GUILTY PLEASURES

Trying to get it together to begin a new Craft Blog with projects and references regarding the huge craft renaissance going on in the US, UK and Europe, especially on the Internet. I can spend hours surfing, and have done so, many times. Now I want to show photos of my own little craft efforts and reference some of the fabulous designers and crafters I've found on the Net.

I spent $$ on a guilty pleasure today, a Dover ClipArt book (with CD!) of Celtic Designs, mostly from the Book of Kells and the Lindesfarne Gospels. Samples:

















I can't wait to transfer these onto some summer teeshirts and/or bookbags. And maybe make up some kids' clothes out of cotton or linen embellished with these images. My granddaughter loves these, and there's a local shop called Siobhan Van Winkle that sells off-the-wall kids' clothing.

Also went to SCRAP and bought a ton of buttons, some for kids' clothing and some for selfish me.

A Civil Servant Story: a coworker interviewed and was offered a promotion to our Manager's office where he wanted to work out his remaining years to retirement with more money and challenges. We threw him a big party and missed him terribly when he left. I call him our Jester because he is so witty and funny, in a sarcastic but charming style.

A month later, I came into work and he was sitting in the cubicle next to me again. I asked if he was visiting, and he said no, he had exercised his "retreat rights" because the new job environment was so cold and impersonal.

The Jester is very sociable and talkative and no one in his new office talked. Ever. He said no one said "Good morning"; if you sneezed, no one would mutter "Good bless you"; and he didn't get mail for two weeks because no one told him where his mailbox was.

Jester is also a diabetic and when chatting with us, he'll whip out his little kit and shoot himself up with insulin when necessary. In his new environment, he was afraid to do this, and went and hid in a toilet cubicle to inject himself. He said he felt like a junkie.

So I have to say there are environments worse than the crazy one I work in. We jokingly call it "The Prison", call the Manager's Office "The Big House" and make a lot of parole and trustee jokes. But I guess there is a lot of warmth among us, as crazy and neurotic as we all are. At least we got our Jester back.

Another guilty pleasure: Broke down and bought the "Concert for George" DVD of the 2002 concert organized by Eric Clapton and friends a year after George Harrison's death. I saw most of it on PBS and these old guys still rock. I've only seen the DVD for sale at one bookstore, so I went ahead and bought it. Always liked George's songs a lot and these musicians are the best and do them all justice. Highly recommended (if you have the cash).