Quilting :)

#17

Partial face, drawn on class handout with a shiny gel pen. No time to finish!!

Tea 4 Two

This one is very Alice in Wonderland inspired, and I think it's super fun!

I'm not usually a "girly" scrapper - I don't have many girls in my life. But since I DO have my new pretty niece, I had fun scrapping her!

 

And then, since I would normally just figure out a way to scrap my boy with the "girly" kit, I did! This is a pic from a while ago, of course, nearly six years ago. Look at his little face! Love him, love the kit. OH! And, I also used the same EXACT layout for Liam and Melanie. I changed some of the papers and a couple of the flowers, but that's it. How fun is that?

 

Only #16!!

I'm totally a slacker!! Like a lot of my faces (doodles!), I drew her in class, in the dark, while someone was talking. I focus better on what someone's saying if my hands are busy. It doesn't make for good art, but it helps me concentrate.

So, it's been almost a week since I posted. I know you haven't missed me (it's totally OK), but you wanna know why?? (Pretend you do!) I got an internship. In graphic design. Yay, Goog! I'm pretty excited about it and I'm having LOTS of fun with it, but I also have a tendency to be obsessive when I'm working (duh) and so I've been obsessive. Also, it's what I'm doing instead of morning skart. I know, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right? So, I miss my peeps and my paints, but I'm having fun, and I'll figure out how to incorporate daily art again. Hopefully this week will be more arty!

Stopping

I'm not good at it. People always look at something like a quilt I've made and think it took MONTHS to make, when really it took about six or seven hours. Sometimes all in a row. I have this mindset that if I don't finish it right now, I'm going to forget what I need to do and screw it all up. Of course, I have done this, many times.

So, I want to teach myself how to stop, put things away, and come back to a project at another time. I am going to learn how to NOT screw things all up. How to put things where I will be able to find them next time

Here's how a project usually goes for me. I get SUPER excited to start, so I do. But most projects have steps and stages and sometimes one can't start right after another is finished. Paint has to dry. I don't always have everything I need to finish. I don't always have unlimited time to work on something. So I usually do one of two things: I leave everything out, exactly where I left it, until I have time to work again (sometimes DAYS later), or I put it all away and get intimidated because I'm worried I'll forget what I was doing and screw it all up so MONTHS go by and I don't work on it again. I'm going to break this cycle. I'm determined.

Here is today's unfinished project:

More hourglasses. I LOVE them. I adore this fabric line, and when I went back to get some backing fabric for Tena's quilt, I found more fabrics in the line and got them all. I couldn't help it. I might even have enough for a third quilt. I'm insane. Either way, this is only six completed hourglasses. LOTS to go.


Here are some half-finished, and not even close to finished blocks:

Here are some strips that still need to be cut:

I'm TOTALLY that girl, the one who can't wait till the fabric is even all cut to see how the blocks are going to look! The look fantastic, and then I can't wait to see a couple more, and so I cut for a little while and sew for a little while and cut for a little while and sew for a little while. The bouncing back and forth seems to work for me, so I'm just going to go with it. But I don't want to leave all this stuff all over my house. I just don't want to. Some of it is on the couch, some on the table, some on the ironing board, which is set up in an awkward place. My habit would just be to leave it until I was finished with the sewing, the cutting the pressing. Instead I'm going to try and get it all cut tonight and put it all together in a little plastic bin about the size of a shoe box. Sew when I have time, press when I have time, put it in the box when I don't have any more time. You think I can do it?

Highlighter & Crayon - Face 15

Sometimes you do what you gotta! I was doodling at work. Ugly girls need love too!

Oops! Even uglier!!

Look how much better she looks from a distance!

Face #14

Liebster Award!

So, I guess what I'm supposed to do is answer the questions posed by the nominator, Beth Morey, and then nominate some other people (eleven, to be exact), and give them eleven questions to qnswer. Here goes!

