For years, the downstairs studio sliding glass [...]]]> So in the last 7 years that we’ve lived in our house, we have had a cavalcade of neighbourhood cats and raccoons wandering through our yard and since we have cats [that are strictly indoor due to raccoons and nearby traffic] they are fiercely, FIERCELY protective of their house.

For years, the downstairs studio sliding glass doors have been victimized by pounding and posturing from all of our kitties, including the deceased MackMack, old-fart Kodiak and the Lulu. They basically howl and hiss at the intruders – raccoon and neighbour cat alike – and beat the crap out of the glass sliders in an effort to assert their dominance.

About 2 weeks ago, I came home from work [hubs was off on a vacation week] and after walking through the back door I was greeted with the following phrase: “Honey, NEVER underestimate the power of The Lulu.”

I’m like, “Um, Ok. What did she do?” All T says is go look in the studio. So I go in, stand in the doorway and everything looks ok at first glance and again I ask, “What did she do?”

All he says is look at the glass door. HOLY CRAP! The entire inside panel of the left slider is shattered. I mean TOTALLY shattered! From the bottom to the top. Every square inch. Thank god its tempered glass and it stayed intact… I have horrible visions of what could have happened.

Anyways, it seems that the Lulu was intent on scaring off one of the MANY local raccoons and basically about a foot up from the bottom of the door there was an impact mark, with the shattered glass radiating up from that location. We assume that she pounded on the glass one too many times. It blows me away because if you could see her, she’s tiny for an adult cat and looks completely harmless. Clearly we have been educated to think otherwise, as have the local raccoons. Here are a few photos of the Lulu damaged door… Good job huh?

Five words sum it all up…
“Don’t mess with the Lulu!”

I went into Vancouver to get my hair highlighted for my ’summer-look’ and now I’m [...]]]> So yesterday, I had plans to do some household chores and pick up my spray painting stuff for the Stencilry class I’m taking… I did say ‘plans’ right? Well, things did go slightly awry and it’s not all my fault LOL!

I went into Vancouver to get my hair highlighted for my ’summer-look’ and now I’m a strawberry blonde/light red haired chick. Looks fab and I’m totally happy with the results! Then the plan was for me to hit a few local stores and pick-up my gear for the class. Well, the weather turned sour and windy/wet, I couldn’t get parking on Granville Island [where Opus - my art supply store of choice resides], had to run a few more errands than anticipated and generally ran outta time.

House of Flying Daggers

I got home to a hubby who was still in his pjs and watching martial arts dvds, with our two kitties in his lap and beside his legs on the couch. You go honey! You deserve a break and you’ve been working really hard. Seeing him like that, I threw out all ideas of chores and flopped on the other couch since obviously the weather wasn’t going to let me spray outside. We settled in and watched the visual feast that is “The House of Flying Daggers”.

Good Lord! These modern Asian martial arts movies are so gorgeous and full of colourful goodness. The colour combos by the artistic directors of these epic movies are truly breathless… The scenery and the costumes are lush and vibrant and so inspiring when it comes to developing a colour palette for new artwork! Pure eyecandy. The subtitles I could live without… but the soft sh-sh-sh sounds of the Mandarin language are lovely to listen to and let’s face it, I don’t understand Mandarin so subtitles are kinda necessary LOL.  I really have started enjoy watching this new genre of martial arts movie… I don’t need to understand all the details in the flick and if I miss a few substitles whilst starting at an exceptionally beautiful scene it doesn’t bother me a bit. I’m just happy to enjoy the visual feast.

A few favorites if you are into visually stimulating and creative movies in this martial arts genre are:

The House of Flying Daggers | Curse of the Golden Flower | Hero | Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon | The Promise  and of course the non-martial arts beauty: Memoirs of a Geisha

I digress… On to the topic at hand. Stencilry!

I had posted to our Yahoo Stencilry group that I was going to share some of my favorite, self-designed stencils that I’ve used in both designing our paperWERX lines of paper and in my own personal artwork. I have often created stencils that I can use in the design/carving of LARGE rubberstamp slabs. I’m talking HUGE. like 12×12 stamps or bigger! The designs can be either very simple, repeated patterns or complex, interlocking motifs of botanical image and damask patterns, etc. Below are two examples of stencil/carving designs I created for a specific project and they have come to be two of my favorite patterns.

You are free to download and use these patterns in your PERSONAL artwork only. These designs are unique and created by me, and therefore are copyrighted and are not allowed for usage in commercial art or design without my permission.

