nosing about...

nose at 2 PM

I got a growing nose for Christmas. You know, a silly stocking gift. Just what I needed. As if my nose wasn't perfect just as it is. According to the package, it will grow 600%. So to please dear hubby we put it in water to see what happens. Then we saw that it will take about 72 hours to grow... and will keep growing for a week or more! So in the interest of Nose Growing, I will post pictures of its progress. It even says that when you take it out of the water it will gradually shrink back to its original size!! Isn't this exciting?  ummm... thanks, Santa.

The Next Morning the Nose looks about the same. I wonder if we could hasten the process by boiling... heh heh... just wondering. Of course it was freezing in my kitchen last night so that is what triggered that thought ..

nose is aging... 9 pm.. Hour 7.

okay.... (drum roll) ready for a picture of the fully grown growing nose??
The question is.... is it worth it? 
Yes and no. If you want a nose that grows in water, it's the perfect thing. If you are expecting true 600% growth, I think you will be disappointed.

Judge for yourself! You can get growing noses at the Dollar Tree, or I've even seen them on Amazon.

photog.

I remember a friend in high school who always signed his name with photog. at the end. I have no idea if he ever became a professional photographer, but I remember admiring him carrying around a camera trying to get that Perfect Picture. I carry around a camera, because I have this urge to capture things in pictures.

Recently I found out that I was not as successful as I thought at keeping my kitty out of the kitchen windowsill.

Also recently, I discovered that Google has a photo editing software called picnik

Here both discoveries have been documented... I like it and I don't. I like the pic, but not the fact that I am still buffaloed by a silly kitty who likes to get on the windowsill and eat my plants.

Back to the drawing board, as it were.

blanket allergy....

OCTOBER 12, 2011

MIL greeted me today with “I don’t think you are listening to me. I am allergic to that blanket”. Me, getting really tired about arguing about blankets, went and got it and threw it in the car. It is forever an argument… blankets on the bed. Not warm enough, too warm. Too heavy, not heavy enough. She took the NEW blanket I put on the bed and threw it on the floor. She says she TOLD me that she is allergic to it… she will not believe it is a different blanket.

So what to do… turn heat up… she turns it off. Try different blankets… she says I am causing her “allergy” by continuing to have her use “that blanket”

Reality is, hubby brought home a cold. She doesn’t think she has a cold… she thinks it is the blanket’s fault, therefore MY fault…

Hopefully when her cold is over the blanket issue will be resolved.

but I am not counting on it. There will be something else by then…

Reminded me of an incident that my friend Mare and her mom shared. Her mom told her she wouldn’t sleep in the bed until she got a Big Girl Bed…

I hate it, having to lie, and say I did something when I didn’t. And for telling her that Earl changed his mind when he never thought what she thought he did. And thank Dan for the album that he didn’t do, because she is sure he did…

And not taking things personally.. like, “what are you doing about your weight problem?” This is not the sweet mother in law I knew. This is an angry, outspoken, forgetful woman. I must remember what she was and know that what she is now is not herself.

It comes with Dementia Territory.

Get your art on...hopeful but difficult

I got through this day, but it did not include any art. I did make a delicious dinner. LOL it was mostly yellow. Yellow corn, yellow squash, and lemon pudding... of course other stuff. So that is art, right???

Speaking of yellow, I participated in a Yellow contest. It was fun thinking about yellow.I had such glorious sunflowers this year.

so, although I didn't get any Art done at least I was thinking in that direction. Hope tomorrow has a bit of Free Time in it. Might just get out the paints with my mother in law. That was I'm multi-tasking. Wish I had thought of that today....

oh the joys of too much on my plate. Art gets shoved to the side because my poor brain is somewhat fried. Every day I hope to do something and every day I just don't. Sigh.

30 days of getting your art on...

Traci Bunkers 30 days of Getting Your Art On..
So now this will be quite a challenge considering just how busy I have been. But I sure want to do this. I am not sure if I will be able to keep up, but I will try my best, and know that I probably won't finish much in one day. But hey it doesn't matter, the satisfaction is in the creating isn't it?

