Days 56 and 57

Day 56

     Snow is heading our way so we missed school today.  I am going to forget what my kiddos look like!  I also am going to suffer when I have actually work an entire full week.   Yikes!  I will not deny enjoying this time to create stuff and relax, but I do miss being on a schedule - even if at times it is hectic.  I also did not bring anything home (again) so I may be without the ability to do any school work this weekend if we don't return.  Pity me!
      Adele Bruno has a wonderful string challenge going.  This week we had to use the tangles phroz and fassett.  I had not spent much time with these but discovered they were a lot of fun.

Day 57

     Yes indeed we did get snow!  Lots of snow!  So here I am at home yet again, but this time the ground is a gorgeous white.  We had snow cream late last night - yum!  I hadn't made that in years.  Today we went out and played in the snow with Lakota.  He loves this almost as much as we do.  We threw snowballs and he caught them.  Then we had to throw his beat up football and the Frisbee so he could chase them down. 

 

     While inside I did finish up a tile I started yesterday.  This - eeks! - wasn't for a challenge, just for fun. 

 

     Oh, before I forget it!   Guess who won the essential oils package that Erin Olsen over at the Bright Owl was giving away???  Yep, me!!  That was a cool surprise this morning!  Thank you, Erin!

 

     Thank you for dropping by and I hope you have a blessed day.

 

Days 54 and 55

Day 54

     Very hard to get up this morning and return to the routine!  No delays, just an agonizing 6 in the morning.  But all in all, it was nice to return to school and see my kiddos.  They were all happy to be back.  For some of mine perhaps, school is where it is warm and they have good food.  Sad.
     This afternoon after grading a few papers, I worked on Suzy Mosh's New to Me challenge.  This week we had to use new tangles that began with the letter N.  Do you know what?  I have almost no N tangles in my trusty notebook.  And the ones I do have are not new.  So using more than one tangle was not going to happen.  I chose (or rather it chose me) Nexxus by Jeanne Burbage.  Since it had to go solo, I played around with a bit of color. 

Day 55 and a new tangle??

       Remember how excited I was yesterday to have some normalcy?  I got a school cast call this morning at 5:30.  No school.  I looked outside to a white covered world.  Really???  I have been sitting here drawing and playing around with supplies.  While that is fun, no argument, I sort of miss getting back into the "grind".  And I also hate the thought of possibly going too far into my summer. 
      I worked first on the challenge for Made by Joey.  We had to use blocks and stack them - 3 on the bottom, then 2, then 1.  I added a few supports around the blocks - they looked a bit un steady. 

     Diva's challenge was to use tools that you didn't usually use.  I rarely use black tiles.  I did my drawing in gel pens - nothing really unusual there, except I only use gel pens for coloring not doing the tangles in.  The lines are too thick and bulky for me.  

     One of my absolute favorite tangles is Arabel by Helena.  I use it every chance I get.  I like the curvy flow - well, everything about this tangle appeals to me!  I wanted to use it for the Diva challenge, but couldn't figure out how to do the boxes so they could be in different colors.  (sometimes, I can be a bit, uh, anal . . . )  So I decided to "release" arable from it's confines!  I really like how the curves can be fitted in with each other.  I am not sure this a new tangle or merely a tangleation - but either way it is fun.

     What do you think?  A new one or just some fun playing?  Does it need a name?  If so, what?!
      Thank you for dropping by and saying hello!  I think I will be back in school tomorrow, but who knows?  They are predicting a bigger blast on Wednesday afternoon / night.  Oh my.  My lesson plans may last until April at this rate.  Have a blessed day!

Day 53

     Amazing!!!  No school work!  Well, actually I do have school work.  Papers to grade, things I wanted to look over, you get the idea.  However they are all on my desk at school.  "Miss Smarty" never thought we wouldn't be at school on Friday.  I guessed at a 2 hour delay, but to miss the whole day?  No chance.  Wrong.  But then again, if I actually have a complete weekend and no work once in a year's time, who is to complain?  Normally I work all Sunday on school work.  Yahoo!  Not today. 
     I found another challenge.  Okay, I don't need another challenge, but this one looks like fun.  The site is Made by Joey.  The challenge this week was to draw a lot of circles - polka dots.  They couldn't overlap and had to be filled with a different tangle in each.  This was fun.  It is sort of a polka dot tangle sampler.   I think I will try this with my art club.  They will enjoy this.

     Thank you for dropping by and leaving me some sunshine!  Have a great day!

