Just Add Glitter and Stir

Friday Night Fab Five

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Fri, 03 May 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone and welcome to another Friday Night Fab Five where I list 5 things I'm loving this week. Haven't done one of these in FOREVER, time to get back in the game. Anddddddddddd we're off!

1. This excerpt from a Neil Gaiman speech, "Make Good Art":

I found this very inspiring. Make good art no matter what!

2. Linandko

Linandko is a YouTube channel of a couple that lives in Japan, plays video games and films it. I'm addicted to their Animal Crossing videos as that game has yet to come out in the US and I'm dying to get my grubby hands on it.

3. Art Journaling

I used to keep diaries when I was a kid. Actually, I use to keep typical written journals well into my twenties but that fell by the wayside in favor of art journaling. I still write but it's nice to add some glue and paint into the mix. This is a recent page I made, I'll blog more about this next week. (Although you may have already seen it if you ran by Gauche Alchemy lately.)

4. Fabric

I don't sew whatsoever (despite having a sewing machine *shame spiral*) but I love buying cute fabric. Go figure. lol

5. 29/31 by Garfunkel and Oates

First of all, Garfunkel and Oates ROCKS. Second, this song is oh so true.

And that's it for another Friday Night Fab Five, feels good to be back! What have been your favorites this week?

Mother Brain #1

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

mother - noun - a term of address for a female parent or a woman having or regarded as having the status, function, or authority of a female parent.

brain - noun - the part of the central nervous system enclosed in the cranium of humans and other vertebrates, consisting of a soft, convoluted mass of gray and white matter and serving to control and coordinate the mental and physical actions.

mother brain - noun, verb, adjective - The new brain your original brain is replaced with after you have kids. Change typically due to stress, sleep deprivation and constantly hearing, "MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY!"

Example: The other day the family and I decided to go out. I thought I'd put some effort into myself so I did my hair, put on make up, picked out nice clothes and went so far as to put on jewelry. Of course, I ended up leaving the house wearing slippers on instead of real shoes.

Welcome to Mother Brain.

One Year

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 20:29:00 +0000

One year ago today, my younger brother Ty died. I've been going back and forth on whether or not I should blog about it. I honestly didn't (and as I actually write this, still don't) want to write about it because writing about things forces you to relive those things. Good or bad.

But then I started to wonder if I would regret not writing about it. So here I am. I want to say upfront that I don't want anyone to feel obligated to comment. I like keeping things shiny and happy but let's face it, sometimes life just gives you lemons that refuse to become lemonade no matter how "Pollyanna" you try to be about it.

So here it is...

Ty, the December before the accident

As most of you know, my brother was in a coma for 5 days. On the fifth day the surgeon told us there was no hope and we needed to decide about taking him off of life support and letting him go. For those of you that haven't experienced the whole life support thing with a loved one (and I sincerely hope you haven't and never will), it ain't like in the movies where the nurse cuts off the machine and you sit in a perfectly lighted room, full of flowers and soft music as the machine starts it's beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Well, maybe it is like that for some people but everything changes when the person is an organ donor. See, they only have a certain amount of time once the person passes to "harvest" so since Ty was on life support and a donor, we had to go to the operating room to say our final goodbyes.

One year later, the timing isn't so clear. I think he was scheduled to be taken off the machines around 4:00 in the afternoon. But when it was 4:00, it had to be delayed because the surgeon got an emergency call. You know, once you've waited 5 days for something to change, once you've had the 5th night to decide you have to be okay with what's happening, once you've sat for hours waiting for it to be over, to be told you now have to wait longer is agony. But waited we did.

Right before going "downstairs"

They wheeled him out of his room with myself and my parents following. Nurses moved out of the way and people gave us sympathetic stares. I almost expected them to yell out, "Dead man rolling!" Then they had us wait in a tiny room with counselors while they removed the tubes from his throat.

We each had a handler. Well, they didn't call themselves that, that's just what I thought of them as, we each got one assigned to us and they were very sweet and good at their jobs but if I thought waiting with him in his room was bad, having to sit in that claustrophobic room with 3 strangers talking about death and "better places" and all that jazz while my parents cried and cried was even worse.

