Today was the day to mail out our packages for the Sweet and Sinister Swap hosted by Artsymama. I amazed myself by actually meeting the deadline! I tried out a number of different ideas. Some worked, some stumped me (for now), a few came to me all light bulby at the last minute and I stayed up late several nights trying to finish "just one more thing" and then another "just one more". It was a lot of fun.

Although I had everything ready and boxed up by the deadline, that doesn't mean I actually mailed it on time. No, that would be too out of character, yes? Too incredible to believe. But I actually have two very good excuses why the box is sitting in my living room waiting to be mailed out tomorrow morning.

1. Someone hit a telephone pole or something this afternoon. The lights flickered, then went out and stayed out. So I couldn't turn on my computer to find my swap partner's mailing address.

2. When the electricity finally came back on, long after the post office closed (which was good because I then had more time to add and wrap a few more goodies), I discovered that my swap partner had never actually given me her mailing address! Hopefully she'll get my e-mail and send it first thing in the morning.

I was going to post a bunch of photos of all the fun things I made or wrapped, but after thinking it through, I decided I don't really trust my partner not to peek (I probably would). Although I'm dying to share my pics, I'm more interested in keeping the secret, so you'll have to wait just a few more days. I'll share just one, a small tease.

A handful of Sweet and Sinister wrapped candies in a wee wooden box. Or is it?

But that's not to say I have nothing to share! As well as the S & S Swap, I've also been working to finish up a Halloween quilt block swap that is long past due. Although most of the swappers needed extra time, the blocks were well worth the wait. It was supposed to be a very simple Halloween Houses and Halloween Hats swap. Many swappers didn't really pay attention to the "keep it simple" part and I felt badly that my blocks weren't fancier. But, it's time to get them in the mail. (Warning - if you're in this swap and don't want to see the blocks before they arrive in the mail, now would be a good time to stop scrolling down.)

I tried several house block patterns and couldn't seem to wrap my brain around any of them. I kept cutting pieces the wrong size and ruining the attempts. Then I got an idea for a kind of stack and slash hat block. I had to fiddle with it through several incarnations before I got the hang of it but once I did, they were fun to make.

Here are the blocks. You can see how they developed as I went along. The one little purple hat on the orange background in the bottom corner didn't make the cut, it's a half inch too small for the guidelines. But the rest worked out the right dimensions.

It was a small group in the end. There was a lot of excitement over the swap when I first announced it. A lot of people signed up. Although I expected a certain number of drop outs, I was surprised and confused that almost everyone dropped out. Still, the blocks that arrived were fantastic. I'm just sorry that I wasn't able to swap all the blocks for those swappers who sent in multiple sets based on my original estimates.

Here are are a sampling of the blocks that swappers sent.

Since I'll be busy with family activities all weekend, I've been busy, busy, busy trying to get a bunch of stuff done this week, including two swap deadlines. So of course I found unexpected buried treasure and had to carve an hour out of my day to dig it out.

I wrote a long To Do list last night and started tackling it first thing out of the shower this morning. One of things on the list was to pick up some how-to collage books I'd ordered from the library. I haven't been to the library since last week and I walked in to discover it was the last day (or at least the last day I could go to the library this week) of a week long book sale. Lots and lots of books being culled from the library, two thirds of them from the children's library.

It's really hard to explain how old and out of date most of our local library resources are, but in this particular case, it was to my advantage. No one wanted old, outdated, battered books apparently. No one but me!

Each book was fifty cents. I spent nineteen dollars. I found a Middle East cookbook, a few books to keep to read to the grandkids (or myself), one Barbara Michaels novel to read. The rest of the books were all for crafting and art use. Dozens of children's nonfiction, most of the books are between twenty and sixty years old.

Here are half the books. You can click on the photo to see the titles and covers closer.

Here's the other half. I love the old covers, even the simple ones.

I love the feel and smell, texture and style of the books. It takes me back to my own book filled childhood. It makes me think of children through the ages, born, like me, before the invention of the television, personal computer, Gameboys, cell phones. Children sitting with a parent reading together before bed. Kids curled up in a windowsill on a rainy afternoon, sitting in a tree, laying on a screened summer porch, sitting at a kitchen table after school with a plate of cookies and a tall glass of milk, but at the same time all of them somewhere far away from their environs, fallen deep into the pages of a book.

But beyond the pleasure of the books in and of themselves, there are the wonderful illustrations I hope to use once I learn some collage techniques with those books I borrowed. Here are a few pages.

And a few more.

And even more. I wish you could see them in person. I realize now I should have taken photos of single pages, they would have shown up better. But too late, these will have to do for now.

Oh, and just one more.

I found a bit of crafting time last night - YAH. So I made up a few odd but adorable magnet buddies for my Sweet and Sinister Swap partner. Gargoyles, to protect her refrigerator from attack. Except for that odd little black cat. Cats just seem to find the their way into everything though, don't they? Especially black cats. Especially in my house. He looks a bit surprised to find himself inside a glass button.


Oh, and the W - William made that for himself. Since he doesn't have a refrigerator, when it was finished this morning I went in his room and stuck it on the shield of his metal bedside knight. Oh. Don't all children have bedside knights?

I finally fringed... er, finished...er, fringed AND finished a project so I can show it to you. Yah me!

I found a half a globe laying in a box at the thrift store and a light bulb went off above my head. I bought a whole bunch of stuff so I can't really tell you how much it cost me. They were having a clearance for all the donations they didn't have room to bring inside. You just paid them whatever you wanted and hauled it away. I brought home a big box of bits and pieces, too many to count, plus a funky, sturdy, old coffee table and handed over a twenty dollar bill. The lady tried to convince me I'd offered her too much money for junk but sheesh, the money went for charitable causes so it's not like I was going to take change back.

We haven't had a coffee table in decades. Just not practical with a house full of kids. I preferred the open floor space for kids to sprawl out to watch t.v., build pillow forts, have sleepovers, build Lego villages. But I'm really enjoying having a coffee table again. A place for magazines! A place to park your feet! I'd orginally planned on painting it white, maybe add a bit of gilding. But I don't really have anything else white in the living room. It turns out all my new (to me) living room furniture is dark wood. Didn't know it would end up that way, but it looks nice. So I might just leave the table the way it is, dark wood and a bit , well, shabby. Which is chic, right? I like it anyway. The only thing that truly needs to be refinished is the top of it. Maybe if the table top ever sees the light of day again (horizontal surfaces in my house get covered up quickly!), I might paint just that. Oh, but, we were talking about my half globe. So, anyway...

