so, besides birding...

In addition to birding, I have been doing a little bit of crafting here and there, too. Not much, but some-- I craft a lot more when I'm in a good mood, and the uncertainty of my job situation over the last couple months just sort of 'sucked' the creative spirit right out of me for the most part. (I know that some people craft whatever their mood, or that crafting gets them out of a funk, but my creativity just doesn't work like that. If I'm not in the right frame of mind, then whatever I try do just makes me frustrated, so it's really better if I don't craft when I'm in one of those moods. But enough of my self-analysis... on to the pictures, right?!?)

thank you cards

same basic card design

I only glued the center, so the medallion has a bit of dimension to it

blank card- I love the pink and grey color scheme!

The focal shapes on these cards were all made using my new toy, a Silhouette Cameo cutting machine that can cut paper or fabric using patterns that you design or download from the internet. I've wanted one for a couple years now, and Amazon had a really good deal on it before the holidays, so I finally pulled the trigger on it (it was my verison of Black Friday shopping, lol!). I've only used it a bit so far, but it's pretty cool!!

The machine connects to your computer and the patterns are set-up on the computer screen (using the machine's software) to be cut any size you want, all the way up to 12x12 inches. (it can even be used with vinyl on a roll, so you can even make signs with letters up to 12 inches high.) The paper is set onto a sticky cutting mat to hold it steady and loaded into the machine. Then you 'send' the instructions to the machine which cuts the pattern out of the paper using a teeny-tiny blade. After it cuts the shape, you very carefully 'peel' the paper off the cutting mat, and voila- a really neat, intricately cut shape, without any work at all! (well, not much work, anyway)

Here's the first shapes I cut out of some scrap paper after I got it hooked up-- I wanted to see just how intricate of a shape I could cut. I like the Polaroid frames, and that stem of leaves is pretty cool, too.

this snowflake is about 3 inches across- isn't the detail in the cutting amazing??

This picture shows the machine and laptop in the picture for size comparison's sake. Now, I've been scouring the internet for shapes and designs- there are plenty of people who post shapes for free, or for sale, for those of us who don't want to design our own. It will also cut any font you have loaded onto your computer, too. In addition to cards and scrapping, it can be used for cutting out the parts for assembling 3-D paper projects, too. It can also be used to cut fabric, for craft projects or for quilting. I doubt I'll be doing that, but I do plan to use it for making scrapbook page embellishments.

another random photo post

I always have these grand plans for writing themed blog posts, but never get around to writing them... So, in order to get the photos out there and posted, I'm doing another "sort-of-random" photo post, starting with leftovers from my Christmas crafting-- a couple commissioned items. (it sounds so grandiose when I write it, but technically they were commissioned; I'm just not comfortable with the word.)

This is a comissioned stocking for a coworker's dog-- I love that he wanted a stocking for his dog!! Since the dog's name is Capone, Mike wanted the design to be sort of "gangsterish" to reflect that, and he's the one who actually gave me the fedora-hanging-on-the-cuff design idea.

I love how this little hat turned out; it totally reminds me of Frank Sinatra!! The only thing I didn't have is something to decorate the hatband with, unfortunately. I am keeping my eye out for a button with a pawprint design on it, and once I find one, I'll add it. Mike said Capone wasn't too excited about the stocking (he was more interested in the rawhide bone inside it!), but he liked it, which is important, since he's the buyer.

These finger puppets were for another co-worker. (well, not for him, but for his daughters.) I was a little leery about making such well-known characters- they're so recognizeable that I was concerned about getting them just "right." After futzing around with them for a looong time, I think there's something a little "off" about Spongebob's face, but then again, I'm my own worst critic. And I love how his friend Patrick turned out!! More importantly, the little girls loved them!

