Bobbie Is Home

I had butterflies in my tummy driving by myself to pick her up. "Is she really ready?", kept swimming in my head!

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1514314/answered_prayers.html?cat=5

Prayers said, candles lit, positive thoughts and messages conveyed and finally

Bobbie is Home!!

My OWOH Prize Arrives & Another Update on Bobbie

Woo Hoo, My OWOH giveaway arrived today. Edrian was so kind to also send along a postcard and her business card showing off her artwork. She is just a wonderful illustrator. And I love her blog. I tried both taking a picture and scanning the items and I just could not get the sparkle of the bracelet to show in the pic. And the pretty gold foil pouch is just icing on the cake. The bracelet looks really small but it fits just fine, and it's lavender. I love it! Thanks Edrian!!

*************

And now for another update on Bobbie. She has now been transferred to the inhospital occupational rehab unit on the 4th floor. She is to wear her street clothes and will get more intensive therapy. And, they have convinced her she must quit smoking and she has agreed. They will be helping her with that too. She mentioned a patch. Her dear friend Tracy took her clothes and washed them to remove the cigarette smell and sprayed her shoes down with Lysol. He has agreed to quit smoking too. Now to get my son-in-law to agree to quit also, that would be great. We are looking at the rest of this week in the rehab unit working with the left hand and learning ways to get around. She handled the stairs well today and is walking just fine on linoleum and carpeting. :-) She is already practicing writing her name with her right hand. I am so glad they are teaching her these things now.

You all have a bright and beautiful day tomorrow and a calm and peaceful evening tonight.

Hugs,

Tess

Bobbie is Out of ICU

Please read an update on Bobbie at my AC site posted Feb. 20th first if you haven't yet here:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1496189/update_on_bobbie_post_surgery.html?cat=5

Then see the photo update of my granddaughters first visit to see mommy since the surgery (below). The visit went well. Bobbie is out of ICU and in her own room.
Raven wasn't shocked at all to see her mommy without hair. We prepared her by showing previously taken pictures.

Bobbie has missed her little girl and so enjoyed her visit even though it really tired her out.


Gifts for Bobbie to brighten her room. The bear is a Ty Bear named The Beginning. We thought the name was perfect and so did Bobbie.

Bobbie gives a smile for all of the wonderful prayers, thoughts and words of encouragement she has received from family and friends here and in blog land. The black eye just appeared a few days ago as well as swelling and bruising on the right side of face. We are told this is normal.



The sun setting on a beautiful day.

Bobbie can walk, talk, use the bathroom and feed herself. Praise God!!

She still has trouble with some paralysis of the left hand and arm but can move it and is working with occupational therapy to strengthen it. This morning she said she fed herself breakfast and didn't even have to change her gown afterwards. She has stated she had no idea using a spoon could be so hard. She now understands what babies learning to use utensils must go through when we adults are impatient with them. I told her to take all the time she needs to master that arm/hand. Her walking is somewhat slow but she is gaining speed daily.

Thank You all for your wonderful gift of prayers and encouragement for us.

Flowers from her sister.

Please continue to pray for Bobbie's swift recovery............

Bobbie Is Doing Great!!!!!

Chuck and I are back home for a few. We left Robert in Topeka with Bobbie and a dear friend there, Tracy, will bring him home tomorrow night. Life still goes on even when we want or need to be with loved ones. Work calls for all of us and he is needing to see their daughter. As for Bobbie.........

She is doing great. I/we want to thank you all for your many prayers and positive thoughts for Bobbie. We also need to Thank Tracy and Brian for the use of their home so we would not have the expense of a motel. The pre-surgery time took about 90 minutes and then they called to say the surgery had started. About an hour and a half later a surgical nurse called the waiting room attendant to tell us that Bobbie's vital stats were steady and that the tumor is out. The surgeon was able to get it all without any trouble. About an hour later we were called to the conference room to speak to the surgeon. He said the surgery went extremely well and that the tumor was smooth. This is a real good thing as it means it will probably be benign. Of course they will have the tumor tested. He said she would spend 2 or 3 days in ICU before moving to a regular room.

Bobbie checked in yesterday at registration at 7AM and we gave our hugs and kisses before she was taken away at about 10:30 AM. We finally got to see her at about 3:30 that afternoon briefly in the hallway and an hour later we were allowed to file in 2 or 3 at a time to see her. She was very groggy of course and went in and out on us but all got to hear her voice and most got her to open her eyes. There were 8 of us their and many close by their phones waiting to hear. I apologize for not getting online sooner.

I can honestly say hearing Bobbie say "Hi Mom" after the surgery was more joyful to me than even that first cry the day she was born. She knew my fear that she would wake and not know me. She knew all of us and seems to be the "old Bobbie" again. Her feisty, humorous, lovable, obnoxious self is back; praise God. I love her so and can only say that if you have a loved one that you are at odds with, get over it and get back to loving again.

Bobbie had no movement and showed no signs of feeling on her left side the day of the surgery (remember the tumor was on the right frontal lobe). Today she is wiggling her left toes and moving the left leg. She is also talking without slurred speech and without repeating herself over and over. Her left eye was weak and did not open as much as the right at first but by early afternoon both eyes were opening the same. She still has not moved her left arm but has had some pain in the left wrist (the iv's are there) so this is a good sign that maybe it is just taking longer for the arm to wake up. A cat scan of her head was done this morning and the nurse said the Dr. was pleased with it. Her first meal was baked chicken with over fried potatoes, carrots and a salad. She didn't eat much but she did eat some and drank all of her tea, AND, she kept it down. Robert is keeping almost hourly notes in her journal and the first meal note includes a "What?" type of comment. While we were feeding Bobbie (She isn't allowed to sit up more than a 30 degree angle right now so I offered to feed her and she accepted.) she made a funny face and then said she has a loose tooth. She even reached in and tried to pull it. We stopped her and told her to finish eating on the other side. The loose tooth is on the right side. A few bites later she handed Robert a piece of her tooth. Casualty of the first meal, :-) I know it doesn't sound funny but she thought it was and after some chuckles we told her to slow down and of course she blamed it on me with a wink to Robert. Like I said, my "old Bobbie" is back.

She will stay in ICU until tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon and then may get moved to a regular room. We've had contact with the sitter daily and she spoke with her little girl last night and again today. I took my camera and took photo's for Bobbie's journal and to bring back to show my granddaughter. She was so pleased and even laughed at seeing that mommy really is bald. She wants her funny head wrap to keep but only after we wash it. Silly child!! :-)I've already started thinking on scarves and hats and such she will need for coming home.

As joyful as I feel I know it's not all over and she will have lots of healing time to go through, plus the issue of the left arm and how weak will the left side be once she is gotten to her feet. I want to thank you all for the wonderful blessing we have received from your many prayers and ask that you keep Bobbie in your prayers a while longer. I apologize if this seems a bit long or jumbled up, I am tired and still trying to make sense of it all myself.

Many Blessings to you all,

Hugs,
Tess
Both photos were taken today, Feb. 18th.

Circle of Friends

Circle of Life

May your circle of friends

surround you,

may the circle be

never-ending too.

And as the morning

drops of dew

embrace the petals

so may your

cirlce of family

embrace you.

For it's from the love

and laughter of others

that we create our

circle of life.

And it's this

never-ending circle

that I wish

for me and for you.

Teresa Mahieu

copyright, 2-16-2009

Bobbie's surgery is tomorrow at 10AM. Please continue to pray for her and for the surgeon's.

Pray that we are able to accept God's plan faithfully.

I want to thank you all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers during this time. You have all shown me what a wonderfyul world we live in. Bobbie thanks you all too.

Tess

A Basket of Hearts Valentine

My newest journal page drawn and written with colored pencils.
Valentines Day shouldn't be just about romance. Celebrate the day showing your love for family, friends and neighbors. Listen to a child's excitement about reconnecting with a BFFL. And if you get to spend the day, or just part of the day, with your one true love all the better. Spread hearts around on Valentines Day and everyday and you will help make the world a better place.

BFFL = Best Friends For Life

I added a few of my families BFFL's at the bottom of the page.

A Heartfelt Happy Valentines Day wish to my dear friends here in blogland.

Hugs,
Tess

A new journal page done with colored pencils by flashlight. I didn't want to turn the overhead light on in the middle of the night. I had indigestion last night so had to sit up a while.

There is a new update on Bobbie at my AC site. Just click on her name to go there. And thank you for all of your uplifting messages and prayers.

Have a great day,

Tess

Healing Rays of Sunshine

This drawing from a past post .............

Became this painting. It is acrylic paint, glitter gel pens and Pilot Ball Ink Pen on a 9" X 12" artists canvas board. I am pretty happy with how it has turned out. I need to seal it still and maybe tweak the tree trunks a bit but other than that I think it is done. This will go to Bobbie.
I am now doing the same on water color paper with watercolor pencils. I forgot to do the background first so it's going to be interesting to see how it turns out. I refuse to start over as it is almost completely drawn in and I've already started adding some water. It's the sky part that I forgot to do. The sun and grassy hill is done and most of the flowers and I started the trees already when I realized the background is still white. Maybe I'll just add a bit of blue here and there and it will look a bit like clouds. Hmmm!

Bobbie had a good day today. She woke energetic and talkative and my son-in-law needed to study for a test so after a bit of visiting with her he took her to visit a friend and I picked her up and took her home when I got off work. She was still doing good so I took her with me to run an errand and then home to see her little one (the sitter was with her doing homework). It's nice to have a good day, I hope she has more of them between now and the surgery date. It is still Feb. 24th. Robert is at work and the sitter is going to fix supper and feed her before she completely tires out. She'll call Robert at work if she needs to go to sleep before he gets home from work to say goodnight.

"Always kiss me goodnight or at the least tell me you love me." I have no idea who said that but it's a great quote.

Remember to hug your loved ones real tight before you say goodnight,

Tess

Tag, Your It!

I was tagged by Martha Lever of ArtduJour last week. My instructions are to post the 4th photo from my 4th folder so here it is. I acquired some license plate tags for recycling and came up with altering some by painting and adding some collage elements. It was lots of fun. I gave my mom one that says Honey and I gave it a design with her being the Queen Bee. She loved it and has it on her back porch which is her main entrance. This one is still for sale in my etsy shop as well as a few others. I thought it would be great in a kids room. (I just noticed the etsy posts expire in a few days, eek.) I found I have a few more altered tags I should post in my etsy shop too.

So now to tag four more. I think it will be these fine ladies:

Delila of Robin and the Sage

She creates such wonderful things of and with nature. I love how soothing a visit to her blog is. I bought a lovely necklace from her for myself this past Christmas at her etsy shop.

Jessica over at vol.25
Jessi is a stay at home mom of 2 adorable children and she is very creative. I love her designs and she is always coming up with fresh items for her etsy shop. She even has free downloads on her site. Do check out her blog.

Katie of joyously becoming

I love Katie's mixed media art. I enjoy reading about the art retreats she gives and dreaming of one day attending one myself.

Linda over at 13th street studio

Linda is a wonderful textile artist. She has several of the biggest and prettiest birds and loves sharing about them. I love seeing her quilts and reading about how she is developing ideas. If you love all things textile you'll love her 13th street studio blog.

Ok, so that is it. I hope I did this right and I hope you will visit these fun blogs.

Tess

I'm using my new fabric journal.

Praise God the washing machine is fixed and drain problem has been solved for now so that I can wash laundry at home. It's hard to double task at the laundromat when there are so many other things needing to be done at home.

I've been working on the healing rays of sunshine painting now and then. No picture yet though.

Anne at Gaale Creative posted about wordles and I found them interesting. I made one for Bobbie. Link is below....

title="Wordle: Bobbie wordle"> src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/520447/Bobbie_wordle"
alt="Wordle: Bobbie wordle"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

I found that Wordle site a fun distraction.

Bobbie has fallen twice so far this weekend. She seems to get weaker every day. The 24th seems like an eternity away. And of course now there are Non-insurance issues my son-in-law is dealing with. Ugh!!

