2nd & 3rd Post Cards

Today I got my 2nd and 3rd post cards in the mail!!  I am totally loving that I decided to do this swap - I LOVE mail.  I am contemplating doing some other swaps too - anyone know of anything good coming up? 

Anyways, here are the post cards:

Card 1

 Card 1 came with a hand written note.  The artist began making art when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She has taken several classes but still considers herself a "newbie" and this is her first swap.

Card 2 Front

Card 2 Back

You can see what came with card 2 - the message on the back lol. 


And I got me a new toy at A.C. Moore:

It punches 3 different size holes, does grommets, and also can be used to emboss.  I am really excited to use it. 

I got my VA Dental exam today - he diagnosed me with TMJ - said it should give me a few more points on my disability rating.  That would be nice, but the reason I wanted the diagnosis on file was because I was hit in the face during a field problem and cracked some teeth and I wanted to be able to get dental coverage later on if I am having issues with my mouth!

I took a bath tonight - I have it about 90% figured out.  I have Epsom salt, lavender oil, lavender candles, muscle soak bubble bath, and I had my lap top playing an episode of Eureka!  I think it could be better if I had a cup of tea - so next time I am going to try that. 

I am exhausted though - that trainer is kicking my butt (but that was kinda the idea)!  So, I am going to say goodnight and hopefully I will have something interesting to show/tell you guys about tomorrow.

WOYWW 30 MAR

Hey & Happy Wednesday!  I almost forgot that it was Wednesday - I was thinking to myself "I should write my WOYWW post tonight and save it as a draft and then it will be easy to post tomorrow."  Then  realized that today was Wednesday hehe.  So I was doing some work in the studio earlier but well my desk work desk is not too interesting:

So, I've decided to show you some of what I was working on!  I did some 2 scrap collages - a collage made from miscellaneous scraps of paper I have saved for no particular reason.  Here they are:

Step 1: gather all misc. scraps

Step 2: you need a background for the collage

Step 3: glue down scraps however makes you happy

Final Step: Add text and pictures - I used India ink

And another one:

This one just used Steps 1 & 3 hehe

And I decided to make an idea that popped into my head as I was driving home from work today....some flowers, made similar (but quite different at the same time) to how I have made them before.  Here are the middles:

Middle = brads, remaining circles cut from scraps, glue together, & glued to brag

And I actually made the petals for one and put it all together:

What do you think?  I just switched to a new "glue" which is Mod Podge and its so super glossy - the paper looks wet... I am not quite used to it yet. 

I had a hard day at work - well I was not really at work, but it was a hard day of work.  I volunteered at the Mid Carolina Senior Games today.  I was at the registration table because the coordinator told me it would be easiest given the physical limitations I told him.  It was not easy!  I worked my butt off!  I was so exhausted that I was falling asleep during the awards ceremony.  I had a hard time driving home because I kept yawning, and I will surely go to bed early tonight.  On top of all of that my body hurts from standing, lifting, bending, etc - and I am sure it hurts somewhat from yesterday's workout with the trainer - and tomorrow is another workout with him too. 

If you are interested in seeing other people's WOYWW posts, check out Stamping Ground.

I guess that is all for now friends.  Hope you come back and visit soon.  "See" ya later.

1st Postcard

Today I got my first postcard in the mail from the postcard exchange!  I know you want to see it, so here it is:

The back says "The last apple of the years crop should be left for the Apple-Tree-Man to ensure future good harvests."  I had never heard of such a thing but what an interesting bit of information!!    The back:

Pretty cool, huh?  Can't wait for my other cards to start arriving!!

Today was pretty low-key.  My co-worker had to drop off her car to get worked on so I took her to do that and dropped her at her house.  Later I picked her up and took her to the hospital for an appointment - and later took her back to the car.  I had plenty of time to do things I needed to do though.  I got to get some groceries today (and I got all but 2 items - it happens every time!), I got new air filters for the house (I even changed them, aren't you proud?), I stopped by VA to ask them a question (sadly they told me to call a toll free number), I even went to Sprint and bought a new blue tooth ear piece since mine is falling apart and I use it 5 times a day at least. 

