About Talented Kansans

Since I haven't posted in a while I thought I'd do a little bragging since I don't have anything new to add. About talented Kansans, most Kansans I know are multi-talented, though they don't consider themselves to be talented at all. We learn to do things simply because they need to be done, or make things because we want/need to have them. We see things in stores and think they're nice and at the same time think, "I can make that," and often go home and do just that. My daughter even told me when she was a teenager that she was tired of hearing me say, "you could make that a lot cheaper." For a while she was earning money babysitting and buying what she wanted, but as an adult raising a family is back to making what she wants (her scrubs are the envy of the care home). Her sewing skills are far beyond what I taught her. She amazes me with her creativity with pieces of furniture she recycles as furniture other than what they were intended to be. An old headboard for a twin bed was turned upside down and hung on the wall for a shelf. An old wooden decorative wall cabinet becomes a glass front display shelf. The top of a hutch is used for an elaborate headboard for her son's bed, another shelf laid on it's side is just the right size for the twin bed mattress getting the shelf out of the way and creating storage space under the mattress.

My son, the youngest boy in the family, is the really creative one. He claims that everything he knows he learned from me, but I only taught him that he could do whatever he wanted to do. In the picture below is a camera crane or jib that he built from scratch, making adjustments through trial and error.
He's in the process of building a better crane to possibly sell, but still has some bugs to work out. One of the first major projects that he took on was opening up and flooring the attic so we could use it for storage. First he had to raise the sagging roof and put in new braces that didn't obscure the area. He learned, through trial and error, about constructing a wooden I-beam for support to keep the weight of the roof off the open area over my living room. He jacked up the roof, built braces and made the roof straighter than it was when I moved in. We called in an electrician to install a light and check out the ancient wiring. According to our expert, the old wiring is safer and better insulated than the new, so we didn't replace it. Next the flooring went in. He had framed out a new hole for the entrance after consulting our neighbor who does this type of thing for a living and all this when he was still in High School. He later built the deck for the pool, the interior work for the showerhouse, the stage and the playhouse. His brother gave him a hand with the showerhouse and his sister helped with the playhouse and stage. He ran underground pipe for electric outlets in the pool/showerhouse area also an outlet in front for the dining area. He dug and put in the fire pit, ran wiring to the the entertainment center booth, hung a screen that my daughter made out or three long tablecloths and installed outdoor speakers. He put duct work in the ceiling of his rental house to hook up a central air unit that we were able to give to him. He repairs his own cars, if it needs doing and he can find a way to do it, he'll do it himself. And this is how most Kansans I know are. They have a "Can Do" spirit that's necessary for survival in tough times. This is just one of the things I love about living in Kansas.

Wooden Puzzle

One winter my brother-in-law made all the boys wooden 3D puzzles. To tell them apart he painted the ends different colors for each boy. They had a lot fun with these and at least one still exists, though I believe it may be a combination of two separate puzzles. Click on the picture to see the puzzle and all it's pieces. I don't know what I need to do to make an animated .gif work in a post on the blog. If anyone knows, please tell me.

Painted Skulls

My best friend since the 8th grade was creating painted skulls and selling them at one time. I helped her set up a webpage to advertise but it didn't really hit it off. The following are the graphics that I used on that website (also the banner above).

I did some web weaving on some of them for her.

You Were Warned - A Video Montage

This is a video montage that I put together from footage from the 17th Annual Big Boys Toy Show at Century 2 in Wichita Kansas. My son and I set up the big screen at this event every year for the past several years. We project the main stage events up on the big screen live and between events we have fun putting participants and their children, especially the children, up on the big screen.

I put this montage together for fun. I am still learning to use the editing program and having fun learning.

Do You Know a Talented Kansan?

I haven't posted anything to this blog lately because, to be honest, I don't get out much. That being said, if you know of a talented Kansan that doesn't have their own blog and you feel they REALLY deserve to be showcased, PLEASE let me know and I will gladly give them the exposure they deserve! Comment to this blog or see my profile to email me.

If you don't send me someone to showcase I will be reduced to putting more of my own stuff up!

You have been warned!!

Just Having Fun

Since I have had no new talent to add to my blog lately I thought I'd just add a picture I created as something fun I did for the granddaughters. I might use it in the story, but mainly was just learning to use the program.

Is This Talent?

I debated on putting this here, on KS Born Talent, or over on my original blog, KS Born. Since I put my original post about the "Magic Kingdom" (very first post) on KS Born Talent I decided to post this here and then mention it on KS Born. I do not consider myself much of a sketch artist or painter. I have dabbled a bit in all of these, and have actually drawn a few things that I was rather proud of, but not something I'm real comfortable or confident with. Since I have found no one to help me with artwork for my children's story I thought I'd see what I could do. The following is a picture created with my Wacom in PhotoShop utilizing tools, textures and layers.

Please let me know what you think. What you might do different? To much color? To little color? How does the whole scene feel. Do you feel a story there?

Publishing History

Years ago I started researching my family history. I had a great-uncle that had been doing genealogy since the '50s (I think). He actually taught a course on researching genealogy in Albuquerque, NM. I have published two family history books. One on my Father's - Father's line and the other on my Mother's - Mother's line. My paternal line book is the Abraham Heinrichs Family which is predominately Mennonites who were Germans from Russia. They were in Russia for over 100 years, but lived in German communities and spoke and taught their schools in German. Many believed that God would not understand them if they prayed in anything but German. My maternal line is the Gates/Chapman family history. These lines were predominately English and come down from the same Gates line as General Horatio Gates and Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower. In the Gates line is the Captain of the Bedchamber for Henry the VIII. More recently we have my 5-great grandfather that was murdered in Wisconsin and there exists a plate glass negative of him dead in the middle of the road. Researching my family history was like being on a treasure hunt, turning up great treasures from time to time, never knowing where I'm going to find them.

The three smaller books are: a book published by my Gr-gr-grandmother about her mother called "Pioneer Short Stories". She tells about entering Lawrence right after Quantril's raid to find the cousins that lived there. The middle book is my republication of "Pioneer Short Stories" and the third book is a story written by my grandmother's cousin, Edna Windhorst, at my request. Edna lived to be 102 and lived on her own well into her later 90s. I encourage everyone to attempt to research your family history if it has not already been done. I did not like, nor did I understand history when I was in school. Researching my family history made it real, made it make sense, and made me want to find out more.

It also got me elected to organize a couple of family reunions. The cassette tapes below I put together from our family reunion in California. The talent show was the highlight. One thing that our Heinrichs family enjoys is singing. Getting together and singing truely "Golden Oldies" into the wee hours of the night is something that we always loved to do.

A Study in Color

Just playing around in PhotoShop Elements that came with the Wacom Tablet. Thought I'd just put a "Warhol" together.


Just a simple picture of a bunch of flowers. I love the way the different colors and effects transforms them. Can you pick a favorite?

New Toy/Tool

I have a new toy/tool for creating my computer generated projects. It's a Wacom tablet which will make cutting out and detail work soooo much easier on my hand. It is bluetooth and has a battery so I can use it completely wireless. Below is a picture of the tablet with the mouse and pen in it's holder above it.

Below is the first picture I've doctored using the Wacom. I have several other photos that I need to do this to, to get them ready for creating my story that I mentioned in the very first post on this blog. I'm still looking for someone interested in collaborating with the artwork for this.

Pow-Wow

I thoroughly enjoyed making the Native American artwork and adornment. I even made my grandson a shirt, leggings, breechcloth, moccasins, ankle bells, breastplate and headband with two feathers. I did beading on the headband and down the sides of the leggings but never decided what to put on the breechcloth so I never got it done. He was around 3 or 4 when I did this, and I took him to a Pow-Wow in Wichita. At the time I was helping out with the Cherokee language class at the Indian Center in Wichita and they had a booth at the Pow-Wow. Going there he didn't want to put it on, but when we got there he saw all the Native Americans in their Regalia and he decided he wanted his on too. Now for the part of the story where I got in trouble. While we were there the little guy needed to pee and the only toilets they had were the portables and they had already seen two days use and were rather nasty. I really didn't want to take a little guy that didn't know how to keep his hands off things in one of them so I told him that since he was being an "Indian" he needed to learn to "water the bushes", which is real easy to do with a breechcloth. Big mistake! Every few minutes after that he wanted to "water the bushes" everywhere. THEN! The next day I get a call from his mom (my daughter).... something about her turning around and there he is whizzing away in the front yard. I heard about that for a long time afterward. I still have everything except the moccasins, he wore them out.

Ryan Windham

Ryan Windham is another Wichita Talent that I'm not sure whether he was born in Kansas but lives here now. Shad and I set up the big screen to project live at Big Boys Toy Show every year for the last 3 or 4 years. Last year Ryan was one of the main attractions giving performances on stage, so I taped him. Entercom broadcasting had sponsored the "Wichita's Got Talent" contest and Ryan was the winner and now they were promoting him at various shows like this. He has a very unusual style, I hope you enjoy listening and watching him.

Flights of Fancy

Many years back I had the choice of buying a camcorder or digital camera. At that time digital cameras were quite expensive and they weren't really all that good of quality, so I reasoned, with a camcorder I could put my videos on the computer and cut clips from them, just like having a digital camera. I found that it was an excellent digital camera since I was able to get shots that I probably wouldn't have gotten with the still camera, such as my hummingbird drinking from a fountain.

BoxABuddy

Saturday, August 11th, will be the eighth BoxABuddy since T&S Mobile Projectors has been taping and creating DVDs of the event. Pictures below are the brochures and less than half of the DVDs that I burned, printed, put together for this upcoming event. The box at the top of the picture is a display that my son has built to leave at McGraws to promote the sell of the DVDs. The small area on the right hand side is a video display that shows clips from all seven of the previous events. The left hand side is just a lit area.


Here's a bigger picture of the display box...

The clips can be viewed on Google Video or YouTube. Just do a search for "boxabuddy" and it will bring them all up.

AHSGR International Convention 2007

In June, my husband and I attended the 38th Annual International Convention of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia in Hays, Kansas. I took one of the T&S Mobile Projectors camcorders and taped the majority of the programs from Wednesday night till noon Sunday. The DVDs above are what I have gotten edited and burned so far. I still have about 16 tapes to transfer and edit. The Golden Wheat Chapter (where I'm a member) does not sell these but keeps them in them in their library for use by members.

Nobel Knight

I woke up to find these pictures on my computer. My son had sent them, he has remote access to my computer and can suprise me with such things. This clay creation was made by a guy that he works with at CompUSA. I guess it's made out of a soft clay that can't be fired and doesn't dry up to quickly. I don't model so I know little about clay. Anyone know of a way to harden or preserve this type of clay? Would this artwork sell?

Native American Style Artwork

The following are pictures of items that I made in years past. I have sold or given away all but one or two of these.



This is a combination dream catcher and chimes. I had made chimes out of silverware several years before, putting them together with bent wire decorations and old glass beads. The combination of the chimes with the dream catchers turned out better than I had imagined.
















The chokers were fun to create, to see how the different combinations would come out. One of the "bear claws" were plastic, purchased from the leather store. The other two my father carved for me. I still wear the top choker and get comments from people everytime I wear it.






This is a medium size dream catcher. It is unusual as that I only wove the bottom half and not the whole circle.






This is a mandela, it is about 2 ft across, very large. I wish I had a better camera, the flash has bled out the colors.





This was the second necklace and earring set that I made like this. I really like the first one better, but I sold it. A little history behind this set... The large part of the necklace was actually suppose to be an earring. I had purchased a book on beaded Native American earrings and this was the pattern I followed. The earring was much larger than what I would ever wear, so I made it into a necklace and scaled down the pattern to make earrings to match. The first necklace had porcupine quills instead of the bugle beads. I have a picture, somewhere, but it was a bit out of focus.







This mandela is also large. It is celebrating the Indian war pony.






This double dream catcher made the perfect wedding gift, paring the couples dreams and keeping all "evil" spirits captive in the webs. Bells are always good medicine.



These sets are simple beaded chokers and earrings with added peacock feathers with beading.






This necklace is a beaded dream catcher. Really quite simple, but elegant too.




Last, but certainly not least, my cross of nails. I made many of these, mostly smaller ones than is. This is all hand made, including the beaded chain using gold filled wire.


All for now, hope you've enjoyed viewing some of my crafts from the past.

Metal Menagerie

My Metal Menagerie should have been posted here instead of on my everyday, everything else blog, but I hadn't created the KS Born Talent blog at the time. So I post a link to it from here instead.

Princess Harris

Princess Harris is not only a Kansas Talent, she's a Kansas Treasure. I don't know if she was born in Kansas, but she lives in Wichita. She has agreed to allow me to use her music for my story and I intend to talk to her about possibly even writing music specifically for it once I get it all put together with artwork and narrative. The video sampler was recorded at a meeting of the Golden Wheat Chapter of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR) where Princess Harris gave a performance.

Can You Make Magic?

Do you like to draw? A few months ago I was going through my pictures when I realized that a series of pictures I took last summer would make into a wonderful children's story. I asked my little sister if she would like to draw the pictures for this and she was enthusiastic and even sent me a picture that she had done a few years ago that I transformed into this...

(This is a screen shot, so it isn't real great)

Well, life goes on... and for one reason or another sis doesn't have time to work on the story, so... I'm looking for someone interested in going forward with this project. I will be putting the story together as a video with some simple animation (moving stills) and have someone lined up to do the narrative and music by a lady that plays and composes on a hammer dulcimer. I don't know if this project has potential to make any money, I'd just like to put it together to see what we could do with it. Anyone interested?