Happy Monday everyone! First of all, as always - a few house keeping items:
If you're NEW here (and there've been a lot of new additions to the party!) I'm working on creating some tutorials to help you out. You can click on the links above or: See "Getting Started" and "Tutorials"
To see all the past weekly challenges - click the tabs above
Please grab the button for the Weekly Challenge (on the right sidebar) to display on your blogs! share the fun!
The limit of submissions to the slideshow is TWO, but please feel free to post as many as you like to your blogs. I will take the first two presented to each challenge.
I know that some of you have told me that the paypal button does not work, and some of you have had no trouble, i'm not sure why it's inconsistent, i've redone the code a few times... If all else fails you can donate to my paypal address which is madam_diva ( a t ) yahoo ( d o t ) com - also to those people who donated this week... THANK YOU SO MUCH.
Happy Monday!
The temperatures have finally warmed up around here! Almost all the snow has melted, and we took advantage of the nice weather and tried to play outside a lot this weekend. Chewie was excited to get back on his bike after almost 7 months of winter.
Cool Rider
We also did some adventuring in the catwalk in our neighbourhood, Chewie was pretending we were pirates and we had to go through Windy Forest.
And we made some time for some EXTREME hop scotch, i don't know if you can tell, but there's a huge gap of fire between blocks 6/7 and 8 that you had to JUMP over to stay alive.
Artoo has been working on his smiling, i will never ever get sick of photos like this. He also discovered his brother's slinky - and thinks it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. ;)
everyone loves a slinky!
This Pooh-Bear suit was Chewie's at one point, it's adorable on anyone.... i wish i had one in my size...
We are so happy that spring is finally here. Oh, and before i forget - here's that video of me singing last weekend. The quality's not great, but you get the idea. (thanks to B-rad for filming it)
Weekly Challenge #116: "Blind Sighted" I'm revisiting another past challenge - using a blind string. i feel that it's good to go back and remind myself that not all my tiles need to be pretty, and sometimes i need to let go and just tangle, to take a deep breath or two, and to centre and not worry about what the outcome of my piece will be. To find my zen.
my before tile
So i started out by doing dots, and border - and before i drew my string, i placed my pencil on the border, closed my eyes - and jumped in.
Finito burrito
I think i was successful, in that i did let go of the outcome and focused on the process. I will be the first to admit that i'm not wild about the tile, that it's definitely not my 'style', but it was a good exercise. Have fun!
If you have a blog, add the site-specific URL where your tile is posted to the linkey machine below! Don't forget to link back here so that others can join in the fun! (if you don't know how to find this, you can see my half assed tutorial here)
Also, please feel free to come back often and visit the links of those people on the linkey machine - don't forget to leave a comment or feedback, everyone loves feedback. ;)
If you don't have a blog but still want to participate, you can email your tile to me and i will post it here. (please email to weeklychallenge(at)mail(dot)com). I just ask that you put in the subject line: Challenge # ________
The deadline for each weekly challenge is Saturday night so that i can round everyone up by Sunday. What this means is that i will stop adding tiles to the slideshow on Sunday. You're still more than welcome to do the challenges and add your name to the linkey machine.
I will be more diligent with the linkey machine - by editing out the ones that don't work, the doubles, the links that lead to nowhere, the links that go just to blog home pages (this is why we need those site specific urls), and the spam. And there is some spam. PLEASE do not put your *home* page in the linkey machine... please? for me??
Happy Monday everyone! First of all, as always - a few house keeping items:
If you're NEW here (and there've been a lot of new additions to the party!) I'm working on creating some tutorials to help you out. You can click on the links above or: See "Getting Started" and "Tutorials"
To see all the past weekly challenges - click the tabs above
Please grab the button for the Weekly Challenge (on the right sidebar) to display on your blogs! share the fun!
The limit of submissions to the slideshow is TWO, but please feel free to post as many as you like to your blogs. I will take the first two presented to each challenge.
I know that some of you have told me that the paypal button does not work, and some of you have had no trouble, i'm not sure why it's inconsistent, i've redone the code a few times... If all else fails you can donate to my paypal address which is madam_diva ( a t ) yahoo ( d o t ) com - also to those people who donated this week... THANK YOU SO MUCH.
