Audrey Jeanne’s Expressions Blog is Moving to a Bigger House!

I have redesigned my blog in conjunction with moving to a new hosting company.  I hadn’t even looked at what could be done on a blog since I started mine in January 2008.  Oh my!  I am amazed at all the new and exciting technologies that have sprung up in the last 18 months.  

Blogging was such a foreign concept and felt very hard when I started but it has since grown very comfortable and has been a wonderful joy and outlet for me.  However, I realized that I was settling into a rut of familiarity.  Once I learned about some of the new options, I had dozens of ideas of how I could take my blog to a new level and expand in several possible new directions.  It is very challenging for this middle-aged brain to have to learn all the new programs and concepts behind them, but it is very invigorating as well.

We all love feeling comfortable, but I’ve discovered that when I grow comfortable and at ease I’m often just a step away from becoming stale!  In my art, I work hard to fulfill my artistic mission statement which is “I constantly strive to attain a style that is recognizable without becoming predictable.”

As I shared in an earlier post, the empty nest is upon me and I am wrestling with the incredible grief and disruption that this change brings to a very “comfortable,” and treasured pattern that my life had settled into.  So I am trying to embrace this change and see just where it might take me.  I’m trying to use this as an opportunity to stretch and grow in my home life and in all the other areas of my life as well. 

With my new host company, Host Monster, I will have the capability of having a “Blog Store” where I will be able to sell my digital art kits, printable kits and other items such as custom elegant wedding invitations that are digitally downloadable and customizable.  I will also have the capability of having video and audio files, though I don’t know how to do them yet.  But imagine my being able to do a tutorial and show you how to create a project — Wouldn’t that be fun?!

So to all my “old friends” I’m inviting you along for the journey as I see where this next phase of life will take me.  As I promised my husband 15 years ago when he asked me to marry him “I’m not sure where life will take us, but I promise you that if you hang around with me you definitely won’t have a chance to get bored!!”

 Audrey Jeanne Roberts

FREE Digital Patriotic Greeting Cards for the Troops

free greeting cards for the troops, stars and stripesWith Independence Day (in the United States) coming in just one month, I wanted to create a kit that I have had on my heart for a very long time.  There are wonderful people and organizations all over our nation that are doing whatever they can to make sure our troops overseas know that they are loved, supported and appreciated. 

In my own tiny church there is a large group of mostly women that have been doing an incredibly good job at this.  The ministry is called "Love our Troops," and they send personal notes in greeting cards, care packages and make handmade cooling scarves to express their love and encourage the young men and women that are serving the Afghani and Iraqi people as well as protecting our nation.   

Though our family has sent dozens of cards, because of my schedule I haven’t been able to do as much as my heart desires.  I began to think about how I could enlarge the effort and realized that I can create a kit that just might facilitate a lot of other people to make cards and send them!

This kit contains 3 greeting cards, one is blank for your own message and two matching envelopes.  It is FREE for personal use or for organizations that will be encouraging the troops.  You can download the kit by clicking on the picture at the top of this post and a window will pop up from 4shared.com.  When you click on that window it could take a while for the download button to appear at the top left of the page (a couple of minutes if you have slower internet service).  All you have to do is click on that download button and select a place to download it to on your hard drive.

For those of you who will send these cards out, bless you!!!!!  Oh, and if  you believe in the power of prayer, take a moment to pray for the service member that you are sending it to. 

The BLOG CONTEST WINNER FOR MAY IS the first commentor on this post: http://www.daisiecompany.com/blogs/audreyjeanne/?p=367

“Les Fleurs Antique” Digital Clip Art Kit Preview 2

(UPDATE:  THE KIT IS AVAILABLE NOW AT: http://www.daisiecompany.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3032&zenid=57be4c1bc3e1fc0f6aa6e38ea9fe899dpeony, blue hydrangea, digital clip art, antiqued french wallpaper, scrapbooking, card making, craftingHere are the second set of previews on this upcoming kit.  It will be available soon at www.daisiecompany.com for $5.98 and contains 36 pieces of digital clip art including backgrounds, illustrations, art pieces, embellishments, frames and more.  This kit will work well for digital card making, scrapbooking and other crafting uses such as altered gallon cans and quart cans.

