Sally's Scribbles

Painted paper backgrounds

2008-02-12T11:12:00.000-05:00

I did the painted tissue paper/paper towel backgrounds. I also added in some coffee stained coffee filters and some old french text. I cut hearts out of some of them to make the valentine's cards - I also painted other papers and cut hearts out of them, as well.

christmas ATC's

2008-02-12T10:48:00.000-05:00

Here are some ATC's I did for some christmas swaps.

ATC's for informal swap

2007-01-01T22:16:00.000-05:00

these are my ATC's for the swap posted on the CollageCats yahoo group. Hosted by Joyce
I was experimenting with having a heavily layered background. I really like how these turned out. The pictures don't show it the greatest. Lots of various tissue paper and different paint layers and packing tape transfers. The backs are done as well!!

Hymn triptych

2006-08-29T11:36:00.000-04:00

Dark and Dangerous Zine

2006-07-22T11:06:00.000-04:00

Here are a few photos of the latest zine I've done for a swap. The theme of this swap was Dark and Dangerous, so I did mine about the organization International Justice Mission. They go into the literal dark and dangerous places in the world, working to free victims of slavery, oppression and injustice, and bring justice to the perpetrators. Just an amazing organization. The president and founder of IJM, Gary Haugen, says 'I no longer ask where is God in places like this, I ask, where are God's people?'

This zine is very interactive. Probably too much. There are 5 ATC's, a foldout book, a fold out envelope with text on it, and goodies inside, lots of yarn and other goodies paperclipped and tied to it......a lot of fun to look at and take apart. This one is my favorite zine, even more so than the Meaning Affirmed I just finished. Probably because of the subject of this one.

Meaning Affirmed

2006-07-04T23:20:00.000-04:00

I just finished making my 3rd zine, and I am very pleased with how it turned out. The only part of it I'm not sure about is that it ended up being slightly more of an art zine, than a written one. Too late now I guess :)

Here are a few peeks at it:

alphabet ATC -letter I

2006-06-29T23:05:00.000-04:00

I'm in an ATC swap and I had the letter I to do. I used the collage sheets as my base. The colors are a lot richer than they appear. I used the end of a paper towel roll to stamp on the circles.

texture pages

2006-06-29T22:28:00.000-04:00

I made a few textured collage sheets. Some of them I cut up and turned into ATC's. I glued several sheets torn from various books all over a large white sheet of paper. Then I painted purple paint all over (just used cheap poster paint). Then I squirted pink and blue paint all over, and mixed that into various shades of purple all over. Then I did elmer's glue crackle over parts of it, added a couple layers of purple glitter, added a few pieces of sewing pattern tissue paper, added dabs of gold paint, and then at the end, added a watery layer of the original purple, and layed plastic wrap all over it. I let it dry overnight and then removed the wrap.

Walking On Water

2006-06-02T14:48:00.000-04:00

I just finished a great book. It's called Walking on Water and it's by Madeline L'Engle. It's her writing about art and the christian artist. Very inspiring. Here are a few quotes from it:

The artist, if he is not to forget how to listen, must retain the vision which includes angels and dragons and unicorns, and all the lovely creatures which our world would put in a box marked Children Only.

As quoting George MacDonald: "The Son of God suffered unto death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like his."

As quoting Cardinal Suhard: "To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one's life would not make sense if God did not exist."

We human beings far too often tend to codify God, to feel that we know where he is and where he is not, and this arrogance leads to such things as the Spanish Inquistion, the Salem witch burnings, and has the result of further fragmenting an already broken Christendom. We live by revelation, as Christians, as artists, which means that we must be careful never to get set into rigid molds.

Art is communication, and if there is no communication it is as though the work had been still-born.

How many of us really want life, life more abundant, life which does not promise any fringe benefits or early retirement plans? Life which does not promise the absence of pain, or love which is not vulnerable and open to hurt?

But when the world is, indeed, in chaos, then an affirmation of cosmos becomes essential.

We write, we make music, we draw pictures, because we are listening to meaning, feeling for healing. And during the writing of the story, or the painting, or the composing or singing or playing, we are returned to that open creativity which was ours when we were children. We cannot be mature artists if we have lost the ability to believe which we had as children. An artist at work is in a condition of complete and total faith.

We have to be braver than we think we can be, because God is constantly calling us to be more than we are, to see through plastic sham to living, breathing reality, and to break down our defenses of self-protection in order to be free to recieve and give love.

In the act of creativity, the artist lets go the self control which he normally clings to, and is open to riding the wind. Something almost always happens to startle us during the act of creating, but not unless we let go our adult intellectual control and become as open as little children. This does not mean to set aside or discard the intellect, but to understand that it is not to become a dictator, for when it does we are closed off from revelation.

The artist must be open to the wider truths, the shadow side, the strange worlds beyond time................We are not taught much about the wilder aspects of Christianity......God is constantly creating, in us, through us, with us, and to co-create with God is our human calling. It is the calling for all of us, his creatures, but it is perhaps more conscious with the artist - or should I say the Christian artist?...for we are called on to believe what to many people is impossible. Instead of rejoicing in this glorious "impossible" which gives meaning and dignity to our lives, we try to domesticate God, to make his mighty actions comprehensible to our finite minds. It is not that the power to understand is not available to us; it is; he has promised it. But it is a power far greater than the power stations for our greatest cities, and we find it easier not to get too close to it, because we know that this power can kill as well as illuminate.

But unless we are creators, we are not fully alive...Creativity is a way of living life, no matter what our vocation, or how we earn our living...Our freedom to be creators is far less limited than some people would think.

There is much that we cannot understand, but our lack of comprehension neither negates nor eliminates it.

mail art

2006-04-25T16:22:00.000-04:00

Here are 2 manila envelopes I decorated before I mail them out.

tissue paper invitations

2006-04-14T10:43:00.000-04:00

These are some invitations I made for my dd's 5th birthday party. On the inside, it says 'Princess so-and-so is invited to a party, blah blah blah' and then on the envelope I stamped a gold crown on it and addressed it to each little princess we invited. I had the verse about Jesus being the King of Kings on the inside of each invitation - hence them being princesses.

The circles and stripes is pink/brown tissue paper I found at Hobby Lobby. Each invitation ended up being different. Most of them I painted and then smooshed the tissue paper, or white tissue paper, into the paint. I photocopied a couple of pages of the Cinderella fairy tale and painted it with homemade pink twinkling watercolors, and then tore them and glued them on. For a couple of them, I tried doing the elmer's glue crackle technique, but that didn't really work that well, at least not the way I wanted it too. I like how most of them turned out, tho.

putting the Zine all together

2006-04-12T09:41:00.000-04:00

Ok, finally. I have all my inserts gathered, all my handmade things done, all my pages bound together....now it's time to put my zine together. I love this part. To see all this miscellaneous art stuff just sitting around, and then to see it turn into something so neat, is just really cool. If you've never made a zine but you think it might be fun, do it!! It's really not that intimidating or hard at all. Join TheGleanerZine or other groups on yahoo where they do swaps. It's great fun!

Because these were paste paper pages, I was a little wary of gluing things down. I wasn't sure if the glue would moisten the paste and cause it to run or lose it's texture, or what. Some of the pages are so textured, I wasn't sure if anything would glue flat to it, either. So, I decided to staple everything onto the pages. I also stapled the paper slips of text, just on one side so that you can flip the pieces of paper over and see the paste paper underneath. If I had glued it, a lot of the paste paper would have stayed hidden.

Here is my zine, page by page.

I made pockets by stapling small pieces of paper to the pages. I have a few goodies in the plastic bag, which is stapled on.

For the loose things, like the sample sheets and large ATC , I used paper clips to attach them to the page.

And then put it all into the envelope. The larger goodies from the first picture that didn't fit into the zine, I just stuck inside the envelope. That was what gave me the idea for the envelope.