Answers:

1. \What does a day in the life of you look like? BORING. Up at 6am, read for a bit while Liam gets ready for school, standing at the bus stop by 7:03, shower, skart with Kelly & Ajae until 10:30, work until 4pm, Liam off the bus at 4:08, snack/change/tell me about school while I get ready for school, pick hubby up from bus station at 5:50, school from 6p-10:30p, call Kelly and talk until midnight-ish.
   
2. What is one of your favorite words? Why? "giggle" I have no IDEA why, I've always foudn this word SO amusing!!
   
3. What nourishes your soul? Or, what are you passionate about? Honestly I'm not all that passionate about "stuff". What nourishes my soul is being alone. Lost in my own thoughts, in my own head, making art or reading or surfing the net for hours, losing all track of time.
   
4. What is your favorite way to express yourself? I looked this up, so I really understood was "express yourself" means: make known your feelings and opinions. I don't really feel the need for this at all. I journal when I need to get something OUT, but as fasr as making my feelings and opinons known, I don't care who knows. My opinions and feels are valid, even if I'm alone in the bathtub and angry as I look back over my day and realize someone treated me badly. It doesn't matter if THEY know.
   
5. What makes you really angry? The simplest answer is: people. People are inconsiderate, self-centered, and rude. I think everyone should take classes in self-awareness. Hear yourself. See yourself.
   
6. What fills you with joy? My SON. He is the greatest, most amazing, fabulous kid I could imagine.
   
7. What is one thing you love about yourself (quick, don't over think it)? Myself. I love everything about me. I'm a kind, compassionate, opinonated chick who doesn't hesitate to tell you like it is. Ask me a question because you want an honest answer, not because you want reassurance.
   
8. Do you celebrate Lent? If so, what do you plan on doing this year? No, but when we were kids my brother and I would tell my mom we were giving up things like smoking and drinking. (I've never smoked a single cigarette!) Then, when I was in college, I had a friend's mom tell me that the key is to be very specific about what you give up - don't give up "chocolate", give up "Hershey's Chocolate".
   
9. What are you hungry for, right now? Cookie dough!!
   
10. What is your favorite Easter or Valentine's Day candy? Easter. Valentine's is mostly just the same old crap in a heart-shaped box. Easter has specific things I look forward to. I had Cadbury Creme Eggs for breakfast on Sunday :)
    
11. Coffee, tea, or neither? Both! I prefer them both sweet and iced, but I'll take them hot if I gotta.

This was fun! However, I don't repost, share, reblog, etc. I just don't. So this award ends here. If it makes anyone feel better, I don't know eleven bloggers...

Ugly faces count, too...

This is one I doodled at work, and she really wouldn't look all that bad except I totally shaded her nose like she's Stephen Fry. These things happen, I guess.

She is number 13, and I wanted you to get the full effect of the doodles, so here is a full-length shot.

I actually spent a lot more time shading her (OK, a couple of minutes), so she doesn't look quite this awful, but I forgot to take a picture.

12!

Did you guys ever play You Don't Know Jack? The numbers of the questions all have a little jingle that goes with them. Good times. So, pretend I'm singing you a little #12 song, all right?

Face # I forget...

10 maybe? 11? I'll find out before I post the next one!!

Thoughts about thoughts

"It's the thought that counts." How many times have you heard that? Or even said it? As a quasi-holiday approaches, I have some thoughts about thoughts and which ones count.

People use this phrase to absolve themselves of something. You forgot someone's birthday and instead of calling to apologize (as I recently had to with my stepdad), you get them a card, send it, and tell yourself it's the thought that counts. You wait until the last minute to get an anniversary gift for the person who's supposed to mean the whole world to you, grab some wilted flowers from the grocery store, and tell yourself it's the thought that counts.

What is "the thought"? If you think "this is better than nothing", that's not it. If you think "at least she can't say I didn't get her anything", that isn't it either. Here is the thought that counts: "My wife/husband/sister/brother/girlfriend/child/etc is going to LOVE this."

