I just switched to the new version of Blogger. So what's different? I see nothing!

The year's quickly coming to an end. Hard to believe that I didn't have to work this entire year (retirement is wonderful). It's flown by at the speed of sound. I've had such a wonderful time creating my drawings, jewelry, and other creations. I can't imagine ever tiring of creating, so I'll have lots to keep me occupied for the next 40 or 50 years. I'm going to live to be really old. :-)

The big excitement last week was the sale of another vehicle! The 1994 Isuzu Trooper we owned had been sitting in the driveway, mostly undriven, for the past year. One more shot at listing a vehicle on eBay, and what do you know!?!? It sold. Yahoooooo. The buyer was from Texas, so he flew into town to pick up the vehicle, arriving on Christmas Eve. He had a long drive back home, almost 17 hours, but an email confirmed that he made it safely. The bare spot in the driveway still shocks us a bit, but it certainly is nice to have that vehicle out of here.

Reading... Recently finished Stephen King's new book, Lisey's Story. It was pretty good. Like Misery, it made me feel as if he was including autobiographical tidbits within the story. I also just finished reading Scott Smith's The Ruins. He wrote A Simple Plan, which I really enjoyed, so I had to have this one. His books are really page turners.

No new drawings for awhile now. I'll have to get out my pens and paper and start drawing. It's been busy around here: going out to eat, visiting friends and relatives, having friends and relatives visiting us. One more event, later this afternoon, and then things'll be back to normal and I can draw again. I also want to play around with the watercolors more. I'm really frustrated at not being able to capture a good scan or photo of the watercolors I've done already. Maybe I'll try photographiing them outside today -- natural light seems to help sometimes.

The latest creations? Magnets. Glass magnets, to be exact. Some small ones (3/4" diameter) and some larger ones (1-1/4" diameter). They're such fun to make, if a bit stinky. I'd like to find a different adhesive to adhere the images to the glass. Although the E-6000 works really well, it sure smells bad!

I've already sold a few of these on Etsy. The most recent sale was to someone in England, so my little magnets are gaining international attention! :-)

Lunch out yesterday and today with friends from where I used to work. That was fun. Catching up on all the work stuff (since I haven't worked in more than a year) and realizing all over again just how happy I am not to be working there any more! It sounds like nothing's changed -- reorganizations and the end-of-year crises that always occur. One of the friends was recently promoted, though, so that's good news.

I'm still working on those little magnets. They're fun to make, but they sure are messy. I went to the craft store today to try to find an alternative to the adhesive I'm using. The container doesn't have a good nozzle, so I spread the adhesive with a toothpick, and those little adhesive strings get all over everything. It's a bit smelly, too. I bought two new types and have just tried one of them. Sadly, I don't think it's going to work. I'll try the other one tomorrow, after this first sample has a chance to dry.

I've also delved into watercolor!!! I've always been fascinated by the patterns and colors I see in some watercolor paintings, so I decided to try some out for myself. Out came my Canson watercolor paper, brushes, and water. I first had to create a bunch of small drawings (because I didn't want to get carried away and do something large to begin with). So my normal little turtles, cats, and snails adorn the watercolor paper. I painted a few of them, and they're really fun!!! I think I'll probably continue to do these off and on, and I hope my technique improves. I find myself having to wet down sections to try to correct them because I don't like the way the paint flows. It's a very different medium for me, as I'm used to the total control of my pens. I guess it's a good thing to give up control sometimes...

Some of the watercolors are posted here, but the images aren't nearly as nice as the real-life ones. I tried scanning them, but the scan doesn't pick up the detail. So these are photographs. The colors are much better in person. But you'll have to take my word for it. I've listed a couple of them on Etsy just to see how they do.

Blue-Eyed Turtle:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5141735

Skinny Purple Cat:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5141761

My blog is feeling neglected. Don't ask me how I know that. It's not communicating with me in any way. I just had this niggling feeling that it wanted to be talked to. So here I am. Talking to my blog. Or in my blog.

