Zentangle Inspired

I've been going through some extra rough times these past couple weeks and I started looking for a new (portable) hobby to get my mind off the unpleasant stuff and also be able to easily take with me when I go to get treatments. Zentangle (or tangling, as the actual process is called) seems to be the solution! :-)

Here's a pretty cool video that shows some of the extraordinary things you can do with this easy-to-learn artistic technique.

Happy Times at Home Together

The title of this post suggests I'm feeling good. In spite of the current condition of my cancer and the seemingly endless treatments (which unfortunately will need to continue into 2013), for the most part I am feeling good. However, today I'm feeling a little down...so I wanted to post something happy that I can look at from time to time when I feel this way - to cheer myself up. :-)

This picture was taken on one of the happiest days of my life. It was actually just a few weeks ago. I had an idea to take some pictures of my kids and me while they were home from college for a few days. I wanted to make my bald-headedness (from the chemo) something to laugh about and to let other folks (who may be dealing with cancer or some other devastating illness) know that even when you and your family are struggling through the difficulties of the disease/treatment/etc., it's important to take advantage of special happy moments and have fun when you can.

So that's exactly what Megan, Milo, and I did; and we had a LOT of fun that day! I'm not very skilled at making videos; but I think in spite of that, this one turned out pretty good...and I'm proud to share it:

I know it has been forever since I posted, but...

...the gynecological cancer I have turned out to be improperly diagnosed, and then under-treated. :-( I've been having more chemo (since chemo appears to be the only option available to me at the moment) and trying to come to grips with the fact that some of my radiation doctors may have let me down with the incomplete treatments which have put me in such a pickle. :-(

Oh well. Enough about my problems. Be sure and vote on Tuesday, November 6th!! :-) Make me proud! :-)

Update: I'm SO proud of American voters! President Obama was re-elected!! Yay! And so was Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio!

Zazzle Has a New Product Line!

Pacifiers! Aren't they CUTE?! :)

Hush Little Baby, Don't Say a Word-Pink & RedHeart by ilovecuttables
Design custom baby pacifiers online at zazzle.com

Silly Cards
Sexy Cards
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Silly100
HBDAY

Funny Font Cartoon

I just went through an experience similar to this with a font I was working on, so I think this is particularly funny. The cartoon links to a fun font called Janda Stylish Script created by Kimberly Geswein.

Back to School!

Send your favorite flower-loving student a card that encourages their doodling talents as they head back to school this fall.

Doodling is actually a very productive past-time. Study finds doodling aids in concentration

I'm Back! :)

For the past few months I've been dealing with chemo and radiation treatments as well as the after-effects (pain, fatigue, etc). But my cancer is in remission (YAY!), so I'm finally trying to get back on this blogging horse. Hopefully I won't fall off again.

Anyhow, I also just opened a MySoti store. They sell lampshades, apparel, and artwork. I created my first lampshade today. :) And here it is:
MySoti - ilovecuttables - 'Bold Pointillism Designed, Floral Lampshade'- Lampshade

Update: I found out in September that the cancer wasn't in remission, after all. It had been misdiagnosed and under-treated. :-(

Happy Fourth of July!!!!

I really LOVE today's Google Doodle! It inspires us to work and play together. :)

Happy Father's Day From Google Doodle!

Happy Mother's Day to Moms Everywhere! From Google Doodle!

Three Inkscape Videos by CutTwoPieces

Carolyn shows how to make radial tiled clones in this video (very useful for many projects including the knot designs).

Carolyn shows us the basics of making knot designs in Inkscape.

Carolyn shares more tips on knot designs in this second part of her series.

April is Stress Awareness Month

This short monologue by Ellen DeGeneres does a great job of summarizing April as Stress Awareness month.


And here is a good summary of how to cope with stress.

Zip It!

Very cool Gideon Sundback Google Doodle. Hope you don't miss it, but in case you do...here's a YouTube recording of it.

Quite an Honor!

Anne Vis of Inspiring Gifts has included one of my cards in her "Artistic Gifts inspired by Earth Day" post on her blog. What an honor and a privilege! Thank you Anne! Here's the card she chose. Happy Earth Day a little early everyone (it's April 22, 2012), and be sure to visit Anne's wonderful blog!

Happy Green Earth Day with Leap-Dreaming Frog! by ilovecuttables
Browse other Colorful Cards

Best Seller's List

I try not to post my own cards too often, but I'm going to do just that right now. I'm so proud that one of my cards made Greeting Card Universe's Best Seller's List recently! It is this Happy Norooz Card that celebrates the Persian New Year (March 21st). It won't be selling many more until 2013, so I'm going to post two more cards next to it that I created recently, and I hope will also reach the level of Best Sellers. :) The first is a funny "Easter Egg Humor" card, and the second is a witty "Get Well After Back Surgery" card. You can click on any of the cards to see what the inside says. :)

Pinterest!!!

