Blogging A-to-Z -- 2016 Theme for SuseADoodleDo ... Baker's Dozen Plus

OOPS --

     I missed the date when I was supposed to post my theme for this year's Blogging A-to-Z at SuseADoodleDo -- better late than never!  LOL!
     I signed up a bit back and had a long time to plan but ... Originally I was planning on "Burgoo, Bog & Stew" -- meaning just a mishmash of different items based on that day's letter.
     But then it rolled in and the ...
     FOG!  Mental Fog!
     ... took over.  (Ionic-versions of iodine, administered by the radiology department, can lead to that ... and even 18 years later I am still giving off the occasional Gamma Ray since something with a 'half-life' sticks around for a long time ... but thyroid function has almost totally ceased as another result ... I dunno, maybe the Graves Disease might not have been so bad after all ...)
     On top of the FOG, my tendency to overcomplicate things and overwhelm myself just made it worse.  We are just a few hours (well, more than 24 but less than 48) from the launch and I have "A" overstuffed with stuff, "B" is stuffed" and "C" is almost right.  "D" does not exist yet ...  **SIGH**
     So, since I do know this much about each day -- there will be a Baker's Dozen of words beginning with that day's Letter ... Then the Plus will be a Call to Action, and anything else I can think up or find to share before that day goes live.
     Ah, I must admit -- I asked hubby to help come up with "interesting" words for the daily Baker's Dozen.  I cannot guarantee the words are interesting but most lists are now longer than 13 words ... **grin** 

Call To Action!

     Using the Baker's Dozen of words, you can get involved -- by writing or illustrating using the list.
     1)  Five-Minute Fiction -->  I don't remember whether the old meme "Fiction Friday" involved writing for 5  or 10 minutes.  However, there was a sort of rule -- using their prompt, write for 5 (or 10) minutes minimum and do no editing (I did try to spell-check at least, though) ... then return and share the link to your blog post using the Mr Linky they provided.  For 5-Minute Fiction, basically the same "rule" applies except I ask you to keep it G or PG rated, try to use at least 3 words from the list, drop your link for your writing in the Link Share at my post for 5-Minute Fiction and please include a link back to the SuseADoodleDo post for that letter (at your post).
     2)  500-word Flash Fiction -->  Similar to the above, editing allowed, but there is a 500-word limit to your piece of writing.  Again, I ask you to keep it G or PG rated, try to use at least 3 words from the list, drop your link for your writing in the Link Share at my post for 500-word Flash Fiction and please include a link back to the SuseADoodleDo post for that letter (at your post).
     3)  Comments Challenge --> Write a silly sentence or paragraph using at least 3 of the words from the list and as many of the words from the list as you can;   leave it here in the Comments section.  Keep it G or PG rated, please.
     4)  Artsy Interpretation  --> Create a doodle or illustration using words from the list, post it at your blog or Flickr (NO Instagram as I do not have an account there and cannot get one since I cannot join Instagram from my laptop), add a link to my blog's post for the letter at your post and come back to drop your link in the Link Share at my post for Artsy Interpretation.
     5)  Artsy Inspiration --> In the Comments section, share a link to a YouTube video that fits something in that list or somehow fits the day's letter ... Please keep it G or PG rated.  (For example, for "A" there is a YouTube for "Alley Oop" in my post, for "C" there is a link to the "Cole and Marmalade" YouTube channel,  or maybe you will find an artsy tutorial for a how-to somehow relating to that day's letter or ... you get the idea, I hope.)

Now for the "Plus" Side ...

     Since SuseADoodleDo is a blog that is supposed to be about fun arty and "do" type stuff -- as my Fog clears enough to actually make and share projects, I will add them in.  Or if I find YouTube inspirations, they will be added in.  Or other things relating to the day's letter ...

     Or maybe already I dropped something on to a blog-post planning page -- that will be added. 

     However, the Baker's Dozen WILL be there every day.  YAY!  :D

 Another "Plus" ...

 

     Using info from www.brownielocks.com/april.html I may provide a list of "Today is ..." Days To Remember -- and if the day's Baker's Dozen does not inspire you to jot or doodle -- then maybe the Special Day list will -- feel free to use this list instead of (or along with) the Baker's Dozen to get involved in the Call to Action Items.

     I really hope you have lots of fun and visit often ... I am working on gift(s) that everyone who participates can "earn" ...


[Blogger is being a twit and messing with (a) my mind. (b) my patience and (c) the spacing between lines and "returns" ...  **SIGH**


Please join me here for a daily (well, Monday through Saturday) dose of Silliness during the 2016 Blogging A-to-Z Challenge!

 

I'm participating in "Supreme Team 22" contest over at godigitalscrapbooking -- an online store of digital scrapbooking kits ...
The Supreme Team contest happens a couple of times a year as they collect a group of digi-scrappers to be the "design team" who create layouts as previews for the upcoming new releases.  I've participated a few times but have never actually made the Team.  It is still lots of fun to participate.  This is my one page for Week Three.  I'll fins out on Tuesday if I make on to Week 4 ...


