Art Intentions for 2013...

It feels like a year of new beginnings and a lot of finishing...

Some of my art goals intentions for the New Year are:
1. Do art daily! Even if it is 10 minutes of making a background in my journal. Just do it!
2. Do a monthly art journal calendar to keep track of what I do for my daily art time.
3. Work on my  Ticket to Venice journal.
4. Finish my ROD (Remains of the Day) Journal.
4. Paint on a canvas (board) .
5. Make more books!
6. Work on the Craftsy classes I signed up for.
7. Find my art style... an ongoing search.
8. Go to Art Unraveled in Phoenix in July.
9. Do more art quilting.
10. Make my taupe quilt.
11. Do more embroidery.
12. Finish the scarf I am knitting!
13. Redesign my blog title with photos behind the title so it always looks the same on all browsers.

I also wanted to mention that the other day a few of us who are local but taking Mary Ann Moss' Ticket to Venice online class met up in Fremont at the studio of one of the participants. We spent the day gabbing, playing, looking at each other's art, and getting motivated to work on our journals for the class. I had SO MUCH FUN!! It really rejuvenated my spirit for doing ART and making it a priority in my life. I was so busy looking at stuff that I actually forgot to take pictures of the day but I am sure it won't be the last time we all meet and play!

Journal spread December 2012

More journal pages I have been working on.

New washi storage...

new washi storage, a photo by Cali-rhoz on Flickr.

Works better than the other free-for-all container although... it's already full! And I still have 4 more rolls... and no doubt more in the next year coming, so I will need to start a second container too!

Making a Whole 30 Commitment...

After dabbling around in the Paleo/Primal eating world for the last year and some months, and after a few months of eating things again that are NOT helping my body at all (breads and pastries), I have decided to do the Whole 30 in January to get me back on track. Seems like a good time to start off right again, changing my eating habits back to those that made me feel better in the first place.

Another Rainy Day...

Another rainy day in Sacramento... a good day to work on (again) the reorganization of my art room. After I put all my art stuff into the closet thinking it would be easy to get to there Pandora (the black cat) had to be isolated from the other cats who were beating her up so my art room became her room and then it was mpossible to get into the closet. So yesterday I brought everything out and traded the art cabinets with some of the fabric bins I do not use on a daily basis. Today I will finish rearranging so that I actually have space to work again.
The problem is that I do 2 activities that both have a lot of stuff associated with them and I want to be able to access it all in this tiny space. NOT going to happen, so I had to re-evaluate and make it work better for me (again).
Today outside the front door:

The oranges this year are so tiny. I hope they are still sweet and not bitter like we have had in past years when they were small. I guess we didn't give them enough water at the crucial time. In the years we water them right they are large and delicious. I may pick a few today and check them out.

Resurrecting my Art Journal...

First off had to add 2013 to the title page since I had hardly done anything in it all 2012.

I started it off with a bang (see these pages in my Flickr account) but then managed to lose the journal in a box of stuff I packed up and put aside and just found it again earlier this month. So, since I only had a few pages done and why waste a perfectly good journal, I just added another year and am keeping on in the same journal.
So I did a couple of pages last week...

Then last night started playing around with more backgrounds. Tonight I worked on one page so here is the background...

And the page...

Taking a bit of time to get back into the groove of things. I have to relocate my supplies which got moved when I cleaned out my closet and moved them in there. Now that I share my art room with one of our cats who needs to be isolated so the others don't beat up on her, I have to move her stuff when I want to get into the closet to take out any supplies. Not the easiest way to do art...
I think one of my projects over this coming 2 week break is to rearrange things a little so my art stuff is in easier reach. I need a bigger room!!

I may need another washi tape container...

Not that I ordered a few more tapes from Amazon this morning... Just sayin' .. storage is getting tight -- time to use them more!

It needed some Day of the Dead ornaments...

So I started with this...

and made a couple of prototype ornaments...

Basic idea ok, sewn and stuffed with batting. Now for some tweaking...

Nightmare Before Christmas Tree 2012

We haven't done our usual tree (or any tree) for a few years so this year we decided to dust off the old Nightmare Before Christmas and Halloween ornaments and do a tree... Halloween might be Oct. 31 for some folks but it lasts all winter for us!)

It still needs a bit more -- maybe I will add some sari ribbons this year! Stay tuned!

Sari Ribbon...

First I saw some on someone else's craft blog... Then I found some on Etsy... next thing I know I am the proud owner of a bunch of gorgeous sari ribbons...

Dreaming of ways to use it in my fabric art...

Apparently I am a year behind the curve. Already found a Sari Ribbon Blog Hop online from last year and a whole lot of Pinterest links and even You Tube videos and online shops with projects and so much more! I had never even heard of sari ribbon until a couple of weeks ago when I saw a small package of it in a rubber stamp store of all places! When I got home I Googled it and found some on Etsy and here we are, me and my sari ribbon!

Out of the Box Circles...

On Thursday I went to the Country Sewing Center for the "Out of the Box" art quilting/sewing class. This time we made cut up circles:

Here is a close-up of the green background one:

I really enjoyed making these and got a lot of ideas for what to do with them... mostly thinking of a fabric bookcover. I will be playing with these ideas and will post what happens!
UPDATE: Found out where these come from! Check out Sandi Cummings and her Thinking Outside the Blocks book!