Inside My Journal...

I have been doodling a lot in my journal this summer so I thought I would share with you what's inside... 

I have seen some really beautiful journal pages in magazines and books lately.  I love them but my journal is pretty much doodles and colored markers... 

I love the idea of a journal filled with mixed media pages but that's just not for me right now.  Most of my doodling comes in very small increments of time; like ten minutes here or six or seven minutes there... 

 During the summer months when the girls are not in school and there's lots of activities going on I just don't have large blocks of time (even an hour is considered a large block of time!).  So I keep the creative juices flowing by constantly doodling and coloring...

This is very portable too - I can shove this in my purse with three or four markers and a fine point black Sharpie and I'm good to go!   

It's starting to rub off on the girls too, the last time we went to the park, Fiona grabbed her journal and two colored pencils.  What is your grab and go method of creativity?

Getting Ready for Some Doodle Fun...

I am so excited for February 1st!  I signed up for Joanne Sharpe's "Letter Love 101" online class.  And it starts this Wednesday:)  Check out her blog for more details http://joannezsharpe.blogspot.com/

I have been so excited about this class that I have already started playing around with my markers and my drawing/doodling.  I took watercolor paper and cut it into 3.5 x 3.5 inch squares.  I am going through the alphabet, and, using each letter creating an inspirational phrase.  The small format allows me to finish a drawing in a very short amount of time.

When I am finished with the alphabet I would like to incorporate them into a piece of wall art for Fiona and Alexa's room.  I want them to think about the phrases and know that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to! I am currently up to the letter "M" so I will post more of these later in the week.  In the mean time I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Blessings, Cassie

A Joyful Christmas and a Blessed New Year...

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all!  I decided just to post some pictures of the holiday tidings around our house.  Life has been so busy here - I am sure most of you can relate... 

We did not have a white Christmas here this year - just lots of rain.  So the girls took it upon themselves to cover the wall going upstairs in homemade snowflakes...

Most of the ornaments on our tree are either hand made or very old.  They range from home made Girl Scout ornaments (circa 1981) to embroidered ones that I made a few years ago, to bulbs that the girls helped out with just last year.

Finally I would like to introduce you to Red Girl, the newest member of our family (she was a little embarrassed about the sweater, so we only make her wear it once in a while).  She is a five month old half German Short Haired Pointer and half English Setter.  She is VERY energetic and is already pointing birds.  You can just imagine how crazy our Christmas has been!  I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and a Blessed New Year! 

Putting Myself Out There...

Talk about a sign from above, the day before Thanksgiving my husband showed me an article in our local paper (The Norwalk Reflector) about an art gallery/retail shop opening up just off Main Street...

Gabby Road Studios is an eclectic little shop that promotes and sells hand crafted items made by local artists.  Here is the link to their website http://www.gabbyroadstudio.com/index.html

So on Thanksgiving Day I took the plunge and emailed the owners about my interest in selling some of my picture frames.  

The owners responded right away and within a few days I had some picture frames for sale in the shop.  Gabby Road Studios has been wonderful to work with and they graciously allowed me to photograph their wonderful space.

I believe this is a sign from God that this is what I was meant to do.  Friends and family (blogger friends included!) have been telling me for a couple of years to put myself out there and take a chance.   Gabby Road Studios was the Lord's way of saying "here I am now doing everything but selling it for you  take the chance!"  On that note I will say this - for all of you out there thinking about doing what you love - take the chance!  I hope everyone has a Blessed week:)