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Friday, 31 January 2014

Neutral Collage

Today I'm submitting a card for a new-to-me challenge called Mod Squad Challenge.  I loved the Mod Squad TV show when I was a kid, so how could I not enter this challenge :)

(In the interests of not appearing too old, I would like to point out that in New Zealand, we got TV shows years after they screened in the US.... LOL)

The challenge is to find a designer that you like and case one of their cards.  I chose Jen Mitchell, whose stamping style I really admire.  Finding a card to case involved a pleasant visit to her blog, where I found this card from November last year.

I decided to case the colors and the collage style of Jen's card.  My card is quite a bit different in layout but I hope you can see where the inspiration came from:

This is a one-layer card and uses many stamps from Stampers Anonymous and Hampton Art Stamps.  I masked off an area of my card base and randomly stamped images using Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand and Crumb Cake ink.  The sentiment is a Penny Black stamp and was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

I stamped a star in Crumb Cake and cut it out before lightly sponging the edges.  I thought I'd randomly placed some Candy Dots, but looking at the photo, I can see I ended up with a near perfect triangle :)

The inside was finished in a similar manner:

Thanks for looking.  Go check out the new challenge.  It looks like it's going to be fun.

Products used:

Stamps:  Stampers Anonymous, Hampton Art Stamps, Collections, Penny Black, Seeing Stars (SU)
Ink:  Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake, Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Neutrals Candy Dots

Thursday, 30 January 2014

For my second card today, I've combined challenges from CAS(E) This Sketch, CASology and Colour Me to come up with this card.

The Colour Me challenge is 5 colors of our choice so I went with three different shades of purple, black and white.  The sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch is so versatile that this is my second go at it this week :)

I used various foliage images and, after masking off the bottom of the panel, I stamped in several generations using Wisteria Wonder and Elegant Eggplant from SU and Dusty Concord Distress ink.  I then stamped the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and did some paper piercing.  To cover the masked edge, I placed a tiny strip of Concord Crush cardstock.  I was going to snip off the overhang, but I decided I quite liked it, so it stayed!

The little butterfly was stamped in black and lightly colored with Copic markers.  Some Dazzling Details gave it a bit of bling.

The inside is very simple, using a stamped die cut that I decided not to use on the front.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Turning a New Leaf, Larger than Life, Communique Curves (PTI), Papillon Potpourri (SU)
Ink:  Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant (SU), Dusty Concord (Ranger), Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Concord Crush
Accessories:  Paper Piercing Essentials Kit, Larger Than Life die, small butterfly punch

Edited to Add:  This card got an Honorable Mention at Colour Me.

Up, Up and Away

Hi and welcome to another Freshly Made Sketch challenge.  This week, it's Linda Callahan's sketch we're working with and it's a fun one.

I had several ideas for this sketch but ended up going with a hot air balloon and cloud theme.

For this card, I went with a fresh aqua, red and white color scheme.  I created cut files for my images using my Silhouette then after cutting them out, I stamped the images and colored with Copics.  The sentiment is from a new-to-me set called Laurels by Avery Elle.  I just love the font!  The curved bottom is also from a new-to-me die from Spellbinders.

I hope you've checked out the rest of the Design Team's cards.  They're fantastic!

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Avery Elle, CTMH
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Real Red
Accessories:  Cloudy Day EF, square nesties, curved borders nesties, white baker's twine, copic markers

Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Love Tag

I'm off work this week as my boys go back to school next week after the long summer holiday and there's lots to get sorted before then.  Anyway, the upside is that I get more stamping time and get to play along in some challenges I don't usually get time for.

This card is for The Paper Players sketch challenge and the inspiration photo at Just Us Girls.

This card is all SU apart from the tag which I cut with my Silhouette.  The card base is embossed with the Pretty Prints EF.  I cut into some retired DSP called More Amore for the heart DSP and the laser cut heart.

The sentiment on the heart is white-embossed.  The music DSP is from Modern Medley.  With the tag open, this is what you see:

Pool Party and Real Red hearts were white-embossed then cut with the Hearts a Flutter framelit.  I tied some Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine around the tag and it's far enough from the red heart to not be noticeable that it's a different color.  I cut two arrows from the Label Card Thinlits and cut them to appear as if it was one arrow going through the heart.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes, Hearts a Flutter, Well-Scripted
Ink:  Basic Black, Versamark
Cardstock:  Basic Black, Crumb Cake, More Amore DSP, Modern Medley DSP, Real Red, Pool Party
Accessories:  Label Card Thinlits, Hearts a Flutter Framelits, Pretty Prints EF, White EP, Basic Pearls, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Silhouette

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

It's Day 4 of the Stenciled Class at Online Card Classes, but today's card uses one of the Day 3 techniques as I had to wait for the embossing paste to dry.

I rushed out yesterday to a local store that stocks a few random craft items and found some Kaisercraft stencils.  I bought this one, called Wheat, as well as a chevron one and a circle one.  For this card, I colored the embossing paste with a drop of More Mustard reinker before using.  I left it to dry overnight so as not to be tempted to poke it to see if it was dry :)

The card is finished simply with some retired More Mustard DSP, a sentiment from PTI and some twine.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Beautiful Butterflies (PTI)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Brights DSP
Accessories:  Wheat stencil (Kaisercraft), Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste, More Mustard reinker, American Crafts twine

Blue Ornament

This week's challenge at Merry Monday is to use an ornament or ornaments on your Christmas card.  This challenge came through at a good time, because I'd just dipped my toe into the digi stamp pool and bought a few digi stamps - one of which was an ornament.

And here's the card I made.

As well as the digi stamp, I also bought some digi paper.  In fact, I was commenting on a Merry Monday challenge entrant, Janet Kay Bailey and I saw the paper that she used and immediately went to the link in her blog and bought pretty much the whole range!  This paper has very subtle snowflakes on it.

I used a sketch from Retro Sketches from a couple of months ago, which I love and will be sure to use again.

Aren't the rest of the DT samples fantastic?  If you haven't checked them out, head on over and give the challenge a go.  It's never too early to start on your Christmas cards :)

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Signature Christmas (PTI), Squigglefly Digi Stamp
Ink:  Basic Black
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Lucky Limeade, Pacific Point, Blue Christmas (Raspberry Road Designs digi paper)
Accessories:  Copic Markers, Silhouette Cameo

Monday, 27 January 2014

For my second card today, I'm going in a different direction from my last CAS card.  The lovely Narelle challenged me to go shabby chic for challenge No. 2 at The Card Concept.  So here goes my second submission for The Card Concept's texture challenge:

I decided to play along with the challenge colors at Dynamic Duos and its dessert option of umbrella.  I was looking through my stamp catalogue looking for umbrella stamps and came across a selection of photo stamps I've had for years and years.  I thought this image of Marilyn would look suitably vintage/shabby chic.  I love this stamp from Stampsmith - I had a quick look on their website but couldn't see this image nor a brilliant one of Audrey Hepburn that I've also got.  Photo stamps aren't the easiest to stamp because they are so finely detailed but it's so worth it.  This really looks like a photo cut out of an old newspaper.

I lightly colored Marilyn's dress using a Melon Mambo marker and layered it onto a piece of Very Vanilla.  Further texture was added using some flocked paper from Mocha Morning DSP, some torn DSP from Newsprint and Brights DSP and some colored Vanilla Trim Flowers.  Some black twine and a paper clip finish off my card.

So, in summary, I couldn't find an umbrella for the dessert option at Dynamic Duos, but I really love this card anyway :)

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Stampsmith
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Crumb Cake, Melon Mambo
Cardstock:  Basic Black, Mocha Morning DSP, Brights DSP, Newsprint DSP, Very Vanilla, Xpress-it
Accessories:  American Crafts twine, paper clip, Vanilla Flower Trim, Melon Mambo Marker

Fleur de Lis

Day 3 of the stencilling course and the technique I tried first was heat embossing over embossing paste.  The first time I tried this, I was too frugal with the paste and it just looked like normal heat embossing, but the second time I applied a thicker layer and wow!  It was even cooler to watch than normal heat embossing because the paste expanded as it heated up.

I'm entering this card into this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge as well as the texture challenge at The Card Concept.  This week, I'm categorising my card as Clean & Graphic.

I used an old SU Decor Elements die and applied embossing paste over the top.  I then sprinkled on some silver EP and heat set it.  Wow, it bubbled up like liquid applique!  Here's a close up and side on shot so you can see the texture and dimension.

