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March brought on sickness to the family. Don first, then me, then the boy. The girl escaped mainly unscathed. She had me worried for some time but seemed to fight it off. Don and I were hit extremely hard. For the first few days, I would do a lesson with 1 or both of the kids, then send them to watch a show as I was exhausted from that alone. The fatigue and cough lingered for a couple of weeks. I took the boy to the Dr.'s and when she heard my cough, she informed me that I had bronchitis. The boy was on the cusp of it - could go either way. Yeah. But I recovered within a few more days and without the help of antibiotics. I really think that Dr's are too quick to prescribe them. I didn't get to play much while sick, but have been working on my art journaling a bit here and there. Practicing doodles for several days. Finally putting the scrunched tissue paper onto the heart for my gratitude journal cover. I also made this card for our Uncle Stanley, who had to undergo heart surgery, all while we were sick and could not visit at the hospital. I really like the way it turned out.

On future blog notes: more of the art journal page work; the girl's contest entry at Little Yellow Bicycle;

PLAY TIME

Do you remember when you were 5? Your biggest concern was what am I going to PLAY now!

Well, now I'm playing with....

knitting. I took a class & learned the basic knit and pearl. So fun. Can't wait to really have a good grasp and then learn the cable and popcorn and other maneuvers. I go to a quilting class tomorrow night. I totally thought I should by-pass the beginners and after taking the beginners knitting, I'm sure I'm going to cancel the beginning crochet class. (they only teach the single and double, which I can already do.) But I will still be attending quilt class. We should be making a pillow top. So today, after a lengthy, 1 year wait, I opened my new sewing machine. A Brother XR9000. Can I just say "Sw eeEEt". oh yeah, this baby is wow, even though it is missing the little needle threading hook. I bought it at Costco in the fall of 2009 when my 28yr old basic model starting slipping a bit in her old age. Well, then life imploded on us in 2010 so my new machine has set, lonely, in its box collecting dust and any other odds and ends I happen to throw on it. I can't wait for class tomorrow. But even more than that, I can't wait to sew something with this puppy.

Play time with
.........................art journaling. Yep. I've been at that too. Trying to keep up with the Art Journal Everyday which since it is SOO much FUN! it really isn't hard at all. So last week I took a plain white cardstock and glued it to the front of the binder.

So Sunday night, I took a few minutes before going to be to do this front. First I took a pencil and made my lettering and heart. Then using watercolor crayons I made the cover.
Then today I took a waterprook pen and outlined the letters. Then a water loaded paintbrush and blended the colors. I took some paint & mixed it with gesso for coloring in the letters. Then decided to play with an inside page -- I just couldn't wait!

I used blue and green blob method and my fingers to rub it around. Then I took off excess with a paper towel. I used a hairspray cap as my stamp for the circles and some bubble wrap to add more interest. (I actually flipped the book to take a pic of the front cover and it almost closed the whole way which accounts for the circles on the left hand side. And guess what, I love it like that! --HAppY AcciDenTs!) so much fun. Can't wait for more.