Sending Greetings

Good morning,

And Happy Birthday -- to my son on this fine Tuesday!

I know you'll be working. Do they celebrate birthday's in your office?

This greeting is made, of course, with kaleis. The colored flower is several kaleis together.

At work, I got the big day of work finished. Now there are two little days to finish up this morning, and our other regional accounting tech returns, so we'll finish up the month just fine.

I am hoping to see the bottom of my desk by the end of today.

Congrats to Lori on your new grandbaby! She left work early yesterday to attend the birth. It's always such an amazing thing to witness!

We are looking at a week of heat and sunshine in Columbus.

Have a great day, and I'll be back to post tomorrow.

The Last Days of July

Good morning,

We are looking at the last days of July, and the days and months just keep whizzing along. We are more than half way through 2007 already. Time just flies by!!

In Columbus, July finally gave us some rain and storms for the year. While the rain is great, I could do without the storms, which constantly interrupt our electricity and cable.

And ... it's Monday morning again ... and time to head back into the office. I know what was left from Friday, so I know what has to be done today. I am still getting work ready for the 24th, and the 25th is waiting on my desk. (Thanks, Kenney, for pulling the backup!)

The work for the 24th is a boatload of work (which Mel pulled on Thursday while I was out), but I should get through with that this morning. Then it goes to the the techs, and then back to me for safe-keeping and updating.

The flower in this picture was made from kaleis.

I hope you have a very productive Monday.

I'll be back tomorrow.

Penguins - So Happy ... Together

Good morning,

I really slept in this morning. Wow!

I really had fun with this creation. The penguin is now a tube I've made which represents a tiny stuffed penguin I have in a decorative basket that sits in my bathroom. It is full of minature stuffed animals I've collected over the years.

I am always, always, always looking ... for something new to draw. And, of course, I like cartoon-type drawings the best.

One morning, I grabbed up this little penguin and brought him into my "tiny home office" and posed him on my desk. And then I started creating him in psp in vectors.

I'm sure you recognize all the kaleis yourself by now. It is hard for me to do a creation with no kaleis. I'm addicted to these tiny treasures. Some of them are just down right beautiful.

I appear to be "back to normal" from my injury of a little over a week ago (the fall), and it feels so good. I don't get sick often or get injuries often, so when I do, I just feel horrible. The only thing I still feel is slight pain in the right side of neck, but it's so minimal now. Thank God.

I just read a story in Reader's Digest (July 2007) this morning called LICENSE TO KILL. If you haven't read it, you should. Thousands of truckers are on the road illegally. And your safety is at stake. This is the abbreviated message under the headline.

It caught my eye, since I am always wary of semi trucks on the freeway around me.

My dad and two co-workers died instantly in a car accident back in 1991. They were on a 2-lane highway, about 5 minutes from my dad's house, and headed to a business meeting in a rental car. It was raining out, and an approaching smaller truck lost it's load onto the road.

The driver of the car my dad was in tried to dodge the items falling into their lane. He ran off the road on the right-hand side, leaving a trail of their journey, and managed to get the rental back on the road but then slid and turned into the lane of the approaching traffic with a semi truck barrelling down the road and into their back in.

My dad was in the back seat of that car. I am sure with all the confusion that happened in the seconds leading up to the actual collision, he had to know that they were in deep "doo-doo".

I visited the scene several days later. You could see the trail where they went off, the grooves cut into the blacktopped road where the car was smashed and drug, and the debris left on the opposite side of the road from the car's outside and inside. I had received my dad's hard briefcase after the accident, and it, too, was crushed.

Therefore, I always stay a respectful distance from semi's on the road. While our country could not do without the jobs they perform, they can prove to be a fatal danger on the roads.

With so many illegal immigrants now in our country looking for work, some are finding trucking to be the answer. And there are places where they can get a bogus commerical driver's license (CDL).

If you haven't read the article, I suggest you do. While you can't go around being afraid of everything, you can be aware of the possibilities of danger around you.

Every time I read some of the articles in Reader's Digest about some of the things happening in our country, my mind races to my daughter and granddaughter. My daughter drives a lot (like every day of every week), and my first thought is always, "Does she know this?"

I hope you all know this.