Next week I should also have a paper pack ready that coordinates with this set and the second kit that will follow later. 

paisley, paisleys, antiqued papers, french wallpaper look, quilting, stitchedI have a blog contest I run (most of the time) twice a month.  I’m late on drawing that winner and will do it in my next post, but for those who leave a comment on any post between the 1st-15th or 16th-31st you are automatically entered in to win a digital clip art kit. 

To give you and idea of what you can post as a comment, I’d love you to give me ideas of what you think could be made with this kit.

The winner of the blog contest that I will be drawing soon will win my “Lavender Fields Paper Pack” as a prize, stay tuned!

“Les Fleurs Antique” Clip Art, Scrapbooking Digital Kit Coming Soon!

french garden art, scrapbooking, clip art, digital art kitThank you each and everyone that has emailed me to say you’ve missed my blog and hope that I’m okay!  I have been absolutely buried under deadlines for my new fabric line with Fabric Editions that will debut in September.  It’s called "Chocolate Love" and when I can finally show you the previews I’ll let you know.  It will be available in fine quilt shops all over the USA but I don’t know about the company’s distribution outside of America.

I have been working on a new multi-set collection for a while now and finally have the first set compiled.  There will be at least two art kits and possibly 2 paper packs. 

ivy, quilts, quilted stitching, antique french wallpaper digital clip art kitThese digital art kits were inspired by a magazine spread I saw some years ago about antique French wallpapers.  The papers they showed had such an amazing, faded, distressed but incredibly elegant feel to them.  I’ve tried to capture that feel while designing a contemporary art kit that woud be useful for creating greeting cards, crafts and scrapbooking.

I will have two more previews tomorrow along with a freebie as a way to say "Thanks for your patience!"  There are so many days when I wish I had a clone, but then I’m reminded about how much trouble I have managing and controlling myself let along another "rogue me!!!!!"  I guess I’ll just have to limp along.

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY: Ps 126:4-6  Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negev.  Those who sow in tears  will reap with songs of joy.   He who goes  out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.   NIV

DEVOTION FOR THE DAY:

I am fast approaching the "empty nest" phase of my life and though I have read about it and walked through it with many a friend, nothing in life can prepare you to go through it until you do.  I always try to be honest and share my struggles with my readers, with the hope that there might be a little encouragement to those that are experiencing the same thing I am.

What am I struggling with?  One issue is the changing roles in my life.  I’ve invested hugely in raising my children.  I’ve loved every minute and have also enjoyed letting them go when the time is right.  So it isn’t that I won’t let them grow up, but rather that I enjoy our friendship/relationship so much it’s hard to realize I won’t have that available every day.  Our family is close.  We share our struggles with our kids and vice versa.  The reality is that it is so much more easily done when you see them every day.  Now I have to work much harder at keeping connected and staying close with my kids (and I’m really lousy about making phone calls :-)!)

I also am struggling with a doubly great loneliness, as my "empty nest" also includes that my husband has a new job that requires him to travel extensively.  I’m going from a built in social network of dearly loved friends to working hard not to become isolated.  This requires a total change in my daily schedule and weekly planning.  I’m still not sure exactly what I need to do, but the Lord has convinced me that He’ll help me to figure it out! 

Are you struggling with unforeseen changes to your life (or maybe changes you should have seen and prepared for, but have been pretending weren’t going to come?!)  Have you lost a mate, a career or another loss that has left you reeling?  Do you desperately want life to "go back to normal" but know that it’s a normal that will never exist again?  The Lord is teaching me to allow myself to grieve the changes — and don’t pretend that it doesn’t hurt.  He’s helping me to feel the pain of a losing a life I really enjoyed and treasured and still trust that He has a "new normal" life that He has prepared for me to walk into. 

PRAYER:  Lord, if I had the choice I just might want to go back and stay in the place that I’ve enjoyed for many years, but I don’t have a choice.  Life is moving on.  Life is making changes for me, that I’m not sure I would choose to make for myself.  Help me to feel the pain of that loss, grieve for it, but also let it go and not try to clutch at the past and hold it close.

Help me to find at least a little bit of joy and excitement as I ponder the future that lies ahead.  Help me to make practical changes in my life and routine that will help me cope with my "blues."  Show me new ways to keep in touch with those I love and help me find new relationships and friendships that will be a blessing to me as well as the new people you will bring into my life.  Most of all Lord, thank you for walking me through this difficult stage in life and that you have promised you will NEVER leave me or forsake me!  AMEN