Altered Pages with Found Words

I did promise I'd come back and show some pictures of something! I searched for envelopes that I've sent but I can't seem to find one I didn't show and sorry to say that one I was really proud of, was sent and I forgot to take a picture first! Oh well, there will be more, I hope!
 In the meantime I'm still doing found words and altered pages. I have several books I'm working playing in so I'm just going to show some from the latest book I picked up. Sorry to say it's not great art! There's couple I shouldn't even show but as I said way back, It's good to show complete goofs along with the good. The altered pages / found words are mostly for fun or trying an idea. The designs never have straight lines or perfectly matched designs because I don't do these seriously. I carry them with me and while sitting in the car, watching a game or playing on the computer, i just play in these books.
 This one I'll be showing 7 pages from what is one of those "Bible Promises for each day" flip booklet. It was at the thrift shop for .25 and just looked interesting for art purposes. I can't stop picking up books to play in!!
 so here they are:

This one is probably my favorite so far in this book. I do wish I had tried a bit harder to get the checks right because I think it was looking kind of cool except for messing up the pattern. It did block out the words nicely just leaving the Found Words I liked. I have a bad habit of getting carried away and all of a sudden looking down to see that I've drawn a line right through a word I meant to keep! So on this one I used some laminating glaze to see if it would protect the words and it did but it also made the ink run a bit, which doesn't really look bad. Somehow I listed the pictures in the wrong order, if it matters, but this is actually page #7.

 This is the first page. This was just done with no design in mind ahead of time so it just evolved into this. There weren't too many words to have to hide. This was just a "La-La-La" design while playing Words With Friends on face book! Not great but not bad.

 This is the 2nd page and I pretty much flubbed it. This was a blank page and so I added a word of my own. Then tried a new Zentangle pattern and as I said completely botched it. I had a sort of design in mind but bad just went to worse so I quit. I even got carried away shading and didn't leave the right highlights. Oh well, It kept my mind occupied for a while!

 This the 3rd page and I quit because I just wasn't making it come together in a way I liked. So eventually someday I'll go back and work it some more to finish. On the Found Words I used Diamond Glaze this time to protect and highlight the words.

 This is page 4 and I scanned it crooked! But all in all this didn't turn out too bad. I seem to not pay attention when shading and the book causing me to continue shadow in the wrong places. I'll get that right when I do this more seriously, I hope.

 This is page 5. I shouldn't even show it but oh well. This started out as balls with a stripe and then I made them into eye balls but the shapes were all wrong. So then I went back and tried to fix the shapes so they'd be more like eyes but it was just too time consuming and a lot were beyond fixing ....so I quit! Another total Flub!

        This is page #6 and the same story here....I got carried away and forgot what I was doing and completely flubbed the design! Good thing I don't do this for pay or I'd starve! I'll try this one another time on a different page and maybe get it right.   


  So there! I posted again without going away for 6 months and I even finally showed some sort of art!! Yea for me!                        

