Blog Book 2025

 I got my new blog book for 2025 a couple of days ago. It's very different from my others, as the printer I used for years went out of business. I used Pixiebook last year, but I had no control over how it was printed. It's a gorgeous book, but I didn't like that the text wasn't with the pictures, and the pictures were all different sizes, with some covering a whole page, while others are postage stamp size. 

So, this year, I tried Into Real Pages. I had a little more control and choice with them with the layout and the book cover. They also had a choice of soft cover and different formats and colors. I'm glad I picked the two-column layout. At least, the text is closer to the pictures, which are all the same size. The pictures would have been too small had I picked the three-column. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with it, and I do have a record of my creative efforts last year.

This is the cover I chose, and I'm only including a few of the 212 pages of the 9" x 12" book to give you an idea of how it looks. And, with the discount coupon, the price wasn't too bad either for a hardbacked book this size.

I have accumulated my own little library of blog books now, as I have one for every year I've been blogging, which is several. I love looking back through them and seeing things I forgot about. It usually inspires me to get busy! Not that I claim to be that good of an artist, but that I had that much pleasure creating anything! So thankful that I have this outlet to keep me sane!

Sorry the photos aren't better! I was trying to hold the book open with one hand and take the photos with my camera phone, which I don't know much about...

Take care! See you in the next post!

First Post and First Art of 2026!

 I hope your New Year is off to a good start! I've been busy getting end of year things taken care of and haven't done any creative stuff much since around Thanksgiving. I've been trying to get back in the sketching/creative groove the last few days by doing a little bit every day again. My mood has not been that great, and when you don't do something for a while you get rusty, and it takes a while to get back in the flow. So, I am trying. and making a bit of progress, I think. 😊

I just finished putting together and ordering my printed blog book for 2025 a few minutes ago. I used Pixiebook last year, and it was ok, but this year I'm trying "Into Real Pages", because I like the layout better. I chose the hardcover because I only had half as many pages as they allow, and the price, with a discount, was reasonable. It looked good on the computer screen. Fingers crossed I like it when it gets here!

This is a doodle that I actually started at the first of December, just trying to get motivated. It didn't work. I got this down and couldn't figure out what to do to make it better. Still trying to figure it out! I'm thinking about collaging something on it? I'm going to see what I can find...

The top of this page has color charts of the colored pencil and marker sets that I got for Christmas from our nephew's family. 

The old saying that whatever you do on New Year's Day is what you'll be doing all year made me do a street scene with pencils and markers, just as a doodle, in the hopes that I will be sketching/creating all year. I didn't like it, so I took a Stablio pencil and went over the lines and sky, then brushed over it with a water brush. I like it much better! It's kind of moody looking.

The second day I did a one-line sketch of a candle warmer lamp with a candle, also a Christmas gift, that happened to be sitting on the table in front of me. I already had the other two candles, so I added them too. Love the candle warmer, by the way!

This collaged page is dated Jan 4, but I've actually gone back and added stuff to it several times since then, right up until yesterday. I think I can live with it now.

I'm still mark making, trying to work the rustiness out. I love Karen Stampers mini lessons in Sketchbook Revival and decided to do another "wild garden" from imagination. Most of what I would love to use on these is still buried in boxes from when I started "organizing" my dining room/work place, so I've added marks with things within reach right up until this morning. I think I'm stopping on it now. I kind of like it. I'm thinking about taking one of Karen's larger courses on her website. Haven't decided yet, but I think I would love it.

Anyway, that's my feeble art attempts, so far, this year. My diabetes count is too high, and I haven't been feeling too well, or energetic. We got four cakes and a large box of expensive assorted chocolate cookies for Christmas, plus the holiday meals, all of which we enjoyed immensely, but it's reeked havoc on my health. So hard to resist, but I definitely need to do better!

I am also trying to work up the courage to call a new dentist, because the last one didn't work out, to have a cavity in a front tooth filled, but I've been having light pains in some of my teeth, so I may wind up having to have them all extracted. They are all held together with fillings and caps anyway. I don't have dental insurance, and it is so expensive to have anything done, but I'd like to keep them as long as I can.

And that's it for the beginning of the year! Hope it's a good year for all of us, creatively and otherwise! Take care and keep making making stuff! It's good for us!

Day 29, 30, 31 Sketches for January 2025

 These are my sketches for the last three days of January! Like I said previously, I missed five of the thirty-one days of sketching, but I actually did about forty-two sketches, because some days I did two or three. Proud of myself!

I don't know how much longer I can keep it up though. I can only see out of part of my left eye now, and the right one is blurry. I'm sure some of it is because of my cataracts, but I have an eye appointment next Monday, and we'll see. It does make it hard to read and sketch though. Probably going to get worse before they can be taken off. Thankful I can still see to get around and stuff though!

