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Sky Inspired

Back in October my guy and I were driving home just before dusk, and the sky was putting on a beautiful color show for us. I tried to take a photo from inside the car, but you can see how well that went. Still, those colors stayed with me until I decided to build a palette for no reason other than I wanted to remember them. I think the reason the color combination struck me was what looks like light orange on the horizon in the picture -- that was actually light green. It's super rare to catch the sky turning that color. Anyway, I saved the terrible pic and later went and picked through colors on the internet until I built my own palette. I went on to Adobe and used their palette creation tool to recreate the colors of the sky from that evening based on my cobbled together palette: a light green horizon, then pale lavender and crystal blue. The navy and dark gray are the clouds. What will I do with this? No idea. I was thinking it would make an interesting cro...
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Our Beach

Last month my guy and I drove down to Tables Beach across from Patrick AFB, and had it all to ourselves for about an hour. It was like we were kids in South Florida again, way before it became trendy to live there. No people, no noise, just beach. If you'd like to experience that through pics (no comments on them), check out my album of quiet and calm beach views here .
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Jack of All Arts

I was intrigued by Michael J. Gelb's How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci because I knew so little about the man, and I was curious as to how the author expected ordinary readers to cultivate genius by following in decidedly medieval footsteps. After reading it I do know more about Da Vinci (the book is chock full of details from his life) but remain a bit puzzled over if the author proposed an extraordinary and unlikely emulation of genius, or simply defined it better. The book talks about genius as if it were a precious resource we call carry inside and can cultivate, and that is rather naive. A great majority of Americans do not read books (the National Endowment for the Arts puts that figure at 51.5% ), and that's where I believe self-education begins. The public library is the greatest free university in existence -- I speak as a grateful student who read entire libraries as a kid -- and in another fifty or a hundred years they will likely shut down for good. T...
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Remembering

Happy Birthday, Mom. Image credit: Petra from Pixabay
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Spooky Journal

I rummaged through my paper supplies and found some appropriately autumn-ish big sheets, along with an old scrap pack of cardstock. First I cut up my cardstock and decorative paper to make pages and cards for the box journal. I also cut out sections from the Halloween coloring book to add in. I don't know if I'll color these, or just use them as foundations for journal pages, but they're a fun addition. I made a memory game from the coloring book as well, and tucked that into an envelope for the journal. Because I don't have to bind everything I can keep the pages loose in the box, to take out and write on, glue recipes to, add illustrations, etc. I can also add more pages if I want. Here's what the pages look like out of the box. I even included a couple of cutter quilt scraps to embroider or make into covers for a little stitch book. This was an easy and fun project to do, and now I can revisit Halloween any time I like. That should help ...
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Box Journal

At the end of October I went on a quest to find materials with which to make a Halloween-themed journal. Michael's was already packing up their Halloween merchandise and putting out Christmas things. I finally checked at the Dollar Tree and found a little spooky gift box and a child's Halloween coloring book. I've made many box-type journals, and this one is a very nice size. Perfect to use throughout the year, too, not just in October. I'll show you how I'm going to use the coloring book in the next post. Now I will collect what I can from the things I have on hand and get started. :)
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Co-Authoring Cautions

While my guy and I were wandering around Winter Garden we stopped at a thrift store. It was very crowded, and the prices were too high for my liking, but I did spot something in the books section that made me do a double take: Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson. Yes, you read that right. I had no idea these two folks had written a book together. James Patterson is famous -- or, infamous, if you like -- for using co-authors; the most famous being Bill Clinton (Dolly Parton might be a tad bit more famous.) I've heard rumors that he's never actually written a book himself (which would not surprise me.) He is a publicity machine that rivals Stephen King, and since they've both taken pot shots at each other, that seems apt, too. I have never personally read one of his books, and despite Dolly's name on the spine I was not tempted to thrift this one. There will be a Dolly Parton fan out there who will be thrilled to buy it, I'm sure. In the firs...
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