Let's see... What's new since the beginning of December? I can't believe that's the last time I posted anything here. I'm really very chatty and I type fast, so it's just not like me to be this quiet. Maybe I'm just being chatty enough in other places that I don't feel the need to do it here.

I decided a few days ago to venture into the world of making glass magnets. They look so cool, and I ran across some articles on the internet (isn't this a swell place?) about how they're made. It seemed relatively easy, so I decided to try it. Here's one listed on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5129371

Now that I'm here, I can't think of a single interesting thing to insert. I'll just post a picture of my magnet and be done for the day! :-)

Crows have invaded my drawing space. I'm not sure why, but I've just had the urge to draw crows. Maybe it's because I recently saw a bunch of them searching for food in our back yard. Whatever the case, I've created quite a few crows, some with Christmas themes and some just cool dudes.

Holy cow!

It's November 27. And it's been 20 days since I last posted to this blog.

It's not that I haven't been doing anything. Far from it, in fact. Traveling. Visiting friends in Long Island (and could someone PLEASE tell me why New Jersey is called the Garden State? I just don't see it). Then home for ONE day. Then to Door County, Wisconsin, to visit in-laws.

What a hectic few weeks it's been.

I managed to fit a bit of drawing in, but that's about it. So I'll post some pictures here, just so I can feel like I've accomplished something.

Communication. That's what it's all about. I created this ACEO and received several comments, all from women, about how true it seems. Apparently I'm not the only wife out there who's having trouble being understood...

Check it out on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180047313162

Missiles and Toads
My husband and I don't speak the same language. Oh, he'll tell you he's speaking English,and he might speak it when he's around other people. But when he's talking to me it's in some dialect I don't understand

I've said for years that my side of the conversationusually just consists of, "What?", "Huh?", "What did you say?"

I don't think he can understand me either, though.I think I'm speaking clearly. E - NUN - CI - A - TING everything just as it should be. But he doesn't understand.

Maybe it's not the clarity of the speech at all.Maybe it has something to do with the gender difference. Men just expect to hear something else. You know, something manly.

Maybe I'll do my own decorating this year. The missiles and toads just aren't what I was expecting.

The Massage Chair. It's a wonderful thing. It's a beast, but it's a wonderful thing. My husband's wanted one for years, and he finally got his wish. It was picked out on Wednesday, after a couple of hours of testing in the showroom. Having figured out that the furniture in the living room would require rearranging to accommodate the new beast, I waited until my husband was away from the house so I could move everything around to suit myself. We had talked about the new arrangement, but I was the one to execute it. After all, what's the point of getting a brand new massage chair and then having to use it immediately because your back's out from moving furniture!?!? I have my own method of moving -- shove everything into place using mostly leg muscles. No sore backs for me.

So Friday at 10:30am the beast showed up with two guys. It was wrestled up the walkway, into the door, and out of its packaging. It now proudly adorns a space in the living room with prime viewing distance and direction to the TV. And boy, has it been used!!! He's enjoying it very much and says that his back already feels better.

Creations... hmmm... let's see. What's new since I posted here last?

My WEBSITE!!! It's finally up and running, even though it still looks kind of sad and unprofessional. I'm working on it though. I figured I should get something up there since I've owned the domain for a YEAR!!! Talk about procrastination. Actually, I blame it on my gnat-like attention span. Too many other things occupying my time lately.

So if you wanna check it out, here it is: http://www.time2cre8.com

I'm currently filling it up with images of my artwork. Soon enough it'll have jewelry, knitting, and some of the other things I've created on there. With any luck, I'll even post some pictures and creations that have never been seen.

Now I'm going to go work on it some more.

Signs that you're at a bad restaurant. Seriously. Even with a coupon for one free meal, sometimes it's just not worth it.

