Holy Cow! She Actually Made Art!!!!

Here's an art journal spread that I did in about 10 or 15 minutes, last night. I was in an angry state...a very angry state and here is how I dealt with it....by choosing creativity over anger. I can't tell you how much this little creative exercise calmed me down. I thought my head was going to explode, but I did this instead.

A far healthier choice, don't ya think?

Peace through Creativity,

Bettina

PS: Check out www.TeeshaMoore.com for some awesome inspiration. I've been watching her Youtube vids and they rock!

Winter Wandering...

I've been working on a new entry, for weeks, now. I'm still working on it, but I thought I would add a quick note and a few pics about my latest passion.






That's right...snow people.

Can't tell ya how great it felt to really play in the snow! I spent my very, early childhood in New Hampshire, then moved to Florida when I was five. I remembered that snow was magic, but it took this many years to really find that magic, again! I turned 53, this year!
This experience I have compared to the old "Twilight Zone" episode, "Kick the Can". Anybody remember that one?

Anyway...snow is bliss. :)

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Forgiveness and the Freedom of Letting go

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, but life keeps throwing me curve balls. I am learning to catch them or duck, but the injuries, frankly, have been deep.

Today, in an effort to heal, I offer this wonderful video. I have said for a long time that "Forgiveness is not a reward that we give to the person who harmed us...it is for our own healing". Holding on to hurt feelings only hurts us. The person who harmed us, could often times care less, but if we release our hurt feeling and forgive, we take their power to harm us away.

Just pop down the page and turn off my site music, before you run this little gem....but DO run it. It is very healing.

Namaste

Bettina

BlissChick: Perfection Is Impossible but Fun Is...FUN!

This is a fantastic blog I just discovered. I'm still exploring it, but I had to share.

BlissChick: Perfection Is Impossible but Fun Is...FUN!

I'll be back to blogging, soon! Life is still pulling together, here in NJ!

B

White Springs Yodel - Bettina Makley

Posting this from YouTube. I performed for the last time (as a resident) last night, in Wheeling, WV. Not a perfect rendition of this song, as anyone who has heard it before will know, but...the yodel came out OK....lol. Anyway, it's a song about my family and our years at the Florida Folk Festival. I wish you could hear it with all of them singing with me, but for now, this will have to do. You should probably scroll down and turn off my music player, so it doesn't interfere....and thanks for listening! :)

I'm still packing, just FYI. Should be moving at the end of the week.

Bettina

Moving to Jersey City!

Just when I think things are settling down, upside-down they turn, again!

I'm moving to Jersey City. This is a good thing, though I had to talk myself into believing that. The fact is, as much as I love where I am, the opportunity is too good to pass up. I just got back from a month-long reconnaissance mission and I am filled with inspiration! I guess I'm more of a city girl than I ever realized. Also, my dear, sweet guy, Lance has much better job opportunities there, not to mention that all three of my, beautiful children live in the area, as well.

We have a place lined up and I will still have a studio, though it may be a few weeks before I have time to update this blog, again. The real reason I took the time, today, was so that if anyone of my on-line friends are in the Jersey City/NYC area they can let me know! I have a lot to learn about the place and it would help to have friends there, already (though I've already started to make a few)!

I'm totally new to condo living, but I can see how I could become totally spoiled! I'll be two blocks from the Grove Street Path (train into NYC), so I can bop into the city, any time I want to. I've really enjoyed my visits there and, of course, it is a never ending source of inspiration.

The picture was taken by Lance Kirtley and is the view from our new digs. Pretty cool, huh?

Well...I'm off to finish packing. Wish me good fortune...and lots of energy. I'm going to need it.

Namaste,

Bettina

Make Your Own Metallic Stickers!

OK...so I was cleaning up, in the Lab, yesterday. I tend to "play", as I clean. I began to noodle around with some metallic tape that I got at the home improvement store and some alcohol inks that I bought at Michael's (with a Christmas gift card from Lance's Mom). I had seen, somewhere on the Internet ( I wish I could remember, now) someone using a scribing tool to make impressions on the tape. It's something I have been intending to try. The inks were sitting there, too and since they are intended for non-porous surfaces, I thought I would see what what would happen if I used them on my impressed tape. I'm really happy with the results! The tape is peel and stick, so I can save them and use them later...probably in a journal, but who knows?

Anyway, that was a fun experiment, so I decided to do another and capture myself creating it. It's my first demo-style video and it's really given me the bug to do more...and to get better at making them. This is a mini-tutorial for hand made, metallic stickers. Let me know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OabLGrC3ss

Tootles,

Bettina