DIY Harry Potter Potions Decor

 Harry Potter Potion Ingredients Decor

I have so many things to post now, that it's hard to keep it down to one project per day, but I have to, because they're all big post, many steps, lots of photos kind of projects. All the things I've been working on for the last month are finally being completed. It feels good to cross these off the list. I will probably be posting about the Harry Potter party well into next week. I hope it looks as impressive as the work load. I am very glad that I started so early, though. That helps a lot.

Anyway, lets get down to the tutorial.

This one is pretty easy and almost cost free, if you already have things like recycled bottles, a little glue and paint, a color copier and random ingredients. I used this tutorial for aging bottles and it really served as my jumping off point. She has a label download that is great, but which I didn't use.

 First get some interesting looking, cleaned bottles, with the labels removed. For once, I am glad I don't take the recycling out as often as I should. If you will notice, most of these are cleaned but the two on the top right  have already been treated to look as if they have been sitting in a potions shop for eons. (I used some gold paint and glue with those bottles.)

 Then, you take some paint--whatever colors you think would make them look aged and dusty. I liked the browns for this-- and mix it with some glue or mod podge to make it translucent. Then paint the glue/paint on your bottle. This application is actually a little heavy. Try to paint it a little thinner, because your next step is to blend and smudge it and remove much of the paint so it no longer looks like paint, but rather like the dust and dirt of the ages. I used both a paper towel and my hands to smudge it, rubbing it in random directions to make it look natural.

You don't even need to use paint to age the bottles. Just some white glue will give it a different aged appearance. I wanted all the bottles to look a little different, as if they came from different wizard shops, so I varied the treatment, with different paint colors and heavier or lighter applications. Some bottles already looked antique, with tinted glass or, in the case of one bottle I found in my basement, ACTUAL dust, so I left them.

Oh, and to combat the shiny or printed twist tops for some of my bottles, I just painted the tops with matte black craft paint. I thought about covering them with fabric or trying to find corks to fit many bottles, but in the end, I went the easy way out and just painted the tops. There were enough variations that the black tops kind of faded into the background.

I was also creative with my bottle choice. Not only did I use bottles from my recycling bin, but I also found containers at thrift stores and at least one of the bottles is actually a vase in which I stuck a wine cork. This kind of creativity, looking around the house and seeing what can work for the project is actually the best thing about this endeavor. And is quite necessary, when it comes to the next step.

Filling the potion bottles with potion ingredients.

I am assuming that no one reading this actually has a cupboard full of bat wings and bezoars... so what you need to do is look around your cupboard and find interesting, mysterious or unidentifiable ingredients.  I found ingredients in three places. My kitchen, my garden and my craft cupboard.

A good thing to do is to go into the pantry and look for some of those things I rarely use, like a jar of pearl onions or the stub of a piece of ginger that was dehydrated. I got some ideas for these from pinterest, but after that, I just fudged things.

It almost doesn't matter what you put into the jars. Once you put the labels on, the names you give your ingredients with suggest to the brain what is inside the bottles and they will become magic. It helps if they are less familiar, but say, what if you fill a jar with half milk and half water? Who is to say what the white, milky, semi translucent liquid could be?  Of course, I wouldn't want to leave that out more than a couple hours. 

But that brings us to our next step. Labels!

 Labels

This is a multi step part of the process, too, but it is one that can be useful for more than just one thing, so it's worth it to give it a try.  First I started with my tea/coffee stained paper that I used for my invitations.  It is just copy paper soaked in a combo of tea and coffee and left to dry in the sun.   I took my favorite sheet of stained paper and  I photo copied it on my color copier. On the copy, I took my brown calligraphy pen and drew out some interesting label shapes, creating borders or flourishes on some. I was inspired by this label sheet, which you could just download, actually. But I made my own and then I photocopied that label sheet again. (I did this, because I am planning to use these labels for other parts of the party, like the sweet shop, and I don't want to draw more labels, in the interest of saving time and effort.)

 On the photo copied label sheet, I used my calligraphy pen again to write in various ingredients.  Then I cut out the labels and brushed the back of the labels with watered down white glue (I want to be able to take these labels off some of these bottles) and stuck them onto my bottles. I tried to match the bottle shapes/sizes with the labels, and they mostly fit pretty well.

 Here they are.

I'm particularly proud of the dream fluid. It's such a pretty color and in such a pretty bottle (this one is the vase with cork. I think they look pretty good. And mysterious. So mysterious that I will give you a key to my ingredients.

Veritaserum: some kind of pink lemonade drink that no one in my family actually likes and has been in my refrigerator far too long.

Dream fluid: water with blue food coloring, that's it.

Salamander Scales: pink mica glitter (that container is going back in my craft cupboard just as it is, after the party)

Powdered Unicorn Horn : baking soda

Dragon's Blood: Water with red food coloring

Mummy Finger: dried piece of ginger root

Gillyweed: yard weeds in water with a few drops of green food coloring

Bezoar: garden gravel

Dittany: coffee

Mummified Dung Beetles: dried dates

Bat Eyes (blind): pearl onions

Fairy Dust: mixed color glitter left over from projects for my daughter's birthday in March.

Witch Hazel: I think at this point, the witch hazel is just an empty dark brown beer bottle. I should probably put something in there.

I also am using the meditation jars that I made for my kids months ago. I didn't put labels on them, because I think they are better clean, so that you can actually shake them and look into them and perhaps find a prophecy. Perhaps they shouldn't be in with the potions ingredients at all.

Today, We Make Play Dough

 Today, We Make Playdough

This morning, I forgot that I was in charge of making the playdough for Ivy's preschool class. Oops. Easter made me forget.

BUT! In spite of my poor planning and absentmindedness (and mild obsession with stamp making and stamping [I will give an accounting of this at a later date]) I jumped up and whipped together a double batch in about a half hour.

I made it robin's egg blue for the robin's egg that the kids found when they went to the playground. It's also blue for the lovely spring sky.

