Searching

The room was empty.  Darkness and cobwebs covered the corners.  It was not a place you wanted to linger. 

After a quick scan of the room, she moved on.  It had to be here somewhere, but where?

Room after room, she searched unsuccessfully.

Perhaps it was lost to time much like this house had been.  At one time, there were people here.  The house bore witness to their joys and sorrows, triumphs and tragedies.

 

The people were long gone.  The house fell into disrepair, a lone sentinel to a life forgotten.

Standing in the empty living room, tracing patterns in the dust, she wondered if any of it was real.  The stories she had heard, the dreams she harbored about this place seemed to fall flat.

The empty house had no secrets to tell, no answers to give. She felt childish for holding out hope. 

At the door, she turned back.  One last glance, one last flicker of hope made her linger there.  She half expected someone to come running down the stairs waiving a book, a photograph.  Something.  Anything.

But there was nothing. 

She closed the door, walked down the porch stairs and go into her rental car.  She drove away empty handed, empty hearted.  

High Tea

She took special care in getting dressed today. After studying her options in her closet, she chose a pale pink cap sleeved dress with a full skirt.  Her hot pink sweater had beautiful paillettes that shimmied and danced when she moved.

Because the weather was warm, she eschewed stockings.  Instead she wore silver strappy sandals with the slightest bit of heel.  She was glad her mother had given into her relentless begging and painted her toes bright pink last night.

She carried her sparkly silver headband over to the mirror.  Studying her reflection, she smoothed back her hair and placed the headband just right.  A bit of pink lip gloss completed the look.  She twirled and smiled at the girl in the mirror.  It was perfect.

She placed her lip gloss in her purse in case a touch up was needed later.  She added the five dollar bill her mother had given her and her handkerchief.  She always carried a handkerchief because that is what a lady does and she desperately wanted to be a lady.

Satisfied with her preparations and brimming over with excitement, she ran out of her room and down the stairs.  Halfway down, she checked herself.  Ladies do not run willy-nilly, they make an entrance.  She walked down the stairs with as much grace as she could muster.

She found her mother in the kitchen.  “Is it time?  Can I go now?”

Her mother was chopping vegetables for the soup.  She placed the knife on the counter and turned towards her daughter with a smile.  “Yes it’s time.”  Mother reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, “you look lovely.  Do you have the money I gave you?”

She nodded.  “Wonderful. Well off you go.  Enjoy yourself and don’t forget your manners.”

After kissing her mother goodbye, she raced out the door and headed for her bike.  She placed her purse in the basket and headed off.  Down one block, across the park, the excitement growing the closer she came to her destination.

Finally she arrived.  She carefully locked her bike and grabbed her purse.  She skipped through the automatic doors strait to chairs next to the elevator.  As she waited, Mr. and Mrs. Prescott entered.  “Oh my, Earl, will you look at this pretty little lady.”  

“Yes dear, she is a peach.”

She smoothed her dress and smiled.  “Thank you.  Today is a special occasion.” 

“Is it now dear? Do tell.”

“Opal and I are going to high tea!”

“High tea? That is special.”

“Oh yes!  The queen has high tea.  It will be lovely.”

Just then the elevator arrived, bringing Opal in to the lobby.  She gasped when she saw Opal.  Her silver hair was curled just so.  She wore a pale green dress, with a matching embroidered sweater.  Silver heels and a silver clutch completed her look. Opal looked so beautiful, just as if she had stepped out of the pages of a magazine.

Mr. Prescott winked, “such lovely ladies on such a lovely day.  I have half a mind to join you.”

“Oh Earl,” Mrs. Prescott giggled, swatting at him with her pocket book.  “You ladies enjoy your tea.  Say hello to the queen for me.”

Ch ch ch changes

I haven't been happy with the way this blog has turned out. What was supposed to be an experiment in crafting everday, in living a crafty life in the midst of a normal hectic crazy life, turned out to be pretty boring.

It was just pictures and posts about what I had done the day before. The pictures weren't that great and the posts were just plain stupid. "Yesterday I did this". "The other day I made a hat." "Ooh look at this pretty picture I painted." Reading through some of these posts, I was bored and I wrote them.

I did have one good post that I was proud of. It was more reflective of the way I view myself as a writer. And it really captured the essence of why I am creating, for myself and for my daughter, to find beauty in every day things.

But one good post out of fifty-one is not a record I am proud of. I wasn't happy with the blog or the process of blogging so I ignored it. Ignoring something does not make it go away. It does not make it better. It just makes it lonely.

The way to make something better is to work at it. I work at my crafts. I try harder every day to do better than the day before. I am proud of what I have done. I want this blog to reflect that pride. I want this blog to show how I am crafting my creative life, how I am re-building my business, how I am finding inspiration, and how I am inspiring creativity in my own family.

So there will be some changes coming to this space. I'm going to be posting more about inspiration and creativity. I want to find some other people who are doing the same things and have them share their ideas. I want this to be a place I am proud to come to and a place that other people want to visit.

Day 14 - Drawing

Lately I've been sketching to practice my drawing skills. I've never been happy with what I draw. It looks like something but never exactly like what I want it to look like. It was ok though because I never had to show anyone what I've drawn.

Until now. That's the great and horrible thing about this blog. I have to record my efforts. I have to show the internets what I have done.

But because of the certain anonimity of the blog I don't feel so bad about showing my work. I am sitting in my house and you are where ever you are. I can't hear what you think. I can't hear it if you laugh and say my 5 year old could draw that. You are free to comment whatever you would like but the anticipation of the comment is not enough to scare me off.

So here it is, a page from my sketch book. A simple drawing of a girl and flowers. It is what it is, my creation, my practice, my attempts at getting better. It is mine.

Day 9 - Oops

Remember the other day when I bragged about how I am completely self-taught when it comes to most of my crafts? Apparently that's fine when it comes to some things but not when it comes to others.

As I mentioned, I am making a sweater for my friend's new baby. I have never made a sweater before. I figured a baby sweater would be easier for my first try so I went ahead and bought the yarn and pattern.

I followed the pattern and went on my merry way. Everything looked fine, but it wasn't. When I finished all the rows of the body and was preparing to attach the shoulders, I noticed the pattern had measurements. So I got out my tape measure to make sure I was doing it right. Yeah, I wasn't. The measurement was completely off.

It seems I forgot to check the gauge. The pattern called for a G hook or whatever hook needed to get the gauge. Because I didn't use the right size hook to get the gauge, the sweater was too small. So I had to rip it out and start all over again, this time using the proper hook.

I felt so stupid but it never really mattered for the hats and scarves I'd made before so I didn't check. Lesson learned. Always check the gauge. Unless you like to make and remake things. And there will be no picture today because its just too depressing.

Day 7 - Miscellaneous stuff

I started this "project" without any real set goals as to what I was going to do while crafting. I was just going to go with the flow, which is good and bad. Its good because I can have a day like Monday where I manage only to crochet a row of a sweater (which needed to be redone yesterday by the way).

But its also bad because some days I don't know what to do. Should I paint? Should I draw? Should I make jewelry? Should I crochet? Should I collage? Should I do a little from column A, a little from column B with some column Z thrown in?

Yesterday was one of those A, B and Z days. I did a little bit of everything but not enough to have something to show for it. Which is fine, I kept my resolution. But it kind of makes blogging about it boring. But since I've resolved to blog anyway, you my dear readers, get to hear about a lot of nothing. Lucky you.

Over the weekend I bought the book Lotta Prints by Lotta Jansdotter. Which is about printing with things like stencils, leaves, potatoes and linoleum. I bought it for inspiration and to try out some of the projects (its not really a project book but this is what you need to try x type of printing).

I thought I'd try making my own stencils first but I didn't have the supplies. So I figured I'd just put the book aside until I could get them. But when I opened the phone book a leaf fell out. I forgot Bunny and I had collected them during the fall and pressed them with every intention of using them later. Well now was later so why not try leaf printing? I hadn't done it since girl scouts it might be fun.

It was kind of fun but dried leaves don't really hold up too well. They tend to crumble a bit when you move them around. The ginko leaf completely disintegrated over the course of the experiment. The juniper leaf lost several needles. So while the effect was cool, the practice was kind of messy.

Day 3 - And The Answer Is . . .

Day 3.

What is the question you might ask? How many days could I write in this blog that is just for me without mentioning my daughter?

Three days?! That is pretty ridiculous. I mean I have an entire separate blog where I post about all things mommy and daughter. She is the star of the show there. This blog is all about me, my life, my art, my stuff.

So why would I mention her here? Well it has everything to do with today's post. You see Bunny wanted to bust out the water colors yesterday and paint away. I love watching her paint - way, way too much water on the brush, the brush stabbed repeatedly into the colors until they are mere puddles of liquid. She is only 3(almost) but she has a good sense of color. Its a fun experience.

When she paints, I paint too. Usually I'll just make stuff that I will cut up later and use in collages. I'd rather make my own decorative paper than buy it because I'm cheap like that (plus I control the output). So I got out a few sheets of my old letterhead from work and we went to town.

But then I started thinking what if I painted the background of a piece rather than using my papers? It would be the same effect but different. Instead of having marbled papers glued onto the piece, I would paint the marbled effect myself. Hmm, this is interesting. I liked it.

And as always is the case when there is a toddler with a paintbrush, she has to help out. I had a green-blue background that I was envisioning doing something floral on later. Well Bunny came over to look with her big paintbrush dripping with purple paint and a big drop fell on it. Hmm, interesting. So I played with her addition and came up with something cool.

I'm not sure what, exactly, I'll do with these backgrounds but I think they turned out pretty good.

Day 2

All my life I said I was not artistic. I could not draw things that resembled other things. I could not paint. I could not . . .

I was always crafty. I made ribbon barrettes in grade school and tried to sell them in a store. In high school I sewed little rosettes on to T-shirts and sold them. I always enjoyed making stuff. It was what I did.

When I started making jewelry, I began to see ways in which I was making art. I was painting in the way that I combined stones. I was sculpting when I twisted wire.

Once I changed my definition of artistic, I became an artist. Was I ever going to be the next Monet or Picasso? No of course not. But it didn't matter. I could make art in my own way.

Part of this year long challenge is pushing my creative boundaries. I am going to paint. I am going to draw. Maybe what I am painting or drawing won't look exactly like what it's supposed to look like. But again I'm okay with that.

I'm starting off making the ATCs because they are small. They are confined. And in that way they are freeing. I won't have to worry about filling in all the space. I can just experiment.

Day 1 - Every Day I Write This Blog

Well that's the plan at least, to write in this blog every day for 1 year. 365 days of crafting and blogging.

I was thinking about the things that you do every day. The list is pretty small: eat, sleep, use the bathroom. And I've pulled all nighters during college and law school so there have been years where I didn't sleep every day. I'm also sure there have been days I've skipped eating too (the flu or some ill advised diet thing). So the only thing I'm sure I've done every day is use the bathroom. And that is a biological need.

But this blog and my resolution to craft every day is not a necessity. It is a choice. A choice that I have made to move beyond my comfort zone. Its a little bit scary but exciting at the same time.

So here is day one of my experiment. It is an Artist Trading Card created using paper from an old book on nature. The section details the parts of a flower so I have chosen to draw a flower over it using watercolor pencils. There are also a bead, button and hand stitching added as accents.

Over all I'm pretty pleased with my first try.