Bag!

I LOVE sewing bags. I think because they're quick and easy to make. (I was just going to put "they're quick and easy" but then I thought "that's what she said" and it's just not as fun when there's no one to say it to!)

Here's the back:

Front:

Inside:

Inside pocket:

And then I added a YSM patch to the pocket on the front:

I heart it!

No improvements necessary

Idiosyncrasy: a structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.

Interesting things about Goog:

- I don't like having people behind me

- I am NOT a people person

- I have zero vanity (no makeup, no hair products other than shampoo, no "designer" anything)

- I don't like my food to touch

- I have jeans/t-shirts that are older than my son that I still wear (some from high school)

- I have no interest in history, popular culture, or "being green"

Just because something about you is not the same as someone else, or not the societal norm, doesn't mean it's something that needs to be changed.

I really hate when one of my friends states something about themself and then starts talking about how they think they need to change it. "I don't know why I'm like this, I just need to get over it." See, I don't see my idiosyncrasies as flaws. I don't think that I need to try mushing things into my mashed potatoes to 'get over" the food touching thing. I don't think I need a seminar to teach me to "deal with" people. I deal with them just fine. Goog's way. My mom used to take my for a makeover about every six months, hoping to turn me into a real girl because the makeup/hair thing was so baffling to her. I don't get it. I don't wanna wear makeup. It makes me feel fake. I only know how to be one thing: me. I don't need improvement and NEITHER DO YOU.

You Suck Monday: Paper Clay!

I am someone who is OK with limitations. I can't use real clay. I tried, remember? I think most of my problem is I can't knead it. I have an issue with my right hand and arm that prevents me from that kind of thing. Paper clay is a wonderful solution. I really want to make clay stuff! I really, really, really do. So this is a start.

Aluminum foil, a skewer, thin cardstock, and duct tape (it's not "duck", people)

Wings - I just pressed it flat using a bottle of acrylic paint as a rolling pin and cut them out with the edge of those green scissors you can see in the corner (25 cents at Wal-Mart)

Clay over the cardstock/foil/skewer "figure"

This is it with the wings attached, laying on the roll of tape with bits of foil wedged under it so it dries in the position I want it to:

Tomorrow, I'll paint it and see if I like it! So far I think it's pretty cute, and it's exactly what I had in my head so I was successful in that regard. I think I'm going to try and do a more stylized face next time, with features. Maybe. We'll see. Baby steps.

Paint Table

Do I have to clean before I play??

Biscuit Lasagna

Beach Bum

I love the colors in this kit! I say that for every kit, I guess, but I think it's so cool how colors work together and how some people know which ones will and which ones won't. Neat stuff. These LOs are made with Kat's Creations "Beach Bum" papers and elements (sold separately) and her Scrapping Made Easy: Vol 4 Templates.

Lovely kit!!

Productive Playdate!

Is there such a thing as an UNproductive playdate? Not so much, probably. Usually Kelly and I show each other crap, yap a lot, and scribble in our journals. Honestly, most of the art we do together gets done over skype. I don't know why, something just makes us want to sit on the porch and drink coffee (which I say like a New Yorker - because I'm from there). Also, I'm super super SUPER impulsive and impatient. Kelly will buy something from the art store and it stays in the bag until the next time I come over. When I buy something, I open it and start playing with it in the car - sometimes while I'm driving. Be glad you don't live near me.

First things first - spaghettios (the meatball kind):

Then the sewing machine - Kelly wasn't sure how to use it, now she's an expert. We even got it to sew letters and penguins. That's right, I said PENGUINS.

THEN because we were feeling particularly feisty, we went art shopping. I got a pencil I've been wanting for 6 months (.3mm lead), some new prismacolors, some textile paints, blah, blah, blah. RIGHT before we left, I remembered I wanted to get a yard of canvas because I was thinking that Donna Downey painted on canvas with her new paints and made a cool little tote bag. Then Kelly says "To make a journaL?"

Well, of COURSE now that you put the thought in my head I'm going to need a canvas journal! Then because we're ten-year-olds in disguise she said "If you're getting one, I want one." So we took our canvas back to her place and check THIS out:

She used her She-Ra muscles to tear BOTH yards (Goog has a little bit of an issue with her right arm, and can't do the tearing thing) into twelve 10 by 16 inch pieces.

Then came the annoying part for me. See, I like to figure out what I want to do and do it. I get very easily discouraged by mechanical failures and operator errors. The sewing machine didn't WANT to sew through 24 layers of canvas. The needle broke. Just to make sure it really wasn't going to work, I tried it again and broke another needle.

Kelly suggested sewing each page by itself to make it seem a little less bulky, so I did that and THEN tried sewing them all together which resulted in break number 3. By this point, I've HAD it. I'm discouraged, I'm over it, I suck. I would TOTALLY have given up.

Kelly is THE BEST about getting me to keep trying stuff. (Look what she did with transfers, she finally convinced me that I WASN'T a curse!) She's always like "Well, what if we tried doing this instead?" You might not know that at first champagne happened by accident. Wine bottles started popping their corks (cotton wadding at the time, actually). A monk decided to see what would happen if they used thicker stoppers - and the bottles broke. But he was determined and got stronger bottles. That's what it reminds me of. She always has another suggestion and then another until the problem is solved. Of course, she said we didn't HAVE to keep trying, that we could try again another day - but I knew if it wasn't happening right that second, I was totally over it and it was going into the UFO pile.

So what we did was sew together two signatures of six pages each, and then sewed the back of one to the front of the other. Just like when I glue the pages between coptic-bound signatures together because I don't like the gap between the pages. And there you freaking have it!

Now that I have it to hold and play with, I freaking LOVE it. EVERYONE needs a canvas freaking journal, it's amazingly fun!!