wonderful summer days

the past three days and today have just been wonderful as far as the weather is concerned. mid to upper 80's and low humidity. friday we went to radiofest in illinois. i always find bits and pieces to use in my artistic endeavors there. this time was no exception. actually, marc found me some wonderful vintage tubes from about the 20's. they are so beautiful. i am playing with different ideas on what to do with them. jac came along with us. it was a bit warm for him (wearing a fur coat and all), but an ice pack in his carrier did the trick and he and i found a shaded gazebo on the grounds to relax in while marc ventured around the radio flea market extravaganza. 

yesterday marc & i went to the dodge county antique tractor show in burnett corners wisconsin. a nice breeze and low humidity again kept us well enough to walk around the grounds. they also have a flea market full of treasures. i found a dictionary from the 30's - fully illustrated. there is a vendor there that sells beads and stone beads are her specialty. i bought a string of turquiose beads from her. we stopped at a consignment shop along the way there and i found a vintage (50's?) industrial wax paper dispenser and it came with 3 extra unused rolls of wax paper. how wonderful? now to find a place for this in my studio. 

now that i'm getting everything placed in my studio i'm finding space to be a premium. i still want to move one of my bernina's up here as well. i'll have to move out one of the lawyer's bookcases to make room for that. i still have my quilting and cutting area downstairs. that takes up a bit of room and would not fit in here. i received my bottle caps in the mail the other day and want to start drilling on them today. marc says he has the perfect dremel and attachments for me to use. he has a couple of dremels. plus i asked him to dig out his glue gun. he said i could use his rather than buying another. i got more stamps the other day - some whimsical ones from rubbermoon. somewhat halloween oriented. i love it that they send a little "gift" with your shipment. freebies are always welcome. this time i got unmounted stamps. they make storage a bit easier AND they are less expensive to buy this way.

i cannot believe tomorrow is monday already. today i've again got so much to do.  i will try to post later and include some pics. 

stolen moments

i've stolen a few more minutes in the studio. laundry is so putsy. i mean, i'm glad we have the conveniences of washers & dryers, but you just get a load started, start working on something, and you have to put it in the dryer. then you go back to working on a project, and you've got to take it out and fold or hang it and put it away. i can't imagine what our ancestors went through having to spend a whole day doing nothing but laundry. nope. i guess i am grateful for washers and dryers. i do like to hang the laundry outside to dry when it's nice outside. haven't done that in awhile. i need a new clothes hanger outside. 

my card for diana is coming along. when i make one card, i like to make a couple others to have on hand. not identical, but maybe similar colors and embellishments. marc went to bed. the cat (bean) went to bed. the dogs went to bed. just me working for a few minutes before i fold up and call it a night. the weather was nice today. that's good. its been so miserable the past couple of days being humid and intermittent storms.  

tomorrow i've got to call midwest airlines and try to get a refund from them as they've cancelled my flight. i had been very fond of them. take them always unless it was to somewhere they don't fly. that won't be difficult now. plus, i don't particularly care if i fly with them again. they should, at least, send me an e-mail to tell me what is going on. 

sunday's best

i got a lot done today. i finished settling into my new office/studio. i think it will work well. one plus i didn't think of: i can listen to itunes directly on my imac while i work. i do need to put up additional shelving in the closet in here to accomodate all my studio supplies. we went to menards and looked at shelving, but they didn't have exactly what i need. we did get some ideas. marc wasn't all that keen on me moving into the office at first, but now he likes it. he sees that it will work well for me and that it looks better as i can utilize the closet space for storing everything. the doggies are not too thrilled. they think "now my mom lives in the one room." guinness is right now at the door, looking at me. 

i am actually making dinner right now. i have the grill heating up while i boil potatoes, do laundry and blog (isn't technology great). i'm making a birthday card for my friend, diana. usually i stick strictly to a dog theme for her. particularly poodles. however, i'm limited with my poodle supplies on hand and so i'm making a nice little card for her with "peel offs" - little silver stickers that are TINY. flowers, words - they have all kinds. they look nice though. it makes it look special and a little nicer than a store bought card (i think so, at least). 

no sign of kitty again today. i do believe he has moved on...

