Happy New Year - almost!

Finally some new art! I had been working over the holidays, but couldn't post anything that was to become a present in case the recipient might be looking!

One of the things I got for Christmas was a new journal! Yay! So last night I started in it and I share the results with you.

This first one in black and white is about creating. It's rubber stamps and journaling. Just something quick that popped into my head. I like stuff in black and white sometimes. Shape and form take more importance that way.
















The second one evolved from an idea from a book True Vision: Authentic Art Journaling by LK Ludwig
http://tinyurl.com/9zhzyy
the idea is to tear a scrap from something like the phone book and build from that... which I did. As I started to paint over it I noticed that both Washington state and Ohio were right there on the page... and a very good friend of mine recently moved back to Ohio from Washington state (pleasing me greatly) so I decided that was what I meant to journal about on this page... so off I went. The bingo card was already there, but seemed appropriate: "Bingo!" and I added arrows and stamps and writing plus two tags with the two locations as well as my own location. The colors are oil pastels that were a present from this friend - so it really ties it all together. It's a bit looser than my typical work, which I have been striving to do, so that made me happy.

I do propose to do more art journaling and blogging this year (nice to have a FUN new year's resolution!) so please come back to see if I am keeping that resolution!

What Type of Blog Do You Have?

I read an article on how to "type" your blog using the Myers-Briggs test that businesses often use as a personality indicator. If you don't know about it here's some info about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers_briggs
Anyway on this site you simply type in your blog's address and it figures out your Myers Briggs result. It's kind of fun (if you enjoy that sort of thing) to see what comes up. Mine seemed somewhat accurate, though it didn't match how my tests usually come up for me (usually an ENFJ for those who understand the terms). I believe that stands for Extrovert, iNtuitive, Feeling and Judgemental if memory serves.
I'm not sure if the test (for the blogs) is purely random or what, the actual test is based on a load of questions you answer about yourself and is pretty scientific in nature. So here's the link if you want to have a go at it:
http://www.typealyzer.com/
Here's how mine came up for Dieverdog's Art Blog: http://www.typealyzer.com/index.php?lang=enI guess you can judge for yourself if you think it fits!

More Holiday Cards

Stay tuned for more cards coming soon.... (now that I've got the scanner working again!)

Holiday Cards are Here

Ok, gotta luv 'em...

Free TV : Ustream

Letterman - A message from Barack Obama - 10-16-2008

Obama is for the cat lover's votes! Here's proof!

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

No matter who you're for.... please go out and vote! If you can vote today, or if you wait til tomorrow... just GO VOTE! It's terribly important... especially here in Ohio where the race may be close...you just never know... so you MUST make your voice heard... and every voice counts! It reminds me of Horton hears a Who... and the littlest little who who's YOP saved them all from the boiling oil... you could be the tipping point! So go stand in line... you might meet some really neat people and have a nice conversation... or take a good book or crossword puzzle. But seriously, it's important and you only get this chance once every 4 years.
I'm done now.... get out there!

An Awesome Artist and Animal Lover

This link was listed by someone I follow on Twitter...and it's really neat so I'm posting it here!
This guy's art is terrific and it's great what he's doing. It makes me wonder what I could be doing to use my talents for the betterment of the world. Very inspiring...and his art is just plain fun to look at!
Take a look!
http://www.ronburns.com/index2.html

Me at the Stadium

After a Communicators meeting at the OSU stadium this morning we got to take a tour of the stadium... so here's a pic of me chillin' at the stadium! It was kinda neat to get to do that. I've never been to a game so it was pretty awesome to see.

Yet another fun craft to try!

Well I managed to find one more craft to try! Going into a yarn shop yesterday after a work meeting next door was over... in an area way north of town I've never been to before... I was very warmly welcomed by one of the shop owners (though I didn't know that at the time) Elaine. She showed me how she made these neat little woven squares (or rectangles) on a tiny hand-held loom (called Weavette looms) and then she pieces them together (NOT sewing - she proclaimed). You can do so much with them and she and I really connected as we continued to talk. Ideas started flowing on what I could make with these little gems.... scarves, purses.... and then Elaine proceeded to show me samples she'd done! And then she gave me a little demo on how to start the loom with yarn and before you know it.... I bought a loom and she showed me how to do it and before I left I had my first little rectangle (shown above). I tried to do another one at home, but I think I need a remedial lesson on the last step because something wasn't quite right... but I almost have the hang of it. I'm definitely going back for more lessons, more yarn and more of Elaine's warm conversation.... I felt like I found a new home!
In case you want to go.... it's called A Tangled Tale and is in Powell, OH 50 S. Liberty St. suite 174... it's a cute little town. Their web site (which I haven't even gotten to yet myself is: atangledtale.com. Elaine and her daughter Doreen run it and it's a lovely place filled with windows, light and lovely colors of yarn!

An Interview with Gregory Maguire

http://media.barnesandnoble.com/?fr_story=35e1f87dfcf8ea010bb4602f6f6dbc44d23c662a
this is an interview with Gregory Maguire the author of Wicked. I wasn't as pleased with Wicked as I thought I would be, but this is an engaging interview and he makes some interesting points. I may check out his children's books actually. I hear that the play based on Wicked is good, and I'm curious about it, after reading the book, I wonder how it could be made into a play... there's not a tremendous amount of action in it, so I wonder how it would hold attention as a play. He's an interesting man at any rate so I'm putting in this interview for those of you who might want to see it. He mentions the importance of his journal in his writing and how he was inspired by a book he read as a child to keep a journal. So maybe I should do more with that myself as I'm always thinking I should.

I went to the rally Friday

I know this is an art blog, but it's my main blog, so I'm gonna share the photos from the rally I went to on Friday... it was so much fun! Was a beautiful day and I met some great people and got to see the future president of the United States (I hope). I figured it would be cool to say that when he wins and I didn't want to miss out on an opportunity. I also had a whole adventure since I took the bus and I never had before. Nice people on the bus who chatted with me. All in all it was a tiring day but fun. The two ladies in the pictures are Julie and Julie who I met up with there while waiting in line. We made fast friends and stuck together through the whole rally. One thing I thought was cute was right when Obama came out a lady in front of us yelled "we love you!" and he said "I love you, too!" That was sweet, I didn't expect that. I hope that whoever you are for, that you go out and vote... it's really important.

I'm gonna start somethin'

I just decided I should start yet another notebook... (I do this a lot)... about art ideas that I get, or images that inspire me. I jot stuff down on post-its and scraps but then don't keep them in one place and heavens knows where they wind up! (often the bottom of my purse until I clean it out). So I just saw some inspiring things on the web and printed out a couple pages since I will probably never remember what web site I saw them on later to look them up when I'm in the mood to create. I also jotted down some ideas that came to me that I could do that was a little different but inspired by what I was seeing. I thought, I should start a notebook to keep all this stuff in... maybe a three-ring binder with pockets and I could do a couple of categories like "clay" and "stamping." So off to Staples on the way home I guess! More later.

Birthday Card

This card is actually one long
card but the scanner couldn't
scan it all in one piece. The front
shows the closure with brads and
a blue ribbon/string. My friend
requested a neat card from me for
his birthday, I hope he likes it!

We got bitten by Ike, too

Well Ike sure packed a punch and kept on punchin'! Even way up here in Ohio he was still wreaking havoc in the form of near-hurricane force winds. We were unprepared for the widespread damage. I took a few shots Monday as I was out trying to find gas station that was open and pumping gas... proved to be futile for quite a while. Schools were out for three days (some still are) and I heard that there are still around 1 million people in Ohio without power.... wow. I was lucky and my power came back on early Monday morning around 3 a.m. (not sure why I was so lucky, but hey, I'll take it!). Had no internet, cable or phone 'til last night, but that wasn't as much of a hardship (at least I won't miss the season finale of Burn Notice tonight!). It was amazing the size of some of the trees that came down! We didn't have power at work until Wed. and had to go work at another site on campus in the meantime... some adventure! That was once I got gas and could get to work.... hardly any traffic lights in town are working even today. It's making for a lot of conversations but we are all more sympathetic I think for what the poor people on the gulf coast have endured and are still enduring, it's hard to even imagine.

Learning Flash....

I know, I know, I've been gone a while... in Lazyland... actually just busy with other things, namely two jobs. I just had a two-day class on learning Flash, which is a very complicated and intimidating yet exciting and fun program. I feel like a toddler again... wanting to run when I can barely walk just yet.... here is my first wobbly try at a Flash file. Even putting it up here is a bit experimental for me, not sure just how inserting a Flash file will work here even.... may not work at first until I figure things out. But here goes nothin' as they say...

