Follow Your Heart!

Hi Friend!

How's your day been?  I've spent the last week or so, still recovering from my illness...the virus 'going around'--and was finally able this last weekend to do nothing but SLEEP!


What a gift THAT WAS!!



To have two days lost to sleep brings a load of rumminess --where am I?!--mental fragility--who am I?--and a little spurt of Creativity!

I can do a little something, but not a huge project yet!



So, in the spirit of sharing, I will show off my 'little'  (2 1/2" x 3 3/4") book; originally gifted me a couple years ago by a artsy friend.

When I received it, I thought the little handmade treasure charming, but I was also a little put off--I loved the idea of it, but it wasn't quite 'me'.  I couldn't imagine what it was...


hmmm, was it the color on the front? 

                           (not much on 'rust' and earth-tones...)

was it the pages with the little stamped sayings, about stamping, following the muse, and hearing voices?

                                                        (maybe...!)


half of the pages were completely blank!

                                  (equals no color!  and I'm a total COLOR person!)


maybe it was a little bit of everything?


                                                                                       yes!

The book is so cute, though...it was begging for bling!

So, taking the reins the other day, I imagined my friend Sharon would be happy for me to add the love to the little book she'd gifted me, and it would also be a tool in my recuperation.  I'm thankful to have friends who gift me handmade treasures like this...


Using copies of 'Where Women Cook' and 'Digital Studios,' both by Somerset, and a few little trinkets I had, I made this into 'My Heart Book'!!

I first covered up the rust ribbon on the front cover...little strip of scrap paper--green!  That's it!  equals 'growth'...

then, a little red heart made in an art class...melted embossing powder in a mold!  FUN!  

(I know it told me to follow my muse, but i'm not sure who that was / is...so
'follow my heart' felt more 'me'--at least right now!)

open it up...
a couple quotes from 'Where Women Cook'--old issues--and they always have inspirational quotes.


Next page:

i love silver linings in clouds if we look closely enough, don't you?!

you can see the original stamp here, and I added little stickers which might be 'my' four out of five voices!...plus the top page, a little Mary Engelbreit 'cherries' paper, with a little dab of chocolate 'love'!

This stamp really seemed to allude to all the chatter in the universe, and the black and white paper was a perfect foil to that, plus adding a Bible verse, and the little cutout from an old poster (1920's clip art), which seems to be like God watching over all.)

this little paper on the left was cut from a fabric sales catalog, and I added all the little hand-drawn flowers to the stamp on the right.  I'll color some in later on with my watercolor pencils.

I can laugh a bit about voices not being real, but I also prefer the positive creative, inspiring ones!  Used the clipping from a poster by 'My Concrete Sky'--a fantastic blog!  (check it out!)

Here's a little flip-up which reveals the original stamp, and a photo of 'nest'-which to me illustrates my 'little world' (my little purple house!) and those who know me there--me, myself, and I; plus the kitty=Maggie!

loved this little quote....felt really good to me...the book is coming together!

and then!  A little bit of Divine Intervention!

A little ATC made by Stephanie Voss, on page 61 of the latest Digital Studios, resonated with me!  loved the art, but it wouldn't fit!  Undaunted--I trimmed it, folded it, and taped it in.  the quote shows on the front (above-photo 1), the  little boy running on the sand was a photo on the back side of the ATC! (divine intervention!!), and then Stephanie's Art Trading Card is the next fold-over page!

It extends on the left above the cover--I used her legs upside down at the top of the page, along w/ the stars from the trading card.  The Bingo number is mine, a little wooden bling, which is the date of my birth!


Isn't this FUN!!?


(one of my favoritest things about altered art is 'going outside the lines'--I LOVE having things off the canvas, outside the edges of the book; inviting the viewer to relax, and get involved)

(clipped from 'Women Who Cook')

Look at these roasted cherry tomatoes ...YUM!

and I cracked up when I saw the WC Fields quote--

can we ever laugh enough?

Well now, you gotta love the 'Hokey Pokey'--but I'm thinking for my little
happy book about things i love, that I'll just put those right here!...found the inside of a greeting card with a hand-written message from my Dad--I don't find those very often (Mom usually does the writing), and a quote from Susan Branch, then opposite;

 a little tag with a silver heart charm, and on the tag, all sorts of fun things I LOVE: dark chocolate, cozy jammies, smell of cut grass, etc....

(a little bowl of berry-love from (Where Women Cook')

once  you sample a red raspberry, and the flavor of summer bursts in your mouth...

                                                         really, is Life that Complicated?!

Well, we're on the last page, and here's what it's really all about (to me):

"Live Each Day On Purpose"

(like you're MEANT to do it!)


to me, the cross is symbolic of What I'm here for,  and

Why I do the things I do



LOVE!