Hello, all! That is, if anyone is still out there. I'm a haphazard blogger lately, and even worse at visiting and commenting on other blogs. But I persist in wanting to share my little handiworks, so I hope you'll be patient and indulge me a little.
Since I posted here about my mini Day of the Dead shrine I was able to sell it, and now I'm working on some more. If I can sell them here, who needs Etsy? Me and PayPal get along just fine.
These are the doors to the three new shrines I'm working on.
I decided to use beads to suggest stained glass or mosaic.
In spite of sunny weather and binge-watching The Returned (the French version - have you seen it? Very intriguing and compelling.) I also got some work done on the interior details.
The tiny picture frame on this one is just a small silver-tone charm,
but I painted it to add a little south-of-the-border color.
I really got caught up in details and before I knew it, it was 6:00 and time for wine!
The people in the little frames are from a very old photo of my grandfather (bottom left) and his 14 siblings! It was taken in Denmark before 10 of them emigrated with their mother after their father died. The brother in the photograph at the bottom had already emigrated.
my family, my copyright - please don't reuse
I try to use all my own photos in any craft work I do, and having some old family photos scanned has been really handy.
Hope you're all well and enjoying Midsummer - Happy Solstice!
You know I've been working on a long-term, temporary job. It's not exciting, but it is a job. It's helping to ensure that I will be able to own a car in retirement - at least for a year or two. After losing a good job last year, any extra money now translates to our level of future comfort.
Besides my temporary work, I've done some freelance editing on the side. Not a lot, but I need time to develop it. I'd also like the time to work on my crafts and set up an Etsy shop (more on that in a minute). Both those strands would be under my control, would not require going to an office, and would be possible to do even in my late 60s or early 70s, if necessary.
So... there's a permanent job available at the place I'm working. It would be full-time, as now, but would obviously pay better and include benefits. It would mean continuing to go in to an office five days a week. Now, I have to mention that the office is over-heated. Seriously, the thermostats in the office read between 76 and 78 degrees! Who does that? I'm menopausal, I have a fan running all day, and it's just too hot.
That may sound minor, but it's a comfort factor. Also, sitting at a computer all day takes its toll on my back, hips and waistline (my home office is set up so I can either stand or sit).
Do I play it safe and apply for a predictable income? Or do I try again to establish my own business(es) and continue to pay for health insurance on my own? It's a tough one.
I hope to get Etsy set up in June, after beautiful granddaughter has visited (we pick her up at the airport tomorrow!). Here's my most recent creation - a Day of the Dead shrine, which will be part of a series.
I think I'm done, but then again, I think it needs a little more gaud (you know, to be more gaudy).
He who lives with hope, dies happy.
Go on, my wise friends - hit me with your opinions on the job dilemma, and also let me know what you think about the little shrine.
Oh, and here's me on Mother's Day (with my niece) wearing a recently thrifted dress. It buttons down the front, but it's too tight on the hips so I wear it as a duster.
I had just dropped a bunch of cookies in the whipped cream - yum!
I'm linking up my creamy cookie faux pas with Visible Monday!
Whew, it's a bit dusty here at Muse Fondue blog. At least virtual dust is, well, not real, so I'm not sneezing or having to do any actual cleaning. And I don't know how many visitors I'll have after going into seclusion for so long, so I haven't made any cookies or coffee. I guess I'm just a poor hostess lately, and an even poorer guest.
I do hope everyone is doing well! I plan to look through some blogs again at some point, but I've kind of got out of the habit. I'm working full time and preparing for a visit from our granddaughter and doing craftist things and reading and enjoying the sunshine. Online I mostly look through art pages on Facebook since I have a short attention span.
So can I show you what I've been working on? I really wanted to do some collages and try something different from the mini dioramas, but then someone gave me a bushel basket full of tins, so what could I do?
I'm working on a shrine, a Day of the Dead kind of thing - I can't wait to actually get things glued in on the little shelves!