Happy Monday! Here's a few Thank you card tiles i made this week for some wonderful ladies who donated to my blog recently, something new i'm trying out:
I put those in the mail this week - and they're on their way! (Thanks ladies!)
Chewie is still having fun drawing, something i hope he continues to enjoy... here's a life sized drawing of himself. He laid down on a large sheet of paper and i traced him. he did the face and shrit and hair... he is wishing he had some lemonade and some chips.
SUCCESS!! he's clearly happy that his drawing was taken seriously by the giver-of-snacks... aka me.
Artoo has been adorable, as always.
On Saturday morning we made it out to the Grand opening of a new Frozen Yogurt place by our house. It also happened to be a fundraiser for our local Children's Hospital Foundation - a charity close to our hearts, obviously.
Chewie, Artoo and i posed with the Hospital's mascot who was on hand to give out high fives and hugs. Artoo was pretty taken with him and kept signing "Dance" and saying bear.
Saturday night was the concert for my friend's fundraiser. I did not take many pictures, but here's one of me dressed as Lola, the Devil's Assistant from "Damn Yankees".
From what i hear, i did well. At least, that's what B-rad and my parents tell me. Artoo and Chewie loved the concert, and Artoo kept signing "more, Mama, Sing," so that's awesome.
whatever Lola wants...
B-rad did take a video of me singing, i'll try to get that uploaded. Weekly Challenge #115: "Amanda Day - or Earth Day" For those of you who are new to the Weekly Challenge, last year around Earth Day, Chewie spontaneously decided to rename the Earth Amanda. I'm not sure why, i don't think he even knows anyone named Amanda, but it's sort of stuck - at least for now.
Last year by this time in April i was pulling out my overgrown strawberries and cleaning out my flower beds. This year it's -2 C (28F) and we're still staring out into a yard of white snow. It has been melting, but slowly. Which, i guess, is good - if we'd had warmer weather the past two weeks, we'd probably be underwater. As it is, there's no telling what the melt will be like when it's well under way.
ANYWAY, this week's challenge is our Mother Earth and whatever that means to you. However you'd like to interpret that.
I used a prestrung zendala tile, pigma micron pen and a blue and green fine liner
As with last year, i was immediately drawn to the round Zendala tiles. And i have to say, i STILL feel so challenged by zendalas. I don't know why, or what it is about them, but i really struggle with them. I think, possibly, because there seems to be more planning involved. For example, i used a prestrung zendala tile and decided to do an alternating pattern in the outside edge (I was working from the outside in) and as i was working around the tile, i realized that this was a nine petaled zendala... and doesn't work with an alternating pattern.
but i think it worked out in the end.
Have fun!
If you have a blog, add the site-specific URL where your tile is posted to the linkey machine below! Don't forget to link back here so that others can join in the fun! (if you don't know how to find this, you can see my half assed tutorial here)
Also, please feel free to come back often and visit the links of those people on the linkey machine - don't forget to leave a comment or feedback, everyone loves feedback. ;)
If you don't have a blog but still want to participate, you can email your tile to me and i will post it here. (please email to weeklychallenge(at)mail(dot)com). I just ask that you put in the subject line: Challenge # ________
The deadline for each weekly challenge is Saturday night so that i can round everyone up by Sunday. What this means is that i will stop adding tiles to the slideshow on Sunday. You're still more than welcome to do the challenges and add your name to the linkey machine.
I will be more diligent with the linkey machine - by editing out the ones that don't work, the doubles, the links that lead to nowhere, the links that go just to blog home pages (this is why we need those site specific urls), and the spam. And there is some spam. PLEASE do not put your *home* page in the linkey machine... please? for me??
Happy Monday everyone! First of all, as always - a few house keeping items:
If you're NEW here (and there've been a lot of new additions to the party!) I'm working on creating some tutorials to help you out. You can click on the links above or: See "Getting Started" and "Tutorials"
To see all the past weekly challenges - click the tabs above
Please grab the button for the Weekly Challenge (on the right sidebar) to display on your blogs! share the fun!
The limit of submissions to the slideshow is TWO, but please feel free to post as many as you like to your blogs. I will take the first two presented to each challenge.
