round up: summer so far

I am enjoying another wonderful summer with the kids, and I thank my lucky stars as always. The weather is cold cold cold. We've got our summertime fun list ready, and we are savoring every day. That might sound overly poetic, but that is what is going on right now, and I know how lucky I am. 

I am also juggling two LARGE commissions, preparations for my upcoming workshops, and trying to finish my papel SF website and new CV for grant and residency applications, all seemingly due on July 15th. So, still as tired as always, although trying to wrap it up by 1:00 a.m. the nights I work now.

I started writing here three years ago to document our summer together, and David and I frequently pour over these "round up" posts to reminisce about our life together (here is the archive of my first month of blogging, so sweet). I couldn't let any more of this summer get past without some photos to look back on, even if they are only dumped from my phone.

I hope you are having a great summer, too. xoxo

Stella and I get every morning to ourselves now, so nice. Also, new flowers for upcoming workshops.

 Making pretzels with a friend, a banana slug and kicking back in Berkeley with friends.

 Old shoes, a trip to Castle in the Air, regular Thursday cafe date for my computing needs.

R + D, delivering finished HEADS, working on an order of 34 dahlia headpieces!

 A cold library and bookstore day in the Upper Haight, dance party hijinks.

 We kicked off summer with four days in Point Reyes Station in the yurt we've stayed in for ten years.

Olema Valley horse trail hike, first night BBQ, sunset (and three visible planets one night). Best day.

 Yurt selfie with skylight, how Oliver plays Boggle, "The Gatekeepers of Senorah".

 Volcano painting, local Point Reyes flowers at Toby's downtown, stages.

 An amazing bounty of bracelets from the amazing Cathy Callahan, the misery of working where we eat, Charles Rennie Mackintosh for so much inspiration.

 Paper flower headpiece workshop revamp. I'm loving it.

 A Saturday lunch in the redwoods with close friends, and I cleaned the kids' room, my Father's Day gift to David.

La Urbana for the man of the hour on Father's Day.

 First pool day in Novato of the year, getting some help with my website at Makeshift Society, shelf shot.

 My hedgehog, tart plum tart at Kathryn Clark's in Sonoma, and a Slip 'n' Slide, too. Kathryn has taken me into a wonderful fold of artists including Katrina, Lisa, and Sonya, and it's been lovely to be around them and to have them to talk to about the practical and not-so-practical things.

 Devil Moose, big thumb, and a living room I spent my only free time of the week rearranging. WHY?

 A great family Sunday. Breakfast at home, then Flora Grubb and some home improvement research, then some In 'n' Out. Love This Giant is the soundtrack of our summer and Oliver and I like to dance to it. Also, fighting my first and most ridiculous parking ticket.

Tickle me. Sweaters all the time in June, another trip to Novato for a long

stretch into evening at the pool with friends. Good times. :)

round up: christmas passed

Christmas has finally passed. We had a wonderful holiday, as always. My mother was here for almost two weeks which gave David and I time to have several date nights, hooray! It was so nice to have her here. You folks who live near your relatives, consider yourselves lucky!

All of us were sick at some point during the winter break and there was a little cabin fever going on at the end, but mostly we stayed around the homestead like we love to do, cooked a lot of food and had a wonderful time. And did a lot of playing.

 Salt dough.

 Walking home after the last school day of the year, nothing better!

 Pine cones on the best tree we've ever had, placed in a new location that we loved.

 My ornaments sold pretty well during the holidays, and were featured on Daily Candy.

 A sweet card from David.

Post Christmas snuggles.

My mock-vintage bulb reflectors really work, by the way!

 We all camped out in Stella's room again.

 Some of the sweetest things we gave Stella. MIKODESIGN Frida doll set here. Tiny postal set here.

 Some of the best things I received. Amazing Cathy Callahan tassel bracelets from David and the Lego Architecture Studio set I wanted from my mother. I must've been good this year.

Santa brought a giant hotel for Stella. He probably didn't realize it takes a day of work to build.

