Seriously ?!

This past weekend, 5:00 pm ... my 17 year old daughter was a front seat passenger in this car. She is still not recovered from a car accident from when she was rear ended in February. That car was totaled also. (I mention the car was totalled, not for the loss of the car .... it can easily be replaced .... but to point out how serious these accidents were.)

How she even lived through this crash is mind boggling. Grant it she is really banged up, cut up, bruised and will no doubt be seeing a variety of specialists for months to come, it is a wonder she came away from this with no broken bones or major injuries.

This past Sunday 5:00 pm, 3 blocks from Saturdays accident, both my daughters and 1 year old grandchild were stopped at a traffic light and got rear ended and slammed into the car in front of them.

This car is also totalled (... less then 2,000 miles on it). Baby just suffered a belt burn on his shoulder and bit his tongue, 17 year spent the evening in 2 different hospitals, but again suffered only bumps and bruises on top of the ones she already had, other daughter ended up with stitches in her lip, a loose tooth and a very sore neck and back. Still, they were all very lucky, it could have been so much worse.

And to answer those many kind, concerned and thoughtful emails I have been getting over the past few months, asking if something has been up due to my lack of posting and not answering emails in a timely manner ... this past weekend is pretty typical of how our lives have been going over the past months. How we manage to get through one train wreck after another is a wonder, but we do. I'm thinking it's enough now and I am ready to have life get back to normal !

Calendar Journaling

A couple of days ago I was at my Mother's house and she ask if Kirry and I had Journaled about our trip to Washington and I told her we really didn't have much opportunity as we were busy sight seeing and then participating at JournalFest. She pulls out her calendar and says "Well, I did!" Gotta love a Mom that Journals on her calendar! Photo enlarges to see detail. (Note that on the 30th, Kirry is in the foreground making her usual ridiculous faces.)

Speaking of Aliens....

I found this lone photo on my camera this morning. I didn't take it.

"Into the Crypt" - class kit construction

I have have a few requests for more process oriented blog entrees with photos and I am happy to oblige. I have a workshop for the "Into the Crypt" tunnel book coming up in Grand Rapids soon. My husband, Bob, has been more than willing to help me with the construction of the wooden fronts and backs for these books. Here he is cutting out the 8" X 8" plywood pages.

The 3 holes needed for binding the books are done in a drill press so that they are nice and even. These wooden book covers will be included in a kit that will be provided for everyone attending the workshop. Also, all the imagery to complete 16 plus pages (front and back), along with other materials will be included.

The front page of the book has a cut out that is done on a small old Dremel jig saw that I have had for years. It's one of my favorite tools. This, a palm sander and an electric drill are the only power tools I feel comfortable using. Bob does the rest for me. Besides, he won't let me use his tools. We have "his" and "hers" tools.

And then there is our daughter Kiersten that you see in the background in a few of the above photos. She really has nothing to do with the construction process of these books, but we keep her around merely for entertainment purposes.

It's Illuminated!

Not only is it illuminated, it randomly blinks and it's animated! While the head goes back and forth the entire body quivers rather nervously. From across the street you can hardly see all the wires. I'm kind of thinking my neighbors are terribly jealous as there is nothing like it in the neighborhood ... actually I don't recall seeing anything like it anywhere in town. My daughter and Son-in-law gave this to me for Christmas. They will be having their first baby in May and I look forward to buying lots and lots of gifts for my future grandchild.

My lovely children ... continued

Awe yes, there's Tricia ...the epitome of grace and beauty. The years and years of dance lessons and pageants have not gone to waste ... she's as graceful and beautiful as a swan. Then there is Kiersten ... She's ... well, let's say a little different ... perhaps quirky is a good way of putting it.

