Hi everyone! I am closing my etsy shop in 5 days – Thursday December 3rd – for three months while I travel. I have just put my latest goodies up for Christmas shoppers – a lot of antique-looking jewelry and some original artwork that I created for Shriners Hospitals for Children. This is the first time I have posted original artwork and remember these items will only be listed for five days, then I’m on the road. Take a look and please share with your friends! :D
Come visit my online etsy shop with around 122 different items for sale atwww.glooart.etsy.com
I have a lot of antique brass and copper jewelry that I am in love with. IN LOVE I TELL YOU!! Lots of high quality crystal and gemstones, particularly amethyst. I am so infatuated with amethyst at the moment (yummo!) SHOP HERE.
And some original artworks I created for Shriners Hospital for Children. This is the first time I have listed original art for sale. Remember these items will only be listed for five days, then I’m on the road. SHOP HERE.
Original handmade jewelry and artwork made by me :D Please share this with your friends!!
SHOP HERE for funky original jewelry made by me and a small selection of original mixed media artwork.
Remember these items will only be listed for five days, then I’m on the road. I love you guys. Thank you so much for supporting me and my children xoxox
Due to c-RAZY popular demand (that being one comment a couple of posts ago by one of the only people that ever leaves comments on my humble blog) – BEHOLD! My little Warhammer dudes!! As per your request Ti-Pea. And when I say ‘little’, I mean ‘itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny’. Check it out:
This is what my husband and I used to do for fun in the good old days. When we were first married. We would paint for hours and hours, days and days, entire miniature armies, to perfection (or close to – Nick sometimes liked to hurry which is not really something you can do when painting miniatures and I took a while to figure out how exactly to paint something so tiny.) It was fun. A bonding activity. Nerdy :D
I was SO excited the day my husband won his first ‘Best Painted’ trophy in an Outpost 6030 Warhammer tournament. It was like winning it myself! We spent so much of our time on these babies and it meant a lot to me that other people thought they were awesome too.
Nick thought for the longest time that I won a painting competition too, but no, I just entered. I don’t think I even placed, but nerd-fever had struck me and like everything else creative in my life, I HAD to figure out how to do this well and couldn’t rest until I was relatively satisfied!
Just to give you an idea of how tiny these little dudes really are:
I have to say that Orcs are definitely my favorite to paint – all that yummy green flesh and big expressive faces. These days I don’t find myself painting Warhammer dudes much anymore. It requires a large time committment that I don’t have to give at the moment. Perhaps if my husband were still competing in tournaments I would be tempted to sit down with him at the table and paint… Maybe. I know that when my son gets a year or two older he will want to paint his own army (he’s already tried with old parts, bless his cotton socks.) And I will definitely be there with him, painting these little amazing works of sculptured art once again.
We left Shriners Hospital for Children yesterday doing a little bit of a jump for joy – Phoenix’s scoliosis has decreased – yeah, DECREASED. Significantly. Un-real. When the Spinal Doctor told me this I thought, “Well of course. This makes sense. She’s become a little pro running and dancing in her walker – she’s built up some core strength and with this strength come’s a greater ability to hold herself up.” But even though it made sense to me, I wasn’t expecting this news. Not at all.
All three of us were very excited when the doctor told us the results of the x-rays. A buzz filled the room. Even Phoenix knew what he was talking about – she pays close attention, like her big brother Isis does. And Isis’ spine was only two degrees different from twelve months ago – nice, very nice. I LOVE going to the doctors and getting GOOD NEWS!! (Because it very rarely, if ever happens.)
Chuck a party!
