Yahoo! It's Monday!

    Yes.  You read that correctly.  It is nice that it is Monday.  Now don't get me wrong, I could use a few more days in this past weekend.  We all could probably.  But Monday means inchies.  And that is great!  This week's word was "dark".  I can't wait to see what the talents of this group put together, because this one was a bit hard.  I decided on a night time scene - after all it is dark.  It makes it somewhat hard to see, but . . . it is dark.

     I finished up two of my journal pages this weekend.  I was "behind" three pages.  Now only one.  Week six the prompt was "the lost art of love letters".   While cleaning out a drawer near my work space I found an email I had printed.  Several years ago, my brother woke up gasping for breath - for a few minutes - it seemed like hours - he simply could not breath.  It goes without saying it terrified both of us.  Facing something like that changes the perspective one sees things with.  The note tucked in the pocket on my journal page is an email my brother sent me the Monday following the "incident", which by the way we think was an allergic reaction to a sinus medicine.  It very simply and beautifully thanks me for being there for him and the things I have done for him throughout our life.  He doesn't say much but he took the chance to say a lot that morning.  I am glad to have a "baby" brother who is also my best friend. 
    You might notice the pocket is my tangle I said had another use for.  I have to say, it was somewhat hard to cut it to fit the page.  Yikes!

  The next week we had to do a journal page with the prompt, "when I grow up".    Well, I haven't grown up too much.  But when I do I know exactly what I want to be - an artist.

   Thanks for dropping by - have a great week!

Review: Kantek Folding Tablet Stand

   

 Shoplet sent me a Kantek folding tablet stand to have a look at.  It is fun to get a product to review that is one you are going to get a lot of use out of.  This stand will hold a 7" - 10" tablet and something else, but more about that later.  It rotates 360 degrees.  It can be used with the tablet in portrait or landscape mode.  It also folds for convenient storage.  You can find this at on Shoplet's website for considerably less at $19.99 than I found it anywhere else on the web, including my usual go-to Amazon.
     Our house has access to three different tablets so trying out the stand wasn't difficult.  My brother does a lot of flight sims and racing programs on our computer.  In addition to the program on the computer he has apps he uses to supplement the program.  While the tablet case has a way to prop it open, the angle makes the tablet hard to see.  So he took our Asus tablet and put it on our desk using the stand.  It was a little bulky fit for the stand with the case on, but it works.  The one problem is the rotating stand - which is basically good.  The issue is there is no way to lock the stand so if you bump it or reach for the tablet it shifts position.  A lock on the rotation would be wonderful.
    

      I use the school's ipad when I teach class.  Lots of times small groups of children rather than one child is utilizing the tablet.  This stand makes it easy to set up for several children to be able to see the screen (and not fuss about who is holding the tablet!).  I would love to purchase another one for classroom use only.

    The last tablet I checked it on was my Acer.  The cover I have on the Acer is pretty thick and that made it impossible to put the tablet on the stand in the vertical position.  However I was able to get it in placing the tablet horizontally - but it was snug.  I think if I was going to use the stand and tablet a lot together I would probably take it out of the cover or buy a slimmer one.

     The next picture gives you an idea of the back and the different angles you can use.  Having more than one angle makes it easy to find one that helps with glare and also gives you a choice as to what is easier for you to see.

    And now for my greatest discovery about this stand -  it will hold my gypsy.  My gypsy is a hand held device that connects to my Cricut cutting machine.  It is about the size of a game-boy.  I have trouble holding the machine for long periods of time while designing.  It hurts my hand.  But . . . it fits on this stand!  Now with the cover on my gypsy, it doesn't fit snug, but it works.  I absolutely love this unplanned for feature. 

     Check out the Shoplet links and this really cool product.  It is well worth the money if you have a tablet you use on a table or desk (or a gypsy designing machine). 

Challenge #155, A little white space

   Like I have others say, I have to remind myself to leave some white areas.  I fight the feeling of not being "finished".  I admire those beautiful tiles that have things floating around them - so serene.  I often start out with that in mind and then - oops, where did it go?  Even on this tile I sort of overdid the background shading turning my "white" space into somewhat of a gray space. 

 

      Thank you for dropping by.  Hope your week has been wonderful!

Dare #92

     The template from Erin over at Bright Owl was awesome this week.  Wait.  Do I say that nearly every week?   Well, even so, they are awesome.  The first one I did is going to reappear soon on my page for Journal 52.  I plan on using it there, so you will see it again.  I stamped over the template and then just played around on it.  Fun.  When I finished I had an idea for my journal page. 

    The next go at this template took off with out consulting me.  I really didn't have a plan exactly.  I began by drawing what I thought was going to be a rather geometric filled tile.  Then I glanced at it.  I saw Easter lilies.   I could not shake that image so the lilies took over. 

Easter lilies

     On the last one, I just played around.  No particular plan and nothing "took over".  I did want to use my own tangle, "zanzee", which I did around the border.  Other than that just tangle playtime!!

   Thank you for dropping by.  School is back from the snow days and I feel a bit swamped with planning - again.  I am hoping this will fall into a routine if the weather ever lets us get in to one. 

Every Inchie and some extras

    Needless to say, I have been having some serious fun with crafting these last few days.  Our school was called off for 4 days last week so . . . ahem . . . having nothing better to do - I worked on projects.  De - light - ful!  But now as I think about 6 a.m. in the morning and getting back into the routine . . .
    Every Inchie Monday's word was dual.  Seriously?  What on earth to do?  I can't wait to see the creativity this group will show in dealing with this word.  My entry is somewhat lame, but I could not think of anything unique.  I took a dual tipped marker and drew on my inchie.  Really creative, huh. 

     The next two things are not for any project or anything, just having some fun.  I saw a grouping of nine tiles that someone had tangled on and decided I would try doing a grouping of 4.  I cut a 7x7 piece of paper, drew the string, then cut them apart and didn't look at how they went back together until I finished all four.  Sort of fun. 

Four square

     Hope you have a nice week and thank you for dropping by and - hopefully - leaving me some sunshine.  Oh, and by the way, the groaning you will hear around 6 a. m. tomorrow morning will be me so do not be alarmed.

Snow again!

     I went to school on Monday.  Then Monday afternoon they called off school for Tuesday and Wednesday.  When I woke up on Tuesday I could not believe we didn't go to school, until that is I saw pictures of people who live closer to the school than me on Facebook.  Oh my.  They got a lot of snow.  My turn came this morning when my blast of snow arrived.  And it is still snowing several hours later.  The only issue I have with this wonderful white stuff is I really don't want to go to school all summer.  That would not be fun.
     I got to take time and finish up some dares and challenges.  Yahoo!  I finished up Bright Owl's dare first.  The moment I saw this template I loved it.  But for the life of me, I had one major struggle with getting tangles to look like they belonged in it. 

     Diva's challenge was to think Valentines!  She called this challenge - Valentangles!  I love that word.  It is a fun word.  I think I shall use that word when I tangle with my art club at school - I had hoped to tangle some Valentines with them.

      My journal group - Journal 52 - is already moving ahead to week 6.  I took some time to finish week 5.  The prompt was to do something abstract.  I have loved looking at other people's abstracts,  but I am not an abstract artist.  I used some of my brother's model car paints - the shiniest ones I could find and randomly painted and "smeared" them about my page.  Pretty, but not enough.  I then drew lines and tangled some.  Still lacking.  How about collage?  Sure.  I glued on papers and things.  Last while I know words are not usually part of abstracts - at least not sentences - I decided to include my main thoughts while making this - Where do I start and When do I end?  I am calling this one finished.  I have two good ideas for week 6.  My problem there will be to choose. 

     I hope you all are having a wonderful week.  Mine is definitely eventful - at least with snow.  Please leave me a comment if you can.  I love hearing from you!

Chocolate

  Ah, the title alone catches most everyone's attention.  Just the mere mention of that word makes most people's mouth water.  A long time ago when I was still going on family vacations with mom and dad, we went to Hershey, Pa.  I firmly believe that the town smelled like chocolate.  Seriously.  It was a wonderful trip where we got to tour the Hershey factory and of course sample a "few" items.
  Every Inchie Monday's word this week was "chocolate".  My first thought was to buy a random sampling of all sorts of chocolate bars and candies and use the wrappers.  Then I decided a more common sense - while not at all as much fun - approach for my diabetic self would be better.  My brother in the interest of bettering the art community did offer to help with the idea.  How sweet!
  The more common sense approach involved searching through way too much scrapbook paper to find some that I knew had pieces of chocolate all over it.  Then I tore off some aluminum foil and proceeded to try to mold a tiny Hershey kiss.  I think it turned out pretty cool, but I still think the first idea was more . . .uh . . . delicious.

    Thank you for dropping by and visiting.  Please leave me some sunshine - on this very cold day, I need it!

Mid week Goodies!

    First of all, a birthday"gift" and best wishes to Erin at the Bright Owl!  She does such an awesome job providing us with a zendala template each week, despite her busy schedule with nursing school.  Thank you, Erin and here is my birthday tangle for you - "maelstrom" by Linda Dawson.  Oh, I love using this tangle.  It has so many pretty ways to put those boxes together!  I also did a twinchie with just maelstrom and its variations for a swap.

Erin's birthday zendala - Maelstrom

Maelstorm twinchie

       Every Inchie Monday's word was cathedral.  This is the third attempt.  I had great ideas but non of them seemed to work out.  This one turned out okay, but it isn't what I envisioned.

Cathedral

    Diva's challenge was to use the tangle "Jailed Johnny" on a tile.  Aside from adding this one to my notebook, I haven't really used it.  It hasn't been one of my favorites, however, I do like the way it turned out here, sort of a fabric look to the piece.

challenge with Jailed Johnny

    Have a great week and thank you for dropping by!