Scintilla Project, Day 5

As usual, it’s Day Six technically, but since I work the overnight shift, it’s still Sunday to me!  On the weekends, we only get one prompt, and luckily this one isn’t too complicated:

1. What talent do you have that your usual blog readers don’t know about? Talk about a time when you
showed it to its best advantage.

Only my work colleagues know about this particular talent, because it’s limited to that venue.  Here it is: I do killer impersonations!  I don’t specifically mean to, but when I’m recounting a conversation, I always adopt the voice and mannerisms of the person who did the talking, in order to better get across how they sounded and acted.  Inevitably, the person I’m speaking to starts laughing and says, “You sound just like him/her!”

Unfortunately, this particular talent is lost on everyone outside of my workplace, because they don’t know any of the people I’m impersonating.  Having said that, I do usually get a laugh out of my husband when I imitate the way he always makes a HUGE fuss whenever I accidentally scratch him or poke him or step on his foot or what-have-you.  (“OMG, is it bleeding? Can you call an ambulance?  Make sure you catch me if I lose consciousness.”)

I adore comedians who do impressions.  Adore. Them.  One of my favorites is Kevin Pollack, whose vision of alternate Star Trek actors is get-a-hanky hilarious.  (It’s an oldie, but a goodie!)  So I’m proud of my ability to do a great impersonation, even if it’s only appreciated by a few.

Scintilla, Day 4

1. Being trapped in a confined environment can turn an ordinary experience into a powder keg. Write about a thing that happened to you while you were using transportation; anything from your first school bus ride, to a train or plane, to being in the backseat of the car on a family road trip.

Hmmm…I don’t have any “powder keg” type stories (unless you count the numerous road trips when we were kids and Dad would go nuts and start whacking around the back seat until my brother and I stopped doing whatever we were doing that was driving him nuts).

Coincidentally, though, I was just telling my niece, who at age 14 has already traveled by herself on a plane, that I did the same thing when I was 15 and visited my grandmother in Florida.  On the jet back to Iowa, I sat next to a man who, at first, apparently thought I was an adult and started flirting with me!  He did eventually figure out I was instead a very young teen (probably because when I opened my mouth, a child’s chatter came out instead of that of a grown woman), and then I’m sure he was sorry he had to talk to me the rest of the flight!

I remember being irritated because I was telling him I knew a lot about weather, because my dad was a hot-air balloon pilot.  I proudly recited the types of clouds – cumulus, nimbus, stratus, cirrus – and what each one looked like.  He said, “That’s great, but what about cumulonimbostratus?  And nimbostratocumulus?”  Yeah, I think he was just making up words to tease me, but I just looked at him dazedly, all the wind taken out of my sails.  Then he laughed at me and I instantly hated him!

Hmmph.  Not exactly a powder keg, but memorable all the same!

Scintilla Project, Day Three

Today I chose prompt #2, simply because I couldn’t think of a single instance of prompt #1 (“Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. Write about a time you taught someone a lesson you didn’t want to teach”).  Oh, I’m sure there have been some experiences like that; I just don’t remember them.  So here is prompt #2:

2. Talk about a time when you were driving and you sang in the car, all alone. Why do you remember this song and that stretch of road?

I have a 26-mile commute to work, so when I’m not listening to podcasts or audio books, I am singing!  The time I remember most vividly was embarrassing even when I think of it now.  It was 1998, and I had seen the movie Titanic several times.  Oh, what an epic adventure! The tragedy! The romance! The breathtaking sets and gorgeous costumes!  ::le sigh::

At the time, I was working evening shift, so it was after midnight as I plummeted down a two-lane country road at 60 mph.  I was singing along to “My Heart Will Go On”; my voice cracking, tears streaming down my face.  The song always brings back memories of the beautiful scene in which Jack and Rose kiss for the first time, and I always tear up at stuff like that!

So there I was, singing and sobbing ridiculously, when all of a sudden, some kind of small animal streaked out onto the road.  My heart leaped; I shrieked in surprise!  Somehow I managed to swerve, narrowly missing the creature, but it took a few seconds to get straight on the road again (and quite awhile longer for my heart to go on)!

I felt like a complete idiot.  Thank goodness there were no witnesses!

Scintilla, Day Two

The Scintilla Project is great for my poor neglected blog!  I now have to write every day, so this is a new thing.  We’ll see how it goes, but I am determined to get through the whole two weeks!

Two prompts are offered each day, and again I chose number one:

1. What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told? Why? Would you tell the truth now, if you could?

This is a toughie!  I guess it depends on how you define “big” when it comes to lies. Maybe I’ll just go with the one I feel most guilty about.

It’s funny; the first story I told occurred when  I was 20 years old. The one I’m about to tell occurred when I was 19.  I suppose things were a lot more interesting in my life back then.  But not always in a good way.

I was a very late bloomer.  I didn’t reach puberty until age 16 and had zero interest in “boys” and things of that nature for quite a long time after that.  I remember at that age being with a group of friends, goofing around out in the woods.  The only guy in the group and another girl suddenly disappeared, and after awhile we went looking for them.  What a shock it was when we did find them – in flagrante delicto! – although when I think back,  I was probably the only one who was inexperienced enough to have never seen anything like that before.

So now we fast-forward:  I’m 18 years old, still living at home – still inexperienced! – and I’ve been friends with my manager at work, who is 23, for a couple of years.  He has recently broken up with his girlfriend and things are definitely getting more friendly between us.  So, in preparation for what I know is going to eventually happen, I pick up a brochure about birth control at Planned Parenthood.  (Because parenthood was not on my list of future goals.)

Eventually my mother found the brochure in a desk drawer in my room.  Until then, I had no idea she was snooping around in there! (Wonder how long that had been going on!)  Well, she went ballistic when she found the brochure.  She knew I was getting friendly with my manager and she did NOT approve of him. (I could do better!  Why would I waste my life on HIM?!  What was I thinking?  And even worse, birth control pills do horrible things to your body!  They can even KILL you!!!)

My mother tended to be very dramatic.

So I did it.  I told a big, fat, whopping, huge, lie.

“Oh no, it’ s nothing like that.  We were given those brochures at school last year.  I forgot I even had it and I never did read it.  I have no reason to use birth control pills.”  Yada-yada…

Well, she bought it.  Hook, line and sinker.  Maybe she was so traumatized by the idea of me – OMG! – having relations! – that she was more willing to accept my lie.  I really did sell it, though.  Acted nonchalant and shrugged, the whole nine yards.  So maybe she really did believe me.  I’ll never know, since I never told her the truth and now she’s gone.

I still feel kind of guilty about that lie.  As it turned out, my mother was right.  I COULD do better, and he WAS a waste of time, and while birth control pills never killed me (LOL!), they did make me bloated and cranky sometimes.  🙂

Would I take it back if I could?  I actually wouldn’t.  We both felt better after I told the lie and there were some things I’m sure she was happier not knowing.

The Scintilla Project

Scintilla: “A tiny trace or spark of a specified quality or feeling.”

The Scintilla Project is something I looked at and considered last year, but never got around to starting.  This year I decided to participate – it’s only for two weeks, after all; even I can keep up with that kind of commitment!

Each day we are sent two story prompts.  We choose one or both and relate an experience corresponding to the theme.  Fun, right?  And I figured it couldn’t hurt to expand my blog’s focus from strictly art to more personal stories.

The project “officially” started on March 13, but since I work nights, I consider it to be March 13 until I go to bed, which will be sometime during the morning of March 14.  So while this is technically “late,” it’s right on time for my wacky schedule!

I chose the first prompt for today, which is this:

1. Tell a story about a time you got drunk before you were legally able to do so.

Immediately on reading this, I remembered a trip my family took from Iowa to California to visit my dad’s brother when I was 20 years old.  In Iowa, I had been legally able to drink for two years.  So I was surprised and disappointed to discover the drinking age in California was 21!  (What?  I thought this was a progressive state!) When my older cousin, Kathy, took me to a nightclub to go dancing, I wasn’t legally able to order anything but a soda.  What a let-down!  Kathy said, “Don’t worry; I’ll order drinks for me and you can drink them, too.”  Which was a great plan.  Except…I was normally a “light” drinker.  I liked sloe gin fizzes and strawberry daiquiris; sweet, fluffy drinks that didn’t pack much of a punch.  And normally I would never drink more than two or three of these light, fluffy drinks in an evening.  I’d never been drunk in my life!

Kathy liked whiskey sours.  So that’s what she ordered.  All night long.

At first, everything was exciting and fun.  The two of us were popular with the guys at the club and never short of dance partners.  (I’m saying so myself, but we were both pretty hot!)  All that dancing made me thirsty, though.  So I drank whiskey sours.  And pretty much nothing else.  (It didn’t help that we hadn’t eaten for a few hours.)

I felt great and was having fun!

As the evening wore on, I eventually found myself dancing with the same guy over and over again.  He was in the Navy, on shore leave, and was very friendly and easy to talk to.  He wasn’t the handsomest guy in the room, but he was a great dancer, had a fun personality and I enjoyed hanging out with him.

Eventually, my cousin said it was time we got home.  We’d been at the club for about four hours and I’d been drinking whiskey sours fairly steadily the whole time.  Of course, my new sailor friend was hopeful that I would leave with him instead!  He kept asking and I kept saying no.  I remember so clearly one part of our conversation.  Him: “But this is our only chance to be together.  After tonight, I may never see you again!”  Me: “Um…that’s pretty much the point.”

After extricating me from the clutches of the lust-struck sailor, Kathy drove us back to her parents’ house. My dad and brother were sleeping in one room and my mother and I shared another.  It was about 2:30 a.m., and the house was dark and quiet.  I still felt great!  I could have danced all night!  Ah well, there would be other opportunities.  I made my way upstairs as quietly as possible and let myself into the guest room.  My mother was in bed; I could tell she was asleep from her steady breathing.  Good; she’d never know how late we’d gotten in.  Once my eyes adjusted to the dark, I spotted my suitcase lying open on the floor.  Time to get the toothbrush and pajamas and sneak into bed!  As I bent over, the oddest feeling came over me.  To my utter surprise, I suddenly pitched head-first right into the suitcase!  What the heck?!  Lying there, disoriented and astonished, it occurred to me – I’m drunk!  I’m actually drunk!  So that’s what it’s like!  (Hmmm.  Me no likey!)

Eventually I made my way out of the suitcase and into bed.  Surprisingly, there was no hangover action; I dreaded it, but it never happened.  What a relief!  Still, falling down when you don’t expect to is not a pleasant feeling.  Although I will say that, to this day, I’m proud of myself for having fended off the amorous sailor, even though I was clearly impaired!

I wish I could say that was the first AND last time I ever got drunk, or even the last time I drank a whiskey sour.  But there was one more, very different occasion, five years later, and that really was the last time.  (But that’s another story!)

Want to share your stories with the world?  Check out the Scintilla Project!

Ranger Spring Challenge

Ah, the vagaries of the Inter-webs!  Some time ago, I had subscribed to receive email notification whenever the Ranger Ink blog was updated.  At some point, for some unknown reason, I stopped getting notifications.  I’ve signed up several times since; alas, that coveted email never arrives.  So I have to remember to keep checking for new posts, and with my brain not working as well as it should due to being on night shift, that doesn’t always happen!

So, I missed the Valentine’s Day challenge, which makes me very sad.  But now there’s a Spring challenge and all is right with the world!

The colors they chose are ones that I don’t often use together: blue, purple, yellow and green.  (Now give me some pink, and I’m all over the rest of ’em!)

I decided to make a little tag book filled with pretty papers by K&Company.  I chose Distress Inks that most closely matched the colors in the challenge: Dusty Concord, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean and Mustard Seed.

The first three colors were blended onto the tag, then I flung water droplets onto the surface to make a cool bleached-look background.  A vintage lady printed on satin fabric was layered onto Tim Holtz sheet music tissue and a layered flower was colored with Mustard Seed and enhanced with Dusty Concord.  Vintage Photo Distress Stickles made pretty flourish additions,  along with round butterfly stickers in appropriate colors.  The final touch was a length of seam binding colored with Mustard Seed Distress Ink and strung through the hole in the tag.

I can’t wait to see what everyone else has made with these colors!

Grunge Time…for Tim!

So the lovely and talented T!m Holtz is having a challenge over on his wickedly popular blog, and all over the world, you can hear the sound of Tattered Floral dies being put to good use!

It had been awhile since I dusted mine off, and of course I always love a challenge (and always love our Tim)!  The first thing I did was put myself in the “grunge” mindset. For those who don’t know Tim (oh, perish the thought!), his artistic style is way into the vintage, grungy, rustic and tattered.  If it looks like the parts came from your grandma’s attic, you’re on the right track!

I decided pretty much right away not to get too “fancy” with the materials.  I don’t have a lot of experience with the Tattered Floral die, so keeping it simple seemed like the best idea.  I used K&Company double-sided papers in two coordinating patterns; a grungy plaid and a faded wallpaper design in pale red.  After cutting out the petals, I crumpled them and colored the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink before forming one large and three small roses.

The hanger was made by gluing together two wooden peg-type clothespins, which were made to look vintage with Burlap Distress Ink. I formed wire into a hanger, then toned down the silver shine with Latte Alcohol Ink.  Fuzzy twine was wrapped around the hanger to form loops, and mini clothespins, colored with Espresso Alcohol Ink, hold printouts of vintage photos.

Fingers crossed!  🙂

It’s March Already!

February is far too short a month and March always sneaks up on me.  So I was actually surprised when Gail over at Mind Wide Open posted another challenge already.  Except it’s not “already” – it really is March!  And amazingly, I got mine done early this month.  With my work schedule, I knew it was “now or never.”

I’ve been using the Mind Wide Open challenges as an opportunity to add to the art journal I made way back in the summer of 2011; it’s the first book I made in Mary Ann Moss’s most excellent “Full Tilt Boogie” class.  (The first of literally over a hundred, which boggles my mind!)  There are now only a few spreads left to do and I’ll be so stoked when it’s done.  That means I’ll get to make another!  Because I totally need an excuse to make yet another book!

(Wow.  Okay, I think I need more sleep.)

So without further ado, here’s the beautiful image Gail provided for us this month.  Like last time, it’s a background.  I am ADORING these backgrounds; they are so versatile.  I will definitely be using this one again.

 

And here’s the journal page I did in the wee hours this morning – mostly without caffeine.

 

A beautiful sheet of K&Company scrapbook paper and b&w polka dot deco tape were already in place.  I tore out the image, distressed and inked the edges with “old paper” Distress Ink and added a pretty vintage lady.  I cut out an additional butterfly from a smaller printout of the background and made some flourishes with “black diamond” Stickles.  Here’s a shot of the whole spread, which isn’t nearly done yet:

 

I still need to “beef up” the left-hand page, which already had a butterfly tag attached from a Tim Holtz swap.

Since I had the journal open and the camera on anyway, I decided to take a photo of one of my favorite spreads.  This one may not actually be “done” yet either; I keep revisiting it and adding more stuff.

 

Unlike this mermaid, my art journal is getting very, very fat!  🙂

Mind Wide Open!

My favorite challenge blog from a few years ago, Mind Wide Open, is back and just as fun as ever.  Each month, Gail provides a beautiful digital image; whoever wants to participate creates something with the image and then the voting begins!

This month the image is a background, and superbly gorgeous!

Since we’re coming up on Valentine’s Day, I decided to create a page in my art journal using one of my favorite images; a beautiful vintage bride.

Here’s the whole spread.  I already had the bookmark glued on the opposite page, so I just added a few scraps from my worktable to tie the two together.

I made the bookmark years ago with a foil candy wrapper as the background.  Can’t remember why.  But there must have been a good reason at the time!  Anyway, it’s hard to tell from the photo (which I had to take under my Daylight lamp after dark, so it’s not the best), but one of the washi paper designs also has gold foil elements, as does the little mulberry paper heart, so in person it looks much more coordinated.  And not as washed out.  (Darn Daylight lamp!)

Over the Top for Valentine’s Day

Over at Quietfire Creations, they are having a “Queen of Hearts” contest this week.  Right up my alley!  I love pastels and glitter and lace and hearts and flowers and frou-frou, and so naturally I could NOT pass up making a sweet little Valentine’s Day card.

The background is a combination of a torn paper napkin and Tim Holtz sheet music tissue, layered on a white card that I colored with distress ink.  I added half a heart-shaped doily colored with distress ink, cinnamon Stickles, velvet and paper flowers and a sweet resin cherub highlighted with Latte alcohol ink.

TOO pink?  TOO girly? A little over the top???  Naaaahhhh, no such thing when it comes to Valentine’s Day!