what have you

taggin' pies

2010-06-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

a pie shop recently asked me to create flags for a wedding they were catering. they were baking delicious, seasonal fruit pies using local ingredients from area farmers markets. the flags were used to label each pie so guests could differentiate between them. i ended up making a whole slew of each of the three kinds of flags but here is an example of each one. they were incredibly fun to make and ended up looking beautiful stuck in the pies.

another special commission

2010-05-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

oh my how i love special commissions. and i've been getting quite a few of them lately--invitations to parties, a three-section wall art series (in the works), and especially birthday cards. my latest birthday card commission was loads of fun as i got to get super meticulous and calculated with my paper and scissors. i was so proud of it i almost didn't want to give it away.
the lucky birthday recipient is a professional musician and also happens to be my lovely friend jojo's dad. he's a big time guitar player. word on the street is shark week payed for her wedding. he has a particular fondness for the gretch and stratocaster persuasion. that was enough information to get me going. i proceeded to carefully dissect the body of a stratocaster image that i found online, painstakingly creating each tiny piece down to the whammy bar. what a treat! hours of fun in the studio that day.
....and apparently dad loved it! yes! another satisfied customer.

it's that time of year again

2010-04-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

people are getting married and having babies. and they need cards to prepare, to announce, to inform, to gather.
i really love the enduring nature of paper cards. through all of the technological changes that we have made throughout the years i'm astonished (and really happy) that people still send cards for the really important things (and even the not so important things). i mean, who doesn't like getting stuff in the mail that isn't a bill or someone wanting you to buy something?
here is my latest special commission. a set of twenty bachelorette party invitations. i wanted to make them cute and simple. the first thing that came to mind when i heard invitation was party invitations that you would get in the mail as a child for your classmate's birthday party. one-sided, fill-in-the-blank. just the facts. i think they turned out great.
happy celebrating!

what happened?

2010-03-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

i realized while riding the blue beast the other morning that my last blog post was about daylight savings time. we sprung forward a few weekends ago. my last post was about falling back. how appropriate that i write this post in a new time. a new spring. longer days. shorter nights.
my life has drastically shifted since last we spoke, dear reader. i was betrayed by one of my best friends. i was physically homeless but felt more at home than ever before with the love of close friends and family. a spare room here. a warm couch there. extra blankets, pillows and puppies to curl up with. it was a cold winter. days were short. nights were long. loads were heavy. my frame light. one would think those would be the best times for creative productivity and enlightenment. for me, it was a notebook full of one-liners, witty quips, evil ideas and rotten schemes, many of which i am unable to decipher months later staring at the scratches. and i'm disappointed in myself. but i realize it isn't the first time and it won't be the last.
i work now. i have a job. i have employers. i work hard. but apparently not hard enough. i have good days and bad days. my mind often wanders and wonders. i listen to the music of others while chopping, stirring, mixing and mashing and long to put down the knife and spoon and pick up the uke and tambo. music feeds me.
during the thick of it all back in november an old friend said to me, "it is a gift to feel." it's something that's stuck with me throughout my long winter of discontent. i realize no matter how bad it gets, no matter how many nights i wake and want to scream or cry or laugh maniacally at the madness of it all that it's better than not wanting to. for the first time in years i've felt. really felt. felt until it hurts. emotions that were years dormant surfaced. the hurt, the joy, the jealousy, the rage, the sadness, the hope. i continue to impress myself with my fortitude to take it all in.
last week at the chiropractor he said to me, "you're pretty tough, you know?" if only he knew, if only he knew.
here's to making art again, to making music again, to dancing again in those extra precious seconds of daylight.

attempting to transition gracefully

2009-11-09T17:17:00.000-08:00

it's daylight savings time again. i am still confused as to why we are all forced to set our clocks back an hour in the fall. seems to me like we should be setting them forward, no? here in portland it gets dark now by 5:00 in the evening. early evening. for the last week i have thought that it was 2:00 in the morning when it was only 9:00. i've been going to bed by 10:30 every night. my ninety-three year old grandmother stays up later than this to watch the eleven o'clock news. something has gone terribly awry. the time has come to conduct a sleep study in my own home. enough is enough.
cleasby did some research on the subject of daylight savings as of late and came up with the following excuse for depressing the hell out of people during the already bleak late fall and winter months. "modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson, whose shift-work job gave him leisure time to collect insects, and made him aware of the value of after-hours daylight." what?!?! we have to walk around in darkness for months because some dude wanted to collect bugs. that blows.
i've been trying to stay productive during the daylight hours. i went on a long walk today to the post office to mail off some music to friends and a card to a new customer. it brings me such joy to check my email and see that someone new has purchased something that i made. a stranger. a person i have never met. a person out there in internet land. i like to imagine what the person is like, where they live, what they might do with the card once they get it. it's fun.
i've been coming up with some great holiday card ideas lately. too many to count really. most of them are crass with foul language and not really the kind of thing that you would send to your family members. well, maybe. it depends. i hope to get some of them up for sale by the end of the week. baby steps. baby steps.
i'm including a view from my front door. it was taken last year about this time. sunsets here can be pretty great--i just wish they were happening a little later in the day. xoxox, corn

belated haunts

2009-11-05T17:35:00.000-08:00

this year's hunt for a pumpkin proved to be much more difficult than previous years. usually, in the past when i have wanted a pumpkin to carve i've gone out and gotten the perfect one. i've had so many to choose from that i usually ended up lining them up and doing a rating system until i finally had to just go with my gut and pick one. but this year.....totally different story. headed to the huge box down the street last friday night, sure to find one that was worth my time. no such luck. all sold out. what? sold out? so....called my brother the next day while he was shopping at another huge box and on his way to our apartment. asked him to just pick me up one that he thought looked good. preferably taller than wider i said. he showed up empty-handed. they were all sold out. huh? damnit. damnit. damnit.
i was told, "better luck next year" by my friends. i had simply waited too long this year. i let time slip away. and it's true. i usually get one earlier but for some reason i just thought that i could wait and be fine.
see, pumpkin carving is huge for me. it's a big event. i remember ever since i was a kid, before my mother would let me wield my own knife (these are pre-pumpkin carving kit days where you got a non-sharp-as-shit knife of your own to play with), i would plan out my intricate designs and draw them in pencil on the pumpkin's surface. my mother would then take my pumpkin and carve it for me. but she always messed it up. i was the discerning child screaming over her mother's shoulder screaming, "more to the right! no, the line goes the other way!" and, i would always hear that my design just didn't translate well to a gourd and i would be forced to just settle for something less intricate like flames instead of burning houses full of ghosts for the eyes. so when i was told "better luck next year" i couldn't stand for it. i went on a quest.
and.....it was fruitful! after another stop at another slightly smaller box down the street to come up empty-handed i landed in limbo, literally. and while they didn't have the large pumpkins that i was searching for, they had something that would have to do. it's the smallest pumpkin that i've ever carved which proved difficult for my original design that i had in mind (i will just have to wait for next year on that one). so i settled on jimmy stewart's silhouette from alfred hitchcock's vertigo and my friend made the suggestion to add the word HELL to the side to spice it up. i think it turned out pretty cool considering all of the last-minute running around. and the roasted pumpkin seeds were incredible! i'll just have to remember for next year to get out there early and find my perfect pumpkin. happy belated halloween! xoxox, alli

yummy comfort foods

2009-10-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

it's that time of year again. the rainy season has made its way to the pacific northwest and the drizzle has begun. this is the time of the year when i settle in right over the stove and hover around the oven to keep warm. it's my favorite time as it gives me an excuse to stay indoors, curl up on the couch with my knitting, and check the oven every five minutes to see if my cookies, casserole, muffins, etc. are finished.
this week i haven't been able to stay out of the kitchen. i started off strong with an incredible potato salad with eggs, cabbage, onions and creamy coleslaw dressing. i accompanied that with my mom's favorite comfort food: vegetable pot pie. only i went above and beyond my mother this time and made my own pie crusts. yesterday i made another round of alton brown's macaroni and cheese because i crave it like none other when it's cold and rainy outside. this morning i woke up early to make a delicious pasta sauce for tonight's all you can eat spaghetti night (every thursday). and tonight i plan to bake some halloween sugar cookies to prepare for this weekend's halloween festivities. i also have a vegetable dumpling stew in the works for tomorrow night and who knows what else is going on for this weekend in preparation for football on sunday. yes, we have officially entered the comfort food time of year and i couldn't be happier.
this week in the kitchen has been a complete turn-around from my stretch as a rock and roll star last weekend. i was asked to play tambourine on a few songs in my friend froggy's band last saturday night so last week i was busy with a lot of last minute rehearsals and basement sessions. it turned out great--no mess-ups and now that he's decided to live in portland full-time it looks like there's going to be a lot more shows in the future. so now i can add tambourine player to my list of crafty achievements. it was the first time i had ever played music on stage and i must admit i was scared stiff when i got up there but once the music got going and i got into it, it was awesome.
oh, and on tomorrow's agenda is my annual pumpkin carving. this year i've got a pretty intricate design planned so i'm eager to see how it's going to turn out. look for pictures tomorrow night!

