project... whatever!

along with new year's resolutions, 

there are a bunch of challenges floating around the interwebs for 2011

 for example:

project 365

project 52

daily pages

daily photos

daily ATCs

etc...

etc...

etc...

oh my.  tooooooo much pressure.

I am attempting, however, to put something in my art journal at least weekly.  

you know, as inspiration hits...

last week I started this and it evolved yesterday and today into this:

(as usual, you can click on the image to see it bigger)

(the text sez: to love requires courage, the ability to take a risk, the readiness even to accept pain and disappointment. Whoever insists on safety and security as primary conditions of life cannot love; whoever shuts himself off in a system of defense and possession as his means of security, makes himself a prisoner. I'm not sure who wrote it.)

thanks Als for the quote, thanks Marit for the tips on how to do the lettering!

I had the next idea bouncing around in my head for awhile.

I saw posters that said the same thing at Renegade Craft Faire.

I wanted to do 4" glittered corregated cardboard letters,

hung like a banner on some jute.

It ended up being this page in my art journal.

I hand cut all the letters and I gold leafed each and every one.

 messy, 

but really really worth it and really really cool in real life.

I think I used 4 colors of spray ink/glimmer mist.

the photo really doesn't do the piece justice...

went to Uvas with Kath and the kids,

here are a few of my fav shots...

 the D's

me & sirius

an accidental effect, but cool nonetheless...

Annie Bananie!

Red Velvet Mushroom???!!!  

Awesome!!!

(btw readers, Sunday has two posts...check it out! : x)

Stand by Me - Scrapping the Music

Oh, and how could I have forgotten my first design team post!!!  This week's challenge is to do a piece related to the song, Stand by Me.

I thought I'd use a picture of me and my trusty friend, Smokey Bear.  He's been with me through thick and thin.  Always present and never impatient : x)  Seemed fitting...

Michelle used the version of the song by Playing for Change.  You can go listen to it on the blog, and hey... play along!!!

bright, bright, bright sunshiny day!!!

Took myself on a little artist's date yesterday...I didn't even have to go further than my "yard".  I took some pixs with my duaflex and my contraption...right around my complex.

I haven't been following Julia lately,  even tho' I'm still doing "daily pages" online and long hand in my comp book.  Mostly I wanted to get my sorry butt off the couch and outside in the sunlight.  Vitamin D, ya know! It was a good way to combine the two...Here are my favs from  my little outing.

Photo heavy...

 And of course, I took the requisite self-portraits!

 

I also walked down to the high school flea market and psst, don't tell Venning because we had a deal about craft supply purchasing, but I bot some old zippers to make flowers, a bird, and some vintage tinsel.  I think I spent $1.70...about broke the bank, heh!

beauty mark???

 "what that big ole hairy mole?!  ewww I had that thing removed!"

so, does that mean I can't use this smiley

: .)

anymore,

'cause I've had my dot deleted???

: x)

the dr says:  "do you want to do it today?"  

and I say "uh, yeah...I guess so..."

and he shot me up with an anesthetic,

and sliced that sucker right off!!!  

I hope I don't change my mind tomorrow,

'cause I don't think I can get it put back on!

better living thru chemistry...

(just bewayr ob teh sied fx)

I so want to say this to a co-worker.  on the daily. 

then again, I think she is on meds.  and it just enhances all those irritating behaviours. 

today I thot..."it might be a good thing to get laid off!"

heh.
(ok, not really...I'm being facetious.) 

from LOLcats, of course!!! 

who do you think you are???

thanks KD...its perfect!  and yes, brunette!!!

sorry boot...

I'm seeing someone else now.  We're gonna try running together.

Maybe you and I will get back together after I get the cortisone shots...

New Year's Eve Shenanigans!

It started out tame enough. 

No more RED cups! boo!!!

I got some cookies baked (Butter Spritz..I was thinking of you Ragged!!! : .)

Then the fun began!!! 

Don't look so surprised that I would encourage such behaviour... 

Don't you know me at all?!

There was leaping!

There were armpit farts!  heh!

There was balloon volleyball!!!
There were confetti poppers!!!

Even GMa & GPa got in on the action!!!

Aren't we incredibly CUTE?!

I got home just in time for the ball drop 

and ringing in the New Year toasting with pink fizzy lifting drinks!!!  

One of my best New Year's Eve, ever!!!  

 LOL!!!

 

Happy 1-1-11!!!

heh.

 

from LOLCats : .)

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Fan art for Ty's band...

Requiem for the Dead

(I really suck at photography.  

no matter what setting I used 

[I guess I should figure out how to shoot manual...]

I couldn't get this the color I wanted!  grr!)

 (click to see it a bit better)

The Terrible Tale of Two...

(oh, and I think my new years resolution, 

if I were to make one,

is to stop using butterflies and hearts in my art.

the end.)

Owner of a Lonely Heart

Marit's Musical Blog Party, parties on!

The piece I did today was inspired by...

Owner of a Lonely Heart by YES!

I had scraps and this cute little guy on a stamp

with a little glittery heart he's dying to share.

He's not really that scary, right?!  LOL!!!

Plus, this is the grin I like to make, 

it covers many different situations.  

I think the two of us are MFEO.  

("Made For Each Other"... 

You'd know this if you are a Meg Ryan fan 

and have watched Sleepless in Seattle
as many times as I have.  

And I need to mention,

I find it ironic that this is one of my fav movies,
because of where it was filmed!)

Otherwise, it was a lazy kind of day...

I finished my first DT piece 

and sent it off for its January preview. 

I had to go to Staples for ink to finish the piece. 

(That's supplies, so its on the "ok to purchase" list : .) 

Talked to Als for 49 minutes, 

and did a load of dishes.

I'm also attempting to finish a fan piece for RFTD.

I did have a moment of anxiety, 

trying to decide if I should have red or white wine 

with my frito pie this evening, 

but it was a moot point

as the spicy chili and the jalapeno peppers

have burned the taste buds off my tongue

and I can't taste the wine anyway.

heh! 

I'm thinking of trying this with
ground beef and brown gravy, 

since I'm not a fan of chili... hum...

ok, that's it for this eve...carry on!

: .)

One Love and Let's Dance!

A couple more pieces for Marit's Musical blog party!  Late!  I don't do deadlines well!  LOL!!!

One Love by Bob Marley & the Wailers

and

Let's Dance by David Bowie

Its a party!  There's gotta be lots of dancing!!!

This is all I've done today... I've had two cups of coffee and its 2:22 pm.  I need FUDS!!!

Yesterday was such a good day...  I did errands in the am and then Jack picked me up for an Imax showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  

One word:  AWESOME!!!  

So sad however.  Can't wait for the final movie!

Afterwards, Jack took me to the Fairmont for a glass of wine.

Later in the evening, I had an appointment with my IT guy for some new memory for this ole computer!  Yowza!  What a difference.  Now I can put off buying a new computer until next year!!! Yay!!!  Thanks Andy!!!  Mary cooked split pea soup, it was very yum!!! 

On the day after Xmas, Shan invited me to dinner & we watched Alice in Wonderland.  She broke the rules and bot me a present...

It has my name, not Edward's!!!  LOL!!!

Very cool!!!

Do You Know the Way to San Jose???

I'm done with Christmas.  Thank you.

I hope you had a great day, however...  : .)

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Today's contribution to Marit's Musical blog party was a must do!!!

Trinjintje Oosterhuis, who's a Dutch singer did an album 

of covers of Burt Bacharach's songs

and one of them was "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?"

Here's my piece...

fun!

You Should Be Dancing!!!

MERRY, MERRY!!!  : .)

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In other fun ...

From Christmas day, continuing to the beginning of the New Year, there's a radio station in the Netherlands that's playing the 2000 favorite songs of its listeners. What a list!!!

Marit is throwing a musical blog party in conjunction with the Top 2000 & I decided to join in!!!

I'm currently rocking the mid-70's and dancin' my way thru Marit's party with a Bee Gees hit...you remember it...You Should Be Dancing!  OMG!  I was in 7th grade and my Mom let me go see Saturday Night Fever, can you believe it?  I don't think I understood most of the movie at the time ; .P  Of course, I got the (double) album for Christmas that year.  Such good memories dancing and singing to the songs on those records!!!

Just today in my stash, I found the little people getting down to their favorite tunes, and with a few stamps and some hand cut lettering, I got together my first piece for the countdown...FUN!!!

I hope you're having a great day!!!   : .)

you stink. you smell like beef and cheese. you're not santa.

Its not every day that I get to hang with the crew sporting new xmas pjs!!!

Thanks Aldien!  I'm so tickled!

They're perfect!!!

 Did a piece in my art journal in honor of said pjs : .)

I wanna mention one last awesome thing for today...

I got my Phoenix badge from this fab-o site 

for writing for a 100 days in a row!!!

Patting myself on the back for the accomplishment : .)

I'm really proud of myself!!!

750 words is based on Julia Cameron's daily pages, 

if you recall me mentioning The Artist's Way, 

Julia has you do a creativity exercise

 consisting of 3 pages of daily long-hand journaling.

(Stream of consciousness dumping : .)

750 words takes this concept a bit further...  

and sends you an email to remind you to write,

awards the badges for milestones and accomplishments,

calculates stats, and 

keeps track of your progress.

Its quite cool!!!

On work days, I get up at 5:30 am to get my pages in.  

 The badges alone are very motivating!

Love it!
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Oh-Kee-Doh, I'm off to watch A Nightmare Before Xmas!

I hope Santa brought you everything that was on your list!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

: .)

seeking my inner German

Grandma always said we were English, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, and German.  (I'm also half Japanese, but you know that already, right?!)  I think I mentioned before, I spent my entire life thinking I was a lot Irish because of the last name.  Come to find out, I'm Welsh.  Talk about an identity crisis.  Makes me think of that Starburst commercial with the Scotch-Korean kid, the contradiction.  I wonder if he had an identity crisis when he made that commercial ; .P

But I digress.  Lately, I've been craving green beans.  Specifically Green Beans and Spaetzle in Bavarian sauce.  (It figures, the sauce has BACON!!! Which btw, Adam Richman of Man vs Fud called "meat candy" today... yeah baby!) My Mom fixed this a lot when I was a kid.  I loved it!  I haven't been able to find it for years!!!  (Obviously, I never considered Amazon as a source!!!)

I finally found a recipe online.  I bought the spaetzle pre-made, all I had to do is boil it.  I left out the sugar. (Eww...green beans and sugar?!)  And I used center cut bacon (which I don't recommend and would dice into really tiny pieces next time), I added butter and some flour to make the sauce thicker and more creamy, and definitely more fattening : .)

The verdict (I stole this statement from A Year of Slow Cooking):

The dish was ok.  Not sure I'd serve it to anyone without a disclaimer.  In the future, I would find a recipe without beer.  And cook the green beans a lot more because in the Bird's Eye version the green beans are squishy, not squeaky.  I'd also use regular bacon.  Oh, and add more spaetzle.  Carbs, swoon!

Hey, I've got an idea.  Cook more spaetzle and eat it with BUTTER, salt and pepper!  yum!!!  LOL!

Since I haven't posted a boot pix lately, here's one.  We are definitely out of the honeymoon stage of our relationship and truly, I wish one of us was moving out (das boot, thank you!).  As it is, I haven't been wearing it consistently (don't tell Dr. Rob!) because my foot still hurts and you'd think that after almost 7 weeks in boot, and a round of NSAIDs, then a round of prednisone, it'd feel better, not worse.

Seems like there's no point in continuing the suffering and awkwardness, especially since I'm pretty sure the next treatment will be cortisone shots.  yay. 

And seriously.  I really need to run.  I'm getting super poofy.  sigh.

some more things I made...

felt garland.  aren't those pom poms cuuuuttteee!!!

I stitched the heart with and strung it, on jute.  I love the rustic-ness!

 I found this really cool setting on my camera the other day...color accent.

you can choose one color and the camera picks up only that color

and leaves the rest of your shot in black and white.

I found I have a lot of red in my house : .)

and not just 'cause its christmas!

 I found this camo fabric online at Beverly's Fabric and Craft 

and made this pillow cover out of it.  

its tractors if you didn't notice : .)  

my Dad will love the John Deere logos!

I got the instructions from here!

it was sooo easy, I would recover all my throw pillows...

if I had any, hee!