A Little Rusty But Still In The Game

Hi you guys!

LOOK!



So you may have noticed, I completely lost my mojo for a while there.  Thankfully, (and I mean, I am REALLY grateful) it's coming back... at first just a trickle, but now I seem to back to my standard "barrage of ideas, not enough time to execute them because my pesky kids keep wanting supper.  EVERY NIGHT."

At any rate, I knew I was getting back in the groove when I started looking at used envelopes at work with lust in my eye.  Suddenly, throwing out all those vast expanses of pristine, beautiful kraft paper seemed so WASTEFUL!  NO!  It must not be allowed to happen!  I could MAKE something with that!  My nostrils may have flared.

Of course, I'm limited at work, both in time and materials, but I tore up one big envelope and folded it into this accordion to glue into my journal.  The winter tent photo I found in a trade magazine at work, and since the colours were totally irresistible, I ripped it out to add to my inspiration file.  Yes, I'm a big garbage picker, don't judge.

Once I got home, I glued the photo onto the envelope and set out to see if I could duplicate it with pencil crayons.  I find that trying to copy something is always a good learning experience.  Not just for my future career in counterfeiting or forgery if I ever get bored of the financial services sector... but also because once I figure out HOW something is done, then I can go ahead and adapt it to my own style.  You know, once I figure out exactly what "my own style" is. 

Then on the back, I went back to my other true love: making lists.  (Wait, maybe THAT'S my style...?)

Nothing soothes the soul like a good numbered list.  Plus it's nice to get all that clutter out of my head and down on paper.  Now my head is completely empty, save for the sound of the wind whistling through.

I wish.

No, my head is full of a new jumble of to-dos, thoughts, plans, worries and ideas.  But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Love Shelley!

Blaque Jaque Shellaque

Guess who kept me company this morning while I was getting ready for work?

He's probably cooking up a dastardly plot right now. 

I don't even know what I mean

Okay!  I'm back.  Sorry for the long break - I could regale you with excuses or I could show you some pictures.... which would you like?

I KNEW IT!  Okay, let's go! 

Last month I had the opportunity to work in a themed traveling journal.  Our assignment was to do a "sign-in" page that said a little about ourself, then one or two pages on the theme of "LOVE".   Once it's finished, it will be sold to raise money for charity. 

For the sign-in page, I kept right on with my circles-and-rays obsession:

And then for the themed page I did, this is what happened:

There's a coat of crackle on the page, which adds an amazing amount of texture, I think I'll have to try that again soon!

As for what I wrote, well.  I'm sure a psychiatrist would have a field day with that, but I don't really know why I wrote it or where it came from.  It just sort of... spilled out onto the page.  I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually but in the meantime, I've sent the journal off on its way to Minnesota for the next person to make her mark.

Stay tuned; there's more to come!

Love Shelley!

How quickly things change

So yesterday was basically the Worst Day Ever.  I'll spare you my rant, but the picture below is EXACTLY how I felt last night, no word of a lie.  I didn't feel all that much better when I got up this morning and I must say: strong emotion REALLY makes a page come together quickly.  HA! 

It's not fancy but it really says it all:

Things are mostly back to normal now, but there's a piece of pie in the fridge with my name on it, just in case.

Love Shelley!

F I E R C E

Once upon a time, people used to tell me I was "too independent."  It wasn't a compliment.

Of course, with marriage and children, day-to-day routines and commitments, my tendency to "pick my battles" and basically just the passage of time, my fiery independence has mellowed out somewhat.

Then this past week, I had a sudden flare-up of my old determination and spirit.  It actually made me feel a bit more sparkly than usual, which just reminded me that maybe I need to be "too independent" just a little more often.  I made this page before I could forget that swaggery feeling.  Wait, is 'swaggery' even a word?  Never mind, you know what I mean. 

 

It seemed like the perfect time bust out some graffiti-style writing.  I'm not so far gone that I'd dare to do this on an actual WALL, mind you - but I did daydream about it briefly.  Heh. 

Now I really can't wait to see what next week will bring!

Love Shelley!

So let's just keep this between us, okay?

So I know this is kind of personal, and she'd probably be PISSED if she knew I was sharing this, but my 8-year-old daughter has more than her share of irrational fears, and they traditionally bother her the most at bedtime.  I really try to be patient with her and reassure her that a lot of what she's scared of, could not possibly happen, or, if a particular fear IS semi-realistic, we work through the worst-case scenarios together and try to bring some reason to the situation.  But for a while there, things were getting kind of ridiculous:

"I'm scared that woodticks will get into the house and try to get me."
"I'm scared that a bear will come and break my window and get into my room."
"I'm scared that lightning will hit our house"  (this on a perfectly clear night)

One thing I'll say for her, she has an AMAZING imagination.  Anyway, one night after she finally went to sleep at 10:45pm, my own imagination got sparked up, probably because she was coming up with something new and different every single night for a while there.

I don't know, I think he's kind of cute!  I know you can't tell but his teeth and eyes are all shiny because I used a Glaze pen on them.  I'm especially proud of his nostrils and tail. 

Yeah, I know, now I'M being ridiculous.  SOMETIMES IT'S A COPING MECHANISM, OKAY? 

: )

Love Shelley!

Nope! Not done with these yet.

Here's an envelope I was working on last night.  There are many, many layers on here since I kept changing my mind on what I wanted it to look like - and it never seemed quite "done".  It's still not perfect but it's going in the mail today anyway.  I was going to show you a second picture - what my kitchen looks like since I farted away the evening working on this instead of washing the dishes... but I don't want to scare people away.  It's enough that you know that sometimes I get sucked in by the craft room tractor beam and my housework goes undone.  Pretty sure the Queen went back to England, so no worries about drop-in company, right?

By the way, this envelope is bigger than it probably looks - it's 5 3/4" x 9 1/2".  I'm just going to add the address and a stamp and off it goes to California! 

Until next time,

Love Shelley!