The documented life project

I'm still sticking with the documented life project that they have going on over at Art to the 5th.

January Theme
The Blank Page and How to Face It!
January 24
Art Challenge:  Writing
Journal Prompt:  Words with Friends

Both the art challenge and the journal prompt had me stumped for a bit since writing isn't my strong point and I'm pretty much lacking in the friend department. I pulled out some water colors and just randomly brushed them on the page for the background. The writing and doodles were all done on a piece of notebook paper then I cut out the sections and glued them to the page. It's a pretty simple page but I thought it looked ok. 
Now I'm waiting to see what the next challenge will be

It's not easy being me sometimes

I'm trying I really am. I have good intentions but it's just not easy. Eating right and giving up things like diet coke may make me feel better in the end but it's tough when you have a craving.

I was in the store and seriously thought about buying a candy bar. Yes, I want it. No, you don't need it. But it's just a little candy bar. That's just a little more cushion to add to your butt.

SIGH!

So what's a girl to do when she wants a candy bar and she knows she shouldn't have it?
She takes the whole darn rack home with her, that's what she does.

Since they would have frowned upon me taking the actual rack home, I took a picture of it. It's almost like taking candy home with me and as long as I take my phone wherever I go I'll always have a stash of candy bars in my purse. It's not quite as satisfying but it will have to do

Another reason to hate winter

As if I really needed another reason but I do have one more.

I dislike driving in winter conditions and even more so at night. Well throw in a snow plow that you get stuck behind and I'm ready to pack my bags and move south. Sandra, do you have a room I could rent?

Any way, I was behind a snow plow the other morning and they now have these horrible flashing lights on the back of them that just about blind you. I realize they want to be seen but this is overkill. Most of the time I can't pass them because with that darn light flashing I can't see around them.

I snapped this while I was sitting at the stop light.

Now, imagine driving down the road with that light flashing on and off the whole time in front of you.

What I did on my day off

I think it's starting to become a theme where I do quite a bit but some people would call it being lazy. I obviously don't care what some people say because I'm enjoying my Mondays off.

I started mine off by sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee and paper, pencils and markers.

I was working on this weeks journal page. I finished the page but I'll save that for later in the week.

Of course I spent time on the computer reading all of your blogs, catching up on emails, getting pictures ready for posts and then scheduling several for the week.

I took pictures, lots and lots of pictures. Some are really stupid but I now have lots of future blog material.

I didn't finish this on my day off but I did finish one of the projects I was working on with those cardboard hearts I cut out and had in my project 365 collage.

The base of this is a piece of a corrugated cardboard box. The sheet music was something I printed out. The heart was made from a cereal box. I painted it, added some crackle medium and painted it again. The red around the edge is some very small Christmas garland that I had left over and then I glued on some fake flowers. Behind it I added some fake greens that I curled. A bit of cheesecloth was stuck in and then I added a bit of glitter here and there. And wallah I was done

What I won

Remember on this post when I told you about a giveaway I won on Connie's blog ? My prize came in the mail on Saturday. The funny thing is for some reason I never gave a thought to checking the mail that day. Then when I got home from work on Sunday my daughter was here. She handed me a package that she said was in my mailbox.

Not the best picture of the whole banner in this collage but you get the idea. I absolutely love it. There was also a little burlap bag with the rustic necklace inside. I love the tag she has hanging from the bag too. It says "If it were perfect it would not be made by me".  Thank you again Connie, I really do love it all.

Project 365 1/18 - 1/24

1/18 And so begins another work week in the bakery dept. Picture is the schedule that's posted by the time clock

1/19 For my day off I played in the art journal and got all caught up with the challenge I've been doing.

1/20 Two cardboard hearts that are cut and waiting for me to have a little Valentine inspiration.

1/21 Hump day and I'm feeling very smurfy in my blue deli gloves

1/22 Thursday is pay day so a trip through the bank's drive through after work

1/23 I may not be doing so good with trying to eat healthier but I have been doing better at drinking more water instead of diet coke

1/24 Laundry day

The Gibbs Report

Life is full of shortcuts. I'm pretty sure we all take them. Whether it's taking shortcuts to get somewhere faster, or to get a job done quicker, they're a part of our every day life.

