a recipe post for a wonderful-sounding ginger cake with dulce de leche filling that I must try- when it gets cooler than 100F!! ...from a long-ago Etsy seller's blog-- one of the "Etsy old-timers" who was always giving sage advice (and some sarcastic bits, too) in the forums... (I just remembered her Etsy username: Meringueshop!)
Don't ask me how I found her blog because I don't remember where I was clicking-- don'tcha hate when that happens?!?
Craftypod blog This one is always interesting; I come across it every so often, mean to follow it so I get updates, and then I forget to actually click the "follow" button.
2 Bags Full blog Gorgeous photography, and beautiful crafts-- more art than craft!! (look at the knitted nest photos in the right sidebar, and you'll see what I mean.) I scrolled thru a ways, but need to read all of it. I am jealous that this blogger lives close enough to Biltmore Mansion to visit it; I have wanted to go there ever since I saw a tour of it on the show "America's Castles." (is that show on anymore?? I used to love it!)
There's a lot of weird food out there, and thankfully, there are people who will try it and let the rest of us know how it is. Go here to see for yourself. (maybe not while you're eating your lunch, though...)
in other news:
my feet hurt from the 4.25 mile training walk I did yesterday... yay! for training walks (and for the gorgeous weather we've had lately!), boo! for my feet hurting- I know it's because I need a new pair of shoes, though... just have to get fitted and buy them. My shoulders also hurt after, and that one will be harder to correct- I find myself tensing up while I walk, and have to consciously think to relax.
our calico kitty Pandora is doing okay with her meds-- she's letting us give her the fluids (yay!) and she only hacked up her antibiotic pill once so far. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much of her food she's actually eating. (she licks the gravy off the canned food, but I never see her eat very much of it.) I'm going to take her into the vet's office at the end of the week, to find out if she's gained any weight at all (cross your fingers!!)
After I started thinking about putting together a travel journal, I took a trip to Michael's (for embroidery floss) and ended up bringing back a Making Memories 8 x 8 inch scrapbook kit (I really loved the decorated cover, and the travel-themed tags, stickers, and doodads that were included!). Plus, it was on clearance! I don't know quite how that happens; I go to the craft store for one specific thing, and come back with three others...it's impossible for me to not look at the $1 section and the clearance shelf in those stores... darn their marketing managers!
I thought it was sooo cute, I showed it to Tom right away when I got home. He looked at it, and said "with all the stuff you have, you could make that yourself," which is true- and, after I started thinking about it, I decided 8 x 8 in. was going to be a bit too restrictive anyway, so the kit will be going back to Michael's. (... I did love the travel-themed doodads, though; I may have to make my own stash of doodads!)
So, I got out my stash of papers and gel medium, and went to work. (see messy table below for proof of creative frenzy)
I got my inspiration from a journal made by Ingrid Dijkers for JournalFest- see her cool journal on her blog. Ingrid's journal started with a 3-ring binder- she took off the vinyl covering and recovered the binder with paper and images. I have plenty of boring white three-ring binders, so I found one and got to work. I decided to dispense with the binder altogether, and just use the covers loose with rings; this way, I can easily add as many pages as I want just by adding larger rings. So far, I've covered the heavy chipboard covers with brown paper bags for texture and more stability (a la Ingrid)... the covers will be painted, then decorated in a travel theme.
The pages inside are all different kinds of semi-sturdy paper- different colors of cardstock from my stash, and different sizes of hot and cold press watercolor paper. I will also add envelopes and paper bags as pockets to hold maps, pamphlets, etc. from the places we've visited. I've started painting and collaging some of the pages in preparation for adding the journaling elements. Tthis is the stage I like the most: the painting, cutting, and pasting stage- I get stuck on the "finishing" stage of things, probably from my "perfection" complex- I don't want to actually finish things, just in case they don't turn out as good as they are in my head... I really need to overcome that, though, otherwise this won't be much of a travel journal!
the photo below is a closeup of the left page above... I broke out my watercolor paints, and made the textured page below with green and blue watercolor paint and plastic wrap! Once you get the wet paint on the page, you put wrinkled plastic wrap onto the paper, which allows the paint to pool into the creases. I held the plastic wrap down with a magazine to keep the creases in place till the paint dried, and voila! a textured watercolor background- perfect for a photo of the Seattle Space Needle, I think!!
Now I just have to get my photos printed- keep your eye out for more travel journal work-in-progress!
The internet is a wonderful community of people who share ideas, inspiration, sympathy, and real assistance when called for... even if you may not have ever met the person in "real" life!
Right now, there is a great example of that on Michelle Ward's blog, How Cool Is That. Michelle runs Green Pepper Press, a rubber stamp company. Michelle has just designed and issued a new half-sheet of stamps to raise money for a fellow blogger in Illinois (Paula) whose family lost their house in a fire. (go here for more details about that.) That's just one example of the fellowship that connects us all here on the world-wide web... it is worldwide, but it's also a pretty close-knit community.
Another example is blog awards... quite out of the blue (a couple weeks ago, now... I'm slow at blogging lately), I was awarded the "Friendly Blogger" award by a very nice British mixed-media artist, Kathryn, of The Kathryn Wheel. She calls herself "The Queen of Messing About" and posts quite wonderful ATCs, journal pages, and other projects. It is quite amazing to think that I can connect regularly with people who live in Australia, South Africa, England, and all parts of the US... thanks, Kathryn!
These are the guidelines that came with the badge: “These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these kind writers.” (I totally just lifted that word for word from Shelly, who copied it from Kathryn)
So, in keeping with the guidelines, I nominate the following bloggers:
Laurie at the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee (she is a true friend to orphaned kittens).
