Sunday, December 30, 2012

New Year's Eve: 2013 Vision Board

Well, it's New Years Eve.  Officially.  Goodbye 2012.

But I won't say good riddance (for once.)  Honestly?  I thought I had an "ok" year.  I mean, compared to 2009 through 2011, it was a picnic.  There were downs, but there were plenty of ups too.  And I'm so grateful for that.  I declare that 2012 was a year of normalcy.  I felt like a human being again, not a divorced wretch.  It was the year of sex.  Oops.  It was a year of relationship attempts.  It was a year of less writing and more crafting.  It was a year of weight ups and downs.  It was the year I lost my gallbladder (thank the lord.)  It was the year I finally felt like the eating disorder wasn't controlling my life.  It was a year of funky hair choices.  It was a damn good year at work.  It was a much better year financially: I got my shit together and I only hope it stays that way.  It was a year of family: big changes, little changes.  It was a year that I was not at all lonely.  (Clarification: I wasn't lonely in my life like I was alone in Hartford.  Yes, I did talk about the not having a relationship kind of lonely.)

And what will 2013 bring?  Lots of good shit, I hope.  I do not feel inclined at all to make resolutions.  And let me tell you, I'm so sick of worrying about my weight.  I've got big t & a, and I'm going to deal with it.  You won't see me making any weight loss declarations.  I'm tired of the bullshit and I just want to live my life.

So, I think it's time to throw up this year's vision board.  Yes.  I love making these.

2013 is going to be all about personal identity and style, spirituality, expanding sense of self, experimenting with love and relationships, and planning for my financial future.

Here are the key words and phrases visualized on the board.  Some are literal, some are symbolic.

Savings for a Rainy Day
Reducing Debt
2013Mazda6 in Fireglow Red
Inappropriate Love and Passion (Outside the Comfort zone: why not?)
Taking a Chance (or two or three)
Manifesting Love (Reiki candle)
Homeopathy
Juicing
Crochet
Etsy Shop estalishment
Miscellaneous M
Defining Style: Rocker Chic and Boho Western
Piercing my Nose?  Finally?
M Style Aesthetic  (red chevron & black/white damask and anything cameo/sillouette/vintage)
Art Museum Trips
Painting, Better Quality brushes


Friday, December 21, 2012

Miscellaneous M

I am very excited about this etsy shop plan.  I am going to work on building inventory over the next month or so.  I want it to be a combo of needlework and home decor if possible: everything from toss pillows, to scarves, to paintings, to ornaments.   I also want to put some of my fine art up for sale as well, although only maybe a piece of two that are more generic.  We shall see.  Here is a link to the blog I will set up to list those items, my craft interests, and link to pinterest.


Here is a sneak peak of what I am working on.  A sparkly scarf (you cannot see the sparkles in the pic) and a few acrylic geometric, decorative canvas paintings  (silver, blue, turquoise, chocolate brown, and pearl white).    I ran out of white yarn so back to Michael's I go tomorrow!



Monday, December 17, 2012

Starting a Business for those hopeless at "business?"



I would love to turn my crafting and decorating passion into some sort of a business.  Eventually.  Down the road.  Maybe?

I have no idea how to do that, really, but I'm smart and my sister is an accountant.  That's right.  Little Shani not only is graduating cum laude after all that hard work, but was offered a very lucrative, full time offer in the audit department of the local firm she interned with recently.  I am so ridiculously proud of her.  And jealous of her starting, entry level salary.  Grrrrr.  Shakespeare and Jane Austen, I shake my fists at you and the cosmos for making me poor and impractical!  ;)

But anyway, I just love the crafting thing.  I just have no idea how to narrow it down.  Christmas ornaments? Clay pieces?  Crochet: scarves, throw pillows, blankets?  what??????  I know I can do other things too: paper crafts, wreaths, different artwork pieces, modge podge of frames or other small decor items, and who knows what else.  I wouldn't mind finding flea market and vintage finds to repurpose or repaint either.  I have no clue.

But it's on my mind.

Oh, and I need a snappy, clever, business name.  Yeah.  That's the ticket.  ;)  Suggestions?

UPDATE:  What do we think of "Miscellaneous M"   ???????  Since it sticks to my actual initials of MM.  :)

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Christmasfying my room at 3 in the morning...

Ugh, I can't sleep.  Nothing is bothering me: it's just one of those days where I can't seem to settle in.  So?  I finished my room.  Put every last random box in my hallway in storage.  Finally.  After five fricken months of living here.  And I Christmasfied it.  Yes, I just made that up (obviously.)

I can't take a picture to save my life.  And my iphone likes to put random anomalies and orbs into my photos (probably because the lens is dirty or something).  So, I tried to clean it, but that didn't really help.  Who knows.  I'll never be able to be a crafting or decorating blogger because I suck at photography.  Like big time suck.

Here's the room you've all seen before, but new, improved and full of more stuff...

















Sunday, December 2, 2012

O Christmas Tree

It's December 2nd people.  And I, Marisa, am a Christmas junkie.  I admit it.  I love it.  I can't help it.

Here is a sneak peak of my holiday decorating.  My tree is only tree number one.  Mom's tree isn't done yet.

I threw in some other nephew cute shots.  He just figured out how to pull himself up into the rocking chair and watch TV.  It's wicked cute.  He was very into my Christmas tree.  Although this is his 2nd Christmas, obviously last year he just laid there unaware.









Wednesday, November 7, 2012

I Know It's Only November, Don't Shoot Me

Well, it's no secret that I like crafting.  And Pinterest.  And that I may perhaps be a future candidate for pinterest rehab.  But I digress.  Anyway, now that it's November I am working on my Christmas tree plans.  Because I don't just like to buy stuff to put on the tree.  (I do that too, but I like semi-homeade ornamenting as well.)

I haven't had my own tree in four years.  I've either been living with other people, or in the case of last year, barely staying in my own place.  I have never NOT had a real tree, so these four years have been tough for me.  Because we have a larger house, we've decided to have two trees: mine in the dining room and my mother's in the sunroom that opens into the living room.  

We each do "theme" trees.  Mine is red, white, and metallic.  Mostly red.   My mother does a blue tree with blue and white lights.  You will of course receive pictures of the final products.  I know you are on the edge of your seats.  

I thought I'd share with you my works in progress. 

The first project was partially inspired by my mother and partially by Pinterest.  Last year Mom bought a bunch of clear glass ornaments when she was working at Michael's crafts with the intention of painting them for her blue theme tree.  We never got around to doing it although we talked about it.   They make a variety of shapes. The ornaments looks something like this: 




However, when I was on Pinterest I came across this idea for swirling acrylic paint INSIDE the ornaments.  Genius!  My mother had also toyed with the idea of swirling blue glitter glue inside them too, so this idea was already sort of formulated. 

This is the Pinterest final product and a link to my pin. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/56295064063505223/

And these are my final products.  Incidentally, my new black spray painted candelabra served as an excellent drying rack.   I tried to make them all different.  All use acrylic paint, but I found that my thicker artist style worked best for coating, but that the Martha Stewart glittery acrylic and metallic craft paint was thinner and mixed well with it.   The only problem I had was that they take a really long time to dry.  My mother recommended taking dixie cups and flipping the ornaments upside down until the excess paint dripped out.  I didn't do that.  But you might want to listen to my mother.  She usually knows better than me.  I just finished it up by cutting lengths of satin ribbon for hangers.  I also did two blue ones for my mother and they came out marbled and awesome.  I used silver metallic, white pearl acrylic and two different shades of blue on hers.  











I also bought two wooden stars, and four white, plaster ornaments from Michaels to paint with red acrylic and glitter.  Simple, but they should really catch the light.  I painted the ornament "bulb" tops with the metallic gold and used the same ribbon to hang.  



Lastly, my current project is making star needlepoint ornaments.  I haven't decided yet, but I might back them with red felt.  I am just using regular old yarn in matte red, sparkly red and sparkly white to do these.  I started out with plastic ornament grids (purchased at Michael's).






As you can see, Michael's is one of my favorite stores.  In fact, it's downright dangerous for me to walk through those doors.  

And lastly, I'll leave you with a picture of Shannon and I from last year in front of my mother's tree.  I am trying to get that thin again (15 lbs to go) because I thought I looked pretty good last year.



Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Pumpkins 2012

Part of learning to live an artful life involves tapping into a part of me, that for a short time, died.  Little things that used to bring me joy, seemed fruitless for awhile.  I lost a part of myself that I was afraid I would never get back.  But it is coming back.  Slowly, and bit by bit.

Tradition is important to me, as is family.  And I've always felt connected to the rituals of my childhood that sustained me even through rough times.  Holidays were perfect examples.  We were big into tradition: tree decorating, egg dying, and of course, pumpkin carving.

I take my pumpkin carving seriously.  Okay fine, too seriously.  I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist.  (Who me?  Never, ever.)  I am working on simplicity.  I'm getting there.  But I felt a tremendous amount of joy because for the first time, in maybe, (11 years????) all three of my sisters were in a room carving a pumpkin.  We had a few additions to our ritual.  There was an adorable baby watching in awe, and an "Uncle" Dave carving a pumpkin with Shannon.  But there was joy right along with the change.  And yes, I did think of him.  Shannon and I talked about a few of the pumpkin that Jaime had "created" over the years as he used to get into this family tradition right along beside me.  But it was okay.  I was okay.  The pictures of the final product are courtesy of my brother in law.  He is a much better photographer than I.