1. Today was Amanda’s birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA! To celebrate we got warm beverages from her coffee bar of choice, The Italian Coffee Bar in the old Playboy Building. I have to say, it was the best REAL latte I’ve ever had…it was the closest thing to real COFFEE (I’m saying there was minimal sugar in this thing people) I’ve ever purposefully drank, and I must admit, I kinda enjoyed it more than I suspected. NO, I am not ready to make the leap over to real lattes, but it was a good one that deserved mentioning…
2. Space heaters. They are the best, and total life savers. All I do is freeze at work all day long. My space heater saves me. Thank you, space heater.
3. Art show cheese and fruit platters! Today was the closing of the little art exhibit at the hospital I had a piece in. They had a little reception for the artists and they had this UNBELIEVABLY AWESOME cheese platter…there was this horseradish mustard seed type cheese that made me think I had died and gone to heaven. Add in the raspberries that were on the same tray and I WAS in heaven. For the show the organizer wanted to take my picture next to my sculpture. I declined. Then I remembered I have to suck it up and do this stuff in the future so I might as well practice now. Amanda was awesome, the photographer asked her if she would get in the picture and “ask me questions about the piece”…I was laughing, but Amanda totally did what she needed to, it was hilarious. I’ll be interested to see how the photos come out. But in any case, I DID get Amanda to pose with my paper sculpture, body of work no. 1 – self love, and I think the picture is pretty cute!
   
4. I got more goodies in the mail!!! YAY FOR GOODIES! Today I received my ATC that was themed “Ex Marks the Spot”. It was supposed to be about one of our exes…I thought it seemed like a fun first ATC swap and one that I have plenty of material to draw from so I signed up for it. My partner ended up sending me two cards because the first one she thought looked a little to “stickery”…I get what she was saying, especially when you compare it to her second attempt which I really love more and more with each glance I take. Look at the expression on the sleeping girls face, it’s really engaging. Anyway, thanks B Monster, or is it TheBigB?! ANYway…THANKS LADY!! The ATC’s are really fantastic and I totally love them both!!!
   
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5. I CLEANED UP MY STUDIO!!! It was starting to get a little too cluttered in there and out of control. I put things AWAY and I cannot stop expressing how awesome it is to have an art studio to call my own. Everything has a home, it all fits in the space so nicely and it’s cozy (though occasionally on the cold side). I love my studio. It makes me very very happy to be in there and be creative and then to be able to leave my “work space” to come home and have a “home” space. So.Nice!
6. (sorry, there’s a sixth “fave five” today) I FINALLY finished my own Ex Marks the Spot ATC. I only made one, primarily because I spent a lot of time on this one and just don’t have a ton of extra time to spend…I think I probably take 100% longer to make something than most people. I’M SO SLOW MOVING! Ugh, but whatever, I completed it and I’m happy with it. (Click on the thumbnails below to see the photo enlarged.)
   
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I wish to god I could look *sexy*, but alas, I end up looking a little silly trying...ah well...we can all have a good laugh!

(or as Tyra would say, I’m trying to look FIERCE!)

I liked this one a lot.

(click on photo to find link to original/unmanipulated photo)

Today was an incredibly productive day. I ended up (with the wonderful help of Ivan) setting up my entire art studio, new desk and all. I ended up getting legs and a table top from Ikea for realllllly cheap and the table is over 6 feet long and wider than 2 feet which is WONDERFUL. It fits in the space VERY nicely. I also hung my green curtains up in the studio and suddenly it really felt like MY SPACE.

You walk into the studio and it smells like my incense, the green curtains scream Devin and I even added a little plant I named Pete the Plant. He’s very cute and sits on the table underneath the north facing window.

Ivan set up the tall chairs I got, and most of the table, I organized and put stuff away…it really looks great in there.

Not only is my studio now set up, but I picked up some fancy fabrics from Vogue in Evanston to use for book binding cloth (very exciting) and small pieces needed for my “sewing kit”. I’m ALL kinds of excited about sewing and knitting and crocheting again…I love love love all things arts and craftsy!!!

I cannot WAIT to have a little Stitch ‘N Bitch in my studio space sometime this summer…all us crafty ladies lounging in chairs or hanging out around the big table. It will be cratastic fun!

About today’s image…the original image for this is one close to my heart and part of a series of photos I’ve been taking for over a couple years now. I didn’t want to show the original photo image because I plan on using it for something else and don’t want things in my work to become overly repetative and thus boring.

I need more inspiration for these digital images…while I’m not spending too much time on them (as I have none to spend) I am suffering for need of inspiration. Anyone have anything to challenge me with or spark my interest, do share – I’d love to credit you for the help!!!

Cheers!

Anyway, this a goofy little digi photo…I am LOVING picnik online photo editing program. I like it waaaay more than photoshop (probably because it’s far easier/simpler/dummy downed/and quick) to use for photo manipulation. I can do a lot of little goofy things with it which I really enjoy. This didn’t take long at all, but is quite different from the original photo (as is my goal for all of these digi images I end up making…)

My plan is to create a little digital something every day inspired by anything and everything. On days I have no inspiration what-so-ever, I will use a facebook meme that was going around where one used a random wiki page title, a random flickr photo and a random quote and putting them all together create an “album cover” for a band who’s name comes from the random wiki page title you draw.

I have been enjoying everyone’s thus far and decided to start posting things of that nature here. Other potential postings will just be digital collages, possible animations, maybe even scans of quick little collages I do on the go throughout the day. The main thing to keep in mind is that I will NOT be spending much time on these…it’s just to get my mind loose, the creative juices flowing, possibly spark some future ideas and make the blog a little prettier to visit daily.

Hope you all enjoy the new 365: a crafty little something! And without further adeau I bring you “my bands” album cover…

a crafty little something; day 1 by d. schuyler