I turned my office at work into a beach retreat!

 The cylinder in the corner is actually a light fixture made from recycled materials.  Sadly, it doesn't photograph well. 

The sarongs (fabric) on the wall were purchased, but pretty much everything else is homemade or embellished.  I even made the window, as, sadly, my office doesn’t actually overlook the beach.

Snow Day Fun - Game design

My husband had a cool idea for a game a few years ago.

He didn't do anything with it.

I started playing with the idea.  I made some cards with index cards (bad idea -- too big) and I've been happily playtesting.  (It helps that the game is designed for solo play, although it can also be multi-player.)

Today I went to www.thegamecrafter.com to do what my husband advised me to do weeks ago: check out prices and file formats for graphics.

The file formats for graphics isn't a problem.  I have a little sticker shock, though -- my initial design would be a $30 game, possibly more.

I'm trying to decide what I think about that.  (My initial thought is: make an initial deck of 108 cards instead of 300 and then do an expansion pack if the game is popular).  If it is just for me and just for fun, that's not a big deal.  But sharing the game with all of my nearest and dearest could get expensive, fast.

I'm also trying to decide about graphics. One of my husband's suggestions was to use The Game Crafter site to prototype the game, then see if I could get a manufacturer interested.  In that case, I just need placeholder graphics.  Nice ones would help, but really, let's face it, they would use their own graphic designers so stick figures would probably be quite adequate.  On the flip side, being able to draw would be good for my other art, and if this is a three-year project anyway.....

I'm in a play!

I'm in Agatha Christie's murder mystery Black Coffee at the Lincoln Community Playhouse!

This weekend we are enjoying the hospitality of the Beatrice Community Playhouse, but we'll be back in town Nov 2-4 if you want to come see us.

Some backstage photos from opening night....

Art with Arwen

Hasn't she got the sweetest smile?

Happy times at the House of Endless Fun!

Lately....

I'm taking Improv 102.... We are on track to pay off the house this spring...... Arwen is coming over to paint tomorrow.    Robert bought one of these and is planning all kinds of adventures.....

My dear friend Stacy taught me to crochet....

I've been using my handy, dandy dremel on what I've decided to term My Mysterious Project.....

       

I've been playing in my art studio...

I'm hemming a dress to wear to my brother's wedding.

Lots of fun stuff!  Hope all is well with you, my dear readers!

In honor of my husband's first ukulele lesson today

From our last trip to Omaha

We hung out with our beloved Aunt Amy and Uncle Steve at Hot Shops.

It even inspired some artsy-ness of our own:

This Time Last Year: Shakespeare on the Green

We went to see Macbeth on July 9, 2016 with my sister, cousin, and some Book Club friends:

Bird Bath Transformation

As usual, the joke is on me.

When my husband was in Germany last time, Mom and I dumpster-dived an ugly bird bath from some neighbors down the street.  It was resin or fiberglass or plastic, or something and a hideous color somewhere between brown and burgundy.

As a joke, I put it in the backyard and told my husband across the ocean that I had "put in a water feature" while he was gone.

And then he got back and actually liked it!  Oh no!

So with some spray paint, glass gems, and liquid nails, we effected a transformation.  (Actually, it was mostly him....)

As I type this, it's raining like crazy, so we will soon see how it holds up.....

My husband says every time he looks at it, it makes him, and isn't that one of the great purposes of art?

Fun with Easter Eggs!

It was so nice to do something tactile and creative for a change!  (And it was fun to do an arty project with my husband.)

I used a Q-tip for better control of where the dye was going.

This one is my husband's.  Isn't it lovely?

I used all of the colors in this one.  It is my favorite.

I think this one is a dinosaur egg...

I used chapstick as a 'resist' on this one instead of the wax crayon that I couldn't really see.  

I think it came out rather well.

Thanks to Mom, I have a cookie from Auntie M. to eat.  I've been keeping in the fridge to await this glorious day!

Weekly Round Up

Lately we....

... enjoyed my sisters Rachel's performance in her parish's annual melodrama.

... started planning the garden

.... started planning the garden shed.  We used an old role-playing map that can be written on and then erased with ordinary dry-erase markers, and then we made shapes in the sizes of the stuff we wanted to put in it.

.... decorated my office.

BEFORE

AFTER

Almost done...