Life 101

Take a walk down your street a little before sunset. Take your camera with you and snap little photos here and there--whatever catches your eye: funky colors, pretty flowers, interesting textures...

...ballerina bunny shadows...

Take a walk with a loved one to the park, or to get an ice cream cone or pearl tea.


Take along a small satchel of art essentials, spread out a blanket and just doodle.

Take your shoes off and plant your feet in the grass (or mud or sand or dirt).


Or just lay in the grass and look for bugs, or roll down a hill, or look up at the sky through the tree leaves.


Most of all, just love where you live and explore it every once in a while. I dream of moving to far away places--the high deserts of New Mexico, the coast of Maine, the Redwoods of California (ok, not that far, I guess)--but why dream away your life? Why not just live away your dream?

MOO

My moo cards arrived the other day in a cute little box. I was curious about these little art cards so I visited moo.com and had a great time shrinking my art to fit on little cards. I even made a little sticker book (photos soon!).

Making the actual art the first time was fun and slicing them and reducing them to smaller slivers was even funner (not a word, I know but the only word I know to describe this process!). Each little moo card became a whole new work of art.
It was like a whole new art project. And I was amazed that I actually had a ton of work to choose from. I didn't realize that I had actually made a whole bunch of stuff in this short time since I started blogging several months ago. Just goes to show what you can accomplish if you just start now! ;) A year ago, I wasn't making as much art as I am now and it feels pretty darn good.

I'll be sharing these at Convenzione (less than two weeks away!) along with some little goodie bags filled with fun(ky) stuff for swaps.

P.S. on the back of the cards, I got to add my name and contact info and I even dared to say that I was a photographer! ;) I felt a little shy about this after I got the cards back but I thought I'd put it out there and let that be my next goal this year.

It's too soon for Halloween

Don't get me wrong--I absolutely LOVE putting up Halloween decorations, figuring out our costumes each year, going to the pumpkin patch for that perfect pumpkin, handing out candy and listening to Michael Jackson's Thriller. But I DON'T want to see Halloween stuff at the store in the middle of summer!! (Actually, we've come to the beginning of the END of summer...and if you were to determine the season by visiting a local retail store, it's been Back-to-School since the week after school got OUT!!! and now, they've decided to just SKIP the last bits of summer altogether and head straight for Halloween. Who once said that pretty soon we really will be having Christmas in July? ) Why can't we just live in the now? I know that stores have to sell stuff a little bit in advance but give me a break! The aisles at Michael's are already stocked and ready for Halloween with big blow-up ghosts that howl and black-orange-and-purple colored crafts and decorations. I think by the time Halloween actually arrives I might just not be in the mood anymore. And come to think of it--that's exactly how I felt last year. It just sort of came and went and the excitement just wasn't there like in years past. I had thought maybe it was because I turned 30 and maybe I finally "grew up" or something weird like that. But I think the real reason is because I had been marketed to DEATH and by the time Halloween had arrived, I'd already gotten over it somewhere around mid-August. :( I am also tired of trying to find summer clothes in the middle of summer only to find a small rack of SUMMER DISCOUNTS surrounded by a sea of the NEW FALL FASHION! I don't know about you, but I'm not about to buy a peacoat when it's 90 degrees out. Nor a bathing suit in February! But that's how it goes. I guess I could live in a cave. Or just shop on line--which I end up doing anyway, and ooh, look! 90% off Christmas Decorations! I guess they've got me either way.