I sketched the terra cotta rabbit figure on my shelf divider on the 29th and a I sketched a figure from memory from a painting I saw on TV on the 30th. Actually, the whole figure was a dark gray, kind of like a silhouette floating in the middle of a blank canvas, but it was intriguing. The ceramic blue mottled cat next to the jade plant in the turquoise crackled pot on my kitchen window sill was sketched on the 31st. Zig Writer felt pen

I also practiced sketching a tilted box, plus some other boxes, on the 30th. I'm a little rusty on perspective. Zig Writer felt pen

Our niece got me these three art books for Christmas. I already knew a lot of the info in them, but they're interesting to look through, and it's always fun to get different tips and techniques from different teachers. You can always learn something new every day and from everybody you meet if you pay attention!

Our niece-in-law got me a rolling table, like a hospital bed tray, that raises up high enough to stand at and work, or low enough to work from my chair. Very handy! Bless their hearts, they always try to get me something to use in my creative endeavors for Christmas. They are both sweethearts, and we love them very much!

So that winds up January sketching. Not much else going on, thank goodness! I'm still doing my physical therapy for my back/hip at home, and it helps some. I haven't had another steroid shot since September, but I'm thinking I'm going to have to go get one in the next few days. Some days I can hardly walk again.

Anyway, we all have multiple things that we're dealing with. Life ain't easy, but we're still blessed. Try not to take anything for granted, and keep putting one foot in front of the other, and I'll try to do the same!

Day 23, 24, 25 Sketches 2025

 I counted up and I have missed five days that I didn't sketch this month, BUT some days I actually did two or three sketches (multiple items from life), so I have done more than the month's worth (31) already. It's all good! 😊

Anyway, here are my sketches for the last three days!

The little stuffed snowman and the candle were gifted to me by a friend for Christmas, and I just added the little spray bottle of water for practice.

Yesterday I sketched a saucer with a piece of baked, instead of fried, chocolate pie, a glass of milk, and my father-in-law's flag, which was folded crooked when the funeral home gave it to my husband. It drives me nuts, but we're afraid to try to re-fold it, for fear of making a bigger boo-boo. 😒

Today I've sketched one of our Himalayan salt lamps, a wooden clothespin, and a resin pear.

All but the pear were sketched with my Zig Writer marker except the pear, and I used a dodgy :Uniball ink pen that was about out of ink, because I had moved to my printer desk and it was handy. I did fill in around the stars with an India ink filled brush pen. All of my daily sketches, so far, have been in my 7x10" Canson mixed-media sketchbook.

The book, "Desire to Inspire", which I shared with you in the last post had two sheets of inspirational quotes on cardstock by the various artists participating in the book, so I have cut them out of the book and plan to use them in my collage journals. Cut apart, they will fit perfectly in some of the pockets in the mini journal that I have in progress.

As I said before, this book has many good inspirational thoughts, tips, and exercises from many different artists. I'm glad I found and re-discovered it! It's by Christine Mason Miller

That's it for today! I think. It's too cold for hubby to potter around outside, so I'm not getting anything done in the house either, as far as cleaning. But that's ok. I'm thankful to still have him with me.

I'm thinking I may re-charge my old mp3 player and use it here in the house and keep my newer one in my purse for when I'm out/waiting. I miss my music a lot.

Anyway, enjoy your weekend and do something for yourself! Your soul will thank you for it!

Day 19, 20, 21, and 22 Sketches and a Book

 I can't call myself doing the thirty day sketching challenge, because I've missed a few days, and I'm sure I'll miss some more, but here are my efforts for this week so far.

This one was a neurographic art attempt done in India ink brush pen, then the next day colored in with Kuretake watercolors, and the third day I sprayed water droplets on it and lifted some of the paint, because I tend to paint watercolors too thick, the added some paint spatters. It turned into a mixed media piece. I like it!

This one was a watercolor sketch background one day, then I added the umbrella and cat with a Zig Writer marker, and the pink and waves with Posca paint pens, plus a few paint spatters the next day. 

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Just a quick sketch of some boxes on the floor using my sanguine colored brush pen. I love the sanguine color, the brush pens not so much!

While looking for another book, I came across this book by Christine Mason Miller that I had forgotten about. It's a pretty old book, and I don't know if it's still in publication or not, but I started looking through it, and it's got some good inspirational words, tips, and exercises in it. I have it laying by my recliner to pick up and read in randomly, and I'm planning to do some of the exercises. I could sure use some inspiration and motivation about now! You might want to check it out...

I have a sketch for yesterday done (day 23), but don't have it scanned in yet, so that will be in another post!

Try doing something every day for a month. It makes a difference! Take care and have fun!

