Raige Creations

Yes, we did it. We got  a pup. Or should I say toddler. He is a doggy toddler. We named him Biko. He is a rescue doggy, and it has been quite the journey so far. I keep reminding myself of The 3's - 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months .  It has proven to be true and helpful to remember the stages. We are approaching the 3 months soon, so of course I had to do a Music Monday with the inspiration song, even though I mentioned on FB that because he chewed my laptop charger, a sock of mine, a bra of mine, hubby's earbuds, my running shoes, and now countless toy ducks in less than 10 minutes, he didn't deserve mention. But here I am, dedicating a blog to the loving and quite gentle, though energetic, coconut loving, Boxer-Pit-Something else mix, Biko. Named after a Youtube music listening session and going through a long list of names. We thought Biko was a good fit. He is a rescue, and was abused, and had a skin irritation. We took him in when others just couldn't. Biko roll...

What a treat it was yesterday to leave the shop, after several very long days working, and find this in the park across the street. It had just rained, and the sun came out again, and the music started playing. A very light, relaxing way to end my work week. (I have help at the shop today, and thus am still at home....a much needed first day of a two day break for me!) Though I missed recording the beginning of the song, I got most of it here. (Sorry for the unsteady arms, I am new at taking video's on my phone. ) I was so enjoying this, we bought a CD and I played it while I cooked last night. Quite a pleasant way to cook, I might add. Their CD cover says: May the reality and power of love  imbue each note with redemption,  magnificent enough to inspire  us to find another way to live.  ~ from "Kutambura Kwavo" Enjoy, and if you like as much as I did, you can get a CD of your own on their website.  (And, I learned how to upload ...

Today I am going with an impromptu chorus at dinner last night.  (In order to keep up with NaBloWriMo and the gazillion other things I gotta do I will go with my gut on blogs from now on and not over think. I think.) Hubby began 'I want you to.....' and POP! This song was right on my tongue and out it came. When I stumbled on some of the words, he was right there filling them in. We surrendered to silly singing at the dinner table. (But Surrender is a different Cheap Trick song ) It turns out he wanted me to help him with unpleasant financial chores stuff, but this made it a little more bearable.  Yes, singing at the table is frowned upon. But sometimes you just gotta...well... Surrender .  Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'?  Oh, didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'? Now try to get that out of your head. And yes, you may see me cryin' as I try to fit everything that has to be done today into one day. Now....

As I try to get back into a normal schedule, I am really loving this song and this long version of it. It is a groovy way to start the week. Hopefully a nice and normal week. With school starting, the oldest now off at college, the shop duties taking up most of my waking hours, it is hard to feel consistency these days. This week, I am hoping to really get back to normal even if it is a new normal. I am ready for the comfort of repetition and steady schedule rather than the chaos of jam packed days in ten different directions. Crimson and Clover, over and over should set the tone. This song was written in an effort to change the band's directio n, and it experimented with sounds and effects . Another fitting theme for this week. Embracing a new direction at t he shop , and finding a schedule that will fit some aspects of the old schedule I was comfortable with.  Happy Monday and here's to new beginnings and old ways.

Only one week into the kids' summer vacation, and I had to get up at 6:30am today.  Why?  ~Science~ Not psychology though.  My youngest was invited to a science camp at the local community college, AB Tech . They call it STEM Camp - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Have I mentioned how smart my youngest is? Well, he is smart enough to be asked to attend (this was invitation only), and smart enough to want to go - on his summer vacation no less. Sparkling Blue Starfish Toekini's So this week, we will be up early, which is good for me since I seem to get more done when I am up that early. Got 2 sets of Toekini's made before anyone else got up - something that seldom happens during any school vacation and particularly summer vacation.  Speaking of summer, this new set of Toekini's is perfect for the beginning of summer. (Picture shows both ways to tie these soft and fun Toekini's.) Have a great Monday!

When I asked hubby this morning what song was stuck in his head, because my head was uncharacteristically void of any music, he said "Feed My Head is stuck in my head" .  And that led to this song firmly implanted in MY head. (after I giggled because it sounded so funny!) How did it get in his head? Well, the kids found the movie SuckerPunch  on cable. ( dvd movie website ) Though it was criticized a bit harshly , the music and visual effects were enough to make us watch it not just once this past weekend, but twice. (daughter didn't see the whole thing the first time.....so we watched it again). This is one of the songs that fit right into the theme and feel of the movie, and being a good song to begin with, it gets in your head, and just sits there, quite pleasantly .   As it replayed in my head all morning, it came to me that I particularly enjoyed this weekend in part because I found the creative challenge I needed to get back to my yarns and beads, and get...

