Welcome back to Art Journaling Monday! 🙂

• “I don’t think every small detail of my outer appearance needs to be translated into prettiness.“
• Print, space, tuxedo, pros & cons.
• Mint, disco, mystery, pebble.
• The Jetsons, risk, plaid, transparent.
• Superstition (x2), happiness.
• Nonsense, prism, wallpaper, violet.
• “…because I don’t know what I think until…“

---

*has regrets* -Chaos

“Now what, big kitty??? Are you going to fall???” -Mayhem

I had my old icky air conditioner replaced recently. Unfortunately, the new one is a bit larger and doesn’t fit into the “bar” cabinet that hid the old one when it wasn’t in use (partially on left in this photo) and provided a place for the cats to nap and sit on. Chaos was particularly fond of sitting on it (at slightly above my eye level when I’m sitting on my chaise) and staring at me as he willed me to feed him early. The top of the new air conditioner doesn’t have space for a cat to sit – and barely space for a cat to walk – as Chaos is discovering in this photo while May looks on with interest. (I’m getting a replacement cabinet made, but it will be a month or so.)

Bookity

• Linkity from Smart Bitches. Cover snark from Smart Bitches.
• Linkity from Inkophile.
• Margaret Atwood on Ray Bradbury. (via Largehearted Boy)
• Brenda Jackson’s Librarian’s Day speech at RWA.
• Some tips for and benefits of daily journaling.
• Online creative writing courses.
• Book-themed tattoos.
• Literary fabrics.
• Erm, I didn’t actually know this until I read that post.
• “Every book in the History of Literature summed up in a single sentence“.

Learn, Think, Do, Make

• North American Eclipse Watch: Make a pinhole camera (that’s my plan), “6 ways to view the eclipse without losing your eyes or breaking the bank“, “Eclipse 2017: A unique chance for science“, link to NASA’s livestream of the eclipse, more on pinhole cameras, “The procrastinator’s guide to safe eclipse viewing“.
• I hope you all had a good Black Cat Appreciation Day yesterday. 🙂
• Pantone is honoring Prince with his own shade of purple.
• You can listen to “free online streams of 25,000 historic 78 RPM records from the early 20th century”.
• Colbert, Fallon, and others on tRUMP’s statement a few days after Charlottesville. Seriously. When TIKI Brand Products does a better job that the sitting POTUS… Thank you, President Obama. Twitter responds to tRUMP’s statement with some pointed humor. Godwin of Godwin’s Law speaks.
• A reminder about freedom of speech.
• Chris Evans: “Seriously. EVERYONE needs to watch that press conference in its entirety. He does everything flawlessly wrong. It’s a stunning disaster.”
• How close are you to a Confederate monument? (290 miles.) Good for Baltimore on removing theirs. “The difference between Confederate monuments and actual American heroes“.
• “Ancient carnivorous dread-possum“.
• “How to deal with your apocalyptic anxiety“.
• iPhone users: You might want to check your AirDrop settings…

Cookity

• 40 cheap meals.
• 30 easy chicken dinners.
• Easy one-pot dinners with rice.
• Skillet eggplant parm.
• Carrot slaw.
• Chickpea and cheddar quesadillas.
• Crunchy Thai peanut quinoa salad. (via The Kitchn)
• 15 easy breakfasts.
• Blueberry almond crumb bars.

Gluten Free

• Fudgy flourless black bean cookies.

Artsy Crafty

• Make a wrapped accordion book from a single sheet of paper.
• Linkity from knittyBlog.
• Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Yes, This

• On living through history being made.
• It me. D’oh.

Cool

• Animating real life.
• “If you change your mind“.
• Millenium Falcon ice cubes.
• Cheryl shares her successful Stitch Fix experience, for those of us who suck at shopping for clothes.
• Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

• Cotton candy…
• “Life in an Alaskan town overrun with bald eagles looks patriotically nightmarish“.
• Download a free Cheetos cookbook.

Wha…?

• Ever wondered what a Tickle-Me Elmo looks like without its skin? Please note that you cannot unsee this…
• “Truck with 20 tons of Nutella and chocolate vanishes“. (via jmcbooks)
• Tacos with fried egg shells.

LOL

• “We left Richard in North Dakota“.
• “The UK wants you to know they can see the eclipse, too“.
• Autocorrect and cleaning.
• Some especially wrecky cakes.
• Computers vs humans. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)
• Eclipse searches. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)

Teh Cute

• Baby horned puffin! Panda and baby! Baby banded palm civets! Rock hyrax and babies!

Reading Update
Artful Adventures in Mixed Media: Techniques Inspired by Observation and Experience by Nathalie Kalbach. Very good look at different places to find inspiration and how to turn that inspiration into mixed media pieces or art journal entries. There were definitely a couple of new-to-me techniques I’m going to have to try.

---

“I can’t believe you didn’t feed me all the treats to celebrate Black Cat Appreciation Day, Mom!!” -Chaos

Welcome back to Art Journaling Monday! 🙂

• Lizard, rainbow, nail polish, stripes, pattern.
• Harry Potter, last 5 books I’d read, portrait, and “draw your earrings” (I haven’t worn earrings in over a decade, so I drew my coffee cup instead).
• Monochromatic, psychedelic, backgammon or chess, washi tape, graffiti, and stream of consciousness (photocopied from a 1979 journal entry).
• Faux quilt, zodiac sign, snowman, disco.
• Pastels, clouds, crossword puzzle, found poetry.
• Mandala, ogee pattern, draw a jar or bottle, stapled collage, tea bag/candy wrapper.
• The end of ICAD 2013! Celebration, drips of paint, looks like fabric, doodles galore, concentric circles, elephant.

