Take Note!

I loved having pen pals when I was a kid. Receiving a letter in the mail was a highlight, so I started the tradition with the next generation. 

It's been a while since my older two grandkids and I exchanged letters. Yesterday I remedied that lapse. I made each of them a card with their favorite animals. 

Melody's

Annalee's

Inside I wrote them each a personalized limerick.

Melody's

Annalee's

It's a sweet nothing from Mimi to her favorite Idaho girls.

Rustic Recycled Wrapping Paper

I'm back to recycling Amazon's packing paper. Last time, it was all hearts in different patterns. 

This time I added flowers

stars

butteflies 

and happy faces

They're pretty cute when all piled together as wrapped gifts.

I added stickers to each package for an extra dash of fun for our granddaughter.

Meow

My pen pal sent me a letter.  

Wrapping Paper

I appreciate that Amazon is doing their little bit for the environment by filling up space in their boxes with wrinkled up brown craft paper rather than the air pillows. Magpie that I am, I can't throw it in the recycling bin. So today I recycled the paper MY way.

I squared off the rough edges of the paper and pulled out my Crayola markers. Then, while listening to some funny I Mom So Hard podcasts, I played around. The idea was to make wrapping paper for the Valentine gifts we'll be sending to our grandkids

The first sheet has one of each color marker, then little baby black hearts. I tried a couple hearts with dots and cross-hatching, but that took too much brain power.

I played with heart size, with hearts filled in, and hearts outlined. I added little dots in the free space.

This one has a pattern and limited colors.

The last one might be my favorite. the tiny pink hearts are made using a marker with a heart-shaped tip. It's used like a stamp. 

But I didn't have a plan. I went with whatever whimsy floated through my head. I ended up making six pieces of wrapping paper during the length of the three podcast episodes. No two are alike.

I didn't get much restful sleep last night, I'm on my third caffeine of the day, and couldn't force myself to work on any of the other five Valentine activities I planned. They will take some actual brain power. 

This was just the right level of engagement needed to help me feel like I'm still on a forward trajectory. It gave me a measure of delight. And there were no wrong answers.

Fall Coloring

 As Dale and I took our afternoon walk, we not only saw beautiful Fall color in nature, we also found some Fall coloring on the sidewalk!

Several of our neighbors get a kick out of decorating for Halloween. Here, a mom and kid had some fun with sidewalk chalk.

Gotta admire dem jack-o-lanterns!

Zendoodle

 I spent most of Saturday backing up my computer. While waiting for files to transfer, I decided to try a zendoodle. I grabbed a piece of scratch paper (you can see print showing through the back side). I used objects found in my studio to make various sizes of circles: rolls of tape, bottle caps, pencil holders, etc. I overlapped the circles. Then started filling them in with small designs.

This activity got me through most of the double-backup. Glad it's done, because on Sunday I get a new,
f-a-s-t computer!

Doodle Catalog

 I spent the day watching crafting and political videos on YouTube. To keep my hands busy, I added some patterns to my Zendoodle Catalog. I've found examples of patterns on Pinterest, then tried to recreate them. I also riffed on some of the patterns to create my own. 

I like doing the patterns that are not too complicated ... or when they don't make my head hurt from the attempt. This particular pattern wasn't hard, but I didn't enjoy making it. However, the end product turned out to be one of the most aesthetically pleasing to me.

Eventually, I'll draw some doodles combining patterns. But for now, these squares are keeping me occupied.

Trying Something New

 When my brain goes into a swirl of repeating and negative thoughts, I find that doing something simple and repetitive is helpful. It's why things like counted cross-stitch and crochet and knitting work so well for me. More often, I find myself playing Spider Solitaire on my phone ... W-A-Y too much. Honestly, I've WON over 11,400 games.

So last night I thought I'd try a new kind of repetitive activity. The art of Zendoodle:

Zendoodling is the art of drawing designs using structured patterns... When you draw a Zendoodle, you're creating a work of art, but you're also deliberately creating a mood, focus, and state of mind.

[It's] an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns... It increases focus and creativity, provides artistic satisfaction along with an increased sense of personal well being.

When I doodle, I usually use repetitive shapes. This practice could expand on a thing I already do, and take it to another level. I'm hoping I'll doodle instead of incessantly playing solitaire.

I found a few patterns on Pinterest and gave them a try last night. 

This is my favorite of the bunch so far:

Easter Bunny

Easter bunnies are purple, right?

Another drawing from last April.

Love Bird

My life is feeling a little chaotic this week, so instead of a new photograph or a craft update, here's another quick sketch I drew earlier this year.

Popeye

Another drawing from earlier this year.

Chick

I haven't done any drawing in a while. Here's one I did around Eastertime, though. Pretty cute!

An Unforeseen Grief

My brother Mark died.

Still Learning

I'm still learning to draw a little at a time. I drew this gal while watching TV last night. It's based on a sketch I saw on Pinterest.

Seems I forgot one of her ears. Ah, well.

A Trio of Tulips

By the front door ... with my phone's camera

By the front door ... with my macro lens

This morning's drawing

Daisy

My dad used to sing this song to me:

Daisy, Daisy
Give me your answer, do.
I'm half crazy
All for the love of you.
It won't be a stylish marriage.
I can't afford a carriage.
But you'll look sweet
Upon the seat
Of a bicycle built for two.

Missing my mom and dad today.
Dale and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary yesterday.
Wish they could have celebrated with us.

Roo

Yesterday I drew Roo from the Winnie the Pooh stories.

19 in 2019 - March Update

Marching along with this year's goals

.
.
Goal #8: Go on a Celebrate Your Life retreat
I reserved my room for the retreat in June/July.

Goal #12: Learn my Enneagram

In enneagram lingo, it turns out I'm Type 3 with a 2 wing. Some of the approach the enneagram takes rubs me the wrong way. But I watched a lot of videos and learned some things that I've already found helpful. My next step to make use of this personality typing is to discover some techniques that will help me alter one of my stubborn character flaws.


Goal #16: Use up my tea stash

I've continued having hot tea most mornings. The box of Peppermint tea has been used up. I've also used some stray bags, like Lipton's Orange Gardens, which smells wonderful. Bigelow's Cozy Chamomile is lovely in the evening. I've brewed some loose (not in teabags) English Berries & Cream Black Tea that my daughter gave me. It smells heavenly, but the flavor was bolder than teas I'm used to drinking.

Goal #17: Blog at least 25 weeks of #throwbackthursday posts of my 1997 - 2007 projects

I wrote three more posts in March, bringing my total to eleven thus far. I so enjoy revisiting these projects from long ago. This one brought a tear to my eye since my adopted grandmother is no longer alive.

Goal #18: Blog at least 10 of my Ladies of the Evening collection (mend as needed)

I managed to take photos of four more of my Ladies. I plan to edit the photos and blog about some in April.

Goal #19: Finish one of my eight courses

I became discouraged with  The Creative License by Danny Gregory, mainly because the print in the book is so so small that it impedes my learning. I may continue reading the book, but it will likely be a slow go. Also, I find that he has some annoying biases that bother me. He claims that drawing is the best art form for getting into the moment (flow), noticing the world around you in detail, and that keeping an art journal is the best way of recording what goes on in your life. I take issue with that point of view. I think it's a matter of personality and preferences. I believe it's what may be best for him and many other visual artists. But I find photography, especially macro photography, and then blogging give me the exact same benefits. It could be he's not the right teacher at the right time for me.

Anyway, I've found that learning to draw through reading isn't the most effective method for me to acquire this skill. So I switched gears and have begun drawing cartoon characters from tutorials I found online. I get a lot of pleasure from this.

Alternate Goal: Watch 50 movies/shows from my Netflix/Amazon queues

I watched ten movies/series in March, bringing my total to seventeen:

 8. Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened

 9. Dumplin'

10. Call Me By My Name
11. Mozart in the Jungle (series)
12. The Leisure Seeker
13. Tidying Up with Marie Kondo (series)
14. Blue Jasmine
15. Kominsky Method (series)
16. Blue is the Warmest Color
17. To All the Boys I Loved Before

This was my favorite this month

Alternate Goal: Photo Editing and Organization

I started renaming files into a standard convention, sorting some images by theme, and editing old holiday photos. This is one of my favorite finds this month. It's a photo of Dale and me that was taken last July at my mother-in-law's 80th birthday party.

I've continued my quest to Whittle a Little. This month I discarded or found new homes for over 30 items. I took two boxes of donations to a thrift store. I've made a point of using my "good" art supplies instead of holding onto them for "important" projects. I found places to recycle 16 Styrofoam mini coolers and over 30 blue ice packets. I've also enjoyed the aroma from burning a couple more candles.

Final count:
     * I've completed five goals
     * I have 7 of my stated goals in progress
     * I have a good start on 3 of my alternate goals

Pebbles Flintstone

I decided to do another small drawing this morning using an online tutorial.

Rosie

Rosie is the housekeeper robot on The Jetsons.

I love the way this came out. I drew it larger than yesterday's drawing. It worked much better for me.