Very First

The very first art journal I made.

A "spine" view of the "Piano Hinge" binding I promised to post the other day. Just like to keep my promises!

Next time a sunset steals your breath
or a meadow of flowers leaves you
speechless, say nothing, and listen as heaven
whispers,

"DO YOU LIKE IT?
I DID IT JUST FOR YOU."
~Max Lucado

Truly Blessed

"EVERY PUPPY NEEDS A BOY" and every boy needs a puppy!!!

Couldn't resist posting these photos of my son and Bis. Bis has met his goal for the month, he lost 1 pound. Official weigh in this a.m. at All God's Creatures. Dr. Jenni, our vet is wonderful. She really cares and it shows!!!!! Bis' thyroid level is normal now, after being on medication for a few weeks.
Family,(including pets of course), friends, and good, honest, caring people...truly,truly blessed.
God is good!

Botanical Symphony

This is one of my very first art journaling pages.

Heaven Whispers

Another art journaling page I created in my handmade watercolor art journal.

"Ashbel" Boutique

A couple of pages from one of my, increasingly many, art journals. This is a mix of acrylic paints, cut-outs from a book, stamping with ink, oil pastels and Heavy Molding Paste. I incorporated the technique of masking.

Lakeside Friends

Tonight was a special time, together with a few friends, Jeannette, Chris, Victoria, Carol, Mary, Kathy and myself as we mass-produced these great Christmas gifts at Jeannette's lakehouse. Handmade legal pad book covers. These covers hold a small legal pad, have a corner pocket to hold papers, receipts, ephemera, etc., and are refillable. Lots of fun with a great bunch of girls, my " lakeside friends".

Bis is tired...full day today. Vet appt. early a.m. and "spa" this afternoon. Bis is on a special diet , needs to lose 15 lbs. (he was overweight when we adopted him, and I am sure we haven't helped matters). I happily report that he has lost 1/2 lb, as our goal w/ the vet is 1 lb /month. Bless his heart...love him to pieces! He is on thyroid medication now as well, which will help. Family, pets, friends....I am so blessed!

Samplings

One of my art journaling pages. The outside of the journal is covered with handmade paper (brown). The inside pages are handmade as well. My friend Victoria gave it to me a couple of months ago when I first started art journaling. When I decide how I want to embellish the outside, I will post a photo of the outside. On this page, I used a paper napkin given to me by another friend, Jeannette, a scrap of script paper (unknown), the leaf is a sticker (unknown) and I chose to "list" certain wines and info about them for my journaling. The background is painted using acrylic Titanium Buff, a hint of acrylic Crimson, Yellow Ochre and Viridian paints mixed with a little acrylic Mixing White in each. I then painted the edges of the page with a wash of Seinna.

Beadbound And Determined

This is a book I created to share with fellow artists. The signature pages are bound using beads. Each page has the same questions. I have my artist friends fill in their answers to the questions. Just a fun way of sharing interests, favorites and email info. I covered the book with papers by Basic Grey, "Scarlet Letter". The ribbon is brown w/ white polka-dots.(May Arts) The beads are miscellaneous.

Nature is the

Art of God. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Time Well Spent...

Today, Me and Bis took the day off from creating, just a very busy day...church, family reunion, and then I took the time to download some photos of my finished and ongoing projects. So, we will be "back at it" tomorrow. I am really, really into making my own books, love the covering process and the binding. There are so many different binding techniques and I am finding that I have to at least TRY them all. Some I care for way more than others, but happy to try each one I come across. Thus far, I have created a Piano Hinge Book, a Japanese Stab bound book, a Flag book, Coptic bound book, Beaded bound book, and just some miscellaneous bindings, some of which I came up with and designed on my own. Here is a photo of my Piano Hinge Book. It is made from handmade paper purchased from an Art, Craft and Frame store locally. I have chosen to use skewers in the binding process. Also chose to use beads. I plan to use this book as a Garden Journal in the near future. It was a fun project that I truly enjoyed, and IF you haven't tried it yet, you really should, it is amazing. There are instructions online as well as many books to teach you how. Just dig and dive in! I will try to post more photos later. The photo showing a view of the spine of the book isn't cooperating at the moment...as soon as it does, I will add it too. Have a great day, pick out a fun project to start this week!

Me and Bis art and craft projects

Excited to Have A Blog

I have wanted a blog for a while now, so, with a lot of help from my son, I am "up and running"! I chose "Me and Bis" as the name of my blog because he is my side kick. I am never alone in my room creating, for he is right there with me, either lying right under my feet or in the chair...usually snoring whichever it be. I mentioned in my profile, that we adopted him from the shelter a year and a half ago and he has been such a blessing and a great addition and inspiration. With my boys having grown up and having entered the "empty nest" time in my life, he has helped me tremendously. Choco is wonderful too, but he is our "outside" watchdog, protecting over us, and doing a great job. Biscuit was housebroken and so he remains inside and thinks he is as human as we are. That's not to say that Choco isn't spoiled as well, coming in to stay quite often these days. It has been extremely hot here in the upstate of South Carolina lately, with temps reaching in the triple digits.
Now, the main purpose of my blog will be to post pictures of my work (coming soon). And, of course to journal of mine and Bis' events and "happenings" as they occur. Like I said, he is such an inspiration to me and for my creativity. .....Later!