happy new year! goals & new journal & stamp carving

I had the most wonderful holiday with my family. 2 weeks+ off from my day job and lots of shopping and relaxing with my husband....

Rocketman and I enjoyed a special Winter Solstice day in Seattle which included a trip to the Great Seattle Wheel - the new jumbo ferris wheel down on the waterfront.
so. awesome.



















I have also been contemplating what my goals will be for this new year. I don't care what people say about starting them any time - it's fun to start with a clean slate - at least with a clean calender :) helps my noodle feel organized and in control.

speaking of calenders....look at the awesome planner my sister gave me for Christmas...she loves planners - and I do too! I am easy to please - pretty much any office supplies will get me twinkling but this planner? it's HOT PINK...I mean real, genuine Flourescent PINK! It seems more orange in this picture but trust me...it is P.I.N.K.!!!

and  AND - it's made in the U.S.A.!! sweeet!

check it out:


the cover is very smooth and the edges are gilded in gold....it has maps in the back too...for adventure planning I am sure.



ok so where was I?
2013 goals....
oh yes....

swear less - I'm already working on this one. a challenge for this daughter of an ex-Navy tree trimmer. plus sometimes swearing is fun....

do more yoga - I have a couple of DVDs and a mat and always feel better when I get done. I plan to work this into my workout schedule - starting goal is once a week :)  ooohhhhhmmmmmm I am on tap for tomorrow for session 1 of 2013. check in with me this weekend to see how it went, OK?

pay off 1/3 of my existing debt (not including the mortgage) I have been working on paying off my debt for a few years already and have decided to solidify my goals into something specific this year. Although I will keep the dollar amounts to myself I am pretty sure I can exceed this goal.

become a better person...this is one I started several years ago (ok...it was more like 12 years ago) and have made this resolution with myself every year since.  This is easily my favorite goal because it has become a sort of personal growth challenge for me and I cannot conceivably reach the finish line, can I?  I like that fact and that I am consciously working on the things I want to make better about myself....constantly. It's not so much a list of things as it is a state of mind...a consciousness level...an awareness of my effect on myself and those around me....a recognition of those around me that are better people than I am. something to strive for.
Improve my posture -I started this one last year or the year before and really want to keep working on this. it;s one of those "body habits" that make a big positive difference as soon as I tune into it and work on it.

this is my list so far. I will probably tack on one of my husband's goals of travel more since that will be a really fun one to work on  :)

New Journal
Did I tell you I made a new journal?
I liked my last one so much (read about it here) that I went ahead and made another one just like it- but the fold over flap is shorter....I may sew something on because I really liked having the long flap to close the journal without having to tie, button, zip, or latch anything.


outside covers are this neat gray patterned fabric I got in a fat quarter at Joann's for a different gray project and I ended up not using it. wonder how that happened  :D

 
the inside is a nice heavy canvas harlequin fabric in taupe and cream colors...nice.

 

a couple journal pages about our wonderful first day of winter. yes, I misspelled Solstice but I know what I meant  :P

I found a cool sketch I made of a flower and wrote a command to myself next to it: "carve."

so I did.

and then I did some more.
I have a crush on this tree design I saw on some paper from Echo Park Paper company and decided to carve one into a stamp.
that stamp was lonely so I made it a tree stamp friend...and another.

this is something I saw in a Gevalia coffe commercial on TV - on a coffee mug! I am pretty sure it looked better on the mug but I captured the essence of the design - whihc was the point. that, and to carve some more. it's pretty addicting.

thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year to you!!

I love comments so will you let me know you were here?

Namaste

-Dawn

journal pages

Photo Crawl - Seattle International District

I spent a beautiful Sunday with my art friends Gwen, Paula, Jan, Lynne and Louie walking around the international district taking photos in another Photo Crawl organized by Gwen.


We started in Kobe Gardens-which I never even knew was there....









there's a pea patch where the residents can grow their vegetables and flowers...





there were little brightly colored stone walkways peaking out from under thegrass...sometimes the path is hidden and you have to keep your eyes wide open...

...and Chickens!!






then we wandered around the streets packed with people -they were having their annual SeaFair Dragon Festival and several streets were closed off and booths set up with goods for sale, crafts, learning activities and food...















After the crawl, we met up at the Panama Hotel to journal and enjoy a late lunch.


Gwen had made each of us these cool little books out of sheets of folded and gesso'd newspaper -here athey are as we were wrapping up to go home


From the left: Gwen, Louie, and Jan - on the right is Paula and Lynne in front in the green :)





I'll show you my book once I get it all finished.


Thank you friends!









Love,
Dawn

Surgery time!

Well, I had to have a surgery to remove 4 large alien eggs from my uterus. OK, they weren't really alien eggs, they were fibroids - non cancerous tumors that are fairly common among women. I started out with the plan to remove 2 that were "discovered" during my annual. But an ultrasound revealed there were actually 3 - and then when my surgeon was in there he found there were really 4 - one had been hidden behind of of the other big ones.

ANYWAY, the surgery was done laparoscopically on March 10 and I recovered for 3 weeks and went back to work. We removed them to make room to make a baby-yeah!!

I'll save you from the horror of the photos my surgeon gave me of the surgery and the fibroids and instead will share with you a couple of the journal pages I did while recovering - once I got back to being able to sit up awake (without pain meds) for a couple hours at a time!

Journal pages

I finally have the nerve to share with you a couple of my journal pages. I have kept a diary/journal off and on for most of my life. I recently began mixing my love of sketchbooks and doodling with journaling creating my own type of art journaling. It was easy for me to look at everyone elses wonderful art journals but challenging to begin one of my own and find my own art journaling style. I am getting more comfortable with pages that start with a colored background-my sketchbooks are all a lovely, blank white page to begin with.. :)

Anyway, here are a couple pages for your consideration...(gulp)...

Journaling retreat with the Gussies

I have been fortunate enough to have been invited to and enjoyed a journaling retreat with a group of ladies who call themselves the Gussies. They had thie first retreat in August, someplace on Mount Baker. This November we headed up to Guemes Island and spent 3 full days art journaling, making art, reading, taking walks down to the pebble-crusted beach, and EATING! Gwen organized the food and cooked us some awesome stew; Rose made the most incredible meatloaf I've had since my childhood; Celeste melted my resolve to stay on my diet with her Oatmeal Scotchies, and Catherine spoiled us with her french toast with fruit and syrup on top-holy smokes!

That's our little home for the weekend, above.

Kathe and Paula goofing around

Lovely pebble covered beach Paula, Celeste, Gwen and I walked down to

not a car on the road for long stretches...I think we saw a total of 2 cars during our walk down to the beach and back.

Here are my walking pals (l to r): Paula, Celeste, and Gwen

Lovely misty meadow

barely a cloud in the sky as the sun went down...

Metal Jounals Workshop

OK, so Tracy Moore makes the most awesome metal journals you have ever seen - not sure if you're aware of that fact about him or not. The great news is he has shared his knowledge with us wanna-be's and offered a metal journal workshop. Guess what? I got to go to it!

Let's talk about cool people, in a cool studio, with a warm fire and a funny dog (when she wasn't picking on Steven)...AND, the bestest hosts you've ever thought of....all that combined with the most wonderful variety of metal journals you may ever see in one place...I showed up with a little headache and thought the pounding would make it worse but it actually made it go away! who'd a thunk that?

So, check out the marvelous offerings made by my fellow classmates (and me)- and go ahead, drool over them...I do every time I peek...here is a slide show on Teesha's blog with more pictures: Metal Journals


Mine was the silver colored journal with the seahorse and stars on the front, with a red leather binding sewn with blue bookbinding thread. I'm sort of on a red and blue kick right now...I didn't take a picture but there are a couple shots of it on Tracy's slide show linked above

This furry face is Sophie the wonder dog

Peace to you.
Namasté

-Dawn