And a Happy New Year

I'm exhausted, and ready to hibernate for a week. BUt first! Here are some pictures of the things I have been working on (and completing!). Click the pics for descriptions, and whatnot:
Jewelry Pouch

Hand-painted, Hand-stamped Christmas Cards & Gift Tags

Robot Stamps in Altered Box

Crochet Baby Cap & Patchwork Cube Frame

Softie Cupcakes

The beautiful, gigantic quilt my mother made for us!

Feed me, Seymour!

I'm STARVING. I made pork shoulder, mashed taters, and green & wax beans for dinner. That's almost balanced; unfortunately, I used the last of the milk in the potatoes, so I'll have to make up the dairy group with peach yogurt for dessert.

Anyway, dinner has been ready for almost 40 minutes, all desperately trying to stay warm in the oven. My husband is not home, yet. I'm not gonna wait much longer for him!

Stuff to look at:

Arrrrghhh! The sweetness! it's killing me!


Gift tags my mother made. This isn't the best picture of them, but I tried! I'll have to make up one of those awesome lightbox thingys she linked me to in my last post X]


My stamps now have a happy little home in a re-purposed cigar box ^_^



Okay, I'm going to go eat my dinner now. Alone. I hate this stupid recruiting job *pout* -_-

Give it to me baby

I want THIS. I need THIS.

Goalies are hot

I've got to finish 2 Snowflake-themed ATCs, and a holiday-themed Dotee Doll today. Also, I will drag my sniffly ass to the post office.

While I'm here (again), I finished that mermaid Dotee Doll:

She's already on her way to her new home =]

In other news, I got in a big fight with my husband on Sunday, and we're still barely talking. He thinks I spend too much money at the craft store. I spend about 10% of our after-bills money at the craft store. Much less than that now, since I started working, actually; I don't use his money to bankroll my hobby anymore. Honestly, I think he's stressed out to his limit, and having issues with the fact that, yeah, I'm working now, but I really love my job. I'm tempted a "neener" here, but that would just be childish x_X

I explained to him last night that I really don't like being in charge of the bills and budget, and that if he would like to do it, he is perfectly welcome to the task; however, if he is going to trust me to take care of the bills and budget, he needs to trust me. I think it was effective; we slept in the same room for the first time last night.

We need to trade in our SUV for something smaller. I really don't want to; I love my car (btw, it's only "my car" when we have to buy gas). We spend 40% of our after-bills money on gasoline ($3.45/gal now). We drive 160mi every weekend to get the kids (round-trip); other than that, we don't really go far.

It's totally worth it, to see my kids whenever I want to, though ^_^

CRE8R

OMG, this cold just won't go away! I've fallen behind on 2 of my 1 on 1 swaps =[ I have them packaged & ready to ship, but I've been sleeping like shit, and during the day, just kinda...being. Staring at the walls. Well, not really. I've been making stuff, too, but, yanno, that's just what I do.


These are some of the stamps in my sketchbook that I am carving for December.

The robot faces and heads will all be individual stamps, and I am going to put them together with a nice blank journal, some ink pads, and metallic gel pens for Isaac, for Christmas =]

I'm planning on using the Christmas-y stamps on cards and gift tags.

The skulls are really just for me, but I think I'll make one up for my swap partner in the Skull Love Swap.

I love carving the Staedtler Mars erasers, but how do I get rid of the raised pattern on them??! =X I don't want little swirlies on my penguin -_-

I also need something wider; I wonder if they make different sizes of that eraser?


This blog is so fun, and has incredible patterns, including these two here!
Some bitsy elf clogs, and peppermint stars, made for a 1 on 1 swap (I traded them for a mix CD *full* of awesome Christmas music). These took me about 2-3 hours to make them all, but I took time out for dinner:


Damn, I make some GOOOOOOOOOOOD cheesesteaks!!

For dessert, we had fried plantains, with ginger & cinnamon (sorry Mom, I just love ginger ;) Oh oh! We also had these:


My yellow pear tomatoes! The only two that ripened before the cold weather killed off my plant *sniffle* There are almost 2 dozen baby tomatoes on the plant that are all shriveled up =[

Still, it's the first time I have gotten edible fruit from my garden (and I've been trying for almost 10 years!).

They were delicious =]

Flight of the Busy Bee

Cripes! Where haven't I been??!

I went to the emergency room yesterday. Severe dizziness and nausea. I couldn't open my eyes without falling over, because I was sooo dizzy.

Survey says:
Severe vertigo, caused by infection in my throat screwing with my inner ear.

I went to the E.R. for a COLD.

Anyway, this is what I have been doing lately:

Mermaid Dotee Doll


My first amigurumi ^_^ Cute little teddy bear, modified from a pattern in this Softies book. Excellent book for learning to make softies, but only one amigurumi pattern I wish I had more....and I wish I had more yarn!)


A couple sketchy drawinglings


A new ATC! This one has some tulle across it that doesn't show well. Come to think of it, all these pics are kinda blurry. Symptom of this wretched cold I've had =X


And, finally, some Skellington ornaments I've been working on. I really like how the mouths came out =] They are done and stuffed now, just haven't had the daylight to snap a new picture!

I need a nap.

Sick & Twisted

I have been fighting this cold for over a week, and have finally conceded *sniffle* I'm weak, and tired, and I hurt all over. I work today, and tomorrow, and I cannot call out, because there is no one else in town to take my shifts. I only wish that my body would settle on a temperature. Even with drugs (I've got infinite faith in medication, tbh), I'm coldhotcoldhotcoldhotcoldhot *grr*

Thanksgiving was great, I didn't get sick until the next day =] I have pictures, too, but I don't think I've got it in me to sit and upload, resize, post, blog them just yet. Suffice to say, we've got enough food to feed us for the next week, and all were fat and happy (except my daughter...what 5yr old hates candied yams???).

I suppose I ought to go shower, and start psyching myself up for work. Thank goodness it's a Saturday afternoon, the slowest day I work.

The Wind Beneath My Wings

My desk: This is as tidy and organized as it gets. It is in the corner of my living room.


My happy place: it needs to be bigger!


Desktop: I can't wait to get some erasers, to carve better stamps!

Trading is such sweet sorrow

I've finished all my ATCs for the Silhouette ATCs Swap. I might have to make another; I have grown quite attached to the birdy one X]



I'm really enjoying these, although I am starting to feel like they aren't realy representing me, and my *usual* art. I think I will have to try painting and drawing some ATCs, and maybe make some out of fabric. I've seen some really neat fabric ATCs =]

We went to the flea market yesterday, and I picked up some awesome, and rather risque, trading cards, that I can use for ATCs. I also got an envelope stuffed with random stationary bits, and stickers =] The flea market was fun; too bad they are closing it down after next weekend! Apparently, the location (the flea market is held at the drive-in theater a couple blocks down from my house) was sold, and the new owners paid an extra $10mil to void the contract held by the flea market people. the flea market people had a contract stating that they could have the flea market there for the next 2 years, but the new owners didn't want that. This makes me wonder if they are also going to shut down the theaters -_-

Today, I am going to go photograph my overwhelming fabric stash, because I have been trading it away! Trading it for Christmas presents for the kids, card and ATC making supplies, and I've even traded some away for some jewelry that I really loved =] So, I'm not really de-stuff-ing, but I'm trading larger stuff for smaller stuff ;) lol

Like a Virgin

I bit the bullet, and dove into my very first ATC today! ^_^

*huzzah!*


I'm quite pleased with it. I am seriously lacking any kind of gold in any part of my art/craft stash (I'd always found that admirable up 'till now). I think this ATC needs some accents with a gold gel pen. But I don't have one. Oh well. It's still awesome! The clicky pic up there will take you to more of a description on how I made it.

I've been very slowly collecting paper crafts stuffs; mostly from Goodwill (soooo many cards, and papers, and vintage ads, etc). I have a basket on my desk for papercrafting supplies, and I intend to keep it to that basket.

We all know how far my intentions get me.

Carebear Stare!

