still learning

I started this doll before we left for Brasilia, and after the trip in my luggage I realized that there are still some things I need to work on with my dollmaking. I finally feel like I know what I’m doing with the faces, I loved creating this doll and she was inspired by a wonderful print I bought from The Black Apple.

I’m still learning about how and when to use Gesso, how much stuffing the dolls’ faces need. Even with her cracked face I decided to make some arms and legs and finish off her dress… I couldn’t bear to put her into a box in a dark corner.

So, she’ll sit and remind me of the things I’m still working on, but I think that she’ll be a good Muse, I love all the things that went right with her too.

A New Muse

Art Swaps

Magic chunkies art swap

I’ve finally started to feel settled a bit, and I’ve returned to one of my life-lines from our days in Bogota, joining an Art Swap. I joined an ATC group after the first year away from the states as a way to feel connected to other artists, especially english-speaking artists. I wish my language skills were sufficient to find artsy friends in the wonderful places we’ve lived but life seems to find a way of getting between me and language classes.

I like thinking about the theme and then trying new things out to get my swap submissions ready to go. With the mail situation, I’ve also learned that waiting til the last minute is a sure-fire way to loose potential friends. I love getting things in the mail and I am excited for weeks waiting to see my trades… Overall I’ve always been surprised and very rarely disappointed.

I’ve done doll swaps and ATCs and now I’ve added chunkies to my list. I try not to overcommit, but sign up for one or two a month, then I check in to the forums to see if others have posted pics of their finished work. I love when a swap has a lot of lively interaction, it’s great to see the instant commraderie…

So, with a little work this weekend, and the use of a few magazines, cereal boxes and the scraps from my last forray into purse making… here is a few pics of the chunkie trades.

Magic chunkies art swap

Personalizing a Home

This weekend we did something a little colorful to personalize my eldest daughter’s room. Here is a photo of my stain glass- painting. I used Jo-Sonia paints, they were great on the glass, and with a little water, I was able to make some very smooth lines.

It’s not permanent, but it made her room very colorful and we both thought it worked very well.

Recycling Envelopes

Our mail has finally found us, and unfortunately there was a little confusion with one of my subscriptions, I ended up with one of my mom’s magazines. Well, to send it back to here I decided to recycle the envelope with some of her favorite people, my little girls of course.

We went home to my parents house just long enough to get them hooked on the girls and now we’ve gone 5,200 miles away… so things are a little strange, and anyway I got a little exuberant about mailing my mom’s magazine back to her.

Next time you forward mail, I hope you are recycling the envelope, or use a cereal box. Frankly the most fun I’ve had mailing recycled packaging was when I mailed some of my jewelry to a boutique using a lego box… it’s probably the first time I’ve had fun in line at the Post office.

Borrowing Books

I used our rental car for the last time today (6 weeks for $1000 - yeah that’s 3 zeros) and went by the Med Unit to get one of my babies a vaccine… It hurt but she shook it off after about 30 seconds. Anyway, while we were there I went into the commissary and on the way out I picked up some of the free books.

I miss the public library, when we were in the states for training we went once a week religiously, and now that we are back out at Post we miss it terribly. However the post tries really hard to have a lending library of videos and books. I found Artimis Fowl and a Maeve Binchy I’d never read before, not bad for a couple of shelves of old used books down in the basement of the main building.

Lately I haven’t added a lot of stuff to the site, sorry it’s an adjustment thing, I feel a little overwhelmed by things and am finding that I spend a lot of the time I used to do art, doing other things like preparing meals for my freezer.

We’ve had some bug problems here at the house so I am eliminating anything open or unprotected. We are lucky enough to have a good sized refridgerator and a deep freezer so I’ve been doing some extra cooking. I’ve also got some special situations when it comes to my girls, we are a little sensitive about their diets, and no worries, they are both handling the adjustment really well, I’m going to relax soon…

I didn’t know if I’d shared this but it’s how I’ve felt lately, just a little flat… LOL

Plastic Flowers, Recycling Art Project

I picked up a great little magazine at the stand the other day. I’ve found that there are a lot of little indy magazines I am totally in love with here in Brasilia. My new favorite is a work by Benê Paulo: Garrafas Pet.

It’s a magazine about making plants from a little paint and a few 2 liter bottles. He uses scissors, a few staples, wire, and a lighter to shape the blossoms and stems of some really fun little plants. I’m gonna be able to keep these guys alive - wink -

I’m so very impressed!! Check out the web page for the magazine here: Garrafas Pet

For a step-by-step of how he created the Violets from the image start here and follow the directions, which are in portuguese, but the photos are pretty easy to follow.

Please reply with photos of your plastic flowers, I’d love to post them!

Still Waiting

OK, so I’ve tried to be as positive and upbeat as possible about being without my toys (all my craft stuff), but I’m so BORED!  We are living here in Brasilia and I’ve still only got the stuff I had in my two suitcases.