Make it a good -- and safe -- Sunday. Be mindful if you're off to church this morning and on the road.

I will be back -- tomorrow.

Love You Gif

Good morning,

Just a fun little gif I worked on earlier this week.

This week has been a rainy, wet one. Very needed. But it made yesterday pretty humid.

After getting off the freeway on my way to work, it rained so hard that my fast setting on my windshield wipers did not help much. I thought I would have to pull over to wait for a lull, but it was an isolated spot. That was about 5:40 a.m.

And then, we had a pretty hefty storm hit overhead about 4 to 4:30 pm. I immediately called my daughter to see if she was home, taking Friday off, or at work. She was at work, but getting ready to leave. It wasn't raining there at the time.

She and Taylor were driving to the library to return some items and pick up a few more, and the rain hit on her journey. By now, our skies were sunny. It looked like our storm was moving west, and she was east of me. So we had several cells moving across the state.

This morning, its just wet out. No rain though, so far.

Have a great Saturday. I'll be back tomorrow.

Dr. Smiley gif

Good morning,

Ahh! It is very early this a.m. And I am wide awake.

This is Dr. Smiley. He's happy to dispense his remedy to cure your ails.

I hope everyone has a great Friday. Mine is going to be busy, since I've been out the last two days. I know from talking to my co-worker, Mel, that there is a ton of work waiting. Maybe that's why I can't sleep. I wish on mornings like this, I could just do some of it from home; but ahh! The sensitivity of the work prevents me from doing that.

So until tomorrow ... be healthy!

Rest and Sleep Card

Good evening!

Posting a little late tonight. I stayed home today. Mainly because I took off of most of yesterday.

A combination of a "touch of flu" maybe, with the arrival of having my first day with no medication. I had nausea, chills, dizziness, and just felt awful "fuzzy" and achy with pain.

It's funny. While I was on the meds, I had very little pain. My last pill was on Tuesday. But Wednesday, the stiffness in my neck came back and radiated a nice headache throughout my head. I also felt a little depression when I awoke that morning, which is very usual for me.

Thanks to a good team at work, Mel drove me home, and stayed with me till my husband arrived. I had stopped to see the nurse before leaving, and everything checked out, but she said she thought I should not drive home.

Today I stayed home as precaution. While I experienced the continued headache and neck pain, it subsided by the afternoon. I think I will sleep well tonight.

I will go in tomorrow.

So my creation today is for all those who might be a little under the weather.

Take care, and I'll be back tomorrow.

Loving Color

Good morning,

I just love colors -- bright colors.

This creation is all from kaleis. Mixed, colored, special effects, etc.

The best thing about psp is being able to just play until you find a combination you like.

I hope you have a very colorful Wednesday!

See you tomorrow.

Pace Yourself Tuesday

Good morning,

I made this gif using my Wacom Graphire tablet and pen. He's not perfect, but it was a fun exercise.

It's a reminder that the week is still young, so "pace yourself". It's something I've been telling myself, and I heard the same thing from Amy, my co-worker, basically say the same thing as I left work last night. (Hi Amy!)

Some of us have been working a lot of overtime lately, and I've been cutting back. The one thing I hear over and over is, "The work will always be here." And it's true.

So take it easy today. We still have today and three more to get whatever done we have to get done.

Make it a good week.

I'll be back tomorrow!

Fantasy Crab For Monday

Hello!

Fantasy art is fun!

When you draw, you can come up with whatever strikes your fancy, or your kalei canvas.

Everything in this picture is from a kalei. From a whole lot of kaleis.

Well, there is one thing thing in the background done from a vector, and of course, this crab's eyes and mouth were vectors also.

Can you see the anchor way back there? That was hand drawn using vectors. When I was done, I turned it into a tube.

For the crab, I had 2 legs on each side and some of the middle. I copied two legs to add 2 behind on the right and left. I then copied just one leg, and added the two in front.

My granddaughter and I went to the dollar stores (we have 3) at the strip mall by our house on Saturday. She fell in love with a Dora tea set ($5), so we bought it. She played with that tea set all day Saturday and Sunday. She is allowed to use water, because it doesn't stain, and it dries easily if split. But on Sunday morning, for breakfast, I put coffee in her little teapot. She was thrilled. She loves coffee.

