Thoughts and Plans

Its a quiet New Years Eve in my house this year. A nice supper, watching some tv and a movie. I hope I make it until midnight!
Looking back,  2015 was in some ways a very difficult year for me, but in other ways a good year too. I think most years have their ups and down, some years I guess the downs are just more noticeable than the ups. 2015 was definitely a year where the downs were big, so I personally am hoping for a really good 2016.
I am ready to step into the future.

Here's a journal page to celebrate the New Year!
 I am linking this Paint Party Friday, hosted by Kristen and Eva. Thanks to you lovely ladies for hosting. I really loved participating in 2015-the year I discovered Paint Party Friday- and I want to thank all of you who helped make my first year here a wonderful experience! And I want to be sure Kristen and Eva know I appreciate them hosting this site for all of us to meet and share!

So have you picked out a word for 2016 or made any resolutions? Maybe I list of what you want to accomplish in the up coming year?

 I thought I'd do to "hope to" list this year. I'm not good at making resolutions; I always fail at those pretty quickly. I can't even remember what word I picked last year.  Usually at some point early into the year I find a yearlong "project" I loosely pursue. (Or actually it finds me!)  In 2015 it was baking new recipes and learning to be a better home pastry chef. I've had years where my project was to visit new museums, to try new things, get some home improvement projects done or send out art to magazines. My idea for 2016 is to travel more, but not sure that is the "project" that will find me or not.

I guess we will see.

1-So I mentioned travel already, I have 2 places in mind I hope to get to this year. Each is 5 hours from my home in north and south directions. One is New York City and the other is Montreal. Of course, I'll go just about any place. And if I can follow my initial idea for 2016, I take some little journey each month. But we will see where those roads lead me.

2-Read more books. Buy fewer cookbooks. 

3-Bake more "new things", learn new art techniques, challenge myself  and learn some new skills. I've already signed up for another pastry making class during my April school vacation. Getting my new year list started I guess.
4-Hope my husband gets his blood immunity levels back to normal so he can get his new kidney and life get a little more normal around here. Finish de-cluttering the house. Finish up a few little projects I've got scattered around.  Make life simpler. Find more time to connect with old and new friends. Watch the sunrise and sunset more. This year has been way too complicated.

5-I've been saying I want to finish up some rehab in my kitchen so I hope to finally get my new kitchen sink and put in a new counter. And a couple of new windows too. My kitchen needs it, and is one of the last few places left on this house to work on. Fresh starts! 

6-Get another cat. I miss my Leo sooooo much!
7- Learn to be more house handy. Last year I refinished my porch floor, all by myself. I felt very accomplished. This year,hmmmm. But I would like to try something. Tiling perhaps?
8-Sew more. I always start things and then they sit there. The sewing machine is out, so go for it. I m a good sewer and I know the tricks so I just need to do it. The same goes for knitting! Don't let myself get too stuck doing the same type of creative endeavors over and over.
9-Don't let work overwhelm me.
10-Step out of my comfort zone more. Try new things!

And of course I hope we all stay healthy, happy and the good things in life just stay as wonderful as they are!

Wishing you all a wonderful new year . Hope your dreams all come true in 2016!

A Post for You Readers

This is a piece I made earlier, disliked a lot, and went back to for a little fixing up.  Much better now!  I thought the original looked too much like a board game. (I won't show you the first one, even though I did post it awhile back so if it looks vaguely familiar, you know why).

I dedicate this new much improved view to all of you who stop by-giving you my heart and thanks for being my readers.

I am  linking this to Moo Mania,(or will be, as this is a pre-post as I am at another hockey game tonight). And one more link to Art Journal Journey before this month's challenge winds down tomorrow.

Wow- I can't believe tomorrow is the last day 2015.

So yesterday we got about 4 inches of snow, not tons, but it was still not the greatest driving. We did make it to our hockey game, only to lose by 1 point. Tonight there's a rematch but in Manchester, New Hampshire. Tonight they are saying ice...YUK...even worse than driving in the snow and the game is also about an hour away so hopefully the roads won't be bad and even more so, we can win this game tonight. I am writing this around 9:30 AM and as I look out the window I see more snow falling. I guess winter has arrived, at least for now. I think after the extremely warm December we have had you know this will arrive but you hope it won't...that's life isn't it?

No more for me. I want to go play for a awhile. Thanks again for stopping by my blog! :)

Taking Stock

'Tis the season to look back and see what the winding down year has brought. I like how it feels to review and how we are given the chance to brush away the leftover crumbs. So before I start to plan and make lists for 2016, thought I would do a little review and show you my favorite pieces from the previous 12 months.

I'm not very good at weeding things down to just a few so

I'll warn you, this is a LONG post! 

(And to think this is just a tiny fraction of the total...what a great art year it has been!)

Cards...

And early in the year I was in a tag craze, and afterwards I created a tag journal to put them in.Here's just a few from the huge pile (like close to 75) of tags  I created.

And then I made some Gelli prints which I loved as much as any finished page.

Some of these would make nice fabric!

And a bit of fabric art-

All of these are in the unfinished stage!

 And a few journal pages that really still make me smile.

And I did a little sun printing:

 On paper and fabric!

 And finally, my 2 masterpieces!
Ha-ha!

 Wow- I am exhausted!

Ha-ha-ha!

Thanks for bearing with me and going through the whole post!
And thanks for stopping by for a visit!