Back to being crafty again

Back to my crafty life. I haven't been doing much art lately. Chris had a stroke in May 2014, we had a summer of recovery, then back to school and the kids were sick a LOT, then this month while out of town for work, Chris slipped on the ice, and broke his arm/sprained his wrist, and I'm just here trying to keep my sanity being the caretaker of the household, kids, pets, etc. Yes, it's the life I wanted, being a stay-at-home mom. But NOTHING like what I expected. I guess I didn't think I'd have a sick husband (at such a young age). Along with my hypothyroidism, I've had extreme stress mixed with depression, all those "fun feelings" that just send me into survival mode. Every winter I go into a bit of "survival mode". Well now we have unexpected medical bills (aka financial stress). First world problems..... our DirecTV got shut off. Can't even watch my DVR'ed shows. (gasp... no Real Housewives!!! LOL) So we upped the internet speeds and we're just watching HuluPlus on the Xbox now (found 2 new fave shows) and I'm watching YouTube videos on my laptop. Found some really creative ladies that are doing Art Journals, and decided that's going to be my new form of therapy. Art has always been a great form of therapy for me.

I started off by painting some envelopes to send out some happy mail.

Here's my favorite one.  And the rest can be seen on my Flickr page HERE.

Found "Homemade Recycled junk art journals" on YouTube... YES!  I can do this!
Junk art journals are books you bind together made out of junk mail. Painting, stenciling, stamping, and doing collages on junk mail... now that's my kind of art!

Found some fun groups on Facebook. JUNK & ART JOURNALS is a group that is chatty and friendly, and gives lots of ideas. The owner also shares pics she finds on Pinterest of clip art/printables, which I just LOVE.

Also watched more videos on Art Journaling, enjoyed watching Claudia chat and do some of her altered book art journaling, joined the Krazy Island Family, learned a bunch from Jennibellie, found Shannon Green and followed (ok stalked) her on facebook, and then I was invited to her group on Facebook, called Journaling by 5s... a different kind of art journal challenge, which gave me all kinds of inspiration to just get moving and get some pages started.

Here is a great video directed towards people who are just starting to get into art journaling.





Learn more about "Journaling by 5s"




Last night I did "glueing". Yes, I think that's a real word. Gluing? Maybe that's how you spell it. Gluing pages together. Just random pieces of paper to make a thicker piece to start painting on.

Today my muse was telling me to put some paint down on some paper. I did some practice sheets on some loose leaf notebook paper. Here is a picture of me "getting my art on" today. Does your coffee table look like this too?



My fave time of the day is night... when the kids and hubby are in bed, pets aren't barking and being wild, and I just sit and do my craft stuff and watch my shows. And sometimes sneak a snack that I don't have to share with any brats... I mean my lovely kids.... heh. Is it 10pm yet?








RELATED LINKS:


My swapping/mail-related blog:
http://swappermania.blogspot.com/

You Tube - MAIL CALL MONDAYS
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVH9whjoyLQUiLuVsqM80cC_DxY9i3RCL

Pinterest:
http://www.pinterest.com/btvrdik

Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/createdbybarbi/sets/

Stationery and Labels by Barbi
http://tinyurl.com/computerlabelsbybarbi