Creative Chaos

Farewell my friends.........

I'm taking my sassy new haircut and boys up to Los Angeles for the next four days. We're leaving tomorrow morning.  And, once I get there, it will be a flurry of sitting on the couch, eating and talking.   I'm so looking forward to it.   Watching four kids wears you out! 

Before I leave I wanted to show you the crown that I did to go along with the birthday gift for the one year old.  We went to the party today.  When I walked in I was blown away....everything was in bright pink and green decorations.  Of course, I acted like I planned the match the entire time........

And Helen if you're reading this it's on it's way!!!!!

See you when I get back!   Karin

From the Desk of Creative Chaos......

MEMO

 

July 17, 2008

 

To:      All Project Runway Designers this Season

 

From:  Creativity

 

Re:      Your Lack of

 

********************************************************************

So far, I am very disappointed in all of you this season.  Yes, I'm fully aware it's only the first challenge.  However, if that plastic tablecloth debacle is any indication of things to come we are all going to be in big trouble.   I suggest you put more effort into coming up with an idea for your clothing designs, rather than being the next quirky, memorable personality of the show.  And, yes Blayne, I am talking to you.  And, you too, rocker chick. And, you too...."Suede".  But, not you, boring girl with the glasses.  Anyway, don't make me come down there. 

 

Also, the company picnic scheduled for this Saturday has been cancelled.

 

So, I made this for a friend's daughter's 1st Birthday.  The little frame is for a picture of her on her birthday.  I'm really thrilled with how this turned out considering I had absolutely no idea where I was going with it when I sat down to begin working on it.  It's funny how things evolve and grow when you give it time.   I'm learning to be much more patient with my art and I'm finding that it's paying off.  I'm thinking of making some of these for my Etsy Shop and then personalize for the customer.......What do you think? 

 

 

 

I made this little patchwork can out of vintage wallpaper scraps and then wrapped some tulle around it.   This poor little can had been sitting on my desk all primed and ready for embellishmet for the longest time.   Fun project that can't go wrong.  Now it holds my scissors.   It's a happy little can these days.

 

 

 

I got these cute little German die cuts from Paper Tales.   See.....I'm already looking ahead to Valentine's Day........

 

And, last but not least, another picture of work in progress on my desk.  Just wanted to show that the desk has gotten a bit messier, yet it is nowhere near the disaster area it could be.  I think that my new little organization system is working.  That, and the fact that I am really trying to be good about throwing things and putting things away. 

 

 

That's it for now.  It was a busy day today and I need to get all the beauty sleep I can manage......Talk to you soon!  Karin

 

Oh my gosh......it's been a whirlwind tour.......

the press, the autographs, the photo shoots..... People magazine actually called begging me to come work for them. I said forget it......you had your chance. They said they would bump Denise Richards off next week's cover.  I said I'm all yours...... Truth be told, I'm exhausted.....

Ok, ok, OK...truth be told, I did laundry all day and repeated the phrase "well, if you can't get along then, don't play with each other" 43 times.  But, I'm still exhausted.  I'm glad everyone liked the magazine cover. I had such a blast putting it together.  I'll let you know when the next "issue" comes out.

 

So guess who bought some new Play Doh?  Everyone here loves Play Doh.....I mean who doesn't?  I have a thrifty friend who once told me "you can make play doh!  Why would you buy it?!?"  Well, beside the fact that relatively speaking it's still a pretty good bargain at less than .50 cents a can, you can't make that smell.  The undeniable, bring you back to your childhood, glorious smell of Play Doh.  Nothing like it.  Except for maybe fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.   Don't they look so pretty and pristine brand spanking new right out of the can? As we all know, all good things must come to an end.......

After that and all the kids playing with it today the beautiful colors above have now been combined into a shade that, frankly, I don't even think exists on the color chart.  But, two hours of fun was had at the kitchen table turning play doh into pizza, pasta and all sorts of "food" type items.  So I let them squish colors all they wanted.... 

Say Hi to the Michelle and Helle at Paper Tales!!!  I finally got to meet Helle and she as sweet as can be..... 

Here's the table set for their A Muse A Palooza event........

And here is a sign for Helle's Vintage Collage Class......

She did this class last week but I believe she is doing it again on July 26th.  Check their blog for details and more classes.

