. So am I.

Hugs to all who come here and I'll let you know what is going on as soon as I know.

March 14 Journal Pages

The pages I did today. First shown side by side, as they are in the journal.

The left-hand page:

The right-hand page:

Sometimes, no other words are needed.

New Journal Pages

I've been having a severe pain week so haven't felt like blogging much. At one point yesterday I was trapped flat on my back in bed. I couldn't roll over or sit up. I ended up staying that way for almost 2 hours until hubby came home and was able to hoist me into a sitting position. The real bummer was that my art journal supplies were on the bed next to me but I couldn't use them! If I'd been trapped sitting up at least the journaling could've continued! Maybe I'll paint something cool on my ceiling so the next time I'm trapped on my back I'll at least have something decent to look at instead of peeling paint and ceiling cracks.


These are almost the last pages you'll see out of my current journal because there are only two unused pages left! It's going to be a bit sad to see it full as I've been working in it daily since January 1!!!! That's a whole lot of journaling in one book. A whole lot of my life if you think about it.

But, I have a new journal waiting in the wings. I ended up changing it AGAIN. I realized it was too big to fit on the scanner bed so lopped the top off to make 1 big square journal and 1 small rectangle one. The moment I did it I knew it was right. It felt right, you know?

Update on Glaze Pens: I emailed Sakura to let them know about the issues I was having with the glaze pens leaking. They got back to me within a few hours and told me to send them all back for replacement. the woman said they had a seal issue with them, but that was over a year ago and she didn't think any of those would still be out there. Well, obviously they are and I received a bunch of them! I'm just glad they've offered to replace them and even said they'd add extra product in the return to cover my postage costs! Woo Hoo!

Recent Journal Pages

Some of the journal pages I've done this month. I've been doing two each day, one for each of the two journals I'm currently working in. The pages shown are all from one journal. When I get a chance I'll snap photos of the ones in the other journal so they can be uploaded.

PEN RANT: What the heck is up with Sakura Glaze pens???? A month or so ago I received an entire batch of them that were leaking from the top of the pen barrel (where the pen and tip are put together). Those were replaced and had been OK for a while, but tonight I grabbed a few out of my bin and discovered that they were leaking too. I've NEVER had this issue before with Sakura pens and am not amused to be having it now.

The Soufflé and regular Gelly Roll pens are fine. It's just the Glaze pens that leak. Very frustrating as I have a TON of these pens and use them ALL the time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Journal Pages March 4 & 5

Two of the pages I did for March 4 & 5. They're side by side in the journal, so the colors flow into each other, complementing each other and creating a larger whole.



What I'm reading for inspiration:
The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait (I've read through it countless times and it still captures me every time!)

Sticker City: Paper Graffiti Art (Street Graphics / Street Art)

Today's Movies:

The Red Violin (I've seen it about a dozen times and still it enthralls me)

Girl With a Pearl Earring (I read the book when it first came out & have always loved Vermeer, so thought I'd give the movie a shot.)

More Ephemera

I received a nice, big batch of ephemera in the mail yesterday. I love ephemera swaps and get a kick out of looking thorugh all the papers, feeling their textures and imagining how I'll use them.

Journal 2--2009

I had to rebind this one last night because the middle signature was quite loose & had been for a while. I decided to play around with the binding to see what I could come up with. I also added a couple of handmade beads to the spine. The primitive face bead I made from polymer clay & the skull bead was on I received in a swap. That one's made from paper believe it or not!

Almost all of the pages have been painted, but there's still lots of room for collage & journaling. The page from 3.3.09 that I posted is in this one.

March 3 Journal Page

A little venting via my journal!!!!

March 1 Journal Page

I'm finally starting to get my March pages scanned or photographed. One journal I can scan pages easily enough, but the other is too wide to fit on the scanner so those have to be photographed.

This one is from the journal I can scan. The one I'll post later is from the journal that has to be photographed. It's kind of a pain to have to use two different methods to get my images on-line so I may have to make my future journals sized to fit on the scanner bed!!!!!

Journal Almost Full!

My first Prompt A Day journal is almost filled to capacity. I made it at the end of December specifically for the on-line classes. It's got 80 pages made of 140 lb Wausau, cover is a Pendeflex file folder that I cut, painted and collaged then added clear packing tape to. Size is 7" x 11.5" This will get me through mid to late March then I'll move on to the journal I just made.

I love seeing a journal filled to capacity. They look so awesome and are such a treasure trove of eye candy.

A Note on A Prompt A Day: If you love to work in an art journal or have always wanted to but haven't given it a try yet, do consider signing up for A Prompt A Day. It's well worth it! Kelly gives you more than enough inspiration to jump start your creativity each day. And the group of artists participating is great. I'm not one who typically joins classes, on-line or in person, but this is well worth it. Seriously.

Journal Pages-Feb. 27-28

The final two February pages in one of my journals. The image on the left is a Gustav Klimt, one of my all time favorite artists!!!!!




Today my sweetie and I have been together 20 years!!!!! AMAZING!!!!! Oh, and obviously the journal page about the man walking out and the woman finding a new life is not about us!!!!! He knows better than to walk out on me. I'd come after him with a crowbar. *LOL*

Journal Pages: Feb. 24-26

A few more journal pages from February. I *LOVE* the colors in the second one and the composition in the third. The image in the second one is from a set of vintage nude studio photographs that I have. It's amazing how many photography studios did nudes as cabinet photos in the Art Nouveau era!!!

Snowed In

OK, so at the moment I'm not actually snowed in, but by this time tomorrow I will be. Right now we're in the middle of the first of two storms. This one is the lesser of the two and we'll end up with about 4" of snow from it. Storm #2, due to start tonight, is going to dump between 14-16" on us. It's pretty much guaranteed that school will be closed tomorrow and that our roads will NOT be plowed because the town ran out of snow fund money back at the beginning of February. I don't know what they plan on doing, but there is no way the folks in this town will put up with unplowed roads!!!!

My boy had a friend sleep over last night and the two of them have been whooping and hollering all day. I wish I had half their energy!!!! I'm trying to get them to go play outside in the snow but they aren't going for it. More's the pity as I'd really like some peace and quiet!!!!

I'm hoping to get the rest of my February journal pages scanned and uploaded today. and I really want to make my first pages for March!!!!