How To: Turn a Piece of Wood Into a Piece of Art Part 2

First off let me start by saying Happy New Year! 2009 has been an off and on year for me. I did not create a recap of the year like so many others because it seemed pointless. I have done a lot and accomplished a lot and at the same time, I feel like I have done and accomplished nothing. Moving on...if you missed Part 1 of this How To, then please take a moment to go to it and take a look at it first. Today, I began work on the armor in the image. The original picture shows it to be purple and since that is my son's favorite color, I decided to keep it purple. I do not, however, have purple paint. I used to, until my daughter started using my paints and a lot of stuff from my sewing/craft room got moved. This is not a big problem though, I can easily make purple. Most people know that red and blue mixed will make purple. I used pink and blue though, as I find that using red makes a very dark purple that then has to be lightened and is very hard to get the right shade.

I mixed the pink and just a little bit of blue to come up with a very nice shade of purple. I then used white to lighten the same purple for the metal pieces of the armor. As with the ice, lay down your main colors first, then go back and do the detailing.

Once you have the main colors laid down, you will need to darken and lighten the purple for shading using black or white. Again, as we did with the ice, follow the template of the original image if you do not know where to put highlights and shadows. As before, I also used my fingers as painting tools to blend the paint and give it a smooth look.

As you can see, once again, a little bit of light and dark makes all the difference. Sometimes you will need to use straight black and straight  white to get enough contrast. One of the main things to keep in mind is not to be afraid to try something out. Most of the time, if you make a mistake, it can be painted over or fixed in another way. Now that the purple is done, I moved on to the brown sections. I used the brown straight out of the bottle to start with on the furry boots, and darkened it just a bit with black for the cape.

After laying down the base color, I went back with darker and lighter browns, as well as black and white to add the detailing to the brown portions of the armor. This is where I will be stopping for the night. I would love to keep working, but alas, my vacation is over and I must return to work in the morning. 4:30 am comes early to people like me who HATE mornings. I will continue tomorrow after I get home from work and possibly get this finished then. Until then, have a great day and keep painting!

How To: Turn a Piece of Wood Into a Piece of Art Part 1

I put some pictures up earlier this week of the woodburning/paintings I did for my family for Christmas. Those of you who saw the post and commented seemed to like what I had done, and those, honestly, were not the best ones I've done. I didn't have enough time to put as much detail work into them as I wished. So now I am working on a new woodburning/painting for my son for a belated Christmas gift. (I will also be making one for my daughter.) I figured I'd put up a tutorial of sorts for anyone interested in seeing the process in a step-by-step way. Forgive the pictures, our good digital camera decided to be a p.o.s. (piece of shit) and is not working right now so all the photos were taken on my phone.

First, find a starter image. If you can draw, unlike me, then you can create your own starter image. If you are like me, and can't draw well enough to use for a project like this, then search the internet for your starting image. To my knowledge, so long as you do not try to pass the art off as original and do not intend to make a profit off it there should be no copyright infringement. My son is very much into World of Warcraft, so this is my starting image for his picture.

You will, of course, need a piece of wood the size you want the picture to be. I printed this image on standard paper so I have a piece of wood 8 1/2" X 11". I am using 1/4 inch paneling, because it was FREE. I know the owner of a cabinet shop here in town and he gives me scrap wood at no charge.

Once you print the image to the size you want, you will need carbon paper and a ball point pen. Tape the carbon paper and printed image to your piece of wood (after sanding, if needed) and trace the main outline and details of the image. What you end up with should look something like this.

After tracing your image, you can then move on to woodburning the outline and details that you traced. This is not required if you want to just paint it, but it's what I do so bear with me. Most wood-burners come with multiple tips. I only use one, it is thin enough to make fine lines and I can also shade with it. It is the one that's shape most resembles a pen.

Take your time and wood burn the outline you created. You can add as much or as little shading as you desire. I have found that the acrylic paints I use don't stick well to the burned wood areas so I have started doing less detailing with the burner. I basically just outline and do the areas that are solid black.