I have a six-year-old child. When he brings home a cardboard tube collaged with squares of colored tissue paper, the thought in his head is "Mommy is going to LOVE this." And he's right. Because THAT is the thought that counts.

It took my husband a LONG time to get it in his head that "women like roses" wasn't a thought that applied to me. I do NOT want someone to bring me dead flowers. Never. When my uncle died, my best friend sent me a bouquet of candy bars. Hubby has gotten me jewelry, designer purses, Victoria's Secret underwear. Things "women like". And then, for our sixth anniversary, he bought me a video game. Contra for the NES. A game I'd been trying to find for YEARS. For the next Valentine's Day, he bought me a Zelda t-shirt. He finally GOT IT. Yes, I want video games and their paraphernalia. No, I do not want another pair of diamond earrings. Yes, I want chocolate. No, not Godiva, good old Hershey's. What I like doesn't have anything to do with what women like.

So, before you get your Valentine a heart-shaped box of chocolates, find out if she even likes those things. I hate them. Now, a nice package of Reese's peanut butter hearts? I'm all over that. (Hubby already bought me some and I ate them ALL. Just call me Fatty McGee.)

Face #10

This time I wanted to go a little more complicated. I actually drew a face ON the canvas, but she came out pretty awful, so then I drew one on paper to collage onto the canvas, but I forgot to take a  picture before she was collaged :)

So, here I'm just messing around with sprays, covering up the drawing:

More sprays, but you can see the original face a lot more as it dries:

Then, here she is about half a million steps later:

And this is what she looks like right now, but I'm going to let her dry overnight before I play with her anymore:

The facial features themselves are super light because I just collaged her on and then painted over it. I haven't tried to define anything or shade her yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Faces #8 & 9

Stan - one of my teachers :)

Prince Charming

This picture is so SAD, and I'm the worst mommy ever because I couldn't help but take a picture! I loved when he would poke his little lip out like this. Poor little buddy!

I love, love, love this new kit. The colors are awesome, and orange is a particular favorite of mine in a digital scrapbooking kit. I don't know why but it just says "boy" to me. Love it!

Face #7

Faces 4, 5, & 6

All three of them are just in my school notebook. Cheap paper, crappy pen, plain old #2 pencil.

This is my teacher, Jerry :)

Face #3

Just so you all know, I made a rule for myself that ALL faces count. This is a groundhog and he has a face. Any and all faces, doodled, scribbled on homework, painted, sketched, lovingly tended or drawn on the back of a receipt - they ALL count. For me. This project is just about setting a goal and accomplishing it, it's not a competition, I don't care whose faces are prettier than mine, it's all about me, me, me!

Face #2

Do you ever feel like a ghost in your own life? Sometimes I feel that way, sort of in the periphery.

Traumatized!

I know you can't all relate, but I'm completely heartbroken that something might be wrong with my printer. See the magenta splotches?

And the yellow??

And MORE magenta??

The cyan leaks, too, sometimes. I'm so sad. I LOVE my printer and I've had it since 2006. Seriously. It's NEVER had any kind of problem, it prints fantastic photos and scrapbook pages and art prints. I might cry if I have to get a new one.

The Ick!

I know most of my art chickie friends don't get excited when I post scrappy stuff, but I thought you'd all appreciate the idea behind this kit. Sick family + digital scrapbooking designer = sickies kit! Inspiration can come from anywhere :)

I really like my layout, which is more digital journal style than actual scrapbooking. I hate when something it wrong with my buddy that I can't put a bandaid on and then kiss and make it better. And (no offense) I don't like doctors. They went out of their way to make me feel stupid and they were completely wrong. Just thinking about it brings it all back up and pisses me off all over again.

FIrst Face

Kelly (of course) talked me into 29 Faces. All right, it really didn't take much convincing and probably went a lot like this:

Kelly: I think I'm going to do 29 Faces for Feb. You wanna?
Goog: If you're going it, I wanna do it.

Yes, we're 12 years old. Anyway, here is number one: