Creative Chaos

It's getting very "spookily" and a "what would you do".......

That's what Andres said when he saw what I was doing the other day in my craft room.  I love "spookily" and I'm using it every chance I get in normal conversation.

Of course as soon as he sees my doing something he wants to create also.  Here's his "spookily" piece of art.  I like how he tempers scary Halloween with spring like flowers. He's practically an artistic genius.....

Here are some of the new papers at Paper Tales.......

Love them....and some fun ribbon........

I already started some Halloween tags.  Do you like that orange glitter?  I made it up.  I was like a witch at her cauldron mixing up batches of the perfect orange glitter.....

Ok....so now for the "What would you do?" question of the day......

Hypothetically speaking, of course, let's say you just finished lunch at Panera's after getting your two boy's hair cut at Grossmont Mall. While waiting for your mother to finish up at the bank you wander into this cute shop called Mary's Secret Garden.  It's filled with adorable garden decoration, water fountains and cute little frog statues that croak.   While browsing the shop you call your hypothetical 4-year-old over to see the Halloween decoration.   Before you can say boo, you hear the the worst thing a mother can hear......the breaking of glass.  You turn to look and you see forlorn and scared 4-year-old standing next to $79.99 broken bird bath........ So what would you do......

a)  Give clerk befuddled look on the way out the door and claim you've never seen that child in your life while trying to figure out how to get back to store and eventually take child home....

b)  Blame it on the other innocent child that was standing a good 20 feet away from incident......

c)  Yell out....."I'm calling my lawyer!"  and ramble on about how the store didn't take adequate precautions to ensure the safety of small customers who inadvertently brush up against bird baths when his mom calls him over to look at  Halloween decoration. 

d)  Offer to pay wholesale price to cover cost.

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Ta Da.....

I'm now the proud owner of a $39.99 metal stand.......

Despite the clerks offer to let it go, there was no way I could walk out of there with a clear conscience knowing the owner would have to eat the cost.  It's a small shop. And with economy the way it is I felt horrible about just leaving without compensating for the cost. 

Any suggestions on what to do with it?

Slowly getting the mojo back.......

    

I'm two weeks out of radiation and I'm finally starting to feel somewhat normal again.  Of course, I'm well aware that normal is very subjective....so let's just say normal for me.

So last week was a whirlwind of activity for my normally couch prone body.   First off, I worked at Paper Tales while Michelle was on vacation.  I haven't been this excited about working since I was employed at the Dairy Dip in 1981 with "all you can eat" benefits.  That was a great job.  

Anyway, I whirled into Paper Tales on Wednesday and immediately asked for a raise, stock options and a company car.  To which Diane replied....."Did Michelle even tell you how much she was paying you?"  Me: "ummmmm....no."   After retrieving her rolled eyes from the back of her head, she sent me off to organize Pink Paislee paper.  I happily obliged spending the rest of the afternoon talking to customers, pricing glitter and staying on top of the "make and takes" for the Shop Hop (there was no way we were going to run out of those on my watch).  In short, I was in heaven. 

So, if that wasn't enough, my friend Gail and her family came down from LA for vacation. We hung out by the pool at Paradise Point Resort drinking overpriced mojitos, watching the kids swim and basically taking in every last drop of summer. 

Kids in the pool......

Kid levitating on top of pool......

Yummy drinks....... 

Happy drinkers....... 

Child left on his own to eat broken tortilla chips in the sand.....

Decides it's not worth picking the dirt out of the crumbs and joins others to play in the sand instead of eating the sand.......

Happy momma and papa.......

Good food....great friends.....

Bird above us hoping great friends will drop good food.......

A perfect way.....

to end the summer......

 

I've been looking for these forever.........

And, to think all I had to do was move 5 boxes, rearrange twenty stacks of stuff and clear a path to the counter on which they were sitting. 

Progress has been made......

I've unearthed dozens of items that I thought had walked out the door in protest .....

I have filled two boxes with paper and art supplies to donate to Jane's program Art takes a Village......

And, most importantly, my table which was formerly being used to store supplies to create art has now been repurposed back to its original intention...... to create art.

I also finally put this piece of art up on my wall.......

