A New Year Looms...

My!  That title sounds ominous, doesn't it?

I don't really think of the New Year as ominous, since I'm usually pretty hopeful about the future.  I've had my issues with 2011, but basically, time is a continuum.  And any word that makes two U's work together is okay by me.  After all, who really abhors a vacuum?

Counter to what you may be used to, I'm not taking the threshold of a new year of creativity lightly.  When it's time to start a new point on the continuum, I'm all for changing things up.  And in my studio space, it's time for a change.  For one thing, I'm going to stop working so many hours at my office, and start working more at home for free.  If that's not progress, what is, I ask you!?

(I understand if you don't want to answer; it's kind of a loaded question.)

In considering my work area, I've had to face some facts.

1)  I can't find half the things I need to make what I want to make.
2) There's no where to sit down.
C) Or, to stand up.
And, 5)  I have a lot of crap.

Here, you can see that I've started taking the crap from my studio and placing it on the dining table, where I will better be able to sort it and recycle some of it.  (I'm keeping the sewing machine.)

Even after taking some things out of the room, my work table is (humorously) jammed.

My 'diaper-changing table' standing work area is unusable.  For one thing, there's a full-size mattress on the floor right in front of it, for the two instances of cold and flu I've had this fall, when I had to sleep in the studio.  That mattress is going back out!

Along one wall is a neat array of storage trays which have been rifled through and not re-organized.  It's obviously a good area for stacking up additional acquisitions which don't have better homes, yet...

The space under the work table, and atop the large floor bins, where I just slide supplies in and slide them out, as needed.  It bugs me!  And, there's that old plastic water cup I've been looking for!

The excellently-planned shelving, tucked behind everything else in the room.

Lastly, the shelves behind the door.  See the lovely cardboard tubes I'm saving?  And I'm not throwing those tins and shadow-boxes away, so someone better take care of this.  SOON!

So.  You can see that I have my weekend cut out for me!  I've shared studio re-vamps here before, but it's been a couple of years.  It's shocking how things can get out of hand, isn't it?!  It's AUGHsome!!

What's going on for you this New Year's weekend?

Shiny Things, Colors, and Butter, oh my!

Hey!  It's finally here!  Christmas Eve!!

What am I talking about?  Christmas Eve got here so fast I didn't even know what was happening.  The other day (true story) (as opposed to my usual stories, which are all lies) I was looking at the television on-screen guide so I could set up some programs to tape on the DVR for the upcoming week.  I thought it would be nice to have something different to watch during the weekend while I was painting or making something.  And I saw all these marathons scheduled.  It's Monday, and I see that on Saturday, the stations are packed with marathons.  Seventy-five episodes of Chopped, Oddities, Firefly, something about a place called Kardasian, and I said, 'What's all this with the marathons?!?'  Is there some kind of special deal this weekend or something?!

Scout was so embarrassed for me she left the room.

By the time you're reading this, it may be Christmas Day.  Or Boxing Day.  Or Mixed Martial Arts On the Tundra Day.  Or it may even the day after New Year's Day, when you've discovered that spray snow doesn't taste as good as they said it would.

'nuff said

Or, you could miss this completely because you're watching your 43rd episode of Modern Marvels and you're experiencing reduced sensation in your eyeballs and earballs.

(that's never ever happened to me, so i have no idea what that would be like)

But whomever you are, and whenever you're here, please accept my best wishes for a fantastic holiday time. 

And 2012 will be a much better year for us all.

Okay?

I don't want to leave without thanking all of you for your loyalty, lovely commentary, gifts, requests for gifts, advice, corrections, suggestions for how I might do something better, for heaven's sake, and what's the point in my even pretending, here?  Mostly, thanks for the many subpoenas and Orders To Appear.

and Merry Christmas!

Bettering self

OOh!  It's getting all Christmassy and stuff!

In honor of the holidays, here is the photo I took of the lunar eclipse earlier this week:

There you go.  Take that with you.

You know that if you wanted to, you could zip over to NASA's site and see more photos there.  But frankly, you haven't gotten all your holiday things done and you'd better do those first.  If you didn't spend so much time watching Hoarders you wouldn't have this problem.

I finished another stocking.  It took this long because I had to do it in increments of 10 minutes each.  It's not perfect, but it was fun to do.

You can see that at the top left, I had a little snarl incident.  That was, actually, the result of trying to add a ribbon hanger and finding out that I'm not that advanced, yet.  So it will just have to lean up against something.  A stove burner, say.

And I got ambitious a month ago (something my physician warned against) and decided to make some pajama bottoms.  Last week, I actually pinned the pattern down and cut the pieces out.

HA!  Take that, Anna Maria Horner!

Today, I am going to the mall.  Yes.  It's frightening.  Some people would say, it's unwise (for example: those Three Wise Men, the bossies).  But, it has to be done.

Do you know that I had the audacity a few months ago, to make a dentist appointment for January 3rd?  Don't I know that's the beginning of a new year, with new goals, a fresh start, and corrections to previous tendencies to make unwise decisions?  So, tomorrow I have to call the dentist's office and cancel my appointment.

No one's going to tell me I can't improve myself.

Thank you!

I love my followers!  Each and every!  Thanks to all of you for being examples of what's GROOVY about this virtual world I'm part of.

I ended a sentence with a preposition.  Miss Cressley would be upset with me.  But since the time that Miss Cressley was my third-grade teacher, they've discovered (whomever 'they' are) that it's just fine to end a sentence with a preposition.  What's that about?

('about' is a preposition)

Why did I call? 
Oh, yeah!

I called to say that I have been away from my beloved Parabolic Muse for a week, and I didn't mean to be, as it's the HOLIDAYS, a time usually rife with CREATIVITY!  But I will tell you briefly how things are:  I have been working massive hours at my place of employment (which I'm very grateful to have).  And after work and home necessities, I've been unable to give PM the attention it deserves.

So, I am here to say a collective HELLOOOO!!  And I will be back SOOON!!  Maybe tomorrow?  Who knows?

('knows' is not a preposition)

But even before I come back here, I am going to READ all about your exciting activities.  I recently got several art books and heard several crafty podcasts, and although I can't read the books yet (too sleepy), I listen to those podcasts like they are islands in the stream!

(nice song, written by the Bee Gees and performed by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers)

And I'm hearing such luxurious stories about artists working in the studio, making things for the holidays, and giving them to sweeties of all ages and stripes.


(fruit stripe gum... what memories)

I can't WAIT to do that creativity thing again!  Maybe soon!

Smooches and Snark,

Chris

p.s.  it's the snark that makes the smooches seem even better!

Surprise!

I have been RAK'd.  Yes!  I have!

As I've blabbed boringly of late, work is being difficult right now, and I'm so busy my ears can't catch a breath!

(as in: I'm up to my ears in paperwork--HA!!)

And I got home after stopping for a quick bite (not a literal 'bite'--I'm talking about having dinner), and when I got home (not the second I got home, because first I had to lose my keys in the dark and then find them and then greet Scout and give her a treat, and then put the leftovers in the fridge and turn on the heater)

(frankly, I shouldn't have to explain all this to you),

I saw that a box had come in the mail!  YAY!

And I hadn't even ordered anything this time!  Double Yay!!

Well, clearly, it had to be a delivery error. 

I went up to the package tentatively, asking it, 'Are you some kind of  pipe bomb or something?'

(I didn't literally ask it that--I'm just saying that I was thinking that maybe this was some kind of sick joke.  Come ON, people!)

But, NO!  It had my name on it!  In the TO section! 

And in the FROM section....?  Hmmmm...?

No, not George Clooney.  I blocked his packages a long time ago. 

(I'm not going to explain that one; you're on your own.)

No!  It was from someone I LIKE!  It was from someone who ISN'T stalking me (yet) !!

I said to Scout, 'Hey, Skitter-Skoo, Buddha-Boo, Lisker-Lou...  We got a present!!'

And she said:

It was a red-letter moment!

(I do go on, don't I?)


Okay, but seriously, people.  Quit kidding around.  It was so fun!  I couldn't wait to see what it was!  Because, although I'd asked Santa for a new transmission for the car, this didn't seem to have the correct dimensions.  But what the heck.  I decided to open it, anyway!

Friends (a wild assumption on my part), THIS was in the box:

Can you stand it?  Not only was there Andria's signature Scrabble (add here the registered trademark symbol I don't know how to make) tile magnet for my metal desk at work, which proclaims me ARTIST, but there was also a lovely decorated card with message, a fabbo collaged bookmark, and a little bundle of Andria's hand-made envelopes with cards inside, all tied up with candy-cane-striped string!

I'm telling you, every bit of this lovely little package was filled with candy for los ojos.  (I'm not explaining that, either.)  I mean, LOOK at this stitched card, which has a secret message just for ME inside it (not showing it).

And every interesting and colorful envelope has a blank card in it!  Shut UP!  (In a nice way.)  You know (or maybe you don't), I've wanted to make envelopes like these since Andria posted about them on her blog.  Her blog is filled with fun ideas, and great kid stories!

Andria, you have made me a very happy Aunt, Surveyor, Godmother, Sister, Attorney, Taxidermist, Blogging Pal!  Thank you for your kindness and generosity.  And your gift came at a perfect time! 

For one thing, I needed some groovy tissue paper!

A Tree In Montrose

Next Up:  After sealing too many of her fingers inside, Chris gives up on her first handmade-envelopes project.

Giveaway Winner!

I'm telling you, this Christmas Stocking Giveaway was really fun for me.  For one thing, I'd never made a stocking, and now I'm working on more of them!  For another thing, there were a lot of other crafters making stockings and I enjoyed going around to see what their take on the venerable Christmas Stocking was. 

But the cool thing is this:  I had fun making something, and now I can send it off to someone else.  I had 34 comments on my giveaway post, and I put those names in a bowl

(literally: I wrote the names down, I cut slips of paper out, and I folded them up and threw them in a bowl),

and I drew Jodilee123's name!  So now, Jodilee will have a new little stocking to hang or give or take apart and re-assemble into something useful... whatever she wants to do!

Congrats to Jodilee, and thank you to all who visited my little bloglette and looked at my socklette and said good thinglettes.


Next up:  Chris makes a felt pinata.

Hand It To You! (second post of the day)

Can you believe I've kept a promise?  What is happening?!  Has the world gone mad??

But, no!  I promised to share the projects I've been working on from Jill Berry's new book, Personal Geographies, and... here they are!

I introduced Jill's book to you on this post.  I started with the first project, the Head Map.  There's no need to do the projects in order.  They each have a different theme and objective, and they can all be created in multiple ways, so this will not be my only visit to these projects.  The first time doing them, I've been fairly literal, following Jill's lead.  What is so interesting about them, other than the fact I love working with her templates and delving into my own, personal, geography, is how much they each got me to thinking about who I am, where I've been, and where I'm going.  It's the 'You Are Here, Where Did You Start, and What's Your Goal' perspective of cartography!

I hope you'll check out Jill's book to get the full deal on these projects, but I'll show you my first three briefly.

For the Head Map, I used the template provided (as I myself cannot draw ears), and created two head images on vellum.  One reflected how I feel sometimes as an artist, and the other reflects some of my assumptions about other artists.

Combined, they meld together in presenting both these sets of beliefs.  Funny how you realize what silliness is in your head, and also what 'truths' you live by.

For the Body Map, I documented the history of my body, what's it's done and what permanent physical trail that has left on it.

On another sheet of vellum, I journaled around the template figures about those happenings--my car accident, my hula lessons, my varicose veins, my tattoo, my lumbar disk injury, scars, former fashion statements, etc.  I love the look of this project.

