Archive for April, 2009
How was your weekend? It was beautiful Friday, but rained Saturday and Sunday. Spring is in FULL swing, the grass is green and the magnolia trees are exploding.
On Friday I went to some thrift stores and picked up a couple secondhand white square frames that I was excited to use for my framed Yo-Yo sets. Above is the project I started and had mentioned on Saturday. A completely white set. It’s not even half way finished, and will be much larger than the regular sets because these frames are bigger than the ikea ones I normally use. I think it will look really great white on white. Now I’m kind of debating on using tea to slightly dye some of them so the are all off-white to different degrees. The frames are slightly distressed with the wood showing through in worn places.
Today I had a wonderful surprise when checking out my blog subscriptions. My friend Tiffany wrote the warmest post about me in thanks for a postcard I sent to her. Last winter when I had my show I had posted one of my mailart pieces that said “I have everything I need”. She commented that it really spoke to her, as it was something her daughter said frequently, so I sent it to her. Tiffany, I’m so glad you, and Q loved the postcard. It always gives me great satisfaction to send one of my mail art pieces and for it to make it’s way to it’s destination and be appreciated. I could ask for nothing more :) Thank you Tiffany for being a friend, internet hugs ((Tiffany)). Did you notice that there was a stamp for each of you?
I would like to give another shout out to etsy seller monpetitfantome. You might recall a couple weeks ago I favorited his shop and was sent a kind message that I was his 1000th store favorite and he wanted to send me a free item as a thank you. I chose a framed rabbit silhouette, similar to the one above, as a tribute to my pet rabbit that passed away last fall. Last week I checked my P.O. box and it had arrived and it is beautiful. Please check out his shop to see if any other beauties stand out to you.
Lastly, I signed up for a mini zine matchbox swap through swap-bot. It’s been quite a while since I’ve participated in a swap-bot swap and this one really enticed me. A while back I blogged about my interest in zines. I look forward to this swap and because of its small size it will be a fun and less overwhelming introduction into zine making. I would love to encourage everyone else to join in this swap, the more the merrier. The parameters for this swap are that each member will make and send 3 zines and the zine will be small enough to fit into a 32 ct. matchbook box. Please join me :)
yoyo quilt, originally uploaded by robayre.
Okay, so yesterday (Friday) was an incredibly productive day. It felt great. I even took a scary step to crossing off one more thing from my yearly list. That list item was to get my bike fixed. Last summer my bike broke, and while, in the past when something went wrong (seat was stolen, crank cracked, entire bike stolen, etc.) I just went ahead, ordered the parts myself and fixed it, or in the case of my bike being stolen, just bought the same exact bike all over again. This time was different. I was sure it was something more difficult to fix, would parts for this bike still be available even? but I was equally terrified of taking it into the bike shop and having the cycle guys look at me and laugh their asses off about trying to get a Huffy repaired at their top of the line Schwinn shop. So much so, that last fall, after lots of shopping, I bought a new bike. It didn’t take long before realizing that bike was a horrible fit and had to be returned. I figured it would be worth the amount of money to fix my old bike, even if the cost was equal to the amount of a new bike because I knew that I would ride it, it would fit and I’d be happy to have MY BIKE back.
Also, getting my bike repaired is pretty important to another yearly goal, walking or riding my bike to work every day for a month. And while I don’t mind walking, it takes an additional 35 to 40 minutes to walk to work, and only 15 minutes to ride my bike. There are no guarantees that it won’t be raining for a whole month so riding with a raincoat for 15 minutes is much more desirable than walking with an umbrella for 40. Although I did allow for rain days to be exempt, I’d be much prouder of myself if I toughed out those days.
So I took my bike in, they seemed unfazed by the brand and even had the replacement part on hand. It should be ready for pick up in a week. Yahtzee!
Now that I have Fridays off, I try to keep a To Do list to make sure that the extra day doesn’t get wasted. Yesterday I was able to cross off the majority of things on my list, way more than any other Friday. I posted to my blog, listed new items, went to the post office, went to the bank, paid a bill, paid another bill, paid yet another bill, did some shopping, and still had time to start a new project, and hang out with Dacia.
As for today. I don’t really have anything planned. Perhaps I should create a Saturday To Do list because it’s already past 10:30 a.m. and other than cooking breakfast and typing this, I sit here in my pj’s and have no foresight into what will happen for the rest of the day.
Have a good weekend. Hopefully I will return tomorrow with glimpses into my new project. Hint, the picture at the top is a bit of a clue.
