Creative Chaos

Memorial Day....

at Fort Rosecrans Cemetary.  We like to come out to show out respects to all the fallen soldiers.....

 

 

Life has been busy.....I'll be back soon.....K

Still here.......

The days have been a whirlwind lately.  I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted.  So far two birthdays, Cinco de Mayo, teacher appreciation week and a Mother's Day down with only one more birthday and a Gala fundraising project to go.  Here's a peek......

I will show you the completed project when I finish it.  I took pictures of all the kids and will put them on the bottom of the canvas.  As much as I would love to take credit for the idea, I can't.  I saw it on Pinterest on a school auction idea site.  It was the perfect project for 1st graders.

My Mother's Day gift.......a picture with me and my three boys.  It's almost an impossibility these days.  I told them this was all I wanted.  Carlos told me I already had a picture of all of us when we were in Santa Barbara.....that was two years ago.  Now I have the newest one......

Ok....time for bed.  I will leave you with some random shots of Paper Tales........

 

May is a busy month over here in the Chaos abode

May brings in a boatload of birthdays. One of which is Cosme's....We celebrated Saturday night with my world famous buttercream cupcakes. His birthday falls on Cinco de Mayo or as Michelle calls it.....Cinco de Cosme.

May is also the time for Teacher Appreciation week at the boy's school.   And that means crowns........

Since Carlos was in kindergarten I've always done the crowns for his and now Andres' teachers.  My friend who is the room mom for Carlos' class had sent out an email reminding us of the upcoming event and also giving us a link where we could sign up for things such as walking the kids to the classroom, bringing in flowers, gift, etc.  She said that the crown was already taken care of.....

Huh? What the?! Who in the world was stepping on my crown making territory.  HA! ...it's probably some new mom who doesn't know the power I wield on the school campus when it comes to the constructing of the fine headwear made out of paper. Don't these people know I'm practically the official school Milliner?!?  Well, there was no way I was letting anyone take way my duty as chief crown maker and distributor during Teacher Appreciation week. No way...no how....

So, before I went to the link to see what other mundane assignments were available, I fired off an email to my friend Seaton......"So who is making the crown?  Spill it!"   

I then clicked on the link to the sign up sheet knowing that what ever other assignment I pick would be woefully underutilizing my amazing talent and gift as a paper crown maker.

And then I saw it.  Right there in the "make the crown" column....... "I'll make the crown! When do you want it delivered?  Karin"

 

Oops.  I totally forgot that I signed up for it back in February.  Phew....no one stole my coveted position.  All is well in the world again......

Talk to you soon! Karin

 

I've been doing quite a bit of subbing lately.........

Wednesday was kindergartners and Friday was 3rd grade.  Every grade has a theme. For instance, Kinders and 1st grade is all about crowd control.  There are days that I have been in the classroom with them and imagine it would be very similar to what security feels like at a Red Hot Chili Pepper's concert.  Lot's of climbing over barricades, making sure people are seated in their assigned seats and making sure no one sneaks backstage.

Now, third grade what I like to coin "the age of information."  Because no matter how simple the request, question or statement, you can be assured there will be at least twenty little people telling you how to do something forty different ways.  Or, in this instance, discussing what keeping silent during a spelling test really means.........

Me: "There will be absolutely, positively no talking while taking the spelling test."

This vague request of course elicits no less than ten children to raise their hand in utter confusion.

Question 1: What if I'm breathing kind of loud and you can hear me breath?

Question 2: What if I have to cough? Would that be considered talking?

Question 3: What if I yawn?

Question 4: What if I'm spelling the word to myself and I accidentally say it out loud?

Question 5: ummmm, I need to go to the bathroom.

Question 6: When do we go to recess?

And my favorite.......

Question 7: What if I'm done with the test and I'm drawing on the back and then I need sneeze?

The day is one big blog post....this stuff just writes itself.....I'm doing a lot of subbing this month so I will be back with more.....  

Stamping fun......

I just got a hold of some of Lisa Pace's new Antiquated stamps.  It's all about babies! I've just been playing around with with them on some gift tags........

Of course my new heart/glitter embellishment has to show up on everything from here on out.....

 Sewing on paper.......

 

pom pom trim from Melissa Frances......it never gets old....

Notice the hint of glitter paint in the back......

Ok....off to work at Paper Tales today.  This weekend is our 4 year anniversary.  Awwww....my little baby is growning up! 

The evolution of a journal page.....

I finally finished my round robin journal page the other day.  Like I said before, I LOVE doing journal pages.  Why I don't do more...I have no idea.  But I really need to.  So here's the page after I washed it with some "wedding cake" white paint.  Frankly, I could just leave it like that after using "wedding cake" white paint......... 

But I decided to forge on.   I cut some rice paper into strips and using gesso applied it on top of the pages.  I love using rice paper.  It gives abeuatiful translucity to the page......

I experimented with different looks.  I did my old standby heart and then thought I might use this frame......

Aha.....I cut another heart out of some heavy muslin and sewed the edges.  I then got all fancy shmancy and pulled out the Martha Steart glitter paint.  I applied it on the muslin heart and the around the edges of the big heart........ 

My new obsession....Martha Stewart glitter paint.  Expect to see it cropping up around the ol' chaos blog more frequently.  So the theme for her journal was Masterpiece.....and her favorite masterpiece is The Birth of Venus.......

I obliged with some pictures from the painting.   I also broke out the H2O that has been sitting on my desk with it's inspiring color of iridescent blue begging me to us it.  Finally I opened it and painted the cloth portion of the picture.  You can't really see it but it is this beautiful shade of blue green........

 

 

 

 

Here's where it all began.......

 

And how it all ended.....I hope she likes it! 

Talk to you soon! Karin

 

Melissa Frances Monday.....and a tiny tutorial....

But first let's talk about marketing for a moment, shall we......We all know how it works.  Those marketing executives sit around the conference table and think of all sorts of ways to lure you in and buy their products.  Some tactics are complicated and some are based on the most basic level.    Let's take for instance this Martha Stewart paint.  It's paint....it's white.   Oh sure...it's in the cute little bottle with the cute little easy to open top. I can still resist.   I pick it up again because I'm attracted to the little aqua Martha circle.  Despite that, I'm still able to set it down.  I have a million shades of white paint at home.  I most certainly do not need another.....Martha Stewart paint or no Martha Stewart paint, I should have just walked away at that point with the clear undisputable fact of not needing another drop of paint much less in the shade of white when I turn the little bottle around and read the name of the color.....

"Wedding Cake"

Sold.  Not only do I buy it. But I swear it's the best shade of white I have everr seen in my life......Wedding Cake.  Seriously. Those people in her marketing department are geniuses....every last one of them.

Anyway, I forgot that when I made those Melissa Frances tags the other day I took some pictures for a tutorial.  It's nothing elaborate.  Just a way to show you the layering process.  My new obsession is with corrugated cardbord as you can see.....

I cut a tag shape out of a piece of the Ebony paper along with with a smaller piece of coordinating blue to fit on top.  I then cut a heart out of corrugated paper.  The corrugated paper I used is from notecards that I bought years ago.  See, sometimes hoarding pays off!   I thought I would put these love birds on it but then changed my mind as I always do......

 

I painted the hearts with a mix of blue and wedding cake white paint.  After it dried, I painted a bit of glue on them and the sprinked with glitter......

I punched out a circle and the using a glue pen traced along the edges and applied some glitter.....

I also painted along the edges of the tag and the inside piece. I put some foam dots under the circle as well as the heart and glued into place on the tag. 

I used a "greeting" banner from the c'est la vie sticker collection and a resin keyhole to place on top of the heart......

I added some tulle and a fabric ribbon to the top as a well as some pom pom trim and ruffled crepe paper to the bottom.....voila...A cute little gift tag to give to a friend.  

Personally, I think it's the wedding cake white paint that pulls the whole thing over the top.....but that's just me......

Talk to you later!  Karin

Done......

Big Adventures......

Carlos and the rest of his class went on an overnight field trip on The Californian as 18th century sailors.   They have actors playing the part of the crew and have the kids doing things that would normally happen during that time.  Dinner will consist of corn chowder and fish sticks.  His father, younger brother and I will be heading out for pizza and a salad.   They wanted the parents to write a letter as if we were in that time period.   Of course, I had a blast with it and thought I would share it with you.........

                                                                                                April 27th 1774

My Dearest Son Carlos,                                            

    I hope this letter finds you well and safe in your new sea faring accommodations.

    Although, I’ve been crying every night into my hay filled pillow, I know that you are being brave in your new adventure at sea.   Your father and I have been keeping busy for the last few weeks as to lessen our heartache of your absence.  Your younger brother, on the other hand, just noticed you were missing yesterday.   He has been enjoying the extra servings of cornmeal mush, pickles and gruel at the evening supper.  However, that will all soon come to an end as we have decided to trade him out for an extra couple of chickens, some coffee and a goat for the summer months.  I’m afraid that as much as I love your brother, I could not live without my beloved hot beverage another minute more. 

    He will be in good hands in the upcoming months, as he is going to be working for Mr. Lord Hingleberry operating that new-fangled printing press that’s all the rage nowadays.   Frankly, I don’t see how a printing press is any better than taking pen to paper.  If using an ink well and quill was good enough for great-grandma Guadalupe, then it should be good enough for these young whippersnappers.  

    Anyhoo, I just wanted to let you know your father is getting grumpier by the moment with all the rumblings going on in town about this talk of “revolution.”    It has been hard keeping good help at his cabinet shop nowadays with all the young men leaving for a crazy notion of fighting the British Army.  I have never heard of anything so ridiculous in my colonial life.

     Your father was even saying that he thought it might be possible to defeat them.  Well, I told him no one is defeating the British Army until I get my new kitchen cabinets built.    

    I must end this letter now as Mrs. Snootensnard is coming over for a spot of tea.   She wanted me to mention her daughter Bernice sends her regards and is anxiously awaiting your homecoming.  Your father and I  will continue to pray for your safe return.   Also, if you come across any good coffee or tea sellers, please pick up some dark roast for me.   

All my Love,  Your Mother

 

What I'm working on......

