Creative Chaos

Up and Down....Up and Down....

First before I explain the title to my post........

 

I have to show you what I won over at Natalea's blog at Kandeland.   Don't you just love it?!??  I adore this little book.  It has all sorts of vintage paper inside and is just the perfect size.  I'm not sure what I'm going to put in it yet.  In the meantime, I have it out just to look at it.

Ok, the title.......what I mean by it, is I was/am sick again.  Arrrrgggggg.  I feel as though I need to rename my blog to "Creative Sickness."     It's insane.   Just when I was feeling better last week I woke up with a sore throat AGAIN on Wednesday and then spent the entire day in bed  (and I mean entire...I didn't get out of bed until 5:30pm) on Saturday.  I think I have been sick more times in this year than I have the last five years combined.  Anyway, I don't want to give this sickness anymore attention than it deserves. Kinda like when I ignore a tantrum from my toddler and just hope it goes away.....

So prior to getting s-i-c-k last week, this is what I was working on for a bridal basket for CSST.......

 

 

It's a little "cupcake" for the bride to give as gifts or use as favors.  Here they are all prepped for decoration.....

They turned out super cute (well, at least I think so...)  but took way too long to make.  The time issue was with the painting of the boxes.  I had to put 2 coats of gesso and then another two coats of paint inside and out just to cover the paper mache.  I really need white little paper mache boxes otherwise this project is not very time efficient.  I just hate when you can see a sloppy paint job over the paper mache.  But, by the 4th coat I was caring less and less about this little pet peeve of mine.  In the end it doesn't even matter.  Because I got too sick to complete the last remaining ones and wasn't able to send it in time.  So I think you may be seeing these in my Etsy Shop. 

The other thing I've been working on post first s-i-c-k-n-e-s-s and prior second s-i-c-k-n-e-s-s, is my "Inspiration Book".........

 

 

I made this a long time ago.  Actually, it was on of the first things I created and posted on my blog.  The quote was  very relevant to me at the time.  I thought I would keep all my magazine pictures and such in it.   Of course, I have just been tossing the pages in the book until a good time presented itself to me to sit down and paste them in. And apparently that time was a year and a half later.  Of course, what I should have done is just cut and paste....cut and paste.....then I would have an entire completed book to show you.  But no.  I had to get snazzy and put decorative paper beneath and place each picture so. 

 

 

Once again, I turn a seemingly simple project into a complicated art piece.   After the first few page, I thought what the heck am I doing?!?  This is going to take me forever!  But then I realized that this was turning into the journal I've been wanting to do.....an inspiration journal that can be more than just pictures on a page.  It turned into an art exercise that will be perfect to do when I'm craving some crafting time, but don't have enough time to craft.   And, it's also a great way to use a ton of paper I have that really needs to be used but I'm not really into anymore.....Know what I mean?   That paper that was so awesome that you HAD to have it but have since bought 20 more styles of paper and have moved on artistically? Yeah, that paper.......

 

 

 

I have more pages done but for some reason don't have pictures of them.  I will show you in my next post.

I also got to go to Paper Tales last Thursday just before I collapsed into my bed.   Hopefully, I didn't get them all sick.......Anyway, I loaded up on some great goodies while the CEO of Tomfoolery was purchasing an elephant stamp.  Apparently, he taught a stamp class this weekend.......

From what I understand, you take an elephant stamp and stamp it on a piece of paper.......That's it. 

The class lasted approximately 10 minutes.

Rumor has it only one dragon showed up to his class.........

But he said he had a good time and learned quite a bit about stamping.......

He said via a comment card that he would come back again only if a "medieval" theme was available.......They got together after the class for chocolate milk and goldfish crackers........

Talk to you soon! Karin

Ok...now I'm getting mad.  I can't get out of the highlighted spell check to put my links in..... not to mention fix my pictures and text......arrrggg

Update:  I have no idea why the picture is covering the text.  My words are still highlighted from the spell check no matter how many times I close the program and my link button still doesn't work.  ARRRRRGGGGG

Oh boy.......Changes

This already scares me.  I see a dashboard of new buttons in front of me on my Typepad blog.   Michelle has already warned me and I've heard the complaints from others...we'll see how it goes tomorrow.......I just figured out how to do Google Reader and now this......... I really dont like change. Although, I am having fun with the new font size option and colors.  We'll see. I remain wary until I do my first official post.  See you tomorrow.....

Like Son......Like Mother........

Birthday Fun ..........click on this link to see all the links to the photos! 

I did this fun little mosaic because pictured below is what I received on my birthday  from the always nice, always fun folks at Kaiser Permanente on Friday evening..........

So on my birthday, I ended up with the same exact thing Carlos had last week on his birthday.......except mine turned into an infection.

So instead of eating at one of my favorite restaurants........

 

Which, by the way, is soooo good.  If you live in San Diego, you have to check it out.  We went there when my sister and niece were in town and now I'm in love....

Anyway, we drove the minivan past Urban Solace, while I longingly remininisced about memories of the best spinach salad ever, and ended up at after-hours care in the Kaiser waiting room.  I should have predicted the situation as soon as I felt my throat starting its descent into painful swallowing at the beginning of the week.  And, really, I have no one to blame but myself as I ran around like a maniac finishing teacher appreciation crowns, doing an all day field trip to the zoo on Thursday and an ice cream party for Carlos Friday after school (the one that should have happened last Friday, but was cancelled due to his sore throat). It would have, seriously, been more stressful trying to cancel a party that I just rescheduled 3 days ago after cancelling it three days prior to that.   

Oh well, that's the way the birthday cake crumbles....... No big deal, really, as I am no longer proceeding forward with my age.  I have decided to stop right here and now and not get any older.  Oh, don't misunderstand me.....I will eat cake and ice cream every year....... But no more getting older......I've had enough of it....

I did manage to finish the one cake I was working on earlier in the week for the Silent Auction.   I really like how it turned out and think I'm going to do another one for Etsy.  I think I can also personalize it with an initial. The crown below is another one I finished just in time for the teachers.......

 

 

Some fun at the zoo before things started to go downhill.......The funny thing is I got about 11 solid hours of sleep the night before in preparation for the trip.  I even lined up one of the other parents to take home the other child that I drove in case I couldn't make it the whole day.   My mom brought Andres and met up with me and Carlos.  Although my throat was hurting, I had so much rest the night before that I felt pretty good.....so good, in fact, that we stayed longer than everyone else.  We didn't leave until almost 4:00 pm.   I collapsed in bed around 7:00 pm. 

Here's some pictures....we had so much fun....

So beyond excited to see the elephants......it's his favorite animal right now and was so thrilled to see them so close.....

I could watch these guys all day long......That's it for now.....Talk to you soon!  Karin

The Good....The Bad....and The Ugly.......

Let's start with the ugly........I just spent the last 20 minutes trying to kill a fly.  It has been buzzing (very louding I might add) around here all morning and then vanishing into thin air just long enough for me to start this post in peace and then pop back out to taunt me.  I finally got the rolled up newspaper and went to war with it.    I managed to swat the vermin just enough to injure it (and take down my folder of ledger paper in the process) and render it in a loud buzzing, partially comatose state where it landed between the blinds and the desk.

I had to crawl under the desk and wedge myself beween the back portion and the window while trying to reach it with the newspaper.  Somehow, like a little "Houdini Fly", it found a way to escape and buzz it's way into the kitchen and beyond where I haven't seen it since........Let's just keep it that way.  Apparently, it senses with it's little fly brain that I mean business and if it has any smarts at all, it will not show it's little winged body back here again.......

Now on with the bad....

Remember when it was your birthday and it was the one day you were so excited to go to school (that and field trip days).  But then tragedy struck and the worse thing possible happened.....you got sick.  Well, unfortunately, that happened over at the Chaos househould on Friday.  Cosme picked Carlos up after school on Thursday afternoon and took him bike riding.  Upon returning home, Carlos looked like he just completed the third leg of the Ironman Challenge.  I asked him if he was alright and he said "Yes, of course!"  Then, about 10 minutes later when he was lying on the couch staring at a tv that was tuned off (which was when I immediately knew he was sick) he added "my throat hurts when I swallow."   Uh oh.......It just got worse from there resulting in a (as Carlos like to say) "rough night" and the decision to "keep him home" morning.  Luckily, he seemed to be ok on Friday with the sore throat but no longer a fever so I let him play on the computer during the day in between resting on the couch.

 

He kept his crown on the whole day.....too cute.  Do you see that card with the robot on it?  When you open it, it plays Mr. Roboto (the song by Styx) Anyway, he LOVES that song.  He would keep opening it and letting it play while playing on the computer.   Finally, on my absolute last nerve (but with a smile because it was his birthday), I promised him we would download the song from iTunes if he wouldn't play the card anymore.  Luckily, and thankfully, for my sanity, he obliged.

Here are the little favors for the class that sat around all weekend......Thank goodness I didn't make cupcakes.......

