Art Indulgences

I'm back after a little break from the blog world. It was just a few days, but I needed it. After last week, I've decided to start cross-posting my entries to LJ as well. There are just too many awesome people there!

I have one of these "bubble" aquariums (bought on ebay for ~40.00) but mine isn't nearly this beautiful. Neither is my bathroom wall that it's mounted on!



The bird fad is still going strong in my jewelry box. These pieces by Etsy's Ramona Nettles are so darling. The little paper and wire masterpieces are totally affordable too, around 21.00 each!


And how cute is this?!? For 250.00, artist Heidi Shaulis will paint your cat as a Japanese lucky cat! The 9 X 12 inch gallery-wrapped canvases would make amazing conversation pieces!

And my latest ebay find that I'm SO excited about! The Artful Cupcake has 144 pages of incredible-sounding, and GORGEOUSLY decorated cupcakes. YUM.


Valentine's Day was a blast but I'm moving onto Easter, and planning our annual dinner! Wouldn't these candy-almond bird's nests make amazing place cards and favors?


As always, I've found that I have overbought annual seeds for my garden. I have tons of extra flower seeds and want to pass them on. If you would like a little bag of organic flower seeds just leave your address and I'll mail you a mixed pack. Just dump them out, sprinkle a little dirt on top, water and enjoy! I use these seeds (from the same company) every year and get buckets of gorgeous blooms!

Cross-posted to http://artindulgence.blogspot.com/

Have you ever inadvertently copied another crafter? I recently did and I feel so horrible about it! That adorable little dress I posted in my last post looks so much like the work of another artist I greatly admire. I have about 300 blogs that I subscribe to on LiveJournal and as I went through my Friend's List today I saw a post she had made about me copying her. I've been making these dresses for years out of paper and only last month did I decide to make one out of material. I didn't even think about where my inspiration came from, but obviously it came from the dress she posted three months ago. I feel sick over this. I read and subscribe to so many different craft blogs, I didn't even realize. I had put the dress up on Ebay and when she messaged me I took it down right away. Is there anything else I can do? This is so horrible, I hate to think someone would think I would so blatantly copy them.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Stories to make me feel better?

Edit: her post is here, where you can see just how much my dress looks like hers. =(

http://meloearth.livejournal.com/

Additional Edit:
After seeing this post I'm starting to feel so much better! Thank God, because I have a huge exam tomorrow and I have been sick over this and unable to study!

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5036922&page=1

http://artindulgence.blogspot.com/

I am LOVING the ease of use over at my new site. Not to knock LJ but I just have an easier time with the new digs. I've been making daily postings and they just get longer and longer. But I do have to pop back here from time to time to read all of your blogs!

Daily Inspiration:

http://artindulgence.blogspot.com/

I have added a link at the bottom of the new site so that you can subscribe to Art Indulgence. Thanks so much for the interest!

http://artindulgence.blogspot.com/

I mentioned awhile back that some changes were in store for my blog. As of today I will be moving Art Indulgence to a new URL. I *really* hope my friends in LJ land will bookmark the new site and stay with me!

The new site has a fresh, clean look, will have daily postings, my art and creations for sale (with free shipping for readers!), contests, swaps and much more content. I've made so many friends here and I hope to make even more with the new site! I will be keeping this LJ for commenting on my friends list here. I just love sitting down with a cup of tea and going through your blogs every night!

If you stop by the new site, drop me a line in the comment box and say hey! I'd love to see you guys there!

Is there anything better then spending the evening with girlfriends and a couple of bottles of wine? The perfect ending to the perfect day. I slept in, went shopping at the second-hand store and the art supply store, then had lunch by myself in my favorite coffee shop before going into work. Heaven. On to some more things I love...

Drain Eye Catchers
When my kitchen is finished, I'm totally getting one of these limited edition catchers for my drain. I love when people taking something that is so mundane, so NECESSARY and turn it into a miniature work of gorgeous art. Why can't everything in life be so perfectly designed?


I'm also totally digging this art from Pistache on Ebay. Its faux mosaic painted on canvas. So eye-catching.


And my newest Internet addiction? Rooms I *heart* on Flicker. Perfect for anyone looking for inspiration. Can you believe this room? It's only one of the many hundreds of stunning pics of room porn you'll find.


And lastly, a mixed media on canvas piece I did last year. I've been making room for more art and, sadly, sold this piece today. I was going back and forth but my husband finally convinced me, telling me it was emo. LOL! No, I am really happy though. I've enjoyed it for a year and now someone else will. And now I have money to buy more art!

