Creative Chaos

It's been a non stop tour.......

This is what I've been doing since my sister and niece arrived last Thursday........San Diego Fair.....swimming at my friend's house....Sea World - twice....hitting the beach......and last but not least........

 

Heading out to Legoland today....See you later!   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) 

   

Where to begin........

Phew....... I'm back.  First things first.  So excited to tell you that I was right on target with my prediction.   Heather was not a "Jed"....... not even close.  The minute I met her it was like meeting up with an old friend.  We met up at a Chuck E Cheese so the kids wouldn't be bored out of their minds while giving us a chance to chat.   We threw some pizza and tokens at them and then let them loose....Carlos and Hannah sped off to play Jungle Rama and the helicopter ride while Andres was content to talk on the Chuck E. phone making all sorts of demands on upgrades to the restaurant and the eventual removal of the scary rat statue.   So, in between the dispensing of tokens, buying cotton candy, and rescuing little people out of jungle gym tubes that were not meant for 40 year-old bodies to fit, Heather and I got to talk, laugh and chat.  It was so great to get to meet her after almost two years of emails, blog posts and swaps. She is as nice and funny in person as she is on-line.  And, best of all, she shares my love of being snarky.  It was a great day and I'm so glad we got a chance to meet. 

Ok, your still not convinced that it wasn't Jed   Here, I have proof for all you naysayers......

There.......Jed wouldn't have such cute legs, not to mention, wear snappy little red sandals like that......... 

Oh, all right....here you go...... Here's where she was ready to smack me because I kept calling her Jed......

But then we made up.........and, she said she wouldn't put the restraining order back on me...... 

 Yeah..... Cheese....whatever.....

Carlos is showing Hannah the finer points of motorcycle racing while trying to convince her that his "Lego Driver's License" is valid on California streets.......

 

While driving as fast as he can, Andres glances back to see if the big scary rat is chasing him.  In the meantime, it's obvious his passengers are clueless of their certain demise from large furry creatures........

The CEO of Tomfoolery takes on Hannah in a "sit on the edge of your seat" skeeball competition. Unfortunately, all his skee balls were thrown haphazardly into the lanes next to him, behind him and in the kitchen, resulting in a negative 54,000 point loss for him.  Undeterred, he challenged her to another game next year where he said he would come better prepared.......

 

Like I said, it was a ton of fun and I can't wait to do it again! 

Our one hour flight up to my niece's graduation took 4 hours due to delays.  Between mechanical problems and overdue flight, they finally just said "what the heck" let's let the kid fly the plane........

"Oh yeah, baby.....Let's put this Lego Driver's License to work........"

So, just before I left, I receive this from Jen Duncan........

 

I didn't even have time to look all the way through it prior to departure.

Well....let me tell you what was in it........This big huge piece of my favorite wallpaper.......aaaaaccccckkkkk.....  Not to mention all of this.......

She thinks I'm a nutball.....a fun kind of nutball.....but a nutball nonetheless, for ordering all this wallpaper.  But, there is a method behind the madness believe it or not.   The more I have, the less inhibited I am when I create.  Now, I've come a long way from becoming frozen with fear in cutting up my meager collection of wallpaper. But, I'm still at the point where if I feel like I don't have enough of the paper I love, I won't be as inclined to use it.  I want to "save" it.  For what, I have no idea.....but I guess that's the point.  The paper should be used and not saved.  So goes the conundrum and the buying of more paper.  Check out Jen's shop .   Although, she doesn't have any more wallpaper packs left, She has a bunch of ephemera and other paper that is perfect to use in your work.  If you are looking specifically for wallpaper, check out Donna or Heather.  They both have some beautiful paper packs.

Ok.....I now have to get ready for my sister and niece who are coming into town.  Busy week of Legoland, San Diego Fair, Seaworld and beach ahead of me.  I think I need a nap.

Talk to you soon!   Karin

Leaving for a bit.....

{Check out all of these at my Flickr page}

I'm heading up to San Jose for my niece's graduation.  (I'm still trying to figure out how she was just 5 years old and now she's graduating from high school.......)  I'll be back in a few days.  Hopefully, if everything works out I will be meeting up with this blogging friend!!!  I just have to get the non-blogging community on board....... i.e., my mom.   It's funny when you meet up with people that not only don't blog, but, (shiver) have no clue what blogging is.  Once I was at a gathering of friends and was trying to explain to them about blogs and swaps and art friends.......My one friend said "you give this person your address? what if it's some crazy guy that's going to stalk you?!?"  I tried to explain about how you get to know a person through their blog, blah, blah, blah...... She responded with a blank face.  That's when I knew there were two types of distinct people in this world........Bloggers and non bloggers.   Now I suppose Heather can be some big burly guy named Jed living in a cabin in the woods somewhere in Montana crazily sitting at a computer looking for crafty type woman who loves vintage wallpaper, glitter and complains about her lack of crafting time because of her kids.   However, lets just take a look at exactly what "Jed" would have to do in order to make his "cover story"......Develop a blog and a talent in art. Come up with a online computer graphics business in which "he" would have to have an incredible talent and actually produce art for said business that was good enough in which other people paid.  Coordinate complicated 12 day swaps in which "he" would have to organize a multitude of people and postage........... My guess is that if there is a "Jed" out there he's trolling My Space for a cute 20 year old......not craft blogs where he gets me....a mom of two who is in desperate need of a dye job.   But how do you explain that to a non blogger?  You don't. They'll never get it.  You just nod your head and realize that they are missing out on a whole other slice of life.  

See you when I get back....... Karin

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

This Post is Titled....... I just lost the entire post I was working on for the past hour and I could cry.......no really, I could cry......

I am in shock looking for my post.....one hour of typing and downloading pics and then poof....it's gone.  And now I have to leave to go do errands.  I will be back later to post.  Hopefully, I can remember all the super funny things I said.....I doubt it though.  Well, at least it will have tons of pictures.....See you later........ 

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