Creatively Living Life!

Newest Addition to the Garden

2012-01-15T14:01:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Birgitt gave me this neat basket and I took four cups I had made in pottery class and put them in the basket and filled them with Ivy. I do like how it came out. There is so much I need to do around the house but I just can not find the willingness to tackle what needs done. This is a simple and not costly and instant gratification!

One Little Word for 2012

2011-12-31T17:48:00.000-08:00

       Looking back I have realized I picked the word “Hope” for my 2011 “One Little Word”.   As best as I can tell I did one blog post for the word. One other page in my art journal but other than keeping the word close to my heart, I did not put to paper what the word was doing in my life.

      As the year comes to close, it is hard to believe that my life has been turned upside down. Where is my hope? Hope is there but hard to grasp other than knowing there is always “Hope” when you believe that Jesus died for your sins and that you are forgiven if you ask to be forgiven.

      My hope lies in knowing I have so many people who have been keeping me in prayer for peace and comfort and hope for a new day and way of living that will bring me “Joy”.

     The word “Joy” has been popping up all around me. How do you have “Joy” when you are suddenly a widow at 61?   Why would joy be the word I would want to focus on?   It is not something I wish to feel right now but regardless of how I feel, I am going to claim “Joy” as my one little word for 2012.

I am also going to carry courage 2010, hope 2011 through me on the journey to “Joy”.

Sharing from Ali Edwards blog join her by choosing your "One Little Word" or let your word pick you and take the journey of exploring all that word has in store for your life.

Join my on my journey to "Joy"

Funky Furniture

2011-11-30T16:15:00.000-08:00

It was been forever since I have posted anything. I have not been doing much art work since this summer.My life was turned upside down and I am still adjusting to my very different way of life. My muse has been gone and I have had no desire to create. But I did do these fun pieces of furniture recently. I had to prime the rocker, it was covered in mold.

I found two small cans of paint turquoise and green for 1.50 and then added the pantone purple.

Table to match. The butterflies are decoupage and the bird a decal from Stampin' Up!

My front porch in my island style.

Art Journal Newest Pages

2011-07-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

I have been working in my portable leather art journal and just recently picked up a small portable watercolor set to play with paint on the pages. Drawing is not my gift but I have been having fun attempting to put on paper with a pencil and then ink and now color. Here is what I have so far.

peace, joy and love,

What's in your heart?

2011-05-27T17:29:00.000-07:00

I am continuing the Strathmore Art Journal workshops. We are on Workshop 3, which is presented by Roz Stendahl. Our first lesson used acrylic paints to make our backgrounds and this is my version.

These pages are the result of a First Place Bible Study called God's Best for Your Life. We just finished a chapter on attitude, or as they say "tude". Actually this was fun and it really helped me to see the areas that I let negative vibes creep in and wreck my day.

So here's my heart....

Happy Easter and New Journal!

2011-04-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

This has been a wonder-filled day so far. DH and I started the day with a Sunrise service in Pineapple Park in Melbourne, FL. The sunrise was spectacular. Since we got back early and I took the opportunity to go to the Melbourne Art Festival.

I was excited to see new artists this year and actually bought me a leather journal from Mind's Eye Journals. It is made with black leather and handmade pages and perfect to carry with. The first page has my name given to me by Stephanie C when she visited Orlando. Second page was my feeble attempt to begin. It was hard to start for fear of messing it up. I just had to remember it is "My journal" therefore there is no right or wrong.

StrathmoreVisual Art Journal Workshop 2

2011-03-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

Linda Blinn is the instructor for Strathmore Journal Workshop 2. I am sharing my two page spread with foldouts with you. It was made with color washes for the background. I took doilies and laid them on the page and sprayed over them for the background of the pages. I love the way the pages turned out.

I then hand drew the houses and colored them with Copic markers. Just a tip, be careful using the markers as they do bleed somewhat even on the watercolor 110. These pages were done to help me with the work I amdoing for a prayer group study I am doing at St. Mark's .

One World One Heart 2011 Thank you

2011-02-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

It has been so much fun to visit all the fantastic blogs on the One World One Heart 2011 meet and greet blog event. I am looking forward to picking a winner for the treasure box and getting it ready to ship out. I ended up with 187 comments left on my post. So I used that random thingy...but I could not figure out how to post it here.

Drum roll please, the winner is........Belinda Ferrell

Thank you to everyone who visited and I do apologize for not making it to everyones blog. I do plan on continuing to work my way through the list, there is so much to see and read and comment on it is going to take some time.

The wonderful thing is Lisa is beginning a new chapter and we will be able to continue on Our World Our Art 2012 so how about checking out what is in store for next year.
peace,love and joy to all,

One World One Heart 2011

2011-02-03T17:56:00.000-08:00

Is now finished!! I will be back later today to announce the winner!

Welcome to the One World One Heart blog Meet and Greet! I saw One World One Heart last year, but did not join in the fun! This year I decided to jump into this big world of fun and fabulous art work.

If you would like to join, click on One World One Heart and follow the instructions.

My name is Darlene Armstrong. I have been playing with different art mediums since grade school. Although I was accepted at Ringling School of Art and attended briefly in 1968 ( a wonderful year, I might add) I put my art career on hold and moved on to marry and raise a family.

About ten years ago, I started creating again and through the internet have found this wonder filled world of people creating all sorts of art work with different mediums.

I love creating cards, books, altered items, pottery and just started art journaling.

My one gift for One World and One Heart is a clay box that I made in my studio time. It might be presumptuous of me to think it is art, but it is from the heart that I created the piece. So I wish to share it and you can store your treasures in it.

This is open to all bloggers worldwide.......To be eligible to win you must have an established blog, you must leave a comment on this post only and make sure I have a way to contact you should you win. I will choose winners through the random number generator and announce those winners on February 17th. I will also contact all winners to let you know you've won.

May peace, love and joy be yours,

Clay Time Pieces

2011-01-30T10:16:00.000-08:00

I originally started this blog to share what I had been doing with clay. Clay was my favorite medium to work with when I was in high school. Mrs. Kennedy my art teacher so encouraged us to create to our hearts content. I took two art classes and would spend my free period in the art room.

It was a place were the world stopped still and I felt so alive!

I recently spent some time at Indian Rivers Potters Guild in Eau Gallie Florida. They have studio time on Wed. evenings and I created the following pieces while there. I have one piece I haven't glazed yet because I just can't decide how I want to finish the piece.

Strathmore Workshop 1 Final Week 4

2011-01-23T11:05:00.000-08:00

I am not all that happy with my final pages. I could take gesso and white it out but I am not going to do that. I am going to have to accept this is what I came up with for this attempt using Pam's instructions to the best of my ability.

It was fun and really enjoyed the journey and that is all that counts in my world. It's a process not perfection!

May peace, love, joy and hope be yours,

Strathmore Week 3 Workshop 1

2011-01-19T18:35:00.000-08:00

This is week three. We added more color and used sequin waste as they call it. I just happened to have some, did not know that is what it was called. Like the bubble effect.

I am so loving working and getting messy! I have several other pages done and will share them later.

Visual Art Journal Week 2

2011-01-08T08:14:00.000-08:00

Just finished week 2 for the Strathmore Visual Art Journal online workshop. If you are interested you can start anytime. The videos are going to be there for awhile.

I am posting both weeks so you can see the progress. This is really hard to not
want to move forward because it feels so uncompleted.

This is week 1. We glued paper and photos onto the journal. I did not have the visual art journal recommended and my journal is called a field watercolor journal. One problem with this is every other page is thin paper that you would sketch one.

This is week 2. We added gesso over the page, then I used graphite pencil and oil pastels to work the page.

These are my week 1 & 2 right page.

Strathmore Journal Workshop 1

2011-01-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth P. told me about an online journal workshop given by Strathmore Workshop 1 . I signed up and have created the beginnings of my first two pages.

This is my first page for week one.

I also added page two and maybe should have waited on color but everything is open to change! It's my journal.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T11:05:00.000-08:00

My hubby surprises me at times. I went into my craft room a few minutes ago and found this cute little dog on my desk. I can now say I have a dog. I think I will name him Espresso.

One Little Word Courage

2010-12-31T10:05:00.000-08:00

Today is December 31,2010. The close of this year. My word for 2010 was COURAGE.
It has been a long year filled with a lot of times when courage was needed to keep on keepin' on. So many people have faced difficulties with our economic future bleak. A division has spread across our land has made me very sad. It takes courage to stand your ground and remember Americans are a proud people. We are compassionate people and my Courage pages are an example of that.

So as I move into 2011, I have chosen a new word. Here are my last two pages for 2010.

As you can see my one little word for 2011 is HOPE.
Both pages were made with Stampin' Up! My Digital Studio which is copyrighted material.
Wishing you all a Happy, Hopeful, Prosperous New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2010-12-25T05:10:00.000-08:00

As we enter the traditional 12 days of Christmas I will not subject you to 12 more days of tags! This is the end product for right now. I took the tags to work and put them on an artificial tree that I normally decorate with paper snowflakes each year.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Christmas Tag Day 12

2010-12-24T03:50:00.000-08:00

This is it the last tag in the series of twelve. I so enjoyed making these. They were all inspired by Tim Holtz. I am looking forward to tonight, I always love Christmas Eve service. We are attending church at St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Indialantic tonight and look forward celebrating the birth of Jesus.

May you be blessed with peace, joy, hope and love this season. May our troops all come home and those who are struggling to make ends met be supplied with all their needs met!

Christmas Tag Day 11

2010-12-23T03:16:00.000-08:00

You can visit Tim Holtz day 11
to see his version. This tag uses the vintage colors again. I am not sure which are my favorite, I guess I like both the bright greens and the dark greens.

May you be blessed with hope, joy, peace and love at Christmas and through out the year.

Christmas Tag Day 10

2010-12-22T03:10:00.000-08:00

Day 10 is a frosty snowman. The weather here in Florida this last couple weeks has been frosty. When I go out and have to scrap frost off the car I am not a happy Floridian but at least it will not last long and we will get back to our warm sunny weather.

Visit Tim Holtz's site to see his tag that was my inspiration to do this series of tags.

Tim Holtz day 10

May you be blessed with hope, joy, peace and love this season,

Christmas Tag Day 9

2010-12-21T04:05:00.000-08:00

Tim Holtz day 9

Day 9 made a rosette cut a 12 inch strip and then scor it at 1/4 ers and fold up and down until complete. Take the top and squeeze together and then lay it down on the table and spread it out. It fights you at first but once you get the hang if it is is easy.

Christmas Tag Day 8

2010-12-20T04:18:00.000-08:00

This tag looks nothing like Tim's tag but I used the masking technique to complete the tag. The mask are from Tim's stamping line and show up in the background.

Check out
Tim Holtz day 8

Christmas Tag Day 7

2010-12-19T03:51:00.000-08:00

Poinsettia is a repeat but it was day 7 so I am featuring it again.
You can view Tim's version here...Tim Holtz's day 7

May you be blessed with hope, joy, peace and love this season.

Christmas Tag Day 6

2010-12-18T04:42:00.000-08:00

This tag was fun. I carved a tall trees stamp to use on this one.
Tim Holtz Christmas tags
The technique was texture fades and is explained on Tim's blog.

Christmas Tag Day 5

2010-12-17T03:27:00.000-08:00

Here we go for Tim Holtz Tag Day 5 This tag used metal numbers as the technique. I did not have any metal numbers so I used buttons and added some scrapbook numbers to make my 25. The stamps are Stampin' Up!
The Silent night tag came from Close to My Heart. The Santa is from K& Company. Paper words from an old dictionary.

I am so loving making these tags. It has my heart singing.

May you be blessed with hope, joy, peace and love this season.

Christmas Tag Day 4

2010-12-16T04:00:00.000-08:00

Today's tag featured facets here is Tim Holtz's Day 4 facets sample.

I used some plastic tags I had to make my facet. This card has a lot of bling and I like the softer colors and using pink for Christmas.

May your Christmas season be filled with hope, peace, joy and love,

Christmas Tag Day 3

2010-12-15T04:13:00.000-08:00

Today's tag used tissue tape to make a cute flower at the bottom. I did not have any tissue tape so I took ribbon and gathered it with a needle and thread to make something that looked similar.

Here is Tim Holtz's tag for Day 3 and here is my take on that tag. This is another wake you up color combo but this will be the last grinch green tag in the collection. The branch I drew by hand and the punch is Martha Stewart peace dove. Stamps Close to My Heart background and Dec 25th.

May you be blessed with hope, peace, joy and love this season!

Christmas Tag Day 2

2010-12-14T04:40:00.000-08:00

Today's tag used a technique to make your own stamp pad using reinkers. You can view her to see Tim Holtz's tag. I did not have Tim's ink but used Rangers Adirondack inks terra cotta, buttercup, and poppy red I believe the colors were. I stamped the background of the tag using this technique.

Here is my take. I found the pine cone Sunday night at a church youth dinner we attended. They had these sinful cup cakes that had these cute decorations. BYTW, the Youth group did a fantastic job of celebrating what the season is all about by making their dinner about others. They had a worship service following the dinner and raised money for Malaria nets.

Sorry I got off track but just needed to share what the youth are doing to make the season bright for others!

May you be blessed with hope, joy, peace and love this season and may His light shine bright in your lives.

Christmas Tag #3

2010-12-13T04:15:00.000-08:00

This is my tag for today. This one is based on Tim Holtz's tag #1. I has a distressed house. I used CTMH card stock which has a white core base and made my house and used liquid applicate to make the snow.

May your Christmas season be filled with hope, peace, joy and love,

The Play Date Cafe # 59

2010-12-11T20:06:00.000-08:00

I am at it again. These colors are neat and I have been working today on tags to go with Tim Holtz's Christmas Tags. I came up with this fun poinsettia tag and decided to enter it under Play Date Cafe.

Here is my entry ...... the background on the tag is actually purple but my camera made it look really darker than it is.

My Take on Tim Holtz Tag 11

2010-12-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

Tim Holtz does a series of tags for Christmas each year. I have always loved them but never attempted to do anything because I do not have a lot of his brand of items. But I decided to attempt one today.

Visit Tim's site to see all the different tags he has for this year.

Advent Begins Today!

2010-11-28T16:40:00.000-08:00

I am sharing my favorite Christian blogger. She is sharing a wonderful Advent devotional that you can download. Enjoy!

Twitty Jill Bird Journal

2010-09-23T04:40:00.000-07:00

Early in September my friend Kelcey and I went to Lakeland to a stamp store called Violet's. What a lovely store. We took a class from Twitty Jill to make a Bird Journal. She was a great teacher and we really enjoyed the class and project. I am sharing my journal with Jill's permission. Hope you enjoy.

Yippie! I won a Honorable Mention on Play Date Cafe

2010-09-23T03:33:00.000-07:00

I am excited to share that I was chosen for an honorable mention for my 3D house on Play Date Cafe. I now get to display the Cream in your Coffee badge!!

Play Date Challenge #47

2010-09-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

Play Date Challenge is a fun place to visit. This is my first attempt at adding something to the mix. These colors were fun. This is my 3D paper house. Designed by using paper, punches and things I had on hand. The bricks are a stamp set from Close to My Heart, as are the crochet flowers and the brads.

Beautiful Flowers

2010-08-01T05:03:00.000-07:00

I posted on my Stampin" Up

these beautiful flowers from a memorial service.

I was able to save most of them so they could be seen again today. They are to pretty not to share. I usually do not get time to take pixs of the flowers that come in because I am busy in the office but this beautiful arrangement was left for the church to enjoy and they stayed in my office all last week.

