A Great Happy Weekend

Hi everyone! OK things don't look so good this time. Blogger hates me!

I just experienced a greater than ever weekend that I want to share with you. It began with meeting a person that I began following when I first jumped on the AJ wagon like 7 years ago. Samie Harding has been a great inspiration to me and I have always loved her and her work. So this past week she flew out to San Francisco to do some video work for Mati (pronounced Matey like a pirate would say). So my friend Beth who is also a great fan of Samie's and I cooked up a plan so we could meet Samie face to face! We drove to Berkeley and met Samie at Mati's Studio (wow) and spent the afternoon with her in San Francisco at Japantown! It was a big mall with a ton of great shops. I had never been there before but know I will be going back! We went to Kinokuniya's



It was an amazing Japanese book store. OMG! I thought I had died and went to heaven. And we also went to Daiso's of course, since I can't pass up a trip to any Dollar Store! Then we ate at a great Japanese resturant, and since Samie can speak Japanese, that made it even more fun! So lots of fun and lots of shopping and getting to spend a few hours with a friend in person that has always been an online friend forever makes for a great day.The next day Beth and I ran around Modesto going to thrift shops on a book search. As everyone knows, I am a book nerd and so is Beth, so that was great. But the best part, is Beth got to come to my house (finally) and visit my art cave! Lets put it this way, she came with 1 suitcase and left with 1 suitcase and 5 bags and 30 books! Hee! So enough of my jabbering, here come some more photos of the weekend that I will be talking about for a very longtime. Samie and Beth in Maido's. Some great paper I got at Blick's. Oh yea we went to Dick Blick's in Berkeley also:) Look at these great neon pencils I got at Blick's also. This is a whole 'nother blog post in itself. It is a Sensu Stylus Brush for the Ipad and/or Tablet. Samie is teaching an online Digital Art class and I had
 to have this to go with it! Wow! It is amazing!

I have been wanting this book for awhile. Grabbed it when I saw it this time! Had to grab this cool book from the best Goodwill store in Madera when I took Beth home yesterday. And last but not least, my Hubs bought me a new Laser Printer for my 59th (again) Birthday! I see transfers in my future! Whew!

 For a week that began very sad with the Boston Marathon bombings and the Texas Plant explosions, at least for me the week ended on a good note.

Please stay safe! Have a good week ahead!

Just Getting Along

Hi Folks,

It is time for an update from my crazeee life!

On April 1st at 5:30am, I was already up and on the computer when my phone starts ringing and it was the Hubs. Asking me if I would come downtown to the Transit Center and pick up a little friend that rode his bus from the yard. Well at first I thought it was an April Fools joke, but I went ahead and got dressed and drove down there and here is what I found:

Meet Buddy! A nice little cuddly boy maybe 8 months old. Of course this is Cat # 4 in the house. Yikes! I am going to be called the Crazy Cat Lady! He calmed down Sox, the other boy we have. Sox would torment our old cat, Maxie, but since Buddy has moved in, Sox plays with him and leaves Maxie alone. YAY!! Good news. I just realized this pic is creepy looking, but he was stretched out in the box upside down so I took it.

On the art side, I went out today and used my new spray paints and shot through stencils in my big Dyan Reaveley Journal. They turned out swell: except I didn't get this one turned around.

 

Looks blue but actually black.

 OK, if I take the pic with my iphone and save it to my desktop and turn it, it saves right side up on the desk top but won't stay saved for Blogger! GRRRR

Oh well, this is the last one anyway. It was fun and I want to do more. I have been buying a can of Liquidtex Spray Paint every time I go to Michael's with a coupon. I am up to 11 cans, but 2 of those are from Aaron Brothers, called Montana Spray Paint. Low odor, if you use them inside. I always spray paint outside. Safer!

 

And speaking of safer, I am in the middle of taking a 30 hour online OSHA class! It is going to kill me! I have been working on it for 1 month. And I think I am only at 17 hours, Ugh!

 

So that's what I have been up to lately! Have an arty week. Bye!

I Survived!

This is a short, very short, update to what I have survived lately!

My son's visit went well. He is a little on the strong side about politics, because HE is right! But after he preached for a while and he got his belief's out of his system, he calmed down.

He was only here a week and spent a lot of time with his Grandparent's talking more about Wrestling and Wrestler's and that made them VERY happy, and just to have him within hugging distance made it great.

My son is one amazing kid. He reached out to his Father (who said he wasn't his 37 years ago, but now admits he is) about 2 years ago, when he called a number and left a message, wishing him a Happy Father's Day. So after 37 years he got to visit him and his half brother and sister's. They all loved him and he was so glad. He spent quite a lot of time with them also.

