I Met a Diamondback!

Okay, not the baseball Diamondback, a real rattler..... hiking the Goat Camp trail in the White Tanks. Less than five minutes into my hike around 6:30 a.m. today the "stick" stretched across the path was not a stick, it was a diamondback rattlesnake about 2-3 ft. long. It was just laying there (not even soaking up the sun as it was overcast at that time). I got close enough to take a couple of pics with my camera phone, I don't normally take my digital in my Camelpack, so the images are rather small, but there really is a snake slithering back behind that rock. No, I didn't kiss it nor did I try to make it "rattle" by poking it with a stick!! Duh!!! We had seen a smaller diamondback one other time in the White Tanks, but it was a small one curled up by the side of the trail. This one was REALLY COOL! I know the pic sucks, but I'm leaving it here because it's my blog and I want to.......

Later on, further into the canyon I met a centipede. It was probably 3-4 inches long. Boy, their legs are really funky! I put a little stick under it just to see the "flow" of those legs. Usually I only see rabbits, lizards, and squirrels...... today was unusual...

As for the hike, I think I went almost 3 miles in and 3 miles back out. I never made it to the switchback, but I know I was close. All this in only 2 hours from start to finish including paparazzi time with the "locals."

Next time I will attempt to make it to the switchback so I can see the towers.

Different Journal.....

Over at Emily's blog (actually it's typepad, is there a difference?) she took a class and made a journal from a deck of cards, 52 cards = 52 weeks of journaling. Cool, huh? So, I pulled out a deck of cards that were squirreled away in the Careers game I bought the other day at Goodwill, sanded a few to begin with. With leftover gesso from another project left on my brush I slapped some on the cards, then later on I had brown paint on the brush and added that. I haven't journaled yet, but I did make this handy-dandy bag for storage from this yummy fabric I got at Joann's the other day. I gave some to Nicole, so let's see the bag, girlfriend!! I put a pretty pink and green cloisonne bead on the rick rack tie for some subtle bling.
So for my first card: "Today I am proud that...."

Soul Journal Day 9

For Day 9 we were to paint over the inch squares from Day 6 and then do some "doodling" around many of them. I chose to mix orange with white to paint over the purple base. It kind of looks like a melon on the page. The red shoe is an homage to April's favorite movie "The Wizard of OZ" and I of course had to include a picture of my favorite dog, the Jack Russell Terrier!



Below is a poem I wrote last night on the spur of the moment to emphasize the dragonfly on my Soul Armour page. I lifted the transparency piece so the poem could be read in the picture. I love my friend Lillian's response when she read it this morning: "I can actually picture the dragonfly!" The best compliment in the world! Thanks, Lillian!:)


Day 10 is all about houses, I have gessoed my pages and will work on it this evening after "Wipeout".

I'm Back

Well, let's see....... it's been how long since I had a life outside my job? Not that I'm counting, but 10 years!!!!!!! I am taking at least a year off to focus on the creative side of me that has gotten lost in the frenzy of teaching. I will still be subbing, tutoring, and most likely working with a homebound former student of mine, but it will be done on my terms and if I need to see a doctor, I won't need to put it off until some break in the school year!

I have recently joined many wonderful Yahoo groups and found a gazillion blogs that I love. Soon I will post many links here, but I HAVE to send you to Sarah Whitmire's blog. She posted on on of the groups asking for people to join her in Soul Journaling. Well, I am horrible at keeping a journal. I have started many, but lost interest after one or two entries......... Sarah is such an inspiration and has created such purpose to this project that I am LOVING this!! The most difficult day was journaling "I forgot to tell you..." A friend mirrored my thoughts when she said she wouldn't be brave enought to write some things down for fear that it would be found and read. My thoughts exactly, but after two days procrastination, I did it and I love the result.

My daughter, April, is also Soul Journaling with us.

Enough talk, here is a snap of the journaling page: (I am going to figure out how to insert a slideshow and put the previous pages and cover into that format!)

The tapes I used to cover my journaling are blue, yellow, and pink duct tape, silver conduit tape, and black electrical tape. I dry brushed a mixture of purple and white over it, sanded, and dry brushed a brown to "age" the pages:

Winter Break: Book making

A few days after Christmas I spent the day with my friend (and wonderful artist) Jane in her Studio 23. She suggested we alter some little board books she purchased for a class she was going to teach. We made up our own "rules" for this project: each page had to consist of at least three layers, each page had to include a heart, and each page was covered in fabric swatches. We each "secretly" chose at least five items that had to be incorporated somewhere in the book. My favorite was the large key seen dangling at the spine. Jane was not happy with my choice, but decided it could go on the outside of the book. It was fascinating to see the difference in how each of us approached the project. Jane laid out each page before adhering, while I did one page at a time right in the book. It was a blast and I love my mini chunky book! Thanks, Jane.
I've included pictures of the cover, spine, and one of the sets of pages:

More Jewelry

I started this necklace in the Exotic class taught by Karli at Confetti Beads last month. My friend, Angela and I took the class together. Although the technique was easy to learn, finishing the piece was time consuming. I was running low on beads for the dangles, so I finished with a combination of the bicones near the clasp. All the beads are Swarovski and even the clasp is a Swarovski button. At one point I got a blister on my finger from using my crimp pliers so much trying to finish, but the end result is worth it, I think. Ok, so Angela finished hers the week after class......... I did FINALLY get it done, girlfriend!

Winter Break Projects: Jewelry

This gold necklace is one of the samples in the Firemountain Gems and Beads catalog. I've had my eye on it for several weeks, but needed several sources for the supplies. I got most of them from Firemountain, but also got some from my favorite local bead hangout, Confetti Beads in Surprise. Here is an article about the store that ran in the newpaper.

I really enjoyed making this piece because I learned to make really good "basic loops" for each of the dangles. (Great directions) My thumb was sore, but after several attempts, they turned out nicely!!! All beads are Swarovski (my favorites).