She loved it so much, she didn't once ask to get on my computer. She has her own computer in her room, but prefers mine. I usually allow her to play on mine, as long as she gives me the morning hours.

Have a great Monday morning. See you back tomorrow with another "homespun" graphic.

Always Been Cute Thank You

Saturdy morning - yahoo! It's good!

I know you've seen this tube of Taylor before. That's the nice thing about tubing a photo or picture. You can use them again and again, wherever you deem it's appropriate.

My daughter had a lunch date on Friday, and Taylor was delighted that she was invited along. Such a "grown up" lunch.

After the lunch, Danny gave Taylor a gift. She just loves it. And he did, too, since it plays the Kentucky University fight song when it's hit. He had it in his car, and it was very generous on his part to give it to Taylor.

Taylor wanted to make Danny a "thank you" card. She was going to draw one, and maybe she still will.

I was working on stationary, and she came in and saw it. She liked it right away, and said, "Can we make a thank you card for Danny on it?" I was delighted. She loves pink!

I printed it out for her on cardboard so we could cut it into a card, but unfortunately, I need to replace my printer's colored ink. It came out in yellows, lime greens, with some black and blue. She was sadly disappointed.

I was going to feature the stationary today anyway, so I just put the card up here. Hopefully, I can run to Walmart and pickup some colored ink today. Then we'll give it another shot.

I made the design on the left. I was looking at a flower on a card, but then altered it as I went. It looks like cherry red balls and magnifying glass balls. I then kalei'd it as I always do. This gave me the accessories.

That's it for today! Enjoy your Sunday, and I'll be back tomorrow -- on "dreaded Monday"!

Cosmic Blob Butterfly

Good morning!

It is a "feel good" Saturday.

Here is the butterfly from Cosmic Blobs. I started one several days ago, and didn't much care for it. I like this one much better.

Well. I went to work yesterday, after having my accident on Thursday. How did it go?

First, everyone was surprised I came in. Second, I started off feeling great, but by 10 am, my upper back and neck were stiff and burning, and a headache began all over the top of my head into my forehead. By the time I left at 3 pm, I had one hot headache.

So far today, everything feels better. I hope it lasts all day.

Have a great Saturday. I hope you will get plenty of sunshine where you are.

Taylor, my granddaughter, will come to spend the day today, and maybe tonight as well. If she shows up with her suitcase, she's staying the night, which she always loves.

Till tomorrow!

Doll Set 1 in PSP

Good TGIF Morning,

This is a creation from the past.

I am working on a little butterfly creation in Cosmic Blobs, but don't like him much yet. I have everything but the wings, but I've decided to start over on it.

So I got busy looking through some of my older files, and found this one. (I like to name my dolls.)

Yesterday was a rainy day, which we needed. Today promises to be much better.

I went to work, and upon entering the building, wiped my feet on two rugs, stepped off and fell down. Embarrassing to say the least. A man's voice from behind asked if I was all right. I said I was and got up, smarting all the way to my desk. I landed on my left knee and hip, which is the weaker side of my body. Ouch!

I work on the 5th floor of a 7 story building. I told my coworkers about it. My body smarted and felt stiffer and more sore as I sat and worked, and with the urging of others around me, made a doctor's appointment to get checked out. They got me in at 11:45 a.m.

Good thing I went. I've been carrying my insurance card, and the doctor's office said it came back "inactive", which just couldn't be right. When they printed out what came back, I was amazed to find that it is still under another company I worked for back in 2005, which is definitely inactive.

Turns out that I am with the same insurance company in my new job, and even though I, and my new employer, are paying for premiums each payday, it has not been switched over. So now, I will make a trip internally to get that remedied.

I am fine. Sore. I have a prescription to take for 6 days (a cortisone pack), which will end on Tuesday. If I am not better, I am to make another appointment.

I feel much better this morning, so will head off to work. If I can sit at my desk here, I can sit at my desk at work.

I slept most of yesterday after the appointment. Had dinner, took meds, and back to bed. Woke up at 11:30 pm to take meds again, and then slept the rest of the night. Sleeping has always been my number one defense in healing. When I'm sick or injured ... I sleep.

