day seventy one: 20

'buy or make some clay and then use it like you never have before.'

i bought this stuff a few months ago - it's called paper clay. you mold it just like regular clay but it air dries and dried to a paper mache like consistency. my landlord, her friend, my mom & i had a small little craft day today so i thought it would be a good opportunity to make my snail. i've never really worked with clay - some when i was younger but not a lot. i used wax carving tools to help me with the swirl of the shell and hand molded the body. it needs to air dry for 3-4 days so i didn't paint him yet but i will post a picture as soon as i do! the shell isn't connected to the body so i will have to find some type of glue also. any tips?

day seventy: 189

'write a limerick about yourself or your hometown ("there once was a young fellow from richmond...").

little did i know, FEW words rhyme with HEIDI so i had to change it up a bit. i've never been good with words but i finally came up with something. now the rhythm of limericks are stuck in my head, i find myself just humming the beat of them.

day sixty nine: 110

'work with mistakes. spill some ink, milk or other liquid and then go from there.'

so, i bought some amazing lotion at bath & body about a month ago and one day my husband and i came home and our bedroom door was open (we usually close it so the dog can't get in) and found my brand new lotion chewed up by our lovely beagle. so now whenever i use the lotion it drips or comes out weird. i figured this would be a good thing to use. i admit i put off my snail today and came home after a long day and wanted to do something quick...this isn't very interesting, but it's a snail!

day sixty eight: 257

'put pen to paper and draw for at least thirty minutes without stopping. if you get stuck, just doodle until an idea comes to you. for an even greater challenge, don't lift the pen from the page until the time is up. extra credit: increase the time to sixty minutes, ninety minutes, or...?'

okay, the first drawing took about 15 minutes - i admit i lifted the pen off the paper but i continued the same line through the whole drawing. the second drawing i lifted up the pen, obviously - but i spent 45 minutes on it. i love doodling like this, it's one of my favorite things to do. when i was in school i would usually have something like this on the corner of my paper and it's probably the reason i never did great in any of my classes except art, hahaha.

day sixty seven: 7

'today, make a stencil and use it in your work.'

after looking through the book 3 times to find this prompt & some help from noah scalin...i finally found it. haha. of course it was within the first few pages, sheesh! i made this cake to take over to my parents house for after dinner. i had some sprinkles so i thought i could add a pink snail for my niece. i cut out a stencil and placed it on the cake, poured the sprinkles on and then peeled it off. i tried to get a picture of my niece taking a bite but she hates getting her picture taken so this is the best i got, she was watching wow wow wubbzy and dancing along.

stencil prompt?

am i wrong? i could of sworn there was a prompt saying something about making a stencil...i looked through my book twice. anyone know?

day sixty six: 65

'work with only the classic tangram shapes.'

i was going to make a cake & decorate it tonight but i came home from another night of babysitting only to find out my husband got poison oak all over his face, (i can't ever remember having poison oak so i'm hoping i'm immune)! so i had to go out again to get some medicine and by the time i got home i had little time to do anything. i cut out the tangram shapes and quickly made a cute little snail. this is a fun little puzzle to mix up and fit together if you've never seen it before, tricky!

day sixty five: 30

'play time. work with toys: if you don't have any, borrow some from a friend with kids, and maybe even work with the kids!'

well it's really 1:30 am but i just got home from babysitting. i planned on doing this snail tonight. the kids went to bed around 9:30 and i was sitting on the couch when i looked at the clock (11 pm) and thought, 'OH CRAP! i still have to make my snail!' i was so tired, i totally forgot. i wanted the kids to help me too. oh well. so i got up and went into the play room. i was planning on making a snail with a bunch of different types of toys but then i saw the collection of dinosaurs & my little pony toys so i HAD to use them. lincoln logs & beach balls to finish it off and then back to the couch for some top chef all stars. i'm home now and going to bed!

day sixty four: 60

'make something that casts a shadow and document only the shadow.'

you'd think i would spend my time more wisely. i had the whole day free today and i didn't get my snail done until the last few hours. i did a simple snail, cut out from paper and taped some toothpicks on. i had to hold the toothpicks and they were too skinny to see but i thought the shadows turned out cool even if it was super simple. i thought of using a snail i had previously made but forced myself to do something new, even if it was quick & easy.

day sixty three: 299

'silversmith. work only with silver materials today. try working on a silver surface for a real challenge.'

i take back all the times i said i had a hard time getting a picture of a snail i've done. THIS was ridiculous. i couldn't even get it right in photoshop. so, sorry this is the best i can do. maybe if i didn't scrunch up the foil it would have been better. too many reflections and shadows...can't wait to do the gold one! sheesh.

day sixty two: 156

'work only with toilet paper tubes and/or paper towel tubes today.'

i saw this done on another 365 blog (http://arabbitaday.blogspot.com/) and figured i would try it out. i had an exacto knife and although the tube was a little flimsy i was able to carve this little guy out. i pushed him and lit the back of the tube so the light would shine through the swirl on his shell.

day sixty one: 214

'get the point. use toothpicks as your main material or inspiration today.'

i started out trying to make a perfect swirl, but the toothpicks would NOT stay where i wanted them to. it didn't help that they were round and not the square kind. after many attempts i finally just pushed them altogether to start over but i ended up liking the look of them all just piled on top of each other. i'm not sure i have done a snail without the swirled center and i was worried to stray from it, but i ended up liking it a lot. instead of taking an hour on getting it right, this messy snail only took a few minutes.

day sixty: 163

'work with only items you find in your refrigerator or freezer.'

whenever i see this i always wish i had more exciting things in my fridge/freezer. i was snacking on these yummy mini peppers when i thought they'd be a great choice. the colors are great! i also discovered my husband will eat them, score! he's such a picky eater. tomorrow i'm going shopping so i might pick up something new to use for my next project. working with food is more fun than i ever thought.

day fifty nine: 325

'create a wallpaper pattern using any technique. extra credit: install it on a wall or make a digital version for people to use on their computer desktops.'

i've had a wallpaper up on my phone & laptop that was a snail on a leaf so i thought i would make something from a previous snail i've made. i chose my flower snail because the colors were amazing. i edited it in photoshop and used my favorite filter - cutout. i uploaded it on my phone as well and put it as my wallpaper. i wish i took the picture more straight on when i did it because i wasn't able to crop it to the right dimensions. even though it got cut off a little bit it ended up working out.

day fifty eight: 216

'work with light. create an image using any light source in your home. one option is taking strings of holiday lights and creating an image with them.'

luckily i had a few strands of lights i just shoved up in my closet rather than packing them away. i couldn't for the life of me get the kinks to stay straight so after much pulling and tugging i gave up and just did the best i could. i took one with a flash and one without so you could see the swirl in the shell. merry christmas in march!

day fifty seven: 24

'it's not easy being green. work only with green-colored materials today. try working on a green surface for a real challenge.'

happy saint patrick's day! i really wanted to use only clovers today but when i went outside to gather them, they had closed up and i couldn't find a lot. so, green was my obvious choice. it's also my favorite color. now off to make green cookies!

day fifty six: 49

'quantity over quality. work with a lot of something. it could be dried grains, a jar of buttons you have in the closet, or all of your t-shirts.'

quite a few months ago i went to a habitat for humanity 're-store' and found this awesome jar. then i stumbled upon a box of these springs, so i filled the jar up because i thought it would look neat. so i dumped them out and drew my snail with them tonight even if they make my hands disgustingly dirty.

day fifty five: 348

'medium or large? work with a disposable cup you've gotten recently.'

so my husband and i went to san francisco today for a concert (house of pain) and it's pouring. we got here at 3ish, went to a goodwill and have spent the rest of the day in the car. we come to SF a lot so we don't care that much...but i am bored out of my mind. i was pleased to find out i could upload a picture from my droid but i will post a better picture tomorrow since i won't be home until 2am probably. so this is just a preview!

day fifty four: 57

'use a disposable plastic bag to create something new today.'

i have a basket full of these things and i never find enough uses for them. i remembered braiding them for a project in one of my art classes so i thought i would give it a try. i had to use a little clear tape to keep the ends from unraveling. i wish i could find more uses for these dangs bags!

day fifty three: 113

'paint the town red. work only with red materials today. try working on a red surface for a real challenge.'

well, working on a red surface wasn't a challenge to me, but it was for my camera. i finally got a shot and played around with it in photoshop. i personally hate the color red. always have. i don't know why. my logic is, my favorite color is green...so naturally i would hate the opposite color, red. who knows. i didn't have a lot of red items but i thought i would try and get this one over with anyway. i used my husbands shirt for the background, his old spice deodorant and body spray. luckily i had a few items in my geocaching box and i had the dog tag from my beagle when we adopted him. also, some of his treats. i'm for sure re-doing my orange snail tomorrow because i think it would look a lot more awesome with the orange background.

day fifty two: 256

'use duct tape or packaging tape to make something three-dimensional.'

bought a small $3 duct tape roll from true value today for this snail. didn't get the shell as round and 3D as i wanted but i was running out of tape. while i was making it, my beagle was going crazy outside barking/howling at the neighbors cat (guess the dog park didn't tire him out that much) and when i went to the window to yell at him i thought to take the picture out the window. it's a gorgeous day today...a nice change from over cast and down pour. although i love the rain, the brisk air and sunshine is nice!

ps: i was on noah scalins blog (www.makesomething365.blogspot.com) today! if you have your own 365 project, visit the blog & click on 'share your project' to be featured yourself!

day fifty one: 94

'nothing rhymes with orange. work only with orange materials today. try working on an orange surface for a real challenge.'

i didn't catch the working on an orange surface until after i had taken it all apart and put everything away. i would do it all over if i wasn't in a hurry to leave the house - maybe if i have time tomorrow i will put it all together again and post another picture. this reminded me of the 'i spy' books...i loved them as a kid. i spy a butterfly!

day fifty: 330

'time for finger painting! don't judge yourself, and you'll be surprised at how fun it can be when you can't be precise. use any substance - just be sure it's nontoxic.'

well...i did judge myself, but it was fun. i dabbed the painted and tried to blend it just by dabbing. luckily dollar store had some cheap-o paints since i don't have any on hand. i feel like this would work for the 'regress' project as well.

day forty nine: 311

'create something that incorporates a mirror and reflections.'

i used to have these markers that you could write on car windows with and i used them ALL the time. i went over to my moms and discovered she had bought some so i drew a simple design on the bathroom mirror. it has 3 panels and the two side ones open and it forms a triangle. i used to think it was awesome as a kid. so i tried to get the best shot i could without having the camera in the picture. i wanted to leave it up but my brothers would've just thought it was annoying.

day forty eight: 273

'work with, or be inspired by, a tin can or soda can. you can decorate on it, shape it with tin snips, or punch holes in it with nails - just be careful with the sharp edges. try adding a light for added effect.'

i could probably drink one of these every day for the rest of my life. i picked one up today after work and figured i could use it somehow for my snail today. i used some tin snips and bent the aluminum a little bit so it wasn't so flat. again, i didn't get as good of a picture as i want but this will have to do.

day forty seven: 3

'make something out of paper, but don't use scissors or glue or draw on it. what now? (and no, you don't have to know origami to do this.)'

so i got home a lot later than i thought tonight and needed a quick snail to do today. i saw this and thought it would be fun to recreate my napkin snail but i thought i would try a quick crunched up snail first using only one piece of paper. i ended up liking this one so much that i didn't even try to recreate my napkin snail.

day forty six: 103

'create something with the napkin (paper or cloth) that you use at a meal today. extra credit: leave it behind for someone else to discover.'

today my husband and i went to san francisco to meet my cousin at the airport - she was coming home from a year long trip to australia. so my original plans were number 236, make something and take it along with you and document it during the day. san francisco is full of awesome photo opportunities. i woke up, carved a bead with my dremel tool but it turned out horrible and you couldn't see the snail in the picture. so i figured i could do it another day. after we picked her up from the airport she wanted mexican food (VERY scarce is australia) so we went to chevy's. i had a bbq chicken salad and used a few napkins to create my snail. i got 2 pictures before the waitor came and took everyone's plate...i wanted to leave him behind but oh well. he didn't say anything about it but he didn't seem to be in a good mood. so oh well. i was going to take another picture with it not being on my messy plate but this will have to do!

day forty five: 45

'create an image using making tape or any other kind of tape, for that matter. try making it on a nontraditional surface. extra credit: leave it for others to find.'

every year i cut out snowflakes and put them up on my wall but i was doing some spring cleaning and decided to take them down. as i was pulling all the tape off the back i would stick it all into a ball but then i remembered there was a tape suggestion so i stuck the tape on so it would look like a snail. i didn't know it was number 45 either, it just happened to land on day forty five! i probably took about 10 pictures because you can't really see the swirl in the shell, but this one was the best i got. i played with the contrast/brightness in photoshop to help. i didn't remember the nontraditional surface part but i am leaving it on my coffee table for a while so people see it.

day forty four: 306

'what can you do with a pad of sticky notes?'

i've been staring at this one for days and wanted to do something more creative, but i just decided to go with it. i started off going slowly and trying to make the curves perfect...but then i realized i would spend more time picking them off the ground then putting them on the wall. so i tried to hurry and occasionally pressed on them all to keep them from falling. you can actually see some of the orange ones falling off the bottom right part of the snail. there was a pile of about 10-12 sticky notes on the ground when i was done.

day forty three: 316

'white or brown? work with dry or cooked rice.'

i figured since i worked with rice the other night and i had some handy, i would use it. i wanted to work in the negative form that i usually do so i drew the snail in the rice. i decided it was too simple so i did it the other way around as well. coincidentally, my husband wanted some rice-a-roni...hahaha. so i just had to do it in the pan as well.

day forty two: 328

'make something with a snack or dessert before you eat it.'

everyone knows the batter is the best part of a brownie, so i had to make two snails. one before & one after. my husband wanted me to buy this frosting in a spray can so i used it on the cooked brownie. i wish i had some sprinkles or something else to use to decorate him. oh well!

day forty one: 14

'make something microscopic. how small can you work? can you make something that requires a magnifying glass or microscope to see?'

well, this is the smallest thing i thought i could do. i remember always wanting to get my name written on a piece of rice and then put onto a necklace. i always thought how crazy it was that they could write something on a piece of rice. turns out, it's not so hard! i just bought some pens a while ago and they were perfect for this (0.3mm tip). i suppose some people might need a magnifying glass if their sight isn't so grand.