This and That

If I had told you about 6 months ago that I had to wait in line to use the treadmill I would have been making up stories. But, the hubster is really committed to walking these days. I am so proud of him and so glad that he is walking so much as it gives me a little extra push on my lazy days.

While I am waiting, I am perusing the internet using the Google Chrome browser and so far I am loving it. Except for missing the download video button that I have on the Firefox browser, I am quite pleased with the browsing experience.

Also while waiting, I have been doing a little bit of sketching. I tried to sketch a polar bear just using a Papermate pencil. I am not too unhappy with the result, but find the neck not to be exactly like I am trying to make it. I do think though that anyone looking at it would know what it is that I am trying to draw.

After I eat breakfast and work out on the treadmill, I need to get cleaned up and finish boxing up the Tupperware pans and get them to a UPS store to ship them. Then I am going to Sam's for salmon, chicken, bottled water and wine. I may have to stop in a second hand store or two before purchasing the frozen stuff. I am thinking it has been a long time since I've been to Big Lots, JoAnn's or Michael's and maybe today is the day.

But I really must get off the computer if I am to get anything done today.....

Hope you are having a lovely day.

xoxo

AEDM-Day 29 Woot! Woot!

I am down to the second to last day of AEDM and have so far done something creative every day. Some days I've actually done more than one creative endeavor.

Yesterday I had a lovely, unexpected get together with my friend Tina from Marshall. She was driving to Jackson to shop at JoAnn's and called me to see if I wanted to meet her there. I was thrilled. I wasn't planning to go anywhere, but with a chance to spend some time with a like-minded person (granted she is way more talented than I am and does a much wider variety of art than I do), I jumped at the chance. We had such fun.

When I got to JoAnn's, Tina was just finishing up at the cutting table. We then wandered over to the stamps and such and I bought a non-stick craft sheet (about a week ago, I bought one, but failed to notice that it was much smaller than the one I was trying to replace. This time I got the 15" x 18". I'd like to go into a craft store and find that they stocked that on a tube, like fabric, so you could buy a piece large enough to cover your work surface. I also bought a Stampendous stamp called a Follate Quad Cube. It has a different leafy stamp on each of four surfaces.

We then wandered around the scrapbooking area where Tina introduced me to the "Core Color" papers. I am in love. I bought a handful of them in various colors. It just so happens that there is a book display right next to the papers and since I had a 50% off coupon I bought a book called "4000 Alphabet & Letter Motifs" by Graham Leslie McCallum. I also bought a book called "Silhouettes" by Sharyn Sowell. I love them both.

From there, I took her over to Encore!, a second-hand store on Wildwood. She loved it and made even more purchases than I did. You'll have to read her blog to see if she shares with you what she bought. Meanwhile, I will tell you that I bought a lovely wreath of Christmas sleigh bells to hang on the front door knob, a cut wooden sleigh napkin holder (with napkins), a bingo game, the game Pit (I couldn't help myself - we used to play this game when I was a kid - even Mom and Dad would play and it was a lively and loud game). I also bought some picture hanging wire (I think this would be a good steampunk item),

After that browsing and purchasing fun, Tina told me that she was planning to go to Penney's, so I suggested Applebee's for lunch. We both were thinking about being "good" and having a salad, but we both decided instead to have a steak and take leftovers home to the hubsters. Yummy! Our waitress was extremely nice and friendly, so while we were visiting with her I found out she had just moved into an apartment and needed "things" so I pointed her in the direction of Encore! because I know she will find dishes and silverware in good shape there.

When we went to Penney's, Tina got nearly all of her Christmas shopping done. They had really wonderful deals and she had some coupons on top of it.

I finally did spend some time playing with art (but surely browsing and visiting with an arty friend counts as being creative) and decided to use the colors being used as the challenge at Play Date Cafe both to make a pattern and to color enhance a photo. What fun!

 

I am so enjoying these unexpectedly sunny and beautiful days in late November and am so thankful for the time I have, the friends I have, the internet friends I have who are so supportive and warm, and my wonderful hubster who supports my attempts to be creative and artful.

See you tomorrow!

AEDM and More CDs

It is much too cold here already. We seemed to go from unseasonably warm weather (70s in October - wonderful!), to unseasonably cold weather and snow in mid-November. It feels like January or February. There is really no point in complaining - it is what it is.

I have been reading many nice comments some with good suggestions when I am unsure of how to move on in my altered CD project. Leah suggested using some ink to bring out the sun in one of them, which led me to pull out my Permapaque markers (no they are not ink, but still her idea led me to that) and I really like the result. I think this one is done.



I was really stuck as to what direction I wanted to go on the third one. So I randomly reached out for a product and my hand landed on some stucco I purchased on sale at JoAnn's a couple of weeks ago. Just so you know, it is not unusual for me to make a decision randomly. About 30 years ago, I was living in the UP and my life was not as it should be, so I spun the globe and reached out. My finger landed in Arizona - so I moved to Phoenix. But I digress.......

I am not sure I like where this is going, but I am going to add some color over the stucco and maybe add some fiber----I don't really know. I am so pleased with how Leah's suggestion turned out, I would welcome any thoughts or comments on this one, too.



That's it for now, until the next time don't forget to live in the moment.

AEDM and Giraffes

I found a swap through ATCs for All for giraffes and as they are one of my favorite animals, I decided to go for it. I made two and used both the hubster and the daughter as sounding boards. They both chose the same one, so that is the one I will be trading.




The one on the right is a very textured background that I made long ago on 11 x 14 artist board and then cut into ATC sized pieces. The image transfer didn't work real well. The one on the left is painted, weathered and then stamped with a foam stamp. The other giraffe in the lower corner is hand drawn on watercolor paper and then cut out and colored with pencils.

On another note, a friend and I went into Jackson yesterday and I actually found some Sizzix dies and some Cuttlebug embossing folders ON SALE at JoAnn's. We also went to a second hand store, where I scored on books - found a novel written in German, several sheet music books, a travel scrabble set with wood letter squares that are quite a bit smaller than the regular size ones and some stencil books.

All in all a very productive shopping excursion.

The hubster and I are babysitting the little girls for the next 5 days, so my art time will have to be stolen in small chunks. That's it for now.

Have a great day, and don't forget to live in the moment.