Because we were going into the OR, we had to wear head to toe scrubs, including masks. And while I get it, I know we had to wear it, it sucked...we couldn't even be comfortable while Ty died. Breathing through that mask and trying to keep it together was...whatever, it was what it was.

Ty had a time limit within which to die. If he didn't die in time, they couldn't harvest his organs and he would be wheeled up to another floor to die there. So he didn't even get the luxury of taking his time to die. Ty breathed on his own for almost 45 minutes. For almost 45 minutes we stood there, in a cold, dark operating room, gathered around him, my mother crying over his body, my dad crying out, "Oh Jesus, oh Jesus, oh Jesus....", the counselors rubbing our backs and the surgeon watching the clock.

Almost 45 minutes, watching his chest go up and down, I can still hear the rattle, the force of his breath as he struggled to...I don't know what...let go? Hang on? Just breathe? Almost 45 minutes, "Jesus", up and down went his chest, "Jesus", trying to keep my breath in that surgical mask, in those scrubs, mentally begging him to just let go before I started screaming. Counselors rubbing my back, telling me it would be okay, rubbing rubbing, be okay, "Jesus", be okay....I wanted to throw something at them. Anything to get them to shut up. Anything to get out of there, anything to stop the sounds of my parents crying, the sounds of his chest-rattling breath, the tick tick tick of the clock the surgeon kept staring at....tick tick tick tick tick tick.

My hand was on his chest when he finally stopped breathing. One minute he breathed, the next he just didn't. Oh, right he's a donor so whisk whisk whisk us out of the OR they did...."thanks for coming, we've got work to do so out out out", whooshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the counselors showed us the door, found our things and pulled out their best airline stewardess "buh-bye now, thanks for dying with us, buh-bye, buh-bye now, buh-bye, thanks for dying with us..."

So we left. All the waiting, the praying, the hoping, the acceptance, so long it took to happen but once it did, we left. It was the day before Easter when he died. And I left the hospital, got home and then had to dye Easter eggs with Toot. Just that simple, Life started up again. No time to grieve or mourn or shake my fist, no time, no time. Eggs to dye, dinner to make, life to live.

Buh-bye now. Buh-bye.

Chicken Feet

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

So I did a canvas:

You can read more about how I made it on the Gauche Alchemy blog. :) But it was pretty simple. I took the photograph on the canvas, just a shot of some chickens and doll feet. Doesn't everyone take pictures of chickens and doll feet? :P

This past year has been a difficult one for me but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things. I hope everyone is doing well!

Long Time, No Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:27:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

Long time, no blog! Yes, I'm still around in various virtual forms while my poor little blog collects dust. Well, to be frank, my brother's death last year really made doing much of anything (and finding joy in even less) very difficult. Creatively I've been behind the 8 ball so to speak although my hat shop has been doing quite well so a lot of my time has been spent crocheting stuff like this:

and this:

But I have been missing mixed media quite a bit lately. I did create some art journal pages but they're pretty dark and depressing so I didn't bother posting those. lol Earlier in 2012 I had signed up for another run with The Sketchbook Project but decided to just skip it once I realized I had wasted a whole year and it was due in mere weeks.

But then I got an idea to combine the project, mixed media and my current obsession with Blythe dolls. I asked other members of the doll community to send me a picture of themselves with their doll(s) and to finish the sentence, "I play with dolls..." I thought this theme was pretty interesting and so I've begun work on a new sketchbook and am racing towards the deadline!

Here's a little bit of work I've done so far on the cover:

I have a long way to go and a short amount of time to get there but working under pressure seems to be the way I do things. lol

I hope you all had a wonderful 2012 holiday season and an awesome New Year! Here's to hoping 2013 is a banner year for all of us! I'll try my best to be around more often!

Happy Birthday Toot!

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 13:50:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

Well, today Toot is 4 years old! I started this blog when she was around 8 months old I think. And now she's growing up and up. Seriously, what the heck?!

I jokingly told her to stop growing up to which she replied, "But I haf to gwow up. I still be your best fwiend when I bigger Mommy."

I'm a Professional Hooker

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

First, I want to thank everyone SO much for taking the time to contact, comment or otherwise be awesome during my SITS day. I'm still getting through to as many people as I can to return the favor, thank you!!!