well, my worse fears about my upcoming trip to orlando have come true. midwest airlines cancelled my flight today. of course, i cannot get through on their phones lines and i'm unable to request a refund online. sucks. i did rebook through airtran airlines, just because i want to make sure to get a direct flight if possible. it happens to be at just about the same exact schedule times as my flight with midwest. now, as long as they don't cancel. i don't want to cancel my entire trip as i've purchase non-refundable tickets to the "not so scary halloween party" for two separate nights. that's about $200 of tickets. i sure hope we enjoy this trip (i know we will). 

so much

i got so much done today. i moved all of my mixed media & stamping supplies from the dining room to the office/studio. i have my new work table all set up, the closet set up to store my supplies and everything is laid out. of course, now i'm wiped! marc has to finish cleaning up his area, but it is out of my work area. just need to finish tidying up so it looks better. i found a box in the office when i was cleaning it out to make room for my studio supplies - it contained stuff from my old house, packed up when we moved in january 2000. there were many photos and slides. even baby (puppy) pics of my guinness. cool. i can't wait to work on projects tomorrow. i have a ton of ideas to flesh out.

still no kitty. i even put food out again. no one's touched it. i think he moved on. 

flowers and butterfly wings

alright, i am over due for some photos. let me try to make that up to you. first we have a photo taken of my current project: flowers and butterfly wings. it is pfd fabric, to which i have applied using gel medium - clip art butterflies printed onto bond paper. this is then painted with textile paint with layers, and i've drawn the flowers and then painted with more textile paint. i still have more painting to do. here is a shot of my basement studio. a section of it, anyway. it is a mess! if it looks in a disarray - you can thank my cat, beanie. she loves to rearrange things.

well, that is what i've been up to lately. working on this project. i am following directions from the latest cloth paper scissors (actually last two issues, its a two parter!) from the artist, judy coates perez. she makes little houses, bird houses and the like. i haven't decided if i'm going to make houses or what with my painted cloth, but i am having a blast. with the extra long weekend i hope to get further along. i'll keep you posted.

heres a photo of the little garden that marc and i planted this last weekend. you can see our "barn" in the backyard. inside it we have a farmall cub tractor. marc will be taking it out soon, i'll be sure to post photos. i know, i changed the template format again. sorry (unless you like it) i like to change things up every so often. if you're one who is not fond of the black background, don't worry, lighter color will come back soon. i just feel like black right now.

good day

i can't believe it's monday already. the weekend just flies by every time. yesterday was mother's day, so besides everything else to do, we had marc's mom over for dinner. it was nice though. i made chicken marsala, with asparagus and buttermilk mashed potatoes. for dessert, i had made carrot cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting. delicious. i use fresh, organic products whenever i can. i am using up the organic carrots i got back in december from the csa i belong to - they are still delicious! i cannot believe how many carrots i get through that place. i still have quite a few left actually. i guess i'll need to make more carrot cake. 

 i did get a little bit of time in the studio yesterday afternoon. i had gone to artist and display art store on saturday, and again on sunday - as i found out they had a big sale going on. when they have a sale, its usually a good one. i got some textile paints by jacquard, some golden fluid paints (on sale), golden acrylic medium & glaze (on sale), some brushes (on sale), some collage elements, and a book on acrylic paints which covers color mixing. i am working on painting more right now, but my bernina is calling me. i must sew and quilt again. it's been too long. yesterday i did some painting on fabric and coffee filters. i like working with coffee filters. i'm saving up tea bags too and want to incorporate them into my work. my problem is that i get pulled into too many directions with my work. which technique to use? they are all so cool and fun! one thing at a time. even when i find techniques that work for me, i'm off to try the next one i read about and off i go - in search of supplies and materials. all i need is more time to dedicate to my new found techniques. develop them, nurture them and then incorporate them into my work. i am looking forward to the upcoming workshop with beryl taylor. i have another favorite artist to add to my list: judy coates perez. I'll put a link to her artist blog on my blog. excellent & inspiring stuff!

11:00 p.m. another busy day it's been. i almost forgot that i had made a lunch date with my friend, linda, today. thank goodness for outlook reminders at work! i'd forget my head sometimes. i can't function without my calendars, online and of course, my franklin planner. it's my bible, so to speak. my life is coordinated in it. dinner was a simple soup, made from ingredients on hand & in the pantry. i can usually whip something up if i put my mind to it. it's when i'm running so late with work that we go out to eat. quicker to run to the restaurant than cook a meal. more tomorrow. i'll pay for my late night tonight, tomorrow. i'll be exhausted.