A Screech Owl and Another Leather Journal

I swear the Australian Open is threatening my creativity to the max. There was another really good match to watch at 7 pm, which should have been enough for me, but I made the mistake of checking again later and found another knuckle biter that lasted until 1:30 am. I have good intentions of sketching while watching, but absolutely forget to do so.

I did make myself leave the living room long enough to sew the leather journal that was in the works yesterday. I used two needles to make an X pattern on the outside and the sewing was easy enough, but I don't think the design is as nice as the one needle leather journal that I sewed previously. My next journal will either be hard covered or soft covered with an open spine so that I can see what a 2-needle coptic looks like and what it is like to sew.

Here is my latest journal:

While I was in my work room and ignoring the tennis matches, I decided to get out my SC journal and do a sketch. I have been preoccupied this week with the screech owl living in the wood duck house so I looked him up in the bird book and attempted a sketch.

My creativity during the day yesterday also included an aromatic and tasty dinner. I put a chuck eye roast covered with herbs and a bit of liquid on the stove to cook for a couple of hours and then added garlic, onion, potatoes and carrots. It was greatly appreciated by the hubster when he got home from his prescribed hours at the mall. And there are lots of leftovers for today. Yummy!

Today I have several things that need to go in the mail so I am going to take my coffee and get it done. I will then do the treadmill for an hour (I didn't walk yesterday, but spent a couple of hours grocery shopping). I'm hoping to have something creative to show you tomorrow.....

xoxo

Meandering Monday

I've had a very busy and productive weekend and it seems like it lasted way longer than two days. On Friday I had Little Miss 3 all day (she and her sister Little Miss 8 stayed the night on Thursday). Actually her birthday was on Friday so the hubster and Little Miss 3 made a cake for her and when her Mom came out to pick up the little one, we sang and cut the cake. Here is my birthday girl. I think I am going to have to drop the Little from her name and just call her Miss 8.

The time passes so quickly.

On Saturday the hubster worked at the mall and I worked on projects that need to be completed. I am participating in an ATC trade through ATCs For All. The theme is footwear and is called Stepping Out. Here are my cards.

The two at the top are drawings of refrigerator magnets I have. The short boot is mine and the sneaker is supposed to be drawn ala Andrea Joseph.

I had the most wonderful mail on Saturday. I received the absolutely wonderful zine that I ordered from Andrea Joseph and I got a very cute letter from Little Miss 7 in the same post. I just love it when I get personal mail!

I have spent far too much time out of doors in this freezing weather trying to get a better picture of the screech owl that appears to be living in the wood duck house the hubster built and that is set up across the creek. I sneaked up on him yesterday and hid behind a tree until my fingers were numb, but to no avail. He is apparently camera shy. Here is what I did get from the bathroom window.

If you click on the picture you may be able to see it a little better.

I've been adding to my Treadmill Mileage page as well. I've discovered my favorite so far is to set the treadmill at 3º incline and start at 3 mph. I then let the music on my iPod dictate the speed so long as it is between 3 and 3.5 mph. What a great workout. I walk for an hour and the machine says I am burning almost 400 calories. WooHoo!

I got a book from the library (actually I use World Cat through the library's online site) called Watercolour for the Absolute Beginner and I really think it will be a good one to work through. I like it so much, in fact, that I went to Amazon.com and ordered it for myself. I chose a notebook that I bought at Michael's long ago and gessoed the front cover and got it ready to start, but that is as far as I've gotten so far.

It is a little sappy silly, but I am hoping to start with exercise 1 and do all 70 of them.

I will share my watercolor exercise journal as I go. I was planning to do a couple of exercises last evening, but the Australian Open has begun and my life is on interrupt for awhile. I stayed up until almost 2 am this morning watching a really good match with one of my favorites, Daniela Hantuchova, but she didn't make it out of the first round. I am sure I will be watching more. I will try to use the time to do a bit of sketching as watercolor is out of the question while watching tv.

Today I will walk for an hour on the treadmill and then after my shower I am driving into town to do a bit of grocery shopping. I am planning to stop at Aldi's first and see what I can get there before going to Meijer's. My goal is to reduce my grocery bills. That is by far our biggest outlay and I am in the habit of just buying what I am used to buying instead of comparison shopping.

I will have another leather wrapped journal to show you tomorrow. Yesterday's attempt was extremely poor and so that leather will be used for a wrap of some kind and I will try again today. I also still need to get my tax "stuff" in order so that I can take care of that with my tax lady in March.

Too much to do, too little time.....

xoxo