Mid-week Art

I found this picture of a tri-colour Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in an old Readers Digest Condensed Book. In the picture a lovely old lady is holding her CKCS on her lap. Somehow framing it gives the look that 'he' is about to be strangled. Ummm I do understand that feeling, at least once a day - between cuddles.

My Mum commissioned this Cat Food Tin Lid People Posy for a friend; she was pleased with the way this one worked out. I am all done with Christmas commissions now and have one or two special projects I want to complete - then it will be free play for a couple of months, YeeHa!

I have received a lot of amazing art and treats in the mail this week and will make my next post a celebration of arty friends.

Intention, Obsession and Reality

I have been buying typewriter keys for years; how I wish I was in the UK or the USA and could buy whole typewriters cheaply; but I digress. This was the year, and this was the weekend. I was finally going to whip up a batch of earrings, the odd bracelet and ... well who knows. But of course I decided I needed to pull the letters for the first pair apart; they needed cleaning. Then I figured I might as well do the whole set.
It became and obsession, I now have three sets of keys in piles like this on my desk. I am ignoring the others, they are hidden in a drawer again. Perhaps I should sell them, then their dirty glass would not haunt me, but they are so beautiful. Who used them? What messages did they send?
So now I have three sets all clean and ready to put together, a free (except for the vacuum) Sunday afternoon and an overcast creative day. But, now I have decided I might as well drill them all as I put them together - at least 150 tiny holes, the ones in glass with a fine diamond drill bit...
That jewellery might end up gifts for 2008 and you might find chocolates inside this years wrapping paper. I kid you not. I have already given up on Christmas cards and decided to send Happy New Year cards - again - it happened in 2005.
Why couldn't I have just made a set of earrings? I guess the answer is simple, that is not who I am...

A visitor and more

There have been a lot of spiders this year, and I really don't mind them - outside. This one was too close for comfort as I groggily reached for the tea canister this morning. I know he is harmless, I know he eats the flies ... but that does not mean I want to live with him.
So, after the obligatory squeal as my fingers brushed his back I stood up looked around and realised I was alone. Archer could not reach the bench, the boys would not. Bravely I gathered Mr Hairy into a glass, tiptoed outside and released him, over next doors fence.
Note to self: Next time check a) The neighbours are not having coffee on their veranda and b) That I have clothes covering all 'bits'.

on etsy

These teeny tiny junk pins are 1" wide and were such fun to make. If you know where I can source more of these little kilt pins please let me know.

A little more play.

If you would like to see more of the detail in these ATC's then click on the image; they should enlarge. Thank you so much for the encouragement and comments after I posted the first five in this series. I framed up the images for these last weekend and tinkered with them for the rest of the week. I have used some more images of my father and his brothers - all spares from a memory board I did for Dad's 60th a few years ago. I used some pictures from my collection of strangers too.

Thank you also to those of you who have bought some treasures from my Etsy clean out. I am going to put some bigger items on e-bay soon. For now there are some buttons on Etsy.

I have a button addiction. I admit it. I sorted my buttons into colours a few weeks ago. After I had filled one compartmentalised container 20" x 12" and had half filled the second I realised I had more buttons than I could ever use. I have made up a dozen bags of 50+ and will put them on Etsy today.

Look at this fabulous collection of art and ephemera, it was a gift/trade with Sherry. What an amazing lot of thought has gone into this gift, two beautiful pieces of art, some vintage Sunday School lesson cards, ration vouchers from Sherry's family during the war, old photo's and more. Archer got his own little bag of goodies... I truly treasure each and every piece. Thanks Sherry (my e-mails to you are bouncing...).

Play Time

On Saturday as I was cleaning and sorting in the art room I kept coming across little bits and pieces that were in the wrong containers, did I put them in the right containers? No. I started to play. I thoroughly enjoyed losing myself in the little pieces.

I have a few pieces of jewellery on my Etsy, with the excess of embellishments I have begun to list. But, I think the focus on paper has come from jewellery commissions I have to complete this week. Does that make sense? I read Misty’s latest post and thought, oh yes, that is me – best under pressure and last minute … now if only I could create art which ‘talks’ like hers.

By the way, I don’t normally use family pictures in my work, but the three little boys in the top ATC’s are my Dad and two of his brothers! Weren’t they cute?

Trading Treasure

I lugged this lot out to the verge this morning, and tried not to be irritated by neighbours scavenging before I had my pile just so. After all, I am planning on driving around a few streets just to see if there are any pet baskets or suitcases lying around. Naturally I lifted too much and did something to my neck, so decided to head inside to put away all the art goodies I bought last weekend.
I was just about to dash back out for more storage containers when I realised I had more charms, stampings and bits than I will uses in several life times. I am a dreadful shopper - always buying in bulk - after all it is cheaper - umm, not if I just keep the goodies. I have started listing some items - mostly in mixed bags - on my Etsy. Hopefully some of you will make my excesses your treasure.

Macadamia Toxicity in Dogs

I heard that Macadamias were bad for dogs, just as I had heard that onions and chocolate were bad for dogs. Our farm dogs ate a lot of Mum’s stew (full of onions) and were healthy old darlings. Most of us have snuck a piece of chocolate to our dog and it has been fine too. As few as 6 macadamias can send a dog into toxic shock.

On Saturday my fridge moved on to that great hole above which the seagulls circle, after 19 long years of service. It was a sudden end. My brother lent me his old fridge so I would have time to choose a new one – what a star! I dashed out to replace my vegies without securing the house from the canine Hoover. He found a bag of macadamias on a side table – and I guess the smell called him; he ate a lot, about a cup and a half!

By early evening Archer was choosing bed not my company. By late evening he was staggering his back legs unable to hold his weight, had a temperature of 39 deg C (yep I have a doggy thermometer for that place) and his little body was wracked with tremors. I Googled the Macadamia nuts and was shocked to read that this was a normal reaction. A late night trip to my vet was frustrating – the vet on call-out had not heard of the problem and could not get any information from sources she considered reliable.

A chat to my regular vet this morning has confirmed my reading from last night. I must keep Archer’s temperature down (to prevent organ failure), or he has to go in and be on a drip. The rear end paralysis/weakness, tremors and major signs will resolve themselves with 48 hours. The associated depression could last a little longer! Lucky for Arch’ the garbage guts had actually swallowed most of the nuts whole – don’t ask me how I know that, but as he can’t hold his own back end up to ….

As we come up to Christmas with bowls of nuts sitting around at parties this becomes a real risk. My past posts have led me to a sisterhood of doggy Mums who despair at their eating habits. Please take care and let anyone with a dog know about this one.