I myself find that shortcuts are quite useful. If I want to play tug the toy I go right past dad and straight to mom so that I can get to the fun much quicker.

Just the other day I took a shortcut across the coffee table

I did it for you of course. I wanted you to get to the cute picture quicker.

What kind of shortcuts have you taken lately?

It's been a rough week.

What a week it's been. I've been cranky and irritated and finally Friday came along and it really isn't anything to be excited about any more because thanks to my big mouth I'm stuck working Sundays and don't have a whole weekend off any more.

I found myself struggling to find something to post again. Yes, I could have just skipped it but I didn't want to so I sat down at the computer and started looking through files. I found a line drawing of an angel and for distraction I decided to color it in photoshop elements.

I can't remember where I got the line drawing from but it was cute. The whole time I was coloring this and adding texture and shadows and whatever else I was humming this song by the Scorpions.

Double duty

Pardon the lateness of this post. I just realized that it didn't post this morning when it was supposed to. Better late than never.

I was sitting on the couch trying to think of what to write a post about. I happened to have my phone in my hand and tapped on the app store icon. Then it hit me. (Not literally of course) I'll take a picture of my phone that shows some of the apps I have downloaded on it and ask all of you if you have a favorite app.

For those of you who could care less about cell phones or apps there's the picture of Gibbs that I have for my phone's wallpaper.

I have three games on my phone, candy crush soda, diamond digger saga and 2048.
Other apps are facebook, pinterest, instagram, instaFrame and the Joann app. I love the Joann app because you can bring up the current coupons on the phone. Since I always forget to take the coupons that come in the mail that's perfect for me.

Do you have a favorite app on your phone?

Last one...for now

Today is the third page that I've done in the art journal since I started it back up. This catches me up with where they are in the challenge and the new week won't come out until I think Saturday.

January Theme
The Blank Page and How to Face It!
January 17
Art Challenge:  The Color Wheel
Journal Prompt:  "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way . . . “    - Georgia O’Keeffe

I started with the background and just went with green for no particular reason. My original plan was to add various pieces of different materials to create texture to the page. I was experimenting with something I read on another website. Well it wasn't working for me and I only got as far as gluing down that piece of cheesecloth under the girl.

Next came the girl. I drew her on a separate piece of paper then cut her out and added the dress. Now I needed to figure out how to work the art challenge of the color wheel in here. I saw those cute little banners made with paper clips on pinterest and thought make one for each color on the basic color wheel ( yellow, green blue, purple, red, orange) then I just arranged them in a semi circle on the page. As for the journal prompt, I didn't want to use the exact quote because although I like the quote it doesn't really fit me.
It just occurred to me as I'm writing this, I should have added a dog. 

The documented life project

January Theme
The Blank Page and How to Face It!
January 10
Art Challenge:  Gesso
Journal Prompt:  “The beginning is always today.” -Mary Shelley

I must confess that I did not use Gesso. I'm much to cheap frugal for that. I used my homemade modeling past which in my opinion is the same darn thing.

I was pretty pleased with this page and I can only assume that it's all that yellow. It kind of brightens up my otherwise dull world right now. I've got one more page done and that gets me all caught up until they post the next challenge 

Back to the art journal

Wow, it's been a long time since I last posted about the art journal I started last year. It's been almost as long since I've even picked it up. Why did I get away from it? Could be because I got busy with other things or maybe it was because I lost inspiration and did a page like this.

It was so pitiful that I didn't dare waste another page for fear of a repeat.

Time passed, things slowed down and I came across a blog post that Linda from A La Carte did.
She joined The Documented Life Project 2015. I liked the idea and thought it might give my creativity a badly needed jump start. Now of course knowing me and how I tend to not follow the rules I won't pretend that I'll do things exactly they way they intended but I am planning on using this to give me the push I need.
I got started a little late but I've already finished the first three challenges so I'm now all caught up.
I'm only going to show you the first one today. (No sense in using all my blog material up in one post)

For January 1, 2015
January theme- The blank page and how to face it

Art challenge - book paper

Journal prompt - Be your own goal keeper

And here is the page that I completed

Maybe that red milk cap looks a little out of place with all the blue but I stuck it in there any way.