Blog Book for 2024

 I got my 2024 blog print book the other day, and I have mixed feelings about it. I've been using Blog2Print to print my yearly blogs for several years, and have been okay with my books, which are records of my creative stuff for the year. But Blog2Print closed in 2024,  so I decided to try letting PixxieBook print my blog posts for last year.

First, let me say that I was able to preview the finished book before I ordered it, and I okayed it, but didn't really realize the reality of it, I guess. I don't hate it, and there is a lot I like about it. It's just different to what I'm used to.

It's a lot bigger, thicker, and heavier than I thought it would be. I like my pictures to be in the order that I created the projects in with the writing under each picture, but the pictures are all out of order and the writing is in columns and not on the same page as the pictures. Some pictures take up a whole page and other pages have multiple pictures in multiple sizes. I do like the bigger pictures, but that made it take more pages, thus making the book more expensive than my old printer. The process for making the book is very easy, but I had no control over hard or soft covers, text, or picture size. There is also no table of contents.

It's more like a coffee table book than a thinner shelf book, and it looks very nice, but is going to take up way more space on my shelf. 

Some of the pages inside the PixxiBook...

Comparison of  PixxiBook (bottom) and Blog2Print (top). They both contain a year's worth of blog posts, however, with Blog2Print I could pick hard or soft cover, text size and font,  picture size, and also the cover picture. It also has a table of contents and page numbers to make certain posts easy to find.

The pictures are all the same size (which I chose), but the text is under each picture, and they are in the order I created and posted them on my blog in. They did run some paragraphs together, and I did get to preview the book as it would be printed and okayed it. 

I am ok with neither book being exactly like I would have liked it to be, because they are only for me, as a record of my creative efforts each year. I don't sell, or gift, them to anyone. I did use to gift my mom one each year, but she passed away in 2017, so now I just publish one. 

Blogspot is not set up to where I can print them off myself, but that would also be very expensive, considering the price of ink cartridges.

These are a few pages from the Blog2Print book with soft covers and smaller pictures, which made it cheaper also.

I wasn't sure I was even going to start posting to my blog this year, or not, and the jury is still out as to whether I will keep it up, or not. Mine and hubby's health are both declining, and it's very hard right now to stay focused on keeping up a blog that I'm not even sure anybody is looking at anymore. I'm not sure it even matters if I keep records of my creative stuff. I know I'm not really good at any of it. I just really enjoy the doing of it!

If I do continue, I will do further research into blog printers for this year's posts. PixxiBook did a good job, but I preferred the Blog2Print format, mainly because I post what I used, how I did it, where and who I learned it from, etc., under each picture and that's where they printed it.

UPDATE: When I took the time to really look at and read the Pixxibook it started growing on me, and I am liking it much better, despite the differences!

Pixxibook is great if you want a coffee table book! Great quality!

Anyway, I'm not good at reviewing things, and, as I said, there are things I love and things I don't love as much in both versions, but they suit my needs, so there's that.

Keep playing and creating bright things during this cold winter. Spring will be here before we know it!

Blog Book 2023

 One more thing! I got the published book of my blog posts for the past year today. It's not very thick this year, because I had a really unproductive creative year, but I'm still tickled over what I did do, and happy to have a record of it! :)

Santos Cage Doll Repair

 I finished the ebook, "Where Lost Girls Go" by B.R. Spangler, which was good, but not as much of a page turner as some of the others I've read the last few weeks. Have now started "Seven Sisters, Book One", by M.L. Bullock, but I've only read the prologue so far, which was pretty good. I got sidetracked onto making pictures of the snow and other stuff and posting to various places online.

So, I used a hot glue gun to glue the wooden strips onto the clay cage doll I made, and it didn't hold. The strips started coming loose, so I took them off weeks ago and re-painted her dress (was blue), got the dried hot glue off the strips and sanded the places where glue is needed, and ordered some glue that's supposed to hold anything. I tried to glue a strip a couple of days ago, but it takes the glue up to an hour to dry and I couldn't hold it that long. I got frustrated trying and put her back in the cookie tine until I can figure out a way hold the strips on until they set.

This is the shape of my main work space right now. Stuff in progress plus lots of torn papers and images that I plan on collaging with. Yep, I'm a pack rat! I can't work in a neat orderly space anyway. It's all good though! :)

Some of the snow melted today, but it's already freezing back on the roads, so it's still hazardous out there. I have only been on the porch, but hubby has gotten out every day to feed the cats and birds and check the mailbox. Praying he doesn't fall and break something. He's almost seventy-seven and has diabetes, so I worry.

