She Dreams In Digital

October, 2009

Sya — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:59:07 -0500

It's late, I know. Part of my mess from October remains scattered on my desk.

September, 2009

Sya — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:51:02 -0400

Old habits die hard. I should really be ashamed of this mess but ta'hell with it. If Slinky's cool with it, I am too.

August, 2009

Sya — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:41:27 -0400

August's messy desk pic. Two days late. And dark.

July, 2009

Sya — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:28:37 -0400

Michael bought that mug for me at a bookstore :) This is part of July's messy mess.

June, 2009

Sya — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:06:51 -0400

New city, new house, new desk, and though the rest of the house is in a state of chaos, my desk is cleaner than it's ever been. Not sure if it will stay here quite yet, but I had to set up my workstation. I may set up another desk upstairs for creative purposes... stay tuned.

May, 2009

Sya — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:23:37 -0400

This is the mess I made in the latter part of May... wooden magnets with swirly metallic patterns.

April, 2009

Sya — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:40:49 -0400

I have been a messy slob this month.

March, 2009

Sya — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:48:05 -0400

Been so so busy this month... my office is in the middle of being packed, but my obsession with monster making has me digging through packed bags of fabric and supplies constantly.

This little fellow is nearly finished, just have to stitch up his stuffing hole.

February, 2009

Sya — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:34:43 -0500

We're moving! Packing this office is going to be a lot of fun!
Making progress though... I haven't done anything exceptionally creative this month, but my desk is still pretty messy, as usual.

January, 2009

Sya — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:46:29 -0500

I took this messy desk pic with my new phone camera.

Here are two projects I've been working on - a little bit of January's mess.

December, 2008

Sya — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:58:32 -0500

This is part of December's mess. I'm too ashamed to show my actual desk. So here's my bulletin board instead, a collection of stuff I just can't part with which was updated this month with the addition of some artwork by our lovely friend, Sheila.

I wish I had more time to tell you all about my awesome month, but alas, it's a work day and I'm already a couple days late posting this... more to come!

November, 2008

Sya — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:28:38 -0500

So this is what I've been doing during the month of November. I hand-stitched 15 of these little monsters, all different shapes and sizes. My kids have enjoyed making them too. It's a fun way to teach the basics of sewing and spend some quality time together at the same time. I hope to sell at least a few of them at the Art Boutique and Holiday Fiesta in a couple weeks.

It's been an interesting month to say the least. I've been busy as hell.

So what's happening? What's been on my brain?

Training a new guy at work. Meetings. Lot's of meetings and conference calls. The Butterscotch launch. Videos. I've been making a lot of videos for the new site. Still doing reviews for Tucows and other fun behind-the-scenes-stuff too.

Also, my mother came to visit. She hasn't been welcome in my house since she caused a scene about 2 years ago. Needless to say, it didn't go well. C'est la vie.

To counter the neg, we met up with some new friends for a night of dancing at a 007 party in Ann Arbor at The Blind Pig. Fun times.

It's official, my artwork is going to be on the cover of a book - for now the details are top secret... I'll let you know more when it's released.

My oldest daughter turned 15 this month. We took her and some friends to the roller rink where we ran into an old friend out in the parking lot as we were leaving. He told us a story we've been hearing a lot these days. They've been hit hard by the economy too — both he and his wife have been back and forth between employment and unemployment, can't seem to get caught up on their bills so they are behind on the mortgage, probably going to lose their house. It's hard times for us here in mid-Michigan.

They are tearing down Delphi/AC Delco which is a good thing because we don't want the place being left to rot, but is still very sad to see this culmination of an industrial and prosperous era.

Taught my parrot to say peek-a-boo!

Made some apple pies for Thanksgiving... thinking I should make some more with all those apples I bought!

Sick, sick and more sick. Varying degrees of sick, actually. Started out as a nasty feverish sick that mutated into the dreaded nose and throat sludge sick. It's going around. You wouldn't want to kiss me right about now even if you could get over how disgustingly congested I sound.

I am afraid I might be turning into a compulsive hand-washer. I'm even carrying liquid hand sanitizer around in my purse these days... tis the season I guess. Michigan winters suck. Don't let me forget to put hand lotion on the grocery list.

October, 2008

Sya — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:42:49 -0500

OK. So that whole bit about keeping my desk clean didn't last long.

Blah. Here's the mess I made in October.

Where's Syd? He's on the floor beside my desk under ye olde Cork Board of Interestingness.

