Tired of spam comments

I have been getting literally tons of them lately. I have always had my comments on moderation approval but did not require the code approval thing. I am putting that thing back on to reduce the automatic spamming. Sorry, artists. I know it is an inconvenience to you but I am tired to getting the spam. Thinking of changing blogs but don't know if it is worth the effort or cost.

Mother Nature's beauty even during a rampage

You can click on the picts for a larger view.

Even when she is pissed off and on a rampage, she manages to create things of beauty. We have been having some really crazy weather here in the past week - snow, rain, freezing rain, warm, cold, sleet, and now tons of snow again. Just a couple of days ago, we were having tons of rain that would freeze almost immediately making for very hazardous driving conditions, but it looked oh so fantastic on the trees and bushes. It was the most beautiful thing I had seen in a long time. I kept staring at the scenery on the way to the grocery store. I could not believe how nature glistened as the angry rain drops continued to pelt down on my SUV. I did what most out-of-her-mind artists would do, I left my groceries in the car and took picts of it with her iPhone. It was brrrr! cold out while I was doing it. My one hand with no glove got awfully chilly. It was worth it though. I hope my picts were able to capture 1/4 of the beauty that Mother Nature left us that day.

Tired of automated messages spamming my blog!

I don't know about you other bloggers out there but I am getting tired of rejecting automated messages from spammer that keep hitting my old messages. It has only been happening the last couple of months or so. It is a good thing that I approve all my message or a bunch of comments about Viagra and erections would be showing up on my blog. Spammers - get some integrity. Sorry, that would be asking for too much.

Comment on digital camera

Yes, I have one but lost my cord for it when my desktop died. I bought a camera dock off eBay but it did not come with power cord or USB cord. In process of getting one. So many hours in a day. Wish I didn't need to sleep or eat. 8-D

Great party...Yummy cake

I went to a very fun party tonight for my friend, Sandy. She is one of my ABFFs - art best friends. She is a riot! Her family was there from out of town. Food was great. I did not really know the people who threw her the party but they made me feel welcome. I could not believe the cake that was there. It was too good. I am glad that I don't eat like that all the time. I had to come home and type out a presentation but I had fun anyway. Just wanted to show all of you the cake that looked almost too good to eat.

Life Update

I know that I have not been posting like I usually do. I have been super busy with life in general. I have been taking a grad class one night a week all year. It has been taking a lot more of my time than I thought it would be. I don't get a break fromy my grad class until 7/22. I will be taking two of them once my regular school year ends in two weeks. I have 8 more school days + 1 hour until the end of school. I have also been busy helping to moderate the Quilting Arts forum.

I didn't say that I have not had a little time to play. I have been playing with Kandi Corp Wax Stylus. Will be writing that up and taking some picts later on tonight as soon as I get my paper written up. I also made some hot glue stamps on plexiglas. I got that idea from Melly Testa's new book: Inspired to Quilt.

Weather sucked here today. It was windy and cloudy. It was otherwise beautiful all weekend. Sam is feeling better today, thanks to everyone who emailed me asking about her. Yes, I lost some beauty sleep taking care of her in the middle of the night this week. That's about it for my life. Back to my paper.

Stupid Quizzes

I just took one that told me that I am 17 on the inside. I am so glad that I am not 17 anymore! Would not want to be that age right now. Didn't want to do that then and would not want to be that age now. Well, my boobs were perkier and the skin was a bit more elastic but not worth the drama and the stuff I had to take in school. Much happier where I am now as an adult.

The same quiz site told me that I am the 10:02 am person. Is that why I am up at 10:18pm taking inane quizzes during a study break? I think I am more of a night person. I do my best art at night. That is when my lovely, arguing children are quiet and sleeping. My dh is also snoring away and the house is mine. I get a lot done at that time. My mind is also most awake until about 1 am.

What kind of cookie am I? You are a fortune cookie!
You are light, tasty, and full of predictions about what's going to happen to other people in the future. You like giving advice about relationships and careers, so you're willing to share your experience and wisdom with friends, family members, or even total strangers. You have an optimistic outlook, and you believe that everything happens for a reason. Even if you have a lot to say, you only need a short note, a quick chat, or a text message to get your ideas across.

