30 DAYS IN APRIL REVEAL

Hi Everyone!

Please join me for the reveal of Index Card A Day (ICAD) 30 Days in April.  This is the third  ICAD challenge I've completed in the last several years.  My first challenge was with Daisy Yellow's 60 Day Challenge!  Sixty days was a bit ambitious for a first timer so I scaled it back to 30 days as a personal challenge each year. Thirty days once a year works as a great starting point for the new year or whenever I feel I need a kick start in creativity.  If you've never heard of an ICAD challenge, please go over to Daisy Yellow Blog to see how this challenge works.  It's so much fun!

Meanwhile join me for the weekly reveal of my personal challenge on Thursdays. Just click on the side bar 30 Days in April ICAD and you'll see what I created each day and a glimpse into the "how" I made each card and the thought process behind it.  Enjoy!

I'd love to hear if you are interested in this process...please leave a comment so I know you've stopped by.  Have a great week!

Bee Creative,
Suzy

The Ordinary Life

Hi Everyone! 

It's been awhile but I found myself playing in my art journal this week between working and caring for my grandchildren.  In my Monday night theology class we were discussing the spirituality of vocation and the fact that God is in everything we do, our work, our relationships, in our ordinary life. I was thinking that my vocation and ordinary life intermingle and sometimes it seems that my life is mostly the same day after day.  Maybe you feel that way too. It's not a bad thing, the ordinary and I'm not complaining, I'm just saying there is comfort in living the ordinary life. Looking around and seeing the blessings of each day, in the ordinary. So this week I suppose I was recording ordinary life in my journal pages. 
You can check out this ordinary life by clicking on the page tab above: ART JOURNAL. I'll share my personal art and stories behind the art with you. 

I

Tell me, does your art imitate your personal life, your vocation and your relationships? 

Happy Painting!
Suzy

Linking to: Paint Party Friday, Art Journal Every Day,

Attitude of Gratitude Challenge Wrap Up

Hi Everyone!

Well, here we are the first day of December and I'm wrapping up the final week of An Attitude of Gratitude Journal Challenge for the month of November.  You can see the expanded stories and photos by clicking on the tab above marked Attitude of Gratitude Journal. I hope you will check out the pages in my journal and give me some feedback and comment love. Thank you so much for supporting me through this challenge, it truly was a challenge to complete during this busy month! 

I'd like to say Thank You to Bernice Hopper for putting together An Attitude of Gratitude Challenge. You can click on link above to see other participant's work too or check out the Flickr group.
You are sure to enjoy the variety of styles. 

Thanks again for joining me on the art journal adventure during the month of November! 

Bee Creative
Suzy

Linking to: Bernice Hopper:An Attitude of Gratitude; Paint Party Friday, Carolyn Dube: A Colorful Journey

Art Every Day Month

Hey Everyone!

It's been a very busy week trying to cope with the new job (and the old one) and keep up with hubs, family and the two art challenges. I'll admit it is a bit much but I am having a great time with the journal pages for both challenges!  Maybe you have been following along on Facebook or perhaps you have found the Flickr account but I promised I would post my  Art Every Day Month (AEDM) journal pages here on Tuesdays and An Attitude Of Gratitude (AOG) on Thursdays.  So here's a sneak peak of my pages for AEDM, if you want to see them up close and personal just click on the tab above for more detail.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are inspired to come join us in making art journal pages everyday!

Bee Creative!
Suzy

LINKING TO:http://creativeeveryday.com.; http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/art-j.html; www.marywalkerdesigns.com;

TWO NEW ART JOURNAL CHALLENGES BEGIN

Hi Everyone! 

I'm off on not one but two art adventures for the month of November! Yes, they both coincide this month but I'm going to give it a shot! Check them both out!  Art Every Day Month (AEDM) and is hosted by Leah over at http://creativeeveryday.com.  I hope you will join me as I start this very special challenge of making art every day! I'll be posting it on my blog once a week during November on Tuesday. An Attitude of Gratitude (AAOG) is hosted by Bernice Hopper over at http://www.anattitudeofgratitudejournal.blogspot.com. I'll be posting here on Flicker http://www.flickr.com/groups/2100586@N21/and also on my blog on Thursdays.  This is a very busy month for me between starting two new jobs, care for my grands and having family in for the holidays. Really, is this too much??? 

