One World One Heart 2011 Blog Event

Welcome to my Artistically Designed Diversions. My little world of art and friends that help me stay sane in my incredibly busy job as a second grade teacher. I have met so many amazing artists since I started my on-line journey in 2006. Actually meeting many of my cyberspace art friends in person has been a wonderful gift. I treasure the atmosphere of creativity and sharing that bloggers have fostered. To celebrate I am joining Lisa Oceandreamer's One World One Heart blog event. I hope you will enjoy looking around my blog and I hope to visit as many blogs as I can. If you are an active blogger and you leave a comment on THIS post, you will be entered to win my door prize. It's a quilted Cupcake Wall-Hanging I made and it's even got sequin and bead sprinkles on top! I'll announce the winner on February 17th so make sure and leave your e-mail so I can contact you if you take the cake!

January Journal Journeys continued...

Here are a few of the latest entries in my art journal this month. I am still trying to do all of Milliande's prompts. I have started an after-school art club at school and am introducing 7-11 year olds to the concept of art journals. We are going to be adding personal symbols to personal banners. I am planning on

participating in the last One World One Heart event this year. I will be posting all the fun details after midnight on Sunday.

Update on Maggie May!!!!!

Our Maggie is feeling so much better!!!! After a scary few weeks where we almost lost our beloved 6 year old lab, she seems to be recovering very well. She had lost 20 pounds and was battling several serious conditions all at once. Now we are down to insulin shots twice a day and one pill in the evening. She is putting weight back on and is running up and down the stairs again! Her legs still get shaky at times and her energy and stamina are not completely back to normal yet. I took some pictures to show her progress and she has always been a fickle model. She will NOT look at the camera and she refuses to hold still so I can take a picture! So... these are the best I could get but I think she looks beautiful because she was looking so skinny and weak just a few weeks ago!

More January Journal Pages !!!!

Here are some more of the January journal pages I've been doing with Milliande's online prompts. My goal is to do one page for each day in January! I am totally impressed that I've done 21 days so far! It's been fun to check the gallery for each day's prompt and see how many ways there are to go with a theme idea! I still have the most trouble with the actual JOURNALING, writing enough on each page. I like how Milliande incorporates her writing into the design so you don't focus on the writing separately. Her words just seem to blend into the page as another design element.

January journal pages!!!!!

I am so jazzed that I have kept up with the first 8 days of Milliande's January Journal prompts! She explored the theme of zebras for the first week. It's really cool to see how differently the theme is interpreted

by the artists who upload their work! So many great, inspiring ideas!

It is actually a miracle I got this far because my family has been dealing with a crisis this past week. Our 6 year old yellow lab, Maggie, was at the vet's fighting for her life for 5 days! I think the journaling kept me from freaking out! She is home now and we have a regimen of 5 kinds of pills several times a day and insulin shots twice a day. She is perking up a little but she has lost so much weight she is very weak.

All good thoughts and prayers for her are very welcome! Time will tell if I can complete

the journal challenges for the entire month. Wish me luck !!!!!

New Art Journal for the New Year !

My friend Lillian sent me the link to an awesome art group online. Milliande has tons of free tutorials and she is starting a daily art journal prompt for 2011. I did the first 2 days and I'll see how I can keep up while I'm working ! It's fun to see how many different ways artists can take a theme. Check it out and maybe you'll want to join us!