ATC's, anyone?

In my search for new ways to be creative, I found this site, ATCs for All. ATCs are Artist Trading Cards, little cards about the size of regular playing cards, that you decorate and then trade with other people. I signed up just to see how everything worked, and was surprised by how welcoming everyone has been. They really do seem to want their site to be for everyone, even people like me who think we have no artistic abilities at all.  I posted a few cards, and have already had someone want to trade for one of them.

Here's the one someone already asked for, called Ignoring You:

And another I did:

It's a neat site, I think I'll be hanging out there a lot.

New directions

I've never thought of myself as very creative, but I've felt like I need to work on that lately. I'm not sure how that's going to work out, I tend to never think anything I've made is really good enough, so it's going to be tough. Last October, I decorated a shoe for a contest for breast cancer awareness, and I used seed beads for it. Since then, I've been wanting to find out more about using beads and making things from them.

That's lead me to several new websites, including one called the Bead Journal Project. This is a group of people who commit to each doing one project a month for a year, and it must use beads.  They're each making a kind of visual journal, some using just beads, some incorporating objects that have meaning to them or words they want to focus on, even one doing something each month that focuses on some form of meditation. They have some really beautiful pieces - you can go to their current blog to see the most up to date information. I find it really inspiring, and also kind of enlightening, in a sort of, well-duh-of-course-you-could-do-that kind of way.  See, when I think journaling, I think, notebook, pen, writing words about what I'm thinking and feeling. I never though about using any kind of art or visualization to journal, but I think it might be fun to try, so I think I may be working on that, not necessarily with beads, but something more creative, less logical. I'm curious to see whether I end up feeling differently about things that I express in a more creative way than I would if I just wrote about them.

Anyway, another site I've found recently is that of Linda Richmond, who designs and sells jewelry and kits and patterns for making jewelry.  I ordered one of her Learn to Bead kits, a series that's suitable for beginners who have never done any beadwork before.  I had my doubts, because it can be very hard to learn to do something from written instructions, but it truly was easy to follow.

The kit I bought was a complete kit that contained all the beads, thread, needles, instructions, and everything needed to make two bracelets. I just finished the second bracelet today, and I'm pleased with the results. I can also see me using what I learned from this kit to make these bracelets in different colors or with different sized beads, because it was easy to do and didn't take too long.

Here's everything that was included in the kit:

It was all packaged neatly, each color of bead in an individual bag, labeled so that you would know exactly which to use in each step of the instructions. The instructions were clearly written, and I had no trouble following them, even though I'd never attempted anything like this before. 

I'm not going to show the work in progress, since it's someone else's instructions, and I don't want to show anything that could be construed as a copyright violation or anything.  But here's the end results:

Bracelet number one:

And bracelet number two:

I definitely enjoyed making these, and I'm definitely going to try to order other kits or patterns from this site in the future.

Life is good

At least for now. I'm still waiting for something to go wrong, but maybe it won't, at least for a while.

I rejoined Weight Watchers just before Christmas, and so far, I've lost just over 8 pounds, so I'm happy about that. I have been doing the lose, gain, lose, gain thing for a few weeks now, I don't know what that's about, but I'm working on it. I'm working on getting out of debt too, but it's hard not to spend money when there are so many things I'd like to do. I am going to splurge on something for the cats, though - a system of shelves and ramps for them to climb on that attach to the walls so they can be up high. They'll love it, and they need something, because Peanut keeps trying to climb the walls. Literally, he climbs up the wall and door frame in my laundry room - jumps as high as he can, and digs in his claws, and then slides down. There are gouges in the trim around the door frame. And it's not a one-time deal, he does it several times a week, that I know of, and who knows what he does when I'm not here. Silly cat.

Here's what I'm thinking about getting:


Or maybe some of these:


Anyway, that's all that's going on with me.

Book Review

Touchstone, Laurie R. King

I started reading Laurie R. King's work with "The Beekeeper's Apprentice," less than a year ago, when it caught my eye at the bookstore, and quickly read all of the Mary Russell series, and then the Kate Martinelli series, and enjoyed both. So when I found Touchstone at Half Price Books the other day, I decided to give it a try.

The book is set in 1926 London, against a backdrop of tension between the working class and the wealthy, specifically in the time leading up to a strike by coal miners. An American Bureau of Investigation officer is in London, quasi-officially investigating a rising star in England's political scene whom he suspects of traveling to America to set off several bombs, one of which left his brother little more than a vegetable. He finds himself in the company of a WWI veteran who developed an almost psychic ability after a serious war wound, spending a weekend in a country house belonging to one of the oldest aristocratic families in England, watching the Prime Minister play charades, and trying to figure out what his very disturbing liaison in the British government is really using him for.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, although not as much as King's Mary Russell series. When I first started reading it, it reminded me of some of P.D. James' books, although I'm not exactly sure why, other than it just felt similar. Because of the various plots and counterplots and everyone seemingly using someone for one reason or another, I was never entirely sure who was really the bad guy as I was reading. I kept wondering if maybe there would be a major plot twist that would turn everything on its head. There was, but not the one I'd been half expecting throughout the book. I was a little disappointed at the end, which felt anticlimactic, although I suppose that is at least testament to King's ability to keep up the tension throughout the book and keep readers wondering what will happen next. I'd recommend this book to those who like historical mysteries or who are fans of King's work already, but if you haven't read any of her books before, I'm not sure this would be the best introduction to her work.

Cancer Awareness contest

I'm entering a pair of shoes in the Pink Passion contest sponsored by Baylor and Saks Fifth Avenue. I'm actually proud of them, and impressed with how well they turned out. I found a cheap pair of shoes at Payless. Can't imagine why they were on clearance:

So, I glued little tiny seed beads all over it (thank goodness I only needed to decorate one shoe, not the whole pair!) The contest is for breast cancer awareness month, and they encouraged using teal to highlight the link between breast and ovarian cancers. I used pink, teal, clear, and silver beads. I'm really happy with how they turned out.

Totally different now:

Catching Up

So, it's been a while since I wrote anything. I think half my posts probably start out that way. I keep meaning to write more, and I don't really have any excuse not to. Let's see, since the last time I posted, I had my three-month doctor's appointment and found out I'm still cancer-free. That means it's officially been two years I've been cancer free! Obviously, I'm very happy about that. I'll keep going back to the doctor every three months for another year, which he says is pretty aggressive, normally after two years they'd reduce how often I'd go, but he wants to be on the safe side, which is fine with me, since I'm a little paranoid about it anyway.

I'm working from home a lot this month and trying to get stuff straightened up. I really need to clean my kitchen. It's just depressing, and I don't want to cook anything more complicated than a tv dinner because I don't want to spend any time in there.

I'm reading Life of Pi, it's pretty interesting, but I need to sit down and read, which I haven't been doing much. I don't know why, I just don't feel like it. I did order myself some books from Amazon, my birthday present to me, although they'll get here a little early. They were all from the 4 for 3 bargains, so relatively cheap. I got some from a series I'm finishing up, Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, kind of fantasy/sci-fi humor, and some mysteries that looked intriguing. Nothing too deep or complicated, just fun stuff.

Anyway, I've been writing this on commercial breaks as I caption, so I think I'll stop now. The baseball game I was doing went long, they're still doing postgame stuff, and I have to do the news after it, plus I have another news for another station at midnight, assuming that this postgame/news stuff doesn't run so late that I can't do the other one.

Everything's going reasonably well right now. It's been incredibly hot outside lately, and I just don't feel like doing much of anything. Even reading doesn't seem to be holding my attention. So, let's see, what's going on lately? My nephew is officially 2 years old today - Happy Birthday, Kasen! I'm going to see him later today to give him his birthday present - a sit and spin. I remember having one and loving it, so I hope he does too. He likes to spin in circles and make himself dizzy, so I think he will. It's actually a musical sit and spin, couldn't find just a regular one - he'll love it, but my sister and brother-in-law may not appreciate it so much.

I lost 4 lbs last week at Weight Watchers. I'm not sure how that happened, I didn't think I did too well food-wise, and I haven't been exercising, but I'll take it, it helps make up for the last several weeks where I gained a little every week.

I tried a new recipe for a snack that's really good. I found it on SparkRecipes.com, it's basically chickpeas roasted until they're crunchy, flavored with whatever seasonings sound good to you. Lots of fiber & protein, and I used less olive oil than the recipe calls for, so not too much fat. Here's what they look like:

They don't look that great, but they are good, really.

I've been home all week. Usually I caption the House of Representatives and have to go in to the office to do that, but they were off this week, so I've been scheduled for other shows, mostly ones I could do at home. It's been nice. I wouldn't want to work at home all the time, but I like that I get to every now and then.

Anyway, this has been a long, rambling post, so I think I'll stop now and leave you with some new pics of the kitties, just because they were being cute.