April 2014 – Dramatic Lyric

Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend

I feel like the last few weeks all I’ve talked about is my Etsy shop. And you dear people are probably getting tired of it. I apologize for my monotony, but my life really isn’t that interesting, and this is what I’m excited about at present. So thank you for bearing with me as I unveil yet another new item. Hopefully I’ll have more exciting things to talk about tomorrow.

This Diamond necklace has all the style of one of those sparkling things, but won’t break your bank. With my tight budget, I’m already a fan.

Art

Hello, friends! I just wanted to let you know that I have updated my “Art” page. I would be honoured if you would go check it out. You can click on this link or on the button at the top of the page. These are some of my older paintings from back when I painted more often. I need to go back to painting more.

10!

I started my Etsy shop 19 days ago. Can you believe it has already been almost 3 weeks?! I sure can’t. Today I listed my 10th item. Well, to be correct, I listed my 9th and 10th items. But 10 just seems like such a milestone number. The decimal system is based on 10s. We have 10 fingers (and toes). On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 is the best. Anyway, let me introduce you to numbers 9 and 10.

9 is a bookmark. Butterflies cluster around a single wildflower, until they are startled out into the open. Reading just got that much more exciting! This bookmark is, incidentally, inspired by a friend’s request for a tatted bookmark. If you would love to see something made please leave a comment or message my via Etsy. I love the creativity that comes from working with other people!

10 is the first of a line of pendant necklaces. It isn’t easy in today’s modern world to believe in fairy tales. Life is a daily grind and there is no time for make believe. But you and I secretly know that we are really princesses, queens even, in disguise! We have been kidnapped by the evil witch, who forces us to live like the peasants around us. She may deny us crowns on our heads, but she would never expect us to proclaim our royalty by wearing pendants around our necks! Pattern by Corina can Krieken can be found here for free.

Aww look at me smiling there! Little do you know that it’s because my evil plan for world domination is working!! Muahahahah!

A Lovely Night

In the Rogers and Hammerstein musical, “Cinderella,” the leading lady sings a song about how wonderful the ball was. Of course, she can’t let her stepmother and sisters know that she really went, so she sings as if she were imagining what happened. How clever of her.

I had a lovely night of my own. Unlike Cinderella, it did not involve meeting Prince Charming, but I can live with that. This evening I had the pleasure of good music. I still live near my Alma Mater, and the choir that I was a part of for 2 years performed Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living. Dan Forrest is a genius, and I was privileged to study theory under him a few years ago. To hear his music come alive was an uplifting experience. I love requiems. The last few years have seen a lot of deaths in my family, and it can be so hard to grieve and to let go. A requiem lets you do that: “Grant them peace, Lord, and may eternal light shine on them.” But so many requiems focus only on the pain of loss. Forrest’s acknowledges the misery of separation, but focuses on the fact that we do not need to despair. God is a good God who in the end does give rest. But to be attain this rest you have to admit that you cannot find it yourself. Only God can give true peace.

The Ironies of Life

My favourite types of wit are irony and sarcasm. Sarcasm is wonderful because it can seem perfectly innocuous – until you listen to the tone of voice it is spoken in. Many people have heard me in sarcastic utterances and thought I was for real. Apparently I have a dry sense of humor.

And irony, now there is the best one of all. I find the process of taking a concept and turning it on its head to create a new concept fascinating. Especially when the concepts contradict each other. I find that irony pops up a lot in life – like when a 16-year-old girl swears she will never be like her mother. In fact, she will purposely grow up to be unlike her mother. Who does she end up turning into? Her mother. Irony. When I was little I was a tomboy. I disliked many girly things, and at the very top of my list was lace. Lace was one of the awful things of life, and I avoided it as much as possible. I could never find a pattern I truly liked, and even then, the fabric did not hold up well in the event of an impromptu game of anything (I grew up with 3 brothers and 2 sisters. There were lots of impromptu games). Now that I am older I enjoy making lace. I dream up new designs for it and wonder if there is a better way to incorporate it into everyday life. I tat lace, and I’m hoping to learn to knit lace in the near future. Irony.