David and I worked through our colds with a lot of ginger and rye. It became a thing to serve it over ice donuts. I had two commissions to finish up over the holidays, which was a little tough. Last one goes

out today, yay!

Right before the end.

I'm feeling so fortunate these days in so many ways and am excited for the new year, but I am truly sad the holidays are over. They went by way too quick this year. I'm not into Christmas starting November 1st, which is definitely the status quo, but I do believe in stretching it out as far into January as feels natural. We just took our tree out to the street yesterday, super-ceremoniously, of course.

This entire holiday season I was so melancholic for snow. I miss it so much, and envy all my friends and family back on the East Coast, polar vortex or not. I hope you are staying warm and are enjoying a good start to the new year. Have a great weekend!

xoxo

round up: before winter

Clockwise from top left:

My mock-vintage bulb reflectors look great on a burlesque costume, too;

trimming;

ready for the show to start;

the mess that is our kitchen/my workspace.

Teaching in reindeer antlers;

a new take on the acorn cap;

some wonderful students at Handcraft Studio School;

final products.

Napping with Oliver;

Oliver has really dug into drawing;

a wonderful hike along the ridge of Tiburon;

Oliver helping me deliver more acorns to the shop.

 Street mirror;

two peonies ready to be shipped and me utterly demolished;

sangria and popcorn;

the antlers again.

 Hams;

frost;

Bare cupboards save for Ricola and astronaut ice cream;

morning walk shadows in the Panhandle (I miss this so much).

Oliver eating a gingerbread house;

his favorite friend;

mini-trees;

Stella finishes a 5K, with much walking, but she was very happy.

Coffees from Sunday night all-nighters, which I have just given up.

The kids had a big meltdown one night when we were away for Thanksgiving. Stella said she was so happy I had this new work, but she wanted things to be the way they used to be. Then Oliver got going, really sad and crying, asking for me to play with him more again. Then he started taking advantage of the situation while we were all huddled in a pool of tears, asking for me to never get mad at him for having a tantrum again. Nice try.

It was a touching scene and a major reality check for me. I had been staying up all night two nights a week for a couple of months. I was already wondering if I needed to go to some kind of rehab or something, because when we left for our trip I was so tired I slept ten hours in the car, then all night, then the next day I couldn't get un-groggy. Then the kids told me how they really felt and I realized that all-nighters are not the answer anymore to a big work load. That was fun for a while. But now I'm on a different schedule that has me getting work done and in bed by midnight most nights and that's working for all of us. I was a mess, though. Wow.

We have such a full weekend this weekend. Stella's winter concert tonight, a major all-night crab-fest party tomorrow night and then birthday parties and Oliver's preschool party fit in somewhere, too. I think next year we might do something crazy for Christmastime, like a "no-commitment" Christmas, where we don't go to any dinners, performances or parties. Probably not, but it sounds good right now!

Next week I'll be back with another donut pan project and a giveaway with it. Have a great weekend! 

xoxo

round up: ramping up

David and I joke about this. I'm round and sweet, and he's dark, bitter, and everyone loves him (including me).

There is very little balance at home right now. Our flat is a whirlwind of paper scraps and papier mâché from Sunday night through Tuesday afternoon when I do the majority of my work and then have recovered enough to straighten up. The One Kings Lane sale went so well that I have been asked to provide cards and ornaments for another artisan sale starting November 21st. I also just delivered a big order of ornaments to Rare Device and to the set of my online class coming up on Friday, and I am feeling really happy and extremely lucky to have stumbled onto this work for now.

Everything else is a little out of whack, though. I remember the days where my only goal was to get one donut post out a week while I was home with Oliver. Now I am in the mode where I can't stop anything I'm doing. Can't stop putting feelers out for more opportunities, can't catch up with what I'm doing right now, and feeling totally exhilarated. But boy is our place taking a hit in the cleanliness department. David has picked up the slack big time, but I am dreaming of the day (hopefully soon) where papel SF is getting so many orders that I can justify renting a studio space, preferably shared with David so he can enjoy it as well. Coming soon with any luck.

