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	<title>Spreadable Joy</title>
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	<description>KMericks </description>
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		<title>Inspiration Monday, a collage! Art Journal for March 2013</title>
		<link>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/03/04/inspirationmonday-a-collage-art-journal-for-march-2013/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/03/04/inspirationmonday-a-collage-art-journal-for-march-2013/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Mar 2013 19:53:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kate</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[art journal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inspiration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[inspiration monday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[joy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[painting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[inspiration]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kmericks.com/?p=1293</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have created my first art journal page of the year, friends! I really wanted to work on a collage piece, for I was just itching to tear up paper. My intention was to have a mellow background with stark foreground. I am not sure I achieved this, but here is my first &#8220;Passion&#8221; Art Journal page for 2013! I am really hoping this is going to turn into a weekly post series, Inspiration Monday! I am trying, I promise. We were all sick here for 7 weeks, with only 3 days well in the middle. It wasn&#8217;t cool, but we are back in the runnings folks! Anyways, here is the art journal page: I used paper, torn into strips for the background. I tried to use only yellow and gray, but then the red just sort of happened. Do you think I should&#8217;ve stuck with a lighter background, and maybe used red flowers instead? Then I painted flowers and the word &#8220;Passion&#8221;. As I&#8217;ve somewhat mentioned before &#8220;Joyful Passion&#8221; and &#8220;Spreadable Joy&#8221; are really my phrases for the year. I am hoping that my upcoming posts will help encourage joy in your life and life experiences, both play time and work time. I believe finding your passion is key to helping you be joyful. And I also think that you can choose joy in a situation, too. If you have a passion for something though, I feel like the joy won&#8217;t have to be chosen or worked at. It just appears! That is what I hope to help you find and inspire you through my art. Or inspire you to make art for yourself that instills this passion and joy! More to come in the future on that, though. For now, let me leave you with this to think about: What are the things in your life that you find yourself losing track of time while you are doing? You know the thing that puts you in the blissful state of mind and suddenly four hours have passed. One of these things, for me, is painting. I get a paint brush in my hands and suddenly I realize I was supposed to be in bed hours prior. What is one of these things for you? Later, Kate]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Elmer&#8217;s Glue vs. Mod Podge vs. Decoupage vs. etc&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/02/24/elmers-glue-vs-mod-podge/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/02/24/elmers-glue-vs-mod-podge/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Feb 2013 06:02:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kate</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[lessons learned]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tools i use]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stuff and products i use]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kmericks.com/?p=1285</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So I&#8217;m sure most of you know this by now, but I was curious while working on a project, which glue medium item would last longer &#8211; Elmer&#8217;s Glue vs. Mod Podge vs. Decoupage. (Yes, I can be a bit silly. I feel ridiculous telling ya&#8217;ll this, but this is what I searched for&#8230;) Anyways, Google, go! Well, turns out that Decoupage is the act of using an adhesive to bind one surface to another. Ahem. And Mod Podge is a type of this medium, short for Modern Decoupage. And Elmer&#8217;s Glue-all (not the washable or school stuff) can be watered down to make a similar item. Neither Elmer&#8217;s nor Mod Podge is entirely water resistant. I have read of Collage Pauge, but I haven&#8217;t used it. Personally, Glue-all works just fine for me. I guess I should try watering my Elmer&#8217;s down next time and waste less. Sigh. Live and learn, right? The humorous thing to me is that I felt I was being frugal by using it as I&#8217;ve had the Elmer&#8217;s since college. Model building in architectural school and all. Now, I feel down-right wasteful. Double sigh. Aside, I find that the smell of Mod Podge is overwhelming. I have a sensitive nose. Have I mentioned I&#8217;m a vegetarian? I don&#8217;t like the taste of meat and, um, the smell. So, thanksgiving? Yeah, G-ross. Ok, I know I&#8217;m going to get flak for that one. Regardless, a product using Mod Podge probably will last longer in the long run, as it contains a sealing agent as well. I assume that is why is stinks more. I haven&#8217;t noticed any yellowing when using Elmer&#8217;s myself, but again, I have never diluted it, so maybe that helps. Conclusion: keep using what I like for pieces that I don&#8217;t need to last. Otherwise, maybe I should try Collage Pauge, which supposedly has less odor! Has anyone used Collage Pauge? Please let me know what you think of it! Ok, enough run-on sentences, I&#8217;m off to bed. Spread Joy! (Or in this case, laughter). Kate]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/02/24/elmers-glue-vs-mod-podge/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Ten Reads for my Favorite Books list 2012</title>
		<link>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/02/21/favorite-books-list-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/02/21/favorite-books-list-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Feb 2013 01:48:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kate</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[for fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reading]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kmericks.com/?p=961</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[These books were some my favorites reads for 2012. They all just hit me at the right time or surprised me with their quality or simply fascinated me. This Favorite books list 2012 is in no order really and were not necessarily published in 2012. Please let me know if you want me to summarize, but I find there are great reviews on Goodreads. Middle Grade/ Young Adult Books:]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/02/21/favorite-books-list-2012/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Some Lessons I Learned Tonight While Painting</title>