Yesterday's dining experience:

1. There's no sign on the restaurant. Well, there's a sign, but it's not the name on the coupon.
2. There's no number, so you have to narrow down the location by driving up and down the street.
3. You finally stop at the one building that appears to be a restaurant, although it has a different name, and ask one of the exiting patrons. He's plastered. Doesn't know the restaurant. Thinks for a minute. Slaps his forehead (really -- I thought that only happened in movies or cartoons). Remembers that the restaurant is attached to the bar he's leaving.
4. When entering the door of the establishment, you're hit with a wave of cigarette smoke that could knock out an elephant.
5. The sign at the front of the restaurant, which happens to be hidden underneath some garland at the cash register (I have eagle eyes), says the coupons from the publication where our coupon came from are not being honored. We ask the hostess. It's next year's coupons that are being nixed. We can use ours. (We will come to regret this.)
6. The waitress has bad dental work and a bad bleach job.
7. Items that are on 'special' are not eligible for the coupon. Half the menu items are on 'special', although this does not mean that they are all reduced in price.
8. The coffee poured by the waitress, at the table, is barely lukewarm.
9. When asked for spoons, the waitress points to the little basket containing the sugar and creamer and says there's a spoon there. There is. One spoon. Apparently everyone at the table must share the spoon. Who knows -- maybe they've been playing spoons and things have just gotten out of hand.
10. The request for new coffee results in the waitress having to make a fresh pot. This takes ten minutes.
11. Did you know that a 'special skinless baked potato' is really a boiled potato? Come on!
12. Dinner is served. We have no utensils. The waitress exhibited Olympics-like speed when exiting the table, so we had to find our own. We opted not to attempt to eat our dinner with the single allotted spoon.
13. The food is actually okay, skinless baked potato aside. Except that the grilled shrimp I ordered is COVERED with pepper. I'm not a big pepper fan, so I only eat half. I got tired of trying to scrape seasonings off.
14. Waitress returns to table to ask for our coupon so she can adjust the bill. She returns 15 minutes later. Since we didn't see her for the entire time, we can only presume one of two things -- she was having a cigarette (the smoke must have been thinning) or there were numbers to be carried in the math that had to be performed to account for the coupon.
15. Discover Card is placed in the pocket in the bill portfolio. This is the portfolio with 'Discover' proudly emblazoned on the front.
16. Waitress returns ten minutes later. Despite the portfolio, the restaurant doesn't accept Discover Cards.
17. Waitress, when requested, brings us one last cup of coffee. We share the spoon one more time.

In reviewing that list, it's apparent that we should have been alerted enough to just get in the vehicle and drive away back up there in #4 or #5. But noooooooooooo. We had a coupon! And we were starving. Perhaps next time we should eat before we leave home so we're not at the mercy of such an establishment.

Today was nicer. We went to the Outback. No surprises. Good food. Had fun with our friends. No coupon though. Had to pay full price for that one. Sometimes it's worth it.

I have a headache!!!! Isn't that a fine way to start a blog entry? I haven't had one of these awful horrible terrible headaches in awhile, almost a year now, and I'd forgotten just how bad they can be. Prescription drugs are helping a bit, but it's still hanging out there on the fringes. I spent about an hour today with an ice pack on top of my head. That helped while it was there, but once it was removed the headache was back. It's tough to do anything with an ice pack on your head, ya know?

I realized today that it's been more than a week since my last post! And I've made all sorts of new things since then. I've been having a BLAST knitting hats and scarflets. I have some listed on Etsy right now, for really reasonable prices.
http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=572372
http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=558026
http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=558015
http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=551842
http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=551799

Aren't those fun?!?!?! They're a lot of fun to make, too, since they're so varied. I had forgotten all about having circular knitting needles in my craft stash, but I came across them a couple of weeks ago and have been making hats ever since.

I've also been playing around with some scrapbooking paper and some tags. I love little tiny things, so I made these little envelopes:

Here's a set of square ones, just right for attaching as gift cards for a special baby:


Here's a set of business-card sized ones, which I listed on Etsy so people can use them as their Thank You notes for customers:

And here's an assortment, with some bigger tags in handmade library pockets, some of the little square envelopes with cards, and some small scalloped gift tags. This set is all in shades of blue:


Check out my Etsy shop to find more of my recent creations!!!

