WOYWW: Cleaning up the mess

Julia at Stamping Ground, keeper of the links, had nothing on me this week. My craft room was a mess. After a week of running, swapping, throwing, but NOT being on the computer, this is what the room looked like. I know I didn't visit many of you last week, and for that I apologize, since you were all SO GOOD TO ME, but frankly, life, and other events simply got in the way, along with that (&^%&#Y&#&T^(^F*^%R Error 503.


So here I was on Sunday morning,


and by Sunday night I still had no clear path to the bath (loo to my British friends).


By this morning, I could get in the bath,


and even vacuumed (Hoovered to my British friends) the floor. Didn't clean off the paint, but at least it was clean.


While in this corner, I thought I would show you how I store my eyelets and brads. Of course, a rocking horse had to jump into the shot, which I hadn't noticed when I took the picture!


I use a small shoe container with 8 pockets. It holds everything except my crop-a-dile which I store in my basement studio. Sorry for the blurry pictures and my arm in the way, but it was a tight squeeze trying to get the shot.


Next, I tried a new storage solution for my ribbon, but I see I'm going to need a whole bunch more of these hangers.


I finally have a clear path,


something I didn't have on Sunday.


Boy does this feel better!


I marked boxes with things I want to be handy when I am sewing my journals,


and found this rolling cart to keep the various bits and bobs I need to make them. It may look like a mess, but it's so much better than it was before. Now I have flashcards separated from postcard, and backgrounds separated from tags and stickers. It took nearly three days, but I'm delighted.


You can see the journal pages and covers that are ready to be assembled.


In case you can't read the clock, it was 4:07 pm when I felt it was finished.


Then it was time to decorate the house. When I tried to get busy with Christmas decorations, these rocking horses decided to come out and play. They had so much fun, they wouldn't let me finish decorating the tree. I ended up chasing them all over the house!!

Today I'm featuring Helen at Stamping by H. Helen has more stash than most of us. I'm always amazed at her ability to work on the floor, but I'm even more amazed at her stash of goodies. I would love to come play in her living room where she creates just once. It would be a joy and I'd have so many things to play with, it wouldn't be funny. Helen is another WOYWWer who always drops by my place. So, please drop by her place, Stamping by H, today. And I promise to get to you wonderful participants as soon as my house is decorated.

Tea in memory of my friend Gina

Today I'm having a cup of tea in memory of Gina Wise, my dear internet friend who died last Friday. I hope this small memorial to her will help me, and possibly a few of her close art friends, find some closure in this absolutely unfair way that Gina was taken from us. As mentioned above, Gina died last Friday from a heart attack she suffered on Monday night. Cards and letters may be sent to her family by requesting her address from me. My e-mail is on my profile page.


Gina and I were in many swaps. Many of them were ATC swaps. I didn't have time to dig out the ATCs Gina made, but I took time to find the art she made that I found in some of my bound books. From left, the 6th Anniversary Swap, the 7th Anniversary Arches swap, and the Houses swap, all on ABC (Altered Book Club), and the Halloween stand alone page she sent as part of a hostess gift during the 12 Days of Christmas Swap. Today, along with Kimmie and the rest of the tea participants found on Kimmie's sidebar, I'm honoring Gina in the best way I know how: through her art.


Gina made two Arches for this swap. This one was witty and humorous.


For the Houses swap, I believe Gina told us this was a photo of her parents. Gina's photo is the one of the angel who sits on the roof, blessing the house.


I was never able to get a good photo of the other Arch Gina made for that swap.

On the left is one of 25 ORIGINAL zentangles Gina made. Although they were all very similar, there were minute differences in each.


Gina had one extra hand left from the swap. When she learned I was making a "Hands" themed book, she told me she was going to send it as soon as she found it. She laughed when she finally found it, and put the date she mailed it on the bottom. The back was actually made in June, 2009 and she sent it in November, 2009. I didn't care. I would have waited forever on Gina's wonderful art!


I'm not sure what swap Gina was in, but she made this "extra" one for me, because she knew I had a Halloween themed AB that had tip-ins in it. As soon as I get the Halloween book back from Dana, I will add it to the book.


Something you won't see on the table, because I only decided to show it after some gut wrenching moments. On Friday I received a package from Gina with a "thank you" written on it. When I opened it, inside was this note: "I'm sending you the prototype Mendhi hand I made for Patty. I thought you'd enjoy having it!" It was haunting seeing the hand written message on the same day I learned of her death.


But Gina was like that. Once she knew you, she was so generous, so sweet, so supportive.


