Paper-Paisleys Art Adventures

Handmade Book #1 of 100

2012-01-24T20:53:00.001-06:00

One of the things I've always wanted to learn AND do is hand stitch bindings in homemade books and journals. Over the years I have accumulated all the necessary tools and materials, so when I saw that one of my yahoo groups, Artists of the Round Table (A.R.T.), was offering a free year-long book study workshop of a book I already own, Alisa Golden's awesome book Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms, well, I felt like it was Karma and I joined in. The slow pace and my previous experience with A.R.T. book study (my first book study, The Decorated Page by Gwen Diehn, in 2009, was a blast) were major factors in my agreeing to make room in my art life that I am trying to re-prioritize. I've finally made my first book and had so much fun, so I think it was a wise choice.

We are following the book, which starts with basic folded one-sheet books and gradually builds up to the sophisticated ones. Lesson 1 had us to read the first 30 pages. Lesson 2 had us to make an X-Book and a Shorts Book, both from one sheet of scrapbooking weight paper (like from 60-100#). Today, I am sharing with you my X-Book.

But one of the recommendations that I promised myself I'd do is to try following the instructions (do a rough cut or run thru as it were) using copy paper. This course will be a good workout for my spatial or 3D brain skills, something I have always struggled with. Copy paper is no-risk. No urge to worry about *ruining* anything.

With the rough cut done, I decided to use some longer paper, so I went with some 110# legal size index stock that I had onhand. Using my Scor-pal helped . I did have to fudge-score one fold on the cover (score, then re-score just a hair over, once folded up). When I look at the book photo up close, I could swear I see where the sample is that way too, lol.

We not only have to construct the books, we have to try to decorate them too, if possible. For this one, I used SwellTape, stamps, brayer, ink, gelpens, a tab punch and a string closure embellishment.

I decided to keep this generic as to function because I am making it to include in a payback rak for a dear friend. I decided that once I saw that it might could look pretty good when finished!

To close, you just kinda take the ends and pinch inward, and the folds collapse into this 3.5x4.25-inch booklet. Yeppers, this was about the moment I fell in LOVE with this lil thing.

Although it really was not going to work any other way as well, I hemmed and hawed about adding the string closures because I didn't want to obscure the flowers.

But I decided to do it and now I'm okay with it because you still see flowers...I just changed their shapes with the brown circle and eyelet circle. They are still there. Plus the cool string around it.

A view of the back. Those are cute mod flowers, no?

The tabs are on pockets that can hold anything flat -- notes, receipts, a credit card or two.

I really enjoyed making this first book. I learned that a good *fit* is crucial so pay attention to measurements and folds. Plus I got to use a few more of my *vintage* supplies.

Tightly Leashed...and That's Okay

2012-01-21T16:19:00.000-06:00

After a good 2 weeks of anxious self-doubt about being a round peg trying to fit a square hole, I've decided to hold out for the round hole. Here is my art journal spread about it. I worked on it at various times thruout my self-imposed angst, all the while hating it because it represented that which I did not want, while also reminding me of what I do not feel comfortable doing. But when it was finished, I ended up liking it alot. It feels good to be in my skin again. It was an unexpected challenge to meet so close to all the grand yearly plans, but my muse and I survived. Failure is okay...it leaves the door open to succeed another day!

Not into blogging lately...

2012-01-20T04:02:00.001-06:00

Bubblegum Pink Glimmer Mist on a Prima stencil....

But I've been touching my creativity every day. I've historically acted on the assumption that I should only blog when I have some finished project to show, but I am going to try to change that to showing something, even if it is not a project or not finished. There are many times when I think to blog because I want to, but then I do not have anything to show so I don't. Can you tell that I desperately trying to adhere to a blogging schedule, lol?

Then colored with a variety of colorants, from Inktenses to Copics to gel pens...

Some things to share:
One: YAY, that annoying pop-up sign-in box is gone! I finally figured out what was causing it and where it was so I could delete it. What it was, was one of the blog links on one of my sidebar sections had become a password-protected closed blog after I linked it. And discovering that could happen sort of freaked me out, because it could happen any time. So, I think I'm going to eliminate my sections of blog links. You have no idea how close I came to shutting this down because of that pop-up. Now, maybe I'll try a make-over on it and keep it. The fact that I'm also on Flickr and now Facebook (I am going to add that link to my "my web sites" sidebar section, send me an FR!) just adds to my meh-ness about blogging. I could also try once a week instead of twice. We'll see. LOL, yes we will, won't we (as in que sara sara, like I'm that reliable to begin with? winkwink).

And finally, cut it down a bit and mounted on a card base with a little felt border lace and an old metal embellishment and felt flower aka Prima old school.

Two: the stenciled flourish, above, was one of my many attempts at unleashing my doodling. There's no doodles on there, you say? That's because each and every attempt got to a point in the process where I my muse envisioned something other than lesson.

Two stencils sprayed with Adirondack Ink...

And, I'd really like the look so I opted every time to go ahead and follow my muse. It was like, wow, I bet I can't make that again, better use it. I dunno, I've got a real block about loosening up the look of my art.

Acrylic paint on foam stamps...

I had fun, though. If the object was to play and explore supplies and let expression flow, then I was very successful.

An acrylic ink wash and some outlining in black wc pencil and smudge-shading with a damp Qtip...

I still haven't figured out what I'm gonna do with this piece, above. I look and see a city building, so I'll pull out my collage sheet doors. I can make 2 card fronts out of this one piece if I can find where the perfect place to cut it in half is...

Judging a Book's Cover and Adjusting Time

2012-01-09T21:47:00.000-06:00

I finished altering my True journal and I love it! I took a few photos throughout the process to share with you. Picking up where I left off in my last post...

I added more inking to the green stripes of my journal cover front, and it made it look a lot better. Then, I inked a scalloped canvas circle that I had in my stash with the green ink. I also used my Cropadile to punch holes around the circle perimeter.

I got this idea to put the spine text on a piece of ribbon, so I chose some twill. I thought, let's ink that as well, so I did. If you didn't know you could alcohol ink fabric that you are not planning to wash, well, you certainly can. I cut two holes in my spine cover with my Cropadile, thinking I'd run the twill through them.

Then, once I got my cover inked the way I wanted it, I covered it with 2 good coats of my beloved Royal Coat decoupage finish-sealer.

Next, I found some alphabet stamps I hadn't used in awhile and stamped my words onto deli paper. I then scor-taped the deli paper to the twill, and then the twill to the spine of the journal. I used my embossing stylus to push the ends of the twill through my holes and knotted each one off.

Then I added deli paper strip stamped words to my canvas circle and glued it to the front of my journal cover to what was originally there.

Finally, a photo collage of my finished product. I have a completely functional altered cover, one that is beautiful but will not get in my way as I actually use my journal. I'm glad to have gotten this job over with, and I'm also glad that I was able to use my stash in new and imaginative ways. Plus, I love that my cover looks so organic and utilitarian in its beauty. That is not easy for me to create, usually.

Now, just a few very raw thoughts here, as I am already having difficulties with my time management. While I was sooooo excited to be taking a certain doodling class online, I now find myself thoroughly disenchanted with it. I seem to be frozen solid in place as far as continuing the lessons. For one thing, I've realized that it is intimidating me to look at the teacher samples. I mean, when your teacher creates stuff that is so awesome, what else do you do but try to imitate hers? And I don't want to do that. I want to create MY art. I'm all for imitating to learn, but when you have to do so much prep work and invest so much time in the imitating, it becomes an issue of why am I not just creating my own way?

The other huge thing is that I'm not getting the order of product down good in my mind. She layers product of varying permanences, and I apparently need a lot more training in that. It gives me a headache to try to keep from creating brown mud. And, the pens and markers she uses on top on it all make me even more frustrated. I love pens and markers and have plenty, but I'm not going to ruin them all just for her class. People are having trouble with this, and with the layers, and we are left to experiment it all out. Fine if that's the only class taken, but it is too much dang time if you are taking more than one class.

Today I woke up thinking, enough of this. I'm just gonna audit the rest of the class just to put an end to all the grief and stress and worry. Use it to pick up a tip or two, but that is it. I start a class in lettering later in the month, a paid class, and that teacher's style is similar, so I will probably be able to incorporate what tips I learn in the doodles class to the lettering class, but in a more sparse, calm, less complicated way.

I've tried hard not to diss either the doodle class or its instructor (who I think very highly of as an artist). If I were wanting to learn how to do art *that* way, or if I had more available time to experiment, I'd be less frustrated. Diving into it is not working for me right now, so sometimes you just have to suck it up and make hard choices when you want to be TRUE to yourself...

Art Journal Journey 2012

2012-01-06T19:34:00.000-06:00

I've finally decided that my One Little Word for 2012 is:

My inspiration for choosing *true* was a New Years poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson:

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

~Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850

Once I warmed to the word, other phrases, like Elvis Costello's "My aim is true" (my nickname is Aimes and Aim) and Cindy Lauper's "True Colors", came to mind. Then, I realized that my goals for 2012, trying to stay TRUE to what my time management survey told me were my interests, would echo this word well.

Primary 2012 art goals:
1. Get back into art journaling and make it a habit and my main expression of artistic creativity.
2. Get back into scrapbooking.
3. Organize, archive, print and album (in photo albums and scrapbooking)our photos.

Secondary 2012 art goals:
4. Swear off making atc's and other tiny art, unless it is for #6.
5. Continue creating greeting cards for family and close friends, but spend less time on them and build up an inventory ahead of time.
6. Make altered and mixed media stuff that is functional to my needs, for example, complete my holiday tree hanging art and other projects I've had on my list for awhile.

You know, I might just cut and paste my goals into a permanent post I keep at the top of this blog so I am reminded. And my readers, too. Maybe one of you will call me to task if I STRAY???? Please do! While I do reserve the right to change my mind, that would be a great source of support, and sometimes it takes someone else to notice something we cannot ourselves see.

So, onto #1. I am in the year-long class Book of Days with the lovely Effy Wild, and also in a Strathmore class called Doodles Unleashed, being taught by the lovely Traci Bautista (one of my permanent top 5 art inspirations and art mentor of all time) . I am not really participating in either of these in a wholly literal way, meaning I'm not going to do every assignment exactly as assigned. I'm going to just art journal and hope that my pages fit in okay, incorporating the teachings when and where I can.

In Book of Days, Effy has assigned that we make a pocket page in our journal. Well, I may eventually do that but I already did that when I took the Gwen Diehn Decorated Pages class. Right now, I'm not really caring if I have a pocket page in my journal or not. Here is my 2012 American Express planner and datebook that I receive every year from them:

I have 5 of these, I think. I ordered them for 2006 an 2007, but skipped 2008 and 2009. At some point, I began art journaling in them, doing backgrounds in Kelly Kilmer's class. And I discovered that I loved the shape of the book (just about 8" square), loved the page papers (heavy, took wet media well, and is loaded with cool images and factoids), and I loved how well it is made (stitch-bound well with a nice cover material). So, in 2010, I began ordering them again, and I have 2010, 2011 and 2012. So, I have plenty of them to art journal in!

I had been tempted to make the 2012 planner my 2012 art journal, BUT I like writing in them during the year for various reasons. So, I decided to just make the 2006 one be my current art journal, and work my way forward. While I've art journaled as a diary of my days before, I do not really enjoy that, so I'm just art journaling generic stuff that I feel like expressing. Ergo, the year of the planner makes no difference. Plus, if I change my mind on this, I will have my 2012 planner un-altered and ready to use if I want to art journal a current diary.

Every year, the inside covers have this same cool waters patterns.

See how well it takes paint on it.

This is what an inside planner page looks like. I sometimes free-write nonsense in them prior to altering. On this page, I pretended I was a brain surgeon with that daily schedule (in the square box). Then, I just wrote sentences as they came to me, no rhyme or reason. This is a writing exercise I developed on my own to help me when I have a block, and it is fun to look back and read what I wrote down.

The first year that I chose a word was Focus in 2007, and I decorated the cover of my 2007 planner with alcohol inks because the cover material is like a padded plastic leather and takes the inks well. So, when Effy assigned us in Book of Days to decorate our cover, I went to the alcohol inks again.

This is the 2007 Focus planner cover I decorated with alcohol inks. I later art journaled in this in 2010 when my word was Play, so it has some pages art journaled. When (no if!) I fill my 2006 planner that is now my True Journal for 2012, I will continue in this 2007 planner and add to those pages. I will just re-alter the cover to cover the words and date already on it.

This is the alcohol ink color combination I chose for my True journal cover: Stonewashed Blue (for "true blue"), Lettuce Green and Wild Plum, with just a touch of Gold mixative. Can you see the hole on the spine top? Made one there and one at the bottom with my Cropadile, for adding a spine title later. All I am going to add to this cover is some paper or image to cover the middle portion that has the date and that square.

First coat. I like the way the silver cover shows through, kind of greyish-silver and makes the blue look almost grey as well. I checked the Pantone 2012 colors, and these colors fit in perfectly!

Still trying to decide if I'm going to keep it this way or put on more of a coating of color. The wooden applicator and those felt squares aren't working well and they tick me off, so I'll have to put on my latex glove and just hold the stupid felt squares to apply more color.

I kind of like the organic feel that the partial coating gives off. I want to keep the cover simple and understated, finishing it off only with a few coats of my beloved Royal Coat decoupage sealer. A lot of artists love to junk up their covers and make them really 3D and chunky. Not me. I like to keep my covers flat because it is really difficult for me to art journal inside a bound book with a chunky cover!

So while those next steps percolate in my mind, I went onto my first art journal page. Traci has assigned us in Doodles class to just gather our markers, pens, stamps, stencils, inks, paints and work them! Most of the class is drawing and doodling flowers, circles, stuff like that and I will probably do that too, but for my first art journal page of the year I wanted to do one that involved something I'd been feeling lately.

Here is how my page began. I wrote some nonsense along the top and the bottom of the spread that I had background-painted with watercolors. I added a Hambly tree rub-on, some hand written text, some polka dots and a photo of me.

I altered this photo to make my face look as invisible as possible before printing it. Then I added some washi tape and a German scrap crown.

Next, I added some white acrylic border scallops outlined in red Sakura gelpen, and more dots.

The finished page spread: another border on the other side, more and more and more dots, TCW stenciling bottom left and top right (yes, those clouds are a stencil) with acrylic paint, and the remainder of my handwritten journaling on the righthand side.

I have had a HUGE positive response to this page upload on Facebook and in my class groups, and while it has been awesomely gratifying and flattering, I now am having to really pep-talk myself away from freezing up with fear and negativity about making a second page! As in, it won't be as good as my first one. And it probably will not be! Oy, if anyone has any advice to deal with this, I would REALLY appreciate hearing it!

Since this first page spread took me 3 days to complete, I'm currently planning on making 2 pagespreads a week a loose goal. I may or may not post my progress on a page. It's fun to do but I think it depends on the page. We'll see. So, see youz next time!

Happy 2012!

2012-01-01T23:50:00.092-06:00

Best Wishes for Your Best Year Yet!

I'm taking this first week "off", laying low, preparing for my activities to resume around Jan. 8th, I believe. I never should have gotten sick on Christmas. It has just devestated my timetable, so I am trying to adjust.

I was a week behind going into Christmas. This past week was almost entirely spent recovering, so that probably makes it two weeks. And I'm getting tired of feeling like I'm never caught up or even on top of something.

So, that usually means change. Making changes. Subtracting and adding. Rearranging. Well, bring it on, cuz I'm also a bit bored with daily life have been so stable for me in 2011. I'm ready to go out on a limb to get a new stable for 2012, lol. Yeah, I'm not a big risk taker. winkwink

To that end, as I do every January, I signed up for some online classing. I'm not for sure of all the deets, so my guesses are in parentheses. One stamp carving class (4-6 weeks?)...I paid for this one, so it's like the most important class, also the one that ends the soonest and easiest to get money's worth.

