art sale

one of my absolute favorite artists, Amy Ruppel, is having a big sale of her newest works...
you can check it out here here.






oh I cannot wait until we find our own place and I can set my studio back up and start creating and carving into ceramic.

We have found a condo close to Caden's school with a couple of openings in mid October. We are hoping and praying that one of those will work out for us. It has a small one car garage that I can convert into my studio. Who knows what furniture we will have to move there, though, since every single piece of our furniture was damaged or destroyed when the movers transferred our property from the broken down moving truck. It has taken us weeks to finally get the correct information to the correct people (we hope) so that they can take care of this for us. It is so sad to tell Caden that he cannot play with his bike because the wheel has been bent or his favorite truck is "missing" because it really is shattered to pieces. It is just stuff, though. That is why Amy's work above ("portable home") really speaks to me. My home is wherever my family is. Our "stuff" makes us more comfortable, but I am thankful for our love.

spring has sprung!

Spring break officially starts this Friday for Caden. We are thinking that we will be driving down to South Carolina to check out houses. We are all pre-qualified and think we have found a house, but we still are keeping several others in mind. It is difficult to pick a house out without seeing it.

This is a picture of our first possibility. It is on almost an acre of land and is brand new. It has a double deep garage, but we are used to a double garage that is extra deep, we have talked to the builders about the possibility of adding a separate garage with a studio for my ceramic work. We will see. This has been a bit overwhelming for me. This is why there hasn't been much conversation here on this blog these days.

There has been a little crafting though. I received my Lotta Jansdotter book "Simple Sewing"
It is full of pattern, texture and inspiration. I adore everythingLotta. I admire her aesthetic.
I would like to make the roll-up tool case for my ceramic tools, the hat, and, if I get really gutsy (I am not the most experienced seamstress), I would love to make the garden tote to use to put some portable art supplies in.

I also covered a cork board and added a pocket to it. I made a large tin board and a magnetic chalkboard, all of which are in storage for the move to South Carolina. Oh, I was so inspired by this that I made my own out of my favorite fabric, all of which are now in storage too. (the picture below is the work in progress)


I searched all over the area for baker's twine :

but was out of luck, so I ended up dying hemp twine in several colors to use in my packaging of products.



Let's see, Caden had a great school conference. He is progressing great and gets along with everyone. He is such the thoughtful, caring little guy.



Yesterday he made some chalk art of our family (notice Paul is bald, he he), he was very proud of his creation!

Today I have my follow-up appointment with the orthopedic surgeon to see if the nerve block series worked. I would say that the shots helped about 40% of my problem with my back, it relieved the radiating nerve pain down my legs, but did not help my SI joint area at all. So it looks like that both above and below my fusion may be deteriorating. It is good that we are getting somewhere though.

Thanks for stopping by, I will try to update at least once a week, please don't give up on this blog! I promise to share some of my ceramic jewelry too, it is on hold for a bit while we are in this transition time between Michigan and South Carolina. I even got a new slab roller! I am so so excited! But, we decided to keep it boxed up until the move is over, :( I guess I will have even more to look forward to. It is just killing me though, seeing my slab roller sitting there in the box, just wanting to get out and be used! But for right now I focusing on trying to finish my patchwork quilted duvet cover so I can work solely on my ceramic once the move is done in June.

See ya'll soon!

Look what I got in the mail! Artist Amy Rice sent me these lovely gocco prints! I love them! She has a lovely blog too!

Well that was an impromptu blog vacation! Sorry about the lack of interesting events over here. We have been busy dealing with life. Not much art going on for the last few weeks. Everything has come to a stand still as we try to deal with the imminent move to South Carolina. For weeks we did not know the exact location of the Blue Cross position Paul had been hired for. Alas, we now know it is Charleston, South Carolina. He is to go down there next Wednesday. He will be gone for most of the month :(..... This will be a very huge challenge for our family. We are all very close and not used to being apart. It is not fair to take Caden out of school in the middle of the year, so we will be here in Michigan until the end of the school year. We will be able to visit during Spring Break and also we have our first vacation since our honeymoon ten years ago scheduled for May. At the end of May, we will be residing in South Carolina, near the ocean, hopefully soaking up the warm ocean air! As for our house here....we are not selling yet. We may rent it out. That all remains to be seen.


