I have been away from blogland for most of the last six weeks. I have been culling my misfit collection of worldly goods into a more manageable size in various ways and otherwise reorganising my life and my art stash. I have missed my art and each of my bloggy friends tremendously, but it had to been done. Now that it is almost completed, I am anxious to get back to Bloglandia and art. Greetings to all of you! And thanks for taking the time to read my blog and leave a comment. Please know that I appreciate you all, whether you leave a comment or not, and that I am grateful for each and everyone of you.
One of my favorite television shows is the NBC comedy Earl. If you are not a televisionphile like me, Earl was a not so good guy, who one day had a blinding revelation that he was affecting his own current luck with his past bad deeds. In episode one, a down on his luck Earl buys a winning lottery ticket only to have the ticket blow out of his hand when he is hit by a car while celebrating his good fortune. During his hospital recovery, Earl sees a show where Carson Daly attributes his success to doing good for others. Earl makes a pack with Karma to right every wrong he has ever done and the winning lottery ticket is accidentally returned to Earl when the wind blows it back to him. This is the only evidence Earl needs to become convinced that he is on the right track. All the following episodes are comedic versions of Earl uneasy dance with "Karma". As Earl so succinctly puts it, "I don't make the rules!
This weeks during my stash purging days, I collected a bag of stuff and forced it on my friend Pat earlier this week. Pat is a sometime crafter/artisan who has been having a great time in the last year crafting with her little great niece. I saved things I thought she and the niece could use together and insisted that she take the offering. I included crepe paper, stickers, ribbons, flowers, etc. that I thought would be useful in crafting with a pre-schooler.
Yesterday I found myself in the vicinity of one of my favorite antique malls (for the first time in months) and I dashed in to see if there was anything new I couldn't live without. One of the clerks said that she had been saving something to give to me - if I wanted it - from her booth. What was it? The red basket above and its contents! I've also included a closeup of some of the items. How generous was this gift? Just the kinds of things I love to buy myself when I go there.
When I was telling my friend Pat about it it last night at Starbucks, she said: "Isn't that funny? You gave me that big bag of things this week and now you get this unexpected windfall of vintage supplies. Hmm....I was reminded of Earl and his continuing uneasy dance with Karma.
Were my free supplies some Karmic reward???? I don't know. It would be really nice to think it works that way, but I would like to think it does, but I don't really know. After all, I don't make the rules.
Some months ago I signed up to participate in a round robin of scrap crows. You can read about it here and here and here and here. Please meet Mr. Eye Ching Crow who was returned safely home to Terry this week. Mr. Eye Ching Crow (yes, as the artist describes in the accompanying booklet) is a play on words. He left home with an acrylic eye made from a symbol and all his other accouterments he had added by other artists along the way. Various artists who worked on him added the feet, 2 reflecting buttons, a calligraphy nib, some yard and beads, some coins, and some papers for a coat. He arrived at my place in such splendor that I had a hard time thinking of anything to added that would not distract from his magnificence. In the end, I added some black velvet and black satin feathers from an old vintage hat I de-constructed. I added pure silver ground glass to the edge of all four wings and sent him along his way. 
Here is Mr. Crow from the back. Isn't he fabulous????
