Daily Sketching

I’m still sketching daily here. I’ve been experimenting a bunch more this week some hits and a bunch of misses. But I keep at it. It will get better with time and practice. I really believe it.

On Wendesday, I wanted to draw from a picture so I tried to recreate this bracelet and here’s my version.

and then on Thursday I tried to make this purse and realized again that I suck at the color pencils so I tried to add water and that turned out to be a disaster, too:

I felt bummed about my disaster so I made another quick one on Thursday night based on these ballet slippers.

on Friday I wanted to do something different and something that wasn’t a lift of someone’s sketch so I used this toaster:

on Saturday I went back to Andrea’s sketches. I did one half of this side mirror:

And then I did another quickie one based on this sketch of sleeping lovers. Not a huge success.

Sunday, I picked the journals by Andrea:

Monday I discovered Charlie Bowater and fell in love with the girl on a swing.

and Tuesday was another girl:

And here we are. Some experimenting this week. I am still enjoying the process even though some of my sketches make me cringe and I feel discouraged and frustrated more often than anything else, I am still really enjoying this process a lot!

May 5, 2011 | Art, SG, Sketching | 12 comments

Daily Diary – May 4 2011

I am still tired and whiny and unmotivated. But I finally decided to nip it in the bud. So I am going to write quickly today and go back to working hard so I can finish some nagging tasks. Today was relatively uneventful. The little boy played and I worked.

We went to get the big boy who had a nose bleed (from picking his nose!)

We read our book and the little one played and made a huge mess.

And here’s a much better looking big boy.

I exercised, I went to the TMJ doctor, I worked, I whined, I sat around trying to get myself motivated and I failed. I journaled and then I gave myself one more push. Some days are just like that. Going nowhere. It is what it is I suppose. Not fun but just part of life. Thank you for the feedback on the class. If you haven’t done so, feel free to still give feedback a few posts below this one. I am still thinking about it. But if I do it, it will be completely different than other courses. the point is not for you to have downloadables and for me to help you form a habit or to make pages about it. The goal will be to set a goal and achieve it. With hard work 🙂 and a bunch of other tools I hope to lay out. Let’s see if I can put it together and get organized a bit. More soon.

Sorry for the super short update today. More tomorrow.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for a quick minute to sketch. Even if it’s not my favorite, I still did it.
2. I am grateful for my husband who made sure I was completely not disturbed as I worked really hard for an hour straight.
3. I am grateful for spring. I love to hear the birds chirping. It always always always makes me smile.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I did my workbook. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I got a new game for the phone.
3. I am grateful that I sat with Alec on the bus.

May 4, 2011 | Daily Diary - 2011, DPGallery | Leave a comment

A Book a Week – Fly Away Home

I read Fly Away from Home because I was between books and wanted to read something light but not for kids and not too fluffy. Jennifer Weiner is usually good for that and she was this time, too. I can’t say that I loved the novel and am so glad I read it but it was definitely a pleasant book and I enjoyed the time I spent reading it.

I liked that most of the characters weren’t overly dramatic despite the situation and each had its own collection of strengths and weaknesses so they were three dimensional and easy to relate to. Overall, if you’re looking for a fun read that’s not fluffy I’d put this on the list.

May 4, 2011 | Books Read in 2011, Literature | Leave a comment

The Bird Cage

Now that CHA is passed, I wanted to share some of my The Girls’ Paperie work I made for the show. All products are from The Girls’ Paperie Kitch or Mix and Match lines. I love this birdhouse.

May 4, 2011 | Scrapbooking, The Girls' Paperie | One comment

A question for you

If I taught a class on setting and achieving goals would you be interested in taking that? It would be taught in a private blog setup by me, likely with daily posts. It would not be specific to scrapbooking or even art or any particular field. It would apply to any and all areas of your life.

Is this something you’d be interested in? If you’d let me know either way in the comments or by emailing me (karen AT karenika DOT com) I would very much appreciate it.

Also if you are interested, here are four other things I would like to know?

1. When would be an ok time for you to take the course. As in would mid/end of May be ok? How about summer? Or fall?
2. How long would you like it to be 2-3-4 weeks?
3. How much would you think is a comfortable price for you for such a class?
4. Is there any particular content in that area you’d want to make sure I cover.

Feel free to post answers to as many as you feel comfortable. Please don’t take it personally if I end up not doing what you might prefer. I am just trying to collect information and do the very best I can.

