Indulge Your Shelf

So, here I am at my new job.  I work inside the back area of a library, and it's a really sunny, spacious office.  As you can see, they told me to "make the space my own" so I brought in some of my art and a family photo (behind me.)  I'll probably decorate more later, too. I think I'm going to be happy there.  I work every morning and get to leave at noon.  At my last job at the call center, I didn't go in to work until mid-afternoon and I really liked that schedule.  The last couple of weeks I find I'm having a hard time adjusting back to early morning wakings.  Especially since just this week, there was snow on Pikes Peak and, after Labor Day, a chill in the air in the mornings which makes me very sad; it also make me want to roll over and hide under the blankets when my alarm goes off. But --  once I'm at work I do enjoy how quickly the morning goes and then I'm off the rest of the day!  Look at this friendly group of ladies I work...

There is power in accountability: after my blogging confession last week that I haven't made any progress on my goal to write 50 works before next year, I got busy and did numbers 1 and 2! Neither is available for sharing, unfortunately, but let me tell you -- they were heartfelt! 'Read any good books lately?  I decided last month to re-read Stephen King's The Shining , in anticipation of the sequel being released.  When I finished that I began Dr. Sleep .  It's classic Stephen King.  And I have learned that I've outgrown Stephen King's writing.  Still -- when I lie in bed and open Dr. Sleep , it brings back happy memories of teen age summer days and books that are predictable in a good way, so I am satisfied. I've been doing a lot of paper art lately but I can't really share because they are swaps and I don't want to spoil the surprise.  Here's just a sneak peek of a swap I sent off last week to England. Working on these sure has put...

I'm buying different junk these days -- and lots less of it for sure. I've been very very good and I leave most behind.  But I could NOT resist this fabric.  It's sort of lavender and periwinkle blue... and I've never seen a colonial American print in that color combination so I had to have it! Because as anyone who has seen my craft room/studio knows, the last thing I need is more fabric. When I was at our local ARC store I found this great box of stamps -- it was just $4.  So that's the story of my life these days: new job, different kind of junk -- and lots less of it. Oh, and another year older, too: look at my beautiful, beautiful cake from Chef Sugar's !  It was chocolate and might have been the best  birthday cake I've ever had.  There's lots leftover, too; I wish you could all come over to help me eat it. Among the thoughtful gifts I received was a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3.  It's a small tablet and an e-reader -- my fir...

How did I go from swinging my pretty apron at Karla's cottage to being back in the swing of working full time in just a few short days?!  It has all gone by too quickly! Karla's event was a delight...as were the surroundings.  We couldn't have asked for a prettier weekend! And the projects were FABULOUS!  This is Lori Oles' sample wreath from her class: It's hard to pick favorites because all the classes were awesome -- but I do think I enjoyed this one the most. Today I started my new job: I'm working for the ecommerce department of Discover Goodwill of Southern and Western Colorado.  I am an online lister for the auction site shopgoodwill.com .  That means I'm listing items picked from donations made to the five Colorado Springs Goodwill stores on the website, which is operated by Goodwill of Santa Ana, California.  Did you know that 149 Goodwill stores from across the country auction items from that site?   I was excited to land thi...

Happy Easter! I'm re-running this post from Easter 2009 -- when we had an impromptu snow storm on Easter morn.  I hope that you enjoy it! The fact that we live at the foot of Pikes Peak makes our weather very extreme and quite unpredictable at times. I used a technique I'd learned in a poetry class I took recently where you juxtapose the order of words. I think it makes the poetry a bit lighter and playful. What do you think? So We Decided to Love our Peak by Laurie Jackson The mountain made the sky forget it’s April, and Easter, a day for sun Down snowflakes dropped, thick and wet, as up we woke, prepared for fun “Oh no – snow!” we out loud moaned our yesterday memories clear and bright We grumpy groused and crabby groaned that the weather could change over so night Mother smiled – she wasn’t worried She had, of course, a plan in mind So down we piped and up she hurried To indoor hide hunt eggs to find ...

I was reading Somerset Studio recently and saw a book that an artist made for times she needed creative inspiration.  It was so pretty that it totally inspired me to make one for myself. I really need some writing encouragement these days.  I have a selection of favorite quotes about writing that are meaningful to me, so I started there. I printed some of them out for my own writing inspiration journal.  Then, using a base of scrap booking paper and lots of paper ephemera, I collaged a bunch of pages for the quotes. I used paint, gesso, and stamps and then sealed it all with Decoupage.  I worked really quickly. The pages aren't real refined, but... they really do the trick for me! I've always loved that W. Somerset Maugham quote; I used to have it printed on my business cards!  On another page, I hand wrote one of my favorite quotes, by Unknown: Reading about writing is not writing; talking about writing is not writing; thinking about ...

 They just don't make them like this anymore... fun graphics on this old box of corsage pins I brought back from an estate sale!  Have you priced pins lately?  They are so expensive new that I often bring them home from such sales. One of the sales I attended was a house FULL of these molded plastic all hangings.  And I mean, several on the walls in every room.  I've never seen such a large collection!  I brought these home with me, because I love the swallow motif.  They look great painted a matte color. Not so odd: a couple of books.  I loved the photo on the front of Poemcrazy -- plus, it boasts a review on top from one of my favorite writers who writes about writing, Ann Lamott of Bird by Bird fame. The book on the right is a guide, How To Draw Trees , and I really liked the clever illustrations. It's from the 1950's and the author, Frederick Garner, really went to town with his drawings. I liked how he slipped in some amp...