Back to my first love: Moleskine!

I haven't been journaling lately, I have no excuse for why. Just haven't really felt like it. But getting back to Moley felt REALLY good! The color is Faber Castell gel sticks (NOT the gelatos). Suzi got them for me and I really like the way they feel when they're dry! They're matte, which I really like, and the color doesn't rub off, like watercolors can tend to do. So I'm happy! 

Here she is with the detail added back in after painting:

And some journaling on top (bad picture!):

Moley face :)

Her features are a little crookedy, but she's drawn with purple Sharpie so I can't fix it! One of the reasons I like drawing with pen is the "can't fix it" angle. I don't know why but I like that.

December Calendar

What? Today's the 11th! 

That's true, but I usually write a few blog posts and post date them for when I don't have time to actually blog every day - so I REALLY made it on the 7th. That's a little better, no? After YSM (on Wednesday), the girls and I all decided to make December calendars to jump start us back into Moleyville. I'll try to post mine when it's all filled up at the end of the month! 

Just in case you were wondering

What? It's the 5th? How come no one told me?!?

I know, I know, I'm LATE! Here is January's page. I even put in a picture of Mini Me when he was a baby because his birthday is this month!
I'm not particularly thrilled about it. It's not AT ALL the color it started out to be and I didn't feel like cutting up little squares, so it's only three different papers (two of them are double-sidded). Basically it was just an "I don't wanna do this but I said I was gonna so I am" project. Take that!

"Mommy, sweat and pee are cousins."

Did you know that? I mean, it's logical. Makes sense. And yet, I was hope Mini Me heard this on TV somehow and didn't make that connection in his head. First of all - he doesn't have any cousins. Second - that seems WAY beyond what a three-year-old should be able to understand.

I tried doing an Internet search (I hate using the word "googled" because I don't use Google and I think people will look at me funny if I start saying I yahooed something...) and I came up with the question posted on The Slap. The Slap is a fictional blog based on a character (Cat) on the Nickelodeon show Victorious, which he loves. So I'm hoping someone on there said something. AND while I was yahooing, I somehow ended up at the site for the actress who plays Cat and her name is Ariana!! I've never met another one who spells it the same way as I do! She probably pronounces it differently than I do, but in my head it sounds just like when I say it. (Same with Ariana Dumbledor)

I've been trying to break the Moleskine habit (no reason, I'm just not thrilled with Moleskines and I feel like to spend $17 on a journal I should love it) and drew this in the journal I'm taking to Florida to use as my "travel" journal. She's not too bad, but they always look worse once I add color.

PS I'm going to Florida to visit with my BFF who moved to London nine months ago. I haven't seen her since January and I'm SUPER excited! Hence the camera panic...still can't find it.

Tal!!

Look what my friend Tal did for me!!!

The Adventures of Red Mole

Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen? I can't even tell you how awesome I think this is. I'm so, so, so, so, so in love with it!! (Lola is my mermaid name, in case you're wondering!)

The Story of Red, the lost Moley

I lost my journal. The one I always have with me. Doodle phone number in. Dates. Grocery lists. Ah-hah! Must be at the grocery store, right? No, how could I have left it there? I haven't even been to the grocery store for DAYS. I would've noticed I didn't have it Must be someplace closer...Hubby, have you seen it? Yes, the one I painted red. Yes, with the little card on the front with the heart. No, it's not in my bag (like I didn't look there???). So, I call the grocery store. I tell the guy on the phone I think I left a little red journal there. He asks if it has a heart with wings on the front! Yes, yes it does! They have Red! Of course, I don't have a car and it's literally freezing out so I can't make Mini walk the mile and a half to the mall to pick him up, so I had to wait.Then when I get there - no one knows where he is! They look in the same red bag and big gray bin several times and I'm just about to freak out because really, who wants someone else's journal?? But they insisted he was there and "I know I saw it today" and now he's home safe and sound and in my bag to have an adventure another day. Maybe today, I've been wanting to check out Frabriano paper...

The sky...

Yin and Yang

I have a friend, we met about two months ago: Kelly. I speak of her pretty often on my blog, we get together about once a week for play dates. We met at Suzi Skool, in mermaid class. Kelly is a certified copic marker instructor and I want to learn to use copics. She wants to learn Photoshop and I've been using Photoshop for years. She's great at stamping and I suck. I'm great at making a sloppy mess when I'm painting, while she's learning to loosen up. One day when we were talking about these things Kelly stated, "We are yin and yang. Sounds like a journal page. Which do you want to be?" I said I wanted to be Yang.

