Day 3

I don't think I ever thought about what color cold is? I think it is a shade of blue. I noticed that in all of the weather pictures I have taken, there is a chilly blue cast. It was sunny for just a bit yesterday which was helpful, since we were without power. Today is very overcast and very cold, with more snow on that way. Rumor has it that we will be melted off by Saturday. I must say I am soooo looking forward to Saturday!

Day 2 and Counting

Have I ever mentioned that I am not a big "Weather" fan? We were without power yesterday, no electric and no heat. As the day went on and we were still without the basics, I am afraid that I become increasingly grumpy. Everything I wanted to do either required lighting or a glue gun. So, too keep busy I cleaned for a while, then I decided to give in and take a nap. It was candle lighting time when I finally removed myself from the igloo made of blankets and puppies. Lucky for me I hoard candles sticks and we had plenty. Hubby and I snuggled in to read books by candlelight. We only had to read by candlelight until about 6:30 PM; what a relief! It took till about 8:00 PM to figure out the continuing lack of heat; but all worked out well. There are many, many trees down. We lost a good chunk of one of the two trees in the front yard. Unfortunately, the branch was well into the street (and super heavy with all of the snow and ice), so hubby had to cut it up to move it (this is while I was napping). The next door neighbors tree is giving a good fight, you can see that it is leaning into the fireplace chimney, but the limbs haven't broken yet, I hope they don't, the tree is absolutely gorgeous. The snow and ice have dragged down numerous trees and power lines and in general everything is a mess. The mail hasn't run and the newspaper man and stayed at home (smart thinking). The front of my house looks charming in the snow...looks can be deceiving!!

O

Baby, It's COLD Out There!

Ice and Snow and Ice and Ice and Ice

I know its winter; however, I am so over winter already. The ice started here about 9:30 last night, it woke me up off and on all night long. I hate weather of any kind, I find it creepy. The ground this morning was so hard that the puppies didn't even make a mark when they went out for their morning constitution. I had to drag Gizmo (he is the young one) back into the house, he was very intrigued and was beginning to turn into an "icekimo".

I had a ridiculously excellent Saturday morning. I found a junk store that sells by the pound! Really, by the pound!! They had scads of double deluxe wallpaper books that had been abandoned. I tore out all of the cool papers I wanted, gorgeous, fabulous, yummy papers. I found an old champagne box, and some lovely fabric remnants. Fifteen bucks, buys you 25 pounds of "Stuff". I have 8 pound of "Stuff" left on my "Pound Pass"!! The little shop is only open from 9-12 on Saturdays, guess I know where I will be for the next few Saturdays.

My friend Tresa, who has a fabric store-Grateful Threads-was having a sale and I helped to unload some of her inventory of smallish pieces. I was waiting to meet her dad, who was in for the weather (just kidding) and decided that all of the little piece would make great eyeglass covers. So, on Saturday afternoon I made 27 eyeglass covers out of a wondrous assortment of embroidered silk, tapestry, paisley, check, plaid, metallic and one piece of wierd faux leather. They are absolutely gorgeous and will be for sale at "Grateful Threads" as soon as the ice melts. Tresa is always on the look out for ways to make money donations to the MS Association and part of the proceeds from the eyeglass covers might be just the ticket!!

Saturday afternoon, I also got a call that my artwork had been accepted at "Penny Lane's" for a showing of women's artwork. Show is in March, six artists, three pieces from each of us. Pretty cool! Many thanks to the owner; Heidi K.

Now I am off to make lemonade of the rest of my day!!!

Happy Friday

I have had the best week! Dinner with Tracy was big fun and very informative. I had much to noodle on and couldn't get to sleep until after midnight. The Dean at USI has very graciously allowed me to add a needed class at the third week mark. My dear friend Kate, clocked out of her part time job just to have a glass of tea with me while I ate lunch yesterday (I could have eaten a car bumper). I am feeling so very blessed and today is Friday, which of course is just the beginning of who know what kind of adventures for the weekend.

Looks like I will be writing my first paper for class on "Tiffany", oh boy, won't that just be horrible! I am so excited, and apparently there must have been some Karma there, because the topic had previously been assigned to someone who didn't want him (go figure), so lucky me (again).

Took my first oil painting class at the Evansville Museum yesterday, that was really fun. The class is small and the instructor; Connie Rae Bell, is just the right amount of serious. I used every brush I had, I tend to do everything in a speedy manner and oil isn't very speedy. None the less, I finished a small, semi respectable, scene from straight out of my head. I know there are so many things wrong with that last sentence. It is completely evident that I will need more brushes, as I don't like the paint to mix together, again a bit difficult with the slow speed of drying. Forgot my camera at home so I didn't get pictures, but will get that accomplished this next week.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and very creative weekend!!

Up from the Dead

Happy to be up and moving and doing art and posting. It has been a dreadful couple of weeks. I am originally from California and since I have moved to the Midwest, I am sick from October through mid April. This year, I thought I had beat being ill, but low and behold, right before Christmas-BAM!!! Same junk every year, respiratory stuff. I went AWOL on the antibiotics after my third round (the last at 12.00 a tablet). Well, turns out I am low on vitamin D. I am happy to say I am now heavily "D"-eeed up! What a relief. I am so happy to feel fabulous and not just go through the motions or worse yet, not go through the motions; and its only January! YIPPY-SKIPPY!!!!!!

As a complete aside, I lost the paper doll for my "Hot Flash" piece. Temporary of course, but stressful, none the less. Worked on the exterior sides and back last night. Still haven't found all of the perfect items. Very, very close. I have used some vintage jewelry and vintage cigar bands on the exterior. Moving the exterior from hot to coolish in the very back. Taking my first oil painting class tomorrow, missed the class last week due to the zero degree weather. Not so good for my ear infection, so inside I stayed.

I have decided to go back to college to finish my BA; can I say getting through the three inch file has taken up a day or so this week. It's hard when you originally started in 1980. Change of course catalog, don't you know. I quit as a Senior in 1983, not so smart. Ugggg. However, I don't need that many units to finish and I must have really good Karma-I applied for an exciting internship possibility yesterday, that I didn't know existed. I have my fingers crossed!

Having dinner tonight with the fabulous Tracy Zeller. She started her own business several years ago, doing the very thing she loved. I contacted her right before Christmas, possibly her busiest time of year (jewelry) and she very graciously made arrangements to have dinner with me so I could pick her brain. Lucky, lucky me!

Christmas Cards

Here are some of the belated photos of the hanging cards I made for Friends. Naturally they haven't received them yet (leaning toward a "Christmas Month-kinda like "Birthday Month"). Good news or bad, not sure, but these three girls aren't blog followers, so posting them is a OK! I went to a yard sale several years ago and bought this great plywood boxes, they sold the whole group to me. I think there were 25 or 30 in all. The boxes had lids and sometimes my boxes don't need lids and naturally I couldn't just throw them out. So I made these little hanging plaques-I actually like them. There are vintage buttons, old lace pieces, velvet ribbon remnants, pieces from vintage cards, old sheet music and lots of gold and silver paint! Funny enough, I thought that a two dimensional piece would be easier or should I say faster to make. Silly me, I still had to find parts....LOL! Have a Creative Day!! S

Jewelry Giveaway

Yes, its true!! Sharon Henry of Mana Moon Studios is getting ready to celebrate her 1,000th jewelry creation. Lucky us! Do yourself a little favor and sign up for her giveaway -here is the link Mana Moon Studios: Something Big a Brewin'
For a big dose of inspiration and gorgeous eye candy, mosey on over to her new website: manamoon.com (yes, you can sign up for the jewelry give away through her website as well). Good Luck! Many congratulations for such a "BIG" Milestone!!!

Debut-John Fields

Here is my fabulous husband! I had to give him some blog time. He wanted to know why the puppies made it on the blog before he did...mostly it never occurred to me that he would want a photo of himself out in the blog world; here it is.

Yes, for those of you who know him as well as I do, that is a novel in his lap. He blazed through a whole James Patterson novel yesterday. Hard to believe that when he asked me to marry him, he refused to promise to keep me in books! He even broke down and got his own library card. I keep telling people that he had hip surgery and when he came out of the hospital someone else was in his body! All joking aside, he is a huge support for me and all the crazy things I want to do. I am truly blessed-XOXO honey!!!

Inner Diva

Here is a little 4 X 4. I finally completed it over the weekend. The little swirls are black sequins that I painstakingly cut off of an elastic trim, that I seem to have just oodles of. I had been looking for the perfect thing, and there is was right in the trim box...the trim is something my grandmother got from somewhere, I have two bolts. OK, really; I don't need to two perfect bolts of 1970's, one inch, stretchy, black sequin trim. I have had it for at least ten years and have used it only on two projects, I used the trim in its original state. I finally decided to tear a piece of trim up, four sequins across, so it only took about six inches and I have sequins to spare. I love them on the swirly things-they are just the detail I was searching for. The background is acrylic paint. I adhered a piece of a sewing pattern over the paint with gloss gel medium. My Diva is from a magazine advertisement that I clipped sometime over the summer-I love the big, dark sunglasses, and the giant hat. The feather is a real feather attached with gloss gel medium, the feather is from an old beat up Mardi Gras mask, found at a yard sale. I kept the thing only for the feathers, you know they are getting harder and harder to come by.

On another note, I was a good girl and went to my Pilate's class this morning....I met another artist. Cynthia Watson. She was also being a very good girl. I had heard of her, but I had never met her, so that was big fun. She makes lovely pendants from used coffee filters-how cool is that? Not to mention the pendants she had with her were absolutely gorgeous. I am looking forward to getting to know her better!

My Puppies

Here are my puppies in their new chair. Molly is on the second floor, she is nine and Gizmo is on the first floor, he is a year and a half. Notice Gizmo is perched on a new pillow I made-cut velvet no less. He does have good taste!

We were given Gizmo just when he had turned one. The original owner couldn't keep him. We gladly took him, however we didn't know how thin he was until we had him for a day or two. He was smaller than Molly when we got him, now he can stand over the top of her and not touch the top of her back. He has developed a new personality, he is extremely clumsy, hungry all the time and adore's Miss Molly; who mostly just tolerates his presence. He is also of the opinion that if my husband and I get in the car, that is where he should be getting himself to as well.

Finished up several projects. 3 D Christmas plaques, for my girlfriends. Completed my first "comfort doll, she is beautiful although a little unbalanced. The second one is ready for stitching together for stuffing, the second one was much easier than the first and I am guessing that the third one will be a piece of cake. I made gorgeous button and paper clip magnets for my wall calendar. With all of the buttons I have you would have thought that would have been easily accomplished, but the size I had to use to make it all work was very specific and I couldn't bear to cut off the shank of a button to use it as a magnet! I finished two 4 X 4 pieces that hadn't been just right. I didn't manage to find anything for my hot flash box...I just know it will come to me this week!

Hot Flash!

I have been working on this box since before Christmas. I just hate it when I have an idea and it has to come to a complete and utter stand still because I am missing parts! The box itself I have been saving since it was opened on New Year's Eve 1999-the bottle was emptied by my cousins and me. It was the start of a very good year. I picked up the paper, just because; horded said paper until this box idea. The paper doll I found in a game box, misplaced I am sure by the original owner. Yes, the matches really are covered in ruby red glitter. I couldn't pass up the opportunity for glitter! I am really needing something to indicate heat, something(s) really small and relatively inexpensive, I need a lot of whatever it is. I just know, I will know it when I see it-however I would prefer sooner rather than later. If you think of something I can use, please don't hesitate to share, I am starting to go a little crazy. Have a terrific Day!!!

December's PJ Strike Is Over!

I have borrowed heavily from my blogging friend "Josh" of original "PJ Strike" fame. I spent the entire month of December in a work related stupor. I didn't stay in Malibu Feathers the whole month, but my favorite flannel PJ's were involved about 90% of the time.

My catatonic frame of mind in regards to my perceived "real job" is finally at a standstill if not a permanent outage. I have been noodling for the last six months or so about what I do for a living. I love the job. The people I have to surround myself with; not so much. The stress in unbelievable and available for pick up 24/7. Stress follows me home, clouds my relationships and sucks the creative life right out of me.

I have spent a whole lot of time talking myself out of taking any "next step". manamoon-studios.blogspot-Sharon Henry has more than once commented that you have to start, and little by little making art will be all you do.

The creative people I have connected with on line, has made the "talking myself out of (anything)" much more difficult to do (thank goodness).

At the end of the day, the little steps made everyday will now be my new focus. I'm a bull in a china cabinet so small steps aren't so easy for me to adhere to. Suffice it to say that I have finally talked myself out of talking myself out of making art for a living. Lucky, Lucky ME!!!!

Thanks to all of the blogger's out there who are helping me along on this journey-you know who you are!

Many blessings in 2009-Scarlet