Too Long

I have such good intentions to get back to blogging more often and then I just seem to lose my way. Mostly I just feel like I have nothing worthwhile to say and nothing art wise or interesting to show. I can spends days browsing other blogs or playing on FB but just ignore my blog even when it calls to me.
 I had good intentions of starting again in my last post and was going to chronicle a life changing journey I was about to embark on. Well, I did go on the journey, I did do a lot of hard work but nope, I didn't even even post a thing about it! Sorry, I didn't mean to leave anyone who cared, hanging. As it turns out, I did 6 months of work, learning and getting more excited for my big life changing day to arrive! And then......BAM ! As usually happens in my life, 2 to 3 weeks before the much anticipated day, it all came to a stunning screeching halt and I was totally devastated. That was way back in September and after spending time crying, cussing, kicking myself and having evil thoughts toward others, I'm now finally about over it and giving myself until after Jan.1 to decide what to do.
 What I embarked upon had nothing to do with art although I was going to journal each day and didn't do that either. I wish I had. Nothing to do with art but everything to do with that dreaded word....WEIGHT and the damage it can do to your health and even worse your state of mind and self-worth. Most of my life I've dealt with being over-weight. Never by a whole lot until having 2 babies and a string of bad marriages and divorces and then bouts of depression and age creeping up and up. For at least 15 years I studied and longed to have the bariatric bypass surgery so I could stop the yo-yo dieting syndrome and have a life I longed for. For several reasons, usually money and insurance, I could never do it. I started once about 9 years ago, only to get started with a wonderful surgeon, start a few med. tests, get terribly excited and then shot down when the insurance wouldn't cover the surgery. Now I had insurance again that would cover and I decided I better do this while I still could. I had to travel nearly 100 miles 1 way to the hospital and bariatric center once or twice a month, luckily they networked with my family Dr. here for med checks and weighing, also any lab tests that needed to be done so it saved a lot of driving and gas money. There are many different places and centers for this surgery but my insurance would only cover for 2 places and both were accredited centers of excellence with very strict 6 month long programs to get qualified and have a surgery date set! Other programs go faster and are not as strict but then they don't have such a high record of completion without problems.
 Well, as I said I made to the very end and a problem for me did crop up and bite me. Again it all had to do with money. I sure wish every little thing worthwhile didn't revolve around that green stuff. It just doesn't seem fair. It doesn't seem fair that you can spend 6 months with a bunch of lovely helpful medical people who do care but then when it does come down to the 'green', it's a tear with a hug and it's been nice to see you, come back if you find that pot of gold! My downfall was with a psychologist. Yes, you do have to meet with a psychologist and testing; if you're really lucky (and LIE ) you can get passed through with just the 1 visit. Well, I didn't avoid some of the questions good enough and with a history of yo-yo dieting and being married and divorced too many times, they decided I needed to see another psychologist. Now, honestly, I didn't mind that and MAYBE I needed it (but I doubt it) but here's the kicker.....my insurance wouldn't pay for the psychologist visits even tho they were mandatory to the program and insurance rules for this surgery. Go figure. So the 1 st visit alone was $600.00 out of pocket as included testing and then a  session. Now that might not seem like a hefty amount to some people but it's way over my head. So when he suggested I see the 2nd Dr. I wasn't too agreeable but I thought, oh well, what's another $300, I'll do it so I can get over with and move on toward a surgery date. Anther trip all the way down and within 15 minutes of being with this Dr., she informs me that I don't see her for 1 session it's 3 sessions for sure and possibly more. Ya, see? The 1st Dr. failed to tell me of that nifty piece of information! So this 2nd session became a session of her and I butting heads as she said I had to have 3 and most likely 6, maybe more and me saying it wasn't going to happen! That was another $300 wasted fighting after only 15 minutes of questioning about home life and husbands! I finally got it through her head that I had NO money, not even to make payments on what these sessions would cost. Not to mention that at my age (I'm no spring chicken anymore, I've dealt with all my problems, many more than she was ever going to be told! Yes, I'm not perfect, I have depression and anxiety issues but I'm here, not crazy, not a drinker, not a druggy and I'm too old to deal with life issues now way in the past!) and  still she wasn't HEARING me. Is there something plainly funny about psychologists who don't HEAR what you're saying? She didn't get the joke when I told her she wasn't hearing me. So, I left, walked out without making another appointment and started to fret all the way home that she wouldn't pass me through.
As it turned out, she didn't not pass me through nor hold me back. She just reported that because of a monetary issue I felt I couldn't complete her sessions. 1 week later she QUITS and leaves the practice! After my last Dr. visit here and just before my last visit down to the hospital to finalize everything, get ready to start the 2 week  presurgical diet and set a date, I called to talk with the director and make sure we weren't forgetting anything. I was so excited, I just can't express how much!! She brought up the psychologist visits and I reminded her what happened and no I hadn't called the head Dr. back because no matter what there was NO MONEY! She says she better talk with him and have him call me the next morning with a decision. I stayed awake all night fretting because this was going to set the final steps and bring all to reality or to a squealing stop. I spoke with him, I explained everything, I told him I had already told HIM I couldn't afford more sessions but at my age I didn't see a problem! He didn't see things my way so I lost all dignity, started bawling like a baby and then begged him to please pass me through, this was my last chance for this surgery (there is a age limit). His answer.....he was sorry but he couldn't do that and I'd have to see someone for 2 more sessions for sure or a counselor for even more. I just said, through a snotty drippy nose and tears, thank you for not understanding and further ruining my life & hung up. That was the end of that. I called the director back and asked her to cancel my next app't in 2 days and said it was all over. She did feel bad and later I did have notes from the nutritionist and PT gal, they were very upset over it all and they are the main ones who know the work you've done and changes made.
 So by now I should be on here telling my post surgery progress and should be at least 50 or more pounds lighter, able to walk a long ways, make my elliptical fly and fit into new clothes I had waiting. NOT! As this started, by New Years I hope to have my head back on straight and a decision on what diet to do this time but hopefully with lasting results. Right now I just can't seem to care either way but I'm getting there.
In the meantime, I do hope to start blogging again and I don't have much artsy stuff to show but maybe I'll at least show just some "Found Words" pages. I might have a envelope that I haven't shared, too. I did do a envelope for a friend and I really was proud of it and yes, I mailed it off and forgot to scan it first!! I couldn't believe I did that! yes I can....but you know.....
 So, I'm really back this time, really! I have managed to peek in from time to time on some of you but I am way behind on that too. Just blame it on Words With Friends and other fun FB games! They do keep me sane!