The sentiment is also silver embossed onto the black card base.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Birthday Bash Sentiments (PTI)
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Silver
Accessories:  Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste, SU Decor Elements Stencil

Sunday, 26 January 2014

Stencilled Circles

This is my second post for today.  If you receive notifications via email, keep scrolling to see my first post :)

My homework for Day 2 of the Online Card Class on stencilling uses Kristina's technique of tracing.  My very open stencil worked quite well for this, although my color choices now look a bit bright to me :)

I used a Simon Says Stamp stencil for this card, called Ring Cluster Stencil and some Prismacolor pencils.  I traced the circles using five different colors.  The lovely big sentiment is from a new-to-me set called Shenanigans by CASual Fridays.  The card base is Raspberry Ripple which was the closest match to the red pencil.  (I was so impatient to start my tracing that I didn't even think about matching cardstock LOL)

The inside was finished very simply.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Shenanigans (CASual Fridays)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  Raspberry Ripple, Whisper White
Accessories:  Prismacolor Pencils, American Crafts Twine, Simon Says Stamp stencil

Rock Star

I'm so glad that the Just Add Ink challenge is back up and running and I hope the DT had a great break.  They came back with a bang - a gorgeous sketch using my favorite element - circles!  I combined that challenge with the stars challenge at Friday Mashup to come up with this card.

I can see looking at the sketch that I didn't get the elements exactly right, but I hope it's close enough to pass muster.  I inked up Extreme Guitar with Versarmark then Island Indigo and clear embossed it onto some DSP from World Spectacular DSP (which has stars on it).  I quite liked the semi-distressed look of the embossing with some of the stars showing through.

The sentiment was also embossed with Island Indigo.  The embossing folder is a Tim Holtz one that I didn't even know I had...  And here's the inside:

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Seeing Stars, Extreme Guitar (SU), Rock On (PTI)
Ink:  Versamark, Island Indigo, Daffodil Delight
Cardstock:  Basic Black, Island Indigo, Whisper White, World Spectacular DSP
Accessories:  American Crafts Twine, circle nesties, Tim Holtz Dot Matrix EF, clear EP, large star punch, star brad

Saturday, 25 January 2014

Dotty Day

Today's card is my homework for Day 1 of the Online Card Class on Stencils.  But instead of using my newly-bought stencils, I ended up cutting my own with my Silhouette.  Oh, the irony!

I used the colors from Stampin' Royalty's challenge and the sketch from Nacho Average Challenges - both challenges I haven't played along with for a while.

The Silhouette file was one I bought from the online library and I think it is called Random Dots.  I just cut it out of some cardstock, although I do note that Silhouette have just introduced stencil material, which is pretty cool.

I sponged over the stencil in Tangerine Tango, Pool Party and Pear Pizzazz.  I then stamped the sentiment from Avery Elle in Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I wasn't going to put any sequins on there, but I sort of splodged the 'y' in 'day' so I had to try and cover it up LOL.

I layered that onto Sahara Sand then onto the card base.  And continuing with my resolution of finishing the insides of my cards when I make them, I did some simple stencilling on the inside as well.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Oh Happy Day (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Sahara Sand
Accessories:  Kelly Purkey Sequins, Silhouette

Edited to Add:  This card was a top pick at Stampin' Royalty and at Nacho Average Challenges.

Thursday, 23 January 2014

Wisteria Mums

This week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches is by Rita.  You can take this sketch in many directions.  The "Any Shape" layer gives you lots of freedom, so go for it!

I decided to make my "Any Shape" a bunch of flowers - mums to be precise.

I think this PTI set comes with matching dies but I didn't buy the dies at the time, so today I stamped each image in black onto white cardstock and scanned it into my Silhouette software.  I then traced and offset and printed out some blank templates.  Now I've done the initial work, they're sitting there waiting to be cut anytime I want.  Gotta love the Silhouette!

I stamped my flowers in Raspberry Ripple, Crisp Cantaloupe and, believe it or not, Perfect Plum.  The Perfect Plum flower matched Wisteria Wonder cardstock way better than Perfect Plum, so I'm thinking that maybe I need to re-ink.  I stamped a few leaves in Old Olive and the sentiment in Versafine.

The banners are cut from MFT's Fishtail Flags Stax.

The inside of this card was very simply done this time using a leftover flower in Perfect Plum.

Check out the gorgeous samples from the Design Team before having a go at this sketch.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Mum's the Word (PTI)
Ink:  Perfect Plum, Raspberry Ripple, Crisp Cantaloupe, Old Olive, Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock:  Wisteria Wonder, Old Olive, Whisper White
Accessories:  MFT Fishtail Flags Stax, Framed Tulips EF, Basic Pearls, Copic

Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Distressed Poinsettia

Hi everyone, I hope your week is starting out well.  Over at Merry Monday we have a beautiful inspiration photo for you.

I just love everything about this photo and chose to stick with the text theme on my card.

I stamped the Crumb Cake card base with both Sanded and Woodgrain background stamps before sponging the edges.  The First Edition DSP was given the same treatment without using Woodgrain and this time I distressed the edges before sponging.  I mounted this piece onto an Early Espresso layer which I also distressed.  The poinsettia uses the two smallest dies in the Spellbinder poinsettia set.  I cut three of the larger size and two of the smaller size and then used the smallest of the Basic Pearls for the center.  I randomly placed some Linen Thread behind the poinsettia for added interest.

The ribbon part of the challenge is met using some Cherry Cobbler striped grosgrain which is adhered using Sticky Strip.  I burned the edge to stop it fraying.  The rustic and distressed sentiment is from the Peaceful Pinecones set from PTI.  And continuing my resolution of finishing the insides of my cards when I make them, here's the very simple inside.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you have a great week and have time to join in the challenge.

Products used:

Stamps:  Peaceful Pinecones (PTI), Sanded, Woodgrain
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Cardstock:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, First Edition DSP, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Spellbinders Poinsettia die, Basic Pearls, Linen Thread, sponge, Cherry Cobbler Striped Grosgrain ribbon

Sunday, 19 January 2014

Starfruit Blooms

The colors at Fusion this week really appealed to me and to challenge myself I decided to add in the sketch as well.

I started my card by making the dotty base.  To make this I inked up the Dotted Background from SU in Versarmark then again in Smoky Slate before stamping it onto Whisper White and clear embossing it.  I then sponged Summer Starfruit ink all over the panel creating an emboss resist background.  The oval panel was stamped with images from Embroidered Blooms from PTI in Smoky Slate, Basic Gray and Summer Starfruit.

The fleur de lis panel started out as a piece of First Edition DSP which I painted with Gesso.  Once it was dry, I sponged over a fleur de lis stencil with Basic Gray.  This was layered onto Basic Gray and some white baker's twine was wrapped around and tied.  The flowers were die cut before being stamped with Summer Starfruit stamped off then full strength.  A Basic Gray Candy Dot was put in the centre of each flower.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Embroidered Blooms (PTI), Dotted (SU)
Ink:  Summer Starfruit, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Versamark
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Basic Gray; First Edition DSP
Accessories:  Gesso, Elegant Trio Stencils (SU), White Baker's Twine, oval nesties, Neutrals Candy Dots

Edited to Add:  This card received an Honorable Mention at Fusion.


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29 Mar 2017

Most Indian Startups Will Fail

A fascinating article by Haresh Chawla examines everything that's wrong with the Indian startup sector, and why 97% of them will fail:

  • Indians are cost-driven, not convenience-driven. We have all the time in the world to research and find the best price. We spend little and that too carefully. We hate paying for service.
  • Only 10% of Indians can pay the kind of money startups assume, but startups don't take that into account. They don't design a business model that works for the 90%.
  • Startups attract the wrong customers, the 90% chasing discounts and freebies, who leave as soon as the discounts end.
  • Startups transplant business models from the US, and VCs happily fund them, thinking they're less dangerous. Startups should, instead of cloning their role models, understand why they've done what they've done.
  • The unit economics don't work out: each transaction generates a loss to the company.
  • Startups often don't understand their competitors, like the boy in the restaurant. He's probably idle at the time of delivering an order, so it's almost zero cost for him to deliver one, unlike the startup.
  • Startups scale up, requiring more overhead to handle the scale, causing costs to spiral.
  • Sometimes, the management team doesn't even know what their unit economics are.
  • Profitability is far off, like at least 7 years for grocery startups.
  • Indian startups have too many employees. Ola has more people to run its India operations than Uber has to run operations in 50 countries! Many of these employees have high salaries and work in posh offices.
  • India's internet economy will take 7 or so years to reach where China is today.
  • When a startup fails, the entrepreneurs say they learnt a lot, but even that is often untrue. Running a company for years with negative unit economics doesn't count.
  • The winners from this whole game are often Google and Facebook, who make money from the ads the startups run.

