Spring Fever

Is it too early to have spring fever in Boston? I think not! Some people might point out that I'd already be enjoying this temperature weather if I were still in Texas but what they don't realize is how glorious this weather is to me in stark contrast to the bloody cold days! No offense to the Texans but you just sort of blennnnd into Spring. One day its all brown and mooshy and then one day its not. Here in New England you see the beautiful struggle of life. (I saw this in Michigan too, of course) You see the early bulbs of spring bravely, or maybe foolishly poke their heads out of the frozen tundra to take a deep breath and start their show. The kids are giddy that they can take their coats off at the park. Like their skin has been waiting all these months to breathe!

This painting is 24 x 24 and is aptly titled for this blog The Sound of Spring. I particularly love the old victorian catalog add for flowers peaking thru the layers of glazes like the crocus at my neighbor's house.

Bone Folder vs. Bone folder

So while mum was sitting in my studio yesterday she reminded me of my memorable experience of teaching her friends an art project on one of my last trips to Michigan.

For a mother's day present I offered to teach mum and a room full of her friends a paper craft class. I sent each of the attendees a list of supplies to bring to class like scissors, Pencil, ruler and a bone folder.

As we were starting class I asked everyone to get out their supplies and set them next to their work space. As they started to get set up, one woman said, "I couldn't find a bone folder so I hope this blue folder would do?" The woman next to her handed her a manilla folder and said, "Don't worry, I brought extra bone colored folders, you can have one of mine." And so it went... one by one the women all admitted to thinking that the bone folder on the list referred to a manilla folder, and not a folding tool.

It makes me wonder how many students who are new to the world of paper craft might silently make this innocent mistake.

There may be no stupid questions but there sure are some relatively funny ones!

Thanks to the Michigan ladies for a good laugh and a sincere effort.

It's All Mom's Fault

Well, its not really her fault but its easy to blame her for keeping me busy and away from the computer and my studio. I've parked her in the studio with a pile of fun supplies and we'll see what she comes up with. I'm going to be working on both a new book that has been approved for Quarry books as well as working on a proposal for yet another one!

The other big news is that I've signed a contract with Creative Imaginations for a brand-spankin-new product that I'm licensing! How exciting. It will be ready to go to market at CHA Winter. It sounds like they have some really great new products in the works over there at CI. What I really love is that they are really trying to bridge the Paper gap by catering to both the scrapbooker and the paper artist. Good job guys!

Mum and I went to see Because I Said So yesterday during the day. Funny movie, a little hokey, but funny. Just try to imagine Diane Keaton having sex in a polka dot wedding dress! Mum kept saying that Diane looked so old (in the movie she is turning 60) and she guessed that she must be 75. I guessed 62. I was closer...she's 61. And in my opinion, one classy lady. And an absolutely stunning dresser in this movie. I was definitely inspired by the amazing cakes she bakes in the movie. I'm hoping to pull off some kind of circus tent cake for Abby's 6th birthday this weekend. We'll see.

Now to see if I can focus with mum in the room...wish me luck!

What am I thinking?

Can you imagine this as a family room? Might we be nuts for even considering this place? We traipsed around in the rain and snow today to look at this "carriage house" one more time. The water was pouring into the basement a lot! and a little into the first floor. We might be crazy. The contractor and appraiser came with us so we can see how the numbers look.

Well, thats silly to say because we already know the numbers will look bad...its HOW bad they look as a measure of HOW crazy we are! We definitely aren't having a housewarming party anytime soon~! If not this house, then another one will find us--right??

I've got lots of big things in the works that I want to share but my lips are sealed for a few more days while I wait for contracts to go here and there in the mail. I promise to let you know about them as soon as I can! Mostly because I can't hold in the excitement.

My closing wish for you is to Stay dry! (Which is more than I can say cause my landlords basement has 3 inches of water in it thru which I must traipse if I want to have clean clothes before you know who's plane lands tomorrow! I'm not complaining! We realized that there was water just minutes after she lent me the keys to the spare car. What a landlord!)

Living a Lie

Tuesday is "clean the house mom is coming day".

Wednesday is "clean the house mom is coming and Tuesday was not the day it was supposed to be day."

Thursday (today) is "clean the house cause you never got to it Tuesday or Wednesday and you only really have one more day to procrastinate before mom comes day"

so, guess what I'm doing now? Yep, working in the studio. Not even CLEANING the studio. I am basking in my creative filth. Starting a new project while three others stare at me in disbelief...

I spent the morning cutting unknown men into little pieces so I could put them back together again. Ya know what I'm finding? I am NOT all the kings horses NOR all the kings men. But not to worry, my gel medium and I will put them together again.

I'm just following a creative gut feeling that told me to go cut up pictures and now I'm searching for my muse who MUST be hiding under the pile of dirt that I swept into a pile but not into a dustpan. Maybe if I sit quietly I will be able to hear her cries for help or sneezing from the dust.

I really love the creative process, I really don't like cleaning the house. When people come over (announced) I make an effort to clean the house so that they might THINK that I like to clean. What a Lie! A wise person once told me that when you are really bad at one aspect of life it usually means you really excel at another aspect. I'd like to think that I'm really bad at housecleaning so I must be really exceptional at all things creative. But what I worry about is that I am really bad at housecleaning and I excel at not getting any better at it!

Ok, I think I hear museykins...must go dust her off (and make the guest bed)