I'm Back!

I lost my way for a long while, I guess! Hard to realize that I actually let this go for just over a whole year. Not even sure I know how that happened. Can't say I did a whole lot in that year other than to grow older! I believe I can blame GAMES on FB for taking up a whole lot of my time; can't complain too much about that tho' as I love playing games with friends & family and competing against each other.
Now, I'll still play some but I need to start metering my time much better. I haven't done a whole lot of anything art-wise in that time either. Think I might have 1 or 2 mail art pieces to show that actually got finished and sent. I have a stack of cards and envelopes waiting for me to get to it!! I promised my sister she would get one for her B'day no matter how late it was.....that was in April. I did do some 'Found Words' pages and have been brave enough to show that book and the yet unfinished Fantasy altered book to a few friends and even my Family Dr.! I only showed the 'Found Words' book to the DR., I had a reason for doing so and besides I take it with me so I can fiddle with it while waiting. I was pleasantly surprised when he was completely taken with it, the words, the art and the whole concept of an altered book. I explained how 'Found Words' can actually be very therapeutic while showing him the story I had started but not yet finished and then just the random pages. He had never heard of altering books. I forget not everyone loves art or the many aspects of it. And then, believe it or not, I actually showed it to a Psychologist who thought the idea was wonderful but I guess he either just didn't 'get it' or didn't want to to take the time to really look. I suppose doing therapy on yourself and saving $300.00 an hour didn't sound good to him! I'll tell about why I had to see him in a post to come. So anyway, no painting that I can think of, no more totems finished and now the itch to find my way back to it really needs to be scratched!
 I have decided that the totem glass has to go! It takes up too much space and too much time. Trying to sell them here is also time consuming and most just want free directions so they can make their own. Maybe I price too low and should try pricing at $75 to $100+ and see what happens! No matter, I want the glass out of here. Yesterday I did work on one that needed fixing and a part re-glued. Had it all washed and the section fixed and glued back in place. It was still on the pipe and inserted into a  (upside down crate so the pipe can insert into a hole)milk crate to dry! I warned Rocket not to stomp anywhere near the totem and walk softly when going past! Later in the evening I was on here...actually looking at some blogs and catching up on gathering some awesome graphics, when the phone rang and startled me. I pushed my chair back too fast and jumped up for the phone and CRASH! There went the totem, just missing my head! I take that as a omen my feelings are correct to follow and stop doing the totems!  LOL! That's the first one I crashed! Now I have to re-work the short section I just fixed! Luckily just a clear glass bowl broke into pieces but getting all the broken glass off now to replace it should be fun. 2 years outside in the weather and I smash it in the house!
 So my plan is to start blogging more again and get back to doing the art I like. I'll be cleansing the art room of all the crafty things and items I don't want or need any more and then maybe it won't be so cluttered and overwhelming when I sit down to do something. I just want to get back to painting 'stuff' and learning more drawing. I also have a idea swimming around in my brain but I'm scared to try it. Ever since I saw the paintings (LOON) SHARON did on a cabinet door, I've been thinking about this. In the entrance / laundry room there are old cabinets with tall doors. The walls need painting bad as do the cabinets. That room also holds the water heater and furnace (boiler) so there are pipes and such in the way. I did go as far as nearly making the color choices and bought some curtains and a rug to match. They all SIT because of this idea.....I'm thinking the walls are old and not in great shape anyway, so why not maybe do a mixed media collage right directly on the walls? I just can't decide how to start; maybe just gluing on some newsprint first or slip-slap some old paint on and then start adding some print? Anyone have some ideas....easy, cheap ideas? It's a tiny room and just partial walls.
 This is getting long so I'll quit for tonight. I mostly just wanted to say "hi" and that I'm back. I did keep up a little bit with a few of you but have a lot of catching up to do. Maybe tomorrow I'll get back on and start on another item I want and need to blog about. Maybe blogging it will help me stay the course and might even help someone else who is going the same direction I am or thinking about it.
Wonder what it could be?