When I was trying to come up with a name for the zine, I knew I wanted to have the word Compassion in the title. But I couldn't think up anything else to go with it. When the zine was finished and closed, I looked at it, with all of the tags and cards and paper sticking up out of it, and I said, gosh that zine is just overflowing. Bingo! So I was going to call it Overflowing Compassion. But that just didn't sound right. So I went to the thesaurus and looked up a synonym for overflowing, and found copious. So that's where the title came from.

Mini-fold books

2006-04-12T08:48:00.000-04:00

I also made some mini-fold books for the inside of the zine. These took quite awhile to make. They were almost like a mini-zine by themselves. I don't think I'd do this many again, LOL. If you click on the pictures, you'll see a bigger image so you can see them better.

Every single one of them are different. I'm just showing a couple of them. I was roughly following a fold book that was posted on one of the yahoo groups I'm on. I forget the exact template and sizes...I think it was a 6x12 piece of paper, and you fold it into various squares, so that you end up with about 10 pages all together. Some of these I glued a couple of the pages together and made them have 6 or 8 little pages. I used a colored paper clip to keep them closed.

I used quotes from a bunch of Rich Mullins songs.

"There's more that rises in the morning than the sun. And more that shines in the night than just the moon."

"I feel thunder in the sky, I feel the sky about to rain, and I hear the prairies calling out your name."

"And I'm not talking about your pie in the sky, that you good boys and girls get in the by and by, but rather the strength that you could find, if you've got the guts to try."

"And when life is done and the dance is through, I will know the joy of having needed You."

"I was blinded by the things I saw until I looked at you."

"Speak your heart and maybe you could shed light on the shadow of someone's doubt."

"Live like you'll die tomorrow, Die knowing you'll live forever, live right. Love like you'll leave tomorrow, believing love lasts forever, live right."

"And may peace rain down from Heaven, like little pieces of the sky. Little keepers of the promise falling on these souls."

"He was a stranger in this land, and I am that, no less than He."

Making of a zine - the cover

2006-04-05T12:01:00.000-04:00

Now, onto the cover. I was very pleased with how this turned out. Another Claudine technique! I cut out images of men, and text for their shirts.

Then I trimmed the text, and painted gold paint over their shirts and part of the picture, to blend it in.

Then I cut out hats for them out of patterned paper, and added a short verse to their shirts.

I punched 2 holes in each page of the zine, and then I tied 8 pages together with ribbon, to make the zine.

After I had the zines put together, I glued the men to the front cover.

Making of a zine - part 3

2006-04-05T11:29:00.000-04:00

Now I started concentrating on making some of the things for the insides of the zine. I had just bought Collage Discovery Workshop: Beyond The Unexpected by Claudine Hellmuth, so I experimented with a lot of her techniques for my fillers.

I made some people, and then used the tissue ppaper smooshed onto wet paint technique to make some tags, and then glued the people to the tags. That's all I did to the tags, figuring it's somewhat of a jumping off point, so if they want to add to the tag, they can.

Then I went to work on some ATC's. I was involved in a couple of other swaps that used a Proverb's verse, and the one I had chosen for another swap worked perfectly for my zine topic, as well, so that's what I used. - I just realized I never talked about my topic. I finally settled on the issue of poverty/hunger, and highlighted the organization of Compassion International.

For this ATC, I also made a plain one that they can use to create their own ATC. I used the verse Proverbs 21:13 - If a man shuts his ear to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered. I painted a playing card with hot pink poster paint. I really like using poster paint. It is thicker than watercolors and not as watery, but it still has that translucent quality to it. And then I placed sewing pattern tissue paper into the paint and let it dry. Then I sponged gold acrylic paint on top. For the finished one, I added gold embossed screen, torn walnut ink dyed paper (which I also printed the verse out on), and a child cut out of an old catalog I have.

I made another ATC out of an Emily Dickenson poem. I love her poems, and found one that fit perfectly. I glued an old map and old text to a card. Did a green watercolor wash over it all. Then I took a cork, dipped it in the pink poster paint, and stamped circles all over the card. Then I edged the card and the poem with the pink paint, and added a person to the card.

Making of a zine - part 2

2006-03-29T15:46:00.000-05:00

After I had figured out what my pages were going to be, and how many per zine I needed, I needed to figure out my theme, and decide what I was going to use for filler and ephemera in the zine. I went around my art area cleaning up, and I accumulated quite a pile of 'stuff' that I knew I wasn't going to use, so I decided to include that in my zine. I also like to handmake things for the zine as well, so I decided on what to do for that aspect. When I looked at my pile of stuff, I realized that this was not all going to fit in my zine, because my pages were too small. So I had to think about how to include them with the zine. I was cleaning our office area up and I came across some big 6x8 envelopes. Bingo. I decided to use that to store my zine and the ephemera that wouldn't fit inside the zine. So then I had to decorate the outside of those, because just plain white envelopes just wouldn't do :)

My color scheme for the zine came from some patterned paper that I had and loved - it was pink with brown, green, orange, and darker pink circles on it. And then I had some more coordinating paper in those colors. Hence the orange dye and pink paint. I had decided on gold as my accent color, and so I decided for the envelopes, to do something with brown, green, and gold paint.

Well.............I didn't have any brown paint, and was too impatient to wait until I could get to the store to buy some, so I decided to make some. It looks brown and painted brown, but the technique I had chosen to do for the envelopes lifted some of the paint away, and when that happened, the colors making up the brown separated a bit, and so the brown ended up looking more purple than brown. So the envelopes ended up not really matching the zine, LOL, but they look cool in their own right.

I painted, and then placed plastic wrap on top of it, and when it dried, pulled the wrap off of it. I got the idea from one of Claudine Hellmuth's books that I just bought. Fun book, great ideas.

Making of a zine

2006-03-29T14:57:00.000-05:00

A zine? What's that? That was what I first thought when I read an article in Somerset Studio a few months ago about The Gleaner Zine. Eventually, I found my way to the Yahoo Group called (surprise surprise) TheGleanerZine. I joined, and now take part in their zine swaps, which are a ton of fun. I have just finished my second zine. When I was creating my very first zine, I had never seen one before outside of a few internet images and a couple of articles in Somerset. I couldn't really find a lot of info online about them. So, I decided for my second zine, to take pictures of it and post the process that I went through to create the zine. Maybe this will help someone else out who is just getting started in the zine world. And if not, it's a new post on this quiet blog, LOL.

This zine was a bit of an experimentation. I've been wanting to try out paste papers for awhile now, and when I finally did, I ended up with several sheets, so I decided to cut those up and use those for my pages in my zine. I used 2 different recipes to make my paste papers. I used a flour recipe and a cornstarch recipe. I found that I preferred the cornstarch. It was a lot creamier and easy to spread, and it dried a lot more flexible and with a slightly shiny look to it. The flour pages are more dull, and they they also crack a lot - but despite the cracking, they stay attached to the paper, so the cracks just give it more personality. Here is a website where I found the recipes I used: Paste Paper I used orange RIT dye and Pink poster paint for the coloring. They dried incredibly bright, although the pink flour paper dried a lot paler. I used combs and my kid's textured bath toys to make designs in the paper. I did this on a variety of paper - regular cardstock, watercolor paper, and thin drawing paper. It took about 24-48 hours for the paper to dry, and then I did the other side of all the paper, and then it also took a couple of additional days of pressing the paper under heavy books to flatten them. So it was about a week long process just to make the pages for the zine.

Gathering my supplies....

the end results

When they were all dried and flattened, I cut them up into individual pages - they are about 4x3 (which I would not recommend. It's just a little too small, I think.)

