Dream....

Hi Everyone

Do you have those days when you head is so full of ideas and things to do that it just wants to do nothing? 

I've had a couple of deadlines to meet and I taught my art journal class last Saturday which went really well. This time we played with inks. The colour is a bit washed out here but I used Impress inks in Pansy, Pale Aqua, Tangerine and Spring Green, a distress stain in Dusty concord.

Time is flying by and the merry-go-round has not slowed down so last night I took the night off and indulged in a few hours of tv watching Celebrity Apprentice Australia and NCIS, then went to bed early and slept like a little lamb. Just what the doctor ordered...

Today I would like to share with you an album I did for a friend's daughter who has just finished high school and is ready for the next stage in her life. Ahhh to be 18 again with the whole world at your feet........

Anyway I was watching one of Oprah's Lifeclass webcasts with one of my favourite authors, Iyanla Vanzant. She had made an album to give to Oprah and it gave me an idea so I grabbed some chipboard and cut out the word ........

 ..........and then decorated the pages  with papers , paints, stamps, embossing powders and inks. 

I left spaces for her to write her dreams down and where she is at the moment in life and where she wants to go. I also made some envelopes from die cuts and placed little cards in them for her own hidden messages. 

So here are the pages, front and back. I hope you like them. I really enjoyed the process and hope to make some more.

The gorgeous papers I used are Bo Bunny, I so love these papers!

 

Following on from Oprah's webcasts that I have been watching and devouring, I leave you with this question, it is from the Lifeclass on Living your Truth where she challenges us to really look inside, discover what your real truth is, where you want to go, who you want to be, what your REAL dreams are,  and to live that truth everyday of your life. 

"For as long are you are pretending you are something that you are not, you will never be who you are supposed to be, you will never maximise what you are meant to be in your life... success is not fuelled by pretence." - Martha Beck

Ask yourself

"Am I being real,

am I showing up 

as my true self 

in this moment?"

Have a great weekend everyone

Namaste

Lee

Hi Everyone

Well I am back from the weekend at the I Can Do It in Melbourne. As with last year we were treated to lectures by some of my favourite authors including a short introduction by Louise L Hay herself, the founder of Hayhouse publishing company and author of "You Can Heal your Life"  I tell you that if I look that good and am that positive, energetic and full of life at 85 as Louise is then i will be a happy woman.

My two girlfriends and I decided to spend the whole weekend in the city instead of driving in and out each day, and it was a great decision. After attending the conference each day it was so nice to just relax and reflect on the day we just had, listening to inspiring speakers, motivating us to be the best we can be. 

So, I am back into the swing of things today and wish to share with you a page I completed before the conference when i was feeling at a bit overwhelmed by the lack of time I have at the moment to do any sort of art. I am happy to say that the conference gave me a few tools to deal with this so this weekend will hopefully be quite productive in the studio.

Anyway enough talk, let's see some art

I started with scraping on some Jo Sonja Orange and Napthol Red Light..

 The next step was using the Crafters Workshop Stencil called Flutterby in the 12x12 size. I sponged some Jo Sonja Yellow Orange over the stencil.

to end up with this...

I then used a Kaisercraft butterfly stamp and Jo Sonja Napthol Crimson to stamp randomly over the pages

 to give this...

now at this stage it was really bright and I wanted to tone it down a bit so swiped the whole spread with Distress Stain Antique Linen

 See how it sat on the stop a bit because the page was no longer porous. I let it dry like this so I could retain some of the textured pattern produced by the bubbles.

 So my next step was some background stamping. I used the Timber Brown Staz On with another Kaisercraft musical stamp

 Then with the same ink pad and a couple of flower stamps

 Plus another butterfly stamp. I think I got this off the Craft Stamper magazine.

 So here I am with the background and stamping done.

 Some ribbon and pieces of torn patterned paper were added

 and then the quote. I inked it with impress inks in Tangerine and Lemon yellow with my cut and dry foam. Highlight some words with gold gel pen....

 cut out some butterflies I had printed on photo paper from the Graphics Fairy blog. Then inked the images before sticking down to the pages...

 added some journaling in gold gel pen

and voila, here is the finished page

My journaling talks about how sometimes I feel as if I am treading water but I just have to trust and take a leap, believe that all these steps are necessary on my journey, and instead of thinking that they are setbacks or stagnation, look for the purpose in them, like time to tweak ideas, time to relax and regroup, time to just be.

Robert Holden said something poignant on the weekend

"We didn't come here to play it safe. The purpose of your life is not to arrive safely at your own death."

So what are you waiting for? Where are you playing it safe? Grab life with both hands and take that leap into the great unknown, take notice of now and just be in the moment

Have a blessed weekend everyone doing what makes your hearts sing..... 

Namaste 

Lee