16. the hair angel

yup. made from my own hair, on the shower wall.

hey, don't be grossed out. we're mammals. we shed. get over it.

15. the sand angel

...with flip-flops for wings.



after a long absence denoting a full-time job, family feuds, and then moving 2,000 miles away to california...
I'm back to posting. It's going to be seriously tough to make it to 300 before the end of the year, but I just may be able to do it.

14. the rage comic angel

13. the cut-out angel

 front view 

side view 

for the record, I don't play beer pong or anything. 

In fact, this was full of TEA. 

(and then I drank it all, and then I started cutting into it.) 

(not the other way around.)

12. the renaissance angel

photoshopped. 

wish I could paint like this!

thought of the day:

keep dreaming: that is what is most important. 

dreams keep you alive when everything else has failed. 

I'm losing hold on some of my dreams and its the scariest feeling in the world...

11. the breakfast cafe angel

my spirits were high with my fingers entwined in his hands. the cheery yellow walls drew us in, with the smell of freshly baked chocolate muffins.
we sat with our tea and breakfast in the late morning, not talking much, but basking in the sight of each other in the warm california sun, taking in long drinks of each other's faces, not knowing when we'd get this joy again.

And yet despite the odds, God smiles upon us all.

10. the text angel

time to start cracking. 

after a month's absence, I need to get all caught up. 

words are so important to me right now, especially written ones. I hold them dear. and to create an image out of text is something that has always fascinated me as a kid. letters are small images our brain recognizes as sounds, strung together to make a language: then collaged into something that has no sound, rendered mute by its chaos, with no word, is throwing your mind for a creative loop, and you must search for the representation of a single, whole image instead of many, all thrown together.

yeah so its 3 am -____- 

goodnight all. 

grace and peace.

9. the produce angel

bananas,
blood orange,
lemons,
cucumber,
and rosemary.


been taking my meds and feeling mucho better. still not great, but I'm changing my diet and sleeping habits.
Also!
heading to california tomorrow to see my significant other over the weekend, and I'm freaking excited. I hope to make some angels out of sushi, or in the sand on the beach while I'm there.

8. the jewelry angel

a locket I wear daily with my boyfriend's name tucked inside.
a silver ring, set with a garnet stone, that was given to me upon my graduation from high school.
a pair of dangly earring I mysteriously found in my driveway one evening.

7. the sharpie angel

Got bored tonight, and wanted to doodled. so I grabbed a sharpie and went to town. 

Hope the bra don't offend anyone. 

6. the sea-side angel

A number of these shells (and driftwood) were found on the shores of Georgia, and northwest Florida. The sand-dollar is from Florida, especially :) 

When I look at them, I am reminded of all the times I collected sea shells, either with my family, class-mates, or alone. And I can remember where I found each shell, what the day was like, and what I was feeling. They hold a lot for me. 

Also, I am really struggling to keep up with these angels. Its hard to remember to do, and I have been busy. 

I've had a lot to pray for recently - a lot to be thankful for too, but also a lot to still worry about. I went in for tests, to see about the ulcer (which included an endoscopy...I was a quivering mass of panic attacks about that, but then they sedated me, and I slept, and it was all good :D ) and the good news is that I don't have an ulcer. 

The bad news is that I have a stomach hiatal hernia, and acid reflux disease. I can control the acid reflux with diet and medication, and make it go away, but the hernia has to stay unless I opt for surgery which is not recommended. So basically... I'm 21 years old, and can't really smoke, drink, eat pizza, over exert myself, etc, etc. Its a little scary, and I'm awfully sad about the diet change (especially the part about no tea, chocolate, coffee, cheddar cheese, and bacon) but I am glad to finally know what was causing all the pain and nausea. That was seriously no fun.

They put me on a medication to help heal my esophagus and calm my stomach, but my insurance has decided not to pay for it. So now I'm in a big mess, trying to self-medicate with a bland diet and sleeping upright, until we can get it all sorted out. Hopefully that will be monday. 

Tomorrow I have work early in the morning, and need to go to bed. 

Cheers :) 

-melle

5. the bottle-topper angel

meh, so this one is stretching it a bit. The bottom cork is the body, the top cork is the head, and the bottle caps are the wings. make perfect sense, right? :D

Work has been exhausting this weekend. It sucks to be a waiter :/
Also I has a cold that is kicking my butt. And subsequently have been playing pokemon all day :D which is awesome.

Having trouble coming up with ideas for future angels :( which is a bad sign, so early in. Hopefully the creative muse will return, once I'm feeling better.

Grace and Peace,
melle.

