Bzzy Little Bee

Not One But Two Red Rabbit Holidays on the Way

 Rabbits, Rabbits Everywhere!

Here's what I've been working on almost nonstop the last couple of months.  And they are almost here!  We're doing our second annual Red Rabbit at Descanso Gardens on December 6th and our first holiday show in Orange County on December 13th.  I'm especially looking forward to the workshops which are always so much fun.  I'm asking everyone I know to save soda cans for me for the pinwheel and brooch classes which I'll be teaching there.  And I can only drink so much! 

Come check out the fun!  http://redrabbitworkshop.com

The Most Unexpected Halloween Surprise

 Still Crazy After All These Years

Remember the "portal keys" in Harry Potter -  objects that would transport a person to another place when grasped?  

Well I found one on Saturday.  A sort of one.

I was shopping in San Clemente with lil sis Aliss when I spotted this little costume.

As soon as I saw it I was bullet trained to San Francisco, to Paul Revere Elementary School's kindergarten Halloween parade - 1966. It was the weirdest feeling - focused like a flashlight aimed intently and speeding towards something.  You see I had this same exact (well almost exact) costume when I was little!  And here it was pristine and in mint condition over forty years later! It's the strangest sensation looking at it because I've sure changed while it hasn't.  I am just over the moon and tickled pink to have been reunited with this little costume in a box.  Let's pull out those pictures from 1966 why don't we....

 Oops!  Forgot The "Do Not Wear White Shoes  After Labor Day Rule"

That's me!!  I love how I later went in and edited my writing: I was 5 not 4 in kindergarten and U.S.A. was not the state in which I lived. (Obviously corrected the following year when I was a much wiser and geographically gifted first grader.)  And then there is that missing silent "e" at the end of "Paul Revere". (What new little speller didn't think that silent letters were absurd and maybe just some kind of hoax?  They made no sense!)

But the best part of all is the weight!  Thirty-nine pounds. 39!  That's like the size of my laptop!  Come to think of it - I'd probably have a better chance of fitting into my laptop than into this ever again. Hmm...  :)  Ah good times. Good times.

 That's One Teeny Tiny Little Witch!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Crafty Chica Challenge Announced

Get this!  Craftzine: (which everyone should be subscribing to by the way :) ) is having a contest right now featuring the Queen of Glitter herself, the Crafty Chica, to make your own Day of The Dead Shrine.  Contestants are asked to make a personal shrine and post it to the Crafty Chica Challenge Flickr group http://www.flickr.com/groups/craftychicachallenge  The deadline is October 28 and the winners, who will be selected by a drawing, will be announced on November 2nd.  

Prizes include Crafty Chica Gift Baskets, a Maker Shed gift certificate and a Crafty Chica Bobblehead!  (I already have one and it brings lots of crafty inspiration to my studio! :) ) 

Here's the link for more information: http://www.craftzine.com/craftychicachallenge

So make something fabulous and you might just win some great crafting supplies.  And you know you can never have enough glitter! 

(Thanks to Laura Cochrane at CRAFT & MAKE for the heads up!)

Costco & the Argonauts

Today I found the Costco of my dreams.  

It was quite unexpected and a delightful surprise.  I stumbled into it while trying to avoid the congestion on the 5 Freeway North on my way home from an errand in the City of Commerce. I was zipping alongside the freeway on Telegraph Road when there it was - at the corner of Telegraph and Washington.  With its shiny new gasoline pumps, this Costco seemed like a deserted island set in the middle of a huge empty parking lot.  It called to me.  Cheap gas.....  No waiting....  Freeway adjacent....  My Siren sings to me in terms of saving time and money.  How could I resist its charms?

A few minutes later and all gassed up, I was ready to hit the road.  The freeway looked a little less packed so now would be a good time to continue my journey.  But as I drove through the parking lot on my way out, the Siren threw me another temptation - a front-row parking space bright with freshly painted lines blazing white against the new black pavement.  Never mind that the rest of the lot was empty - this was my lucky day! I was meant to come here! 

Cut to me flashing my Costco "Open Sesame" card to the guard stationed at the entrance.  He stepped aside and waved me in. But this was no ordinary Costco.  Instead of being assailed by a wall of flat screen TVs all shouting for my attention, I was gently greeted by gleaming displays of kitchen utensils and restaurant equipment.  Hold the phone - what is this?!  Tools?  Toools?  Like a parched man gulping at a waterfall, I started pitching measuring cups, silicon spatulas and oversized trays into my basket.  I needed them!  And such a deal!

