Day #1 Blog-Along With Effy

4/1/14

It's been absolute ages since I've actually blogged. I did post about 2 months or so ago when I did a few blog posts about my adventures with Flat Susan. (It's a grown up version of Flat Stanley) You can check out her blog at http://flatsusan.blogspot.co.uk Flat Susan was created by one of my online art friends Anita "Neet" Hickson, who resides in the UK.
Prior to that I was blogging at least weekly while participating in WOYWW over at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com where I had the pleasure of meeting many wonderful, talented and welcoming group of artist and crafters. Then I fell into a funk, and didn't do much art work or blogging. Life also got busy with homeschooling my youngest daughter Bridget, and her Irish dancing. (which I will save for a future post).
I have started getting into a routine of trying spending at least 10 minutes a day doing some sort of Art. Even if I only sort through my piles of stuff. So Seeing Effy's April Blog-Along, I've made a commitment to myself to try and jump back into creating and posting. 
I've become somewhat overwhelmed by scattered thoughts. I have several projects I'd like to finish, I belong to a few online Art classes, Lifebook 2014, 48 Weeks with Donna Downey, The Documented Life Project, and Soul Restoration over at Brave Girls, all of which I've fallen behind in, and when I attempt to do one and or the other I find myself so overwhelmed I get anxious and stressed out at which point everyone within a 15 ft radius runs and hides. I find this is defeating the whole purpose of doing Art. So I am going back to basics. I'm going to go back to square one and try and organize my thought, and my supplies, which have taken over practically every nook and cranny of my already small house. Wish me luck with that!!!  I really only got started in my journey with Art about 2 yrs ago as a way to deal with chronic pain. I went into it with a very defined definition of what I thought an artist was. Well I have most certainly learned you can not define Artist by any one definition. I have found I do lean more toward mixed media. I love to grunge up most things I create. As with most of the stuff I create, I love using recycled or re purposed materials. One of my favorite things to make is Art Journals, I actually enjoy making the art journals more than I do filling them with art. I recently bought my first sewing machine which has been really fun incorporating into some of my handmade things. Though it's one more thing I'm adding to my chaos. Plus Donna Downey studios is 5 miles from my house, and I stop in at least once a week and buy more stuff….I really need an intervention!!! 
Well I will leave it at that for today, now that I'm super excited for this blog-along, like the energizer bunny, I could keep going and going, but alas I have 29 more days to fill y'all in on my life. I'm excited to get to know some new peeps, and check out some new blogs, and some new Pinterest boards. (another thing I could use an intervention for) Ta Ta for now….

Some of my handmade journals

Cover to a Gelli Print Journal

Binding with some of my handmade beads

Signatures with some of the prints

A tag thrown in

Fabric thrown in

A bag with a tag

Back cover

From Effy's Wildly Inspired Episode #3
(I did this on an 11x14 canvas for my son Jake)

HUGS,
Kimmie

Flat Susan Irish Dances

So in our final hoorah with our guest Flat Susan, we took her to the King O' Sullivan Winter Feis. (pronounced fesh) This was my daughter Bridget's first dance competition of the 2014 season. She has officially moved up to the U14 category. Time just flies too quickly.

Susan had a grand time meeting new people, learning all about how Irish dance and  competitions run, experiencing Ceili dancing, (team dancing) and even getting to attend the awards ceremony at the end where pinned to my daughters dress helped her accept her 3rd place award. All in all we all had a very long and full day of Dresses, Wigs, Make-Up, Shoes, Dancing, and best of all friends. 

This Feis was hosted at the Marriott Evergreen Resort at Stone Mountain by the King O' Sullivan school in the Atlanta,GA area. Several dancers from Irish dance schools all over the Southern region of the US participated. My daughter dances for 
Rince na h'Eireann School of Traditional Irish Dance. The schools name translates to Dance of Ireland. Our school host 2 Feis's a year. The Holy Angels Feis which we raise and donate all money to the Holy Angels foundation which is a Catholic Foundation which helps the disabled, and then our Feis in October.

There are several levels of dance. Bridget is a Preliminary Champion level dancer, and is working toward trying to move into Open Champion which is the highest level of dance. The levels are Beginner, Advanced Beginner, Novice, Prizewinner, Preliminary Champion, and Open Champion. You start as a beginner and move to each level by winning each of your dances in each of the levels. The dances are Single Jig, Light Jig, Slip Jig, and Reel, which are all soft shoe dances. In hardshoe there is Treble Jig and Hornpipe. Single Jig and Light Jig are not usually competed in after Novice. Once you reach Prelim and Open your dances are based on your birth year. So this year Bridget competes in Reel & Hornpipe. She has a Non-traditional set called "The Three Sea Captains" There are a total of 31 Non-Traditional set dances. Most dancers only learn a handful in their career. 

