Short Story Long

I've said before  that I failed to appreciate marigolds growing up.  It's nice to have something that does so well in my garden, year after year, and draws butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.  I can't remember the last time I bought marigold seeds, these have been producing in my garden for so many seasons.  I love that they're such a rich red-orange-gold.  I might want another color this year, but I've got plenty of seeds for these!     Over Thanksgiving break, my middle kid deadheaded this whole bed and filled a bucket, so I have more than enough seeds to share this year!  I pulled a big handful apart and set them to dry on newspaper for a few days, and then put them in a jar until I had time to make a packet.   (you don't need the orange part, just the black and white)  I found a seed packet template here .  A blank template was all I needed; printed one, drew a simple outline of a marigold with fine pen, and copi...

Back in January, I spent some time with Scott, a luthier.   You might wonder what a luthier is; he is a maker of stringed instruments . At one time, I had a boyfriend with a roommate whose step-dad made guitars.  When I started my artists and craftsmen series , I knew I had to include him.  My boyfriend, (who has stuck around many years after marrying me) thought it was a good idea; so here's a little of what I experienced on a wintry day with a luthier who makes stringed things by hand.  Literally, he carved on an archtop guitar while we talked.   He built the guitar and the harp in the first picture, most pieces carved from blocks of wood.  Other things he does by hand: fills out receipts (on paper), writes books (in notebooks), plays guitar.  And I will admit, I was pretty enamored to meet someone who still has a phone that is  completely attached to the wall.  I really enjoyed talking to this kindred spirit; we...

Third in my artists and craftsmen  series. Some weeks ago, my friend, artist  Susan Schmitt , allowed me to spend a morning with her, observing and photographing her as she painted, her inspirations, methods, tools and techniques. With a fresh bouquet of flowers from the garden as inspiration, she transformed a piece of white paper into a lovely expression of summer beauty.  She explained to me that different projects require levels of time and emotion investment.  Some are "show dogs," and some are like a family dog - sometimes a person admires piece but it is not the right investment for them, but everyone should be able to live with art.  Susan draws, carves, stamps, paints, subtracts, redraws, and works til her vision comes together.  She creates everything from printed cards and journals to one-of-a-kind dolls, too.    She journals with watercolors - sometimes, while her husband is driving!   ...

Like many crafters, I have lots of projects in the works.  One of my current projects is a personal little photo essay, if you will, on artists and craftsmen.  This involves finding such people, and then convincing them they should be photographed.  (This has proven a little more challenging than I had expected.  I think many artists have a difficult time sharing or explaining their process.)  The idea for this project came simply from my appreciation of all the people I've encountered over the last five or ten years who, like me, enjoy making things with their hands.  I've met everyone from dyers and spinners to car fabricators, wood workers, painters, and more. Of course, I am not the first person to think of this.  Check out the Craftsman's Legacy  for a fascinating video series on everything from handmade clocks to long bows. I'm working a little closer to home, though, with Jessica, a quilter.  Jessica heard about my ...

I had this idea formulating in my head, pictures of a cute little fairy.  I shared the idea with a friend who is very talented and creative, and has an adorable little girl, and here's what we came up with. I took the pictures, of course, and scouted some good fairylands, and my friend made the costume.  I love it!  She made the wings! Don't you love stuff that's one-of-a-kind?  I literally had a hundred pictures that turned out great, but these are a few of my favorites.  The little fairy was even a good sport when it started to rain.   Fairies are known for being a little mischievous, aren't they?  And this one was no exception!

Today, at the last minute, we decided that we would go, afterall, to the open house at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.  We got there too late for the free lunch and prizes, but we had a lot of fun looking around.  Set minature for To Kill a Mockingbird.  How small is this miniature?  That is my smallest child's blurry head in the foreground. Costumes from Dracula were out for everyone to look at:  Sketches of Jacob, and Marley (dead these seven ye-ahs): A set miniature for A Christmas Carol:  A huge splurge for our holidays, and one we haven't indulged in for a few years, we've already got our tickets for A Christmas Carol.  I might not have gotten them, I might have just thought about it, but if you buy them in July, you can get them half price!  And this year, we are taking the boys.  I am SO excited!  We also missed the backstage tours, which I was really bummed about, but we did get to see how they make 'snow' ...

