I took this at the trade show I attended this week. The booth belonged to a major company, and clearly a lot of money had been spent on it.

Last night was once again craft night at Casa Granade. We had a small turnout but that allowed us to really spread out and work and chat.

I am excited to say that Craft Night is becoming all that I dreamed for it to be. Everybody is working on different kinds of projects but it works out well that we can all see what the others are doing and offer suggestions and advice.

While I was in college the best, and hardest, part of my design classes was student critique. When we first started I was devastated by every negative word. As the classes passed and we learned how to critique courteously and make suggestions on how to improve each piece, the process became an incredibly valuable tool to me. While it was rare for me to produce something that people liked on the first draft, I learned to take the criticism (a bit better but never well) and improve my work.

I’ve been missing that community for a lot of years now and didn’t even realize that was what was missing from my creative life. Craft Night is my attempt to recreate that not just for me, but for the other women who are working on projects and trying to figure out how to make them better. Tuesday night is a time when we can come together and laugh and talk and work on our respective projects and do some constructive critique as needed. And eat, because everything (even critique) is better with chocolate.

I was showing my latest project (a collaged art journal) to Ashley last night and she said one of the nicest things I’ve heard in a long time.

“I wish I saw the world the way you do. I think what you see is a much nicer world than what I see.”

I don’t know if that is true or not. Mostly I just like to play and I am fortunate enough to get to play pretty much every day. Craft night is the way I get to play and have community with my friends while doing it.

These are the daily new confirmed cases of H1N1 as reported by the World Health Organization in their situation updates versus Google’s search volume for H1N1 or swine flu.

A week or so ago we went to a bluegrass music festival here in town. We ended up leaving early because the kids were crazed but the pictures I snatched before we left look like we are having an awesome time.

The best photo of Will and Luke I’ve taken by like 1000%.

Thursday I had Emily for a few hours because of swine flu school closings. The girls had a blast.

Friday we were making up anything we could to fill up a few hours.

Did I mention that by Saturday we’d run out of things to do inside the house?

Yes, Eli’s toes are painted blue. He wanted to and hey, at least I used a boy color.

Vampires and werewolves tell Bella how astoundingly special she is, and Bella in turn faints a lot.

Mind you, I’ve still got a giant chunk of the last novel to go through, and the series as a whole has an OH JOHN RINGO NO vibe that’s only getting worse. We’ll see how I feel at the end.

Saturday night I had the privilege to see a house concert. Geof hosted Eric Peters at his condo clubhouse and the audience consisted of me and six other people. And Eric. Eric playing some really amazing music.

I don’t know if the concert would have been as amazing with any other singer. Would I have been as moved if it had been anybody else? Would I have connected to the songs in the same way if someone else had been singing? And I think the answer is no. The music was amazing and his singing even more so. He’s one of those rare people who actually sound better in person than on a record. And he truly has a gift for storytelling.

I enjoyed myself tremendously and can’t wait for August when he’s playing here in town again.

Geof got this great photo of Eric and the small group.

If you’re like me — and I know you are — then you like things that are awesome. And have I got something awesome for you!

Solomon Stone! He’s a half-vampire private eye who’s also a skateboard champ, and he’s so amazing that he has three fists of justice, and all of them are filled with revolvers. Chris Sims‘s creation is a sight to behold, and it is possible that you will not survive reading about his exploits.

The whole first issue is free to read online, and you can even grab a CBZ or PDF of the comic. And if you die from far surpassing the LD50 of awesome, you can thank me later.

As you know by now, I get on these wild crafting jags where I make one particular thing until I’m exhausted or until the next shiny thing catches my eye.

Artist Trading Cards are the latest big thing on my desk. The only two rules for ATCs are that they must be 2.5″x3.5″ or smaller and you must trade them. (If you sell them they are called ACEOs–Art Cards, Editions and Originals.)

Click on the swinging onions to see all of the ATCs I’ve made recently.

I’ve been working on a variety of cards as ideas have crossed my mind. I finally took a break though because I had a bunch and wanted to photograph them before I started trading. Getting my camera to do exactly what I wanted took some actual thought but I’m glad I took the time because I learned some new things about the camera and then learned some more about how to edit the photos.

I’ve got a bunch more ideas in my head and I’ve bought a bunch of supplies, so I guess I haven’t exhausted the topic yet. I’ll post more photos as I get them done. Now off to get ready for Craft Night tonight!

From the “You Know It’ll Happen in the Future” department:

(AP) Popular Twitter service may have cost a young woman her life

Authorities are now reporting that Allie Sutherland was potentially lured to her death through messages posted on Twitter, the popular online messaging service.

Allie received a “tweet,” or message, from someone known only as “goslo11” shortly before she left her apartment. Two days later, her body was found in a ravine several miles away. Police have not released details of how the 22-year-old was killed.

Sutherland was a history major at Oberlin College. Friends stated that she had been spending more and more time “tweeting” with strangers recently.

(Reuters) “Twexting” teens on the rise

With states such as Vermont still prosecuting “sexting” – sending nude pictures via text message – under strict child pornography laws, more teens are now using the Twitter online service to broadcast their nude photos.

Twitter allows users to sign up with fake email addresses and names, and it includes a service to make photos available freely online. The combination is proving irresistible to teens seeking a way to share shocking photos anonymously.

Nearly 10 percent of teens admit to “twexting,” according to a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.