May 3, 2011 | Learning & Education | 13 comments

Daily Diary – May 3 2011

We had a lot of fun with friends last night playing a game that one of my co-workers designed. It was called Startup Fever and it turned out to be super-fun. But it meant we played until late (for me) and I didn’t get a lot of sleep. I still tried to workout and got weighed and did my sketch and then got to work. After we picked up David, I wanted to keep Nathaniel entertained while we read and he was so sad not to watch Thomas on the big screen, so I put a new one on his ipod. And he was super happy.

I also snapped some shots of David. I particularly like this one but I am not even sure why.

He laughed and told me stories as always.

I love him so much.

Nathaniel, in the meantime, made a huge mess, too.

And when I told him no, all I got was this smile. Who can resist that?

I am going to take a quick break and grab some food with my family. It’s really nice here and I didn’t have lunch so I figure it’s ok. And then some time to do art and some planning and maybe even a layout.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for my boys. They make me so deeply happy.
2. I am grateful for a quick break i hope to take with my family.
3. I am grateful for no plans tonight. I am hoping and planning to go to bed early and get some of that rest I need deeply.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played connect four by myself. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played Indiana Jones with Julian.
3. I am grateful that I drew and colored a map at school.

May 3, 2011 | Daily Diary - 2011, DPGallery | Leave a comment

Weekly Art Journal – Weeklong for April 4

And here’s another one of my weeklong pages. This one was inspired by Dina Wakley. This piece specifically. I love Dina’s pages so much.

Here it is empty:

I made my stars using the Parisian Anthology line from Pink Paislee which is perfect since it has built-in resist.

here it is, closer up on the left side:

and the right side:

And here’s the filled page:

I love all the color on this page.

Weekly Art Journal is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here. And you can find out more about the weeklong daily journaling here.

May 3, 2011 | Art, WAJG, Weeklong Daily Art Journal, Weekly Art Journal | 8 comments

Daily Diary – May 2 2011

Well here’s Monday. Not at bad day but a longish one. I woke up and was obsessed with the news of course. I couldn’t sleep all night and I was so so thankful. I was in New York during September 11. Working on Wall Street and so was Jake. Either of us could have been killed. We were both extremely lucky. And I am deeply thankful for today. I know this is not the end but it’s such a big milestone.

So I had CNN on pretty much all day while I worked and the little boy played.

And lined up his cars.

Here’s me yelling “Nathaniel” and getting a “What?” look back. A blurry one apparently.

And then he plays again. Love the way he’s sitting.

I try to get his attention again and still blurry.

Then he naps. Then we go get David. And he is so so sweet.

I adore him.

And here we get the little one to laugh, too!

We did our reading, I sketched, he did his workbook, I worked, Jake came, they ate dinner, etc. Life. And now they are getting ready for bed and we will have friends come over tonight for games. Lovely, simple, lucky life. I am thankful today. For every breath I get to take. For every minute I have with my boys, with my parents, with my sister, with my husband. I am very lucky.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for the closure that comes today. At least in some form.
2. I am grateful that I still made the time to sketch. Even if a small one because today was too hectic.
3. I am grateful I did a layout last night. It had been a while since I scrapped and I really enjoyed the process so much.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I did my sharing at school of my sticker book. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I shared stickers with some of my friends.
3. I am grateful that I will take a lego class this summer.

May 2, 2011 | Daily Diary - 2011, DPGallery | One comment

The Comfort and Security of a Blanket

I had the honor to guest design for My Creative Scrapbook kit club in March. This is one of the layouts I made with their main kit.

Journaling Reads:
You’ve sucked you thumb from a very young age but this blanket obsession is all new. You started taking this one blanket everywhere you go. You sleep with it and go in the car with it. David never had these comforts so I wasn’t sure how to handle it. The more I watched you, the more I realized how much comfort and sense of safety it gives you. So I decided to support you fully. I love you my son and I love the blanket, too.

And some details:

May 2, 2011 | Layouts, Scrapbooking | 3 comments

Daily Diary – May 1 2011

Happy May! Ours was relatively quiet. We got up and then I exercised. Now that it’s May, I am up to 3.0 miles a day. It was a bit hard but I did it anyway. Then I showered and it was time for family photos. Lately the portraits have been harder and harder to get.

There’s the refusal from the little one and the funny faces from the big one.

The fight over the remote.

Looking anywhere but the camera.

