Remembering Craig

Hard to believe it has been a year since we lost my brother.

I wasn't sure how I would feel today so I didn't make any plans to be out and about but it has been a reasonably good day, better than I expected.  Grief is funny that way - some days are good, some not so much.  Sometimes you are prepared for the sad feelings, sometimes it's like a wave catching you unawares, knocking you off your feet.

I stayed home and puttered about.  I was going to have Kraft dinner for lunch in his honour as that was always something he enjoyed, even into adulthood, but as it turned out, I didn't have any in my cupboard. :(

So I put my new office chair together in his memory instead. He was an engineer and was always taking something apart, fixing something or putting something together.  

Miss you, Craig, love you lots!

Making Art in 2016

My first journal page of 2016 is complete.

I spent several hours this past week binge watching the 33 videos of Mary Ann Moss' Stencilry class (after breezing through the entire contents of the Stitched and Stencilled class earlier in December). Both classes were due to expire on January 1st and I wanted to watch every last minute of the videos before they disappeared.  I gotta say, you certainly get your money's worth when you take a class with Miss Mary Ann!  The videos were very informative, entertaining and fun to watch.

Since it was too cold to be spray painting outdoors yesterday, I used spray inks instead - four of the Heidi Swapp ones, to be exact (green, blue, black and gold).  Not nearly as bold as the Dylusions inks, the HS colours are lighter and more shimmery. The red dots in the top right corner are the Plain Jane baseboard brand called Red Rocks.

Happy to be making journal art again, after focusing mostly on cardmaking for the past few weeks!

Happy New Year 2016!

It's hard to believe another year has passed, time seems to be moving so quickly!  I found some vintage greeting cards in my stash the other day. This one with the black cat in the window is so cute! It reminds me of my two black cats, one of whom (Matisse) likes to sit in the window just like this and watch what's going on out in the world.

For the most part, 2015 was a good year for me - lots of art, travel and adventures, spending time with family and friends, meeting new people, learning new things. The worst part of it was losing my brother Craig at the end of January; we're all still trying to find our way past that traumatic event.

The inside of the greeting card above sums up my wishes for all of us for the coming year.

Here's wishing all of us a happy and healthy 2016.