Now...

As you know, I've become "slightly" obsessed with a little lady called Blythe. Unfortunately this darling comes with a "slightly" large price tag and I'm not even close to being "slightly large"...well, I have had two kids but I mean budget wise.

Anyhoo, I was whining to my husband one day and he said, "You want more dolls? Just figure out a way to bring in some money..." So I did. IN YOUR FACE, HONEY!

Presenting my new shop for Blythe: Kawaii Kandy where I hook up super awesome amazing you-must-have-this hats for Blythe! At least...I think so. :P

Like such classics as...Sad Ice Cream Fell Down and is Now More Sad:

Scary Monster Attack!

The Moon is Laughing Because Your Balloon is Flying Away!

So Is The Sun!

And who could possibly forget Dark Side of the Balloon???

So this is it...I'm finally realizing my dream of having an online store, selling something I love to make to support a hobby instead of stealing the money for the electric bill...Life is good!

Oh Snap It's My SITS Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Well helloooooooooooo everyone!

No Friday Night Fab Five this week because today is my SITS day, w00t!

So for those of you that regularly put up with my crap around here but aren't sure who The SITS Girls are:

"We are a group of 40,000 women bloggers dedicated to supporting one another by leaving comments & learning about blogging. We'd love to have you join us!"

I've been stalking SITS for a while now and they have grown and grown into a blogging-social media-community MACHINE. And they are awesome (and not only because they chose my blog to feature today).

For those of you that are new to Just Add Glitter and Stir, welcome!

So this is me:

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Wait, that's not right...THIS is me:

I have two girls:

I also like gluing stuff onto other stuff:

I like to blog about my life, my adventures in crochet, mixed media and I list 5 things I'm obsessed with in my (mostly) weekly Friday Night Fab Five.

Here are a few of my favorite posts, I do hope you'll stick around and revel in my...uh...revelry. Huzzah!

How to Set Your Microwave on Fire

FedEx Thinks I'm Fat

and the follow up:

FedEx is Afraid of Trees

No, You Prove YOU'RE Not A Robot, Captcha

NSFW Thanksgiving

Thanks for stopping by!

Create is the Word of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 14:27:00 +0000

Hey everyone!

So one day in my clearance aisle searching, I found these cracked chalk boards:

They were super cheap because they were so busted and since I couldn't use them as chalk boards, I covered both sides in paper and made this out of one of them:

I love adding the word, "Create" to projects where I know it needs a tagline or title but I'm fresh out of ideas. LOL There's always room for "create". :P

I also added a glittered up Blythe doll pull ring to make it "doll-ish". :D

Friday Night Fab Five

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 21:02:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

Long before marriage, kids, heck even blogging, I was (and proudly am) a geek. Lots of geeks specialize in one or two areas (i.e.-gamers, Trekkies, LARPing, etc), I'm more of a "jack of all trades" sort of geek, dipping my toe into various geeky pools. Here's 5 things I'm geeking out over this week in the Friday Night Fab Five:

1. "I'm So Happy I Can Dance" by The Salteens

My girls are obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba and I'm woman enough to admit that I like watching it too. Not sure what it is but I think it could be that it reminds me of the freaky shows I use to watch as a kid. But another thing is that they feature super cool bands the parents can get into. Like The Salteens and their song, "I'm So Happy I Can Dance". I'm pretty sure there are more adults that watch this show than there are kids...

2. Doctor Who is Back! Doctor Who is Back!

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How in the name of geeks did it take me SO long to get into this show?! Anyway, it's awesome, it starts back up tomorrow. WOO HOOOOOOOOO! Speaking of geeks...

3. The Nerdist

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Listen to the podcasts, watch the show on BBC America, hit The Nerdist up on just about every social media outlet you can imagine, just jump in! Chris Hardwick and his merry band of geeks are hilarious.

4. Death Star Tea Infuser

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No.Way. This is the coolest thing EVER from Think Geek.

5. Home Slurpee Machine

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Also from Think Geek, it's a home Slurpee machine! W00t!

And there you have it, another Friday Night Fab Five for the ages! What were your favorites this week?

Friday Night Fab Five

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

Welcome to another Friday Night Fab Five where I list 5 things I'm obsessed with for the week. This week is all about random awesomeness. BEHOLD!

1. Cat Sings Game of Thrones Theme

I don't know if I was just very tired when I first watched this video or if it's really just freakin' awesome but I laughed until the tears came. Actually, it wasn't fatigue, this is just funny...

2. Gilbert Blythe Pillow

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When I saw this on Twitter the other day, I almost passed out (as I Tweeted, my 12 year old self did.) I cannot express to you how OBSESSED my friends and I were with Gilbert Blythe and how stupid we though Anne was for taking to darn long to be with him. Were I still that 12 year old girl (instead of just acting like one), I would be begging for this pillow!

3. The Ragtime Gals

What do you get when you combine reggae and a barbershop quartet? Magic.

4. Country Crock Cinnamon Spread

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Oh my goodness, this stuff is SO good!

5. Labyrinth

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I watched this movie on Netflix the other day (my 1,000+ viewing of it) and it never gets old. Some parts of it still terrify me (like that freakin' Fire Gang that rip their heads off. *shudder*) I can't wait till the girls are old enough to watch this movie.

And there you have it, another Friday Night Fab Five for the ages! What were your favorites this week?

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

Well, my Hatter-esque character is finished! You may remember her from such posts as Creating My Own Wonderland and Tea, The Tea, You Must Have a Cup of Tea.

I had a lot of fun working on her and making her into her own character. I like to call her Harriet.

She'll actually be heading off to a new home in Portugal very soon where I sure she'll throw many a mad tea party...

Sailing Takes Me Away to Where I'm Gluing

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 13:32:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

I bought this busted up shadow box on clearance at Hobby Lobby a while back:

And there is sat in my box of, "Well, One Day...Maybe" box of things to alter for years. But I decided to give it a new life once I got the Mile High Club mixed media kit.

There is SO much vintage ephemera in this kit so I decided to use pieces of it for my travel shadow box:

I also added some Dylusions mists, pink and blue - one of my favorite color combos.

For the inside, I decided to make "clouds" up top by stenciling modeling paste and using a paper towel roll as my "cloud" stamp.

Happy Monday everyone!

When Good Clocks Go Bad

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 22:38:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

I bought this sweet little Winnie the Pooh clock at a thrift store a loooooong time ago. It's been sitting in my "To Alter Someday If I Don't Forget I Have It" pit, otherwise known as the craft room.

Isn't it sweet? Hmmm...maybe a little too sweet. After all, what do I need a sweet clock for? Wait a minute...I just happen to have this full page vintage Playboy ad from Gauche Alchemy's Mile High Club mixed media paper craft kit.

6 exciting days at Jamaica Playboy for only $105?!?! I'm so there! Okay, not really but I did take this ad and violated a clock with it!

Some painting, some stamping, tra lalalala, etc and so forth...

I also altered the inside of the little drawer:

I used an image of the resort for the top:

My favorite part of the ad was the Bunny serving drinks in the pool so I used that for the face of the clock:

I had so much fun with this project! And yes, the clock actually works. :D

Friday Night Fab Five: Rewind

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

I originally published this week's Friday Night Fab Five back in 2009 but thought I'd repost it again for a couple of reasons:

1. This week has been a tough one as my brother's birthday was yesterday and instead of celebrating with him, my parents and I were busy spreading his ashes.

and 2. I know there are some new readers out there so I thought you might enjoy reveling in some of my most embarrassing moments. I'm giving like that. :P

So without further ado, here's an old post with no pictures that's been slightly updated!

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Originally published on 4/3/2009

So I had this idea to post 5 things you may or may not know about me for this week's Friday Night Fab Five. I can't decide if this is an awesome idea, an arrogant idea or an idea that I will immediately regret as soon as I hit "publish". I decided to go ahead with it because in the World Of Blogging, nothing is quite as powerful as the feeling you can post whatever you want with no retribution whatsoever. And since I'm power-hungry *rawr* here is this week's Friday Night Fab Five:

1. In the eighth grade, I auditioned for "The New Mickey Mouse Club". I was rejected and as I was leaving the room, the Casting Director stopped me and asked me to sing the song I had prepared. I had one of those, "It's happening!" only-in-Hollywood type of moments until about half way through the FIRST verse of my song when he stops me and very politely tells me to get out. So had I been able to sing, I may have been a Mouseketeer and have my very own "E! True Hollywood Story" by now.

