Velija 2011

A big bowl of bread Alex made for our annual neighborhood Velija celebration on that we have on Solstice.  My favorite was the olive loaf.  
The rye bread was also very tasty. In fact, they were all delicious. As was the whole meal. There is something magical about having a tradition~ even if the tradition is altered heavily from it's origin.

(Okay, I just googled last year's post about our tradition to give a link, and here is what I said: "Bread Alex made for Velija. My favorite was the olive loaf." So, Yep. I guess I am THAT predictable...)

Moving on.

Here's to the dream that 2012 is the year we build our outdoor bread oven! 

I will start with the bad news:
Lili got sick on Solstice night.
Alex got the hard core stomach bug on Christmas eve through Christmas day.
I got hit the following two days.

So here is a photo of our lone stomach bug resistor:

Despite all the sickness sweeping our home, our holiday was really nice. In this time of year when the nights are long, it is special for me to have so many traditions fusing together to honor and trust that the light will return. My Mom & Paul are here visiting for the week so there has been a lot of time making food and opening gifts and reading books together too.  I am missing all the rest of our family though! 

We (with the exception of Alex) spent Christmas day at my sister Becca's and her partner Dave's house. The kids treat their home like it is their own which can be good and bad.  It's good because it is indicative of how much time we spend together. Bad because they feel at ease to smear their dirty hands and boogery faces into the nice white couch, and run around like crazy people, ect... But, everyone is always kind in lending a hand to the little ones for which I am always grateful. Paul even propped himself up on the bed with the kids and watched an episode of Barney. It melted my heart to see that~ for an adult to sit through Barney is true love. 

We received so many thoughtful & heartfelt gifts this year.  One of my favorites was my Dad and Amy giving a goat and a flock of 20 chicks in our names to Heifer International. We also were showered with nice socks, soaps, clothing, new shoes for the kids, toys, childrens' books, and chocolates. 

diy advent calendar

I stayed up until two in the morning one night making this advent calender. They are felt pockets mostly held together by hot glue, and strung from the ceiling (so no little hands can touch them). Each pouch has 6 m&ms and a little note. It isn't an exact sort of thing. For example, there are 2 days until Christmas and we have four left (???). And Lil can't read yet, so when we open it up and the note says to make something incredibly messy on a day that isn't flowing for us, I make something else up. Like "Oh! it says we need to read a Holiday story together!"

I had envisioned taking on some more meaningful family things this season~ like visiting a nursing home for example... but I haven't been able to pull it together.  The advent calander has been a sweet reminder each day to honor this time together. I am doing a pretty good job of letting go of how our home isn't tidy and all decorated etc, and I haven't done all the projects I dreamed of doing. We are just doing what feels right and do-able for that moment and for that day. It has been good.
Also, you wouldn't believe the thrill of three m&ms...

One of my more ambitious days:
We took up the rug and made potato print wrapping paper the other day. The kids were beside themselves with excitement.  I was smart and drew a bath before we started the project. :)

 I hope wherever you are that you are enjoying what really matters to you!

O christmas tree 2011

When I was growing up one of my favorite days of the year was the day we set up our Christmas tree. We would go pick it out as a family... we lived in rural New Hampshire... so it was snowy and picturesque in a New England-y sort of way. While we set up the tree we would drink egg nog with nutmeg out of special tea cups~ and listen to Christmas music.  A lot of ornaments had stories, and everyone had their favorite ones.
My Mom had a monkey that she got as gift when she was in the hospital with rheumatic fever when she was a child. My Dad liked a delicate glass reindeer and a piece of foam (from an old couch I believe) that he thought looked like a Star Trek ship. He attached a hook to it and tried to find a prominent spot for his foam (If you are wondering if it looked like a piece of garbage hanging on our tree the answer is yes). My sister Becca and I liked the same small porcelain angel~ and we would fight over it every year.

When we were asleep after our wonderful day my Mom would rearrange all the ornaments (gaudy and star trek in the back of the tree) so the tree looked perfect (to her).

