I've been banished!

Oh, the humiliation, the irritation, the pain-in-the-ass-ness of it all!

My craft cave has been banished to the garage.

I'm still in flux and have only moved the really toxic-smelling stuff so far. Yes, Mr. S had enough with smelling rubber cement, nail polish and Mod Podge, and he asked me to take my atmospheric poisons and move to the garage. I have to agree with him, but damn! This is a little inconvenient. I need a lot more space, and a window, and heat. I'm trying to avoid moving everything so I'm not completely banished - but damn!

I hadn't been doing any crafts for a while, but I got a couple of special orders for Christmas (thank you, Janet and Jane!), so I've been stinking up the place again.

Then I realized I had a few other tins that should be put into the Muse Marketplace, so I've added them now. They're not dioramas, but just decorated tins that you can put other things in.

• Buddha Box, which was featured on Resin Crafts a couple of years ago. 

• A cute little tin with polka dots and sparkles on the inside.

• And a medievalesque box of jewels with a tiny mirror.

These are all listed in the Muse Marketplace, down at the bottom of the page. (I tried to add jumps to make it easier to navigate, but it didn't work.) Order now for Christmas!

Oh, and here's me recently. This is my new profile photo for LinkedIn and all the other sites I've been joining to try to get work.

To those of you in the US, have a Happy Thanksgiving! And to the rest of you, have a happy Thursday!

Val

Muse-amorphosis

How many different YOUs have you been?

Maybe putting a number on it is the wrong way to gauge the endless reinventions we manifest in our lives, sometimes small, sometimes unplanned, sometimes deliberate and huge.

For instance, in my late 30s I went from being a single Seattleite employed in a publishing company to being a wife, stepmother, expat, business owner and video producer. I think I was in shock for a couple of years.

Montacute House, Somerset

Ten years later I became a returning daughter and sister as well as a 40-hour-a-week office worker, while easing my husband through his own shock at being an expat!

my mom and siblings and me

And now that I'm away from office life, I'm sort of in shock again. Being self-employed has its challenges, but as a lifelong grammar geek and now fledgling freelancer, I'm finding myself more interested in work than I have been in years. The work I do is something I enjoy and that comes naturally to me (I know, it's sad that correcting text is my best talent). And I'm networking with interesting people who may need my services as a copy editor some day - like self-published authors - and that's got me thinking about trying to write something more substantial than a blog post. Maybe a short story, or...

the beach at Malibu, 2011

Anyway, my point is - well, I don't really have a point. I'm just thinking about how life evolves and surprises you.

Strangely, although I have more control of my time, I haven't done anything visually creative lately. It's funny how my artistic instincts have been subsumed by starting a business - and worrying about money and health care and retirement. But I think my muse is warming up the fondue pot. I may be ready for blogging again, and I'm finally thinking about making some more of my little dioramas. (If you're looking for unique Christmas gifts, look no further than the Muse Marketplace tab above!)

Or I could take more photos. Or do some sewing, alter some clothes, or paint some shoes.

Or......

Val