Creative Chaos

Merry Christmas!!

I'm supposed to be cleaning up my craft room........

 I'm so embarrassed.....I just fixed my title to reflect the fact that I know the english language......carry on......

I'm a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of it all........it's a disaster.  I know. Big surprise.  So instead of cleaning and organizing I will show you some of the holiday happenings at the chaos household......

Holiday inspired tic tac toe........

 

Joy banner class kits......

Snowmen fighting it out for local piano-top turf.......

Another snowman intercedes by asking "can't we all just get along?"........

All sorts of thing happening in the holiday forest.......

People putting up favorite ornaments......

Convincing people for twenty minutes that the picture on the bell ornament is of his brother not him.

Finally giving up and saying to people "yes...you are "so cute" on that bell ornament."

Bumble and friends show up looking for fun.......

And, guess what!  They found it....the drunk guy from the Karaoke bar is back.......

Not missing a beat he jumps right back in to a resounding version of Jingle Bells......

Putting up all the fun Christmas items from blogging friends near and far......

Kari at Artsymama

 

Mary at oh merci.......

Tricia at Vintage Bliss

Jenny at Polka Dot Pixie

Favorite ornaments from years gone by........

Alrighty.....back to cleaning!  Talk to you soon! Karin

Reason number 5,687 why I hate Michaels..........fa la la la la la la la........

Seriously.  I really believe that management sits around their big conference table drinking spiked egg nog and decides what will annoy customers the most.  Disgruntled workers...check.  Not enough cash registers open during peak shopping times....double check.   Having cashiers answer the phone to answer questions stopping any form of service they were giving you at the moment...triple check.  And a brand spanking new one to add to the list ......a big invisible sign that says "Line Forms Here or Not depending what time of day you come in and who happens to be working" 

So, it's my second to the last stop before heading home with the boys.   We perused the aisles, grabbed needed items as well as not so needed items, made an emergency trip to the potty and finally head  towards the cash registers.   After standing in front of the endcap debating whether Carlos should get Swedish fish or M&M's and grabbing the last package of Ghiradelli peppermint bark chocolates (which by the by are to die for....) we turned the corner and plopped our stuff down on the counter. 

Of course, the cashier immediately disappeared....family emergency?  Bathroom break? A fire?  Who knows.  While waiting for her to return, I was told by the nicest couple that there was one line to wait in.  Really?  I turned to the now present cashier and said where's the line? To which she vaguely pointed and said "over there."  I turned to look for the sign indicating that there indeed was a line in which everyone was waiting, but all I saw was a row of shelves with christmas floral and scented candles. Befuddled, I then asked her when this new line business started. While giving me a blank look, I hear this snippy little voice from the next register, "we've been doing it for a month."   Really? A month?  Because, that's funny.....I've been in this same Michael's three times over the last week and not once did I form one line.   So as to not cause any more confusion and delay, as Sir Topham Hat would say, I walked over to the nonexistent sign that would indicate one needs to form a line.   I asked the  lone person in the line how she knew she was supposed to stand there given there was nothing to indicate that this was even a place for a line.   She said when she walked in she saw some people standing there.  Retail peer pressure.

Ok. At this point, I honest to God thought someone was going to come out with a camera and "Punk" me.  Now, let me tell you that a love the "form one line" concept.  I practically, led the revolt at my neighborhood CVS to have them do a one line system after they did their remodel.  People would aimlessly wander to the big bank of bored cashiers looking around at each other confused as to who was next, where they should go and why they were even there in the first place.   I LOVE form one line. It totally make sense.    However, you can't just decide as a group of cashiers on the fly that this is how you want it done without taking the proper pre arrangements.  For the love of poster board, it's a craft store!  There's got to be some paper and pencil somewhere to whip up a sign to tape to a shelf.....  

Ok...are you still with me people.  Good.

 

I finally walk up for my turn and nicely ask the young 20-something cashier, "Let's say someone walked in for the first time to this store.  How would one know where to stand in line?"    The look on her face clearly said "listen lady. I hate my job, I hate you. I hate your kids who are bouncing those damn noisy balls on the counter. And, I don't even like crafts. I'm just ringing up sales until I can get out of here, text my boyfriend and get on with my life."   However, the actual words that came out of her mouth were  "over there."  I then responded with (very nicely, I might add) "over where?  There's no sign. How is anyone supposed to know where to go?" as I pointed to the now empty line.  She then sighed very loudly, and said "I don't know."

Sigh....

I hate you Michael's. I am never speaking to you again. I've had it.......I'll be by later tonight to pick up glue sticks and glitter.  Love,  Karin

So much for Tutorial Tuesday.......

Another Tuesday had come and gone.  I think I'm going to have to wait until after the first of the year to pull this off.  Things have been a bit hectic lately.  Let me explain.   See this cute little face........ 

