Nesting

There has been a bit of buzz around the little swallows nests made out of beads. I guess I'm always surprised when people are excited about what I'm making. I mean I get excited but it is still a great and wonderful thing when someone e-mails me and asks me about what I've made!

All I did was glue giant 1970s macrame beads together that my aunt sent me. I sanded them to look more organic. Then I glued moss that I had saved for almost 20 years into some of the little nests.

I love the swallows. Their homes are very close to mine and I see them every morning. They are my friends, whether they know it or not.
























































The ruler in this photo was from one of my grandparents' visits to Florida. I still use it after all of these years!

More soon, ether friends.

Weaving a Tony Award Winning Musical

Think of the music for There's No Business like Show Business from Annie Get Your Gun...

There's no business
Like the crafting business,
Like no business I know!
Everything about it is appealing!
Everything nimble fingers will allow!
No where could you have that happy feeling,
When you are trimming that extra dowel!

There's more in my head... but I won't get any more carried away than usual.

The musical I wanted to write after this year's Tony Awards was based on the strange feeling I have when travelling home to Ohio and then coming back to Orange County, California.

I have two songs thus far. One is about how I feel skinny in Ohio but then fat in California. The other is how when we arrive back at the airport in California, every man is a metrosexual. All are very tidy and tan and fashionably dressed and ALL have manicured facial shrubbery.

Men in Ohio look like men. Men in California look like they have stepped off magazine covers. Men in Ohio look like farmers and truck drivers and business men. Men in California look like models.

I really only experience this feeling for the first 20 minutes in the airport. Get out into Orange County and I see other types of folks. But the airport people... well that is a different sort of folks.

And speaking of weaving... since that is in the title of this post...

Santa brought me, in 1983, my very own Fisher Price loom. I got it out last week, put it together, and have been making projects on it ever since. Here is the photo record of these events:























Fisher Price was a division of the Quaker Oats Company in 1983. That fact is on the plastic pieces as well as all over the handbook. They wanted to make sure that we knew that the Quakers were selling these looms I guess.

I'm pretty psyched about this new little endeavor. I'm cutting up clothes tomorrow to make a woven rag rug. Yea!

The Art that Gave Birth to Boxing Day

I listed a copy of the art that gave birth to my shop Boxing Day this morning.

I plan to sell some prints of the art piece too at some point... but for now, a big magnet is my homemade version.

A few months ago, I was so afraid when I thought about opening my shop. I didn't trust myself. Even though all the signs were pointing to open the damn thing already, I still felt fearful and worried and all those good things we do as human animals.

So what does an artist do when things are confusing or scary? They make art! I worked in collage which is something I rarely do. And I used words which again is something I rarely do.

Explore for yourself here!

What else is going on in my world? Thank you for asking!

The usual crazy recycling insanity abounds! My dear friend Buzz gave me seventeen of these plastic containers and I am going to turn some of them into yarn homes for knitters. I think they will be awesome. Thanks, Buzz!

Listen for the tune "Goin' to the Chapel"

Eatin' a big tub of yogurt,
Givin' the container to Kelly.
Eatin' a big tub of yogurt,
Givin' the container to Kelly!

She'll turn it in to a yarn home,
Sell it on her Etsy site,
A big yarn home filled with love!

Stay tuned for the next episode where I talk about the musical I want to write every year after watching the Tony Awards!

A Perspective Shake Up!!!

I went on a walk this morning and I couldn't help but be filled with the joy of the earth around me! After yesterday's quake, I don't know... it puts a new light on everything for a few days. I can't help but think what could have happened if it had been worse than it was. I can't help but appreciate what I have and how beautiful my life is.

The mountains were shrouded in a veil of white and gray mist. I actually saw a squirrel! Everyone I said good morning to -- said good morning back. There were so many birds in the field this morning eating breakfast. I saw the white tail of rabbit hiding under a bush. Men working doing stone work in the neighborhood were taking a break and they had a little propane fire going. They were cooking a full pan of meat on the curb near our house. I said a cheerful good morning and breathed in the thick smoke of cooking meat and I think all ten said good morning back! A lizard crossed my path, paused and looked at me, and I swear he winked!

Three years ago today, my husband proposed to me. Again, another reason to be filled with the energy of joy. His love has given me more gifts than I ever thought I could know. My eyes well up just thinking of his pure and unconditional love.

I appreciate it all. For a moment yesterday, as the earth moved violently, I thought it might be all gone. And I'm blessed because it is not.