My daughter wanted to be a purple Carebear this year. Great. They don't make purple Carebear costumes, they only make pink Carebear costumes....and she was a pink Carebear for the last 2 years! lol

This is made out of 300wt Malden Mills fleece. It's got a velour finish on the inside, and a sherpa finish on the out. The tummy is lightly stuffed (you shoulda heard her at the Halloween party at school: "Go ahead, punch my stomach!" ;)

Anyway, she loved it, she was warm, all is good =]





It's been a week, and the costume is no longer purple. It is some sort of greenish brown color now. Of course, she's only taken it off to go to school...I suppose it does look like comfy pjs O_o

My Faint Lady

There I was, working my 2nd day at my new job.

Oh, yeah, I got a new job, as a bartender at the VFW.

So there I was. Still in training, still learning, still loving the people. Suddenly, I got really shaky, while making a vodka cranberry. Okay, bar's nearly empty, I'll just get this guy his drink, and sit down for a few minutes. Of course, he paid with a twenty, so I had to make all kinds of change. Then, he wanted to play the dice, so I had to get that for him, and put the money in the pot. This is the point where I start seeing flashing lights, and sweating profusely. I went to sit down, and found myself feeling like I was being crushed. Excused myself to the restroom, where I sat in the rediculously tiny stall for a good 5-10 minutes, with my head on my knees.

Where did this sudden faint spell come from? WHY did it have to happen in the middle of the day, in teh middle of my shift??

I was so embarrassed. Luckily, the woman I was training with was really cool, and she sent me home. Luckily still, I had made the very out-of-character decision that my husband should drive me to work today, so I didn't have to drive home.

I'm so mad at my body right now! I can't afford this fainting thing! So, now, I get to go pick up the kids from school tomorrow, and head right back to work, to get back into training. Then I work again on Saturday. And the thing that is really bothering me is that I have fallen behind on a couple swaps because of all this! I'm going to try to get them out today, but I feel that they will still end up going out tomorrow, making them 2 whole days late =[ I'm jsut afraid to drive right now. Oh, and I feel like CRAP.

As I was leaving work, the lady I was working with said, "Go home, get some rest, and get yourself a pregnancy test."

O_o

Click click, bang bang

I joined a new group, and I intend to stick with it. It's the 365 Days group, at Flickr.

Basically, the idea is to take and upload a self-portrait every day, for one year.

I'm hoping to catch some important things in the upcoming year, such as getting pregnant (*fingers crossed*), quitting smoking, and...well, that's really all I can think of right now, lol X]

I think it will be interesting to see how my hobbies change throughout the year, as well. This year, I've gone from beadwork, to painting, to pencil drawing, to digital artwork, 3D texturing, to sewing clothing, t-shirt surgery, sewing hair-clips, making softies, little marble magnets, ATCs (Artist Trading Cards), and collages! I'm sure there has been more, actually....that's all I can think of that I have done in the past 3 months ;)

I have not quite decided when I want to start, tho...Perhaps today. I know I want to start this week, so I can be sure to catch the ATC (Army Training Conference) in Reno this weekend. My first formal event, the first time I have been to Reno at a "legal" age, and a lot of activity, new people, and hopefully, excitement!

Marble MADNESS!

I finally tried 'em, and I love 'em! X] I can never have enough magnets, yanno....I wanted to make them for a swap partner that mentioned she collects fridge magnets. I used a moon picture I found in a vitamin catalog to try it out, and it was easy, and quick =] So, now I have a lovely set of magnets to send out, and I am feeling great about the package I have made up for her =]


(the tutorial part is for a friend of mine)

I'm having a hard time finding the plastic for what I want to do to my pins, so I might have to hold off on that for a while. The kids finally settled on what they want to be for Halloween (a ninja, and a purple Carebear), so I can get started on that. I bought a pair of scallop-edge scissors today, hoping they would work on felt, for my Dinkys. They don't. But, I also bought an assortment of cardstock and specialty papers to make Christmas cards, so I'm sure the scissors will come in handy.

Oh, and I found an AWESOME art supply store downtown today! I must have walked past it a hundred times before finding it. I picked up some clearanced vellum, and a squishy art eraser (the kind that is like clay...been needing one of those). And I got Hubby a nifty little hopping bug toy for his desk at work. he was using it to launch things across the office last I heard form him ;)

Swappin' tha deck, ARRR!

Oh my. I signed up for Swap-bot last night.

