Saturday, February 28, 2009

Spring!

I have springtime on the brain since the last few days have been warm enough to hang outside! Of course, the cold weather has returned today, along with rain. Boo, hiss.


I took my little guy to the park this week and we had a picnic lunch with friends. Then we visited a daffodil field, which is a local secret around here. It's an area in the woods just off the road where someone has planted daffodils to naturalize. It is just now coming into bloom and we'll have to go back in a week or two when it's in full bloom.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Busy busy!

Wow, have I been swamped this past week with custom orders! My poor blog suffered as a result. I was ashamed to see the last entry was on Valentine's day! Custom orders are a lot of fun and I enjoy the challenge the projects present. Most of the books I have made this week are wedding guest books.

A guest book for a Tiffany blue themed wedding

My most challenging project so far was doing a journal with tracing paper for the text block. When I started to stitch it together I found the spine wanted to collapse on me, so I had to add some sketch paper to the folios to make them more structurally sound.
The tracing paper journal, using handmade Lokta paper for the covers

This was a fun project and a very pleasant customer to work with! I really like it when my customers give me artistic license to come up with something creative within their guidelines of specific colors or sizes. This photo album was a variation on my Winter Damask Guest Book, done in portrait instead of landscape layout.

A guest book for a black and fuchsia themed wedding.


I've got one more custom order I'm working on this week and then I can focus on listing some new journals I've got waiting in the wings! Unless of course I get more custom requests, which is fine, bring 'em on!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here it is, the big V-day and the end of another week! I hope everyone had a great day with friends, family, or that special person.My day started out with my hubby sneaking off to Lowe's for some "stuff" and returned with a potted rosebush and two boxes of Girl Scout cookies for me! (Along with some drywall tape, a deadbolt lock, and other "stuff".)

My day was spent in the studio working on some new journals, catching up on emails, doing laundry and enjoying my well-again toddler. He's been sick the last few days whimpering miserably and bursting into tears over the littlest things. I've never been so glad to hear him happily chattering away!

We went out to dinner tonight to celebrate Valentine's Day, along with everyone else in the city. It was a madhouse out there! We intended to go to Olive Garden but it was a 2 1/2 hour wait, so we went to a steakhouse instead. We only had to wait an hour there!

I wonder how much of our lives are spent waiting...waiting in line, waiting for a table, waiting for the doctor, waiting for a call or someone to show up... The latter applies to my mother, she is late everywhere she goes. She runs on her own time, oblivious to the world's schedule. I just accept it as a part of who she is and tell her to be somewhere an hour before we're really supposed to be there. :>

Anyway, I hope everyone had a good day and didn't have to wait long for their dinner!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Clean Teeth and a Happy Heart

I'm happy today, I went to the dentist and got a good report. Yippee! Not only do I have clean teeth (I love that!) but no cavities as well!

This is particularly exciting for me because I was told by the last dentist I visited that I had four cavities. This raised grave suspicions for me, partly because I've only had two cavities in my entire life, and also because I overheard a comment by the hygienist that I had good insurance (which was news to me because I think it sucks, but I realize I am lucky to have it at all). I listened to my gut, refused to have the work done and found a new dentist.


None of this has anything to do with Valentine's Day, which is my declared theme of the week. Now I will move on to my theme...I just had to share my good news. :)

A grand introduction to my newest line in my shop...tah dah...Decorative boxes. These are decorated mini matchboxes, I hope to have some larger boxes in my shop in the next month or so.

Primrose and Lime Mini Gift Box

They're just the right size for small jewelry like earring studs, a wedding band, or a small bracelet or necklace chain. You can also use them to store little trinkets like beads, eyelets, and other craft supplies.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Be My Valentine

This week's theme on my blog will be Valentines, red, pink, roses, and all that mushy stuff! Valentine's Day can be a bummer if you don't have a significant other to share it with, but I've had fun in the past bringing Valentines to work or making little Valentine surprises for my family.

Here's a cute little project for a Valentine tea luncheon from MarthaStewart.com. Punch a heart (or cut one out) and add it to a tea bag, with a handwritten message.

This year's projects involve my toddler who is working on signing his name to Pooh bear Valentines for our friends and family. He started out with the best intentions, but his name degraded into a scribble after the first Valentine. Oh well, one lucky person gets his signature, the rest will just have to deal with it!


I remember in grade school how we made a paper pocket mailbox and taped it to the side of our desks. Then on Valentines Day, we all went around and delivered Valentines to each other's mailboxes. It was a lot of fun to play mail carrier and get Valentines from your friends in return.


Visit Etsy.com for other great gift ideas!

Monday, February 2, 2009

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye

I have been on an unexpected furlough this past week, having had surgery on my cornea. Not fun. Here's the story...

About 3 years ago I poked myself in the eye with an eyeliner brush, a particularly stiff type of makeup brush. I usually use eye pencils, so I was unfamiliar with this tool. That saying about teaching an old dog new tricks...well, that goes for eyeliner brushes. I now stick to eye pencils.

Eye See You Print by josephev

I scratched my cornea pretty good and had to go see an eye doctor. My cornea never healed properly and developed little cysts which kept rupturing. Sounds painful? That was nothing compared to what I've been through this past week!

After the cysts ruptured for about the 17th time, I finally decided I'd had enough and went back to the doctor. He recommended resurfacing my cornea right then and there, promising me I'd be able to drive home. Piece of cake. Yeah right.

The procedure wasn't painful, just uncomfortable. Someone shines a bright light into your numbed eye, holding your eyelid with a pair of tweezers. Then the doctor comes at you with what looks like a mini dremmel tool. Gross. I had to do a little tap dance in the chair to keep my mind occupied before I passed out. I'm too visual and may as well watch the entire procedure as my imagination makes it out to be worse than it often is.


The problems started afterward. I barely made it home, my eye was so blurry I had to close it which then affected my depth perception. By the time I got home the numbing drops had worn off and I was in pain.

The doctor gave me a prescription for pain medication, but I'm usually pretty tough and don't need it. That was not the case this time. My eye was hurting so bad by that afternoon it felt like someone was jabbing a knife in it over and over. I tried Advil but that didn't touch the pain.

Now on to round two of my week of torture. Ding.

I took the pain medicine but it made me nauseated, so I stopped it. The next day I called the doctor back and he wanted to see me. Apparently I wasn't supposed to be in this much pain. I went in and he checked me and sent me home with some pathetic eye drops for the pain. They did nothing!
Cousin Harry by AlteredIndustries
This is totally what I looked like!

That night I was hurting so bad I was pacing the house for hours. I finally decided to take the pain meds that made me sick, choosing nausea over the pain. Big mistake. I was up for 5 hours, sick as a dog every 20-30 minutes. After my system expelled every last trace of the medicine, I felt much better and miraculously, my eye didn't even hurt!

Most of the discomfort the rest of the week was muscular, from squinting so hard and my 5 hour ordeal. My eye is still blurry but is well enough that I can now see the computer screen, so I'm back in action!

I go for a follow up visit with the doctor tomorrow and let me tell you, he's going to get an earful! I gave birth all naturally and that didn't even come close to the pain I was in this week!
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