On this day of turkeys I am compelled to confess what I am thankful for most days of my life:
1. I am thankful for two children who are living and loving and able to genuinely smile.
2. I am grateful they have the best possible dad (and mum hee hee) in the world.
3. I am grateful for old, long lost friends.
4. I am grateful to have one hundred kagillion zillion paintbrushes to create whatever I like whenever I like.
5. I am grateful for inspiring people.
6. I am grateful for Obama.
7. I am grateful that my father taught me to have integrity.
8. I am grateful for beautiful music.
9. I am grateful for honesty.
10. I am grateful for a family that laughs at me and thinks I’m hilarious (at least that is my interpretation of their laughter)
11. I am grateful that my son is able to laugh at himself when people accidently think he’s a girl lately with that long hair of his hahaha (four times in the last two days)
I actually did it! I have written over 66,000 words of an awesome story that I love! A big THANKS to Nikki for telling me about the Nanowrimo competition and a big THANKS to Nanowrimo for challenging me!! For anyone who is a lover of Superman sci-fi and mythology, you will love my humble little AWESOME story! I know, I’m such a nerd right? BUT I LOVE IT!! Nerd=Legend in this household and I will make sure my children grow up knowing that to be nerdy is to be super-cool. *sssssssssss*
Yay for me! (She pats herself on the shoulder.)
Oh, and PS: I just saw the new Twilight movie and I am soooo a Jacob lurrrrverrrrrr ;D
THIS! I love Warhammer nerds. Let me just start by saying that. I have painted many warhammer guys over the years and just DIE over the artwork. For years my husband has played the game and won trophies in clubs. From the outside looking in, all us mere mortals can see is grown men moving little minature, handpainted dwarves, aliens or half-naked-elven-women-with-great-ta-tas around a table. And all we smell is the unique brand of B.O. that only warhammer dudes get. (They could bottle it and make a fortune!…. maybe)
But THIS is what they see looking down at that table filled tiny scenery and their miniature armies that took months to paint -
I bet you didn’t know that right here in lil’ ol’ Utah is a dinosaur museum of mammoth proportions? The North American Museum of Ancient Life is the world’s largest dinosaur museum. ”It takes you back in time for a hands-on trip through an amazingly lifelike prehistoric world. Kids can dig up their own fossil, construct a giant dinosaur or build their own private sand valley (complete with real eroding rivers).”
It portrays a world completely foreign to us today. So foreign, that is feels alien, like we are visitors to a museum of alien life and alien history rather than our own. The world has changed THAT much over millions of years. It takes my breath away each time I visit and whisks my imagination away to another place completely. (Namely that of a Star Trek kind.)
What better place to visit with my long lost niece and nephew, brother and sister-in-law from down unda. My eldest brother and his family decided to stay a bit longer which meant Isis got to wag school yesterday and spend it skipping (metaphorically) around the happiest, most coolest, awesomest place on earth! The museum!
How do they make a mini tornado without bringing the place down? (We wanted to touch it! You can see it in Kiyomi’s face….‘if I touch it, will it rip off my hand…. or will I just get in big huge trouble…. hmm decisions, decisions…’)
The tornado-in-a-box was INCREDIBLE! We couldn’t stop staring at it and ‘wow’ing and ‘ah’ing.
It is such a GREAT place! For oldies and young-ins alike. And the IMAX theatre rocks of course.
All us oldies were there too, but only the kids seemed to draw my lens. It was a great day. Great food. Great people. Great museum.
And I hardly teased my sisters boyfriend at ALL at dinner down in Orem. Lindey said I deserved and A- for extreme effort. (A + I say!!) My brother suggested that the only reason I’d been so quiet was because I had painful strings tied to my fingers and toes to remind me to keep my teasing mouth shut. But, no, it was all my own amazing self control and discipline! (Thank you very much!) Even when he mentioned his father was running for congress as a Republican – my eye only twitched twice – TWICE I tell you!! Pretty damn good if you ask me!
Jaz xox
PS Oh and my nanowrimo word count is now 61,755 – woohoo!!!
It has been almost a lifetime since I set and reached a specific goal creatively. It has been so long that the feeling of elation that comes from reaching a goal feels so foreign and shiny and new to me. I am in love with that feeling. In fact, I cannot even remember the last time I felt so satisfied personally. Probably because I am the queen of procrastination and distractions, like many of you I am sure, and I end up berating myself more than praising for not finishing so many of the things that I begin.
