Grapes Make Me Happy (And Not Just Because They Make Wine!)

Hello Blogland Peeps and Hoppers here from the Graciellie Shop.  Today I am wearing my Graciellie Design team hat and sharing a card I created from a new digital stamp set being released today called The Vine.  

 

This set resonated with me not only because I live in the Creston Valley in beautiful British Columbia, Canada and just up the road from three wineries, but also because Red Wine is one of my food groups! Grin - so how could I NOT choose grapes!

I loved working with these stamps, which I printed out onto 100lbs white card stock in multiple sizes and orientations and then colored with my Copic markers.  (Colors used listed below)

 

I cut out all my colored shapes and then reassembled them using foam pop dots to create these little vignettes.

 

Of course the final touch is always strategically placed dots and dabs of Ranger Glossy Accents and Stickles - in this case I used the Frosted Lace Stickles on the grape leaves which is more of a texture than a sparkle.

 

I am really enjoying working with these bit of digital art created by artist Gracie Chavez, as I push my coloring and painting boundaries to do them justice.  I am so proud of this particular card that I will be entering it into the Creston Fall Fair under the Crafts-Card Making category... Wish Me Luck!  Now for all you Copic markers aficionados here are my color choices:

 

And for those of you hopping through the design teams creations... Here is your next stop:

 MARIA PILAR

So do pop on over to the Graciellie Design Blog to see all the details of the new release and any give-aways, and go HERE to see all the new stamps being released today.

As always, thanks for popping in today to see what I am up to and please do leave me a comment if you like what you are seeing! 

Lynne Mizera

for the Graciellie Design Team

 

The Vine Digital Stamp Set

 

 

 

Lifebook Changed My Life, (And So Did "Meeting" Effy Wild!)

In Effy's post today, as this month I Blog Along With Effy Wild,  she "Nudged" us to write about someone that had a positive influence on us and to share this person with others.  Also today the registration opened up for Lifebook 2018.  Coincidence? I think not!

It only took a brief moment of self reflection to determine that the biggest positive influence in both my personal and Art life has been discovering and working through my Lifebook lessons. 

Lifebook 2013

 I stumbled across Lifebook in 2013 through a link on Christy Tomlinson's site as I was looking for her "She Girl" on-class, a brand new concept to me at the time.  To be honest the reason I signed up for Lifebook was because the frugal, French-Canadian farmer genes kicked in: "Why pay $50 for one class from one instructor when for $100 you can get 52 lessons from 26 instructors?" It's was a no brainer and I immediately signed up, bought the course and watched my first on-line art instruction video with Tamara Laporte.

Lifebook 2016

That was a  life-changing moment for me!  I could write a book about all the ways this amazing experience changed how I see and feel about myself and my art, but Hey... Tamara already did that this year and it's due to be released in 2018.

Lifebook 2015

I now have Lifebook lessons from 2013 to 2017 downloaded onto my computer and I am off to add 2018 today.  And even though I have yet to finish all 52 lessons in any given year I will continue to sign up. 

Lifebook 2017

Why?  Because I am working through the lesson's on my own personal schedule, in no particular order, one lesson at a time.  This works for me, and each Lifebook year and each Lifebook lesson is always different from the previous and I learn something from every single one. 

Lifebook 2017

I have learned so much on my Lifebook journey these past five years, growing both as a person and an artist, but if I had to pick just one thing out of the many, many gifts and lessons I have received it would be this:  

Lifebook 2015

By making the commitment to complete the Lifebook lessons I made myself a priority, and as big a priority as taking care of my family and my home.  Art became my work and making Art was given value.  I was no longer "playing in my craft room"  but "Working in My Studio".  And this was HUGE for me, because as a woman and a caregiver everyone else's needs always seemed to be more important than my own, and my needs never seemed important enough to make it to the top of list.

Lifebook 2016

So go check out Tamara Laporte and  Lifebook 2018 today ... it may be the best gift you ever buy for YOURSELF!

Various Lifebook lessons completed early 2016

I am Blogging Along With Effy for the month of September, come join us.

Lynne Mizera - Student, Artist, Woman of the World

A Post About Finding My Art Voice...

Today's Blog Nudge from Ms. Effy Wild is to share something you’ve created that feels like it’s a part of your autobiography.  Effy's blog post today is about "No Mud, No Lotus" and this reminded me of one  of my very favorite quotes from Maya Angelou:

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”

One of my first Art journal pages

For me Maya's quote was the first step in my realizing that the ugliness of my past didn't make ME ugly, but rather the struggle to overcome all that ugliness actually ended up making me Beautiful! 

An Early Attempt at Mixed Media

The next step was allowing myself to "make art" and realizing that it was okay to let my beauty shine through my art.  Sound obvious and easy doesn't it... but that is not the case!  I felt like I was that butterfly FIGHTING to shed it's cocoon all over again.

My Fairy Art Mother, Lifebook 2013, Lesson  #1

It wasn't until 2013 when I was working on my first Lifebook lesson creating "My Fairy Art Mother" when I made that breakthrough.  After that whenever I looked at her I would remember... 

