When I was a kid, I loved Halloween.  Creating a costume was so much fun!   I don’t know if they sold costumes back then, but no one I knew ever bought one.  It makes me sad now that kids don’t get to go all over the place trick-or-treating like we did.  I would carry a paper grocery sack (that I decorated, thankyouverymuch) and come home with it full of candy.  I was the only kid I knew that liked licorice so everyone would give me theirs!

There wasn’t any gorey, scary stuff that we were exposed to in my neighborhood, other than on Halloween.  Well, unless you count the air raid drills we had because we were convinced that the Russians were going to nuke us and then we’d have World War III.

I haven’t had many trick-or-treaters in recent years.  It’s gotten too scary for parents to allow their children to go to strangers’ homes.  That makes me very sad.  I’m sure they still have fun, but I’ll bet it’s not as much as I had.  My best friend, David, and I would race from house to house, the chill of the night on our cheeks.  Occasionally we’d stop and tear through our grocery bags to see what we had gotten.  We hated it when they gave us apples!   Some years David’s mother would drive us over to the “rich” side of town and we’d get actual candy bars or popcorn balls!

As the world was becoming a more dangerous place, and the trick-or-treaters were dwindling, a little boy about 4 or 5 came to my door one Halloween.  I had to go into the kitchen to get the candy for his little plastic pumpkin, so I asked him to wait at the door a moment.  When I returned, he was sitting on my porch steps with his mask pushed onto the top of his head.  His chin was in his hands and he looked so sad.  I asked him what was wrong and he said, “I HATE trigger treat”!   I wanted to whisk him back 30 years and let him experince the joy of running free and eating so much candy it made you sick.  I wanted him to have the freedom to run through the neighborhoods with no adults; to not need anyone to check his candy for razor blades; to be able to eat the candy and no one worry about red dye or ADHD.

I know. I know.  I sound like an old lady.   As I age, I’m realizing there really is such a thing as “the good old days”.

Beginning today, I will be featuring a website each Thursday.   I am beginning with the sites I link to from Creative Clown.  If you’d like me to link to your site or blog, leave me a comment and I’ll check it out.    I will be focusing on sites that fit in with my interests and sensitivities, so please only ask me if you have a site related to art, journaling, self growth, self discovery or something similar.

This week, I’d to begin by introducing you to my dear friend, Kristina’s blog, Art Alchemist.  You are going to LOVE her blog!!  She is a scientist and an artist.  What a fantastic combination.  Her blog is all about the experiments she conducts.  It is so cool!

Seriously, her education and career was as a research scientist.  So she does serious experiments on things like image transfers – which printer works best?; which medium?; which paper?   And she reports the whole process in her blog.

So, if you want to know what kind of paint, pens, gel medium, etc etc etc to use, go check her out!!

This image shows a very wrinkled paper that I glued into my journal.  It was a long time ago so I don’t remember what type of glue I used but it happens with both glue sticks and gel medium.  Those are the glues I most often use with paper.

The other day I found some new glue sticks by Scotch called anti-wrinkle glue sticks.  They don’t glide on as smoothly as the regular glue sticks.  They probably don’t have as much moisture which is why they don’t wrinkle, but you have to push pretty hard to get enough glue.  It does take more of this glue than the regular sticks.

But it does seem to wrinkle less.  Below is a picture of a piece of newsprint I glued onto a journal page.  I used newsprint because thin paper seems to wrinkle the most.  You can see that there is one area on the left that wrinkled but the rest is smooth.

I wouldn’t use this all the time because it takes so much to glue something down.  But I will use it for thin papers that are prone to wrinkling.

Kim at Queen of Arts has this wonderful project called Rock My World.  She paints rocks ( see the image of her rocks? Aren’t they wonderful?) and leaves them in random, public places to spread love.

She has a tutorial on how she paints them and a nice card that she leaves with her rocks.  You can make one for yourself.

I love this idea!  It’s a way to bring love into people’s lives randomly in a very creative way.   Kim explains what kinds of rocks are best to paint and what kind of pen she uses to write on them… everything you need to know!

So for this week, let’s all paint some rocks and spread some love, Rock My World style!

I feel so bad about offering images last week and then taking them down, that I’ve gathered a new set for you.

I believe all these images to be in the public domain so you should be able to use them for any purpose.

Click on the image here and a larger one will open in a new window where you can download it.

I am working on a new website that will feature glitzy, blingy cowgirl accessories.  I have been making some beaded jewelry for the site and fast realized that it’s hard to know what you’ve got in a necklace by the time you use all sorts and sized of bead.

Jewelry Insight is software that helps you keep up with the cost, inventory, etc of jewelry that you make to sell.  I just found it today so can’t vouch for it.  But wanted to share this info with those of you who make jewelry.  The description says that it can help you evaluate the cost of the products you use in a piece and help you determine the selling price.

They have a trial download so you can try it for free before you buy it.  It costs $69 but if it works as well as it seems, it might pay for itself in short time.

The site also has this free calculator software that converts bead size from inches to millimeters, the number of beads required to create jewelry strands ranging from 5 to 25 inches and the number of times you will need to repeat a pattern to create a jewelry strand.  To get this free program click on Free Software at the top of the page.

This site has some great retro fonts. And they’re all free!!  I love printing things out and using them in my journal.  Especially titles or bold wording for certain pages.  Go check it out!

Okay, this picture has nothing to do with thrift stores or swaps.  But it’s a good depiction of how I feel when I get cool stuff at the thrift store.

When I wrote this post I got responses from people who shared what they love to find at thrift stores.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could share our finds?  Nancy likes book covers.  I like the pages but do nothing with the covers so I could give her the covers.  Get the idea?

I’m thinking of organizing a swap.  This wouldn’t be the usual swap where you get random things from various people.  You could name 4 or 5 things you like to use in your art that can be found at a thrift store.  Then the people who join the swap would have a list of everyone’s preferences.  For the next month or so, we would all carry the wish list with us when we thrift.  Then all the finds could be sent to me and I’ll send them out.

Obviously there are some details that need to be worked out, like a price limit on each item, etc, but for now does this sound like something you’d be interested in participating in?   If so, please leave a comment.

EDIT:  I got so excited about this idea and wrote this post so fast, that I didn’t really explain it as I intended.  More than going to the thrift store to actually buy things for other people,  I am thinking that  what we already have could be swapped.  As far as looking while at the thrift store, here’s an example.  I am at the store and I see a book of sheet music.  I don’t want the sheet music but it has pictures I do want.  I have my list with me so I check and see if anyone wants sheet music.  Get the idea?

I recently got some of my books from storage in Texas.  I have been enjoying looking through old journals.  One of them is a journal of affirmations from 2001.  At that time I was very ill and my husband had just left me.  I had moved to OK because I was unable to work, and my 17 yr old son chose to stay in TX with his dad.  My 23 yr old son had just found out that a girl he used to date was pregnant with his child.  Not a good time in my life.

I had no idea where my life was headed and couldn’t see any light in my future.  I was overcome with fear and dread.  My friend, Paula, who is an avid fan of Louise Hay, encouraged me to use affirmations to try and get my hope back.  I would tell Paula how I was feeling and she would write an affirmation for me, or find one that fit my feelings that day.  I wrote the affirmations over and over and over.  I put them on post-it notes all over my house.

To be honest, I didn’t have any faith that they could or would do any good.  But I was so miserable and desperate that I was willing to try anything.  I remember writing the words of the affirmations and scoffing.  It felt utterly silly to be writing such confident, happy thoughts when I felt like such a loser who would never amount to anything worthwhile.

Fast forward to the present time.   I got out that old affirmation journal and started reading some of the affirmations I used back in 2001.  I was brought to tears as I read some of them and realized the statements are completely true in my life today!  They really did come true!   Now, I’m not saying that the affirmations themselves hold any magical powers.  I did a lot of other things to improve myself and my condition, but I strongly feel that by starting out with just writing the words – the positive words – that I set my mind in a state that allowed me to move forward with hope rather than wallow in my misery.

I’d like to share a few of the affirmations from my journal.  This one, “I attract powerfully positive and healthy people into my life” hit me right between the eyes.  At the point I wrote that,  I had a sprinkle of good healthy women friends, but I had a lot of not so healthy people surrounding me.  And today, I have barrels of positive, loving people all around me.    It’s amazing to look at the difference in my life from then to now and suddenly see what has happened over the past seven years.  I can see the path I’ve taken and how with each step, the negative has gradually fallen away as I’ve chosen healthier people to be in my life.

This one, “I have created a harmonious place for myself to live”  is especially meaningful to me.  In 2001 I had been living in a volatile, explosive environment for several years.  As I was writing that affirmation I had no clue what a harmonious environment even was.   My life today is so different.  I am never exposed to anyone raising their voice.  No one in my life calls anyone names or throws objects.  My environment is completely safe and I’m free to be myself without fear.

This last one I’ll share with you is one of the most powerful.  “I am a rich treasure, waiting to be found.”  I still tear up when I read that one.  At the time I wrote it, I felt like anything but a treasure.  I had been verbally beat down to the point that I felt unloveable, unlikeable and just plain worthless.  I remember writing it over and over, thinking ‘What a bunch of hogwash.’   But some part of that stuck in my heart somewhere and I kept it, although hidden, just in case.     Reading it now, I can clearly see that the words are true.   Mister tells me almost daily that he feels that I am a treasure that he was seeking for a long time.  I had no idea anyone could treasure me.  If I had not started on this path by writing affirmations and reading them over and over, I don’t believe I’d be strong enough today to be able to accept the love and other gifts that have been given to me.

I want to share with my readers an ebook of affirmations that I wrote for creative people.  It is called, “Affirmations for Artists” and you can download it here.   Below you will also find some more of the affirmations from my journal.  The way I used the affirmations initially was to write an affirmation each day. I would fill an entire page in my journal writing that one over and over.  I’d put it on a post it note somewhere that I would see it throughout the day.

I hope that you will be able to use some of my affirmations and find what you are seeking in your life as I have.

• When I make mistakes or fail, I know that I am not the failure – I am still okay.
• I can trust myself completely as my life unfolds to create my own unique story.
• It is my birthright to have incredible positive energy living inside me.
• I possess an endless supply of creativity, energy and tolerance for any work or project that I assume.
• The world is a playground and I have heart-felt fun everyday.
• All my desires in relationships are being fulfilled.
• I show the depth of my caring when I listen fully.
• We must listen to the spirit of the soul in order to hear the needs of others.
• My strength comes from forgiveness of those who hurt me.
• Time peels away the layers, revealing who I was intended to be.
• My inner vision is always clear and focused.
• I am worthy of love.
• I am forever young in spirit.
• Perfect wisdom is in my heart.
• I am patient and serene for I have the rest of my life to grow.

This week I have been trying desperately to get organized.   Well.. if “trying” means thinking about it a lot.  My physical environment is a mess.  I go to Mister’s on the weekends so there is always some form of half-unpacked luggage around.  There are clothes in various states of cleanliness in piles around. And, of course, all the “in progress” art projects everywhere.

And that’s just the beginning!  There’s the need to organize my time.  And set priorities on the projects I’m doing.  Then there are the friends I haven’t written or called and the people I want to have lunch with.

AGGGHHHH!!!  I feel overwhelmed.  That is why the image above spoke to me so loudly.  If I only did one thing toward my goals (playlike I have some goals) today, then  in a week I’d be ahead of where I’ve gotten the past week.

So, how does someone who has a brain that constantly distracts itself by thinking up new, fun things to do every moment,  really start to get organized?  I did a little research because I know that the typical organizational tools don’t work for me and probably don’t for other right-brained people either.  Seeing a spreadsheet, for example, just makes me want to jump out of my skin.  I start using organizational systems that typical people use and before long I feel like I’m in a box and my rebellious side pipes up and starts plotting escape plans.

In my research I found this planner by Keri Smith.  It still does have some boxes but at least they aren’t neat.  And the system encourages drawing and being messy, so I’m thinking I’ll give it a try.

Yes, once again she believes if she just finds the right tools she, too, can be organized and productive

If you have an idea, tips, suggestions or a system that works for you, by all means, please share it with me!