A Book a Week – The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

I had never heard of The Art of Hearing Heartbeats until it was picked for book club. I sort of dreaded reading it but, as it turned out, it was a fast and lovely read.

I actually really liked it.

I can’t even put my finger on exactly what I liked but I enjoyed the sweet story and found myself wanting to keep reading just to see how it was going to end. I wasn’t disappointed in any part of this book and not at the end, either.

If you’re looking for a sweet book, this is a good choice, in my opinion.

June 11, 2014 | Books Read in 2013 | Leave a comment

Savor Project – 2014 – Spread Seventeen

This week is about sidewalk chalk fun and easter!

so happy.

Savor Project is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.

June 11, 2014 | Family, The Savor Project | Leave a comment

Remember This – Week 23

Life Book week thirteen was taught by Dyan Reaveley. I sat on this one for a long time but then when I finally sat down, I knew I wanted to use feathers. I used the Crafter’s Workshop stencil to draw them and cut them and then I colored each of them with different mists and stamped them with writing stamp. and then outlined the edges.

I then couldn’t decide what to do with the background. I tried like five different ones. When I finally, finally tried black, I loved it. Everything was easy from there on.

The writing says: You get to shed parts of yourself that no longer serve you.

a few details:


but here we are.

Remember This is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.

June 10, 2014 | Life Book, Mixed Media, Remember This | 2 comments

Listen with Intent – Week 23

So the first part of being creative is changing my perspective. Listening from a completely different perspective. Slowing down and seeing other possibilities. Stopping my default reaction to things. Really taking the time to look at things multiple ways. Each time an opportunity to listen arrives, I will be asking, what would other perspectives look like here? What’s his/her perspective? What’s mine? Is there another?

The fun lettering I used here comes from this pin.

The image here is from this awesome pin.

Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.

June 9, 2014 | Lettering, Listen With Intent, Sketching, Watercolor | One comment

Weekly Diary – June 8 2014

I am trying to play catch up again:

the light lately seems to be even worse in early morning.

my hair is all gray in these photos.

but we are all still full of joy

and laughter.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.

June 8, 2014 | Weekly Diary 2014 | Leave a comment

Nathaniel Reads to Mommy – Week 11

Nathaniel Reads to Mommy is a project for 2014 that I am doing with my 4.5-year-old son. You can read more about it here.

June 7, 2014 | Nathaniel, Nathaniel Reads to Mommy | Leave a comment

Mix and Match – June

Here’s my Mix and Match for My Mind’s Eye for June:

Journaling Reads:

My little boy,

I remember when your Daddy and I were discussing how David needed a sibling. I remember when we decided to see if we could expand our family so we could be four and not three. I remember when I carried you for nine months in my belly and I was so sick for so many months. I remember when you came to this world right on time and so very quickly.

I remember what a sweet baby you were the whole time. You loved your brother so much and adored all the attention he gave you. All the times he read to you or put on puppet shows for you. I remember the big, huge smiles you gave to all of us all day, every day. The funny way you crawled with you legs not bent at all.

I remember the big blanket you wouldn’t sleep without (it’s become so tiny now but you still won’t go to sleep without it!) and I remember the first day you walked. The first words. Your laughter. Your first birthday and all the ones after that.

When I look back on the five years since you’ve joined our family, I remember so many joyful moments. You have brought so much laughter and love into our lives. You never hesitate to give hugs and kisses to any of us. You are always generous and sweet.

Nathaniel, on this fifth year of your life, here are some facts:,you love playing with magnets and legos. You really enjoy the Pigeon books and the Elephant and Piggie ones. Since the beginning of this year, you’ve been reading a book a week to me and your reading has improved tremendously. You don’t like to wear socks and take them off the minute you get home from school. You don’t like veggies or oatmeal but eat them anyway. You’re a pretty picky eater. You like to have backwards day where you’re wearing your clothes backwards (not inside out but front to back.)

You are excellent at math and ask Daddy to give you some multiplication and division questions each night. Your favorite movies are the Lego movie and the Iron Giant. Your favorite book is The Pigeon needs a Bath, you like to read it again and again. You snuggle up with me and like the brown covers and let me hug and kiss you as much as I like (I love that!) Your favorite games to play are Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare and Minecraft, which you love to play with your brother. You have a few good friends at school: Kyle, Aiden, Jordan, Tejas, Daniel and Esan. You are very friendly and also love being funny.

My sweet boy, the last five years with you has been truly wonderful and I cannot imagine our family without you. All of us love you so very much and are so very thankful to you.

Happy, happy birthday my son, here’s to many more. I love you madly.

June 6, 2014 | Layouts, My Mind's Eye, Scrapbooking | Leave a comment

Today I Know – Week 22

This week’s inspiration comes from the line drawing class I took with Lisa Congdon back in March.

I drew these with a size 1 micron and used the watercolors to color. The background is also watercolors. I am not such a fan of it but the goal was practice so I am trying not to judge myself too harshly.

prompt says: today i know that many people in the world are

I wrote about how many people feel broken in their own way.

Today I Know is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.

June 6, 2014 | Mixed Media, Today I Know | 2 comments

Stitching Circles – Week 21

This week’s stitching also comes from urban threads. After the involved unicorn last week i wanted something small and quick. I used stem stitch, fill stitch, and back stitch on this one. The little word is simple.

Stitching Circles is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.

June 5, 2014 | Stitching, Stitching Circles | One comment

Monthly Projects – May – Painting Faces

As promised, here’s my month of painting faces which is what I chose to do for the month of May for my monthly art projects. I signed up for Judy’s painting faces class the minute I read about it.

I love Judy and knew I would love the class.

Despite the really unwise move of putting the wrong date on my calendar, I finished the whole class anyway. I started it one month late, when it was already finished. I just got into the class and did each assignment on a day in May.

I ended up with a range of faces, some I liked, some I really didn’t. But I got a lot of practice, which is what this is all about.

Here are the twenty faces I made:

Another thing I learned in May was that twenty is the perfect number for these projects. Like I mentioned yesterday. I learned the magic of twenty from this project.

I need like a million more hours practicing my faces but, for now, I am grateful for this month.

June 4, 2014 | Mixed Media, Painting Faces | One comment

A Book a Week – The Handmaid’s Tale

The Handmaid’s Tale was also a book club pick and a great excuse to finally read some Margaret Atwood. This book was well written and must be right there with some of the original masters of dystopian literature.

but it was so depressing.

So, so freakily depressing.

So much so that I felt disturbed for some time after I finished the novel. I am not sure I can recommend it knowing how much it disturbed me. But, of course, she’s a classic and so is this book. So there we are.

And I am glad I finally did manage to read it.

June 4, 2014 | Books Read in 2013 | 2 comments

Savor Project – 2014 – Spread Sixteen

This week is about Cal Day at Berkeley and David’s paper on quantum physics.

so happy.

Savor Project is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.

June 4, 2014 | Family, The Savor Project | Leave a comment

« Newer Entries  
  Older Entries »