 
I am totally sucked into a whole other genre of crafting.  Paper clay.   I was lucky enough to take a class with the extraordinary Jenny Hernandez of Polka Dot Pixie fame.   I've known her through blogging for the last couple year and LOVE her work.  She manages to capture the most whimsical faces on her little clay figures.  I started collected her pieces last year.  Although my collection is small (ok. I only have one piece)  I want to add a Christmas figure every year.  I figure I will do so until she is super big and famous and then I won't be able to afford her anymore and stops taking my calls.  By my calculations of her talent, that should be some time next year.  So I better get shopping while the getting is good! 

She came to Paper Tales last week and I couldn't wait to meet her in person and take the class.  She is as wonderful as I expected.  We went to lunch and talked as if we've known each other for years.   She is so gracious and warm.  She shared all her little tips and techniques with the class.  Now I'm hooked.  I love my little guy.  As much as I would love to take credit for it, that face is totally Jenny's design.  I had the hardest time with the mouth.  She took my little snowman out of my clumsy hands and into her capable ones and turned the former jack o lantern mouth I had into this cute little smile.

 

Am I the only one that gets over the top excited about learning a new craft?!?  Although, I will leave all the professional snow pixie making in her talented hands, I was excited to get home and do this with the boys and make some snowmen and Christmas ornaments.  

I just wanted to note that one should not do this project at 6:00 pm after children have been housebound the entire day due to a rain storm.  The results will not be what you expect.  The evening will start off with the wistful phrase "this is going to be so much fun!!"  And then end with a high pitched shrill of "if you two don't stop fighting right now everyone is going to their room and going to bed!!!"    However, even after several delays due to explaining why a bionicle would not be a good first project because of the complexity of the design,  we finally managed to make our snowmen.

Carlos' snowman had another arm.  Unfortunately, due to a tragic snowblowing accident he lost it....

 

Andres' has an over sized mouth and one ear.  Apparently, it's a common trait in the farther reaches of the North Pole.....

A quite formal snowman appeared out of nowhere with his top hat and no eyes......
  

They welcomed him to their village with open no arms and one arm.   We finally get to paint them tonight.   It took a while for them to dry because of the rain. 

I'm off to do errands and make some Christmas gifts.  Stay warm!  Talk to you soon!  Karin  

   

Lots of chatter in the chaos household lately.......

mainly revolving around Santa.  I'm getting the standard questions and proclamations such as "I fink Santa my best friend", "I scary of Santa" and "Santa gonna bring me lots a toys"  from Andres.  Those I can easily handle with a simple nod of the head and a smile followed by "you better get writing your letter" and "yes, he really, absolutely, without a doubt knows if you've been naught or nice. So start cleaning that playroom." 

But this year has been complicated by a nine year old who is smack dab on a very narrow fence in between wanting desperately to believe and having a feeling it's all been one big fat and jolly deception.   Let me back track a bit to a conversation we had around Halloween.  He sidelined me with a question about the Easter bunny.  I was completely taken off guard.  He point blank asked me if the Easter bunny existed.   I was trapped. I didn't know what to say.   Do I lie to my child knowing that I was working against whatever playground conversation happened that day or do I keep the fantasy alive with a simple yes.   Sigh.  I told him the bunny was a fake.  It was me and poppa.  I swear in that moment he grew 3 inches and sprouted a mustache.  I actually felt a shift in the universe.   His reply?   "Well at least Santa's real! Right, mommy?"  Trapped again.   His response was said in such earnest it practically begged for a yes...... But then I would be lying...... But then again, who am I to fill a kid's stocking with coal when his eyes are pleading with me to say he's real......but, again, I would be lying....The pressure was mounting.  He looked to me for answers.  He trusted me. 

So I said, "of course he's real honey.  I believe in him."  To which he responded, "I knew it!" 

I don't think I was lying.  I really do believe Santa's real.  How do I know this?  He gave me the gift of another year of magic with Carlos.    

I think I time traveled.....

Because I swear it was just yesterday that I was posting Tutorial Tuesday.  I can't believe it's been a week.  I'm off to teach my Christmas card class at Paper Tales......

Saturday I taught the Snowflake class.  So much fun.  We had a full house so there was lots of glitter flying.  The night before I was almost in glitter panic mode because my antique silver was running out.  Of course I had forgotten the "recipe" I had made so I was mixing a bunch of glitter at 11:00 at night trying t get the perfect blend...I think I nailed it...... 

So here's what I've been doing in between dentist appointments, blood tests, avastin treatments, major holiday get togethers and throwing a semblance of dinner at my children.......

   

Talk to you soon!  Karin
   

Tutorial Tuesday!

