Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Duotangle for Diva's Challenge

      A duotangle uses only two tangles.  This week Diva challenged us to do a duotangle that used our initials.  Not far to look for my choices. C.  That's it - just C.  C for Cathy.   C for Cusson.  Fortunately there are lots of great choices that start with a C.
     For the first try I used Chard by Linda Farmer and Crescent Moon, which is an official zentangle.  I absolutely love chard.  I use it whenever I can.  It is a favorite go-to tangle.

     Then for number two, I started out with my new absolute favorite - chainging.  That is such a fun tangle.  I also added in some chirps by Jennifer Hohensteiner. 

     Thanks for dropping by and visiting.  Please leave me some sunshine and I hope you have a blessed day. 

Monday, July 28, 2014

Every Inchie Monday and Journal 52

     Every Inchie Monday's word this week was "orange".  Just recently I had finished the first lesson at Derwent's art academy (more about that in a minute).  I decided to incorporate the idea of the first lesson on my inchie.  A juicy, ripe, orange orange.  I love oranges.  However they are something I can no longer eat (at least in the amount I would like).  They spike my sugar something fierce!  But never the less, I do love them.
     Thanks to some of my facebook friends I discovered the Derwent Art Academy.  If you go over and sign up you can take 6 art lessons and then they will send you a set of Derwent pencils (you choose the set you want).  All of this is free!  You can't beat the price!  And the site itself is awesome.  Lots of videos and fun things to explore.  I would suggest checking it out.  Free is free, you know!
     Speaking of words - Journal 52's prompt this week was "Positive Words".  I love to play with fonts so I listed my favorite positive words and then just played around with paints, gel pens and markers. 
Week 30
     I have 3 more journal pages to do to get "caught up".  I doubt that will happen before school starts, but anyway it is a goal, of sorts. 
    Speaking of which, I start school in about 2 weeks.  I have been moved back to the classroom.  I had the opportunity to do a reading and math lab for this past year and absolutely loved it.  It was a thrill and a half to get to do the subject - reading - I love the most.  I don't mind the classroom.  I do mind the suddenness of it.  I hate the move.  I hate the fact I haven't known all summer in order to feel more "ready".  But there are lots of things I am going to love.  I love having my own group.  I love the teaching team I will be with.  I love the room I am moving to (my old room I moved from).  So with the bad comes lots of good.  I just never have liked change very much. 
     Thank you for dropping by and visiting.  Please leave me some sunshine!  Have a blessed day!

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Truffle

    The Diva has another guest to post this week with a challenge.  This challenge comes from Caroline Broady and we are to use her tangle - truffle.  This is a really pretty tangle with lots of opportunities for variations.  I decided on a monotangle - a tile using just this tangle.
Thanks for dropping by and leaving me some sunshine.  Have a blessed day.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Odd, Houses, or Maybe Just Odd Houses

     My days of endless creativity are fast fading.  Insert crying.  I do get so spoiled by having the time to just draw and paint and such.  I won't miss those challenges I love, I will just be much slower in getting them up. 
     Every Inchie Monday's word this week is "odd".  My first thought was Odd Thomas, a character in several of Dean Koontz's books.  But I am not a huge fan of that series and I wasn't sure how to represent it, so I went with a much more common interpretation - odd numbers.  I stamped them on my inchie and them helped them out with some color from my gel pens.  Plain but I sort of like it.
Odd
     I am loving the challenges over at Whimsy and Zen.  Last week we had to draw a garden.  This week our challenge was to do houses.  I knew the moment I read it what I wanted.  (I love it when that happens).  I enjoy playing with stacks.  I have several houses pinned on my Pinterest board - whimsical ones.  I decided to combine the two and make a "High Rise".
High Rise
    Quite honestly, I love that one.  I debated a bit over whether to color it or not, but decided to just go black and white.  Great template, Kelly and lots of fun!
     Just a few shots of my "guy".  Isn't he the prettiest thing?  Okay I know I am prejudiced, but really you have to agree!  One hundred and ten pounds of major spoiled BABY.

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

Product Reviews

3-in-1 Planner

    When I saw this product I immediately thought of using it for my monthly menus.  I plan by the month and this calendar with all of its features was going to work perfectly.  Not so.  It is a perfect calendar.  It has an area for using push pins (included) and it is magnetic (magnets included) and the area that has the calendar is nice and large to write on.  What's the problem?  Not one thing with this really cool board - I don't have a space on a kitchen wall that it will fit on!  Those wonderfully large boxes that I was so excited about need a nice large board.  I have carried it around the house trying to find a place to hang it all day.  I have a bedroom wall that will work, but that is a bit far for menu planning.  So . . . this beauty of a planner will probably go to school with me and serve a different purpose - if my custodian can hang it on our wall.  It comes with all the necessary hardware to hang it with and is a good deal at Shoplet for around $40.00. 

     It cleans easily and is very sturdy.  It also has a dry erase pen, push pins and magnets.  It will look nice hanging on my classroom wall (just not as nice as I would like it to have looked in my kitchen).

Pen and Note Holder

     On my desk at school, I have a rather lovingly abused black plastic pen and paper holder.  It works and I never thought about replacing it.  This is going to do just that.  It is super shiny and heavy duty.   I like it. 
     It has spaces for lots of paperwork and will hold 4 pens or pencils.  I like the heavy duty feel it has (and the shine).  The wide base gives it a very sturdy feel.  It can be purchased at Shoplet for around $12.00.  That seems a bit pricey to me, but considering its heavy construction that may not be so pricey after all. 

Store-It Box

     Nicely constructed this storage box is a pretty good value at Shoplet for around $24.00.  I like the bright red color and the fact that I can lock it.  It is not fireproof.  I  also think it might not be very handy to protect valuables.  A person could simply take the box and crowbar it open.  However, in a home situation where medicines or other items needed to be locked away from small ones, it would do nicely.  It could not be easily opened without the key. 
     I don't really have valuables that need this so I plan on using it to store my array of medications.  It will keep them together in one place and should the need ever arise that I have to grab them (bad weather or such) it would make it easy to do so.  I also plan on decorating the outside with some pens just to make it "my own". 
    While writing a review for the Shoplet site, I saw where someone else said she was going to use use it for a "mystery" box in her classroom - oh, great idea!  Now I have to decide where this would best be used.  Or maybe I need two?

Tablet Stand

     Several months ago I reviewed a great tablet stand.  It had an adjustable viewing angle and turned on a swivel base to allow easy viewing.  My brother tried it out for me and I haven't seen it since!  He loves using it.  Until now.   This stand looks rather low key compared to the other one.  It is heavy duty steel constructed and appears to be one piece of steel.  It doesn't angle.  It doesn't rotate.  It basically just sits there and very securely holds your tablet.  Not fancy.  I talked him into trying this one out at the computer he works and games at.  I think I am going to get the other one back and this one has disappeared!
     Because it does not move, it holds a tablet firmly in place when you try to touch the screen for something.  It has a smaller base that fits on (our) the desk easier.  The heavy duty feel gives you a feeling of security.  Over all, it is a fantastic piece of steel.  One piece - nothing to break or become worn.  This sells for around $17.00 and in my opinion it is well worth it if you need the stand on your desk.  I can use it in the kitchen for recipes from my tablet.  It will work well at school for kids using tablets.  I also plan to try using it for my Gypsy (Cricut cutting aid) if I can wrestle it away. 

     Thanks for dropping by and checking out these products.  You can find them at Shoplet.com.  Have a blessed day.




Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Mid week creativity

       Every Inchie Monday's word was "navy".  I debated on whether to use the color or go with the military unit.  I decided on both in a way.  I cut a navy inchie and then added an anchor to represent the US Navy.  A little pen work and there you go!
     Diva's guest blogger asked us to do a BYOB challenge.  We could see this any way we liked really.  My two top beverages are hot chocolate (with flavored coffee creamer, yum!) and water with those flavored "drops" in it.  Creature of excitement, aren't I?  I fixed my water and then took a spoonful of the strawberry watermelon mixture and drizzled it on some water color paper.  It really isn't as pretty as I wish it were.  Sort of faded looking.  But if it counts, the water was good!
      While we are not doing a daily challenge over at Whimsy and Zen we have started a weekly challenge.  This week we were given a "template".  Well, it was a template even if it only had a few random lines and dots on the page.  Then we had to grow a fantasy garden.  I had a blast!  I grew my garden then pulled out some watercolor pencils to add the color. 
Whimsy Garden
      Since I cannot keep a plant alive for anything, I rather like I can "grow" a paper garden.  I don't even have to weed it!
      Have a great week and I hope you have lots of blessings come your way!  Thanks for dropping by!


Saturday, July 12, 2014

Happy day!

     I have spent too much of this summer in a fret.  Over a variety of things - some not worth it, some more than important.  But still not something I should have done.  Worrying accomplishes nothing.  It belittles my faith.  It weakens me both spiritually and physically.  So I am going to try very hard to not focus on those things causing me distress.  So, HAPPY DAY!
     I finished up my challenge for Diva to use the tangle "crux".  I like this tangle, but think I need to work on loosening it up a bit.  Nevertheless, here it is.
     Here is another tile I worked on this week for Adele Bruno's string challenge.  We had to use the tangles - purk, printemps, pippin, and prestwood. 
     Please don't forget to check out my art work over at cathy-cusson.fineartamerica.com.  I would love to hear your comments.  I hope to get a "button" for the this page, but for now . . .
      Thank you for dropping by and I hope you have a very blessed day! 

Monday, July 7, 2014

Every Inchie Monday - Negative

       Negative thoughts?  Negatives of photographs?  Nevagive energy?  All reasonable thoughts.  I chose to do a picture showing negative and positive space.  We used to do these large all the time in the classroom and they were quite stunning - even cut by little hands.  I decided not to cut but the results are the same.

       I also worked on a paper collage for my week 25 of Journal 52.  The theme was nature inspired.  I had gotten some new scrapbook paper and it was just begging to be used.
Week 25

       Don't forget to visit my on-line art "store"  at cathy-cusson.fineartamerica.com.  I would love to see some comments and have some followers over there.  If you are interested in occaisionally getting an email update from me about what I have placed in the store, please leave me your email in the comment below.  I promise there will not be an over abundance of them - I can't seem to settle down and get the first one written, lol.  Any suggestions you have for making this a good venture for me I would appreciate.  Also I would love it if you shared my "store" with your friends.
     Thank you for dropping by and I hope you have a blessed day!

Friday, July 4, 2014

Lots to Share

     Busy week.  Well, busier than my usual sit and draw sort of week.  The first of the month always is - bills, groceries and other life nonsense.  I have had some of these done for a few days, but haven't sat down to write.  (I need Kelly making me do this for 30 days straight!).
      Every Inchie Monday's word was "maroon".  My first thought was of the color.  I could not find any maroon paper in my stash.  So I looked up the word in the dictionary.  I wanted to make sure the color and the other meaning - to be stranded somewhere - were spelled the same.  They were.  So I drew an island and put a person and a boat stranded there.  And of course I hummed or softly sang the theme to "Gilligan's Island" the entire time I worked.
     This next tile is just something I did one afternoon when I needed some "play time".  I wanted to play around some with phicops and had also just seen Alice Hendon's new tangle "tootsie moon".  That needed some attention.
     One of the things I have enjoyed playing with this summer is my zendala maker stencils from Genevieve Crabe.  This one has some more of "tootsie moon" plus some other tangles I love.

      Finally made it to Michael's to shop for some things.  I had a gift card from Christmas that was begging to be spent.  So we went up this week and I had Christmas in July!  What fun.  It was also nice to go somewhere for a bit away from the house.  I really haven't had much energy this summer and so this was a real treat.  One of the things I got was a package of stickers to finish up my journal page.  The theme was "travel".  I will probably never actually get to France, but I can dream.
Week 22
      I also got my "store" started over at Fine Art America.  I would love for you to go over and check out the few things I have put up.  I also would love if you could leave me a comment over there or perhaps follow me!  That would be super.  My dream is to get this moving so it can help out in planning for (one day) being able to retire.  Keep me in mind for birthdays and other gifts!  You can find me at cathy-cusson.fineartamercia.com.  Thanks for looking!
      Thanks for dropping by and leaving me some sunshine.  Have a blessed day!