grrlTravels roadside distractions

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September 25, 2006

Lunch?

Materials: Map, thread, pen, highlighter.


Meaning: This card is the story of two people on vacation together. They are rushing around this morning trying to hit all of the sites in this corner of the city.

From the outside perhaps these two look like any other tourists. The back of the card tells the real story. The knots signify conflict. (Back to the front—can you see where they were so angry that they split up for a bit?)

Things I Learned:
1. Embroidery doesn't flow as well on paper as it does on cloth. It requires a lot more planning and thought about which stitches to choose. Also the stitches need to be separated more than they would on cloth (which was driving me crazy).

I had a different idea for this week's card which I was thinking about and working on all week. And it just wouldn't gel for me. At the last moment I abandoned it. This card would have been better with a different map but I didn't have time to find one.

K. says, "Why are they so angry? Are you angry?" No. We travel well together and we have a system all worked out. But we see people on every single vacation who are angry, screaming at each other, screaming at their kids. We see frustration and rage at Disney for goodness sake. On one vacation at a cushy resort where there wasn't anything to do except lay on the beach and eat we heard a couple shouting as we walked down the hallway. The man finally yelled at the top of his lungs, "THIS VACATION IS OVER!!" K. and I say that all the time to each other as a joke. But I'm sure is wasn't funny to that couple, not at the time.

Vacations can be stressful. If you are traveling somewhere where you are unfamiliar with the food or the language or culture it can be really stressful. But the stress can either be motivating and invigorating, or panic-inducing, incapacitating, and conflict producing.

Next week another postcard. Perhaps the one I've got in my head that won't work—I don't know.

Posted by grrlTravels at 4:31 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

September 21, 2006

To Nassau

The message:

Hope to see you girls sometime.

Dear Mary and Nellie,
Hope you are fine. Ed + I was in New York a week after we got home from Hawaii + then I was sick had a time with my heart got better so Dr said I could come to Fla we left Feb 20th won't be home until around Apr 1st we also went to Nassau by Pan American jet just got back last night we are seeing everything to see while we are in Fla. Hope you girls are both fine it was 83 here today my daughter said last night I talked to her they had 4 in of snow up there.
With Love Florence.

Florence may not have good grammer and she all but totally forgot the importance of punctuation but she's got money and time, huh? Wouldn't you love to have her schedule? I think they took the Pan Am jet on a whim. I feel bad about the heart troubles, but the doctor didn't seem too concerned. She and Ed are staying in a mighty fine motel while they see everything, aren't they? Enough money to go to Hawaii and they stay at the Drake. Poor Mary and Nellie.

Posted by grrlTravels at 10:10 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 20, 2006

Goodies

I went to the flea market on Sunday and picked through mountains of old paper stuff. What fun. Here are some of the goodies I got on Sunday:

It is clear that not only am I incapable of putting things on the scanner straight but K.was gone so I couldn't even straighten them out in Photoshop. Photoshop is on the list but it's way, way down at the bottom right now sadly.

I am in love with the menus. They are large-ish (the bigger one is 9 x 13) and oh so fun. The photo is blurry but that just adds to the melancholy feel, doesn't it? I don't know why it caught my eye. The advertising cards are beat up but they are both just so pretty. I love the birds on both of them. (We'll be talking about birds on here at some point so that I can work through my bird issues.) And the tiny Christmas card is refreshingly un-Christmas-y, isn't it?

Posted by grrlTravels at 5:35 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

September 18, 2006

Local Cuisine

For my first postcard I chose to alter a vintage card.

Materials: Clipart, glitter, thread, sequins.


Meaning: These lovely folks are spending time at the hotel pool (their whole vacation?) while a world of beauty awaits them. They can't even see it.

Things I Learned:
1. I didn't want to use the actual vintage postcard because I really like it. It's so silly (at least to me). So I scanned it and then printed it out. Yeah. That didn't work all that well. The colors are off to an extent that it bothers me and I couldn't find anything to print it on which would be post office worthy. [And now I hate the color printer we have at home.]
2. Which is ok, because this card isn't really sendable anyway. I sewed it, and sewing the sequins on made tiny strings on the back which will break instantly. I could have glued them, but I liked the added texture of sewing them on.
3. The glitter is a little big for my taste. I wanted the tiny, super sparkly glitter that looks like sand. This stuff is chunky.
4. Must get my hands on some good collections of clip art. Actually I think I joined one of those sites one time. Do you lose passwords as much as I do? Even to things that cost money?
5. I can't find good, sturdy blank postcards. You know, real ones that I could send if I felt so inclined.

Even with all of the learning this was fun. I won't send this card, but I might send the next one.

Next week another postcard.

Posted by grrlTravels at 1:58 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

September 12, 2006

Weekly Inspiration: Postcards

Since I don't craft every day I'm afraid that this blog will languish if I don't do something drastic. Drastic! Drastic like give myself homework. So in the hopes that I can do one creative thing each week I am providing myself with weekly inspiration.

One of my major problems with crafting is I begin things and then I don't know how to finish them. I'm got lots of finished and half-finished bits of embroidery sitting around. I don't know what to do with them. So my inspiration to kick things off needed to be something that is useful immediately.

I decided on postcards. I can either send them, give them as gifts, or swap them. They are inherently useful. I had a few different ideas for pcs immediately upon deciding on this as my first set of projects which I'm taking as a good sign. They are also small and easily finished in a few hours or days. (I'm still taking nothing for granted!)

As inspiration I take the following:
A Cool Postcard Swap
Greetings from the Smithsonian: A Postcard History of the Smithsonian Institution
Envelopes: A Puzzling Journey Through the Royal Mail
inaminuteago
erica harris

Off I go!

Posted by grrlTravels at 5:41 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 9, 2006

The Plan (Oh yes I have one)

Ok, here is what I gleaned from your comments on my question about finding time for a creative outlet.

1. It is difficult but not impossible to find time for creative pursuits.
2. Finding the time is a choice. This might mean that other things must move down lower on the priority list.
3. It is not wrong to choose time for myself.

The Plan

I've decided that taking time during the day while the kids are awake to try to do something creative for myself is ok. It will not scar my children for life. This has been niggling at the back of my brain for quite some time, so I think it is important for me. If it is important, I need to look at my priorities and what will happen when I make this time for myself. If the house is a little less clean, if the kids make a huge mess amusing themselves while I work, if a few things fall through the cracks it is ok. (In theory.)

I need to start small. Small projects that I can complete in a day or two will work best at the beginning.

Some of the things I want to do I can't quite yet. I want to do some collage, but I don't have boxes of collage worthy stuff lying around the house. I want to do some embroidery work, but most of those projects take a long time. I'd like to know how to do macro photography, but I need to get the basics down first. So I need to start at the beginning, no matter how much I'd like to skip ahead. Basics are fine for now.

I have perfectionistic tendencies. So I never want to try something unless I know it is going to turn out the way I want it to. I need to get over it. Try things and figure out what went wrong and try again. Let go. Enjoy the process.

I am going to try to find 1 1/2 to 2 hours two times a week to work on projects. I am going to start small and experiment with things. I am going to use, as much as possible, things I already have in the house.

In the mean time I am going to start collecting paper ephemera and vintage fabric. When I have some stuff stockpiled I will attempt to swap. (Yippee.) I will try to get to the good flea market at least once a month, preferably alone so that I can actually find things.

I am going to renew my attempts to find a preschool that might accept my non-potty-trained boy E. I know that he needs the socialization (boy do I know!) and I want it for him. He would LOVE preschool. And with only Z. at home I might have a chance to rearrange things to have more time for myself.

In the new house I am going to find a corner where I can leave things out. Having the project out and available and not having to clean up afterwards seems like it will make a big difference. I'm not sure, but it sounds good.

Will it work? I've no idea. But I think it's worth a try. I can adjust as I go, or I can decide that it was all a huge mistake.

Posted by grrlTravels at 3:09 PM | Comments (5)