Saturday, May 31, 2014

7th Annual Mad Tea Party!


I am so excited! I just joined the 7th Annual Mad Tea Party being hosted by Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist. These are so much fun. To learn more about joining in on the fun you can click on the picture above. If you'd like to see what I did for my two previous Mad Tea Parties you can see them here and here.

Hope to see you at tea!

An Unexpected Hiker

Brown Bear

I am taking part in a trail challenge in my area. For a nominal fee I received a digital booklet of the local parks department trails as well as a challenge log. My employer will reimburse me my challenge fee if I complete at least 5 hikes on my own or 3 guided hikes and if I complete 5 hikes then I also get a trails challenge t-shirt which I must have! Since I love to be outdoors and also to hike this is going to be easy peasy!

Today was the first guided hike I went on, it was interesting, informative and lots of fun! The hike was at a much slower pace than I would do alone but I learned a lot about the history of the area and I even found a local spot for hemlock!

About half way through we say the above brown bear coming down the side of a hill near us. Fortunately our large group was not interesting to him and he followed the trail ahead of us then ran across the meadow. It was AWESOME to see this beautiful creature.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Peter, Peter the Brains Eater!

Peter, Peter the Brains Eater arrived here on Monday afternoon and I couldn't wait to see what was inside the package that was sitting on my front step,

Peter

Of course Peter was in there, sitting on the pumpkin he has his wife stored in.


So amazingly cool

Then there was an amazing journal complete with really cool zombie pumpkin bookmark/slider


This awesome candy jar was also tucked inside - I had to take the entire package to work to show it off, my co-workers love to hear about these swaps and see what we make. This candy jar may have to go back towork with me. It is just perfect!!!


This amazing zombie head now hangs in my studio. I love this, kind of reminds me of a shrunken head :) Now, those amazing, colorful knitted creations in the background are so cool, I just can't stand it!


My picture doesn't do these justice, not only are they soft and beautiful, the pattern consists of a zombie walking and the word Zombie.

Here is a better picture

Kerry, I LOVE everything! Thank you so much. This was such a fun swap and I love that my zombie collection is growing. My co-workers are so impressed with Peter and his pumpkin full of wife is awesome! As always, you have outdone yourself!!!!

Zombies in the Nursery Swap Update


A BIG Thank You to Val over at  Yarni Gras Swapper Spot for hosting this amazing swap.

Now that my partner has received her package I can share with you the Zombie I created for this swap.

The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

My partner sent me a couple of her favorite nursery rhymes and I choose to base my creation on the rhyme There was an Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe. The original poem had to be altered in a zombie way and then sent along with the Zombie that I created.

Here is the altered poem:

There was an old woman 
who lived in a a shoe
She had so many children
She didn't know what to do
When the Apocalypse came
She ate most of their brains
and now she is down to just two

Here are some detail shots of her zombiness

Exposed brain...naturally

Scratches

Those eyes! 

That is all for now. Later tonight I'll be posting the process pictures on my Sunflower House Art sculpting blog. 

Next up... the Zombie I received, namely, Peter, Peter the Brains Eater!

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

I've Let Myself Become Overwhelmed!

 Strawberries in a Barrel

I'll be the first to admit that I try to do too much. Normally I can handle lots of things at once but the past couple of months have just been too much! I have a sculpture that I will finish by Saturday, a book that needs binding (also to be finished this weekend), several posts to write for my Artsy Monday and Witchy Green Wednesday series and then I have the garden, the house, work, and most importantly my family... well, I am sure you get the picture.

Since the beginning of this blogging journey I have been a part of the BWO movement, that's Blogging Without Obligation, and while I like the idea I am still feeling overwhelmed and just blech! I may not have an obligation to blog but I really miss it! What makes the entire thing worse is that when I get like this I lose all motivation and everything screeches to a halt!

I truly am whining for a reason. Several actually. First off, I love to blog. I enjoy my blogs, I enjoy the people I've met, the relationships I've formed and the conversations I've had all because I have this blog. Secondly, I really do enjoy sharing all of the things I love. I work best under deadline - when I have a couple of projects in the queue instead of close to a dozen, and completing projects and sharing them here is fun and helps me hone my abilities.  Lastly, I miss blogging. It's been about 2 months since I blogged regularly and that just irritates me, however, what I've decided is that I can't force it. I need to get back in the swing of things slowly rather than stress myself out over deadlines. So, today I am just going to share some things that I've been working on...

Thanks for sticking around :0)


Statement piece  - Wire Wrapped Pendant

This will be a tutorial soon - really. I used copper wire as a base and then strung beads onto thin copper wire and wrapped them around it. Super easy and the base copper can be purchased at the hardware store - cheap!


Zombie - sorry I can only share a glimpse of this until it has been delivered to its new home. All I can tell you is that I am really excited about how it is turning out!


My Run of Dye tutu  - possibly a new tutorial coming soon - this was so easy I did it in less than 2 hours and the color possibilities are limitless! I ran about 1/2 this 5K run, not bad since I don't run. If you want to have fun, get in a good walk(or run if you like to run) and support a local charity then check out Run or Dye. They put on a fun event and the proceeds benefit a local charity. My friends and I had a great time!


My garden - This was quite the event. I planted my entire garden on Saturday, the day before Mother's day. That evening I checked the forecast to make sure it wasn't going to freeze, went out to dinner, got home about 10:30 that night and it was still 50 outside so I thought everything would be fine -NOT. Next morning it was 27 and my entire garden was dead. Fortunately, my man took me out to the nursery to replace my plants for Mother's Day so I was able to replant and now I have a tarp system to keep it safe and warm!

Aside from everything else I've been doing, I spent the past 4 months teaching my baby boy to drive and last month he got his freedom aka driver's license. It's been an exhausting few months but as much as I am tired and behind in everything, it's still been a great ride!

I hope to be back posting regularly soon, right now I am just going to plan on posting as often as I can and I figure the rest will fall into place!

Have a lovely week!