A great song to get you out of the Monday Blah's !  I was having them big time this morning.  (Had to pay bills, which was doubly no fun because we are scraping bottom of the barrel - and it is downright chilly this morning! Not to mention it is MONDAY! UGH!!) Thanks to a FB friend, this song proved to be the mood lifter I needed. Being a brown eyed girl , when I was little I thought this song was about me .  It came out 4 years before I was born, but when your little, you don't know those things, just that the song makes you feel special. It was what I needed - having a brother and and a sister with light eyes - I though this song was meant just for me. And seeing this video, where Van looks downright uncomfortable having to be on stage doing this, made me smile. Seems we all have to do things we get uncomfortable doing...... So enjoy this, and your Monday!  Oh, and if you love Van, you can catch him still touring !! Cheers! 

I spent the other evening on the computer in the living room with the boys next to me playing video games.  The oldest asked me to play some music because he had Marky Mark 's Good vibrations stuck in his head.  (poor thing!) He said he would rather hear anything besides that....sooo This was the song he requested! Wha? I couldn't believe, first of all, that he knew this song at all, and second, he wanted to hear it and sang along ! The mountain is high, the valley is low And you're confused on which way to go So I've come here to give you a hand And lead you into the promised land So come on and take a free ride He was telling ME about Edgar Winter !  I was 2 years old when this song hit #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but I do remember hearing it on that AM radio always playing in the kitchen when I was growing up. And I am pretty sure this song came blaring out of my brother's room regularly in the late 1970's and early 1980's.  Actually, it...

Happy Monday! For today's Music Monday , I thought I would supply a little banjo and folk rock. After all, we are in "bluegrass country" now, the hills of North Carolina.  I never heard of this band until we moved here and since then I have been listening to a large variety of music I never would have heard where we were living previously. Though maybe technically not bluegrass music , they sure can make the banjo sound good. Mumford and Sons are from England, and really hit the scene last year, with their debut album, Sigh No More , being released in the United Kingdom in October 2009, and February 2010 in the United States. They received two Grammy Award nominations, one for Best New Artist and the other for Best Rock Song (" Little Lion Man "). So here is " Little Lion Man ", the first track from their debut album, and it showcases their English folk rock genre brilliantly.

A wonderful Monday, and perfect day for the ska-punk genre of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones ! I am sure you all know this song, but didn't know the band was an American third wave ska band from Boston, Massachusetts.  I awoke normally for getting the kids to school, off they went, and I proceeded to do my normal routine of computer, cleaning, putting away laundry, etc.  Instant Colored Eggs  I was finishing up some egg cozies when I heard the chainsaw. Yes, the chainsaw. (the neighbor's needed to take down some precariously tall and crooked trees hanging over their driveway) Then thump thump, the tree came down. What song popped in my head? I've never had to knock on wood But I know someone who has Which makes me wonder if I could It makes me wonder if I've never had to knock on wood And I'm glad I haven't yet Because I'm sure it isn't good that's the impression that I get Knocking on wood , and the spoken expression "knock on...

From the soundtrack of that beautifull love story of Micky and Mallory Knox.... A great song from the Cowboy Junkies , a nice laid back song for this lazy, cloudy Monday. It's fate, you know. Nobody can stop fate, nobody can. ~ Mickey

Great song by Garbage - it happens to be raining, cloudy, windy, overall yucky, so this song is perfect. But instead of pouring our misery down, we can use this to channel our creativity and concentrate on our work. We can be productive on these rainy, miserable days. And be happy when it rains. I will be using this rainy, yucky day to be productive, finish many projects that I started at various times, and to start projects that are in my head. Enjoy your rainy days!

and then one day you find 10 years have got behind you no one told you when to run you missed the starting gun

The day after I posted my sad little herb garden , and lamented that the basil was struggling and that I wanted this herb to grow the most, I went outside to check on the pots.  What I found so upset me -extreme vandalism by what could only be the squirrels.  Not only did they dig up half of the basil (and you remember how few were sprouting - only 7 then, and now just 3!), they nearly destroyed all of the cilantro!   All I could do is gasp and yell "Those damn squirrels!!"  And then this song popped in my head - they play such wicked games.   I couldn't find a song called 'those damn squirrels' (tho there are a ton of videos catching squirrels in the act! search that on you tube and you will be surprised!). We were going to get pumkins this week and carve, but after searching youtube and watching this video, and thinking about the wicked squirrels in our yard, I am reconsidering....

