Diva Challenge 101-UMT Phicops

So excited Ms Laura is back this week with another new challenge! Her dear hubby, B-rad, created a spankin' new tangle, Phicops, which became our UMT challenge this week-love it!! And after an especially hectic morning yesterday, an afternoon spent catching up on cleaning, I was more than happy to park my bottom and give this one a whirl...

Phicops, Caviar, Tripoli, Angelfish, Zinger, Fescu, Flux(ish)

Still working on the colored cardstock exercise from One Zentangle a Day and a pile of other projects waiting in the wings...and I'm thinking about reworking this week's zendala dare because it just won't let me go...

 

So absolutely not leaving the house today except for my Wednesday bike ride this morning, chores, then tackling more of these projects piling high on my plate (and maybe a little Harry... maybe...haha!)

 



Starting Over

I stopped counting gifts last fall...ran out of steam while waiting, still waiting, to get our family all back together again. Then once we were, when I had the most to be thankful for, I let it go, the counting. My heart was overlowing happy, to be here, to hold him again, to dip toes in cold frothing waves, seagulls and snowflakes and family all gathered round close...The thankfuls brought tears, it was all so much, the relief of prayers finally answered...

January came rushing with resolution lists, new dreams, new goals, and another new challenge, OneWord365. I'd chosen Love the past couple of years and decided I needed a new word this year: Abide. How perfect...who more can help me love than Him and how more can He help me love than when I Abide in Him. When stress and worries and frustrations flare, so long as I Abide, He will comfort and calm me and Abide in me as well. Definitely my new word this year, my new prayer...Abide.

And with the new year, I'm starting another new list, counting once more toward One Thousand Gifts, remembering with each one, all good things come from Him...in whom I abide:

1. New beginnings
2. New goals
3. Snow on the beach

West Island Beach, Fairhaven MA

 

4. A new birdfeeder bringing new friends



5. Not lost Ativan (that was a panicky moment!! Whew!!)

6. Pretty colored cardstock to tangle on

7. The Michaels store app for free coupons (that could be trouble....)

8. Strength to withstand temptation to eat out

9. Pulled pork soup

10. Brainstorming bike ride

11. Best hubby ever who's tire light brought him home for air and he ended up filling my tire first (he's so awesome!)

12. A kitchen filled with hungry boys

13. Overhearing Bugga bragging to his friends about my art

14. Actually finishing projects

15. Realizing just how many art toys I have to play with--yay!

16. Cocoa rice krispie treats with peanut butter--mmmm!!

17. Dogs in stores--sweet little sleepy Pug at Wings 'n Things and Boo, a lab at Moby Dick

18. Ray's Pizza!!

19. New pretties for the bathroom (this'd be a great place for pics...slackin' this week....got a cute little basket with sea grass and shells, and a little lobster and shells for our 'sea shelf' up there. Guess you gotta come see in person--haha!)

20. Morning snow, coffee, and zentangle

 

 

21. High school basketball game with friends





Jacob, Bug, and Colin showing Whaler Pride for Perfect Attendance Day



 

 

 

 

   Join in counting His glory....

   Today, may you be aware that worship is a way of life — it’s not just a once a week event. May your worship never cease. May you continue living in the Father’s presence, and may you continue being thankful for what he has done.
 
“Shout to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with joy; come before him with singing. Know that the Lord is God. He made us, and we belong to him; we are his people, the sheep he tends. Come into his city with songs of thanksgiving and into his courtyards with songs of praise. Thank him and praise his name. The Lord is good. His love is forever, and his loyalty goes on and on.”
Psalm 100

A Snowy Zentangle Sunday

Woke up this morning to some new snow coming down...always a happy sight to start the day! And figuring we weren't going to venture out for church on possibly icy roads, I put a second pot of coffee on and went back to work on the zendala dare for the week. Erin's 39th dare on the Bright Owl is a ZenDon't challenge. Throwing convention to the wind, the challenge is to ignore your typical 'rules' or favorite go-to patterns, and do your dare a little differently....Well, that just smacks me square in the face as I'm all about rules and convention and things being done a certain way...Dare I Don't? And I did...I don't ever take my art work out in public-I'm too self-concious and scared of people on just a normal given day. Bare my soul and do art in front of people?? What??? Well, I was so excited about this challenge AND this new pattern, Palrevo, just put out on TanglePatterns, I took my zendala template to Bug's bowling league yesterday morning and *gasp!* did a little public tangle! Another less daring don't is that I don't typically do monodalas but this week's template just screamed Palrevo to me, and I ran with it...

I think I messed up with the direction on the outside ring, which is where I started, but as there 'are no mistakes' in Zentangle, I ran with that also and just kept going...Wanting to go back and shade a little more...may do that later...

 

I also finished this week's Tangle A Day calendar page (more Palrevo!) and I'm obsessing with swirlies right now--feel something coming on with this...

 

This is just a slanty shot that I played with the contrast level on the photo editing program...

And more contrast, up close swirly and Palrevo...

 

Looking forward to the new Diva challenge this week--having a little withdrawal with her taking the past couple of weeks off (yikes!!) I miss seeing everybody's work! Plus lots more fun stuff to play with this week...yay! For now, just want to go play in the snow! 

Where Has This Week Gone??

I've been completely out of sorts all week with Bill being home Tuesday, then Bug going back to school Wednesday. That made me think it was Sunday and Monday, not Tuesday and Wednesday... Then my cleaning schedule completely fell through the cracks this week (oh weep and sob...) I'm just lost as to what day it's supposed to be! Then the dentist stole a day from me, or rather the hygenist did. The dentist's mother sadly passed away the night before my appointment so now I get to waste another morning hearing how my teeth will all fall cataclysmically from my head if I don't fork over thousands of dollars in dental ransom...grrrfff!! I'm spending a day every week either at the dentist's or the doctor's this month and really not very happy about it. Isn't that what old people do??? UGH!!

Fortunately however, I had a brilliant thought come to mind the other morning while I was out in the fourteen degree weather riding my bike for cross training. A small few of you may remember the idea journal pages I was doing last year that all fell by the wayside along with the rest of my sanity as we waited and waited and waited to finally move...I wanted to pick that back up again but differently as I thought maybe it was a bit distracting. Plus I seemed to track more writing projects on there rather than art projects and this year I fully intend to focus more time on my art. So I reconfigured the page to list current projects, pieces that need finished pretty much yesterday (miss deadlines much?), and then broke down monthly, weekly, and daily prompts and exercises, along with a few 'off in the future dealio endeavors' that I plan to work my way towards as I (actually!) finish the current projects at hand (aka: motivation to finally see something through to the end! Maybe if I track them all this way I just might be able to finish some??) And, of course, I had to make it all pretty and colorful and even left room for checking off actual accomplishments every day, plus space for doodling and scribbling in more notes and ideas to carry on to the next week...brilliant? I'm quite happy with it:

Another little bit I did yesterday, an exercise from One Zentangle a Day (I so love this book!!)-tangling on colored paper and experimenting with shading and highlighting. I picked up a little pack of primary colored index card sized cardstock (to also use for Index Card a Day projects later on...just heaping more and more on my plate...and why do I have trouble with deadlines??) I only managed the one as I had a houseful of boys after school that Bug invited to stay for dinner-he's ever the gracious host...so more play today!

 

Finally, this is just a tangle of the day, also from One Zentangle a Day, using Jetties, Sampson, and 'Nzeppel:



Today, today, today...I am refusing to go anywhere today (jammie day??!) Jammies are HUGE up here...folks wear jammies like regular clothes-I'm serious! No matter where you go, I guarantee you will see multiple people out and about in jammies. Hey, I'm all for super comfort--why not?! My kinda place--except Bug has vehemently informed me that I am NOT allowed to wear my jammies in public because that would just completely embarrass him. Mannnn!!! Sometimes that kid can take all the fun out of a day...But, I really do need to do a little bit of cleaning at least, then play time...it is the weekend after all! Thanks for taking a peek!

***

Today, may you go in the grace and peace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

May the grace He has given you be the grace that you share with others.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.” Galatians 2:20-21, NIV

 

***

 



Also linking up to Beneath the Surface's blog hop today to include my Idea Journal page in Random Journal Day! Everybody loves a blog hop!

Happy New Year!

Wow, 2013...That number is just crazy to me. Another year, and how fast will this one fly, right? My brain is swimming with artful ideas and dreams and plans for the new year. It's only up to me to make them all a reality. And we begin with Bright Owl Erin's Zendala Dare #38!

A little Betweed, Ibex, Baton, Zedbra? and a lot of just fun filling in...

I love these slanty side shots....

The first page of my Tangle a Day calendar complete!

 

And also beginning the Creative Every Day Challenge for 2013...yay!!

How will your new year sparkle?

May the God of peace, the eternal One and only God, grant you an awareness of his immediate return. May you be patient, may you be eager, but most of all may you be found ready when he calls.

