restocked

I finally got some more issues of Current Resident #2 printed. I forgot, however, to make some updates on the contact information and change the title to Current Resident #2 (from Imaginary Life #4), but I do have some in stock! Hopefully next time I will remember to do those changes.

Here is a pic of a few of them. The cover image is a gocco print. Available now in the shop.

fun with the internets

Here are a couple neat sites I have found recently. PhotoFunia uses your photos and uploads in all kind of wacky places. Here are a couple I did to prepare for when Figure 8 takes over the world.


Cool drawing of me below done by Nicole Georges, of course. Who, by the way is currently looking for people who need advice. She is full of answers for you. Ask her a question.

I found a neat new search engine. It is called searchme. Unlike the new cuil search engine that was supposed to be so great (made by people from Google), but was a complete mess when I tried it, searchme is pretty good. It shows you each page, you flip through them almost like a magazine. I have noticed seeing those visual clues really helped me find the right sites.

There are some cool vintage-like labels for you to print for your homemade goods. HP offers them up for free. Go here.Here is a pretty interesting site filled with old photos, films and who knows what else. I haven't had a chance to check it out enough, but have at it. Here is an image from there that I like. From around 1912:

monday fives

I am very pleased with this recent picture I took. It is for a cute Oregon Souvenir I added to The Cedar Chest this weekend.

I think I will do this meme I saw on Creature Comforts today.

Ten years ago:
1. I had been back for a couple months from my visit to the Pacific Northwest and longing to be up there.
2. I was writing and recording lots of songs on my uke and guitar
3. Doing a radio show at Stanford U
4. Running a clothing store in Palo Alto
5. Spending too much money on records

Five things in today's "To Do" list:
1. Work on the new home page design for work
2. Figure out new products we are adding
3. Go grocery shopping for lunch stuff.
4. Do yoga
5. eat some more fruit

Snacks I enjoy:
1. berries and cherries
2. cheese and crackers
3. smoked salmon
4. sushi
5. cake

Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Start an awesome easy listening radio station
2. Buy a big house on a Washington Island
3. Buy an old school and create a fat community center
4. Give money to some people.
5. Travel

Places I have lived:
1. Ventura, Ca
2. Sacramento, Ca
3. Oakland, Ca
4. Mountain View, Ca
5. Portland, Or

come over to my house

Even though I do art projects and sell crafts, I really am not an artist. Not the kind that can draw and create a whole world. I am very very limited in this department. I think my talent is actually collage. I am good at taking different things and putting it together. That is what I do with zines, actual collage art and even what did with a radio show.

Another reason I am not that kind of an artist is that I am kind of half-assed about a lot of the crafts I do. Often I really don't care about getting it perfect. Especially if it is just for me.

When I bought these unpainted house magazine holders I had visions of painting cute little shutters on them, or climbing vines. After they sat around for a couple months I finally sat down to paint them and realized that I had no idea how to do that and I would be lucky if I could just make them look cute. So, I just started painting with very little pressure on myself, which made it much more enjoyable.



I painted these with acrylics and then did a layer of matte Modge Podge on them(I got them at Michael's). I like how they look next to each other. They would look so good in a group of several on a shelf. For now, however, I only have room for these two.

Obviously, I am partial to images of houses. I think it all started from a book I had in childhood. Did anyone else have this book?



You get to go all over the world and see all the different kinds of houses people live in. I remember looking at it a lot.

Ever since then I have always liked illustrations that show different kinds of houses just up the road from people. I have lots of examples I could show you, but maybe I will save that for a later time.

a summary of my summer

Here is a new fun thing for you to play with. This is my woordle for the blog. I found out about this via the How about Orange Blog. Woordle takes the words from your entries or from text you enter and arranges them, making the words you use the most larger. You can play with the colors and shapes for how you want it. It looks like they only take from the pages showing and not from the whole blog.

I like how this sums up the highlights of my summer so far.

smitten

I have back from vacation for over a week now. Whidbey Island was so wonderful and refreshing and I think I have been grieving my loss of that island breeze and view ever since I've been back. The grounds of the house we rented were so beautiful and so large! Here is a photo I took near the edge of the cliff where they had a nice little bench that you could sit on and listen to the water lap against the shore.


We had to take the ferry to Whidbey Island from Port Townsend. The Washington Ferry system is awesome and I would love to live up there just so I could take the ferries around. I wouldn't even need to get out!

Port Townsend is a nice little town and we stopped there both ways to have lunch. On our way back home I wandered into this little shop while my mom was at the yarn store and came across these glass vases.
They are not vintage, but are designed to look vintage and they have these awesome screw on frog tops that are so perfect. I completely adore them and have made sure to have a few fresh flowers in them ever since I got them.

I just love looking at them. I would rather look at the view at that island house, though. I think I will make it my goal to visit all the Washington islands. I have been to a couple others, but there are so many. Getting back to regular life was a little hard this week. But, I am happy to say that Family Vacation was a big success.

on vacation

I am off for a week for a family vacation on an Island in Washington. This is the view from the house we rented. It is a new experiment, all of us taking a vacation together. Should be interesting.....Hope you all have a great week!

summer loves

I have been too busy mailing out packages and watching season 3 of Weeds to do much crafting lately. As much as I would like to, I really need to spend the next month or so working on a new issue of Figure 8. Right now I am dubious that it will get done, but I always feel that way a month and a half before the zine symposium and it usually does get done.

I have been enjoying the summer harvest and am looking forward to more. So, I thought I would do a little Etsy search to illustrate my favorites. Doing an Etsy search on a subject is a good way to see what is really out there on Etsy. It isn't all great, but it is interesting to see what people are producing and sometimes surprising to see what sells (Pounce is good for this too).

Last night I ate two ripe plums, cold from the fridge. It reminded me of that Williams Carlos Williams poem. They were excellent. I think they might have only been better if they were stolen. Here is a neat plum block print from kgcrafts. It makes me want more plums!

Strawberries are now in full bloom here in Portland and man, are they good. I keep thinking I will make something with them, but I would rather just eat them straight. Here are some cute pin cushions from squirrelonaledgetop



Lately, I have been getting garlic scapes or garlic shoots from the Farmers Market. They are really good in sautes. Garlicky, but also green tasting. I think they would make a good pesto, too.
Here is a nice green garlic painting from FLYoungstudio


Hope you are enjoying the summer. Although summer is not may favorite season, air-conditioning, the farmers markets and swimming makes it way more enjoyable. I am looking forward to more berries, local cherries and my zucchini plant producing more zucchini than I know what to with.