Halloween crocheted lariat and earrings. These turned out even better than I expected they would. Hundreds of beads had to be strung to make this nice and long -- 57" of crocheted pattern, plus another 3" of branch fringe on each end! The fringes are fun, too, with black branches tipped with orange; and orange branches tipped with black. I liked those so much that I used the same style for the earrings.



The other big project today was hauling stuff up from the basement and down from the second floor, readying a big pile to donate to the local Purple Hearts chapter. Although I know they're coming a couple of weeks ahead of time, I always seem to wait until the day before the scheduled pickup to assemble everything to be donated. Oh well. It gives me a goal.

The TV's about to go on the fritz for good, I think. It's an old TV, one of those giant 60" behemoths, and the picture keeps going whacky. The colors go out of convergence, so everything has a pink or blue shadow around it. We keep adjusting it, but after a couple of hours it goes whacky again. Looks like we're going to have to go on a quest for a new one, and my husband's going to want another behemoth. :-) I must admit that it makes watching movies pretty enjoyable.

Gift tags. Yep, I've been making these little guys, and I'm having a lot of fun. I have a bunch of decorated paper (well, who doesn't) and tons of ribbon, so it just seemed like I should do something with all of that. The tags are fun to make, except for the noise of the punch when I cut them out. It's driving my husband nuts, so I have to plan my noisy time and my quiet time (when I cut and tie the ribbons onto the tags). He's much happier during quiet time.

So there I was, happily making little gift tags... And then I decided I wanted to make little envelopes with cards. The fact that I had no pattern for these envelopes didn't stop me either. All those years of drafting and design paid off, and I was able to come up with a template for making these cool little things. I'm so easily amused it's pathetic.


Never one to sit around idle, I've also been knitting away with the yarns I bought during that recent trip to Joann Fabrics. Another trip is planned for tomorrow, to hit yet another sale, so there's a good possibility that I'll come home loaded down with even more stuff! I've made some little scarflets, short little scarves that will have buttons and sit just around the neck. I haven't sewn the buttons on yet or taken any photos, but they'll be posted on here and in etsy as soon as I finish those tasks. I'm trying to figure out how to take photos of myself, since the scarves display themselves much better if they're around a real neck. If I can't get a good photo, I may have to enlist the aid of my husband to take the pictures. Otherwise, I'm thinking of using my little stuffed pig as a model.

The other unfinished project is my bunch of paper beads. I made a TON. Well, not a ton really, but a lot of them. I strung them together in color-coordinated bunches, and now I'm just trying to decide how to coat them. I think some people use shellac for a coating, but I'm thinking of spraying them with polyurethane. That means I have to be outdoors, since I don't want the fumes taking over the house, and it's been nasty weather here lately.

In fact, we just had tornado warnings a couple of days ago! The sirens were going off, wind was whipping the trees around like crazy, and the weather channel was advising everyone in our area to look for shelter. Down to the basement we went, armed with our flashlights, wallets, and keys (because, of course, the house could get blown away but we'd still need to be able to start one of the vehicles afterwards -- right?). We sat there for awhile watching the weather channel and then played some darts. My husband can actually hit the dartboard when he throws a dart. I, on the other hand, managed to miss the dartboard completely a few times. Since it's mounted on the handrail, that means the darts wind up on the stairs, or whacking against the cement wall on the other side of the stairs, or ricocheting off something and landing who-knows-where in the basement. It's a dangerous sport for me.

My Neato Cool Multi-Color Sweater. I made this sweater last year, using every color yarn imaginable. And just to make it doubly colorful, it's knit with two strands of yarn at the same time! I had no pattern... and when I finished with it it didn't fit. There was just no way I was going to unravel the entire sweater, and that was the only way I could think of to fix it. So it sat in my closet for awhile, and every so often I'd pull it down from the shelf and look at it just because I think it's such a neat sweater.