Felicia at Fluffy Flowers (she documents life, and sewing, in Georgia)
Sandy at Sandy' s Spot on the Web (she documents her family and life in Louisiana)
Mare at Moon & Stars Studio (she documents life and art in upstate New York)
...that I don't want to lose. I was blog-hopping, as usual, and if I don't save them, I'll never find them again, cause I have no idea how I found them in the first place!
These two links: Mexico Connect (Day of the Dead Index) which has links to lots of other Day of the Dead info and articles;
and this one: The Dead Come to Life in Mexican Folk Art.
Maybe this will be the year I actually put up a Day of the Dead shrine in our house and visit some of the local celebrations... (Act!! and Explore!! and Home!! it fits all three of my words for the year!)
Multiple links to one blog, actually: Posie Gets Cozy...the first craft-related blog I actually ever read, I think, when I was first exploring the world of blogs and the online crafting community. One of my friends (who had never heard of a blog- can you believe it??) recently asked what a blog was, and the best way I could answer was "you know when it's dark out, and you can see into someone's window, to get a glimpse of their life?? That's sort of what a blog is..."
For me, the world of blogging is a great source of inspiration, and it's a wonderful way to get to "know" people from all over the world- I follow blogs from South Africa, England, and all parts of the US. Reading blogs is also sometimes a source of frustration- sometimes I read a blog post and think, "how CAN this person do all these wonderful things, keep their house clean, and do all the other mundane things that go along with keeping a house, and their life, pulled together?? Why can't I do things that effortlessly??" (yes, I know intellectually that blogging is mostly just small snippets of someone's life, and there are probably piles of dirty laundry somewhere outside the margin of the beautiful photos... usually this feeling of frustration is my cue to get off the internet, slow down, and focus on my own thing, not all the external eye-candy.)
Posie Gets Cozy will always be one of my favorite blogs, though... Alicia has a wonderful writing style, and a very honest way of putting things. (Not to mention the photos of cute crafts, cute home decorating, and the extremely cute Corgi and cat that share their life!) Read this post and this article (somewhat hard to read, but well worth the eye strain!) for an intro to her wonderful, REAL, writing style and her cute, crafty life.
(and don't forget to check out the Pets category of posts for the cute corgi and the cat...)
I have finally realized that I will never be one of those bloggers who posts once a week, or once a day... I have good intentions, but life seems to get in the way of following thru... so, I post when I have the inspiration, and the time- thank you to the people who read and comment, in spite of my posting erratic-ness!! (is that a word?? not sure...)
Anyway, this post is to tide me over till (hopefully) this evening, when I can write a proper post, show you pictures of my latest art journal pages and also some random pictures I just found on the computer... oh, and I have been organizing my crafting space, too, and want to talk about that, too!
I worked on my computer cropping pictures while the TV repairman visited us yesterday afternoon; I hung out in the master bedroom with the dogs to keep them semi-quiet while he was workinig on the TV in the family room. (fyi, the TV still isn't fixed- the screws for the replacement part wouldn't fit into our TV for some strange reason, so he will have to come back again.)
Back to the reason for this particular post- I find random blogs and quotes when I surf, and want to remember them for later... plus, you might find something interesting, too!!
http://victualling.wordpress.com/ blog about restaurant history
“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” William James
“You cannot escape the dust in Arizona. We don't have dirt here. We have dust that is not moving right at the moment.” http://www.mydapperdog.com/blog/
http://a-little-birdie.blogspot.com/ Tricia Scott’s blog: drawing, painting, life… wonderful photography, must visit again soon….interesting blog links!
http://robruhn.blogspot.com/ Ro Bruhn: Australian blogger- beading, painting, etc. also wonderful photography… more interesting blog links!
http://www.teeshascircus.blogspot.com/ Teesha Moore’s blog. (Circus is an appropriate way to describe her journaling style- her pages are chock-full of color and pattern.)
http://myhandboundbooks.blogspot.com/ Interesting-looking blog about handmade books (obviously, right??)
Follow your Bliss is a blog I just found while surfing... wonderful photos and journaling. Check out the pics of crafting supplies, here! It totally makes me want to spread my supplies out all over the dining room table...
Dispatch from LA is a blog I found thru a book, oddly enough. This woman is a visual journaler who makes her own stencils and uses spray paint (something I would love to try sometime!), and also takes wonderful photos, of course. See a couple of posts with great pics here and here. The book is a Somerset book, the second issue of Artful Blogging. I bought this book on a whim, not expecting to like it... I mean, c'mon, a book about blogging? But, I was very pleasantly surprised- curling up with a book was a nice change from clicking on the laptop, and the book also gives a good backstory about each of the bloggers' motivations, how they started blogging, and how they found their "blogging" voice. I found quite a lot of blogs I want to check out, and got quite a few ideas for my own blog (but will I ever follow thru with them, is the question).
I found a couple more links I wanted to keep (crafty tutorials), but of course, I did something funky when I was typing the previous post, so I accidentally closed it... so, I think I better hit Publish before something else happens...
Yay, I forgot Blogger now has an Auto-Save feature! I thought I lost this post, but it was still there, in Draft form...
Here is a tutorial (from a blog titled Doll- the Art and Craft of Mimi Kirchner) on some really neat fabric Christmas ornaments... they involve figural fabric, felt, tulle, and the sewing machine (which I'm not so sure about). I know it's a long time till Christmas, but fabric is starting to intrigue me again- especially after signing up for the Art Quilt class at Art Unraveled.
Here is another tutorial from the same blog... this one involves stamping on fabric, which also sounds interesting.
