Johanna's Beetle Wing Earrings

Johanna Seppa, a Finnish jewelry artist, bought the beetle wings from me on Etsy and made the most awesomely original creation with them. She said she was after an Amazonian look. I love the way she combined the wings with feathers, and attached them with what looks like braided string? She's going to tell me more about herself when she finishes the matching necklace! Stay tuned for links to more of her work.

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Inner & Outer Paths of the Tuareg

I have long admired the art and crafts of the Tuareg people, and it was wonderful to see a couple of Tuareg artists at the International Folk Art Market this year, so this featured article from the most recent issue of Parabola caught my eye. I guess I've looked at what they make, but not the philosophy behind it. It's called Without Heart You Have Nothing, by Trebbe Johnson.




Scrolling down to the bottom of the article (incorrigible skim reader that I am...) , I found this photo essay of a Tuareg salt caravan, and a quick Google search led me to the Smithsonian exhibit Art of Being Tuareg.

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Scratchboard Mania Whatchamacallits

I made these for the Board booth at OFFCenter's Folk Art Festival (Sept. 13, be there!)

Scratchboard diecut flowers with "We Art the People" in the centers.

I put variegated yarn through the holes, for hangin'

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It has begun

Now I remember why I decided not to take a class this summer.

While my Fall class is not very difficult, it does occupy a chunk of my schedule and now that school season has begun I'm juggling more schtuff. This week it was me school, Junior school, Junior kickboxing, house tidying, relocating laundry piles, work of course, training one day, a bit of volunteerism here and there, and Etsy (things have picked up considerably now that summer's over). And then of course if I don't have to take Junior to the ER at least once every couple of months I start to wonder what is missing in my life. Hehe! Today he had to stay home and I stayed home with him, sleeping most of the day!

I got up from a blessed morning nap, walked through the rooms and said to myself, "This is your house on graduate school."

Now my turtles are staring me down so I better go feed them and get some supper ready. Praise the Lord for microwaves!

More Scratchboard Cards

I have become a tad obsessed with these little scratchboard doodles. I love sitting down on the couch late at night and making a card before I go to sleep.

Good Soup

Aloha Dreams

and my personal favorite,

We Were Made for Each Other. ;-)

Get Ready for Anniebags 8-)

I'm so excited because my niece Angela's jewelry bags have finally arrived. I'm losing the light tonight but tomorrow I'll have another chance to photograph some of her colors and patterns.

We decided I would change my shop to a collective so I can feature her growing selection of beautifully sewn pouches. I think they will be a nice complement to my funky jewelry!

Haha! Ed Hardy Cartoon

Haha! Brought to you by Celia.

Woodstock Paper Dolls

Check out this Woodstock 40th Anniversay book from Dover!

http://store.doverpublications.com/0486473953.html

We got Jerry Garcia, Janis, Jimmy Hendrix, Grace Slick, each with a "groovy" spare outfit. Yep, they said "groovy."

I'm thinking Christmas presents. 8-)

Earring Wires Class Debrief

My earring wires class at OFFCenter was so much fun -- I think it went pretty well, and the students were Awesome with a capital A. Very positive, fun, skilled, etc. But it was a little too short, partly because I talk too much and partly because the person who called and said she'd be late arrived, so I ad libbed for awhile. Then she decided after a few minutes she didn't want to take the class, so she left, LOL! Oy.

Also I realized after I got home that the students probably would have been happy even if I hadn't included every. single. earring. wire. I know on the handout. Hehe. We ran a little short on time.

There was a lovely woman from Rio Grande there (thank you Molly B. for sending out the emails!) and it was neat to have her there because she knew a lot about tools, wire, etc. even though she didn't think she did -- she did!

Plus Leighanna Light came and so did Annie Hooten, who both do their own things so well, so I was glad to show them something they didn't already know that they could get excited about! Everyone else I was meeting for the first time.

I love teaching. Someone told me a long time ago that when you find the thing that leaves you feeling more energized when you're done than when you started, that's the thing you should do. For him it was rock and roll, for me it is teaching. They both take a lot of energy come to think of it -- an outward bound energy, and yes, I did it 6 hours a day, year round, for 14 years, so I think I'm done doing it full-time, thank you. Whenever I teach I remember how hard it is and how utterly absorbing, and how much I love it, and how much joy there is in it (for everyone), especially when people choose to take your class.

And as always, I learned something new. This time, I accidentally figured out a new earring design. Probably something that's been figured out before, but for me, it just happened and it's new, and this seems to happen every time I teach. So hey, I got my money's worth 8-)

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Today I Doodled

I got Junior some scratchboard greeting cards awhile back. They came with little wooden sticks to scratch/draw with. I love the colors! Only one problem -- the surface scratches very easily whether you want it to or not. Does anybody know if there's a coating or fixative for this medium?

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When the Light is Right

(New in my supply shop)

The Ed Hardy Purse

Did I forget to blog about how my whole Ed Hardy fetish got started? We were in Vegas at Junior's grappling tournament, and I had to walk past the Ed Hardy stand every time I went to or from my room, so... the MOTH kept telling me to pick out a bag. As if!

Well, fast forward a few weeks, to my birthday. I'm sitting in OFFCenter sneaking in a bit of studio time, when up pulls the MOTH and Junior. He beckons me outside and tells me to open my birthday present. I nearly fell over -- inside the big box, wrapped in tissue, was a turquoise patent leather Ed Hardy purse from Dillards, the rat. I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven. This kind of gift is not normal around our house, so I was truly stunned near to tears.

The MOTH knew I liked the classic looking tattooed surfer designs the best, so that's the bag he picked out. Only one problem -- the lettering on the bag said "Love Kills Slowly." Oy! I was on my way to my SIL's memorial in California, not a slogan I wanted to carry out to my bro, niece and nephew.

