2009 Mantras

Thanks to all who have been reading my blog and sharing their "word" with me. I have the first group of words illustrated and delivered. STILL trying to get pics uploaded to my computer to share with you. I'm NOT THAT bad at technical issues, but my computer is not reading my camera. It's seriously aggrivating when I KNOW the camera, USB cord, and everything is plugged in correctly...HELLO? It's all plugged in ....so IT SHOULD work!!!
Not. LOL

Hope you don't mind, but I decided to share your words. I know most of my readers are in our Sunday School class and probably have a secret pal. So, I thought you might be interested to know the WORD your secret pal has picked for the year. All of the words are very personal, moving, and thought provoking.

Me: Create
LindaK: patience
DonnaB: Blessed
JenniferF: Peace
AngelaM: Pray
AmandaM(York): Believe
Laurie: Commitment
Brandy: Faith
Paige: Restful
Penny: Gratitude

Create, Patience, Blessed, Peace, Pray, Believe, Commitment, Faith, Restful, Gratitude....

Words of Power.

Create.
Suzy

And the winner is....

LINDA KNOX.

Yes, I had ***17 *** trees this year. Thanks for all who guessed.

moving along....Okay...for those of you this morning that I "slipped" the piece of paper to, or those I emailed, or just plain follow my blog (Jennifer), the idea is for you to pick a word to be your "mantra" this YEAR. You can pass my blog info to other people and the offer is good for anyone who lets me know what word they chose. Here are some examples:

Blessed, Gratitude, Purpose, Create, Hope, Pray, Believe, Power, Determination, Love, Faith, Nurture, Balance, Grace, Humble, Thankful, Silence, Peace, Praise, Happiness, Laugh, Smile....etc.

Tell me why you chose the word if you'd like. I was really leaning towards "gratitude" or "thankful" because that is the way I feel lately HOWEVER... MY WORD IS....

CREATE.
surprise, huh? LOL.
Here's MY definition of create: to take something that exists and form it in to something better. Create in me a clean heart, oh God. Create health, happiness, peace...and the list can go on. I"m going to actually look up the REAL Webster's definition. Get back to you on that one. I want to see how they define the word "mantra" too. Hope I'm using that term correctly.

Okay friends...put some thought in to it, and let me know your WORD. I will illustrate your word for you to have/use this year. Happy 2009.

Create.
Suzy

Contest Update...

I've had a few guesses on the "tree" contest, but no winner yet. You can make one guess per day. IF you came to my house during the holidays...this does NOT include all of the little trees I had placed at each place setting. That would add another 14 to the number LOL. BUT it does include the "forest" of trees that were lit in my mudroom. I loved those this year. It DID remind me of a lighted forest. Ah, the little things.
Someone just informed me that you CAN leave a message on my blog without creating a google account (that is free). Click on the "comments" at the bottom of the post and post as an anonymous user. If you're making a guess for the contest though, make sure to include your name in the comments LOL.
ALSO...BREAKING NEWS.... a friend of mine has started a new blog. Most of you know Becky. It's so funny how friendships develop and we are just kindred spirits. We have tons of things in common...like I could say any word such as "homecoming, jadip, etc." and she immediately knows what I'm talking about. She taught where I'm teaching for years before me and just KNOWS. Funny thing is we laugh all the time at our differences. For example, our waiter arrives to take our drink orders and we both laugh as she orders unsweet tea with extra lemon and I order SWEET tea no lemon. I"m a steak and potatoes kind of girl and she is a eggplant, mushroom, spinach, cabbage salad kind of girl. CHECK out her blog at : www.spectacularsplatter.blogspot.com
Be the first to leave her a comment and I'll talk her into giving you a prize!!!! Or, I'll make you one. Or, you'll get lucky and we both will.

I have another CHALLENGE to all of my readers/friends. I follow several blogs that are talking about this (www.aliedwards.typepad.com) and I think it's a good idea.

*** CHOOSE A WORD to be your "mantra" this year. ***
try to stick to one word. could be a phrase I guess. Immediately I think of HOPE or CREATE. I use those all the time. But, I think I'll give more thought to my word this year. Let me know what your word is and I will make you an original watercolor print of your word.

