Rosco's First Guest Blogging Adventure

Last week one of my new Twitter pals, Nicole {@lovelygirl}, asked if I would consider doing a guest post for her blog.  She also asked one of my favorite longtime Twitter pals Samantha {@SSVintage}.  We wondered that to write about.  We quickly settled on the topic of cats.  Mine would be from a West Coast perspective, and Samantha's would be East Coast.

I was feeling a little overwhelmed as the weekend approached so I asked Rosco to please write the post. After all, it was going to be about him.  He obliged, but strayed from the West Coast perspective that was originally planned. Cats... there just ain't no telling 'em what to do.

Head on over to Nicole's blog, The Assorted Thoughts of a Scatter-Brain to read Mister Coltrane's very first guest post. There are a couple of photos... and frankly more writing than we thought he could muster on a lazy holiday weekend.  And be sure to tune in later today for Samantha's post on her amazing feline menagerie.  (and check out Samantha's pretty blog)

{ composed with my New Fave iPhone Photo App, PhotoShake }

What are you guys up to on this Chocolatey Holiday weekend?

❤
-t

A Giveaway... Yonder

The über sweet header for Restless Hearts Yonder blog

If you were one of the many people grooving on my new Hip-to-be-Square Journals that 

I announced here last week, then you are in luck!   

The lovely ladies over at the very lovely blog, Yonder are hosting a Giveaway for one of these mighty fine new journals! See the bottom of this post for the link to the giveaway and to read an awesome interview with yours truly.  

(They really wanted to interview Rosco, but he was being a jerk shy.) 

Julie (one half of Yonder) is a great interviewer and asked me a few warm up questions that weren't intended to appear in the posted interview.  However, these questions really got me thinking... about things that I guess I hadn't really thought about recently.  I am very grateful for the inner dialogue that they prompted, and for the clarity that they brought me about my crafty background and influences.  I wanted to share them with you here::

1. (this one won't go in the interview but will serve as a little background for our readers) How did you get into sewing/crafting? Give us a little history of your involvement in art. Did you go to school? What are your main influences, etc.  

• I have been crafty since I was a little kiddo. In the toy store, I didn't give a hoot about dolls, tea sets, or stuffed animals, I'd make a beeline for either the craft or board-game aisle. I actually began sewing paper long before I ever stitched into fabric. I used to tear pictures from magazines and phone books to sew them onto pieces of cardboard (usually the inside of cereal boxes). Another crafty childhood hi jinx was to melt crayon shavings between wax paper. Oh, and decoupaging everything in sight.  
• I had a lapse in hands-on craftiness during my teenage years, during the 80's DIY wasn't cool. Instead I delved into theater arts & starred in every school play. It wasn't until my late 20's that I began crafting and creating art obsessively again. I took sewing lessons, taught myself how to knit, and eventually ended up in school to study fashion design. I didn't even finish one complete quarter before I realized I hated it. I immediately switched to interior design and loved it. I dabbled in that field for awhile... but ultimately realized that I just wanted to create objects, art, tactile things that could be passed from one person to another.  
• Influences... being a little kid in the 70's I was heavily influenced by bright colors and bold graphic design. I recall being aware of it everywhere I went. Walking through the aisles of a grocery store as a kid was a wonderland, the packing and logos were candy for my eyeballs. Advertisements, television shows, cartoons, movies, clothing, amusement parks.... everything was so tactile and vibrant and it made a very lasting impression on me.      

To Win a Hip-to-be-Square Journal of your choice, read the rest of this interview, and see some photos of my workspace...  Head Yonder! 

I'd love it if you came back here and told me what you thought!  

❤

-t