 "You Are A Beautiful Soul and it's OKAY to let your beauty shine through your art."

My Lifebook 2015 - Lesson #1

And I still have to remind myself of this even today, but it is getting easier and easier to Just Do IT...

My Lifebook 2016- Lesson #23 with Amy Grant

and to stop agonizing over every decision I make.  Playing in my Art Journal really helps with that and with my confidence as an artist because that is where I allow myself to Just Be Me and I am liking more and more what I am seeing as I try and find my own Artistic Voice...

Grafitti Roses - An Original Canvas by ME - Lynne Mizera

I am still learning  my craft and trying to find my style and my Art Voice... but following wonderful artists's like Ms. Effy Wild and Ms. Tamara Laporte really helps me... 

An Original Canvas By Lynne Mizera - Artist

Thank you Yet Again Ms. Effy Wild for another wonderful "blog nudge" and for sharing your own experiences so eloquently that it makes it easier for the rest of us to share too!

With Love From My Heart To Yours,

Lynne Mizera 

I am blogging along with Effy Wild this month...

Go Here To Find Out How You Can Join IN!

 

 

I Am A "Joy Warrior" And FOOD Is My Weapon

Yesterday's "blog nudge" for Blogging Along With Effy Wild is:

”What do you do to foster joy?

What’s your version of ‘flinging glitter in the trenches?”

In her post Effy gives Klinger from the TV series "MASH" the title of JOY Warrior and writes about how he "Flings glitter in the trenches"  

(Read her full post HERE)

I . LOVE . THIS

Probably because I think I am a JOY Warrior too and my weapon is FOOD!

When the going gets tough - I Cook

When the world is in Crisis - I Bake

 

When my life is falling down around my ears - I throw dinner parties

It was my hubby who put this into words when one day, as I was having yet another wee tug of war with my adult child (insert power struggle here) over meal planning this time, he said;

"Oh let your mother feed you, it's how she shows her love." 

And right at that moment lights went off in my heart and head as all the wires connected and I realized that is EXACTLY what I do!

  I Show My Love Through Food

And when we moved to the country (define country as a 4-acre piece of land with a septic tank and a water well, over an hour's drive from any major shopping), and I discovered I could GROW the food I used to show my love, 

 

and the itty bitty genes I inherited from my French Canadian farm roots exploded Hulk-like and took me over - I wanted to FEED THE WORLD!

 

Years ago I came across a passage from the book I was reading called  A Vision of Light, by Judith Merkle Riley:

“It is impossible to deny a woman in a feeding mood. It is as if they look right through you, to that small, weak part that has been there since you were a baby and that doesn’t know how to defy authority.”

and this has stayed with me because I completely understand it.  Nothing makes me happier than the expression of surprised delight on some one's face as they taste something wonderful made by me.  And it always plays out the same way...

 

They tentatively take a bite and as the flavours flood their mouth, their eyes get wider, their eyebrows go up and that sound emerges...

"mmmmm"...

"MMMMM"...

and then "Oh My God - This is Good!"

They take a second bite to be sure and then they Always Say:

"This is REALLY, REALLY Good!" 

And the final bit that always makes my heart spill over with joy... when all conversation stops and there are only the sounds of eating because it TASTES SO GOOD!

Even writing about it brings me Joy... Happy Sigh.

  

I show my LOVE through Food

You know,  I have never before written about this part of me.  I have tried to explain it to people who find meal making a chore and who cannot understand how I could spend 12 hours in a kitchen - on purpose - or WHY I would even want to?!?  But seriously there are only a few things that can bring me more joy than THIS:

A heartfelt smile from a grandchild

When I look at a piece of Art I made and think "yes, this is good"

The look in my partner's eyes when I realize that he stills sees me how I looked when we first met...

 It's really is the little things that make life big...

Happy Sigh

I am Blogging Along With Effy this month... Find out How and Why HERE and come join us!

A Teeny Tiny Change Purse-sized Dump (GULP)

Today Effy's blog "nudge" is something called a "purse dump"... it means literally dumping out everything that is your brain that is keeping you awake at night, just like the way you dump your purse out onto your bed.  And I was soooo enjoying her "purse dump post" and thinking "How Brave Is SHE" to be able to just SAY STUFF... until I got to the part where she wrote "So my nudge for you today is to Go Do A Purse Dump.".. SAY WHAT!!   My blood actually went Cold... can you spell "Terror"!

 

So then of course I had to determine Why my blood went cold and figure out why revealing what is actually going on in my head scares me this much.  Because, you see, five years ago I said OUT LOUD to everyone (not just to myself in my head) "I am Changing - no more Fake Lynne! From now on I am going to live my life being True to myself and say what I really think and how I really feel (always from a place of love) instead of hiding it all away in my heart and soul (which actually made me sick inside and out) and I am through being a Bobble Headed Doll, you know, Smile and Nod, Smile and Nod until your head Falls Off!!

 

And I thought that was what I was doing, but these feelings of terror I am having over sharing exactly what I am feeling are probably coming from a place of feelings I am hiding from myself. So I guess I have not been doing "authentic" very well these days....

