Art Dolls Holiday Characters Swap!

Here are the other three characters I finished for the Art Dolls Holiday Characters Swap.  Oh yeah,  I ordered some more "brads" in different colors to help add some flair to my future Paper Dolls.  They are time consuming to make, but I love how they turn out and sometimes I just don't want to see them go.  That is why I keep them in my gallery at ATC's For All! and on my computer.

First up we have The True Mrs. Jingle.  She is an elf that use to be a giant!  You see, the swap only allowed for dolls under nine inches and when I first made her, well, she was 10.5 inches tall.  I had to crop her legs and arms to decrease her height.  I still think she turned out super cool though.

Next, we have Jacquilene-in-the-box.  People always do "Jack" and I thought I would put my little twist and make this fun box toy a girl.  She was alot of fun to make and she slides from left to right, which is kind of different for a "doll", but definitely worth the outcome.

Finally, we have the Spirit of Christmas Present.  We were watching the Muppet Christmas Carol and I forgot how amazing the human puppet for this character was.  I fell in love with him all over again and decided that he would be my fourth and final paper doll for this swap.

Still on the Paper Doll Kick!

I finally made my last paper doll for the Art Dolls: Holiday Characters -- Due Jan 10, 2012. I know they aren't due until January 10th, but when I get into something I can't do anything besides just that and I am obsessed with getting something done.  I wanted to post my Leprachuan Steve because I wanted to show you all how just using a white gel pen to highlight my characters.  I am often amazed at how a small thing like a white gel pen can make such a difference.

All of my Art Dolls can be found in my Gallery at ATC's For All!

Before Highlights

 

After Highlights

Hand Drawn/Hand Painted Pups in Cups!

Here are my ATC's for the Hand Drawn/Hand Painted Pups in Cups swap at ATC's for All!

1. Pipi
2. Terri
3. Bubbles
4. Kari

SpOoKy HaLLowEeN Paper Doll Swap

Here are my paper dolls for the SpOoKy HaLLowEen Paper Doll Swap at ATC's for All!

Trudy Disturbed

Jack O'Fire

Voodoo Medusa

Missy Dreadful

Freaky Frida

Quitting Smoking

This is my second day of not smoking using the Nicoderm CQ patch and it is making me sick.  Yesterday I had it on my arm and my arm felt like I had a tourniquet around it with no circulation and severe pain.  I called the Pharmacist and he said to get that patch off of my arm; that I was having a severe allergic reaction to it.  He said it could be the adhesive or the drug that is used to deliver the nicotine that I could be allergic to.

I put a new patch on, but this time I put it on my back hoping that, maybe, this would work.  I don't care about the allergic reaction; I WANT TO STOP SMOKING!  So, today I am feeling icky and hope that I can do this.  I have smoked for over 20 years and have hated it all along.  I call myself the closet smoker!  I don't smoke in public, in my car, around anyone, or in restaurants.

I hate the smell on my hair, my clothes, just in general.  I know that many more doors will open up if I do stop smoking; like having more friends, you know, the ones that you really want to be friends with, but are so afraid that they will find out you smoke.

I'm not getting any younger and with the longs years of smoking it has taken its toll on me.  I have allergies and smoking just makes this worse.  I feel like I have a lump in my throat all of the time, I have no energy, and I am coughing up that green stuff.

I kind of had an eyeopener this week with my 9 year old.  She came home from school with this poster that she wanted to create for the "Don't Do Drugs" campaign and right in the center of the page was the "No Smoking" symbol.  I asked her what that was about and she told me they were learning about not doing drugs.  I asked her what kind of drugs were they talking about and she said "cigarettes".  She even asked me how to spell cigarettes, so she could put that on her poster.

I realize that nicotine is a drug, but cigarettes are legal.  I also asked her if she knew of other drugs that no one should do.  She said she didn't, so I proceeded to educate her.  Maybe she isn't old enough yet for this talk, but any opportunity I have to explain anything to her I take, because I didn't get talks from anyone when I was growing up, so I didn't know any better.

