T Stands for Life is Messy But I Don't Mind At All

Happy Tuesday!

First I would like to say it is Remembrance Day and I would like to pay my respect to all the fallen soldiers and respect to all that fought for our Country. 

Since my last post I have not stepped close to my art desk nor have I created anything. 

I was busy with house chores and my mind is all over the place. 

I wish I had a routine. Routines never stay routines because life happens and things change and I just go with the flow and try to just hang in there. Life is messy but I don't mind at all. I just keep going.

I did manage to go into my planner and write down things that I am thinking about and organize my thoughts a bit. I also did some Youtube watching and stayed off the scrolling as much as I could. 

Linking up with T Stands for Tuesday hosted by the lovely Elizabeth.

Thank you Elizabeth for hosting a lovely party! 🎉 

Since my last post  I vlogged a bit more and pushed my self to just film and get out of my comfort zone.

I will be putting the video together by the end of the week. 

I also created a mood board. 

I bought stamps for my snail mail friends. 

On Sunday we had our first snow ❄️ fall! 

So beautiful to look at.

I am trying really hard to make my self go for daily walks. 

Not sure what my problem is. I avoid it. lol

I need to just go for a walk and take my sketch book or my camera and just go for 30 min. 

Hopefully I will go tomorrow. 😬 

I walk my daughter to school and I took this photo on the way to school.

I also finished a book!

Little Alleluias: Collected Poetry and Prose by Mary Oliver
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Little Alleluias Collected Poetry and Prose by Mary Oliver is an exceptional book. This is my first time reading Mary Oliver’s work and I love her poetry. She expresses a lot about nature and how she feels about nature. She questions things and her writing is clear and simple yet so so beautiful. Wonderful reading experience. I can read her work over and over again. I would like to read more of her works. Wonderful and I highly recommend.

View all my reviews

Thank you so much for your visit my friends. 

I hope you are having a wonderful week. 

I look forward to reading your comments. 

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Hugs,

Maria 

Friday Artful Adventures & Creations

 

Happy Friday!

This week was an okay week but I am lacking energy and motivation.

When do you start decorating for Christmas? I think I am going to start decorating this weekend.

I need some lights and Christmas decor to get me uplifted.

⭐️ 

This week I did create a little artwork and I managed to put together the last Vlog for October.

Have a look if you like. 

 Linking up today with Friday Face Off Hosted by the wonderful and talented Nicole 

& 

Art for Fun Friday hosted by the lovely and wonderful Gillena. 

🌟 

This was done on Thursday November 6th on Pastel Paper,

I used my phone to work on a self portrait for Nicole's Challenge. 

 Friday Face Off

I am going to keep working on my self portrait with a variety of mediums to explore and learn more. 

I used chalk pastels. I feel I need a lot of practice with measurements and proportions. 

I do have a book that I am going to look over and It has technical lines and measurements that I can learn from.  

oh the messy lines lol

oh the ears lol oh my goodness 

a mess but this is good practice

I kindly won gouache paints from this brand on Instagram.

https://nevskayapalitra.com/

I am truly grateful.

A video of the swatches.

Painting with the gouache paints and testing them out.

I notice gouache paints dry flat.

I need to work with them more.

This week I also created an illustration. 

I used pencil crayons, crayons, water, markers, pencil and fineliner pen. 

❄️ ❄️ ❄️ 

In Other News

I kindly won a fragrance from Dave Lackie on Twitter. 

He is so amazing.

 It also came with a clinique headband. 

Perfect to hold my hair back when I do my skincare.

He is an incredible friend. 

I love this fragrance. Clinique Happy. So fresh and revitalizing fragrance. 

Thank you so much Dave!

Friendly Snail mail from a Wonderful Friend

Thank you Yaya!

If anyone would like to do a small snail mail exchange for junk journaling let me know.

I exchange things like small stickers, paper goodies and stationary goods. 

message me on IG. 

Check out my previous post if you like

Hello November Rain

Beyond the Lines: Exploring the World of Notebooks & Journals With a Cuppa

❄️ 

Thank you all for your visit and your wonderful comments. 

