ArtFire Alive and Kicking with Found Objects

Art Fire is alive and kicking! What I really wanted to discuss today is Found Objects on ArtFire.

If you have an addiction or rather a compulsion to picking up odd items from the ground, like feathers, rocks, bones and such, then Art Fire is the place to discover additional exciting Found Objects to add to either your collection or craft supply.

Found Objects officially and unofficially partially defined as:

"Found object" can also refer to a small object found by chance which, though usually of little monetary value, captures the imagination of the finder and is therefore kept as a keepsake. Perhaps it is a penny or an unusual stone or even a pretty piece of metal. Often found just "on the ground," it is kept as a curiosity or even a good luck charm. They are often associated with a trip or a special memory or an important time in a person's life.

The connotations of mystery about where it came from, the feeling that it is a lucky or providential occurrence, and the sense that it is simply a "free gift from the world" or "from nowhere" can add to the sense of wonder or magic surrounding a found object. A "found object" may stand alone or may form the basis for a collection. Some birds similarly use shiny things they find in their nests, and some people deliberately seek out such objects..." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_objects).

Art Fire has a stupendous collection and variety of defined raw Found Objects, yes, enough to more than whip up your appetite and spark the imagination.

I mean check out this rock and glass melded together. What would you create with this or would you purchase it just to have it as is?

Feathers, rocks, old vintage buttons, seashells..... you'll find some fabulous items at ArtFire. ANd then of course there are 'items made from found objects such as this cool ring.

I can't end this without plugging myself and my found objects at Madwomen Lab.

A baby with Cancer

Please help this baby? Read about it here:
http://www.manicmother.com/2009/05/please-help-my-family-kick-cancers-ass.html

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Please help my family kick cancers ass!

I don’t even know where to start this post…its going to be hard to write, as I am already choking back tears and haven’t finished the first sentence. I am taking some hours away from the hospital, to write this and to try to clear my head.

As many of you know my youngest son was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) 2 days ago, the day my world fell out from under me.

Memory and Shifters

Jack brought me this lovely vintage shifter with a little black wooden knob on the handle. I remember this shifter well my any childhood a common one in the 60s and 70s or maybe it was the 50s.

My memory is like a shifter, gently swaying, sometimes turbulent, going back and forth, round and round. It brings me such a peace and satisfaction this simple kitchen tool.

A fine tool for also extracting goodies from the river, such as rubies and crystals that are in abundance around here. Oooo and not to mention gold in a certain nearby river.

It almost, just almost makes me want to venture on down and start treasure hunting. Just almost. This time of the year too many snakes are out, and snakes I do not relish meeting up with at that.

Swamp Flowers

I am excited this morning - well actually have been excited since my beautiful Swamp Hibiscus is growing at an astounding rate. Both the white and red have returned, the white three times as large as white.

I saved seeds last year and sold them, but also planted in several strategic areas in my courtyard garden area and they are all knee high as of today.

This beautiful floral gets 8 feet by 8 feet and it was my vision to line my walkway entrance with these beautiful tropical looking plants. Now, this vision appears!


The flora of this plant excite me so much as they remind me of both magnolia and gardenia in sight and texture. The leaves look like Hemp plants.

The entire plant has such an exotic feel to her that I feel transported to the beach. Last year was the first year I noticed Hummingbirds flocking to my courtyard gardens. They gravitate to this flora.

The leaves from this plant have been used to make soothing poultices for boils and eruptions of the skin.

This year flying creatures have taken up in the gourd birdhouse the beautiful old man gave me, and already the sweet chirping and singing of little furry creatures fills the courtyard! I believe I will incorporate more of these gourd housing.

Next project though is to purchase a solar fountain, and if I like it - then even more of them. I like the idea of the sun and water working together, instead of having the hum of electricity throughout my soil.

Earth Worms and Humans

Ok and so it is May and 1/4 into it as well. I have been losing time - really losing days.

What's time anyhow but something created by chaotic capitalists to feed the giant wheel and contribute to automaton?

The only time I need be concerned with is when the leaves drop and the first green peeking through rich soil. Or when my stomach speaks growling for some yummy without poisons.

Each day I wake and live, I laugh at man's structure and myself that I must in some form or another be part of it, yet happy and grateful that I have created my little islands too. To live in two worlds, mine the reality and Mans the pit of vipers.

So it has been crazy with storms for almost a month here. It's starting, all the warnings of the Greenhouse effects. It's happening. A Mother is a wicked force when her children are hurt. I see Earth as Mother and all that come from her womb, which are the soils and sands, to be her children.

We are nothing more than parasites living in disharmony with her for to long. We are no more than the earth worms, perhaps we have become less since we do not contribute to Her in a healthy way. What does not benefit the organisim ... well ......

About Fragrance - General Information

Perfume The most concentrated and purest form of fragrance. It is composed of up to 40% of fragrance oils and is the most expensive. This form of scent lasts the longest. Perfume should be usually dabbed on rather than sprayed.

Tip: Do dab perfume on your ear lobes not behind your ears as the glands located there will change the structure of the perfume.

Eau de parfum The most common form of fragrance which contains up to 14% of fragrance oils. Depending on the fragrance it may last into the next day, but need be reapplied every few hours to recapture many notes.

TIP: Apply your scent to warm parts of the body, like the inside of the wrist, inner thighs, along the breast line and between, behind the knees is my favorite.

Eau de toilette The weakest of perfume with up to 3% of fragrance oils and lasting a couple hours before reapplication is needed.

TIP: When using EDT I spray a cotton ball and place in my cleavage.

Eau de cologne - Now known as eau fraiche equivalent to a concentrated eau de toilette.

Scented cream and balm - This type of fragrance lingers on the skin because of the thick and creamy base.

• Top notes: The scents that are perceived immediately on application of a perfume. Top notes consist of small, light molecules that evaporate quickly. They form a person's initial impression of a perfume and thus are very important in the selling of a perfume. Also called the head notes.
• Middle notes: The scent of a perfume that emerges just prior to when the top notes dissipate. The middle note compounds form the "heart" or main body of a perfume and act to mask the often unpleasant initial impression of base notes, which become more pleasant with time. They are also called the "heart notes".
• Base notes: The scent of a perfume that appears close to the departure of the middle notes. The base and middle notes together are the main theme of a perfume. Base notes bring depth and solidity to a perfume. Compounds of this class of scents are typically rich and "deep" and are usually not perceived until 30 minutes after application.

Flops and Flips

I am useless without flops and if they did not exist I perhaps would be barefoot even in Winter.

I had a flamboyant Great Aunt, Mary, who ran barefoot in the Appalachian Mountains in the dead of Winter up into her 90s. She among many adventures in her life was once The Snake Woman in a traveling circus.

Can you inherit tendency or rather a tendency to preferences? And, why not? If one may hand down genes, why could one not do so with preference towards certain things in life? Preference is wired with the brain and chemicals so...... What the heck am I rambling about.

The fact is I cannot bear shoes on my feet, nor socks on my feet. When I have to wear sneakers to the gym I am uncomfortable the entire time. When I have flip flops on I feel unconstrained.

I have for 30 years bought cheap flops since I go through a pair a week. This go round I bought the OP I show for only $9.99. They are made fairy well, comfy but thicker bottoms. So far it has been a week and the bottoms are still there.

I have my eye on every pair of Havaianas made but cannot afford them at all. Not with the speed I wear flips flops out. Ross has them starting at $17.99. The thing is $17.99 buys us food for three days or feeds the pet children for three days.