Creative Chaos

"From Here to There" Sunday.......

 

((Click here Creative Chaos Flickr to see who is the owner of all these amazing creations! ))

And it has nothing to do with my journal....It has to do with my sanity.  The "there" was putting four kids to bed without use of sleep aids......The "here" is me writing this with only one of them watching Wow Wow Wubzy while I get ready for my Melissa Francis class.   As I wrote in my last post, we had one last "hurrah" of a slumber party for the kids over here at the Chaos house.  There was playing outside, eating of pizza, watching of movies, eating of popcorn and laughing, laughing and more laughing.

Then there was bedtime. 

Everything is tons of fun until bed time.  Why is it the only one ready to drop dead from exhaustion is the Mommy?   It's an unexplainable science equation that puts the sanity of the mom on the edge of a cliff fighting against a gale force wind called "the kids."

Me: Good night everyone! (Luckily Andres was already asleep at this point in the other room as was my husband)  I want no talking or fooling around...got it?  (I realize that this is akin to asking them not to breath....it's pointless)

Them: Okay!  Liars.

I walk out into the living room literaly saying to myself 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....before I have to walk back in and deliver the final ultimatum.....

Me:  If you all don't knock it off someone is going to end up sleeping in the playroom by himself.  (So wishing at that point I had a cellar in with which to threaten them.....)

Carlos: Kind of like Designer's Challenge where one of us gets voted off.....

Me: Exactly. Except none of you win a magazine spread or a $100,000.

Good nights were said all around again and after a few more times in for "I need water", "I'm too hot" and "I lost super monkey" everyone was thankfully out within the next 20 minutes.

This morning found me at 10:00 am waving good bye to Carlos who was leaving with them to swim at the pool party where I would meet them after class. 

Carlos:  Bye Mommy!  I love you!  I'll miss you! See you later!

Me:  Bye honey....I love you too! (truth) I'll miss you too! (lie) I'll see you later! (truth)

Alrighty.....Time to get ready for my class and a pool party....Talk to you later!  Karin

 

Pink Saturday.......Here to There Friday......and Can't Wait 'Till Sunday!

My contribution for "Pink Saturday" this week is my ever expanding line called "Cotton Candy."   It has now grown from one lonely bracelet to three bracelets and four pairs of earring. 

I am having so much fun with these glass beads..........

That I even made myself a pair of earrings.

 

Even though it's "Pink" Saturday, I snuck in these two other "Cotton Candy" pieces that are in blue......

I also finished some more of my gift tags this week.......

 

I also have the next page of my journal done for week 2.  I know I was supposed to have this done today for "Here to There" Friday . And, if you want to get technical about it, it still is Friday....just Friday at 11:21 pm as I'm typing this.  The day kind of got away from me......

  

Ok....time for me to hit the sack.  This week was the last week of watching my best friend's two kids.....Otherwise known as "mommy doesn't care".  It seemed the whole week's theme for them was arguing and fighting.  So there was alot of my saying the phrase "I don't care."  As in "I don't care" that Christian almost "killed" you when he threw the soccer ball at your shoulder......"I don't care" that Carlos called you a neener neener neener head....... "I don't care" if you want to watch tv in the middle of the day....... Nope didn't care.  Last week of vacation....Last week of arguments.  Until Saturday night that is.  They're coming back for one last sleepover of the summer! 

But my reward will be on Sunday when I get to take a class with Melissa Francis at Paper Tales!!  So excited...AND, I get to meet Miss Vickery-Vous Danaherself!  She live about a mile away from me and we met through blogging and Paper Tales.  Can't wait!   I'll take tons of pics and share all the fun! 

Talk to you soon and Good Night!   Karin

Boo!

Did I scare you?  Did you open up my blog and think "Holy crap! Halloween is next week!??  It has to be..... because Karin would never ever be this far ahead of the game!  How in the world did I lose such track of time!!!!"

Calm down everybody......no need to worry.....it's still August.  And, I really am ahead of the game.   I did Halloween tags this weekend.  Stopped in at Paper Talesfor a few things and walked out with a ton of Halloween paper and other halloween bits and baubles.

Here are a few more......

I have some more done and I will be putting them on Etsy.  I also am going to work on some cones and collages.......

Here's a pic of some of the cool glass beads I got at the bead show.....

Last week, a customer ordered both of the glass earrings in my shop.  She asked if I could also do a pair in pink.  Not having any pink beads, coupled with being the shew business woman that I am, and, in addition to the fact that the bead & gem show was just down the street from me....I said "Of course I can!"  So, in turn, the sale of a $12 pair of earring cost me $100.....Now, in my defense, I really did need to stock up on sterling silver head pins and earring wires.  Not to mention, the swarovski crystal kept calling my name......I'm so excited because in addition to the halloween tags, I designed a new line of baubles called "Cotton Candy"......

  

I'm really not sure if one bracelet constitutes "a line" per se, but I am going to work on more in time for Lollishops to open. Maybe even some this week...who knows.....

Well back to the last days of summer vacation.  It's slowly fading away like a sunset.  Both boys are starting school next week.  The CEO decided he needed to go to preschool for additional training.  So, he will be there 2 half days a week.  He's very excited. They have a train track there and apparently that was all that was needed to seal the deal.  Carlos, on the other hand, does not want to discuss school until the very first day.  He said it's still summer vacation and he "doesn't want to talk about it."  

I, on the otherhand, do want to talk about it. Because it's going to be the start of a new phase in my life called "Mommy's got some extra time on her hands and she's so excited she could sing. Or cry. Or, sing and cry."  Don't worry.....I'm not going to sing. I'll spare you the horror.  But, I really could though, just because I'm so excited!!  On the days Andres is not in school my mom said that she would watch him for 3-4 hours in the morning so I can get work done in addition to any substitute teaching that I will be doing.   Three to four hours people!  Three to Four hours!!!! Some one could have told me I won a million dollars and I could not have been more excited (well, maybe just a teensy bit more excited) But, do you know what I can do with 4 hours everyday.... uninterrupted.....I could possibly change the world. I may even be able to stop global warming.  But, for right now, I'm going to concentrate on getting Halloween tags and my "Cotton Candy" line done.  Then I'll put "fix the world" on my to-do list......Talk to you soon! 

From Here to There Friday........

"A Bit at a Time"..........Ok, folks.  I'm ready to start listing my goals for September.  I have the cover to my Journal done.  It took me quite some time to do it though.  I was so stuck on using the "From Here to There" saying that I couldn't look past it.  I wasn't happy with the way the lettering turned out. And had a hard time positioning it. I reminded myself the "fine line between creating and procrastination" warning and really made just made myself complete it. But in the end, I remembered I got this cool vintage skeleton key from Kim Hesson at the Blog-Her party and after that everything seemed to fall into place.

If you are so inclined to follow along, feel free to use the saying.  I think it fits perfectly for me anyway.  One bit at a time....NOT "I need to accomplish everything by the end of the day" .....no, it's ONE Bit at a Time.....little by little.....

Here is the inside cover and the first page for my goals.  If I were to do it over again, I would have done this page with my overall goals for the next few months. And, then, started the next page with September.  Ack...regrets already and I'm not even past the first page.  The other important step for me is to simplify my list and make it realistic.  Instead of writing 56 different things to do that automatically set me up for failure, I will write no more than 3-4 things so I know I accomplish them. 

Again, I'm really, really making an effort to keep it simple design wise.  Achieving the goal is the most important part of this journal.....not the design.

Here is the "Week 1" page.  I'm going to put the actual date in there. I went to use my date stamp and discovered it only went up to 2007...nice. So I have to go out and get a new stamp.  Yes. I know. I could write it in...but I want the stamp. 

I thought this was appropriate....Just Get It DONE!!!!!!

Ok....so there you go.  We are now ready for the first week of September and our goal list.  If you are following along, please send me your link to your blog and I will post it on Friday so everyone can share.......

Now I'm off to Paper Tales to see their new goodies and to the Bead & Gem Show that is just down the street from me.....Talk to you soon!  

Working on another journal..........

Who's with me!  Raise your hand!    

But before I get started with that.....I have to tell you about a new workshop that's hit the crafty blogworld....."Sweet Six Studios".....Can we just talk about the line up here for a second?!?! 

Cheryl Dack of Rosey Posey Confections

Heather Kowalski of Pretty Petals Boutique

Natasha Burns of Artistic Creations by Natasha Burns

Jenn Hayslip of Sweet Eye Candy Creations

Holly Abston of Holly Doodle Designs

Analise Sledd of Sugar*Sugar!!