Thank you all for praying for Bobbie, please continue.

Tess

A Quick Update on Bobbie

February 3rd, 2009

Greetings all,

First, thank you for the many prayers for Bobbie. Please keep them going/coming.

Yesterday was a long and tiring day. We made it safely to Topeka for the MRI and a friend of Bobbies in the medical field that knows his way around St. Francis arrived shortly after we did and before the MRI. Which turned out to be a blessing as the double Valium dose pretty much made her limp. The MRI people were "little" and would not have been able to handle lifting her. Tracy and Robert were able to assist with getting her into position. She did move some during the MRI but the neurosurgeon said with her tremors he could not fault her that. The images were clear enough for their purposes and he went forward with his evaluation, findings and suggestions. During his check-up with her he detected a weakness in her left side. The tumor is on the right frontal lobe just past the forehead to mid top of the head and from the hair part to the right about half way towards the ear. She thought her brain looked like lasagna. The nurse had to give her coffee to wake her up, and it did, so that the doctor was certain she understood everything. The mass is about the size of a golf ball and has no tentacles. One core area at the bottom of the mass otherwise it looks smooth. This is a good thing from what the surgeon indicated. She has been put on dilaudid and he thinks she is having mini seizures and plus seizures are a possible result of any type of brain surgery. She will stay on it until at the least six months after the surgery.


The soonest date available for both doctors was Feb. 24th. Dr. Eberling will be her attending surgeon and Dr. Fritz will be the assisting surgeon. Dr. Fritz operated on my husband in Dec. of 2007. This seemed to make Bobbie happy and I have to admit I was glad to hear he will be with her too as a trust has already formed with him as he helped Chuck. The surgery is scheduled for February 24th. They are going to try for sooner but we are to assume at this point that is the date. The kids have no medical insurance and thus far the type of treatment they have received I have been ashamed of. We are told the hospital here never should have let her leave the E.R. when the ct scan showed a tumor. No one seems to understand why she was continually given meds and more meds, psychotropics and pain pills, without further tests ordered before now. (That is all said and done and we must move forward.) At St. Francis they were treated with kindness, respect and told that "the non-insurance situation can be dealt with at a later date, first we've got to concentrate on getting Bobbie better". I highly recommend this hospital as twice now I've had a loved one there for evaluation and received exemplary care both times.


Bobbie is barely able to write her name let alone keep a journal, however I did purchase her a small notebook and decorated it up a bit. I added some quotes, stamped flowers and stickers throughout and we used it yesterday to write notes in and dates, meds, etc. Robert and I will continue this for her throughout this ordeal so that she will have something to look through in later years and see what all she went through that she may not remember. She was going to show Raven all the things in the notebook today. I expressed to my granddaughter last night that it is mommies journal, not hers. She is a scared little girl as they have now told her what is happening with her mommy. I guess the journal was more for me in a way as it was a distraction on Sunday night and Monday morning while waiting for the time to pick her up and head to Topeka.

Please continue to pray for Bobbie and pray that God will be guiding the surgeons hands....

Many Hugs,
Tess

January's Journal Challenge - Days 30 & 31

This has been a wonderful, exciting and creative month that has ended with a not wonderful whirlwind of a week. My thoughts now are where did January go? I miss the calm and the fun of having time and energy and focused thoughts to work on Misty's Challenge, on her prompts, and on browsing and viewing others wonderful creations. I've so enjoyed her enthusiasm for art and creating. She's hoping we will all continue and have a show and tell about it once a week on Wednesdays. Read her thoughts on this here.

The washer drain leak might be fixed except now it seems to back up through the hose drain sooooo we think it's clogged under the house. But, no matter because now the washer makes a weird noise and won't agitate. Funny thing is, I really don't care. Didn't get upset or nothing. Just loaded up the van and off I went after picking up Bobbie's laundry also to the the nice, clean, laundromat I found. The cost was $22.75 to wash 7 loads of laundry. I used 5 double loaders, a triple loader and a mega loader. This time I got smart and brought all those wet clothes home and am drying them here. That will save on cash out of pocket. I wish I had a clothes line as the temps in the 60's here and windy. A great day for drying on the line as my momma says. An usual great day. tomorrow and Monday/Tuesday the weatherman is saying clear and in the 40's. I hope the forecast is right so we'll have good travel weather.