Fast-forward to our sweet tree of 2011. I had it in my mind that I was not going to follow in my mother's footsteps and rearrange the tree to perfection. I was going to just let it be.  But it turns out that Lil favors certain branches while she is decorating. One branch had 4 ornaments on it. I was holding myself back from stepping in until I couldn't take it any more and I convinced her to spread them out.  When we were done decorating our tree it looked a tad jumbled, but sweet.

The next morning I realized the tree had been rearranged. All those ornaments I had convinced her to spread out were back on that one branch again. Ha! I couldn't help but smile. 

Speaking printmaking, HERE is a link to a printmaking class that my former professor/friend Gwen Diehn is teaching entitled: Letterscapes: Making Artwork with Wooden Letters

. She used a print I made in 2004 for the class promotion. It was part of a series of prints I made using the letter O.

old work

Visiting my friend Caren a couple of months ago I took a photo of a print I had made for her wedding in 2002. 

I had forgotten about it~ 

I made this print using a large piece of Styrofoam. When the print was dry, I highlighted some of the details with water soluble crayons.  

It has been way too long since I dug out my print supplies... 

There are certain sounds, smells, and textures that "get" each artist. I have a long list of these that make my heart skip a beat. But on the top of that list is the sound and feel of ink being pushed across a pallete with a brayer. It gets me even just thinking of it...

Prints make thoughtful gifts!

♥

(and don't forget about my 20% off blog reader discount with the coupon code BLOGREADER)

a contact sheet of most of my prints from my shop

Speaking of reasons to be happy...
Sorting through some of this year's photos for a present ideas I found this one of Alex and I from the summer. It was only taken a few months ago but it feels like years for some reason.

xxx

crafty weekend wrap-up

Ahhh... The Big Crafty... As always, I got swept up in the day and forgot to take better pictures of the event & my booth. At least I got these shots right as the show was about to begin.

And this photo of Alex setting up our booth (and my sister's booth in another photo) was in a local online paper. 

I was given an amazing location that was in the center of the action, but with a little more space around and in front of me than some other booths. I felt really lucky and grateful for that. When it got crazy and crowded during the day my booth never felt claustrophobic like a lot of other locations.

We had the chance to see some old friends and repeat customers (thank you!!!) and meet some new folks as well. Although with it being so hectic and crowded, this show does not lend itself to meeting people. All in all it was a wonderful, wonderful day. I ♥ The Big Crafty.

Alex also represented Sweet Mess Art at the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa this weekend. Here he is leaving our driveway on the way to the show. I wish I could have been there, but it was too much to bring the kids.  

Overall a great weekend. 
whew!

catching up

Seo and the giant mountain of laundry (at least it is clean) on our bed. 

I had visions of the day after our big show weekend being a sweet family day.
In my imagination the kids would be so grateful to finally have our full attention and the day would be spent just the four of us, cuddling, and playing, and maybe even picking out a tree for the holidays.
BUT... for some reason it just didn't turn out like that. The kids didn't seem grateful to have us back, they seemed frustrated and whiny, and cry-ey~ particularly Seo.  Despite our best efforts to make it fun, it was a challenge. At dinnertime Alex and I clung to each other hugged and just shook our heads in wonderment at the day. I wouldn't trade being their Mom for a second, but there are certainly days and moments where it just. feels. difficult.

Days like this are good lessons in letting go of expectations, you know?

big crafty set up

photo courtesy Justin Rabuck

Setting up for The Big Crafty this morning. We had a wonderful day.... more to come when I am not so crazy exhausted!

blog reader sale

 Our two big holiday shows are this coming weekend:
Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa & The Big Crafty!
We have been bustling to be over-prepared.

Also, I finally got my ornaments up in my shop. I don't expect to sell out of them this weekend (I made a ridiculous amount) but if there is a certain design you want you may want to purchase it before this weekend just in case! See them all HERE.

Also, Lucy asked if I would have the card sets up... I still need to take photos of the actual cards~ but I listed them in the shop anyways.  See them HERE. :)

And lastly ~~~~~ I am offering all of my blog readers a 

20% discount this holiday season

at both my shops starting today! Because you all are the best!

You suffer through my grammatical errors, 

late night ramblings,  

are witness to the growth of my art as a business, 

and you help promote my art.  

Yep, what would I do without you?