In other news, Prescott has been quite a troublemaker, getting into everything down at his level. Warning-- the following may be Too Much Information, but if you have dogs, you'll understand... He had a couple weeks of "digestive issues" that started with vomiting every time he ate, and moved down his digestive system to become bouts of diarrhea. I was very concerned, took him to the vet, and got him a round of antibiotics. Turns out, what he had a tough time digesting was a pair of my socks! The picture above is an example-- we were just flabbergasted when he vomited up the sock on the left (shown next to an intact one to illustrate that it's NOT all there!), then over the course of the next week or so, the rest of the sock made its way thru his system. We thought we were in the clear when we started seeing signs of the SECOND sock! I still don't understand how he could do it; it would have been soooo dry, sort of like eating a biscotti cookie without any coffee to moisten it! Anyway, he's all over it now, and I don't leave my socks on the floor anymore- LOL!

These are a couple photos from a fleeting moment of doggie togetherness in the kitchen this afternoon. Bisbee still doesn't know quite what to think of him, especially when he wants to snuggle up with her, but she lets him do it.

It doesn't last long, though-- these quick snaps were it, then just a couple minutes later they were off again, tearing around the kitchen and living room. Now if only Prescott would put some weight on... apparently socks are a good weight loss method, although I'm not trying it anytime soon- LOL!

craft show catch-up (lots of pictures)

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! And that Santa brought you whatever you wanted!! For the last month or so, I was a busy elf myself, working on inventory for two craft shows, and thought I'd show you some of what I made. This was pre-craft show chaos-- trying to sort out what I had already, and what I had to make more of. I set up my display out in the garage, to test it out, which was helpful!

This is my display at the first show, Superstition Farms, a working dairy farm. The event was "Moo-ey Christmas" and featured Santa, hayrides, smores, and a vendor fair on a Friday and Saturday evening. Unfortunately, I did horrible at this show, but it was good practice setting up my booth display. (I don't think any of the vendors did too good; the hayride, petting zoo, and Santa were the main attraction, not us vendors.) The next week, I did a show in downtown Phoenix, the first annual "Phoestivus Market" on a Wednesday evening from about 5 pm to 8:30 pm, and did tons better. This event had a lot of great sponsors to bring people to downtown Phoenix, and it was a beautiful evening for shopping.

Decoupage votive candleholders, made using some of my vintage and found papers-- these look great when they're lit! (they're all sold- yay!- except the Asian newspaper one, second from left).

more decoupage candleholders. The polka-dots on the left were punched from colorwashed vintage sheet music, and the tan paper on the right is actually vintage sewing pattern tissue paper.

I've gotten into sewing felt this holiday season, and I love the way this log cabin stocking turned out!! I'm not sure why no one bought it; don't people hang stockings anymore?? If not, I don't know why- the stocking stuffer presents were always the most fun part of Christmas morning at our house, and it didn't even matter that we didn't have a fireplace. Mom hung the stockings from a bookcase.

another cute decoupage candleholder... I love the way this little guy turned out! Snowmen seem "wrong" to me now that I live in Arizona, but I still love them!

I went kinda overboard making Christmas tree ornaments. I made a number of paper and glitter ornaments, and made a huge mess in the kitchen while I did it. But they do look good hanging on the tree when they sparkle in the tree lights, and thank goodness the Dyson does a good job of cleaning up glitter, among other things!

I've also been making some altered bottle vases; I found a stash of bottles (and other junk) out in the desert, and love the already "aged" finish on them. I can't put out flowers (the cats love to mess with things!), so I like the idea of a vase that can hang on the wall. This one I decorated with vintage music, heat embossing in copper, and a paper vintage-look butterfly, along with some vintage novel text. I love selling things in person, because that way, I can talk to the person looking at things- the woman who bought this said her husband had recently passed away, and ever since, she's been having visions of butterflies, so this piece was "speaking to her" and she had to buy it. I love stories like this, when I get to hear the personal reason behind the purchase!

I also made a number of collages using the 3/4 inch birch plywood I have stashed away. These two pics are horrible lighting (sorry about that!), but I love the way they turned out! They're both 6x6 inch collages with vintage sheet music as the base. The one above features a paper-cut swan, so the "Seven Swans a Swimming" theme was a no brainer to me. I set off the blue shades with some gold accents.

This one is a hand-cut papercut tree, decorated with sparkle glaze, sequins, and glitter candle flames. Again, the focal image was set off with gold acrylic stamping, and I found the perfect quote on the internet. I love Christmas (although it definitely snuck up on us quick this year) and I love crafting, so thanks for peeking at my Christmas crafting!

weekend photo round up

usually weekends are reserved for relaxing, but the last couple, we've been busy. This past weekend we worked on our patio ---> screened porch conversion. The framing is all up, and needed to be painted before we can install the screen. Turns out there was a lot more wood there than we thought! Tom stayed up all night (!!) on Friday, getting most of it primed... I started on the finish coat when I got up Saturday morning. The two of us worked most of the weekend on it, till it got too hot to work, and finally finished the painting around lunchtime on Sunday. Whew!! Now, we just need to put up the screen. And cut the trim to length. And paint the trim. And install the trim.... okay, so it's not as far along as we'd like to think, but it will definitely be done by fall, which is okay, since it won't be cool enough to sit out there till then, anyway.

After working outside in the heat all weekend long, THIS is how we both felt!! Ariel is so funny- she has that kitten energy, tearing around and bouncing off walls, then konking out all the sudden...

The pic above was taken this afternoon; Tom grabbed the camera and snapped it quick, before anything happened to upset the status quo-- Butters and Ariel, sitting next to each other, with no hissing or swatting of paws!! It's amazing what hunger can do, hmmm?? Really, it's been going pretty well, all things considered; I've actually seen Butters playing chase with Ariel a few times, till she gets overwhelmed, hisses, and stalks off to sulk. I don't know whether they'll ever snuggle together like Pandora and Butters used to, but getting along together is a good start, after only a few weeks.

These last two photos are some of my latest art/craft projects. The pic above shows two 8x10 inch mixed media canvases that I've made recently. The top one features a Buddha-patterned napkin, layered acrylic paint, gold details, and an inspirational quote. The bottom one features rubber stamping with heat embossing, acrylic paint, hand-dyed cheesecloth for texture, glitter, beads, and another quote (this one from Willa Cather). They're both currently for sale in my Etsy shop, and the net proceeds from the sales will benefit my 3-Day for the Cure Walk fundraising efforts.

These pendants are also currently for sale in my Etsy shop. All proceeds from these will also go towards my 3Day fundraising, and even better, all these have FREE shipping! These pendants are lots of fun to make; the dominos are a fun shape, and not quite as small as the scrabble tiles. I've found it a bit difficult to find patterned paper on a smaller scale that looks good when trimmed to these sizes (1x2 inches and 3/4 inch), but that's what makes it a challenge!

Monday links

Multiple links to one blog, actually: Posie Gets Cozy...the first craft-related blog I actually ever read, I think, when I was first exploring the world of blogs and the online crafting community. One of my friends (who had never heard of a blog- can you believe it??) recently asked what a blog was, and the best way I could answer was "you know when it's dark out, and you can see into someone's window, to get a glimpse of their life?? That's sort of what a blog is..."

For me, the world of blogging is a great source of inspiration, and it's a wonderful way to get to "know" people from all over the world- I follow blogs from South Africa, England, and all parts of the US. Reading blogs is also sometimes a source of frustration- sometimes I read a blog post and think, "how CAN this person do all these wonderful things, keep their house clean, and do all the other mundane things that go along with keeping a house, and their life, pulled together?? Why can't I do things that effortlessly??" (yes, I know intellectually that blogging is mostly just small snippets of someone's life, and there are probably piles of dirty laundry somewhere outside the margin of the beautiful photos... usually this feeling of frustration is my cue to get off the internet, slow down, and focus on my own thing, not all the external eye-candy.)

Posie Gets Cozy will always be one of my favorite blogs, though... Alicia has a wonderful writing style, and a very honest way of putting things. (Not to mention the photos of cute crafts, cute home decorating, and the extremely cute Corgi and cat that share their life!) Read this post and this article (somewhat hard to read, but well worth the eye strain!) for an intro to her wonderful, REAL, writing style and her cute, crafty life.

(and don't forget to check out the Pets category of posts for the cute corgi and the cat...)