Certified Paper Freak

art journaling and an attitude of gratitude

happy November everyone!  i hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween.  October is always such a busy month for my us and it just flew by. i started a gratitude journal for November but i couldn't get my photos to load. i'll post it tomorrow.

i started another on-line art journaling class with Marit again. the class is called Mixed Emotions. if you've never been to her website you should do yourself a favor and take a peek. she is an awesome artist and teacher. i am having the time of my life with the class. and Michelle is tag teaming with her on this one. she is very creative too and i've already learned a ton from her.  here are the pages i've done so far.

the emotion was courage. i met a seamstress recently who is impressively talented. the only problem was that she did not have an ounce of self-confidence. when we left the shop i commented about it to my hubby and he just sort of laughed. he said that he noticed. he also said that lack of self-confidence in a man or a woman is such a turn off. it was a real eye opener for me. so my journaling today is about learning to have the courage to believe in my ideas, my art, and myself. i need to dig deep and find the courage to bring my ideas to life. i need the courage to just do it...go for it. as i find things that remind me, inspire me and encourage me i will put them inside the file folder.

the emotion was Loneliness. i got a good chuckle out of one of the quotes Marit gave us. if you are afaid of loneliness do not marry. -Anton Chekhov

i totally don't agree with this, but i couldn't get the darn song out of my head.
because of the nature of our business, Jake is gone away often and for good periods of time. when i don't go with him,i miss him like crazy. i'm never really lonely though ( we tallk on the phone and he does come home for short spurts). i use that time alone as "my time"...to go to movies he wouldn't want to see, scrap, and take short trips to see friends and family.

this lesson was on weaving papers together and the emotion was joy.i hadn't sewn in so long. it took me longer to thread the sewing machine than it did to make the journaling page. LOL.
my simple joys:
hot cocoa, beginning of each new season, color yellow riding in the rain, gardening, fresh flowers, long walks, traveling, long walks, color turquoise, frozen grapes, worship, family, faded jeans, desses with boots, kisses, phones with friends, fire in the fireplace, hats, hugs, celebrating birthdays...and so many more.

we get a new lesson today and i can't wait.
if any of you are a doing a gratitude journal for this month, i'd love to see your pages. send me a link.
peace and love

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Okay, Where Did I Put That?

i'm  sitting here at home in front of my very old and slow desk top. i should be in San Angelo visiting my mom. do why am i still here? well, i couldn't find my keys yesterday. i had them first thing in the morning and then when i was getting ready to leave i couldn't find them. Yes, i have a place where hang my keys so i don't know why didn't put them there.  i searched and searched and finally around 9:30 pm i found them. in. my camera. bag. why i put them in there i don't know! the troubling thing is that this starting to misplace things started some time back now.  way before i lost my camera at IHOP.  i've left my purse at Starbucks, lost debit card in Wichita Falls, can't find my checkbook, i left my laptop in San Angelo last weekend...the list could go on and on but i won't bore you with the details. i hope it's just a phase that i will be out of soon. this is CRAZY!

here's  the little mini album i did for a challenge over at Betterfly Crafts.  the new challenge is up now so go on over there and join in on the fun. i think you can click on the picures to make them bigger.

the photos aren't that great. sorry about that.
oh, and the new challenge is up over at A Few Of My Favorite Things. it's a one fun too. the prompt ths week is what's your favorite flower.

i hope you're having a great big fantastical day today.

totally out of season

i've been playing around on Scrapblog.com and this is what i came up with. i love that website. you should check it out if you already haven't. i love to decorate my home for all the seasons. i hope to get all my spring things out soon. maybe i'll post some pictures.

Love Like This

Wow!  My hubby and I had such a great weekend in Austin visiting my son.  We didn't get much rest, but we sure had a lot of fun!  The only problem is that I can't seem to catch up on my rest.  I've been really busy with work lately and I can't seem to wind down and relax.  I even went for a massage last week on Wednesday.  Oh, let me tell you, I loved it.  If I could,  I would go every week.  How about you?  How do you relax?

I finally got to get a layout done. YaY!  It was one I wanted to get done for the challenge at Scrapping the Music a couple of weeks ago, but I had company that week and didn't get it done.  I knew I would, eventually, and today was the day.  My hubby and I had gone on a weekend trip and we found this historical church out in the middle of nowhere.  We saw the steeple and took a detour to go see what we could see.  It was really pretty awesome.  I had been saving those photos to scrap and when I heard the song,  Love Like This by Natasha Bedingfield,  it was the perfect inspiration.

I was over at Sharmaine's blog , (love her blog) and she mentioned that Lusi Austin is having a really awesome RAK drawing.  Hop over to her blog for a chance at all the goodies -

I'm gonna go on over to Scrapping the Music and see what the new challenge is this week.  You want to join me?

I leave you with a picture of me and my son goofing around while we were talking to his girlfriend on the computer.

Journaling  on this layout reads:  When this life tries to keep us apart, You keep calling me back to Your heart...You're the One who saved me...

thanks

I made this card a few days ago and I wanted to post it before I mail it off to a friend.  I enjoyed making this card. I was inspired by Lisa Garay's button ornament that she posted at https://www.scrapinstyletv.com/.  If you haven't already checked out this site you are missing out on some serious fun.

There were so many challenges posted at SiStv that I wanted to participate in last week and I didn't get the chance.  I hope I will be able to get more done this week. The challenges are so inspiring. 

One challenge I know I am going to try to  do is at http://www.scrappingthemusic.blogspot.com/.  The song of the week is turn it up, by Aaron Lines.  I had never heard it before and I love it.  I hope you will play along. I am also going to try to finish up my page for Sasha's wacky Wednesday challenge, which can also be found at SiStv. 

Thanks to those of you who stop by and read my blog.  I enjoy reading your comments.

Hope you get all crafty this week and have lots of fun!

...or maybe a limo

THis was just too cute. Sunday, I went to San Angelo to celebrate Olivia's birthday with her.  She got $352.00 for her birthday.  Isn't that insane!  She had told me earlier that she had more money in the bank than her sister, Emily.   I asked her how much she had and she said she had $450.00 dollars.  I told her, "yeah, you have more than I do, too." After she opened all her gifts I asked her what she was going to do with all that money.  She said she was going to put it in the bank for college...or maybe a limo.

She cracks me up!

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Have a great Thursday!