Who Is The Tarkheena?

Hi, my name is Annette, and I'm a serial crafter.  (Sheesh, I feel like this is an AA meeting or something!)
I've had the craft bug as long as I can remember - certainly since the age of 8 when I could be found in the back of the 4th grade classroom passing time waiting for reading group by making "dolls" out of folded and twisted notebook paper, complete with paperclips attached to their feet so they could "walk" when a magnet was held under a cardboard box.  Dolls made out of pipe cleaners and wooden beads followed, complete with hand sewn clothes and elaborate cardboard environments.  A few years later I discovered modeling clay, and my dolls now had pipe cleaner armatures linking articulated Fimo body parts.  Seriously, these were pretty cool.  I even sold a set to an older lady in our church for $20!  And in between the doll obsession I also picked up crochet (a little), sewing (a bit), beads, pom-poms, glue, felt, yarn, photography, scrapbooking, and basically jumped from craft idea to craft idea like I was changing shoes.
I always admired an aunt who contributed to her family's income by selling meticulously painted dough-art magnets, pins, and knick-knacks at craft shows, and I told my father from the time I was old enough to know it tweaked him that my dream job was to be a starving artist with her own booth at the Portland Saturday Market. What exactly I would sell there changed from year to year (if not week to week), but I was always more than half-serious about the idea.
Well, I'm all grown up now, and to my father's evident relief I became a computer programmer and web developer instead of a starving artist.  Good move, over all, because it means I can still Enjoy my crafting time - such as it now is with three small kids and a husband to take care of - instead of taking all the fun out by trying to earn money at it.

OK, instead of more rambling and pointless biography, here's a mini-FAQ.

So, Why a Blog? I Mean, What's The Theme?  
Like I said, I'm a serial crafter.  I can't commit to any given theme like crochet, sewing, or even digital scrapbooking because I know good and well that the time will come a week, month, or at most a year from now when I'm Just Not That Into It.  The only thing I know for sure is that crafting Something will be important to me All The Time.  I never break from it entirely for more than a few weeks, and that only at dire necessity - like moving, childbirth, or etc.  Even then, I keep my camera near by!  I am also pretty confident that blogging will be interesting to me for the foreseeable future.   And many - most - of my serial crafts rotate back into the forefront eventually.  I mean, I gave away my glass paint and my Fimo has grown hard in the box, but hey, my crochet hooks are seeing use again after a Decade in a dark closet!
So... expect to find tutorials and ideas for everything from crochet to quilting, glass painting to cooking, party ideas to digital scrapbooking. (Actually, there's quite a lot of that last one - look it up in the tag cloud!)
As my kids are growing (and being - gulp! - home schooled!) there will be more and more posts on kid's toys, games, and educational ideas.
Yes, I know this mean I'll never have one of those cool, money-making, zillions-of-follower attracting blogs. Too bad.  It's a hobby and I'm going to do what's Fun for me. :)
(Not that I don't crave followers or - Especially - Pins.  Pin away!  I want your links!)

What's a Tarkheena, Anyway? 
I borrowed my name from one of my favorite books in my favorites series, the Chronicles of Narnia from C.S. Lewis. In the "Horse and His Boy," Aravis Tarkheena, a teen-aged daughter of a Calormene nobleman (or Tarkhan), joins - unwillingly at first - Shasta and Bree in their attempt to flee to Narnia.
Seriously, if you haven't read this series, whether you're 5 or 55, do it! My six year old son loved listening to them, just like I did at his age. And I still get new things out of them with each re-read, and I'm probably in the dozens by now.

Anything Else You'd Like to Share? 
Why yes, thank you for asking!

I Hate Glue.  
OK, so that's not super profound. :)
Seriously, though, you will Rarely find a craft on my blog that calls for the stuff.  I have issues with it.  It's messy, expensive, usually dries up before I can use it a second time, takes forever to set, burns my fingers when it's hot, sticks them together when it's super - all of which I could forgive, were it not for the fact that it rarely actually works.
If could count the number of broken earrings and magnets, unstuck photos in my scrapbooks, and failed repair jobs in my life, I'd probably cry. (Did I mention I'm pregnant and hormonal?)  Fabric crafts are even worse. Fusible web / wonder-under?  Ha.  Self stick Velcro?! That's got to be the best joke the industry ever invented.  Show me One Time where the hook-and-loop isn't stronger than the glue!  Just one!
Recently I've used it to seal I-Spy Jars and "calm jars" (aka glitter bottles.)  I do not trust these items to this day.  And I Really don't want glitter and rice all over my house.
So, when you're reading through my projects and start scratching your head why I'd chose to drill a hole in a baby spoon rather than simply glue a bottle cap to a pencil... well, now you know!