On a side note, I received an email from Connie at Crafty Home Cottage that I won the #2 prize in her blog anniversary giveaway. She's celebrating 3 years and giving away 3 prizes. There's one more left that you can get in on so head on over to Crafty Home Cottage. She'll be happy to see you and you're going to love her blog.

Project 365 1/11 -1/17

1/11 A healthy start to the day and the week with an apple and some oatmeal. It's a shame I can't keep up with a healthy diet.

1/12 I spent most of the morning on my day off working on a new header and new look for the blog

1/13 Back to work and time to make the donuts. They don't look quite so appetizing before they're fried.

1/14 A trip into downtown Erie for jury duty. While sitting at a light in traffic I snapped a quick shot.

1/15 Back roads in the winter can be tricky. Just ask the guy who drives that truck stuck in the ditch

1/16 It was Friday and I was in no mood for working. I finished early and I was out of there.

1/17 Saturday started out with a little sunshine. The temperatures were still really low but it was nice to see the sun.

The Gibbs Report

Today I'll be discussing the importance of having a hobby.  I believe that it's essential to our mental well being to involve ourselves in activities that we find enjoyable. Participating in sports, learning a craft or simply reading a book all help to distract your mind from things that can threaten you happiness.

 

I myself don't really have much stress in my life but it's never too early to get involved in activities that you find relaxing and enjoyable.

Being the pup of a crafty person I decided to delve into the art of paper crafting. Scrapbooking sounded like it would not only be fun but pretty easy.
Here you'll see that I'm working on color coordinating my papers. I also discovered that the torn edges on the paper gave my project an appealing look.

See mom, isn't this a good choice in papers?  You might also notice the cardboard toilet paper rolls in the picture. I find that recycling materials is a great cost cutter.

You'll have to pardon the poor quality of this last picture. My mom was laughing so hard she couldn't hold the camera still. I don't know what she found so funny. I can only assume that her hobby of taking pictures of me just makes her so happy she wants to laugh.

So there you have it. Hobbies are an essential part of a healthy lifestyle.

scrounging

Last night I was feeling a bit too lazy to put a blog post together for today and this morning I'm scrounging trying to find something.
It's not that I don't have pictures to use, I do but they are or other posts I have planned..

I went archive diving and found this picture

This is from last year around this time. Chances are I may have even used this. Even though it's far from perfect I like the way they are sitting on the wires. It made me think that they were probably doing a bit of scrounging that day too.

Juror number 9

On Wednesday I had jury duty. One thing I don't get about the whole process. I have received at least 9 summons over the years. They say this is a totally random selection. Why am I so lucky to be chosen so often when in any other random drawing that would be for a cash prize my name wouldn't be drawn even if I bribed the person drawing the names.

Any way, I went, I was bored, I read a lot and I spent some time checking out one of the cute jurors on the other side of the room. I don't think he noticed me watching him. I even dared to take his picture with my phone. Nice looking don't you think?

How about if I zoom in a bit to give you a closer look at juror number 9.

Make that juror number K-9
It was tough getting a picture of him without being obvious.

Oh and in case you are wondering, I didn't get picked for a jury and I got to leave at noon.

What's your background

I'm not talking about your personal background but your computer background. For the longest time I used my own pictures and then somehow I came across Debbie Mumm's website and her free desktop backgrounds. I've always loved the look of her stuff. I've had several different one on my laptop and this is the one I switched to the other day.

Excuse the bad picture. My attempt at keeping up with project 365 has been resulting in some rather feeble shots.

Sometimes peoples are just no fun

Some people can be real downers. Just when a pup wants to have fun what do they do?

I'll tell you what they do. They come home from work all "I'm tired" and acting like it was so tough going out to get treat monies.
I'm in the one who gets stuck home alone all day long in a little play yard with no one to sniff. How much you wanna bet they come home tonight and do the same darn thing. I oughta pack my kibble and move on out.

Who says I didn't do anything

Monday was not only my day off but it was a very snowy day, again. I had absolutely no desire to leave the house and most of the cleaning was already done.

