Naturally Optimistic

Well, due to overwhelming demand (one comment) from  my reader, I just wanted to let you know, this space has not been abandoned. It's just on unofficial hiatus, I guess. I write blog posts by the...uh...tens in my head. None of them seem to make it here. I take photos of things I'm going to blog about. And then don't. I'm just so incredibly busy right now. 100% of the time. I am working 2 jobs from home while watching the munckins (full time, daycare/pre-school ended for us this past week - waaaaaah!). My house is a disaster zone, I'm stressed out by all the piles & piles & piles every day...but hey, right now it's where I'm at (read: I'm trying not to get too stressed out about everything so I'll leave it at that). Potential blog posts coming soon: My Book Club - reviews of the first 6 books Pinterest February/March challenge Yarn! Yarn! Yarn! WTF am I doing with my life? (sorry for the abbreviated swearing, Mom) And others. I...

This month's Pinterest Challenge was to recreate the piece of artwork featured on this blog .  That entry was an attempt to re-create a piece of artwork found at Cost Plus World Market . I liked both of them & when I saw it on Pinterest the colors really caught my eye & I thought - yeah, hey. I could do that. And since I mostly think of doing things with paper, cloth, recycled whatever, I thought this would be fun. And then Michelle (my Pinterest buddy) challenged me to it and voila!   Started off with the tree branches. I used a paint pen - but couldn't find brown. This is actually a metallic gold. I wasn't too sure at first but I really liked how it turned out. Of course when all is said & finished I think from afar a brown would look better as the gold sort of washes out. I also prepped a canvas for Dahlia & my mother-in-law, Carolyn. (If you don't remember, Carolyn is recovering from a devastating brain hemmorhage that happened ...

Last month, my cousin-in-law Michelle & I participated in our own little 2nd Monthly PInterest Challenge . My challenge was to make as many cloth napkins as I could. Varied styles. Hers was to create a pumpkin wreath: She kicked ass. She did hers so fast & it turned out so cute. She added the sign "Unless you're selling Thin Mints, no soliciting." It turned out great. Well, I only managed to make 4 napkins. Lame. SUPER lame. I did cut two more but I got distracted by making necklaces & card wallets for my Etsy Shop !. Ah well, it'll be an ongoing process for me & I'll make them here & there when I can. On to the next challenge! We haven't picked them yet, but it'll be another fun month of crafting, I'm sure!

So Michelle & I are going at it again with the 2nd monthly Pinterest Challenge! Last month I made this and Michelle made some Mason jar tea light lanterns. Cool! This month I've been challenged to make as many cloth napkins in a variety as I can. And I've picked a pumpkin'd wreath for her to DIY (I didn't realize her pin was from Williams-Sonoma - it looks totally craftable!). If anyone else wants to play along - let me know & we'll get started! Happy Pinning & Happy Crafting!

A couple of weeks ago I was really stuck creatively. I knew what was causing it but I just couldn't seem to get past it. I felt like I had a dam of debris building up in my inner psyche that wouldn't let anything else get by it. Oh boy was it annoying. And not just annoying but also sort of debilitating. I couldn't finish my film. I mean, the film is done, but I was re-working the beginning and just felt like my brain was empty. I could hardly even TRY anything with the edit so it was really frustrating. Add to that that my only working *moments* were when HOPEFULLY both kids were napping (or at least somewhat occupied, Dahlia...) so I could get my thoughts together to even start. And a lot of days that just didn't happen. Plus I was up against a deadline. During this time, I did quite a lot of browsing on Pinterest. Drooling over all sorts of really cool, crafty, artistic creations. Dreaming of what I should decorate my house with. Wishing, quite frankly, that I...

Because I am in need of some serious distractions (not really anything new to report, btw), I have become addicted to the website Pinterest in a very short amount of time. It's like having an online "design board" or "idea board." You can create categories & 'pin' different photos, ideas, books, projects, things you love, etc...It's so fun to look through the things that people have pinned (& you can "re-pin" them). I am so inspired to make several things RIGHT NOW which is not at all practical...but like I said a very good distraction. If you're interested - check it out!