CRAP Effy... How do you do it? 

 

I do believe THIS may be your Super Power - asking that one question that causes us to look into our selves and discover another bit of dirt hidden in the corner that needs to be cleaned out!!

 

... Soooo More soul work for me this week!  As for the purse dump... I thought I would be brave and try a little teeny, tiny change-purse sized dump... Here goes:

 

Lately I feel afraid... REALLY afraid... enough so that it has been affecting my sleep... But seriously WHAT do I have to be so afraid of with life being so sweet these days?  Let's dump it out and have look shall we...

I feel SCARED... Scared of WHAT??

Of seeing what this looks like... 

Of letting people down...

Of other people's opinions (Huh?)...

Of offending someone (Double HUH?)

Of FAILING...

Of Looking Stupid...

Of NOT BEING LIKED in my new community (Say WHAAAT?)

 

Holy CRAP... That is So Not Like Me... I  have always lived my life exactly how I want to and developed a nice, thick skin to deflect Other People's Opinions (imagine this said in a deep, vibrato, echoing off the walls).

But I recently moved to the vibrant retirement community of Creston, British Columbia into what I am calling our Forever Home, because I am hoping this is our last stop for this next stage in my life.  And because this community is fairly small (5000 peeps instead of the two million or so I am used to living with) and I am hoping to be here for a very long time, I have been going slow (also NOT like me) and trying to make friends and not offend anyone - which I am Really good at since I have no filter and I am the ONLY ONE who gets my sense of humor ... Grin.  

And as usual it has not taken long for me to get  noticed, all in a good way (I have been mentioned in the local newspaper only once so far...Grin).  But as my BIG personality is starting to get out there and I am becoming "known" I feel like I am waiting for the inevitable explosion of emotion that I seem to evoke-everywhere I go - No Matter WHAT!  And this time I Don't Want To Be The Catalyst. OH CRAPPY CRAPPY POOPIE POOP! Once again... more Bloody Soul Work...  Sigh.

So today I am asking .... what is the balance between being accepted and liked socially and still being honest and AUTHENTIC to yourself?  Easier if you fit the mold, but I totally Do Not Fit The Mold, never have.  So how do I "Feel the fear and do it anyway" in THIS situation?   Do I risk notoriety and possibly rejection? YES I DO! If I want to be true to who I am I will just have to Put On My Big Girl Panties and get brave.

And look at the quote I stumbled across as I made this decision:

"It is better to be hated for What You Are than to be loved for what you are not."

Andre Gide

So I guess this PURSE DUMP thing actually does work - Thank you AGAIN Ms. Effy, I do believe I just might have discovered the block I am having to the question What Do I REALLY Want!

I am Blogging Along with Effy Wild this month, come join us...

Lynne Mizera

I Have Faith - Blogging Along With Effy-Day #6

The "nudge" today from our lovely Effy Wild is sharing our roots - Oh POOP! I hate sharing this kind of stuff - it's either I write a flipping BOOK or I list the bare facts which NEVER explain who I am and why I am the Way I AM! (Which is just like everyone else I am guessing.)  Okay (sigh) I will try to impart in as few words as possible my Roots:

 

The Basics:

I arrived in this world on May 27th, 1962,  in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the first of four girls born to a French Canadian, Catholic father with French/Irish roots and an English Canadian, Anglican mother with British/German roots.  Dad was gone by the time I was nine, Mom was an Artist and a feminist before that was even a word.

I was Forcibly moved to Calgary, Alberta in 1979 when I was 17 - married, divorced and married again (for 20 years now).

I have two grown children and four grandsons that I know of

and at the lovely age of 50 I retired from working in an office to become "an Artist" and I am now living in this dream in beautiful British Columbia, Canada (with aforementioned hubby) smack dab in the middle of the Rocky Mountains...  Happy Sigh.

 

But of course that tells you NOTHING about the REAL ME!

 

And then I had this wonderful idea!! I am going to share a few very personal scrapbook pages I created in an album called "All About Me", something I wanted to leave behind for my future family so they will be able to get a sense of who Grandma Lynne really was and why she was the Way She WAS!  So if you read the journalling and look at the photos you will get a better sense of who I am... ENJOY!

The words on this page say:

Daughter; Sister; Wife; Donna & Ryan's Mother; Aidan & Dominic's Grandmother; Ryan's Mother-In-Law; Employee; Friend; Neighbor; Baker; Artist.  Julie Lynne Goyette Perrault Mizera - Married, Divorced, Married Again; Quebecer; Albertan; Wanna Be Maritimer; Loves to Eat; Loves to Cook; Traveller; Gardner; Photographer; Dancer; Scrapbooker... Life is a Journey and I am still travelling

 

 So, do you have a better sense now of Who I Am? (Grin).  I think that's enough for today, I don't want to overwhelm you with my BIG personality!!!  And don't worry if you don't see me for a few days, I WILL be Back next week...

Lynne Mizera - Artist, Partner, Friend, Mother, Grandmother and All Around Woman of the Universe