House of Revelry

Burning

2011-09-09T18:33:00.001-04:00

This time in my life, this time where I find I have very little to offer an opinion about, is an odd time. (Considering those who have known me longer than a few days know I usually have an opinion about something). However, I find more often than not, lost in my thoughts, unable to articulate exactly what I’m thinking or feeling. Writing seemed to take a nose dive sometime in early 2010 when the earth was shifting in my personal life, and I’ve been highly distracted ever since. But as mentioned in my previous post, there is a calmness coming back. Somewhat of a rhythm or routine of sorts, that has settled into the household and into my life. I also feel creativity coming back, trust opening up, and fear eroding. I think humans feel comforted by routine, and more than I like to admit, I may like it, too. I have always fancied myself as more of a spontaneous chick, but I’ve come to learn over this past year that some measure of predictability is really a good thing. Not to say I can’t high tail it out on a walk through the park or take the long way home sometime at my spontaneous discretion, but if the daily rhythm is still there, I think it’s good for the body and soul.

And so for this blog, it has meandered through many roads since its inception. It started as an outsource for my creative ventures, then moved into necessity of publicity for my business, Revelry Press, and now it’s just, well, becoming just a blog. But really more like a journal because nobody is reading it because I’m not really blogging reciprocally. But that’s ok.

I did something very bold recently. Something I never, ever thought I would EVER do. As I have mentioned before, throughout my growing up and into adulthood, I kept many diaries: chronicling my good and not so good days of childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. There were at least 15 separate journal books filled with uninhibited ramblings. And there were entries in these journals that stung my eyes like mace. There were some things in these books that I had completely forgotten about or possibly my brain did me the favor of wiping them away. But here these memories were back now staring at me like a contemptuous ghost. They couldn’t possibly be me. These couldn’t possibly have been my thoughts and my actions. I started to well up when I read a particular entry from college. It was horrible.

And it was then that I did it. I thought to myself, how can I possibly keep this history alive? And so I brought that one particular journal from college outside and burned it. Yep. Lighter fluid, a match, and poof! It was ashes. And it felt great.

And then there were the 14 others staring at me in the face. I perused through all of them. Reading them and saying to myself, “Oh yeah, I remember that…” or laughing at some, and flat out gasping at others. I couldn’t help at that moment to think of my kids. I always had made the joke to others that at my death these diaries were to be burned. Because while I want my children to know me, maybe they don’t really need to “know” everything. And so why put it in the hands of someone else to dispose of them. And would I want that other person to read these? And so I thought, “No.” These were for me to dispose of. To literally dispose of the past and move forward. And so with that, I ripped out the pages from the book during July of 1987 on the day my dad died to keep that, kept my first one from when I was very young, and disposed of all the rest. And I’m glad to have them out of the house. I’m glad to see them gone. They were cathartic and necessary and helpful and educational and therapeutic and all that stuff for me when I needed it. But I don’t think they need to be honored on a mantel like a trophy. Our pasts are our pasts, we own them in our heart, but I don’t think they need to be worn on our sleeves. Because if you are an enlightened person, you will have evolved from where you were in your past to be the better person that you are today. Don’t get me wrong, by disposing of them I don’t deny where I am from. I don’t regret the things I have done. While I may cringe at some things, I have come to learn they have made me who I am today. I am a sum total of my decisions, some bad and some good.

But as far as keeping this past on a closet shelf with narrative and content like a bad Judy Blume book, I found it unnecessary. And I didn’t want my kids to see it either. So that’s that. I wipe my hands clean.

So there is still much revelry in my house and my life that I want to share and remember, so I think the name still fits. Andrew has started Kindergarten this year, CJ is already in 4^th grade (yikes!), there are many times throughout the week that there are up to 5 boys at my house engaged in tons of revelry at one time… so there are unending chapters to still write about as I move into my 40s. And I will likely still write things that may make me gasp in years to come and I can always erase this one, too, via one click of the mouse if I so choose to one day. No burning needed here.

Strange and New/Familiar and Old

2011-08-19T16:31:00.004-04:00

There's a real stillness that descended upon the house this afternoon when the rain began. It felt like I hadn't heard rain like this in a while, and it caused me to slow down, take in the breeze through the windows and listen to the intermittent thunder claps. My actions paused for a bit and I felt myself becoming really slow. The calmness simply was good.

It's been a long time since I felt this kind of calm. Moving slow, feeling in good spirits, not anxious about anything, and feeling a sense of normalcy and no feelings of urgency. When you have such an upheaval of change like I have had this past year with the divorce, normalcy is a great feeling. But I really wanted that change, so it was completely self-inflicted, and saying you want change and making change are 2 different levels of stress. And ultimately I put a lot of energy into this change and part of it was having myself back again - the most tangible thing I have done to get myself back again was literally getting myself back again by reverting to my maiden name, which felt liberating. (Which is a tale itself about bureaucracy and inefficiency, but a story for another day...). But in the end now, I am very proud that I made the change I wanted to make in my life.

So I'm thinking about where I was a year ago at this time, and life was quite different. Everything was strange and new. The household was off kilter for the children. For me, old love was far gone, new love was blossoming. But the new love seemed so familiar as if experienced before, like we had been torn apart lives ago and were meeting again, finally, in this new life. So after time, it didn't seem so strange, new love seemed old, and it felt right and centered and destined to be on this course.

So these days, after a long emotional journey, the calmness is returning and I cry from joy. Pure joy and happiness has seemed elusive for me most of my life, not because I've had a horrible life but because I do not embrace it when it comes. I fear its ability to be fleeting and therefore opening my heart to happiness is surely enough to break it. But not this time. No, I am embracing it. I am smelling it. I am absorbing it. For as long as I have it.

Life can really sometimes be as complicated as you make it, at least when it comes to dealing with your own inner demons. How paradoxical to be afraid of pure happiness. It sounds silly and stupid to think it, write it and it feels downright spoiled to admit it. But after much introspection I've come to realize why I do it. I've spent a lot of time this year wallowing and fighting and being bitter and angry over people and things that wasted so much of my energy that I'm exhausted. It was a mistake for me to be this way, but I think it was just all part of the transitional process. The anger is receding, the acceptance is coming in, and part of me just doesn't give a damn anymore. The focus is being redirected.

I'm glad for the rain today. It centered me. And today is my favorite day of the week, Friday.

I am happy. Really happy.

The beginning of "blogging"

2011-05-18T15:51:00.005-04:00

After another long hiatus, here I am writing again. It must be that time. Time to mix the ingredients of vocabulary into one giant funnel in an attempt to produce some kind of coherent essay. I do like the exercise, but not sure if I have the ability to actually produce a coherent essay at this time about all the stuff that has been going on this past year, so I’d like to start this post with where all my writing began. I need a springboard which will hopefully give me the insight on how to translate all that I really want to translate here but can’t. So I’m going back to where it started. The early form of “blogging”. We can get to where I am with my art, my crafts, and my life a little later on in other posts.

On Christmas day in 1980, I received the gift of a diary from my maternal grandparents. From my youth through college (and I suppose adulthood if you count the blogging) I fancied myself as quite the writer, usually poetry in the early days, and so I eagerly began to document every moment of my life when I received my first diary. Literally. This is an excerpt from the first entry dated December 25, 1980 (spelling and grammar intact from original):

“…I woke up my mom and dad. So they woke up and went to the bathroom and combed there’ye hair, and then we finally went downstairs to unwrap the presents. I got a big pen, an initial cover for my Bermuda bag, 2 flanel shirts, am. fm. radio, electronic baseball game, label writer, 2 pairs of leather gloves, construction paper, an R.B.C. jacket, winter jacket, winter hat, pencils, tablet paper, and earlier I got an ornament bell (says my name on it) and a pair of workboots. Later on we had breakfast. Toast, donuts, bacon….”

Well, sounds like a good Christmas morning. By the likes of the gifts, clearly there was the internal struggle of tomboy/girly-girl; artsy/jock. And workboots? OK, not sure what that means. I was 9. I had lots of “work” to do, for sure. Maybe my mom can explain. In fact, here’s a picture of me from that very Christmas morning (not in the workboots, though):

A couple notes:
{For those not from the Red Bank, NJ area – R.B.C. stands for Red Bank Catholic, which is the local Catholic high school, one that I attended a few years later. Their jackets must have been popular}.

{OK raise your hand if you were a girl born in the 70s. That means you were a young girl in the 80s. That means you know exactly what I am talking about when I mention a “Bermuda bag”. And you know exactly why I am laughing out loud right now. Certainly this could not have just been an east coast fad I hope.}

So this was the genesis of what would become a creative and therapeutic outlet for me off and on for the next 20 years. At last count I have about 12 full journals of entries. Some of the entries make me cry, some make me laugh, some make me nauseous with embarrassment so much that I want to rip the pages out, and others just me nostalgic for youth. For simple things. For simple times like this entry from my birthday dated, January 22, 1981 when I turned 10 years old:

“Today was my birthday! At school they sang happy birthday to me and Ann Marie. Ann Marie Newell was born on the same day as me! For my party, Lori and Mitzy were over. Boy, was it fun! I played with one of the blocks of clay I got as a present. Oh, I forgot to tell you, me and Mom went out for ice cream after school. I had a hot fudge sundae! It was delicious! Well, I’ve got to go to bed now! Bye!”

{Note: Lori and Mitzy were friends of my older brother, Michael. And apparently I was either just learning the art of punctuation with all the exclamation points or I was a really happy kid.}

So this first diary lasted me through to the date of Wednesday, October 2, 1985 where it documented, in gory detail, the gradual erosion of my innocence while talking about boy crushes, kissing, heartbreak, mischief, sleepovers, and menstrual cycles. It surely is a keeper. But surely needs to be burned at the moment of my death. And as for innocence, it sure does end early, doesn’t it?

Coming and Going

2010-08-12T15:24:00.003-04:00

We had a little visitor this week. A visitor that seemed like it was about to overstay its welcome, and then as quickly as it came into our lives, it chose to move on. To where, no one knows.

We had a white kitty show up at our door about 10 days ago. Since we never knew the gender of the cat, I will heretofore refer to kitty as “she” to avoid the annoying he-slash-she thing. She followed me around the yard, followed the kids, let you pick her up, and rub her belly. She had a red rhinestone collar around her neck, so I knew she had to have belonged to someone around the neighborhood, so took her eager friendliness as just happenstance. Although curiously she seemed a little dirty, a little hungry and very thirsty when I gave her some water. I had no cat food to provide as our earlier cat had passed some 9 months ago and I had none leftover.
As the day ended, we petted the kitty goodbye once we returned inside the house for dinner, and while we were curious about this little kitty, we didn’t think much more about our little playmate for the day.

Until she returned the next day. And the day after that. And after that.
Soon I found myself letting her in the house. Then dashing to the store for cat food. I wondered to myself if I really wanted a cat, things in life are a bit confusing right now, and did we need this disruption? So we posted flyers around the neighborhood about a “found cat” with a picture of her in conspicuous places like street sign posts, and telephone posts at corners of busy intersections. The kids and I thought it was important to give it a try to find the kitty’s original family, all the while developing an ever-increasing affection for this new stranger in our lives. I found myself secretly hoping I would never get a phone call in response to the flyers.

So we bought it a flea collar. And some cat toys. And the cat seemed to be, well, really fitting in and liking its newly adopted family. Since I hadn’t yet made the investment in a litterbox, we developed a routine that it would stay in the house or close to it during the day, and I would let it out at night. It seemed to work, and the cat seemed to respond, as for 7 consecutive mornings it diligently showed up at the door at 6am when I would wake up and let it back in the house for some morning munch.

And I’m sure you know by now how this story is going to end.

2 mornings ago, the kitty did not return at 6am. In my pajamas, I walked around the entire yard, up a few houses in the neighborhood, calling out “kitty!”, clapping my hands and hoping it would come out from under some car or bush or jump down from a tree. But it did not.