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A Get-Out-of-Debt-FAST Plan

Inspired by Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps to follow to get out of debt, I have officially begun what he calls the ”Debt Snowball.” Basically, the idea is to put as much $$ as possible toward your debt, while keeping yourself on a very tight budget with nearly every other area of your spending (okay, so every area… I was trying to make it sound a bit softer, ha). So here’s a system that is working for me:

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As you can see, I have a lot of small envelopes that fit inside the large envelope. Each envelope is labeled with what the $$ is for, and when the $$ is gone, I can’t spend any more until the next paycheck. It is extremely helpful to have money I can actually touch instead of just swiping my debit card everywhere I go. Yeah, I tried the ”debit card budget,” but let’s be honest, it’s just a tad too easy to lose track and/or too easy to make excuses.

Total Undergraduate Debt: $13,000

Total Graduate Debt: $14,000

Projected Debt Payoff Date: December 2013

Setting goals and sticking to it: Priceless

Grad School: Top Ten

(Please keep in mind these satirical ratings are generated from the writer’s experience and are in no way binding to all graduate students.)

Top Ten Reasons Grad School = Living the Higher Education Dream

10. You get to write papers to your heart’s content… like this morning, I wrote 3 papers: a reflection regarding 8 hours of class yesterday, a response concerning the longest article ever written by man loaded with teacher jargon and acronyms, as well as a 7-page journal article critique about using Spanish-English cognates embedded within context clue instruction. (Did you have to re-read that last part? Yeah, sorry, that was a hint of teacher jargon.)

9. Make new friends! The bonding is only beginning as a headache sets in on Monday and the syllabus clearly states that by Friday (yes, 5 days from today) you will have completed a 10 page research paper, will have memorized a list of 200 acronyms (so you are one step closer to a fluency certificate in nerdy teacher language), and will have given three 10 minute presentations embellished with extensive Power Points (don’t forget the visuals and custom animations). Bonding continues as you daily cheer each other on and persevere together.

8. More student loans!! Hurray!

7. Become a better teacher and be loaded with ideas for the coming school year. I couldn’t sleep last night because I was so excited about some of the new visions I have for the 2012-2013 school year.

6. Thankful for professors who care directly about your PD and indirectly about your students. (Oops, allow me to translate: PD = Professional Development… those darn acronyms are sneaking into my every day speaking and writing skills…)

5. Resources – articles galore, education current news, websites, blogs… I feel more than updated about any possible bilingual education issue. Many thanks Education Week, NABE (translation: National Association for Bilingual Educators), and  IAMME (acronym for the Illinois Association for Multilingual Multicultural Education). And I am forever endebted to the ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) database for all my researching needs.

4. Using verbs like concerningregardingembellished, and generated, as already used in this blog post. Writing constant research papers seems to be forcing my written vocabulary choice to grow exponentially (as well as my brain cells, lol). Does using more Tier 2 words make me a nerd? (Tier 2 being teacher-speak for words beyond the basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS), but not yet approaching the cognitive academic language proficiency (CALPs) vocabulary. Um, yes, if I said that to you in person, I probably would have used the acronyms instead of the word-by-word phrases. Let me push my glasses up my nose; they seem to be slipping.)

3. Speaking of growing brain cells, mental workouts are another pro. I can’t help but compare the grad-school-required-mental-production with a kettlebells class I go to. (Not sure what kettlebells are? Check this out.) Summary: Think about a ball-shaped weight with a big handle. You swing the weight in every which direction while maintaining control with your core muscles… It never fails that I can hardly go up/down the stairs the next day — physically or mentally, lol.

2. Don’t forget that raise when I turn in a copy of my degree. Oh yes, keep your eye on the $$ goals. #1 goal now and after grad school is to pay off school debt ASAP! (oh shoot, one more acronym thrown your way… hopefully you already are familiar with that one ; )).

1. The privilege of continuing a life of learning. It most definitely is a privilege, and I’m certainly not taking it for granted!

***Follow-up on #8: Dripping with sarcasm.

***Follow-up on #4: You’re right, I don’t wear glasses. Not yet anyway. And when I do, I might just need a nerdy pair to suit this post’s nerdy confessions.


text:
The Redeemer (Harry Hole #6) by Jo Nesbo

Book Description:

Published: March 9, 2010

A 14-year old girl is raped at one of the Salvation Army summer camps. Twelve years later, at a Christmas concert in a square in Oslo, a Salvation Army soldier is executed by a man in the crowd. A press photographer has caught a suspect on one of the photos of the concert. Beate Lønn, the identification expert, is confused by how the face can change from one photo to the next. Inspector Harry Hole’s search for the faceless man takes place on the seamy side of the city, among those who seek eternal – or just momentary – redemption. And the gunman has not yet completed his mission.

Review –

Highlights of this book:

  • Story starts off with the assault and maybe murder of a 14 year old girl by a Salvation Army soldier in 1991.
  • Rakel has dumped Harry and now he has stopped drinking and taken up getting fit.
  • A junkie is found dead in a shipping container and is pronounced a suicide.
  • Harry’s boss (who protected him from the higher ups) is taken a new position in another town.
  • The new POB (a real ass) doesn’t like Harry and will look for anything to get rid of him.
  • Brothers Robert (dark) and John (light) are soldiers in the SA and Robert knew the girl from 1991.
  • Harry doesn’t believe the facts in the shipping container case and discovers that the father of the junkie killed him to save his wife from the stain the son was putting on her.
  • One of the brothers raped the 14-year-old girl in 1991 and a hit has been put on his head (I can’t tell you who ordered the hit-too much of a spoiler)
  • The hit is to be carried out by a Croatian national with the nickname The Little Redeemer.
  • Harry’s partner, Jack Halverson, is murdered.
  • Harry finds out his beloved old boss was involved in the gun smuggling.
  • The rapist brother is killed.

The story was a bit too convoluted for me but I loved it anyway.

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text:
Strip Extra ImageScaler Attribute from Plugin-Generated Code

I am using the ImageScaler plugin for WordPress on a project, and I like what it does, but it adds a non-standards-compliant attribute to images, such as:

<img class="" src="" alt="Example" width="258" height="234" imagescaler="" />

To strip imagescaler’s imagescaler attribute, add the following into your functions.php file:

add_filter('the_content', 'strip_imagescaler');
function strip_imagescaler($content) {
	$content = preg_replace('/imagescaler="(.*?)".?/s','', $content);
	return $content;

Get medium image size in WordPress

This is for everyone who’s been trying to find out how to get the medium image size of a post attachment in WordPress:

You’ve got to send the function the ID you’re trying to get the medium images for.

$medium = wp_get_attachment_image_src($picture->ID, 'medium', false);
$med_url = $medium[0];
$med_width = $medium[1];
$med_height = $medium[2];

There are a lot more things you can find out by analyzing wp-includes/gallery.php. finally updates to 2.5 — A review

A picture [of my cat] is worth a thousand words.

She's a jungle-catI’ve been waiting for to update the administration panel so that I can have galleries.  That is the main feature that I’ve been waiting for.  Now it’s here, I can finally upload pictures of my cat (and my wife 🙂 )

This will also allow simpler embedding of video, audio, et al.  I’m glad it’s finally live.

EDIT: There seem to be a few kinks still with this feature — instead of having thumbnails, the site was loading the full images. This is obviously an issue. Until then, you get a thumbnail of my cat in the grass.

Auto-tagging is good too

2.5 also recommends what tags to use based on tags you’ve used in the past. Unfortunately, that part is less responsive than I would like.  It’s still neat to have available.

Much better text editor

The previous text editor for was so terrible, every time I tried to make a word bold, it added some round-about Safari-specific hack ( or something like that).  Now it uses the proper code (strong), and I’m quite grateful. Now, I can actually write posts online, instead of writing them in Dreamweaver and then pasting the code in to WordPress. Very much improved.

The text editor still does not create paragraphs when you view the HTML code; it displays paragraphs as line breaks.  This is frustrating, because in the past it often lost all formatting.  At least in this iteration, switching views between Visual and HTML keeps the formatting intact.

Very pleased with this update

The editor is a LOT more functional, the gallery is great, and well, what can I say?  It’s a great success.

Just wondering: who would want to use

Before this update, WordPress was just VERY superior to Blogger.  Now it’s outright in a league of it’s own.  I used blogger when it came out because, well, it was the originator of simple blogging.  But man, it’s really outdated.

Blogger is owned by Google, so you think it would be cutting edge, but every time I try to work with it, I end up hitting myself over the head.  What advantages does Blogger have, if any?


