A quick folding book for Saul

Hola a todos.. :-)

" So many books, so little time " - Frank Zappa

Yes, I looooove books... En español tenemos un dicho (= we have a saying) que dice:  El saber no ocupa lugar, pero mi casa está llena de libros. (=knowledge does not take place, but my house is full of books..)..  Me encanta.. (I love this saying)...jejejeje... Its so true!!!

" Books are a uniquely portable magic"  -Stephen King

In this post I wanted to show you the folding book I have created for Saul, my toddler, to deceorate during our holidays in Spain next month.

Because...

"Books support us in our solitude and keep us from being a burden to ourselves" 

- Jeremy Collier

I thought this project would be great to get Saul involved in creating an story with paint collage and drawings..   The idea originated from this lovely blue book that his cousin from Spain gave him as a present last year. The book is all about finding 'blue' things. Here is a little video of it.

Saul absolutely loves this book. The fact that he has to open it and close it in such a way means fun for him. So, I thought it would be a great idea to make one for Saul to coloure and scribble during the hols.

I begun by taking a templete from the original book onto a large card stock, I think the size is A1, but I am not quite sure.

As you know I still cannot video-tape 'hands-free', so that is why I take the video after I have done it.

 Then, I cut it out... 

but, before I cut it off, I scored it on the right places as per the original book, and then I folded it.. Ah!, I forgot to mention that I also added the dot of Velcro for closing the book.

Excellent... It does closes well... Great!

and lastly I covered it with gesso..

For being my first time creating such a project, I am very pleased with the results. Please try it yourself and have fun making it.. Your children will love it and I also think if you decorate it yourself it will make a very good present for any child..

When I was younger I used to watch the films from Groucho Marx..., and I loved them.. Oh!.. the laughter I used to had was exhilarating..  So, when I came across this great quote from him I just had to keep it and find the right time to share it with you.. That time is right now...

" I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room to read a book " - Groucho Marx 

 

This quiot brought into my mind the fact that I have not yet introduced the TV to my son . Our set, like in most of houses, is located in the sitting room, but Saul has not yet asked to watch it, and I really hope he waits a bit longer before to be enchanted by the set.. Although I remember to watch TV when I was young, I fully believe it stops creativity and imagination, which I had always been struggling with...

Saul is only 4 years old and I think the ipad is already too much (I introduced it to him about 2 months ago and he loves it) of a technology for such a youg mind. So, I try my best to entertain and play with Saul every evening enough for him not to miss it... and.. it works... It is only when he finds himself getting bord that he asks for the ipad... 

 

"TV.  If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six.  Open your child's imagination.  Open a book"   -Author Unknow

 

 

I hope you enjoy trying out the making of this book, or maybe even better ones, and thanks for reading. I really appreciate your support..

 

L&L always..x

Contadinak Seed Pocket inspiration

It was been a while since my last post and I realy apologise to all of you reading my blog. Just for you guys it is alwasy worht it to keep sharing my artistic work, inspiration, ideas and insgihts along the way....

Todavía sigo teniendo una vida muy intensa = I still keep having a very intensive life.

It has been great to have had my mother staying with us for the last five weeks, but at the same time very stressful. She is wonderful, but she tends to impose her way at all times, if you know what I mean.. It felt like I was back at home when I was younger.... Most of the Spanish mothers are like this; if there is any Spanish reader following this post, I am sure will understand what I am saying..jejejeje....  Nevertheless, my mother was great and enjoying very much her staying.. She was also a great moral support with my troubles and understood my feelings and with regards to my concerns about my unhappy marriage...

In the happy front, my mother enjoyed her grandchild so much she even engaged in dancing and I couldn't resist to take a little video... This will make you laugh, not doubt!
  

 

(bless her, she is going to be 86 years old next August).

Now lets talk about art..

Recently, I came accross with the following quote (me encantan las citas=I love quotes).

"The fact that I can plant a  seed and it bacomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's,  smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises". - Leo Buscaglia
 

Not only I found it very inspirational indeed, but also it gave me the urge to decorate what they call a 'seed pocket', which not only is for collecting seeds, but also it can be used for keeping fotographs, notes or anything you could think of.. I thought this urge came at the right moment, specially after having watched recently a video in YouTube by ContadinaK, which most of you will probably recognize a bit of her style in my design...  Contadinak is a great artist and find her videos very entertained and delightfull to watch as they have such a good quality... Check her out (I do not have her link in this moment) in YouTube..

It was the birthday of one of my colleagues called NANCY, so I took the opportunity to create one seed pocket for her and here is the result. (Sorry I could not take pictures from the beginning to the end as it was at night time when I did it and I did not have my iphone by hand... Yes, I must get a proper camara to create proper videos... Does anyone know which camara would be the most adequately and cost effective ?.... Please drop me a line, I would apreciate it very much..)