treasures galore

2009-10-15T15:56:00.001-07:00

yes, i dropped the ball again but this time there are good excuses. last week i flew to indiana to assist my family in clearing out my grandmother's house that she had lived in for the last fifty years. built in the 1860s, the house is huge and old to say the least. nooks and crannies abound. cobwebs, cockroaches and mouse droppings were present.
it was an emotional time on all fronts--feelings of dread, excitement, crying, laughing, lots of hugs--but i'm incredibly thankful that i had time to help out my family during this transition. it's been rough on my mother and her brothers with my grandmother forced to leave behind almost everything she owns to move into an assisted living facility. it was well overdue seeing as she turned ninety-three last april and had been slipping and tripping, in every sense of the word, for the last few years. she's safer now and has people around to play cards and bingo with, talk about the good old days, and is served three square meals a day. she's gaining weight again and although she claims she is unhappy about living with "old ladies" and keeps asking when she can go back home, i think she's miles ahead from when she was living alone in her five bedroom, three story home.
it was bittersweet to say goodbye to her house. i love that big, old house--the way it smells when you walk in the front door, the creaky steps and floorboards, the calendar towels hanging on the kitchen wall with care. it was hard to throw away things that i'm sure were once cherished possessions, to place the items of worth in boxes for an auction house unsure of whose hands they will wind up in and what new lives they will lead. but i did manage to take some things that i will love for years to come and always remember my grandmother when i use or wear them--a coveted onyx diamond ring that i thought was so goth and fashion-forward when i was a kid, a pastry and cake decorating kit to assist in my cupcake making (now i can make frosting-infused cupcakes!), a bar set with vintage rocks glasses, and the best of all, an eighty-some piece fiesta dinnerware set that i hope to one day pass down again to a lucky niece or nephew of my choosing.
so needless to say, i've been through the ringer. but i'm back now. back to my computer. back to the normal ebb and flow of things. and, best of all, back to the gray drizzly portland weather. time to settle in at my craft table and work on some holiday cards. love, alli

a very sweet weekend, indeed

2009-10-05T23:14:00.000-07:00

this weekend was ridiculous. as expected, i got nothing from my serious to-do list completed, but i had a great time checking things off my fun, craft-related weekend to-do list. the cleasby and i supported our friends on friday night, drank beer, ate a ton of pizza, talked football, and then i proceeded to ride my bike home at midnight in the chilly autumn wind. it was a great weekend for bike riding in general. i love it as the seasons change and the atmosphere, seemingly overnight, becomes crip, cold and comforting simultaneously.
after friday night's craziness, i woke up early to start making three dozen gourmet cupcakes from my favorite cupcake recipe book vegan cupcakes take over the world for my friend keri's birthday bash. it was a great day in the kitchen. i think i was in what they call "the zone" because nothing else really mattered and somehow i managed to kill six hours in the kitchen in no time flat. i ended up making lemon, macadamia nut and white chocolate cupcakes with a lemon buttercream frosting, cookies and cream cupcakes with a cookie buttercream frosting and red velveteen cupcakes with an old fashioned pecan frosting. they were all incredible. and, as you can see, looked really fancy too. i do believe people were wowed. and i was just thankful to have an excuse to spend an entire saturday in the kitchen baking and tasting and tasting again. delicious!
sundays in the fall are reserved for football. being from indiana, i've got to support the colts and now that i live on the west coast there is some serious commitment involved in watching the games on certain sundays. this was one of them. if you're in indiana, the game starts at one o'clock in the afternoon. reasonable enough. if you're in oregon, the game starts at ten o'clock in the morning. this means getting up early enough so when you crack that first beer at ten it feels like you're cracking it at noon. it's rough, especially when you feel like you just finished drinking from the night before. but i think we're starting to figure out a system. sunday morning games now mean breaking out the jack lalanne power juicer and making a variety of wonderful concoctions with oranges, peaches, apples and, of course, vodka. my favorite this weekend was an incredible mixture of fresh rhubarb and strawberries mixed with vodka and served over ice. it took me back to those indiana summer days eating strawberry rhubarb pie at my grandma's house. it's my favorite pie but my mother can't stand rhubarb so i would only get it when one of my relatives felt pitty on me enough to make me one. but this was perfect because you got all the taste and none of the guilt of consuming tons of sugar, butter, and whatever else it takes to make one of those delicious pies.
i also did a bit of colts crafting this weekend too while the game was on. this week i made a blue doom crew sign to accompany the already amazing COLTS banner that has been hanging now for several weeks above my friend's television. it's a personal goal of mine to decorate their house in as many colts signs, banners, t-shirts and whatever else i can come up with for the rest of the season. go colts or go home! with love, alli

things get in the way

2009-10-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

so i know i've been super negligent here. i want to post something everyday on this blog. really i do. but things get in the way. like cravings for alton brown's macaroni and cheese, volunteering at the museum, rummaging through free boxes along my street, riding my bike, reading the new yorker, volunteering at portland bike fairs, thinking about painting our bedroom if i could only find the perfect shade of blue, and staying up late watching episodes of project runway online.
i think that my main problem is that i think about it too much. i want my posts to be something clever, something bigger than me. something that really makes a statement. i want to have something to say. and that's just the problem. i do. i have lots to say. i guess i just need some practice getting back into the habit of writing. and i'm new to this whole blog thing. putting myself out there on the internet for everyone to read. i think that i've become a bit sheltered in my own world, partly because i may be getting older, partly because i'm stuck in my head all day coming up with ideas for my next project to try and outdo my last. it could also partly be a byproduct of technically being unemployed for over a year in the worst economy since the great depression. so much, yet so little free time on my hands allows someone to over think every decision they make. my own theory, for what it's worth: i think the unemployed are becoming a bunch of OCD control freaks over their immediate futures. what to have for dinner, what to wear, which library to go to today, how much money to take out of the ATM, which ATM to go to, what to do between the hours of nine and eleven, what paper and stamps to buy, which printer to use, is chrome really better than firefox?, maybe i should rethink this furniture polish i use. i mean, the list is endless here.
but i'm doing what i love. this is it. time to seize dreams, dude. time to step up to the plate. time to start exercising again. and this is my chance to really make a go of this thing--what have you. i live to build, to create, to make shit with my hands, to take it all in. to provide others with stuff that makes me and makes them happy. isn't that what it's all about? connections. smiles. i think it's just hard to get out of that mindset, that midwest work ethic, the one that ever since we were children we were told that we can be whatever it is we want to be (as long as it requires dressing up and going into an office and checking things off someone else's to-do list and having dental insurance).
so i suppose i'm taking a new denis leary approach to my blog. call it raw, call it uncensored, call it craft and maker madness. maybe it chain smokes sometimes, throws caution to the wind. and i'm okay with it. with all of it. so no more excuses for not writing (or trying to write) everyday. because in reality, i could fill a universe with all the thoughts swimming in my head. here's to a do-over. here's to probably what i should have done to begin with. enough with the sentiments (okay, sometimes they are acceptable because i tend to cry at the drop of a hat now--here's the latest sob fest), but let's be real. because in reality that's what this whole craft/maker movement that i love so much and live for is all about. having real connections with people that make things we love. sharing common bonds. taking the bull by the horns and saying, enough is enough, i want to know the people behind these things i surround myself with that i love.
i went to the hoyt arboretum the other weekend. i'm sharing one of my photos that i took while i was there. this is a good do-over picture. tonight i have beer and pizza in my future. tomorrow vegan gourmet cupcake baking and birthday parties and sunday, well, sunday is off because of football. but monday, you can rest assured i'll have something to say. with love, alli

special projects and commissions

2009-09-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

what a week! i had an incredible time last weekend at the belmont street fair. my cards got a very warm reception from the crowd. it was great to interact with people that stopped by the booth, to see what people liked and what they ended up feeling they couldn't live without. and, of course, it was just fun to sit outside and chat with my friends heather and dave all day about craft projects, business ideas, beer and all of the other important issues of the day. i think we all kind of felt like those old men that sit outside on their porch all afternoon talking shop and watching the mothers, babies and dogs go past. we kept joking that street fairs are a great venue for dog shopping. indeed!
after the fair i made a mental list of things that i could do better for the next time that i sell outdoors. i'm not completely sold on my current display board, seeing as most of it was salvaged from the trash, and would like to rethink how my cards are arranged and allow people to get up closer and really see all of the craftsmanship involved. overall, it was a great experience and i'm looking forward to doing it again soon.
since the fair i have posted new items to my etsy page, filled a few online orders, and worked on several special commissions. today i finished a birthday card for a wine lover. it was my first tri-fold card and i'm pleased with how it turned out. it was a great lesson for me to learn how to fill up a lot more surface area than i'm used to. i'm hoping that the lucky birthday girl enjoys it. earlier this week i worked on a special commission for a philadelphia eagles fan and another one for poker invitations that will be auctioned off at the art on the avenue celebration in logansport, indiana (my home town) tomorrow afternoon. busy, busy, busy. i'm looking forward to a productive weekend in my studio and online. more to come soon. love, alli

baby's first street fair

2009-09-12T00:56:00.000-07:00

i'm up late this evening finishing up all of the last-minute details to my display for the belmont street fair. i'm really excited (and a bit nervous) for tomorrow. i've been preparing pretty much non-stop for the last three weeks--sketching, photographing, brainstorming, running errands to pick up more supplies, creating tons of new inventory and formulating and re-formulating my display configuration in my head and on the table in my studio. i can't even escape the work in my dreams (although my dreams have ended up sometimes being fodder for great design material).
mainly, i have so many questions that i'm hoping will get answered tomorrow after i have my first fair under my belt. i wonder....did i make too much inventory? did i not make enough? will my display hold up outside all day when it's supposed to be sunny and 90 degrees? what will people be most interested in? what designs will catch their eye?
i am happy with how things have all turned out and feel i've made a wide variety of materials to show--simple shape designs, portland-themed cards, a series dealing with the onset of autumn and a few other cards here and there to round it out. as much as i would like to divulge all of the new designs, i can't quite yet. i want see how it goes tomorrow but i am including two of my cards from my PDX series. i know it's stuff that only portlanders would really get but i couldn't resist with it being a portland street fair and all. i'm really excited to see people's faces when they see these and get the joke.
overall, i'm looking forward to a great day hanging out with my fellow-crafter, heather from crafty smackdown and talking shop and working on my farmer's tan. i think it's going to be lots of fun. good night, world.

new lessons

2009-08-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

i want to share a recent commission that i did for an old friend.
having just moved into a new apartment, he wanted my assistance in filling up his bare walls with original artwork. visions of a large-scale canvas surfaced.
canvas?! but i work on paper?! small paper?!? yikes.
but i was totally up for the challenge. i think that when opportunities present themselves for to go outside your comfort zone, you gotta take them. this was one artistic challenge that i could not pass up.
i was eager to get started on the work right away. i knew it was going to take some time to figure out how to attach large blocks of paper to a canvas without causing air bubbles to surface. i solicited advice from painter friends, other artists, blogs, and of course, my mom. but in the end it all amounted to trial and error. many paper birds died for the cause. but eventually, it came down to one simple factor: thickness of paper. i found that lighter weight paper tended to bubble when mixed with the matte glue sealer that i applied to both sides. so it came down to using paper that was almost the thickness of standard poster board that worked perfectly. that, and applying the sealer in several thin layers as opposed to one thick layer.
of course, my trial and error allowed me to go shopping at one of my favorite stores, paper zone. they have, by far, one of the best selections of specialty paper in the portland area. i could spend days in this place. i'm always inspired when i peruse the paper and supplies here.
i was super happy with how my first large-scale commission turned out. my friend took a photo of it hanging on his wall and it looks beautiful! completing this piece has inspired me to definitely do more work on canvas in the future now that i have my method down. thanks for the challenge, jeremy!

ode to my portfolio

2009-08-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

i love my portfolio. i was reminded of its greatness again today.
walking through downtown portland with my gigantic portfolio in tow, i was a force to be reckoned with--people moved alongside to let the portfolio pass, greenpeace workers who usually flag me down with waving arms and hands stepped aside to let me pass peacefully (probably realizing that as a starving artist i couldn't afford to donate to their cause anyway, even though i would like to).
this portfolio has been with me since 2001, when my mother custom-made it for me while i was taking a drawing class in college. i hated all of the plain portfolios i kept seeing in the art supply stores and felt they were far too expensive for me. the paper ones didn't stand a chance to last more than a week with the way i threw them around.
as you can see, my portfolio is rather large. i mean, it's huge really. throughout the years i have been stopped by other artists asking me where they can get one and how much i paid for such an incredible product. they are always disheartened when i tell them it's the only one out there like it--a mom original.
i've used it countless times throughout the years. it's perfect for moving, storing out of season clothes and blankets, sleeping in and taking naps on, hiding all of the mess on the tables of my studio before last-minute company arrives, and, of course, transporting pieces across town. and last month, when my friend froggy and i participated in the last thursday arts festival on alberta street, the portfolio saved our lives while transporting all of our PARTYCORN to sell to hungry festival goers.
oh portfolio, i love thee, let me count the ways....

