Merry Christmas to me

Santa brought me track lighting for Christmas, or I should say I got a box with the supplies inside and when our guests were here this weekend the guys installed it for me. It looks great and really lights up a section of kitchen counter that was in the dark before. Lovely!

Santa also brought me a creme brulee torch, isn't this exciting? I used it on tile but I haven't used it for caramelizing sugar yet... but give me time.

PS, doncha love how the lights bathe this counter in light?  I do!   

2009 Highlights - I Have Been to the Mountaintop...

I spent the early part of the year 2009 renewing work on a writing project that has been in my spirit since about 2000.  I think the highlight of my year was a week I spent completely alone at a cabin in the woods.  It was extremely remote, reached only by a very quirky 4x4 Suburban.  The place had propane lights, range and fridge, an outhouse that I shared with a spider (often more than one) and a gas powered generator that I used to charge the batteries on my laptop.  It was by far the best thing I’ve ever done for myself and I loved being there.  It was remote, very wild and very beautiful.  I felt absolutely no fear, slept with the doors and windows wide open and LOVED it!

I spent most of my time writing, I worked on the porches mostly depending on where I could get the most natural light.  If it was raining I would move to the covered porch, it it got too bad I'd work inside but that meant either turning on the generator, using candles or lanterns.  I often played guitar out on the porch and sang in solidarity with the trees and wildlife.  I curled up on the porch at night with a blanket to consider the many vivid stars and even saw a shooting star.  I used the antique propane range to cook my meals, I had produce from the farmer's market mostly, fruit, veggies, eggs and a loaf of hearty bread, some butter and olive oil.  I worked until I'd finish a chapter then take a break and make something to eat.  It seemed that the food all tasted far better than usual.  The whole experience was heavenly.  I was awakened at 3 am one morning by a bird flying around the cabin, I opened the screen doors and let the poor little thing out, what a lovely adventure!  Since I was up anyway, I went back to work on the book for a while then took a hike up the mountain to see the sunrise from the top.

There was also a considerable storm one afternoon and I couldn't even work on the covered porch anymore and it got very dark so I took a break to watch the storm.  When the rain stopped and the sun came out I was treated to the full court press of after storm misty beauty, it's a memory I'll always treasure.  It was such an amazing time for me, the storm, dawn on the mountain top...  I felt free and alive in a way that touched me deeply.  It's hard to put into words, even now all these months later.

I came home with a rough draft of my book and a great deal of excitement at this milestone in my life.  Since then I’ve set the project on a back burner again, feeling that there are a few chapters that are yet to come, or perhaps I’m just not ready to release it.  Either way, those days of being completely alone in the wilderness left me feeling free and more in touch with my spirituality and the wilderness than ever.  I loved it so much!

I saw rainbows after that storm, a number of them in the same day, mostly little bitty snatches of one here and there since my location was very tree sheltered.  As a matter of fact, the day I drove back into civilization I kept seeing rainbows along the drive home.  And once I was home there I saw a huge rainbow there, they sure are difficult to capture in a photograph, best stored up in one's heart!  It gave me hope that better things were coming my way.

Coming home was difficult, facing my world of external demands, commitments and material overload.  As I drove back into civilization my cell phone went off and I listened to a long list of phone messages, some of which were very demanding, followed by a stack of email when I got home and noise and commotion and a big mess in my kitchen.  It was an overwhelming and I felt the bliss slipping away.  Now I know that how you come back from the wild is as important as how you get there, lesson learned.  Next time I'll be more careful about the way I come home.  I loved it, I want to go back.  Soon I hope.  Maybe I’ll go back in 2010 to finish up that project or work on another.  I'm in no rush, some projects are made for years rather than months.  All in all, I think my week alone in the wild was one of the highlights of 2009 and I am very grateful that I had that opportunity!

(Outhouse with a view!  LOL!) 

Sometimes I think we are reluctant to do what we need to do for ourselves in order to live the best version of our lives.  It's so easy to get caught up in the sensory overload of pop culture and making a living and meeting external demands when sometimes... more than anything what we really need is absolute silence, a Bible, some thoughtful introspection, a journal, a guitar and time...  Give yourself a gift in 2010, take some time away for silence, contemplation and solitude.  It may turn out to be the highlight of your year.

Blessings,
-Carmen Rose

With Gratitude, my 200th Blog Post! (And a Give-Away!!)

It’s hard to believe I’ve written 200 posts on this blog but I have. I’m grateful for those of you who pop by and leave your comments, thanks for being out there and interested in whatever is coming out of Studio B at the moment. No doubt that it’s always going to be something different.

I’ve put together a little package as my way of saying thanks for being out there, thanks for reading and thanks for leaving comments.
First, a small vase. I call these “rose vases” because they are perfect for a little bouquet of whatever is in bloom. I’m not a big gardener but I like picking up a bouquet of flowers at the supermarket sometimes and bringing them home. This is the kind of vase I always reach for when I do that, add a few marbles in the bottom and trim all the stems on the flowers and pop them in one at a time. Before long you’ve got a lovely little bouquet for the kitchen counter, the office or the bathroom. It’s a great way to brighten up the place or greet guests, and of course a small vase with some lovely fresh blooms is always a lovely gift.

This is a painted vase that has been fired to thermo harden the glaze resulting in a dishwasher resistant finish. In other words, you can run it through the dishwasher but if you do it too often you’ll start to lose the texture on the vase. But really, I think most of us can hand wash a small vase with no trouble.
Secondly, a small dichroic glass pendant with a little millefiori flower at the lower edge. Add a simple chain or tie with the satin cord I’ll include and it will be a lovely and delicate accent for whatever you’ve chosen to wear.
Finally, three olive oil guest soaps complete the package. First, Lapis Clove is inspired by the stone Lapis and has gold leaf in it to mimic the gold flecks in the stone. The fragrance is a fresh crisp men’s spice combination of clove and eucalyptus (I created it as a men’s combination but I love it and would certainly use it myself!) Tangerine Splash has some orange rind in it to exfoliate your skin. The fragrance includes Tangerine, Orange, Bergamot, Nutmeg, Rosemary and lemongrass essential oils. The final bar is Jasmine Clementine with calendula petals in it. The fragrance includes Orange, tangerine, Mandarin Orange, Jasmine and Amber, a blend of essential and fragrance oils.
So thanks for dropping by and checking out the things I make and the words I write. I can tell you that there is no other life that I’d rather live than the life of an artist!

In order to qualify for the giveaway, please become a “follower” of my blog using the link at the right. Then leave a comment below and I’ll draw someone at random on November the 14th and announce the winner that day. Make sure I have a way to email you, so either have your email address in your profile info, provide a link to your address or (in a pinch) post it in your comment. Thanks so much for dropping by. Happy creating!
-Carmen Rose

Toy Drop

I ran across this in Brooke’s blog and I really love this idea. It’s called a toy drop. Check out her "Kerfuffle." He is adorable! You make a toy, put instructions with it and then package it up neatly and leave it somewhere where someone might happen across it in a public place. Cutest idea! I might have to try this, if only there were enough hours in the day… Find out all about it here.

Christmas in February!

Two more lovely generous people sent fabric for the children's quilts!
These three are really cute vintage looking fabrics with wind up pigs, a cute lil puppy dog on wheels and the middle one has jack-in-the-box type characters on it. Aren't these the cutest ever?! A great big huge THANK YOU to Jenn Murray, another adoptive mom. They all kind of match each other, so that will make it fun to create something from these!

And today two more fat quarters came from Joan Pottinger! These little faces are in every color with hair of every color and the little worlds say things like "kids can make a world of difference" and "Hope is in our hands" - how cool is that? And then the animal print is A-DOOR-able!!

Thanks Ladies! Your sweet notes were also such a blessing! ;)

And I'm collecting Zebras for a kid's room! I bought a stuffed Zebra Sunday, cute lil bugga! And zebra prints seem to make it into everything I make right now.

Giggling Quilt

For snuggling when it is cold outside.
From Melody*

*Some assembly required
:)

My Fairy Godmother (or is that Fabric Godmother)

Waved her wand over my house yesterday! We are all grinning like crazy around here! I walked in and saw these two boxes sitting on the office chair, the return address said Melody Johnson and I about fell over! They are SO BIG, and THERE ARE TWO! I lifted a corner... they were HEAVY! I instantly knew that both were full to the gills of fabric! I had to finish my work before I could open them, but it really made me work hard and fast, I was sooo excited!


I had to clean an area on my sewing table and hubby was watching and laughing. “I can’t believe you don’t have that box open yet!” He was picking on me cause he knew I was barely containing my excitement. I opened the first one and upended it on the table. I was digging through it like a kid! Then I started stacking that stuff aside to make room for the second box. The second one didn’t feel like an upending kind of box, so I put it on a nearby chair and began to excavate its contents. I think hubby laughed at me all evening. I brought all the pieces out, examined them. I often carried over an especially pretty bit and exclaimed about it to him. He smiled and went back to his work. I marveled at something else, he kept smiling and kept working. Before it was all over I had spread out the contents of these two boxes over the kitchen counters, the ironing board and the dining room table! WOW!

Want to see the beautiful loot??


Ok, so there are the serious colors. And there are sooo many with different textures and patterns! There are some especially pretty bits in here. And I think these colors would work great in my Mom’s house and I have a few other friends that these seem to match quite well. I’m going to buy some Wonder Under and see if I can fuse up some things for me and for gifts. I think it would be fun to try some landscapes with these. There is a color for every palate in this collection! I can now make ANYTHING!


This is what started to pile up as I started separating the serious bits from the bright ones.


THEN I started finding quilt blocks already made! (More happy dance and going to show hubby, more hubby grinning) And strips pieced together already… I am SO inspired to make something with these. Hmm… whether to finish the frog quilt or work on this instead….


Then I started going through the bright rainbow fabrics. Mercy, I don’t know when I ever had this much fun! Melody must have some incredible fabric stores in her area, these rainbow colored prints are SO MUCH FUN! And I had just started a black and white collection to add contrast to my work and here are a bunch more for my collection.


Santa Melody Johnson, you rocked my world! Thank you SO MUCH! It never ceases to amaze me how people have reached out to bless us in this adoption process. Our kids have friends around the country, people who have sent money and now fabric. It is blessing me down to my socks! Thank you Melody!

Now go visit the amazing, generous and talented Melody Johnson at her blog and look at her spectacular print parade series. #2 was my fav until I saw #4, then there was #5 and it just keeps getting harder to choose a fav!