little bits of holiday cheer...

some paperwhite bulbs by the window

some ornaments on the tinsel tree

  

the beginning of a holiday page in my daybook

candy wrapper

peppermint cupcakes that my mom made

and some sweet treats from my favorite bakery, cafe.

tonight i plan on making some pecan cookies.

I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday :)

My circle of days book

Hello everyone, is there anyone still visiting, its been so long since my last post, the major reason being that i don't have a smart phone and the way i upload my photos didn't work so now i have a new  digital camera instead and am much happier. So i wanted to show some glimpses of my circle of days book, a project and kit created by Lesley Austin. Its a pretty way to keep track of the little tasks you do eacgh day using little cards in envelopes attached to pretty magazine pages.

I may still add a few bits and pieces here and there but i like the simplicity of it.

Now i am gathering things to put together a holiday book of days somewhere to keep inspiration and ideas

an online class i'm taking...

shopping for supplies

I'm going to be doing a fun ecourse next week called woodland girls, its a week of fun little craft projects and nature journaling and i thought if any one else would want to join the info is here you just sign up and then you can join any of the classes, this one is $30.
she says:
"just imagine walks in the woods, gathering, creating inside and outside of your studio, sculpting with paperclay, painting our own woodland girls on wood slices, wood burning, stamp carving, creating your own nature study journal and incorporating words from some of my favorite poets." It sounds like fun doesn't it?

some new sketchbook pages...

Some recent drawings and i have felt like adding more journaling to my pages which is fun, i like drawing objects and the books i've been reading. it's all such a calming process.

current visual journal pages...

I am finally catching up with my visual journal, i did just a little over the summer and now i had the inspiration to finish all of the random pages and pull it all together and get caught up, so thats what i've been doing this week...

Some things i've been doing lately...

I bought a butterfly embroidery pattern from pam garrison, so that's fun and relaxing to do a few stitches at a time, i am such a fan of her doodles...

and then i've been adding some new flower drawings and alphabets to a little sketchbook...

trying to keep up with my project life album, adding photos and journal cards and other little bits from my days to my small album. and having an iced coffee with it makes it even more enjoyable...

and i also planted some pansies for the fall, a happy mix of colors, i love pansies so much.

new paintings that i have for sale

I've been inspired lately to do some whimsical paintings on wood and i am selling them on my articents website if any one is interested. They were a lot of fun and relaxing to create something that i feel in need right now to just brush paint around and add doodles and flowers and little etching doodles and more layers of paint...

 this first one is 10x14 and its called butterflies dancing and its 48.00 here

this second one is 10x10 and its called in the rose garden and it's 35.00 here

this third one is a small one its 5 1/2x8 its called the daisy field and its 18.00 here

and the final one is larger 14x10 and its 48.00 here

A journal page about my ancestry dna

This is a journal page that i created after doing an ancestry DNA test. I thought my whole life that i was mostly German with the last name Bomgardner and my mom's mom is German but i only had 6 % of that and i have 55 % Great Britain which came as such a wonderful surprise because now it makes sense my love of England and Scotland and everything British. That comes from my dads side and he just never really knew much about his ancestors or where he came from but my mom has done a lot of searching for us and found many interesting things. Its been a lot of fun and i wanted to do a journal page and share it here on my blog. I do believe it can be an important thing to know where we come from. A lot of families talk about it but some don't anymore, so its nice through technology to be able to find out.

My favorite lotion and a lovely new magazine

This is a rose geranium lotion that i first found out about in Victoria mag. I love it, it has such a wonderful smell and the painted label is one of my favorite parts too.

and this is a new magazine by the publishers that do Somerset Sudio magazines. It is so nice it's like a book with so many wonderful articles and enjoying the simple pleasures in life, it is all put together so well, very inspiring. And i loved the cover so much, i wanted to do a sketch of it.

My 'Sketchbookery' class pages...

I'm having so much fun in Mary Ann Moss's sketchbookery class and i wanted to share some of the pages here. I have a really large sketchbook/art journal and a medium sized sketchbook.

This first page is a field guide page i want for a walk to gather some plants to draw and label, i'm not sure if i labeled any of them right though...

This was a page where i tested out some new pens i ordered and a practice alphabet that i copied from one of the really great font/lettering books that Mary Ann mentioned and she probably won't mind if i mention them here.. lettering and alphabets by Albert Cavanagh and circus alphabets by Dan x. Solo. So many ideas in these books.

This was a page inspired by Mary Ann when she created a "splashy page" painting outside of the lines and a lot of water on the brush. Really fun and different from my usual way, which is the fun part of this class its stretching my ideas and inspiration and techniques.

 
This is the smaller sketchbook and a bolder look that was also a lot of fun, i'm drawing with different sized pens and just having fun with it...

a drawing of avocados with a green pen and the other page is drawn with a tiny pen and really delicate

Even though i've been drawing or painted for about 17 years its so much fun to take a class and learn something new. a new way to look at something you've done for a long time. So i'm really glad Mary Ann put this class together. I've only done a few online courses but each time I always learn so much :)