LIFE in a KALEIDOSCOPE

Playing in a Ballpit Kaleidoscopes

2009-01-05T23:41:00.004-05:00

More kaleidoscopes from pictures of my grandson! This time it's a photo of him playing in a home version of a ball pit at my brother's house, at my nephew's 1st birthday party last summer. My nephew and my grandson were born 5 days apart, and they're the first 2 babies born into the (immediate) family in 10 years. Needless to say neither of them lack for attention and a little indulgent spoiling, lol!

My poor neglected blog...

2008-12-29T08:16:00.003-05:00

Well, the previous post contains the first kaleidoscopes in 2 weeks. I didn't really intend to neglect this blog for so long, but between the holidays and other things I just kept putting it off. One of those other things, that I want to mention is my venture into selling some of my kaleidoscope art through a print on demand company called Zazzle. (Ut oh, here comes the commercial, lol!) I didn't start off intending to sell any of my work, but the fact of the matter is that I'm out ofwork at the moment and need an income, so there's the hard truth of it. A girl's gotta pay the bills!

The kaleidoscopes I design for Zazzle are independent from what I design for here, so while you may see similar designs, they won't be the exact ones. You can get my designs on items like t shirts, ties, shoes, mousepads, greeting cards, postage stamps, and a lot more! If you'd like to check it out, here's a link to my gallery:

Kalos Eidos

While I will have an ad for my products here, and I may mention Zazzle from time to time, I will still be using this blog for it's original intention and try not to be obnoxious about the advertising. I have another blog that I've just started for promoting my work at Zazzle that I hope you'll take a look at. Keep in mind that it's new and there's not much there yet, but I will be adding to it. You can find it here:

Kalos Eidos: A Kaleidoscope of Digital Art

I mention all this because, yes I do want to advertise it for one. I also want to say that while I may not be posting here nearly everyday like I started off doing, I will still be posting new kaleidoscopes. I enjoy it too much to stop, and I hope you'll forgive me for "going commercial" for a little bit on you!

Dollar Bills Kaleidoscope

2008-12-29T08:06:00.003-05:00

I took a picture of a couple of one dollar bills to get these kaleidoscopes. Not my best work, in my opinion, but the effects were still interesting to me.

Ceramic Frog Kaleidoscopes

2008-12-14T23:22:00.004-05:00

I did these from photo of a big ceramic frog.

Socks the Cat Kaleidoscopes

2008-12-10T22:23:00.004-05:00

These were from a photo of one of my mother's cats, Socks. He's a beautiful gray and white long haired cat. The green circles in the third on down that look like eyes, really are eyes, well one eye repeated actually. His eyes aren't normally that color and I didn't do anything to the color for that particular kaleidoscope. For what ever reason, when I took the photo the pupils of his eyes appeared as green, probably a reflection from one of Mom's house plants.

Houseplant Kaleidoscopes

2008-12-09T22:27:00.003-05:00

I took a photo of one of my Mother's houseplants, a pathos, to get these.

Summer Hat Kaleidoscopes

2008-12-08T21:51:00.002-05:00

I started with a photo of one of those colorful summer hats. The colors were nice and bright, so I thought I could get some nice kaleidoscopes from it.

Sliced Orange Kaleidoscopes

2008-12-08T00:32:00.004-05:00

So, I sliced up an orange the other day. Before I ate it, I thought to myself, "Self... I wonder what these might look like as a kaleidoscope?" So I snapped a photo and proceeded to find out!

Dried Leaf Kaleidoscopes

2008-12-06T21:43:00.004-05:00

I took a picture of a dried leaf to get these kaleidoscopes.

Kaleidoscope Avatars 64x64 Set 1

2008-12-05T17:08:00.004-05:00

Here is the next set of avatars. These are 64x64 pixels. I've started working on some 200x200 pixel tiles, so keep an eye out for them in the future!

Park Scene Kaleidoscopes

2008-12-04T19:28:00.003-05:00

The photo for these kaleidoscopes was taken at the same park where the gazebo that I used in earlier kaleidoscopes is located. I had taken it one day last winter. It took a little bit of work to get images I liked from the photo; it was an overcast day with snow on the ground, so there was a lot of white and gray. A little playing around with the color and they turned out ok, though.

Candy Dish Kaleidoscopes

2008-12-03T20:07:00.002-05:00

These started off as a photo of a green glass candy dish. Like the previous trinket box, it had an interesting raised texture that I liked.

Trinket Box Kaleidoscopes

2008-12-02T10:00:00.005-05:00

This was a close-up photo of a little silver-plated trinket box. It had some great raised detail on it that I thought would be interesting in a kaleidoscope.

Pine Cone Kaleidoscopes

2008-12-01T22:40:00.002-05:00

In the short time I've been making kaleidoscope images, I'm already starting to get a feel for what kinds of images will turn into interesting kaleidoscopes. I find myself looking at things, wondering if a particular image of something will work well. So it happened with a pine cone my Mom had collected from somewhere and had sitting on a shelf. She lives in the apartment right above mine, so I went downstairs and grabbed my camera to take a picture. I particularly like how the third image down turned out.

World AIDS Day 2008

2008-12-01T00:40:00.000-05:00

Today, December 1st is World AIDS Day. It was established by the World Health Organization in 1988. There are an estimated 33 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS and there are many people who are infected with the HIV virus and do not know it. 2 million people died from AIDS in 2007. This is a global pandemic that affects all of us. Chances are you or someone you know has been affected in some way by HIV.

Please take the the time today and beyond to educate yourself about HIV and AIDS.

World AIDS Day 2008
World AIDS Campaign
NIDA HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse
AIDS.gov
Hivtest.org
World Health Organization

Chocolate Chip Cookie Kaleidoscopes

2008-11-30T12:39:00.004-05:00

What with having the diabetes, and all...I need to avoid cookies and all their sugar-filled yummy-ness. Yeah, I know they make sugar-free cookies, but it's just not the same. There's nothing that says I can't play with my food instead of eating it, though. These kaleidoscopes aren't very tasty, but they're much better for the glucose levels!

New domain name update.

2008-11-30T01:17:00.002-05:00

The new domain name for Life in a Kaleidoscope is now live and working!

http://www.lifeinakaleidoscope.com

Kaleidoscope Avatars 75x75 Set 1

2008-11-29T07:31:00.004-05:00

Here are some more avatars! These are 75x75.

Toe Sock Kaleidoscopes

2008-11-28T10:03:00.003-05:00

My niece came over for an overnight visit last night, and I showed her my kaleidoscopes. I was explaining how I make them from pictures, and she suggested that her brightly striped toe socks might make some nice ones. Smart kid! Here's what we came up with this morning. Thanks for the help, Katy-bug!

Turkey Kaleidoscopes

2008-11-27T07:37:00.004-05:00

Since today is Thanksgiving here in the US, here are some turkey kaleidoscopes! The original photo is of an Eastern Wild Turkey. It's not an original photo of mine. The photo is a public domain image provide by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the photo's creator Gary M. Stoltz. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service National Digital Library

New Domain Name!

2008-11-26T15:43:00.003-05:00

Just a quick post to let everyone know... I got my blog it's very own domain name! It's in transition right at the moment. Everything should still be working properly and I will post the address when it's live and working. Shouldn't be hard to figure out what it will be, lol! The Blogger(blogspot) address should work now and after transition.

"Tree in the Road" Kaleidoscopes

2008-11-26T11:39:00.002-05:00

These kaleidoscopes were originally a picture I took with my cell phone of part of a tree that came down during a summer storm. It landed right in the middle of the road, taking some electrical wires with it. Fortunately, no one was hurt and other than the tree and wires, there was no damage to anyone's property.

"Static Cling" Costume Kaleidoscopes

2008-11-25T08:28:00.002-05:00

These kaleidoscopes were done from a picture that my husband took of me at a Halloween party last year. I was "static cling". Easiest costume ever, because I already had just about everything I needed. The only thing I bought for it was a lacy bra and undies, ugly boxers, and toe socks for interest. Oh, and a pair of gaudy, bright slippers to wear. I bought it all at a dollar store, so the total cost was only a few dollars. Everything else I already had at home.

"Laundry Made Fun" Kaleidoscopes

2008-11-24T18:58:00.002-05:00

I can think of worse things than doing the laundry, but it's still boring. At least, it is to me. I thought I'd make it a little more fun and dress up the detergent bottle a little.....

Kaleidoscope Avatars 100x100 Set 1

2008-11-23T16:15:00.007-05:00

I've been making some avatars with my kaleidoscope images, so I thought I'd share those also. This particular set is consists of 100x100 pixel size avatars. I am also working on others sizes, 75x75 and 64x64, which I will post at a later date. I'm not keeping track of what photos I use for which avatar; frankly they work up so fast that it's really just a hassle to keep them sorted out. I'd much rather spend the time making them!