This is the front:




and this is the back...




My coleague really loved it, but I wasn't completely happy as I created it too quickly and I would have liked to work a bit more it, specially in the back of the pocket...

I enjoyed very much the exercise and I should be making more of them..

And talking about 'Seeds', I could not leave you without this wonderful quote to close this post with some more wisdom.... :-)

" Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another " - Napoleon Hill

Are you still painting?... I hope you are... :-)

Thank you for reading...xxx

Additions to my last post

Hola a todos mis 'readers',

In my last post I meant to have added this video from my son opening the magic door (as I call it) in the tree that we pass every morning  on our way to the nursery. In this particular day it was in the evening coming back from the nursery.

 

Saul, not only likes opening doors (how wonderful concept, isn’t it?) but also locking them with keys, real keys, his toy keys no longer do the trick!...

This morning as I left the nursery I was so grateful to the Universe, to life and to my Divine Self, as I was feeling wonderful within myself and the world around me... I realised that since I've got up today everything was going smoothing... Its like each one of my daily morning tasks were happening in a perfect dinamyc flow..  There were no resistance..  Saul was doing his things in harmony without getting upset or impousing his way.. :-) 

During my journey to work I was observing these feelings and suddenly I said to myself: I know, I have been acting more from my heart, than from my mind, meaning I was listening to my heart before my mind..  I was being aware of directing the energy of the heart to all my actions and thoughts..

I was very busy at work this morning, but at lunch time I decided to stay at my desk and try a little sketch that would express in some way what I was feeling..  As there was nobody around (I work in an opened plan office!) I wanted to try to make short videos because we all love to watch the process of the makeing of anything, don't we?... So, please forgive me if the result is not as professional as most of the videos out there, but it was very difficult to video tape it from my iphone on my left hand and to draw my sketch very quickly with my right hand.. I made three videos in total. Here they are:

I was totally out of the range of action, sorry...

The second one is a bit long and I am having problems uplodading it... (I had to shorten it a lot to be able to upload it)..

and the same with this one...

I am glad I had a little spare time to post something to you.. (even if it was by depriving myself from my lunch time at work...aaarrrrggggghhh)...

Should I take this sketch further, I will certainly share it with you..

Thank you very much to all those readers who are having so much patientce with me, and still like to check this blog... (estoy muy agradecida = I feel grateful)..

Glo.xx

Too long without writing...

Hello my dear bloggers... It has been a long time since I have written a single word, and I really apologise for it, I can assure you that I really missed it..

Life has been pritty hectic lately and when I had the time to write, I didn't have the means of writing and vice versa, when I had the means of writing I didn't have the time... "Así es la vida"... C'est la vie"..

There are times when one finds very difficult to cope with so many demanding situations in our everyday life. We all know how intense and stressful can be getting our infants to the nursery or school, whatever the case may be... Running to the train because we know we are very late for work... The day at the office is really busy, too many meetings, too many documents to process.. etc., Its 5.30 and I run to the train station again to be on time to collect my child from the nursery.. and in our way home I keep negotiating, talking, singing and dealing with my son to make the journey as smooth as possible... I arrive home and I keep playing, teaching and interacting intesively until dinner time.., bath time, and sleeping time... 9.30, 10 or even 10.30pm in the night... yes, this is usually the time my son (I love him!) surrenders for the day... Then, I keep tyding up and preparing staff that will aid me on the following morning... Its 11pm, and I am exhusted...arrrrggghhhhhhh.... I want to paint, I want to write, I want to read, I just want a lttle time for myself...  Its 6.45am the following day and here we go again... Some days, like today, my eyelids are so heavy, I can hardly open my eyes..

 

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
― Albert Einstein

Yes, we must keep moving...and that is exacly what I am trying to do...I keep moving however slow...hahahahahaha...

This talking reminds me of something.. Do you remember this picture?  It is a magic tree (as I call it!) my son and I pass every day on our way to the nursery. I posted some time ago..

 

I managed to take a little video on my phone to show you the inside (please see below). There are alwasy toys and little things for kids inside the tree. The family who lives at no. 5, the house oposite the tree, keeps making sure there is always something inside the tree so every time a child opens the door, there are no disappintments.. What a gesture!.. Isn't it marvellous?.. It must be such a loving family....an magical... Estoy segura!.. :-) :-)

 

 



 

Yeesssssss.... I cannot leave you without sharing some art...  A little 'ongoing', painting, based on my son's funny faces.. It's still on my little sketch book, but I would like to develop it into something, one day.....hahahahaha..

Thanks for continuing reading... Gracias a todos por seguir leyendo...

