Monday Mail Call & Other Awesome Things

I've been so excited to get my latest Amazon order in the mail: Ray LaMontagne's newest release and the new Creative, Inc. I've read the first few pages of Creative, Inc and I can already tell that this is going to be an amazing resource for me. I need all the help I can get when it comes to the whole supporting-yourself-with-freelancing idea. In 2011, I want to focus a lot on becoming an "official" freelancer. As for the new music, oh man, it's a beautiful record. Ray LaMontagne can do no wrong.

I've recently joined my local CSA and got to pick up my first quarter-share of produce on Saturday. Look at all that loot! Potatoes, pears, tomatoes, gala apples, kale, peaches, green apples....NOM NOM NOM. I expecially LOVE the peaches since they're never right at the grocery store (I like 'em a little squishy).

Remember when we raised our own butterflies? Well, looks like we've been hosting more butterfly beauty lately. We noticed a bunch of caterpillars in our holly bush just chomping away at the ivy that was growing around it. Daniel meant to get rid of the ivy sooner but didn't touch it after discovering the caterpillars. Soon most of the ivy was gone, and we noticed several chrysalis hanging around the carport and our front porch.

Then we notice some of them were unoccupied, and others were still waiting for a butterfly to emerge. Just this morning I said, "Well, maybe they've died?" We made sad faces and went ahead with our day. Then around lunch, as Daniel walked in the door from running errands, he says, "LOOK!" Two new butterflies had emerged. Of course, I take lots of pictures and we stare in awe at these amazing critters. Later this afternoon, another one hatched and Mazzy was able to see it up close.

Looks like Mother Nature and the Mailman have been good to us these past few days. I hope the rest of the week continues to be just as awesome!

Things I Love Thursday

"Knowing people" and getting this awesome printing press just because I knew someone who was cleaning out their art stuff, getting in an art groove and printing, printing, printing, (unfortunately, I cannot figure out how to set up the printing press just right, so I'm doing a lot of hand-pulled block printing. All in due time, I suppose!), doing some great tattoos lately (a collection of work here.), Whiskeytown's Pneumonia, my iPod, Hungover Owls (NSFW!), foxes, lots of quiet time to myself, the kiddo's birthday party, my family, beautiful bridesmaid dresses...

Pulling great prints one after another, reading blogs of real-life friends (Melanie, Heather, Jessica, Lyndsey, Cheryl, Jamie), days spent getting stuff done, reading The Creative Habit, making treasuries on Etsy, cuddling with Dexter the dog, watching Louis on FX, feeling that summer might not last forever (even though it feels like it here in Central Georgia), buying tickets to see Interpol in November, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (saw them in ATL on August 11th, what an AMAZING show!), and well, I'm sure there's more but I'm running out of time! 

What do YOU love this fine, lovely Thursday?

Recent Etsy Additions!

Through the Heart papercut on wood

'Bout Time (When Pigs Fly lino block print

Rose the Matryoshka lino block print

On My Desk

My last project  didn't go as quite as planned. This screenprinting thing is full of trial and error, and well, I decided to take a vacation from it for awhile. I still liked my heart drawing and so created a papercut of it.


All in all, I spent about 2 hours cutting out all the details and erasing my pencil marks. Then I had to figure out how to display it. I didn't want to just mount it on a piece of paper. I wanted to do something different.


I found a wood panel at the local supermarket and used matte Mod Podge to affix the papercut to the surface. I thought about painting the panel with acrylic paints but I liked the wood grain behind the papercut better. This little project isn't finished yet, there's still little details I'd like to add.

I've been a bit obsessed with papercuts. I especially love Rob Ryan and Nikki McClure. They are amazing artists, and definitely patient with this papercut artform. I wonder how they keep their fingers and wrists from hurting after such huge projects?

In the Summertime

A sneak peek at my latest project.

These past couple of weeks have been intense! I worked on props for a play (post coming soon!), attended meeting after meeting, worked worked worked at both jobs, and got the kiddo ready for third grade. It's been crazy and I've finally had the chance to wind down a little. Now that Maz is in school for most of the morning and early afternoon, I have a little bit of free time. This week I've spent most of that time cleaning the house. There's been a honey-do list growing inside my head and I've been tackling it big time. Maz's room has been cleaned, our bedroom has been cleaned, donations to charity are in the trunk of my car, my studio has been cleaned (long overdue!), all laundry is done, food is in the fridge, and the basement is slowly looking better. Now we're getting ready for Maz's birthday gathering this weekend. I can't believe she's going to be eight years old!

In the future I'd like to get better at blogging, and not forget about this site whenever I get overwhelmed with work. We'll see how that goes, right?

A Wishlist

We always have Mazzy make up a wishlist so we know what to tell her grandparents what she wants for her birthday. This year's list is especially endearing. She wants pancakes? A Blizzard? A good day?

It makes you say "awwwwwwwww", doesn't it?

Currently in the Works

After much thought, I decided it was best to withdraw from my summer quarter online class. I know it's going to hurt my GPA in the end, but I think I'd do better if I just let it go now, and try again with a class on campus next quarter. Since dropping the class, my focus has turned to more creative endeavors. Such as: 

Carving on a new lino block. My right wrist is feeling sore so I'm taking my time with this.

A collection of large foamcore animals for an upcoming production of Aladdin, Jr. There will be sixteen in all, including lions, monkeys, and giraffes. Interesting!

My current new obsession: screenprinting. I had a chance to learn how to screen print back in high school (ten years ago!) and I was curious if I still knew how to use all the supplies, especially since a friend just bought a ton of screenprinting supplies to make t-shirts for the tattoo shop. Yesterday, I bought a small screenprinting kit for myself to practice with and tried out the drawing fluid/screen filler technique (nice tutorial here!).

And there you go! I used a blank, white bandanna and printed the peacock feather image twice to use up the ink I mixed. For my next screenprinting project I have to remember: make sure the drawing fluid is thicker, buy more masking tape, keep the image closer to the middle, iron my fabric before printing, make sure to have all my supplies on hand (be more patient!), and wash my hands before going upstairs or else there will be fingerprints all over the doorknobs and light switches!