Home of the Mad Mad Potter

My Memories Suite V3 coupon code STMMMS91823 Save $20

2011-12-02T11:16:00.001-08:00

I made the above using this software program. I love Chai tea...epecially the authentic thick and milky version. So I am sharing this recipe as a gift to you.
Click on photo to enlarge it and then you can save it. Enjoy!

MyMemories Suite Version 3 (BRAND NEW release November 2011)

The newest version of this fantastic software has just been released. Please use this coupon code for a discount of $10 off the software and another $10 coupon for their store! STMMMS91823
Just type or copy and paste the code into the PROMO CODE BOX upon check out.

You can try it before you buy it! CLICK HERE for Trial Version.

Don't forget to use THIS code STMMMS91823

For those who already own the software here is a nifty cardmaking tutorial.

Update on my friends at Indie Made

2011-10-19T12:05:00.000-07:00

So I got my last check in the mail today for $37 dollars and come to find out Indie Made charged me for a couple of hours rent on the day I picked up my inventory. Seriously?!?!? I thought I had put this whole rotten experience behind me and they deliver this one last low blow? Come on guys? If it wasn't before, my opinion of you now is completely in the toilet!

My experience with Indie Made......NOT awesome!

2011-10-17T09:08:00.001-07:00

My six month contract with the downtown Boise Artist's coop shop has come to an end. I decided not to renew my contract mainly because I lost a brick ton of money on the venture.
I am not bitter about my sales not being great. I knew the risks going in and what is life without risks?
But overall it was not a great experience for a few reasons. The first and foremost reason was that I had no control over the display of my items. That was definitely not what I was led to believe when I joined. I was told that I had my own shelf and I could do with it as I pleased. I could bring in inventory and remove inventory whenever I wanted to. It wasn't until two months in that I found out differently. I did not in fact have control over how my items were displayed. My inventory was constantly being moved around the shop so I never had any idea what sold, what didn't and where my items were located.
This bothered me but I just rolled with it and trusted that they knew what they were doing. In retrospect I should have sat down with someone and had everything explained to me in black and white.
What it comes down to is they needed my rent money and therefore found me and solicited me in the first place. They did this one week before the grand opening of the shop. I only had four days to get enough inventory together to have a decent representation of my work for the grand opening. I mention this only because everyone was so busy no one had time to spend with me. Again, I just rolled with it.
A few other things bothered me too. For instance my paperwork was lost not once but twice. Several times people contacted me to get my tax forms in and no one knew what was going on with my contract. I am an extremely responsible and vigilant person when it comes to stuff like this. Up front they had all the necessary forms and a check for 6 months advance rent. So this was not cool at all.
And another thing that made me feel pretty bad was that I was being hounded to renew my contract only 3 months in. In fact I got a pretty snarky email pressuring me to renew. The reason I was being pressured was that no one knew when my contract actually ended. HELLOOOOO?!?!?!!?
The worst thing of all is that they lost $281 dollars worth of my inventory. It just came up missing. No one knows what happened to it. I am hoping someday that it will show up as I hate to think that it may have gotten stolen.
Of course I expected to be reimbursed for this but they expected me to just take the loss. I am still incredulous about this. If I had been in control of my own inventory this never would have happened.
One of the managers gave me $100 check out of his own pocket to appease me. It doesn't even cover half of that particular loss but this manager did not have to do anything and truthfully I don't feel great about taking his money.
The end to this story is an unfortunate one. Mostly for me as my losses are well over $1,000. I had high hopes of making friends and participating in the spirit of community. And I had hoped to at least break even.
Ah well, this is a dark chapter in what has mostly been a great career as an artist.
Lot's of lessons have been learned....albeit super expensive ones.
In conclusion I wish the shop and all the artists all the success in the world! And hopefully because of my experience future members will be treated better!

365 Grateful project on hold

2011-10-12T14:35:00.000-07:00

Due to overwhelming personal circumstances this project is being "shelfed" indefinitely. I started this project to help heal my heart from 4 years of depression, illness and negative external forces. It seems that the harder I try to get past all the hurt the more the garbage keeps piling up. Perhaps my timing is all wrong. Perhaps another time would be more appropriate to resume this project. We shall see.

My Memories Suite V2 coupon code STMMMS91823 $20 value

2011-10-04T06:36:00.000-07:00

This code STMMMS91823 provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!

This is a really cool software that does more than just digital scrapbooking. You can add music and videos too.

Here is an example of a page I did within 15 minutes of downloading my copy:

Enjoy!

365 Grateful Day 125 "Dead Trees"

2011-10-03T08:04:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 124 "Different Perspectives"

2011-10-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 123 "Parks"

2011-10-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 122 "My Favorites"

2011-09-30T19:27:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 121 "My Jem Jr."