The last song I listen to on my iPod Shuffle as I head home is always U2's Beautiful Day...

The heart is a bloom, shoots up through the stony ground
There's no room, no space to rent in this town
You're out of luck and the reason that you had to care,
The traffic is stuck and you're not moving anywhere.
You thought you'd found a friend to take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand in return for grace

It's a beautiful day, the sky falls
And you feel like it's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away

You're on the road but you've got no destination
You're in the mud, in the maze of her imagination
You love this town even if that doesn't ring true
You've been all over and it's been all over you

It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away

Touch me, take me to that other place
Teach me, I know I'm not a hopeless case

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out

It was a beautiful day
Beautiful day
Don't let it get away

Touch me, take me to that other place
Reach me, I know I'm not a hopeless case

What you don't have you don't need it now
What you don't know you can feel it somehow
What you don't have you don't need it now
You don't need it now, you don't need it now

Beautiful day

Everybody loves cake!

So I thought readers might want to know something new about me. For a short time last fall, I thought I was going to become the Space of Cakes. I say space, because I am not an ace. As in just about every creative endeavor I undertake, I do my best to figure it out from the tv and internet. These cakes comes from the space in my head as I am certainly no Duff!

It started with this present cake. I did it for a friend's daughter's 18th birthday. The inside was dark mocha cake with vanilla buttercream and then a layer of fondant to make it pretty!


















I then made cupcakes for a wedding shower for another friend. She had created her wedding invitation, so I then copied her design for cupcakes!


















The last fondant project I undertook was brownie points. It was an attempt to win a Halloween contest at work.















Alas, it did not work. But I did think of the scariest thing I could create in fondant and show people: a pig eating bacon. Does it get any scarier than that?

















Why did I stop making cakes? Because a little white cat came to live with us who could jump on counters. Here she is on her first day... sigh!

More Recycle Mayhem and My Husband's Photography

While I am happy to report that the mannequin finally got the picture to the proper place and up, I am sad to report that I did not make it to 100 items by my deadline. I missed it by eight.

If I count the pairs of earrings I made as two instead of one, I am there. But I didn't clarify that rule when I started.

I'm going for it again this week. I like how having a numbers goal keeps making things in my mind at all times.

So here's what's been going on since Wednesday! Recycle Mayhem!

Recycled Chain and Memory Wire Fringe Necklace. Sometimes the best way to get rid of a knot in a chain is to use your wire cutters!




















Toliet Paper Roll Wreath! Finally finished and beautiful!




















And I had another item here and the photo has vanished. Sigh! I hate it when my blog eats my photos. It was probably because it was my oatmeal box art. It's listed on Etsy if you are really interested.

Speaking of oatmeal, here is a series of photos taken by my husband last night with my interpretations. (I say "speaking of oatmeal" because our carpet would take an oatmeal spill well.)

His feet. I find many photographs of this particular subject. Someday I shall gather them all in one place and create a coffee table book.
















Here is a statement where he combines the title of a book and the snowflake-like design on the bookshelves.













Here is a cute photo of Snoopy.















And then a capture of Petey's demon side. Just in time for Halloween! Thanks, Honey!

Challenge: Creating 100 Items in a Week

I decided to create 100 items this week. It is a mix of things that will be for sale and also my surprise gifts that I send to Etsy customers when they order.

I am now going to illustrate the insanity in my being as I am struggling with this self-imposed challenge.

Monday. I felt like the craft devil was chasing me. You can tell this is the craft devil because there is a wreath in the non-pitchfork hand. One item complete.





















Tuesday morning, I felt like I was hanging by a string and fear was imminent. One item complete, sixteen others started.





















Tuesday afternoon. Why did I think I could do this? My brain was feeling kind of moldy. One item complete, twenty-seven started.
















And then Tuesday evening, I felt a certain push of imagination. A place I had walked a gazillion, trillion, billion times. One item complete, forty-eight started.







Wednesday morning. Obviously in the night I had been sleep-crafting or the cats were nice enough to get into my studio and finish some things for me or my other personality that does not write this blog worked on some things. Forty-eight items complete, fifteen started.

















Wednesday now. I feel serene. Like this challenge will be accomplished. I wasn't sure at first. I'm really good at giving myself too much to do all the time. This time, though, I'm going to get to one hundred items and if I stop writing this blog, I might get there ahead of my deadline! Ah!

Serenity now.

















And as for my husband. This will be Skippy on Friday, happy, as he is looking forward to his weekend. It is hard work being one of the characters in a Dr. Seuss book.