New Blogs Updated ... and I'm still going

New pages added over at www.narahsblog.blogspot.com (also a new post about our belly dance flash mob!!) and at www.healingreikiandtarot.blogspot.com (including a page where you can arrange for an Angel Tarot reading/ Oracle card reading by me!!!

One blog ending, New ones Beginning!

Hello All!
I hope you are still around here somewhere. :)  I've finally decided that I would just start another blog instead of posting here and linking/embedding pictures and video.  Actually, I've decided to start 2, maybe 3 blogs and try to focus my topics in different blogs.  The one that is already set up is a belly dance blog and the first post is published.  Please join me there!  www.narahsblog.blogspot.com

I may also start one for just artwork.  Definitely, I'm starting another for my latest calling for focus: Tarot and Reiki.  Currently I am finishing up my homework to complete Doreen Virtue's Advance Angel Card Readers class.  Tarot has interested me for years and have a few decks, but this class really called to me and I have learned a lot.  Soon, I'll be offering readings!  The longest reading will be 30 minutes until baby can be away from Mama for longer. ;) But, I promise you will get a lot in that 30 minutes and it will be so worth it! :)  Also currently, I have decided to offer distance Reiki!! You can paypal me with the details of your concern to vinegar and glitter (at) gmail (dot) com.  It is $30 for 20 minutes of Reiki and an email summary of the experience.

Lately, it's felt like I'm "coming out of the spiritual closet" as I tell others about my abilities.  Though I may have mentioned Reiki here before, I have not mentioned that I am an Empath. This means I can feel and take on others' energy as my own to transmute it.  It may be physical pain, but most often it is emotional.  Instead of just not talking about it because I've felt that no one would understand, I've decided to fully own these abilities and use them in my healing work.  They will truly enhanced my Reiki healing and insights into Tarot readings.

This blog will be posted to momentarily: http://www.healingreikiandtarot.blogspot.com

Please check out the new blogs, follow and share! I will post here when there are new posts on these blogs and when the new ones are created.  Thank you so much for spending your time here and sharing my space!

Namaste!

Poetry by Book Titles

These remind me of all the fun I had with magnetic poetry:  here

Baby is here!

My Fairy Girl arrived 3 weeks ago Monday!!  We are so glad she is here and just adore her.  Big brother is wonderful with her and so helpful around the house.

Obviously, there are a lot of details to fill in, but I'm typing one handed as Serafina ("Little Fire") sleeps on me. :)

This pin shows ways to stimulate your 0-3 month old for those brief periods she/he is awake. Given that I find pouring a bowl of cereal difficult, I was only going to try to get out Angelo's baby mirror (ok, try to convince Angelo to get it out of his room)... like I'd already planned on doing for weeks anyway.  The high contrast prints are "old news" to me too and I only bring them up to point out that my girl was highly interested in the butterfly printed receiving blanket I had folded up next to the wall on her changing table, the rather low contrast print on the couch and the face on the lady bug pillow pet on top of the couch.  None of these things did I put up with the intention of getting her attention; she just naturally noticed and found them interesting.  My point is not to criticize this blog post, but to make sure I and no one else feels like an underachiever for not stimulating their newborn enough and to just use the information to be aware of what new babies are interested in and use what's convenient at the time... because it's already tough getting enough food, water, and if you're lucky, a shower at this point, right?  Oh, and you may get lucky like I did and happen to find an older sibling's finger puppet on the floor for him to entertain your littlest while you change her diaper.

Also, I chose this pin because I still haven't done anything about the "no more free photo storage" thing, and I can embed pins. ;-)  Remember you can follow me on Pinterest and Facebook (where my profile pic is of the littlest one and me.)

Are you on Pinterest too? LMK! :) 

Source: playfullearners.co.uk via Narah on Pinterest

Art Journaling Pages

I've been doing some art journaling lately- all downstairs away from my studio because I'm tired and need to keep my feet up often to avoid water balloon feet.  It's a lot of doodling on pre-painted backgrounds, but I did get some new backgrounds made using Angelo's watercolors (they're actually high quality paints you have to mix), some water color pencils from his Faber Castell Modern Masterpieces kit and his Crayola marker air brush.  Not that you can see any of these right now because I've not put most of the pics on my computer.  There is this one that I got going before the swelling got too bad... and this one too.  Since I can't really show you more right now, I thought I'd share this interesting slide show of Orly Avineri's work.  Enjoy!

