DIY Art

Lets change the mood and throw in some DIY:

I love this flower:

I drew this on the back of a legal note pad. I've been drawing various versions of this flower for years. I would get it as a tattoo, but I don't see the need to pay someone to make me cry. Just my opinion, that and I don't do well with needles.

So, I decided that I needed to fill the space above my couch. I thought about buying a canvas and painting the flower, buying an art piece from etsy, but I couldn't find anything large enough that wouldn't break the bank.

Enter Vinyl art. I needed something that would be easily removed since I rent. So, I convinced the boyfriend that I NEEDED vinyl. I would DIE without it. Needless to say, he looked at me like I was crazy, but he drove me anyway.

I went to Home Depot and bought black vinyl shelf liner for $3.50. I bought 2 rolls thinking I would need it, but I only ended up using half a roll. I happily brought my supplies home and got to work cutting and tracing. Here's the beginning:

(camera phone, sorry)



 I started buy making the large circle by using a large Tupperware bowl lid as a template. The circle is about 12 inches wide. Then I free handed the "leaves" and cut them out. The little black squares were vinyl "tape" to make sure everything stayed where I wanted.

I added more "leaves" to fill out the flower and added some random cut lines to fill in the center. What was really fun about this was knowing it didn't have to be perfect. It was ok if the lines in the center weren't exactly straight, or the leaves were a little crooked.

This is what it looks like today. I'm thinking about re-doing a few of the smaller leaves, the bottom 2 and top 2 seem a little off somehow. Who knows. But for a project that ended up costing less than $3.50 I'm extremely pleased with the outcome. I'm even thinking of shading it with some chalk! 

My Life (Part Three) No Cows this time

My Life (Part Three)

Thankfully this part of my life has nothing to do with being chased by any type of farm animal. I was spared the constant torture of livestock, too bad I couldn’t say the same for the Rednecks.

I got relatively lucky. I moved in December of third grade. I was the new kid. I talked funny because I didn’t say things like y’all, yander or y’ant to? (translation: you want to?) I don’t know how Sha and I became friends as easily as we did, but I’m thankful to have had her. Jenica was also a good friend, but Sha was my best. We made it thorugh together. She understood how much I truly wasn’t happy. I just felt out of place and she was someone I could confide in. Sha and I went through a lot together.

After I finally started to get the hang of country life, my mom had Amber on October 27, 1995. Here’s a disclaimer: I love that girl with all my heart and would run in front of a bus or cut off my leg if it would save her. Hell I’d do both, in the same day. With that being said, I did not adjust to her in the beginning very well.

I was 9, I was used to being the only one. I was just starting to get used to directions like: Drive over the 3^rd bridge and make a left at the 5^th Oak Tree. To which, I replied something like, ‘How have we lived here for MONTHS and I haven’t seen a bridge? And what the hell does an Oak Tree Look like?’ FYI, they meant the little overpass to the river. And I can proudly say that now I retain the skill to tell you what an Oak Tree is.

I rebelled at school, got in trouble, and my grades suddenly started to drop. I think I may have even had a D or F, but I try to block that out. It took some getting used to, but eventually I really began to settle in again. I got used to the routine. I liked Amber for the most part, and was slowly moving towards being able to go out of my way to interact with her more.

I had my appendix taken out when I was 10. That’s a story for another time, but it ruptured 5 minutes after they removed it, so I’m lucky to be alive.

When I was 11, and Amber was 2, we moved to THE HILL. Basically, we moved to Lockwood way which is THE HILL that David’s family has lived on for easily 30 years. Times were tough on my mom and I. No matter how hard we tried to fit in, we were always going to be different. We knew what it was like to live in a large city with what seemed like the world at your finger tips.

Hornsby Tennessee is like having a mud hole at your beck and call.

More to come…Moving to Florida, back to Tennessee, and then New York again….ahh my nomad ways.

My Life (Part Two....the Cows)

My Life Story (Part Two)

I left off by describing the divorce between my mom & biological father. This all happened around the time I was 8 years old. After the divorce was finalized, my mom and I moved back in with my grandparents in Corona, Queens.

My mom had a friend, J, that used to live across the street from us when we lived in Long Island. J had married a house painter from Tennessee and moved to be near his family. She thought it would be a good idea for us to come visit her the summer of ‘94 to get away. She wanted us to be able to go to a quiet, calm, slow-moving place and just be able to breathe. Well, obviously, we went.

Long story short, J was friends with T. T is D’s older sister. D and my mom started to date. After the summer was over, they had a long distance relationship until Elvis came to my mom in a dream. I won’t get into the specific, but it’s due to the King of Graceland that I ended up in Tennessee. There was some serious drama over whether or not my mom should have let me stay with my grandparents. My dad wasn’t in the picture at all anymore, but my aunt and godfather, thought it was wrong for me to go. There was a huge fight, hurt feelings, and an 8 year old caught in the middle.

We moved December 2, 1994. I was 8 and in Third Grade. Talk about a culture shock. You move a girl from Queens to Hornsby and there’s going to be an adjustment period. Even though the 2 cities are in the same country, doesn’t mean a thing. We moved into a house David rented from his boss.

THERE WERE COWS IN THE BACK YARD!

I wish I was joking. Real, living, breathing, steak and hamburger producing FREAKING COWS!

They moved me from the Lemon Ice King of Corona to Pooping COWS?!?

Being a crazy city kid, I decided to ask if it would be ok if I went to go see the cows. I don’t know if I pictured these cows like they were in some petting zoo and I could feed them from my hand. I have no idea what the hell I was thinking. Imagine if you will, an 8 year old Italian girl from New York prancing up a hill to go pet COWS!

It would have been no big deal. Turns out the COWS were hungry and I looked as appetizing as a filet mignon. As soon as the first cow spots me, 50 cows start moving towards me. Not too quickly, just a slow, ‘hey, I think she might feed us.’ The next 50 cows that joined in were not as polite as the first, and now I have about 100 cows chasing me looking for food.

I FELL DOWN A HILL WHILE BEING CHASED BY FUCKING COWS.

If you have never had to say those word, congratu-freaking-lations for you. I was lucky I didn’t fall in shit. Needless to say, I didn’t eat steak or hamburgers for about a year after the chasing incident.

Now, please excuse me while I go try to find a hamburger. I’m getting my revenge boys!

Part Three soon…I have to mentally recover from the thought of the COWS…and enjoy a hamburger.

It's been awhile

Ok,

It's been awhile. I'm back. I'm back with one less organ than when I left.

You see, I no longer have a gallbladder. Who needs one anyway? Well, personally, I was in love with my gallbladder. I've loved it since the day the doctor cut the umbilical cord. That's 24 1/2 years people. I was quite attached to my gallbladder. (or rather, my gallbladder was attached to me..hehe) But it seems like all the things I love leave... my appendix was the first to go, then my tonsils, now the gallbladder. At this rate, I'll have nothing left in a few years!

FYI, I'm totally kidding. As horrible as the experience was, it could have been worse. I'm happy to finally be feeling better again.

I recently found my old livejournal.com account that I had in high school and it further inspired me to start journaling again. Maybe that's what I would like this blog to be about. Just my ramblings. I would love it even though no one else might. At least I know that I tried.

Till later!