Tiny "Art" - Starry, Starry Night

I have seen ACEO art trading cards on blogs and Etsy and thought they sounded fun.  I wanted to try to make them because one of the blogs I read was having a swap.  I decided that since I am not really an artist I would feel bad sending one to someone who probably actually made something beautiful with their card.  So, I just got some pre-cut cards and started playing.  I thought it would be fun to play around with a tiny picture between projects to kind of wind down and do something I didn’t have to think about too much.

I bought pre-cut cards because it’s simpler and they were really inexpensive.  I’m so glad I did!  I ordered from Fan She Folds on Etsy.  The owner of the shop was so helpful!  I really didn’t know what I wanted to buy since I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do.  I explained that I wanted to use felt on some of the cards so I didn’t know what weight to buy.  She offered to split the order and let me try two weights.  Awesome!  I highly recommend using this shop anytime you decide to buy pre-cut ACEO cards.

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The first card I made is called Starry, Starry Night.  People who read my blog regularly know I love the sky.  Because of this I look at it often.  Almost every time I look up at a starry sky the song Vincent by Don Mclean pops into my head.

Starry, starry night

Paint your palette blue and gray

Look out on a summer's day

With eyes that know the darkness in my soul

It's such a sad song but it really is beautiful, isn't it?  It was stuck in my head again the other night so I made my first picture for that song.  It's still stuck in my head!  Good thing I like it!  :-)

 

For this tiny picture I just used glue and extra fine glitter and then I cut out some yellow felt stars.  At first I was going to cut out a white crescent moon from felt and glue it on, but then I decided a white button full moon would be cuter. 

This is not a very good photo.  I had so much to do today so I went outside on my lunch break and just took a picture of it on the back of my felt notebook cover.  :-)

This was a mess up picture but I thought it looked kind of cool with the sparkly glitter.

There you have it!  It’s my tiny picture of a Starry, Starry Night.  I know it’s very kiddish but I’m not trying to make some amazing work of art.  I just want a stress free project that I can work on between real projects so I can still be creative.  I want to try to use more felt on future cards...like I want to completely cover the card in felt and do a fun sewing/felt thing (I'm still have some planning to do...obviously). For now I’m just having fun.  I have a couple of other ideas I might try.  I'll post them as I finish them. 

Gotta Go Back, Back, Back to School Again

Congratulations!
Today is your day. 

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!
-Dr. Seuss

{Mae Chevrette}

Oh the thinks you can think

think and wonder and dream

far and wide as you dare.

When your thinks have run dry

in the blink of an eye

there's another world there.

If you open your mind

oh the thinks you will find lining up to get loose!

oh the think you can think!

 

Today is a very big day!  It's the start of my big summer adventure!  Craft Academy starts today!!  I am so excited!!! 

I can't wait to meet some new friends and learn all kinds of fun new projects.  I have never taken a class like this before so I have no idea what to expect.  I think that's part of the excitement!  I'm going into it with no expectation except to have a great time!

I decided that I would write posts for the blog throughout the class to share this great experience with all of my wonderful bloggy friends.  I'll post pictures of my finished projects, too.  I can't wait!!  Can you tell I'm excited?  It's not obvious or anything, right?  ;-) 

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Modecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!




Do you have any big summer adventures planned?

I had to have some sort of Dr. Seuss and Schoolhouse Rock references if I was going to write a post about taking a class!  :-)

Happiness is...Spending Time with Friends

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Life gets so busy sometimes that I think we forget how important it is to spend time with friends and just have fun.  We get so caught up in going to work and running errands and whatever else and fun time with friends gets pushed aside.  We need to remember that our fun time is just as important as our work time.  It's what gets us through the less fun parts of life.  :-)

I have been trying to make more of an effort to spend time with my friends lately for a couple of reasons. They're my friends so I like to hang out with them.  And I think it's imortant to make time to do things I enjoy.  I find that when I get super busy with everything I feel sad and then I don't want to do anything.  I need time to refresh and get ready for the next crazy time.  ;-)

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Recently I went with some of my friends to the Glee-Along at Alamo Drafthouse.  I loved it!  We sang and danced and acted silly.  It was so nice to forget about everything and just go have have fun!

Before the movie they played 80s videos! Awesome!!! 

We had so much fun at the Glee-Along that we decided to try out Girlie Night this week!  It was playing at the downtown Alamo again.  I love going there!  I hate driving downtown but, luckily I have friends who are nice enough to volunteer to drive.

They played Adventures in Babysitting!!!  Who doesn't love that movie?? 

Before the movie they showed internet videos with cute animals and dancing babies!

Next month they're playing one of my favorite movies of all time - 10 Things I Hate about You!!!  I can't wait!

Makes me happy!

365 Project - Week Seven

I have been spending my time trying to plan my pictures before I actually go and take them.  I like to do that so I'm not worried at the end of the day that I won't get a picture.  This week I have been really tired and my busy days finally caught up to me leaving me very tired.  So, I decided that I wouldn't worry too much about my pictures and just take pictures of things I encountered naturally in my day.  I guess I felt like I had to try to get spectacular pictures all the time and if I didn't I was really disappointed.  I think it's great to get a special picture every once in a while, but I also feel like I get some great pictures on the days I plan nothing and just take random pictures.  Somtimes I can't take extra time to go out of my way to get a picture.  Sometimes those are my favorite pictures of the week.  Lesson learned.  :-)

And now, for your viewing pleasure, week seven...

Day 43

I took so many pictures for my 50th blog post on Saturday when my mom and I went shopping and then to our quilt class reunion, but somehow I completely forgot about my 365 picture!  Oops!  Luckily we went to some cool places (Paper Bear & Centerpoint Station) so I could just use one of the pictures I took for my blog as my Saturday picture, too.

Day 44

Just a picture of the Green Mesquite.  Makes me think of Austin.  I drive by it a couple times a week on my way to church and it's just such an Austin place to me.  So, I took a picture.  Not much to it.  :-)

Day 45

I know, I know.  I have a weird sky obsession.  I especially love to see a beautiful blue sky with puffy white clouds and a huge open field.  It's so lovely.

Day 46

Went to Girlie Night at Alamo Drafthouse on Tuesday to watch Adventures in Babysitting with my girls!  It was so fun!  I wanted to take a picture of the sign when it was all lit up at night but I took a daytime picture just in case I forgot after.  Good thing I did.  Yep!  I forgot until we drove past it and it was too late.  We're going back next month so I'll get the night time shot then.  I was a little disappointed that every picture I took had a glare but I guess that can't be helped.  I'll try again next time.

Day 47

I have been trying to make an effort to change the way I drive places so I can find new things to take pictures of.  Isn't this fence cool??  I saw it a few days ago when I was driving home from work and went back Wednesday to take a picture.

Day 48

Stairway to heaven or just stairway to my car?  After a long day at work I really don't think there's much of a difference!  :-)

Day 49

These beautiful crepe myrtles are everywhere and they're all in bloom right now.  They always make me think of Dr. Seuss!  They don't really look like Dr. Seuss trees, but it's a pink tree!  Who else would have a pink tree??  I love Dr. Seuss!!

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I took pictures of some other crepe myrtles today to see which one I liked the best.  I thought I would share the pictures that didn't make the project.

Hipstamatic

Hipstamatic is an iPhone app that I learned about from Maggie's blog Assorted Musings by Maggie.  She's one of my new Austin bloggy friends.  I really like her blog. 

Hipstamatic is basically an app that turns your phone into all kinds of cameras.  You can pick different lenses and different types of film.  It takes the coolest pictures!  I had seen other people use it on their blogs but I had no idea how they were getting such great pictures.  Now, thanks to Maggie, I get to be in on the awesome, too!!  I have to admit that I still don't really know what I'm doing.  I usually just let the camera pick random films and lenses.  It's kind of confusing at first.  It comes with some basic films and lenses.  There is also an option to purchase more.  The possibilities of this app are pretty much endless!

I posted this picture of the sweet gift my friend Noemi gave me last week. I have no idea what settings it was on.  :-)

It took me a lot of tries to get this picture.  Sometimes when you think you are taking a close up picture you get a far away picture and when you think you are taking a far away picture you get a close up.  You never know what you're going to get.  I think that's part of the fun of the camera.

I went out into my yard to try the app and took some random pictures.  I wasn't worried about what they looked like...just wanted to play!

I remembered the app as we were leaving Centerpoint Station so I snapped a couple of quick pictures since there's some really cool antique stuff there.  I wish I would have remembered it earlier.

I had to save the best for last! Remember Bo? He made an appearance in my Mother's Day post.  He is so cute! Normally I can't get him off of me. He wants to sit in my lap and kiss my face and I have to run for my life!  But for some reason he was so not into this photo shoot. I don't know why! I just kept making him sit and smile at me! What could be annoying about that???  ;-)

This is the only picture I got of him looking at me.  The big question is: Is this a happy face or an annoyed get away from me face?

I think it's a happy face!

Happy Mail = New Friends & New Toys

This Monday started out feeling very Monday-ish.  I was really tired and my allergies were being so mean to me!  I decided to try my best to make it a good day.  I took my sewing with me to work on during my lunch break.  That was a great idea!  I had something to look forward to all morning and then I was refreshed and ready to go back to work after lunch.  I didn't get a lot of sewing done, but it still felt good. 

When I got home I checked the mail.  Guess what!  My Happy Mail came today!!!  I'm so excited!

I love the card!  I cannot even believe how much we have in common.  I got a great Happy Mail partner for sure!!!  I hope I can live up to her awesomeness a even a little bit.  :-)

I got this postcard to send her from my coworker Glade.  Her Etsy shop is called Glademade.  I wanted it to have something to do with Austin.  Glade did a great job!

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I got a different kind of happy mail on Friday.  I ordered this super cute Huggle from AJthePurple.  I saw these on her blog and thought they were adorable.  I have recently developed a love for handmade toys and really wanted one of these little cuties.

Meet Taffy!

AJ even decorated the envelope with a picture!

Thank you!

It really is fun to open the mail box and find something fun instead of just junk mail or bills.  Makes me smile!

Have you gotten anything fun in the mail recently?  I'd love to hear your happy mail stories, too!  :-)

Nifty at Fifty

This is my 50th blog post!!!

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I can't believe I made it this far.  I wanted to do something big like a giveaway for my 50th post but I don't think I'm quite ready to do that yet.  I don't want to rush into anything.  So, I'm planning to have my first giveaway later this summer.  I decided I would wait a little while so I could go big for the first one.  :-)

Then I thought I would set some goals like I did for my one month blogiversary, but I have only actually finished one of the goals on that list.  I find that as I get more into crafting and blogging my goals change a lot, so I'm just going to go with the flow and see what happens.  I seem to work better that way.

Well, I didn't really come up with anything extra special for my 50th blog post.  I did get to do some fun bloggy stuff this weekend so I thought I would share that with you as my celebration for post number 50.

On Saturday morning my mom and I headed to San Marcos on a mission for Happy Mail goodies.  We went to Paper Bear first.  I love that store!  I guess you would call it a gift shop.  I don't think you can put a title on a store like Paper Bear.  If you live in the area you have to see it.  They have everything!  It's wall to wall awesome!  Sadly, when I got there I learned that the shop went from three huge rooms to one.  It made me sad to see that, but I still had a great time.  I used to live close to the shop in college so I could just walk down and wander around for fun anytime I wanted.  Brings back some great memories.

I took a bunch of pictures but they will never do this store justice.  It would take a whole day to show you everything they have there.

Here's a partial view from the front of the store just to give you an idea of the wall to wall amazingness.

Follow the yellow brick road.

They have so much great stuff that they had to hang some of it from the ceilings!

I just thought this was cute!

They have some really silly stuff, too.

I discovered Ugly Dolls yesterday!  They are so adorable!

And, of course, some owls for Velma!

I took one other picture of a stuffed owl but it didn't come out.  You were spared one owl, Velma!  :-)

I wish I could have taken more pictures but I think the people at the shop thought I was crazy!  I will share the goodies that I bought at Paper Bear as soon as I send it to my Happy Mail partner.  I have to keep it a secret for now.

Next we went to Texas Roadhouse and I ate food that is terrible for me.  I enjoyed every bite of it!

After that we went to Centerpoint Station.  I didn't buy anything there because I don't think there is anything in that place that I can afford.  They have a lot of great stuff. 

I did find this really cute necklace that I showed you yesterday.  I will be going back for it!

These are some of the pictures I took of this really cute store.

Sign!  Sign!  Everywhere a sign!

Look at all the purses!!

They have the rooms set up like real rooms.

Lots of cool antiques...

If I had $1500 this would be mine!

I have a lot more pictures but I think this post is getting a little long so I'll save them for another time.  :-)

After our outing we headed across the street to B&B Quilting for our Beginning quilting class reunion to share our quilts in their various stages.  It was really cool to see all the quilts.

This is my mom's quilt.  PRETTY!!!

This is mine.

The pictures aren't that great because they room wasn't well lit.  I'll post pictures when we finally get them quilted...some day!

After that we went to Sonic and I got a yummy FREE chocolate milk shake!  It was delicious!

Today was a pretty regular Sunday.  I went to church at The Well and then met my friend Nicole for lunch.  She is one of my oldest friends...not because she's old, but because she's been my friend the longest!  :-)  It was so great to spend some time with her.  We don't see each other nearly enough.

That's it!  That was my bloggy/crafty weekend!  Sorry it was so long.  I did a lot!  :-) 
Thanks for sticking around for 50 posts!  I hope you stick around for 50 more.  I have some fun stuff planned in the coming months.  Hopefully I will have time to get to all of them.

I'll end my 50th post with a Sally O'Malley video.  SHE'S 50!!!

(Sorry I couldn't find it without a commercial)