I brought the half globe home. Then I bought a lamp making kit at the local hardware store for ... I think it was about $10. Sam happened to come for a visit (so handy having a son who knows how to build stuff) and showed me how to put it together. Okay, so HE put it together for me. But I watched carefully, helped a lot, including running all that wire through the chain. (Now that I can see how easy it is, I think I want to make more things into lamps!) Then Sam helped me put the hooks in the ceiling (even though I could certainly have done that part myself - he was enjoying the role of helpful son) and the lamp has been "hanging around" waiting for me to add the finishing touch.

Fringe. A couple dollars worth from Walmart. Total cost is something under $15. Isn't it pretty!?

I have it hanging over a wingback chair in my new "reading corner". Good thing I found the top half of the globe so that we're not all hanging upside down right now. Snort. Hey, if you live "down under", do globes still.... never mind.


Speaking of lamps, one of our table lamps stopped working a few weeks ago. The knob that turned the lamp off and on fell apart. I like the lamp. Now that I'm feeling all feisty about making lamps, I'll probably try to fix it one day. But in the meantime, look what I found at the thrift store a couple of days ago. This funky old red glass lamp. Love it! Cost me a dollar, and they even threw in a new light bulb. (which isn't an energy efficient one, but we swapped it out when we got it home) The lampshade was from our other lamp and I think it fits the new lamp really well. I haven't even dusted the thing yet but I'll get around to it one of these days. I also want to take a coat of paint to the gold "metal" part. It's really only plastic and it's showing a bit of wear, but a fresh coat of paint (I've got some glossy black) will make it look good as new.

While I was going around taking photos, I thought I'd also show you this little bit of decorative scroll I brought home in that same box of "junk". It's actually a shelf. It had a crack in the top so someone had given it up as no longer useful. I didn't care because it would be easy peasy to glue a new piece of wood on it and there you go, no more broken top. But that was before I noticed it matched my cabinet so I flipped it over, laid it on top.... voila, my country style cabinet gets a touch of Old World style.


It's not like I disliked my cabinet plain, but this little touch really fits my new "funky Boho Europe" look.


Oh, and see the glass and silver (I assume silver plated. Hmmm. I didn't think to look) tea pot? That came home in my box of "junk" too. The carafe lifts in and out of the three legged silver base. I assume you are suppose to put a small tea light underneath it. Hey, is that how they got the name tea lights? I can hardly wait to serve some hot, sweet, Marrakesh Mint tea in it. All I have to do is find some.

Those little bits of color at the bottom of the pic? Balloons still up from William's birthday. You should see the living room, balloons and garlands all over the place! Oh, and all over the yard. And William's bedroom. Hubby got a little carried away. It was sweet.

I went to a local flea market today. Forgot it was this weekend and wandered in at the tail end of the day with $8 in bills and $2 in bottom of my purse and glove compartment change.

With the $8 I bought this...... uhm..... thing. I think it was originally a wrought iron plant stand, at least the bottom part of it was. I think part of the top was added on at some point to make it an ashtray. At least that's what the "dish" on the top appears to have been. And then someone had the brilliant idea to add a wire up through the middle and make it a "lamp", adding the odd "shade". I don't have a clue if the wiring still works, but for $8 I didn't care. I think I'll just pull the wires back out and use it as a display piece in the garden. I can set plants or fairies or anything I want on the "steps" and with the light bulb gone a candle might make awesome shadows through the iron globe. Or, I might take the globe off and hang it separately (with or without a bulb or candle). Regardless, I couldn't pass up the pretty swirls and circles.

With the gathered coins I just had enough to buy some more pretty swirls, these clip-on costume jewelry earrings. Don't they look like something Galadriel would wear? They're sort of a triskelian but not exactly. I don't know if I'll really ever wear them or if I'll just display them or maybe use them in an art piece, but I found them enchanting. Sheesh, I had no idea my hair looked so grey!

I also spent some time playing with some of my photos, changing them to black and white and adjusting the light and contrast. I "spookified" them up a bit and then made some copies to use for the base of collages for a couple of swaps. Uhm. Except, now what!? I had the idea to add some transparencies over them but, gee, it would be easier if I knew HOW to add transparencies. I guess I didn't think that far ahead in the project.

Y'know what I really need? I need my own personal collage tutor. When I first started quilting and I didn't know how to do something, I just sought out the people in our quilt group that appeared to have specialized skills and asked if they'd teach me. And they did. I realize now, in hindsight, how fortunate I was to meet such talented and kind people. But y'know, I have yet to turn someone away who wants to learn skills that I can teach. I guess it goes 'round.

I need someone to "walk me through it", help me get past the fear of making a mess of things. Someone with a sharp scissors, a glue stick, whatever else might come in handy (stamps? glitter? pens?), someone who's not afraid to use all that stuff! Or, if someone skilled isn't available to show me the ropes, then I wish I could find someone else as clueless as me so we could wade into disaster together.

And yes, I know, there are these things called "workshops". True. For some. But not out here in the boonies. Alas, this is a "workshop" free county. So. Anyone have any ideas what I should do next?

Oh, and one more thing. I still need to find and clear off a flat surface so I have a place to work. Yeah. That would be good too.

I walked by this building and got a chuckle out of it. When communicating, it's not always "Black and White" y'know. But apparently they don't want any shades of grey in their unit.

Still nothing more artsy than that to show you. I had a bunch of my new finds lined up on the couch to photograph but then, while I was off doing something else, my family came by and swept it all off so they could.... get this.... SIT on the couch! Sheesh. The nerve of some people.

If you look to my sidebar, you'll see some changes. I added a few Bloggers under "Blogs I Read". It was just a test run, I need to add a bunch more. One of those "household" tasks I never get around to doing. I've also changed my doll to reflect being in the pre-Halloween decorating mood. I always arrive in fall decorating mode before most folks, and always before the shops start displaying autumn wares. For several weeks I've been watching the stores and websites and just in the last week I'm beginning to see autumn aisles and displays appear. Small displays. But growing. I love autumn!

I also added a button for a swap I joined, the Sweet and Sinister Swap hosted by Artsymama. Isn't it cute!? (I won't bother making any of the words link as you can click on the button itself.) I already loved Artsymama's site and enthusiastic way of gathering bloggers 'round but I HEART her more now because she was one of the first bloggers to get into the Halloween spirit with me. I have a number of projects I need to get on the ball and finish up, or even start and finish up, in the next month. Along with the projects already waiting sad and patiently for me to return to them, I'm using the Sweet and Sinister Swap to give me an excuse to try my wings .... er, apparently they're bat wings... on some new crafts.

