Sea Whispers

Playing around in journals at Christmas.

Just Be

I remember when I was a child, creativity came fairly easily.  Pretending to be movie stars or setting up an entire scenario and scenery around a Barbie doll, complete with aluminum pans of water with Lantana flowers thrown in as if Barbie were in Hawaii.  I also loved making colorful pot holders and selling them door to door.  As a little girl, I even loved making creepy crawlys with the little heater plate that came with it and creating colorful bugs with the goop.

Eventually, adulthood catches up and you have to concern yourself with making a living and exploring other areas of your life that need attention.  Then a day comes when you ask yourself, what is missing in my life that is causing this angst I feel?  For me, it is creating something pretty even in for my own eyes.  I just want to create something nice.

I have watched video after video in fast motion of art journaling trying to catch every move they make.  I have copied and have become discouraged that is doesn't look as nice as theirs.  But I have discovered that continued learning eventually gives way to the ability to put it together.  I thought this page was a mess and had no clue how to finish it up.  It comes to me that if I can't draw, I can do the next best thing and use the pretty items from craft stores.  Do what you love.  I love all the amazing emphera that is available and though it isn't my art, it is definitely fun to design with it.

Confident

I have been challenged by a lack of confidence my entire life.  It is crippling at times.  I had hoped getting older would bring on new confidence as many women have claimed they received as they turned 40 or 50.  Wonderful for them.  Mine comes and goes.  As a Christian, I'd like to stand on the faith that Jesus stood.  Now I enter into a another world I watched my parents go through with little understanding what it was like for them.  I am only 57 and was blessed with excellent health.  I still have excellent health but am beginning to realize the onset of the aging body thing.  And yes, it frightens me.  I just discovered visual journaling and now face challenges with my eyesight.  Nothing debilitating but enough to remind me of how very fragile we human creatures are.  We are wonderfully made, no question, but we are mortal and living in a decaying body until we are set free from those bodies.  So, what confidence I muster up comes from my heavenly father.  His still small voice always says to me "lift up your head" as if to remind me who I am in Christ.  That love alone should always be my foundation.

Chasing Rainbows

A Poem I wrote and Art Journaling Around It

A poem I did a long time ago.  I was chasing a rainbow - running after someone who never loved me.  I would frequently give up time to be with my mom to chase a dream.  My poem was published in Center Stage in the 80's, Central Florida's Art and Entertainment Magazine at the time.  This journal page needs something....not sure what yet.

I just had to share this photo.  My tabby, Sugar sleeping.  Always makes me giggle how she hides her face.  Sometimes animals are so human like.

I was just thinking about the days as a young girl and teenager living around some pretty phenominal woods and lakes.  I think about how blessed I was to enjoy the sounds of nature that I no longer hear today.  In the sixties and most of the seventies, we did not have air conditioning.  Our homes and cars did not come with them.  We slept with our windows open and the box fans blowing.  Every night I would hear the whipporwill calling and the voice would echo across the lake among the woods.  It was a magical and mysterious call that absolutely excited us kids to hear because the bird was never seen.  The call always reminded me of the warm summer nights we kids spend talking on the streets of our neighborhood and then slipped into late night girl talks while stopping in silence to hear that bird's beautiful voice.

Another bird we use to see and hear during the day was the Bob White.  It would march along the sandy scrub brush behind our homes singing out its name in a whistle.  We were so young, but how we appreciated the nature that walked beside us on a daily basis.  We had not only those amazing birds, but gopher turtles that burrowed just behind our house that we used to feed lettuce to.  There were owls that perched on the lamp posts, rabbits scuttling about, and there were many a Florida panther in that area.

Today, I do not hear the Whipporwill or the Bob White.  I am blessed to hear a Cardinal or a Mocking Bird every  now and then.  I miss the sounds of nature.  Calming and soothing, a reminder of our Creator and everything brilliant and substantial that He made.  Those birds always sang praises to their Maker.  Every morning and or night depending upon your make and model, the shrills of voices doing what they were made to do, singing their little hearts out no matter what was going on in the world.  Sweet music.

Wishing

Love the Beatles and this song has been in my head for a while.

Saying good-bye to Summer, though in Florida, we still have some time.

Playing and constantly learning.