Tomorrow is September first. I have two grandchildren due January-February. So far I have made a blanket for each of the six grandchildren I have so far. Tomorrow may consist of gathering materials for those quilts. I doubt if I will have the time to sew on them. But this is good motivation to keep on going and not give up on my art. It's been tough the last few months, so much going on.

So even if I am the only one following this journey, let it begin!!!

dolls and such

Well I have always loved dolls. Not so much for playing with them, but I did some of that, but of making clothes and furniture for them. I guess I am still a little girl.

My mom used to knit sweaters for my dolls. This is the first one I did. Now that I've done this, I want to do more. :) I got some gold sparkly crochet thread and next time I go to my mom's I'll do it... because we end up sitting around talking, and I can't stand not to have my hands busy.

I got some Only Hearts Club dolls. Three of them.... Olivia Hope, Karina Grace, and Lily Rose. Olivia and Karina because of their names, my daughter Olivia Grace. Lily Rose because she is strawberry brown with freckles. I wanted to get them more shoes, and found them here. Intricate little shoes. It will be fun to make them each a little wardrobe. You can get little sleeping bags and such for them, but I have some fleece scraps which will do nicely.

I found out that their bodies are similar in size to the Blythe dolls, which I don't like because of their oversize heads, but I may be able to make some more clothes for them, I downloaded some free patterns,  Will see if they work.

Now we will see if the Idea Girl will finish what she started.

July 3

I sure go off in other directions easily. Here's what I did.... I just did the blue one, fitting it on the doll as I went. So I wrote down what I did, and then did the gold one, and changed it a bit for the green one. Trying to decide if people would like the pattern enough to buy it? Don't even know how to go about it...

And then there are the fabric clothes I have made. The recipient loved them :)

July 11th

Saw this pretty soft yarn and thought about making a doll jacket with it. The first thing I did was make a shrug. Easy. ch 30, sc in back loops for six rows. Sew together at the ends for sleeves. It's hard to get on her, because of her fingers. I just put my fingers in the sleeves while easing it on her. Looks good. Not for the littlest Barbie lovers though.

Found a scrap of blue flowered that I will make a dress from. As soon as I get the living room clean.... !!

just a thought.

I am caring for my mother in law and don't have a lot of craft time at the moment. Suddenly, I had a thought. Why not include her in what I want to do? That way we get two things, something for her to do, and time with her. She was an artist but has mainly lost her sight. So today we spent painting and practicing being satisfied with the PROCESS and not the end PRODUCT. It was good for both of us. Not bad for a novice and a blind person. ;)



And THIS is one of the pictures that my mother in law did before she started losing her sight...

berries and berries and berries and cherries

I have always loved the feeling of a row of freshly canned something. It feels a bit like a squirrel hiding away nuts for winter. This year, as I am tending my mother in law's house and garden, there are oh so very many berries. I picked a gallon just this morning.

In the past, I just canned it without much thought. This year, however, Not Everything Is Going Very Well.

Canning berries and cherries. I got the first batch of berries done, then a batch of cherries. Then, halfway through the second batch of berries, the stove burner died. I Muscled the canning kettle full of water and berry jars to the other burner, thanks to the weight lifting I have been doing!! The small burner would NOT get it hot enough so I had to settle for 200 degrees. So, have to do something else with the berries-- package them and freeze them. It's a shame, they are beautiful...at least I got a couple batches done before the burner died.

But before that, must get the berry cobbler done. No cornstarch. She said, "I quit buying that because of you, you can't eat it!" True, but I can't eat the berries either so why care if it's in there? oh well, I'll use flour instead. No lemon juice. Well maybe there's a lemon still out there on the tree I can use. Whew! No baking powder. oh my, off to the store. Better see what else I am missing. That's what happens when you bake in someone else's kitchen and you depend on what you have in YOUR kitchen.

Next time I am checking things out FIRST instead of running to the store in the middle of the project.

