At loose ends... (or too many irons in the fire)

I feel at loose ends lately. Maybe I just have too many unfinished projects. I felt I started off the year with a bang. We even had a tidy list of (attainable) resolutions to make this year great.
So, self check here, how am I doing on keeping those resolutions?

# 4, 9 & 21 - I have alternately consumed more wine and less wine depending on whether or not I am trying to shed a few pounds or recovering from one of my too many flu-like maladies of the season or if I am relaxing with one of my meals consisting solely of appetizers with lit candles for ambiance (#2 &11).

# 25 - I have met this goal, we both have. My children have new, cute backpacks, and Kerry's girls have super cute Webkin's bags.

#14 - It is a funny thing, when you water plants, they grow beautiful, new green leaves. My plants are thankful for the attention.

#23 - We have made lots of fabulous tote bags, which we have shared in our blog. Now we are looking for new designs and new patterns. And also we are looking for lots of occasions where we can tote our new bags.

While there are other resolutions that I am "working on" I feel that I have too many unfinished projects and so many supplies to work with. Sometime the choices can be a little daunting. More is sometimes too much. Currently on my project to do list I have two candles to finish for my home, one or more tissue boxes, also for my home, an unfinished magnet board and some tote bags and drawstring bags that I want to use for gifts, and that's not all. I guess I had better get moving on some of these unfinished projects.

It's as if I have a creative "writers block." Just how do I get motivated when I am feeling overwhelmed and uninspired at the same time?

Perhaps it is malaise. Wikipedia even talks about a "winter malaise." It is a real thing. So my feeling of being out of sorts can be attributed to, "the culmination of the body adjusting to cold winter conditions and a possible depressing atmosphere due to either being forced inside due to the cold, or forced into a mundane daily routine because of the winter conditions." Now that it is nearing the end of March, I would have thought the winter doldrums would have passed. Hopefully a dose of spring sunshine and fresh air will snap me back into shape.

So, off to work on some unfinished projects. I will keep you posted on the results. Any ideas for battling malaise? you keep me posted.

Winter Hello

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.

~Andrew Wyeth

The whole story will begin to show. We are coming out of our winter hibernation. The studio is chilly (read - frigid) in the winter. Our little electric heaters don't help much when it's below the freezing mark. As the weather turns, and the flower buds begin to show, we will also emerge.

note: We haven't quite had this much snow this year. The above photo is from the first of the 2006-2007 blizzard season. We are hoping that the weather this year will continue to be somewhat mild.

Happy New Year & Good Tidings to all!

So busy!

I know. I know! It's not even Thanksgiving yet! But Kerry and I are feeling the holiday push already. Are you?
We have our weeks jam packed with parties, open houses, and classes! It is so busy, and exciting too.
We finally added a studio calendar to our blog--look on the right. That should have been a no-brainer, but it took us 9 months to think of the idea. Wow!
So, if you are in the area and want to stop by, you can check it out. If you just want to see what we are up to, you can take a peek too. If you don't have time to stop by and want to get some great Milagro Jewelry, visit our website or our Amazon store and we can take care of all your jewelry gifts for the holidays.
Well, off to stamp some more invitations, bake some pies, address those holiday cards, plan a party, and make Christmas ornaments.
How are you getting ready for the holidays? How do you stay on top of it all?

Studio Tour, Part I

It occurred to me that we should give you a studio tour. So, here is the first installment. This is the outside of the studio. It is a one room building in my (Rachel's) back yard. To the best of my knowledge, it was build at the same time as the house, in 1890.
Kerry so eloquently wrote about our studio last March in this blog. But I don't think that we have given you a visual tour.
(This is also a way for me to stall. Amy tagged me, and I just can't think of what to write. Gee, I hate writer's block. But, come Monday, I promise to get it done!)

My Perfect Mess

Good News!
My messy work bench is a sign of high productivity and sophistication! In fact the TimesOnline (UK) reports, "Do tidy desks mean efficient workers, as the corporate mavens would have us believe? Not according to Abrahamson’s research: “People who said they keep a ‘very neat’ desk spend an average of 36% more time looking for things at work than people who said they keep a ‘fairly messy’ desk.” " Citing a book called A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder — How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place by Eric Abrahamson, who is a professor of management at Columbia Business School, the article goes on to say, "Order and uniformity are the enemies of those serendipitous random connections that can be priceless."
Nevertheless, my perfect mess will be picked up in time for guests on Saturday!

H

Here it is! My (almost) final product. This "assignment" was a great learning experience. By looking at the process and the finished product I learned a lot about my self:
1. I like using series and repetitive images.
2. I like sorting and grouping items.
3. There are a lot of H words that mean a lot to me: heart, home, hand...
4. I am a talker. I like to talk about the project while I am doing it and discuss my ideas --the opposite of Kerry, but she is a great listener.
5. I love getting outside input for my projects (thanks everyone for giving me word suggestions)
6. My work is evolving...as is this piece, I am never sure that I am "done"
7. Mod Podge is one of my favorite mediums!
8. I love words! (Once an English Teacher, always and English Teacher!)
So, there it is. I can't wait to hang our pieces in the studio! Let me know what you think, I always love outside input!

...brought to you by the Letter H

Have you ever given yourself homework? Kerry and I gave ourselves an assignment in our art studio: Make a collage to represent the F and the H of FH Design. I have the H, since my last name is Hanson. As part of my thinking process, I thought of as many H words as I could: home, homemade, happy, helpful, hamburger, hotdog, hog, hen, hinge, hook, hardware, house, handy, hand, heel, hot, hop, hang, heart, heartache, heartbreak, happy, husband, herbs, harvest, hope, ....
The list goes on and on. Can you please send me any interesting H words you can think of to help me with my project?
Stay tuned for photos of our completed work!

Pouches, Pockets, & Purses

Do you ever need an extra pocket? You know, you want to carry something, but don't want a big purse. Kerry and I have that problem every so often.
We have a resolution to walk. We walk (or try to) each day we work in the studio. We take a 45 to 75 minute walk at least three times a week. We walk to the post office, to the antique market where we have our booth, and then around a nearby lake. The walking is for exercise, but it also gives us some time for chit-chat. Not just your normal chit-chat. We make plans, discuss our business, refocus our direction, plan our next line, and solve the world's problems in general.
So, back to the problem of no pockets. When we leave the house we need keys and our phones (in case one of the kid's schools calls). Sometimes, our oh so cute spring outfits don't have pockets. So we made a solution: pouches. The pouches have a handle so we can hook them over our wrists. They have a snap to hold in the stuff we need to carry. And, they are made of the cutest fabrics we can find!
So, the next time you are running out of the house to solve the problems of the world, don't forget to bring your pouch!

Mundane is Beautiful

It's Wednesday morning. I am listening to the (joyful) sounds of the kids eating their breakfast. Today they go back to school after a week and a half long spring break. (My spring breaks were only one week long, but I guess that's the topic of another blog)

We had a good time over spring break: a quick road trip to Utah, a fabric shopping spree, our annual trip to Casa Bonita (a real treat! also a topic of another blog), gardening, jumping on the trampoline, visits to the park, and play dates with friends.

Perhaps the busyness of vacation shows us how wonderful our everyday lives really can be. Sometimes mundane is beautiful! Now I am ready for ROUTINE! I want to get back to work, to create, to walk, to talk with adults, to do all the things I normally do. So, on this lovely spring morning, I want to share this daffodil from my garden.