I've had a lot of fun already perusing craft departments, fabric stores, and thrift shops looking for supplies. It's a Halloween themed swap but, more specifically, the guidelines call for all projects to be in a black and white theme. Although I undoubtedly have enough craft supplies at home to get off to a good start, I've brought home bags full of new black and white goodies. I've browsed blogs, magazines, and antique shops for project ideas.

I've got a dozen or so ideas I could do, not sure which ones I'll actually choose yet. I like to be a bit secretive about my work until I'm well underway with it. I do want to share some pics of the supplies and oddities I've found recently however. As I unbag and set up a workspace again, I'll be forthcoming with some photos.

In the meantime, anyone else working on Halloween or seasonal projects? Participating in or know of any other Halloween swaps? Decorating your home with things black and white and orange?

Or have you jumped directly into projects for winter gift giving? Ooooh, I don't even want to think about that yet but I know I'm already zooming past having time for any making any handmade gifts this year. Every January I vow to start right in for the following winter season and every year I just lollygag along until September when I think maybe I should have started in August but I still pretend there's time if I hurry and every end of November I remember the whole mailing time needed part of it and every December I just give up and use Plan B, which involves a credit card and a trip to the big city mall. ARGH.

But.... I'll think about all that tomorrow! (says Scarlett) I'm having too much fun with witches and pumpkins and bones and twirling leaves and things that go BUMP in the night!

At the end of our street two small, old houses sit side by side. The houses themselves are invisible, nondescript boxes built before the attached garage style became the norm. The type of home that houses two old people and then one old person and then .... one day there's a For Sale sign in the front yard. One house is sort of cluttered, the other is tidy in a barren sort of way. Between the two houses runs a ramshackle line of boards defiantly claiming to be a fence. When I drive by, that fence almost always makes me smile.

Why? I dunno. I think it's "cute" in a shabby chic kinda way. It's homogeneous despite its patchwork of materials, all aging grays and whites, that one cheerful stretch of faded blue. I cheer for it, like a character from The Brave Little Toaster - weathered, made up of bits and pieces leaning on each other for support but still valiantly attempting to be useful in its old age, not yet ready to be put pulled down and tossed on the scrap heap. I suspect that some would consider it nothing but an eyesore. Indeed, it would be illegal in some neighborhoods. But I don't care. I think it has character, personality, and a quirky loveliness to it.

Driving down the street the other day on the way to running some errand, again I noticed the fence as I slowed for the stop sign and suddenly it occurred to me that while here I was admiring this old, imperfect piece of "lawn art" I had spent the better part of the last month frozen in my progress to put my living room back together WHY? - because I was afraid it wouldn't be perfect. That somehow completing the project, putting the old and new back together and calling it finished would expose the imperfection of my efforts.

I realized I didn't want to finish the process because I was certain that what I created would never live up to the perfect image in my head. Not that I even know what that image would look like. It certainly isn't something exact and flawless from a glossy magazine picture. What I'd been trying to do was blend a hodge podge of designs together to create a unique statement of who I am. I had never had a end result pictured in my mind. Instead I'd been following my gut, getting the green light whenever the "energy" or "mood" felt right -one that is happy, peaceful and makes you feel like you've stepped across the threshold into another a place slightly out of pace with the world outside. At what point in the process did the insideous idea that I had a result in mind, and that it needed to be perfect, creep in and take over?

I don't even LIKE perfect things! They often feel cold and unfriendly too me. They make me nervous and uncomfortable. For example - The town of Cannon Beach is a seaside town just west of Portland, Oregon. It's beautiful and new and a haven for the upscale and beautiful people who come from the big city for the weekend or the day. I've met some nice and friendly people there but still, the town has always made me feel just a wee bit unwelcome, as if my dusty, bumper stickered Subie might mar the perfection of their color coordinated streets. I'm much more at ease in some of the other seaside villages that are more eclectic and rough around the edges.

I don't like houses that are so clean I'm afraid to walk across the floor or set a glass down. I don't like art that matches the sofa. I find interesting faces more beautiful than faces with perfect features. I like my gardens a bit overgrown and wild. I like paintings with odd color combinations, quilts that are scrappy, and tables set with a theme or color but with a collection of not quite matching dishes and silverware.

Now that I think about it, the fear of imperfection stops me from doing more than just putting my living room back together. It stops me from finishing my novel. It keeps me from trying new art techniques. I hate that steep uphill climb on the learning curve when you have to treat all your outcome as "learning experiences."

It's no surprise that I've been happiest with both the process and my outcome on those rare occasions when I've worked without any preconceived ideas of what I expect of the results. Most of the time in my art, and not quite as rigidly in my writing but still true, I don't allow myself this kind of freedom. I shackle myself to an idea in my head of what something should look or sound like. Of course the creative process has a life of it's own and it fights the mold I've set for it, sprouting off in one odd direction after another. Then I spend most of my time and energy trying to force my project back towards the original idea. It's exhausting and rarely gets me the desired results. When I go into a project instead with nothing but a direction and a few disposable ideas, following the unexpected twists and changes instead of fighting them, I'm much more likely to arrive at the creative end thinking "Of course! Brilliant!"

It's interesting that, when it comes to other experiences in life, I'm very good at allowing myself the freedom of trusting the unknown. When things go off in unexpected directions, which they almost always seem to do, I've long ago learned that they are most likely going in the right direction. I've learned to be patient, enjoy the scenery, knowing everything will be revealed around the next bend in the road. How can I have learned to have such faith in my intuition for life in general and yet still be such a nervous back seat driver whenever my muse tries to take the wheel?

Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'm finally "getting" it. Maybe I can hold onto and remember this small ephiphany from now on. Sad but true, people usually have to learn a lesson several times (sometimes far more than several times for us stubborn folk) before it sticks. Hopefully, this is one of those sticky ones. And, maybe I can finally get my living room back together now that I've identified one of my stumbling blocks.

Originally I was going to post this wee philosophical ramble over on Beach Treasure but this morning the whole thing suddenly made much more sense connected to the idea of creative process and it wanted to stay here at the studio. Conversely, the photos I had planned on sharing here found themselves a string of words that tied them down over there in my day to day musings. Clouds. Pretty. Go see them.

