Inspiration Walk in May 2012

Have you ever taken a walk and found that everywhere you looked was inspiration?  That's what I saw today.  Beauty Everywhere.  Come, take the walk with me.

I love green grass and blue sky.

Thanks for joining me.

www.virginiajbailey.blogspot.com

Making a Trellis Out Of Duck Tape and Twigs.

This morning I walked about my yard and noticed my Clematis vines were climbing all over a bush because the small trellis things I had for them were just not doing it.  I made a mental note to myself that I would need to pick up a couple of trellises for them to spread out on.  I thought about this while I continued to walk and picked up the occassional stick.  Then it hit me.  Maybe, I could make a trellis?

I love the natural and unusual item in my yard.  I miss this great bird house I had made, until a wind storm knocked it over and broke it.

I started to lay the twigs down on the grass and began my plan.  Here's how it went.

Here is a picture of my flowers with nowhere to climb.

The beginning of my plan.  Twigs.

I laid it all out on the ground.  And as things go with a garage full of tools, I could not find a

single piece of wire to hold my branches together.  Rrrrgh, don't you hate when that happens?

I did find some duck tape.  Yay! for duct tape.

It worked like a charm.

TaDa!  What a great very natural looking Trellis.

My husband calls it the Hobbit trellis.

Now my Clematises will have a place to spread and grow.

It's going to be beautiful.  I'll take a picture again when the whole wall is full of flowers.

I can't wait.

Thanks for visiting

www.virginiajbailey.blogspot.com

Motivational Art #6 Who Will Be?

Zig Water Colour System BrusH20

I love the convenience of these Zig Water Colour brushes for all my watercolor painting. Each one has a perfect pointed tip for a variety of different looks.

 

The ZIG Water Colour System BrusH20 range is perfect for any artist who wishes to paint anywhere at any time. All you need to do is fill the barrel with water and away you go! The ZIG Water Colour System BrusH20 pens have a retractable valve in them so you have complete control of how much water you release by gently squeezing the barrel.

They really work great!

On Canvas

Veronica's Bok Choy Salad

Here is my sister Veronica's recipe for a delicious salad made with Bok Choy. 
Some of the health benefits of eating Bok Choy are:

• Studies have shown that Bok Choy can reduce the risk of lung cancer in nonsmokers by 30 percent and in smokers by 69 percent!
• Bok Choy is a good source of calcium, a nutrient needed to keep our bones, teeth, and joints healthy.
• This vegetable has been shown to promote good heart health and optimal brain function.
• Worried about aging? Bok Choy is full of beta-carotene that can be converted to vitamin A to help reduce the signs of aging.
• Bok Choy is a good source of vitamin C, a nutrient needed to keep our immune system strong.
• Detoxing? Bok Choy helps the liver in detoxification and protects it from the effects of stress, pollution, and aging factors in our modern environment.

The ingredients for the salad:

Cut up all of the Bok Choy and 3-4 green onions.

Make sure and wash the Bok Choy and Onions real good.

All that healthy green goodness

Next, heat up your crunchy topping.

2 Tablespoons of Brown Sugar

4 Tablespoons of Butter

1/2 cup of Toasted Sesame Seeds

Then add 4 oz. Slivered Almonds and one Package of Ramen Noodles.

Don't use the seasoning in the package.  Crunch the noodles up before opening.

Brown it all together.

Now to make the sauce:

1/2 cup Olive Oil

1/2 cup Red Wine Vinegar

2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce

1/3 cup white Sugar

Stir.

To serve.  I place a handful of the Bok Choy and onions on a plate.

Drizzle with a small amount of the sauce, and top with the crunchy topping.

Delicious!

For future meals I store each portion of the salad separately.

Like this...

Motivational Art #5 Fear Disappears

Black Doubleheaded Marker by Itoya Product Review

 

Doodling and the Black Doubleheaded Marker by Itoya

I am always on the search for a great marker to use for all my doodling projects. 

 This one, I received the other day from Amazon.

I couldn't wait to try it out.

What did I think?

I loved having to two different tips.  One is a wide 3.0 mm. point that delivers bold, distinctive lines for filling in or lettering.  The other point is 1.5 mm.  for smaller more detailed fine lines.

The black ink looks bold and striking on the paper.

I love the contrast of the black ink on white paper.

 

virginiajbailey.blogspot.com

Studio Snapshot

Promise Tamang Phan - A Makeup Artist

Have you ever heard of Promise Tamang Phan the Makeup Artist?  I've been watching some of her makeover video's tonight with my daughter.  Here is a link to her video collection: http://www.youtube.com/user/dope2111

What a talented artist she is.  She uses her own face as her canvas. 

It all started when she was a little girl when she started to play with her mother's makeup.  Her fascination with makeup continued to grow.  Her youtube video's have caught the media's attention. On Friday, April 26th, 2012 she was featured on Good Morning America.  On the show she was made up as a very convincing Nicki Minaj.  You can find the episode here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBLWc94Q1Fk&feature=youtu.be

Her talent as a makeup artist is AMAZING.  Here is one of the product, "Urban Naked Pallete," she uses it in almost every video for shadowing, contouring, highlighting, etc.  I'm getting one for myself.  Here's a easy link if you're interested.

