Happy Father's Day...my LOVE...

hoping it was a good one...

xoxo

Happy Birthday Sweet Stuff...

xoxo

Day 13 Smile

(my beautiful sweetie pie, Shioban)

Day 13 (click here to see more interpretations) Smile

Today's the last day of Boot Camp...
what an amazing journey the last couple of weeks have been.

Finding Maegan and her Creative Blog was just what the doctor ordered.
Going through this Boot Camp has made my start of the Summer quite an inspiring one.

Maegan asks that we make these simple promises as we continue our
creative journey...I hope to keep them...and maybe a few of you may venture out and do the same...whatever you do, whatever you decide...do it for yourself and keep on creating!

Here are the promises:

I promise to spend _____minutes each day creating. {let it be five…at least promise yourself some time}

I promise to talk about my creativity with others.

I promise to continue to challenge myself creatively because that is how I get better.

I promise to be kind to my creative spirit.I promise to applaud my achievements.

I promise to cultivate relationships with people who share my creative interests.

I promise to call myself an artist. {this one is something I have to continue working on...still not there yet...}

SIGNED: Jo June 18, 2010

As I work through these promises, please enjoy my last assignment as I interpret the last daily prompt: Smile...

(my handsome lil', Ian)

(my cute lil' niece, Hannah)

(sweetness...)

(to be a kid again...)

Thank you so much, Maegan, for opening my eyes to see more creative vision

and for cracking that door even wider for me...

bonne nuit

xoxo jo;)

Day 12 Smooth

Day 12

"SMOOTH" go here for more interpretations.

Do you dream?

I know I do. I've got a few that have already come true.

But...

Why can't my other ones come true? What's holding me back?

Today, we're supposed to think about what 'small baby steps' can we take

to 'clear those paths' to reach those impossible dreams...

hmmm....I'm still thinking...

Until I can put my fingers on those 'small baby steps' here's my

'Smooth' interpretations...

"smooth dreams"

"smooth hand"

"smooth stepping stones"

bonne nuit
xoxo

Day 11 Hush

Day 11

"HUSH" go here for more "Hush" intrepretations

Today we are supposed to draw a time line of our life in our journals.

This map is supposed to show you that whatever roads you've taken...it should have led you to where you are meant to be..."everything in life has a purpose..." (our host, Maegen Beishline states it so beautifully in Day 11:

"...I’m not the most religious person you’ll ever meet, but I am a deeply spiritual person. And I believe without a doubt that everything in our lives contributes to the person we are ultimately meant to be. I believe that everything in life has a purpose. I also believe that we are all creative beings and that all of life’s twist and turns take part in forming our own personal creativity. With that in mind, I can look back at my life in timeline fashion and see how each turn, point, stumble, hurdle, back step, and milestone has led me to this exact point in my life...." )

I agree...

my life is here and I'm blessed to have what I have...

here is my interpretation of "HUSH"

bonne nuit

xoxo

Day 10 Full Bodied...

Day 10

"Full Bodied" (check out more Full Bodied interpretations here)

Today we have to "Dial up our senses."

Art is everywhere. Everywhere you look, feel, smell, touch can be considered art.

But does everyone take the time to take all the "Art" in?

It's a bit hard when you have so many responsibilities but if you really take the time to "smell the roses," you might be pleasantly surprised.

That's what I did today...I had to take my sweet lil' Peanut to the Hospital for some testings regarding her bone development.

Who would've thought that you'd find a sweet oasis like this by a Hospital?

"Full Bodied" original photograph

"Full Bodied Garden of Life" digitally 'craqueled'

"Full Bodied Clouds" original photo

"Full Bodied Clouds" digitally altered

"Vintage Full Bodied Peony" digitally altered

"Faded Full Bodied Peony" digitally altered

"Full Bodied Peony" original photography

"Full Bodied Bunny Love Clouds" digitally altered

"Full Bodied Clouds" original photo

Art is everywhere. Ever since I've been taking this on-line class, I've noticed that I've been carrying my camera around with me everywhere I go.

I'm taking a lot more pictures of things I see everyday.

I'm noticing more. I'm creating more. I'm grateful for this class.

That's a good thing.

bonne nuit

xoxo

Day 9 Drizzle

Day 9

"Drizzle"

Today is trying to understand how it all started...how art came into my life.

Getting back to the basics.

