Happy Halloweeeeeeeeen!!!

Here is a picture of the ladies that dressed up where I work. Most were sports fans, but Jeanna was a lunch lady (the one with the hairnet and the glasses). I am on the far right. Can you guess what I am? A clue: I am an entree... Not getting it yet? Ok look closely... Chicken. Cord. I'm wearing blue. Aww, c'mon you can guess it.... Chicken cordon blue! I hear you groaning...!

Sharing

Yup. This is sharing. Ask my sister. I'm thinking of putting this picture on my business card, what do you think? Too tacky? Ok, so I'll take off the sweatshirt.

Hoy es Lunes

Yep, another Monday come and (almost) gone. It was a very productive day. Well, it was at work, anyways. I did a little grocery shopping after work then home to chill. I hate grocery shopping. Seems like such a waste of time. I neeeeeeed to get some projects done and I just can't. My brain just won't think. Can't create. I'm blocked. Anything I try to do is crap. My table sits littered with stamps, inks and paper and there is nothing I can do. Maybe I need some Ginko or something. Tomorrow is Halloween and yes, I have my costume. I stole the idea from a t.v. ad, but then I always steal my idea from somewhere! Stay tuned tomorrow for a picture. Don't get too excited because it's not that spectacular - it's just funny.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Yes, we went to Disneyland today. About a month ago, we received a card for a free visit to Dland. It was for a 1-day park hopper, but we have no desire to go to CA Adventure, so we just paid for the 2nd admission ($64!!) and went inside. It was crazy mad there. Go figure: gorgeous 80 degrees outside, Dland all decorated up for Halloween, fireworks, parades, etc., no wonder everyone on EARTH was there. I think the longest we waited for a ride was 45 minutes, so that's not so bad. The Haunted Mansion was the BEST! It was all done up in the Nightmare Before Christmas theme. Awesome! I love that movie, don't you? Jack Skellington everywhere. Pirates of the Caribbean was also revamped. They just added stuff to be like the movie, with Jack Sparrow character in there a few times. We did Space Mountain, too. It seems faster and more fun each time I ride it. We stayed for the parade at 7pm. We got our spot on the curb at the end of the Mickey & Walt statue facing straight down Main Street. Awesome spot. Tony told me that was the spot to have and by gosh, we got it. Of course we got there about 5:30 for the 7:00 parade, but hey, whatever. We ate our chocolate chip cookie sundae as we waited for the parade. Fabulous parade as usual. Disney is awesome.

Friday Fun

Ok, so it's not really fun. We cleaned up the engineering department and our own cubicles today. It was different. We do it once a year to clear the clutter and the cobwebs. It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate without realizing it. Oh, I got another call from the Deputy Sheriff today. The neighbor lady said I called her house nine times today to complain about her barking dog. I told the Sheriff I only called once and that was when her dog had been barking for 2 straight hours. I laughed when I was told I called nine times. I'm going to get my phone records from my provider and prove how many times I actually called. This is getting very messy. I find it interesting that the person who is wrong, the one with the barking, annoying dog, is the one who complains to the police. Karma, baby. Tomorrow we are going to Disneyland. It is all decked out Halloween style. I understand the Haunted House is done a la Tim Burton. I love his stuff. I may take the camera. Stay tuned.

Art

All I think about these days is art. Everything is art. I can't stop. I should quit thinking about doodling, coloring, inking and paper tearing and keep my mind on the tasks at hand - pipe pressure, hydraulic gradients and parcel maps - but I just can't stop! My right brain wants to play and it is being a pest. It wants to put the left brain in the closet and lock the door. "Stop it, left brain. I don't want you to be out today. Go away." "No, I can't do that. You need me." "Yeah, right. What for?" "Well, if it was only you, right brain, nothing would get done. You'd be altering books, inking paper or embellishing something all day and all night. Nothing productive would happen." "Hey, altering books, inking and embellishing is productive! It's just a different kind of 'productive'." "But it doesn't pay the bills, right brain. You need me for that." "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Okay, you can come out, but only until 5:30 and then back to the closet with you!" So that's what's in my head today.

Bee crossing

So, I played with the Big Bumble stamp. Sometimes the stamp design determines what shape my design is, sometimes it's trial and error. This one just came out. I stamped this with white ink on dark blue cardstock. I added clear Stickles to parts of the bees and then added gems to the corners and center. Oh and then I did some doodles with my white souffle pen. That doodling was pretty cool. I love the look of the white pen on dark paper. You may see some creations from me on that soon.

Tiki birdhouse

Here is my latest creation. I used only two stamps: the tiki birdhouse and the small flower. Colored with prismas. All of a sudden, it seems like my card composition has changed. I'm not doing the "usual" stuff. I think I was doing the usual/expected stuff with jj stamps because that's what everyone else was doing - making bird scenes, cakes on a platter, etc. Not that there's anything wrong with that at all, but I felt like I was trying to fit into someone elses mold. Now I feel so fantastic when I create something like the teacup thing. It feels GOOD to MAKE ART! It's like, (and I'm rambling now), all my life I've tried to fit into a cubby where (I thought) everyone wanted me, but now I'm breaking out. Hell, no one else knows I'm breaking out, just me. It's great. I don't think I would've been able to do this had it not been for the DT opportunity. Really. I would've just made the same old thing and gone on with that, but now I feel like I can really do my own thing and it's OK. Oh, btw, Cat asked me to do a class on my new "technique". The class will be called "See Something Different". I'll be showing how to make new designs with regular stamps. Join us, won't you? Wednesday, November 29th at 6:30pm at the Cupboard.

