NEW ART CONTEST! Will you win??!!

OK. Being that I am sick of being sick……… here is my new adventure. In order to be entered for my next giveaway you must list what your new years ART resolutions are. Leave your post on my blog. I will do the drawing at the end of Jan. to give all a chance to enter and me a chance to get well all the way.

This drawing consists of a SURPRISE piece of art by me as well as a small asst. of other goodies. GOOD LUCK. I will list what the winner won, as well as post a picture AFTER the winner’s name has been drawn.

What are my ART resolutions:

To do a collage once a month. To work on more classes to teach this year. To take time to enjoy working on my new images coming out soon. My goal is to have the new images out by March.

On the not art side: to lose weight this year. to stay healthy and try to not get sick. Will try to think of a few more later.

THE WINNER IS……………………

Ok. This is really freaky to me. I can’t believe who we drew out of the bowl! It is GYPSY!!! You are the winner my friend. AND…..since I have been really sick and was behind on the drawing as well as answering email …………. there is another drawing coming up! Watch for details to come any day now!  Please accept my most sincere apologies for being sick. I am getting better with the flu. However, I now have something else. I WILL NOT post it or blog on it. But do know, I do appreciate your well wishes, thoughts and prayers. I still need them. So, thank you to all of you that sent me an email or a post. Still recovering…… Congrats Gypsy.

New ART and the winner…..

Ok. I have been really sick. I have not been able to post on my blog or even do the drawing. The drawing will be held on FRIDAY. Sorry I am behind. Being sick SUCKS! Will post the winner tom. To see the art, please click on it for a full view…….

The piece I did tonight is from the inspiration from a dear new friend of mine….gypsy. Thank you Gypsy for your friendship and your inspiration…. Merry Christmas ~ AJ

only 2 days left….

Well, here is the art work I am giving away with the drawing. On Weds., I will draw a name. Have you left your post yet???

Everything has a purpose…

This was an ATC card I did in April of 2004. It was a group of AZ artists.  Out of that group of about 15 of us, non of them have tried to keep in touch with me. I have tried to contact a few of them though…….On the back of the ATC, I used a little decorated envelope with the following poem printed out on pretty irr. purple paper.

The Butterfly

One day a small opening appeared in a cocoon. A man sat and watched the butterfly for hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could & it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors & sniped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected at any moment the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of it’s life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It was never able to fly. What the man in his kindnes and haste didn’t understand was that the cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body into it’s wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved it’s freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We would never fly.

 Wow. It gives me alot to think about tonight. I am missing AZ and the friends I had there. However, I think only a small handfull truly miss me too. Some have not een kept in touch with me. Like I am a disease or something. I will always cherish and be so thankful for the *true friends* that come into my life. However, it hurts me deeply when some of them can’t even take the time to call, email or try to contact me in any way. It’s not like I died! I just moved. Hope you enjoyed a little art and a little poem. Love and Peace.

Body Art

 This is a pic. of my tat on my left ankle. I am a huge winged freak. I love butterflies, fairies, anything with wings. To me, this is another way to express art. If I can ever lose the 70,85 pounds I am wanting to lose…… I will then get a lower back tat. I would like to have angel wings.

A med. to large set. Not a small one.

update

every day is a new song…….I must say I am having a nice day today. To read the posts, the wishes,dreams and desires we all have within us has been breathtaking. Keep them coming. For those that really want to have a FREE stamp or free unmounted as well as so called “art”…….why not take a look at the swaps I have to offer on my home site. I will finish the details on all 3 of them by tonight. But, I encourage you to join. I am dead serious when I say art heals. It heals me. It heals others. And what a great Christmas gift to give to yourself and others this year. They are not even due until next year anyways. And, like I said, you will get something free from me just for joining. One of my new stamps actually is “art heals”. Thank you for posting your comments and for viewing my blog. Much love and peace ~ AJ

Spirit of giving

Well. I have always been a person that gives. I give of my time. I used to give money to those who needed it (when I had money to give that is). But, the most important thing to give is YOURSELF. So, I would like to offer a gift to you. Later I will add a picture of my art I am giving away. But, not only will you be getting the art. You will also receive a brown paper bag filled with my stamps from my line eclectic omnibus as well as some other goodies. I will post the winner on the blog. To enter, just post me a comment. But, in the comment, you have to tell me the 5 things you would like to have the most for Christmas.  I will put all names in a bowl and one of my kids will draw the name out.Yes, I am playing Santa. But, I always like to hear from other artists what is on their wish list. The drawing will be the morning of Dec.20th. I will then ask you to please send me your snail mail address so I can send it out. Have fun.