Lastly, Jill's Hand Map was the most compelling.  And, judging by the activity among other blogs, it's struck a chord with many people.  Here's Jill's Hand Map:

Isn't this cool-looking?

The Hand Map raises so many different visions for me, and I'll probably be doing this one the most.  I already have a mosiac version in my head.  Jill creates a map, complete with borders and compass rose, and in this instance displays images depicting her family history, her travels, and the vocations of her ancestors.

On mine, I included notes of my own vocations at the fingertips.  I have yet to create my compass rose, but I'm so intrigued about it!  The compass rose can be unique and varied, and a lovely embellishment as well as a directional tool.

I found out about this book when I was browsing at Barnes and Noble.  It was so engaging and gorgeous, I immediately went to BN.com and bought it for around eleven dollars (I'm a BN member, and get coupons and free shipping).  It is so packed full of information, tutorials, and images of other artists' maps, it's definitely going to be among those books that I keep forever and consider an amazing bargain.

I think I'm going to do the paper mache heart mosaic map next.  Unless I do the Place Map.  Or maybe... a map of Scout's sleeping positions?

The first of two posts for the day...

I thought I'd share a bit of our little corner of the recent wind storms that have plagued Pasadena and the valleys of Los Angeles.

Started some clean-up, 

then decided to take a commemorative shot.

It's been a whirlwind of a week, and I don't say that metaphorically!  We had major winds, of nearly hurricane-force, followed by a lot of confusion on the streets, clean-up, the clearing of downed trees, and loss of power to vast swatches of Los Angeles.  I'm an a suburb which suffered power outages for a couple of days, but I have been very lucky.  No trees fell on our house or our cars.  No windows were broken, no water mains burst on us, and the heavy, redwood and steel canopy on our back patio held sway against the massive gusts without crashing into the French doors, simply skootching itself four - six feet to the west.  I can't tell you how relieved we are that the worst thing we had to deal with was loss of power for a while.

We weren't eating any of that meat in the freezer, anyway.

In the city center, our huge, iconic Library Park tree was uprooted just as it was being prepped for holiday lighting.

The roots. 

Luckily, it didn't fall to the east, blocking the street, 

but fell south onto the grounds.

All we had to deal with at our home was cleaning out the pool, and moving the canopy back to the center of the patio.  We moved the grill to the back wall of the house, where a tiny potted pepper plant withstood the gales and didn't blow over.  We put the furniture in the shed.  All is calm, now.

Definitely NOT where we like to have the canopy.

I am thinking of all those who still have no power, whose cars suffered damage, whose property was damaged, and whose animals were frightened or lost.  During winds, storms, Halloween, fireworks, etc., I am always hoping that people will bring their animals inside and give them kindness and patience.  (Pets are NOT creatures to fend for themselves out in nature.  They are domesticated, and they depend upon us for their safety.  Dogs kept exclusively out of doors because people don't want their homes to be 'dirty' are truly unfortunate.)

It's now clear, bright, and crisp!  But I hope we get a new holiday tree at the park!  I will miss this one!

 

Lovin Ewes

I'd like to take a moment while I'm at work to thank everyone for such kind words about my Christmas stocking and my Arboretum pictures, and while I'm at it, thank you for following me through all my stuff.

YAY for stuff followers!!!

Lovin' you guys!


But I can only take a moment, because I'm at work, and at home there is no power, no lights, no phone, no internet, no hot water (except in tap) and all the ice has melted in the ice cube trays. 

Yes.  We have trays. 

THERE'S NO ELECTRICITY!!  There's some kind of mutant wind tarnation goin's on over in the Valley of Los Angeles, and it's wreaking HAVOC!

havock?  havok?  It's MADNESS, I say!


So I'll be back when there's electricity and I can see at night again and make more booties and more Hand Maps from Jill Berry's new book, and I must show you the three projects I've done already and I love her book!  Look it up!


I'm at work, though, so I must go for now.

smooches