a little obsession

Thanks to an awesome Mother's Day gift I've been looking at the class lists at Ornamentea and Panopolie and saw a listing for their Altered Books Club. Altered Books are, as far as I can tell, scrapbooks without the relevancy. I was intrigued, so I've been digging up little things about it and I picked up a free book at the used bookstore today to play with. It seems like most people use them as what I would call an art journal - covering up the original book entirely - and not as many seem to derive the art from the book itself. There are no words for how cool these are.

Also, it seems to be a really cool way to make a book of words and pictures for my toddler. Though for him I think I'm going to dig up a binder and some white paper to start with.

oh dear

I fear I'm being sucked into the precious metal clay vortex.
Art Clay World
Metal Clay Lens
PMC Types Lens

I don't want to be sucked in. It's too expensive. Seriously. But it's sooo pretty . . .
School of Fish by Rita Llanso
True North by Jeanette LeBlonc
Spring Blossom by Dianne Sims

chicago peace

On a rosebush I got as a bareroot rose from Walmart for $1.50 last year about this time.

speaking of someday piles

I've been wanting to make myself an apron for quite some time. My current favorite is this one from CraftStylish, followed closely by this one by Frog Creek Cottage. There are pattern options a-plenty here and here; for inspiration and general drooliness I go to Tie One On.

elegant nut necklace

I've been wanting to do this necklace ever since it was posted. In the meantime it takes up space in the ever-growing Someday Pile.

do want

. . . to find time to pick some of these to print out onto watercolor paper and play with them. Thanks to Art Projects for Kids.

Also, I need to find time (make time) to update the blog list on the sidebar. Google Reader is great for reading blogs, but now that I'm using it, this list is behind the times.

serendipitous

I was trying to find out if the picture at the bottom of this post was by the same artist that's popped up in several blogs lately (the answer, btw, is yes: apparently the PC online world is in a summer state of mind these days) when I came across this instead. Don't ask me how the search for one led to the other, but I'm so glad it did. I love iconography anyway, and this is so wonderfully expressive and just lovely. I could stare at these offerings for a long time, and probably will (until my baby wakes up again, anyway).

benign neglect

Looks like my garden thrived on the inattention while we were at the beach:


Maybe I should leave it to fend for itself more often!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig. The beach was lovely, we had a fantastic time, but it's nice to be home again, too.

beach bum

We're actually at the beach this week, soaking up some much needed rest and relaxation. So here's some polyclay pictures I've collected in my files to at least help you imagine you're there too . . .

Actually, I'm not sure the below is polyclay (despite its presence in the clay folder); when I was trying to find out who made it I found it here.

From a class listing:

I never promised you a rose garden. . .

. . . but here's one anyway. Pictures taken on Mother's Day at the Raleigh Municipal Rose Garden.

Saturday works hard for a living

This weekend's goals:

-pack (we leave for the beach on Monday!)
-clean the living room to the point that one doesn't accidentally let one's cat outside because one is holding the door open talking to someone instead of politely inviting them inside because the house is so disturbingly squalid

Only two goals, but ambitious ones - we'll see what happens.

Friday's stitchery is loving and giving

Speaking of giving, my niece's second birthday is coming up in a little less than a month, and I thought this sweet little piggy by Nosey Nest might be just the thing to hold whatever we decide to give her . . .

Thursday's jewelry has far to go

Where by 'far to go' I mean 'who came up with an entire craft category devoted to choking hazards?' So I haven't been able to do it much lately, and won't be able to until Mr. E stops putting everything he sees in his mouth. In the meantime, though, I have plenty of pictures to sort through. We'll start with my favorite of all the necklaces I've ever made:




It didn't sell, but I still really love it.

Wednesday's art is full of woe

Recently I found the Virtual Sketch Date blog, and it inspired me to go dig out some watercolor pencils and have a go at it. Now, art got picked for Wednesdays because while I love to play with it, I fully recognize that I am woefully bad at it. But I'm going to post it anyway, mostly to wonder why we are driven to do things we are not good at. Wouldn't it make more sense to compulsively do the things we are good at? More efficient, at the very least.

Monday's garden is fair of face

Finally managed to add some tomato-tone to my tomatoes. They're not doing so well; they need more sun. The impatiens, on the other hand, are growing like gangbusters. While their orangy-red does match the holly berries nicely, it clashes with, oh, everything else in the garden. Should've gone with the cherry red.
Was at Lowe's this weekend - ostensibly to buy a light bulb but really to look at the plants. Ended up coming home with a Sweet Autumn Clematis (I've been wanting one for forever) and six columbines (hey, they were only a dollar). The clematis is going to go on an obelisk in the side garden where the old stump used to be - well, probably. I'm still waiting to hear back from Archer Farms about my meadowsweet. Once it arrives, then I'll feel better about planting things in the side yard with it as a reference point. The alternative clematis location is climbing up the back porch, but I'm not sure how well it would do there and it would somewhat limit access to valuable under-deck storage space. And the columbines . . . I really don't know where they'll go. Some by St. Francis, some in the windflower bed. The two blue ones in the hydrangea bed. Six is really too many, but they are Mr. M's favorite garden plant.

The knock-out roses and the Bonica rose are in full swing, and last week I noticed the purple heart had finally made an appearance. The lily-of-the-valley and the bleeding heart are just about done for the season, and my poor camellia bush is just about to kick the bucket. I think I am the only person in the southeastern US to ever manage to kill a camellia bush. Maybe it's been too dry? Need to get going on soaker hose installation, and I'd like to get/build a rain barrel this year. I'm hoping to get the hydrangea bed finished this week before we go to the beach; if we do, I'll ask my neighbors to water it. (Of course, the backyard would need to be decluttered first; the detritus from the shed collapse is still strewn about). One more 'to do' that needs doing, like, yesterday: poison ivy is trying to take over our yard. I'm afraid one morning I'm going to wake up and find it has overgrown the entire house and is trying to get inside. So, yeah. Need to curb that.

Oh.

You know, a blog sort of fits the description of what I've been looking for . . .

Duh.

organizationality

So, like most people, I have a 'to do' list. My problem has always been how to organize it, however. There's such varying categories as:

-minutiae that needs to be done soonish
-chores
-things I would like to do sometime
-stuff that needs doing but I can't do all by myself
-things with actual deadlines
-crafts I would like to try
-projects already underway

For instance, if you organize by date, where do you put the indefinite things that need to be soonish but don't have a deadline? Or recurring chores? If you sort by priority, how do you decide on priority? Desire? Deadline? Practicality?

Listography is kind of helpful, but I really need something a little more . . . something. Sort of like Ravelry, only for my whole life.

And really, I've never seen any crafter/artist type address this. Or maybe I've just overlooked it. What to do? What to do? (other than putting this on my 'to do' list . . . . argh!)