Creativity, Crafts, Books, Movies, Greyhounds & Favorite Things

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I just ordered two new games…Can You Name Them All? Knowledge Cards and Can You Name Them All?: Volume Two.  Here are some of the questions.  Can you name them all?

1.  Can you name the twelve apostles?

2.  Can you name Santa’s eight reindeer?

3.  Can you name the six noble gases?

4.  Can you name the ten sports of the modern decathlon?

How did you do?

1.  Peter, Andrew, James the Greater, James the Lesser, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, Thaddeus, Simon, Judas Iscariot.

2. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder (or Donner) and Blitzen.

3.  Helium (He), Neon (Ne), Argon (Ar), Krypton (Kr), Xenon (Xe) and the radioactive Radon (Rn).

4.  100 Meters, Long Jump, Shot Put, High Jump, 400 Meters, 110 Meters Hurdles,  Discus Throw, Pole Vault, Javelin Throw, 1500 Meters.

And the answer is, “yes,”  I had to Google all of them.  When we play…no smart phones allowed.

Daily Inspiration

 We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.

Lloyd Alexander

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Oh, boy!  How to Paint a Girl starts today.  I received the supply list and here are a few things I’ve never used and am excited to try:

Heavy Body Acrylics

I’ve painted with acrylics before, but never with these thicker acrylics.

PITT Artist Pens

Juliette recommends these because she finds they don’t bleed.

India Ink

I’ve had a little experience with India Ink, when I did calligraphy and when I took my first watercolor class.  I wonder how we’ll use it in this class?

There are several other items on the supply list that I’m not familiar with, but I’ll wait to find out a little more about what to buy before I pick them up.  This will be fun.

I’m participating in The World We Found Readalong sponsored by S. Krishna’s Books.  Check out the “Comments” for the Readalong participants’ thoughts.  Here’s the Readalong schedule:

Tuesday, January 10: Characters and Marriages in Chapters 1-9 (pp. 1-91)

Thursday, January 12: Friendships and Relationships in Chapters 1-9 (pp. 1-91)

Tuesday, January 17: Religion in Chapters 1-18 (pp. 1-192)

Thursday, January 19: Repression and Control in Chapters 1-18 (pp. 1-192)

Tuesday, January 24: Money and Power in The World We Found

Thursday, January 26: Other Topics and Discussion Wrap-Up for The World We Found

Here is a link to Swapna’s review of The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar.

Daily Inspiration

Books are a uniquely portable magic. 

 Stephen King

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For the last two weeks, I’ve been photographing and documenting the stories behind my family heirlooms and the things I treasure and want to pass on to my daughter.  So, I’ve started to gather up the pictures and stories of my “heirlooms,” now what?

I’ve decided to keep my pictures and stories in an album with photo pockets.

That certainly isn’t the only option.  You can make scrapbook or art journal pages with your photos and stories; you can keep them in a notebook or photo box; or you can keep them online, either on your computer or on a photo sharing service like Flickr.  The photo sharing option would be particularly nice if you want to share or gather stories from different family members. 

If you have a neat idea for storing your heirloom information, I’d love to hear it.  Next week, I’ll share a few stories.

Daily Inspiration

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.

John Barrymore

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Needle felting is the process of linking wool fibers using a barbed needle.  I decided to make coasters from one of the sweaters I wet felted.

To do needle felting, you need wool and/or wool roving, a felting needle and a backing surface, either a dense piece of foam or a needle felting mat.  A needle felting mat looks like a dense brush.

To start, I cut circles from one of my felted sweaters. 

I used this nifty tool…a circle rotary cutter.  I chose a thick felted sweater, which was probably not the best choice for trying out a new tool; but even with that, I thought this circle rotary cutter did a wonderful job.  Olfa has a great tutorial on their website that demonstrates how to use it.

To add the design to the wool coaster, cut off a piece of wool roving and placed it in the location where you want the shape/design.

Then poke, poke, poke, poke, poke, poke….with the needle.  I used a single needle.  There are also felting tools with multiple needles.  I will pick one of these up because it would be very handy for large areas.

Continue to poke, poke, poke, poke, poke, poke some more with the needle.  As the roving begins to attach to the wool base, you can start to form the shape.  You’ll be surprised how easy it is to form the shapes and sharpen the edges.

I really enjoyed needle felting.  I’ll continue to work on these and post a picture on a future “In My Studio.”

Daily Inspiration

 Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

Voltaire

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I love pajamas.  If I’m not at work, going somewhere or expecting company…I’m in pajamas.  Over the years, I’ve worn some pretty horrifying combinations, but recently I’ve tried to get pajama tops and bottoms that go together.  I purchased a pair of Soma Intimates Cool Nights pajamas and fell in love.  They’re made of a soft, flowing, jersey knit fabric, so they feel wonderful.  They’re pretty and stylish, plus they fit well.  They are not inexpensive, but I watch for sales on their website, and if you have a Soma Intimates outlet nearby, you can find fantastic deals.

Daily Inspiration

Happiness itself is a kind of gratitude.

Joseph Wood Krutch

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No pretty flowers this week.  This week was all “prep” work.  Here are some of the things that happened:

I glued the “tails” on all my yarn vase.

I removed the lint and pills from my felted wool sweaters and cut them into more functional pieces.  I did this for two reasons, (1) they’ll store better…flatter, and (2) it gives me a better sense of how big the pieces of felt are so I can start imagining what to do with them. 

Most of the sweaters yielded three pieces, two sleeves and the body.  I did not remove the seams from the sleeves or the body because I might find the seams useful in a future project…for instance, a pillow.  A few of the sweaters had a turtleneck or hood, so those sweaters yielded an extra piece.  I also saved some cuffs and bands that looked like they could be used.

Going through the sweaters, I decided that approximately half of them needed to go through one more wash and dry cycle.  They didn’t appear to be fully felted.

I also gathered up some brass pieces that I’d purchased.  This week, I plan to clean them up and prime them for painting.

Nothing exciting, but it felt good to get this work done.

Daily Inspiration

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

Anna Quindlen

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During Christmas vacation, my friend Mary (who is an Interior Decorator), came over to give me a few ideas for freshening up the house.  One area that needs “help” is our bedroom.  The first thing Mary suggested was to clean out my closet and make it more efficient.  That means I need to get rid of alot of stuff.

Organizing projects are a challenge for me.  I tend to be successful only if I come up with some type of “limiting” tool.  So, I thought about the 80-20 Rule.  The 80-20 Rule, also known as The Pareto Principle, states that 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes.  Simply put for my closet…I probably use about 20 percent of what’s in there 80 percent of the time.  I completely believe that, but no way am I going to get rid of 80 percent of the stuff in my closet, at least not during the initial purge. 

So, how much is reasonable to assume I should get rid of?  I decided to try a little experiment.  I pulled out a small pile of things, counted them, purged, then counted what I had left.  I started with 72 things and ended up with 31 things.  So that’s where I’m going to start.  I’ll get rid of 50% of what’s in my closet…or maybe 40%.  I’ll report back.

Now for something fun…

Every Friday, I do a post of lists.  I would love to include lists made up with contributions from you.  If you’d like to participate, let me know in the comments or email me at whatremainsnow@gmail.com, and I’ll email you a list of questions.  You don’t have to answer all the questions, just the ones you want to answer.  There is no obligation.  If you get the list and change your mind, that’s good too.

Daily Inspiration

I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.

Winston Churchill

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This list, by columnist Ashley Cooper, always makes me reflect.  Sometimes it’s not my vice that makes me err, it’s my virtue.

Truth, if it becomes a weapon against persons.

Beauty, if it becomes a vanity.

Love, if it becomes possessive.

Loyality, if it becomes blind, careless trust.

Tolerance, if it becomes indifference.

Self-confidence, if it becomes arrogance.

Faith, if it becomes self-righteousness.

Daily Inspiration

There is an eternal landscape, a geography of the soul; we search for its outlines all our lives.

Josephine Hart 

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Since I don’t start Juliette Crane’s How to Paint a Girl E-course until January 20, I’m kind of in limbo for my Friday posts.  Here are a few other things I’m working on:

I’m taking an e-course from Susannah Conway called Photo Meditations…so, I’m snapping several pictures every day and learning to “see” things better.

PLUS

I’m doing one art journal page every week.  I thought it would be nice to document some of my experiences this year and play with mixed media; but, my-oh-my was the first page hard.  Does anyone recognize this?

Me:  I’m going to do an art journal this year.  It will be nice to capture some of my thoughts and feelings, plus it will give me a chance to experiment with layouts and mixed media.  This will be fun, and I’ll learn some new things.

My Inner Critic:  Sounds good.  You’ve never really been good at coming up with things on your own though.  You’re good at following a pattern, I’ll give you that, but you coming up with anything other than “ugly” on your own…I don’t think so.

Me:  You’re right.  I am better at following patterns; but I want to be more creative with my voice and perspective, and the only way to do that is to try new things and practice so I’ll keep getting better.

My Inner Critic:  Why?  Who are you trying to impress?

Me:  I’m not trying to impress anyone.  I just feel the need to expand in this way.

My Inner Critic:  Why?  Dance Moms is on.  Go have some fun in front of the TV.  No need to stress yourself out by trying to come up with an art journal page.  You don’t even have any ideas on how to start the first page.  You’ve been thinking about it for two days and you still haven’t come up with an idea.  Just forget it.  If you had any talent, surely it wouldn’t take you two days of thinking to come up with nothing.

Me:  I’m DVRing Dance Moms.  There’s nothing wrong with thinking about something for awhile, but you’re right, I’ll never get anything done if I don’t start playing around with it.  Plus, it doesn’t have to be perfect.

My Inner Critic:  Perfect sure is nice though.  Why do something if it’s just going to be a piece of junk.  You’ve never been good at things like this.  You don’t have any natural talent in this area.  Nothing to be ashamed of, but you shouldn’t even try.  I’m pretty sure you’ll just blow it.

Me:  Sorry you’re not with me on this, but I’m going to give it a whirl anyway.

My Inner Critic:  Okay, go ahead; but don’t forget…I’m always here for you.

Anyone else have one of these guys in their head?

On a different note…I’m participating in The World We Found Readalong sponsored by S. Krishna’s Books.  Here’s the Readalong schedule:

Tuesday, January 10: Characters and Marriages in Chapters 1-9 (pp. 1-91)

Thursday, January 12: Friendships and Relationships in Chapters 1-9 (pp. 1-91)

Tuesday, January 17: Religion in Chapters 1-18 (pp. 1-192)

Thursday, January 19: Repression and Control in Chapters 1-18 (pp. 1-192)

Tuesday, January 24: Money and Power in The World We Found

Thursday, January 26: Other Topics and Discussion Wrap-Up for The World We Found

Here is a link to Swapna’s review of The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar.

Daily Inspiration

Creativity takes courage.

Henri Matisse

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This year on Thursdays, I’m writing posts about things I wish I’d taken care of, ”if I died today.”  This month, I’m documenting the heirlooms in my home.  By “heirloom,” I mean anything that has meaning to me or may have meaning to my daughter, and that I want to pass on to her.

The first step is to go around the house and take pictures of all the things that you want to document.  Next, write down “why” they mean something to you.

Here are some questions to ask about your special things:

1.  What is this?

2.  How was it used?

3.  Who did it belong to?

4.  Who made or purchased it?

5.  Who gave it to them?

6.  Where did it come from?

7.  How old is it?

8.  How long has it been in our family?

9.  What is it made of?

10.  Are there any special stories or memories associated with this object?

11.  Why do you like and/or want to keep this item?

Can you think of any other questions that would be helpful?

Daily Inspiration

Start where you are.  Use what you have.  Do what you can.

Arthur Ashe