Dabbling in Dolls

As promised I put three Halloween keychains up. You can see them here. The fourth keychain is in its own section. I decided not to add it to the Halloweeny things. You can see that here.

Now for my bookmark experiments with Lisa's Altered Art!

Using her adorable sheets, I made some paper doll bookmarks. This first one is laminated. Her arms are static, but her legs move.






On the back is a quote from Lewis Carroll's Queen from Alice in Wonderland.
"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."


This one has moveable arms, and her legs are static. She is not laminated but coated with Modge Podge as a sealant.




She has a quote from Aesop's Fables on the back.
"No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted."


And I have some more if you'd like to see them. Please feel free to share any thoughts you have. Comments are welcome and encouraged. Thanks so much!

I just logged on to Facebook to see a friend's son died in a car accident last night. I can't even begin to imagine what she's going through right now.

It's the anniversary of her father's death as well.

RIP, Michael C. Dorman.

Crafty Things

Well, I didn't get much writing done the other night. Instead I worked on some Halloweeny keychains for the etsy shop.

The following photos aren't the greatest. I need to take some better pics of each keychain individually to use for the shop. For now, though, here's a preview.

one side:


the other side:


two more views of the same thing:
and

Click on any of the pictures to see a bigger version. Once I have taken the nice photos and am ready to post to EstellaDawn, I'll post a link.

I also made a few things with artwork from Lisa's Altered Art. I'm having fun experimenting with her stuff and will probably post some of what I made here for feedback if anyone wants to give me some. :)

What Remains Undone

When I got home Saturday after work, I'd planned to do the following:
1. have fun making keychains and ornaments
2. put some things up for sale on ebay
3. upload some things to etsy
4. revise and edit 2008 nanonovel (1st chapter)
5. work on Lesson 15 in Holly Lisle's HTTS course (one of the skipped lessons)
6. work on preplotting for a possible 2009 nanonovel (which I might just start on now & not wait until November)
7. come up with another 2009 nanonovel idea (assuming I start in on #6 above - which I really want to)
8. sift through some more clothes to add to the ever growing Goodwill bag
9. call Discover and let them know that I received my new card
10. call Verizon and finally get my sister's phone taken off my account
11. review supplies & see what needs to be reordered
12. finish a book I started in March
13. laundry
14. answer emails
15. write my Dad
and somewhere in there shopping with my mom because I promised

Instead this weekend I've
1. done my laundry
2. talked with sis
3. played with Bean
4. watched a Strawberry Shortcake movie with Bean
5. gone shopping with my mom

I'm going through emails, dumping many. I've yet to answer some. I'll write my Dad next then return to writing things. At least some of the items off the list can be checked off.

Remembering September 11th

Today's a day of rememberance in the world, and like most people, I've been thinking about how that weekend unfolded for me, where I was when I heard and how strange the world seemed for the following weeks. It was a scary time but also a time full of hope. Having been connected to others worldwide, thanks to the internet, I read and felt the outpouring of shock, grief and well wishes from many, many nationalities when I got home that Tuesday. So many countries (over 90, I think) lost their citizens September 11, 2001 on the four hijacked planes and in the World Trace Center, and the world was suddenly a much smaller place. A bit scarier. Much smaller. But hopeful in a way -- there was an opportunity for the international community to work together. Online friends and strangers sent their thoughts, prayers and hugs out into the universe, and everyone made an effort to lend a hand to a stranger, take the time to stop & listen to a neighbor.

And then there were the emergency workers, responding to the chaos, who lost their lives. People helping people, working tirelessly. They are remembered today, too.

I think most if not all of us were glued to our tv sets and our radios and our internet news sources. It was all pretty inconceivable at the time. That morning I received a call at work from my sis telling me a plane had flown into the WTC, and I immediately thought of a little biplane or a sight seeing plane. At first I thought it was an accident, maybe someone learning to fly had made a tragic miscalculation. Never did I think someone had crashed, on purpose, a passenger plane into a building where people worked. But the calls kept coming from my sis and my mom. More planes. Updates from patients who walked in. Updates from the radio station no longer playing classical music. The Towers had collapsed. We were all in a fog. I think we closed early and went home, and then once home, I watched the news reports and looked online at what the world was saying. And then there were the frantic bulletin board posts at various forums I visited. Has anyone heard from so&so? Phone calls to people in NY to make sure people were okay.

Saturday 8th I'd traveled to NY for a Farscape convention. When I checked in, I called home and immediately got the sense that something was wrong. They didn't tell me until I returned home, but my great aunt had died. We'd been told two days previously she had been hospitalized so I wasn't suprised, but now I connect her death with the days to follow. On Sunday 9th I had a fantastic time at the con and met lots of people, including a Frenchman who wasn't a part of the con - lol; many of the congoers were staying in NY after the convention was over. And I recall a Michael Jackson concert or gathering of some sort across the street at Madison Square Garden. No, I didn't go, but that's why the Frenchman was in NY. ;) On Monday 10th I hung out in NYC until the afternoon. I dutifully tried to get pics for Laura at the One Life to Live studios during that time before catching my train at Penn Station. I arrived home late, and first thing Tuesday morning, I went online to post a little "thank you" to the people I'd met at the con. When I returned home later that night, the boards were full of the confusion of 9/11, starting a few posts after mine. So now Scapers are forever tied to that memory as well.

Anyway..
911 Memorial Website
Sep. 11 Memorial & Museum

Taking Care of a Few Items on My To-Do List

Working on #59 of 101 in 1001. I originally intended that goal to be sell 10 of my things on ebay. Not simply put up 10 items for sale. And not put up others' items for sale. But here I am, selling things for my sister T. lol

I let her know that I've seen empty DVD cases for sale on ebay before, and a few weeks later she handed over three bags of DVD cases for me. (She had removed all the DVDs from the cases and is storing them elsewhere.) So up they go, slowly but surely.

I'm also uploading a few new bookmarks to EstellaDawn.

I need to write more. I had a revelation this morning regarding last year's nanonovel. I'll need to do a lot more research before continuing with its revision. I've taken on certain assumptions in the story, and if those assumptions are weak, then the story needs major rewriting to make it all work. Blah. I need to start planning for this year's nanonovel, too. :)

Longer weekends are nice for getting a few things accomplished. Don't you agree?

Is Big Foot Next? *g*

Just got home about 15 minutes ago. I thought Monday would be dreadful. Today was very, very long.

I'm still working on my spies, and I wanted to start planning for this year's NaNoWriMo. No writing for me tonight though. My eyes are sleepy so I won't get much accomplished. I just wanted to quickly point out this short little article I ran across: Chupacabra Found! I see or hear "chupacabra," and I think of The X-Files. Bees, oil, corn fields, the hantavirus, chupacabra and more .. all forever associated with X-Files. ;) Mulder would be pleased.

Oh! and Bean has enjoyed her first few days of K. :)

Must eat now.