To download the 8×8″ PDF version of the pattens, please click on the links below:

stampblock |  stampblock2

Happy stencil cutting and enjoy!

well, I am down 25-30lbs from mid-January.  The first 10-15lbs was from being very very sick with a respiratory infection and existing on a soup, fruit juice and fresh fruit diet. The last 15lb [over the [...]]]> People who haven’t seen me for a while keep asking me the same thing, “How much weight have you lost?”

well, I am down 25-30lbs from mid-January.  The first 10-15lbs was from being very very sick with a respiratory infection and existing on a soup, fruit juice and fresh fruit diet. The last 15lb [over the last 5 weeks] is deliberate and is being accomplished through Dr. Bernstein [a medically supervised diet program].

I feel great! TONS of energy, virtually no-minor headaches, my skin looks better and my butt definitely looks better. It’s been very positive so far. I have a target of another 25-30lbs.  My pantsize has been reduce by 4 sizes and I’m verging on another drop in size. YAY!

Here is a headshot to compare the difference from last fall to today. I can definitely see the changes… can you?

Fall 2008

March 25, 2009

T is heading off to Hong Kong next weekend for 3 weeks to visit one of his oldest and closest friends. He’s going to be visiting Mainland China [...]]]> It isn’t easy I tell you, especially when you have maybe only 4 WHITE walls in your entire house and your subject [my hubby T] gets the giggles.

T is heading off to Hong Kong next weekend for 3 weeks to visit one of his oldest and closest friends. He’s going to be visiting Mainland China while he is in HK and needs a Visa to get in and out of the country, so he needs a ‘passport style’ photo. This is where I step in. Camera in hand, we find one of the only largeish white walls in our house and silliness quickly ensues… Below you will find my handy dandy 12-Step guide to taking your own ‘passport style’ photos at home. Enjoy!

How to take a ‘Passport Style’ photo at home:

1. Pose in front of a white wall. Look pissed off. Lighting is all wrong.
2. Say ‘pickle’ to your subject and dare them not to laugh.
3. Figure out the flash situation, but set the power too high and over expose your now giggling subject while they mutter ‘pickle’ under their breath.
4. Get the lighting just about right and tell your subject to stop laughing. Yeah, like THAT is going to work!
5. Subject tries really really hard not to smile, it isn’t working too well.
6. Subject gives in to the giggles and loses concentration. Tell them to stop, and make them laugh harder. Dare them NOT to pee their pants.
7. Subject gives up and goes with ‘it’. Take some silly shots of your subject for blackmail purposes later – you never know when you’ll need it.
8. Trying hard again not to smile, but eyes are still crinkling and the corners of the mouth are still not pissed off looking enough.
9. Finally getting giggles under control, almost a perfect ‘passport style’ shot. We might be finished before midnight – thank god.
10. FINALLY the perfect ‘passport style’ photo happens, 20+ shots later and with much laughter throughout.
11. Let the subject have fun as a reward. Take a few more blackmail shots and reward subject with a yummy cookie.
12. He’s not too sure about the cookie, but he’ll take it anyways.

Finally… take all those random, awful, funny shots and create photobooth strips for fun. They are super easy to do and can be printed out on 8.5×11″ paper. I’ve even found a FREE online template from Sugarplum Paperie to make creating your photobooth strip easier.

Have fun! and Happy Monday [yeah yeah... I know...]

a number of you have ordered the calendared vinyl that kal used at inspired through us. we’ve had a slight delay and will not be shipping your orders until next week. the initial batch of product was flawed and they are sending me new product to cover the bad batch initially sent to me. [...]]]> hey gang…

a number of you have ordered the calendared vinyl that kal used at inspired through us. we’ve had a slight delay and will not be shipping your orders until next week. the initial batch of product was flawed and they are sending me new product to cover the bad batch initially sent to me. i expect it in hand on monday or tuesday this coming week. so hang in there, it’s on it’s way…

also… i’ve not been able to get my other shipping out this past week as initially planned, due to a ridiculous work schedule. i normally ship on wednesday and take the 2 hours out of my day to ship orders through point roberts, washington. unfortunately i’ve been working on some major deadlines and wasn’t able to go earlier in the week as planned. then, and here’s the real kicker, my right eye has been pretty much swollen shut since thursday and i can’t drive. nice.

i have this chronic eye condition called blepharitis which affects my upper eyelids. it is extremely uncomfortable and adversely affects my vision due to major eyelid swelling. it’s caused by stress and man, have i had a lot of that in the last 7 days!  i know i know… more information than you wanted to know, but i did want you to know that if you’re waiting on an order, it’s ready to go. the main delay is that the eye condition affects my depth perception and i just can’t drive safely at the moment. once i get this flare up in my eye sorted out, i’ll be well enough for the 2 hour round trip drive into the usa.

so thanks for your patience… i appreciate it! hang in there, your orders are coming out just as soon as I can get across the border. thanks!