Question time...

I was wondering how people organized their jewelry and beading supplies. You would think after all these years I would have a system that works other than pulling out of boxes.

Also: Sorry I have not posted for so long. I am still alive. Just a lot of personal crap happened this year, including finding out my department was being let go but with no date as of when. Not to worry I found a new job within the bank...then have had all that stress from learning new stuff and being back in a production area.

Underwhelmed...

The only way to describe the preview of Interweave Knits Summer Preview...Underwhelmed.

Kind of glad my subscription lapsed.

Ooh Socks on the Sticks

Socks1
Originally uploaded by TheKamZone

Trying very hard to kill some stash here.

I found this in my sock stash. No clue why I bought it...it is really not my colors. I do like how the yarn feels soft and smooshie.

The pattern is Wendy's Generic Toe Up Sock with the Magic Cast On from Knitty (my favorite for toe up).

This sock I am aiming for a nice snug fit. Most of my socks have been slouchy that I wear around the house.

Knitting Content for Once

Fletchings
Originally uploaded by TheKamZone

One Row Handspun Scarf-Yarn Harlot
Originally uploaded by TheKamZone

Shifting Sands
Originally uploaded by TheKamZone

Shifting Sand's Close Up
Originally uploaded by TheKamZone

I was on vacation in early March. I went up to Williamsburg, VA. I forgot to bring a scarf of any kind, instead I used it as some motivation to actually get some knitting one.

Dunedin Arts Festival

Today, I spent a couple hours walking around the Dunedin Arts Festival. There was not a whole lot of vendors but the crowds were good. People were buying mainly smaller prints and card sized prints. One vendor had some really nice illustrations which you could have done with a whimsical frame from $35. I will try to get some images up tomorrow.

I wish...

I work with someone who will come up to your desk pick something up and say can she have it? Today it was my breakfast. Yesterday it was a pen someone gave me...tomorrow who knows.

Someone always says?" I hope they know she is kidding."

I wish...I had the nerve to say "No honestly I don't know that. "

She might be kidding but she is also hoping you will give in and give it to her since others do.

I think next time I hear "I hope you know she is kidding."

I will say "Honestly, no I don't" and walk a way.

Let the knitting begin

As I had mentioned previously I frogged a scarf that I was not feeling and was going to redo in a Yarn Harlot pattern. I cast on and so far am loving it. It is not far enough along to photo yet maybe by Saturday.

Stupid people

Someone did something at work today...no clue who it was on but it had to be someone in the building maintenance because all of a sudden the area by me was flooded with a chemical smell. It smelt like a concentrated form of Comet of all things. My nose started burning and then my eyes...finally it decided to give me a lovely headache. Big problem since I was working on goal numbers for the coming year for management.

Which also means I didn't get hardly anything accomplished when I got home other than putting the new Janet Evanovich audio book Plum Spooky on my Ipod.

Nite everyone...

Sigh...so not working

I like the colors I picked to do the highlighting just need to switch to paints rather than watercolor pencils.

Journal 21 Review 1

(Click right click images and open in a new tab or window for a larger view)
Every year I try to find a planner I can live with (not that I love but can live with)...every year nothing seems to work for me. I have tried electronic (bad for one who forgets to recharge things) to hard copy (easy to use pain to lug around). Store bought to DIY ( time consuming). Expensive (ooh Franklin Covey) to inexpensive (hello DIYplanner.com). They all have their benefits and their drawbacks.

This year I decided to try a different planner and was given the offer to receive it for free if I wrote a review on how it worked for me.

I sent them my information on the planner I wanted to review and waited. I got a lovely email from Karen who asked for additional information and I was selected.

I asked for the Journal 21 with a black cover. Mainly because Black is predictable and well you know you are going to get black, while with colors what it looks like on your screen may not be what it looks like in RL. I prefer the 1 day 1 page format. Not because I am ultra busy and need to plan my time out to the minute but because I can do other things on the page. I can jot a story idea down, write a journal entry, draw, collage .... I think you get the idea. Or do what I have done in other planners just slap some images on the page as a image record. In my email, I did mention I did do art work and was offerd a some of their découpage papers to try. I asked her to send what ever they had on hand.

In November, I got a package with my journal in it. I decided not to open it until New Year's Eve because I wanted not to be thinking of the journal and comparing it to others on sale locally. When I opened it I was pleasantly surprised and very happy.

Journal from Quovadisplanners.com

Journal 21

Basic Journal/Planner

With some special presents...
découpage papers from DecoPatch and their découpage glue. The glue was a surprise. I was a bit leary about using it. I usually use gel medium for gluing down paper or YES. My experience with Mod Podge is while it is a great product...not so great if you live in Florida. It gets tacky and takes a LONG time to dry. I tried Martha Stewart's verison but I got little itty bitty airbubbles in it that would cause it to peel like glue off your hand. This stuff is AWESOME but very very glossy. I will use test it with some art stuff to see what I get and if I like it. It is rather inexpensive when you compare the quality of the product to other similar products.



The papers are HEAVENLY!!! I need to order some of the ones I like. I thought I would be getting samples or left over pieces...nope. They sent me a sampler packet which had 2-3 sheets of each paper and it appears I have almost their entire range.


This is layer 1 of the journal cover. I plan on doing about 3-4 more of different things. Including a sealing layer (I need to order their varnish to seal it-very curious about the varnish).

The Journal Review:
Okay, this is the first review, because you need to live with the journal to know if it is something you are going to love verses just living with.

I like how it lays flat. This is first time I opened it and BAM it is pretty much flat. There were no strange binding going AUUUGH sounds and no pages floating to the floor.
Because it lays flat it means collage work and artsy stuff can be done to the pages without the planner trying to shut itself and messing up or causing things to stick to each other that are not meant to stick to each other.



The planner itself...has some whole month pages, needed for a quick overview of the month and months to come. It also has US Holidays for 2009 and 2010 (I work in the banking industry very important to know when I have off you know) and Major World Holidays, this is helpful because some of my clients live overseas always nice to know when their banking holidays are. International area codes...not needed so much because email is easier. US Time Zone map helpful. What I would change or really add... US Area Codes and a World map with Time Zones.



What I love is this, this is the first time I have seen it in a while for a planner,
Semi Annual Calendar. Six months on two pages. Makes making appointments so much easier, I have a bad habit of forgetting to write vacations down in the main pages. It has the holidays printed on it and Weekends and some National Holidays in gray. I tend to forget what days fall on weekends also.




On the bottom corners, there are rip circles which makes getting to the most current page easier than having to move a today ruler bookmark thing.


Here is a picture of the actual page of planner. It is a nice open space with handy dandy lines for those who have problems writing in a straight line.

Below is my actual first writing of the New Year. My handwriting is crap and was trying to figure out the best pen for writing here. The writing did not bleed through but impressions were on the other side this is more me than the paper. I press heavy on pens that don't flow on their own.




This was the first in reviews of this planner. I need to see how it works for me throughout the year. So far, I am very impressed. It would be worth the $22 dollars I have seen it offered for on the web. Also you can buy refills for $17. If you did book binding, I would probably do the refill and make a very cool cover myself.

Grrr....

The mermaid is having some issues...I was hoping to be able to color in the body using watercolor pencils along with regular colored pencils and a bit of acrylic paint. Nope not going to work. Sigh, going to have to just paint it. The pencils are a bit easier to work with than straight paint.

Cast on for a scarf. I got a single skein of a Noro yarn this past fall, a close out. The pattern I was doing didn't thrill me so I am going to us Yarn Harlot's scarf pattern nice and simple one at that.

Mermaid

I finally decided how to get her to the canvas board. Used graphite paper then painted her in white. Not much to show a large white blob on the background.

This year...

One of my resolutions is to blog daily on one of my blogs.

Today though is not a good day. I am tired-lack of sleep and long day at work.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better blogging day for me.

Oh...ripped back some sleeves for a sweater next frogging is a scarf I started...sigh.

Alice: Queen of Hearts

Click on the photo to see a larger version.

This is how my rough sketch looks when I start. Just scribes with multiple lines and a hint of the final pose. Messy I know...




Then I start refining the lines. Picking the line that works best. Here I am working on her face. I want it heart-shaped and rather symmetric (Tracing paper a blessing)



I like to do the head and face first. It helps when working on the rest of the body.
Here I am working on the shoulders and neck...something odd about the right side though.



She looks kind of odd there. So erase it and more scribbles to see where it works best.

This one is a bit better.




Close up on the face.
Digging the hearts there.

Stonehenge Drawings

Here are some more sketches of Stonehenge from my sketchbook.



This is from a picture I took while there. It is a bit fuzzy(What you get when you take photos at 11pm). I will fix this come daylight. (If you click on it-the picture is clearer.)



This is a test run for a large piece. I wanted to see how it would work with the paper selection and the texture of the paper. It is charcoal, white charcoal and a Grey conte.

What I have been up to... (Post 1)

Part of the Art House Co-op's Canvas Project: Memories and Moments

I did Stonehenge. It was my first time there and we got there before it opened and were the first ones in. We had the Stones to ourselves (not counting the staff) for about 15 minutes where we zoomed around taking photos with no people in the background. Then the buses started coming in.



Waiting to Dry: Waiting to dry between steps. They are all mixed media. The First layer was paper from an old ency the entry on Stonehenge and a dictionary page.



The road to Stonehenge is fields on both sides some with sheep in them (We were staying in a town about 5km east of the site).



When driving, you see this field with grey stones sticking up. You really can't tell what they are...



THEN BAM there be the circle.




You go under a side road via a tunnel and it is right there. Get there first thing during the off seasons and you might have it to yourself.



Once the Tour Buses start coming it gets very very crowded.

Stonehenge: Mixed media: Paper, Oil Pastels, Acrylic Paint, and Charcoal.

Link to their flickr site with two of them on the wall:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arthousecoop/3106013917/