Creative Chaos

Some people are really tired......

 

Last evening, I was cleaning the kitchen while Carlos was playing with his Lego's and Andre's was watching a Thomas the Train video.   This is what I found in the living room 10 minutes after I put the video on.   He had a really busy day. I don't know if you can tell, but his feet aren't even touching the floor.  He was out like a light by 7:20pm.  I had high hopes for an early bedtime for Carlos....like maybe 10 minutes after that. Unfortunately the evening didn't come to a close until closer to 9:00pm.  And then it was peppered with phrases like "I'm just a little boy who believes in monsters." "You have to believe me mommy. There is something under my bed." and, the ever popular "It's just that I love you so much I want to be with you all the time."  The bedtime debate was finally shut down at 9:15.   

Here are a couple tags I did while watching my dvr'd Judge Judy's.  Which by the way, if I could play the FUNNIEST one I have seen yet, I would for you.  OMG.....Let just say it involved all the usual suspects.....unpaid child support, illegitimate children, a big fight, and a one night stand (surprisingly no unpaid cell phone bills in this one)  But, the funniest part came at the end when they were doing their after the case interview in the hall......They closed the whole ridiculous case with the  phrases "when I stepped out of my trailer", "traveling with the fair" and "she was so drunk"  Omgosh....you can't make this stuff up!     Anyway here are some of my new tags.......

Now see those little pink flowers on the top picture at the bottom of the tag?  Can someone please, please tell me where I can get more of those.....I got them when I ordered something a while back and would love to have more.  Thanks!!  Talk to you soon!

Bag O' Tags are on their way........

Woo hoo....I'm on a roll......I can't stop making tags.  Here are the ones out the door......

And here are some more I made......

Can you tell that I just bought one of those new scalloped square punches.  I am punching everything I can get my hands on now.....

Is this not the cutest picture!  They both fell asleep on the couch this way last weekend.  Carlos said he was planning on staying up all night long because it was Friday night.   The picture was taken at 9:15 pm.  So much for all nighters....and yes that is a banana peel on the ottaman.....

I made this little notebook for myself ......

I did this collage for my sister.  She just went back to school to get her degree.....I thought this might be perfect for her.......  As an aside, I just LOVE that picture of the baby on the table. Isn't it the cutest!  I found it through Flickr from a man who collects vintage images.  I emailed him to see if I could use it in my work and he was kind enough to let me use it as much as I like...... Plan on seeing it more!

Now I know that I was going to plan something big for my hundredth post.  But, I decided to wait until my one year anniversary which is in November.  Don't know what I'm going to do but it's going to be BIG!!! Big I tell you!!! hee hee..... or, at least a good giveaway of some sorts.  So stay tuned!!  Talk to you soon!  Karin 

Finally! Some new items!

But first, I would like to thank everyone who made these Etsy items possible........

First on the list is Bob the Builder and his crew for flawlessly "working together", as well as, their never ending commitment "to get the job done."  Do we really need to ask Bob if "he can build it?"  I think not.....

Second is Thomas the Train.  I would like to give a big shout out to Sir Topam Hat for keeping all trains on task and helping Thomas to avoid the inevitable "chaos and confusion" on the Island of Sodor.......particularly, when the Opera singer came into town and Thomas dropped the tuba player off at the wrong station........it could have gotten really ugly......

And, Thirdly to whomever invented highlighter pens. They saved me in the 11th hour.  I thank you.

New at the shop......

 

Don't hate me because I have a glitter station.....

That's right.   I made myself a little glitter station where I can glitter anything on a moment's notice.  I can now literally wake up in the middle of the night and glitter an object in my sleep if I wanted. I can glitter while talking on the phone.  I can glitter instead of washing dishes....If someone comes running into my house with an immediate need to glitter something....I've got them covered!   ahhhh...I love life.   Anyway, here's a picture of my new area.   

I got this idea a long time ago from a picture I saw of Wendy Addison's studio where she had this huge vat of glitter.  So, what I did was scaled it down to a little dish....and..... Viola!  A glitter station of my very own.  It's perfect because I don't have to fool with having to put the glitter back in it's container and the inevitable major clean up.  No fuss....No muss.  Well...a little fuss and muss if I use a different color.  But I have a feeling you will be seeing A LOT of white glitter in my work from now on!

So this is my 99th post.....99th!!!!! I was thinking of all these fun things to do for my hundredth post......Like......Inviting everyone over to my house for a big barbeque party.  However, I think logistically that would be a nightmare......So I will keep thinking of something fun!

Here's a few things I've been working on.....

This is a crown for a friend's daughter.  I am really happy with how it turned out.   Can I just say how much I love Karen Russell's Narrative collection! I LOVE it!  I used it for the base of the crown.  I also have a bunch more that I am just itching to use.

Here's another one that I made for my neighbors daughter using just Tres Jolie.  I feel like I cheated doing this one. How much easier can it get using all Tres Jolie designs. But, I really wanted to put it together quick and easy without too much thinking on my part.....It practically put itself together.  Not one of my favorites. But it will work.

