Welcome to my journal! Here I show off my artwork, rant about life, and many other things that amuse me. Feel free to go ahead and add me, though I love it when I get comments first. For more information, see my user info, and don't forget to visit my Etsy shop!

Etsy Buy Handmade SpiffyDoodleDandy

I've gone ahead and signed up for a Bookmooch.com account, and it's so EXCITING! For those who aren't familiar, basically you upload a list of books that you want to part with, people who want to read them make a request, and then you send them along. With the points you earn from sending and listing books, you can request the ones you want from others, and etc. Until now, I've been giving my unwanted books away to thrift stores (I have a lot of paperbacks, and the stores around here never seem too keen to take them), but this way I get more books for only the price of shipping! YAY!

I'm thinking about signing up for an account at Librarything.com too, but I figured one new toy is enough for now. Basically, I'm one of those people who thinks that throwing a book away is a crime (though I have been known to deface one or two in the name of art), and my fiance will tell you that I always have a "Thrift store bag" going somewhere in the apartment. Really, though, why throw things away when they can still be used by others who need them?

Ahhh, I missed being a book nerd. I used to devour books, and then kind of stopped making time for it. Now that I'm working out regularly, I use my time on the elliptical machine for reading. 30 minutes a day can really add up!

Oh, and for those of you that are interested, my Bookmooch profile is here: http://bookmooch.com/m/bio/booksandtea

I've started a set on Flickr for my artist trading cards:

ATCs on Flickr

There aren't many now, but I'll be adding to them, of course. I wish I had more crafty photos to share, but I haven't had much time to myself lately. The baby is teething and has been VERY CLINGY lately--he won't tolerate being out of my arms for more than a few minutes at a time. At any rate, enjoy the cards!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am tired, and not just from the turkey. I spent a lovely day with the extended family socializing and stuffing my face (what else is Thanksgiving for?). This has always been one of my favorite holidays, mostly because of the family and food, and this year we got to play around with our new camcorder and take lots of videos that I'm sure we'll bore all our friends with years from now. But hey, it was fun!

My family has a tradition for Thanksgiving in which, during dinner, we each share something that we're thankful for that year. Unfortunately, we didn't actually do it this time around--everybody seemed to forget, but I think this year my responses would have been: I'm very thankful that I have a healthy baby; even with the head colds he's had he hasn't developed anything serious and I haven't even had to take him to the doctor. I'm also incredibly thankful that we've had such a wonderful breastfeeding relationship. It's been pretty devoid of bumps or pains; I only got a (minor) infection once, and he doesn't even get picky about what I eat. Lastly, I'm thankful for my fiance, who's been working to support us and let me stay at home with my baby. I could go on, but I think these are the things that stand out the most for me.

What are you thankful for? It's worth thinking about, and I actually keep a page in my journal for listing things that come to mind whenever. It's nice to look through when I'm feeling a bit down. We didn't actually get many pictures this time around, so I think I might do a scrapbook page on this theme, instead of the usual pictures-with-commentary-thing. Now, off to take care of Christmas cards!

So I said I would post pictures of some of my scrapbooking layouts. Man, I am soooooo lazy when it comes to touching up my pictures. But here they are; they were a lot of fun--if only I had more time!



( More under here )

I just found the most awesome Etsy seller...Book of Art. I've seen people alter books before, but this couple (husband and wife) actually fold the pages of books to spell words and form images...so cool! I want one! It puts my book-altering to shame, really.

Man, I am sooooo tired. Octavio woke up several times last night not wanting to go back to sleep (quite unusual for him), and so I got very little sleep. Then today my workout left me feeling drained, but at least I felt good! Fortunately he's decided to go to bed early, so I'll get a little time to work before I call it an early night myself. It was a fever that woke him up last night, probably from his immunizations, which he had gotten yesterday morning, so I don't think it'll come back. His little cold has been subsiding for a while now and I've been careful to keep an eye on him.

We finally managed to find the cord to the camera, which means I've been able to list all the new eraser stamps I've been making! I actually ended up listing one of them with photos from Adrian's iPhone, and while it does take pretty good pictures, they're crappy close up. The camera is much better. I'll also be taking pictures of the scrapbooking layouts I've done lately, as they're pretty dimensional, and the scanner just wouldn't capture them all that well. I swore years ago that I'd never get into scrapbooking, and yet here I am, staying up late gluing bits of paper and ribbon down to embellish my photos. Why is it so much FUN?

Back when I actually opened this account, I had it linked to an old website of mine that is now no longer active (I think it's still up, but that's only because I haven't touched it for a loooong time). I used to give away free photoshop brushes there, which were quite popular, but free servers being what they are, it became harder and harder to find a place where people could always download them. For a while I had hoped that I would be able to get some webspace and host them myself, but it's looking like it'll be a lot longer than I thought before I can spare that expense.

