creating

Creating OUTSIDE the journal

I have been thinking really hard about how I wanted to approach the second day to journaling.
yesterday we pretty much started out with a fresh page to start out the fresh new year, But I want this year to be different for me. I want this year to be better. I want this year to be FANTASTIC!!!! I feel the need to create something a little different.

I have been trying all kinds of fun new techniques for being creative, or behaving artistically.  I have been trying to submerse myself in color and I feel a rainbow explosion coming on strong! I want to decorate the cover of my art journal.

Instead of today journaling about something specific, try something you have never tried before on the cover of your Journal!
Try and just let your colorshow I have seen inkblot backgrounds for journal pages and may even do that for myself however I really want to make something unique.

January 1, 2013

Being today is the first day of the year, a time for new beginnings and fresh starts, Grab your journal and open to your first page and journal your first impression of 2013.

the first thing you see, the first person you see, the first thing you experience

Whatever your first is, document it in your journal. paint it, draw it, describe it, take a photo of it. However you experience your first moments, your first day of 2013.

I started this year out with my new journal that my grandmother gave me for Christmas and started thinking about my first experience of 2013. I wanted to gather my thoughts about my experience and I just let the pen dance through my thoughts. Without much effort at all, I just let it flow and I was happy with my journal entry. I really wanted this to be part of my ArtJournal!I liked that it said everything I wanted to say ans everything that I was experiencing as we rang in 2013 so I scanned my entry and printed it out on photo paper. I decided that The meaning was there and I didn't need to go overboard so I decided to keep this one quite simple.  I also printed the picture that my husband sent me of himself in the dining area of the ship he is on next to their Christmas tree they set up for the crew. This is the only picture I have seen of him since he left right after Thanksgiving.  I know I am Blessed in so many ways but i cannot believe how lucky i am to have such a great supportive guy in my life that I am fortunate enough to call my best friend and my husband at the same time. He makes me so happy, even when we don't get to see each other for weeks at a time. 

Both of my sisters are military wives who have been through deployment of their husbands and I do now have a completely new appreciation of everything they had to go through trying to make it work and being so far apart and not knowing if you would get a chance to talk for awhile. 

This is my first impression of the new year and I couldn't have wished it any better.

Welcome 2013 Our BEST year yet!

Thank you all,

Valerie Boggs

The Merchant Mermaid

please like me on facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TheMerchantMermaid

www.themerchantmermaid.com

Happy New Year

2013 is officially here!

Happy new year to all my mermaid friends and family!
What a fantastic year 2012 was! From newly-wed to the birth of the Merchant Mermaid, Craig graduating college, My surgery, Us both completing our Captains course, Craig starting a new job, us celebrating our first anniversary (apart) and moving back to Oak Island where I grew up!
It has been a crazy fun exciting never ending Roller Coaster. I was so busy that I hardly had time to keep it all straight. This year is going to be be better.

This year I hope to catalogue my year in the form of an art journal.

One page at a time.

Please feel free to journal along.

I will let my creative juices flow in whatever form they deem appropriate. although I have no control of how messy it can get. When i get involved in color, things tend to get a little messy.

I will post my journal topic, feel free to use them as a guideline or a journal along.
I will post a new topic every few days or so to try to get into a rhythm.
I myself have about 10 different journals and I use them for everything to my deepest darkest secrets to simple writing down a grocery list.  I want to create something totally different and unique! I want it to be everything and nothing at all. I want to describe things without using words. I want to convey the passion and excitement I have for everything I do and I want you to feel the love that is poured into every page i touch.

I hope you enjoy and I hope you play along!
Happy journaling!

love,
Valerie Boggs
The Merchant Mermaid

Full "cold" moon Dreamboard!

December 28,2012

Full "cold" moon

Dreamboard

The Full Cold Moon asks:

 “What comforts do you dream of?”

It has been sometime since I have been able to devote as much time as i would like to myself. 2013 is going to be a great year full of comforts such as time with family and friends. But also prosperity and success. I want to finish out 2012 with a bang and move into a new phase and a new year with vigor and excitement. 

I dream big for 2013, I will be successful in everything I set out to accomplish and I will accomplish great things!

Being a mermaid it only seemed fitting that I set my last dreamboard for 2012 that will carry me into the new year underwater and above.

