Art Every Day
02 Nov 2011 10 Comments
in Painting Tags: art every day, Christmas, Zentangle
I was starting to get worried that I wouldn’t get anything done today. Today was a good day to do something creative since my hands weren’t hurting or shaking as bad but of course my creative juices were sapped. So I ended up re-doing my Christmas Zentangle on watercolor paper. I have a bigger picture that I’m working on but it has become a challenge for me. I’ve never successfully drawn any kind of animal before. I’ve attempted to draw my dog blue before and that turned out scary! I can draw people faces well but animal faces…. bad! So I’m going to work on this for a while and see what I can do. I’ve made the picture I want to paint my desktop so I can study it better. Maybe seeing it more often will help too.
I am thinking about this year’s Christmas cards.
New Christmas Zentangle
I’m thinking this would be cute if I can get it just right. I think I might add a little something to this but I don’t have what I want to use right now. I have to add that my camera really brightens up the yellow. It is much more subtle and blended then it appears here. The “lights” on the sides of the tree are also soft and blended and here they look like harsh blops of paint. I’m kinda happy with this though.
You know, I’m finding it is really helpful to take a picture of what I’ve painted and look at it on-screen. I often see details that I want to change or add. Or I get a whole new idea and start over again. I guess its kinda like looking at your art in the mirror or seeing it from “the other side” (observer side/vs. artist)
I’m glad I’m doing this :O)
Currently Reading
29 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Book Reviews, Reading Tags: books, Christmas, Christmas jars, random acts of kindness, Reading
I love to read. I wish I could read all the time without having to stop to do things like eat and pee. There are many other irritating things that get in the way of reading too like going to work, making dinner, taking care of the kids and cleaning the house. Anyway, since I do have to do those things I don’t read nearly as much as I like. Currently I’m reading a book that I meant to read at Christmas time but since I got the creeping crud at Christmas I didn’t. It is called Christmas Jars by Jason F Wright. I added it to my amazon shop which is on the top of the right side of this page.
(okay, so I just accidentally deleted the categories in my store and their contents. I re-added them but I can’t remember what all was in there. The book mentioned above is in there)
This is a pretty good book so far about random acts of kindness. In this story the “random act of kindness” comes in the form of a Christmas jar, which is not full of jelly but money, and is left anonymously. The main character in the story is an aspiring newspaper reporter dreaming of a cover story when she has a run of bad luck and then receives her own Christmas jar. She wants to find out who is behind these random acts of kindness and possibly turn it into her first big front page story but obviously whoever it is doesn’t want to be known.
This story is very touching and has made me cry more then once. When I’m finished with my copy of this book I’ll post it on paperbackswap.com. You can find me there by my email address donnaj71 @ gmail.com
Pandora
24 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
in music Tags: blue ray, Christmas, music, pandora, samsung, tv
For Christmas this year my husband bought a new big screen TV and blue ray player for the family. I don’t think we’ve ever even had a NEW TV before so this was really exciting for everyone. The boys haven’t been doing good in school and have been really trying our patience lately so instead of buying a bunch of expensive stuff they were asking for we decided to spend our money on something everyone could enjoy. Chris was feeling bad though that he didn’t have something to wrap up for me for Christmas, especially since I rarely watch TV and even more rarely want to go to a movie. I’m more into music. Well, when he hooked up the blue ray player it had these 4 colored buttons that connects to websites like youtube, netflicks, something else I forgot, and Pandora. I had never heard of pandora before but we set up an account and it’s the coolist thing! I absolutly love it. It’s basically steaming radio that only plays music you like. It started out by asking for my favorite song or artist. I put in Goo Goo dolls and it plays music that is similar to them. If it plays something you don’t like you can give it a thumbs down and it wont play it again on your station. So far they have played song after song that I love. I’ve had fun making other stations with guns N’ roses and other types of music. Another neat thing you can do after you have a few stations is the quickmix which mixes your stations. It is really neat to listen to the music on that nice TV but when I’m not feeling well and just want to stay in bed I can pull up pandora.com on my laptop and listen to my same stations. Considering that the blue ray player was a special bonus deal Chris got it was a pretty great Christmas present for me.
Christmas Spirit
30 Nov 2009 Leave a Comment
in Personal notes Tags: Christmas, christmas spirit, gifts, holidays, Quotes
I waited very impatiently for Christmas this year. I’m not sure why exactly but I skipped right past Halloween without even acknowledging it and had a few thanksgiving decorations up in October early. Although, before it was even Thanksgiving I was sneaking out a few Christmas decorations here and there. My birthday was the day after Thanksgiving this year and what I wanted was to get the Christmas tree up! I have been sick and slept nearly all day on Thanksgiving and again on my birthday. I woke up so late it was technically not my birthday anymore but my boys (primarily my youngest son) helped me get the tree up from the dungeon and at least erect. Today (Sunday) I finally felt like doing more and everyone helped me decorate the tree in red and gold. It looks very nice.