So for the time being, I've uploaded the image packs to my Flickr account. It's not perfect--offering the .abr files is much more convenient--but it's the only way I have to share them for now. I'm thinking about also offering a CD, along with some extra brushes I've created since then, for sale in my Etsy shop, but the ones on Flickr will of course remain free.

The set is here at my flickr account. Anyone is free to use them, and I'd love it if you'd upload the results to Flickr and share them with me!

My lovely Flickr account has lain inert for a while because I have managed to lose the charging cord for my camera. Much like my lovely livejournal has lain inert for a while because I have managed to lose my sanity while taking care of my baby. Ah well, I still have my scanner, but it takes longer to use, as I have to first clear everything off of the top of it, and then touch up my scans in photoshop.

My poor little baby is sick. His doctor says he's just got a bit of a head cold, but it makes him incredibly miserable. He had trouble sleeping last night, so I put him to sleep with a car ride and I'm hoping he'll stay down for a while--he needs it. When he wakes I'll be sucking up boogers with a nose bulb, much to my dismay. I deal with poop all day long, but one booger come along and I shrivel up and scream.

Oddly enough, this reminds me of a dream I had last night...I dreamt that I felt something inching its way out of my nose, so I reached up to grab it, and pulled out a MAJOR glob of snot, and then down at the floor to discover that it had gone all over my feet and halfway up the wall.

Ew.

Mmmmm...it feels nice. The apartment is clean, and the baby is in bed, and so now Mommy gets some time to herself. I just wish I could get him into bed a bit earlier, so that I wouldn't be staying up past midnight. He's been sleeping too late for the past few days anyway.

My current project: two rather well-known charities recently sent me some letters begging for my contributions. Included in them, I suppose meant to persuade me to give, were a whole crapton of address labels. TONS of them--only I don't use address labels, so I've decided to alter them! A few I've painted over with acrylics and decoupaged a bit, while others I covered with paper and stamping. I'm also sketching up some cute little drawings which I'm going to photocopy and color, and make into stickers by gluing them to the address labels--I'll post pictures as soon as I finish.

There needs to be more sticker altering--free stickers are really everywhere if you look hard enough, and if I could get enough people to do it, then I could host a big sticker-swap! Yay!

Oh, and as for the charities? I don't really have much money to give. I'm thinking about selling the stickers off and donating part of the profits, but I'm torn between choosing my own charity or going with these two...hm...I dunno....

SO...MUCH...POOP. I...I don't even...I can't...oh goodness.

We had a massive poop explosion. He was sitting in his carrier while I fixed my lunch, I heard him do his little pooping grunt, and then when I picked him up, there was poop EVERYWHERE. Not only had it traveled up his back and crawled out of his onesie, but it was reaching up to his neck, almost. And it got into his carrier, of course. When I laid him down on the changing table to take care of everything, it completely soaked through the blanket I had on there, and it was a challenge to pull the soaked onesie over his head without getting poop all in his hair.

I am so glad I don't usually have company, because if I did I'm sure they'd all think I hadn't changed him for half a day at least. Twenty minutes--that's all it took. I'm also so glad that we breastfeed only--I can't imagine what it would have been like if there were poop all over the place and it smelled nasty.

0_o

Sooooo, I didn't mean to ignore my little livejournal for so long, but sometimes life can be trying. Not only that, but I just got back from a rather spur-of-the-moment vacation to New York, which was fun but tiring, and I've kind of been enjoying staying at home and being alone.

I have a ton of artwork and other fun stuff I'd like to share right now, but I'm much too lazy to drag my laptop over to my scanner and touch up my scans right now. Instead, I'll just point everyone to my new Flickr account, which I'm enjoying a heckuva lot more than Facebook. Right now it's just got pics of my rubber stamps, but I'll be adding more to it soon. Right now I've been making stickers and altered puzzle pieces, which I'll scan as soon as I get the time.

I picked up the coolest little book the other day. It was truly a lucky find--at Hastings, they usually put all the books they can't get rid of, marked down to super-cheap prices, at the front entrance. I've looked through there occasionally, but never found anything worth getting. This time, however, as soon as I walked in, I found a book called Swatches staring directly at me, proudly displaying a $5.00 price tag. It's basically just full of different fabric patterns, printed at fairly high quality (for a $5.00 book anyway), and works as a lovely inspiration book. I bought it thinking I'd cut it up and use the images in craft projects, but I can't really bring myself to cannibalize it just yet, so for now I'm just having fun looking through it.

Octavio has been difficult lately, and keeping me from doing pretty much anything that doesn't involve him directly. I was just about at my wit's end when I started reading about high-needs babies and toddlers, and found that most of their parents swear by their baby slings. Luckily, my cousin gave me one when I was pregnant, and although I though he had outgrown it, it turns out I was just using it incorrectly. I'm so glad I actually looked up instructions for how to wear it, though, because he loves the thing. He's still fussy every now and then, but it's really been a life saver! I can actually fix myself sandwiches and EAT without having to wait until he falls asleep first. Yay!

