Congrats to MommaRock, she is the winner of the OWOH drawing. I have emailed MommaRock to let her know that momma won. Per the rules, if I don’t hear from her within 48 hours I will have to pick another name.
Thank’s to everyone who stopped by and entered the drawing. I soon hope to be able to say that I visited all of you who entered my drawing. Sadly I wasn’t able to visit everyone during OWOH but I plan to complete the list very soon.
Thanks again.
A few weeks ago I was reorganizing our collection of family photos and memorabilia and I came across a scrapbook I kept when I was in high school. Among the photos of my high school buds I found my old learners permit and a “Twirp License.” Have you ever heard of a Twirp License?
Every year we had a week long school event called Sadie Hawkins week and at the end of the week we had the Sadie Hawkins dance. In order to go to this dance, the guys had to be invited by a girl and the girl had to buy a Twirp license if they wanted to do the inviting. (Now I’m wishing I hadn’t packed away the photograph of me with my date. Talk about looking like a Twirp.)
The dance was a lot of fun and I was able to get close to the boy I may have never had the chance to know well had I not acted like “a Twirp”. (Unfortunately he met his demise a year or so later but that’s another story altogether.) The lesson it taught me was that sometimes you have to risk getting embarrassed to get something you want.
I took that same type of risk some years later when I first laid eyes on my husband. He walked in to the bar where I was having drinks with my girlfriends, I took one look in his eyes and knew I wanted him in my life. I immediately wondered how I was going to meet him and still not look too forward or trashy. As he stood talking with some friends, I walked past him and as I did, I reached over and lightly touched his hand with my fingertips and said Hi….That’s all, just Hi and kept walking. Lucky for him he followed me (LOL), and the rest is a 25 year history.
Have you ever wondered what would have happened had you taken the risk you were too afraid to take? Or did you take the risk and reap the benefits? Tell me about it.
Hello,
Welcome to my blog and welcome to the 4th annual global One World One Heart Blog event sponsored by the wonderful Lisa Swifka's of A Whimsical Bohemian. So glad you have stopped by to say hello. This is only my 2nd year participating and the first year was a real blast. I met so many new and wonderful people last year that I wanted to participate again. I hope that if we don’t already know each other that we will soon get to know each other well. After all, you can never have enough friends.
If you want to find out more about this years event (and participate because, well, the more the merrier) please visit Lisa’s site by clicking here or the One World One Heart image above.
On to the giveaways. This year I have two items to give away:
The first is an original, unframed 9 x 12 painting on canvas board. The background is scrapbook paper. The girl is painted with colored pencils and acrylics. The flower is a 3-D silk flower.
The second giveaway is a handmade Zentangle doodle journal. The cover was painted then the magic carpet doodle was added. The signature pages are made of smooth white paper that will accept the crisp fine lines of the Sakura Micron pen. The giveaway will include the pen and doodle legend. The doodle legend was created from some of my past doodle drawings.
I will choose two winners in a random drawing from all of those who left a comment. You must leave a comment to be eligible to win. You must include a link back to your blog or leave an email address so you can be contacted should you win. Please note only bloggers are allowed to leave a comment as this is a blog event.
This year's event ends February 15th and I will be announcing the winners on that day. The first name chosen will be able to choose which prize they want. The second name chosen will get the other giveaway.
The winners must contact me with their mailing address within a week or a new names will be chosen.
Who would have thought that a quiet little bedroom community like ours would harbor a teenage boy who could make your ears bleed? Oh, I’m sure this teenage wonder is a fine young man who has never been in trouble with the law…that we know of. And I’m sure he gets good grades, drives safely, doesn’t do drugs, and he probably doesn’t give his parents any sass.
Although if he did sass his parents they probably can’t hear it anyway. I’m sure they must be deaf by now.
Who am I rambling on about? The neighborhood drummer boy. He beats his drums with the volume turned up as high as it will go. (Do drums even have a volume knob? They must.) It wouldn’t be so bad if the overly enthusiastic drummer boy could actually keep the beat. He can’t and that’s the problem. His “music” is all over the place. It’s so bad it reminds me of bad, very bad impromptu jazz. Frankly, I’m surprised no one has told him that he has no talent for the drums.
Nor does the poor boy have a talent for singing. I’d actually feel bad for him if I wasn’t busy cringing while he is screeching into the microphone.
I really wouldn’t mind any of it if he didn’t amp up the volume so high our windows rattle. Or in summer, if he didn’t start playing THE minute we walk outdoors to spend some time in our pool. It’s driving us F’n nuts. (for My girl: F’n = Fudge and.)
But just when I think of marching myself over to their house to demand he shut it down, I stop myself. I can’t bring myself stomp on his enthusiasm. He practices so much I don’t have the heart to tell him that even after all that work, he still sucks. I’ll let someone else throw tomatoes at him until he gets it right. I know someday he will.
