I Am Art

A bionic neck update and reader journal pages

Thanks so much to everyone who sent good wishes to Karen for her surgery and recovery. I'm trying to email everyone back with updates, please forgive me if it is taking me a bit. Karen's new bionic neck is healing on schedule and she is getting stronger every day. She still has to be in the hard neck brace for another month and can't drive, which is unfortunate since her daughter graduates this month and there's a lot to be done like pose in many Oh my Buddha, my baby just graduated photos! We are practicing taking the neck brace off really fast - wrapping her neck in a scarf to hide her incision-then putting the brace back on so there can be a good photo. It will be done! Hoepfully, Karen's surgeon is not reading this.

We are loving seeing all the life rules journal pages you guys are making! Our litle bloggy book tour will be resuming shortly and we are excited to share some reader journal pages with you:

Sandy Mohon created this journal page with her rule: Stop Blaming Me! That's a mighty fine rule. Love it!

 

 

 

 

Lelainia Lloyd created her life rules journal page with a self-portrait. We love that bold statement! Way to go!






If you have a life rule journal page inspired by YOU RULE, we would love to see it!

*YOU RULE is available at amazon for Kindle and Kindle apps here or in print at Blurb.

Life Ruler: Lisa Hoffman (and something free)

We are thrilled to be sharing journal pages from some of our favorites artists who were inspired by YOU RULE. The first rule is of course that there are no rules in art!

Artist Lisa Hoffman is lovely. Not lovely in the boring fake smile robot way, but lovely in the way that you can totally be yourself around her and she will laugh with you and direct you to a plate of cookies. Ok, I don't know if that is true because I have never been in a room with her-but- I have emailed her and she is really funny. Funny, sarcastic (good sarcastic), and real equals lovely in my world. Her loveliness is reflected in her colorful, fun, expressive, approachable art.  I want her to be my cool aunt. Or step-sister. I think we are about the same age so aunt might not be realistic.
Lisa's life rule journal page is a keeper. In her own words:

That's right. A smart, compassionate adult ALWAYS has the right to change their mind.

We're not talking about namby-pamby "gee, I just don't KNOW" failure to commit stupidness, we're talking about those times when usually dependable YOU wakes up and decides that what she had previously THOUGHT was : a good idea, do-able, necessary

now seems like: "NOT A GOOD IDEA".

...for WHATEVER reason. oh, and you owe no one the details.

If asked for justification, feel free to use my favorite line: "...it's a LONG story...."

works every time.

You're Welcome.

Thanks for sharing your journal page, Lisa!

WOW! Lisa and her design partner Matt are giving away free book plates on Lisa's blog today! I think they'd be super cool to use in your rules journal. Download YOU RULE for your Kindle or Kindle apps (Amazon still has it on special)  instantly or get in in print and download the book plate and get your holiday weekend started!

Life Ruler: Andrew Borloz

We are thrilled to be sharing journal pages from some of our favorites artists who were inspired by YOU RULE. The first rule is of course that there are no rules in art!

Artist Andrew Borloz of Urban Paper Arts craves and hunts for color, shape, texture and forms anywhere he goes despite his deafness. He loves to learn, design and teach anything. Andrew is a proud possessor of two degrees: BS in industrial design and MA in computer science. He blogs his daily adventures (with lots of photos!) here.

Andrew's life rules journal page reminds me of a map and I love searching all the towns for each rule. A Life Map! His page reads:

&rew's Rule of Creativity: "whatever everyone does, do the OPPOSITE."
1. stay off the bandwagon - no matter how tempting.
2. go on the unbeaten paths - bumpy + crooked? so what!
3. push the envelope - no matter how difficult.
4. march to the different drummer - no matter how unconventional.
5. search high + low - no matter how stiff your neck is.
6. do things off season - no matter how hot or cold.
7. look at other side - no matter what others see.
8. broaden your horizons - take the #*&^%!? blinders off!
9. go outside of your comfort zones - do not listen to your fears.

Such great rules! We are going to adopt some of these ourselves. We are ready to buy some off-season tickets to New York and visit Andrew.  Something tells me he'd be laughing when things go wrong (or the other way) and taking photos of the adventure. We love his attitude. To create his page, Andrew used stencils he designed (squares and curvies, available soon) for Stencil Girl Products.

Thanks for sharing your rules with us, Andrew.

note: Amazon is having a mid-week special and the Kindle version of YOU RULE: The Art Of Taking Charge is $1.99 today. YOU RULE is available in print here.

Life Ruler: Dawn Sokol

We are thrilled to be sharing journal pages from some of our favorites artists who were inspired by YOU RULE. The first rule is of course that there are no rules in art!

Dawn Sokol is a book designer, illustrater, and an avid doodler and art journaler (and blogger). She is the author of 1000 Artist Journal Pages, Doodle Diary: Art Journaling for Girls, and Doodle Sketchbook: Art Journaling for Boys.

Dawn created a doodled Life Rules journal page with her rules in a fun, colorful list. Doodled words in various sized with simple blocks of color make BIG impact here. I bet we can all find a rule to relate to on Dawn's list. 

Thank's for sharing your Rules with us, Dawn!

Life Ruler: Rachel Whetzel

We are thrilled to be sharing journal pages from some of our favorites artists who were inspired by YOU RULE. The first rule is of course that there are no rules in art!

First up is Rachel Whetzel. Rachel is a mom, wife, artist, farmer (she has really cute goats), community organizer, extra-ordinary doll maker, mixed-media artist, blogger, art journaler, photographer, and art teacher. She wanted to capture her life lesson quickly so she did what works for her: a digital journal page. No passive aggressive swearing around her! If you are gonna be tough, use real cuss words. No need to dip your words in sugar.

Thanks for sharing your journal page Rachel!

Do you have a life rule about swearing?

Bionic and Cold

Today we are FEELIN' GROOVY about:
~Karen is home from the hospital with her new bionic neck.
~We finally have working a/c in our house. Dare I say I am freezing now? I have to totally rearrange my work space because it is right under the vent and if I am at my computer and the a/c is on, I have to wear a scarf and mittens like it's winter on the prairie.
~Penzey's Spices Sunny Paris blend. Buy in bulk.
~So much support from the art community for YOU RULE! Thank you! We can't wait to share journal pages from everyone (soon!)
~We had a really fun Mother's Day taking photos.

Our Bêtes Noires:
~Karen's new neck brace is kind of like that cone dogs wear. And her scar (for now) is kind of like a pirate might have. Arrrrr!!!
~Now the a/c in Karen's house has broken. We just exhange problems. Too bad we don't wear the same size shoes.
~All Dr. Oz does now is pimp supplements. He used to be so good at terrifying us to eat better and exercise. His entire show is stressful to watch because you have to write down the herbs and concoctions you need to buy really fast OR ELSE.  Wait, maybe there are herbs we need to prevent the genetic degenerative disc disease from striking the rest of us kids...
~Automated voice "operators" never understand me.

YOU RULE in print

As we mentioned earlier, like musicians who put their music on iTunes or Amazon for immediate download when they want to share their tunes, from here on out we have chosen to make our books primarily available in digital formats. One reason for this is I am addicted to my iPad and that is how I read books now, and the other, really first and foremost, is we get that everyone is watching their money. We want you to be able to afford to read books and still be able to afford to put gas in your car and go to Starbucks. Reading and art are as important as going places and having energy. You can have it all!
The way books are created for digital formats is different than for the printed format. I had to learn knew things and that was part of the fun of this big change for us. I know that some people still prefer to read books that are made of paper. So, we are making that option available. YOU RULE is a short book and was originally formatted for digital readers. The print version is a small, softcover book that is a little different than the digital version. There are a few more doodles in this book where there is extra white space that is not in the digital version. All the text is the same. It's not a fancy book. It's a simple book with room for you to make notes or doodle in the margins. It was made with price in mind. We did not want this book to cost more than $10 and it does not. This little black book of rules will fit nicely in your book bag or on your shelf without taking up too much space. YAY! More room for your art and journals!
Go here to get YOU RULE: The Art Of Taking Charge in print.
Go here to get it for your Kindle or Kindle apps/reader. If you want to give the Kindle version of YOU RULE as a gift to someone with a Kindle, go to the right of the page at Amazon and there is a "Give As Gift" button.

*Here's all you need to know about reading Kindle books on all your devices, even if you do not have a Kindle.

Where is my blind spot?

It's been a crazy few days. Karen went to the hospital to get a new neck, finally. It looks like her neck is made with what they made my fake teeth with and instead of a mo fo flipper, she has a mo fo neck brace. Since she is heavily sedated and can't really move to smack me, I am gonna go out on a limb  and say a mo fo flipper is worse. Though, she IS drooling but not lisping. We are entirely made of screws. It is our way to deal with things that make us nervous by teasing each other mercilessly, so all is normal around here. Any second now, our older brother will chime in and say his arm that is made out of screws is worse than both because the mo fo flipper and the mo fo neck brace were and are temporary but his arm is still attached. Then we will all turn on our younger brother. I feel sorry for people who do not have the competitive teasey type of siblings.
Also new this week, my hunch that most people who had iPads before me and told me I would love one, had no idea how to use the Kindle or Nook apps or that they existed. Why did everyone think I would love it, then? This delights me so much because I can't stop wondering what I do not know. What apps do I not know about that everyone else does? Where is my blind spot? I must find out!
On Friday we will finally stop shvitzing. That will be new. After battling with the warranty company for thirteen years, we are finally getting air-conditioning that works. Well, it better work! And it will be quieter, which will be good. The condenser is right outside our bedroom window and used to scare the bejesus out of me when it would kick on (but not work) at 2 AM.
New to you can be our new book, YOU RULE: The Art Of Taking Charge. It's a funny and powerful little book and the same price as a coffee and a cake pop.
And, there are some original abstract paintings in my shop. Abstract art looks good in a kitchen near coffee and cake pops.

FREE Books and a little What's For Lunch game

Happy Mother's Day! I think every mom and person alive wishes the rest of society would get on board with this rule- No Whining At Breakfast! I followed our own rules from YOU RULE and made this rule known with just a pencil and paper, er, um, paper plate.
To help everyone produce their rules, Amazon is giving YOU RULE away to all readers completely FREE today! Happy Mother's Day!

The reviews and blurbs for YOU RULE are starting to come in and we loved this one:

In their utterly unique voice that is immediately recognizable from their earlier books, Linda Woods and Karen Dinino, sisters in arms, have created the ultimate rule book: one that breaks all the rules. 43 pages of in your face, fearless, funny, and 100% authentic advice. This is a guide that not only makes you laugh but truly provides a road map to taking charge, making change, and becoming the person you always wanted to be. AND they encourage you to eat cookies too!
-Seth Apter, author of The Pulse Of Mixed Media

***Did you eat anything for lunch today?  Leave us a comment here on the blog and share your lunch with us. We've got the paper plates to eat on. A few random commenters will be the proud new owners of YOU RULE pencils to start journaling with.***

Tomatoes, Peas, and How to use the Kindle App

I used to hate tomatoes, peas, and I thought I would hate reading books that were not made of paper and glue. It tuns out I am addicted to Caprese salad, I love peas so much I am growing my own, and I do not know how I lived before the Kindle app existed. I do not have a Kindle and you do not need one to read Kindle books. Right now our Nana is laughing on a cloud somewhere saying TOLD YOU SO about the tomato and pea thing, but I suspect she would not know how to use the Kindle app and I would have to show her. In case you do not know, I am going to show you. You could be totally missing out on something great!
The Kindle app is FREE for your phone, computer, and tablet. Go to the amazon site and download it for your computer (Windows or Mac). If you have an iPhone,iPod Touch, or iPad, click the APP STORE icon on your phone or iPad and search for KINDLE. On Android, go to Marketplace and do that. However Blackberry users get apps, go there and get it, Windows Phone 7 users can use it, too. Once again, the Kindle app is FREE for all those devices.  If you do not have a smart phone, an iPad, or an Android Tablet, and you don't want to download the Kindle Reader software onto you computer (I don't know why you would not want to), you can still read books in the Kindle Cloud at Amazon. There are so many options!

Once you have the Kindle app/Reader wherever you want it, go shopping at Amazon. When you buy a Kindle book, it asks you if you would like to read it on your phone,iPad, tablet, computer or in the Cloud. It magically knows what you have.  Holy cow, there are so many FREE books! And, the Kindle version of many new books just released are cheaper than the hard-back or printed versions. You can buy a book and buy gasoline this week! If your friends are using the Kindle you can lend books to each other just like with printed books. You can have all your books you love on your phone or tablet with you while you wait at the DMV, are on an airplane, or at Starbucks yet you don't have to carry anything heavy. It's so convenient, especially when you want a recipe from a favorite cookbook. Of course, we all love books on our bookshelves and there's no reason to not have that. Nothing can replace the feel of a book in our hands and the sound a page makes when you are excitedly flipping it. This is just an alternative. We can have both. It's just like iTunes but instead of music it is books. And it's not iTunes, which is really good.

*Our new book YOU RULE is availabe for the Kindle and Kindle Apps you now know how to use on everything,