Art, Chatter, and A Baby to Close it all out!

Been away for awhile, but I'm still alive and kickin'. Folks been keeping me busy! I'm not complaining!
Looks as though today's post is going to be a long one. We have lots of art, both old and new. We will probably have some story-telling as well cause I've been out on some adventures since the last post. Life has been good!

I did a boatload of art over this past weekend. There was an ATART going on over at AFA (the link's up in the left hand corner). What's an ATART you ask? All-Types-ART-a-thon. Whatever you felt like making was up for trade.
My muse was all over the boards! You'll get to see all that art in this post. There is a lot of it so if you haven't time to take a look then just skip over the art and read what I've had to say. It's all cool!

Guess we'll start with the old stuff first cause that's how they got put here. I pick and choose the pictures as I go and the old stuff was kind of an after-thought.

I think I showed you all this handsome fella awhile back. Pencil on newsprint. I need to clean off that light table and start doing portraits again.

Squirrel Goes To The Beach
This is a crazy collaboration between Susan, Jerry and Myself. It is done on heavy brown grocery paper. The paper itself was from the bottom of a box, used as protective material for whatever was in that box. I've no clue what was in the box. The paper is cut to 6 x 6 inches. We passed it around on the 13th of July this year as we sat at Susan's table with her markers making inchies.
Wild! That was a good afternoon!

St. Francis
I used to make headstones for a living. I was an illustrator and engraver. This is drawn on tracing paper with #2 pencil. The image itself is reversed when it drawn so it can be transfered to rubber stencil which is then cut to reveal the drawing a it will appear on the engraved stone. St. Francis is on a Georgia Gray granite headstone in a cemetary somewhere in Kansas. This is the original drawing. I'm uncertain if I engraved this particular drawing or not.
I enjoyed being an engraver. Illustrating comes natural to me. I had to learn the skill of engraving. I did hundreds of drawings on tracing paper that ended up on someone's headstone...I have very few of the actual drawings in my possession though as they belong to the monument companies I worked for at the time they were drawn. I have even more finished stones in grave yards in five states. Loved that work! Engraving took physical strength and knowledge. Illustrating is not physical work at all! Knowledge doesn't even really come in when know what it is the customer wants. Find a picture for reference and go for it! You all wouldn't believe the number of different tractors, combines, windmills, and other farm equipment I've drawn in this life! It was more like play.
Guess that is why I produce glittery fishes now. Cause it's still just play....
Orange Fish
4 x 4 Chunky Page
Chipboard base, pink paper dusted with silver glitter and then again with red/orange glitter, green cord and novelty yarn, little glass beads. Fish is wall paper painted orange attached to chip board with a googly eye. Danglies are that same green cord with green pony beads tied to the ends. Backside is pink paper with 2 foam fish stickers and my info written in marker.

Blue Fish
4 x 4 Chunky Page
Chipboard base, red paper dusted with fine pink glitter, red netting from a potato bag, green glass beads, red cord, and eyelash yarn. Fish is cardstock dusted with pale bluish silver glitter nd googly eye. Danglies are eyelash yarn.
I still have these two chunky pages. Chunkies were not a hot commodity at the ATART this weekend.

I do believe I've pretty well conquered the inchie goal for 2009. I need to do an actual count and see just how many are in the box and I need to do a recount of those I have scanned. I don't think those numbers jive exactly. We all know I can't count worth a crap!

Penguins on the top row. The last one in line is courtesy of Jerry. I love that one! The rest are mine.

Chicken Mugshots on the second row. I didn't intend to draw mugshots when I did the chickens but when I put them in a row and saw the scan, they certainly looked like mugshots of chickens! So Chicken Mugshots we have!

Wild Things are at the bottom. They are in an envelope beside my desk ready to make a journey to New Jersey, USA.

The other inchies have to stay with me for the time being.

Three Little Blank Books

I told you guys about making these books awhile back. I assembled these books this weekend during the ATART.

Revolutionary Soldier

Stormy

Asian

The soldier is headed to Texas, USA. My trader had an ancestor who fought in the revolutionary war and that is the one she chose to trade an envelope of fibers for. I'm looking forward to the fibers. One can never have too many to choose from.

The Asian book is headed to Washington, USA.

Stormy awaits in my charge.

Fish Inchies! Lots O'Fishes!

I believe 5 x 6 = 30, yes?

I love how they look all together like this! I've many many more than 30 fishes in the grand total for the year. I'm going to have to make something of these fishes and their brethren.

12 of this school are going to New Jersey, USA along with the Wild Things inchies.

I Want A Corndog

4 x 4 Chunky Page

For obvious reasons, I still have this Chunky Page. I have no clue where my muse was headed with this one....The text on the front says: When was the last time Dr. Pettifer came up with one, then sir?"

"With one what?"

"A drama, sir. A what I call a wobbly."

"Oh, way back."

It amazes me how you can manipulate the human form with different parts from different people. The woman who graces the back of this page scares me. LOL I really should have scanned the backside as well. I didn't though. The woman on the front just looks out of place and very unconcerned about that giant hairy spider on her face! I call it "I WANT A CORNDOG" because the woman who scares me has a sign above her head that says just that. It is a very strange Chunky Page (my own admittance!) but I'll probably make more just like it eventually. Remember. This. Is. Play.

