Category Archives: Daily Life with Audrey Jeanne

Daily Life with Audrey Jeanne

Sitting in Starbucks Sketching Ideas for Coffee Art!

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That’s just one of the many activities that I did this past 2 days to do some research and planning on some new coffee art.  I sat there drinking my Cafe Americano, sketch pad in hand drawing their various coffee mugs in different positions with customers and store clerks looking over my shoulder from time to time.  It was fun.

Now my problem is I have about 1/2 a million ideas and I need to narrow things down a bit.  My agent heads to Atlanta this week.  During the show season things are generally pretty quiet so I have the opportunity to paint a lot without interruptions. 

This is my favorite time of the year as a licensed artist.  My older art is just hitting the marketplace in new product lines and I’m off exploring what to do next!  I love working on projects with my manufacturers and designing products out of art that has already been completed, but having the freedom to just “play” and see what happens makes me feel like a little girl again on a rainy day pulling out my mother’s secret weapon (the “rainy day box” of art supplies!)   

For those of you that buy my digital art kits, this art won’t make it there for a very long time, but perhaps I will throw together a bookmark of other goodie to give you a “taste” of the coffee collection (pun fully intended!!!)

Remember, the blog contest will be concluding on the 30th and I’ll be drawing a winner on the 1st of July, so if you haven’t commented on posts between the 16th and th 30th you still have time to catch up and get your entries in.  All you have to do to enter is write a comment and we pick one at random to win a FREE digital clip art kit from my collection at www.daisiecompany.com.

Now, back to my painting studio I go…

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:  Isa 60:1-3  “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.  See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.  Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.  NIV

COMMENTS:  I love this verse as a “coffee” illustration as I am not much of a morning person (to put it mildly) so shining brightly in the morning is not exactly my M.O.!  However, God loves to meet us in the morning and shine His light in our hearts and through us into a very dark world. 

I have been spending more time out in the day-to-day world in the past few months than I have in many years and have met many people whose lives seem to be filled with a darkness, heaviness and hopelessness.  They don’t know that their lives can be filled with God’s light and His love, and they won’t unless I (and you) let that light shine into their darkness.

PRAYER:  Lord, I am so blessed to live in your light.  I know that it is purely because of your grace and mercy.  I realize that I’ve grown so accustomed to the light, I don’t even realize how bright it is in comparison to the darkness that is around me any more.  Lord, let your light so fill me and shine in my daily walk that I am a walking flashlight that brings light to those who are in darkness without even having to think about it.

Lord, let your glory shine over me in ways that draw men and women to seek you.  Let them see the difference that having you in my life makes.  For those I meet, who are dwelling in the darkness of sin, confusion, death, addiction and all manner of dark-filled places let them see and begin to long for the freedom that comes from living in the light of your word.  AMEN

Daily Life with Audrey Jeanne

Our Weekend at the Lake

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The shore at Hume Lake CaliforniaHume Lake CaliforniaWe went to Hume Lake this weekend on our church’s annual family camping trip.  We changed campgrounds this year and it was a great change!  We were actually 1 mile up the mountainside from the lake (no lake view unfortunately) in a very secluded group campground with aspens, incense cedar and lodgepole pines. 

I’m not sure why, but for me 1 day in the mountains is worth about 3 days rest anywhere else.  I only wish we could have stayed about a week instead of only a day.  We helped our best friends move on Saturday so that was the best we could do. 

With the price of gas this summer, you may not be able to travel far, but that shouldn’t stop you from planning events and activities that will become treasured memories for your children or grandchildren.  What can you do that is close to home and you’ve always thought to do but haven’t?  Can you be a “tourist” in your home town and do all the things you do when company comes but never do for yourselves? 

We lived in San Diego almost all of my life and there were so many things we were always going to do “some day!”  Well, maybe this summer is “some day” for your family.  Get creative, great vacations don’t have to cost a lot of money, some of our best haven’t cost much more than a tank of gas (which may be more now, but is still pretty darn affordable!!!)

