recent developments...

i can't believe it's been so long since i posted (or since jenna or kelsey did ;)! so much has happened during that time, too! when i posted last, the most exciting stuff was happening and i wanted to post about it, but decided i needed to post about that artsycrafty club night first, and then catch up with the exciting stuff the next day... and then never did! so... drumroll......

i opened shop on etsy!! it's been open 2 weeks now! so fun and exciting!! especially the first couple of days - i got all this traffic, and people were contacting me asking for custom pieces (both the pendants and the beeswax pieces) and asking me to be in art festivals...! things have slowed down since then - i need to post more items for sale soon!

also in the last couple of weeks:
*artsycrafty club #3 - cardmaking (half of us worked on jessica's bridal shower invitations the whole time :)
*jason went off-roading for a couple of days, and joey and i had fun being just the 2 of us :) we joined a mom's group that meets on friday mornings, and it was SO therapeutic to just talk about what it's like to have kids, and realize i'm normal and joey's normal! we also went yard-saling while he was gone, and found a few treasures... then we went when he got back, too, and hit the jackpot at a yard sale in uptown that was full of old rusty tools and hardware!

*shipped my first custom pendant order to North Carolina! and she loves it!


*my first mother's day - AMAZING! jason gave me the "day off" from taking care of joey... i mean i still hung out with him and fed him, but jason took charge of any and all problem-solving for the day (is he fussing 'cause he's hungry? or tired? dirty diaper? it was a wonderful and much-needed break for me! poor jason got so tired partway through the day (which was kind of validating for me - this motherhood job feels so hard and exhausting, and i sometimes wonder if it's just me... it's not!) but he was a champ and lasted the whole day! and he bought me a travel mug on etsy which was fun :)
*i made my first etsy purchases: some patinaed headpins (still not quite sure what they are or what they're for, but they're gorgeous and i've been using them in some of my newer STACK pendants!) and a burlap coffee sack (i have big plans for this one ;)
*started cleaning my own house again (for the past year, my sister has been coming once a week to clean the bathroom and kitchen - my mother's day present from last year! sad to see that one be over... her new gift for this year, though, was free babysitting once a week for a year! heck yeah! we already went on a date to BJ's!)
*getting ready for jason's brother maurice's wedding this week! joey tried on his little white tux (he's gonna be the ring bearer!! pulled in a wagon by the flower girl! how cute is that???)... i've been painting and distressing old antique books for the centerpieces... and we leave today for a 3-day wedding extravaganza in murrieta, starting with the rehearsal tonight!
*today is joey's half birthday!!! he's 6 MONTHS OLD now! crazy.

artsycrafty club

we had our second "artsycrafty club" meeting last week - so fun! this time we went less "crafty" and more "artsy", which was a little out of people's comfort zones... but they still had fun & learned something new, and stretched their creativity a bit! we hand-altered photos that mostly had been rejected from our albums and scrapbooks, and made them into little works of art and inspiration! i'm sure i had more fun than anyone... :)
here's an overview shot of all the ones i did that day:

and some closeups of some of my favorites (i forgot to take pictures that night, so i didn't get pix of anyone else's - oops!)

everyone wanted to know what we were going to "do" with them... my idea had been just to have this as a little creative exercise, but i had a couple of ideas of what the final resting places of these little artworks could be... here's what i ended up doing: putting them, along with an index card opposite each photo, all into a little flip photo album that i carry around in my purse with me, and when i have a little down time (pumping gas, waiting for whatever), i pull it out and journal in response each piece. i've only done a few s far, but each time, i've learned something about myself that i didn't know! i am one of those "external processors", where i don't think/process much alone, but once i start talking, i figure out what i'm feeling or wanting, etc. so journaling does that, too, and it's especially revealing when i journal about art that includes shots of me or a little piece of me in some way...


the first club meeting, each person went home with a tiny pink box full of unknown "treasures" and the (unrequired) homework was to open it up and make something out of what was inside... kristi & i were the only ones who brought something back this time (i've decided this will be the official "initiation" into the club - once each person completes their piece, they'll get like a membership something-or-other)... and, again, i forgot to take pictures of kristi's pencil holder, but here's mine:


heather said it looked like "christmas frosting"... not sure what that is, but it sounds delightful!