Today, though, I finally just decided to list it on Etsy and see what happens. There's a LOT of yarn and a LOT of time invested in this, so it's listed for $90.
http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=507325

Did you know that Red Lobster is having their Endless Shrimp special? Apparently, endless shrimp for me means three helpings. I thought I could do better, but the salad was so good, and the iced tea, and those yummy cheesy biscuits they serve, and the baked potato... and, well, all I could manage was three helpings. Oh well. It's probably better that I didn't eat myself into a food coma.

Went to the movies today for the first time in a long time. Most of the time it's just DVDs from the local video store -- with the $14/month plan for unlimited rentals, how can you go wrong? But there's a new movie that seemed "theater-worthy" -- Flyboys. It was okay. A bit too romanticized, but I expected that was going to happen as soon as the music began playing.

Almost time for one of my favorite TV shows -- Numbers. Yeah, so I like the geeky guy. Those geeky, nerdy guys always have a certain appeal. Like Monk. He's my hero. :)

Mackenzie Loves You. In honor of pinkparismatch, one of my favorite eBay friends, this little blonde cutie has lost a couple of her front teeth and she's learning sign language. The Mackenzie on the card is the cousin of Dooley and Dolly, the redheaded twins from North Carolina. They're her favorite cousins, and she's theirs. :-) If you're on eBay (or even if you're not), go check out the cool artwork by pink! She's got a great, quirky sense of humor; and it spills out into her artwork.

It's been a busy week! Knitting, making paper beads, making gift tags, bead crochet... I just keep moving from one project to another. I still have about a million ideas that haven't been tackled yet, but they're all written down in my little notebook until I get the time to work on them. Now I have to photograph a bunch of finished projects and get them listed on Etsy -- hopefully before the listing price increase.

Reading... a book by Jasper Fforde, sent to me by Emily, was great fun -- The Eyre Affair. There's one more Fforde book, but I just couldn't resist beginning the new Karin Slaughter novel.

Joann Fabrics had a big sale today. My credit card melted... But there were SO many great deals on things that I just couldn't live without. Fun fun fun. Three hours in the store wandering around with my shopping cart. Every time I thought I was finished, something new hopped into the cart.

Don't you just love shopping trips like that? I know I'll use all the things I bought eventually, but it may be 20 years from now at the rate I'm going. There are just too many cool things to create, and there are never enough hours in the day to do them!

I now have 1" pinback buttons listed on Etsy. Someone else assembled them for me, but I designed them all. I think they're fun, but no one's bought any yet. :-( Maybe they're just waiting for exactly the right person to come along and sweep them all up! Yeah, that's it.

Okay, time for some sofa time. Maybe I'll come back to this post and add a picture later. For now, though, it's just words........

I found some of my favorite yarn! It's Red Heart Light and Lofty, and it's my absolute favorite yarn to use. I've made all kinds of baby blankets from the Red Heart Baby Clouds, which is the same basic yarn but in baby pastels. They're always the favorites of the kids who receive them. I made one for my husband's cousin, Marcus, when he was tiny; and now that he's a little over a year old, we're told that he drags his blanket out into the living room floor, fluffs it into a pile, and dives into it headfirst! Now how many baby blankets are that soft!!! :-)

So anyway, I found some of this yarn in some colors I hadn't used, so I just couldn't resist. And now I find that they're making even MORE new colors and calling them Bright and Lofty. Mmmm mmmm mmmm. I've already knit three scarves and am working on a fourth. They'll all make their appearances on Etsy pretty soon.

We have a new tool in the household... The John Deere didn't appreciate being used to mow over rough terrain, and it began to come apart. Rather than track someone down to weld it back together, we are now the proud new owners of a Clarke Welder. Thirty minutes of watching the video that came with the machine, and another thirty minutes of reading the instructions, followed by about an hour of trying to make sure everything is set up correctly -- and we're welding! Actually, I'm standing near the outlet to yank the cord out of the socket in case something goes awry, and my husband is in the driveway welding. The weld certainly isn't pretty (and I don't foresee my husband crafting any jewelry or other decorative items any time soon), but it appears to be sturdy. Guess the true test will be when the mower is used again.

Carissa the Colorful Witch has arrived. There was just something about the little face on the fairly ugly fairy that made me want to draw another character like that. And with that face, it can't possibly be a sad character! So out came little Carissa.

She's on eBay now, because she'd like to find a home for Halloween: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180028899108

Today was a day of experimentation with knitting and crocheting. All done at a time when I should really have been doing something productive, but where's the fun in that!?!?! So I made one funky t-shirt scarf using giant size 19 knitting needles, a cut-up t-shirt, and some leftover embroidery floss. Then I made another funky scarf using six different spools of sewing thread. I'm not sure if I like that second one or not, but it sure is a good way to get rid of thread!

Bead crochet... It's so much fun to do, but it seems that every time I'm working on one thing, I'm thinking about another pattern I can create. Today I spent awhile making multi-colored ropes -- really long ones -- out of size 11 beads. Lots and lots and lots of beads. For a rope that's 68 inches long (since that's the length of one that was finished today), there are 48 beads per inch. 48x68=3264 See? Told you it was a lot!

So here I am crocheting away with those 3000+ beads, and what I'm thinking is how cool it would be to have a Halloween-colored rope or necklace or something. Having the attention span of a gnat, I immediately stopped crocheting to go look through my bead supplies (tens of pounds of beads!) to see if I have just the right shade of orange. Now I just have to determine whether it will be a random design or something with a pattern. Hmmmmm....

There's a new addition to Dooley's family, also. One of my eBay friends, pinkparismatch, mentioned that she has a six-year-old daughter who's about to lose her front teeth. So Dooley now has a cousin named Mackenzie. Pink hasn't even seen the picture yet! It'll be a surprise when I post it in the group. :-)

Okay. Enough babble for today. I'm in the middle of a project!

Fairly Ugly Fairy. She's a strange-looking little creature, but I actually find her somewhat endearing. My Mom used to draw characters that looked kind of like this, with big noses and strange features. Maybe that's where this one came from... When I listed her on eBay, it just seemed appropriate that she should have a poem, so here it is:

A fairly ugly fairy
flying through the sky.
A fairly ugly fairy
flying way up high.
With a nose so long
and feet so big
and such a goofy face,
this fairly ugly fairy
flies all over the place.
She doesn't mind that you don't like
the way she may appear.
She's a happy little fairy
and has been for many a year.
'Cuz looks don't really matter.
Instead it's what's inside.
This fairly ugly fairy
wears her looks with pride!
She loves everyone around her
no matter how they appear.
Her heart is filled with love for all.
She's really quite a dear.

Dooley Babysits. Yesterday's addition to the swiftly-growing collection of Dooley art. He's a fun little character to draw.

The Motorcycle is Listed on eBay. Hooray!!! I sure hope it sells. It already has a bid, but there's a reserve price that will have to be met. I want to be rid of it, but I don't want to just give it away either. It'll be so nice not to have that sitting in our garage... and even nicer knowing that my husband isn't going to get squashed by someone driving a car while they talk on their cell phone, put on their makeup, read their morning newspaper, etc...

A day of remembering...

Today's TV shows are going to be filled with memorials for the 9/11 attacks.

Five years later, and it's still difficult to watch all the footage of the plane crashes and the buildings falling down. Unimaginable, even though we all saw it happen.

It's heartening to see the stories of how the families have dealt with their loss and gone on with their lives.

Hey there!!! I'd like you to meet some of my friends and fellow artists. I've added links to their blogs, so you can check out their work.

These are fellow members of one of the eBay groups to which I belong: RESPECT - Artists Who Love Art

• Mouser-kins (Jenna's cuties) has some of the cutest little mice and bunnies you've ever seen.
• Barry's Art has some wonderful florals, birds, and landscapes.
• GardenPainter (Kim) does some beautifully colorful ACEO collages and some great, whimsical little art dolls.

Check 'em out!

Today's drawing... Old Crow.

Now I'm not really old, although I am old enough to have retired from working in the corporate world. It's been almost a year now since I left the company where I had worked for 26+ years. I haven't missed a day of it!

My days are now consumed with creating all sorts of things, which is something I've always wanted to be able to do. The problem now is that the days are still only 24 hours long, and there's only so much I can do in a single span. I keep a notepad with me all the time so I can record all the ideas that flit through my brain. I've always loved making things, all kinds of things, and I have so many ideas that I can't possibly hope to complete them all. It's fun trying, though! :-)

Today's drawing seemed like it needed to be immortalized in a poem:
Some days I look in the mirror,
and I don't like what I see.
Some days I look in the mirror,
and I think, "That can't be me!

Why, that person's old and has wrinkles!
And crows' feet right next to her eyes!"
But then I remember that wrinkles denote
a person both aged AND wise.

I've learned a lot in my time on the earth,
and I've had a really good life.
I've never been a mother,
but I sure love being a wife.

I count my blessings every day,
and I just want you to know
that I really don't mind getting older,
but please don't call me a crow.

eBay Link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=008&item=180026919830

I was just in the mood to draw faces, and out came these two weird things. No pre-planning on my part on either the composition or the colors. And that lack of pre-planning contributes to the fact that the Geometric Face looks like it's sitting in the middle of a construction zone. The other face is a bit more serene and peaceful.

Neither is a self portrait. :-)

They're on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=008&item=180026614208
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=008&item=180026614698

You can't see me now, but I'm doing the dance of joy (remember Bronson Pinchot from that TV show called Perfect Strangers?). The motorcycle purchased in 2000 will be going onto eBay, looking for a new home, on Sunday night. Sunday Sunday Sunday!!!!! All the photos have been taken, the listing content has been written up, the owner and sometimes rider of the motorcycle has approved the layout of the listing, and he's requested that the listing be placed on Sunday (presumably to optimize bidding from people who are home and browsing on eBay on a Sunday night) and run for 7 days. HOORAY!!!!!!!

I've decided that there will be more hats in the near future. Having gone through my stash of fleece, I find that there are quite a few pieces that just aren't large enough to make anything else -- unless, of course, I chose to assemble them into a quilt -- so they're destined to become hats. Since I have no actual hat pattern, I have to figure it out all by myself. I think my head's a normal size. :-)

I'm Batman! (Dooley's Halloween Costume)

Dooley's been so excited about Halloween, and he's known since July exactly what costume he was going to wear. Batman is Dooley's favorite cartoon character, and he spends a lot of time running around with a towel around his neck, pretending it's a cape. Dooley's Mom knows that he loves Batman, so when the Halloween costumes went on sale last year, she decided to pick one up for him. She was trying to keep it a secret, but when his twin sister, Dolly, began to ponder all the different costumes she could wear, their Mom decided it was best if she let Dooley know about the Batman costume. You should have seen Dooley's little eyes light up!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=008&item=180025658353

Dolly Goes Trick or Treating.

Halloween's coming up quickly, and Dolly couldn't decide at first whether to be a fairy princess or a clown or a cowgirl. Her Mom even took her out shopping for a new costume, and there were so many fun things she could choose from that it was really really really REALLY hard to decide. Unlike her twin brother, Dooley, she really didn't have anything in mind.

After looking through all the costumes on the racks, she finally found one she really liked. So Dolly picked out a witch's costume, but not for the reason you might think. She's only six years old, so she doesn't know anything about witches. She just liked the cape that came with the costume. After all, Dooley's wearing a cape with his costume,and they ARE twins!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=008&item=180025659217

Dooley and the Tooth Fairy...

