A Castle Fit for Rapunzel

I was reminded of something I hadn't thought of in years today. Way back in the 7th grade (waaaay back LOL!), I had a drafting and drawing class. I loved it, definitely my favorite class. We learned about floor plans and architecture, perspective and depth. During one part of the class we learned how to draw castles. Castles are great for drawing because they have angles and curves and straight lines all together and can be made as elaborate or simple as you like. I hadn't even realized until today how much that class had affected my drawing skills.
There was a video tape we would watch of a man who would teach the lesson for the day. I think he had a show on PBS or something. One of the first things I remember was the "transparent box". We had to draw the box so that it was at an angle and then draw all the sides of the box as if it was clear, so you could see all the corners. After that, we moved to stairs, climbing straight up and then later at an angle and then a curving staircase. Then we made turrets, a curved shape with a triangle on top. Next we learned how to draw windows like a castle would have, curved on top with a windowsill. Finally to top off all those turrets, waving flags, curved so that they appeared to blow in the wind! Can't you just picture Rapunzel at the top? :)
I bet that I have at least one of my castle drawings in my keepsake box, I must have drawn a hundred of them!
Here is a picture of my little artist's work. I think I'll have to show him the castle-technique soon! This drawing was made earlier this year. It's a space man about to be eaten by something with lots of teeth. The crosses are stars and there is a line-up of aliens at the bottom, such a happy bunch!

How you doin'?

Mid-July already?! Whew, I'm in the thick of getting our holiday catalog to the printers so this week and next are really busy for me at work. Of course, most of the other departments in the company are slow but my department is not really ever slow! My family is going to Vegas in about 3 weeks, so I do have something to look forward to once this holiday catalog is off to press!

This is my guy on the 4th of July. This look is so typical of him, sort-of a "How you doin'?" ;)

Somewhere over the RAINBOW!

I have two new COLORFUL listings up this week, a pair of painted Wizard of OZ jeans and a fun Back-to-School outfit.





Click the link on the left side column to see all of my Ebay and Etsy listings!

45 cents

I don't often need to take public transportation. I have a car, I go to and from work, there isn't any traffic and except for an occasional ballgame downtown, I don't really need to ride the trolley. This morning, I parked at one of the trolley stations close to my work, bought my round-trip ticket ($4.50) and boarded the trolley for downtown. I had to get fingerprinted for my rec center job. I've been teaching there for 10+ years and had my fingerprints taken when I first started but now there is a "LifeScan" computer system and I had to get them redone, at a cost of $65 (grumbles...it's not like my fingerprints have changed in 10 years!) I was scheduled for last week but got a call that their new machine wasn't working and they would need to reschedule, so today was my new appointment.
Got to the Civic Center Plaza, as per the receptionist I took the elevator up, then as per the clerk on the third floor I took the elevator back down, went outside, around the building and in a different door LOL! The gal mashes and rolls my fingers on her special box, which then shows my prints on the computer screen. Darned pinky fingers took 3 times each, the computer kept flashing REJECT! Then she goes to take my picture and the camera and computer are not working together. Much fixing between her and two other employees. Got the camera working but have to do the print again, the computer didn't save the first round! More finger mashing, more REJECT! Then it was time to pay so I pull out my wallet...$60, $61, $61, $62 oops, no more bills. I open the change purse and fish out the big coins, counting out onto the counter, $63, $64...uh oh! I pull out a few more nickles and the rest are pennies, which I dump out onto the counter...oh, I am so embarrassed. One of the employees comes up to me when the other employee has her back turned and hands me 20 cents, I whisper thank you and add it to the pile. I'm still 45cents short, I can't even believe it!! Fortunately the employees are all very sweet about it. I offer a postage stamp that I found in my wallet and they all laugh and send me on my way, short the 45 cents. I can't believe I didn't have enough and the office wouldn't accept debit, it was either cash or check.
Got back on the trolley, drove to work and here I am. After lunch I opened up the little trinket box on my desk to see if I had enough for a treat out of the snack machine and laying there on the faux velvet was a quarter and two dimes :)

WALL*E....finally!