But this store was full of surprises the biggest one being that besides the half-dozen checkers chit-chattering at the front of the store, nobody else was there.  An empty Costco!  How unusual. When does that ever happen?  "Hmmm.... I wonder why...", I started to ask myself but my mind immediately leaped to "Who cares?!  I can move without people jamming up the aisles while they sample yet another flavor of instant noodles! Yippee! Battle speed!"  

Now in any regular Costco the middle area is taken up with DVDs, clothes and patio furniture.  But this Costco seemed to be a specialized slimmed down version of the store, one catering specifically to restaurants and businesses. So there were no best sellers, no ab crunch machines, no Christmas decorations sharing space with the boogie boards.  Instead the center of this Costco was filled with stacks and stacks of sodas and drinks: Double gulp Arizona cans, fit little Red Bull cans, fierce-looking Monster cans, reliable Coke and steady Pepsi cans - all in every color and design imaginable.  Now anyone who knows me knows how cuckoo I go for soda can aluminum so as I stood in the middle of this empty Costco, surrounded by all these beautiful cans with their promise of "craftibility", I swear to God I heard the angels sing "LAAAAAAAAA..."  

Swear... to... God. 

Then it hit me, "I must be dead!  I've died and gone to heaven! I'm in heaven!  Ooohh....!"  And the lights grew brighter and the angels sang louder.  I kid you not.

But then an inner voice sliced through my moment of ephiphany and said "COSTCO?!  Your idea of heaven is an empty Costco?!  Carmen you are sooo demented."   

Now let me explain about this inner voice: I call it my "Jiminy Cricket voice".  Sometimes it sounds like my mother reminding me to drink water and to exercise.  Sometimes it sounds like my husband Bruce like when I catch myself driving too fast in an area known to be frequented by cops issuing tickets.  This voice warns me to slow down.  But sometimes my Jiminy Cricket voice sounds like my lil sis, Aliss who is so good at "dashing cold water" on me when I go too far into the absurd or the ridiculous.  

So just like that I was ripped from the grips of the Costco Siren and flung back onto the rocks of the present to find myself standing in the middle of the beverage section with the produce guy eyeing me warily while a worker with a push-broom scuttled hurriedly away.  "Wow. That was close!  Thanks lil sis Aliss - you saved my life.  One more second and I would have gone into the bright light",  I thought to myself as I steered my cart towards the checkout stands.  

When the checker asked how I liked the store the words came bursting out in a tumble, " WOWOWOW! This is the greatest Costco ever! Ever!"  Then he explained that it had been open since July and because it was a special "Business Costco", that they didn't get the crowds that regular Costcos got which is why it was so empty that morning. "Cooool... ",  I said, thanking him and vowing to make this special Costco part of my weekly grocery routine.  Even if it was 15 miles out of my way.  Because this is one awesome Costco.

• Costco
• 6333 Telegraph Road
• Los Angeles, CA  90040
• (800) 788-9968
  
• www.Costco. com
  

I must remember to tell my lil sis Aliss when I see her this weekend how her words of wisdom and clarity of vision pulled me from plunging over the precipice and into the unknown abyss. ;0)  "Carmen you are sooo demented."  Five seemingly simple little words but piercing and to the point.  I know she'll get a kick out of it - the lil sis keeping the big sis on track.  And besides in the back of my mind I guess I knew that I really wasn't dead and in heaven - heck, there'd have to be a bingo parlor too and all my loved ones laughing it up for me to believe that!

Pockets Full Of Posies

Yet Another Excuse To Bring Home Those Old 
Couches You See By The Side Of The Road

Aren't these cute? We're going to be making these vinyl pockets with laced up edging on Sunday at the Red Rabbit show at the Los Angeles Arboretum. Stop by and learn how. It's gonna be fun!!

http://redrabbitworkshop.com

Hippity Hoppity On The Way

Wow!  I'm finally done with the "coco hunt" :), which is how I referred to the endless ever-changing movie I was just on in my "Tweets".  I was actually able to document, in a veiled sort of way, what was happening on the movie by Twittering everyday.  I love Twitter!  I love the challenge of trying to say something succinctly and with wit in the space of 140 characters.  My memory always softens and goes blurry just a few weeks after being on a show but now I'll be able to look at my old Tweets and say "Oh yeah, that's where the director went extra nuts" or "Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten just how many times the director changed that reel - that day" and shake my head incredulously.  :)  Ah, good times, good times.

