Vote For Me on Blockhead Radio!

Woo Hoo! I'm really excited about this challenge because #1 it's fun, #2 it gets some exposure for my work and #3 I could potentially win some free advertising -which I need. If you want to vote for my drawing go to Blockhead Radio. Then find the Artisan Challenge, I'm in the 2d catagory.

I did do one foolish thing. I posted a drawing that I love, but isn't in my Etsy shop. When you click on the picture at Blockhead Radio, it brings you here...to my blog. So, if you're here and wanted to see my etsy shop it's here: www.sleeplessimagination.etsy.com.

Thanks for looking and remember: VOTE!

It Once Was Lost...When Will It Be Found?

As much as I love my craft cave (and I do love my craft cave), I'm still having a hard time getting organized. I've got things here, there, everywhere and it takes more time to find something than it does to do the thing I'm working on. It's very frustrating.

Tonight, like too many nights, I'm trying to find something. It's not something that is really that important, I don't really need it right now - it would just be nice to have. If I had it, it might make things a little easier, maybe help me plan ahead. I've been "tripping" over it for weeks now, as I search for other things, but now that I want it it's nowhere to be found.

I've looked in all the logical places. On my two desks, in every bookshelf, on the computer desk, the office supply cabinet...I've even looked in places that aren't so logical: under the futon, in the guest room...it's nowhere. What do you think I do? I start all over again with the two desks, the bookshelves, the computer desk and the office supply cabinet. And I do it again...and again....

I've wasted a lot of precious time looking for something that I don't need now and I'm starting to drive myself a little crazy. I have a stubborn streak, so now it's not so much that I need this thing, it's that I should be able to find it. There's a point to be made here. I know it's here, why isn't it where it should be? It's like I'm trying to prove something- I'll get you, you stupid little thing, I'm going to find you if it's the last thing I do! (insert maniacal laughter) My heart is racing, I'm sure my blood pressure is elevated and that stinkin' voice in my head is just yappin' it up, chiseling away at my self confidence: you're never going to find it in this mess; you really need to clean this place up; you know that you are wasting time looking for this, why don't you just give it up.

Oh-shut-up!

I've heard it said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results. I would totally agree with this statement. The problem is, sometimes when I'm looking in the same place for the fifth or sixth time, I do find what I was looking for. It's like I'm being rewarded for being insane, so I keep doing the same thing, expecting a different result and getting it!

Now, one of two things is going to happen. I will either give up and work on more important things and hope the thing will turn up. Which it probably will when I'm looking for some other lost item. Or I will go buy a new thing, come home and the thing I was looking for in the first place will be sitting in plain sight. Then I will have more of the thing than I could possibly use.

I have big dreams of being so organized that I can sit down to do a project and not once have to get up to search for something. Every supply will be at arms length, I won't have to stand up, or dig under papers, or look through piles of "treasures" to find what I need. It will all be right there, in front of me. I guess I'll just have to accept that until I change what I'm doing - and clean my craft area - I will be spending lots of time running like a hamster in a exercise wheel, looking for things that aren't really that important to begin with. It seems like I should find a better way to use my time!

I've been busily trying to get some things done for the craft fairs I'm participating in this spring. Can you believe it? Me in more than one craft fair! Pretty wild. I've decided that I want to do some things other than illustrations, so I've been painting boxes, candlesticks and other wooden objects.

It has been fun, but I worry that I either won't have enough variety and quantity or that I will have too much quantity. If I have lots left over, then it goes into the craft cave, where I'll have to look at it every time I go to work in there - a reminder that nobody bought my stuff.

I think I'll keep this post short. I'm sensing a bunch of negative "vibes" coming out of my finger tips and I really don't want to see it in black and white. Most of all, I don't want it floating away in cyber space to come back and bite me in the rear some day! See?! Negative and paranoid! And it's sunny out, so why am I not more positive?

Oh, I did want to write one funny thing. Last Sunday I called my friend Sandy. I haven't talked to her in a very long time and I just wanted to check in. We've been friends for an eternity and before I was married with children, our average phone call was about 3 hours. That doesn't happen anymore.

Anyway, I was downstairs on the phone and the rest of my family was upstairs. My 6-year-old son had heard me laughing several times while I was on the phone (not an unusual occurrence when I talk to Sandy). Here's the conversation that happened between son and hubby:

son: what is mom laughing about?

hubby: oh, she's talking to Sandy.

son: why is she laughing?

hubby: I don't know.

son: they must be telling knock-knock jokes! :)

I'm also posting my latest painting that I submitted to last week's Thursday Sweet Treat. The topic was The Joy of Dance. The title of my painting is Joyful Dance and is done in watercolor pencil, colored pencil, ink on watercolor paper.

The Craft Cave

I haven't written in a while and thought I'd better post something quick - before I get back to my evil ways of only posting once every 6 months or so. That wouldn't be good, would it?