That is what I get for going to a teeny bopper website to take a quiz. Yes, it is one of those websites linked to a teen cable station. Sigh.

I just went on another site and it says this:

You Are Midnight
You are more than a little eccentric, and you're apt to keep very unusual habits.Whether you're a night owl, living in a commune, or taking a vow of silence - you like to experiment with your lifestyle.Expressing your individuality is important to you, and you often lie awake in bed thinking about the world and your place in it.You enjoy staying home, but that doesn't mean you're a hermit. You also appreciate quality time with family and close friends.

Way closer to the real me!

Okay, one more quiz:

You Are the Navel Chakra
You are confident and assertive. You have the self esteem to stand up for yourself and what you believe in.You are persuasive and intuitive. You are good at leading a group, even if its members don't get along.You are inspiring. You understand when people need encouragement or nurturing, and you're able to give it to them.You have a lot of will and are very determined. You are able to see tasks through, and you have the courage to aim high.

Here is their quiz page: http://www.blogthings.com/quizzes/?page=1
Back to studying.

Whatever possessed me?

This morning, I had to stop and get some gas on the way to school. I stopped inside the gas station/McDonalds/Mini-Mart to get a cup of coffee and to grab a quick bite to eat since I had forgotten to get some breakfast. I was running a late this morning. I was up late last nite typing up a paper for my reading cohort. My eyes gravitated to some Donuts Gems. Mind you, I am not a real big donut eater. I will have an occasional glazed donut but that is about it. I am not big on really sweet things. I have lost my sweet tooth more and more as I have gotten older. I actually prefer dark chocolate the older I get. I like salty things more and more. They say you lose your taste buds as your grow older. I have always like salty things more - even as a child. Nope, I don't have high blood pressure or anything like that.

I am talking about the small powdered donuts. Not the big honkers. I am talking about the ones that I can barely pop into my already small mouth. They just barely fit. I always get the corners of my mouth full of white powdered sugar and a big dusting of white sugar falls down on the front of my chest. Well, it was no different today. I told myself that I would not open the package until I got to school so I would not get any on my black sweater. Yes, I dress like my color palette. I like to wear black and earth tones. I also had on a hunter green jacket.

Needless to say, the package did not stay closed for even a mile. My hunter green jacket has white streaks and smudges on it. It is sitting in my washer waiting to be washed right now. My black sweater was saved though. Was it worth it? Well, yeah! I popped a few of those babies right into my mouth and waited for the powdered sugar to melt in my mouth. They were so yummy with my very hot coffee. I made sure my mouth was sugar-free before getting to school. I don't think that I will do that again anytime soon though.

Just thought I would share. The only art I have had time to do is work on some samples for the upcoming Quilt Festival. I will post that as soon as I am done with it. I also made a cool charm necklace with several chains attached to one clasp. I will need to take a pict with my iPhone and post to the blog. Just really busy. Will get to it. Hope all of you are being creative for me.

Buyer Beware!

Being an Asian woman with allergies, I have bags underneath my eyes. I have had this problem since I was a kid. No matter what eye cream I have tried, I have not had much success. Now that I am in my 40's, the problem is not getting better. Anyway, I heard this promo for an under the eye cream that was supposed to be fab to try for shipping only for 30 days. You could use the whole thing and return the bottle and cancel within the 30 days. Well, I thought I would give it a shot. I would only lose the shipping. I am not going to name this product. I will tell you that this eye cream is not cheap. Some eye creams run about $20 or so a tube. Some can run about $100 a tube. This one would cost me about $500 a year, if I decided to keep it. Outrageous! It better be some fantastic cream! My baggy eyes better be smoother than butter!

Well, I tried it and it didn't do much of anything for me that the $20 eye creams couldn't do. I didn't notice that much of a difference. So, I called to return it. I was asked by the customer service girl when I received it. I thought it was a few weeks ago. She told me that it was a specific date according to the post office delivery confirmation. I missed it by a couple of days. The invoice said that I would not be charged by a certain date. I was calling well before that date! I would have called much sooner if I had known that! Well, I could not confirm when exactly I got the cream because I did not keep the box it came in. I just kept the cream boxes and all the paperwork. I was pretty sure that I had not had the cream for a month though. I was only a couple of days outside this window. Well, I wanted to speak with a manager because I wanted that RMA! I did not want the cream because it did not work. I eventually got to return the cream and will not get charged for this cream. I won't pay for it. So, I returned it with delivery confirmation with their RMA #.

So, buyer beware. If it is too good to be true, then it usually is. There are good eye creams out there for me. I just haven't found them yet.

Some of my favorite things

You can't buy these wood flourishes directly from Kaiser Craft but you can get them online or from scrapbook stores. They are a lot of fun. You can use them as stencil or glue them directly on your artwork. I use them as stencils for my silkscreening, too. They work great with hot wax from Kandi Corp. You can see what they look like at http://www.kaisercraft.net/site/craft-embellishments/wood-flourishes.



I use Golden's gel medium all the time for all sorts of things. Not too, too long ago, I found out that Dick Blick has their own version of gel medium in a tube. It is not as thick as Golden's and it works great as a glue. It is a bit more liquid-y and it spreads easier with a paint brush. It is cheaper, too. I use it all the time instead of Golden's when I want to glue down my backgrounds when my liquid glue will not do. Just thought I would share that.

Will continue at a later date. Need to go and make waffles for the kids right now.

Epiphany

Recently, I had an epiphany while driving. I do most of my thinking while driving or showering. It is while I am doing something mindless. That is when I do my best thinking. I know why I love to work with metal especially copper. I often feel the need to take things apart and to assemble them again in a different way. I NEED to put things together. I am very mechanical. I am very visual and tactile. It was not until recently that I started working with fabrics and doing art quilts. I have been mostly a collage artist until then. I have been a technique junkie - in search of more knowledge. Feeling the need to do more and different things. Strangely, I do not feel such a need with fabrics/textiles. It may be that I know so much more because of the paper arts. I can transfer a lot of that over. I had the revelation the other day that I love working with fabrics because I love the COMFORT involved with working with fabrics. I love the visuals involved with fabrics. I love the vibrants colors of the batiks and the handmade fabrics. I love coloring my own muslins. I am also a very tactile person. I love running my fingers through the soft flannels and through the different textures of textiles/fibers. I even love the different threads. It feeds my different tactile needs. I feel "comfort" when I am sitting at the sewing machine. I do feel a little "frustration" when I can't get the thread through the needle and I have to find the threader thing. That is only momentary though. Yeah, I am usually not a "deep" person and don't do a lot of reflecting. What can I say. It is a long drive to and from Cicero and Aurora every day.

Do you know why you do the art that you do? I also know why I don't like doing certain kinds of art. There are still a few things that I would like to try but don't have the time or money to do it. What about you? Just a few things for you to think about.

What are your 3 favorite/inspirational words?

Cate Prato recently had on her blog a contest about what your 3 favorite words were that you have ever heard like:

"You've lost weight!"

Mine are from my daughter - Be you, Momma!

From my son - "Love you, Mom" (never tire of hearing that from my oldest, mommy thing)

The FOUR words I will never tire of hearing are "Oh! I GET it!"

You get the idea.

What are your 3 inspirational words to live by? Leave me a comment.

I am an artist!

This thread came up in one of my Yahoo groups. I thought I would post my response here.

It took me awhile before I began to call myself an artist. I am not sure when that was. I don't think I did until I began to feel it. I was doing art before I began to feel it. I knew I was doing it because I was learning how to do it. I was performing the steps and learning the techniques but did not feel like I was an artist. I felt like an artist when I knew what I was doing and began to "feel" each piece instead of just doing the techniques. I don't know exactly when that was. I started looking at my pieces differently. I stopped filling it with embellishments and started looking at it to see what I "felt" it needed. At that point, I was an artist.

