liberate your art...

"turn your light on...

shine the fact of it out into the world...

watch what happens next"

~excerpt from i am her~

It is that time of year...Liberate Your Art. 

 Kat Salome's postcard swap encourages us to "create, share and liberate our art into the world, where it can do its greatest good".   I sent out five posts and in return received five postcards from talented people from all over the globe...and a special one from Kat herself!  It was so fun to go to my mailbox each week and discover another treasure. 

In this day of emails, texts, facebook, twitter...it is so nice to get mail the old fashion way...something to hold on to and enjoy...to know that someone put their heart and soul into their creation.

Such a wonderful way to connect with such talent.  After all  isn't that what life is all about....connection with others?

clockwise left to right...

1. kat eye studio  2. linda mann  3. chris

clockwise left to right...

1.tracey swartz  2. lee thomson  3. miriam rogers

These are the wonderful posts i received this year.  Be sure to click here to explore all the talent of Liberate Your Art postcard swap!

Until next time...let your light shine!

NancyJean

springtime dreams...

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams"

~eleanor roosevelt~

I think that spring has been frozen in time in some distant place...just refusing to come our way.  We have had record rainfall with massive flooding...and then snow...all within a week.  Normally by now the tulips, dogwood, crab trees and azaleas are showing off their beauty...my camera clicking away.  But this year, if you look really closely, all you might see is just a bud.   

But it is a new week...a new hope for spring to arrive.

Until next time...
NancyJean

unfurled wings...

She unfurls her wings.  She speaks her mind.

She is a beautiful parcel of boldness and grace,

 all wrapped up together...

brilliant...shining.

The more of her own light she allows to shine,

the more others shine too.

I want to be her...

I am back home safe and sound.  I flew down to Sanibel to help my mother pack up and sell her home of thirty years. Mom knew it was time to let the home go...her age is slowing creeping up on her.  
Thankfully, our last day there was just picture perfect.  I was able to take her to visit all of her favorite places on the island.  One last good bye...Ding Darling, Captiva, Algiers beach, the lighthouse, Grandma Dots, Pinnochio's, her friends... We soaked up all the beauty the island had to offer...hoping that the memories would stay with us forever.
  As we sat at the closing, the tears were flowing.  Then it was  time for the very difficult drive back up to Chicagoland...5 days!  We encountered a bad accident that had the road closed for two hours, terrible rains and to top it off a late spring snowstorm that stranded us in Indianapolis for an extra day.  It was if the island just did not want to let us go.  
Now are bags are unpacked and we are well rested...just in time for Kim Klassen's new lesson today... a storyboard and alittle haze...too fun!
As much as i hated to leave the island...my home is here and it feels sooo good!

Until next time...
NancyJean

    

almost there again....

Well...today is the day.  I am off to Sanibel Island...maybe for the last time.  My mother has spent nearly thirty years as a snowbird vacationing there almost six months each year.  For thirty years i have been taking my trip there every winter.  For Mom is has become a home away from home...for me a beloved island full of wonderful memories.  

This year my mother decided that it was time to sell her home...her age is creeping up on her and she feels it is time to let it go...

I thought for sure that we would get one more family vacation there in the fall.  The housing market is not the best and things take time to sell.  But as luck would have it...the home sold in just three weeks...."lock, stock, and barrel"...

The only thing we need to pack up are my mother's personal items...her clothes, some photos...that is about it.  

I just know that i can not let my mother do this alone.  It is such a emotional time for me right now... I can only imagine what my mother is feeling.

 So i am flying down today to help her pack up, close on her home and drive her back.  I am sure tears will be flowing as we leave the island for the last time.  

My husband assures me that this is not the last... we will vacation down there with my mother this fall. I so hope he is right.  

A chapter of our live is over now...but we hold dear so many wonderful memories!  
 

until i return...

NancyJean

kiss me...

or not...but kiss me anyway!

My daughter and i made these adorable "pots of gold" for the children in the special needs classroom where she volunteers each week. You can find this cute download here.  I just printed, punched and attached them to the bottom of gold wrapped hershey kisses and attached the tags.  This site is loaded with all kinds of awesome party goodies! 

I hope your Paddy's day is filled with all kinds of kisses...even if you are irish or not!

Until next time...

NancyJean
p.s.  guess i am kind of addicted to the chalkboard backround!

a wonderful journey...

Oh my goodness...it was like Kim Klassen was reading my mind.  I opened up my lesson for the week and it was all about chalkboard photos.  I have admired this type of photography for some time now.  It seems to be all over pinterest.  I have been pinning photo after photo and now i get the chance to try it myself!  

I ran out and bought two pieces of black foam board and some white chalk.  I rubbed the chalk in circular motion being careful not to dent the board.  Then i took a soft cloth and gently blended the chalk.  I was able to create the perfect chalkboard backround!  

The flowering almond is from a beautiful arrangement my hubby sent me yesterday.  One of those "just because" arrangements.  So sweet....

And the quote is perfect for right now.  You see in acouple of days i am on a journey to Florida to help my dear mother pack up her home and move back north.  She has been going down to Sanibel for over 30 years.  She has decided that is time to sell her vacation home there....a chapter in her life is coming to an end.  I just could not let her face this alone....she really needs some emotional support.  So i will pack her up and drive her back home...sigh.... 

Until next time...
NancyJean

quiet time...

Oh my...i do not know where the time has gone.  You once again you must forgive me, i have been away from my dear blog way too long.  
I think i am having creative attention deficit disorder...i find myself bouncing around between paper crafting, knitting, photography, sewing, embroidery, cooking....
the list goes on and on and on!
And in between there is this thing called "life".  Not to worry...nothing too bad, but just alittle chaotic right now.  I just think i need to sit myself down and take a little time to be quiet...

But my dear mentor, Kim Klassen, has helped me to focus when she released her new paper and cloth collection last week.  Oh my...this collection is just chock full of wonderful textures and brush sets for photoshop.  The textures are so dreamy, but her new brush sets are just divine!!!  Once loaded, all you need to do is "stamp and go".  You can change the size and position and even the colour!  The possibilities are really endless!  

In this week's lesson, Kim gave us this iconic photo to "play with".  I uploaded it into Lightroom to straighten, crop,  adjust the white balance and saturation.  I really do love colour, but sometimes it is just alittle much for me.  Lightroom gives me all kinds of options to get the colours just right...for me!  
Then i bopped over to PSE and added one of Kim's new brushes that gave it a soft vintage feel...and then of coarse...a little text!  

Here is the before...

It always amazes me what alittle lightroom and photoshop magic can do to a photo!  

If you are intrigued to learn more about Lightroom and photoshop...be sure to connect with Kim Klassen.  If she can teach me...a real beginner...i just know she can teach anyone!

Until next time...
nancyjean