Beautiful Hydrangea Gift

2010-07-02T03:53:00.000-07:00

This is so pretty and so something one does not see in Florida. Growing up in Indiana we had a Hydrangea bush in our yard. Our flowers were pink and yellow as I remember. Now you must know that was many years ago. I made a thank you card to match. It is a hostess set from Stampin' Up! "Just Because".

Barbie Doll..Sea Maiden and Turtle

2010-03-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

Sometime ago, after attending a wonderful Art Retreat in Washington MO, where I met Chaksa Peacock in person. We were all part of a online group called Holy Moly Mackeroly! Holy Moly Maceroly...from 3 Art Stamps to the Smithsonian...:Reflections on the Business of Art and the Art of Life is a book written by Gloria Page. We would often share our projects and Chaksa aka Mai-Liis had extra Barbie dolls as she used them in her projects. She shared two of them with me for a clay project I wanted to try.
I made a mold and then cast the doll head into clay. It did not turn out the way I thought it would.

The whole project fell apart and I smashed it down onto the table. After doing so, something started to come forward and I managed to make something with that pitiful casting. I call it Sea Maiden and Turtle.

Art Journal Thoughts

2010-01-30T13:48:00.000-08:00

I haven't worked on my journal since the earthquake hit Haiti. Much has happened and I am thinking a lot about where my art is going. I have been focused on stamping and then started scrapbooking and I love both. But, I find them limiting in where I can go, so I am going to try to refocus my energy into being more free with what I do.

One Little Word Courage 01/17

2010-01-17T17:40:00.000-08:00

Today as many are trying to figure out what to do with all the information coming to us from Haiti. It is unimaginable to us, even those of us who have lost things to hurricanes. So many people, so little to begin with how does one go on? I do not know if I have it in me but I do know I find it hard to speak about.

So I used my COURAGE word to show some pages in my journal to try to honor those in Haiti. It does little to chronicle their misery and sorrow but it will remind me of what happened. So many of the pictures speak of their faith. When one lives with so little to begin with I would think faith is all they have. So much more than I.

I took the pixs from the internet I am not sure if I was suppose to do that but I needed them for my pages. I needed to have photos to show what is happening.

One Little Word Jan Ninth

2010-01-09T17:14:00.000-08:00

I am enjoying my journey with the One Little Word project. We have a group on the Close to My Heart Consultant bulletin board who have shared their words and some of them their "why" they thought that word was the word for them. Some if them picked the word and some of them the word picked them. Regardless the journey is going to be interesting.

Today, I was smacked in the face with the fact that I am full of jealousy and/or envy. There are many areas in my life were I find myself comparing what I do to others. Whining about the fact that they just don't get it, I work so hard and they just coast along. I find I do not share well. I do not share family and or friends well. I do not know if that makes sense to anyone but even as little kid I didn't share well. So along with my word COURAGE,I plan on seeing were courage takes me on this newest discovery about jealousy.

Here is my newest page in my book.

One Little Word Page two

2010-01-07T04:19:00.000-08:00

This the second page with the definition of COURAGE. I am so looking forward to seeing were this word takes me. This week so far, it has take courage just to get out of the house. I live in Florida and as much of the country is being hammered with winter storms, we are freezing.

It does not compare to what those of you up north are having but we live most of our days at least above 70 and for at least six months 80-90 all the time.

So TWENTY EIGHT DEGREES and ice all over the car are a shock. The wonderful thing for us is this will not last to long, it will not be three or four months of it. Yippee!

One Little Word 2010

2010-01-03T17:45:00.000-08:00

This is the beginning of my One Little Word journey. I read about this on a blog I was visiting. She talked about Ali Edwards (scrapbook guru) One Little Word project. You pick a work and all year you focus on that word. I am going to focus on a journal for the word COURAGE. This is the cover and the beginnings of my journey into seeing were this word takes me.

I would love to have you share the journey with me.

.

Clay Time

2009-06-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

This blog I am going to be sharing my clay time projects and maybe some other art work that some might find in competition with Close To My Heart.
More to come.