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HMJ: Exploring/Colonizing Canada

In our lives this week…

Life has been flying by here. We do cross country ski team here in Alaska, so that is twice a week. On top of that we have had several activities with both military and church groups. Finally, 2x a week for occupational therapy. So I have hardly had a chance to put this post together for final publication. Did ya miss me? 😉 Hahahaha.

We have had a full week of snow falling. Woohoo! I know some of you are tired of all the snow that was dumped on you this past week, but we just can’t get enough of it.

We have a mama moose and her twins who traipse through our yard with regularity now. New rule: when stepping outside, scan the yard. Even my hubby does it in the morning when it is still dark. Moose are VERY protective of their young!! You can turn down the volume and avoid listening to our silly commentary 😉

In homeschool this week…

We have been studying the 13 Colonies in school. From the failed attempt at Roanoke to the settling of Pennsylvania as a private land grant from King Charles II, we have studied America’s Colonization. This has been such a fascinating period of history. Many different groups Colonizing for many different reasons.

We also began our study of composers with Johann Sebastian Bach. Having his music playing behind our schooling has been pretty relaxing and fun.

Books we read:

  • King Philip’s War
    • This was a Kindle book for $4.95
    • Lovely and easy to read historic book filled with facts about the war
  • This Country of Ours
    • This book is amazing, even if I have promoted it before, I will do so again 😉
    • The book contains small chapters with easy to read, conversational bios focused on the Colonization of our country!!!
    • It was only $.99 on the Kindle
  • The Courage of Sarah Noble
    • Kay’s Little Korner

    • The Nobles head into the uknown of our country to pioneer
    • Sarah befriends the Natives in her wilderness community
    • This book was $4.27 on the Kindle
  • The Picture Book of Patrick Henry
    • from the library
  • The Illustrated Lives of Founding Fathers
    • this was free to borrow for Prime members

    The videos we watched this week:

    Links to share:

    We are also hosting our very first Flat Stanley. We were introduced to this project by Jessy at Our Side of the Mountain. Our kids jumped into the project with both feet and we take Sam everywhere we go. The first week here, Sam got to see moose outside my husband’s work and in our very own yard. If you haven’t heard of the Flat Stanley books and the project, you should definitely check them out!! He has been here for a few weeks now, and after getting a very cool surprise into the ‘scrapbook’ this little guy will be one his way back home 🙂

    Sam arrived

    Noah thinks we got him a doll!!!
    Sam rests high above toddler reach 😉
    Sam saw a moose in our yard!

    We are cooking…

     I realized a few months ago that I hadn’t tried any new recipes in a very long time! So I chose for this month not to repeat a cooked meal for 30 days. This does not include left over night, because a crew this size must do leftovers or the grocery budget would be insanely high 😦 I had fun with it, pinned my favorites. Here they are:

      Links to share…

    I am still promoting the free, online typing curriculum Typing Club! It is still free and I explain why I love the program in a post dedicated to Typing Club for homeschool.

    I also was able to realize a lifelong dream from my childhood….I got to see the start of the Iditarod Dog Sled Race!! You can read about that if you click on the link. Alaskans sure know how to ‘tailgate’ on a frozen lake!!!

    I am praying for…

    A dear friend of mine, Sarah, who miscarried her 5th baby in her 5th month. There are times I really hate being so far away from my friends 😦

      Linking in with:

      2 thoughts on “HMJ: Exploring/Colonizing Canada

      1. We enjoyed the Moose video this morning! Wow, Danny’s voice has gotten deep! The kids were fascinated. Jack wants to know if you ever see the Alaska State Troopers. He LOVES that show. 😉

        1. Tell Jack that we do actually know a Trooper, have had them over for supper and gone sledding together. I will try to get a pic of him in uniform for him asap 🙂

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Newborn Turtle Photo Prop (Free Pattern Review)

One of the other projects that I am working on is a gift for my niece who should be born any day.  My sister loves turtles, so I wanted to surprise her with a turtle photo prop for their newborn photo shoot.  I have finished the shell part of this project, but I am not using the hat pattern that goes with it.

I looked at several patterns Ravelry and elsewhere.  I decided to use the Turtle Love    pattern on Stitch11.   The pattern is simple, but the finished project is gorgeous!  I was able to finish the project quickly, which is important to someone with very limited crocheting time.

The pattern consists of directions for making a pentagon motif using two colors.  I used Snuggly Wuggly in Silly Sprite for the inside color and Snuggly Wuggly Cool Baby for the outside color.

You then stitch the motifs together with a third color.  I used Bernat Baby Softee in Lemon.

The pattern was originally made for a preemie, but states that it is for newborn or preemie.  I was going to use Loops & Threads Snuggly Wuggly and Bernat Softee Baby, both of which are DK yarns, and I was making it for a baby who was full term.  Since I crochet super tight, I decided that I would need to modify the pattern and hook up in order to get a finished project that would be usable for a human baby.

The pattern calls for a G hook, so I would normally use an I, but since I was striving for a bigger size, I used a size K.  I also used DC instead of HDC, but that was due to personal preference.

The first round calls for 8 hdc in a magic circle, but I used 10.  I could not get 8 to work into a pentagon in the round 2, but 10 worked perfectly.  The only other changes I made, were that I used a slip stitch to join the pentagons instead of a single crochet, and I did a DC border around the entire shell.  These were also for personal preference, because I wanted less height on the joining stitches, but I wanted the edging to be thicker.

I will definitely use this pattern again in the future.  The finished product is beautiful, and I enjoyed making it.  I can’t wait to see some photos of my little niece in it!

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This art print displays sharp, vivid images with a high degree of color accuracy. A member of the versatile family of art prints, this high-quality reproduction represents the best of both worlds: quality and affordability. Art prints are created on paper similar to that of a postcard or greeting card using a digital or offset lithography press.
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Let’s face the facts.
We have a litter problem.

Our Sportsman’s Paradise is covered in cigarette butts, cans, bottles and plastic bags. The good news? We’re here to help, but we can’t do it alone. Litter doesn’t just make our neighborhoods look bad, it’s destroying our wildlife and environment. So we need everyone’s help if we want to preserve Louisiana’s natural beauty.

What is litter?

Litter can be many things; from cigarette butts, bottles, bags and cans to gum, banana peels and apple cores. These are all considered litter if disposed of improperly. Even biodegradable items can still be harmful to the environment.

Litter is harmful.

Our wildlife is in danger and habitats are being destroyed. Birds and marine life often become entangled in fishing line or consume cigarette butts.

Litter is costly.

In Louisiana, an estimated $40 million in taxpayer dollars are spent each year on litter removal, abatement, education and enforcement. It costs $11.5 billion every year to clean up litter in the U.S.

Litter is illegal.

The penalties for littering in Louisiana range from $150 to $10,000 and include the possibility of community service, a one-year driver’s license suspension and even 30 days of jail time.

Litter is preventable.

81% of litter is intentional. Motorists and pedestrians generate 70% of all roadside litter, and 16% comes from trucks with improperly covered loads. The overwhelming majority of litter in parks and playgrounds —98.5%—is attributable to pedestrians.


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Sunday Selfie with a guest!

No, we don’t have more new pets to show off. Our Guest this week is an unknown shop kitty. Mom saw him in the window in the office next to her bank and took a picture of him. But he was shy because when she approached the window he ran away. But he is a pretty kitty anyway!0305

Here’s PeggySue showing a nice profile selfie.0305a

And here I am – with airplane ears, no less! I’m perturbed because mom just got through fussing at me for trying to play with Mable & Matilda. As if! I wasn’t going to hurt them! Bad momma for not trusting me!0305b

catonmyhead2-200x300 Sunday Selfies sponsored by the Kitties Blue from The Cat on my Head!!!

20 thoughts on “Sunday Selfie with a guest!

  1. Well maybe your Mom just thinks you all staring at “the girls” in the cage upsets them a bit. You’ll know if they get too upset because they will lose a lot of their feathers. It takes time for birds to get to TRUST kitties!!

    Love, Angel Sam and Ted

    Liked by 1 person

  2. What a lovely guest. Thanks for sharing. Toby, sometimes those ears are necessary. Beautiful profile, PeggySue. Thanks for hopping. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo and Cooper Murphy

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I think that’s a cute selfie with those airplane ears, Toby. I’m sure you didn’t want to hurt that kitty🙊 We love Peggy Sue’s and the stranger’s selfies too🖒 Pawkisses for a happy day☺❤

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Kripalu Recipe: Pecan Wild Rice Pilaf

This pilaf recipe features garlic, rosemary, and thyme, herbs that help cool the fires of inflammation in the body. Celery is beneficial for lowering blood pressure and detoxifying the body.