I had also experimented with some
simple paint collages, that I decided
to cut up and include as well.

valentine's ATC's

2006-01-25T13:46:00.000-05:00

These are for a swap. The pink/purple paint is homemade twinkling watercolors. All of the middle layer hearts were painted and then clear embossed a couple of times. The diamond shapes were clear embossed and then painted on top, and the embossing resisted the paint. The bottom 2 have a lot of clear embossing on top.

collaged candle

2006-01-25T13:33:00.000-05:00

Here is a candle I collaged the outside of. I also added some beads - put them on a wire and pressed the wire into the candle, and also some ribbon tied around it.

my baby

2006-01-15T21:26:00.000-05:00

Here's a couple pictures of Baelin. He was born Dec 6, and was 7lbs even.

I'm back

2006-01-15T20:51:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I've posted. I got busy with beginning home-schooling and then I was proccupied with being super pregnant and having the baby. But now I'm getting back into the swing of art things. Here are a few things I've done recently:

Dr. Seuss ATC's

2005-08-22T11:18:00.000-04:00

Letter H ATC

2005-08-22T11:13:00.000-04:00

ad and image is from my 1902 Sear's catalog

Paris ATC's

2005-08-22T11:02:00.000-04:00

the quote is from a poem in a book about Paris I have, called A Place In the World Called Paris. In the bottom set, I didn't mean to get the eiffel tower right on her eye - kind of bummed about that. Oh well, that's art, right?? For the background, I tore strips of masking tape and covered the card with it. Then I painted gold paint over it, and rubbed it off, giving it a gold leather look. Then I added the text, image, stamp. The purple on all the edges is metallic rub-ons.

Silent Film Stars ATC's

2005-08-22T11:01:00.000-04:00

Sugar and Spice ATCs

2005-08-18T21:02:00.000-04:00

For a swap. Sally Jean inspired.

tea time ATCs

2005-08-17T12:28:00.000-04:00

I used coffee-stained papers, (and I used leftover hazelnut coffee, so these smell really good LOL - scratch and sniff ATC's LOL), wrappers from tea bags, and I cut open tea bags and used those as well. I really like using the tea bags - it really looks cool in person. It gives a translucent/cloudy/textured look, so now I'm saving all my used tea bags LOL.

Google Earth

2005-08-16T08:05:00.000-04:00

This is the COOLEST website/program. Once you start playing with it, you won't stop. It is the whole world on satellite pictures. Some parts are very high resolution and you can zoom way way way way in. You can type in an address and see it, or go to a city and explore. There are parts of the Australian Outback that are hi-res photos - that is cool to see. And if you zoom in on Baghdad, you can see Hussiens palaces. This is amazing. So much fun. You have to check it out!!!!!!!!!!!!

Google Earth

Altered Puzzle Piece

2005-08-15T13:03:00.000-04:00

Another puzzle piece I did for a Yahoo group I'm on - this was a Sally Jean puzzle.

One more find

2005-08-15T13:01:00.000-04:00

Another thing I found at the flea market. I got it for my kitchen which is slowly being decorated in a 1940's/50's theme.....got this for $2. I love it!

Flea Market Finds

2005-08-15T12:57:00.000-04:00

On Saturday I went to a flea market and walked around for 2 and a half hours. Found some great stuff - some things for christmas presents, and lots of art stuff....but walking for that long while being 5 months pregnant = not a good idea. Now my sciatic nerve is really acting up - hopefully this pain doesn't last for the next 4 months.

These are 3 little books I found. One of them is dated 1827 - the other two have no markings on them, but I would guess they're nearly as old. The guy first wanted $5 each for them, but since I knew I was just going to be tearing them up, there was no way I was paying that much - I ended up getting all 3 of them for $5. One of the books, the paper is very cloth-like - really cool.

I found a 1969 reprint of the 1902 Sears and Roebuck catalog for $5. Since this one is 40 yrs old, the paper was nicely yellowed, so it actually looks like it came from 1902. Here's a sample page:

And then I found this big book of NYTimes front pages, covering all the presidential elections from Lincoln - Ford. I thought about keeping it as a book to actually look through, but the pages are really hard to read - so darn, I have some cool ephemera LOL.

And the last of the cool artsy stuff I found - these old books. These are actually going to be used for Christmas presents. I can't say anything else till after Christmas, but I'm excited about them. My mom about had a heart attack when she found out I was going to be tearing out all the pages of these books b/c I just want the covers LOL. The Farmer's Almanac Sampler has tons of cool quotes and stuff in it, so that will be fun to use on ATC's. I'm debating whether or not to actually tear up the cookbook one - it might look cool in my kitchen, displayed somehow.

cicada

2005-08-12T12:21:00.000-04:00

My kids found a cicada outside, and so I took a few pictures b/c I wasn't positive it was a cicada. But I asked around and sure enough, it is. He was kind enough to pose for me :) The middle picture is my favorite.

a card I made

2005-08-08T10:52:00.000-04:00

This is a card for a baby shower I'm going to tonight.

ATC's for swaps

2005-08-08T10:34:00.000-04:00

All the flowers on here are napkins. I love how it looks in the second picture - the tiny purple flowers all over. I found the napkins at a garage sale, and the tiny purple ones are made of something similar to dryer sheets - very translucent and pretty. They don't seem very practical as an actual napkin, but it looks cool on ATC's LOL.

garage sale finds!!!

2005-08-06T19:29:00.000-04:00

I came home so excited this morning! I went to two garage/antique sales this morning and scored big! I found an old Spanish book, an old Latin book, an old German book, an old Shorthand book - which has pages and pages and pages of shorthand, which looks really cool. The paper in that is very thin, too so it should work great on atc's. I also got an old accounting/bookkeeping book and an old grammar book - all the books are 1920's/1930's - all for a dime each! Ah, ephemera galore. And they smell soooo good. I just love that musty, old book smell. I love new book smell too LOL. I'm a book addict. I also found a 1980 special anniversary edition of Farmer's Almanac, so it was printed on paper and made to look like it was even older, for a dime. What else....oh! I scored 2 record album book thingys. They have a sturdy cover and open up like a book, and inside is 3 sleeves to hold 3 records. I got 2 of those for a quarter! So today was a good day! I was especially thrilled over the latin and bookkeeping book - that's what I've been wanting for a few days now. Now, to go create :)

links for vintage images

2005-08-03T14:42:00.000-04:00

billblanton
oldpostcards
timetales
tack-o-rama
vintage Christmas
more vintage images
Amazon Retro Images

Some more ATC's

2005-08-03T09:17:00.000-04:00

These were so much fun to do - I was just cracking up at all the funny ads they had back then (1955), and then matching them up to vintage images I have. This first one, I'm not even quite sure what it is - I think it is some sort of bladder control object.....doesn't make much sense to me but I thought it was very funny!

a kitchen magnet

2005-08-03T08:49:00.000-04:00

I got some junk mail from a credit card company - I opened it, looking for goodies, and yay, I found one! They sent me a magnet. And since I don't want a magnet for a credit card on my fridge.....I gessoed it and then made this kitchen fairy. And then, I tore up all the papers from the credit card company that came with the magnet (minus the papers with my name and address on them!) and then put them all back in the envelope they provide for you, that says 'no postage required' and mailed their torn up junk mail back to them, for free. Cheap thrills LOL. Sorry, the picture is a tad blurry.

Sally Jean inspired ATC's

2005-08-03T08:45:00.000-04:00

I joined a Sally Jean puzzle swap, because I love SJ's stuff, but I've never actually made anything like that. So I thought I'd practice first doing some ATC's for a swap, before I ruined a puzzle piece LOL. You can see Sally Jean's stuff HERE

Slide Mounts

2005-08-01T23:03:00.000-04:00

these are some slides I did for a swap...The other person made up a kit with stuff for the slide, they send it to me and I decorate it, and mail it back to them. I can't wait to see what they did with my kits! The liquid plastics one is my favorite.

atc backgrounds

2005-08-01T22:53:00.000-04:00

Some backgrounds I made with a variation on the peeled paper technique, using rubber cement.

