Sunday, December 27, 2015

Crafts, Crafts and MORE Crafts!

My oh my...where DID the time go between the last post and now?  Ollie can tell you.....
Mom has been crafting on full throttle!  And Ollie has been right there watching and learning.

Most people think of November through December as holiday season.  For those of us in the Craft & Hobby Industry (and also illustrators who license art on retail products,) November through December is actually "trade show prep time".  When the calendar changes to the new year, we are packing to fly off to the first of several trade shows that pepper our life from January through May.

Needless to say....it has been nonstop creative!

Ollie LOVES whenever I do creative work.  He soaks up all the happy energy and is very interested in all the stuff that happens when I put on my "maker" role as a professional designer within the Craft & Hobby industry. Out come all the inks and glues and paints and all kinds of bright colorful STUFF! Amazingly, Ollie doesn't try to touch anything unless I give him the go ahead.  I'm ok with him playing with extra buttons and feeling felt and fleece and other safer items, but scissors, paint, glue and hot heat tools and glue guns are absolutely forbidden!

So, why would a curious parrot not want to be in the middle of all the creative chaos when I'm crafting?  The answer is actually simple.  He actually understands what "ow", "hot" and "don't touch" mean.  He has watched and listened and learned over the past 6 years of his life while we have trained and reinforced and commanded our dogs.  He experienced pain as a very young parrot when he had a freak accident that resulted in a chipped beak tip...and extreme pain.  "OW" has a very deeply ingrained unpleasant association. He also understands pain from our accidents and energy.  Hot food accidentally put in his bowl before it cools down enough also taught lessons about "hot"...and reinforced that meaning of pain.

Because he trusts and respects pain, he is allowed to enjoy hours of watching me create.  The reward reinforces why he should respect my telling him to NOT touch something....to NOT climb onto the crafting table...and to NOT grab something from my hand.

Ollie is my  true crafting buddy.   And a smart little parrot!

Do you have someone that is with you when you work on creative projects?



Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Here we go..

This is how it works with blogs.  And me.

Some weeks, there are so many funny stories and photos to share I can barely keep them all straight. Other weeks, things are kind of quiet.  And, once in a while...ok, more often than not...I have to spend my weeks just keeping up with all kinds of regular "stuff" plus the unexpected "stuff".  And then, I lose track of time.  Mostly when I create art collections for new products like these new tree stamps below with Impression Obsession. (The pumpkin is still in process....)

The creative process is endless because there are endless possibilities.  And Ollie, my little Monkeyman LOVES LOVES LOVES when his Mama is doing creative work.  The energy when I'm in my "happy place" bathes him is pure joy.


So you see, I really meant to blog days ago but somehow the entire week just disappeared one HUGE SWOOSH!

And now there is yet more of the unexpected "stuff" going on. And I shall be delayed yet again unless I just sit down right now and BLOG!  Which is what I decided to do.

There actually was a great Ollie story somewhere in there...but it seems to be hiding right now.


It will come out eventually but, for now, Ollie can just tell you a story himself....how he thought he'd take the car keys and go joy riding.




Actually, he just loves things that squish and squeak....

Monday, November 2, 2015

Welcome to Ollie's Blog...the home of Ollie Stories!

Welcome to the first chapter of Ollie Stories!

Every tale needs a place to start, so let's begin with the back story.....

I am one of the humans owned by Ollie, a parrot who loves creative energy and crafts.  He also talks and uses human words appropriately, in the context of what he is being asked, required to do or from past experiences and association with certain sounds (which are what words are).  He is smart, he is funny and he is a very complex creature.






Birds pick up on our movements, as well as our energy. If Ollie doesn't know you and your movements scare him, he might bite.  If he feels your anxiety, anger, sadness or fear (or other negative energy), he might scream because he will also be afraid.  When the energy is that of bliss and peace, however, he will snuggle, make up a silly interactive song, tell himself a story in his sweetest, softest voice and/or fall asleep contentedly on his perch or human.

He will also scream if he is excited or hungry...or for a dozen other reasons, including alerting me the microwave is done or the dvd has completed the burn process displayed on the computer monitor. He screams with the barking dogs when the doorbell rings, screams when his favorite food is not cooking fast enough for him to eat or when we have not given him the correct "more" he wants in his food bowl.



For people who have only viewed birds from a distance, understanding birds can be difficult.  Parrots, especially, are not "birdbrains" but complex creatures with communication skills that can be difficult to decipher.They lack the more obvious facial expressions an ear and tail movements we see in our pet dogs and cats. They are also not domestic animals in the true sense.  No matter whether a bird is raised by humans from the minute it is hatched, all birds remain wild, with instincts and behaviors that dominate their choices.  That includes all birds from ducks and pigeons to crows and parrots (the Einsteins of the bird world)



Unlike domesticated dogs which are all categorized as belonging to the same specie but with different traits depending on breed, birds exist throughout the world in a variety of species AND subspecies. Ollie is a male Eclectus parrot-- a red-sided Eclectus parrot to be exact. I live in North America but Eclectus parrots originate and live in the wild on the other side the world near the equator. In order to survive and thrive in a human household (and our household also includes Border Collies), a parrot must learn to adapt in ways humans might be challenged. When Ollie first came to live with us, he bit, screamed and was fearful of us.  We also had canine predators living here. They had different body cues that triggered avian prey instinct of fear and distrust.  The first couple years were huge learning curves for all of us, filled with bites, accidents and, eventually, learning to trust and coexist.

Fast forward 6 years later, Ollie has not bitten me in years, very happily welcomes visitors into the house, tells me when my phone rings a split second before it is even audible to me, converses in THE most endearing (and sometimes hysterically funny) way and is an intrinsic part of our pack/flock/family. He also LOVES crafting and watching me create art in my computer.  I suspect the energy must bathe him in joy, since doing creative work is my happy, happy place.



I have shared Ollie stories for years on FB with my personal friends and family but now I will be sharing his journey with you. Please join Ollie's Blog and share the link olliecraftyparrot.blogspot.com with your friends and family!  

This is just the beginning of his tale.