Raindrops and blossoms

Been gone too long! Sorry for not posting. I got a job and guess what? No free time. I'm adjusting but have to be more organized with my time. Today was rainy and cold but I saw blossoms and flowers at the warm and humid conservatory in Volunteer Park. I saw some amazing plants and colors only mother nature could invent. Enjoy

The Happiness Manifesto

I'm loving the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Here is her Happiness Manifesto

http://www.happinessprojecttoolbox.com/manifesto.html

A Happiness Manifesto

• To be happy, you need to consider feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.
• One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.
• The days are long, but the years are short.
• You're not happy unless you think you're happy.
• Your body matters.
• Happiness is other people.
• Think about yourself so you can forget yourself.
• "It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light."—G. K. Chesterton
• What's fun for other people may not be fun for you, and vice versa.
• Best is good, better is best.
• Outer order contributes to inner calm.
• Happiness comes not from having more, not from having less, but from wanting what you have.
• You can choose what you do, but you can't choose what you like to do.
• "There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy." —Robert Louis Stevenson
• You manage what you measure.

Resurrection Fern - Inspirations and things to make with your two hands

I'm blown away by the blog, Resurrection Fern by Margaret Oomen. I showed some of Margaret's crocheted rocks a few posts back. Now she is sharing tutorials for all sorts of wonderful handmade things. You can learn how to knit a forest,make a snowflake pendant and much, much more. She's my new favorite artist and her website is so inspiring. She also has a store on Etsy where she sells her handmade things. You can buy pictures of the crocheted rocks there.

Christmas Window Displays

Check out these cool windows from Barney's in Pacific Place. Notice the pot scubbers they use for trimming their tree. I love anything with mannequins and old globes.

Down the street at Mario's they do cool things with their windows too.

Banned Books Project

 

I was one of the artists who took part in the banned books project created by librarian Elsa Steele at the Kirkland Public Library. The was my second time to participate and this year my book was We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier (Young Adult Fiction). The assignment was to read the book and then alter it in such a way that it can no longer be read. Since the main event in my book centered around a house, I cut the pages into the shape of a house and cut out windows on each of the pages so the content is altered. The book sits on a base of the collaged remnants of my cutouts. I hope this project will inspire people to fight for the free flow of information.

Wow, Look at this crochet!

I just saw this over at Lucky Handmade...the crochet work of Margaret Ooman.
http://luckyouhandmade.blogspot.com/

See her etsy shop here http://www.etsy.com/shop/knitalatte

Linoleum block carving for Christmas cards

My friend Kelly had her annual lino-block carving party. This is about my sixth year to attend and I'm finally getting the hang of it. Here's my card for this year.