But the exciting thing is that now I can concentrate more on our upcoming Red Rabbit craft show which is going to be at the Los Angeles Arboretum.  It's going to be really fun with a raffle and goody bags. More details here Red Rabbit Workshop

I'm so excited - the "coco hunt" is finally finished and now the summer can start!  Woo Hoo!!

Swept Away In A Whirlwind of Crafting

The King Midas Upcycle Touch - Turning Trash into Treasure

Goodness! Where did March and April disappear to? They left in a flurry of activity is where they went. In between teaching some really fun computer classes to some fabulous artists at the Sawdust Festival offices, teaching upcycling projects to loads of wonderful kids and packing up Etsy sales, there has been the looming and omnipresent load of this movie that I'm on.  Most movies take 1-3 months to do post-production sound on them.  This one is going on 9 months.  NINE.  MONTHS. Ah but that is another story for another time.....  Let's get to the good stuff!

So first off in early April I taught this class on upcycling in Laguna Beach at the Sawdust Festival Spring Into Art event. Eight little girls for 5 hours. IT WAS AWESOME!!!  My sis Alissa helped me and it was so much fun.  Here's a picture of everyone hard at work.

Little Girls, Little Girls, Everywhere I Look I See Little

I pulled out every tool I could think of for these projects - eyelet punchers and setters, dapping blocks, embossing rollers, wire bending pliers, and these little girls mastered them all! They kicked butt! I think it is so important to teach kids, especially girls, how to treat tools with respect and with command and then with practice comes skill and confidence.  Oh, when Alissa was little I was always teaching her how to switch drill bits or swing a hammer.  It's the best!

And the wonderful thing was seeing how every little girl made her work completely her own.  All the flowers and vases were completely different.  Here are a few examples:

       

It's a FlowerPalooza!

Aren't they awesome?!  I was so proud of my students!

Then a couple of weeks ago Alissa again helped me and we team taught making soda can pins as part of the Imagination Celebration held at the Sawdust.  We must have shown 60 adults and kids over the course of two hours how to make these pins.

Ooh So Bright and Shiny!

So You Takes Dis Heah And You Puts It Over Heah

Step Right Up And Make Something Cool!

Alissa and I had precut all the flower and circle shapes so on the day of the event, we were able to focus on showing everyone how to decorate and shape the metal and cardboard using dapping blocks and embossing tools. Then using stacked button centers, we assembled the flowers with wire and pinbacks. It was grueling, I'm not kidding you, but it was truly one of the most fun and inspiring things that Alissa and I have every done.  It was so uplifting seeing everyone's creativity burst out to make something really pretty out of essentially trash. And as you can see we were swamped!

These pins are actually an evolution from the felt pins which I was making plus the soda can pinwheels!  Isn't that interesting?  My friend Dolores had suggested a project making flowers out of cereal boxes so I thought "Hmm - how about making felt flowers out of metal?"  So there you go!   

  

Poppies, Poppies Will Put Them To Sleep

A lot of visitors mentioned that these soda can pins would be a great Girls Scout project so I'm going to write up the instructions and post them here - hopefully next week sometime.  I will also be teaching the flower pins at our upcoming Red Rabbit Arts & Crafts Market at the Los Angeles Arboretum in July. Oh yeah, now that is yet another story to tell but that will have to wait until tomorrow. :)

