look-- I got Pearls! (sort of a 3-Day Tuesday post)

but first, more domino pendants in progress... it's a challenging size, that's for sure! I don't hae a lot of patterned paper where the patterns are small enough to be recognizeable in a 1 x 2 inch space... but, that's what's fun about it, too. I love that Martha Stewart brand butterfly punch-- the vintage novel letters that spell the word "Fly" were definitely a pain in the neck, but I really like how these have turned out. The other day, I remembered I had some glass flat-back marbles, and made a pendant using one of those. Which I love, too, because it magnifies the paper underneath. So, my birthday is later this week. I've never been big on birthday celebrations, so it's not that I'm really looking forward to it, but I know I have some birthday money coming... My first two thoughts when I get "free money" are always "art supplies" and "books," not necessarily in that order- LOL!! But, then I thought again. I have sooo many art supplies and books already, did I really want more, when I don't have enough time to use the supplies and try all the ideas I already have?? And, add to that the fact that I did a 4.25 mile 3-Day training walk on Sunday morning in the wrong pair of shoes... I wore the shoes I wear for "everyday," and they are definitely not up to "walking" standards. (not a good idea, I know, but for some reason that fact didn't dawn on me till the next day, when I was trying to figure out why my feet hurt so much-- then, it was like, Duh!!) And, I know I need to buy "real" shoes that will be up to the challenge of 60 miles... Anyway, long story short, I decided to use my birthday money for a pair of running shoes, which is soooo not like me, since anyone who knows me knows that I am so much more about relaxing on the couch reading a book than being outdoors walking, but as soon as I made the decision, it just felt right. (weird, but true.)

Here they are!! (the brand is Pearl Izumi- never heard of it, but apparently they are a pretty good-quality running shoe.) They look much high-tech up close, believe me!! I might not be able to recognize my feet when I have them on-- LOL! I haven't been this excited about a pair of athletic shoes in I-don't-know-how long (like, probably never). Thank goodness I went to a running store; the sales associate was so helpful, I didn't feel embarrassed about my clueless-ness at all. She analyzed my gait using a camera, then brought out pair after pair of shoes for me to try on. I asked her, "how will I know which ones are best?" and she answered, "just walk in them- you'll get a feel for it." and I did, amazingly enough... these feel great on, even though my feet still kinda hurt from Sunday. Then, we went on to have "the sock talk;" where I learned all about moisture-wicking fabrics, and toe-socks. We stopped there, although I know there's more stuff I need to know about, and I will, of course, buy pink shoelaces at some point. (there's lots more to running and long-distance walking than I ever would have thought!!) Now, I just have to wait till Thursday, when I will have time to test them out- I'll let you know how they work!

random ART (mostly) photo catchup (edited to add a couple details)

more pics, this time of some of my latest art projects: the fruits of my first foray into encaustics, which is painting with colored/melted wax. I got to try it at AZ Art Supply in Phoenix, as part of the May ATC exchange event. I've seen some gorgeous pieces using this medium, and of course, what I came up with looks nothing like anything recognizable! It was difficult to control the melted wax on the iron, and I ended up overmixing some of the colors, so ended up with "mud." After that, I decided to go for an abstract look! Not sure what I'll do with these, but it was fun to try out. (I think I'll stick with paper, paint and glue for the time being.)

Not an art project, but I had to get a pic of Pandora in here... it's hard to see in this pic,but she is a bit lumpy, with water under her shoulder after getting an injection of fluids at the vet's office. She's been losing weight (a LOT of weight) for a few weeks now (she's down to 6 3/4 lb currently), and is now being treated for a kidney infection with a 6-week course of antibiotics and fluids, which will hopefully help her stay hydrated, flush some of the toxins out of her system, and tackle the infection. This afternoon, the techs at the vet's office showed us how to administer the sub-cutaneous fluids so we can do it ourselves at home. (wish us luck, because we might need it, knowing her calico anti-social personality!)

I've been making pendants to sell at our 3-Day for the Cure fundraising event in June. I have wanted to make these for a while, but didn't really have any reason before, and decided this was the perfect time! The larger ones are collaged paper on dominoes (dominos?? this is one of those words I can never spell-- neither looks right, and I don't feel like looking it up), and the smaller ones are scrabble tiles. Top, L-R: a stamped and colored image right on the domino, hand-marbled paper (made using shaving cream, if you can believe that!), and a collaged napkin. Bottom, L-R: collaged paper with rhinestones, 3 scrabble tiles with scrapbooking paper, and a gorgeous patterned Japanese paper. I bought individual scrabble tiles at Frenzy Stamper, but I am scouting out a Scrabble game from the local Goodwill to make more...

This is an 8x10 canvas experiment... Edited to add: this experiment was inspired by some of the techniques in the book Mixed Emulsions, by Angela Cartwright. I painted the background last month at our Mixed Media group meeting, but couldn't decide exactly what to do with it. I just started experimenting with digital images (and I would love to try Photoshop) but this one was done using Picasa, which is a free photo-editing software. It's a double exposure using two photos: the first is lawn chairs in front of my sister's little pink house, and the second is a texture photo of cracked cement (borrowed from this Flickr user- I believe I used this texture), overlaid on top and printed as one photo. I added some original "poetry" text, and lots of layered paint. I think it still needs something more in the upper right corner, though... I'm not sure what yet, but it'll come to me. Oh, and I've also been doing some more sewing using my sewing machine... I really think I must have Crafter's ADHD!!