SO MANY TIMES in the last few weeks I've started to write a new post and then...major distractions.  Much to tell.

The new year's cleaning whirlwind started in my studio, and I haven't stopped since.  Every room of the house has been torn apart, scrubbed and vacuumed, then put back together.  During all this commotion, I came to the realization that I was pretty darn tired of the everyday decorations I was putting out after the Christmas stuff was gone.  Rather than buy all new stuff, I shopped the rest of my house for doodads and artwork.  Funny how things can look new and fresh in a different room, in a different arrangement.  All this cleaning and organizing has taken me away from the studio for longer than I'd like, but it's something that really needed to be done.  I did take a time-out one evening to make this:

I bought the wooden frame at Goodwill, it was on sale for 99 cents!  I just sanded the edges a bit in some places.  The  postcard in the background was sent from my great-grandpa to my great-grandma in 1910, when they were dating.  I covered the matte with an old recipe for Piccalilly, which was hand-written by my great-grandma.  The lock and key were from a box of old rusty things that was in my grandma's attic.  I didn't have a plan when I started this - I was just so happy to not be cleaning!  It was a  quick project that put a little pep back into by step.

I've been expanding my photography skills, and recently shot a family portrait session.  We have an old run-down barn adjacent to our property, that's where we started the session.  It was a brutally cold day with temps barely in the teens.  We had to pose and snap quickly, then bundle back up!  At the time it may have seemed easier to shoot indoors in a studio environment, with manipulated lighting and backgrounds, but I'm not so interested in that.  It's much more exciting and unpredictable to be outside in the elements, using the light that nature provides.

Perhaps you've heard about our Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in the news over the last year or so? He made an appearance at the snowmobile races in Eagle River a couple weeks ago, and I got to meet him.  Definitely a highlight of my year so far...

I love making these fleece hats and have made a ton of them in the last two years...no two are exactly alike!  This week I shipped out two hats.  Thinking I may just need to make myself one of these red ones too...

All wrapped up and ready to be mailed, this hat is black with gray and black flowers, and is a surprise gift from one sister to another.  Apparently the one sister only wears a baseball cap, and the other sister thinks she needs to step up her style a bit!  Too funny.

A dear friend gave me some of her old buttons, so I made her this keepsake box using almost all vintage materials, including some of her buttons.  I mailed it today.  Hope she likes it!

Here's my friend Sarah during an impromptu photo shoot at my house one snowy weekend day.  Sarah is a part-time model (can't you tell?!) and is always game for picture taking.  We had been waiting for enough snow to take this "snow kiss" shot, and what a fantastic bonus that this day also gave us a gorgeous sunset for a background.

One thing I love about photography is that it gives me little spurts of instant artsy gratification during times like these, when life pulls me in lots of different directions and I can't spend all day in the studio like I want to.

A couple weeks ago I dropped off my camera for a cleaning and (long story short) ended up with a brand new free upgraded camera.  I was over-the-moon excited about this, and poor Pompeii had to listen to me go on and on about it.  So she got to be in the very first picture I took with my new camera.  I fancied it up a bit, but here she is, listening...

I've been working on my health and fitness these days and have once again boarded the exercise train, after a half-year hiatus.  It's very easy for me to find excuses not to work out, but last week in the gym I witnessed a lady doing squats while rocking a baby stroller with one hand, then later nursing the baby in the lounge.  I think of her when I think I have an excuse not to work out.  She has fortitude!  

We have some nasty winter weather coming our way in the next couple of days.  Looking forward to being snowed in, hopefully in the studio with a paintbrush in my hand.