Little Fiddly Bits

Henna for the Holidays

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:54:00 PST

We travel to South Carolina once a year to visit my in-laws for the holidays. There are traditional meals, presents, much yelling (usually the happy kind – there are a lot of kids), and this year, there was henna. My niece Isla had gotten henna from me before, during summertime visits; I thought it might be nice to offer to work on her, and on my other niece and sisters-in-law who didn't get the opportunity to visit during the rest of the year. I had FUN. This took about an...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

The wisdom of home remedies

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:45:00 PST

My friend Amy Prettybaby sent me this image, suggesting I change "cross stitch" to "embroidery". I have no idea what she's talking about.

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Relearning loveliness

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:00:00 PST

I have a book here at home called Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, which is something of a primer to Buddhist practice. Unlike most of the books I've seen that try to explain Buddhism, this one focuses on the practice first, with Buddhist thought explained second. After all, once you really grasp what Buddhism looks like in the day-to-day, the philosophy becomes much easier to understand. The second chapter is titled "Relearning Loveliness", and begins...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

North African henna, just to entice you

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:25:00 PST

Around here, "henna" is so strongly associated with India in people's minds that many simply don't realize that it was and is used for decoration by many, many cultures. So here's a fun little exercise for you: Get out a world map, put your fingertips on Morocco, and drag your hand east until you get to Thailand. Every place that your hand touched in between, from the south shore of the Mediterranean Sea along North Africa through Turkey and into the Middle East,...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

My newest project – Internet Marketing

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:21:00 PST

Well, kind of, anyway. If you found a link to this post somewhere (and if you did, PLEASE tell me where) and followed it hoping I could tell you How I Made 17 Bajillion Dollars Online In Just One Week And You Can Too No Really, then I'm sorry. I don't really make any money online as far as I know. I do henna for people at parties and such, and have a great time doing it. My phone number is over there in the sidebar, which is pretty much the entirety of my "online"...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Testing

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 07:49:00 PST

Maintenance post, sorry, nothing else to say... although if I had more time I suppose I could start something.

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Boy, time flies

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:58:00 PST

Well, folks, if you're not following me on Twitter, you really, really ought to be; I've been posting there much more frequently than here, largely because, as they say, sharing your thoughts with the world is a lot easier in 140-character increments. The holidays have been bearing down on us, the days have been getting shorter, and my brain has been trying to hibernate while also trying to focus and get things done. I'll let you know how that goes. I love winter, I truly do, but I...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Ka-BOInnnnnngggg!

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:57:00 PST

That's the sound my mind is making lately. I got really angry a few days ago, and actually did something adult and mature with it. I've been stepping back, taking stock of everything in my life that is ticking me off and from which I deserve better. Important: this isn't some kind of whiny, entitled, "gimme gimme" anger, although certainly I've fallen prey to that before. No. This is me looking around and deciding that I'm going to make things into the kind of...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Winding down

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:18:00 PDT

Well, here we are. The Farmer's Market had its final day yesterday; I decided to run an end-of-season special and hung a giant "$1" sign on the front of my booth, figuring I would rather do henna for cheap than sit on my behind for three hours and be bored. I had fun doing a couple of large, intricate designs for a couple of ladies who almost certainly would not have stopped otherwise. What this really means is that, apart from one booking coming up in November, I have nothing...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

End of the season

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:10:00 PDT

Well, henna is winding down for the season, at least for us Western folks - there are a couple of big holidays coming up yet in Islam between now and the end of December - but the farmer's market will be closing the week after this, and I don't have anything else lined up just yet. I'm considering the indoor fall/winter market that is being proposed over in Elmwood Plaza, but I still have several questions for the organizers and they've been slow to respond. For the record, data entry...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

On gardening, or, what a pretty way to pound out stress

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:44:00 PDT

So my last post was all about the henna fiasco, my stress levels, and the challenge of Just Shutting Up About It and moving on. When it comes to stress levels, and/or actually getting off my butt and getting some exercise, nothing beats my ongoing battle in my flowerbeds against the Stupid Freakin' Prairie Grass That Will Not Die. Up and down our street, a lot of the landscaping consists of decorative grasses, which are fine, except when you want to have a flower bed instead. I've...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Because you're all just dying to know…

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:36:00 PDT

…and because I feel like it's a good thing to stay relatively current on the blog even when not much is happening. Octoberfest was a bust on many, many levels. Rotten weather, rotten turnout, rotten income – all connected, naturally. Compound that with the organizers being extremely short-handed (and a much smaller planning team compared to the year prior), and the knowledge that I could have been at any one of four or five other events that I would have really enjoyed, and you...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Post-Octoberfest recovery

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:32:00 PDT

Well, the festival was an utter disappointment in many, many ways. The weather and resulting low turnout were a part of that, but the rest will have to wait until I've gotten the opportunity to speak with the festival organizers. I'm wondering if I'd have been more forgiving if the weather had been nicer, or if maybe I've just been spoiled by the way previous events have gone for me. Regardless, I have a big new batch of henna waiting for people to let me use it on them, and a...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Octoberfest Henna Special

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:08:00 PDT

It looks like my new spiffy business cards have arrived in time for Octoberfest, and I am very excited. In fact, I'm so excited that if you have one of my OLD business cards and bring it in, I will give you a 20% discount on your next henna design. This offer is good at Octoberfest and the Farmer's Market until it closes at the end of the month. Come on in, bring a friend, get them hooked on introduce them to henna too. Cheers!

