Sketch #4

Now this one was interesting....

Sketch Prompt #4

"Create a stain on a clean sketchbook page using anything!
Use the stain to create a image with your pencil!"

The first thing I thought of was coffee!

So I took some coffee grounds, spread them on the page and rubbed them in a bit to make a good stain.

Well what do you know, I came up with a tree haha!

I just love trees and apparently so does my subconscious.

Sketch #3

And here, my dears, is sketch #3 from Run 2 the Wild's sketchbook workshop!

"Divide a clean sketchbook page into sections by drawing 2 diagonal lines, 3 horizontal and 2 vertical lines each touching the edges of the page. Then fill each empty section with a different unique pattern."

This was actually harder than I thought it would be!

My OCD wouldn't let me just put a certain shape in each section at first but I told myself to just go for it.  Definitely a great exercise in letting go.  :D 

Sketch #2

Here's the prompt for sketch challenge #2!

Rest your pencil to a fresh sketchbook page, close your eyes and begin to move your pencil all over the page for 15 seconds. open your eyes. spend the next 15 mins turning your scribble into a recognizable image!

What a weird drawing I came up with haha!  I call it

"Two Little Bean-Like Aliens Riding a Chameleon-Rabbit-Cow-Ostrich-Dinosaur"

  Here it is for your viewing pleasure, enjoy!

Run2TheWild's Sketchbook Workshop!

Miss Courtney from Run2TheWild has began a Sketchbook Workshop!

And I decided to join in.

I haven't drawn -ANYTHING- in so long!  In fact, I don't think I've had a legitimate sketchbook for over 10 years now.  Sad, isn't it?  Well this is just the kick in the creative pants I needed!

The first assignment was thusly:

"Draw a self portrait without using words, without a mirror and without actually drawing yourself realistically. Use this sketch to describe who you are on the inside, not who we see on the outside."

Here is my entry:

I gave myself a half hour time limit.  Granted, I didn't get much done, but I like it.

I've always been one to take my time with drawing anything, so half an hour is nothing compared to how long I could have spent on it!

Thanks Courtney for the inspiration!  Can't wait to see what the next ones are going to be.

New Setup

This might be really late, what with the show being back in August,

but here it is ladies and gentlemen; my new setup for my craft show booth!

Here's what's new:

• I incorporated the canopy again (after fixing it) instead of umbrellas.

• I removed the ugly green cover and used a favorite vintage blanket of mine.  More color, more light!

• New handmade banner.

• New display pieces.  The shelves and little bench, painted up a pretty white.

• And for the first time, a payment center! (On the right, in the back.)

Out of everything I think the payment center was my favorite part.  The table and little cabinet held, hid and kept organized everything I needed; cash in the drawers, iPhone with square card swiper in the top cubby with my tea, mailing list on the table, "Credit Cards Accepted" sign on the back of the cabinet, "toolbox" hidden underneath.  It made a specified place for payments to be taken instead of me and the customer just standing in the middle of my booth for everyone to see.  It made me feel better and I noticed it made customers feel better too, made their purchase more of a private affair.

I always get to share my space with my best friend Ana who runs Pretty Bizarre on Etsy, which makes any craft show a blast!

This particular show takes place every year in a big driveway of a very good friends home.

It's small, as far as craft shows go, only about fifteen vendors all known by each other.

It's well attended by friends, family and the public.

Every show is an affirmation of friendship, artistry, laughter and love.

I never miss it.  :D

Here are a few more photos from the show:

This is Chris, the lady behind the show.  She specializes in homemade jams and soaps.

The show seen from the beginning of the driveway.

Maggie and Valerie with hand painted art and homemade treats, delicious!

Jamie and her recycled coffee bag pillows and totes.

Jen peeking from the back with all her unique handmade jewelry.

Some of Jen's bracelets.  You can find her on Etsy as TheBeeArchitect.

Until next time, have a splendiferous day!

New Approach

I want to stop making just things and start making art.

Fiber art.

No more mass produced patterns and pieces but one-of-a-kind pieces of wearable art.

I want to take this title of fiber artist to the next level.

It might not be a new style, just a new approach to things.

I want to be more free with my art.

Make things for the sole purpose of making them.

Make things because I love to.

Then release them into the world!

I lost sight of that.

The love and the creative flow.

Instead I got caught up in all the made-to-order pieces.

I'm going to stop focusing on that as much.