Every year there is a chalk art festival in LoDo (lower downtown.)  Often we miss it but this time we caught the very end, which was great for seeing finished pieces.  Unfortunately, there were so many people crowded up next to the edges that we missed several great drawings, trying to manuever through the crowd.  However, I was justified in insisting we catch this when Zoom pulled out his sketch pad when we got home and started drawing. I like how this girl is watching herself being drawn... You could definitely tell who the chalk artists were:  To see my whole set of pictures, check out my flickr set , and while you are there you can type "Denver chalk art" into the Search box and see all the drawings and artists that other people captured.  I especially like the drawing of the cows, there are pictures at several stages, but we didn't see that one while we were there. 

I love art, all kinds - photography, knitting, culinary, movies, literature, painting, you get the idea.  I also LOVE music.  I played a couple different instruments growing up, as did everyone in my house, and my husband plays bass.  This is something I am happy to see my children seem to have a natural aptitude for.  But before we had kids, I went to lots gigs with BFJ and his band.  They frequently shared the stage with Love.45 .  I love seeing this band play, they are fun and really tight .  (If you don't know what that means in musical terms, I don't really know how to explain it except I guess it is the opposite of sloppy.)  BFJ mentioned to me last week that they had recently gotten back together so I made a point to go see them last night.  They sounded as great as ever.  And of course, I brought my camera. I love the intimacy of local bands, people I know, and a stage you can walk up to.  And they'd know who I was...

Refreshed living room paint.  After: Before: FYI, my house was not built in the '20s, it's a few decades newer than that.  The new paint is Mineral from Behr (Home Depot).  Loved the two-in-one primer/paint, it covered really well in two coats.  It's a beige-gray, and although I knew it was going to be lighter than the green, I definitely expected it to look like colored walls.  Alas! the only reason I know for sure it is not white is because the mantel is white.  Other than that, I love the new airy quality it has brought.  I repainted the black parts of the fireplace (including the brass door frames), and am planning to paint the brick surround.  I was going to paint it white but now I wonder if it will be camoflaged, so I'm thinking perhaps white wash .  What do you think I should do?  Since I haven't decided yet it has not gotten done.  It definitely has to be painted, BFJ and I were a bit liberal when we...

(It's not quite Friday but almost...) Last Friday, as I previously mentioned, BFJ took the day off from work, and we had a leisurely lunch out.  We sat down at a table where someone had left a newspaper, and I happened across an article about the movie Between the Folds .  It sounded like a great film for our whole family so we looked it up that evening on Netflix and called the boys in to watch.  I couldn't believe how much moaning and groaning there was!  I told them they had to watch the first ten minutes and then they could leave.  I'm pleased to tell you that they all stayed to the end!  Origami is the subject of this movie, but it's not just about paper cranes.  This documentary really speaks to the ingenuity of art and the human mind.  During the middle of the film, Speed got up and brought back a stack of copy paper and began folding and folding.  I knew this movie would connect with him especially.  Many aspects of origami ...

Greetings, noble readers.  Your faithful observer spotted this swell and his ladykin, The Honorable Cornelius Trigg and unconventional wife, Duchess Iphegenia Trigg, victorian world travellers, out and about on All Hallows Eve.  The pair were accompanying a trio of small hoodlums brandishing outlandish irons in pursuit of small candied treats, and nary a passerby escaped them.  It may be said that the Hon. Trigg is heard late nights hurling wrenches and insults at a contraption invented for "traveling time" but it's nothing to the scandal of a lady with ink on her fingers, striding around in breeches! Okay, you might want a little more clarification.  We were steamers!   When I saw How to Train Your Dragon last spring, I was mesmerized by Astrid's terribly knit sweater, and knew I could make one for Halloween.  Over the summer, however, as we've enjoyed looking at steampunk gadgets online, my mind detoured and I thought it would be f...