So this is what Susan has learned about Irish Dance. There is a whole lot more, but she can only visit for so long. She will be on her way to her next host on Monday or Tuesday. So I will now show you all the pics form her dance filled weekend. I hope you enjoyed reading about Flat Susan and her visit to Davidson,NC. We have enjoyed hosting her!!!! She will be missed a whole bunch!!!

Welcome to King O' Sullivan Feis

1st Place 4 hand Team

(L-R)Bridget, FS, Maggie, and Laura

Mom's Tracy & Holly

Bridget (FS is pinned R breast)

Bridget & Flat Susan

Bridget getting her 3rd place award

Flat Susan's & The Mystery Guest

So as you know Flat Susan is currently visiting with me in Davidson,NC. This area north of Charlotte is comprised of Cornelius, Davidson, and Huntersville. They are all kind of intertwined with each other. In Huntersville is the studio of the wonderful mixed media artist Donna Downey. With whom I know so many of you are familiar with. Donna is delightful, brilliant and talented. She hosts workshops at her studio with guest artist such as Mindy Lacefield, Jane Davenport, CD Muckosky, and many more. She also travels the world hosting workshops as well. Her website is http://donnadowney.com

I had contacted Donna and told her all about Flat Susan and her travels around the world and asked if she would be kind enough to take a minute to have a meet n’ greet with Susan, Well Donna was very happy to oblige. Not only was Flat Susan excited, admittedly I was as well. Though I had previously met Donna on a visit to her studio while shopping for art supplies, she is one of my favorite artist’s. I also had my daughter Bridget with me who after meeting Donna thought she is one of the coolest people on the planet. (My daughters words).

After I had set up a time to meet with Donna, I had kinda let the cat out of the bag and told Neet what I had planned. I wanted it to be a complete surprise, but like a little kid at Christmas, I couldn’t wait. Neet was beyond excited when I shared the news. Neet, who is visiting with her friend Mary in the US right now, had told me of a story about her and her friend Mary meeting Donna at a CHA once. When I had mentioned the story to Donna that Neet had told me about meeting at CHA, Donna had remembered them. It truly goes to show how small the world really is. 

So Flat Susan had her picture taken with Donna, who also kindly signed Susan’s passport. I was so excited and caught up with our visit, that the only picture I took was the one of Donna with FS. I actually had to go back to the studio the next day and take some extra photos of FS around Donna’s studio. Which really wasn't a problem, as I love going to Donna Downey Studio’s to shop and browse. I usually stop by there and shop about once a week, it’s only about 5 miles from my house. I can literally spend hours looking and browsing. I digress though..... So without further ado, the pictures from Flat Susan’s meet n’ greet, and her second visit while I did a supply shop. I hope you enjoy.

Kimmie & Flat Susan

Donna & Flat Susan

Checking out Daniel Smith WC's

All the glorious Paints & Mediums

Pom-Pom window display

Swinging on a Pom-Pom

A Rainbow of Colors

Some of Donna's paintings

The Altered Brush Project

http://donnadowney.typepad.com/simply_me/the-altered-brush-project/

Studio Shop

http://donnadowney.com

Flat Susan

Well it has been quite sometime since I have done a blog post. I am happy to do this post, as it is honor of my tiny friend Flat Susan. She arrived safely from her visit with Sandee in Hendersonville,NC. 

Susan has been traveling the world in her tiny little suitcase seeing the sights and meeting lots of wonderful people along the way. She arrived in Davidson,NC shortly after Christmas. Davidson is just a tick north of Charlotte,NC. 

I happily took Susan around town and showed her where I live. Davidson is a small community with about 10,000 residents. Most of our local businesses on Main St are in buildings dating back to the early 1900's. In keeping Davidson a small town community there isn’t even a fast food restaurant. Susan enjoyed meeting local business owners who loved hearing about Flat Susan and her travels.We stopped at Summit Coffee first to get a coffee for the town tour. Though it is unusually cold right now, Kimmie is a lover of Ice Coffee. 

I have a few things in store for Susan while she is visiting. She has a visit planned with a mystery person, which will be exciting for Susan, and for Neet. Susan will also be taking a few Irish dance lessons and attending her very first Feis. (pronounced Fesh) My daughter Bridget is a comptitive Irish dancer.