I wanted to show you my newly reconfigured and reorganized desktop.  I totally rearranged it for maximum usage. Since the beginning, I set it up for how I "thought" I should use it.......instead of the way I "actually" use it.  I kept thinking that I would work farther down the desk towards the corner. And, with that mindset, I placed all my "working" tools down there.

But it never worked out that way.  I always plopped myself down towards the other end...nowhere near the supplies I needed....creating a huge mess of supplies that I would have to drag down near me.  Plus, all my stamps and inkpads were completely inaccessible. For instance, I would bring all my stamp pads down from the other end and just leave them on the table next to me when I was finished.  Now, I have them in a drawer next to me so I can put it away when I'm done resulting in less desktop clutter.  I worked half the day to get it to a usable & productive space.  I think achieved my goal.

 

I've been working on some different projects; and as you can see below my desk is gradually getting messier. But I feel I have more of a handle on it with my new system.

I have some more pictures of my new organized system. But I'm too tired to post any more......If you have any great organizing tips or pictures send them my way and I'll put them up on my next post.  I'm always looking for great ideas to use in my room.  Talk to you soon!  Karin

Learning something new everyday.........

 

How do you like my new banner? Yes, I know, it's no Bluhm Studio banner but it will have to do for now until I can weasel my way up her ever growing waiting list.  I'm sending candy and flowers to her today hoping I can get bumped up to maybe 45 or possibly 39 on the list.....we'll see.  

So, anyway, because I have nothing better to do as I watch four kids during the day, I decided to work on a new banner.  Let me backtrack a bit......the other night I figured out that I could change my theme around on my Etsy Cottage page....well, that turned into all sorts of time wasting fun....THEN in my pursuit of trying to do some sort of design thing on my lame "picture it" photo editor, I figured out how to mix pictures around.....So, that of course resulted in many more hours of time wasting which then produced my new banner. 

 

So in between pretending I'm some sort of digital designer extraordanaire, I managed to work on another page in my journal.  Actually I did about four pages but this is the only one I finished.  I actually did some writing on it.....

And then I added some words to the bottom of my first page......

What do I do with all the kids you ask while I'm fooling around with my art?  Well let me show you...........

I take the screen out of the kitchen window and turn it into a fast food drive thru.......keeps them entertained forever.......

Here's a complicated customer in his pajamas and underwear who is unsure of his choices holding up the entire line while he decides between chocolate milk and a juice box........

 

He finally decided on chocolate milk..........

The other secret.....three words......dirt patch, water, mud......well actually that's four.  But what it equals is ingredients for a secret potion that keeps them entertained endlessly.....well at least until I can get a journal page done.....

We're off to the playground today and to buy some playdough.....Talk to you soon!   Karin

It's Journal Madness......

 
Seriously......it is.    That's all I've been working on lately.  I'm so excited about my Summer Journal.  It's going better than I ever expected.  And I'm really not talking about the art I've been producing within in it. 

I'm mainly excited about the process. 

It's been this feeling of freedom to experiment with different techniques and experiments that normally I would be afraid to do....."wouldn't want to waste a perfectly good canvas now would I....nope...let's just play it safe..." 

 But between the prompts from Teresa and all the new things I've been learning with Corey's book (Raise your hand if you went out and bought it!) The other big thing is the promise that I made to myself to use my favorite vintage wallpaper........even if it means it's the only one I have.  It's been this incredible artistic growth spurt.  So, now the trick is to take what I've learned (and am still learning) from Corey and turn it into my own. 

Here are a few more pages that are a work in progress. 

Now, I know what you are thinking...."hmmmm, you say it's a journal. Yet, there is no journaling...."  The reason for that is I'm waiting until I'm ready to do it. For some reason, I'm not feeling the pull to actually write anything just yet. 

So I have a few hours to myself today as Papa and the boys are off to the Children's Museum and the playground.  I'm hoping to finish a few more pages and then clean my work table.  Because, once again, I've managed to work my way into a little teeny tiny space that only a mouse could work in. Even then, I think the mouse would complain.  Don't believe me?

Well, there you go..... Hope everyone had a great 4th of July and I will talk to you soon!   Karin

Hi Everyone!

