Yummy Australian Chocolate!

OK, so those of you who are on Facebook with me have seen me yapping about Freddo Frogs and counting down the days until I'd get mine. I have a few Australian online friends and I kept hearing about these. They are dairy milk chocolate frogs made by Cadbury in Australia. (No comparison to the ridiculous Cadbury we have here made by Hershey!) If you're wondering what dairy milk is, it is the milk BEFORE the cream is removed, so its extra extra creamy. My friend, Jeanney's in-laws were coming for a visit and they brought me some. Yum, yum, yum!! I gave them my list of things I wanted and after a long wait, today they arrived! Yippee!!!


Quite a haul!! My sister, mom, dad and I had a chocolate tasting.


The funny thing is that I thought I was getting the size on the left, but they turned out to be the giant one on the right. More than double the size! I ended up with over 4 1/2 pounds of chocolate!! Oh dear.

MOST recent pages!

This was the first page I did in my new house! I've done all of these since I moved in there.


I'm still working in the composition book and I love that format, but I had this cute little journal that I got super cheap somewhere. It's 5"x7". I decided I want to start experimenting with different sizes and shapes of journals. I will probably leave this cover the way that it is.


This is the first page. Simple, but I really love it!


I saw a video on YouTube by fridayeudaemonism where she did a month of gratitude art journaling. 5 things a day. I'm going to try to make some of these myself. (Not everyday.) I did this one May 12th.


While I was looking in magazines for the pictures for the gratitude page, I came across this. It made my day! Look at those smoldering eyes! I had a lot of fun making this page!! Enjoy!

Pages from recent past.

The left page I was trying to figure out why I was feeling SO pulled to California. I was already dying to go back and had even made plans to go and stay and look for a job. I'm not sure how well you can see the "why?" at the top. Then I just made a small pocket and put tags in that are labeled with the different things that were calling to me.

The right page was a piece of pink vellum I had added into the binding and I was just playing and trying something new.


I added ribbon and then sewed the page to another one along the top. I added a cloth tab to the bottom for lifting and then journaled underneath. There is also a title rub-on on the under side that says "The Journey Home."


This is what is under the vellum page. I would still like to add something, but I'm not sure what.




I REALLY like this page! Sorry, I didn't realize it is a bit blurry.

Recent Pages _ Suzi Blu

OK, so there is this woman I like to watch on YouTube. Her name is Suziblu. She is setting up a new website and she has moved most of her videos, but she is also on Facebook and has posted some on there as well. She had a great ning network, but was having problems with some people and so she is creating a new one. She still teaches classes from there, you should check her out at suziblu.ning.com! She is also at http://www.alovelydream.com/. I'll warn you, she's a bit kooky!




This is a page inspired by one of her videos. A bit plainer than I usually do, but I liked the concept. I guess it's possible that I will add to it. If I do, I'll add another pic. I think I won't elaborate on this one.

Prompt #9 -- Your home

OK, no big surprise here. You can do all sorts of things with this. Just do a page having anything to do with your home, or maybe the home you would like to have! I'm hoping to soon have my page done BEFORE I post the prompt so that you can have an idea of what you can do. Keep your fingers crossed!
I thought I would be all caught up by now on my pages since its one of the only things I have to do at the new place, but I've been hooked on Sodoku!

Catching Up

Hello Everyone! I'm so sorry that I have slacked so long in posting. I will try once again, to do better. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have moved. Only about 20 minutes from where I was living with my parents, but what a difference!! I have a fabulous friend that is making this possible for me! It is a townhouse in a great little complex that I had just been finished when I first moved here to Utah. I remember looking at them and thinking, I would LOVE to live there!! Ta da! Here I am! I started taking pictures today so that I could post them, but then I forgot to take one of the front and from my back door. (A side note, I do not have a computer at the new place otherwise I would just take the pictures right now, and I would be up to date!! I have to come to my parent's to use the computer. So responses may be a bit slow. I'm hoping to save up for a laptop. Its a little lonely there with no internet or tv.) I guess I will go ahead and post the pics I did take.


This is view from the balcony off the kitchen. If you look through the space in the trees there is the river. You can see it much better in real life. It has such a lovely sound that I can hear with my windows open! I will take some more close up pictures soon. Also, that walking path goes a really long way both directions. To a lake one direction and into the canyon, the other. It is really well lit at night and Petey and I love to play out there. I also love to set my camp chairs right out there by the river. It brings my anxiety right down.


These are the trees right out back. I love them!


I kind of liked this picture of the other town homes to the right of me. I will take some pictures from the back and front of the house some throughout and then you will get a better look.

I've moved! & Prompt #8

OK, I've been busy moving and being exhausted and now as you must know, I'm even more behind than before! I did do some good art journaling last night, but I'm not sure if they are pages I would post. I will be heading over to the new place soon and will work on my prompt pages so that I can hurry and post my pics. I will also post pics of my new house!! Yay, so fun and beautiful! I'll take my camera over today.

OK, so Prompt #8 is: Married or Single.
Which ever one of these you are, do a page about it. What it means to you, pros, cons...
I'm excited to do this one!

Way behind!! & Prompt #7

Sorry! Once again, I have fallen behind on my posts AND my pages!! I'm going to catch up on pages this week and post pics. I made no art last week and that is noooo good!! I might have some from the week before, but they are not from my prompts. My goal at the beginning of the year was to make art everyday. Unfortunately I go in spurts. I would like to do better! Its good for my soul! What are your art goals? I'd like to hear!

Prompt #7--Art (Anything about it. What it does for you, your favorites, how you define art, your goals...) Have fun and lets all catch up!!

Art Journal Prompt #6

This weeks prompt is: Something I learned today. (or this week.)

I will post my page from prompt #5 ASAP. It has a great story to go along with it!

Art Journal Prompt #5

OK, this week's prompt is "Found Object(s)"
Use any item(s) you might find laying around not in your own home. Glue, tape, tie, sew or modge podge them into your page. The page can be about anything you want!

My pages for prompts 1-4

Prompt #1 - "Your Initial" This art journal is just a composition book you can get for about $1, or even cheaper at back to school time. I used a combination of rub-ons, stickers and ink.

Prompt #2 - "What are you really hungry for?" These are little mini file folders and I have the tabs labeled with the things I really want. I hadn't added the front one, "Peace of Mind," and then I realized that, that is what I REALLY want. It is often the reason I eat...to quiet the anxiety. But of course it isn't lasting and causes me more anxiety in the end. (In side the file folders I'm going to add little slips of paper where I will write more about each one.)
Prompt #3 - "Your Mood" I had started this one a while back with a prompt from another site that was, "Ephemera from your week." I covered the pages with a sheet from the LUSH catalog that I had received that week. You can see it lightly coming through the paint. I also had an empty package from my Lexapro. I instantly had the idea to fill it with tiny beads and I love how it turned out! I hadn't done any writing on it and wasn't sure what else I wanted to do with it, so when I went to do my "mood" page I thought this would be perfect!
It has a hidden little flap!
Prompt #4 - Spring

Journal Prompt #4 and Free Goodies!!

OK art journalers, lets get movin'!! I've been slacking on the prompts, but mostly because I knew no one was using them! So, I have a bribe!!! Whoever will send me pictures of their pages from prompts one, two and three by April 1st, will get a goodie bag with supplies to use in your journals! So get to it!

Prompt #4 --SPRING
Nice and easy. Have fun!!

Recent Art Journal Pages

I have been doing several pages to help with therapy lately. This one is simple, but effective and necessary! The borders are rub-ons, the stop sign is scrapbook paper and the black letters are chipboard with glitter. I accidentally got white paint across them and some pink paint at the top, but it just adds to it.
This is the last page I worked and I absolutely LOVE it!! I love the colors and I love the message (that I desperately need to believe) and I love the picture that was on the front of a card my mom got from an insurance company!
This page was using one of the prompts I had gotten from Emily's site- "Note to self." (it was from prompts she did 2 years ago. She actually started new ones this year, so hp over there for more ideas!)
This is one I did at the end of December. There is writing on there too, that you can't really see inthe pic. I'm just trying to show you different styles of pages.

I actually AM still alive!

Hello, hello! I'm still here! For those of you who did not know, back in January I ran off to California for a couple weeks. I had had a realle emotionally difficult week and one night I got on Facebook and a friend had mentioned it was in the 80s!! That did it. I had been dreaming about a tropical vacation for months and decided this was the closest I was going to get. So the next day I packed up my car and my dog and off I went!! I didn't tell my family until I got there! My friends were kind enough to take me in with less than 12 hours notice!

Some may not know that I am from Orange County, so I have lots of dear friends to visit there! I REALLY needed it. I had also REALLY been missing California the last year. Not just the beach and my friends, but everything about it! My friends were good enought to go with me to all the places I wanted to revisit, much of which was delicious food!! AND, I finally got to go to a LUSH store!! I took my camera with me to California, but did exactly what I always do and was too lazy to take any pictures. Luckily my friend, Dina who is a professional photographer, had her camera with her whenever we were together. So those are the things I have pictures of. Check out her website at dinalovephotography.blogspot.com.

I have to say that going to LUSH was a bit anti-climatic. It was quite small compared to many I had seen online and I decided I have pretty much everything I actually like! They were having a huge soap sale, so they were out of many of them that I wanted to smell. We got great the equivalent of a facial for our hands. It was lovely but just too much to buy all the products. I was disappointed that she was stingy about giving samples of things. That's one of the reasons I was so excited to go, because I had heard they were really good about that, but the sales girl was not about to give me anything. It was still fun to see and I got a couple small things.

One of the things I experienced from the time I drove into Orange County was that I was IN LOVE with the palm trees!! Really. I got so much joy from them I can't even explain! They're just such a huge part of Southern California and memories of my life there.

This is at some of the Laguna tide pools with Dina and her kids. So nice to be at the beach! My first day there I had taken Petey to the dog beach, but he was NOT a fan!! The waves were too loud and one got him, so he was traumatized! Also, the first he said hello to, snapped at him!

I love poking the sea anemones. I like there texture and the way they feel when the close around your fingers!

While I was there I also enjoyed going to the swap meet, tanning at my friend's salon and going shopping with her in downtown LA for jewelry and purses for her boutique, farmer's markets, and spending time with all my lovely friends and eating, eating, eating!!

Prompt #3

OK, I promise to get pictures up very soon! I had an unexpected trip to California, so I should have some time here to catch up on things. The next prompt is:
"your mood." Good or bad, just choose a time and sit down and create a page about how you are feeling.
I think this one will be much easier than the last. I have to admit, I haven't even started the last one!It was a tough one. I'll talk to you all soon!

Art Journal Prompt #2

OK, I'm really sorry I'm so late on this. I've had a hairy few days! My plan is to post the new prompts on Sundays. I will try to post a picture of my last pages later this afternoon.

The prompt for this week, I got while watching Oprah on Monday.
What are you really hungry for?

Its a good one! Have fun and I'll post pics soon!