One thing I did NOT expect from the fall was pain in my back, lower left side, and shoulders (both) and my neck which developed into a headache. Maybe I twisted when I fell, and I know I caught myself with my right arm (my left was carrying my lunch) so my face wouldn't hit the floor.

Who knows. I didn't remember my witness, although I've seen him around before. Accidents happen so fast.

Anyway. Today is going to be a good day. I was "off" yesterday. Nothing seemed to go right from the accident till the time I left that morning. I wonder what my bio-rhythms said for yesterday.

I will be careful today. Don't want to re-injury myself.

Have a great Friday. I'll be back tomorrow.

Join Our Group Button - Cosmic Blobs

Good morning,

Cosmic Blobs was useful in creating this flower. I made one first, then duplicated the other two and recolored.

I did a "JOIN Our Group" button, so if you'd like to use it, please do.

I woke up to thunder and rain this morning. It woke my husband who ran to put the coffee pot on, just in case we lost our electricity.

Shortly after he put it on, our electricity blinked, but the blink didn't last long enough to cause us the trouble of having to RESET everything.

As I am writing this now, the rain has stopped, and the thunder is off to the east of us. Maybe that's all we'll get out of this storm. MSN is showing a sun/sunshine symbol for us tomorrow.

Sammy, my cat, is out. I imagine he'll be complaining when he finally comes home wet. He meows at me till I go get a towel and dry him down. He hates being wet.

Hope you have a terrific Thursday. Hang in there: tomorrow's Friday!

See you then!

Cosmic Blob Mushroom Home

Ahhh! Good morning!

This Wednesday, I decided to post a piece from Cosmic Blobs.

Just a little fun for today.

A fairy or small elf would be right at home here.

I love the mushroom cap texture.

While the grass around the mushroom home is a cosmic blob, the grass to either side is just done in psp. The texture of the outside grass was put in from a kalei.

There are tiny flower tubes in the background and foreground made from vectors, and then, of course, some kalei flowers and a kalei sun.

I hope you have a bright and wonderful "hump day".

Back tomorrow!!!

A small ring

Good morning!

A little offering this morning.

Here is a little ring I made over the weekend. Everything is from kaleis again.

Columbus is looking to have some rain this week, which we need, but is promising a beautiful and cooler weekend.

It is the middle of July and I haven't picked my first tomato from my garden yet. I know there are lots of little cherry tomatoes on the plant. I'll need to look to see if any of them are red yet.

Today will be a busy day. I hope it goes well for everyone.

See you tomorrow.

Signs for your Desktop

Good morning!

Without fail, Monday has rolled around again. While I'm not partial to Monday's, it does mean that Friday will roll around again in another 5 days! Yeah! (Do we really spend so much time wishing our lives away and then complain that time just moves faster and faster all the time?)

This is a desktop art piece to place on my computer. Use it when you're on vacation OR just when you wish you were.

Everything here was made from kaleis.

Yesterday, I finally bought Cosmic Blobs Deluxe. It has all the tools that were missing from the Lab Rat Edition I first bought.

But. One of the things I wanted to be able to do was to "make my own stickers". I read in a Cosmic Blob manual that it takes dot bmp, gif, jpg, tif, png, and tga extensions. I also believe it said you could use Paint Shop Pro to design and put your stickers in it. So far, I am not able to import or save a sticker without a white background. Ugh!!!!

I know a gif and a png can be transparent. So why is it NOT doing transparent?? Maddening.

Have a really great Monday! I'll be back tomorrow!

Cosmic Blob Sun For Sunday

Good morning!

Did a little playing in Cosmic Blobs yesterday.

Cosmic Blobs is like modeling with a piece of clay (the blob). It comes in several shapes. You can poke it in or out. You can pull shapes out of it. And you can draw 3 different type lines outside it and cut into it. It is an awesome program.

And it makes noises that kids would love. When I'm working in it, its easy to hear down the hall from my office into my living room.

I was having trouble rotating just one piece for awhile. But when you choose the rotate tool, I had to remember to let the mouse hoover over the item I wanted to rotate before trying to turn it. And I have to remember to use the left mouse button, and not the right one.

The right mouse button rotates all the pieces as well as the world it's in.

