January's Angel

Although the tags read, "Angel of New Beginnings" I think January's Angel sums up the tags that I've created for the OFP Month Tag Swap. I still need to color in the girl's face and her boots brown and plan to experiment using a technique before I add to it. So far, this is what the tags I've created for this swap looks like.

New things on the horizon.........

Unfortunately, I woke up with a sore throat this a.m. After gargling with some warm salt-water, I decided I'd better kick this cold/virus/flu whatever it is to the curb and got on the phone to my Dr.'s office. My Dr. is out of town however the Dr. covering called me in a prescription for Zithromax! which I took immediately upon pickin' up. At first, I thought, "oh, it's simply a cold due to the drastic change in the weather" but quickly decided I needed to do something as there are so many things going around from strept throat to the pneumonia. I've had some chills so I sure an antibiotic was on the horizon........

Being my weekend off and not desiring to miss any work, I'm simply taking it easy today. Resting up, drinking lots of water....... if only Chaos hadn't decided to take my velour throw, I'd still be covered up with it. He believes it is his......... and is now sleeping peacefully at my feet laying on top of it.

After checking my emails, I browsed through Two Peas In A Bucket Layout Gallery for Baby Album ideas, sat and made some sketches of things I liked, poems and quotes used. I'm desiring to create an scrapbook album for Amber and Chris and am thinking I'd like to have it finished by April so I can give it to her at her baby shower which I am planning to host here. I'm looking for shower favors and invitation styles to recreate myself as well. I think I'm going to simply use all pastel shades of Bazill colors --at least some of the more vibrant ones-- pink, blue, green, yellow and purple with a celestial theme --- half moons and folk art shaped stars. I'm working on a list of things to include and may even bind the pages into a book I make vs. purchasing an album. I definately have time to plan for it and will not actually begin working on it until after the holidays are over.

I spent some time reading Keith Smith's book last night. It is simply amazing and includes a variety of sewn binding styles for book arts. Having picked up my new "bi-focals" certainly make reading a lot easier without any eyestrain or headaches. After reading a bit, I decided to color in the images on the Month Tag Swap. I believe I've previously mentioned this.... Any ole' how......... Don is working today so I am planning on doing some cooking. I've chicken breast defrosting to parboil to make some Chicken and Noodles in an alfredo sauce and since it is chilly here today I've decide to bake a cake for dessert. Neither will take too long to do, allowing me plenty of time for some well-deserved R&R.

I'm hopeful that I'll be feeling better tomorrow as I'd like to get out for an Autumn drive with possibly a trip to Stampland or Scrapbook Art. I won't have a lot of $$$ to spend as our Jeep decided to break down......... it appears that we need a new transfer case for it. We're hopeful to be able to find one used vs. having to buy one. It is always something however, I am thankful that I've been working so we have some $$ to offset all these things without breaking the bank. Why is it that every time you think you are finally getting ahead of the game a little bit, you get knocked back three spaces? Such is life, I guess.....

What a busy week!

I finally managed to get in a full 40 hr. work week at this job assignment! I was extremely busy and believe that this week was a record breaker for the company as far as the production that was put out.

I'm hopeful that Chaos will adjust his schedule. He quickly adjusted to my schedule; crashing out early in the evening and waking me up around 4 a.m. GRRR.... I certainly miss that extra 25 minutes of sleep time. Hopefully, Don and I can keep him awake longer this evening........ he is awake now after a half hour "power nap". I am so proud of him... he is doing great with the potty training -- now going to the door and barking or whining. He is still in the chewing stage and his newest thing is learning to jump; it has been a challenge to get him broke from these two things. Luckily for us he isn't chewing clothing, shoes, furniture....... he prefers us, LOL! And darn are those little puppy teeth sharp. The adventure of having a new puppy continues....

Don has been a god-send to me lately. He's been taking care of both Chaos and the house while I've been working so there has been little I've had to keep up with except the occasional home cooked meal. I must be doing something right because today, I arrived home from work to discover a beautiful Autumn floral arrangement in an orange metal wagon style flower cart. The color scheme is autumn browns oranges, and yellows, with a touch of greenery. There are gorgeous roses, zinnas, and mums, and the smell is heavenly! The signed card,
reads "Thank you for all that you are doing for the both of us. I just wanted to say that I love you! Don" Isn't that just the sweetest?

I found some time this evening while Chaos power napped to color in a stamped image on all 12 of the Monthly Tags I created for on online swap. I discovered I was shorted approx. 6" of dyed hemp fiber, so I'll need to pick that up to complete one last tag. All that is left to complete is to add one more 3D embellisment and a co-ordinating accent ribbon to the tag for a more finished appearance. I do have one additional technique idea that I am tossing around just to provide my January tag with a more "frosty" appearance...... we shall see where that leads me. The good news is that I can experiment on some scraps from the tag before I actually try it on the tag themselves and I've plenty of time to do something else to them before I'll need to get them postal. I can say that they've inspired me to think "winter" in the creation of some artwork, especially some winter themed ATC's!

Need to run....... Don will be home from work soon, we'll be running to the Moose to register for the Friday night drawing and Saturday's Monthly drawing before heading on over to pick up a pizza for dinner from Tubby's. Yummm..... and best of it is inexpensive and easy! A hot bath and some warm pj's will be awaiting my return........ the perfect ending to a busy week. {smiles}

Work is going fine.......

Monday whizzed by uneventfully..... I sure was tired after arriving home. A quick bath, getting into some clean clothes was a god-send, and Don and I went out for dinner. Upon returning home, I jumped into some pj's, propped myself up in bed to watch a movie and fell asleep, LOL! I guess working is one way to achieved a full nights sleep.

Chaos decided to be up early this a.m. 4 o'clock rolled around mighty early. Oh well, time for a cup of coffee, a quick check of my email, and time to update this blog a bit. Sorry, I don't have time to chat more right now, need to get dressed and head out the door by 5:30. At least we decided yesterday to stop by McD's for breakfast this a.m.

Not sure if I'll be updating later today or not as I'm looking forward to getting cleaned up, maybe a soak in the hot tub with a cup of coffee and watching The Amazing Race Family edition. Just know that all is well in our little corner of the world. {smiles}

Whoo-Hooo!

Well, we didn't make it to Michael's; however everything worked out well. Don & I went out for breakfast at Perkins. Upon finishing, we made our trip to Lowes and made all the purchases we needed there --- mostly boring stuff, caulk for window, 4 mil plastic for two of living room windows to cut down on a draft in winter; a new mop and broom, and I finally purchased the LR curtains that I've desired since painting the LR this past spring.

We made a stop at a local SB store, I was in search of a large quantity of silver eyelets as I needed 48 of them for the Monthly Tag Swap alone. The SB didn't have any, so I priced some white ones..... not as nice and in such a small quantity that I'd have spent a small fortune getting them. So, we talked about returning home and taking a ride to Michael's when I decided to check out JoAnn's Fabrics. I'm happy I did...... I found my eyelets, the 3D embellishment I desired, picked up some blue fabric with metallic silver sprinkled in it, and a roll of very thin width silver ribbon. As Don worked outside caulking the windows in preparation of covering them at a later date, I got all the layers, tags, and eyelets set and even managed to come up with some additional inspiration and got two of those completed on all 12 tags. So, my tags are near completion...... I still want to color in the stamped image, and need to add fabric, ribbon, or fiber to the tag. The good news is I can rest for a bit, work on them as the mood emerges!

Well, just out of the bathtub, in my clean jammies, checked my email, and am ready to go sit on the couch with a cup of Joe and unwind a bit. Will be hitting the sack come about 10:30..... to get up early for work tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to it!

The artful journey in creating the Monthly Tag Swap...

Yesterday I decided I'd better try to continue working on the Monthly Tag Swap and for some reason I was stuck in a rut regarding what to do next. So instead of creating anything else for them, I worked on cutting the stamped images out and adhering them together first before adhering them to the tag. I also decided to ink the edges of my tags using the French Blue Colorbox Chalk; since the cardstock is Bazzill's Whitewashed Blue and is a linen texture, I lightly touched it in a few areas to pull the texture out.

This morning I was still stuck for ideas to continue on the tags so I decided to browse through my Two Peas in a Bucket Book of Scraps to see what I had added that I desire to try to incorporate into my tags. Lying under my keyboard was a sheet of paper that I had originally brainstormed on regarding the month of January...... some ideas regarding the Mythology of Janus, gates, doors, doorways, portals, beginnings, endings, the progression of the past into to future, changes, from one condition to another, the remembrance of the passing year, a window of opportunity, etc. I had previously decided the color scheme I desired would be this whitewashed blue, mixed with a metallic silver cardstock, and a lighter printed blue paper that I chose simply because I already had enough of it to create the 12 tags. What I wasn't expecting was how wonderful it all seemed to come together! In my Book of Scraps, I had saved various artwork created by other peas and that I had seen done many times yet had never actually in my own artwork. It was a series of smaller tags, usually a group of three that had been decorated and embellished. Since I was desiring to add some text to my design, I thought this would work perfectly for a sort of title I had came up while brainstorming! So, I continued to pull up MS Word on my computer, created a text box, and typed in the "title". After playing around with it a bit in various fonts and colors, I stumbled upon one that I really like. What I discovered that once a title, quote, or saying is created inside a text box was that I could highlight it, hit the copy function, open a new blank document {simply in case it didn't work!}, and then, hit the paste function. It worked amazingly! So, I decided to format the title page into 3 columns, clicked after the pasted text, and hit the return key and continued pasting until the page was filled and ready to print. I did end up with a few extras which was another blessing in disguise as my page shifted along the bottom while actually printing and smeared the bottom row of text, so all is good!

