Alive, sans kickin'

Yeah, I'm still around. After losing what turned out to be TWINS, to my second ectopic rupture, I didn't feel much like posting anymore. I've now lost both of my fallopian tubes, and cannot get pregnant. Tragic, for sure. Currently, I'm waiting for yet another surgery, to take care of a scar tissue adhesion that is causing me pain, and a cyst on my ovary. Surgery is scheduled for August. Ugh.

I'm also having some problems with anxiety. My husband is going away to interrogator school on Feb 5, and will be gone for 5 months. Everyone keeps saying, "Oh, that's far away, you still have plenty of time..." yadda yadda. When you live the life we do, moving every 2-3 years, your concept of time changes. 6 months is a HUGE chunk of time. We're moving to Ft. Polk, LA, next July. Yes, it's a year away, but it feels like tomorrow. I'm not sleeping well, because I'm having disturbing dreams about moving by myself, custody issues, and struggling with the idea of being separated from my honey for half a year, only to be separated for a year and a half. Ft. Polk is where interrogators go to be prepared for deployment *sigh*

This summer has gone pretty well, so far, though. The kids have been pretty good, although my 9yr old son has entered the "I cannot tell the truth" phase. It's hard not being able to trust anything he says. I suppose, just like sleepless nights with a newborn, that this is all preparing me for the teenage years ;)

I have been crafting, mostly crochet. AND, I've been knitting! Much thanks to my wonderful mother<, who taught me more from two states away than all the knitting books I've read ;)

So, here are some pictures, just a sampling of some of the things I've been doing. I'm still doing swaps, a handful at a time, and I've really been enjoying sewing a lot more lately =]


Cherry stamp, carved for the "I <3 Cherries" swap on Swapbot


Little crochet mushroom, with hand-beaded straight pins.


Crochet coinpurse, with zipper, and little crocheted cherries (also for the "I <3 Cherries" swap on Swapbot)


Crochet beret, made from a pattern picked p at my LYS. I *love* this thing, and wear it all the time =]


My first finished knitted project, a sock for my iPhone. I really love this, it works better than any other iPhone "case" that I've had!


Wedding cake toppers (prototype). A good friend is getting married next spring, and asked me to make these for her.


Wire-wrapped jewelry sets, made for teacher gifts. (black is Swarovski crystal, blue is faceted sodalite)


Knitted fingerless loves. Again, I totally love these, and wear them a LOT, usually with the crocheted beret above.


Crocheting a super soft, fuzzy, scalloped scarf.

There you have it. I have been busy, despite pain that won't go away, and anxiety that has me jumpin' at the wind. I will make an effort to blog a whole lot more, although I must warn that my pictures may get crappier, as I have been seduced by the convienience of taking them with my iPhone, and uploading them immediately ;) I also tweet frequently over on Twitter!

Black and white and read all over!

I love black and white animals! Almost as much as I love giraffes ;) I carved the zebra, orca, and sleeping panda stamps after sketching out their main shapes from wildlife photos found on the 'net. Identifying basic shapes and patterns in nature is the focus of the next art class I am teaching ;) And I wanted these stamps for a swap I am in...stay tuned for ATCs!

The horse and flower stamps were carved from a piece of paper that I found while cleaning my creative space! I had drawn them a while ago, when I first started carving stamps; I do not remember if they were drawn from a source, or if I actually drew them (I'm sure I didn't draw the horse....but doesn't it have a lovely Mary Poppins feel to it? =)

Last, and probably least, is a felt mini-stocking, created for a swap. I think it's adorable! It is stuffed with a tiny baggie of colourful buttons, ready to be sent off to it's new home in Mission Viejo (I used to live there, in a past life).


Ooooh, it's a jolly holiday with Mary...no wonder that it's Mary that we love...

When you teach your son, you teach your son's son

SON: "Mom, I'd really like to ride the bus to school this year."
ME: "Ok, we might be able to do that. Will you take care of your sister on the bus? Make sure she is safe, has a seat, and knows where to go?"
SON: "Yes. And if any kids bigger than her pick on her, I will find them in the halls (if the school has halls), and I will tell them, 'HEY! That's my sister! If you mess with her, you have to deal with me!'"
DAUGHTER: "But what if the kids are bigger than you??"
SON: *shrugging* "Then I kick 'em in the balls."

We are making progress in the field of Big Brother Responsibilities. We have never encouraged ball-kicking, though, lol...

STAMPS!

1. My son had been asking me to carve him a worm stamp for a couple weeks. I didn't realize that he wanted a worm coming out of a hole int eh ground, so I taught him a simple masking technique, using POst-It notes =]
2. I carved this deer stamp for my partner in the Hand carved stamp #2 swap at Swapbot. isn't it fantastic?! ^_^
3. I carved a whole bunch of little stamps while at work last Saturday. Some of them are SO tiny! hehe I really like the nautical star, and the hammer and wrench =]

My kids got their hairs cut for school (today is their second day of school, btw). My little girl went through about a half dozen magazines at the salon (if you can call Fantastic Sams a "salon", lol), and settled on a picture of Rachel Leigh Cook that she fell in love with. She was very assertive in the chair, telling the stylist exactly how she wanted her hair, and how she DIDN'T want her hair, hehe.

