Paper Crafts: Sketch Diva

Aynaria 4 Comments

Sketch Diva

A few weeks ago I was hunting for some digital images aka digital stamps that I could incorporate into a card.

I wanted them to be girly, and more specific, I wanted them to be ethnic. It took a lot of hunting but I finally found a nice selection that I enjoy. The original hair on this lovely young lady was a loose wave. Since I wanted it to mimic the curl pattern in my daughter’s hair, I tightened up the curls by making coils and spirals throughout the hair. I was pleased with the result.

Because I liked the how this card turned out, I decided to turn it into a sketch pad. My daughter is artistic, besides making sculptures she also enjoys drawing too. My idea is to use a three hole punch,  that I can attach with binder rings. Once the paper has been used, it can be easily swapped out and updated with new paper.

This will be the front cover. I glued the design to a thin piece of cardboard, so it will make the perfect cover since it’s hard. This works perfectly for my daughter since she needs the durability with her art books.

The letters were made with clear rubber stamps. I used an embossing ink. Embossing ink remains wet longer than your normal inks. Because of this, I was able to sprinkle the inked words with embossing powder. I used my heat gun to melt the powder. Lace trim was added to the design, and I incorporated heart brads into the trim. I used colored pencils for the gorgeous lady.

This started out as a card, but it’s quickly turned into something else. I still need to add the pages and a back cover for my daughters sketch pad.

 

Edited to add:

Use your Stash Challenge Week 3: Use your scraps

Since I used a ton of scraps with this card, I’ve added it to the Scraps of Color: Use your scraps challenge

  • Lace trim (I made the ‘trim’ from an old lace shirt that I’d designed when I was 17).
  • Daisy (snipped from a daisy chain trim)
  • Yellow and orange construction paper (leftover from other projects).

Where oh where is my battery charger; Nikon D80

Aynaria 14 Comments

It seems as if my Nikon D80’s battery charger has gone missing.

Nikon D80

A few weeks ago, I noticed that my Nikons battery was running low, when I went to its usual spot (that I keep the charger) it was gone.

Countless searches have been done, and I still haven’t found my Nikon D80 battery charger.

Autumn is my favorite season, and there’s tons of outdoor photos that I’m itching to shoot, but with a near dead battery I’ve been holding off.

I’ve ordered a charger from Amazon. You know what’s going to happen? By the time the new battery charger arrives to my house, my old charger will miraculously appear, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll know where it’ll be found… in my daughter’s room. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of looking in her room earlier. I just thought about this a few moments ago.

You have to understand something…

My eight-year old daughter is very talented. She’s won awards for her artwork, and has already had some of it featured in local shows — so it’s not just mommy bias. I love art so naturally I’m thrilled. This girl churns out art pieces several times weekly —  like it’s not a big deal. She has lots of talent, and therefore I encourage her. It’s ‘her thing’.

So yeah… she’ll  take anything that’s not nailed down and incorporate it into one of her art projects. I have mixed feelings about this; I applaud her creativity but at the same time… this mom gets tired of looking for misplaced items. <sighs> It looks as though I’ll have to have another conversation with her about asking, before using items in her artistic creations.

I’m betting if I look in her room, the Nikon D80 battery charger will be gracing one of her art sculptures.

Nikon D80 battery charger

Nikon D80 battery charger

Updated to add…

Thus far, my mommy’s intuition hasn’t failed. I looked in my daughters room and found the Nikon D80 battery charger buried under her pipe cleaners and colored papers.

Three day weekend

Aynaria 7 Comments

Because of a teachers in-service, my daughter is out of school today. Naturally, I’m planning on squeezing tons of activities into her three-day weekend.

Books

Yesterday, we made a quick stop at the library. About a week ago, I’d requested books for my daughter, and they arrived at the library. When I checked yesterday, I noticed that was the last day to pick them up. Whoops, so off we went to pick up her books. My daughter is a big R. L. Stine fan, and that’s the books were available. She had her nose buried in one of those books as soon as we hopped into the SUV.

This day has been spent making crafts, reading, and hanging out together. Tonights menu will be my normal theme; simple, nutritious, and delicious. My daughter has requested finger foods for dinner, and so I’ll be preparing Vegan wontons, black bean hummus, and I’m making pineapple kiwi  smoothies. Quick meal, fast clean up, which is just how I like it.

 

Raw Vegan: Vegetable wrap; Vegan Mofo

Aynaria 5 Comments

Raw veggies

October is Vegan Month of Food, also known as Vegan MoFo.

Since I knew I wouldn’t be able to actively participate, I didn’t add my name to the list. However throughout the month of October I’ll try to post at least one recipe per week. For those looking to cut a few calories, or simply add more plant based items into their daily lifestyle.

Please stop by the Vegan Mofo Blogroll, there’s over 700 bloggers on that list.

I was a raw vegan for a little over a year. Gradually I started adding some cooked foods into my diet, and I find that I have similar results as when I was completely raw consuming about 75% raw food. My diet is a whole food diet, which means I eat foods as close to its natural food source as possible. You won’t find me eating junk food or over processed foods. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy treats. I do, I just make sure that the treats consumed not only are delicious but are healthy too. Healthy snacks are an excellent alternative to the empty calorie junk foods that are so common in Westernized cultures.

One thing to remember, just because an item is vegetarian or vegan doesn’t automatically mean it’s healthy. You can be a very unhealthy vegetarian/vegan if you make wrong choices. There’s plenty of veggie junk food available, some people regularly consume theses products thinking they’re eating health simply because it’s plant based. Guess what? You can eat a meat based diet, and still be healthy. It’s all about the decisions you make. Educate yourself!

One of my favorite foods is a raw vegetable wrap, and so I’ve decided to include a simple recipe below. Dark leafy greens (like collards or kale) are nutrient dense powerhouses and they also make excellent raw sandwich wrappers. Raw nori is another wrapper that can be used in place of a traditional sandwich wrapper. My daughter loves nori, and requests it often. Nori can usually be found in your local health food store — or it can be purchased online.

In the article Health Benefits and nutritional properties of nori, Hiroyuki Noda said…

A sulfated galactan, similar to agar, occurs in relatively large quantities; this is a water-soluble dietary fiber that has important functional activities such as an antiblood coagulant, antihypercholesterolemia and shows antitumor activity. Minerals which occur at relatively high levels in nori include Zn, Cu, Mn and Se. It is concluded that nori is a valuable health food in human diets.

I’ve always had a lot of energy, but have found that my energy levels increased depending on the amount of raw foods I consumed.

Raw Vegetable Wrap

  • 5 large leaves of green leafy lettuce, coarsely chopped
  • 2 collard leaves, coarsely chopped
  • 1 medium yellow onion chopped
  • 3 medium carrots grated
  • homemade mustard (optional)
  • homemade tarter sauce (optional)

Wrapper

Large leaves of lettuce, collard, or raw nori

Directions

  1. Combine ingredients in mixing bowl
  2. Spread vegetables on your wrapper
  3. Roll
  4. Add condiments, if desired
  5. Enjoy

 

References

What causes acne?

Aynaria 4 Comments

Pimple popper

The main cause of acne is the overproduction of an oily substance called sebum.

Sebum serves a vital role it keeps the skin and hair lubricated and supple. The problem arises when sebum pairs up with naturally occurring dead skin cells. They block hair follicles from escaping.

The sebaceous glands begin to swell, causing an increase in sebum production. This gets the ball rolling and causes a bacterial overgrowth. Since the sebum cannot escape, this is an ideal place for bacteria to thrive. The bacteria multiples and soon your skin becomes inflamed, producing a pimple.

Common Causes of Acne

  1. Diet (although it might not directly cause acne — it can make it worse)
  2. Skin irritations
  3. Certain medications
  4. Hormonal activities
  5. Menstrual cycles
  6. Constipation

Do not squeeze pimples

Squeezing acne can  make the situation worse. Why? Squeezing acne can press the bacteria deeper into the skin. Squeezing acne can also injure the skin around the pimple, Additionally it can lead to scarring, and in extreme cases, this can be permanent.

Do not touch the face

Many people touch their face out of habit, so it is essential to remember to leave it alone. Why is this a problem? The hands contain oils and bacteria which can make the acne worse. It is not only your hands. Think about anything that touches your face like your hair, glasses and phones. They all must be kept clean to help break this cycle of infection.

References:

Weekends upon us – hanging with my favorite person

Aynaria 4 Comments

JAV Graduation Night

Is it lame that my daughter is the best person I’d like to hang out with? I don’t think so. I really enjoy her company.

My daughter is eight years old, and I love the fact that she still enjoys hanging with mom. We spend a lot of time together — always have. When she was younger, it was a lot harder but I still made it work, even though I work from home.

It looks as if it’ll be warm in Maryland, and so we’ve planned an insect hunt on our property. I’ll be sure to take pictures with my Nikon. I’m sure she’ll beg me to use my camera. She’s been snapping pictures since she was three. A few of those bug shots might make their way onto this blog.

In other news, the little miss has a piano piece she has to ‘perfect’. Her piano teacher requested she create her own song. She  completed that yesterday. Being the ‘noob card maker’ (yeah I’m using leet speak) that I am, I decided to turn her masterpiece into an album. Forget the noob bit, even if I’d been making cards for years — I’d see this as an opportunity to create another project. That’s how I roll.

The above photo was taken on my daughter’s kindergarten graduation. That was a few years ago. People that have known me for years, say she looks a lot like myself, especially when I was that age.The dress was something I created for her. She loved that dress, and held onto it long after she outgrew the ability to wear the item.

Kitty Witch; National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Aynaria 7 Comments

Kitty Boo

Why hello there!  Here’s my latest card making creation…

A lot of the card making sites seem to be over my head, many of the sites (when describing items used) talk a lingo that I don’t even understand. If you’ve been making cards for a long time, you most likely know what they’re referring to, however, someone new (like myself) is left in the dark when giving brief explanations. Many times I find myself Googling to determine what they’re talking about.

Making the card

The above card was made with the Kitty Witch digi-stamp (digital image). It’s a free digi-stamp from Kich N Bleus designs.

I used colored pencils for the cat. After the cat was completed, I cut it with an X-ACTO knife. I actually prefer that to scissors. I wanted a tiny outline around this cat, so I left a bit of white space. I placed this cat on four panels. Behind the panels is black construction paper.

I purposely placed the panels at increasing distance from each other. The panels were made from blue construction paper. The contrasting black design was made by continuously swiping a black ink pad over the blue paper. Once I achieved the effect I wanted, I set it aside to dry.

Once dry I used my paper trimmer to cut four 1″ strips. I then placed the strips in the same order (as was cut). The panels, although spaced apart, still have a consistent pattern (since I placed them in order). I googled and found the words Boo from a free site. I used glitter glue on the spider and the eyes.

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, which is why this cats hat is pink. Initially it was going to be orange. I’ll most likely add a tiny bit of pink ribbon to this card. Since my daughter loves cats, I’ve decided to give this one to her. I’ll make a few additional cards and send them to some of my lady friends. Inside I’ll include tips relating to breast cancer awareness.

When it comes to card making, I’m still in the practicing stage. However, I’m having a lot of trying out various ideas that pop into my mind.