Getting Back Into the Creative Swing of Things

As I acknowledged in my report on what I did this summer, it is time for me to get back to the creative life, which we all know is easier said than done.  So today, as I was eating  zucchini bread (which I baked myself as part of my summer vacation) and watching LA Ink I decided to revisit some unfinished projects.

• Numero Uno: Hand Embroidered Seven Deadly Sins (in Latin) Cocktail Napkins. I am halfway through my seventh sin, Superbia, aka Pride. I am thinking I will finish these tonight and enjoy cocktails with them this weekend.
• Numero Dos: A Picture Book for Wee-One. This is an oldy, but a goody.  I need to put more work into my picture book for W.O.  She LOVES books.
• Numero Tres: Sun prints.  It is raining today.

My creative cogs are rusty, but hopefully I will get going soon.  If all else fails, I am taking a letterpress class with Dikko Faust, founder of the Purgatory Pie Press, which begins at the end of September.  If that does not get me going, I am a lost cause.

What I Did During My Summer Vacation

I clearly remember having moments throughout my childhood when I would think about how one day, as a grown-up, I would no longer have a summer vacation.  I knew that I would leave school and say “Goodbye” to three hot months of little obligation.  Little did I know that even as an adult I would still spend those three hot months a little differently than the other nine.  I would shirk responsibilities that were safe to shirk.  I would space out.  I would succumb to my impulsive nature.

I know summer is upon us when I start thinking about fresh corn from farmstands and all things nautical. I know summer is winding down when I think about trips to Western Massachusetts and plaid.

This summer, like most summers, I switched gears and all my usual activities (blogging, arting and crafting, tweeting, promoting, and selling) were tabled, and this is what I did during my summer vacation:

• I read the following books in this order: Parachutes and Kisses, Inventing Memory: A Novel of Mothers and Daughters, sTori Telling, Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, Whacked, Beverly Hills Adjacent, Girls in Trucks, The Group, Commencement, and A Good Man is Hard To Find.
• I traveled to our beach house with friends and had friends visit NYC.
• I ran into friends from days of yore all over town.
• I took my mother rafting in the Adirondacks.  We also went ziplining.
• I visited my father at “The Farm” where he and his girlfriend have alpacas, ducks, and peacocks.  While upstate, we went to a county fair.
• My mother’s partner and I threw a party for my mother’s sixtieth birthday.
• I ate too much ice cream.
• And most importantly, I played, played, played with Wee-One.

What I did this summer was live in the moment. I rarely stopped to take a picture and I never to stopped to write because I just wanted the fully experience being in the “here and now.”

But autumn must be approaching because I am contemplating going to the Upper East Side to browse at Ralph Lauren, and my thoughts keep straying from the present to the past and the future. I am full of nostalgia and I am making plans for our recently booked fall trip to Western Massachusetts. I am no longer in “the here and now.”

So as to not get lost and to regain focus, I will pick up where I left off in June. It is time to learn, make, and write. So for those of you wondering, yes, this blog entry is a return, not a goodbye.

What is Life Without A Crown?

Many moons ago, I mentioned stuggling with a crown design for my Wee-One’s birthday party.  Well I completed it ages ago, fell in love with it and have finally gotten around to making it available to everyone through my Etsy shop.

The crown is made of sterling silver round wire, and it’s design was inspired by  avant-garde headpieces designed by Alexander Calder.

It secures in the back with fabric ribbon that has some elastic, which means it can be securely tied on, and easily taken off.

Each crown is made to order, costs $36 plus shipping and is available here. If you do not see a listing, send me an email, leave a comment, or contact me through my Etsy shop and I will arrange an order for you too!

The High Line

Yesterday D, Wee-One, and I made visited the newly opened and highly anticipated High Line.  According to the Friends of The High Line:

The High Line was built in the 1930s, as part of a massive public-private infrastructure project called the West Side Improvement. It lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan’s largest industrial district. No trains have run on the High Line since 1980. Friends of the High Line, a community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 when the historic structure was under threat of demolition. Friends of the High Line works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park.

The park is amazing.  The sky was grey, grey, grey, but I brought my camera anyway.

A Beautiful Belated Birthday Gift

Check these out: These are my zenblocks and I love them. They are handmade from sustainable urban harvested walnut in a small town in Idaho. If you are really patient you can create an arch. I actually have two sets. I love to play with them. My daughter is not very good about sharing her blocks -  now I have my own. I share mine though.  You should totally have your own set to build with, admire, and share too. You can buy zenblocks on Etsy.

Speaking of Etsy, I have not totally forgotten my own little shop.  Keep your eyes peeled for a special new listing.

My First Layer Love Lesson

I have been reclusive as of late. My camera is still in the shop. I have been making stuff, just keeping it to myself.

Today however, I did something new. I completed Lesson 1 of Julie Prichard’s online Layer Love Class. I had some troubles – mixing paint is not something I am good at, but I really enjoyed layering reds and purples and blackish.  The scan is a little wonky because I am painting in a bound book. This excercise also proved to be a good outlet for my crazy brain.  Thank you Julie.

Turning a Black Thumb Green

I love all things domestic. Some people say it is because I am a Taurus. Some say people say I inherited my passion for all things domestic from my grandmothers. I love to try new recipes, to decorate my house, to make pretty things just for the sake of being pretty, and I love to garden.

I moved to Washington DC in the spring of 2001 and I had my first outdoor space ever. It was a small balcony that faced southeast. Although I had been a perpetual killer of houseplants, I thought I could hack it as a container gardener. I had the help of green-thumbed friend, and I planted an herb garden. No one told me parsley grows like a weed – I wound up with a ton of parsley and not much else. Black-thumb be-damned!  I was going to garden.

Even though I am a city dweller, I have been fortunate enough to have a balcony everywhere I have lived since Spring 2001. Each spring I try my hand at container gardening and each year I get better. Three summers ago I managed to keep my garden beautiful until the heat of summer cooked my flowers in July. Last spring my hosta came back for a second year and my flowers made it until August.  This spring my hosta came back again!

Right now I have pots of petunias and pansies; pots of lettuces; calla lilies and dahlias; sweet basil and Italian parsley.

I boned up on my gardening by reading Garden Everywhere by Alys Fowler and reading The Complete Container Garden by David Joyce. The first is an informative and easy read covering the whole gamut of gardening EVERYWHERE and the latter is more useful in learning about specific plants.

Fowler’s book inspired me to be more thoughtful in my plant selections and to definitely grow my own lettuce.  Last year I picked lettuce from my stepmother’s garden and made a salad that was heavenly.  Who knew lettuce could be so good? Fresh lettuce is AMAZING, and  surprisingly easy to grow in small, shallow containers.

Fowler also imparted a handy watering-while-away tip. (I found this free DIY tip to be very handy  because I take tons of short trips during the summer.)  Take a plastic beverage bottle, cut off the bottom, and put about 5 holes into the cap.  Fill the bottle with water and stick it cap down into the soil.  Then go away for the weekend and let gravity water your plants.

Maybe this summer I will keep my plants flowering through the whole summer and into fall!

Getting Ready for Summer Vacation

I opened the beach house with my mother yesterday. Waiting for the ferry was a perfect half hour.

Layer Love

Paint, scares me, but I want to love it.  If you go way back with this blog, you might know that.  But I love the depth that paint can add to a mixed media piece and desperately want to learn how to add layers like one Ms. Julie Prichard at The Land of Lost Luggage.

That is why I am considering signing up for her amazing new online class, Layer Love.  Want to learn more?  Want to watch an amazingly giggle worthy promotional video?  Ya, you do.

Mixed Media Painting with artist Julie Prichard from Julie Prichard on Vimeo.

So what are you waiting for?! Sign up for Layer Love now!

Happy Mother’s Day: Monogrammed Hankies for Mom

Every May my eyes glance past a million and one ads for gifts for Mother’s Day, and I say to myself, “not my mother.” My mother does not drink tea, she does not like spas, she does not wear a fragrance (or makeup), she does not care for jewelry. My mom likes to keep her wardrobe simple, she is a voracious reader, a collector of pens and smart bags. She LOVES gadgets. She also buys herself the things she wants as soon as she wants them.

However, she does carry a hankie with her at most times.  (I was surprised to learn this, because when I was a kid, she never carried tissues, much less a hankie.)  So for Mother’s Day, I designed a snazzy monogram for her (you know me and monograms) and I used my new embroidery prowess to hand embroider that snazzy monogram on some men’s hankies for my mom.

I hope she loves them!  Happy Mother’s Day moms!