I won’t lie: having visitors hasn’t done wonders for my weight-loss or even stay-healthy plans. Most significantly, I’ve been drinking coffee. Not the crappy, powdered thing I was drinking at home, but the stuff you buy at Starbucks. So while I am not worried about getting back on the 6-coffees-a-day wagon, I am still irritated at myself for drinking so many of these in the last two weeks. I’ve also eaten out more than usual and while I try to make healthy choices, it’s harder when you eat out often. All this made me appreciate our quiet lifestyle even more. Oh and it didn’t help that I am hormonal at this very moment.
Since November is here, I upped the running to 2.1 miles a day. It’s going ok but I am not reading much during running anymore and, instead, I watch movies or instructional videos for the classes I am taking. It makes the time go fast and helps me forget that I am running. I haven’t made progress on the trainer front but it’s still at the top of my list once I get myself organized.
I completely forgot what the scale said last week which is why the weight is n/a again. I promise to pay better attention this time.
and here’s this week’s card:
Healthy for Life is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
And here’s the next Komtrak page:
The full text reads: Today is a new day, it is yours to fill.
I used acrylics on this page.
I wanted it to look like sun was coming up over the mountains but alas, I can’t say it turned out the way I imagined. But still…
And here’s the next Komtrak page:
The full text reads: Life is short, forgive easily.
I used acrylics on this page and some pan pastels.
And here’s the next Komtrak page:
The full text reads: Follow the path of joy.
I used acrylics and lots of stitching on this page.
And here’s the next Komtrak page:
The full text reads: There’s always rain before a rainbow.
I used acrylics on this page and lots of stitching.
I am creating multiple art journaling pages a week for now. You can read more about it and the book I am using for these pages at the top of this blog post.
I wanted to read Divergent as soon as I saw it on the Goodreads newsletter. I am not sure what pulled me to it but I kept thinking about it. And I was worried that when I finally get my hands on it, I might not actually like it.
But I did.
I got into the story from the very beginning. I liked the voice of the main character and the others, too. I liked the plot. I liked the pace (well at least until the end when it just seemed to go way too fast). I just really really enjoyed it and I am now looking forward to the next books by the same author. Especially since I hear this is a trilogy.
Yey for another new author I love. Oh, and, I found out that the cover art was done by an old friend of mine. Which made me love it that much more.
Here are the sketches from last week. All of these use Fabel Castell Pitt Pens and watercolors. Most of the ones this week aren’t so great but I just keep doing anyway.
Sunday:
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday: ( I especially dislike this one.)
Thursday:
Friday:
And Saturday:
I get some of my ideas randomly, others from other people’s photos, some from my photos, and some from pinterest. So far, so good.
Daily Sketching is a weekly project for 2011. You can see a detailed post on my steps here.
If you’ve been reading here for a while, you’ll know that I am very organized and scheduled. I like my life like that. I get comfort and joy from the repetition and task completion. At home and at work, I like getting things done. Even small things like returning an email gives me joy.
And the opposite gives me great discomfort.
When I know I have something due, I cannot sit still. Ask anyone who’s ever worked with me; I’m the first person to deliver my assignments. I was the kid who came home and did her homework right away (assuming I hadn’t already finished it at school.) It’s one of the main reasons I wake up early to exercise and sketch. It gives me the time to get my things done. When I get a DT assignment, I pretty much do it right away. Even if it’s due two months from now. Sometimes, I get heads up that a request is coming down the road but I don’t know the details yet and it drives me insane to know I will have something due but I don’t know enough to sit and work on it immediately.
I don’t do well with a todo list that’s piling up. I don’t do well with deadlines looming. With people waiting for a reply.
Alas, that’s how life’s been for the last ten days or so. My parents are here and I am trying to balance time spent with them with time spent getting work and chores done. And, bless them, they do give me a lot of alone time but I find myself mentally and physically tired so I don’t accomplish much when they are not here. So now, I have emails and comments that have been unanswered for days (if you’re one of the people who’s waiting for a response, I am deeply sorry and I swear I will get to it soon.) I have layouts that are scheduled for soon. Not to mention my own personal projects that are not being tended to.
And all this is making me slowly unravel.
This morning, during my journal time, I told myself that this was a lesson in learning to sit with discomfort. There are times in one’s life where we have to be in situations that are not pleasant but we can’t do anything about it. We can’t solve it, we can’t fix it, we can’t even make it go away. We just have to learn to be present with it. And I believe it’s an important skill to have. It will help me become a more patient friend and partner and mother. Learning to just sit with it instead of controlling it (which is definitely my default behavior.) I told myself that it’s an exercise for me to see that if things wait and pile for a week or two, life doesn’t end. I can still catch up. People will forgive and understand. The most important things will all get done when they need to and life will be ok. Sometimes we have to trust that things will work out.
So, I am learning to sit with discomfort. Guilt, shame, frustration. I am facing them and practicing. Paying attention to the feelings and being present with them. To what it looks like for me. So that I can learn. So that I can recognize it when it’s here again. So that I can grow and become more patient. With myself (and others.)
It’s not pleasant.
But I’m working on it.
for this week, i just used a simple background but amazingly I forgot to take a before picture and didn’t realize it until it was too late.
So….
here is the left:
here is the right:
And here’s the filled page:
Simple but still nice.
Weekly Art Journal is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here. And you can find out more about the weeklong daily journaling here.
Today I am very honored to be a part of Balzer Design’s stencil hop using the Crafter’s Workshop stencils Julie designed. The ones I was specifically sent were the three face ones below. They are called Ava, “Edith and Maude”, and Summer in the order in which you see them. (Click on the photo to go to Crafter’s Workshop’s Stencil page)
Those of you who’ve been here a while know that I am crazy about faces so when I got these I was ecstatic and started creating immediately. Here are some of the pages I made:
This first page below uses the Edith and Maude stencil as well as Wonky Circles, Flower Frame, Chevron ones and it’s all pretty much done with acrylic paint. The text says: Remember to always be true to who you are because you’re perfect just the way you are.
The next page is also using Edith and Maude and I just added a birdie to her hair. I used the Leaf Frame and Triage stencils, too. I used pan pastels, acrylics and watercolors. It says: You already are what you hope to be.
I then used the 6×6 Edith and Maude stencil to create the following page. This is almost all pan pastels and it also uses the Circles in Squares and Wonky Circles stencils. The text says: Don’t hesitate, stand out from the crowd and be you.
Once I started using them, I just couldn’t stop. Then I used Ava to make this next one. Pan Pastels to use the stencils and watercolors to color the face in. The text reads: Believe in your dreams even if no one else does.
And finally, I only had Summer in a 6×6 but I really liked it so I decided to use it by giving her a body. Once I stenciled and colored it, she looked sort of sad and I’d had a rough day so I decided to write: It is ok to feel broken. You are not alone.
And there you go. I hope this shows you some of the variety of pages you can make with these amazing stencils. I love being able to quickly add a face to my art journal pages and I love the emotion and meaning they bring with them. If you find drawing portraits on your own intimidating but still like to have them on your pages these stencils are fantastic starting places. You can use them as much or as little as you like: only as a guide or to create the whole face just as is. I cannot recommend them enough.
Here are the people participating on today’s hop:
• Jen Cushman
• Jill Sprott:
• Karen Grunberg: you are here 🙂
• Paula Gilarde
• Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
I highly encourage you go see their incredible creations. Huge thanks to Crafter’s Workshop and Julie for giving me this opportunity.
And thank you so much to you for coming to visit me!
This is the second project I did for Pink Paislee for October. It uses the awesome Phantom line.
Journaling Reads:
We went to our annual pumpkin foun at Lemo’s farm today and I took a lot of photos as I always do. As I was looking through them, myheart skipped with joy when I came to these two. Theres just nothing that makes me as happy as seeing you two jug and love each other I deeply hope that you contiune to be this close and loving for the rest of your lives. love you.
Details:
David says:
I gave this story five stars because I I really liked that Elmer got to see all the dragons that are in Boris’ family and save them.
I liked the part where Boris told Elmer about the things he and his family do during the week. I also liked how the cat told Elmer that the dragon came to ask for help. But I thought it was a bad idea that the dragon let the men on the ship see him while he was flying even though I know he was trying to save his family quickly. I thought it was really mean that the men were trying to catch the dragons so they could sell them to zoos.
I liked how all the dragons escaped in the end and Elmer was able to go back home safely and the sand storms started over so the men would leave. And I really liked that Elmer didn’t tell his father that it was actually him in the paper.
Reading a book a week with my six-year-old son David is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
jake
It’s going to be surprising to read that Jake had more meetings this week. All over the place, both during the day and night. He also went out with our neighbors for dinner this past week. We even got to go on two date nights together since my parents have been here to babysit. We drove all the way to the city and had a wonderful Italian dinner together. It was so nice just to walk around and chat with him. I love my husband so much.
karen
This week flew by for me. It was hectic and stressful and lovely all at once. I had my parents here all week so whenver I wasn’t working, I tried to spend my time with them. I also went to David’s school both on Monday and on Friday. I had to go to work on Friday because my computer didn’t upgrade properly so I had to take it in and get it fixed. Between family time, pushing a new build out, David’s school, date nights, and crazy computer issues, it felt like a whirlwind week.
david
David had a great week. He was the school reporter for Chapel on Monday morning and he did an excellent job reading clearly and enunciating well. He got to play with my parents all week and then had a Halloween parade at school on Friday where he was black Spiderman. And just yesterday, he got a new ribbon in his swimming class cause he moved to level 3 which means he doesn’t have to wear fins anymore so he’s super excited. I am so very proud of the person he is and how hard he tries and how kind he is.
nathaniel
Nathaniel is doing great, too. Talking more and more everyday and in fuller sentences now, too. He wants to be just like David so refuses to sit on the high chair so he just sits on a normal chair right next to his brother. They are so cute together (when they aren’t shrieking). He is still refusing to say six or seven but can go all the way up to twenty (skips sixteen and seventeen too of course.) He’s such a happy, mischievous boy.
Here are some of my favorite captured moments from this week:
David’s getting a little tired of the nonstop photo taking:
and Nathaniel is upping the drama:
the boys got a lego set and built them:
and the David played on the electronics set with my dad.
Nathaniel sat next to them and watched.
here’s the set.
and one more smile from the little boy.
he read to opapa:
while David built the other lego
which nathaniel immediately took over.
There’s also been a lot of choo choo playing.
and more reading.
and more trains.
some snuggle and chat and play time with my dad.
And then today’s shot of my three boys.
Nathaniel’s devastation when I take the remote away.
and the best we could do today.
And those are some of the moments from our week. Hope yours was wonderful.
Us Right Now is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
I finally bought a scale. After last week’s Wii fit disaster, I was sick of having to boot up the wii and make sure it wasn’t being wonky each week. Now I have a scale I can use once a week without having to boot anything up or press a bunch of buttons. It’s not as cute as the Wii and it won’t tell me my BMI but it will do for the new few months. Because it’s a completely new format, I decided to not count the weight loss it showed and I will just start this week anew and track loss and gain from here on out.
I am still running 2 miles a day and it’s still super-hard. But I am at it and I am not giving up. I have, however, not been doing so great with the food. With my parents here, I go out more and eat more than I usually do. I am still careful and try to pick the healthiest options. But I am guessing it will end up resulting in some weight gain for the next week. If so, I will deal with it. I am not worried.
I have officially begun looking for a personal trainer. One that can help me do some weights, etc. No idea how to find one but I’ve decided I want one and will actively search this month.
and here’s this week’s card:
Healthy for Life is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
Updated to add:
I am so sorry for the delay! I won’t even make excuses and will just thank you for your patience with me!
The recipient is Cate. I will email you with the details Cate!
—-
I am officially almost two-months late in posting this but I didn’t want to forget cause it’s so awesome. So here we are:
I had the privilege of participating in a new Ella book by Crystal Wilkerson:
As the name implies, Crystal took paper layouts from several scrapbookers and created digital templates inspired by them and then created her own layouts. Isn’t that awesome!?
Here are some others in the book:
Stacy Julian
Jen Jockisch
Sarah Klemish
Wendy Sue Anderson
Jennifer Pebbles
Jamie Waters
Lisa Dickinson
Kristina Proffitt
Caroline Ikeji
As a bonus, when you buy the book, you get a free digital sampler as well:
And you can buy each of the templates individually from Crystal’s shop. Here’s what my template looks like:
Doesn’t it look so much like a Karen layout??
You can click the photo above to buy the template and click this link to buy the ella book.
And finally, I was told I can do a giveaway for one of you to get the book for free!! So go ahead and leave me a comment. I am trying to figure out what classes to prepare for next year so maybe you can leave me a comment with what classes you’d like to see me teach and if you don’t know me personally or are new here, you can just leave a comment on what kind of online classes you’d like to take, how about that?
I will leave this up until Sunday night and announce the winner Monday morning on 10/31.
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projects for twenty twenty-six
projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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