In the Midst Of Run Amuck, Beached, Stranded by the tide......

There is a saying that is particularly pertinent to my plight that I think many of you may be able to relate too! It is said that when one is really cleaning and reorganizing (hate that word) "It always gets much worse before it gets better." Do you know this phrase??? Then you know exactly where I'm at!!!

I have decided to post some pictures in a last ditch attempt to get myself to focus on the situation that I have very successfully managed to avoid. Before Christmas there was the obvious, and very handy excuse. I had to finish gifts, Deal with the mess later. I have been trying very hard to work on it a little bit at a time giving myself a very small space where I can take a break and work on some journal pages or some such little project. This was all well and good and I actually got some things done but I found that I was spending too much time on the little projects and pretending that the Gnomes had arrived to rescue me from my mountain of mess. So by posting pictures of it at it's worst, I will feel obligated to get it done so I can post pictures of it all better!!!!

So here itis! There are a total of five (5) flat surfaces that are supposed to be clear for use as work surfaces. Don't see ANY, do you??? I am so very lucky to have such a wonderful space but I think that I almost have too much space- I can keep spreading! Not anymore- I am actually getting rid of stuff!! I heard that collective intake of breath as you all said "Oh NO"!! But I have got to do this!!! I feel guilty having so much space and taking such horrid care of it!!!!

So now I will share some of my progress.

My fabrics are all sorted by color- the bins are a bit small but we will rectify that soon. The fabric is on the opposite end of the room from the sewing center but as soon as I can clear a path and a space, the fabrics will move down to the sewing area.

Here I have gone thru all of my tubs and actually labeled the clear boxes with the contents. In the past I had thought that clear boxes alone would solve the problem- you can see what is in there- Not So Much!! So Now I have labeled the boxes!! This is huge for me!!

This remains!! I made alot of progress today, sorting through boxes of bits and pieces but nothing that will show in a picture.

Here are the journal page backgrounds that I also worked on during my Mess Breaks.

You see, when one cleans up, one finds cool stuff!! I added some color washes to some Gesso resist pages that I unearthed and I used some not so successful fabric-paper as a background on another page. These will all have lot's more added to them but they are ready to go when the Art Journal bug bites. (BTW have you seen the New Art Journaling Mag by Stampington??? Awesome!!! ) Check out the great articles by Julie Prichard of Lost Luggage fame and Ingrid Dijkers piece on page embellisments!! These gals are so terrific and I am thrilled to be able to call them art pals!!

I have also been working on a beaded bracelet cuff and here is a picture of it in progress.

If anyone has a stash of old metal toothed zippers that they don't know what to do with, I would love to do a trade!! (There could be a small muse bird in it!!!)

Just so you all know that I can NEVER do anything completely by myself- here is proof!! (The dogs even try to follow me into the bathroom!! i thought that I could getaway with at least doing that by myself once the kids grew up!!! NOT!!!!!!)

I did manage to get the bead box on my lap Closed before DISASTER ( I mean Pepper) climbed up!! Buddy was less than amuzed!!!

Enough fooling around, back to the task at hand!!

Watercolor Show ( well, sort of!)

My very first watercolor painting has been hung in a show at Liberty Town Artist's Center in Fredericksburg , Va. This is a student show so there were no strenuous crtieria to meet- pretty much a gimme! But heck, an exibit is an exhibit, right! I am mainly excited aobut finally having gotten the piece framed!!

It actually resembles a real painting now that it is framed!! It was pretty high up on the wall and on top of some display cases so it was kind of hard to get at all close to it. We had the opportunity to sell the pieces if we wished, but I decided that I had worked too hard on it and that no one could value it as much as I, so it was not for sale.

This show is taking place in the same area where I have my birds and pincushions and jewelry for sale. In this picture you can see some of the things that are for sale. Hopefully there will be a good turn out for this show and people will see some pieces that they simply MUST have!

Here is a close up of the painting ,nude. (without frame- closeup)

I am taking another class with my friend Ariel in February, so maybe by the time the garden is in full bloom again I can paint more of my own photos!!

Felting Frenzy on the First

Here it is, as promised, Becca's second needle felted friend, the rabbit! Didn't she do a fabulous job!! Becca is very intrigued by several of the comments that were left asking when she was going to open an Etsy site!! She is going to keep practicing and then we might just give it a try!! htank you for all of the wonderful comments that you have left for her! You have put a big "Yes I Can" smile on her face!!!!!!

I may have to ask if I can have him- I just love him!! I have always loved rabbits and I collect them. I have rabbits on my Christmas tree, rabbit statues in my garden and a beautiful rabbit porcelain mirror that my husband gave me before we got married. My rabbits have to be a certain kind of rabbit though, I don't like the super cutesy ones, unless they are vintage! As a child I loved Beatrix Potter books with all of her marvelous illustrations. That reminds me, have you seen the movie, Miss Potter?? I highly reccomend it ! Rene Zellwiger stars as Beatrix and she is fabulous!! Even my husband likes the movie so that takes it out of the Chick Flick category!! It is really a must see!

I think that she is planning on making an owl next!

I have been finishing up some felting projects as well. I have made three pincushions to sell at Liberty Town in fFredericksburg. I love functional art and I think that these might really appeal to either seamstresses or jewelry wearers.

I am using one in my bedroom for holding my hook style earrings. The wool is easily pierced by the hooks and earrings are kept neat and tidy ( I can hear my mother snickering here as I am not the most neat and tidy person) and the jewelry adorns the cushion as well!

Here is another:

This one has one of my scrappy beaded beads in the center.

This one was made from a Fair Isle sweater. All of them are made from wol pieces of clothing that I have picked up at Thrift stores.

Happy New Year!!!

Here it is December 31, new years Eve for all of us in this Hemisphere. For all of my wonderful Aussie friends ,I hope that you had a lovely New Year, are safe and happy and snugg in your beds!! I have just seen some lovely pictures of the Fire Works over the Sydney Opera House-quite beautiful!!!

I wish everyone a wonderful, healthy and happy New year and bring on 1-20-09!!!! We are so desperately in need of getting on with things here in the US and with getting the Obama's safely into the White House to begin the CHANGE process that EVERYONE in our country and indeed the WORLD, SO DESPERATLY NEED!!!!

I have finally gotten to the point where I have some Muse Birds to put into my Etsy Shop!!!! I have just listed them and you can see all of the details here.

This is one of the Muse Birds.

And here is the other. As you can see ,I was trying to take photos of the birds out side. It was quite a challenge to get good pictures as the breeze was a lot stronger than it appeared. It occurred to me that these birds would look lovely hanging from branches if one were having an event out of doors. To have several birds winging about, would add such a lovely touch for a Garden Party , luncheon or tea or even a Little Girl's Fairy Birthday party!! Wouldn't that be fanciful and fun????? HMMMMMM, that gets me thinking that I might put together sets to sell at a discounted price just for that purpose. I had best add this idea to my Art Journal while I have a grasp of it, otherwise it will fly away on the breeze as well!!!!

Well ,I am off to deliver some more Muse Birds for sale at Liberty Town in Fredericksburg. Then I plan to come home and make some Swedish Coffee Bread for my guys. I usually make this lucious treat for Christams but I did not get a chance this year. So we will have it in the morning for our New Years brunch!

All of my very Best Wishes to all of you who stop by my blog !! Thank you for all of the wonderful comments that you leave and for all of the wonderful things that you share on all of your blogs. I am continually amazed at how much blogging continues to enrich my life!!!

Let us all try to BE The Change WE Wish To See In The World!!!!!

Felted Critters!!

My daughter, Becca, who you have met in previous posts, has been looking for a hobby. She wants a project that is all her own. She is not too interested in what I am doing, but I have been trying to give her options and ideas that might spark her interest. She absolutely loves animals and can spend hours by herself playing very elaborate imaginative games with her "critters', up in her room, either by herself or with her friend Megan. I love the fact that she has such a vivid and marvelous imagination and that she is not afraid to share it. Her skills are starting to spill over into the writing that she does for her school assignments and she is getting lots of positive feedback from her teachers!

To give her another suggestion for a possible hobby, for Christmas, I gave her a book called Wool Pets. It is a wonderful book about creating little animals with wool using felting needles. She was very intrigued and did not immediately reject the idea- A BIG step!!! Yesterday I got out all of the supplies and the roving and she picked a project from the book. Of course, ithe project she chose was a cat and it was one of the more difficult examples in the book.. On ward!!! I didn't try to talk her out of it- I did not want to poison the project!!!!

I showed her how to safely use the needles to work and shape the wool ,and let her go. We had one minor glitch when she poked herslf with the barbed needle! Once she saw that she was bleeding, she got pretty upset. She managed to calm down and with a bit of prodding she kept on going!! PHEW!!! I thought that we were done!!

The little cat is a bit wonkey for the first try but he has tons of character and she is very proud of him!! She went off on her own and added some colored wool in patches and added some shaping to make the little guy her own!!

She has plans today to create a rabbit!! I'll keep you all posted!!

Some Christmas Images

We have had a very nice quiet Christmas this year. No one has been sick, we did not overdue anything, we cut back and simplified alot and we gave much more to those who have real, basic needs and it is all good!!! On Christmas Eve we had dinner with my husband's family and then came back home for the night and Christmas morning here at home. Despite a last dash on my part to finish up one last gift while Tom made the traditional cornmeal pancakes, everything was a big success!!

Here are a few more unusual images from our day.