I even managed to cook turkey chops for dinner (thank you George Foreman Grill - you rock) - I had a nice big salad to go along with it.  You probably don't understand what I mean when I stay big salad - I mean I am eating my own personal bowl-o-lettuce (mostly spring mix &/or spinach) out of a family size serving bowl.  Yes, it is true.  Cereal bowl?  Not for this girl's salad.  Sometimes not for other things either (oats, spaghetti, etc.)

Of course, you know I did some art type stuff today too!  I worked on these two drawings:

The second one is really more of an idea exploring sketch.  Yesterday at the yoga workshop our instructor talked about if we planted a garden with out qualities, what would our big flowers/plants be?  What would be just beginning to grow, and what would need to be planted?  What weeds do we want/need to pull?  I thought it would make a really interesting art piece so I was trying to figure out how to go about it.  So...my biggest weed right now is stress, probably followed by worry - about things I can not control (for example, when I will be getting out of the Army) and thus I know I shouldn't be concerned with - easier said than done.  My flower is creativity!  I've been growing it since long ago, but it really started to shoot up last November during Creative Every Day month.   I will probably do a few more sketch ideas or actually trying it outwith different mediums before I actually make the piece. 

Hope you guys had a good Monday.  "See" you tomorrow.

Partially Productive Sunday

Hello friends!!  Short post today because I am about to leave for a Restorative Yoga Workshop!!  I am very excited it should bring some peace and calm and hopefully some healing to my body (which it desperately needs.)

I did my normal yoga class this morning and then I came home and was very productive - well somewhat productive at least.  I cleaned the kitchen and both bathrooms.  I also did laundry and made stewed tomatoes. 

I addressed all of my post cards for Hanna's Postcard Exchange today!  My cards are going to the following locations: New York, Georgia, The Netherlands, Australia, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Sweden, Texas (this one is even close to where I am from!!), and Wisconsin.  Tomorrow I will take the cards to the post office and have them weighed and get postage for them (maybe Tuesday morning if we are too busy at work.)

I also cleaned off the desk finally - I put all the art stuff back into the art room because it had gotten out of control with me working on the post cards at the desk.  I have 2 finished post cards left so I am trying to decide who to send them to. 

Anyways, sorry to be so short, but that is about it for today.  Time for some restorative yoga.  Have a great night.  "See" you tomorrow.

4th Friday & Fayetteville Yard Sale

Last night I went to 4th Friday for the first time.  4th Friday is an event to get people from the city to come downtown - they have specials at the restaurants and the galleries change open new exhibits on those days.  Also there are people who come out and set up booths and sell things handmade things.

One of the things I got to do was paint on the community painting - isn't that a cool idea?  Here is a photo I took:

and here I am painting:

I also saw an exhibit of paintings titled We are the ship: the story of Negro League Baseball and saw some wood pieces made by Larry Favorite - He does some really cool turquoise insets, go check out his website.

I also got to hang out a bit with my friend Lindsey who I have not seen in a while, and see my friend Namera from pottery class.


This morning I went to the Fayetteville Yard Sale.  Its a "city-wide" yard sale.  Its out at a place called Cambelton Landing and it was my first time to go out there.  It was only a dollar so I figured that even if it was terrible I didn't spend too much money on it.

I don't know what I was expecting - I guess more of a flea market type thing, but it really was a yard sale.  People were set up out there selling their old clothes, books, DVDs, furniture, etc.  A lot of stuff I did not either want or need.  It was not a total waste though because I ended up getting a dictionary and a kids book to use in art work.  I also got two patterns to use the tissue paper in art work - the lines should add some cool effects to my pieces.  I felt sooo bad this morning that I was probably only out there for about 30 min (although I did look at every one's booth) and then I came straight home.  I watched TV for a while but I fell asleep around 2 and woke up around 330.  I have been feeling much better since waking up, but its been rainy and nasty outside so I have just been hanging out.

I did finish my post cards - if you want to see them you can check out this post. I only needed to make 10 but I ended up making 11 and I still have one partially finished one on the desk.  I need to figure out what to do with the extra one!

I also made some ham and white bean soup a bit ago - I REALLY like soup, and I really like that I don't have to cook it I just heat it up which is great for when I come home at lunch and need something quick.  When I just went to get that link for the soup I realized how much I have been slacking on posting recipes on the recipe page.  Sorry!!  I will get back on track with that.