I mean, please, those names alone conjure up nothing but beautiful creations and gorgeous eye candy.  I was so excited I signed up on the spot! 

Here is a peek of a couple of the projects that are to come.........

Natasha designed and hand illustrated the label.  And Holly's frame above is so gorgeous it doesn't even need a photo.  Here is a list of the different workshops they will be offering......

~Personalized Cupcake Toppers by Jennifer Hayslip

~Lovely Fabric Lanterns by Heather Kowalski

~Yummy Hanging Pillow Pocket by Cheryl Dack

~Decorated Bath Bottles by Natasha Burns

~Sweet Wallpaper Photo Frames by Holly Abston

~Flower Brooches by Analise Sledd

~6 more to be announced soon!

 

 So click here if you want to be a part of the fun!  Sweet Six Studio  Hope to see you there! 

Before I get started with my new journal, I would gratefully (and tearfully I might add) like to thank the person who made this post possible.  My awesome friend Jennifer.  She has cheerfully volunteered to watch both my boys, in addition to her own three, at her house today so that I can get some art done. Thanks Jennifer!!!

Ok...with all those important announcement aside....I decided that I'm going to post about my progress with this next journal. So, if you would like to join along, please do.   Ever since I started my summer journal (which will be turning into a fall journal unless I complete the last of the pages) through Teresa's e-zine, I have fallen in love with the whole act of art journaling. I love the freedom it provides, how it sparks new ideas, and mainly, how it has been teaching me not to be afraid of "mistakes."  That's been a huge one for me and something I know that stifles my growth in art.    So this next journal, which I have titled "From Here to There in 4,786 Easy Steps" is to help me chart and account for my goals in the upcoming months.  Above is my cover which still needs to be completed with the title.  At the time I took the picture,  I wasn't sure what the cover would say....now I have it and I will show you it with my next post.

Here is the back of the cover and the first page of my journal.  I put one of my favorite quotes that I got from Kari's blog some time ago.  I LOVE this quote.  It really speaks to me right now and I decided that it would be the first thing I see upon opening the book.  On the first page I used vintage ledger paper  so I can list all the goals I would like to achieve within that month.  I purposely used restraint in embellishing my book.   I know myself well enough to know there is a fine line between embellishing and procrastinating.  Know what I mean?   I didn't want to get so caught up in the design and details that the goals that I actually want to accomplish took a backseat. 

So after the first page which list the goals for the month, I will then have 4 more page spreads signifying each week of the month. And a last 5th spread to reflect on what was and wasn't accomplished. Here is the first week......

I will write what was accomplished from the list in addition to what was holding me back.  I think it's so important to recognize what keeps us from completeing a task.  For instance, I know perfectly well that "being too busy" never prevented me from  taking 2 hours out of my day to design a "snarkful" magazine cover, set up an "office" for the CEO of Tomfoolery for the crown tutorial, or make fun of People and their crazy slimming secrets.  However, "I'm too busy" seems to always work when I have a list of personal "to do's" that seem daunting and impossible. 

So if you want to join me in my quest for crossing off some things on my to do list in a very artful way, I will post a new page every Friday representing each week.  This Friday I will finish my cover and have the pages I've shown completed so it will all be ready by the 1st of September. 

In other news.....guess who went back to school shopping!?!?

If there is ever a better excuse to buy a 120 count crayon box for yourself, I can't think of it......

Talk to you soon!  Karin

To Temecula and back....

First off....Thanks so much for not being a "Crafta Hater" with my little jaunts to Paper Tales and La Maison.  Of course, anyone who has been reading my blog for any amount of time is just thinking "thank God that woman finally got out of the house....she's driving us crazy!!!"

Yay!  Saturday was finally here and I couldn't be more excited! I waved goodbye to the boys and Cosme who, apparently, cooked up some grand scheme to make something or other out of wood, a pegboard, pvc pipe and dowels based on something they saw at the science museum last weekend. I didn't ask questions.....frankly, I didn't care.   Answered last minute requests for candy from Carlos' "favorite" candy store.  I said no, and reminded him he had a birthday party to go to later that day. He nodded and then told me "just in case we go in there" to get him something.  

Finally the five of us boarded the "minivan to paradise" (albeit a hot paradise as the temps hovered in the low 90's) at 10:30 am for a trip to the North.  We arrived in Temecula and immediately headed on over to Bailey's for lunch.  Fabulous food. Wonderful service.  Tons of laughter. No pictures.  I totally forgot to take pictures of my friends and family on the first leg of the trip...such a loser.  We mosied our way through old town Temecula where I picked up this little picture that I couldn't resist.....

I just LOVE the hair on that little girl. Too much......We also picked up some extra water, iced coffee, and bakery treats before we headed on over to La Maison........

And, just who do I run into....... but my Paper Tale Gals Michelle and Helle!  Woo hoo!!  It was like a collision of the universes....Paper Tales AT La Maison.....I'm surprised the whole place didn't just self-combust with excitement.  Thankfully, everything was fine and nothing exploded, so I was able to continue on to the booth behind us......

Beth Quinn!!! (behind her is the only shot I got of my mom and my friend Britt) Of course, now you're expecting a ton of pictures from her beautiful booth and all her wonderful art. Forget it.  We were too busy talking and I forgot to take anymore pictures.  Also, I was trying to steal this from her.......

 

Now, I know, as we speak, she is writing on her blog how I am quite the swift shoplifter and to avoid me at all costs. However, let me tell my side of the story here first.  Of course, I adore all her work, but decided on this little gem.  I was thoroughly confused as to how to attach the chain, and, of course, Beth patiently explained the multitude of steps to me....ok, there was only one step.  Anyway, somehow in between showing me how to attach it, my ambivilence between the larger size and smaller size, my eyeing all her artwork and secretly wishing I was as talented as her, our chit chatting over our love of vintage and my realization that I had NO idea where my group was....I started to walk away without paying. All of a sudden, I here this little voice say to me..."um...you forgot to pay."  I'm such a dork.  Seriously.  Poor Beth.  Luckily she didn't have to press charges on me and I paid right on the spot....Phew.  Beth...it was so much fun meeting you in real life!!! And, I promise to never ever forget to pay you again.......unless, of course, am too busy talking to remember! :)

Here is a picture of me with Tricia from Vintage Bliss.  I was so excited to finally get to meet her as we were swap partners back in December for a Christmas swap.  She is so much fun and so sweet.  Here booth was adorable.  Too bad I don't have any pictures of it to show you...because once again, too busy chit chatting to remember to take pictures. You'll just have to trust me on this one.  I stocked up on some music paper and vintage buttons.  And no, I didn't try to steal it...I paid right away for it if you must know.  So great to meet you Tricia!!

And here are the Pink Funny Farm Gals! Tammy and Anita are so much fun and have such an incredible booth and store. I was lucky enough to meet them on my first trip to La Maison a few months back.  One of these days I am going to get to Arizona to check out their shop!!  I love how they dressed the same!  They have an online store they just launched The Pink Funny Farm......go check it out!

As I'm downloading all these pictures, I'm cracking up because I look like that person who tries to get in the picture with all the stars....

Here I am withKim Hesson. Love her stuff. I bought some skeleton keys and and wood cutouts.  I gingerly introduced myself as Karin of creative chaos and told her that I had her blog on my sidebar.  As I sat there hoping she didn't think I was some sort of side link stalker, she said she knew me! After talking for awhile I rememered she had visited my blog quite a few times.  Phew....I so didn't want to be remembered as a shoplifter AND a stalker.  She is super nice and we had a great time chitchatting......

I had to show you this picture again...the woman in brown with the backpack who is allegedly "shopping" is Hope from Hope Tree Studio.  We met last time I was up at La Maison and I just adore her and her work.  She is so sweet but camera shy......

Here we are at the last barn sale.

So as the clock approach 5:00 and our feet were crying out in exhaustion, we begrudingly headed home.  I said goodbye to Temecula and a super fun day with family and friends and headed south to this.......

The wood, pegboard, pvc pipe creation in the garage.......

Apparently there was one like this in the science museum.  So "Papa Good Times" made one for Carlos. Carlos can set up any configuration he wants and then drops a marble down the ramp.  It was a huge hit and he and Andres played with it all day except for when they went the birthday party. 

As Cosme and I joke.....two sticks and a rock is all they need........and a couple marbles.....