Friends Moving Away

Two cards and envelopes I made for work friends who are leaving and moving away.
As they say the only thing that is constant is change....

If you like or love fonts...this video is hilarious!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

I have the new iPhone!

I don't usually do crazy things like going and standing in line in the middle of the night (well, early morning).... to buy something.... but I did today.... and got the new iPhone.... and it's awesome. They didn't let us make a line until 6 a.m. so we had to scatter and come back... they opened the doors at 8 a.m. and I had my phone shortly before 9 a.m. It is just as awesome as they say.... surfing the internet and reading and responding to emails from anywhere is just so cool. I'm sure the newness will wear off after a while, but it IS really neat, as everything Apple does usually is. It was fun to be there with the other super-excited folks who were there early waiting in line, rather than just walking in the store and buying it next week. Everyone was so thrilled to be getting them!

A card for Erin

Here's a card for a friend I work with.
It's taken me a few weeks to remember
to get it to her... though I was proud of
myself for getting it done early....
that's me for you!

Inchie Cards

I like to do inchies (little one inch pieces of art) and haven't done any in ages. So I thought I'd make a few. But what to do with the little one-inch wonders? I thought I'd make them in a series and put them into cards... These first few tries I was quite happy with. They are very fun to do. Having a 1" punch sure helps. Now I can hardly bear to throw out scraps unless they are less than an inch.... like I need one more reason to hang onto anything! If you haven't tried making inchies...please do...they are really fun!

Sun Card

Here's a sun card I did for a friend who's a Leo and a real sun-lover. She'll get this in a couple of months for her birthday. It's ok, I don't think she gets on the internet or my blog much so she won't see.

Cat cards

Some cards I made a few days ago with those new stamps I keep talking
about. They are clear stamps you use on acrylic blocks, those seem to
be all the rage right now. I do like them because you can see where you
are putting them on the paper since they are clear. That's kind of nice,
really, not so much guessing and hoping stuff is where you want it.
Sometimes that's not as much of an issue, but getting that cat to sit on
the "dreamer" word just where I wanted was sure a lot easier than it
would have been with a wood stamp. And Sharon will note I'm still using
my Stampers Anon. checkered stamp... an all-time fave! (a little private
joke we have).

Tommy's Pizza

Here's my photo of my yummy lunch today at Tommy's Pizza.... double cheese and pepperoni! I'm submitting my lunch and some wishes on the Journal Revolution blog by Linda Woods and Karen Dinnino. Their books are awesome and the blog is such fun. And they sometimes have fun contests. Gotta run... it's a 'working at The Container Store' night for me.

-- I didn't eat that WHOLE pizza by the way... I was sharing with a friend!

Romance

Here's a card I made last night before I pooped out on the couch and fell asleep... only to wake up at bedtime! Used new stamps I got last week and a photo out of a hairstyle magazine.

A Digi Card

Here's a little card I made last week entirely on the computer. I like the look of it, the silhouette of the bird (that is actually a font, believe it or not). I found a lot of really cool, free (the best part) fonts on a site called Dafont.com. Check it out (but only when you have a couple of hours... it's very addictive!

Taking care of a sick kitty

Taking care of poor little Parker
this week. Sunday night at midnight
(Monday morning) I took him to
the emergency hospital at OSU
because he had a blockage and
couldn't go potty. Fortunately he
was a candidate for a special study
they are doing for that very thing.
He came home on Tuesday since
he was doing so well and I'm giving
him medicine 3x a day. He seems
better but is still having troubles and
isn't eating or drinking as well as I'd
like to see, but sometimes progress
is slower than one would like. I sure
hope he gets better, he's such a
sweet cat and only about a year and
a half old. If you're inclined to say prayers,
say a few for him or send him good
thoughts.

I saw Eddie Izzard last night...he's hilarious

Please watch this...it's a bit older than the bit he did last night, but it's a riot if you've ever gotten frustrated with your computer... who hasn't? He's dressing more mainstream now as well, but he's every bit as funny as ever.

Treadmill Kittens

This is so cute... great idea for chubby kitties!

What to do...

It's Friday, hardly anyone is in the office today.
Trying to stay focused....

Digital Journaling page

Stuff I've been going through lately.... kind of
speaks for itself I guess. (it's not all bad, but
it's good to let it out when it is bugging you!)

Cards from this weekend (part 1)