Postcards are Traveling

More computer troubles. Thank goodness I have a laptop to help out in the void left by my sick desktop. I have been sending out postcards for my Postcrossing adventure. So far I have sent out 14 cards. Eight of them have arrived at their intended homes. The other 6 are still traveling.



A map showing where my cards have traveled to.





NOW I am beginning to receive cards in return. So far we (my class and I) have received 6 postcards from Malaysia, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, the UK and one from around the corner (well kind of) San Diego. 



Map of where my postcards came from.



Here are a few of the cards we have received.





Hope your mailboxes are smiling as much as mine is.

Zentangle Therapy

As I said in one my recent posts, I am really glad I had picked up my pen and begun to play with Zentangles and a Visual Journal during all the craziness that was my life the first 3 months of this year. It became a major outlet for my desire to be creative on an not so energy intensive scale. Waiting in a dentist office, sitting on the couch, or even sipping my chicken noodle soup at the dining room table became a place to pull out a journal, a Zentangle Tile or my new Tangle A Day Calendar, and begin to sketch or "Tangle". It really helped to keep me focused on something other than needles, drills, and their resultant discomfort. There is a lot to be said for "zoning out" in something creative. Here are some of my calendar pages.

Happy Easter!

Good Morning! Just wanted to say Happy Easter, and Happy Passover to all my followers. I hope you are getting to celebrate the season with laughter, and good food.

As is tradition in my family, I will be sharing Portuguese Sweet Bread with friends and family today. This is my Great Grandmother's Recipe. It is a huge recipe, which guarantees you will have to share it with others. This year I formed 12 loaves and 24 rolls.

Can you smell it?

Happy Easter to everyone!

Postcrossing Around the Globe

In my search for pens that led me to letter writing, I also came across Postcrossing. This is a website that is dedicated to the sending of postcards around the world. You are given a member's address to send a postcard. Then someone different sends you one. Kind of like a large pool of pen pals. You never know where you will be sending a card, or where your next one will arrive from. I joined a few weeks ago. As a result, I have been hunting for postcards to send to Postcrossing Members. You would think in an area like So Cal, within 5 miles of two large amusement/theme parks, I could find a bunch. But not really.

As much as I like getting mail, I love to send it too. I thought this would be a fun way to see more of the world. I also hope to share the cards I send and receive with my students. I think they will get a kick out of seeing the pictures and finding the countries of origin on a map.

The first cards I have sent off to Postcross Members.

I see this as an sign of how little we write any more. I have sent 5 cards to Lithuania, Finland, the US and Austria so far.  I know that one of the cards headed to Finland has arrived, as well as one to Austria! Can't believe they showed up before the one to Nebraska.Oh well. Now that one has arrived, one will be sent to me. I am excited to see where my first card will come from. Will it have a map on it? or a picture of a monument? a photo of a beautiful scenic area or interesting architecture? hmmmm.
Until it arrives, I will be waiting (not so patiently) at my mailbox. Maybe I will look around for some goodies to MAKE my own post cards. I know some members would prefer not to receive them, but others would like "mail art." I think I will try my had at a few....Now what should I use? Paper? or Fabric?"

www.postcrossing.com

Is Your Mailbox Smiling?

I have fond memories of receiving mail throughout my childhood. I cannot forget how excited I was to find a card or letter in the mailbox addressed to me. There was mystery in that envelope. What would I find when I opened it. I did not know what I would find when I opened it, but I knew that I was special. Someone thought enough of me to write a letter, send me a note... When I moved to college and later when I moved to Japan, I looked forward to mail delivery even more. It was my connection to friend and family.

It saddens me that children these days do not know that connected feeling that comes from getting mail, now known as "Snail Mail." Such a derogatory name for such a wonderful thing. Don't get me wrong, I use email as much as the next guy. It serves a purpose; quick answers, delivered anytime, anywhere, and saves on paper...But I find myself disappointed when I open the mailbox day after day, only to find the usual bills, advertisements, and catalogs. It just isn't the same.

Letters I need to answer.