Paleo Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are yummy.  They are Paleo treats, so there's no grains, no refined sugars.  So, you can eat as many as you want!  Ha!  Just kidding, but they do allow you to have something sweet without feeling like you are destroying yourself.  The only change I made was that I used melted virgin coconut oil instead of macadamia nut oil.  It's a bit weird if you haven't made these sort of treats before in that they start as these tiny little smooshed balls of stuff and then spread out a LOT.  The directions say to form into balls and then flatten, but I ended up doing a combination of both at the same time to get everything to stick.  There are no eggs or any other sorts of binders.  So, it makes it interesting to try to form, but it means you can lick the spoon and not worry about salmonella issues.  If you decide to make them, enjoy! :)

An Artful Green Tara Shrine

Well, preparing for baby has really taken top priority around here, but I wanted to let you know I'm still alive.

This Green Tara shrine is made from mono prints, ink sprayed wax paper and dyed paper towels I made.  The drawing of Green Tara is mine; I used the Kat Von Dee method of portraiture- traced a photo of a statue and filled in the details myself.  Prisma color pencils and Pitt pens were used for coloring and outlining.

Remember you can follow me on Facebook and Pinterest since there's not much blogging these days.  Adding "what to do about that" on top of getting ready for baby has really been a low priority, unfortunately.  But, when I'm too tired to think or do much, I do get on those sites and find interesting things you will probably be interested in.

Maybe you'll be surprised by a link to my new blog the next time! :)

Holiday Countdown '12

Since I haven't paid to post more pictures and haven't done anything more than download wordpress, I will link to the picture of our "countdown calendar" here.

It is really simple.  I googled "free mini envelope template" and chose one I wanted.  Then, I printed it out at 60% since even though they all said mini and I unchecked "fit to page", they still were giant.  Once printed and cut, I traced 24 on Christmas scrapbook paper.  Angelo actually cut most of them out and helped to fold them.  After the glue dried, I put in strips of paper (cut from one sheet printed from Word) with an activity that would work for that day.  Some are simple and could be done any day and some are days that I will need to be teaching or taking advantage of weekend hours to make gifts and DH will take Angelo out for a while. This was one of my rare moments of planning every day for a month.  The last time was this time last year... and I still switched some activities as needed.

So, the list includes:
See holiday trees at the Carnegie art museum
Put up our tree
Make gingerbread houses at the library
Make small crafty gifts
Make cards
See gingerbread houses on display at Market Square
Help make gifts for our baby and baby cousins
Ride Shenley Santa train
Make hot chocolate (from scratch) and read a Xmas book (we checked out a bunch from the library)
Decorate paper grocery bags for gift wrap
Package, address, stamp and mail gifts and cards (he's been getting a big kick out of writing things out for family, so it's not as boring as it may initially sound.)
See "Wreck it Ralf"
Put up lights
Make ornaments
Train ride at Station Square
Science kit (been saving one- he loves them!)
See "The Guardians"
Make cookies
Color and glitter Christmas coloring sheets (tons of free printables out there)
Make a mixed media winter/holiday themed painting
Eat a cookie and read a Xmas book (we'll read these as he's interested too, but the cookie will be a little extra something)
Go to open art studio at the library
See miniature railroad at the Carnegie Science Center
Open one present

Since we have a membership to the Carnegie museums and we have all the materials/ingredients for making things, really only the Shenley Santa train ride (not very expensive at all), the train at Station square (only $1) and the movies (ok, movies are expensive these days) cost anything.  But, we will all have fun and spend lots of family focused time together.

Since all this making and fun-having will take up a lot of time and since I'm likely transitioning my blog elsewhere, I'll be taking a bit of a break here.  Be sure to check back to see where the Vinegar and Glitter blog ends up! :)

Free Shipping in My Etsy Store Through Cyber Monday!!

