Classes and Workshops Coming Soon

I hope once I get my new house situated I'll be able to start making interesting things like soap and candles again. Not that there is anything wrong with embroidery or knitting, but people always need things like candles and soap and you can make a lot of them in one sitting.

Down the road I also hope we will make a primitive kiln for pit firing in our backyard and get the forge set up. We are also making a big burlap archery target for our future arrow making and bow making classes, hopefully in the spring and summer. If you are interested in that, by all means let us know so we can save you a spot.

Our biggest limitation is we only have one restroom. So we'll have to limit the classes to five or six people. I hope to teach gourd art as well.

Felt Ornaments

Owl with beads.

Little bunny.

Blue Owl

Sewing a sunset cottontail bunny.

A selection of the felt ornaments I just finished. I'm trying to fill up my Etsy shop before Easter. Then again if they all sold out before Easter, I wouldn't cry too hard.

More Bunnies

My eyes are a bit blurry from wearing strong glasses for detail work. I made a new bunny ornament design today, as well as one from the drawing I did earlier in the week. I visualize what I want the ornament to look like, then I trace a circle the size of the ornament's interior, and then inside that circle I draw a 'cartoon' of what I want the finished piece to look like. Then I figure out how many layers of shapes I need to get the effect I want. Then I have to figure out the order of sewing the parts on. And last I embroider my name on the back. I may switch to writing it with a Sharpie to save time and so it will look neater. Luckily may name is all straight lines but the year is '13 and the 3 is a bit tricky.

Hope you got to make something today as well.

Making a Project Portable

Half a square. So many ends to sew in.

I thought I was going to swing by and visit a friend today and ended up being there four hours. (I wasn't the driver).  Thank the goddess I took my knitting! I have my current project in a plastic shoe box style bin. I take just enough yarn to keep the project going. I also take the knitting needles, a yarn needle and scissors. (I have the pattern memorized). I keep the lid on with a piece of elastic or a rubber band.

At home, the entire project takes up two 2 x 2 x 2 foot boxes. I'm glad I found a way to take it with me.  When I run low in my shoebox, I refill the yarn and swap out the colors so they all get used. The afghan has about 20 colors right now. I just finished the 46th square (out of 96 squares).

Almost Half the Squares Are Knitted

Was it Peter Cottontail?

Cute little cottontail just hopped into my front yard, then out, then back in.  Then a quail followed it. Then another quail. Good morning Lucerne Valley. I wish I could afford a live web cam for the yard so you could see them too.

Maybe I can embroider some more bunnies today since my other plans got cancelled.

Desert Wind

It was a windy day. Just look at all the dust. I could tell that working outdoors was going to be difficult so I opted for a library day. I had to go pick up a book they were holding for me anyway.

As artists, I think we need to research constantly. So I go to the library a lot. Today I checked out books on shoe making, fashion, and home decorating.

Then I got to spoil myself by watching videos of Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussy Cat Dolls. I adore her. I love the choreography and the costumes. When I was in college that would have been my dream career. I can imagine them filming 'I Hate This Part' in my backyard. I don't know how they managed to dance on all that sand. I can barely walk across it without tripping on rocks. 

Tomorrow we are vending at an archery event.
Hope you are having a fun weekend too.

Bunny Ornament Prototype

Sewing down the bunny parts.

Adding the details.

All done.

I finished my new bunny prototype. Hope to get many listed in my Etsy shop. But for now I'm making another one for my granddaughter's first Easter.

I Give a Hoot

Hey Crafty People,
I just finished my fourth owl ornament, but since Easter is fast approaching, I thought I'd work on some bunnies.  So I drafted a pattern for a bunny. But it got too cold outside to finish it. But at least I took photos of the owls. If you want me to set one aside for you before I list them on Etsy, by all means speak up.

Each one is different. This one has gold sequin eyes.

Night Owl. Two leaves and a flower button.

Heart Faced Owl

Snowy Day In Lucerne Valley California

Bird feeder.

Guy and Wallop

Juggling snowballs

Last bush with snow still on it.

When I woke up to a snow covered yard it was exciting until I remembered we had a whole pick-up truck bed full of boxes of craft supplies that had to be unburied from snowy tarps and shifted to a new spot before more tarps would have to be added. It was extremely windy last night, so we roped down the truck the best we could (three times) and hoped it wouldn't rain. Luckily it didn't rain but it snowed all night. This morning it was nice out, so we were able to unload the truck and then it was play time.

We introduced our indoor cat to the snow. Then I did my self-portraits juggling snowballs. Then I took some photos.  Most of the snow was gone by sunset. It's cold indoors so the fire had been going since about 5 PM and I was working on weaving in some yarn ends on the knitted afghan.

