No Idle Hands Here

You know those times when you don't really have enough minutes to finish a project properly but there are too many minutes to just sit around doing nothing either? In those times, I get strange graphic design ideas, and this was one of them:

I decided that, for some reason, I needed to update my Facebook cover photo with a custom one. I had had a clever (but stolen) image there for awhile which featured two beloved comic icons of 80s pop culture:

But it was time to change, and I had 40 minutes, so I looked up writing quotes and found this gem of quote from Stephen King's On Writing, a book that is part biography and part writer's guide--an excellent resource. (Though I must always give the caveat that it does contain a sprinkling of King's token profanity.)

The background is the scanned image of a page from one of my tutoring sessions. The red spatter is stock photography. The font is Urban Jungle.

Comic: My Life in Line

One of my dear friends (and my Inkaholics assistant editor!) has a love-hate relationship with Colorado. The last time she visited, we ended up at Public Health to get her a tetanus shot. The time before that, I drove her down a mountain to go to the Emergency Room. She halfway jokes that she has an allergy to my state. Thus was born the inspiration for this:



I feel quite honored and loved that she keeps returning despite her misadventures...

Project 365: 81/365 - Batman in Progress

My dear friend Legolas and I got together to do creative stuff, and she worked on a chalk drawing to submit to a t-shirt contest. Awesome!

Project 365: 75/365 - Comic

While judging an artshow for a homeschool group, I spotted this entry in the art gallery, created by one of my Inkaholics writers!

Project 365: 60/365 - Kid's Kingdom

Drawing by my almost-9-year old daughter, done on the white board during a volunteer meeting at church.

Project 365: 54/365 - Art Gallery

Project 365: 50/365 - Shield of Faith

His sister made a shield of faith (look it up in Ephesians) at Sunday school, so he had to make one too.

Here There Be Fairies

The other day, a dear friend of mine posted this enchanting image of her daughter (above) running through the woods. The moment I saw it, I knew some Photoshop magic needed to be worked into it as a surprise for my friend and her daughter.

The image below is the result of my impulses. It is a collage of sorts, pieced together with images from the internet, and enhanced with some special lighting effects to give it a little sparkle.

I posted this on my friend's Facebook wall this morning. She loved it. :o)

Project 365: 38/365 - Portrait

My son drew a picture of me. I love it.

Into the Etsy Foray: First Item - Robot Figurine

I've been thinking about creating an Etsy account for several months now, selling only items I can make with things I already have. So this morning, I started a store and listed my first item: Robot Figurine Made from Spare Parts

I wonder if people are interested in tiny robot figurines? Anyway, I'm excited to see what happens, and if anything, I'll have had fun creating adorable artwork. See the Etsy listing HERE.

Live Sketch App

There's a drawing app for the iPhone (and iPod Touch, which I have) called LiveSketch. I was able to download it for free and have been having quite a fun time with it! It's unlike any other drawing app I have ever tried. The images it creates are quite unique. Here are a couple of mine:



Below is a Japanese artist drawing an anime character on an iPad with the same app. (Obviously he's a lot more talented at this than I am!)

Project 365: 44/365 [Dedicated to Kristy & CrownRing]

Today continues February's month of dedications. If you haven't already, follow my blog on Blogger, then leave a comment to let me know if you would like a photo or a video dedicated to you this month.
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Project 365: Photo Edition - Grump
Dedicated to blog follower Kristy



You DID ask for a kitty picture. ;o) This one is really good at making the "annoyed face." Kristy is doing Project 365 over on Developing.

Project 365: Video Edition - Dragon Birth
Dedicated to blog follower CrownRing



A dragon drawing for one of my DragonKeeper Chat friends, CrownRing. Not representative of my finest doodles, but it was still fun to do.

Project 365: 36/365 [Dedicated to Hood]

Today continues February's month of dedications. If you haven't already, follow my blog on Blogger, then leave a comment to let me know if you would like a photo or a video dedicated to you this month.
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Project 365: Photo Edition - Wannabe Balloons
Dedicated to blog follower Hood, my friend from CP whom I last saw in this room. :o)



Project 365: Chrono Guard

Project 365: 33/365 [Dedicated to Any]

Today continues February's month of dedications. If you haven't already, follow my blog on Blogger, then leave a comment to let me know if you would like a photo or a video dedicated to you this month.
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Project 365: Photo Edition - Random Kitchen



Project 365: Video Edition - Happy Groundhog's Day
Dedicated to blog follower Any, one of my wonderful CP girls :o)



My daughter made this at school, but the show was all her own. ;o)

Project 365: 28/365

Project 365: Photo Edition - Love Written on His Hand



This was a gift from his sister after hearing how much he missed her while she was at school all day.

Project 365: Video Edition - Hidden Book



This is some clever packaging, especially considering the way Lemony Snicket's books are marketed in the first place.

Project 365: 26/365

Project 365: Photo Edition - Wonton Purses



Project 365: Video Edition - Alien Birth



This is what I do when I watch movies and I have no laundry to fold. On this particular night, I was watching The Blob (1958).

Project 365: 24/365

Project 365: Photo Edition - Thanksgiving Leftovers



My daughter made this decoration for Thanksgiving, and I still haven't taken it down because it cracks me up.

Project 365: Video Edition - Airwave Surfing



For some reason, I enjoy the sound of flipping through radio stations. You never know what snippets will come up.

30/365 Dry Erase Art

The chest freezer in our living room makes for a handy dry erase canvas.

18/365 Postcrossing Cards

I have always been a fan of snail mail. You can ask anyone who I corresponded with in college. They probably have a boxful of hand-decorated envelopes from me. Unfortunately, life after college got busy with marriage, career, and later, kids. I still enjoy snail mailing on occasion, but those times are so few and far between.

I came across a site called PostCrossing.com which is a project that allows people to receive postcards from all over the world, practically for free. If you send a postcard, you will receive at least one back from a random Postcrosser from somewhere in the world.

Why send postcards to random people? Because there are lots of people just like me who like to receive snail mail! There is also the added element of surprise of receiving postcards from different places in the world.

I signed up for it and have four postcards ready to mail this week. This reminds me a lot of the Griffin & Sabine books. What fun! I'm excited to see what happens when my cards start crossing the ocean.

If you're interested, you can see my PostCrossing profile here.

364/365 Through the window

As I was exiting a dark movie theater, I noticed how a standing movie display showed right through the round porthole of the door. It was actually a little bit freaky.