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Kiersten was in need of a summer job, so she has been helping me at the Renaissance Festival. It's been a good arrangement, she's down stairs tending shop and I am able to be upstairs working. Sunday we were having an unexpected large increase in sales of little fairies (scroll down a few posts to see the Fairies I am referring to). She was selling an abnormal amount ... but only when I wasn't there with her . It's loud out at festival with a lot of background noise, so it's hard to hear EXACTLY what is going on downstairs when I am upstairs. Admittedly I was curious, so I started paying close attention. I couldn't hear WHAT was being said, but I did hear gasps of horror from people down stairs. Turns out Kiersten has been talking people into buying the fairies by telling them that the ones that aren't sold have to be euthanized .... that she has to do it herself ... and that some REALLY fight back. Yes, ONLY Kirry could come up with such a plan to increase sales.

"Selling my Child to the Traveling Circus" Journal page

I have just uploaded a bunch of new journal pages to my "Altered Notebook #2" journal. The page above is one of them.

Michigan Renaissance Festival

I just wanted to share a few photos I took out at festival over the weekend. This is a photo of the shop on Labor day morning with all the fog. The entire village had an eerie glow to it, it looked wonderful!

Later that same morning as the fog begins to lift.

This is the Fairy Egg display case with all the trimmings. I'm pleased with the final look.
My inventory is frightfully sparse this year. We are having a hard time making the shop look full. I have been working frantically on stock, but am unfortunately not getting anywhere fast.
And finally a photo of my lovely assistant (hanging out at the puppet shop next door instead of tending her Mother's shop).

My Lovely Children

I just wanted to share a few photos of my lovely children. Tricia, my older daughter in the fore ground, has the grace, beauty, elegance and charm of a fairy tale princess. Really, have you ever seen a more beautiful young lady? Then, there is Kiersten behind her, eleven years younger and quite different from her sister. All I can say is that Kiersten is VERY "special" indeed.

Labor Day weekend at Festival

This past weekend was Labor day weekend. Three days in a row of Festival is very long and hard. However, I had the pleasure of my 2 lovely assistants, shown above, to help the day go more smoothly. We have had record crowds this year,

which can be exhausting and wonderful at the same time. Festival is all abuzz as next week (and the following 2 weeks) filming for a new movie ... apparently staring Jack Black will begin filming on festival grounds during fair hours. So little is know about the details right now, so of course rumors are flying, it should prove to be interesting and we are looking forward to it. In the meantime Festival is scrambling to accommodate record crowds, film crews and equipment. All the participants have to park at the ski resort 2 miles away and will be shuttled in by tour buses ... what fun and crazy 3 weekends these will be!

A new display case for Festival

I'm pretty excited. I am in desperate need of an effective way to display my Vessels for my Michigan Renaissance Festival (which is coming up far faster than I am willing to admit to) shop. I need to keep them safe, dust free and displayed in such a way that is appropriate for festival and will do justice to the Vessels. I think I have found what I need. This is almost 4 feet tall and 12 inches across and has a nice door that opens and closes. It will look perfect on the corner of my counter at Festival with the door towards the merchant seating area. I will put in 2 glass or Plexiglas shelves in it. It is quite large unit and and will display quite a few pieces. Quite an eye catching display if I may say so myself! I get pretty excited about these kinds of things. I think we can now just make a small wall mounted unit to showcase the Vessels and we

should be all set as far as that is concerned. I honestly didn't think I would find something that would work and that we would have to make everything for displaying the Vessels. Ordinarily that would be fine, but we are very pressed for time this season. Hmmm, this photo wouldn't be of my son-in-law in a ruffly shirt selling fairies, would it? Not sure how that got there, Opps! My bad !

My lovely model

I had a request to supply of photo of someone wearing one of my vessels for a better idea of how it actually would look being worn. I was happy to comply. It worked out well as we were getting together with Tricia tonight anyways and she was happy to help out. If you think she looks good here, you should see her in Renaissance garb. She makes for a mighty fine looking wench. She may think what her Mother does is on the strange side, but she's always happy to help out. In fact her handsome husband is also ... gotta admit he looks pretty darn sharp in a ruffled shirt selling those little fairies. hmmm .... bet I have a photo somewhere...