And although the light was streaming onto my dining room table, Gina, at age seven, looked almost surreal, much like the angel she now is. Rest in peace, Gina, and teach everyone in Heaven about altered art. You sure influenced me.

Ironically, Gina left me a message a week ago Friday, after I showed the last of the Teal journal. She said she had not yet worked in the book I made for her, but planned to. Having left the message with her blogger icon, instead of as "anonymous," I was able to track down her blog. I was especially delighted because this is what she wrote when asked if she had a blog in a private swap group we were in:

I started a blog in the middle of the night a couple of years ago and have
re-visited only once so, no I don't.  For quite a while I couldn't remember my
password!  Elizabeth is always encouraging me to get back to it but I haven't
invested the energy yet. 

So today, please take about five minutes while enjoying your tea to visit Aunt Gigi's House. And if you want to see more of Gina's art, please visit Patty's tribute to Gina here.

Last week I:

Last Thursday I canceled my out-of-town visit to swap these packages and


try out my new heater.


Then, some last minute change of plans had me visiting some friends who


had a gorgeous garden.


Possibly the most peaceful time of the day,


this garden barely showed the heavy freeze (18 degrees F, - 11 degrees C)we had experienced the night before.


In my opinion, it was still beautiful.


I took in all the sights


because every corner of this garden


still provided stunning views.


Little details were everywhere.


Every view was enjoyable.


Paths led to places of interest,


and showcased all the roses in the garden.


Follow another path


and you found forks in the road.


The choices were like in life. Follow one path, it leads one way,


follow another, and light and shadow play with your choice.


Beauty was everywhere.


One path led to the arbor,


where, even the compost bins were beautiful!


Then it was time to give thanks and eat.


After eating, I finished the swap and took the packages I could to the PO for mailing.


On Friday, while others were busy snapping up bargains, I was standing in a line at the PO since I needed to buy stamps for those people who sent money.


Finally, the line was beginning to move once the clerks returned from the back.


While attaching the stamps I purchased (YES, I could have just metered the mail, but what fun would that have been for the swappers), I noticed how the light played on the deserted mail box side of the post office,


a stark contrast to the area where clerks were needed to help with a purchase.


Then it was off to my friend Scott's.


Where he was busy building his own gingerbread trim,


and hanging other trim.


He had me nervous when I saw him doing this!!


Inside, the light from the soon-to-be-installed windows


contrasted nicely with the various geometric shapes of the ceiling.

As night approached, we headed to Scott's bank. I took the opportunity to snap a picture of downtown Wichita, as a transit bus blurred its way through my photo.


A quick photo through the rear view mirror showed Christmas decorations were up at the bank, as they should have been at my place.


Instead, we were off to Harbor Freight where I looked for Christmas gifts and Scott bought some more much needed equipment as a result of his recent break-in.


We returned to my place to dine on wonderful leftovers that I missed out on the day before. Sorry, no pumpkin roll! Pie would have to do. And I even ate turkey, something I didn't do on Thanksgiving. It was the first time I'd had meat in so long, it was actually quite good!


On Saturday I grieved for the loss of a dear friend, while I drug boxes and boxes and bags and bags of Christmas decorations to my kitchen.



Although I planned to decorate my house yesterday, I realized what a horrible mess I had in my house. I'm a neat freak and cannot work in clutter.


This was a result of my laziness over the past week and a half!


Messes were EVERYWHERE. I didn't even have a clear path to anything.


Last night, it looked even worse. I spent the entire day sorting and rearranging. I want to make and sell my sewn visual journals and need a way to easily get to the pieces I want to use. I think I can cut the sewing time a bit, if I can get to what I want to use easily. I don't yet have a system, so I hope my new system (the one currently in my head) will do the trick. At least I now have corralled all the wonderful art and gifts I have received that I have yet to open,


and I'm closer to being able to reach the bathroom door! I bet you know what I'll be doing today! I sure hope I make some progress before I have to show this mess on Wednesday.

Today, I'm still having problems with Blogger, and it sounds like my e-mail is bouncing, too, although I have plenty of space. So, if you need to get ahold of me, just leave me a message in the comments and I'll see what's up. I won't be back onto the blog until late tonight, though.

Today is another link I "snagged" from Seth Apter's blog. Chris Beck works in metal. His art is stunning. I was especially taken with his bird series because birds are a favorite theme of mine at the moment. I also liked the trees and several other categories. But I'm not going to spoil it for you. This is one web site you cannot miss if you like metal much as I. So, I hope you'll take time to visit Chris Beck's web site today.