Like any program, it gets easier with practice. My husband walked in while I was playing in it, and said, "Oh. I see you're getting the hang of this now."

"Yes," I smiled. "I am. It's cool."

Cosmic Blobs also has its own animation program built in. It's really nice, but once you assign an animation to a character, it just produces too many frames to really put in here. You can make it go really slow though, and pause your character at certain points and then take a picture. In this way, I could make an animation from just those frames.

But since I pull it into psp to clean it up and then into Animation Shop, it's a lot of work. The sun above was going to be 4 frames, but after cleaning 2, I was done.

Cosmic Blobs comes two ways: the Lab Rat edition which is about $20 or The Deluxe Version which is about $40. I didn't know there was a deluxe version till I bought the Lab Rat edition. I may still end up buying the deluxe version anyway, since it has features mine does not. (At either price, it's an awesome price for an awesome program!)

You can make new stickers to put in your program by using Photo Impact, I believe, but Paint Shop Pro doesn't appear to do it. I may be wrong though. I have not been able to find a way to import it into Cosmic Blobs, but maybe the export option in PSP would do it. I'll have to try that. I am not sure what the file extension is, but I think I can use a bitmap.

I do not currently have Photo Impact, and am not familiar with it, so it would mean learning another new program. Oh well. Winter is coming eventually. Maybe that will be my project this year. And maybe you can only add stickers to the Deluxe version.

Have a great Sunday. I'll be back tomorrow!

Pinks and Greens

Good morning ... and a beautiful morning it is!

It's no secret I love kalei designs.

Here is one I came up with this morning.

It started with looking through a Bed, Bath and BEYOND magazine delivered in the mail.

I ran across a very pretty pink and green plaid pattern, so I began duplicating it, but not exactly.

After multiple reductions and making my design bigger by copying the patterns together, I hit my favorite button: kaleidoscoping.

And that's how this Saturday creation came to be.

I hope everyone has a fun-terrific day!

See you tomorrow!

Friday -- And the 13th!

Good morning!

Today is Friday, but it's something more.

It is also the 13th. Do you feel that this day is any different than a Friday with any other number?

I don't. It's Friday, therefore, it is a good day! And still my favorite day of the week!

Have a great Friday the 13th! I will!

See you tomorrow!

Quick Fun for Thursday

Good morning!

This is just a little quick fun thing I did for Thursday.

Hoping this is a FAST Thursday.

I'll be back tomorrow.

Kalei Art - a Nice Setting #1 B

Good morning,

This post is for yesterday: Wednesday.

It is taking the same settings we used on Tuesday, and showing how it turned out.

I think you get the idea.

I hope you had a great Wednesday!

Back in a moment.

Kalei Art - a Nice Setting #1

Good morning!

It is NOT a secret that I love kalei art. I've been fascinated about it since I found psp.

Today, I am sharing how I achieve patterns I like.

Here are two creations I made that I've displayed over the last few days. I applied the same setting to each creation.

When I find a setting I like, I write it down.

I kalei almost anything I've created. After my creation is finished, I copy it onto a new canvas. I make my selection smaller by using my raster deform tool. I take it down to the size you see each creation here.

Then I choose my selection tool, choose circle or eclipse (or any shape you prefer), and enclose my mini creation. I then go to Effects > Reflection Effects > Kaleidoscope and type in the numbers I want. In this case, horizontal is -23, vertical is -68, rotation is 206, scale is -76 (more about the scale in a minute), # of petals is 10, # of orbits is 0, and radial suction is 63. I then choose wrap.

I used this setting on both creations. You can see that the pattern is similar in each.

The scale is a nice feature. Try experimenting with just it. The little bar on the bottom will move your view closer or further out. To the right is closer, to the left is out.

As long as your creation is enclosed in a selection shape, the result will be very pleasingly kept in a new shape and creation. Without the selection, it will consume your canvas.

I also like to layer kalei's. I do this by starting with the original creation, reducing it down, choosing a selection, and hit merge down to get rid of the bottom transparency (which you have, if you copied and pasted your selection on the new canvas). While it is selected, I duplicate it. Each duplication will have the selection still set on the new layer.