Enter the coupon code BLOGREADER in the "coupon code" box at checkout of either of my stores to receive your discount.

♥

Kelcey

giving thanks for what we have.

We ate our Thanksgiving dinner outside with my sister and friends this year. It was a tiny bit chilly~ but oh so fun and joyous.

I like this article "Thanksgving: A Native American Perspective"  by Jacqueline Keeler.
I love the idea of a holiday based on giving thanks... I sincerely wished the origins of our holiday were as simple and pure of heart...

cement truck

 A friend of ours is putting a small addition on his home and Alex spent the morning helping lay the cement floor. The floor has piping that will provide radiant heat for the house. We have the same piping in our house, but it isn't hooked up yet. Someday...
The kids and I got a chance to go watch the excitement for a little while. They were completely entranced by the cement truck and the sloshing cement. They were so content they even held hands for awhile.

A quick hello!
I have been working all day, every day, to get ready for all of the upcoming shows. Everything is looking tight! Like these card packs I have been working on tonight. I have two shows this weekend and then next week I will photograph all the new stuff and get it up in the shop. :)
Lil and Seo have ferocious and horribly gross colds right now ~ so sleeping and trying to get work done have been tricky.  Even as I type this the sounds of the keyboard clicking is waking Seo up. My
poor baby is miserable...

Tonight Alex and I are working side by side, and in an effort to be quiet we each have our own headset on. Alex can't stand the Indigo Girls so it is a treat to be listening to some old-school (high school/early 90's for me) music.

I hope all is well in your neck of the woods!
♥ Kelcey

abundance

I woke up this morning and looked at last night's post and sighed. 

My question "Are you afraid of abundance" in my last post didn't make much sense~ especially out of context. In my sleep deprived state last night I was feeling the weight of all the fullness that is in our life right now.  I was feeling fearful of the potential abundance coming our way from the holiday season. We have been working hard to be prepared for all of the many shows and fairs and online sales.  We have loaded our plate high with responsibilities/opportunities and I have been having moments of feeling overwhelmed.

< --------- See all the shows I am gearing up to do?! 

Last night I felt guilty for feeling overwhelmed~ as if overwhelmed meant ungrateful.  

But, I am grateful. Grateful, and slightly anxious about the unknown. 

As for me: Anxiety and Fear are not welcome guests & I open my arms wide to Abundance.
♥
p.s~ check out THIS sweet feature today!

project #3

30" x 40" painting in progress

project #2

 A Seed & Sky photo-shoot.

A popular fashion website is going to be doing a product review/interview with Seed & Sky sometime this month. They emailed me asking for the CEO, Marketing Director, or Designer to submit ads, photos, and an interview to them as soon as possible. I went looking for examples and inspiration on  their website. Well... things looked good. Really good. The images seriously looked like they jumped off the streets of Hollywood. I quickly realized I don't have any photographs or ads with models which was a problem.
Truth be told, asking me to comment on "fashion" and "fashion trends" brings up horrible insecurities that date back to grade school. Or more specifically, that phase in middle school when I went from not caring what I looked like, to it being very important to be cool and to be fashionable. And I never was cool enough or got it right. The ugly feeling this brings up is not about what I wore (although I cringe at that too), it is the insecurity and trying to be something I wasn't that is uncomfortable to think back on now.

So having this website that has over 600,000 unique visitors each month asking me to discuss current trends and high fashion is daunting. Instead of feeling not worthy and insecure about it though I am simply going to focus on my own fashion aesthetic. My collection is about self expression and beauty. If I focus on that it should go smoothly.

And I am feeling a lot more confident after having a successful photo shoot with two friends today. I am grateful they were willing to be brave and put themselves out there. Aren't they gorgeous? I think so  :)

We did the photo shoot at Allie's house. She has a very unique home and beautiful landscaping. She and her husband built their home themselves. Most of the walls in their home are built with recycled car tires. It may sound weird, but they have done an amazing job. It is a one-of-a-kind place, and it created an interesting backdrop for the photos.

 See the bottles in the wall of their bathroom and how they catch the sunlight? So pretty.

 And here are a few of my favorite shots:

xxx
Kelcey