Last but not least, I also come home to this message from Gail at the store up in LA with another "celebrity sighting."  Now here's the thing.  She sees celebrities all the time at the store she works...and I really don't care much. And, she never calls me specifically to tell me about anyone she comes across.   Unless....... it's a special celebrity. Like a couple weeks ago when it was Twich.  Or, this week when it was my tv boyfriend.  I knew as soon as she said in the message "this was better than Twitch" exactly who it was.   Arrrrgggg......again, I miss my chance to meet my boyfriend.   John Krasninski from The Office. She was behind him in line at the Starbucks across the street.  According to her, he was wearing a green shirt.  He is better even better looking in person. And, he didn't acknowledge me as his girlfriend.  I asked her if she asked him if he read my blog.  She said.....no.  I asked her if she asked him if he was busy next weekend.  She again said.....no.  Apparently all she did was stand behind him and his green shirt.  Good enough for me!

That's it for today!  I'm off to organize my craft room and dream about John Krasinski commenting on my blog.......

OK People....We've got a lot to cover. So let's just settle down and get right to it......

I haven't been able to post this week because I have been so busy staying up until 1 in the morning watching the Olympics and simultaneously daydreaming about which event I would enter.  

First though, let's get to business.  We have to cover all of the following in just one post:

• Pink Saturday....Did it!
• Pam Warden Art.....Love it!
• Pretty Petals Ribbon....Adore it!
• La Maison Rustique.....Going!
• Beth Quinn.......Meeting!
• Sweet Six....Doing!
• Making Dinner....Hate it!
• Under the Red Roof Vintage Wallpaper....Covet it!
• Children interfering with the writing of this post by asking "is it time for us to go back on the computer" ....Expect it!

 

Phew.....

Ok....Here is my PINK SATURDAY contribution this week.........

This flocked wallpaper is from Donna over at Under the Red Roof.  As much as I would like to keep her as my top secret super supplier of vintage wallpaper, I can't be that selfish.  Her stash of vintage wallpaper is amazing and I just love it.......

sigh........

Now moving on from Pink Saturday. I have to show you this print I bought from Pam Warden.......

I just love it!! See how she put my name on the crown.....Thanks Pam!

Official "are you done with the computer" Tally...... 4 inquiries.

Official Response #1:  "When the words 'Carlos & Christian, it's your time for the computer' come out of my mouth and I am no longer typing on the keyboard or sitting on the desk chair, I am done."

Official "mama, help me make eggs with playdoh" Tally.... 2 inquiries.

Official Response #1.... I make the eggs.

Let's Resume with our post......

I ordered these ribbons from Heather over at Pretty Petals. 

 

Can we just talk about Heather behind her back for a second........If you have never been over at her blog or website....Go.  Ok, not right this minute, because I want you to finish my post.  But, after you read this...GO.  She takes some of the most beautiful pictures ever on her blog and web site. They are just exquisite.  I tried as hard as I could to compare.  But no can do.  My pictures don't even do the ribbon justice.  Love the ribbons Heather...Thanks!!!  

 

Boy, if you didn't already hate me because I practically have Paper Tales at my doorstep.......Get ready to really hate me.  Because look where I'm going tomorrow........

La Maison Rustique Blog Her Party!  My mom, aunt, best friend and I are heading on up to Temecula (sans kids) for lunch and shopping.  I'm so excited.  And if that wasn't enough, look who I am going to meet in person...

Ugggg....right now there is a child standing behind me asking "watcha doing."   I am ignoring him as I type this. Athough, the temptation to say "washing the dishes" is great,  I don't.  He's still standing there.  I am giving him the "you will so not go on this computer later" look.  He tries to say something else.....ok, he's leaving.

I'm not meeting the doll head.....I get to meet the woman behind that beautiful artwork....Beth Quinn!!!!

After a year of blogging back and forth we will finally get to meet face to face....just hope my face doesn't scare her to much!  Oh yeah, she's seen pictures of me before. So she knows what to expect!  Can't wait to see you Beth! 

And it looks like there will be so many more people such as Sandy from Art Tea Life, Kim from Artistic Bliss....2 weeks in a row! See you there! , Joy at The Vintage Rabbit, Anita & Tammy from The Pink Funny Farm, Tricia from Vintage Bliss....Can't wait to see you Tricia!   I promise to bring back tons of pictures! 

Alrighty, I think we covered everything!  Off to finish cleaning, do some laundry, prep myself for going to Chuckee Cheese with all the kids for dinner and finish up a couple projects.  Talk to you all soon!  Karin

Don't Hate Me Because I Live by Paper Tales........

 And, that have the entire afternoon today to work in my studio. 

Ok....you can go ahead and hate...because, I would, after I tell you how much fun I had at the class yesterday.  Although the class started at 1:00, I seriously considered showing up at 10:00 am when they opened, just to "be prepared."  Then I knew Michelle would get annoyed with me lounging and dozing on the couch waiting for the class to begin, so I nixed the idea.  I counted the minutes until I could finally leave my home and children and started for the van.....of course, I was followed out the door by the CEO who was clad in Thomas the Train underwear telling me that "I go wif you."  I explained I could handle the business trip on my own and he need to stay by the computer to handle all the incoming Pink Saturday comments.  Plus, Gramma would give him a sucker.  He said ok, and he and his Thomas clad butt trotted back in the house.

I arrived at Paper Tales and immediately relaxed and prepared for 2 full hours (which actually turned into 3 1/2 hours!!! Thanks Amy!!!) of uninterrupted art.  I met Amy (pictured above) who is super nice, super fun AND super talented.  I told her how much I LOVE her work from the first moment I saw it.  Hopefully, my enthusiam for her art combined with my excitement of getting out of the house sans kids and the tall double vanilla mocha buzz I had didn't frighten her.  She did pose for a picture with me, so I think I didn't scare her too much.

We all had so much fun creating, talking, and laughing that the hours just flew by.  This is part of what I love aboutPaper Tales.  It is a place where you can go and be totally inspired and relaxed at the same time.  Plus, I just love Michelle.....she is sooo funny and can go head to head with me with the snark.  Gotta love that......

Here's a picture of the crew with our finished (and almost finished in my case) collages......

From left to right, it's Kim Caldwell, me and Michelle.  It was so funny.  Kim arrived about an hour into the class because of traffic (she was driving from L.A.) YET she finished and hour before I did.....I am a slow worker bee....

Here is a picture of Diane and her daughter Sierra......

Here are some more pictures of the fun......

And here is my collage.......

It's supposed to be Carlos and Andres.  I was really proud of myself for going against my comfort zone.  In addition to the bird theme, she also had a bunch of vintage pictures of children.  It would have been so easy, as well as so typical, for me to choose the latter. But, I decided, the whole point of taking a class is to stretch myself.  So, even though every fiber of my being was leaning toward the vintage photos and pink pastel papers, I stayed committed to the challenge of the birds.  And, in the end, not only am I pleased with the result, but I am feeling empowered by going a little further than I usually do with my art.

I also wanted to share with you some more of Amy's art.  It's available at Paper Tales. And she is planning to open an Etsy shop soon.

 

 

Isn't it wonderful!  Just love it.

I'l leave you with what I'm working on today.  My mom's birthday is next week and I am finally doing a project that I promised her many moons ago.  She had seen these prints in a store.  And of course I said "don't get it!!! I can make it for you way better!!"  Five years later, the poor woman is still waiting for the "I can make it better" art work from me.  Actually, she has probably forgotten all about it. That's why this will be a big surprise for her. 

 

I'm still in the process of working on them so I will show you a better picture when I'm done. 

Alright....off to finish some more art work and maybe even sneak in a nap before the boys get home.  Talk to you soon!  Karin

Pink and Paper Tales Saturday .........

Well look at me.....I'm actually posting my "Pink Saturday" post on Friday night.  I guess you can look at it two ways....."WOW! She sure has it together doing her post on a Friday night!"  or "WOW! She sure is a loser doing a post on a Friday night!"  Either way, I wanted to be nice and organized so all the east coast folks who come over to visit don't have to stare at a 4 day old post for the 3rd Saturday in a row.  I went ahead and put some mosaics together of my work and other talented artist's items to share with you.

Please check out my Flickr page so you can see who created all the above masterpieces .  For the life of me, I could not figure out how to get the links to work over here on my blog.  If anyone knows how to do it please let me know.  THANKS!