Over the past few months I have been thinking about this topic more and more. I came to the conclusion that I needed to get out my stationary, pens, and stamps, and begin writing letters more often. (If you are like me, you love paper, stationary and cards... but don't use it often.) I also started poking around in the Internet about writing... That part started when I wanted to get a fountain pen, and tried researching them. "Writing" sent me to many sites about letter writing and correspondence. It is really remarkable how many people/bloggers there are out there who are all trying to keep the art of letter writing alive.

So I have started my own "crusade" to write letters at least once a week. I have done pretty good so far. One letter I sent was to my best friend, whom I am in email contact with daily. When she received the note, she immediately sent me a text to say thank you. It brightened both our days. I encourage you to make a mailbox smile by thinking of someone, even a neighbor or coworker that could benefit from a personal note.



Love this saying....from www.Missivemaven.com.

Leave a comment telling us how you have made a mailbox smile lately.

Garden, Garden How Will You Grow?

I am taking a departure from crafting this weekend to focus on my veggie garden. I am a bit slow starting it this year, but that is ok. I think waiting was a good thing. Our city trash system includes separating items for recycling. They also compost as much of the yard waste as possible. Yesterday, they gave away one huge semi trailer full of compost to residents. We just had to come out with our containers to collect our share.

The line to get into the give away, 15 minutes prior to the start.



We are almost there.



Yeah, we get our share of the wonderful compost.

I have to say, right here and now, that my hubby is the best!!! He has been cleaning out my veggie boxes and getting them ready for me to plant. He puts in a lot of hard work so that I can do the easy part, plant seeds and water the plants...

Today, the left bed was ready for me. He worked on the right hand bed, and I got to plant my first seeds. It has been about 4 years since I have had a garden, so I am really excited. I use the Square Foot Gardening method. SFG is a way of planting vegetables in a small garden to maximize space. You can learn more in the book Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.

I planted carrots, radishes, beets, cabbage, kale, and spinach this afternoon. I used a ruler to eyeball my square foot and the handle of my hand rake to make holes according to the SFG spacing guide. Each seed is now nestled in its bed, with a big drink of water.

I got 6 x 2 squares planted today. Tomorrow I will try to get a few more done. And now the hard part comes, waiting for the plants to show above ground.

Still having a few snags

I am still dealing with some snags in my template. So, for now I have reverted to the plainest version I can find. Thank you for your patience.

Out of Sync and Out of Touch

Well, I am not sure how it happened but all of February and March just ran away from me and I did not get anything new posted here. Sorry about that. I cannot say that they were not eventful, because they were. Between being ill, Dentist apps, and then having to catch up at work from all those events... I did not lack for activity. The sad thing about this time frame is that I may have been active, but it was not always fun. I really had no energy for sewing or playing with my Cricut. That would have required much more physical and mental prowess than I felt I had last month. I am glad I had picked up my pen and paints and had begun to play with Zentangles and a Visual Journal during this time.

For today's post I am going to spend a bit of time in my Visual or Artist's Journal. Last summer I found out Strathmoreartiststudio.com was hosting a few online workshops on Art Journals. Each new workshop was taught by a notable artist via video, online discussion boards, flicker galleries and notes. These first workshops were great mixed media ideas. Each video gives new techniques to try as well as some examples of their own finished work using the taught techniques.

Strathmore has a new series of workshops going on right now. The first was a Mixed Media Workshop. Though it is over, you can still register and view the videos, browse the discussions.... Workshop 2 just started 3 weeks ago. I am so excited as this workshop is on Sketching and Watercolor. YEAH! And it is taught by an artist I am familiar with, Cathy Johnson. I love her style and had already been scouring her various books, blogs and online videos, when I saw that she was teaching this session. I have already learned a great deal from Cathy and from the other participants. The first week was just basic washes and how to use them in a sketch. I tried several sketches/paintings last week, and was having difficulty getting the hang of water to paint ratio, as well as getting away from massive need to pay too much attention to detail.

