My Paintings and Art Projects

3 New Paintings and My Interview with City Weekly

2010-07-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. I hope all is right in your world. I have three new paintings for you (see below) and a link to an interview I gave to the local City Weekly. It is a lengthy interview, covering lots of topics and full of photos of my new graphic novel, my paintings and other 3D artwork. I hope you enjoy it. Read it here.

15 Minutes (an ode to Warhol):

Dandelion:

Mirage:

http://nanogirl.com/paintings.html

Adieu!

PS Don't forget to buy your copy of Lazarus!

More artwork (and graphic novel news)

2010-06-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

My latest ~ which you can see on my newly redesigned website (also new to my website is my new graphic novel Lazarus - please come watch the trailer and buy a copy!)
Here are the new textured artworks:

My latest paintings

2010-04-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

Where Dreams Lie:

All That Remains:

Escape:

In Time:

Parallel Universe:

Thought process:

Abstract Landscape:

All We Are Saying....

More new paintings

2010-04-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

High Fidelity - (acrylic paint, ink, and spray paint on canvas paper) the little squares look orange (bottom right) in the photo but they lean more towards dark pink in the original work:

Cubism - (canvas and spray paint):

Transforming (acrylic paints and ink on canvas board):

Water is Life (Acrylic paint, mica flakes, ink, oil pastel, crayon, metal washers, and molding paste on canvas board):

The Maze (canvas, spray paint and ink):

Structure (acrylic paint and ink on canvas)

Two more paintings:

2010-04-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

Subconscious (fluorescent acrylic paints):

When the earth was born (ink and spray paint):

I've started painting

2010-03-09T09:41:00.001-08:00

Here are two of my paintings:

Happy Holidays

2009-12-07T14:45:00.000-08:00

Here is to wishing you all a very merry holiday season. Love, Gina

Feel like helping a Nanogirl out today?

2009-08-25T23:25:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! My animation has been selected by Hewlett Packard as a semi finalist, but to make it as a finalist, I need your votes! You need to be registered at youtube (which is free) http://www.youtube.com/create_account then make sure you are signed in and go to http://www.youtube.com/hp - (to make sure you are signed in look at the very right top corner of this page to see your user name.) Then up at the top you will see a row of blue tabs, click the "view + vote" tab, you will see my video there among others. I am wearing a black dress with my blonde pony tail down the front of me, the video is called "Who Am I". Click this picture icon to see my video. It is a video about my being a computer animator. After my video pops up you will see on the right side of it that there is a thumbs up and a thumbs down, thumbs up is what you want to click to give me your vote. You are allowed to vote one time a day, all the way through (and including) Sunday. However you are not allowed to vote more than once a day as it is against the rules. But please feel free to spread the word to your friends and family as every vote counts! The prize is 40 thousand dollars and considering my current financial situation you can imagine this would be a wonderful prize indeed. Please vote for me every day and I thank you so kindly for it. Thank you, thank you, thank you so very much!!!

Happiness

2009-07-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

This photo is of a necklace I made for my Mom's birthday. It's a metal base with paper that I cut out and inserted. I then added a gemstone with glue and sealed the whole thing with diamond glaze. More news at my health blog and animation blog. Don't forget to check out my "The Offering" animation too.

I hope you all are having a nice summer. Gina~

Fabric, Edgar Allan Poe and Alan Alda

2009-04-03T16:26:00.001-07:00

Here in this photo you can see another Ginature I made, this one is made of fabric and features a metal center piece. I sort of took a favor to it and ended up hanging it on my living room wall. I've updated my health blog which includes photos and a link to a new Edgar Allan Poe animation I just finished - or you can click here to see the animation directly. I leave you with a quote by Alan Alda "The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself."

My painting and big news link

2009-02-24T23:52:00.000-08:00

What you see above is a painting I made using pink metallic paint on canvas (over a coat of white paint). I like the idea of using non traditional color for a traditional profile. Oh and you might want to see this! XOXO

I've got a new shop!

2009-01-08T01:16:00.000-08:00

I've got a new shop, it's wearable's and the like, that have my digital artwork on them (hats, bags, t-shirts, ties etc.). Please come visit, I hope you enjoy it! See the zazzle panel down there on your right...

You can also check out my health blog for my latest MRI results (scroll beneath the online shop section) and to read about my latest artwork news and to see clips of it airing on Japanese and French tv!! And more!

Happy New Year

2008-12-30T23:37:00.000-08:00

Above: the front and back side of my home made Christmas ornament. And by the way, the contest is over and I want to thank all of you who supported me by voting, it means so much to me. I hope that you all have a very prosperous New Year!

Update on this post - The Voting is now closed

2008-12-27T15:00:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! Hope you are having a very merry Christmas. Remember when you voted for my animation and I made it through that first round well now it's for the final round of voting! The winner will take home 20 thousand dollars! If I can win this, I will use it for my big project. Please use your previously created username and password (or register if you haven't already) to log into http://www.offzhook.com/ after you have logged in, click view and vote, then click on the Inspirations video by Gina Miller (http://www.offzhook.com/contestEntry.jsp?id=30) and check the purple box below the video. You can vote one time every day until the 29th, so if you could, I would of course be very, very thankful. Looks like I really could use your help right now too because I'm at zero percent. By the way, if after you check the purple box you go to a java script error page, click your back arrow to go back to the page and check it one more time, it will then work.
Happy holidays!!! If you need any help just email me. Thank you!!! Thank you!!! Gina
Update on this post - The Voting is now closed

