Humblearts Journal

The Bead Cruise is now 7 days away.  I have a few things left to do, but it's manageable now.  The biggest job was putting together the Bead Cruise Program, which is a mini-magazine with projects from our instructors and ads from our sponsors.  It really looks like a magazine.  I can't stop looking over the proof. 

Thanks to those who have left comments recently, I just don't have time to answer them right now, but I have been reading them!  I'll be checking emails for the next week, but no surfing or blogging. Now is the time to make beads and get caught up. 

Here are a few good things to go explore:

I'm teaching at Art and Soul in Portland this year, check out all the great things they have for this event!  Here are the classes I'm teaching.  The theme is Paris in my Soul. 

Luann Udell has a great series on her blog with tips on running a successful craft business.  She's taken an article on the "secrets" of thin people and translated it into the "secrets" of successful artists.  It's a great analogy and a wealth of information. 

- Create this week wrapped in a cocoon of thankfulness.  Be thankful for the skills, time and resources that you have to devote to your creative pursuits.  Don't worry about the outcome, just enjoy the time you have to devote to your work.

Art Imitates Life

Just a quick post, I just had to share these beads I made yesterday.  I love them!  I'm making them into a necklace, for what else, the cruise!  I have a one-track mind, but hey it's 12 days away, how can I not?  The beads are polymer clay.

And here is the inspiration:

 

Studio Friday- Secret Stash

Oh boy, I was gleaning over my studio for a secret stash for Studio Friday and it dawned on me, my secret stash isn't an object, it's time.  I secretly stash away time to work on creative projects that I want to try, whether they are for illustration or just some crafty idea I have.  Above is one such example.  A few months ago I crocheted this little hat for E. in a few hours.  A few hours that I probably should have spent cleaning my house or paying bills or doing yard work or cleaning out the car.  You get the picture, I stash away time from my chores to create.  Not so great for the messy house, but just what I need to keep my sanity.  One day I'll be able to afford a maid and then heck, I won't have to secretly stash my time away, because the maid will be spending her time scrubbing the toilet, not me. : )

Next secret stash project: crocheted beads...stay tuned!

Cruise Control

I wish I could pack you all in my bag and take you on the Bead Cruise with me, instead these little fellows will be joining me.  (What can I say, they don't take up much room and it's cheap to feed them.)

We have 2 weeks now until the cruise.  I am beyond excited, beyond exhausted and can hardly wait!  There are so many behind the scenes things to do, but I can see the end, so that is good news. 

***Take chances this week, do things that no one else has done, create in uncharted waters.  The rewards go to those who venture down the road less traveled. 

Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

Well, I got nothing done all weekend.  Takes a special kind of procrastination to accomplish that feat!  I spent yesterday running errands with the girls and gasp, at the mall looking for some new things to wear on the cruise.  (found 3 shirts for $15.00 at a store that was going out of business!)

And today after church we ran off to visit the art museum.  They had a show of theatre programs from Toulouse-Lautrec and friends.  There was this one print with a beach image and that was all it took to get my head spinning.  For a long time I've had a little itch in my brain to write a historical fiction picture book about a character living in South Haven in the early 1900's.  There is a story there, I just need to find it.  Hmm, I would love to go there for a few weeks to do some serious research, maybe the historical society would let me look in their archives.  Maybe there are books in the library there with a hidden mystery.  I also would love to do a calendar with images inspired by South Haven's history.  Oh and then I could totally sell out and make a fortune doing images of lighthouses and blueberries.  Then I could just move back to my home town and become South Haven's little art darling.  It could happen.  : P

Mother Goose

What I'll be carving this weekend.

Some Inspiration: 

And everything you ever wanted to know about The Little Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.

Other projects I'm hoping I'll get to:

Bead samples for the Bead Cruise Gift Bags

Beads for my mom's kits

New little spot illos for my humblearts website

A new banner for this blog, I'm thinking squirrel meets Easter egg.

Oh, I love weekends! Time to turn off the computer and get creating.

