Miss Emily Dickinson...

One of my favorite poems that Emily Dickinson wrote was "I felt a Funeral in my Brain". I discovered this poem and E.D. in my high school English class in the 10th grade. I had a friend named Tiff and we were both a little into macabre. Today, I guess we would be called goth, but this was an unknown term at that time.

I memorized this poem back then, but I only remembered 3 verses today. I looked up the poem so that you could read it all:

"I felt a funeral in my brain, and mourners to and fro, kept treading, treading till it seemed that sense was breaking through.

And when they were all seated, a service like a drum, kept beating, beating till I felt my mind were going numb.

And then I heard them lift a box and creak across my soul, with those same boots of lead again, then space began to toll.

As all the Heavens were a bell, and being, but an ear, and I in silence some strange race wrecked solitary here.

And then a plank in reason broke, and I dropped down and down, and hit a world at at every plunge and finished knowing then..."

I love this poem because of the way it ends, and because of the mystery and beauty of it. A lot of people think that thinking or talking or wondering about death is morbid, but I think that it helps us to remember to LIVE and not take things/people/events for granted.

A Perfect Summer Day...

Today is one of those perfect Vermont summer days. It's breezy and cool and the sun is shining so brightly that it feels warm and and liquid all at once. It's absolutely perfect, down to the fresh clean smell of cut grass and a hint of woodsmoke.

I've been feeling a little uncreative lately, though yesterday I did start a little project for a Somerset Studio contest that is coming up this fall. It's on women literary figures and I'm doing a project inspired by Emily Dickinson who is my very favorite poet. I can't tell you too much about it, because I haven't sorted out just what I'm doing yet. I hope it will come out well!

This weekend I have been putting the final cleaning/organizational touches on my front porch, which used to house my little vintage decor shop. It was sad to pack everything up and go through all the charming things I've accumulated to sell, but it also feels like the right decision and ending one thing always allows room for the beginning of the next adventure. I'm anxious to see what that might be!

Fresh Painted Tomato...

Hi all,

Sorry, I can't believe I haven't posted since the 8th~yikes! This month is FLYING by...I have been off work since July 14th and will be going back tomorrow. I'm betting it will be a hard transition, which is probably why I've been feeling a little sad today...

Anyway, here is a picture of a painting I made of a pretty red tomato. One thing I LOVE about painting and drawing is that it makes you really SEE things, things you normally might not even notice. With watercolor painting in particular, you have to be really careful to "leave the white in" while you are painting. "Real" watercolor painters supposedly look down on using the white watercolor paint in any form. It's hard to do this though!

I just posted this painting, along with some other things on my Etsy shop (http://chicchickbiz.etsy.com). I've also been working on some really pretty sparkly earrings that I'll be posting there soon...check it out!

This painting of the tomato made me think of my vegetable garden which is not doing quite so well this year. I think I should have composted again, but put my seeds in so late that I didn't take the time to do it. We are just now getting a few "Yellow Gold" cherry tomatos~they are completely delicious though, so I shouldn't complain. Well, it will just give me more of a chance to visit the local farmer's market and nearly-organic farmstand nearby.

Hope you all have a relaxing Sunday evening and a wonderful start to your week tomorrow.

Feminine? Mes Oui!

I had a fashion "Aha" moment this week. My wardrobe has gotten pretty easy lately (i.e. comfortable and BORING). For my job I don't have to dress up much at all, jeans are allowed and people at work just don't seem to be into fashion. I have taken up this sort of fashion-less attitude and have been grabbing whatever is comfortable and clean in the morning.

But last week when I was looking through some old photos of myself (from about 9 years ago), I noticed how much more stylish I was. I had all these cute dresses and fun little tops and did a lot with accessories. Of course, at the time I was living alone and didn't have much to pay for other than my apartment and basic necessities. Now it seems like I'm always trying to stretch dollars (of my own free will) because I don't want my life to be about STUFF and cleaning/organizing/keeping track of THINGS. Plus I hate to look back and see nothing where there was once money in the bank or in my wallet, it's depressing! On the other hand it doesn't hurt to splurge now and again, does it?

