Good VS Bad: Round One

What makes something good vs. something that is bad? I was sifting through some blog post via Google and I came across some poorly manufactured blogs. Then I thought to myself; what makes this blog so bad? Someone obviously spent the time to create it, who am I to judge its worth? We all do it. I guess that's just it. We all have levels of experience in life so one man trash is really another man's treasure. This goes for a lot of things. If my husband and I were walking down the same street and passed by the same store chances are we wouldn't want to go into the same ones. Even though we're married and share a lot in common we don't have the same taste or views all the time.

Look at mass marketing. If a beer company is going to advertise they are going to do it in a way that promotes there select demographic to go out and buy their type of beer instead of their competitor. Some people who don’t drink beer or don’t drink period might find their ads offensive, but that is how it works. Sometimes they are trying to bring in the new drinkers to their product though, making it looking delicious, refreshing, and fun. Personally I think most beer is gross and I would prefer to suck on my left big toe then drink a can of it, but that’s just one girl opinion.

You can’t make everyone happy all the time. Someone somewhere is going to take one glimpse of the first line of this blog entry and pass right on by. That’s okay though. No matter how many rewrites you do or how many different ways you put something together, someone somewhere isn’t going to like it. That’s what makes everyone a little special. If we all liked the same thing at the same time what would the world be? I wouldn’t want to live there! I want to choice to prefer mint chocolate chip ice cream vs. someone else loving moose tracks. I want to choice to have passion for something that someone wouldn’t understand of give two cents about.

We can look at art in the same way. I might like some things that people are going to look at and think: “That’s not art!” But who is to say that it’s not art? Just because it’s not hanging in some museum doesn’t mean it’s not art. To me the art on my fridge my daughter drew is beautiful. She is expressing herself the best way she can. Isn’t that what art is all about? With the ability for people all over the world to buy, sell, and trade on the internet, it’s opened a whole new world for artists. Any Joe Nobody off the street can but a painting online and says “Hey, this is art buy it!” And people will buy it. It’s a matter of taste.

It’s always good to introduce someone to something they may not have experienced because they don’t think it’s in their taste. If you’ve never experienced it how do you know you won’t like it? Just tonight I put one of my favorite movies of all time “Moulin Rouge” and my husband was shocked that Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman were in the movie. He also found out what great music it had. Knowing my husband as I do I didn’t think he was all that interested in watching the movie. Well, we were both wrong. I was wrong and thought I knew his taste and he was wrong about what the movie actually was, but how could he know until someone showed him? You never really know until you try.

So today my friends, I encourage you to share something with some else that they may not have seen or experienced before. It may just be worth it for both of you.

Here’s what I’m sharing with you:

1) Watch Moulin Rouge because it’s beautiful.



2) Go check out Michele Maule’s art because it’s lovely.



3) Read Night by Elie Wiesel because it changed my life.





Happy Trails.

"Edward,don't lick Max."

I have currently been completely addicted to the movie “Penelope.” I love quirky, almost dark, but still sweet and romantic movies like this one. I took some screen shoots for you to fully understand what I am saying here, (beware this is very picture heavy.) If you have no idea what movie I’m talking about I’ll give you a little insight:

Generations ago a curse was placed in the wealthy Wilhern family. That curse would be on the next born daughter of the family. The curse would only be broken by the daughter being excepted by her own kind. Time passes and luckily no daughters are born into the family until; Penelope. Her mother is obsessed with finding her a “blue blooded” husband to marry her and break the curse.

The characters of this story are so colorful and vibrant. Each of them is well thought out and very well played, not to mention great line! From the pirate patch wearing report Lemon to the main character Penelope. You may think they are a little over done and over dramatic but really, I think most people don’t realize how we really act most of the time. Dramatics is our life.