I loved magazines. I loved looking at all the gorgeous photographs. The design,

the layouts, the typography. The colours, the objects, the dreams.

As a kid, it didn't occur to me that I loved photography.

I think it was until I became older, I realized how much I loved photography.

I was so busy creating a living and not living to create.

Everything was buried deep down inside of me until I had my beautiful children and it was

essential that I stay home and raise my beautiful family.

I think that was the defining moment when my creativity was unleashed.

I participated in several of my artist sister, Mary Ann's art swaps and wouldn't you

know that my hidden passions were evolving...

Today's prompt word is "Drizzle."

This was a hard one for me to get into.

I thought about the drizzling affect on food but I wanted something different.

I LOVE typography and how words can push you to do things...then I was

thinking about how words "Drizzle" all over my life...all over your life...all over everyone's lives...

that's when I came up with the above art word play:

"Words Drizzle, Radiate Ideas, Zeal, Zest, Life and Energy"~ jo

This sprinkling water pond "Drizzles" many droplets of water. That's how I feel "Words" can do: "Drizzle" out many meanings to life.

Today we are suppossed to do something different. I created the word art play, doodled and had my sweet daughter colour one of the pictures. We had a blast! Hope you did to!

bonne nuit
xoxo

Day 7&8 Fly & Ornament

Day 7

"FLY"

i am so far behind in my quest to complete the Creativity Boot Camp...what kind of creative soldier am i that i can't even keep up with this type of boot camp...shame on me...ha!

there are so many reasons why i'm so tardy in participating...but the main reason is because life + busybee stuff always have my attention these days...this is the only time i can play 'catch-up' with all the WIPs going around here~close to midnight...i'm also tuckered out but i'm determined to post this here and to the groups...

The daily word prompt is "FLY." i interpret it as "time truly flies when you're having fun!"

to me this photo awakens all of my senses... eyes, ears, throat, nose...you name it!


this picture says it all...this is what helps me relax and gets my juices flowing to create
...a good cup of tea surrounded by sweet lovliness...


Day 8
"Ornament"
'Something that lends to grace and beauty,'
here is my pink eiffel tower. i love creating these eiffel towers and
to me they are so ornamental and filled with grace and beauty...
really nice for wedding favors or even potential heirloom pieces.

well, it's already pass midnight and pretty soon, i've got to make breakfast for my munchkins...you guessed it...waffles!

bonne nuit

xoxo

Day 6 Fluid

Day 6 Fluid

Break Rules/Get out of Comfort Zone

I. love. photography. (check my flickr set here)

But I'm not a professional.

I enjoy taking pictures of still life more than people. I like to find beauty

in everyday objects and capture its beauty in a snapshot.

I usually like to style my objects in simple ways. I usually work with food, inanimate objects, buildings, nature, anything still~well because it usually doesn't 'move'...and I find its beauty somehow in the way its positioned or how the light reflects on the object etc.

But, today's exercise is different.

We need to get out of our comfort zone & break some of our rules in how we create...

I am not very good in photographing people. Well, because they usually 'move' and they get tired and complain just a lil' bit...y'know...'oh c'mon...isn't that the millionth time you snapped your camera?' or 'you've got to be kidding...another shot?' or 'are we done yet?'

My 'still' objects never complain (unless its ice-cream or something ready to drop etc.)

(In America's Next Top Model, I wonder if Nigel (the photographer)

gets these complaints, too?!)

So, I'm getting out of my comfort zone and taking some 'people' shots...

specifically moving shots all dealing with our assignment word 'Fluid' (I thought about how in taking pictures you need to have 'Fluidity' and how quickly you need to capture those magical shots~ esp. when your object is moving. I also used water to capture some of those 'Fluid' flowing photos...(hey, can you say that fast-10 times (Fluid Flowing Photos...Fluid Flowing Photos...?)

This was a fun exercise...I kinda like 'still' life a lil' bit better than 'people' shots

but y'know what they say:

practice makes perfect!

bonne nuit

xoxo

8 years of missing...wondering...loving you...

so much can happen in 8 years...something always feels missing...

wishing you were here with us...

one day we will all be together...until then know that YOU will ALWAYS FOREVER

remain in our Hearts...

bonne nuit + love you Sweet Pea our lil' curious George...

xoxo Mommy, Daddy, Ian & Shioban

Grow-Day 5 Creativity Boot Camp

Day 5

"Grow"

Grow from Within...

