Monday, March 28, 2011

Back to Business...

It feels so good to be able to make my bloggy rounds this morning. Last week I was preoccupied with the Spring Show + Sale at ACAD. It's not as big a sale as the fall one, but there was still plenty of lovely student art. I only wish I had money to spend on it :-D I volunteered as a roamer on Saturday, helping customers, tidying things and asking people how they enjoyed the sale. The best time to go is on the first day, a Thursday, for the best selection.

I didn't have school on Friday, so it was fun to come in the morning and discover that my miniature tapestry from my last post had sold! Maybe I'm on to something here :-D I also sold 15 photo cards. It was quite the ego boost! One of the things that holds a lot of people back is that their art may not be "good" enough, but art is tricky that way - people know what they like :-) I also got to see a few old co-workers, so that was cool to catch up with them. I can't believe it has only been a month since I left the office...but it feels like forever!

The weather has been awful lately. Instead of rain, we're getting we snow. I think this was a factor in the sale attendance. After volunteering, I popped down the way to visit Bubblegum Sass at Market Collective. It was busy, but still low key. And I still didn't have money to spend!

Ah well! It seems like I'm in a lucky streak right now. I won a scarecrow ACEO by Sunshine Shelle at her Oz blog party! I was thrilled to get the email last week. Her ACEOs are really awesome. If you're feeling lucky, don't forget that I have a coupon contest going on!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Made It!

Well, I made it to ACEO size :-) Here's "A Patch of Alberta #2". I can't seem to get a good picture of it - the bottom edge is bumpy and keeps warping the perspective of the left size. It was really fun to do and I would do it again!


Thursday, March 17, 2011

Feelin' Lucky?

Whew, this post is coming in under the wire! I have totally lost track of time lately. It was only when I saw fellow ACEtsy buddy Joann's post about it that I went looking for a green t-shirt. But I slopped yogurt on myself and ended up wearing a black t-shirt to school. One of my classmates pinched me hard and it hurt!

Anyway, it seems like an appropriate day for the next anniversary contest, which is totally based on luck! Just comment or leave your email address and I (or Muffin) will pick a winner on March 31st at 6pm MTN time. What's the prize? How does a 20% coupon to either my Etsy or Artfire shop sound?

It does take a certain amount of luck to be in business - either knowing the right people or which opportunities to chase...or pass up :-) Sometimes it's just the sort of luck that makes a picture great...or bad luck that makes a photograph one of those "shoulda coulda woulda" stories! I always feel lucky to have gotten some good bird pictures over the years.

Then there are things that don't seem lucky at the time...but turn out to be pretty lucky! I guess luck is one of those philosophical topics that one can write a lot about. I found an excerpt from a really good book I read a couple of years ago called Quirkology by a British scientist named Richard Wiseman. He set out to scientifically study luck and found out some surprising things about luck!

Friday, March 11, 2011

Friday!!!

It’s nice to know that despite being unemployed, I can look forward to Friday just like any school kid or desk jockey. On Monday, this arrived in the mail:




But my friend came over and we made five pans of lasanga to freeze, so I didn’t get a chance to play with it. On Tuesday I went for unemployment counselling and I was so gungho about updating my resume that I only had a chance to read the instructions. School happened on Wednesday and Thursday. Whew! So much for an excess of free time!

I won this little loom on eBay after losing a similar one by $1. Made by Spears Games in the 50s or 60s, this toy loom fit my budget. I had my eye on the Cricket, but had to scale back. Plus, I secretly love toys!

I also love how it has someone’s old project is on it. Everything about the loom is brand new. I picture that they received it as a birthday or Christmas gift and gave up when it bunched!

It was daunting to take the project off in case I couldn’t thread it again correctly. It took about four tries to thread it. I sense the young fibre artist had actually threaded it wrong although it seemed correct by the instructions. I went with my crafty gut instead. Can you guess what my first project on it will be? Stay tuned!


Sunday, March 6, 2011

Almost An ACEO!

When I learned how to weave, the idea of weaving an ACEO intrigued me. I found a hexagonal lap loom on Freecycle a few years ago and it seemed perfect. The nice thing about the lap loom is that it’s easy to measure the width and height of a piece. I have no shortage of embroidery floss from my cross-stitch days and the brilliant blues and earthy tones were perfect for this little piece, called “A Patch of Alberta”. The camera picked up every strand of floss it seems though.





I really wanted to make it to 3.5”, but things started to bunch in the middle. It was hard to keep the tension tight on one side of the lap loom and once it starts to bunch, it’s very hard to keep it from doing so. Maybe my next attempt will work out better!

The mini tapestry has been donated for a miniature fibre show that starts this upcoming week at ACAD. Funds raised from the auction will go to support guest speakers and trips for the fibre department. Wow...as much as I love drawing, I'm tempted to major in fibre more and more.