And see...just as I go to "sign out" , I use the word...
CREATE.
maybe that SHOULD be my word. LOL
Suzy

Surprise !!!

Happy New Year. As a SURPRISE I decided to blog today. I"m sure it's a surprise since it has been since 11-11-08 that I blogged.

Where to begin...
the holidays are over and while I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Christmas season and all of the decorations and stuff...It's so nice to have an empty clean house again. Another one of the "joys of teaching" things. I like the week after Christmas when I can take about a room per day...take down the Christmas decorations and clean that room.
Our Christmas was wonderful this year. Everyone happy, healthy. ALL of my family was home this year. All 29 of us!! AND we had Christmas at our house this year. It was really nice and I enjoyed it. My grandmother (daddy's mom) was here as were Frank, Kim and the girls. They are so precious....but in that super wild age 2 stage. They are so full of life and energy, and did I mention just precious? We took "informal" family pics. I'll upload some soon. NO REALLY...I will. It's on my list. LOL
Back to Christmas decorations...I think I'll start the new
year off with a CONTEST.

*** HOW MANY CHRISTMAS TREES WERE IN MY HOUSE THIS YEAR? ***

This would include big ones, little ones, and all sizes in between. Some just had lights, some have a theme, some are special and some I just like. Now, most of you did not come to my house this season, but in the past I've had 13. THAT IS NOT the number this year...but don't guess some small little number like 2. I LOVE Christmas and especially trees with lights. NOT pre-lit. I do not have luck with lights... I like the small little cheap WHITE lights that never get too hot. Only white lights here. Not a fan of colored lights. Oh, J.T. does have one in his room with blue lights. His choice. SO, the contest starts now. You may call, tell me in person, email me, or leave a comment on my blog. IF you leave a comment, your prize will be better!! The prize for this one will be a hand painted slate tile with a fleur de lis in the background with your name or address.

On to my art news. As always, I have so many ideas and I don't know where to start. I was hoping to have that plan in place and IN WRITING by today. But there's so many things that I like to do and want to do that I have a hard time deciding. Business wise there's: Art Camp, a booth at Canton, post things for sell on Etsy, adult workshops, art kits, after school art, and just start some kind of ORGANIZED small business. I mean there is interest and I do enjoy doing the random things that I do... but I would like to be more organized.
Then...there's little things like my NAME. I've used "THE ART FACTORY"..where we build creativity for years now and I love that. Especially for the art that I do with kids. When I personally paint something I usually sign it Suzy Allen Designs. It really has not been a big deal until I start thinking about a website. I think I will press on as is for now regarding the name.
My other "issue" is deciding WHAT to do. I bought a plaque for my friend that read: "ALL we have to do is decide WHAT to do with the time that is given us". I love that phrase, but it's easier said than done. Just this month I've painted so many different subjects on so many different objects that I could never do a booth at Canton with such a random variety. So, I welcome YOUR ideas.
Thanks to all who have encouraged me this season and who have ordered these random items (pillowcases, parking signs, mailboxes, etc.) I feel as I have felt most of my life...I believe the Lord sends things my way even when I don't know what I want or need. Rather it's opportunities, jobs, KIDS, or just pillowcases to paint...HE always knows what I need. I hope you've been blessed this season and take the time to give thanks.
I promise to make more blog entries AND include photos soon.
Good luck on the contest. First one with the correct answer wins. I managed to get the blog prizes from JULY delivered in December LOL...oh yea, except for Jennifer K and Kelley. Good things come to those who wait, right?

CREATE in 2009.
Suzy

CRE8

My how time flies....seems like a few months instead of weeks since I posted. I did not make it to any of my art ed convention. Instead, I spent quality time with 3 beautiful girls.

Isabelle, Alyssa, and Makenna just turned 2 in early oct. When my sister-in-law said they knew their alphabet I'm thinking...how cute... they probably know part of the song. Oh NO, these girls are SUPER SMART. Saturday when they woke up from their nap I was playing with them in the room and there is a table with the alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors on it. I am not kidding when I tell you they went straight to the table and started recognizing and IDENTIFYING correctly EVERY letter, number and shapes. I was shocked. I have no idea how Kim and her mom do it everyday. I was aching all over the next day, but enjoying every single minute of chasing them around, feeding, bathing and playing with them and especially the hugs n kisses. Sweet babies.

