Rolo's!

In the mail art world keeping addresses of your trading partners can be quite the hassle. I don't know how many times I have asked the same person for their address. Not too long ago I gave into the rolo fad. What's a rolo you ask? It's a rolodex card (the 3x5 variety) that has been decorated front and back and has your trading partners address on them. A clever and arty way to keep track of addresses. Since I am new to rolo's I only have a handful--but they are gorgeous! Some people have several rolodex's worth! People have even gone so far as decorationg their rolordexes. My rolodex is of the vintage variety, so I am not going to decorate it. The creativity people have shown with both the cards and the holders is flipping amazing! Here are a few cards I have made for other folks:





Here are some awesome rolodexes by folks at www.atcsforall.com:

By BlueEclipse:


By LisaB:


By Adriayna:


By BigKay:

I'm Back and Full of Longing

It's been a long 6 months or so that I have neglected this place. My apologies, life and art and kitties got in the way. And well, frankly, I've also been damn lazy.

To start Atticus is much better and no new hospitalizations have been needed. he is on urinary tract health kitty food and doing well, as is his sister Elke.

Art wise I have been a busy beaver! In April I applied to a juried art trading site, www.illustratedatcs.com, and was accepted. It was scary to apply as I had been turned down from their sister site, Mail Art World (which is now defunct), 2 times. I thought for sure I wouldn't get in. But with the help of my friend EraserQueen, I was accepted. The site used to just be for hand drawn and painted mail art, but has since opened up to collage and mixed media artists. It's been a pleasure trading there. My art snob self is happy to be trading for work that is at my skill level. I encourage anyone that has some level of skill to apply. The folks there are super friendly and the swaps are fun. The gallery is filled with the most amazing eye candy! Here's are a couple of pieces I did for a skinny book swap there:



I was also invited to participate in an invite only trading forum with some amazing artists called Amusing Muses. I can't tell you who plays there but it's a great group! Here are a couple of pieces from swaps there:



As for the rest of my life things are...OK. I received my evaluation at work and it went well. My boss created a new category for me called 'Creativity and Communication' and gave me an outstanding in it. That felt really good. In March I participated in The Hoffman Process. I will use another post to talk about that, but it had a beautiful impact on my life. Despite these good things I feel as though something is missing. Some part of me is not fulfilled and longs for so much. And I can't quite put my finger on what it is. Keep me in your thoughts.

The Kitty Returns & Day 11

Whew! Atticus is home and has survived the 1st day of Mommy giving fluids and meds. Last night I had to force feed home baby food as he refused to eat but this morning I awoke to his purrs in my ear urging me to the kitchen and his bag of food. By the time I was ready to give him his morning meds he had gone back for 3rds. Hungry kitty! He is on a painkiller derived from morphine, I call it 'kitty heroin'. I have a few pics of him stoned out, he looks kinda cute.



He seems to be feeling better, and even came for cuddles on the bed. And he is a purr machine! Even between doses of kitty heroin, lol. Elke (his 1 1/2 year old sister) isn't quite sure what to make of him. She is particularly offened by his smell and I don't blame her. He is a bit of 'dribbler' these days and though he does his best to clean himself he doesn't always get everything. The vet says that this should most likely go away, but there is a small chance he will remain a 'dribbler'. I am happy as long as he remains unblocked! We go to the vet on Monday for another look at his kidneys and to see how or if they have recovered. And to to talk about options if they I haven't. I am scared.



as for it being Day 11, I got a lovely surprise form paperscraps (Mary) with a beautifully altered composition book. I love the sparkly gold 'K'!

12 Days of Christmas DAY 10 & Sad Kitty News

I will start with the sad kitty news so I can close with something happier. I took Atticus to the vet yesterday to discover that his bladder was completely blocked. This often happens with male kitties (and occasionally female ones too), and the risk is that their bladders can back up and cause kidney damage. That, unfortunately, is what happened to my beloved boy. They say I caught it early but that he still had remarkable kidney damage and they are unsure if he will recover. They would like to keep him hospitalized a few more days but I simply can't afford it. So today I pick him up and learn how to give him subcutaneous fluids (meaning under his skin). He also has a raging infection, is in a fair amount of pain, and is refusing to eat. Cats when they don't eat often start using their stored body fat which can lead to a fatty liver which is deadly for kitties. So it looks like I will have to force feed him as well. I am hoping once he is in his home environment he will want to eat. I have quite a job ahead of me and I do it gladly for my sweet boy, but he and I could sure use your prayers if you are the praying type. Many thanks.

In happier news, I opened a fantastic gift from KatieV today! Using her binding machine she made each of us our own ATC holder! Here's mine:

12 Days of Christmas DAY 9 & Kitty News

Day nine brought pure yumminess from art4mysanity (Mireya) in Miami. Not only was the gift fabulous so was the packaging! She made a sweet pendant with beads and charms dangling off of it and the box it came in was altered by collaging stamping and painting! A couple of pics:





In other news, my beloved Atticus is not doing well. Starting yesterday he has been making sounds as if he were vomiting, but nothing is coming up. He also doesn't want to be pet (and he is normally a slut!), he's hiding, and most worrisome is he is growling randomly. Those that believe in prayer please pray for my sweet boy.

Solstice Prayer

I have this idea that every breath we take can be a sacred act, can be a prayer. So today, the Winter Solstice of 2008, I made a painting as a prayer. A prayer of thanks for the lessons and gifts of the past year, and a prayer of hope for the coming year. I had wanted to do a ritual, to celebrate the Solstice, where I would marry my higher self, but the day seemed destined for something different.

It was kind of spur of the moment. I wanted to know if I could make a paper collage, gesso over it lightly and then paint over that in a way where all the layers are present and meaningful. It's def hard to see some of the layers from the scan alone, but when you are in front of the painting, holding it, all of the layers come alive. I am not sure what I will do with the painting, but I have a feeling it will be in my etsy shop at the beginning of the year.

12 Days of Christmas DAY 6, DAY 7, DAY 8

I took a brief pause from posting my 12 Days gifties so I have a little catching up to do! I actually can't show ya'll day 7, because that was my day and so it was the day I opened the gift form the 13th player. I don't want to ruin the surprise for the other members of the swap.

Day 6 was a fabulous set of chunky book covers painted by Corrie! They are really gorgeous. I generally don't put covers on my chunky books so I am going to hang them as pieces of art in their own right.



As I said Day 7 I can't share with you yet, but I can tell you that the gifts I gave were altered cabinet cards. They were so much fun to make, I really enjoyed picking which card to give each person and how to alter it!

Day 8 was a delightful surprise! I received a hand painted canvas of a skull in one of my fave color combos--blue and orange from Original Youth! I also received one of her famous Tip Top Doll ornaments, woot!

Pause

It's funny how decisions we made oh so long ago can come back to haunt us. Recently my ex lover Ryan landed a job work for the county's IT department. Also working there is a man I will call P. P and I were lovers for about a year a few years back. I fell hard for him and his little boy good looks. Unfortunately, he was and still is married--with children. I never thought I would have an affair with a married man but one can never the predict the choices you will make when lust hits you square between the eyes. I last saw P over a year ago though I continue to have sporadic email contact with him. A week or so ago Ryan asked me to go with him to his departments Christmas party. His current girlfriend couldn't go due to her work schedule and he didn't want to go alone. (Sidenote--girlfriend knows and didn't care that Ryan invited me.) After I agreed to go I realized there was a chance P would be there, and if he was there his wife and kids could also be there (this was a family affair type of party). I cracked a few jokes about tormenting him with my presence but I think the joke was on me. I dressed to the 9's and I did take perverse pleasure in the look of sheer terror on P's face when he saw me walk in the door. But then standing a few people behind him in the buffet line he turned and winked at me and I swear I felt my heart breaking like it did when he decided to end our affair. His little boy looks like a miniature version of him and his daughter obviously takes after his wife, who, while no beauty queen, did remind me of Dar Williams. I watched his kids play with the toys Santa gave them and I watched their mother, who came and sat by Ryan and I, watch them with her greedy mother eyes. I think this was all too much for P because I saw him insistently urge his family to leave after a short time. And I am so glad he did leave because I am left feeling melancholy and sad at what once was and what was never a possibility of being. Afterall, during our entire affair I never had delusions of P leaving his wife for me. He was adamant that no matter what he felt for me it wouldn't happen. I thank him for that, for saving me from that delusion. But tonight I am remembering his laugh and the sound of his voice in my ear and the smell left on my skin after being with him and my heart aches.

12 Days of Christmas DAY 5

Oh yum! Today's gift comes from curbsidetreasure (Annie), who is the host of this swap. She is a talented collage artist and used her fab skills to collage a board book for me! It's WONDERFUL!

12 Days of Christmas DAY 4

WOOT! This has been a wonderful present opening day! Egrobeck (Elaine) totally outdid herself with 3 gifts for each participant and all were suited to each persons likes and dislikes. I guess Eileen did some profile reading before starting up! There are several pics today as most gifts are double sided! The 1st gift is an amazing glass slide pendant. Knowing that I love skulls and all thing anatomy related I received a gorgeous pendant on that theme, here's side 1:



And side 2:



Keeping with the skull theme Elaine made me a gorgeous altered CD filled with skulls. I had know idea that those pesky AOL CD's could actual become a thing of beauty. Side 1:



Side 2:



Last but not least is a wonderful altered bamboo tile doll. It is also 2 sided but I was getting lazy with picture taking so only one side is showing:



I am so thrilled with these gifts! How lucky can one girl get? (Don't answer that!)