Bobbie is at home surrounded by friends while Robert is working. Raven is in heaven with "cousins" to play with and "Aunts and Uncles" to give her attention. She's received calls and cards from some relatives and is often in awe as to why people are calling her and sending her cards. Then she remembers. She is tired today so I told them to let her nap.

There is a short update on my AC site here with a couple altered pictures of Bobbie about another MRI series she is to have.

And this is the most recent journal page. I did this in the middle of the night last night. I couldn't sleep.

I think I like this drawing so much it will soon become a painting. I'll probably do one in watercolor and then one in mixed media acrylic, maybe collage a bit on it too. It's similar to something I seen in a magazine and then I had the idea of adding the words of healing. They may change. And I may not find the time to paint it but I intend too and I want to.

I must be off, gotta check that dryer, duty calls. What is it John Lennon said,

"Life is what happens when you're making other plans". Isn't that the truth......

Continue praying for Bobbie and thank you,

I believe she is in HIS hands,

Tess

January's Journal - Day 28 and 29

I can't express enough how very much I appreciate all of the messages and words of encouragement and prayers that I have received here. Bobbie appreciates them too. It has been a whirl wind of activity these past days. My son-in-law is exhausted. My daughter has memories of some of it and none of others. She forgets a morning event by the afternoon yet remembers it the next day. I feel like I'm walking through a fog, a cloudy veil over my head. I can only imagine how she must feel, the fear, the uncertainty, the wonder. Family has been called, e-mailed, notified. Friends have been called. Her sister....she called her sister and actually got her on the first try. My youngest has trials in her own life. She and my son-in=law are laid off from work as of Jan. 31st with severance pay until March 15th. She called me yesterday to tell me she spoke to sis and got her to laugh. That's my little one, always looking to the positive, to the bright side of things. I had forgotten that Bobbie fell from a 3 story window when she was 17 and survived that. Her sister told her "hey if you can live through a 3 story fall you can live through this. I knew it was best for her to call her sister herself. I'm glad I insisted on it.
So far the meds have been switched again to alleviate vomiting, a prescription reaction to a pain med, and they added prednisone to alleviate inflammation from the bump on her noggin. They still have not told my grand daughter what all is going on. I don't know if they just can't bring themselves to tell her or if they feel it is best to not tell her yet. The Dr. office called and told them the MRI confirms what the E.R. doctor found. So now we wait until the neurosurgeon appointment on Feb. 19th. It seems like a lifetime away, that date. So far off. I want it to be now, they want it to be now, but we must wait. The neurosurgeons are booked we are told. So we wait and pray and hug a lot..............

Please continue to keep Bobbie in your prayers and thank you all so very much for the words of encouragement. They mean so much to me, to us.

This journal page is a collage of how I feel, in a daze, in a fog, a cloudy veil over me. It will lift, it must lift. I do not know what name this emotion I am feeling would have, what label. It took three tries at finishing this collage.

She is in HIS hands, I'm sure of this. The fall was a blessing.........., there is a reason for her madness. She's not faking, she's not being lazy, or ridiculous, she's changing, her personality is so different from what it was a week ago, amonth ago, 3 months ago and I want my daughter back. He wants his wife back. She'll be ok, she has to be, we need more time to finish and do and love. She'll be ok...........

Tess

January's Journal Day 26

Hello-Hello,

I have so much to tell you about tonight. First off Misty's challenge prompts for this week i emotions. Make art around am emotion you are feeling. My journal entry for today is this post and the emotion I am feeling is blessed.

First off the mailman delivered a special package to me today. I won this wonderful fabric journal from elvie studio and it came today of all days. It is fabulous, nicer than I ever could have imagined.

I just received an emergency phone call, more tomorrow......