Depending on how you wish your image to look, you can do more shading and detail with the wood burner and leave it unpainted. I like painting because I can add so much more detail. To start with I will be painting the Ice Throne. I will be using a combination of 4 paint colors for the ice and snow. Plain White, Metallic Pearl White, Metallic Blue Sapphire, and Metallic Sequin Black. I love metallic paints, especially for things that are supposed to be shiny/sparkly. For those of you who don't have a tote full of paint sitting around at home, don't go running to the store and buy every single color there is. I keep a few basic colors and mix most of my colors on a butter bowl lid. This works very well for me and uses little paint.

Once you have chosen your colors to start with, paint your main colors in the correct areas. Keep your printed copy of the image handy for reference, or on the computer. This part is the tedious part, as well as time consuming. Make sure you have a small tip paint brush for getting into the tiny areas.

This is what I have after putting down the main colors. The blue areas indicating ice and the white areas indicating snow. Now to add some depth. You will need to use the same colors to add highlighting and shadow. The blue area in my painting is not straight out of the bottle. If you look at the starter image, you will see that it is a grey blue in color. I mixed the metallic blue, metallic black, and a touch of white to get the desired color. I also use a little water to thin the paint and help it reamain spreadable. This is one advantage to working with acrylics, that can be reconstitured to some extent with water, yet they dry quickly for impatient people like me that don't want to wait hours to move on to the next part of the project. Use your starter image as a guide if you are not much of a painter. It will show you exactly where to put the lights and darks to get the depth you need. Don't be afraid to use your fingers to 'blend' your paint. I do a lot. My fingers tend to get more paint on them then the brush sometimes. After addint the shading and highlighting your image should look something like this.

This is the point that I am stopping at for the night. It is almost 2:00 am and I need sleep. I will be working on this more tomorrow and will continue the tutorial then. I hope that this helps anyone interested in creating some beautiful art to learn something new. Good luck, and if you are doing something similar, please let me know. I love to share art!

Praying

BACK ROW: Chase, Ashe, Kadyn, Amy

FRONT ROW: Davyn, Austin, Kalie(Tink), Kyndall

This picture was taken Christmas day at our family get together. Pictured are my two children, Ashe & Amy. My brother's three children (that have been born, remember he has twins on the way!) Kadyn, Davyn, and Kyndall. The other three belong to my cousin Malisia. Chase, Austin and Kalie, or Tink as she is known by family.

A little bit of back-story is required to tell this story. Malisia moved back to Texas late summer this year to leave her husband and his abuse and cheating. The man, though I've never met him, is a real piece of work. He was very abusive verbally, has major anger issues (such as throwing game controllers when a game did not go the way he wanted), and has on more than one occasion cheated on my cousin. She moved from North Carolina back to Texas to be with her family for support through what she knew would be a troublesome seperation and most likely divorce. She spoke with her husband regularly, allowing him to speak to his children daily, all the while he would tell her that he was not ready to start divorce proceedings. Then out of the blue, Malisia gets slapped with divorce papers. Her husband had filed in NC and was petitioning for custody. The papers stated that there would be a hearing in 2 days to determine Temporary Custody until the divorce went to court. The trip itself would have taken 2 days, so there was no way for my cousin to make it to NC in time for the hearing. She faxed over a letter requesting an extension to allow her time to make arrangements to get there, find a NC attorney, and someone to watch the children since school had already started. They granted an extension, she recieved notice of the new hearing date in the mail, it had been for earlier that morning. The court had granted her husband temporary custody. The younger two children were required to go back to North Carolina with their father. The older child, not biologically his, would remain with Malisia. For all intents and purposes, she was screwed out of any chance to fight at the temporary custody hearing because she was not given enough time to do anything.

She was able to get her kids for Christmas, which is why we were able to take the picture above. She started the journey to return them to their father the day after Christmas. Last night I was recieving text updates on the trip from Malisia and another cousin, Taree, who travelled with her. The children were both stating how they did not want to return to their father, they wanted to stay in Texas with their mother. This of course made it that much harder on Malisia to return them. She is paying a NC attorney $4000 to handle her case while she is out of state. She has come close to giving in and just returning to NC to be with her children and even to go back to her husband. This would not be in her best interest. I am asking anyone and everyone who reads this to please say a prayer for my cousin, that she will have her children returned to her permanently and soon. She is under a lot of stress right now and I am sure depression is setting in if it hasn't already.

My Very First Award!!

Lynette over at Crazed Mind has awarded me my first award. I feel so blessed to know Lynette and her family, they have all been very good to me the past couple of years that we have been friends. So THANK YOU very much for honoring me! So here it is, my award!

Now for the rules:

Here are the rules to this award, they are fairly easy to follow:

1.Thank the person who gave it to them! check

2.Link it back to them! check

3.Give the award to five people, although I think you are all Angels!! check

4.Please let the friends know they have an award! and check
 
My first angel will have to be my love, Kevin. He has been the absolute best thing to happen to me in a very very long time. I am so very grateful to have him.
 
My second angel is Jen over at Rants and Raves. She is going through a very rough time right now, but still manages to help out anyone who needs it.
 
My third angel would have to be thatgirlblogs. I found her through SITS and absolutely LOVE her stuff. She is continually cracking me up.
 
My fourth angel would be for Jen from Jael Custom Designs. I believe I also found her through SITS and she has been very helpful and encouraging for me just starting a new blog. She also does some wonderful work of her own!!
 
My last (but not least) angel is for Coniqua from The Spa Party Blog. She also has been a wonderful friend in my 'newborn' days as a blogger. Take a look at some of her wonderful Spa products!
 
Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

Merry Christmas!!

I have not posted in a few days and that is due to the fact that I have had a very busy and eventful few days. From the time I got off work Thursday I was trying desperately to finish the gifts I was making for my brother's family as they were going to be there THAT NIGHT. It was a race of sorts to see if I got finished before they got here. I almost did. I had to finish up one gift after getting the kids all sorted into beds. Take a look at what they got.

For my sister-in-law

for my 12-year old nephew

for my 8-year old nephew

for my 8-year old niece

I did not have time to put a lot of detail into these, but I am still pleased with how they turned out. The kids loved theirs and my sister-in-law has asked me to make two more so that she can have a set of them for one of the rooms in their home. I was so glad they liked their gifts.

Christmas morning was wonderful. I had not gotten to sleep until 4:15 that morning trying to finish up the gifts and wrap the last of the stocking stuffers. Then I had to fill all of the stockings of course. Regardless of this, I was still the first one awake at 7:30am (except Kevin, but he remained in bed until I awoke). I proceeded to skip through the house, waking everyone with the chant "Get up, get up, it's Christmas!!" My kids dug into their stockings while we waited for everyone to gather around the tree. Then the presents were handed out. It was a marvelous time! I love to watch the kids and other family open their gifts and see the expressions of joy (hopefully) on their faces as they see what they got for Christmas. Having my brother here was absolutely wonderful. We got to talking about the last time we have spent a Christmas together and realized it has been 10 years since we were last together for Christmas. We have decided that we need to visit each other more frequently, and will be looking into making a trip to his home in the spring.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and that you all have a Happy New Year! I will get a new featured image up hopefully later today, and I hope you all forgive me for not getting it done Thursday since I was a tad bit preoccupied.

Why I Hate the Attorney General

First off, sorry for the delay in posting something new, I've been working on Christmas gifts. I'll post pics of those as soon as I'm done.

Now, to get to the point of this post. Some of you may know I got a divorce in September. Don't feel bad, it was my idea. Well the divorce papers were done by an attorney because I couldn't figure out the legal mumbo-jumbo in the Do-It-Yourself kit. As required by Texas law there was a petition for child support. Once the divorce is final, the county clerk forwards all paperwork to the Attorney General and they set up a case for payment disbursement and what not. Now, I know my ex gets paid twice a month, on the 14th and 29th. I recently changed from getting my payments on the Texas Debit card to go directly into my new checking account. I had been recieving paper checks for a few weeks during the transition but haven't recieved a deposit or a check for my ex's most recent payment due. Since I know he gets paid on the 14th, I was beginning to wonder what was going on. Therefore, I called the Office of the Attorney General. After pushing a million buttons on the automated menu, waiting on hold for a suprisingly short amount of time, a customer service rep gets on the line and asks for my social security number. I give her that, then proceed to verify all of my personal information, then tell her the ex's name, etc. She FINALLY asks "What can I do for you today?" So I tell her, I'm trying to figure out why I have not recieved a payment yet. And then (and this is why I hate the Attorney General) she tells me that I am not authorized to get that information!!!! WHAT? How in the HELL am I not authorized to get information pertaining to my own case? But, I can have my attorney call and get the information. You have got to be kidding me!

This Week's Featured Image - Week 1

Here you see the featured image I put up a week ago. I thought it would be something interesting for those of you who read my blog, something to look forward to as you continue to visit my site. I also thought that I should keep a 'log' of the featured images so that people can come back and look at the different images I have displayed. So here it is, week 1's Featured Image. Thanks for reading everyone!

*New content added 1/3/10*
I did not put up any description of the image for this post and I would like to be sure and include that with future images. I also thought that anyone who came back to this post from later ones might like some info on this image.
The tree is one in my local park. For a very small town we actually have a pretty decent park here and some gorgeous trees. The image was taken with Kevin's digital camera, an HP Photosmart (that has since bit the bullet). It was altered in my photo altering program PhotoImpact. I adjusted brightness, contrast, and saturation. Here is the original image.

Because I Feel Like It

I had originally started this post to be a griping complaint session. I began typing it on my phone at work, but got busy and had to save it for later. Now, I have been home for a few hours and I have gotten some REALLY awesome news and I am no longer in the mood to complain and throw a fit. Now I am very happy and want to tell the WHOLE world my good news. Well...not just my good news. I have an older brother that lives a good 6+ hours away from me. My budget (if it can be called that) is tight to say the least so I do not get to go visit him and his family often. He is working a full-time job, going to law school full time, and raising his family. Needless to say, he doesn't get much opportunity to visit me either. We have kept in touch randomly through rare phone calls, texts and e-mails. And of course, MySpace. He called me today and I was suprised to see his number on my caller ID. He chatted for a few minutes then came out with it. He wanted to know if I would be ok with him and his family coming to my place Christmas Eve and staying a couple of days. OF COURSE IT'S OK!!!! I am so excited to get to see my brother, sister-in-law, nephews and niece!! Then I get the BIG bombshell...I will be an aunt again!! YAY ME!!! But even more than that...it's a double whammy, they're having TWINS! Can you believe it!?!?!? I am so excited and happy. I haven't actually gotten to see my brother and family in a few years. Anyway, just had to share!

And the Winner Is.....

Thanks to random.org a winner has been selected for the Digital Photo Alteration Contest. So say congratulations to entry #10 - jenjo3d from Rants and Raves!!!!

She will now need to send me a digital image that she wished to be altered and within the week (I hope) I will have a completed image for her in return. Keep checking in with me to see the finished result!

Thank you to all who entered and don't get too heartbroken if you didn't win. I can still do a photo alteration for you if you are truly interested. If you are, please contact me by e-mail and we will discuss cost and so forth. Have a great day everyone!!

What I Saw Today...part 5

Today I saw many good friends, a beautiful girl celebrate her 12th birthday, and a cake cut with an officer's saber. The 'tradition' of cutting the cake with a sword was, of course, started by my son on his birthday last month. I saw people having a great time and having fun. What could be better than spending time with your children and good friends, accompanied by good food. What did you see today?

6th & 7th Grade Band: Christmas Concert

My beautiful children and thier torture devices of choice. I'm kidding...they are actually both pretty good with their instruments when they aren't goofing off. The Christmas band concert was tonight, and I went, of course because my children were playing, expecting to leave with my ears bleeding and having nightmares of horrible band music. To my shock and surprise, they actually did VERY well. The 6th grade had a pretty good bit of squeaking, but tolerable. The 7th grade was very good with only a couple of squeaks here and there. I have to say I am very proud of my two musicians.

On another note, some of you who have visited me here before may have noticed the change of scenery. I found in my picture program that there were blog templates and I decided my blog needed to be...well...better. Not to say it was bad before, it just didn't really fit me and my personality. Unfortunately I could not figure out how to make the blog template work, I will have to keep playing with it and see if I can figure it out. I did however decide to revamp the look with the available templates. I also created a new title image (thanks to my picture program PhotoImpact) and I decided to try the "Featured image of the week". Not sure if I'll have time to actually change it every week, but I will sure try. The images will be my own, and I will try to find a suitable 'writing' to go with it as well. The writing bit is probably what will be harder. I have TONS of pictures!! Like the one below....should I use this one for my Christmas card?

Networking Via Phone

So, I work a full time job. Monday through Friday, 10 hours a day. I am also required to be available to be called or to go up to the store for assistance. That's the life of a manager. Well, sitting at work, I end up with some down-time when there's no customers in the store, all the cabinets are wiped down, etc. During those times I turn to my phone and the internet. I can do quite a bit on my phone (I am typing this from my phone now), but every so often I run in to snags. I can't log on to my online banking, I can't post comments occasionally on certain blogs, I can't update my Facebook status (unless I text it in, neat feature), I can't copy and paste, and some pages just don't load well. I guess I shouldn't complain too much, I mean, I am grateful that I can do at least as much as that on my phone. I tell myself, I'll go back to that site on the regular computer at home after I get off work. Then I get home and have to do this or that and completely forget to get online for whatever it was I was wanting to do. In truth, I sometimes wish that I could earn money by staying home, I unfortunately can not afford to live without the paycheck I earn at my job. But I still wish it. Maybe someday I can quit working outside my home, then I wouldn't have to pay for internet service on my phone. ;)

Pics to be added later (if I remember) as that is another thing I can not do from my phone.

Happy Birthday, Amy!

Today my baby girl turns 12. Where has the time gone? I don't feel old enough to have a tween and a teen! It seems like only yesterday they were just babies. I don't mind them growing older though, really. The older they get, the more able they are to do things for themselves, which I am grateful for. I do however mind that my daughter seems to need new pants every month at the rate she's growing. She is nearly as tall as me already and she's only TWELVE! Jeans her size are so expensive nowadays, and she's at the age where shewants the 'cool' stuff. I have told her numerous times that she needs to stop growing and she refuses to. She claims that she can't! Go figure. We will have her party this weekend, Twilight & New Moon theme, by her request. It won't be too much of a theme party as funds are low, but we did buy red velvet cake mix. I figured that could fit somewhat with a vampire theme. Happy Birthday, Amy!

Merry SITSmas!

k...I did not get a SITSmas blog prepared as was suggested. I had every intention of getting it all set up last night and I got busy doing a project for work, then it was taking forever and I ran to the store while waiting for something to load. While I was at the store my children began decorating the Christmas tree. I returned from the store with hot chocolate for everyone and helped finish the decorating. Then we watched Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. By the time that was over, it was bed time for everyone. I never even finished the project for work that I had started. So here it is SITSmas and I have no card or pretty things to put up because I am typing this on my phone while sitting at work. Perhaps if I have time (and remember to) when I get off work, I will do something better. Have a very merry SITSmas!

In case you didn't know...scroll down to read about my contest!

Digital Photo Alteration Contest

Have you ever had that almost perfect picture and wished there was some way to remove just one little bit from it? How about loving the way someone looks in a picture, just wishing they were in a different setting? Or have you ever seen your daughter as a magical fairy princess and just not been able to create that magic look in a photo? Here is your chance to win a photo alteration of your own.

Here is a little bit of background info:
I do not use Photoshop. I know, shocker right? I used it a very long time ago, but found a full version program on a disk my mother had for her scanner called Ulead PhotoImpact and began using that. (I just followed the link and saw that they are offering this program for download for only $19.99! Great price!) I used it for years, verion 4. I now own verion X3 which is much more advanced with a lot more editing options. I am self taught with this program, picking up hints from different sites here and there and of course the Help option in the program itself.

How to Enter:
First, I would like for you to visit my Flickr account and take a look at some of the photo alterations I have done in the past. Then post a comment telling me which image you liked the best. There are quite a few on there and I will understand if you don't look through them all. This will be mandatory for entry.

Additional Entries (please enter seperate comments for each of these):
Post a blog of your own telling about this contest.
Add me on Facebook. (Link available to the left)
Add me on Twitter. (Link available to the left)
Become a Follower of my blog.

Contest Details:
I will run the contest for a week. All comments must be posted by midnight Sunday, December 13th to be eligible for the drawing. I am making this a short one in case someone is looking to use their winning image for a Christmas gift. Once I announce the winner (be sure I have your e-mail address so I can notify you) you will have 2 days to e-mail me the image you want altered with a brief desciption of what you would like done with it. I will then take the photo and alter it to your specifications to the best of my ability. I will also create a couple of extra altered images and e-mail them back to you for approval. You may then choose the one you like best and I will email you the full size image of the alteration you chose. At that point, the image is yours to do with as you see fit. I will post the altered image in a later post on my blog and would love for you to do the same. With any luck this will all be accomplished before the 20th, plenty of time for you to have a print or multiple prints made. Personally I have used Wal-Mart's online photo printing with great success. You can upload your photo, choose your sizes, and send them to the 1 hour photo printing to be processed. Of course larger prints and actual gift items may take longer, see their website for details.

What I can't do:
I can't sharpen an image that is really blurry. To some extent I can enhance the edges, but it does not always come out like a crisp focused image.
I can't brighten a super dark photo. I can add brightness, but any details that were lost by the darkness of the original image will still be lost.
I can't do photo costmetic 'surgery'. I have seen some YouTube videos of people who are able to change people's looks completely, make them thinner, longer hair, add makeup, etc. I have not really tried to do that so please don't ask it of me.

What I can do:
I can remove an unwanted item from the background.
I can totally replace a background.
I can remove minor blemishes and the appearance of wrinkles.
I can change the color of items in the image without losing detail.
I can turn a photo into a work of art.

If you have something you want done that I have not listed in the cans and can'ts then just ask me. I don't have room here to list everything that I can and can not do. I guess that about sums it up then, let the comments begin!!!

Facebook, Twitter, & SITS

So, being new to the whole blogging scene I have recently learned the value of having a Facebook and Twitter account. I first was introduced to MySpace and I have used it regularly. I set up a Facebook a while back, but never did much with it, and I'd heard of Twitter, but never had the inclination to sign up for yet another social website that I most likely would ignore as I did Facebook. Anyway, I'm trying to get this blog up and going and I think I'm doing 'ok' so far. I haven't had it that long and I am up to a whopping 11 followers (really, I'm not being sarcastic!!). The growth (near doubling) of my followers is all thanks to SITS, or The Secret is in the Sauce group that was recommended to me by a friend and fellow blogger. If you are not already a member and looking to get your blog going, you should check them out http://www.thesitsgirls.com/
They are very friendly and extremely helpful.

So there it is. I am now a new (again) member of Facebook and a new (for the first time) member of Twitter. I will be sure to add links to add me, follow me, or whatever the correct term is for that, at a later date. Have a good night and I'll be posting the contest entry tomorrow!! Yes, I will be going through with the contest! Thanks to the SITS girls (and Lynette who sent me there) I believe I have enough people interested in this to go ahead with it. I will work out all the specifics and post a blog about it tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who has began following me and for your interest in my contest!

Contest? Of sorts...

Ok, I keep seeing and hearing about all these giveaways and contests on other people's blogs. So I'm thinking to myself, I love contests (having them, not being in them cause I never win anything usually). How am I going to have a contest when I have only just started this blog, and I don't have the followers and the resources to get the 'free items' to give away. So I had this idea, I can't afford to buy anything to give away so what if I made something. Actually, it would be more like altering something. Some of my few readers are good friends of mine and are familiar with my love of altering photos. I can change a photo a little or a lot depending on how I feel it needs to be changed. for instance, something as simple as making a B&W photo out of a color photo and re-entering one accent color for punch.

Or do a lot of color saturation and other techniques to turn a regular fairy into a bright and intense fairy.

Or how about introducing the main subject onto a different background.

and another example...

I have also had some success in the past with making old photos that had turned red, if not totally original color, at least less red and with some color replaced. I can also remove simple unwanted objects from the original background, like the window blinds from this one.

Sorry, I did not keep the original image on this one.

So here's the deal... I need to know if anyone would be interested in something like this as a giveaway contest. Basically I would have you post a comment to enter, telling me what photo you want 'altered' and how. After a length of time I will pick a winner and alter thier photo how they wish (or to the best of my ability). Catches...of course there is a catch. The image needs to be digital to start with, as large as possible. And I will return the altered image to you as a digital file. You will have the opportunity to print as many as you want, the cost will be your responsibility. To make sure there is enough interest, I would like to see at least 10 different people comment that they are interested. So those of you who read my blog already, if you like the idea, post a link about this on your blog.

Thanks for reading!!