Serves 4 with leftovers for lunch the next day (it’s great cold!).

1½ cups brown basmati rice
½ cup wild rice
4 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small carrot, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
⅓ cup roasted pecans, chopped
¾ cup dried apricots
Salt and pepper
Parsley, chopped

Rinse rice and place in a rice cooker (if you have one) or in a saucepan. Cover with water and turn on rice cooker or, if using a pan, bring to boil, turn down to low, cover, and simmer until done (about 15 minutes). In the meantime, heat a sauté pan and add olive oil, then the carrot, celery, and garlic. Sauté until carrots are soft and add fresh herbs, diced apricot, salt, and pepper. When the rice is done, add the vegetables and herbs and combine well, then gently mix in pecans and parsley.


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Another EdCampOmaha Post

Reading through each of the EdCampOmaha posts and thinking about my own, I felt like my contribution would simply be another summary of the day or a rant about its amazingness and my frustration with the fact that more people don’t come/don’t know about it. So I have avoided this post for five days now. Thankfully Karl Lindgren-Streicher, a fellow Edcamp Foundation Partner Program Committee member and EdcampSFBay organizer, posted a friend’s Action Research survey all about Edcamps. As a recent graduate of a program that required an Action Research Project, I was inclined to help this person out by taking the survey. Little did I know that it would also make me finally reflect on my recent Edcamp experiences, both as an attendee and a co-organizer.

Overall, Edcamps support my role as an educator by allowing me to be selfish in my own learning. I can select sessions that interest me or have conversations about something in which I know nothing, but have always been curious. I am not required to be there or told what to learn. It is my choice. As an educator, this is liberating because the overwhelming majority of PD is determined by others.

With every Edcamp that I attend, I take away something new. Conversations can lead me to look at challenges with new perspective, app smackdowns can provide a wealth of new apps to try and apply, idea generation can lead to new solutions, and networking can connect me with other passionate educators from nearby states. Just this past weekend at EdCampOmaha, I was able to connect with educators from my own state (Nebraska), Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado and gain some support, ideas, and even evidence of things to take back to the Nebraska Department of Education as we move forward with our social media policy and guidelines. Working for a government agency can be even more limiting than a school district, which is why this policy to become present on social media is so important.

Edcamps are my happy place where I can dream big, learn from others, have deep conversations with passionate educators, be challenged to make a change, and simply feel empowered to DO something.

Now my challenge to you: find the nearest Edcamp…and GO!

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Las Vegas Sun

May 23, 2017

Currently: 100° — Complete forecast

Windy 25 Memorial 5K

This 5K race will honor fallen service members and raise funds to help the families they leave behind. This event will memorialize fallen service members and raise funds
to help their families through the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS).

Anyone can support TAPS and the Windy25 Memorial 5K. You can sign up to run or walk on March 26 or donate at Windy25

When: Saturday, March 26, 2011

Where: Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, 3708 S. Las Vegas Blvd. , Las Vegas

Cost: Free - $2000

Age limit: All ages

Categories: Activities | Fitness, Fundraisers, Activities | Support Group, Community, Las Vegas, The Strip

Event posted March 15, 2011
Last updated March 15, 2011

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Summer is coming!!

This weekend is the Nantucket Wine Festival, which for me, marks the beginning of summer. Here are a few summery pictures to get everyone in the mood…

Nantucket corner

A CT vineyard

The future husband and our beach on Nantucket

Some of the magnum damage we do at wine festivals…

Nantucket flowers

Looking forward to the wine fest this year! Our good friends are coming with us and we rented a house about a mile from Nantucket town center. We’re going to enjoy the island on Saturday and enjoy some amazing wine and food on Sunday! The couple is my fiance’s best friend from high school, Ed, and his wife Terri, who incidentally is now one of my bridesmaids for my wedding next April! She has proven to be extremely helpful as a married opinion in the bridal party 🙂

Surveys are so 1998. I love them.

Here’s a survey I completed…I love surveys. Originally found on

1) What did you eat for breakfast?

I had an Atkins Milk Chocolate Delight protein shake. YUM.

2) How much water do you drink each day?

Four-five 2o oz. bottles, plus coffee and shakes…probably >100 ounces per day. More if I work out.

3) What is your current favorite workout?

Nike Training Club app. Need I say more.

4) How many calories do you eat each day?

Will refrain from posting, I think this contributes to comparisons that shouldn’t be made between metabolisms/people/habits/lifestyles.

5) What are your favorite healthy snacks?

String cheese, hummus, greek yogurt, protein bars

6) What do you usually eat for lunch?

Usually another protein shake and some form of dairy- I’m really mindful of calcium and Vit D

7) What is your favorite body part to train?

Most recently, I love plank rows, so  I suppose that’s back and arms combined. Plank rows are SO HARD, it’s wonderful. I do them in the cold, quiet basement of my gym and feel powerful.

8) What is your least favorite body part to train?

I am not a fan of triceps training because it always makes my elbows pop. I have corrected my form a thousand times and my elbows still pop. Suggestions on that are welcome.

9) What are you favorite bad food cravings?

Raw chocolate chip cookie dough and salty crispy french fries.

10) Do you take vitamins or supplements?

Yes, I take calcium and Vit D every day and when I remember, I take a women’s multi as well.

11) How often do you eat out?

Around 1-2 times per week, but I do make an effort to treat this as a normal occurrence and not order whatever I want.

12) Do you eat fast food?

Do birds fly?

13) Who is your biggest supporter?

My running shoes. Oh wait…ok, my fiance and my family.

14) Do you have a gym membership?

Yep, pretty addicted to the gym. It energizes me.

15) How many hours of sleep do you get each night?

7.5  (11pm-6:30 am)

16) Do you have a “cheat day”?

No…I’m kind of more of a everything in moderation person.

17) Do you drink alcohol?

Only on days that end in “y”. Just kidding. Kind of.

18) Do you have a workout buddy?

This is something that I find difficult to have because my workouts are zen time for me, so every time I’ve worked out with a friend I’ve ended up staying and working out by myself after to get the same feeling of zen.

Currently current:

In 2012 so far, I have read:

1)Long Road Home by Suk-Young Kim a book about a North Korean escapee

2)Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden- another North Korea escape book

3) The Steve Jobs book

4)My Fair Wedding by David Tutera…for some wedding flower inspiration

…and currently reading : Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. So GOOD.

Other things I’m loving:

My new Polar FT40 heart rate monitor. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

My new water bottle. Lame I know but all of a sudden I drink 100 ounces of water a day instead of like…20.

Nike Training Club app on iPhone. Hurts so good.

Hotel bars. Just went to the Mandarin Oriental bar on Saturday…hotel bars have a different kind of energy that just give you a new perspective on your own city.

Other recomendations people may have (books or things to love??)

Not very 2012 but all relationships could benefit from this a little. (My feminist friends will murder me for this but…if it works it works.)

Picture stolen from Maeve!

Yoga for Catholics

I recently listened to a podcast about yoga and whether it is appropriate for Catholics to practice yoga. I hadn’t considered this as a point of discussion before. I have taken many a yoga class (not for some years time) but I never considered that this might be something controversial for Catholics. So when recently, I was listening to Catholic Stuff You Should Know  ( where they discussed that yoga may in fact be inappropriate for Catholics to practice. As Hindus consider yoga as a way to spirituality, Catholics practicing yoga are then at risk of becoming enmeshed in a religion which is not their own. Notably, the podcast noted the most concerning aspect of this as the idea that yoga constructs God as an “energy” and that yoga brings you closer to that energy, while Catholics believe in the Holy Trinity and God as a concrete being (hence the belief in transubstantiation).

I have mixed feelings about this. I don’t think that taking a yoga class is anti-Catholic as yoga has evolved as an exercise form in the US, but Catholics should be somewhat cognizant of the messages they are picking up. They suggested remaining silent during the chanting and separating oneself from the visualization of “energy” during practice.

I feel comfortable speaking about this topic because I am Catholic and my fiance is Hindu, and we were able to talk this out for quite some time. When we reached the point of the idea of God as an energy vs. God as a person, he admitted that those two were fundamentally opposed and it was certainly a thinking point.

Anyone reading, feel free to weigh in on this idea.

A post for the ages

This year I am not making resolutions. The word resolution smacks of commercial profit; Target puts “alli” and exercise clothing ads on their homepage, gyms email promotions daily, magazines scream “New Year, New You!” in whatever typeface will look as different as possible from last year’s identical headline. People resolve to exercise more, save more, do more, relax more…people want MORE. At least, the media is telling us to resolve for “more”, whatever that means, so every year, we do.