Marsha from Tumble Fish Studio created this beautiful piece for me when I had lost my hair.  I'm thrilled that I have finally gotten it up on the wall where it belongs.  Thanks so much Marsha!!

I'll talk to you soon.....

 

So beyond overwhelmed.......

with my craft room.  It's scary.  No. Really. It is.  I have proof. I took pictures.  But before I frighten you right off my blog, let me share my newest creation.

Ta Da......

 

I actually made this within the out of control mess that is my so-called studio.  Well ,technically, I took the materials out of the so-called studio and worked on it on my kitchen table.  Nonetheless, you should all be impressed with the fact that I could even find the supplies to make it.  It took me 10 minutes to find my scissors, but other than that I had it under control. Sort of.....

 

I'm going to be teaching this at Paper Tales on August 28th......So excited!!

However, my excitement is tempered by this mess that awaits me.....

It's ridiculous.....

Absolutely ridiculous.....

And, surprisingly, this isn't even as bad as it was before I took the pictures. I moved all the boxes that were on the floor to the living room so I could take these shots......

So in order to erase those images from your mind, here are some pictures of cute vintage postcards I bought at Paper Tales Junque and Trunk Show........

The cards are giving me the motivation I need to organize this room.  I'll keep you posted on the progress! 

 

Last chance coconut cake..........

This picture and recipe has been on my refrigerator door since December of last year.  For the last eight months, I've wanted to crawl into that picture and eat this cake with every fiber of my being.  I also realized in order to sink my teeth into a slice I was going to have to bake it myself.   I don't know if you remember, but last May I used Cosme's birthday as a perfect excuse to to get this cake on my table.  Unfortunately, I was in the midst of chemo, exhausted and not thinking very straight.  At the time, I was too tired to bake the cake from scratch, so I used boxed chocolate cake that I had on hand.  Which would have been fine if I didn't go all "crazy scientist baker" in the kitchen and try to improve on my favorite buttercream frosting.

Remember this.....

Which resulted in that......

How could something so right go so horribly wrong?  Well, with my mom's birthday approaching, I was determined to give it another go. After looking back at all my past mistakes with the last cake and a new resolved determination not to repeat them, I pulled out the recipe again and made my list for all the ingredient that I would need to bake my masterpiece.

Andres and I headed to the store to get everything we would need. Mistake number one. Do not go to the store with a four year old who thinks all birthday cakes are born at the Vons bakery counter and always come with a Thomas the Train on the top.  After convincing him that we were "baking" a cake, not "buying" a cake for grandma, we soon filled our shopping cart with everything we needed and headed to the checkout.  As the total approached $42 dollars I realized that Andres suggestion of a Thomas cake was not so off base....I would have saved 20 bucks and not had to bake.....but that's not the point. The point is to make this delicious coconut cake.....

We got home to start baking.  As I was gathering all my supplies, I realized I couldn't find my cake pans. Impossible. I had to have cake pans. Everyone has cake pans.  Well, after an exhaustive search of my three cabinets, I realized I didn't have them. Somehow, some way, the pans sprouted legs and walked out the door.  Sooooooo back to Von's we go where we are forced to buy square cake pans because that's all they have.  The shape isn't the point.  The point is to make this damn coconut cake.......

Were on our way.  Cake batter mixed. 

Friends line up to see what the commotion is all about in the kitchen.......

Instead of the raspberry filling I decided to substitute lemon curd. Yum......

Frosting was made with loving care and strict adherence to the recipe.  Because I wanted the frosting to taste like the Sander's coconut cake I remembered from my childhood, I debated on whether to ruin a good thing by adding the Marshmallow Fluff.  On one hand, I accomplished the feat of a perfect bowl of buttercream. On the other hand, taking a risk like this could bring me fame, fortune and accolades from my family for replicating an old time favorite.  After carefully weighing the consequences, I decided to go for it. I threw buttercream frosting caution to the wind and dumped in the marshmallow fluff in the bowl.......

Perfection........ 

I present to you the square coconut cake.....

Unfortunately, neither fame nor fortune occurred.  However, my adoring fans did give me lots of accolades........And, I have to say, with agreement from the family, it was sooooo good.