Then, one book study class on Making Handmade Books by Alisa Golden. This one is free and will be several weeks, open-ended in a way. I had the book and the supplies, and figured it was a sign. I am not one to snub Karma.

Last class is a free, year-long art journaling adventure called Book of Days. It is the least commitment-wise, the most open-ended, and the most unconventional. I am timidly curious abut how it will work out. (Perhaps if I read the class docs and watch the vids, I'll know more. Off to do that as soon as I post this.)

Another factor in my change agenda is the results of the art time management survey I got back. Earlier in the year I'd won the survey in a contest in one of my magazines I subscribe to. It expired 12/31/11, so I made myself answer a million questions and get it done. But, it did help me see that although I rate making atc's and greeting cards as low on the satisfaction and goal scale, I spend the vast majority of my time on them. Ergo, this is what is keeping me from completing my goals or finding more satisfaction from my arting.

So, even though I feel I must continue to make greeting cards for family and close friends, I can and pledge to adjust to doing them in groups and very simply designed and quickly made. Next weekend I will have a card day to make the rest of January cards. And another weekend day before the month ends to do February cards. That's the plan.

If I stick to it and do that, then I won't have it always hanging over my conscience to be making a card. I won't always have to put off arting on something I want because I have to make a card. That nag is sucking the spirit out of me. So, no competitions. No entering any cards anywhere. Why? Because sometimes that tempts me to spend more time getting something perfect when I'm not worried about being perfect for the recipient. A little warped thinking there.

As for the atc's, I'm simply going to try to not make them. I have 3 binders full of swapped atc's. It's so much time spent on such a tiny landscape. I've been the most active in yahoo groups that swap and mingle and lottery atc's, and I will have to stop participating that way. Maybe I should probably leave those groups, but I like the people in them.

So, in addition, I need to finish my craft room and I also need to finish organizing my photos and the Stacy Julian class I took over the summer. I hope to get back into some scrapbooking. In my art journaling, I decided on using my old American Express bound planners as journals, for now. And whatever else that class offers that I feel comfortable doing. Underneath this is following Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's art journaling on her blog. I would bet she will be giving me some good ideas as well.

More Birthday Cards

2011-12-29T02:22:00.000-06:00

Baby Steps Better and Birthdays

2011-12-28T03:03:00.000-06:00

I'm baby-steps better, meaning I feel better, then not so much, then even better, then not so much. Full recovery may take a few more days. In the meantime, I've a few birthday cards to share that I've recently made.

flickr digital credits: Constancet for the checker borders and mat; Becky F for hats; Joy Northrup (autumn sensation) for focal image.

A Tale of Two Turkeys

2011-12-27T03:00:00.000-06:00

Well, I hope your Christmas went better than mine, dear readers. I awoke early on Sunday morning to a huge urge to upchuck. Santa left me a stomach virus, making my Christmas a real turkey.

But then, on Monday as I was recuperating (and still am), I learned that my Thanksgiving turkey card had been chosen by Gingersnap Creations as one of the 10 Ginger Gems this week for Challenge 128: Yellow, Red and Brown! So I say, that's a turkey worth having!

I'm quite excited and honored to be in the company of the other winners -- amazing art. And I'm very thankful to my friend Cathy, who is the person who suggested I enter. And I'm also so happy she won the drawing and prize for her darling creation.

All this was exciting and fun enough to make me escape my crappy post-viral state for a while. I appreciate that definitely a lot!

Here's hoping I'm even better tomorrow so I can share the December birthday cards I made.

Christmas Cards, Batch #2 - Continued

2011-12-25T02:59:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas! Hope you are having a festive yet relaxing and refreshing day, and thanks for gifting me with a visit. Here are the rest of the Christmas cards:

Christmas Cards, Batch #2

2011-12-24T04:48:00.001-06:00

My apologies for not posting lately. I've gotten a little preoccupied with Facebook when I haven't been card making and holidaying. I guess that goes with the nature of the season. And one of these days, I'll get around to uploading a button or badge or whatever. At any rate, I wanted to share the cards I made in the second batch I did for this year.

You may recall that my first batch included 30 cards done in a weekend prior to any mailing and photographed as a group. Well, this next batch got done differently. For one thing, each card is more unique and started more from scratch. I even did a few double diagonal pocket cards using a tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers. But even constructing them the same way, each looked completely different and was. So, the process and progress went much slower. But, I was able to use up a bunch of my Christmas stash. That made me very happy.

This batch only has 20 cards in it. I will show 10 now and 10 tomorrow. I think you can click on each card to make it bigger if you want. I am also very sleepy and tired as I write this, so how about just a parade of cards without commentary? Enjoy!

(digital image credits: collage with crowabout, create with tlc)

(digital image credit: vintage feedsacks blog)

I promise I'll post again on Christmas Day, so stop back by to see the rest of the batch.

And Now, Some Vendor Praise

2011-12-15T03:04:00.000-06:00

Since I posted last, I've heard from many of you. Kudos to those of you leaving blog comments. Most of the emails I received could have been comments as well...guess the senders didn't want to go on the record even though they pretty much all said what the blog commenters did.

People want to know where good vendors are online. I have found that time after time, if online shoppers find a trustworthy, dependable vendor with good CS, they will shop them even if their prices are high. I know, I did it often enough during my early online shopping years.

I no longer will pay top dollar (unless it's just something I have to have right then and it is worth it to me...like that gorgeous blouse at the mall they only have one more of? You know the situation). But my point is, this is how far consumers will go to enjoy good CS. It is that important.

So, I'm going to do a positive post and share some of my best internet vendors with you. I'm sure you can add to the list with vendors you buy from, and I encourage you to do so on your own blog, or you can share in a comment.

There are several factors when judging whether an online vendor meets your standards, just like brick and mortar stores. For me, I assess a vendor's CS (which for me involves the actual communication as well as dependability, trustworthiness and product information. I also assess their product availability, prices, shipping prices and process, and their sales and coupons. To be honest, I never return merchandise so I never research that, but it probably should be included too.

First of all, I've got to acknowledge some big box bizzes that I always shop to compare online pricing, and I also buy from. Through trial and error over the years, I have found this to be an effective way of finding the best deals. Each shopper's list of big boxers will be different and unique to them because each shopping list is different. My husband does our grocery shopping, so my online shopping is limited to toilettries and drugs, clothes, art and scrapping supplies, and appliances. By far, the big boxer that I always open up a tab window for is Amazon. It, like my other vendors, has its own icon on my Faves toolbar. I find they have the highest price ALOT, so if my small vendor beats it, I know they aren't gouging me. Other big boxers I consult include Joanns, Hobby Lobby, Dick Blick, Office Depot and Lowes.

Now to the small vendors. Someone asked me which of my vendors was the nicest. I'd have to say, I have had some very nice vendors. It's a hard thing to choose just one, but my very first reaction is to say Korin at Sweet n Sassy Stamps. This woman will make anything right and will brighten your day while doing it. Plus her stamps are a great product and reasonably priced. A few others who come to my mind automatically include Inka Heaton of Altered Artifacts Etsy who gives awesome freebies, and the lady who owns Scrapbook Pal, not strong on talk, just flawless on getting you your order in 2 shakes of a lamb's tale and really great prices. Sherry at Happy n Scrappin' and the husband and wife team at BlueMoon Scrapbooking are also great to deal with, as is Paulette at Create with TLC Digital Stamps.

There are more, but a lot of them are no longer in business. I have found that vendors often burn out or get tired of it or want to move on in life, so the turnover rate is material. Having had my own business, I can attest that owning your own biz is a passion you give your life to, and sometimes it becomes impossible to juggle it all. It's a lot like riding the carrousel at the fair over and over, then needing to stop and get off, but you stay there as long as you can. It also may not even be a financial decision.

In the last 12 months alone, the dynamics of online shopping have changed drastically, so a store that fulfills your every need today may become annoyingly inadequate in no time flat. So examples I give today can be fiction in no time. But, today I can say that for art supplies, Blick is the hands-down cheapest, even factoring in the shipping. And I can also say that Scrapbook Pal beats Blick on more than a few items. Take Copic sketch markers. Blick's price is $5.25 or so. Scrapbook Pal's is $4.49 (you must be logged in to see it). Now, if you are buying several Copics, that's a chunk of change, not to mention that SP offers free shipping over $25. Blick's shipping deal isn't anywhere near there. If I were teaching a business school course on internet vendors, Scrapbook Pal would be one of my test case good guys. They do almost everything right.

More about this subject if I think of any other super vendors. I'm feelling a strong urge to go shopping now!

Burning Some Vendor Bridges

2011-12-14T16:15:00.001-06:00

This shopping season marks 10 years for me being an internet shopper and that gives me a decade of experience. And when I say an internet shopper, I mean shopping ONLY on the internet. I can honestly say I cannot remember physical shopping anymore...maybe a trip or two to Hobby Lobby or Michael's, or a few Old Navy excursions with Missy. Otherwise, it's just been me, my computer and the UPS guy.

Over the years I've shopped many an online vendor. I could probably write a book about them. I know who has crappy customer service and who will give you the shirt off their back if need be. I know who is fast and who is slow. The vendors who have done right by me have become my staples, my go-to guys. And like an elephant, I never forget.

Because I owned my own home business for 20 years, I have also tried to be understanding about other owners' quirky behaviors. I know that when I was in business, there were things I would and wouldn't do, things that my clients should and should not expect. So perhaps I was unusual by candidly and clearly informing my clients of said quirks, but I firmly believe that all business owners should be forthcoming. Like, this is my biz, this is how I run it, if you like it great, if you don't, you should go elsewhere. In the end, trust me, everyone will be better off with honesty.

So, it is with this mindset that I'm blogging today. There are 2 vendors I've done business with who have embedded themselves like a stinging bee in my bonnet, and it hit me the other day, why should I feel like I have to keep their dirty secrets? Because I value highly my ability to buy whatever I want without leaving my chair, I've always picked my battles in order to keep being able to shop with as many vendors as possible. But it's time to burn a few bridges.

On December 2, after having seen enough Tim Tags to notice, I realized I did not have a punch or diecut of pine needle branches. So, I looked at what was available online and decided on Martha Stewart's pine branch punch:

I googled for a vendor and after trying several who were sold out of the punch, I found this one who had it in stock. I must have been in a trusting mood, because the multiple names of Discount Yarn Sale, Sumptuous Yarn Sale, and Luv To Craft didn't raise an eyebrow. I placed my order the evening of December 2.

The following Monday, I received an automated email from them, the usual yadayada about thanks for ordering and then some unspecific garble about "Ships Within" time frames with a link to it on their website, which I clicked on and tried to read. But it was a list of I guess items or brand names with times it took to ship -- here, I'll paste it here for you to read...and if you can find Martha Stewart, punch, scrapbooking tools, or anything even remotely descriptive on here of the item I purchased, I'll be grateful, because I can't so why did they even send it to me? To annoy me? IT WORKED, because it required me to try to look up the answer to my own question and didn't even do a good job of that.

SHIPS WITHIN TIMEFRAMES
Araucania - Special Order
ArtYarns - 4 - 8 weeks
Bernat - 1 week
Books - 1 week
Caron - 1 week
Clearance Merchandise - 1 week
Craft Lamps - 1 week
Crochet Supplies - 1 week
Debbie Bliss - Special Order
DMC - 1 week
Ella Rae - Special Order
Elsebeth Lavold - Special Order
Euro - Special Order
Hemp For Knitting - 3 - 4 weeks
Jojoland - 2 - 3 weeks
Karabella - 2 - 3 weeks
Katia - Special Order
Kertzer - 4 - 12 weeks
Knit One Crochet Too - 3 - 4 weeks
Knitting Fever - Special Order
Knitting Machines - 1 week
Knitting Supplies - 1 week
Kraemer - 2 - 3 weeks
Laines Du Nord - Special Order
Lion Brand - 1 week
Louet - 3 - 4 weeks
Louisa Harding - Special Order
Malabrigo - 4 - 6 weeks
Moda Dea - 1 week
Mondial - Special Order
Mountain Colors - 4 - 8 weeks
Mystery Bags - 1 week
Noro - Special Order
NY Yarns - 1 week
On Line - Special Order
Patons - 1 week
Plymouth - 2 - 3 weeks
Queensland Collection - Special Order
Red Heart - 1 week
Sirdar - Special Order
Stylecraft - 4 - 12 weeks
Sublime - Special Order
SWTC - 2 - 3 weeks
TLC - 1 week

The only thing closest to my item might be Clearance, and that time frame is 1 week. However, my item didn't say Clearance, it said Sale.

At any rate, fast forward to December 10. I had not received a shipping notice yet, so I was concerned. I emailed them that it had been 9 days so what was the status of my order? A few hours later I get this cryptic email:

Thank you for your inquiry. All shipping times are located on our website. To locate the shipping time for your order, please go to www.SumptuousYarnSale.com and navigate back to the item you ordered -- the estimated "ships within time-frame" is located directly above the item description. Please add an additional 3 - 5 days UPS or USPS shipping time to the "ships within time-frame" to obtain total estimated shipping time. Please be aware that while we strive to ship your order within the "ships within time-frame", all shipping times are estimates. Please allow up to 15 additional shipping days for international orders.

For additional shipping information, please review our policies page. Please do not respond to this automated email. If you have further questions about your order, please contact us at customerservice@discountyarnsale.com.

Thanks,
SumptuousYarnSale.com

Oh wow. That cryptic stupid timeframe list again. That is no answer, unless the question is, how do I anger, annoy, irritate a customer to no end, and make them slowly suspect I am trying to blow them off or avoid them?

I just tried my best to forget about it, as I had more important things to do that evening. Fast forward to today...I finally get what I had been expecting a week ago: a shipping notice, and guess what folks? It's from USPS, whom everyone who does any online shopping at all knows doesn't give out squat in the way of tracking info to the customer. It's only a formality for the vendor in case the package is lost. That is about how useful it is.

So, MAYBE if I'm lucky I'll receive my punch by Friday of this week. But if I don't and it comes next week, that will be THREE WEEKS after I ordered it. And that is disgraceful, BUT would I be mad about it like I am now if this vendor had just told me this after my inquiry email? No, I would not be mad. I would be informed.

What I'm angry about is being treated badly, impersonally, stupidly and evasively. You know, it's not the crime, it's the coverup, right? And this is the lesson that I expect, in 2011, for small-time online vendors to learn or be driven out of business, because the only leg-up they have is great customer service over the bigtime businesses. That's make or break. And if you are giving crappy cs, then I'm calling you out!

So, Luv to Craft / Sumptuous Yarn Sale / Discount Yarn Sale or whatever the hell your name is, you SUCK and I will never, never, never, never, never EVER give you another dollar. And, I will tell everyone I know, and leave the link to this post wherever I can. If you want to learn your lesson, then change your ways. Amazon gives me better customer service than you do, and they are a big giant robot.

Also, after trying to do business for 3-4 years with Third Coast Rubber Stamps, I quit. I have probably ordered 3 times in total, and the biz is only 30 miles away from me, yet all 3 orders took almost 3 weeks to reach me. That is ridiculous, folks. On top of that, they do not even have an online cart. You have to email the order in. My last order, she emailed me back and asked me to interpret my order because it was too hard for her to read! That was the last straw for me. I am really no longer in the market for stamps as I have no more room to store any, but even if I were I will not spend one more penny at this store. That last order, I even emailed her and asked when I'd be getting my stamps. She hemmed and hawed and never gave me an answer. I finally snapped that must have meant, when I damn well get around to filling your order is when you'll get it. Well, okay. Got it. Too bad YOU don't really get it.

And lastly, I do not care WHO these vendors are. They could be the first cousins of the president and it would not matter. Their customer service sucks and that is all there is to it.

Altered Art

2011-12-08T22:59:00.001-06:00

I've been busy lately making some dimensional stuff for a few swaps / mingles. I finally finished them all and they've been swapped out, so now I can share with you.