Day 52

       Last night late the snow we got was soft and fluffy and absolutely perfect!  This morning it is icing so the snow is hard and crunchy.  Rough on Lakota's feet.  Not any fun to play in either.  But we enjoyed it a bit last night.
      I worked on my several projects today.  Some are not quite complete.  I will hang on to those to use this week for the 365 days of creating!  I know this week will be busy, so projects needing just a bit to finish might come in handy. 
      For Square One - Purely Tangles (a facebook group), we had to use the tangle "stircles".  I was okay with that tangle, but after combining it with nzeppel (which I love), I felt satisfied with the results.  Honestly, it probably won't get a LOT of use, but it was fun to try it out.

     Our Journal52 prompt was aromatherapy.  Really?!  I had absolutely no clue as to what to do.  So I went to google and googled images.  Sounds crazy huh?  But there were lots of them.  So I found one I liked and then pulled out my watercolors and gave it a try.  As you can see, I am not the world's best painter.  I see what I want in my mind, however it doesn't always happen on the paper.  Either way, it is done.

     I went ahead and worked on my inchie for Monday.  The weather is bad and I am on a creative roll.  Yahoo!  The prompt was "snail".  Mine is simple, but cute.

     Now . . .  what next?  I think I will play around in my sketch book for a while.  Or maybe go make some lunch.  Yep, that is a plan.  Thank you for dropping by and I hope your day is filled with blessings. 

Day 51

     Crazy week for school!  Off Monday for a holiday, Tuesday for ice, Wednesday for actual snow - not much but it was white for a few moments, Thursday was a 2 hour delay because of temp.  I just knew Friday would be delayed also.  I "knew" so well, I left school computer and papers to grade at school.  Figured I would get them Friday.  Imagine my shock when Friday was cancelled altogether.  We are expecting a wintery mix some time this afternoon and they did not want to chance an early dismissal after doing a 2 hour delay.  Now I could whine and wish I had my school work - yeah, right.  I have a three day weekend and I can't do any school work!  Oh woe is me!  Don't worry about me though, I will find something to occupy my time.
     Day 51 - I finished up my challenge for Adele Bruno's string challenge.  We had to use the tangle patterns kozy and inaura.  Neither one were ones I had spent any time with.  They didn't seem to fit in the string we had to use so well - at least for me.  It will be interesting to see what others do.  I added a bit of color to "help" it out.  Not my favorite, but fun.

       Last post I mentioned my facebook friend that passed away, Millie Galliher.  Our group is doing tiles and pieces of art to honor her.  The admins are going to put all of these together and share with her family.  Her nickname was the "Mooka Maven" because she had worked with that tangle so much and done so many wonderful variations of it.  I decided to use some mooka in my tile for her.  I know I said it before but this loss has really shaken me.  I suppose one could say I didn't really know her, but how do we determine that?  I feel like I did.  I wish I had been actually around her.  But to those of you out there in blog-land I cherish your friendship.  It may appear fleeting or minor, but you are an important part of my life!  And don't you ever forget that!

    Thank you for dropping by and I wish for you a wonderfully blessed day! 

Day 50 - Year of the Goat!

     It has been a roller coaster week.  Each day, the question of "will we go to school?"  comes up early.  Then there was the loss of a person I went to school with.  I hadn't thought of Chris for years and then there was her picture and all those memories.  Right on the heels of that was a lot of concern from one of my facebook groups about locating a member - Milldred Galliher.  It was discovered she had passed away.  I never met Millie, but I consider her a friend.  She had a fun personality and was always so encouraging of others.  All in all, it has been a bit of a rough week.  To top it all off, I think the weather is causing me some leg pain.  Yep, rough week. 
      Diva's Challenge was to do a tile for the Year of the Goat.  Mine is pretty simple, but I like it.

      I hope you are having a blessed week.  Take care and stay warm!

Days 48 and 49

     Day 48 - Suzy Mosh's New to Me Challenge gave me an opportunity to work with Helen Williams's tangle "steps".  I love the look but hadn't been able to feel comfortable with it until now.  I also add some other new "s" tangles - stonework, square in a square, and slender.  This was a fun challenge.  Sometimes the biggest challenge is finding new tangles.  So far I have been able to keep all the tangles on a piece new and starting with the selected letter.  Not bad, huh?

Day 49 - Finally got back to the Journal52 page.  The prompt was Valentines.  I got several cute cards from my kiddos at school, - boxes of yummy sugar free chocolate too.  I thought I wanted to do more of a Valentine from a more serious "love" perspective.   So I went to my favorite chapter of the Bible, Corinthians, and used it as my inspiration.  After all, that to me is the greatest Valentine ever given.

  I hope you are having a wonderful day!  Take care and thank you for dropping by!