Here's Ivy, helping me knead the dough, still warm. I was running so late that she didn't get to help me stir this time, but a good kneader is a big help, so... luckily she was ready, willing and able.

In case you'd like to whip together some last minute play dough before school time, I thought I'd share with you my recipe (from the preschool teacher) and also so next time I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to find that little piece of paper with the recipe, I will have a back up. It's a pretty good recipe, smooth and soft and pliable. This is the recipe I used for Ivy's birthday, when I added a tube of glitter to the mix to make it fairy play dough.

Preschool Play Dough (cooked)

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 cup water

1tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon food coloring

• Combine flour, salt and cream of tartar in a saucepan.
• Mix liquids and gradually stir them into the dry ingredients.
• When mixture is smooth, cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until ball forms.
• Remove from heat and knead until smooth.

NOTE: This is a very pliable and long-lasting dough with a more elastic consistency than uncooked dough. Student teachers voted this their favorite play dough recipe.

Do It Yourself Kindle Cover from a Vintage Book

Hello. I am a kindle.

A what? You don't look like no kindle to me. You look like a book with a pretty cover. A kindle is flash and dazzle. You belong next to a cup of tea and a rocking chair.

Yes, it's true, I am dressed like a lady, but on the inside, I have the soul of a Star Trek episode.

Take a look. But be gentle, remember, I'm a lady.

No, really. I got a kindle for Christmas and then I realized I needed something so that I could carry it around. Could I have bought something off of Amazon? Yes, but I didn't want to. I am categorically opposed to buying something when I can make it instead. It doesn't always make sense, but there it is.

I don't have  tutorial for this, because it was kind of experimental, and I combined a bunch of different online tutorials to make it, but I'll tell you how I did it. 

First, I found a book that was a good size for my kindle. It was quite a few inches larger than the kindle, and that was fine with me. 

Then I removed the pages from the binding by slicing carefully along the inside spine, with an xacto knife. Be careful you don't cut through the binding. I did a little, but knew I'd be covering it with fabric, so it would be ok. This book was also an old canvas covered book, not paper covered, so I think it was a  little stronger. I got the inspiration and some instructions for repurposing a book from this tutorial. However, I didn't have all the supplies she did, and I am still intimidated by my sewing machine so I knew I'd prefer to sew by hand so I worked out my own details.

 First, I didn't like the cover of my book very much, so I decided to cover it.

 I picked out my fabric, this is some upholstery remnant that I thought was pretty. At this point, I simply covered the book with the fabric, the same as you might cover an old text book, but I glued it down.

I placed the book on the reversed fabric and cut it out to size, so that there would be about two inches all the way around the book. Then I covered the book, back and front with glue and pressed it down on the reversed fabric, carefully in the center. I smoothed out any wrinkles or bubbles and then turned the book over onto the inside.

At this point I cut off the corners of the fabric at an angle so that they were no longer square, so when I folded it over it wouldn't be too bulky. I put more glue on the inside edges of the book and folded the edges over, smoothing down the glue as I went. I used elmers white glue, thinned slightly with water, for this part. I think a spray fixative might work even better, but it definitely should be a thin film of glue so it adheres evenly and smoothly with no lumps of glue. 

I used this tutorial here to help me cover my book with fabric, except as I'd already cut out the pages, it was simpler to cover the spine area. I had no pages to work around.

 The inside portion was tricky. This is where I kind of figured it out as I went along.

I didn't have elastic or velcro or anything that other people used to hold their kindle in place, so I kind of took my inspiration from photo corners, like in old style photo albums. But how was I going to fasten my corners to my book cover?

In the end, I decided to cover the inside with a pretty felt that matched my fabric and to sew my kindle corners onto that felt before I glued it down. So I cut some triangles out of more felt in a contrasting color, also matching the fabric. There is a trick here. You do not want to cut out right triangles, because right triangles sewn onto a right angle will make a flat pocket but a kindle is about a half inch thick, and you need to make a three dimensional pocket so the kindle can fit in it. So cut the triangles to a wider angle. Test them against the edge of your book to make sure they will pop up enough. They shouldn't be TOO wide, because there will be some give. Also note that the whole set up is still larger than the kindle. About a half inch on each side. The kindle has room to slide around a bit, but does not fall out. My triangles are big enough for the extra room to not be a problem. They also leave room for the buttons and the usb jack, which I can use without removing the kindle from the cover. Pin the corners down and test the kindle out for all of this before you sew anything.

When I finished sewing my felt corners onto my felt lining (I used a blanket stitch for most of it) I glued the felt down to the inside of the book cover, firmly, using fabric glue. Hot glue would also work. And then it was done. It was a bit time consuming, but once I worked it all out, it didn't turn out to be that difficult. To be honest, my glue might not have been the best glue, because the corners do actually pop up from the book, but the center is firm and I have not had a problem with it.

Some day, I'll make another one using better glue and then I'll take pictures for a real tutorial.

I'm not even sure what lesson I can learn from doing this kindle, except to say that sometimes it's fun to figure things out on your own. I am very satisfied with how I made this. I didn't use the methods that everyone else used, and I went old school instead of newfangled, and it turned out far better than I expected.  There is a satisfaction in doing something by hand, also, that is quite remarkable.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree.... sorta

Wreath

paper garland, berry light string, wire hanger, ribbon, paper clay doo dads.

Day 8, 25 days of creating

Yesterday, I pulled out a bag of holiday ornaments that grandma gave us before her move. I said, hmm. What can I do with these pretty lights? They're not long enough to put around the window. Then I thought, "a wreath"

And I remembered the garland, a nice soft natural color. And I bent the hanger into a wreath shape and wrapped it all up and tied it with a bow. I left it at that, until I realized later that I had some little paperclay things I'd been working on and hadn't done anything with.

If you look close, there's a bird, a set of wings, and four little pears. I figured, it could be the partridge in the pear tree.

I found it really hard to take a picture of, because the light is so gray and cloudy, and I can't take them out anyway, since it's already plugged in. I guess I could have unplugged it and set it on a tree... but you know it's kind of snowing, and I'm kind of lazy today.

Anyway, here's to another day, of creating, of the holidays, of living.

Remember to breathe deep and relax, amongst all the celebrating.

Handmade Wreath

Handmade Wreath

green twigs, repurposed grocery boxes, gesso, glitter, brass paper fasteners, silk ribbon

Hi there!

Welcome to Christmas.

I'm a handmade wreath. I cost about 50 cents. Because I bought paper fasteners this week and didn't have them on hand, but I had bought them for something else, so really, this cost nothing.

This was actually kind of fun. I went out to my yard and cut some twigs from a bunch. I think they might actually be considered canes, because they were long and straight and bendy and green, and headed straight for the ground, where they tried to set and root. They were starting to take over my driveway, so I felt fair in pruning them back.

I'm sure you could also use willow branches for this. I know this because I used willow branches to make a very similar item, when I was planning to make a handmade dream catcher, but never did because the grandparents came back from Arizona with authentic ones.

I twisted them around each other, weaving them in and out to make a circle. I think I used about a dozen canes. I thought I'd like a bit looser, but I began to enjoy the tight wreath. The only thing holding them together is the weaving.

Then I got my cut out stars, from grocery boxes, that I had already gessoed, painted with gel medium and coated in silver glitter. I punch tiny holes in the stars and then grabbed my brass paper fasteners... stuck those in there and attached them to the twigs. I can actually swivel the stars to make a better layout, and I did.

Then I found this pretty gold silk ribbon and tied that up at the top. I'd already tried about three different ribbon/fabric options. The tulle was too fussy for me. A plain cotton twill ribbon thing I had looked too much like a bandage, and then I found the gold ribbon, and that was it. I like how it brings out the brass in the fasteners and both bring out the goldy brown in the canes. The ribbon might be smaller than I might have chosen otherwise, but I think it adds a simplicity, a modern quality that I rather like as does the mix of metallics.
A close up of the silver stars against the blue-green door. The photos are not great, courtesy of my northern, cloudy skies. Sorry. I have no time for better photos. I've set myself on quite an endeavor with this craft every day thing. The photography turns out to be almost as much a challenge as the crafting!

Oh and this project took me about 20 minutes. Although I had four of the stars made already, and just had to glitter the last one. I like odd numbers. They feel better.

Altering a Bleeping Big Thrifted Man's Sweater

Neckline: Foggy Day Sweater

AEDM day 10

thrifted sweater. thread. scissors. snip snip.

I have decided that what I have is not a cold, because I don't have the whole stuffed nose cough tissue dropping thing going on. What I have is a mild versions of my daughter's nasty flu. That is why I have not been able to think. So okay. Let it go. I will fall behind on my nanowrimo. I have time to make up my numbers later.

But last night, after while watching America's Next Top Model, I finally took out my old sweater.
Here it is, pre chopping.

It's a big baggy sweater that is fairly soft of a nice heathered greeny gray. Like a foggy day. It's a little tight in the neckline for me. I want it for throwing on after a day of work, over my tshirt, to lounge about in. But I'd like it to be more stylish than just a big old baggy man's sweater.

So the first step was to cut out the neckline. I was inspired by this sweater, that I have been staring at for months, it seems. I am afraid of cutting the arms. That seems a much bigger step to take. But I think I really need to do it. I think this sweater needs it's arms chopped off. However, I like feel the cozy sweater around my wrists. I think I am going to have to take the jump and just do it. (Whenever I make something, there is often a stage where I don't want to take the big step, to try something new, to possibly ruin it... and I just have to go for it.)

The neckline has improved it already, so why the heck not? Plus, there's something awkward about the big shoulders on this sweater, they don't lay flat, so I'm thinking a wise chopping and stitching might improve the whole thing. Who knows. Maybe I'll ruin it. But I'm still counting it as my aedm item.

Oh, I also just wanted to say that I finally got my invite for pinterest and I am now officially obsessed. I may have to let go of my small and heartfelt blog for the pinterest boards, since I use s&h as a pin board of things I like, but it takes me about 20 times longer to do a s&h post as it does to click the little "pin it" button on my bookmark bar. Sorry if you liked the blog, but I just don't have the time to maintain it the way I would like. Come on over to pinterest. If you need an invite, email me and I think I can send you one.

What He Loves

Animal Bookmarks

repurposed menus, ink, yarn

94-98/100 in 100 days creative challenge

Today is my son's first show and tell. He's been shy still, in Kindergarten, and hasn't made his friends yet. I tell him to talk about the things he loves, to ask people about things that that they love. But he is still shy.

I suppose it is normal.

But when his weekly scheduled show and tell came up, I told him to pick something that he loves to share to the other kids. Maybe they will love it too.

He picked his HUGE book of animals. It barely fits in his backpack, and there are hundreds of animals in it.

I asked him which animals he wanted to show, and he picked Shark, Snake, Whale, Platypus and Fire Fly.
Indian Cobra

repurposed menu, ink, yarn

94/100 in 100

Then I realized that in that big book, he was never going to be able to find the pages to show at show and tell, and he can't read yet, so pieces of paper with words on them would be meaningless.

And being me, I thought, I have all those scrap menus. I'd already thought of making bookmarks. Why not make him some animal bookmarks so he'd know which favorite was where.

(Full disclosure. I don't love this cobra. But I didn't have time or the reference photo for something better. But I like this cobra enough for it to serve the purpose.)

Firefly

repurposed menu, ink, yarn

95/100 in 100

I really like the way they turned out.

I thought first that I might make them clip on bookmarks, but when I drew them out, I thought simplicity was best, and to just leave them uncut.

