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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Life's situations

Sometimes we never know what is going to happen from one minute to the next... and that is why I have not been on here for a few days... my computer decided it wanted to take a trip to the computer doctor... so the electric system shut off... and down... YIKES... that was scary... they thought it might be the hard drive... or maybe something else... but luckily for me... it was only the electric system... and viruses...no other problems at all... other than I went into total withdrawal...  when you are so use to talking to people on line, and communing with friends etc... it is then a withdrawal... 100%.... no warning... just a total shut off!!!  But now I am back to normal... or as much normal as I ever am...  LOL...  

I did get a lot done...  I ever cleaned some... and played a lot... and then I even got rid of some things in my studio... and cooked a lot... and then played some more...  and talked with my husband more than normal... we are always talking... but we got into some really major things this time... and it was really fun and good...  

So on the flip side.. the withdrawal was a fun time as well...  

So here is one piece that I did...  

It is for Artists Play Room challenge...  

 My Journal page is not typical of what maybe it should be... but that is what I am ... not typical... at all...  

LOL... After lunch, my sweet hubby wanted to show me the okra plants... how pretty they were... so we took a quick ride over to see them... and so when we came back I decided that I had better get to work and finish my journal page for today... so I added some OKRA...  okra flowers that is... the leaves and the saying and the snail were all there...
 So I added some pretty okra flowers... you will see in the pictures below how magnificent they are...... They are elegant... and so are our OKRA... we had some the other night... and are going to have a huge mess of them tonight...  (that's southern for a lot!!!  )   

Anyway... my page...  I do feel that each one of us has a wonderful gift... and not everyone has the same gifts, feelings, knowledge, or ability... so we must be ourselves and enjoy what we have...  Row with the OARS we have!!!  And not be jealous, envious or desirous of what others have or are... BE ME...  So this is just another way of saying that.. 
The SNAIL... my logo for so many years in the art fields... I love this little guy...  so cute... and all dressed in purple... still one of my favorite colors...  I love green and pinks too... can you tell... 

The paper was made with putting some spritzed inks onto my work sheet... (it you don't have a work sheet... do yourself a huge favor and invest in one...  they are worth every penny you have to pay for it...

They allow the inks to really smear all over and you pick the inks up with your paper...  so wonderful... you mix the inks on there too... just a delight to use...  

I colored my drawing with just plain old colored pencils... they are not water color pencils or anything... just regular colored pencils.. .they were lonely and I hadn't used them in so long... so I used them... and love the effect I got with them...  

  
 So here are our OKRA plants.. or maybe I should say small trees...  They are well over 6 foot tall... and pretty soon Glenn will have to get a latter to pick the okra... LOL... but that is okay.. it is so delicious...  

The leaves are larger than a dinner plate... and I wish I could figure out something to do with them...  the chickens will eat them when the plants are finished providing food for us... but until we are keeping the leaves on the trees... LOL.. . 


If you look closely you will see all the flowers on the plants above...  but here is one up close.. I think they are so magnificent looking... each petal is so perfectly formed against the other and the center is so deep in color... it is a deep rich purple... and so another reason why I love okra...  

Mmmmmmm .... 

So that is my journal page for today... and tomorrow is another day... right???  

I also published about another 200 cards or so... so take a look and see if you need any...  if you don't maybe you know of some people who would love to buy some hand made cards...  I have the prices low on these... as I have to make room for more art...  so please help me out...  Thanks a million... word of mouth is the best way to find people on line...   right???  