I actually got most of the things done on my to-do list. I completely went a new direction on the blog prizes and they are cute. I'll be getting them delivered soon. The blog contest I had in July will now be a Christmas theme prize. Funny thing is, some of the ones I owe a prize to will be like "Blog prize? what blog prize? What IS a blog?" LOL. (Not you Jennifer F.)

I've been working on my Christmas projects. I hope to get my strange computer issues worked out soon so I can actually upload photos. From experience I know blogs are much more interesting with pictures.

Kirk and J.T. are doing well. Both are hunting...literally this afternoon. Kirk is still doing well in football. Again, luckily we've had some good old-fashioned Tornado football where the score is "on up there" and he's been able to play. J.T.is more excited about hunting this year than ever before.

I already have 3 Christmas trees up, how about you? I'm working on decorating this week. I like to do a little at a time. Actually, I'd rather do it at once, but I usually end up doing it a little at a time.

Check back soon for PHOTOS of some of the projects I'm working on. I've also created an "etsy" shop and will upload items to that soon hopefully. WHAT is etsy, you ask? Well,check it out. www.etsy.com It's a site where people sell all kinds of cool, strange, great home made stuff.

CRE8.
get it? CREATE. (one of my new art projects at school is for the kids to create their own license plates. I did one as an example and I love it. It may show up in my car...although J.T. says he would not ride with me if I do. LOL.) You can see it on our artsonia site. www.artsonia.com enter zip 71038.

Suzy

Touchdown and Choir...

Well, my boys never cease to amaze me. It's been quite a week since I posted. No, I DID NOT get the 3 things done on my list. I DID "finish" the blog prizes, but I don't like them...so I"ll have to alter them a bit. I DID get 2 things painted for the frolics. They are cute. Mostly "piddly" things. Not sure if "piddly" is a word...but you know what I mean, right?

So, you ask...what does Touchdown and Choir MEAN for a post? Well, not sure if I even mentioned it, but Kirk decided to PLAY football. OKAY. Makes the game a little more stressful, but hey...I LIKE the idea that he's playing. Well, he obviously missed all of the "HARD" work all of the other team has had for months now...but he was practicing kicking. Luckily we've had a couple of weeks of good old-fashioned Tornado football...you know like when I WAS in school and the score was always highly in our favor. We didn't really MEAN to run up the score, it just happened. Especially when the band played "Sweet Caroline". Okay, I'm digressing here. ANYWAY, Kirk MADE 2 kicks in the first game that he got to play in...yea Kirk..put 2 points on the board. Well, last week the score was way on up there and Kirk went in as Wide Receiver. HUH? OKAY...forewarning: this is ALL from a mom's perspective here: SO, my nephew was in as QB and Kirk is in the end zone...Justin throws a pass and Kirk CATCHES IT FOR A TOUCHDOWN!!! Talk about exciting. I mean it WAS just 6 points out of the 52 we racked up...but STILL. That video will be shown every Christmas LOL.
And since my good, sweet boys are surprising me lately...J.T. tells me that he's joining the choir. I've mentioned it a couple of times when he and I are in the car singing like CRAZY to KLOVE. I thought he was blowing me off, but ON HIS OWN decided to talk to our choir director and he went to his first practice last night. DID I MENTION I'm so proud of my kids? They are the best. Not because of what they do...but because of who they are.

OKAY...on to creative stuff. Well, do you ever just have so much to do you don't know where to start? I'm narrowing it down: (1) do baby paintings that I have an order for (2) more frolics painting (3) FINISH "piddly" things I've started. If I'm lucky I'll also do the blog prizes, paint yard signs and some fun thing I"m working on.

I also just found out that my sister-in-law, Kim is coming home with the girls (my beautiful triplet nieces). Isabelle, Alyssa, and Makenna. They will be here Thursday afternoon through Monday.