I'm off today to do a collage class at Paper Tales.  So excited to be able to sit in a chair for two hours to complete a project without little people making all sorts of nonsense requests to me.....like "feed me."  I'll take a ton of pictures to share.

Let's talk ..........about change........

First, very quickly, I finally did the cover to my "Ode to Summer" journal.  The journal itself is still a work in progress. But last night I had to have to cover done no matter what.  It's just one of those things.  One minute you're cooking dinner looking forward to your dvr'd Judge Judy......the next, a journal cover has to be produced as if there is a deadline looming over your head.   So, considering I finally got it started after baths and bedtime,  I just threw it together using some favorite papers to make it that much easier.  I am really happy with it.

Also, I wanted to show you the cards I made for the Summer Card Swap I'm doing over Heather's.   Had so much fun putting these together...........I hope everyone likes them!

So, in between pictures of cards, let's talk about change....not "the change" (although, I'm getting frighteningly closer to it everyday....)   What I'm talking about how your life slowly starts changinging courses without you realizing it.  Kind of how you wake up one day and there are all these gray hairs on your head.  You are a bit confused as to how they all got there.......in just one day.....overnight it seems.   But, the reality is, they just kinda crept up on you. It was when you weren't looking.....when you were minding your own business,  just living your life day to day.  It was, of course,  until you couldn't deny it anymore....things had changed.

Well, that's kind of where I am right now.  I'm at this point where change is happening with and without my help.   For the last two years, as I've been writing this blog, my life has gone on a steady path of predictable.......being tired....changing diapers....being tired......writing a blog post.......finding time to create a project.....washing dishes.......asking who dumped all the Legos on the floor.....watching Judge Judy reruns.......watching Thomas the Train reruns.....being not as tired......writing more blog post......doing more art.......changing less diapers.......doing dances over pee pee in the potty.......doing dances over losing 10 pounds........finding that I can actually stay up until 11 pm.........finding my love of writing......watching more Thomas the Train videos.........

 

Finding that this person.......

has changed into this person.......

and is starting preschool this fall.  PRESCHOOL!!!  How did that happen?  But as I look back I can see some of the changes quite clearly now.  I've had more time on my hands.  Where exactly did I think that came from?  My new live in nanny that Typepad provided?  No.  It came from a child who as he grew older could play on his own for longer periods of time.  It came from having more energy so that when the choice at night came between plopping on a couch watching the mind numbing, comatose inducing, could be an argument for taking recreational drugs "Real Housewives of Orange County"..... I instead chose working on an art project.  I realized that life was making it's little adjustment and shaking things up a bit in my nice little predictable life in which I so comfortably settled.  Another change is my best friend's kids will be going to another school this fall. During the school week, I would bring them and Carlos home on the half day and a couple other days throughout the week.  The house was always filled with kids.  Now, it's going to be different.   A little more time to myself....... Hmmmm.......

So I did what any person would do to embrace the change and not hide from it....I got my hair cut.   Now, I know to most people who actually get their hair cut every couple of months or so this is no big deal.  However, since the last time I got it cut last September, I let my hair grow and grow and grow to the point of wearing it in a ponytail was the only option.  It had no style or "point of view" as Nina Garcia would say.  So off I went to my neighborhood hairdresser "Orchid Salon".  It's right around the corner from my house.  Perfect for lazy people like me who hate the whole circus of making an appointment....then driving...then parking..... then waiting........ 

Anyway, it takes me one minute to walk up there.  And, then, at least a good 15 minutes, after plopping down into the chair, to explain to my new best friend Rachael that I want the cut to say  "I'm embracing change the way I should with a snappy new haircut that is reminicent of Lisa Rinna but without the big lips...... I am ready to face the new day with a head shake and a new attitude that isn't trying to pretend she is still 25 years old, but yet knows she has a few good years left before she steps foot into the grave.......  a cut that is determined to see me through early school mornings, crafting away in my studio, laughing at those crazy folks on JJ and seamlessly changing one Thomas the Train video to the next..... a cut that......

That's when Rachael inturupts me and says "good God woman. I'm a hairdresser.....Not a plastic surgeon......how much do you want cut off?  I told her go for it...... In the end, I have never been happier with a haircut.  I love it.  Absolutely love it.  And, it's a start.........

To be continued.......