This tape is SO COOL! I envision an entire wall filled with colorful drawings, all unified with these tape "frames." Maybe in my hallway?



I am in LOVE with the work of Justine Smith. Have been for sometime now. She has totally inspired my mixed media work over the last year. How could I not have a girl-crush on this woman?




Ok, I subscribe to a lot, and I mean A LOT, of magazines each month. So I usually have about 30 or so recipes that I want to try out each month, no joke. And a TON of them are desserts. So is it wrong for me to want this book? Does anyone else have it and want to rave about it? How about anyone who just wants to encourage me to buy another book I don't need?

I'm BACK in BlogLand! And I've missed you all! I have exciting blog news around the corner, some secret events, exciting surprises and more! I can't wait, can you? I have SO much to share with you, so lets dig in!

My newest MUST HAVE find from ebay? These gorgeous wall hangings/table cloths made from vintage Sari fabrics.



Gorgeous (and affordable) pieces like the one above can be found here for around $60.00 and up.

And here is the one I bought. I've hung it above the love seat in my living room. I just love the sparkles!



I think I was inspired by this book, which I bought a few weeks ago and have been drooling over ever since!

Hey! Why doens't the amount show up?!??! Anyway, its $1,129.08, and I like it. =)

Does anyone else get stressed about being away from home? I'm getting ready to take off for two and a half weeks. I should look at it as "two and a half weeks in paradise, RELAXING!" but instead I think "two and a half weeks that I will not be able to see my animals/work on projects/and omg it will practically be Halloween when I get back and I'll be so behind." Anyone else this neurotic?

I have three more days until I leave. Aside from having MASSIVE caffine-withdrawl headaches I'm doing well and still cranking along. I bought a sprial top-bound notebook to copy my everything-in-the-world-to-do-list into. Its THREE PAGES. But its FUN! There are boring things like filing for a tax deduction, scheduling apointments, or writing a letter about an incorrect toll fine, along with fun things like picking out new dishes, repotting plants or picking out paint colors. I can just flip it open and get to work. And I have been, TONS of stuff has gotten crossed off. Very happy with my progress.

Some sort-of link dumpage. When I was tutoring at the school I had too much free internet time. But, I made around 600 with these sites:

Anyone using Associated Content? You write an article (they're small, about 1 page min) and they pay you 8-40$. All mine have been accepted at 10 =( but it's not too bad since they each took 30 minutes to write. And you can write about whatever you want. I'm having fun with it and if you want to try it out here's my referral link:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/join.html?refer=18598

Another fun site I've been using is Treasure Trooper. I've made around 250 a month on this site, signing up for offers, getting paid for them then cancelling. Well, I have kept a couple, but most I cancel. Anyway, at my tutoring job I had tons of spare time so I did odd things on the Internet like this. If you're interested, here's a referral link for TT:

http://www.treasuretrooper.com/114187

Things are going well here at the Action Girl house, in fact I'm starting to feel better! What reallly helped was getting everyone on board, telling people that I'm going insane and that, if something doesn't change I'm out of here! And I was serious too. That always helps.

The Husband Thing: People have been asking. Yup, I got married. The short story is that we had planned on it, but in 2008. Then his company was sold and I found out I wasn't going to be insured anymore. They weren't doing the domestic partner thing. This was BAD for me. I'm on a million pills for headaches, anxiety, ect. ok, well two and I'm weaning myself off. But yah, I've been having health problems for the last year and LOVE my paid-for dr and my paid-for therpaist and my $15 fell-off-my-horse-again ER visits too much to give them up. So I'm laying in bed one morning, trying to sleep at 10am after battling a migrane all night when the boy calls me and says he's picking me up in 15 minutes to go to the courthouse. Whatever. We do. And that was that. We had a friend sign it (rock on Universal Life Church of the Internet) and its done. I'm not really into being a wife though. I use the terms boyfriend and husband universally, didn't change my name (his name suxors, sorry sweetie!) and still don't wear a ring. The ring thing will change though. I'm excited to design my own and think I'll get on that sometime next year. Then there is the bonus that, after 5+ years together, people have finally stopped asking us when we're going to get married.