About the cobbler. After all the fuss with having to go get a lemon, I forgot to add it. And now it's baking, and even though I used the correct pan size, it is going over the sides and dripping on to the floor of the oven. Sometimes it is as if there's really a Murphy after all. She wonders why I don't do much baking? Well then. Here's the reason.

And even though I repeatedly have said I do NOT do pies, my dear mother in law is still going through her recipe file with her magnifying glass, looking for "that good pie recipe, did you know it was Fran's?"

Well she found the recipe. Macular degeneration didn't stop her. Phooey. I must be strong and resist her!

I think I'll call Fran, and tell HER to make a pie. :)

I am so EXCITED!!

For a long long time, I've wanted to scan some slides I have. We even bought a special scanner to do the job, but it took so long it was very discouraging. Today I was trying to scan some using these instructions:

http://www.abstractconcreteworks.com/essays/scanning/Backlighter.html

but for some reason my scanner would only scan black and white. Frustrating. Today, I read an idea to use a high-quality digital camera and take a picture with it backlit. I thought, how about holding it up to a white place on the computer screen? and although all I have is a Canon power shot, I tried it....

and guess what, IT WORKED!!

It took a bit of experimenting to figure out how close to hold it, and I think I will set up some kind of thing to hold it while I shoot, but this way I can do a lot more than the scanner that takes forever.... so yes I am excited!! So is my mother in law, who owns a TON of slides. We're going to have to be choosy. But this picture is so good... :)

Australian candy...

One of my favorite bloggers, Make it Crafty in Australia, is having a blog candy giveaway. Enter here...
Make it Crafty is a fun way to get ideas-- and digi stamps. They also carry crafting supplies.

I sure haven't had a lot of crafting time lately. Hope that changes soon.

snow???

Every once in awhile, May surprises us. This weekend I was at my parents' place in Placerville. Early in the morning I woke to SNOW. It wasn't piling up at all but it was actual snow. This morning I saw snow on the ground as I passed through Diamond Springs but by Somerset it was gone. Many cars in Placerville had everything from a dusting to four inches on them. Pollock Pines had a lot more-- that's the direction from which they were coming.
I visualized an art journal page, but haven't slowed down enough to do it, and now it is too late, I am zonked and heading to bed. :)

WINDY!!!!

Oh my there's trouble all over the place because of wind. Tornadoes even. Here, it is just WINDY. And I am hoping my newly planted tomato plants don't get shredded. I've put off doing any more out there because it is so windy I can't even dig in the dirt without choking. so I just watered a lot and am hoping for the best. My peas look good, I did lose one to a snail I think. Will see if it recovers.
I took pictures, but since my camera isn't here, it's there (the bother of living in two places) I can't post them yet.
Still hoping to find my sewing machine cord. I should just give up and order a new one. THEN I would find it. ;) NOTE: That's exactly what happened!

where does the time go??

Being creative is sometimes hard to fit in to everything else. Right now, I'm only home 2 nights a week-- the rest, staying with my mother in law. I spend my days there, and so far haven't taken paints. I should. She might like it too. I got an outdoor table, so I ought to just do it. She's losing her sight, but she used to paint, and if she could get past not Being Perfect, then maybe she could...I gessoed some pages and did some more ghosting while i was there... just finished, and am dissatisfied with the results... just am so tired I can't think much less create something. Of course the beauty of painting is i can just gesso it again and start over.... maybe tomorrow, or technically today since it is after midnight.

A funny thing happened today though. I planted the sweet pea plants in the garden and found out that they are not "sweet peas" but they are "sweet peas". Not Sweet peas the flower. Sweet PEAS. LOL.... I had a good giggle, and I guess they ought to look pretty anyway but I was disappointed. I also planted snapdragons, dahlias,   and transplanted 4 peach seedlings, at my mother in law's request, because she wants to see what kind of peaches we will get.... but she's 95 and I don't know if they will be bearing soon enough. Oh well, I will do it anyway, and we will see. She might surprise me. I planted 3 kinds of tomatoes, and am preparing the beds for swiss chard, lettuce, and several kinds of beans, although not the favorite one-- blue lake pole beans. Couldn't find them anywhere. :(  I am LOVING the gardening. I get up around 6:30 and garden in the coolness. Very cool. Pictures someday.

Speaking of creating, and speaking of my mother in law, she has something new she made for lunch one day. The peanut butter and pickle sandwich was one thing, but when she added raisins to the tomato soup and loved it, I'm shaking my head.

She hardly ever acts like she has dementia.  LOL

frustration to thankfulness...

When I saw this video on Sharpie Ghosting I just knew I had to try it. Today started out really frustrating, because I am still not feeling well. I jumped up to get moving and nearly fell over with dizziness. I went to the bank anyway but it was sort of bad... by the time I got home the couch looked really good.

I always want Instant Sickness Finished. when I went to the drug store last night I was fine. But my ear started hurting in the night.

Anyway, my Sharpie writing was full of frustration and why can't I whining. Of course I had to cover the page in three directions so by the time I got to the last layer it was pretty gone so I started writing what I was thankful for.

I put two layers of gesso on the top. While the top layer was wet, I scribbled with Slick Stix. then I had fun fingerpainting swirls and blending the yellow and blue. I let that dry and when putting away the gesso saw some glow in the dark paint... so I swirled some on the top. When I saw the dry swirly page I could hear angels singing... a celestial symphony. I remembered that music stamp and the notes, and the flowers at the bottom to keep me grounded here on earth while I'm listening. If you look closely you can see the ghosting... it is more in person.

Anyway it sure felt good. My attitude turned around and oh if I wasn't hooked on art journaling before I sure am now. I'm going to do a bit of journaling around on the page but kind of think it will be private. :)

And can't wait until tonight to see how it looks in the dark!

keeping up with myself...

It is hard to keep up with myself. I can't get enough of painting/stamping/carving lately. Originally I wanted to order gelatos, but the price stopped me, and I kept thinking, why do I keep wanting all this STUFF when what I need to do is figure out how to do it with something else?? So Michael's came up with this video about Slick Stix, which are made for kids. About $4 for a pack of 5 of them. Has kind of the texture of lipstick... I spritzed the stamp lightly with water and colored right on it. With some experimenting I'll come up with what I like.

I also used a couple stamps from GinaK's "botanicals" set and I love the look. So maybe tomorrow I will take some time and make a few cards.

Hard to compare with gelato results because 1) not the same stamp and 2)never used gelatos. LOL

something different...

last night I saw this video from two peas in a bucket...

so I got out some coffee filters and some alcohol ink and went to work. I left the petals to dry all night and this morning put them together. They don't look as beautiful as the two peas' photos but they work. And the cat can't spill the water out of them... whenever I have flowers on the table she pushes the vase off the edge of the table.

experimental stuff... making blogger easier. wondering.

This is just an experiment. I don't know how this will work at all. But it seems that one ought to be able to add a table here somehow so the picture captions line up.

Kind of a pain, actually.  I am so rusty with html... haven't had to use it for years. I guess it's like riding a bicycle, though, it comes back if you practice. Question is, do I care enough? LOL

or, put the caption below the picture, by putting only one column in the table...

or, add caption directly to the picture, which results in small print,... will have to continue experimenting. :)

Of course, if the table border was not showing that would be good too. Not too much trouble I guess, we will see if I use this new found idea.

SUNday

I started this page just painting it yellow, having no idea of what I would do. Then I thought of the sun, but since the page was already yellow, I couldn't very well make the SUN yellow, could I? So orange it became. I used a henna stencil on the top of the orange with yellow for interest... I was going to just journal on the bottom but then started between the sun's rays.

My husband doesn't want to grow anything. I do. I didn't realize that it was bothering me so much... but it is. I have to grow... he will have to understand that, it is a part of me I can't just ignore any more. I haven't had much garden here, and I miss it intensely. I'm looking forward to gardening at his mom's place, I'm just going to DO IT....

dreaming...

well this carved eraser was inspired by a card.... but sure isn't anything like it. I am excited to have carved it though.

We used to live way out in the country. I mean WAY out.

Our "driveway" was a mile of dirt and gravel. There were three neighbors on the road and one was my cousin! The neighbors at one house had peacocks and James and I often drove by in the evening when they were the most active. They are LOUD... we could hear them all the way to the top of the hill where our house was. We always enjoyed "talking" to them and their answering screeches.

I sure miss the hills. Wonder if I'll ever get to move back there?

Now that I am in the city, actually a smaller town really... there are advantages to both. It isn't 45 minutes to everywhere. I am still amazed that when I get down to the orange bar on the gas gauge that I better get gas "one of these days" instead of panicking that I won't get to the station.

But the nights looking at the stars that one can actually SEE... and hearing coyotes calling... and the silence... I miss my dreamland.

advantages to being sick...

Being sick, haven't felt like doing much of anything. Haven't gotten out pencils for a long time. Just felt like drawing... this is a friend's dog and she posted a picture on facebook and didn't give me permission to draw him but I am sure she wouldn't mind.

I wonder if I will ever jump and take that drawing class I've been wanting to take?

Or sign up for the gym and swim.... or start going to church again?

greeting cards...

Well for better or for worse, here's the first card I did with my hand carved peacock feather. I used my Colorbox rainbow ink pad that I have had for YEARS and it is amazingly still usable. I printed the lowest ones then masked them and went up the page. I am not too satisfied but I could spend DAYS trying to be "perfect"... so there you are.

Since I am just beginning to learn about carving, I can see there is a ton to learn. First, what is the best thing to carve. I got some linoleum for carving, but for stamps it is too hard. This eraser is a bit too soft. I found that when pressing down if I put an acrylic block on the top I got more of an even impression. Otherwise, the eraser bends and you get a lot of background.

This is fun though. Here's the second card, no focal image yet, but I like it better. As usual, p-r-a-c-t-i-c-e... and like when I took piano lessons, I just wanted to DO it and not have to practice. Also as the piano lessons, the more I practiced, the more I could just DO it. LOL will I learn?

Now, of course, I will have to either get or carve a peacock head, because that's what I visualize there in the middle of the bottom. ;)

how many cranes until you can do it without the tutorial...

Well, today it was 8. I know it is just over and over and over. Sad part is, I knew how to fold cranes, actually I taught a class on it. but I didn't have it firmly in my head, and it was a number of years ago.

and then I had fun with a dinner napkin.

look... see the moths?

My title is in celebration (?) of my ADD. Yes, I am highly distractable.

I knew what I wanted to do today but I did something else. The advantage of having a cold is it is easier to say "I don't feel like it"... I won't get away with that ALL day....

I saw a picture of a card that I just loved.... and as usual started wanting the stamp, the ink... and then I thought, why couldn't I make my own carved peacock feather? So here it is. I modified my blind contour sketch... I am NOT a great draw-er. But I am learning. I love the way this eraser stamp looks inked up with my rainbow ColorBox ink pad.

Here it is stamped....

and it morphed from the first, as i carved out other parts. Have to decide just how much to clean it up. That's a work in progress, now the trick is to stop when it is done and not overdo the carving. I expect to improve as I practice.

ummm..... wasn't I thinking of getting some SEWING done??

Linoleum print #1 of 2011

First lino print in twenty years or so. I did sort of a zentangle. I have no idea what I will do with it, maybe a card. Have to get lino ink. I tried all sorts of ink pads and nothing really worked... this was the best, and it was DISTRESS INK!! I wasn't going to try it, but since I couldn't leave it alone there you go.

If nothing else it was good practice cutting. I really like both the lino and the tool. But I guess I am going to have to get more linoleum ink. I never hate to go to the craft store. ;)

Maybe tomorrow it will show up on an art journal page.

Hopefully I will have some sewing to report, I am going to take some sewing over to Grandma's, and hope to get some done.

It's raining...

Wow we had a monstrosity of a rain storm come through here Thursday.

I stamped the "waves" with acrylic paint and a piece of that purple crown thingy that I showed in the last post. The pictures I just printed on paper and glued in. The silver drops are done with a Sharpie poster paint marker. And of course distress inks on gesso background.

And did I mention that my son and brother were DRIVING through this storm?? He came in to Sacramento on a plane; fortunately they got to land and it wasn't raining too hard because they let them out right out there on the tarmac; tiny plane. By the time they got to Placerville it was SNOWING!! Wild stuff. This is MARCH.... snow in Placerville in March is rare.

There's a space on the left page for an ark. I put my new stamps in a SAFE PLACE..... the dreaded safe place. If I don't find them soon I am going to print a picture for there. Ah the joys of being creatively ADHD.

thrifty find...

See this stuff? Junk to some. It was all in a bag at a thrift store, and $3. I had been thinking about doilies, so they are welcome. There is a star stencil with all different sizes. A scallopy crown thingy. A bunch of huge stamps designed for using on fabrics. I threw out (actually put them in a bag of unused craft stuff that I am donating to that thrift shop) those yellow things since I 1) had no idea what they were and 2) didn't know how I would use them... but the rest is in my crafty stash. I might even use that embroidery hoop, as a frame for a creation.

They had some other bags, but they were $6 to $9... so will wait, and if they are still there in a couple weeks I know they will also be marked down. If they aren't there, oh well.

that ark stamp I am seeing on a journal page after today's DOWNPOUR...

be who you need to be...

well.... I've been thinking about this a lot lately. To look to God for my identity instead of everyone else. This was inspired by someone at Milliande who did a page with the same quote.

I am kind of on a run of art journaling. Today I am off to play with grandkids. Hoping for sewing tomorrow.

the sun is shining for a minute...

Today's journal page... a tribute to spring, even though the rain forecast and low snow levels are teasing us. This is from a page of butterfly stencils I got at WalMart. I painted the whole page blue first with acrylic paint, then stenciled the butterflies. The purple one I didn't like the way it turned out the first time so filled it in, then re-stenciled with darker purple.

The stamped letters are Cheapskate again. Gotta get another alphabet.

how to...

"How to Paint ..How to Draw .. How to be Creative..these are questions many beginner artists ask themselves ..yet there is no hard and fast rule ..
here I share my process the way I taught myself how to paint.. the way I learned how to draw ..the way I play art .. I don't believe there are mistakes in art making it simply is how I express myself at the time I pick up a tube of paint..swing a pencil or carve a stamp ... no validity is necessary for me.."- Milliande

And so with sewing, or the other myriad things I do or try to do... the process is what it is about. I saw this art journal prompt at Millande Art Community for Women (I am a new member there) It's for January, and that is long past, but I was intrigued. There are examples and videos, but I wanted to just DO something so I didn't have any preconceived notions about what to do.

THEN I watched a video. My painting is drying now, then I will journal on it, then post it. So far I LOVE my zebra, I can almost feel its personality.... now wouldn't that make a great lino cut? LOL..........we will see.

On the right, before journaling.... below, after.

NOT the wrong color

Started slapping on golden yellow paint on a page, had no idea what I was going to do. Then the green jumped out and demanded equal time. The slapping turned into mountains. Then brown pleaded to be included. When it was all dry it just looked sad. Oh my, I said, this is a strange landscape. At first I thought it was Pluto or something but then it started snowing. It occurred to me that I am the creator of this ummm... painting. So I can do what I want. It can be anywhere... maybe it isn't snow?

And it doesn't seem to matter how it turns out. The process is calming and lovely. So do i like it?? wellllll... yes. It was what my fingers did today.

Now to find my sewing machine cord.... and do something a bit more... traditional?

troubled

My heart was indeed troubled this morning. As the caregiver for my mother in law, it is increasingly obvious that we are going to have to have more help. I came home troubled by that. Then my hubby had the news on about Libya. Then of course the reminders about Japan. And a friend of mine recently headed to Chile for relief efforts there.