OK, this is totally lame.  Apparently, I'm out of storage space on this blog and have to pay to put any more pictures up, so I don't have a picture to go with this really cool bit of info I have for you.

However, you can go to my Etsy store: www.bellyartsmama.etsy.com and see all of the pictures of my listings there.  There are a few costuming items, a few very gift-able items and more listings coming soon- hopefully tonight!!

Through Cyber Monday, I'm offering free US shipping (shipping in the US)!!  Offer ends Nov. 27th and all orders placed Nov. 21st - Nov. 26th will be shipped Nov. 27th-28th.

Buy handmade for the holidays!!  Please share this to help spread the word!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, friends!

With the picture situation and all, I may be moving this blog soon.  Will let you know!

My Piano Lamp

From approximately 3rd-4th grade, I took piano lessons.  Sometimes I really liked it.  Sometimes I would hide quietly and hope my mother forgot to take me.  Since I had 2 younger siblings at the time, that happened pretty often.  Really, I'm glad I had the lessons.  It helped me easily learn to play the xylophone, marimba and chimes in middle school band- which meant I got to go on the King's Island trip... honestly, my entire reason for joining.  But, also, I believe it really helped me to feel and know music more easily when it came to dancing.

Regardless of how I felt about the lessons, I was really happy when my Mom uncovered the lamp to my piano.  It sits on my art table now.  It's a red-head dancing... apparently, I see myself in her. :)

Sadly, I'm still on the look-out for the interior pictures of the house we stayed in in Cass.  I synched my phone and it said all was well, but can't locate them on my computer. :-/  Mercury is in retrograde, so hopefully it isn't a permanent issue.

Speaking of Mercury in retrograde, besides being a time of miscommunication, confrontation, misunderstandings and other nasty things, it is also a good time to re-work, re-do and finish what you started.  Unknowingly, I started going this direction yesterday when I started working on cleaning and organizing our hall closet again instead of going to the fabric store to buy cute stuff for the baby toy patterns I just bought on Etsy.  Even though buying the patterns is a way to start projects, I decided I'm going to use as much fabric as I can that is already in my sewing room.  Initially, I started planning ways to use the orange fleece left over from a Halloween costume a couple years ago.  That's re-working/picking up where I left off.

Anyway, since progress on my closet isn't very exciting, I found these lamp pictures that I took a couple months or so ago and forgot to share.  :)

Hoping you are able to re-work, re-do and put old issues (which come up during Mercury in retrograde) to bed. 

Halloween Train and Trick or Treat

Down the stairs from the Company House we rented to the store/depot/museum, which you can see  in the picture... very close!!

Our little guy loves trains, as I'm sure I've mentioned.  Growing up, my family visited Cass, WV- a historic lumber town, home to the Cass Scenic Railway, and where one Irish line of my family can be traced back for many generations.  The Slavens were the original settlers of the area, so with the veil being so thin between the worlds close to Halloween, I'm sure many ancestors accompanied us on this visit.  We stayed in one of the company houses and as soon as we got there, I was overwhelmed with nostalgia.  

The Halloween train only runs once a year on the last weekend of the season.  They did a great job of making the day full of fun. The train was decorated and full of costumed passengers and staff.  At the station, they had candy for the little ones and a fire to stand by.  Our costumes were thrown together and not too fussy, but still a lot of fun.  Angelo was a lumber jack and I didn't really think about Cass being an old lumber town until we got there.  Him staying warm was my main concern; not sewing a separate costume was the other.  

Angelo's costume didn't arrive until Halloween, so he got to wear it to the mall trick-or-treat and the rescheduled-due-to-Hurricane-Sandy neighborhood trick-or-treat.  His late change of mind for his costume meant we got big discounts on the pieces.  And the obscure choice was really impressive to me; though we went with bought pieces, it was still assembled from various sources, not an all in one package.  This is what he was going for.  The red rubber boots Doofenshmirtz got later and you'd have to see the Phineas and Ferb "Wizard of Odd" episode to get the reference. 

Even though not that many people were out for trick-or-treating on Saturday, it was still fun and even felt like the real thing.  Can't complain about more Halloween!

Halloween ATC's From the Darkside

These are the other ATC's I made for another one of this month's "from the Darkside" swap- "Halloween" of course.

These ATC's started out as regular playing cards, were sanded and then color washed with acrylic paint, then stamped with a Tim Holtz stamp.  The witches are vintage photos I altered in photo shop, siloutted and then adhered.  Then, the final details were added; glitter glue on the top one and glitter marker on the bottom one.

Check back tomorrow for another Halloween report. :)

Pumpkin Party 2012

 As you can see, the pumpkin party _did_ actually happen!  There were power tools involved.  Many pumpkin seeds were roasted and then eaten while watching Halloween movies.  This was a great party- a fun theme made even better by the awesome company.  Our last one was about 2-3 years ago and while I'd love to do another next year, I'm not going to write it in just yet... we will have a 6 month old then!!! :)

While I didn't get my house all piled up with sparkly and rusty bits (or do a lot on my "would like to" list due to growing a human being and most of my energy being devoted to baby and Angelo), we did have more decorations up outside for this party than on Halloween due to Hurricane Sandy blowing by.  We were very lucky and only had rain and one night of 25 mph winds; no power outages.

This post started out as a Halloween round up since I just found my camera cord today and wanted to report our festivities before the mood was completely fizzled out.  But, there were too many pictures for one post, so look for another one tomorrow and the next day. :)

Hoping your Celtic New Year celebrations were great!

Masters of the Macabre

These ATC's are for a swap I'm participating in and just sent out:

As you can guess, the theme of the swap was Masters of the Macabre and of course, I chose Poe as the Master of choice.

Mod Podge papers, vintage paper*, ink, Stickles and a journal stamp and Raven sticker* made up these ATC's.  (*on the second card)

In other news, A has recently changed his mind about what he wants to be for Halloween (or forgotten his original choice), and his new choice is a LOT simpler, so that has freed me up to work a little bit on my Folk Art witch.  Tonight, I sculpted the head- something I'd never done before- and so far so good. It has to dry for a few days.  Next, I'll tackle the hands.  Whether I actually finish it before Halloween or not, I'm not sure, but considering I'm not sure where the book is, I'm impressed I've gotten this far.  I may have to make up the clothing patterns, but all this just means my witch will have a more individual personality- great by me!

Vintage Car Assemblage

Just a peek at the assemblage I made for my friend from way back, Jimmy.  So many of these pieces I found laying on the street or in a parking lot and didn't know exactly what I'd use them in, but now they've found their homes.  

The full details of how I put this together and some more photos will be in my e-course/e-book whenever it comes together.  Baby steps will get it to completion... :)

Have a great weekend!!

Figment Art Festival

We went to this interactive Art Festival last weekend.  Though there weren't as many exhibits or activities as the video in the link shows, there were enough to tire us all out.  What a great concept- to teach children to touch, climb and otherwise participate in an artful experience.  Plenty of costumes and wacky songs, spontaneous dancing and hooping abounded.  

Before doing anything, our water baby had to check out the lake.

Then, to climb on a robot panda.

I painted with a plastic shoe, Mr. Potato Head arm ...

and a dinosaur...

while A swam in a pool of stuffed animals.

A few marks by me and many by others.

The parachute was super fun.  I think the parents helping to move it up and down had as much fun as the kids running in and out, rolling on top and cackling with glee.


I love living here. :)

Castle and Mermaid Tags

This is a castle themed tag I made for a recent swap.  The background is an acrylic mono print I made with metallic paints on water color paper, stamped with metallic pigment ink.  The stamped castle image (oops, stamp way upstairs and can't remember who made it) is colored with chalks, Prisma pencils, glitter gel pens and glitter glue.  The metal spot at the top is vintage.  Stickles around the border.

Something I rarely do, but am happy with the way it turned out: I added adhesive foam squares for a 3-D pop.

This tag was made for a fairy/fantasy swap.  The background was made the same way as above, but a different stamp was used and it's a vintage button vs. metal spot.  The stamped image is from Enchanted Gallery and was colored with Prisma pencils, chalks and highlighted with Stickles.