Last night I was able to redeem myself after last weeks failed attempt to see Grey Gardens in the theater. I was able to get tickets to see the This American Life live event which was broadcast via satellite to theaters across the nation.
It was a great show, of course, and there were many things I wanted to note and remember from it. I laughed, and cried, just as I do when I listen to the radio show (often at work, and need to hide my tears in case a coworker were to see me).
Starlee Kine looked almost nothing like I imagined her. She is definitely one of my favorite contributors to the radio show, I love each and every one of her segments. I pictured her being tiny, as she was, but I also always pictured her with dark, very curly, huge hair. Instead she is a blonde with straight hair. I love her voice of course. It is very distinctive, and SO NOT a standard radio voice, that it actually makes for a really GREAT radio voice. She has this great talent for telling stories and I would totally want to be friends with her in real life. I love story tellers, but have no gift for that myself. My stories are always the kind that I need to end with “and then I found five dollars”.
I was in awe of last nights contributors and not only their ability to compose and present such great stories, but to also be part of this amazing thing that This American Life has become. As we left the theater I thought of something my mom said years and years ago that has always stuck with me. She told me that when she was a student herself, kids of her generation had big dreams. They all really wanted to leave their mark on the world and create something much bigger than themselves. They wanted to write the next great american novel, invent cures and save lives, or compose music of their generation. It wasn’t about fame, wealth or notoriety, (which seems to be the focus of today) they wanted to touch other people’s lives.
I know a great thing when it inspires me to want to be better and shoot for the sky. This American Life is one of those things that makes me want to leave something behind that is greater than I am.
If you missed the live event and are interested in still seeing it (the radio version will air in a couple weeks) you still have an opportunity to see the entire 90 minute show in select theaters on May 3rd, check here for details.
Remember these pendants I painted from my collages?
Here is what the collage looked like collages
And this is what it looked like before I decided to coat it with resin. before the resin coat
After I coated the front I decided that the back needed a bit of protection as well, after I signed each piece.
O have listed this one in particular to my etsy shop. The other two will follow shortly.
- I have a drawer filled with large pieces of scrapbooking papers, fine art papers, book making papers, origami papers, etc.
- I have one drawer filled with stickers (purchased and handmade), and all sorts of papers with adhesive backs, etc.
- There is another drawer filled with fun things like coin holders, slide viewers, doilys, tags, die-cuts, etc.
- One drawer is filled with pads and books of decorative papers, etc.
- Yet another drawer is filled with vintage papers, clip art pages, book pages, etc.
- But the best drawer is the one filled with only the tiniest bits and bobs of etc. This drawer is brimming with scraps/treasures from all the other drawers. No piece of paper too small.sorry the crummy camera phone pic
It’s a rainy Sunday.
Here is a great song for rainy Sundays or just about any day, one of my favorites.
and if you like radiohead, you might enjoy this coverville episode of radiohead, I’ve listened to it bazillions of times.
I’ve had an annoying twitch in my eyelid all week.
On Easter we played more games (Loaded Questions) and of course hilariousity ensued. This time my mom even got in and some real dooseys. “what do you do with chocolate?” my mom answers”coat mebacon” and throws everyone in the round for a loop. My brother’s answer; spread it all over my mouth. You really have to be there to understand.
A trip into the Chicago. Although my plans to catch a special preview of Grey Gardens (I was selected to get 2 tickets) didn’t pan out (theater was full with only 12 more people in line in front of us), I was still able to hang out with my friend Elaina who lives in the city AND we went to one of my favorite restaurants Buca Di Beppo. Mmmm, caprezzi salad, mmmm sghetti with meatball.
Etsy success! A sale, 3 treasuries featuring my work, plus one using me as an alternate, and an admin curated feature on the front page which resulted in 10 new shop favorites, 24 item favorites and over 600! item views. I’m still glowing.
Today my ipod arrived. After the second time an ipod of mine has died, exactly one month out of warranty or the purchased Apple Care plan, I decided to call Apple and hope that they would understand my plight and agree to fix it. And they did, and I am grateful. Thank you Apple.
And then a couple cool links that I found or were sent to me:
April 26th is World Wide Pinehole Photography day.
I wish I had seen this post featuring chalkboard paint, painted eggs before Easter. I think you can find wooden eggs at craft stores. Heck, I just want to paint everything in chalkboard paint. You can see it featured in my artwork here, here and in even in this ring I made.
And then finally this image featured on Swissmiss. “I’m just tweeting to tell you that I blogged”. It’s funny because it’s troooooooo.