I want 2012 to be the year of less. Less shopping. Less talking. Less traveling. Less eating out. Less drinking. Less wishing, more (there’s that word again, can’t get away from it!) doing. 2012 will be the year of spiritual and intellectual fulfillment and resistance to vices. Since “more” can’t be avoided:

More reading of literature, less reading of blogs.

I will learn something new pertaining to my job (medicine) every day.

More churchgoing, less sleeping in.

I will find a job that is in line with my ethics, even if it means I have to work longer hours and work harder during those hours.

I will gain inspiration from leaders of our past rather than those tainted by the values of today.

I will return to my high school self; my inquisitive, well-read, Montaigne and Thomas Mann quoting materialism hating self.

My runs will last until my thoughts are organized, not until I have hit my desired mileage. Whichever comes first.

I will work hard to decrease the number of items I own ((and keep it that way). Read: we will not register for our wedding.

I will hike more and elliptical less.

The year of less will end up being the year of more; of this I am certain.

Requisite New Yearsish slightly introspective post…

I don’t really make New Year’s resolutions but I do make sort of monthly personal challenges. I also find doing things exactly by the month isn’t quite me, so just starting the day I think of it usually works for me. So, as of 12/27/2011, I’d like to amp up my workouts. I won’t get into the nitty gritty, but let’s say that’s what I want to do.

I’d also like to amp up my career. I won’t write much more about that but it’s fairly obvious what that entails.

Amp up my savings for my wedding. yeah.

Amp up my cooking at home rather than dining out!


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How to Survive an Art Critique

September 24, 2009

art-critiqueIn art school, the most stressful part of any class was always the critique. This was when you put the results of your hard work up in front of everyone, explained what you had done, and waited for the criticisms – ahem, feedback – to come rolling in. This was when you put it all on the line and found out whether anyone else thought what you were doing was valid or not.

You may not be in art school, but life is full of times when you need to put yourself out there for other people’s judgements. Whether it’s an informal critique through a gallery, an artist talk or exhibition, an open studio, or just your friends coming to your house, chances are you’ve been in a position where other people have seen your work and have had something to say about it.

Even if you are perfectly happy with what you’re doing and don’t really care what others think of it, it can be hurtful to hear negative comments. If you’re already unsure or a little insecure, it can be downright damaging. Heck, even the positive comments can be baffling , leaving you to wonder, “is that really how people see my work?”

As an artist, you’ll constantly be the recipient of comments, criticisms and general feedback about your art. You need to learn how to deal with these without letting it effect you too much. Here are some strategies to help you survive a critique.

Remember Where They’re Coming From

 No matter how objective a person tries to be, their own beliefs, likes and dislikes, and experiences will colour any comments they make about your art. Other artists especially can tend to give advice that encourages you to work like they do. This isn’t something they do on purpose, it’s just that they are coming from a place that’s familiar to them. I am more likely to critique the formal qualities of an artwork because that is what I work with myself.

Take it With a Grain (or a Shakerful) of Salt

 People can only give their opinion. There is no right or wrong. Even if the one giving advice is a respected artist, your professor, or a gallery curator, that doesn’t mean that they are the definitive voice on the subject. Their opinion may be slightly more educated than others’, but it’s still an opinion at the end of the day. Don’t take any critique as gospel. You need to weigh the advice and use what you can.

Ask Yourself, “Is it Relevant”

 You need to examine any advice you’re given and determine whether or not it relates to your art practice. If you’re getting critiques that seem to focus on completely different issues than what you’re interested in, it may mean that your “message” is somehow being diluted by something that you’ve overlooked.

I experienced this when I was at school and started painting tools on doors. I painted tools because of their relationship to construction, but I really only thought of them as shapes in a composition. In my critiques, I got all kinds of feedback about the connotations of the tools and what that might mean. If you think the feedback you get has nothing to do with your work, you need to figure out what to do to get more focused. I ended up doing away with the tools altogether and just painting rectangles!

Remember it for Later

Another strategy is to file away criticism for later. Often, it’s difficult to take it all in at once. It’s easier to mull it over when you get the chance and sift through to find what you can use. Often, the feedback you get isn’t relevant now, but it might be relevant later in your career. I still go over my critiques in my head, several years after the fact, to see if there’s anything new that I can take from them. Ideas that seemed completely off the wall at the time might suddenly be very intriguing!

Don’t Take it Personally

If you have a particularly bad critique, or lots of negative feedback, try not to take it personally. Most often, people are only trying to help you, in their own way (which isn’t always helpful, of course, but it’s the thought that counts!). Sometimes, it seems like people go out of their way to be mean and nasty. In those cases, you still need to remember that it’s not about you! It’s about those people and their insecurity and their issues. You’ll need to develop a hard shell, but just remember, it’s something that we all have to deal with!

I hate to say it, but this goes for positive feedback too! Enjoy it because you deserve it, but try not to let it go to your head! At the end of the day, it’s still just one person’s opinion, and it could make the negativity that much harder to take. I wish someone had told me this in high school! All throughout high school I got awesome grades in art; I was one of the top students. I went on to university and suddenly I was surrounded by all the other people who were top students in their schools. It was a hard adjustment, as was my first C+!

Is it True?

This is where you really need to be honest with yourself. Don’t brush off every negative comment and think that everyone else is just too blind to see your true talent. Take a good hard look at yourself and ask yourself, “is it true?” And if it is, suck it up! Don’t wallow in it! Figure out what you need to do to fix it and do it! It won’t be easy, but it’s necessary. If you continuously disregard criticism, you will never grow and reach your full potential!

As for the strange comments…

I’ve gotten a lot of strange comments on my work. Not bad ones, but ones that made me think “what the heck?” People also seem to like giving really weird suggestions. I can’t tell you how many times people have told me that my abstract paintings should spin. To me, the idea is absolutely absurd; I couldn’t think of anything I’d want to do less than that! But that’s what they see, and at the end of the day I’m just grateful that something about my work moved them enough to think beyond what was in front of their eyes. My advice: laugh it off and don’t worry about it!

There you have it, my guide to surviving a critique! What strategies do you use?

From → Art General

  1. may I congratulate you on highlighting this subject,it will be comforting to the young art students intending to make art a career.As a stonecarver/sculptor,I seldom recieve criticism for my work,and if I did,I would not bat an eyelid,I doubt the critic would have the required knowledge or experience of the natural stone working techniques to pass any viable comment,allthough we are open to honest comments,by people in the know.

    • Hi David! Stone carving is something I know absolutely nothing about. Well, that’s not true, I did carve a bit of soapstone once, but that’s about it! I’m amazed at how sculptors like you can envision a 3D form and create it out of a lump of rock. I wouldn’t even know where to begin! Thanks for stopping by and adding your voice to this discussion, I hope you come back soon!

  2. Miranda, first let me congratulate you on another wonderful post with a lot of valuable information. I think you have hit the nail directly on the head with great advice to those of us who are very sensitive. It is difficult to contend with super negative people and in some cases just those who know of no other way to try to elevate themselves. It is often said everyone is the critic and boy is that true!

    One bit I would like to add, if you do not mind, is how someone sees art often depends on their personal frame of mind. While professors and professional critics are suppose to be able to put that aside, it is not always (or maybe even often) the case. Art does something to people they/we don’t often understand and that something depends on each individual’s life experiences. I know many people see my work in a very different way than I view it, but I think that comes from it touching something deep inside them. In many cases, the negatives come from them not particularly wanting to go with their feelings, and that puts them in a defensive mind frame, sometimes.

    Now this observation just might be true for abstract work, but my guess it is also true for realistic work. At least I have had viseral responses to realism.

    Wonderful Topic! Thanks Miranda!

  3. Rob permalink

    Excellent article. I seem to have a problem with my work; during critiques no one seems to have much to say at all about my work, good or bad. Does this mean the work is horrible or that its so good that it leaves people speechless?

    • Hi Rob! Thanks for stopping by. I sent you an email, but as a quick answer to your question, some pieces can just be difficult to critique. Don’t take it personally, but try to figure out a way that you can get more of a response during your critiques.

  4. I really enjoyed your article. Over the years I have come to understand as you stated so eloquently, at the end of the day it is just someone’s opinion. You can’t take it too seriously.

    I have watched judges select winners and wondered why they chose the ones that they did. And then watched them struggle to justify their critique. It can be rather humorous.

  5. Steph permalink

    Well I am no artist but I certainly got a lot out of your article! I am now in my 5th year of architecture school and ‘crits’ don’t seem to get any easier as time goes by. I find though, when I’m presenting as long as I can justify the process I took, or explain how it fit in with the original concept most people don’t tend to say as many negative things about it and are more constructive about the work.

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I found this article from Politifact, a segment of the St. Petersburg Times. It’s called Story of Banned Books is Murky, and it has no author or date.

Politifact did its own investigation into the story. It led to some suprising conclusions, too! Politifact interviewed Paul Stuart, the author of the authoritative Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman article .

This is what he had to say:

But the Frontiersman reporter who wrote that article in 1996 now says Emmons told him Palin did mention three books that she wanted removed from the shelves.

Paul Stuart is semiretired, though he still occasionally contributes articles to a weekly paper, the Mountain Ear, in Conway, N.H., where he lives.

Stuart told PolitiFact that in a conversation with Emmons after his article ran, she listed three titles. He said he could recall only two, and initially said they were I Told My Parents I’m Gay and I Asked My Sister. We looked for these titles; they don’t appear to exist.

“Mary Ellen told me that Palin asked her directly to remove these books from the shelves,” Stuart said. “She refused.”

Asked later if the first book could have been Pastor, I am Gay, a controversial book written by a pastor who lives just outside Wasilla, Stuart said that was it.

Howard Bess, author of Pastor, I am Gay and former pastor of Church of the Covenant in nearby Palmer, recalls that his book challenging Christians to re-examine their ideas about and prejudices against gays and lesbians was not well received in Wasilla when it was published in 1995 — the year before Palin was elected mayor.

Virtually every book store in Wasilla refused to sell it.

Bess said he gave two copies to the Wasilla Library, but they quickly disappeared. So he donated more copies.

The controversy over the book was part of the context of that time period, he said. “Knowing Sarah’s religious connections and the people involved, I would be surprised if my book was not one of those at issue,” Bess said. “But I don’t know that for a fact.”

“I don’t think anyone has the facts except Mary Ellen, and she ain’t talking,” Bess said.

Were titles really mentioned? The reporter’s memory is hazy, and it was 12 years ago – and there was already controversy surrounding the title at the time.

But a lot of this story does make sense, especially about the censorship of Pastor, I am Gay. Simple theft is the most common form of censorship of library materials. Books, ESPECIALLY dealing with sexuality, regularly disappear. Maybe this is the book that Palin thought might incite picketers outside of the library?

Makes you think…


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Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Aircraft Repaints, Textures and Modifications
Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-212ER New Colors ZipDive!  Download

File Description:
I use a ficticious livery of not my creation in this SIA repaint. DXT3 format textures without mip-maps to improve the best performance and quality. The aircraft model includes Maintenance Mode, where you can open the engines and look inside, deploy the ram air turbine, open the cockpit window, open the gear bay doors while on the ground, folding wings, flexing wings, full animations, dynamic shine, reflective surfaces. Base model and textures included. virtual cockpit textures not included, textures contain reflex, dirty and shine effects.

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02 April 2011 – from Ali

Like the stories of R.K. Narayan (and that's praise indeed) or the No. 1 Ladies' series, these deceptively simple stories of an Indian marriage bureau are entertaining and truthful. The book aims to tell us about modern India, and succeeds in doing so, which adds a lot of interest. Clever use of the sentence structure to explain unfamiliar terms and excellent use of Mrs Ali's English essays to explain wider concepts. Charming, but with a bite.


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Licht Years

where are you going, where have you been?

july skies

may the 4th be with you!

tomorrow is the start of the long Fourth of July weekend here in the States
we will be enjoying our local parade and fireworks
and maybe…

beach day
heading here
as the weather is supposed to be very HOT!

I’ll be taking a breather
but will return on Monday
until then
may The Fourth be with you!

44 thoughts on “celebrating

    1. soonie2 Post author

      Well, we never did make it to the beach, which is just as well. I love swimming in the ocean on a hot day but just didn’t feel like battling the crowds on the sand! We ended up heading to the Berkshires instead…and there was a nice breeze out there!

    1. soonie2 Post author

      Thanks Pat, I was just playing around with it although I’m still not happy with the way it came out. Unfortunately, I don’t have photoshop but was just using an online photo editor called Pixlr. Someday, I’ll probably break down and get Photoshop…but I need a new computer first!

      1. soonie2 Post author

        I’ve heard really good things about Lightroom. I’ll probably look into that when I finally buy a new computer!

      2. Pat

        I think you can get a free download trial for a period of time. They know you will be hooked and want to buy it. It is a lot less expensive than Photoshop.

    1. soonie2 Post author

      Yes, good advice Scott! We never actually made it to the beach but headed west to the Berkshires…but I was well equipped with hat, sunscreen, bug spray…it’s been very hot and humid here!

      1. seekraz

        I was just reading in the news about your east-coast weather last night…sounds very unpleasant…and very unhealthy, also. I hope the heat wave passes soon….

      2. soonie2 Post author

        Yes, it’s been a bit uncomfortable to say the least! I’ve only go out in short spurts. I heard that it’s supposed to break on Sunday…I can only hope! Can’t wait to open all my windows and let some fresh air in!

      1. soonie2 Post author

        WOW! You certainly did, those are magnificent images! I follow your blog but for some reason your posts have not been showing up on my reader…wonder why that is? Seems I have a lot of catching up to do now!

      2. mpejovic

        I don’t understand how WordPress does it. I subscribe to blogs by email and then never get notification until I subscribe again. Go figure!

      3. soonie2 Post author

        I try to follow only through the reader because I hate clogging up my emails…but I may have to resort to subscribing to some.

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Renew Life GasStop 60 Vcaps

Renew Life: GasStop (60 VegiCaps)

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GasSTOP is a powerful enzyme formulation combined with the gas reducing herb fennel.
GasSTOP is a powerful enzyme formulation combined with the gas reducing herb fennel. It works to quickly relieve gas and bloating associated with poor digestion of food, particularly beans/legumes, and cruciferous vegetables. When GasSTOP is taken with a meal, it works to break down food products into their smallest usable components (nutrients). This allows the body to absorb the maximum amount of nutrients from your meal. When food is effectively broken down, the overall function of the digestive system is improved, including a reduction in the amount of gas produced. GasSTOP also contains the herb fennel, which is used to quickly alleviate gas that may be present in the intestinal tract.

Stops gas and bloating.

Take two capsules as needed with meals containing foods that cause you gas or bloating.

GasSTOPEach capsule contains
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Dietary Needs

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Does not contain

GasSTOP contains no dairy, wheat, gluten, soy, corn, yeast, animal products, additives or preservatives. Renew Life does not use genetically modified ingredients. All ingredients are NON-GMO.

Do not use if pregnant, nursing, or after recent surgery. Do not exceed recommended dose. Keep out of reach of children.

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Window-Facing Dedicated Desk at Alpha Landmark
1 month min. term Prices & Fees
Qty of Desks: 1
Easy & Free, No Commitment Tours. How Tours Work
2 people favorited this space
Host at Alpha Landmark
This space is hosted by Mint Pattanan Ketthin.
Dedicated Desk - 2 Available at Alpha Landmark
5 Middlesex Avenue, Somerville, MA 02145 | Somerville
Window-Facing Dedicated Desk
Private spacious desk with locks and desktop monitor. 24/7 access and unlimited meeting room use.
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Book Online for no lease and no hassle. Save time and money when you book this space online with DASH®, an industry standard license for flexible workspace transactions.

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As area rents rise, so does this town's popularity

About Alpha Landmark in Somerville

Entrepreneurial, creative, techy vibe shared environments, with mostly open floor space and some private offices. Community and networking a big draw.
Alpha Landmark is located at Assembly Row building in Somerville, MA. We provide a professional environment for all members to meet with clients, access to fitness center, Assembly Row premium outlets and restaurants. Comparing to other co-working businesses, we are only 15 minutes drive to Boston Logan Airport and 7 minutes walk to MBTA services to downtown Boston, surrounding Cambridge area.
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Our Small Furnished Room accommodates up to 2 members. The monthly rent price of $750 is for 1 person. Each additional member costs $150. View Details
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Vancouver's Community-Driven Concert Calendar

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Event Archive - Late show: St. Paddy's Rockin' Lasses with: The EliXXXirs, T. Riley, Antiparty, Atom Atom

Sat. March 16th 2013 Railway Club (No Minors)
$10 at the door only.
Late show: St. Paddy's Rockin' Lasses with The Elixxxirs, T. Riley, Anti Party, and Atom Atom
Doors: 8:30 pm. Admission: $10
4 bands - all female leads - Get your drink and dance on - St Paddy's style!
Rock/Swing/Ska/Punk/Funk/ and a crazy mix of party!

