Ashley's Art Closet: July 2014

Wednesday Words

Here's a peek at my words flowing on to paper…

(there's no order, rim or reason, I write when feeling inspired to release)

keep your head up

keep your heart strong

some people have to walk through things in life to feel, experience Gods presence in their life. Going, doing, being, being around people pumps His spirit inside them allowing them to fully come alive in Him to bring full glory to Him for the works in their life…

there comes a point and time in your life you have to listen to the talk between you and God and let others voices of disaster fade to a non existence sound way in the background while you walk bold, loud holding a very confident heart knowing all the places He has had you walk over the course of your life this far… #bebrave #washthenegativetalkout

looking back at pictures from a fast pace event holds so many precious moments still in that unforgettable moment for a life time #takepictures

there was appoint in my life when I saw every ones art, life, better than mine until the day many of roads later He revealed to me the beauty He had and was placing in my life preparing me to release it to the world bringing me fully alive in Him #clapclap

Brown Bag Placemates DIY

This project turned out to be more then I had anticipated. One day leaving the grocery store, after using the self check, I saw brown bags laying on the self above the self check out machine. I grabbed four brown bags with the intent of using them for an art project. Sticking them back for the perfect day.

Mother came out one Friday. Friday's this summer have been classified as fun Friday here at the Murphy Lodge. So what a better day than to pull the brown bags out. I told mother and my youngest daughter, my oldest daughter was at work, we were going to do a simple paint project. I ran up stairs to my art studio grabbing a few paints ect., there's a supply list below. Returning to the kitchen area, mother doesn't do well on stairs, I placed a paint cloth over my round kitchen table.

Instructing them to use the paint with their finger tips painting different colored squares all over the brown bag. No certain order and no certain amount of squares, just paint!

A few moans and groans later, I always seem to get those when I suggest us do an art project, the paint was dry. We then out lined the squares doodling a little here and there with a sharpie and a white out pen.

This project was clearly intended to be a passer by of time merely painting abstract on a brown grocery bag. Once we were "all finished", I proceed to clean our mess up by taking up the paint cloth. I instantly laid the bags back on the table telling mother she needed to take hers home. When I looked back at the table once the cloth was gone with the bags laying back in their exact places we worked on them it hit me "those look like place mates". Mother was walking by quickly blurting out the same thing.

So there you go a project turned out to be more than one could anticipate.

Place mates made out of brown grocery bags!

Truly a diy project #brownbagplacemates

Above: before Below: after

My older daughter days later painted hers to complete the four. They are still on my table. I'll keep them for a while longer. My youngest tried to take hers up, turning it over, anything to get me to get rid of it. I think they are cute adding extreme playful color to the room. The center piece belonged to my grandmother. She made it years ago along with many, many other ceramics.

Supplies:

Brown paper bag from local grocery

any 5 paint colors

I used

lavender

turquoise

lime green

grey

yellow

a white out pen

a black sharpie

(mine)

Have you created a brown bag place mate before?

What I am watching...

My kids tend to watch tv series on Netflix these days where it used to be dvd'. Not being a big tv person I've really never fell on that bandwagon. Until this summer, I was actually catching up on a few missed episodes of the Bachelorette this season with Andi Dorfman (I think tonight is the final rose we will see). The Bachelor and the Bachelorette are like the only shows I've watched in ten years. Okay, and American Idol. Kids will do that to you and you just get used to it. It becomes your new way of life realizing what you can really do without, tv. By watching the episodes on the abc app, I was able to get up to speed.

Along with Mistresses, which airs right after the Bachelorette on Monday nights, I know both of these shows have way to many making out scenes. But the story lines are great and sure beats the Orange is the new Black series on Netflix. Blah! No human should be watching that show…

Once I was fully caught up on those two shows, I was looking for something else because I kinda enjoyed that entertainment of wearing my cute little pink sony earplugs watching a show blocking the outside world out, me time. I like to be fully engaged watching and hearing every little bit. The ear plugs did the trick. I glanced at a few other tv series like Heart of Dixie and The Glades both a no go. It takes a lot to pull me in whether it's reading a book or watching a show. I've always been like that…

Moving on from Netflix I jumped on to Amazon Prime app, that's where I found the tv series Suits. For this little southern girl it did the trick. It kinda keeps you on your toes up close and personal on serious matters among a law firm along with the relationships between co workers. It kinda helped the fact it's filmed in New York City. We traveled to New York City this summer, actually a week ago, for my oldest daughters graduation gift. We had a blast, a lot of people but a lot of fun.

