Ceramics That Make You Smile
Filed under ceramics, Clay Art, Rudkin Studio - Jennifer Rudkin
What a Difference!
“What a difference a day made, twenty four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers where there use to be rain” (and snow!) ~ song by Jamie Cullum
We are no longer snowed in! The temperature came up to the low 40s by mid afternoon and turned our ski slope back into our regular steep driveway. Hooraaaaaaay! The next bad weather is forecast for Monday (heavy rain) and then Tuesday morning (when we’re supposed to be driving to Ft. Smith for our dental cleaning appointment) “snow showers will move in for Tuesday. Current accumulation estimates are between 1 to 2 inches of snow by Tuesday evening…..” I hope we can get to the dentist and back up to the house before it gives us a problem.
I did my yoga stretches like a good girl yesterday, put the third star on my calendar for the week, and felt some of the positions were getting a bit easier. I keep reminding myself that Cat Kabira, the wonderful lady in Gentle Yoga DVD series, said that stretching TOWARD the position and breathing into it were as beneficial for us as actually touching the floor when we tried to touch our toes, or…. I actually felt I was making some progress yesterday!
SMALL RANT/PET PEEVE – I was trying to come up with Cat’s name on the previous paragraph and my mind was producing a blank, so I tried to look it up. I found “Yoga for the Elderly” or something similar and immediately bristled. I don’t CARE if that DVD is the best thing on the planet. I wouldn’t buy it because of its name. GRRRRR! Same thing as a local clothes store here called “Heifer Boutique.” I’ve probably lost my sense of humor, but even if all the clothes in there fit me like a glove and made me look like Julia Roberts, I wouldn’t go in there. I don’t WANT to buy clothes from a place of that name! END OF RANT.
I’m going to try to wood burn some wooden earrings in my art room today. I still don’t have a clue what I’m doing, but I’m ready to see if I can make something I like. Wish me luck?
Shout-out – Michael Remillard, our treasured hair stylist ( 479-357-9305) who is celebrating a birthday today.
Have a wonderful Saturday, everybody.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Sue Hewson Art
Filed under animal paintings, Sue Hewson Artist
A Bit Less of Me
As of today there is almost 19 pounds less of me. (18.8) I’m hoping I can get to 20 off soon, as that will motivate me to put less in my mouth and move more. :0)
I was under the weather yesterday, so didn’t do my yoga. Happily, that doesn’t happen often, so I should be on track for a good bunch of stretches this afternoon. I’m also doing laundry, vacuuming, cooking, and general cleaning up, so that may help, too.
I’m using MyFitnessPal.com again, as well, trying to be accountable for all ‘going in’ so I can tweak things, if needed. My husband is happy with our eating plan, so that is very helpful.
Onward and downward!
Noooooo! Snoooooooow!
We don’t have a large accumulation of snow, but you can’t see where our driveway begins or ends and we’re snowed in. It’s 35 and quite windy. I called, texted, and sent carrier pigeons to let our Lunch Buddies know we couldn’t get there today.
The thing I’m most worried about now is our dental appointments Tuesday. They emailed my husband and texted me yesterday, and we both confirmed we were planning to be there Tuesday. Now this. With the forecast for more snow showers, I’m not sure what to do. The dentist charges $150 if you don’t cancel 3 days before. They don’t work today, Sat, or Sun. I have texted them about the problem and we’ll just have to see what happens. We can’t afford to pay for services NOT rendered, but I realize the dentist suffers losses when his patients don’t show up or give him a chance to schedule someone else in our place. Did I tell you I’m not fond of winter?
I just finished getting the makings of beef stew in the crock pot for tonight. We are safe and warm on top of our ridge line, so I have no complaints. Nothing excited planned for the day. Our local schools are open, so the streets must be reasonable, although we can’t get down to the street in front of the house. Maybe it will warm up, or rain will take the snow away….
Laundry, wood-burning, reading, listening to music – NICE day.
I hope YOU have a good one, too.
Stay safe and warm!
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Thursday 1-4-2024
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It’s wonderful to see my husband excited about getting set up to do something different. He has ordered two kinds of wire for the new MIG welder – one to be used with gas, and the other with electric. We’re going to get CO2 for it at the welding supply place today. He’s watching YouTube videos and dreaming. :0)
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He is also encouraging MY efforts on my new wood burning tool. I’m experimenting with a large piece of scrap wood, trying to use the different nibs, figuring out what to do with them. Jannie at BurnSavvy.com is helping give me confidence to keep experimenting. Here is my latest effort –
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Yesterday was Day Two of doing my old lady yoga stretches. As I expected, it was harder than Day One, dealing with a combination of the mess I am now PLUS my body yelling about the stretches the day before. I went ahead and did the best I could, expecting that TODAY may be a bit easier.
My husband still lives, even after coming in while I was doing my yoga. I was sitting on my mat, legs together stretched out in front of me. I was bent over as far as I could reach, stretching my back deeply, reaching for my toes. My husband asked, “When do you start stretching?” GRRRRRRR! :0(
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I was encouraged by some stats on my blog this morning. I got curious to see how the traffic to my blog had changed since I started it. In 2019 I had 56,306 visitors to CreativeArtworksBlog. In 2023 I had 437,808. That’s really nice. :0)
I hope your day is a very pleasant one.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Our Peter Hogarth Fix
“Dogs’ lives are too short. Their only fault, really.” – Agnes Sligh Turnbull
“I have found that when you are deeply troubled, there are things you get from the silent devoted companionship of a dog that you can get from no other source.” – Doris Day
“Did you know that there are over 300 words for love in canine?” – Gabriel Zevin
Peter Hogarth – Artist – Dog Portraits - @Peterhogarth55 on X
Filed under animal paintings, Pastels, Peter Hogarth - Artist
More Wonderful Ceramic Art
One Gold Star
I put a star on my desk calendar yesterday because I FINALLY did my half hour or so practice of yoga stretches yesterday for the first time in a long time.
My head is so hard that I have to keep proving to myself that I NEED to do these stretches. If I don’t, for some reason I tend to “pull everything in”, hunching my shoulders, compressing all my muscles, trying to make myself into a big ball, I guess. I’m not aware of it while I’m doing it, but the result is lots of stiffness and soreness and feeling-old-ness.
It was difficult yesterday. Every time I started to stretch in any direction, I would get a cramp, having to breathe through it and try to work it out calmly. Then I would continue to stretch as carefully as I could, into the pose. Hopefully it will be a bit easier each day until my body doesn’t think it’s being ‘attacked.’ I’ll try for another star today. :0)
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First attempts with the new wood-burning tool. I’m working my way through all the different nibs, trying to see what each will do, trying to get a feel for what I’m doing. I’m also watching the wonderfully talented lady on YouTube who patiently guides everyone through their first efforts, making you feel that it’s possible you won’t feel so awkward and clumsy if you continue to practice. I’m having a good time now and haven’t burned myself or anything else besides the wood yet. :0)
Today I’m planning to put on my ‘responsible adult’ hat and try to catch up on my computer financial spreadsheets. Several years ago I started these, trying to keep up with our tax records monthly. It really helped. I’ve gotten behind lately, so I’ll try to get November done today, and hopefully go right into December when I finish that.
I hope you’re having a safe, warm, and dry Wednesday.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
It’s Tuesday 1-2-2024
I just recently found this artist on X (formerly Twitter). I think he’s wonderful.
This is more of his work. I wish him a great 2024 and much success.
We are having a quiet day, and we’re about to fix some lunch. We just gathered our trash and drove it down to the bottom of our driveway for pickup tomorrow. We got our mail and came back up, thoroughly chilled. It’s supposedly 40 outside right now, but it seems much colder. A great day to stay inside.
I’m going to do two things this afternoon –
Thing One – do more experimenting with my wood-burning tool. I’m changing the nib on the tool each time so I can get a feel of what each one does. It’s exciting to be doing something completely new.
Thing Two – I’m going to do at least 30 minutes yoga stretching. Yes. REALLY. I know I often intend to do it, but don’t actually get down on the floor with the mat and DO it. Today I will. REALLY. (I have an encouragement thing going with a much-loved friend. SHE is going to peddle on her exercise thing and I am going to do my yoga stretches. We’ve both been making excuses and are trying to do better.)
I hope you’re having a good day, too.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Snow People Community 14
Filed under Seasons, snow people
Unique Lee Art
Sydney Lee offers custom dog/cat sculptures using paper.
I think these are wonderful.
Sydney Lee – UniqueLeeArt on Etsy
Filed under paper art, Sydney Lee Paper Sculpture
Too Much?
I had a subscriber write and ask me how to unsubscribe this morning. I thought an ‘unsubscribe’ button was automatically included on the blog website pages and certainly at the bottom of emails or texts people receive from me.
I found out that there wasn’t one on my blog that I could find, so I looked for one I could add. I couldn’t find one. That frustrated me. I then researched further, and found instructions to unsubscribe. They are –
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Unsubscribe From a Blog
To stop following a blog’s updates, follow these steps:
- Click on Reader in the WordPress.com toolbar. (upper left on your screen)
- On the right side of the screen, click the “Manage” link next to your existing Subscriptions.
- Click the three dots next to the title of a specific blog you’re subscribed to.
- Choose “Unsubscribe“.
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I did this, and found a LOT of things to which I’VE subscribed in the past, and some I didn’t even remember. I’m going to clean those out this morning.
I have had others contact me over the years, and I can go to my list, find their name or email address or website, and delete them. No muss, no fuss. This isn’t possible when I don’t have any of that information, as was the case this morning.
I realize that I write a lot. Sometimes I have to cut myself off because my intention is NOT to bury you in emails on your computer or messages on your phone. Every person’s definition of ‘too much’ is different and I respect that.
If you would like to unsubscribe, 1) comment to a post on the blog and I’ll handle it if I have your information, 2) follow the directions on this post, or 3) you can always email me at lindawlewis1@gmail.com and ask me to help.
Sorry I can’t seem to find information on adding an unsubscribe button.
Filed under Challenges
Happy 2024!
“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.” ~ Neil Gaiman, British author
I spent some time in my art room yesterday experimenting with my new wood burning tool. I WISH I could do what you see above. So far, MY stuff compares reasonably well with a 4-year-old with crayons, but the images wouldn’t make it to the fridge door, even if you loved me. :0)
Happily, I found a wonderful source of help. A wonderful lady name Jannie Lisonbee has recorded YouTube videos on pyrography that I’m just starting to watch. I watched one yesterday of the 7 things she wished she had known before she started. She also has a website called Burn Savvy.com that shows various nibs and what they’re used for – just what I was looking for! I just signed up for her newsletter and emails. I feel like I won the lottery – well, ALMOST….
Our backyard neighbors didn’t feel obligated to put on a fireworks show to entertain the Lewises at midnight, so we just hugged each other, said “Happy New Year” and went to bed around 12:30.
Today is cool and crisp, nice and sunny.
My husband’s Christmas present was a MIG wire welder. He’s enjoying playing with it, buying stuff to use with it, reading about it in the manual that came with it, and online. He wants to set it up for gas AND electric. He’s found some videos on people making things with it, and so is in “Hog Heaven.”
MY present was my wood-burning tool, and then I ordered some replacement kitchen knives. They are ceramic and called, “Kyocera.” I truly love them and use what I have every day. I’ve had the set for several years, but, sadly, I chipped two. I’m still using them, but I decided that I would really enjoy having ones that weren’t chipped.
My only New Year’s Resolution is to try to give myself a break. One thing in particular is my new ‘habit’ of hitting the backs of my hands on things, causing large bruises. (I’ve TRIED telling my friends that my husband is abusing me, but they don’t believe it. They know I’m just a clutz.) I don’t know I’ve done it until AFTER I’ve clobbered one hand (or both) again. It would be nice to be bruise-free at least every once in a while. :0)
This Calvin & Hobbes piece we made will go up on our mailbox today or tomorrow.
I wish us all the happiest of New Years!
Filed under holidays, Thoughts on a ________
More Wonderful Ceramics
Filed under Clay Art
Lap Dog?
Last night Amber decided she wanted to sit in my husband’s lap in the recliner.
My husband started to laugh as she put her front paws in the chair. She took that as definite encouragement for her idea and started to ooze up farther. My husband really started to laugh at that point because Amber, at 95 lbs, is NOT the typical size of a lap dog. Don’t tell HER that, though.
At that point, she just walked right up into his lap and made herself comfortable. My husband was extremely busy trying to protect what was on his tray table in front of his chair, plus his personal ‘parts’, while laughing helplessly.
I, being the helpful wife, went to get my camera. :0)
I got my payback this morning. Amber came and greeted me at the computer, hitting her tail against the file cabinet while smiling at me and licking my hands. I said, “Hi,” and the next thing I knew her front half was in the roll-around chair with me and the second half was trying to climb up.
My husband didn’t get the camera, but laughed his head off while I was trying not to get completely squashed or upended.
Filed under Family
New Year’s Eve 2023
“My Wish for you in 2024”
“May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires.
May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words …….
May 2024 be the best year of your life!!!”” ~ Author Unknown
Filed under holidays
Emmie Brown Heilman Art
Emmie creates pet portraits via paper collage. She starts out with a picture you have sent her. She sketches the pet, then gathers bits of magazines. She creates the background first, then creates the pet’s body, finishing up with eyes and nose, capturing the personality of your pet. She includes words in the background of the portrait that mean something particularly to you, such a a pet’s nickname, other pet’s names, the pet’s favorite toy, etc. Also, somewhere in each portrait is a hidden butterfly.
I can’t say enough about this artist. I could look at her work for hours. You’ll see as I share some of it with you –
Ooh and ahh over the portrait itself, then find the special words, and then see if you can find the butterfly. :0)
Remember, these are created with cut up magazine pieces!
I’ve often been impressed by the talent of people. This rates an open mouth, as far as I’m concerned. I’ll share more another time.
Emmie Brown Heilman – Custom Collage Pet Portraits
Exquisite
Filed under ethereal, paintings I love
Feeling Frazzled
My day is almost gone already! As you can see, I got my hair cut this morning. My husband went with me because he wanted to go to Walmart after. By the time we got home it was almost 1pm.
We ate lunch and took naps (have I told you how much I love having a humongous heat pad in my recliner and being able to sandwich myself between that and my throw or my new quilt and just let myself go?)
It’s a beautiful day today – sunny and 55 degrees right now, although it was really chilly when we left for errands. Our driveway detectors kept going off, but only one of them, over and over, indicating probably an animal, rather than a vehicle. I went out to check and it was several deer! One turned, looked at me for several seconds, then flashed his white tail at me and leaped to the other side of the driveway into the woods. Beautiful!
And now the afternoon is half gone and I’m writing my first blog post of the day!
This is my wood-working set up. I have the Dremel on one side and the wood-burning tool (which basically looks like a soldering iron with some fancy tips) on the other and the experiment scrap board in-between.
I FINALLY got up there yesterday and played with the wood-burning tool a bit. I used some stencils so I would have something to work on. I’m going to find some YouTube videos to watch that I hope will give me a good idea of which tips do what. Meanwhile, I quickly decided that I needed a ‘holder’ for the hot tool. You put it down for various reasons, and I want to be as safe as possible. I came downstairs to see what I could order from Amazon and my husband gave me an extra soldering iron he wasn’t using that will be perfect for my needs. Here it is –
I’m going to see what I can get done otherwise so I can experiment some more in my art room. I’m getting over being intimidated, since I’ve soldered for a long time and didn’t realize how similar the tools are. Making ‘designs’ with it is totally different than soldering, but the feelings of total inadequacy are gone now and I can concentrate on seeing what I can do with it.
I finished getting my Etsy offerings labeled and back on clean shelves. I added the rest of my memory boxes to the site. It’s interesting that this is a work in progress. I’m trying to improve the site, add new things, improve the traffic to the site, and more. It’s a lot of work, but worth it. A customer left a nice review recently and I’m still walking a bit above the ground. :0)
I hope that you’ve either been more productive than I have today or that you’re enjoying yourself immensely.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Making Progress
I’ve finished reorganizing and labeling everything on my “Etsy shelves” in my office now. I found a couple of things I THOUGHT were listed, but weren’t, so I took care of that.
Now I’m going up to my art room to gather a few more things I want to add to the site.
When I’ve gathered them, I’m going to allow myself the time and space to start experimenting with my new wood burning tool. REALLY. I AM. :0)
We went to Lunch Bunch and Kay and Bud were there. We had a good time catching up.
About an hour ago, FEDEX came and delivered the MIG wire welder my husband ordered. He took it out to our shop and brought back the manual to read. He says it looks good.
I hope you’re having at least HALF a good a day as we are enjoying.
Filed under Challenges, Changes, Organizing/DeCluttering
Creative Ceramic Art
Brenda Bogart Fabric Collage 2
Brenda Bogart-BluePrintStore.com
Friday 12-29-2023
I’m hoping that someone will show up for Lunch Bunch today. No one has called or texted, saying they won’t be there, so we’ll go and hope for the best. Getting older is sometimes the pits. It’s harder to keep on top of things, remember what day it is and what that means for your plans for the day, remember details, remember to check or use your phone, set timers so you don’t lose track of time doing something else, feeling creaky some mornings, and more.
Lunch Bunch as been celebrated for over 25 years now. The challenges above brought into question whether we would continue trying to meet once a week. We agreed we wanted to try to continue. Here’s hoping someone will be there today.
I have an overflowing set of shelves devoted to things I have listed for sale in my Etsy shop, HandmadeHavenByLinda. This afternoon I’m going to try to reorganize the shelves so that I can find things more quickly. I also want to consolidate space so that I can add some things to the site.
I received the latest paperback J.D. Robb In Death series book two days ago. I finished reading it last night. I’ll have to wait 6 months to a year before the new one, Random in Death – which comes out in hard back in January, will be offered in paperback. I may experience withdrawal. :0)
I received the two sizes of thin rectangular wooden pieces I ordered to use with my wood burning tool, so I have officially run out of excuses not to go up to my art room and get started. I’m still fighting feelings of intimidation, but am finally getting to the point I feel ridiculous. When I start laughing at myself, it’s time to go try to learn something new.
I hope that this is a good day for you, that you stay warm and dry, and that you inject some fun into your day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
creativeartworksblog 