One Little Word: Feb. Update (yoga and health)

This year, I'm working on three different art journals: one that focuses on my one little word for the year (health); one that focuses on my intention (to be fabulous and fifty); and one that focuses on a list of traditional resolutions.  I am inviting blog readers to play along in an art journal, tag book, blog posts, photographs or whatever form works for them.  You can read more about the project in this post.
In my art journal which focuses on health, I wrote down twelve areas on which to focus, and I revisit them each month.  I am doing really well on starting a healthy eating plan.  I joined weight watchers online, and I have lost ten pounds.  I feel much better and my work wardrobe has doubled, as I know fit in more of my clothes. This month, I also started to move and exercise more. I haven't yet joined a gym or started weight training, but that will come. I'm doing a lot for my mental health, by letting go of a lot of unnecessary stress of child rearing and work. Starting next month, I really need to start on the medical areas: going to the dentist, finding a doctor I like, getting up to date on routine medical tests, etc.
The art journal page up top is about doing yoga. . . something I try to do two to three times a week (the other days of the week I try to do something more aerobic).  I love how yoga makes both my mind and body feel.  In doing a yoga tape recently, the instructor said "If you let go of everything you don't need, what do you have left . . ." and this had a very profound effect on me.  It really helped me to let go of so many petty, negative things and face the day in a lighter, positive way.  I also found a great post at the Beauty of Different post, which contained the thought, "all we have are our bodies and our breath."  The post, which you can find here, is really inspiring.  Be sure to check out the other posts she has linked to get the full story.  I'm curious as to whether any of you practice yoga and what you think of it.
And, of course, I'm very curious about how you are doing on your One Little Word projects for 2011.  Please leave links in the comments section.

Weekend Update

A little of this and that before the weekend begins:

1.  My soccer boys (my son Henry's high school team) begin play in the California Central Coast Section Champsionship tournament this weekend. They finished so well that they received a bye into the quarterfinal match, which will take place Saturday morning (California time).  As always, domestic and international good-luck wishes are much appreciated.  The picture above of team captain Miguel dumping a bag of ice on the coach after the league championship game was taken by local sportswriter Mark Foyer.  My boy is the one in the right, back corner laughing up a storm. I'm using a pictue of Mark's because...
2. My computer hard drive is well and truly dead.  Sigh. The computer is only three months old and so still under warranty, but it will take a bit of effort to get Dell to admit that and send me a new one.  Just a reminder:  go back up your pictures and anything else important on your hard drive. . .
3. The month is almost over, which means it's time to check in with your one little word, resolutions and intentions journals, tag books, etc.  I'll (hopefully) put up a few posts between now and the end of the month where you can link your progress.  If you haven't done anything in your art journals this month, yet, this weekend is a great time to pull it out and work on it.  Remember, one page a month, that's all I ask.
4. I found a cooking blog I really like!  It focuses on traditional Mexican cooking, and I think you'll really enjoy it.  You can check it out at this link.  It's called Mexico in My Kitchen. Enjoy!

Finally finished!

My blog friend Karen has chosen "finish" as her word for 2011, and that something I can relate to.  Last Sunday I took a class with Connie and stayed afterwards to finish up some pieces, including this collage I made with street art from Paris. You may recall it from when I asked for your input in this post.  Sorry for the rotten picture, but my computer is feeling a bit ill and I'm limping along using DS Henry's computer. Hopefully mine will get fixed soon.
It felt really good to finish this piece.  Is there something you've finished lately?

Something very different

I made this collage way back in October but had never gotten around to finishing it.  During my Sunday class with Connie, I brought it along to get some suggestions for how to finish it.  All it really needed was a little highlighting in some of the painted areas. I love Frida Kahlo, and it was fun to make this tribute to her.  Blog friend Sian sent me a fabulous link to a blog post about why it's good to blog like Frida. Click here to read it. The October class was called skeleton portraits and is definitely one of the most unusual classes I have taken (and I've taken quite a few unusual classes!). What's the oddest or most unusual thing you've ever created?

What would you give your kids that you didn't have?

It's been a while since I've done an art journal page, and I've seen so many great pages lately that I got antsy and started making backgrounds.  Once I had a background I liked, I looked around for some good prompts, and I settled on the current prompt for Creative Therapy. The question is: "What would you give your kids that you don't have?"  
My page reads: "A passport. . . a passport with lots of stamps inside . . . a passport to travel the world and time with the family to do it.  What am I giving my children that I wanted? As a kid, the farthest I ever traveled was Houston, Texas. In High School, I got to Chicago and Massachusetts.  With our kids, my husband and I have taken them to Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Hungary, France, Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic. I hope they always love to travel and have a better understanding of the world and its people." The background is paper and paint.  The pictures is one I took a couple of summers ago of the canal outside the apartment we rented in Venice for a week, just of of St. Mark's Square.
How would you answer the question?

Strong hearted and head strong

I took a great class today.  It was an intermediate collage class taught by Connie Andrews, in which the idea was to build a collage involving personal icons.  I chose a trio of family heritage pictures that are all about women who are strong hearted and head strong - just like me. I used a key, a sacred heart milagro, some religious medals, a dragon fly charm and and some coins - all of which speak to me on a deep level.  I really, really love this piece!  Connie and I got into a bit of a debate after class as to what the focal point of this collage is.  What do you think it is?  Where does your eye immediately go?

Fred Mullett Anyone?

Here's a couple cards that I made during a class I taught last Saturday.  The techniques are inspired by Fred Mullett's stamps and the classes he has posted about on this website, which you can find here.  I stamped the image above and embossed it using two different colors of embossing powder (silver and black).  I then applied some washes of acrylic paint.

This card also uses a Fred Mullett stamp, embossed with a variety of different colors of embossing powder.  Since it's all sparkly and shiny, it looks much better in real life.  Fred calls this technique "painting with embossing powders."  Tim Holtz also used this technique for one of his 2008 Christmas tags, which you can find here.
I have never taken a class with Fred Mullett, but I sure would like to.  I admire how he takes stamping  to a different level and turns it into mixed media work. Have any of you ever taken a class with Fred Mullett? If so, what did you think?  Is there any other teacher who you would like to take a class from?