Nearly a year has passed since....

Nearly a year has passed since

• My camera broke

That's the only excuse I have for having not posted in nearly a year.  This, even after the not-so-legendary "I'm baaaack!" post.  Apparently I wasn't really back; it was just a test to see if you were listening.

I still haven't had my camera repaired but I do have a nifty way to get the pictures out now! In a stroke of genius, we're using a media card reader since the little port thingie on the camera collapsed.  It's a Fuji S7000 and I have love, love, loved it for years and will keep using it as long as I can.  Imagine a beloved car... the paint is peeling, the driver's side window won't roll down (no fun in the drive thru) and the front bumper is tied on with string, but you keep driving it, amid stares and smirks.  Well, that's my little Fuji S7000.  It's been ridden hard no doubt, but has made a good living during the newspaper feature story days and paid for itself a few times over so I'll just keep tying its bumper on until the wheels fall off. 

So I have a way to get my pictures out and I decide to try blogging again.  The strange thing is that I had a lot of trouble logging back in so if you never hear from me again I'm stuck in cyberspace trying to find a way back.

Well, on to whazzup... or rather what's been up...

•  I have discovered Steampunk.  I'll share some cards soon.
•  I'm making three quilts. yeah. I don't know why I would make three at a time but I am and it is sucking the very life out of me! Suckubus quilts, that's what I call 'em. 
• I'm knitting several things right now, most of which I will be taking apart in a fit of hysteria over having too many projects (quilts included) going on at once.
• I'm enjoying the success of my first book: Dyson the Terrible Puppy.  You can find it as an ebook by clicking here:  Barnes and Noble.com.  And check this out: it's only $2.99!  Better get this one... my next book will be a billion dollars. I figure why wait to sell a third billion books when you can sell just one, right? Surely my marketing strategy will prove itself one day....

Here's what I created today during an unsupervised surge of creativity: 

Above: Parts from an outdoor light that husband Ninja Man was going to discard.  Well, they looked like perfect portholes to me, something one might need to create some awesome decor for a vintage sea cottage themed guest room... which I just happen to be working on. 

I'm really into the Titanic stuff.  I haven't figured out why... that's what we pay therapists for, right?

Products used:  (WAIT! STOP! HALT! Still here? Great!  If you click on the links below you'll leave my page. Apparently Blogger isn't sharp enough to open in a new window, so please right click on the link and select "open a new window" from the teeny menu so you can stay on my page till the end of the post.  Or, you can stay indefinitely. Squatter's rights apply.)

• Images (woman and child, cross, White Star Line tag) are all created from stamps by Oxford Impressions.  I love the vintage artwork and the images their stamps produce are amazing.

• Background paper: Stampin Up (I just happen to be a rep, so feel free to ask me about their product line!)

• Hardware (lock and key) Jewelry findings at Michaels. 

• Ink: Black: Stazon.  Brown: Powder Puffs by Quick Quotes. Teal: Martha Stewart

• Don't be impressed, the doily is just a paper doily that I distressed. One should always have paper doilies in one's studio.

• Porthole screws: four brads that happen to fit just right in the holes.

• Glues: ATG gun, 2-way Zig Glue Pen

Here's the finished product.  I hung it from a narrow black ribbon, stood back and realized I totally covered the entire decorative paper I so carefully chose!  Oh well.  I did say earlier that I was unsupervised....

Until next time! Hopefully this week....