My Creative Space: State of the Art (Room)

I'm pretty sure I mentioned that we're on new grounds this year, which means that everything that was in my old art room had been packed, moved, and stored for the winter.  This week has been an absolute frenzy of unpacking, organizing, and, of course, decorating.

  In my search for quotable quotes and inspirational phrases to adorn the art room walls, I've developed an abiding addiction to Pinterest.   Seriously.

The kids have been busily harassing the wildlife, and we've been privileged to host 3 frogs, 17 efts, and a little gray mouse this week.  I'm enforcing the "no little critters I didn't give birth to in the house" rule pretty strongly this year, and the only violator to date has been a teeny frog who seems to have made his way into the bungalow unassisted.  The guy in this photo is named "Compassion," if you ask Rachmy, but is known as "Buford" to some of his pals.  I've discovered it's best not to ask too many questions.

If you were waiting patiently to buy the Make It Easy e-book, today is your lucky day.
Click on the link on the upper right  sidebar, and I'll email you out a copy of the PDF.

Happy Friday!

Incommunicado?

I've been off the radar for days, now.   Forgive me?  Our little bungalow is slowly coming together, and the art room is making me want to rip my hair out.  Piece by curly piece. 

There are all sorts of exciting things to explore, so the kids are all over the place.  Rachmy managed to track down our friendly neighborhood poison ivy patch within the first 24 hours of our stay, and Chevi lost a cap while we were "in town" yesterday.  (You wouldn't want me to get bored up here, would you?)  I've set up a workspace in my bedroom so I can continue the shop while we're in camp...this is what it looks like if I don't bother to clean up before I take a picture.

Okay...bad photos---I'm using my get-out-of-jail-free card here, because I'm frankly too tired to edit them. 

I know you want details about the trip.  Who could blame you?  Everybody likes a gory story, right?  Let me begin by saying that the AC quit on me.  Jealous?  It was a cozy ride, and there were a number of little surprises that we could have done nicely without.  Shani chose to prove her status as The Queen Of Carsick, and Chevi threatened repeatedly to outdo her.   We listened to more Glee than anyone should hear in less than a month, sang along with Newsies and Beethoven's Wig till our throats were sore, made 26 truck drivers honk at us, and found license plates to all but 17 states.  We stopped 3 times for gas, once for lunch, twice to de-puke the baby, and made a solitary gratuitous bathroom stop.

And we're here, folks.  Which is a very, very good thing.

Oh, and while I have your attention?  Don't forget to check out today's installment of Make It Easy over at Hollybobbs!

Make It Easy:Etsy Educationals

Okay, Guys---I've been suffering from serious blog withdrawal as well as the general excitement/trauma of a very long roadtrip my brood, but I'm back, and I've got something uber-cool to share with you.  A month or so back, I was invited to join in on a nifty blogging project called Make It Easy, a series of crafting tutorials hosted by talented, artistic and generally fabulous (and humble) bloggers. We're going to show you how to create 11 unique and beautiful items ~ there will be one tutorial every day for the next 11 days ~ and we really hope you will find some inspiration to get your craft on!  (Did I just say that?  Nah, I'm being profoundly lazy, and scamming some of the write up I was fed.)  Forgive me---LONG week.  But you get the idea, no?

There will be one tutorial a day, posted on the blogs below.

At the end of the series we'll have a an ebook available for $1.99. All the tutorials will be in this one convenient download that you will be able to print off and read over and over, if you're obsessive like that.  Or you can read it once, and make stuff.  Your choice. If you download it from littlegreenbums, I score the $1.99.  Which could very well allow me to buy nearly half a coffee, and you know how I feel about coffee.  (Right.  That's my sales pitch.  No more from me.)

Anyhoo, I've been remiss in my bloggy activities since our arrival at camp on Sunday.  Finally managed to get hooked up this morning, and the shop is open again!  (Seriously uncomfortable, this "vacation" business...way glad to be virtually back.)

Real post to follow soon, detailing the agonies and the ecstasies of road travel with rugrats, the glories and pitfalls of our new home away from home, and Rachmy's astonishing capability to contract poison ivy within 24 hours of arriving in camp.