Tranquil Tuesday

Hello and good Tuesday to you!

So this week is crazy busy and stressful. Then my husband wasn't feeling good today and the weather outside is GORGEOUS. So I played hookie from my first class. I blamed it on the husband (of course!) and have been enjoying a glorious spring day!

The sun is out.


I am breathing in sunshine.

Regardless of what your weather is like... I am hoping you are finding something peaceful on this Tranquil Tuesday.

Sign up for a swap!

Do you love swapping as much as I do? Cole is hosting a gift exchange. Sign up with me!!

And it got me thinking... what are some of my top favorite things?

This is what I came up with:

1) High heels. Even though I'm not supposed to wear them, I can't give them up. And I love the edgy rocker look they are taking on right now.

2) Everything and anything bunny. I'm obsessed.

3. Anything that smells or tastes like lavender. ahhh wonderful!
4. Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.
5. Cooking and recipe exchanges!
6. My painting clothes. You'll see a post on my jeans soon.
7. Tattoo inspired clothing. I love Ed Hardy High Tops!
8. Pretty scrap booking papers.
9. Snow Days! I think everything will be cancelled tomorrow - today was wicked snowy.
10. Kandinsky - his work makes my heart sing.
11. Working with power tools makes me feel strong, sexy, and surprising. I like that combo.
12. Gaudi architecture and Bacelona, Spain.
13. A full mail box.
14. Party planning. Dinner parties, bridal showers, weddings, baby showers, just-for-fun parties... I really just like to plan fun celebrations of any kind!
15. Tea and Hot Chocolate!
16. Freshly baked goods.
17. Cute bird designs

and so much more... but you get the picture!

A little love note

For my husband to find in his lunch:

Since he often sings, "Love is in the air, oh baby Bunny" to me as he walks through the door.

What can I say. He still makes me gush!

Some past art

So I need to get making... or posting what I am making. But right now I am feeling incredibly LAZY and TIRED and while that is something I have promised myself in the month of March (which means it MUST happen this week) it is not happening right now.

However, my art making has been occurring for a while.

My blog has not.

Therefore, some old art to share. I made these summer of 2006.

I made these in Photoshop using a digitizing tablet. I can not speak enough about how important it is to have a digitizing tablet if you are making any sort of digital art. AMAZING stuff can be done. Unfortunately, this was school equipment so I no longer have access to Photoshop or a tablet. One day I will get back into it. My course was only a month long during summer school and these are some of my favorite pieces. Neither took too long either. Maybe 2 hours max.

The 1st one is a favorite of mine. Excuse the watermarks --- gotta make sure people can't just save these images and print them off themselves!

Fashion Friday

Who doesn't recognize the interlocking Cs of Chanel. Coco Chanel. A name everyone recognizes no matter how fashion ignorant. And yet honestly, I'm not the biggest fan -gasp- is that even allowed to be written on a Fashion Friday post?

The classic iconic image that comes to mind is a tweed jacket and layers upon layers of pearls. Now... I've always been a fan of the excessive pearl necklaces

And some of the iconic suits I enjoy, like this one (although the model is pretty scary). It reminds me of Jackie O and Audrey Hepburn.

But then you hit dresses like these. The first one looks like a poodle, the second one looks like Cruella De'Ville, and the third one.. well, I like the third one, a lot actually, what can I say... 1920s is a weakness of mine.

Here you have the classic Chanel. classy, but repetitive. I'd totally wear it, but it doesn't entice my imagination like most designers I enjoy. The 2cd is a trash bag meets silk and sequins. And the third one is just so-so.

Now I feel like I'm waiting for the wrath of all fashion lovers. How dare I speak against the House of Chanel. Eeep. Scary!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Tranquil Tuesday

"Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart." (unknown)

~ Breathe Deep ~ Seek Peace ~

Swaps and Such

Janet introduced me to the March Art Journaling prompts. I haven't been able to follow along day by day as I'd like, but I have been doing as many as I can squeeze into my schedule. The first one I did had the prompt "past". That day I had just received a letter from Kate. Who I knew as Katie in high school. Katie and I were best friends. As it is with all things, our friendship has changed over the years. It is still a wonderful relationship, but since we rarely see each other, I think of her as Katie, the girl I knew in high school, not so much Kate, the grown woman of today. It seemed fitting that my page be about our friendship.

Recently I also received postcards #9 (I think - it's either 8 or 9) from iHanna's swap.

I've given up on ever getting all 10 which is really too bad. It is always upsetting when people don't follow through on the fun things they have signed up for. It is selfish and irresponsible and just not nice. On swapbot they would have received bad ratings!

So swapbot has me completely addicted.

I began with the scavenger hunts where you have to find and send to your partner 6 or so items.

The first hunt required 1. a face, 2. hands, 3. wings, 4. something beige, 5. something brown, 6. a crown. The goal is that your partner can make something with everything you send.

This is what my partner sent me:

For the second scavenger hunt we had to find and send 1. something floral, 2. something dotted, 3. something with script or handwriting, 4. something solid, and 5. something transparent.

I received my goodies, which were so creatively presented like this:

and inside:

so then it was my time to send goodies off to my partner. I'm bummed I forgot to take pictures of the first hunt. But here is what I gave for the second one:

Notice I upcycled the ribbon from the one I received!

And inside:

The partner I was mailing to (not the same one I received from) is a middle school English teacher, so I thought that my handwritten part would be based on that. I included these little poems:

Fashion Friday

This post is late on Friday, but hey it counts. I didn't even realize until yesterday that my Tranquil Tuesday post was actually written on Wednesday...oops. But perhaps that is insight into the insanity that is my life right now.

But moving on, Fashion Friday this week is presented to you by Christian Lacroix!

Christian Lacroix is a good mix between the dramatics, such as John Galliano, and the classics, such as Dior. It is a bit costume-y such as this piece:

And yet the dramatics are intermixed with elements of a classy dress I would totally wear (obviously gotta town down some of the stage stuff), such as this dress from one of the Paris Couture weeks. -sigh- Even the word "couture" makes me swoon.
Sometimes as much as I love the clothes, it is the dramatics of the piece that get my "oooh I want that" reaction. IE, the mask on this Fall 2008 piece:

While I wouldn't wear this dress per-say you see how I can see some Dior qualities to it, yes?
He also designs ready-wear. But I have to admit... I am much more a fan of the runway dramatics that are pieces of art that would be altered to be worn. Otherwise - its just expensive clothing without the fantasy... ya know?

Tranquil Tuesday

(photo from Havi Frost)

I have a lot to do this week, plus an intern interview today. So I needed my Tranquil Tuesday moment... and remembered to breathe.

A purposeful breath does so much more than the automatic ones!

Remember "Breathe Deep ~ Seek Peace"

What did you do today for self care?

Mail!

I'm one lucky gal.

This last week I received an amazing care package from S. who is my big sister's friend... and my friend now too! She had heard me mention the Good Karma Gift Swap and she decided that she wanted to join in on the fun! So she sent me a care package and tomorrow I will send her one (and blog about it of course- but I will have to wait for it to reach her so I don't spoil the surprise!).

Thursday - which was a painfully long day of 7 1/2 hours STRAIGHT in class - I arrived home to find a pretzel box on my porch.

Um?

Yes, a pretzel box.

But you don't judge a book by its cover (totally a lie - I do!) so you shouldn't judge a carepackage by its box... right?

RIGHT.

My goodness was it amazing.

First there was this:

Which opened up to be

A fairy! So S. and I have only actually met once. Although we do facebook stalk each other occasionally (which is how she found out about the Good Karma Gift Swap in the first place!). But she and I don't know all about each other and our crazy little quirks... or so you'd think. Either she got a lot of help from my sister, or she just nailed it right on.

Exhibit A) I love fairies. I told my God Daughter that I was her Fairy God Mother... not just any old God Mother mind you. When she was 5 or so she tried to tell me Fairies weren't real... I argued with her until she agreed to play along. :)

And after I gushed about ~Oh my goodness its a fairy~ I took off the first layer of tissue paper and found

a whole box full of pink promises!

The body shop soap is self explanatory... as I began to pull out the promises they revealed themselves as

A whole collection of beauty goodies. A bath fizz from . Smelly soap. Lip Balm in the cutest little twist and pout container (which really does make me want to twist and shout!) and beautiful treasures for my nails (which as I type I can see the pink dazzle its way across my otherwise dull white keyboard!).

But wait... There's more!

Ribbons! Ribbons are good for scrapbooks, presents, crafting, hanging cards, making a hair tie pretty, decorating, adding embellishment... what aren't ribbons good for? And neither S nor my sister realize that I am scrapping a bunch of dessert recipes - hello Cupcake Ribbons!

And still more:

Exhibit B) I know she doesn't read my blog - but uh, hello considering I just wrote a several posts about lists and my little gadget reads Live, Laugh, Love and this is what she sent me... you'd thinks she does!

But wait... Still more!

She knows my German Shepherds are my kids until we can conceive... and even then they will still be our kids, we will just have a "real" baby too. :)

I didn't get good shots of them, but I also received a photo album, candles (one is lavender!), and a pencil that SMELLS LIKE CINNAMON. Crazy and cool and totally made me excited! haha. All in all... one of the BEST care packages ever!