This ACEO was created for the monthly theme for one of the eBay groups to which I belong -- RESPECT - Artists Who Love Art. The theme for the month of September is "Letting Go," and Dooley's pretty happy to let go of his too th to the Tooth Fairy, because he knows he'll get a shiny quarter from her! At least that's what happened with the last tooth. :-)

Listed on eBay. And this one already has a bid! From my fellow RESPECT member, Vicki!!! (that's her eBay ID). I'm so thrilled that she bid on it, because she used to be a professional cartoonist. :-)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=008&item=180024394751

Dooley and Dolly, 6-year-old redheaded twins from North Carolina...

I was inspired to draw these little kids after reading one of Jan Karon's books, Life in Mitford. There's a character in the book named Doolie, and the description of him was so striking that I just had to draw a little Dooley of my own.

I've already created quite a few Dooley and Dolly drawings, and some of them are on eBay... all listed for a $7 opening price. And if no one likes 'em, at least I do! Is it a bad thing to think your own artwork is cute? :-)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=008&item=180024089801

Today began with designing buttons. Lots and lots of 1" pinback buttons. I just kept having ideas for them and running back to the computer to make them. Some wound up being too complicated or detailed to fit onto a 1" button, but I'll eventually figure out something to do with those ideas....

I also wanted to clear out some of my fabric supplies; and in the process of doing that, I discovered that I have yards and yards of fleece. As I sat there staring at all the pieces, many of which aren't large enough to make into pants or a top, I decided I could make some funky hats!

And, having the attention span of a gnat, I immediately stopped whatever it was I was working on at the time to whip up a couple of hats. They turned out pretty cool, even if I do say so myself. Now I'll know what to do with all that excess fabric. I hate to let anything go to waste. Now I have an idea for incorporating beads into my fleece hat designs... :-)

There will probably be more hats tomorrow. There's lots more fleece. I have to resist the urge to go out and buy more. And there'll be more buttons tomorrow. And maybe some beading. Probably some drawing. I really should list some more things on eBay...

Today's entertainment: Aquamarine
Not the greatest movie in the world, but somewhat entertaining. Geared more toward the 14-year-old audience, I think.

Today's food: Homemade salsa with nachos for lunch. Yum!

Cat Want Treat



An ACEO, pen and ink, listed on eBay for the bargain price of $7.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=008&item=180024653653

I love drawing surly cats.

At an early age, I was young.



At this point, I was 2 years old. My Mom said I had been sick right before this picture was taken. I sure looked like I didn't feel very good. I don't remember.

I also don't remember if I went through the Terrible Twos. I probably did.

Until I become ultra-famous, I feel it necessary to introduce myself...

I'm MaryLou.
Grew up in Tennessee.
Live in Illinois now.
Want to move to North Carolina soon.

I do lots of artsy and craftsy stuff. Lots. I have a house filled with stuff I've created, and filled even fuller with materials to make more. I'm trying to eliminate some of it, but all the ideas swirling around in my head just won't let me eliminate it all. And sometimes, late at night, I think I can hear the sound of the stuff multiplying on its own.... because I couldn't possibly have bought all those things myself!

I used to work, but not no more. At least not at a job job.
Creating art and making stuff isn't work, now is it?

I sell some of the stuff I've made.
Drawings and ACEOs/ATCs (Art Cards, Editions and Originals or Artist Trading Cards)
Art Dolls
Jewelry

I'm on eBay (isn't everyone?). My ID there is time2cre8!!!
I'm also on Etsy (and everyone should be!). My store name there is time2cre8.etsy.com

I wanna build a website of my own... and I have the domain name... time2cre8.com... but haven't gotten around to writing it all out yet.

Figured I'd give blogger a chance. At the very least, it'll allow me to record some of my ramblings.

Read 'em if you want.
If not, just enjoy the pictures.

Captioned Critters ... Animals of all kinds saying and thinking what YOU want.

Beadweaving ... Necklaces, Bracelets, and even ACEOs!