GoDigitalScrapbooking has lots and lots of wonderful scrapping kits plus a few designers who provide items to use for digital mixed media style art journaling.  Plus there are FREE Daily Downoads ... generally, the more recent daily downloads contain just 4 items -- so if you are interested in them, try to get the freebie daily and not come back to buy the missing bits later.  Today and for just a couple more days, the theme is "Monsters" -- who knows what it will be next LOL!


Check out the shop here (and while you are there, click on over to the forum, if you don't have a free membership there, get one and check out the monthly Challenges.  You can collect items ("papers" and elements) for each challenge you participate in.


If you are new to digi scrapping (or even if you have been doing it for a while) and would like to know more about it or would like to learn how to get started, let me know in your comment below.
Let me now if you do digi scrapping already, too.  Share where you post your digi pages so I can get inspired :D

Green, Green, The Deals Are Green

Someday?

A Once-In-A-Century Experience!

It is Pi Day!
3.1416 ...

That horrible mathematical "constant" ... 

At least something good comes from math at last -- 

PI DAY!  

Of course, it has to be turned into something to make a profit from -- so it is also PIE DAY!  YUM!

Go bake an Apple Pie ...  **swoon**  If you do, send me a slice!  LOL!

Sandra Boynton shared this at her Facebook page and I hope I'm not doing anything wrong with sharing it here since I "shared" it at Facebook already ...

 

The Hop is On!

Hop on over to Kerry Urbatch's blog for the Blog Roll for the March Journey Blog Hoppers' March Blog Hop -- Spring Blooms!

I visited all the blogs today and there is so much beauty, brightness, fun and cheerfulness in all the projects -- it both makes you smile and inspires to go out and make something!  I had lots of fun and am sure you will too!  (I'm "stop" number 2 ... just in case you were wondering ...)

The projects are so great I just had to "invent" a new acronym!  WCC!  Meaning a "Way Cool Card!" -- check out the stops and you'll see what I mean.

For a FREE digital ATC from me -- leave a comment and be sure to include "Hopping for an ATC" ...

Illustration Friday -- Dragon

It's Friday -- YAY!

It's "Illustration Friday" too.

Last week the theme was Childhood ... and my brain just could not figure out how to illustrate that topic -- there were just too many choices.  :-)

Back in high school, when in my senior year I finally chucked off a foreign language as my elective course and took Art 1, I had done an illustration that included a stack of alphabet building blocks, some kiddie scissors, a few crayons and a paint brush.  I thought about re-capturing the essence of that but then limited the scope by telling myself that the illustration needed to be done in ATC size -- 2 1/2" x 3 1/2".  Too small.  It did not happen.

This week, the theme is Dragon.

A few years ago, 2012 (further back than I thought it had been), I had done what I considered a fairly decent dragon in colored pencil.  I had watched a YouTube video by Cindy Angiel of Rainbow Elephant (find her channel here) -- she described her process for making a set of ATCs for a swap at http://atcsforall.com/.  I got interested in swapping some ATCs and went over to take a look at the swaps they had going.  One that I thought about joining, and actually made a series of trading cards for, had the theme of Chinese New Year.  I made a couple featuring cherry blossoms and one (then two "sort of copied" from that one) of a Chinese dragon based on a Google Images picture of a gorgeous painting of a dragon.  I wish I still had the link to that picture ...  **sigh**  In the end, I did not sign up for the swap because I did not like an attitude I saw at work at the site ... I have received ATCs and cards in swaps that are probably not the artist's best work and had felt slightly disappointed but I understood that things happen, supplies or time may be limited so that a do-over isn't possible, etc.   But swap after swap at the site had in its description "send only your best work."  It seemed just a bit too arrogant, or maybe demanding is a better word -- whichever word you choose, it was a bit too judgmental for something that should be fun.  I did not actually sign up for any of their swaps.  From time to time, I do visit for some ideas of what to work on if I feel I am getting stale or feel like I am just redoing the same thing over and over.

Since our move last fall, I'm not sure where those ATCs are that include that dragon that I enjoyed doing and was so pleased with the results.  Today's Dragon theme made me think of that trading card.  And, so, I grabbed a sheet of white cardstock and decided to "have a go."

Today's dragon is only a vague shadow of that one that was so good.  This is a just-for-fun Dragon.

It started with the eye -- using the finger hole in a pair of detail scissors to make the shape and then building the rest of the image out from that.  The dragon scales are more like the ones in my fishes and maybe should be a bit more squared off ... Dragons are, after all, products of the imagination ... so the shape of his (or her?) scales is really not a "should," is it?

If "should" does apply, then the snout needs to be longer, the teeth sharper and some horns need to be added in ... the spines on the back need to be longer and sharper and, and, and ... Eh, this is MY dragon based on my memory of that previous dragon -- a "mannerist" version of it in a way.
Wish my scanner was set up so the dragon could have been scanned and then printed out to be colored in using various color schemes.  The one I used was because it was the one I had the widest variety of pencils in ... (I ended up propping up the cardstock against the screen of the laptop and shooting a few digital pictures of it -- so there is a small curvature to the final image that really doesn't belong there ... **sigh**)

Hop on over to Illustration Friday and join the weekly fun!