The grande teacup

I LOVE the grande teacup, so when Johanna asked us to make cards with this stamp, I was happy to oblige. I like to think outside the box and make abstract things with normal stamps, so here's what I did with the teacup stamp I use my stamp positioner A LOT. I love that thing. I colored the teacups with my Prismas.

The circle dot background

Ok, by popular request.... Well, actually by Johanna.... I am posting my funky cards. I don't know why I didn't post them before. I've been a lazy blogger. Here's the first one. Well, let me preface this paragraph with the information that Johanna challenged us to do something with certain stamps. Make cards with certain stamps she has, so I did this one This is done with the circle dot background. I penned in the stems and the leaves and colored the image with my Prismas.

I'm doing it again!

I have been lucky enough to be chosen for the 2nd time to be on the design team for justjohanna rubber stamps. Is that cool or what? Yer darn tootin' it's cool! Johanna has some new stamps out and I can't wait to get my hands on them! Come on, Christmas! Welcome to all the returning members and especially to the new members of the DT. I hope they love doing this as much as I do. I got three cool books from Amazon today. * "Visual Chronicles", by Linda Woods and Karen Dinino. It's "the no-fear guide to creating art journals, creative manifestos and altered books". I can't wait to sink my teeth into this book. * "The Creative License", by Danny Gregory. It's "giving yourself permission to be the artist you truly are". Some chapters are: Journaling, shock, sensitization, resistance, and identity. Looks very interesting and a good book to snuggle up with with a kitty, a blanket and a cup of tea. * "Hand Reflexology Workbook" by Barbara & Kevin Kunz. I have always been interested in reflexology and thought that working on the hands would be intriguing. There is also foot reflexology, but I've seen some peoples' feet and well, I'd rather touch their hands. Know what I mean?? So that's the scoop today kids. I did some drawing today, but they were kinda crappy. Guess it wasn't in the stars.

I have a big mouth

That's all I have to say.

What do I have to blog about?

* Work was ok today. * Got a great new pair of shoes at Target. * Got my Self-Addressed kit in the mail. * Went grocery shopping - sorta. * Tony and his boyfriend, Shabar, came for dinner. Shabar is very cute. First time I met him. * Ripped some of Tony's music CD's to my computer. (Scissor Sisters, Goldfrapp, Supreme Beings of Leisure, Frou Frou, Tatu and U.N.K.L.E.) * I laughed. Alot. Ok, so here's something I made. I am taking a big risk showing you this because it is really scary. I am swapping ATC dolls with Ethel. An ATC is the size of a playing card. When you make the dolls, they have to fold up so that they are the size of the playing card: 2.5" x 3.5". Oh, Ethel, I hope you don't read this.... I think these ATC dolls are just too cute, but when I made this one, I must've been out of my mind. Literally. Ok, so stop laughing. I mean it. Wipe the tears and get yourself together! The face is of my Aunt Marilyn when she was about 20. There is no significance to the fish or the coffee cup. (See my little snail head on the cup?) I think I just went overboard with the green sombrero and the dingle balls. And the glasses. And the lace. And the buttons. I am going to start over completely with the dolls. No more sparkles, no more sombreros. I may use Marilyn's face again, tho. Only maybe not blue. Anyone have any suggestions? Ok, besides "don't quit your day job".

Super Saturday

Today was great. I got to sleep in until 8. Woke up with kitties on the bed. Awwww. John went golfing so I had most of the day to myself. I finished up scanning my cards for my monthy submission to JustJohanna and then I packaged them up and took them to the Cupboard. I picked up my Hero Arts monograms. I don't know what came over me, but I bought all 26 letter sets PLUS the frames. Yeah, I dropped a pretty penny, but they are fabulous, aren't they, Cat? How could you only have 1 or 2 letters when they are all so fantastic? Check Cat's blog to see what they look like. I also worked on another card made up from the scraps and bits of paper from my jj cards. I put the scraps on the frame crazy quilt style. I submitted this to the PaperCrafts Lace Challenge. I know it doesn't have much lace, but hey, I entered it anyways. I got the new Stamper's Sampler and Take Ten from Cat. I love looking at those. Every month I say I'm gonna send them something and I never do, but October will be different. I will send to both magazines. Hey, did you hear that Eric Clapton and J.J. Cale have made an album together? It's called, "Road to Escondido". Here's the article in the NC Times. The album goes on sale November 7. I hear it's really good. How can it NOT be good with those two??? It's 1am and time for bed. We've got Open House tomorrow from 1-4. Wish us luck. I'm ready to move.....