---

*feed me feed me feed me feed me feed me feed me feed me* -Chaos

Contest(s)

• Win enough Euroflax yarn to knit a tank top from Drop Dead Easy Knits, plus a Kollage needle. Closes midnight (not sure of timezone) August 13. (via Yarnerinas)

Bookity

• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Linkity from Inkophile.
• “Queer plot removed from VE Schwab’s book by Russian publisher“.
• Easily turn an old book into a letter or postcard holder.
• Book sculptures.
• Animated vintage textbooks.
• “How to tell you are in a contemporary m/m romance“.
• Oh, snap!
• Happy update on that Little Free Library!

Learn, Do, Make, Think

• Free aeronautics ebooks from NASA. Apparently this is the NASA spot today, so here’s NASA’s response to a 9-year old’s job application.”
• “That’s not sad, that’s awesome“. NASA on Curiosity’s five years on Mars.
• “Making totally inaccurate historical claims and then getting humiliated by historian @MikeStuchbery…“
• “How fossil fuel money made climate change denial the word of god“.
• Major climate change report was leaked so it couldn’t be covered up by tRUMP and minions.
• Learn fancy towel folding with the help of a small white dog.
• “50% of Canadians live south of the red line“.
• Learn how vinyl records are made with Adam Savage and Jack White.
• The NHL and the Dallas Stars oppose the proposed “bathroom bill” in Texas. GOOD.
• Timelapse of LA traffic.
• “An inside view of ADHD: What your doctor probably didn’t tell you“.

Cookity

• 50 tomato recipes.
• 20 long-lasting make-ahead lunch recipes.
• 16 quick dinner recipes.
• 12 recipes that turn sweet potatoes into dinner.
• 10 foil packet chicken recipes.
• Pesto chicken salad.
• Honey-garlic chopped chickpea salad.
• Fruit galette.
• 10 quickish summer fruit desserts.
• Homemade copycat KIND bars.

Gluten Free

• I had gluten-free mini donuts last weekend!
• Oatmeal bars.

Artsy Crafty

• Turn an IKEA rug into a Jon Snow cloak.
• Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool

• “…[E]xquisite bonsai trees with miniature origami cranes for leaves.“
• “These are the voyages of the 1970 Volkswagen Bus Enterprise“.
• The adventures of Human-Steve.
• “Become your ancestor’s wildest dream“.
• Yes, this. Body realism ftw.
• Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

• “Hundred-year-old Antarctica fruitcake found in ‘excellent condition’“.
• A wood-burning camp stove that can recharge your phone.

Wha…?

• Apparently the Statue of Liberty is now a tool of liberalism or somesuch. :facepalm:
• No, burritos don’t need to be topped with pop rocks.
• Ya think?! “Walmart says ‘Back-to-School’ sign should not have been posted over gun case“.
• Oh, gosh, whoopsy.
• If you want your own large inflatable tRUMP chicken…
• tRUMP’s childhood home is on AirBnB.
• “Driverless” vehicle with driver dressed as the driver’s seat.

LOL

• xkcd on geologic faults. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)
• Truly scientist hell.
• “AirBnb reviews for Castle Dracula“.
• “Some alternative voting systems“.
• Target from the perspective of a Canadian.
• When you ask the NASA tumblr about space…
• On Cthulhu and wedding etiquette.
• Autocorrect and moving.

Teh Cute

• Tiger and baby! Baby tiger!

Reading Update
The Confident Creative: Drawing to Free the Hand and Mind by Cat Bennett. Ok look at using drawing as a sort of mindfulness meditation. Definitely a book and reader mismatch on this one – I read the whole thing, but I was annoyed at it/about it most of the time. YMMV.
Black Mould (The Rivers of London Graphic Novel #3) by Ben Aaronovitch. Very good continuation of the series in which Peter and Sahra are on the trail of some particularly lively black mould… According to the timeline in the back, this takes place after The Hanging Tree and before The Furthest Station.
Sidney Crosby: One of the NHL’s Top Scorers by Jeanne Nagle. Maybe I can’t rate this fairly, being pretty far out of the target audience (grades 5-8). It seemed kind of disjointed to me. But I did learn some bits of Sidney Crosby trivia I hadn’t known before, which was cool.
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. Excellent young adult fantasy novel about (wait for it) a girl who drank the moon. 😀 Recommended. (And from a Minnesota author!) I’m already on the list at the library for more of her books.

---

*purring* -Chaos

Welcome back to Art Journaling Monday!

• Rubber stamp, postage stamp, polka dot, definition, Italy.
• “You have such eyes!“
• Quote or lyrics, peace, grocery list, logo, my name in block letters, happiness.
• Testing out my new-to-me used rubber stamps.
• Summer, poem, list of pros and cons, stencil, owl.
• Spring, summer, autumn/fall, winter, sunset. (Yes, the previous one also had “summer” – this is what happens when you’re doing a couple of different years of Index Card-a-Day, apparently.)
• Sepia, mirror, ghost or zombie.

---

*purring* -Chaos & Mayhem

Apparently I was missed during the day! 🙂