I have a new Pinterest account and I LOVE it!!! Here's my portal link http://pinterest.com/ilovecuttables/

And here are links to my favorite boards.

"Incredible Nature and Its Fabulous Awesomeness"
http://pinterest.com/ilovecuttables/incredible-nature-and-its-fabulous-awesomeness/

"Remarkably Colored Images"
http://pinterest.com/ilovecuttables/remarkably-colored-images/

And "Amazing Animals"
http://pinterest.com/ilovecuttables/amazing-animals/

Callie!

My niece is pretty darn special, so I created her name in my own special design. :) I want her to know about it, so I'm posting it here. By the way, Callie, I'm nominating you for the Best Sister Award, too! You're mom is my sister, but you're the one I'm giving the award to on behalf of your siblings. ;) Lots of love from your Aunt Cindy. :)

March 1st Face Since I Missed February 1st

I'm adding one more face since I missed doing one on February 1st when the 29 Faces Project began. But this one's my last for this challenge, I promise. ;)

I've seen some interesting 'sugar skull' images recently out there on the internet, so I thought I'd try my hand at one. It's not very good, but it's my challenge for today, so.... oh well.

Feb 29th Face - Happy Leap Day!!!

My face project for the very last 29 Faces project just had to be frogs. :) Happy Leap Day!


Oh, and I turned this challenge project into card.

Happy Belated Leap Day Birthday! by ilovecuttables
Be a greeting card affiliate with Zazzle.

Feb 28th Face - Sunshine Smile and Star-Framed Shades

Yes, I know every single facial feature on this face has been used before. Sorry, I'm running low on time and had to rush through this one. Yesterday's flower made a nice flame burst for the sun, and the eyes, mouth, and cheeks were from my Kokeshi Doll. I did create the star circle for the shades today (plus the pink lenses) but that's about all that's new. lol.

Feb 27th Face - Pretty Purple Posy

She's napping, but she has a face. :) I'm kind of running out of ideas, so this was what I could manage. I remade the lips and eyebrows from yesterday's project, but everything else was created from scratch. And, as you can see, I'm still avoiding making hair.

Feb 26th Face - Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

Today's face was inspired by an email from Zazzle that I received encouraging sellers to enter a St. Patrick's Day Pinterest Challenge. I haven't opened a Pinterest account yet, but I hope to soon...and then I hope to make a t-shirt with this image (or portions of it) so that I might enter it in the contest. :)

Feb 25th Face - a Dragon Kite

I needed to get away from anything with hair today (after yesterday's horrific experience), so I created this abstract dragon kite. This year (2012) is the Year of the Dragon (Chinese), so I might be able to use this on a card or on some Zazzle items. :)

Feb 24th Face - OMG!

This started off to be another fun Friday project of a cartoon woman expressing shock, but as the day wore on and my laptop kept crashing, it became the project from H3ll. :( Very difficult to complete. I'm not even 100% sure what was causing the crashing, although I have a hunch it was probably the hair. In any event, I finally just took a screen shot because I couldn't export it into a format that I could upload into my blog. :( So, OMG! What a horrifying project.

Feb 23rd Face(s) - A Political Cartoon :)

As promised, I created a cartoon using the 3 GOP candidates and President Obama. :) It helped, I think, that John King asked the GOP fellas to describe themselves with one word in the debate last night. I had something different in mind for this cartoon before last night--but I like this more, so it's my face(s) project for today. :)

Feb 22nd Face - Rick Santorum

Yes, I did get my cartoon of Rick Santorum finished today. :) It may not look a whole lot like him, but that's ok. Tomorrow I will (hopefully) combine all 4 of the political faces that I've created so far in the 29 Faces challenge, and put them together in one cartoon. :)

Feb 21st Face - It's Newt!

Ok, I think it's time to get away from animal faces for awhile and get back to cartoon faces. :) I'm planning to do something for Zazzle soon using Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich & Rick Santorum, so today's face is Newt's. Hopefully I will get Rick's done tomorrow.

Feb 20th - Frisky, Flirtatious Fishies!

I'm still feeling like making animal faces, so today's project is a pair of playful and passionate fish. :) Don't they look happy? I'm sure they'll be even happier when one of them hops over into the other's fishbowl.

Feb 19th - Two Faces for the Price of One!

Free, that is. ;)

I felt like doing another animal face today, and then I decided to make two so they wouldn't be lonely. :)

Feb 18th Face - It's an Easter Bunny with Floppy Ears

Since I create greeting cards, I have to try to work them in to my challenges sometimes. I made an Easter Bunny with floppy ears today (the egg was from an earlier project). It's not a very good bunny, so I'll keep working on it for my greeting cards, but it's a start. :)

Feb 17 - Friday's Fun Face

When I was visiting some of the other bloggers participating in the 29 Faces Challenge yesterday, one of them (Denthe) offered a link to Scribbler. I had never heard of Scribbler before, but now that I have I know I'll be using it again in the future. I used it for my face today. It was a fun change from my usual techniques. :) I will learn better ways to make faces with it in the future, because honestly I'm not thrilled with how the eyes turned out; plus, I wish I'd have made the lips a different color. The eyelashes look like spiderwebs and I had to replace the irises with ovals in Inkscape because the original irises looked really scary - and not the look I was going for. Lol. All in all, though, Scribbler is a lot of fun to use!

Feb 16th - This Bird DOES Have A Face. :)

Birds have faces, right? A beak and 2 eyes? If it's not technically a face, it's face-like enough for me. :) I'm working on some other things, so this line-art bird is my project for today. I made it from scratch and didn't use components from other challenge projects the way I did with yesterday's clown. :)

Feb 15th Face - A Clown's Face

Couldn't really wrap my head around doing a new face today, so I took pieces from past projects and put them together and it ended up looking like a clown face. So I went with it. :) Halfway done with the 29 Face Challenge! Hope I can come up with 14 more faces. lol!

Feb 14th Faces - Ellen and Portia, True Valentines!

Since I created portraits of Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi earlier in this challenge, I thought it would be appropriate to combine their faces in a heart to celebrate Valentine's Day. :) There are people out there who (sadly) want to condemn others for being in same-sex loving relationships. They are wrong and they are mean to try to interfere with true love! Gay marriage will be legalized in all fifty states in the not-too-distant future, as it should be. In the meantime, this is my tribute to true love in its most genuine form. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, and especially to Ellen and Portia. :)

I'm happy to add that Google feels the same way, and also supports gay marriage. :)

Feb 13th Face - A Kokeshi Doll

I needed today's face to be easy as I'm having back pains and can't sit at my computer long. She's got a face, and that's what matters. :)

I'll admit, like yesterday's project I may have spent more time on her clothes/accessories than her face; but that's just how it goes sometimes.

Update: In a lovely comment from Sri Devi of the Well Wishers Group, who happens to be a fellow GCU Artist, she asked to see some of my work from my challenges as it appears on greeting cards. I will add some of those later, but for now...here is a version of this Kokeshi Doll on a mug in my Zazzle store. :)
(Hi Sri! Thanks for coming over and posting such a sweet comment! :-D )
Kokeshi Doll and Pretty Floral Design Tea Cup by ilovecuttables
View more Kokeshi Mugs

Feb12th Face - Mardi Gras Girl!

Mardi Gras is just around the corner and I felt compelled to make a Mardi Gras Girl! It was tough, but fun. And I'll admit, I spent more time on her clothes and accessories than her face, but still...

Anyhow, check out the beaded skirt! Neat, huh? I love how it shows movement (just as you would expect beads to). :) She looks all ready to join the parade, doesn't she?

If you want to find out how I created the skirt and some of the other components of her costume, visit my 365 Day Illustration Challenge.

Feb 11th Face - Here Kitty, Kitty . . .

Today's face is an easy one because I've got a lot of other things to do this weekend. It's just a cartoon kitty. But a face is a face is a face . . . right? :)

Feb 10th Face - Hair is SO Hard to Create!

Argh! Here's the rest of the project that I started yesterday. In case you can't tell, it's supposed to be Portia de Rossi, Ellen's wife. I felt compelled to create a portrait of Portia since I created one of Ellen the other day...and then with the craziness from the One Million Moms haters...it really seemed like the right thing to do. Unfortunately, I didn't do Portia any favors with the hair that I finished today. Who knew hair would be so hard to create?! Oh well, now I know. LOL! This is all I have time for today. I'm going out of town this afternoon, but maybe I'll revisit this one at a future date.

Feb 9th Face

I wasn't planning to do another intensely difficult face like this for awhile, but I changed my mind. Here's the face, but I'm going to have to finish the hair (and maybe touch up the face some) for tomorrow's project (or the day after). And I'll reveal the identity when I post the rest of it.

Feb 8th Face - Phphphffft!!!

I created an Ellen DeGeneres face for my challenge yesterday and then today she addressed her critics from a group called One Million Moms who don't want her to be the spokesperson for JCPenney. My mouse face today is giving the 'raspberry' to the narrow-minded haters (from One Million Moms) who feel that way.

Ellen and JCPenney ROCK!!! :)

Feb 7th Face, It's Ellen!!!

I was watching Ellen DeGeneres yesterday when she had Jim Parsons on (Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory), and I thought she'd be a good subject to use as a model to draw for my 29Faces challenge. I actually started my Ellen project yesterday, but finished it today. It took soooo long. I won't be doing many face projects like this one very many times this month because it just took so much out of me to finish, but once I had started it, I knew I would finish. I'm thrilled that I did, and I'm delighted with how it turned out. It showed me what I'm capable of when I put time and effort into my art. :)

Feb 6th Face, Going Green-ish

Not really sure why she ended up in hues of blue and green, but it seems like what she wanted, and who am I to argue. :)

My Feb 5th Face is The President!

Yep, since I created a Romney image a couple days ago, I decided to create a caricature of President Obama today. It's meant to be a complimentary caricature, but I might work on it some more in the future. If you'd like to read more about it, visit my 365 Day Challenge page.

Here's a Face for Feb 4th!

Here's today's face for the 29 Faces challenge. As with previous faces, if you'd like to see how/what I did to come up with it, you can read it on my 365 Daily Challenge page.

Mitt Romney Cartoon Face

Here's my second face in the 29 Faces challenge. It's a cartoon of Mitt. :) If you're interested in how I created it, details are in my 365 Day Challenge.

29 faces

Today I saw a forum posting by Laura J Holman about a "29 faces" challenge, and since I need to improve my skills creating faces, I decided to join in on the fun. I'm already doing a daily challenge, so for the month of February, I will combine the two and use the faces for both challenges. Here is my first entry (also in my daily challenge). Since I missed yesterday, I felt I needed two faces, so I gave the image a mirror to reflect in. :)

Contest Voting!

If you read my earlier post, you'll know that I entered Ramelle's Wedding Greeter card in a contest at GCUCommunity.com. Please vote for Ramelle and me, we could each win a $10 gift. :) Ours is #5. It's very painless and quick, and I think it is anonymous. Thanks!!! :)

Mash-Up Fun!

Corrie has come up with a fun 'mash-up' idea for GCU artists to participate in via their blogs. We choose a favorite card by another artist and explain why we love it. The only bad part is that we are limited to one. So I began looking through my 'favorite' cards at GCU (I have almost 100!) and I realized that most of them are beautiful works of art OR cartoons . . . the kind of artwork or styles I'd love to be able to emulate. A few of them were stunning photographic works . . . but I'll never be a good photographer, so I'll leave those to someone else. And lastly, I have a few favorited cards that are just plain funny! Because of all my disabilities, humor is the one thing I can count on to keep me going when I've hit a rough patch in my life. I'm actually going through one of those rough patches right now, so I've decided to choose a card that is making me feel better both emotionally and physically (because laughter is the best medicine) while providing me with the ideal material to participate in this mash-up. :)

The card I've selected as my current favorite is this delightfully funny wedding greeter card by Ramelle Richardson. When I first saw it, I thought it would be hilarious to have a wedding greeter who would greet the guests while making a similar funny face at THEM. That would be one crazy-funny wedding! Then I thought about the wedding from the greeter's perspective. If I was asked to be a greeter at a wedding with this card, I would say "yes" without hesitation; because anyone who asks someone to be their greeter with this card, obviously will have a great sense of humor and will also probably have an unforgettable wedding. :)

But in addition to making me laugh whenever I look at the card, I also reminisce back to a happy time in my life when I was a bridesmaid (1978). The harmonious vintage look of the card with its '70s photo and sepia background, plus the jovial feeling it provokes, makes this an all-around perfect design in my book. :)

Speaking of Hearts . . .

I realized I haven't updated my blog since the "I Heart You" contest at GCUCommunity.com, so it's time.

Corrie Kuipers has introduced us to a fantastic new greeting card artist, Sue Shepard, and I want to carry that introduction a little further, here. :) I was bowled over with Sue's technique of turning images that look like letters and specific shapes (that she photographs) into greeting cards.

So since it's nearly Valentine's Day, I'd like to share this "Happy Heart Day" card that Sue created, so you can see her impressive and inspiring style for yourselves. :)

Welcome to GCU, Sue! :)