I just updated the "About Me" page!!

Ok friends, I am out of things to tell you for now.  Hopefully I will have some interesting stuff to tell you tomorrow!

The Last of the Postcards

I finally finished my postcards for Hanna's Postcard Exchange - if you follow that link you can check out other people's postcards as well.

Here is the first postcard for today:

 You can open up this post card...turn it over, and unwrap the string:

 Open it up and this is what you get:

 It says "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."  Here are some up close shots:

I had the idea to do a post card that opened up but I was not entirely sure how to execute it - but then a few days ago the idea came to me!  I think its pretty cool and I hope whoever gets it will like it.


The second postcard today uses some of the same techniques of the previous card:

First I painted the card background (I like to use really thick paper or presentation board) with a mix of white acrylic craft paint and green acrylic ink (it was an experiment not something I usually do).  Next I glued down torn strips of another piece I had made...this is the piece I used:

Before I tore up this piece to collage on the post card I wrote on it (just one word) with blue acrylic ink - if you look at the post card you can see some blue here and there.  Next I just did a collage on top and wrote "make art" with India ink. 

I have found that the best pieces to use for this type of torn page collage are old lists, old journal entries, and old art journal pages.  That way you get some handwriting and possibly some color if your using old art work.  Also this way you can use words that you wanted to write down but you might not want other people to be able to read.

Last card for today:

For this card I glue a used paper pallet to the postcard backing - I use the paper pallet under my journal pages so when I go off the edge with paint I don't make a huge mess.  I think they look pretty cool when they get a whole bunch of layers so I wanted to make something with it.  Anyways, the paint tends to get stuck to things so I put several coats of glue on top of it to seal it and then I did a collage with the girl and the words.  The words are outlined in India ink and the crown was drawn with a purple paint pen and outlined with purple glitter.

I have posted 3 other times about my postcard for the swap - if you want you can check them out here:
Post 1
Post 2
Post 3

Hope you enjoyed seeing the post cards!!  Have a great day.

Feminine Frills Piece, a Postcard & Flowers

Hello!!!  Hope all of you had a lovely Friday.  Time went by really quick for me today.  Actually I am supposed to be somewhere right now as I right this, but I will be getting home late and wanted to post something before I left.

Yesterday was my first workout with the trainer.  It was good.  I think it will definitely be worth the money.  We did a test to see what I can do.  I did 8 reps of leg press (6 good, last 2 cheating using mostly my right leg) at 160lbs.  I was so proud of myself.  Personally I probably would have set the machine on 40-80 lbs - see the difference a trainer makes?  We also did pull ups on the machine that helps you out.  I am not sure what level of assistance he gave me but I did 17 reps.  I did 24 push-ups - during an Army PT test you can take "rest" breaks by "flexing your back, or sagging in the middle," while not true rest it does allow you to do more push-ups - I did not get to take those breaks yesterday just non-stop push-ups until I couldn't do another one.  We also did lunges, bridges (one leg!!) and an ab exercise.  Before all that he took my measurements so that next month we can do it again and see the difference.

Today I went back to the gym and did ABs and cardio.  Then I got some groceries and since then I have been working on my postcards for Hanna's Postcard Exchange.  Sadly, I only have one to show you today - but I have 3 drying so check back tomorrow so I can show you the finished ones!  Anyways, here is the post card:

I made that red flower from scrap pieces of red paper.  There are 3 difference papers!  That black scroll sticker was the hardest thing to get put down in place - it kept getting stuck to my fingers and all twisted up.  I don't even think I want to use the remaining part of it.

I also finished my 6x6 feminine frills piece:

6x6 is much smaller than I had imagined - I guess I was thinking about 8x8.  I had so many ideas it was hard to corral them into one cohesive piece.  Now I need to get this sent off next week.

And I did some stamping with my new frog stamps (and a few old stamps):

The plan is the cut out around those stamps and use them on cards or art journal pieces.

Lastly, I want to show you all the pretty flowers that bloomed on the bushes outside my house:

And these are at my neighbors:

Ok, time for me to head out.  "See" you guys tomorrow.

