Life at my speed

Life is different here, inside my head. The random, and odd way I choose to live. It isn't for everyone, and I know that.

I get up in the morning, drink my first cup of coffee, let the dogs out. I let the ducks out, and talk to them---generally to tell the girls that they need to lay me some eggs. I go inside, drink some more coffee, and get my kids up.

If it is a school day, one or the other of the boys will head off to school, or I will drive them off. Making lunches, making sure proper morning rituals are taken care of (teeth brushed? homework done? etc etc). On a summer morning, they get to sleep in.

Later in the morning, I head outside and take the ducks some grain. Watch them run up to me and eat from my hands. Then I hunt up some eggs, it's like an Easter Egg hunt every morning. Where did they hide them today? I know the "normal" hiding places, but they always find new ones.

More coffee. Start some laundry, do some dishes. Head to the library. Perhaps do some crafts (I make jewelery to sell). After school and in the afternoon, the boys have appointments, therapy, doctors, sports. Seems like I am gone from the house most nights.

It is the MOMENTS in the days that I cherish. The ducks running up to me to eat grain from my hands. Seeing a dragonfly on a leaf near the pond. Feeling the warmth of the sun on the deck. Moments of peace. Moments in the now.

My children are getting older. Their minds are busy and they don't want to talk to mom anymore. It is rarer and rarer that they open up and talk to me. Which is normal, they are becoming independent and growing into their own person. I am needed by them, but mostly as a meal provider, laundry do-er, and driver. It doesn't feel very "mom" like.

So I look to other things to find moments of peace and fulfillment. Transitioning slowly to a new time and phase in life. It is coming. It may still be a few years off, but they are growing away from me, and soon enough, this "mom" phase will be done.

It's nearly spring......

But you wouldn't know it from our weather lately.

I got a single egg from the ducks at the tail end of Feb. On the same day, it snowed. WHA?! We have been having a wonderful, warm weather winter, and suddenly we have snow. I finally get an egg from the duckers, begin to think that the egg-laying season is about to begin, and it SNOWS?!

I almost cried.

On the plus side, because of the increase in daylight, my girls have continued to lay eggs. (You go, girls!) I am getting three to four eggs a day, far more than we can eat. We are already starting to give some away. Which is a nice thing to be able to do.

Big goings on at my place!

Super exciting stuff!

Two birthdays this past week (happy changing of the years, guys! love ya!), and the normal mom stuff going on.

But the big news is that I now have an on-line web store to sell my artwork. All of those projects that have been piling up around the house can hopefully find a home out there in the world.

Not to mention, giving me further inspiration to create more pieces (which I love to do!).

Feel free to visit my shop. The site is a work in progress, but my art is posted. And I invite feedback (can't improve if I don't get feedback!).

Another exciting project, possible studio space! I have taken over the living room, kitchen, practically any spare cabinet...it has my art supplies in it (including the bedroom). Our neighbor has an unused shed (HUGE) that we can take if we can move it, and it would make a perfect studio outside for me. Add some windows, some insulation, and it would make fantastic workspace (that I don't have to tidy up DAILY when the kids are around!). I can't wait to have my own space where I can spread out and visually see where all my supplies are instead of hiding all my stuff in boxes all over the house. SQWEE!!! Fingers crossed this comes through fast for me!

Busy being crafty

New year, time to get motivated!

I have decided that I need to put my skills to use. I love making things, being artistic, using my hands and playing with various mediums. Along that vein, a friend (my rocking friend of MB, LLC) is helping me set up a web shop to sell my art. All the beads, jewelery, canvases, the things that I make for fun, and sell it.

I am over the moon excited about this concept! To be able to make money doing something that I love, that I lose myself in doing (creating and expressing myself in art), the chance at possibly helping my husband financially in doing this? I am stoked!

I will keep all of you updated on how it is going.

In the meantime, here is a little something I whipped up yesterday.



Made completely out of Fimo clay. Rolled, stamped, inked, dusted, antiqued and sealed. WHEW! The left-over scraps got made into a pendant and multiple beads (waste not, want not!). It matches my wall wonderfully well.

Fail of the week: storing the potato's that I grew all summer in the outdoor shed. It froze in December, causing all the potato's to rot. ARGH!! Total waste. Found them this week when I was looking for twine. All that work for potato's, wasted. I "should have" baked and frozen them. So irritated at myself.

Woolies, and fabric, and clay...oh my!

I have been one busy crafter, lately.

I spotted a blog on how to wet-felt wool over soap to make "coal" for Christmas, and then took that idea and made an abundance of "coal" for my team who have been naughty this year. Pruney fingers abounded in my house (no, just on me!), but I think the "coal" turned out cute.

I also saw a blog on how to make no-sew flowers out of organza, simply using scissors and a candle to singe the edges, then hot-glue the petals together. Once finished, glue together into a flower then onto a clip or headband. Again, I was able to use what I had on hand (self: WHY do I have four colors of organza when I have no little girls in the house and I don't wear this stuff?!). It was fun to make while watching television and I only burned myself a few times. Heh.

I scrounged up some clear plastic tubing from an air pump hubby got for an aquarium, I photocopied some old Sears ads, inked the edges, rolled them up and put them inside, then placed beads at the ends and used wires to finish it off. Makes for interesting and colorful beads!

I have also used my Christmas money to buy Fimo clay. *drool* My first attempts at bead making isn't perfect, but what do you expect? I tried a Skinner blend of ocher and chocolate, surrounded by black. It needs more work. Still, not horrible for a first try! I also made impressions of gears and nuts, baked it off, and then used antiquing to show off the details.

Here's the completed necklace I made with my beads I've been creating.



The tubing beads (four of them), the clay beads, and then two purchased beads (the key and number 7, both of which I used alcohol ink to color to match the other beads) and a purchased watch from Ebay (that is my inspiration piece).

I am having WAY too much fun with crafting.

Flops--it happens to the best of us

I've been fiddling with permanent alcohol inks lately. Much fun! Layering colors, able to color glass, metal, plastic, and then spray with sealer. Sweet!

Led me to think, shrinky plastic! I have some, and thought I would make some earrings with it. When I color them prior to shrinking with permanent markers, the color is too saturated when it shrinks, so I thought I would try to blot on some color AFTER shrinking with the alcohol ink instead.

BIG MISTAKE. Note to self and others: alcohol ink removes Sharpie and permanent ink.

There goes about an hour of my life drawing the picture that I will never get back. *sigh* So, if you work with permanent ink pens and alcohol ink, try to keep them separated from each other or it could "erase" the design. (I worked off of the back side of the plastic dink for my second one).

Decorated Glass Bottles---and a Christmas gift recipe

Aren't they pretty? An improvement over various shampoo bottles, if you ask me. There are two types of shampoo, a conditioner, and bath salts. If it were up to me, I would try to transfer all my bathroom goodies into bottles (but I think my husband would object).

Three of the bottles got frosted, just normal glass etching cream. I used templates from clip art books and a paper cutting book, which made it time intensive. I then used permanent ink on the etched parts to highlight the etching. Any excess ink can be removed with special ink remover.

The bath salts bottle was the easiest. The metal label holder was from the scrapbooking section, the writing was printed off my computer. A little stamping ink to match the bath salts, some glue to hold the paper onto the metal holder, then some hot glue to adhere it to the bottle. Easy-peasy.

Bath salts would make an EASY and INEXPENSIVE Christmas gift. Save some glass bottles and lids from your kitchen. Such as the artichoke jars, glass spaghetti jars, etc. Wash and dry well. At the grocery store, buy rock salt from the spice aisle (used for making ice cream). At the craft store, purchase fragrance and coloring in the soapmaking aisle (this is where you will spend a few bucks, but you will have a LOT left over). Also, to make the metal labels, snag some metal label holders from the scrapbooking area.

Pour about 1/3 of the box of salt into a metal or glass dish, use a spoon to stir the salt and mix in 4 to 6 drops of fragrance (to your liking). Remember, it will get diluted in water, so you can go on the strong side if you like, or go light. Either way. Once stirred in well, add 4 to 6 drops of color, well spread out. Stir in. Then, add to jars, and top with lids. Make labels as directed above with "Bath Salts" and the name of the fragrance.

If you want to "fancy" it up even more, add ribbons, or paint the lid in a matching color, or ......