And it did not return at all the entire day.

Or the next morning.

Or the next day.

So, a cat food dish still lays on my kitchen floor full of food in anticipation that the friendly, white stranger who entered our lives will return. As the days go on, I’m guessing she will not. But it’s funny how fate works out when something unexpected lands on your door. When you think you don’t want it, it goes away and then you miss it.

Something tells me a trip to Cat Welfare is in our future.

Bye, bye Kitty

The Here and Now

2010-07-20T13:16:00.002-04:00

For most of this year, for numerous reasons, I have been in hiding. I’ve been on a covert mission to protect my inappropriate happiness, personal defeat and unraveling life away from the objectors and the judgers. This year has been one of deep discovery, deep learning; a complete inner revolution of sorts. Even before this past year, some time ago, my journey began with losing the grip on my self identity. But a funny thing has happened in the past few months. A freshness of self-actualization has descended upon my consciousness. All of the sudden I feel like I have completed the circle. A new awakening for me that came in the form of accepting my identity and my purpose, and the simultaneous construction, reconstruction and deconstruction of important and specific relationships in my life.

During all the unfolding, life seemed pretty dark. And prior to that, I clung to the fleeting hope that things would work themselves out without me really having to figure it out. The easy way is what it was, really: let the universe drive the car. Truth is, I was the only one that knew what the roadmap was and what I needed to do to get there, but I chose for a long time to ignore that. While circumstance got me on this path, it was really my core values and ideals that took me and motivated me to where I really needed to go. Which, after a long road, is the here and now.

In no particular order, the here and now is work, single motherhood, and managing a house. Don’t get me wrong, life is not all work, work, work, but I’m grateful for the balance. There are very specific demands in my life right now and I don’t mind those demands. I’ve always had them, but I really want those demands more than I ever thought I did. They are very rewarding. So since this blog usually focused on my art, Where is the art? The art is in my heart, always there, coming and going as she pleases, coming out when she wants to, as she has no pressure to perform. And that is how I feel now. I am not a comfortable human being forcing myself to be someone that I am not. I am not one thing and I am not another. I am a diverse individual full of many things to give to the world or keep them harnessed close to my chest like a newborn if I choose. And with my maturity came the revelation that it really is OK to not just be one thing or the other.

Here and now, life is full of an enormous amount of new beginnings for me.

And there are more to come, I know it.

Just wait and see.

Confessions

2010-02-16T10:31:00.001-05:00

When I was a kid in Catholic school, Confession was mandatory at least once a month (I think. The regularity I don‘t exactly recall, but it seemed frequent). As any Catholic reading this will know, you had the choice of whether you wanted to do the confession with the screen or face to face. I always opted for the screen. Then I bared my sins, the priest blessed me, and instructed me to go to the pew to say 10 Hail Marys and 2 Our Fathers or something like that.

I wish other things in life were this easy. Profess, be forgiven, repent, and then life goes on as normal. It all seems so black and white.

While I’m stretching a parallel with sins and art, this new year has brought with it the inner struggle boiling up again. Last year, while I was pursuing my art and setting aside the practical things, I was sort of sinning against my responsibilities. I took a great risk, had some minor success, worked harder than I ever had, burnt out, and 2009 came to a close. January was a long, lonely and paralyzing month. I retreated from the world.

And then after certain epiphanies that the responsibilities of home and family were of course still on my shoulders, and I could not ignore them because no one else was going to find solutions, I am repenting. But did I really sin by doing something that I was good at and something I loved? Seeing my art as this sort of forbidden fruit has always been an internal struggle for me. It’s something I love and hate at the same time. A constant push and pull. Because there is a deep traditionalist in me, too.

Right now, I am in an absolute slump of creativity. I know this about me, though. I’ve come to recognize the pattern. I go through highs and lows of creative energy like a manic person with moods. I have no medicine for it, though. I don’t know how to correct it, but not sure if I want to anyway. Because when I’m on a creative streak it is a really good one.

So here I sit in my slump. I’m looking for full time work, and so that is taking up all the energy in my days anyway. That call of responsibility is never far away, and there’s no ignoring it. It’s reality.

But I suppose unlike other people, I’m OK with that. Perhaps I thrive a little on the sinning and the repenting because it keeps me alive. If I were constantly one way or another I would be bored and frustrated. I like change, and so maybe the creative rhythm is something my body needs anyway.

The Bigger Picture of What Lies Ahead

2009-12-03T22:37:00.006-05:00

So.... [barstool screeching on the wooden floor as I pull it up] do you blog? Do I blog? Do I read anyone's blog?

I say to myself, "I don't know. I've been really out of touch this month. I used to have so many blog friends all over the country and then, well, I just sort of, I don't know, lost touch."

Glass lands on the bar. And I realize then that because I've been so distracted by so many things that I'm neglecting certain things. Like this.

When I first started blogging at my old blog it was for a bunch of different reasons. For this one, I've always wanted to just share my thoughts on the biz, art, friends and local scene. But the old blog was something completely different. It was like this online diary -- a type of diary that you kept under your bed when you were thirteen with a lock and key, except of course this blog was on the internet for everyone to see. But for some reason that didn't matter. In fact it was therapeutic and cathartic to write. I "met" some really great people through blogging. I was unveiling a lot. That blog lived through its purpose and I no longer need it, though. I regret some things, but really, it's who I am, so take me for who I am, or leave me.

So blogging has always been this kind of respite for me. I've always wanted to be a better writer, but realize I'm more of a visual person. Hence, the daily photos on this blog. And alas, I really wanted this blog to be more visual and artistic than the last.

But here I am. It's late at night. I need to go to bed. I'm Facebooking too much these days since it's such an easier form of social networking, I have no idea who is even in my feed reader anymore and rarely read them. When blogging becomes a job, it's no longer interesting right?

Well, sort of. I still really like to write. And I still really like to talk about all the things I wanted to start this blog for... the business, my life, a little about the kids, and a daily photo. I've had some wonderful things happen to me this month and have wanted to write, but some of the words aren't appropriate here and others I just facebooked enough about it seemed pointless. Those that know me know the experiences I have had, and that is all that matters. But on the subject of blogging, no matter how many lapses I have with blogging, it still comes back. It's still here eating at me. Needing to write. Needing to express. Needing to share. And needing to share what I create. Sometimes we get caught up in life and that's OK, we should be living anyway.

And during all this rush, all this newfound happiness, along with complexity and uncertainty, there was one thing certain yesterday when I found myself captivated by 18 3 year olds in preschool as a visiting "chef" as we made "Christmas Cake". (For those that know me, you'll know calling me "chef" of anything is quite a joke). I was certain I was in the right place at that moment while I thanked myself that I took the time out of my busy day to enjoy the moment, forget about work and all my existing troubles and be part of something that is really important. And here's the photo of the class to prove it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T09:53:00.003-05:00

View from the ground of Cat in the Hat in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, 1996.

Wednesday's Photo

2009-11-25T18:56:00.005-05:00

My awesome find in the Wexner gift shop today! Yay Mark Ryden!

Tuesday's Photo: The Pilgrim

2009-11-24T21:31:00.001-05:00

My favorite pilgrim home from school!

Today's Photo: The Cooper Matriarch

2009-11-17T17:08:00.005-05:00

On this day, in 2002, my Grandmother, Rose Cooper died. I wanted to take a second to remember her today, because she was a great lady. And I miss her very much. And I have nothing but good memories of her.

Ever since, family gatherings have never quite been the same to me, although we are all still pretty close. To me, it was the day the matriarch died, though, and the torch was passed to the next generation, which of course makes us all a little closer to the grave ourselves. But simply, if there was ever a person in my life with whom my relationship was never complicated, never strained, never second-guessed, never judged or never treated without anything but respect, it was my relationship with her.

Saturday's Photo

2009-11-07T17:57:00.001-05:00

Rakin'!

Wednesday's Photo

2009-11-04T22:51:00.001-05:00

Tuesday's Photo

2009-11-03T22:04:00.002-05:00

A replenishment of inventory.

A Little Analytics Fun

2009-11-02T16:07:00.003-05:00

Happy Monday everyone! The most favorite thing for me to do in the morning while eating my bagel and drinking my sweet nectar of Arizona iced tea, is to check my stats with Google analytics. Yesterday was a good day for the shop, and it never ceases to entertain me with the "keywords" that get people to my site. Such as:

hello betty maple syrup orange
Somewhere out there some chick named Betty is making orange-flavored maple syrup I suppose? Not sure, I but don't sell food.

fancy lady housewares
For the fanciest of ladies, yes, please shop at Revelry Press. And bring your husband's wallet.

halloween survival kit
Box wine, a xanax, and a mask (for the morning after).

half marathon necklace
hmmm, a necklace you receive for going 13 miles?

wheel thrown in the "wonky" style
The way Willy Wonka throws wheels?

Anyway, here's your photo for today. I'm cheating this a bit since it wasn't exactly taken today, but I'm adding it to my online photo gallery today.

Friday's Photo

2009-10-30T19:40:00.005-04:00

We had a nice indian summer here in central Ohio today, and I took full advantage of it tonight as I enjoyed the comfort of my deck, sipping a well-deserved glass of wine. Oh how I wish it would last.

Here's the view from below.

Wednesday's Photo

2009-10-28T15:30:00.002-04:00

For my friends who follow me on facebook, you'll know I posted the other day that I'm allergic to my house. Well, it seemed to be really concentrated in my studio/home office where I spend many hours a day. It got to be really obvious when I would only have sneezing fits in that room and no other room in the house. So with the windows slightly open and some good music on, 3 bags of garbage and 4 hours later I had a clean room. I know it doesn't look very organized, but trust me, this is about as organized as it gets in my world. I'm so happy! Too bad it takes so much time just to get organized so I can work. Because here it is the middle of the afternoon and I'm just starting actual work.

The official drawbacks of working for yourself: there is no cleaning staff or accounting department.

Tuesday's Photo and thoughts of NJ

2009-10-27T20:28:00.004-04:00

When I was growing up this was something I thought was really cool:

To confirm, I still do, but since I moved to Columbus Ohio, I'm trying very hard to embrace my hometown. I grew up on the Jersey Shore and lived in either NJ or NYC for about 33 years of my life. We've been here 6 years and yet it still is hard to call it "home". NJ is really "home" for arguments sake, Columbus is a place where I moved to and settled. At least that's how I feel. Not for lack of the great friends I've made and the wonderful arts and crafts community I've found, but because there just isn't anything quite as familiar as the streets you walked when you were a kid. And I still get the warm fuzzies when I go back.

In the spirit of embracing that hometown pride, I created something brand new the other day and showed it at my recent craft show. Using that old nostalgic postcard design, I've made a new chalkboard. Not a mini, but something larger that can function as either art or something to write on. Whatever you prefer. And I'm working on getting other states and cities because I know everyone has a "home" they left a long time ago and maybe needs a little reminder of familiarity to have in their new digs.

Things that remind me of home:
warm bagels
salt water taffy
the smell of the beach
the pounding of waves
the honking of a taxi
the sunrise
a brick driveway
traffic
pushy people
that distinct east coast accent
the giants
the mets

What reminds you of home?

Monday's Photo

2009-10-26T10:33:00.001-04:00

A minute ago he killed a mouse. Now he's looking for more.

Friday's Photo, er... illustration or the state of corporate America, take your pick

2009-10-23T14:26:00.004-04:00

Wednesday's Photo

2009-10-21T12:16:00.002-04:00

Sneak peek: new art being introduced using this vintage Columbus, Ohio postcard at the Powell Gift Bazaar this Sunday, 11-4. See you there!

Tuesday's Photo

2009-10-20T11:58:00.003-04:00

The rocket chalkboard: so much better than a Zhu Zhu.