Now, I just have to figure out what to give for gifts this year. It will be challenging since I have so many medical bills right now. I am always pretty crafty but this year I don’t have much energy or time. I have been sleeping so much and my awake time is usually time I’m not feeling like doing much. I have a few ideas up my sleeves but mostly I think it will be more of a token “it’s the thought” year. A smile and a hug may be all some people get but I think everyone will understand. One thing is for sure, nothing can put a damper on my Christmas spirit this year.
“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
―Mother Teresa
“Every gift which is given, even though it be small, is in reality great, if it is given with affection.”
―Pindar
update
21 Dec 2008 Leave a Comment
in Craftyness Tags: beading, Christmas, husband, knitting
No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth…. I’ve just been busy. Plus, I just didn’t feel like posting. So there!
Well, I had a great birthday on Thanksgiving. The day before thanksgiving some friends surprised me at work with a HUGE birthday cake. It had one of those candles that played happy birthday when you light it and it said “happy birthday original Donna” since I was the first of 3 donnas working there. I thought that was hilarious. They also got me a great present. I was so shocked. They got me my own printer for my laptop Chris bought for me. It came with scrap-booking software, photo paper, the ink and everything. What a great gift! I would have never thought of it. I love these people. The two girls that did that also talked me into going out to the pump house for karaoke with them. It was their last night in town for a while. I really really REALLY miss them! *sniff*
Oh, I did finish my scarf. I’ll have to post a picture later. It is georgous! I want to keep it but I’m just going to make myself one in blue. I’m in the middle of another scarf that I actually have to follow a pattern for. It makes 4 or 5 weaving lines down the length of it. I messed up though so I have to decide whether to try to fix it or to just hope they don’t notice.
I have also become addicted to beading!!!!!! I just bought a little kit and thought I would try it and *wham!* I’m hit with yet another addicting hobby. My husband keeps buying me beads but I think he secretly hates this hobby. It’s getting very expensive. We went on one of our weekend dates on Saturday. We just go around town and hang out. We usually go on Sunday and get the paper and go somewhere to eat and read it. This time I really wanted to check out this store that I heard had great beads. It’s the Alaska Raw Fur Co. down by the river on the west side of town. I can’t believe I’ve never been there! There was so much stuff in there. I found some great carved bone/wood pieces in Alaska designes for pendants there that I can use to make things for the few guys in my department. I also bought some thin brown leather and keychain rings. I am making something for everyone I work with this year. It’s a challenge but I’m having fun.
After we went to that store my husband took me to this fish and tackle store. I thought he was lost. He doesn’t fish. He wasn’t though. He thought they might have some good bead boxes there and he said they might have some beads there too. They were sold out of the boxes but that was a great idea. I did find some little spools of fishing line (22 lb) that looked like it would perfect for beading. It was CHEAPPPPP!!! I love the way each thin spool wheel dealy snaps to the others. They even have these elastic deals that go over the line and keep it from all going everywhere. Great idea. It has a little hole that the line comes through. I did find a few beads there and a few interesting feathers and I only spent $5. After that I talked my husband into going to Michael’s. My husband knew it was a bad idea. I hadn’t been there in a LONG, LONG time and they have a new HUGE bead department. WAY better than Joanns. I was in heaven! My husband had to drag me out of there. He did find this neat bead box deal there though. It’s a canvas tote that unzips around the top and down to the bottom in the front. The front folds down for a work area. The top flips back and holds beading tools in elastic loops. The thing holds 6 of those rectangle bead boxes that has 17 spaces (one being longer than the others). The price said $38 so I gave Chris my 50% off coupon from Joanns and asked him to do a separate purchase so I could use my Michaels coupon too. We met back up and he told me it only rang up at $9.99 so he got half off that!!!! Dang! I love that thing. I can’t believe it was that cheap. Now I am sorting all of my loot into those boxes and I’m in hog heaven. I made a couple of things that are really cute already. I’ll take a few pictures before I give those away.
Okay, we are in the middle of putting up Christmas today (I know late huh) so I better get back to work.
erked elf
14 Nov 2008 4 Comments
in Personal notes, Photos Tags: Barnes and Noble, beading, beads, Christmas, knitting, origami
how many years will it take for me to finish this scarf?
Not big enough yet errrrgh!
This is messing with my master plan for Christmas. I thought I could whip out a bunch of these for my beloved friends and co-workers. NOT! I think I better get crafty in more than one way. I recently bought a kit for learning to bead. It was very simplistic but I learned some basics and now I have a beading tray and some tools. I also got a ton of ideas! I think I could probably whip out a bunch of jewelry quicker than I can knit! I also found a neat origami kit at a barnes and noble in arizona called The Jewelgami Kit. I love origami and I think making jewelry out of it could be fun. What a neat gift idea too. Sooo, I wonder what else this sneaky elf can come up with???? Hmmmmmmmmmmm…..