Besides, just the black and white pen is interesting, and graphic enough.
Duck Billed Platypus

repurposed menus, ink, yarn

96/100 in 100

I punched little holes and threaded color coded yarn through. (White for the white shark, blue for the whale, because there are blue whales although this is a sperm whale, green for the lightning bug because bugs are green although a lightning bug isn't, purple for the platypus because Perry from Phineas and Ferb is purple, okay he's blue, but I used blue, and pink for the snake because I didn't have black and green was used. Okay. There's no code. But go with it.)

I photographed them lined up. If you turn them over, they still say things like "cherry wood smoked salmon salad," and "chicken club sandwich" but I didn't have time or extra scraps to cut out more paper and glue it to the back to make them smooth and stronger.

If the bookmarks come back from school in decent shape, I might do this. I might print them out and make reproductions, too. That's how much I like them. Or perhaps I'll make different versions. I don't know, but I am pleased with them.

Sperm Whale

repurposed menus, ink, yarn

97/100 in 100

Necessity is the mother of invention, they say.

I had a need. I needed to fill it. I created something

Sometimes I am glad that I do not have the unlimited funds and/or freedom to just go out and buy stuff for every need.

Because of those constraints, I have learned to look around me to find something I can turn to my solution. If I was used to just buying everything when I need came up, would I even be practiced enough to make it instead? Or would my first impulse be to purchase it? So then, when I had no time for the searching or the buying, like last night, I would end up just using the library bookmarks and the strips of paper.

And honestly, they would have served the purpose just as well.
White Shark

repurposed menus, ink, yarn

98/100 in 100

But these are special.

I think it goes back to my last post, about bliss.

It also goes back to my advice to my son, about finding something he loves and sharing that with his new classmates.

It's all about the love. It's about following your loves, your bliss. It's about trusting that those loves are lovely. It's about trusting that YOU are lovely, and that other people will love you, too.

Do what you love. Create what you love. Share what you love. Love those you share it with enough put care into it. Love yourself enough to accept your flaws. Love what you've got. Love where you are. Love who you are. It's not just about romantic love or familial love, but all types of love, and is both the hardest and the easiest thing you can ever do. But this is where bliss comes from.

Love. Love. Love.

I guess John Lennon was right.

Feather In My Cap, Two

yesterday's feather... in my cap

I wanted to show this feather again, in better light, not in a panic to get it posted so using the picture from the middle of the night under the lamp.

And in addition to the feather in my cap here, I want to celebrate some other feathers in my cap.

First of all, I'd like to say that, once I recalibrated my 100 days challenge to the day I actually STARTED my challenge (June 14th) I actually discovered that today is the 74th day. And that makes me perfectly even with my challenge, in fact, I'm going to be ahead when I count all the creativity of the last couple of days.

So for number 75 I am going to tell you that I have just finished the third revision of chapter one in my novel. That makes me uneasy, because I don't think it is ready yet. I think I need to go back over it. There's so much I had to do to the new chapter 1 once I deleted the whole of the old chapter 1. It's still rough around the edges and there are moments of too much exposition and other moments where it is totally en media res. Now, I generally like starting in the middle of the action, but I haven't managed the balance between en media res and helping my reader know what is going on. Actually, now that I think about it, I think I should stop trying to get all the exposition in and make it truly en media res. That might make me feel better. The next time I go over it, I'm going to think about just dropping the reader in the middle of things and letting them come to know that this girl is not "just a girl." I think I might change the title of the chapter to "just a girl," too.

So this is a double feather in the cap. First because I have actually managed to get to the end of chapter one. Second because I am actually counting my writing as one of my things for my creative challenge. I said at the beginning that I wanted to count all my output, not just certain things. How can I not count writing a novel? That's just crazy.

So. Although there's no picture, just take my word for it.

Chapter One. Just A Girl, or El Lobo and The Wolves

approx 28 pages in Wolf Run

75/100 in 100 days creative challenge, day 26 August everyday

Woo Hoo! Go me!

Name Cards

recycled menus and Pitt Artist Penn, 4" square. 8 cards, plus 4 cards for Ivy (not shown)

76/100 in 100 days creative challenge

Gabriel is starting kindergarten in a few weeks and he is terribly excited. When we got the placement list, we read him all the letters from the school and his new teacher as his bedtime story.

He also has decided that he wants to learn how to write his name. He is at a little bit of a disadvantage over Joe and Tom, though, since his name is so long. And he isn't quite ready to write out all his letters. We tried some at the beginning of the summer, and he wasn't really enthused about the big task ahead of him. So I decided to break it down a little.

Learning to write is a big challenge. He wanted to write his name, but that's a bit much, so I wrote out a card with his name spelled in capital letters and lowercase letters. Then I wrote a card with each of his name's letters and I gave him the cards and told him to match the order.

Dadum!

He did it. Very quickly. He is almost ready to read and write and it is just about time for him to start kindergarten and get away from pushy mama always trying to get him to do something with a crayon.

Okay, so it's his accomplishment. But it's my project. Thus #76.

Feather in My Cap, too

felted wool, wool blend felt, acrylic paint, thread, embroidery floss, metal pin backing

77/100 in 100 days creative challenge.

I forgot to tell you yesterday that I had already made another feather. I didn't post it because the photo was simply unacceptable and I had to wait for day light to take a better shot.

One lesson I learned about these feathers? Commercial felt, wool blend or acrylic, takes the acrylic paint much better than does the felted wool. When I make more feathers, I think I'll go straight to the store bought felt, although it's not as charming as the idea of hand felted repurposed wool. Oh well. We need to work with reality here, not just the charming ideas of how we'd like things to work out.

And that draws my post to a close, nicely.

The theme for today, folks, is to give yourself credit for what you actually do and accomplish. And also to pay attention that your ideals or goals are not outstripping the reality of where you are and what you are ready for. If you're a part time waitress/part time stay at home mom of two kids without help, don't then think that you should also, without startup capital, be running a full time professional enterprise all by yourself and up there with the big boys.