We can all take a lesson from my granddaughter Joli - first and foremost, art is about freedom of expression. It's about process before product. And last but not least - good clean (or messy) FUN!

On the way home from Truckee on Friday, I did something I've been meaning to do for awhile. I stopped to take photos of our local shoe tree. What's a shoe tree, you ask? Really? You mean, some of you don't have a local shoe tree?

Come to think of it, I guess I had never seen a shoe tree until we moved here twelve years ago. Oh, I'd seen the odd pair or two of shoes hanging from overhead telephone lines. But not the roadside community art project that is a shoe tree.

As you can see, this shoe tree is out in the middle of nowhere. Or at least it seems like it, specially to folks who are just traveling through the area. We have a lot of those people. Where we live is rarely someone's destination, but it's a lot of people's "we've been through there" route.


I still remember the comments of a friend, traveling up from the San Francisco Bay metropolitan area for the first time who, upon leaving Interstate 80 behind for the isolated north/south stretch of California's Highway 395, imagined some sort of Mad Max desert roamers and feared for her and her small son's safety. It's interesting how the known is more comforting than the unknown, even if the reality of it doesn't match our imaginings. I think that her busy city streets, filled with hordes of strangers, were probably a more dangerous place to break down in one's car. Out here I suspect the only one she'd meet if she got lost or stranded would be a rancher willing to go out of his way to drive her into town.


This tree is on Highway 395, just a dozen or so miles north of the Nevada border. (395 starts out in southern California way down in the middle of the desert, follows the eastern slopes of the Sierra Mountains, slips into Nevada just before Lake Tahoe and then after it cruises through Carson City, Reno and Sparks, it slides west back into California. Or rather, California slides east back across the highway. The highway continues north and slightly east, parting ways with the mountains after the Sierras give way to the Cascades, finishing up just before it hits the Oregon border.)

It's not the original local shoe tree. The original one was a grand old cottonwood that really WAS in the middle of nowhere, farther up 395 about an hour north of Susanville. It was cut down by vandals about the same time we arrived and I have never seen it except in photographs and one memorable poem read by a local woman during open mike of a evening's Words and Music program.

The community was really saddened by the loss of the local landmark and efforts began almost immediately to start a new shoe tree. Several different trees on assorted local highways were decorated with a half dozen pairs of sneakers and old boots, but after a few years all of them lost their shoes or were cut down, I assume by the landowners who didn't want the honor of hosting the next tree.

This new tree sprung up after a while and for some reason, probably location (on the busiest highway within a hundred miles and because the tree stands alone at a easy wayside pull off), it had the makings of a new legend. The shoe crop then began to bloom in earnest.

A number of years back the regional Caltrans District (California's Department of Transportation) got a new manager. He was not a lover of the arts. In fact, he ordered his crew to de-shoe the tree on a regular basis. This didn't rid the landscape of the shoe tree however. In fact, it seemed to have the reverse effect, making it more beloved of the population. Each time the tree was plucked bare, shoes soon flowered the tree again in even greater numbers.

The manager decided he would not lose his battle against what he saw as an eyesore on his kingdom and the tree selected to be cut down. Fortunately someone leaked the news to the community and a cry and a roar went up all over northern Nevada and northeastern California. The media covered it. The newspapers wrote passionate essays about the freedom of expression. A petition was created to save the tree and quickly signed with thousands of signatures. In the end, the people won. The tree was saved.

Not long after that a huge windstorm swept through the area and damaged the the shoe tree. It lost a substantial part of its center and most of it's smaller branches. Caltrans pruned it best they could and then, ironically, asked folks to stop putting shoes on it as they were afraid it would kill the tree in it's weakened state. Less shoes floated amongst it's branches for a time afterwards but that only seemed to make the tree look even more abandoned and sad. I think it missed it's visitors and it's creative purpose.

In recent years the tree, albeit a bit worse for wear, is again laden with a bumper crop of shoes and seems happy under it's burden. There are almost always people stopped under to switch drivers or check a map, sometimes even setting out a picnic or resting in the shade. Lately I've noticed more and more people stopping to photograph the tree. After everything it's gone through to survive, like it's predescessor, like it's fellow shoe trees scattered along roadsides far and wide, it deserves the homage.

I had one of those "lightbulb over the head" moments this morning for a simple, fun, crafty idea. But alas, it will have to wait. When I have the time, or rather, when I'm wasting time, sometimes I can't think of anything I want to do, or I don't feel like doing any one project in particular. Now I have an idea I feel like jumping right into, I don't have the time to do it. Maybe it's a passive agressive trick I play on myself. Only feeling inspired when I know there's no way to follow through. Sigh.

But my wrist feels better today (although it's moved up my arm and my shoulder is stiff) and I have to get some of the mess tackled before something else comes up. So instead I'll just share a couple of recent photos.

Hubby and I have a weekly date at the local tea room. We've been sitting outside on the shady front porch all summer, where they've squeezed in a couple of tables. Yesterday, on a whim, I took a photo of one of the old paned windows and I was really happy with the way it came out, sharply focused but "photo shopped" by the glass itself . You really have to double click on it to see the beautiful detail.

I also took this photo yesterday, of the grandfather old birch tree in the front lawn of the tea room. I was simply taking a close up of the bark but when I uploaded it I saw this tree face staring out at me. He looks rather annoyed, or perhaps startled, that he's getting his picture taken. (Now that I've looked at the photo for awhile, I see one could pick out a number of faces. The one that I'm sharing is in the dark center, facing left.)

And wait! Go back and look at the glass photo, there are faces there too! Wow! Cool! It was just a breezy, green summer day, and I was thinking lazy summer thoughts, but autumny, spooky themes are popping up all over the place now.

I had to take William to Reno yesterday for a doctor's appointment so I squeezed in a fast trip back to the fabric warehouse to get fabric for slipcovers for the rest of the living room furniture. With new wall paint, new rug, new slipcover fabric for the loveseat, it made the old upholstered couch and wing chair look drab and dingy. Which, they are. It's just now you can tell because the rest of the room is no longer drab and dingy to match. New furniture purchasing isn't in the cards. Even if I wanted to spend that much money, I woudn't spend it on new furniture for the shredding pleasure of my cats and the spilling and soiling pleasure of the men in the family.

