Women in White Altered Book

I have been working on this book for a couple of years, and I finally got around to scanning the pages. This is one of my favorite books. However, it is falling apart, so I will have to figure out a way to rebind it to keep it together. I ended up scanning these pages because I am participating in an visual journal online workshop put on by Strathmore Artist Studio and the instructor is Pam Carriker. This is my very first try at an art journal. I needed some copies of my existing artwork for the first step, so therefore, I finally got these pages scanned and printed. I will be sharing my journal as I go along.

WOMEN IN WHITE

This book is a very personal book. This is one of my favorite pages.

This is the entry page to the book. Come on in!

Once Upon a Time

Regret.Com

Vows

He Gave Me Wings

Pink Rose

Vulnerable

Real Women

Cafe Des Arts

Altered States

Wonder

A Stitch in Time

Tiny Dancer

When Did you Stop Trusting?

White

Which Way?

Forgiveness

I'm also going to post this to the Pink Saturday happenings over at Beverly's at How Sweet the Sound. I do have a few pinks in here, so I hope it qualifies. I find I don't always have time to do separate posts. She has quite the following over there and lots of really wonderful bloggers take part in Pink Saturday. So if you have time, go over and check out some wonderful posts and some wonderful ladies!

 

Final Christmas House Book

I am finally getting around to posting photos of my Christmas house book from the Christmas House Swap. I was so impressed with the work of the other participants.  It is sort of difficult to get the full effect, but it is an accordion shaped book that I placed on my piano as a Christmas decoration - now one of my favorites! This was such a fun swap to participate in and so I have now signed up to do another one focused on Easter!

Word for the Year - "BREATHE"

My word for this year will be “breathe”, because I have been having real difficulty with that this year. My doctor says a lot of it is stress-induced, so I have to learn to live my life so that I can breathe. When you can’t breathe, it becomes oh so much more important to you! When I get to the point that I can't inhale and fill my lungs, I hyperventilate and then pass out. NOT FUN. And then I get to spend the rest of the day recovering.

Lisa Leonard is having a give-away over at her blog: LisaLeonardOnline.com. She makes wonderful jewelry. Drop over and check out her necklaces and enter for a chance to win one yourself!

Learning to slow the pace of my life will help to enhance stress management. I also need to stay away from people who use me or stab me in the back while pretending to be my "friend". With friends like that, who needs enemies! A true friend is one who appreciates your good qualities while forgiving those idiosyncrasies that make you sometimes unlovable. I am fortunate some true friends like that in my life and part of my New Year's resolution is to spend more time with them and less time with the others.

Learning to slow down will not be easy for me. I have always lived life at a very fast pace and I have been having trouble accepting that as I get older, I can't do the same things I used to be able to. But God and my friends have been reminding me of my limitations, and when I don't listen to them, my body speaks to me loud and clear!

So for this year - BREATHE! It is a wonderful feeling!

Happy New Year

This is what the Lord says, ... "Forget the former things; do
not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs
up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and
streams in the wasteland."
-- Isaiah 43:16,18-19

I am looking forward to all that 2011 has in store.

Christmas House Swap

I participated in my very first art swap - Christmas houses. Here are the pages that I made and submitted.

Each person made ten pages and sent them to the hostess who took one from each set and bound them into a book for each of us. It was so exciting to receive the book in the mail. I will post pictures of the final book later.

I WON A BOOK!

Wow! I am so excited. I won a book give-away over at Craftside.typepad.com! Take a few minutes to go over and peruse their wonderful blog. This is the book that I won:

Over at Craftside, they were using old recycled Christmas cards to make new greeting cards. There are some great ideas. I have pulled out many of my old greeting cards and I am using them in my altered art. More pictures to come.

Lovely Give-away at Jones Design Co

There is a lovely freebie of printable gift tags and a fabulous December give-away over at  http://jonesdesigncompany.com/. You should really take a few minutes to browse her blog. She has wonderful ideas and a beautiful blog and some great tutorials.  Plus, you might win something really pretty. All you have to do is comment on her blog.  Here is a peek at one of her photos showing some of her darling gift tags.

I'm definitely going to print them out and use them this year. Have fun and good luck!

Putting Up the Tree

Our annual tradition is to put the Christmas tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving, and this year was no different. I was blessed to have all three children here and Ron and Jess graciously put together the artificial tree. My camera seems to have gone on the blink so most of my pictures are blurry. But it is what it is. Each child has their own box of special ornaments along with the standard ornaments that we have collected over the years. Christmas carols were playing, and Jess insisted on retrieving the remainder of our ornaments and trim from the attic - so everyone was happy.

The final product - well, almost. Kate still has to add her ornaments. She was too busy with school to help decorate. But she was sitting nearby doing her homework.

Thanksgiving in Michigan

Well, it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving if we didn't stop and reflect on the things we are thankful for today. I personally am always so thankful for my husband and my children. They make my life so full and complete. I can't imagine life without them. I'm thankful for a warm, comfortable home and health and jobs to pay for those things we need and the little specialties we enjoy - like mochas from Barnes and Noble! LOL! I'm thankful for good friends, both near and far - and thankful for reasonably good health. I'm thankful for sweet potatoes - my favorite! And I'm thankful that they now ship them up North from south. In addition, I'm thankful for Jesus Christ, my Lord and savior.

This year, Ron's sister, mom, dad, nephews and his sister's fiance are joining us for dinner. This has been an annual tradition for many years. It is a great time to share our lives and just be together. Ron's mom's health is still good enough for her to be with us and for that, we are especially thankful.

So this year, remember your blessings and enjoy this journey that we call life.

 After dinner dessert: Jess, Kate and Ron

Grandpa and Aunt Janet (Ron's sister)

Boys watching football.

Jane Austen Center - Pink Saturday

Here are a few pictures from our visit to Bath and the Jane Austen Center this past summer.

"It would be mortifying to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of a man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire... Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone. No man will admire her the more, no woman will like her the better for it. Neatness and fashion are enough for the former, and a something of shabbiness or impropriety will be most endearing to the latter."
— Jane Austen (Northanger Abbey)

Thanks to Beverly over at How Sweet the Sound for sponsoring Pink Saturday. Head over to find more Pink Saturday links and visit some awesome bloggers.

Trick or Treat - Smell my Feet

This year there was quite a gang over here that went out trick or treating. The weather was unseasonably nice. The girls gathered here and painted faces, while the guys got into their costumes. We adults sat around and drank wonderful French press coffee and caught up on our lives. There seems to be so little time for that any more. But here are the pictures just before the crew went out.

Here are the girls - mine is on the right.

And here is the girl in the newspaper dress. Quite creative, don't you think?

And here is the entire crew.

We had lots of goodies, homemade chili, fresh salsa, hot apple cider, chai, cookies and more.  It has been an annual Leng tradition for many years. Nowadays, we have - let's see - 11 chaperones and one bonafide trick or treater.