A couple of ATC's

2005-08-01T22:25:00.000-04:00

Here are 2 atc's for a British-themed swap. The paper making up the background is torn pieces of Macbeth. I drizzled rubber cement on the bg and then painted red over it, and then lifted up the cement. Tiles are scrabble tiles with little bits of paper and paint on it and then embossed.

2 more ATCs

2005-07-23T15:43:00.000-04:00

I love how these turned out. The shininess of the gold embossing just does not turn up in the photo. I gessoed 2 playing cards. Then when it had dried, I mixed more gesso with gold paint and painted it on. Then I took a wavy-roller thing I stole from my dd's play kitchen, and ran it back and forth all over the gesso to give it a cool texture. Then I sprinkled gold ep all over the card, took a dry paintbrush and wiped most of it away, and embossed what was left, so the edges are done with a lot, and then the tips of all the textures also have little specks of gold.

Then I took 2 slide mounts and gessoed them, and then put 2 layers of sewing pattern tissue paper on top of them. Then I rubbed aqua rub-ons over it, and then embossed gold powder on top of that, and then added more rub-ons on top of that. Then, I took the film inserts from the slide mounts, and on the back of the film I poured vinegar on it. (I was experimenting and it turned out cool) Since vinegar is an acid, it ate away at the film material, making it very easy to scrape off with my fingernail. It left behind the blue/aqua stuff. Looks so cool. So then I embossed the edges of that in gold, (careful, the film melts very easily - it warped slightly and it was kind of a pain to glue down) and glued it on top of the slide mount, and then I added french text behind the slide mount. Then added my ladies and the phrases that I tore out of my 1955 Popular Mechanics (I love that mag) I saw those ads and they just cracked me up.

Fairy Tale ATCs

2005-07-23T15:32:00.000-04:00

These are for a fairy tale swap. The first one is more obscure fairy tales - Toads and Diamonds, and Molly Whuppie. The second one is Sleeping Beauty and The Ugly Duckling. The dress is sequins, with crystal glaze over it - looks cool irl. The ugly duckling pieces also have glaze on them.

more ATC's

2005-07-21T23:14:00.000-04:00

These are for a swap, the theme being Memorable Moments. For a couple of these images, I just couldn't resist. No one has all happy memories, do they???? LOL.

Altered Cd's

2005-07-21T23:05:00.000-04:00

For a swap.

ATCs

2005-07-21T22:56:00.000-04:00

A few ATC's I did, using the peeled paper technique for the background. The quotes are by Steven Wright, and have Crystal Glaze over the tops of them.

Photo Friday Challenge

2005-07-15T13:38:00.000-04:00

Topic - Silky

A cool thing to alter

2005-07-15T13:04:00.000-04:00

So this is one of the remnants from our car getting backed into. I snatched it up because it just looks like the coolest thing to do something with....I'm just not sure what. Any ideas???

Cool garage sale finds!

2005-07-14T20:50:00.000-04:00

I had a fun time at some garage sales and estate sales today!!! I got a box of 85 slides for $2. They looked at me kind of wierd when I just bought the slides, and not the projector that came with it LOL. and I got a 1955 Popular Mechanics with tons of cool ads in it for a dime! My MIL was with me and couldn't see why I was so excited about the slides LOL. I found 2 packs of hockey cards for a quarter each, so now I can do my ATC's on those instead of playing cards! They were 1991 unopened packs, so dh went thru and looked at all the cards to see if there were any good cards. Thankfully there weren't LOL. I was really excited to find something for my kitchen too. It's (slowly) being decorated in a 1940's/50's theme. I have cool ads from old magazines on my walls. I found this old coffee can for a buck - I was so excited!!!

I also found some good kindergarten school books with unit studies in them, so now I don't have to plan all of my units! Which means most of my curriculum shopping is done LOL.

Blogging is addicting

2005-07-14T11:41:00.000-04:00

It is really fun to blog and read other people's blogs. I was reading somewhere and they were saying how blogs have changed the internet; turning it from a vast library of information, into a conversation. Which it really is. It's so fun to go from one blog to the next, following the links in people's posts, or in their sidebars, and leaving little notes wherever I find something I can relate to.

2 more technique sheets

2005-07-14T11:07:00.000-04:00

Here are two more pieces I did with the peeled paper technique. This is so much fun to do, and makes such good background pieces. It's oddly theraputic to rip the tape LOL. These are both torn pages out of a hymnal. The top one has vintage women in it, and I crumpled up the paper, and then inked it with teal and purple, and then rubbed silver ink over all the creases and sprinkled silver embossing powder on it and embossed. It still needs to be flattened. The second one has flowers on top of it (duh). Then I did a blue watercolor wash, and then sprinkled salt all over it, wiping the salt off when it dried. Kind of gave it a cool texture.

Peeled Paper Technique

2005-07-13T15:49:00.000-04:00

These are a few pieces I did, using the Peeled Paper Technique. You can find out about it here Yahoo Group Art Explorations

This one was done with dictionary pages. After I peeled the tape, I placed more pieces down, and then did a blue watercolor wash. Then I tore up the other pieces of tape, revealing the white parts. Then I embossed copper all over the page.

This one was done with old pages torn from a book. I did 2 different shades of brown watercolor on top of it, and then did some gold embossing.

This one was done with torn dictionary pages. I dusted it with brown chaldk all over it, but didn't like the results. So then I added copper rub-ons. I had some loose pages, so I modge-podged all over the top of the page, blending the chalk and copper for a cool look. The brush that I used to modge also had gold ink on it, so there are some streaks of gold in the mix. This looks kind of messy in the picture, looks cooler IRL.

This one I thought I'd experiment with and used play money. I didn't like how it came out at all - maybe too many different colors? I don't know. So then I did a yellow acrylic wash, and still don't like it. Maybe I'll use it as a base for serendipity squares. Maybe....

Yahoo Groups I like

2005-07-13T09:45:00.000-04:00

I'm not super active on all of them, but there is lots of inspiration in the files and photos of these groups!

ABAlteredBooks
Collagecats
artistsjournals2
ATC_Artists
Puzzleart
artexplorations

cool rubber cement technique

2005-07-12T15:15:00.000-04:00

This is a cool technique that I just recently learned about and so I tried it out. This is actually my second try. My first try, I used too many different shades of green and yellow, so that the effect kind of blended in with all the colors. This time, it turned out - much more of a noticeable, dramatic effect.

First, I painted shades of pink watercolor in squares. (You can use any kind of paint)

I let that dry, and then took rubber cement, and painted that over the squares, and a little bit on the white. Then, after the rubber cement dried, I painted blue watercolor over both of the entire pages. I actually like how that turned out - the rubber cement provided a cool resist of the paint, and you can see how the blue paint kind of sits on top of the squares - looked really cool - I almost left it like that LOL.

Then, after the blue paint dried, I just took my fingers and rubbed off all of the rubber cement. So now the pink squares are uncovered and really stand out from the blue. I like the white that came thru too, where I dabbed the rubber cement in various places. It is really cool too, on some of the pink squares, you can see the brush strokes from the rubber cement - where the cement didn't hit the squares, so there is little strokes of blue in there. I really like this technique.

5 Coffee ATC's

2005-07-12T10:30:00.000-04:00

These are 5 coffee themed ATC's I did yesterday. You know you're addicted to altering things when you get excited over junk mail. And instead of throwing it right away, you open it, wondering what goodies will be inside for you to use for ephemera!!! I got 'junk mail' from Gevalia coffee a few months ago and I've been hanging onto it, waiting for inspiration. My dh looked at them after I was done and said 'what are you doing these for???' Um, I don't know, honey. Just for art's sake LOL.

