In sad news, we've experienced our first (and hopefully last) moving casualty: Annabelle's fabulous fish lost an eye stalk. We're hoping to rectify this problem at the new apartment, with super glue and some serious R&R.
In happier news, I have managed to complete (except for the embroidered details) the house portion of this large house-and-family portrait, and I'll do the family portion after the move. Head's up: the family includes a very cool artist daughter with pink hair. Wait for it.
Sure there are lots of other things I should be doing, but making something tiny is so much more fun. I can't promise I won't make another one today!
I call it a "cheer day" when a string of simple things makes me happy--perfect strawberries from the market, the ones you buy because they look so firm and red, and you're prepared to be disappointed as you have been before, but when they're home and washed and you bite into the biggest, fattest one, it's sweeter than you dreamed it would be. You know the ones.
And then your Bangles radio station on Pandora plays a string of new songs you love--"Total Eclipse of the Heart"? "Don't Dream It's Over"? The Talking Heads' "And She Was"? Are you trying to kill me with awesomeness, Pandora? The sun is out, we walked the dog to the corner store to buy a newspaper before Mark went to work, and now--now, my dears I have managed for what may be the first time to create a felt portrait of a man (the handsome felt Jamie you see above) that looks nothing like Magnum P.I. Sweet.
Popping in to say I'm back from my Florida vacation with a sunburn, lots of toe-type blisters, and a persistent dream that I'm sleeping in the Haunted Mansion. We had exhausting, indigestion-inducing fun--celebrated A's birthday and Mother's Day (same day!), ate too much food (shout out to Hollywood Brown Derby for a heck of a vegan meal, btw: red curry rice noodles and coconut-encrusted tofu!), and rode Splash Mountain like our lives depended on it. I haven't had the energy to upload the vacation photos--which is lucky or unlucky for you, and I won't make you tell me which side of that fence you fall on. ;-) In any case, the only photo I have to pair with this anemic post is one of a lupin notebook I made recently for a friend's mom. It's already in its little cello sleeve, but you get the idea. I'd like to make more--lovely lupins remind me of spring in Northern Maine, even if I'm down here in P-town. 
Well, the Crowes are flying the coop very early tomorrow morning--off to Florida for 8 days of sun and fun. This photo was taken on Annabelle's 6th birthday (or thereabouts), the first time we took her to Disney World, and this time she'll turn 11 while we're there, on Mother's Day. Looking at the image, I'm excited and stunned--my girl is a totally different person now, taller of course, and thinner of cheek, her figure a little "wavy" (as she calls my own with admiration). She's also a little slower to smile, has begun--just a little--the hanging back that characterizes early adolescence. My hope is that she will throw herself into this vacation, the cool, scary bits (Tower of Terror) but also the sweet, kid bits (the Mad Teacups, Peter Pan's Flight). I embrace my new big girl, totally, but I'm also hoping, in the coming week, to soak up what's left of my little girl, too.
Today I resolved to spend a few minutes just "messing around" in the studio when I was finished packing up an order. There just aren't ever enough hours to dawdle and play, and if you don't carve out this kind of aimless creative time, you never make anything new.
Today I ended up with these little "sachettes." I've been thinking for a while about a smaller, simpler sachet, maybe one that could be slipped into a purse or a pocket as well as being just fine for drawers or to group in a bowl in the bathroom. Ta-da!
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