Thankful Thursday!

I am so thankful for Rocketman and his love of photography.  I'm a "Point and Shoot" kinda gal.  Rocketman on the other hand loves a camera where you have to think before you shoot.  Things like lighting, f stops (no idea what that is) and then the software that goes with it all just puts a little boy grin on his face.  He loves that there is always something new to learn and always will be.

              These pictures were taken looking out our window into our crab apple tree.

And to think that his sight came very close to being completely taken away due to a detached retina in each eye.

                                                          His eyesight is far from perfect.

      But he never ceases to amaze me how with his imperfect eyesight, he takes such perfect photos.

And So It Begins

Last night before The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (a guilty pleasure of mine) came on, Rocketman sat me down for my first lesson in Korean.  He was so patient as he explained the symbols to me and with each of my many questions.  This is not going to be easy and finding the time to dedicate to it will also be challenging.
                      But I have a lot of incentives sitting on the shelves in my craft room like this

                                                                              and this

and this which is just a small portion of my Korean book collection.  Wish me luck because I'm going to need it.

When I told my mom about this, her response was classic Vivian, "Don't you think you are a little too old?"  She really cracks me up sometimes.  But if our dream is to someday live in Korea for at least part of the year, then it really makes sense that I learn Korean.

Maedeup Monday!

It's been awhile and I have to thank Darlene, a friend from the Korean Heritage House, for this "Maedeup Monday!"  She wanted a visual of the yeonbong maedeup.  She asked me for it many, many months ago and patiently waited for me to do it.

This weekend I finally decided to just do it and without any warning to Rocketman (who actually is the cameraman) I did it.  He had other things on his list (taxes) but put it all aside to help me with the video. 

This is really how I learned maedeup.  I would video Su-Mi, my Korean maedeup teacher, creating the knot and then spent the rest of the week playing and replaying the video.  I would stop it as needed as I tried to recreate some of the most difficult knots and the joy I felt when I finally conquered a particularly difficult knot was simply the best feeling.

I did very little maedeup while living in Korea the last time in 2011-2012 and didn't really pick it back up when we returned.  But shooting this video and the joy of the cording as it flowed through  my fingers has brought back the need much like reconnecting with an old friend.  I look forward to sharing more "Maedeup Monday's!" this year.

Thankful Thursday!

I've really let my "Maedeup Monday's" slid so I decided to start a "Thankful Thursday" with little things that I am thankful for.  For my first "Thankful Thursday!", I am thankful and still get a thrill out of seeing one of my first booklets (This one from 2002) still in the polymer clay section of my JoAnn's store. 

There is an interesting story that goes with that book.  I was participating in my first Designer Showcase at the Society of Craft Designer's Convention.  Debra Nettles, then of Leisure Arts made an appointment with me to discuss my polymer clay work.  At the time, I had a line of "Babies of the Month" and she was interested in doing a booklet on them.  I would have had to give up all rights to the line and didn't want to do that so the appointment ended with some disappointment on both sides.

Fast forward a few months and I got an email from Debra.  She told me that Leisure Arts wanted me to do a booklet of polymer clay miniature animals and the rest is history.  I went on to do five booklets with them.  Who would have thought that little meeting that I thought went so wrong turned out to go so right.

Birthday Party!

We celebrated our daughter's birthday a few days after the fact.  We picked up Italian from one of their favorite restaurants for dinner.  We ate pizza, calzones, pasta, Italian beef and Caesar salad.  All of it was delicious.

Little Ezra had fun showing us his new skills.  He could barely contain himself (insert snort).  My attempt at humor.

A few week prior, Noah and I worked on a birthday present for his mom.

He picked out all the colors and I helped with stringing and finishing the necklace. His mama loved it.

2013 CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) Tradeshow

 Last weekend Rocketman and I jetted off the Anaheim, CA for the CHA Tradeshow.  I had not attended the show since 2010 because of our moves to South Korea.  I was really excited to go and see all things crafts.  I was not disappointed.

 

I got to meet Mark Montano and received an autographed copy of his latest book.  He was my favorite designer on the television show "While You Were Out."  I also have all of his "Big Ass" books and they are full of wonderful projects. 

 Of course, our first stop when in California was In-N-Out Burger.  Oooooh, they are so delicious. It had been three years since we had been able to eat there.

 We also made a stop at Bubba Gump's.  They had this cool lighted glass so Rocketman ordered one to bring home to Noah.  The food was delicious.  We do have one here in Minnesota but it's at the Mall of America and we rarely go to that mall. 

 

 We stayed at the Arabella which was walking distance to the Anaheim Convention Center where the show was.  I was puzzled by this sticker in our room.  Wow, things had changed since we were there last. 

 I was able to winner a lottery spot in a Ranger's class.  It was called "Definitely Dylusional"

 It was taught by Dylan Reaveley.  She was a lot of fun and the class went at lightening speed.

 Oh, how I wish I had NOT wore my business clothes.  Luckily my pants were black so you didn't really see all my over spritting that landed on my clothing.

 I've never textured before and it was really fun to do.

 Finished!

 Holly walked the show with me and came by our hotel room with a gift from her local Korean market...........KIMCHI!!!!

At the show, we visited the 3M booth.  I love these tape dispensers. 

 Lots of tape.

 Cool Post-It Note dispensers. 

 Blogger is not playing nice so my photos are out of order.  Here is the autograph I got from Mark.

 Picked up some new clay.

 The designer's section of CHA set up a meet and greet for designers and manufacturers.  I got to meet Katie Hacker and she gave me some cool stuff.

 I use Beacon Adhesives a lot and they are fantastic.

I also saw a demo of the Vintaj Sizzix BIGkick machine and I am hooked.  I want one badly.  You take a disc of metal and run it through the machine with a texture die and this is what you get.  Then add some color and you are done.  I'm hoping Rocketman lets me order one soon along with the cool dies.

 

I also took a lot of classes and learned so much that my head was spinning.  We left on Monday and it really has taken me until today to recover.  Along with Holly, who was my first producer on "The Carol Duvall Show", we ran into so many people from the show.  It really was bittersweet to see them.  We had become such a family during the run of the show.

 

I will also say that I was surprised at the size of the show.  It was much smaller than shows I had attended previously.  The show usually was the last weekend of January and I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it but we didn't run into the packed aisles as we had in years past.  I'm still glad I went and I had a couple of appointments for potential business opportunities so we will see where that leads.

 

Happy Birthday Laura June!!!

  

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!  We love you so!!!!

Tie-Dying With Noah

We had the grandkids for New Year's Eve so Noah and I got our crafty on.  I had some leftovers from tie dying the baby onesie.  It was also Noah's first time doing this particular craft.  I bought a bunch of t-shirts in different sizes and off we went.  We made two matching sets so the brothers could wear the same t-shirt.

 

We had enough supplies to made a couple of t-shirts for Noah's folks too.

Here we are with little Ez a little bored with it all.

He's such a cutie!!

Have You Ever Bought Yourself A Christmas Gift?

Even though I live within an hour of the Mall of America, I rarely go there.  But when Sister 2 called and had some errands out there way, I jumped at the chance to go.  I'd never been there during the Christmas season and I was excited to see the decorations.

 

One of my favorite stores, thanks to Wendy, is Local Charm which is filled with jewelry made by  artists.  Heaven.  The last time were were there together she was telling me of an artist that used metal from Korean war planes to create jewelry.  She had already purchased a few pieces and I loved them.  I was see what they had available. 

 

But when we arrived, we were told he was all sold out.  Apparently, we are not the only ones in love with his jewelry and it goes quite quickly.  So on this trip, it was THE place I wanted to hit.  We were not disappointed.

Score!!!  I bought these earrings.  They come with a picture of the plane.

I also couldn't pass up this necklace.  Since the metal is aluminum, it is very lightweight. 

The artist, Jerry Moran, calls himself "an ordinary guy" to which I object.  His work leaves me breathless and digging in my purse for my credit card.  He has a website which shows his latest designs and also offers ordering information.

 

Local Charm delicately wrapped my purchases and placed them in a beautiful bag.  I added a tag and placed the bag with other Christmas presents.  Rocketman was surprised that I had did that because it's something I never do but he loved the jewelry also especially after hearing what material is used in creating the jewelry. 

 

Jerry Moran, he's my type of repurposer and I look forward to adding to my collection.

 



 



Krafty Aunt Kathy

When we were home for the holidays, we were invited to my Uncle Larry and Aunt Kathy's house for a Christmas party.  We had a wonderful time with lots of food and relatives.  We hadn't seen most of them since our year in South Korea.  I was shocked to find out that my Aunt Kathy who I've known, well let's not go there, a very long time is a crafter!  She took us into her craft room and showed us these beautiful wreaths she had been making.

 I was in love along with my sisters.  There were gorgeous!  And her craftroom was spotless, definitely putting mine to shame.  It was so organized too again putting mine to shame.  Rocketman thinks I just have too many things but that's a whole another story. 

I came home with this one.  She can make them for any season and in any color.  I told her she should open an Etsy site and sell them.  What do you think?