Friendships are not easy for me. I am not the easiest person to get along with. I don't try to impress people, and I don't care if they don't like me. I'm 30 and I love Harry Potter and Twilight and think that My Life Is Average is the best website ever created. I am perfectly happy sitting in silence, and have nothing to say about pop culture or reality TV. If you start talking and you didn't say my name first to get my attention, I'm probably not listening to you. I do not eat my vegetables and I don't make my kid eat them. I usually have paint on my hands and my clothes. I refuse to feel bad about ANY of this. I am who I am. I don't like vegetables, I like chocolate. I don't like the news, so I don't watch it. If the paint on my hands doesn't bother me, why should it bother anyone else? It's so refreshing to meet someone who doesn't judge. Who expects you to wear paint-spattered clothes and drink coffee by the gallon since you can't sleep anyway. Who doesn't care if you don't brush your hair (ever). So I'll be Yang.

Failure IS an option

I can't do image transfers. Can't. I don't know why. At first I was convinced it was my printer - it's InkJet, everything I read said it had to be LaserJet. Then I read that my particular printer WOULD work. It's an HP with Vivera inks and apparently everyone on the planet can do image transfers except me. I've tried everything - letting the gel medium dry completely and then wetting the paper and peeling it off, burnishing then peeling while the medium is still wet. I've tried gloss gel and matte gel. I just need to stop, I know, but everyone's doing it...

Here's the page:

The spread:And after failure was apparent, I did what any self-respecting mixed-media artist would do: covered it up. First with gesso, then water soluble crayon, a little collage, some drippy paint. I might add some words, but I won't bore you with my thoughts.

One last picture. This is the ONLY successful transfer I've EVER done, but it wasn't done like you're "supposed to" do it. It's Mini Me's little face. He was only six or seven months old, just starting to pull himself up onto things (mostly the legs of my pants) to try and walk. He's got his little head on my knee and is staring at me adoringly. He was the sweetest little baby. Anyway, I did this one by applying gloss gel medium to the image, not the transfer substrate. I let it dry overnight and applied another coat, let that one dry all day (I was determined to make it work!!), and applied a third coat. The next day (or maybe even the one after) I soaked it in water and when I rubbed away the paper, the image peeled away like skin. It was actually kind of cool. But it doesn't give that shabby 'transfer" look that everyone seems to love and be able to do. Sigh...guess I have to accept my limitations!

Dreams

When I was more depressed and angry than I am these days, I often thought "How come my dreams didn't come true?" But the more I thought about it, the more I realized - I don't HAVE dreams. Not clear, focused dreams like "I wanna be a doctor when I grow up." And I figured out that's the key. You can have anything come TRUE if it doesn't EXIST. Now, I'd like to be able to say that I had instant clarity and now I know exactly where I want life to take me, but I don't. I'm a 30-year-old stay-at-home-mom and I don't know what I want to be when I grow up.
But...now that I know that I need to focus on what I want, I think clarity will come. Maybe not, but we'll see. Sorry for the horrible pictures, I'm still doing the upload to facebook from my phone, download to the computer, upload here.

The price of love

Is it worth it, I wonder?

Worried Mermaid Mommy

Headed to the hospital early this am with Mini Me. He was complaining of extreme pain on his right side. Hubby thinks appendix, but I think it's too high for that...the pain seems to be right below his right nipple. The doctors keep asking how long he's been sick and I keep telling them he WASN'T sick. This is last night:Yesterday he went to school, me and Hubby went to Parents' Day, he had school pictures, we ate lunch, he took a nap, we went to the park, he ate dinner, watched a movie, bedtime snack, and went to sleep. Hubby had to work for a couple of hours, I chatted online with my mermaids until about one am, and five hours later we're here:

You can't even fathom how horrible this is. This child has more energy than fifteen people put together. More than an entire high school track team. More than a cheerleading squad hyped up on Dr. Pepper. At least he's not in pain right this second.

We're officially admitted and got a special blue balloon. They're pretty sure it's pneumonia, but some of the tests aren't showing what they should and blah, blah, blah. The Dr. said we're "interesting". An interesting case, she said - just like Dr. House. The sharp pains are being attributed to pneumonia in his right lung, the cough he's had since August (maybe July?) is a whole separate issue, apparently, and they're all surprised that he hasn't been SICK at all in the past couple of days.
The miracle of modern medicine. This is Mini only thirteen hours after we brought him to the ER:
Needless today, the antibiotics are WORKING! :)

He asked to play with my phone (he loves iPhones) and his favorite thing to do is take pictures. Usually they're just of his finger or a little bit of whatever he's trying to take a picture of, but this isn't a bad one. I look horrible, but look at the photography skills of a three-year-old with pneumonia!
Suzi says that "being an artist" is about keeping the pencil moving, so I figured I would. (Plus, hospitals are BORING.)

Endless updating, I know.