Clean Sheets

There is something so soothing about a just made bed. It seems to invite you to climb between it's clean sheets and nap the day away.





My house seems to be in an alternate reality today. My normally impeccable craft room is trashed, and the rest of the house, which is normally trashed, is impeccably clean. Weird.

Paper Labor

I've spent a lot of time this weekend with paper. My stock of picture clippings has been running low for quite some time; so, I spent the better part of the weekend replenishing it. This basically requires me pulling out all my magazines, new and old, and going through them to see if any of the images catch my eye. If one does I pull it out, trim it up and file it away lickety split.



It's the kind of work that tends to spread out as you do it. A couple hours in and I'd already moved from my craft table to the floor. I love how the pages look layered all on top of each other.



The Airman kindly took some pictures of me laboring. . .



. . . and finishing.



Hope you had a good weekend.

What I Had for Dessert Last Night

So yes, this is a "what I had for dessert last night" post, as you can probably see by the title, and if you didn't notice that I'm sure the pictures were a dead give away.



The Airman dubbed this "Warm Krispie with Cold Ice Cream" because it is essentially a warm rice krispie treat with a couple scoops of cold ice cream on top - he's a very literal man. Anyways, the name doesn't do it justice because it is an absolutely delicious treat, and I could go into detail but I think you'll just have to try it yourself.



Yummmm!

Radio Silence

It's been a long week. I've been dealing with all the crap that comes with trying to get paperwork done in the military and I'm plain worn out. Thank the Lord it wasn't as bad as my epic adventure into procuring a military passport, cause I don't think I'd be able to survive something like that twice in my lifetime.
Instead I'm merely trying to volunteer at the local school, a little tutoring, some help with extracuriculars. That's just peachy, but first you need to fill out this seven page packet and complete two, count em, two background checks to prove your not some crazed, homicidal maniac. Apparently, no good deed goes unpunished.
I probably wouldn't have gotten it done if I didn't have this amazingly, scary lady to go to bat for me. She got done in five minutes what I couldn't accomplish in a day. I swear you could almost hear everybody's pulse start to race as soon as she walked in the room.

In the end, and what I was trying to explain with this whole big, long, rambling story, is that it's been four days of radio silence and all I have to show for it is some pretty pictures from my inspiration book I just took about five minutes ago.
Enjoy!

Cabin Series: Stately

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my craft table. Well, I love it: deeply, strongly, wholeheartedly - it's the stools I hate. I've spent a lot of time lately, drawing, writing, collaging at that craft table and I've slowly come to realize how uncomfortable those wooden stools can be. It would be a crying shame to have a love as pure as mine soiled by a pair of god awful stools; so I'm thinking a cushion is in order. (Now I just have to figure out how to get my hands on a sewing machine.)



This drawing is called Stately. (Not really sure why. Thinking it's because the name rolled well off my tongue.) It's what's been keeping me seated at my craft table over the past few days, and the root cause of my back pain. I would be annoyed with it if I didn't like it so much.






Off to continue my Burn Notice marathon. I'm obsessed, it's delightful.

Drawing Spring

This morning the sun made a valiant effort to break through the clouds to little success, it's as gray as ever outside, but it was beautiful to watch it struggle.



Inside the colors are as bright and cheery as a spring day. My colored pencils have become my lifeboat that will hopefully carry me to sunnier weather.




What are you doing to keep the winter blues at bay?

Cabin Series: Pasture

I don't know why, but for some reason this picture reminds me of my Grandparent's old farm. It was such a fun place to go and visit as a kid. It had wonderful nooks and crannies everywhere, perfect for hiding in or stashing secrets, and enough climbing trees to keep you busy for hours.



Then there was the barn; which had it's own aura of fascination and mystery. I remember smells of hay and dust and long ago animals tickling my nose as soon as I walked through the door. Once inside my sisters and I could play hide-and-seek or treasure hunt through the twisted remains of farm equipment. all the while the floors and walls would creak, and the wind would whistle spookily through the spaces between the boards making delicious shivers run up my spine.

Paper Nature

Stealing the Airman's "Field and Stream" cause I like the pictures of the animals. (Go figure.)




Keeping it short cause I'm not feeling so well today. Here's to hoping all will be well tomorrow.

Cabin Series

Yes, that is a picture of me drawing and, yes, that is really how my craft table looks after a weekend of no cleaning. The picture was taken by the Airman Sunday afternoon. The normally pristine surface of my workday craft table, come Saturday, turns into a minefield of empty tea cups, inspiration books, yarn, hook, pencil sharpener, tape, paper and now drawing utensils. Monday morning tends to find me, armed with shovel, unearthing my table from the clutter.



I might have steered clear of my bio-hazard of a craft room this weekend if I hadn't just bought myself a new pack of colored pencils. I haven't owned a set of colored pencils in years and I was eager to try them out. This was the result.





Say hello to my new project "The Cabin Series".

A Slow Saturday

The most delicious fruit smoothies.



Soft, beautiful light



English tea.

A Change in Light

Today the sky is leaden and pouring rain. There is a such a change in light from the other day that I have to try to catch it with my camera.

Drawn to the Light

I've been following the sun around my house all day.
I found it playing on the walls in the early morning hours.




By ten it had turned my windows in to beacons of light and I found myself drawn to them again and again.




Eventually the allure was to strong and I bundled up for a brisk walk.

Julieta is Like the Sun

I was greeted by the sun this morning. He winked at me cheekily between wispy bits of clouds and my heart warmed to see him.




Wishes of light and warmth to you in your part of the world.

Learning and Discovering

Say hello to my new yarn and hook. It's what I'll be learning to crochet with . . . hopefully. I'll admit to being entirely baffled when I went to the store yesterday and saw all the different kinds of yarn and hooks you can buy. How am I supposed to know what yarn is for what and what kind of hook goes with it?




Eventually I just picked out a yarn that felt soft in my hands and was a good color - this green will match my living room when I'm finished decorating it. Delighted, I saw that it stated the size hook you needed right on the packaging; but you probably already knew that.



So far all I've learned to do is chain. I've been chaining and pulling it out, chaining and pulling it out all morning; waiting for when the hook feels comfortable in my hand, and the yarn slips through my fingers with ease, before I move on to the next step. I can see now why so many people derive life lessons from this craft, it requires a lot of patience.
I found myself slipping into a peacefully rhythm as I worked. As I'm still learning I had to keep my attention entirely focused on what I was doing, but I imagine that later on, when the catch-pull-slip becomes second nature, my mind will be able to wander - a bit like meditating. I look forward till then.