Studio Friday - Black & White

This week's Studio Friday theme is Black & White.  So of course, I immediately think of printmaking.  I print all of my work in black ink.  I have other colors, but they scare me.  Maybe one day I'll get brave and do a multi-color print.  Until that day, my work is printed in black and hand-colored with oil pastels.

Want to try out printmaking for yourself?  It's fun and pretty easy.  Here I show you the process on my website or you can download step by step instructions from my HGTV episdoe.  This little guy was from an SCBWI event last year.  Enjoy your weekend!

Cruise Wear

Here is a necklace I've made to wear on the cruise.  It's all crocheted.  I used a variety of beads, which was a little tricky.  Glass daggers and silver leaves on one side, size 8 seed beads in various shades of brown, then brown pearls, olive green pearls, tiny purple coin beads finish off the other end. I then strung a thin wire through the middle, made loops on both ends to attach the clasp.  It just hooks unto the other side.  I added a few of my disk beads and a few little dangles on the clasp side. 

My mom is busy making jewelry to wear on the cruise too.  We'll definitely be the most bead-iful group on the ship.  I can't wait to see the jewelry everyone brings to wear on the formal night.  Diamonds, sh-iamonds, I want to see the beads!

Want to learn more about bead crochet?  Judith Giffin-Bertoglio's books are great.  Very easy to follow along, even for beginners.  I have both of her books and enjoy them, one day I'll make one of those bead crochet rope lariats, one day!

How Many Hours in a Day?

"Don't say you don't have enough time.  You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein."   -H. Jackson Brown

I need to get organized. I'm drowning in paperwork and piles and all sorts of not so fun things. 

I'll keep my very long list to myself this month.  I'm juggling the Bead Cruise, making beads and filling orders, SCBWI stuff and trying to talk myself into dedicating a little time each day to illustration.  I have each part blocked off in a journal with to-do lists that have things that need to be done immediately, weekly, monthly and long-term.  That's helping to keep it under control.  Do you think I could talk someone into being my intern, ala Kramer on Seinfeld?

Okay, now here is where you get to peek into the insanity that goes on in my head.  It's Jesse's birthday on the 13th, so I want to have a fun party with a few of our friends on Saturday.  We are going to have a Vegas Night Party.  I'm going to make a cake that looks like two dice (die).  We are going to play poker and eat all sorts of salty bad-for-you snacks!  And Sunday we'll have lunch and cake with his family. All 17 of them, if everyone shows up.  Yikes, he has 6 brothers and sisters.   I'm more than happy to throw two parties for Jesse.  He's so overworked and under appreciated.

Now here it is, the part that tips the scale.  The girls want to be in the school talent show.  We talked about it and came up with the idea to do a puppet show.  Shakespeare's sock puppet theatre.  Well, not sock puppets.  We are going to make handmade puppets.  We are going to do a very quick verison of a Midsummer's Night Dream. It's the girls' favorite.  So we have to work up a little play and have it practiced enough to try out at the end of the month.  Should be fun. Then we have until May to make the props and puppets.  Ah, cardboard, you are always a dear friend!  Tomorrow is the first day of Spring Break, so this will be our project to keep the kids entertained during the week.  Good timing actually.

I'm going to be retiring my HumbleHome blog to use the space for SCBWI stuff.  The only problem, should I just delete it?  I have the photos and could scrapbook with them instead of the blog.  Maybe I should copy and print out my favorite entries.  It's hard to see it go, it's like a diary.  But I don't want to keep up two personal blogs, so it needs to go.  Any suggestions or thoughts?

Illustration Friday - Insect

Illustration Friday - Insect, from a recent magazine assignment.  In case you are wondering that's a little moth cocoon and his two friends are rescuing him from a gecko.  It's a heart-warming tale of moving to a new country and discovering that friendship is a language every bug speaks. Hey, I don't write this stuff, I just illustrate it.  : )

Here are the other two, just in case you missed them: