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Thursday, June 25, 2009
Aliens just want to play
Animator Jake Armstrong's thesis film. I'll be watching out for more films by this guy.
My dogs get that goofy look on their faces often.
My dogs get that goofy look on their faces often.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Sublime design
Oh my goodness! You MUST go to this web site: http://www.jeffengelfurniture.com. Jeff Engel's furniture designs are sublime. I want every single piece...and then some.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
10 Father's Day DIY projects
There are lots of DIY projects online for the special Dad in your life. Show him that you care by creating a personal, homemade gift.
Altoid Tin Mini Toolboxes for Father's Day: Surprise Dad with the smallest toolbox ever!
Disney's Father's Day coupon book to make for redemption for help with yard work, complete control of the TV remote, etc. There is a link to the free, downloadable template.
Surprise Balls: Make Dad really work at finding his gift with this clever way of wrapping it up.
HP's Creative Studio provides some nice, free, downloadable Father's Day card templates. You have to log on to access the patterns after the jump but it just takes a minute and they are free.
Golf Ball Seeds: A gag gift for Dads that golf. A free template is included.
A Dad, Blue Ribbon Badge Card from Chronicle Books blog.
Tissue Paper Tie: An easy, kids' DIY project.
Father's Day Shirt & Tie project with a free, downloadable template.
Family Key Rack: Another DIY project from Disney that Dad can use to keep track of car and house keys.
Rock Family Plaque: A cute decoration for the kids to make for Dad's office.
Altoid Tin Mini Toolboxes for Father's Day: Surprise Dad with the smallest toolbox ever!
Disney's Father's Day coupon book to make for redemption for help with yard work, complete control of the TV remote, etc. There is a link to the free, downloadable template.
Surprise Balls: Make Dad really work at finding his gift with this clever way of wrapping it up.
HP's Creative Studio provides some nice, free, downloadable Father's Day card templates. You have to log on to access the patterns after the jump but it just takes a minute and they are free.
Golf Ball Seeds: A gag gift for Dads that golf. A free template is included.
A Dad, Blue Ribbon Badge Card from Chronicle Books blog.
Tissue Paper Tie: An easy, kids' DIY project.
Father's Day Shirt & Tie project with a free, downloadable template.
Family Key Rack: Another DIY project from Disney that Dad can use to keep track of car and house keys.
Rock Family Plaque: A cute decoration for the kids to make for Dad's office.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Her Beautiful Ideas
The Guggenheim Grotto's beautifully illustrated, music video called Her Beautiful Ideas.
Scherenschnitte
One of the activities that is relaxing for me to do is Scherenschnitte, which is a form of paper cutting. I'm not particularly good at it but satisfied with my meagre results. Here are a few scans of ones I have done.
If you want to see really good examples of paper cutting, here are some links that you might enjoy:
Ebon Heath
Peter Callesen
The Heart of Papercuts
Snippety Gibbet
If you want to see really good examples of paper cutting, here are some links that you might enjoy:
Ebon Heath
Peter Callesen
The Heart of Papercuts
Snippety Gibbet
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Summer grilling
I never heard of charcoal chimneys before. For those of you who are grilling purists and don't use gas BBQs, this looks like a great way to quickly heat charcoal briquets.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Leisure connections
Making a healthy connection to leisure activities creates a sense of personal power, relaxation and balanced lifestyle.
What is leisure?
1. It is ANY activity.
2. It creates a sense of enjoyment for YOU.
3. It is YOUR choice.
4. It is YOUR free time.
It is not necessarily the specific activity that determines if your choice is healthy or unhealthy. Rather, it is how you connect to the choice you have made. For example, I can derive a lot of pleasure in the process of creating personalized greeting cards BUT this same activity can be stressful if I do it to meet others' expectations by deciding to churn out 200 of them as holiday cards for all my work and personal contacts.
Healthy leisure promotes:
1. personal growth
2. connections to feelings
3. connection to other people
4. positive feelings about yourself
5. time to nurture yourself
6. living in the moment
Unhealthy leisure produces:
1. apathy
2. boredom
3. anxiety
4. possible destructive behaviour such as substance abuse
Creating a history of healthy leisure connections has a cumulative affect that eventually replaces old, unhealthy patterns. The benefits are endless.
Have some fun with it!
What is leisure?
1. It is ANY activity.
2. It creates a sense of enjoyment for YOU.
3. It is YOUR choice.
4. It is YOUR free time.
It is not necessarily the specific activity that determines if your choice is healthy or unhealthy. Rather, it is how you connect to the choice you have made. For example, I can derive a lot of pleasure in the process of creating personalized greeting cards BUT this same activity can be stressful if I do it to meet others' expectations by deciding to churn out 200 of them as holiday cards for all my work and personal contacts.
Healthy leisure promotes:
1. personal growth
2. connections to feelings
3. connection to other people
4. positive feelings about yourself
5. time to nurture yourself
6. living in the moment
Unhealthy leisure produces:
1. apathy
2. boredom
3. anxiety
4. possible destructive behaviour such as substance abuse
Creating a history of healthy leisure connections has a cumulative affect that eventually replaces old, unhealthy patterns. The benefits are endless.
Have some fun with it!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
10 DIY project stumbles
Hobbies, crafts and horticulture are powerful ways to make healthy leisure connections in your life. Here are ten stumbles that you might enjoy.
The Bonsai Site: detailed guide to bonzai as an art, hobby and horticultural practice.
Cabinet Embellishment Ideas: with links to the tutorials on the Better Homes & Gardens web site.
Make Your Own Umbrella Caddy
A Fringed Flower Card: Learn the simple technique of making double fringed flowers to dress up a stylish, handcrafted card.
Make Shades Out of Mini Blinds: Do you love the look of fabric shades but don't want to fork over the cash?
How to Paint Moss Designs in Your Garden
A Jam Jar Topper Tutorial: A nice way to decorate homemade jam bottles to give as gifts.
Make Your Own Gallery: Three templates to download, personalize and frame.
Little Metal & Canvas Mixed Media Books: A tutorial on how to make a personalized book and how to insert your artistic projects.
Punched Paint Chip Cards: Make greeting cards from paint chip palettes.
The Bonsai Site: detailed guide to bonzai as an art, hobby and horticultural practice.
Cabinet Embellishment Ideas: with links to the tutorials on the Better Homes & Gardens web site.
Make Your Own Umbrella Caddy
A Fringed Flower Card: Learn the simple technique of making double fringed flowers to dress up a stylish, handcrafted card.
Make Shades Out of Mini Blinds: Do you love the look of fabric shades but don't want to fork over the cash?
How to Paint Moss Designs in Your Garden
A Jam Jar Topper Tutorial: A nice way to decorate homemade jam bottles to give as gifts.
Make Your Own Gallery: Three templates to download, personalize and frame.
Little Metal & Canvas Mixed Media Books: A tutorial on how to make a personalized book and how to insert your artistic projects.
Punched Paint Chip Cards: Make greeting cards from paint chip palettes.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Alternate universes
The picture below was originally posted at the following link: http://survivingtheworld.net/Lesson71.html. It tickled my funnybone.
Surviving the World posted Lesson #71
Alternate Universes (An Attempted Two-Dimensional Rendering Of An Infinitely-Directional, Near-Incomprehensible Concept)
My first choice would be the world where, by law, everyone must always be singing & dancing. It sounds like a fun place to be.
Second choice is the world where cheese cures all disease.
Of course, my two kitties would far prefer the world where parmesan cheese is used for cat litter.
Surviving the World posted Lesson #71
Alternate Universes (An Attempted Two-Dimensional Rendering Of An Infinitely-Directional, Near-Incomprehensible Concept)
My first choice would be the world where, by law, everyone must always be singing & dancing. It sounds like a fun place to be.
Second choice is the world where cheese cures all disease.
Of course, my two kitties would far prefer the world where parmesan cheese is used for cat litter.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
New-to-me camera
Here is the camera that my husband gave me when he bought a professional one. It is a FujiFilm FinePix S9100. Digital Camera Info's web site says it has enough features to confuse a Ph.D. student! That's OK, I'll take my time learning the advanced functions. Right now, I'll just get used to the automatic ones. It's a pretty good non-SLR consumer camera and, considering I'm a novice, this camera will probably keep me interested for years.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Ultimate cubicle prank
Usually there there is a high level of hyperbole surrounding the naming of videos to encourage viewing but trust me, this IS aptly titled.
Wordle
The word cloud above was done with the online tool called Wordle. If you aren't a graphic artist, it is an easy way to create typographical art.
I input my blog address and it selected the highest ranking words and assembled them into a editable cloud of words. You can also input your own words.
Wordle provides font, language, layout and color choices. The language menu selection has the capability to eliminate all common words so you don't have a whole bunch of 'thes','ands', etc. The colour menu gives options of colour palette for the fonts and the background, plus the option to create your own.
Have fun playing with it.
I input my blog address and it selected the highest ranking words and assembled them into a editable cloud of words. You can also input your own words.
Wordle provides font, language, layout and color choices. The language menu selection has the capability to eliminate all common words so you don't have a whole bunch of 'thes','ands', etc. The colour menu gives options of colour palette for the fonts and the background, plus the option to create your own.
Have fun playing with it.
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