Tire blows

2005-07-11T09:52:00.000-04:00

in a completely shameless attempt to get more ppl to look at my blog, LOL, and because I actually had a semi-exciting thing happen to me/us yesterday, I'm going to do the blog challenge on the 2peas board about writing about something we did this weekend. The challenge was supposed to be about something fun, but this wasn't, but I'm telling it anyway.

Last week, this lady backed into our car, while it was parked, across the street (and off the road) from her driveway, while in a construction site. (one would think you would be more cautious in a construction site - guess not). She totalled our car door - shattered the window, took the mirror off, huge hole in the door, knocked the speaker out..........what a hassle. Finally, after calling 16 junkyards, finally found a white door, and dh put the door on Saturday. (and our key even fits the new door LOL).

So, yesterday, we were taking BIL's car back to him (he let my dh borrow the car for work). I'm following right behind him in our white car and its new door. We're driving down the highway, and all of a sudden rubber and bits of dirt start flying up onto my windshield. My first thought is dh ran over some rubber and was knocking it up, but then I see dh pulling over onto the left side of the highway (which always freaks me out). I automatically pull over behind him and we get out to see what happened. The tread on the back tire was almost completely gone!!!! It's a very scary thing to just have a tire blow on you while travelling 70mph! We still don't know why it happened. So dh changed the tire while I watched. I really need to learn how to do it. Dh offered to teach me yesterday but I was too shaken from what happened, and being freaked out by being on the side of the highway where the fast lane is, so I didn't do it. (PSA - when there is a car on the side of the road, you are supposed to move over a lane so you are not driving next to them!!!) And then we finished the trip, going 50 on the highway with our hazards on. Oh, the joy of old cars LOL.

2 Peas MeMe challenge

2005-07-11T09:20:00.000-04:00

a meme n (mëm): is an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog, like a question posted in one blog and answered in many other blogs.

"How much closer we'd all be if we stopped long enough to honor one another in a circle of show-and-tell. If we listened to one another's stories, looked at each other's creations. We're all hungry for community. We need more ways to connect. Adults still need show-and-tell. Literally."
-Pam Grout "Art & Soul"

This week [July 10th] we are going to talk about music. I believe that our favorite music has alot to say about us so therefore, this challenge we are going to write about our
10 "Desert Island Discs"

this was a popular phrase back in the 90's which is just another way to say 10 discs that you would be happy that you had if you were stranded..so they have to be your absolute favorite cd's...not just what's trendy..

10 (I can't believe I'm admitting to own this, let alone put this on my list LOL) Ashlee Simpson - Autobiography
9 Nine Days - The Madding Crowd
8 All Star United
7 Harry Connick Jr - Come By Me
6 Michael W. Smith - First Decade
5 Celtic Worship - Be Thou My Vision
4 DC Talk - Supernatural
3 Smalltown Poets
2 Jars of Clay - Much Afraid
1 (if I have to choose just 1 album)Audio Adrenaline - Some Kind of Zombie

Altered Puzzle Piece

2005-07-09T20:53:00.000-04:00

this is a puzzle piece I did for a swap.

cleaning and organizing

2005-07-09T15:53:00.000-04:00

Ever have a mess that gets so bad it annoys you???? My scrapbooking/art room has gotten that way. When it's to the point where I can't even work on my desk without knocking a bucket of 500 silk flowers off my desk, over the ledge and down onto my kitchen floor.........then it's time to clean and organize. (Those flowers were a pain to clean up, btw) Part of my problem is I need to see all of my stuff to be inspired and to know how I want to use it.....so everything ends up being dragged out. I still have to organize the stuff on my desk so I can see it all better. But here, for your enjoyment is my awfully messy art area:

And finally, 50 minutes later....

This is my desk area that I still have to clean off and organize:

Bloglines

2005-07-09T13:03:00.000-04:00

This is a very neat site, that helps keep track of all the blogs you are watching, and it lets you know when one has been updated. So now I don't have to sit and wade thru all of the blogs, looking for updated posts!!

BLOGLINES

Candid Photo

2005-07-08T09:25:00.000-04:00

Okay, this is the photo for this weeks Photo Friday challenge - Candid.

Used Photo

2005-07-08T09:12:00.000-04:00

So I found something really cool to take pictures of for the Used challenge of the Photo Friday site....then logged on to realize that today is Friday and they changed the challenge LOL. But I like my picture so I'm posting it anyway. This is our tension pulley and belt from our car that just got replaced, so no more squealing car! Yay! This is definatly a used item!!!

Photo Friday

2005-07-06T21:14:00.000-04:00

I don't have a picture yet for this, but I thought this was a cool site and a cool idea for people who like taking pictures!

Creative Inspiration!!!

2005-07-05T16:24:00.000-04:00

Some inspiring blogs:

http://partlypaper.blogspot.com/
http://www.virtuallydesigned.com/gottamake/index.php
http://arikacloud.typepad.com/theartbar/
http://www.aisling.net

Back to Art

2005-07-04T20:40:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'm going to try and make an intentional shift back to making this more about scrapbooking and artsy stuff.......hence the ATC's that I posted. I got inspired by Allison Strine today and had a fun time being artfully creative with a scrapbook layout, so here are the 2 pages I did. I did a lot of embossing - embossed on the page, embossed screen, painted screen, painted on the page......painted bottle caps, tags, painted on the pictures.....lots of fun stuff!!!

2005-07-04T20:38:00.001-04:00

Page 2 of the layout

2005-07-04T20:38:00.000-04:00

Page 1 of my layout

2005-07-04T00:01:00.001-04:00

ATC 12

2005-07-04T00:01:00.000-04:00

ATC 10 & 11

2005-07-04T00:00:00.006-04:00

ATC 1

2005-07-04T00:00:00.005-04:00

ATC 2

2005-07-04T00:00:00.004-04:00

ATC 3

2005-07-04T00:00:00.003-04:00

ATC 8 & 9

2005-07-04T00:00:00.002-04:00

ATC 6 & 7

2005-07-04T00:00:00.001-04:00

ATC 5

2005-07-04T00:00:00.000-04:00

ATC 4

Sen. Dick Durbin's comments

2005-06-17T21:09:00.000-04:00

Elected to the Senate in 1996, Durbin was chosen by his Democratic colleagues in December as Democratic whip, the second-highest position for the minority party.

The other night, he made the following statement, in talking about Guantanamo Bay.

On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold. ... On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor. If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have happened by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime – Pol Pot or others – that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

No Democrat has spoken out against these OUTRAGEOUS statements. Rather, some actually support him. Since apparantly no one knows their history lessons anymore, allow me to recite some facts. There is absolutely no comparison between American soldiers serving their country, and these mass murderers.

Pol Pot in Cambodia killed one to three million (or between a quarter and a third of the country's population). On April 17 Phnom Penh falls. Within days the city's entire population of over two million is marched into the countryside at gunpoint. Pol Pot declares 'Year Zero' and directs a ruthless program to "purify" Cambodian society of capitalism, Western culture, religion and all foreign influences in favour of an isolated and totally self-sufficient Maoist agrarian state. No opposition is tolerated. Foreigners are expelled, embassies closed, and the currency abolished. Markets, schools, newspapers, religious practices and private property are outlawed.

Members of the Lon Nol government, public servants, police, military officers, teachers, ethnic Vietnamese, Christian clergy, Muslim leaders, members of the Cham Muslim minority, members of the middle-class and the educated are identified and executed. Towns and cities are emptied and their former inhabitants are deemed "April 17th people" or "new people". The country's entire population is forced to relocate to agricultural collectives, the so-called "killing fields". Inmates exist in primitive conditions. Families are separated. Buddhist monks are defrocked and forced into labour brigades. Former city residents are subjected to unending political indoctrination. Children are encouraged to spy on adults.

