The Keys... The Opportunities... The Mystery

Every once in a while I make a piece of jewelry that expresses something of how I feel about my life.  This is one of those times.  In the process of looking at all the amazing Valentines jewelry supplies at Artbeads.com, I came across these little skeleton key charms in a variety of sizes and shapes.  They captured my attention and when they arrived in the mail I was completely smitten with them.  I made them into a pair of earrings in two seconds flat by taking the rings off of a pair of hoop earrings I already had, feeding the charms and rings right back on.  The result was a little ring of keys dangling from my ears, and I adore them!

I started to wonder why these lovely little keys resonated with me so much and then realized that doors have long been symbols of opportunity in my life.  And keys go to locks on doors, having the right key is pretty central to whether or not that door is open or closed.  I remember a dream I had in my thirties where I was in a room opening and closing doors.  It became a theme for me during a pivotal season of my life.  I went through a door marked “Artist” back then, and followed that up with a door marked “Entrepreneur” when I opened my first gallery.  And ever since then, when I struggled to find my way, I would look for the open doors.  I am 41 and facing some pivotal decisions in my life right now.  Call it a midlife crisis if you will, but I am taking a look at everything in my life, everything is open for evaluation and consideration.  All I really know is that some things will need to change, the question is which things?  I have a lot going for me, I’m strong and articulate.  And I am learning to know myself better and I am embracing this uncommon woman that I am. And so I’m once more in that metaphoric room surrounded by options and I don’t really know (yet) which ones are right for me.

I’m not the woman I once was, I’ve grown up a lot. I’ve gained some years and a little bit of wisdom here and there, mostly the hard way. Yet in some ways I feel very much like I’m just beginning, like I’ve come to the place where I am in some sense, starting over. So here’s to the doors of opportunity, and having the keys to those doors.

Thank you to Artbeads.com for these lovely key charms.  These keys can be found in their selection of selection of items for (yeah, I'm a tad late!!) Valentine's Day.  And you can go to their site and do a simple search for silver keys and get TWO PAGES of results of little tiny beautiful silver keys.  I'm completely in love with them.  And I'll bet you'll find something that expresses your journey in this collection of  charms.  There are so many to choose from!  Surf on over!

 FTC disclaimer: I received some of the products shown in this blog from Artbeads.com free of charge, I have not been paid for my endorsement of these products and I am reviewing the products honestly.

I'm off to do makeup for the cast of "Saving Grace."  I'm wearing my earrings with the key charms from Artbeads.com.

Happy Creating,
Carmen Rose

Quilts and Hinges on the Doors

In between all the things that I worked on last week, I started a little quilt. Sometimes it's hard to focus on the things I NEED to do, so I started a little project that I WANTed to do. It's not finished...

and may never be finished... but it's been a lovely little project to keep me going in between all the other stuff.

I have nothing new to report on the hinges for my kitchen cabinets. I emailed the company on Friday about the return and I have ordered the replacement pieces - no response to either one. If I don't hear something from them on Monday then I'll have to give some thought as to how to proceed. At this point they have my money and I have a big heavy box of product that I can't use. Not exactly the kind of thing that equals customer satisfaction.

I have guests coming next weekend. So if I continue to work on more of the kitchen and take more doors off their hinges to paint them, then that just means that much more of my kitchen is LEANING instead of usable. I've got a big kitchen, but the last thing I need is to have guests here when it's in a condition where I can't actually use what I have. It's becoming a frustration. I suppose when/if the hinges do finally come, it will be like Christmas at my house. I'm really tempted to rattle can the old hinges and be done with it. I've tried that before and it doesn't really work all that well, but... at least I'd be able to get the doors back up where they go.

So here's to hinges on the doors of our lives, otherwise it's a bit hard to tell what doors are open and what doors are closed.
Grace,
-Carmen Rose

This Again? (Re)painting Kitchen Cabinet Doors

I had a coat of paint and a coat of primer on these kitchen cabinet doors, and some weird discoloration was bleeding through. So after a trip back to the paint store for another gallon of special stain blocking primer, I'm back at it again.

These doors are wood with the original finish, cleaned with that alphabet soup stuff (TSP? STP? TPS?) sanded, primed, painted... and then primed and painted again. Yeah, complete overkill. Here's hoping that nothing bleeds through this time! That's the doors from the first section of uppers. Lots more to go!

Still waiting very impatiently on the hinges to arrive. Soon I hope?

A friend of mine was here today to have her hair colored so I painted her hair and wrapped the bits up in foil. It had not occurred to me how similar that is to some of the other things I do, like dying fabric or any kind of repetitive pattern making or even the act of painting with a paint brush. But most of my artistic projects don't talk while I'm working on them! (At least not to an extent that I'm willing to admit to.) =)

I was thinking today about how unusual this January has been. Usually it's my one chance during the year to really dig in and work on an art project that I wouldn't ordinarily get to do. One that isn't about making a product to sell but more about meeting the need to create. Usually it's a time when I get to be really focused and shut out the world for a while. My dogs and the wood stove keep me company and I love snow and seeing the mountains in the distance, these things are good for the soul. This January has been busy and I've been into a variety of interesting things and still no significant time in my quilt studio. I would like to make some time for some very "outside the box" projects that are percolating, we'll see how far I get on that but some of the ideas really have my juices flowing! And I have a one person art show coming up sometime this Spring, more on that later. And there is an opening this Friday evening for a group show that includes my work, and an artist friend is going to come spend the day with me in my studios Friday as well. Heaven only knows what we'll get into! It's no ordinary January, but that's ok. Nothing is ever really ordinary around here anyway.

So from an uncommon artist to my uncommon readers: Happy Creating!
-Carmen Rose