The loss of a pet ~ a tribute to Cassidy

I found our quirky boy Cassidy lying in the yard this morning. It only took an instant to know he had passed away. He was lying on his side, like he'd decided to lie in the sun - though it wasn't one of usual lounging spots - peacefully, but not breathing. He was still warm, and today is chilly. I'd like to think he had sudden cardiac death or other quick way of dying. There was no sign of trauma, no sign of struggle. And while I am sad, I am grateful he went suddenly. I wish I had been there to hold him and let him know he was loved.

2009

 

He was a fat and somewhat neurotic cat, but he *loved* me as much as cats can love people. He was a mommy's boy. He loved to be brushed on his left side, but hated to have his right side groomed. Like really, really hated it. He preferred to lie on his right side, so naturally this was the side that needed the most attention.

 

He got along well with the dogs and our other cat (Arthur). He knew who belonged in our pack, and who didn't.

2011

 

Cassidy came to us via our neighbor Dick, who adopted him as a stray, mature cat. He gave him to us when he was moving away to live on his boat. So he's quite old, though I don't have any idea how old. He wanted so much to be an inside cat, but his need to mark his territory wasn't popular. So he had a little house outside, on the deck, just outside the kitchen door.

 

We buried him in the back yard, under the cedar tree.

Test upload from phone - WIP

I've been working on a couple art pages. This one I put off for a long time, because I felt I didn't have enough ephemera to add to it. Or maybe I was just too lazy and disorganized to remember where I'd stashed stuff. I've never been good at adding lots of embellishment on my art dolls, and apparently on my pages as well.

This is a photo of my grandmother and great grandmother. I'm just waiting for glue to dry, then everything (except the photo) will be covered with white gesso. Then spray inks will be added.

 

I anticipate this may be difficult to add to my bound Life Book due to the bumpy stuff. Stay tuned! 

 

I was able to get to the project this evening. I think I may be nearly done.

More Art Journaling Explorations HERE

Life Book 2015 January Lessons

January 1 was the release of the first lesson. I'm currently in the process of binding my 2014 Life Book, which is quite time consuming. While I still have about 8 lessons to do, I'll get to them soon.

Today (January 2), Ivan and I worked on our Week 1 lessons (the warm-up exercise, that is). Here's his page:

And mine. I wanted to use a different color scheme than usual:

 

My Beacon of Light (part 2 of this week's lesson):

    

I used art from previous years' Life Book lessons, but didn't embellish much (not my strong point). http://www.robenmarie.com/

 

 

http://joannezsharpe.blogspot.co.uk/

I struggled with this one. I haven't really used watercolor paints or Tombows before, so had a lot of trouble with the blending. Naturally, the more I did to this, the worse it got.

 

 

http://www.pbsartstudio.com/

My own take on this lesson, inspired by Degas

 

  This is Tam's bonus lesson for this week. Easy and fun!

 

This page was done using Rachael Rice's lesson for this week. The metallic paint was difficult to photograph. (http://rachaelrice.com/)

 

More Art Journaling Explorations HERE

Here's to a New Year!

Here's to a very happy, content, fulfilling New Year!

What Now? Value Added Tax! :(

So it sounds like the European Union's VAT (Value Added Tax) is going to muck things up for those of us in the States that sell digital items through Etsy. While it's still a confusing mess, I don't want to have anything to do with the collection of taxes for these European countries - which varies by country, by the way. So until Etsy comes up with a solution, my Etsy shop will be on vacation.

https://blog.etsy.com/en/2014/new-european-union-rules-on-the-sale-of-digital-items/

Today, my Etsy vacation is official. I've posted this on my Etsy shop:

On December 22, 2014, Etsy released a statement notifying sellers of the European Union requirement regarding the collection of VAT (Value Added Tax) from EU buyers, effective January 1st. Until the Etsy site can facilitate the handling of this process, I am placing my shop on vacation. Unfortunately, this shuts down my Etsy store to Everyone, not just EU customers.

There is some discussion about a possible loophole, allowing sellers to bypass VAT by emailing PDF files to buyers. This may or may not be factual. That being said, here's my website: www.blueherondolls.com   Check out the pattern page if interested. Sorry for any inconvenience, but I'm not inclined to get in any trouble over TAXES.

I also posted this, if someone if trying to contact me through Etsy:
My Etsy shop is on vacation until the European Union's new ruling on Value Added Tax (VAT) collection procedure is clarified here on Etsy. If you need to contact me, feel free to email me at blueherondolls@hotmail.com and I'll answer as soon as I can. Sorry for any inconvenience.

I have loved selling on Etsy. I hope they get this straightened out quickly.

Merry Christmas!

Today wasn't such a bad shift at work, though it was "gearing up" as we say, when we were leaving. Hopefully tomorrow won't be bad, either. And we get a free meal for the holiday. I think. Yay.

Life Book 2014 December Lessons

I can't believe it's December already! Life Book 2014 is soon to close, and I'm still about 13-14 lessons behind. Slowly catching up, but this is a busy time of year.

I haven't started my yearly Santa yet, but as I haven't heard anything about a work Christmas party/auction yet, perhaps there won't be a Santa doll this year.

For Lesley's lesson, we made advent pages. I had some trouble with the Transfer Artist Paper (it was probably old) so had to modify the lesson a little, adding crisper images on the flaps. It was frustrating and more work, but I like it in the end.

This was such a sweet lesson, taught by Kelly Hoernig.

This is where I'll put my video flip-through when all the pages are done and the book is bound.

More Art Journaling Explorations HERE

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

As we head off for work this morning, we are thankful for what we have.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Life Book 2014 November Lessons

November already? Wow, October sure went by quickly! A new Life Book lesson was released today, but I'm in Kansas City for work and away from all my wonderful art suppies. More catching up when I get home.
Oh, and decided to sign up for Life Book 2015, you know, just to keep myself out of trouble.

A difficult lesson. I have very few photos of myself, so had to take a selfie. Awkward, at best. The painting part wasn't so difficult, it was having to look at myself!

 

 

Small miracle: finished a page the same day the lesson came out! Taught by Tascha Parkinson.

   

This week's lesson taught by Dyan Reaveley.

   

This week's lesson was by Serena Bridgeman (http://www.serenarty.com/). Her lesson included a technique using petroleum jelly as a resist. Couldn't find ours, so used Vick's Vapo-Rub.

 

More Art Journaling Explorations HERE

Happy Halloween!

Here's to a wet and soggy Halloween!