Purple Doll Shrine

Matchbox painted purple and covered with purple netting, heart cut from gold paper doily, two glass leaf beads for her arms and copper wire swirly atop the heart. Her head is a wooden bead with hair (thin knobby yarn) attached with copper wire and her facial features drawn with sharpies. Her legs are various brown colored beads wired with copper wire. She's a money girl! Inside the matchbox is covered with gold foil, there's a gold coin, a rolled up fake dollar bill, a tiny $10 bill, and a little chunk of fools gold. I didn't show you what's inside cause the scanner did a terrible job of showing it (as you'll see in a second). She is headed to Washington, USA.

Red Scottie Dog Shrine

Matchbox, outside is gessoed and painted red along with a metal enameled dodad. Inside is all painted red with a heart postage stame, a wooden star painted red and dusted with glitter, gold bead, red fake gem and a little red plastic scottie dog. Copper wire was used to wire the hanger and the dodad ( pearl bead and gold metal heart charm).

Playing Card Inchies

These are the only inchies made this year that were not hand drawn and colored with markers. I do not enjoy collaging inchies. Therefore I don't make a great number of them. Some folks make beautiful collaged inchies and I admire their perserverance because I want to pull my hair out when I try to collage inchies!

More Little Blank Books

Green

Pig

Money

Green pig money. Sounds like a money laundrying scheme.

Anyway....

I didn't tell you all how these are made so here goes. Covers are recycled greeting cards collaged or covered with drawings done on other materials. Inside pages are junk mail that is blank (or light colored) on at least one side of the paper. The books are 3 inches by 4 inches with roughly 25-30 pages. I cut the pages for the books on the guillotine cutter which makes that process go quite quickly. The books are bound with whatever fiber will fit through the eye of my carpet needle.

Green and Pig are staying at my house for awhile longer and Money is going to Washington, USA.

Inchie Envelopes

I traded 3 sets of 10 over the weekend. The envies are 2 x 3 inches (if memory serves me correctly.) Made from pictures from various publications. Magazines, bulletins, junk mail....ect. You get the picture! No pun intended! lol

I accidentally deleted the Green Matchbox Shrine picture. Oops. All you get is a description of it.
Green Matchbox Shrine: little matchbox, outside is painted with white gesso and covered with green mullberry paper, patterened paper, rick rack, a wooden plug painted green with a wire swirl on top of it. Inside is painted green with patterned paper covering the inside back of the box. Contents of box are a tiny metal Brut bottle, a wooden plug painted green, tiny hair brush, cellophane heart painted green and the word 'sweet' atop the heart. White glass beads, wooden bead, gold beads and wooden heart bead are wired for hanger and danglie off the bottom.

A Small Baggie of Words

I guranteed at least 100 words in each baggie. These words were cut from the same kinds of materials as the envelopes are made...magazines, bulletins, junk mail, ect.

I traded 3 baggies of words this past weekend.

Flipflops Altered Postcard

This postcard did have a picture of Webster Lake on it. Now it doesn't. Altered. Get it? This 4 x 6 collaged postcard is traveling naked to Nebraska. Naked being it will not be put in an envelope.

Blue Bull Shrine
little matchbox, outside is collaged with various papers, inside of box is painted with blue ink and wallpaper covers the back of the inside. On the front is a little mirror with embroidery around it, blue and white ribbon, glass leaf beads, fiber, plastic flower with a fake rhinestone. Inside the box is a wooden star painted with blue ink and dusted with glitter and a little blue plastic bull. There's a pre-made silk tassle hanging from the bottom and two glass beads wired for the hanger.

I didn't trade this one. Which was quite fine with me. I like this one the best of them all anyway. I think I'll give this one to my sister for her birthday. She's a Taurus and would love it.

A Sampling of ATC Envelopes

These are made from basically the same kinds of materials as the inchie envelopes only difference is this sample also has envies made from maps and cardstock postcards that come from my internet provider on a regular basis. Anything with nice color, unique graphics or content is fair game for an envelope of any size! I traded 10 of these this weekend. I actually traded the ones pictured. Had I traded more of them...they would have been picked randomly. I have hundreds of these already made and more pages waiting to be cut, folded and/or glued.

There is a never-ending supply of envelope fodder coming into my space daily. I honestly do not have enough time to keep up with it.

This concludes the ART SHOW portion of the post.

Thank you for making it this far.

I believe my last post was made on the 16th. That's been 8 days ago. I've done a lot since then! Sam and I worked in the burned house twice. The kitchen is gone...not sure if that happened before the 16th or after, but it is gone out in the storage trailer house. We've taken two loads of boxes to the burned house from the storage shed and have another load ready to be hauled to the burned house. We are going to totally piss off the trash guys with the amount of junk they are going to be hauling off in the coming weeks. And this week for that matter.

I've been kidnapped three times since the 16th. My brother Sam is the kidnapper! We've gone adventuring in the country twice and to lunch once. We got totally lost up in the hills of open range over in Ellis county. Took us hours to find our way out of those hills. It was a fun adventure though! We got two new rocks for the rock pile and brought home a few pieces of found junk from along the roadsides.

Lunch out was an experience in itself! We had gone north as opposed to having gone south to end up in Ellis county on the day we went to lunch. North took us into Smith County where we found the biggest hole in the earth on Kansas soil as I've ever seen on Kansas soil in my life! A bridge washed out! Been a long while since that happened from the looks of that hole though. We kept finding roads with no outlet. Roads with no outlet that were not posted as such. Four of them! And of course, being the adventurers that my brother and I are, we would have still taken those no outlet road even if they had been posted as such just to see what was at the other end.

We found that giant hole at the end of one of them! We did have to walk a bit on the second road that lead to the big hole, but that's only cause we wanted a different view than the initial finding of the hole gave us. The giant hole was a good find...quite interesting.

