A Busy Family Week Ahead

I've a busy week ahead of me! My beautiful daughter is training for a new position within the food store she has worked in for years. What that means for me is that I get to spend quality time with my Grandson, preparing his breakfast and lunch, getting him ready for school and taking him to the bus stop. The hardest part is finding things to keep him occupied and out of mischief for the hours he's home with me. But we manage.

If there are a few days at the end of the week where I do not have a post or it's fairly small compared to the normal chatty posts I share, you may rest assured it's probably not the wonky computer, but more the fun time spent with my little dude and the exhaustion that often comes shortly after. I may just be a tired out Nana.

Speaking of the wonky computer, the fund raiser for a new one stalled out a bit after a few days. But that's okay. It's going to be around for a while. I know this isn't the most important cause to raise funds for, and in most cases if someone else were doing the asking, I would only contribute a small amount. But a small amount is fine too. It all adds up.

Honestly, I realized I am a bit too proud to do this, so it wasn't easy to come to the decision to go this route but I knew I had to do something. Doing the asking is not easy but I can do it because I love making mosaics and other crafty things to sell and I'd love to see my online business continue to thrive instead of crashing to a halt just because my computer won't turn on.

But life will go on and all things will work out the way they are supposed to. If I can't sell my mosaics online, I have a few local folks who offered to take my mosaics and sell them for me. That's a wonderful thing.

Some people immediately stepped up to donate that are involved in art or mosaics specifically this past week and one truly wonderful person who could be considered a "fan" of mine donated as well. She was the first one! This is such an awesome thing for me. Humbling. Gratitude doesn't even explain how I feel!

If you can donate, please do. Don't forget to share the link it can help a little bit too.
http://www.gofundme.com/49qepk

I was asked if this site takes PayPal and I believe it does for International folks but not sure it does for people within the USA. If you want to donate but not from this site because PayPal isn't offered, you may do so through my PayPal account using the email address: earthmothermosaics@yahoo.com and please, please, PLEASE make a note that it's a donation. If the donated amount fits one of the categories to receive a thank you mosaic in return, I'll be in touch once I reach the 1/2 way point with the goal. We can then discuss your gift further at that time. You will receive, no matter what, a huge virtual hug from me through an email, so keep an eye on that. If by some chance you don't get a response within 24 hours, send a message to cw.earthmothermosaics@gmail.com which is my secondary email and let me know. Sometimes yahoo is more wonky than my computer is.

My birthday is the same day as the Autumnal Equinox (Sept 22) and celebrating the fall colors and the cooler weather is a great way to start the new year. More on that at the end of the week, because I have a tradition that I may have shared last year, but will share again this year as the day gets closer.

In studio news:
I got the Mosaic Gingerbread House listed on Etsy. I know I've said this before, but isn't it cute?

Mosaic Gingerbread House Wall Hanging

And the newest edition to my Flower Power Mosaics has been listed too. I have to say when I gathered up the tess for this one, I knew it was going to look pretty groovy. What do you think?

Mosaic Flower Power Trivet

I've been adding pillows and note cards here and there throughout the week. I have so many still to list. I took a LOT of photos in 2012 and earlier this year that work for these. Here's the pillow that was listed today:

Decorative Pillow Cover

Over the weekend I worked on a cool midcentury modern, retro looking mosaic using the macro mini ceramic tiles that were gifted to me recently and some awesome black dish pieces.

I love the look of the simple yet fairly uniform squares in the centers and the black dishes cut in all sizes and shapes forming frames around each square. This measures 15 x 3 inches and was a discarded piece of drywall I found curbside. It isn't cut perfectly and I like it that way.

I found this and another piece similar to this size curbside and thought I'd be able to cut them a little more. I couldn't. My X-Acto knife needs a new blade. It wasn't long before I realized I'd have to leave these boards as they are and mosaic on them anyway.

Normally I prep before I work on a board, using primer and adding thinset to the sides to give it a more uniform look. Not this time. Late Friday night I pulled this board out of the pile, grabbed the tiles and continued until bedtime. Then, upon waking, I hoped out of bed before the sun had risen and worked on it until all the squares were finished. I was obsessed to get it finished. I went back to bed for a few hours, truly exhausted (those small tiles were placed into the squares using tweezers). But once again I went right back to add the black framing around it before coffee was in my system. Whew!

I have had some truly crazy artistic moments where the muse just wouldn't allow me to focus on anything else except my latest piece but I've never felt this crazed to get it finished. I saw myself working on it while I slept. Something grabbed hold of the muse, spun her around really fast and let go! I had no choice but to continue with it until it was completed. My hair was sticking straight up in the air, my daughter told me I looked so tired, like I had been up for 2 or 3 days straight, my eyes were puffy and red from straining to make sure all the ceramic pieces were lined up the way I wanted them. When I saw myself in the mirror, the first thing I thought of was that I looked like a crazy scientist. The doctor from "Back to the Future" movies came to mind and out loud I said: Great Scot!

What was left, after the dust settled, literally, was this:

This way?

Or this way?

I like the way it looks both virtually and horizontally and can't decide where the bails should go for hanging just yet. It may get listed without a hanger on it and I'll allow the customer to make the decision as to how they want it to hang.

If you look closely you'll see that the ceramic pieces are not grouted. Some are glazed, some aren't and I didn't want anything to take away from them which grout would on the ones not glazed. I did put grout around the inside edges covering the dish shards. Some of the tiles do have grout on them in that area because of that.

This mosaic is entitled "Possessed". I think it fits.

Stay peaceful,
Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

Gingerbread House!

How cute is this Gingerbread House?!

I can't wait to list it in the Holiday Section on Etsy on Monday. I think it came out really cool.

I have done a little work on the tray. I slowed up a bit on it because I couldn't decide what to use on the inner side of the tray around the wavy mirrored part. I actually think I'm going to use dish shards. Although I had a whole other idea when I woke this morning, thinking I'd go with similar colors in stained glass, I noticed a yellow piece of dish left over from the butterfly and the last blue and white chintz saucer sitting near me. They will make a nice addition to this.

Pretty!

My Grandson and I spent the morning together while his Mom left early for her shift, his step-sissies went with their Dad to catch the bus and he onto work. On Friday's, I usually call it "Malachi Day" because we usually do something special, even if we're all home, that he likes to do. Today because it was just us, I gave him a breakfast of waffles, ice cream, whipped cream and sprinkles.

Waffles and ice cream because it's "Malachi Day"!

After this yummy breakfast, he watched a bit of his favorite "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and then some "Toy Story 3" on DVD before lunch. Lunch, by the way, was grilled cheese with a side of pineapple ... because it is "Malachi Day" and those are all his favorite things.

I can't get him a lot of stuff but I can give him my time and love. In the years to come, I hope his memories are filled with days like today. I enjoy my time with him, one-on-one like today, even though we all live together and bump into each other, are in each others' way and have boundary issues (like walking in on someone when they are in the bathroom), we are a family and when we have this special time together, we make it count!

Make your days count too. Enjoy it! Have waffles with ice cream for breakfast! Yay!!

Stay peaceful,
Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics