What did I do today?

THis is a photo from Heceta Head that I took during the summer. The cove below the lighthouse is one of our favorite places to go. I wanted to share a little summer today.

Well, I did six loads of laundry, and even folded them and put them away. I finished several Christmas cards. But I still have a bunch to make. I vacuumed and you can't tell.

Tomorrow, I am going to meet with a parent volunteer for a charter school. I had done the set up work to help them get ready to write their own grants, and now they are almost ready to submit the first one. I am going out to help her tie up the loose ends. I just hope it goes quickly, 'cause I still have cards to make.

I did not take any photos, or work on the paper I am making, or do any weaving, or finish any bracelets. Sometimes life decides that it is more important than art. And that is just fine, as long as it doesn't happen everyday, I think we are okay.

I would love to hear what you all are working one. Leave me comments and let me know what your favorite project right now is.

How big is your?

Your studio that is. What does the word studio mean to you? Right now my studio is my desk in the dining room of our house. But if a studio is where you work, then my studio is my entire house.

I have my sewing machine in my bedroom. It got booted out of the living room by the Christmas Tree. I work with papier mache at the kitchen, then set it to dry in the garage. I work with the weaving and the felt in the living room, sitting on my hiney on the couch. Most of my paper crafting and the like is done at my desk.

I like that I am using space to do what I want to do. And I am making tons of stuff. I am toying with the idea of making the space in the garage into something of a more "official" studio. I have a long counter ( the height of a kirchen counter, 'cause that is what it was) and several cabinets. But I balk a little because it is winter and even here, it gets cold. And, I am a pansy.

Today was spent making Christmas cards. THey are taking alot longer then I figured they would. I keep changing my plan, too.

The weather was stormy and they were calling for snow tonight. SNOW. I hope they are wrong.

Library Day

Lets start with a random santa.

Wednesday, or Wacky Wednesday as the school calls it, is an early release day for the girls. We use the extra hour to go to the city library. And, really, nothing much happens on Wednesdays. That hump day thing really seems to get me. I am usually just wiped out at the middle of the week.

I was so wiped out that I didn't take any pictures at all today. Fortunalty, I have something like 5000 photos on my laptop. I am sure that I can find something to throw in here today.

I did some work, weaving. Much harder than I thought it would be. I am not even working on a big loom, just a little hand loom, that I made. But it is still physically more work than I thought it would be. I may go back to felt sooner than I thought.

The problem is, I start thinking that if I can figure out the technical aspect of anything then I can apply that to another medium. What else can I weave? Can I weave a different material into what I am working on? If I use a light weight something as warp (or weft, I forget), can I use a heavier something with it? These are questions that I am sure weavers know the answers to, but I don't, not yet, anyway.

No bites on the local posting. But I did have a weird thought. You know how there are garage bands? What about a garage gallery show. More for the artists or crafts persons who are struggling to find a gallery or niche or whatever. If I do anything with that little idea, it will be in the spring. Now it is too cold and my garage is full of furniture and stuff for the dump.

Of cookies and dewdrops

I came home from taking Andie to school and noticed the tree ( I think it is a maple, but really I have no idea) was covered in raindrops. They just hung there, sparkling and shiny. The lower branches kept their drops all day. It will be fun to see what the tree looks like in the morning, as we are expecting more rain tonight.

I started working on a couple of new bangles. But... I ran out of the right color of felt for one, and the second one was just not coming together. So I put them aside and went across town to the craft store and "laid in" supplies. I should be able to finish up a couple more by the end of the week. I posted one bangle on a local site and will see what happens. I still want to do a little more research on pricing before I leap into etsy. But I am doing something everyday.

Like making cookies. The girls need healthy snacks at school, so I have taken to making them to the best of my ability. I fell behind, partially because the girls got burned out on muffins and cookies. Anyway, today I made oatmeal cookies with vanilla chips. They were a big hit.

I am also throwing in a random picture of one of the many Santa's that I have collected over the years. I think I will be doing this (again randomly) from now until Christmas. It will help get you in the Christmas spirit.

And finally, I started a weaving project tonight. Yep, weaving. And about 6rows (or what ever) into it , I am getting a big kick out of it. I picked a bright pink for my warp, and a veregated pink yellow orange for my weave. These are the colors of my bedroom. I think I am making a scarf, but who knows what will pop out. I will post it when I am done.

I started reading the big girl badge book (see yesterday). There is a chapter on photography, and I grabbed onto that. I only had time to read a page and a half while I was picking up the girls. In that page and a half, however, I learned quite a bit. Hopefully, you will notice a difference in my photos.

I think that is all for today.

Just a P.S.

I just opened my etsy.com account. If you are interested I will posting some things in the next few days. Look for kfad and MumboJumbo.
K

It must be safe to come out now

I was very excited to start working on my business plan this morning. I sent the kids of to school and spent my morning taking photos of some of my work. I had taken my memory card out of my camera and was working on those photos, when I happened to glance out my livingroom window. Walking up the sidewalk were six wild turkeys. Just walking along like they do it everyday. I, of course, grab the camera and run to the window, snapping away. But my memory card is in my laptop. By the time I got the card into the camera and outside, the turkeys were up at the neighbors, several them staring at a cat like it was food. It must be after Thanksgiving!

After the turkey excitement, I got down to work. I took a ton of photos of the stuff I plan on posting on etsy.com, and I actually made a couple of bracelets. And I went shopping for stuff that I would need to get this thing rolling. I went to the dollar store and was taking my time wandering the isle. I found this really neat looking book. "You Can Do It! The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-up Girls" by Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas. Now, I haven't had a lot of time to look at it but it looks like a really fun read. A how to for getting out of your safety zone.

I am excited about finding the book, because I have felt that I have been being nudge in this direction for a couple of weeks. My standard job hunting methods were turning up nothing but odd results. And I was becoming beyond frustrated. I have been creating a lot of stuff since we moved into this house in May. And I have been educating myself in all sorts of different arts. Then last week I had a meeting with a friend and I flipped open my organizer. My handy- dandy organizer with the inspirational quote of the day. The quote that day was "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door" Milton Berle. I realized that I was knocking on doors that maybe weren't ready for this opportunity. So, now I am building doors. And right now they are made of felt.

I think I will start posting my work tomorrow.

This is it.

This is it, I have gone and done it now. I have a blog (but still no my-space page). I don't know where this will go or even when it will get there. But I figure I will share the journey.

I started reading blogs written by these wonderful artists, and crafters and slowly, some ideas started creeping into my head. And, after several months of an excrutiating job hunt ( that will probably be heard from later), I am seriously looking into inviting art into my life as a dedication. Something that will help put food on the table. Art as a entire way of life.

I am lucky in this, in that my husband thinks we can make this work. I have a studio and an office and plenty of space to work, and ideas galore.

Why did I take the time to tell you all of this? Because I am hoping to use this blog as my giant internet idea board. My space to place my concepts and plans and ideas. Hopefully, I will have readers who will help keep me on track.

So with that I think I will be off for now.