Don't beat yourself up for being who you are, and being where you are on your journey. You are who you are and you are right where you need to be.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (Going Around Again, In Art and Packaging)

This is a sneak peak of something I am working on but am not ready to post (partly because I just don't have the derned time).

It's a piece that came about in surprising ways, and I just happen to love this detail shot, and how the old gray blue of the metal door in the background looks so soft and lovely and picks up the underpainting. And I love also the way the silver develops a kind of rose colored sheen to it, from I don't know where.

If you'd like you can guess the project... It's actually an old project that I almost entirely recreated, experimenting with new methods. It was fun.


Here also is a project. I made a stamp out of an old eraser. It's a total "whatever" project. I had the urge to make a stamp, but had no supplies. I carved it with a pen knife, so it's pretty rough. But I don't mind rough.

I do mind that my flying girl stamp faces backwards. I forgot about the reverse, silly me. She looks sad when she looks to the left. It seems like she is looking at the past, not forward, to me. So I will have to try the stamp thing again, maybe this time with actual tools meant for the purpose.
This is one of the purposes I have put my flying girl to. I don't know if you can tell, but I am making packaging for my store. I am planning a nice fat shop update. Or perhaps a gradual one, depending on how much time I have.

I've decided to do recycled, repurposed packaging, as much as I can. I'm using grocery boxes to make matchbook style folders to hold my little pins, with some leftover birthday tissue to line the matchbooks. I'm still experimenting with making pillow boxes for other products. I like not having to go out and just buy things. I like feeling resourceful.

Do you see the little silver flying girl on the matchbook? She's kind of flying topsy turvy. It's not the best picture, but I wanted to post what I've been doing.

Huh, come to think of it, the first project, the love image? that is also recycled. I knew I wasn't going to do anything with the piece as it was, so I reimagined it. Now I like it.

Three cheers for reducing, reusing and recycling.

Rain and a Tiny Book

Oh a rainy weekend, really. At least after our adventure in the sun. But it's supposed to get warmer and sunnier all weekend, and Easter is supposed to be positively Springy.

I bundled up in sweaters and kept looking out the window. Every time I looked, the grass was greener and brighter. After the coming week of warmth and sun, I am expecting all the leaves to come out and the flowers to bloom.

I hope you're listening mother nature. I said I'm expecting green leaves and flowers. Do not disappoint.

I briefly mentioned that I was starting a job in a restaurant part time. I had forgotten about the dead times at restaurants, and stood around being bored, doing nothing and feeling unproductive.

So this weekend, right before I went to my shift, I whipped up a handmade notebook. One page of copy paper, cut in half, then in half again, then one more time... and yes, one more time, and then stapled in the center, with tape to cover the staples.

But that felt a little shabby to me, so I quickly stitched a book cover out of wool felt.

Boom. It became a book to treasure. It slides in and out of a pocket easily, it hides in your hand, it is readily available at all times.

I used it to make lists. People to talk to. Things to buy. And other lists, projects to work on. I wrote down my schedule in it, so I didn't have to go digging in my bag for my calendar. I wrote whatever was on my mind, like a little journal. It would be great for tiny drawings, or ideas for my novel, and even better for the kind of poetry that comes in those moments between tasks.

I used to write poetry between stops on the subway. Or while waiting for the food to cook in the oven. Or while waiting in line.

I'm very excited about my little book. I like that it's so low tech. This is no texting device. This is just me and a tiny piece of paper and a pen. I also like that when I am done with the one little book, I can remove it, fold and cut and staple a new one, out of scrap paper if I want, and start a new one. I love reducing, reusing and recycling. Last week I went to a store and didn't want to spend money on something that was not really suiting my needs. I'm so glad I didn't, because this is just perfect for me.

I added the orange dot to it later, just because. I've made a few more, and am thinking about adding book marks, or straps to keep it closed, or a chain so it can be worn.

What would/could you do with a tiny book like this. What kind of ideas would you fill it up with?

Here's to 2009! Here's to 2010! Here's to you!

Twilight Road, Ann Arbor Michigan

I stopped by to wish you all a Happy New Year.

I've found this last half of the year, I have not been as able to celebrate with you all, or other people as much as I wanted. I've felt a bit overwhelmed by my own concerns, and didn't really feel that I had the room to be present for others.

For that, I apologize.

I have decided that for 2010, I am going to focus more on paying attention to the abundance that is already in my life, and not be so concerned with those things that I lack.

2009 has been a very hard year for many people, I know. It seems most everyone has been struggling with losses, financial hardships, difficult choices and all sorts of troubles.

I personally have not felt the pinch this sharply since I was a kid.

It would be easy to only think of 2009 as a year of constraints, but I choose instead to look at it for the growth and development. I am choosing to be thankful for the lessons that I have learned this year.

I am grateful for being able to watch how my kids have turned from babies to actual kids. Becoming more and more able to communicate and explore their own world independently. One is potty trained completely, and I have just one more to go. Woo hoo. Here they are, actual fun little people. It makes me eager to see what else is coming, who they will become.

I am thankful for finally being able to overcome some of my own insecurities and begin selling my art to people I do not know. Even though I feel like I know many of my clients now. I have become a business woman, even if I am not very profitable just yet, what has come my way has always come my way just exactly when I have needed it. And more than the money, the value of becoming a business woman is in the way I have come to look at myself and what I can do. I still have far to go, but I know I can learn what I need as I go.

I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to write, even in those little minutes that I had, while the kids were watching tv or while everyone else was occupied with something else. When you days stretch empty and unencumbered, it is so easy to take your time for granted. This year, I have squeezed every minute I could out of my busy life so that I could feed my soul.

I finished my latest first draft just this morning. Yes, I thought i was done yesterday, but it was this morning where I wrapped it up and added those two little words, "THE END." That was cool. More than any other book I have written in the past, I feel like this book is marketable. It's not done, and I want to make it as good as I can, but there is something here that sparks. That welcomes others. So I'm counting this as one of my successes that I was able to focus on because of my constraints in other areas of my life.