And focus on creating just to create.

Who likes vintage?

I know I do!                                                                         .

Which is the exact reason why I have too much vintage stuff hanging about in my room and garage.

And it's time to start finding new homes for it all! 

 That is why all this month you will find a plethora of vintage treasures cluttering up my shop.

Head over to see it all for yourself:  Vintage Section

Click on the photos to see the listing.

Dance Like Nobody's Watching - Aquarium

PLACE: Monterey Bay Aquarium
SONG: E.T. by Katy Perry
BOY: Stefan Fromme
WHY: Because I was inspired by Angela Trimbur and I wanted to see if I could be brave enough to dance in public like she did.  Turn out I can and had a blast!

Here is the original video that inspired me.

Yes, I know my dancing isn't anything special.  The point was to have a personal victory and have fun doing it!

Big THANK YOU to Ana and Michael for giving me courage to do this!

Hooray for personal victories!  Not bad for someone with S.A.D.

I am a Free Spirit

"Look With Your Hands"

Thus are the words I utter every time someone steps into my booth.  For how else are they to really know if they want to purchase one of my cozy creations?  You must touch, feel and try on.

Another wonderful craft show, come and gone.  

Over 30 vendors packed into that beautiful, long driveway.

We drank mimosas and heckled customers while displaying our pewter filigree mustaches.

My good friend Ana being a vendor for the first time with some of her amazing hand painted wares!

 Find her here:  Pretty Bizare

Of course we couldn't pass up on some of the more adorable creations.

Clothesrophobia

For years and years I've always liked the classic style of layering.  T-shirt, button up and sweater.  Oooh, so wonderfully comfortable looking and sexy!  Especially if it's all in nice warm, earthy colors as seen in the photo below.  Yet, I've never felt that I could really pull this look off for two reasons.  Let me me explain.

Reason number one is that I don't see myself as the type of guy that is usually seen wearing the layered look.  The best ones who pull the look off perfectly are three things: skinny, skinny oh and skinny.  Let's face it, I'm not skinny.  I have more than just skin on my bones.  So when I put on more than one layer (not to mention three!) I just look bigger.  Pair that with a typical pair of jeans and I look like a tree.  Not cute.

Reason two is because of my Clothesrophobia.  I've coined this term based on how I feel when I'm in layers of clothing, which is basically just claustrophobic.  (Clothes + claustrophobia = Clothesrophobia).  It's SO restrictive being in more than just one layer of clothes - especially fitted ones - and I can't stand it for very long!  I'm a free spirit, full of spontaneity, and I need to be able to fling my arms about without my movements being inhibited.

Still, seeing this again has inspired me.  I really want to give it another go.  See if I can learn to love the layers, even if I do look a bit bigger than those stupid stick-thin-bones-a-poppin'-model-jerks (jealous much? lol!).  I already have quite a few pieces that will look great together, just have to put them to use!

I am a Free Spirit

An Affirmation for Inner Peace, Strength, and Healing

I will love and not hate
I will heal and not harm
 I will create and not destroy
I will inspire and not crush
I will restore and not demolish
 I will help and not hurt
I will embrace my uniqueness and never be generic
 I will grow and not stagnate
I will be respectful and not rude
I will be compassionate and not cruel
I will seek to understand and not judge or dismiss
I will have empathy and not apathy
I will be mindful and not heedless
I will be strong and not weak
I will be courageous and not cowardly
I will dare to dream and not relinquish hope
I will be open-minded and not closed shut
I will plant peace and not strife
 I will thrive and not be thwarted
I will live in the moment and not dwell in the past or on the future
I will cherish my loved ones, animals, and Mother Earth and never take any of them for granted
 I will make magic and not malignancy
 I will be free and never confined
I am a free spirit who is grateful for my life and freedom . . . today

Up and coming...

Yes, I've been a bit absent lately.  I have a good reason for it too!

I've been making things like a mad man for the upcoming craft show.  My stock of things has somehow run low (not complaining hehe!) and I have to refill all the things I sell.  Well that and there's four completely new designs that my brain has come up with and I like to have a substantial amount of each design for variety.  For smaller things I prefer to have at least 20 of each piece and for the bigger ones at least 10, although I usually end up with more lol!  So yes, I've been knitting, crocheting and macramé-ing in preparation.

Unfortunately my shop has been suffering a bit during these times.  Yes, I've still been transferring pieces from my older shop to the newer but none of the new pieces that I've been promising people have popped up just yet.  I swear, they will be coming soon-ish!  I just have to have time to take all the pictures and finish creating the staple pieces and concoct descriptions of them all.  It's definitely a process, I'll tell ya that!  But I'm sure once it's all set and ready to be launched you'll all be quite happy with the new pieces.  

I'm excited for the fact that I'm finally settling on basic pieces that I've always made, or feel like I have, to be around for a while.  Ones that I can make again and again and keep the listings every time one of them sells.  It's really putting my shop in a certain direction, which it never really has had one and it feels much more professional.

So, me being who I am, I still don't know when the new pieces will be appearing.  Perhaps they will start appearing before the craft show (which is on the 21st of May) but most likely it will be afterwards when it's all calmed down a bit and I can concentrate on the shop.

Paper Mache

I've always heard those words, I've seen the aftermath of paste and paper, but never ever have I experienced it myself.  Until today, that is.  The paper mache inspiration bug bit me and I suddenly -had- to cover some surface with sticky paper!  Knowing that my parents wouldn't be too happy if it was our kitchen table, or some other such piece of furniture, I chanced upon a styrofoam head in the garage with my crafting stuff that I had previously painted blue thinking it would make it look better.  Turns out the blue paint made it a bit (ok a lot) creepy.  So the head it would have to be!

The creepy blue head, ready for plastering.

My choice of paper, natural white and brown construction.

Work area all set.

Finished!  Er...kinda..

The process was quite fun, getting all sticky and paste covered.  However I believe the head turned out just as much, if not more so, creepy as it began.  Maybe these things are just creepy no matter what you do.  The paper is now all dry and I'm considering doing another layer.  Perhaps this time using just the brown paper or newspaper.  What do you think?  And on a side note, have you ever done paper mache and if so what have you made?

Go for it!

Lately this urge to start painting has overcome me.  Not really sure where it came from.  Honestly I've never shown much aptitude for painting but for some reason I feel like I could actually create something worthwhile if I were to try.  I think I'm just going to go for it.  Not exactly today, or tomorrow even.  I will give it a try once things calm down a bit, after this weekend and the wedding.  I'm quite excited to see what might come out of me because I'm not even sure!

3.18.11 Update:  I did it!  I painted and this is what came of it.  I call it "Looking Up"  The vision was of being underwater, way underwater, and looking up at the sun.

Proverbial skin

Things are progressing quite nicely with moving my shop over to Bohemian Hollow.  I thought it would be so much more work starting over but the process I have is working really well.  I'm taking everything slowly and enjoying it all.  Basically whenever something expires in the old shop I list in the new one.  Which is also much easier than I first thought.  It's as simple and quick as copying and pasting, because that's literally what I do hehe!  Sure, it'll take about four months to move everything over, but what's the rush?  Everything is still listed, even if it is in two different places.  People can just as easily be directed to my feedback if they're really that concerned about it.  And I don't get overwhelmed with listing 50 things all at once.  Really, it's working out very well!

I received my brand new business cards in the mail just last week and it made it feel just that little bit more official.  I did it.  I really did it!  I'm continuously happy with this move and name change.  I'm getting SUCH a better reaction from people when I tell them what my product name is (Lol product!  I sound pretentious and all "big business" when I say that.  What's a better word?).  No more do I get a little chuckle and a "Aww how cute!".  It's more of a little widening of the eyes and a "Oooh nice." in a somewhat impressed tone.  Much, much better reaction.  I'm not all cutesy anymore hooray!  But I'm still cute right?  (Shameless compliment fishing)

This whole process, accompanied by the new name, is really part of me becoming more true to myself, which is what this whole year so far has been about.  Eliminating everything that doesn't fit what I feel is really me.  Shedding my proverbial skin and spreading my multifaceted wings!  Doing personal things when I feel the time is right and doing them for myself and not any outside sources.  Getting rid of clutter, both in the physical and emotional sense.  All that good leaf turning, chapter starting stuff!  :D

In short, I'm happy, relieved and excited!

Now's the time...

"The time has come."  

The walrus said.  

"To speak of many things.  

Of shoes, of ships, of sealing wax.  

Of cabbages and kings.  

And why the sea is boiling hot

And whether pigs have wings."

Thus begins my new journey into not just a new identity concerning my work but an overall new and better me.