2 Shells & Some Stones!

"One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few."
Anne Morrow Lindberg

There's something very reminiscent of collecting shells and stones from the beach or by the riverside. Here are some of our exquisite weekend finds!


I love how you can arrange them in any way or form in a basket or on a table setting. I'm going to be playing around with these for the summer, so look out for some more pics!


Oh, and for some added nature, place a flower in the midst for some color.


Enjoy!
Shanti

Location:Beach & Riverside

"It's Time to Rewrite..."

This weekend's art journal: Nothing is ever final... You can always rewrite your story, make a change, and add more chapters to your life! Make it a good story...


Blessings,
Shanti

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:In my art journal

"I love mi' dahlin like a Julie Mango!"

" She gimme orange, I don't want dat, She gimme grapes, I don't want dat, She gimme apple, ONLY JULIE (Julie Mango) I WANT TO TASTE"... -"Julie Mango" Preacher (Soca).

Yes, I know, it can come across a bit fresh but if you're from the Caribbean, you know Soca and Calypso can be risqué... and I love it!


I created this card, because of its sweetness. When I see two mangoes in a tree, all I can think about is sharing them with my honey! Just us 2 sitting by the tree or on the beach, eating some mangoes while the breeze is blowing... (Honey if you're reading this, organize some tickets nuh! lol just



kiddin)


So juicy a mango is, it can be made into a smoothie, salad, or a chutney! As soon as we would land on mi Sweet Spice Isle, my granny would have food cooked from stew chicken to lambie or as my lovely Haitian sistas and brothers would say, LUMBIE!



But, she would also have some fruits from french cashew, plums, and of course mangoes, and I wouldn't wait for a knife or spoon to scoop out such yumminess, I would tear the mango skin with my teeth and just bite into it, and try to eat it over the veranda side to not stain my clothes! Let's don't talk about wearing home clothes, because I wouldn't even care if it stained it lol Call me country, but there was something sooo lovely and natural about being able to enjoy a fruit that was right in your back yard! If you never experienced this lovely fruit, take a trip to the Caribbean or head to your local store if you're in Brixton-London, Toronto, to Brooklyn-NYC!!


I can't wait to share the Caribbean experience with our children like my mother did with my sis and I... Every moment appreciated because of how it inspires creations like this!






Blessings,
Shanti

Location:Under a tree in Grenada, W.I.

Art Journaling as Inspiration

Blessings,
I've shared a page from my art journal before but never really expressed about it. If you're new to "Art Journaling" or to "Visual Journals", it's a personal record of images, drawings, designs, inspiration, poetry, and basically a canvas of your creative heart's desires. I've been art journaling for some years especially with my poetry but now my pages are more in depth with acrylic paints, mediums, drawings, and designs. Here are a few of my designs:












My pages has been the muse and inspiration to some jewelry designs! Here's a sneak peak!







I must say I've definitely evolved from scrap booking, Artist Trade Cards (ATC), to now full on art journaling everyday in the morning with a cup of tea or in the evening adding some elements of my day. You should give it a try! I'm currently working with a Strathmore Sketch Journal, Gesso, Acrylic Paints, rubber stamps, newspaper/magazine clippings, and photos. I think I'm going to start creating an art journal with a scrap book feel by adding daily photos. I'll keep you posted!

Check out a few other great Art Journalists and Designers I check out from time to time!

JournalArtista is so creative and I find her to be so down to earth! I enjoy her work and videos.
http://www.journalartistaart.com/
http://www.youtube.com/journalartista



Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is also an amazing creative designer. I've seen her on one of my favorite craft show "Scrapbook Memories"
http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/#axzz1NHJ3bOzw

I'm new to this blog but her designs and classes looks so fantastic! Check it out...
http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com

Enjoy,
Shanti

Fab Magazine Covers

I love me some magazines, a cup of tea, some scissors, and my art journal on a quiet weekend. I always find inspiration from fabulous covers and shoots.