The process of making art is something I feel compelled to do, on a daily basis if at all possible.  We'll see how it goes during November. I need your support in cheering me on, especially as the time for the holidays starts to draw nearer! 

Thanks for your support and I appreciate each comment and read them all! I hope you will also be inspired to try a 30 day challenge yourself! It is amazing to make a series of art journal pages and to watch your creativity blossom when you step out of your norm and into a world of creativity that is within you.  I encourage you to try it! Just go for it, do your own art and find what makes your heart happy. Experiment with new colors, new ideas, try a new product and enjoy the process! Have fun! And if you are so inclined, please send me a photo of your work! I'd love to see it! 

Happy Creating (with Gratitude) Every Day! 
Suzy

Linking to: http://creativeeveryday.com;http://anattitudeofgratitudejournal.blogspot.comhttp://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/

30 Day Art Challenge

Hello Everyone! 

Here's a few pages from my GET YOUR ART ON journal. More than half way through this 30 day challenge of making art.  I'm enjoying the process and having fun making each individual piece. 

This week I pulled items from a long forgotten box of paper treasures and made this page for Day 16: A Season For Everything.  There's a seed packet cut from a card our niece sent, a vellum piece with script,text paper leaves and heart cut from a stencil, a teapot painted on needlework canvas, and circles cut from a discarded watercolor project. They all came together to make a page that speaks to the change of season here in Florida. This is our growing season.

Day 17-Let the Son Shine In. I LOVE  Pears! I actually drool when the Harry and David catalog appears in the mail box!  They have THE BEST pears I've ever eaten in my life.  Anyway, enough about that...I was feeling joyful this day so I added flowers hand cut from some book text and leaf shapes cut from recycled watercolor page and more text. There was a piece of paper in my stash that had Joy stamped on it and I thought it was perfect to go with the is piece.

Day 18-Until You Have The Courage. A prompt about quotes last week led me to make this page. I had two quotes both about the ocean and this one just needed a page. I worked it in collage with pieces of maps and sky and water then distressed inked the edges to give a feeling of an old world map. The quote : "You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore." Christopher Columbus. 

Day 19-She was beautiful. This page drove me crazy!  I was going for a vintage look and ended up with something entirely different! My page just didn't want to be vintage. Does that ever happen to you?  SO I changed courses but by the time this happened, the page was already over-saturated in color. 

Day 20-She is Happy.  While working on the previous page I was wiping ink onto this page and just decided to let it stand and start another page with the base of color. The design on the tag was inspiration in the center of She was Beautiful, and I wanted to include it on this page. After adding the borders to the page it looked like a party getting started and that makes me happy, so I added streamers!

Day 21-Was Your Heart Not On Fire?  "Let your heart burn with passion. As we see the glory of God in the face of Christ." We were singing this song at church this morning and it stuck in my head. I was humming this s as I started my page and soon my heart was on FIRE. I remember the scripture about the  two disciples that were walking on the road to Damascus when Jesus appeared to them.  Luke 24:32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”  

Have a wonderful week! Get Your Art ON! 

Bee Creative!

Suzy

Linking to: Get Your Art On www.tracibunkers.com; Art Journal Everyday www.balzerdesigns.typepad.com

Getting My Art On This Week

Hi Everyone!

 Happy Thursday! It's almost the weekend and I can officially say that because I started a new job today! My job is part-part time and I have a deal with the boss that my hours will be flexible since I watch our grand babies the other days. Sooooo, what does that have to do with today's post? Well, one of the pages happens to be about this and I also have other wonderful news to share in another page....I'll let you see what that news is: 

GUESS WHAT!!?! That's the same line I used to open the conversation with my mother 32 years ago.