C'mon, who would want to leave this icy wonderland behind? (hehe) Actually, I love the change of seasons, although this has been a particularly long winter....we would love to stay in Michigan, but welcome to upcoming adventure, and look forward to making our home in South Carolina. We have heard such lovely things about the area.

In other news... Caden lost his first tooth on Saturday, March 3rd, 2007! One tooth down, lots to go! He took it really well, not a tear was shed. The tooth fairy traded him a two dollar bill for his tooth. Caden is quite proud of this achievement!


he finally got to put his tooth pillow to work!


Our cross-eyed Siamese, Suki, finally got to come home after four weeks at the vet. She still has cold symptoms, but we think that she has environmental allergies.

Zoe is not too happy that Suki came back....

:)

I also have some shop related news. Paul surprised me by scooping up the domain for buggabu! He had been trying to get it for quite some time, so when it came available he snatched it right up. Right now we are using a free web design service, so it isn't spectacular, but it is all mine. It is under construction, but you are welcome to come and visit: www.buggabu.com ! My satin glazes came in this week, so keep a look out for some finished jewelry and other goodies! In addition, we splurged and used up a lot of our paypal money and bought a digital SLR camera, I cannot wait for it to come and take some better pictures!

Ok, if you made it this far, you deserve a pat on the back! Sorry for the super long winded post. I will be trying to update more often! Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

news.....

The image above is by my new-found ceramic hero Rae Dunn.

Ok, on to the news. I had my appointment with my orthopedic surgeon. He took one look at my MRI and said that I definitely had a problem with my fusion. It seems that the bone did not grow in my fusion. They had used cadaver bone, and, apparently my body rejected it. After three years there is hardly any bone growth in the fusion. So, basically, that is a failed fusion. He is 99% positive this is what's the problem. I have a special kind of Cat Scan scheduled for tomorrow to confirm the diagnosis. We will find out the results and where we go from there on my next appointment on March 6Th.

In other news, Paul has accepted a position in South Carolina. Yes, South Carolina. It is not set in stone yet. But we are preparing mentally and researching possibilities. Caden and I will stay at out home in Michigan for at least three months. Caden needs to finish kindergarten. We also don't want to put the house up for sale and move our entire life if the job isn't what Paul really wants. There are a couple of opportunities for local employment, and one that would allow for Paul to work from home for three weeks a month and be in Wisconsin for one week a month. So far though, all of the opportunities have been in the Charleston, South Carolina area. We love the ocean and I have heard that there is a lot of interest in art in the area, so it sounds great, we just do not want to risk making a mistake.

So what does this mean? I have no idea. We are just trying to stay afloat here! I have no idea what will happen if I need surgery. I cannot live on the medications I am on for all of my life, if I do, I will have a much shortened life. We love Michigan, especially where we live, on the lake shore. That said, the economy here is struggling, and we struggle along in it, and we are tired of living like this. The business would be successful if the clients could pay there bills, but it is just not happening. We even had a client that paid us in product from his former job as a sales consultant for Hobby Lobby. It is just that way here.

Ok, enough of that! Paul is feeling a little better, but hasn't fully recovered from the pleurisy yet. Caden is great, growing leaps and bounds, right out of all of his pants! :) He is a happy kid and so very intelligent, strong-willed and independent.

It is time for me to go and count the food in the food pantry at church, so that we can fill it up with fresh groceries. Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!


PS. thank you all for the kind comments and emails about my artwork. It really encouraged me! I have been focusing on my ceramic art lately, but overworked the clay yesterday and only produced two pendants. I am trying to create a cup that I had designed, but the clay is not cooperating!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing everyone a happy Valentine's Day!