I know that some of you have told me that the paypal button does not work, and some of you have had no trouble, i'm not sure why it's inconsistent, i've redone the code a few times... If all else fails you can donate to my paypal address which is madam_diva ( a t ) yahoo ( d o t ) com - also to those people who donated this week... THANK YOU SO MUCH.
Happy Monday!
Well, it seems that little Chewie took a few days to get over the excitement of spending last weekend with his cousins at the wedding, because THIS happened last week on Monday:
Sleeping cuteness
I don't remember the last time Chewie napped on the couch, but given that he was partying with the best of 'em until 10pm and then having a giant sleep over with his cousins, it's not surprising that he was pooped.
It was kind of an 'exciting' week for us here, and by exciting, i mean that we made it out of the house 3 times this week. Now that i'm no longer working, i am able to get Artoo to his therapies and appointments with a lot more regularity. So we had a few this week.
I had a rehearsal for a fundraiser that i'm singing in on the 20th. I haven't sang in public in a loooong time (aside from tipsy karaoke, which i don't think counts). For those of you who don't know - my online handle has been iamthediva for a long time, almost 15 years or so, and i went to University to study music. Singing, in fact. I'm a light lyric soprano. ;)
But, after my University days were over... not counting the odd performance here or there for a wedding, it's been a long time since i've had to rehearse and memorize a song. But, my good friend from my Uni days came a callin' and i just couldn't say no... PLUS the two songs i'm singing are soooo much fun. (Whatever Lola Wants, and Little Girls) I love Whatever Lola Wants, but it's been my DREAM to be Miss Hannigan from Annie ever since i was the AGE of Annie. Who wants to be the Little Orphan Annie when you could be Miss Hannigan? And i realized after rehearsal, that i'm FINALLY the right 'age' to play Miss Hannigan. Oh, my thirties, i've waited so long for this. Should be fun.
ANNNNYWAY...
here's some more pics:
there are no words to express how much i love this drawing
I had been pretty grumpy this week - and it was reflected in this drawing that Chewie did for me. It reminds me of Grumpy Cat.
there are about eighteen photos like this on my phone. Artoo has a cute forehead.
The rest of his face is pretty adorable
I don't know what the weather has been like in your part of the world... but here in Saskatchewan, it's been.. ridonkulous.
Mid April, and there is still SOO much snow. This week, i got sick of the cabin fever happening in our house, and this happened:
am i not the best mom ever?
The weather is finally mild enough to play outside, but there was NOWHERE to play. I dug through 2.5 feet of snow to make a path to the play centre, and dug out the swing and the slide so that this child could spend time outside. So far, he's spent about 30-45 minutes a day, playing outside... by himself. it's been GLORIOUS, and totally worth the hour and a half it took to do.
Sir Chewie, the Adorable
Chewie was the Special helper at Preschool this week, so that means that his mother got to come and be the helper parent (that's me!). It was a pretty fun morning.
Weekly Challenge #114: "You with the Stars in your Eyes - Stars v 2.0" The last time i did a star challenge was 110 challenges ago. Challenge #4 was a Star challenge, and truthfully, i think it's time to revisit! You should go take a look at that old post, there's a super cute photo of Chewie holding a "zentango" from back when he was only 2.... aww....
Also, following the 'template' of challenge #4, here's a youtube video that inspired my challenge title:
y'know, a lot of my challenge titles are inspired by songs... that's why i'm the diva. ;)
ANYWAY, for this challenge, be inspired by stars. Whatever that means to you. if you'd like some inspiration, search for images of 5 sided stars on google images, or 6 sided, or 7 sided, or 8, or 9, or 10, or 11, or 12!
i had such a great time looking at pictures of stars this afternoon, here are a few that i saved...
As for me, i chose a Six sided star and it just begged to be filled with paradox. I just used the Two Triangles technique to draw it, like a Star of David.
you, with the Stars in your eyes...
Now! Go forth! And "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars" - Les Brown
If you have a blog, add the site-specific URL where your tile is posted to the linkey machine below! Don't forget to link back here so that others can join in the fun! (if you don't know how to find this, you can see my half assed tutorial here)
Also, please feel free to come back often and visit the links of those people on the linkey machine - don't forget to leave a comment or feedback, everyone loves feedback. ;)
If you don't have a blog but still want to participate, you can email your tile to me and i will post it here. (please email to weeklychallenge(at)mail(dot)com). I just ask that you put in the subject line: Challenge # ________
The deadline for each weekly challenge is Saturday night so that i can round everyone up by Sunday. What this means is that i will stop adding tiles to the slideshow on Sunday. You're still more than welcome to do the challenges and add your name to the linkey machine.