Or I’ll be deaf and won’t care.
Here is my latest page, dedicated to drummer boy.
More pages from the Prompt-a-Day class:
When I was a small child I used to go to Roosevelt park in Albuquerque, with family or friends. The park was probably 4 city blocks in size with rolling hills and and many, many evergreen trees as well as other beautiful vegetation. Because of how the park was set up, you could stand in any part of the park and only be able to see a small portion it from that vantage point. It was large enough to hold hundreds of people and yet you could find areas for some privacy.
What was so fun, for a child, was that there were many places to play hide and seek, or you could play Frisbee (or Frisbee golf) without bothering other people. But one of my favorite things to do was roll my body down the grassy hill over and over again. Yes, I was a dizzy child. In the one or two days a year were actually had snow, we would take large cardboard boxes to use as a sled and barrel down the hills. It was so fun.
When I finally made it to high school this park was a great hangout location. Plus the city allowed kids to cruise the park. For those who don’t know what cruising is, it’s going around the park over and over again in your car while flirting with the boys in their cars. See, I told you I was a dizzy child.
Did you ever cruise?
Here’s something I hadn’t thought about in ages. This page brought about the recall.
When I was in high school I was shy, very much like I am now. On the last day of my Junior year I had a guy tell me he had a gift for me from a friend of his. I didn’t have a clue who the guy in from of me was nor did I know who the gift giver was. However, not being one to turn down gifts if nothing was required in return, I accepted. (I going to date myself now. ) It turned out to be a 45 Single of the Blood Sweat and Tears song “You've Made Me So Very Happy.” My first thought was “I do? I don’t even know you.” :)
Turns out this boy, Louis, was a senior who had a crush on me for sometime but waited until the last day of school to let me know. He had also signed up to go into the Marines, was leaving very soon and wanted someone to write to him while he was gone. We wrote to each other regularly while he was in boot camp and even dated once when he came home on leave. He was cute but he was going to be gone for quite sometime so the romance didn’t last long. But it did create a nice high school memory.
Do you have any good “men” stories you’d like to share? I’d like to hear them.
When I was in college I had a parakeet named Julie. She (he?) was named Julie because I got her in July. Clever huh? Julie and I lived in a small studio apartment and she was one messy bird. Not only did she shed feathers every where she also spit her seeds every where. I could hardly keep up. I never had a cover for her cage so she always woke me up early. Even on days when I’d been up all night partying she’d start her sing song routine as soon as the sun came up. I was actually fine with it because back then my cure for a hangover (who me?) was a 7 am bike ride down to the corner store for a bottle of OJ and then a trip around the university area on the bike. Sunday mornings were great for bike riding. The air was crisp and fresh and the traffic was light and it cleared out the cobwebs from my head. I’d get back early enough to clean up more seeds and do some studying. ( Yeah I say that like I studied a lot. )
One day I thought I’d be a good bird momma and get her out of her cage and try to train her to sit on my shoulder. Not.a.good.idea. What I didn’t know enough to do was close the window shade before pulling her out of the cage. Little Julie thought she was free, free, free. Well until she hit the window…splat! and fell down straight down. OMG I felt so bad for her. She wasn’t hurt too bad but it freaked us both out. She because she just knew if she tried one more time, she could be free to roam the wilds of Albuquerque. I told you she was silly. And I was freaked out because I couldn’t catch that darn bird and I was chasing her back and forth across the room. It was comical. I finally got smart enough to close the shade so she couldn’t hurt herself anymore. You know, if we hadn’t been in a one room apt she might still be loose today.
I finally got a bath towel and threw it on her. It blinded her so she couldn’t move and I was finally able to get her back in the cage. Whew, we were both exhausted.
I’ll tell you about my other bird, Flower, another day. Do you have any crazy pet stories you’d like to share?
I probably should mention that the journal page above and the coffee page from two days ago were inspired by the Prompt a Day workshop I’m taking from Kelly Kilmer.
Oops, Sorry, it’s not here. Visit Jennifer’s Trial and Error blog for her 3rd year anniversary blog giveaway. Looks like lots of fun supplies. Click the button to sign up.
My friend Anne of http://gaalcreative.blogspot.com is celebrating her 1 year FIRST BLOGOVERSARY! She has such a wonderful blog, you need to check it out. Congratulations Anne.
As part of her anniversary celebration she nominated me and others for the Circle of Friends award. Thanks Anne, this means so much to me.
I am going to nominate just a few of my online friends who always take the time to leave their wonderfully supportive comments on my posts. But because I can’t nominate you all, I still I want everyone who visits to know how much I appreciate that you take the time to come visit.
