Just a little test page. Well two really.

I found some art supplies at Michael's on the clearance rack! I love clearance.

My mom needed something from Michael's and I happened to look at their clearance. I saw a tin of 24 Derwent Graphitint and a Derwent 24 Watercolor Collection. Both had been originally 54.99, one was priced at 29.99 and the other was priced little bit lower.

I decided to go ahead and get them as I've been wanting to try out the graphitints. At the register, the Watercolor collection came up as 7.99 and the Graphitint as 10.99! I went back and got the other two remaining tins (1 Graphitint, one WC collection) plus 3 tins of 12 Aquatone.

I love clearance!

Not sure what I'll do with the extra sets. Maybe give them away as Christmas presents?

The WC collection one is interesting, as I've not seen one with these pencils. Most I've seen have half Aquatone, half pencils. This one has 6 Aquatone, 6 Inktense, 1 water-soluble graphite, 8 watercolor pencils. (Though now it's 7 as I tossed out the Chinese white.) Also has an eraser, brush and pencil sharpener.

Does anyone really use Chinese white? I'm rethinking having tossed it out because I have a pad of colored watercolor paper by Strathmore. I might need the white in that. Don't know, I've never tried it. (I didn't throw the chinese white pencil away, it's in my pencil glass.)

The one with the bird at the bottom is the Derwent Watercolor collection. The other is the Graphitint.

I am so going to go to two other Michael's I've discovered. Wonder if they have more art supplies on clearance.

I'll admit that I am an art supply addict.

The Sketchbook Project: 2011 » Art House Co-op | We build art projects and communities

The Sketchbook Project: 2011 » Art House Co-op | We build art projects and communities

Yeah!

I can't figure what theme to go for? My street? I don't know about doing paintings on my street. (Lot of section 8 houses on it now.)

In 5 minutes sounds interesting...

Is this a cool dragonfly or what? The bricks on the wall are 2 1/2 inches wide by 11 1/2 inches long.

April - June 2010 - Winsor & Newton Artists' Acrylic

Winners for the Winsor & Newton Artists' Acrylic April - June 2010 competition.
April - June 2010 - Winsor & Newton Artists' Acrylic

They also have a July -September 2010 competition, with the theme of "matte". If you want to submit something, click on the above link.

Rob's Art Supply Reviews

If you are a beginning artist, you can sometimes be overwhelmed by the choice of supplies. You can go broke buying good paint, or buy the cheaper brand of paints, and then find that the cheaper ones look like mud when mixed together.

Well I found this guy on Blogger...
Rob's Art Supply Reviews
http://robs-art-supply-reviews.blogspot.com/

It's wonderful! If I could kiss Rob for doing these reviews I would!

CASA Playhouses are at Northpark Mall

The 2010 Parade of Playhouses will be at Northpark Mall through Sunday. The playhouses were created by local designers and corporations for CASA. CASA is raffling off the playhouses for their benefit. Tickets are $5.00 each or 5 for $20.

You can go to this link to see the playhouses (if you live outside of the DFW area or you don't feel like beating the crowd to the mall on tax free weekend, right before school starts.) http://dallascasa.org/events/parade-of-playhouses-raffle.html

I love going to look at the playhouses. They come up with some interesting designs. My favorite one year was a playhouse made with weathered looking wood in the shape of a fish. The fish playhouse had a sort of steampunk feel. The eyes of the fish were the windows. There were other windows as well.

And the teeny sheriff's office with jail cell, and wooden rifle rack another year was too cute.

Link to CASA Dallas' homepage, which will tell you what they do...
http://dallascasa.org/
I don't think I could do what their volunteers do. I'd have a breakdown, I'm sure.

Boosting the signal would be appreciated.

Now when you buy a ticket you are supposed to put the kid's name down on the ticket. Hmmm... I know someone who has a 2 year old and I could put his name on the ticket... but would I be jumping things wanting to put a 4 month old kid's name on one of the tickets?

Simon's Cat in 'The Box'

Cool link

http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/palette1.html

It has a lot of information on lightfastness and the pigments that go into watercolor paints.

Cool artist box

Okay where does one find something like this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380249692299

Makes me wish I had wood working tools!

HTML5: Up And Running - Book Review

HTML5: Up And Running - Book Review

Have you seen Lisa Porter

Go here for more information. She has been missing since July 30th and the police are involved.
http://helpfindlisaporter.org/

She also has a facebook page...
http://www.facebook.com/hallewes/

Passing on the signal would be greatly appreciated.

From Children's hospital Boston's blog

One last post.... it made me say "Awwww...."

http://childrenshospitalblog.org/father-of-a-transgender-tween-speaks-out/

Graduating Maria second auction

is going on now.
http://community.livejournal.com/graduate_maria/

Please help out if you can. Boosting the signal would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

(^_^)/

*trying to stay cool in Dallas, Texas with no ac*

Captain Hopes Tools for School Drive

Captain Hopes Tools for School Drive
http://www.captainhope.org/bts2010

This Saturday is the deadline, folks! Please help if you can.




On that note...

Okay, I'll admit that I bought the big box of 64 crayons rather than the box of 24 that was on the list. Hope that's okay.

It's just that when I was little I always wanted the big box of crayons, but my mom would never buy them for me or my sister. In my mom's defense, I was terrible with my markers and crayons. I was always leaving my markers uncapped on white articles of clothing. (I swear those markers dragged themselves there!) Or I left my crayons on the floor, and then accidentally trod on them, thus grinding them into the carpet. I'm sure my mom was picturing the mess the big box of crayons would leave once I scattered them all over the carpet and jumped on them.

And there was always this odd thing going on too, in school with the boxes of crayons. Those kids who had the big box of crayons always looked snootily down on the ones who only had the small box. So I thinking how some kid might feel really cool, stepping into school with the BIG box of crayons. And then I started sniffing the big box of crayons... and well...

I do hope it's okay I bought the larger box.

And now I salute you parents who go back to school shopping all the time! Especially if you have your kids with you. I got lost in the school supply section. It took me way too long to get the stuff, and I didn't even have kids with me!

I'm surprised that I've never seen any kids duct taped to the shopping carts. I suppose CPS frowns on that.

Captain Hope's Backpack Fill drive

Captain Hopes Tools for School Drive
http://www.captainhope.org/bts2010

On that page you can find a list of school supplies needed and a donate now button.

This organization helps homeless kids. Go here for their main web page and to find out about what they do.
http://www.captainhope.org/?gclid=CNL-oPe8nKMCFQ1HnQod4VoVmA

If you are in the Dallas area and want to drop off stuff at their offices; 10555 Newkirk, Dallas, TX 75220

You can see a bit of the backpack fill drive on Meetup.com
http://www.meetup.com/randomacts/calendar/13899326/

If you can help, please do. Boosting this signal would also be greatly appreciated.