So the day finally came and we went to the movies last night, my little guy and me. He's always so good at the movies, I think he just gets such a big kick out of going to the theatre. He really enjoyed the movie, as did I! On the way home I had to stop at the fabric store (of course! LOL) and get buttons and I bought him a blank sketchbook. The moment we got home he started on page one of the book and drew scenes from the film. I was amazed at the details he was able to remember, like how certain machines looked and what color the emblem on the Captain's hat was?! He's a hoot, and it kept him busy for a while...long enough for me to sew on those buttons!

Waiting for WALL*E

The date, June 27th, has been circled on our calendar for months. He makes me pull down the calendar at least once a week to count down the days. Ever since he saw the preview on one of his DVDs, my little guy has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Pixar's new movie, WALL*E. Or as he likes to say, "Coming soon to theatres" (or pronounced more like "fee-ah-ters") I think he has the "fee" part down!

Disney Store online just had a special promotion. Spend $75 and get two free WALL*E tickets so I bought some things to put away for Christmas (yes, really, Christmas presents in July!). He has a new WALL*E shirt waiting in his closet to wear to the movies that he picked out at Wal-Mart months ago. My friend thinks it's so weird that people will buy promotional things before you've even seen the movie. It's such a kid-thing; it's all about the hype, putting those fun new toys in the stores, images on food packaging, getting the kids to recognize the characters, to do to their parents just what my son does to me ("Can we go see WALL*E yet? Is this the week we get to see WALL*E? When are we going to see it?!")

Unfortunately, I can't take him on opening day Friday but we will go on the next Monday. He's so excited...hope it lives up to the hype!

Here is my guy, modeling for Queen*Bree*Designs this past weekend.

Red, White and Blue!

Still looking for something PATRIOTIC for your kids to wear on the 4th? Check out this Buy-it-Now...purchase and send measurements no later than the 25th and you can receive it in time for your Independence Day festivities!



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Swimming into Summer!

We don't have a pool, we are one of only a handful of people in our neighborhood who do not have a swimming pool. My little guy is appeased with occasional swims at the YMCA, the pool at my brother's apartment complex or at hotel pools. So, needless to say, he's not learned how to swim yet.
I took him to swimming lessons at the Y last year but not so sure that after the experience last year we'll be doing that again this year. Last year, there were about 8 little kids in the class, all around 3 or 4. My guy was just 3 and it was his first swimming class. There was only one teacher and she would have the kids sit on the first step in the pool while she worked with one student at a time. All the kids sat wiggling on the step of the pool, anxiously awaiting their turn with the teacher. My little guy wiggled a bit too much because he wiggled right off the step and his head went under the water. The teacher was across the pool with another student, she didn't even notice. I jumped up out of my chair and ran to the side of the pool. He was under the water, staring up at me, unable to touch the bottom and not knowing how to get up to the surface. The panic on his face was unbearable. I heard another parent shout and just as I was about to jump into the pool fully clothed, a lifeguard ran over and jumped in. The lifeguard lifted my guy up and out of the water and my scared little guy gave me a big hug. After a few minutes, he was relaxed and went back to the class. It was terrifying, seeing his face and not being able to reach him.
So, we'll have to see how I feel about going back to the Y for swim lessons again this year. I know that he needs them and that he's older this year, so he'd probably learn quicker this time around. But I'm not sure I've recovered from last year yet!

Here is my guy, sliding down the twisty tube at Disneyland's Paradise Pier hotel pool earlier this month.

Journal Modiste

Thank you for the feature, Blog of the Week! What a surprise to see my new logo there when I went to get my daily boutique fix :)
If you've never checked out the Journal Modiste before, their link is on the left of my blog (below my Etsy & Ebay links). Read about the Featured Designers and get direct links to current auctions.

Project Peek

I just finished these short sets for a friend's daughters trip to Walt Disney World. If I can't go myself, I will live vicariously through her! :)
If you are interested in having me create a custom for your next trip to the World or Land, email me at paintedbutterflystudio@yahoo.com and I can design something special!

