6months on--6 months off

So, when last we met, I was befuddled by the rapid passing of the first half of 2010. And lo--we are now beginning 2011.  Happy New Year to all! I hope the last 6 months and your holidays brought you much joy.  I won't go into mine--suffice to say, I am glad they are over and I am looking forward to making the most of this coming year.

B-Bye June

EDIT: ok, so the pic doesnt EXACTLY look like me :D lol! What to you expect from a pic taken in a car with a cell phone??? So far, my g/f didn't even recognize it as me and my friend thought it was my daughter because the face is too round---lol! oh well, i was there--i vouch for myself that it is me--looks better than my drivers license and my work id....lol

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Can you believe half the year is gone already?

 --looks under the bed--under piles of papers--inside the closet--under the cat---

Where did it go?????????

Well. I had the rare pleasure, this last morning of the first half of the year, to have art time before going to work!  I have not been able to do that in YEARS!! But today we were up early and i turned the laptop on for something else and found myself in photoshop elements creating!!

I've been in need of a new avatar for my various social networks and had recently taken some funky photos of myself (where else but in the car with my phone! LOL!)--in about a half an hour, I arrived at this:

Filters and layers and blurs-OH MY!

I've also printed it out to add to one of my art journals.  I'm seriously thinking this year's Holiday cards may involve digital art printed out...and I am planning some Christmas in July projects!!

the wheels are spinning.....

Hope Notes

I think it is a beautiful thing how word gets around blogland (when it is a good word anyway ;) ).  While catching up on some of my favorite blogs, I came across an oportunity to commit a wonderful act of kindness.  Won't you join me in making some Hope Notes ?

some quotes to maybe use inside:

Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible. --Anon

All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope.  --Alexander Dumas

Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success; for who so hopes strongly has within him(her) the gift of miracles. ~Samuel Smiles

When the world says, "Give up," hope whispers, "Try it one more time. ~Anon

Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all. ~ Emily Dickenson

And some beautiful examples.

Second visit to gridlock

I did get some time in the studio tonight to both finish a "real time" grid lock spread for this month's Street Team Challenge (click button in left sidebar to visit the challenge!) get a decent photo of it and photoshop the photo :)  Since I haven't been doing too much in the studio of late (except making curtains and reorganizing--ehem, cleaning--) there wasn't much in the way of "evidence" to glue into my journal--but the things that did turn up actually went well together (blue and purple pens laying around, deep blue flower rescued from the floor, a plastic scrabble tile that escaped from its friends and a usps express envelope with lovely stamps on it)--

without further ado--my second grid of the month....

Sneak Preview

Here is a little preview of a couple of the items I will have for sale in the not too distant future---

Jungle Cat

Princess Hidey loves to hide in the jungle that is my window sill of house plants :)

Grid Lock

Since I don't know when I will get to any "real time" art, I decided to do this month's Street Team challenge (see button link at left) as virtual (digital) art :) I chopped up the last of my digi tutorials and put them into a grid form: