Piano Man

Awesome, awesome, awesome!!! I got to see Billy Joel in concert one more time last night... another amazing concert (he's always awesome). It was as if he'd asked me to make a list of all my favorites and he played them... several of them not the top chart-busting songs even... it was amazing. He's such a great artist, it goes well beyond performer... his songwriting is amazing and then, well there's the piano playing which is just astounding. For anyone who might be interested, I'll list the songs he did in order (I'm gonna make a playlist for my ipod).
Angry Young Man
Ode to Joy (my favorite hymn... he snuck a little bit of Beethoven in, he's so cute)
My Life
Don't Go Changing
Summer of Highland Falls
The Entertainer
Zanzibar
New York State of Mind
Allentown
Don't Ask Me Why
She's Always a Woman
Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
Innocent Man
Keeping the Faith
River of Dreams
Hang on Sloopy (slipped in between... for us Ohioans)
Matter of Trust
We Didn't Start the Fire
Still Rock n Roll to Me
You May Be Right
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Only the Good Die Young
Piano Man

I get goose bumps when he does Piano Man and they stop playing and the whole stadium sings the chorus on its own.... he always does that. It was just an amazing concert. Who knows how many more times he will tour, every time he says it will be the last time, and I'm sure he thinks it will be... I can't blame him, it must be grueling to put on shows like that and travel so much. But I am grateful each time that I get to experience him in person. I don't get this way about much of anybody else.
(I'm wearing my t-shirt today, too!)

Bad Hair day in the Stone Age

I guess even caveladies had bad hair days
(probably quite a few since Clairol had not
been invented yet). Looks like the cavekids
were getting to her. This Iniuit cave drawing
just kind of cracked me up so I thought I'd
share it here. The eyes just kill me!

Coffee shop evening

I stopped at Cup O' Joe and had a smoothie
after work on Sunday evening and read my
book. It was just too nice to go home and sit
inside. I love when the days start to get nice...
we appreciate it so much right at first when it's
been cold and crummy for so long. I was there
for a few hours. I also took a shot inside of the
tiles around the fireplace because I liked the
colors so much.

Goodies! Goodies! They arrived!

I'm so excited... my goodies came from last month's crusade... it WAS like my birthday all over again (only better)! Such neat and yummy things (well some literally yummmy and some figuratively).

Cool goth scissors... have to say I never got goth scissors before... definite addition to the journal kit!
Note paper, mini stapler, rubber stamps, pop rocks (I remember those...how fun!), pretty tissues... will have to go towards art projects, the pattern is just too pretty to blow my nose on! and I'm really excited to get a CD with HIM songs... I've been wondering what all the fuss was about...now I know... pretty cool stuff I must say. He's on my computer and ipod now.... I may be joining the ranks of fans (though Billy Joel will always be my number one... sorry Ville). Thanks so much to Michelle for putting together such an awesome package....It was such fun to open... all themed red and black and goth all over!

Irish eyes are smilin'!

Wishing you all a very Green day! Hope the
luck of the Irish is with you today!

I Gave at the Office

I donated blood at work this afternoon.... I guess the multi-vitamins are doing good since my iron wasn't too low this time. I gave once before and it was no big deal other than the fact that I seem to have really S-L-O-W blood... two people came, gave and went before I was done filling my bag! This time I got woozy and felt sick to my stomach, which I didn't expect. But I got this t-shirt! I'm ok now though and back at work.

Wow I won! I won!

How exciting to find out this morning (a Monday morning, no less) that I won Michelle Ward's last GPP Street Team crusade... Pandora's Box! I had such fun putting the box together and then journaling with it. I guess it was because it's my lucky birthday month or something... I don't tend to win stuff that often... but then I don't gamble much so that could be why. The Street Team crusades are such fun... participating is really winning in and of itself and you get to meet such fun people. Winning the contest is just icing! And it must be said that Michelle is just awesome for inspiring such creativity and participation not to mention connecting like-minded arty souls... I hope some of it rubs off on me!

More fun with Journaling

The first topic goes 'round on message boards now and then... what is "art" and who decides? I think it's you and me... it's always a subjective thing, really... if you make it and consider it art--then it is. Even if you make it but don't think it's art, but someone else does.... then it's still art! Art is in the eye of the beholder. I don't think something has to be pretty to be art. Some stretch the limits, quite purposely, simply to provoke and I guess that's ok, too. I like art that says something and communicates.

The other entry is about food... things I find yummy. What do you find delicious? I'd love to hear. My tastes change and what sounds good one day, may not on another. I don't think fresh fruit made it on the list, but that's great, too. There's probably nothing I'd love to eat every day... as much as I like anything, I'd get tired of it rather quickly.... variety is the spice of life... I'm lucky to have so many eating options.

Happy Valentine's Day

Another new journal page

The new Journal Kit Journal pages....

Well I've done a few pages using the new Journal Kit... and a new Moleskine book I started to use with it. It's been really fun! I camped out on the sofa and didn't even run into the craft room to grab more stuff or get additional things that weren't in the kit (I'm so proud of myself!). I cut up a Prevention magazine I had picked up at the grocery some time ago... some nice headlines and adds that gave me great ideas for journal entries. There are sure to be more pages coming soon.

Journal Kit

For the latest Street Team challenge I've put together a journaling kit... from things at The Container Store (I work there part time). I was pleased to find out that my favorite journaling book Journal Revolution fits perfectly inside so I can take inspiration with me as well as tools! The second photo shows the second layer with my Moleskine journal.

Next I show the small boxes inside that hold markers and small stamp pads and colored pencils, a glue stick, x-acto knife and a double stick adhesive dispenser.



The next photo shows small cups to hold embellishments. They are magnetic on the bottom and I stuck small round metal discs that have adhesive on the back so they stay in place and don't rattle all over the box. The last photo shows a clear pouch that holds some individual pages for another journal, some scrap paper, tags and clippings from magazines to add into the journal. I've made a few pages already using my kit, I'll post those on Tuesday.

the start of a new journal

The start of a new journal... on kromekote (shiny) white card stock... using stamp pads, paint, rubber stamps, handwriting and what ever comes to mind. I decided to go back toward my comfort zone so I would actually do more stuff. I can toss in new things as I go I figure, but this way I'm more likely to actually work on it more often. (or so I hope). So far I'm pretty pleased, I cranked these out pretty quickly last night. I think I was really ready to make some art.

Self Portrait

This was inspired by the book Journal Revolution... using photos of yourself to journal... I have a hard time with this most of the time. As it was I used a Photoshop filter to blur it up a bit before I added the text. I saw on another blog how people are doing self portraits and I never do that. And I guess it's that I seldom like photos of myself. There are a few thing I do like about myself...but it's usually easier to focus on the stuff I don't like. So this made me put it down... harder than even saying it out loud! It seems to be so vain to say such things... why does our society teach that? Those of us who need a shot of self-confidence sure don't need that baggage, right? When we can finally find something to like in ourselves we feel guilty for saying so! So I encourage you to do one for yourself..no matter how hard it is! Even if it's only one thing you can think of to list... but I bet you can find more than that! When I wish my hair was thicker... I think how quickly it dries in the morning, which is great -- I can sleep in that much longer! And that I like the color of it (though I didn't so much when I was a kid) -- now I revel in that my red hair sets me apart. So find something you like in you!

Finding the Words

This is often the question... so many things to say until I sit down to do art...then not sure what I want to say... so I said just that... I had to start somewhere, right? Seems like I have either too much to say or nothing (or I can't think of anything to translate to art... my friends will tell you I ALWAYS have SOMETHING to say!). I think this stumps most of us at one time or another... so I decided to put it down, invest some time in it. Still loving using the Photoshop brushes.

I love my clogs... journal entry

Inspired by an image on RobenMarie's site (I love her work!):
http://robenmarie.blogs.com/photos/the_view_within_journal/flip_flops.html
and also inspired by the book Journal Revolution by Linda Woods and Karen Dinino, which I was revisiting tonight, I created this piece of art...

I pretty much like it, though because I worked on it at home, I only had Photoshop 5.5 which I have much less in the way of brushes to work with. I hope to upgrade later this year. But it was fun and I found ways to get it to look like what I envisioned. Maybe a few more bits of blue might have been good. I still may work on it more. But I DO love my clogs.... always have since grade school... and now they actually have medical benefits for my feet! All the better.

Why is Rain Sad?

While stuck in horrible traffic coming home on Thursday night (1/10/08) I was looking out the car window and thought how it always seems that a rainy window is synonymous with sadness. I had time to ponder while I sat at the light for several revolutions so I took a photo, wondering how it might turn out. I guess I do find rain a bit melancholy, but I kind of like a rainy day sometimes. I wondered why we so often link it with sad feelings or depressed feelings when there isn't anything intrinsically sad about rain, really. We really need it at times. Not enough and we have drought, too much and it's the cause of floods. All I know is, that it sure messed up traffic that night and it took me forever to get home! That was more annoying than sad, though I wasn't in too bad a frame of mind about it since I wasn't in any particular hurry to be anywhere. It is nice when we don't need to stress and can enjoy where ever we happen to be and take the chance to reflect on something we might not normally have the chance to. Here's to happy rainy days.

Crusade 16 Journal Your Blog

Ok, here's the real, hands-on, cut, paste and paint version. This was a bit of a struggle... had to rip up the first attempt and re-place them on a new sheet to try again. I didn't like the paint, it got too unfocused. This one is still a little all over the place, but I like it better. These were my blog banners for the What's Your Muse Crusade from a few months back. I have another few blog items to try out but didn't get them done last night. It was fun to get out the paint and slop it on. I haven't done that in a while. I wanted to get more rubber stamps in, but wasn't finding what I wanted. I liked this theme so it was fun to do something extra with it. I probably could have done a page for each muse now that I think of it. Too bad there's not enough time in the day/week to do all the things I think of doing!

More Wrecking of the Journal...

So more wrecking has been going on and it's still fun. Still haven't taken it into the shower yet...I think I have to build up to that one! LOL but have burnt it and torn it put gum in it... maybe will do some more tonight. Getting a good photo has been a challenge, need better lighting I guess. I want to do a lot of the pages, but I suppose it's good to pace one's self and not get too many done at once... savor the destruction! It's weird 'cause it's hard and yet fun at the same time. Maybe the cats will help with it... they seem to like destroying all my other things in the house! Here's the next few I have pics of.

Blog about journaling...journal about blogging...

Ok, this is getting a bit surreal... for the current GPP Street Team Crusade we are challenged to take a blog entry and journal about it in our Visual Journal... my first attempt is a digital take on it... will try a cut, paste and glue one later. I like how this one turned out. I'm loving using the brushes in Photoshop (and you don't have to clean them out when you are done!). The new typefaces are really fun... go to DaFont.com to get TONS of REALLY cool and (even better) FREE fonts... Love 'em... this was fun... wanna do more... but can we get caught in a temporal time loop by blogging about journaling and then journaling about blogging? Just curious! If you want to participate, go to: http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/2008/01/crusade-no-16-j.html?cid=96222100#comment-96222100

Happy New Year! It's the start of a new journal!

I passed this up in the bookstore the first time I saw it last month... it's really weird... It's a journal called "Wreck This Journal" and every page holds instructions on how to deface, demolish and generally destroy the journal. Everything from tearing out pages, taking it into the shower with you (haven't done that one yet!), dropping it from heights, dragging it on a string behind you while you take a walk... to gluing all manner of matter into it. I will do my best to document my efforts as I go through the process... it is kind of fun, actually. What caused me to rethink the whole concept was seeing some reviews on Amazon.com. People were really getting into it. I also found a flickr site where people are sharing what they are doing with it. So, anyway, a new year, a new kind of journal...bombs away!

Merry Christmas everyone!

It's Christmas eve and I've been baking and decorating (and cleaning up the house a bit) in preparation. I hope everyone has been enjoying the holiday in their own way. I kinda wished for some snow but it has made it easier to get around for all my errands without it. I did better than usual this year getting things done on time, though a few people will get cards a little late. Wishing you all a New Year full of joy, happiness and love!

Busy being Santa's Elf....

Ok, no new posts lately... though I've been very busy making art... but I can't post any of it right now or it might spoil the surprise for the recipients who might peek on here. So maybe once I get through some of my Christmas making, I can create some other things that I'll be able to post. And also some of the things that I receive, too!

Here's a link to one that I can share...

http://sharonsahl.blogspot.com/

this was created by the company Blurb with software you download, then you upload it with your files/images and they make a book for you! From what my friend, Sharon, says, it turned out nicely. I'd heard positive and negative feedback on them, though mostly positive so I wanted to give it a try. Can't wait to do more.

Where in the World? Part2

This is some art I did last night incorporating the names of addresses and cities where I've lived. I like how it came out and it was neat trying to think of old addresses where I lived... some of the numbers weren't in the brain anymore, but I think I got all the streets! What fun to make art with that, it wouldn't have occurred to me if not for the Street Team challenge... it's such an inspiration.

Where in the World?

My entry (or first one) for the GPP Street Team Challenge 15... Where in the World? (I couldn't get the button to copy and work)here's the link if you want to play (it's so much fun!) http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/

These are details from around my house... built in 1914... which I have been thinking of doing something like this for a long time now... this gave me the push to go and do it! Even though it was a bit dark last night to get some of the shots I wanted, I think it turned out pretty neat. I will describe them in order top left to bottom right...
1. a cornice in the dining room (not original to the house, but I thought it was cool
2. an old typewriter we had at home when I was growing up... love this thing!
3. the original sink in the upstairs bath... the tiles are original too!
4. grate for the fireplace in a spare room upstairs (I have 5 fireplaces in this house!
5. tiles on the living room fireplace
6. fireplace grate detail in dining room
7. tapestry that my mom had that she got from her great aunt... it's really cool
8. Wood grain from the door to the attic/3rd floor
9. fireplace detail from dining room

I took enough of these I may be able to make a second one even. The house has some lovely and interesting details. I wish it could talk... all the things that people that lived there must've talked about from the sinking of the Titanic (the year it was built) to WWI and WWII and the Great Depression... the roaring 20s and the 50s...amazing things must've happened here.

This is in Columbus, Ohio where I live in case some of you are wondering... a lovely midwest town where I settled down after coming here to attend art school. Originally I am from a suburb of Dayton, Ohio, not much more than an hour from here, not so very far away. I was two years in Cincinnati, Ohio at school there before coming to Columbus. That's pretty much the only cities I've lived in, though I love to travel.
It's great seeing where every one else lives and has lived. The world is a much smaller place than it used to be I think.
More to come on this theme!

How To Keep An Art Journal by Suzi Blu: #1

This kooky girl is quite endearing and funny... get out there and get an art journal started!

Cool tiles at Mickey D's!

I saw these cool tiles while in line waiting for my Quarter Pounder the other day.... they remind me of one of my polymer clay samplers that I made into a brooch. Different colors and textures. It's kind of pretty. That is a neat McDonald's... they have leather chairs and a little fireplace (ok, it's gas, but still).

My New 'Do

Ok, it took two cuts to get what I liked... but I'm pleased with this haircut, finally! I got it cut a few days ago and didn't care much for it... I wanted more layers, a different look, though still kind of long... this is much better... I went to Rafiel's over in Clintonville, near work. It was more expensive than Aveda Institute... but if I like it I can keep going to the same girl, which is nice. The Institute was nice... for $17 you got a mini massage, a facial, shampoo, cut and style... but it was a student, and an instructor oversaw it... and if you liked it, the girl may or may not be there the next time 'cause they are always graduating and moving on. This was $35... and I did get a mini massage, which was nice. I may keep going though, I think I will like the cut... but once I try to style it myself, then we'll see... that's always the clincher. Anyone wants to tell me what they think and leave a comment, I'd be happy to hear what you think of it!

Trip to Texas - I'm Back!

I haven't posted since before I left to go on my Thanksgiving trip to Texas to see my dear friend Jane. I have photos to post (they are on my Facebook site if you can't wait) but don't have them here with me to post them now. It was fun, a lot of driving in the car everywhere... nothing seems to be close to anything else in Texas! I got to meet up with my crafing/internet friend, Barb from Austin as she and her husband kindly arranged their schedules to be down in Houston so we could do that. She and Jane introduced me to Chik-fil-a and we had a lovely time getting to visit, though it was all too short.

And we had a really fun Thanksgiving day with Jane, her son Jonathan and daughter Lori (and Buttercup the dog of course). We managed to cook a great big turkey and it came out great (neither Jane nor I had much experience in this type of thing) and I'm sure as big as it was they may still be eating leftovers this week yet! We had all the usual Thanksgiving trimmings, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, stuffing (for them, I'm not so keen on it), sweet potatoes (with marshmallows on top), mashed potatoes and gravy and pumpkin pie with Cool Whip for dessert... though I don't think we had dessert for quite a while after dinner. (had some pie for breakfast while the parades were on though).

And Friday evening we went for a ride on the Polar Express up in Palestine, TX. It was a bit chilly but we dressed warm and did fine. We got to have hot chocolate and see Santa at the end. Jonathan really loved it. I'm back now and into the routine of work (both my jobs) and getting back to all the usual things.