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Showing posts from August, 2009

Lots of work in progress

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Here's my table in the dining room (which we don't use during the week) filled with books in varying stages of completion. I'm really liking these new patterns.

New Books for the Shop!

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I'm on a roll now with some new designs. Here they go into the shop sometime today...

Home Decor

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We had the kids this weekend and I needed to keep them busy while Brian did some homework. I found a great idea on a blog that I decided to implement in our home. Because we can. Ha ha ha. We drew on the walls. The best thing about this is that we can keep adding to it. Forever. Ha ha ha! Alex likes doing sports logos. He did a wrestler logo (Mysterio) on my wedding photo autograph frame. I could have killed him. When he started drawing football logos on the wall, I bit my tongue. I will show it to his future girlfriends. Ha ha ha. They will *mock* him. Kenzie did the usual castles and princesses. I prefer those to sports stuff. Even though this is in the boys' room closet, we're going to draw in Kenzie's closet, too. Later. Kenneth thought it was a great idea. After all, he does it even when Mommy isn't looking! The family portrait. By me. And an alien in a car flying over a volcano. Also, by me.

Living Simply

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I was on this blog this morning and found a quote that is interesting: I had everything I needed (except a runner for the hall to keep Jack’s excitement quiet for the neighbors below). I didn’t want to add anything more to my home because I realized that in spending so much time, money and effort on my flat I was taking away from outside experiences like travel, friends, clothes and play. I wanted to start spending more time outdoors at the beach, at the park, riding my bike, seeing movies than in getting a new pillow, piece of furniture or new bowl that I didn’t really need. I wonder about that for myself. How many experiences am I denying myself because I focus too much on things that are "enough already." How do I know when enough is enough? Enough already. I need to think about that. I'm working on a new design for my book origami. It's very soothing to me.

In a New Treasury

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I love book- or library-related treasuries. It brings to mind the smell of old paper and sunlight beams filtering through dusty halls. Yum. Well, I guess I know I do like some things, eh?

Deep Thoughts

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Sometimes there are just too many ideas and thoughts in my head. After a while, I don't know what I like anymore and what I've just seen so often that I'm confusing familiarity with inspiration. I've been reading a bunch of young adult books from work. One thing about reading about 15 year olds is that I start to think like a 15 year old. It's bringing back all these memories and I'm realizing that I'm not much different now than I was then. I still don't know what I like. I wonder what my style is with my art. Do I make word beads and folded books because they are truly me or because I get attention? (It's pathetic when you think about it) Do I do it for the money? I say I want to be an artist, but am I looking to create art or a "product"? Is it okay to do both? How come I don't feel right about either answer? What would Jesus do, indeed... Can you imagine asking Him that question? I wunner what He'd say. Probably that I think too

Other Stuff

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One thing I've been experimenting with in the 26 seconds of free time I have is shapes. It turns out that it's not so hard to do. I love graph paper - I'm learning about a whole 'nother world out there in designing! So far I can do a heart, a star and skulls. That about covers the basics, eh? Snaggle-toothed skull. Scaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrry. Working on some ideas for monograms. Some of the Reader Digests are too short to do more than three letters. This is one idea. I have a few kinks to work out, but here is an example of my initials. I think I'm going to try for a big letter in the middle (last name) and smaller letters on the sides for a real monogram. And here is my son. Who needs stuffed animals for comfort when you have a billion little cars?

Back from the Dead

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Well, I haven't been dead, but it has been a time of extreme change. We moved. Please notice I didn't say we're moved *in*. That is far from the case. There are boxes everywhere and I'm wearing the same three pairs of pants and three shirts I can find. I hope to find the rest of my clothes in the future. And the one pair of sandals I can find are getting used to the fullest. They won't make it past this summer as they are starting to fall apart. I finished a book I started for a friend here at work - my first commissioned piece. Berta is really into Halloween (apparently there is quite the cult of Halloween out there - who knew?) and asked me to make her a book that said Spooky and was as creepy as I could make it. So I dug around in my stash and found this (don't die) book from 1881 that was a report to Congress or something (I doubt if government reports are that valuable), but was really gross looking - all stained and ragged corners and edges. I develop

Can't Wait to Get Back to Work

We're now done moving. The apartment walk-through was last night and poor Brian had to listen to the manager diss every single thing we did - the blinds weren't clean enough, there was a spot of Comet left on the toilet, etc. You'd think we were the dirtiest people alive - I certainly felt unclean after I heard about it. Also, I felt that I'd wasted my time completely bothering to clean anything. And I spent six hours doing it. A friend spent twice as much time as that helping us out. Don't move into my old apartment complex. There are cockroaches. Oh, one good thing - a cockroach ran over the hand of the manager when she put her notes down on the kitchen counter (which, of course, wasn't clean enough in the grout). Ha ha ha. In other news, I'm working on a commission for a Halloween book and I'm trying something new to make the words stand out. Can you say fire? More at eleven...