Me & Mine

ATCs

I've begun to play with Art Trading Cards  in a bigger way this semester - probably mostly because I have hours and hours between my classes, and not nearly (yet) enough homework to fill the time.

Below are some examples of the playing in oil pastel that I've done so far.

     

Its pretty fun so far.  I've never worked with oil pastels before so its both challenging and freeing.  I think my next bit of play may be with water color pencils which also look pretty darn interesting.

Entering the cell phone age...

I finally got a cell phone - a real, honest-to-goodness phone, instead of the very old pay-as-you-go phone I've had for years for use in emergencies only. 

We're on Cingular/AT&T/BellSouth (so we share the same cell company as the kids - which means free calls from phone to phone, yay!), with no bells or whistles.  Well, except that phones don't come without bells and whistles these days (mine include a camera and the ability to play tunes - more details here ).

Nifty, huh?

The Week in Review...

<cue fancy television news music>

We dropped Ms. Milo at school, where she was forced to say good-bye to her boyfriend (though to be fair this very cute picture was taken on Saturday at lunch, prior to when we dropped her off on Sunday).  There were many tears when they parted.  /sniff

I found this fella on the wall on my way to class earlier this week.  As those who follow my blog surely know I cannot resist a neat insect photo.  On the other hand, the wasps who are making a home in the wall near the entry stairs to our home - those I don't need to photograph.  They just need to DIE. 

And then there's this neat thing.  I can only wear platinum in my ears, so I finally realized that rather than continue to wear the single pair of platinum hoops I have, I could get some platinum earwires made - ta da! - and then just add other dangly bits below so I'd have an endless variety of earrings.  Nifty, huh?

I've been playing with ATCs lately.  The one above is the start of a card featuring a photo of Milo in her halloween costume, which I'm editing into a coloring book page sorta thing.

In addition, I've been working on a "signature" card for me.  One of my first attempts at an image for it is below (made with the "comic" feature of my photo editing software.

So its been forever...

...since I last posted.

I realized recently that I don't enjoy posting as much as I did a few years back.  Something about the nature of the medium, I think.

That said, here's a quick catch up:

1) Milo moves out as of tomorrow - dorm living while in college.  She's a freshman.  With that, we're at the start of the "empty-nest" time in our lives.  Its bitter sweet, of course.  Very excited for her, very sure we'll miss her as much as we always have our Beth.

2) I start college again on Monday.  Its my final semester.  I'm exhilerated, and scared to death.  I look forward to completing this as I'd always planned - I've done well in all my classes, I've learned so much, and I've found my passion:  accounting.  I'm scared about the future and finding a job and starting the rest of my life, post-graduation.  Eek.

3) Some links, as always:

• Using an old credit card to make an organizer for your earbuds
• How to make a ring from a US coin
• Using a Scrabble tile to fashion a ring
• A tutorial for making Kanzashi hair ornaments
• A $50 paint job for your car
• Using an iron to make fabric from plastic bags
• Dinnerware that you can carry in your wallet