An estimated 1.5 million are worked or starved to death, die of disease or exposure, or are summarily executed for infringements of camp discipline. Infringements punishable by death include not working hard enough, complaining about living conditions, collecting or stealing food for personal consumption, wearing jewellery, engaging in sexual relations, grieving over the loss of relatives or friends and expressing religious sentiments.

Khmer Rouge records from the Tuol Sleng interrogation and detention centre in Phnom Penh (also known as S-21) show that 14,499 "antiparty elements", including men women and children, are tortured and executed from 1975 to the first six months of 1978. Only seven of those detained at the centre will leave it alive. At least 20 other similar centres operate throughout the country. Terror and paranoia reign, reaching a climax in 1977 and 1978 when Pol Pot launches a bloody purge against the "hidden enemies, burrowing from within" and the Khmer Rouge cadres turn on themselves. At least 200,000 are executed.

Hitler - Over the days of 9-10 November, the Nazis orchestrate the Kristallnacht (Crystal Night) pogrom. Jewish shops, houses and synagogues across Germany are burnt by both the Schutz-Staffel (SS) - the 'Blackshirts', Hitler's personal guard - and the general population. Ninety-one Jews are killed. Thirty thousand are arrested and deported.

In Germany the physically handicapped, mentally ill, and others with so-called "worthless lives" are rounded up and sent to designated hospitals, where they are killed. Referred to by the Nazis as mercy killing and planned by Hitler's office and the Reich Interior Ministry, the "euthanasia" program will claim up to 275,000 lives when it goes into full swing. the Nazis complete the planning for the Endlosung (Final Solution), the extermination of the Jews, Gipsies, Slavs, homosexuals, communists, and other "undesirables" and "decadents" in death camps run by the SS and controlled by the Gestapo.

About six million European Jews die in the following 'Holocaust'. Most (about 4.5 million) of those killed come from Poland and the Soviet Union. About 125,000 are German Jews. The Holocaust also claims about 500,000 Gipsies, between 10,000 and 25,000 homosexuals, 2,000 Jehovah's Witnesses, up to 3.5 million non-Jewish Poles, between 3.5 million and six million other Slavic civilians, as many as four million Soviet prisoners of war, and up to 1.5 million political dissidents.

Stalin - killed approximately 20 million, including up to 14.5 million needlessly starved to death. At least one million executed for political "offences". At least 9.5 million more deported, exiled or imprisoned in work camps, with many of the estimated five million sent to the 'Gulag Archipelago' never returning alive. Other estimates place the number of deported at 28 million, including 18 million sent to the 'Gulag'.

In the Ukrainian Republic up to five million peasants starve to death in the "famine" of 1932-33 when the state refuses to divert food supplies allocated to industrial and military needs. About one million starve to death in the North Caucasus. By 1937, the social upheaval caused by the "revolution from above" has resulted in the deaths of up to 14.5 million Soviet peasants. All told, about one million are executed, in that will come to be known as 'The Great Terror', 'The Great Purge', or the 'Yezhovshina' (after the head of the NKVD, Nikolai Yezhov). At least 9.5 million more are deported, exiled or imprisoned in work camps, with many of the estimated five million sent to the Gulag never returning alive. Other estimates place the number of deported at 28 million, including 18 million sent to the Gulag.

Stalin personally orders the trials of about 44,000 and signs thousands of death warrants. He also ends early release from work camps for good behaviour. 1937 - On 30 July the NKVD issues Order No. 00447 setting out the "means of punishment of those to be repressed, and the number of those subject to repression." The operation is to begin on 5 August and be completed in four months.
"All kulaks, criminals, and other anti-Soviet elements to be repressed are to be divided into two categories," the order stats. "
a) The first category are the most hostile of the enumerated elements. They are subject to immediate arrest, and after their cases have been considered by a three-person tribunal (troika) they are TO BE SHOT. "
b) In the second category are the other less active though also hostile elements. They are subject to arrest and imprisonment in a camp for 8 to 10 years, and the most evil and socially dangerous of these, to incarceration for the same period in prison, as determined by the three-person tribunal."
The order then lists the numbers of individuals from regions around the Soviet Union to be "subject to repression". 75,950 are to be executed and 203,000 exiled. At the same time, the purge of the Red Army begins. The purge results in the execution, imprisonment or dismissal of 36,671 officers, including about half of the 706 officers with the rank of brigade commander or higher. Three of the army's five marshals and 15 of its 16 top commanders are executed.

Synesthesia

2005-05-05T10:10:00.000-04:00

I have just discovered the coolest thing. There is a term for something I have - synesthesia. It is a different way of perceiving things, due to crossed wires in the brain. It's two different senses working at the same time.

Some synesthetes hear, smell, taste or feel pain in color. Others taste shapes, and still others perceive written digits, letters and words in color. Some, who possess what researchers call "conceptual synesthesia," see abstract concepts, such as units of time or mathematical operations, as shapes projected either internally or in the space around them. And many synesthetes experience more than one form of the condition.

Synesthesia is the general name for two related sets of cognitive
states. In the first set, "synesthesia proper", stimuli to one
sense, such as smell, are involuntarily simultaneously perceived as if by one or more other, additional senses, such as sight and/or hearing. The sounds of musical instruments will make some people see certain colors, each color specific and consistent with the particular instrument playing. Some people have colored taste sensations; for example, the taste of espresso coffee can make them see a pool of dark green oily fluid about four feet away from me.

With the second form of synesthesia, "cognitive" or "category
synesthesia", certain sets of things which our individual cultures teach us to put together and categorize in some specific way – like letters, numbers, or people's names – also get some kind of sensory addition, such as a smell, color or flavor. The most common forms of cognitive synesthesia involve such things as colored written letter characters (graphemes), numbers, time units, and musical notes or keys. For example, the synesthete might see, about a foot or two before her (the majority of synesthetes are female), different colors for different spoken vowel and consonant sounds, or perceive numbers and letters, whether conceptualized or before her in print, as colored.

In my mind's eye, I see colors and a timeline whenever I see or think about the months, days, years, numbers, time, alphabet. Monday is an unidentifiable color, Tuesday is orange, Wednesday is blue and white, Thursday is brown, Friday is a deep olive green, and Saturday and Sunday are a bright, like sunshine color. Odd numbers are bad, even numbers are good. Certain letters are good, certain letters are bad - there is a positive/negative feeling related to them.

Most synesthetes are female, bad at math, left-handed, and have an excellent memory. All those fit me except I'm right handed.

this is a very fascinating type of perception. If you do a search for it, there are tons of articles and info about it.

blogger art challenge

2005-05-02T09:23:00.000-04:00

Finally, to get back to a semi-scrapbooking post LOL. Here's my first blog challenge from twopeasinabucket.com

a meme is an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog, like a question posted in one blog and answered in many other blogs. I thought it would be fun to post a challenge, photo assignment or question that we would all answer in our blogs at the same time that week. Then we could post here when we posted so that we could all share together with each other.

http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?ifv6gaurn8c

Napoleon Dynamite honored by Idaho Legislature

2005-04-20T22:16:00.000-04:00

I think this is the funniest thing in the world. This resolution passed by a unanimous vote.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 29
BY WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE
1 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
2 STATING LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND COMMENDING JARED AND JERUSHA HESS AND THE
3 CITY OF PRESTON FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THE MOVIE "NAPOLEON DYNAMITE."