Multi-Media Artist

 
I Was Game But The Fish Wasn't

A few years ago, I saw on TV a Hawaiian artist who practiced the Japanese tradition of Gyotaku - wherein that day's catch was immortalized by applying paint to a fish and then printing with it on paper.  It was beautiful. The wind was blowing in the artist's hair as he flung his fishing hook over the ocean and caught rainbow colored fish.  Then, after carefully selecting the most interesting fish of the lot, he dabbed paint on the skin and then pressed it against some handmade paper to make gorgeous prints.  These prints he then made into a beautiful shoji screen.  I was smitten  and I wanted to try it too!  So with this in mind, early on a Saturday morning I hauled my mother and little sister to a craft college which was about 2 hours away.  I promised them that this was going to be great.  I could smell the salt breeze and picture the glistening fish scales even as I barreled down the 5 Freeway trying to make it to class on time after a late start.  We ran into the classroom and threw ourselves into the last 3 seats just in time to see the teacher walk in with a foam cooler.  Yey!  We made it - hoo - what the heck- agh! - what is that SMELL?!  We looked up from our double-overed positions to see the teacher pulling out of the cooler plastic baggies full of some kind of foul-colored gelatinous masses.  Then she explained the whole process and how we would take the fish out of the bags and spread them out on paper towels so that we could apply the paint and make the prints.  It really was an interesting technique and the prints we made were lovely - once we got over the revulsion.  See what the class catalog didn't say was how these fish were actually reused from class to class, week to week, boy scout troop to adult continuing ed.  Imagine what a fish or octopus looks like after having been spread out on a paper towel, had paint applied to it, been smushed onto a sheet of paper and then been dunked in a bucket full of fishy water to be cleaned off - 40 or 80 times.  Yeah.  But I was in my crafting fervor and once my mother and little sister gave up - after like the first 20 minutes of a 2 hour class - I took over and finished their prints.  Nothing was going to stop my mastering this technique.  Hell no.  This was art at its most primeval and nothing but nothing was going to stop me from taking that hill. Not no way, not no how. Least of all a stinky little fish with one eye hanging out and something coming out of its mouth. Bring it on, fish boy.

Oh, and the prints really did turn out pretty.  Just don't stand too close or inhale too deeply.

Look Ma! I'm Teaching A Class!

Year Round Spring!

Wow!  Get this: the wonderful and bubbly Dolores Colin from the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach invited me to teach a children's class for the upcoming annual "Spring Into Art" event.  Called "Look, Find & Create", it's about upcycling found objects and recyclables to make really fun gifts and fabulous art.  We're going to make soda can pinwheel bouquets, decorate glass jars to make vases for the pinwheels, print paper to line gift boxes to hold the bouquets, then also wire wrap rocks to make keychains and emboss metal to make a great little notebook with pages made of recycled paper.  Four hours of crafting with kids - how cool is that?  Bunches of art, heaps of craft, a little art history and lots of fun!  And check out the long list of fabulous adult classes which includes glassblowing, jewelry making, painting and fabric collage. Way so cool.

Links:  Sawdust Art Festival - Spring Into Art

Breakfast, Craftiness, Adventure and You

 I Love LA In the Winter!

Me (sound asleep): "Zzzzzz... Zzzzzzz... Snore....  wha, no, wrong number, go way... zzzzzz......"   
Bruce (whispering): "Breakfast?" 
Me (instantly awake and jumping out of bed):  "Sure! Let's go!"

Bruce knows that that is the one magic word that will get me out of bed early on a weekend. It didn't used to work but now that we've made it a challenge to ourselves to try out new and interesting breakfast places, I love waking up early!  What will it be?  Pancakes?  Yogurt and granola?  No, today it will be tofu scramble.  Oh yeah.  Start the car.

One great area we love to go to is downtown Los Angeles.  It's about 10 minutes away from us so getting there is a breeze. One of our new favorites is the fantastic Tiara Cafe at 9th and Los Angeles Street. It's in the Fashion District and I've heard that it's always packed during the week.  But weekend mornings are great because there is a parking lot right next door and you can walk right in and be seated immediately.  The front entry area has a fun collection of character dolls and the interior looks the inside of a cute pink jewelry box.

Why It's Saturday Morning Cartoons Everywhere!

They serve a killer tofu scramble with mozzarella and tomato sauce that tastes like you're having pizza for breakfast only without the guilt.  Bruce had a cornflakes encrusted French toast that he really enjoyed.  We love this place!

Afterwards we drove down the street to Little Tokyo because I announced that I needed chopsticks for my upcoming pinwheel classes.  I got lots of bargains - with each chopstick averaging about 20 cents.  That's a bargain huh?  Except that I bought about $60 worth! I did that recently when I went button crazy and ending up spending about $80 in buttons.  Bruce just shakes his head but Hey! I need these!  They are for crafting and that doesn't really count as spending, does it?  :)

Chopsticks And Pocky - What A Haul!