I discovered that the new rug and the new loveseat cover weren't exactly best buddies visually. The new rug, it turns out, after finally unrolling it the other day, works PERFECT in the room with the new walls and adds to the "look" I pictured when the whole project began. The loveseat fabric isn't completely the wrong style per se, but it is rather an attention grabber. I had to find a way to make everyone play together nicely and nudge it all back towards the mood I was hoping to create. New fabric for the couch, I decided, was the key.

I did find some fabric yesterday. I found a vvelvet-y green at clearance price ($3.99 yard) that was what I'd gone hoping to find. My only concerns were that it was a solid and might not be strong enough to compete with the other elements in the room (solution - add bright pillows) and it might be hard to keep clean. I also found an unexpected fabric that I suspected might be EXACTLY PERFECT. It wasn't on clearance, although it was inexpensive enough that I knew I had to take the chance. I spent the entire drive home convinced I'd just thrown $70 extra dollars away and I was bringing home nine yards of fabric that would end up with no purpose.

For reasons completely unrelated, I had a long, exhausting, crabby day yesterday. So it wasn't until evening that I finally unrolled the my new fabrics. Maybe I was just avoiding the inevitable disappointment. I unrolled the green and saw that it was, in fact, the right color and would work nicely. So, at least I had something. I felt better. Then I unrolled the other fabric and..... Oh! OH! OH OH OH! It worked! It was EXACTLY PERFECT just as I'd imagined it in my head! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Sometimes life sends us little gifts. And if that wasn't enough, hubby took me out for Chinese food and I must have looked pretty pathetic because the waiter brought me a free soup and at the end of the meal, free dessert fruits. And MORE frabjous, I just found out that in one short week, Pumpkin Spice Lattes will be returning to the menu of our local Starbucks. Here I thought I had months left to wait. I am thrilled a little bit more than is probably reasonable for a sane person to be excited about a simple drink choice.

Moving in the right direction, albeit slowly, I've finished patching and painting the wall where I had to pull out the old baseboard heater (and the little strip on the other side of the new heater that I totally forgot about painting in the first place) so the bookcase can go flat against the wall. Hubby helped me secure both bookcases to the wall because they are very tall and potentially tipsy (I'm picturing grandkids pulling themselves up on a bottom shelf). And most amazing of all, the loveseat is finally inside. I kinda miss having it in the front garden, it was a nice cozy place for stargazing. But hubby said his grass was dying because he couldn't water around it so, in it came, even though it's sitting in front of the boxes along the wall where it will ultimately sit. It does fit though, I wasn't sure if it would. Whew.

This is not to say that things are anywhere near to put back together. Boxes still reign supreme. But the tasks I got completed this last week were a few critical baby steps closer. Now, knock on wood, there doesn't appear to be any notable stumbling blocks to finishing. It's all down to plain ol' hard work.

Except, I have a busy schedule coming this next week. And I'm injured. My wrist. I whined about it over on Beach Treasure if you really want to know more. I'm being optimistic and assuming that this too shall pass by quickly. Clutter and chaos will NOT win. So I have spoken. So it shall be. And just to make sure I'm taken seriously, I've raised my sceptre high while making the decree, and thrust it firmly into the..... OWWWW. My wrist. Whimper.

It's that time of year again. Witches and goblins, pumpkins and scarecrows, ghosts and cemeteries.... Well, I'm an odd person and I think of those things pretty much all year round. But this is the time of year when my enthusiasm starts to jack up (or should I say "jack-o-lantern up") to extra high, anticipatory levels.

Summer still holds court, and I am certainly not ready for it to be over. The problem with summer around here is that it's a very short season and once it's gone, it's gone for a long, long time. So, I'm still trying to squeeze every last, warm, green day out of the summer season, and yet I have no problem overlapping that with giddy anticipation that my favorite season of all, autumn, is fast approaching.

If my studio and supplies were available, I'd be in there right now doing something with witchy fabric or black cat stamps or pumpkin orange paper. But the mess is still in charge here, so instead I've spent a number of hours the last week cruising the 'net in search of new and old Halloween art and decorating ideas.

I was excited to discover I'm not the only one already in the mood, Artsymama put up a pre-anticipatory Halloween post yesterday. But mostly I was frustrated by how little I could find. I know it's out there. But the internet is a funny thing. Sometimes you aren't looking and stumble into a wealth of interesting sites and sometimes you can fish and fish all day and get nothing on your line but a few minnows. You know the big fish are out there, but you're somehow not casting your line in the right part of the lake.

Last night I finally had a little luck and now I have several good "fishing holes" bookmarked. These are mainly Halloween artist groups or shows with links to the participants websites. I'll post them here in case you feel like doing a bit of "fishing" yourself. (I'm not sure how the fishing analogy ties in with Halloween, but I like it anyway)

• EHAAG Home page - the Eclectic Halloween Artist's Group
• UHAT - Unique Halloween Art Treasures - not sure why this one is located on a myspace page but it seems to be where you can jump off to find the individual artists' pages
• HYR - a collection of artists called Halloween Year Round
• Halloween and Vine is a Halloween art show I've wanted attend for years now but autumn is a really hard time for me to try to do any traveling. It take place in one of my old haunts, Sonoma County. I've send you to the entry page but click in to find a list of participating artists.
• Ghoultide Gathering is a new show that will premiere this year in Michigan.
• Here's a link to a small group of artist's who are helping with a fundraiser for a cemetery in Missouri that was vandalized. That makes me so sad to hear of vandalism to this sort of history. It's so disrespectful. I read somewhere that Greyfriars Cemetery in Edinburgh was vandalized some time after we had visited. I'm glad we were able to see it beforehand, although I'm sure that sort of thing happens from time to time all over. All it does is make it more difficult for people who like to enjoy the history to get access to the location.
• Halloween Alliance - a list of Halloween folk artists (and some spooky music) on this page.
• Morbid Outlook - an online Goth magazine with an Art section. Not specifically Halloween, but still fun.
• Traditions - this is an online store that sells commercial and limited edition Halloween items. Not original art, but affordable and a huge selection of folk art items.

That should keep you busy for awhile. I'll have to do my gallery browsing later tonight. Right now it's time for me to SPOOK UP something for dinner and then I have to paint the section of wall I patched yesterday. All that mess waiting for me. Now THAT'S scary!

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you'll have run across several posts highlighting my odd little obsession with wine art. Or, occasionally, other alcoholic beverage container art. Which is really odd since, although I'm not a teatotaler, my alcoholic consumption is dramatically below average. I have spent so many years either pregnant or nursing, and then as a result of those pregnancies, in charge of small people, and later bigger people who always seemed to need unexpected rides to and fro and also needed me to be a good role model, my drinking opportunities were slim to zero. In fact, I have entire decades in my life where I can count the number of alcoholic beverages I consumed during that time on my fingers. Maybe even the fingers of one hand.

