Helping a Friend

Life has been a bit busy and I picked up a virus and sinus infection so missed posting last week entirely. 

I have been helping my friend Christy with the baby shower for her first grandbaby. She found this adorable Owl Diaper critter online and I helped her re-create 7 of them for the centerpieces on the tables. In this photo the ones behind are waiting for ears, we ran out of washcloths.

We had Stamp Club last week and a Cards for Troops yesterday. I will try and get some pictures of the cards to post in the next couple of days. I hope to be working on some new designs soon. My goal is to post once or twice a week this year. I may even try some blog candy later since I have found a couple duplicates of stamps. Hmm..... must have really liked them.

 I am continuing my purge/clean/organize project so who knows what I may decide needs a new home. My daughter is helping me and we started in the kitchen last week. We cleaned the cabinets with Murphy's Wood Oil Soap, moved the fridge and cleaned and dusted behind and under it and wiped down the exterior of all the appliances and counters. Tomorrow we start on the disaster room. It partially houses the Cards for Troops materials, some other art supplies and the exercise equipment. It is buried as it's become the catch-all the past few months, you can barely walk through it. It will take probably the better part of a week to unearth, sort, purge and organize again.

Blessings come daily in small and big ways. I am thankful my bug wasn't the flu. Hubby installed a new kitchen sink, faucet and water purification system this weekend. The first Cards for the Troops was fabulous and I try to find some way to be kind each day and share.

Hope your week is fabulous!

2013's Word

I have never participated in the One Little Word project before but a few days ago it resonated. I wanted a word that would celebrate giving and receiving, art and life. My word for 2013 is Blessings and I believe it was further confirmed in the pastor's message this morning when he paraphrased Genesis 12:2 "You have been blessed so that you may be a blessing to others." I think that will become my quote for the year too. AngelArtist came about because I love to encourage and surprise others, many have said I've been their "angel" so I paired it with artist for my love of creating and added OK at the end for the state of Oklahoma my residence. So I hope to be a blessing in 2013 as well as discover everyday blessings along the way.

I sat down in the wee hours of Saturday morning and wrote out the following to guide my year.

Blessings in the Word of God and with fellow believers
Blessings in His Creation, the beauty of nature, animals, life
Blessings in sharing His love and care
Blessings in serving, giving and receiving
Blessings of family, friends and furbabies
Blessings even with trials, heartache and pain
Blessings in the gifts and talents of encouragement, art and more
Blessings are everywhere if I remain aware
Open my eyes to Blessings each day

copyright RAC 2013

Instead of resolutions, I have chosen IDEALS for the year:

Inspired
Delivered
Encouragement
And
Love
Shared

So this second week of January begins my BLESSINGS and IDEALS journey through 2013.

I am also doing the 52 Week Challenge of putting money away each week based on the week's number of the year. 1st week = $1 2nd week = $2 and on through the year. If you are successful you will have saved $1378 by the end of the year and in this uncertain economy any savings is better than none. And who knows where it might be a blessing to someone if needed.

Hope your week is fabulous!  
 

 

Classes

I am cooking up ideas for some new classes this year. Starting up Stamp Club again last August was refreshing for me and challenging too and I like challenges. We had a successful Christmas Card Class in October and I had the best time designing the cards. A couple were cased with twists of course. I focused on using the new mini stack Festival Prints DSP in the SU! Holiday Catalog. It was so successful that everyone is asking me to design a new class with the mini stack Print Poetry DSP in the new Spring Catalog. So without further ado, here are the cards from my October Class, look for new designs coming soon.

Of course I had to go back and redo the mitten cards above and add a loop to the string after one of my customers in class did that. It was the last set I designed and I was under a time crunch so I didn't loop them. It's the little details that make a difference sometimes. 

As you can see this was a Big Shot intensive class.

A New Year & Another Shot at Blogging :0)

Well all good intentions of blogging in 2012 ended up at the bottom of my things to do list. Sigh. Sometimes life is quite a ride. However each day is a new beginning and a chance to try again. So to go along with all my New Year organizing, studio time and every day activities comes the chance to blog again. So hopefully you'll get the chance to see some creations from 2012 as well as my new work in this New Year.

This was my New Year card for 2012.....

2013 is the year of the Black Water Snake so my challenge will be to design a new card to celebrate this year's Chinese New Year. 

I am hoping to create lots of cards, mini books and oriental style art, as well as branching out  into more art journaling and canvas work.  

Wishing you a Happy New Year filled with promise and hope!

Many Blessings!