I continued on working with the title to add to the small tags that I decided I'd keep using with the same color scheme and created them myself. Of the three lines of text, one set of 12 is now completed, and the prototype for the remaining two are created. Don is still asleep and Chaos has finally decided to pull my lightweight blanket out of my computer chair while I was up creating and has laid himself down on top of it. The little stinker! He's been so rambuctious this morning, full of mischief, it was great to see him finally worn out a bit. Knowing you let sleeping dogs lie, I grabbed my camera and took a quick pic! I cannot get over how much and how fast he is growing! All legs and puppy pals!!! He is going to be a big dog, as his paws are huge. Oh, and how can I forget about teeth....... he's all teeth... cutting in his back molars and wants to chew. Luckily, he is easily distracted, loves his toys, and chew bones. Today, is the first morning he actually came to me and whined to be let outside to potty. I believe we're making progress! {YES!}

Well, I'm going to get back to finishing the other two tags for my title.... hopefully, I can knock out all 22 of the remaining ones. I'm hopeful to do a bit of shopping at Lowes today and possibly take a trip to Michael's to see if they've a small object I'm certain I'd like to use as a second 3D embellishment on these. Wish me luck in Don agreeing to do so........... *tootles*

Going back to work and other artful life news......

This upcoming Monday I will be starting the beginning of a new work week as I'll be going back to work in Delaware this week. The job assignment may only last a few weeks, however, I am gradually becoming more and more okay with that. I'll work only when work is available for us; so often it is work a week or two and no work for awhile. However, there is good news as it allows me to work a bit, continuing with income coming in and also allows me to be at home a bit, getting what I need to do done. I don't get to choose the days and times, however, I'm learning to welcome them. The good news is I know I'll have my weekend's free! It is quite a commute for me, and an 8 hr. shift ends up close to 9 1/2 - 10 hrs. days, the work itself is moderately tough, but not so difficult that I'm worn to a frazzle and unable to enjoy my evenings. The person I vented about being lazy is no longer working there as he was fired for his lack of effort. Shelley will be going back; one of the reasons I decided to take the assignment --- other than the $$$. She is a good person, a hard worker, and a delight to be around.

I spent the majority of my day cleaning house, running errands, and organizing yesterday. I finally managed to clean out my back kitchen cabinets to make room for some of our not so often used kitchen appliances, although my crockpot will certainly come in handy!

I believe I'm going to tackle the bottom of the hutch today. We recently moved into our living area and I fully intend to up a small bookbinding area here in the house. I will still be doing most of my page decorating and design work within the studio but this will allow me to do some bindings as time allows.

I also made it to my eye doctor's appt. earlier in the week. It seemed I needed to cancel it for one reason or another, so that is now behind me. My new "bi-focals" {yes, I'm aging!} and contacts will be in approximately 7-10 days. I could have certainly saved myself some $$$ by simply purchasing them in the beginning, however, I didn't seem to believe then that it would be that big of a deal for me as the Dr. stated I was borderline for needing them. I discovered I'm squinting and having a few eye strain related headaches while trying to read my favorite Stamp magazines and I haven't really put too much effort into reading Keith Smith's book that I recently purchased due to it so that is another obstacle out of the way. So now, I can get on with learning more and practicing a few new techniques! {Yippee!}

I haven't received any Art journals recently so I am looking forward to that. It doesn't appear we'll meet the pre-established deadline we set but I am certainly okay with that. I'm certain it will improve the quality of the artwork each of creates and will eventually receive back. You can find some of the artists who participated in both groups artwork in the recent issue of Byhand, located at: http://www.quietfiredesign.com/byhandseptember2005.htm

I did sign up for a Monthly Calendar Tag swap with another group of online friends. There is a great line up of participants, each with the same passions of mixed media, collage, rubberstamped artwork and a touch of their own unique, individual styles. It is fun and interesting to watch as the artwork of each of them grows, changes, and evolves. The deadline {set for Nov. 1st} and the small number of participants certainly played a huge role in my ability to participate which made it nice to be able to join in. I worked on them a little bit a few days ago. Managed to get all 12 of the tags cut with one extra for me to determine the exact design idea for the tags to be swapped. My choosen month was January so I did a lot a lot of brainstorming on the idea only to turn around and be completely inspired in a totally new direction! LOL! That seems to happen a lot with my artwork, however, this new idea and design is something I am happy about and hopeful each participant will enjoy. Going through this creative process enabled me to use one of my new Tim Holtz stamped images in a fun way and I believe has assisted in changing my perspective in a lot of areas in my life. I'll post my creation for this once the swap has been exchanged so I won't spoil the surprise!