The 30 Blogging Challenge Day 2

After spending an overcast rainy weekend at my sister's house on the lake, the sun finally came out on my last morning there. It may be the beginning of November but there is still a bit of fall color on the trees. I love the scenery right now with the variety of colors and layers and textures - kind of like mixed media art!

Here are a few pages I added to my Nature Journal. I pressed some leaves found on one of my photo walks to add to my journal.

I hope you're enjoying the colors of the season wherever you are. This is day 2 of the 30 Days of Blogging Challenge. 

30 Day Blogging Challenge

One thing I have struggled with consistently since I began blogging four years ago is, well, consistency. Creative blocks and time issues - mostly time issues - seem to get in the way of my desire to be consistent in posting on my blog 2-3 times per week. So I'm going to dive in and try a blogging challenge to post on my blog everyday for the 30 days of November. And I am sharing it with all of you because that will make me accountable. Thank you  to my friend Bernice who introduced me to the challenge. You can find Bernice at her blog Newly Creative. 

I am spending the weekend at Bliss Cottage with my sister. To get to her house on the lake it is a 2 hour and 45 minute drive for me. The last 45 minutes are on two lane roads in the country that wind around the many lakes in the area. The area my sister lives in is one of the few areas in the Midwest where you can find Sandhill Cranes. As I was driving I was curious if these cranes had already migrated out of the area. As I journeyed on one of the back roads I heard their trumpeting call and saw some flying in my direction from the right side of the car. To my left was a large flock of Sandhill cranes in the yard and surrounding field of a house. So I pulled over to take some pictures. I just love these tall birds with their pop of red on their foreheads!

At the lake there are a pair of Loons in residence. I refer to them as the elusive Loons because every time we spot them within camera range, and I grab my camera, they seem to know that I want a picture and they disappear. Loons can stay under water for 9 minutes so there is no telling where they will appear when they come up for air. I'm not kidding, EVERY time. It's as if they are playing a game with me or trying to avoid the birding paparazzi! Yesterday's shot was the closest I've come with my zoom lens and it's still not very close.

It was an overcast, rainy weekend, although today the sun is shining. We went to the little town of Hastings, MI on Friday afternoon and found a wonderful selection of boutiques and gift shops. On Saturday we stayed inside and played with art all day. We dreamed up ways we can use our obsession for office products and supplies in our art... more to come about that in the future. A sneak peek at some art:

There we go, 30 day blogging challenge, day 1. One thing I am thinking of doing in some future blog posts is answering some of the questions I have received from some of you about Bible study and art journaling techniques. So if you have any questions for me, please feel free to leave them in the comments below or email them to me.

The Creative Call Art Journal Notebook

Our community at His Kingdom Come is starting a book club in a few weeks. Our first book is The Creative Call: An Artist's Response to the Way of the Spirit by Janice Elsheimer. I decided to make my own notebook after reading a tutorial by Ali Manning at Vintage Page Designs. The cover is made from a single piece of  heavy stock paper and has two signatures attached with a very simple sewing method. I made it a size where my signatures could be 8.5x11 pieces of paper folded in half. I covered the front and back with a variety of pages I had painted on the Gelli Plate and added some deli paper accents. I even make the plant sprig stamp from a foam sheet! I needed a fun project to rejuvenate my creativity and energy and this did the trick!

I used a thinner paper for my pages then I normally use and it puckered on the flip-side when I adhered the accents. So on the next one I'll use watercolor paper. I'm ready to fill the pages with quotes and art! The book club begins in May and anyone can join us. Head over to the His Kingdom Come website and check us out!

We are ending a nice weekend visiting my family in Michigan for my niece's baby shower. We are all housed at my sister's (Bliss Cottage) and it has been a beautiful Spring weekend at the lake. I especially love the lake early in the morning when it is calm and reflecting the world around it.

I hope you all have a good week. It's a busy one around here. We are hosting a conference this week at my church/job and then I head down to Florida for a long weekend where the HKC foundation team is getting together for a retreat. Enjoy your week!

Summer's End

Can someone please tell me where the summer has gone?! It seems like it has flown by so quickly. Today I stopped by the school and visited with some of the staff and teachers and that really makes it feel like summer is at its end.

Last week I took my last summer break. I took my little God-family to my sister's house on the lake for a few days. A few days at Bliss cottage was a real treat for us city folk being in the quiet relaxing atmosphere of the lake. The kids were water babies and in their glory!

The kids (and mama) had their first boat ride ever!

Maggie was sad to see us leave.
The kids gave her endless attention!

Documented Life Project catch up:

Week 31

Week 24 challenge

Challenge week 26

Challenge week 8

Each week in the Doc Life group we are offered a new challenge. I have not done them in order but instead have done them when inspiration hits.  In week 8 the challenge was to add a flap page. Week 24 was to use a book page. Since I already use book paper on most of my pages, I wanted to use it in a different way. Week 26 we were to use a favorite Bible verse. I combined all of these challenges into one page spread.

This weekend our church hosts our annual neighborhood picnic for the neighborhoods around the church and for the families of the school we have adopted. And school starts on Tuesday...I hope you're enjoying the last weeks of summer~!