SJ Lessons 3&4

YES!! Lessons 3 and 4 are now completed in the advanced Soul Journal class by Sarah Whitmire. http://www.souljournal.com/

We made a "Dark" side and a "Light" side in our journals with pockets to put tags in that has representation of light and dark things in our lives.

Here is my "Light" side:

The gold angel on my Faith tag is from an awesome photo collage by Izabella (one of my favorite artists): http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=36394

Here's my "Dark" side:

Completed Lesson #2

Here are pictures of my completed Lesson 2 from Sarah Whitmire's Soul Journal advanced classes. I still have 3 more lessons to go! I am working at a slow pace, but loving every minute of it. Check out Sarah's site at: http://www.souljournal.com/.



I loved this book when I was a child...it is still a favorite.

I love books...they have sustained me through some of the toughest times.

So peaceful...

I love flowers and this angel statue reminds me of my best friend, Rachelle. She died in a car accident when we were teenagers and I still miss her so much...she will always have a special place in my heart.


My favorite flowers.

I've always loved this photo of that one fish going for it!

I know that angels have always watched over me, including my mommy.


I love the sun...it always makes me smile.

Altered Photos

Altered photos (sanded, painted, sponged) for Soul Journal. Will insert in my SJ this weekend and post.

Soul Journal online

It's been a busy week! I've been getting my journal ready and buying supplies for the online workshop by Sarah Whitmore http://www.souljournaling.com/. Can't wait to get started. We are altering photos in the first lesson. Here are a couple of the ones I plan to use:


Beautiful lavendar fields in France

Fountain in France (of course!)

Shop in Port Aransas, Texas

Can't wait to get started and can't wait until school is out for summer!!! 3 more weeks...

Mandalas

One of my Yahoo groups...Soul Journal are doing a mandala swap. I played around with this really cool FREE application that will make a mandala out of any picture. (see website at bottom of post)

This is my chandelier:


This is a Moulin Rouge picture:

This is the French Sun picture off of my Facebook:

This is from my favorite childhood book and the mandala I submitted for the swap:

Spring Mandala (see the birds and flowers?) I love it.

Go to this link to make your own: http://www.krazydad.com/

Excuse the mess!

Please excuse my mess of a blog while I'm transferring it to a '3 column' template...I'm so excited! But for right now it's a hodgepodge of stuff.

Now on to projects. In my Soul Journal group we are working on mandalas. I was so excited when I saw this prompt because I've mentioned mandalas before (see labels on side bar) and have been curious about them ever since. Here is the beginning of mine:

Below is another page I created. I love the green and black together...it looks so elegant and it was perfect for this vintage photo.

Last but not least...I made this special item for my friend Lisa for her birthday. She's a 'beachy' gal and I couldn't just make her any ole card. So, I thought to myself, "it would be really cool to put her card in a bottle like it was washed up on shore".

So that's exactly what I did! I put lots of little treasures in the sand for her to find...a pink flip flop, gold sun, tiny shells, glass beads. That was a fun project to make and I have a request for another one! Now, if I can just locate another square bottle (that one was from my personal collection), I'll be set!!

Valentine Blog Party

It's time for a Valentine's Party!

Cute little love birds from a box of chocolates!

The "Love Letters" book below is one of my favorite gifts from

my dh. I LOVE it and wanted to share someof the pages with you.

This is the letter inside...an actual love letter written in 1707!!

And, now for some pretty downloads for you:

And, what's a party without music?!!

And of course, one of my most favorite Valentine's Day treats is

desserts and a little champagne!

My beautiful roses....they are blooming so nicely!

Pop on over to Kathryn's blog to look at more Valentine's Soul Journal

Parties: http://www.collagediva.com/souljournal/

(sorry I didn't have time to make a page...I will tomorrow and post it later :)

I am Thankful...

I was just sitting here thinking about how grateful I am to have all of you wonderful women out there in the world, from the Soul Journal group to my Friday Night Club gals to my friends at work...I am truly blessed. Here's a poem I came across that reminds me of our art groups as we are working together.

Any woman who sews or knits, or weaves, blends colors in a tapestry
or creates a patchwork quilt, knows by the feel that a single thread is
weak but the weaving, the blending, the intertwining with many others
makes it strong. Any woman alone, without friends to sustain her, to
nurture and support, to hold with loving arms, like a single thread, is weak.
But the weaving, the loving, the nurturing of others, the networks of
friendship makes her strong.

by~Barbara, 1994 in "The Kinship of Women"

Soul Journal...playing catchup!

The Yahoo Soul Journal group that I belong to has quite a few
lovely and wonderful prompts provided by the awesome Kathryn Antyr, her website: http://www.collagediva.com/.

My "Web of Love"


My "Weaved Dreams" for the new year. The song "Dream Weaver" kept going through my head as I was making this so I included it!

OMG - what a mess I make during this creative process! Here's my "Defining Words" process:

And, waalah!! I'm not finished with it yet...but it's a start.

I'm also dabbling in some other projects: making a valentine journal for a friend at work, valentine's for Etsy, and trying to get organized! See ya soon.