WOYWW 23 MAR

Hi!  Happy Wednesday!!  Also, happy What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday!!  You can see what's on my desk in the photos below, but you can check out other people's desks at Stamping Ground. On to the photos...

Self next to the desk - art journals, markers, bills, post cards, etc:

 Art Table - inks, brushes, glue on the left, painting in the middle, and box-o-stamps on the right:

Some up close so you can see better pictures of the canvas:

The spots that don't fit into the painting are leftover paint I peeled off the pallet. They are being glued onto the canvas to add texture!  I will then paint over them.  Not sure what yet, but something will come to me!

A few hours after I took the pictures, I moved the painting I started working on some other stuff... so, I took another photo and here it is:

Glued some things onto postcard backs and weighted them down with dumbbells!  Also did an experiment today - acrylic craft paint (white) with acrylic ink (green) - it made a really watered down version of the ink color.  I wouldn't do it again (well 98% sure at least) but it was an experiment so I had no idea what to expect.    The thing in the back middle is a spiral bound purchased journal cover that I removed from the spiral after utilizing the entire journal - I used the other cover from that same journal to make post cards, and thought that maybe I would use this one the same way (if you are curious you can check out that post card by looking at the bottom right card in the first photo on this page).  Hopefully I will have some finished things to show you soon.


Tomorrow is my first day with the personal trainer!  I am excited - I just hope he believed me when I told him  the other day that I have a lot of limitations.  I am kinda worried that he thinks all my limitations are mental and that I can push myself harder than I think - while that might be slightly (maybe 5%) true, it is not true enough to try and get me to do things like jumping and big step ups,etc.

Sickness Update:
Much better today than yesterday.  Started to feel a bit sick at about 3:30pm right before I came home from work, but took off my uniform immediately, put on cool clothes, and parked myself in front of two fans.  Crisis averted.  Hopefully that improvements keep on coming!!

Ok friends, I have to call it quits for now, but hopefully I will "see" you tomorrow.

List it Tuesday 22 Mar

Hey guys!!  Sorry, but I don't have a hand written list today.  I was doing very good today until about 1pm and then it started to come back and by 1:45pm I was feeling very ill again.  I think the craziest thing is how great I felt this morning like I had not been sick at all. 

I got a great workout in this morning and I took the plunge and signed up for some personal training sessions.  Eight of them to be exact - it kinda hurt my pocket book but I think it will be worth it.  I start Thursday morning.  I even got myself a new watch/heart rate monitor.  It was a difficult decisions between pedometer and heart rate monitor.  Decided on the HRM because I lost one pedometer (it fell off without me realizing it) and broke another so I figured if I got a 3rd one something similar would happen.

Anyways, since I felt so crappy I did not happen to make a list but I thought I'd make a list anyways just type it instead of writing/arting it.  So, here it is:

TV Shows to Watch When You Are Home Sick:
1) Legend of the Seeker - this is a show from 2009 that I just found on Hulu and I like it!  I like it so much that I will probably do the one week trial of Hulu Plus just to watch the second episode (also the first few seasons of Eureka!)
2) Too Fat for 15 - the preview for the current season (2) was free on iTunes so I watched it and thought it would be good.  So, I bought the first season because it was cheaper and then it was good so now I am watching the 2nd seasons as the episodes come out.
3) Americas Next Top Model - kind of the opposite of Too Fat for 15, right?  I like this show anyways
4) Bones
5) House
6) America's Next Greatest Restaurant - I like cooking reality shows
7) Glee
8) Off the Map
9) Pretty Little Liars
10) Fringe
11) Biggest Loser
12) Grey's Anatomy

Now, obviously not all of that was watched in the last few days - mostly Legend of the Seeker - but those are my current go-to Shows, and they are in no particular order.  If you want to check out other List it Tuesday lists, go to Sow and Sew.

Today's Question

What is your favorite show?

102.5

That is how high my fever got today.  As of this morning when I saw the doc I had not broken 98.4 for several days and I did not have a fever this morning - so, he did not give me any medicine.  He offered me throat lozenges but I have those already since the Army gives them away in bulk when we are sick (just like Motrin when we are in any kind of pain.)

