5. Favorite Fictional Couples
Hazel & Augustus - The Fault in Our Stars Castiel & Meg - Supernatural Batman & Catwoman Lana & Archer - Archer Caroline & Klaus - The Vampire Diaries
Scott Weaver of Calgary making big moves in the art world!
band
Today's 30 Days of Lists topic made me think a bit more about art. Well, about what constitutes art anyway. I mean, art isn't just a painting or a drawing. It is more than that. Sculptures are works of art, right? I mean, look at this metal sculpture and tell me it is not art. It is gorgeous!
This funny little piece was made by Scott Weaver. There isn't a whole lot of information about him online but I managed to scrape together some bits. He is a Native American from the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel, CA. His maternal grandmother helped found the mission at Santa Ysabel. As for Weaver himself, he turned his talents to metalworking. He founded a company, Weaves Industries Inc., that does welding, fabrication, and maintenance for industrial equipment. But I found myself more intrigued by his metal sculptures.
dome
All of his pieces are made from recycled materials. You can see that the little band in the first picture is almost entirely made of horseshoes. I think the tiny dome guy in the second picture is made with a bowl and some spoons. That is awesome. I wish I had the ability to look at someone's "trash" and see an art piece inside.
Purdau Kokopelli
This is a kokopelli, a Native American fertility deity. Though I admit I find it hysterical that a fertility deity is also considered a trickster. Is that why women only seem to get pregnant when they aren't trying? Anyway, this piece features the metal rim of a wagon wheel.
That dinosaur is so cute! I'm sure he sells these pieces but I haven't been able to find any information about how to go about actually purchasing one. Though shipping would probably be astronomical since he lives in Calgary, which isn't just in another country, it's also on the other side of the continent from where I live! It would be kinda cool to have a huge chain dinosaur in my front yard. I don't think my husband would appreciate it though.
While I have never done any welding and I have never made anything this awesome, I wonder if this is something I would be able to do. I have taken classes on making your own metal jewelry. How to turn a metal wire into a ring and things like that. I don't have a place in my house that would be an appropriate workspace for that sort of thing. (Which is why I wouldn't actually try to make a metal sculpture. I just wonder if I could.)
I guess I've rambled on enough about this. I'll leave you with a couple more pieces I found that are amazing. These ones aren't just sculptures made of recycled metal material. They also are back-lit. I think that makes them look cooler. Maybe everything should be back-lit. It would give things a mysterious sort of vibe, wouldn't it? You can see the outlines and shadows but not the actual piece. Hmmm....maybe not.
Favorite Tools
4. Favorite Tools To Create With
I create a lot of things. As a result, I have a lot of tools. My very favorite is my needle and thread. I am not the best seamstress and a lot of my sewing creations are sewn by hand but I really do enjoy sewing. (Well, OK, a lot of times I don't love the sewing while I'm doing it. Mostly because I end up stabbing myself a lot. I love the end results though.)
As weird as this sounds, I also love my glue. I actually have a bunch of different types of glue. Regular ol' white Elmers, a heavier crafting glue, some no-name glue sticks. But my very favorite glue is the E6000. It's an industrial strength adhesive that I use when I make earrings or need to glue a hook to a pendant. I recently used it to fix some masks for my daughter's dance studio. They aren't coming apart any time soon!
Finally, I love my jumpring tool. It's a ring with little slots. When you want to open a jumpring, you slide it into the appropriate slot then twist the jumpring a little with your pliers. So instead of needing two pairs of pliers to open them, you only need one and a finger. I find it easier to use since I can put the ring on my pointer finger and still hold the jumpring a little with the rest of my hand.
Don't get me wrong. I love crafting tons of things. These are only my very favorite tools. I do still enjoy my beads and my paint and all of my other tools. These are the ones I really love.
My Ideal Day
3. My Ideal Day
I wouldn't have to wash dishes or do laundry. I wouldn't have to drive an hour each way into work. I wouldn't even have to talk to anyone if I didn't want to. It would be relaxing and blissful. Maybe one day.
Describing Myself
2. How I would describe myself to a penpal
I am a 37-year old married mother of one. This October will be my 13th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe so much time has gone by! My daughter turns 12 next week. She is currently in 6th grade and keeps me very busy with all her activities.
During the day, I work as a bookkeeper for a company that does continuing education for accountants. Super boring. I keep myself sane by crafting. I make jewelry, chalkboards, plushies...just tons of things. I spend a lot of time on Pinterest looking for new ideas.
Hm, I'm not sure what else to tell you. So let's hear your story!
I know, it's a pretty lame intro. Generally, you want to keep the conversation going over a couple of letters so you don't want to get everything out on the first letter. You'll run out of topics to discuss. And a lot of my personal life revolves around my daughter. I never know how much to tell up front. I don't want to be the mom that only talks about her kid but, at the same time, she's a big part of my life. It's a fine line to walk.
It's Magic Time!
