I love Halloween!

I think it has got to be my all time favorite holiday! What other time of year can you dress up like a total freak and completely get away with it? :D..(I'm all for dressing up like a freak ;)-- normal office wear never really suited me...

Oh yes, it is also a really good excuse to eat lots and lots of candy...(which reminds me...I was doing well on my diet, but then slid back and gained a couple of pounds-- damn that tastey barbeque)!!!!!

Anyway, in honor of Halloween I have created a new/temporary shop banner! (nice and festive--yeah)!!!! I thought this was the least I could do, as I didn't make anything Halloween oriented to sell in my shop :O....oh well!

My Latest (Healthy) Addiction :)

I can't stop listening to You Tube videos....

I'm very much a fan of music. Especially good music. (Or music that I think is good anyway:) I find myself listening to a variety of videos late at night because I am a total insomniac. Perhaps it would better serve me to paint during these little episodes, but my painting supplies are at my studio...(that's my current excuse anyway:)

I especially like music that sounds rather melancholy...It suits my brooding tendencies I think. Here is a nice and weepy one! :D ....This is called Verdi Cries, and is sung by Natalie Merchant. Natalie Merchant is one of my all time favorites. I've been listening to her a lot this week, for a variety of reasons...(I also tend to go through phases where I listen to the same artist over and over for a week or so, then switch to another musician for a week or two)...anyway, here it is-- and it's good painting music too! :) I usually save the rowdier stuff for my paper making adventures! :)

I Present to You..."Pickle Head"....

Yeah!!! I actually finished it :)...and it only took me a month!

For the record, finishing a surreal piece, for me, usually takes MUCH longer. I have been known to work on surreal pieces for months, even years. Often because I get frustrated and set the piece aside (for months, or even years)...and I"m very much a perfectionst! I worked on this one for about a month straight though (minus a few days when I made paper)...and here it is! :)

Makes me wonder if I should rethink my artistic strategies...I often work on multiple pieces at once, and set aside works of art for extended periods of time. I don't know if I will change my strategy really, but I do wonder if I would be more productive if I just worked on one at a time...just thoughts I'm having currently :)....Knowing myself I probably won't change a $#@!!@# thing! :)... :O ...(we'll see though ;)

Dude! I broke my Toe! :O...

Ow!!!!...I never realized V8 Splash Juice could be so volatile... :O...

So here's what happened...It was a usual uneventful morning..I opened the fridge to get my energy drink...just like I have EVERY morning for the last 6 years...(a habit that started with my early morning employment in coffee shops many moons ago)...

So this HUGE bottle of tropical V8 Juice (in the door of my fridge) flies out of the fridge and lands on the middle toe of my right foot..OW!!! When it actually happened I screamed "OW"!!! out loud...(and for the record, this is one of those full jugs...like a gallon)...#@$$#!!!!

Not a good thing...I told Matt not to place top heavy beverages in the lower/outer door of the fridge ever again...*whimpering*...ow...

Let's just say I am bruised, stiff, and uncomfortable...GGRR...(ow)... :( ...

I Need to Get Crackin' With the Handmade Recycled Paper!

And I mean soon! :) I managed to snag an ad in the November issue of Craft Magazine, as part of the Etsy Cooperative Advertising Program. (I still can't believe I actually was able to get one)!...Yup, fourth time was the charm...or it was luck perhaps, I don't know ;)

Anyway, the picture you see here is the one I will have in the magazine ad. I therefore have not added it to my shop yet :) I will do so on October 20th, because that is when the subscribers to the magazine get it in the mail. I need to get my shop fully stocked with paper...I'm quite sure just how much, but more than I have now. I hope the ad works! :)...If not, I'm sure it will be a fun experiment nonetheless! :)...I've never been in a nationally circulated puplication before..(I don't think so anyway?)...

In honor of this event, I bring you papermaking music! :) I couldn't stop listening to this album during my last papermaking marathon-- yeah Irish music! :) (This is Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly-- good stuff)!!! :D