Crazy Stuff Been Goin' On

Hi again!

This title says it all!

I joined a Facebook Group about scrap room organization tips and techniques. Maybe a great idea? Or not! I am now in the middle of reorganizing my art cave! This is not an overnight fix! It calls for moving stuff out of my bedroom and then moving stuff from my art cave to my bedroom so I will have room to purge and organize! It will work out in the end! And since I forgot to take a BEFORE pic, I guess you will now have to wait for the AFTER pics!

I found out I am not getting as much back in taxes this time! Very sad. That alone is going to stress me out. I needed some big bucks to do some important stuff, but will have to wait now!

I attended a beautiful wedding recently! It was an amazing experience! Glad I got to go.

I also acquired a flat tire a couple of weeks ago. Found it when my Hubs was going to use my car on the weekend. Got that fixed for free. :-) But then the next weekend, I got this:

Yep, someone knocked out my back window in my car in my driveway! Well, that was a mess to say the least! Not another car was hit on our street or within 2 blocks around! They left behind a short crowbar between my front seats where it landed after it went through my window, and 3 big wrenches and a small one all laying in the back seat. There was nothing missing, and as you can see my leather coat is still hanging on my seat! They didn't even go through the glove box! Got the window replaced for $137.00! Cool!

So because I was so stressed about my window, I bought myself a cool toy!

This is a revolving metal parts spinner. Got it at Harbor Freight for 20 bux! 18" high and 12" around. Very lightweight! Now that I am in the middle of redoing my art cave, I plan on putting this to good use. Very simple to put together, and did it all by myself! Woot!

So that brings me to the art I have been doing. I am now behind in my DLP Planner. The last Friday window incident stressed me out so much, that it took a couple of days to get going again and a new challenge is posted every Saturday at 9:00am. But I have been plugging along:

Sideways of course! But anyway, this will be an ongoing project. I took ALL of my tape, so far, 214 rolls and cut some printer transparency sheets down to tag size and put tape samples on them, so I can throw them in the car and when I am out shopping and see tape, I can check to see if I already own it. Cool! I only found 10 doubles while doing this! This includes washi tape of course but also paper tape and plastic tape etc, so I guess decorator tapes, since it is not all of one kind!

So on and on:

This is a piece of Happy Mail my friend Cheryl sent me! We have learned how to draw Wormholes on Teesha Moore's excellent new fun place called the Artstronauts! It is a great doodle. Anyway, Cheryl drew this on the envelope and I thought she looked like a woman, so she is now the Queen of all Wormholes! LOL

And I did this in my planner. The challenge was to use something recycled:

So the top of this page is a book spine, that I grabbed out of a LARGE bag of ephemera Kelly Kilmer brought to one of her classes. The quote, I made up with a little help of Dr Seuss at the beginning! Cool!

Next is a couple of new toys:

This is a new Tim Holtz creation! As you can see, you place a marker in it with the tip just laying on the end where the air comes out and while holding it in your hand, pump the bulb and spray ink from your marker. YAY! And the best is, there is a sleeve that slides out and you can use other size markers in it. Now I have a Copic Airbrush System, air compressor and all, but only Copic Markers can fit in it, so I don't use it a ton.

And then of course, since I was picking up the Spritzer, I had to have these:

There are only 4! LOL!  2 Dyan Reaveley and one Tim's and the vine is by Ronda Palazzari! LOVE!

This gift totally gob smacked me! I texted an art friend to meet up with me at Starbux last night so I could show her my new pen spritzer and she told me she had something for me in her car. We had discussed that if she ever wanted to get rid of any arty stuffs to not forget about me. (of course I need more). So I figured that's what it was. Well, as you can see, she went to Ikea and bought me one of those COOL Carts! OMG! I didn't know what it was last night at Starbux. I thought it was a BIG heavy box of arty stuff. If you don't know what this is, go to Ikea's website and look it up! They come in teal and dark gray. She gave me dark gray!! YAY!

And so that is it, except I leave you with this one truth. Never go to bed mad at someone you love, make sure that person knows that you love them and tell them often, no matter how  difficult they make your life. I unfortunately lost another friend this week very unexpectedly. Do not take your life for granted!

That's it no more preaching!

Talk Soon!

Hey I Am Back for a Minute!

Hey folks,

I have been under the weather for the past week! Ugh! An inhaler hanging around my neck. 2 different antibiotics and just today I actually am feeling a little like myself again! This is not fun!

But wanna know what is fun?

This:

These are sewn collages my friend Cheryl creates! They are the bomb! Please enjoy!

