ORIGINALLY POSTED 9/19/2007

Today is September the 19th and that means only one thing....it is Talk Like a Pirate Day! Arrrrgh n shit. So for today, you can refer to me by my pirate name, Dirty Anne Rackham. Again, arrrrgh, i say. Arrrgh. Arrrrrgh! *insert a cough* ARRRRRRRRRRGH! Ah, that was much better.

Two years ago, I had decided that me and my friends should all dress up as pirates for Halloween and set out upon Austin like a roving band of hooligans. This we did and good times where had by all. Sure, some rum was consumed and I did lose my sword once after falling down and then rolling through an enormous rosemary shrub. No harm done really and I smelled fabulous for the rest of the night! Thank goodness I don't act like Dirty Anne Rackham every day...or I'd be a part of a whole other group...yeah. I'll admit though that it was a lot of fun to don some flashy, swashbucklin' clothes and a pirat'ish/english/irish accent for a night faux pillaging.

My advice to you is to give it a try, you might like it! Here are some links to get you started....

get yer pirate name:
http://www.piratequiz.com/

study up! this site will ramp you up quick like:

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

respond to my blog and let us know what your pirate name is...we always like to see who's on the ship...

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

pirate

ORIGINALLY POSTED 9/17/2007

Yup. The birds. Remember the movie? The birds lost their flippin' minds and just wanted to kill, kill, KILL! Nobody suspects the birds. I mean, they weigh like....nothing and are mostly wee sized. They make chihuahuas look like heavy weights. Nobody ever suspects the damn birds.

So there I was, walking my precious little fella, Smoky Joe. We were sniffin' every tree trunk, not leaving a blade of grass pass by without inspection. Minding our own business mostly except to leak a little here or wiz a little there. Beautiful day it was here in NoDak. Winter will be here soon but today there is no need for doggy sweaters and boots. Just us and the tinkling of his tags and the clicking of his toenails on warm concrete.

Did I suspect the birds? NO. About a block away from home a bird was chasing another bird and the two of them zipped by my head so fast that I felt the breeze and heard "wooooof" in my ear. I winced and ducked in panic as they bulleted up into the tree canopy and out of sight. I was awash with a wave of chill. Smoky Joe and I scampered along and tried to play off the bird taunting. I wonder if any of the neighbors saw!

Nobody ever suspects the birds....

ORIGINALLY POSTED 9/16/2007

Jack of all trades and master of none. This describes me very well. Curious, curious, curious always wondering, questioning, trying something new. I’ve always stated that I am rarely ever bored. There is always something to do, read, listen to, experience, learn, whatever! Even if that means keeping time with the muzak in the doctor’s office waiting room. I cannot even begin to approximate how many projects or hobbies that I’ve started and moved onto something else. My behavior at times has driven a few people in my life mad (myself included) but this is just who I am and I no longer apologize for it :-)

My new temptation is embroidery. Yep, as simple as that. I love the look of cheesy old dishcloths, western shirts and bowling shirts...how fun! So I researched some basic stitches and thought that I’d whip up some cutesy owl dishtowels for the kitchen. Purchased the patterns, some embroidery floss, needles, a wee hoop and an enormous dishtowel to practice my stitches on before I went and destroyed something else with crazy needlework! Thank you Thrify White Drugstore of Mandan, NoDak for carrying the oddest assortment of items within your walls to include an embroidery supply section tucked at the end of some forgotten aisle.

I got some easy instructions on the basics from Sublime Stitching of Austin, TX (p.s. go there for some awesome patterns-I bought 8 immediately!) and off I went practicing straight lines and curves with each stitch type. Ok I was over that after 1 minute and drew a little rocket pattern that was on one of the patterns that I had ordered. Stitched that. Eewww, fun! At this point I was laying in bed and didn’t feel like getting up to get a pencil and/or idea for a pattern so I decided to just lay down stitches freehand to practice and why not do a head. Yes, I thought, a head with a messed up face. Like somebody who takes to fightin’ and says WUT? a lot. This is when Billy Fred Cooper entered my life.

I was so pleased with Billy Fred that I had to give him some sisters to protect/fight with. Again, I was just freehand stitching them because this was practice, practice, practice. So yesterday afternoon born of my needle were Vesta Mae and Fancy. I cannot tell you how pleased I am with these 3 characters. I keep thinking of story lines for them. More importantly, HOW DID I GO THIS LONG IN LIFE WITHOUT PICKING UP AN EMBROIDERY NEEDLE? Now I just need to figure out some practical applications that I can sell in my Etsy shop!

Seriously, if you haven’t given it a try (or any new technique of arts & crafts for that matter) get some information, get some supplies and give it a whirl. It is a lot of fun!

ORIGINALLY POSTED 8/19/2007

really... I am. I've been busy/stressed/anxious/worried/scattered/etc. lately. I feel a new blog post coming on though. Soon. I promise.


On a good note, a wonderful friend bought "Elli the Elephant" ACEO. I am very happy that it will go to a good home :-)

The end.

ORIGINALLY POSTED 6/19/2007

never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far! ~John MuirA screen shot of my most recent treasury. I just love it and want to preserve it in some form before the treasury gods swallow it whole tomorrow. Simple enough, looked for black & white trees and found this group. One of my favorite photographers here is Chicalookate. If you haven't checked out her shop on Etsy, well, you should! I've bought a few of her photos and just love her style! If you hurry quick like fox, you can get a close up view of this treasury. Otherwise it will be gone by the date listed at the bottom of the image (3pm~June 20th).

ORIGINALLY POSTED 6/9/2007
A few days ago I was forced at art knife point by Amoeba and her Friends to publish a blog post about how disgruntled they were. Amoeba is a wee bit aggressive I think. Today I start chatting up with some of my Etsy friends and one of them, Jooley of Little Killers, informs me that Amoeba and her Friends made the Etsy Frontpage! At the same time another buddy ol pal ol buddy, Janet from MonkeyDog Studio, captured a screenshot for me to cherish forever and ever :-) Thank goodness these ladies had their heads on a swivel! I must also give thanks to tofunutloaf for creating the treasury that found its place on the frontpage. Amoeba is on the far bottom right corner.



Happy Happy Joy Joy!

ORIGINALLY POSTED 6/8/2007

SO, I've moved into this fabulous little bungalow spot that I snagged up today on Blogger! I had been blogging on WordPress and was just a little too lame with my web competence to do very much with it and/or troubleshoot it. SO, here I am!

I need to get my hustle on and straighten up the house before some of my favorite people arrive into town from Minneapolis. I'll check back in later and continue to familiarize myself with blogger-ville and add schtuff to my blog.

See y'all laterz gatorz.

ost. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.

ORIGINALLY POSTED 6/7/2007


Yes. Why can't I be popular? I am not asking this for myself, I am asking this for one of my paintings "Amoeba and her Friends."

Personally, I could not careless about popularity contests but this is not the case for Amoeba and her Friends. They are so put off by the fact that they have received nearly the least views of anything else listed in my ETSY shop. Ever since I've created Amoeba, she has griped and groaned about "that hideous acid green" that I've set her afloat in. On and on she goes about "why did I finish with gloss varnish here" or "why am I so obsessed with adding texture" to everything. What a crab she is! Perhaps the Etsy world will decide that Amoeba and her friends need to remain hanging on my wall. That would be alright by me because I love that acid green color I mixed up one sunny Sunday and as for Amoeba's filthy mouth, well at least she cares, right? :-P