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
1 Peter 1:8, NIV

Looking Back

As I was shoveling the driveway yesterday morning, it occured to me that at this time last year we were preparing for Bill to leave for New York to begin training for his new job that would take him even further away from Michael and me, to Massachusetts. Hearts were heavy facing another separation, but I thought surely it would go faster than the last time when we moved from TN to PA (five months spent apart) Oh how wrong I was-and I had no idea what was coming medically for me either, just a little further down the road of the year to come...

But, 2012 wasn't all that bad. I had some incredible friendships that carried me through the hardships. I discovered Zentangle! And what a fun venture that's been this year! I've met so many wonderfully talented ladies through this creative circle-they inspire me with their work, encourage me with their kind words, and light my days with smiles as they share their world, their art, and their lives...I look forward to learning and playing more with Zentangle this new year and hope to get certified as a teacher in the fall (actually meet Rick and Maria Thomas!! Whoa!!)

2013 looms ahead with some still unanswered questions regarding my tremors. Whether or not we'll ever find out the cause remains to be seen. But, regardless, we move forward. I'm training for my first 10k I hope to run this spring. All I can do is take the very best care of my health and the rest is in God's hands, come what may.

I plan to enjoy as much of the ocean as I can possibly squeeze in--to the Beach!!! I plan to paint, to draw, to play, to write, to enjoy this gift of family, to go see the whales and the seals! Yay! I barely made a dent in my list of books to read this year and I've already dumped another good half dozen in there with certainly more to come. So much to look forward to for this coming new year...


10 Questions for a New Year’s Eve Reflection

1. What was the single best thing that happened this past year? Moving to Massachusetts!!!

2. What was the single most challenging thing that happened? Being separated from Bill for the first nine months of the year.

3. What was an unexpected joy this past year? The amazing friends God blessed me with--Missy and Jenn and Diane, who made the world of difference getting through a very scary time....

4. What was an unexpected obstacle? My tremors that led up to spinal fusion surgery.

5. What were the best books you read this year? The Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin--I'm completely hooked on that world!

6. With whom were your most valuable relationships? My girls!! Coffee dates at Panera!

7. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year? Stupid games on Facebook

8. What was the best way you used your time this past year? Zentangling!

9. What was biggest thing you learned this past year? I want to write something amazingly brilliant here but really...I guess in the very bleakest moments of the year, God blessed me with the most beautiful women I've ever known in my life. I never could've made it through without these three and I am so thankful...What I learned is God will never let me fall. His love will always carry me through, in the gifts of friendship and so many other little amazing ways...we are so blessed...

10. Create a phrase or statement that describes 2012 for you. All's well that ends well...

Our happy little home covered in snow

Boo wantsa go play...

Happy girl!

Loving my new calendar!

A little Rock 'n Roll Diva Dance...

It Snowed!!

Woke up this morning to a gorgeous white wintery wonderland outside-well, I really woke up to lights flashing in the windows a little after three a.m....There was a team of snow plows doing a tango, making quick work of the snow covered streets. It was really fun watching them--I'd never witnessed anything like it before. We'd always just had one big plow run a quick path down the one side of the street and then make another quick pass going up the other side. Here, I'm guessing because of the way our streets run wide in the corners, they worked together-one would push a pile of snow to the middle of the street then another would come from another angle to  push the pile to the curb, back up and they'd make another pile, push it to the curb, working their way around our deep, turn around corners. To me it looked like they were having fun, this little snow plow dance in the middle of the street...I could've watched them all day, I think, but once our corner was all neatly scraped clear, off they went to work on the rest of the neighborhood....

Then I watched as the moon settled over the trees out back and the sun slowly rose in the opposite direction. Pink washed the sky out front as the grey of the night sank softly away. The clouds were a feathery mist, flanking the moon in a ring of red that my camera just couldn't quite pick up. Magical, this first snow, so beautiful...it always makes me feel like a kid again!

Winter wonderland

Watching the moon sinking in the horizon

So wide awake and full of excitement, I pulled out my Tangle A Day 2013 calendar and thought I might start to play (Carole Ohl, of Open Seed Arts and the calendar's creator, said it was okay...) I'm really looking forward to taking some lettering courses this year and fancied up a Happy New Year, then also in awe of Helen William's latest post with Mooka, I went a little Mooka-ish with my numbers....I'll fill it in more and post again--it was just fun getting started this morning! Yay!!

 

Happy New Year everybody!!