 

The bestest get well present I ever received! Thanx my friend!

And now for me. Since I have been sick, I have slacked in my Planner, but did actually work some:

 

Doodle a border here, which then turned into doodled webs!

 

I then added a "flopportunity". I took a piece of fun foam and drew a leaf on it for a stamp. I inked it with Memories Dye Based Ink Pad, & stamped it. Love the look. Then the next photo shows the oops:

It bled through. BUT it looks so cool, I loved it. The 2nd flopportunity is the sketch of the ladies. I drew one on a napkin waiting for my lunch. Put it in my pocket and forgot about it. Later when I retrieved it, I opened it up and the pen had bled through and created a twin! COOL!

This challenge was to find an artist inspiration and try to create something of theirs. So I picked Tracy Moore, Teesha Moore's Hubby. I love his sketches. But this is when I was really into my sick so I never finished the sketch. Of course on the left is Tracy and on the right is my rendition.

And that brings us to this week's challenge, which is create a shape, repeat it and add color. So since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I chose a heart. I also found a Robot with a heart, so he could dance on my page! I am still loving The Documented Life Project. Check it out! Too much fun!

Here I was going to add a 30 second video of my cat playing fetch. But my phone says it is too big to send in an email. Shucks!

I am finishing Sycamore Row by John Grisham this evening. Excellent book! Then it will be back to Agatha Christie! My book goal in 2013 was to read 40 books and I read 48 books. This year my goal is to read 50!

Have a great weekend and a fun day tomorrow!

Till next time!

 

DLP Progress

Hey there, thought I would show you my progress in my Planner/Art Journal.

So here is week 2: Selfie

I am writing an affirmation at the beginning of each week, and then including a quote with each weekly challenge.

Week 3: Add an envelope

One of my Xmas gifts came in this envelope, and I had to include it because of the great doodled sun on it!

Week 4: Secret Message

 

 

There is a secret message in a small envelope slid inside this page.

This is a hoot! I am having more fun. I challenged myself to doodle something everyday. As you can see, I am doodling it! That bunch of circles on the right hand page is really cool drywall/joint tape. The only place you can find it, is at Lowes. My new AJ Buddy Aaron used  it on one of his videos recently and of course I had to go get a roll. 6 Bux! Woot! It is paper, tears so easily and holds spray inks perfectly.

So I am loving this project. Please check it out if you are not arting on a weekly or daily basis. Roben-Marie Smith and 4 other ladies are our hosts on this wild, fun adventure! Go check it out! And the best thing is, it is free!

Gotta go! Hmmm wonder what to doodle today?

Till the next chapter!

I Have Found My Sanity

Hey folks!

I have had a very interesting and extremely fun week. Beginning last Sunday, I bought a 50% off Weekly 2014 Moleskine Planner and began a journey.

5 ladies including Roben Marie Smith, started this.

It is called The Documented Life Project, (DLP), and all it is, is one part planner, one part journal, which consists of tip in's for each week of the year added in with Washi tape. Like this which makes it very fluffy:

12 monthly tabs placed on top, and a weekly challenge given to us each Sunday. The first challenge was a door. So that was easy for me since I want to keep negativity away from my door this year. So I took a pic of my front door and placed it on the front of the tip in and added a Negativity quote on it. Cool! The tip in's are for working on the weekly challenges, like drawing or taking photos, etc.

 

To create this as my own, I gessoed the covers, and then sprayed inks and inked through an quote stencil on the back here:

The front cover, I am still adding doodles, etc to:

And the weekly planner part:

This is the most excited I have been about Art Journaling in a while. I have devoted a whole entire week to building this. I will carry this with me when I travel so I can add stuff to it.

I have a daily writing journal that I write about my day in each night before I go to sleep. It holds a lot of negative stuff that I encounter on my job, etc. That is where I write the negative away each night. But this DLP is only to be used for the positive!

I am also doing a 26 week Money Challenge. Google it. Since I get paid bi monthly, I will deposit a certain amount each payday or twice a month and at the end of this year I will have saved almost 1400 bux! YAY!

If you are interested in the DLP, go here: http://www.robenmarie.com/blog/2013/12/14/the-documented-life-project.html

You will not be sorry! This is way better than most New Year stuff out there!

Happy New Year!

Xmas Stuffs BUT Watch Video from Last Post First! That's an Order!

Hey folks,

Hope you all survived Christmas, but since it was just yesterday, maybe not!

I made it through without a scratch, and not dramatized! YAY!

I got a cool blanket throw from Barnes and Noble that I thought was being bought for my Dad, but was mine! It is heavy and perfect to curl under to read!

I also got a Nutribullet, since I am suppose to start using to make smoothies for health reasons. It is cool. But the best???...

THIS!!!!

These are new Golden High Flow Paints, meaning they can be used in air brushes and refillable markers, since they are very thin!! There are 10 opaque colors on the left and 10 translucent colors on the right. These are 1 oz bottles and even though there are waaay more colors than these, I am happy and can add more later. It pays to know what you want, print out the order info from the store and hand it to Santa and say, this is what I want! Works every time. LOL So since I am on vacation, I will begin to work with them. And before you ask, another arty friend of mine, also ordered a set of these and we tried to get them to work from a water brush. I wasn't too happy with that, since it just didn't want to flow well. Ugh!

A couple of latest AJ pages:

Now if you didn't behave and look at the last post first, like I told you, please do so now, then this last page will make more sense. The video is from Jane Davies. This page has a skin on it!

My parents at dinner yesterday.

Have fun with what Santa bought you!

Transparent Acrylic Skins

VACATION!!!!!!!!!!

Finally!

So ya know, I am just kicking back relaxing, right?? Yea......

Since day after tomorrow is Christmas, and I am not done with my stuff, well you know where I am at.

My brother is here visiting from Virginia and so I  have been busy, busy!

I have already received some gift's and want to share with you!

So the first 3 pics is what I received in my Xmas box from my friend Cheryl in Washington!! EEEP!!! So cool! I tried a panoramic pic with my iPhone in the first one. LOL. She sent me tons of maps! I love maps. The next one is the stamps and punches she sent and for added imagery, I included my cat's tail in the pic!
The last pic is of the Smashbook that she made into a day planner, art journal, etc for 2014! This spread is for February! So cool! Cheryl is very talented. I linked her blog above. Please check out her talents!

This is a drawing that Less Herger created on a recycled can lid. Another friend gave this to me as a gift! This is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Please go to Less's blog and visit her Etsy Shop to see these small recycled drawings! I love this thing! Amazing!

I am hoping that I can get into my art journal while I am off for the next 2 weeks! Hoping...

In January I decided that I would keep track of how many books I would read this year. My goal was 40, but by the time 2014 rolls around, I will be in the middle of # 49! Thanx to my friend Beth who introduced me to James Patterson, Alex Cross series, which led me to the Women's Murder Club series also by James Patterson! Great detective books!

Have a great holiday with your family's and friend's. Remember those less fortunate and don't stress over everything that is going on in the world. It is too depressing! Dwell on the HAPPY!

Till next year, I am out!

PANIC! (Nevermind)

OK Now I feel like a fool.

 After I hit publish for this, and then hit view blog, my blogs were back!

All is well for the moment!

________________________________________________________________________________

I got up this morning and saw that all of my blogs I follow had disappeared from my blog!!! YIKES!
to say I am upset is a major under statement!
So if anyone out there in Blogger blog-landing knows anything to help, please step up! I know out of my 49 followers, I only see comments from about 4, but that is OK, if you 4 know how to fix this.

Yes, I rebooted my laptop

Yes, I signed out and signed back into Blogger

No, I am not savvy enough with blogger to really understand the gizmo's in settings. I can barely change my header.

Help!

Sadness And Other Things

This week has been a little trying for me.

A lady that dispatches for one of my division's lost her husband on Friday from a sudden massive heart attack. WOW! I am so sad for this family. This guy was one of those people you could honestly say, that he would give you the shirt off of his back! It is unbelievable that just last Saturday, I was with him, his wife and his kids as we worked on a "Stuff the Bus" promotion for Thanksgiving in Manteca, a small town near me. We park a bus at a Food 4 Less grocery store and as people come out of the store they give us food for the needy folks that need the food for Thanksgiving. Steve worked all day collecting food, helping us get the food in the bus and of course had to help us jump start the bus at the end of the day! Never fails, there must be some drama! And then the very next Friday he was gone! I am still in shock. I believe he was just 40 years old.

That is the sad news. So on to other things!

I have worked this weekend on getting my craft paints switched over to dabbers, and then getting a small circle painted and punched for the tops. Here is a pic:

Looks kinda cool! The top row is Distress Paints. The rest is pretty much craft paints now with dabber tops!

I have been working in my journal some.

 

I don't know why it is sideways here. It is right on my desktop. Sigh...

I love the bird image on this page.

This was the inside cover of a zine, that I think was Seth Apter's. But not sure. But I like it and it is blue!

I found this strange image in my stash and thought OK I need something here. So here it landed on top of a Samie Harding background paper.

And lastly, this is my journal page I created out of the sorrow I feel for Steve dying and what his family is having to go through now:

It was a fast page, but I wanted to get it down!

Anyway, please stay safe, have a great Turkey Day, hug your kids, spouses and friends and let them know how much you love them!

Till next time. I am out!

More AJ Pics

Hey, I have actually been doing stuff in my journal! Yay Me!

Cool image! This one is not complete though.

This is about a good friend and a very sad story! Looks like she is being forced to leave CA! Yep, it SUX!

This looks pink, but believe me it is red. Just like the rest of  US, I had to choose new healthcare, so when I did this page, I was very upset about it. My present healthcare group did not want to be kind to my employer so as of 1-1-2014, I will be an official Kaiser Permanente Member! I have to pay more than I do now, but I am not young and have TOO MANY issues, not to have healthcare! Grrr

I have decided in this journal, I am not going to have too many "pretty" pages! I want them to be rough and a little bit ugly! I really like this one!

This one is definitely not great! The left side is OK but the right page is YIKES! I didn't know what I wanted around the weird stripy doll so I scribbled! Yuk!

Now this one is actually based on a true story. When I was in HS, we lived on a dairy where my Dad milked. Since our house only had 2 bedrooms, my brother got one and of course my parents got the other, so that left me outside in a small silver stream camping trailer for a bedroom. Now before you start saying, Oh the poor thing, I loved it. It was made into an actual bedroom with a desk, closet and bed. No sink, etc. Anyway, I could stay up late reading and play my record player, etc. And since I was already smoking, it was easy to sneak that too.
The best story I have about this is my brother was a little heathen back then and he picked on me constantly, so one day he was chasing me to kill me, or so I thought and as I ran into the trailer, he said something about telling Mom and Dad that I had been smoking, so I turned around to slug him and just as I threw my fist, he slammed the door and my fist and arm went through the glass in the door, and cut me pretty bad! I still have the scars! LOL! PS, that is not a pic of me!

One last thing, I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond tonight to get coffee and saw this. It is a very large, 23 X 16 inch Oven Liner, like the Ranger Craft Mat, but bigger and only cost $9.99! Takes up to 500 degrees so no heat gun's will harm it. And the size is the best part. A regular Ranger Craft Mat is 11 X 17 for $17.99 This one may be a little thicker, but who cares, it is great! Mine is black, and I bought it at a kitchen supply store many years ago. I love it.

So that is the end of this story! Have a great weekend!

I Am Famous!

Have you read an Art Journal Magazine called Featuring?

You haven't??

I have bought a copy, every copy since they started. It is a great magazine, in that it features art journalers that are not "famous". It is big and glossy and beautiful.

I was interviewed for it and they posted it today on their face book page!

Heeee, I am famous!

Go Here!

Have fun and seriously think about ordering the next issue! You will love it!

Have a great week!

I Have Been Busy

On June 10, 2012,  I wrote a blog post titled, "Day Job Stress...," and in that post I wrote about how my Tim Holtz Dabber paints had dried up and I found out that my craft paints lids and the dabber lids interchanged and I switched them out and well-a, I had new dabber paints!

So, I found this rack at a 2nd hand store yesterday:

It holds 50 craft paint bottles! Looks like it is home made! It is wooden. It measures about 12 X 16 inches.  And it cost 99 cents! Did I score or what????? So this morning I took the rest of my dabber tops off and screwed them onto my craft paint bottles!!!! The dried up bottles of dabber paint are now gone with craft paint lids!! Bye Bye! This is the pic before I added all of the new bottles.

I said I have been busy.

I found a LOA friend that I lost 4 years ago when I started this day job and lost my mind completely. So I went to her house today for a visit and found out she had gotten married, and she and her husband, George, sell books out of their home!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, I was like OMG by the stacks of books every where and George knows where every book is. It was amazing. So now I know when I find cheap books that I can take them over to Barbara's and George's and while Barbara and I visit, George can go through them and take what he wants to sell. It will help them and I will feel good about helping them. Barbara actually sells DVD's and VHS Tapes also. Hubs and I have a bazillion VHS Tapes that need to find a home, so he doesn't know it yet, but......

Speaking of the hubs, he is down in LA this weekend, picking up ANOTHER old motorcycle to fix up and sell! Grrrr! But I have the house to myself! YAY!!!!!!

I also found the latest version of the LOA magazine at target this week when I was in Hayward! I love this magazine. If you are into LOA, go find it!

OK I am off to call a friend and do some art!

BYE!!!!