Am I really going to be this cold for the next six months??

Listening to my son play his guitar and sing upstairs... he doesn't know I can hear him. I hope I will hear the same thing 15 years from now.

I've been enjoying life with family lately. Trying to capture the "little things" that are so special.  Birthday parties... walks at the nature center... Kate asking me this morning "More sugar please mommy!" Is my baby really old enough to be holding conversations in full sentences. Although sometimes it starts turning into the final six minutes of the series finale on "Six Feet Under" in my mind.

I'm starting to want a "number three".  Maybe it's because I'm thrown off my usual cycle.. every other year around this time I've been in my third trimester and getting ready for a little one... 05, 07..... no 09.... I want an 09.  No babies to cuddle with this winter.  No nursing babies! This is the first winter in four years I haven't nursed. Is that a weird thing to dwell on...

Between working on Christmas crafts last night and having community bible study be on the birth of Christ can you tell what I was thinking about during lecture today?

And yes, that IS a Brambleberry Grace painting above the fireplace!

Here is the banner I worked on last night... going to make a few minor adjustments and let it marinate on my piano for a few more days to see if I want to do anything else.. and then I will call it done... besides the small stars that I'm waiting to come from Istanbul.  I'm in a banner mood this christmas... so I will probably be making a lot of banners... mostly with christmas hymns or bible verses.

the flood gate has opened.

I love how when you start being creative you get a little better at it... or it starts coming a little easier.. or something.  I need to keep checking my attitude and priorities.. because the selfish me just wants to work on my little crafty do-dads... and not say... clean the house or play with the kids. So tomorrow is "clean the house day".. which the "getting sick of a nasty nasty house" part of me is rejoicing over... but not the "but.. what!?!..wait a minute... that means I can't craft as much!!!.."part of me.

Here are a few things I did tonight while working...

well darn.. my camera battery went dead so I can't get the pictures off.

We'll have to revert to radio days when words were enough...

I finally got of my adirondack alcohol inks and played around with them just a little.  Made three small journals with transparency covers with alcohol ink covering them.  Second page that you can see through the transparency page is a piece of sheet music.  I may see if my mom has a heart dyecut and cut a small heart in each cover making it "love notes".  It was fun doing something different.. and making a journal that didn't take hours to do!

and then I made a business card holder cut out of a fruit snack box and covered in paper and of course inked a little. Haven't decided if I'm going to cover it in tape or not.  You will have to wait for tomorrow to see!

no longer a girl... but a woman...

I have made the transformation in my craft career... Today I made my first etsy sales!! One was from a fellow minnesotan whom found me on the Handmade Minnesota blog.  And one was through facebook from a friend from Camfel.  So exciting. Do you always remember your first etsy sale?  I'm sure you do if it is also your last. I hope to keep the creative juices flowing a keep this up.

In the dreaming stages of doing a cute little invitation only juried craft sale in November. In talks with a friend about it. Could be lots of fun!!  And boy do I LOVE planning!!

It took most of the day but I got all of my journals posted on etsy!whew!

it's official!

I now have an etsy site! With ONE whole thing listed! Yea! Tomorrow I need to take pictures of the rest of my journals.  Posting is an exhausting task.  Have been excited about the good feedback I've gotten from refest visitors. And a bit surprised that my hand drawn covers are favored over the others.  There is a possibility of selling at Johnny Appleseed Days in Lake City with a friend.  We'll see!  Would love to actually attend an event.  

www.locustst.etsy.com

sneak peek.

Almost finished four "old leona's"... long skinny journals made from the white paper scraps of my other journals.  The one of the left is finished.  The others just need lamination and binding.

Refest came and went. And I still have a stack of journals.  Which I'm actually excited about.. because I really wanted to open my etsy shop.  My friends were disappointed in the lack of sales at our table.  We'll just have to try again.  And I do want to try again.  I was told that a lot of people liked my journals so that is encouraging.

I just have to take really nice pictures of them now.. which I'm not looking forward to.  I'm going to research etsy tips on picture taking for the shop.

In the meantime I should mention my fascination for regina spektor this week.  I'm looking forward to going wild and crazy on itunes one of these days and getting myself a few of her songs.  Any must haves to recommend??

Normally I daydream about having time to craft... Now I have an excuse to craft (that means my husband won't get too mad at me for doing it during the day) and I'm doing everything but!! because a deadline makes it feel like homework.  How am I ever going to get them done by tomorrow!!  People have offered to help but there's really nothing that anyone can do but me because I only have one binding machine and an overt need to be in control.

work space

I have today and tomorrow to finish the journals for refest!!  I'm still in cover making mode... here's what my basement work area looks like...

A few of my finished covers...lighting is bad down there. I started layering "famous pictures" on top of each other for some of them. 

All my pages are together in groups but still need to be punched...

And this is what my table looks like.. I am just working right over the top.  These journals are a bit all over the place... so maybe this mess is inspiration.  I'm working on the waxed paper.

No time to fool around!

I still need to make tags too... and I was going to make some really long skinny ones out of the scraps for really cheap.

And I still need to figure out a price!! they're about 5 1/2x 4  1inch thick of random papers, drawings, inked papers, stamped papers.  All completely one of a kind.  suggestions??

Zachariah was being mean to Kate. "Zachariah, you need to be nice to Kate... you're the big brother... you need to protect her." "I don't wanna be the big brother!! I want to be the BAD brother!!"

That pretty much sums up my day.

finished one journal tonight 1/21.  I've gotta get moving!

new trinkets

Because I live in a small town it is a treat of all treats to go to "the cities" and get to some of the art/craft stores. Dick Blick and Archivers are next door to each other in Roseville which is more than convenient (also next door to a consignment shop which held, up until a few hours ago, a silver dish marked down to $1.18 which now resides in said small town). I wanted to make it to this wonderful art store on Grand-- which my sister literally lives a few short blocks away from (she also lives directly across the street from whole foods... I wouldn't have enough will power if I lived there)-- but was too tired to make the walk.

I got a lino cutter, they didn't have the stamp medium I was looking for but I got some ez cut printing block... is that going to work for stamp making?? from Blick. And Archivers had the felt ink applicator tool I was looking for.. on 75% clearance! The dumb thing is I only got one! I should have gotten three so that I didn't need to trade them out when working with multiple colors. So I'll have to experiment more with my distress inks which I've basically only been using like regular inks thus far. I also need to start working with my adirondack alcohol inks that I splurged on and then never even opened. I got a package of mini misters... way too expensive for what they are... but I couldn't help myself. Finally got a bone folder! I've wanted one for so long! And a few more wires for my journals since they are still on clearance. If I lived closer I'd be purusing their clearance section frequently to snatch up all the 75% off goodies.. maybe it's a good thing I don't live too close.

We've been going to como park all summer since zachariah got a season pass for the rides they have there. Today for the first time he went on a few of the "bigger" rides. It was neat to see him growing up... but sad because it was a very tangible way of seeing my little boy becoming not as little.

No big plans for the weekend. Need to keep working on these journals. A little scary to start working on the covers.

Worship at 8500 has been scheduled already for next summer. The place they're having it this time has a trout lake. Without hesitation Ben said "we going" when he heard that.

Moving In

My new home! Hopefully I will have some finished projects to post soon. I am working on some brown bag journals for refest right now. I only have two weeks left and lots to do!

Currently they look like this...



Which took several episodes of my favorite tv programing and some late night talk shows that I'm usually not up late enough to see to do.

I also need to work on the banner... for this and etsy. And the momtime website needs to be redone.. it's terribly pink right now. I can not say "yes" to anything else this fall! I need to leave some mental-health-creating-time... but yet the calendar gets filled anyway.