More Totems

I'm still making more garden Totems, slowly. I also did a couple birdbath/feeders, which could also become butterfly feeders. I have a few more of them to make , too.
I haven't done much in the flower beds at all. The weather, except for a few days that have been perfect, hasn't been good for me working outside. We had June and July weather for all of May and now that June is here we're having April and May. It's just plain goofy. And we are in the 10th year of a drought, which is now listed as severe. I'm not watering flowers this year. I did last year, when I said I wouldn't, and it only made for a high water bill (after we ran out of rain barrel water) and the flowers still didn't do good. Watering keeps them going but they don't thrive like with rain. So, most of them being perennials, this year they're on their own. Lost a few plants to late snow and then 3 freezes after that. Luckily TODAY we are having a cool day but our first nearly all day rain! In May we broke records for heat and humidity. I did nothing on those days but sit at the computer or sit out on the deck. Humidity makes me ill and I swell, horribly.
I've also been putting off THE DIET but now I'm trying to get serious about and get going again. Not sure why it's so hard to start and keep going longer than a few days at a time. I have to start back walking, too, but I'm needing a good pair of shoes. Everything I have right hurt my feet. I had to go for a physical (UGH!!) and so far it hasn't been too bad. Almost everything wrong is WEIGHT / AGE related and so the diet. Being heavy I was hating to have the reports come back on cholesterol and triglycerides. I was most pleasantly surprised, as was the DR. to find neither was bad at all. However I was borderline diabetic for the first time ever and also something doing with my heart, high something or other, didn't make him too happy......ergo diet and walking.
I do Medifast for a diet. 2 years ago I did it and lost 87 pounds in just over 5 months. But then there was a family disaster and I quit, then I had cellulitis in my legs and spent a Winter in bed. I ate my through both and found nearly all of those pounds and let them back. It was dumb but it's what I do and what I really do best in my life is eat! I eat happy, I really eat sad, I eat well mad, I eat grief, I eat depressed, I eat bored and then I eat the past. Inbetween I eat regular meals. Eating and snacking is comfort and maybe a tad of security for the few times in my life when I had no food. I gave thought to blogging my progress and thinking it would help push me to get it done this time BUT I think I'm not that brave. Maybe I don't believe I'll succeed and I don't want everyone in the world knowing. I have lost 14 pounds but that's a small dent in what I have to lose.

So here's pics of a few more Totems.

This last picture is of the 2 bird feeders or birdbaths. They aren't mounted on a pole, they just sit on the ground. They're all lined up along the driveway and fence waiting to be sold!

                                         

New post and New class!

I'm either a bad blogger or it's SUMMER and I have other things to do even tho' the blog is on my mind. Maybe it's just both!

So the first thing before I start to ramble on is that there is exciting news from Sharon at http://allnorahsart.ning.com/, a NEW class is beginning. I already told you about her FACES class, which is still going and by all means, just take the class if you still haven't!! There's no end so you can begin at any time and even have fun along the way and Sharon is always there to help if you need it. And yes, she'll critique your faces and art as well.....not mushy gushy and say that every one's face is perfect, nope, she'll tell you nicely what you can do to improve it or add to add to it or maybe remove something. It's learning in a fun pleasant way! No FEARS! So now begins another class on faces.....TECHNICOLOR faces, having fun with color and learning where to use color as shadow and highlights. Kinda like going back to Kindergarten or Sunday School and everyone has already grabbed the white, black, green, red and the flesh ......now you are left with purple, yellows and shades of blues and greens to color with. How cool will that class be? So go register and see for yourself. You truly get a big "BANG" for your bucks, too!! If you don't want to check out the Ning site first then just go here http://allnorahsart.blogspot.com/ to read about it and see a peek of what you'll be learning. Just DO IT!!! I really can't afford another class but you know what, I'm gonna do it anyway because I want it and what are credit cards for anyway? It's worth it for the smiles and good feeling Sharon brings!!! And if Summer gets in my way of art, then it'll still be there waiting for me!!

Ok so I was gonna go on but I think I'll leave this post as it is and I'll go start another new one. Two in one day to make up for a month of none at all! So while I go round up some pictures of totems for the next post, just go ahead and check out Sharon's blog or class site.......go......just do it!

Newest Totem and sign

I finished the 2nd totem for this year and hope to work on the 3rd today. Sometimes finding the right fitting & matching pieces takes a bit. I have assorted color groupings put together all over. LOL! Also did the for sale sign to go with these totems. The weather is supposed to finally be nice and be done with this rainy cold snowy stuff by Saturday so maybe people will come past and see my sign. Every year people stop and ask about selling but I never have. It always seems that they want you to give your pieces away.....yet they'll go to one of our many festivals and craft / art shows and pay way more there. I don't get it. It's fine tho, what doesn't sell gets to go in my flowers! So I did a cobalt blue and now a Aqua color so today will be crystal and red, I think. Also going to do some short pieces for bird bathes or drinking water. Sometimes you have pieces of gathered glass that you think you'll never be able to use and then all of a sudden while you're playing and stacking various pieces a "DUH" moment comes on you! Hence the birdbath/water keepers. I bet they'd be good for mealy worms/grubs for the bluebirds, too!!

