21 Secrets projects

I am very thankful that we have artists that are so passionate of their craft that they cannot wait to share with the world. Living in the area that I do, I do not have much interaction with artists. Most of the workshops or classes would have to be a commute, and so with my hectic schedule with the boys and my hubby gone, I tend to immerse myself in books and magazines to inspire and motivate me to create. But lately I have taken online workshops where I have met others that share the same interests and also have learned different techniques without having to be in a traditional classroom.

My Get Your Paint on Workshop kicked off my hunger to learn and now I am part of 21 Secrets. I love how we have 21 artists sharing their secrets and teaching us different techniques and at the same time giving us the motivation to create and the confidence to be brave and just be ourselves. The way the workshops are set up you can have discussions and share your work and I think that is so valuable to have. So thank you Connie Hozvicka of Dirty Footprints Studio for your hard work in getting these classes going and to my fellow artist friend Rachel Whetzel for introducing the site to me. If you are interested please check it out. The classes are at your pace and lasts until August. So with that said let me share some of my work. :)

Playing with Patterns by Debra Cooper

These are patterned papers handmade with stamps and paint that will be a part of a handmade journal. Right now I am experimenting with different stamps and effects.





















Silent Messages Workshop Rachel Whetzel

The beginning progression of my project with paperclay.





Abstract Adventures with Connie Hozvicka

My first Fearless painting. Painting with intuition and concentrating on the process and not the end result. It was a very fun and freeing experience and it felt so good to paint with no obligation to anything but my heart and soul. :)




And yes I recycle so these are some of the paper towels used to clean my brushes. They are being dried so I can use them in my journals and collages. I like how it looks dyed. :)


As you can see I have been busy in a happy way. :) Sorry it took so long to write this.
As of today I learned in wet nasty clay and grass to mow the lawn(this is Bo's realm not mine so I felt like a dummy). We have about an acre or so of land and with all our storms its made the grass and weeds grow out of control that they were taller than my ankles! So Nick did half of our front since we are on a slope and we kept on getting stuck in the mud, and I finally finished the back. It doesn't look as pretty as when Bo does it due to wet grass but I had to do while it wasn't raining since our forecast is to rain all week again! Well I just got done sweeping when the sirens for a tornado warning went off. Great! I am so tired of these storms.

I hope the sun will come out soon and dry up our yard so we can do the side of the house before it becomes a jungle of weeds. :(

I want to take a moment to say Happy Easter to everyone and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. :)

21 Secrets

Been busy with a new workshop. :) If you want to know more about it here is the link http://www.dirtyfootprintsworkshops.com/2008/09/21-secrets-art-journal-playground.html

Will tell you more about it soon. I have been busy with the boys wrestling banquet, Nick's track meets and so forth and dodging all these horrid weather coming our way with storms that had us in our basement until 3am this morning. :(

I am sorry to have been gone from here. I think I needed to recoup after Bo left and our trip to MS. But will be back tonight to blog. So be watching out for my new entries. :)

Another Goodbye....

Goodbye again my love....

Sorry I have not been around. I do check everyone's stuff just have not really been into blogging with all that has just hit our family these last weeks. We did try our hardest to spend every waking moment with Bo before his return to Afghanistan. Which brings about this blog.

Yes he left today. :( We drove to the airport and I held my composure as much as I could until our last hugs. Then had to straighten back up because I still had to drive out of Louisville and it was a busy Sunday on the interstates and highways. Thankfully the boys are old enough to help guide me through with the signs, so I didn't get lost. We got back into town even faster than when we left headed to the airport, but now I know what I did wrong that got me lost when we picked him up and this time I will be in a hurry to head there when he comes home for good. He has a long flight back, so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers that he makes it back to his camp safely.

Here are today's pictures:

Right before the tears started flowing...

There was happy and creative moments while he was here. He always puts that fire and energy in me. I will share those soon. For now I have to get back into a routine. The boys go back to school tomorrow, this week was spring break but we took them out a week early due to the funeral so they have a lot of catching up to do and so do I. Hopefully with all the events before the end of the year the time will go by much more quickly than the first time Bo left.

0n a good note, it was a beautiful 86 degrees here today. :)

In Peace

We are finally home. It was a long week. The up and down roller coaster ride of emotions getting my husband home from Afghanistan to a trip down to the Gulf Coast for his Mom's funeral. Everything worked out right and her service was beautiful but it still seems so surreal to me.

I find solace and calm in the sea, and thankfully our hotel was off the I-90 with a view of Biloxi Beach. Waking up in the morning and drinking my cup of coffee while staring off into the water put me at ease before tackling the day. It was gloomy that day which went with all our emotions.




I know Mom is at peace now and we left an angel at her site to watch over her. This Mother's day will be different and so will all the other holidays. I am not sure if I have mourned properly yet, I just feel like I am still in a daze. The excitement mixed with sadness in welcoming my husband home to seeing family on the coast we have not seen in years. Sad that everyone finally gets together on such an occasion. We should have always been together like this when she was alive. Then this week I will once again have to say goodbye to my husband for his return to Afghanistan.

The events this year that we have encountered has tested not only our strength but our love and our dedication to those we cherish and to ourselves. I hope that through these moments there is growth and acceptance that will make us stronger for the future. None of us ever thought we would be saying goodbye to a parent this soon. I know it shook us all but hopefully we can carry on what she would have been happy to see us accomplish.

We love you dearly Mom and even though we were not ready to say goodbye, I hope that you are surrounded by angels and are finally pain free and in peace.

Heartbreaking week

On March 22, 2011 we lost one of the most important person in our lives.

I was woken up by my sister in law frantic on the phone that our worst nightmare came through. Bo's Mom passed away. She has been sick with breast cancer then it went into remission and came back as bone cancer. Slowly we watched the painful disease take over her life. We visited this summer so that Bo could see her since he had a weird feeling that he was going to deploy, which he did. She became more sick a month or so ago but we thought despite that she was hanging on and we all really thought she would be around for Bo's return. But that didn't happen and I had to break the news to my husband in Afghanistan that his Mom has left this earth. That is probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and to hear his sobs miles away tore me apart.

I did the Red Cross message and his unit was really great with already getting the paperwork started to get him home. But his travels has been a nightmare. He left Wednesday night and is still in route and with troubles of the route they need to get him home and also them losing his luggage. If things work out right he will be home late tomorrow night or Sunday morning. Then we have an 11 hour drive to his home on the coast of MS.

I have my moments of breakdown. I don't even know how we will all react, mostly the kids when we see her. It is so surreal right now that its hard to digest. I am excited to see my husband but I didn't want to see him in these conditions. But all I have to think of is we all have to be there for each other through this difficult time.

I am not sure what else to say...I was going to keep this off here but I need to write it out. I already miss her and yet it hasn't sunk in deep yet that she is gone. I have my moments and hopefully can get it out of my system so that I can be strong for my husband who just lost his Mother. Please pray for all our family that we can all get through this.

I have to share this is a photo of Bo and his Mom on our wedding day in Alaska. She was so beautiful in the color green. It always brought out her eyes. This picture sits at his night stand besides the picture of him and I. We are the two most important women in his life. I thank her so much for raising such a wonderful man that I chose to spend the rest of my life with.

Bo and his Mom September 11, 1993

Dad and Mom with me on my graduation day from college in MS.

Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Charlie with the boys

Grandma and Grandpa with the boys Summer 2010

Bo and his parents Summer 2010

I miss you so much Mom, but I hope you are now with no pain and suffering and being pampered by angels.

A Celebration of Life....

Our news, and our emails nowadays seem to be just inundated with mental images of how life can be devastated in minutes by a natural disaster or how a person you were communicating with can be gone forever. Japan's disaster dominates the pages of our news and reminds us of how powerful and uncontrollable our world can really be. At the same time receiving news of the passing of a cousin and a friend who happened to also be family sunk deep in my heart. The shock came in such a way that I couldn't even outwardly cry, its was a painful weeping inside.

All this came in such close proximity to my birthday and at first of course it was hard to even think of celebrating anything. But I had to. Despite all of what can be sorrowful I have to still appreciate that I am not just breathing another day but was blessed with being able to have lived another year. We have to celebrate the life we are given, what else is there to look forward to if nothing is worth living for? I have a million things worth living for and the the top of that list are my boys and my husband. So when I celebrated my birthday it was not just my day, it was a day of being surrounded by those dear to me and enveloped with love from all my family and friends.

That day started with a wonderful dinner out with my two handsome boys. Then coming home to a handmade card from them both created by Jared and Red Velvet Cupcakes baked by Nick and decorated by both for me. :) The thoughtfulness and the togetherness was the best gift I could have ever asked for and so I know in my heart this is not just another day. It is a day to celebrate life and everyday after should be constant celebrations of "living" the life given to me.

Nick Baking

Red Velvet Cupcakes

My special cupcake, LOL!

Then my week took an even better turn when I received a phone call from a dear online friend being in town. We have known each other now for years and first met in Bowling Green, KY when her and her husband came up after this deployment to Afghanistan to visit his family in Kentucky in 2006. This time where I live is closer to his hometown and they were coming with the two additions to their family and so I was so excited to plan a meet up at our historic Glendale, KY restaurant called the Whistle Stop. Just that moment of being with them elevated my spirits and made me realize how precious friends really are.

2006 Meeting with Brent and Becca

2011 Meet Up with the H. Family

Baby Ellie

Brent, Becca and the Girls

Me, Becca and the her precious girls. :)

Brent and Belle

Princess Belle

Abby and Becca

I had such a wonderful visit with a great family and I already miss them.

In my hectic schedule I try to harness any time I can at all to create and have been happily busy in my creative bliss. It is nice to be able to finally take the time to experiment and just play. Here are some snippets of progressive works.

Experimenting with texture-coarse modeling paste

I finished my third "Get Your Paint On" assignment and will hopefully be sharing that soon. I realized in this class that I do have a bright color palette and that everything inspires me. :) Art Journaling during down times has also kept the creative mode moving. I am now at a point where I need to create everyday, it eases my soul.

I hope that everyone is doing well and that you are also celebrating life in your own ways. :)

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child - our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
~Thich Nhat Hanh~

Another year older

Once again I have been absent. I am trying as much as I can to be busy with the things I love which is my art along with the boys stuff. Nick went straight into track season from wrestling and Jared has been working out with friends. My belly dance classes has ceased for now as my instructor is getting her new studio ready so I will be taking yoga classes starting the 15th which I am very excited to start.

Also have been busy in the house:
I cleared out the area by my patio doors downstairs for another art space. My art room is pretty but only big enough for it to be my beading station and office area. So I moved all my painting supplies downstairs where I can take full advantage of the natural sunlight. For now it looks bare since I just started down there.


Before picture when cleared-the other side is our entertainment area and the doorway leads to the stairs.


Looking a little more like a working space.




I cannot wait to create more and mostly when the sun will shine through the doors. The weather here has been so dreary that today is the first day I have seen sun and its not raining!

My early birthday presents from Bo came in and I couldn't wait and opened them up last night.:) I love it! Its more art books and 2 of them I have been waiting to have and a Vera Bradley tote bag to carry my sketchbook and art supplies in when I journal on the go. :)






I love how he really thinks of what I need and want and even if it may be simple gifts to most people its from the heart and he knows its the little things I get all excited about. :)

So not sure what the plan is for my birthday yet. Its hard to celebrate it without him here. I know the boys and I will go out to dinner but maybe I will have the day of my birthday a chill out do nothing day.
It is also hard to celebrate with all the tragic world events going on which I wanted to assure everyone our families and friends in Japan and Hawaii are okay, but I am grateful for another year given to me to live my life.

Well just wanted to let everyone know I am still around. About to spend tonight with my favorite group of people. :)