A book of Purple and Swirls

This has been one of my favorite means of doing art lately. Using an art journal requires no special skill or supplies; its a great versatile means of getting your thoughts and ideas recorded... It's really nice cause it doesn't have to be perfect (and it's definitely not). I could improve pages whenever I want to. :) Art journals can be used as a notebook, schedule/planner, doodle book, major scrapbook, photo "album..." basically anything you want! I actually am going to put the scraps like receipts and random findings in my purse on a page. Anything can be used, it makes your book really unique!

I guess I'll just tell the story of my art journal with the photos of the book. If you want to share any inspirations for a page please let me know! I could always use ideas.

I say just do it. You'll be glad you did. I think it's a lot of fun. It's good for short attention-spans, because it's not like you're striving to get everything coordinated, and FINISHED. The fun is the process of the making.

|inˈspīr|verb [ trans. ]1 fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative

Life... A somewhat brief analogy

On my internet explorer server what-cha-ma-call-it there is the option to have many different tabs open so you can be on different sites at once. Now, this is not new news, but tonight I looked at the tabs I had open at the time; and thought this kinda describes my life lately. Let me explain.

I have a tab open that would be representing schooling right now, it's http://www.readprint.com/author-147/Martha-Finley-books, I'm interested in this right about now because I have to do research for an American Literature class assignment. Martha Finley is the American author I've chosen for the subject of the "research project." That is in quotes because for the assignment we have to do the research and bibliography and all; except we don't have to actually write the paper. :)

Next I have keeping in touch tabs- facebook.com and gmail.com. Enough said? :P

Susiemag.com comes next and this is a bit of a fuzzy analogy to my relationship with God as I grow and learn. Lately I have been learning more about trusting God with summer plans, the future... Connecting with other Christian girls has been a fun experience on susiemag.com. Two of my essays have been "published" on the site in the creative corner.

This site blogger.com that I'm writing on is next in the line-up of tabs. Yeah, I haven't updated very often...

Thttp://www.etsy.com/shop/TheMulberryButton?ga_search_query=themulberrybutton&ga_search_type=seller_usernames This is the link to the next tab creativity-ness. :P If you're in my contacts for email, you may have got an alert about this small business that a friend and I have started, about a week and a half ago. If you haven't checked us out go for it! I was making jewelry somewhat recently, it's fun to do, but I think I go in spurts. :P If you already have looked at our shop, thank you for taking the time to.

And lastly, after I had this whole relating my tabs to my life thought, I opened pandora.com. Music is also a part of my life. :) Do you have any suggestions for new CDs for me to listen to? Right now I'm listening to Captains and Cruise Ships by Owl City... My thoughts on that, Owl City has VERY random thoughts in his songs. But, apparently he's a Christian?

I've enjoyed playing the piano recently. I like the song Dream Scene for now; also, Wonderful Words of Life is quite fun. I have a cool arrangement for Wonderful Words of Life, I played for church, at a home school program, and I'm going to play it again this spring at an awards ceremony thingy...

So, generally that has been my life as of late- OH! I couldn't forget photography! But if you're my friend on facebook, you can look at pretty recent photos on my page. I might post some on here soon. I very much enjoy taking pictures. So, if you want to do a photoshoot, let me know, I'd probably be willing. :)

Osborn and Backbone Trip '09

Well, somehow my photos are in reverse order of what I wanted to have them... the one above was supposed to be the last one. Oh well, I guess we'll go backwards through the day today. This is at Backbone park, I like the unusual color of the water! Beautiful scenery.


I got to bring Olivia along this trip-she had never been to Backbone (that she can remember). It was a fun experience climbing the backbone (pictured above), and doing a bit more climbing than I remember doing when I was younger... :) A playground for big kids?? I guess you have to be more careful than a park, but still very fun! An enjoyable afternoon outside, getting fresh cool air, looking at lovely scenery, with friends and family.


After we were done at Osborn we stopped for a lunch-ish/snack at Joe's Pizza. It's a joint that really reminded me of a small town LITTLE restaurant... which it was-it's in Strawberry Point. It was somewhat run down but also, "quaint"? Our groups of families (Deeds, Wheelers, Schicks, Kennens, Halls, and us) basically filled the place. Good times with good friends.

Osborne Heritage Days was yummy, interesting, COLD (maybe freezing-literally). I learned a new crafty hobby thing-spinning. I hope it'll be fun enough for me to do it, and the yarn turn out well enough for me to keep at it. I now can at least begin to make my own yarn, I don't know all of the steps to making yarn, but I'm hoping to learn them! I have a drop spin spinner, and non-dyed wool I got at Osborn today. I spun on the ride home, and it's challenging to get it just the right width not to thick and don't let the wool break, etc. I'm looking forward to seeing how the yarn turns out! I'll try to get pictures of it on my blog soon. :D

Christmas- Homemade Gift Ideas?

I am wondering what are some favorite homemade Christmas presents that you have given or received in the past. Or do you have some great ideas for this year's Christmas presents? I'd love to hear about those too!

I like to make my gifts because it's more meaningful to me. Plus I think it's more fun that way to do the crafts yourself- sew, knit, crochet, paper crafts, etc.

Looking forward to getting started on making presents. :p All ready!

Please comment, and leave your ideas for homemade gifts.