It's the 27th in the AM. I thought I had hit publish last night, guess not. My phone call was my son-in-law. My oldest daughter fell in the bathroom and hit her head on the toilet. EMT's were there and he needed me to come stay with my granddaughter. The head injury turned out to be the back of the neck just beyond the ear, she has a big knot there. The ER doctor ordered a CT scan of her head and neck. No broken neck or skull fracture though. That was the good news. The bad news is they found a brain tumor on the right front side of her head. Bobbie was diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic recently due to her behavior over the past year. She has been suffering from severe migraines for about 6 months now, maybe more. We all thought it was the psych meds causing it. She also has developed problems with motor skills and falling down a lot. Again the doctors told her it's the meds, you have to be more careful. They let him take her home last night. She has a doctors order for an MRI to be done the 27th or 28th. The stressed to my son-in-law that he is to make the appt.'s and make sure she is there. Her discharge follow up paper says to call her regular doctor in the AM to schedule a same day appt. The E.R. doctor called him last night. He told my son-in-law and doctor that her regular doctor will be expecting the call. Needless to say my blessed feeling yesterday rapidly dwindled to fear. A dark cloud has been over her for so long and it seems to be only getting darker. I hate this sense of dread, fear, uselessness. Please pray for her, she really is a good kid. When they came in the door last night she looked me straight in the eye and said, "Mom will you take care of Raven when I die." I lost my breathe for a moment. I did finally say, Raven's daddy will take care of her and I will help, now don't say that again..........................

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I did do the giveaway drawing with Chuck last night. It was fun having him help me. There were 5 comments on that post so 5 names went into the sugar bowl.

Chuck drew the name for me.............................................................................

And the winner is..........

January's Journal Challenge - Day 25

!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEREK !!
Happy Sunday to you all,

Howdy folks and have I had an adventure today! I didn't get my laundry done yesterday with the blogging and painting and play and up and down the steps and well, I really don't have an adequate excuse. So today after morning rituals it was back to the laundry. I only had one last load of my daughters in the dryer and was able to start on mine. I got one load washed and into the dryer and another load started when I decided to do some rearranging in the laundry room. And it was a good thing I did. I heard a strange sound, water, and not a good water sound. As I looked over toward the washer the floor was wet beside it. Further investigation found the pipe leading to the outside that the washing machine drains into had sprung a leak. I quickly shut off the washer and removed the hose and made a mad dash to the floor drain. Barely enough length to get it there but I did. I let that load finish draining (it was getting ready for the rinse cycle) and figured I'd just leave the hose there and finish up. So I turned the machine back on. No deal. With the hose down like that all the washer did was drain as it was filling. Sooooooo........ Off to the laundromat. I have not set foot inside a coin-op laundry in over 10 years. I called my daughter and she suggested the best one to try for being open on a Sunday. I loaded up their clean laundry, and my dirty and still wet, and off I went. The laundromat was really nice but gees, the cost. I had no idea. No wonder the kids were coming to me. I was impressed with the machines though and I did remember to grab my journal.

Today's journal challenge prompt is shapes so i looked around and realized there were shapes everywhere. Square machines with circle shape doors. Rectangular folding tables and an octagon children's table. Tile floors that looked square or diamond shaped depending on how you were standing. And lights hanging from chains hung from the ceiling, forming a triangle. So here is my sketch with lots of shapes. The page is dirty as the painting from yesterday was on top of it and I over drew and over brushed now and then. The laundromat, called Wash Tyme, had a very clean floor.

I hope you all had a good and restful Sunday. Peace be with you and yours this day that HE hath made.

Till tomorrow,

Tess

January's Journal Challenge Days 23 and 24

Greetings all, We woke to a light dusting of snow and colder temperatures this morning. I was so glad to be home when I got off work yesterday and to know that we could actually have a decent meal for supper. Chuck grilled steaks even though it was cold outside and I baked us a potato. We usually have a salad or vegetable too but decided not this time. Then after supper we played dominoes until bedtime. No crafting or journaling or painting happened yesterday I sadly admit. But, sometimes our spouses need our attention and our creativity needs a break. I woke feeling refreshed today and even though I have a mound or two or three of laundry to do as I am doing my daughter and her families laundry also this weekend I felt great and like it would be a nice slow day. So far I've started a pot of soup, washed and dried several loads of the laundry and I made this:

I revisited the earlier watercolor drawing I had done on regular paper and decided to try it on watercolor paper and to change it up a bit. In honor of Valentines Day I decided to paint blossoms of "Hearts and Soul". I used watercolor pencils and drew on watercolor paper this time. I found a small brush works good for me to wet the colors with. The butterflies are stamps painted with water and then rubbed with the watercolor pencils. The stamp design is from a set of stamps I bought from the Unity Stamp Co. 's August Kit of the Month called "remember happiness". All of the designs from this set were created by JessiLynn of Vol.25. She is a wonderful artist and designer and has a great blog and etsy shop. Check her out.

Yesterdays challenge from Misty was to create something inspired by your favorite artists. I kept this in mind when creating the painting above. Two artists came to mind, Jodi Ohl of sweet repeats and Jessi Lynn of vol25. Jodi loves hearts as does Jessi. I wanted to use one of the stamps I had bought that Jessi created . I chose the title "Hearts and Soul" because I truly believe that both Jodi and Jessi pour their hearts and souls into everything they create. OMG, I could say this about every one of the wonderful artists I have found here in blog land. Here are some links to some of my other favorite artists that seem to inspire me everyday:

Misty Mawn

Nina Bagley at Ornamental

Jude at Spirit Cloth

Red Velvet Art (Four of the loveliest and most talented young ladies I've ever come across.)

Sweet Repeats

Art du Jour

elvie studio

and so, so, so many more.

Of course there are those other artists, the ones long gone that inspire us all. Such as da Vinci , Picasso, Renoir and Monet. And I can't leave out Andy Warhol.

Today's challenge from Mist is to create a piece of art and give it away. I'm not sure how to do this but I do know what I want to do. I would like to give this watercolor painting away to someone here that continually comments and encourages me. I will gather some surprises; papers, artist trading card, cloth and maybe even some upholstery fabric swatches to send with this little painting to this person. The painting is rather smallish. It measures approx. 5 1/2" X 9" and is Staedtler Karat Aquarell Watercolor Pencils on Canso 90 lb. watercolor paper. I used Sobo Premium Craft & Fabric Glue to attach the dictionary word. I will put all commenters (to this post) names in a bowl and have my husband pick a winner on this coming Monday evening, 6PM CST. The winner will then just need to send me an address and wait for their surprise to arrive. Good Luck!

(I must admit I feel foolish as I am thinking right now, "Who will want this?" But I worked hard on it and giving of oneself is a good and postive thing so here goes....)

Tess

January's Journal Day 22

Note: I tried to publish this yesterday and I couldn't. Computer, fingers, mind working better this morning.

Hi All, I am tired this week. It's suppose to be a shorter work week when you have Monday off. I am feeling like this week will never end. BooHoo, poor me! Get over it, right. LOL :-)

I did something for myself and my loved ones today. I went in for an early AM appointment and had my yearly mammogram. If your the age to have a yearly exam and can't remember the last one you had promise you'll call and find out. Make that appointment. It's important for early detection. I had a lump removed several years ago. It was ok, I was ok. I promised myself and family then that I would have this exam yearly so if something develops we'll hopefully catch it early. Lay this promise upon your heart and follow through...you are worth it.

Misty's challenge today was to create with crayons only. As I whined about earlier I'm tired so I decided I felt like scribbling. This is on the back of my tic tac toe page thus the thread lines. It was fun scribbling and doodling and then I decided to add some words here and that, then to add this and that. It's not really a picture of anything. It's just color and it was fun and playful and quick. I may do that again whenever I am needing to be creative but just too tired.

Tomorrows theme: create a work of art inspired by your favorite artist.

This will be a hard one for me!