Paul has been ill lately. He has had pain in his chest radiating down his left arm and poor circulation. He has been really cold, not even able to heat up by sitting by the fireplace. He finally ended up going to the ER, kind of convinced he was having a heart attack at age 30. Well, no heart attack, thank goodness. It isn't a re-assurance of his cancer either, thank God again. He has pleurisy. A viral infection of the lining of his lungs, which is quite painful and causes you to breath more shallow, which, in turn, causes his circulation to decrease. Since it is a virus, it has to work its way out naturally. Antibiotics won't work. He is doing better now, especially that he knows what it is. Needless to say we have been even more stressed than usual. This makes this valentine's day even more meaningful, just being aware of our thankfulness to be together and semi-healthy.

Paul's business has been so stressful too. The economy here is awful. Most of his clients are not being their bills, which is so hard on us. In fact, he has stopped work completely with two clients until they pay their bills. Paul has been interviewing for jobs, but it is a competitive market here, due to so many qualified people being unemployed. He also has two job opportunities in Ohio and one in South Carolina. We have been praying for a long long time about Paul leaving the business sector and going into ministry. More and more we feel the push to go into ministry. The South Carolina job is for director of technical services for a church. It is funny how things happen. After another restless night, Paul picked up the bible. Long story short, he opened the lap top and stumbled upon the job in South Carolina, and the Pastor emailed him right away. God works in his time, sometimes it astounds us how quickly things work! We will see. Right now, Paul is at his second interview at another promising prospect. We only have one car now, so the job that he is interviewing for now would be great because we have a good friend that works there and they could carpool. We just hope that something happens soon! If you are so inclined, we would appreciate every prayer!

Ok, onto the Valentine's day celebration. I was greeted with breakfast in bed and Caden wrote valentine's to us (and himself :) on his own. So cute. We have such a loving son. I attempted my first encaustic collage/painting. Encaustic medium is a mixture of beeswax and resin. I was inspired by Amy Ruppel and Meredith Baxter.

The deer symbolize our family. The clouds are maps....button flowers, the deer are etched and filled in with a charcoal pencil.


P+M+R=C (Paul +Michelle +R (our last name and date of marriage) = Caden. The measuring tape I used is vintage from my grandmother's sewing kit that I inherited.


close up on some of the flowers. The hills were made from grouped shades of green punched circles from sheets of scrapbook paper, paint chip samples and magazine paper.

Paul really liked it. He had no idea that I was making it for him. He, of course knew I was making something,( it is difficult to hide the sound of a heat gun triggering the smoke detector!), but he has absolutely no idea that I was making it for him. All and all I am satisfied on how it turned out, I need more practice to be as good as I would like, but for a first try, it is ok.

Happy Valentine's Day!

ps..I found it extremely difficult to photograph the encaustic...it is much brighter in person.

Tooth Fairy Time!

Look everyone! Loose tooth!



Caden has had a slightly loose tooth for a couple of weeks, but it is really progression now. There is a large gap where the adult tooth is pushing through and his baby tooth is really loose.
So, that gave me the inspiration for a tooth fairy pillow. At first Paul wasn't too hip on my idea, he has memories of a white envelope from the tooth fairy, I had a heart shaped strawberry shortcake pillow. So, we had clashing traditions. I came up with a compromise that the gift from the tooth fairy can be put into a white envelope and Caden's tooth can be in the pillow.
I had Caden write the word "tooth" and used carbon paper to transfer it to the linen. I then embroidered it (this is my first time embroidering, so that explains why it is goofy looking, but I think it adds to the look of Caden's writing) I was very inspired by these two nifty crafters.


tooth-shaped tooth fairy pillow.


close-up on the embroidery and the patchwork pocket.


close-up on the "tooth" written by Caden.