Let’s talk wardrobe. I wish I had the grace to pull off the adorable outfits Penelope wears is this movie! I adore her flowing skirts, cute tops, and lovely brooches’. I would also kill for her sweet heels! The wardrobe has an excellent way of making the movie seem just a little vintage without over doing it. Ever character in this movie I think is made a little extra special by the clothes they wear. The costuming for this movie is excellent. I think one of the best parts is the color choices they picked for each character. They truly did a brilliant job.

Another great thing about this movie is that I want Penelope’s bedroom! Staging for this movie was excellent. You get and interesting glimpse into the secluded life of this poor girl. She created her own little world in her bedroom. She wasn’t allowed to play outside or be with other kids so she created her version of the outside world inside. Plus, I love terrariums’!

Can you tell I love Penelope’s character? She’s kind of sad and pathetic, but also innocent and quirky. One of my favorite scenes of the movie (careful there’s a little spoiler here) is her for glimpse of the outside world. It’s a wonder land to her. Each thing she comes upon is a new fresh discovery. The cinematography is this seen is beautiful, something out of a dream.

Last thing I’ll say is that the sound track is great. Its sweet a quirky and kind of melancholy, just like Penelope. Every piece of the movie is orchestrated in such a manner that tells the story and brings the characters to life. I know your probably thinking, really a movie rated PG that didn’t really win anyways or hasn’t been talked about that much is that good? Trust me, step back from your world for a little while and walk in Penelope’s high heel shoes, you’ll see what I mean. Enjoy.

blogging late might not be such a good idea.

I sit here in the recliner of this home and wonder why I am not asleep. My thoughts fly in a thousand directions. What I could do what I could create and how I can get there. I don’t feel right unless I am making something. My hands must always be going a million miles a moment to feel whole and right. I can’t stop myself. I must use color. I must be pulling; snipping, gluing, painting, clicking, or I don’t feel right. My eyes ach to close but not I must resist for one more moment of inspiration. If I can just get the urge to do, I will.

Do you ever get so tired you can’t sit still? I think I’m there.

So I drift off to dreams and leave you with some creative things….

1. violetbellaphoto 2. ashleyg 3. katiefenwick 4. blackoutwell 5. CameraSHYphotography 6. feltandfound

Of life and death....

I’ve been struggling for the past few days on if I wanted to share this information but I feel like I should. Last week I had a dream (as many of you know from my facebook post.) It wasn’t just any ordinary crazy dream like I usually have it was much different. I dreamt that I talked to every person I’ve ever known who has died. I wouldn’t have found this dream so unusual if it had been one person or something like that because I’ve had that happen before. This dream they were all in a big room standing around having conversations waiting for me to come up and converse with them. The room looked like an old funeral parlor, which was pretty creepy. When I went up and talked to everyone though it was like they had been alive all along, like I had never “lost” them. I woke up confused. I know that these people aren’t around anymore so why did I dream of them?

I have dealt with the loose of family, friends, and people I barely knew, throughout life. Some people were very young, some old, some deaths were an accident some of natural causes and some subsides. It’s never easy to let a person go no matter who they are. I think the hardest part is being left behind. If you think about it the person who is gone might not even realize they are gone. There are different philosophies on what happens after you die and I truly believe that there is something more after this life. Whether you agree with me or not is your choice, I just know how I feel. There is nothing really to explain what happens, you hear stories of people seeing a white light and things like that but what really happens? I guess we will find out eventually.

One of my biggest points in sharing this is not to rush it. There has been an escalating amount of suicides in the past few months and it stings me deeply. I hate seeing people give up. The main question is why they give up anyways. Is it a comical imbalance in their brain that makes them believe the only way to end what they are going through is to end it all? What if everyone was a little more kind to each other, would that solve all our problems? Sadly I don’t think that would happen nor do I think it would wipe out the problem. The thing that strikes me about suicides is that a lot of people who are committing this act or attempting to think that this is how they will get the rest of the world back for what they’ve or we’ve done to them. That’s terrible. If a person wants revenge that badly that they would take their own life to cause someone else pain, what is this world coming too?

In talking about death you also have to take into consideration the people that are left behind. What happens to them? Now this is where the God thing gets pretty heavy for me. I think God has a plan for everyone but He also gave us the freedom of choice so sometimes we take off from our given path to explore “other things.” I think through that time God tosses out bread crumbs to us to try and direct us back to where he wants us to go. I think God understands that we may not always choice the “right” path so he makes back up plans. I do believe that God has selected us the perfect mate that we can share the rest of our lives with; someone who will understand who we are and how God helped form us. Sometimes that person may have taken the wrong path and gets lost or perhaps isn’t even in this life anymore. Stupid freedom of choice, right? I think that’s were Gods back up plan comes in. God wants us all to be happy, we are his children. He would never want us to be alone just because someone else made the wrong decision. There’s someone out there for everyone, not matter what choices we make.

Loosing someone you care about is hard enough. Seeing other people suffer from the loose can be even more difficult. My wish is that we can all learn from our own experiences and be kind to each other. It might make our time here just a little better. Now wouldn’t that be the best thing ever?

Pumpkins on Parade

So I was working on a project for a photography class I'm in and I got the wild idea to create a stop motion short. I have never done this before and it was so much fun! I'm really excited with the results and I just want to share it with everyone I can.

I need to work on the light and some if the photos are out of focus at points but it's a start.

Also, I made the little pumkin figures out of scuplty polymer clay and painted them as well.






I want to also mention that I got the idea from a local blogger/crafter/shop owner. She is awesome! She made a stop motion short for her Virtual Craft Night. Go Check out her blog:

Hanson - Fire on the Mountain

I spent my afternoon making a hanson video. I'm not really sure why I did it. Oh well!

Adventures in Craftiness

Hello all!

I’m excited about this post! This is my first attempt and a mini tutorial. I worked really hard recently on a yarn wreath that I love and I took pictures of the process I went through. I wanted some kind of decoration for Halloween and I didn’t want to go out and buy a whole bunch of stuff so I dug through my craft boxes and came up with something very fun and crafty!

What I used:
1 foam floral wreath (I found mine at the dollar store)
Warn (any color, mine was a mix of white and black)
Glue (I used E600 industrial glue but hot glue could work too)
Straight Pins (the kind used for sewing)

Extras:
Ribbon, Buttons, Faux Flowers, Jewels, trinkets, whatever you have laying around.

Step one:
I diligently wrapped warn around the foam wreath making sure it was very tight and stayed secure. I used both the white and the black at the same time to give it a meshed look. You can use only on color or different colors for your desired look.

Step Two:

I began by wrapping a sheer ribbon around my wreath for added detail. I also started placing flowers and moving them around to see where I would want to place them. I used straight pins because of the round form of the wreath they tend to fall off and I wanted to see the overall look.

Step Three:

After rearranging several times I decided to add some buttons to the mix. I also took apart the flowers and places jeweled buttons in the middle to give it some sparkle. After I got the exact look I was going for I used my E600 industrial glue and picked up each piece and adhered it to the yarn wreath. I then added a loop at the top for hanging that is secured by glue and a straight pin.

FINSIHED!

After everything was completed I let my pieces dry and then hung it outside! VA LA! Beatuiful no?

Not interested in making your own yarn wreath? Just ask me and I’ll come up with a custom wreath just for you! Also, here are some great places to buy your very own for the holidays!

Agnes is AMAZING! When I saw her featured artist aritcale on etsy I could not believe how good her work is! She would be my #1 choice for décor for sure! Visit her etsy shop: KnockKnocking

Okay, I love Jody’s work, she has a great blog and a great etsy shop! If you get lucky she can have some great yarn wreaths like the one in the photo above for sale in her store now! Visit her shop: thelittleprints

Some other great wreath shops:

Itz Fitz

AnnaHailey

Goodie True Shoes