Wouldn't You...

...love to receive this in your mailbox?Prima is having a giveaway. Click on the picture to find out more.

And Now the Rest of the Album

Do you remember this? (It was only a few hours ago.)
Here is what happened to my little friend's doodle album.
After I got on Photo Booth, I got to doodling.

I will keep you updated on this little book.

*Tear* :-(

Why is Mrs. Victory close to tears this morning? Because of this ---

What is it? Well let's go back to yesterday.

Yesterday, during a break, I was flipping through my mini art journal when one of my students saw the cover and asked me about it. I asked her if she wanted to see it and she said yes, so I opened it and explained what the different drawings were.

This morning, as I greeted my students at the door, my little friend handed me the above little book and said, "It's for all of your doodles."

This month's character trait is Caring. I think that my little friend has displayed this trait manifold.

Thank you GR.

Doodles and Such

A while back, I posted about moleskine books and how jealous I was of these creative people. I was so impressed by the things people think of.

Then one day I decided to buy a small book. It sat in its wrapping for awhile. Then I drew a simple nothing. Then it sat on a shelf calling me. Over Christmas break, I pulled it out and started drawing whatever came to mind. The book stayed hidden on a shelf for no one to see.

Today I decided that this was silly and that the only difference between those other people and me was they put their stuff on the internet. (Actually, I am still impressed with the nose guy.) Recently I have begun posting my projects as part of my journey toward living a creative life.

So here are some of the pages from my moleskine book:
I love these kids, but I am laughing now that I see the girl's legs aren't underneath her.
Same kiddos at Christmas. I think her legs are under her body this time.
This was a font my dad used to draw all the time for certificates before computers. I used to practice it as a kid.
My favorite Christmas tree. I use it for Christmas cards.
Same with my snowman

and this mitten.
Another practice with lettering
Finally, this is my first attempt at zentangling (a form or doodling.) It is on black paper with white Zig paint pen. It was so fun.
What are you focusing on right now? What makes you smile? How do you express yourself?

It's Snowing!

So we had our first snow of 2010, probably the last snow of winter 09/10. As most of you know, Central Texans do not really get to see snow that often. When it does snow, it isn't snow at all, but sleet that hits the ground and melts only to freeze over night and cause hazardous road conditions over bridges and such.

We had school today because it didn't start snowing until 7 or 8 o'clock. At 10 o'clock the Fort Hood powers that be decided that all soldiers should be released by 10:30 so the district started making automated phone calls and emails to parents asking them to please come pick up their children.

Well, at blog post time, I still have three here. We have been building geometric shapes with magnets, studying the effects of gravity (Jenga) and stretching our brains (Five Senses Trivial Pursuit) just to pass the time.
Wouldn't it be nice if there were no state tests and we could spend our time learning about these things this way all of the time. I think there should be Montessori elementary, middle schools and high schools. Children would learn what interests them and in the process learn the things they need to learn without even knowing it.
I need to move to another universe.


Please admire the view out my classroom windows (as much as a view as it is with the concrete walls.) We are enjoying our little taste of winter.





Cute story before I click Publish:
This morning, my favorite former student (he has a severe case of Asperger's and everything excites him) opened the doors for me and shouted, "Mrs. Victory, it's a winter miracle." I could hear him shouting it down the halls as I proceeded. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all be so excited about something as simple as snow.

You've Got to Be Kind

Yesterday was Kind Over Matter's Blogiversary. They took us back to their first post where they gave away a set of calling cards for their first card drop. Go on over and check them out. Their site is quite inspirational.

As a kid I loved Kurt Vonnegut. I especially like the above quote.

Oh, Sleep

My eyes are wide open.
It makes me so sad.
Three hours of sleep
Are all that I’ve had.
Why do you elude me,
Oh mischievous fellow?
You think you would show
Since I have brand new pillows.

I lie there and listen
To trains passing by
Just wishing if only
I could catch a ride
To Sleepville or Slumberland.
It would be so great
To keep my eyes closed
Til the clock strikes eight.

Dear Sleep come my way.
I’m begging you please
To be like the baby
Who rocks in the trees.
I’ll give up my vices
Like Bush’s Sweet Tea
If you would come visit
And grant me relief.
All I want from you
Is just to find sleep
.
By
Annemarie (Victory) Rodriguez
(c) 2010

The He{Art} of the Matter

This project is a play on texture. It was suggested that we use gel medium, something I had none of in my house. I am all about making do, so I just started looking for other ways to add dimension to my page.

I started with a canvas that has been covered with phone book pages. I applied gesso and attached string and little flowers to it and gessoed over that.





I got a stash of goodies from Chris a while back and decided to break some of it out. It included this doily and some flowery tissue paper.

