Best Laid Plans...

This month has not turned out quite as I had hoped. My muse seems to still be in PEI and I just haven't had much motivation for much of anything. I haven't been feeling that great, not much like myself, so I haven't been focusing on my arts and crafting as I had planned. But, that being said, there has been a lot going on. I've been giving some thought to the revamping of Xafyre Studios and have big plans for that at a later date. I've also been helping the hubby with his resurrection of a motorcycle (Yamaha Virago) and it has come a long way! He's worked so hard on it and it looks so much better than when he first brought it home! Granted, the majority of work has been mechanical, but my part was helping him work out colours and to copy his design from one side of the bike to the other. Now that was a challenge, but one I did succeed at! I'm also trying to reacquaint myself with the French language, re-organize the house, reacquaint myself with the spiritual, and conceive my first child. The last one is definitely a journey and one that has been a little more complicated than some would imagine. I got new glasses and have had some trouble adjusting to them since they don't seem to be fitted properly. I've been back to have them readjusted, and while better, they still need some tweaking. So I'm not sure if the headaches I've been getting are from the glasses or from the medications involved in the baby-making venture, but they have definitely been one of the main reasons I haven't been as creative and crafty as I would like to be. I'm hoping things change soon. Meanwhile, I'm going through old projects and will be posting pics of those, as well as the few new projects I've been working on sporadically. I have faith things will get better from here!

And so I've Returned...

The hubby and I went on vacation to PEI with his family. It was 2 weeks of camping and touring, which meant a lot of driving and not enough sleep! But, all in all it wasn't too bad. The trip definitely had its moments! I did go a little crazy with the picture taking though.... 4,000 pictures kind of crazy! lol So now I'm spending a lot of time going through the photos and deleting ones that didn't turn out so great (expected when you're snapping shots through dirty windows in a moving vehicle!), taking some artistic liberties with scenery shots, and doing minor touch ups on the ones that were pretty good. I've been changing my desktop background to pictures of the beaches and mountainous landscapes we saw along the way... oh, how I miss it already! So, in a few years we will be going back! I think the next trip will involve me doing my editing on the road though!

Here are a couple shots I was playing around with. I did a few minor touch ups and then adjusted the colour settings for a muted look.

Blueberry Goodness

I had some blueberries in my fridge the other morning and decided they would be perfect in muffins. But, as I started working on the batter, I felt compelled to make a few adjustments to my usual mix. I replaced half my oil with cinnamon applesauce and added a brown sugar and oat topping just before baking. They turned out great! Soooo delicious! I even snapped a photo of them before the temptation to taste overtook me! lol


I've been working on a lot of different projects and trying to take some pictures of things I've already completed but haven't gotten around to photographing. Stay tuned and you'll soon see an abundance of posts and imagery on here! Definitely will have lots more to share come July!

Around the Square

Finally a project completed and ready to post about! Hooray! I was working on a blanket for one of my cousins. His girlfriend gave birth last month and I wasn't quite finished with the project! I have way too many things going at once and need to start prioritizing things so they actually get completed on time!

Since they were expecting a boy, I used sport weight yarn in a variegated green/blue colour, light blue, and medium blue. I started off with 4 granny squares sewn together, then rounds of double crochet and single crochet mesh in varying widths. It was really a simple pattern, just time consuming when you have work, trips, and a multitude of other things going on at the same time! My grandmother said this was the best one I've done yet. I don't know if I would agree with her, but I do really like how this one turned out! I'm looking forward to hearing what she thinks of the one I'm making for another cousin! Maybe I'll post some in-progress pics of that one? I'm doing the same kind of thing but with a different pattern combination and girly colours for a much more delicate look and feel. Looks good so far!

I thought I would get a little more creative with my pictures so I set this one up with a stuffed lamb my mother-in-law gave me in a gift basket. I was playing around with the raw format in Photoshop and learning a few new tricks in the process. The only thing I haven't figured out is how to get the greens to show up better in the pictures without screwing up the blues! You can sort of see the greens a little better in the close up shot, but they still don't pop like they do in the actual yarn! I may have a little more playing around to do before I can get the images to come out exactly as I would like. But then again, I could just be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to this sort of thing! lol




I'm going to be working on a lot of my ongoing projects over the next month, hoping to get more things accomplished despite a lack of time! Seriously, when all is said and done, I may need a vacation after the vacation! lol

One Down, Another Million To Go!

I decided I would set up an account with Zazzle to turn my art into a wide array of merchandise for sale. I've heard great things about the site and like the ability to make a sales commission as well as a referral commission. So we'll see where that takes me once I start promoting my sites. I think once I get started things will work out.

In the meantime, I was inspired to create a poster while working on the banner for my Artfire studio. I'm revamping that site and was making something a little more season inspired as I'd like to change things up to go with the current holiday or season. This is what we like to call a happy accident, and I tend to get a lot of these happening when I start playing around with my art! So I present "Lilies en Bleu" which is also available as a canvas tote bag.


I haven't decided if I'm doing more with it on Zazzle or not, but its a start. I have so many other pieces to work with that I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed right now. But, I will get it all figured out and it will be more fun making designs once I know what I'm doing! lol

Distractions

It's been a little crazy around here with my last few days of working and trying to get everything together for our camping trip. Can you really call it camping when you have running water and a nice comfy bed? Lots of cleaning, organizing, list making, and making sure we still have people available to take care of the pets and the house while we're gone. With all of this insanity, I'm going to need a vacation after our vacation! lol

I have a lot of ideas brewing, but nothing finished yet. I took some pictures and need to edit them, working on a few crochet projects, did a few rough sketches for my next few art pieces and started thinking about maybe putting some of them on t-shirts as well. Maybe mugs and other items? There are way too many project ideas in mind and not nearly enough time, supplies, or energy to work on them all! But not to worry, there will be a bit of an image overload once these things start hitting the "Finished" category! lol

Busy as a Bee!

Despite working evening/night shifts and being able to sleep in anyway, I had forgotten what it was like to really enjoy sleeping in! Well, except for the weird dreams about vampires trying to eat me! Anyway, I had a fairly productive day while still maintaining a bit of laziness. I started and finished 2 digital pieces which will be available in my studio shop soon. The first was more of a happy accident while playing around with different brushes and filters to get a background layer. The second was actually inspired by a pair of earrings I recently purchased. No pics of the earrings yet, but I will revisit this post later to show you all how I was inspired. That is, afterall, the general concept of this blog! lol But for now, here are the 2 (watermarked) pieces!

The question of the day was what to have for dinner (as it is so often in my house!) and after much deliberation, I decided to head to the store and look for inspiration. After wandering around looking up and down the aisles, I found a package of potato gnocchi. I don't think I've ever had gnocchi before, so I thought I would try it with a little Vodka sauce and served up next to a nice Caesar salad and some stuffed chicken balls. Oh! Soooo GOOD! While the meal itself isn't all that inspired since it was mostly pre-packaged, it did inspire me to try and make gnocchi from scratch! Well, maybe not anytime in the very near future, but soon! I've seen it made on one of the cooking segments from one of the many shows I watch and it doesn't seem like it would really be that difficult to make. Just maybe a little tricky to get the right texture. So we will definitely have to try that out and post all about it! Overall, not a bad day today!