She had about 7 inches cut off her hair. I was fine with it, but slightly disturbed at how fine SHE was with it. She kept saying, "I'm FINE, mom! If I don't like t, it'll grow back. It's just hair!" It now only takes about half a minute to brush her hair in the morning (down from about 10 minutes!), and we think it looks really great on her ^_^

This is...a work in progress

This is a stamp I am carving. A wild rose, the image is from Cornish Heritage Farms.

For those about to rock

...we salute you! Seriously, I love this Jack Black movie, School of Rock. I love it even more after getting sucked into the Nickelodeon programs, iCarly, and Drake and Josh (by my kids, of course ;) I should really buy the soundtrack to this movie; it makes my heart smile ^_^

Anyway, I have been carving my little fingers to the bone this weekend! I worked on Friday, and had to go in 2 hours early (bee-yoo-tee-ful wedding reception!) on Saturday, so I spent a lot of time sitting behind the bar, cutting up rubbah ;) I'm starting to get into the holiday groove, started with a couple of Christmas-y stamps (a deer, and holly leaves/berries). I already have some Halloween stamps drawn up.

Side trip: did you know that I have almost three whole sketchbooks full of designs? I also have countless pieces of scrap paper tucked into my sketchbooks, with even more designs on them. I can't remember the last time I had to buy a sketchbook. Somehow, they keep coming to me. Like, the one I have just started came to me in a bag of crafty things given to me by a friend who was moving (and downsizing). I prefer smallish, unlined sketchbooks, with smooth, but not glossy, paper. I always start on the 2nd page in the book, and end up decorating the first page a little at a time, as I fill up the rest of the pages =]

Back to the stamps! So, I've carved a deer, and holly. I also have about 425974296379276 friends and family that have either just given birth, or are due in the next 3 months.

Really, I've been trying to get pregnant for 2 years....making baby cards and gifts for EVERYONE ELSE really exercises my "grace" component.

So, here are a baby onesie, and a stroller/carriage/buggy THING. I think they are super cute ^_^

Finally, a tree, that made me cross-eyed for two days - that's how long it took me to carve it! I carved the tree for a specific ATC I have in mind =]

On to the pictures!!


Stamps I carved this weekend (Aug 8th & 9th). I drew the tree myself, but the other images are from a stamp company called Cornish Heritage Farms.

There's a leaf at the top of the tree that looks cut off; it's just an incomplete print =X

I colored the images in quickly with my Prismacolors.

Speaking of Prismacolors, I just found that there is a bigger set available than the one I have. I have the 120ct set, and I see on the website a 132ct set! O.M.G! My husband doesn't get it; he thinks I should just find out which colors in the 132ct set I do NOT have, and go buy those individually. Well, I mean...that's what he thought after I told him how much the 132ct set costs ;)

Oh, and here is the final version of the card I made for my friend, Michael =]


The inside of the card. Cupcake stamp colored with Prismacolors.

It's 11:00pm (just about), and my kids are still awake. That happens when their daddy doesn't bring them home until 10:00pm =[ Oh well, maybe I'll get to sleep in tomorrow, heh *sigh*

Slowdown the birthday train!

I have so many birthdays coming up! TWO close friends, brother, nephew, husband, brother-in-law...yikes! Also, an ooooold friend of mine form my high school years is coming to town on a research project, and she will be staying here on our sofa for a week. She's been living in Scotland, going to school there, so, like, I've only seen her once in the past, ooooh...8 years? =X It will be interesting, but I am excited =]

Okay, onto the fun stuff!

Doodlebug stamp for my mom:

There was a book that I used to read to my kids every night, called "Daddy is a doodlebug". I don't know what happened to that book...
My mom designed this little guy, she calls a doodlebug. She had appliqued it onto some aprons she made for the kids last Christmas, and requested I carve a stamp of the doodlebug for her.

Birthday card for Michael:

The browns match better irl than this pic shows.
I made this card for my friend, Michael. I got the layout and colors from this card. I had no papers that were even close to what I wanted, so I made the striped and brown papers on my computer (at 300dpi). Oh, I made the "Happy Birthday" piece on my computer, too, and gave it several thin coats of acrylic medium to give it a glossy look.
Now that I am looking at it, I have an even better idea in mind for his bday card, lol...too bad I've already signed the inside -_-

Christmas Candies:

Little felt candy ornaments made for the Feltbots: Christmas Ornament #4 - Candy swap at Swapbot.

Birdy tags!

Been practicing with my Martha Stewart circle cutter.
Tree and bird stamps hand-carved by myself. I sponged a slightly darker blue ink around the edges of the circles, and then sponged on some prown ink lightly over that. I dabbed black and brown Versacraft inks on the trees, and embossed them with clear ep. I printed the birds in brown Versacraft ink on yellow patterned paper, cut them out, and glue-sticked them onto the tags.

I have another bday card that I have already finished, but haven't photo'd, yet. I'm off to pick up my Stampin' Up! catalog today (only 4 more days left on this catalog!). I have many more cards to make this week...and it's already Thursday! =X

Absolutely innocent blog title!

I told ya I was working on a gnome project! Here he is, the itty gnome!

The bottom of the little gnome is actually a dark blue, but it photo'd as black. I would grumble about wildfires killing the natural light around here, but I'm just so dang pleased with how this little guy turned out! ^_^ I can see a whole army of itty gnomes in the future ;)

Also, I received an awesome package from Portugal today!

Té té sent this huge package for the hand-carved stamp swap we did at the Carve Your Stamps group on Flickr. I had sent her some carving blocks, because she can't get them where she lives, and she retaliated reciprocated with this fantastic package, filled with handmade envelopes, a little notepad, hand-stamped stickers, and even a coloring set for the kids! Seriously, this woman is so full of win ^_^ Thanks, Té té!!

So, I got the fwoop over the e's...but I can't get it to do it without making a space in the middle of her name! What the deuce! *sigh* I feel so "in the box".

Tute-ing my own horn!

Tutorial-ish thing on how I carve my stamps! Click the image to go to my tutorial on Flickr.

Spring me right 'round, baby

It's official...Spring is here in my little pocket of the world ^_^

That's one of the lil' plum trees in front of my home. This was taken a week ago, and now, the two trees look like they've been covered in pink popcorn, they are so full of blossoms! It's been raining consistently the past couple days, but it looks like the flowers are hanging in there =]

I'm definitely ready for Spring:


I love the little posey stamp (the one slathered in bronze ink, hehe) ^.^

I am deathly ill with the flu right now =[ I can barely read, because my eyes start burning almost immediately (is that from fatigue, or fever, or what? My eyes always bother me when I have the flu). I can barely walk, because I'm so dizzy and tired, and I'm so hungry, but it seems the only thing I can get down is chicken broth. Lucky for me, I love chicken broth (with a lil' fresh green onions....mmmm.....). Charlie brought me some Theraflu this morning (one of the few cold meds I can take), and I vomited quite promptly after sipping it. Wouldn't you know, they've changed their formula to make it "better tasting"; this means that aspartame is now the first ingredient on the list. Blech. I can NOT stomach artificial sweeteners.I tried to covered it up with some fresh honey, and fresh lemons harvested from my father-in-law's tree, but nothing can cover up that sickening Sweet n' Low taste >_<

I'm thinking of dropping off Swap-bot for a while. I have so much fun with the swaps, and I have learned a lot of new things there, but I've fallen behind on a handful of swaps already. I know most people there are understanding that sometimes life happens, but it seems to happen to me too much [imo], considering my post office closes earlier than most, and I'm frequently (and without warning) being called into work...and now I'm sick. There have been a couple times that I was a day late sending my swaps because my dear hubby had either taken the car to work, or taken the debit card to work (wouldn't be a problem, if he was actually ever in his office, and I could go pick it up). I have one swap now, which I actually only sent a couple days late, and my partner has informed me hasn't arrived yet. So, I had been working my butt off trying to get together the swaps I need to send out this week, as well as a replacement package for her - insert freaking-out-exhusband requiring an un-planned trip an hour north to pick up my kids, an injured co-worker, needing me to open the bar for a couple hours so that she can see the doctor, scrambling to find a sitter, since I had to pick up the kids almost an entire day early, and then the flu, bringing it's mighty hammer of injustice down upon our household.....*sigh.....I'm not even sure where I am at anymore. Needless to say, I will likely be sending several replacement packages to this woman, for her patience!

Idk, maybe I should learn how to say, "No." But, then, would I have said no to my kids? Or to my job, when it really was an unavoidable emergency?

I should have shouted, "NO!" to the flu, methinks -_-

The cat says, "Meow!"

I drew and carved these three stamps while at work on a particularly slow Monday night (Jan 21).



They are carved with a standard Xacto knife, from 2 Stanford Magic Rub erasers. This is a new eraser for me, and I do not like it as much as I love the Staedtler Mars erasers, but I like it better than the Pink Pearl erasers. The Magic Rub erasers have a lot of bubbles in them, and are not quite as soft as the Mars erasers.

The kitty cat was made at the request of my husband, and I am so happy with it! I already have some nifty ideas for him =]

The lightbulb came from me trying to think of things that started with the letter L. It was the simplest of these three carvings.

The cupcake is one I have been meaning to do for a while. I'm not on the "OMGZ I LOVE CUPCAKES!!" bandwagon, but I knew that I would be able to use this in many ATCs. It was a total pain the the ass to carve X]

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* -_-

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 =]