I am not sure what happened, but some of our photos from the tour didn't take well, so I'll have to go back and add them later. I had planned this post so much sooner, but shortly after Susan's arrival, influenza hit our household. It knocked everyone on their backsides. Well hope you enjoy the first part of Flat Susan's visit. Please check out her blog at http://flatsusan.blogspot.co.uk, or just hit the button on the side bar of my blog. Look for the post with my visit with a mystery guest very very soon.(((((HUGS))))

Kimmie & Flat Susan

Having a White Chocolate Carmel Macchiato Main St Having a bite to eat at the Soda Shop (Kimmie's son Michael works here) The Soda Shop Great bunch of ladies work here. I love this basket

WOYWW # 223

9/10/13

HOORAY!!! It's another week of world travel visiting friends around the globe, peeking in on their desks, and craft rooms. All made possible by our friend and fearless leader Julia over at the stamping-ground. If you would like to join in all the fun, which I highly recommend, click here. 

I want to thank everyone who stopped by for a visit this past week and left comments. I tried to visit as many desks as I could, I wish I could have visited everyone. Trying to get back into school schedules has been less than fun. I homeschool Bridget, and Michael is in public school. Bridget is also back to dance, and that has been an especially crazy schedule. I'm going to make it a point to visit more of my fellow deskers this week.

So today was a good day.. I got HAPPY MAIL from my dear friend and fellow WOYWW'er Julie Ann at http://magpieheaven.blogspot.com. Julie Ann is a very talented crafter slash artist. She sent me lots of goodies that I will be sure to put to very good use. I just love my WOYWW friends. :D

Beautiful Tag side 1

side 2

Beautiful Napkins

More beautiful Napkins

Ribbons

Lots of Goodies


Please pop over to Julia's and join in on all the fun!!! I look forward to seeing what everyone else has going on. Thanks for stopping by. HAPPY HUMP DAY!!!!!! Much love to all!!!!

HUGS,
Kimmie

WOYWW #222

9/3/13

Well it's another glorious week of visiting friends, visiting desks and craft rooms around the world. It's all thanks to our fearless and fabulous leader Julia. If you you'd like to join in the fun, click here and see what it's all about.

First I want to thank everyone for all their warm and caring comments. I truly love being part of this group. You all ROCK!!!!

I don't have a whole lot going on this week, craft wise that is. School has started back, and Bridget's dance is no longer on hiatus. I have been doing lots of "busy" work this week. All the fussy stuff that needs to be done so the fun stuff can be created. Here is a sneak peak of one of my current projects. More to be revealed later.

That's all for this week. I hope to be more organized for next week. Back to school week is always a hard week. I look forward to visiting as many of you as I can. HAPPY HUMP DAY!!!!! 
HUGS,
Kimmie

WOYWW # 221

8/27/13

Happy Hump Day… time for another week of jetting around the world and peeking in on friends to see what they have been up to. That's right… it's WOYWW, brought to you by Ms. Julia. If you want to see how you can join in on all the fun, click here.

I have been MIA the past few weeks, and I want to thank those of you who sent me messages of concern over my where abouts. I'd like you to know how much it means  to me. (you all know who you are.. :D ) I have not been feeling very well. I had Lymphosarcoma when I was younger, (cancer of the lymph nodes) with a poor prognosis, but by the grace of God, 3 yrs of chemotherapy and 21 radiation treatments I can call myself a survivor. The flip side to all that has left me with a small mountain of health problems, and I suffer from chronic pain due to degenerative arthritis with spinal stenosis.The past few weeks I have had some mystery thing going on that has left me completely zapped. When I am feeling like that I have a tendency to shut the world out. I find it easier to hibernate, cuz just typing that out makes me feel like a hyperchondriac. With school beginning, and dance about to start back up, I hope to find my energy and my mojo here really soon.

I digress though… needless to say I have not been doing much of anything. I did get some happy mail out, and I managed a page or two in my art journal. I can't post the happy mail stuff, but I can post my journal page. The face was actually drawn by my daughter Bridget onto a napkin, I collaged it along with some music sheets into my journal, and I used my Koi watercolors, and some Dr. Martins acrylic Ink. 

"Let Your Freak Flag Fly"

Face done on a napkin

Thank you for stopping by. Please feel free to leave a comment. I will be stopping by to visit as many of you as I can.

HUGS,
Kimmie