Canvas & Gesso - A rant!

This is one of my pet peeves. An artist will buy two canvases. Stretched, white, the kind you just pick up in the store. And then they'll gesso one and not the other and go on and on about the gessoed one versus the un-gessoed one.

Here is where the peeve part comes in. Canvas is ALREADY gessoed. That's what the white stuff on it is. It might not be the gesso that you're using, so your products may react differently. Canvas boards? Already gessoed.

Why does this bother me so much? Because it's misinformation. Did you ever have someone tell you that humans only use 10% of their brains? I remember my tenth grade chemistry teacher saying it, but he certainly wasn't the only person in my life who said it and not even the only TEACHER who said it. And I always thought "If that's true, why is brain damage such a big deal? Why would damagin 50% of my brain even matter?" Duh - because we use our entire brain.

I dislike misinformation, but I REALLY dislike how helpless people are about it. I look up EVERYTHING. I will NEVER take your word for anything. Ever. I might pretend I am, but I promise you I'm not. If I don't take my phone or tablet or computer out right then and look something up, you can bet your life that I'm looking it up later. I don't blindly trust or believe people and why does anyone? I never pretend to my son that I know something if I don't, and we look up lots of things together. I don't say something is "magic" or that "god made it that way". When he asked me why he can sometimes see the whole moon and sometimes can't, I explained the phases of the moon. Then he repeats things like that to his teacher or my mom and people talk about how smart he is.

People also talk about "useless" information. I know if my printer prints on the top or the bottom of my paper. That's classified as useless by people who would rather scribble on one side, print something, and then test it. I would so much rather have this in my head than something about an actor/actress/athlete/famous idiot who got arrested or does drugs or stands on their head for hours at a time. You know how to make the jelly not leak through the bread by lunch time? Peanut butter on both pieces of bread, jelly in the middle. Forget about the 10% of your brain thing and focus on the peanut butter.

Lemonheads!!

They're my favorite. My friend Dana suggested that I use more than one candy box to make a bigger journal. Genius, right? So here is the cover! Front:

Inside:

Do you love it?? It makes me so happy!!

Hourglasses...again.

Something I don't like about my tiny apartment (I love it here,a don't get me wrong!), is that there is no place for my sewing machine, Bernadette. This is where Herman (my computer) usually sits. I don't sew nearly as often as I would if she had a permanent home. But, I hauled her out this weekend and played with my hourglass quilt!

Fabric mingled with paint and a tiny scrapbook on my desk!

All the blocks are finally finished and Liam helped me lay them out so I could see if there were enough, or if I needed to make more. I think this is perfect! We rearranged the layout a million times, he was super amused when I showed him how to fold up a block so it would fly through the air when you throw it.

TDL Show & Tell!

It's hard to show how this whole TDL/CTJ thing works for me, but I really like how this spread came together. The picture of me is a tip-in, and the week page is a tip-in.

Here is the spread all tipped out - Ian is on the back of me, and the girl in pencil is on the back of the week page, and there's a third pic tipped in but I forget what it is. I just love how everything flips out and then tucks back in. It makes me super happy!

Candy!

OK, it's really journals but would you have looked if I'd said that?? I can't even tell you how much fun I had making these. Tracy Moore put up a tutorial at The Artsronauts Club and once I got started I couldn't stop!

And this - this is a box that just has the cheese from mac&cheese. I didn't even know you could buy that, did you? My friend Tony (OK, his name is Kevin but I call him Tony) showed me!

Starburst Journal

This might be the most fun I've ever had making a journal! I LOVE it!

This is called "long stitch", I think. I wouldn't bet my live or anything, but I might bet a nickel.

Since I don't really like to see the stitching, I took the part I cut off one side and glued it right over the stitches! I know, genius, right? I have my moments!!

February 25th...

I was going to just schedule a post for today and be done with it, but I can't. I'm just not the person who can gloss over things and pretend like they aren't happening. I don't want to be that person.
It's been eleven months today since my best friend died. It sounds like a long time, but trust me, it FEELS a lot longer. It still feels so strange to not have her in my life anymore. Am I handling it better? Maybe. Some days. Not really. No. Yes. It probably depends on who you ask.

I can tell you that meeting someone new feels so strange. I can't even tell you how strange. Because a new "friend" will text me several times and when I don't reply they ask if I'm OK and how can I say "You know, I'm having a random bad day where I've spent the past two hours crying in my bathtub because my best friend died and I'm really, really missing her today." They don't understand, most of them CAN'T understand.

My family still freezes if I say her name. Tami. Kelly says it to me, and Ian does. Other than that, I never hear her name. Never. I talk about her a lot - I always have. I think about her a lot - I always will. I miss her. Eleven months without her doesn't even seem possible.

I might have mentioned this before but the 25th of the month has always been an important day for me. My birthday is a 25th. Christmas. Those two things alone have me counting things down. Tami left the US on February 25th. She didn't arrive in London until the 26th, but I always wished her a happy anniversary on the 25th and we would laugh about it. I always used to text people "10 months till Christmas! 9 months till Christmas!", etc. . Something else happened (something bad) on February 25th 2013 but it's not mine to share. And then Tami died on March 25th. I always felt like it was an important day, the 25th of the month. Now, I hate it. As if approaches, I start having panic attacks. My chest aches for days before and after. It might be stupid, but that's what it is.

Something I feel like is even worse, is the people who count the time and text me - "I can't believe Tami's been gone for 6 months!". Really? Because somehow counting the time like that makes a difference? I miss her. Today. Tomorrow. Yesterday. Six months ago. Six months from now. I don't miss her MORE because it's been eleven months today. I miss her every single day. A hundred times a day when I think of something I would have asked her or told her or shared with her.

Here is a picture of us from 2006. She is in the blue tank top, I'm in orange. We had the BEST time on this trip. (We're on a cruise.) The most fun I can remember having, actually. In the morning whoever woke up first would run over and knock on the other one's door and then try to run back to their room before they got caught. She was better at it because I was pregnant and seasick the entire time. We laughed so much.