Monday's Photo

2009-10-19T18:32:00.003-04:00

{click to enlarge}

Friday's Photo

2009-10-16T20:19:00.002-04:00

Another remnant of summer lasting through the fall.

Wish me luck at Craftin' Outlaws tomorrow!

Thursday's Photo

2009-10-15T12:17:00.005-04:00

I've always wanted to post a daily photo on this blog, whether there was writing or not accompanied with it, but of course it just became one of those things that became overwhelming and I didn't follow through.

Well I really would like to start that up again and stick with it. I can't promise that they will all be good, or exciting, or museum-worthy or even self-promoting. I just want it to be like a photo essay of daily life and what surrounds me.

So first up: one of the last few blooms on my hydrangea plant. I see it everyday, and I wanted to remember what it looked like when I'm dreaming about spring in January.

{click to enlarge}

Pure Revelry

2009-10-06T13:51:00.003-04:00

Lots of happenings around "the house" these past few days. Grandma Revelry was in town for CJ's 8th birthday celebration, which seemed to go on the whole weekend between a dinner at Buca di Beppo's, a movie outing, playing with friends, cake, and lots of great gifts spread over both days. Time for the business kind of stopped over the weekend, and now today is full of catching up on things I missed.

So for business news, I'm currently running a marathon. Lots of craft shows coming up means lots of inventory to prepare, internet orders are steady, and two business client orders make up a variety of work. I'm really excited for this holiday season coming up. A bit anxious about needing to be prepared enough with plenty of inventory, because I want to really make the most of the opportunity. Back several years ago, when my business was mainly focused on invitations, my busy time was "wedding season"... which meant late winter/early spring for summer weddings, and mid summer for fall weddings. I was formerly pretty slow around the holidays. But this year is much different, and so the pace is something I need to embrace.

So, I'm going broke trying out 4 craft shows from October through December, and I'm kicking off the craft show holiday season with Craftin' Outlaws on October 17th. I'm so excited to be a part of this fabulous show. This is definitely not a typical craft show, and I'll have to refrain myself from not spending any profits I hope to make that day as a vendor!

Make sure to come see me there, because everyone who does, gets a free one of these!

Here's to profits this holiday season! (crossing fingers and toes)

Front page news

2009-10-01T10:27:00.005-04:00

I got a great email this morning from a fellow Etsian who let me know that we made it to the front page this morning! My second time to be featured, so I'm very lucky. There are so many great things in this list I can't decide which is the best (next to my own, of course :))!

I made a Treasury List!

2009-09-27T21:48:00.005-04:00

For any of my readers who know about Etsy or have shops on Etsy, you know a bit about how tricky it can be to get a Treasury list published. Well, tonight I was able to do it! I was very excited! My list is titled, "Mad about the vintage." And you can see it here. It celebrates my love for everything vintage or vintage-inspired.

It felt good to be able to make one since I have been on other people's treasury lists and haven't been able to do any payback yet. So here is my payback to the world for this week. A nice way to start it off.

Treasury list does not expire until Tuesday night at 11pm. So there's plenty of time to shop. Just sayin'. Here's one item from the list to whet your appetite.

Photo Shoot: 9/25/09

2009-09-25T16:51:00.008-04:00

Today was the day I needed a break. I needed to get some mojo back; work on new ideas and get some new work going. Even though I have production work to do, I needed to stop thinking about that today and release a little tension by doing something creative. I have been cranking out the same things for the past couple months now, recycling old photos, old patterns, and it is getting really old to me. I feel like my products are getting stale. My kids were both off of school today, so I asked my older son who loves photography, if he wanted to come with me on a little adventure to look for something to take a picture of. And we found plenty.

We live in Northern Franklin county, pretty close to the beginning of Delaware County which is much more rural than our neighborhood. We pretty much live in suburbia thanks to good schools, safe streets and affordable homes, so it's fun to venture outside of it whenever I can because frankly, if I didn't have kids, I just wouldn't be living here.

So when we reached Delaware County, we pulled off the busy highway of Route 23 and got some great shots of the old Circle L Motel. And then a little ways down the road we pulled off onto what may have been private property due to what the sign read:

Warning: Crooks and thieves will be shot on the spot. Alarm will sound

It was starting to freak my son out a bit, but I just said, "Hey that's what an adventure is!"

After the barn and the motel, we headed back to an old cemetery that we've both been wanting to see, and got a little sad over the amount of small children buried there from the 1800s. CJ shot a video of that. He wanted to take all of his still pictures today with our old Pentax analog. I remind him constantly how to use it, and he's getting better with focusing, but the concept of adjusting the aperture and the shutter speeds seems to trip him up, so I have no idea until we get the film back how well his shots will be. He prefers film over digital. Can you imagine... an 8 year old preferring film over digital?

Anyway, it felt good to get out and get the shutter going. Here's a couple of my faves from today's photo shoot:

VendArt

2009-09-23T10:46:00.005-04:00

My submission for VendArt at Wild Goose Creative!

Wild Goose bought this vintage cigarette machine that is now dispensing art! My little boxes contain a "photo puzzle." Six little cards have a small photograph and its description on one side, and the other is a puzzle piece to a large photograph. When all six cards are flipped over in the right order, you have yourself a 6x6 print that you can glue together and frame! The prints contain selected images from my website here. Because of my love of packaging I had so much fun doing these.

The studio has a big event coming up this weekend, so if you're there, get yourself a lil box o' art. It only costs $3.

Only Kids May Enter Here

2009-09-15T13:56:00.004-04:00

One of the things I've enjoyed most about working from home since the spring is the flexibility. I really love being able to get in my car and go when I need to, or just stop and take a break to be with the kids if I feel like it. While that means longer work hours into the evening when they are asleep, it affords me the luxury that I didn't have before when I was cooped up in an office: face time.

So one of the luxuries I had missed out on in the past, is experiencing the joys of the first day of school. And I mean the very first day of preschool. Today Andrew started his first day of preschool, and I was so glad to have been there to experience it with him.

Here's the photo shoot:

Decked out in his "aloha" shirt, he confidently walked through the curtains and into his first day of preschool without trepidation.

Another milestone accomplished.

TTV

2009-09-14T12:27:00.004-04:00

As someone who loves photography , both old and new, I've always been fascinated with the effect given to some of the more recent prints people are selling that has that vintage, ethereal look to them. At first, I assumed it was a photoshop technique. Which is something that can be done. But then recently what I learned, is that these photographs are all part of a whole movement that employs a technique called "through the viewfinder" or TTV. The process is taking a photograph of something with your digital camera through the viewfinder of another old camera. No photoshopping necesary because you get that instant vintage look: scratches, blurs and all. Colorizing the photograph can take it one step further, or whatever else you want to do with it in photoshop.

But here's my first attempt. Apparently you are supposed to use a Duaflex camera, and I only have a Graflex, a polaroid and old 35mm Bolsey. The Graflex has a circular lens so I wasn't sure about using that one. The Bolsey is a twin lens reflex, so I took the shot through the viewfinder of that and here was the result:

A little unremarkable, but I think with some practice, a better subject and maybe getting my hands on a Duaflex may bring it all together. I ran across the technique while browsing for something else while eating my lunch and I just had to do it. I have no time for this since my workload is huge, but I couldn't resist running out to my front porch and doing it right away. If you have any old cameras lying around, you should give it a try! Very fun to see the results.

Bring along a CNote

2009-09-07T23:23:00.007-04:00

When I wrote about the Yummy! Art show that I participated in a few weeks back, I mentioned that it was my first art show. Well, that’s not entirely true. Maybe it’s like my first adult art show, you could say.

My first actual art show was on Broad Street in Red Bank, NJ in 1982:

(And how about that preppy look, huh? Was I on the cutting edge of fashion or what?)

It was all about furry animals and sea creatures, and a couple of hamsters playing “stick-up” with Davey Crockett hats. All the pictures were drawn with either watercolor or pastel. And I won an honorable mention. My short life as an artist faded away a few years after that when I became more interested in teenage stuff.

My art has always come and gone throughout my life. I attribute my early artistic endeavors to my encouraging parents who paid for art lessons with a private teacher in her home. Her name was Evelyn Leavens. She’s still a professional artist in Red Bank. You can see her work here. She’s really amazing. She was a single woman who lived in an old tudor style home not far from ours, and she painted on extremely large canvases. Like I remember a few in her dining room that was not used as a dining room. While it had a nice table and chairs in the middle, it mostly housed some of her enormous paintings. As then she had her studio upstairs, that I only saw once because she was pretty apprehensive about letting us kids see her studio. Something else I remember vividly about her is that she loved to feed the squirrels who would come up to her sunroom, where she instructed us. She even had names for the squirrels. A quirky lady. But a great inspiration.

Anyway, I probably didn’t appreciate the exposure to someone like her like I should have. And like I said, art definitely fell by the wayside through high school, emerged again in college and then took another back seat while I pursued my career in New York. Then came marriage, then came the suburbs, then came kids. And mothers out there know the rest of that story.

So after a long journey, I am doing art shows again. No more watercolors and pastels, but with my photography and other mixed media. Fresh off the last art show written about here, I’m doing another one! I’m participating in the CNote Art Show at Junctionview Studios. My piece even made it on the flyer! I circled it…

So this is not like a gallery opening or anything, and I won’t be getting an honorable mention or definitely not a blue ribbon. I’m hoping to make somewhere around a CNote! Because everything at this art show is for sale and is $100. Easy to remember, right? Just bring a cool CNote or two with you to the show and you’ll make all of us artists very happy. It happens the weekend of Sept 25th - 27th. Hey, Christmas is right around the corner, right?

The art show reception

2009-09-05T00:28:00.006-04:00

Ruminating.

I think this may have been the first art show that CJ was genuinely pleased with his participation. He really enjoyed Kidz Artz, but there seemed to be something about the process of working on this piece and how difficult it was to muster up the idea and then how to carry out the execution and all the procrastinating, and all the self-doubt and all the... well you know what I mean. I think he began to appreciate the process of making something. Or maybe not. It's hard to tell. He's not quite 8 years old.

All I know is that once he decided what he was going to do his focus was stellar. It was all the warming up that seemed the most difficult. It didn't take much cajoling, cheering, or mothering to get him to work on his piece, and in the end I think he was pleased with the end result. And then came the questions. And the introspection. And a little self-admiration with what he had accomplished.

"People are asking me about my artwork!" he says.

"Well what did they ask?" I say.

"Oh I don't know," he shrugs. "Just like, what does the story mean and things like that."

"And what did you say?"

"I don't know. I didn't know what to say. I just walked away."

What can we all say about our own art anyway. We just do it.

Mark your calendars: "One Roof"

2009-08-27T20:21:00.001-04:00

Mark your calendars for another art show! This time the lovely folks from Wild Goose Creative are hosting us MAW ladies for a wonderfully collaborative art show. We will be exhibiting our work as well as work from our kids! My son and I have been scheming and talking about our art pieces all week with the hopes that execution will be in the next few days, considering drop off is Monday! (Yikes!) He is truly an apple that does not fall far from the tree, as we both are guilty of over-thinking our pieces.

But we have finally narrowed it down.

For a sneak peek, our art will have something to do with this creature:

Suddenly last summer

2009-08-25T09:34:00.005-04:00

So today is the last full day of summer vacation for my oldest son. And technically for my youngest son, too, even though he doesn’t start preschool until September. But his daily buddy will be gone for the weekdays after today, and so the house will return to some sort of rhythm again; a rhythm of early bedtimes and early mornings, packed lunches and homework sheets.

They are good brothers to one another considering their age difference. My youngest son does everything my oldest son does, and luckily he has been a good role model. Summer has been fun with them this year. Reflecting back, I've never been able to spend this much time with them during a summer vacation before. And so I think in the future I will look back on this as a good time, even though there had been a lot of upheaval.