Thanks again... and hope that you have a super nice day... and play hardy and enjoy it all...  Thanks also for stopping by for a visit...  sometime you will have to stop by in real life for a cup of tea...  
Love, Light and Peace...Bonnie  

Monday, August 27, 2012

New Happenings Abound

For years I have been making cards... cards of all types... and I have to say that I cherish each and every one of them...  BUT.... I have over 1000 plus of them... so I decided to CLEAN out MY CLOSET.... and that is the name of my newest blog... as I have put all the fall cards up there to sell...  ohhhhhh I hope you will cherish the ones that you purchase...  or send them to people that will.. .LOL... they are all babies of mine...   LOL...  Anyway... I hope you will take a peek...  and pick out the ones you desire and let me know which ones you want... I will send you a pay pal bill...  it is really easy...  so get all your fall cards picked out and let me know...  I will be adding other cards as time allows me to add them...  I really have picked out over 1000 to sell!!!  not kidding... I am very prolific... and then yesterday when I was cleaning.. .I found another whole bin of cards!!!  So they will be added too...   I spent a day putting all these cards up on a friends computer using high speed... other wise I was afraid I would be literally driven crazy...  Thanks Marie for the help in getting me to this stage...  I totally appreciate it... 

So you can click on the Fall card in the right hand column of this blog... and it will take you right to the sight... Hope you can find some cards that you LOVE... and have to have!!!  I need room to move in my studio... it is getting pretty close in here...  

Thanks in advance... 

OKAY.... so today I have pulled up the DIVA's challenge...and we are to do a blind sighted string... and so I did one...  I love to do this, and do it all the time... as it eliminates me trying to control the string to work with... LOL... so I have a couple that I did the other night too... they are below...  but with out the strings as  I didn't know that this would be the challenge this week...  

 Here is my string that I drew with my eyes closed and my finger on the spot where I started... I did that so that I could close the string up...  I did go out of the lines a little bit... but hey... that is allowed around here...  

I also turned it around so that is another thing that is also allowed...  LOL... I love to have fun and no rules... just play...  just one turn counter clock wise and you can see the original...  this is the direction that I drew it in... 

 
 BUT then I played... and this is what I added to the string...  a few lines... here and there...  I really love doing this... can you tell???  

I do have favorites but it doesn't matter how many times you use them... they are always different...  

A little here and a little there and you have a wonderful little (3.5 x 3.5 ) piece of art...  Love it...  


 Okay... so here is another one that I did last week...  I love this one too...  As you can see there are a few tangles that I do over and over... I think they are called FAVORITES....  I love them...  and thanks to all that design them... as I love them... 
 This one I did try a couple of new ones... but when I am doing the blind sighted string, I am doing it in another part of the house... and don't have my big book (HUGE NOW)  of tangles ... so these are all from memory...  and my memory at times is not what it was when I was 29...LOL...  But I think I have more fun now than when I was 29???  Not really sure...  Anyway...  this is total FUN.... I love it all...  

I also love shading...  I find that I am doing more shading and it is taking me longer to finish a tangle... but I love the finished results a lot better too...  

Hope you have a good day... and please take a look at my fall cards... and hope you find something that you like...  Enjoy your day in all ways...  Love, Light and Peace....Bonnie  

Friday, August 24, 2012

Harvesting Sunflowers with a little ZEN

 Today over at the BRIGHT OWL Erin has given us a wonderfully exciting zendala to create with.... 

As with most of my mandalas I love to have a story behind the tangles...  
so my story today is about the harvesting of Sunflowers...  it is always a sad thing to see them all cut down... as they have given us such a wonderful summer of views and beauty.... and now they are all down.   The stems and leaves will be chopped up for mulch and the flowers will be chopped up for the chickens for a snack every day during the fall...  they love them... they don't get much... but what they do receive they LOVE...  
 I wanted a place to preserve this little story... as it is now part of the late summertime around here...  so I made this Zendala into a pocket and then made a tag so I could write a little message on it about the beauty of our sunflowers...  

Behind the sunflowers it is colored a very light lime green which stands for the green pastures that they grow around and behind the leaves a pale blue for the sky...which is visible thru all the plants in the gardens...  
 
Here is a picture of the tag going into the pocket...  it will be in one of my many journals as a memory of the summer time around the farm...  