This month I have been participating in the Nanowrimo Thirty Day Writing Challenge. The idea is that you have the whole month of November to spit out sheer volumes of literary prose – 50,000 words or more. The focus is on the volume rather than the quality – that can be sorted out later. It is an excellent way for groups of friends to band together in creative expression egging each other on towards the final reachable goal.
My head and my heart are floating with the clouds right now because yesterday I reached 51,000 words on a story that I-LOVE. I have distacted myself for far too long in life with all sorts of artistic endeavors or marital dramas or couch-potatoeness – none of which were my deep, deep dream. Which meant for years I wandered around feeling a little lost and adrift because my dreams kept getting swept under the carpet.
I’ve always wanted to be a story-teller. And boy does it feel good to be telling a story finally :) It is amazing the feeling that comes from doing something you love; something you’ve thought about and dreamed about forever.
When I was young I loved to tell stories through acting; being up there on the stage. As I grew older I gravitated more towards film-making and writing my own words and images. See, I discovered at the late age of eighteen (when I read my first Mills and Boons novel care of my sister haha) that words have this amazing power to inspire and change hearts. To uplift and motivate. To captivate and move. To mold ideologies. (It’s how I fell in love with my husband after all – through his love letters.) Words have power and I love that.
And the thing I love the most about this month so far is that I have written so much AND spent more time than ever with the children AND painted several pictures AND kept on top of the washing AND cut my toenails AND painted them AND sorted through my massive makeup kit and put it in a gorgeous new box AND I’ve been able to speak civilly with my separated-husband!!! What in the world!! I mean, when does that ever happen?! Someone must have waved their magic wand in my direction and I thank you! Whoever the magic fairy is – thank you!!! I love this new feeling of getting stuff done, being efficient and filling my life with the things that I love.
Then yesterday, my brother and his family visited.
WAH.
And now they’re gone :( Back to the land down unda. I didn’t realize how much I missed their companionship and support particularly during hard times. I even missed my brothers teasing (but don’t tell him that or he’ll never stop.)
(And I particularly enjoyed teasing my sisters new boyfriend – I know, I should really not do that. But I love him, he is awesome. Go Candy!)
And have I mentioned lately how much my children crack me up? They make me laugh so much. I am grateful for them in my life, big-time. They have been one of my only sources of pure joy over the past year, without them I think I would have forgotten how to smile and how to love.
Phoenix’s latest cute thing is how she thinks that smiling means to show all of your teeth at once hahaha. And I just LOVE how she gets into my makeup and explores her girlyness and her creativity and loves-every-second-of-it (no matter how she looks at the end – she ALWAYS looks like a princess!)
Cheeky monkey.
*smile*
And how Isis is so scared to wobble his teeth. He lives in passionate denial that he will lose any more and is quite determined to keep the ones he has left. His front teeth seem to agree as they are not planning on growing-in anytime soon. I just love his gummy smile, his long ‘cool’ hair and the way he thinks it’s hilarious to hide his sisters walker from her, leaving her stranded. (He thinks it’s so funny and nearly wets himself in quiet laughter each time he does it- where does that evilness come from!!)
Hi everyone! This is the last call for recipe donations for the Cure Congenital Muscular Dystrophy Recipe Book Fundraiser! Thank you to so many who have donated recipes thus far. Mwah! Mwah! Big kisses to you all!
I have dozens of delicious, mouth watering recipes care of you – thank you. Before I type up the last of them, I wanted to put one more shout out for any family specialties or favorites that you would like to share for a good cause.
Many thanks from me and my children who will directly benefit from continued Muscular Dystrophy research.
xox
(Email recipes to jasmine@glooart.com or post them here on this blog.)
With a house full of sickies the last two weeks, my nursing hat has primarily been on. But strangely, I’ve also been able to write more than 30,000 words for my Nanowrimo November Writing Challenge – Woot! Woot! This is more words than I have ever put together for a story in the past (by a few thousand words) and I’m more than half way to novel status! Woohoo! And, I must add, I am loving it. I am loving the whole process of creating lives and loves and heartaches and triumph over adversity.