Here's a closeup of some of the chopsticks.

Bring Me Good Luck, Little Maneki Neko!

Oh, and the best part of all was coming home to see the very first bee to visit our flowering plum tree this year!  Usually the tree doesn't bloom until after Valentine's day but this year it's blooming a little early.  I was so worried that the bees wouldn't make it because it's been cold and rainy but here was the first little guy and the rest are sure to follow.  I so look forward to the tree blooming and the bees arriving every year and when they do I can spend what seems like hours out there visiting with them and listening to how they make the tree buzz with excitement. Welcome bees!!

Spring Is Sprung!


Welcome, Little Dude!

Congrats CHA Craft and Hobby Association Indie Craft Contest Winners!!

Did Somebody Say "Contest"?!!!!!

I know everybody has been dying to know who all the winners were for the Craft & Hobby Association's (CHA) Indie Craft Contest which ran right before Christmas.  I attended the Convention last week where all the winning entries were on display and was able to compile a list of all the winners. This was an incredible opportunity to have your designs on display in front of a huge group of movers & shakers in the Crafting Industry - people like manufacturers, retailers and other designers. So congrats to all the winners and as a Etsy crafter myself, I was so proud to see all how many winners were Etsyians!!!  I think I got everyone so please let me know if I missed anyone.

CHA Indie Craft Contest Winners

Waxela Sananda - Spirit Mama Art - http://SpiritMama.etsy.com
Erin M. Evans - http://erinmevans.com
Corinna Lyons-Revello - Summer Rose Scrapbooks -http://summerrosescrapbooks.etsy.com
Diane Martin - Joe the Dog - http://joethedog.etsy.com
Kim Taylor - The Sassy Crafter - http://sassycrafter.etsy.com
Jennifer McGuire - Blue Mama - http://bluemama.etsy.com
Carmen Bee - http://carmenbee.etsy.com   (Hey Carmen -maybe we're related - I like bees and I'm a Carmen too!:)  We should talk. :) )
Andrea L. Stern - http://andreastern.etsy.com
Heather L. Smith -http://surpreyes.etsy.com
Christine Lehto - Lilly Bugs Studio - http://lillybugboutique.etsy.com     - two of her entries won!
Kim Rose - http://kroseadams.etsy.com
Kristal Wick - http://KristalWick.com
Tracie Lampe  - Radical Recycks -  http://radicalrecycks.etsy.com
Lori Rehnberg Noble - http://accentsbylori.etsy.com
Heather Davison - http://heatherdavidson.etsy.com
Elena Mary Siff - http://elenamary.etsy.com      - two of her entries won!
Diane - Sweet Buddha Designs - http://sweetbuddha.etsy.com
Karyna Amador - Paper Squid Inc. - http://papersquid.etsy.com
Sam Hirst - Ink Lore - http://inklore.etsy.com
Dale Anne Potter - http://daleannepotter.com
Karen Fraga - Mike _Fraga@sbcglobal.net
Jamie Johnson - fb originals - http://fboriginals.etsy.com
Mary Anne Enriquez - Urban Woodswalker - http://urbanwoodswalker.etsy.com    - two of her entries won!
Grand Winner - Marisa Pawelko - Modern Surrealist - http://modernsurrealist.com 

(FYI - the reason there hadn't been a list published up to now is because CHA's website is outsourced and couldn't be easily and quickly updated. But now we ourselves can spread the news!  WooHoo!!)

And check out this link for some pictures I posted

http://www.flickr.com/photos/florestanis/sets/72157613288511065/

Rats - I wish I had taken more.

And be sure to check out CHA at http://www.craftandhobby.org - they are an incredible organization that every artist, designer, craftsperson and artisan who is serious about their career should know about.  This is where you learn about the business of craft and they are all really really really nice.  Really.  :)

Thanks so much to the lovely Allison Adoff from CHA for helping me with the list.  You're awesome!

This Is Some High Class Joint Ya Got Here!

  

High Brow Rat

This is an ATC I did a few years ago.  It's oil pencil on a wood card with a permanent pen & acrylics.  It's based on a true story. Well, at least the part about my friend posting the poetry. But wouldn't that be a great way to get rid of rats though?  (And don't cha know I sure was miserable when they were camped out in our attic a couple of years ago. Yick!)  Then instead of those rat catcher trucks driving by with the little man with the hammer eyeing the suspicious-looking rat, you'd see trucks with images on the side of a rat wearing a mortar-board and holding a diploma. "Why Eradicate When You Can Educate?"  Works for me! 

