Pre-Turkey Nesting

Thanksgiving is at my house this year - for the first time in ages. I think I am ready. My parents have been here for the last week, so I took advantage of my mom's vast Thanksgiving knowledge and forced her to help me create the official Turkey Day Master Plan. My recipes are not difficult, but keeping everything warm at the same time is such a challenge! 

Most of my in-laws will be here for Thanksgiving. Thankfully they are nice and very forgiving.

I still have to cook and clean a bit more, but who wants to do that when there is a table to decorate?! We are very lucky to have hand-painted china that belonged to my husband's Danish grandmother. There is no way to make this china look anything but beautiful, so setting a pretty table is really easy!

I decided to use a burlap-ish table cloth, jute ribbons, and wheat. I still need to add the silver (needs a buffing) and some fresh flowers. I'm thinking about placing the flowers in small nosegays alongside the candles in the middle.
 
My bar/beverage table looked a bit dull and the 1960's ice bucket (a treasure from my late father-in-law's bachelor days) didn't look quite right. 

 
I replaced the ice bucket with a large crystal vase. The lid from the bucket even fits!

I tried making a quick garland from an old patchwork skirt, but I thought it looked too much like a baby shower table.

So I went with a simple jute ribbon and wheat.

These glasses belonged to my grandma. She collected them when she was a young housewife. They came in boxes of oatmeal and soap. The orange pitcher and glasses sat on top of the hutch in her kitchen for over 40 years.

Dusting off these family treasures is a bittersweet act. It makes me miss those who are gone, but I also feel their presence so strongly and know they would be happy to see us "using the good stuff," even if we break it.

I hope this week finds you enjoying the treasures in your life as well. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Whew!

I'm back! What an amazing art adventure. I'm so thankful I got to experience it.

Right now I'm working on getting my creative and family ducks back in a row... more to come. Thanks for all the support and encouragement. I needed it and felt it!

Fresh Set of Eyeballs

After many weeks of hunkering down in my studio, I decided it was time to get some fresh air. My mission: to escape, just a little bit. Since I only had about 2 hours for my escape, my destination options were fairly limited. I decided to grab my camera and drive around my town using a fresh set of eyes.

It is amazing how things change with a fresh set of eyeballs.

Is this a plain old turquoise water tower?

 

Or a UFO that has just landed over by the soccer field?

 

And what happened here?

A historic building with a water leak?

Or zombie apocalypse?

And how about this...

An Ad Reinhardt black painting? 

Or a piece of old plywood painted black?

Purposefully look in another direction ... what do you see?

The Baby is Coming

As many of you know, I am about to embark on a most excellent adventure. Next week, I am flying out to Colorado to tape two instructional Cloth Paper Scissors DVDs. I can hardly believe it is only one week away. So far, the experience has been, well, quite an experience.

I've been working like crazy to prepare my outlines and craft the step-outs necessary to thoroughly demonstrate each technique.

I have packed everything in plastic and plan to ship it all to Loveland tomorrow. Then I will keep my fingers crossed that everything makes it there safely and on time.

Until I fly out on Tuesday, I will be working on the most difficult part of this whole experience...practicing. I never thought I would cringe so much at my own voice and expressions, but then again, I never really realized what a goober I was. The only solution? Periodic Halloween candy raids.

Now that everything is only a week away, I feel a little bit like I did when I was about to have my babies. I am so excited. I don't know what to expect. And I've prepared all I know to prepare. The rest is a mystery... time to enjoy the ride.

The Queen of Fun

Queen of Fun? Am I talking about me? Uh... No. Queen of Don't-Eat-That-on-the-Couch? Possibly. Queen of But-What-if? Yep. Queen of I-Don't-Know-if-I-Should? Absolutely.

No, I am talking about my friend Tamara. She would be the Queen of Fun. And I have to say just a wee bit Queen of Crazy as well. She and her family just held their 2nd Annual Halloween Kids Festival for pretty much every child they know. And I think everyone came.

Tamara and her family turn their entire compound into a village of kid-friendly spooky. She's got an inflatable castle, a trampoline, a playground, zip line, s'mores around a fire pit, games with prizes, cookie decorating, paint spinning, popcorn, pizza, cotton candy, and even craft beer tasting for the grown-ups.

My kids love coming to this party. Now that Halloween is barely acknowledged in schools, they miss out on some of the silly fun their parents used to have. This party brings it all back... fake blood, plastic fangs, potato sack races, and fuzzy teeth from too much sugar.

If this were my gig? Oh, I might come up with some cute party ideas. But I'd never move past how many party napkins to buy. Tamara just does it and does it big.

I'm just the boring gal who gets to bring my kids over, drink her beer, and feel lucky that I know the Queen of Fun.

Bucket List?

Do you have a bucket list? I don't, but recently I've been thinking maybe I need to create one. My cowardliness is probably the biggest reason why I have never had a bucket list. I feel no need or desire to jump out of an airplane before I die. I don't care if I never climb Mt. Everest. But are there other things I don't want to miss? Hmmmm.... time for some thought.

After some thought, I am feeling quite boring. My bucket list includes things like:

1) Learn how to make some encaustic art without burning the house down

2) Take a photography class

3) Learn how to dye fabric (I'm talking the fancy stuff, not a tie-dyed t-shirt)

4) Take up oil painting again (haven't done this since high school)

5) Learn how to weld and make a giant metal sculpture

Where is travel? Where is adventure? Where is danger?


Do I really need a list?

Does it help to create a checklist of your dreams? Or is it better to keep them cloud-like and ambiguous, floating up there with amber 1970's Kodak memories and sparks of ideas and old Abba songs that play softly in the background?

I'm not sure. But I do know this, two years ago I started making lists of creative goals in my journal. I talked to my husband and a few family members about my vague ideas and dreams. I never proclaimed anything official or made a big fuss about my list of dreams, but these goals were written in real ink on real paper. And you know what? Many of these dreams are actually coming true. Maybe this list of goals is really my bucket list. A bucket list doesn't just have to include crazy, near death adventure, right?  Can't a bucket list include things that are crazy and heart-stopping to you alone?

There must be something to it. The action of writing it down. The secret commitment to yourself. And so... I think you DO need a list. Do you have one?

Ok, all that thinking makes me sleepy.

Still Pinching Myself

I've got some big news.

I recently found out that I have been selected to do two DVD workshops for Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine. I will be heading out to Colorado in less than a month to film them!

I am thrilled and honored beyond measure. I still cannot believe it.

And I am scared to death.

I'm working my fingers down to the nub making step-outs and display pieces. I am working my brain down to the nub writing my scripts and endless lists of what not to forget and how to organize everything. I am practicing my scripts in my studio, in the shower, and in the car. 

I am driving my friends and family nuts.

Then there is my appearance. What about this sea hag hair-do? I need a hair cut! What will I wear? I don't even know what is hip right now since I only go to Michael's, JoAnn's, and the grocery store. And look at these eyebrows! There is work to be done, friends. And lots of it.

Meanwhile, I am trying to document this experience. 

This journal page is all about that gut-level chicken feeling I've been feeling every day since I heard the news. 

I decided to just laugh at it and accept it as a part of the experience.

Instead of constantly shooing her away, 

I think I will just let her have a tiny roost. 

Maybe she will lay some eggs.