My First Tag

As I look through so many blogs and journaling photos, I come across tags.  They seem to have taken on a life of their own and what a wonderful little canvas to play on.  This is my first one.

It's funny, I have become totally infatuated with all the arts and crafts out there.  I suddenly feel in a huge hurry to do something, anything with my hands and mind that might add something to my life or another's.  I have no children and feel I am leaving nothing behind for anyone.  I am determined to leave something for nieces and nephews even if I don't even really know them.  We live so far apart and so many years have come between everyone.  Maybe it will bring a smile to them or their children.  I will keep on experimenting and playing.

My own childhood was rather serious growing up as mom and dad were a bit wrapped up in domestic challenges with alcohol and all that comes with that.  They loved me but at the time, I was confused.  I missed out on a lot of play time and creativity and now it is coming full throttle.  So, let the play begin.
God Bless!

Yesterday I went for a swim in our community pool.  It was a beautiful morning.  There were many birds in the nearby area.  I was watching two red headed wood peckers in the cabbage palms making their way in and out of the tree's spikey trunk and talking a way to each other in soft chirpy sounds.  They have different sounds they make, it seems maybe all birds do.  Interesting and beautiful language.

My sister in Ohio called me to talk.  She was also watching birds from her back porch, in particular hummingbirds and finches.  She mentioned the hummingbirds were fighting for food.  Apparently, they get ready to leave the wintery areas for warmer weather.  She is lucky to have the beautiful little creatures in her yard.  She said there was a "katydid" on the porch and that meant no frost for six weeks.  Frost!!! I will be swimming through October here in Florida and have no worries of frost here.
What was most amazing is that my sister and I were almost doing the exact same thing at the same time in far away places.  We like many of the same things.  I love that!

In honor of a friend whose heart was recently broken.

I love the picture of the lady from what looks like a picture from the 40's, 50's maybe.  I didn't really get this balanced or very cohesive but the message is clear for me.

We are special, each one of us.  We must be good to ourselves and not allow the distractions of life, the negativity that our egos want us to feed on, to get in our way.  Refuse to cling to negative thoughts about yourself, learn to observe the thought from an unattached distance and let the thought go.  Replace that thought with being aware of the present moment.  The quality of that present moment is a step toward the quality of the future place you will be momentarily.  Be now, be present.

When we live our lives looking within, we miss opportunities to really understand what life is all about.  Living with the knowledge that a God is the creator and our source, then we know love.  When we receive His love, we love.  When we receive His forgivenss, we forgive.  When we receive His grace, we are gracious. 

I have a lot to learn.

Caladiums I am growing.  No better art.  So pretty.

Further journaling attempts.   I am amazed at the visual journaling I have seen in books and on line.  I am trying everything.  While it is extraordinary fun, I get just a tad frustrated with trying to create something worthy of viewing.  But I realize that this is part of me and much of life is experimenting until the right fit comes along.

A first try at art journaling...still learning!  Always learning....

Snails

Art brings an awareness to you to notice the things around you.  Plants and animals have the most interesting shapes, sizes, colors and formations when you look closely.  Afterall, man created color from the ultimate Creator.

I wish I could post a sign that reads "Slow....Snail Crossing Ahead" near a place where I work.  Though I am unsure of their purpose, I know one exists.  Yet because of their size they are simply stepped on and left on the cement as reminders that the slow and tiny seem insignificant.  If we could view their little world from their perspective, how different we might view them.   

I usually pick them up and move them to the other side.  Maybe I am the one who is not supposed to interfere.  I can't resist because their shells are so beautiful.  Their small little shells there to protect them. 

Art Journaling

I have recently discovered the joy of art journaling.  So many talented journalists abound and their creativity has led me here.  In the journey of life, one can get so lost in making a life, one tends to miss the life altogether.  At the age of 57, I am now just finding out what I truly enjoy and love doing.  Art is one of those things.  However, let me just say, I don't feel I have a talent but thankfully, that doesn't mean that talent is not there.  It may be just waiting to be revealed.

I think this is exciting and a whole new world for me.  So this is about anyone's life that doesn't feel quite fulfilled yet.  Maybe it's never too late to find joy even in every day matters.  Just a doodle can end up being quite the art.  It's the sheer fun of creating something, anything that reflects who we are.