You should have actually had this post in your sights last Monday.  However, after rambling on about being tired...blah, blah, blah...recovering from back to back vacations...blah, blah, blah...and posting a few pictures, my computer crashes.  I was just too tired to start over again until now.  And, because, if it wasn't enough, I have also started watching my best friend's kids for the summer.  They are both Carlos' age and they are really like cousins.  I've been too busy this week going to the playground and Seaworld, breaking up "who started what" & "he's being mean to me" arguments, making endless amounts of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and having Jengi Olympics to be able to catch up with everyone.

Here's a picture of Team Demark, Team Mexico and Team Animal posing with the precariously balanced Jengi tower minutes before Team Godzilla sent it crashing......

 

At which point the "Olymic Committee" *aka* Mom had to intevene and subdue the screams and shouts of ANDREEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!! Team Godzilla was banned from further Jengi competion.

I did have a few moment to work on another few pages of my Summer Journal.   The theme for these pages is Ode to Summer......

The pages are still a work in progress.  This page was really a challenge for me for some reason.  At first I loved the direction in which it was taking....then, I did some things to it that I didn't like. I then tried to fix it.  I' not sure how I feel about this page.  The July 24th is from a little vintage calendar page that was in one of the packs I got from Jen.  It's my wedding anniversary.....

Here's the next page......

hee, hee....like that vintage picture circa 1983?  That's me and my best friend at the lake (and, no, that's not a dead person floating in the water next to us......at least I think it isn't).  I used this picture because my grandparent's cottage holds so many great memories for me.  Lot's of summer fun was had there.  I'm really happy with this page so far.  It's still is a work in progress, but I'm going to try to work on it later today.

I also wanted to show you something I won over at Sarah's blog Joy for the Journey.......

It's this huge Nancy Drew journal....I just love it Sarah!  Thank you!!!

Ok, I am off to try to catch up on all my emails and everyone's blogs!  Talk to you soon!!!  Karin

I finally did it........

I finally started an Art Journal.  I have been talking about doing it for so long. Maybe not here....but I know I've been muttering it to myself for a while anyway.  I decided to sign up for Teresa's Write Time Write Place E-zine.   I knew I would do it if I signed up for the class.  Otherwise, it would be a long talked about pipe dream.  The first picture is the Title Page.  Once again Teresa stressed simplicity and less is more.....and once again,  I disregarded her sage advice and recklessly kept piling more on......but I like it.  And, most importantly, I had so much fun doing it.  "Careless abandon" fun. "Let me try this. What the Heck" fun. "Hmmmm wonder what would happen if I do that" fun.   The kind of fun that stretched me to step out of my carefully constructed comfort zone and stumble across some work within myself that I would have never otherwise discovered.

Now, if it looks like I'm channeling someone in my work....you're right.  It's this artist.......Corey Moortgat.  I had come across this book The Art of Personal Imagery  a while back and I finally purchased it.  I love it. Her work is so fabulous....her journals are so beautiful.  I am inspired by just holding this book. 

Between the journal class and this book, it's really pushing me to try new things and experiment with my style.  The page below is still a work in progress.  I need to add some journaling and maybe a few things here and there........

The next page is my favorite.  I had so much fun working on this one.......I'm really trying to be comfortable with the term "artist".  When do you know you're an artist? Or, more importantly, for me, when am I ready to call myself one?  I think that's what I'm going to explore with this journal........

In funny unrelated non art news....... Conversation between Carlos and his friend in the backseat of the van on the way home from school:

Carlos:  Mommy....me and Christian decided that we weren't going to fight any more about things and we weren't going to yell at each other that way we can be better friends.

Me: Wow...I'm pretty impressed with you two. (thinking to myself: The West Bank has a better chance of peace treaty than these two)

Carlos: Yeah we made an agreement.  Right, Christian.

Christian: Whaaat.  What. No, I didn't.....

Carlos: (voice rising) Christian!  Yes we did!! We're not going to yell!!  (he said....yelling)

Christian: (yelling)  Carloooos! I'm just saying I didn't agree!!! I'll do it.....but I didn't agree!!!!

Carlos: Mooooommmmyyyy!!!! He's not agreeing!!!!

Christian: (very loudly) Yes I am!!!!

Carlos:  Ok!  Then let's shake on it. (they do very intricate and complicated handshake that apparently prohibits them from yelling at each other ever again.....)

Carlos: Isn't that a great idea we came up with mommy? 

Me: Yes, honey.......(I give it another 5 minutes....handshake or no handshake) 

   

Ok.....I'm back........