The first piece is an altered cd ornament that I made for the November lottery at my Altered Designs yahoo group. I had won October's lottery, so I got to pick the theme and I thought this would be fun, given the name of our group...right? It was fun. The November winner received a set of 10 beautiful ornaments.

Next is yet another cd ornament, made this time for a special holiday project mingle at Altered Designs. We could do another altered cd, and I had so much fun doing the first one, so I did. This time I played with glitter, in different forms. I discovered some very cool product already on my shelf. Stickles fine Glitter rocks! Yep, they no longer make it (googled it, nada), but I bought a jar way back when, when it came out, never used it, so now it's like Christmas. The stuff is AMAZING. So shiny. Really makes me wonder if it was retroactive or something, why they no longer make it. Oh well, there is risk in everything!

Another product I had forgotten I had was Diamond Dust and it's cool too. I googled it as well...it's crushed glass. And what it does after the glue dries is neat. I did the watermarked snowflake on the orange side that is on the orange paper. After I'd burnished it heavily with my fingers and took most of the glitter off, I was left with a translucent and watery-looking snowflake.

Silent night...

2011-12-06T23:18:00.002-06:00

Wow, my email volume has significantly decreased this evening, wonder what's up? I know that down here where I live, people are bundled up and hunkered downcuz it's about 36F now and is forecast to be 33F by 6am Wednesday. We really don't know how to operate well in that weather, winkwink.

At any rate, I'm sure to hear about it later. In the meantime, I've got a backed-up inventory of art to share!

I thought I had put up all the Thanksgiving decorations, winkwink. Guess not. This was an experiment that turned out pretty darn cute, I thought. It was made for my Altered Designs yahoo group weekly mingle and is a 3x5 Skinny. I used a Quickutz thought bubble/cloud, turkey and alphabet.

This is my 60's retro chic altered shrine to friendship, made for my Paper Traders yahoo group's 6th anniversary shrine swap. I had to follow a blueprint for the general shape and size. I used 6 blocks, and FRIEND is a six-letter word.

Just another manic....Tuesday?

2011-11-29T09:16:00.000-06:00

Dang, where did my Monday go? And Sunday, Saturday....ok, I do remember Friday. It was black, right?

The rest of my Thanksgiving cards...all two of them (I already showed you the third one in the last post.) Images from The Graphics Fairy and Google images. Forks sentiment and Feast stamp by Create with TLC. Utensils stamps by Crafty Secrets. Both cards use Stampers Corner sketches.

My Fairy 4x4 deco for a fairy-themed yahoo group swap. Digital images from Crowabout. Fairy stamp from Dee Gruenig for Posh. Coach stamp unknown.

A get well card with a nurse theme for the current Paper Traders blog challenge Working Women. Images from Dover, Google images, nurses image from The Graphics Fairy.

A note card using another Working Women - themed image from DezinaWorld . Sentiment stamp from MFT. Stampers Corner sketch.

Happy Turkey Day!

2011-11-24T02:18:00.001-06:00

Stampers Corner sketch 303, graphic image from The Graphics Fairy , and added to Gingersnap Creations' GSC128: Color Challenge - Yellow, Red and Brown

Best Wishes for a Gobbly Good day!

I'm Baaaack (and just in time)

2011-11-21T15:01:00.000-06:00

Well, I had a very productive time away. Got my first batch of 30 holiday cards done - YAY! The next 30 will not go this quickly, but these were made using some very old Oriental Trading window cards I've had since Missy was at that school age where I bought stuff for PTA projects and such.

I know I haven't ordered from OT in years. And I had to make a flyer for my neighborhood, so when I got out my Christmas stationery box to get paper for that flyer, I spied the window cards and told myself, either make something with these or throw them out.

Last year after the holidays, I'd moved all of my Christmas supplies to a large box, thinking that I could work on holiday cards through the year from it. HA! Great idea, very bad execution. I did not touch that box all year. Til now.

Armed with these card blanks, I pushed myself to find creative ways to decorate them with what I had. It was not easy, at first. And those star windows were not my favorites. But I forced myself to quit preconceiving and just have fun.

And in the process, I impressed myself a few times with my resourcefulness and embrace of the unconventional.

I was very afraid that using stickers and such on shiny card stock would look childish and amateurish. But, none of them look that way. Almost all of these cards are nice enough to give to anyone on my list. The cards that I'm least in love with will go to those on my list who don't really appreciate the handmade card or I'm not that close to. (That'll probably be the star cards, but even among those I do have a few faves.)

At any rate, I kept things simple and clean on purpose. My main goal was to get 30 made and under my belt. Using up so much of my black hole stash was a huge bonus. It felt so good!

Jet Lag Monday

2011-11-07T14:44:00.000-06:00

No, I didn't fly anywhere, but I feel like I have. I think it's basically that I was creating left and right like a bat out of Halloween, and once I slowed down that did it. I still have things I need to make, so I'm taking a tiny little breather (which includes going thru my computer folders and looking for any art I have not shared here yet...something I'm sometimes guilty of).

Shiver Me Fall Timbers!

2011-11-05T23:51:00.002-05:00

The heat was turned on here at Casa Miguel for the first time this season Friday night and the house stunk like the familiar smell that makes you think something is burning. Gotta love it. Our low outdoor temp was 39F. I was impressed. All the way down here, it got that cold. For the first time in years, I was feeling the Fall in the Fall Back An Hour. Which, if you are reading this and have not moved your clocks back if you are supposed to, then go do it.

The atc above, Happy Fall Y'all, was made for a monthly lottery in my Altered Designs group, but I won the lottery (yay, me!), so I ended up sending it to the lady who won the monthly lottery in my Paper Traders group because my wonderful husband gave that card to my nephew! What a bad husband! That atc was the Texas A&M collage I'd done, and I kind of thought my nephew would like it, but talked myself out of it because teens are not predictable. As it happened, said nephew visited and said husband showed it to him (he knows where I hang my art that is waiting to be mailed), and for the first time (and the last if he knows what's good for him) my husband decided to be my agent or something. In his defense, he said he figured I would want said nephew to have it, and he's right if I had not already promised it elsewhere. Anyway, the lady it was meant for was very nice and kind about it. I gave her a choice of 2 ATC's and she chose this one.
I used punches and Pearl-X for coloring. And got to use some of my brads that live in my black hole of stash.

This camping card was made for my friend who bought a camp in Maine. It's to congratulate her husband and her. I had a blast creating it. I used Card Patterns sketch 138. The sky is made with a scalloped circle mask and distress ink. The ground at the bottom is distress ink as well. The mountains behind the tree line is Basic Grey, the RV and trailer is a Quickutz 2x2 diecut and the trees are a border stamp by Clear Dollar Stamps.

This castle card, above, was made for my friend Katy who has moved up north to be with her aging dad. The castle stamp is ScrollsWork, and I cannot remember who makes the background text stamp. The frame is a Spellbinders diecut.

Don't forget to fall back an hour!

Happy King Tut Day!

2011-11-04T22:56:00.001-05:00

November 4th is King Tut Day. Why? His tomb was discovered on this day in 1922.

Somewhere I'm imagining Steve Martin dancing in commemoration. If you are one of his twitter followers, tell him to get those happy feet going.

Well, if would be really cool if I had some Egyptian themed art to share, but, alas, I do not. I do, however, have some other themed art to share today.

The card above was made as a note card / atc holder, using Splitcoast Stampers sketch #356 and my ever-present paper scraps and old supplies. The patterned paper is Basic Grey, the blue card stock is Bazzill, the brown is unknown. The square alpha stickers are Melissa Francis, the round ones are Joanns, I think.

The card above was another one made with my scraps and old supplies, this time using Splitcoast Stampers sketch #357. The patterned paper was a RAK gift, the striped paper is Urban Lily, those photo corners are Chatterbox, flower center chipboard is K&Co, the paper flowers were in a RAK.

The atc above was made for an Altered Designs weekly mingle. The mermaid is a Posh stamp by Dee Gruenig. I heat embossed the mermaid with PolySparkle powder (which is not fine and a bit clumpy, which is why you see glittery bits of it) and colored with Copics, then drew the background freehand. I had to include that Tennyson quote because it seemed to fit so well.

And finally, the note card /atc holder above that I just finished was made using Mojo Monday sketch 213. I received a gorgeous piece of embossed and distressed paper in a RAK a while back that looks like leather or cowhide. I used my Coluzzle to cut a circle of it, which you see as the base layer on top of the Bazzill shimmer blue card stock. I had the striped twine leftover from my Circus card along with all of the card stocks I stamped on. The focal image of the cowboy and lady is a 1StampDreamer stamp, and the sentiment is a The Paper Studio stamp. I used my oval Coluzzle to cut the sentiment. I used my finger sponge tool to add some Tim Holtz Aged Mohogany ink to most of the edges.

I had originally cut the focal image card stock too short by mistake. So, I punted. I cut 2 more thin strips from what I cut off and added them to the top and bottom of the short piece. It gives a neat textural mosaic effect, and allowed me to stamp the image in its entirety instead of cutting off the boots or the hat (neither of which are trivial to a cowboy dressed up to go to the rodeo, right???).

November's Here

2011-11-03T21:38:00.002-05:00

My latest greeting card, for my youngest nephew, who is turning 7. I put the poop reference in the inside sentiment in hopes he gets the giggles. That's a neat present for your birthday, right? Goes great with the money I sent with the card. This is possibly the last time I'll get to make any of my nieces or nephews a so-called baby card, so I went all out. I used Card Patterns sketch 139. SU cardstock, Graphic45 patterned paper, Quickutz Khaki fonts, and Kaisercraft circus animals and banner stamps.

This card was made for an online friend and I used Clean and Simple sketch 164 (CAS FTL164). I stamped on deli paper using Cornish Heritage Farms Royal Birthday stamp set. Here are two views of it, one photographed (left) and one scanned (right). Which one do you think looks the best? I frankly cannot tell. Each image brings out good things and bad in the card. For instance, the scan shows a bumpy ribbon (bad) but better truer colors. The image on the left looks washed-out but the ribbon looks good. Oh well, when in doubt, show both! hehehe (For a bigger photo, just click on images.)

Speaking of Cornish Heritage Farms (CHF), they are re-opening under new ownership on November 19th!!! I am soooooo happy to hear that and will be buying some new rubba real soon!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:58:00.000-05:00

Happy Haunting! I promised to post my final 3 Halloween art pieces and I found 2 more, so I have now have 5 cards in all. Hopefully I did not overlook any of my Halloween art this year!

How about just a runway share? Let's channel up a Wordless Monday! winkwink

I think it is safe to say that I'm ready to move onto other themes, but I sure wish I would have the gumption to keep on creating occasional Halloween creations year round. I have always thought it a bit weird how those who seek publication work on a different, speeded up calendar schedule than most of us, but more and more I am seeing that as an advantage. I highly doubt I would ever be able to do it though. If only. I should just stick to counting my blessings that, frankly, I'm not late on everything I do.

Speaking of which, onto to November? (That it has arrived so quickly just blows my mind...).

STILL More Boo-Ya!

2011-10-30T23:20:00.001-05:00

This 4x4 deco square was made by me for one of the weekly mingles in my Altered Designs yahoo group. The theme was Haunted Houses. I stamped the Artistic Outpost house with Ranger Perfect Medium embossing ink and then brushed on silver Pearl-X mica powder. *I think* that is what I did. To tell the truth, I played with so many materials and combos that I'm not 100% sure of any of them. Damn memory! I stamped the skeleton on deli paper and heat embossed it with Black Sparkle powder and then cut out. It gave just enough of a grungy coating to look appropriate (for a skeleton).

The two cards above were made using Clean and Simple sketch #163. They also were made with the intention of using up the rest of my ancient metal ghosts, and I succeeded!

This card was made to house an atc that I mailed off, and to send some Halloween greetings. I was basically piecing together paper scraps, trying to get a cottage or folk-art look. I cut out the bats and the sentiment from other patterned paper scraps.

Well, see you again tomorrow with my final 3 Halloween creations!

More Boo-ya!

2011-10-29T23:54:00.001-05:00

The atc (above), titled *Imitation Is Limitation*, was made for the Paper Traders *Spiders Hate Orange* blog challenge, which ends today. We had to have a spider on the artwork, and no orange color. I plan to put this card in the Paper Traders yahoo group monthly lottery. It was tons of fun to make and the idea for it came from me grabbing this sheet of handmade mulberry paper and realizing those little creepy crawlers were ants, not spiders. HA! on me. Anyway, I wanted to make something expressing individuality and while surfing a google search I found the quote (unattributed). It was either that one or Dare to be Different. Did I choose the right sentiment?

This is a skinny (3"x5") card using a Faux Batik technique on the background that was posted by Connie on the Paper Traders blog. I didn't follow the directions 100%, but I got exactly what I needed out of it for what I wanted to do and what I had to use. Love it when that happens! Dye re-inkers and a mister of water on mulberry paper.

This atc is a mingle card for my Altered Designs group. I stamped the witch and used the arch template again from Roni. I am almost finished up using that twill ribbon and I cannot wait. I'm tired of it!

Last time, I screwed up on my promise to post again *tomorrow*, but since there is only 2 more times to post until Halloween is over, I'll definitely be back daily. I have more spooky art to share, so see ya Sunday!

Too much art, not enough blog

2011-10-23T17:35:00.001-05:00

Sorry to have been MIA for so long, but I was kidnapped by the Muse and a few various health things, so I became very single-minded and went right to creating whenever I could. In fact, I'm still into it, but the shame of not having posted a blog entry in 14 days {the horror!} has made me atone my sin.

I have such a big backlog of art to share now, and I need to link a few of them to other sites from the blog, so I'm just going to dive in and share what I'm needing to link right now, even though they are out of order in terms of when I created them. Shall we begin?

*Carnival Knowledge* Altered Vignette Triptych

This altered vignette triptych is something I've been working on intermittently for over a month. And I am so so proud of it. Not as much for the artistic elements as for having successfully taken something from my life history and applied it to an art piece. It was conceived for a Fairs and Carnivals challenge over at the Paper Traders blog, but while planning it my daydreams took me back to my senior year in high school, and I had my vignette.

A look at the base - painted, stamped, and collaged with deli paper, then stamped over again...multiple muted layers of color and texture.

Our senior choir trip that fall was to the Texas State Fair. I was a pretty sheltered 16 (I graduated a year early). One of the other girls, Tina, was in drill team with me and she and I buddied up to enjoy the fair during our free time. (We were forbidden from walking around alone.) She was older, more mature, more experienced and more attractive, so I was basically along for a warm body required companion.

Beginning to collage on top of my yummy mixed media base...

Within 15 minutes of us leaving our group to go exploring, Tina had attracted 2 pretty nice-looking guys to pay for our rides and food. We were 20 minutes late getting back to our group and got the bawling out of a lifetime, but I didn't really care because I had a blast and felt wicked and grown-up...for the first time in my young life. I'd let a strange boy kiss me and I had kissed back! That was the first and last time I ever made it to the Texas State Fair, but it sure wasn't boring!

Peeking thru the fibers to see the left panel...

Now, who would be interested in an art vignette about kissing a stranger? Not many, so I took some poetic license and spiced it up a bit. I thought up a play on words with the title of the movie Carnal Knowledge, which is about wife swapping / swinging / marital infidelity. But, I just could not resist. It's sitting right in the middle of the word Carnival if you take out the i and the v. So, no, the transfer of memory was not literal. In fact, the implication is a huge leap, but still, that is how ideas begin sometimes.

Peeking thru to see the center panel up close...

And the right panel...

This was so fun to create, and I am finding that all of the challenges at Paper Traders blog are feeding my creativity by not limiting me to any size, medium or style. Each theme is about as unrestrictive as it can be, as well. I think the Muse and I are both happiest when we have that kind of freedom within a bare-bones structure. So, I am very much enjoying choosing to create their themes for art that I'm usually making anyway.

*Ancient and Modern* altered post card, with a mixed media painted base and collaged with various papers and printed Google images. The Columbus image in the center is a packing tape transfer, which is why you can see part of the map through his neck...looks really cool up close.

Another challenge piece for Paper Traders is this collaged 4x6" altered post card. This theme is Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue, meaning you need to have a boat or ship in the piece. I keep wanting to call this Master and Commander, lol. winkwink. I literally foound every single image, including text, on Google. I had a cut-out left over from a Sizzix frame diecut that I cut apart and rounded the cuts, and those are the light purple brackets at the top and bottom. The papers are scraps, and the base is thin chipboard that I had painted months ago. I colored the boat with pencils. The winged angel charm reminded me of those ornate figureheads adorning a ship's bow. I'm thinking, close enough to fake a cigar, eh? winkwink

This was created with a friend of mine in mind who is in the process of buying a camp and moving across the country, uprooting her usual life and relocating to a strange new place. So, I thought the sentiment was perfect. I've noticed that I have 4 or 5 online friends who are right now finding themselves in the very same boat, so to speak. I'm constantly amazed and admiring of their courage and resolve, because a couple of them are not sitting on good times to boot.

Well, enough for now. I'm tired and so are my fingers. Please consider joining in on the fun at Paper Traders blog. All you have to do is take a chance and try something new and fun, and no one is judging or critical of anyone's work. Until next time (I'm going to try and make that tomorrow!)........

xoxo,
Aimeslee

Boo-ya!

2011-10-08T05:33:00.000-05:00

It's about time to start sharing Halloween art, doncha think?

This atc *Little Monsters* was made for the Paper Traders yahoo group WTA lottery for September. Those monsters are Crafty Secrets stamps. I used Roni's gothic template again.

This Halloween tag was made using my LSS cards class technique of finding color and pattern similarities and then junking them on until the piece looks right. I focussed on black, orange and green, and dots and lines patterns. I got a Day of the Dead folk art look working and thought that was cool, plus look at all the scraps I used!

Game Day

2011-10-06T15:24:00.000-05:00

Over at the Paper Traders blog, one of the current challenges is "Game Day". Since I literally run from Monday Night Football and most other forms of that game, and I wasn't in the mood to do dice or bingo or chess or checkers or any board concoction, I went thumbing through my September Texas Monthly Magazine and came upon a ton of tiny images of Texas A&M activity in both articles and ads. I am not one to look a gifthorse in the mouth, so I began cutting...and this is what I ended up with.

Since I actually attended this school for a year back in the prehistoric age (before realizing it wasn't a good fit for me), I think it actually is a pretty good representation of what it is like to be at one of their games. I went heavy on the traditon, because, well, it is a school heavy on tradition. (You figured out why it wasn't my type yet? hehe) Don't get me wrong, I had a ton of fun there, and it was pretty challenging academically, too. Just not my cup of tea, and if you are an Aggie, you should be happy being one for life cuz you are gonna be exactly that.

Anyway, I ended up being pretty happy with this atc, so I may send it along to one of my nephews who has been planning to go there. Right now, it's in the WTA Lottery at Paper Traders, but if I give it to my nephew I'll just make another for the lottery.

Art For You

2011-10-05T21:24:00.000-05:00

I needed a note card to put a triptych in to mail, and you know I have to try to use my black hole of supplies whenever wherever. The key to lining up the letter squares is to adhere to a layer that will not show...a layer that is the same length and width as the total of the squares. Trim that layer so that it doesn't show when finished, then adhere to your project.

I made this for a yahoo group school-themed mingle last month and forgot to upload! Stamps are Create with TLC, Starving Artistamps, and Technique Tuesday (boy, wood background and word circle). Color, cut, and layer with supply scraps on hand.

The leaves stamp (cannot remember who made it) was colored using the Magic Pencil technique that a friend in one of my groups suggested and I googled. The phrase and the border are paper scrap collage. Made for an autumn leaves themed mingle.

Mingle theme: pumpkins. I took a pumpkin diecut and enhanced it with pencils. Added a Lawn Fawn hat stamp. Rooster is a stamp from Artistic Outpost, as well as the farm equipment he is perched upon. The rest is me drawing and painting with watercolors and pencils.

Me again...

2011-10-02T01:36:00.000-05:00

Meh.
I'm caught up in the question of
How the heck did it get to be October 1,
Already?

Our weather's been changing and The Arthurs blew in for a visit, so I've been dealing with that by trying to be as La-Di-Da as possible, no stress, no mess. It works, sometimes.

ATC made for my Altered Designs yahoo group "cowboys" weekly theme...

Another of our weekly themes was a triptych, and an idea came over me...and I got a little carried away, but this was pretty close to my vision:

Inside of my "Fairy Tales 411" triptych...

I finally got to use the king, lovers and queen stamps from ScrollsWork and they're tall so my folded triptych is 2.5" wide but it's 4.5" tall, a full inch taller than a normal ATC. Oh, well, artistic license!

Outside of my triptych. Title lettering is Quickutz Eliza font, and all the doodads are either Quickutz or Spellbinders.

I want to be sure to thank and credit Ink Stains with Roni for the atc template. I took it and made it into a one-piece triplet in PSE, printed it, cut it out and used it as my base to layer paper onto. They are free, so look on her left sidebar a ways down for Gothic Templates.
And finally, a card for National Card Day this weekend. I need to get off the girl cards and do some boy cards next!

More glittery ribbon! I used a Stampers Corner sketch and some old stamps I received in a RAK...

Just another card made with scraps, scraps and more scraps! I made the boxes by stamping on plain and patterned vellum scraps, cutting out and piecing together. Then I adhered to white cardstock and cut out.

A Stay for my Staycay

2011-09-27T17:38:00.004-05:00

Still playing with my sparkly ribbon!

I began my Staycay, then finally had to end it because I was getting none of what I wanted to get done. Other Life stuff kept rearing up needing my attention. And there is more to come, so I am now considering an alternate gameplan. Nothing bad's going on, thankfully. Just the usual crap...

And, I am turning comments back on and we will see how it goes. I think I am going to merge my blogs later this fall. I've chosen a new name for it and have to procur the blog name before announcing it. Then, the idea of moving my posts over? Ugh. Maybe I won't do that. We'll see.In the meantime, here is another piece of art I did for a weekly Birds theme in my Altered Designs yahoo group:

xoxo

Preparing for a Staycay...

2011-09-13T22:54:00.003-05:00

I've decided I'm gonna take a staycay vacay for a week. The idea's been gaining momentum with me all day, and I'm now starting to work on a bucket list of what I want to accomplish on it. It includes some fun excursions, but also some cdeep cleaning, cleaning out, and some rearranging, which I may not even reveal in detail because it might jinx it...all I'm saying at this time. But I've been making good progress on my furniture clearing and moving, and I've been doing my fitness stuff, so I'm feeling like I could be up to it. Plus, I am -- gasp -- a bit ahead in my art commitments (family cards, monthly lottery art, weekly theme art). So, I'm like, it's now or never. And as it includes packing up the various little makeshift workstations I've accumulated around the house, a stacay covers this well. Still don't know for sure the exact day it'll start, but this Friday is looking good. I will post a confirmation later.

But for now, more art to share!

This is a card I made using Stampers Corner sketch 293. It is the first of two cards I made where I went nuts with the ribbon...seems like the only way I'm gonna ever make a dent in my supply. On this one, I stamped on vellum, then colored it with Copics. The flame is coated with a yellow gelpen. I then ran it thru my Xyron to apply adhesive. That's the best way I know how to adhere vellum, yet still not perfect. After a few days, I'm seeing a couple of stubborn bubbles erupting. So much for that! It's sticking for the most part, though.

P.S. - See my sign above? I took a cartoon I found from googling "vacation postcards". In PSE, I created a new layer with a white background that was a couple inches bigger around than the cartoon, then layered the cartoon on top of it. Then, I used the Text tool in a dark purple to X out the Va and then added the Stay and turned it diagonally. Finally, I used the Brush tool in purple to stamp a brush around the edge to create a border. I changed to a darker purple and a smaller tighter brush to stamp around the very edge. Job done!

Even thouh there is really very little I know how to use in PSE, I try not to let that stop me! hehehehe

Too Fast Friday

2011-09-09T02:17:00.001-05:00

Is it Friday already? Whoa, this week's gone by like a flash! Must be because I made a lot of art all week, winkwink. So, I had better share some of it, huh? Okay...

First is a very simple digital hybrid page (for my Little Gluebook of Wisdom when I print and tip it into my journal). I created it for the Vintage School Memories art challenge over at Paper Traders blog that ends Sept. 14th. I used background papers and the focal image from Create with TLC. Is that not the sweetest vintage image? I loooovvvve it. I printed it out in black and white on my laser, then colored with Copics. I scanned it back in after coloring and added it as a layer to the papered background in PSE. I found the quote online. I added the black strip border to mimic the look of a composition notebook, with a brush preset. If I knew yet how to round corners, I'd have rounded the righthand ones. But I don't. Anyway, it was blatantly simple to do, I'm a bit embarrassed to say it was digital with all the complicated things folks do...digi-do...but hey, that is what it is, technically.

Next is a birthday card that I made for our oldest niece, who turns 29 (for the first time). Every single thing used is scraps stash. I think I finally used up all of this old paper collection from Urban Lily. Adding it to the back of my cards as well as the front definitely is helping deplete my stash. Slow and steady wins the race...

My final share today is a 4x4 piece for my Altered Designs yahoo group. The theme of the challenge was dancing. I believe the background stamp I used is from Impression Obsession. The floor is a stamp by ScrollWorks. And the dancing couple is a digital stamp from Create with TLC. The alpha stickers are ancient Nostalgiques. I went outside my comfort zone and glittered the edge of the perimeter, but as usual glitter and I have issues, so I tried salvaging it by coating that with some coffee ice stickles and it worked pretty well to seal down and coat the glitter that had ~~cooperated~~ stuck. At any rate, it ended up looking not half bad, pretty decent. So, if you are glitter-challenged like moi, try coating it with some stickles (or any glitter glue or plain glue or sealer). Let the original glue-down dry first so that it won't be mushy and sticky. And, worst-case, never forget our motto: All that glitters is not worth a crap! hehehe winkwink

TRUE Story

2011-09-03T23:53:00.002-05:00

"True" journal collage page in my Little Gluebook of Wisdom (click on it to see enlarged)

Okay, so. I'm sharing the finished result at the beginning of my story of how the page evolved.

It all began with this image (above), one I saved from my weekly Dover samples email and printed out on my black and white laserjet.

I ended up with this (above). The nice bold swirls background was what I was interested in replicating.

I then took a piece of parchment tracing paper and a Pentel Fine Point Fluid Correction Pen (aka whiteout) and began drawing the swirly background from the image onto the tracing paper.

I began outlining the pattern with the pen, which is good for small amounts of tracing at a time, thankfully (because of my arthritic hands).

Then I began filling in to make a solid pattern....

And ended up with this cool looking piece.

I was originally interested in using the pen as a resist medium to an inked page, I juiced up my brayer with some rainbow blues, greens, pinks and purples and rolled it on.

Gorgeousness!

I was digging how my imperfect application of the whiteout pen caused such texture with the ink seeping into the little bare nooks an crannies.

The look of this really reminds me of batik...

And here is the piece collaged onto my journal page background. I still had tons of cut up scraps from my last couple of projects - from when I used the color wheel to find my orange-green-purple triad. I collaged on a border with those, after laying down a smattering of those colors in acrylic paint around the outside edge of the page. That tracing paper is really transparent. I actually adhered the penned resist paper face down, because I really liked the look better from the back of it.

Oh, and the images of the women are just regular collage sheet images made into quick an easy packing tape transfers, which is why you can see the swirls thru them. Cool, huh? The sentiments are packaged scrapbook quotes from Autumn Leaves, I think (they are at least 5 years old). Since they are made out of vellum, they look transparent as well.

Next time you are looking for something different to use in your art, check out your office supplies. You may find some fun things to play with!

Tumblr Thursday

2011-09-01T21:46:00.001-05:00

Borrowing from the website of tumbled images, my Tumblr Thursday is a mishmash of images representing what I've been into this week:

Made a niece's birthday card using scraps, a stamp and a sketch from Stampers Corner...

Another one of my moon shots: this is an unadulterated photo, meaning it just came out that way! Cool, huh?

One stamp set, 2 cd cases: Sweet Peas stamp set from Cora's Clearly Vintage

Second set of neighborhood ducklings hanging out...

You've heard of bird watchers. Well, I'm a bit of a lizard looker. I love them...geckos, too. This, shot in sepia mode, was probably my best shot from a recent observation.

This diversion was brought to you by She Who Tries Desperately To Avoid Thinking About the Storm in the Gulf...aka me.

Butterflies

2011-08-31T23:50:00.095-05:00

3x5 collage card made for Altered Designs monthly lottery with a butterflies theme...

Take a background card and use a Flourishes Clouds stamp with Summer Sky Memento ink. Add some scraps cut into strips for the ground, and a punched sun and clouds. Then layer on a whole bunch of German scrap elements and decoupage with tons of fluid matte medium, finishing with a few absent-minded pen outlinings. Leave to dry overnight wrapped in wax paper under a heavy book.

I love Photoshop Elements User magazine and website, and also Elements Village, their online member community. They've really been good helpful resources lately for the questions I've had. I was stumped as to how I was gonna transfer over the signature Art by Aimeslee brush I'd managed to make, because I've now forgotten how I did it or even where I went to learn how to make it.

So, I went over to those nice places and rooted around the search box. Within minutes of reading results, I'd found something to try and it worked. Can't get better than that! (You have to save through the Preset Manager into a separate folder...mine is "A's Homemades", and it is where I will save all my homemade brushes.)

Now, I have to disclose that I subscribe to Photoshop Elements User magazine, and may get a little something more than those who do not subscribe whenever I log onto their website. I don't really remember. I just log on and window shop the candy store. (And I am not being compensated for these positive observes...they don't even know I'm writing this.)

The magazine is great. The latest one came today and there is a tutorial for virtual airbrushing portait photos to minimize wrinkles, double chins, pimples, and facial tones. Also a couple of cool goulish effects for eyes and making bodies ghostly. Online are video tutes for using Elements to get those iPhone Instagram and Hipstamatic effects, post production (which is how I would prefer to do that anyway as opposed to having to choose the effect when I shoot the photo).

I have to say, this magazine rocks and is timely and contemporary. No more learning how to just make cute tubes and masks. Between Elements User and permanent access to Kim Klassen's PSE classes, I may eventually master this software. I used to be able to do a tute once and I remembered it forever. Now, it goes in one ear and out the other, so I find that I have to do something over and over and over in order to retain it. Ugh, well atleast I can do that to retain it. I guess it could be worse. (not much, winkwink)

Good Life

2011-08-28T15:46:00.041-05:00

*The Good Life* ATC made for Paper Traders Dog Days of Summer blog challenge and the August WTA.

My heart and prayers go out to all the folks who battle Irene this weekend. Please know that as a sufferer of PostTraumatic Ike Disorder, I am permanently glued to the TV for the storm's duration, so I am constantly thinking about you.

I do have a few special online friends in the storm's path that I began thinking of. I've heard from Lynn and Diane in Virginia, and they are both okay. I am still waiting to hear from Teri in NYC and Linda in MD. But really, there are several folks I know on the east coast, so many that I cannot name them all. I just hope that you post on your blog as soon as you can to let us know you are ok. I worry.

Crisis averted

2011-08-24T23:27:00.002-05:00

Presenting my new third arm...

Doncha love how life is swilling along like usual, then it just ups and smacks you up the side of the head?

