AMANDA'S BASKETS: I FOUND MY WAY TO MY MULTI-MEDIA AREA

Friday, March 13, 2015

I FOUND MY WAY TO MY MULTI-MEDIA AREA

Yes, I did. I found my colored pencils, markers, etc. and decided to create something.

But what to create?
No idea!
So I wrote down the first word that came to mind...LIFE.
And that reminded me of a favorite saying..."LIFE HAPPENS".
It just kind of bloomed from there...

I realize that I should have taken more photos starting at the beginning but quite frankly I didn't think I would be posting this creation.

It's been a long time coming...playing with my multi-media 'stuff'. Now that I've gotten my feet wet once again, I think I will be doing a lot more in this area. I enjoy creating playful pictures. I also enjoy creating stylized folk art pictures...and collages...and journals...and books...well you get the picture.

This past week was great. The weather cooperated so I could get out and about...and out and about is exactly what I did. Everything from walking in the park on the harbor, to traveling to the Bronx for lunch, to checking out The Strand in lower Manhattan to exploring my neighborhood.

And that's just the beginning of my adventures in NYC. I hope you come along and have fun with me.

And this weekend is going to be busy. Out to Bethlehem, PA on Saturday and up to Beacon, NY on Sunday. I'm picking up a couple parakeets...should be fun.

Hope your weekend is also crammed full of fun things.

Thanks for stopping by...
Talk to you on Monday...
Stay well and have fun...

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?