Updates:

*I gave up caffine and booze(temporarily). Here was my schedule: around 9pm I'd start hitting the sauce so that I could sleep through my headaches and the noise. Yah, not the best of ideas but it turned into a habit. I'd fall asleep around 2am, then I'd wake up around 11am and drink caffine ALL DAY LONG. Now I'm having trouble sleeping but I anticipate it will pass. I haven't had any tea of coffee in four days now. I really miss it but when I go back it will be for enjoyment, not dependency.

*The boys are gone. They've all been playing their games online instead on in my house, giving me a much-needed break. The phone ringer is still off. LOVE IT.

*I've been eating really, really good and it's totally helped with my mood and my freaking-out-in-general. I'm so much calmer and I've only been on a macrobiotic diet for five days now.

*Retail therapy. I've been shopping a LOT. It's bad. In fact, I shouldn't even mention it.

*My lists. I'm making tons of progress on my everything-I've-been-putting-off list. Its amazing. Everytime I cross something off it gives me a little burst of energy. I really think I might come home to a clean house with nothing in my in-box.

*Fall. I'm trying to decide what to do when I get back from vacation. Its been a REALLY rough year and I could use the time to just relax and work on feeling good, my health, ect. Or I could work, or take classes. Its all up in the air still but I'm spending time imagining how I'll feel and what issues will come up if I choose which path. I'm working on it.

Yup back. For realz. I've had SO much going on that I had to take a temporary vaca from the face of the Earth but I'm back and better than ever. Or at least, I have a plan to be. Its not so much that shit hit the fan or anything, its more like I just realize that I was REALLY unhappy in a lot of areas of my life. Things had to change. I had headaches all the time and had to see the dr about an ulcer-I'm 26!!!! We have the most chaotic life, so much going on and my husbands open-door policy with all his (loud) programming friends was killing me. So, I wrapped up everything I had going on in my life one week ago and made an Action-Girl plan. And now I have a week to impliment it. Then I'm going on vacation to forget about all this crap, rest up and recoup, before coming back to my (hopefully) repaired and organized life. Seriously. Anyone who thinks I cannot fix my life in one week need not comment. =)

So far:
*Having people over 24/7 is killing me. I couldn't sleep, it was driving me mad. I was seriously angry all the time at the amount of people coming over, the mess and the noise level. Action Plan: switched my bedroom to the farthest corner of the house. (Done!) Tell husbands gaming buddies they can't come over until he gets off work. Set aside people-free nights (sacred evenings). Move my studio to a finished shed in the yard. (This week!)

*Make a huge list of all the things that have been draining my energy and tackle them this week. So far I've filed, repaired things, cleaned clutter and crossed off a million to-dos. I'm on track to come home to an empty in-box.

*Budget. My budget is a MESS. I had no idea what was in and what was out and my husband and I have been fighting about it.
This site sets up your budget for you. It asks you step by step questions, sets up projected budgets and shows you exacty what's coming in and going out. The best, simplest site I've found. Make up your own categories and decide what you will spend for what. It's so fun to watch your savings grow!

*A HUGE problem for me was the noise and mess of our house. I'm working on banishing the noisy boys, fixed the toilet that was always running, made a sign for the door stating "quiet night in progress," and bought a gorgeous fountain from WaterBell Chimes for peaceful background noise when I'm home alone. I've also been turning off the phone ringer and moved the answering machine to another room where I can't hear it. Now I just check it once a day. I'm finally starting to feel more peaceful.

I still feel like I have a huge stack of books on my chest at all times but I now see light at the end of the tunnel.

but it's your lucky day. I went with not-so-freakish accessories instead.

For realz. Ruby Slippers from Trixie and Peanut. I almost cried when I found out they don't come in Border Collie size... Glitter and glue gun here I come.

I've been cleaning out my sunroom and realizing that I have eight million succulents that are becoming potbound. Finally, a prefect excuse to make the living succulent wreath I've always wanted to make!


I am so into these gorgeous collages by WeaverArt.

I really hope more are posted since I got outbid on everyone listed on ebay. =(


I've been working my ass off in my garden for the last few days. Veggies, summer cutting flowers and repairing the fences that my horse keeps knocking over. Anyone planting anything cool?

Also, what design/art/creative blogs do you read regularly that aren't on Livejournal? I switched computers recently and lost my fabulous favorites! =(

BARRY WITH HIS LONG HAIR WAS PERFECT TO GIVE THIS LITTLE CAPE A MORE GIRLY LOOK.IT IS HAND KNITTED IN A MIXTURE OF HOT PINK SHIMMER WOOL AND BABY PINK DOUBLE KNIT AND IS PERFECT FOR THE TEENAGE GIRL PIGGIE WHEN SHE IS HAVING A SLEEP OVER.

BARRY IS NOT A GIRL'S NAME!




ALL SET FOR THAT CARRIBEAN HOLIDAY PIPPA IS SEEN HERE IN HER TROPICAL SET.THE SET IS HAND KNITTED IN A NEW COTTON KNITTING WOOL IN LOVELY TROPICAL GREENS YELLOW AND ORANGE AND THE HAT IS A BERET STYLE.

PIPPA IS SEEN HERE LOOKING NOT QUITE HER BEST AFTER 2 RUM PUNCHES AND A MANGO AND GRAPEFRUIT COCKTAIL.

BUY ONE FOR YOUR GUINEA PIG NOW AND LET THEM ENJOY SOME JAMMIN MAN!!

That's all I can say...'cause I'm speechless.


CHECK THIS OUT OUR NEW COLLECTION COURTESY OF GUINEA PIG GARMENTS UK

WELL BY SPECIAL REQUEST WE ARE INTRODUCING OUT FIRST REAL GIRLIE OUTFIT FOR MUMMYS LITTLE DARLING.

THE SKIRT HAS BEEN HAND CROCHET IN A DOUBLE KNIT PATTERN WITH A LOOPY EDGING IN A SOFT PINK BABY WOOL AND HAS BUTTON FASTENING TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOUR PIG TO TRY ON.

IT COMES WITH MATCHING NECKLACE IN A MIXTURE OF THE PINK BABY WOOL AND A FLUFFY BOBBLE WOOL.BOTH THE NECKLACE AND THE SKIRT HAVE A GINGHAM HEART MOTIF.

YOUR LITTLE PIGGY WILL FEEL SO GROWN UP JUST LIKE MUM IN THIS LITTLE SET AND YOU WILL NEED TO HIDE YOUR HIGH HEELS AND LIPPY BEFORE SHE TRIES THEM OUT ALSO


HERE IS BARRY ALL EXCITED ABOUT THE FORTHCOMING WORLD CUP AND IS DRESSED IN HIS MOST RECENT BUY.ITS AND EXCLUSIVE ENGLAND CAPE HAND KNITTED IN A DOUBLE THICKNESS RED WOOL JUST COSY ENOUGH FOR THOSE CHILLY SUMMER EVENINGS.BOY WAS HE A PROUD PIGGY TO WEAR THIS IN FACT WE HAVE TROUBLE GETTING HIM TO PART WITH IT.

There are more, but I haven't the heart to post them. Knock yourself out:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmummypetalQQhtZ-1

Since my friends and I have so much free time now, we've turned the last two weeks into Movie Fest. We all wrote down childhood or older movies we wanted to see and have been watching one a day for the past two weeks. It's been a blast, complete with drinks and potlucks. Its open to everyone and we post the movie possibilities in our personal blog and leave it open to votes. So far this week we've watched 12 Monkeys and The Secret of Nimh. I can't believe how creepy that movie was! And I thought watching the Dark Crystal last week was freaky! Anyway, tons of fun for you and your group!


Fun project I'm working on:

Chalkboard paint from Michaels: 6.99, pots $2-4.


And for inspiration, check out these gorgeous images from The Salvage Garden Room on Flicker. Whoa.

So much for the slowness of summer! In the past week our lives have exploded with busyness. We no longer have house guests but we're preparing for the workers to come in and install our NEW HARDWOOD FLOORS! I can't wait! Carpet is just evil when you have two cats. I felt like I could never really get the house clean. I'm seriously SO. STOKED. Anyways...on to a photo update!


You can find the BEST STUFF at art supply stores! Ours has a section for gifts and cards and I found this hand-dyed tablecloth there for a steal. The flowers are from my boss, aww!


Just when you thought it couldn't get any cuter, our dog has started rolling in Chito's hay JUST to bug him, lol!


I realized I never posted a pic of the wall aquarium I bought. Instead of hanging it on the wall I covered in maps, I hung it over a spot where my cat pulled chunks of plaster off the wall. Awhile back I drew on one of the tears in eyeliner and kind of wanted to preserve it so in went the fish tank, lol. We'll actually be painting the room pretty soon so I'm going to enjoy my cats artwork while I can!


And two necklaces I made yesterday!