52Q- Week 3: Do I Believe in Fairies?

This painting is described in my journaling on the back, but it basically says that I believe in fairies with all my heart. :) The painting is of Christmas Eve 2007 when Makenzie lost her tooth and we had two visitors to our home that night. We wish we could have been there to see Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy sit down to a quaint tete-a-tete over hot cocoa and sugar cookies. I'm sure the Tooth Fairy decided on drinking herbal peach tea while Santa enjoyed his hot chocolate. In the journaling I mention video footage that we caught that night of Santa Clause. If you'd like to see that you can follow this link to it here.

Makenzie and Kendyl's 52Q Art Challenge Tags

Makenzie and Kendyl have joined in with me in Emily's art challenge this year. They are doing them on little tags and linking them with a ring. Here's what they've done so far. It's so fun to do it with them at the table and see what they come up with and how their little minds and hearts work. I know they will cherish this little journal when they are older. It will be a little chunk of themselves to remember and giggle at.

Makenzie's first tag: Wishes for 2009?
I love her spelling- adorable. Looks like we'll need to get her a pony this year to make her wish come true. :) Anyway, here's a translation of the back of her tag:
Ponies have been my favorite animal since I was a baby. I guess you could say I'm pony crazy.

Makenzie's second tag: Are you Afraid of Change?
On the front of her card she drew a picture of Daxton (one of her best friends) scoring a goal in soccer in the snow. She's on the edge by the chain link fence building a snowman all by herself. On the back of the card she says that yes, she is scared of change because she hates that now Daxton plays soccer during recess instead of playing with her.
(Don't worry too much though- they've worked out a deal that he will play with her 2 days in the week and she has 3 other boys that she plays with everyday so she's not alone- just missing one of her favorite buddies.

Kendyl's first tag: Wishes for 2009?
She of course wishes for a unicorn and for her birthday to be everday. What a wonderful idea. :) On the front is a drawing of her and her sister holding balloons and wearing their pink flower dresses- how lucky. I like how she made the horse stickers turn into unicorns by drawing them on.

Kendyl's second tag: Am I Afraid of Change?
The front of the tag is of her thinking about that question and then on the back she did her best to spell out that no she wasn't afraid of change. Her reasoning she told me was that she wasn't afraid of butterflies changing to have wings or for princesses to turn into other princesses that were their friends. hmmmm I'm sure it makes perfect sense to other 5 year olds. :) Too cute.

From here on out, I'll just post their cards on the posts that have mine. I'm so happy they want to join in with this. We're having a lot of fun together.

52Q- Week 2: Am I Afraid of Change?

For my art journal card this week I tried something new. First I painted the picture on the left for the front of my card. I wanted to use butterflies to represent change and how it can teach you new things, helping you to grow and become a more beautiful person. I also painted a "looking glass" that I ended up putting this week's question inside. I wanted to represent how change leads to adventures (like that curious Alice has). Next I used this painting that I made of stripes and superimposed it behind my butterfly painting in Photoshop, erasing some parts of the painting and messing with the opacity. I found I liked the color scheme better when I changed the hue and saturation of the top painting.















Combining the two gave me this...

It really was fun to learn more in Photoshop and try new things. Below is the back of my card with my journaling for the week. I put Penelope's footprints on there too with an ink pad. I'm so glad I thought to do that so I will always have it as a keepsake. She really is the sweetest most beautiful baby.

New Year= New Art

In Jan of 2007 I participated in my friend (Emily's) art challenge called "A Deck of ME" where we journaled once a week by creating a piece of art around a topic about our lives. It was so fun to push myself to figure out what I would do for her topic, sketch, paint it out, and then journal about it. I love looking at my pile of paintings from that year. In 2008 I didn't keep up with my art as well and so I've decided to join in again this year with Emily. This time she is asking a question a week. I'll answer the question with a painting and journal my answer on the back of my little 4"x6" watercolor post cards. Seth keeps challenging me to paint in a bigger format and I am tempted, but the nice thing about the post cards is the size. I actually finish something that way. I'm so use to it by now and I have all these nice quality tiny brushes. I've always loved miniature things and so I'm really drawn to this format. I'm sure bigger would make it so I could add more detail and push myself color wise, but for now I really enjoy small.

I would love to invite anyone to join in with us. Here's a link to her challenge explaining how it works this year here. Most participating are scrapbookers and create the most lovely things. I want to keep improving with painting so I chose to join in that way. It's open for anyway of interpretation though. Come on... it's fun. Let me know if you join too.


Week 1 Question: "Wishes for 2009"

Before you think I'm super corny and that I'm wishing for world peace when you look at my painting- hear me out. Of course I wish war would stop, especially with all that is going on in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, etc. etc. and of course I wish violence would cease and people would be more giving, but I can't really do much about that. What I'm wishing for that I can make a difference with is having more peace in my heart and in my home. I chose to make my painting reflecting the recent Christmas season because it brought my family and myself so much peace and happiness. We were all a little more relaxed, focused on our Savior more, and relished time with our new little angel girl- Penelope. What a special spirit she brought to our home. So as I think of what I want for 2009- I see that I just want it to feel like it did at Christmas all year long. I have asked myself what can I do to bring greater peace to my home and life and have decided on a few things that are my resolutions for this year:

1. Study from my scriptures everyday and spend time praying and meditating.
2. Use more kindness and patience with my children.
3. Build more on our emergency fund savings.
4. Give back to myself by:

~painting at least once a week
~exercise 3 times a week
~attend the temple at least monthly

Some of these things I'm already doing pretty well and have established habits of, but can increase my dedication to and some I don't do well with at all (ahem... exercising). I feel all of these things answer my question of what will give me greater peace.

Just for fun here's a picture of our beautiful little 3 week old baby girl having tutu fun with her big sister.

Okay- and some more. What? I'm a proud mommy. :)