I dream of traveling with my husband, who works at sea, while he is home. I will make my art and jewelry creativly successful and utilize our travels to maximize the potential for art shows and craft festivals. 

I will continue to connect with customers, and clients and friends through social media to continue to grow my creativity. 

Hard work and determination ALWAYS payoff and I WILL work harder than I ever have to continue to be honest, caring, loving and creative. 

Thank you EVERYONE for a Fantastic 2012.

Welcome 2013 Our BEST year yet!

Thank you all,

Valerie Boggs

The Merchant Mermaid

please like me on facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TheMerchantMermaid

www.themerchantmermaid.com

Nothing to it but to do it!

It has been a long time since I have posted in my blog. I have been busy throughout the past year with surgery and health issues, moving and getting the new studio set up. But we are here in the new location on Oak Island NC. Last night we had our first kids art class and Summer was amazing. She is so full of energy and by the end of class she was ready to paint the entire house. It brings me so much joy to share the gift of creative freedom with a child and watch them come alive. 

8 year old Summer enjoying her first are class!

Saturday morning in Carolina Beach NC several local artists will be getting together for our first Tree house Yart sale. Very similar to an yard sale but with arts and crafts. I am really looking forward to getting back into the art scene and being more involved in the local community. Summer (my little artist) has painted a dolphin that will be for sale (her request) So come by and meet some great local artists.

Full Pink Moon 2012 Dream board

I am a few days late on my dream board this month but I am still pleased with the results. 


The full pink moon, according to the farmers almanac This name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names for this month’s celestial body include the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and among coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon, because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn.


The Full Pink  Moon asks: “What dreams is it time to tend?”
For me it is time to tend all my dreams. I have included a large surfing doodle because this mermaid LOVES to surf. I have been dreaming about getting back into the water VERY soon. I have also included dreams from my heart. Spending the rest of my life, knowing and loving my husband, and my business. www.themerchantmermaid.com I have been working very hard at getting my website up and running, and being creative so that I have items to sell on the web site as well. This is my passion and I hope and dream that one day this will be my reality. I would love to be able to stop waiting tables and focus my energy on what makes me happy. Being Creative.
Peace, Love, and Happiness are always at the heart of my dreams. and with that being said I wish everyone the most peace, love, and happiness that this spring may bring.

One of my fellow bloggers Jamie Ridler  Has a monthly craft called the full moon dreamboard. 

I absolutely love looking at everyone elses dreamboards that they create. This is my second dreamboard and I hope to keep this a monthly ritual. I have a lot of dreams and ambitions for the coming months and I have already added a lot to my already full plate, but nonetheless. I always have a lot of fun creating and reflecting on my dreamboard.

Spring is almost here!

Spring is almost here. In about an hour we will welcome spring and I couldnt be happier. I have been feeling it in the for a few weeks now. It has been the very mild this winter for us and At 1:14am here will mark the earliest that the spring equinox has happened since the 1800's. Today is one of the two most balanced days of the year. Get out your brooms and eggs. :-) The darkness finally gives way for the light to return. For some of us this means we will soon be celebrating the awaking or rebirth of the earth and for others the awaking or rebirth of their lord. However you choose to celebrate its time for the flowers to bloom and the birds to sing its a time of fertility  and a time to clear out stagnant winter air, throw open the windows and welcome the more vibrant  aromas of fresh spring sounds and smells.
I dont know what it means to everyone else around the world but for this mermaid it means freedom. Spring is the time of year where i just cant help but want to tear away evey article of clothing until nothing is left but my birthday suit and jump in the water even quicker. Naturally that is not the reality of what I actually do but thats how it feels. I have already begun to experience the early signs of spring fever. My garden is coming to life at record speeds and I cannot wait for the rhizones to arrive. All of my early seeds have sprouted and now I am ready to finish planting. Springtime not only means a change in the weather but for me it is a change in lifestyle. My life goes from being stir crazy and bundled up near a fire hiding  from the cold to the craft crazed bikini wearing water loving mermaid I am. Spring brings with it the change needed to propell me into the year. And I couldnt be more ready for it.
I am ready to say goodbye to the winter. Rest well and I will see you next year.
Happy Spring everyone.