As much I would love to do a tirade on how this is all Typepad's fault, and, if only they had babysitting and home chef services, none of this would have ever happened,  I really can't.  Because,frankly, I don't think it's their fault.  I'm pretty sure it had something to do with my windows program.  Just as I was downloading my last picture, I received this huge warning/error pop up box.  My heart stopped for a second as a realized I hadn't saved anything in the draft mode. So, I immediately clicked "save as draft" hoping to beat out the error report.  My screen went straight to home page of my typepad.  I clicked on the "list post" button, sure  that it would be waiting there for me to finish the last picture download and then head out to Target.  It wasn't there. Damn.  My next suggestion to Typepad, after an on-site, on-call childcare for bloggers, is a auto save mode.  I'll bet Denise Richards never had to deal with this.......

 

So, now armed with an attitude adjustment, cup of coffee and and a deep breath I will try to write this before I have to go pick up Carlos from school.  The title of my last post was "Hmmmmmm......I could have sworn she had kids....."    The reason for that title is because once you see all the projects that I, not only have been working on, but actually completed, you will wonder to yourself if you had somehow remembered wrong.  "How," you will ask yourself, "could she possibly do all of this with two kids?  Maybe they are her neighbor's children? Did she put them up for adoption?"   

Nope.....I managed to do it all by ignoring them for a day.  Oh, don't worry. They were kept very happy with endless Thomas the Train videos, snacks on demand and extra computer time.  I even let Carlos make himself a "crazy hamburger sandwich of which marshmallows was an ingredient. (don't ask).  Grandma was here to answer any questions after they got sick of hearing "just a minute" and "hold on" from mommy.  I was on that kind of creative roll.  Of course, there is always a price to pay in the end though.  I went to bed with the songs "Boo Boo Choo....Don't be afraid of the Dark, and, Oh, It's Great to be an Engine You Know...Yes, It's Great to be an Engine Ho Ho...." bouncing around in in my brain like a buzzsaw.  However, I do have to say I have a better appreciation for Sir Tompam Hat and all the problems he has with those troublesome trucks. He was actually looking a little attractive to me. Then I remembered he was married to Lady Hat and knew she could take me down like that in a second.........   

  

But, overall, the day was so productive.  Not only did I start projects....but I completed them too.  Which is very rare event in my little creative world.  Typically, I start about 10 different project......can't make a decision on the direction of any of them.......contemplate starting something new....and, by the time I finally get back to them I'm sick of it and move on......does that ever happen to you?  Well it happens to me all the time.  But yesterday for some reason, I was into not only creating....but completing.  I finished the tray pictured above and went on a mosaic kick finishing two little notebooks for my Etsy shop, while starting (and almost completing) some more, along with a couple boxes.  I love this paper mosaic project.  I learned it from Teresa McFayden in one of here e-zine classes and have been hooked on it ever since.

 

Here's another book in progress as well as my slowly diminishing work space.  I even measured it out for you........ 6" x 11".  It's totally ridiculous.  But it happens everytime.  It's like that movie where the person is trapped in a room and then the walls start moving in.  Just like that.....except instead of walls....it's craft and art supplies.  It's as if the ribbons and paper crawl out of their boxes and start descending on me and my space.......   

So in the wake of my creative mode, I worked on another "Cake".....Vanilla Cream this time........

I love that cream on white wall paper.  I got it in a wallpaper pack from Jen Duncan......LOVE it.  As a matter of fact I think I need to go get some more........

 

Here's another shot of my lovely desk.......

So I had to share this picture with you.............

Just to show you that when I'm not ignoring my children to fit in some creative time, I am totally indulging them.  Little did you know, that after bath time over here our house transforms into La Chaos Day Spa.   Once the CEO gets out of the bath, I have to "wrap" him in towels and blankets after which he lays on the bed for about five minutes.....when he's ready he gives me a call and he gets dressed in his jammies.  Although there have been a couple times he has just fallen asleep, for the most part he just needs some "alone time" to ponder life and trains.......

Talk to you soon!  Karin

Typepad.....Etsy........and Bad Reality TV........