I did spend most of the day in front of the computer playing but I also managed to do laundry, wash dishes, balance my checkbook and pay a bill. Pretty productive day if you ask me.

I've been wanting to change the look of the blog for a long time so that's what took up most of my morning.

The new header was something I've been working on for a few days. It all started when I was sitting in front of the TV doodling  I had written out the words Ann's snap edit scrap and drew a little stick figure. Then I went to the computer and tried to duplicate it in photoshop elements.  This is what I came up with.

I liked the way the stick girl came out. I used a custom shape for the head and then I drew in the rest of it myself. I wasn't pleased with the words though. It looked ok but I wanted it to look more like the one I did on paper. The next step was to scan the paper that I drew on and then take it in to photoshop elements.

Now I liked it a whole lot better. As you can see I also added red for the dress and bow. I wanted to stick to black and white for the background and header but I thought a splash of red would be a nice touch. Since it was pleased I put it up on the blog and then I realized it was missing something.

It needed a dog. Back to photoshop elements to create the little dog and now I'm 100% pleased with my new header.

It's a big difference from the look I've always used but it's what I was looking for. I've also started working on adding pages, something I've been wanting to do forever. I've cleaned quite a bit of stuff off my side bar too. 

Project 365 1/4 -1/10

1/4 A trip to the mall to pick up a coat. Wade ordered a coat online from Penney's for me for Christmas but it was too small. When I returned it to the store rather than pay shipping again to have it delivered to the house I had them ship it to the store.

1//5 In an attempt to cut fat in my diet I bought these low fat pop tarts. One word EWWWWW

1/6 Getting in the car after work I noticed that the temperature was a whopping 19 degrees.Looking back I now know that wasn't as bad as the -4 we had the other day.

1/7 dinner was a burger and tater tots

1/8 going home from work I had to wait for a train so it was the perfect opportunity to pull out the camera and play while I waited.

1/9 the sun made a welcome appearance. it made for a beautiful view out the back door.

1/10 coffee and a cinnamon roll for breakfast. A nice way to start off a lazy Saturday morning.

The Gibbs report

Since my mom is at work today I think it's time I take some responsibility around here so I've created today's post. I'm prepared to give you a full (or maybe only partial) report of the activities that took place yesterday and what is planned for today.

Yesterday my mom attempted to do what she calls cleaning. I helped her pulling sheets and blankets around on the bed. Later we played with a bucket of water and a sponge on a stick. Dad must have been jealous of all the fun we were having because he took me down to the cave and closed the door. Poor mom had to finish the sponge on a stick game all by herself.

It was really really cold out and I had to make my trips outside super fast. My poor little paws just about froze right off. Snuggling with the blanket on the couch made them feel all better though.

Today dad and I plan on watching some football. Sure hope mom cooks something good for dinner when she gets home from work. Dad and I are gonna be mighty hungry after all that tv watching.

That just about covers it for the first edition of the Gibbs report. I hope you found this information helpful.

Doo doo doo lookin' out my back door

I haven't seen much of the sun lately so when I spotted it yesterday I grabbed the camera and went to the back door.

Unlike the lyrics from the song, you won't see any happy creatures dancin' on my lawn right now.

I copied these lyrics from MetroLyrics

Just got home from Illinois, lock the front door, oh boy!
Got to sit down, take a rest on the porch
Imagination sets in, pretty soon I'm singin'
Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door

Giant doin' cartwheels, statue wearin' high heels
Look at all the happy creatures dancin' on the lawn
Dinosaur Victrola list'nin' to Buck Owens
Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door

Tambourines and elephants are playin' in the band
Won't you take a ride on the flyin' spoon? Doo, doo, doo
Wond'rous apparition provided by magician
Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door

Tambourines and elephants are playin' in the band
Won't you take a ride on the flyin' spoon? Doo, doo, doo
Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrow
Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door

Forward troubles Illinois, lock the front door, oh boy!
Look at all the happy creatures dancin' on the lawn
Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrow
Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door

Snow funny

Where does a snowman keep his money?
In a snow bank!

What does Frosty the Snowman take when the sun gets to hot?
A chill pill!