We brought home found junk from the sides of the roads on the trip north as well. I'm now the proud owner of a very dirty, corroded "CATTLE CROSSING" sign that Sam found, half buried, under a cedar tree he chose for a bathroom. (He had to take a leak.) I don't suppose he'd appreciate me telling you all that... but it's done and I ain't taking it back. We all gotta take a leak on occasion.

Lunch was indeed an adventure all on it's own! I ordered a hot beef sandwich expecting bread, mashed potatoes, gravy and roast beef all piled on the plate. What I got was a roast beef sandwich with Swiss Cheese on a bun and more potato chips than 12 people could eat. No biggie. I ate the sandwich without complaint. I even ate a good amount of the potato chips which I am not particuarly fond of. I could have been more precise in my ordering. Where I come from a hot beef sandwich isn't exactly a sandwich though. I didn't make that clear enough to the young man who took my order apparently. The mix up of what I was going to get for lunch was nothing compared to the onion slice I asked to accompany my hot beef sandwich though. When I ask for a slice of onion, I expect I'll get a whole slice of onion. On entire slice. That isn't what I found on my sandwich. I opened the bun to slather on some mayo and there sat this lone outer onion ring from a slice of onion. One little ring. Sam and I just laughed about that cause it was totally insane! I think perhaps the cook was off in la-la land when he read that order.

I was hoping to find RW cooking at the BI that night but that wasn't meant to be! We went by RWs house after lunch and he wasn't even home so I didn't get to see him or anyone else at his house that day.

Life is good these days! I had to go see the doctor for some scheduled lab work, a medication review and just cause she insists I come see her on occasion to keep medicare happy. I saw three different vampires in two days time to take my blood. The first one got half a vial out of me after giving me four new holes I didn't have before I saw her. The second one got three vials out of me on the first shot and if anyone had been thinking, me included, I wouldn't have had to get stuck five times on Tuesday. I could have got stuck only once on Wednesday when I took my 24 hour urine sample to the lab where they needed yet another vial of my vital fluid to perform the tests on my 24 hour urine sample. Vampire Beverly is an excellent vampire! She would have only had to stick me once to get all the blood they needed for all those useless tests. (The tests really aren't useless, I just get cranky when they stick me so many times!) I don't have any results yet from any of those tests. They're checking all kinds of stuff associated with one or more of the ailments that plague me. Diabetes, the blood disorder, migraines... I'm falling apart somedays. I don't suspect I'm just gonna keel over dead though. Not any time soon!

Brother Sam came to my house for supper early last week. I made him spaghetti and garlic bread. I just had the end of that spaghetti for supper tonight. The noodles were a lot better the first go round cause freezing cooked noodles does nothing nice for them, but the sauce, the sauce was much better tonight than the first go round cause the sauce only collects more of the flavors together the longer it's around! It was yummy! Mo garlic bread this time round though cause I ate it all within days of making the spaghetti the first time.

I went to Susan's for supper last night. She made chili and her, Jerry and I made inchies and twinchies after supper. I haven't scanned the twinchies I made last night. Nor have I scanned all the inchies I've made since the last post. Not sure how many inchies are in that little bowl to be scanned....round 40 or so. A few of them still need color on them. When I went to see the doc on Tuesday I knew I was going to have to wait for awhile cause I didn't have an appointment...they knew I was coming though. I drew inchies while I waited my turn. I never did count just how many...all those fishes earlier in this post were drawn at the drs office and colored a day or two later. I think I drew around 75 inchies at the doctors office while I waited. That sounds like a lot of time...to have drawn that much...but I only waited about an hour or so. I can crank out inchies like there's no tomorrow! I only drew lines, no coloring involved at the drs office. And fishes are not hard to draw at all! Nor are chickens or birds! Or apples and oranges.

I'll let you all know what tests were done and whether I have any issues to worry about where my health is concerned. I don't feel any different than I usually do. I hurt. I sleep too damned much but all in all the attitude is good and the attitude dictates what the rest of me is gonna do. So, yeah, life is good!

I started this post around 5:30 pm. It is now about 8:15pm. I've talked to my mother since I started this post. She was sitting in my livingroom with me for about half an hour. She came to see if I had some coathangers she could have. I fixed her up. We talked and watched Lola Kid play with Fred's tail and Billy bully Lola just cause he don't like her. He didn't hurt her, didn't even lay a paw on her, just gave her a hard time! Ma went home and Billy went out with her just like he came in with her. I'll have to send Fred after him later so the silly cat won't stay the night outside. It's cold outside!

Little Miss Annabel

She was born 13 August 2009

I'll let you all do the math as to what her age is. :) Break it down into months, weeks and days for me if you're so inclined, please!

She's a'growin' like a weed in a rosebed!

Darn those kids for moving so far away :( ....I'll be seeing Miss Annabel and her people first week in December. I cannot wait!! :) :) :)

I'm forgetting to tell you all a lot of what I've been up to but this post is way long enough as it is! You all go get your hugs and kisses too if you can get away with it! Until next we meet: Be good to one another!

Peace

831

A Boatload of Inchies and Little Else

The inchie goal is coming along nicely. We are up to 822 completed. I thought there were more than that! Still have a few to complete to hit this goal of 1000 for this year but I don't see any trouble making that goal at all. I'll be making inchies today to add to that goal.

These inchies, all of them were made during October and November. They are all mixed together here where dates are concerned. Just enjoy all the art. I'll shut up and let you look!

I'm dingy today. Not that that is so unusual....I deleted the three sets of these inchies that are at the top of the post. Didn't mean to, but there ya have it....I'm dingy!