It should slowly be becoming evident that I have a bit of an addiction to rubber stamps. They're especially fun to carve, and relatively quick and easy when going back and forth between a baby. All of my other projects seem to require too much preparation and I never get finished with them before he wakes up. Anyway I thought I'd share a few more that I've done recently (with the exception of the ladybug and postmark stamps--I did those ages ago, but I still love them).

( On to the stamps )

So, I know that my entries have been sparse as of late, but my life is slowly picking up again. I'd love to say that it's "back on track," but after having a baby it's not likely that it'll ever go back to the same track it was on! That's alright though--Octavio is an easy baby, and being a mom isn't always as frustrating as everyone told me it would be (at least not yet). His only really time-consuming characteristic is that he generally wants to spend all of his waking moments in either Mommy or Daddy's arms.

But I'm comfortable enough to open up my Etsy shop again, and I've been itching with design ideas, which will probably dissipate once I get going. I seem to get the most inspiration when I'm unable to act on it. I'll be adding new items over the next few weeks.

Oh, and I've been wanting to post these for a while, but never got around to it. They're a few Artist Trading Cards I did a few months back. I haven't done any recently, but I'd like to--they're rather addictive.

( ATC cards )

I usually have quite vivid dreams, but lately I've been so busy and exhausted by taking care of Octavio that I haven't been dreaming at all. Last night, though, I had a strange one about performance art, of all things. I always seem to be getting my best inspiration from my subconscious.

I was flipping through a cultural history book, and came across a piece about an art group from the 70s that had taken two double-decker buses and set them side by side, connected via their front doors to increase the size of the exhibit. Inside--and this is going to sound weird--they had covered everything with white sheets, kind of wrapping them in a tube-like formation, so that they could blow air through the whole thing. The point of the whole thing was to "evoke a sense of being in the womb" (shouldn't it have been warm and dark, then? With humidifiers!), and to promote some kind of concept album (oh those crazy hippies...).

Strange, no? But then I woke up afterward and thought, "Heeeey, that would be kind of cool." Maybe it appeals to that little kid in me that still likes tent and cardboard box forts and enjoys exploring, but I think it'd be kind of neat to walk through a fort made of sheets with the walls billowing and such. Kind of like a moonwalk house. It has the advantage of being cheap, too (as long as you do without the buses).

Fun stuff, fun stuff.

My inspiration has been crap lately, so I've been trying to make a commitment to draw more. It's a bit difficult with the baby, but I've managed to get a bit of it in while he's asleep or otherwise occupied. I did this a few nights ago--it was kind of fun, even if it seemed a bit stupid. After I finished it, I printed out some graph paper and began drawing damask patterns--much more fun than drawing silly flowers! I'm still cleaning those up, though, so I'm not going to post them until a bit later.



E.T.A. It rained! Yay!

It has been insanely hot here lately. Temperatures upwards of 100 degrees have made me very glad that I have the freedom to stay at home with my baby during the day, instead of having to get out (strangely, that has not historically been considered a freedom, but it is in my own particular case and I'm thankful for it). My air conditioner has been running non-stop to keep up with the heat (I dread looking at my electric bill, but I've had to live without air conditioning in the past, so I'm not complaining), but at least it's been cool inside. Texas is nice, but should not be experienced without central heat and air.

My little one is asleep right now, and my big one is away working on his car, so I've decided to take some much-needed Mommy time for myself right now, scrapbooking and surfing the web. I will re-open up shop eventually, but I don't feel comfortable doing that when I can't really even manage to update my blog regularly. First things first!

Octavio is looking older and older each morning, although he's only 12 days old today. We're not quite on a schedule just yet, but I am able to predict his nighttime feedings pretty accurately at this point. I'm sleeping late, but I get enough of it. He's also gaining weight very quickly--at his last doctor's appointment he was a week ahead in terms of his weight gain. I'd worry if he were on formula, but since I'm nursing him I don't think there's much to worry about. I'm just glad he's healthy.

Turns out my my favorite stamp store, Viva Las Vegas Stamps is having a birthday sale, which means I managed to get one of their grab-bags for half the price they normally go for! Do I need the stamps? No, probably not, but I knew if I didn't order it now I'd never forgive myself. I warned my fiancee that it would be coming in the mail, and he teased me relentlessly for buying more rubber stamps. Wait until he finds out there may be anywhere from 50-75 of them! Heh...why are rubber stamps so habit-forming?!?!

Oh, and I haven't done a meme in ages, but I thought this was cute:

Get Your Cyborg Name

FEAR ME!!!

Sorry for the unexplained hiatus. My beautiful baby boy, Octavio, was born on June 27th, at 2:14 in the morning. He weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and was 21 inches long. I say was because he's already growing at a phenomenal rate, which is good, and makes me happy! Needless to say, for the past week the Internet has not been on the top of my priority list. He's an easy baby, and I've had a very quick recovery, but I just felt it would be best if I took a bit of a break from the world for a while. I'll be waiting just a bit longer before I re-open up my shop; I want to re-do a lot of the things I have in there.