Speaking of which, yesterday I finally had a pair of bluebirds here checking out a home for nesting. It's on the opposite side of the yard from the house they chose last year. It's a Prim house.  Every year I have the same wren....Mr. Buddy Wren....come and usually nest at least 2 times. Last year he tried for 3 but just couldn't get a 3rd GF in time. He's such a slut! Anyway, he tried to give the bluebirds a hard time last year but now they're here and he's not. It's worrying me. Sure hope nothing happened to him. I loved watching him and he sings so pretty. Maybe I need to finish the birdhouse I was painting and give him a new home to build in. Some of the others are getting kind of shabby now. I never saw a oriole this year either.
And....were having puppies again! Just pretend puppies thankfully! I have a tiny Teacup poodle....Ebony (Star's Ebony Jill) and never had her spayed. I should have but wanted to breed her and then found out we couldn't, did have an app't made for spaying and a knee fix but that day the vet she was seeing was not nice and hurt her with a shot ( I believe he nicked a bone, she still has a lump after several years!). So I brought her home and cancelled the surgery. So it never got done. The bad thing is that she has always had FAKE Pregnancies! Every year she goes into heat and then a while later she starts licking herself to bring in milk and then at the proper time she has babies! Yes, ALL of her toys instantly become her new babies. For 13 years the first toy she ever had becomes her 1st baby! It's a terribly dirty squeaky yellow cowboy! It's so old I can't get it clean anymore and it's getting brittle but you don't dare take that toy away at any time. She makes nests under the beds, behind the couch and up on my bed. You don't dare move them unless she wants help. She gathers them together in a circle, climbs in and feeds them! If she's really proud of a particular baby she will come show it you! Then you have tell her how good she did and what a pretty baby before she'll go decide what nest it goes into. Just having the babies and then feeding and moving them goes on for over a month! I'll try to see if I still have pictures of Ebony and her babies. So now at night I not only get to sleep with Ebony, there has to be a mound of  'puppies' to feed and you best not kick one off the bed during the night!!

For sale sign. I can never paint my lettering straight or the same size! But I like this sign anyway.

2nd totem in aqua colors.

Cobalt totem (and please ignore the shabby house!!)

As always, click for a bigger pic.

                                                             

Catching Up & stuff

I've been on reading blogs every day but still I'm behind. Didn't have a whole lot to say here either. Spring arrives and it's a tug of war between inside duties and outside work and or sitting on the deck watching the birds and enjoying the sun!
Our Spring here came way too early....the flowers are coming up too soon! Now everything is growing, the weeds and leaves haven't been tended to and I have too much to do. Of course, as usual we'll be going down into the 20 degree range this week end and they're calling for 2 to 3 inches of SNOW! I can't cover the whole yard so it's not going to be good for the flowers. Gardening here in the Northwoods is a definite trick! It's had me in tears more than once thanks to late freezes (until the 2nd week of June) and critters and deer making snacks of my plants! I have learned they're only plants and things could be worse!

I haven't done too much art wise. I did do some Found Words pages but haven't tried to scan them yet. And then, finally I just got started on making Totems! I have the first one done and I'll show it. It'll be put outside for sale but not until after the week end and the weather clears. Tomorrow I'll start another one. So this isn't a great picture but you can see it ok, I guess. Please ignore the messy house showing! Other than that, I haven't worked on Sharon's faces class anymore but yet I have faces drawn on every scrap of paper around the house!!! I'm still uncluttering a bit, too. Although, I went for lunch and to the $ store again today so came home with MORE glass! I needed certain colors!

Besides gathering the glass and roaming outside, I've been visiting the DR. I have meds now to combat the wonderful latex allergy and other allergies that keep showing up. Just had to take my wedding ring off as it's eating my finger! Poor finger was all blistered and raw where the band was. Jewelry does that to me now and then. Also got started on a anti-depression/anxiety med and I think it's just starting to help a bit. On the next visit we'll double the dose and see if it helps a lot more. Then also got help for sleeping! Must be a sign of old age because now every morning I have a handful of darn pills to take. Also had to start a physical to appease the insurance so had blood draws and a mammo and soon a darn colonoscopy, too. Then, after all that I started back on a diet. That's a whole post by it's self! This a must diet and will take a while!

So that's what I've been up to!