I got them back in the post though so all's good.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday! I will come back in the next day or so with more inchies to share and some ATCs as well. I'm working on two ATCs right now that should be in the mail in the next couple of days. A trip to the post office is order whether I get those ATCs done or not. I have important papers to forward to my oldest son. He and his brood moved back to Nickerson....:(. More on that in the next post though.

Go get your hugs!

Peace

831

Russian Vodka

Before you go looking for something to do with Russian Vodka in this post, this will be the only sentence pretaining to Russian Vodka.

I couldn't think of a title and that's what came to mind. Perhaps I'm in need of 'tying one on'? Probably not though. I haven't been here for 13 days cause I've been asleep a great deal of that time, I've been quite busy when I wasn't asleep and I just didn't have anything that REALLY needed said?
I'm still alive and kicking. I won't complain about my aches and pains. They still exist, still give me fits every day and I endure. The sleep monster, that's another story. I do not understand why this body of mine thinks it needs 16 hours of sleep in one stretch. Nor 12, 14, 11 hours all in one stretch. Headaches accompany the wakefulness from these prolonged bouts of sleep. I've talked to the doctor about this sleeping so long at one time...she says not to worry about it. If my body wants to sleep like that, then sleep it will. Drives me nuts!
I've actually been quite active when I am awake most days. I'm cutting at least three presentation folders a day, making envelopes, doing dishes, laundry, changing the linens on the bed, taking the trash out.... domestic chores. I don't last for any length of time on any job, but it gets done bit by bit.
I spent three hours out in the trailer house shed with Sam and Ma this afternoon. Worked my ass off! Hurt like a big dog now! I will survive though. Three hours of looking in boxes, repacking boxes, throwing crap away, moving constantly.... I am pooped! We did not accomplish an awful lot out there in the grand scheme of it all. There are six rooms in that shed and everyone of those rooms is stacked to the rafters! We got about half the biggest room done. The boxes we stacked by the front door will go to the burnt house in the next few days....Sunday probably. And then we will go make us another load of boxes to take out of the trailer house shed.
The shed is gone when it's empty! Gone! We are tearing it down. I say "we" but I won't actually be doing much of the actual tearing down. Though I will do what I can. This will happen sometime in the spring I am guessing cause it ain't anywhere near empty at the moment!
The weather is fixing to change come Monday. We had upper 70s F today. Never did see the temp anywhere....It was a tad windy, but a beautiful shirt-sleeves day. Weather gurus are saying low 30s (for a high) by Monday.
Will have to start playing butler to that dog and cat again. I've had the front door standing wide open since last week. Usually only in the daytime cause the temps did dip a bit at night but last night that door was open all night long.
I fixed Fred up a sweater to cover his bald belly. He's done with his mange treatment. He looks and feels much better, thank you.
He and that silly kitten, Lola Kidd are quite the pair. Fred has never given up sleeping on my bed. Lola thinks she can sleep atop Fred while he's sleeping atop my bed. A whole dang bed and that kitten is sleeping on Fred.
I knew they'd come to an understanding. Lola thinks Fred is quite alright. She has her own personal wrestling partner in Fred's tail. She's the third kitten to claim Fred's tail as her own. Fred doesn't appear to even realize he has a kitten attached to his tail with teeth and claws engaged.
I think he might be a bit numb in his tail. His tail is quite crooked cause it was ran over with a pickup truck when he was about three months old. Fred ain't a very bright dog, but he's a damned lucky dog!

The yard is minus one of its long standing ornaments. The giant satellite dish is now gone! Thank you, Lord for sending that fella after it! I needed the $20 he gave me for it and I have wanted it gone for quite some time! I love what he's gonna do with that 10 foot fiberglass dish! He's gonna put four legs on it, turned with the bowl pointing down and sit above his big round hay bales out in his field for his cows. He said he bought three of them on Tuesday when he took mine away.
The base it stood on will end up in the junk pile as soon as someone gets the gumption it's going to take to get that sucker to the junk pile.

I haven't scanned all those inchies and the other dozen or so I've done since the last post. I really need to take a few hours and do nothing but inchies a couple times a week to meet the goal. I still need close to 200 of those little devils. I have a little over 8 dozen that need to be scanned. I've done no art to speak of in the last 12 days.

I went to a girls basketball game on Tuesday night with my friends to watch Miss Allison play. The Tigers beat the Ringnecks 28-12. It was a rousing game and I enjoyed it!

I really need to go to bed. I'm closing in on being awake for the last 23 hours. That's how that sleeping business seems to go these days....sleep for a bunch, up for a bunch more. It's crazy and I wish to change it!

You all be good to one another and I shall come show you some inchies next time we meet! Get your hugs!
Peace
831

A Bit of Snow, A Bit of Cleaning and A Whole Lot of Me Yapping

First off I must warn you all I have been awake for 29 hours straight and my brain may or may not function to capacity on this post. We will strive for maximum functioning capacity, but I'm really not guaranteeing I can deliver just that!
So, here goes:

It has been a few days since the last post and a few things have occured since that time.
We had snow flurries Thursday morning. I did not witness this snow myself but a reliable source relayed the info to me. All the snow was gone by the time I hauled my hide out of bed for the day. Not sure what the low temps have been....lowest around freezing...we've had a hard frost a couple times already....got down to about 34 last night and then highs today in the high sixties. I'm guessing on those numbers but I think I'm pretty close to the actual numbers.
The farthest I've been from home in five days time is to Pburg with Susan for breakfast on Wednesday?....I think it was Wednesday. Somedays I am lucky to remember my own name let alone what day it is!
Fibro kicked my butt during the first half of the week. The cold weather is to blame for that battle. Danged body of mine can't decide if it is cold that it hates or warmth. No winning the battle with the fibro. I'm still above the grass though so I really am not complaining! I could be so much worse off! I've been into town a couple of times but nowhere else forever it seems.