Tess

JAnuary's Journal Day 21

This sweet little Angel Princess just had a birthday. In this she is about 6 but now she is 9. Today's journal challenge from Misty is to alter any photo. I chose to play with my Photo Shop Elements and alter a digital photo. Since my little angel niece has been on my mind I decided to alter this photo in celebration of her recent birthday. I found applying filters easy and quick. Playing with all of the add-on things was a lot of fun and to be honest I'm not even sure how I found them. I am tired as the past two days have been very busy. I'm pleased to announce the online recharter process for both the pack and the troop is validated, submitted and printed. Tomorrow I will deliver the papers to be signed and hopefully we will be able to meet our deadline of the 31st. Phew!
I plan to play with this Photo Shop stuff more and I am so pleased with the altered photo I am going to print it and paste it into my journal to remember this years birthday and my fun journals with Misty.
Tomorrows challenge is with crayons only Yippee! I love crayons, I keep them around for my little angel and her sibling and cousins. Nah, not really, they are for me, me, me. LOL
Good Night All,
Tess

January's Journal Challenge - Day 20

It's been such a busy day, so much happening. A co-workers father-in-law passed away yesterday so our work load was heavier minus one. He had cancer and it was so sudden and quick. She was helping with arrangements for a nursing home stay and then a return home. Now he is gone. It is best not to suffer long but it still is hard to say good-bye to a loved one, given over to cancer. He had taken the chemo like they said to and it grew instead of shrinking. These things happen, we lost my mother-in-law to cancer, I still hate that word......

Then I was reminded of my commitment to rechartering the Cub Scout Pack and Boy Scout Troop paperwork. So many calls but alas with just a few minor glitches it is almost done.

I missed the inauguration standing in line at the post office today. They are so slow sometimes, our branch is anyway.

I did take time to make a few ATC's just to clear my mind. These are my journal entries for Misty's challenge. I do love being creative everyday.

The first ATC posted here is being sent tomorrow to a new friend on Associated Content. Lorelei wanted me to send her a Valentine in response to my Send A Valentine - Just Because post on AC. This is a grown up valentine of sorts.

So if you haven't guessed by now my word for today is friend. Do something nice for your friends today, tomorrow, everyday. Be sure to remind them of how very important they are to you.

Have a great evening,

Tess

January's Journal Challenge - Day 19

I had such fun having my granddaughter over. We made tacos and burritos for supper and then we all played a board game. We all being her, me and grandpa. She chose the Game of Life. It is only the second time she has played it as we taught her how last time we had her over. She did really well and was getting pretty good with her strategy. She only lost to grandpa by 235,000.00. In the Game of Life that is not much. If she had gotten just a few more Life tiles she would have beaten him. She thought that was so cool and challenged him that she would win next time. She was a Doctor and grandpa a teacher and grandma, ta da, an artist. LOL. It was fun, if you've never played the game and you enjoy board games you really should get it. ~~~
Today was my youngest niece's birthday. She turned 9 today, they are all growing so fast. Anywho, we made her birthday cards with stickers and rub-on words and put made with love on the backs of them. Awwww!! Wasn't that a sweet idea from one cousin to another. I made sure they got to play together for a couple hours when we took the gifts over. I finished up today's page after lunch at McDonald's and taking the granddaughter home.

Misty Mawns January Journal Challenge has completely different themes this week. I enjoyed today's. This is the first time I have sewn on paper, by hand. I haven't had the courage to put paper through my sewing machine yet. Today's theme was "add buttons, thread and fabric to your journal page". Here's what I came up with.....

The overall theme is about being different. Notice how the tic tac toe seems to be the red squares and yet the buttons are going the other direction. And also notive two of the buttons are 4 hole and the center one is a two hole. being different can be a good thing.

Here is the list for this weeks Journal Challenge as suggested by Misty Mawn:

Monday - embellishments. buttons, beads, fabric added to the page.
Tuesday - word art. focus on one word... create a page around that word.
Wednesday - altered photo. take one photo of your own, alter it any way you wish
Thursday - crayons only day... nothing else. explore your inner child. ;-)
Friday - create a work of art /journal page inspired by your favorite artist.
Saturday- share your art... make a piece of art as a gift today, give it away.
Sunday - shapes. pick one shape and go from there.

I would think tomorrow would be easy but I haven't come up with a single idea yet. Hmmmmm! Guess I'll have to sleep on it.

Tess