The MOTH understood my dilemma and said, "Ok, look, Dillard's is open for 1 more hour, let's run over there and you can exchange it." So we drove over and I looked at every - single - other Ed Hardy bag in the place, and finally said, "You picked out the best bag, I'll keep this one."
So we go home, and long after he fell asleep I sat up gazing at this wondrous new beautiful bag. With that disturbing word. "Kills." And all the while I'm thinking about Nikia's classic diamond-patterned Coach bag she got on eBay and a couple of years later, glued rhinestones to. And that's where I got the inspiration and permission.

So I pawed through my vintage rhinestones and found some that looked a bit like the ones on there already. Hehe. Problem solved. Now my purse says "Love Slowly." 8-)

Score! Ed Hardy Storage Boxes

I thought I was in eye candy heaven when the MOTH told me there were Ed Hardy school supplies at Walmart. I went right over on my lunch hour Tuesday and picked up a binder for my class that starts in a couple of weeks. And of course since there were no pockets, I needed an Ed Hardy pocket folder to go inside. And of course since I like to doodle during class (word: it keeps me from climbing out of my chair -- why does UNM not get with it and offer these darn classes online??? sheesh) I had to get a bright purple pencil pouch to go inside too.

And since my work composition book is almost full of meeting notes (and doodles) I went ahead and got an Ed Hardy composition book for work. And since the pocket folders were so cheap, I went ahead and got one of each. For archival purposes, yeah that's it.

So last night we headed out to get Junior his school supplies, and whoa! at a different Walmart they had Ed Hardy STORAGE BOXES! Thank goodness it's payday week cause I knew when I saw them I "needed" one of each.

I already filled up four so far (warning -- they are shorter than shoebox sized storage, but very sturdy, and they are not cheap -- $5.00 each, shhhh!). I am still organizing (wah wah wah) and moving stuff out of small bead storage drawers so I can put beads in them, all in the same area. So I transferred my zig zaggy scissors, paper punches, and some other stuff into them. They are muy bonita and I think they deserve a place in the studio where you can see them right when you walk in.

Baqi's House

Baqi's house reminds me of a ship. A roomy, timbered vessel.

The gate to a little courtyard where she has planted
a memory garden for her son, full of herbs, flowers,
and rich, moist places.

I love everything in Baqi's house. Nothing is dull.
Nothing is ordinary. There is not one molecule of suburbia
in this house. Most of the furniture is handmade.

Baqi's window. We had the truck go out there and pose for us ;-)

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Live from Las Vegas!

Not that Las Vegas. :-) I'm talking Northern New Mexico. Yesterday we drove up to visit some friends. I hadn't been to town since we used to pick up my MIL and take her to the Spic and Span diner on the way to Albuquerque. There was live music on the plaza and laughter spilling out of the doorways. Ok so the doorways led to bars. It was Friday night. More photos to come . . . I could only take a few before it got too dark.

Commemorative Justice Sonia Sotomayor Tarot Card

Feel free to share this.
(Click the image above to go to a slightly larger version.)

Lookee, I made a smaller one too:

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Tory Hughes in Ornament Mag

Cool. Jill A. DeDominicis's article about Tory Hughes is out in the latest Ornament (Vol. 32 No. 4). It's entitled "From Nothing to Something," and I'm seeing a new elegance, technical sophistation, and a new vibrancy of color in Tory's work. Wow.

Congrats also to Tory for having her work acquired by the Racine and the Museum of Art and Design! See the pieces here on her website.

Divine

Is she not just divine? So poised. A young goddess-in-training. (Sorry about the odd color cast, we were under a white tent under a blue sky before sunset, surrounded by gray buildings!) It struck me when I was editing Summerfest photos that she could be from anywhere in the world. But she's an Albuquerque gal.

Check out OFFCenter's blog to see more photos from Latin night, the last night of Summerfest 2009.

Featured in a Treasury -- How Many Roads

Now this is a first -- I don't think items from my supply shop have ever been included in an Etsy treasury, but Nekiko from Italy created a theme around roads and travel and the world, and she included a pic of my XL jigsaw puzzle pieces . . . Thanks, Nekiko! (Click the image to visit her Treasury -- it'll only be up for about 3 days though.)

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When my studio grows up . . .

. . . I hope it will look a bit like Tim Holtz's place. Here are some links to his blog posts about his studio, from a couple of years ago. Of course, I don't have one of every single thing Ranger ever produced, LOL, but I've probably got one of everything else under the sun.

• http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/11/the-studio.html
• http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/11/the-studio-day.html
• http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/11/the-studio---fi.html

Thank you Tim. You have given me hope. LOL!

Yes, the organizing continues. I go in there for 20 minutes, half an hour, a couple of hours here and there and I come out feeling like I'm bailing water out of a leaky canoe.

But, on the other hand, the time it takes, the time I spend having to do things other than organize, gives me time to think about how I want things to be, what I need to provide storage for, what needs to happen first before something else can happen, and so on. And now and then I stuff a box full of odds and ends, drag it out and just sit in front of the TV, watching something lame and sorting through stuff.

P.S. I found my black gesso. And several brand new paintbrushes. And also one of my ultra-miniature tarot decks I use for brooches. I know there's another one in there somewhere . . .

Smile! Etsy Again . . .

Smile. 8-) My Etsy supply shop is open again. New items and old favorites. Vintage, ethnic, quirky, and fine.

www.seriousbeader.etsy.com

Altered Vintage Photo

She needs something in her hand. The one in her lap. A feather? A flower? An unusually large music note?