I also hand felted a pin cushion using some organic silk and wool that I had laying around. I have read that it is better (keeps needles sharper) if you store your needles in a wool pin cushion. I love how the silk fiber is slightly wavy and shimmers.









.......We also pinched our pennies to go to a "monster jam" this weekend. Caden had seen the commercial on TV and we knew he would love to see the huge monster trucks. It was loud and crowded and fun, just what any five and a half year old thrives on. It is so cold and snowy here, there isn't much to do unless it is inside. We also got to see one of the two in the world "jet quad" which is an ATV set on a jet engine. VERY loud. It shot around the stadium making flames and basically sounded like a jet airplane. Quite interesting, I never even knew about this "monster" truck world.

here are some highlights:
before:

after:

(broken axel)
we were rooting for this guy:



In other news, our kitten, suki, is still sick. We are setting up a visitation time, since we haven't been allowed to see her in three weeks. She has been gone longer than we had her. It is so sad that they allowed a sick cat to be adopted, we are so attached and miss her so, but have no idea when and, now, even if we can get her back. They still do not have a definitive diagnosis, they have just been giving her different doses of antibiotics.

200th post....

Finally....I have some pictures of some ceramic art in process. I am making owl ornaments for an international ornament swap. I need to have them all fired twice and sent out by December 1st!


this is an owl in process...

I am making ten of them right now, maybe I will make more for our tree if I have time!

I decided to add a beak, which was kinda tricky...

ten little owls, drying out, waiting for sanding, then the first bisque fire, glazing and then glaze fire, packaging and out in the mail by December 1st.

Caden was inspired by Mommy's studio-palooza, and decided to make bird ornaments for his friends and teacher. He use polymer clay, which cures in the oven.



such concentration...and, may I say (as a proud and slightly biased mother, such an artist, already!)

Caden had been quite ill with an ear infection, actually missing pj day at church and laying down for the entire day. He has never, ever, done that, although he has been more ill than this, he was in a lot of pain from the pressure of fluid in the ear. It took two screaming doctor's appointments, but it finally got diagnosed and is on the mend, thankfully.

(still sucking his two fingers, in fact he has started to chew on then collars of his shirts..? I think that maybe he is getting ready to lose his first tooth? who knows, he sure is oral, in every way...his bus driver has notified us that caden's voice works better than a megaphone)

and finally...a little levity..

On a little hike in the golf course woods that are behind our house, we found a tumbleweed, and Paul, always the entertainer, well...I guess the picture speaks for itself!

kindergarten: t minus 2 days...

This is the, hopefully, Internet safe version of caden's backpack label. I designed the monkey and put his name and our phone number on it and printed it out on fabric transfer paper. After learning it doesn't adhere to his nylon backpack, I ironed it on to linen and embroidered it onto the back of his backpack.(can't put it on the front because it gives the strangers an opportunity to know his name and call him, all these new safety rules..) I printed out a plain monkey to embroider on the front of the backpack. He loves it, so that is what counts.

We went to a destruction derby last night. It was the State Championship, who could miss that? It was a lot different than the ones we went to in Auburn (California). The arena was a lot smaller. So you would think they would have less cars in it, right? Oh no. Seven to eight crashed up cars dueling to the death. The bleachers were close to the track and a sign stated "enter at your own risk" greeted us. Very funny...ahem, not. We got a seat as far as we deemed safe, but in the middle of a match, Caden had to go potty. So he and I trudged through flying mud balls and the chance of a flying car part to the potty. I actually got hit in the forehead on the way back to our seat. (Which, if you know me, is quite appropriate because if you can get injured somewhere, I will...) I was literally dragging Caden as fast as I could, as he was screaming with delight. Quite an adventure (in the white trash/ way out in a hick town sorta way!) Fun was had by all. No...really!

Paul is off doing a contract computer maintenance job today, so Caden and I are car-less. (not complaining, we just haven't found the right truck/jeep yet) So Caden and I are going to take a nice walk, it is a beautiful day. I am looking for some birch peelings for my first adventure in encaustic collage.

We are...living

I have been working on new graphics for the blog and hopefully, eventually, my ceramic jewelry packaging. I have been diligently working on improving my skills and designing the pendants and focal beads for my ceramic jewelry. I have finally figured out how to dry them without distortion, or warping. Now I need to be able to make the pendants as thin as possible, which isn't easy. I like the look of very thin ceramics like this:

this is the work of Mia Goransson
I just love the paper thin effect. She is working with porcelain clay. I want to try porcelain clay out, but I first need to use the twenty five pounds of white stoneware clay! That'll take quite a while.


Mel Robson
also has gorgeously thin work.



On another note, life here has been full of large ups and downs. A couple of weeks ago, Paul's oncology center called to say that his blood came back with evidence of a bloodborn cancer. Given his past history of bone cancer, the oncologist started to prepare us for the worse. There we were, again, feeling so out of control. We called our relatives and church to ask for prayer. On Wednesday of the following week, we had a glimmer of hope, more testing had come back and the high protein levels, and the white blood cell count could be what is called monoclonal gammopathy. Further testing was scheduled. We found out on Friday of the same week, that, indeed, this is what Paul has. I cannot explain what I felt as I heard the phone ring and see on caller id that is was the oncology/hemotology center. It was a mixture of fear and resolve that we can do it, it is early, we can get through it again. But, thankfully, we don't have too. Monoclonal gammopathy can lead to multiple myeloma (the cancer that it was thought most likely to be affecting Paul), but having it doesn't mean you will get multiple myeloma. What a complete blessing. We still don't know why he has high blood proteins, and Paul is still not feeling great, but it isn't cancer and we are so truly blessed. More testing is being done to figure out what, if anything, is wrong. He as been though chemo twice, the fist time he was so lethargic and nauseated, but was able to work most days, the second time was site specific, much more painful to the site, but not all encompassing like general chemo. The oncologist had prepared us that a blood born cancer is much worse, and he wouldn't be able to work. Our whole life once again flashed before us. All I could think was, is Caden going to grow up knowing his father? Thankfully, we are out of the woods. Thank you very much for those who went through it again with us, we are sorry to have caused so much worry, but we cherished the prayers, and believe they worked!

Caden is growing up so fast. He just finished up VBS (the week that we were thinking Paul may be sick again) and we enjoyed the festivities of the Coast Guard Festival last week. He has graduated to swim wings and is swimming like a fish, but not quite strong enough to swim unassisted. Our pool is quite deep and has a very little shallow end, so he wears out fast. His new love is jumping in the pool, anywhere but the diving board, he will jump next to the diving board, but not off from it yet! Sorry for the lack of pictures, the camera has been annoyingly slow and I haven't gotten any good pics lately. Caden is also obsessed with the weather, the weather channel and tornados! He would rather watch the weather channel than cartoons somedays. It was too funny when I caught him, sitting in front of the TV, entranced with the weather channel! Also, at the mere age of five knows everything. At least he thinks he does, oh we will have our hands full when he is a teenager, we already do! He is a great builder, has a huge imagination, and much more mechanically inclined than his mother. Today, Paul let Caden drive the tractor, and he did great, I was so amazed!

Wow, I never get to blogging because I feel like I don't have much to say, but end up blabbing away. Thank you for being there, I know that when miles may separate us, but it means a lot that family and friends take the time to share our life with them. I hope to update soon, maybe even with real pictures!

for the love of ceramics

I discovered this new to me artist at the doctors' office yesterday. She casts porcelain in molds made from tin takeout containers. Such a great idea...beautiful texture! You can visit her site here.







The lovely peices above are by Mia Goransson. She combines the translucency of porcelain and the beauty of nature together beautifully. She makes molds of fresh buds to create the realistic branch effects. I have been admiring her work for a while now.

Well, that's all for today. Have a wonderful day!