The Universe was smiling at me

and I smiled back. I am feeling a bit of a gentle hand on my shoulder and a whisper in my ear today. A message of "I have given you some time today, use it wisely" is what I hear. The Universe is definitely smiling on me today. Work is at a bit of a standstill which means I am making no money but overall if you consider how much time I have spent working over the past several weeks I am in dire need of a bit of a break. You can't put a price on sanity, right? *smile*

School is back in session which means a schedule is very much the basis of my life again. It feels good. I'm feeling less frazzled, wait....I did have a frazzled moment last night so maybe not. What I am really feeling is that I have a handle on things and that things are moving in the right direction again. The summer always throws us off around here and rightly so. But there comes a time when it's things need to get back in order and continue on that path and it started yesterday. I wasn't really ready to give up the kids just yet but the school bell rang and away they went ~ one by bus and one by his very first car.

There was a lot of car preparation recently getting ready for the big birthday. This is what a true father-son relationship looks like. Who cares it if isn't by blood. By blood truly has proven to mean nothing ~ at least in my book.

Several weekends ago my art group, the Rubberband, had its annual retreat. Each year we gather at a the castle (at least that is what we call it because it looks like a castle, inside and out) and we share with one another tips, techniques and projects. There are always lots of goodies to snack on, gut-busting laughing and even one dinner out as a group. This year with the help of our Daytime Emmy wining Barney costume designer we made a wonderful little apron out of nothing more than a.....
pillowcase. Yep, you read that right....a pillowcase. And I even had some fabric left over. I picked up the pillowcase at Target in the "off to college" department for the ridiculous price of $3.50. I also used several fat quarters of fabric for the contrast which is the brown/aqua polka dot. Let me tell you, I am totally loving this hot little number! Thank you Traci for sharing your talent with us!

Back in June I mentioned the classes I took at Stamp Asylum with Tim Holtz. I never did get around to posting the photos of several of my completed projects. This is my Royal Bird, A Bird of Magical Proportion.

This awesome collage is from the class that was held over at Ten Second Studio with Cheryl and Tim tag-team teaching. Below you can see several sides of the collage as well as the jewelry from the Ideaology Intrigue class.Frames and collage storyboard from House of 3.

At some point in the future I will need to finish my Grungeboard book. I diligently worked on my collaged/tiled mirro a few weeks ago and will take a photo of it soon. It looks pretty cool though it was sure a lot of work!