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More Valentine's Hearts

Here are some more of the Valentine hearts I made to send to my friends for our banner exchange. This guy is one of my favorites.

My Hero

love is dreamy

love is family

I really love this original old photo of this family with their dog. I sent this one to a friend of mine that I grew up with, who like me, loves big dogs.

Most of my hearts used this same color pallette. I like this abstract. It's a nice break from the other realistic ones.

love is quiet

love is feeling.

 

so that's all of the ones i mailed out to my friends. today i spent a bit of time making a few more for myself to fill out my banner. i'll post those along with the ones i received from my friends before Valentine's Day arrives.

Are you making any Valentine themed arts this month?

Valentine's Day Exchange

I gathered a few friends together to exchange Valentine hearts so we could each make a banner with a dozen hearts. I just finished mine today (that's them up there) and have put them all out in the mail. That is always so hard for me. I want to hold onto them and hang them up right here. I would be better about it if I made them earlier and could enjoy them a little longer. But, as I was sick for a few days, I was up at the last minute painting like a mad woman. As soon as they were dry they went right into their envelope. Oh I will miss them. I'll highlight them over a couple days and then I'll show you the ones I get back from my friends. Which is wonderful! I love it when the mailbox overflows with envelopes full of painted and sewn treasures! It makes it all better again.

This was one of the first few that I made. It is of a broken heart that is healing.

And it has all manner of secrets and thoughts written all over it.

I think I posted this one another day. Not sure if I posted it here or somewhere else. It is titled Love is Never Lost. The morning I painted this a girl I went to school with when I was younger passed away. I was feeling pretty low and thinking of all the people who loved her and how sad they all must be feeling. And I kept thinking that the love we feel for someone never leaves even though the physical form of the person may pass on. Their love lives on with us long after they have moved on.

This one is titled Love is Home. It is hard to see the details in the photo. I used a chalky blue gel pen to write around the little collaged house.

The roof of the house was made from a check written on February 3rd, 1920 in Montana. The little birds are from a label from some old matches. This heart has lots of layers of paint, ink and pens.

This one is more abstract with a little home closing it up at the bottom.

Little Love

Love is Strong

All right, I have to run off and help a little boy study for his social studies test . 'Hope you enjoyed the hearts!

 

A Little Bit More Christmas - Deryn Mentock

My sweet friend Deryn had injured her shoulder right as her Adorn ornament exchange got underway in November. But that girl is no quitter! I received this gorgeous crystal ornament from her today. It has a little tiny bell on the hand-forged hanger and a sweet sequined ball along with a tassel of ribbons. It's so pretty! Thank you, Deryn! I'm so glad you are feeling better!!

Friday hearts

Making more banner hearts today. What are you working on?

Love is Never Lost

Working on Valentines for a banner exchange this morning (using a paintbrush so tiny I think it only has three hairs).

Cracking open the stone

 

Today, I was reminded to look deep inside the gray for the joy of the every day. Today I was happy. It was that feeling of forgetting all my troubles for a minute and relishing the satisfaction of having a few things all into place that I've been working on and praying about. They're just little things but seeing results made me practically giddy. I took the time to celebrate my joy by singing songs of thanks Loudly in my house. My dogs jumped around as I came down the stairs and danced to my noisy approach.

I hurried off to help at my sons' school. As I got close to the large elementary front door I heard a little bird declaring its presence for everyone to hear. It was singing in it's crystal clear voice quite emphatically. I looked up and there it was, high up on the flagpole, above California's bear flag and Old Glory. The flagpole had a large ball on top and that was where this tiny songstress was perched. There was bird poop at her feet but she was celebrating fully in her best voice. It made me laugh out loud with happiness. I was being serenaded and it was grand. 

 

"Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

New

There is a new year on my calendar. I feel slightly like I can believe it. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes Christmas comes and goes and people say they never "got in the spirit" of the holiday. The new year is like that for me (and birthdays). The page for December is torn from the calendar and the whole thing is recycled. I go to bed with champagne in my head and wake up feeling like...like what? Like it is just another day? Like the world was reborn overnight? How does it feel?

I don't make resolutions on the first of the year. I make them every day all year long. Sometimes, inside my head, they sound like this, "I won't yell at that woman for cutting me off. I won't yell at that woman. Ok, ok. I yelled at her. She was an idiot. Ugh. Now I feel bad. I will try to be nicer. I will try to be more patient. I will learn to Relax."

Do you get that? When my son is down on himself he can be so brutal. It makes me hurt for him to see him being so hard on himself.

I remind him that we all fall short of our expectations at times.

No one is perfect.

And we shouldn't seek perfection either. It's unrealistic. But we should seek a better direction. We have to strive to be more (fill in the blank). And that is something I try to do every day because some days I move forward and other days I fall so short I can't even remember what square one looked like.

So here I am moving forward and reaching out to say hello to you. I miss my blog friends. I've been drifting for a while. I keep trying to put my feet back on solid ground underneath my pink bubble. I think I am closer. I feel like today is new.

 

The Last (no really) Day of Christmas - Jackie Allison

 

Even though the heading (which I made way in advance of actually opening anything) says the sixth day I truly opened this one very last. It is from precious Jackie. Jackie doesn't have a blog but she is an art loving Texas girl who is a treasure.

And she is so clever, too. She mailed her ornaments out in these sweet little cookie tins. They were well protected through the postal system and quite cute, to boot.

The little tag with bells reminds me of the ones we used when I was a little girl. it looks so vintage to me. And inside that pretty red glittered bag is something special just for me.

 

Jackie's ornament is an assemblage featuring the tiniest

frozen Charlotte doll I've ever seen.

She is only about an inch or two high. Here's how Jackie described her ornament to our group, "The ornament is supposed to tell the story of a little girl wishing on a star for Santa to bring her a doll. The doll is under the tree (which is symolized by the little crystal salt shaker) in a package with ribbon (the wire) and bow on top. The red swirl of beads and the snowflake represent the snow outside."

  I loved hearing about the story behind my beautiful ornament and I hope you enjoyed it, too. I has been yet another memorable exchange. These girls don't let anything hold them back from doing their best work. They are such sweet people who I am so happy to be able to share my Christmas with each year.

From the top of my tree to the bottom of my heart, I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas!

Next to Last Day of Christmas - Maija Lepore

Miss Maija sent me a pink Santa surrounded by bunnies. Yes, oh yes!

I love my Maija girl! And this year she had to farm out her ornaments due to life behaving too unruly. It just had to happen. And while I missed her own colorful creation, I am super delighted with this gorgeous little sparkling house from

Jenny and Aaron at Every Day is a Holiday! I wish you could see how this pretty thing glitters! I've never seen such sparkle before. It is absolutely precious!

And there's sweet little Jingle Bells on the back. Perfect! And it looks super pretty on my tree. Thank you, bff!