Super fun...Super Easy!  I just took little take out containers from Michael's, filled them with treats and topped then with party favors and ribbons from Target.  Simple as that.   You could also put cute little name tags on them and go way over the top decorating them....but I didn't have the time.  nonetheless, the kids loved them.

Luckily all was well by Saturday evening when he opened a couple more gifts and we went out to dinner at his current favorite restaurant...Islands......

Where Andres colored away.......

where Carlos got to have a sundae for his birthday in addition to the shake he had with dinner.....

And, where mommy had the "Lava Rush".......

Just wanted to get an early start on what I like to lovingly refer to from here on out as "Mommapalooza Day 2008"......the "Good" part of this post.......

The morning started by sleeping in until 8:30 while breakfast was being picked up from "The Original Pancake House".  My morning meal was then served in a spotless kitchen with the sound of laundry being done in the next room.  While I lingered over coffee and the morning paper, kids were quickly, dressed, packed up and taken away by the same husband who fed me the delicious strawberry & cream waffles.

   

As I lovingly waved to happy children who were escorted out the door by a Papa who promised to be gone as long as he could, I couldn't contain my excitement anymore.........I closed the door at 10:00 am and looked ahead to an entire day by myself.....in my pajamas.....fueled by coffee, leftover banana pancakes and the sheer adreneline of knowing the whole day was mine to craft as I chose.  I turned on my cable radio and skipped between my two favorite stations....."the 70's" and "Old School Rap."   Because nothing says crafting better in the Chaos world than alternating between "Staying Alive" by The Bee Gees and "Bring on the Noise" by NWA......Seriously, I was in heaven.  And when I'm in "Crafting Heaven" this is what happens........

A bevy of crowns for "Teacher Appreciation Week"......

A cake still baking.......

one already baked for Carlos' teacher for her birthday......

Went from the "studio" to the kitchen table which was set up with the sewing machine so I could fulfill the seamstress in me......

Then I turned into a jewelry designer to make all sorts of baubles for our school's silent auction............

 

 

Phew.....Ok.....gotta run and get Carlos from school....but I'll be back with more....Karin

The Trifecta Day.......

And it's not even my birthday or Mother's Day yet.   I had a massage this morning.....strolled over to the neighboring Starbucks for my favorite Chai Tea Latte.....then drove approximately 1/2 a mile to Beverly's Fabric & Craft store where I used my 40% off coupon (although I'm still trying to figure out how 40% off of a $20.00 pair of scissors comes to $42.00.  Hmmmmmmmm.  And it happens to me everytime.) 

So in my calm and relaxed state of mind, I finally figured out how to do this:

My First Mosiac of Favorites
Originally uploaded by creative chaos

I'm so excited.  I felt like I had to infiltrate the 4th secure level of the top secret Flickr vault to finally figure this out.   Yes.....I know.  Everyone and their 5 year old is doing it nowadays.  However, I could not for the life of me see on the flickr site where you made the mosaic.  At first, I thought it was only offered to the pro accounts.  Once I became a "pro" I still couldn't find it.  Eventually discovered it's on a totally separate website.  Well, well, well......once I hit that site there sat a plethora of fun incredibly time wasting things for me to do.   There is this magazine cover maker thingy.....omg.....I'm heading right back over there to make one.  I can't wait.   The boys are on their own tonight for dinner.......again.  Talk to you later!   Karin

Oh for the love of typeface.......this is my 4th attempt to get the font size to go to the normal size.....I've got a magazine cover to do and have no time for this nonsense.......

Seriously, I don't know why you people put up with me......

Need a reason?  How about the fact that I haven't sent out the gift tags for the Spring into Action Giveaway..... I sent the earrings last week.  I just got an email from Natalie at Kandeland telling me that I won a giveaway over there. She was right on top of everything......gift was wrapped and ready to go.....postage was paid.....she was practically at my door handing it to me personally.....this was all within minutes of my saying "WOW!  I won!"    All the while, I have gift tags under various piles of papers just begging me to just send them out the door to their intended owners..... I'm so lame..... I made all the tags.......  And, then, they promptly got lost under a pile of stuff during the past month of my crazy crafting days.   Don't believe me?  Well, I present to you, Exhibit A:   

Have you ever run into a situation where you accumulated so much crafting materials around you that you effectively cut yourself off from your craft table?   Need a ribbon hanging on the wall in the back?  Tough luck.... it's in exile.  Need a paint brush?  Too bad....no way to get there.  AND, even if I could get to the table, it's not like I can work on it.  Do you see more than 2 inches of space?  No.  So, guess who's going to be spending the next 2 days cleaning......then I get to do the fun "Look at my cool craft space" post.  But, it's not all just for looks.  I have four crowns to do for Teacher Appreciation Week, a Lego Crown to do for Carlo's "real" Birthday Day, a bunch of jewelry and art piece for our school's Silent Auction, and I would really love to get some items in my Etsy shop.  So it's mandatory cleaning time. 

On to bigger and and much tidier things.........

As much as I would love tell you that this is my "after" shot of my nice new clean studio.....I can't.   But, it is the next best thing.....It's A NEW Scrapbook Boutique in my neck of the woods.  For the love of paper and glitter, someone pinch me and tell me this isn't just a dream.   I was in complete heaven today wandering the aisles of this fabulous new store that is run by Michelle White and Helle Greer called PaperTales.   I heard about it while blog hopping (it's kind of like bar hopping but with out the hang-over and regrets)  Anyway, I went from Joy's blog to Michelle's blog and almost had a heart attack when I saw that they were opening the new store on May 1st.  I thought maybe I could camp out in front of the store the week before they opened.....you know,  just to stare at all the new merchandise coming in and to guarantee the first spot on opening day.  But, then I thought....maybe I might scare them a bit and get arrested for loitering.... so I decided to just hang back and play it cool.  Although, I'm not sure if Michelle was put off by my screams of excitement when I walked through the door, she didn't show it as she walked me around the store while pointing out all the amazing lines they carried.  She is so sweet and so nice.......and we had so much fun talking about blogs and craft and how this crazy crafty world of ours is brought closer by cyberspace. 

I managed to remember my camera so I have a bunch of great pics....Take a look for yourself.....

 

 

Now, of course, you have to understand that I HAD to bring the "CEO of Tomfoolery" of Chaos Industries with me to this event.  As you can see, he immediately made himself at home.........

Whereby, making the immediate decision (based on a Hot Wheels coloring book, crayons, a kalidescope and child-size table and chairs) that we were moving the Chaos Headquarters to PaperTales. 

I told him it wasn't practical and I hardly thought that they would allow Thomas the Train decor alongside the Glittered Chipboard.  But, he insisted, and told me to draft the contract........And then, of course, just as I had Michelle convinced that Bob the Builder is the next new thing to hit the Scrap Industry, I turn around, and what do I find......him lounging on the couch with grandma.....

 

That's it.......

I'm asking for a raise!   And trust me........ I'm going to need it for all my trips to my newfound Scrap Boutique.  This is what I ended up getting.......

So, if you are in the San Diego area, this is going to be the place to be!  Now as much as I want to dig into my new paper, I have a Lego Crown that is awaiting my attention......Talk to you soon!!  Karin 

 

I present to you..........

Homemade Buttercream Frosting.......

plus poundcake from Costco.......

plus marshmallows .........

plus some food coloring......

Equals............

A LEGO BIRTHDAY CAKE!

and

One Happy Lego Crazy Kid......

Too funny about these cakes....I thought about how I was going to construct these cakes for days.  I finally came up with the poundcake/marshmallow combo.  Of course I took full credit for the design all day Saturday for all who asked about the cake....once again thinking I'm so beyond genius there isn't even a word for it.   Then today before I wrote this post I came up with the bright idea to Google "Lego Birthday Cake".....and VIOLA!  Look what I found..... A Lego CakeTutorial.   Not only can't I take credit for it.....but they look way better than mine!  Oh well.......Carlos loved them and that's all that matters!   

Now we're off to celebrate my Husband's Birthday tonight.......which happens to be the same day as Cinco de Mayo!   Talk to you later!  Karin

Well........I'm still here.......

Apparently, People Magazine does not subscribe to the same definition of genius that I do.  Whatever.   I didn't want to have to get a new driver's license picture anyway.  If they can't appreciate the conditions under which I work  (for example, the micromanagement I have to put up with from the boss of Chaos Industries........as you can see below, he falls asleep on my arm right in the middle of my trying to complete a project on a very tight deadline.)

then I will just have to move on with my fallback plan...... which is basically just doing the same exact thing I've been doing for the past year....just kvetching on my blog.   Plus, my sister and niece came in to town from Michigan this week and I would have missed out on all the fun.

In the meantime, while awaiting my my plane tickets from New York, I've been "baking" up a few more cakes. I present to you "Lemon Chiffon Cake"..........

And just because I like to keep it real around here at the Chaos blog.......Here is a picture of the "dark side" of the cake.  There were a few minor glitches.........

 

 

Off to lead my exciting life......I'm going to Costco to get ready for Carlos' birthday party tomorrow.  I'm still trying to figure out how to make a Lego cake.....will the excitement ever end...... Talk to you soon!