Bought Myself Some Presents

I'm sitting here in my living room...watching a "House" DVD, enjoying the view of my backyard through the French doors, and typing on my new laptop computer. I used a little of Mother's insurance money and a little of DH's to buy it, and then had my computer man set up a wireless network. The best of all worlds...I can watch television and surf the 'Net at the same time. I bought the laptop from the company from which we buy computers at school, so I knew I would get great service and a good deal.

I still haven't gotten back to working on my scrapbooks. However, I have worked almost nonstop in all of my free time on my art journals. I started on the first one while DH was in the hospital, and I think I've filled up three so far. Most of my projects are never finished; I always leave myself open to add to a scrapbook page or journal page at any time, and I want to pull out the first one and do something else with it. I've picked up several books about art journals, and I'm also interested in collage. My mother was a great artist, and some of her work incorporated collage and some three dimensional elements, too. I don't have the artistic confidence she had or the drawing skills, but I love playing with color and shapes. My nephew was here this past week (recuperating from outpatient surgery), and he complimented my work (after I worked up the nerve to let him see it), and said that some of it should be framed and displayed. He CAN draw, and he's working on his Master's degree in advertising/communications, so his praise meant a LOT to me.

I also bought myself a new set of pens that were more expensive than any others I've tried. I've tried American Crafts pens, Zig pens, Marvy Uchida pens, Sakura pens, and Faber Castell brush pens. The Faber Castell are in first place, and the Sakura pens would be tied for first place if they came in a wider color selection. My newest acquisition is a set of 48 Faber Castell brush pens in a storage box that reminds me of the forty-eight crayon set from Crayola!

I'm also experimenting with various kinds of paper. I had a year-long subscription to Club Scrap, and an obsession with ordering from the Gotta Have More department. There's paper in my stash that I no longer care to use in a scrapbook (Art Deco, Renaissance, etc.), but the back side is a neutral color, and has a lovely texture (tooth, I think it's called in the "real" art department) to use with my pens. I'm not buying a lot of new paper to use, so I can justify buying all the pens I want to try.

If I get REALLY brave, I may post some pictures of my pages here...