Numb

Well. I haven’t posted in a few days. I told myself I was not going to post any more negative things in a blog for a little while. And……here I am again. Needing to blog. Let’s see…..where do I start. Well. I should start by telling you I just feel numb right now. I really don’t want to live here in Oklahoma and I want to be back in AZ so bad. I am numb because for the first year in my life, I might not be able to buy anyone Christmas gifts including my very own kids. How on earth do you think that makes me feel?? You got it. Numb. Before reading this any further, I have to warn you, this is personal. And who knows, after a day or two, I might even hit delete on this post.

Ok…….it all started back about 8 yrs. ago. I had a miscarriage with our 5th child. I was 14 weeks along. I started going through a deep round with depression. At that time, my husband had insurance and a very well paying job. So, when I was evaluated, they told me I needed to be on an anti depressant. I couldn’t do it at that time. I was so afraid of what someone from my former church would think of me. I knew most of them would say  it was a lack of faith on my part and I did not need the medicine. So, my husband got transferred not to long after that. We moved to Phoenix,AZ. So, again, I was depressed because I didn’t make friends right away and was far away from my family, and whoever else that lived here. This time, I went back to the doctor after about 6 more months of crying every day. So, I agreed that I needed to be on an anti depressant. Things were going fine. I was meeting people, enjoying life. And then, it happened. The accident. Yes, my husband shattered his heel in 25+ fractures. Doc told him he would never be the same and could not stand on his feet for long periods of time. So, he started doing the business with me. However, his former employer told him to quit. They would not fire him. They also would not provide a job for him either though. So, 15 years of loyalty and now a whole new ball game for my husband. I kept trying to tell him everything would be ok. And, I also told him we should both be thankful that he didn’t kill himself on this accident (not work related btw). So, what does one do?? Well, we had to end up filing for bankruptcy. See, I told you this was going to get personal.Things were really hard then. However, it was preparing me for now. We lived for awhile on his 401 k earnings and the earnings from my business. Well, as most of you know, the stamp companies and stores have a had a few hard years. So, here we are again. trying to set goals for ourselves to generate ideas and plans on bringing in income to the family. Well, husband just started today on a part time job. We tried to get a second mortage on the house here. But, because of our medical bankruptcy still being on the books until April, they won’t touch it. So, the only hopes I have at this time are of getting approved with a refinance.

I now look at life with a diff. view. I can not do what I used to do. And, alot of times…..that hurts. I can’t go buy a cd if I want the newest release ( like Gwen’s new cd coming out on Tuesday….<smile>). I can’t buy art supplies or any little small thing I see.

I do appreciate life more and soon I will auction off alot of my Longaberger baskets and have all ready worked on selling off other materialistic things.

Then, my mind is not strong enough now to even handle the thought of losing some weight and becoming healthier. But, it is something I do desire to do. I am so sick of being fat. Again, after the miscarriage, I have been able to lose like 2o here and there. But, it comes back. I don’t like looking at myself in the mirror. I don’t like taking pictures either. But, here is the strange thing. I don’t like the way I LOOK right now, being overweight. But, I do like who I am.

I will survive. I will get through this. PLEASE do not feel sorry for me. This is my path in life right now for some reason. I have to walk it.

One day, there will be happiness again. I do so appreciate my family. Thank you God for all of their health and that they are alive.

And to all of my friends…..thank you for your smiles. Thank you for your friendship.To my artists friends…. Your art inspires me as well as encourages me.