My Craft Table

I know, I know. When you think of crafting you may not always think of leather work, sewing, gourd making, etc as crafting, but I do. I’m setting up this table as a way to finally have a designated spot to do what I love doing. My little area outside the shop. I know it’s a messy table, but that’s because I’m not done organizing the area. I brought most all my crafting tools to the table and now I’m trying to figure out what I need to get organized. I’ve put up some shelves so far, but the area needs a lot more. I’m excited about it. I’ll keep an update of it as I go. Here’s to more of my creations of art. :)

Leather working and sewing table.

Stump

You know ever since I lived over in Laos and learned a little about raising metal, I've wanted to do the same here in the U.S.A.  I never got that stump that I felt I needed to make it all happen.  20 or so years  later I finally bought a stump and am motivated to start using it.  Hopefully I can find the time to start learning this again.  I love doing it so hopefully I can get some practice in.  As yo can see in the image the first school I went to to learn silversmithing. I worked on the bowl for a long time over that stump and although I made it too thin by the end, it was my first one and I love how it turned out.  We started by melting a bunch of silver into a button.  Then from that point on it was all hammering and annealing.  First hammer out the disc and then start to raise it.  Then chase it at the end.  I hope to do this process again because it brings back so many memories, but for now I think I'll buy the sheet to save time.  Either way I now have a stump and a few hammers to get going.  This was a long time waiting,  so let's see what can come of it now. 

My new stump

Crazy Hair Day

Don't we all feel like this sometimes?  A little fun mixed with crazy hair day?   That's all I can say about this. 

Anja's Crazy Beach Hair

Silhouettes

Some silhouettes that I captured of my son.  I love playing around with photography.  Lately I have had to do most of my photos from my phone.  I like how they turn out, but I wish I had the higher resolution of my SLR camera.  Anyway, I do love the feel this photo captured. 

Lucas' Silhouette at lake Rroosevelt

A little getaway

We needed a little getaway so we jumped into the car and headed for Utah to visit my Aunt and Uncle.  We got to head up the canyon to see a little snow.  The kids second time in snow and they absolutely loved it. It's nice to get away from the heat once in a while. 

This also goes along with inspiration and design.  There are at times when designing I tend to be less inspired or have no motivation.  That's when I need to change things up and do something in a way I haven't done before.  It again rejuvenates me and inspires me to move forward with more interesting designs.  I'm sure we have all come across this so just like in everyday life we need change, as artists we need change too.  As long as we can keep moving forward that is good.  Anything not moving forward is only going backwards.  You might say you are not an artist.  I believe we are all artists in our own way.  We all express ourselves in our own way.  So let's all keep moving forward on this wild journey of life and art. 

My family in Utah Snow

Family time at the Zoo

How are things going with you and your family?  I hope well.  Weeks ago we went to the Phoenix zoo.  It was a cold day and even a bit rainy.  We enjoyed walking around seeing all the wonderful animals.  My youngest daughter loved it the most since it was her first time getting up and close to animals this big.  I captured this orangutan relaxing and keeping warm.  I thought it was just so cool.  At times we need to take a break from our daily schedules and spend time with the family doing something we can all enjoy.  The zoo worked out great for us.  I always enjoy visiting animals as they can have a huge impact on our lives.  I hope to do more fun things this year with my family and so should you.  Have a great year everyone!

67 VW Beetle

My first car is this blue 1967 VW Bug.  I even took my driving test in it and I've owned it for 28 years.  As my main car for 20 years it had a lot of wear and tear put into it.  Also this Arizona heat did not do nice things to the interior. Although I've had a different engine put in at one point it died on me about 8 years ago and has been sitting in my garage.  I got it fixed and it's running now.  It has front end damage from a few crashes, but the rest is in fixable condition.  My goal is to slowly fix it up with my son.  It won't be a full restore or anything, but a fun project that will bring the  car back to a better condition and a little father and son bonding time.   I'll try and share images as we work on it.  Our success and failures.  I would love to get it to a point of safe so that my son possibly can drive it.  My first car - his first car.  :)  So many memories. 

My 67 VW light blue bug

Christmas Time

What a great time of year. I love getting together with family and enjoying this time of celebrating Christ’s birth.  With all the gifts and the way Christmas is promoted it’s hard at times to teach our kids why we have this Holiday.  My 5 year old wasn’t quite connecting this holiday with Christ.  After we’ve been exlaining it she now knows, but still is excited about the rest of the holiday. I hope we can all enjoy this Christmas season and to remember the true meaning of Christmas.  

Thanksgiving Time

I love this season.  The fall colors.  The leaves that start to fall off all the trees.  Where I live I only get a glance of that depending on where a good tree with leaves is, lol, but I still enjoy it.  The cool weather is perfect here in Arizona.  

Thanksgiving always reminds me of my childhood and mainly my Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Cousins would come and we had a great time playing together.  The smells of the turkey, mash potatoes, squash, etc. were so enjoyable while we played.   All the adults in the kitchen working hard while we all played.  Such great memories.  I really wanted something similar for my kids while they grow up.  To my surprise my situation is not even close to mine growing up and I don't know why I thought it would be.  Maybe I just wanted to hang onto the memory and create a similar one for my kids.  Well that's not going to happen.  They dynamics are so different with my own family is a whole new memory for my kids.  I hope I've been able to create a fun time for them so that they'll be able to have fun memories with family during this holiday.  Let us all remember and cherish family and the good times we have together.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Get away!

No I don't mean get away from me or anything like that, I mean at times we need to get away from our daily routine and re freshen up.  That is what I did this past week.  Just my family and I went to enjoy Pinetop, AZ for a bit.  Loved the cooler weather and the pine trees everywhere remind me of my home town, but smaller.  We enjoyed bike riding, horseback riding at Snowy Mountain Stables, and hiking trails.  I completely forgot about my normal life for a while.  That is how it should be.  Forget and refresh.  Here are are a few images of my time there.  I can't wait to do it again.  The worst part of leaving reality is coming back.  lol. 

Horseback riding at Snowy Mountain Stables

Red Barn