The garage in the burned house has been enlarged. The garage is attached to the house and Sam tore out the north wall of the garage. The backroom is now part of the garage or the garage is now part of the back room. You can decide.
The back room in the burned house used to house all 38 of my houseplants before the fire killed all but three of them off. That room had a very large double paned plate glass window that covered the whole north wall. That window has been broken since 31 May 2005 when the house burned. I think that window being broke was the hardest part of that morning when fire ate all my belongings. The firemen broke that window with a large metal pipe to let the smoke escape. They broke every single window in that house with the exception of the small window in the front hall. I think they just missed that one or it would have been broken as well. The big hole here the window used to be was covered with wood to keep the weather out of the house though. Sam put in a regular sized window and an outlet for the wood burning stove he is going to hook up in that room. The room used to be open into the kitchen with an archway and Sam closed off the archway and added a door on that wall. I am finally within sight of that workshop I've been talking about for 4 years! I am very excited about that!
Tomorrow Sam will finish up the backdoor and another window in that room on the east end of it. Brother has been a very big help to me with this project. I don't even have to tell him what needs done. He just does it knowing I won't complain about too much of anything. Cause anything is better than the house being just a burned gutted house.
Yesterday Sam mowed down all the tall weeds around the patio, mowed down all the native grasses that have taken over. I want that one stand of native grasses to come back next year. It kinda looks like bamboo but it has tiny skinny stems instead of nice thick stems like any other bamboo I've ever seen. It came up all on its own during the last four years. It turned a lovely shade of brick red when the leaves on the trees started changing colors. Very pretty! Now if we could just eliminate all those damned tumbleweeds! We have a bumper crop of tumbleweeds this year. They are more of a nuisance than anything else. They aren't even really pretty when they are all green and they are down right ugly when they turn brown this time of year. Sam threw the tumbleweeds over the fence into the field outback. I think he's hoping the wind will blow them away from the house....that is not going to happen though cause he threw them on the north side of the fence and the wind is going to be blowing like crazy from the north and will blow them all back onto the patio where they will be stopped dead in their tracks by the wooden privacy fence. Ah well! We'll have ourselves a nice big bonfire once the tumbleweeds end back up on the patio. That is the easiest way to get rid of them...burn them.
We have a very large pile of crap to burn already from the cleaning of the patio and the surrounding yard. Sam says we shouldn't burn on the concrete on the patio but we've always burned the tumbleweeds, pampas grass stalks and other vegetation on the patio in the springtime, or late winter. Course it's been four years since that took place.

Ma came over and we cleaned the livingroom the day before yesterday. Rearranged and took that big table that held my houseplants out. It is now my work table in the cutting room. I went through all the crap that was in that room, boxed up what was to keep and Ma helped me take it all out to the burned house. She vaccuumed and helped me put things away. I'll be working on putting things in their place in the cutting room for weeks to come! It looks so nice in there though. I did a lot of cutting today before Ma showed up to help me clean the little bathroom and my deskroom. The top of this desk is brown! (Hadn't seen the top of this desk in ages!)
Sometime since the last post I've made inchies. There are almost three dozen of them ready to be scanned. That won't happen today though. I'll make more of them before I scan. I have seven ATCs to scan as well for a swap. Sometime before the post office closes tomorrow I must find that purple chunky page and get it in the mail. And if I can't find it, I'll have to make another one and get it in the mail. I have a few ATCs to get into envelopes and off on their journeys to their new homes. I made all the inchies at Susan's house with her and Jerry. Did a dozen of them this morning while I was visiting with Susan. She got two done in the time I got 12 done! LOL I crank those little babies out!
I won't be doing any drawing in front of this pc anymore though. I moved all my markers to the cutting room so I can do my drawing on that nice big table in there as opposed to the small spot available on this desk.

I have this large picture frame that, at the moment holds 30some presidents. I do believe Carter is the last president represented in this collection. I'm going to take those trading cards of the presidents out of that frame, paint it black (it is red now) and fill it with ATCs so I can hang it on the bare wall in the livingroom. That will take an entire afternoon to complete. It will be fun going through all the ATCs I've recieved in trade for my own ATCs. I'll get a picture of it when it gets done and show you all!

My oldest son and his brood where here earlier. I got to see my granddaughter but I didn't hold her. This prolonged period of awakeness I'm experiencing at the moment has done nothing good for my old body and I ache to the max! My right leg and my arms are on shut down mode now. That baby is growing like a weed and looking more like her daddy every single day! I haven't seen them for better than a week. T had Annabel in a cute little blue dress with white leotards. She was adorable! They stopped in on their way home from Nickerson earlier this evening.

Looks as though they are indeed moving back to Nickerson sometime soon.Probably just after the first of the year. That's a guess on my part. No one has given me a time frame that I remember. RJ says I told the pair of them that I would move down there with them. I vaguely remember that conversation and if memory serves me correctly, I did NOT say I was moving down there with them. I said I would come stay with them occasionally and if they wanted that to happen the only condition I needed was a fenced yard so I could bring Fred with me. Don't know what the heck those kids think I'm going to do with my cats when I go there to stay with them....None of this is set in stone though so it really is irrelevent at the moment. They have two houses down there they are looking at. They will probably move in with T's dad to begin with and go from there. But like I said, none of this is written in stone yet. It was good to see the little ones. Brenton gave me a big ol' hug when they got here. Then he played with Lola Kid and Fred for a bit. Lola wasn't cooperating with being played with and all she wanted to do was bite and scratch. Kittens are mean little devils sometimes!

I made brownies the night before last. Susan and Jerry finished them off last night more or less. I think there are only two left now. I had my fill the night I made them!

If you are wondering WHY I've been awake for almost 30 hours it is because of the fibro. I just can't sleep. I get in bed and just lay there wide awake! I will be heading to my bed pretty soon though cause the old eyeballs are getting heavy and my limbs are shaking as though there is a stiff breeze blowing in this house! That's from lack of sleep...the shaking is. That and I hadn't eaten till just a little while ago all day. Wasn't hungry, was way to busy to stop and make something to eat that I wasn't in the mood for anyway. The kids brought me some roast beef. It was tasty! Filled my belly and I do think sleep will come now.

Perhaps on the next post I will have some pictures for you all. Until then....be good to one another and get yourself as many hugs (and kisses too if you can swing that! :) ) I'm fading fast and I'm afraid if I continue on with the commentary you all will just abandon me! lol So I'll not bore you all any farther tonight. Sleep well!
Peace
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Artwork, A Birthday Remembered, and A Little Something Else, I'm Sure

It has been a few days since I posted anything.
My brother and Ma are helping me straighten out the burned house. We spent the afternoon out there on Thursday of last week. Making room for all the junk that is now in the trailer house shed.
Brother Sam cleaned off the patio, organized all the SCJunk (scrap metal junk), it's looking good out there on the patio! He has separated iron, copper, brass and aluminum into their own piles out at the point. (The point is what I call the eastern boundary of my property. It's called the point cause the land comes to a point there. The highway veers off to the south a tad and the field out behind the house intersects with my land there.) Most of the SCjunk used to be scattered all over the patio and strung out on the point. Now it is all nice and neat!
My plan is to get all that junk gone through, out of the trailer house shed and into the burned house so the trailer house shed can be torn down cause it is NOT going to survive another big wind! I was suprised to see it still standing after the big wind came along and blew the privacy fence down and took some of the siding off the trailer house shed a couple of summers ago. It won't survive another big wind! It just won't. And I'd rather tear it down while it's still standing than to have to clean up the mess that would occur if a big wind took it down!
We got the woodburning stove in the burned house fired up and it was quite toasty in the burned house the other day when we there. We will bring boxes from the trailer house to the burned house and dispose of the trash, separate the keep stuff from the stuff to sell at a garage sale later next summer. That stove hasn't been fired up since the winter of 04/05. It has a few issues but it will keep it warm enough in the gutted burned house to be able to work out there. I don't think it is a hazard to fire it up even though it does have some issues. The burned house is basically a shell of a house and there is nothing close to the stove that could potentially cause a big fire if the fire got out of the stove. Concrete floors don't burn readily!
I'm toying with the idea of an auction rather than a garage sale but I've yet to make that decision. We'll see how much is there once the shed is empty.
Sam emptied the garage of all the junk that was there. He put it in the burned house in RW's old room. That room is about 1/3 full (boxes stacked to the rafters). My old desk room is about 1/2 full with junk that was in the burned house. Most of that stuff belongs to RJ and T.
I say JUNK, but what I really mean is stuff....useful stuff...not necessarily useful to me...but to someone somewhere! It is just easier to call it junk.

The rest of the week....I was only out in the burned house with Sam and Ma on Thursday for a few hours time. We accomplished a great deal in that time but the rest of the week was spent with an aching body that refused to cooperate with what needed to be done. I did get some laundry done but not much else! A lot of sleep going on. The fibro has been kicking my butt quite hard this month. That has to do with the weather, stress and I haven't exactly been eating real good this month either. Not cause there is no food to eat, but cause I just don't feel like cooking somedays cause I never feel like doing the dishes. No cooking equals no dishes dirtied... I do eat but the stuff I should ..... .I miss veggies! I'm working on this issue. I know I need to eat good.

Some artwork got done but not a lot. Most of the artwork posted today was done earlier in the month. I'm still on schedule with the goal of 1000 inchies. Another two dozen of them in this bunch with 10 more ready to be scanned. I won't scan them till I have another 2 to make a dozen. I do have to get cracking on the inchies cause I still have right at 300 of them to complete in two months if I am to reach this goal.

Enjoy the artwork.

Butterfly Sailboat and Space

Twinchies

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Seahorse and Elmo

Collage- security envelope insides, magazine cutouts

twinchies

Only You and Traveling Man

Collage- ONLY YOU cardstock, image from catalog, glitter, magazine cutout attached to recycled chipboard.

Collage-- TRAVELING MAN map from an altas, magazine cutout attached to recyled chipboard.

twinchies

Lightning and Mr. Sun

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Twinchies

Big Green Truck and Crack

Collage- BIG GREEN TRUCK security envelope insides, crepe paper, magazine cutout on recycled chipboard.

Collage- CRACK wallpaper, magazine cutouts, text written with markers attached to recycled chipboard.

twinchies

Elephant Liberty and Drink Life Deeply

Collage- ELEPHANT LIBERTY security envelope inside, logo off my phone bill, magazine cutout, markers all on recycled chipboard.

Collage- DRINK LIFE DEEPLY security envelope inside colored wit marker, magazine cutout, text from magazine all attached to recycled chipboard.

twinchies

Inchies are all done in markers on recycled cardstock. This batch brings me up to 678 inchies. My favorite in this bunch is the covered bridge, 1st in the last row.

These twelve bring up to 690 inchies out of the goal of 1000 for the year. My favorite from this bunch is the frog.

You all got a nice variety of art from me this time. We have a chunky page to show also.

Purple Fish Chunky Page

Sandpaper, jumprings filled with different color glue, pipe cleaners, novelty yarn. The fish is freehand cut from cardstock then dusted with fine sand and a googly eye slapped on. Once the sand dried sufficiently I painted the fish with purple acrylic ink. The backside is just purple with my info written in silver sharpie. Base of this page is a blank drink coaster. This one is going to Virginia, USA.

There will be another ART SHOW in the coming weeks.

I referred to a birthday remembered in the title of this post. Today is 27 October 2009. Gary (my late husband) would have been 56 years old today if he were still alive. He's been gone since 27 August 97 but when October rolls around...I think about him a lot! Doesn't seem possible he has been gone so long.

And that something else referred to in the title could be anything!

I got to see my grand daughter, held her for a bit on Saturday before the kids headed off to Nickerson for a few days. They won't be home till Thursday. RJ had an appt with his lawyer and T wanted to get some more work done on her dad's house. They are thinking seriously about moving back to Nickerson. That is where the jobs are, not here.

I couldn't hold Annabel for very long before my arms gave out on me. She weighs 11 pounds now and is already 3 months old! Time sure does fly!

Hey! Lookie Here! More Art!

I thought there was more when I was yakking on about other stuff here. Well let's do the ATCs cause there are no ATCs above.

Surfing Rat #6

ATC

Collage- markers and a picture of a rat found on Google Images. All attached to recycled chipboard from that game I can't remember the name of. This little guy was made on Tuesday the 27th. He is headed to New Jersey, USA

Rock Ape

ATC

Markers on recycled cardstock. This one started out as a cat but it kinda turned into a monkey-looking critter so therefore the title.

Melvin

ATC

Markers on recycled cardstock. Melvin is headed to Oregon, USA.

Felix

ATC

Markers on recycled cardstock.

RW attempted to put up a shelf in the cutting room the other day but that was complete failure cause we didn't have the right screws and the boy hasn't been back to finish the job with the screws he said he had at home. I really need that shelf in the cutting room too. I spent a portion of everyday in that room, cutting cardstock or chipboard or something. There's a bunch of junk in that room that needs to go to the burned house too. The closet is full of stuff that shouldn't be there! When that room gets cleaned out I will bring some shelves in from the trailer house shed. One of those shelves needs a coat of paint before it comes into the house.

I need a whole crew of strong backs to help me get this place organized like I want it. I don't see the strong bodies I know helping on a regular basis with this project. I gotta grab some help any chance I get.

Somebody should water the houseplants before they meet their demise. Sam is waiting for me to cut Stephen's plant to a managable size so he can take it home with him. It's a diffenbachia and it's very tall! It does need to be cut down into three plants instead of just one tall one. I've killed the peace lily. Not intentionally. I also killed both of my rubber trees. That spider plant is looking a tad peaked. It really needs a drink. I know this needs done but I seem not to notice the plants when I walk through the livingroom and when I do notice I'm in the middle of something and no time to stop and water the plants. The philodendron on the kitchen table doesn't suffer from lack of water cause for some reason I don't forget about that one.
I suppose I should close this post out and get on with something else. maybe watering those plants??? yeah that's it! Water the plants! :)

You all have yourselves a wonderful Wednesday. I can't say for sure when I'll return but I will eventually. Get your hugs! They are necessary for you and those you share those hugs with. Get some kisses as well cause they only add to affects of the hugs! Be good to one another!

Peace

831

Surfing Rats, Fishes, Cats, A Lot of Silliness and Rambling From The Weekend!

hello Readers!
Another weekend behind me! It was a good one where ART is concerned. There was a Collage-a-thon (CAT) going on over at AFA (link in upper left corner) and I got in the zone! I think there are 19 cards here....all made this past weekend...either Saturday or Sunday. I traded 20 cards during the past two days. I still have 10 of the CAT cards left that did not trade, but they are for trade.
I have 17 inchies in the bowl that need to be scanned. Inchies go in a bowl, (ATCs go in the basket along with twinchies). Inchies are on my agenda today. I really need to get busy with that goal if I'm going to make it this year!
And there are 10 twinchies in the little basket to be scanned still as well. We will have to save them for another day though as I am not scanning anything today.
Let's get on with ART!

Surfing Rat #5

ATC

this little guy is called #5, but in reality...I've not made a card like this one before this one. You will see another little surfing rat down the picture row in this post. This one is in a different pose than the other one.

He is an image found in Google Images by typing in 'surfing rat'. I cut the rat and surfboard out with the xacto knife and attached him to recycled cardstock that has been colored with markers. This fella is headed to Washington State, USA.

Rhonda Fish

ATC

This fish is now in my availables notebook cause no one wanted to take Rhonda home with them this time.

Fish is cutout of recycled cardstock that was originally flash cards, colored with a similar color marker as the glitter that is glued on top. And then I varnished the fishes with liquid lamenate and slapped on a googley eye.

The background is colored paper dusted with clear glitter and lots of different novelty yarns, fibers and ribbons.
All fishes in this post were made in this manner and all are attached to that thick chipboard from that game I can never remember the name of. I'm almost out of that chipboard though, gonna have to find me something similar to that material soon.

Mick Fish

ATC

Mick is going to Finland.

Lorinda Fish
ATC
Lorinda is headed to Washington State, USA

Credit Cat
ATC
Credit Cat is a fake plastic credit card cut into a cat shape with scissors. He came as junk mail sometime this year. His whiskers are wire, cardstock nose, googly eyes and gold thread for a bow. Background is wall paper. All is attached to that thick cardstock from that game I can't remember the name of. This one is headed to New Jersey, USA.