Here's one in progress..... I'm liking where this is going.....

Where it will eventually go...I have no idea. But so far so good.

In progress tags that will eventually find there way to Etsy one day......

Oh....I also wanted to show you some before and after pictures of my studio.  Except when I went back to look at them and pick out the pictures, I couldn't tell the difference between the two.  My "after" wasn't so "after" afterall.   Here's a couple pics.....

BEFORE

AFTER

Now I know exactly what you're thinking......"Karin. We see absolutely no difference between the "before" and "after".   I know.  But, there are differences.  You just need to look closely.  It's a bit like playing "Where's Waldo".  They're there.  They're subtle....but they are there.  The biggest being that you can actually see portions of the surface of the desk.  That's a huge one.   The funny thing is, if I were to take a photo of my "now" desk it would look exactly like my "before" picture.  Why I waste my time I have no idea......other than I have to find hidden things like my scissors and glue......

Well that's it for now.  I'll talk to you soon! Karin

Looks like it's going to be a good month!

So I'm reading through this magazine that was delivered to me by accident.  I never ordered it. But for some reason it thinks I subscribe to it.  It's called "All You".  It was pretty standard fare with the usual recipes, helpful hints and 100 ways to be organized in a disorganized world, until I came across my horoscope.  I have to say I was a bit intrigued by it.   Sounds pretty good doesn't it?  I'm actually counting the days until October.  I'm really hoping it speakth the truth.  Because if it does, it looks like October is going to be one bang up month.  Maybe I was joking about the yacht and Chanel sunglasses......and, yet there I am in October, sipping appletini's, getting a massage on deck and having my "boat boy" named Sven write my posts for me.........stranger things have happened...... 

But, it also got me thinking about horoscopes in general.  Like, how you really never see any that veer off the path of being positive.  Of course, they all differ based on the demographics of the magazine (for instance, I'm STILL waiting for that dark sexy mystery man in the produce section of my grocery store with whom I am supposed to share a sexy interlude...... based on the reading of my niece's Cosmopolitan magazine back in May ....waiting....waiting....waiting patiently every week in the lettuce section)  Anyway, it's not like you ever read anything like "your life is going to suck this month. Don't even bother getting out of bed."  or, something to the effect of "You may want to reconsider crossing any bridges or walking across busy intersections on the 4th through the 27th."    So, I am hesitant to take great stock in my awesome horoscope as it stands.  But, then again, it did say pessimism is my downfall. And to be technical it called it my "insidious attitude". Which frankly is veering a bit on the rude side....... So who knows......I'm going to try very hard to stay positive and see what great things await me in October!  Appletini anyone? 

Oh.....and after this post I only have two more posts until my hundredth post.  I was hoping that it would coordinate with my One Year Blogiversery.  But that would mean I need to stretch 2 posts out over the next three months......and I have just way to much to say to contain myself to just 2 posts.  So I am thinking of something fun to do.  So stay tuned and I will let you know!  Talk to you soon!

Where did Karin go.........

She was:

a)  Lounging on her couch catching up on 2 weeks worth of dvr'd Judge Judy reruns and Top Chef......

b)  Dealing with a ripped apart bathroom and broken refrigerator......

c)  Entertaining one of her favorite Aunt's who was here on vacation from Michigan for a week......

e)  Sweltering in a San Diego heatwave....

d)  Frantically running around getting supplies, uniforms and new shoes for Carlos for the start of school..... 

e)  Spending time with good friends visiting from out of town......

f)  Spending time on her luxury yacht sipping appletini's and perusing through Vogue occasionally peering over her Chanel sunglasses and barking orders to the nanny to make sure the little charges were having a fun, yet, educational time of their lives while waiting for the onboard chef to make her a scrumptious healthy lunch.....

g) All of the above....

And the correct answer is....... g) All of the above. (except "f"....HEY, a girl can dream!!!!)  I can't believe it has been two weeks since my last post.   And what a two weeks it has been, might I add.  It all started with the simple request of my husband to put some caulk around the tub and shower.  I wanted to spruce things up a bit for my aunt who was going to be visiting.  Well, have you ever ever read the children's book "if you give a mouse a cookie...he'll want a glass of milk"?   It was a very similar tale over here.  Except it was titled....."If you ask a husband to caulk the tub two days before your aunt comes into town.....he'll want to tear the whole thing down."  Expect it to hit the book stores late fall.  It's a real nail biter.

Anyway.  As that was going on I noticed that our refrigerator was not as cold as it should be.  I chalked it up to the heatwave we had thinking that the refrigerator was having to work too hard.  Of course, I had just gone grocery shopping and most of my meats and such were lost causes.  On the bright side we managed to get someone out here....ON Labor Day....and repair it for $160.00.  Which is much cheaper than the new refrigerator we were anticipating having to buy.

On the crafty side of life, I have been plugging along making some new things to put in my poor little neglected Etsy shop.  These two birthday tags are some of the new designs I came up with.   I'll be back with some more pictures of the other stuff I'm working on.....Talk to you soon!