Spring...

This past week was so gorgeous! The backyard is budding forth with new growth, some in the wrong places, but I don't have the heart to cut out a plant that has worked so hard to produce. I'm sure my DH will attack the various interlopers soon when I'm not looking. He just better not touch the berry bushes that sprang up in the space where we lost an apple tree to lightning. I know it looks unkept and gangly, but boy do those berries taste good!

I thought to share some spring pictures to brighten your day. Even with the beautiful balmy weather, this past week was a tough one for me and the family for many reasons. I'm hoping this new week we will have peace and joy and I hopefully will feel like creating again. I'm going to play with new YUMMY Art By Moonlight stamps right now.

Happy Day!

5...

Read Misty's blog this afternoon and she challenged people to try to answer these, so I did. First 5 people to read my list, try it as well.

Five minutes to yourself:

• (If I had a clean desk and an organized room?) Create some backgrounds. Otherwise, computer time.

Five bucks to spend right now:

• I'm hungry. Chipotles Steak Burrito Bol.

Five items in your house you could part with, right now, that you hadn't thought of already?

• I have tons of stuff I haven't used in 5 years, so the first 5 I pick up I guess (like old clothes, old business inventory, old paperbacks, exercise equipment not used, etc...)

Five items you absolutely, positively could never part with in your house?

• Computer, Printer/copier/scanner, Art Supplies (can't I group these as one?), Camera, Pictures (Family members are a given, right? )

Five words you love?

• Hmmm, hard one. Ephemera, Fiddlesticks, Blessed, Organization, Enchante (french for delighted)

Art Created, Creating Art

Saturday I was at Borders with DD for our ‘outing’ we love to do. We go for coffee (me), a Kahlua Mudslide Freeze (her) and either a muffin, cookie or sandwich to share. We grab favorite mags (me – art & scrapbooking & some art books, her-fashion, skateboarding & some graphic design books) and sit down and ignore each other. I swear these outings are for us to bond, but it seems we spend more time reading, than we do conversing. But it’s all good. She’ll show me the latest styles (I’m so outdated she tells me) and articles about her favorite skateboarders ‘mom, look at him doing a double ollie, triple twist’ ( I wanna ask ‘is that with or without the cone?’ * I crack myself up, she would roll her eyes here *) I show her all the latest and greatest in altered art. On Saturday we had this conversation:

Me: *in over excited tone* 'LOOK! This is an article about my friend, Karyn Gartel!' *latest Legacy? (I think) mag shoved under DD’s nose*
Her: *semi-interested tone, sipping her Kahlua* ‘She’s your friend? That’s cool! Where do you know her from?' *looking article over* 'This is really cool what she made.’
Me: *sheepish tone & look* 'Um, well… she isn’t really my friend, I just stalk her blog.'
Her; *huge eyeroll & laugh* 'I’m going to tell her you stalk her!' *another laugh*
Me: 'Well, I visit her blog all the time, you know the one ‘Altered Diva’.'
Her: 'Oh yeah, I love her stuff.'
ME: 'See? Now you can stalk her too!'

I’ve realized I have blog envy. Well, maybe talent envy. I try not to, but I have this list of blogs I look at weekly when I need inspiration, but then I get lost in blog land and never end up making anything because everyone else in blogland has made such wonderful stuff I have to see it all!

** Like Misty – what’s NOT to love about Misty? She made the most gorgeous mobile, cut stars out of text and this tree is just gorgeously painted! I LOVE her work! She is selling her art now too! Go buy!

** And Karyn – I just can’t wrap my brain around the gorgeous colors here and her backgrounds here are to die for! I can’t wait until her book goes on sale on ebay!

** Ms. Pom – She always has wonderful things to say and I read her column in Cloth Paper Scissors and call her my ‘friend’ too, to my DH when I tell him about the articles. He says I stalk her blog too. Some people play sports, some people work for a living,; I stalk blogs of highly talented people. So sue me! She also has a weekly 'List Friday' challenge to try.

** Altered Belly – she has really been turning out some fabulous art after several yummy sounding classes and workshops she has attended. I love to watch her thought process and art progress as she tries different things. I read her blog with notebook in hand as she drops names of teachers and products I just ‘have to try’. Love her work!

** TatteredEdge – she is the one who got me all interested in owning a soldering iron (which I now have) but have yet to use it. May try it out this week for an idea I have for the Inspire Me Thursday challenge. Her splatter type backgrounds are beautiful and her description and beautiful pics from ArtFest inspire me to possibly try to attend next year. Who know what a year holds.

** Altered Visions – she makes all these wonderful pieces to sell on ebay. I want to copy all of them in design~ These are some of my favorites she has made.

** Shari – has been creating some gorgeous pieces. She has me searching the city for scratchboard because of these pieces that she made. Gorgeous! Her latest stamped images are so vintage, I wanna touch them to see if they have layers of wax or whatnot? This is one of my favs of hers, a page from a chunky book she was working on with others. And this too!

** Audrey - she is a woman after my own imagination. I love her work and its so like the items I see in my head but can never put them on paper. I especially love her blackbird chunky page, journal pages she made and last month she was doing a study of color and the green item was my favorite of course (being my favorite color!) Did you see what she posted yesterday? YUM YUM!

Oh, there are a lot more that I stalk, er, um.. I mean visit. Everyone is so talented around me. I just need to remember to step away from the mouse (and the forum boards *wink*), clean my art desk and make something from the heart. Only then will I truly create art.