Out of commission

October 9th, 2012 in Halloween by sheila3 Comments

Just a quick post to tell my readers that I’m having carpal tunnel surgery on Thursday and won’t be posting for a while. I know I haven’t been the most regular of posters for the past year or so. This is due in large part to the fact that my carpal tunnel has become a constant problem. I’ve put off surgery for as long as I can. Now I look forward to being able to do things on the flip side that I haven’t been capable of doing for a long time. I miss doing crafty things like crochet and embroidery and I really look forward to a winter snuggled in with hooks in hand.

I should add that just because I’m not posting doesn’t mean I’m not creating. I do still dabble here and there but each project takes me days now where it used to take a few hours. I have been staying busy. Here’s what’s on the workbench now…

A few weeks back I picked up a Dremel Trio on clearance at Lowe’s. I’ve been researching tools that will allow me to cut through thin sheets of wood much in the same way a skill saw will but without the bulk. I found the Trio and immediately added it to my Christmas list. Color me happy when it was marked down to half price! Alexander and I have been playing with the idea of making our own graveyard props for the yard. Seeing that he’s the Cardboard Kid, he inspired me to cut some thick boxes with the Trio. What I found was that I could cut just about anything I wanted out of the cardboard. I pulled out some of my own templates and cut away.

Up top you see tombstones cut from a digital file I created some years ago. I keep returning to those files over and over. I cut them about three feet tall and a foot wide. We will paint and decorate to look super creepy.

The tombstones seemed a little plain to me so I cut out some shapes to go with them. Here’s a crow and the left over oval from the frame below. I think I’ll keep it for something. I also have a cat and owl waiting. Some of which are from another digital file set of mine: Scary Things.

Lastly, I grabbed a spooky decorative frame and cut it out. It’s pretty good size, a foot and a half tall. I’m not sure if I’m going to add a mirror or a picture to it. It came out so cool. See the bat at the top and coffin at the bottom?

Last week I shot my first wedding. It’s the kind of thing that I would only do for a friend. I have known the groom for some twenty plus years and was thrilled that they asked me.I have to admit that I’m really impressed with how I did. We were very comfortable together and it shows in the photos. Here’s a proof from the shoot.

Lastly, I am finishing up the Michael deMeng Alchemy of Construction online class. I signed up with a local artsy friend and we’ve been comparing notes. If you want to know how to join things, this is the class for you. It gave much such a great deal of confidence that I can create anything I want.

With my overflowing tool box and a modicum of knowledge there is no creative mountain I cannot climb. I look forward to putting what I’ve learned in to action after the surgery. Wish me luck and fast healing.

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One more thing: I rented a really nice Canon 70-200mm f2.8 lens for the wedding shoot and now I want to upgrade my setup. So, I am selling my Canon 20mm f2.8 USM for $350 plus shipping and paypal fees. I posted it on our local Craigslist but only got attention from nut jobs. If you are interested, shoot me an email: cheekymagpie at gmail dot com.