We're training him not to bite or be cage aggressive, so I placed him in a spot that is central to the goings-on of the house instead of on top of my desk. I liked having him up there, but the mess was a bit much to handle and he was quite distracting. Now I leave a ladder on his cage and he can come see me whenever he wants. We've created a larger play area out of a nylon cage a friend of ours brought over in our living room so he can fly around and take a bath. His quarters a little cramped so I'm looking for a larger home. He climbs off his cage and walks around on the floor. I have been hiding Cheerios around my desk and he's pretty good at finding them.

He says, "Nope-nope-nope-nope-nope" — something I've been saying to keep him from climbing up on my shoulder. He's not allowed up there until he quits biting people. With some clicker training and praise, Mike can get a little closer now without Syd spazzing out and lunging to bite. We're still working on this but I am hoping he'll get over it sooner than later.

He's pretty much nailed the intro to the Imperial March. I've got to catch him doing it on video!

September, 2008

Sya — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:58:47 -0400

So here's my desk. Yup. I done cleaned it off and resolved to keep it clean... yeah, you heard me.

There's Syd Parrot, hanging out up there. This bird is the coolest damn bird. He whistles, he meows, he laughs he chatters. Little guy can blow raspberries, give kisses and he mimics kissy sounds superbly. He says a few things like pretty bird, here kitty kitty, birdy birdy birdy, and thank you... he's effin adorable!

He likes to pluck hair and eat it. He's done this to every person who has held him since he's come to stay with us. He liked eating the Pink Floyd poster too. I saw him eyeballing it a few times. He just couldn't resist, he leaned over plucked the tack right out of the wall. I made him give it back and told him no. Later, he edged back there and gave a little nibble. I said "no no" and he walked away, never went back to it. I also moved his cage around so it would be harder for him to get to it.

I've found out he loves kiwi seeds, cheerios, apples, crackers, and zucchini. Doesn't seem to like peanuts, sunflower seeds, pecans or almonds. Indifferent toward raisins. I gave him a little piece off the top of my sesame seed bun and he went crazy over it! I'm trying to get him to say,"om nom nom" OMG that would be legendary!

I know you're still over there laughing about my promise to keep my desk clean.

August, 2008

Sya — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:57:52 -0400

This is part of the mess I made in August.

For some reason, whenever I post these, I feel this inexplicable urge to mention that the rest of my house is pretty damned clean! I spend a lot of time in this little room. It's high up there on the list of my most favorite places to be.

July, 2008

Sya — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 08:45:33 -0400

Just part of the nasty ugly mess I made on my desk in July. I suck at posting these on time, don't I.

Ah, shutupayerface.

Craptacular soundcard is crap.

June, 2008

Sya — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:12:09 -0400

My current doodling project... I'm inking the sleeves on a suede jacket.

Welcome to my messy desk. Stacks of paint, old piles of clay, my water jug, and a mug full of pens and brushes among other misc. crap. OK, it's not really crap. I couldn't part with any of this stuff if it ever came right down to it. Don't you take away my crap. My crap!

Also, my gardening book is peaking out in the right corner. I decided to give vegetable gardening another shot since I'm appalled by how prices keep going up thanks to the hike in minimum wage. So I'm attempting to grow broccoli, chives, zucchini, cucumbers, watermelon, tomatoes and strawberries... oh and rosemary, but I might have messed up the rosemary when I forgot and planted the zucchini in the same place... fudge! I have also planted some lily of the valley and wild ornamental grasses along the fence. I have a couple of flower beds too, with roses, miniature roses,catnip, lambs ear, wormwood, yellow archangel and sea stars to name a few. I'm really hoping I can grow my own veggies though. I haven't tried since I was a kid. The worst that can happen is I end up with a pile of dirt, right?

May, 2008

Sya — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:17:38 -0400

May's Mess.

I'm almost finished with the painting.

This easel pissed me off numerous times because it's not big enough to hold the canvas properly so whenever I go to press down with the brush, I had to make sure I had a hold of the canvas with my other hand so it didn't wobble. Arrgh, frustrated the heck out of me! So I took the money I made selling those mini Flying Spaghetti Monsters and bought a new easel on Ebay. I was putting off finishing the piece until it arrived but then when it came and we unpacked it, we found the base was broken in a couple places. I wrote the seller and he is sending a replacement, luckily, and to his credit. However, I didn't want to put it off any longer. I'm hoping it will be a piece that sells later this month at the Ren Fest.

April, 2008

Sya — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:05:40 -0400

Making progress, not quite ready to show the rest yet... coming soon, though. I worked on a couple other projects this month so it's coming along. Abstract work sooths me - had a lot on my mind these days so I keep going back to that when I have spare time.

This mess, I'm embarrassed to say, is actually cleaner than it was last night. I lost a particular pencil that caused me to have to *gasp* put things from prior projects awayyyyyy. Finally, I found it, mixed in with paint brushes of the same color. The pencils are for another project, the painting is acrylic.

My sister came by yesterday and stole a painting I thought was crap and had tossed in the trash. It had been in there for a few days. Ew! It's so sweet that she took it though, isn't it? But I made her give it back so I could write "experimental" on the back of it. It really wasn't anything worth keeping. No really, I thought it was crap. She gave me a rubik's cube key chain! My sister is awesome. Her sarcastic wit always makes me laugh.

Happy Monkey says, "HELLLOOOOOOOooooo!"

March, 2008

Sya — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:30:45 -0400

Sometimes, when I am lost in my painting, I mistakingly drop the dirty brushes into my drinking glass.

This photo is for Michael, who seems to have a fascination with the way my art progresses over time.

Yep. Drag'd the little fellas out of the corner and started working on them again. Finished the little dragon's talons and scaled up to it's shoulders. Added new arms to the bigger guy, got them attached properly now too using an improved wire support. Working on the wings... it's coming along!

February, 2008

Sya — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:46:32 -0500

This is February. It came in like a lion and went out like a rhinoceros on speed. My husband and I have both been recovering from surgery this week, his back, my front. That's why this messy desk post is a tad late. Today was my first day back to work and I took a break to enjoy an orange, one of the finest things in life.

It felt good to be back at the keys today.

January, 2008

Sya — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:22:28 -0500

This is my January mess.

The art in progress was a flop. Again. At least I'll know better next time, but still, it sucks to have put forth effort trying to make the same concept work twice and having crash and burn both times. Meh.

The pimp cup is actually a toy trophy that my grandmother bought at a yard sale when we were just little tots. It was one of my favorite toys at her house because my cousins, siblings and I made it official - whoever drank from our beloved pimp cup was royalty. My grandparents gave it to me when they moved to Florida earlier this year.

Royalty baby... Queen Sya. Hellzyes.

December, 2007

Sya — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:42:41 -0500

Filling more orders for these mini Flying Spaghetti Monsters... Oops, one has lopsided meatballs. This post marks the two year mark of this monthly messy desk pic project.

This has been a prolific month for me. Here's a picture of the next big project I'm working on and my dear old cat.

November, 2007

Sya — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 15:18:23 -0500

Finished the first half of the polymer clay on canvas self-portrait experiment (even though my cart stepped on it)... Hey Dan, thanks for shooting the pose! How you like it so far?

Still working on making up a bunch of flying spaghetti monsters for some peeps. You want one?

October, 2007

Sya — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:38:30 -0400

Still workin' on it... This is just part of a bigger project, but this part is taking forever. Anyway, this is the mess I've had on my desk for over a month now. You can still see some of the waste-clay base showing through, but soon, the whole canvas will be covered with cane shapes (except for the black silhouette).

September, 2007

Sya — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 21:30:29 -0400

This is the fun experimental project I started working on the last part of September. My desk was clean before this project started. I kinda had to clean it in order to work here.

Sometimes I wish I had studio space.

August, 2007

Sya — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:38:31 -0400

I'm noticing a trend... I've been posting these pics later and later into the next month. Gah. This month, there's a reason though. Hubby and I spent the long Labor Day weekend out of town and I'm just now settled back in and catching up.

I'm slowly digging through the ever growing pile that collects here...Who am I kidding. Half that shit hasn't moved in months.

July, 2007

Sya — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 20:15:34 -0400

Bet you didn't know I also make funky beaded bookmarks! Those are getting ready to be posted on Etsy tomorrow... I hope.

I took the week off. I've been cleaning and scrubbing. And sorting and moving and junking and rearranging. Snapping photos of this and that. Here's July's mess. Gah!

June, 2007

Sya — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 23:10:46 -0400

Here is my messy corner! This is the fine mess that was left at the end of June.

Yeah yeah, it's a couple days late, but trust me, the view hasn't changed much since Saturday. That's when I painted my nails, and there the polish still sits. I'm not a slob in other areas of my house, my husband can testify!! Hey, it's not a mess, IT'S ORGANIZED CHAOS! I know right where everything is!

Let's make a Where's-Waldo-ish game of it, shall we? See if you can find these items:

Friendly Yellow Monkey
Ninja
Strawberry Shortcake
"Turd-le" sculpture my daughter made in 1st grade

Next month, maybe I'll mix things up a bit. I'm getting bored of my current desk mess.

May, 2007

Sya — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:07:05 -0400

May's mess. I'm getting too ashamed to post pictures of the poor neglected half-finished dragon sitting back there on my desk with his happy pleading eyes anymore. After all, it's been an entire year since he first started appearing in my messy desk pics. Meh, so I cropped him out.

Here's an ink drawing I've been working on in the mean time while I passively wait for the inspiration to finish him.

I'll get to it when I get to it.