Added a little paint and some glitter. (I just love these flowers.)

The center of this flower is dimensional paint.

It still needs some journaling, but I am done with the basic canvas.

Ask and You Shall Receive

I was on SIStv admiring some lovely pieces of work. In particular, this one:

I commented on how much I liked it, and lo and behold, I had a message from the creator LindaLoe telling me if I wanted it, she would swap with me. How exciting!

Then I began thinking, "What would I exchange with her?" I had to make something, so I started with this paper.

and this set of fluid chalk pads

to make the paper look like this.

Then took the oval from this piece of paper,

cut some flowers out of this

and used this bird that was a plain black and white stamp so I decorated it,

and put it all together for this cute little card.

I hope she likes it.

We Are the Dancers

Sitting at home recovering from minor surgery, I decided to take advantage of the quiet time to catch up on some art projects. I always start with an idea in mind, but something always changes it. I like, however, how this turned out.

I am enjoying Marit's workshop very much. I am finally doing things that I keep putting on my crafty list. It's still a very long list.


I have two more projects to do for this workshop and one more for another workshop.

Reach Out & Touch

That phrase leads some of you to start singing while others are thinking of an old AT&T commercial, I am sure.

Today, clicked on over to my clustermap (see the bottom of my page) to see where people have been visiting from. (Yes, Roban, I ended in a preposition.) It was quite an interesting read.

How did they get to my little site? It's that whole six degrees of separation thing again. At the top are my US friends from Scrapblog, SIStv and Facebook. This group also includes my Dutch and Aussie friends. Then there is the UK which most likely is Mrs. Peel, Canada-MJ, Germany-Frauke, Norway-Eva Helen. Then it gets a little hazy. Brazil has to be either Mrs Peel on vacation or people from her new Portuguese blog. After that, I am stumped. Thirteen hits from India??? How intriguing!

It is just amazing to me how knowing one person can cause a couple more people to come by. They wander in, decide it's not for them and leave again. Interesting.

What picture of the US or Americans or Texans for that matter am I giving them? It's not something that I ponder as I ramble incessantly on whatever may come to mind on any particular day.

On the other hand, have I been that off beat person on someone's blog, taking a peek only never to step virtual foot onto their site again?

Are you one of those observers, silently taking it all in? If so, say hello! I don't bite. Well, at least not lately.

A Day of Creativity & Cuteness

I have decided to focus on creativity this year in a different way...art journaling. This is something I have admired on many other people's blogs and portfolios.

My friend Marit started her first workshop - Let It Loose. The first prompt was to look out one of our windows and describe what we saw.

(click on the photo for a view of the journaling)

We have really tall grass right now.

Today was also Superbowl Sunday. Caitlin was invited to a Superbowl party at church. I have been trying to encourage her to socialize with others and to think about how she looks when she leaves the house. (She is not much on combing her hair.) Today I thought she looked really cute.
This is a little crocheted hat I bought her at a craft bazaar last year.
I am loving it.
She's going to be a teenager next month!!!!

What's In a Number???

Today, I scrolled down to the bottom of my blog to see how many visitors I day and low and behold I saw:Thanks to Peggy, it got me wondering what significance the number 8 might have. So here it goes.

According to Wikipedia:

The word for "eight" (八 Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means "prosper" or "wealth" (发 - short for "发财", Pinyin: fā). In regional dialects the words for "eight" and "fortune" are also similar, eg Cantonese "baat³" and "faat³".

There is also a visual resemblance between two digits, "88", and 囍, the "shuāng xĭ" ('double joy'), a popular decorative design composed of two stylized characters 喜 ("xĭ" meaning 'joy' or 'happiness').

So today must be a very lucky day, huh?

I thought so until I was reminded that the Beijing Olympics began on 8-8-08 which was the exact same day my father passed away.

So I have decided that numbers can hold whatever importance you want them to hold. I have decided that 8888 is good because that means I have had 8888 visitors, 8888 opportunities for me to get know others and for others to potentially get to know me.

Thanks for visiting, Visitor #8889. We will see if I can catch 10,000 roll by.

I Just Love...

...these shoes!!!!
Everyday, I get emails from GAP, Old Navy and a store called Piperlime. Everyday, I delete their emails without opening them, but I never click the button to unsubscribe. What if I might want to spend $3o0 on a pair of shoes? Yesiree, these gorgeous suede, leather lined, patent leather heeled oxfords cost $300. And there, my friends, is the rub. Even if I had $300 to throw away on shoes that will be good for only one season and not return for another 20 years, (I had shoes just like these when I was in high school) I wouldn't. So I sit and wait until a reasonable facsimile arrives in Target, Payless or even Dillard's for significantly under $100.

Until then I shall be happy to wear my teacher shoes to work.