Happy New Year

Well another year come and gone. Some good memories, some not so good. But we made it through to 2008. Not being one for resolutions I am just going to continue on my quest for a peaceful life creating art. Having my own studio in our new home will be a big plus as well as making it easier not to have to clear off the dinner table everytime we eat.

My hope for you all is a happy prosperous 2008. Be well.

These handsome young men are my three wonderful sons on Christmas Day. They are my blessings and I love them very much.

Merry Christmas

Well another Christmas has come and gone (almost). We had a wonderful family day with all the kids here and my parents are here. This was the first Christmas that Erik had the Santa thing happening. Although he still doesn't get it to the fullest yet. Justin had to go home today but I am sure glad he was able to come for Christmas. It was good to see him and Matt together again.

Hope all of you had a good Christmas and have a good New Year.

Having fun in Phoenix

Well here we are and so far things are going okay. Still lots of unpacking to do but it will have to wait until after Christmas. We have all our kids coming in as well as my parents. There will be 10 of us here and will it ever be jumping. We are having a family picture taken on the 23rd, so I will post one so you can all see us in our glory. It will be the first one since Erik was born (he's 4).

Okay now for the fun part. Last Friday night Dave and I went to see the Rastafarmers (Kathy Cano Murrillo's husband's band) and they were fabulous. Well worth the 45 minute drive to get there. It was a kind of Christmas thank party. They were giving away cool door prizes and Kathy had a couple of her Christmas trees she made for her LifetimeTv.com webisode deal. Well I brought her one of my trees I have been making for years and she gave me one of hers. It is really cool. The photo is of me and her trading trees. She has some great stuff going on, check out her blog at www.craftychica.com

As I have said many times before I am going to really try hard to post something at least four days a week. Maybe if I start there it will grow and I will post everyday. I doubt it but you never know. Hope the holidays are treating you all well.

Here in Ohio

Well I have been here in Ohio for about a month now with just dial-up to work with. I found a place with free hi speed internet so took the opportunity to post. It is so beautiful here with the fall leaves and all. But I am looking forward to leaving on Sunday for the west again. We will be in ABQ next week for a day or two, then on to Phoenix to close on our house. Once we are traveling I will have internet again and can give more insight into my trip.

Hope you all had a great October and a wonderful beginning to November.

Hotel Heaven? NOT!!!

We we are here in the hotel. It is not all that great because they put us in the wrong room. We were supposed to be in a one bedroom with a foldout couch. We got a studio with only a queen bed. There is four of us, you do the math. And the room is very small so we are constantly on eachothers nerves.

On a brighter note, we found out on Friday that the bank accepted our offer so we are now going to own a home in Surprise, AZ. We are very excited. A nice huge backyard that is perfect for entertaining. And I am going to put a meditation garden with a labrynth(sp) in the corner. This is a very exciting adventure.

A little of this and a little of that

Our household goods are now on their way to Phoenix. Of course they will get there 2 months before us. Oh well, I am looking forward to our travels in the next couple of months.

I am really excited to have the chance to not have to work, not have to do anything but visit family and create some art pieces. I am planning on working on some new class projects for the upcoming year. This is an exciting time.

The sunset is one of the daily beautiful sunsets we have here in New Mexico. This was taken from our backyard. Well what used to be our backyard. I will really miss this sunsets.

Boxes, boxes and more boxes

Here I sit on my couch surrounded by many many boxes and strangers packing my stuff. It is a very weird day. I have 2 weeks left here in Albquerque and I know they will fly by. If I make it through Wednesday it will be easier. We move to the hotel on Friday and I leave on Oct 9th for California. We are waiting to see if our offer on a home in Phoenix was accepted or not so we don't have a place to live right now so I will go to Ohio on the 13th for a month. It will be nice to see the leaves turn again. I miss that.

The picture is of Erik when we were are Blake's Lot A Burger. Isn't he handsome.

Getting Ready To Move

This past week has been really crazy. We are getting ready to move to Luke AFB in Phoenix, AZ. Tomorrow they come to pack our belongings and Wednesday they take them away. Dave is going to school in Alabama and the kids and I are going to California and Ohio while he is there. Once we get settled I will start blogging regular again.

For now I will try to post when ever I can. The pic is my little Coco when we first got her. She barely weighed 1 pound. She now tops the scale at 2 lbs and is pretty much full grown. Her and Buster get along great.

My New Doll

I am so excited, I have received my first doll from the year long swap I am in. She is absolutely wonderful, sent to me all the way from Great Britian, by Daisy Lupin. I just love her, she is the Lady of the Greenery, a Mother Earth doll. Thank you Daisy so much for the wonderful doll.

The Art Shoes

These shoes are a project my best friend and I worked on last summer while she was visiting. Jennie was going to wear them on her hikes through the Arkansas backwoods on her next leg of her vacation. I created the Dream shoe. Alas the shoes (and all of her other possessions) never made it from Albuquerque to Arkansas. They are forever lost in the black hole of Greyhound. We had a wonderful time painting these shoes and it has made me think that sometimes it is more the process then the product that is important. I will forever remember all the laughter we shared as we each created one of these awesome shoes. So I think the next time I create something I will take time to smell the roses as I create. Not rush through to get to the final product.

Anyway I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures as much as we enjoyed the process of making the Art Shoes

Pictures of Orbs

I know there are many different thoughts on Orbs in photographs. I personally believe they are a good thing and that the people who are in the photos are very blessed. Violette's blog today posted pics of orbs in a photo and it got me to thinking about a photo that I downloaded off the internet of my son's Army troop when they first got to Iraq. It is a very blurry photo but there is a very clear Orb floating over them. I have to tell you that it may my heart soar to see it. I have posted it here for all of you to see.

Where I live

Here are some of my favorite things here in Albuquerque.

Picture 1 - Our awesome monsoon clouds that cover our sky during the spring/summer months. This is at the Air Show on KAFB last July. Those are the Thunderbirds crossing the sky.

Picture 2 & 3 - Balloon Fiesta, this is just a couple of photos of many. It is the most amazing thing to stand amongst 100's of balloons as they inflate and lift off.

Picture 4 - Taken at the top of the Sandia Mtns looking toward Albuquerque. It is 12,000 feet up and absolutely gorgeous.

Picture 5 - One of the many petroglyphs at Petroglyph National Monument on the west side of Albuquerque.

Picture 6 - The Sandia Mountains taken from the backyard of our old house. It is now in the frontyard of our new house.

Picture 7 - This is our new house at the beginning of our big snow storm in January.

We have been here for 4 years and I love it. You could find something new to see and do everyday. And the restaurants, were do I start. I hope you all enjoy the little trip through where I live.

My Beautiful Gaea

This is my doll from the last journal doll swap I was in. Isn't she just the most beautiful doll you have ever seen. These photos don't do her any justice at all. Everytime I look at her I find something new. The journal is also really cool, I will put pictures of it on my picturetrail for all to see. As well there are more pics of Gaea there as well.

Thank you to all the wonderful ladies that worked on my doll. You are all very talented artist and I am honored to have you work on my Gaea.

Upcoming Workshop

For all of you here in Albuquerque here is a workshop that I am teaching in March. It is a Personall Mask Workshop that will be a the Tome Gallery in Tome, NM (near Los Lunas), Sunday March 25 from 1:00 - 4:00. Call the gallery at 505-565-0556 for more information.

For those of you not near Albuquerque, I will come to you to teach my workshops. Contact me at purpleroseartworks@yahoo.com. I will have my website up and running in a few days that will have a list of my other workshops and my teaching schedule.

AU class registration began today

Well I got my registration off today for AU. Anyone else out there going? I hope I get the classes I want. Probably should have done some second choices but I never do. It probably drives Linda crazy. She is an awesome person, I can't believe how much work she and Chuck put into organizing this event so we can all enjoying great art classes. Thank you Linda & Chuck for a wonderful event.

Charms, Charms and more Charms

Participants are starting to receive their charms and seem to be very pleased with what they received. The photo is of my charm I did for Group 1. It is polymer clay that has been stamped and distressed to look like a relic. I then wrapped it with copper wire to make the loop and add a turquoise chip/bead. I had a lot of fun making these charms, I hope you all like them.

I have also begun my Frida style self portrait. Yes I know it is due on Wednesday, but it will get there just a tad late. I plan to finish it tomorrow and get it in the mail. I will post a pic when I get it done. I hope my vision is as good as the actual piece. It is just 4" x 4" so I am not used to working that small in collage. Maybe I should have done a really big one and then scanned it and made it smaller.

AU Class - Celebrate your Family Birthstone Bracelet

Here is a pic of the bracelet I am teaching at Art Unraveled in August. Go to the website www.artunraveled.com for a complete discription of the class. I am supplying everything you need to make your family heirloom. All you need to do is register and show up. Bring a person light if you want to but you really just need to be there to have fun.

Life can sure get busy

I know I am not the only one but boy things have sure been busy around my house. I feel as though I have been going since the beginning of December without stopping. Good things though, like Justin and Matt home on leave for visits, Ally here for Christmas, and now they are all gone. I love having them here but it does get tiring.

THE BEST NEWS EVER!!!! I was chosen to teach at AU this August. I am so excited. It is what I have been hoping for and now I get my chance. I tell you it sure has put a spark back into my creativity. I was running on empty there for awhile. I have some big plans now for the month leading upto AU. I devloping new classes so who knows I may just submit again for 2008. I will post some photos of my class that I am teaching. And if I can ever figure it out, I will add links to the AU website. Here it is until then www.artunraveled.com . Go check it out there are some amazing artists and classes again this year. It is so worth the money and time to go, trust me I am attending for the 4th year in a row this year.

My charm swap is over and most of them in the mail. A couple I had address issues and the rest are waiting for some straggler charms that just are enjoying the mail route and taking their time. The charms are awesome and again pictures will follow soon. There will be two pieces up for auction at AU this year, so those of you who didn't get in on it can bid on the auction pieces. I know you will all want one so bring your money to bid!!

Okay Budweiser Shootout is on so I must go and watch. Winter is tough on us Nascar fanatics, so we here in the Robin household are now in heaven and aren't available on Sundays, some Saturdays and Friday nights until November. I can feel that this is Junior's year. Are any of you with me?

New Year New Me, Yeah Right

Okay so my intentions of blogging everyday havn't quite happened but oh well. I have so busy with my jobs and my art that I haven't had two minutes to myself. I am now working as a Doula at one of the hospitals here in town. It is a very progressive program and I am really happy to be part of it. You just gotta love those babies.

The charm swap I am hosting through the ArtUnraveled yahoo group is progressing wonderfully. I have about half of the charms in and the rest coming in the next week. They are some of the most awesome little pieces of art that I have ever seen. I will be posting some pictures on here when I take them for the booklet that will go with the auction piece. I had everyone make one extra charm that will be made into a bracelet and auctioned at AU this fall. Barbara Matthiessen is going to help me put the piece together and gather the info. She is awesome so I know the pieces are going to be great. Those of you who couldn't participate in the swap may want to bid on the pieces. You won't be sorry.

I am also working on a crow chunky book swap, a Frida inspired 4x4 and ATC swap and the monthly doll swap. I will post pics of all this stuff as it is finished, as well as put it on my Picture Trail. That is another place I need to update more often.

I had the most wonderful surprise last week. My son Matt came home on leave from Iraq. He wasn't able to call me until he got to Atlanta and gave me about 5 hours notice that he would be home. Boy was I ever happy. We have been having a wonderful time doing all the things we have missed out on doing since he went away. He has to go back next week but I am trying not to think of that right now.

I guess my picture today is of all the snow that we got right after Christmas. It has all melted now but we may get more this weekend. Not bad for Albuquerque, huh.