Anyway, I'm signing off for today. Have a good night! Let's go make something! :)

More New Loops=Two More Potholders

 The other bag of 10" loops I ordered from Harrisville Designs on Amazon arrived yesterday. They are a different color palette from the bag I got last week, but they will work together for different designs, plus I ordered a small bag of dark blue loops to mix in with them, which I think will look great.

I woke up with a sore elbow this morning though, so I'm going to have to let my arm rest a couple of days before making anymore. I have a small tear in my right rotator cuff, plus a bit of arthritis and bursitis, and pulling on the loops when weaving, especially the last two, and then crocheting them off the loom makes my arm muscles hurt. I've never had my elbow to get this sore though. It is possible that the way I slept on it made it sore, but I can also feel it in my shoulder and bicep, so I'm going to get the one I made last night off the loom and rest for a couple of days before making anymore. The metal loom and the wire hook also make my fingers sore. It is fun stuff though!

Enough multicolored  loops came with the loom to make two potholders. Then I ordered a bag of bright party colored loops, enough for six and made them up. I got the earth tones bag last week and have made three, then the floral tones came yesterday and I made one last night and today. Some bags have seven colors of loops, or you can order bags of three colors. They have enough for six potholders. Single colors have enough for two. You can also get much larger bags, but they are expensive. I ordered mine off Amazon from Harrisville loops. The six inch loops are much less expensive, but these larger ones are much more protective. Hubby does most of the cooking since he retired and he loves them.

I think the last one I made, on the right, is my favorite so far. More to come, but for the next few days I'll focus on something else.

https://scribblesfromrabbithop.blogspot.com is my writing blog, which I haven't posted to in years, but I was reading some on it looking for a poem to put in my Storyworth memory book, and I wound up reading most of my posts. They resonated as much, if not more, with me now than they did when I wrote them. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and it made me want to write again, so maybe I'll do that for a while. I had forgotten how much I loved writing short stories and poems. 

I took short story and novel writing courses through correspondence courses with the Long Story Short writing school. Yep, I did the required three first chapters of a novel, and discovered that I much preferred short stories! 

I read a few more chapters in my Kindle book, "Where Lost Girls Go", last night. There are at least three mysteries going on at once, but I'm thinking they may all tie together at the end. Keeping me on my toes!

Anyway, right now it's keeping us busy trying to stay warm and cozy. It didn't get above forty degrees here today. I know that's warm to many of you, but it's cold for us! :)

Thanks for visiting! Try to do something fun for yourself! 

First Day of New Year 2024

Well, we were still up at midnight, not because we were ringing in the new year, but because we were watching TV. Went to bed at midnight! No celebration. No fanfare. Just grateful to have made it, by the grace of God, through another year together.

I woke up really early and couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up to discover that I had an email from Blog2Print that everything is half off for the next week. I got busy and had all my blog posts for this year printed into book form, as I do every year, and got it ordered. Should be here in a couple of weeks!

There was also an email with another question for my Storyworth memory book. Now I'm 38 memories behind. The question now is, do I want to get busy and answer all the questions for my niece, because she gets a copy of all my answers per email, or do I just let it go and apologize to her for not finishing the book. A printed book comes with the subscription she gifted me last Christmas. Decisions decisions!

No plans for today, so we will see how it unfolds. Grateful for the holidays, but anxious for the days to get back on track! 

Update: I changed the bed sheets, got some laundry caught up, had a long nap, and made another potholder. It's been a good day! I count it a good day when I do any little thing creative.

Many projects have been waiting to be finished, as in a few below. I know, my workspace is ultra messy, but that's another huge project...

The potholder I made today, on the right. It matches the one I made a couple of days ago. Probably a practical gift set for someone!

My first cage doll, whose cage skirt came apart because the hot glue turned loose. I took it completely apart, sanded the wood, re-painted her dress, bought some better glue, and she's been patiently waiting for months now for her skirt to be re-attached.

The scrapbook I started for all the ephemera I collected on hubby,s and my month long road trip through sixteen states around the west in 2019, still waiting to be finished. The photos are still also waiting to be labeled and used to help with the scrapbook. It was an amazing trip! Glad I made lots of notes!

A little paper clay figure inspired by a class with Jeanne Marie Webb has been waiting for months to be sanded and painted, and the mussel shell encased in clay is waiting for a figure to be sculpted and attached.

A few more paper clay sculpted figures waiting to be sanded and painted. I want to finish all these. I just got sidetracked onto something else. 

Hoping to get back to it in the new year! These half-finished projects are just the tip of the iceberg. Yikes! For now I want to read a couple of chapters in the book, "Where the Lost Girls Go" by B.R. Spangler, before TV time. It's getting good! I always have to have several projects and books going at the same time. I get bored with just one at a time. Anyone else like that?

It's been a good start to a new year. Hope you've had a good day and start as well!