michelle my belle

Being Creative!

My 2009 Journal Cover, a work in progress. I'll continue doodling on it through the year or until this journal is completed. Very random!

A few weeks ago my mom, Teri and I got together to mess around being creative for a few hours. These are the pages I worked on. Check out my mom's blog for more pics.

This is from my mom's studio. Isn't she clever adding rice to her jars to make her brushes stand up so pretty like. I never would have thunk!

I love all her white vases and pots. I laugh at how different we are in some ways. She's always been "matchy, matchy" and I'm the opposite. Nothing ever matches!

 

Teri and my mom working diligently between the chatter.

 

These are both Teri's little carrying cases of journaling tools. How organized she is!

MT:

ugh, I can't even remember, it's been so long since I blogged. 

I do know I ran 16 miles yesterday and it felt HORRIBLE! I didn't hydrate well and I think I went out thinking "oh, it's just 16 miles"... Anyways, ended up laying on the couch for a few hours sicker than a dog. Right now I'm having a hard time imagining running 26 miles at a 8:30 per mile pace in just a few weeks time!

Enter to Win some Goodies!!

Don't forget to enter in our 5th Goody Giveaway!! Contest ends Thursday.

Coffee Filter Garland

I have a dining room that is desperate for some decoration. I wanted to spruce it up but I wanted to do it cheap! I remembered seeing this coffee filter garland that Pam Garrison did on her blog a while back. What could be cheaper than a bag of coffee filters and some cording? Really!

I went with one large bag of white coffee filters.

I decided quickly that just leaving them white looked kind of cheap and it looked like, well... coffee filters! So, I took some acrylic paint and water and proceeded to dye them ALL. I did some in a blue color and most I did in a warm orangy brown.

At this point I'm beginning to think I'm CRAZY. And, so are some of the other people coming in and out of my studio! After dying them all, I separated them and kind of scrunched them up to dry.

After drying I would make small piles about 20 filters at a time and shove a pencil thru the middle to punch a hole. I used macrame cord with the end taped up for easy threading. Adding the blue colored filters randomly through out. 

After I had the entire thing strung I took it down to my dining room and began hanging and tying it off into clumps. I was pleasantly surprised with how well it turned out. It was fun and inexpensive.

The whole project probably took me about 3 hours. 

Colorful Journal Pages

I obviously LOVE a little color!

I've really been enjoying these Sharpie Poster Paint pens that Teri recommended to me. She also just told me that she heard that they've been discontinued?? Sure hope not, I'm just beginning to fall in love with them!

MT:

Ran Wed. 6.5 miles at 8:10 ave. pace with Katy.

Friday ran the same 6.5 mile loop but we averaged 8:00 miles. 

Skied Saturday.

And today I ran 22 miles. Uhg! It's the longest run in the program thankfully. 

Goody Giveaway #5

Welcome to our 5th Allen Designs Goody Giveaway!

Enter to Win some of our Newest Designs:

Flutter Clock, Flower Tea Ful Print, Bloom Frame and a Time Flies Clock! 

A $164 value (shipping is on us)!

Here's 3 ways to Enter:

1. Comment on ANY of my blog posts from now till April 2nd.

2. Sign up for our Newsletter on the top right hand side of this blog. No worries, we don't send many and the ones we do send include some amazing close-outs and giveaways.

3. Promote my giveaway on your blog and get 3 entries! Feel free to pull this image to use on your blog. And don't forget to leave me a comment so I know you did.

Thank you for playing!

Mini Art Blox

Here's what I've been working on the past few weeks. Little Mini Art Blocks, 3"x3" squares that can stand or hang. I'm totally excited about them, they're cute, artsy, encouraging, and economically conscious-selling at about $8 each.

A shot of my very messy desk. Hopping from one thing to the next!

MT:

6 weeks left till the Eugene Marathon

Pretty much took last week off, trying to let my body recharge and fight off some looming injuries.

Skied Fri., Sat. and a little on Sunday. My hubby said that skiing is like doing an interval workout. It sure feels like it most of the time!

Ran today, 10 miles at 8:40 average pace. Tried to keep it to 9:00 but somehow ended up faster by the end. Felt pretty good. Took another ice bath afterward. That DID NOT feel good! ugh. 

hope you are well. ttfn.

Officially Inked! A tattooed woman!

I have finally cashed in my gift certificate from my sweet husband. Here I am signing my skin away.

I went with Dan at Atlas Tattoo. I liked his style and attention to detail. 

This is my first tattoo so I really didn't know what process to expect.

The pain wasn't as bad as I had imagined. Thankfully! I thought it was kind of like plucking your eyebrows, after a while it just kind of numbs up.

My reasons for a Green Bicycle?

The whole process only took about 55 minutes and cost $100. Pretty good deal for something that lasts FOREVER!

Tammy and Katy were so kind to come with me. I would highly recommend taking someone if you go get one for yourself. It's hard to see yourself for placement and just other little decisions that may come up. 

My husband is out of town and hasn't even seen it yet. -gulp- I'll keep you posted on his reaction. :)

I am so excited to finally have done it!

Artfest Octopus

Yet another stamp. Don't worry, I should be running out of material soon and that will be the end of cutting stamps for a period.

This stamp I designed in mind for using in my trades for Artfest this year, which is coming up quickly at the beginning of April! This will be my 2nd year and I'm very excited to learn some new tricks and be freshly inspired. If any of you are going and live in the Portland/Vancouver area and would like to carpool I would love it!

I got something really, really special today. This will jog your memory :)

I'll post on it tomorrow with pictures.

MT:

have taken the last 3 days off. feeling like i could be on the edge of injury so i decided to play it safe and lay low for a few days. looking forward to a slow run tomorrow morning.

Have Faith Journal Page

Another random journal page. Maybe all the running is mushing my brain!

I have been working on a new line of mini Art Blocks that I'll show you soon. I'm almost done with them, which is good since I've been holding up our new catalog now for 2 weeks! Katy is probably ready to murder me behind that patient smile. ha!

MT:

Tues.- Ran 6 miles easy

Thurs.- Ran 10 miles tempo (8:20 ave. pace)

Sunday - Ran home from church the long way to make it 16 miles. I realized I much prefer doing my long runs early, 6AM early, then I'm done and home by 9AM. With the whole day ahead of me to keep me moving. Running in the middle of the day just seemed to wipe me out!

Check out this fantastic artist!

ttyl!

Found Treasures and Inspiration Corner

My mom and I hit up an antique store in a nearby town, Camas, last week where I found these little treasures. I paid $3 for this doll, all the tins combined were $3 and the cards were together for $3. That's my kind of spending! Now I just need to figure out what to do with all this cool stuff!

A little corner in my studio with some of my favorite artists. Geninne, Valentina and the fabulous PinPals! And of course the Allen Designs bird clock :)

MT:

Tues. I ran 5 miles incorporating my first bit of speed work (6x800 @ 10k pace). It was much harder than I thought it would be! I love the McMillan Running Calculator, it tells you at what you pace you should be doing your tempo, recovery, long runs and etc.

Wed. Ran 6 miles easy, easy. My body was feeling quite fatigued yesterday, I'm hoping that taking today completely off I'll feel better and up to a longer, harder run tomorrow. We'll see...

oh, and I think I may have finally lost a lb. or maybe even two! i just read that for every 5lbs lost you can shave about 4 min. off your marathon time. hmmm.