Although Anne nominated me for this award, I’m going to re-nominate her for the award because she never fails to leave a very positive comment to my posts.
I dedicate this little video to you!
I joined Facebook a few years ago and didn’t do much with it until recently. Being separated by distance, my art life is not usually shared with my family and my family life is usually not shared on my art site. Lately the two have been converging and it feels weird. All of a sudden friends and family are seeing my art and my art friends are seeing my family conversations and I’m feeling a little exposed.
But I do enjoy Facebook and if you’d like me to add you as a friend, I’ll do it if I know your Facebook name.
When I opened the package, I felt like a kid in a candy store. Oh I knew it was coming but I was excited just the same. Where did it come from? No, I didn’t order it from Amazon.com or an online bookstore. I’d been wanting this book for sometime so when my friend Jennifer Williams from Trial and Error announced the book would be part of her monthly blog giveaway, I signed up right away. Imagine my surprise when she emailed me to say I won. I’m not kidding when I say I’ve never won anything before so this was quite a happy surprise.
Jennifer, thank you very much. It is so appreciated!! Any if the rest of you dear readers haven’t been to Trial and Error lately, visit very soon because another blog giveaway is going to be announced very soon. Good luck, I hope you win too!
Well, I have to go; I have some reading to do. Ta Ta for now.
My friend Dianne from Art Beneath The Cottonwoods has tagged me. And my friend Connie from ALTERED ROUTE has given me this wonderful award. My thanks go to the both of them.
Here are the official rules…
Link to the person who tagged you.
Mention the rules.
Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself.
Tag five other bloggers by linking to them. (I added comments to the links, you don't have to.)
Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged.
The six quirky boring things about me, this shouldn't be hard. :-)
1> Before Lasik, used to be that I wore glasses for distance, now I wear them for close up. I can't get away from them.
2> Did you know that you can get really cute reading glasses at Target for only $1.00. Yeah, $1.00. I must have 6-7 pair.
3> I'm a cheapskate. If it doesn't entertain me I don't want to spend money on it. :)
4> I hate emptying the dishwasher. (see I told you it would be hard.)
5> I have 6 toy sewing machines, one vintage machine and one regular. All from my quilting days.
Five people I am tagging and awarding the Kreativ Blog award to are:
Sarah Fishburn: http://ragtagsf.blogspot.com/ Sarah is a wonderful artist who shares my love of Biscochitos.
Barb : http://craft-therapy.blogspot.com/ who is a fellow member of ATCsforall and Suziblu's class, so you knows she's arty.
Jennifer: http://www.artisticallydesigneddiversions.blogspot.com/ You really must see her packing tape self-sculpture.
Pink Hattuer's - http://pinkhattuer.blogspot.com/ We both participate in the Three Week Challenge and Suzi Blu's class Les Petite dolls class.
Christine Alane: http://ntuart.blogspot.com/ Christine makes some beautiful jewelry.
I think you will enjoy visiting these blogs so have a looky loo!
So you want to know what I've been up to? Silly question because if you're reading this blog it's to know what I've been working on recently. First up: Not long ago I joined an Altered Switch Plate Swap at http://www.atcsforall.com/ and made these for the swap:
What do you think? I like all of them but the flowers are my favorite. I'm curious to see what I get back in return.
My Guy and I also decided to throw a dinner party for 8 of our closest friends and that happened last night. The party, wine and food were a great success. How could it not be, they are all wonderful people. Oh and I want to thank Linda and Mike for bringing us 6 bottles of their home made wine. We've yet to taste it because we had so many other bottles already open. But I can't wait to try it.
So you are wondering how does this party relate to my art? Well, for about a year now I have been planning to create a mosaic table using a very complex design (for a mosaic newbie, that is) and I'd been procrastinating because, as usual, I was unsure of my abilities to handle the design. However, wanting it to be finished by party time necessitated that I simplify the design greatly to something that I could finish by Friday evening. It wasn't the design that I originally worked on, but both My guy and I love it.
My Guy thinks I work great under pressure; I guess I do. He didn't think I get it done on time considering when I actually started cutting the tiles (with a ring saw). But finish I did.. mostly... it was finished enough to serve dinner on. I'll tell you, I felt a sense of accomplishment. Here is a picture of it:
What else have I been up to? This isn't art related but it is fun to eat the results. Yes, I've been tending my vegetable garden. Green peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, and lemons. (Nothing on the lime tree yet.) Anybody have a to-die-for eggplant recipe? if so, please, please post it in the comments section.
OK the last picture isn't from the vegetable garden but I'm proud of it just the same. They are my unripe lemons from a lemon tree I've had for several years. Why am I proud? I've finally remembered to water it on a regular enough basis that it is actually growing lemons this year. :)
Thanks for reading. What has your week been like?