We were asked to bring dessert to my mothir-in-laws, something simple. I was thinking cookies, Becca was thinking Snowman Cupcakes!!! I had never seen these before never mind made them, but she had discovered them in one of her cookbooks. So, not being one to stomp on creative whims, we made a list and got all of the ingredients. WE took the snowmen, under construction , as they would not have survived the trip intact. They were 4 tiers high when their hats were atop their heads!!

Here is Becca with her creations. These were not your last minute throw together quick dessert. They were sticky and messy to make but they turned out great and were the hit of the meal!! Becca did all of the faces and put the pieces together after Mom frosted them and rolled them in coconut.

The frowning snowman on the left is big brother and main target, Matthew!! At the table we had 5 kids, ages 22 to 12, with Becca being the youngest. Then there were three adult fathers who act like teenagers, so you can imagine that the dessert conversation and activity revolved around role playing with dismembered snowmen and then evolved into basketball with half full water glasses and See's Candy Chocolate balls. There was not a dry eye in the house and we all had stomach aches from all of the silliness- you have to admit that laughter and silliness are some of the very best gifts to give and to recieve!!!

Next ,I have a picture of my small grapevine tree that I decorate with special ornaments made by other artists, that I have recieved in swaps. I made this tree 20 years ago on a mountainside in New Hampshire at the home of my wonderful friends, the Joneses. Their daughter Rebecca and I are as close as sisters and she is my Rebecca's godmother and namesake. She and I gathered the grapevine and wrapped it and wove it into and around a chicken wire base. This tree is tough!!! This little tree has survived 18 moves around the country and only this year did I have to staple the tree back onto it's base! I LOVE this little tree!!

Some of the ornaments are a bit big for it but that does not matter. They were each made for me, so this is where they belong. Next year I am going to have to get another tree, perhaps make another one ,as this one cannot bear another decoration. This tree sits in the entry way so all can see it!

Here is a shot of my 'LITTLE GIRL" -not so much, drifting off to sleep during the traditional reading of the Christmas Stories after dinner at Grandma's house. The Stories include: The Grinch, The Night Before Christmas , and from the Bible; Luke.

One would have thought that with all of the sugar from Snowman cupcakes , she would have been bug eyed- not so much!!She will always be this Mom's baby girl!!!

And now for Buddy, the Wonder Dog!! Buddy thinks that he is a German Shepard of the largest size and has the attitude to prove it! He is king of the house yet loves to snuggle and runs for cover if you raise your voice. He is a piece of work and a constant source of enjoyment! For Christmas we recieved a special gift because of Mr. Attitude.

Here he is sitting in the chair gazing out the front window to be sure that no one steps into his yard!!!! Can't you just hear him yelling, "You kids stay off of MY LAWN!!!!" The sign is just a riot!!!

This morning he was following the sun as it moved across the back of the house. He went from sunspot to sunspot dragging his new Bungey Dog toy behind him.

What would we do without our wonderful pet friends?????

I will be back soon with some new art to share. In the meantime, I am working very hard to reorder and reorganize my work space.

Bird Assemblages

A While ago I created some more Bird Assemblages to send off to a Christams Gallery Show in Reston Virginia. I have not sharred them yet so I thought that I would now. They seem to be very popular and I am very pleased !! In fact I am planning to make more to sell on my Etsy Site, in the New Year.

I think that this is my favorite from this batch! I used an old pair of costume earrings for the wings. I painted them and sanded thema bit and they were totally transformed!

The feet on this one are made from the recycled glass beads made by the TB patients in Tanzania.

I have also started using decorative tins from Thrift stores or goodwill to make the wings. It took me a while to deconstruct the tins (if you do this be sure that you were thick gloves at all times!!). With a good pair of snips and heavy gloves , it was quite easy and the patterns that one can find are wonderful!

Today is the Winter Solstice! A very important day in the history of mankind. I have several close friends who commemorate this day. It also signifies the shortest day of the year and the first Day of winter- hard to believe for some of you buried in snow. We awoke to an icey display of winter beauty. Fortunately it was not heavy enough to break branches and down trees and the temps are due to rise to the forties by the afternoon.

As it is the shortest day of the year, I am excited because it means that the days will be getting longer and my favorite season will be approaching. I love being cozy inside working on projects or baking or even doing dreaded chores, while all of the family are safe and around me, but Spring is the season that I glory in!!

So for all of you who are readying for Christams, carry on and enjoy the festivities of the season. Keep those in your heart and mind who are struggling and alone, perhaps lend an extra hand when you can. For those who celebrtae the Solstice, make merry and spread your light and remeber those who do not see any light and lend a hand where you can!

I wish you all peace, good health and great art and inspiration in the New Year. If you must travel, please be safe, take your time and make good choices. I want to send a special thank you to all of you who visit my blog, who leave comments or not. It means more to me than I can adequately express!!

Warm Winter Hugs to you all!

Elizabeth