Artistic Creations...

Thought I'd show you what I've been working on (and some of the reason I stay up late)!  My creativity seems to "come out" later at night and just doesn't work well in the morning!  I know that some people are just made that way and I'm one of them!  :-)

I just finished and mailed out an altered clipboard.  Now some (I can hear Rick & Bob now) might want to know why on earth you'd "alter" a clipboard!  Actually, it's really only because you can!  It's like a canvas or another surface to work on!  Kind of like some of those abstracts you see and wonder "why"!  It's not really meant to be functional, more like a piece of artwork that you'd enjoy looking at! :-)  The theme is supposed to be "all about you" but why would anyone want a surface all about me?  I created it instead to be something that I would like to look at and on the back I made a small "all about me"!  My swap partner can remove it from the back if she wants to use it!  Pretty smart, huh?

Tonight I've been working on a couple of ATCs.  ATCs are Artist Trading Cards.  These are quite the rage right now!  They are like mini pieces of art that we trade amongst each other.  There are ACEOs (Art Cards, Editions and Originals) that can be sold, but ATCs are only traded!  The group that I belong to "Art For The Creative Mind" has lots of swaps and most have a theme.  The ATCs I'm working on are children using buttons and bows!  There's a LOT of artistic license here so that can really mean most anything!  :-) 

It's been really neat making these ATCs because on my computer (that had been stored for all the years we were traveling) I had some images I had scanned years ago from pictures that my dad had from his family and I'm using a couple of those!  The only down side is that ATCs are 2-1/4" x 3-1/2" so there's not much room and the pictures had to be printed pretty small!  I don't know "who" these family members are...just that they are really old!

It's kind of fun though seeing "how" these come together!  Some times I get inspiration from looking online at others that have created ATCs, cards, tags, pages, etc.  Other times I get an idea in my head or think of something to use and just start pulling "things" out that I have!  Sometimes I also just browse through the aisles at the store and things kind of come together!  A lot of times, tonight included things don't even end up like I had originally thought!  One thing I really need to start doing is keep track of the items I use to make some of these things!

I hope you enjoy looking at what I've created!  I'll be interested in seeing your comments!  :-)

A new year and a new format!

I hope to be better at blogging in 2010! Man, I have a hard time typing that! I guess after typing 00, 01, 02 and so on it's hard to break that habit! :-)

This morning I was thinking about our blog! It's not quite the same anymore since we aren't traveling as much! There's not that much to share on a day-to-day basis since I can't regal you with our travels! :-) That's not to say you won't hear about the things we see and do when we do travel...and we are planning some trips this year! There's a lot I'd like to share that don't have to do with traveling so that's why I thought our blog needed a new look!

Not sure of specifics for many trips but I do know that we have plans to once again go to Baker, CA for the annual Baker-Vegas Challenge Cup Relay Race. There are several posts in the archives that tell about our trips there! I think this will be our 17th year! That's in April and in June Don and I are the co-rally masters for a Monaco Wannagos rally right here in Arkansas! I hope that all of our motorhome friends are going to come and attend the rally! It's our FIRST and hopefully LAST rally that we are hosting, but I do think it will be fun! It's June 8-12 in North Little Rock! Not far from home and really, NLR and LR have a lot of things to see and do! We are planning some fun things and hope to have some great entertainment (No, Don or I won't be part of them)! Another trip we have planned is Effingham, IL for the Corvette Rally that is held there. We went last year with our friends, Jerri & Lloyd and hope that they go again this year! :-)

One of the other things I'm thinking of doing on our blog is sharing some of the artwork that I do...I haven't done a lot of painting since we moved into the house, but I have been doing a lot of paper crafting - scrapbooking, making cards, ATCs (Artist Trading Cards), tags and all kinds of things! I've made two paper bag books and I'm working on an altered clipboard right now! I belong to a Yahoo Group (I actually belong to several) and we do a lot of different swaps! It's been fun to stretch my creative side and I'm having fun doing it!

That's about all I can think of for the moment! It's late and I need to head to bed! <-- Nothing different about that!

Happy Anniversary!

Wow! Can't believe we are celebrating our 18th anniversary! Don and I chose this date to be married because it was his parent's wedding date as well! I figured it lasted a long, long time for them so it had to be a good day! We had a very small wedding with just our family and a few very special friends. I don't think the church would have held more than 20-25! After the wedding though we had a great party with lots of friends and family! :-) It was a lot of fun! Left the next day for our honeymoon and was it ever romantic! Yeah right! We took our fifth-wheel (that's what we had at the time) and went camping! It was appropriate since we met while camping 6 years before we got married! I do remember Don spent a lot of time on a pay phone outside the campground calling work! I even think we drove in one day so he could go to a meeting! Now that's what I call dedication! Grrr...

It sure doesn't seem like 18 years (or 24 years) has passed! It DOES make me feel old to think about it though! :-) I'm sure there were those that thought it would never last! We fooled them, didn't we!

Happy New Year!

Want to wish all of our friends and family a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! Can't believe it's 2010 already! Seems like it was just going to be 2000 and we were all worried that our computers would freeze up and stop working! Looks like they are still working, and nothing has gone missing - has it? Well, maybe a lot of our money but I don't think we can blame THAT on 2000!

Happy New Year! Hope to see all of you in the coming year!