Mini votive candles made from a plastic straw and tiny pictures from a book.
More little candles and tiny marigolds.
Pequeno pan de muerta made from polymer clay, and painted. Don't they look, um, delicious?
And here's the door before it was glued down, and the papers that went inside. I'll show you some more pictures when it's finished. Then I'm thinking about dusting off my Etsy shop and trying to earn enough money to pay for more supplies - and a shed studio. Sigh.
You may have noticed that this blog has pretty much made the leap from silver-hair style blog to craft blog. I guess I'm just fickle that way, but I think this is a better fit for me. I hope you'll keep visiting!
If you're coming here looking for pretty pictures of me in my fantastic clothes and gorgeous home, with inspirational quotes and tips for removing warts, I've given you fair warning. This post is about an Altoid-type tin that I crafted for a custom order for Christmas.
The order was for a little diorama for my customer's mother-in-law, who is housebound. I was given some ideas about the MIL's life and likes, and I went from there. This is what I came up with.
The customer said her MIL likes East Asian art and architecture, so she asked for a temple door and roof tiles.
The interior continues the theme, and includes a passport and map to reflect MIL's travels, the books she likes to read, and the coffee she likes to drink.
The otters in the photo have special significance, too, but the little felt slippers were a last-minute thing I added because the floor needed something. Squee!
I didn't glue down the itsy books, and one of them is a picture book with tiny photos from my own travels.
And one more -
I'm still working on my little Parisian café, mentioned in my last post. It's an even smaller scale, so it's challenging to fit in a tiny café bar, as well as an upstairs bedroom. I think this one's going to take some time! Here are some more in-progress photos.
You know I'm making this because I want to live in a little place like this on the Left Bank.
I should have called it Café Tout Wacky because the scale and perspective are going to be totally wack. I made a stack of espresso cups that are tiny, but too big for this place. Maybe I should add a bottle of absinthe to accentuate the twisting of reality!
Aujourd'hui, je suis Parisienne. Je suis d'accord avec le peuple de Paris, in solidarité contre la violence, la haine et l'intolérance.
Today, I am Parisian. I stand with the people of Paris, in solidarity against violence, hatred and intolerance.
I wish I could write my whole post in French, but my language skills are too-long dormant for a serious post. (I used freetranslation.com to help me here.) To join with the people of Paris, and indeed, reasonable people everywhere, I'm wearing scarf that a friend of mine brought me from Paris several years ago.
scarf from Paris - Pantone color 2013 - Emerald
It's impossible to make sense of what happened in Paris - violence, fear and chaos were the aims of the extremists, so there is no sense. To a generation that grew up in a golden age of progress and enlightenment, this kind of barbarism seems to signal the end of the world. I can't even begin to analyze the various implications of these attacks - and others - to freedom, religion, racism, society, nationalism, multiculturalism, women...
Before you get the wrong idea, let me put your mind at ease. I'm talking about an opium den.
Oh, that doesn't put your mind at ease? It might if you pick up the pipe on the table and take a puff...
not a very good photo - too smoky in here
This is a little special order opium den I sent off last week - a little opium den with reading material.
I made the books and the blue jar. The scrolls are made from thin paper that was in a box of Japanese candy.
These are the things on the shelves - books and scrolls, with some real characters and some fake. And I can see now that I probably put the label on the jar upside-down, like I did last time.
Here's the exterior -
chasing the dragon, or is the dragon chasing you?
I've relaunched my Facebook page that used to be called Sparkle Park Designs - now it's Muse Fondue. You can find me and Like me here, if you're so inclined.
And I'm on Pinterest now, too (here) because I needed still more things to do online. I warn you, my Pinterest boards are heavy on altered Altoid tins.
Anyone know how to put the FB and Pinterest buttons on my blog?
What have I been up to? Lots of trawling the web and various
“talent exchanges” looking for freelance work. It’s dire.
