The Scrap-Word Poetry Project

I started a little project. 

I've used book text in my art for 

quite a while and now I've started writing 

poems with the pieces I cut out. 

Then, I started putting them in a journal.

These are the pages...so far. 

I'll update as I create new works. 

She spent such a tedious five years on it. 

Self-questioning. Reaching. Expending. Active in change.

She knew that unless she could give in completely 

she would be in despair. The spirit gave her

 the fuel she needed and she loved the risks of creativity. 

Touching something you thought impossible to touch....

Sometimes change feel impossible.

 suffering on the edge. imperfect and strange. 

she had guts too: 

she knows about the wait with him

 to know his perfect grace.

 Private moments speak simply. absolutely. gallantly. completely. 

Beautiful human soul, this is who we are.

You think of possible moment in 

anticipation of the remarkable.

 Encouraging expression of creativity from her basement. 

She simply wanted truth of self.

 Freedom which is the breath of art. 

An abstract dreamer enjoying creativity daily

 her art and her work encountered generosity.

She managed to created in that strange mind-set 

with her quirkier interests, ideas and talents. 

That's the spirit in which to overcome the fear of being "me".

Our mouths are filled with laughter 

the color of purple. 

It feels so much like giving a gift of love. 

Paint life with wit and humor. 

With sounds of joy and gladness.

 It expresses life to the fullest...a little laughter. 

have fun.

 play.

 be alive.

Food Journaling

I was asked to food journal and share it so I kept track this week and wrote down everything I ate. I didn't think to do it on Monday as I was at a picnic all day but Tues - Fri - all my food is written down. So here it goes...

TUES: 5.28.13

8:30 am - Coffee (8oz light brew coffee with 6 oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
                Organic Cereal bar

10 am - 32 oz Smoothie - - I use smoothies as meal replacements so make sure it's enough calories to be a meal. If not, your body will think you are starving it and you will not lose weight if that is your intent.

Smoothie recipe - 3 pineapple rings - fresh because I had them - organic
                            1 C Mango - frozen - organic
                            5 Lg Strawberries - frozen - organic
                            2 TBSP Chia Seeds -
                            1/3 cup plain, unsweetened, organic yogurt
                            6 oz Filtered Water

Through out the day I drank 16 ounces of a detox juice that was made of Kale, Green Apple, Lemon and Water.

1:30 Salad - 1 c greens - the darker the better
                    1/2 md tomato
                    5ish baby carrots
                    1/2 cucumber
                     a few banana pepper rings
                     1/2 c cottage cheese - use shredded cheese on your salad if you don't like cottage cheese
                     Balsamic Vinaigrette - From Cindy's Kitchen

2:00 - Coffee
           2 Hershey Kisses

6:00 - Tostada
          6" Corn Tortilla - fried in grapeseed oil
          a little more than  half cup of taco meat (organic ground beef, cumin, chili powder,sea salt, pepper, garlic & onion - I never use prepackaged seasonings as they contain a lot of bad ingredients like silica and MSG)
           a few grape tomatoes
           3 TBSP of salsa
           1/4 c of shredded cheese

8:00 Coffee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WEDS: 5.29.13

6:30 - Coffee
           Larabar - click HERE to see what that is. They are made of dates and peanuts

11:00 - 32 Oz Smoothie (strawberries, tripple berry mix, pineapple, mango, chia seeds, yogurt, water)

1:30 Apple - honeycrisp are my fave but are out of season now - I heard Pink Lady's are a close match
        2 TBSP Sunbutter (sunflower seed butter - like peanut butter)

2:30  Coffee

4ish - Small Fry from Culvers - bad choice but I was really hungry while running errands
          Med Unsweetened Iced Tea

6ish - Starbuck's Iced Latte - just coffee and soy milk - I was still out running errands

8:00 - 3 meatballs - organic ground beef, italian seasonings - made from scratch
           Marinara Sauce - we like Newman's Own
           Small Salad 0 same ingredients as yesterday
           1/4 c Cottage Cheese

9:00 1/3 c granola - I like THIS one

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THURS: 5.30.13

9am - Coffee & Larabar

1:00 - 32 Oz Smoothie - same as yesterday

2:30 - 1/3 C granola
           Banana

6:00 Bone-in, skin-on baked chicken breast with Bragg's Seasoning
        1 c Steeamed Fresh Green Beans
        1/2 med potato fried with onion and grapeseed oil, salt and pepper

8ish - Coffee
          1 mini Reese's Cup
          15 choc chips - yes, I count them

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FRI: 5.31.13

9am - Coffee & Larabar

Noon - Coffee
             1/3 C granola

2:00 - 32 oz Smoothie
           1/2 c pineapple
            5 strawberries
             3/4 c mixed berries
            1/3 c plain, unsweetened, organic yogurt
           water

6:00 2 pieces pizza - use THIS crust
        I used ham, pepperoni & prosciutto - all nitrate, nitrite, hormone and antibiotic free
        Fresh mozzarella

Dessert right after - Coffee, banana, 15 choc chips

NOTES:

* If I can get it organic, I do. Even if I didn't mention it on every item.

*I need to drink water - the only water I drank this week was in my smoothies and an occasional bottle - not enough

*One thing I do when I want more food but know I have eaten enough at my meal is wait 5 mins before getting seconds. If I am still hungry after 5 mins I'll eat a little more. 9.9 times out of 10 by the end of that 5 mins I don't even remember I wanted to eat more. I have done this for the last 10 yrs. It's a great way to not over eat as long as you use healthy portions on your plate the first time.