 

It appears that Typepad and I are mending broken fences.   Look at the flowers they sent me to say "We're sorry for wasting so much of your time yesterday.....We'll never do it again..." .....Just kidding.....the flowers are from my garden. Not to mention, I don't even think they know we're arguing.  But, I know they're apologizing in their own way.  Although, of all the changes they did, one has to wonder why "providing on-site childcare while blogging" wasn't one of them.  I mean really, would it be so difficult to dispatch babysitters to your customers while they write their posts and download pictures?  It would really make a difference in the number of posts I write. Just a thought.   Hopefully, it will be top of the list in the next batch of upgrades......

I also decided that since it's the first day of June (yes. I know technically it's the second. But I'm counting it as the first since it's a Monday) that I am going to try to do an "Etsy a Day" event for myself. I'm going to have banners, balloons, candy for the kids and a wacky Master of Ceromonies to help me attempt to put at least one thing a day on Etsy.  That seems manageble....for me.....I hope.  Of course, I will be facing some obstacles such as going out of town for a few days for my niece's graduation and the upcoming visit from my other sister and niece and watching my dvr'd Judge Judy episodes.  But I'm going to try my best.

So far these are the two hearts I will put up later today........

And this little "cupcake". It says "Love and Friendship".......

As you can see I have a bunch that were baking in the Chaos Cupcake factory that didn't quite make it to the fun little basket promo........

Also here a few more pages of my "Inspiration" book.  The batteries ran out on my camera so I wasn't able to reshoot these.  I don't like the way they turned out. But hopefully you can get the idea........

So of course, if you've been reading my blog you know I love me my reality tv.  I try to stay within the major leagues of reality such as Amazing Race, Top Chef and my all time favorite hands down Project Runway.  And, yes, I have been known to peruse the dark dingy alleys of reality with Coast to Coast Real Housewives of Orange and New York for a good snark and a laugh...... I have fully admitted it's my meth of tv watching.   HOWEVER, there is a limit, even for me, as to what I will endure.  And for me to say that.....well, you know it's got to be bad.   When I was sick, I was watching some shows and flitting around the channels when I came across Denise Richard's show.  Which just begs the question.....why?   As in, why don't I have my own reality show? As in, why don't they just come in and film me with my glue gun pasting pom pom fringe and glitter on a box. As in, watching me make dinner and do laundry would be far more exciting than that drivel..... I just don't get it. 

And, the other thing I don't get is..... exactly where is the "complicated" part of "It's Complicated."  Genocide in Darfur...... is complicated.   The folks on Top Chef making an appetizer out of goat cheese, pickles and a twinkie...... is complicated.   Trying to get my two boys to play nicely for an hour while I type a post, go to the bathroom in peace and try to finish a craft project....is very complicated.   But, your life with a nanny, two assistants and loads of money from a semi-marginal "acting" career is not complicated.....it's Hollywood.   Thank goodness I'm feeling better. Now, I can get back to vintage wallpaper, flowers and the "So you think you can dance" premiere.....Have you seen the amazing dancers on that show?   Leaping across the room while twirling, smiling and landing gracefully....now that's complicated! 

Show & Tell Sunday..........Studio Storage......

Ok....deep breath.....Just to let you know, this is the third time I am writing this post.  Everytime I got my photos loaded, the whole thing just shut down and I lost the entire post.  Ironically, in the previous posts,  I wrote how I didn't have time to post a new and original post, blah, blah, blah. Because now that I'm feeling healthy blah, blah, blah, I've been too busy catching up on stuff, blah, blah, blah.  But, apparently, I have the time to rewrite this  %^$&#@ stupid post three times in the course of an hour.  I also wrote how typepad and I are in a huge fight.......even though they aren't aware of it.  Well, after this, they just poured fuel on the flames of our discourse......the discourse of which they have no clue.  But, discourse nonetheless.....    

Anyway, the always wonderful Analise over at Sugar*Sugar and Cerri at Little Pink Studio(yay!! I can link again!!!) is having a Show and Tell about our Studio Storage. I haven't been able to participate yet.   So, even though some of you may have seen these picture, at least I can participate this week........ 

Here is my some of my ribbon storage.......

And my Glitter Station........

Some more ribbon storage.........

 

A picture of my work space. Which, of course, looks like this at any given time day or night........

Some flower storage..........

Close up of ribbons........

More flowers.....I have a lot of them.......

All right....a much more realistic shot of my work space.......

OH, ALL RIGHT, ALREADY..... this is what it always looks like........ two minutes after I clean it up......it's hopeless...... 

 

I hope you enjoyed the little tour!  Talk to you soon!  Karin