birthday party, beads, and resolutions

Tomorrow is shopping day for cake and party supplies! B's gonna be 2 on Friday and I've promised a piggy cake. i'm feeling a little pressed for time this week and will be relieved to have the holidays and birthday party behind me. can't wait for her to open her big present, dollhouse and dolls! seriously having a hard time not just giving it to her.
The New Year came in WITHOUT a bang but I do have some good resolutions to work on. and the fact that I woke up sans hangover is always special. maybe i'm learning.
TIME TO MAKE SOME CARDS, that is, if I ever find the sugar cane cards I bought recently. (might've said hemp in my last post) either way, what will it matter if I never find them! some day i will be organized.
On the jewelry front, my son swallowed a bead today. He freaked out. I freaked out. What's not to freak out about? Since it was only dime size, I guess no worries. He was sucking on his big toe later in the day and I asked him what he was doing. his reply "I'm trying to get the bead out".
that's his best phrase yet.

getting out of the house

Got out of the house today, so exciting! ha ha. In search of linoleum to carve. It's amazingly hard to find around here. But I did find some at a great little art store in downtown Oshkosh. Also picked up some blank hemp greeting cards to make Valentine's cards.
On the jewelry end of it I grabbed a few new beads and some hypo-allergenic ear wires. I don't know why I didn't do this a long time ago. My mom always had sensitivity to certain metals so it should've been on my radar. I am paying attention now!
Almost done Christmas shopping. Usually I watch the budgeting better and am maybe a bit of a scrooge. This year, however, I've really enjoyed spending money on others. AND, I bought quite a few presents off Etsy and a couple off of Ebay so I feel like I had a good start to shopping small business. I'm guilty of hitting a couple big box places but only a couple. Hope to wrap it up tomorrow!
Spent a bit too much on the kids but mostly on educational toys so all is not lost. They are spoiled but they are not assholes. umm, to elaborate. . . my Aunt says her husband always said there's a big difference between a kid being spoiled and being an asshole. enough said. 

built my 1st gingerbread house!

The kids loved it. Lil' B ate all the candy she could before we made her put it on the roof and R-dub glued walls and santa with his sleigh. We took a pic and about 10 seconds later it folded into a heap.
Lesson 1: a lot of weight on the roof can be bad for a house
Lesson 2: have your camera ready!
Lesson 3: start early so the sugar doesn't keep the kids up, sheesh, they just fell asleep.

We also started a mom and kids collaberative drawing today. Inspired by my recent find, a Spanish porcelain bird. Not a lot of info out there about it but it sure is cute!

Birds, branches, scribbles, a cat, flowers and more scribbles and marks. All in black drawing pens and markers. We'll add some color and see what happens. I'll post when its finished.
it was a good exercise in not being too attached to what you're drawing. Maybe we can make it a weekly project.
AND...I'm adding a link called Anaya Papaya, it's a great new company focused on family products. Check it out! 

new earrings listed

I LOVE this pair of earrings! Of course my pics don't show it but I'm still struggling with the old camera. Maybe Santa's looking at Macs for me for Christmas :)

White vintage glass rounds and dark red faceted glass. I don't know if its the color combo or sparkle or what but I'm very attached to these. Will be making myself a pair just like them.
Still working on the prints, just don't feel ready to list yet. Soon, soon.
Looking ahead to June (what else do you do when the snow starts flying?) I want a road trip to Utah for my friends wedding and then on to AZ to see me ma. I love northern Arizona. It's empty and beautiful and feels like the most spiritual place on this earth. Though I'd have to travel more to back that up. Moab, AZ, New Mexico ? ? ? I skipped Taos on my way through last time and have regretted it since.
Wish I had an endless supply of time and gas money.

details, details

too much on my to-do list and too much i forgot to put on my to-do list. hoping to somehow skate through the next few days getting things done left and right. hoping the weather cooperates and the children too.
listed a couple new necklaces on Etsy, a little different than my other jewelry. Here's pics

and I've got the details pinned down for my prints. I plan to list a few before Thanksgiving! Speaking of which, I've got food to make and I don't think I've bought the supplies yet. Want to make my grandmother's Apple Kuchen, which is DELICIOUS! and pumpkin bread, and I said I'd make pumpkin pie. yikes.

carrot flavored pieces

Had I read the fine print I would NOT have grabbed that box of carrot cake mix. Carrot flavored pieces! What? How can they not use real carrot? This disturbs me on a lot of different levels that I will not go into at this time.
Instead I'd like to share what I've been working on and what will be listed very soon in my Etsy store.
I created a lino cut of a trike a couple years ago and have finally dug it out and started some prints. And on that note I have also dug out some of my ACEO's that I painted possibly over a year ago. I am going to list a few flowers and nudes on Etsy and get started on some more. They are really fun to make.

My grandmother was an artist who loved painting flowers. Miniature flowers. She could paint a beautiful Iris on an egg. In fact that is what we got in our Easter baskets from her. She would've rocked the ACEO's. We would keep these eggs until they stunk and then would sadly disgard them. Would it have been strange to try to preserve the painted shell? Just recently I was regretting never getting a picture of one.
And here is a packaging/new necklace photo that I need to get on Etsy.

I've done a bunch of new packaging in the last day and a half and need to take new pictures. And then stop changing it.
And once again I still need to upgrade!

packaging and prints-I'm getting somewhere

Today was productive. I learned a lot. And I have to completely re-do the prints I made. BUT, I like them a lot and they're worth the trouble. I'll get pics on here once I re-do a couple to exactly how I want them.
I also worked on packaging today. Got my pics for Etsy listings. I figure keep it simple. I like to look at my purchases before I give them as gifts so I figure my customers might want to get into the box too.

Snow is gone. The mud is thriving. Will need my rubber boots to get to my car tomorrow.