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

OctoberFest, here I come!

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:24:00 PDT

Well, everyone, it looks like things are coming together for this weekend's OctoberFest, Saturday from 10am onward, in downtown Main Street of good old Lafayette. I've got a fresh batch of henna, new business cards on order (pray they arrive Friday so I'll have them in time), and I even figured out how to put walls on this pop-up shelter, in case of rotten weather. Good thing, too, since it looks like we'll have beautiful weather for the next ten days except for Saturday. I'll...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Urgent - please call

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:53:00 PDT

I hate to use my blog for this, but ... Silai, my hostess from this past weekend, I need you to contact me as soon as possible. I have been trying to call you, but your cell does not pick up, and does not have voice mail. We now return you to whatever it was you were doing before this blog post came up.

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Do You Love Bollywood?

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:26:00 PDT

Farmer's Market was pretty quiet today as far as henna was concerned, although I did manage to convince a number of people to hold still while I sketched Indian-inspired designs off their dresses, shirts, and handbags. I'm perfectly fine with the current fashion trends giving me new patterns to try out, thanks! While I didn't actually apply a lot of henna, I did get invited to the fundraising auction for our local Unitarian Universalist Church, this Friday September 25 from 5:30 to...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Embroidery

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:32:00 PDT

I've managed to do enough cleaning at my computer desk – barely – to unbury the scanner and get a decent image of the embroidery project I keep telling everyone about. I'm picking up momentum now, as more and more of the design gets finished and I get excited about seeing what I can do next. This is just a thumbnail, so if you want to see a larger image, go ahead and click on it. Darling daughter was home all this past week sick and miserable, which meant I wasn't allowed to get more...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Aw, nuts

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:16:00 PDT

My darling daughter has been sick these past few days - the doctor says it's an ear infection, so nobody needs to panic - and a lot of her illness has been in the form of really high fevers and generally feeling miserable. (You know she's sick when she actually doesn't want to go to the Farmer's Market.) It looks like I'll have to sacrifice today's perfect weather and stay home with her, rather than see about getting some henna in. Oh, well. There's always next week, not to mention...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

The usual

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:39:00 PDT

I've signed up for OctoberFest, to be held on Saturday, October 3. This is their third year running an event that drew 3,000 people in its first year, and 10,000 last year. I'm hoping to sling quite a bit of henna while I'm there. *** Speaking of henna, Global Fest was a success even with the scheduling conflicts - a home football game, the last Mosey of the season, and the Lay Flats music festival all on the same day made for smaller crowds than last year, but I still topped $250 in henna...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Definitions

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:05:00 PDT

I learned last week that shrinks define "want" as "willing to put forth effort to achieve". If you're not willing to put effort into gaining something, then you don't want it, you just have a desire for it. It would appear that I desire a lot, and want very little. I'm also learning about "values" and how they're not the same thing as goals or tasks. One of the exercises I'm working on is discovering those values that are important enough to me to work toward, even in the face of personal...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Brochure #2: Booking information

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:26:00 PDT

So, you'd like to have some henna done, and the Farmer's Market isn't convenient. Go ahead and drop me an email or give me a call*, and I'll ask you the following questions. Where will we get together? I do not have a storefront apart from my seasonal booth at the Sagamore West Farmer's Market. Instead, I will be happy to come to your home, or to meet somewhere neutral such as a coffeehouse, restaurant, or other party location. In the event that the booking takes...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Twitdrawer – another way to kill time online

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:33:00 PDT

If you have a Twitter account, you can access something called Twitdrawer – it uses the same login and account information as Twitter. For such a basic drawing program, it really kicks butt. Unfortunately, today it was acting up, so I saved a screenshot on my computer, just to be safe. It's a good thing I did, because after working on this for far too long, when I went to "save and post", it disappeared. Medieval Woman I only did one or two more things to finish this...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Various and sundry

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:02:00 PDT

Hello, all ye faithful readers (all two of you, or whatever). I have a personal motto that Pennsic, the massive camping event I went to a couple of weeks back, isn't over until you've gotten all the dirt out from under your toenails. While this sounds icky, it's actually pretty accurate, because it usually takes that long to put the camping gear away, do all the accumulated laundry, and otherwise recover from the vacation that was supposed to be helping you recover from life. Man, I love...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.

Brochure #1: Common questions

heather.bungardjanney@gmail.com (Heather) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:04:00 PDT

Here in the Midwest, not too many people are familiar with henna art. Here are answers to the questions I hear the most when I'm running my booth. What is that? This stuff is called henna, or sometimes mehndi or mehandi. (Technically, henna is the stuff, and mehndi is what I'm doing with it.) Henna is a natural dye found in the leaves of the henna plant. It stains the skin, just like blueberries make your tongue turn purple, or mustard stains your...

No matter what sort of art or hobby I pursue, it seems that I am happiest when I am working with something detailed - sitting down and working out the "little fiddly bits" is just my idea of fun.