And then I woke up to this yesterday morning, so I had to run out camera in hand, blinking the sleep out of my eyes to catch this memory of our backyard in Logan Utah:
I’ve also been able to whip out some new paints I’ve been dying to try out since they arrived by UPS last week. They’re called Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints and I am loving them so far! I still love the consistency of my Jo Sonja Gauche paints for fine detail, but these Studio acrylics are very fantastic, I must confess. They are definitely my favorite acrylic paints to date. Last night I doodled around with some ideas for online e-cards and print cards for Shriners Hospital for Children. It was fun to have a paint brush in my hand again :) It’s been a little while.
So Halloween was pretty fun, for everyone except for poor little sick Isis that is. His father had worked for over a month on his AMAZING Warhammer Costume, but Isis was too sick to go :( Me? Oh, I’m the behind-the-scenes-person these days – makeup artist and photographer, you know the drill. There’s not enough time in the world to get me ready as well as everyone else – I just take way too long to get made-up to a standard that my perfectionist personality would be satisfied with :)
Phoenix was Mulan Princess Ballerina (in case you couldn’t tell). Phoenix and I got free tickets to the Utah Ballet and everyone loved how she looked like a princess at the performance. Later that night we went and visited Auntie Candice since we were half way to her house being at the opera. We went to a Halloween dance in a big barn with her. Phoenix made more friends than anyone else there combined (seriously), dancing around so happily in her walker, absolutely loving life. (”Mummy, we did SO much FUN today!”)
They love their daddy, the funnest daddy in the world with the coolest real-life mustache with curly edges for Halloween.
And look, even though Halloweens all about the candy and playing dress ups these days (as opposed to it’s more darker historical roots), some inspiration for our lives can be found through the gluttonous consumption of said candy:
Recently, a beautiful French woman by the name of Pati (you’ve got to check out her amazingblog) approached me with a desire to help our financial situation due to high cost of healthcare in America. Having two children with Muscular Dystrophy means they need to access that healthcare system on a daily basis. She wanted to offer her artistic talents to help raise funds for our frighteningly large medical bills. Her offer literally brought tears to my eyes – she completely blew me away. I was so touched by her kindness and generosity. Since I have spend a good part of the last twelve+ months finding ways to take care of these huge bills in a way that wouldn’t involve bankruptsy, I felt that we were actually in an ok place right now regarding those bills (sortof) and that the place where additional funding could most benefit our children at this point was The Muscular Dystrophy Association of Western Australia. The NeuroSciences lab there is at the forefront of cutting edge research in muscular dystrophy. Even though the clinical trials happening there right now are for the more common Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy, I believe the science behind the trials (exon skipping) the most likely to have an impact on our children at some point down the road.
Look how amazing she is! Pati put together two digital scrap kits: The Love Kit and Merry Christmas Kit just for us. She is amazing. You can download these for free with the hope that you may give a donation – large or small – to the Muscular Dystrophy Association of WA in return. Many thanks to Pati and many thanks to you for supporting a cause so precious to me.
We, the people, sent you to Washington DC to speak for us and to help make our lives better, not to drag your feet in endless healthcare debate. We are counting on you to saves our lives, now. Congress, DO-YOUR-JOBS. Insurance Giants, BUTT-OUT – quit your dirty bullying and the spreading of misinformation (otherwise known as ‘propaganda’, yes that’s right America, you thought only ‘the bad guy’ countries did that didn’t you, but we are victims of it here in the US too…)
A special thanks to this congressman who is doing his job: Representative Alan Grayson from Florida who, after reading the latest adult mortality studies released two weeks ago said, “how can I make this better.” And then the amazing part – he actually set out to do just that. This guy has a backbone the likes of which has not been seen in Washington for years. YOU-FRIKKIN-ROCK Mr Grayson. You frikkin rock… My tears fell as I heard you speak with truth and a commitment for change, sharing the stories from the dead.
