New Stuff

"So much has been given to me, I have no time to ponder over that which has been denied." - Helen Keller This quote always gets me. Makes me realize I have no reason or right to complain. I did something different with some of these backgrounds, cutting diagonal strips. I like the effect. " I had a dream that my house was clean." (but alas, it was only a dream!):
"Be grateful for the home you have, knowing that at this moment all you have is all you need." LOVE it. I LOVE this quote because when I start looking around and start to get disatisfied with my own home, I need to remember that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. I would be so much better off just being CONTENT:

"The journey between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place." Does she look like she's dancing?! Dancing is really hard to draw. "The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving." Can you tell that I'm really into incorporating arrows into my work right now?!

I feel like this all the time: "She never leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along." Sometimes it's worry, more often it's just missing them, wondering what they're up to...." Her head was always in the clouds, because she was learning to fly." Yeah...that's the ticket...that's why I'm so spacey!

Books

I feel like I've been busy, busy, busy with these recycled baby board books. They were SO MUCH WORK! Each side of the page was like its own miniature work, and some of the books had 10-14 sides to work with! I did get smart and glued some of the bigger books' pages together to decrease the amount of pages I had to work with. I don't know if I'll do this again, although it was fun. It was just so time consuming. I've got 6 books total, but it felt like so much more work than that! I have no idea what to charge for something like this. They're not that big, but I'm not sure if people will recognize and appreciate how much work they were.Here are some random shots of some of my favorite pages:
My favorite book - cover to cover:

The End.

I did it!

OK, here is my purple porch again. And as you can see, there are now polka dots and faces. Those who have seen my old porch know that the steps had moons, stars, hearts, etc. and I painted over all that. I thought purple would have enough punch, but no. I think it's more fun now.
Here is a close up of one post. I'm thinking I might name them. I bet my husband will help me out with that job. Sounds like another whole post. post. hmmm....get it?

Thought I'd show you quick the blanket I made for my new nephew. I think it turned out pretty good. I am NOT a sewer and usually get easily frustrated with this kind of stuff. I think I just don't like doing anything that precise and exact. You have to follow directions and stick to the rules of sewing and I guess I don't really have that 'gift'. So, thanks, mom, for calming me down and looking over my shoulder and sewing along that outside curvy edge for me. I think she secretly enjoyed it, I could hear her giggling a few times as I sewed at snail speed.

?????????? THERE ARE SO MANY!!!

OK, the balls are on the posts. ? is, is it too plain? should I add polka dots to the balls? a little face? should I wear this shirt in public? so many ?'s and no answers!

COLORS

Wow, this paper was yellow, but it looks very "avocado dip"ish to me in this photo. I was trying to show you yellow and lots of it, because that's what I saw this morning - the first day back at work - the first day of preschool - getting ready for art. A bottle of yellow paint exploded in my face covering me with yellow paint.....where was the camera then???? The kids were just coming in and I was hurrying to get ready and well, I laughed anyway. But I really don't care for yellow. It doesn't look that great on me, especially on my eyebrows and glasses and mouth!!!
Purple porch - have you ever seen one? Well, this is ours. I love it! I still have to finish off the round balls that screw into the tops of the posts, then I'll show you again.

Charcoal Gray: The New Black?

I'm on a charcoal gray kick. It makes the other colors "pop."

Why are owls so wise? Does anyone know why? Are they wiser than the average bird?? Well, it's a message I need to keep reminding myself of, since I tend to lean on my own understanding a little too much at times. Thank God He knows it all and I don't!

Done!

Daisies in Progress

Here's what I'm working on today: Three very large gerber daisies. The petals will be lavender. I decided to paint them on black matboard, so that there would be black space all around the painted parts - a neat effect - but it's taking alot of paint! It was alot of cutting too. My matboard-cutting muscles really got a workout! These flowers are each about 3 feet wide. I'm making them for a friend who is putting on a women's retreat. They will be part of the decorations. Each one is going to have a key verse in the middle.

Family ROUGH DRAFT

Got some pencil sketches of a family here. Just their faces for now. If anyone recognizes them, send me an e-mail!

School Carnival

Our school, Lemme Elementary puts on a carnival every fall as a fun fundraising event. This year I'm helping put together an arts and craft table. We'll be decorating masks and creating sand bracelets. I've been sorting through my stockpiles of random fun doodads in search of stuff I'm willing to donate. Here's a sample of what I've come up with so far.

If any of you local artsy craftsy people have anything you're wanting to get rid of in the way of craft supplies: feathers, pipe cleaners, glitter, stickers, foam pieces, sequins, silk flowers, "gems," ribbons, or other random bitsies please send them my way. Just email me at paperprayers@hotmail.com and I'll come and get them!

Special Order

Here's a special order I did recently: It's a house warming gift for a family who picked up and moved to follow God's leading to do mission work. I incorporated their family's special verse that has been their theme during this time. Hope they like it!

Lazy Days of Summer

Although this summer has gone fast, it's been a slow summer art-wise. It seems like I've been working on the same batch of stuff for forever. That's what having 3 boys at home will do to ya! I'm so sick of looking at this stuff and ready to move on to something new. Here are a few of the finished pieces: