Arty Weekends

Hey, hey folks!

I have had a couple of exciting weekends lately. Both dealing with art!! YAY!!

I really needed something to bounce me out of my creative block. And so last weekend I attended a Junk Journal Class here in Modesto, taught by a great instructor Aileen Roberts at the Nasco store here. Aileen is an Altered Book Artist and lives just 3 blocks from me in a great big old house that is painted bright yellow and egg plant! So cool. It is a landmark.

Anyway, we started out with a Trader Joe's advertising booklet. This is a great resourse for a junky funky art journal. Then we scraped some paint and threw other stuff down.

This is the front cover.

The back cover.

 

And one inside spread. It was a blast and hope Part 2 will around the corner soon. Please go check out Aileen's blog and website, Outside the Margins, and make sure you check out her own creation of spray watercolors called, Color Mists. They are lovely and add a great finishing touch to collage, paint, ink, etc!

Yesterday, I traveled to Fremont to the Niles District back to my friend Maria's Studio for a day of whatever type of art we wanted to work on. Maria carved 100 rubber stamps this summer and WOW they are cool. (no, I did not take pictures) Dang!) Anyway, I asked her to show me the real basics. I still have a way to go, but these are what I carved yesterday on little Dollar Store erasers:

It was fun just trying to unwind, relax and wrap my busy brain around this very tedious task. I have a long way to go, but this was fun and I know soon I will going to another class that will stretch my carving senses even more. Oh, Lotus?????

Anyway, with that and my recent falling escapades, I have been busy, but moving slow. So onto the falling drama:

First I went "mud wrestling" in San Francisco when I slipped in a muddy flower bed, did the splits and went straight down on my left knee. Not fun. I was muddy from head to toe. My knee bruised and was a little sore, but not bad. Then last Saturday I fell down 3 stairs and really screwed myself up. Nothing broken, again just bruised and very very sore that had me walking with a cane for a few days. So have actully been lucky.

So my new goal is to keep upright. I saw this quote a few days ago, and decided this is me exactly:

LOL!

Well that's about all of the happenings for me, except for this:

Since the St Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants are in the playoffs this week and my son, when he was growing up here was a diehard Giants baseball fan, that now lives in Missouri and is now a diehard Cards fan:

Go Giants!!

Fun New Toy's

Hey folks,

Just a short post for this weekend, that is traveling at lightening speed to end!! It SUX, but that is life!

I went on a small shopping trip yesterday, since I heard that Dyan Reaveley had created her own art journal. So I ran to my local LSS 60 miles away and picked it up. OMG!! It is huge, like 9 X 12 but the journal inside the cover is 11.5 X 8.5. And it has beautiful card stock in it that takes any wet media; paint, inks, water, etc that you can throw at it. She has a video about it on the Ranger blog. Click away on her name above and WOW yourselves! I love this chick!

 

And Dyan also created this little book where she demonstrates her techniques. Love it!

And, onto the finale. Everyone knows by now, I think, that I jumped on the bandwagon for the new Iphone 5 as soon as it was released since I have held off ever getting one. And I also know that some will judge me, because I had to have the next BIG thing....BUT some others will understand when it comes to geekier stuffs, I have no resistance of any kind! I am a total nerd! LOL! So I am simply amazed at what this small wonderment can do.

I have discovered that I can actually work from this phone. I can look at spreadsheets and reports that are attached to emails, and that I can open an attachment at all and see ALL of it, is amazing. All of my email files are on it, for work and personal.

I am also learning about many new fun apps, like SoundHound, that, much like Shazam, listens to the song playing, names it and THEN puts the lyrics right on the phone and runs them in time to the music!!! WOW! since I am a have to know the lyrics to every song person, this is an assest. And it gives me an itunes button if I want to purchase it right then to add it to my itunes library. And it says that it will pick up a song even if you just hum the tune into the phone! Amazing!

But this week, I found out about The Motherload of apps, called TurboCollage. Roben Marie Smith, one of my fave art journalers and teacher's made a video about it and so I downloaded the app and tried it with shots of my journal pages. WOW WOW!!

 

Check this out!  It is an amazing app. I know I am going to have a ton of fun with this. And there is a version for Android phones also, so run, don't walk to this wonderful toy and have a ball. It also gives you options on posting them to Facebook, Twitter, email, etc!

I know now that this alone will have me taking waaay more pics of EVERYTHING in my life, which I don't normally do.

And please notice that I made the background pink?!? Can you even believe that? Lots of changes for me recently.

Anyway, Go click on Roben's name above and check out the great video tutorial that she created so you can create great masterpiece photo collages. And the best part?? The app is free!!! Woot!!!!!!!

Till next time. Bye!! Have a safe week, folks

Gone in the Name of Business

 

 

I began my Transportation career in 1985 driving a School Bus like the above, a 1972 Gillig. Very interesting to say the least. I was OK with the kids but it was not great with the other drivers. Attitudes and so much hatred, I had to leave and find another job. So I ended up in Modesto driving City Buses in 1990 like this one below for a small family company called T.R.I.P.S which stood for Tuolumne River Intercity Passenger Service:

 

Now these were fun. This is a 1963 GMC Transit Coach, (Think The Honeymooners). You could see the roadway through the floorboards. And smoked so much black smoke, you could not see who was following you. And no such thing as AC! Yikes! But baby they would fly! And they had no power steering so you would have to start turning the steering wheel a block from your turn. Whee! Anyway that started my career in Modesto 22 years ago. Of course now days the drivers drive updated equipment like this coach:

Since I have always worked for Contractors, I have worked for 3 different company's in the same  Modesto facility. And now this past weekend we had to remove everything out of the facility that belonged to MV Transportation and leave because another Contractor has acquired the contract and I am not employed by them, nor do I want to be at this time. My husband will be driving there for the new company and I will still be on the road responsible for one less division now.

22 years of my life, Gone in the name of Business just like that!

But WOW what a ride!