Torchwood, "M" and Noodle Bowl Supper

Torchwood

     I have discovered "Torchwood." It is a sci-fi British television show that is currently available on Netflix. At first I thought it was a little cheesy and risque (hope that is the correct word here), but it got better and I admit, I am hooked. There is a new Torchwood series starting in a few days and if I am lucky, I will get to watch it on Netflix, otherwise, I'll just have to wait till it eventually becomes available. Netflix keeps telling me that based on my current likes, I should like "Dr. Who," but I don't know. I tried to watch one of those episodes a while ago and it seemed extremely campy, which I don't usually love. I may have to give it another shot though, since one of my favorite tv personalities, Craig Ferguson, loves it. I'll get back to you all on this.

ATC "M"

     As part of my new commitment to creating art everyday, I did make a new ATC very early this morning, during a particularly intense period of insomnia (no sleep till 5 a.m.). It is a little tribute to the letter "M," my first initial and all of "Mmmm," which is usually connected to food, but not always. I uploaded the image to Facebook and it is taking forever to show up, so I may end up publishing this post and adding the ATC image later tonight. I don't know why I think that creating an ATC will only take me a half hour or so, when it always takes me at least 3 or more hours to create one. I can only attribute it to my horrible sense of time, it is legendary, just ask my husband.  

Cashew Ginger Chicken Noodle Bowl

     I did get bonus points for cooking today though. I uploaded this image first and it showed up right away. It is a noodle bowl. Cashew Ginger Chicken udon noodles. I made it up. It has tempura shrimp, baby bok choy, carrots, snow peas (from our garden!), and gingered chicken. All covered with a cashew, ginger, garlic sauce. I feel so happy when I get to have a noodle bowl. I love all the little treasures and mix of flavors and textures, all in one bowl. Basically, happiness in a bowl. Tomorrow I work at the Cherry Festival, but I am hoping to make some gnocchi, we'll see if I can get to it. If not, I'll make it on Thursday night. \
     Tomorrow is Fab Find Wednesday, and I have pics of my estate sale and garage sale finds to share, along with some art...stop by and visit if you get a chance.
  

Too Early for Valentine's?

Valentine ATC

     With most of my homework finished, I had some time to play with photoshop and create a new digital ATC. My mom and I have a thing for hearts, so this holiday always has a lot of meaning for me and all the hearts make me think of my mom. I'll have to make another ATC just for her with lots of red, her current favorite color. Perfect for the holiday, too. This was created with several photoshop brushes and a couple of my own photographic images. I dropped the opacity on one image to let the other details in the background show through. I placed a color overlay effect over the other image, the blue flower, which I duplicated a couple times. Photoshop is so much fun, I do hope to take the Photoshop II class someday, or maybe I'll just work through the other half of my Photoshop Classroom in a Book.

     I should mention that if it were not for the current weather conditions, I would probably have been out and about today and yesterday. But it has been close to 0 degrees and windy, so the windchill is well below zero, no thanks. I'd rather stay home, in front of a lovely fire, enjoy the fabulous brownies my daughter made, and cocoon with my family. And I also get to play Scrabble and Lexulous online with my Facebook friends, my biggest guilty pleasure. I am addicted to word games. However, my family refuses to play with me. I feel like a junkie sometimes, I need my word games, need! If you are one of my Facebook friends and like to play, I'm always up for a new game...
 
And just for the record, I feel creative and I feel wonderful!

"Potential" Digital ATC

Potential ATC 2011

     The day started with a bit of anxious insomnia, but that was to be expected. I was still up and raring to go at 7:15 a.m. I left early to get my books, and holy moly, my C#, aka C sharp, book is the size of a metropolitan area phone book! Only slightly intimidating...and of course it was full price being new, as were all my books, sheesh, no breaks this year. I meant to order them all on Amazon, but ran out of time. Live and learn, again.
     It was nice to have just one class today, especially considering that it was my C# class. The instructor is very knowledgeable and has a great syllabus along with a solid timeline for the class. I enjoyed it, even though I am so taken aback with the size of the text. Overall though, I think this is going to be a great class, learning to write programs in C#, using Microsoft Visual Studio. I'll keep you posted...
     I actually had time to create an ATC tonight. Using Photoshop, I  built it in layers, using several brushes along the way. I made my virtual stitches blurry somehow, so I will have to go back in and figure out what I did and undo it. Troubleshooting is a good thing though, I need lots of experience.
     Can't wait for my new classes tomorrow, so exciting!

Blissful ATC Swap update 2

     So today my very first ATC arrived in the mail! I love it, thank you Francie!!! And guess what? I have lost my camera...I took it to a restaurant on Tuesday evening and haven't seen it since that evening. I think I left it in my hubby's rental car, which is with him, and it is probably under the seat. I called the restaurant and no camera...oh say a little prayer everyone, even though my flash is on the fritz, I do love my little camera. The photo is with my phone camera, not too bad. Our theme this month was "sisters."  The back of the ATC says "Sister by birth or by bond we travel lifes road together." It is an acrylic painting, isn't it just wonderful?!

First ATC Swap!

     I signed up to participate in my first ever ATC swap this week. I bought a couple decks of cards at a garage sale to play with, but when I stopped at an Utrecht's art supply store in Royal Oak to get my Bookbinders Awl, well they had prepackaged ATC blanks for watercolors and other mediums and I decided to spring for a couple packages. Since I brought most of my art supplies with me and there is nothing on the itinerary tonight, this is what I am going to work on. I also have a Bloggerette Sorority rush piece to create, so that may be what I work on as well in the evenings here at the lovely B&B. If you are not familiar with ATC, otherwise known as Artist Trading Cards, check out the Wikipedia explanation. I also have a wonderful book I mentioned in an earlier post, (at least I think I did), called "artist Trading Cards" by Bernie Berlin, that explains them very well and is full of fabulous techniques to use to create your own. The thing I love about ATC's is that you don't buy them, at least you are not supposed to buy them, you trade them with other artists. They have to be the 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" size, but can have lots of depth and can be made from any materials, isn't that cool?  I think so and hope this ATC swap will be the first of many in my future. The only thing about this one is that I have to mail it out by the 19th, yup, that is Monday! Don't you love working under pressure? I do, seriously, I do my best work then, at least that is what I tell myself...lol.