the roots of creation

2009-08-03T18:12:00.000-07:00

ever since i was a wee one i have loved to create with paper. i have been thinking about my connection to the medium lately and where it all started. why paper? i dug into my memory and realized that it must have surfaced at a very young age because of my mother's profession as a third grade teacher.
growing up we always had fun stuff to create with in our house, namely construction paper, school glue, scissors, crayons, colored pencils and markers. sometimes mom would bring home the leftover scraps of construction paper from a craft project her class made for mother's day, halloween, or the winter holidays. i loved those days. it brought me immense joy to plop myself down on the floor in front of the colored paper, crayons and glitter and see what i could come up with.
one special project that usually resulted was the monthly "bulletin board." my brother and i would create these elaborate scenes on the back window of our house, depicting the months of the year--rain in april, flowers in may, leaves in september and pumpkins in october. we would stand with pride in the backyard admiring our work. oh, they were beautiful.
i suppose i never really wanted to progress from my medium. i knew what i liked. sure i've worked with clay and paint and wood throughout the years but there's something so honest and simple about using the the limited resources of paper, glue and scissors to create something. and even though i no longer have a window suitable for a monthly bulletin board i think i'm still creating miniature versions of them everyday when i sit down in my studio to work.
so i am dedicating this post to my brother. even though he teased me a whole lot when we were kids (see photo!) he was my partner in creative crime. love you, andy!

sssshhh...it's silent

2009-07-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

last weekend i participated in the american cancer society's relay for life silent auction. local crafters and other businesses donated their art and goods to help raise money for the cause. i was really happy to be a part of the weekend's festivities. it was a hectic few days beforehand finishing up all of my business cards, fashioning a cute display that would hopefully withstand the elements, and pulling it all together with my cards. in the end, i was super excited when it all came together and my friends katie and justin came by saturday morning to take it off my hands. katie informed me that it sold so i hope whoever has it out there in the world is enjoying it and sending cards to all of their long-lost friends and loved ones.
i've also been burning the midnight oil trying to get everything posted up on my etsy site. it's all coming together--photos, descriptions, policies--so swing by and check it out and see what i've been up to if you have a minute. of course all of this work has been in the midst of an insane heat wave. yesterday tony and i couldn't take the heat and headed to creston pool to soak up some rays and take a dip in the pool. aside from being jumped on, ran into, and swam into by countless children, it was a great time. there's nothing that says summer more than your neighborhood community pool. happy summer! love, alli

gray vs. green

2009-05-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

today's weather has definitely triggered my creativity. i am discovering springtime in portland brings with it heavier rains than the usual winter drizzle. but the heavy spells of rain are followed by spreads of intense, beautiful sunshine. i've enjoyed watching the sky change color, turning from gray to blue to cirillion to white and back to gray--acting as an incredible backdrop to the most intense green hues. i love watching these huge trees sway in the breeze, bathed in sunshine. it's really spectacular and makes me feel blessed to live in this city like no other. so here's to spring rain and all of the beauty it brings. --alli

hello world, it's me, alli.

2009-04-24T12:46:00.000-07:00

welcome to what have you. i'm hoping this blog will act as my way station for ideas, inspiration and exploring my craft process. i love to make things, mainly with paper, but i tend to be non-discriminatory in the craft world and have been known to sometimes explore the possibilities that come from utilizing yarn, fabric, wood, my neighbor's dumpster, and nature, amongst others. i love nothing more than wandering my beautiful portland neighborhood and capturing sights, smells, and sounds and then returning to my apartment to sit in my light-filled craft corner and creating. that said, check back often to help me explore ideas for new projects. i love collaboration.

and because inspiration doesn't happen in a vacuum, i'm posting a few photos of my workstation for you. i am quite pleased with how clean it looks in these photos. believe me, it's not always this clean so i must relish in these few precious moments of order. with love, alli