        

I thought I kept the image that showed the details best, but it's a bit blurry at the top.  :/


Next, I'll be able to show you an assemblage I'm working on.  It's close to complete and I'm pretty excited about it.  It's one I've had in my head for a while, so it went together fairly quickly.  A friend really liked an assemblage I made for my Dad and requested a piece of mine for his gallery of local artists, so it is loosely based on that one, but has its own distinct theme and details.  

A pile of fabric has arrived for some Fall sewing projects- all for Angelo.  I'm hoping the fact that I won't be able to use the sewing books for him next year (his current size is the largest in the books) will motivate me to get on that ASAP.  That and the fact that Halloween month is already here and the boy needs his costume!!

Hope you are enjoying the creative energy that comes with the season!!

Glamor Girls in Jewel Tones

This is a piece I did in my 4 x 4 art journal.  The first couple layers were made with brushes that had a little paint left over and needed used up somewhere.  Then, I sprayed some mica ink, added an Art Chix image, some paper from the Mod Podge "Podgable Papers", a couple paper flowers, some iridescent ink over the paper and flowers and some fiber from novelty yarn.  The edges are inked with metallic pigment ink.

Thought I'd show it next to the initial layers of the background next to it (sprayed mica ink), just because I liked it.

This is a spread I did in a new altered book- another themeless one since the themed ones can end up too much like work or at least make me obsess over what I can do in the theme and I lose sleep.  The first layer is "Broken China" Distress Stain (Ranger), followed by some "classic teal" Claudine Helmuth paint (nice stuff).  Then, I added some dictionary page pieces, another Art Chix Glamor Girl, some mica ink spray, drops of iridescent ink, Stickles and novelty yarn.  It isn't finished.  I have a few ideas about where I want it to go, but it will be what it will be.

Beginnings of a background: some "classic teal" paint and a couple colors of mica ink spray.

 

Another background beginning: bubble wrap stamped "classic teal", some sprayed and some swiped mica ink.

It felt good to get back into making things with no goal or "purpose" other than feeling good.  

DIY Room Freshener

This is so simple to do, I'm not sure why anyone would use the chemical-laden, hormone disrupting, cancer-causing commercial air fresheners.

All this one involves is using a 3 oz. travel spray bottle, filling it about 3/4 full of water and adding about 15 drops of orange essential oil and about 2 drops of lavender essential oil.  Shake before use.

You can also spritz this particular formula on your hair for a little extra shine or for a nice perfume.  You know how smells always last longer in your hair?  You can take advantage of that fact here.

Orange oil is especially good for oder removal and is even recommended for improving the Feng Shui of a room.  If you made one of only lavender or lavender, ylang ylang and maybe some geranium oil, it would be for a great for spraying in your bedroom before bed for a nice, restful sleep.    

There are plenty of aromatherapy formulas out there, so you're sure to find one you love.  A couple awesome things about essential oils: most are naturally anti-bacterial and if you whatever you don't mix with a carrier oil/other essential oil or water lasts forever.  The 3 oz. bottle is nice because you will probably use it up before it goes bad.  If it smells rancid, don't use. (That makes sense, right? ;)

Just be sure the oils you use are actually essential oils and not "fragrance oils" or you risk just making a nasty chemical version.  There are some oils that shouldn't be used for certain conditions, so be sure to research that.  The ones I've listed are pretty safe and can even be used during pregnancy. (Except don't use lavender directly on little boys.  There's a possibility it affects their hormones.)

iHerb.com sells plenty of essential oils and their service is great!  If you use this code: ZEV497 then you get $10 off your first order of $40 or more or $5 off your order of less than $40.  If your order is over $60, you get free 1-3 day shipping and they always fill orders fast!  I do get credits if you use this code, but I really am very happy with their service and it sure beats using up gas and time driving around to find all the natural products I need.  They even have non-perishable food.  

Pinterest Finally Pulled Me In

If you want to see my boards/follow me on Pinterest, I finally caved and can be found here: http://pinterest.com/narahkimberly/

Of course, there is a Halloween board. :)