Laume's Studio

Miss me? I've been gone too many days. Here's my excuses:

1. Football. Play off season football in fact. We (meaning by that, my son's team) won a very exciting Friday night game. Add in preparation for and celebrations afterward.

2. Stomach bug and other illnesses, both mine and other family members. Trust me, best if we don't go into detail on any of it.

3. Other family stuff. This that and the other thing.

4. Some other computer stuff.

Okay, that's enough rationalizing.

Bottom line, I haven't even stepped foot into my studio in a week. Scratch that. I went in there to check a book title on a shelf and to find a different coat in the closet. Not terribly creative though, those tasks.

I did get the Yule swap folks all listed on the sidebar though - YAy! And did you notice we picked up a couple of people? Yay again! The mysterious "Barb" is my mom, she doesn't have an internet link. I have everyone elses information except Meo's. (I'm waiting on an address and link info for you, my faery friend!) Reminder to self - Take all the swapper's emails and put them safely together in a file before I lose them in my messy mailbox.

All silliness aside, I'm frustrated that my intentions to spend the entire month of November being a superartist, holed up in my studio except for quick forays into the kitchen for more tea and snacks, hasn't exactly materialized. At best I've got a chance to spend HALF of November being a superartist. Oh. Wait. My daughter and her family are coming for a half week for Thanksgiving. Sit down before I share the rest of the story. Are you sitting yet? No, I'm serious. Sit down. Ready? Okay.

She's bringing all six of her kids. Six. SIX. Ages 8, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 4 months. Tired just thinking about that? I thought so. Add in getting ready for and being exhausted after and there's another week.

So now I'm down to ONE WEEK of being a superartist. If I start tomorrow.

First priority of course is my Yule Swap creation. I've got some ideas sketched out. Here's a few of the ideas -

Sorry, not very clear. You might be able to see more if you click and enlarge. Don't try to figure out what that darkest spot is - I think it's coffee. Maybe chocolate. Like Sarah of Circles of Rain I have a doll idea. I've got a couple of textile art ideas and a mobile idea. A diorama or two. Maybe a book? They all sound like fun but I can't get started until I commit to one. Also like Sarah, I keep sliding back into adding elements that seem more Christmas-y than Yule-y. In reality, there's so much overlap that it could work anyway, but I'm trying to come up with something a bit more unusual, less expected. This is all about fantasy, fairy tale, and magic of the season, not just the solstice celebration called Yule, so there's probably not a lot of "should's or shouldn'ts".

Mainly I'm stuck between two directions. Do I want to go all sparkly, glittery, fairy theme? HOLIDAY BLING! After all, Yule is about the return of LIGHT! Or do I go all simple beauty of nature - mossy and pinecones, elves or gnomes or such? The problem with the latter ideas is that they start looking traditional Christmas really fast. I love both directions. I think I just have to go into the studio and start messing around with supplies until something clicks.