A winner! (and I can't seem to load any artwork on ZNE, so.....)

Here it is!


What we have here is my ZNE Book Club final project; to create an homage to Claudine Hellmuth's Collage Discovery Workshop by recreating the cover.

We were supposed to use some of the same elements; a map, a landmark, and a car; and the words, "I discovered Claudine Hellmuth's Collage Discovery Workshop," plus some technique words and our names.


I thought mine turned out pretty okay. Two things I wish I'd done differently, though: 1)I wish I'd noticed that Claudine's name was on a piece of torn paper and then affixed to the image. I don't like the way my initials look just sitting there bare; and 2) I'm not fond of the way the title turned out at all. And I struggled to get what I got! I think I shouldn't have tried to work on such a small scale. The entire piece is only 4" x 5 1/2". Otherwise, though, I'm fairly happy with it. I like the colors and the cute car - that's my Grandmother in the driver's seat - and I'm from Seattle so I'm liking the addition of the Space Needle.


These tags are the August ZNE Design Team Assignment. We were to make two tag templates, slated to be included on a future ZNE collage sheet and then we were to make two tags using the templates we created. We were to incorporate butterflies and/or stars. The sales of the collage sheet will benefit the Hope Sees a Star project that resulted from the tragic deaths of two young women.


This was a lot of fun for me. We were supposed to decorate the edges of a tag so as to leave the middle free for individual embellishment. I wanted each template itself to be interesting. I had just done three projects incorporating stars (2 of them are below and one of them was a page for the ZNE Cercles d'Ame journal project) so I opted for the butterfly theme.


The results are both similar and completely different. I didn't set out to create two different moods, but I'm pleased with the results. I created the striped tag using my Microsoft Word "draw" options. I love that program. I make my own digital Christmas gift tags each year. I'm planning on putting some in my eBay and Etsy shops this year. I'm still trying to figure out pricing.


Anyway, I'm just thrilled with contrasting black elements.


The last two pieces are my July ZNE Design Team Assignments. Yes, July. We were having some kind of weird uploading problem wherein your pictures all came out tiny. Well, I didn't want to upload tiny pictures so I waited it out until the problem was fixed. Then, when I went to upload (okay, a week after it was fixed, I admit) my pictures - I couldn't. For some reason it's not accepting the "add pictures" command from me.


The July assignment was to take a ZNE collage sheet and make two pieces with it, one of which was to be an ATC/ACEO. I got the collage sheet featuring ATC backgrounds designed by Joanna Grant and featuring stars. The ATC features a picture of my Aunt Laurie (who I was named for) at about 6 years old. I like the faraway look on her face. On the background I used my cool new rolling pin stamp that, it turns out, features designs inspired by Klimt. I saw it advertised on the Cloth, Paper, Scissors website.


The house piece used kind of a stream of consciousness design process. I'm not sure about how it turned out. I just started cutting and gluing without any planning (very unlike me) at all.


In other news:


Big, big, big, GIANT spider in our house last night..................................................gulp!


I’m not a fan of spiders of any size, but this was huge! I saw it out of the corner of my eye and I thought for a minute it might be a little lizard. But, noooooooooooooooooooo! My DH managed to capture it and take it outside – although he did protest somewhat. I don’t know why, I can’t imagine he’d want something of that size in the house either. He’s kindhearted, that one, I’m not sure that capturing is the first thing I’d think of if I were by myself. Luckily I wasn't.


And Lastly...We have a winner! A few posts ago (was it really over a month???) I posted a contest. Basically a list of my favorite movies and a list of my reasons for loving them. The contest was to match the reasons to the movies. I got just a few entries, but one person got more answers right than all the others - Kathy Wasilewski!!! Yay!!!!!!!!! With just 3 wrong answers she is the winner! Kathy, I've been gathering up a box of goodies for you! Email me your snail mail address and I will send it out to you! My email

Here are the correct answers for those of you who are curious:

1. Wings of Desire
n. The most poetic movie ever, it uses actual lines of poetry by Peter Handke.
2. The Usual Suspects
g. I love a good plot twist - whenever it occurs.
3. A Room With a View
j. "Poor Charlotte!"
4. All That Jazz
c. The whole movie is about flirting with death.
5. Charade
h. Could Cary Grant be any more attractive???
6. Persuasion
k. The look between Anne and Captain Wentworth when they finally realize they love each other makes this better than the Oscar winner that came out the same year and that was of the same ilk.
7. Breakfast at Tiffany's
d. Did you know that every single song in this movie is a variation on the main song?
8. Best in Show
a. "Oh, they always jump."
9. Auntie Mame
o. "We need a little Christmas! Right this very minute!"
10. Election
i. Every expression that emerges onto Tracy Flick's face is priceless.
11. The Unbelievable Truth
e. I agreed to go on that 1st date with my husband because he said he had a "Hal Hartley" sense of humor.
12. Existenz
m. This entire movie is a plot twist - at the end you have no idea what was real.
13. The Professional
b. When is the last time you could say you loved a hit-man this much?
14. Swingers
l. I knew these guys - and that answering machine scene, yikes!
15. Four Weddings and a Funeral
f. I love this because it reminds me of my single years and the great group of friends I hung with then.






It's taken me all day and part of last night to write this post. I'm trying to catch up on my housework so that in case there's a parade of bike guys roaming through the house in the next couple weeks I won't have completely humiliated myself. Cleaning and organizing, cleaning and organizing - it's becoming my life, ugh. I'd really rather be doing anything else.

Rexy's not helping at all, either. First of all, she's three. She doesn't see the point of hiding all her toys from herself. Secondly, due to the Autism, we're fighting this thing she does where she'll just dump a container on the floor and walk away from it...to the next container where she does the identical thing. She doesn't like some things to be in containers at all. The therapist says if we catch it early we can keep it from becoming a compulsion (like an OCD thing). The only problem is that she does it in her bedroom a lot and I'm not constantly with her when she's playing so I'm not there to immediately tell her to pick the stuff up. Telling her later on or the next day makes her feel like she's being punished (her mother's daughter?).

Last, but certainly not least, my Gratitude Journal:

1. My sweet girl (yes, again! and again, and again...)
2. Pole Pruners
3. Car CD Players
4. Summer days
5. Sesame Street

Bicycles and Potty Training, sigh...

Yikes, I’ve been completely absent from the art and blogging world. Things have been wild here at our house. We’re in a frenzy of activity getting ready for the Vintage Bicycle Concours. Plus, I’m trying to keep the blog for the Concours, too. Well, I’m trying to work with my DH on it. We’re both a little opinionated and can’t always agree on what picture to use or even on grammar!

On top of that, we’re potty training!!! Woo hoo!!! I was disheartened for a while. It looked like it might be a repeat of our failed attempt 6 months ago. Things are looking up, though. I’ve resorted to bribery. She gets a small prize for being dry and a big prize for using the potty. (I’ve pretty much cleaned out the dollar store and Archie McPhee of all the $1 or less items) Well, she’s really into the prizes – whew! I don’t know how we’re going to make the transition from a schedule to communicating a need to go. More prizes? How do I stop? Will I still be giving her prizes for this when she’s 19 years old???

Oh, btw, it was Pam Carriker’s birthday on the 27th of July. Stop by her blog and wish her a happy one!

Artistically, I’m at a standstill. I can’t seem to find 5 minutes to get anything done. I still haven’t posted my design team project for July in the ZNE gallery – although partly that’s because there was some weird glitch with uploading the pictures and I didn’t want to post a miniscule picture – I never did post my last ZNE Book club project either, and it turned out pretty well, too. I don’t know when I’m going to get the August Design Team project done! Maybe this weekend...

I know, I know, I could be doing that now! But this is just a quickie before I go design and order the prize ribbons for the concours. I’ll be glad when August is over...

Banner, Yes or No? And a contest!

Well, I worked for the better part of a day on this #$!*&#$*! banner and it still doesn't quite fit! Is there a trick to sizing these things? I finally shrank it down (and considerably simplified it) to about the size of a large postage stamp (strangely, that's what it took) and this is what I got. And, on top of that, this was supposed to just be a quickie thing. So all that work didn't really go into much designing. Much of it, of course, was operator (my) error. If I'd just done a blank test rectangle to check for size, I could have saved myself loads of time. Didn't think about that until I was all done of course. Oh, well. Live and learn, right? I'll have a go at making a better one some other time. In the mean time - what do you think? Should I leave this one up there or just put the blogspot standard banner for this template back on? Please leave a comment letting me know! (You can't hurt my feelings, I love constructive criticism - when I ask for it! ;-D)

Hey Robin! This one's for you!

Here are my top ten favorite movies (posted at the request of Robin - btw, do you have a blog? I would link to you but your comments don't have a link)in no particular order except for #1. The photo at the right is from my favorite movie of all time, "Wings of Desire."

1. Wings of Desire

2. The Usual Suspects

3. A Room With a View

4. All That Jazz

5. Charade

6. Persuasion

7. Breakfast at Tiffany's

8. Best in Show

9. Auntie Mame

10. Election

Oh, okay! I can't stop at ten! Here's 5 more...

11. The Unbelievable Truth

12. Existenz

13. The Professional

14. Swingers

15. Four Weddings and a Funeral

And here's a contest for you! I will randomly pick a correct entry to win a plump, prize package of ephemera and stuff! (I was going for alliteration but got stuck, I decided that "plethoratic" wasn't a word...)

Here are my 15 reasons for liking the above movies - can you match the reasons to the movies?

a. "Oh, they always jump."

b. When is the last time you could say you loved a hit-man this much?

c. The whole movie is about flirting with death.

d. Did you know that every single song in this movie is a variation on the main song?

e. I agreed to go on that 1st date with my husband because he said he had a "Hal Hartley" sense of humor.

f. I love this because it reminds me of my single years and the great group of friends I hung with then.

g. I love a good plot twist - whenever it occurs.

h. Could Cary Grant be any more attractive???

i. Every expression that emerges onto Tracy Flick's face is priceless.

j. "Poor Charlotte!"

k. The look between Anne and Captain Wentworth when they finally realize they love each other makes this better than the Oscar winner that came out the same year and that was of the same ilk.

l. I knew these guys - and that answering machine scene, yikes!

m. This entire movie is a plot twist - at the end you have no idea what was real.

n. The most poetic movie ever, it uses actual lines of poetry by Peter Handke.

o. "We need a little Christmas! Right this very minute!"

Some easy clues, some hard ones; I promise the prize package will be worth the work you may have to put in for a couple of these.

And lastly, a movie that's just goofy fun: The Zero Effect, it stars Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller and it's just great. I'm not sure why it never caught on. Everyone that I've forced to watch it has loved it. :-D

I hope this was helpful and fun for you Robin - and everyone else!

On the art front, I have exciting news!!! My husband has a brilliant idea for making one whole wall of our dining room into cabinets and a fold-down table that I can use as a pseudo-studio in this smallest of small houses. I'm thrilled! It'll be a slow-go project, I'm sure we'll still be doing construction at Christmas, but I'm so excited at the prospect of all that storage and organization! It will be slow because it's not like we're going to give up our 900 hobbies to do this, we're just going to cram it into the schedule! We've already started clearing out the dining room so we can pull up the carpet and expose the hardwood floor. Now I know this sounds promising, but have I mentioned our furniture adoption agency? AKA as our house? There's not actually anywhere to put the things we take out of the dining room. In order to shift one of the (yes, one of them) vintage china cabinets to the hallway we had to move the vintage dental cabinet from the hallway to the middle of the living room/dining room. And in order to move the dental cabinet we had to move Rexy's gigantic easel-on-wheels/toy shelf, the vintage 50s side chair that we found on the side of the road, the faux Eames lounge chair, and one of the stripped down, vintage, metal bar stools that we use as cocktail tables. Needless to say, moving one piece of furniture (after emptying out the shelves and drawers) took all day. That just leaves the other china cabinet; the antique child's desk; the vintage, wooden, card table/art supply repository; the double-decker, red metal tool chest that holds a couple hundred pounds of beads; the vintage, triangular, 3-legged footstool (Or, as my DH refers to it, "the Death Star" - there was a little incident...); three cardboard boxes of art supplies; a wooden chest of art supplies; a vintage, metal occasional chair precariously topped with art supplies; a large dining room table (piled high with art supplies); and six chairs (2 of which have- what else - art supplies on them).

You can see our problem.

Oh, boy. It's late again. I'd better sign off. I'll talk more later about my ZNE Book Club projects and my other doings.

My Gratitude Journal:

1. Vacuums

2. Electric Fans (it's been hot here!)

3. Spray nozzles for garden hoses

4. Hot Dogs (went to a fire pit party last night!)

5. Music

Rexy loves those hats...

I'm A Winner!

I’m a winner! My Oh-So-Sinful Mac-n-Cheese recipe won the ZNE Partito Bello Recipez contest last week! Yay! If for some reason the recipe is not still on the site, just ask and I will email you the recipe. It's super good and not a drop of it is low calorie, low carb, or low anything.

I posted new collage sheets on eBay and on Etsy yesterday. If only I could get some art to sell done. Alas, I'm still behind on all my other projects. I'm mailing that BoxaNotions out Monday if I have to stay up all night on Sunday to do it!

Oh, I also found these great little shrines to sell - so I posted them on eBay and Etsy, too. I think they're supposed to be dollhouse bookcases or something, I'm not sure. I think they're just perfect for shrines, though. I can't wait to work on one myself!

This Sunday I’m going to the Stamp Convention in Puyallup, WA. I’ve never been to a stamp event. I’m hoping there will be some altered and assemblage art type stuff. I’m afraid it’s going to be all about card-making kits or something. Anyway, I’m going because a fellow ZNE-er, Jeri Aaron, is going to be visiting from Austin, TX and I thought it would be a great opportunity to meet someone that I see on the ZNE Yahoo board all the time. Aren’t we all curious to meet each other face to face? She sounds like a really nice woman so I’m looking forward to it.

The convention is being held at the Puyallup Fairgrounds and that really brings back some childhood memories for me. The state fair is always held there and when we were in elementary school we would always get a free ticket for one day and early dismissal in order to go. We always went to the fair 2 or 3 times. A good friend of the family was the official fair photographer and he had a permanent office on the grounds. Family and friends always used the office as a hang-out and a rest stop – the adults used it as a cocktail lounge! Other, good, family friends also had a permanent place at the fair. They owned the main Western-wear store and were centrally located on the grounds. We would go and hang out in the store; sitting behind the counter shooting the breeze and trying on cowboy hats. All my memories of the fair are closely linked to my mother. She loved going as much as we did.

I hit the jackpot yesterday at the dollar store. I spent a fortune but I got a huge amount of altered art supplies. I don’t know about you but I like buying supplies almost as much as making art. Something about all that raw possibility I guess.

Another excellent piece from Glenda Bailey – I wish I could have watched her make it. The layering and texture is just amazing! Another blog to visit is Wyanne Thompson's. She's another ZNE-er and she just got the Greatest Studio of All Time!!! Take a look at the pictures. I know I couldn't ask for any more than that. Well, I could ask to live only a block or two away from it - but that's it.

At long last our lawn mower works!!! Yippee! Just in time for the home visit from Rexy's new teacher. It turns out the old teacher was just filling in while this teacher was on maternity leave. I'm very nervous about this visit because I'm terribly messy (hi Lennea!) and while I will clean up somewhat, I'm just so behind on everything that it's not going to look that fab. And the teacher has already told me that she's a neat freak - yikes! I foresee very little sleep for me tomorrow night...

What was the Number 1 song the day you were born? Click here to find out:
http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm
Mine was "He's So Fine" by the Chiffons. This is kind of fun - I looked up everyone I could think of.

Okay, I’m going to “claim my blog” on Technorati – whatever that means. It’s some kind of search engine, I think, that increases traffic to your blog – somehow. Other, more technical people than I, use it and have talked about it, etc. So I thought I would give it a try. In order to do that I have to post this: Technorati Profile

It looks like we'll be going back to the doctor this week. My poor girl is still waking up coughing. At least now it's sometimes more like early morning rather that the middle of the night. I'm really, really, really hoping that it's not asthma. It's been going on for 3 weeks. It's got to stop, she's been missing too much school. I just don't have the heart to wake her up when she was up for 2 1/2 hours in the middle of the night. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal - a 3 yo missing preschool - but because of the Autism she really needs as much peer interaction and therapy as she can get, as early as she can get it. The earlier you catch and correct problems the more likely it is that she will be able to have a relatively normal life. The therapy she gets from the UofW - she's in the Early STAART Intervention Study - is fabulous and produces astounding results. It's been the key factor in her progress. But the peer interaction at school has proven to be critical, too. There's been a huge jump in her progress since she left the Birth to 3 program and went to preschool.

Her progress, in any case, is still miraculous. A year ago she couldn't even say "Mommy" and yesterday while I was making her PBJ she walked up to me and said, "Happy Mother's Day!"

Gratitude Journal:

1. Lawn mowers
2. micro tip scissors
3. socks
4. John Coltrane
5. Matisse