Contest update and another Ginature

2008-10-29T01:33:00.000-07:00

The photo is a picture of a Ginature (hangs on the wall) that I made last year, it has lots of velvet. The voting for the contest is over (for now) and my inspirations animation made it into this week's finalist spot for the contest! This doesn't mean that my animation has won yet. What it means is that after 8 more weeks (and two more finalists chosen per week) there will be one more final round of voting (I believe near the end of December), so hang on to your passwords because when all the finalists are chosen I will go up against them one last time for that golden 20 thousand dollars, and of course it's you and your votes that decide if I will win. On that note I would like to thank all of you that voted and got me into this finalist round, it's truly amazing that I have your support and we both thank you so much. I'm a finalist, hooray!! I couldn't have done this without you. I'll let you know when the final round begins, and thank you so much!!! If you want to read about my MRI results from my multiple sclerosis click here. And check out my Tangerine Dream. XO ~ Gina

A favor to ask of you

2008-10-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, so we are not generating the kind of financial support we need for our big project, but you can help us by voting for an animation I made for a contest that will award the winner $20,000, which we really need for our project to continue forward. I was chosen as a finalist! But the only way I can win is by having the most votes from you!
You'll have to register, it's free by going here: http://www.offzhook.com/register.jsp (save or write down the username and password you made) after you are registered they will send you an email, click the link in the email, then you'll see a login page, go ahead and log in.
Now you will see a page that says what you can do now, it says "edit your profile, or add events", but you can just ignore that if you want to and go straight to my video page to watch it and vote (you can vote once a day!). My video is called Inspirations and is here - copy and paste this url into your browser or click this link: http://offzhook.com/contestEntry.jsp?id=30
To play the video, click the little arrow in the center of the video. If the video is broken up that is just because it is loading - let it play all weird like that the first time, then play it again, the second time it will play all the way through for you, without stopping. Make sure your volume is on.
Now to vote: right below the video (check the purple "Vote for this clip" click your mouse right into that empty box, so that it is now checked). Hooray, you have voted, thank you! Every vote adds up so please if you have a friend or other that would be willing to help, please spread the word! The voting is up until and including the day of the 27th, this week only. And don't forget, since they do allow you to vote every day this will really increase my odds. So please do, just login here http://offzhook.com/login.jsp?r=profileView.jsp every day to vote, and then go to my video page again, http://offzhook.com/contestEntry.jsp?id=30.
This contest is for and about a camera in which they requested "makeover" as the theme. I turned this idea into a "beauty is everywhere" concept in my animated video. I hope you like it and if by some miracle I get enough votes to win, thank you for helping Jim and I make our big project come to life! Love to all.

Damask Ginature

2008-10-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of my new Ginature, it's smaller than the ones I usually make, it's only about 5 X 5 inches (it's the nano version!). My usual size is 10 or 12 inches squared but this fits the size of the room and wall space very well. I made this by layering sheets of paper (usually I use fabric), I then added ribbon, a tiny frame and a big cameo button. It matches our new bathroom which is decorated in damask prints and is where this piece now resides. Click here to see my latest health update. And, click here to see a book I illustrated. Happy Weekend!

My animation is going to be on the History Channel this Thursday!

2008-08-16T17:54:00.000-07:00

My animation (the dermal display) is going to be on TV! And it's the History Channel too, one of my favorites. Watch the show called "The Works" (Tattoos episode) on the History Channel this Thursday! 10PM 9C. It's supposed to be in the later part of the episode. This is the first time having my work on a TV show! Click here for the shows url.

Also I am working on a project and I would really like to talk to you all about, but I can't discuss it online so if you are interested or remotely curious please send me an email and I will send you the information! And don't forget to let me know your blog handle so I know who you are : ) Looking forward to hearing from you. Click here to email me.

Golden ticket

2008-08-01T19:38:00.001-07:00

I made a golden ticket!

Please enjoy my starry night ~

2008-07-02T03:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've got to share my new animation with you, I hope you like it! Click here to watch.
And the 6th multiple sclerosis treatment last week was better!

Ginature

2008-06-24T01:27:00.000-07:00

click image to enlarge
Okay gang, I've had 5 treatments since my multiple sclerosis diagnosis (that rhymed) and I have been getting acclimated, I have MS but it doesn't have me. If you want to check in on my status I do update my other blog with how things are going, it's here. I also have a summer greeting for you at my third blog here.
As for the photo: I made it before Christmas, I call these contraptions Ginatures - a merger of my name and "picture". This was the first one I made, I made more of them afterwards - I'll put them up on the blog later. I did not hammer or staple gun myself so they were a success! Anyway it's got fabric, two rows of ribbon (one with a button on top) and lace. I look forward to hearing from you all!

My First MS treatment

2008-05-28T23:44:00.000-07:00

So I had my first multiple sclerosis treatment which I wrote extensively about on my other blog, click here to read about how it went. And I really want to thank you all for your always positive and uplifting support, it really does help. In the meantime, I haven't been crafty lately but you can look at this photo of a crochet caddy that I made my Mom for Christmas. I remember wanting to make one but feeling unsure about if I could, and I was surprised that I sat down and figured it out with a disappearing ink pen and straight pins in one evening. You never know until you just sit down and try. There are so many great lessons in creating. And I enjoy them. Enjoy your week.
Click to enlarge:

Yes I do have Multiple Sclerosis

2008-05-06T01:21:00.000-07:00

So I have had some more tests and the results confirm that I do indeed have Multiple Sclerosis. I'll be starting treatments soon. I wrote an thorough update at the other blog here:

http://ginamiller.blogspot.com/2008/05/gina-ms-update-tuesday-5608.html#comments

And thank you friends and family for all of your continued support.

