School, the Fair, and the Sketchbook

First off, as promised, I am posting a picture of an upcycled dress into a clothes pin bag. I loved this dress when it fit Layla, and thought it would be perfect for its new purpose. The background is obviously my back yard, and looks west. Lots of pretty trees in the neighborhood! With the post of the laundry, I wanted to post a link for making your own laundry soap. This is to a blog called The Simple Dollar. I can honestly tell you, I will NEVER buy commercial or traditional laundry soap again. Not only is it cost effective, but it works, and works well. It smells as good as the soap you normally buy, maybe better, depending. I do not use any softener now either. Once in a while a dryer sheet, if I am using the dryer and remember, but usually not. I am so impressed with this DIY detergent, that I am considering making batches for Christmas gifts and making special tags for the soap. You should try it. Really read all comments that are attached to the post, there are the normal responses, good, bad, and indifferent. But me, I am an advocate of stretching my dollar, and do believe this is better for the environment. Plus, my clothes have never felt better in my hands, or on my body! Now the link, (finally, I know).
http://thesimpledollar.com/2008/04/09/making-your-own-laundry-detergent-a-detailed-visual-guide/

Above is a page in the Sketchbook. The seahorse is cut from a page out of a color book that my mom bought for the kids. The background is a bunch of bill envelopes torn up and then collaged on to the double page spread. Then I used my new stencil and did the shell patterns with an ink pad. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Black Soot to be exact. Then I put a layer of elmers glue (I know, all the acid will eat it...but seriously, I have stuff from grade school that I know we used elmers on, and it is still fine, and it is going on vintage age). The glue made a great surface to accept my home made alcohol ink on. Still not ready to dive into talking about that process. So next was the blue and green alcohol ink, and when that was dry, I added the distressed seahorse. I like it, I think it turned out pretty. I guess something good can come out of bills...hmmm.

Next is Alice in Winterland...The only reason I used Alice was because her dress was blue and seemed to fit the page. It is a mix of wintry greys and blues with a snowflake shaped brad used to make the design on the page. The blue and grey paints are mixed with a pearlescent medium to make it look icy, but that never comes through on a scan. Maybe I should start taking pictures instead of scanning.

School started and I am back in the swing I guess. I should be writing this weeks papers instead of blogging, but I am tired and need a break and don't care to be washing dishes at the moment. I have two big papers due at the end of the quarter. One for psychology and one for anatomy. I am excited to do both. I like the effort and challenge that both will present to me.

Yesterday, I spent ten hours sitting at the Morrison County Fair, attending my Scentsy booth. The day started off with some nasty weather. I am afraid of storms, so I was quite anxious during the early afternoon hours. By night time, the American Legion Bingo was underway. I had to laugh because one gentleman of "younger" years didn't get heard when he said bingo, so he stood up and yelled "HEY" in a gravely voice. I thought "Give 'em hell, buddy!" Still chuckling. Interestingly enough one of the vendors across from me was a guy running for senate. I must say, he will not get my vote. Surprisingly enough, not for political reasons either. He spoke with my husband and the other three vendors in the building, but really not to me. When it was time to go, I was the last one there, and he did not offer one bit of help, or to walk me to get my car or nothing. Very disappointed. I feel that if you are going to highlight bringing back America to what it was, and all of that, the first thing you should do is support your neighbor and ensure their safety. The last thing that he said to me was that he forgot his cooler and he was not a night person, and walked out the door. I hated to say it, but before I could keep my mouth shut, I muttered that that was a politician for you. I have lots of controversial things I would like to ask him about. And, not just this guy, but there was a Congressman that came in the building I was in and talked to each of the four vendors but me. I don't know if I have a growth coming out of my head or what, but when I find out his name, I will not vote for him based on the fact that he did not stop at my booth and he did at all the other four. Maybe this is a bit snooty on my part, but I feel that if you are trying to make a better society, then you need to involve all of the society, not just the ones without something growing out of their heads. Enough politics. This is why I don't like to discuss them. I think though I may discuss this with my communications instructor, because he is political and likes a debate. Not sure when I will be posting again, but until then, please, take care.

"I know it's a rock!"

Good day! Lots to do today. So before I get that started, I am going to get these posted. The first two pics are from the sketchbook. The sea turtle is so dull in in the picture. Really dissapointed in that. There is a lot of depth of color and texture to the background and the green on top. Also, the border of the page where the quote is written is a light green. So, sorry for such a let down. The green is supposed to be seaweed, and to get this accomplished, I clipped a leaf from one of my cosmos plants and dipped it in the paint.

On the left side of this layout is a piece of glossy photo paper and some of my first experiments with my alcohol ink. The black is permanent marker on top. Again, the photo just sucks compared to how it looks in person. Isn't that always the way.

And below, are some rocks. I am so dissapointed that nothing is coming through the way I want it to. The one just below the quarter is super thin and flat on one side. I am going to try some image transferring on it...probably won't be for a while, but someday. The very top one is actually a big chunk of mica. This is used alot in products like pearl ex. If you dig a few inches down out at the dam, the clay looks like silver because of all the mica. The reddish rock on the top right and below the mica is so cool to look at. There is a band of red and black dots running through it. Zendoodles in nature, yay! The rest of the rocks, are my beloved cross rocks. Some are just fragments where the cross has just started to form, and well, you can see the rest. These are slightly damp to show the detail better in the scan. And, I am wondering, if these are a luck talisman, does that mean good things for me?

My next quarter of school starts tomorrow, so I am sure I won't be frequently posting again. I have several projects coming up along with school. Those involve a Halloween Tag swap, my Junk Journal swap, the sketchbook, among others. I will continue to post the sketchbook as time permits.

Take care!

P.S. The title is a quote from Disney/Pixar's movie Bugs...lol...

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July!!!!

I want to start off by thanking all of the people who have given so much so that I may continue to celebrate my freedom. I love my country and my freedom! My deepest gratitude to our soldiers past, present, and future.So, I posted not to long ago, about my day. I wanted to share these photos of a dress I made for Layla from an old tshirt of her grandfather's. It is equally special in that it was grampa's shirt, but I was also with grampa when he bought it. It was the day that my husband graduated from basic training. Such proud memories. The day before the graduation I had the honor of attatching the blue infantry cord to my husband's Class A dress uniform. So special. It was then that Logan became a twinkle in my eye. And just to note, he was about the tenth twinkle in an eye of my husband's graduating class. I thought that it was a little too long, but she swishes and sways and whirls and twirls in the dress the way it is. I didn't have the heart to take that away. Sometimes, watching a child find simple joy just makes me speechless.

Busy Day...

Well, I started this day off with a solo trip to Craft's Direct. I am not sure if this is a chain store, or just local store. I L-O-V-E this store. They have a clearance outlet store next door. I went there first looking for a great bargain, and found several. I have no idea really what exactly I got, except for stamps and paper and a stencil. I love goodies for cheap! AND ~ the first thing the cashier says is that everything is an additional 20% off!!! {JACKPOT} Then I proceeded to the regular retail store, and got some mini squeeze bottles for my alcohol ink making experiment...you probably dont want to know about that just yet. Still in trial stages. I also got two ink pads, and some jewelry findings. Not so glorious as 20 percent off, but hey, some things are neccessary.

So, then I came home, and was informed that a good friend was coming and arrived about ten minutes after I did, so I haven't had time to play with my new stash...bummer. But, we did make a trip to the store so I could get food for supper, before we headed out to the dam.

If you look back to last summer's posts, you will see something about the Blanchard Dam, and what makes it special besides its scenery. That special something is called cross rocks, or fairy rocks. They are so awesome. I found some great specimens today, and when the weekend settles down, I will scan or photograph some and post. I even got to sound like I know what I was talking about to some other people as we were leaving. They wanted my advice on how to find the good ones...like I know...lol. So, I passed on the info that someone last year had passed on to me. Karma, right. So, one lady claimed dibs on my spot where I was scavenging. I hope she had some luck.

So, we came home, the five of us. Our guest is our ex-roommate that lived with my husband and I before we were married and I had Logan. He is like family, and was there for both the births of Logan and Layla, as my husband was deployed for both...grrr....thank God for good friends.

I made supper which consisted of steak, grilled corn on the cob, ranch style potato salad, and baked beans. Then for dessert, I made strawberry shortcake with fresh whipped cream. Am I sounding a little Martha-ish? Blech...

Now, we are suffering through sweltering heat, with no a/c. This sucks. A lot. If it would just storm, it would cool down a bit.

Anywho..........shown through out the post are four more pages from the sketchbook. I am excited to get the new ones scanned and posted. Some neat things and new techniques! Yay!