2014's Last Inchie and Journal Pages 48, 50, and 52

     Our last word for Every Inchie Monday was "magical".  I have some beautiful scrapbooking paper with fairies and dragons and all sorts of magical things.  I found a fairy that just about fit an inch.  So I cut her out and then embellished her with glitter gel pens.
     I glued my last inchie on my display.  Ahh.  What a sense of  accomplishment.  Okay, they were not all on time this year, but hey, they are done.  And most importantly, I had fun.  I love the friends I have made at this site and love seeing all their gorgeous work.  If you don't play along, you should go over and check it out - see my side bar for the link.  We would love to have you!

    I am still working on those journal pages.  I finished three more yesterday.  I do not know if I will meet my goal of finished before the new one starts, but I am trying.  For page 48 - Build A Snowman - I pulled out the paints and played.  I had to keep fighting humming, singing. whatever that crazy Frozen song.  Aargh!

      For week 50, Sparkle and Shine, I could've gotten my glitter out.  But quite honestly, I hate using glitter.  I hate it in the classroom, and here at home.  Oh, I love how it looks.  I have quite a collection.  I just hate the fact that for the entire next year, I would have found silver glitter everywhere.  So I chose to sparkle with my metallic gel pens on black paper.  Less mess.  Shame on me.

      Our last week of the year, page 52 was "Circles".  I looked for quotes, but couldn't find one I really wanted to use.  I hummed a few songs that had the word circle.  Nothing seemed to hit me!  Then I remembered some precut circles in my scrapbook stash (love those supplies).  I took one of each color glued them on my page by families.  Still really not knowing what I wanted to do, I grabbed the zentangle pens.  I decided to do one area for each color family and then highlight a part with color.  No words.  Still couldn't get anything to suit me.  So my page is strangely silent - for me at least.

      Now, I only have . . . uh, a few . . .  well actually twelve pages to do.  Before Friday.  Yeah, right.  Not going to happen.  But I might get closer.  Thank you for stopping by and I hope each and every one of you have a very blessed day.  I hope to - I hit my next "decade" today!  The big SIXTY.  Ouch!  None of the others have bugged me in the least, but this one is somewhat weird feeling.  My brother says, "the only thing worse than turning sixty, is NOT turning sixty".  Guess he is right.  I think I shall head off and craft my brains out!!!!  Bye!

Journal Pages, Weeks 42, 47 and 49

     Next year for Journal 52, I will stay caught up. . . . nope, that won't happen.  How about - next year I will not get SOOOOO far behind?  That could possibly happen.  However on the one hand, being so far behind has given me a lot of things to "play" with over my Christmas break.  So I guess it isn't too bad to be behind.
     The last couple of days I worked on three of the needed pages.  Week 42's prompt was "Magic".  What could be more magical than Peter Pan?  Using one of my Disney Cricut cartridges, I cut out the pieces and then put together my scene.

      When I saw this quote about rain, I knew I had to use it for week 47's Wise Words prompt.  I love the quote.  And it is something I need to remember.  I took some kitchen parchment and wet it and covered it with watercolors.  After spreading them around a bit, I placed my paper down on it to absorb the paint.  I really like the way it turned out.  Then just some cool lettering and a dancing man!  

        Week 49 was "Doodle".  Now despite the zentangle is not a doodle argument some get into, I knew immediately that was what I wanted to do.  I love tangling and will use it everywhere I get a chance to!

        Now back to finishing all the other pages I need to do!  Have a blessed day and thank you for stopping by!
 

Inchie Catch Up Time!

     I haven't time to do a challenge in so long I almost forgot what to do!  I am very linear and hate getting "behind" in challenges, but sometimes things get in the way.  Little things like a ton of Christmas ornaments to tangle for presents for people where I work.  I wish I had taken pictures but totally forgot to.  Just trust me - they turned out beautiful.  I was pleased and so was each person I gave one to.  But my first "crafting day" off was spent playing with inchies.  I now have them all done (even the last one, though I won't show it now).
     Here they are - in backwards order:

zigzag

yellow

yo-yo

xenon

     Ta-da!!  I am now officially ready for the challenges of 2015.  I also took a few moments to lay out the page to put the 2015 inchies on.  I will post the 2014 sheet when I post next week's word.  I suppose now it is off to try and play catch up with my Journal52 pages and I am sooooo far behind.  They are a little more difficult to turn out than the inchies.  Hey, I wonder if maybe for next year's journal, I should do a journal that is only an inch!?  Guess not. 
     I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and holiday season.  Take care and stay healthy!

Blessed!

     I am blessed with a week off work for the holidays.  After the last few weeks, I needed this.  All the house mess I mentioned in the last post and the stress of working with a student teacher that needed a lot of help - yep, the week off was appreciated.  I also got to spend lots of time tangling and doing other artsy things.  And of course, the added bonus of sleeping in, isn't a bad blessing either.  It appears the house company has taken care of the problems they created.  The bank has cleaned up their end of the mess.  There are some issues with insurance as a result of the fallout from all this, but even that may turn into a blessing. 
     Another biggie for me this week?  I went over to interweave and got a copy of the book that has my art work in it!!!  I still can't wait to hold the paper copy, but it was awesome just the same.  I will write a full review with pictures when I get the book. 
     Using the tangle assunta was my facebook group's challenge.  Whew!  That is a beautiful tangle - when done by someone else.  I struggle with it.  I could not follow the steps on the Zentangle website.  They confused me.  So I went to one of my favorite tangler's sites - Ellen Wolters.  She does awesom videos.  So clear and easy to follow.  She used a grid to do assunta instead of these little dashes.  After I got comfortable with the grid, I released it from the grid.  It reminds me of a mistletoe ball or maybe that is my holiday spirit kicking in!

      Diva's challenge (or rather guest challenge) was so much fun.  I plan to play with this idea some more in my sketch book.  We were asked to take a tangle that usually went into a grid and draw it without the grid - or take a "free" tangle and contain it into a grid.  Cool, cool idea!  My favorite tangle is n'zeppel.  So along with emingle, I set them free! 

     Adele Bruno's string challenge was lots of fun too!  I loved the string and all four of the tangles she asked us to use.  Something about this tile though reminds me of the scene where the train is traveling over the mountains in the children's book - The Polar Express.  Okay, I know that is strange, but it does.  Seriously. 

      I wish I had had a more spectacular thought for my inchie this week.  But I didn't.  The word was "x-axis".  Pretty lame, huh?  Oh well, next week will be better.  Or not.  Have you seen the word we are supposed to use?!  Help!!

     Finally got this written.  The computer and the internet were not being very nice to each other today.  My brother said it is because all the world went out on Black Friday and bought new internet devices and caused a "traffic jam".  Probably.  But surely there was room on that huge web for little ol' me. 
      Hope you are having a blessed day!  Stay safe and healthy and see you next time!!

A Challenging Week and Some Challenges of the Fun Sort

     I am trying hard not to be frustrated. It is sort of working.  At least at times.  As a teacher I get paid once a month.  The first of October I called my mortgage company and had them set up my monthly payment for Oct. 31.  The very nice and helpful lady said would I like  her to set one up for Nov. 30.  Sure. Would save me time and trouble.  The first of November rolled around and the payment for Oct. was removed and we set about paying our usual monthly bills and such.  Then it got to be Nov. 3rd and guess what the most helpful folks at Greentree did - removed a SECOND payment.  (Anyone notice a place value problem here - 30 . 3 ?)  I didn't notice until I got a call from my bank telling me I was a bit overdrawn - to the tune of around $400!!  Oh my word!
    Of course if I send them the proper paper work, a few teeth, some blood and the deed to my soul, they will willingly correct their mistake (the mortage company).  In a timely fashion - it has been 7 days.  This is an electronic withdrawal so how hard can that be?  My bank has said they will put back the overdraft fees, but not until the mortgage company does their number.  In the meantime, they are happily assessing more overdraft fees.  I am being ignored on the phone to the house company and then when I did get someone, they "promised" me to have it cleared up by Friday evening.  Nope.  Not yet.
     I needed these few zen moments quite a lot today.  One could say I was desperate to chill.  To top it off, it has been a difficult week at school.  My kiddos are fine, but there is a bit of a personality conflict with my student teacher.  But I won't go there.  Enough whining.
      Every Inchie Monday's word was "weapon".  I tried to find a tiny toy gun.  I then attempted to draw a sword.  I asked my brother for suggestions and being the very clever person he is, he quickly said "do a pen".  Well duh!  How cute was that?!  Afterall the pen is mightier than the sword.  That may be the case but I think I would rather have a sword in hand than a pen when dealing with the folks mentioned above!

The pen is mightier than the sword

      Diva had another great guest challenger this week.  We were to use the three tangles - trio, huggins, and xyp.  They spell THX.  As in thanks to all the veterans and others in our lives.

THX

      This last piece is for my facebook group, Square One Tangle.  Well, not my group, but one I am loving being a part of.

Hurry

       I suppose it is time to shut the computer down and call it a day.  I am hoping everything will be resolved at the beginning of the week.  There are things I need and all my funds are "blissfully" tied up in this mess.  And I suppose if it isn't, I need to remember that God indeed has a plan.
     Thanks for dropping by and I hope you have a blessed day!

Every Inchie Monday - wheat

   This week's word for Every Inchie Monday was wheat.  I painted a background and then glued on some "wheat". 

    

      Have a blessed day!

A few challenges

What's this?  Me posting in the middle of the week?  Not rushing in at the last minute on the week-end?   What happened?  I got sick with a very fast moving stomach bug yesterday and since I wasn't counting on being at home I left all my school work at school . . .  so when I was finally able to get up for a bit, guess how I amused myself?!  While I enjoyed the extra art time, I really don't want to have to have the "cause" again.  That was less than fun.
      Every Inchie Monday's word was violet.  My mom had two windows full of beautiful African violets.  She tended them with love and care and they flourished.  Then she passed away and they were left to her daughter (me).  Uh, I still have the pots.  Apparently I do not have my mom's green thumb. 

     Diva's guest challenger asked us to do a tile and use one of her tangles - seton.  This is a really fun and versatile tangle. 

  Thanks for dropping by and leaving me some sunshine!  Have a blessed day!

Permission

      As I probably have mentioned before (maybe more than once), I am a very linear person - at least in lots of respects.  If given a list of things to do, I will generally start at the top and go in an order down the list.  It frustrates me not to be able to accomplish tasks - even ones that I put in front of myself.  All that being said, I have had to give myself "permission" to not finish or even do a challenge.  You have no idea how hard that is on my linear system.  Seriously.  Missing a post on the Diva Challenge or Every Inchie Monday bugs me to no end.  But school work this year is overwhelming - so many new and different things we are responsible for.  My time is chopped up into tiny segments of free time, very tiny.  So I apologize for this post being sooooo long, but I am posting all those things I have completed, but not gotten to write about. 
      I love Every Inchie Monday.  I intend on doing every inchie.  I also cannot help but do them in order even if I am given the entire list for the year.  (Remember the linear glitch?)  I missed last week's word - umbra.  So here is last week and this week's post. 

umbra

vegetable

     Now for the Diva's challenge.  I actually missed 2 of those!  Drives me crazy!  Last week we had to use pink in honor of Diva's grandmother who had breast cancer.  While cancer is prominent in my family, it has been other types.  But cancer is still cancer.  The whole time I was working on this tile, I was thinking of one of my teaching partners.  She has a sister who is fighting this fight.  I said a lot of prayers for them both.

pink

    This week's Diva Challenge was to use the tangle betweed in a monotangle.  I love, love, love betweed!  It is one of my absolute favorites. 

betweed

     Now . . .  I am "caught up".  Oh, unless you count the eleven - really, 11!! - Journal 52 pages I am behind in.  And then there is the tile swap I need to work on.  What about Christmas presents?  And that craft show?!  Oh dear!  Okay, Cathy, take a deep breath and give yourself permission to only do what you want to do and have time to do.  (There is a little tiny voice saying "but I want to do them all" that I am trying to ignore).
     Thanks for finding time to drop by.  I don't get to visit and comment like I want to during school.  So on holidays I try to get to my favorite sites and check everything out.  But I value your comments and time.  Have a blessed day!  I think I shall go and . . . create something! 

Astrobrights Paper Review

     Warning - the brightness of this paper may cause you to need sunglasses! 
      I love paper.  I collect pretty paper for use in my scrapbooks and at school.  So when I opened this box of paper, all I could do was gasp.  It is so bright and . . .  well, flashy.  I love it and I knew immediately my kids at school would love it. 
     My first use was to take some of the cardstock to school and print some task cards for a center.  By using several different colors the pieces to each center could be kept separate.  The kids loved it!  They went on and on about how pretty and bright it was.  I did not have any trouble with using it to run through our copier.  It didn't jam the copier and the ink printed nice and bold despite the color.  I didn't use the dark blue cardstock to print cards on because I was unsure if it would show up.
     After that I tried using it with my Cricut personal cutter to make some bookmarks for my class.  Again it worked very nicely and did not cause the blade to "grab" the way some of my papers do.  The bookmarks (for Halloween) are going to be a great surprise!
     I also cut some of the cardstock into pieces to use to to my tangling on.  The ink holds up well and again I like the boldness.  It also looks great when using gel or glitter pens.  I also like that the both the paper and the cardstock are smooth writing surfaces.  No grabbing my pen as I worked.
     Go to this link to check out the astrobright line of paper and cardstock.  I don't think you will be disappointed in the quality - or the brightness!!

Heavy cardstock minus the yellow

Astrobright high quality paper

Some really great bookmarks!

Every Inchie Monday - ungual

      Webster's dictionary here I come!  I had no idea what an ungual was.  It is a nail - toe nail or animal's nail.  This EIM sure teaches me some new vocabulary!  There should be a way to use this idea in my classroom . . . maybe I will think on that.

     I also had some time to play with my Square One Facebook challenge.  the challenge was to use fengle.   I love that tangle, but like someone else said it is a hard one to tie in with other tangles or to a string. 

     When my brother and I were small there was this game called Barrel of Monkeys.  It was sort of a pick up sticks type game where you had to see how many monkeys you could pick up by connecting their arms and feet.  The whole time I was drawing I could not get this game out of my head - they remind me of the monkeys!
      I missed a couple of challenges this week.  I always hate to do that since they are so much fun, but school work and some other stresses seemed to have sapped a lot of my energy.  Maybe I can get back on track.  Have a blessed day and thanks for dropping by.

A "Few" Challenges

     I have become a Sunday blogger!  I get things finished during the week sometimes, but never find the time to sit and write.  Oh well, better late than never.
     I finished the Every Inchie Monday for tomorrow (early, I might add).  The word is "thistle".  I think those purple flowers are so gorgeous.  I can't possibly think of them as weeds.  They are just too pretty. 

     I worked on Adele Bruno's string challenge this week.  I think the tile looks a bit empty but I like it.  Sometimes I have a tendency to overwork a tile or piece.  I just don't seem to know when to quit.

String Challenge #60

    Diva's challenge this past week was to do a blind string.  I placed my pencil on the edge of the paper, closed my eyes and took off!  This is a fun challenge.  It also helps me to produce strings that are not always so similar. 

Challenge #187

     For one of my facebook groups, we had to use the tangle "pendrils".  I like this tangle.  It is sort of addicting though.  Once you get started you can't seem to stop.  I think it looks pretty cool combined with n'zeppel.

pendrils

     And last but not least, I worked on a submission in a vellum sketch book by Clearprint.  You can use any type of art (of course, I chose tangling) and do one page.  Then you send it back to the company and they send it out to the next person.  I was a bit unsure about drawing on vellum, but now that I have - oh, I love that paper!  Also it sort of shook my confidence when I saw the first page - that artist was awesome.  But I forged ahead and did my page.

     I used a Ben Kwok template and modified it some (very easy to do with vellum). 
     Guess I shall open the school books.  Papers to grade and a notebook to work on.  Have a wonderfully blessed day and thanks for dropping by! 

Every Inchie Monday - Throne

     Here you go!  And really on time for a change!  Wow!  I worked on this over the weekend.  Our word was "throne". 

     I almost did a bathroom throne!  That's my grandpa's funny word for the toilet, but then decided it might not be humorous to everyone. 
     Have a blessed day!

Slow down . . .

    I need to slow down.  This is my third blog post today.  I had two reviews to write and now I can write about the fun stuff.  Well, the products were fun, but drawing is of course the best.
     I finished up Diva's Autumn Leaves challenge.  Got one journal page done and two facebook tiles using the tangle - "betweed", one of my favorites.

Autumn Leaves

Week 39 - In the City

       I think I shall sit back and relax - school work is done, blogs are posted, and supper is cooking.  Thanks for dropping by and I hope you have a blessed day.

Smead Paper product review

     Let's take a look at some paper products by Smead offered by Shoplet.com.  First stop, erasable tab file folders.  Yes, I know you can do that with a pencil.  But I prefer to have a more permanent looking label on things for school.  These standard size file folders will let you write on them with a permanent pen and then reuse them or correct mistakes by erasing.  You need to make sure it is a permanent marker (Sharpie) and a white polymer eraser.  They said not to use ballpoint pens, or pencils - they can smear.  In a pinch, you can use rubbing alcohol to clean the writing area.  I like the way they were easily cleaned up.  I didn't leave the ink on for days, but my guess it that it would perform the same either way.

          Smead also has Erasable Hanging Folders.   They come in 3 colors and function like the folders above - remember permanent pen and white polymer eraser.  I probably should try something else to write with just to prove it doesn't work, but I hate to mess up these really neat folders.  Particularly since I see a need for them at school right away!
       The next part of my package is some more file folders.  But this time they are really different.  The first thing I noticed was, of course, the color.  They are pretty.  I like the bright, eye catching colors.   They are also vertical.  No more taping the sides to make my own.  These vertical folders are closed on two sides and will fit in most file cabinets.  Honestly if I could toss all my old ones and change to these I think I would.

    
     I love organization.  I like the rugged appearance of this organizer by Smead.  It has tiered tabs and a clear windows for easy viewing.  It claims to hold up to 600 sheets of paper and while it seems I have that many papers to grade, I probably won't get around to testing the limits!  It comes with monthly or A-Z tabs and has twelve sections.  I like this and hope to see it hold up better than the brown paper ones I have used.  It says waterproof and while I hope I don't find out, that is nice to know.

 

     Thank you for dropping by and checking out some really nice products.