Nowadays I can probably add up that number of drinks in a year or two but it's still only the occasional glass of wine with dinner on the rare night when another adult is around for any unexpected taxi service, or the even more rare holiday or travel drink, and the once or twice a year game night margarita. Not enough to even call myself a "regular" drinker. It seems I appreciate my wine in the bottle far more often than I appreciate it uncorked and in a glass.

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon another location, unexpected, with a wine aisle. I thought I'd used up all my local photo opportunities. I haven't had a chance to share it with you yet, but soon.
In the meantime, I'll share this one lone bottle with you tonight. I saw this new wine selection on a specialty rack at the market the other day. I walked past it and then backed up to do a double take. Is it just me or, isn't this label a bit ahead of the drinker? Shouldn't you have to drink the entire contents of the bottle first before the art looks like that?

I have lots of fabric to show you today. Friday I decided to go shopping for, among other things, a new living room rug. The old one smelled worn and catty and didn't really match the new color scheme. There's a place in Reno that sells rugs, upholstery fabrics and miscellaneous household and sewing textiles (drapes, pillows, etc.) for huge discounts. So it was worth the 100 mile drive.

I did find a rug, which I haven't unrolled, so you'll have to wait to see it. I also found some matching draperies. But most of what I want to show you today I bought at another place, a textile warehouse called Mill Ends. It's in a huge building that used to be a U.S. Post Office regional distribution center, to give you an idea of the size of the thing. It's filled with all things textile and also carries foam and batting and other cushion supplies.

I used to go to Reno more frequently then I do now and I'd go to Mill Ends whenever did, to stock up on quilt store quality fabric for half to a quarter the price of a quilt shop. It was a good place to find fabric I needed in larger quantities for backings or borders. But I haven't been there for many years and I've never been there with the idea of buying anything but quilt fabric.

So it was quite a surprise to me to walk in there on Friday and discover that I'd been blind to 90% of the store's selection. With my head filled with thoughts of making curtains, slipcovers, upholstery fabric, and last but not least, fairy costumes, it was like stumbling into a dragon's lair full of treasures! (and just as expensive. I got great prices on everything but I'm still not gonna tell you how much I spent!)

Here's sort of an overview of most of my purchases. You can see I had a clear color scheme in mind. If you click on this photo (or any of the other photos) and open it up, you can see the textures, colors, and other details much better.

I bought this thick, soft, nubby cotton woven as a possible throw cover for my new couch. What do you think of it? If I'd thought it through better, I should have purchased double the amount I did so it would hang all the way down in the front and the back. I like it but I think I will go with my other option, below.


This is a soft but heavy upholstery fabric that I actually found at our local Walmart for $2 a yard. I bought all that there was because I loved it so and, at $2 a yard, figured eventually I'd figure out what to do with it. I'd assumed it wouldn't be enough for the loveseat so I hadn't even tried it but when I pulled it out to photograph for you all I was delighted to discover that, if I cut it in half and then sew the two pieces back together alongside each other (actually, I'll probably cut one piece into two yet again and sew them to either side of the larger piece to avoid a seam down the middle) it's just enough fabric to fit perfectly. While in Reno I bought a tall red metal floor lamp to fit behind the couch so I can use it as a reading spot, so it's a great match.

I found some quilting fabric while I was there.

It's really hard to tell how lovely these two fabrics are without seeing how soft and drapey they are. The brown floral is a big uneven piece but there's a solid uncut two yard in the center of it all. It would make a beautiful skirt or shawl or shirt. The stripe is a nubby raw silk. I didn't realize it was silk when I brought the bolt up and bought six yards of it for curtains at $6 a yard. At that price I just assumed it was a polyester. Now I'll probably save it for something else. Or maybe just go for it.


At the last minute I spied a box of these little roses and bought a few just in case they make the perfect addition to a fairy costume or collage piece.


I want to make several fairy costumes for next year's festival. The costume I've decided to work on for sure is of a Crow Fairy. I bought this lovely, long black feather boa to either wear or take apart and use as part of the wings and cap.


To get an idea of this fabric you need to know that you're looking through the fabric and seeing bits of pieces of sky and garden behind it. When there's no sun shining behind it, you can see that the dark green floral design part has a bit of a shimmery lighter green surface to it that matches the light green wall paint for the dining room and kitchen. This will be my new curtains for those rooms. I'll probably have to add a second rod of a heavier fabric, or alternately, a pull down shade, for the winter months.

The curtains I have in there now are actually cotton table cloth and napkins. They've hung up there for twelve years and I've liked them all this time. But they don't fit my new style change, so I'll take them down and use them for their original purpose and put up these softer floral curtains.


For some reason you can't tell how bright this fabric is. It's actually more of a lime green, not the mossy green the photo shows it as. You can just barely pick up the shimmers. I bought this to make a flouncy skirt, just because it will be fun to wear and also it might work for another fairy costume idea I'm rolling around in my head.


Speaking of fairies, look at adorable tulle I found! Y'know, I'm not sure if that's really what it is. It's not as flimsy as tulle usually is, it's a denser weave. Does anyone know what it's called? Regardless, it has the same crisp, flouncy appeal and POLKA-DOTS! I'm thinking my granddaughters will make adorable punky fairies in these middle three. If you can't tell, the most solid dots are the ones on the top of the fabric and the paler dots are the dots on other layers showing through. The smaller orange dotted tullle on the left I'm thinking of using for Halloween dolls of some sort. Ditto for the shiny, slippery polyester stripe on the right, although it might be a pain to cut and sew.

Hmmmm, somehow I missed taking a photo of another Halloween colored fabric, a rough cotton plaid in orange and green. The same green in the dining room, I bought enough to make a table cloth or maybe chair pads. If you click and open the first photo of all the fabrics, you can see a tiny corner of it peeking out on the left end of the fabrics lined up on the top of the couch.


Last but not least, I picked up this trio at JoAnn's. The black is a polar fleece with embroidered thread cherries on it. The spider webs are a cotton blanket weave. I like how one side is the reverse of the other side. And a small piece of the windy leaves quilt cotton. Oh, and you can see a tiny peek of the new rug, all rolled up behind. Well, the back of the rug anyway.

