Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Holiday Road Trip

 My Mom, my daughter and me all drove to Ashland Oregon to meet up with my sister to celebrate Christmas early (early=the true McCutcheon way). It was quite the snowy adventure on the way up. I think it took us 3 hours to go 15 miles at one point, but we made it and were very happy! Only wish we had a few more days to hang out.

Here was our happy snowman mascot on the dashboard. We were sure we would be running around in the snow in Ashland, but it was only a bit rainy. The sun even came out for a bit.


Oh my!! It was so great to be with my sister! My daughter thinks the world of her too. Her shirt says "Auntie Auntie Auntie" and I think that sums things up well. It was pure bliss to be there and we all cannot wait to do it again.

Even got some fancy coffees! So good! LE and Madison were the fashion trend setters. If only we could all be so put together. And that Living Papaya store was so awesome and inspirational. The Store called Prize was chock full of wonderful things. I got urges to copy it all!

Hard to believe I used to live here. I do not think there was ever this much snow in my short stay in Mount Shasta. We had to make a stop here to make the snowman we had talked up for days before the trip. I love the joyful expression my daughter wore the whole time as she experienced real snow for her first time.

Nice to be home and finally (on Christmas eve) I have the Holiday houses lit and set up. We even fit in making some chocolate chip cookies for Santa and found some carrots for the reindeer. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!!!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Holidays!!


Christmas is coming and it is officially time to give up on making anything more for gift sales. I have so many partially started and some great ideas that I just could not produce. I did get some presents made for friends and family, and that felt good. It was such a pleasure to find time to make some zipper bags for all the girls at work. I had never done any zipper work before. I am glad they all turned out.




I even made a stamp for a good friend living in Denmark. She works as a developer for LEGO. I hope she likes it. I love carving stamps.
 Just too much going on in October, November and December this year. All good stuff, but hard to fit it all in. My little princess (here in her first Christmas parade) gets the lion's share of my time, and that does make me very happy, I just wish I can fit in more. I gotta sleep sometime I guess.
Tomorrow I have some fun at the Art Clinic, then its off to Ashland Oregon for family and snow!! Just the girls! My mom, daughter and me are meeting with my sister to party! I have brought some art projects and hope to come back with a few new things. Here is to getting more done for next year!! I have lots of plans and ideas and I am hoping to start early this time (I say that every year I think)

Monday, November 26, 2012

November...zooom

 November is here and almost gone. My awesome sister visited us from Seattle to celebrate an early Thanksgiving and her Birthday! Yes it is November and we are at the beach and yes my sister went for a dip and no we aren't crazy.

So.. epic yet short sister visit, flowers and fixins bought for Turkey day at my place, daughter helping with decorations, the feast, and consumption of the feast! I am a happy girl, and super duper thankful for the bounty that surrounds me. Wow! Not ready for the Christmas stuff yet, although I should have all this list of stuff made by now to put up for sale. Dang! I never did find time to photo my stuff for Etsy like I had hoped.

It felt decodent to get a quick sketch in, but I did stay up till 2 AM making some paper clay and paper mache stuff after that. I had 5 days off  which was super nice! I had thought that baby and me would get out and about more, instead we kept it local and that was nice too.


 These will be paper mache' birds at some point ;)  I have since formed their bodies and have left them at the Art Clinic to be mache-ed on Thursday. I cannot wait to have them at home and start designing their plumage. This time I will include a photo of the real bird I used as inspiration. There will be 8 or 9 of them arriving at the Art Hus in December, so go check it out!
I also have almost 2 dozen paper clay tag/ornaments in the works that will be there soon as well. I made more milagro hearts for those interested. Keep an eye here, I will be updating with progress photos as I go. I have a crazy busy weekend comming up, so I am not sure when My Etsy shop will get updated. I will post more info when I get there. I am excited to be doing some paper goods and take a small break from all the jewelry work.



Even made some time to make Percimmon cookies (a seasonal family favorite). I guess I should try and be easier on myself, I did get something done. Especially a ton of mother daughter fun. These stickers all came with individual messages from my pretty baby girl. It is so nice to be loved and to love! Hope everyone else in the world can feel so special!

Sunday, November 04, 2012

October is over and November has begun


Total chaos on the bench as my studio time ticks down. I feel pretty good about the variety that I made, but wish I had got the rings done. Actually finished 5 necklaces that day and had some me time at a coffee shop to finish 8 pairs of earrings. Next I had only 2 nights at home to finish the rest. I did pretty good I think.
 Here are some of those first necklaces I finished, and a bracelet.







Halloween came before our show and we had a great time! My daughter can be a real wild one :)  She drew the faces for all the pumpkins and Grandpa carved them all. They were so cool!! Some of the best Jack'O Lanterns I have ever seen. Her favorite part was handing out candy.

The Queen of Arts has come and gone. I am glad the deadlines are over. I think I have enough silver work and jewelry in stock now, that I can focus on the paper goods again. I have a big list :)  I did not get to mingle at the show much, but my baby wanted to be there both days and stay the whole time, so I got some very sweet me and her time. So stay tuned for a bunch of paper clay and paper mache work. Fall is here and the skies are gorgeous!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Harvest Skech Day and stuff


Had another wonderful October sketch with the Vally Sketchers at Summerset Farms in Santa Ynez. I really enjoyed every doodle that day. Here are some highlights.


Loved the flowers! If I had an ounce of outdoor space/property, I would have bought them all up! Every year Summerset looks more and more beautiful. Always a delight. Here are most of the sketches I did. Wish I had more time for color.



I hope baby has fun when she goes there for her school field trip.

Here is a local gray fox from Zoo to You at the Wilding Museum. I really enjoyed it, but baby was a bit distracted. "roooooaaarrrrr!!"
 I did get to the studio today. It worked out pretty well. I got most of my pieces right where I wanted them. I am just nervous about having them done on time and that I spent all (what very little I had) my free time on these and had nothing left for any of my other projects. I am trying hard to work past this. I always think this, but maybe next year I will find the time to get all my ideas made.