For now it's a conscious effort to make sure the kids get enough attention, that I bathe and that I am still home cooking most nights. I am putting my mind to all those things that suffer when I get in "work mode", because I know there is balance to be found there. It just takes the kind of effort that everything else does and it is important to take the time to figure out how all of it can work together harmoniously. I'm planting the seeds now which usually assures I'll have acted on it in a few months, because I always change at a glacial pace.

Below are few photos from the past few weeks. Not a lot to take photos of around here, besides the mess!

I received my copy of German Couch Magazine with a short piece on my braided basket.

Waiting for the bus with Oliver's preschool for a Dia de Los Muertos field trip to honor their fallen fish.

Persimmon time. I adore crisp fuyu persimmons, but here are my hachiya persimmon pudding donuts, which I love just as much!

Oliver is allowed to pick at and play with my eggshell casualties. Here, goose eggshells.

Stella's idea of an awesome Saturday. Mine, too.

Everything happens here, including a donut project up on the shelf that I may never find time to finish and share!

Oliver and his schoolmates.

Oliver's calavera. Look at the control on those teeth! Beyond is their altar for their beta fish.

That's all for now. I'd love for you tune in to watch my DIY Holiday Woodland Ornament class coming up Friday morning at 9:00 PST with creativeLIVE. Click here to register to see it for free (you can always purchase it and other great classes to download for use any time as well). If you watch it, PLEASE let me know. Any and all critiques are welcome! We had the pre-production meeting today and I'm still nervous, but I'm pretty excited as well.

Have a great weekend! xoxo

round up: early fall

Clockwise from top left:

Oliver's Spanish is getting good after only two months in immersion preschool;

David and I made a point of getting breakfast together last week;

the clean part of the kitchen;

late night touch-ups to the last of the original fleet of peony piñatas before I sent it off.

There are a lot of photos of Oliver in here (and me, alone, going mad). I've adjusted to having him away for four hours a day at preschool, but what I haven't adjusted to AT ALL is how much having him in preschool has shredded my day. Shredded. There is just no time to get anything done when you're working with a half-day preschool schedule. He's loving his school and is picking up Spanish rapidly. His comprehension is amazing and he is volunteering to speak it now, not like in the first few weeks when he insisted his "body wasn't meant to speak Spanish". So that's awesome, and so is his school, but I'm still reeling about how little time I have as compared to how much I thought I would have. I need to work on a solution before I go crazy.

I'm feeling a little guilty about not spending as much quality time with him of late either. I have to keep on working when he gets home a few afternoons a week, so he keeps himself busy, but I am starting to feel bad. My "work" is going really well right now, but my childrearing skills, and as always, exercise, are taking a hit. Oliver and I are still spending time together, but I don't have a lot of bandwidth in my brain right now so we're not doing projects, we're not putting our heads together on things lately and I feel super remiss. This has to change a.s.a.p.

I had a sort of big announcement to make but I thought I'd put it off a few more days as I really don't want this blog to be one big promotion of my new career in paper. So, more photos from our fall! My apologies if you've seen these already on Instagram. I've been picking up my camera less and less around the house, but I'm hoping to change that, too. Instagram is just so forgiving on my tired eyes, my ruddy complexion and my one zillion freckles, so it's hard to quit!

Ollie in a nest;

pan de colores made with milk paint at school;

walking through the Panhandle in the morning;

Oliver at Handcraft Studio School.

Every Sunday night I work all night, every Monday afternoon we nap;

piggyback ride after school;

one of three giant flowers for a bat mitzvah in Maine;

Oliver gets air.

At the bluegrass festival in Golden Gate Park;

riffing (en Español) with his favorite school friend;

headed home from school for Stella's surprise party;

the tangled web game waiting for them at home.

Instagram won't tell you, but I'm trying to grow out my 90% grey hair;

shots from new Etsy listings (couldn't leave the paper totally out of it).