I'm thankful that I have found a whole new language, a whole new dialogue with my art and my online community... without which, it is doubtful that my painting would have gone on the journey it did. Imagine, if I'd had the freedom and money to go out and do all sorts of things in real life, would I have sat at home painting every night, and spent my afternoons talking to you all? Doubtful.

And then there's a big one. Being financially strapped this year has made me pay attention more than ever to my own spending habits. To the ways that I am wasteful, not just with money, but with resources. I have begun cooking more meals from scratch and utilizing the leftovers. Did you know chicken bones can make a delightful SOUP? Yes, Virginia, soup does not have to come out of a can. I have also learned to focus more on those things that I did have. This is hard sometimes, but after a while, you come to realize how much you don't need ALL. THAT. STUFF. Things aren't where importance lies, really. It's in people and in the connections between people.

Lastly, I am thankful for my own creativity. Constraints in life demand creativity. Making a doll for my daughter instead of buying one. Finding new ways to use recycled items, like making crowns out of old cereal boxes. Discovering the wonderful world of blanket tent making, or cushion fort-ing. Making do with what resources we have, instead of always going out to buy what we think we need is one of the most basic ways to utilize our creativity.

I think that's where human creativity comes from, and why it is so important to our society and our humanity. We make what we need. We find new ways to interact with our environment. We discover new things about who we are and what we are capable of, about what is important, and what is not as necessary as we thought. Creation is how we excercise the grand capabilities of our wondrous minds.

There is no limit to those capabilities, if we use our creativity to keep looking for ways to make our lives into what they need to be.

So here's to 2009 and all the lessons we have learned, the journey on which we have travelled.

And here's to 2010. To its limitless possibilities, and all that we can create with what we are given.

And here's to you. Imagine me raising a glass of champagne, here. Thank you for coming along on this journey with me. I can't wait to see what happens next.

This Is A Flower, or Living In the State of Blooming

This Is A Flower
3/16/09
Pitt Artist Pen and roller ball pen on paper, 7"x10"

Let's talk about abundance. The 10th Secret of the 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women is about Living in Abundance with Positive Priorities.

Talk about something that creates happiness, this is up there with being in the moment.

Both are things that exist within the mind. As does happiness, don't you know?

What? Abundance is within the mind?

It sure as heck is not in the wallet. You can have millions of dollars flowing in and still feel like you are lacking. You can be without a job or steady income, living in someone else's spare room and feel rich.

I think it's about accepting what you already have, accepting who you already are, and moving out from there. That doesn't mean you can't go out and get more money and more stuff, but as long as you are trying to plug that hole of lack with things, it's just not going to work. The hole is not made of things, so it cannot be filled with things.

I'm not lucky because I have the things I have. This was not luck... or rather, it was my luck, neither good nor bad. I've worked hard to make it feel good. It seems so silly. What's not good about living in Florida with grapefruit and key lime and carambola trees surrounding your house? Oh, well, you see, that part is good, but I've never wanted to live in Florida. I cam here for family, and to help us get our feet back on the ground. I could easily see this period of life as a failure, but instead, I chose to see the abundance. The weather, the flowers, the family, the garden, the security, the time to follow my art into a place and time where it might someday allow more financial security.

THIS is abundance. Looking for flowers instead of political sewage. Looking for margaritas instead of friends who are all thousands of miles away. And it's okay. It's abundant. And it is building a future that I know will be full of even more abundance...

Because I am not waiting for luck, or for a paycheck to make my life abundant. I am creating it right here. Right now. Where I am.

I invite you to live in the state of Blooming Flowers, where ever you are, whether you live in "Florida" or not.

Time and the Flying Girl, or You Are Here

Time and the Flying Girl, or You Are Here
2/10/09
Golden Fluid Acrylic

The inspiration for this was the prompt for Illustration Friday, Time. I didn't want to do what I felt, what I did, because the idea of this large, looming clock scared the heck out of me. And then, when I felt that jolt, I knew I had to. This was the issue I had to tackle. My first idea was the deadline of how much time I have to accomplish what I want, but I think it ended up being more than that.

Am I here? Right here? In this minute? In this day? In this life?

This is the place where I am, yet I spend so much of my time feeling like I have to chase a deadline, run after the fleeing opportunities, capture every spare moment and wring out of it what I can get.

I have been very anxious lately. I think it's from this idea that I have that I have to start making money very soon, before my kids start school full time. Also from the idea that I have to be productive every minute of the day.

So much of my creativity is geared, now, towards somehow making money with it, although I don't seem to be able to gather all the loose ends and set up my business. I am always not doing enough.

But I think I have to accept my life as it is, and accept the time I have. I've got limitations here, with my full time stay at home mom gig, that limit what I can do with my business. I'd like to make it a full time job, but I am not ready for a full time job. I need to take it step by step and start slow.

I think I need to accept that I can't do it all at the same time. I cannot paint every night, blog every day, (twice,) revise my novel during naptime, cook healthy meals, keep my kids happy and strong, figure out the business world, get all of my shop things set up, and still say healthy myself. There's just no room in my day for all this. And the things that end up getting short shrift are the things that are hard (like business, like revising) and the things that feel "indulgent" (like time to relax and eat healthily).

I also need to not put so much pressure on myself in my productivity, expecting every piece to be perfect and meaningful.

I'm still not sure where I can fit revising into my day. It should be nap time, but the kids are sleeping less and I can't seem to carve out the time. I feel so exhausted when they go to bed at night that the brain function is tough. Maybe I am making my excuses, though, and I can break through.

That's another thing I was thinking about this. This pushing through. If I give in to my exhaustion, I won't write. But if I push through the initial exhaustion, I may very well end up writing some great stuff. I know, it's happened before.

However, if my expectations, every time I sit down to do the work, are that I should come up with the breakthrough piece that will get me a writing contract, then it seems too momentous to tackle.