But alas I still love taking them anyway. I love having these photos so much even if they are all taken at the same spot in our house. I love love love them. Then we went out to exchange some things and pickup other things. When we came home, we rested a bit and David watched Sound of Music. Not sure why he looks sad here or maybe just focused.

Then David and I read our new book while the little one played.

And played.

After David was done, they played and played and hugged so much.

And then it was time for game night.

We played and David won. And then David and Jake played connect four so I could process my photos. Now they’re both asleep and I hope to backup my stuff, do my leg lifts, art journal, read and relax. Tomorrow starts another stressful week.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for game night. I love game night.
2. I am grateful that I am still sketching. So far so good.
3. I am grateful for a quiet and peaceful day.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I got a star wars lego sticker book. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we had family night.
3. I am grateful that I played connect four with daddy.

May 1, 2011 | Daily Diary - 2011, DPGallery | One comment

Reading with David – The Secret Garden

David says:
I gave this story five stars because I liked that in the end everybody is happy and the father really cares about his son.

I like that Mary found the key and the robin showed her the way. I also liked how Mary went from being grouchy to happy and became friends with Martha. My favorite character was the robin cause she was really cute and she was the first “person” to befriend Mary.

I liked that all the animals like Dickon and that he’s nice to everybody. I liked that Colin taught Magic to everyone and that they did exercises each day. I liked that Dickon’s mom gave them extra food so they could make sure the nurse didn’t know Colin was getting better and could surprise his dad. I like how the three kids became such good friends and worked and played in the garden every day together.

Reading a book a week with my six-year-old son David is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.

May 1, 2011 | Dbooks 2011, Reading with David | One comment

2011 Priority List and Goals – April Check-in

I thought it might be a good idea to review my goals at the end of each month and see if I am still making sure to prioritize them. I also thought this would be a good time to shift, adjust, add, take away as needed. So here we go. This is still going off the list I posted on January 1, minus the few I deleted in Feburary, with status updates for April.

Family
1. Read and do workbooks with David daily (Project A Book A Week with David).
All of April was our new Mystery series. It was fun for both of us and even though we’ve taken a break, I really enjoyed all four books we read in April.

2. Take photo of full-family and write updates weekly (Project Us Right Now).
Still going strong. This project still makes me so very happy. I am so thankful I decided to do it.

3. Write a daily diary of us + gratitude (Project Daily Diary)
Still keeping up with this as well.

4. Start a family night where we all play games or watch movies together (Scheduled for Sunday nights 6pm)
Family night is going strong. We need some new games but that’s in the plan for tomorrow. I love that it’s a little reserved time for all four of us together. We always prioritize it and look forward to it.

5. Sign up for a mommy/me class with Nathaniel (this still needs to be scheduled)
Something I dropped on the floor this year. I did find Nathaniel a music class for the summer so I will schedule it for us during then.

6. Schedule minimum bimonthly date nights with Jake
April had fewer date nights than usual but we’re still doing them and spending us time.

Health (Project Healthy For Life)
1. Do a combination of walking and running daily, work your way up to 5K a day
2.9 miles a day in April for a total of 87 miles. This month also marked 500 miles and 211 consecutive days of exercise.

3. Do strength exercises 3x a week
I am not doing strength but I have done 30 leg lifts (on each leg) and 10 crunches a day. Every day.

4. Track exercise+food+sleep+water using the fitbit
I am still tracking sleep and exercise. And paying strict attention to food. I’ve gotten better about the food planning too. Now that the summer is here, I stock a lot of fresh fruit and salads at home.

5. Get minimum 7hours of sleep every night and 8 on the weekends
A little less-good on this area. Not for lack of trying though. I am going to bed early but unable to fall asleep or stay asleep. Mostly due to stress. I have faith this will resolve itself and summer is coming soon and my wake up time will get a little later which makes a significant difference.

6. Eat at least one serving of vegetables daily and chicken/fish 3 times a week
Doing well on the veggies. Not eating enough protein still.

7. Walk at least 8500 steps a day and work your way up to 10,000
I didn’t add the 15-minute walk I mentioned last month but I plan to do so in May. This will bring me significantly closer to the 10K number.
8. Walk/Run a 10K
This is still a November goal 🙂 Though I must admit I am not feeling it at all. November is not as far away as it used to be and I fear this might not happen.

9. I also want to work on the coffee+graham crackers intake but not sure of the plan here yet.
Bleh. Still on hold with this one.

Art + Photography
1. Draw and paint a portrait six days a week (Project Six Portraits a Week)
Well I am not doing portraits now but I have sketched every single day since April 10. I even did two sketches a day for three of those days. I did 25 sketches in April. I am quite proud of that.

2. Art journal weekly (Project Weekly Art Journal)
This project is still going strong. I am loving the pages and the process. All of it.

3. Sketch something small daily (15-30mins)
Ah, see #1. 25 sketches baby!

4. Go on a Monthly photo excursion alone or with a photo buddy
I completely forget about this for some reason. I need to remember to schedule it. Now that the weather is pleasant again I think it’s easily doable. Will put on my calendar to schedule this for May.

5. Write weekly extended photo articles on my blog
Yeah, let’s just say this is not a goal anymore.

6. Figure out for once and all if I want an etsy shop and what will go in it
Finally progress on this one! I have come up with an idea. It might or might not pan out but I will work on it in May and we’ll see.

Scrapbooking
1. Create one layout a week just for me
Well I did create several layouts in April but mostly for work.

2. Do monthly The Girls’ Paperie layouts
Since the company is no longer, I doubt I have to continue this but I have done my share for April anyway.

3. Do monthly Pink Paislee layouts
I am all over this. I did both my April layouts in one sitting.

4. Do monthly Creative Therapy layout
Didn’t do any more in April. I am still caught up until July so we’re ok here.

5. Do monthly Write.Click.Scrapbook layout + write one more week during 2011
Same here. All caught up.

6. Successfully teach all four scheduled 2011 classes at Big Picture Classes and the one I am a part of in Masterful Scrapbook Design
All done with classes for now.

7. Aim to do 5-6 guest design spots or classes (that I teach) this year
I have a new guest design opportunity coming up this summer. I am not really trying too hard here at the moment.

8. Submit to one magazine a month (maybe, I can’t decide if I want to do this just yet.)
This is another area where I am not focusing enough. I will have to sit and have a good think about it and decide what to do here. It needs to either be more of a focus or not a goal. I don’t like doing things halfway.

Reading
1. Read a book a week (Project A Book a Week)
2. Read one book with David each week (Project A Book a Week with David)
Still reading a lot. Mostly young adult but I love what I am reading so it’s all good.

3. Regularly attend both book clubs
Well mostly down to one book club now but attended it in April.

Writing
1. Write at least one long thought/idea oriented blog post a week
I didn’t do as well as March here but I am still focusing on this. I will see if I can do better in May.

2. Write one new class (if you have requests, please share)
3. Write one downloadable pdf for my site or etsy (if you have requests, please share)
I do have some ideas here finally. We’ll see if anything pans out.

4. Write+email a newsletter each month
Doing this so far! Next one goes out in two hours 🙂

5. Possibly do NaNoWriMo (not sure of this one…)
We still have quite some time till November thankfully!!

6. Journal at least 5 times a day. Even if just for 15 minutes a day.
Yes! Journaling. Daily. Every day. Missed maybe one or two at most in April. Finally doing good here!

Learning
1. Learn to draw and paint portraits (Project Six Portraits a Week)
On hold for now. But learning to sketch!

2. Take 5-6 online classes this year
I’ve already taken 8 this year. I’m taking Chrsity’s class in May and will sing up for Alisa Burke’s watercolor class that she will announce on Monday. I am also taking Soul Restoration II in June. And I’ve finally figured out how I can use the Remains of the Day class so I will sign up for that one toward late summer likely.

3. Learn to write an iPhone/iPad application (sort of out there but achievable – let me know if you have an app you want)
Well I had made some progress but we’re at a standstill for now. Not focusing on this.

4. Learn how to make a stop-motion movie
No focus on this either. I have an idea but haven’t spent effort on this yet.

Community (This is a particularly hard one for me.)
1. Do a weekly-open house for Nathaniel’s moms group
This is still going strong. Some weeks it’s a few of us, some weeks just one and others none. But it’s great just the way it is.

2. Invite guests over for dinner at least once a month
We had girls’ night here and it was great. Already have a May social night scheduled on Monday.

3. Go out to breakfast/lunch once a month (to work or elsewhere)
I did one in April but to be fair I am not really doing a good job working on this.

4. Reach out to people I admire more often (leave more comments/send emails)
Did less so in April. But I believe in this goal and will keep at it.

And that’s it for April. Overall, I think I did pretty great. Lots of good goals met. Let’s bring on May!

April 30, 2011 | Personal, Yearly Projects | One comment

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