Merry Christmas Friends

Sorry I've been absent for so long. I haven't been creating much these days. I must have artists block. 

But I did want to say to all my friends, I hope you all

 Have a Merry Christmas and Wonderful New Year.

I have Craft A.D.D.

Ever since we moved into our new home and my new studio, I can’t concentrate on one art or craft technique.  I want to do it all and there are just not enough hours in a day.  So what happens? Well, a whole lot of little crafty items that I normally wouldn’t do.

So other than getting the studio set up, and that’s not done to my satisfaction yet either, it’s a whole lot of little “getting to know you again” projects, most of which are inspired by Pinterest In fact, I’m blaming 50% of my craft ADD on Pinterest; 25% on the unpacking of some of the supplies that have been in storage for 2 years; and the other 25% is just my natural tendency to flit from technique to technique.

So what have I been up to? And just so you don’t think I’m exaggerating, here is some proof of my actual “craftiness”.

This first one is directly attributable to Pinterest.  If you use Pinterest, tell me you haven’t seen this before? I made it for my grandson’s room in our house.

Then I decided I wanted to add Crochet lace around the edge of some, not yet made, homemade pillow cases. :)  However, I didn’t know how to crochet, so I had to teach myself to crochet. And yes, with Pinterest help, I found some great sites that would teach me how to crochet.  (Sensing a theme here?) My first project was a scarf…just as winter was waning. 

Second crochet project is a multicolored afghan that I’m working on at night as I watch TV if it isn’t too hot to work on.  It does get warm under all that yarn.

 

Recently I’ve let my hair grow, at my husbands request, I might add.  So much so that it’s getting in my face and annoying me.  So before I cut it, I decided to make some barrettes using blanks I found at Hobby Lobby.  Here are the first 3 I made….any body who snickers will be….What? Patted on the back for having good taste?  Yeah.

The barrette below was finished yesterday and I do like this one. The main body of the barrette was made from a watch band that belonged to my mother. The actual watch part was missing and all that was left was the cool looking band and the glass crystal face. So I removed the bottom portion of the band leaving only the decorative portion. Then I found a metal shank button that seemed to be made just for this piece. I removed the shank and glued the button to the glass crystal using some E6000 glue. When it was dry I glued the piece you see here to the barrette blank. After drying for 24 hours, it’s ready for use.

What’s next? Yesterday I finished digging out a 13’ x 4’garden plot and I plan to do some Square foot gardening. It’s not crafty but it’s something we’ve been wanting to do for the last 2 years. I’m a little sore from all that digging.

As for crafting/Art, if I made a list of everything I want to do, I’ll drive myself crazy.

I‘m having fun but why can’t I just win the lotto so I don’t have to work for a living?  My husband says “You have to play to win.”  Oh yeah, there is that.

March 9 - National Panic Day?

Hi again.  It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  I hope you haven’t all moved on to someone funnier, smarter and who posts much more than I have been lately. But if you have, I totally understand. :) 

Until lately, I’d been completely uninspired to do any art work.  Back in November we learned that due to our short sale in 2010 we wouldn’t qualify to buy a new home for at least another year.  It didn’t matter that we had enough saved to pay 20% down.  It was depressing.

I hated renting….especially renting from someone who was more than a little anal about his lawn…of all things. We lived in that house for over a year and never fully moved in, if you know what I mean.  We never wanted to make the rental a home and get complacent about living there. So it was depressing to find out that we would have to stay for yet another year.  

But My Guy and I decided to get creative.  Instead of going for a conventional mortgage we decided to look for a home whose seller was willing to finance the purchase. I’d done it before so I had no qualms about it.  But we had a lot of “Wants” and “Must haves” so we were sure it was going to take a while.  We got lucky, after few short weeks of looking we found one and  WE MOVED!!   Packing, moving, cleaning, unpacking, rearranging etc… it all takes a while. 

Among the wants and must haves was a studio/office for me. This place has a detached  studio space that is 18’ X 15’ ---how cool is that? Here are some pictures of the  space just before I moved in. 

This is my art side:  Love those shelves!  I plan a painting area, a paper crafting/collage area and a sewing area. I have lots of fabric that’s still in storage that I want to pull out and play with. I also have glass and plates to mosaic with and I want to paint furniture..see there is no end to those “wants.”

This is my office side….there is room for a desk, file cabinets and printer on this side.

And it has two huge windows on the north and west side.

I’m excited about the possibilities.  To date I have moved in, the shelves are filled, but it’s not exactly right yet. It’s a work in progress. 

Speaking of work, my first journal page in weeks:

Thanks for stopping by, Come back again soon. I hope not to make a stranger of myself for too much longer.