I'd Ask You To Pinch Me But Then I'd Wake Up

 

Me Dumbstruck In The Presence Of Awesomeness

At the 2009 Winter Craft & Hobby Association Convention in Anaheim:

Here I am at a booksigning with Mary Englebreit - High Priestess of Shrewd Licensing and Joy Captured in Artwork.  A deadly combination.  I love this picture - what you don't see is me hyperventilating because after having collected Mary's work for 30 - yes 30 years, how do you say to someone in 10 seconds how major her influence has been on your own artwork and life without babbling like an idiot or bursting into tears from the heartfelt sentiment?  I guess I somehow made sense because here is the proof.

 

Kathy Cano-Murillo = Effervesence, Joy + Glitter

Kathy Cano-Murillo, the Crafty Chica is also at the Expo.  Her writings have been so inspirational and motivating that I wanted to send her flowers.  So I did - ones that will last forever made from soda cans.  Kathy should get flowers every day for all the energy and enthusiasm which she so generously   brings to the world of craft.  You go, Crafty Chica!!!  (Oh!  Patrick, Kathy's darling husband took this picture!)

What can I say? Given the choice between hanging with Mary Englebreit and the Crafty Chica or an A list celeb and I will pick the crafters everytime.  These ladies kick Hollywood ass.  

IT'S ALMOST HERE!

Oh yeah.

Tomorrow starts CHA - the Craft & Hobby Association Convention at the Anaheim Convention Center.

CAN     

NOT

WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!

Hop, Jump and Skip

I'm not much for poetry but oh, how I find jump rope songs delightful!  I remember singing about the days of the week, about how high elephants could jump and about how many boyfriends lived in France.  And then there was the sound of the rope hitting the ground, accompanied by the stomp of tennis shoes on concrete and the whish of the rope slicing through the air.  It was like little girl rap!  When my little sister was very little, we'd have fun inventing new songs and here's one that always made us laugh:

A letter from the lady
From the Florida State
Came Monday in the mailbox,
It was three days late.

It asked me for a dollar,
I offered fifty cents.
It was to buy a ballroom
For the ladies and gents.

They sent an alligator,
The reptile of the state,
He was the cash collector
Just sent out to pass the plate.

I opened up the doorway,
He gave my spine a chill.
I ran and didn't wait
For change from my ten dollar bill.

My little sister, who was very little at the time, was learning about Florida in school that week which is how we hit upon the idea for this little  song.  There's something just so perfect about little girls jumping and singing.  Do kids even do that any more?  I sure hope so because the world can always use another song about hot peppers and about my mother, your mother living across the street.

There's Always Room For A Jump Rope Song

Glass & Metal Go Together Like Chips & Salsa

Let The Sun Shine In!

Yey!  Two more off my To-Do list!  Bruce and I took a Dalle de Verre class a few years ago and made these glass panels.  Dalle de Verre refers to a technique which uses chunks of thick slabs of glass which are then joined together with cement or nowadays, epoxy.  We had these panels but couldn't figure out a way to display them properly.  So I made some steel frames for them and voila!  It's amazing how ugly rusty metal shines up so beautifully with a little bit (well, OK, a lot) of grinding and sanding.  And I love how the metal frames add a whole other dimension to the glass.  Now the glass is much more sculptural so not only do you see the light coming through the glass but also the shadows cast by the frames.  Bruce made the glass panel on the left and I made the one on the right.  So I call the pair either "Water & Fire" or "Chips & Salsa" depending on how the light hits them.  Or if it's close to lunchtime.
 

Stormy Designs - Featured Etsy Blogger

Etsy: Buy Handmade
stormydesigns.etsy.com

One very cool group that I've joined on Etsy is called the "Etsy Bloggers Street Team" which is made up of Etsy shop owners who also blog.  It's a way to promote each other and one way is through blogging about a different special member each month.  This month's featured Etsy blogger is "Stormy Designs".  Stormy does amazing work with polymer clay and the above pictures are a small sample of her fabulous creations.  That daisy cuff looks so much like ceramics! And that blue vase is to die for!  Check out these links to see more of Stormy's work:

http://StormyDesigns.etsy.com  = Stormy's Etsy shop
http://stormydesigns.blogspot.com  = website
http://StormyDesigns.biz/blog   = blog

Another One Checked Off The List!

Ready For Their Party Clothes

Remember these guys?  I posted them back here in November.  I wasn't thrilled with them at the time so I sketched a page of ideas of how to finish them.  Well, I finally completed them and here they are:

Can You Hear My Hearts A''Thumpin?

The top middle and bottom left hearts are covered with colored foils and the rest are all painted with acrylics.  I think the center green one is my favorite.  It would be pretty to try a white heart with blue detailing to make it look like Dresden Blue china.  Bruce named the blue swirly heart "Starry Night" - so I'm thinking it might be fun to make some real brushy swirly ones in Van Gogh colors.  Agh - and I thought I was done with these but isn't that always the case: one idea leads you down the path to many more. Oh well, what's another project or two more on the list of things to do - the never-ending, elastic-waisted, ever-expanding list of things to do.

My Latest Project - House of Cards Mixed Media Birdhouse

A King's Castle Fit For A Queen

Isn't it funny how sometimes ideas for projects just sometimes pop into your head unexpectedly?  The idea for this little house of cards woke me up in the middle of the night a few weeks ago and I'd been mulling it around, trying to figure out how exactly to make it.  I tend to sketch and plan out my projects very carefully before I ever pick up a brush or glass cutter, but this one only ever existed in my head.  I had an inkling of how to approach it but other than that it was very much spontaneous and flying by the seat of my pants.  I actually had to use quite a few different tools on it - like my scroll saw and Dremel and jeweler's saw.  The base itself is a plain purchased birdhouse to which I added the embossed metal shingles and those shingles took FOREVER to make - whew!  You can't really see but there is small wire flower on the front of the house to the left of the wire-wrapped perch.  This was one of those "crafting blindfolded" kind of projects, the kind that you don't know where you're going when you start but you trust in the process and have fun in the making and hopefully end up with a happy surprise at the end.  Tweet!   

Time To Kick The Habit

It's Not You, Babe, It's Me

Say what you will about corporate America, but I love my Starbucks.  When a new one opened down the street a few weeks ago, I was there early the first day to welcome all the barristas to the neighborhood - and to pick up a venti soy chai with a cranberry orange scone while I was at it.  When all the Starbucks closed early a month ago for some kind of hush-hush training / "calibration", I grieved as though it were a national day of mourning.  Whenever we travel, I take great delight in pointing out all the Starbucks along the golden highways.  Can you believe that there's actually a drive-thru Starbucks not far from the legendary Donner Pass?  Just think how the ill-fated Donner party could have avoided all that high protein snacking had they been able to pull their wagons into that Starbucks years ago and order tall Frappucinos hold the whipped cream please.  It boggles the mind.  But alas, as much as it kills me to say, the time has come to bid my beloved Starbucks adieu. 

You see, for the last year I've been a venti soy chai addict.  It started out innocently with maybe having one every three days.  Then it became having one every two days.  Then one every day.  Soy is good for you, right?  So it was OK - expensive but OK.  So why did I lie to my doctor when she asked me if I was still drinking "the Starbucks" every day?  I squeaked "Nooo" and shook my head too vehemently to be convincing. This while I'm standing on a scale. She peered at the unforgiving numbers on the scale, then gave me a look and a "tut-tut" which in doctorese and mom-chat means "You're not fooling anyone, butterball."  At home, I wondered if maybe there might something to my doctor's remonstration. I had packed on a few more pounds this last year.  Huh. Then it came to me: I'd switch to a non-fat chai!   What a great way to save on calories!  Before I went to Starbucks the next day, I practiced my order so that it would roll easily off my tongue "venti non-fat chai, venti non-fat chai."  I could do this.  Natch.  But when I got up to the counter, I freaked.  What if I didn't like it?  My afternoon would be ruined.  Oh, the agony! How about if I ordered a tall non-fat chai and a tall soy chai?  Then I'd have a backup just in case. Hmm, that could work.  I'd only drink the backup soy chai if the non-fat chai tasted bad.  Well, it sounded like a good idea at the time.  Cut to the end of the scene - with me having polished off not only the tall non-fat chai but a venti soy chai as a chaser as well.  As I licked the last bit of foam from inside of the second cup, I came to the conclusion that there was no going back to just one chai at a time.  The line had been crossed. Yet that was an impossible illicit love that could not be. The cost was too high to pay.  In dollars and calories.  So I quit my daily Starbucks cold turkey.  Right then and there.  It's been a week now and it's actually been OK.  I can do this.  Now when I drive by the nearby Starbucks and it winks at me fondly, trying to lure me back, I giggle and wave back but I don't stop.  At least until it gets hot enough to start ordering iced venti soy chais.  Which should be soon.  Damn the torpedoes.

Playing Heavy Metal In My Car

Diamond Plate and U-Channel Steel Are A Girl's Best Friend

Yup, this is what the back of my car looks like lately.  Like something Jethro Clampett threw together - all rusty and greasy and smelling of oil.  That's because Monday morning I went over to the metal shop to buy some material to use in my welding lab which I had in the afternoon.  I've been taking welding at Otis School of Design for the last year and it just keeps getting better.  I started out making frames for some glass panels which I had made years before and wanted to display.  Well, now I've gotten ahead of myself and I've got a bunch of metal frames but no glass panels for them - so I guess it's time to fire up the glass kiln.  But oh, how I love welding.  It's fast and immediate and durable.  And what other medium can you buy for only twenty-five cents a pound?  Twenty-five cents a pound!  Really!  That is if you buy remnants which are what you see in the picture above.  For about thirty dollars I got around a hundred pounds of steel in all sorts of shapes!  Hah!  Thirty dollars at Michael's will buy me - well, not much.  That's the metal you see on the right side of the picture.  On top of that is a small 9" x 12" frame which is meant to "float" about half an inch from the wall when hanging.  A fused glass panel will drop into that and it will be part of a set of three frames.  The yellow bucket contains all my welding tools like angle magnets, gloves and dirty old rags for wiping metal.  I love that leather jacket in the center of the picture.  It's worn for protection against the sparks and heat. Oh, that's a toaster oven under the jacket -  for polymer clay.  Ah, but that's another story for another day. 
 

Better Late Than Never

With So Many Valentines To Chose From, How Can A Person Just Send One?

Ooh, I promised to post one Valentine's card for each day of the month of February and then I flaked out after February 22.  So to make up for that I'm posting this one big post with 7 more Valentines to catch up and finish off the month with a total of 29.  Good - having left this unfinished was just bugging the heck out of me and now I can cross this off my list of things to do.  See you next year little Valentine cards!

Vote For Me, Valentine!

I Think More People Would Vote If All
The Ballots Were Heart-shaped

A Peter-Pan collar, MaryJanes, bobby socks, and a wide head band - I want this look!

I've Got A Brand-New Pair Of Rollerskates

My, What Teeny Tiny Little Rollerskates!

This card is actually a tiny little thing - about an inch wide.  Isn't it adorable?

Crafty-Hearted Love

Hey, Don't Go Running With Those Scissors, Toots!

I love how Debbie B., years ago, signed her name across the little girl's face.  Too funny.
 

Lady Of Spain, I Adore You

Excuse My Surprise, But That Heart You're
Holding Looks Suspiciously Like A Water Balloon, Dear,
And This Fan Doesn't Drip-Dry

I  wish you could see the embossed silver glitter on this card.  It's so pretty.
 

The Object Of My Affection

How Can You Say No To Such A Cutie?

Adorable!

You're My Rockabilly Baby

Don't Fence Me In

This little card is so sweet.  The little girl reminds me of Fern in "Charlotte's Web".  And I love her wide legged "dungarees".

Come On Baby, Light My Fire

Pyro Love

Oh, there are just so many things to say but I don't want to overload the Typepad servers so I won't even start.

Good Enough To Eat

Fun & Funky Needle-Felted Cuff

Ooh! - Rebecca over at Rebecca's Soap Delicatessen very kindly posted a how-to that I did for making a needle-felted cuff.  Check out her site - it's full of scrumptious soap and beauty products which sound good enough to eat. (And I blush to tell you how many times I have indeed tasted face creams and lotions.  What can I say, they really did look yami.)  Thank you, Rebecca!!!!

Here's a link to the tutorial!