A funny story (or two) about the Disneyland pictures - I painted the castle from my table at the Jolly Holiday Bakery on Main Street. While I was working on it Oscar, the head chef for Main Street and VERY long time employee (something like 55 years), came by to see what I was doing. He is such a joyful gentleman. When I was painting the statue, I was sitting on one of the benches that circle that inner area. A family came up to take pictures in front of it. They did several different groupings... chattering away in a language I knew was European but did not recognize. Two little girls, maybe 6 and 8 years old, crept over from the family group and proceeded to climb up on the bench to observe what I was doing. They were having such a good time watching me that they did not see their family walk away. Grandma had to finally drag them off. Somewhere in the middle of it all I found out they were here from Sweden. I just love hanging out at Disneyland. You see and meet some interesting people.

So I started back through my Visual/Art Journal looking at the pieces I liked and what I thought was successful in each page.

What I discovered was I seem to lose the perspective and detail when I try to fill a whole 7 x 10 page in my journal. I do pretty good when I keep most of the picture within a 3 x 5 to 4 x 6 max. With that in mind, I tried again. - Like this one much better. Here are one of my new journal entries. I will share more later.

I am really enjoying this class. If you are at all interested in sketching and painting in a journal, this would be a great place to start. Strathmore Artist Journal Classes

You might also like some of Cathy Johnson's websites and work.

Cathy Johnson - info

Artists' Journal Workshop

Urban Sketchers of the Midwest

Nature Sketchers

Ugh! This Looked Better When I Was Designing It

Rats! Sorry we will all have to live with the format for a few days. I liked it better when I was building the template. But is late so I am stuck with it for at least 24 hours.

Sorry about that.

WOOO HOO!

YEAH!!!!
I finally worked around some issues I was having with blogger.com. I couldn't edit my site or post anything new for the last few weeks. Now that I have fixed it I can get my posts back up and running. I have lots of things to share, and plan on updating the look of my site. I will be posting a REAL post within the next day or two.

Thanks for your patience,
QuiltFrog

UGH! I have not forgotten about you, really!!!

Just wanted to let you know that I have not forgotten about posting new creative pursuits or all of you wonderful crafty, supportive followers. Just seems I have had a heck of a 6 weeks or so. My focus has had to be elsewhere lately.

Now I  discover my desktop is not playing well with anything. I think I have some stupid virus. It was fine yesterday morning but when I got home last night I could no longer use my computer as I see fit. Therefore, this meager post is being created on my Net book. Unfortunately, I have no scanned or photographed projects to share - they are on the desktop.

I will be back up and running this week I am pretty sure. Until, then keep crafting.

Visual/Art Journal continued

I am having a blast with my Visual Journal. I like my colored pencils and water color paints the best, but I am trying to branch out and play with other mediums as well. I am not quite as carefree and unplanned as some might be, but I don't think that is really my nature most of the time. I am trying to push myself to be more spontaneous.

I did pull out my notebook the other day, while enjoying breakfast at a Panera before heading to the dentist. The restaurant I was at had a wonderful sitting area outside, with gas heaters (it was chilly) and a nice big gas fire ring. It was quite relaxing. I challenged myself to attempt the fireplace. Not bad for an amateur.

My cat is always good for a funny story, photo, or in this case a funny sketch. I have seen cats get caught up in something moving on a TV screen before, but Stitch actually sits and watches TV with us on occasion. Many times it is hard to figure out what caught his eye. This time it was the huge parrots and bats on a Nature Channel special about New Zealand. Not hard to see the appeal to a frisky cat this time around.

Besides a visit to the dentist (not a favorite place for me) I also got to have blood drawn for some tests. I am the biggest wimp when it comes to needles. I have always had trouble with them finding a viable vein for drawing even the smallest amount of blood. I usually end up with several punctures in both arms, which equals bruises...It was so bad one time, my family doctor took it from my neck. Yes, you read that right, my neck. Back to my story, I had to have blood drawn and no hubby around for moral support. I lucked out with the tech that did it though. She looked at my arms, decided not to torture me, and pulled from my hand. Yeah only one hole! Drawing hands is always a difficult task. I actually did this while my students were taking a test the next day.

Lastly, this past week and a half have been a major whirlwind for me.

Some on going issues, work changes (about 3 times in one week) and all my stress landed in its favorite place, right between my shoulder blades. That gave me 3 days off work, on my back, chiropractor visits, and not a lot of activity. Oh fun. How come I can't have a sick day where I actually have the energy to do something fun, like quilt or craft? I guess that is why they are called SICK days not CRAFT days, huh?

Well, I still have one day left before it is off to work again. I think I will work on some birthday cards for friends... and maybe another page in my journal.

Zentangles

I have been spending time sitting in offices, cars...waiting.... and have been playing with Zentangles to whittle away the time. In my last class we were working on Tangles based on a grid. I had to play with this concept a bit more... adding and changing as I went.

One of my new favorite sites involving Zentangles is I'm the Diva CZT blog. She shares some great Tangle Ideas and a weekly challenge. I have been playing with her last few challenges. It is a great way to stretch your creativity. I highly suggest finding a blog that offers up challenges in whatever area of crafting or life that you would like to grow. It gives you a structured vehicle to push past your own perceived limitations.

Last weeks challenge had us using purple. Unfortunately for me I did not get this finished in time to enter it. But I still had fun. I used Bic Flair felt pens and a purple colored pencil for the shading.

This weeks challenge is using a moebius strip. I loved drawing this. It made a fun piece to work within.

Keep on doodling, drawing, and crafting.

Christmas Quilts Revealed

Now that Christmas is behind us, I can post pictures of a few quilts I made for gifts this season. The two I share today were made for two special children in our lives. For purposes of this post I will just call them our niece's children, rather than going into the convoluted connections between our families. Our niece and here family just moved into their first "real" home. Now they have all the joys, and extra work of being "home owners." But I know they are loving it, compared to their small apartment.

The children were given the chance to pick the colors painted on their walls. C. is a girly girl, and chose a VERY vibrant shade of pink for all four walls. A. is into Star Wars and space. So his room was blues, greens and browns.

I did a Nine-Patch Pizazz quilt for A. using a fun space print and several solid bright colors.

For C.'s quilt I tried to tone down and enhance her PINK room, with a pale pink print. I found a 3D bow quilt pattern in an old magazine and knew that it was the one for her.

Of course every quilt needs matching pillow cases. You can see them on their beds as well. I still have a few more to share with you but they will have to wait for another post.

Hope you have a great day. Don't forget to do something crafty today.

A Tale of Three Sea Dragons

My New Year started with a thorough cleaning and organizing of my sewing room, fabric stash and many unfinished projects. It seems the projects I want to do keep getting moved to the side to work on gifts... Among the unfinished projects I found were three art quilts. The subject of all three quilts is the same but the mediums are slightly different. Sea Dragons! One of my all time favorite animals.


A Leafy Sea Dragon, at the Scripp's Aquarium in San Diego, CA.



Here are my three unfinished Sea Dragons, as of this morning, Jan. 15, 2012.

Sea Dragon #1 - Soft-edge applique, and some thread work. I still have a lot of stitching to do on this one to finish up.

Sea Dragon #2 - Hand Painted/Dyed fabrics. - Obviously I have even more work to do on this one...

Sea Dragon #3 - Painted with Tsukineko All-Purpose Inks and Fantasitcs. This one is a whole cloth project. I still I have to get brave and pain the water on this one. I am a bit nervous about this step as I only get one chance at it.

Well, my drop cloth is in place and table is set up, it is time to get to work. Updates on each version coming soon to a computer near you.

Zentangle Class Homework

A few years ago I was hunting around online for quilting designs and ran across several references to Zentangles. So naturally I HAD to go look into those. I read up on the concept of Zentangles and found several great sights with examples. (I will include a few links at the end of this post.) I ordered a basic Zentangle kit, found a book or two and began to play. It is a great way to take doodles to a whole new level.

This last December I noticed that one of my favorite stores was offering Zentangle classes, so I am treating myself to 4 sessions of me time! Last week was our first class. All the "students" seemed to have some similar interests, quilting, drawing... We spent 3 hours learning some basic "Tangles" and shading concepts. Of course we were sent home with homework - complete a few more Zentangle tiles. I love it when I am told I HAVE to draw and play with art. Oh darn!

I thought I would share my attempts so far.

My first class project:

Then of course I had to take the idea back to my students, this is the Zentangle I did with my students. The blue in this was blue colored pencil to help my students visualize the shading I was trying to show them. I use a document camera in my classroom to project on to a screen.

I was given 4 "tiles" to work on for class, so this is the next one I tried. Still need to work on less stop and starts on my lines... they sure are noticeable when I scanned them. Ugh.

Today, I had to send my mother some information before she will fly out next week to visit. So, naturally I had to play again. I took a 6 x 5.5" blank card and worked on this Zentangle when I had a few minutes of down time today. Just finished it at home a few minutes ago. I decided to add a bit of color to this one to finish it off. I used Stampin' Up Watercolor Crayons for the outside shading and a  Pitt pen for the background in the bubble section.



Funniest part of this new interest  ---- my hubby, always a doodler, has been working on some of his own interpretations of Zentangles. I cannot wait to share those with you in the near future.

Zentangle sites you might be interested in:

Zentangle

Zentangle Harmony

Tangle Patterns

Saying hello to the New Year.

My husband and I have developed a tradition for New Year's Day over the 20+ years of our marriage. We get up early enough to watch the Rose Parade. I make cinnamon rolls, and we spend the morning all snuggled up on the couch in our Christmas jammies, a crackling fire in the fireplace. Usually, since we were up late the night before with friends, we fall asleep sometime during the first showing of the parade and wake up to watch the replay. This year wasn't any different, with the exception of falling asleep half way through the parade. It was kind of weird going to bed at a decent time the night before... But made for a comfortable, restful day.

In my effort to continue working on a Visual or Art Journal as one of my creative goals, I did the following page about January 2nd.

My main medium for this page was Koi water color paints, I bought with Christmas money. I did use some gel and glaze pens to add detail and a Pitt pen to write my journaling. I splashed a bit of my soup on the page before I had painted the background, and it left spots on the page. The spots did not disappear when I painted the pink background. So I "fixed" it by doodling little swirls of them with a colored pencil that matched my background color. Then to make it look like I "meant to do that" I doodled swirls on the rest of the background. Ha! now no one will ever know - well besides you.

I have to work on my perspective when I sketch a bit, but I think I did ok. I think the hard part is just getting started, no matter how artistic we might not think we are. So jump in, try something new, revisit something you have not done in awhile...

Bucket List vs. Resolutions

I am trying to push myself to grow as an armature artist. I love to doodle and play with paints, but don't do enough of either to really hone my skills. I keep seeing many wonderful examples of Visual or Art Journals. They look so neat! The samples I have seen make me wish I had those skills. So, I am combining my desire to gain skills and play with a Visual Journal, to make a Visual Journal for this year.

My first entry is just a quick play with color, as I wrote a small note to myself about the year the just ended. I am using a "sketch" book with mixed media paper, pencil, Sakura Micron pens, and water color paints. I also played with my Copic pens trying to shade...

Earlier this month my hubby made the comment that we did not do a whole lot last year. That got me thinking of things I would like to do this year, 2012. Though it was nice to have a quiet year, I agree, we need to try to get out and do something every once in awhile. Most of my ideas are day trips, or shows that I would like to do/see.

After I started scribbling down ideas I thought it started looking like a resolution list or even a bucket list. And a second entry started to come together... This is done with Sakura Pigma pens, Sakura gel, and water color paints.

I am really having a lot of fun with this idea and have several ideas already rattling around in my head for my next pages. I am looking forward to seeing whether or not I notice any growth in my skills over the year. I am going to have to get comfortable with sketching in my idea at one sitting and then painting... later on, as I go back to work in two days. I can not see myself sitting for huge amounts of time like I did today.

New Year's Eve 2011...

Wow, it is January 31st. Where does the time go? I had more projects to share with you but the time has run away from me. So, I think I will just take a few minutes to reflect on what I did post this year. There were several themes.

Mini Albums:

Fun Gift Bags:



I could say that I have set goals and resolutions for next year. But I really have not had much thought about what I want to do with my crafting next year. I do know that I want to continue to find ways to incorporate my Cricut into other areas of my crafting.

Have a great year end, and keep thinking crafty thoughts.

QuiltFrog.