2. On picture day in the fifth grade, we had a totally cheesy photographer that was making stupid jokes in an effort to get me to smile. I was trying to hold in the laughs and as a result blew snot out of my nose at the very moment he snapped the picture. Luckily, my class was standing in line behind me and saw the whole thing. Ironically, the class bully came up to me afterwards and said, "Don't worry about it, that kind of thing just happens".

3. When I was around 5 or 6, I was at the grocery store with my mom. They had one of those big glass door freezers that holds bags of ice and I wondered to myself how cold it was in there once the door was closed. As Mom was checking out, I opened the door, climbed in and the door closed behind me. It was then that I realized that I couldn't get the door opened and it was also then that Mom noticed I was gone. I spent a minute or two watching her run back and forth in front of the freezer yelling my name. When she finally saw where I was, she was laughing so hard at me standing on bags of ice looking quite satisfied with myself that the manager had to come and open the door to let me out. P.S.-I was fine and yes, that freezer is cold with the door closed.

4. Many years ago, I was on the phone with a friend of mine. I was playing on the computer (here's how long ago it was: I was using AOL on dial up) and was barely listening to her as she was telling me about some event thingie she wanted me to go to with her. I finally gave an absentminded, "Sure I'll go, sounds like fun!" to which she replied, "Going to a funeral sounds like fun?!" Oh, she was talking about going to a funeral and I said it sounded like fun? Yeah, there's no coming back from that.

5. When I was pregnant with Toot, my husband, my mom and I went to Babies R Us to look at crib bedding. While there I accidentally farted and instinctively said, "Oops, sorry y'all!" really loud. This wouldn't have been so bad except it was then that I noticed a sales associate sitting directly behind my backside at the special ordering desk. Oops!

Well, that's it for this week's Friday Night Fab Five! What's the point of a blog if I can't use it to entirely humiliate myself, right? Have a great weekend everyone!

I Got Nothing...Well, Maybe

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

I would love to say that today I've got some wonder of a creation that will make you jump up and slap your grandmother but alas, I do not. *shame spiral* This week marks a difficult one as tomorrow would have been my brother's 32nd birthday. (For those of you that don't know, he died on April 7th.)

So needless to say, I've been dreading this week for months but the funny thing about Time is that it stops for no one. Not even when you beg and/or try to bribe it with an unlimited minutes cell phone plan.

So here's a modge podge of who knows what. Hopefully I'll have a more coherent, dazzling, eye melting post for you soon...but I make no promises. :P

First off: PHOTO BOMB!

Second: New kit day at Gauche Alchemy! W00t!

We've got a travel themed kit called, Mile High Club and it is freakin' awesome so go check it out!

Next: Princesses! That tip over!

Andddddddddd I'm spent.

Tea, The Tea, You Must Have a Cup of Tea!

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 15:58:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

Since I can't quite finish my Hatter's Apprentice (still waiting on some things to arrive, darn it) I thought I'd throw a tea party for her head and sad headless body.

After all, Wonderland is known for its "headless" mentality.

Friday Night Fab Five

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

Welcome to an all new Friday Night Fab Five where I list 5 things I'm digging this week:

1. Mister Rogers Remix

I grew up watching Mister Rogers and love this remix by PBS. SIDENOTE: Here's a money making idea--->Create a relaxation CD that's just Mister Rogers and Bob Ross talking. Come on, who could feel stressed after listening to that?! Speaking of Bob Ross..

2. Bob Ross Remix!

PBS did one for Bob Ross too. Snap!

3. Pomegranite80 on Etsy

DONKEY!!!

I love finding awesome online handmade shops, run by awesome people who create awesome things. I originally found the Etsy shop: pomegranite80 thanks to Regretsy. Ady creates donkey related what have yous with the proceeds going to her donkey rescue. So let's see...cool shop? Check. Good cause? Check. Awesome dressed up donkeys? Done and DONE. I've got three in my collection with one more on the way, Ady's donkeys are addicting! lol

4. 100 vs 1

This marks the THIRD time that I've shown this video here at Just Add Glitter and Stir but I don't care, it's just that funny. (And I could use a laugh or two today!) Basically, 100 people randomly show up to freak out the 1. It's awesome.

