Ephemera Junkie

I am gaining a reputation at work.
So, I've been dabbling in creating artistic blocks and other random things.
So, I have an etsy account.
So, I've participated in a craft fair of sorts at work.
I love it and am loving the new ideas that keep coming my way.

One of my friends there recently came to me with the proposition of figuring out how to re-create something that she had seen on TV.  Figuring that her brain works about the same as mine (meaning that we like to figure thigns out) and that I have the added touch of creativity and resources, she asked me to see if I could do it.  I was intrigued, to say the least.

The first was a purse made out of a vintage book.
(Consider the book bought, plans sketched out, and fabric in mind) Check.
Just have to put it together. 

The second is a catch-all tray featuring a vintage postcard and a coordinating fender.
A little more creativity needed, and even more sketches, but I have an idea of how I want to attack and have found some awesome images that I would love to work with!
Just need to do a little more research.

But while I was doing this research, I came across some pieces for my Bekuz Blocks.
A completely unique design developed by me, Bekuz Blocks are my favorite thing to create and cusstomize!  It is basically a wood block (various sizes available), decorated with pieces of ephemera, papers, pictures, words, etc... to make one cohesive piece of design accoutrment!  And it's even glazed.

An example of one of my first Bekuz blocks. 

Well, last weekend I made a trip to Home Depot and came out with 30 or so new blocks begging to be 'bekuzzed', and so all week I've been developing new ideas.

This is where today's find comes in.
Digitial Do Dad is a etsy seller that sells various ephemeric images and collage sheets.
And almost even sheet on the site is something I want to use!
Basically, I have to have them allllllll...
But I will be patient and conservative in my spending, sadly.  :)
But if you're in the mood to create and need some ideas and/or an awesome resource, be sure to check this site out:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DigitalDoDads

The Digital Collage sheet calling my name today!

And with my new ephemera in hand, the block making will begin!

Be sure to check out my site at etsy in the next week or so, to purchase a Bekuz Block of your own!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/perfancynancy

In a kitsch kind of mood...

Mu husband and I's 2nd Anniversary is coming up in September.
Not exactly a milestone, but worthy of celebration nonetheless.

We had originally thought about doing a "Spontaneous Dining Experience", which is one of our favorite things to do, and leads to a nicely unexpected series of events and circumstances.  And with a bit of a budget, the rules you create can limit or open up the possiblities immensely!  I was looking forward to this!  It would be a night out, for just us, and we couldn't even begin to plan it... just the way I like it, quite frankly!

But then we had this thought.  We were driving home after work (we are experimenting with carpooling by the way), and Gary had the thought of needing to find somewhere cheap to go for a weekend.  Somewhere close, somewhere cheap, but a weekend trip that would be fun.
I chimed in and said that we could do it on our Anniversary weekend and actually have a slightly larger celebration than originally 'planned'.

So then all of the ideas start flowing...
Chattanooga
Savannah
South Georgia
Nashville
Alabama
The Carolinas
etc...

And then to take it a bit further, the theme weekend idea emerges...
I had stumbled across this article or blog where a young couple takes these themed weekend trips.  They could start off in the hopes of hitting some of Abraham Lincoln's homesteads and see where it leads.

Well, well, I thought.  That's an idea.
So we may be starting simple, but it's a start.
We are thinking about taking a kitsch themed weekend journey.
I would LOVE to stay in a kitschy hotel with the heart shaped bed and champagne glass jacuzzi, and we could visit the World's Largest Lunchbox Museum, which happens to be located in Columbus, GA.  And maybe we could even swing by and see the Largest Peanut Statue.

And this would happen to be while I was wearing my cat-eye glasses, and Gary a sweater vest.
We would be so cute and kitsch, I could hardly stand it.

But that's the goal!
;)

Caribou Inspirations

Oh the joys of a lazy Sunday afternoon spent at a coffeeshop...

Anyways,

While visually stalking the interior decorations of my local Caribou,
I looked up and found some intriguing inspirations to inspire my life, my vacations, and my daily daydreams.

They are as follows:
Be the first to apologize.
Plant lots of trees.
Sleep under the stars.
Dare to adventure.
Visit 22.55' S, 43.12' W.
Spend time with your kids, tomorrow they're a day older.
Run your  feet, not your mouth.
Don't wait for New Year's to make a resolution.
Make time for silly.
Marshmallows have no nutritional value, and that's ok.
Have a favorite charity.
Listen first, talk second.
Grow young.
Max out your passport.
Hold hands, not grudges.
Adopt an animal.
Hit the trail, not snooze.
Do more cannonballs.
Continue more conversations offline.
Build communities, not empires.
Learn to dance a jig.

I love lists like this.
They inspire me to the nenth degree and leave me wanting to do every one.

I definiteyly want to max out my passport,
and would love to do so in the comfort of a VW Bus.

I would love to learn to dance a jig,
and any other kind of dance for that matter.

And the fact that marshmallows have no nutritional value makes them all the more appealling,
and that makes me appreciate the silly even more.

Happy Dreaming, my friends!  :)

Moxie Birds

There once was a flock of birds.  All different, but all traveling together through the skies.  They would eat, fight, laugh, and delegate (each to it's own accord) various duties, rights of passage, and randomosities that would somehow converge upon a daily advance of life and wonder.  For the Moxie Birds, life was being, and being was what they did best, as long as they were together.

In the sense that these Moxie Birds created life from these otherwise non-chalant events that just so happen to occur among a basis we have come to recognize as a day, these Moxie Birds have acheived the simplest and most direct need of a person, and that is to survive.  It is not enough to simply ask for something to happen, you must be present when it does happen and be able to respond, reflect, and react.  You must not spend your life searching for events, but live them everyday.

I have adopted the lifestyle of the Moxie and have reveled in their spirit, as they have surreptiously come into my life.  Like a random flock of birds, their presence is not known to me, and mine maybe not to them, but I felt them and have them in my mind now, and for that I am grateful.

So as one flew over the silly ole nest, my Moxie's rest all around and everywhere, waiting until the next moment to fly and live.

With love, my Moxie!

Random Doddling

Soooo... I find that random interjections are often the ones that spur the most memories. Where you were, what you were doing (or not doing) and what you were feeling can all be randomly captured in a moment of fleeting fancy and for those of us akin to those sort of fancies, the fleeting ones are perhaps not so fleeting at all.

I spend my days constantly observing and constantly gratifying my intellectual inspirations. Watching a person, laughing at a quirk, maintaining the accomplishment of miniscule goals, all entertain me to no end, and with that, I am constantly inspired.

The main thing that I am dealing with today is that there is a slight chance my life could change... and for that I am preparing myself. (But when you think about it, when is your life not changing? Your life is always changing and this is just a path. And you know what's even more? That there is a significant reason for every occurance in your paths every day! They may seem futile, even null, but they exist for the purpose of your encountering them, and it not for you, even their existance would be questionable.....)

:)