We got these cute stands in at Paper Tales.   I brought this one home to decorate.....I'm thinking paint and glitter. 

In other chaos news, I walked through the door yesterday after a back breaking day at Paper Tales to be greeted by Carlos with "Andres might have lice!!" 

Seriously.

After interviewing the alleged lice carrier, father that picked up the alleged lice carrier, and the alleged carriers brother, I was no closer to figuring out what was going on than I did two minutes before I walked in the door.

So, I asked what exactly was said at school.  "Uuummm.....the lady said I had three and I was ok and I could go......" 

Really.  

So after sitting down on the couch, eating a dozen or so Oreo cookies and saying a small prayer, I was ready to look at the perpertrator's head.

Nothing.

Apparently, after further investigation of his head and a few emails, I discovered he was lice free not three lice.

Hah....take that Law & Order!  Safe for now anyway.........

Talk to you later!  Karin

Last Saturday......

I attended the "Launch Your Creativity" seminar up in Old Town Orange.  Sharon Hughes started the event back in 2011 as a way for women to connect and "launch" their own creative dreams.  I've been wanting to attend the event since I first heard of it.  Finally, I had a chance to go to this last weekend.  The speakers for the event (l-r) were Kay Ellen Hammer, Jickie Torres, Sharon Hughes, Jane Button, Karen Valentine and Tara Wilson.  I was so excited to see Kay Ellen and Tara again.  I would finally get to meet Karen of My Desert Cottage, and Sharon after so many email exchanges.   I couldn't wait to hear Jane Button speak on how to get your creative business started.  Jickie Torres of Romantic Homes was going to be there too.  I thought this was going to be the perfect opportunity to hand her something that would make her want to visit Paper Tales the very next day.  This is what I came up with......

See the thing is this little book had to accomplish so many things.  It had to catch her eye....yet remain aloof and effortless.   It had to say, "look at me. I'm so stinkin' cute!"....yet allude "oh. i was thrown together at the last minute."   

So I finally got it all figured out around 10:00pm the night before the event.  I was so excited about it I had to call Michelle to tell her what a flippin' genius I was.   I created little glassine bags to hold the pictures of Paper Tales.......

 as well as my stuff.  The cards were attached with washi tape to they could easily be removed.  As was the picture on the front of the book.......I'm so brillant......

So as she gave her speech surrounding all things media and magazine related, I became more and more excited.  I couldn't wait to give her my little book and have her proclaime it the best thing she's ever received in her magazine editor life......

 
 "So when handing in a press kit or info, you want to make sure it's standard size and not anything fancy or difficult to store.....blah, blah,blah....I'm looking at you lady sitting there with the corrugated book in your hand..."

Ok, she didn't say that last part.  But I couldn't help give a side eye to my friend Gail who was sitting there laughing....figures.

Anyway, I went on to give it to her.  She liked it and all was well in the world.  Phew.   She was amazingly gracious as I handed her the "non standard size, difficult to store" notebook while explaining at 100 miles an hour how she can rip the picture off the front and use it to write down her grocery list.  We then went on to talk about all the inside secrets of getting your pictures published in Romantic homes......ist secret....standard size press kit.... 

Ok, I've got to run.  Working at Paper Tales today....talk to you soon!  Karin

 

Melissa Frances Monday......

So I'm now not only hooked on burlap, I'm loving corrugated cardbord as well......

I made another Melissa Frances inspired tag using the resin which I painted blue and various papers from the new C'est La Vie collection.   I see a lot more of these in my future......

Also, I will be back to explain this little number below.......

It involves a Romantic Homes editor, trying to make an effortless impression and doing all the wrong things......sigh...it all worked out in the end.  Thank goodness.

I'm off to work at Paper Tales today.....Talk to you soon!  Karin

Art Journal in progress.....

This is for the round robin journal I'm participating in........

Having a blast using all my vintage paper and wallpaper.......

 

Next up.......paint.....

To be continued......

Melissa Frances Monday.....on a Thursday......

Where has this week gone?!?  It's already Thursday and all I've been doing is trying to get this craft room out of "Hoarders" territory and into a more calming inspiring "Where Women Create" environment.  It hasn't been easy.   I've spent the majority of the last three days holding items, turning around in circles and placing said item back down on a different surface.  I did manage to clean thins little sopt up though.....

If nothing else I can look at this little inspirational oasis served up on a silver platter and feel like I got something accomplished.    Although, I did manage to throw together a Melissa France inspired gift tag on a newly cleared surface on my desk.......

I unearthed some corrugated paper and created a couple hearts......

Off to work at Paper Tales today!  Talk to you soon!  Karin

Spring is here.....

Actually it felt like summer here yesterday.  We got up in the 80's.  Of course, I decided to clean my craft room on an 80 degree day.  Same mess....different day.  I'll post some picture of the ongoing feud between me and my space.  Let's just say I see alot more Hoarder's Annoymous classes in my future.

Sunday I taught my Spring Bird class.  It was so much fun......

Here are a few pictures.  I was even ahead enough of the game that I had some time to make gift tags for everyone......

Ok...back to finishing up my room.  Wish me luck!  Talk to you soon!  Karin