I had no idea what the working world had come to. I joined
an online freelance network where jobs are posted and freelancers bid on them. There are lots of these networks, and they mostly pay in miniscule amounts that make you
wonder if it’s worth the time to write the proposal and submit a bid. Here are
some real ads (paraphrased):
“Write two to three articles per hour... strict $3
per hour budget.”
“Looking for quality writers - 100 original articles,
500 words - $1 each. Also add two
pictures and a video to each article.”
“Need a proofreader for a three books, each is 90,000
words. $200 for all three.”
Yikes! The thing is, people are bidding on these jobs! Some
of the bids are in countries with lower costs of living, but a recent ebook job
went to an editor in the US who is only charging $7.65 an hour, and she has to
cover her own overhead as a freelancer.
I just did an editing test for another online agency where
they advise you to change words to contractions, because otherwise the content
writers are guilty of "word padding." Heaven forbid a writer might earn an extra three cents!
However, some of the editors and writers in the forums on
LinkedIn exemplify this new standard of quantity vs. quality. This was posted by someone who claims to be a writer and editor, and I copied it verbatim:
“its nice to know there is more then me that loves text and
improving it.”
AAAAAAAACCCCKKKKK!!!!!!!
These must be the people who are
writing for how-the-heck-do-I-do-that.com and suck-my-wiki.net and
your-Q-my-A.crp.
Using the term "content mill" is apt - it's like the old industrial
days where people worked 72 hours a week just to earn enough money for a crust of bread. I’m shocked, I’m stunned, I’m depressed.
So let's change the subject and I'll show you what I’ve done in my spare
time.
I had a large metal frame that I bought at a second-hand store, and it was hanging on my fence with nothing in it. When I cleaned up my Craft Cave, I found a stack of used CDs (leftovers from multimedia work that my husband did - these are all tests). So I glued some together and added other pieces of junk, and voila!
The way they catch the light is pretty cool, but the back is colorful, too.
Now it hangs outside my window.
I also did some more work on a little diorama that I started months ago. It's a decaying French salon. Sort of like Miss Havisham's place in Great Expectations.
The book on the shelf is made with pieces of an old French encyclopedia.
I still need to add cobwebs and do the exterior. And let it sit and get dusty. Ooooo, I need to add some drips of candle wax, too!
One more thing - this is my husband's band, with the amazing Beth Milton on vocals. Also check out "Under Your Spell." I couldn't get the YouTube link to work for that one.
I took these photos a few weeks ago, and I need to use them up before they start to smell bad.
I got the striped shirt at JCP on sale for $9.97! It's a cotton and silk blend, and it's got a pattern that will make you go blind when you're ironing it.
Why can't manufacturers figure out how to place the buttons so they don't gap at the widest point? I always have to pin it there. Obviously not for this photo, though.
The yellow jeans are thrifted - Shylo is the brand. And I'm not wearing shoes because I figured I'd head to my beach hut.
paper doll Me inspired by the amazing and multi-dimensional Melanie
This is what I've been working on lately - a little beach hut for me to dream about while I'm sitting at my desk. Actually, I'll be looking at it while I'm sitting at my desk - I'm going to keep it in my office.
My little hut is a cozy place for reading, drawing, walking on the beach.
There's my spare pair of glasses (a staple that I saw at work, curled into exactly the right shape), my lamp (beads), my pencils (toothpicks), and my parasol (cocktails, anyone?).
And it's not just my beach hut - there are three of us on this little beach.
background photo near Burton Bradstock, UK - if you think it looks like the beach in Broadchurch, you're right
My neighbor always loves to have picnics, but has questionable taste in wine.
little tiny snail shells on top shelf were found in a flower pot
And the guy on the end loves fishing. You can see him on the beach in all weather.
little Swiss army knife made from small pieces of wire and plastic - I painted a tiny white cross on it, and that's it!
I made some of these before, and they've been dispersed to Iowa, Maryland, and British Columbia. But I'm keeping these - my own little Echo Beach!
