Monthly Archives: April 2012

Quick as Lightning!

Good evening!

This is going to be a crazy short post! I know that I have been MIA, and very sporadic in my postings for the past few weeks, but I thought I would just quickly stop in and give everyone an update on what’s going on in my life now!

I am in week 2 of my Brave Girl Soul Restoration class, and I am sooooo LOVING it!! Melody Ross and the whole Brave Girl Club crew has done a FABULOUS job at putting together a seriously LIFE-CHANGING class! If I could afford it, I would gift this class to EVERY SINGLE WOMAN I KNOW!!! Seriously!!

I have also been creating a lot of art! Art for my new office space, art for the sake of getting art pieces done, and even one special piece of art for a VERY SPECIAL person in my life!! Eh-Hem, it is her birthday today!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRRRRL!!! 😉

Anyway, I discovered that the hardest part of getting her piece created was not in the deciding what I wanted to create for her, but it was actually getting it into the mail. This will be my first original that won’t live at my house!! DID YOU HEAR ME???? These pieces are like my children!!! Sooooo, long story short, I got it in the mail late, but it is TOTALLY on it’s way!! I hope she LOVES it!! 😉

What else? Oh yeah – this one is a biggie!! This week was my official start of my bariatric program, which means I am now on the path to getting gastric bypass surgery! Scary, but soooo exciting!!! My provider guestimates that I will lose about 1 third of my entire body weight, which BTW will make me weigh about what I weighed at age 12 – REALLY!!! I have to lose 16 lbs before surgery, which sounds very doable, and I have a minor hernia that I wasn’t aware of, so they will fix that during surgery too. So, I am running around getting all sorts of tests, labs, and procedures done, and it looks like my surgery is tentatively going to be in August (you have to be in the program for a minimum of three months)!!! Please keep your fingers crossed!

OH – and Jason, who is 2 weeks into the process further than I am, found out that he has lost 16 pounds in 2 weeks!!! THAT IS AMAZING!!! Keep up the great work, Love!! I am so very proud of you!!!

I will keep you posted on both of our journeys!!!! 😉

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Mid-Week Update!

Good evening!

This is going to be a short post, someone has got a lot of homework that she is wanting to get done this evening! Yes, I am talking about myself in the third person, you will have to forgive me – I have a lot going on at the moment! 😉

Anyway, yesterday was the first day of Brave Girls’ Soul Restoration II class. If you remember, I had just finished doing the Soul Restoration I class last week, and I have been impatiently waiting for this second class to start. Well, it has, and the homework for this week has me delving deep into who I am and what I want! Even though I have done this kind of work in the past, I can tell that this time is gonna be different! I am not sure if it is because Melody Ross, our fearless leader,  is so amazing, or if it is because I am pairing this soul-work with creating art, or if it is because I am really truly ready for this!! Who cares? I am ready, and I am so excited to see what the next few months brings!! and of course,my lovelies, I will keep you all posted!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

 

 

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Playing in the Art Studio!

Good evening!

I have spent a good portion of my day today playing in my art studio, and wanted to share the two pieces that I have created today!

I am still trying to discover “my style”, and I am busy practicing drawing faces, and hair, and who am I kidding, just drawing in general! 🙂 I am really having so much fun arting! mixed media just seems to be something that feeds my need for various techniques, mediums, and textures! I really am loving it!!

As for these two pieces, they were made using old book pages, tissue paper, ink, stamps, acrylic paints, gel medium, and lots of found items to make all of the different textures on the page, not to mention an ink pen – because I really LOVE adding my own little doodles to each piece!!

Talking about doodling, I am finding that doodling is really good for me! It keeps the creativity muscles warm! Doodling is almost zen-like as I get still, slip into quiet mode, only focus on me and my pen, as I let my mind wander. It really is such a sweet place for me!! I really want to make sure that I incorporate doodling into every one of my pieces!

So, anyway, as always, I would love to hear your thoughts! 🙂

Here’s to a FABULOUS evening!

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Here I Am!

Good morning!

I know it has been a while since I have last posted, but here I am!