All of it gets me "all bunched up" as my dad says. So I started this page stamping WARS.. then that scripture verse about "wars and rumors of wars" came to mind. So I doodled about what is the most bothersome... earthquakes, war... famine, pestilence... as it talks about in Matthew... and I found this article. A good reminder that it is not a warning about the end of the world, but these things will be around us, and in spite of them, God asks something of us... "See that you are not troubled" (Matthew 24).

So how crazy is that??? I say... in the middle of all this, don't get all bunched up.... my dad's right. Guess I better get better at this. I'm certainly getting lots of practice lately.

being stretched...

The background is rubber bands on a brayer rolled over a rainbow ink pad. Then I found a quotation that had to do with stretching... and thinking about the tsunami and all the people killed and affected by it... all of us have to expand our hearts and reach out to those in need, whether by donating money to help or actually going there. I admire those willing to pick up and go there...

Don't know how much the zentangle matches the rubber bands, but that's what my fingers did today. I have been enjoying the zentangling... and the stamped/written letters just looked too plain. I really like the way my tears turned out... kind of a hidden meaning here. But it's the first try for the rubber banding. Saw the technique first at Gina K. Designs. The stamped fonts are $1 Michael's or Joann's fonts I don't remember...with the exception of "EXPAND" which is Traci Bunkers' Cheapskate font. I did the zentangle with a Uniball pen.

Not sure what the names of the tangles are, except the center one on the bottom, which is a variation of "Crescent Moon"... I used to do this kind of doodle all the time as a teenager, before it was called a zentangle... I wondered when I saw the site whether "my" doodle was in someone else's head... and there it was. LOL

Here's the card I did, I cropped the scanned image and mounted on paisley cuttlebug embossing folder... hate it when stuff turns out crooked... but oh well. I am human. :) and sometimes to tired to be a perfectionist.

handing...

Decided to experiment with different paints for stenciling the Mehndi hand. I bought a kid's airbrush system for $7 at Michael's... the "Sprayza". LOL I don't want to invest in an expensive system I won't use a lot; but I will get one if I think I will do a lot. With the "Sprayza" you use your own breath... and I was almost hyperventilating, LOL...

Things that I learned or remembered...

• biocolor is not the best for clear stenciling (the red) it blobs. So use it if I want blobs. :)
• acrylic paint works well with a stenciling brush and is pretty good for detail (the black)
• Distress ink with a foam applicator (the blue) is great for a dreamy look but you can't get into the nooks and crannies but I like the shadowy effect;
• The airbrush is good for fine detail (the green). And of course a better system would produce even better results.

The yellow around the edges I airbrushed. Then I didn't like it quite so bright so toned it down with distress ink (walnut) on a round foam applicator.

I was also reminded of Mother Teresa and her humanitarian work, and that God is always in the reach of every hand...

A great start to the day! Good morning!!

going buggy!!

well the colors are kind of creepy... those are the only colors left in my blopens. LOL... but I can see these as patterns on something or other. The stamps are Inkadinado, and the font at the top is Traci Bunkers' "Cheapskate" font stamps.

And the stencils are really flyswatters. LOL they caught my eye. Don't worry, I washed them before and after, so the bugs won't get painted...

Okay, so I have a strange sense of humor.

Going buggy, but having fun, busting the stress... that's what it is about.

Now of course everything looks like something to be stenciled or carved...

Zentangle Peacock...

Karen is learning how to do digi-stamps... and here is her first one. It seemed to me that it was a perfect zentangle thread so here's what i did with it. I don't like part of it, but oh well. Practice, just like anything else.

I joined the Art Community for Women at milliande.com.

There is a lot to learn from other people. What to do? Maybe take a class from Darlene. Or at the art center here, or a ceramics class from Arlene... or voice lessons from Monica. There are a lot of talented people in my life. One would think that I would take advantage of that. Truthfully, I haven't taken any art classes since college!! Not even quilting classes, although I've taught them... and I even taught craft classes for children... funny that I never thought about not taking classes. I've just taught myself. Watched tutorials, copied ideas from others... there are some things I'd really like to try.