Second verse same as the first

Snow, snow and more snow. That's all that's going on around here right now. I'm going to start sounding like a broken record. 

Wednesday afternoon looking out  my back door at times  you could barely see the doctors office that's behind my house.

This kind of weather just makes me want to curl up under a blanket and settle in for a long winters nap. Instead I'll be dressed in several layers of clothes and slip sliding my way to work. At least it's warm in my part of the store.

Brrrrrr

It looks like winter is finally here. Anyone that's been with me for a while knows how much I hate this time of year.
Monday we had our first snowfall of the year. It didn't turn in to a huge accumulation for the day but for a while it was coming down really fast

Now we are expecting a big snow storm that could dump 8-12 inches of snow by tomorrow.

The desk Sargent

Yesterday in my project 365 collage there was a picture of Gibbs sitting on my desk. She wanted to know how he got up there.
Normally you don't see a desk Sargent anywhere other than a police station but I've got my own right here. He barks his demands to me and I must obey orders.

While browsing through blog land he insisted on me paying attention to him. I picked him up so that he could sit in my lap but he wasn't happy with that. From my lap he climbed up on to the desk. So no, he doesn't have the jumping ability of a cat and no I didn't have enough pillows to make him steps to get on to the desk. He had had my assistance and my full attention.

Since I had the picture right there and it was such a cute one I decided to do some playing around with it.

Then while I was at it I thought how about crop it a bit.

Project 365

I've thought about it for years and finally I decided to give it a try. I don't know how long I'll keep it up but I'm going to make every effort to get through the whole year taking at least one picture a day.

Rather than post one picture every day (because sometimes the picture I use isn't from that particular day) I'll be posting once a week. My week will start on Sunday so to begin with I have the first 3 days of 2015.

January 1st-While I was trying to do some blog reading Gibbs was being very insistent that I pay attention to him. I put him on my lap and he immediately climbed up on the desk. He did eventually lay down but firs was kind enough to pose for a cute picture

January 2nd- This picture of my roll of reduced stickers at work was to remind me that there may be some days that I'm reduced to taking seriously silly pictures but so long as I take at least one a day I'll make it through the whole year. After all this isn't about quality so much as it is about picking up the camera and taking a picture.

January 3rd- I had intended to get up early and head out to do my weekly shopping but unfortunately I procrastinated too long and it started raining. After reading the weather warning about freezing rain I chose to skip shopping and took down my Christmas decorations instead. The picture is the raindrops accumulating on my sliding glass door

All you need is the right pillow

I changed my mind about taking the day off from blogging because I was really excited about telling you that the right pillow can make all the difference in the world.

Now maybe to some it won't make a difference but when you're on the short side to begin with you need all the help you can get.

A few strategically placed pillows (These are on the floor in front of a cedar chest that sits at the end of my bed)

And now Gibbs is on top of the world. Or should I say on top of the bed.

You should see him fly up and down his homemade ramp. He doesn't mind that I'm too cheap to buy him real pet steps. All he wanted was to be able to get up on the bed. Just look home grateful he looks.

burned

More wood burning that I never got around to showing you before Christmas.

I had bought a package of wood tags a while back at Wal-mart and never used them so they were perfect for a wood burning project.

I just free handed all of these

Unless I change my mind I'll be taking tomorrow off from the blog and I'll be back on Monday

What are you paying

For the past several months I've been watching the gas prices slowly going down. I'm thrilled to say the least.  So the other day when I was leaving work I snapped this picture of the gas sign across the street.

As happy as those numbers make me I was told that a gas station just over the Ohio line is down to $1.99 a gallon. I can't remember the last time I've seen prices this low.

So what price are you paying where you are?

Happy New Year

I thought long and hard about what to say in today's post. I thought about being funny but it wasn't happening. I considered being inspirational but personally I think that's over done. Sentimental really didn't seem to be working for me. I'm not big on mush and vulgarity would be just plain rude.

So what then? How do I tell the people who come here every day that even though I've never met you, I love you to pieces? How do I tell you all that you mean the world to me and I want this new year to bring you better things than the old one did?

Oh. Well, I suppose I just answered my own question and got my message across to you.

So now that that's out of the way, have yourself a Happy New Year.