Daily Life with Audrey Jeanne

Karla Dornacher’s Korner Shoppe is Now Open!

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Karla Dornacher\'s Morning Glories Digital Clip ARt Kit

It’s a GRAND OPENING!!!!  Karla Dornacher, my very, very, very dear friend  has just opened her new digital clip art store and IT’S ADORABLE!!!  I feel like a very proud Auntie at the birth of a new niece.  I’ve watched her take these first steps and am so excited to see what she will do next.

Go take a peek and let her know that I sent you!  You can find her store at http://karladornacher.typepad.com/karlas_korner_shoppe/

Daily Life with Audrey Jeanne

Les Fleurs Antique Paper Pack Coming Friday.

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(UPDATE:  This kit is now available in my blog store at http://audreyjeannesblog.com/BlogShop/?page_id=6&category=3&product_id=3)Les Fleurs Antique, Digital scrapbooking papers, also for card making or crafting.Les Fleurs Antique, digital scrapbooking papers, card making, and crafting kitThe paper pack that coordinates with the “Les Fleurs Antique” Digital Clip Art, scrapbooking and cardmaking kit will be available in the Daisie Company store on Friday.  Here’s a sneak peek of the kit for you.  By the way, if you click on the images a larger version will pop up in a the window, then just click the back arrow to come back here.

I am working on another new theme for a kit that will be out sometime next week and will have previews of it soon.  I’ll then go back and finish “Les Fleurs Antique” as I created too much for one kit and not quite enough for the second so I’ll create some more items for it.  Then I’m kind of anxious to maybe create some printable items if I have the time as I think “Les Fleurs” will make some spectacular cards and stationery goods.

My daughter, Jacqui, got a very disappointing email last night.  She’s been scheduled to start her training with Sky West to become a flight attendant and they’ve put her on hold because of the gas crisis.  They don’t have a position to place her in yet so they’ll wait until they do.  I’m very proud of how she’s been handling this bump in the road and the trust she is exhibiting in the Lord and His plan for her life.  WOW!  When you’re a mom and you see your children walking in wisdom it is such a joy!

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:Prov 3:5-6  Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.   NIV

PRAYER:  Lord, it’s so hard not to lean on my own understanding, to not assume that what I see, hear or experience is what I should rely on.  Help me to know you so well that it becomes easier to rely on you and what you have said in your word than on my own judgement.  Help me to seek your will and acknowledge you in all areas of my life and to know that you have a plan, a path from where I am now to where you have destined to to go.

And Lord, when my path seems really crooked or heading in the wrong direction, help me to trust that sometimes a crooked path directed by the Lord will be much easier, safer and faster than a seemingly straight path laid out by my own understanding!  AMEN

Daily Life with Audrey Jeanne

“A Garden Full of Dreams” Gardening Journal by Audrey Jeanne Roberts

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Butterfly Garden fountains, garden bench, garden arch, picket fenceA Garden Full of Dreams by Audrey Jeanne RobertsI stumbled on this at The Reader’s Digest Store this morning,  http://www.rdstore.com/product_detail.cfm?pid=4389&seo=A-Garden-Full-of-Dreams  This journal/kit is a project I did 4 years ago and didn’t know that they were reprinting.  The price is exceptional at $11.99 for a soft cover gardening journal (11″ wide by 8 1/4″ high), It contains 2 sets of notecards, seed packets and loads of pages of planning pages, notes, journals, grids and helpful hints. 

There are a couple of digital clip art kits that coordinate with this product that would allow you to make a great gift presentation.  You can find the digital clip art kit and paper pack here: http://www.daisiecompany.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2727

http://www.daisiecompany.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2728

I wish my garden at home looked a little more like my fantasy gardens :-)!  We spent a couple of hours yesterday out tidying things up a little.  It’s just never finished though!!

 

 

Daily Life with Audrey Jeanne

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

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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