Now, I’m not bashing the travel and packing folks, it’s my own fault for not doing the research… I assumed too much about when we’d start to get our shipments.

My husband and I could have brought 12 bags with us, but we didn’t - a couple of small children make that prospect unbelievably ridiculous… especially since you have to claim your luggage, walk it upstairs and then re-check it into a new airline.

So - I’m saying it’s my own fault - I just didn’t get all the info and didn’t take measures to do something about the potential for boredum… heck I could have shipped stuff to myself for a reasonable price.

That being said, here is my latest work, completed just this morning.  HA! The first one is my foot and that of my oldest daughter, courtesy of an old bottle of Maybelline temporary tattoo ink.

Farmers Market Happiness

A lot of my happiness is tied up in my relationship with food. I eat food for comfort, I love to eat good food, when my husband takes me out on a date it’s a pleasure to sit and enjoy some good food together. My daughters are a constant source of amusement and frustration when it comes to food. What they will eat, how they play with their food, how it gets thrown to the floor when they are done and what they will refuse to eat for no good reason at all.

Well I’ve decided that I am very happy here in my new home in Brasilia, we’ve finally found a farmers market! I’ve been going to the supermarkets near our home and have been alternatly outraged and frustrated. The cost of pretty much everything is just outrageous!

Now having done this before and knowing what the minimum wage is here I assumed that things would be at least a little more in line with what we had in Bogota. Well it wasn’t even close, I don’t know how those minimum wage folks are surviving.

Well a friend took me to Guara and the Market there and oh my goodness did I have a great time. We came out with a wheelbarrow full of fresh fruits and veggies, snacks and spices. The sweet vendors were kind enough to help us select food based on when we were going to consume it, everyone I attempted to talk to was nice too. And I didn’t spend even 1/3 of the amount I’ve been spending at the supermarket to feel like I had fresh food to eat and offer to my girls.

I’m still very confused by the Spanish I’ve learned and the few words of Portuguese I managed to remember - but it worked out. It’s always such a relief when I feel like I can do this…

My new favorite things about Brasilia:

• small green pineapple
• candied orange rind
• homemade candy peanuts
• pastels made with fresh dough, tomatoes and basil

Yeah, I plan to be very very happy here and why not, the food is great!

Seven Random Things

Tag, I’m it!

I was supposed to do this post weeks ago, sorry it’s been so long coming, I’m a procrastinator extraordinarie.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share seven facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their pages.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here is some very useless information about myself:

1. I have to listen to a book on tape to get to sleep at night, my all time favorite ‘get to sleep’ book: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy… any of them… and if you’re still looking for the answer it’s 42, duh!

2. I was a band geek in high school, it was fun, I played the flute and got to ride to parades and marching band competitions with the folks who were my friends. The uniform was hot and the year we wore spats was one of the worst.

3. In my home we try really hard to teach my 3 year old not to say dirty words, so we’ve taken to using such terms as ‘furdiculous’ and ‘oh, frog’ when something annoying or otherwise unpleasant happens.

4. If you had told me 5 years ago what my life would be like now I’d have called you a liar! I’d never really gone anywhere before we got on the plane to go live in Bogota, in fact when I took spanish in high school I flunked it… yeah, my dad had to go talk my teacher into a D, credit for having attended class every day. That I’ve agreed to this little adventure my husband and I are having still blows my mind… sometimes it wakes me up at night, ‘I’m living in Brasilia, I’m living in Brasilia with two little girls, and no experience with Portuguese and we drive a little rental car around, do some grocery shopping, kill assorted bugs and water the grass in our freaking huge yard all day to keep the new sod from dying’. Life is bizarre.

5. My first job was at a Petsmart, I worked in the Aquatics section… I cleaned tanks all day, I hate fish. So, what was my daughter’s first pet, yeah it was a couple of gold fish… cause I just can’t afford $2 – 6K to ship some mut overseas.

6. I own way too much in the way of craft equipment, my mom and I joke that the one who dies with the most wins… but really, I hope and pray that one or both of my daughters will be into art.

7. When the world seems way to quiet and I am playing with the girls or sitting on my computer or working on crafts I listen to episodes of Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, podcasts of Etsy, Prairie Home Companion, I can’t get enough of the Office and Project Runway.

Now, here are seven of my favorite shops and Blogs from Etsy who can either play along or not. But these folks are talented either way, so check them out!

1. crankbunny
2. Pillow Monsters
   
3. Marmee Craft
4. dollygagging
5. Lemon Oak Studio
6. Sybile
7. annejulie

Ciao!

Flash Card ATC

So I’ve been writing about what I’ve been doing to keep my hands out of trouble as we travel and here is the first little collection of my Flash Card art.  Read the Tips for more info.