-help meeeeeeeeee-
Some "notes to self":
* I will not join more than 2 swaps at a time.
* I will only join 1 international swap at a time.
* I will only join one quick swap (send-out date less than 2wks away) at a time.
* I will not zallow the dollar total of any and all swaps I am in climb above $30.
* I will not join swaps when their send-out date is towards the end of a pay period.
* I will remember that there is a post office 2 blocks down Soquel, instead of forgetting, and going to the p.o. way out in Capitola.

So, the first swaps I have joined are a Red Ribbon swap, for AIDS Awareness Day (Dec. 1). I will have two partners in that one, and will be making something red ribbon and wearable. If my partner happens to be in the U.S. (it's an international swap), I will most likely send out a yellow ribbon, as well. I'm all about encouraging people to support the troops. All anyone hears about these days are anti-war, anti-military, anti-government....I don't think anyone realizes the effect even a simple yellow ribbon has on us. It's enough to make our whole DAY. Anyway....that's an entirely different post.

Secondly, I joined a Newbie Swap, to get my rating up, so I can join the swaps I realy *want* to join ;) I'm excited about the Newbie Swap! I'll only get one partner, but something about getting to know them covertly, and making up a package tailored to someone else...Idk, this just sounds like *FUN* =]

In other news...

I've decided the layette set will have a gardening theme. Hubby voted for bunny theme, I vetoed. Baby's parents are gardeners, and I doodled out some cute little sweet peas and punkins...I'm having visions of making a whole army of toys and blankets now!

I won't.

But maybe I can convince the children to be sweet peas and punkins for Halloween X] LOL!

Halo, World!

Started -AND- finished the Dinky angel today! I really don't like his face. I've already taken it out twice, I'm not sure how much more the fabric can take in that area. ::Grrrr:: Oh, and I need to get some longer, thinner needles, that still have eyes large enough for two strands of floss.



This is for my friend, Michael. I have been working on a painting for him of a blue angel for...oh...about a year now =X After seeing the dinky dragon, he requested a dinky angel to tide him over until I get the painting finished.



Speaking of painting, I have come to the realization that I am a weirdo. I know, shocking, huh? I can't paint here! I had no problems painting in Georgia, and I did it quite often. But, something feels "off" here. I've never been one to buy into the idea that I needed a certain type of "energy", or whatever you wanna call it, to paint. Seriously, though, when I try to paint, it feels so alien, I just can't do it ::sigh::

Hokey Pokey

So, I spend the majority of my crafting time sitting on the sofa, with my embroidery scissors, a skein or two of embroidery floss, my current project, and my standard tomato pincushion. Problem is, that little tomato pincushion is always rolling away! I'm constantly digging it out from under the sofa, from between the cushions, and the worst is when I reposition myself, and get stabbed in the butt by my wayward pincushion X[

So, of course, I made a new one. A flatter, prettier one! Woot! =]




Stupid, blurry pics *shakes fist*
It's dark, and I just didn't have the patience for properly photographing it. But it's cute. Really really cute. I don't even like brown, but this brown & pink combo really does it for me.

The embroidery took me two evenings, but it probably would have gone faster without Hubby's intense amusment at tickling me while I have a needle in my hand.

October, a time for change

OK, not really...but how about trying something new? I think I'll start making a list of my crafty goals every month, so I can see just how productive I am not being, heh ;)

OK October!

* Finish quilting flannel baby quilt.

* Bind and finish flannel baby quilt.

* Bind and finish country flag quilt.

* Angel Dinky

* Soldier Dinky

* Lyndsay Dinky

* Rhy Dinky

* Halloween costumes:
-ninja for Hero
-purple Carebear for The General

* Complete brown & pink pincusion

* DIYShrinky my yellow pins

* Two Red Ribbon Pins

* Layette set for baby Carmen:
* hat
* booties
* mittens
* recieving blanket
* warm blanket
* picture frame
* softie
(I'm thinking a bunny theme for all this...bunnies are easy, and pretty classic-baby, right? Or maybe a cat....cats are cuter than bunnies, I think...) *EDIT: (I'm thinking giraffe now, because I have a nice soft fleece panel with cute giraffes on it)

Is that too much for one month? I guess we'll see....