Ash Joie-Lee Art

I have been out of commission for over a week.
I had the immense pleasure of getting to see my sister and her 2 yr old son after 15 some years. We had the most wonderful time! Lots of revelations regarding certain family members and we now are at the place where our eyes are fully open - our hearts and souls are healed. It is so nice when you get to that point in your life where you no longer are affected by the actions of certain people anymore.

Maybe some art will come out of that. But, I am so happy that we have reconnected and that she will now be a part of me and my immediate family’s life!

Then the stomach flu struck….luckily, it was just for a day…a day of purging, for sure! Maybe getting the rest of the family dysfunction gunk out once and for all? Could very well be the case!

January is almost over…I have a few more Valentines designs to finish, but here is my main Valentines design for this year. I decided to do something that wasn’t gender based or age based, but was still “me”.

Right now, at Cafepress, the current promotion is to save $10 when ordering $50 or more -use coupon code: SWEAT50

Enchanted Girl Apparel & Gifts Valentines Design - You Hold My Heart

This design is a pair of hands in op art fashion, with various cute hearts and the words,”You hold my heart”, subtly written within the hands. You can give this to a friend, a relative or a significant other, no matter what age they are!

Looks great on a colored Tee - how about red or pink?

I love the Ringer Tee - very sharp and this looks great with the edging in red!

Or how about for your beloved pet?

I have been wracking my brain to come up with something for the word ‘date’. I mean, how hard can it be? Today’s date, Jan 21st, is a special date - it is Martin Luther King Jr. day.

I also got to thinking about the date that is edible (yum, love those!) I came up with a little diddy poem….but, be grateful I did not post that!

So, my mind wandered to a book I have by Alexandra Stoddard called Grace Notes. It is quotes and insights for every day of the year. So, I looked at what was said for today’s date, Jan 21st.

This one struck me as very appropriate.

“Play a game with yourself. The rule is: Don’t assume anything. See everything as though for the first time. As you eleminate prejudices and labels, new insights will begin to emerge.”

Excellent! Why do we let assumptions rule our thoughts? Assumptions and labels are very nasty critters.

Besides being very good advice to live by, it is also a great way to see new things artistically.

I also looked at todays date numbers (as in numerology) 1-21-2008=14=5

Five means Freedom and Discipline. Again, very appropriate for today.

Dan Millman wrote in regards to what the number 5 means:

“Imagine a bird soaring high above, feeling one kind of freedom.

To experience life fully,

it must land and go through

the arduous task of building a nest.

Through this discipline comes another kind of freedom,

to experience the depths of its life.

How have you felt free?

and how have you felted trapped?

Can you apply the discipline in your life

to explore the depths and, in those depths, to find another kind of freedom? “

Interesting how the two go hand in hand…freedom and assumptions.

I may have gotten a bit off course with the word ‘date’…but things seem to come together as they should.

It is a quiet, cold & snowy day today. Hubby, cats and puppy are snoozing on the couch. I am working on my shopping sites and went to check my email. My oldest daughter forwarded me this from Arcamax.com
Since I grew up on the Navajo reservation and have always had a part of me saddened and angry by how the Native Americans have been treated, it hit home…and was cute at the same time. I can just picture how this would look!
Words of Navajo Wisdom

About 1966 or so, a NASA team doing work for the Apollo moon mission took the astronauts near Tuba City where the terrain of the Navajo Reservation looks very much like the Lunar surface.

Along with all the trucks and large vehicles, there were two large figures dressed in full Lunar spacesuits.

Nearby a Navajo sheep herder and his son were watching the strange creatures walk about, occasionally being tended by personnel. The two Navajo people were noticed and approached by the NASA personnel. Since the man did not know English, his son asked for him what the strange creatures were and the NASA people told them that they are just men that are getting ready to go to the moon. The man became very excited and asked if he could send a message to the moon with the astronauts.

The NASA personnel thought this was a great idea so they rustled up a tape recorder. After the man gave them his message, they asked his son to translate. His son would not.

Later, they tried a few more people on the reservation to translate and every person they asked would chuckle and then refuse to translate. Finally, with cash in hand, someone translated the message, “Watch out for these guys, they come to take your land.”

I have been so busy in setting up all of my ‘professional’ sites that I have not had time to just come over here, let my hair down and get back to the days of blogging whatever is on my mind.

OK, so I’m back. I set this blog up so I can talk about more personal things as well as what I am currently working on…so I guess it is a bit of my personal life and a bit of my ‘professional’ life….but wait….I work 24/7. My personal life is my ‘professional’ life…

Regardless, I LOVE it!!

So, it’s Monday and on Mondays I go blog surfing (aka networking) and I came across a weekly meme called Manic Monday. Perfect!

Now, this week they are doing a Manic Monday Carnival..taking all the words from 2007 and highlighting member’s posts.

Well, since I joined today, I am just going to use the first word that was given for 2008…the word, “one”.

I decided to do this list style:

One thing I want: A MAC computer!

One rule to follow: Always listen to your gut feelings.

One time I…cut the head off of a dog.

One place I want to travel to: Hawaii

One color I love: purple

One spice I love: cilantro

One drink I love: Margaritas

One thing I need to do today: my last few silly/humorous Valentines designs

And the one thing I know…there is never just one thing!

P.S. OK, ok, I’ll explain the dog head chopping. I worked for a Vet and it was a dog found in the wild that ‘possibly’ had rabies. Head needed to go to a lab. I got to work and Doc said…”What’s in the bag outside, chop it’s head off and stick it in the freezer”. Yep…just like that…

Create a Great 2008!

I admit, I have this thing for beautiful book covers and Journals! A I talked about in Paisley Goddess, I am taking up Journaling again. There are so many new techniques out and now, you can let your inhibitions go and use art, images, glue, paint or whatever else you wish to use!

So, my focus has been on creating beautiful Journal designs. You can find a selection of Journals in my Enchanted Girl shop.

The Journals there are:

Wire-O bound, 160 pages, unlined and measures 5″ x 8″, a handy on-the-go size to fit in your backpack. Go creative and let the muse flow.

Back cover made of thin black flexible textured plastic, measures 16/1000″ thick
Front cover made of 12pt glossy paper, coated for scratch resistance
Filled with 60lb bookweight (24 lb bond) blank paper - NO LINES

The journaling prompts at Paisley Goddess will begin January 14th under the category of “Goddess Journeys”
Come join me…journaling is a great way to start dialogging with your Inner/Higher self.
It allows us to start noticing recurring themes and symbols in our lives - becoming aware of ourselves is the first step in changing.
Writing down our intentions and dreams is a big part of watching them manifest.
As women, we can track our physical/biological state and watch what is going on around and within ourselves when/if we are having unwanted symptoms…our bodies let us know when we are ignoring something important…but we can easily miss the clues if we aren’t paying attention.
Journaling can help us discover new talents and ambitions.
And, we have that space to rant, rave and scream to “let go” of something that we might obsess over. (cuz what we focus on, we GET!)

There are many fabulous reasons to grab a journal that inspires you and get to writing…because we are creating a great 2008!