Use It or Lose It

It's hard to believe,

but I've been in Belize for two and a half months.

Somehow the time has gone by both fast and slow.

I'm not quite sure how that works...

Shouldn't it be one or the other?

No matter what, though, I've always had a place to live and everything I need to sustain life.

In other words, Not Dead. That's always a perk.

("Empty Hearse", anyone?)

Up till now, 

I've been living off my savings and the generosity of my awesome friends.

That money is going to run out, unfortunately, 

so I've been attempting to make a living working on the internet.

As you may have gathered, I love the English language -

both in it's written and spoken form.

Yesterday, I set up my teaching profile on BuddySchool.com.

I'm going to be a practice partner for anyone who is already learning English -

fun conversations on their favorite subjects, 

helping them to connect what they're learning to their life.

Hopefully this will allow me to do a few things:

Share my love of English,

and be able to stay here in Belize.

So, that's the plan!

If you would like to help me out,

or if you know of someone who is learning English,

tell them about me :)

The link to my profile is here:

https://buddyschool.com/profile/show-profile/68928/practice-english-with-a-canadian

The first lesson/conversation is free (30 minutes),

so we can have a chance to figure out what each of us has in mind.

It's done via SKYPE.

My username is: amiemorgan

Sherlock Candleholder

UPDATE!! My SHERLOCK Candleholder is NOW AVAILABLE to purchase at my shop!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/175036633/sherlock-silhouette-candleholder-with

~~~

I had the idea of tracing any simple image or text onto clear glass.

Today I *finally* tried it.

I decided to go with one of my very favorite characters,

Sherlock Holmes;

his silhouette and a quote,

"Amazing how fire exposes our priorities."

- A Scandal in Belgravia, SHERLOCK 

It worked!

I'm very happy with how it turned out, 

and am excited to keep experimenting ^_^

This design and more will soon be available on my shop!

www.etsy.com/shop/TheArtOfWriting

I thought I'd share my success, 

in case you'd like to give it a go!

Materials:

*Clear Glass (i.e. candle holder, vase) 

*Print your text and/or image

*Scissors (to cut out your print-out)

*Tape (to stick print-out to glass)

*Paint Pen (I used Sharpie Oil Based Paint pens, black, in Fine Point and Extra Fine Point)

*Rubbing Alcohol and tissue (to remove any mistakes)

Drying and Baking Instructions:

Allow paint to dry for at least 1 hour (I usually allow longer).

Place in a cool oven.

This is VERY IMPORTANT!

DO NOT pre-heat the oven.

Set at 450 F (230 C) for 20 minutes.

When the 20 minutes is done, turn the oven off,

but DO NOT remove the glass!

Wait until the oven has completely cooled,

and then remove.

I know you can't really see it here, but there is a
printed profile/image that I'm tracing over.
(I waited to long to start taking pictures. Sorry!)

I printed the text that I wanted, then taped
it to the inside. The font is Verdana.

Here is the text, partially traced.
For this, I used the Extra Fine Point paint pen.