Psuedo-Studio2

I like to have lots of fun things around me to inspire me. Kind of a play area, you know? Here's a closer look at a couple things:
My clock that I personalized; of course decorated with a bit of pink. The inscription hand-written around it says: "All moments are happening all the time." -Robin Green & Mitchell Burgess (Northern Exposure). Which btw, I love old episodes of 'Northern Exposure'. I once drove through the town where it was filmed and had a beer in 'The Brick'. What fun!Next is a quote I framed; sort of as a mantra. It says: "The best way to know life is to love many things." -Vincent Van Gogh So that's it for today's sneak peek. I'm off to create! Have a great day!

Pseudo-Studio

By 'psuedo-studio I mean that I have half of our extra bedroom-converted to office. Ok, PLUS I have the entire closet filled AND various other stashes squirrelled away around the house! I have to keep it tidied up as it drives Mr. D crazy---actually, he doesn't even know that I have taken over most of the cupboards and drawers of the china cabinet that don't have glass in them! Hee hee! So here is a picture of my half of the office. I thought that I would share details with you a bit at a time. The things that inspire me and that I have created for inspiration. And...some just silly and fun stuff! What does your studio look like? Do you have to share space?

Works in Progress

This is a new 'girlie' I am working on. She'll probably be turned into a little portfolio to hold some of my doodling pens.
Ok, this is part of the 'Parisian' set. The head, legs and gloved hands will become a sort of collage/scrapbook display. And, this is where the stamped Aida comes in, see the cover of the pattern. Me, I always learn by copying an idea and then it's added to my mental repetoire of nifty techniques to personalize my own projects.
Here we have some clothing that I am working on. The blue/green is for a skirt and the variegated pink is for a holiday dress. Note the newspaper pattern for the sleeve. It was sleeveless and I thought it needed sleeves to look right on me.

The last here are two altered books that I am working on. They are my first attempt and basically turned into a 'test' area for ideas and techniques. I got a little bored with it, so I'm not sure when I'll finish that! So that is some of my projects! Now I am off to see what you might be up to!

Coming Attraction!

After viewing a blog where an anthropologist was studying his town through various walks, I was inspired to do similar. Ok, in reality, I really need some fresh motivation for exercise! It just so happens that my new puppy will soon have all of her vaccinations and we will be able to go out in public. The exploration of our towns 36 parks will be good for her psyche and good for my waistline! I'm not sure what direction this blog will take me, but at least I should get some pretty pictures! So come join me in my wanderings and wonderings about town!

Circus Side-Show Garden

Ok, so here is the end result of the gnomies in the garden. (see previous post 'nerdy gnomes'). See? Kind of a circus! Those are my herbs growing in planters on top of the fence. Note the Christmas lights around the fence. Also, note that the goose is no longer naked! There are a lot of gnomes, people! It makes me think of gnome-chucking(Harry Potter)! Today I am thinking about honing my blog a bit. I believe I will start 2 new ones. This for arts and crafts. Another for cooking for diabetics(low carb, essentially) and a third for my 37 parks project. About this (Eclections) blog...it occurs to me that I really enjoy seeing what others have in-progress. It's kind of like opening a present each day when I check in with particular blogs and see what they are up to or if a project is finished. So, one goal is to show a bit more of that to people. I don't do anything particularly special, but it's fun for me. The other thing I just love to see is where people do their arts and crafts (studios, if you will). That gives me the idea to share my humble space and some of the unique things I have for inspiration or just because I like them. A little tour if you will, a piece at a time. I hope this is something others will enjoy. Therefore, I'm off to photograph some of my works in progress and bits of my 'psuedo studio'; which I will post later on today. Also, I'm going to figure out how I add additional blogs. Have a creative day!

Finished Tote!

Finally! I finished the tote and I wanted to share it with you! I just love it! Pink, pink, pink!

Nerdy Gnomes

Ok, I have to detour a bit today to tell you about our new gnomes. First of all, I have 'most-embarrassing-teenage-moment' memory of visiting my Grandma's house. The thing is that she had numerous gnomes, spinny flower thingies and a plethora of other assorted tacky plastic stuff in her yard. I would call it an Amusement Park of Gnomes. I even suspect all their neighbors secretly added more to their yard upon receiving them...a gnome re-gift, if you will. Here we would roll up in the car, and me, being self-consciously 14ish, would bolt for the door and hide my face lest some studly(albeit pimply) boy might see me here! Now that you have THAT background, you are up to par with me wondering why my sweetie and I bought 2 yard gnomes yesterday. In order to tell you WHY, I must first back-track and tell you this story:

The Story of the Plastic Goose

Well, my fiance's daughter having the usual impossible task of buying a present for dad on his birthday; had an inspiration! She thought to herself 'well, dad has a new house and he's been doing all kinds of work in the yard and loves his garden so much...Hence, the GARDEN GOOSE. I had never heard of such a thing, being a Californian. Marketers probably realized that Californians are just 'too cool' for gooses as I know NO people that have them in their yards. However, when he opened the box, I was quite delighted with the 20+ outfits she comes with. Don however, nervously chuckled (probably wondering where to put the goose so the other yard 'guys' in the neighborhood would not find out about it). This is not to say that Don didn't appreciate his daughter's thoughtfulness. It's just...he is a 6 foot 2, cop-built, booming voice, in other words 'macho' kind of a guy(marshmallow inside, but hush, only I know that!). Two weeks later: Don is weeding in the back yard, he lightly tosses the goose aside and yes...CRACK! Broke a leg off. Ok, I glued the leg back, no problem...put her back in the yard. 3 days later, my son, doing whatever teenage boys do to wreck things(read: live and breath) knocked her off the ledge. I'm afraid the poor goose lost her head. NO, I don't mean she came alive and was scandalized by her out of season outfit! I mean broke her head off at the neck. In 3 pieces. Of course, said daughter was coming to visit in 2 weeks. So, I put out an APB on the internet and finally found a replacement for $50 with the same 20+ outfits. Not quite. Ok, more searching found just the goose for $30(pictured here, naked). So, Don had to re-purchase something that he felt he could live without, so as not to disappoint.

BACK to the gnome story now:

So, we were in Joann's craft store yesterday and they had all their yard stuff 60% off; which for me would be 75% off since I get to use an educator discount also. That's when it happened: I saw the gnome holding the goose(above picture); as if stealing a goose from someone's yard! I CRACKED UP! Too funny! So, we both loved the joke and had to get it. Of course, you cannot have only one, so one turned into two. It gets worse! I then purchased three more today! I'm out of control people!!!! Tomorrow, I will show you a picture of our new circus side-show garden. Circus is correct, trust me! There are also Christmas lights all around the garden. This is because Don likes the way they look at night while he's in the spa. Not because he is lazy. He just likes them...the jury is out on this still. Ok, I'm off to sew.