And last but not least:

5. Zippy

Wow, I feel like I haven't posted many pictures of Zippy at all. Bad Mommy, bad!

And there you have it, another Friday Night Fab Five for the ages! What are your favorites this week?

Pixy vs the Donutzies

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Sure, I could clean my house but I'd rather create scenarios where mutant Donutzies are attacking our civilization:

It started here:

"They're after me! They're after me!"

Then it got worse...

Click for larger (better) view!

So, are Donutzies really evil or are they just misunderstood? Will Pixy and the Donutzies ever find a common ground? Will my house ever get cleaned? Stay tuned!

Creating My Own Wonderland

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 14:23:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

I got a new doll a while back and decided to reimagine her as a Wonderland character. She's not an exact character, more "Wonderland-esque". :D I'm still waiting on some things before I can finish her up but this is the doll I started with:

And this is what I've done so far:

I sanded her original make-up off and carved her lips, nose and philtrum. I then used acrylics, chalk pastels and watercolor pencils to give her a new face up along with adding a new wig. I also altered a pair of her eyechips with book pages and acrylic paint.

I decided she would be a "Hatter's Apprentice" of sorts and so I altered this little hat with bits and bobs from Gauche Alchemy:

Every good Hatter needs their own Dormouse so I commissioned Christy from Dots Dashes and Doodles to create this sweet needle felted Throwaway Pet. :)

This has been a fun project to work on, I've been really thinking about ways to combine my love for dolls with my love for mixed media and getting my craft on. :)

Purple and Red Canvas

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 13:41:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

Today I've got an 11x14 canvas that I made for the swap Gauche Alchemy did with Viva Las Vegas Stamps. Can I just say, I am a COMPLETE loser when it comes to stamps. I've just never gotten the hang of using them. Luckily when you stamp on a background, you don't need perfection. lol

After painting the background and stamping on it with the Fifties background stamp from VLVS, I added this picture from a vintage crochet pattern book, some doo dads from my stash along with pieces from the Scarlet Fever and Purple People Eater Mixed Media Color Kits.

I used some folk art washi tape around the edge of the canvas (I can never leave a canvas edge naked, lol).

I seem to be in the habit of working with a two color combo and red/purple is one of my favorites. I hope you're all doing well and having a great week so far!

5 Ways to Beat the Crap Out of Creative Frustration

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 00:49:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

Call it lack of mojo, absent inspiration or just plain sucking at doing something, it's all a part of creative frustration. I'm going to venture to say that every artist, crafter or whatever-er has experienced this at some point in their creative career (or journey if you want to get all "Bachelor" about it).

This is what creative frustration does to me:

Part of it is the pressure we crafty bloggers put on ourselves to have something to actually blog about on a regular basis. "I made this! Bow before my creative prowess! Please? I've already blogged three times this week, right? What do you mean this is the first?! Arghhhhhhhhhh!" Another part is finding the time, skills, space and inspiration to get to work. But whatever your hang up is, here's 5 ways to overcome it...

1. Warm Up Your Creative Muscles

Creative Jumpstart -- Dina Wakley from Dina Wakley on Vimeo.

This video from Dina Wakley makes a great point. Most people can't create going from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds. We could all use some sort of "warm up" before getting down with our artsy selves so watch this video and then go play with no end result in mind. Just slap down some paint or paper and don't bother making anything.

2. Start With One Thing

It all started with the pins...

Sometimes my interest in making something will spark when I'm digging through my stash (and I seriously mean "digging") and come across an object or a piece of paper, a vintage ad, a piece of lace, whatever. I've been lucky enough that the project almost makes itself when I'm using one focal point and simply build around it instead of just grabbing random crap and trying to glue it together. In the case of the above canvas, someone sent me these painted pins and it went from there. I think I got this finished in about an hour all told.

3. Get a Life

Seriously...get a life. Get out into the world and see what there is outside of your laptop and the house. Take a walk, even the smallest of towns have some sort of museum, park, monument or something you can visit. Take a camera with you and just start snapping. You'd be amazed how much clarity you can achieve just by seeing something different while taking a deep breath of air that's not been circulated through the A/C.

4. Do It Anyway

I remember an episode of "Friends" where Chandler was having a..uh.."manly" problem and went to Joey for advice. Asking Joey if it ever happened to him and what he did about it, Joey's response was, "I did it anyway." So just go make something anyway. Even if it's crap, you've still created something that can be used as a stepping stone to something else. You know...that's not crap.

5. Know When to Hold 'Em, Know When to Fold 'Em

There's a reason I don't make cards

Just accept the fact that sometimes you suck. I don't mean that in a, "Woe is me, I'm so not talented, boo hoo hoo!" kind of way, I mean sometimes we're just not getting it and you know what? That's okay. In fact, give yourself permission to fail...or at least give yourself permission to be okay with failing. Also, give yourself a break, chances are you DIDN'T fail (unless you set your microwave on fire or crocheted a Q-tip hat like I did) but even if it's not your best project, who cares? The fact that you made something means you're still ahead of those of us sitting around watching The Real Housewives of Orange County while waiting for inspiration to strike.

I hope you find these 5 tricks a little bit helpful. For a creative person there's nothing worse than feeling stagnant. Sometimes you need to push through it and sometimes you need to sit on it. Whatever gets you through the dry spells, just remember to keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars! Oh wait, that's Casey Kasem.

Friday Night Fab Five

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone and welcome to another Friday Night Fab Five where I list 5 things I'm digging for the week. Let's get started!

1. Burning Love

Burning Love, a spoof of The Bachelor, is AWESOME. It is spot on and terribly funny. 8 episodes are up so far, go check it out!

2. Jif Mocha Cappuccino Hazelnut Spread

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Holy C.R.A.P. This stuff is AMAZING. Go buy it. Go buy it. Send me a jar. Go buy it NOW!

3. Love in the Wild

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Love in the Wild, a reality dating show that's part Survivor, part Bachelor and hosted by Jenny McCarthy is my newest guilty pleasure. Jenny McCarthy is hilarious!

4. Vacation

We recently went on a vacation to Tennessee and it was so great to be out of the house! Although all the "vacation" activities like wrangling the children and keeping the hotel room clean wore me out....

5. Dylusions Ink Sprays

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Dylusions Ink Sprays by Ranger are just about the best ink mists I've ever used. I've never used mists too much in the past but I do now! lol Very vibrant colors, I'm addicted!

And there you have it, another Friday Night Fab Five for the ages! What were some of your favorites this week?

Making a List, Forgetting it Twice

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 18:32:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

I've been in sort of a creative funk lately. And it's not a lack of "what" to make but which to focus on first. Then I get into a pattern of starting 10 different things and then nothing gets finished. Grrrr...

So to combat that, I made a list of everything that needs to get done and I have to say that so far it's helped a lot. Seeing a list of projects on the table does make it seem more bearable. When you're bogged down in multiple creative directions (or even mediums) it can really drive you bonkers.

When my brother passed away, I found it hard to find joy in any of my usual activities: blogging, creating things, etc. I guess that's natural when it comes to grief but it's time to get back in gear...with a lot of things.

Luckily today I feel better than I have in weeks so I'm pouncing on that spark of energy before it burns itself out. I'm pretty sure my hands are stained for life but it's totally worth it.

Hot For Teacher Rewind

noreply@blogger.com (Maggi) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

We're doing kit rewinds during the month of June at Gauche Alchemy, new projects featuring kits already available in the Gauche Alchemy store!

I snagged a canvas wall hanging that I didn't want to use on the wall anymore but wasn't going to toss it. I mean, come on...I'm all about recycling and stuff. So I grabbed my Hot for Teacher Kit and made this:

There was this really cool school-ish black and white scrapbook paper so I started with that and decided to stick with that black and white color scheme. I felt the paper was too dark so I added a wash of diluted white paint. Then I thought it was too light so I broke out my black Dylusions mist. Much better!

After adding some torn pictures from a yearbook page included with the kit, I added some washi tape and pieces from the Wedding Night and Black Out Mixed Media Color Kits.

Done and done! Now I just need to figure out what else is currently hanging on my walls that I can take down and "recharge". :P