SO MUCH PAPER, SO LITTLE TIME

Is it just me, or does color make everyone this happy? I look outside... bleh. I look in the mirror... bleh. I fill my vision with color and wahhhhhh!!! Happy.


Ten feet of HAPPY. And that could almost sound dirty if I wasn't talking about paper and thread.

CRAZY FOR... JUST CRAZY

I'm afraid the valentines garland has led to other things. I'm playing this little game with myself called, "what other crap can I sew with this thing?" I found a pack of handmade papers that I bought years ago. Cut it up into random scraps and sewed it altogether. Viola!

Cut up some more paper and made a birthday banner for Lulu!

I can't seem to stop. So I'm just going to keep throwing stuff together and stick it out on Esty. I've made a new store front and will post a link when I finally have stuff up. I might even take Michelle's advise and make some black tiny tees with the cupcake on it. Sounds like a fabulous idea!

BLAH BLAH BLOG

I am so hopped up on sinus medication this morning that I just want to crawl back into bed. But work work work calls and so I'm up and at 'em. Sort of.

I got a new sewing machine from Suzanne this last weekend. It's not actually new, I think it's from the 70s or 80s, but it has some fabulous features which I'm fairly sure will change my life. Such as multiple stitching style options. And arm hole capabilities.

I've got a 1940s Singer from my grandma which has been my mainstay machine, but like anything that old, it likes to crap-out on a regular basis. And my sweet old Singer is a delicate flower when it comes to punching through fabric, so no synthetics or thick material like denim, por favor.

This new machine is a power house. It's gonna kick ass on my old Singer and that's why they can never meet. Like two dogs that I know will fight, I will have to keep them separated. But for now, I'm going to town... or at least, I have plans to go to town and sew me up a bunch of crap. Sounds fun, huh?

I made this valentine garland yesterday night using an old Urban Outfitters paper bag and my new machine. Muy fabuloso!

OLD PICTURES

This last weekend visiting Mike's fam in SLO, I had the chance to go through his grandma's old scrapbooks. What an amazing opportunity to experience the past. All of my own grandparents are dead and they perhaps were not the scrapbooking types, so I got nothin'. Grandma Patrick had so many amazing pictures of her friends in the 1940s. They look so happy and free. Much like we are now, but it's hard for me to picture how it must have been at that time with the war in Europe and soldiers off fighting (Grandpa Patrick included). And having to wear nylons and corsets all the time.

Look at these faces. I feel like they have so much to say. And I must add that these pictures were TINY. Like 1 inch across. Talk about wallet size!

I especially fell in love with the friend in the first picture of this post. She was smiling like a maniac in all of her photos. And making cheesey poses and faces too. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

SAN LUIS OBISPO

Mike and I are traveling right now, visiting his grandfather and Suzanne in San Luis Obispo. Having rained for the last five days, we are finally seeing the sun today. To capture the sun, we took a walk down a greenbelt path to one of the adobe homes in the SLO area.

The blue in the doors and windows echo the bright blue overhead. I adore this shade of robin's egg blue which is found in bird's eggs and tea cups.

Suzanne gave me a tarot card reading today which seemed to make total sense to me except for the last card. The outcome card was the Moon. We couldn't understand how it's negative meaning could fit into my life right now. But having done a little more research, it seems to be telling me that in all of that changes that are upcoming --with finances being tightened, Mike quiting his job to go to school full-time, the kids getting older -- that I need to be sure to let the stress take it's outlet in creativity not in lunacy. Sounds like a good plan to me, I think.

CREATIVE SLUMP

I'm slightly inspired to restart my Etsy store with something new. Well, I'm probably more than slightly inspired but waking up before dawn to speak during a business conference has left me drained.

Finding my niche seems to be the problem. I'd really love to be able to hit on that one thing I could make which would really fit my creative flow as well as be a productive product. I have lots of skills from sewing and fabric creations to jewely to painting.

Some ideas I have are:

Creating collections every few months that revolve around a set of small paintings. One example would be the cupcake collection. I've painted three of these so far and I could make prints, pendants, postcards, and birthday cards using the images. I kinda think it would be fun to just do a series of birds like the ones shown below and then shinky-dink them into pendants.

Even more niche-y would be sewing things like purses, pillow covers, aprons, potholders... It all sounds so industrious but a little boring actually. Except for maybe the purses. But if I did "purses" then I'd be stuck in the purse niche. And do I really want to make purses be my creative life? Hmmm.

My creative life is so all over the map from decorating the house, making crazy haunted houses, baking, sewing, clothes. God help me I should have to pin it down. Soul searching might not even get me anywhere because I'm not sure I'd want to give anything up. And the creative energy seems to take me where it will. Maybe that's the point?

THRIFT STORE WITH LULU

Went to the thrift store today with Lulu. She's only six but I want to start her vintage fashion stylings early. She had her headphones on the whole time which made it easy to lead her around, as long as I was dancing. Here's my latest thrifty find. Love the blue dress which is an all-season wonder, paired with my fav cowboy boots and a fabulous orange sweater. Topped it all off with this season's most wonderful find -- an H&M scarf. I wear it with almost everything so I'm pretty sure it'll be trashed by spring. But hooray for living in the NOW!

Check out what Lu is wearing. I think this girl's got major potential. The tights alone are freakin' fabulous.

Wow. I started this blog with the best intentions. I built it, made it pretty, and then totally BAILED. Well, it's a new year and I'm ersolved again to write. For myself and maybe even for other people. If they can find me...

...Here...

Insert sounds of crickets chirping.

I suppose I should share a little bit about myself. I am a working mom who is older than she'd like to be and younger than most of the people around her. I have a sweet and loving boyfriend who happens to be 14 years younger than I am. And while that doesn't cause problems most of the time, it is probably our stickiest problem. And let's face it, he's hot. But don't call me a cougar because I will kick your ass. Seriously. We live with my two kids who are in that sweetspot of childhood, older than babies but younger than teenagers.

Anyway, I hope to figure out soon how this little blog thingy works soon. Wish me luck!