Arty Kitkat
I tend to think teaching art is tough - to be a good art teacher you need to inspire and be willing to nurture creativity and to be that person you probably aren't much of a rules person and not necessarily that good at getting people through the hoops you have to get people through at school like exams, coursework etc.. I know I'm probably making leaps where I shouldn't but my best art teacher was probably not the best teacher in the strict sense of the word. He was amazing but he never seemed comfortable in the role of school teacher and had a breakdown not long after I left school. He's still knocking about but apparently went off and did work in theatre production and lighting. My best memories of him are of him playing Bob Marley really loud and letting me play my Chili Peppers albums and he used to let people smoke in the art cupboard and stay after class or work through the breaks or even skive off from other classes.
I think your teacher probably needs to learn a thing about constructive criticism. He is probably also 'good' at getting people through the school 'sausage machine' so everyone probably comes out passing the course. He probably doesn't get many artists though.
Sorry if this sounds a bit rambling, but what I would suggest is to toe the line at class - i.e. turn up, jump through the hoops and come out with your exams, but it maybe worth looking into something like life classes or another art class with an outside group. I did this and you get to mix with a whole different set of people and get to experiment more and try out different things.
Good luck though and although its hell at the time, school doesn't last forever 
Posts by Arty Kitkat
These were the bits I made Pepperpotts - I think she was having trouble getting to grips with posting pics so I thought I'd put some up instead.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/artykitkat/4590163506/" title="Bits I've made for Newbie swap on CO&K by ArtyKitKat, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/4590163506_be7189dc9a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Bits I've made for Newbie swap on CO&K" /></a>
Here are all my goodies
tiny friend in a matchbox = )
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/artykitkat/4685761280/" title="Tiny Swap from Violetta by ArtyKitKat, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1291/4685761280_f634b902b5_m.jpg" width="180" height="240" alt="Tiny Swap from Violetta" /></a>
pin cushion, kifli phone charm (I'm dying to have a go at making kifli for real) and little bag of knitting
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/artykitkat/4685745100/" title="Tiny Swap from Violetta by ArtyKitKat, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/4685745100_766c7ec335.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Tiny Swap from Violetta" /></a>
2 rings - I love the crochet beaded one
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/artykitkat/4685745090/" title="Tiny Swap from Violetta by ArtyKitKat, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/4685745090_50860fc6a5.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Tiny Swap from Violetta" /></a>
cuff & badges - I was wearing the cuff last night as it went with what I was wearing
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/artykitkat/4685745084/" title="Tiny Swap from Violetta by ArtyKitKat, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4685745084_7ffd3d5b3b_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Tiny Swap from Violetta" /></a>
purse, pouch and buttons - I really love the purse, such a great colour
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/artykitkat/4685745076/" title="Tiny Swap from Violetta by ArtyKitKat, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4685745076_e17641c8ae.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Tiny Swap from Violetta" /></a>
tiny lollipop necklace - this was my bf's favourite
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/artykitkat/4685745064/" title="Tiny Swap from Violetta by ArtyKitKat, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4060/4685745064_f0cfec11cc.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Tiny Swap from Violetta" /></a>
Welcome aboard Martha - I'm hoping this one will work better as we'll be working with a smaller group of people and there won't be the postage worries. I've also hopefully been able to use the stuff that went wrong to give people a bit of a clearer picture of whats involved. I have a good feeling about this one
Okay UK ladies with Martha joining we now have enough people to start So like the US group we all need to start by making a little book of 6 pages, filling in the front page with info on us including your name and address and making contact with the person who follows us on the list so we can send it on to them. If you are at the end of the line then you send onto the first person. When you reach the last page in a book rather than send on you send it back to the person who made the book - their details should be on the front page. Any questions just let me know
I've just heard from Savalou - life is a bit hectic at the moment and is getting in the way of crafting so we're putting things on hold for a bit till things settle down for her. I'm completely cool with this. Its really nice for someone to be up front and say something. I've had partners vanish into thin air before so I'm happy to wait till life calms down. I love seeing everyone elses
My mum had a similar reaction too - it felt as if she thought it was an over reaction or something but once she realised how serious things had got she was okay with it. I think parents (my mums been a nurse since she was 17) come from a generation when psychiatric medication was ladened down with lots of nasty side affects and it was pretty obvious that people on the medication were 'on something'. Medication has changed a lot though and I've been on prozac and had no side affects at all. Unfortunately even on a high dose it wasn't really touching the sides as far as the depression and anxiety went but some of my clients are on it and its literally been a life saver.
I just opened everything and I love it all I'll eat dinner and then get taking pics - I'm already wearing the cuff. Did I mention that I love everything
I tried out glasses crafter and got my specs today \o/ They're great and I really like them. They took about 2 weeks from placing the order to recieving them but they cost about a tenth of the cost of my other glasses and are practically the same - except the new ones are a bit funkier I was really happy and would use them again. Thanks nora for recommending the site. You saved me a bundle!
I got mine today \o/ I haven't opened everything yet. I'll post some pics later tonight hopefully when I've opened my goodies
I've decided to slim down my account and just have the bare minimum on it at the moment. I'm also giving myself a fb holiday. I want to get out of the habit of checking it daily. I figure I'll get an email if someone has contacted me via it. Its such a shame though, when I first joined it was a great site but I feel like they've sold out. I think part of the changes were due to legal reasons - apparently (or so I've read) the idea behind the site was pinched off someone. The two programmers who were employed to set up this site apparently did a deliberately slow and crappy job as they were using the idea to set up fb. Apparently this all went through court and changes had to be made so that it wasn't the same as the original blokes idea. I think thats roughly what happened. The really recent changes though don't appear to have anything to do with that. They seem to be for the sake of money and cashing in on people's dependency on the site.
Chibigirl yes 6 pages. You fill in the front page and send it on to the next person who fills in the second. This keeps going round till each page is filled and then it gets sent back to the person who made it (you in this case).
Does anyone else get a bit freaked out by facebook these days? Its been changed so much over the last 6 months that I really don't like it but I feel a bit trapped as everyone seems to be on it. I came extremely close tonight to deactivating my account. It just feels like its just a matter of time before everyone on the planet is on it and it makes me feel really weird.
Also the final straw came tonight when I found a really weird comment my mum made about something I'd said to my niece. It just made me think 'do you know what I could do without this'.
In the UK we were going to have ID cards introduced and I was one of the people who really disagreed with. I didn't want the government snooping in on my life but I feel with all the changes made to fb I feel like a bit of a hypocrite.
What are others thoughts about all the recent changes - i.e. new privacy settings, changes to interests and setting up pages for everything you like, listen to, watch, read.....
Right USA folks you have enough to get started. What you all need to do now is make contact with the person after you in the list and get their address. If you are the last then make contact with the first. Next everyone makes themselves a little friendship book. Be as creative as you want with these and so long as you make sure your real name and address is on the front feel free to put whatever other info you want on your page. When you have filled up your first page send it onto the next person on the list. Everyone does this so their should be 6 little books simultaneously working their way round the country collecting info on others on the list. When you get a book that only has one clear page do your creative bits on this last page but rather than send it to the next person on the list you send it back to the creator of the book. Does this make sense? Let me know if anyone has any questions. It looks complicated but makes more sense when you get going. Hopefully these should work their way round pretty quickly. Because they are so small I would suggest trying to get the books filled in and sent on within about a week. They don't take long at all but they're good fun
Cool I've added you both to the list. We just need one more for each and we can get going.