I should mention that "splurge" to me means a $15 dress or a new top for under $10 but hey, it's all relative. So I bought a pretty brown dress last night and wore it today. I LOVE it! I feel so pretty and free in it. I love the feeling of the sun on my knees while I'm driving and the breeze making the skirt blow out just a little walking through the farmer's market. Besides, I find dresses and skirts much more flattering to nearly any female form than shorts.

That lead me to this altered journal/sketch book that I made today. I wanted something FUN and pretty and feminine. I had a lot of fun coloring in the black and white transfer of the vintage lady with colored pencils and then embellishing the rest of the book. Fun!

Special Order Purse...

Last week my dear sister Aimee and I went shopping for fabric to make her a new purse. She described what she wanted and I knew, I just knew the perfect fabric was at Joann's. I've been aching to try out one of the bright colored canvas fabrics, but couldn't make up my mind which would make a best summer purse for me. Luckily, Aimee knew just the one she wanted as soon as she saw the bright stripes.

We picked out this summery, candy striped fabric and some nice sturdy interfacing. I had the pretty bamboo handles from another purse project that went awry. (I'm never sure what to DO with the purses that end up, shall we say, less than perfect so I'm collecting them in a pile in my craft room). I added the lining (crisp white muslin) and some interior pockets to hold her cell phone and compact.

I love making bags. I haven't made any in quite awhile and was happy to get this request. Now I'll have to send her off with a fistful of my business cards, in case she gets inquiries!

A Charmed Life...

Here are some photos of the charms I finished yesterday. Did I mention how fun they are to make? :) My intention is to make them into necklaces and/or charms for a funky bracelet (these examples are too big though). The hard part will be putting them together as I'm not a jeweler, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. If not, I can always use them in my altered art pieces.


PS-Voyer, thanks for the tip on the camera. I had that function but thought I should try some better lighting (kitchen). It seems to have worked!

Paper or Plastic?

I LOVE altered art of any kind: Fabrics and bits of ribbon, buttons, embellishments and more. I love creating little artistic altered purses and wall art (check out my etsy shop for samples). But as much as I love fabric and all things textile, my first love would have to be paper. I absolutely love paper! Walking through the scrapbooking store is like walking through a flower shop~beautiful colors and textures; all that's missing is the fragrance of flowers! I love paper arts because of the immediate results and the way it forgives. If you screw something up in sewing, it can take a long time to undo your mistake and then redo your project. If you make a mistake in a collage, you just glue something on it! No one is the wiser and often times that is when the prettiest things happen.

I was at Joanns (one of my favorite haunts) yesterday with one of my sisters and flipped through a few of the altered art magazines. I had a tough decision to make, "Belle Amour" had a fantastic spread on altered tote bags and a fun article on making "tiles" for jewelry out of shrink plastic (aka "Shrinky Dink" sheets). But "Somerset Studios" had so many great looking projects that I couldn't put it back on the shelf. I read through the article I was interested in on the shrink plastic project, just to get the general idea, then picked up a package of "Shrinky Dink" and some jump rings and got ready to learn the basics from the instructions on the package.

Well, I cannot tell you how much fun I have had with this project this morning! I got up early and savored all the beautiful photos of incredible projects that artists sent in to Somerset, then I went for my walk, had breakfast with my dear hubby and dived in. This is my kind of project! It's so immediate, cheap, quick and so much fun! I absolutely love shrink plastic!

I can post directions on the blog if anyone is interested. Today I worked on some charms and later I will post pictures of the final jewelry project. I wish the photo of the charm I'm posting had come out better...photography is not my strong suite, yet. If you like the project idea, you should get the "Belle Amour" issue though, the creators pieces are beautiful. I'm more of a fly-by-my-pants sort of gal, so I'm much happier working from a general idea than a set of step by step instructions.

So, the next time someone asks me "Paper or Plastic?" I'm really going to have to put some thought into my answer!