Blessed

I am blessed to be a part of a wonderful family. I grew up as one of 6 children, and let me tell you: I learned a lot about sharing and kindness from my siblings! Now all but two of us kids has left the nest and scattered around the country. But that doesn’t mean we are any less a family! I told you about how my mom volunteered her help when I opened my Etsy shop, but I didn’t tell you that both of my sisters offered, too! I told you I was blessed!

Here I reveal the first of my sisters’ pieces: Kathryn’s Handy Cell-Phone Purse

Aren’t they beautiful? I taught her to knit just this Christmas, and she took to it like a duck to water. I’m more than a little proud.

Doctor Shoes

Do you remember that time when I tatted the Doctor’s TARDIS? Well, that was almost two years ago (how time flies!!), and my fetish with all things Doctor Who has only grown and matured since then. So when I saw these shoes on Pinterest I knew I absolutely had to make a pair of my own. I decided not to use high heels because I don’t have much opportunity to wear them in my day to day life. And I knew these would be shoes I would want to wear all the time, shoes that would show off my geekery and general awesomeness.

So off I went to Hobby Lobby and found some knockoff brand Toms (because why would you pay full price if you don’t have to?). Painting is one of my satellite hobbies, so I knew I already had what I needed in that department. Several layers of paint, a bow (because bow-ties are cool), and a few days later, look what I’ve got! The most adorable Doctor Who shoes ever! I love them so much and they make me feel like I am a completely cool and awesome person. Really, they do. You should make some yourself so you can see how awesome they make you feel.

I took them for a little ramble in the woods, and I honestly think that the mud they gathered makes them even more charming and happy. Long live the Doctor Shoes!

Created by my Mother

noun

a website containing a writer’s or group of writers’ own experiences, observations, opinions, etc…

A blog is, by definition, all about one person. My blog is about me, your blog is about you, someone else’s blog is about him. That’s the way it is because we all see the world from our own perspective. That’s what makes me different from you and you different from the random guy at the coffee shop. But it can be very easy to focus a blog so wholly on one’s self that it becomes boring and pedantic. Here on Dramatic Lyric I tell you about my life, my stories, my projects, my joys and loves and hates. And it can become so easy to forget other people. Well, today I have something to show you that I had no hand in at all.

Behold: Adorable Cupcake Hats! Created by my mother.

Aren’t they just the bestest??? I love them so much. My wonderful mother, when I told her I had opened an Etsy shop, immediately offered her assistance crocheting hats. Of course I said yes. She does absolutely beautiful work. She is the one who taught me most of what I know about crafting. She taught me how to follow a pattern, and where you don’t have to. She taught me to take pride in what I make – and that means making sure the details are immaculate. I love my mother. She is the bomb!

On a side note, Cupcake Hats are available for purchase here.

One Perpetually Famished Caterpillar

Growing up “A Very Hungry Caterpillar” was one of my favourite books. Eric Carle is a genius, and as you read the opening words of his books a kind of magic sweeps over you. When a friend asked me if I could make her a bookmark my mind immediately flew to the classic simplicity of a small caterpillar that is terribly hungry. After all, while food feeds the hunger of our bodies, knowledge feeds the hunger of our minds, knowledge that is so often found in books.

Buy your own hungry caterpillar here.

Today’s the Day!

Hello, friends! Happy day to you! Today is a happy day. Do you want to know why? Because today I became an Entrepreneur. That’s right: today I opened my very own shop. You can find it here. I decided to keep the same name as my blog: Dramatic Lyric. So far all of my listings are tatted jewelry, but I plan to include knitting and other types of crafting as time goes on. So have a happy day, friends. And please visit my shop. I welcome suggestions of how to make things better.