My husband and children went to the Fresno/Hawai'i game last week and this was caught on video by my daughter. Kill the sound, cuz all you here is Lia screaming... ; )

I really don't like the fact that I'm expected to watch a video ad before I can post to my blog, so I'm gonna take a break here for awhile. If you want to see what I'm up to, check here: http://whymsicallotus.blogspot.com/

Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others. Left Brain Dominance: (16) Right Brain Dominance: (16) Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

Easy quick quiz for brain dominance... lol

Not sure why, but I didn't get the ad-stoppage this time.... huh...

Cai picked up the journal today (and loved it, yes). I had so much fun making it that I think I will be doing a few more this weekend. : D

But check this out!



44 signatures! 702 pages! lol... I'm sewing the signatures together right now, but it will have hard covers and covered spine. Not sure how I'll do it yet, but that's the plan so far.

It's getting sooooo old having to deal with ads with everything on the 'Net now! I had to wait for an ad to finish before I could post! This is the first time, so it came as a *bleepin'* surprise!

I guess it's time to look for another blog service, huh? I thought it was bad enough to have to deal with ads all over the blog, but now they're making us watch video ads before we can access our blog? Am I the only one upset about this?!?

Well, now I'm not so sure I want to share my art... (Can you see me with my lower lip poking out in a pout? lol).

Okay, I feel better now... sigh

I made a new journal today! Cai wanted to make a couple of journals for her friends and I felt like helping out with one.



I used the same paper from my square journal for the pages in this one. I used a simple long stitch binding (with a little twist!), a nice, soft leather for the cover, with one of my favorite batik fabrics lining the inside, and a mother-of-pearl button for a closure.





I kept the extra thread as a bookmark with an angel bead dangle and the last of the length for the closure.

Okay, now I"m happy again!

Remember the last journal I made with the 22 signatures? It's pretty close to being square, so that's what I'm calling it. I'd like to share some of the pages. The first has some test prints of a couple of portrait stamps I made of my adopted grand baby:


I have more pictures ( here )

I am soooo loving all the art I am able to do while I recover. I see improvement in movement and pain level everyday. I re-arranged my art space (feeling kinda bad about that, but I needed it) too. I'll share pics of that later. Time to go to bed...

Sorry to disappear, but my service was down for a bit... How about some art? ; )



A WIP. I did a lot of layering for this. Collage papers, paint, markers, images...

I have also been having fun with carving again. Here are a couple of pages:





And an awesome Rasta lion by Alex:



Check out the dreads:

a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/whymsicallotus/4431382930/" title="Detail of dreads by lootsvele, on Flickr"></a>

I hope you're all doing well. I will be catching up this week...

I didn't realize that the pictures would come out so big! I'll do better next time... sorry!

Cai gave me some scrap paper from her friend at work and it inspired me to make this journal!



The paper is a bit thicker than regular paper, but thinner than cardstock. I think it'll be perfect for light watercolor washes (if I'm so inspired).



It also has 22 signatures with 4 sheets of paper in each one! LOL! Yes, I know it's pretty ambitious, but I love it! The covers are just made from chipboard and they're flexible, but sturdy. I gessoed, painted, stamped with a couple of my hand carved stamps and I put my name and year using rub-ons. Used several layers of gloss varnish and voila! ; )

It measures 6 /34" tall, 6 1/4" wide and 1 3/4" thick.

Considering what has been happening lately, I'm in relative good spirits. This roller coaster should be coming to an end soon... I hope!

I'm still working in my journal. I'm surprised that I'm not translating my sadness to my work. It'll probably hit me at the funeral, but for now, I'm okay. I will be going to my cuz's funeral, but my aunt lived in another state. I'll get to see my cuz Carla... she's the oldest of her family and like a sister to me. I haven't seen her in years!

Anyway, here's a page I did last night:



Sorry it's dark. I started a background and hated it, so I gessoed over the whole thing. I put a wash of red paint to darken it a bit and let it sit for a few days. I found a nice image of a gypsy and printed and cut it out to use as a base. I painted over it with acrylics (regular and metallic) and embellished with gel pens, opaque pens. The quotes are from Shakespeare. It's very hard to find quotes about mermaids!

There's all kinds of things wrong with this page, but I'm glad I did it. I don't care too much for this technique- painting over an existing image. I'll leave it for those that are good at it. ; )