If you've been following along with how I decided to do The Documented Life Project this year...I'm calling it my Soul Journal...you've seen that I intended to use the monthly calendar section as a blessings and gratitude journal.

Here's how January turned out...

And here's how February is going so far...

Now I know that a lot of you are trying to squeeze in art into your busy schedule, this is a great way to do that! It doesn't take long and it really sets the day off right when I sit down and focus on what touched my heart yesterday.  I tend to work on this at the begining of my morning quiet time before the day gets started.  There's just something about sipping on coffee and opening your heart up that focuses me on what's really important for the day.

I went to the CHA winter tradeshow last week and had a blast. I worked the ZIG-Kuretake booth and taught a doodling workshop...so fun!!! I also networked and did all the other fun CHA designer & blogger stuff. And, somewhere along the way I picked up germs and have been sick ever since.  :(

I actually remembered to snap a photo before my workshop started!

Part of the wall I colored in the booth - this flower was almost as big as my head.

Let me back up. First off, I drove home from CHA and of course it took twice as long since there was traffic, and then when I got there my husband was outside with our dogs. Our oldest dog, Granola...we call her Nola, was super lethargic and when I looked at her I knew something was wrong. Really wrong. The right side of her face was sagging and drooling and her neck was swollen with a mass it. Of course since it was after hours we had to go to our emergency vet (our animals never have emergencies at normal business hours!)...where we spent hours having her tested, x-rayed, ect.  Fun times. Long story short, she stayed there two nights and ended up having surgery on the second day to remove the mass on her neck, a small mass on her knee, and one on her eyelid that we were scheduled to remove the next week.  

She now looks like Frankenstein. I'll definitely spare you the photos, but trust me it's NOT pretty...but she feels a lot better. And surprisingly all the staples and stitches don't seem to be bothering her (yet). And even better, the vet called and said that the pathology came back and everything was benign. The one on her neck had abscessed, but they were able to remove all of it, so they don't suspect it will cause her problems in the future. Thank the Lord too, since the whole shebang was a pretty penny! My Hubs now says she's an actual Golden Retriever, meaning she's made out of gold! LOL.

In more dog news, our puppy Willow just turned 5 months old.  She's the best puppy! Very obedient and fun to have around. She's  quirky though...she keeps turning her beds inside out so that she sleeps on the smooth side instead of the "fur". She does it with the pad in her crate too. So weird, but I've stopped trying to fix it!

Willow, 5 months old.   -   Why she keeps flipping her bed inside out I don't know. She also has bigger beds to sleep on, but likes this one!

Hope all is well with you!  I have a lot of exciting things coming up blog wise so make sure you either follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or subscribe to my newsletter to keep up with everything.

Also, in case you missed the announcements, 21 Secrets of Art Journaling 2013 is now open for registration!  Join myself and 20 other amazing teachers for these workshops for the low price of just $59...it's really a steal!!!! Click here for more info.

Sometimes you just have to get all of your doodling out.  :)

I did this page in my art journal for the ZIG blog. I love black and white.  :)  For those of you who may be unfamiliar with doodling mandalas...you just start with a dot on the page & move out from there.  For this page I ended up having multiple starting dots, but I just did one dot at a time until the mandala or flower felt done and then moved on to another starting dot.

My eldest niece is going to be turning 6 soon...and of course since she's super excited so I made her this birthday badge using Lifestyle Crafts Fancy Envelope Tab dies, Antique Doily die, and Nesting Circles die.  

I created the number 6 with my Silhouette Studio Software and cut it out with my Cameo...here's the Silhouette cut file. {enjoy!!}  I then ran it through my Epic Six it with a ProvoCraft Polka Dots embossing folder...did you know that most brands of embossing folders and dies work in it?  Next, I used the Zig Emboss pen on each of the polka dots and then sprinkled clear embossing powder over it and embossed it with my heat gun.  At that point I really liked how it looked....but I knew my niece would want some sparkle on it!  So I dug out my Stickles, which changed the color of the paper a bit, but I am ok with it.  ;)

And lastly I just distressed the circle diecut and added some stitching around just about everything.  Oh and by the way, all those cute papers are Margie's Vintage Marketplace papers...love!!

Sponsor: Lifestyle Crafts, Zig, ProvoCraft

I'm excited to share my first Basically Bare project with you guys!  It's this little owl...

I used the owl Stack-a-Bellies to make it, you can read about how I did it here on the Basically Bare Blog...I'd love if you could leave a comment over there too!

Here's some close-ups:

I used a Zig pen to draw the faux stitching on the embroidery hoop and make the little "wise" tag.  Thank goodness my girlfriend helped me figure out what word to put on it!!


You recognise that heart?  Yep, it's this one!  I almost used it on the necklace.  Oh and that safety pin...well it used to be silver...I painted it with some Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze.  It took two coats, here's how the first coat looked:

So, as you can see I'm still liking owls.  :)