Pay It Forward

Pay It Forward has been going around Bloglandia for sometime as far as I can gather. I tried to learn more but just found others who have done this.

I signed up at Donna's blog Hickory Dickory Mouse Tales.

I really like the idea of creating for others and the total suprise of not knowing when or what you will receive. I am a huge fan of the "Pay it Forward" book, movie and foundation.

Here is the project (just copy the following to your blog):

I will make a handmade gift for the first 3 interested people who comment on this post. I have 365 days to do it in…What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well: you must have a blog and before you leave your comment here, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. (just cut and paste this one if you like!, which I did)

This could be a lot of fun! :o)

Check-in on My 101 in 1001 List

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the sky yesterday. I love colour in the sky, and clouds - of all different shapes and colours. There are never the same pictures to be seen!

I thought it time as well, to check-in on progress made since I created my 101 List 2 months ago.

The biggest achievement I believe was creating this blog (#14). For someone not too computer savy, this has been a big learning curve. I have been able to post at least once a week and each week, I try to add something to the blog.

The easiest, and most important for that matter, was to tell my husband I love him every day. Which I do and have always done. focus my wishes and dreams, not just for this month, but months to come.

#57 has me reading at least 101 books and #95 at least 10 non-fiction books.

I am trying to read more - usually I manage magazines and newspapers (and now blogs!) while I am teaching full-time. But reading is a great love of mine and I have a huge list (and piles!) of books to read. The past 2 months I have read:

"12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women" by Gail Meekin (NF)

"Finding Noel" by Richard Paul Evans

"Christmas Letters" by Debbie Macomber

"Twenty Wishes" by Debbie Macomber

"A Single Thread" by Marie Bostwick (my fav. of the fiction)

#93 Write 101 comments on other's blogs - that has been enjoyable and rewarding. There are so many wonderful women I have encountered in my "travels". I f I haven't posted 101, then I soon will!

This coming week I will work on #17. Then once I have created my list of at least 50 things I love, I will begin to photograph them (#80). I'd like to create a collage of these as well.

My daily gratitude list (#15) hasn't been written daily, but I do end the evening giving thanks for the many blessings I have. And I have started an art journal (#7) and am having fun with that and my collage course.

Family, friends (old and new), school, Fluffy our cat, art, books, music, great movies (watched 7Pounds last night) are all things I am thankful for this evening.

Happy Day!

After reading Kathryn's post and watching the "Good Day" video, this smiling face made me laugh while I was making supper tonight. I really did need a good chuckle and it certainly did provide that. I would normally just have cut up the squash and cooked it. But as I laid it down I was struck by the face and a smiling one at that. I couldn't resist taking a picture. And, I thought, you might like to see what I observed today. Opening up one's eyes and really observing is a really powerful, and in this case, fun tool.

I will also leave you with one of my favourite recipes. I felt the need to cook some comfort food tonight and Yummy Peanut Butter cookies fill that need.

1/2 cup oil 1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter 1 egg

1/2 cup white sugar

Mix these ingredients then add and mix:

1 1/4 cups flour 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt

Make small balls. Press with fork. Bake at 375 for 10-12 min on an ungreased pan.

A gift for you for Earth Day. (Thanks dear Syd for this recipe - 30 years old and still delicious!)

Colour Challenge and Collage

I have played more with art this past week than in all of the past year!

Leah Piken Kolidas’s Colour Art challenge at Creative Every Day has finally been the push for me to create, rather than just read about or look at, art.

I have loved visiting so many different art blogs through Creative Every Day and “12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women” book club. But, I was not creating.

I even joined an online art class – Media Collage backgrounds at Creative Workshops to spark my creativity.

This week I have hopefully turned the corner. Thanks Leah!

My project for the April 13-19 challenge is a colour collage. Leah suggested using colour we normally do not use. After creating the Full Pink Moon Dreamboard, shades and tints of pink seemed to jump out of magazines. I had such fun yesterday creating my “pink” palette collage.

Collage has always been one of my favourite forms of art. I use collage a lot when teaching children. Children seem to love the freedom of collage, as do I.

One of the best descriptions of collage came from a former student, age 8: “I love collage. You get to glue a whole bunch of stuff together.”

I love the uncertainty when you start a collage, the variety of “stuff” you can use, the fun of just playing.

When my own children were young we spent many summers in Haliburton, Ontario taking courses at the School of Fine arts there. It was a great way to combine a week’s holiday at the cottage with the excitement of creating, with each of us keeping busy each day with something we loved to do.

I tried many different techniques and classes – from basket weaving to silk screening, from watercolour to design. My favourite though, was the watercolour media collage course. Here is a sampling of some of my creations from this course.