We dined on fried fish and scalloped potatoes.

Stay warm and safe.

Snowy Joshua tree.

First thing this morning before things started to melt.

Last night when the snow started to fall.

Storm Is Finally Here

Snowy Self Portrait

Back door snow view.

Sitting by the fire knitting tonight. Big storm outside. I've been out there a few times to make sure nothing it blowing over the fence. Then it started to snow. The big flakes in the picture turned into powdered sugar snow a few minutes later and was fine enough to blow through my screen door.

Knitting On The Road

The weather was good for a road trip and we had to pick up more boxes down in Midway City. Rain is expected after midnight, so we wanted to do the drive while the weather was on our side. Since the trip down and back was in daylight I got to knit a lot. So I made more squares. Not to be tedious, but I need 96 decent squares to make this afghan. A few come out goofy so I need 96 ‘square’ squares. The first half has an increase at the beginning of each row. The second half has a decrease at the beginning of each row.  If I do the wrong thing, I get a weird square. And it’s ever too easy to be daydreaming and do an increase instead of a decrease and vice versa.

We are home now with a good fire going in the fire box. I want to work on some embroidery tonight after my Internet time.

Right now I’m on hold again with Virgin Mobile trying to figure out why I keep losing the signal. It’s been this way since Saturday night. The wait time is 15 minutes. I was about through the first 7 minutes when the call got dropped. So I had to start over.

So until I get an operator, I’m writing my blog posts on Microsoft Word to put into my blog once I get the connection up and running again.

Update: Virgin operator says there is a local outage that started Sat. and runs through tomorrow night. They’ve turned off 3G browsing. In other words, they’ve turned off my connection for the entire 3 day weekend. Nice.  I am visualizing a tech guy in a cubical with a pair of pliers and a roll of duct tape trying to fix the Broadband.

Lovely Day in the Pasadena Arroyo

I was so happy we got to go to the Paleoplanet gathering in Pasadena today. I got another felt owl made. That makes 3. I changed this one up a little and added leaves next to the owl's head. I think I like this one the best of all.

I got to watch the bowyers making new bows and teaching others how to make bows and arrows and bowstrings. I took a lot of green photos to rest my eyes on since it's so brown where I live. The trees are covered in buds and baby leaves. One lady just finished her gourd quiver. Another had a lovely detailed longbow she'd decorated with a Sharpie. Our friend Aimee loved the new air-brushed arrows from Greenman Archery. Sal showed off a glass bow that was a Kodiak from 1957. Everyone oohed and ahhed over that one.

I got some juggling practice in too. I sure needed it. I worked on my knitting on the drive there and also at the end of the event. Then it was time to clean up and visit relatives.

New Owl Ornaments

Blue eyed owl.

Owl with pink face.

I've wanted to make owls for a long time for my Hooters and Tweeters Etsy shop. I decided today was the day. So after my morning hike, I got all my supplies in one spot and commenced with the owl making. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to make more. If you want me to hold one of these for you let me know and I'll make a reserved Etsy listing.

The sun was setting just as I finished the 2nd owl, so I'll have to wait till another day to get good photos.

Mojave Photos

I devoted today to photography. I hiked through the desert taking photos of cacti, mountain ranges, and found objects. I posted them here: Hypnokitty I'll put a few in my blog in case you don't feel like hopping around. I'd love to get a better camera. This one hasn't been the same since I smacked it on a rock a few months ago. I feel stifled as a photographer.
I think my father had a lighter like this when I was a kid. Does anyone recognize it?

Recognize this lighter?

Pencil Cactus

Beetle

Dinosaur

Another Valentine's Day Passes By

I went on a Valentine's Day spending spree. Don't panic, it was under $50. On the way to Apple Valley and back I got to knit in the truck. I'm still working on the afghan squares. As far as crafting, I guess it's on to Easter projects now. I can't believe how busy I've been. Did you do anything special today?

I think I'm going to re-purpose the fishnets shown in the photo and turn them into gauntlets (mitts, fingerless gloves). They were only $1 so I don't mind cutting them up.

Look what I bought for Valentine's Day.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day

Hello my darlings,
First a shout-out to Michael Sellick, the crochet genius. He's recovering from a bout of the flu or something similar. Get well soon. If you haven't had the pleasure of his tutorials you can find them here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUNtrp_Vj4o

When I was going through a box from storage from 14 years ago I found these valentines I made of myself. I was about 40 years old. Maybe you can use the idea to make your own valentines.

Back In The Day

Today I emptied out a box from storage that had oodles of crafting stuff. Postoids that I'd made when I lived in San Luis Obispo. Broken and unbroken jewelry waiting to be repurposed. Rubber stamps and stationary and cards. I never meant for that stuff to be in storage for 14 years. I'm relieved to have it back. I sorted through it and threw away old make-up and worthless paperwork. I brought in the jewelry for a closer inspection. I put all the books and tarot cards on the bookshelves in the house. I have many pieces of ephemera to use in art journals now. And a lot of photos I want to scan and share in my blog and on Facebook of my earlier performing days. And things I want to frame, like the best mail art I received from pen pals before email existed. It's all so emotional and nostalgic.

Postoids made of hand-carved stamps. They are faux postage for gluing onto envelopes.

Mermaid Ring

Outfit For Winter

Since I moved to the desert I had bigger things on my mind than putting outfits together. So today I decided to remedy that by putting together a winter outfit. I hadn't planned on a purple and black theme but that's the way it turned out. I'm also wearing the new ankh I just got from Etsy. Even though I'm only going to the laundromat today I miss dressing up, so I put on my new pink lipstick. I've never had a winter in my adult life, so learning how to dress is a challenge. I want to be warm without looking like a hobo.

 A hat I made on a knitting loom.

Vampire ankh from Etsy

Purple and Black Outfit:

 Skirt: Holy Clothing

Blouse: Walmart

Sweatshirt: Walmart

Ankh: Etsy

Hat: Self-made on knitting loom

Crafts on Pinterest

Hello My Cupcakes,

There are so many great craft tutorials on Pinterest that you are really missing out if you don't have an account there.  Here are some that I liked and added to my craft board. http://pinterest.com/mystictheodora/craft-ideas/ It seems not having any ideas will never be an issue again, but rather how will you have time to do any crafts when you can't get off of Pinterest. Haha.

Source: sketchbook.typepad.com via Theodora on Pinterest

Squares

Today at the dry lake bed we watched the model rockets being launched. Between launches I took my knitted squares and worked on weaving in more ends. If you figure 20 ends per square times 96 squares that's 1,920 ends to weave in so I don't want to leave them all to the end.

I heard back from the editor at AllFreeCrochet. Though they'd be happy to have more videos some day, they are redoing their channels right now and aren't accepting anything new at this time. Oh well.

Junk Journal Versus Art Journal

It's a new year and time to start a new junk journal. My other one was bursting at the seams and since I was moving, I didn't have time to build a new one.  But yesterday when I was sorting out the boxes from storage, I found all kinds of ephemera.  The list includes cancelled postage stamps, old brochures, business cards, jewelry bits and bobs, photos, and stickers. The boxes were in storage at least 13 years, some much longer because the boxes never got unpacked from move to move. Also, I found all my missing commercial rubber stamps (I mean the kind you buy, not the kind you carve). So I'm going to start having monthly craft parties for anyone that wants to come over and work on their junk journals or any craft project really. Before I can make a new junk journal, I need to find the binders I bought for it. Things are still a jumble here.

I just wanted to point out that an art journal isn't the same as a junk journal. I know we all want to have fancy art pages to display on Youtube or Flickr or whatever, so an art journal is the one you want to slave over and do your best art. But that is a lot of pressure and limiting if you get intimidated easily and don't have gobs of time.

A junk journal is an anti-art journal. It's messy, it's cumbersome, and everything can go in it but the kitchen sink. I like to make mine in sections for poetry, art, drawing, collage, ephemera, lists and so on. But I'm looking at some articles and Youtube videos and they are not really making a distinction between art journals and junk journals. Junk journals should be quick, dirty and freeing.  Keep your ideas there, and when you find a good one, then you can explore it further and fancy it up in your art journal. Right? Right. 

Ugh, Sorting and Organizing

About bedtime last night I was told there is a 50% chance of rain tonight. And I have a ton of boxes sitting in the yard from when we emptied storage last week that can't be left out in the rain. So I've spent from the moment I rolled out of bed until now sorting through crafts, yarn, glitter and fabric trying to get rid of useless stuff and consolidated useful stuff. What a PITA. Especially with a cold. Every time I bend over either my nose runs or I can't breathe or both. After a short break to get out of the hot sun, I'll get back to it, but it's feeling pretty daunting. On the good side I found a decent lamp for the desk, some scissors, some photos of my mom, more serger thread, and all the gourd dyes we couldn't find last week.

Do You Need Some Craft Ideas?