I will be more diligent with the linkey machine - by editing out the ones that don't work, the doubles, the links that lead to nowhere, the links that go just to blog home pages (this is why we need those site specific urls), and the spam. And there is some spam. PLEASE do not put your *home* page in the linkey machine... please? for me??
Happy Monday everyone! First of all, as always - a few house keeping items:
If you're NEW here (and there've been a lot of new additions to the party!) I'm working on creating some tutorials to help you out. You can click on the links above or: See "Getting Started" and "Tutorials"
To see all the past weekly challenges - click the tabs above
Please grab the button for the Weekly Challenge (on the right sidebar) to display on your blogs! share the fun!
The limit of submissions to the slideshow is TWO, but please feel free to post as many as you like to your blogs. I will take the first two presented to each challenge.
I know that some of you have told me that the paypal button does not work, and some of you have had no trouble, i'm not sure why it's inconsistent, i've redone the code a few times... If all else fails you can donate to my paypal address which is madam_diva ( a t ) yahoo ( d o t ) com - also to those people who donated this week... THANK YOU SO MUCH.
Happy Monday!
Thank you, everyone, for being patient this week... feels like one of those days where nothing is going right.... oh, technology..
I feel like now that i'm a stay at home mom, there's not much to report on - every day seems very much like the one before... full of cranky boys, and happy boys, and silly boys, and singing boys, and sleeping boys, and crying boys... and any variation of the above at any given moment.
Artoo has been working on his most amazing smile this week. We are so excited to see this, because when he was born and we were given his initial diagnosis of Moebius Syndrome, we were told he will never smile. He's proving them wrong, and i just thank all my lucky stars that he is light on the spectrum, and i'll take this smile a million times - any day of the week.
a drawing of a zombie carrot, by Chewie
PROUD!
It seems that in the past week or so, Chewie has really developed a love of drawing, and he is content to sit and colour in his journal - right now he's really into drawing Zombie Carrots.
awesome.
On the weekend B-rad and i were able to enjoy a night out! my mom came over and watched Artoo so we could go to a family wedding out of town (in a small town nearby). It was nice to have fun and dance with all my little nieces and nephews, and to relax and have a drink...or two. ;)
Chewie got to stay overnight with his cousins, and he couldn't have been happier!
Me and Chewie and my sister in law's middle daughter
Also - i love this man.
mwah!
Weekly Challenge #113: String Theory v. XXIV "Hip to be Square"
This week's challenge is a string challenge - an easy string for everyone to do. i started with my dots, and border, creating a square. Inside that, i drew a few more squares and went from there.
...a box in a box in a box in a box in...
i think there's a lot of possibility in this string, and i'll probably do it again sometime. i have some ideas percolating in my brain. ;)
So, begin with a square and keep adding squares, one inside the other! Also, i just realized that this challenge goes beautifully along side the latest post from Rick and Maria on the Zentangle blog - Synchronicity!! Go and check it out for some lovely inspiration!
Have fun!
If you have a blog, add the site-specific URL where your tile is posted to the linkey machine below! Don't forget to link back here so that others can join in the fun! (if you don't know how to find this, you can see my half assed tutorial here)
Also, please feel free to come back often and visit the links of those people on the linkey machine - don't forget to leave a comment or feedback, everyone loves feedback. ;)
If you don't have a blog but still want to participate, you can email your tile to me and i will post it here. (please email to weeklychallenge(at)mail(dot)com). I just ask that you put in the subject line: Challenge # ________
The deadline for each weekly challenge is Saturday night so that i can round everyone up by Sunday. What this means is that i will stop adding tiles to the slideshow on Sunday. You're still more than welcome to do the challenges and add your name to the linkey machine.
I will be more diligent with the linkey machine - by editing out the ones that don't work, the doubles, the links that lead to nowhere, the links that go just to blog home pages (this is why we need those site specific urls), and the spam. And there is some spam. PLEASE do not put your *home* page in the linkey machine... please? for me??