Below is a photo of the Easter card I made for my mom:

Click to enlarge

Some bad medical news for Gina

2008-04-06T00:03:00.000-07:00

So dear friends and family you have been used to me posting updates about my husband James B. Lewis PhD who as you know in 04 he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and he had two stem cell transplants, he is doing great! Super, we are so happy, but what I am now reporting to you is about me. It's quite the shock for us, and rather than write a whole long bit about it here, if you are interested I did write it all out for you at what is usually Jim's blog here: http://ginamiller.blogspot.com we may both be using this blog now to keep you informed of both of our health. Anyway friends and family, I would love to hear from you.
A direct link to my post is here: http://ginamiller.blogspot.com/2008/04/big-medical-news-on-gina-front.html Gina

Are you wearing green?

2008-03-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

I made this for my mom today.

Fiona Apple: Across The Universe

2008-03-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

Click the arrow to play. The Beatles classic by Lennon. I really like how Fiona sings it. In February 08 the Beatles version was transmitted into Deep space by the NASA Deep Space Network. See NASA clip. Just look at how she is oblivious to all the chaos behind her - because she is pulled to the light and laughter of the universe and knows this is her place. She is choosing calm and peace for herself. Nothing is going to change her world.
Lyrics:
Words are flying out like
endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting thorough my open mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Images of broken light which
dance before me like a million eyes
That call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter shades of earth are ringing
Through my open ears inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which shines around me like a
Million suns, it calls me on and on
Across the universe
Jai guru de va om
Nothings gonna change my world,
Nothings gonna change my world.
Nothings gonna change my world.
Nothings gonna change my world.
Jai guru de va, jai guru de va
Jai guru de va, jai guru de va
Jai guru de va.

Jai guru de va, jai guru de va.

Big B

2008-03-08T15:51:00.000-08:00

Here is a card I hand made for my brother's birthday. Although the big glittery B could stand for brother, or birthday it's actually his first initial. He said he appreciated the time it took to make - so I was of course very glad that he liked it. Hope you enjoyed your sushi brother!
To make the card I used metallic paper (and the card and envelope do match, my camera made the colors appear a little different in the photo) ribbon, cut the back off of a glittery brad, the silver designs were embossed, and cut out paper shapes to layer, as well as that big chipboard B.

You say it's your birthday!

2008-02-23T22:52:00.000-08:00

It's my birthday too!
Click the image to enlarge.

B-day Balloon

2008-02-22T21:30:00.000-08:00

Look at what my sweetie got me, a birthday balloon. My birthday is tomorrow, but my birthday balloon and I have already spent some quality time together : )

More love

2008-02-16T15:39:00.000-08:00

The card I made for my valentine.

And, a booklet I made (it has a very soft fabric paper cover):

P.S. If you have an extra minute, please help Angela help others.

Hearts Day

2008-02-14T22:39:00.001-08:00

♥

2008-02-10T21:40:00.000-08:00

Click image to enlarge. Have a happy Valentines day everyone! ♥

Mona Lisa

2008-01-29T23:25:00.000-08:00

I made a new Mona Lisa animation if you want to peek over at my other blog...
Click here!

Christmas cards 07

2008-01-20T16:02:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple Christmas cards that I hand made (from last month). Click the picture to enlarge. I hope your new year is bringing you new joys and new beginnings.

Happy holidays

2007-12-29T21:52:00.000-08:00

I made these ornaments from German Dresden papers that I layered and placed on spun glass. I added a loop of ribbon (gold on one and velvet on the other) to make them easy to hang. The blue one is on my Mom's tree. We had a wonderful time. I hope you are all having a happy holiday season.
Click to enlarge

I made something for you!

2007-12-12T23:13:00.000-08:00

Hi there, I've got a little Christmas Cheer that I made for you all!
Come see the whole thing, click here.

Warm and fuzzy

2007-12-08T22:05:00.000-08:00

This was a gift I made for the littlest one on that family trip we had two months ago - remember the tooth fairy pillowcases for the elder children? This is a fleece blanket made of only two parts that folds inside of itself to turn into a compact pillow. It is sort of a puzzle trying to get it back in there, but hey that makes it good for the mind doesn't it, and warm and fuzzy for the rest : )

Sweet sentiments

2007-12-01T13:30:00.000-08:00

Isn't this the sweetest little handmade card? It was made for me by my sponsored child who resides in Bangkok, Thailand. He is actually my second sponsored child as I've been doing this for about nine years now.
I really like the dimensions of the card, long and thin, it makes it interesting. It feels like he used pastel chalks for coloring, while the inside is full of Christmas cheer.
You know it's snowing it Seattle right now! "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...." The picture you see is what my backyard looks like right now.

Does anyone have any idea why Blogger isn't loading images in a new window but has a pop up instead?

My new shop

2007-11-20T18:14:00.000-08:00

Okay so yesterday I mentioned I just started my own Etsy shop, which had primarily vintage patterns, (check out the little image link I made on the right) and last night I did make my first sale! Well today I am happy to announce that I have Christmas theme die cut packs, in two different colors, but there are only four! Anyhoo, it's all very exciting! Have a happy thanksgiving!

That time of year & what - me Etsy!?

2007-11-19T14:00:00.001-08:00

I got these adorable snow babies from friend and blogger Flea Market Queen. She has a charming etsy shop with plenty of other fabulous items to choose from.

I just set up MY OWN ETSY SHOP, although I don't have much there yet. I am just getting into the swing of things. I will be adding die cut collections soon, these will be multiples of blank shapes for crafting (or what ever your heart desires), including bells, envelopes, flowers, hearts and many more. So keep checking on me!

Well, it's back to holiday prepping for me, can you believe that it's already that time of year again! Time sure does fly. Happy, happy and merry, merry to all.

The pink tooth fairy

2007-11-12T14:45:00.000-08:00

So here is the second tooth fairy pillow case I made, girl style! One side is large pink gingham fabric with a polka dot felt pocket for storing a tooth and the reverse side features a paper doll print.

