My Body Hates Me

What likes kinda looks a baby pine cone, is crystally and is 1/2" long by 3/8" wide (kinda the same size and shape of a sharpie pen end)?

My Kidney Stone.

First off all I can say is wow, I never thought kidney stones were very big... mostly like a grain of salt, until now! This is a picture of the kidney stone that I passed this morning, scary huh? After waking up this morning and last night in pain every time I sat down or tried to pee, it felt like a screwdriver was shoved up my urethra. I have never had pain such as this in my life! I was smart this morning and called my doctor, who told me to go to the emergency room. There was only one problem ... the buses don't run till 9am and it was only 7:30 am so i waited.

Intending to take the bus at 9am I decided to try to pee one more time before going and was shocked when I started peeing normally after a moment. I think I understand how giving birth is now, the pushing and pushing and then the relief of it finally out.

In shock and relief I called back the doctor on call and told them what happened, asked what I should do with the stone, and if I needed to still go to the emergency room. Told me that if I had any more problems to call, and to talk to my doctor tomorrow to see if he wanted to do tests on me and the stone. So now I'm chilling with some coffee cake and water, just happy to not be in pain anymore and still a little shocked by the size of the dang thing.

What ?!? I can use a Camera, since when?

I hate cameras, I admit it. I blush, make "Shierk" faces (as my partner puts it), and blurr every pic I possibly can. So, last christmas I decided I needed a better camera for taking pictures of products (and peoples too). At first (and still) I sucked at using the damn thing, but slowly I'm getting better. SO here is the first picture I'm actually proud of, a pair of earrings that are featured on my website :)

Studio Clean Up Time!

So, I'm a collector, I admit it ... I think I get it from my Grampa. When I was young I remember going to his apartment and seeing stacks of stuff, from recyclables to random boxes full of china, books, velvet paintings ... his place was packed and he was content. I loved visiting and listening to music at his place.

I'm older and wiser now, but I still collect things. At least it's not random stuff like my Gramps. I collect art supplies. As an artist I find that my style changes and grows with what is around me. Felties were born out of a bag of felt from the thrift store that was too small for another friend of mine. Leatherwork came about because of a bag of mysterious scraps that still have. $5 earrings came into being because of the sheer amount of supplies breeding in my studio.

Another problem that seems to reoccur is stuff getting waaaaaaaaaaaay out of place. Most of the time I can't find what I'm looking for anymore. I know it's my fault for not putting things back at times, but I would rather blame the fairies in my house for moving stuff around on me *lol*

So here' s my mess in all it's glory, enjoy the fact that I'm only showing you the studio and not the upstairs sewing room (which believe me, is worse) and maybe I'll find some long lost beads that will inspire me in a whole new direction :P~

More Promos Going Out!

In an effort to clean my studio space and rock the foundation of doing art, this year I have chosen to partictipate in The Little Black Box sampler for 6 months out of the year. SO I'm going to be in March, April, July, Oct, Nov, and Dec with 150 samples for each month (that's a lot of samples!). This month is featuring my notepads and envelopes (as the pic shows) created from art papers to file folders to wrapping paper ... no paper is safe from me! *laughs evily*

These are my favorite samples to give out. I include one with all orders. *hint hint*

All Good Stuff Comes to the End

I've decided to give back the bottlecap business, Secondhand Saints, I just don't have the time to create, make, and market them. I feel like a loser, I should be able to do everything ... but I can't, I admit it, I'm no superwoman. 2009 is already setting it's self up to be super busy and I have to learn how to slow down and relax.

I'm very happy that Ruby is ok with me giving the business back to her capable hands. I'm glad I was able to help the business stay afloat while she dealt with her own stuff (as we all have to do at times) and was able to learn more about running others businesses.

This experience has taught me that I should focus on my own business more and not have soo many projects going at once. So now back to cleaning my work area while waiting to be inspired to do art :)

Promos in the Purple Sampler Box

I love making promos! My friend Carrie (another artist and soon to be etsyian) and I get together a couple times a month and just create envelopes and matchbooks just for samples. I've given out all kinds of samples since I opened my store on Etsy. My favorite promos are envelopes and matchbooks notepads, but I have also done mini cards, pendents, and bottlecap stuff.

I give a lot of my promos to other Etsy people for they're shows, been in the Sampler, and now in the Purple Box Sampler. It's always a treat when people convo/email me and let me know that they liked their sample! It makes my day!

Like today... I wake up to a message that someone blogged about my samples and loves them! Thanks Smilemonsters!

New Journals!

I've actually been working (kinda). Between Second Life and MySpace I've been a little distracted...it also doesn't help that I still haven't been sleeping right and have just been weird with life in general. I told myself that I would do something today that was business related sooooo here it is: I made a total of 27 new journals!

These journals are comb binded and hold more pages (50 sheets for a total of 100 pages) and are created from used japanese phone cards. The designs on the journals include landmarks, nature, animals, artwork, plants, etc... I really enjoy making them and I'm happy with the new format of creating them. Most of the combs I get are actually recycled from M.E.C.C.A, the local materials exchange.

I hope to be adding some of these journals to Etsy soon and Dawanda (my new shop!).

On a side note...I'm actually trying to take my own pictures now. I think I figured out how to use my funky digital camera that I got from the thrift store a while ago. SO be afraid...I have a camera and kinda know how to use it!