So while it’s a bit bittersweet that they will now both be in school soon, I welcome the change. I welcome it because I think my youngest is very ready for school. Time for him now to understand, too what this time of year means as well. Change is in the air.

And the Winner Is....

2009-08-23T11:24:00.003-04:00

I would just like to thank the players of our regular contest, "Caption This!" It's always hard to decide, but after some valiant efforts it was really hard to top the first entry.

Introducing the next winner of the "Caption This!" card line from Revelry Press:

Caption written by the funny and talented, Barb Friedman.

Thanks for playing everyone! Next "Caption This" coming up on September 18th.

Caption This!

2009-08-21T13:10:00.004-04:00

For those that don't know how to play, click here.

For those that do, have fun! Let the one-liners begin.

Click on the image to enlarge. Leave the captions in the comments.
Good luck!

Giving back to the universe

2009-08-20T12:57:00.005-04:00

This past week has opened me to a whole new prospective on the site I use to sells my wares. As you know I have a shop on Etsy, which is kind of like eBay for the handmade marketplace. What I hadn't learned until just recently is that there are golden nuggets of opportunity to get your shop noticed and hob knob with all sorts of talented Etsy artisans.

I posted about Etsy not long before, when I mentioned the great advice I got from a local seller. That advice is still true. What also is true with Etsy, is that it seems like if you give to the universe, it gives back. Over the last couple of weeks I had been featured on a couple things and it's been so delightful to see the response. I'm getting excited over shop "hearts" know like I used to get excited over blog comments. (They like me! They really like me!)

So anyway, back to the adage of what comes around goes around, I wanted to start featuring my favorite finds from Etsy every week. Just to give back. And show a little love. There's a few blogs out there that do the same, so I wanted to jump on the bandwagon.

My newest favorite shop is from digital artist, John W. Golden. I love his artistic style, and while it was difficult to decide what to get from his shop because he had a lot of camera themed art (and you know how I am about cameras!) I purchased this:

Lowtops Black on red in 5x5 square

I own a pair of black and white lowtops and so figured it was totally appropriate.

And the rest of this week's favorite finds with no particular theme in mind are as follows:

Fun Print Headbands

Take this job and LOVE it

City of fun carnival

Snoopy and Dennis the Menace Books

Cashmere Slippers (these are adorable!)

For more of my favorites, you can click on the widget to the right.

Flower Power

2009-08-18T22:41:00.005-04:00

As summer moves forward, here is a bit of a pit stop.

Click away if you hate re-cap posts

2009-08-17T21:20:00.006-04:00

I sort of really hate re-cap blog posts, like the ones you read that say, "Another great weekend with the family, we went to blah, blah, and they were so cute, and then they said the cutest blah blah thing," and well, you know the rest. But I have a little blah blah to re-cap.

It occurred to me that last week I never posted anything about the "Yummy!" art show that I participated in. Here's some pics from the opening reception. It is going on through September 13th at:

The Matchbox Gallery
@ Junctionview Studios
889 Williams Ave.
Grandview Heights, OH 43212

So more blah blah is that Saturday was my 11th wedding anniversary. But most of the day was spent working on craft orders and getting ready for Artisan Sunday at North Market. But by nightfall, Dave and I were lounging on the back deck with a nice bottle of wine with our feet up, listening to great music, and shooing the bugs away under the canopy of lights that I strung in the market umbrella over our table. But is was nice. Calm, peaceful, and nice. A better celebration is planned for this Friday when my sister in law is taking the kids for an overnight getaway at a train-themed bed and breakfast. And no, I won't be re-capping anything about that. That blah blah is my blah blah.

Blog links and belly laughing

2009-08-13T20:39:00.006-04:00

When I was eating dinner tonight, I all of a sudden began to feel a little weak. I was eating a delicious meal of barbeque chicken--thanks to my husband--along with a healthy glass of red wine. I had drank about 3 bottles of water throughout the day, so I couldn't have been dehydrated. I sat still for a second, let the moment sink in, and realized I was exhausted.

I have been running on adrenaline the last few days and by the end of today I had shipped all but 2 shipments of new orders that I received this week. But seriously, what a great feeling! I like the feeling of being tired from putting in a hard day's work. I love to feel like I've accomplished something. I recall the endless wasted hours in a corporate office where no one really accomplished anything, just passing the buck in emails from one person to another, waiting for someone to finally have the nerve to make a decision about something, which never came. But we were all paid well. I walked out of the office everyday having made a good paycheck. And yet I felt like I had accomplished nothing. And now, I'm making 1/10th of what I made (probably even less), and I've never been happier. And of course it needs to be about the money sometime, like at the end of the month when the bills need to get paid, but there's something in me right now that says, "I'll figure it out." I told my mother the other day not to ask me about the future because frankly I don't have an answer. This week was about luck tapping me on the shoulder and it's not going to last. The wave was high this week, but in all likeliness it will return to a steady calm again. What I tell myself is to keep moving forward and try to keep up the momentum.

Press has been great this month. My blog was featured in Columbus Monthly magazine. Then this Monday as you know, the chalkboards were featured in Etsy's blog The Storque. Then Lazybride.com picked up the Etsy story about the chalkboards and posted an article. Then Washingtonian.com picked up Lazy Bride's blog post and posted the link. I'm truly humbled by the chain of events, which I know are not huge considering the fame and acclaim of some other talented people out there, but for a new business owner like myself I'm like yipeee!! The business has been skipping here and skipping there throughout these past 4 months and I've had several moments before of feeling like I found the rhythm and direction of this business, but not insomuch as I did this week.

Oh, and a side and final note, I hear children belly laughing from the other room. No better soundtrack to life than that.

Makin' the chalkboards

2009-08-11T23:10:00.004-04:00

It’s a bit of an assembly line around here. Of course, don’t mistake me for a GM plant, I’m only one person, but it’s amazing what a little free exposure on Etsy can do to your sales. As it so happens, yesterday when I posted my new kids version of the travel chalkboard and being all excited about selling the adult version thinking it was a fluke, an Etsy writer, Emily Bidwell, had simultaneously compiled a list of picks about vineyard styled weddings with autumnal hues. What I didn’t know at the time, is that my deep red floral-designed travel chalkboards happened to be one of the picks on her list to use as décor and favors. In a matter of hours my site visits went from say an average of 15-20 a day to nearly 1,300 yesterday.

So now I have several orders to fill, most of them being chalkboards, and I am, what you could say, a little giddy from it all. And hopeful. That’s really what it is. This is a feeling of hope. Hope that this business may actually turn a curve, get some direction, and keep up the pace with other riders. I know this little brief peak in exposure won’t last, but if anything it was a true validation that someone else out there other than me believes that what I created is good. And beyond the numbers, at the end of the day, to me it’s what it’s all about: creating some good art.

Art on the go

2009-08-10T15:01:00.004-04:00

Last week I introduced a new item on the Etsy site and I sold my first one today! I had just happened to be designing a new kids version of it as well at the same time. Here's my 3 year old son, Andrew graciously modeling how well the travel chalkboard fits into little hands. Give him this little chalkboard and a bowl of parmesan goldfish and he's good to go!

And if you're so inclined for more product shots, click here.

On mommy blogging

2009-08-04T09:29:00.007-04:00

Last month I was contacted by a local writer for an upcoming interview on Columbus moms who blog, thanks to a referral from Christina. My first reaction was "Oh man, I'm going to be quoted and I'm going to say something totally stupid..." but I really wanted to participate. (Plus, FREE PR!) Well, as it turns out, my paranoia was a bit exaggerated and the quotes she used were just fine. Although I sound a bit like a walking poster child for mother's guilt. And I stop to think, why do I sound that way? Because truth is, I thought I overcame that issue, but I think I still carry some guilt with me for being a working mother. And what is that emotion really... guilt for working? Men don't seem to suffer from this at all. The emotion is truly ironic, because truth is, we're doing well by our kids by showing them the value of hard work and setting a good example as a woman that we can do more than just master domesticity, which I think will in turn benefit my sons when they grow older and choose relationships with women. I don't imagine my sons will ever end up expecting any woman to cook and clean for them, which is an extremely important lesson. But alas, all that is far in the future, and for now all I seem to say is, "I can't play checkers with you right now... we'll go on a bike ride later... no, I can't go get ice cream right now..."

So while I don't really blog much about the daily grind of my motherhood anymore, it's still there in the back of my head. I think I've vented plenty on the subject in older blogs and this one on occasion that I don't really feel the need to put much emphasis on it anymore. But there's a great community out there of other women bloggers going through the same thing, at the same time. And it's always been very reassuring. I started blogging back in 2006 as a way to deal with the emotions of weaning my last son, which was an extremely bittersweet time: blissful for not being tied down to breastfeeding anymore, but sad in knowing that this was my last child and therefore I would never be doing it again. I found a great community who understood exactly what I was going through.

Thanks to Susan Owens for the article in Columbus Monthly. It's about as close as I'll ever get to Dooce: my name on the same page as her picture!

Columbus from the pavement

2009-08-03T12:04:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we all went as a family to the Columbus Art Museum to catch the last day of the Charles Burchfield exhibit, and then went exploring around the city a bit. Having been city dwellers for quite some time before moving to Ohio, my husband and I really like to get out of the suburbs and hit the dirty pavement once in a while. While Columbus is by far the cleanest city we've ever explored, it has some interesting nooks and crannies when you just walk the streets taking in the sights. Here's some I found:

Stay for the Buffe

2009-08-01T20:10:00.003-04:00

I was back in the motherland again---Zanesville, for those who are not familiar with my posts about my parent's hometown---for a family reunion this time. After a long day of catching up with relatives I hadn't seen in years, my mom, me and the kids were exploring the downtown searching for this old paddle boat that I used to ride on when I was a kid. It's called "The Lorena". I loved riding that boat when I was a kid. Me, a Jersey shore kid, and I thought this paddle boat going down the Muskingham River was the coolest thing.

Anyway, a short walk from the Lorena was a little area of shops and a small train-car themed restaurant. And it gave me yet another classic shot of Zanesville:

And so this is one of the reasons why there was a women's lib, I suppose

2009-07-28T20:42:00.004-04:00

My husband asked me once, "Why in all these commercials they make the guys out to be like such baffoons?" Considering we both used to work in the commercial broadcast industry we kind of know the answer, but nonetheless, the male character portrayed on TV these days on sitcoms and commercials is most often a bumbling idiot, and the wives are usually the superior characters.

The following Volkwagen ad from an August 14, 1964 Life magazine edition may provide the answer in a sort of advertising karma way. Us wives, we were the baffoons in the 60s.

I can't help but scoff at the tone of this ad. The "dumb wife does it again..." Probably written by some pipe smoking art director on Madison Avenue, similar to one of the misogynist characters on the TV show, "Mad Men", as this ad was written during the era the show portrays.

Oh us dumb chicks, window shopping again and not watching where we're going. Tisk tisk. Thanks to Volkswagen our husbands won't get so mad at us.

Oh how we've come a long way.

Yay! The zinnias are blooming

2009-07-24T12:09:00.003-04:00

The kids and I planted these from seed around my mailbox in June and figured they would take all summer to bloom. I'm so excited that in the past couple of days the buds have started to pop open! I just love summer. My favorite season of all.

And let the buying commence

2009-07-23T15:09:00.006-04:00

There was some advice that was provided to me and a friend at a local craft show once as we were talking with a fellow vendor about our Etsy shops. Here's the simple advice: list something daily. And this is good advice coming from someone who has had 845 sales on her site, as opposed to my, *ahem* 17. And I believe in it, because I've experienced the proof. I've been a little lax with listing new things and feeling a bit indecisive about where the business is going. As it turns out the answer is a little more complex than I may want it to be. The simple answer is: do what sells. But the business may very well need multiple personalities in order for me to sustain a future to make this my career. While my crafts are the most items that have sold, it's a bit of a turn from what the business plan was from the beginning. But hey, go with the flow right?

Anyway, back to the Etsy advice. I have been listing like a crazy woman yesterday and today. Wedding coasters, custom trivets, art trivets, and more coasters. The kids were away with my sister-in-law for the day/night yesterday so it gave me a little peace and quiet to really concentrate on some things. It's amazing what you can get done without kids around! I can't wait until Andrew goes to school full-time! (*sigh* 2 more years to wait on that one. When I think back to before I had kids, I have no idea what I did with myself on a daily basis).

So now, please come back to me, listing karma. I've listed like a mad woman. Now let the buying commence.

This is a new listing: a custom trivet.

When a little gratitude goes a long way

2009-07-21T13:45:00.004-04:00

As most of you know, at the end of March this year, I hosted a craft show at my son's school. Well, as it is common in life, things don't always go as planned, and a few weeks before the show I found out I was getting laid off from my day job at J.P. Morgan. Needless to say, my stress level sky rocketed at this time. Obviously so close to the show I couldn't cancel it, although truthfully, that's what I wanted to do. When I got the news I would be laid off, I wanted to crawl into a hole. I wanted to crawl into a really deep, large hole. But it's true when they say time heals wounds, because while I have my good days and bad days on how I feel about my new business venture, I am no longer in panic mode.

And in the end, after a few bumps in the road, and a few difficult people, the craft show worked out. From the beginning of the planning, I wanted my intention of profits going to the art department to be a surprise. We raised over $900 for the art department, and I left a note for the art teacher at the end of the school year to let her know about the money. Since then, I haven't really thought about it at all, since this past spring turned out to be a time I didn't want to remember anyway. It actually seems like a long time ago already, because so much has changed in my life in just a few short months.

So a surprise came in the mail today. A thank you note. And a wonderfully written thank you note from the art teacher herself, thanking me for the money we raised. Here it is below:

It warmed my heart to read her kind words and made me feel that I had accomplished something good after all. That while life throws you curves, you persevere and continue going, because it is worthwhile in the end.

And so it made my day.

Another Artisan Sunday

2009-07-18T15:30:00.002-04:00

Just a reminder that Alissa and I will be back down at the North Market tomorrow from 12-5 for Artisan Sunday hawking our wares! Here's a list of what will be on sale tomorrow:

Coasters
Magnets (NEW!)
Cards
T-shirts
The brand new "Caption This" card line (NEW!)
Prints of original photography
Gift tags made of handmade paper
Flour sack towels
Invitations
Recycled paper cards (NEW!)

Most items for sale are not available on the online Etsy shop, so if you live in central Ohio, come down to see me in person! According to the forecast it won't be a pool day, so make it a shopping day!

Hope to see you there tomorrow from 12-5. The North Market is located in downtown Columbus on Spruce Street.

And the winner is...

2009-07-18T12:09:00.004-04:00

I would just like to thank the players of what will now become a regular contest from Revelry Press! I received some FANTASTIC entries --- ALL of which were really funny and worthy of their own prizes --- but there was one that seemed totally original and worthy of the first award.

Introducing the first card in the new "Caption This!" card line from Revelry Press:

Caption written by Michael D. Friedman.

The next "Caption This" contest will take place on August 21st. Subscribe to the blog or if you're not already a facebook fan of Revelry Press, click the facebook button to become a fan so you can get a reminder for the next contest. Lots of fun and free prizes! And new loot being added to the shop weekly!

Thanks again, everyone, for playing along!

Yippee! A contest! Win a FREEBIE from the SHOP!

2009-07-17T12:16:00.008-04:00

And just because we had fun yesterday... here's another "Caption This!"

This time, the best caption gets a FREE coaster with the image of their choice! We need a great caption to go with this photo for a NEW CARD. Best caption gets featured on the new card that will be for sale online and at the North Market this weekend. A win win for all!

Captions are due by NOON TOMORROW. Free item includes free shipping if you are outside the central Ohio area and will also include the new card.

Here's today's photo:

Good luck!

Caption This!

2009-07-16T14:09:00.004-04:00

And now, back by popular demand! (not really, I just thought that sounded cool).

It's "Caption This!". Hmmm, what could this quaint little family from 1972 be praying for? Give it your best humorous try...

Honest S(crap)?

2009-07-14T22:17:00.003-04:00

So I got this meme last week from my online friend, Heather, which actually works out to be good timing. Because here I am, staring at a blinking cursor wondering what I need to say to the internet world these days. I haven't got much to say other than I'm working. And being a mommy. Then working again. Then trying to squeeze in a bit of facebook fun like it's some forbidden candy or something. And then, back to work. Artisan Sunday is coming up this week, and if you follow my blog at all or know me in person, you know I'm not a planner. (See: running around like a banshee).

Anyway, this is a great diversion. Just what my readers need. A little more information about Kate. Right? Right.

Here's how the Honest Scrap Award works:

I must thank the person who gave me the award and list their blog and link it.

I must list 10 honest things about myself.

I must put a copy of The Honest Scrap Logo on my blog.

I must select at least 7 other worthy bloggers & list their links (I may not be able to accomplish this one).

I must notify the bloggers of the award and hopefully they will follow the above requirements.

So before I go into the awful truth, thank you Mrs Heather of the lovely Cool Zebras for bestowing upon me this fine award. I'm a little verklempt. *sniff*

10 HONEST THINGS
1. I have an extreme fear of heights.
2. Due to #1, I am extremely afraid of flying. Big time.
3. I love watching shows about cakes. I am amazed at the artwork that goes into pastry design.
4. I have a long list of crafts that I would love to learn if I had the time. Cake decorating being one of them (see #3). And sewing. Definitely sewing.
5. I have a fear of learning how to sew though, as I'm afraid it's the type of craft I may get completely wrapped up in and you'll find me madly sewing in the corner of the room at 2am because I just can't shut the Singer off.
6. I'm a bit obsessive compulsive and understand that now about myself (see above).
7. I miss the beach.
8. I wish I were more patient with my kids.
9. I wish most days I would just let the day take me to wherever it's going.
10. For that matter, I really wish I would just relax and let life itself lead me to where I belong.
10A. But truthfully, I think I've made some progress on this one in the past few years.

Nominees for the next 10 items of truth are:
Three Faces of Fiber Art
Peace Meal

My new toy

2009-07-13T13:17:00.002-04:00

My new toy came in the mail today!

My new "brand" for my brand. So now I can brand all my loot without having to print off tags or print the back of invitations anymore.

A totally sweet steal of $11 from rubberstamps.net. Totally worth the work it will save me from spreading the word. Thanks for the speedy shipping rubberstamps.net!

Just another place on the internets that you can find me

2009-07-10T09:37:00.004-04:00

So if I didn't think I had enough of an online presence with 4 blogs (only one active now), an online shop, and a facebook page, I needed to add one more.

I've always wanted to find a good place to showcase my photography and start taking myself more seriously as an artist in that respect. Flickr was not really doing it for me as a professional resource, so I came across another site that has a great online presentation. I just started this yesterday, and will be in the process of building this site up even more. The new link to my work is at:

http://katebunge.smugmug.com

I guess when someone like me has multiple interests, I need multiple websites. Hope you get a chance to check it out!

New Loot

2009-07-08T12:50:00.005-04:00

I don't post enough about the new loot around here. So..... drum rooooollllll..... I introduce to you the Vintage Tractor Toy invitations! With matching t-shirts!!

I had lots of fun working on this one. I was so lucky to have been able to borrow a vintage toy catalog from a friend so I can scan some old toys. I wasn't sure what I was gong to be using them all for yet, but I found a good use for the tractor toy. What kid in Ohio doesn't love tractors, right?

So this wasn't on my to-do list when I started my day out today, but some days just work out that way. It's been on a "back burner" to-do list for a while anyway, so might as well get 'er done. And my son has fun posing for the pictures, too! Speaking of the photos, I like to try new things when it comes to photographing the items for the website, too. There are so many good product photographers on Etsy! In my experience, I've noticed the better the item is photographed the more likely someone will buy it.

The T-Shirt

The Invitations

(I know you totally want to buy these now just because of the pictures).

Totally late 4th of July photos

2009-07-08T09:48:00.005-04:00

I was reading Mayberry's post yesterday and checking out all of her adorably cute pictures from the 4th of July, and I was like, hey! I totally forgot to post my own! So here they are. A few days late for those that don't follow on facebook.

May I offer you a piece of pound cake with whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries?

Give me the candy! I am addicted to candy!

Fun with sparklers!

A number 9? An upside down 6? A letter g?

O-H-I-O!

What I'm working on

2009-07-07T20:36:00.006-04:00

When you are trying to develop your own business, it becomes very clear that you have no social life. I can't say I was ever a huge social butterfly, but I like my share of parties and social gatherings over warm cups of tea or full glasses of cabernet with ladies, men, old friends, new friends, family, whomever will give me the time of day. So when I get completely out of touch and overwhelmed by work, I feel deprived. All wha-wha-wha, whoa is me, why don't I have her life. A good friend last night made me realize that I have a lot going for me. And while I secretly do feel blessed to have what I have in life, there's nothing like a friend to tell you that. Tell you that you are talented. Tell you that what you are doing is good. Especially when it comes from a person whose opinion you respect.

Like many people I suffer from a lack of self-confidence, but maybe now is the time to shed that fear. Lack of self-confidence almost seems reserved for the adolescents of the world, and the fact that I am nearing forty, it becomes like, what have I got to lose?

I'm working on another photo restoration project for a family reunion we have coming up this month, and I'm looking into the eyes of my grandparents wondering what they thought of themselves back in the day. They raised 7 children, worked very hard, were good Catholics, and seemed very much in love. Did they ever put themselves first? Was it such a luxury in their time to even consider the concept of channeling one's self-confidence?

Maybe I just don't need to analyze it, and just do it. Just forget whether I am not confident or confident and just be me. Because again, what have I got to lose? There's only one life.

So I'm working on that.

Here is the picture I'm restoring. I'll post up the end result later.

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-04T10:55:00.003-04:00

Cover of "The Saturday Evening Post", 1942

Dad, 22 years today

2009-07-03T23:41:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure if this blog can handle another post about my dad, but I feel I just can't let the day go by without commemorating him in some way. He died on this day 22 years ago.

And I still miss him.

And I still hurt for what happened.

And I still cry every July 3rd, no matter what is going on or wherever I am.

But the sadness is a brief disintegration of what is usually a fairly normal day otherwise. I continue on, as a mother, a wife, a daughter, a friend, even though I don't want to on a day like this. And tomorrow will be another day. And another year will have passed without him. And I've lived more years without him now than with him. And so what does all this pain mean anyway? Why do I care so much? I guess I just wish I knew him now, so he could see me for who I am today.

And we could chat about business. And art. And photography. And computers. He would love computers today. And the internet. There was no internet when he was alive. Or maybe he would hate it.

Who knows. It's a conversation that only takes place in my dreams.

New project: sneak peek

2009-07-01T10:36:00.005-04:00

I've been fairly busy with filling orders this week and last, which has been good for the positivity. I'm also working on new invitation designs this week which will be launching soon. Monday, I did the unbearably boring process of going through the sales report and financials and receipts the other day. Thankfully I have successfully recruited my retired mother to help me keep track of the books, who is much better at managing money than me. Trying to stay positive during the slow development period of a new business can get trying at times to say the least. But while bouncing from one project to another yesterday with my heat press loaded up, I discovered a new application for my art.

I guess I could say with certainty that photography would be my medium of choice for how I express myself artistically. However, I've always wanted to take it one step further and integrate my art into other applications. So while I've succeeded with that so far with the coasters and invitations and other paper projects, yesterday I worked on another application that I'm really excited about.

I usually don't like to post or talk about stuff that isn't finished yet, but wanted to share my new work. I still need to tweak the varnishing technique and the transfer application, but I'm really psyched about it! I'm going to start transferring select images from my library onto pieces of scrap wood. So I'm on the hunt now for scrap wood and metal for use as fixtures for hanging. If I can't find any cool metal I'll probably go with a traditional hanging fixture. I hope to have some done before the next craft show on the 19th, but I'm not going to rush it because I'd like to take my time with these.

So, now that you know what I have cooking here, what have you got cooking?

Today's Photo

2009-06-24T23:31:00.006-04:00

Today we embarked on a day trip to the motherland that is Zanesville, Ohio. "The motherland", because it is where both my parents were born and raised. It's a post-industrial, decaying, contradictory sort of town that has good neighborhoods, bad neighborhoods, poverty, wealth, a bridge that goes in two directions, farmland, urban sprawl, suburbia, a river running through it, and the skeletons of a once vibrant and bustling downtown where my Grandma used to "walk up and down Main Street while the boys walked on the other side." I have fond memories, bad memories, blissful and regretful memories of this town, not because I was a former resident, but because I would travel to see my multitude of relatives every summer as a kid for about 2 weeks every August. I always stayed at my Grandparents' home that was right on the Muskingham River. There was a steep hill in their backyard that led to the river, and they happened to live right in front of the falls. They had an enclosed porch in the back of their house and during the hot August nights the breeze would roll in through the windows accompanied by the sound of the falling water. It was such a calming sound. As a kid who grew up in a much more urban setting in New Jersey, this was total country. Unlike my brothers, I developed a real connection with this town that raised my parents and my grandparents and many, many cousins. I made friends in this town that I kept in touch with for many years... I even married one for a brief period of time.

However, it seems like a different town these days, and I'm not sure if it is just because I'm just looking at it with adult eyes. Because when we were leaving town today, my shutterbug, country-loving, history buff son who was snapping away all day at different sites throughout the town, exclaimed, "I love Zanesville!"

While I'm happy to be where I am, when I come back and happen to hear the falls of the Muskingham River, I feel a sense of "home."

Photo specs:
Canon xSi digital SLR
Colorized
125/5.6
18-55 mm lens
(click on image for high res view)

Today's Photo

2009-06-23T10:46:00.001-04:00

Morning dew on the leaves of a strawberry plant.

The smell of scones in the air

2009-06-22T11:20:00.006-04:00

After taking pictures of my scones this morning, I've decided that I'm a really bad food photographer. The professional people that make food look so unbelievably delectable are totally talented artists.

As for the actual food, though, I did bake these scones that are in the picture, and thought I'd share the recipe with you. If you're not familiar with scones, they are a biscuit-y type of pastry and you can add just about anything to them, such as strawberries, blueberries, chocolate chips, lemon shavings, cinnamon, etc. I usually bake them with either blueberries or strawberries, and today it was strawberries. Look at me being so domestic today!

Enjoy the recipe! They are quite tasty.

Dear Dad

2009-06-21T20:10:00.006-04:00

It's almost 22 years apart now. And you are still terribly missed.

Happy Father's Day.

*kiss the sky*

Love,
Katie

Today's Photo

2009-06-19T22:44:00.006-04:00

Train parts of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway.

Specs:
Canon xSi
18-55mm lens
Colorized

Photo Restoration: The house that papa built

2009-06-15T14:14:00.006-04:00

Things are busy around House of Revelry with Grandma Revelry being in town from New Jersey this week. So I haven't had much time to post new stuff because every little bit of free time has been spent on orders or getting ready for the Artisan show this weekend. But I had a little break from the festivities this afternoon while Grandma and the kids spend some quality time, so I worked on a photo restoration project someone asked me to do.

They asked that the following picture be imprinted onto a trivet:

"But can you get rid of the cousins?" Hmmmm.

The woman in the center of the picture is the owner of the house; the wife of the man who built it, and it was taken in 1933. The two other ladies, one sitting on the steps and one standing to the right of the porch, need to be removed. While I'm pressed for time on providing a step by step tutorial, what I can say is, if you have Photoshop, the cloning stamp is your best friend, and then a little hand-painting, a little burning and dodging, and then the sepia-tone action button. Here is the end result:

I like doing photo restoration a lot; there are so many stories in the eyes of the subjects. This was done for my godmother, Tae, whose mother is the woman in the picture, an immigrant from Italy. So many stories.

Today's photo

2009-06-09T12:39:00.003-04:00

The door to the round table?

Photo specs:
Panasonic point and shoot
Enhanced in photoshop

Organize and ye shall find

2009-06-05T09:38:00.003-04:00

So it's not uncommon for me that when I move things out of my way around the house, I move them to places that I quickly forget. Then, out of nowhere, when I get the organizing bug, I rediscover all sorts of lost treasures (some of the time at least --- most of the time it's just a bunch of junk that gets moved from one place another again).

This time, I found a couple rolls of undeveloped black and white film. They could have been from 1985, 1995 or 2005. I had no idea. I was almost a little reticent about dropping them off at the lab. But I did, and when I picked them up, here's a few samplings of what I found:

I'm not certain where the shot of the barn was taken. I think North of where we lived. The decrepit flag was taken in a park near our house. And the shot of the mountain was the view at the top of our road. It is Mount Mansfield.

Vermont is a curious place. It can feel quite bleak and lonely at times, like these pictures. The native people are quite reserved and highly suspicious of "flatlanders". And while Vermont is known for its maple trees, for months on end in the winter, Vermont is like a carcass of ice and snow. And then one day it awakens sometime at the end of May after mud season into this beautifully alive, lush landscape. And then quickly by the end of August the mountains become technicolor for a few short weeks, and all is then barren again for a long, cold winter. It is a huge buzz-kill.

A rose is a rose...

2009-05-31T22:25:00.005-04:00

It was a beautiful day here in central Ohio. I grabbed the camera, the boy and the car keys and drove to my favorite park. And this is what we found:

These roses always make great subjects for photography. And as trite as a flower can be as the subject of a photograph, it's good practice for the art of lighting and composition, by playing with exposures, and examining the flower from all angles. Good practice for the more difficult subjects when you need to be quick on your feet... like photographing a restless preschooler.

Caption This!

2009-05-29T16:10:00.002-04:00

A little fun for a friday afternoon. You know the drill.

Caption this!

Packaging the American dream

2009-05-21T19:25:00.004-04:00

There's been this ongoing project poking at me everyday saying, "just get it done already!" It's the kind of project that in your own little world you think is such a big important fucking deal that you pine away at it for weeks about how to make it the most perfectly completed thing in the whole wide world. So it's the perfectionist in me that slows me down. But today marks a victory. Today the project is complete.

The project is this care package I've been putting together for an old friend/former manager from a paper store in NJ. I'm putting together some of my samples of work to get feedback on, and possibly do business with again. We've re-connected recently and it was so damn fun chatting with her about old times. I had so much fun with her when we used to work together. A really great friend. A terrific sense of humor. I giggle just thinking about her.

So it's the kind of package that needs to be just right. So I crafted my own large envelope with some special paper that held all the instructions about the goodies I was sending. And then packaged up all the goodies with probably too much wrapping to protect it while in transit.

I know I'm over thinking this. I know it's overkill. But I'm excited about this whole line of work again; the paper goods, the invitations, the cards, the handcrafted stuff. Revelry seems to be speeding up to a particular pace now. I feel more and more of a sense everyday about exactly what I need to do. It's sort of starting to direct me, rather than me trying to figure out where to head.

It feels like I'm heading to my inner home. Now if only I can make a living to keep the outer home. Rather than being tied to a job you can't stand to make the mortgage, wouldn't doing what you love really be the American dream?

Today's photo

2009-05-20T19:19:00.004-04:00

Taken with a really crappy camera phone, but I like the perspective and the colors.

In the pulp of it

2009-05-19T21:52:00.006-04:00

So today was all about getting your hands dirty, wet, slimy and sticky. I watched my friend's kids for most of the day, and in between motherly and domestic chores with 4 childen, I threw in some paper scraps and water into a blender and let it roll. Or blend. And grind. And then poured it all into a big vat of pulpy goodness. Ready for a fresh batch of 100% recycled, handmade paper.

My standard paper that I use most often for my paper goods is a soft white, slightly nubby 80# cover stock from Neenah. When making my invitations, cards, tags, whatever ephemera-of-the-day it is, I tend to cut off lots of scraps. I've been saving these scraps for months, and now pay dirt. They make gorgeous, second generation paper. My version is extremely nubby and crisp and stiff. I don't use a deckle during the process, I'm sort of "freehand" with that, so the edges are wild and unpredictable. The current project with these papers are square gift tags that I've been transferring some fun images to once they are all pressed.

More photos to come of the tags, but here's a little sneak peek for now:

The last several days have been very good creatively for me. It occurred to me that I have now been out of work from the full time job I had for a month now. I listed all my accomplishments to date, and it felt good. Real good. The mojo is flowing well. I don't know where the mojo is quite taking me just yet, but I'm enjoying the ride.

Today's Photo

2009-05-18T22:37:00.003-04:00

Sharing just because he's so damn cute. And one of the first photos with my brand new toy. Oh, the joys!

Caption this! Fun with old ephemera

2009-05-13T16:01:00.001-04:00

I can't decide if this is innocent or disturbing... Leave your best caption in the comments. Expletives welcome.

Next stop: The World!

2009-05-12T22:09:00.003-04:00

I've been a busy beaver (No, I didn't just use that expression!) these days with designing, marketing, and selling and generally just trying to get my business organized to be a well-oiled machine. The shop has actually been doing OK, considering I just really started selling seriously about a month ago. I've actually had sales that did not include anyone close or distantly related to me! Imagine that? And I'm working hard on getting a wholesale package out to a friend/former manager at this store to show off the loot. Woot! (Can you rhyme as good as me?)

So it's late at night now, and I was just perusing the exhibitors list for the National Stationery Show, and while drooling, and feeling somewhat depressed and competitive about what's out there and thinking, "why am I doing this because everyone and their brother is doing it, too?" I stopped perusing and listed a new item at the shop, as well as purchase a featured spot in tomorrow's showcase. Must. Keep. Going.

Here's a new item I just posted yesterday that I already sold:

It's relisted at the shop in case anyone is compelled to purchase :) I'm just sayin'.

I know I'm kind of rambling in the post, but I just wanted to get my feelings out on paper. Or on a computer screen. Whatever. Either way, it's tough starting a business from nothing. I said it. It's hard. I don't feel like I have enough time in the day. To me, right now time is money. When I had a day job I could slack off at work and still get a paycheck. Now, if I slack off, I'm potentially not earning myself any sales, thus not getting paid. Not that I want to slack off. It's actually the balance between my home life/work life that I'm trying to iron out and find a solution to better productivity.

Well, and in the spirit of this rambling post, onto some great news! My friend, Alissa and I are partnering on a space at the North Market for Artisan Sundays. I'm so excited about that and part of what I'm working on now in preparation for that are some handmade paper tags. I blended some paper pulp and made some paper over the weekend, then heat pressed some images on them. They are super cute. No pictures, you ask? Well, I'm still tweaking them a bit, but when I'm done I'll be sharing the finished product, as well as a demo on paper making. It's about time for a new demo on the blog, as the last one was quite some time ago.

OK, like I mentioned, it's late, I have young children waking me up early tomorrow for another groundhog day. But before I go, I must share this. Totally drool. I know it's weird, but I just love ephemera from that era. And if you're a gal with a biz, check this out, too.

A headband for all days

2009-05-06T16:35:00.008-04:00

Now that I'm working from home these days after leaving the corporate job, my day now consists of multiple activities. Formerly, I sat in front of a computer for 8 hours a day. Now, I go from working, shipping orders, feeding Andrew, calming Andrew down through a tantrum, or dropping CJ off at school. And these could all happen at once, or throughout the day.

But more importantly, what's a busy girl to do about her hair during all this activity? My friend Alissa is uber-talented with sewing and fabric arts and I love her headbands that she sells on Etsy. So I had to have one. Keeps me looking good while I'm:

Craftin'!

Gardenin'!

Doing the dishes!

Contemplatin' how I'm going to make it through all this shit!

Alissa's headbands keep you pretty for all of life's little moments. Thanks, Alissa!

The last minute breakthroughs

2009-04-30T18:06:00.005-04:00

When it occurred to me today that I had offered to provide something for a raffle at my son's school, and it was due tomorrow, and I hadn't put the raffle item together yet, along came the very familiar scramble. My usual work style is a little rushed, and rarely well planned. But I find that during my rush, sometimes it fuels my creativity. The sense of deadline is almost a must for me to get motivated at all. I work best with a due date. Assigning me something with the instructions of "whenever you get around to it" is most certainly a guarantee that I will never get to it. So if there's one thing I've learned about my personal work style with my business is that I work best under deadline, and under a little bit of a rush. When I say rush I don't mean pulling an all-nighter pressing coasters and printing invitations. I mean, rushing over the course of a couple days.

One of the hardest parts of running your own business is being in control of your own work schedule. But like I mentioned above, sometimes the sense of deadline fuels my work. While sitting here staring out the window wondering which item of mine I was going to donate, I realized that I wanted to prepare something new and fresh. Again, these feelings of wanting something new and fresh always occur to me when I'm under the gun. While I do wish these ideas came to me with plenty of time ahead to actually work them out, I'm glad they come at all.

While this wasn't a ground-breaking idea considering I use the antique illustrations on my invitations and cards, I recycled the idea for use on the coasters I have been doing as of late. Here's how they came out:

And now, looking at the photo, I want a glass of wine. So that's what I think I'm going to do.

Are you a pressure person?

New loot

2009-04-29T16:04:00.005-04:00

So I've been busy crafting some new things to add to the shop. During the last craft show I did, my friend Alissa was chatting with her show neighbor Spacedog Studios, about Etsy. We all have Etsy sites and wondered how her traffic was and how she generates sales. She says one thing she does is try to post a new thing everyday. I've been trying to do that, as I have lots of stuff on the "new product list" in my back pocket, and it's a matter of getting ideas on paper or tile or wood or whatever the medium calls for. I've gotten the best feedback so far on the coasters I've made, so I added some new designs.

My first new set was actually requisitioned by my friend Alissa. She wanted a set of coasters with a sewing theme, and wanted her grandmother's old Singer machine as one of the images. So with that, and other vintage images I was able to gather, Voila! The sewing coasters were done and delivered, and henceforth uploaded to the site for sale as well.

The next new set of coasters are for train enthusiasts. My husband is a collector of many things, and happens to have old matchbooks and buttons of all sorts. His grandfather was a train conductor for Chesapeake and Ohio, so he also happens to have some train memorabilia. So, I designed some coasters with these old train company logos. I think they turned out neat!

And then my son was gracious enough --- or should I say enough of a ham --- to pose for me in the new children's t-shirt, designed with an old Howard Johnson's children's menu. A throwback to old 60s design, this menu was made in 1965 and colored in totally retro teal and orange. Printed on a white t-shirt with black trim, it is totally cute and adorable.

Oh, and if you're feeling crafty, feel free to check the archives for the how-to on how to print on the tiles. They make great gifts!

Our happy customers

2009-04-23T13:22:00.004-04:00

Wanted to share the great feedback we have been getting from the most recent sales we've had this week.

Here's one from Florida, sporting her new "girly girl" t-shirt that was purchased...

And another woman from Illinois who just loved her new camera coasters so much she just had to blog about it! Check it out.

Huge kudos to everyone for liking my stuff so much they want to share it with me when they get it. Gives me goosebumps. And makes me squeal slightly. *squeal*

Ahhhhh.

OK, now back to making more coasters and t-shirts.

Shiny metal: close up

2009-04-20T13:39:00.007-04:00

1964 VW bug.
Ricoh KR-5 SLR, 100 T-max film, natural light

Steam engine.
Pentax ZX-5n SLR, 100 speed Kodak, natural light
Color desaturated

Saturday morning block building

2009-04-18T10:32:00.002-04:00

Art room re-do

2009-04-15T17:14:00.005-04:00

If there is one thing that I didn't look forward to with my newly found life of working from home, is having to organize my work space. We have a spare bedroom in our home, called the "art room", and it is where there are 3 desks, 6 bookcases, a large closet, a desktop computer, 2 printers, artmaking machines and supplies, and lots of crap on the floor. Crap meaning, dried up play-doh, little bits of cut paper, lint, stickers, and piles of books and boxes. We're not an organized bunch, and the room seems to go through a rotation of clean-messy-cleaned up again-disorganized-messy-clean. I'm OK with things being a bit disorganized around me, but when I have to move piles of paper in order to use the mouse on the computer, it's time to get it clean again.

Last month when I was scurrying around like a crazy woman getting ready for the craft fair, I really let the room go. The room today:

I know, it's bad.

But there is tomorrow!

There is always tomorrow for cleaning.

Craftastic craftiness

2009-03-29T21:47:00.004-04:00

So... finally done with the school craft fair!! There was some pretty steady traffic, and considering it was our first one, most were all in agreement that it was a success. At my table, I personally sold a set of coasters, a card, a t-shirt and one of my large ceramic tiles with the fleur-de-lis. So, considering it was my first craft show in about 7 years, I was pretty psyched that I sold anything! I have all my new merch up on the Etsy site, so I'm really rolling! Here's my industrious helpers assisting me to move the merch...

Either that, or they are looking at an Elmo sticker book. Can't tell.

My friend Alissa has a great wrap-up on her site, too. Overall, we raised over $1000 for the arts program at the school. More to come on when/how we'll be handing out the big check to the art teacher. I think I personally put in about 70-80 hours of time into the planning, which was a bit insane, and about $12.50 an hour. So my feet were firmly up and planted on the ottoman whilst I sipped a lovely glass of red wine by 5pm yesterday. Had a great conversation with my husband, who I feel has been pretty neglected over the past several weeks, and enjoyed a lazy pajama day today while uploading all my stuff onto Etsy.

And I have to give a big shout out to my well-behaved kids. I had all these nightmares of entertaining a 3 year old and 7 year old while trying to run a craft show AND sell my crafts, but our juggler we had booked for the event turned out to be my babysitter on the fly. The kids were so well behaved, and they had a great time. Even they were exhausted with their feet up by the end of the day.

Overall, I was really pleased with myself on trying to do something positive for the arts program at the school. Now, onto the next phase of things... like, figuring out what to do next. More to come on that.

You Can Call Me Owen

2009-03-15T19:22:00.006-04:00

Andrew says "Call me Owen" at Wild Goose Creative.

Today we went to the neatest little workshop at Wild Goose. It was taught by Amy Turn Sharp of Doobleh-Vay, and we learned a lot! The theme was how to teach our kids through art, and we made gooey slime, wrote a poem and learned interesting ways of teaching through art on a daily basis. Of my two sons, Andrew is definitely the more artistically inclined (or at least interested, I should say -- I can't get CJ to even color with crayons), so I figured this would be much more up his alley. He had a great time, and since he doesn't get much interaction with other kids since he's not in school or daycare yet, he seemed to enjoy being around the kids, too.

So why the reference to "Owen"? Because we got a nifty smock for free with the name "Owen" on it and it became Andrew's nickname for the day.

I was a little light on the picture taking, as I only had the point and shoot, and was more interested in immersing ourselves in the class rather than shuttering away. I love finding little nuggets of cool things in this city gold mine.

Behold Owen the Wizard.

How to spend a Saturday night when you've been sick all week

2009-02-28T21:03:00.003-05:00

The Vision Board

2009-02-22T21:10:00.003-05:00

I've recently had the pleasure of being invited to join a group of extremely talented women, Mother Artists at Work. This time, our Saturday meeting was a workshop to create a vision board for ourselves. Those unfamiliar with what a vision board is, you can check out this site.

My focus for the vision board was: rebirth/reinvention/rediscovery. Needing to make 2009 a year for change, I felt it was appropriate for me to choose that theme for my board. It's difficult for me to take risks and stick to plans I set forth in life. I think there is an underlying fear of success gene in me, so this workshop was especially good for me to get all the images and phrases in one place and have something to stare at everyday in my work space at home. It sort of puts the pressure on a bit, but it's something that I need. Really need.

I chose mostly words and phrases to explain my vision. Risk. I can. Work at home. Rebirth. The power of goodbye. Goodbye to old rules and regulations and preconceived notions about what I can and cannot do. I also have a picture of money which represents that omnipresent requirement for daily subsistence with a house and 2 kids, so I need to stay mindful of that and not keep my head too far in the clouds. I can get pretty unrealistic if I take my dreams too far, and so it's better I keep a little reminder about that pesky little thing called a mortgage that demands my attention once a month. There are also images of mountains and a dark sky, which convey the sense of "limitless". A few images of old things, too from an antique sale to remind me of what I like my art to be based on.

It already has a place on my wall in the room of my work space at home. A place on the wall that I can tilt my head up from the computer monitor and see staring back at me. It's great inspiration. For more vision boards, see our site Mother Artists at Work.

Save handmade! And while you are at it, take pictures

2009-01-09T10:05:00.006-05:00

Happy 2009! We're back with more photography and crafty ideas.

But before I lead into the first photo of 2009, I'd like to make sure you all are aware of a very important issue that has come up regarding the handmade toy industry. At Revelry Press, we appreciate everything handmade since it's, well, our bread and butter. We make all sorts of handmade stuff such as cards, t-shirts, home accessories, and prints. While our online shop is still in the works, I would hate to see all this development work for naught, considering the issue surrounding handmade toys can affect us, too.

I signed the petition at change.org and so can you. Long story short, when China imported all those lead-based toys last year, the Federal Government stepped in and said, OK, now we're going to require all toy makers to pass a very expensive testing process at their expense in order for them to sell their toys. While Mattel and Fisher Price may be able to carry the load of the cost, mom and pop shops can't. The high fees attached to the required testing will essentially run them out of business. So, while we all want toys to be safe for our children, let's not punish the reputable business men and women throughout America for the unscrupulous acts of a select few. I urge you to sign the petition, too. Just click on the hyperlink above or the widget on my other blog's sidebar and it will take you directly to the site.

Now, onto the first photo of 2009. This photo is about getting as close as you can to an object to make an abstract design. I like to keep a library of "backgrounds" for use in graphic design projects so I frequently take close up pictures of things while I'm out and about. They are easier to get than you might think. Just a point and shoot digital camera is all you need, which is how I took this one below. No fancy equipment needed for this project, because it's not really dimension that we're trying to achieve, it's more about flat, abstract design.

This object happens to be in my backyard so I didn't have to travel far. It's the rusted bottom of an antique peanut butter tin. Natural light works best for this type of photograph, so try it for yourself next time you are walking around town. The world is fascinating close up.

Cheese! Taking the Christmas card picture at home

2008-12-21T16:38:00.007-05:00

And so it comes this time of year, the time where the most difficult picture of all year will be had, the one that leaves me twitching and sweating bullets. The Christmas card picture.

And yes, I'm corny and show off my kids on the front cover, as any proud mom would do. But I promise this post is not just about the cuteness that is my kids, but a learning experience to share. I do not take my kids to "Sears" or any other place of the like for their annual picture, not because I have anything against those establishments, it's just with all my cameras lying around, I can't justify the cost. Plus, the comfort of your own home can sometimes yield better results. And maybe I'm a little lazy and cheap. Take your pick.

Here's some lessons I've learned over the years of taking pictures of my two sons. When I only had my older son it was much easier to get that "money" shot, and now with 2, it gets more difficult to get both of them to smile. I still don't have much advice on that as 2 kids smiling seems so accidental, but I can at least share what I know to achieve professional results inside your own home.

THE SET UP:
Choose the best time of day to take the picture. Most kids (including us adults!) are much more agreeable after a full night's sleep, so if possible, especially for the wee little ones, take the picture after breakfast and before the afternoon nap.

Make sure to have all clothes already ironed if necessary and ready to go before your shoot. Sometimes an unexpected moment can lead to an opportunistic time to take advantage of for the prized shot. If you didn't already get that vacation shot over the summer, I would start looking for the opportunities from the beginning of November on. But if you're a procrastinator like me, you may need to "force" the opportunistic time on say, a Friday night, when you're between the day job, and the weekend string of events in early December. But I digress.

THE MEDIUM
Digital or film? Well, it depends on whether you're hoping to capture a shot that will be worth enlarging and framing for that perfect spot on the living room wall, or just need one to place into your pre-fabricated card design. For me, I always go with film in case I get a really great shot that I want to have professionally enlarged and printed. I also, though, take some "back-up" shots with the digital, in case the lab, say, "loses" my roll that I just sweated bullets over.

THE CLOTHES
When you pick the clothes, remember your backdrop. If you are shooting the kids--ok, bad expression--er, taking the picture of the kids, against a busy Christmas scene like the tree, avoid busy clothes. Their faces will surely get lost. A while ago, I purchased a cheap, black queen sheet set at JCPenney to use as a seamless backdrop. I use it for portraits to avoid too many patterns overlapping in the picture. It looks cleaner and puts the attention on the faces, rather than competing with other objects within the frame.

THE LIGHTING
For my film camera, I use a flash head affixed with a bounce flash to soften the shadows. Harsh flash light can wash out faces, so the bounce flash is a cheap and easy way to avoid that. Edges are less contrasty and it gives faces a more flattering look. B&H Photo is a great resource for all sorts of camera equipment.

THE POSES
Poses can take on all sorts of challenges with small kids, trying to force them to stay in your pre-defined "zone" in front of the backdrop and close enough to the camera already mounted. For older kids, this is much easier. For the little ones, use some masking tape to tape down a large "X" on the floor with a square around it, and ask them to stay within the "box". Having them help you with the tape also gets them involved in the shot. Kids appreciate and understand more easily simple boundaries like the tape. It works easier than "sit right here". In their heads they don't see the invisible space that you do.

THE CAMERA SETTING
Refer to your flash head settings for how to synchronize it with the camera, and compensate by about 1 to 2 stops if you are using a bounce flash. For example, if my kids are seated about 6-7 feet away from the camera, the camera is set at 5.6/125. Usually it would be 8/125. I would also suggest, if you are using a camera that has the option, setting the focus ring to "automatic" rather than "manual." It's hard enough getting them to smile, no need to worry about whether or not they are in focus, too.

"FIX IT IN POST"
As film directors will say after a take, during which a boom mic may enter the shot at a very inopportune time, there goes the saying in the industry to "fix it in post", meaning "post-production", meaning in the editing room, where the boom mic will magically be removed through the art of visual effects software. And so can be said about still photography---do you think those thighs on Jennifer Aniston on the cover of GQ are really that smooth in reality?---we can fix things. To use my picture for my card, I scanned my final print, and noticed there was some extra "fuzz" on the black backdrop. In photoshop, I erased those white flecks with the cloning stamp. I also created the border by scanning artwork, making it red, and giving the black and white picture a sepia-toned effect. The sepia compliments the red well, and makes the overall appearance warmer. Leaving the picture black and white, I felt the cover as a whole was too cold with the red and black competing against one another. Then for the final touch, a couple of self-adhesive rhinestones for a little sparkle on either side of the picture.

THE REWARDS
As any parent worth their salt knows, parenting can be a long trail of bribes and threats. I would suggest a reward for their good behavior. For mine, lollipops always work. But in the case of my older son, for him the reward is being the photographer himself. So the sacrifice of a $5 roll of color film in an old camera so he can take shots throughout the house was worth it for this:

Of course, it came after a series of these:

Forced smiles, goofy smiles, no smiles... sometimes no amount of threats or bribes will work. But, odds are good that if you get at least one good shot out of a roll of 24, you're doing well. Happy holidays and happy shooting!

Sometimes you gotta look up

2008-12-10T22:04:00.000-05:00

Tech notes:
Location: Franklin Park Conservatory
Camera: Panasonic DMC-LS75 digital

Fun with Tiles

2008-12-06T08:43:00.000-05:00

I have more than a ton of photos lying around. Between my 35mm photographs, old polaroids, new 5x5 prints, I could use some organizing. But within all the thousands of prints, I have managed to keep aside my favorite prints. They are scanned and organized on separate storage drives for easy access. This library is still a work in progress, but nonetheless any organization is a huge accomplishment for me. I've moved 8 times in 10 years so keeping things organized has been a challenge. I just got a digital camera last year, so I'm bit behind on the digital age. Hence the large amount of prints lying around.

So when I was looking for a real organic, earthy shot to print onto this travertine tile I bought at Home Depot, I thought this shot of the birch tree was a good choice. It was taken in Vermont in the fall of 1999. It is originally in color, but I prefer it in black and white so I got rid of the color in Photoshop. I think the scaling bark works well with the pock marks in the tile and makes for an overall earthy, and serviceable, piece of art. If you choose to do this craft project, I would suggest an equally organic subject for the photograph you use. And make sure you buy lots of tiles to practice with. The transferring can take a few times to perfect. Don't worry about breaking the budget on this project, because the tiles only cost anywhere from 33 cents to 94 cents a piece at the hardware store. So this just might be the cheapest, yet coolest craft ever.

To make the tile, follow these steps:

Note: I own a heat press because I make t-shirts, but a hand iron on the hottest setting (no steam) will work well, too, you just need to keep the heat over the transfer paper longer since it is not as hot as a heat press.

1. Start by printing your favorite image and cut it out along the edges of the photograph, with or without a border.

2. Make sure your image fits within the dimensions of the tile.

3. Prep the tile by heating the tile with the hand iron or the heat press.

4. Place the cut piece of transfer paper with your image face down on the tile. Press the heat down on the image with either the hand iron or the heat press. Follow the directions on the packaging of the transfer paper for heat settings and timing. Like I mentioned above, this is definitely the most trial-and-error portion of the craft project. Make sure you purchase a few tiles to practice on.

5. When your tile is completely cooled, cover the tile with a satin varnish to protect it. Depending on the end usage of the tile, you may need a couple coats. And that's it!

Once you've figured out the right heat settings and timing, it's a piece of cake. I found that with my heat press, I set the heat at 300 degrees and pressed for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. I also used the hand iron to even out the corners. This was a pretty pock marked tile so it was a bit of a challenge, so you might find if you use a smoother tile results will be much easier to attain. Good luck with this one! I found it to be lots of fun and really rewarding, and possibly a great cheap Christmas gift. Moms will love this one with a special picture of their baby on it!

Possible uses:
Coaster
Hot plate
Frame it in a shadow box for a piece of art
For larger tiles, place in a plate holder to display

Have any other uses? Let me know!!

P.S. - If you plan to use as a coaster or hot plate, purchase cork board and hot glue it to the bottom as a cushion.

In Love With Lomo

2008-12-01T21:22:00.000-05:00

This is the very first post of what I hope to be a very satisfying creative outlet for me. Today I want to introduce an awesome camera that I purchased several months ago that I've had a blast learning how to use.

Ever since college, I've been wanting to experiment with medium format film. However, considering the expense and the lack of funds thereof, including no access to one, I have had little exposure...until now. First, I found an old Graflex that belonged to my father-in-law that I've been playing around with, but it's pretty bulky and hard to see through the lens. But then I found another neat little medium format gadget. Thanks to the little plastic handheld camera called the Diana +, it's brought about a whole new world of experimentation called Lomography. It's lo-fi, lightweight, low-tech and shows off the world in a whole new way. I bought the Diana camera for $50 along with 15 rolls of medium format film for a total of about 80 bucks. I've only used 3 rolls so far, and learning a lot with each roll. The thing about this type of photography, is that is so low-tech, it's hard to get used to. Meaning, I've had a good amount of formal and self-taught education on photography, and the thing about lomography, is that what makes the pictures cool is their lack of precision in both exposure, lighting, and color. The "happy accident" as they call it. With this camera, you may think you just took an awesome picture once you release the shutter, but when you get your prints back from the lab it looks completely different. The colors are over-saturated, and sometimes there's an errant flicker of red across the print from a stray of light that entered the back of the camera and burned itself onto the film. Other tricks you can do is take the lens off and shoot some pinhole shots. Kinda like camera obscura.

I currently get my film developed at my local lab and they do a good job. However, you can take it one step further. To get even more trippy colors on your film: cross process the roll (have the lab process the roll in the wrong chemicals). Of course, I could make the same results with Photoshop but that just wouldn't be as fun right? There's something a little more satisfying about achieving results in-camera rather than retouching later. But, my local lab won't do it anyway. It took some digging, but I found out that my old lab, Duggal, will do it. However, since I now live 600 miles away, I have to mail them the roll with a check for the fee, which is approximately $15. Of course, you are running the risk of your film getting lost in the bottom of a mail bin, but that is probably a low chance. They are a great lab and have done lots of work for me in the past on my 35mm stuff.

So, if you love to play around with new and exciting cameras, and are looking for a new toy this Christmas, I would definitely suggest checking this out. And no, I'm not getting paid for writing all of this. I'm just sharing my excitement for taking pictures. Here are some of my shots below (not crossed processed):

Tech notes: Diana + camera, Fuji 100 speed 120 Film.

About The Author

2008-12-01T13:31:00.001-05:00

I received by B.A. in Visual Arts from Rutgers University a long time ago. Long time. Like before digital cameras and the internets, for all you youngin's out there. I even developed and printed my own film. Imagine that!

After being recently laid off from my day job as a graphic designer to pay the bills, I now currently have my own business at http://revelry.etsy.com. Not quite knowing when that will start paying the bills, I will also be scrubbing floors and wiping windows for cash in my spare time. In addition to being a business owner, I am also a mom to 2 boys, and use every other spare moment I can (which isn't much!) to work on my art. Oh, and I also scrub floors and wipe windows for free at home, too in case you were wondering if I have any experience in that area.

About This Site

2008-12-01T13:06:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Revelry Blog.

Why "Revelry"? Because Revelry Press is the business name for my crafts boutique. And also just because I like to party a lot and enjoy the revelry of life. So, the name fits me.

Is there nothing better than pressing the shutter on your camera when you feel you've just taken your best photograph?!? There truly is no other art than the art of photography that can completely take me away from the distractions of life. There is something about the exploration of composition, the challenge of lighting, the opportunity of catching a moment in time that would be otherwise lost, and the science behind it all that makes my heart quiver. I still have a love affair with film, but crossed the line into digital earlier this year to capture the ubiquitous caricatures of my children because I was just drowning in photo lab fees for gratuitous shots like one more shot in front of that monument on our summer vacation. So while I now save the film for my artistic pursuits rather than the daily mundane, I've also found ways to use the digital in tandem with my film cameras in ways much like a polaroid was used way back in the day. I've also recently explored other mediums to work with, upon the discovery of my father-in-law's old Graflex.

So, the purpose of this blog is to share my love of art and photography, vintage cameras, crafty things to do with photographs, and weekend craft projects. It's a bit of a mixed bag, but you get the idea. All things art will be talked about on this site. And I welcome comments to share your love of art and photography as well, to share your ideas, and even write a post or two if you'd like! Just contact me at revelrypressATyahooDOTcom.

Oh and there will always be a post or two about my kids. Because in addition to being a blogger and a business owner, I'm also a mom to two boys.