SteamPunk Tags

I have a hundred terrific craft projects all planned out and some cool new products coming my way. However… I am not feeling so good. To date, I haven't really talked about my health issues on this blog but they are BIG and UGLY.   I won't bore you with the daily details but know that it does cause periods of downtime in my life and on this blog. Age must be catching up with me becaue I can't even remember if I ever mentioned it on here before- I think I might have as I type this out. Anyway, I have a genetic condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome…you know the circus freakes who pull their faces out 10 inches? Yeah, that is EDS… The Classic form...but I can't do that.  No, I have the everything hurts "Hypermobile" form….Lucky Me!   I have the type that apparently makes for terrific Circue Du Soliel contortionists.  I'm being Serious….The Doctors had the head doc from Circue on recently and HE showed a "test" you  could take online to see if you would be a good candidate for contortion-ing and it was the Beighton Score…AKA the actual test used by Geneticists to determine if a patient has Hypermobile EDS.  Oh and the Great Doctor showed some "amazing" MRIs of a good contortionist and a "normal" person.  You know where this is headed right? The GOOD contortionist has an MRI just like ME; Joe the ANY-JOB-EXCEPT-CONTORTIONIST has a much more "normal" MRI.  In a nutshell I have good days and bad days and bad days mean nothing much gets done…and my blog sits.  If you want to learn more about EDS….or you think you might have it, and don't laugh I have diagnosed 3 random people in my life- a neighbor, a classmate of my son and the receptionist where I get my hair done- you can go to The Ehelers-Danlos National Foundation.   It is thought to be greatly under diagnosed.

So now you know why my Christmas tree is still up, my outside lights are still burning brightly….and my studio and kitchen are both a D.I.S.A.S.T.E.R.  I just don't feel well enough to do much.  Well much more than shop online.  I ordered some cool stuff to make Valentine jewelry and projects for my Etsy shop…. oh and I played with Photoshop…

 While I like all three, the teal tag below is just making me do a happy dance….from my bed???

All of the projects were made with  digital images from Rhonna Farrer available here; I mostly used images from Punk Junque and It's Time.

I'm off to see my Physical Therapist…
Laters….

Sweet Little Video Shows the Joy of Giving

I just found this charming little video about giving gifts.  It was commisioned by the children's TV show Yo Gabba Gabba but I think is sweet enough for anyone to enjoy.  

Yo Gabba Gabba - To Give A Present from Kirsten Lepore on Vimeo.

Happy New Year!!

It is 2012.  I am not exactly sure were 2011 went, but I do know she went there very quickly.  Scary fast quickly.  Really really scary fast quickly.  I am terrified because at this rate I will be pushing senior citizen….hood wayyyyy before I am ready.  I am not ready to be pushing anything…I just stopped pushing a stroller….and…I just became an adult like…I don't know….2 years ago or something.  I mean, LIKE I have a teenager and all, but LIKE really it is LIKE so scary to think she is LIKE already a TEENAGER and I am LIKE….OLD?

The best thing to do is NOT thing about age and pretend it isn't happeneing….right?  Think about those things I am thankful for?  Ok, I can do that….

I am thankful for a few things in 2012:

• I am thankful for my 6-year-old because I can pretend I am younger…I'm the hip mom of only a 6-year-old not the uncool, old-lady mom of a teenager. 
• I am thankful for Muvazi facial serum, Peter Thomas Roth Instant Firmx and Clarisonic Mia.  If I use all three each day, surely I will look 20 years old again…right?  Right?  RIGHT?
• Pinterest.  Yes I am thankful for Pinterest because I get to keep all my favorite inspirations in one spot and on-line…..as in virtual…as in no real paper.  AND I get to keep them all organized on my "Boards".  Boards of my own making.  When I need a new one, I simply create one….no trying to find another space on the real wall.   Before Pinterest I would either keep the magazine forever because of one or two good ideas or rip the pages out and try to keep them organized in some binder of "good ideas" that I never could find.  I would be forced to print pages off the internet and try to keep them handy.  Do I need to tell you that those pages never saw the light of day again?   Pinterest. Is. So. Much. Better.
• Photoshop Elements…gives me a virtual way to craft.  Less messy than all my other forms of artistic expression and  comes with brushes…little things like rubber stamps but in ANY size and ANY color I want.  Nirvana!
• Mixed Media Art..oh it is just sooo much fun.  Everything I love…paper, ink, fabric, rhinestones, old books….ANYTHING goes so I can keep and collect it all in the name of my art.
• Twitter…no I don't tweet all that much but the fact that I can contact my favorite author and artists- ask questions or show them my work and then to hear back from them within less than a day- and I have actually done this- blows my mind. 
• Adele…cause I saw her live last year and it was powerful enough to carry me into 2012…her voice is unworldly.
• Oh and of course my husband, my kids, my house, my family, blah blah blah….

One last look at 2011…My Christmas card.  If you are on my list you probably realize that I haven't had a card go out in, oh, like 3 years…maybe longer.  I like to make them myself and it just kept getting away from me.  This year I was determined.  Here it is…

Laters…… and Happy New Year…..