rubber stamping, collage, mixed media & altered art

I’m finally starting to realize that I’m not the only woman on this earth who’s busy and has too much on her plate. I know a lot of it is my own doing. I can’t help having so many interests! And having a lot to do is the nature of running a sole proprietorship. This is just the way life is. The trick is in how I handle it. My lists go a long way towards keeping order. Now I’m working on not whining so much and getting a handle on the anxiety that a long to do list brings along with it. Mom also sent me some vitamin B-12 supplement drops that seems to be helping a little.

Work has been super busy, so I haven’t had much time this week to make stuff, but I’ve been squeezing in some reading and calendar journaling (see photos below). I’ve finished the current issue of Somerset Studio and can’t wait to alter some cutlery. And the current issue of CRAFT has the most amazing (and hilarious) instructions on how to make little stuffed monster dolls and I cannot WAIT to start making some of those. I am, however, being true to my promise of finishing my unfinished projects before I take on new ones.

Well, mostly, anyway. I got a wild hair (or hare, whatever) about taking an online class for webby research purposes and signed up for Susan Sorrell’s Doodle Designs class. It’s a lot more embroidery than I expected and I am not really good at it, but I’m giving it a go! My first piece is shown here. It’s requiring me to have patience, which I really need practice with, so that’s good for me.

That’s all I have today. I do want to let those of you who are commenting here know that I finally did get your comments. I forgot to check my inbox for a few days and found I had a pile of comments to approve. It’s funny how I remember to tell my clients all of these things, but when it comes to my own sites, I tend to forget the simplest things!

Below is the work I did in my pal Karen’s calendar journal for January. This is part of a yearlong project via the Calendargirlz Yahoo Group. If you click the photos, you’ll be taken to Flickr, where you can see larger versions.

Last weekend, I made this canvas. I was shooting for a turquoise theme, however, I had gotten confused between Somerset Studio’s and Stamper’s Sampler’s challenges. I realized afterwards that, while I did stamp on this canvas, it’s not really Stamper’s Sampler material. So it’s just for me for now. I had intended that in 2008 I would enter more magazine challenges, but the fact of the matter is that I just want to do art for me. Or for a patron. Sending artwork into a magazine that could credit me incorrectly and not pay me for my effort isn’t worth my time anymore. Life is short and I don’t really need the “approval” of Stampington or any other publication in order to value myself and my art.

Thursday is my self-appointed blog update day, but since yesterday was my birthday (I turned 41), and the day got so crazy with FUN, it never happened. First things first, I want to reflect on what a great day it was. Generally, I find that my birthday can get busy with phone calls and messages, especially since I work from home. Not that I’m complaining, of course. Everyone in my family feels the need to sing “Happy Birthday” to everyone on every birthday, too, so it’s hilarious. I spent a lot of the day laughing. I know, it’s shocking, isn’t it? I know my friends who know me and my state of late will find that very shocking!

Those who know me know that my life has been hard lately: Great disappointments, sad events, big health scares and broken friendships. In other words: LIFE. I do know things could be worse and I do know that God would never give me more than I can handle, but there have been times in the past 18 months where I didn’t think I could handle any of it.

But yesterday…yesterday was such a great day that I remembered the young, happy, optimistic Tracey and I even FELT like her, which was unusual and rare. All of the calls and cards and IMs and texts and emails and gifts reminded me that in spite of the bad stuff, I am so loved. And I am so blessed to have so many amazing people in my life. Even if a lot of them live inside my computer!

So, I’m working really hard on keeping that in my head and my heart. Today was a good day, especially because the cards are still pouring in. Crazy!! It’s also encouraged me to do more RAKs and other random notes/cards/art/communication for my friends and family, and not just my arty friends. How awesome does it feel when you know that so-and-so spent a few minutes picking out the perfect card to let you know you’re loved? My friend Shanna in Georgia sent me this amazing fruit bouquet yesterday and it really made me feel amazingly happy and loved. There was fruit and chocolate! WOW…Life can’t get any better right now.

I have more creativity, art and art project books than you can shake a stick at. I realized recently that I have lost track of what books I’ve read and more importantly, what books actually move me and do their intended job of inspiring my creativity. This thought came to me as I was reading one of my Christmas presents from mom: Jane Wynn’s Altered Curiosities. It really struck me on a number of levels — as an artist, a writer and as a former editor. As a result, I’ve decided to write reviews of these books, starting with the most recently acquired.

Read my review of Jane Wynn’s Altered Curiosities: Assemblage Techniques and Projects here.

Enjoy!

Here are my project plans for this year.

Project 1: Finish all of my unfinished projects.

Project 2: Andrea and I are going to do a super special secret one-on-one journaling project in the new year. So that’s a big one.

Project 3: I want to make more books. I have been experimenting with using junk mail envelopes to make little books. I have one almost done and then I’m going to make more. I think that they’d make great birthday cards for special folks.

Project 4: I remember seeing a book project where the artist used a styrofoam pear for the covers. I still have the pears and I want to try that.

Project 5: I’m considering buying a sewing machine and a bind-it-all thingie with my Christmas money. I’ll have to learn to use them. That’s a project.

There are more, of course. Some of them rely on my unjamming my coil binder and/or buying a Bind-It-All. Some of them rely on my re-learning to crochet when mom sends me my grandmother’s crochet hooks. Some of them rely on the weather getting warmer so I can do things in the garage and outside. All of them require getting over my fear of failure. Wish me luck!

Today I’m working in my new journal for this year, as well as in Karen’s calendar journal for our round robin.