More minis

I really haven't had any time to get back to this tiny playground, but I'll share what I did get done. I bought these great little paper punches. They are my toys du jour. I buy one a month at a local scrapbook store that is nice enough to send me a 40% off coupon. They are a bit pricey so I use the coupon to acquire a new one and oh the choices ! I have a tiny heart, a butterfly and a largish circle. I lust for a larger heart...perhaps this month..then there are so many other lovely shapes. Even Squares would be fun...little frames of sorts. some delicate scrolls..then there are edgers.

Oh the toys. and all of this when I have cleaned off my credit cards at great cost and sworn never to allow an accumulation of debit again. Actually last year I swore to thrift shop wardrobing except for shoes and lingerie and I had quite a bit of fun with it. I wound up dancing at a gathering in a leopard print silk skirt and designer black lace top with lovely boots that were also thrifted. I actually got quite carried away with it in a good way. so with all the financial grief that abounds, I am once again so swearing..even more so as I have noticed what and where my spending wanders. In truth, I would rather focus on art toys. I am lucky enough that I really don't require a professional wardrobe. I wander into an office, but it is my own and no one can really judge or demand. Hair and make-up demand care. pricey, too. sigh. Part of me would be happy to run off and live in a cabin, let my hair go gray, my skin get tanned and leathery and just paint away. Be a next generation Tasha Tudor. But there is a husband and family and taxes and stuff. Oh, the stuff. I read a blog where the author was divesting herself of one thing a day. 365 things. I liked it. I wanted to do it. I still may. Of course, I will need that stuff within a week of giving it away, but that would just make me more judicious about what I wanted/needed in life. an important lesson, no ? Art supplies...yes. 35 handbags..maybe no. sketchbooks..yes. a never used dvd player....no. Good winter boots...yes. four coats I have not worn in three years...no. hmmm.......appetizers for thoughtfulness.

Some days I feel like this, aswirl in something or other mystical, magical. I walk about grinning and not sure what its all about, but happy its there. The week-end is aswirl, yet I feel very centered. No headache..so sweet. No backache. Oh very sweet. A walk at the lake on a cool and breezy afternoon, a trip to my favorite Trader Joe's for vital fluids: coffee & wine. A Mexican casserole waits to be popped in the oven, then off to a lecture on calligraphy..which will fill my week-end. I have packed papers, mixed up my inks, potions and pens, tomes and quills. The classes are actually held in an attic room of an ancient stone house. I will come home each afternoon into the reality of husband and dog, perhaps a glass of wine and a bit of that casserole before going aswirl again.

Oh yes, I know I posted this one before. She crept in and surprised me, the show off ! See the butterfly in the bottom part, another in her hair. I just happily punch out shapes from magazines and scraps and tuck them into a pretty little box until I decide I need a little something. Oh, and I did her in art crayons. such fun to play the child coloring away with her tin of crayons, gluing bits of paper here and there.

Time to be off to the woods and see what the lake has to say. My husband asked me if I get bored just walking out there in the same place all the time. I tried to tell him it is not the same place all the time, but a different place almost everytime, but he couldn't quite see that. He said it was the same path, the same lake. I disagreed, but then I realized that when he went with me, he really didn't see anything at all and if you don;t see anything at all, then it would be the same everytime, so he would have been correct.

The last time, there were battalions of robins so busy pecking at the ground for worms, they didn't even move when you came near. They might lift their heads and look at you as if to ask what you wanted, but they were very busy and went straight back to it, stuffing their little beaks. It is colder today and I don't expect to see them at all, but I certainly expect to see something.