Things have been moving vey quickly around here, and we have been very busy!! Right now my husband and I are over on the Oregon coast. We have been here for the past 2 days. We have been visiting with our adopted grandparents before they go out of town for a couple of weeks. I the meantime, my hubby and I Are going to take their 3 dogs and babysit, while they are out of town! All 5 of us, my sweetie, the three dogs and myself are all heading back home today, as I have to be back at work tomorrow.

I said things have been moving rather quickly around here, and they really have! My hubby and I had made the decision to have Bariatric gastric bypass surgery, but we needed to wait to get everything rolling until we were able to pre-pay for the surgeries. Well, we did that earlier this month and my sweetie has had a bug-a-jillion appointments to get anything and everything scanned, measured, checked, swabbed, scoped, etc, etc, etc. The way that we have this worked out is that my sweetie will have his surgery first, July 3rd, and then I will have my surgery about a month later. So, my crazy schedule won’t start until after the 23rd of this month, which is when my initial appointment is.

Right now, we are both early excited, and I can’t speak for him, but I am also really scared. The funny thing is, is that I am not scared for the surgery, I am scared to meet the skinny me! I have no idea what she looks like, how she will feel, what she does, or if I am even going to get along with her. In all honesty, I am sooooooo excited to meet her!! I know she has been in here forever!!! I also realize that the is going to be a kind of mourning period for my old self. Crazy right? This fat suit that I have been wearing (figuratively) has really been a protective barrier that has given me all sorts of excuses why I didn’t have to do something’s, and it really has been a way for me to hide behind a lot of things in my life. Even talking about it right now, I really can’t wait to meet the new me!!!

Anyway, I have also been keeping very busy with my Brave Girls’ Club Soul Restoration I class. Matter of fact, I am just in the final week of class I, and will be starting class II next week. I am so thankful that I have stumbled across this life-changing class, and I am so excited to see what more I learn during class II.

Just to keep things interesting, we have also had a bunch of company! My sister, and her husband spent the week with us last week, which was a lot of fun, and then another one of sisters and her family are coming up for part of the weekend, tomorrow!! I can’ wait to see them!!!! Yeah!

Well, I am going to grab my camera and head out to go get some pics of the coast on this lovely spring day, here in Oregon!

Here’s too a FABULOUS day!!!
~Christina 😉

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Finding My Creative Stride!

Good evening!

I have been busy in my art studio, practicing various mixed media techniques, trying to figure out what my art style looks like. I am very happy to be sharing with you my latest two pieces.

Art #1:

I love incorporating positive thoughts into my pieces. I feel like in some small way, I am able to help encourage other women, possibly, just like myself.

There is something in the way that these womens’ eyes have turned out, thoughtful, withholding some secret, and just a hint of sadness. I didn’t realize that would show up in these paintings.

Art #2:

I just LOVE the texture that the joint compound created when I used it with my doily stencil.

This is a thought that I am learning is really true. Miracles really do happen everyday!

Both of these pieces were adapted from a couple of doodles that I had drawn a few weeks ago. I was playing with the idea of learning how to draw women’s faces. I figured if I could doodle it small, maybe I can doodle it larger as well. They turned out just like my doodles! I used book pages, acrylic paints, markers, stamps, ink, joint compound, gel medium, and a stampinella, and doily stencil to accomplish both of these pieces. I also incorporated a lot of smaller doodles in these pieces. I am finding that doodling has really helped me stay loose, and relaxed when trying to come up with something to fill my blank white canvas.

Well, I hope you enjoyed these two pieces, I know I have really enjoyed creating these and hope to have a lot of art studio time in the next few days to create some more! I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section. 😉

Here’s to a FABULOUS evening!

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently

My Blue Phase!

Good evening!

This is going to be a short post, I am busy happily spending time visiting with my sister while her and her husband are up for the week! In the meantime, I wanted to make sure that I shared with you one of my most recently finished art pieces.

This was made using ink, stamps, join compound, gel medium, tissue paper, ink pen, and acrylic paints.

This piece is my first steps into the world of mixed media and various texture techniques. I think for my first piece this turned out pretty well. I am happy with how it turned out, and I can’t wait to see how my next textural piece turns out. I will make sure to share pics!! 😉

Here’s to a FABULOUS evening!

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently