Summer Post

Summer's going by, and definitely we are trying to enjoy every last bit, slowly. Mostly poolside, reading, reading with the kids, or last weekend, the zoo. So blogging has taken a back seat for -- about a month. {hmmm, didn't seem like a month?} Garden is doing great this year. My own fresh salad. That is a joy! I love the color of this lily in my backyard.

In the meantime, I finally learned how to make a banner for the site.To this site for tutorials, I love that site because the ladies are the best at answering any questions. Lucky for me, the new blogger makes it a very, very easy, painless, satisfying experience. And I didn't need to haul out the programming for dummies book. I did doodle the little birdie (on already used paper, of course) then scanned it in. I can't believe I lived without a scanner for so long.

I also love her, and her and have tried some of their craft ideas. Cuz, well when you have as much patterned paper as me you better start using it :)

Also still always taking alot {and I mean, alot} of pictures. [yes, we are a kodak family] I know I can do more with them. I always have a bunch of sites or other creative blogs I visit when I am feeling the lack of a creative spark, this week I popped into some of my all time favorites. Yesterday at this site I felt the spark for a summer mini album. I have this small album I picked up on clearance for really, really cheap. The kind of cheap you can't pass up. But then I hoard, I start stashing stuff, or maybe its the "gathering" that ali also describes on her site. In a kind of "I know I can do something with this later" trance I buy it. Then there's the "but I want to try something different, something else I've been afraid of trying" logic and I begin the hoarding and stashing again -- Lately this logic has helped me build my library of books about mixed media, collage, and screen printing and print making techniques. So I've been doing alot of reading about the different techniques. The collage and screen printing are making me swoon right now but I actually bought some of the beginner tools for printmaking, like making my own rubber stamps for instance, the carving is very relaxing, therapeutic for me, um, but the instant gratification of finishing something isn't always there. More time. Please, more time for mommy's stuff. {what mom doesn't wish for that one!} I can do this, I think, with more time.

Taking note on how it all applies to my life right now. How I have evolved as a person, mom, wife, and the bigger question of "what do I want to do with the rest of my life?" And so all of this is part of a bigger goal of mine -- because I have loved art all my life, loved drawing, doodling, all of it. Like the feel of paint on fingers, all of it messy, even the smell of not so nice smelling solvents [ okay, maybe shouldn't admit that one] The thrill of seeing something you made thrill someone else. I don't think they can bottle that one yet. Why didn't I do anything with this love of the art before? I guess I could write a whole lot about leaving the "career" and being a stay a home mom and the worry that sets in when you realize that a) no way can I go back to doing what I was doing and b) seven years is a very long time to be out of the "real" world of work. I get the jitters just thinking about it. Well that would make this a very long post. And really its not about dredging up what you could've done better/different it's about the "okay, well, your here now, and you can move forward from here." I remind myself that everything has a reason for happening. Everything has helped [not hurt] you get here, hasn't it? So it can't be all that bad.

So anyway, there's the "daily something" from ali's site that sounds like alot of fun [and I can accomplish] and then getting back to the "one little word" challenges. And there are others, when I can find time between all the stashing and the hoarding.