Friday, October 28, 2011

thank you cards from the greedy lil pigs

it's been on my "to do" list for about 3 to 4 months now. i've been wanting to make 2 thank you cards all summer long. a friend of mine is in culinary school and she would donate her practice chops (carrots, celery, etc) and a doctor i work with had a garden and she would donate her carrot tops, excess lettuce, etc. to our greedy lil pigs, as i call them. lilly and dandelion (but i call her baby, because she is lilly's baby). so here are the thank you cards from our guinea pigs. i placed a picture of them inside so they knew who it was from :)

i do find i am attracted to the more simpler cards. i like clean lines and simple shapes. not too many accessories i guess. i am the same way with the way i dress. i am a girl who does not usually accessorize. there's a blog i started following, these are some jazzy elder ladies. i absolutely love their style. now these girls accessorize but they look like they have the money to do so. that's one of my problems, i do have expensive taste and if i can't have what i really want i don't waste the money buying something else. crazy, huh? plus i never wanted to attract any attention to myself. anyway, i saw this blog for the first time and said to myself "that's me when i grow up". i love it. so here's the site if anyone is interested:
http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

plain & simple


i use to make my own greeting cards but since i've moved, downsizing from a house to an apartment, all of my crafting/ cardmaking/scrapbooking/etc. stuff have been packed away in a box. i do have a room designated as my studio i just haven't gotton it all organized yet. so i wanted to make a quick birthday card for someone and the night i wanted to make the card, a friend of mine surprised me with dinner. so of course, i had to make her a thank you card. i love, love, love surprises and that dinner was a beautiful surprise!

these cards are really pretty plain and simple. it's the process i truly love. the process of creating and putting something together and then being able to marvel at the finished product. it could be making a card, cooking a delicious meal, cleaning my kitchen, writing a poem, drawing or painting, anything i guess that started with a "before" and ends with an "after".

i want to use up the stuff i already have. i found myself at michaels today browsing papers, stickers, embellishments, adhesive materials, blades and cutters, the martha stewart line, and of course pens and markers. all things i already have (except martha stewart) so there's no excuse. i'm on a new budget as a single parent now. i use to buy those things so randomly. no more retail therapy for me! i have the materials and tools, i just need the motivation.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

making candles!


thanks to my friend ashley http://begincrafting.com/
we made some awesome candles. i haven't burned one yet so i have no idea how it smells. i kinda made my own formulation of scents. sage & citrus, lavender, rain, and i think it was linen or clean. i can't remember. i just mixed them all. we mixed the wax with crayons for the color. we used a soy based wax. it was really fun. ashley made the lovely tag, her husband handmade the button she used. thank you ashley! a friend wanted to buy it from me, i told her i would get back to her with a price but i decided i'm going to just give it to her. it's fun to make things, create things, then share them with people i love. i sold a painting to a friend once and i feel terrible about it. she sent the painting to be framed so i haven't seen it hanging on her wall yet. i'm afraid when i do i am going to feel so much guilt! so how in the world am i ever going to make a living as an artist like this?

i'm playing hooky tonight from my graphic arts class. i seem to be suffering with migraines, specifically cluster headaches as i was told. not sure if it's from the weather, if it's hormonal, stress, i don't know. just like the recent atlas syndrome diagnosis, i just need to hurry up and get myself together! i know it's career related. certain events occurred in january and my body seems to have responded in a negative way. it all started with a stiff neck that hasn't gone away yet. a very good friend told me i am the lion who is lying on a nail, i'm crying in pain, i'm suffering and all i have to do is get up off the nail. those weren't her exact words but it went something like that (thanks chris). what's my mental malfunction? what is keeping me from making that move?

Thursday, October 6, 2011

angela's future

i am changing my last name. it's random but it's necessary. i am no longer the married name i have and i am definitely not who i was with my maiden name. and since i don't plan on getting re married anytime soon, i am going to concentrate on re inventing myself. is that a cliche? i should say, discovering myself. maybe that's another cliche. i know what's in my heart. i try to ignore it because life, responsibilities, blah blah blah, all get in the way. i have nothing else to do, so why not do what i really want to do? i've recently been diagnosed with the "atlas syndrome". not good. it's the alarm clock going off and this time i am not hitting the snooze button!

baxter isn't the weight of the world. it's just funny how he hangs on. this is what the korean's call uhboohbah. my mom even sewed together this fancy uhboohbah blanket to wrap my baby to her upper body. i wonder what she did with it? it was pretty awesome. she carried all of my girls around like that. hands free, baby cuddled and warm, close to the body without straps and contraptions. ok, so unrelated but the thought was provoked in my complicated mind and i had to go with it :)





so here's my 5 year forecast:
**out of debt
**practicing mindfulness
**working as a full time artist
**living with gratitude
**possibly relocated in another city,state,country (preferably san francisco)
**oh and 15 pounds smaller, only 15

that's do able, right?

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

i'm back

so it's been a while since i've posted. i'm sure all bloggers go through a dry season right? i've been quite busy these days, not just physically but mentally. i'm actually mentally exhausted. so i had to do something about it. i got myself back in school. don't judge me. i love being in a learning environment. right now i'm taking fundamentals of digital art and creative writing. creating a blog was a requirement for the digital arts class, you can take a peek here:
http://angelabee2be.wordpress.com/


i am really learning a lot in that creative writing class. the number one lesson thus far? my writing sucks! :) i'm actually growing a better appreciation of literature and poetry. i had fun over the last year playing around with poetry. but it always sounded a bit immature i guess. we had an assignment to do for class today, it's poetry in landscape. my piece was voted the best one in the class! yippee! baxter was my star, he is so awesome! so with poetry in landscape, we had to use a noun or verb as a descriptive word (avoid using adjectives). my word was adventure. look at my baxter, just ready to go. doesn't have a clue where he is going and doesn't care. his life is so good. he's such a lucky boy.

well here is one of the poems i've written last year:

insecurity
insecurity is an ugly and dreadful beast
as it imprisons your heart and uses your joys to feast
it's sole purpose is to create misery
and force the one you love to leave you bitterly
your faith in God will be taken away
as your thoughts are consumed and led astray
oh, where are you my knight in shining armor?
i constantly dream of you as i slumber
til the day comes when you defeat this demon
i will await for you in our garden of eden

it's corny, i know. one thing i've learned about myself in the recent years is that i am corny, i am a nerd, i am ok :)