Going up the side of the page is a vine...  a vine of life that I hope that all plants will live a long life and remember the love they have given to us all... Thank you Sunflowers for all you have given to us.... 

Hope that you have a wonderful day and that you will try this zendala and share it with us...  it is fun...  I think I will create another one too... but I have to clean a little bit before I do the next one... ugh!!!  What we dont do so that we can play... 
Thanks for stopping by for a visit...  

Love, Light and Peace...Bonnie  

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Chicken Scratch Journal

 So many people have written to me asking to see a 'finished' journal... and so I finally got the pictures taken, and have uploaded this one to show you... 

First off, you have to realize that I make my own journals... at least 99% of the time I do...  I love making my own papers with Twinkling H2o's and then I cut them in half and bind them and voila' I have a journal... then I only have to paint the back side of the papers and the pages will match... well sort of ...  

I had a huge stack of papers that I had painted and so I made quite a few journals with the papers...  only using 7 pieces of paper gave me a nice journal... and so here is one that I call Chicken Scratch...  
as I had doodled some chickens on the front of it...  thus the name... 

I have put the pages into this blog in order, so you can see both sides as they are in reality...  LOL.. what is reality...  so funny... 


 Some papers that I paint I love so very much that I can't use them.. so I scan them into the computer and print them out...  this is one of them...  

An all time favorite...  

It will get taken care of with something... but this journal still has a lot more to go...  but it is the one that is the closest to being called finished...  at this time... 
 I use to make over 100 ATC weekly.. .as I traded with over 75 gals on a monthly basis... so I have a lot of ATC's that are my very favorite...  this happens to be one...  

The page will get more on it.. but this is a beginning...  I only have this ATC taped on here... so it might get moved... I will try and post this journal again in a few months so you can see the progress...  



 I love flowers... and I love doodling... and here is a zen tangle...  I am really enjoying tangling a lot ...  I love all the different tangles, and also the way that they are all put together... so very fun and mindful...  I have noticed a huge difference in the way I think... 
 You have to know that I love flowers... so here is a Pretty by Bonnie flower... even dandelions get space... I love this saying... and try to live by all that you will see in this journal... 





I love making pendants... and his one really was fun... look at the next page to see the rest of the pendants...  

Love the colors too... just fun.. .I used geletos on this background... 







This is one of the backgrounds that I love ...but I decided to use it... love the light and darkness of it... 
 I also love to write Chinese Characters... and have a friend that is teaching them to me... The Chinese think so very differently than we do... 

WE go fishing... and the Chinese think like this...  

Let the fish come to you...  entirely different thinking than we do...  

I did an ATC with all likes of fish on it...  
Love to do fish... 






And so on the other side of the page.. more fish... more tangling... and another ATC with a fish on it...  3D no less...  I drew the fish in white... not sure if you can see that one...  







 Daisies are my very favorite flower...  so I had to use some...  

I also used a leaf stencil on the background...  

The flowers are all Pretties by Bonnie and so are the leaves... the flowers are 3d and  yet the book closes very nicely... 
 The other side of the page... 

Read the saying... 

What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could NOT fail...  

Oh wow...  what a thought... 






Another page with more Pretties by Bonnie... and also more stenciled leaves...  and the leaves at the bottom are stamps that I made... love making my own stamps too.. especially leaves...  













 Next page will show you more of the same...  I wrote a lot on these pages...  sometimes I have to write out feelings... and so in my journals...  



 A piece of printed paper... that I had to use... I love this door.. and also the bird and eggs...  

Used a few tangles on these pages too... 
 Paisleys are so very pretty and delicate in so many ways... love the dynamic ness of these.... 

Simplicity ???  will in our living it is... my art not...  



 About 8 years ago I painted a lot of 8 X 10 pieces.. and I didnt' want to just frame them... so I scanned them and here is one.. that I reduced to fit into my book...  I also altered it in Adobe Photo... love that too... so much fun...  The back ground is dyed tissue papers... 
 More tissue papers and also a flower made from Baby wipes...  