Love and light always..xx

Earth Day - A late A5 Drawing Contribution

(A delayed post, but better late than never.. I started to write it on the day, but my life was so hectic at the time, I never got to post it... So sorry!)

The 22^nd of April was the Earth Day and I liked the Google's animation doodle showing the cycle of seasons represented by the rising and falling sun and moon. I thought it was very cute. Didn't you?

Every year this date is being held to bring awareness to humanity of all the environmental issues, and apparently (according to the newspapers), more than one billion people in the world participates in activities, with planting trees being one of the most popular ways of support. I find planting trees very healing, soothing and nurturing, not only towards earth but towards the soul also; its an exchange of positive and loving energies in a caring act of creation….

Since I did not have the means of planting a tree I felt I wanted to draw something (a face, of course!)...  

I was inspired by Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation, because this is exactly the way I like to think of Mother Earth...

As usually, I did not finish it, but I could not delay this post any longer... :-)  :-)

Dance lightly with life-Finished painting

Dear all,

Yes, I decided to delete the previous page on the same subject and replace it with this updated version. Some how the first one was posted unintentionally, and the problem is that because most of the time I write spontaneously, I tend to make mistakes, so I ended up having the latest version on 'draft' and the old one 'posted'... :-)  Sorry guys, it is not my intention to confuse you, or bore you, but to keep you entertained, amused, inspired and give you some thought provoking on the way...  Anyway, hopefully you will like this page better... :-)

I am not sure if I have mentioned this quote before, but I just need it to mention it again, as I identify so much with it: 

An artist never really finishes his work; he merely abandons it.

(Paul Valéry)

I know you remember this sketch:

Here is the finish result. or should I say, here is the abandon piece of work. I can assure you that I could have been going on and on and on at it , adding more color here and more color there, and a bit more splash here and more drops there.... ufffff!... Sometimes, I find so difficult to put the color pencil down, don't you?..

Enjoy and lets keep dancing lightly with life.... 

Dance Lightly With Life:

Today is your day to

dance lightly with life,

sing wild songs of adventure,

soar your spirit,

unfurl your joy.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie-

Here is one of my 'work in progress' watercolor pieces, still on my sketch book...

   

I hope you like it, and keeps you motivated and inspired in whatever is that you like doing most...

Love and light always..xx

Yes, I AM

Oooohhh! Dear readers, it gives me a great joy to share with you one of my latest discoveries in my journey of awakening consciousness... 

So many years asking myself how can I make a difference in this world... so many years searching for guidance and understanding of life's purpose... Learning about possibilities, destiny and how we create our reality; and just like that,  I came across the following Dr. Sue Morter's clip. 

Dr. Sue has an incredible presence; she is a radiant being and delightful to listen to. I find her passion and way of explaining and delivering knowledge very uplifting, invigorating and enchanting. This is a very high-energy presentation and I hope you find its content as empowering as I did. 

I wrote the script of this clip for you, so you can read it as many times as you need. This morning I read it while sitting on the train in my way to work and my day took another dimension..

Yes, I AM - (Clip 1)

I’ve always wondered how in the world

is it possible for me to make a difference in the world,

but we live in a holographic universe,

everything that exists exist within you

when you change the vibrational frequency

of your immediate environment there's a ripple effect.

You know the laws of resonance:

If there's a guitar in this side of the room and

a guitar in this side of the room and

they are tuned to each other

(and all human beings are attuned to one another);

if you plug the ‘g’ string on this guitar, the ‘g’ string on this guitar vibrates.

When you chose to say Yes, I AM,

Yes, I DO carry the full potential of human capacity,

I DO carry the full potential of the Divine capacity and,

I AM the place where the two meet

I AM pure POTENTIALLITY, and,

When I AM willing to grasp that,

and move into transformation

THE WHOLE UNIVERSE RESONATES WITH IT...

There's a sigh of relief !!!!

Writing this post has brought me back memories of a previous post titled 'embracing change', which I wrote around my birthday in February... It is funny how recalling feelings of a few weeks back makes you reflect in the fact that we are organic beings and we change every day, and therefore our feelings too... What one day meant so much to us, another day meant so little..  I keep learning every day, and enjoying this path of self-discovery, spiritual and personal growth, and this keep me happy all the time however bad moments I may have had, they remain in the past... I try to live in the now, and in this very moment, in this very second, I feel very happy... There are lots of people out there like Dr. Sue Morter,  who keeps me focused it what really matters...

This is the finished piece posted on 'embracing change'. Since it came so natural to talk about it; I thought  it feels right for this post also. I hope you like it.

Please don't forget to watch the following two clips here below from Dr. Sue Morter, they are so full of essence.  

Yes, I AM - (Clip 2)

Yes, I AM - (Clip 3)


Lots of love..x