Greetings, dear friends! I thought I'd post a couple of my recent digital layouts...and then some of the FAB FINDS I've found in the last few days...

And so, without further adieu...here's the first of my layouts:

And then this one:

I hope to offer an AltAred Art class sometime soon.

And then I found these MARVELOUS trinkets:

These adorable bird vases were found at the amazing Three Potato Four. I just LOVE fat little birds...which leads me to these most coveted treasures:

These little fat robins come from an Etsy site: Cupcakes for Clara. Way cool, yes?

And then finally, these yummy pencil rolls from Blueberry Park (England)! Aren't the fabrics mouth watering?

What IS a pencil roll you ask? Here's the item description from the website:

"What a great gift for any child - boy or girl - young or old. Manda McGrory, of Tree Fall Design, makes these fabulously functional and beautiful pencil rolls out of the most amazing fabrics. These are perfect to keep in your bag, to bring out to use anytime anywhere. The pencil roll comes with 12 coloured pencils and 2 lead pencils and is easily fastened by the attached elastic.

Choose between boy or girl variety. Manda sources only the most appealing fabric and assures that no two are the same."

And for anyone seeking to lavish someone special with a one of a kind gift, THIS would be MY choice from Divinerose:

More very soon! Peace!

As promised, I am posting my AltAred Books! I hope you'll take the time to "check them out" (that's an old "librarian's joke") and ask questions, steal ideas, or just generally revel in the oddity that is my art. :-) I've snagged a "vat-o-Gesso", so more books will be forthcoming!

Hi Honey, I'm Hooooooooooooome!

I am back from the AACC conference and wow...does my brain hurt! I walked my legs to stubs and overtaxed my mental faculties the entire 4 days...but learning is SO MUCH FUN!!!

Anyway, two of my classes were taught by medical doctors, one a neurosurgeon and the other a psychiatrist. They showed images (scans) of the brain after a period of depression, alcoholism, ADHD, caffeine...WOW...what a MESS! They then explained the connection between neurological activity (or the lack thereof) and extended, untreated mental illness. And THEN (for free) they threw in a brain that was a heavy caffeine drinker and compared it to a healthy brain. OH MY GOODNESS. He said that the brain is 80-85% water and caffeine (as everyone knows) DEHYDRATES it and THEN it begins to misfire. The picture was truly a shriveled little mess...see more examples of these brain scan images at Dr. Amen's website.

SOooooooo, guess who's sworn off caffeine? Yes, it's true (COLLECTIVE GASPS HEARD FROM MY READERS) *I* the solidly sworn 42 oz. bucket-o-Coke drinker shall seek to give up the foul drug in an effort to restore my brain to a healthy plumpness. So water it is.

So, a final farewell to coffee...homage to my drug of choice...I submit to you the following:

FIND OF THE DAY...AND MORE!

Greetings!

Just a quick note to say "thank you" to all of you who said a prayer for me during my recent "near death experience." Needless to say, I'm doing MUCH better...I am vertical and able to take in some nourishment. A glowing report after the horrendous week I've had. But I digress.

Today (at 8 a.m.) I leave for Nashville, Tennessee and the AACC World Conference.

AACC is the American Association of Christian Counselors. It is a 4 day "learnfest" with hundreds of workshops and a veritable "Who's Who" in the world of Christian counseling and authordom. 10,000 Christian counselors are expected to attend! I am SO looking forward to it...I have needed a "shot in the arm" in regard to my counseling for awhile now. I am investigating the prospect of internet counseling...Stay tuned for more information when I get back..

MEANWHILE, please feel free to peruse the images in the slideshow...you MAY see some familiar faces. Also, look for recurring themes...

And oh, my "find-of-the-day":

How completely FAB is this? It's a hand thrown communion set..gives a whole new meaning to"little brown jug" doesn't it? A friend of mine found such a set on her doorstep...handsomely packaged in a basket. ALthough it's not terribly Franciscan of me, I admit I am utterly GREEN with envy.

Oh, by the way! I have scanned and will download my AltAred Book collection soon.

I have been violently ill for the past 3 days...and so my blog has been put on hold...as have my creative endeavors. I have been too sick to even THINK about creating...however, I have used the time to forage along the web and find some very groovy items that I think you might find cool...I ordered this from Etsy...it's even more fab in real life...

Unico Creations

AND check this out:

Peace loving monk that I am, (my monkpage) I am all for doing ANYTHING besides "making war"...even BAKING! I just disovered Johnny Cupcakes...I don't watch MTV so little did I know he and his "garb" have become something of a "celebrity" in the Rock World.

I also found this way cool website: Sprout Home

They have all kinds of neat housewares like this plate:
Also things like this "Gnome-In-The-Box" which you could spend the rest of your life searching for:

Now aren't you glad you checked out my blog today?

Hey, if you think about it, say a prayer for my recovery...also, as YOU are foraging through the web, when you happen to come upon some things that are just TOO COOL to be kept to yourself, clue me in! Leave a comment here or you can get my email addy from my profile!

Cheers!

STRESS RELIEVER #732: CREATE!

The slideshow represents my latest efforts toward stress relief...One of the great "therapeutic tools" in my "counselor's toolbox" is art therapy...and for me, that means altered art, scrapbooking, painting, generally creatively making a mess of my tiny studio (behold the studio/bedroom...you can see several views in the slideshow...other views below)







I'm in the process of getting all of my altered books (you simply will NOT believe how many of them I have created!) into a digital format...I'll post via another slideshow when I'm done.

Meanwhile, look for people (photos, prints) scattered among the artwork that will give you a clue as to who/what serves as my inspiration. I'd love to hear what you find!

Stay tuned...I have a feeling more stress (therefore more art) will be forthcoming! ;-)