*I measure my food. Especially grain - I used a measuring cup EVERY time I scooped out my granola this week. I will do my smoothies by site but I measure my food often enough to stay in practice and know that I am getting the right amount even when I eyeball it.

*At any time I will throw in 2 hand fulls of loosely packed spinach in my smoothies. I just didn't have it on hand this week. It does not change the flavor - it does change the color - do it anyway, it's SUPER good for you!

That's it for this week!

10 things. Today.

1.) I wake up content and grateful when my house is clean.
2.) Lately time seems to go faster than normal.
3.) Resting is not lazy.
4.) I'm coming up on my 1 yr anniversary of successful clean eating - that makes me feel awesome.
5.) I have a french manicure but instead of white tips mine are green.
6.) My peonies should bloom soon. They're my favorite.
7.) I bought organic seeds for my garden this year. Broccoli & jalapenos. Need some tomatoes.
8.) I'm looking for peace in the imperfect. It has to be in this mess somewhere.
9.) I love making art every.day.
10.)  It's time for a trip.

Deeply Rooted

Some days you just need to remember that

you are deeply rooted and what you are rooted in.

I am rooted in truth and life, deeply.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life."

John 14:6

Decal Designs

Sometimes I make a decal and LOVE the design but it doesn't get ordered often. This is one of those. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this text piece. It could be done with any text you like not just these lyrics. So, since this design gets over looked in our shop I'm giving it a shout out on the blog today for much deserved attention.

Single Stone Studios

January Printable

I'm working on lots of new ideas for the blog and this is one of them - FREE PRINTABLES! Cute little designs you can download and print right from my blog just for fun!

Just click the button on the right sidebar and all of the posts with printables will show up.

Since January is Billy's birthday month I designed for him with a distinguished mustache.

Click the image below to download the printable.

I'm testing this whole download thing out so let me know if you have issues and I'll do my best to resolve them as quickly as possible. 

**All free printables from my blog are for personal use only. You may link to them from your blog or website but please do not offer them for direct download from your blog or website and please do not sell them. Thank you!**

One Little Word

There is this phenomenon that goes around every December/January called One Little Word. The idea is to choose one word that describes your upcoming year. One that keeps you motivated and moving forward towards your goals. It's always really amazing to see the words different people choose and to hear their explanations of why they chose it. This year I almost thought I wasn't going to choose one. It just wasn't coming to me. However, the other day I finally got quiet enough to hear my heart and the word that keeps coming to me is STEADY.

For the last 5 years I've (Billy and I) have worked incredibly hard starting Single Stone Studios from the ground up. We started with nothing, no contacts, no contracts just me and Billy and a heart full of determination. It's been a lot of hours, a lot of exhaustion and a lot of figuring it out. This year instead of words like overcome, determined etc I finally feel like I can just go steady on. No pushing. No mountain climbing. Just let the train that we've been getting up to speed travel in the direction we've been pushing it for the last 5 years. Steady. Just keep doing what we're doing and let it go. It's a contentment with our business I've never felt until now and it's kind of amazing.

What is your one little word this year?

Color Love: Seaglass

I have been seeing this color everywhere lately. I think I'm a little late to the party but it has caught my eye! I love it with emerald green which just happens to be the Pantone Color of 2013. Those Pantone people are smart. Emerald is a beautiful color as well. I also like a pop of navy with the seaglass. And once I put this together I realized my new blog header is sea glass and I bought a t-shirt today with seaglass colored graphics on it. I think I'm in love :)

Photo #1  Photo #2 Photo #3 

Photos #4&5 - dead links on Pinterest

So do you love this color too? Are you decorating with it? Wearing it?

Create 365 RoundUp

Slowly but surely I am getting into the swing of 2013! Here is my first Create 365 RoundUp post. I haven't done every single day but I am feeling good about my projects! The journal is a lot of fun!

PS - I am changing things up here on the blog. As I add content this year the buttons on the right side will work as quick links to the main subjects on my blog. Again, slowly but surely. I think that's going to be my motto for this year!

2013 - Create 365

It's been a while since I've blogged. I haven't known what to say thus the silence. I'm going to work on that this year. I want to make lots of art this year and share it with you. One way I'll be doing that is by sharing my daily creations from doing this journal... 

I'm doing it with a girlfriend and am REALLY psyched to see what creativity the year brings! She makes lots of videos so that is her medium. I have chosen to stick with mixed media art and focus on the theme of hearts. It's an exploration I'm continuing from some of my recent works that are focused around Luke 6:45.

This scripture has been occupying lots of my brain and heart and art lately. It's taken up residence and since it's moved in I've been trying to get to know it better. So I've committed my journal to exploring this concept. I'll be posting photos of the works on my blog but not daily. I'll probably do a weekly-ish round up. If you are interested in seeing the works daily you can follow me on Instagram - I'm PiecedTogetherArtist on there. And I'll probably be posting them to my Pieced Together Artist Facebook page as well. 

Below is my very first entry, made yesterday, Jan 1. 

The challenge was to start small with a creation that can fit in the palm of your hand. 

Is anyone else committed to creating something daily this year? Art or otherwise? 

Anyone else exploring their heart and scripture? 

I'm really excited to see where this little experiment takes me this year!