Got Sick and No Computer! : (

Okay, well of course right after I decided to recommit to my blog I got really sick and then our computer was having fits and now it's been taken away to get fixed! (I'm at my sister's at the moment.) I can't stand not having a computer. Facebook and YouTube are two of my guilty pleasures! I love watching art journal videos to get lots of fun knew ideas. While I have been sick this week I have been able to start working in my journals again, and oh how I have missed them! I feel very rusty and not fully authentic yet with my art, but I am trying to open up and start spilling onto the pages once again. Which brings me to...inviting you to join me once again in this fun and highly therapeutic activity! If you didn't join me the first time around, or if you didn't finish all the prompts I gave, go back and right them down and get started!! I hadn't done the last few of them, so I am going to go back and catch up as well. I'm hoping to do that and get them posted in the next week or so, then I will start posting new prompts. Please let me know if you have any questions about art journaling. The most important thing to know and remember is THERE ARE NO RULES!! (This is one of my favorite parts. As anyone who knows me, knows that I am not much of a rules girl. :)) Anyway, please join me, and if anyone would like to get together to make art together just let me know and we'll make a date. With all the many hobbies and passions that I have, I think they are twice as fun when you're doing them with a friend!

Homemade Mozzarella Cheese

A couple years ago I read, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle", by Barbara Kingsolver. It's she and her family writing about the experience after deciding to eat local food for a year. I absolutely LOVED it and was so inspired! They grow their own vegetables, raise their own poultry, make their own bread and even make their own cheese. They include recipes in the book and I was inspired to try making the mozzarella. She refers to the book "Home Cheese Making" by Rikki Cardoll.
So here is my lovely result.One gallon of milk made two fresh balls of mozzarella and at least a pint of ricotta cheese. I want to make it again and make some delicious lasagna! But for the first time we just wanted to have it fresh!
My sister and I made this last fall.
We sliced it up, along with some of the tomatoes from our garden and drizzled a little Italian dressing over it. We also had a few balsamic marinated onions we got at the store. Very satisfying to eat something you have created yourself!!

Birthday and Halloween 2009

This a picture from my birthday dinner last year. We had a delicious Spinach Salad with a Teriyaki Dressing. I will post the recipe soon!

This was my Witches Dinner from last year. I'm looking forward to this year's, coming up soon!

We made delicious caramel apples for dessert! It was a huge hit, so we may have to do it again this year!!

I'm Back!!!

Hello everyone!! I'm sorry about my very long hiatus! I am looking forward to posting again. A lot has happened and that is why my blog and most of my creative activities got put on hold! I need to whip out my camera again and start taking some pictures to go with the posts I want to write.

Last September I started school at Acaydia School of Aesthetics. I graduated in July and I'm now a Licensed Master Esthetician. This was such a HUGE accomplishment for me!! I am setting up a treatment room in my parents' home in American Fork, UT. While I am getting the official room put together I have set up a temporary, peaceful space in which I have started seeing clients. It has been so fun to actually start working! I am working n my website and will post a link as soon as it is up and running. I might Possibly start a blog for my business as well. I will let you know!

My next few posts are some pictures I wanted to post from last year, 2009. I hope you enjoy them! With fall here I have been feeling very crafty, so I should have some fun pictures of new projects to post soon, also!

This is a picture I took last year that I kind of liked!

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.