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!

 

 

Home Again

 

Back again. I had a crazy week beginning with Monday, as they canceled my flight in Sacramento and then I had to scramble to get another, so I eventually ended up with a flight out of Oakland getting me into Dallas at midnight! What a crazy Monday! The rest of the week was not too bad and there was no drama with my return flight on Thursday except that my car was in Oakland and we flew back into Sacramento. So the GM from Modesto gave me a ride home from the airport and the Hubs took me to Oakland to get my car Friday afternoon.  I am now tired but I get to stay home for the next couple of weeks. At least home every night. That will be better.

 

I got to go tour the Dallas Cowboy's Football Stadium this time. OMG!! That place is amazing and if you ever get the chance, please check it out. We got to go into locker rooms for the players and the cheerleaders. And they let us walk out on the field. So cool! Of course they did not tell us we were going anywhere special so I did not take my camera, which sux, but oh well. I am not much of a football fan but maybe I am a stadium fan. It was a very awesome experience.

 

I have been very busy with work, but I actually did something for myself. I wrote a How to Drive Safe zine.

 

 

This is one sheet of 8.5 X 11 copy paper cut and folded into an 8 page, 4 inch booklet/zine. I made it to prove to myself I could. So the top pic is how it looks ready to be read and here it is unfolded for copying:

 

I just typed up each page with an 8 point font and kept it in the size I wanted. So then I printed and cut out each little page to fit between the folds and stuck them down with removeable adhesive, and then took it to Office Max and got them copied. Very fun and cool. After it is cut and folded correctly it becomes the little zine in the top pic. There is no printing on the other side. I have always wanted to create one, but didn't know what to put in one. So since teaching folks how to drive correctly is my career, I figured I knew more about that than anything else. So, if you are intersted in writing one for yourself,  you can Google 8 page zine to see how one is created. There are tons of You Tube Videos on the subject. And everyone is a master at a number of subjects that others would like to know about and this is a great way to get people to read your writing on the cheap. Oh and if you are interested in wanting this one, let me know, and I will send you one.

I have an art friend that lives in Modesto and she gave me a brand new Kodak Printer today that she won at a scrapbook expo and never used. So we hooked it up today and it prints the pictures like negatives. Freeky, but great for journal fodder. Anyway I am hoping to talk to Kodak Customer Service tomorrow to get it to print correctly. It is very nice and wireless.

I actually went to Michael's yesterday for the first time since May. I found a $25.00 gift card in my console that I had forgot about and used it. I got a mini label maker for the Smashbooks. $11.00, not bad. I love those punched labels for journaling.

And the big news this week is I have pre ordered the new IPhone 5!! Ta Da! It should be here next Friday. My HTC Thunderbolt is so hard to keep charged now and with the broken screen, it is bugging me to death. So by this time next week I will be a complete Apple Junkie sans Mac Book. That will not be happening any time soon.

So that is the new this week. have fun and stay safe.

 

Another $42.00 Crack

I cracked again. Just a little. Just $42.00 worth.

Well, it ain't my fault. Blame my friend Eva. She just had to tell me that Stockton had a new Hobby Lobby store that opened a month ago. So now you know why I cracked. But I got a few cool things.

 

 I guess since I have been out of touch, they have created 2 packs of Tim Holtz Distress Markers. And since Black and White are the 2 I use the most, I grabbed them. Also I got a Derwent Spritzer Bottle. It is larger than the TH one's I have. And above  these is a new waterbrush that has a plunger that  you pull the water up into it with. Cool!

 

 These 2 little packs of canvas banners, I could not resist. I need to get texture into my journal more and these might just do the trick.

 This was a great find. I love carpenter pencils, always have. My Grandpa always had one in his overall's pencil pocket. I thought it was great and because it was hard to sharpen because of it's shape even made it more cool. I will have to sharpen this one with the sharpener that came with it and let ya know.

 

This is just 2 pieces of 8.5 X 11" felt. Could not resist the peace signs and houndstooth.

 

Yep, you guessed it. I am flying on Monday back to Dallas again for more meetings and will return on Thursday night. I should be very smart with all of this knowledge I am getting lately.

 

So with that said, I will leave you now, as I must go and partake of a Sherlock Holmes Netflix episode as is now my nightly ritual. Hee!

Have a great week!

Hey, I Am Famous!

Erin Perry whom I spoke of meeting last week in Morro Bay featured me on her blog today. Cool! I am famous. Go to her blog, Altered by the Sea!

Back Again

 

Yep, I skipped posting for a couple of weeks. I made it back from Texas but getting ready to go back to Texas on the 10th again! Grrr!

Last week I was in beautiful Morro Bay for work and to cool off, and to meet the wonderful and very talented Erin Perry. She is super nice and creates beautiful journals. She is featured in the latest Somerset Studio with a piece inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. Her piece is great!!

 

 Also, while I was in Morro Bay, the GM that works for us there told me that her son was at Burning Man this last week in Nevada and then showed me his 2 Steampunk Car Fins that he created 10 years ago when he was like 15. WOW!! They are amazing.

 

Yesterday I went on a road trip. I drove to the BART Station in Dublin-Pleasanton with my room mate and he helped me ride Bart, which was new to me and also ride the Muni Train to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco for a Zine Fest!!!!! OMG!! I had a blast. I have always wanted to write my own zines and books, etc. I met a ton of great artist and writers. I grabbed a lot of stuff and only spent about $100 bux, including travel and lunch! See the pics below of my stash. Click on the pics to make them larger.

 

Zines, Stickers and Cards, Oh My! Plus 2 collage packs for my journal, I was not expecting. 2 large rooms were set up with vendors. And free admission. Most folks did not understand art journaling. Funny, that I had to actually explain it so much. Most of these folks are really into protesting something with their products. 2012 Hippies! Love it! There is another one in Berkeley in December. I am planning to go!

So now I am in the process of writing a small 8 page zine to teach fools how to drive correctly. I know the material inside and out and can't wait to get started. Oh, and I am learning how to draw bamboo right now. Sounds simple, but it had me stumped for awhile.

I am also going to get in line for the new IPhone 5 or whatever they are goinng to call this one when it comes out sometime this month. I broke the screen on my Android phone months ago and it is time for the best I can get since my job pays for about 50%  of my bill each month anyway. So soon I will post about another new baby. Woot!

Well I think that just about does it for this time. Stay safe, folks! I mean it!