When I think of what "Grow" means to me...I instantly think of my 3 lil' munchkins...how they came into this world 8 years ago...all the pain, the timing of everything, from 3 microscopic 'fertilized eggs', to what a rough start they had when they came into this world (25 weekers) and to how they are amazingly + 'GROWing' into their own happy lil' person.

how powerful eggs can be...something inside growing into a powerful 'something'...

kinda like how each person is different but came from something so small like an 'egg' and then as each day goes by and with the nurturing care of love, sun, rain, food, energy,
experiences, people, etc...

something wonderful comes out of those empty egg shells...

sometimes we forget where we came from, how we came to be...maybe we have to stop and remember that what really counts is what is inside of us, to continue to 'GROW' and

strive to become that amazing person we were meant to be...

bonne nuit

xoxo

blackhawks win Stanley Cup after 49 years + i take a leap & return after 10 months hiatus...

CHAMPIONS!!!!!!

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews celebrate. (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Tribune)

photo courtesy of ChicagoTribune.com

hip, hip hooray for the Chicago Blackhawks!!! 4-3 in overtime game 6 in the Championship Series...history has been made! CONGRATULATIONS to a very dedicated and hardworking team...no matter how difficult or long the road was for them...they never gave up! So proud of the whole BlackHawk Team!!!

This BIG WIN tonight has inspired me to take a courageous leap to return to my journal~Labour of Love~ after a very long hiatus. Last July 2009 was the last time I felt safe here. In August, I stopped writing here and closed my blog due to several very disturbing series of events that had me thinking twice about the blogosphere and people in general. I had to deal with people crossing the lines, attempts of harming my family and invading my privacy. In my early twenties, I had to deal with an obsessed stalker that nearly cost me my life. Last year, something similar had happen but with not 1 but 2 obsessed-crazed STALKERS!!! So, I closed down my blog for obvious reasons.

BUT, enough is enough!!!! Just like the BlackHawks overcoming doubt and adversity, I really feel like why should I stop my world because of a couple of fanatics (per Dictionary.com: Fanatic=a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, synonyms=enthusiast, zealot, bigot, hothead, militant. Fanatic, zealot, militant, devotee refer to persons showing more than ordinary support for, adherence to, or interest in a cause, point of view, or activity. Fanatic and zealot both suggest excessive or overweening devotion to a cause or belief. Fanatic further implies unbalanced or obsessive behavior: a wild-eyed fanatic.) ?

I've been stressed out beyond belief not only from these crazy incidents but also because my plate of responsibilities have been quite overwhelming these days and have put me in such a creative slump since last August...and this past Monday, my creative juices were flowing as I stumbled on to several inspiring Creative sites all in a couple of hours! So, enough is enough! I'm taking this leap because I've missed so many of the good-hearted people+kindred spirits that I have met through my blog. I need to complete + send several packages that I promised to a few kindred spirits before the hiatus took over my life...My hands + heart ache because it needs a creative outlet to release tension and to seek more of my hidden passions.

photos courtesy of Maegan Beishline

One of the sites I was so fortunate to stumble upon was, Creativity Boot Camp by Maegan Beishline. Please stop by her blog and soak in a lot of inspiration! I'm going to do my best to try to play catch up...this 'Free' On-Line class started Sunday, June 6th. This program will end June 18th, 2010. They are on Day 5-theme=grow. Maegan gives some sound advice/information about how to go about understanding our creative side. She gives us a theme word and we choose our medium to work with and create something that reflects the theme word. There is alot of reflection going on too but I am so far behind that I have to play some catch up with the daily assignment photos and I promise to work on the writing/discovering part soon...

Here are my interpretations of days 1-4 and my choice of medium will be my camera: (go here to see more interpretations via other kindred spirits)

1) Ivory:

2) Picnic:

3) Multilayered:

4) Heavy Metal:

The last few days have been fantastic...using more of my camera to capture the true beauty of everyday things...and getting out of my comfort zone (and exploring the outside environment) are such breaths of fresh air! Tomorrow I'll work on the theme "grow" as it's the last day of my lil' munchkins' school...hurrah! Thank you Maegan for creating this on-line class...reaching down into my soule is going to prove to be a wide awakening for me...looking forward to the next several days...

bonne nuit

xoxo jo;)