AND...I have/had this creative weekend planned...but things change. Some things are more important (like babysitting my nieces and watching Kirk play football). There is a Louisiana Art Ed Assoc. convention at Tech this weekend. I was looking forward to it. THAT's ANOTHER story that I'll save for another day. I do think I will make it to the Saturday stuff. But I'll miss something Friday night AND dinner at Squire Creek Saturday. I"m pretty sure I"m taking this workshop Saturday that is probably sure to fill my creative brain with more ideas. Tell ya more next week. Hey...MAYBE I'll have photos. Wouldn't that surprise you?
till then....

Create.
Suzy

A Day in the Life...

What does a day in MY life look like....
well, that may be why I haven't posted in a month LOL. I like boring though. It's nice sometimes, especially right before a fun and busy holiday season. Gives me time to think. Time to think of MORE ideas that I wonder if I'll EVER get done.

Well today looks like this: Couldn't find my school tshirt this morning...hello? HOW many places are there for it to hide? It'll turn up. School was good. My 5th and 6th graders started doing papier mache today. That is SO much fun. Really. It's theraputic. (sp?). Then I came home and cooked sour cream chicken enchiladas for the first time ever. another HELLO? WHY have I never cooked this? It's even J.T.'s favorite and super good and easy to cook. Then, I ran over to the football field to outline the Tornado so I did not have to re-paint it from scratch. We have not had a home game in a while, so it's faded alot. Will probably watch Dancing With the Stars and Color Splash (on HGTV) tonight right before a nice long hot bubble bath to wrap up the day. Nice. Thank goodness some kind soul at ABC created the Dancing with the Stars show right as I started teaching Fine Arts Survey. LOL. THAT IS our dancing unit. Not really, but ALMOST.

Okay, now that I've bored my blog reader...(notice the "reader" not "readers")(Hey Jenn...) I'll post about something creative.

Last week I made the cutest halloween name tags for my nephew's halloween party. I've had these canvas fabric squares sitting by my desk for a few weeks trying to decide what I wanted to do with them. Well, I hand painted little pumpkins and the kids name on them. My sister-in-law is attaching them to pumpkin cups with a ribbon. Since I was using FABRIC and I needed a way for her to attach ribbon....I LEARNED how to use my awsome new little tool that set eyelets and grommets in fabric. So cool.
Also last week, I finished the 3 paintings that I was doing for my secret pal at church. I did a cross, floral, and snowman family painting. We wrapped up a year having the same secret pal, and I just feel blessed to have drawn Donna B's name. She is a very kind and beautiful person. Our former secretary at the church (Ashleigh) had my name. Before she left, she revealed and gave me the NICEST platter personalized with our name (and other goodies). Have I mentioned we have the BEST sunday school class? It begins with our teacher who we honored this weekend, but I just have some good genuine friends. Each one of them different in their own way, but we make a good team. I enjoy the fellowship so much. 7 of us went to a Bed and Breakfast in Arcadia (The Dove House) Saturday for lunch. It was such a nice day.

Okay..this week...I"m holding myself accountable (or Jennifer... you can hold me accountable since you're reading. LOL) Here's what I'm doing as part of a new "Creativity Challenge". (#1) I AM finishing my blog prizes for Jenn F., Jenn.K., Kelli, Angela and Bethany...hopefully you'll think it's worth the wait since I did have the contest back during the summer. (#2) Paint atleast one thing I'm working on for our Tornado Frolics auction (I can't say what that is exactly) (#3) finishing my bedspring angels for Christmas.
You may have noticed the new "logo" on my blog that says" Creativity Challenge". Check out that website. www.donnadowney.com. She is one of my creative people. Everything she does is super cool and cute. Love her work.

I'm thinking of doing a mini Christmas workshop for The Art Factory kids. I'm thinking a 2 day thing (afternoons 3:30 - 5:30). Any project requests? I'm sure we'll paint something that you could use for family Christmas cards...but I'm stuck on the other "big" thing. What would you LIKE for your kids to make? A big giant snowman for your front door? Ornaments for their own tree in their room? Stockings to hang at the foot of their bed (there's a history lesson with that). A hand-painted Christmas photo album..notice I said photo album, NOT a scrapbook you would have to make! Let me know.
For all of you who cannot or do not know how to leave a message...email me at: toddsuzy@bellsouth.net

okay...I HAVE to post atleast within a week and be finished with my three things on my list. I'll let you know. So much for boring.

Create.
Suzy