With Halloween right around the corner, this song popped into my head and I haven't been able to get it out since. I was introduced to Bow Wow Wow  in the early 1980's with this song, along with the whole British  New Wave  genre. This song is an easy one to get stuck in your head with the tribal drum beats and great voice of Annabella Lwin , who was at the tender age of 14 when this song was popular. Though 'Candy' in this song does not mean Halloween candy, the desire for 'Candy' is unquestionable. This song is actually a cover of the original 1960's song by The Strangeloves , who actually have a funny story. They were an American band from New York who pretended to be from Australia. According to the press releases, The Strangeloves were three brothers named Giles, Miles and Niles Strange who had grown up on an Australian sheep farm. The brothers' faked backstory involved getting rich with the invention of a new form of sheep crossbreeding (the...

It rained nearly all weekend here in the mountains, which is what we needed. But I am glad the sun is out today. It has inspired me to finally add a new section to Raige Creations - Vintage Raige! My first listing is this wonderful Bee Smoker made by the A.I. Root Company in about 1907. I love the history of items like this like this historic footage from the A.I. Root Company , and am glad to be able to share with my friends, cutomers, and fans a new side of Raige. There is much more to list, from my slight addiction to auctions and yard sales, that will make Vintage Raige on Etsy and Vintage Raige on Zibbet  THE place where Vintage is all the Raige.  Keep checking to find unusual, interesting, and fun items.

It has been a rough road we traveled in the past 2 weeks. Lots of heavy lifting, driving long hours, towing our lives behind us. There was a nightmare of a motel we found and had the displeasure of staying at (basement room, so damp there was mold on the ceiling, and I am not even gonna talk about the smell!), because we were so tired and the next motel was an hour away. Then our arrival at our new place, more heavy lifting, and finally opening the boxes to find our things we had forgotten we had. But we have survived, we are getting comfortable, and I am BACK for Music Monday - and ready to ride again. I am looking forward to getting back to the Raige and even creating a new section at Raige Creations. I'm back in the saddle.

Sometimes, songs are in my head all day, all different ones, and I am humming happily from morning 'till night. Other times, there is nothing but silence, or only to-do lists, or worries about unfinished projects. Today, that is what my head is filled with - worries about unfinished projects and the promise I made on Facebook of new items this week. So I am taking a request made by my friend, Laci at Zig - Zags Handmade This N' Thats . She LOVEs the Goo Goo Dolls , and wanted me to play Sympathy . It seems fitting today, as I complain about too much to do and so little time, I know most of you can sympathize with that. It is also interesting to me because every time I hear the Goos (as they are affectionately called these days) I am reminded of the first time I heard of them, and heard them. They are natives to Buffalo area, as am I. So, back in the mid 1980's, when my friend asked me to go to her school's dance where there was live music, I said "Sure, s...

It's just another Manic Music Monday.  I did oversleep today, and it's the first Monday I am back working, so this fits all to well. So I am running late, it's Monday, it was 30 degrees this morning, and I don't have time for any more. I hope it's all worth it in the end...but is it ever being a slave to the grind? Maybe, someday, I can just keep creating for a living, instead of workin' for "the man". I can dream...ever fitting here is the quote of the day today: There is nothing like a dream to create the future. Victor Hugo Happy Monday Everyone - Have a great day!

This is the only appropriate Music Monday song for my newest creations. Thongs have arrived! When Raige Creations first opened online, it was suggested that I make intimate items, thongs in particular. I thought, 'thongs, does anyone wear those anymore? I don't know about that...' But lo and behold, a custom order soon came in, assuring me that a 'His and Hers' set of thongs was desired - if I could make them. So I searched for a pattern the clients would like, had to tweak it a bit for the his version, made 3 'test' thongs, and decided on the final pattern that would give them what they wanted.  And here they are. His and Hers Thongs - "Scandalous and Devilish". I made another 'hers' thong, in Ruby Red, that is available for the first lucky sized petit to purchase. Pictured here is the ladies petit size small (28-30 inch waist)   Ruby Red Flower Thong .  Available at my Etsy store or my Zibbet store .  Look in the Intimates section...