		<link>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/02/16/lessons-learned/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/02/16/lessons-learned/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 17 Feb 2013 03:44:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kate</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[lessons learned]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kmericks.com/?p=1255</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Walk away and let your paint dry. Go to bed instead of muddying your beautiful layers of color. (Especially when using a new type of paint, and the drying time might be longer than you are used to.) Use a color just because you love it. But that may mean that your process or content or subject needs to change, too. Change can be good. It keeps things fresh! Think a bit before just winging it. Just wing it. The cost of a paint tube should not change the level of fun you have while using it. 10 minutes of painting is better than zero. The end for now. I&#8217;m tired and should&#8217;ve gone to bed before ruining my painting. See first note.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/02/16/lessons-learned/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>ReDiscovering a small Joy! Crayola Crayon coloring!</title>
		<link>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/01/09/crayola_crayons/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/01/09/crayola_crayons/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:09:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kate</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Inspiration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[joy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tools i use]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kmericks.com/?p=1224</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So things are slow on the blogging front these days for a number of reasons. I have intentions to be posting more soon, but life has a tendency to be unpredictable. The kiddo must be going through a growth phase, because the little one just isn&#8217;t consistently sleeping. Therefore, I really haven&#8217;t had much consolidated time to paint. That part may be sad, but remember what I mentioned before &#8211; choose joy! Instead of focusing on all the things I haven&#8217;t been doing, what I am seeing instead is that the kiddo is learning and growing! This is a new stretching time for me, but that&#8217;s ok too. I need to figure out how to make it work all over again, but challenges can be good. Keep life from being stale and boring. Pah, ok, I wouldn&#8217;t mind having a little more boring these past few weeks, but what can you do? Just keep smiling! That being said, I have been working on some things without so much mess in small pieces. I am excited to share more about those things but they are very slowly coming together, so it might be a while. But I am excited about moving in a more focused direction, and I will say that I expect some changes visible in my art style in the coming months. Yeah! Lastly, I&#8217;d like to leave you with this. Times may be rough and free time may be short, but you can still find joy in simple things. We have been drawing with crayons, lots over here. Crayons get a bad rep for being only a child&#8217;s art tool, but rediscovering joy through them is so much fun. Because they have such an ingrained ideology, anyone can color! So it&#8217;s so easy to let loose and just have fun with them. I may not be painting much, but we have been scribbling up a storm and I can see that looser style making it&#8217;s way into my &#8220;real&#8221; art! P.S. Triangle Crayola crayons are great, as they don&#8217;t roll off the table all the time, but they do break more easily than other crayons for some reason. These crayons have taken a beating after less than a week of use!]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.kmericks.com/2013/01/09/crayola_crayons/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How to Bring Focus to Your Life!!!</title>
		<link>http://www.kmericks.com/2012/12/21/bring-focus-to-your-life/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kmericks.com/2012/12/21/bring-focus-to-your-life/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Dec 2012 05:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kate</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lessons learned]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paint party friday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[why i blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[why i paint]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[for fun]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kmericks.com/?p=1217</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This post &#8220;How to have Bring Focus to Your Life&#8221; is a continuance from my previous post. I talked about how I am going to work on making a daily practice of one idea and theme that has been revolving around my world and making occasional (noticeable) appearances! This is how I figured out what that theme was: Step One, I think, is to determine WHAT you love.  WHO you want to be. WHO you would like to be like.  I love people with a passion for what they do. I think that people who are passionate are more successful in the long run. I love what I do. I love spending the day with my kiddo. I love creating anything really. I am very content, but I still felt like I was rudderless. (To be clear, that&#8217;s not actually true, I do have True Direction in Jesus. He is more like the river that I am speeding down, though. He guides my life, but I often seem to misplace my rudder in the day to day goings of my life. Sad, but true. I think I have figured out how to install a permanent rudder so-to-speak.) So&#8230; Step Two, Work backwards. I found some people that I admired and tried to figure out WHY I admired them and WHAT it was specifically that I wanted to emulate. Passion, check. But more than that, passion for God and passion for others. Positive outlook. I want to INSPIRE. Step Three, look at where those elements you admire intersect with one another. Then look at where that intersects with you are right now. Start there and expand. This is where I am at right now. Right now, I have been swerving all over the lines of intersection. But by narrowing down to a few elements that I want to live by and that one common thread that I see in everything that I want and by moving forward with a specific purpose, my ducks should all fall in a row! I am not saying there isn&#8217;t going to be work, there will be lots of it. But it will be fun, so on to what my goal moving forward is: Yes, this is a very unoriginal idea. But I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s bad! I painted these letters for my studio and have plastered phrases with joy all around my life to remind myself all the time. I am also hoping that this new focus will spill into my blog. You will see thinks about: Choosing Joy. Spreading Joy. Creating Joy. Living Joyfully. While this is a personal step and goal, I want this for you too. So I hope you join me. Yes, we already have some joy in our life, yeah! But there is always, always, always room for more! And I feel like the more purposeful joy I have in my life, the less junk. This isn&#8217;t so much about change as providing specific direction. A lens, a perspective! I realize that this seems like a very simple outcome, but you can make it as specific as you want. In short, figure out who you want to be and what it would take for you to get there. &#60;Spread Joy&#62; Kate]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.kmericks.com/2012/12/21/bring-focus-to-your-life/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>New Year&#8217;s Resolutions!!</title>