So where should I start...

Mehndi stencils...

Mehndi stencils are made for henna stenciling on hands... but they can be used as stencils for whatever you want. It doesn't look like much here, the same not-dried-out colors of blopens... have to find that gift certificate so I can get some more colors.

I wanted to learn more about Mehndi, so googled it and found several articles about it. It is used in India mainly as decoration for brides. Read about it on Wikipedia.

This is just a page in my sketch book, which was rather kidnapped, and now includes a page on zentangle, hand carved rubber stamps, and Mehndi. From time to time I have ordered something or other and then forgot what it was I had planned for it. I won't forget this stuff now. I left space for new rubber stamps I make, and will continue that adventure, which seems to be tangled up in the zentangle, because I can see possibilities there for stamps.

And this page is sort of like a journal page, so it's beginning to come together, at least in my mind.

Also....... (drum roll) I got Traci's book in the mail today!! I ordered it from Amazon.com. Lots of great ideas! She has another book coming out May 1st and as soon as I get my next check, I will order it.

There is so much I would like to do I get rather frustrated that I cannot do them all. LOL!!! I keep adding things to The List.

Night Guy....

I never get enough sleep. I stay up late at night, cause I’m Night Guy. Night Guy wants to stay up late. ‘What about getting up after five hours sleep?’, oh that’s Morning Guy’s problem. That’s not my problem, I’m Night Guy. I stay up as late as I want. So you get up in the morning, you’re ….. (?), you’re exhausted, groggy, oooh I hate that Night Guy! See, Night Guy always screws Morning Guy. There’s nothing Morning Guy can do. The only Morning Guy can do is try and oversleep often enough so that Day Guy loses his job and Night Guy has no money to go out anymore.
-Jerry Seinfeld

Great-Grandma's windblown tulips

(Note: This post was from my "Quilter's Friend" blog from 2008, which I am currently updating. I decided to delete this post from that blog but wanted to remember this... Quilter's Friend is a shop where I used to work; I still maintain their website and blog)

Well, I had a call (to the shop) from far away quite awhile ago when I first posted a picture of my great-grandma's quilt. The original caller said it was the quilt from "When Harry Met Sally"...I found out it was called "Windblown Tulips" and was designed by Marie Webster. To see a big picture of the quilt, go here:

http://www.antiquequiltdating.com/ColonialRevivalEraQuilts-on-Exhibit.html

There's also a little article about the quilt design and designer on about.com:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Quilting-2339/2008/7/Harry-Met-Sally-Quilt.htm

It seems that this pattern was first published in 1911 in the Ladies' Home Journal. I wonder how many women made this? Marie Webster was the first to make a "cottage industry" out of quilting. What was she like? The historical aspect of quilters and quilting is fascinating to me.

Thanks to that long ago caller for helping me find a bit more history about my treasured quilt.

you can buy the windblown tulips pattern here:

http://www.practicalpatchwork.com/garden.html

Inspired by Karen

Karen inspired me to try zentangle... reminds me of the doodling I used to do all the time. What I need, however, is a finer pen. This is an ultra fine sharpie... that's what I have. I am boycotting new craft supplies at the moment, LOL... as soon as I find the gift certificate my hubby got me for Valentine's Day, I'm off to Michael's. For some fine pens among other things.

Hubby is watching NASCAR and loves it when I watch with him. I have figured out that sitting NEXT to him works even if I am not paying attention. Zentangle doodles seem like a perfect solution. Along with crochet. Or knitting. Anything repetitive.

May never do this again, but I think that I could use some of these ideas when carving stamps/lino cuts or whatever else I do next. It is kind of fascinating. I watched a few videos for ideas. I got the idea to trace the CD from millande.com. I googled Zentangle and there's a lot out there. Here's number two.... colored. Just ordinary colored pencils.