Saturday, October 13, 2012

A Red, White & Blue Halloween


Politics Can Be Scary - Political Halloween Buttons available in my Zazzle shop

I have to admit that I find politics kind of scary. I do take very seriously my right to vote and try my best to educate myself about the candidates and the issues I will be voting on. However, when it comes to debating political topics, I avoid it like I would a brain eating Zombie. It just isn't my area of expertise.  Besides, I seem to have attracted a lot of endearingly stubborn people into my life who have a habit of making up their own minds.  Talking politics with them would either be preaching to the choir or a sure fire way of making them angry.  So for the most part, if I happen to disagree with someone about some political issue, that's cool with me, I'm sure we have plenty of other things in common we can talk about.

All that being said, I have nothing against knowledgeable people who speak their minds and attempt to educate others on political matters. I understand that this stuff is important. I just don't like to see people take it so personally that they become divided over it.

So when I thought about creating some political designs for my main Zazzle Shop I asked myself, how can I make this stuff fun without being derisive? And that's when I thought of combining politics with the most fun day of the entire year which also happens to fall very close to election day, Halloween!

I was not attempting to make any political or personal statement with these designs. I designed them for both presidential candidates and no witches, zombies or vampires were harmed in the making of them. You can see all of the products with these designs by CLICKING HERE. I hope you like them.
I Vote For Kindness Tee Shirts
I Vote For Kindness Tee Shirts by kchippie
Put unique pictures on shirts online at zazzle.com
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Possibilities, Limits & My Other Blog


"Although it feels the opposite, very often, when you are creatively blocked, it is from having too many and not too few ideas." - Julia Cameron

I realize I haven't posted anything here in awhile.  Oddly enough, it isn't because I have nothing to write about but because I haven't been able to decide between all the different things I want to write about.  Also, I have a lot of projects in the works but nothing is quite finished. 

This happens to me a lot.  For the most part, I try not to beat myself up about it and accept that it is just part of my process.  There are just some projects that have to evolve at their own organic pace and can't be rushed.  This is especially true with all the decorating projects I have going on here at The Cabbage.  I have learned the hard way the time and money you can waste when you try to force things instead of waiting for things to come together naturally.  So why not start another project, or two or five, in the meantime?

Of course, it always gets to the point where it all becomes too much and I need to sit myself down and give myself a good talking to.  I try to remind myself that there is a reason why a canvas has four edges and a studio has four walls and that's because creativity is as much about setting limits as it is about exploring possibilities. 

Okay, so maybe I'm still struggling with that fact a little bit.  Especially when you consider that now, in addition to my five Zazzle shops, four Facebook pages, three Twitter accounts and several other online activities, I have added a second blog.

I will still be posting on this blog in my usual sporadic fashion but I wanted a blog that was limited to quick, regular postings about the products in my Zazzle shops and the many promotional savings events that will be happening as we enter the Autumn and then Winter Holiday seasons.  I would love for you to check it out and follow it at http://victorialynnhallpromo.blogspot.com/

I hope to be back to posting here soon about a completed project but now I must go and clean out my craft closet, organize my bookshelves, frame some photos for a gallery wall, plan a few projects for my living room and sketch some ideas for holiday cards. 

Set limits?  Who has time to do that? ;)


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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Bathroom Metamorphosis

Before: bizarre blue tile, busted down vanity
After: mellow yellow vintage loveliness

My bathroom remodel has been done for almost two months now but it will probably be awhile before it is done done, if ever.   You see, I like that "collected over time" look and, contrary to what they tell you on the decorating shows, I find that requires actually collecting things, over time.  Still enough of it is done that I thought I'd go ahead and share it with you.

Paisley and Polka Dot Madness
 I think I am being brave including these "before" pictures.  My only defense for the paisley and polka dot madness that came over me in 2010 is that I was trying to combat that blue tile that just never seemed to go with anything. 

It was a shower curtain that finally inspired me to take a sledge hammer to that tile, though it ended up requiring more than that to rip it all out (and took two weeks longer than planned, don't ask.)

The shower curtain that restored my sanity.

As you can see, I love this shower curtain so much I based the whole room around it.  However, the floors are now a classic black & white and the wainscoting and walls can always be painted another color if my beautiful butterfly shower curtain and I ever decide to part (perish the thought). 

Anyway, with the exception of a closet door fiasco Hippie and I are currently struggling with, all the difficult stuff is done and I have been keeping my eye out for art and accessories.


The first thing I found was this salvaged door pediment, complete with hooks, that I am using as a towel rack.  I will probably restyle it at some point and I should really find a real picture to put in that frame on the end (I don't know who those people are.)  The brass swans were also a find at one of my local antique/vintage shops. 



Another great find was a matching pair of vintage seventies brass towel rings (from BlueFlirt on Etsy). I picked up the cast iron bird's nest holding my soap dispenser from a thrift shop for 1 whole dollar. And the tiered basket stand was another local antique store find.



Ironically, what is still left to find (or create) is some more art for the walls.  There are still some blank spaces and we can't have that.  Other than that, I am super happy with everything and don't miss the blue tile one bit.  Hurray!

Click here to return to The Cabbage Blog.

  
See more decorative tile designs
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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Home Sweet Home

The Cabbage

 I was hoping to be able to tell you all about my completed master bath remodel this week but I am still fussing with the final details. So in the meantime, I thought I'd tell you a little bit more about our home.

There is a skylight but no windows in the kitchen,
so I painted this mural behind the sink. 

I call my house, “The Cabbage”, which is short for “Cabagelow”, a word I made up using syllables from the words Cabin, Cottage & Bungalow. The original part of the home is a craftsman style bungalow, built in 1920. The cabin part is a spacious addition off the kitchen that literally looks like a log cabin. The cottage part is more for the garden cottage feel of the home than for any architectural feature.
 
Our cat Bart graciously shares his dining room with us

 I know it sounds kind of crazy but it's just crazy enough for me. In fact, if I could have created my own home I think I would have come up with something very close to a Cabagelow. I actually couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw it, it was all the different homes I had been imagining for myself all in one!

Home is where my scarf collection is.

Of course it isn't perfect and that is another thing I love about it. There is all kinds of room for improvement and a ton of decorating opportunities. It might seem high maintenance to some but it is solid, with “good bones” as they say, and it is the kind of home that can grow with you. Hippie and I and our cats and my muse are all very happy here.
Decorating the fireplace mantel is an ongoing challenge for me.

Now, if I can just get the bathroom finished! More on that and some other home projects I have in the works soon, I hope. Until then, Happy Creating! :) 

Click here to read more posts about "The Cabbage". 

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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Garden In Progress: June & July

Garden shed in morning light


I have admitted here before that I am a recovering perfectionist. When I call myself that I don't mean that I used to do everything perfectly and now I don't. What I am talking about is my attachment to perfection and how that used to, and sometimes still does, keep me from achieving or even attempting to achieve my goals.

Take my garden for instance. The record breaking high temperatures and my other projects have not allowed me the time I would like to spend working on my garden right now. This means there are more weeds than I would like and a few other issues that can't be solved in one day. The perfectionist part of me is appalled by this, she feels that if we can't remedy the whole situation immediately and have a perfect garden, we might as well throw in the towel. Then there is this other part of me; this patient and confident presence that I like to call the muse of progress.

The muse of progress reminds me that if I just spend a little time each morning tending to my garden that my flowers will still bloom and my projects will eventually get done. She isn't blind to all the work ahead of me, but she helps me focus on just one tiny bit at a time and it is amazing to see how all those tiny bits slowly build up, well on their way to becoming huge accomplishments.

So here once again are some photos of the perfection in progress that is my garden.

Garden in late June

Summer Blooms

Cone Flowers (Echinacea)

Zinnias

Some friendly Fairy advice
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Thursday, July 19, 2012

Slave To The Should?


I admire Painters (capital P intentional). Among my favorite muses are people who really dedicated themselves to the single act of painting on a regular, if not daily basis. People like Georgia O'Keefe, Frida Kahlo, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse and many others who made capturing and creating something on canvas and all that entailed the central focus of their life. For much of my life I have looked to these shining examples as role models and aspired to be like them. What I have learned, however, is that I am not like them. This revelation has bothered me in the past but I have recently come to accept it and believe I am on my way to embracing it.

This doesn't mean I am giving up painting. It is still one of my favorite things to do ever but it is not the only thing I do and though I go through phases where I paint a lot, it is not always the focus of my life. I used to think this was because I lacked discipline or dedication but then I had an interesting conversation with my muse that made me look at things a little differently.

I have been doing a lot of projects around the house lately, such as the garden shed in my last post and a bathroom renovation I hope to complete and tell you about soon. It is very demanding work that has left me little time to do much else. I have had to let some other tasks go temporarily and I am fortunate that my lifestyle is flexible enough to allow me to do this. Still, I kept hearing this voice in my head that told me I SHOULD be painting. I thought this voice belonged to my muse but when I finally confronted her about it she was extremely insulted.

“Let me tell you something once and for all,” she began indignantly with her hands on her hips, “my voice is not the one that tells you that you SHOULD do something, my voice is the one that says you HAVE TO do it and because you know what's good for you, you have always heeded it.”

“Really?” I asked, wondering which one of us was delusional. Had I not been rebelling against her all this time?

“Really.” She confirmed, triumphantly gesturing to the newly tiled and painted bathroom we were standing in, “Who do you think got you to do all this?”

I thought back to the insane amount of hard work I had done over the last few weeks and why and realized it was true. She isn't the voice in my head telling me I should do things that I'm not doing. She is the one who plants the images in my head, the visions that haunt me until I have no choice but to realize them any way I can.

“So who keeps telling me I should be painting?” I wondered.

“Obviously someone with a lot less knowledge and wisdom than I have.” She replied with her usual confidence. “I wouldn't listen to them at all.”

And then she blinked out of sight. 

I found that very annoying but then I looked around at my bathroom that was starting to come together and I had to admit that woman knows what she is doing. I, however, am not the rebel I once thought I was, not because I have been doing my muse's bidding even more than I realized, but because I allowed that other voice, that “should” voice, to boss me around for far too long. I think I am done with that.

So, maybe I'm not going to be a Painter but that's okay, I already have a job, remember? It's called being a “Slave To The Muse” and it turns out that I'm actually pretty good at it.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

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