Since, I'll be busy with some projects, I'll catch up on Sunday afternoon. Here I'm sharing with you my favorite mags!

Light & Love
-Shanti

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wedding Bliss

"There is something about a wedding gown prettier
than any other gown in the world."

Douglas Jerrold's Wit: A Wedding Gown; Douglas Jerrold, 1859.

I was asked to do a greeting card for a wedding and decided to do a series of cards for the bride, the couple, the bridesmaids, to the mother of the bride. I'm so excited because when you're creating something, especially about love, it's inspiring! 

I've added a touch of the Caribbean (of course!) to these cards with tropical flowers, trees, vintage backgrounds, and even some of ole' time quotes that they'll remember hearing from their parents. I love silhouettes, so something about this sista' posing in her fabulous dress and some ribbon doily at the bottom of the gown for some dimension.

I'm NOT into the "Bridezilla" show but I love "My Fair Wedding" with David Tutera, I occasionally watch the "Amazing Wedding Cakes" and I am going to definitely watch the "Brides Maids" movie... so enjoy the wedding season and watch love bloom...


Light n' Love,
Shanti

Spring showers brings...

Spring showers brings beautiful Paper flowers...






It'a raining in Brooklyn and not just drops but a misty rain that once you walk 2 blocks, you're quite drenched... But, I don't mind, as long as I have music in my ears my walk home is not so bad, I'm quite thankful! Otherwise, I just came in from a meeting and wanted to buy some flowers at the florist for our living room, but with all the rain, I decided to just jump on the bus and try to stay dry, and make my own.







Cut out some petals from a template, cut the stamens with my Martha Stewart's fringe scissors and wrapped all the petals and stamen with floral tape.





Just lovely...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:By my window with scissors and paper

The ART of SNAIL MAIL...

As a child, I loved receiving snail mail. There was something so intriguing and exciting about the various postal stamps from different countries. I started to collect stamps from all over, of course my favorites being from the Caribbean.



I used to wonder how bi-coastal relationships would survive off just letters as communication. I admire the patience and the process it would take for one to write the letter, get the stamps, and then mail it out, not knowing the journey it would take. I'm so thankful for technology and the ability to connect with someone miles away, across the ocean in a matter of seconds, however I love the sincerity, the process, and the deep lengths it takes to connect to someone with snail mail. Since technology has shortened the time and space of communication between us all, I feel that sometimes it's nice to break out the pen, paper, and stamps and contact someone with a letter or postcard. I still sneak in a letter or two into my honey's pocket, love slipping a thank you card to my friends just because, and recently package my pieces to clients with vintage stamps on recycled paper bags.



Here's a few of my MAIL ART and I will start posting some of my postage stamps designs. You should give it a try too, I'm sure it will be a sweet surprise to someone to find a personal letter in the mix of mail filled with bills.

Peace and Light,

Shanti

Location:The mailbox

"Embrace the Passion" Today!

Today, I "embrace the passion" from within and let it pour from me!!







Light n' Love
Shanti
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:From the pages of my journal...

Crafting in Celebration of National Nurses Week and World Lupus Day

Today was a double duty of crafts! In celebration of National Nurses Week and World Lupus Day, I decided to wake up early and create some cards before I get to some work. Interestingly enough, the two celebrations are very close to me with my mum who's been a nurse for over 30 years, including the number of nurses in our family, and my sister who passed away from Lupus 11 years ago. (If you notice the butterfly wings in the bottom card, I used it in representation of one of the signs of lupus which is butterfly shaped rash.) I realize in order to keep the memory alive, understand your journey, and celebrate events, it's a great to create pieces of memorabilia to always be reminded of the experience. I admire nurses for their hard work and caring disposition towards their patients. I know how to give an injection and possible clean a wound from just watching my mother. I also can say that the pain and hurt I used to feel towards this disease called Lupus and missing my sister so much, I've healed with time due to just creating more memories and allowing my life to be inspired.

Here are a few cards I've created:

National Nurses Week

From http://www.nursingworld.org/NationalNursesWeek

"Often described as an art and a science, nursing is a profession that embraces dedicated people with varied interests, strengths and passions because of the many opportunities the profession offers. As nurses, we work in emergency rooms, school based clinics, and homeless shelters, to name a few. We have many roles – from staff nurse to educator to nurse practitioner and nurse researcher – and serve all of them with passion for the profession and with a strong commitment to patient safety."

World Lupus Day

http://www.lupusresearch.org/events/get-in-on-it/

Get In On It is an exciting new campaign that kicks off Lupus Awareness Month for the ALR – the largest private funder of lupus research.  Get In On It officially launches on May 10, 2011 which is World Lupus Day.  Get In On It inspires people to take action and rally behind an important mission: to find better treatments and ultimately a cure for a debilitating autoimmune disease that affects 5 million people worldwide.

My Trinity of Love Inspired Mother's Day

"A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life." - Isadora James

(via www.scrapbook.com)

My mother's day was just amazing. I surprised my mum Sunday morning at church, and to my surprise she was singing some solos for her choir and it brought tears to my eyes. As I sat there, I kept thinking about my sister as well, as if it was "Sister's Day" or something. For 17 years of my life, it was just us, a trinity of women in my family which included myself, my younger sister, and my mum.





This Mother's Day, I created greeting cards for a client's sister (notice the hibiscus), and it made me even more nostalgic for my "Chrissy".

Even though it's 11 years of her spiritual transition, it never leaves my mind, and as I prepared our mother's day gift, I felt her guidance in the preparation of it. So, I admit, as much I try to DIY every gift or card, I did buy one of her favorite hand cremes (perhaps next year I'll make my own) but majority of her gifts were hand-made.









I created this hand painted collage which includes some scraps of K&Company Designer paper, acrylic paints, mod podge, Color Mists, paper sunflowers, and butterfly/angel wings in memory of my sister.

Sunflowers were my sister's favorites and she used to give them to friends when they were down. She was very much an old soul and loved vintage pieces like me.











So I also created a hat pain, with a crystal from my mother's broken necklace, and pierced it into some paper punched sunflower petals. Life is so inevitable, I take every inspiration, every memory, every smell, sound, touch or taste in mind, and let it flow through my work.

Have a blessed day and LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE!

Shanti

Location:In that place of my heart where memories are.

Mum+Mother+Nana+Dahlin+Mommy+Mamita+Madre+Muma+ and on and on...

I love love Mother's Day... I love being able to show appreciation for my mum, now my mum-in-law, my granny, my bestie, aunts, cousins, and friends. There's something very beautiful about being a parent, but there's something so intense about a mother's love. The ability for her to be miles away and to know that something is wrong or this unconditional love she bestows upon you, it's this invisible heart string that tugs from time to time. Especially being from the Caribbean, you also hear stories about a grandmother, an aunt, or a sister who had to take on the role of being mother to a child. Or a single mother who had to do all of it on her own. I am always indebted to the women before me, who helped in designing my every path through their strengths, through their survival, and their every walk in life. So, of course the creative me had to design some Mother's Day cards, jewelry, and art. Here's a few to share, please enjoy!

Location:In my mum's heart

Letting the Events of the World Inspire Peace:

With all that's going on in the world, I realized how long I was glued to the television and trying to catch every glimpse and piece of news available. It was almost crippling that I had to walk away for a minute and in between working on some designs, I had to create a card that reflects what I want for the world.


I call this "A Call for Peace". I didn't even realize while creating this round card, it will almost give a look of the earth or a global significance. Sometimes when there's excitement, tragedy, or a CHANGE, we must walk, meditate, and allow ourselves to regroup. For me, my meditation was with an idea, some paper, scissors, and a warm heart!

Have a great and inspiring day!
-shanti