It's an Unnaturally Colored Face World Swap

Orange, Green, Blue, and Purple

Wow, talk about out of the comfort zone.  I have gotten much better at faces, but I feel I am still not where I want to be.  So, I joined the It's an Unnaturally Colored Face World Swap and came up with orange, green, blue, and purple faces.  Hmmm, wonder what kind of prejudice problems they have.

3-2-1 Microwave Cup Cake

Since I love cake, but am diabetic, I was excited to learn about making cupcakes in the microwave using a coffee cup.  How clever is that? Well, I found a recipe online and have since tweaked it to come up with my own version of this tasty little treat!

Ingredients:
1 Box of Angel Food Cake Mix
1 Box of Cake Mix (Any Flavor)
Water
1/2 tbsp. Apple Sauce

Directions:
1. Mix the two boxes of cake mix in a air tight container. (MIX WELL)
2. Put 3 tbsps. of the mixture in a regular sized coffee cup.
3. Mix 2 tbsps. water and 1/2 tbsp. applesauce in cake mix.
4. Microwave for one (1) minute.
5. Turn cupcake onto a plate and let cool.
6. Frost with your favorite frosting or eat it plain.

Creativity Combo Swap: Pick One from One and One from Two

So, the key to this particular swap was to pick something from the first column of words and then pick something from the second column of words.  I used the Random Integer Set Generator at RANDOM.ORG to pick out my combos.  There were 64 options in each column, so I did 4 sets of 2 numbers and then went to my spreadsheet that I created out of the lists and put the two words together.  What I got were the following:

Surreal Prune, Cracked Cat, Dog in Drag, & Flaming Hot Dog Vendor

What was really funny was that I wasn't paying attention and created the following card, which should have been the "Surreal Prune"!

Surreal Pear

I really like this one and as soon as I put it up for trade it was gone.  I can't wait to see what the other players come up.  I think I'm going to keep the list and work from it once in a while too!

Artist Trading Cards - Stained Glass Art

When I was a teenager I used to sit and doodle for hours.  I also liked to do art that looked like stained glass.  Some day I will find my composition notebook where I created decorative alphabets and doodled.  But, for now I have to satisfy myself with trying to remember how I did these things and see if I can reproduce them.

Any one of the following designs I would choose to have as a stained glass window.  Well, maybe not the walking man, but he did turn out rather cool.  Maybe that one for an elementary school gym!  I would love to actually learn how to do stained glass and maybe some day I will.

I used a Micron 02 pen and permanent markers to hand draw and color the following artist trading cards (ATCs).  I am also thinking about starting a swap over at ATCs for All titled "Stained Glass".

Stained Glass - Butterfly

Stained Glass - Dolphin

Stained Glass - Flowers & Circles

Stained Glass - Moon & Sun

Stained Glass - Walking Man

A Little Spirit Lift

I think every once in a while it's good to get a "spirit" lift.  I really am trying to be more positive, even though most of the time I just want to scream at the top of my lungs "what the heck is it all for anyways?".

So, tonight I find out that the new Art Trader Magazine Issue #18 is available.  I download it and start browsing through it to see if there is anything that I might be interested in doing and there is.  The "10 Minute ATC" article is staring me in the face.  A 10 Minute ATC, really?  This is very cool, because I'm tired and haven't made an ATC in over two weeks.  This particular method is about blending markers and looks to be pretty straightforward.

Green Flower Garden

It might of taken me a little over 10 minutes as my white gel pen kept giving me fits, but I completed my ATC and posted it for trading.

Whew!  After that I continued browsing the magazine and I get to page 25.  Guess what page 25 is?  It is the Reader Gallery.  Guess who is in the Reader Gallery?  That's right; it is me!  It felt good and gave me the little spirit lift I needed.  Thanks to the Art Trader Magazine group of administrators for keeping art alive.

Paper Dolls: Fairies and Magical Fliers of Fancy

Buttercup Goblinwand

Nettle Reedwand

Feather Icefilter

Whimsy Bird House 001