4. the magazine angel

I know, I know... a similar idea from the last post. text, scribbles, and an angel.
blah.
but this one has color!!!!
lots of color!!!


maybe tomorrow, if it snows,
I'll - I'll make a snow....
man.

and then carve an angel out of ice :)


In the meantime, if I may write about my life for a minute,  I am at an utter loss of when to decide when I should be moving. I had high hopes to be moved out by the end of this month, and in with my boyfriend, who lives in California. I know how that comes off, and I never thought I would be kind of girl to say that, but honestly... he's such an amazing man. And marriage is in the works :) this is no spur-of-the-moment hippie deal. This is real, long-lasting, adventure-seeking, love... something I didn't think I would have at the age of 21.

But between some job issues, (not getting enough hours to make enough money), major college decisions (do I go for my bachelor's now, or put it off? already have my associates. but I need loans for the rest, and parents have cut me off from funding...), and then some serious (and I mean serious) family issues, I just don't know how its all going to pan out, especially in a peaceful, easy manner.

A large part of me is so eager to pack up and go. We've been doing the whole long-distance thing for over 3 months now, and its hard :/
Not to mention, there's nothing left here for me in Texas than to keep working, and fight with my bi-polar parents on a daily basis. I'm stressed, possibly developing an ulcer, (2nd doc appointment on tuesday for the pain), and need to finally be on my own, and be independent.

But another part of me wishes to make my parents as happy as I can before I go. They've already condemned me as a harlot and said that God would no longer bless me, and go for days without speaking to, or even looking at me.... its so hard to even ask how their day was without getting my head bitten off, but I still love them, appreciate what they do for me, and don't want to burn every bridge on my way out the door. And yet, I'm starting to feel that its a lost cause...

Its very, very frustrating and confusing :/
and its now 4:46 am.
I meant to go to bed hours ago. Oh well.

At any rate, yay for possible snow in the deep south here, and prayers for the rest of the country, buried deep in the cold.

peace,
Melle.

3. the to-do list angel

I only did 2 things done on my list before I doodled all over it. oh well. its not like I was really going to do it  all today anyway.

I have TEH WORST sleep schedule right now. I finally fall asleep at like, 4 am, and then wake up at 1 in the afternoon. Its been going on for weeks. Kinda started because I was having nightly panic attacks that kept me up, and left me exhausted, and then my schedule just kinda stuck like that. 

I went into work the other day (8 am shift) on only 30 min of sleep. And worked 8 hours. I went home, forced myself to go to bed, and did the same thing the next day. Oi. 

Sucks to be a waiter!!!

New to do list:

Fix sleeping habits. And cross my fingers the panic attacks don't come back. 

Also maybe I'll finally do some laundry too. 

2. the candy angel

favorite jelly bean flavors: plum, lemon-lime, and pomegranate

least favorite flavors:  pear, and banana (especially the banana. bleh.)

anybody have any info on the crazy riots in egypt over the internet? I'm getting real worried :/ I will pray for them. 

I'll go google some articles in the meantime to see whats up. 

peace, 

Melle. 

1. the 3 am angel

drew this late last night.

hope sometimes comes to us in the strangest of ways. 

Beginnings

I recently came across a project entitled "365 skulls" wherein the artist Noah Scalin created 365 skulls out of any medium he could find - be that toothpaste, crayons, snow, or bottlecaps. 

I first saw the video here: 

and then later found his blog here: 

http://www.skulladay.blogspot.com/

(and not to throw yet another link down, but I then discovered that this has been an on-going trend - people are actually making books of this stuff. 365 photos of shoes, flowers, examples of kindness, newspaper clippings... the possibilities are endless. The site with more info can be found here: http://makesomething365.blogspot.com/ )

So after watching the skull video and reading a snippet of his blog, I brushed it off as just a fun internet excursion, and went on with my life. But the idea stuck, and played out in the back of my mind as I fell asleep, for several nights. The 365 days would drive me to creativity, give me a schedule... it was exactly what I was needing. So in the end, inspired by skulls, I decided to start a blog of my own. 

Except that I didn't want to do skulls. 

It had already been done, and I wondered if one would end up constantly meditating on death, in such a macabre project. I wanted instead to think of something that would be uplifting, not too complex, and perhaps even spiritual... something I could explore with a great, profound depth, but not something too terribly serious either. And then the idea of angels just hit me. 

I will do my best to cover a wide range of mediums and materials in this blog. I am most comfortable with photography and writing, but will do my best to branch out and include wildly creative endeavors. Perhaps I'll include angels cut out of bank statements, sewn into a quilt, or sculpted out of mud. I basically just want to get my hands dirty.

Unfortunately, because I didn't hear about the project until after the new year, I can't technically pledge to do a angel a day, for 365 days. So I rounded it down, and mine is now simply 300 angels. 

If it goes well, I may continue om. It might become 500 angels. or even 1,000. 

And maybe someday I'll compile a video like Noah's, and inspire someone else across the world to start thinking, and get creative.  

peace, 

Melle.