Wednesday, January 30, 2008

I came, I saw, I blogged


EVIDENCE I WAS HERE.

As a newbie in the world of altered art, art blogs and paper crafts, I often surf the Web for inspiration. One of the best art blogs belongs to Michelle Ward of the The Green Pepper Press and Somerset Studio fame. Gathering my courage to join the art community, I decided to accept Michelle's GPP Street Team challenge to journal my blogging of 2007 -- as Michelle put it, "to give evidence that I was here and made stuff." It worked out perfectly since this blog was started exactly a year ago in Puerto Rico while visiting my parents. And I make a lot of stuff -- but more about that in future blogs.

The process of printing what I had blogged and creating entries in my art journal was a trip on a moebius loop. Most of my blog entries feature art I made in my journal, so after awhile it began to feel like those photos of someone looking in a mirror at themselves looking in a mirror at themselves looking in a mirror . . . ad infinitum. A little odd and at the same time, kind of cool. Introspective and retrospective simultaneously. And it gave me a chance to journal about my surgery in October, which I couldn't do at the time.

I hope if you are reading this you'll drop me a comment and say "hello." It would be great to make new friends. And if you can explain to me how to add Internet buttons and the like, I'd be so grateful! I really would like to link back to the GPP Street Team.

Thanks for stopping by!



I grabbed an opportunity to journal a little more of beautiful Puerto Rico.



My recovery from surgery when the three dominant themes were food from friends, pain and TV.



It was such a difficult holiday season -- but the moon that accompanied us home from the movies on Christmas night was so magical it felt like a present.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy New Year


The ball has dropped, the boys and I ended the year with our traditional homemade pizza and a rousing game of Scrabble (they're getting to be quite the threat without help from me!) and a close friend is enjoying a New Year's kiss from someone who loves her for the first time in ages. It has been a great ending to a difficult holiday season.

Two thousand seven had its highlights -- it certainly started out better than it ended -- but I'm glad to see it go. There were blessings that illuminated some of the shadows that grew longer at the end of the year but I'm happy to be able to have a fresh start. And frankly, happy that the holidays are over.

Since I was alone on Christmas Day, I decided to do something positive and designed a necklace that stressed where I want to go in the New Year. It's focal is a pewter bead from Green Girl that says "grow" and "strong" along the sides. The tree is reminiscent to me of a Jewish belief that the Torah is a tree of life and the Judeo-Christian symbolism of the olive tree. I hope it will be a positive talisman in 2008.

To you and yours, a happy and healthy New Year!