Black and white and read all over!

I love black and white animals! Almost as much as I love giraffes ;) I carved the zebra, orca, and sleeping panda stamps after sketching out their main shapes from wildlife photos found on the 'net. Identifying basic shapes and patterns in nature is the focus of the next art class I am teaching ;) And I wanted these stamps for a swap I am in...stay tuned for ATCs!

The horse and flower stamps were carved from a piece of paper that I found while cleaning my creative space! I had drawn them a while ago, when I first started carving stamps; I do not remember if they were drawn from a source, or if I actually drew them (I'm sure I didn't draw the horse....but doesn't it have a lovely Mary Poppins feel to it? =)

Last, and probably least, is a felt mini-stocking, created for a swap. I think it's adorable! It is stuffed with a tiny baggie of colourful buttons, ready to be sent off to it's new home in Mission Viejo (I used to live there, in a past life).


Ooooh, it's a jolly holiday with Mary...no wonder that it's Mary that we love...

We're all mad here

What do you do when your 8 year old son steals from you, gets caught red-handed, and then persists in denying the whole thing? Really, I wish I had more visitors to my blog right now, because I am just at a loss!

He took a Ring Pop off of my nightstand, crawled into his closet, and ate it. I don't really eat candy (except for gummy grapefruit slices - YUM!), but this particular piece of candy was a gift from my husband. He gave it to me after a long schpiel about how he was looking to buy me some jewelry, but couldn't afford anything else, yadda yadda. It was cute, and funny, and sweet, and my boy took it, and ate it =[

The kids knew that it was mine; I had carried it around for several weeks in my purse, and they always asked for it, and I explained that it was too special to eat (and why, tho I don't expect first and third graders to understand sentimental value).

My daughter came to me, saying that she had seen Isaac in the closet next to my Ring Pop wrapper. I called him out, his face was BRIGHT BLUE (Blue Raspberry, my least favorite candy flavor). And he stood there in a tiny sad voice repeating over and over, "I swear I didn't do it. I didn't eat it. I swear I didn't do anything." Riiiight. I asked him to explain why his face was blue. "I swear I didn't do it."

I sent him to his room for the rest of the night. Now, I'm not anti-spanking when it comes to major things, and I think that stealing, and continually LYING about it, is pretty major. But, at the same time, I don't think it is effective for teaching my son anything. Grounding him has never worked, either, though. I'm just at a complete loss as to what I should do here. It's rare that when my kids screw up, it actually hurts my feelings. I wish I knew how to communicate that to him in a way that he would really understand.

Chili Cheese Fridas

Am I the only one that doesn't like Frida Kahlo? I mean, I like the colors....but that's about where it ends for me. Maybe I've lived in Santa Cruz for too long, maybe I really am just a horrid person, but every time I see her work, I just think, "Damn hippies, always trying to make a statement."

Of course, it also reminds me of a conversation I recently had with my ex-husband, regarding art. We were at Blue Ball Park*, and he was talking about how the artwork shouldn't even be called art. Said anyone can paint a large cement sphere, and that it wasn't even very attractive. I pointed out that he had been going on, talking about the things for a good 10 minutes, and that I had considered art to be something that made people think, talk, or feel. It got into his head, whether he liked it or not. I guess Frida is like that for me. Her work does not make me happy, but it certainly affects my mood, or emotions, or whatever.

*Blue Ball Park is what people that live here call Anna Jean Cummings Park. It's a huge park, with four VERY large blue cement balls trailing down the hill. The balls comprise a piece of artwork called Skyballs, by Steve Gillman and Katherine Keefer, 2001.

Baby come back

Ugh, my computer was in the shop forever! I still need to take it to the Apple store to get the battery replaced (before my warranty expires on Nov 4!).

I've been really busy lately! Working in my daughter's classroom twice a week, and also teaching art classes in my son's class. It's awesome, though; not that I enjoy being busy (really, I don't), but I really enjoy kids, and I love teaching, even if it is only in an assisting capacity =]

I have managed to create some things.
Stamps:


You see that little whiskey bottle stamp in that last picture there? My husband carved that! He did a really good job for someone that has never carved before, and claims to have no artistic ability ;)

Collage painting thing:

I created this for the Artists/Crafters Challenge #01 - Juxtapose swap at Swapbot. On a stretched canvas, I used Golden acrylic gel, Golden fiber paste, acrylic paints, some goldfish images torn from a notecard I had, and "bubbles" of Diamond glaze. Diamond glaze is some awesome stuff; I can't believe I didn't pick it up sooner!

All in all, not the most productive month for me, but I have been enjoying myself. I've been feeling really old, lol....my thermostat stays at 68deg, I am asleep in bed by 11pm most nights, and awake at 7:30am! I can barely function before my morning coffee, and, this weekend, Charles and I opted to stay home and watch a movie, rather than go to the big party at a club downtown. Our 22yr old friends just didn't understand *sigh*

It's got me looking ahead, though, which I think is a good thing. I think most people tend to look backwards when they feel old. I've decided that in 10-15years, I want to have a big farmhouse, in a rural-but-not-too-far-from-a-city area, with goats, ducks, llamas and sheep (yaaarn!), and chickens, and a big ole pickup truck, with a bandana-wearing dog, fruit trees, a vegetable garden, and a small field of corn (for my husband). Blackberries, and raspberry bushes, and, dare I say, a clothesline!

See? I haven't turned into my mother! She stays up later than me ;)

Alas, my husband does not share the same goals/dreams. His ideal "grown-up world" is a hammock in Hawaii, a column still percolatin', and a never-endding supply of Volkswagens to work on.

*sigh*

Hawaii has flying cockroaches o.o

Houston, we have a problem

So, the part that is needed to fix my computer has been on order from Apple for 2 weeks now. I called today to check it out, and it turns out, the ONLY place to get that part is from Apple's Houston plant.

For those of you that are not in the States, or have been living under a rock, Houston, TX is under water, following a larger-than-Katrina hurricaine.

It could be another 2-6 weeks before they are able to get my part out to me.

Anyone have a 17" PowerBook G4 that doesn't need it's DC port anymore? *cries*

Chicken soup, please

I haven't fallen off the Earth just yet. I'm very ill =[ I've been in bed since Friday morning; wretched painful cough, sore throat, fever, headache, body aches, & minor sinus goop. You know, all the FUN back-to-school stuff *blech*. I'm pretty miserable, but the worst part is that I feel so guilty! I feel terrible that I'm sick in bed, and my kids are bored, stuck in the house. Poor things. I've managed not to pass this plague onto the little ones, but my dear husband, who had been taking such great care of me last week, ended up sick in bed with me all weekend. His immune system tends to be a lot tougher than mine, though, and he is back at work today.

I'm going to try to sit in teh living room this afternoon, so that I can at least be near the kids. Double-edged sword, imo. I can be closer to them, so that they don't feel so alone, and maybe I won't feel so guilty, but then...being closer to them increases the chance that they catch whatever I have.

*sigh*

In happier news, my good friend, Lyndsay, had her baby, Tristan Hawk, this weekend =] I had planned to go down to SoCal to be with her for a little while while she was recovering, but I don't think it's a good idea now. Gold, frankincense, myrr, & a respiratory infection? Nah, probably not a great idea.

When you teach your son, you teach your son's son

SON: "Mom, I'd really like to ride the bus to school this year."
ME: "Ok, we might be able to do that. Will you take care of your sister on the bus? Make sure she is safe, has a seat, and knows where to go?"
SON: "Yes. And if any kids bigger than her pick on her, I will find them in the halls (if the school has halls), and I will tell them, 'HEY! That's my sister! If you mess with her, you have to deal with me!'"
DAUGHTER: "But what if the kids are bigger than you??"
SON: *shrugging* "Then I kick 'em in the balls."

We are making progress in the field of Big Brother Responsibilities. We have never encouraged ball-kicking, though, lol...

STAMPS!

1. My son had been asking me to carve him a worm stamp for a couple weeks. I didn't realize that he wanted a worm coming out of a hole int eh ground, so I taught him a simple masking technique, using POst-It notes =]
2. I carved this deer stamp for my partner in the Hand carved stamp #2 swap at Swapbot. isn't it fantastic?! ^_^
3. I carved a whole bunch of little stamps while at work last Saturday. Some of them are SO tiny! hehe I really like the nautical star, and the hammer and wrench =]

My kids got their hairs cut for school (today is their second day of school, btw). My little girl went through about a half dozen magazines at the salon (if you can call Fantastic Sams a "salon", lol), and settled on a picture of Rachel Leigh Cook that she fell in love with. She was very assertive in the chair, telling the stylist exactly how she wanted her hair, and how she DIDN'T want her hair, hehe.

She had about 7 inches cut off her hair. I was fine with it, but slightly disturbed at how fine SHE was with it. She kept saying, "I'm FINE, mom! If I don't like t, it'll grow back. It's just hair!" It now only takes about half a minute to brush her hair in the morning (down from about 10 minutes!), and we think it looks really great on her ^_^