Who wants some craft ideas? I have more than I know what to do with. Here is a list of things I haven't gotten around to yet: 1. Making roses out of fabric. 2. Making fairy doors. 3. Throwing little pots to hold beads and calligraphy water and ink. 4. Making steampunk spats. 5. Knitting house slippers. 6. Knitting yoga socks. 7. Recreating the green fairy costume I was wearing on Second Life today. 8. Making assemblages with found objects. 9. Wood-burning an ankh onto a gourd. 10. Embedding a mirror in a bread dough frame. 11. Making a mask for Mardi Gras 12. Making a mosaic on a metal table from broken tile found in my yard. 13. Drawing pin-up caricatures for use on Zazzle. 14. Make a decent knapped arrowhead. 15. Carving a spoon. 16. Making pink arrows for Valentine's Day 17. Making wooden hair forks. 18. Making corn husk or wheat dolls. 19. Making a shaggy retro 70's vest. 20. Weaving a hat out of raffia.

Sponsors Needed Reasonable Ad Prices

I now have a brilliant way you can sponsor ads on my blog for as little as $5 a month, and you can start your monthly ad at any time, like now, or tomorrow, or whenever you need to advertise your blog or product. Just click on the Sponsor Tab at the top of my blog. Snap up the good spots before they are all taken. I can't wait to see who signs up.

Tutorials to Come

I'm a little nervous because I just emailed my editor at AllFreeCrochet and AllFreeKnitting to ask if I could offer them tutorials again. But if I don't ask the answer is no. If I do ask, they may say no, but they could say yes. Doing my best to take risks and step out of my comfort zone. If they don't want me, I'll put them on youtube anyway and hope another sponsor will pick me up. I know I have fans that want more tutorials.

Inspiration Is Where You Find It

If you have a tattoo, you know what flash is. But if you are looking for a design to wood burn onto a gourd, did you know that searching for flash comes up with some great inspirations. Yesterday I was looking for ankhs (Egyptian symbol of eternal life) and there is some great ankh art on tattoo sites. For the first time ever, I wished I had a tattoo. I found the search engine BING is a fun way to look up tattoo images. That's how I found these two.

Source: 0.tqn.com via Theodora on Pinterest

Source: tribalall.com via Theodora on Pinterest

Free Art and Commercial Art

I've been busy updating my Free Art blogs here and here. Its one way I can pay it forward as an artist, and also, what good is art if it's just going to sit in storage because I can't sell it. Maybe at least someone can get some joy out of it and just for a moment feel like the universe isn't a hard scary place to live in.

I also started working on my Pigglewiggins shop again on Etsy. I want to have it filled up by March 1, 2013.  I for sure won't sell anything if I never list anything to sell. I checked it this morning and it only had one active listing. Now it has 3, but I want to put new things in it, not just keep renewing old entries.

I Know I Know More Knitting

Hi my lovelies,

While I was knitting today, I thought of a poem idea about knitting, and since I had my journal with me, I was able to write it down before I forgot it.

I worked on the afghan sitting outside in the sunshine.  Then after I'd finished my daily square, I set that aside and worked on the Imbolc headband. The first motif is 18 leaves and I finished that part. The next thing is called a 'floop' and I made one of those so far.

So I was knitting and watching the quail when something swooped down out of the sky and lit out after one of the quail. I am guessing it was a chicken hawk, but all I saw was a blur of black wings in my peripheral vision. I hope the quail got away. I saw it running for the bushes. The guinea fowl went nuts. They made so much noise my boyfriend raced out to see what the trouble was, thinking maybe the cat got out. Then it was time to come in and and get a fire going and get dinner started.

Knitting and Zazzling

Good morning my lovlies,

I just updated my knitting blog here. I picked up one more shade of green yarn for the Imbolc garland. I wanted to get gold too, but the local market's selection is pitiful. I was going to knit at the laundromat but ended up writing my Zazzle postcards instead. I added new stuff to my Zazzle shop. I really like that they have Bicycle playing cards now that you can customize. Here I am in my Zazzle t-shirt.

Imbolc Project

In honor of Imbolc, I decided to knit and crochet a leafy headband. After six leaves, I needed to take a break. The headband is idiot cord knitted around florist wire, so I need to remember where I put my florist wire. It seems I bought some not too long ago. I won't finish it today, but it will be special because it will be infused with the energy of the day and the sunshine.

It's a glorious sunny day, perfect for the Imbolc theme of warming the earth. So I got to knit outside until I realized I was sunburning my new part. I don't usually part my hair down the middle. So I had to go back into my bat cave. The cat is sleeping in my knitting chair, so I decided to work on blogs instead.

So many things I want to do, but today is a rest day and I need to get well. I heated leftover chicken soup for lunch and ate it on the tailgate. Then I tidied up a bit. It's bad enough I spent the last two days traveling all over Orange county and home again, carrying boxes in and out of the truck. So I'm not going anywhere today unless its an emergency.