4 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
5 WHEREAS, the State of Idaho recognizes the vision, talent and creativity
6 of Jared and Jerusha Hess in the writing and production of "Napoleon Dyna-
7 mite"; and
8 WHEREAS, the scenic and beautiful City of Preston, County of Franklin and
9 the State of Idaho are experiencing increased tourism and economic growth; and
10 WHEREAS, filmmaker Jared Hess is a native Idahoan who was educated in the
11 Idaho public school system; and
12 WHEREAS, the Preston High School administration and staff, particularly
13 the cafeteria staff, have enjoyed notoriety and worldwide attention; and
14 WHEREAS, tater tots figure prominently in this film thus promoting Idaho's
15 most famous export; and
16 WHEREAS, the friendship between Napoleon and Pedro has furthered
17 multiethnic relationships; and
18 WHEREAS, Uncle Rico's football skills are a testament to Idaho athletics;
19 and
20 WHEREAS, Napoleon's bicycle and Kip's skateboard promote better air qual-
21 ity and carpooling as alternatives to fuel-dependent methods of transporta-
22 tion; and
23 WHEREAS, Grandma's trip to the St. Anthony Sand Dunes highlights a long-
24 honored Idaho vacation destination; and
25 WHEREAS, Rico and Kip's Tupperware sales and Deb's keychains and glamour
26 shots promote entrepreneurism and self-sufficiency in Idaho's small towns; and
27 WHEREAS, Napoleon's artistic rendition of Trisha is an example of the
28 importance of the visual arts in K-12 education; and
29 WHEREAS, the schoolwide Preston High School student body elections foster
30 an awareness in Idaho's youth of public service and civic duty; and
31 WHEREAS, the "Happy Hands" club and the requirement that candidates for
32 school president present a skit is an example of the importance of theater
33 arts in K-12 education; and
34 WHEREAS, Pedro's efforts to bake a cake for Summer illustrate the positive
35 connection between culinary skills to lifelong relationships; and
36 WHEREAS, Kip's relationship with LaFawnduh is a tribute to e-commerce and
37 Idaho's technology-driven industry; and
38 WHEREAS, Kip and LaFawnduh's wedding shows Idaho's commitment to healthy
39 marriages; and
40 WHEREAS, the prevalence of cooked steak as a primary food group pays trib-
41 ute to Idaho's beef industry; and
42 WHEREAS, Napoleon's tetherball dexterity emphasizes the importance of
43 physical education in Idaho public schools; and
44 WHEREAS, Tina the llama, the chickens with large talons, the 4-H milk
1 cows, and the Honeymoon Stallion showcase Idaho's animal husbandry; and
2 WHEREAS, any members of the House of Representatives or the Senate of the
3 Legislature of the State of Idaho who choose to vote "Nay" on this concurrent
4 resolution are "FREAKIN' IDIOTS!" and run the risk of having the "Worst Day of
5 Their Lives!"
6 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the members of the First Regular Session
7 of the Fifty-eighth Idaho Legislature, the House of Representatives and the
8 Senate concurring therein, that we commend Jared and Jerusha Hess and the City
9 of Preston for showcasing the positive aspects of Idaho's youth, rural cul-
10 ture, education system, athletics, economic prosperity and diversity.
11 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we, the members of the House of Representa-
12 tives and the Senate of the State of Idaho, advocate always following your
13 heart, and thus we eagerly await the next cinematic undertaking of Idaho's
14 Hess family.
15 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Clerk of the House of Representa-
16 tives be, and she is hereby authorized and directed to forward a copy of this
17 resolution to Jared and Jerusha Hess, the Mayor of the City of Preston and the
18 Principal of Preston High School.

2005-04-05T12:38:00.000-04:00

Well, I got 300 pictures developed and mailed back to me, thanks to Snapfish. Almost all of them turned out really well; I am very pleased! I went to Jo-ann's on Sunday and picked up the new Spring Stack, the cardstock one. I really like it - the paper is textured, like Bazzill, but a lot less cheaper. I can't justify spending .60 for one sheet of paper. And I even used my 40% off coupon. Guess I'm not putting much of a dent in the 2 billion dollar a year industry, LOL.

So I have my latest copy of Scrapbooks Etc for inspiration, and my BH sketches book to help me put many pictures on a page, and tomorrow is supposed to be a rainy day. Hopefully I'll be able to get a good start on my album tomorrow!

Verdict that Demands Evidence

2005-03-28T17:21:00.000-05:00

a good post I read today, on CT's blog.

Christianity Today, April 2005
Verdict that Demands Evidence

It is Darwinists, not Christians, who are stonewalling the facts.
Charles Colson with Anne Morse posted 03/28/2005 10:00 a.m.

It was one of the first—and angriest—post-election hissy fits: In The New York Times, Garry Wills credited White House political adviser Karl Rove for getting millions of religious conservatives (whom he compared to Muslim jihadists) to the polls and sneered, "Can a nation which believes more fervently in the Virgin Birth than in evolution still be called an enlightened nation?"

It's an interesting question, considering the iron grip evolutionists have had over our educational institutions for a century. And at first glance, it seems odd that Americans—among the best-educated, most technologically advanced people in the world—would choose miraculous stories over scientific ones.

But is there really so little evidence for biblical miracles, and so much for naturalistic evolution?
As historian Paul Johnson notes, Christianity is a historical religion that deals in facts and events. Among those facts is that Jesus, the Son of God, was born of a virgin, in a specific time and place. Johnson cites the mounting archaeological discoveries that have almost universally supported the biblical accounts. And the life of Jesus, he notes, is better authenticated than most other figures of antiquity, like Aristotle and Julius Caesar. As Johnson puts it, "It is not now the men of faith; it is the skeptics who have reason to fear the course of discovery."

All well and good, but Darwinism, at least, has been empirically proven, right?

Wrong. Sure, there's evidence that evolution takes place within a species—but the fossil record has not yielded evidence of one species becoming another, as Darwin confidently predicted. This lack of evidence has not gone unnoticed by sociologist Rodney Stark. Stark calls himself neither an evolutionist nor an advocate of Intelligent Design; instead, he says, he is merely a scholar pursuing the evidence where it leads. In For the Glory of God (Princeton University Press, 2003), Stark offers startling evidence that Darwinists have covered up mounting flaws in their theory. He concludes that the battle over evolution is hardly a case of "heroic" scientists fighting off the persecution of religious fanatics. Instead, from the start, evolution "has primarily been an attack on religion by militant atheists who wrap themselves in the mantle of science in an effort to refute all religious claims concerning a creator—an effort that has also often attempted to suppress all scientific criticisms of Darwin's work."

Committed Darwinists continue this strategy today. For example, nine years ago biochemist Michael Behe published Darwin's Black Box (Free Press, 1996). Behe argued that complex structures like proteins cannot be assembled piecemeal, with gradual improvement of function. Instead, like a mousetrap, all the parts—catch, spring, hammer, and so forth—must be assembled simultaneously, or the protein doesn't work.

Behe's thesis faced a challenge from the nation's leading expert on cell structure, Dr. Russell Doolittle at the University of California-San Diego. Doolittle cited a study on bloodletting in the journal Cell that supposedly disproved Behe's argument. Behe immediately read the article—and found that the study proved just the opposite: It supported his theory. Behe confronted Doolittle, who privately acknowledged that he was wrong—but declined to make a public retraction.

So who's really rolling back the Enlightenment? Those who invite us to follow the evidence wherever it leads—or those demanding that we ignore it? The folks who want both evolution and Intelligent Design taught in school, with all their strengths and weaknesses—or those who attempt to silence any opposition?

The evidence for Intelligent Design has become so persuasive that the 81-year old British philosopher Anthony Flew, a lifelong atheist who once debated C. S. Lewis over the existence of God, recently admitted that a creator-God must exist.

In the final analysis, any objective observer must conclude that belief in either the biblical or the naturalistic worldview demands faith. The issue is not science versus faith, but science (evolution) versus science (Intelligent Design), and of faith versus faith regarding how the universe and life came to be.

So to return to Garry Wills's question—are we so unenlightened to reject Darwin in favor of Christian doctrine?

I practiced law for many years, dreaming every lawyer's dream to take a great case into the Supreme Court. This is the case I'd most like to argue: pitting the common consensus against the Darwinist establishment.