I'm by no means unique...this happens to far too many on a daily basis...but my smack came in the form of a sudden noisy fan on my beloved Gateway notebook this past Sunday. My initial reaction? Froze up with fear. dang, i hate when that happens. (and forgive my shift key failing occasionally, i'll explain later).

last time this kind of thing happened to me, it negatively impacted my life. i thought i had made effective changes, but faced with a pending repeat, i realized that i have not gone far enough. so that second notebook that my hubby has been telling me to order got ordered monday and is arriving tomorrow. (fed x tried to deliver it today but i did not hear their anemic door knock, so i'll have to just camp out tomorrow at the front door).

It doesn't seem fair to put my gateway out to pasture...in addition to the occasional fan noise, the right shift key began sticking at the moment I ordered the new dell. it was almost spooky. But otherwise, it is still a screaming machine of sorts and plenty useful. note to self: once all of my data is on the new dell, perform surgery on key cap and vacuum out the vents of the gateway.

One thing I did successfully learn from my desktop motherboard melting last year was to not wait to replace your machine...at the first sign, act. So, i have done that this time. And, the comfort of Carbonite online backup still feels good and secure in a pinch, but now I am seeing the need for immediate backup restore from a portable external drive. Carbonite took over a week for the initial 150 gig backup and i am assuming it would take as long or longer to restore now.

So I spent Monday morning making a backup to an external drive. That wasn't all, though, I soon learned. Having all of your tech services listed out in a manual place, with serial, model, subscription, key, customer and account numbers handy is a must. also, emails or calls to their customer supports are good for central planning as well, just to run it by them what you plan to do. did that monday afternoon. i had to call avira, carbonite, adobe, and comcast.

I was very struck by how many years in the past i had spent pushing myself to digitalize more records, papers, forms, contacts, yadayada. And now that we are all-in on that, it seems even more important to have the really necessary numbers and papers in physical form...because loss due to computer failure becomes much more likely and injurious the more you are digitized.

Frankly, why even digitize then? or, maybe the lesson is not to rely on either. i dunno. i just know that when my motherboard fried, i learned the hard way to have a physical rolodex of your contacts or have them online like with google, but keep a skeleton list manually. so now i have learned the not-so-hard way to keep my own data backup for easier and quicker restore and program discs i use all in one place per computer.

oh, and i ordered an belkin easy transfer cable, for connecting the two computers, just in case all else fails. one day i feel like i will finally figure it all out...maybe.

Indian Summer Splendor

2011-08-19T23:27:00.000-05:00

Page in my Little Gluebook of Wisdom art journal

I finally did one of the challenges over at Use It Tuesday. I was supposed to create something with Indian Summer in mind. First reaction: I WISH! But, I went with it, probably hoping it would make me sweat less.

I thought, wonder what late summer colors go together...what medium sounds fun to work in...and what was that idea I had when I read Beate's resist technique in a recent Splitcoast Stampers newsletter? For some freakish reason, this got me going!

Pulled this color wheel out of my plastic paper keeper that holds all my wheels. It was the complementary ranges from The Color Wheel Company. I was thinking greens and purples. And this wheel helped me add oranges, so my colors are complementary triads.

My *cheap* Loew-Cornell watercolors were calling out to me, and since they've got a lot of different hues, I said, come on down to play.

Now, to the technique idea. It came to me that I wanted to try using my Pentel fine point Corrector White-Out Pen as a resist. Whenever I thought about it, I was using markers to color, but call me fickle.

So, I drew some tall grass freehand with the pen. Very easy to do. Dried quickly. Awesome for resist, actually. Will use it again. Painted the grass. I collected some orange and purple papers from my scraps and stamped them with a harlequin script background from Stampers Best with Stazon purples. Then I punched some squares with the papers and created a border.

The quotation is my freehand writing. I had seen some of the letter font style online and just winged it. I put a piece of graph paper underneath a piece of vellum, and wrote on the vellum with a purple Micron. I had pencilled the quote on the graph paper so that I basically just copied it. That always makes me feel more secure, less stress.

I have liked the quote ever since seeing the movie Splendor in the Grass years ago. This particluar pasage is quoted at the movie's beginning and also in a classroom scene, so it got my attention. As soon as the idea came to me to draw grass, that's the quote I wanted to use.

Everything about creating this page was fun, with just one thing not exactly perfect. I finished last night and was planning to post this morning after I saw that my page was dry and flat, and ready to scan in. So I go over to the challenge site and they'd already closed the challenge. Oh well, no biggie, really. I wasn't trying to compete or win a prize, just going along with a good idea and participating. And I hope to do it again. I like that I can choose the size and type of what I create, so I can fit it into my to-do list if I have to.

Speaking of lists, someone I know needs to start cleaning off a desk and a chifferobe...

Chore Day

2011-08-16T23:05:00.001-05:00

Today I took care of bizness, meaning I worked on my stamp storage, the never-ending chore. I did some of my alphabets and thought, why not use my Fiskars stamp plate to stamp them all at once? Well, you know I had to try!

The grid on the plate was most helpful, as these Typewriter alphas by Nostalgique were red rubber and not transparent.

Here you can see them right before I push down on the plate to stamp (after putting my paper underneath it - just noticed there isn't any in the photo). Here's the stamped label in my online inventory photo:

See the U, Y and Z? I had to stamp those three again individually, but for the most part the Fiskars plate did a perfectly fine job. I probably did not ink those letters as well as I should have, to be honest. Inking the stamps was the hardest part of the entire thing, because there was just enough of a tiny variance among the letters in height for ink to miss some. This is the stamping block I use for background stamps and I don't have this problem, I guess because the larger stamp surface is even.

Here's the other new cd cases I created:

I had a little water accident on this last one. I'd used Tim Holtz distress ink and since it's a dye ink it's not waterproof. I've usually stamped with Memento, but I've been lazy lately. Dye ink is so much easier to clean off the stamps...

I saw the moon and the moon saw me

2011-08-15T23:46:00.014-05:00

I have a birthday card for a brother-in-law to share today. All papers from my scraps:

Sentiment stamp by Inkadinkado (center), colored with Zig pigment pens and Sakura gel pens. Various Quickutz diecuts. All mats cut with Coluzzles.

Oy. I have really been unmotivated lately. Add unfocussed to that. I have a constant stream of ideas and gleen inspiration practically everywhere, yet it's not translating into any creative activity for me that produces art. I suspect I may be in a bunker mentality to just wait out the heat by doing as little as possible, any mental self-discipline be damned save hygiene, household chores, financial matters, scheduled sleep and pet care. Can you tell I might have thought about this in detail? winkwink

Anyway, I began July intent upon creating a slew of family birthday and anniversary cards ahead of time. I got almost halfway through that goal before this current malaise hit me. So, I'm going to re-commit to that right here *on-air*, as they say. And, I'll up the ante by committing to try to add 2 pieces of furniture cleared, cleaned and moved per week. The moving might cause me delay, but I should be able to handle the clearing off and cleaning part. Just.need.to.focus.

Moving right along to the subject of today's blog post title, I took some shots of the full moon the other night, using all 3 of my cameras, and I've been stalling my sharing of them because I was trying to think up a way to do it without a slide show (not into those anymore, right now, but I reserve the right to change my mind at any time). So, I'll just share them randomly for a while and see how that goes. But, I did learn how to make a contact sheet in Photoshop (yay me!), so I will show that first:

If you like looking at the moon and clouds, you may like these. I think some of them are gorgeous! None are technically detailed and crisp. I didn't use my tripod or gorilla pad. And I cannot remember which camera I used on which, not offhand. I just enjoyed the light reflecting on the clouds, the shadows in the clouds, the blue ringed and white ringed ones...

So this is the one I chose for today. The clouds look a little like a dinosaur head swallowing a glowing orb. Yup, nothing wrong with my imagination, is there? winkwink

Using What I Got

2011-08-14T20:20:00.001-05:00

It's an overcast day down here on the Texas Gulf Coast and, in between prayers for rain, I thought this week I'd share with you some photos I've been taking on any and all of my three cameras (a Canon Powershot SD1200is, an old but healthy Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 dslr, and my cellphone). Today I'm sharing cellphone pics.

In a world of iPhones, Blackberries and Androids, this is my cellphone:

The PanTech Jest

It can be a smartphone but doesn't have to be, so that is why I chose it 18 months ago, that and the fact that I really wanted a slide phone bad. I also wanted a phone that had somewhat of a decent camera, removeable storage for my pics and music and no need whatsoever to connect to Verizon (my carrier) to access or store them.

My goal was to NOT pay Verizon the $30 extra a month for internet apps and access, because we already pay $40 a month to Comcast for a high speed wireless internet network at the house. At first blush, this appeared to be an impossible task to find such a phone, and my bet is it really is impossible now, but I managed to finally find this phone and maybe two others that fit my bill among all of their offerings. The other good thing was that both mine and Hubs' phone were free, thanks to New with Two.

As things often happen with me, it was not until recently that I even attempted to learn how to use my phone's camera, and I have learned a few things about it. One: it sucks at taking indoor photos, but the outdoor ones are nice, especially on a sunny day; and Two: the camera has Options! I have white balance and brightness settings, a self-timer, and something called Color Effects.

Today I played with the Color Effects option. I have four of them, and they are basically overlays for the pics I take. Mine are Normal, Black n White, Ancient and Negative. The first two are self-explanatory. Ancient is vintage sepia, and Negative is like an x-ray negative of the pic.

After using them all, my hands-down favorite is Negative, although I'm happy to have them all. I like Negative because anything terra cotta becomes teal. For example, our pool:

Pretty cool, huh? I love the look of the pebble deck, the clouds and treetops reflected in the water, and the orange fence looks teal-ish as well as the terra cotta brick coping and the brownish leaves on the water.

I'm a big believer in everything happening for a reason, and discovering my cellphone's camera options came at just the right time. I'd been feeling increasingly covetous of the many app overlays for the iphone, yet now that Verizon has capped unlimited online access, I'm even more determined not to pay to play online. I'm not saying that my new found app toys are as good as I could get with the iphone, but atleast I have some to play with, too. I know, I know. I could go online and get android apps. Yeah. You're pretty sneaky there, aren't ya? Not. Going. Online. With. Cellphone.

Cover it Pretty

2011-08-13T23:12:00.001-05:00

Let's alter some envelopes to decorate them nicely for mailing...well, you can watch while I do.

I begin with a gorgeous hand made, stamped envie made out of a paper grocery bag from my friend Lotus. I paint bands of white acrylic paint across it.

Then, I watercolor-paint some red bands and let dry.

A close-up.

Cover with stamps and colorful Stazon inks.

Glue envelope together -- Love how all of the designs look together.

Add labels of rectangle sticker paper altered with stamps and ink (wish I could show you the calligraphy I did, but the addressee may not appreciate me sharing her info).

Another view of the envie ready to mail...

Inspired by an envie received in the mail, I created a handful of additional envies by painting, inking and stamping simple yet graphic designs on grocery bag paper cut into envie shapes using a template. I will use these as alternatives to a padded mailer for smaller sized contents, as it is really easy to adhere the bubble wrap to the thick grocery bag paper that keeps its shape and crispness beautifully.

Cradle will rock...

2011-08-11T03:24:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to share some pics of my new bookbinding cradle, made by this guy:

It is incredibly well-made. Hubs had given me the go-ahead to buy it after looking at Jim's online, and when it arrived was very pleased with the quality and the price.

I really like the shape of it. Reminds me of honest-to-goodness 19th century tools or some such. Low-tech, high quality, does what you need. Surprising that any of that is still left in our world.

I played around with laying some creased paper into the groove and using an awl and a template, but that's all so far as to putting it to work. I do have one set of signatures for a journal I began last year and bagged up. Maybe I can interest myself enough to break the surly bonds of this heat wave that's begun to sap my every waking second and reduce my productivity to nothing. Ugh, it...and I are getting old, old, old. Well, we'll just try to keep cool and ~~carry~~ cradle on...

Thanking Those Who Gave Their All

2011-08-09T15:40:00.000-05:00

Very sad news. My prayers go to their families.

Collaging Joni Circles

2011-07-31T23:23:00.092-05:00

~"Circle Game" atc I made for Paper Traders monthly yahoo group lottery~

You may or may not be familiar with the music of songwriter Joni Mitchell, but I sure am. She was as much a part of my coming-of-age in the Sixties and Seventies as anything else. I have always loved listening to her musical poetry of words.

So, when I received my latest issue of Technique Junkies newsletter and saw the Collaged Circles technique, I also thought of Joni's song, Circle Game, and I knew I wanted to use a bit of those lyrics on whatever it was that I made. Here's a really nice live performance of the song, from 1967, with all of that rawness and non polish that makes those times and their talents so special, at least for me.

Make sure you hear the story she tells at the beginning!

The lyrics of the chorus, from which I took part of them as my sentiment (bolded), are here:

And the seasons they go round and round

And the painted ponies go up and down

We're captive on the carousel of time

We can't return we can only look

Behind from where we came

And go round and round and round

In the circle game.

Now, did you hear her story? She is talking about my all-time favorite musical artist, Neil Young. Exactly 40 years ago, I discovered them both as a fresh-faced sheltered 15 year old. They were my first leap into adult music, from my previous teeny bopper world of The (pre-psychedelic) Beatles, The Monkees, The Cowsills and Herman's Hermits. Back then, I always wanted Neil and Joni to fall in love, get married, perform together and make beautiful music happily ever after. Haha. Now, much older and wiser, I'm really glad they became best buds and lifelong friends instead.

And they are both Canadians. Why is it that so many of my favorite artists (Norma Shearer, Mike Myers, Alanis Morisette) are from there? I have a good guess as to why, based on spending several hours in a layover at the Ottowa Airport in 2004: Canadian people are fantastically friendly and kind. And the people online that I know who are Canadian are as well. They also seem to be very serious about being authentic and real. I'd say that describes Joni and Neil, too.

I do have to wonder, though, what is in the water up there that makes for such awesome poet song writers...

It is on my bucket list to one day visit Canada. Perhaps I'll find out if I ever get there.

Copy Cat Fun

2011-07-28T03:09:00.002-05:00

Card front, featuring see-thru window cut-out and River City Rubber Works stamps

A couple of years ago, I received a card in a swap that looked almost exactly identical to this one I am sharing today. That's because I tried to copycat it as much as I could, even using the same stamps. And it was fun to make.

Card inside, with finished window edges, really looks like a jail cell window, haha...I think!

I'd been so impressed with the card I'd received that I fell in love with the old ladies and checked out the stamp site, where I quickly discovered that this particular group of stamps was sold out or retired, forget which. So, I turned to ebay and luckily found them for sale. Back then I didn't think a blatant copy was an okay thing to do, and not being able to think of a different card design, I ended up not using the stamps at all. Until this week.

The design steps definitely benefitted from a well-thought-out gameplan, and even then, I almost messed up glueing the wrong sides a couple of times. I also had to think out the blacks on whites and vice versa, so I'm pretty proud of the construction. That's probably why it's so plain and simple, too. But, sadly, I cannot remember for the life of me who sent me that first card, so I cannot email her and ask. If you sent it to me, please email me and tell me, and I'll credit you gratefully. I haven't enjoyed constructing a card quite so much in a while, and whoever you are, I thank you!

Ain't it funny where inspiration, motivation, and all the other -ations come from sometimes? It makes life so enjoyable...those little things. Just like a true friend.

Carded

2011-07-26T20:14:00.000-05:00

DCWV patterned paper, Papertrey digital sentiment stamp, Quickutz diecuts, KI Memories tags, SU card stock, Zig pigment markers

If you only knew how old all of the supplies on this card are! And, no packaged coordinating, all different manufacturers and brands. Yet, how well everything on the card goes together. The main thing I used to integrate it all was COLOR. In addition, I die cut shapes out of card stock that complimented the tagged elements I was already using. And I used the card base card stock color in order to anchor those elements visually. And because those elements tied into the others, it anchored everything.

Now, if I can just tap into this several more times...

As I describe, further down in this post, the dog days of summer are demanding strange things from all of us. I am not immune. In an effort to make my card making interesting and challenging, I pulled out all of my birthday text theme papers, all my birthday scrap elements and my tags and frames binder. My mission became to make as many cards as I can and use up as much of the stuff that I got out.

Back on July 8, I wrote this about how I had some greeting cards to make. After making some, I listed just the rest of the cards I needed for close friends and family for the remainder of the year: a total of a dozen, not counting any holidays. This was a few more than I'd thought, and I felt a bit deflated, like when you are prepared to clean the bathtub but then you realize that you have to clean the toilet first.

So, my Muse must have gotten her knickers all in a twist over it, because last night I began to feel her withdraw and by the time I awoke today, I didn't want to artify at all. Nada. Zero.

But, I am quite talented at making cards during periods of artistic motivational drought, also known around my place as a motivacay (as it's often the only vacay I get, haha). So, the short-term game plan for now is to crank as many of those suckers out as I can in order to get them done. And, wait patiently for my Muse to chillax or give me some kind of sign. Perhaps it's too hot to expect much else.

Gifting My Muse

2011-07-22T17:41:00.001-05:00

Sometimes scraps are those old-school scrapbooking border strips...this time, from 2004!

You know, gifting someone else your unwanted or excess supplies is a great thing. But not when it is stuff so old that no one in their right mind, even on an especially charitable day, would possibly want.

In the world of scrapbooking supplies (which is the vast majority of my old stuff), old is not often cool old, as in vintage or retro. Most times, it's cutesy and it's what-was-I-thinking-when-I-bought-this. Sometimes, it was elements or stickers or other acutrements that matched the paper I just had to have. Occasionally, it came free with my purchases.

After 7 years, I've accumulated a pile of this stuff. And it is an embarrassment to me to even consider gifting it to anyone else. I'm just not one of those who is willing to forward something on that would probably get thrown in the discard pile or worse, the pile to send on to someone else!

In fact, when I sit and ponder it objectively, I realize there have been more than a few times that I've taken what what was a seemingly impossible item and made it work somehow. It's not something that happens as a result of a scientifically scheduled experiment, easily replicated. No, there is some magic that has to occur. The time has to be right. The mood, the Muse, the music of creativity all have to be willing and awake.

But, it does happen. More than I really wanna admit. So, I go with it. I keep the stuff and try like hell to use it. And when I get the Ick vibe off a piece of it, I drop it in the trash like I'm not noticing. Somehow, doing this reconciles the cheapskate hoarder in me with the indulgent buyer and the recycler and the challenge-lover.

Basically, I like to think of it as Gifting My Muse. Keeping her honest and on her toes. Making her work for me. (yeah, right, haha) The only bad thing is the nagging whiney voice inside me who begs for nice new cool stuff to feed my Muse, as in, when am I gonna get to play with timely and currently cool things instead of all this old crap?

Sounds indulgent and ungrateful, but I hear myself think this way too much. What helps is to join a group of people who are struggling with the same thing. I'm in two such groups over at Art Journaling Ning: Cult of Stuff group and 30-Day Craft Cleanse.

I am actually able sometimes to tell that nagging, whiney voice to STFU. And that's worth its weight in old unused supplies, lemme tellya. winkwink ;-))

Need and Struggle

2011-07-20T23:13:00.001-05:00

As promised, here is the journal page I described yesterday:

*Need and Struggle* gluebook journal page

I really liked how it came out. I have apparently drifted away from vintage collage, haven't I? I'm so unpredictable with that, though, I may be back at it next week. Just enjoying that I am coming up with pages, just being grateful for that. It is nice.

I wrote a post over on my Antics and Rantics blog that involved William James, the author of the quote I used. I'm a fan of his. (Is calling myself that allowed if the guy's been dead for over a century?) I'm a fan of his whole family. They were a strange but brilliant bunch.

I like this quote because we always think of needs and struggles as such undesirable things (myself included, especially when I cannot have what I am needing or struggling to have), when they really are what makes us all tick. How pragmatically annoying, eh?

Art Imitating Life

2011-07-19T23:06:00.065-05:00

I received my replacement ink set today from Dick Blick.

Lickety split!

This was my daily art: the process was index stamping and casing these alphabet stamps.

They have been waiting patiently to be entered into my system, and it may be even longer before any are actually used in some art. But I got a bit impulsive towards casing them because I had some notion about having them available in case there was space to art journal with them. I usually print out my text on a printer, but not because I prefer it. Mostly it is because all my stickers and stamp font letters are too large for the available page space. And with this go-around of art journaling, I'm not into handwriting quite yet. So, if I can know where there are some tiny alpha stamps, perhaps there will be space for use.

I'm working on the next page in my Little Gluebook of Wisdom, but there's been injuries. I'd found a cool word cloud graphic and cut it out all nice, but the paper was a thick magazine glossy and so I set about lightly sanding the back and I tore an edge of it right off. At first I wasn't gonna use it at all, then I thought, this is ridiculous. It's a personal experimental journal. So I decided on a compromise. I tore a few other edges off of it and that is now part of the message of the page. I even dampened it and crumbled it up, then smoothed back out. HA! Take that, Karma (she said cheerfully...and gratefully).

But I digress. If I do not finish the page tomorrow, I'll take some photos of my progress.

Life Moves Faster than Art

2011-07-18T23:14:00.000-05:00

Well, here it is, finally finished: the journal page that took a week to finish, sheesh.

Guess I was taking the quote to heart, eh? Love this Ferris Buellar quote, and here is some trivia from the movie. Did you know that the actress who played Ferris' mom (Cindy Pickett) and the actor who played
his dad (Lyman Ward) fell in love on this movie and then got married in real life? True! Of course, they got divorced 6 years later, but that's Hollywood (and real life) for ya.

Still continuing to play around with my watermark brush in PSE (not knowing what the heck I'm doing when I do it, by the way). Somehow figured out how to make it more white so that I can stamp it on dark colors, and then saved it. So hopefully now I have one for light colors and one for dark colors. I stamped both on this journal page photo, can you see them?

Process Over Product...

2011-07-16T23:23:00.105-05:00

You know, I need to remember to respect the process of creating art as much or more than the product. I need to share my work in progress whenever I'm working on something instead of waiting until Lord knows when it is finally finished, I guess. Which, currently, would be this start on an art journal page in my Little Gluebook of Wisdom.

Four or five days ago I began with a cross-weave stroke watercolor wash, on top of which I couldn't wait to slap the colorful city traffic graphic image I found in one of my magazines. (And looky, I found my Art by Aimeslee Photoshop brush, hehe.) I took a photo, meaning to share. A photo taken in process helps me really look at it fresh, too.

Of course, the photo made me wish I had stamped some border stamps horizontally on the background before glueing on the image, so I did the next-best thing and masked the image off with scrap paper to stamp.

Stamp by stamp, I created the horizontal lines I wanted. (Also, you will have to imagine more and more stamps, because I neglected to snap photos after every different one.)

This image is almost too colorful (never! hehe). It needed the lines to balance it on the page and in a way help it blend to the background more (if that were possible).

I love this recreation of a busy rainy night in Times Square, NYC. Love the yellows, the black, the touches of red, the dark blues.

Love how all the colors reflect on the street like they are mixing with the motor oils and rain and sludge.

Eventually, I added lines of border stamps across the entire length of the page. The stamp colors really anchor the reds and blues in the image. It's pretty much done, except for the quote, which I've chosen but haven't created in PSE and printed out yet.

That's yet another use for an in-process digital shot. I can size my quote text perfectly as a new layer on top of the above image, laying it out exactly as I want it to look, then print only that top layer. I got to where I was doing this a lot in Paint Shop Pro, but this will be my first time attempting it in PSE. I hope it's intuitive and easy enough for a beginner like me. Or I could go rogue and just add the quote digitally to share now and add a printed one later. I read in Claudine Helmuth's second book about heat tool transfers and I have really wanted to try out my heat tool doing that. If I printed the layer out backwards, I could do it.

Decisions, decisions.

Will share the finished product once I have one, but for now, here's the process.

Teen Time

2011-07-13T21:52:00.001-05:00

~ Birthday card for my #2 nephew - the front ~

If you have read my blog for any real length of time, you may know that I have 4 nieces, but I also have 6 nephews. This abundance of boys has been a constant problem for me as a cardmaker once the recipient has become a teenager because I'm basically a girl mom.

It is hard for me and my Muse to get into the Testosterone Zone.

~ Inside the card: a little typical humor at 17 ~

So I resort to cheap jokes and wisecracks when nothing else hits me. Some of these are big hits with the boys. Some not so much, but since they are all pretty fine kids, I get nice compliments anyway. Just wanted to share that I used PSE9 to add the speech bubble and text.

Now that I've shared my card, I would like to talk about a couple of things. First, I want to sing this from the rooftops what happened to me today. I received an order I'd made with Dick Blick art supplies and upon opening it, I discovered that one of the products was leaking. I had ordered these:

Dr. Ph Martin Bombay India Inks Set #1

Dr. Ph Martin Bombay India Inks Set #2

Now, here is what set #2 looked like when it arrived:

All that permanent ink was luckily coming from only one bottle, Cherry Red:

So, because I'm a long long time mail orderer and am loathe to have to ever return something (since I probably scored a deal with free shipping and a sale price), my first thought was, okay, looks like a lot of ink leaked, but it really wasn't that much and I'll just eat it, clean it up and go on with life.

But then I opened the bottle and used the eye dropper. It was then that I discovered that a malfunction or damage to the dropper gasket was causing the leak (and I have the cherry red fingers to prove it! hehe).

So, the dreaded call to customer service could not be avoided. I was thinking that I'd just ask them to send me another bottle of cherry red, right?
Got on the phone. Talked to a delightful representative, who looked up my order and the item, and then helped me navigate to the internet product page while we were talking. She explained that they did not carry that particular color in open stock, but maybe I might like to pick a red shade from the open stock they do carry.

So, I look, and every shade of red in open stock is also in the 2 sets I purchased. Hmm. I really had not thought past just getting another bottle of cherry red. I was just kinda bummed, bummed and ambiguous.

Then, she said, "We'll just send you a replacement set and you won't need to return the first one."

WHAT????

It's a $33.00 set. I think I even replied that I felt guilty now, it shocked me so. I resisted a bit, repeating that I only want one bottle. It was like I was in shock a little. It must have amused the nice lady. I heard a little cheer and reassuring in her voice. Of course, I promised her my first born grandchild as a token of my gratitude.

So, why am I telling this? It's simple. There truly are some companies out there who stand by their products, their service, and their promises. Dick Blick is definitely one of them. For the first few years that I did art, I really resisted shopping Blick, partly because so many others used them and you know me and lemming behavior. Also because they charged shipping and I actively sought out free shipping deals that did not require me to spend alot.

But finally I encountered an art supply I needed badly and could not get elsewhere. It was then that I looked around their site, compared their prices to what I was paying elsewhere, and literally added up how much more I could save with Blick even paying them shipping. The difference in most prices compared to Hobby Lobby, for instance, blows my mind sometimes. Dick Blick sells a 12-(1 0z.) bottle set for $33.18. Hobby Lobby sells a 12-(1/2 oz.) bottle set for $29.99. Dang, almost twice the price at HL! Open-stock 1 oz bottles are $2.73 at Blick; $3.99 at HL. And it is that way in most every category of items they both sell. You can clearly see how after 5 or 6 items you are paying for the shipping in product cost savings, right? Or, hey, after ONE ink set in my example.

So, no one is compensating me for my testimony today. I just wanted to praise an awesome company and give a specific example of their great customer service. They are not alone, so I really do need to remember to mention the other great companies I've dealt with as well.

Life Imitating Art...

2011-07-11T23:02:00.003-05:00

Some call cosmetics "art supplies for the face".

So, is it so wrong to label them?

I find it odd that something (cosmetics) that is needed much more so as we age is labelled with words so tiny that no one a day over 30 can read them. And only some of them give any indication at all on the outside what color or shade is inside. To me, this is a consumer item just screaming to be labelled, if for no other reason than to give my tired old eyeballs and my magnifying glass a rest!

So, that's exactly what I did. But not before I tried on some. :-)

I googled, found and used a photo booth strip template for PSE from this nice lady, who asks only for a link back, so there it is. Now, I am going to assume that because I'm a pretty total dumb-ass when it comes to PSE that I'm at fault here, but I must have needed a more idiot-proof template because I was tres frustrated in how difficult this was to use (again, for my apparent (pre?)beginner level of knowledge).

Beggars can't be choosers when it comes to free, but I would gladly pay for one that lets you just drag n drop and the template resizes your photos to fit into the frames. I finally figured out how to measure each frame interior space, then resize and crop each photo to fit, then dragged n dropped, and still had to stretch one or the other dimension to get a good tight consistent fit.

I am thinking of emailing Michelle at Cottage Arts (or ScrapbookPATTY, are you reading?), because I would pay good money for a digital hybrid package that works in PSE9, that has templates that let you do stuff like this strip the way I want it, and more. I've amassed a nice wish list, and I'm not alone in my needs. I would help whoever created this market it for free, that is how much I need this. Maybe...Probably, someone has already created it and it's selling off the wall somewhere, but it might as well be selling on Mars because I do not know about it.

For example, I have a Epson Picturemate printer that I LOVE to use. It only prints 4x6, but it prints much better photos than any photo that my ink jet printer can print, and cheaper. And, that size is fine with me, because on a 4x6 canvas, I could print 2-2x3 wallets, or 12-2x2's, or 2-2x3 horizontal strips, and on and on. All perfect for paper scrap booking in either mini or full formats and in art journaling (all of which I do, non-digitally, maybe at most, hybrid-ly). As it is, I have to struggle to do this myself in PSE using a 4x6 document. And I know I'm not doing it right, because it only prints right in Windows (but thank gawsh it prints there).

I'd also add that I also prefer having large amounts of photos developed by mail, so the Picturemate is mainly for photos needed asap and for the smaller photos.

This past winter I finally quit my 10-year addiction to PaintShopPro, because the newest version kept freezing up my computer. It was like the last straw. I'd learned how to do these kinds of things in PSP, but it's just different enough in PSE to confound me. (Although I should add in fairness that it runs so wonderfully on my computer, and what good is any program that doesn't?) There are many things I love in PSE, mainly that Move tool. And the brush tool rocks (except that I suddenly now cannot find the Art by Aimeslee watermark brush I made...deep breath, I'll find it).

At any rate, it will take me a year to do it on my own, which is why I am willing to pay for someone else to. I even paid like $60 bucks back in the spring to take Kim Klassen's PSE course. I got almost through it and then got terribly lost and confused (my fault entirely). I may have to end up paying to take it again before it's all over, but for now I am doing her free mini course first (which began this week). And I'm planning to take every free thing I can find, including over at Elements User village since I recently subscribed to their magazine.

But I would love to be able to print out some little photos NOW without getting all stressed out and failing. I guess I can always pay Walgreens or Snapfish or Winkflash for more wallets than I need (wish you could mix and match single photos on those), or I can always just waste photo paper at home printing a 2x2 on a 4x6, etc., but that's only gonna solve one of my wish list wants.

Another big thing is to be able to buy overlays for my photos that do the same things as the ones on the iPhone. The Hipstamatic things, like the ones Sally uses on her photos she shares on her blog. Look, one of my mottos has always been *never say never*, but this comes pretty close to an exception: you are probably not ever gonna see me using an iPhone, as long as there is the kinda choice there is now. And that is another story as to why, but bottom line is, I like those app overlays (that is how I see them in my feeble mind cuz I see Kim Klassen doing the same thing with overlays).

Surely someone is making them for PSE, but I need the 411 locationlocationlocation. I also need translation, too, like "Compares to Hipstamatic" -- some way for me to know that it does what that does. I'm not hip to the lingo, and I don't ask my Missy because she'll just look down her nose at me and suggest I just go all Apple, and I'm not, so that won't be helpful.

In fact, I'm suddenly not having fun with anymore, as I am beginning to be pestered by a cartoon of myself as an old hag who cannot see, wears too much makeup and can no longer operate computer programs or shop online. Meh.

Wow, so how did I get off on this tangent, haha? Thank gawsh it's all just Life Imitating Art! wink wink

Birthday card share

2011-07-09T23:51:00.105-05:00

Missy's birthday card made from scrap scraps scraps...

With our daughter Missy turning 23 this week, the Hubster and I have really felt our ages a bit. I don't exactly know what we were thinking before, but we apparently had been delaying the fact in our minds that Miss was indeed an adult. Tis one thing to say it, and another to feel it.

Inside sentiment - written by moi. :-)

She has a very demanding job that doesn't pay that great, and after a year of singing that song, it has contributed to some disillusionment and reassessing on her part.

Against the backdrop of the worst recession in my lifetime, she has had some tough soul-searching about her choice of profession and her future in it.

Of course, I'm now a bit terrified for her. Is she making the right decision?

And I am feeling pretty helpless, for she is the only one who can know the answers. After all, it is her life.

What she is going through isn't new or novel. Most young adults, after being thrust, with college degree in hand, into the real world, encounter that big let-down, when what they've imagined their work to be is indeed something entirely different. In Missy's case, she has weathered discovering how mundane and boring part so fit are, and if they paid her decently, she's be pretty satsfied where she is, where they love her work and trust her with responsibility and relative security.

On one hand, she is lucky. On the other hand, it makes it worse because the one thing they cannot, do not reward her with may well be the one thing she discovers is her prime motivator or necessary requirement. Hubs and I have been concerned the last few months because she has not been herself. It's as if all the enjoyment of life in her was being sucked out. I pray daily that she can figure out what really will make her happy and that she won't regret whatever she decides. But I also know she cannot go on the way she's been. Something has to give.

There was a recent study I read about that looked at young professionals her age (24 and younger), and it said that in the last year 44% of them have quit their jobs. Now, most would assume that means that "kids" that age are just lazy or immature and if things don't go 100% their way, they are outta there. But, in fact, the study reveals that the reason is because these "kids" are being worked to death for low pay by their companies who see this as an okay way to weather the recession (whether the companies are being adversely affected or not).

In other words, the times allow companies to get away with treating the youngest in the work force that way.

Most of my daughter's friends that I know are worth thinking much better of, and are worth treating better. I just hope and pray that things improve before any real psychological damage is done to their generation. I think they are all pretty much great kids and deserve better. And we need them to help us fix what is wrong with this country. And we need them to want to.

My Home is Not...

2011-07-08T06:37:00.001-05:00

For today's 30/30/30 challenge and collage class warm-up play, I give you "Home is Not a Place". I used a page in my Little Gluebook of Wisdom that had been painted sky blue long ago, adding bits and scraps I've had laying around. I love this quote and wanted to represent the people as almost ghostly spirits. I'm finding my little Quickutz dies a convenient way to make shapes I do not already have in my images. On this page I made the clouds, door hinges and the fence with them.

This is my third art journaling page in as many days. And I'm both immensely proud of myself and a bit whiny for a break. So, I'll be taking the weekend off from them, but not from all art. I've a few greeting cards to make. Hopefully I can muster enough discipline and focus.

Yesterday was our Missy's 23rd birthday and we all celebrated at a favorite restaurant. I will share the card I made for her in Saturday's post.

In neighborhood news, *our* dang ducks have laid another nest of eggs in our front flower bed. Hubs is too busy teasing our neighbor across the street to be irritated about it this time around. She is getting tired of putting out food and keeping the baby pool clean and watered, but Hubs will not let her forget that she was the one who encouraged the ducks to stick around and be fed and watered. He could not wait to tell her about the new nest. I try to stay out of it, because all I know is that I'm not feeding them, yet I understand why she does. Anyway, we are expecting more ducks next month.

We also had a pretty stress-filled evening last week. Thank goodness that Hubs had just gotten home from work. I walked out to the garage and began hearing wind chimes, but it was surreal. Not only was there no breeze in the garage, the chimes were ringing constantly. At first, all I could think of was, this sound makes no sense.

Then I remembered the wind chimes that Hubs had hung up in the garage when he painted the exterior house trim last year (and forgot to hang back outside). I was stuck on stupid about there being no breeze when I snapped to actually looking at the chimes, whereupon I spied this huge-ass snake all tangled up in them.

Poor Hubs was summoned and beseeched to practice his hunting skills, which he did, succeeding finally in rooting out the shy reptile, who tried to escape by visiting 3 corners of the garage before Hubs finally chopped off his head. At one point, it came out slithering right towards me, all 5 feet of him, and all I could do was stay frozen to my spot. Some brave heart I am! Anyway, it was a rat snake and non-poisonous, so that made me feel better about pushing Hubs into the path of danger. Needless to say, our blood pressures were up for awhile that evening. Five feet of anything inhuman is too big to hide in my garage without my permission!

I am what I am...

2011-07-06T22:32:00.005-05:00

Left-facing journal page to yesterday's page, in my Little Gluebook of Wisdom journal.

The page I share today was created with inspiration from the lessons I am reading in the Your Vintage Gluebook class I am taking. I probably should confess that with all the classes I am taking, I'm approaching them like I would audit a class. I don't necessarily do the *homework* or assignments in a literal sense. Instead, I ingest the curriculum and what I learn from it is in whatever art I create.

Vintage is not my natural style, so it may seem weird or odd that I would choose two classes that emphasize it. What studying Vintage collage does for me is that it forces me to calm down and simplify my own style. My vintage pieces are always going to be more colorful than the traditional, because color is my art oxygen. But that's okay because it is me.

In doing this page, I discovered a tip for covering up gluedots under vellum -- gelpen or viva decor pen little dots of color on top of the vellum where each gluedot is! For years I have wished for an easy way to conceal them. When the style allows, this idea is easily implemented and adds interest, too. In the future, I will add my gelpen dots to the front of the vellum first. If they need to be linear and neat, this is easily accomplished with a ruler or stitching template. Then, I have a perfect guide for where to apply the gluedots on the back, all hidden.

Now, a word about the balance of my design. This was one of those pages that was begun with some papers that color-complemented the facing page, a couple of quotes and the collage sheet image of the woman (by Digital Collage Sheets from my stash). As I read more of Mary's lessons, I chose some german scrap pieces in various sizes to add. But the design of this facing page needed to complement the first page as well as stand on its own. So it took me a while, arranging the elements. I finally decided this layout was pleasing enough and did justice enough to eye movement, color distribution, and proportion. And when you see the entire spread, it is pleasing to the eye as well as sensical. Score! If not a superior mark, then a passing grade, certainly. Here, I merged the two in PSE for you to see:

This is what the spread open in my journal looks like.

This is also my 30/30/30 challenge for today.

Warm-Up Week

2011-07-05T22:52:00.002-05:00

Page in my Little Gluebook of Wisdom journal,
inspired by a collage by Claudine Helmuth found on page 62 of her first Collage Discovery Workshop book...

Whew, I feel like I have a heavy load of tat lifted off my shoulders tonite! I'd secretly been fearing that I no longer had it, meaning that because I've taken such a break from art journaling and collage, I'd lost whatever talent/skill improvements that I'd fought hard to acquire. But I have discovered that it's more like riding a bike (it comes back to you), and for that I am very grateful.

Okay, briefly, the black page base is w/c crayon spread with a baby wipe, then a rainbow-colored layer that is a recycled privacy envelope that I pan-watercolored, then collaged elements, and my digital signature watermark brush that I'm pleased as punch to have figured out how to do in PSE9.

I know it has been so long since I was regularly art journaling, so to review, I have several art journals in progress. My Little Gluebook of Wisdom journal is a composition notebook holding favorite quotations. Then, I have a couple of what I call play journals, where I have played with different materials and techniques to create backgrounds, and I will probably try to finish all the pages in those before doing anything else with them. My journal, Wake Me When It's Over, began as a place to put some of my musings about life. I have a genealogy journal, and then almost a dozen other books and blank journals waiting to be altered. In addition, I have sheets and sheets of 140# watercolor paper, a Bind It All, and book binding materials, just in case I want to create my own journal.

So, I have plenty to work with. And now since I am collaging this summer, what better place than in my art journals? Due to present physical circumstances with the ill-fated art table move delay, backgrounds with acrylic paint and gesso are very inconvenient for me. So, I have devised a game plan for now using watercolor pencils and crayons to lay down simple backgrounds on which to collage. I am almost excited to see how long I can go with that idea.

In addition to Claudine's class (see July 3rd blog entry), I'm now signed up for a second self-paced class, by Mary Green of GreenPaper. And I have joined a free layers workshop over on ArtJournaling ning taught by Samantha Kira aka JournalGirl. Finally, art journaler artist Traci Bonkers is hosting a 30/30/30 challenge on her blog for July called 30 Days To Get Your Art On. I'm tempted to participate, but knowing myself well it will not be every day, wink wink. Geebus, I'll have so many places to post my pages, I might start to feel like one of those card makers who make one single card that fits 10 challenges or something!

This is just a small sample of what is out there to inspire and motivate art journaling, trust me. But, I'll be praying that just a bit of it rubs off on me, because I really am enjoying it. And I'll have another genre of new art to share besides greeting cards and atc's!

Hooked on a feeling

2011-07-03T23:01:00.001-05:00

I've had BJ Thomas singing in my head all day, so I thought the least I could do is to spread the love!

Ha Ha Ha - Don't be hatin' now! wink wink

Seriously, I have been such a good girl photo organizing for my Finding Photo Freedom class. It's just that, with over 5,000 photos on my computer and over 5,000 more waiting to be scanned in, it's highly repetitious and becomes body and soul numbing after a while.

So, to get my mind off photos file management FOR AWHILE, there was an opportunity to get a class with the great Claudine Helmuth for only $30 and I jumped at it: Composition for Collage.

What was the first thing I did? Read the syllabus? Heck, no. I read both of her books finally, having had them both on the shelf for years. (My recognition of her predates her merchandising career with Ranger.) I just knew the class would cover things from the books. Nope. All new stuff, yet quite relevant and useful. Plus, a bunch of her signature collage images to download.

Available here

Not easily convinced and armed with the knowledge of what is covered in the class, I read the books carefully, looking for keywords such as vignette, horizon, grid, even symmetrical and asymmetrical. There was no mention of those particular tenants of composition, and I came away being left with the idea that the books were helpful as precursors or prep courses for learning those tenants. She used a similar visual method to teach *what looks right* in the books, as in the class, but in a completely different and more general way. I thought that was cool, and it did help me to feel good about tackling the more complicated constructs, in a way similar to how one feels when they review basic rules about a discipline they may be quite proficient in, now understood in a deeper, more satisfying way.

Taking this further, while reading the books, I gained a deeper understanding of what she taught in the class. I found myself looking at the various collage art samples, identifying them as the specific examples class-taught. I'm trying not to get too specific, as I don't feel right disclosing too many details of what's in a non-free class, but most of it was new info to me. (I'm not counting hearing about them in college art class...that was 35 years ago and I was not that attentive at the point due to a soon-to-be defection to accounting).

I am enjoying her approach now though. Mixing that little bit of academics in with clear examples makes the most of ideas that are easily packaged in the mind and remembered. And identifying examples in the books built on that. I even noticed one or two that I thought would have looked better had they been another collage design. Whether my thought was expert or not (and it isn't) does not matter here. What matters is that I took it further and ventured to apply my new found knowledge (whether I possess any appropriate skill will be decided once I actually create my collages).

I must disclose that the live version of the class ended June 30th (it isn't over, though; it can be purchased at any time as a self-paced class, and is forever accessible). Due to my Arthur flares and a little much-needed stacay, and then an annoying and exhausting digestive thing that infected both me and Hubs, I am just now doing the class. It was when I was flaring or IBS'ing that I read the books. Now, I am ready to rock n roll, and make some collages. I have one almost finished, so I promise it for next time.

Til then, I will leave you with today's art share, an atc that I made for the monthly lottery in my Paper Trader yahoo group:

I am trying to participate in this group in some way, and so I do the monthly atc and say this with the understanding that I don't have a lot of time to devote to it (because they have lots of other wonderful activities if I had more time). But... if I did this atc over again, I would have adhered a stiff base (hard plastic packaging plastic or cereal boxing?) to the back of the focal image before adhering to the corrugated cardboard, in order to avoid transferring the lines. They bug me. Another time, I might have thought ahead, but water under the bridge. Oh well. This was an image from some old scrap booking card stock scraps, and the corrugated piece was really what I wanted to work with (it was a whim). I would also have remembered my little craft container drawer full of spiral rings instead of hunting through the junk drawer and my beading drawers for large rings. But then I wouldn't have seen the charm. Vox nix, I guess.

Fragile phases and mystery mazes...

2011-06-29T00:42:00.000-05:00

(NOTE: every time I open my blog, I've been getting a password protected window for Tara Frey. This is some kind of programming error that I have no idea how to fix. If you get it also, just click Cancel, please. It's nothing you've done and this blog is not password protected.)

Okay, on to today's post. I will share my art with you first, but I also have some musings on the personal drama of the artist after that. So, you can either move onto the next blog if you don't have the time or inclination to read my mental diarrhea, hehe.

This is one of the graduation cards I made this Spring. Once again, I used a My Mind's Eye kit as my basis. The paper in these kits is double-sided cardstock and a natural for cardmaking. I painted the Fancy Pants (I think!) chipboard brackets with the same MM red paint as the card from my last post. Love fishing out some great chipboard element from my drawers and USING THEM.

The inside of this card had a humorous sentiment and a trick element, so I made sure to scan it as well. The money background was stamped (CHF) and the text created in PSE9 and printed. See the white Spellbinders diecut key? Stapled to it (with Tim's Tiny Attacher) is a check for the graduate, and it is tucked into a pocket created by slitting the paper and not adhering the center to the card base. Pretty clever and sinfully easy, I thought. ;-))

This next graduation card combines the MME papers and kit elements with some Sizzix diecuts and Scrapworks number rub-ons. The inside sentiment is more serious and personal, so I didn't scan that. This is my attempt to do masculine elegant. Had I a do-over, I'd have punched the paper edges with one of many corner punches...maybe.

I still have 2 more graduation cards to make and need to get on them, but wanted to share these since we are technically still within graduating season. My Easter cards were belatedly shared and I didn't want to keep continuing that with subsequent seasonal cards.
I was so sick in the weeks leading up to Fathers Day, I actually bought those this year. So, none to share here. I think I'm caught up on holiday cards for now, yay! Take a picture, it'll last longer!
****************
So...on to my personal kvetching. It began over the weekend. Or, I should say, it started back up again. "It" is my overwhelming artistic fragile ego. Some artists say they've never felt anything else. Before, I would say to myself, toughen up, wuss. It's your own ego, it can be whatever you want. Right? Easier said than done. I've come to learn that the toughen-up only works as long as you do not let anyone in who is going to bring you down. Living in your own little world takes on a new meaning...

Sure, I can *process* the criticism intellectually and calmly -- which I have in the past and still do -- but in my case, things began a bit differently. The seeds of insecurity began when I decided to get serious this year about resuming my scrapbooking. On my Flickr, I have over 80 layouts completed, containing photos of family and friends, and never once did I think twice about putting them online. My attitude was kind of like, if you let me take your photo, you won't mind seeing it on one of my layouts. This was backed up by the assumption that maybe 10 people at most would even pay attention to them anyway, so much ado about nothing.

Now, I'm in the Finding Photo Freedom class at BPC (it is an awesome class for me), and my imagination is alive with all sorts of wonderful layout ideas, some using Facebook photos of my daughter and her friends, which is also how I have to procure the vast majority of photos of her (and I know this is also the case for tons of other parents of young adults out there). And at first, I tried, really tried to create a few layouts. But I have remained frozen...unable to actuate.

