Let me catch you up..

zentangles.. there you are caught up :-)  LOL.. I wish it has been that simple.. LOL rarely is anything in this household simple!! 

I have been tangling of course.. I wanted to go a little smaller than the usual (but bigger than an atc) and do a traditional 3.5" square zentangle.. so I did some for swaps.. here they are:

I also did some work on my very first art journal.. I have been staring at that thing in my command center (aka my recliner) for a while how.. it's so pretty .. a hardbound unlined journal in sage green.. and I realized that the permanency of hardbound books was daunting.. I kept thinking .. what if I make a mistake.. it will ruin the whole thing.. and finally I answered myself (yes I can do that from time to time) - so what!!So here's my first page.. I did this totally without my pattern idea book:

I made a few more bookmarks too:

And of course, another postcard for a swap:

And I have recently rejoined ATCards.com.. it always was a wonderful group of swappers.. and their swaps are great because there is a hostess that collects the packages and redistributes them.. that way you don't have to worry about being flaked on.  I have been working on some private swaps.. and some group swaps.. right now I am working on my very first chunky pages that aren't ready to be shown yet.. but I do have some atc's I finished.. this was for a private swap:

I made these for a halloween swap.. it was a lot of fun to do:

And as if ATC's weren't small enough .. I just had to see if I could tangle some inchies.. I even added some color:

If you are coming from a place of crafty burnout .. especially when that burnout is part of pressure to sell artwork.. try finding something to do that is purely for the pleasure of creation.. I'm not going to sell my inchies or my ATC's.. I make them for the fun of it and trade them with others who do the same.. I collect the ones I get to enjoy later.. It really is liberating for me .. I feel as if  a weight is off my shoulders and my creativity is free to soar.. and soar it does.. and I imagine that is why I have so much to show lately.. Will I sell what I make at a later time - I don't know.  I probably would if it were purely on my terms, but not now.  I am having way to much fun with what I am doing. I already have a million different full time jobs around my house - right now I don't have time for a crafty BUSINESS.  

I decided to try something else I never tried.. and do something I have done before.. the something I never tried was "matchboxes" OMG!! They are such fun to make.. and then see how many goodies you can safely stuff inside!! Check out this one I made for an autumn themed swap.. it was so much fun I signed up for a few more.. I even have the matchboxes done for them.. I just have to wait for my partner to be assigned so I can figure out what to stuff in them LOL.. Here's my autumn one with a pic so you can see how much I stuffed inside:

I saw this great crafter on flickr who's dotees I admired... traditionally I haven't cared much for dotees.. until I saw hers!! They had that certain something that just makes you want one!! So we are doing a private swap for cupcake dotees.. so here's the one I made for her:

I have a great new penpal that's so sweet and chatty and crafty.. and I decided to make her some cute pencil/pen toppers since she likes all the cutesy papers and whatnot.. so here is the fall themed toppers I made her:

I also have a former coworker that is getting married in October.. so I offered to make her bridal jewelry.. and so she asked for a pair of earrings and showed me a design that she liked..this is my interpretation of those earrings:

I also want to wish a very happy belated birthday to someone very special to me.. and I feel especially bad about it because she is so kind to every member of my family - my husband, kids, and me especially.. she doesn't miss a holiday.. and I can't even remember her birthday on the day of... so here's wishing you Kai, my comanche momma - The happiest of birthdays and a blessed year to come!! WE love you!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

And with that I must bid you ado.. I have just learned today (at our first 4H meeting) that Jasmine will be showing our two goats at the livestock show of our parish fair..so today we had to wash and scrub them (not an easy job) in addition to flea dipping our dogs.. and tomorrow we have to trim hooves.. another not so fun or easy job.. and a gazillion other things.. and a girl has to find time to create!! 

So until next time - much love and God bless!!