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T-shirt rug in progress & other weekend adventures
Last week at this time we were driving home from Fresno to Phoenix. We were hoping to make it home around 1 a.m., instead it was 3:30 a.m. A 10 hour road trip! Patrick and I took turns sleeping, and we listened to a book on tape (until the sex scene came on and the kids freaked out, LOL!).
Last year at this time, we were frantically repainting the house and speed-stuccoing the fireplace to get ready to film the first batch (12 episodes!) of "Crafting With the Chica" for Lifetime TV - AND I was in the process of making a hundreds plus pieces of jewelry for Target.com.
So the fact that I'm sitting here tonight, nibbling on an oatmeal cookie, typing while wearing my "relax" slogan t-shirt is a wonderful treat! It's still pretty hectic though. Lots of big projects happening. Tomorrow a reporter from Phoenix Magazine is coming over to interview us for a story!!
This is really 'full circle' for us because the last time they featured us, we were in the early stages of our business. Check out this picture, DeAngelo was a toddler! The photographer wanted a pop art Joseph, Mary and baby feel. It came out super cute.
If you look close at the picture, you can see my use of Loteria on everything - back then the games were VERY hard to find and no one else in town was using them. (Who knew 14 years later, we would have our own very own version of the game!)
You can see all my polymer clay jewelry, my safety pin bracelets, and little bit of bead work. This is when we were selling our art to hundreds of stores all over the country. And I was pregnant with Maya! I truly do not know how we did it all...
Anyway - back to NOW... on Tuesday, a photog from the Arizona Daily Star is visiting for two separate pieces. We went into lock down and Patrick's mom came over today to help us scrub the house down. DeAngelo repainted all the kitchen cabinets, Patrick fixed up the front lawn, I managed to get some art work done too.
Noticed how I phrased that? Not "artwork", but art work. As in work that is art.
Our Heard Museum exhibit opens in about four weeks and we are on the home stretch - in fact, we are sprinting! Not panicking (yet), just sprinting. I'm almost done with an area rug made from t-shirts and placemats that is for the living room. Don't got by the picture, it iwll look much better than that when it's done!
I still have a couch to paint, and four hot pink vinyl chairs to trick out in oilcloth and rhinestone trim. I can hardly wait to dive into those projects!!!
One of my other projects is a super-sized headboard for a bed. The whole theme of the room is soft and dreamy - kinda Frida-meets-Bollywood-meets-guardian angels. For the headboard, I want to draw and paint the angels, but I'm still rough and stiff with my illustration skills. I'm stuck in the "face front and center" mode and need to break out of that corner. The easy route would be to ask Patrick to do draw my angels, and they would be better than anything I could do, but this whole room is my vision and I want to conquer my fears and do it myself. Flaws and all!
My friend Yoli and Krissi told me about the class they are digging from Suzi Blu. They are having so much fun, learning so much, that I decided to join in! Last night I signed up for the Suzi Blu Les Petite Dolls online workshop!
Suzi is beyond amazing. She makes these beautiful, playful, artful videos that are so uplifting and inspiring. The class lessons are perfect because they are online videos, and she walks you through each and every pencil stroke and even every boo-boo too...I've only watched Lesson One so far and I'm already working on eyes, face structure, and body gesturing. Just what I needed!
Here is one of my favorite Suzi Blu videos. She makes it look so easy!
Don't forget about the cruise contest going on! Win a free spot on the 2009 Crafty Chica cruise!