Suits airs on USA Network and is currently in the fourth season.

I am only on season three. Actually I could finish it up in no time and be caught up but I really don't want to because then I wouldn't have much to look forward to through out the week. And dragging out what's going to happen next is so amazing. The suspension keeps it real!

Guess you can say I am getting my tv life back… #thereshope

Flipping pages

My mom always saves the wedding issue of the
Mississippi magazine and this year she brought it
to me about the time my oldest daughter was graduating
form high school. So I am just now getting to it.

Flipping through the pages makes me think of all the weddings

I photographed over a course of ten years, the people I met,
the experiences I had and the lives that touched me
as well as me touching theirs.

Saying all that confirms I miss photographing weddings,

I miss those times but I am also very thankful
for where I am at in my life. Times move on
and we have to go with it to receive

the next set of blesses that await us.

As I continue to flip it makes me think of each

of the precious young couples and what life will

bring them during their married life. I pray for each

of them as well as anyone entering into married life as well

as those long timers. May God protect your marriage…

Christmas in July

Baby it's cold outside, not hardly!

In good ole Mississippi we've been ranking

in 85-100° weather. Like today is 85° only because

it's cloudy. Yesterday was 88° with humidity at 90%.

I am bringing you a goodie for some

Summer cheer what a treat for this time of year,

right, Christmas in July.

Above you will see I have my matte Mod Podge out along with my

folk art vintage white acrylic paint. I covered a

10x10 gallery wrap canvas with paper scrapes

using the Mod Podge coming in behind

with the vintage white paint. I smeared it all along

the edges of the canvas touching the edges

of the papers as well as lightly brushing

over the papers themselves.

I used a piece of burlap painted a goldish brown color

for the trunk of the tree created. Using book pages

I rolled them and Mod Podge them in what looked to be

the perfect place to start the base of the tree.

Using an old piece of cardboard I penciled a

star shape on the back and cut it out with scissors

from my art table. Mod Podge was then placed

on the back while I positioned it with the

ridges of the cardboard facing foreword.

This can be seen in picture below.

Once the Mod Podge dried I knew ornaments would be place
throughout the tree. During the drying process,

I gathered the papers I'd use to cut

small circles to use as the ornaments.

When I picked the paper I went

with my best judgement of how I wanted the tree to feel and look, not

every ones will look like mine, nor the persons next to you. I believe

this is very critical to remember when creating anything whether it

be a meal, a wreath, a living room setting, an outfit etc. Be confident

in your work, your art regards what your working on. It's taking

me years to come to those terms, but mine doesn't look like

theirs. It's not intended to. It's what makes it yours.

And that's very special…

After Mod Podging the ornaments in place,

see them above, I used bubble wrap.

I love me some bubble wrap.

Maybe I should bubble wrap a room…

I used Americans cherry red on the edges

of the canvas.

I even smeared some on the front edges, see further below,

with my finger where I continued using a blue and

a dark brown going for a vintage look.

I worked on this process

until the picture felt complete. The more you create the more you

will learn what that feeling feels like. I've even passed that feeling

before while creating and had to wait awhile longer until I reached

another moment in my creating process

for it to feel complete

once again.

I used a black sharpie or black paint pen, can't remember,
both will work great, to write "have yourself a Merry little

Christmas this year". That's something else I love about the

creative process start with the supplies you have

on hand before you plunge into spending

tons of money.

Green paint and marker was added to the book pages, tree,

as well as the start was paint with hints of bright yellow.

I used this as a teacher gift for my

daughters teacher one year. The plate stand was purchased

from Hobby Lobby.

I love this look.

Pen Pal #youvegotmail

What it means to have a pen pal…

This day and age we live in a world with all the
social media. It's easy to find that instant friendship,
but reverting back to the good ole pen pal
system is so rewarding.

It's like recycling

reading & writing skills

good hand writing

promotes patience

joy of anticipation

true friendship bonding

development of social skills

teaches responsibility

oppurtunity to talk about hobbies, interests

geography-study where your pen pal lives

interviewing skills- asking your pen pal questions

art- include a piece of your artwork

wether it be doodle, drawing, small

painting, a song you wrote, a recipe

we are all creative

Are you looking for a pen pal…

Prayer Hanger

Today marks a week since

a friend of my daughters

she just graduated high school with

had surgery to drain fluid

off her brain.

