live laugh create

Tackling the classics

2010-01-04T15:52:00.000-08:00

This year I've made a couple of New Years resolutions. One of them is to read more of the classics. The book Beowulf on the Beach by Jack Murnighan looks at the 50 greatest hits of classic literature. For each of the books discussed the book has a kind of cheat sheet with these topics: The Buzz, What People Don't Know(but should), Best Line, What's sexy, Quirky Fact and What to Skip.

The book starts with The Iliad by Homer. So tomorrow I am off to the library to check this one out. I only plan on reading one classic a month. I am a fan of fluff novels and need time for those. So please leave you comment below and let me know which of the classics listed you think I should read.

In case you were wondering the other classic books discussed are as follows.

The Odyssey
The Old Testament
The New Testament
The Aenid
Metamorphoses
Beowulf
Inferno
Paradiso
The Decameron
The Canterbury Tales
The Faerie Queene
Hamlet
King Lear
Macbeth
Don Quixote
Paradise Lost
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
Pride and Prejudice
Faust 1 +2
Eugene Onegin
Pere Goriot
Jane Eyre
Wuthering Heights
Moby Dick
Bleak House
Great Expectations
Madame Bovary
Crime and Punishment
The Brothers Karamazov
War and Peace
Anna Karenina
Middlemarch
The Wings of the Dove
Remembrance of Things Past
Ulysses
The Magic Mountain
The Trail
To the Lighthouse
The Sound and the Fury
A Farewell to Arms
Tropic of Cancer
Native Son
The Man Without Qualities
Lolita
Giovannis Room
One Hundred years of Solitude
Gravity's Rainbow
Blood Meridian
Beloved

Photo a day

2010-01-02T12:33:00.000-08:00

This year one of my many resolutions is to take a photo a day. I tried this last year, but my DSLR mysteriously broke, in February, and I got off track. I am using the Becky Higgins Project Life. If her digital version had been available I probably would have purchased it instead. The regular paper kit arrived today and it really is great. The graphic design is snappy and the project layout is handy. If you are interested you can purchase the kit on Becky Higgins' website. The photo above is an example of work from Beck Higgins website, not mine.

Styrofoam Cups

2009-12-19T13:08:00.000-08:00

Untitled, 2003
Styrofoam Cups, Hot Glue
6'(H) x 20'(W) x 19' 2"(D)
Ace Gallery New York

Tara Donovan

I found this work wonderful and inspiring. I absolutely LOVE it. How much fun would it be to make this?! Here's a link with more photos by the artist.

Ebook

2009-11-29T10:57:00.000-08:00

I really want this ebook.

http://www.ellapublishing.com/catalog/ebooks/vintage-hip-christmas-crafts

Corsage Tees

2009-11-23T08:12:00.000-08:00

This isn't my idea at all, but I thought it was worth sharing. It comes from that darling designer Elizabeth Kartchner. I love her style. She appeared on Studio 5 demonstrating how to do this project. so have a look and give it a try. http://studio5.ksl.com/?sid=8369323&nid=58

I'll post my attempts later.

2009-10-23T19:26:00.000-07:00

It's tedious , but I have to keep doing it. So everything I've made in my classes lately has been complete rubbish. The theory is that I'll improve with time, but I'm not seeing it yet. I am looking into applying to a 4 year University and the portfolio review has me worried. Luckily for me several of my current instructors are working to help me along...limp limp

Worth checking out

2009-09-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

Some days I take my sweet little boy over to B&N to play while I peruse some way too expensive for this art student to buy magazines. I HAD to buy this one, meanwhile hoping husband doesn't notice the expense. This one is great! I have found that I really do love a lot of the Somerset Studio publications. I need some inspiration and this one was just the ticket. Look at the layout on the cover! I recently visited the local art museum and several of the pieces of work in this magazine are better than what I saw. Most of the artists in the publication are female so maybe I connected with them more, I don't know. I have to keep journals for two of my classes, Design and Ceramics, so I needed the extra spark! The fruits of my labor to follow later this week.

Christmas Card

2008-12-29T09:35:00.000-08:00

Here's how the Christmas card turned out. I had some problems with the printers...ugh. Which delayed the cards, so I ended up canceling my order and just getting them done at the local grocery. The results were great don't you think?

This I love

2008-12-28T10:46:00.000-08:00

Have you checked out this website www.fishseddy.com? I absolutely love this set dinnerware. I am kinda a sucker for city skylines. I received a new scanner from my dear sweet mother so expect more posts in the near future.

More Christmas in September

2008-09-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

Here's what I've done so far on this years card. I love PS Elements, but need to spend more time learning how to use it. Sometimes it takes me way too long to get small projects accomplished and I know there has to be some quicker, easier, better way of doing things. The results of my work are awesome though. Now I have to order the card stock. I'd like to use Bazzill, but am not sure about the price. I send out at least 75 Christmas cards with the rising price of postage I am considering making Christmas postcards. I wonder....

Christmas in September

2008-09-05T11:31:00.000-07:00

So, it may be almost 100 degrees outside, but I am working on my Christmas cards. Last year I made a hybrid card like the one from Becky Higgins in December 2007's CK. I loved it. This year I am making one also featured in the same issue. Why September? Well, I aspire to have thing done sooner than later.

New Products I Love

2008-08-31T12:59:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of new products that I love. On the left is the Stampin Up Flower Fusion pack. It's pricey, more than $16 after S&H and tax, but I Love the color of these little felt flowers. I plan on making the tin into a gift album, recipe or photo. The scallop, top right, is awesome. It's also sold by Stampin Up, but Martha Stewart has a similar punch, both are made by EK Success. I am crossing my fingers they come out with a larger scallop, The rick rack on the bottom is from Wrights and very inexpensive less than $1.50. I am looking forward to making some cue projects with my loot. I'll post them later.
A couple of friends and I are working on putting together a Friday night crop group. For the first one I plan on demonstrating how to use sketches and Adobe Photoshop to plan pages.This method has saved my sanity. I don't waste as much time and supplies.

Hola!

2008-03-06T15:23:00.000-08:00

I have a review of the Scrapbookers Almanac by fellow military spouse Elizabeth Dillow as well as a new page post.

The Scrapbookers Almanac is published by Simple Scrapbooks. There are 103 calendar-inspired projects. The book is divided month by month with projects relating to lesser know holidays like Absolutely Incredible Kid Day in March. The book is a lot like the magazine in that the pages are more simple than you would see in Creating Keepsakes. The author is military spouse and has 3 kids so I could relate. One of the things I like is that the book is a hard back, spiral bound and will lay flat, so it's easier to look at while I am scraplifting. There's more than enough inspiration inside for when your well runs dry. The cost is $19.95 and I haven't seen it in any LSS so you will need to order it online from simple scrapbooks.

I have been stuck on one particular page for a couple of days and I finally finished it. I am not sure if I like it though. It needs to be put away and we'll see in a week or so.

The new kits of the month went up for sale on Saturday, which is so exciting. I really wanted the Jenni Bowlin kit for February and it sold out before I could purchase it so this time I was up at midnight to place my order. It was a good thing too because it was sold out when I got up the next morning. When the kit comes in I'll review it for you.

I did manage to purchase the Becky Higgins school years kit for February. That one went super fast as well. There we a good many disappointed fans. There were several going for absurd amounts of money on ebay. When the FedEX guy dropped mine off it was like Christmas! The kit was money well spent. It came with all the goodies to complete several pages for each grade level Preschool through 12th. The cardstock was textured, who doesn't love that. In addition the kit came with 3 ring pockets for memorabilia, one each p-12. Check out Becky Higgins website for pictures. They plan on selling it again as a preorder. I'll post more info when it becomes available. These are the sample pages they had on the website. Totally not mine.

He's my page post. Just some of my favorite recent photos. Let me know what you think!

Friday Page Post

2008-02-29T20:32:00.000-08:00

Here's one of my new pages. The girls are so sweet. I am really loving my anything with birds on them, especially sparrows.

Ewan and I are both quite under the weather, but I guess that means I can scrap in my PJ's.

Ana caught a tiny mouse in the kitchen tonight. We covered it with a bowl and took it out to the field.

My new favorite inspiration Jenni Bowlin is posting her March kit of the month at midnight so I may stay up to make sure I get one...as long as the cold medicine let's me.

Red Handed ?

2008-02-20T15:43:00.000-08:00

Yikes! How is it possible that in a matter of 60 seconds a 2 year old can make a mess that takes an hour to clean up!

Create and Crop

2008-02-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

Saturday March 1st we are meeting. Bring your current project, examples of your current artwork and snack to share. Email me for details.

Daily inspiration

2008-02-08T06:40:00.000-08:00

New Blog

2008-02-08T06:26:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to begin this new step. The site is under construction, but I hope to have in all put together soon. A podcast is also in the works so stay tuned.