Inspiration Alley

Poppy Field - Visualization of war

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
Colonel John McCrae,
from In Flanders Fields 1915

This is an interesting site.  

Poppy Field is an independent project that reflects on human life lost to war.  In this interactive, the poppies represent the war, their stem begins at the year the war started.  You can click on a poppy and see how long the war lasted, which countries were involved and how many fatalities.  On the page with the poppies, you can sort by country, duration, or number of fatalities.  The colors that make up the poppies reflect the countries involved.

This site was created for the 100th anniversary of World War 1.

I came across this yesterday, and thought it was just as appropriate for Memorial Day, a day to remember those who gave their lives in active military service.  All gave some, some gave all to fight for our rights and freedoms.

View the site here …. it's worth spending a bit of time there.

Alone

 

If you haven't seen it yet, it's a good show to watch.  It's on the history channel.

Basically they drop off 10 survivalists in the Vancouver Island wilderness with limited supplies.  They are dropped in separate areas, so are completely Alone -- no producers, no film crew, they do the filming themselves through various cameras.  Their single mission is to stay alive the longest and if they are the last one standing they win $500,000.  

Not only do they have to contend with building shelter, building fire, finding food, enduring the weather … rain and eventually snow, and fighting off predators, but they also have to contend with being completely alone.  They talk to the cameras about what they are doing and what they are thinking, missing, feeling.  This is season 2.  I wish I had known about it for season 1, so at some point I'll look into watching last season.

If you're looking for a good series to get into, this is one to watch.

 

Pocket page

I wanted to show you the March pocket pal page I did, and I even remembered to take a picture of what's  included in the back.  

This theme was Spring, so I used spring flowers, kites, and butterflies.  The back side you can see some of the things that were included in the pockets. Buttons, ribbon, Bling, paper kites, paper flowers, some word stickers and some pop dots.  My pal's name started with a "S" so I included a "S" tag.  Traditionally these are done between pen pals, where you write a letter or ask questions of you pal, and since it's not specifically for scrapbookers, people include other things like tea, candy, gum, stamps other small things.  Since I'm playing along with a scrapbooking group, much of what goes into the pockets is scrapbooking related.

I've got a new pal to exchange with for April and May.  I'm late already, ha … but so is she, so I'll probably knock out both months when scrapping this weekend.  I've already bought some items to put in the pockets, and I have the paper I want to use, so it's just the creative part left to go.

Are you a Big Brother Fan ? Expect the unexpected.

Yes ... it's true, I'm addicted to Big Brother and have paid for the live feeds for many of the seasons.  Just 4 weeks to go ... the premiere is June 22nd.

The new mystery for Big Brother 18 (BB18) is that production is looking for "mock" houseguests.  They're looking for 6 people to be in the house for 6 days 7AM through 11PM.  One of the requirements is that you need to understand the game of Big Brother.  I don't recall ever seeing this in the past.

And the second thing is ... for the last several years bigbrothernet would do pre-season interviews, but this year they've been told by CBS that they won't be able to have those this year.

Some of the rumors are that there will be returning houseguests, and/or that there will be like 30 people entering the house and they have to complete to be one of the ones to stay.

This is when rumors are flying all over the web and I just can't hardly wait another 4 weeks.

So (if you're a fan) what's your take ....

 

 

Art Canvas

This is another art canvas that I made.

This one is a black canvas.  The white circles are cut from paper.  You can't see very well, but the red are paper roses.  This one I entered in the Spring Hilltop Memories crop.  There is a theme given before the crop - this time it was anything of or relating to flowers.  Everyone at the crop gets a vote.  This one came in tied for 1st place so I won a free crop, which I'm using for the Birthday crop in June.  Pretty cool!.

The craft theme for the Birthday crop is anything that's identifiable as a beach umbrella.  That's a bit harder than flowers, but I have my thinking cap on.  I'm scrapping this coming weekend, so maybe we'll get something done then.  I have an idea, but haven't figured out how to execute it as yet.

What's your favorite Cheese says about you.

My homepage at work is MSN.com and along with "real" news, these quirky things catch my eye.  This one is "what your favorite cheese says about you"

So … at this stage in my life, I'd have to say that blue cheese is my favorite.  Here's what it says about me

 

"Your personality is an acquired taste, just like the noted blue cheese flavor.

Although viewed as a strong influence, you are knowledgeable and wise.

People often seek your advice."

 

Actually, I identified with several of the cheeses they listed.  Havarti, Cheddar, Mozzarella, Brie - let's just say I am fond of cheese.  These surveys and tests always crack me up.  Sometimes they are dead on accurate and sometimes they are really far off.  I still play along just to see what they will say.

 

Art Canvas

This is a canvas I did back in March I think.  I guess it was the same weekend we had the storm.  As with every crop … we first had to go shopping.  Not that I NEED any more supplies, but just because.  We were at hobby lobby and I found a framed print where I liked the saying.  From that I started with the canvas 

… they had a gesso coated burlap canvas that appealed to me.  I like the rustic look of burlap, but I don't particularly like working on it - it's too loose a weave for my tastes.  For the background, I started with Color Bursts some of the blues and greens and then used Gelatos greens and brown to add dimension.  The large words Live and Love  are actually metal and because they have mounting brackets on the back, they give the project a raised effect.  The flowers came from some I had which would have come from either Michaels or Hobby Lobby.  The rest of the wording was a set of black sticker letters from American Crafts Remarks.

Here's the finished project ...

For me, this was a little out of my comfort zone.  I gravitate more toward symmetrical designs.  At first I didn't like the background, but when I look at the canvas as a whole, I do like it the finished product, plus the saying is something to remember every day.

Easter Storm

Going back in time, we had a bad storm on Easter weekend.  It started with hail, and I think ended up with a microburst or something similar.  It ended up taking out a large tree which came down on the shop.

You can get an idea of just how large the tree was from this picture of Linda standing under it.

Thankfully, the damage was only to the metal roof and not any of the structure.  There were about 10 holes in the roof, but none of the wood was broken or damaged.

Thanks to great friends we got the tree down and temporary patches on the holes.  

A neighbor who is a contractor hooked us up with a roofer, and now the roof is fixed and everything is back to normal. 

Here's what I learned … 

• "Hunker Down" is not just a term for hurricanes.  It's probably best not to open the door In the middle of a storm to see the hail.
• Apparently a picture is required as proof that when I say the tree fell on the shop, the tree actually did fall on the shop.
• Having good friends in life is essential.  From my girlfriends who weathered the storm with me, to our guy friends who brought down the tree, cleaned the debris in the shop and patched the roof - we couldn't have done it without you.

 

Peacocks …

Peacocks are pretty birds ...

This guy sometimes hangs out at the house.  Their sound is like a shriek or a screeching - very loud.  With all their beauty there has to be a downside, and theirs is that they poop quite a bit.  They'll roost on the roof and screech and poop.

This boy has been around even before he had all his feathers.  I tried to get him to display his feathers, but he would have nothing of it.  I'll have to wait for a picture when he wants to impress one of the peahens.

I'd watch this ....

Ozzy Osbourne and son Jack will have a new reality show "Ozzy and Jack's World Detour" where they visit historically significant spots including Mt Rushmore, Stonehenge, the Alamo, Roswell, The Jamestown Settlement and Sun Studios.  It airs July 27th.

Here's the link about it

Ozzy and Jack's World Detour

I used to watch the Osbournes and love reality TV, so I think I'll like it.

So many of my current shows are ending this season, Castle, Rizoli and Isles, Person of Interest, and Rookie Blue to name a few.