I like...Golf?!

Okay, so I LOVE to watch sports. I love baseball, football, just about any Olympic sport that's on but this weekend we got wrapped up into a whole new sporting world... golf! I've never watched it before. Always looked slow as molasses and boring. So this weekend the US Open is at Torrey Pines, just a hop-skip-and-jump down the freeway from me, exciting! Our city looked beautiful, the ocean shots are gorgeous and apparantly golfer like the marine layer? At least that is what the broadcasters said, they like that cool, foggy, overcast gloom? Probably the only people that do!
We watched on Saturday, all day. My dad started chanting, "Come on Tiger, come on Tiger, you can do it". My mom was rooting for Mediate, the underdog. These people, watching GOLF, we've never even watched one moment of it in our lives and here we were, cheering them on! I was sewing and would tell my mom to tell me when Tiger came up to putt so I could look up and see it.
A few notes about golf: It moves faster than you would think. I expected it to be a slow paced games but watching it on TV, they are cutting back and forth from each golfer so there is always something going on. On that note, there are also not a lot of commercials, a big difference from football which practically takes commercial breaks during their commercial breaks! And surprisingly, golf is pretty darned exciting, lots of oohs and ahhs when putts would rim the cup and sunk into a sandtrap. We jumped up and clapped when Tiger tied the match just like we did when the Padres hit the grand slam the other night!
In any case, I guess I'm more open to learning about new things. Golf first, what's next?

Father's Day

Years ago on a Father's Day Sunday in church, the priest told this homily. It's always stuck with me on the importance of strong male role models.

The story goes...A card company decided one Mother's Day to take some of their cards to a local prison so that inmates could write to their mothers. They set up a table with the cards and the inmates lined up by the hundreds. The card company even had to go back to their warehouse for more cards, they'd not brought enough. The Mother's Day event was a huge success. When Father's Day rolled around, the card company decided to revist the prison and brought plenty of Father's Day cards this time. However not one of the inmates lined up to send a Father's Day card.

My own father has always been a major influence in my life. He was my first art teacher, showing me how to draw, watercolor, and see the world with an artistic eye. He's always encouraged my creativity and even today, will stand next to me in my studio and want to see what I'm making. Just over a month ago, my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Our Father's Day will be particularly bittersweet, not knowing if this will be our last one with him. We've been living every day that way lately, letting him know how much we love and appreciate him, caring for him, taking the time to make sure he's comfortable and pain-free. It's how we all should live every day with those we love.

Here is a photo of my dad, taken last week on our trip to Disneyland.

Voila! The new ME IS revealed!

Hurray! I am ready to reveal the new ME, my updates and beautiful ME page as designed by Traci of leeziebee. She did a fantastic job of listening to what colors and style I wanted for the page and created a whimsical but sophisticated look for me. Check it all out by following the link.

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A little bit of Pixie Dust

We spent the weekend at Disneyland, my parents, my boys and my brother and sister-in-law and their son. We had such a good time, swimming, eating and enjoying the rides. My nephew is a bit sensitive to motion, noise and too much action, so I spent time outside with him so the rest of the family could go on the rides. That was okay with me, as I've been to Disney a lot in the last year and I don't think he should be pressured to ride anything he's not ready for yet.

In any case, he loves Peter Pan so I made him this appliqued shirt to wear to the Park. He was so excited! And he was absolutely starstruck when Wendy appeared at our table for dinner at Goofy's Kitchen.

All that worry...

for nothing! Our recital on Friday went great, no major issues. There is something about when the kids put on their costumes that just unifies them, they look more coordinated, they get a little more serious, they really did fantastic. There were two students that didn't show up, which was very unusual. We put off the show for about 5 minutes, waiting and then calling their houses. So that was odd. And it was so flipping HOT in that gym, all steamed up with the 100+ people inside. One lady said, "What? No air conditioning?!" Yeah, no A/C...this is a city gym, so unless they really hack the budget somewhere they aren't putting in an air conditioner! LOL In any case, the show went very nicely, I'm soooo relieved!