She'll have you painting, the next time you apply your makeup.  Check out her Michael Jackson,
Mona Lisa, and Angelina Jolie tutorial's.  Each one is incredible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iG972rPt4I&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsnLYFRtJXY&list=UU_GvMVffgctSISDkeWlKhXQ&index=2&feature=plcp

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=dope2111+angelina+jolie&mid=6CC33F973C4CAE002C7D6CC33F973C4CAE002C7D&view=detail&FORM=VIRE1

What do you think?  To leave a comment click link below.

Motivational Art #4 Soar

Wine Glass Painting - Creativity Rocks!

I thought it would be great to have wine glasses for each member of my family.  So, I set about to do it.

First Step - Purchase a

I picked up mine at our local dollar store.  Yay! for dollar store's.  Right?

Next, purchase some paint for glass.  I highly recommend

these:

I love these paints.  The colors are really creamy looking.  I know

I'm going to be using these on many more projects.  Great value too.

I also purchased

These were nice and on my first experience with glass painting, I only used these.

On the second product I used the silver pen to outline.

Let the fun begin.

One more thing.  I got smart the second time around and found these

gel stickers at the dollar store.  I didn't know at the time that I would be using them for my glasses but they worked beautifully.

I chose a gel flower for my stencil and slipped it onto

the wine goblet.  Then, I outlined the flower.

(it's hard to take a picture of myself while painting. oops.)

Removed the stencil and started to fill in the design with color.

I used a brush.  This was easy and fun.  Loved it.

Isn't that a gorgeous color?

  Once they were all just how I wanted them to be I baked them in the oven.

Place the glasses into a cool oven.  Close the door and set

the temperature to 350 degree's.  Now set your timer for

30 minutes.

When my timer went off.  I turned off my oven and left the glasses in the oven.

It was time for bed.

The next morning, I woke up excited to see how my wine glasses had turned out.

I removed them from the oven.

Beautiful!

I shined them all up to get them ready for their photo shoot.

Tada!

Aren't they pretty?

Two more for my son and his girlfriend.

Here's one I made for my niece Scarlett.  Her own Princess glass.

Here's a picture of the first ones I made.  They have each of our names on the glass.

www.virginiajbailey.blogspot.com

Have fun creating.

I love and appreciate your comments and questions.

What Would You Do If You Knew You Couldn't Fail?

I would create a blog where I get to share everything that inspires me, and in turn will inspire other's.

I just finished listening to an inspiring interview by Jill Grunewald from www.healthfulelements.com.  Jill is interviewing Ann Drew Yu who is the Creator of The Intention Box.
Ann is also the President of Good Intentions, a lifestyle company she started in 2004.  A respected speaker, teacher and writer.

I found Ann one night years ago while searching Feng Shui expert in the Minneapolis, MN area.  I was so impressed with Ann's website and all her sound advice that I have been following her career for years now. 

My dream is to one day hire Ann for a Feng Shui consultation at our retail store.  One day, I declare, I will do it.

I love Ann's definition of intention: Intention is a declaration of anything positive that you want to do or invite into your life.

I think most of us have heard the phrase, "Where attention goes energy flows." - Ann believes that focusing on one simple do-able thing makes it easier to fulfill or make progress toward our intention.

When we work on one thing, while keeping it simple, doors are allowed to open in other area's of our lives.

Her advice is to find your core intention:  What do you really want to do? Ann likes to begin her declarations using these two examples below.
I see myself ____________
I open myself ___________

Intentions can be physical things, or emotional things.  Like, I open myself to forgiving ________.

I like the word intention better than the word goal.  Now, I understand why.

Goals move us forward but are measured by success or failure, they are more about willpower and force. If you don't make your goal, it can make you feel bad.

Intentions are measured by growth, or our feelings. Intention is more about being willing, and allowing things to happen naturally. 

I really liked this sentence that was brought up in the interview.  "Exchange willpower for willingness."  Isn't that just beautiful?     

Ann is well studied in the science of our brains.  In the interview she tells us about when she first learned about something called: Negativity Bias -  This means that our brains have a tendency when sitting in a relaxed unsupervised state of mind will tend to go into negative thinking automatically.  Wow, we are wired this way. That's interesting, isn't it? 

I also learned about something called Neuroplasticity - This is the belief that our brain continues to grow and develop throughout our lives. 

Isn't it nice to know we can direct how we want our brain to grow?  By looking for good facts in your day and focusing on them for at least 15 seconds. When we do this it will fire up positive neurons in our brain and we will develop a more positive brain belief system.

I invite you to visit both of Ann's websites.
www.anndrewyu.com or www.theintentionbox.com

Find out for yourself what The Intention Box is all about.  I believe she is having a sale, so email her if you are interested.

If you would like to listen to the interview visit www.healthfulelements.com and sign up for the free telesummit.

Ann's offering a free gift called.  "Four Essential Things I Wish I'd Known As A Girl."

I'm going to go get mine now.

Blessings,

Virginia