a very zombie christmas

I know, I know. I said I would blog weekly, and I am....very weakly.
Here's the poop. I was depressed about not getting to write for the newsletter and not getting picked for Creative Memories design team. I began to wonder what am I doing all this art stuff for anyway? Some of my friends said "just keep doing it anyway". I had to finish my Christmas gifts, so I kept plugging away ( and painting and writing and drawing and glueing  and what not ) I hope everyone likes what I did. Some of the stuff I can't post yet because they haven't opened their gifts yet and they might be reading this.
Enjoy!

a canvas book I made for my friend, Christina

front "page" of her canvas book

a necklace I made from an earring...I don't really care for this, but it was
good practice with the eye pins and fitting. I'll probably disassemble it soon.

a zombie gingerbread man! not sure what he's wearing, but
someone bit off his arm...

my little 5x5 gingerbread house. see the zombie lurking out-
side? decorated with Cap'n Crunch cereal.

all the gingerbread men inside, hiding from the zombie

a secret santa gift I made from a cardboard drink carrier. I embellished
it and filled it with snacks and a new bookmark for her.

still wobbling after gobbling

The best part about the four day weekend is I get to sit in my newly cleaned and arranged craft room. Today I put on my Christmas records (yes, vinyl) and finished a wedding album for my friend Gema. I also created a bracelet out of buttons. I looked through some of my creative magazines and I may try to paint again, too.
     Now, for some news: I have applied to be part of the design team for Creative Memories. I filled out the questionaire - which was easy since I like to answer questions- and sent some photos of my work.   The only bad thing about it is that since I give so much of my stuff away as gifts, I didn't have a lot of pictures of good work to show. So, I hope they will consider that. I would really love to make new creations out of the new products!
     Also, I have been asked to write for an employee newsletter. My assignment was very vague: 1000 word cliffhanger. So, I created a character named Lolli Serafini who is only working part-time until she wins the lottery or someone buys one of her paintings for a load of money. 
     I will find out Wednesday if either or both of these things work out for me, but for now, I will continue to piddle in my glue and buttons and beads and paper...
                             

my button bracelet

the spine decoration I made for the wedding album



page one of the album... a space for a great pic and a little chipboard box for journaling

and the award goes too...

Today I went to a craft show, which I both love and hate.
Love because of all the new, cool things to see if I can make and hate because I walk by every booth and say, "Prrbb, so easy, why didn't I  think of that!"
For example, I was bested by a group of 15 year old girls (who, by the way, called me ma'am..??!!) who simply tied together lengths of fuzzy yarn so it resembled a fashion scarf. No skill involved other than the use of scissors!
The only crafty thing I managed this week was to make an award for the Best Pie contest we had a work. I also entered a pie - apple peach, a recipe I made up. I didn't win (as usual). The winning pie was a delicious strawberry-topped thing with a creamy middle and crushed pecan crust. I voted for it.
Maybe I should just make a trophy for myself: this award goes to Vicki, a swell gal.

the award plaque

and my pie, the loser.

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"I'm late, I'm late for a very important date, I'm late..."

I don't know if the little white rabbit actually said that or not; I'm probably paraphrasing.
And, by the way, did you ever see that episode of  "Saved By The Bell" where Jessie is taking uppers and keeps saying  "There's never enough time!"
Yeah, that's how I feel a lot. Maybe in the future we will all move to a planet with more hours in the day.
As for my creative stuff, I managed to complete a miniature painting for a friend's birthday gift. I never painted a horse before and I don't know if she actually liked it or was just being nice. (I hope she actually liked it)
On someone else's creativity, I practiced standing in line for three hours on Saturday with friends so I could take their picture with an author: Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman. I had no idea who she was, but I have managed to locate her blogs and they are quite good and funny. I have included one here, I hope you enjoy it too!

Off I go...

I don't know about you, but for me, creativity can only come in spurts. It's because I work 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday, and that work stuff is really getting in the way of my leisure time.
Leisure time is important for creativity, isn't it? We need time to sit and wonder and "canoodle".
So, I only got two and half things done this week: two more pages to a short story I'm writing, a sign to hold up at the Dallas 3-day Breast Cancer Walk (says "my friend Sherry is helping boobies one step at a time") and a trophy for an ugly tie contest we had at work for fun. I didn't win.
I hope to be able to do a few more projects next week. I reeeaaaalllllyyy need to clean and organize my craft room. So far I bought a new bookshelf, but haven't put it together yet. So that's good.
I'm off to Dallas this weekend to see friends and to cheer on the 3-day walkers. I'll be taking a small notebook with me just in case some creative idea manifests itself, I can capture it!

a picture of the "Ugly Tie" trophy

In the beginning...

I love when Fridays come around. Not because the weekend is here and I can party like it's 1999, but because I'm free from my 8-5. I don't have to wake up any specific time to do the thing I enjoy most: creating.
I'm a night person by nature - I love the nightlife, I get to boogie in my craft room. Mornings tend to irk me; they're always so early.