Tonight, I want to write about my beloved Craft Cave. It is a dark, windowless room that originally was intended for storage. We do have some family items stored there: out of season clothes, suitcases, holiday decorations and boxes of momentos that no one has the emotional fortitude to get rid of. And in the midst of it all is a wall of boxes which hold my "valuable collections" of craft supplies, found objects and things I may need some day. I've also set up two desks, a book case and a cabinet that hold some more valuables.

When I was a kid living with my mom, I had the biggest room in the house. It was a large attic room and it was my haven. I spent many, many hours in that room listening to music (Bee Gees at age 13 and Heart in my late teens) and drawing, reading or daydreaming. I loved that room.

After leaving my mom's house (and my bedroom), I pretty much lived by myself until I got marriedin 2000. I haven't had an opportunity since then to have my own space. Whenever I claimed a space for myself, something would happen like, we'd rent the upstairs to someone and my craft area became the kitchen for the renter. When we had our son, our renter moved out, but I couldn't totally take the craftroom-turned-kitchen-turned-weird-empty-room-with-a-sink over for myself. I had to share it with my husband, our computer and our never ending pile of accumulated papers. Besides, I didn't have much time to craft...I was trying to adjust to life with a baby.

Then baby #2 came along and she needed her own space. The office/craft space/accumulated paper storage became my daughter's bedroom. By that time, I was starting to want to spend more time being creative, which involved having more supplies and needing more space to work. My projects and supplies were spilling over into the dinning room, the office area, the living room, the basement and sometimes our bedroom. Lucky for me, my husband really hates clutter and he began to see the light ("see the light" = "Laura needs her own space"). When it came time to look for a new house, one of the priorities was that we would make sure there was room for my crafting.

In August 2008, we found this house, with a family room, a guest room and a storage room that I could use as my craft area. We recruited some of our friends to help us move. The embarassing thing was that since I had stored a lot of stuff for so many years and was good at making it all fit into tiny spaces, I had no idea how much I really had. I would say more than 50% of the boxes that were moved to the new place were marked "craft room". Oops!


Anyway, now I have this space, with all my stuff out of boxes, surrounding me, inspiring me and just plain making me happy. I love it in there. Sometimes I have to share it with my kids - which I'm not very good at (the sharing part), but I'm learning. They are 3 and 6 and have a tendency not to understand the importance of peace and quiet in my creative space. Sometimes I forget too and I yell: "quit being mean to your sister! Stop writing on your brother's picture!" I finally made up craft cave rules: Rule #1 no yelling, screaming, spitting, complaining, whining or potty talk. Rule #2 If you can't follow rule number 1, then you have to leave.

My space is not very neat and tidy, but it's getting there. I purposely left out any photos of our storage stuff because, it's really not that interesting! I love seeing photos of where people do their creative work. I've been wanting to share photos of my work space for a long time. Thanks for taking a look!

Figuring Out a Plan of Action

I always thought I was an organized person, until I became a stay-at-home mom. Now, I am faced with chaos where ever I go: dirty laundry, dirty dishes, messy bedroom, messy family room, toys in the yard, leaves on the deck, clothes and towels on the bathroom floor and loads and loads of craft "treasures" as far as the eye can see in the craft cave.

(uh, here's an aside...I call it the "Craft Cave", because it's a room in the basement that has no windows. I love it! I know there are advantages to having windows in one's craft studio and someday maybe I'll have that. But for now, I'm just thrilled to have a space to call my own).

I'm also challenged in the areas of planning ahead and setting goals. I've come to appreciate the fact that life is a lot easier if these skills can be mastered, so I'm trying very hard to work in that direction. After all, the more activities, projects and people you add to your life, the more you have to be on top of things or you'll just go crazy and it won't be any fun, right? It occurred to me last night that I have committed myself to three art fairs within the next 8 weeks plus an art exhibit in June. If I don't get a game plan, I'll be showing up to these events with a little card table with some cards, a couple of magnets and a few prints. I'd really like to have more of a variety than that!

I have wanted to expand my "product line" to include some hand painted wooden items (boxes, candle sticks and wall hanger-peg-thingies). I tend to get overwhelmed then I can't focus enough to start or finish any of my "brilliant" ideas. So last night, I decided that I will spend the next 8 weeks working on getting new items to take to the art fairs. Then I'll use my submissions to the Thursday Sweet Treat to make new prints, magnets and cards. If I follow through, I should have plenty of new items to keep things fresh.

I feel a little better now, since I have a plan of action. Keep your fingers crossed that I will consistently work toward that goal! With this post, I'm including my latest Sweet Treat entry. The topic this week is Vibrant Chaotic Rainbow. Be sure to check out the other submissions on Thursday, you won't believe the incredible ways people interpret the topic. You'll see some really wonderful art!