Anyhow I came home at lunch and did not go back.  About 3:45pm I was thinking "man I feel like crap, I should take some migraine meds." Then I remembered to take my temperature since the doc said to try and catch it when I was feeling terrible (it comes in waves) - 102.5!  Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke I checked it about 10-15 min later and it was 100.5.  I promptly put an ice pack on my head. 

I am sure you can guess that I was not productive today since I was sick.  About 30 min ago I did have a "good" (not terrible) feeling for a bit and I managed to glue some excess paint onto a canvas.  What do I mean by excess paint?  I don't clean off the paint pallets - the little bit of paint that is not used just drys onto the pallet and then after it has built up enough (this only takes about two times) then I peel it off and keep it.  Why?  I don't know really.  I think its cool to look at the color swirls when I peel it off and flip it over.  Since I have this fascination with the paint and a desire to re-use EVERYTHING then I decided I would try gluing it to a canvas for texture... plus I am really trying to use up the rest of the glue in the bottle on my desk because its clumpy.  Things tend to not work right when they are several years old - the Army's fault not my own hehe.

Anyways, the not so good feeling is coming back so I'm gunna say goodnight.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and I will "see" you for List It Tuesday.

It's Official....

I'm sick.  I guess this is what my body has been trying to fight off for the last two weeks.  I hate being sick.  Ugh.  I did cleansing yoga breath, drank throat coat tea, tried to get in lots of water today and of course I rested a lot.  I also worked on my post cards for the postcard exchange:

I might go to sick call tomorrow to get some medicine - if I feel worse that is.  If not I might wait and see if I can hold out on going to see the doctor. 

Oh yeah, since I didn't blog yesterday I did not get to tell you guys about the 5K!  I made it the whole way!  They told us at the beginning that the mile markers were large cones (as opposed to the small ones that were everywhere else) but I never saw it and then it got to where I figured I'd been about half way so I figured I would try and see if I could make it to the end.  I ended up finishing in 1:01:41...just under 20 min/mile which was the goal I had in my mind - that's the runner coming out in me for sure (runners are obsessed with numbers: number of miles we ran, time it took to run said miles, fastest we can run one mile, longest we have ever ran, fastest we have ran each distance, etc).  They have the Fort Bragg Family 5K once a month (the goal is try to give the families something to do with their kids that is fun and active at the same time) so since I will probably be going to those until I leave here, I have decided to try and do each one a bit faster than the one before it.  This one was rough, so next time if I don't finish any faster, but its not as difficult for me to finish I would be happy with that.  If I was not a Soldier trained to do things my body didn't want to do, I probably wouldn't have finished.  I didn't hurt myself though, so don't worry about that.  I am doing just fine today other than sore muscles and foot cramps (yeah, I ate pickles and drank to the juice too!) 

Anyways, sorry to be so short this weekend, but sickness does make me a productive girl.  Hope you guys had a better weekend.  "See" you tomorrow.

Fun Stuff

Hey guys!!  Another very productive day today!!  I will go in chronological order....

Metabolic Testing - Body fat is higher than I would like.  Calories I should be eating to lose 1 lb/week is 1764... 1.2 lbs/week is 1664.  Not much difference, I was at 1730 before, except I was sometimes eating more when I had worked out hard and burned a lot of calories - now I know that I should not do that hehe.

Worked on my postcards for Hanna's Postcard Exchange, and actually finished some:

Hypnotherapy evaluation went great.  She said that the people who are most likely to be hypnotized are intelligent people who are able to concentrate/focus and that she could tell without even doing a test that I was a good candidate based on my response to "tell me about yourself."  Woo go me, I am intelligent!!  I start group (4 people) hypnotherapy on 5 APR and go every Tuesday in APR - then we go to individual sessions afterward if we want/think its necessary.

Worked on this art piece that makes me think about going to Hawaii this summer:

Hawaii - I can't wait!!!!

It was already started - only the black lines and the red, but I did the rest of the colors today.  I like how bright and cheery it is.

Then I dropped my car off to get oil change, tire rotation and balance.  They found a lose shock so they fixed that for free which was awesome.  While waiting on the car to get worked on I went and got a hair cut.  Nothing exciting, just shorter than usual.  I thought about growing it out but decided against it because that means I would have to put it up in uniform which means worse migraines when I get them and increased likelihood of getting them in the first place.  After my hair cut I went to get a pedicure!!  I have pretty toe nails now. 

Then I went shopping because they still had not yet called about the car.  I got some hair clips:

Fun pink, sparkly hair clip

I got pink, brown and ivory

The pink clip can also be worn as a pin

Then I picked up the car and came straight home to eat dinner cuz I was HUNGRY!  After dinner I worked on these drawings:

I got the word that the kids program on post wants to take my meditative drawing class in June - so I need to develop projects for kids.  So, the hand is one I will do with them I think.  There is going to be 1hr of class a week for 4 weeks.  I think I am going to teach them 3 or 4 Zentangle patterns each class and then have them play around.  I also think I will do mandalas with them and the hand project.  If anyone has any other easy but cool end result projects that fall into the meditative drawing theme please let me know!

Well that is all for now.  I'm going to watch one of my new favorite shows - Out of the Wild and then go to bed.  Tomorrow is a workout day for me since I missed this morning for the metabolic testing.  I also have a 5K at 9am - I am only going to walk because of my hip and I might not do it all but I am going to show up to support the Audie Murphy Club which has several members running.  Hope you guys had a great Friday night.  "See" you tomorrow.

Teaser

Hey there!  Aren't you glad it's almost Friday?  I feel like I was pretty productive today.  I went to a federal job search workshop, I baked sweet potatoes (actually they are still in the oven hehe), I cleaned-swept-mopped the kitchen, I vacuumed the office.  Most importantly I finished my pieces for Phoenix Peacock's Community Art Project!

You can go to her blog and check out the rules and see some pages that people have already submitted.  I have been finding it all very interesting to see what different people submit.  Anyways, since its her project and I am just helping out I am not going to show you the full photos (but she will post them eventually!)....all you get for now are some teasers:

I also worked on some postcards for the postcard exchange today.  I can't show you the one I finished because its for mom.  Maybe after she gets it in the mail I will post a picture of it.  When I was in Korea we used to send each other homemade postcards all the time.  My mail people were like "you guys make the best postcards!!"

I have been reading ECD Stripped and so it's gotten me back in the clean eating mind set.  I some-what attempted to follow the principles today.  By that I mean I tried to eat carbs and protein at every meal and not too many starchy carbs (my downfall.... can I help it if I really like brown rice? and bananas and sweet potatoes? this is gunna be the hardest part.)  Anyways, the point of telling you this was to show you my breakfast:

Its 2 eggs & 2 egg whites scrambled with spinach, tomatoes and bell pepper.  YUMMY.  Also on the plate are some dill pickles (good for foot cramps, also tasty) and some organic salsa.  It was a VERY good breakfast, and so low calorie that I feel like I've gotten to eat all day long and not worry about calories once!  I know your not supposed to count calories when eating clean but a 12 year habit is hard to break!  Besides I am mostly trying to make sure I don't under-eat or over-eat which is something I would do if I was not keeping track.  Tomorrow I am going back for metabolic testing to see what my basil metabolic rate is.  Last time I had it calculated I was not able to work out at the gym during pt but now since I am I should be burning more calories on a daily basis.  I'll let y'all know what they say tomorrow.  I also have my hypnotherapy evaluation tomorrow - to see if I am a good candidate for it or not.

Back to clean eating... one of the things this book says is to write down a specific goal, how you are going to achieve it and why you want to achieve it.  So... for all of blog land to witness, here is my goal:  I will do my very best to lose 10lbs before our family trip to Hawaii, by following the ECD Stripped meal plan and working out at the gym during PT doing weight lifting at least 2/week on each body part and cardio 4-5/week.  I am doing this to improve my health, look hot in Hawaii, and have an easy time moving my hip/leg! The book says to be specific like "I will lose 10lbs in 28 days" but I know my body, and the Army so I think the best I can do is to give it 100% effort and take what my body gives me in return.  The meal plan is actually 28 days long so I am contemplating starting it on 1APR - but I need to finish reading the book first.

Ok friends, time for me to take care of other things.  Hope you have a great night - see ya tomorrow.