Make sure the layer you are working on is active, and "x" out any layers you don't want to see while making your kalei. In this way, you can create a new kalei on different layers using the same original small creation. Try playing with each number on your horizonal, vertical, etc. options. You can move the scale closer or out for some pleasing results.

Another fun thing to do is to hit the dice button. The dice button gives you a new random creation each time you click it. It's amazing. When you find a setting you like, write it down. You can use this again and again.

I keep a book of kalei selections I've found that I like.

Sometimes when you hit the dice, the screen will be blank. Try scaling in or out. Or just hit the dice again. Sometimes you will get a color mixed in. Try playing with the options below: wrap, repeat, color, or reflect.

Sometimes when color comes up, you see just the color, but other times, it's mixed in with a new creation. In the beginning, I'd think, "Well, I like this design, but I hate the color mixed in." No problem! Just hit wrap, and the new color disappears, leaving just the design. Try hitting repeat and reflect as well. It may change a little, or it may not.

Kaleidoscoping is about experimenting.

When kaleidoscoping, you will see your original creation in the left hand box and the new creation in the right hand box.

If you've never played like this before in the kalei box, you don't know how mesmerizing it can become. I bet you will find a new fascination with this tool once you try these steps I've explained.

PSP has a world of tools within it. Try doing the same lesson using other tools. It all suddenly become truly amazing!

After you have layers of different creations, try viewing layers together by unclicking the "x" on a layer. Try different combinations. You will find some truly beautiful combos.

Using a creation to kalei will give you many accessories to use with your original creation as they usually will be in the same colors and shades you've used for its creation.

Have fun with it. Let me know what you think.

Have a great day. Tomorrow, we will use the same settings on two other creations. Just for fun.

Bye for today!

Prom Teen

Good morning,

The new week is here.

I must have been really tired this weekend as I slept a lot yesterday. And then, I slept 7 more hours last night.

This creation to the left was done in psp and with my Wacom Graphire pen. I am really liking this new pen.

It was awkward-feeling at first, but it gets easier each time I use it. I used it a lot on the hair and on her eyelashes. Eyelashes are still tricky. When working on them, I try pulling dark color from the eyeline above or below, and then pulling flesh color from the face back into it. Back and forth trying to get them feathier, and more life-like. I still need to work on them, but I finally accepted these.

I really like her hair. Her skin could've used a little more shading, but over-all, I like her appearance.

She looks a lot like a girl my middle son dated many years ago.

My reference was a picture of an older woman on a cover of a magazine I had. But, somehow, as I draw, the people take a younger look.

I hope you all have a wonderful day. My vacation has come to an end, and it's back to the salt mines today.

See everyone tomorrow!

Blob Appeal

Hello again on this beautiful Sunday.

I realized I haven't done anything in Cosmic Blobs recently, so I decided to share how well Cosmic Blobs and psp go together.

This first blob to the far left was made in Cosmic Blobs. I copied him into PSP, eliminated the background, and then began playing with him.

The second picture shows changing his hair, and kind of softening some of his coloring and changing his face shape slightly. The third shows a much changed man. He could even be the son of the original or second blob.

Playing in these two programs is great fun.

Have a great Sunday -- and I'll be back tomorrow.

Pixel Designs

Good morning,

The final day of the weekend is upon us. It will go fast.

This is a pixel creation. Very colorful.

I started by making just the little square in the upper left-hand corner. You see 3 tiles. The pixel portion is just the first little 25 blocks. Each little block is: red = 5 pixels across and down, and then black = 5 pixels across and down.

The first tile was created by placing one red and black pixel creation across the top 2 times. The second row placed the pixels between the two on the first row, and overlapping the bottom and tops of the left hand corner of each pixel. As I built it, I zoomed in to place it, and then reduced back in to see how it looked. I did this with each row until my tile was created, and then put a black frame around the tile.

Then I produced 3 tiles and lined them up. I added the black bar at the bottom to separate. I had also built a tiny red and white pixel box which I copied and pasted together across the bottom.

The flower is a kaleidoscope of a red and black pixel tile. (Later this week, I will share a setting I like in kaleis, and the effect you can get from different creations I've placed on this blog. See Tuesday and Wednesday.)