Like I tell my kids, just because you look up a definition in a dictionary, you don't necessarily know the meaning of a word. You are not an artist just because you went to school to become one. You have to live it, become it, experience it. That is what I try to do with my kids in the classroom. Yeah, we do that with our vocabulary words, when we have the time. Beats looking it up in the dictionary.

I think you are an artist, if you feel it. You are not one because you can paste something together 1-2-3 onto an ATC. Do you live the life of an artist? Do you hoard pieces of stuff that means nothing to other people? Do you stuff rusty washers and nails into your pockets for that perfect project? Do you bead instead of sleep? You are an artist that is bitterly lacking sleep.

To the woman who was rejected from the Yahoo group. I have owned many Yahoo groups. The only reason I have ever rejected a member is because I have thought they were a spammer or a self-promoter. I have never rejected someone who I have thought to be an artist. It is not for me to judge. If you are going to exclude someone, then the group should be private and be by invitation only. We deal with enough rejection on a daily basis. You probably do not want to be part of that group anyway. I have left many Yahoo groups because I did not feel part of that community. We do not all fit in all places. We feel at home where we feel at home. I lurk in several groups because I feel comfortable.

Awhile back, I was rejected by someone who was supposedly a "big name" to be in a round robin because she said my art was not good enough. She had the nerve to email me that when I wrote her asking her if I made it into the RR or not. She did not bother to tell me whether I had made it in or not. I had to email her several times before she made the "time" to respond. Well, it was her loss. I have moved on. I did not let it get me down. I have to tell you that you don't see her name anywhere any more. I guess she wasn't such a big name after all. My satisfaction comes from my own success in the swaps and round robins that I have participated in and hosted since that time.

Yeah, I am an artist. Thanks for bringing up the subject.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

It has been incredibly cold outside for the last couple of days. It has been below zero without the wind chill. I have not stepped outside today. Thank goodness I made some chicken soup soup yesterday. I made a huge pot of it, so the kids and I have been dipping into it.

The super nasty weather started last week. We have been getting tons of snow and ice since last week. We also got in a bit of thunder and lightening at the same time. It was incredibly nasty last Tuesday. I left school right when the bell rang. I started up the car and closed the door to clean off the snow. I was driving my dh's car and did not know that it automatically locks within a certain time - even when it is not in drive. I always make certain the door is unlocked before closing it. Long story short, it took two hours for the police tow truck to come and do a lock-out - unlock my car door. It took another two and a half hours for me to drive home in the bad weather. My dh did not understand why I was still feeling anxiety the next morning.

The bad weather continued throughout last week. We had ice and snow storms early Friday morning. I left before 6 am on Friday so I could get to school on time. My kids got a snow day. I have not had a snow day in Cicero in the 6 years that I have been there. I wanted to be there the last day before winter break. I still cannot believe how frigid it it outside. My car complains every time I try to start her up.

I hope that everyone is coping with the ugly weather outside. I am done Xmas shopping except for the kids' stocking stuffers. I will venture out later on today and do that. I spent the morning finishing up my very cute mitten pin cushions. I had done the actual sewing and stuffing this weekend. I was doing the sequins, buttons, and beading this morning. They are little gifties for some people. I am done with my hammered wire necklaces. I am done with those for awhile. Not wanting to see those again for a bit. Now, I have to work on my stuff for a couple of companies and mail my screenprinted fabric out to people. Busy, busy, busy. Need to go and mediate my fighting children. I think I will go and mull some cider instead.

Update on Life

Sorry, have not updated blog in awhile. I have been doing a bit here and there. I have been making some art jewelry gifties. I will scan and put on blog before I send out. I have swapped out the skinny book pages. I did the fabric book pages. They turned out great. I did some more fabric screening. I need to send some out to people. I will do that over the weekend. I have not forgotten about anyone. It has just been crazy busy.

I have spent this past week buying, cutting, sewing, tying, stuffing, and sewing, fleece blankets and pillows for local veterans. We did a fundraiser at school for Veteran's Day. With that money, I bought bolts of fleece. I cut the bolts into 1 yard pieces. Lots of pieces cut the edges into strips to tie into knots - including me. I took the short ends and turned them into throw pillows. My 6th graders and I stuffed them befored I sewed them shut. I won't be sewing anything for a couple of days. They turned out really well. Crazy nuts but well worth the effort.

Another snowstorm in the midwest right now. I am waiting to see if I am going to have school tomorrow. It will be my last day before winter break. I would rather have school tomorrow than have a day tacked on the last day of June. We had a snowstorm last Tuesday. I left right after school. I drove my dh's car. I started up the car. I did NOT lock the door but closed it. I made sure of it. I did not know that they automatically lock after a certain amount of time. Well, I got locked out with the engine running. I had to wait for two hours to get a police tow truck to come and give me a lock-out ( open my door). Thanks so much! It took me another two and a half hours to get home with the snowy weather. I was entirely stress. I actually felt anxious the next day.

Yes, it is sleeting outside now. I can hear it hitting the outside of my house. I just know that my kids will not have school tomorrow. Their school district actually has snow days. They have done it in the past. It is also their last day before break tomorrow. In my six years in Cicero, I have not had a snow day yet. Odds are that I will not. It is good that I have a 4 wheel drive SUV. I will have to leave awfully early in the morning. I won't even tell you how early because you will be still be in deep REM sleep.

What will I be doing over winter break? I will be doing some stuff for Staedtler. I will working on some was stuff. I will finish up on some tote bag art stuff. I have some art jewelry gifties that I have to send out. I need to mail out screen printed fabric to some other artists. I want to start on some art pin cushions. I will start the pin cushions, if I get the time. Yeah, that'll happen.

Happy Holidays, everyone! I know that this year has been hard on a lot of people. The economy has been hard for a lot of people. I wish everyone well. Hope your 2009 is better.

Working on something for my 6th graders and perhaps, artists

I have been working with them on scientific method. They need to demonstrate an experiment and do a write-up using scientific method for every science chapter. I want them to get used to using scientific method since they will be using it a lot in jr. high, high school, and maybe in college. I want them to think beyond what is there. In general, their documentation is pretty poor and don't really get the collecting data part. So, I spent part of my time at the waterpark hotel thinking of something for them to do. I have decided that I want them to be investigators of their world. I will have them create their own scientific journals. Sometimes, they will use scientific method and sometimes, they will just document. I will give them a prompt for homework and they will record it in their investigation journal. At the same time, I did the same thing for artists. I was thinking about setting up a separate blog, supplying the prompts, and artists could post what they did + share. Artists could pick which one they wanted to do and post when they felt like it. I was also thinking of doing a weekly prompt. It would make for some great art journaling. I'm not sure though. What do you think?

For example, for my kids, they would go home and find out how many different kinds of liquids are in their house. I would make sure I would tell them not to open any of them up. They just needed to name them. It would be a great categorizing exercise and there could be some graphing involved. Artists could do the same thing but put a sample of it in their journal. Food items would be drawn or listed to avoid bugs liking the journal. Another example would be the kids picking up different leaves or rocks on the way home.

My kids live on actual city block unlike me, I live in a subdivision. This would make a good scientific write-up. Purpose would be to see if there were the same number of houses, cars, etc.. on both sides of the street. They would write their hypothesis at school. They would count the number of whatever on each side of the block. They would make conclusions as to why it was the same number or not. Maybe, they could come up with some investigation ideas of their own. I can hope!

What really irks me as a teacher

We spent the nite at a newer waterpark hotel called Key Lime Cove in Gurnee, IL. We have had several open up around the Chicago area in the last couple of years. We really like The Wilderness in the Dells during the summer, but the water is too cold for the kids during the winter months. We like their outdoor water park better anyway. The one we came home from today was very new. It was pretty nice. Very touristy - the kids loved it. The food was pretty good, better than some of the other waterpark hotels. Prices not too bad. Waterpark itself was pretty good except they had no log roll - which my DS pointed out. They did keep running out of towels, which made me pissy when I was standing there shivering. They kept running out of towels all weekend. There was one other thing that upset me, they did not manage their food service lines very well. Besides that, the kids loved it and I survived it. Indoor waterparks pretty much look the same after awhile.

Now that I am done with the waterpark review, I will tell you about what really irks me. There were a bunch of teenagers there this weekend. A couple of them slammed into my 6 yro and she got mildly injured. They also kept cutting in front of her while in line for the waterslide. That pissed me off but that did not irk me. What really irks me is using the word "like" in a sentence like it was a simile. I am not talking about once in awhile but every other word out of mouths were "like this" and "like that". No, I don't know what it's like. Spit it out already without using the word like. It is or it is not! I sometimes counted how many times someone used "like" while riding in an elevator or waiting in line for something. One pre-teen used it more than 47 times! My soon-to-be 10 yro was doing that not so long ago. I pointed that out and he has since stopped doing it. Thank you very much from my irritated ears.

"Um" irks me as well but I don't hear it as often. Just needed to share. What irks you?

Signs that I am getting older

I am sitting here laughing at myself. I have been very busy with school, kids' activities, my reading cohort, and nursing a migraine. Winter has hit Chicago and it has hit my sinuses hard. Thus, the migraine. Not much I can do about it since I can't take the migraine meds. I can only take Tylenol or Vicadin. I can't take the Vicadin unless I plan on sitting on the couch with a loopy smile and doing nothing else. Well, I finally am catching up with things - some emails and posts to my various Yahoo groups.

I was typing messages in various Yahoo groups. I was squinting at the screen wondering if I had just typed a period or a comma. I can still see letters and words but not punctuation in a normal font. I have been avoiding the font change for awhile now. I just sucked it up and have gone to the larger font size in both my laptop and for the internet. When the font sized changed, my eyes went Aaaahhh! That is so much better! This is while I am wearing my tri-focal glasses and not my contacts. I laughed at myself.

I am getting older. I don't normally feel like I am. I am going to be 45 in January. Growing old is not an issue for me. I am actually more comfortable now than when I was in my 20's. I look at the new teachers in my school who are literally half my age and think that I don't want to go through all that again. Not the fresh out of college thing. No first dates any more. No getting married again. No being pregnant (twice) and throwing up until the 5th month. No more diapers or no more wiping dirty butts. I love that my 6 yro can get in and out of her car seat by herself. She doesn't need me to put on her seatbelt. Looking back, my 30's was okay.

I do need to wear tri-focals now when I don't have my contacts in. My hair started turning grey when I was in my early 30's. I highlight every so often so you don't see the bright grey hairs against my black, Chinese, stick straight hair. I automatically move my head up and down to adjust the tri-focals. The font size on my computers has gone up. I need a second to see small print.

I wear the same size now that I have been wearing for the past 15 years or so. I am a size 6 still. I used to be a 4 in my 20's. Size 6 is better - easier to find that size. I have noticed that my waist is thicker. My hips - I actually have a bit of that now. I am filling out my size 6 out more than before. Some of you might say why I am complaining at all. I am not complaining. I am just saying. I am just noticing changes that were not there before. I am noticing that I am getting older. It just kinda creeps up on you.

I have to wear a bra now whether I like it or not. I am not big on top, but I don't want what I have to be more saggy than it has to be. I have had two children beat the crap out of them while breastfeeding. They have a tendency to face south now. No, I am not wearing granny underwear. No need for the industrial strength bras or dual straps. I told you that I am not big on top. I normally do not wear underwire bras either. I was once in a car accident where the seatbelt locked up on me upon impact. The force was so strong that the seatbelt+underwire bra fractured my ribs. TMI yet? TMI is too much information.

I don't recover as quickly when I am sick. I have more chronic issues than ever before. I used to blame it on my 2nd pregnancy - that is when most of them popped up. Now, I just think it is age. I have had allergies and asthma since 4th grade. I do have reflux now and IBS. I get migraines from bad sinuses. I already did the surgery for that. Migraines don't hit me as hard now or as often as they before the surgery. Maintenance drugs are a wonderful thing nowadays. I am feeling pretty good most of the time. I am not a complainer or whiner about not feeling 100%. Unless I am deathly ill, am very contagious, or cannot drive, I still trudge off to school. I don't tell people when I don't feel well or have a migraine. I just whine to my immediate family.

I find that I don't eat the same stuff now. I don't eat a lot of french fries now. I used to love them. Especially the McDonald's fries or the really fat ones that are fried up brown and saltly. Yeah, I still eat Red Robin fries whenever we go there. I usually opt for fresh fruit now or some other side rather than fries. I don't eat stuff like donuts or cake much now. I would rather have a bagel or english muffin. I did have a few of those small donut gems the other day that are covered in white powdered sugar. It is impossible to eat those things without getting it all over you. I tried to pop an entire one in my mouth. My mouth is not big. I closed my mouth and a puff of white smoke came out of my mouth. I don't drink as much pop as I used to either. Nope, I don't have any cholestrol or blood pressure issues.

Some of the things that I look forward to now:
My first cup of coffee in the morning
Seeing CSI and Fringe
I admit, I watch Dancing with the Stars
My kids going out somewhere with their dad - me home alone
Reading a new book
art time
a meal without someone drooling over it (my kids)
knitting when it gets cold
sewing while watching TV
winter, spring, and summer vacation (teacher thing)
my kids being old enough so I don't have to go in the water with them!
a hot cup of tea
a crispy pizza - hungry now

Okay, I have blathered on long enough now. I promise my next post will be about art.

Question for all of you out there?

When was the last time you created something very personal for yourself? Something with special meaning that you would hold onto forever and not sell or give away? How much time did it take? Why did you decide to do it? How did you feel when you were done? Do have it in a special place or do you carry it around with you?

Just wondering. Some food for thought. Feel free to post a comment.

Being on a design team

I don't know how many of you out there are on one and how you like it. They are all different depending upon the company and the product. There are some products out there that I absolutely love and would not mind being on the design team since I would be using it all the time anyway.

Before you decide to do it, make sure you know everything up front. Most people will send you and agreement or a contract. In a lot of the cases, you would get free product for creating art for that company. Many of them do not pay you anything. You just get free product and maybe an additional discount on other things in their lines.

Consider if you really like the product and would be able to think up many uses for it. It may not be wise to be on a design team whose focus is on scrapbooking stuff when you do mixed media or textiles. Do you use that product? Can you think of multiple uses for what they want you to do? Do you have the time? Can you realistically produce the artwork that they ask you to create within their timeframe? Do you have to be active in their Yahoo group? What happens if you cannot make your monthly or weekly quota? Do you have to submit to magazines? Are you comfortable with what they are asking you to do?

It can get old fast if you are pressured and feel overwhelmed by it all. Remember, it is supposed to be fun and help you creatively. Do not do something that you don't enjoy -esp. if you are not getting paid for it. If you love it and it feels right, then go for it.

Why am I writing about this? I was having a discussion with another artist about this just today after school. She is not into the same type of art I am but she is a technique junkie in what she does. We were chatting on the phone about art jewelry. We were talking about the design teams that we have been on. I can't say that I won't do it again, but I would make very sure that it is for a product that I absolutely love and that it would be my only commitment. They would have to flood my house with product so I would get a huge creative surge. Otherwise, I would most likely pass. We were both in agreement about that. Design teams take up a lot of time. Time is a precious commodity for the both of us. We both have younger children.

Moral of this post? There is none. I am just reflecting on a phone conversation. I am not on any design team right now. INo plans of being on any. I have only a couple of swaps going right now. I am busy with school, school, and my kids. I always have a couple of art things going on to keep me motivated and creative. Kids and dh are a priority right now. A lot of sickness in my house lately. I have to take care of them. When I do find time to create, I am in my own little happy place where life goes away for awhile. Remember, art is supposed to be fun - therapy. It is no fun it you aren't feeling your groove.