It's so nice to see the sweet smiles when giving your gift to the little ones. This was one of multiples (including the last tooth fairy pillow post) given to family last month when we went back East.

Want to see some new pictures? Last Wednesday Jim and I returned from another nano event and we visited with my Mom. Click here.

I also have some pictures up at my animation blog of my recent animation talk, yes another one! Click here.

It's nice to back with you all!
Bye!

Happy Halloween 07!

2007-10-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge.

Toothfairy pillowcase

2007-10-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

So I was away on a trip! I sure had a swell time, it was a mixture of business and pleasure, but it was all pleasure! To read more about it (and see some fun photos) click here!

One of the gifts I gave was this pillow case I made with an initialized pocket for the toothfairy. As you can see it's two sided and I just love the little retro cowboy fabric (it's Michael Miller's yippee cowboy).

Now for the pocket I don't know if you can see it or not but it has a a very 'cowboy' swirl imprint design on it, it almost looks embossed. I'm pretty sure I purchased sheets of it at JoAnn's although I can't find it online for you, however I would have gotten it in the store. I stitched it on with orange thread to match the prints, and finally added an embroidered letter. It was a treat to make and even more so to give.

A real gem

2007-10-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

My dear Jessica, beautiful inside and out, she is a gift, of infinite giving. You may remember my previous post regarding her philanthropic endeavors in Brazil. Well today I received the most beautiful gift from her. This ring that features my birthstone! What a thoughtful surprise! Jessica, you touch my heart in so many ways and you bring smiles to so many faces, including mine! I've been smiling all day! I am so glad there are people like you in the world. Thank you so very much. REALLY SUPER BIG HUGS!!

R.U.R.

2007-09-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

As an homage to Karel Čapek I will name my newly created Robot R.U.R. I sculpted her from clay. Her bow/antenna is made out of two hearts. I drew a little digital looking speech pattern graph on the mouth (if she were real it would move with her words). I don't know if you can see it or not but she has glitter on her heart (and no where else), ah symbolism!

P.S. Don't forget my new videos!

Cascalera

2007-09-08T17:50:00.000-07:00

What you see here behind my doggie and to the left, is my donation to our most generous blogger Jessica.

She is leaving for Brazil October 9 at which point she will bring some aide to Cascalera.

We can all help...
Click here to see a list of needed items and where to send any little bit that you can.

Thank you Jessica for all that you do : )

New arrival

2007-09-01T16:44:00.000-07:00

My new little niece arrived today! That's her in the above picture. Isn't she beautiful! Below is the baby pillow I made for her. Have a happy Labor day weekend.

Felt coasters

2007-08-27T21:58:00.000-07:00

Here we have two sets of coasters made from felt. I cut out squares, and then trimmed the edges with pinking shears. I sewed around each one of the butterflies and flowers with my sewing machine, which was the most tedious part, since the corners are so small - I was picking the presser foot up after almost every stitch. I then layered green, then pink, then green, then pink in a stack. So each of the two sets you see has four coasters. They are finalized with velvet ribon on the top, which the one in the left corner of the photo, I slid through a rhinestone buckle, the one on the right is a pearl buckle. The lower ribbon is slid through little pearl heart buckles. These will be given as gifts to family.
By the way stop over at my animation blog to watch & comment on 2 of my new animations!

Below, a picture I found from last year. Hugs.

Cotton Cameo

2007-08-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

This is a two sided fabric cameo, stuffed with puff and hung on a chain. It's about two inches tall so I really had to watch my fingers and move slowly while sewing the edges closed. One nice thing about it is that when you are moving around it never hurts upon impact, it's very comfortable.

Address Labels

2007-08-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

What you see here is one complete set of address labels I made on my computer. I made them in two rows of four so that they could be printed out on a sheet of adhesive paper and then cut out into the eight labels that you see. Then I put them inside the right bottom corner envelope and tied with a very thin and very light pink gingham ribbon. Sweet Sunday to you.

The hubbies shoebag

2007-07-22T00:06:00.000-07:00

Okay Peta, as promised here is the hubbies shoe bag. It has different fabric on both sides but they match in their robotic theme as they are both manufactured by Michael Miller fabrics. That link isn't working at the moment (just because I posted it I suppose : )

Shoe bag

2007-07-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

Here we have a two sided drawstring shoe bag. I made this bag in anticipation of the next nanotech conference I will be attending. My feet are small enough that if I pack an extra pair of sandals or thongs they will fit into a glad bag, but if they are tennis shoes or other they won't. So I decided to make this bag that can be used over and over again to keep both my shoes and the surrounding clothes in my suitcase protected. The other nice thing about a cloth shoebag is that you can wash it! This is the first time since before my husbands chemo and stem cell transplants that we will be able to go back to the conferences, so we are very excited. He's getting a bag too : )

We can help

2007-07-06T00:41:00.000-07:00

I just watched Lisa Lings investigative report on the problem of chlid labor and slavery of young girls in Southeast Asia, called Who cares about girls. It's a very heartbreaking situation but we can help by donating to the Global Fund for Women here.
Hope you all had a happy fourth.

The UPS came today

2007-06-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

And delivered this, limited edition "Barbie Learns to Cook" a replica of a a 1965 doll with thick black eyeliner and very golden hair.
If you go to the product link page here you can zoom into her.

P.S I entered my "The Gift" animation into a monthly contest at the OurStage Website - if you sign up for free (no strings) at their website (click judge at the top) you can vote for my animation which is here. I need your votes to win! It's over at the end of the month. Thank you All! (This is a current contest for the month of June.)
Update: I didn't win, but I would like to thank everyone who voted!

I love Mika

2007-06-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

Scrapbooking!

2007-06-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

Pretty funny!

How to Make Polymer Clay Beads

2007-05-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

I found this wonderful how to video at Youtube today!

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-12T23:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day Mom! Remember Easter,when I was small, you would have those Easter basket hunts for us in the house? I'd run down to the table and there would be a note for me, look in the washer machine, there would be a note for me, look in the refrigerator, another note until my brother and I would eventually find our Easter baskets. It was so much fun, like a treasure hunt. Click here to find yours.
For the blog readers, I hope you and yours have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Anniversary Day!

2007-05-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

We had such a fine time spending our 7th wedding anniversary together yesterday!

Moloko - the time is now

2007-04-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

The band has parted ways but we will always have the music. We also have solo careers to look forward to. Happy Weekend!

Moloko - Indigo

2007-04-27T23:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone!

2007-04-09T00:10:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a very happy Easter!
Check out my new demo reel.

Another animation

2007-03-27T18:36:00.000-07:00

Got another animation for you all. You can go to my animation blog by clicking here or go directly to the webpage here to watch it. Hope you enjoy it! Gina

New bedroom!

2007-03-12T02:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight I redecorated the bedroom. I had been collecting and saving these items over the last year and finally they have all come together! Sleep tight!

The Gift

2007-03-02T21:24:00.000-08:00

I'm going to direct you to my animation blog so you can see my newest animation, click here!

Birthday pictures

2007-02-24T23:31:00.000-08:00

Birthday fun with Chucks and Tux!

Happy Hearts Day 2007!

2007-02-07T01:37:00.000-08:00

I made an animated Valentine for you click here (or the heart) to watch!

Love, hugs and all that good Valentines day stuff ~ Gina

Snow

2007-01-16T15:51:00.000-08:00

I wrote this yesterday~

Snow (or Snow Fall)

It was the first garden I had ever planted, it was my own, on my own land. When the storm came, it buried me and my garden. It was as if the garden had never even existed, I could only see the cold desolate snow that laid upon it. For years I just lay there, far removed from the rest of the world. Only to see the every now and again presence of someone coming to pluck what remained and leaving me behind.

As time rolled by another storm came, stronger and much more devastating than the last - this one threatened to take me away completely. I was thrown far away from the garden. When the storm was done reeking it's havoc, all was lost, I was alone and I awoke to find myself at a cross roads. I could stay here in the damage or I could leave.
After all those years of lying there in the snow, I finally rose up and chose to leave.

I could never return to that garden, I had to start all over again from the beginning, in a new place. I vowed to myself and to others who had suffered from the storm, to stay away from the cold this time. I would make my garden bigger and better than before, I would nurture it so that it bloomed the most beautiful flowers possible. I would water it every day and pull all the weeds out as they arose. And I did all of these things, and my garden flourished.
Years passed so quickly that I wasn't even aware of storms anymore, I was completely focused on the gifts growing in my garden and I was happy. My garden was so fruitful that I began uniting my garden with others, and we had strong and healthy mergers and moved forward together.

One day I was walking down the path to my garden, as I did every day, I noticed an ice patch, I turned to find that there was a chill there, that was not before, standing beside me, telling me to walk across it, so I tried and I continued on. The next day I walked down the path and there was even more ice, and again I was encouraged by these new journers upon the path, on the third day it became obviously slippery, and dangerous and again it was insisted that I walk on. I don't even think they thought about the ice at all. I don't think they saw my danger, but I recognized it.

I could feel the storm brewing, I didn't want to get caught up in it again, I thought about it, I looked at all the beauty that had been grown here in this new place, I felt proud, I felt success, I felt safe, I felt love I felt all things good. I had tried those few times, but I knew better now than to risk my own life and just surrender to the storm by walking down that frigid path. For this path, looked like the path that led to that storm that so destroyed my previous garden.

Perhaps the chill that tried to push me down that slippery path could make the trek, perhaps it was of no difference to them than the path they have walked, but I knew different for myself. I worked hard to grow my new garden, and I would not allow the snow to bury all that I had done, especially considering that I had others depending on me. Others like myself ate from this garden and shared it with me and help me grow it. And, there are others that I am expecting to come to my garden, and I want it to be the best it can be when that time comes.

I made a decision, that I would not walk down that path and accidentally slip, for if I can see the risk ahead of time, would it be an accident? I could not chance it, not one slip, not one snow fall.
So I built a new path so that I could enter my garden from a safe place, from a new direction and leave the icy path alone, so I would not fall and fail the garden that I had built up. I returned to my warm and sunny earth, and shared the gifts with those who helped me and held my hand all the way down the path and into the garden.

No need to follow a path just because it is there, or because it is expected of you, if you are sent down an icy path, you are not obligated by anyone to follow, it might be okay for them, but if it is not for you, follow your own path. You are obligated to yourself and you are more and your garden will flourish if you do so. This is the path of no regret.
And the garden, the garden is me.

Copyright Gina Miller 2007 all rights reserved, no portion of this material may be copied without permission from the author.

Happy New Year 2007

2007-01-02T15:37:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone. I hope this year ushers much happiness, health, love and success into your lives. Here is a silhouette that I made for my mom and gave to her on Christmas. I made it on my computer and used two separate card stocks for a layered effect. The images are on the bottom layer and the inside frame which I cut a hole out of, resides on the top layer. I hope you had a happy holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-24T04:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Click here for some fun reading.

Brother in law birthday

2006-11-11T21:30:00.000-08:00

This is a handmade birthday card and bookmark. You can see both sides of the bookmark have been personalized with his name on one side and the PI symbol on the other (he is a mathematician, and it happens to be one of my favorite numbers) in multiples. Each one of the multiples utilizes different paper, the top a shiny metallic paper, the middle an opaque blue and the last a transparent blue vellum. The card I made with the same metallic paper in the center, and a soft almost fabric like paper for the details. The center is three layers (soft, metallic, then soft for the flower) and has a 3 dimensional brad that I cut the tabs off of and glued on. The inside has a robot that I embossed with silver metallic embossing powder. This was actually sent out a while back but due to the distraction of my recent animation projects (and my husbands health) I never got around to uploading it to the blog, so here it is.

dandelion

2006-11-04T19:14:00.000-08:00

Again my apologies for no crafts or sewing on my craft and sewing blog - it seems I'm all one creative force or the other, and in this case it most certainly was true, I didn't have time to do anything else as I was burning the midnight oil to meet the deadline (boy was it a sight!). Here I will copy and paste my animation blog words for you "This piece was the most sequential animation that I have done. It was generated for the film2music competition in which registrants are asked to select a track from the composers CD and create a video to accompany it. Previous to this competition I had been busy producing "The Mark" for the aniboom contest. This meant that I had only a couple weeks to create and complete this one. As elaborate as a concept this piece was, the time line wasn't feasible but I crunched through nights without sleep to get it in on time. I just barely made it, but I made it!So the prize for this one is not only money but meetings with a famous producer and agent! And this time, it's no sweat to vote, you don't have to sign up or register for anything, no typing at all, it's just one click and "send", okay so technically that's two clicks, but that's all just clicks!Come watch dandelion here - an animation about hope and faith in ones future dreams. Thank you all!" Gina

Come watch, come vote!

2006-10-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

I can now announce my animation officially! My newest animation, The Mark is now a contender in the "Drama" category at the 25 thousand dollar Aniboom competition. My original footage is in hi definition, this means it has a wide screen, and since the Aniboom site has square windows for animation viewing, my footage has been squished together to fit, making things appear sort of skinny and tall. Here's what I recommend, watch the video (the large sized one) at my webpage here (where you can also read a whole lot about this animation), after you watch it then go to the Aniboom site and rate it. Do this by going here and clicking the farthest right boom ball (by the "your vote"), they will ask you to register, but it's super easy to do! After that you can now rate it (go back and click the ball again) and it will work, you will see a thank you window as proof!
Or you can do this in reverse by just going to the Aniboom.com front page and clicking the blue login button up in the top right corner, here you will be able to register, you can then go to my "The Mark" page and vote right away the first time.
I hope you enjoy the animation and that it gives you meaning, it was very cathartic to make. And I thank you my dear friends and family for your votes and your support! Turn up your volume!

Hang in there with me!

2006-10-06T00:18:00.000-07:00

I'm actually done with the animation that I was telling you about earlier, (here is a sample image) but they are having some sort of uploading problems over at the contest site, so I'll let you know when it's up and running. Thank you for your patience!

Still working on it....

2006-10-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

I've been working non stop for the last few weeks on a new animation that I will be submitting to the Aniboom contest, this one is for 25 thousand dollars! The motherload. They have different catagories, I already submitted my fractal animation to their "experimental" category (which you and your friends and family -wink, wink- can register for free, and rate by clicking the little ball on the farthest right by "your vote" at this webpage:
http://www.aniboom.com/Pages/Application/Player/Player.aspx?AnimationID=1903
the farthest right ball (or bomb?) is the highest and best vote. This contest is like the others, the highest and most votes helps me to win. Now, the animation I am currently working on "The Mark" will most likely be finished in a few days, and I will submit it to the "Drama" category, when I do I will let you know! Hope you had a nice weekend.

Bear with me!

2006-09-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

Bear with me friends and family - I'm busy trying to churn out a new animation that has a deadline of Oct 1. I'll see you soon!

Countrifried Oil - second distraction - plz vote!

2006-09-16T16:28:00.000-07:00

Okay I've made a second animation for the wind energy competition, this one has a funny plot and I like it a lot! It's called "Countrifried Oil". Please come and vote for my newest submission by going here: http://www.windblows.us/ If you signed up to vote for my first video than you only need to login to vote for my second. If you did not then just simply register, it's free and super easy! Afterwards you can vote for my animation. I need all the votes I can get as the number of votes determines who will win the ten thousand dollars! Don't worry this is my last submission to this contest! I would like to thank you all for your support!!! I couldn't do this without you!

Been distracted!

2006-09-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of animating lately. My most recent animation is a submission to a 10 thousand dollar contest for wind energy (for those of you who have been following my husbands cancer progress you can imagine how this money would help us). Please come vote for my video "Wind Makes the World Go Round" at the contest page by clicking here. Right away when you click my "vote" button, you will see a login area, you will need to register, but don't worry it is super easy! After that, you can vote for me! You should see the number change. Please tell your friends and family to vote too! I need all the votes I can get - it is the number of votes that will determine the winner!
I probably won't be crafting or sewing for a while yet as I am working on a second submission for this contest. I'll let you know when it is complete. My thanks and hugs to all!

Baby blankie

2006-08-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

This is a baby blanket, matching cap and card that I made for a new baby in the family. The blanket is a blue fleece fabric with multi colored hearts on it. The large binding surrounding the edge of the blanket is shiny white with small colored alphabets. The smaller side edges of the blanket features a blue hem binding, simply because I didn't have enough of the other to go around the whole blanket. In the corner of the blanket I made a little gingham fabric bear that I used a zig zag stitch to sew on. The hat features the same large alphabet binding and a crocheted flower with blue beading. I made a card to match by cutting out blue baby feet paper on the front centered with a blue flower and cornered with little silver feet shaped brads, on the inside is a blue transparent bear that is the same as the gingham one on the blanket. I was so pleased to hear back that the blanket is happily in use!

2006-08-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

The Little Girl Giant

Isn't she interesting. I wonder how many people it took to sew that dress!

My own T-shirt!

2006-08-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

I got my embroidery machine to do this! It's a learning curve, but worth it!

Who's cross blogging!

2006-08-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

Oops, I've been animating!

(the link should be fixed now)

Bookplates

2006-08-14T14:21:00.000-07:00

Here is the last photo from my Mom's gift package. I made these bookplates by cutting shapes out of sticky back vellum (some pink plaid and some pink rose) and inking the images on to the front. For the lady, I added little lavender paper flowers with matching rhinestone centers. For the "from the library of" I cut various corner shapes out of shiny paper and glued them on. All my Mom has to do is peel the back off, put it inside her book and sign her name. I like these so much that I made some for my second cousin (and wife) and for my husband and I. Off to try and figure out some functions on my new embroidery machine and later hopefully get some overdue animation work done!

More of Mom's birthday presents

2006-08-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

Here you see some more craft projects that were generated for my Mom's birthday. I went to K-mart and bought two blank bathroom hand towels and one blank kitchen hand towel. For the bathroom towels I used a cotton blue print fabric with small cherries to make the big butterflies. I attached them to the center of the towels using a tight zig zag stitch. I folded over the sides of some light blue oversized ric rac and used two straight stitches to attach them. I then stitched on light blue butterflies that I made out of felt using a smaller zig zag stitch. They seemed to match the ric rac pretty well.
For the kitchen towel I had some fabric that had these large square recipes scattered all over it as part of the print. They are real recipes too! I cut three of the squares out and laid them out at an angle. I fused them first and then straight stitched them on to the towel.
I found a darker blue felt to make the smaller butterflies for this towel.
As a gift wrap I made a draw string bag (like I did for Aunt Roxie) out of the same fabric as the big butterflies and used red felt this time for the little butterflies to make it pop. I think we just have one more of Mom's presents after this one!

Here is another video for you all!

2006-08-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

Retromercial: She Caught on Quick (1940)

Get it! The Singer Man does it again!

2006-08-05T23:52:00.000-07:00

Retromercial: Three Smart Daughters (1940)

This commercial is a lot of fun, just look at what they made. This one works for me since I just got a Singer sewing/embroidery machine. Does anyone have one? If so I've got a question or two. Enjoy the film.

2006-08-05T23:49:00.000-07:00

1957 French Commercial for Necchi Sewing Machines

Check out this nostaligic commercial for a sewing machine!

Quotes

2006-08-05T18:35:00.000-07:00

Confucius: Silence is the true friend that never betrays.

Dwight D. Eisenhower: You do not lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership.

Albert Einstein: Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.

Anonymous: Don't people know that when they mess with your head, you don't want to be in their presence.

Abigail Van Buren: People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes.

Anais Nin: Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.

Ramona L. Anderson: People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within.

Anonymous: Airing dirty laundry in public will make people afraid of you.

Mark Twain: What work I have done I have done because it has been play. If it had been work I shouldn't have done it. Who was it who said, "Blessed is the man who has found his work"? Whoever it was he had the right idea in his mind. Mark you, he says his work--not somebody else's work. The work that is really a man's own work is play and not work at all. Cursed is the man who has found some other man's work and cannot lose it. When we talk about the great workers of the world we really mean the great players of the world. The fellows who groan and sweat under the weary load of toil that they bear never can hope to do anything great. How can they when their souls are in a ferment of revolt against the employment of their hands and brains? The product of slavery, intellectual or physical, can never be great.

Eleanor Roosevelt: I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.

Robert Greeleaf: Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much.

Andy Warhol: They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.

Anonymous: If others constantly try to draw you down a path of jr. high confusion, don't scratch your head wondering why, back up and continue down your own path, your true companions will be there waiting for you.

Heraclitus: You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing in. ca. 500 BCE

Anonymous: People of common goals who come together are twice as strong.

Helen Keller: No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.

B.F. Teel: Compromising people might be angry at you for making decisions that are wise for your own life, but you must always preserve your own sobriety, safety and sanity - first and foremost.

Pablo Picasso: I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.

Anonymous: Chaos should never be the basis of a relationship.

Sophocles: Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness.

Thomas Alva Edison: If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.

Theodor Fontane: Happiness, it seems to me, consists of two things: first, in being where you belong, and second -- and best -- in comfortably going through everyday life, that is, having had a good night's sleep and not being hurt by new shoes.

My Aunt's 90th Birthday present

2006-08-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

Okay so you wanted more photos of what I was up to while the blog was quiet. My Aunt Roxie turned 90 years old! For her present I went with a cherry motif. The bag in the top most left hand corner was the bag I made for her while the bag in the top most right was the "gift" bag that I made as a wrapping paper for her presents. The wrapping paper or gift bag was a simple soft flannel cherry fabric with a soft fuzzy heart appliqué and draw string handle. Her actual cherry bag present was made out of cotton and was lined with an attached cream pocket. The top of the bag has a green gingham hem upon which I stitched 3 cherry buttons. For a finishing touch the front has a crochet 3d cherry on it with matching red handle. I also gave her one of those bottle cap necklaces which I packaged in a home made double sided cardstock box (die cut) and wrapped in tissue that I stamped the Gibson girl on. In the photo you see two of those boxes because I gave one Aunt Roxie and I gave one to my Mom. I still have more photos of my moms gifts pending which I will add to the blog later. In the photos you see Aunt Roxie opening her gift and reading my handmade card! (click images to enlarge)
P.S. I've got a couple photos from my animation talk up over at my animation blog, feel free to leave those comments over there, thanks!

Matryoshka

2006-08-01T00:58:00.000-07:00

I made this russian matryoshka doll pincushion as a gift for my mom. It was a super easy project since the design was already printed on the fabric. I just cut them out, filled with batting and stitched them together! I really like the matryoshka concept since it reminds me of infinity and pi, my favorite never ending numbers. Wish these little ladies had more of a smile though! They still brought one to me, hope they do the same for you!

I've added a picture of the original fabric - above.

I'll say!

2006-07-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge and read.

Follow your dreams

2006-07-29T00:32:00.000-07:00

Here are the photos of the infamous quilted bag. What you see here is two sided quilted fabric with roses on one side and blue denim on the other. On the outside I stitched on the holding hands appliqué which I made out of red felt. I didn't get a close up of the red hem on the top of the bag but it has a very pretty decorative stitch on it. Inside you can see that there is a separator which has a pocket on each side (yes it's that pocket). For the red strap I stitched ribbon up and down it that said "follow your dreams". This was one of a few gifts I made for my mothers birthday (I'll post the rest later), and her wondrous response sang through the air "I love it", sigh, it was so worth it! -click image to enlarge, yes those are her hands on the left-

I'm back

2006-07-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the absence kids, I had a whole bunch of family events rolled into one with no web access, well once but only for a minute. I also gave an animation talk at a school which I will eventually talk about on my animation blog. Anyway, I'm back now and have lots of stuff to show you from the plethora of gifts I made, some of you may remember the corner pocket bag..... that and others will be up soon. I'm still decompressing so bear with me but keep checking back, things should be back to relatively normal soon! It's good to back among you, hugs to you all!

Yin and Yang

2006-07-02T01:17:00.000-07:00

A simple Asian print fabric rolled into a tube and embellished with only a red translucent button and yin and yang button. It's for a man so I didn't want to over do it and with the fabric print it seemed to hold it's own with just the buttons. Happy weekend!

Quilted question 6/27/06

2006-06-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

I've been working on two bags. They are made from double sided prequilted fabric. On one of these, to sew the sides together I simply zig zaged the edges first and then stitched them together, first with a straight stitch and then with a another round of zig zags for strengthening. If you've ever worked with quilted fabric then you know when I turned the bag inside out where these were sewn together there is some fraying along the seams.
On the second one I wanted to add a pocket, so I cut out a smaller section to become a separator in between the side panels and stitched some pockets on it. To avoid the fraying I stitched on binding on the separator sides as well as the side panels while it was inside out. The problem is when I turn it right side out, the corners poke up, down on the inside. They don't push all the way out. I know that when we go around corners we need to make snips but I couldn't do this with the hem binding. I thought about cutting off the corner that is poking and sewing where I cut, but this would remove the binding and might be odd. I'm considering ripping the binding off, but then I don't have any better resolution. My only other thought would be to just remove the binding like in the first one and leaving the funny edges. It would be a whole lot of work to undo what I've done now! Any ideas ladies?
In this picture you can see how wrong it is, this is what needs to turn inside out to become the deep pocket corner.

Don't ya step on my blue suede shoes

2006-06-23T01:05:00.000-07:00

I didn't make these shoes I bought them online from Payless shoes for $9.99 (now they are even lower priced at $7.99). They arrived today in their plain blue appearance. I took them back to the studio room and at first I was going to appliqué some teddy bears and bows out of blue and pink fabric but they were so flat, they just didn't have any pop. So I dug around in my box of goodies and found two matching bunnies that I had gotten for a $1.50 each from Diaso (Seattle location). I came up with matching flowers, strawberries and hearts from my magic box as well. The bunnies were iron on, so that was easy. I tried to hand sew on the others but my needle wouldn't go through the thick canvas easily. So I ended up using fabric glue and pinning them down until they dried, which looked rather like voodoo. But I promise there is no magic involved here. The flowers are on the inside of the shoes in alternating colors, same for the strawberries on the outside.I hope the glue holds up under the wear and tear that shoes endure. Guess I'll find out, it will be an experiment!

I'm a little tea pot

2006-06-21T14:34:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I had my final sewing class. This PJ was from the pattern that we were instructed to use. I purchased a tea pot print flannel and over sized buttons from Jo-anns for mine. The class was a valuable lesson in following patterns and how to use fusible web for collars, button line ups, and an interesting fold over cuff. I decided to use different colors of embroidery thread for my buttons since they were so large normal thread didn't seem strong enough to hold them. I can't wait for a cooler night so that I can sleep cozy in my new PJs.

DeeDee

2006-06-18T22:57:00.000-07:00

In my house we are fans of Dexter's Laboratory cartoon, not that it has anything to do with my doll but with my animation interest, my husbands comic book interest and our mutual interest in science, it is a fun lighthearted show that we sometimes enjoy. So when I asked what my doll should be named he thought of Dexter's sister DeeDee, I think because of all the pink!
So here we have DeeDee, I made her with a felt white top body, soft rose print flannel arms, cotton stripe legs, felt lips (which actually started out embroidered but per suggested, needed to be bigger and more colorful - the original mouth is buried underneath), the remaining embroidered nose (used to match the old mouth), strawberry button eyes, a permanent ribbon stitched together with an appliqué strawberry, matching ribbon and nylon elastic waistband net slip, gingham heart appliqué (on the chest) with matching elastic waistband skirt and yarn hair! Whew long sentence! I had fun, hope you like it. Click the image to enlarge.

Favorite Friday - Retro player 6/16/06

2006-06-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

Every now and then we put on an LP and dance.

Ice cream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream

2006-06-16T00:07:00.000-07:00

This is a summery shorts set, it could also be used as sleepwear. The t-shirt was made by Hanes, but I cut out the ice cream fabric (soft flannel), with scalloped edges and used a zig zag stitch to applique on to the front. The shorts were all me and were made the same way I made the piano pants. They are loose and comfy. The bottom photo is a strip of fabric that I stitched together for a matching hair tie. I was so inspired by the outfit that we capped the night off with an ice cream cone! Have a nice weekend.