Pixel art is very time consuming. It's fun to play with, but doing pixels on a regular basis would be too involved.

If you're interested in pixels, do a search in your favorite engine for pixel designs. I was very surprised by the amount of info on it. It appears that it can be a great background for webpages, but I'm not sure I would want to do that much work on just a pixel design.

Certain fonts can also be used for pixel creations. It's amazing.

Pixels can be used to create small drawings or creatures. They can also be animated.


Here is an example of pixel graphics. As you can see, it is difficult to get a crisp-looking little mouse. Graph paper would be a help or just using the graph provided in psp would be a help in designing your outline.

Getting the outline just perfect is something I find difficult. But there are many great pixel artists out there in the internet world.

Have a great Sunday.

My granddaughter is here tonight, and should be up soon. Her mom will pick her up for church early.

See you back here -- tomorrow!

Coffee Mugs Fun

Good morning to you!

Well, with so many coffee mugs, perhaps you'll head to the kitchen for a cup. My day doesn't start without it!

I did these mugs on Thursday. After I made the mug, I decided to see how many different ways I could design it.

My computer is really slow this morning. I had to reboot just to get on the internet. Everything is running sluggishly. Ugh!

We've had a little rain the last couple of days, which we needed badly.

The kittens love to come up and lay on my deck now. I guess the warm wood feels good to them.

I am watching them through the glass door, and learning the personalities to several of them.

There is one little black kitty with white paws on the it's hind legs ... and he/she is a real character. There is always one in the bunch. This one loves to chase its tail, and it will do so on the very top step. How it manages NOT to fall down them is beyond me. And if the others are sprawled out sleeping, this one loves to go pounce on another and begin biting and playing.

There is also "the little princess" or "prince". This one prefers the comfort of one my cushy chairs instead of the warm slats of the deck floor. That one has to be a girl!

I took pictures though my glass window. The glass does interfer though. But, if I open the door, they run off to hide.

They won't be little much longer. My husband says, "Well. I guess you have more cats now." I don't really. They just "live" out there.

Have a great day! See you tomorrow!

Space Kitty Stationary

Good morning,

It is Friday!!! Only fourteen hours till the weekend, if you get off at 5 pm today.

This is a day off for me. I spent most of yesterday playing in psp. Didn't open Cosmic Blobs at all, although I love the program.

This is stationary to the left. Space kitty is a combo of kaleis and using my wacom.

The more I use my wacom, the more I love it. That pen is fantastic once you get used to drawing with it.

I hope you have a great Friday.

See you tomorrow.

Framed Summer Flowers

Good Thursday Morning!

The picture this morning started off with this butterfly. I haven't done much with my new Wacom Graphire Tablet and Pen, so I was trying my hand at freehand drawing.

I took it and another creation and then began kaleidoscoping. I came up with numerous new designs which I just loved.

Hence, all the flowers.

Little by little, my new creation took shape. Playing here and there, I arrived at this final composition.

I was going to put a title on it, but couldn't think of anything to add. So, I left it alone.

I'm off today, but need to see a dentist. Not a wonderful thing to do on a day off. But sometimes necessary.

I hope you have a really great day.

See you tomorrow!

Happy 4th of July!

Good morning!

It was a noisy evening last night. And will be for the next several, I'm afraid. But, I really don't mind.

My grand-
daughter stayed the evening, and she's still asleep. Shhhh! (She'll want to play on my computer!)

I wanted to make something that was red, white, and blue. It started with making the border at the far left, and kaleidoscoping the design for the other effects.

Our poor city is very dry this year. Reports on the radio warned patrons that this year, the police would be on the lookout for unsanctioned fireworks, as it is just too dry, and they don't want a lot of fires.

My daughter went downtown to the Red, White, and Boom last night with a friend. I've done that, many years ago. It is beautiful, but the getting in to find a place to view it, and the getting out is just too much! I'm sure it will be on tv, so I'll just watch from the comfort of home.

A note on the kittens. They are growing up. They wander around throughout the day now, but come home to our yard every so often. I don't see them all so much anymore. I don't think they have homes though, as they are still wild. Mama kitty still comes for food at my deck door though, and I've found more birds and feathers around lately.

Have a really great 4th today. This starts a mini-vacation for me today. I don't go back till Monday. I had hoped to get all the "regional accounting tech" work done for all the U.S. before I left work yesterday, but alas, the phones were too busy.

There are only two "regionals" in my office. We each handle 3 of the regions that make up the 6 across the U.S. Since the other regional was out on Monday and Tuesday, I was handling her work. We had 2 days of daily work left for the month of June. I got the first day done easily, but yesterday was impossible. I got my work pulled, but the system I needed kept "booting" me out. I don't understand that as many people were off, so I just have to assume they were busy loading it throughout the day. I left most of the last day for the regional returning. We do our work to give to the techs that input. All the work that comes in starts and ends with us. So there will be spreadsheets and filing away the month's work when I get back.

Again, have a great 4th! Keep it safe! And I'll see you tomorrow!

Kalei-riffic!

Good morning,

Okay, it is NOT Wednesday yet. But we are looking forward to a great one this week, as it will be the Fourth of July. And that means a holiday!

So I threw together this little kalei-riffic creation in honor of tomorrow.

Make it a great Tuesday! See you tomorrow.

Fairies

Good morning,

This fairy is for Monday.

Simply playing around as usual, and came up with this little character.

Hope your Monday was great!

Back in a minute for Tuesday.

Vacation On A Fantasy Planet

Good morning,

This creation started just as an experiment in painting colors. I tried one effect after another, and eventually I saw a picture developing. I then had a goal to aim for.

This is a fantasy space planet. This little creature is renting a wilderness habitat shack on unusual wheels. She is visiting a lake crater in a very unusual desert on the planet of Mapo.

It is a spacescape.

This planet has a blue sun and a very animated mountain in the background.

I experimented some with shading and textures which is always fun.

My granddaughter is here this early morning. Her mom had an "afternoon" date for lunch, and Taylor asked before-hand if she could spend the night. She's a treat to have around, and I said it was fine with me, if it was fine with her mom. Her mom said okay.

She had a fun day, feeding and coaxing kitties. We fed them a can of tuna, which I only reserve for Taylor days. It is so cute to hear her out back singing and talking to the kittens. She so desires to pet and hold one, but they are wild. They do seem to find her entertaining though. Maybe it's because she's a "little person", even though she is quite tall for her age. Tall and skinny! And beautiful -- like her mom.

Her most adoring thing to do while staying here is to play on my computer. She spent most of the day doing so. Mostly games. She loves games.

She was allowed to eat lunch (thanks, mom) from McDonald's menu yesterday, which is a real treat for her as she follows a "no wheat, gluten-free" diet with her mom. Of course, she then had to put up with the stomach ache that came with it.

For the evening meal, I decided we'd head back to the diet. I needed to shop for dinner items, but Taylor was too busy to leave the computer to go with me -- a first. I gave her the option to stay home, which she gladly took. After all, grandpa was here.

We had a wonderful dinner of steak, mashed potatoes, limas, and corn. She thought the limas were "yucky", and made the most wonderful faces of disgust as I make her eat at least 1 lima.

She was so absorbed in playing that when the ice cream man came on our street, I thought she would play right through his passing. I waited and waited until I was afraid we'd miss him. I wandered down the hall and said, "I hear something." She listened intently and her eyes lit up. "Yes we can!" I smiled at her. Out we ran to get her dessert.

And now she sleeps, although I must be very quiet. While she sleeps like a log at home, I think she always keeps one ear peeled to her grandmother's early morning "stolen" minutes, when I can take refuge in my computer for awhile.

She tinkered around with Cosmic Blobs yesterday, but found the games to play more enticing. After all, when in Cosmic Blobs, she needs her grandmother's help. And grandma's hands just get in the way too much. I must work on this.

I imagine we'll see my daughter sometime this morning after breakfast. I still have to find time to go grocery shopping, and then cook up my meals for the week as well as do some laundry. The day will go fast, and the weekend will end way too quickly.

But we're all looking forward to the Fourth of July and some time off. I am making a long weekend next weekend by adding Thursday and Friday and acquiring a full 5-day vacation. Others at work are taking Monday and Tuesday, so this is the long weekend for them.

Have a great Sunday! See you all tomorrow -- bright and early!