A Piece of My Mind 06.30.2010: More work on the candles...

I have glitter everywhere. I even got it on my cat, Mochi. I'm sure she hates me right now. Anyway, here are more pics of progress on my candles.

Here's a larger shrine...not completely sure yet what I'm going to do with it, but most likely it will involve a skeleton...

A Piece of My Mind Each Day 07.23.10 Annual checkup and more sneak peaks

Had my annual checkup today. Not too many surprises there. A little disappointed, as I thought I had made headway by riding my bike nearly every week at least 3 days out of the week, to and from work. I've been eating pretty well, but I still need to kick it up a notch. So I will! Also, they are going to be doing another test on my heart, as I guess it sounds like there may be something irregular. We'll see. I will keep you all updated with how that goes. At least I haven't gained any weight in 2 years, and I feel much better, and I visually look much healthier. But I have my work cut out for me, as I can't be satisfied with that.

Carlos is the picture of health and lost weight to boot. Not surprised. He is Mr. Fitness. hehehe

An another note, here is another sneak preview at more candles I am working on. The Blue Ringo Starr candle is not for sale, as it's a gift for an awesome friend, and fellow Taurus. Enjoy!

Naomi

A Piece of My Mind Each Day 06.28.10 Reflecting...

It's getting down to the wire. 3.5 days left working at my current employer. The mix of emotion is getting even more mixed. I have to make sure I write my last email and give my contact information to people I want to stay in touch with (which is easy because of the internet). The vibe here is a little down, a little strange, especially now that people know I am gone as of Friday. Am clearing off my desk today, and cleaning off my computer. I even forgot to bring a lunch. (I think I have some English muffins still left in the fridge.) On to the next stage of life, with it's excitement and uncertainty. But I've been through this before, and I am not half as scared this time around, even in the current economy. It might take a little while to break out of the corporate mindset I've learned here, but I am quite confident that I will do it.

A Piece of My Mind 06-27-10 Candles in progress

Started my candles. More to show later...

A Piece of My Mind Each Day 06.23.10 Geisha Muerta® Patches

I found these in a box I carefully packed for our move in February and was sad when I couldn't find it. Last weekend, I was looking for something else, and found them! They are available once again on our etsy store, for anyone who was looking for them. There is the square version with red outline and also the die cut version. Collabo piece with another talented etsyan, lizmiera.

A Piece of My Mind Each Day 06.23.10 Sneak Peak

Here's a little taste of what I'm working on for my booth at the Camarillo Fiesta Days. Some of these are still works in progress. I'm having a lot of fun! Let me know what you think so far...

A Piece of My Mind Each Day. 06-22-10 Part II: Actual artwork in progress...

This is still in progress and I have no idea what I'm doing, no plans or anything as far as this piece goes. Here's the previous post on THIS.

A Piece of My Mind Each Day. 06-22-10 A Little Panicky. Just a Bit.

So there are 2 countdowns going on for me right now. I have a 8 days left here at my current job. I am starting to feel really sad about not seeing all these familiar faces every day. As stated yesterday, it's really setting in now, and every day that it's closer, it sets in even more.

I also have the Camarillo Fiesta Days coming up. I have been working on my stuff for my craft booth, but have not gotten as far as I'd hoped I would. So, it's going to be kamikaze crafting every night until the event. I have really started to like creating little ornaments, for Christmas or otherwise, as they aren't really Christmas-ey. They are perfect if you're like me, and like very random Christmas ornaments on your tree. Hopefully there will be a few of those kinds of people at the fair. I bought 2 mini Christmas trees on ebay this morning, and a friend of ours is going to lend me one of his artificial Christmas trees as well. Hopefully I will make enough of these to fill the trees up and then some!

Also working on more shrines, which I learned how to do on the Crafty Chica Cruise. I think I'm going to make some of them with my Geisha Muerta® artwork as well. We'll see. I had glitter everywhere yesterday, but I think it's a good look for me!

A Piece of My Mind 06-21-10

Today I am off from work. I only have a week and a half left and then I'll be working from home for a while. The building where I'm working is soon to be shut down and moved to the east coast, so massive layoffs all around. But I'm not too down about it. Here's an article about it HERE.

I'm taking one of the few vacation days I have. It's all starting to settle in my mind that I'm not going to have the same routine I've had for years, any longer, starting July 2. I'm happy about it, nervous, excited, and a little scared. A little sad as well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. I am mostly excited at the possibilities of making it from home. I'm in a much better spot now than I was before. Hopefully I won't have to depend on too many months of unemployment this time around.

I'll be working on my crafts for the Camarillo Fiesta Days today, so will post pics later. Was planning on being home alone today to get stuff done, but my son sweet talked me into letting him stay here with me. So he's playing his Wii right now as I'm typing this up. He's already requested grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, so I'll be busy with that as well in a while...

What are you all busy doing today?

A Piece of My Mind Each Day. 06-15-10: In The Studio

Here are some pics from working in the studio over the weekend...


Crosses of different kinds...


Working on mini Dia de Los Muertos shrines from pipette boxes they gave me at work...




And of course, my little one wanted to join me in the studio. :)

A Piece of My Mind Each Day. 07-14-10

Here is a piece from yesterday, ran out of time to post it, but it's here! Not sure where it's going or what or who exactly it's supposed to be. I just opened a blank document in Photoshop and started sketching with the wacom tablet. We'll see how it progress...completely unplanned expression this time. Although, it is interesting to me how many of my doodles end up looking a little like my mom. :)

Naomi

A Piece of My Mind 06.12.2010

I am busy putting inspiration up in the studio. Found some old life drawings from Foundation Year at Otis, so I had Carlos help me tack them up! We're going to go through his drawings from school soon, too, so it's not just my stuff up. Other inspirational things, illustrations I saved from annuals and magazines, pictures, etc., will be going up soon, too.

More goodness from Crafty Chica®!!

Wanted to share this with our readers. Kathy Cano-Murillo of Crafty Chica fame posted this up on Facebook this morning. These are some of the most unique craft/art ideas I've seen. It's totally customizable. Make whatever saint or guardian you like, to your needs.

I've had an idea of creating something like this, but more like Japanese dolls, out of polymer clay or some other material. Seeing this today reminded me, and totally inspired me to follow up with my idea. More on that later...

Here's the description on her site:

"Crafty Chica® Decorate Your Own Empowerment Guardian™

Empowerment Guardians are just the beginning of a wonderful creation – the final result is up to you and your powerful imagination. So embellish at will, and think majestic and inspirational thoughts. Paint her, dip her in glitter, decoupage her with fabric or paper, glue on flowers or cover her in crystals. The possibilities are endless!"

A Piece of My Mind Each Day. 06-09-10

I just wanted to share that I won these lovely items on ebay and they will be coming shortly. Wahoo!

A Piece of My Mind Each Day. 06-07-10

Working on a design...here is progress...any guesses?

A Piece of My Mind Each Day. 06.04.2010

What's the general consensus on this style? Haven't done anything in a while in this style and am thinking maybe I should create more. Tell me what you think.

Naomi

A Piece of My Mind Each Day apologies

I really haven't kept up with my daily piece of mind. I've been busy, but do I really have a great excuse. No I don't. And I apologize for that. Here are a couple of quick digi sketches I'm working on, no descriptions, use your imaginations. It's for a secret personal project. :)

Enjoy!
Naomi