Thank you from my heart and have a wonderful weekend!

Maria 

Hello November Rain!

Hello November Rain! 

The weather has been yuck.

It gets darker by 5:00.

I feel a bit tired this week. 

Linking up to Rain's Thursday Art & Dinner Date

&

Little Things Thursday

I had fun with this illustration. 

I know it's not perfect and I could of made it more neat but rainy days are messy! 

I used crayons, water, marker, fineliner pen, pencil crayons and pencil. 

My dinner 

Spicy cabbage with carrots and rice and a cheese sandwich. 

I really love cabbage. Need to make some cabbage rolls soon. 

I can eat cabbage everyday.

Thank you so much

Have a lovely Thursday! 

Maria

Beyond the Lines: Exploring the World of Notebooks & Journals With a Cuppa

 

Hello friends!

 Happy November!

 How do you like my new cuppa?

This came with a set of three other cups and they all have a different designs on them. 

I received the set from a wonderful friend. 

Can't wait to share each one with you every week.

Linking up with  Tea Stands For Tuesday hosted by the lovely Elizabeth.

Also linking up to The Good The Random The Fun hosted by Tamar.

THE GOOD

I have a few notebooks, journals and planners that I wanted to share with you. I bought a red Clever Fox Weekly planner from Amazon and I use this for appointments and to-do lists. It's a great planner. I really enjoy using this weekly. It sculpts my thoughts and brain around what I need to do and what I need to accomplish in the week and month.

Vision Board for 2026 

 I used Pinterest to print out some images

I also used some stickers.

This is how the weekly layout is in the Clever Fox Weekly Planner

I have a red Leuchtturm1917 and I use it for a Creative Journal. This lovely journal was gifted to me. In this journal I love to capture memories in creative ways like drawing, making collages, cut and pasting, adding photos, embellishments, making lists, writing poems and journal entries.

 I just had to add pom-poms to the journal.

 Leuchtturm1917 is by far my favourite notebook out there. 

I love the quality of the notebook.

I have a Junky Junk journal, It's an Oxford Composition Notebook and in it I put all paper and scraps that I like. The messier the better! I will be be sharing a flip through of my Junky Junk Journal when I finish it. 

I have a pocket size Leuchtturm1917 softcover that I use as a commonplace book. 

"Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are personal notebooks used to compile any information the owner finds interesting or useful. They can variously contain notes, proverbs, adages, aphorisms, maxims, recipes, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, prayers, legal formulas, and other professional references. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century." -wikipedia

So far I have documented quotes from books, bible quotes and classical music that I love. 

I love a commonplace book. Yes of course I decorated the cover! 

I have a Leuchtturm1917 five year planner called "Some Lines A Day" which I write a few lines of what happened in my day and I write it before bed. I love this planner because each day it allows me to see what I was doing the year before on the exact date. Very amazing planner and I will continue to use it because I love it so much. 

*Feel free to use my code: MARIA for 20% off your purchase from Leuchtturm1917

I also have a Traveler's Notebook. I bought an affordable one off of Amazon.

This is great to take with me when I am out of the house. 

This is my Moleskine notebook which I use as a monthly calendar, daily thoughts and to-do lists plus food and recipes and creative junk pages too. I am not a fan of this book. I will be using this up because when I start something I must finish it. 

Do you have a favourite notebook? 

Let me know which notebooks you like and enjoy.

 I would love to know. 

I also have two more notebooks, one to write stories and poetry and another notebook that sits by the couch area just incase I have an idea and want to jot it down quickly. 

You can never have enough notebooks, journals, sketchbooks or planners! :) 

THE RANDOM

I have a new About Me Page.

 Check it out if you like to read a little about me. 

Here is the set of four mugs. 

Which one is your favourite?

Thank you all for visiting my blog. I appreciate you so much.

THE FUN

Check out my New Vlog if you like.

I was thinking of making a journal vlog where I can share all my journals with you. 

Let me know if this is something that would interest you. 

Thank you and have a wonderful rest of the week!

Thank you,

Maria