Cereal Box

Do you ever have a day where something is stuck in your mind and you don't know why? I woke up one day last week, poured some generic frosted mini wheats into a bowl and then just kept looking at the box. When I was little I always looked at the box, read every little thing, and plagued my mother to let me cut out the card board trinkets offered by the various cereal companies. This was a different thing! 

It was something about the box itself, the shape, the colors and I liked that it felt quite sturdy. I found an air tight container and poured in the contents of the box. Off to shower and begin my day, I set the box on the kitchen counter and reminded my husband not to throw it away. He didn't question me which says something right there.

I began my day working on a miniature project which was very repetitive. My mind kept straying to the box. Often day dreaming in color, I was having visions of tangerine. My miniature project was far from tangerine and my next fabric collection was going to be done in shades of sage, browns and blues so I don't know why I was seeing this tangerine color. But that's the way it works for me when I am in a creative zone. I feel like I'm on fire and the brain is overloaded with stimuli. I pictured the box in tangerine colors. I finished it in my mind as I added a strap and it became a purse! I couldn't wait to work on it but I had to finish my miniature project first - minis, being the bread & butter of our income, takes priority.

Saturday was an art day and my daughter Rachel was going to be putting the final touches on her workshop pieces for Art in the Rough. Both of my daughters have degrees in art. Taryn and her husband Scott run an alternative art supply business called NavelJelly Studios. Rachel is a high school art teacher. Both of them teach art workshops and Art in the Rough is a weekend long experience filled with art adventures, great food, and high style camping. Oh, I'm teaching workshops there as well - "Footloose" & "al-ter-a-tions".  click here to go to Art in the Rough

So Rachel showed up in the morning of art day with a bag full of boxes! She had been on the same wave length as me. (It happens a lot with both daughters!) Her approach was quite different from what I'd been thinking about. We laughed with each other as we sampled our various techniques. We each work quite differently! This is what we did.

  

Spring is Coming

This is Princess Lay-a, one of my four chickens. She's a White Leg Horn. She's only about 8 months old and until this January she was laying a pure white egg every other day. Both she and Luna our other White Leg Horn have quit laying. I think it's just been too dark and cold for them.
Out other two chickens are Araucanas and they lay the most beautiful blue and green eggs. Henrietta lays the green eggs and Hazel lays the blue.

Our new and improved web site is up! YEA! Shawn pulled out most of his hair but if you've seen him lately, you'll know that while it's thin, it's long enough to braid, so I guess a little less is OK.
He is still putting together more pages because we only have a partial on the miniature pages. Soon there will be information on my art prints, originals, a gallery section, workshops and other interesting links.

This winter has been long. Really long. Usually it's a good time to nestle in and stay warm, work on projects and cook warm dinners. Yesterday, when I went out to feed the chickens, I smelled Spring. I really did! I get intoxicated by those stolen moments when the sun sneaks in a window to warm my face or my back. Our cat Kashi seeks the tiny patches of light to stretch out and lets her black fur gets shiny and hot. There is still snow on the ground, a couple of feet anyway. More will be coming, it always does, it's only February still and March is long and cold. But I'm hopeful. Yes, I know Spring is coming, I smelled it yesterday.