		<link>http://www.kmericks.com/2012/12/16/newyearsresolutions/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kmericks.com/2012/12/16/newyearsresolutions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Dec 2012 17:37:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kate</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business goals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inspiration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pupose]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[why i blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[why i paint]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[purpose]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kmericks.com/?p=1204</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It is that time of year again to look back on another year gone and review our goals for the coming year. It is a great time of reminiscing and just wondering where in the world the days went&#8230; The best part is to look back and see how much you&#8217;ve grown! Some people do new year&#8217;s resolutions, some people don&#8217;t, some people have a year of contemplation of a particular word, again some people don&#8217;t. I really haven&#8217;t subscribed to any of these things. I feel, that if you want something to change, it should be more than just a year&#8217;s effort, it should be daily. So again, I am not doing resolutions this year, instead, I am starting today, yesterday even. Discipline&#8230; habit&#8230; daily goals&#8230; Me! The great thing is when I look back, I can already see myself being prodded in this very direction. I can see myself being shaped and reformed, and it&#8217;s good! So hopefully this isn&#8217;t really so much of a change as further development. Progression into my passion. Reviewing my year allows me to see this pattern clearly. I have been floundering around, trying to find a purpose for what I do. I have decided that it&#8217;s not WHAT I do. It&#8217;s HOW I do it. You can do this for yourself, too. I&#8217;ll show you my process in my next post! to be continued&#8230;]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Bird Commission Painting now on Etsy!</title>
		<link>http://www.kmericks.com/2012/12/10/bird-commission-painting-now-on-etsy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kmericks.com/2012/12/10/bird-commission-painting-now-on-etsy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Dec 2012 02:14:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kate</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[etsy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[painting]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kmericks.com/?p=1198</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In case you were wondering what I&#8217;ve been up to &#8211; I have just listed the 3 paintings from a recent commission that I completed and am allowed to post! Woohoo, she loved them! They look awesome in her nursery too! The decor is a butter yellow and light gray with white and black accents. It fits, don&#8217;t ya think? &#60;heart&#62; Kate]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.kmericks.com/2012/12/10/bird-commission-painting-now-on-etsy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Digital Art for PPF</title>
		<link>http://www.kmericks.com/2012/12/09/digital-art-for-ppf/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kmericks.com/2012/12/09/digital-art-for-ppf/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 09 Dec 2012 19:06:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kate</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[illustration friday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paint party friday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[painting]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kmericks.com/?p=1193</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hi Dear Readers, Wow, life has been busy for me. What about you? Do you just get overwhelmed with family stuff during the holidays, too? Thankfully I have still been able to work on my art during this time, but its mostly been digital stuff at my other blog Drawings and Illustrations. I have been throwing my digital art up on that site, because I really felt that my digital art didn&#8217;t really belong on this site. But I have decided that it does. This is a part of  me, this is my brand and I play with digital stuff, too. I will be honest and tell you that part of the reason it&#8217;s on that site is that my digital art is not yet where I want it to be. BUT I also decided that that doesn&#8217;t matter. Sometimes its a good thing to have your community alongside you as you try to learn something different. So, yes, it isn&#8217;t what I&#8217;d like it to be, but its getting there. Most importantly though, I am loving working digitally and I am having a blast! (It is a lot easier for me at this time with a small kiddo to not have the full blown paint mess to clean up, etc&#8230;)I have also finished those commissions (more soon) that I was working on that had also been taking up my traditional painting time &#8230; in other words, I am planning to move forward with both painting styles still, and I will hopefully have time for it again at least until Christmas! p.s. please let me know what you think about my decision? Is it ok to have traditional craft/painting, digital illlustration and childrens art all in one place? I mean it is all very much me and my passion and I&#8217;d love for it to all be in one spot. Is it too much though?]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Where in the World is &#8230; Kate?</title>
		<link>http://www.kmericks.com/2012/11/07/where-in-the-world-is-kate/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kmericks.com/2012/11/07/where-in-the-world-is-kate/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Nov 2012 01:30:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kate</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Misc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[misc]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kmericks.com/?p=1185</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Am I dating myself here? I have had the theme song to &#8220;Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego&#8221; playing in my head this afternoon&#8230;. Anyhow, where am I? Well, right here in my studio plugging away at some new digi-tools. And working on those commissions trying to get them finished before Thanksgiving, so I can not worry about them! I have also finished a series of ACEOs that I need to spray and scan. Stay tuned and thanks for hanging in there, dear readers!]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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