Today is March 1! That means today is the first day of the 30 Days of Lists! Let's get this started:
1. Ways to add magic to my life
I guess this depends on your definition of "magic." Obviously, we're not going to start casting spells a la Harry Potter or anything. And going by the Las Vegas magician definition is lame. So I'm going to list things that would make my life sparkly and interesting.
- Move to the beach :)
- Look at the stars on a very clear night
- Get back into theater
- Move to Japan :)
I really don't have any clue on how to make my life more magical. If I knew, it would be doing it! I want to hear your opinions. How would you make your life more magical? Maybe I'll use some of your ideas to make my life more awesome.
They're Bouncy!
Last night, my daughter's Girl Scout troop went to Sky Zone, an indoor trampoline park. I've never been there before so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It turns out that it is a pretty neat place! After paying and going through the obligatory safety speech, the kids were free to go wherever they wanted in the park. There are a number of different areas that have different "specialties." There were three dodgeball arenas, a large foam pit you can launch into, a basketball area for supreme dunking, an area for the smaller kids to jump around, and a large area for the bigger kids to jump to their hearts delight. Our kids didn't participate in the dodgeball but they did hit up the basketball area, the foam pit, and the jumping area.
The basketball area has three hoops set up at three different heights. It was fun to see the kids try to dunk on the tallest hoop. A few of them actually made it! The foam pit was tons of fun but it was a little difficult to pull yourself out. And the jumping area tired them out quickly. I think they only lasted about 15 minutes in that area before complaining about being tired. We told them to get back in there. :)
I'm not sure if the prices are the same at every Sky Zone. At the one in Oaks, PA, a 90-minute package costs $18 and you have to buy Sky Socks for $1. If you happen to be there when the park is crowded, you end up spending a lot of time waiting in line to use the equipment. We went at 5:30 on a Thursday night and it was fairly empty. There were a few birthday parties there but otherwise it was quiet. However, a bus full of kids pulled in around 6:30, which filled the place up a lot. Take that into consideration if you decide to go. A weeknight will probably be a better value than anytime on the weekend. With that said, the kids did have tons of fun. The trip was definitely worth it.
AMOK!
As I have said before, I am a fan of Supernatural. One of my favorite characters is Castiel, played by Misha Collins. Well, he also runs a charity called Random Acts that promotes random acts of kindness in the world community. This Saturday, March 1, is their Annual Melee of Kindness (aka AMOK) event. Basically, you spend one day doing acts of kindness. It could be something as simple as handing out handwritten cards with nice thoughts on them or volunteering at the local animal shelter to walk dogs or making care packages for the homeless. The things you can do are endless!
Unfortunately, my schedule is pretty tightly booked this Saturday. However, I am still going to try to get some random acts in. I'm not sure exactly what I am going to do but I'm leaning towards giving out cards or donating some much needed items to the local animal shelter.
What are you going to do?
Makin' Chainmail
As you may already know, I make beaded jewelry for kids. (Big kids too!) I've been trying to branch out into other things as well. Earrings, keychains, and bracelets have been added to my line. So now I am trying chainmail. It's not particularly difficult but it is very time consuming. I started with an extremely simple piece:
And now I am trying this piece. I'm about halfway done. It still isn't difficult. However, I have to stop every time I switch rings so I can make sure the other things are facing the correct way and I'm not accidentally linking rings together twice.
My friend, Heidianna, makes some lovely pieces that she sells in her etsy shop, In The Spice Rack. I even own a pair of her earrings. One day, I hope to make pieces as nice as hers.
I'll try to post pictures of the new necklace as soon as they are finished. Keep an eye on my Instagram for more pics!
Small World 2
For Valentine's Day, my husband bought all of us copies of Small World 2 on Steam. We own the board version of the game but we never had a chance to play it. Either there aren't enough of us to play a good game or other players don't understand the rules. The digital version doesn't have these issues. Not only can you play against the computer, there is also a very short instructional video to easily explain the rules. An ideal fix for a mundane problem. The game itself is pretty cool. Every player picks a race with a modifier. You try to conquer as much land as you can before running out of armies. Then you can put your race into decline and pick a new one. Most of the time, you can only have one active race and one race in decline. The person with the most points after 10 rounds wins.
I am not all that great at this game. My daughter has won almost every game we've played together. Yet I still find the game a lot of fun. Since both the races and the modifiers are shuffled separately, you rarely get the same combination between games. One race may be super powerful one game and really weak the next. Also, it takes a bit of practice to figure out when you should put your race into decline and pick a new one. While you do still get points from the declined race's land, they are easily defeated by your opponents, giving them the points instead. But the game wouldn't be as fun if you didn't get to beat up your opponent's armies!
For those of you that love playing board games but don't have the ability to physically play the game, the digital version is perfect. If your friends have copies of the game, you can play online or locally. If you are having a party and want to play, you can play the Pass N Play option, which allows up to 5 opponents play on a single device. It is available in the Apple Store, on Google Play, and on Steam. Or you can just play by yourself with up to 4 AI opponents. (This is my favorite since my daughter massacres me every time we play.) This is definitely a good game to add to your collection.