Why didn't they teach this stuff back when I was in school?  My life might have turned out differently.  Here I go to try and go through another day without a "cigarette".

Wish me luck!

Modern Day (Small Town) County Fairs

I've lived in a few small towns and this is probably the smallest one.  I took my eight year old to the local County Fair last night and was shocked at how much it costs to go these events now-a-days. For starters each ride was one ticket and each ticket cost $3.25.  Now, you could buy 10 tickets for $25.00 and that would make each ride $2.50.  If you have a family of four and two people want to ride the rides it could cost $50.00.  Now, I bought her five tickets because I didn't have the $25.00 for ten tickets and I knew she wouldn't ride all of the rides anyways.  So, for five tickets it cost me $16.25.

Crystal rode the Spider, the Cliff Hanger, the Carousel, and the Farris Wheel.  She had five tickets, but they wouldn't allow her to ride the Farris Wheel by herself, so she wanted to use the extra ticket so I would ride with her.  I swallowed my vertigo and went on the ride with her only because they had the Gondolas and not the traditional seating.  Had they had the traditional seating I would have had to decline riding with her.

On the spider and the cliff hanger, she had a look of terror on her face during the ride and gave me the thumbs up after she got off the ride.  I thought this is the start of our next adrenaline junkie!

Now wait, there are still the games.  Each game was two tokens and each token was a dollar.  Crystal played six games for a total of another $12.00.  The nice thing about the games is that; one, you no longer have to give the game attendant any money as there are "token" machines in front of each game and two, you actually get to play on some of the games until you win.  Here is my thought on playing until you win; is this because our kids are so spoiled today that we are afraid to see them "disappointed"?  What happened to competitiveness at these games?  Like, the horse race where you roll the ball into the colored holes in order to see your horse advance and hopefully win or the dart game where you try and pop the balloon so you can win a cheesy prize.

I guess that is all out the window with these games today.  Crystal had a blast and walked away with like six prizes and didn't have to feel the pain of defeat for not winning any of the games.

I did get upset at the Carousel ride when the guy taking the tickets told a grandmother of a two year old that she could ride the ride with him, but it would cost her a ticket.  Really? When did this change come about?  That was just wrong.  I spoke with the Grandpa and he said he thought it was a rip off too, but what are you going to do when the children want to ride the rides?

The total budget for the trip was $20.00 and we ended up spending $28.25; the the $8.25 coming from the left over laundry money for the day.  All-in-all, she had fun and even got to see some sheep, goats, and bucket calves, so her day was a good day after all.

Cell Phone Etiquette

I'm not the best at always answering my cell phone, but I do really try hard to answer my phone calls when people call.  Of course, there is the occasion when I just can't.  I understand that we are all busier, running faster and longer, etc., But, would it really kill anyone to at least within a week acknowledge that you received a phone call?

I found this article titled "12 Unwritten Rules of Cell Phone Etiquette" and I was surprised to find out that there is such a thing.  The article discusses everything from screening your calls to talking in public and more.

Item #11 caught my eye, because with the age of technology comes long drawn out processes when calling someone.  It states "If I reach your voicemail, don't you think I already know you can't take my call right now and want me to leave my name, number, and a brief message? Do you need to waste my time telling me that? The whole process of leaving a message to begin with is too long. The last thing I want when I finally reach your personal greeting is a lengthy description of what you want me to do. We've been using cell phones long enough to know the drill. Just as you want my message to be brief, so too do I want you to keep your personal greeting short."

This can also go for those automated phone systems that the majority of companies incorporate because they don't see the need to pay anyone minimum wage to sit and answer the phone for them.  Please don't get me started on the hilarious phone systems that take how many prompts to get through before I finally get the person's voicemail.  I think I should leave a lengthy message just because of how long it took me to actually get through to your extension.

Well, off to call my landlord again to see if they can fix a broken light fixture.  Hey, maybe my daughter will have light in her room by next year when we have to move again!