2011-09-29T19:26:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 120 "Boise River"

2011-09-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 119 "Modern Day Castles"

2011-09-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 118 "Tatting"

2011-09-26T03:25:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 117 "My sweet sunshine"

2011-09-25T03:24:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 116 "Happy Accidents"

2011-09-24T03:22:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 115 "Breakfast Nooks"

2011-09-23T03:21:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 114 "GSP's"

2011-09-22T03:20:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 113 "Pears"

2011-09-21T03:18:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 112 "VW's"

2011-09-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 111 "Beaches"

2011-09-19T20:07:00.001-07:00

365 Grateful Day 110 "Aviation"

2011-09-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 109 "Silver Brownie Hawkeye"

2011-09-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 108 "Red Barns"

2011-09-16T19:21:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 107 "Before things got complicated"

2011-09-15T08:14:00.001-07:00

365 Grateful Day 106 "Puffy Clouds"

2011-09-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 105 "Flowers and Blue Sky"

2011-09-13T04:58:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 104 "Architects"

2011-09-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 103 "Remembering"

2011-09-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

10 years ago our nation was changed forever. Today we remember the heroes and the fallen. We mourn our loss and hope for a better future.

365 Grateful Day 102 "Capital Buildings"

2011-09-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 101 "Cool Signs"

2011-09-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 100 "Oversized Art"

2011-09-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 99 "Fountains II"

2011-09-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 98 "Street Performers "

2011-09-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 97 "Reflections "

2011-09-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 96 "Historic Buildings"

2011-09-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 95 "The Guys"

2011-09-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 94 "Old Structures"

2011-09-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 93 "Panoramic Vistas"

2011-09-01T08:38:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 92 "Fountains"

2011-08-31T02:00:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 91 "First Snow"

2011-08-30T01:58:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 90 "Hiking"

2011-08-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 89 "The City of Trees"

2011-08-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 88 "Harvest Tomatoes"

2011-08-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 87 "Art Therapy"

2011-08-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 86 "Macro lenses"

2011-08-25T07:16:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 85 "Similarities"

2011-08-24T07:14:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 84 "Monkeying around"

2011-08-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 83 Can never get enough of those "Baby Blues"

2011-08-22T09:12:00.001-07:00

365 Grateful Day 82 "Homemade Cookies"

2011-08-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 81 "Shepherds Pie"

2011-08-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 80 "TTV2"

2011-08-19T04:29:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 79 "TTV"

2011-08-18T04:28:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 78 "Fun"

2011-08-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 77 "Fruit n Veg"

2011-08-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 76 "Deep Sea Beauty"

2011-08-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 75 "Old Barns"

2011-08-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 74 "Austin Bean"

2011-08-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 73 "Pears"

2011-08-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 72 "My Old Dodge"

2011-08-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 71 "Red Ivy"

2011-08-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 70 "Family"

2011-08-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 69 "Vintage"

2011-08-08T07:07:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 68 "Bling"

2011-08-07T21:24:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 67 "My old dog"

2011-08-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 66 "Painting"

2011-08-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 65 "Gullfoss"

2011-08-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 64 "Church Yards"

2011-08-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 63 "Ponds"

2011-08-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 62 "Foggy Days"

2011-08-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 61 "Summer Days"

2011-07-31T15:25:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 60 "Lighthouses"

2011-07-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 59 "Grandparents"

2011-07-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 58 "Beaches"

2011-07-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

Kodak Brownie Starflex: The camera that started it all

2011-07-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

A through the lens picture of the waist level view finder.

Some years back I acquired this Kodak Brownie Starflex from a thrift shop for $5. I had never seen anything like it. (I come from the generation of manual SLR tanks) and this camera is definitely before my time. I was intrigued by it and at the time I purchased it there was no internet to do research. I didn't know what kind of film it took or anything. So I hung on to it for a few years. One day I took it out and gave it another good look, I did some research on the internet and found out that it takes 127 film but 127 film hadn't been produced for a long time. I was bummed and put it back on the shelf for few more years. Once again I picked it up, did more research because by this time there were other weirdos "out there" like me who wanted to use these old cameras again and to my utter delight found out that 127 film was being produced in very small numbers once again. So of course I ordered a few rolls of black and white film. It was expensive but I saved a little money in development costs since I develop my own BW negatives and then use a scanner to digitize them. This camera has no focus mechanism so you have to guesstimate the distance of your subjects. I picked up a close-up filter for it so that I could take pictures that were as close as 3 feet away. Unfortunately for some of the pictures I forgot that close up filter was still on the camera when I had intended to take it off so some of my pictures turned out blurry but no matter I was still very pleased with my first attempt. Following are the photos that this little "toy" camera produced.

All these photos were taken in Panama City Fl. I only scanned cropped and added a signature to them...none of them are otherwise digitally edited.

365 Grateful Day 57 "Squinchy Face"

2011-07-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 56 "'Street Art"

2011-07-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

Polaroid SX 70 Land Camera for sale on ebay

2011-07-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

I took these photos today. The first is my flower bed full of poppies and the second is my dog with a double exposure of the poppies. I did the double exposure by immediately ejecting the photo into a dark bag and then in complete darkness re-loading it into the film pack. It worked pretty good and gave an interesting effect. This film is so unpredictable but I think that is its main charm, I still have so much to learn.

This camera is currently for sale on ebay.

I LOVE these cameras but I have three of them now and I need to get a handle on my addiction. Besides I need money to buy more film.

365 Grateful Day 55 "'Tulips"

2011-07-25T19:11:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 54 "Furry Friends part II"

2011-07-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 53 "Furry friends"

2011-07-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 52 "Aunties"

2011-07-22T17:27:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 51 "Sisters"

2011-07-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

New Skin for my Polaroid SX-70

2011-07-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

Got a good deal on this Polaroid SX-70 model 2 because it had a deteriorating covering.

I literally spend days carefully removing the crumbling sticky vinyl whatever it was. Then I cleaned it up with adhesive remover.

Nice and clean and ready for a new skin.

Bought some really nice red vinyl upholstery with texture and re-covered the camera.

Total cost $2.50 + a LOT of elbow grease = satisfaction of a job well done and the joy shooting with my "new" camera.

365 Grateful Day 50 "Deck View"

2011-07-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 49 "Hiking"

2011-07-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 48 "Me....."

2011-07-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

"...flaws and all."

365 Grateful Day 47 "Hikes""

2011-07-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 46 "The calm before the storm""

2011-07-16T20:51:00.001-07:00

365 Grateful Day 45 "Unexpected Surprises""

2011-07-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

I found a really old undeveloped roll of film in my grandfather's basement. Since I was scanning photos from the family albums I asked my grandfather if I could try to get the roll developed. Of course he was more than happy to oblige. It was a roll of 127 film and no one has developed that size for many years. I would have developed it myself if it had been black and white but it wasn't so I had to do a lot of research online. I found a company who specializes in developing film such as I had. It was very expensive and there were no guarantees if anything would come out right. When I got the developed negatives back in the mail I was absolutely stunned to see myself in them. I totally expected to see my mother and aunts but instead they consisted of the grandchildren. What a delightful surprise.
This is baby me, about 5 or 6 years old here. Look at the training wheels on my bike and check out my fish! No wonder I still love to fish!

365 Grateful Day 44 "Relaxing"

2011-07-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 43 "How it's made: Impossible Film"

2011-07-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 42 "My Sunshine"

2011-07-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 41 "My New (old) Polaroid SX-70"

2011-07-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

So I got this circa 70's Polaroid camera on Ebay. I had never seen one of these before until I was perusing a book on camera's at Barns and Noble a couple weeks ago. Some of the older generation may remember this benchmark camera with an oh so cool history. So naturally I instantly fell in love with this instant gratification machine. Sure digital cameras give you instant pictures but they aren't instantly tangible like an actual photograph in your hand is.

This is the first ever Polaroid picture I have taken. I am super stoked...I mean SUPER STOKED on the results. The film is from the Impossible Project. Their story is a cool one which I won't repeat here because it can be found on their website. The film is really expensive so one really has to think about their shot before taking it. Also it is really finicky (so I've read) so I did a lot of research on how to work with the film. Apparently my hard work paid off because I am thrilled with my first Polaroid photo. It is a really hot day and the film is hyper sensitive to heat so that may account for the sepia like coloring rather than shades of silver. Maybe that is how it is supposed to look, I don't know. But I love it regardless!
Oh and by the way, isn't it appropriate that I took my very first Polaroid on the first day of Polaroid Week 2011! I didn't plan that...so it must be destiny!

365 Grateful Day 40 "Meer Cats"

2011-07-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

These inquisitive creatures provided endless entertainment for my 8 month old which in turn provided endless entertainment for me!

365 Grateful Day 39 "Nieces and Nephews"

2011-07-09T21:44:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 38 "Delivery People"

2011-07-08T16:51:00.000-07:00

Three awesome things arrived at my home today delivered by three different services. The USPS, UPS and Estes. Yay for deliveries!

365 Grateful Day 37 "Zoos"

2011-07-08T16:47:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 36 "Rug Shampooers"

2011-07-06T20:27:00.000-07:00

'nuff said!

365 Grateful Day 35 "Books"

2011-07-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

365 Grateful Day 34 "Freedom"

2011-07-04T00:00:00.000-07:00