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The EliXXXirs

It is THE ELIXXXIRS' sworn duty to get you moving faster than a prune juice smoothie. Since their start in 2005, the band has developed far beyond its original ska/reggae format, serving up an original and infectious mix of pop, rock, and punk. The Elixxxirs are a fixture on Vancouver's live scene and they regularly tour Western Canada, building a ... more info

Antiparty (Post-Genre-Core)

We smile alot. Watch our eyes. more info
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Event Archive - Touch Bass with: Lorin Bassnectar, Gatringer

Tue. December 9th 2003 Lucky Bar (No Minors)
9:00 pm
$6 advance
Presented by: Mother's Cupboard Productions
Ballistic, elastic, and luscious bass, dancefloors and booties are sure to crumble under these DJ's rumble. Advance tix at Boomtown and Whitebird. You know you waaaant it.

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Event Archive - "SHYNE": A medly of Music, Narrative and Story Telling: Shyne

Sat. January 5th 2008 Cornerstone Cafe (All Ages)
10 - 11 doors at 8
By Donation
Come and see this amazing...ly humble artist as he weaves story telling, song and narrative in a tale of hope, sorrow and sweetness on this beautiful night.

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Shyne (Roots, Truth, Fun)

Shyne lives in Victoria B.C. Come and play with live audience percussion, harmonies, singing, dansing and other fun forms of interaction; you create it! Melodic accounts of Love, Life, and a healthy sorrow form his unique sound and live performance. Here are some audience quotes... "(Shyne) speaks and sings from the heart and through his soul" "you... more info
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Event Archive - The Gatsby - Upstairs New Year 2014

Tue. December 31st 2013 The Upstairs Cabaret (No Minors)
Tickets at: http://www.ticketzone.com/event/THE-GATSBY-NYE-2014/209440
Presented by: The Upstairs Cabaret
Announcing Upstairs Cabaret's New Years Eve 2014 Party: The Gatsby!

Upstairs Cabaret's New Years Eve parties have surpassed the industry standard for the last 3 years straight. When it comes to our events, there is no better comparison than the Great Gatsby. Elaborate decorations, stunning visuals, costumes, interactive performers, champagne bar, and top-notch VIP treatment all encompass our idea of how to ring in the New Year.

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Monday - Saturday 7:00am - 6:00pm
Sunday 11:00am - 5:00pm

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General Info

we do property maintenance such as interior, exterior painting, drywall, junk and trash removal, sprinkler repair, roof repair, and plumbing, on a budget we offer low prices with high quality work

Painting sale

0.80 cent a sqft for all interior painting of empty rental units includes labor and paint.

$1.00 a sqft for all exterior painting and power washing. (not including cost of paint) Exterior paint cost 5 gallons covers around 1000sqft to 1200 sqft. cost around $120.00 to $180.00

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Monday - Sunday 6:00am - 10:00pm

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Need the best price on painting give us a call 8019283546. Whole house, basement, one room, or even one wall. We serve the entire valley and from provo to ogden. Park City to Tooele. We are a fair honest company. We don't charge an arm and a leg just to change the color of your home. We can handle all you sheetrock and drywall needs as well. We have painted and stained cabinets, floors, walls, ceilings, trim, doors, decks, stairs, stucco, and just about everything. We are experts at wallpaper removal. We paint interior and exterior. We can even give you an over the phone estimate! It's really that easy. Call me with your project and have an estimate today. We openings now and could start as early as tomorrow. We work with businesses, homeowners, renters, realtors, and investors. You won't find a lower price with professional quality. We always give special discounts in the spring and are willing to work with your budget. Call today you won't be sorry. Yes we have a ton of references. Located in Sandy! Serving the entire state of Utah.

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Search results for “Marathon”

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    ANYONE can participate. As a change of Pace - only walkers will be eligible for individual awards. EVERYONE will receive a finishers medal and t-shirt. This...
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    Loudoun Country serves as the host to this popular east coast version in the series. The race starts and finishes at Doukenie Winery, nestled into the...
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    The Richard G. Snyder YMCA Campus is holding the Drugs Kill Dreams® Race to help raise awareness of the epidemic that is plaguing our community. Our fast...
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Job Emigration – Place Blame Where It Belongs

Gary Nolan (and THE Scrappy Doo)
Gary Nolan (and THE Scrappy Doo)

This past election, Barrack Obama and the DNC-loyals were attacking Mitt Romney and other business people for shipping jobs overseas. Like most patriotic Americans, it upsets me to see jobs leave the United States as well. But was this really a fair criticism of business owners?

No FartingAs a former entrepreneur myself, let me give you an analogy. This criticism is akin to farting while sitting next to me, then getting upset when I leave because you’ve made the room smell like three-month-old milk and despair.

If we were a statist nation like former Russia, China, Cuba, etc., businesses would exist to serve the state; something many on the left seem to wish were the case here—you know, the people who supported millionaire capitalist Michael Moore by attending his movies bashing capitalism yet fail to see the hypocrisy in that?

The reason I believe this idea is so ridiculous, is because despite my requests, not one of these people can name a statist nation whose people don’t live in absolute squalor. Note that Russia’s GDP has nearly quadrupled in the last 12 years, and they’re budding ideas on capitalism are still being ironed out. So I’ll be happy to consider statism a practical system of governance for maintaining quality of life and basic human rights when a successful example arises.

In our capitalist system however, businesses are the product of a risk an entrepreneur takes to offer a good or service to the public to make a living for themselves, as opposed to working at the behest of someone else. We all know that the greater the risk, the greater possibility for reward. This carrot on a stick is what makes entrepreneurs take such a risk.

Carrot On A StickSo to explain my flatulence analogy; America has the third highest corporate tax rate  on the planet. We also have one of the most intrusive regulatory networks as well, thanks to NHTSA, OSHA, the EPA, and other federal and local legislations and regulators. Add labor unions to that, which infect businesses like a cancer feeding off the host until the Hostess dies. All these roadblocks make America a very expensive place to do business. So how is it fair to blame people who leave America when we make it such an inhospitable place to do business?

Let’s ignore all the ideology for a moment and think about this skeptically and empathetically. What are some of the issues of doing business outside the United States?:

  • There are regulatory issues of your home country and the one you’re doing business in, requiring you to hire a plethora of compliance lawyers and staff just to make sure what you are doing is even legal.
  • Language barriers exist for nations that do not have English as their primary language.
  • Shipping, tariffs, and customs expenses increase.
  • Massive expenses in building a new facility and moving operations from a U.S. based plant to a foreign one.
  • Travel expenses increase for those headquartered in the United States that have to often visit overseas facilities.
  • Loss in quality assurances due to lack of direct oversight.

These are but a few issues I can think of off the top of my head; certainly there are many more. So if all these issues exist, why even do it? Because doing it is still more profitable than doing business here in the United States. Stop and think about that for a minute—let it fester in any liberty-minded bones you have in your body. If you’re like me, it should offend you to the core.

Because we are one of the richest nations in the world, American workers are not going to work for the pennies a day that some third world nations consider a reasonable salary, so if we intend to compete in the world market, you’d like to think our legislators would make every effort to overcome our higher wage demands by keeping corporate taxes and regulations as unobtrusive as possible so we can be competitive. Greater expenses make it more expensive to the consumer. Yet, during the election, the people like Mitt Romney were vilified as heartless rich bastards for attempting to rectify this.

I propose we start calling out those who want to bash the rich, playing the hero while doing it. This pure ignorance of economics, history, and logic is offensive. Our economy depends on people with money investing in American products and workers. But why would they when we treat them like dirt, tax them to hell and back, and regulate them like a dog on a choker chain dying to run ahead of its master?

Dog Pulling ON LeashIf you’ve ever been in the middle of a productive task and had someone interrupt to “help” you, only to slow you down and make matters worse, then you should inherently understand what government does to entrepreneurship every single day.

Unless we vote for liberty minded candidates, entrepreneurs will observe the basic physics principle of taking the path of least resistance. We have no one to blame but ourselves for electing and re-electing those who are content to push them away to pass “feel-good” legislation that is a product of jealousy as opposed to evidence based hypotheses. When emotion trumps logic, we all lose.

Drop some genius on me here.

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Beaumonts a Cardinal

With dozens of teammates and family members packed into the Alumni Hall at Louisville Male High School, Kentucky's Mr. Football said the words his family was waiting to hear. Super athlete Doug Bea...

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