I have a fun little tutorial to share with you based on the little Christmas book I did the other day.  But first before I get into that I just wanted to thank everyone for all your sweet words about the video.  I was so nervous to show you all.... but now I'm glad I did! 

So I was thinking how fun it would be to have a "Tutorial Tuesday" where I would have all sorts of neat projects every week to show you.   People would come from near and far all over the web to see what I had cooking up every week. Tuesdays would take on a whole new meaning in the blogasphere......life would never be the same.  However, after thinking the whole thing through, I realized that I don't possess the kind of consistent follow through needed and ditched the idea before it even got started.   

But I did do this one notebook tutorial before I scrapped the whole "how to" every Tuesday  business.  I've been obsessed with these Websters Pages scrapbook paper.   I grabbed up a bunch at Paper Tales and have been using them ever since.   You can make either of the above designs.  The only difference is the ribbon and the wording.  

So let's get started! 

Ok....everyone clear your desks.......

Once you've got space to create, grab a small notebook, journal, chipboard album or whatever you have on hand.  I got this little baby from the $1 section at Michael's. Our tumultuous relationship continues with its ups and downs....but the dollar section never disappoints....

Here are the three paper designs I'm working with.  Sorry the one piece is sort of chopped up.  I didn't have another full piece......just work with me here people......

Glue your cover piece down (I used a glue stick for all my gluing needs on this project).  I allow about an inch or so around all sides for folding over the edges.  
 

Cut the corners and excess paper. It will make it easier to fold over the top and bottom......

 

 

Glue into place......

Cut your piece for the inside cover and glue into place......

Oops.  As you can see, I didn't realize it was upside down until after I took the picture......Try to learn from my mistakes......

 

Do the same for the back of the book........

Cut a piece of music paper to fold over the spine to cover bothe front and back.  No music paper?  No problem.  Just use some of the coordinating paper on hand.....

Glue into place.......

Cut the house and the grass out.....

  

Cut the grass to fit the bottom half of the journal......

Place the house on the front and glue into place.......

 

I cut the music notes out of the other paper......

I cut them with some decorative scissors and glued to the bottom.....

Cute the letters out from the rest of the paper.....

I added "Sweet Home" with some stick on letters......
 
 

I added a little shading with white and charcoal pencils

Lastly, add some pom pom trim and red seam binding.......

I added a couple crystals.........and there you have it! 

 
 Now you're all set to make your list to Santa.......I'm asking for more hours in the day! 

Talk to you soon!  Karin
 

I've already had my two main critics approve this......

and they gave me the thumbs up.   So now I'm ready to let you all see it......... 

I did a tutorial on how to make the "Baby's First Christmas" photo cover.   I had to have a special screening for two people that I know would tell me if I sucked.....Gail and Michelle.   Thankfully, not only did they tell me I didn't scare them away, they actually liked it.  So here you go.....just click on the picture.....oh, and you also get to see my new haircut and dyejob........

It's so weird to see and hear myself on camera.  Very weird.   But I think I could get used to it.....

Anyway, when I wasn't filming blockbuster movies, I was busy doing some more fun stuff with the Webster's Pages Christmas paper.  Ever since I saw at at Paper Tales, I have been going crazy with it.   So yesterday, I went with my friend Nikki to Paper Tales to do a crop.  At first glance, it seemed the perfect opportunity to work on the boys' scrapbook.  Since all I have done is one page containing Carlos' sonogram, I figured I had nowhere to go but up. 

I figured wrong.  I'm probably the only person on the face of the scrapbooking earth who shows up to a crop with no scissors, no glue stick and no pictures.  Let me back track a bit.  I've never scrapbooked.  I love the idea of scrapbooking. I love the visions of the beautiful pages that I create which only exist in my head. I love the paper, the embellishments and everything that goes along with it. 

But unfortunately what happens to me in the in creating picture story is I get overwhelmed with the whole process.   I don't know where to start or where to end.  I want to perfectly illustrate my children's formative years in a way that will be appreciated generation after generation.  I want my great great grandchildren to sing praises of my talents decades after I've kicked the bucket.  

Cosme shakes his head and says "what's so difficult about gluing a picture to a piece of paper?"   I, of course, turn to him and very calmly say "It's a historical document. I'm sure you wouldn't say that to the founding fathers when writing the constitution."   He then rolls his eyes leaving me to continue to stare at my blank page.  Of course my friend Nikki and all the other women at the table merrily glued pictures and embellishments down without a second thought.  So I decided that I needed more time to think this whole scrapbook thing out.  Maybe next months crop.  That will give me thirty days to organize and prepare for it.  In the meantime I did this notebook.  At least it was something......

 

I also finished the tags for my Christmas Tag class at Paper Tales.......

Everything has been delayed because of my printer problems.  I'll spare you the boring details.  Let's just say you should never unplug your printer when it's still on and attached to your computer.  It can get really ugly, really fast.

Gotta get back to work....I'm trying to create some thing to put in my long neglected Etsy shop........Talk to you soon!  Karin
 
 
 
 
 
 

Change....why does everything have to change.....

 

When I was on Facebook yesterday, I was informed by a little memo on top that I needed to update my Internet Explorer to version 8.   Ok.  Easy enough.  I go ahead and do it only to discover that I no longer have any of my home pages.....all the words are microscopic......my favorites button has changed....and, I can't figure out how to retrieve my email.   Arggg.   Why don't I just leave well enough alone.  My old trusty Internet Explorer wasn't perfect by any means, but at least it was familiar face. 

Then I log into Typepad and they've switched everything around again resulting in wasted time trying to figure out how to center my Flickr button.  Ridiculous.  

Anyway, I did lift my head up from the beads and wire cutter long enough to do these snazzy little cards for a class at Paper Tales.....

I told Julie at the store today I felt like a designer on Project Runway completing my runway collection.   I feel as though the cards tell a story....have a point of view.....yet are able to make a statement on their own.....

I'm heading off to bed.....Talk to you  later!  Karin

Continuing to roll....but down another path......

A friend of mine asked me if I knew where she could find a class on jewelry making.  Seizing on the perfect opportunity to unearth all my beads and crystals, I told her and another friend to meet me at 10:00 am sharp to learn all the tricks of the trade.

Of course it's been so long for me, I had to relearn all the tricks of the trade myself.....

After searching for my wire cutters and making them sign a noncompete contract, we were set to go......

Fun!  It's been awhile since I wrapped wire.  I've forgotten how much I miss it.....

Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas...........

 
Talk to you later......Karin 
 
 

Still rolling.......

except right now I'm rolling into the couch and counting down the minutes until bedtime.

I had my avastin treatment this afternoon and it just wiped me out.  Everytime I go in for my treatment I'm armed with magazines to read, a notebook for jotting down witty blog posts and my bagel to eat.  And every single time, as soon as I sit in the comfy chair with a blanket on me, I'm like Pavlov's dog and can barely keep my eyes open.  I don't even get premeds anymore! 
 
 

Something about that chair just makes me go to sleep.  So now I'm going to finish making dinner and then convince the boys to go to bed at 6:30.

I think I'll go change all the clocks to convince them it's really 8:30.

As you may or may not know, I love my Target snowflakes.  So this holiday season is going to be the year of a thousand snowflakes.   Here is a snowflake banner I'm working on for a class at Paper Tales. 

 

Talk to you later.....zzzzzzzzzzz.......  
 
 
 

On a roll......

This is for a project I'm working on.....

New snowflakes for a class at Paper Tales.....

Some revisited tags......
 
 

Ok...back to work....
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is the new notice on the outside of my bathroom door....

 BEFORE KNOCKING, YELLING OR CRYING PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING ITEMS:

1. Does it involve blood?
2. Does it involve fire?
3. Is someone not breathing? (Hyperventilating while crying does not count)
4. Is there someone at the door holding an oversized check, balloons and a microphone?

If it does not involve any of the above items do not, and I repeat, do not knock on this door.  This includes, but is not limited to: 

• asking where your tootsie pop is and can you eat it now
• telling me your little brother won't let you watch World's Most Extreme Rollercoasters
• Telling me your big brother won't let you watch Yo Gabba Gabba
• wanting to brush you teeth at that precise moment
• notifying me the cat needs food and won't stop meowing
• asking what your password is for Toon Town
• both of you coming to the door arguing about something that I neither care nor want to care about in this lifetime nor the next. 

I believe that by following these simple rules you will find that mommy doesn't stomp out of the bathroom as often proclaiming everyone is losing computer privileges for the rest of their natural lives.  (and yes, I will call your wife and tell her to tell you to get off the computer)  Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.  If you have any complaints or questions please fill out a form in triplicate and file it with management. 

Oh boy..........

How......

in the world.......

did this.....

happen again......

Same table.....different season. 
 
 
 
 
 

Trying to stay focused......

on what I need to do.  But I'm getting lured in by Christmas.   I fell in love with these papers and have to do something with them.......

They are Webster's Pages.   Love them.......

When I was eating my lunch yesterday at Paper Tales, Michelle was hard at work stocking them on the shelves.....

I was going to help her after I was finished eating but then got distracted by this.......

and this.....

 

By the time I made my way back she was already done......

Trying figure out color combinations and textures....

I pulled out some tags from last year to see how I could change them up.....

Alrighty.....someone is breathing down my neck wanting to go on Toontown.  I have a ton of food to cook today since our freezer went on the fritz.....Talk to you soon!  Karin