I'm Such a Geek....

So, obviously this blog is brand new, but something I have wanted to do for YEARS. I am a graphic designer - a PRINT graphic designer... I know, old school. So this whole HTML thing is just, well... I'm in the same position as anybody else just learning how to blog. Having said that, I am excited to report that I just successfully copied and pasted html to a gadget that is now showing on my blog! (thats the geek part...)

My mission here is to have fun and promote things that are ingrained in me. Crafting is 90% of my life. When I saw a post on Craftsy, how they are promoting health through creativity, (crafting-is-my-motivation) I thought, well yes, that is how I have survived my life. There are so many instances that I have turned to crafting to express myself, decompress from the stress of a chaotic day, or out of a need to organize or simplify. I can't even begin to list the types of crafting I do. I have to categorize broadly. Yarn. Paint. Photography. Silk flowers. Sewing. Gardening. Sculpy Clay. Concrete and rocks. My projects range from 15 minute crochet scarves to all summer hardscape construction projects, like building my raised vegetable garden.

I have to say, this was one of my prouder moments. The installation is a story in itself, so by the time I got to this point and actually had vegetables growing I was PUMPED. I believe this was the first year and the seeds got a late start, so I call it the experimental garden. It only had half a growing season, but I learned ALOT about gardening and prepared for the following spring. 

I miss my garden the most. :0(  Right now, I am in an apartment, but my landlord has agreed to let me have and do whatever I want to the raised bed in front of the house. :0)  Right now, I'm just waiting for the snow to melt! In the meantime, I am doing my creative thing on my computer with writing this blog and working on a couple websites. I also have a zillion AMAZING photos from last summer that I want to publish and still need to figure out how to do that. 

....and so, the crafting continues.... 

The Wooden Stool in the Kitchen...

When I was a child there was a wooden stool in my grandparent's kitchen.  It was painted a horrible pale mint green that was chipped in places and had been painted over. A red and white "doiley" lay lifeless on its hand carved seat. With two sets of rungs to rest ones feet no matter how big or small, that were just the right height for anyone who chose to perch there.

It lived in the little space between the refrigerator and the doorway to the tv room, where nothing else seemed to fit. At holiday gatherings, I ran to take my position greeting everyone as they came through the door, after they put down their coats and left the cold behind. I was so small tucked in the corner, that visitors who were new to Oma's kitchen were usually surprised to see me tucked up in there. It was the placed I crawled up onto when I felt oh-so-small in a room full of adults. I tucked my feet up under me and waited silently for someone to approach at which point I could spring up, stand up on it to receive a hug or to be carried home.

I think of this now, as I am perched up on the wooden stool in my own kitchen wedged in a corner between the cabiinets and radiator, where nothing else seems to fit. It seems to be a staple in my family. Each of us has a different version of one, my parents actually had a really wide steam radiator that was lower to the floor than most, that I used to sit up on while Mom was baking or Dad was shucking the corn. Even as we grew up and got older, we replaced our wooden stools for counter stools, and maybe now there are two or three instead of one, but it still seems to be the place for anyone to perch and carry on a conversation. To reflect on the days events or discuss what's new in our friends lives. No matter what the shape or size, to me it always means "Welcome". An invitation to join the conversation. One thing is for sure, don't put a stool in the corner of your kitchen if you want to be left alone.

No one really knows where Oma and Opa's old stool came from and I'm not sure where it went to. I hope that it went to a good home and that it is parked in the corner of someone else's kichen helping another child create fond memories. :0)

That is not a chewy toy!

Crocheting with a dog who thinks she's human...

I didn't create this monster, she came with the man I call Boyfriend. Fortunately for me, she's adorable and she adopted me almost imediately when we first met. Like most dogs, this one thinks she's human. She eats people food, hangs on the couch watching hockey and sleeps in a king bed. She also doesn't like dog toys, she would much rather play with something more practical, for instance, Boyfriend's socks. The dirty ones. She hasn't got a hold of mine, yet... however, she sits right next to me on the bed, licking her chops as I am waking up and trying to put them on my feet. Other things she enjoys carrying around, Uncle's wallet or cell phone, Grammy's kindle, or random pieces of junk mail. This past Christmas she helped me send out Christmas cards by parading around the living room with the cards in her mouth, one at a time.


Last summer we went to visit Grammy and she had left her knitting on the table in the living room. We were sitting on the porch enjoying the breeze when someone grabbed the ball of yarn and brought it out to us. She thinks everything is hers. 3 months later as we're huddled around the hockey game, I pulled out a crochet project I was working on and almost immediately had a 60 pound dog in my lap thinking my ball of yarn is her chewy toy. My fun fur is not a chewy toy...