Another all time favorite...  love reusing things for the 2nd and 3rd times...  



A closeup of the flower... 

Used a T Holtz die cut... and then a little glue... and the flower really takes all the roughness of the book etc...  








 A lot of these pages are from Challenges... like this one...  it was to create a pocket... so I did.. and I put tags in the pocket with my favorite techniques...  just a few... I think there are 5 tags in there...  also some paper lace made with a punch and lots of color... 
 Across from that wonderful pocket is some tangling going on...  with leaves all intertwined thru the tangles... what fun I had with this page...  and the saying is a favorite too...  

Matter is never without SPIRIT and Spirit is never without Matter...  by Randolf Steiner... the father of Biodynamics...  a brilliant man. 
 A couple of weeks ago Jenn from Artists Play Room asked to made to laugh...  I thought that these ATC from a friend would do it...  they are so very funny... 

of course I added a few other things too... I just have to... 
 And since I did these pages, I had to add another one... so this page might be completed now..???? Never really sure that is an understatement. 
 Honeybees... we have very few of them this year... not a good sign... we need more bees...



Pretties by Bonnie all over this page... and I did enjoy being ME...  I love flowers... can you tell yet??? 













 I love the way the colors sort of happened on this page...  and I stenciled over it with a purple... ever though it looks like something different it is purple...  a little on the dark side... but still the fall colors of orange, greens, purple... and a slight brown... 

I also tangled some fall green peas in the top corner...  
 Some fall yellow flowers...  and a saying...  

LIVE with NO EXCUSES  

and 

Love with not regrets...  

how very true.... 
 Path of life...  trees being caught in the floods and all the debris that is also in the flood waters...  I send my live to these flooding areas... 
 Sometimes I just have to remind myself of things...  like on this page... breaking the feeling of keeping feelings locked up...  release them... LIVE.,...  


 Another tangle... and some stenciling...  love it...  love this bough of a pine tree too... it is a wonderful tangle...  






I wanted to do my hand in tangle fashion... so here it is... 














 Just a fun tangle page... I love adding these to my journals... as they are a pleasure to do... and also as reminders of my learning this type of art... 
 This is another page for a challenge this week... over at Artists play room...  it is to use one color and also show it...  

I hope that I can link to this... not really sure... this page is so large... 
 I have been working on this page... Garlic... we have such a wonderful crop of garlic this year...  I love drawing it too... it is all hanging up now... dried and ready to go to market...  we have to save some so we can plant more for this coming year... 
 More tissue paper and another print of a painting that I did a long time ago...  

I love the colors of this one..  
 A few of the ATC's that I made for another challenge... using three of something...  so each ATC has three of the item... like three leaves, three chinese characters, three punched corners... etc...  

Fun... 
 More tissue papers... and another painting...  love the peacock feathers and the little lizards... they love our back deck...  so cute... 

I love to watch them on a warm day run across the banister and look all around...  

 I do have a few pages that totally need to be finished... but this is one where I used a Zendala and then painted the background... it is a reminder of summers past...  Summer Tyme...  with the watermelon, walks in the woods, and party hats for birthday parties... just fun summer tyme things...  


The inside cover... on the back of the book... has paper on it... but that is as far as it goes...  

This will be altered the next time you see it...  some of the pages have already changed... so hopefully in a few months I will be able to show this journal to you again...  

Hope you have enjoyed this one... and that you are keeping a journal of some kind... there are so many different types of journals that you could go crazy trying to figure out which kind to do... just do what makes you happy... and enjoy it too...  

Creating is part of living... and that is why I love to do it all the time...  Hope you have a fun day, and thanks for stopping by...  next time, maybe you can have a cup of tea and enjoy a little more... 

Love, Light and Peace... Bonnie