Carlton Fish
ATC
Carlton Fish is headed across the pond to England.

Belle Fish
ATC
No one wanted Belle Fish this weekend either so Rhonda and Belle are hanging out in my availables notebook together till someone claims one or the other of them.

Alton P. Fish
ATC
The P. doesn't stand for anything other than P. Alton is headed to England.
All these fish were scanned before the glue was completely dry cause I hadn't the patience to wait on that glue to take it's sweet old time drying. None of the white stuff in the scans is really on the cards now that the glue has dried.

Traveling Cat
ATC
Map, orchard paper, markers, magazine cutout for his wings, rickrack, a glass leaf, googly eyes, wire whiskers, cardstock nose. All attached to that thick chipboard. You know the stuff I'm talking about....:)
This fella is headed to Germany.


Surfing Rat #4
I talked about this fella at the beginning of this post. He was found on Google Images quite some time ago. I'm uncertain just what I typed into the search engine to find him back then. I ran across the printed off image during the CAT. He is made the exact same way as the other rat.
I still have one more surfing rat to make for a trade already in the works.
He's headed to Seattle, Washington, USA.

Plumeria
ATC
This one and the next one were neither made during the weekend. I made them on Thursday of this past week. They were not in the CAT and I've not traded either of them. They are here simply cause they got scanned!
Markers on recycled cardstock that used to be a set of flash cards.
Orange Plumeria
ATC

Money Cat #2

ATC

cardstock, toy money-both paper and plastic, googly eyes, cardstock nose, copper wire whiskers, drywall tape colored with markers for his bow. All attached to that thick chipboard from that game.

Money Cat is going to Finland.

Money Cat #1

ATC

This one is made same as the other one. Both made at the same time as well. This one is keeping the fish company in my availables notebook.

Midnight Beach

ATC

Sandpaper, magazine cutout, paper crab with tiny bead eyes, paper grass, pcs of a woven bamboo calendar, tiny star sequins all attached to that thick chipboard from that game.

This one is on it's way to Oregon, USA.

When Sunday morning rolled around...my muse went way the hell off into left field. These last 10 were made between 3am and 12pm.

wantonly obscure
ATC

magazine cutouts on recycled cardstock and text from a book called The Game. That would be the book I keep talking about altering. I neglected to read this book before I started cutting it up! Now I wish I had read it! All the text on all ten of these cards to follow are from that book unless otherwise stated.
I wanted to do a Halloweenish card for the CAT. At least ONE! This is my attempt at being Halloweenish.

The Mule

ATC

I thought this one didn't make any sense after I made it. But my sister Linda said it made perfect sense to her! Guess whatever you get out of it is what went in it? I really had no 'idea' about what it was supposed to mean when I made it. I put the images on the cards and then dug text out of the envelope it's kept in at random, more or less. Does it make any sense to you?

Text about the mule came from instructions for a game called Hold Your Horses and the other text from my altered book.

Ridiculous

ATC

One wouldn't think apples could be so scary! LOL So downright ODD! I traded ATCs similar to these with Goatgoddess awhile back. Her scary fruits were pears. I found these apples in my image box and thought about those too weird pears she had made. I love these though cause they kinda scream out at you when you first see them! Images are all magazine cutouts. Text from the altered book.

Professor

ATC

Another attempt at something Halloweenish. Though I think I missed that mark by quite a bit. Magazine cutouts and collage image someone sent me with a trade. That man is someone famous, but I couldn't tell you who he is.

Pardon

ATC

Another funky apple.

Game 2

ATC

My critics (aka Sisters Susan and Linda) tell me this is just wrong! I thought it was rather funny myself. Wallpaper, magazine cutouts, text from the horse game and th altered book, all attached to recycled cardstock.

Friends

ATC

I think this is my favorite ATC made during the weekend. We all need our friends for a whole host of reasons and why shouldn't they be there to watch you deradicalize yourself if you happen to need deradicalized?

The little alien guy is there cause, well, those who need deradicalizing probably have some mighty strange friends to begin with!

Magazine cutouts and text from The Game attached to recycled cardstock.

Eight

ATC

Snoopy is decorating! The cake came off a birthday card I got in an art trade. It wasn't my birthday. Greeting cards are used to protect the art being sent. Snoopy is a magazine cutout and his stool is drawn with markers. The candle is cardstock and his crown came with a little spiral bound journal. I draw in that journal so use the crowns in other art.

Dinner Conversation

ATC

Elmo is a cutout from junkmail. The text comes from the altered book. All is attached to recycled cardstock. I really can't see Elmo having this conversation with his dinner mates but the idea of all these is to shock, make you think, see something in a different light than you generally see those things! This one opens the eye! And who doesn't love Elmo? He is so darn cute!

This one is headed to Missouri, USA.

Corndog

ATC

This man and horse were in the same picture in the magazine. I cut them apart so the would fit on the ATC. The picture originally was showing off this horse because of his pedigree. I had an image of a protest sign that said, "I want a corndog" and thought it was funny but it wouldn't fit on the ATC without covering too much of the man and horse so I put it in a balloon so it would fit. Critic Susan busted out laughing at this one! Those black lines behind man and horse are the writing on the recycled flash cards the picture is glued to.

That's all the art for today.

My left shoulder is hurting pretty bad and I'm going to go lay down for awhile.

Get your hugs! The one RW gave me earlier hurt like the dickens but felt so great! Be good to one another!

Until next time:

Peace

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