See, there's always a second chance! 

If you are at all interested in the recipe I got it from Woman's Day Dec/08...

Unfortunately, they don't have it on their website.  I used a different recipe for the frosting.  Just let me know and I will post the info.......

Wow......two posts within a week.......

I must be getting my energy back.......Yay!

Saturday I went up to Paper Tales to see a special lady.  She had emailed me introducing herself and reminding me that we had taken Tricia's class together way back when. She also told me that we had something in common as she too was diagnosed with breast cancer in March.  I knew that she was taking Lilia class on Saturday so I dragged the two boys along with me so I could give her a hug.   I stole this picture from Michelle.....whatever you do don't tell her :) 

Margi and me.....

Also I got to finally meet Lilia from Flea Market Studio. I adore her work!  She was teaching a couple classes that day so it all worked out perfectly!  Not only is she amazingly talented but so sweet and nice!  She said she'll be back teaching more classes......

Speaking of Paper Tales.....they are having a Junque N' Trunk Sale

August 15, Saturday from 8 am-4 pm
This isn't your average run-of-the-mill scrapbook sale!
Join us for a special sale and a special day.
A HUGE sale of paper and stamp items,
vintage and antique accessories, fabric,
art, collectibles, jewelry, postcards, ephemera and more!
The first 20 customers that day will receive a special goody-bag!
ALL customers will receive a 10% discount that day at the store!!

I also wanted to share a bit of fun.  Last December when I was knee deep in chemo treatments, I got some good news for a change.   I received an email asking if I would be interested in contributing to the Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Craft magazine?  Of course I would!  No amount of chemo was going to keep me away from that.  Working with the editor, Ann Blevins was wonderful.  It was a nice little bright spot during a crummy time.

They took beautiful pictures of my stuff........

Well, the above picture isn't my stuff....it's the cover.....

Here's mine........

Recognize the vintage wallpaper?   I owe it all to Donna!  Without her vintage wallpaper I wouldn't be where I am today....  which is basically sitting around watching tv for the last year....but none the less I still owe her......

Love how they styled this one........

The only bad part is that they forgot to put in any of my contact info.....oh well. 

Also check out Cindy and Jenny's pages.  I have to go to a dr. appt but I will be right back to post pictures of their stuff!

 

I have eylashes :I repeat: I have eyelashes........

Yep, it's true!  My eyelashes have finally grown back.  I think I'm more excited about that than my hair coming in.  

Well, I have been gone so long from blogging that Typepad has completely redesigned their format.  I feel like I've been in a coma. One minute I'm typing on a typewriter.....the next minute I wake up and the computer has been invented. Yikes. Now, as if it isn't bad enough I'm behind on six weeks worth of emails, I have to learn all new Typepad stuff.

There have been two main reasons why I haven't blogged. The first is this......

I have been wearing this bandage for 6 weeks straight.... 22 hours a day (ok, give an hour here and there).  If you don't believe me I have witnesses who can attest to it.  Can I say it's all been worth it?  I honestly don't know.  I have good and bad days with the swelling. It will unfortunately be a life long thing that I will have to deal with.  It was such a pain in the ass to type anything that I rarely even went on the computer. 

The good news is I now have in my posession this.......

My arm garment and glove! Yay! Never thought I would be so happy to be wearing this get up.  But I am ecstatic.  It provides the compression but still allows me to move my fingers.  YAY! 

The other reason I haven't been blogging is because of radiation.  The last 3 weeks or so it has kicked my butt with fatigue.  Not nearly as bad as the chemo, but it's definitely slowed me down.  I have managed to do some things here and there in between naps on the couch.  Like this.....

Finally taught my cone class!  We had a blast....such a fun group of women!

And this.......

A night out with my "bestest" friends.

Tomorrow is my last day of radiation.  Finally.  Although, oddly enough, I do have to admit the six weeks did go by rather quickly.  I went 5 days a week, for 6 weeks.  I'm so used to it it just became a part of my life.   The only thing I have left is my Avastin treatments every 3 weeks until December.  Then it's back to the "new" normal.

I'll talk to you soon!  Karin