So I'm thinking, lower my expectations of myself. Recognize my time limits and what I can do within that time. Perhaps let go of writing/painting/blogging every day. And the work I show up for, let go of the expectation of brilliance. Just be, in that moment, THERE. Paint for painting. Write for writing. Work for the work, not for the future burdens of making a living.

If the intention is there... somehow I think showing up for the work will get me down that path. Brick by brick the road is constructed?

What are the bricks you want to lay down? What are the small steps that you think will get you to your goals? What work are you going to show up for today?

Save The World, That's All

"Is...Was" detail [Final panel in triptych]
September 2001
Acrylic on Paper

It's no secret that we are going through some tough times in the world right now. Everytime I turn on the television or open a newspaper, there are more stories of doom and gloom. I've myself have been in serious financial turmoil for the past couple of years. They keep saying the worst is yet to come.

I should be scared.

But I'm not.

I'm not stupid, but I do have a different way of looking at things. Instead of seeing the current difficulties as the end of the world, I see them as the transition between this era, and a new one. Granted, no one really knows what this new era will bring, but somewhere inside of me, I have faith that this new world will be a wonderful transformation.

Financial disaster is not a new experience. Not for me, not for this country, not for the world. Growing up in poverty, I learned the difference between really being poverty stricken and just being poor. The difference is hope. That is all.

A person without hope is trapped in their place of destitution. A person with hope can see the blessings and possibilities even in having an empty refrigerator or not being able to afford those needed shoes/heat/housing. It doesn't mean we don't struggle. It means we create with what we have. We create happiness, we create a better situation, we create opportunities.

It's not a coincidence that I chose for this post a painting I did after 9/11. Because it's all about what comes out destruction, loss, pain. And it's also about using art to find that meaning.

One of the things I have become very clear on in my current time of constraints, and through my past struggles, is that art will save the world. Okay, well, art is ONE of the things that will save the world. And it just happens to be MY thing, the thing that I have to give the world.

I'm not just talking about Picasso or Van Gogh or Rembrandt. I'm not even talking about my art. I'm talking about art for everyone. I'm talking about helping others discover the art inside of themselves. When we believe we can create our visions and make them come real on paper, it gets that much easier to create our dreams and put them into reality in the world. When we look at our thoughts and feelings and fears and hopes and give them the respect of listening to them and turning them into something tangible, we begin to understand who we are and what we are made of.

My path in life, is, I think, to inspire people to see the power inside of themselves.

I used to think I just wanted to write books. I thought it was a selfish wish. Then I became a teacher of inner city kids, and I watched the transformative power of art in action. IN ACTION. I saw broken hearts healed. I saw the search for enlightenment. I saw blossoming self-confidence. I saw the recognition of the soul. I saw goals being reached. I saw so many different powers grow in the students I taught. Some friends and I started a women's workshop using art, and the same thing happened. It was amazing and it was evidence. Art can save the world. No matter our circumstances, through art, we can find hope and make a new world for ourselves.

I still want to write and to paint, and I want to share my art and writing with others, but in addition, I want to open a business-- one that is about empowering people through art. This coming year, this is the year when I take the steps to no longer follow someone else's path, but to carve my own.

These ideas have been floating around in my head for quite a while. More than a decade, actually. And now they are closer than ever before. Classes, articles, e-books, chapbooks, blogs, workshops, both online and IRL, inspirational products, like cards and prints and booklets. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but goodness, the ideas make me smile.

So why post about it now?

Well, aside from my plans to focus 2009 on "The Year of the Business Woman," (that would be me, folks. A radical departure from my self-identity in any other year) I am also entering into an HP Giveaway over at Living in Theory, Stop Drop and Blog and at Merlot Mom. They want to know what I would do if I won the booty. How I would help others. This is how I would use that booty to help others. I would start my business. And my business is to empower others.

Oh, there is one other difficulty with this business. My partners, those friends I mentioned, with whom I've been working on this project for years, well, they're spread out over the U.S.-- Virginia, New Orleans, New York, Connecticut, and many of them have been going through financial difficulties of their own. I would do my best to make sure that they all had what they needed so that the whole world could benefit from their wisdom. The printer, the laptops would find their way to those women, software. It's been very hard to organize things when not everyone has access to a computer regularly, and my old computer needs to be replaced to step up into the world the way I want to, but whether or not I win this giveaway (we all know the chances are slim and get slimmer with every entry) I am still going to tackle this dream. It's a dream of helping people discover their own dreams. It's worth the struggle.

A Few Lovely Projects

My head is abuzz with all that I would like to do.

I have been focusing a lot on writing my novel... even when I am not writing my novel. Unfortunately, I am focusing a lot on NOT writing. (Really, we never learn.)

I thought it would be nice to spend some energy on some of the other projects that have been floating in and out of my mind the last few days. Maybe the writing down of the projects will make it come real. Maybe someone out there will be inspired and give it a whirl.

I would like to:

Collect smooth stones and paint them. Perhaps I will just paint them pretty colors. Maybe I will also paint pictures on them, or words. I'd then like to leave them around the garden, for certain garden gnomes to discover.

Build some fairy houses in the garden. I don't know how I would go about doing this, but I think part of the fun of this is to forage around out there and see what can be made to serve for the little fairies. Fairies are very creative that way.

Paint ten pages of my journal with watercolor. The start collecting pictures. Then collage the pictures onto the paper. Then layer over that with paint and crayons and ink and words and poetry and all sorts of wonderful bits and pieces and ideas and feelings. This is inspired by the way that Teesha Moore works. I'm a little stuck in the habit of art, and think that maybe taking her format and going with it will possible break something open for me.

Take some big paper out into the garden with the kids, give them some brushes and some paint and some crayons and just have fun with them.

Make some play-clay with the kids and let them, well... play.

Use the evenings when I am decompressing to organize, edit, upload and post my photos.

Get into doodling again. Always have a piece of paper and a pen in hand. I used to do this so often and really enjoyed it. My life has become non-paper related.