A rainy rainy day

2005-03-27T18:49:00.000-05:00

Friday was supposed to be the big event, the thing that Alysa has been the most excited about - going to see the manatees. In a town 75 miles north of where we were, there is a rescue/rehabilitating place for manatees, as well as other animals native to Florida. They have an underwater observatory for the fish and manatees. So.....we set off for Homosassa Springs. We should have left a little earlier than we did, but I don't think it would have made much of a difference.

It took us 3 hours to get there. It took an hour and a half to go about 20 miles. The lights along the state highway were not timed at all, and we stopped at almost every single stoplight. You would think that they would give the 7 lane highway priority over the side streets, but apparantly not. It was awful. Another unnecessary traffic problem.

We finally get up there, and the nice sunshiney weather has turned a bit dark and dreary. It was sprinkling a bit. But it was warm out, and we've driven all this way, that we decide to buy tickets and go thru the outdoor park even tho it's sprinkling. In the couple minutes it took to buy our tickets, it had begun pouring. The ticket lady was nice enough to not charge us for Alysa since we were still going to go thru it.

It starts thundering and lightning, so we decide to sit in the car for a bit to see if the rain tapers off. But it doesn't. After a half hour, we decide to go for it anyway. I was a bit worried that the kids would cry about getting so wet. We get out, and start crossing the parking lot, and it is flooded. Brennen says 'this is nuts, the trail is going to be all muddy and flooded - we can't even cross the parking lot' and we decide to not go thru the park. It was just blowing sheets of rain. At least it was warm out. But it was crazy to go thru an outdoor walk in the middle of a thunderstorm. So we get in the car and start leaving, and Alysa is heartbroken and disappointed. She starts sobbing - those quiet, heartwrenching sobs. She is so upset about not seeing the manatees. So I tell Brennen to stop the car, and I look at a map of the walking tour. The manatees are at the very beginning of the trail. So we decide to go back and just go thru the manatee exhibit, and then leave.

When we start walking the trail, we are pleasantly surprised to see that it isn't a dirt path, but a nice, wide, paved path. And the rain had died down a little and the trees overhead were blocking some more of it. So the walk to the manatee exhibit wasn't that bad. The manatees were really cool - a lot bigger and wider than we had thought they were. After we saw them, we decided to go ahead and walk the rest of the mile trail. So we got to see a crocodile, alligators, flamingos....we saw them fight LOL. Alysa loved it. She didn't even stay under the umbrella with me....she was running and jumping in the puddles. And while we were out there, the rain picked up again. of course. LOL. It turns out it had been storming that hard up there all week, so we would have had to go thru that anyway. But we would have dressed more appropriately had we known. Oh well. It's things like that that make family vacations, family vacations LOL. I'm just bummed that it was raining too hard for me to take my camera with. So no pictures to show for that day.

2005-03-27T18:32:00.000-05:00

Aiden and Alysa.....as they got braver, they let the waves start hitting them, but they didn't like the saltiness in their faces!!

2005-03-27T18:29:00.001-05:00

tons of shells - there were so many, you had no choice but to walk on them, crushing them.

2005-03-27T18:29:00.000-05:00

Hurricane damage on Sanibel Island

They searched for seashells by the seashore at Sanibel

2005-03-27T18:27:00.000-05:00

Day 4, Thursday.......we drove down to Sanibel Island. It should have been about a 3 hour drive. And it was, to the island. But then they had these traffic guards, causing traffic jams. Instead of just letting the 4-way stop work the way it's supposed to, letting traffic flow........they had to get in the middle and mix it all up. It took an hour to go about 3 miles on the island. And an hour to do the same route back. You could also still see the hurricane damage on the island. Wow. We had been wanting to drive up to Captiva Island, but b/c of the traffic, we didn't.

But, they don't say that Sanibel Island is the best place to go shelling in the US for nothing. Wow. It was amazing. We were at the beach for 3 hours. We found tons of shells, and the kids had so much fun. The beach we went to, Bowman's Beach, was one of the ones mentioned in all the tourist guides as the beach to go to - but it wasn't even that crowded, which was wonderful. The waves were great too, so Brennen and I took turns playing in the waves and looking for shells on the sand under the water, and watching the kids. And I got sunburned, kind of bad. I decided I'd rather come home with a little color instead of white LOL.

After the beach, we went to a nature preservation, which was supposed to be really cool........we drove the 5 mile route, saw some birds and that was it. Turns out to see the gators and such, you have to do the walking trail. But we were too tired to do that after being at the beach for so long. So, it was pretty but a little disappointing for as big as they talked the refuge up.

2005-03-23T20:13:00.001-05:00

the afterglow

2005-03-23T20:13:00.000-05:00

more sunset

2005-03-23T20:12:00.001-05:00

the sunset

2005-03-23T20:12:00.000-05:00

at Ft. DeSoto - let us out!!!

2005-03-23T20:11:00.000-05:00

at Ft. DeSoto

2005-03-23T20:10:00.000-05:00

Brennen talking to the birds - and they responded!!!

2005-03-23T20:09:00.000-05:00

a girl after my own heart. She filled up a 27 exp. camera all at the bird sanctuary!

2005-03-23T20:08:00.000-05:00

a baby pelican eating from his mother's pouch

A Leisurly Day

2005-03-23T20:06:00.000-05:00

Today was supposed to be thunderstormy, so we decided to not go to the Everglades. We were a little concerned how the kids would handle the 3 hr car ride, so the weather made the final decision. When we woke up, it had stopped raining, and was just cloudy (and warm). So we decided to spend the day traveling the 20 mile long barrier island we are on.

We first went down to a bird sanctuary, and saw a bunch of different kind of birds that they are rehabilitating. They had a bunch of pelicans out by the shore, so we sat and took pictures of them - Alysa walked very close to one and took its picture. I was afraid it was going to fly off and scare her, but he didn't.

Then we drove all along the island, it was very pretty. Lots of little beachy towns, a couple of them very touristy and busy. Then we crossed a couple of bridges and went to an old Fort, that has been here since the time of the Spaniards. That was fun and pretty. It was very very windy out, and it was spitting rain a little bit, but by the time we left, it was decent weather. We drove back up and went out to lunch, and then we headed north to a little scottish town. Along the way, we missed a turn, so we took the backroads for a ways, and ended up driving thru a ritzy ritzy town. Huge, gorgeous houses. We were later told that Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Hulk Hogan live in some of those houses.

So we finally made it to the scottish town. We walked along the trails for a bit, and walked around the cute downtown. The kids enjoyed that. Then we drove over to Honeymoon Island - was highly recommended in a bunch of tourist things I read. But we had to pay to get in, and it was only a couple hours until sunset and we weren't planning on staying long, so we turned around. After we crossed one bridge, we saw several people fishing, and then we saw the pelicans eating. So we pulled over at a little roadside beach and had fun watching the pelicans dive for food.

Then we drove back home, and we watched an incredible sunset as we drove....We found a public beach minutes before the sun set, so we were able to stop and watch it set. Then we drove the last couple of miles to our cottage and went and hung out on the beach for awhile. I was taking Brennen and Alysa's picture, when we realized Aiden was gone. Thankfully I saw him running, quite a ways down the beach. When he realized I was chasing him, he kept running and was laughing by the time I caught up with him. *sigh*

All in all, it was a good day and the kids had fun and didn't fight or whine LOL.

2005-03-22T22:19:00.001-05:00

this bird was even less afraid - I almost stepped on it b/c I didn't see it - I was trying to take a picture of the other bird. This one just sat and posed for a few pictures for me.

2005-03-22T22:19:00.000-05:00

a cool, strange bird that wasn't really afraid of me at all

2005-03-22T22:17:00.000-05:00

a seahorse - the best kind of male - he gives birth ROFL