After an accidental fall

involving hitting her

head further testing

was done revealing the fluid

on her brain.

In addition to the fluid, a tumor

was found as well. The tumor is located

in a position making it non

removable.

We went to the hospital the

day of her surgery. I stood in the hallway

talking to her mother while my

daughter and another friend

went in to ICU

to visit her.

Her mother and I briefly

spoke about the occurring events

of the course of the last week of their lives.

She asked me to be in prayer with

them the tumor would vanish.

I firmly felt lead to share with her my feelings

as well as my prayer. The sudden urge to share was

my confidence in our ultimate healer. Feeling His presence,

I felt certain to share with her that upon further

testing in the further I believe

the tumor will have vanished.

Be in prayer with me…

I made this little sign

right before we walked out the door

heading to the hospital.

The cardboard was pre cut by myself sizing

3x3. I quickly looked in my paper scrap bucket.

Maps always jump out at me so I grabbed a

piece. It didn't feel right. It was not of

good sizing for this project. Turning back to

the paper scrap bucket I saw a larger size

piece of map. I laid it on the cardboard

and firmly pressed where I wanted the

map to be torn. I tore it placing it perfectly in the center

of the cardboard with a slit amount of cardboard

exposure all the way around. I used matte decopage to

securely glueing the map to the cardboard.

I covered the empty space of cardboard

with a light turquoise acrylic paint using my finger

tip. See in the picture below it's dried

on my finger tip.

I carried this project down stairs out from my studio

bring my bucket of markers. I used a red marker

creating a heart shape largely in the middle of

the map piece. Doodling around the heart

with a yellow and placing #pray4ak with a

black marker in the center of the

heart.

Topping everything off I used a piece on twine after

poking two holes in the top of the cardboard with a kitchen knife.

That's why I came down from the studio. I couldn't find

my blade I normally use. Hubby's right I craft

everywhere.

This project was fun, easy and fast.

Completely honored to make for a great person,

a great cause. I love this precious girl as if she's my own.

#pray4ak

Funny story to add with this. My daughters other friend

met us at the local grocery. They wanted to run in and get

flowers along with a card. I waited in the car. When they

returned my daughter set the flowers in

the floorboard. I notice they looked different.

I leaned over to touch them. They were artificial!

"Oh honey" I explained "these are artificial". They claimed to

have been talking while flower shopping not even noticing. Off

they went back in the store to return the artificial flowers. When they

returned to the car a beautiful basket of red, white and yellow

flowers was in my daughters hands. It's was perfect.

Only they still didn't get a card!

The next time you set off to visit

someone in the hospital or for any matter

really consider making a sign for them letting them

know you are praying for them.

You save time and money making for a more

meaning gift they can keep for a life time.

The sign was hung in her hospital room and

even made it's way in a collage picture of her

coming home from the hospital her mother posted on Facebook.

Still praying…

#pray4ak

Bird Feeding

Take that squirrels!

Last week, I was waiting on my mother to arrive.
She was coming out to spend the day with my
youngest daughter and I. While I waited on her I got
my bird feeder down from it's hanger.
I could see for the past several days it was in major need
of being filled up.

The last time I purchased my bird feed,

Garden Treasures 6 lb single seed,

at Lowes they had this handy

dandy plastic container at a

really good price so I grabbed it up.

It works perfect to place your extra feed in

for storage. Also the pour out is super easy and easy to handle.

What I really like most about this feed

is the squirrels don't like it. In fact, it says it on

the package which is great for where I live.

Years ago, my husband and kids hung my first

bird feeder for me on Mother's Day. By the next

day all the feed was gone. We would fill it up again.

The next day gone! After researching we found this feed

at Lowes. It cost more than I'd like to spend but sometimes

you have to pay for what matters.

Since last summer spray paint became my
new best friend, I took the turquoise spray up on
adding color to my bird feeder. You can see above
how it's chipping away but I kinda like
the look.

Once I filled the feed
and finished up the pictures,
I peeled that annoying sticker off the side
of the container. I left it so you could see the information.

Do you have a bird feeder?
Do you like the color turquoise?