been playin'

totally inspired lately....


on saturday i

went to a crop in Jerz with my friend Laura and her lovely friends Jen and Lisa. it was totally fun. there were so many different kinds of scrappers there- inky ones & plain ones & chronological ones & wild ones & mom ones & young ones & ones who mat and ones who paint & sand. i loved it!
i just really love to scrap.

i'm still kinda high from it

spent friday night at southpaw, a brooklyn bar where the walls are covered in old record album covers. i was there to see melissa ferrick play. anyone who doesn't know who she is should seriously go find her. as an out dyke, she doesn't get a ton of mainstream press, but she's gotten lots of "acclaim" and seriously, here's my acclaim: her talent is mind-blowing, her enthusiasm is adorable and her message is one that is good for the soul. and not in a cheesy way, i mean, this girl effing ROCKS. but she's about peace and love in an active sort of way. she's about making choices and living consciously and really good freaking music. she's also a riot and puts ona fantastic show. i actually didn't get as many still shots of her as i wanted because she kept saying and doing funny things i wanted to video instead and it ate up all the battery. oh she is so amazing. seriously. her shows are cathartic and exhilarating and i got the cutest new green t-shirt that says Melissa Ferrick right across the chest. Yup.

someone got new meds

... and it's been a very productive day.

also a factor: one of these days i'm going to do a poll among women-artists i know to find out if i am the only one who experiences a crazy surge of creativity & motivation during her period.

between the wild art-related impulses and the new prescription of nerve pain medication for the arm (which i heart big much), i have been a stuff-making maniac tonight, let me tell you.

actually, i'm showing you. my scanner is being pissy, and so i had all the new layots pose for a group shot for you instead. this is how i've been displaying them for myself as i finish them. the cat's getting kinda mad cause that's really his spot. tough noogies, chaz. lookit my art!

also did some organizing of scrap supplies. i'm packing stuff up for the big garage sale at YHP. i can't wait for that thing. what an amazing way to get rid of your unwanteds- and of course, if you're me, you end up buying a crapload of wonderful stuff from other people's tables. folks bring awesome stuff, it's just that they can't use it for one reason or another. tonight i went through my paper collection and began a stack for the sale. so far it's about 3 inches tall. can you imagine? i have that much extra. as i cleaned up and cleaned out in my studio tonight, i found that the excess is really getting to me. i am needing to pare down and simplify. making piles of stuff to sell and stuff to give away (like a fun pile for the kids i used to nanny for, who love to scrapbook and think patterned paper is like gold) felt so good.

it's now 4:24am and i am finally kinda tuckered out.

i want to marry dr.temperance brennan please

i have developed a major relationship with this character. seriously. it's not even the actress- zooey deschanel's sister- gorgeous and appealing though she is. it's effing Bones herself. this character makes me feel less crazy. the fact that she exists makes me feel better about my place in the world.

anyway, recent life has been busy and complicated.

they changed up my physical therapy program based on the tools and movements i need to be able to scrap, stamp, teach and work again- like pressing down with my hand enough to be able to work a stamp, or squeezing enough to work a hole puncher or a cropadile or a quickutz. i've been starting to scrap again on my own slowly but those bits are mostly tool-less and technique-free. now i'm starting to practice based on the idea of being able to teach and demonstrate with all the tools at YHP again. it's exciting to be moving closer toward those goals, though the new program is kicking my ass. i plan to spend the rest of tonight wrapped around my heat-up teddy bear (an organic gift from my lovely and amazing aunt anna, originally purchased for cramps when i was going away to college, he also does nicely when i want to rip my arm off and beat people with it) watching old episodes of Buffy and moaning.

since i'm not up to lengthy typage, here are some current visual snippets:

toes: mine and karen's after a long, hard day of shopping and getting pampered at the salon (and no, my big toes aren't really that stumpy, i was just flexing them weird)

charles in the basket: i have an antique wicker valise i keep near my apartment door in wintertime, and i throw all my hats, mittens & scarves into it. charles has taken rather a liking to the valise. he naps there now, dreaming about wearing his own hat and mittens (red and white striped).

my spot: this is the place i go to, the little corner of the local park where i go to hide out when the day care that shares my house is going on and i need to breathe and feel alone. i bring my old tablecloth to sit on, i curl up under my favorite tree with a book, and even in the cold- i love this spot.

tarot & karen: a reading of the lovely Cards. and karen's snazzy new jacket, which she returned the very next day. why, this may be the only record of its existence!

the sky & the city: as seen from 22nd street between 6th & 7th avenues in manhattan, at around one o'clock on a lovely monday afternoon.