As you can see, I have my work cut out for me. But how can I not want to play with such an abundance of wonderful new fabrics!? I know! I should be in there sewing right now! Of course, I can't. But if this doesn't inspire me to dig out my studio and sewing machine again, I don't know what will.

Unfortunately, right now I'm in a stuck place again with putting the rooms back together. Between distractions, travel, and stuck places, this project seems neverending! I started unpacking books and organizing them in my new freestanding bookcases. The first bookcase went well. But the second one is "front heavy" and when I opened the glass doors to start putting books inside it, it tried to fall forward on me. NOT GOOD. If I can get it to not fall over long enough to lay the shelves back inside it and then get some books in it, I think it will stand up. Of course I need to open the glass doors in order to do that, and when I open the glass doors, it tries to fall over because there's nothing inside it. You can see the Catch-22 of this situation. I'd try coercing William into holding the bookshelf up while I tried to get some ballast in it but I'm afraid the bargain that I'd have to strike in order to get him to do it would be far more than I'm willing to pay.

It will need to have a bracket installed on the top, securing it to the wall to be safe. Both of the bookcases will, to be safe. It would only need a misplaced tug from one of us or the climbing of a grandchild to make a dangerous situation. The problem is that I can't bracket it to the wall because it's not against the wall, there's a unused old baseboard heater that holds it a few inches out. I want the heaters ripped out but I don't know how to do that safely. My son Sam would come do it for me but he's currently without a vehicle reliable enough to make it over the mountains, not to mention busy with his own jobs. So. What to do, what to do. For the time being maybe just stack the boxes of books over in the corner near the bookcase and move on with other decisions and tasks. That means tomorrow I should probably finish painting the living room ceiling. Bleh. Necessary. But bleh. Maybe I can talk hubby into painting...

I was hesitant to put up a new post for a few days, assuming that some of the partygoers from the Artful Blogging party on Wednesday were still making the rounds. I know I am. And, I've finally admitted, it will take me longer still to visit everyone who attended. But visit I will, eventually. I have been having a lot of fun meeting new friends and bumping into old ones I haven't visited in a while. And as soon as I get my studio cleared out and rearranged again, I'll have a whole list of new techniques ready to try from all the tutorials people posted.

But for now, I'm still reorganizing.

Okay, I'm not reorganizing. I've been distracted. By both legitimate and not so legitimate distractions. I'm pretending it's just one of those "percolating" stages, where I'm waiting for inspiration to bubble up and get me going again. Cough. Ahem. Yes. That's it. I'm percolating.

And I've decided quasi-impulsively (meaning, it's something I need to do but I didn't realize I wanted to do it today until just a few minutes ago) to drive to Reno to do some shopping. I need to buy a new living room rug and, if I can find something I like, a slipcover for my new loveseat. I didn't tell you about my new loveseat?

Well, I was driving down a side street in town the other day and saw what looked like the remnants of a garage sale. Something big and furry caught my eye. I braked, backed up, turned of the car, and got out. It was a loveseat. A very unusual loveseat. I had to knock on several doors to track down the owner of the loveseat and get a price. $25 I said I'd come back later for it. And then I went home and talked myself out of it because. WHERE AM I GONNA PUT IT!?

But it's so cute. It's in good shape, just needs a bit of dust wiped off it and some new coasters put on the front legs. It's puffy and girly and perfect for lounging with my feet over the edge or maybe sitting with my feet curled up, reading a book. It reminds me of France. Okay, maybe it also reminds me of the 70's in a nightmare sort of way as well, or a large stuffed animal one won at the county fair. But hey, things can be upholstered. Or covered up with a large blanket.

Anyway, I very practically talked myself out of it and didn't go back for it that night. The next day however..... I was out running errands and thought, it wouldn't hurt to drive back down the street and have a second look.... and I parked, paid the man his $25 dollars, and made hubby drive over with the big car to pick it up.

Both hubby and son think I'm completely bonkers for having brought home what they are calling the most ugly piece of sh.... furniture they have ever seen. I knew they'd say that. I think it's a girl thing. Or maybe it's just a ME thing. Whatever. I've decided that I have no one to please when it comes to my decorating style but myself. (not my family you say? No, because a) they really don't HAVE a style - cardboard boxes to put their dishes on and something soft to lay on would work for them just as well as anything and b) they usually come around to thinking my ideas aren't all that bad eventually.

Here it is. Sitting in the front yard at the moment. Do you like it? Hate it? Think I need therapy? Rosie wasn't too happy when I made her sit on it so I could show you the size of the thing. Remember, she's just a mere five pounds of dog, so it's not that big. But it's bulky. I'm hoping, despite the original plan to minimize my living room furniture, that it will fit in a reading corner. If not, there's always the garage for now. I'm sure we can find room for it in there. Somewhere.

A few months ago (or longer, I've been so busy I have a hard time figuring out how much time has gone by) Artsymama had a wonderful international tea party. It was the most fun I'd had online.... probably ever. I met a lot of new online friends and found a bunch of great new blogs to read. So,when Artsymama decided to have an Artful Blogger Party, I knew I had to attend.

The party is, in part, to celebrate the premiere issue of Artful Blogging magazine and in the spirit of that, to participate by posting a tutorial of some small artful activity. Well....SNORT! Those of you who are not new to my blogs or the craziness I call my life, know that I am in the midst of a creative reorganization of my mess..er, I mean my lovely home. That means all my crafting supplies are boxed up or, if not boxed up, inaccessible because there's a pile of boxes holding it all captive. I tell you all this to say - forgive me this small contribution. It's the best I can do at the moment.

Moving on. Those of you who read my Beach Treasure blog know how much I love to read. I love books. I think books should be accessible to everyone, no matter where you live, what your socio-economic level, or what your size.

Er, size?

First thing you need to do is decide what book to make available to your wee friends. I chose the obvious current favorite, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Once you've decided on your title, look it up online and find a small photo of your chosen book. (and since we're using copywritten images, of course the end result is for personal use only. Or you could also get creative and make your own jacket cover designs!) Copy the image and drop it into your word processing or photoshop program. Below you can see I've added a bit to it.

Matching the color, I extended the cover to the right to make the front inside flap and I extended it to the left far enough to cover the binding, the back of the book, and the back inside flap. I also rotated it vertically so I could add the title on the binding. Then I printed it. You can also see that I collected a piece of cardboard and some white paper. And hey, look at my coffee mug. It's even about books. I matched it to the theme on purpose. Okay, so it was just coincidental. Let's pretend that I did it on purpose, clever me.

Here you can see what a mess I made. I made an even smaller book a few years ago and I used thinner cardboard and I cut both the cardboard and the paper with my quilting supplies - a rotary cutter and mat. It was a lot easier. But my cutter and mat are behind aforementioned boxes, so I made it the old fashioned way, with scissors. Messy, but it worked. You can see that I've cut and bent the jacket cover , the paper, and the cardboard. Cut the cardboard slightly smaller than the jacket cover and cut the paper (the pages of your book) slightly smaller than the cardboard so that it's in the same proportions of a larger book.

I couldn't find my large stapler. Even if I could, I'm not sure I could get it to go through so many pieces of paper - after all, the seventh Harry Potter book is 759 pages! So I also bound this book the old fashioned way, with needle and thread. It's kinda a cool look, I might do it this way again.

After your book is bound together, slip the jacket cover over it, secure it with a tiny bit of glue or tape if it doesn't want to stay put. And voila! A wee little book for your favorite wee readers.

Like this young witch.

Or our Charlie Weasley. (He was trying to read our large copy but he was having a hard time holding up the heavy tome with his paws.) Oh look, he's at the part where Harry and Hermione are............. nah. Just kidding. No spoilers.

And if you didn't get here today from Artsymama's Artful Blogger Party, make sure you pop on over to have a piece of cake and visit with the other guests. I'm headed over there myself right now, why don't you join me. There's room on the back of my broom. Hop on.

Vrrrrrrooooooom!!!!!!

Today I'm gonna make you work for your visuals, as they are all of other people's work and therefore I'm sending you off on all sorts of links, but please take the time because it's all so worth the effort.

Thanks to my hubby remembering that it was this weekend, I was able to catch the last few hours of one of my favorite local art fairs yesterday. I only had a few hours and there was so much to see and so many interesting artists to talk to, I rushed, but still came away satieted and inspired.

I spent money I could have not spent, but I was quite pleased at myself for the restraint I, mostly, used. Most everything I purchased was either for holiday gifts or was what I think of as UsefulArt.

I replaced the missing "name your poison" drinking glasses I'd bought a few years ago and love. My family had broken half of them. I also bought myself a new "Don't Touch - Mom's Use ONLY!" glass with a flying monkey etched on it. This couple's company is called Earthstones - Affordable Garden Art. They do etched glassware and etched garden stones. They're one of my favorite places to linger and spend money, they have the most beautiful and unique quotes on their garden stones. I've begged them several times to create a website but they are happy, busy, and content selling from fair to fair. They do custom orders though if anyone is in need of a great idea for a gift for that hard to buy for person. I can give you their telephone number.

I also bought a jar of seasoned garlic, some gifts for the grandkids, and the most indulgent of my purchases, a beautiful moon and stars batik dress for myself. As if I needed another dress. But it was soooo pretty, sooooo unusual.........I wanted it, okay!

I also bought some beautiful wooden spoons and chopsticks from Shadow Mountain Woodworks. Art. But completely practical. I'm a bit disappointed at the website, which looks sort of plain and infomercial-ish. Because in real life the wood was utterly beautiful, I just wanted to run my hands along each piece.

I spent most of the time just chatting with the artists - textile artists, photographers, painters, ironwork artists. I got a kick out of the fact that several time I got mistaken for another vendor/artist. I take that as a sign that I should probably be spending less time at art fairs and more time in my studio. As soon as I dig out of the boxes that are now filling it. Anyway, moving on, I particularly liked the work of three photographers.

One photographer by the name of Michele Miller did really great close-up still life shots. Her name is Michele Miller and her business is called Life In and Out of FOCUS. I thought that was a cute name. Alas, no website. Come on folks, this is the 21st century!

The second photographer I liked, I chatted with for some time. One of his pieces I was admiring was of some local silos covered in Virginia Creeper. I was telling him that it reminded me of castles I'd seen in England. He agreed, very much so he said. And that's when, at least five minutes into the conversation, I finally noticed - the man had an British accent. So, yeah, he'd know castles. I think I watch too much BBC, it's not the first time I've not noticed an accent on someone for awhile. He and his wife have a small website, Shutter Indulgence - A Perfect Moment Held in Time.

The last photographer I'm mentioning was my absolute favorite. Pat Moore Photography. Every photograph made me feel like he was looking at the world in the same odd way that I look at it. I kept thinking "I would have taken a picture of that too!" and "I would have noticed that small detail!" I was most particularly enamored of his travel and cultural scenes and I went round and round through all his stock alternating between talking myself in and out of buying a piece. "I love it, I should buy it. Yes but you haven't even framed your own travel photos yet. Yes, but artists should buy each other's work. Do you have any wall space left to hang it on? No but... Well, so, and you already bought that dress. " I finally walked away empty handed. I probably drove the guy nuts.

Some of the images I most wanted to bring home are not yet up on his website. In particular he had a number of images he took of Guanajuato, Mexico. I'd never even heard of Guanajuato, Mexico, but now it's on my lists of places I want to go. On the list right next to Ankar Wat in Cambodia. Go here and look. It's not one of the photos from the photographer, it's a travel shot, but isn't that just totally cool!? Apparently Guanajuato is noted for it's colorful architecture and its narrow meandering streets that climb up the hill to the edge of town. Okay, you've sold me right there. Just drop me off with my camera and a hundred SD cards and I'd be happy for a month. They also have Mexican food, always a plus. And a mummy museum. What's not to love!?

Now that I've slept on it, I'm thinking I should have bought my favorite photograph, of a painted tree. He's from Ashland. Maybe we'll bump into his work next time we go up.

Last but not least, I stopped at a little bookstore after the fair and I bought a greeting card. The artist's name is Susan Mrosek and her business is called the Pondering Pool. Now, here's what you have to do - Go to the website, click on Gallery, and then click on an individual image to bring up a larger picture of it and, most importantly, the small quote that is underneath and part of the work. They only had about ten of the different images to choose from at the shop and in case you're curious, I bought the one labeled "Yodel" on the fourth gallery page. Aren't they completely bizarre and wonderful?! The images are odd enough in themselves but the words are the thing that take them to an entirely new level of strange. Neither the words or images truly make direct sense but at the same time I understand them completely and I am also agog that there is someone out there who's thought process is even more bizarre than my own.

And that, my friends, is the end of my sharing for the day. Enjoy. I have to get back to shoving furniture around.

My soul is in the sky. ~William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream