sunshine factory – artwork by tracey kazimir-cree

A few weeks ago, in my art therapy group (Creating Your Heart’s Desire), we did intuitive drawings on large sheets of paper hung on the wall. We used pastels, which I rarely use in my regular art. I noticed the next day that there was a smudge of lime green pastel on the sleeve of my hoodie. I was so excited and wore that smudge all day like a quiet little personal badge of honor. Unfortunately, I eventually washed the hoodie and the smudge is gone now. But today I’m wearing that hoodie again and I remember the smudge and I’m reminded: Yes, I am an artist. What a happy, freeing thought that is for me.

I have been very very busy finishing Christmas gifts (yes, really) and, more recently, valentines. I’ve also been working on the Collage Challenge with Crowabout and assorted swaps. I have so much to show, so I put a few of each type of item here (click on photos to see larger version), but there are a lot more on my Flickr site.

Mini quilts. These are fun and I’m finally getting the hang of using my machine. I’m no expert, but I like the way these are all coming out. The base fabric is stuff I painted in workshops with Lisa Englebrecht (Maybe I’ll actually finish the projects I started in Lisa’s workshops someday!) last year. The two that say “hope” are for my youngest brothers and there’s a pocket made from a Hambly overlay that holds a prayer card from our dad’s funeral, which was last year on 2/14. The card is of St. Jude, who was my dad’s favorite saint (and is my second favorite). St. Jude is the patron saint of hopeless cases (and policemen) and I thought my brothers would like a little something to remind them to have hope for whatever their dreams may be. Recently I thought that gluing pony beads on the ends of the hanging stick would finish off the look nicely and I was right! Very happy with these.

Mini quilt for my brother Steve and his wife. A belated Christmas 2008 gift!	Mini quilt for my brother Mike. A belated Christmas 2008 gift!	This was Jennie’s Christmas gift and it was less late than the ones for my family.

Collage stuff. I’ve been trying each week to find a little time to participate in the Collage Play With Crowabout challenge. Here are a few of the recent collages I’ve done using images from that challenge. If you are interested in playing along with us, email Nancy and ask for an invite. Let her know traypup sent you! I’m really enjoying art journaling lately and will be posting more pages from my journals in my next post.

Crowabout challenge week 20.	Crowabout challenge week 21.	Crowabout challenge week 22. The heads are my mom and myself about 40 years ago.

Cards. Sometimes I have a hankering to make a ton of cards. I can’t bear to buy them in the store because I feel like making them from scratch means so much more. Plus, I have all of the stuff! So I collected all of my Valentine’s Day-related supplies and sat on the sofa watching movies with my husband and made a ton of cards. Here are a few:

Vday 2009 card for Devin	Assorted Vday cards	You make my heart whirl

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately! There is lots more that I’ll be writing about this week. I’m excited to get back into the swing of things.

I don’t know if my love for office supplies has ever been properly documented. I have more pens than any person should be allowed to have. I partially blame Kelly Kilmer for this, but that’s a whole other blog entry just waiting to happen.

Today, I headed to Office Depot because I needed new printer cartridges. Office Depot had recently sent me a coupon for $25 off a purchase of $25 or more, so it seemed a no brainer. Since the coupon excluded ink, I figured I could replace a few of my dried out Pitt Pens and pick up more of the Uniball Vision Elite pens that I love so much. Who knew a gal could have so much fun in an office supply store? I am a sucker for a nice design and a new way to organize myself and my stuff. Luckily, I was able to restrain myself.

Here’s what I did buy:

• 
• Uniball Vision Elite. The tip is .05/micro. I’ve been using the bold, which I do love because they write over acrylic paint so nicely. I thought it was time to try out the fine tips. I got the pack of many colors, of course, but if I had to choose one, it would be black. I use these pens for everything. They write so nicely!
• Pink Expo Dry Erase markers. Some of the money goes to City of Hope and they are PINK, for the love of Mike. I have two dry erase boards in my studio for reminding me what to keep top of mind and as soon as I free them of other messes, I will outline my studio projects for the upcoming weekend.
• Earl Grey Sharpies. Fine and Ultra Fine. This color will be great for shading. I can’t even find it on sharpie.com, but it’s delicious. You need these pens. Also, I noticed the store has a brand new sharpie display…almost a whole side of the aisle covered with sharpies, including open stock of fine and ultra fine. It doesn’t get better than this. Don’t tell my husband.

Here’s what I didn’t buy:

• Really Useful Box. You can’t see the candylike colors of the lids online, but they are gorgeous in the store — red, pink, green, blue see through…NOM. I think I might need one for the car for all of those things that rattle around in there like the first aid kit, tissues, handiwipes, etc. They were on sale for $10, too! I can see these being really useful for storing and sorting collage papers — and toting the papers and assorted assemblage supplies to workshops. I’m going to think some more on this one.

• 

  PaperMate Flair Felt Tip Pens. Many colors all in one package. I swooned, but decided I needed to chill. I still have my recent Bic Permanent pens from my birthday money and they are delicious in their own right. Next time I need pens (next month, I hope!), it can be these Flairs. Every girl needs a little flair. And I DO like talking about my Flair.

Other than finding some lovely supplies, I have been making lots of yummy stuff, which I will be posting later this weekend, so stay tuned!