Write a poem every day that I am at work. There is often down time while one is waiting tables. I want to take advantage of that down time. And I want to get back into poetry, but I don't often have the reflection time to do so. Perhaps I could combine these two desires.

You know. I could keep going and think about all the many projects that I would like to take on, but I am not going to. I am going to keep it limited to what I can think about in one gulp.

There's something to be said for limits. They help us to choose which way to go. Having too many choices, sometimes, is as hard to deal with as having not enough.

Last Minute, Free or Cheap, Creative Mother's Day Gifts

This year has been so in flux, that I haven't much thought about mother's day. Not for myself as a mom, and not for my mother, either.

But here I am on Mother's Day, with an unexpected day off from my brand new job, and I am wondering again, what are the ways I can celebrate my mother... or for that matter, what are the things I would like to have for myself that aren't about buying something or planning for it way back in January?

• Pick a bouquet of wildflowers. (Please stay out of the neighbors' gardens.)
• Take mom for a sunset picnic, weather permitting, or if a full meal is not in the cards, how about sunset tea and cake al fresco. Or if it's cold and wet, spread a blanket on the living room floor and make it an indoor picnic.
  
• A List Poem about mom. There is no need to have flowery language or perfect grammar here. Just write up a list of the little things that make up who your mom is to you. Tell the concrete details that you come back to you when you close your eyes. The smells, the things she always wore or kept near her, the things she did that made you feel special, the sound of her laughter, her habitual sayings. Start listing. When it feels right, stop. Write it on a nice peace of paper, maybe with a pretty sticker or sketch to go with it, and there you are.
• If the mom is the mom of young babies who can't quite make something, how about a simple hand print or foot print.
• A cake, home made. I think we under appreciate the value of pastry made from scratch. It's not how fancy it's decorated, it's the effort and intention that goes in to making a treat.
• How about cleaning the house top to bottom. I can't even imagine how excited that would make me.
• Time off. An afternoon, a day, a week... whatever fits into your life. Give mom a break from the duties of being a mom. From being the primary care giver, house cleaner, cook, chauffer, grocery shopper, etc. Give her the time to focus on her own self.
  
• If you want to, create the classic coupon gift book of services. Anything from the above housekeeping kind of services to kisses and hugs and back rubs. It depends on what the Mom in question likes, and can be totally personalized to her.
• Or how about time. Give your mom time. Do you live far away? Schedule phonecalls on a regular basis. Do you live near? How about a weekly date with your mom for an activity of her choice.
• Don't forget the good old home made card. If you earnestly put your heart into it, make it something she would love, write about your true feelings and gratitude, decorate it with images that are meaningful, this could become a keepsake, not just another Hallmark to get stuffed into the box in the back closet.
• A collage of images. It could be one totally dedicated to her life, or your memories of her as your mom, or even of yourself, if she is distant and you want to share your life with her. Don't use valuable or irreplaceable original photos, you wouldn't want to ruin them. But you can easily color photocopy a whole page full and use those in your collage. Use paints and images and rubber stamps to fill the page. Write about the images, or tell stories.
• Take out your camera, digital and/or film, and do a photoshoot of the family. Have everyone dress up and find a picturesque spot, and just take pictures of everything, both posed shots and live candids.
  
• How silly is your mom? Would she enjoy it if you made her a princess crown out of tin foil and cardboard and a wand from a stick and Christmas tinsel? You could paint a sash with the words "World's Best Mom" or "Momzilla Princess" or "Our Sweetheart" depending on the personality of all involved. Drape her favorite chair with a pretty scarf and make it her throne from which to direct the evening-- her choice. A good tearjerker DVD. A family game of Monopoly. A Disco Dance Party. Or maybe kids and dad go out and leave the house to Mom, peacefully, quietly.

There are so many things you could do for your mother. All you have to do is think about who she is and what she likes. It really is the thought that counts, even if you don't have the money for a diamond tennis bracelet or the time for building her that backyard art studio.

Show her that you love her and want her to be happy, and that you are paying attention to who she is. I think that would make any mother happy.

Do It Yourself Creativity

My grandfather never bought anything, if he could help it. He would go up and down the alleys before garbage pickup, and salvage gorgeous wooden chairs, televisions, paintings, empty bins, scrap wood... whatever discarded treasure he could find. He would repurpose or restore or reuse them. If he couldn't find something he needed in the alleys, he would make it out of two by fours or fiberglass or cement. He even built a huge sailboat in his horse barn and he and my uncle sailed it down the Mississippi into Tampa Bay.

Granted, building a sailboat from scratch is not for the amateur, but the same creativity can show up on the large scale or the small.

My grandmother used to sew and crochet our dolls clothes, or create liniments and ointments that the neighbors all wanted.

My mother used to make fresh breads and pizzas and biscuits... mostly because they couldn't afford store bought, but it doesn't matter. She used her creativity to solve problems when she didn't have money to pay for things.

Friends who saw paintings in museums or magazines or books and would never be able to start collecting professional art were inspired to pick up their own paintbrushes and create their own pieces.

When someone needed a wedding cake, and couldn't afford a professional one, my friend volunteered her novice baker services and baked a delicious treat... even though she did vow never to make a wedding cake again.

It has always impressed me when people managed to create things of beauty or use out of nothing but their own two hands, some basic materials, and their ingenuity. Sometimes I think that having money can be a detriment to our creativity. If we can go out and buy new all the things we want, how much motivation would we have to sit down and figure out some way to create something meaningful out of what we have right there in our lives at our disposal.

When I was a child and we had no money at all, I wanted to read a new book but didn't have a library card. So I decided I would write my own. I started my first novel out of that, at 15, and sure, it turned out to be a lot harder than I ever imagined, but it also opened up a whole new passion for me that I am still pursuing, twenty some years later. If I'd had five dollars to go to the bookstore I wonder if I would have decided I wanted to be a novelist, and if I would have had the nerve to go for it.

Have you used your creativity to get what it was you wanted that you couldn't afford? How did it turn out?