commitment...

Well yesterday was the Flatwear jewelry photoshoot. I guess I am fully committed to this creative process. The photoshoot was fun. (Thanks Bobbi for stopping by). And I am really happy with how the photos turned out (above is a sampling). I am a little afraid that the photos make them look way better than they do in person.

Step 2: Design the website. I am really looking forward to this. I am so excited to design. Hopefully I can start this weekend. Stay turned for the official launch of www.flatwearjewelry.com.

Step 3: Ponder the biggest, coolest arts & craft show in Minneapolis. Am I brave enough to sale my jewelry there? I have to decided by August 15. Katie read an article that said...part of growing and being creative is to scare your self. Well...this scares me to death. But it would be fun.

I also made a major haul off of ebay this week. I received some really, really cool silverware. Many of the patterns I have not seen before. I wish I had more hours in the day :)

organizing...

Since blogging last (I know, its been awhile) I have made a new round of jewelry to sell at Archival Elements. So my next big project is a photoshoot on Wednesday for my jewelry. So I decided to create all weekend. But, I became distracted. I decided it would be better if I organized my work area. Of course, this required a trip to Target. I purchased the shelves and headed home to organize. Love it! This is how it turned out.



A couple of weekends ago. I went to this super cool garage sale. It was more like mass chaos. Everyone lines up at 9 am and you just run and grab the stuff you want. It was fun and crazy. I bought this cool old sign to hang in the spare bedroom/workroom. It makes me happy :)

So, I guess I have my work cut out for me tomorrow...to finish the 30 pieces of jewelry :)

new favorite artist...

Last weekend at the Brookings Art Festival I found some new cool art. One of my favorites were these super cool paintings of monsters. The artist also uses fabric. I wish I would have bought one, but they were kind of expensive. Here is her blog & website. http://kargolart.mosaicglobe.com/journal/1324

Check it out...

is it monday...

This conversation took place at approx 11:00 am, 7.19.07

Me: Mike is your vehicle fixed yet?

Mike: It shoud be done this afternoon. Kathy is going to pick me up and noon and take me to the gym. She is going to go to Target and shop while I work out.

Me: Does he have today off.

Mike: Yes.

Me: Since when does she have Monday off?

Mike. Its THURSDAY!

Me: It is? I thought it was Monday.

DonnaMae: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Oh, I am smart......

me + ebay

My most recent ebay winning is this super cool depression glass hand. I bought it to photograph my jewelry designs on. But it also looks really cool in my room. I have always wanted one of these. Is that strange?

who we are...

Bobbi and I were talking last week about what makes us who we are. We were taking about all the projects we use to do as kids. Sewing, knitting, art and 4-H. Mom & Grandmas that sewed and taught us to bake & cook. We think this is what has made us crazy project creative people. Are kids today missing out?? So today I finally organized my newly scanned 400 childhood photos and I found a lot of photos that reminded me why I turned out the way I did. I feel very lucky for having two creative parents, any very lucky they passed their passion on to me.

Mom & Dad.

This is my 3rd Birthday cake. I remember loving this. Thanks mom!

This is my winning kindergarten poster, it won 1st place in the whole state.
"What Safety Means to Me". I guess this is my very first graphic design.

Every year in July the family went to the Art Festival in Omaha. Here Bryce, mom & I are making art projects in the kids area. This was the best!

Little girls and brownies. What could be better?

My very first piano recital. I have never looked good in belts!

Birthday parties. These were our childhood favorites.
That is my mom in the witch costume. Fall, halloween & birthdays are the best!

Does anyone remember "Shrit Tales" & Pammy Panda?
This was my favorite cartoon.
Dad built her out of snow! Oh, the coolest!!!!

4-H and sewing. The annual summer torture! I remember having to rip out all the not perfect seems and start over. Mom was very patient with me. It must have been worth it. I won a purple ribbon and it went to state. I remember re-doing the collar/lapel over and over!

So...I think this kind of explains why I am the way I am :)

Creating...

Besides my regular day job of creating the last week has had fun extra creating projects. Yesterday Bobbi & I spend the 4th of July Decoupaging our super cool and super cheap tin pots. We have been wanting to this for months. We also grilled and watched fireworks.
It was a good day. This photo is stage one of the chaos.

Half way done. A lot of ohhh & ahhh at this stage.

Yeah we finished! Now where to put them? So many decisions.

Saturday was our 3rd annual Art Falls. Katie & I have made this our tradition. This year we added Nicola & New Katie. Abbey & Eric (Katie's kids) also joined us, which gave ma a great excuse to do the kids art projects. Here is Katie's link with more photos: http://www.overcaffeinatedkatie.com/

The photo above are our Raku creations coming out of the kiln.

This is the pot I made. And by made I mean I picked out the glaze. It is still very rewarding.

Here is my new art with the branches I had to spray paint white the minute I got home so I could put it all together. Do I have a sickness??

After spray painting, I decided to make magnets out of some old type I bought at a antique store. This has been on my list for awhile. Now I just need to find some cool things to magnet...

Here is a photo of the tie dying at Art Falls. It was the most fun part.
Thanks Abbey for letting me help.

This is what 3 days of sewing looks like...

Sometimes I wonder why I start these crazy projects. The sewing started on Friday afternoon and ended on Sunday. The quilt just kept growing. I had originally purchased a queen size batting for the inside, thinking that would be plenty. But by the time I had the border on and the binding it had grown past a queen size. So I made it to the fabric store by 5 pm yesterday to exchange the queen for a king. I came to work (the monster does not fit anywhere in my house) and laid out the backing and the batting and realized that it was way too thin. Oh, the struggle...do I leave it like it is or go to Wal-Mart (not Target :( ) and get more? Since they are the only place with batting that is open on a Sunday night. Ok, so if I am going to do all this work I am going to do it right. Off to Wal-Mart.

Back to work with the new batting. I spent another hour fighting to get all four layers flat. How come no one told me this was going to be the hard part? So I finally gave up and called in reinforcements. My super cool friend Bobbi came to the rescue. She saved the day. We pulled, smoothed and pinned the quilt for an hour and a half and now its all put together. I could not have done this without her. Thanks Bobbi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now all thats left is the hand stitching. Which will probably take me another 8 months to finish. I hope it will be worth it when I am done :)

father's day trip

Our trip started bright and early on Saturday morning. Dad was excited because we were taking the convertible. Packing is harder for me in a limited space, but I was able to get everything in! We made our way to the hills, stopping in the ever popular Wall, SD. I did see a really cool pair of cowboy boots at Wall Drug, but they were $300.00. We also stopped at the Ace Hardware store in Wall. Dad actually has a map with pins in every city where he has been to an Ace. I guess its tradition. We made it to Hill City where we were staying. It was beautiful out that day, nice and cool. We walked around downtown and ate at the Alpine Inn.

Sunday was another beautiful day. We started out early. We went for a nice morning drive that required jackets! We then when to Mount Rushmore. 7 am is totally the time to go. There is no one there. Next back to Hill City for our train ride on the 1880 Train. I was so excited about this. The train died twice. One time we sat there for about a half hour while they tried to get it fixed. It was fun though. We spent the afternoon driving though Custer State Park and trying to avoid a thunderstorm since we were in the convertible.

Monday was our driving back day, we did drive through the Badlands. I was already to see some wildlife and of course we saw nothing. I think its me. The wildlife hides from me.

I have posted my trip photos on my flickr site. Here is the address:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristieweiberg/

quiet...

I recently purchased a new air conditioner & furnace. I had kind of been putting this off, but its finally done. Today is the first day I have used the air. I turned it on...and I thought it was not working. But it was, its just so quiet you can't hear it in the house at all! Can this be?? Before it sounded like there was a monster in the basement. This is so exciting! I can't wait until I have to use the heat.

scanning...

I guess our family is not very organized because we have 2 big boxes of photos. Harold Photo Center has a shoe box scanning special. They will scan 400 photos for $59.00. What a bargain. Scanning is super time consuming and boring. Today I picked up my 400 photos on a cd! I am so excited to organize them in iphoto. Here is a sampling...


Bryce (my little brother, now 28) and I. I am sure all of you who know about my fall obsession will notice I am holding a pumpkin :)



This is my 4th Birthday. I received Sesame Street socks. I remember how much I loved them. Can you tell?

the best place to work...

We just had smores for an afternoon snack. Joan our super cool receptionist brought the supplies. Where else can you work and get to make smores??

projects & shopping

Saturday was a great girl shopping & visiting day. My really cool friend Bobbi & I had a girl day. We started out chatting and ended up at Hobby Lobby. You can read her Hobby Lobby account here http://backfortydesign.blogspot.com/

I am sure a few customers where afraid of us. We bought almost all the same stuff!

These really cool stars on the fence were only $2.60. So I had to have them. I had the stars that are hanging in the tree. I guess I kind of have a star theme going now.


On Sunday Dad came to work on the house. We went to Menards & Home Depot. I wanted to find plants for the hanging baskets. I did not want ferns this year, but of course I ended up with ferns. They were only $13.00 a piece and they are gigantic! We also bought plants for the big pots.

It was a good weekend!

stay focused...

I can never seem to stay focused while shopping. It's so hard. This morning Mike & I went to Pier 1. They had a lamp we wanted to buy for the office. I did pretty well until the end. When we took the lamp up to the check out there it was. A wicker couch on clearance. I have been looking for awhile for a cool couch for my sunroom. The tag said it was usually $475.00 and on clearance it is $87.00!! WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So of course I instantly think there is something wrong with it. The guy said it had been discontinued. I had to have it. Bargains make me so happy. So next I needed cushions for it. They also had some of those on sale. The ones I liked were normally $100.00 a piece and they were on sale for $13.74! Ok, now I am not focused at all. Oh and I had $16.00 left on a gift card. Thank goodness we brought Mike's vehicle. There is no way all this cool stuff would fit in my little car. Here is my cool new clearance stuff!

my favorite kind of days...

I have two favorite kind of days. They are...any day that feels like fall or Colorado. Today it feels a little like both. I LOVE these days. If you can wear a long sleeved shirt or a light jacket, I flail about. As soon as the temperature hits 80° I start counting the days until fall. Tonight I decided it was a perfect night for mowing. I blasted my ipod (the most coolest and bestest album: Glory Revealed) and enjoyed the fall/Colorado weather. If you are wondering where this obsession comes from. I inherited it from my father. Every big project we talk about doing we say "that's a perfect project for the fall" and every vacation we plan is in the fall, we are slightly obsessed.

(Only 4 months till fall!)

long list...

I have a really long list of projects I want to do with my house. There is always so much to do with an old house! This last weekend we replaced the ugliest storm door at the back of my house going to my patio. Now I have a pretty new one that actually closes! Love it. It took almost all day to install the stupid thing. Dad kept saying...this whole door frame is an 1" off! This created us a lot more work.





Next step: The end of this week or early next week I am getting a new furnace and air conditioner. I am so excited. Currently the air condition lives on the patio in a bad spot. It is also ancient. I have been waiting 5 years to move the stupid thing off my patio. I can't wait. The only not fun part is paying for all the new cool things.

cutting squares...

This is how I spent my Sunday, ironing and cutting 270 — 6 1/2" x 6 1/2" squares. Who ever came up with the rotary cutter for fabric deserves a big kiss. I love it! I am sure it sped up the process.

Step 2. The squares came to work with me today. I do not have a big enough room in my house to lay the pattern out. So I am going to do it here. I can't wait to arrange all the colors and patterns. It will be so much fun. Then I can start sewing them together :)

let the sewing begin:

My super cool fabric purchase arrived today. It contains 40 squares, 18 x 24 of the most beautiful patterns and colors. I am going to make a quilt for my bedroom and then paint it a crazy pink or blue. I can't wait. It is almost too pretty to take apart. I just like looking at it all stacked up perfectly.


This is the rest of my purchase. I bought 1 lb. of scraps. These are so cool. Bobbi and I have plans for these. Stay tuned for the results of our project.