Just so you understand;

This man had nothing to do with him when he was growing up, nothing! But like I said, Jason is one amazing kid to want to meet him, and get to know him and not hate him. WOW! Here is us! Yep, he is very tall!

 

 

Here he is with my parent's and the doggies! I think my Mom has her eyes closed. LOL

 

Me, myself have had too many Dr appt's lately and yesterday I went in for a Colonoscopy AND and a Esophagus enlarging. They did them at the same time! Anyway, nothing much wrong in the colon, so no cancer! But they did a biopsy on something at the bottom of my esophagus. Haven't had this procedure since 2004, and my food was starting to back up and get stuck again. So we will see, when the results are back. I have to have another Colonoscopy in 5 years! Usually it is 10 but this Dr insist's on 5. And this was my first one. Which wasn't bad except for the prep! WOW! That I could do without. Let's just say, I am having my first cuppa since Saturday morning and it is great! LOL

So that is about it. The Day Job of course is still trying to kill me. At this time I am in the process of taking a 30 Hour OSHA Class on line! Yikes, and I am only at 17.5 hours. Guess when it is due? Yep, the 31st! I am not going to have it completed by then. The company paid $185.00 for me to take it, so I am trying. Really! It is sooo boring!

Anyhoo, just wanted to let you know I have survived the last couple of weeks!

Have a safe and artful time, until I get back here!

Getting Ready

Hey Folks.

Just a short post about what is going on in my little world.

Besides trying to have work done on my car, it is 10 years old and just starting to act a little tired. It has to live another 2 years! But with 185 + thousand miles on it.......we will see. I can't handle payments yet!

And I am up to my neck in Dr appts and procedures, Yuk!

AND, on Tuesday, my 6'4" baby boy is coming home for a week! So this weekend I have been trying to clean house some. And now at 4 pm on Sunday, it don't look too shabby. It will do! Jason is coming home now, cause he wants to be able to visit with his Grandparents. Since Grandma is 90 and Grandpa is 94, he has to come, since he won't be able to get back here for a few more years. But the sad part he is coming alone cause my DIL won't take the kids out of school now so close to the end of the year. I am not upset with that decision. I totally agree. So it will be a while longer before I see them, but I will live. So for the next week, I am going to be very very busy, with work and my son. Yikes!

I wanted to share what I did yesterday with my art group.

It was so cool. We each had a canvas and made a background. Then we passed them to the person on the right of us, and we got 10 minutes to add stuff to that canvas and so on, we passed them every 10 minutes until our own got back to us. WOW!! I love it!

Then after, me and my friend Arlene that was kind to give me a ride stopped at an estate sale and I picked up 2 Lincoln books:

Very cool and super cheap! YAY! And we also stopped at a Antique Sale out in the country that is only open 2 weeks a year! Yea, that's what we thought. Anyway, I bought these tin type photos there:

Oops! sorry, I took it the wrong way with my Iphone. But they are cool! And I am now completely caught up with Downton Abbey! YAY! I cannot wait for Season 4 to begin I think in Sept!

So that is what has been going on!

I will be back after my son goes home and I will show ya some pics of his visit! He told me the first thing he wants to do is go to a 7-11 and get a chili cheese dog! WOW!

Bye!

Late as Always

Well I am back for just a short post tonight.

I am really struggling lately with work, my health, and my Daddy's health. I am exhausted all of the time, because I can't be home every night I guess.

I must get better myself before I can help others. So I REALLY need to get serious!

Since the last time I have been here, I went to a Kelly Kilmer class in Fremont. I made a great new type of journal for me. More like a portfolio. Pretty cool! And I needed the break from work also. It was fun as always. I laughed alot, and I needed that more than anything else.

Other stuff going on, is I am now a Downton Abbey Junkie! OK, so yes I am very late getting into this DRAMA! But everyone has been talking about it on Facebook and Twitter, and the first season was on Netflix, so I watched it and now I am hooked! My friend Arlene, let me borrow her Season 2 & 3 DVD's today, so I can catch up with everyone else!

I am also trying to get my art cave cleaned up....again! I need a craft maid! LOL Maybe someday I will get busier than I have been lately. It has been almost 2 years since I really was serious about cleaning in here! Yikes!

Oh, I know you want to know what I am reading. Well, I am right now hooked on 30 & 40's pulp fiction detective books. Cool old Signet, etc paperbacks with the best images on the covers, that were 25 cents when new. I find them at the flea market and used bookstores. They absolutely smell terrific! I love the smell of old book paper!
YUM! LOL

Oh I am going to another arty class next Saturday. I believe we are going to do some arty stuffs on canvases!! Woot! Since I have never been much at creating on canvas, this should be fun!

And one more thing before I go. This morning I saw our Big Boy Koi Fish, Homer, out of his pond laying on the lawn, deceased! And later my hubs found 2 more smaller gold fish dead on the ground also. I do believe we have a raccoon visiting at night! So there are 3 fishies left tonight. Let's see what I find in the morning . Hopefully happy swimming fishies!

So that is about it. I know I have not been posting much lately and I apologize, but I will keep plugging along. Just hang in there with me!

Bye!

Back Again

Hey folks, I am back again after another hiatis.

Those who know me, know that I take my day job very serious. And the last year it has been a struggle to stay afloat when the company I work for has conducted lay off's 3 times. I worry each and every day that I could get the tap on the shoulder and it will be over. But I keep working my brains out and so far I have survived. But that is enough of THAT drama.

I actually took a junk journal class today with my local art group and it was fun. We made Junk Journals with a coil binding. Remember to click on the pics to make them larger.

We used numerous junky type papers which included everything under the sun. These are a few of the papers I used, including a coffee filter for a pocket.

As you can see at the bottom, I made it wonky, but I don't care. I had a fun time learning how to use the binding machine to punch the holes, stack the pieces and then run the coil into them so it was bound. Next time, even though I like different size papers and envelopes, etc. I will stick with the sme size papers until I get the hang of it. It is actually about 8.5 X 11.

Anyway, since the store we meet at is an arts and crafts, school supply, 4-H Supplier, etc store, I always have to go shopping before we leave, and today was no exception. And OMG! I hit the Motherlode! Woot!

Behold, the Motherlode as in Faber Castel Big Brush Pens!!! I almost fell over as these were in the 50% off discount bins. In packages of 4 each and I took all I could find, and at $7.15 a package, I could not resist. I bought 5 packages! I love these pens. And they work as stamp markers too, cool!

And yesterday on my way home from the Bay Area, my car, instead of driving home all of a sudden went on detour and when it stoppped I was in Berkeley at Scrapbook Territory. WOW! I still don't know how that happened *wink*

So these interesting items jumped into my hands and into the car:

The white handles are Doodle Rollers! So cool. One is a Chevron design and the other is an arrow design. Cool. You will also see 3 new stencils and a Rays rubber stamp in the back. The magazine you see is a new art journal magazine called Featuring and it comes from the UK and features newer lesser known artists. It is great and was waiting for me when I got home.

Here is a clearer shot of the new Dylusions rubber stamps I bought. I could not resist the skulls.

Here is some lucious Japanese Paper that my friend Bev brought me today from her recent trip to Japan. Woot!! The 2 white pieces are huge and the bottom piece is very heavy. So cool!

And that, my friends is what I have been up to recently. I am doing my best to get back to the every weekend post, but to tell you the truth, I am exhausted on the weekends and don't want to do much.
So now I am off to go read and relax and unwind before I will be able to sleep.

And here I am now:

Bye!

I'm Baaaaack!

Hi everyone.

It has been a little while since I posted, but I have been busier than a one armed paper hanger!

This past weekend, I arted all day Friday with my good friend Beth. Shhhh, I was kinda playing hooky from work.

And then on Saturday and Sunday, I took 2 classes from the fabulous Dyan Reaveley. She is a hoot! And talks with a great British accent. Such a down to earth instructor as long as you LISTEN when she talks! LOL, more on that later.

 

Her hair is a great shade of red, don't ya think?

 

 

I brought this fellow to Dyan as a thank you for the class and since their hair color matches, I could not pass it up. Dyan immediately named him Gordon. Here is a pic of myself, Dyan and Gordon after class.

 

 

I am telling you this lady can teach. You are mentally and physically exhausted at the end of her classes, but wow, what a great ride. LOL

 

I must admit, the most interesting thing about my fab weekend was this:

  

 

While I was grabbing stuff to take to the classes, I looked down under my art table where I keep my magazines stored for collage images and saw this statement peeking out. I almost fell off of my chair from laughing. Click on the pic to enlarge it.

 

Oops, I almost forget to show you what I worked on in Dyan's class:

  

 

This is a small 5.5 X 8 inch journal made out of cardstock and Tim Holtz Kraft Resist papers, etc. It is 1 inch thick.

 

 

Here is an inside peek of one spread. Next is a couple of shots of the BIG Journal that Dyan created just for her type of art journaling. It is 11.5 X 9 inches. Huge and has the best paper. Go get one if you like to create on big pages.

 

 

 

What do you think???

 

OK so hope this has caught me up in the blog world for now. Whew! I am trying to come down from this art journaling  high I am on and trying my best to talk with a British accent now, LOL!! Have a safe week, folks!