And this really worries me, because I finally figured out that the reason for said freeze is that I might not feel comfortable uploading my layouts. So.... that must mean that I am mainly motivated by being able to upload my art and have people respond to it. And I am worried because I have been trying to not be so dependent on that as a general rule, as a working rule. I mean, both my blogs are no-comment. I do not work hard to maintain a presence on other blogs or by commenting on Flickr. I used to. I worked hard at it and woke up one day and realized just how much time I was doing that and not doing art. (Plus, my health demanded that I cut down somewhere, so it was that or art at times, and that continues.)

So now I'm being adversely affected by online perceptions again, this time in a crippling way that makes no sense to me. Yes, I do get a thrill uploading my creations even if no one comments. I just like doing that much. It's kinda like enjoying just getting up and having my say. And I have friends I've confided in who tell me, just don't include personal stuff on your layouts, or hide it somehow. But, okay, now I'd be conforming my art in order to be able to upload it. That is whacked out to me, pure and simple. First, that is not me. Second, I'm not on a design team and my layouts are not product. But I completely see why people have advised me that way. That is what they see online over and over. It is hard to remember when you don't seek publication or design team work, that their norm is not yours.

Still, there are no easy answers for me. I'm going to just have to get over this intruder in my life I call Fragile Ego Phase. And then, this weekend, another version of this reared up. I will explain this way: let's say you have a friend you love dearly and know they feel the same way, who has a bad habit of using lame language to compliment you on your achievements. At first, you were able to brush it off, remembering it came from a good place. But over time, as you drifted in and out of your own crises in self-confidence, these lame-o's would strike you at the worst possible moment and even cause a bit of doldrums and anxiety, to the point of you limiting your time with the friend. A series of time-outs if you will. And every time you go back, and every time the friend eventually spouts a lame-o.

So, you probably see that the problem was that you never told the friend what effect the lame-o has on you, right? But that is the other part of the problem: telling the friend would be worse than enduring the lame-o's. So, you continue to suffer and hope for emotionally stronger days. Because, you see, that is where I am at right now, and I have even realized that it is all about my ego here, in that moment the lame-o comes out, in front of others that I wanted to impress (or not look lame-o myself).

I have even been so distraught that I have sought the advice of my dad, who taught public speaking for 30 years and knows a thing or two about how people behave in public. And his advice was very good. In the particular situation that is causing my such inner angst, the lame-o comment is calling my art "cute" when it clearly is not a cutesy themed piece. My dad said, perhaps I see that as a derogatory or lacking term, and he reminded me of a time in the past when people would comment on a painting or a novel or whatever the art was, saying it was *interesting*. Dad told me that *interesting* was a code word meaning either that it was not the commenter's cup of tea but pleasant enough, or that the commenter couldn't stand it and thought it rubbish but wanted to be polite. And you know what? I think he has something there. I completely get that.

But how to react in a way a lot less self-destructive as to wail like a baby, why oh why do these people leave that comment? To them, my art must be nothing more than like hello kitty, meaning juvenile, meaning not as mature or technically proficient or thematically adult as the next hobby artist in the gallery. See how that can eat on you when you let those reactions lay there and fester? Especially when you see the "Amazing" and "Stunning" and "Awesome" comments on others' works, and when you look at theirs, they look no more or less amazing than yours?

Curiously, I never have this problem on Flickr, which is why I love it so. One of my atc's last year got 70 views and 24 comments. Not once did anyone use the lame-o word. And I occasionally do create cutesy art, which I am very proud of. I think cutesy art is horribly maligned because it can be done terrfically. And my Flickr friends manage to tell me it's cute while making cute sound like a trait of artistic genius.

Taking a cue from my Flickr friends, I try not to rely on lame-o's when I comment. For instance, if the piece is cutesy, and I am moved to use the word cute, I say it like, Cutely cool and awesome! and often followed by one specific thing they did or used that I liked or loved. If I cannot type a lot, I usually say Love it! And that is just me, I know. Still, I am not playing with bad karma here. It's coming around, but I didn't make it go around. Perhaps I did lob a few lame-o's in my past and am being repaid by the Universe. Karma's a bitch, that's for sure.

Additionally and most importantly, I know full well that the friends who do this to me mean no harm at all, and are in fact trying to be supportive and do well. I think that might be why I am so ambivalent. The slight seems so silly. Still, no matter what I do, the lame-o hurts. And owning up to it one on one hurts worse. Even once when I talked about this in front of one of them and they even asked me straight out if I meant them, I couldn't say. Oh, man. So, if you are reading this and have been a lame-o perpetrator, don't ask, just stop now, please. And don't be hating. I just can't help it. And thank you.

I am now looking into Word Replacement Visualization -- if that even exists. Hey, I might have to invent it. I look at a word that voodoos me and through the powers of WRV, I instead see the word.....COOL. I could definitely live with that. :-)))

Strips and scraps

2011-06-24T02:32:00.000-05:00

I'm on a bit of a roll here now with the old blogs. I'm in the midst of taking that Stacy Julian Finding Photo Freedom class over at BPS (see my sidebar for the clickable logo if you want), and it has forced me to organize my art photos into their little folders on my hard drive. Apparently, getting organized does wonders for my blogging!

I actually spent some time making an atc and a greeting card using the Herringbone Technique that I learned in my Technique Junkies newsletter. This uses strips of paper to form a pattern (like you might see with wood floor planks), and is a great way to use color-coordinated paper scraps.

I first made this card for one of my nieces, using the technique for the background layer. I had some coordinated My Mind's Eye scraps laying around, so they were fair game.

Here is an in-progress shot. This was my first time to do it and it took me forever. Not unpleasant, though. Luckily, I wasn't in a hurry, so I probably took more time being leisurely, I guess.

Here's a scan of the finished front. I fished around in my elements binder and found some of the matching pieces that came kitted with the paper. I also found some oversized chipboard brackets in my drawers and painted two red. Loved that I had a shade of Making Memories paint that matched exactly. Overall, a rather handsome and colorful card, if I do say so myself.

I have been meaning to start playing in the Paper Traders yahoo group (see sidebar) monthly atc lottery again, mostly to get back into participating with those gorgeous girls. And I wanted to keep Herringboning, so I fashioned an idea with the technique pattern and a journey of some sort. On the atc shown above, I painted and inked on top of the technique background before adding the packing tape transfer of the little Asian girl and text strips. Then, more paint and ink until it look haunting and grungy enough.

I think this technique makes a great look with coordinated colors. I want to try it next time with not-so-coordinated papers, and see how that looks. I now know that I can always cover it with inks or paints if the look ain't so hot. winkwink

Strange, Weird, Wonderful

2011-06-23T02:53:00.001-05:00

Not gonna lie...I've had a bad last 5 days. But it appears to be ending {knockwood}. Many times, it has always helped to remember that nothing lasts forever, and then don't watch the boiling pot. winkwink

My dad turned 84 and, being there are no rules and I can go artsy fartsy or silly or whatever, I was able on motivation alone to make a nice card for him.

When I am flaring at all with the Arthurs, I usually turn to my pencils and pens to color. Here, I colored a stamped image and then I gelpenned the candle embossing from a cuttlebug folder.

The orange candles were colored with those Sakura souffle pens. The orange color reminds me of Dreamsicles. Loved those as a kid.

My dad got a big kick out of the back where I stamped "Handcrafted Masterpiece". Ha! It's really really fun to make cards for people who enjoy them. I am pretty blessed to have quite a few in my life who do. And, I only really found that out when I talked about stopping...also, when I stopped sending them to people who didn't value them. Funny how life works.

We got rain today, almost an inch. The sound of it was almost foreign to me, made me realize it had been a very long time. My thoughts are often with the folks battling the fires and the floods. Mother Nature, can't fool her, beat her or outwit her, that's for sure.

Re-visiting Easter

2011-06-18T23:54:00.047-05:00

Here we are, mid-June on the eve of Father's Day, and I still need to share the cards I made for Easter. I'll be the first to say that my adherence to a blogging schedule has been dismal, but like most things in my life, I must defer to the limitations of my health and do the *catch-up*. This week's constant problems with a dropped internet connection did not help, either. I seriously tried a handful of times to post during the week, but I'm grateful for the opportunity tonite.

I managed to make only 2 Easter cards this year. This first one I gave to my Dad. And I did not create the card front. My friend Katy B. from Austin created the front and sent the card to me unsigned and blank inside. She always does such a fabulous job with glitter. Her lines are so delicate and pretty.

I added on to the back and the insides before mailing early enough for him to receive it early. Dad took his youngest grandson on an egg hunt the morning of Easter eve, so they had fun sharing the card.

Above is a scan of the inside. I used an Easter stamp set by Our Craft Lounge and various markers. I cannot look too closely, as I see now that I didn't stay in all the lines when I colored, oops. Lucky for me, I don't think my nephew noticed. :-)))

I made another card for my mother-in-law, and this one had to be really nice and religious. She had just returned from a trip to Israel, so bunnies and eggs wouldn't do. Uh-oh. Try as I might, I could not come up with an original thought on my own, so I turned to the card gallery at Splitcoast Stampers.

I happened to see a card created by Holly MacMillen. The photo above shows her card on the computer screen and my card alongside. Didn't she do a lovely job? Holly made a monochromatic white cross card using Spellbinder diecuts, and I noticed that I had every one of the dies she used! So, I attempted a blatant CASE (Credit and Steal Everything) of her card.

It was next-to-impossible to get an indoor flashless shot that correctly reflected the white hues of this card. So, where it looks like a yellowish edge, in reality there was none. It was all white, except for the gold glitter button tops and the gold embossing powder.

For the inside sentiment, I used a stamp from the late Cornish Heritage Farms. I used a Spellbinders oval Nestabilities to shape it and edged it with a gold marker. All the sentiments were stamped with gold metallic pigment ink and clear heat embossed.

The background used a Cuttlebug embossing folder (the holiday ribbon one) layer, then a couple of Spellbinder Nestabilities oval layers with the top one run through the polkadots folder, all parts of the cross die layered up, and a button dot to finish. The sentiment -- from Clear Dollar -- was cut out with a Spellbinders label die...and 2 more gold dots. The gold was the perfect color and texture touch.
I don't know if I did Holly's card justice, but my mother-in-law oooed and aahed bigtime. I thank Holly very much for the awesome design to copy.

Catching Up, BIG Time

2011-06-12T04:57:00.000-05:00

Whoa, has it been that long????? Yup, it has! Gotta do some catching up, on displaying the cards I've made this Spring, and what's been up in general.

A birthday card for Hubster began with these stickers languishing in my supplies:

And then there was this sketch from SplitCoast Stampers:

Add some old BG paper, a Sizzix embossing plate and some Bic Mark-it markers, a cake sentiment sticker and some ribbon, and I got this far:

Now, to fill in with those 1952 stickers. I soon realized that Hubs would love to see as many as possible and they were not all gonna fit on the card front, so I decided to include some on the inside:

Now that I look at the card again, I see additional elements: some stitch rub-ons, a Spellbinders crown that I Stickled a bit...this became on of those *pile-it-on* creations, and it thrilled me to be able to put it all together. The Hubs liked it, too.

He also liked the two birthday meals he snagged. First one up was delish Tex-Mex at Escalente's near Missy in Houston:

A few days later he was treated to a seafood buffet at the Country Club by Papa. All of our plates looked like this:

The Hubster, smiling constantly, looked like this:

Mothers Day Greetings

2011-05-08T07:23:00.000-05:00

"...Because I said so, that's why. You'll thank me one day!"

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!

Here is the card I made for my mother-in-law.

It's safe to say I "felt" "in the pink" but hungry for chocolate (brown).

My computer even got in on the act and generated the inside greeting.

And to finish it off, I made a matching envie.

I'm looking forward to enjoying my day and I hope you do the same!

Hatching some plans...

2011-05-05T23:50:00.000-05:00

I am forcing myself to post tonight, dear readers.

I've been really not into sharing or communicating much this year and this last month in particular.

I sat myself down this week and thought it out as to why. And I realized a few things.

First, I'm a bit embarrassed. I mean, I had all these big plans and very few of them have turned out like I have wanted them to. I felt like I have been a broken record about my Playroom: same old excuses as to why it's not done. Had to have a frank talk with myself about my physical limitations and that maybe my timetable, while perhaps even too long for most of us, was too short for me. I'm now working on cutting myself a break in hopes of feeling more comfortable with sharing progress, setbacks, stalls, etc.

Second, I've had a huge epiphany of sorts as to my scrapbooking, and I will try to explain. When I first was into scrapping layouts, I shared all of them online. All my layouts are on my Flickr and probably also on Two Peas. Didn't think a thing about it. And to be fair, almost all of them had photos of Missy and/or Hubs and me.

Now, I am (finally!) signed up for Stacy Julian's Finding Photo Freedom summer online class (see my sidebar) because I need help getting back into it and also in organizing my photos. I also joined Sisterhood of Scrap because they have a community I like and some great archived info on photo editing. I thought, I'll ease back into scrapping there and not be so rusty for my class.

But then, an opportunity appeared for me to create a scrapbook album of Hubster's 20th year anniversary work dinner. And, I suddenly got all concerned about sharing my layouts full of photos of so many other people, a few of which I know have problems with sharing info online.

And, I just froze up. Luckily, Hubs didn't want a scrapbook made. I had printed out all of the photos on my Picturemate printer (LOVE that thing), and he found them laid out, drying. He's a master snoop from way back, but I digress.

He also knows me, or my history, at least. I know he was thinking, I'll never see that scrapbook. He said he'd rather just have a little photo album he could carry around or take to work, so that was easy enough. I had a Pioneer album and just filled it up. Hubs was a happy guy.

But, I was still left with dealing with my not feeling it was a good idea to share layouts that included anyone other than my family members who are okay with it.

The next idea I had for graduation presents -- words of wisdom quote pages surrounded by photos from each recipient's Facebook album -- would also be projects that I'd feel uncomfortable sharing. So, while I am working on them right now, I'm also not planning to share them because I don't think it's appropriate.

Something within me did not want to make a firm decision until now about sharing or not sharing. So, I subconsciously avoided blogging. Weird, but that's how my mind was working.

Now, at the same time, I am finding that my preferences for scrapbook albums are undergoing yet another evolution. At first, I bought post bound albums because it was 2004-2005 and it was that or the strap kind I've never liked. But the problem with post bound is that you wither scrap chronologically or you wait until you have all your layouts done to put them into the album.

The 3-ring binder seemed like a perfect alternative, so when it began to be obtainable, I bought some of them. I also found some boxed binder albums that were even better for keeping dust out, and I purchased like 6 of those. That was my first evolutionary change.

Then, I began using those binders. And I discovered two things:
1) When they include 10 page protectors, that's probably all you should really use, because if you try to cram twice as many as I did, you risk sagging layouts and stress on the binder ring mechanism. I had some of those binder rings come away from the spine, and then the binder is useless.
2) There was the bottom page protector drag....always. Highly annoying. Highly.

So, lately I've been re-visiting the post bound albums, but I still have several binders...so my devious little mind has devised a use for the binders as a temporary holding spot for those layouts. I can put them in order, categories, whatever. And when I have all the layouts I want to put in an album all organized the way I want them, then I can put them in a post bound. And I won't stuff them. I can afford to buy another album. I'm thinking this is a great idea. We will see.

I can also add that I have changed my mind about 12x12 layouts. That's the size I scrapped during my first activity period, and for several reasons I remained loyal to it until recently. It's been a while coming, though. I finally opened my mind to the 8x8 and 6x6 sizes last year some time. What cinched it for me was the scan issue. I've never been excellent and stitching my 12x12 layouts and with the smaller sizes it is not an issue. I'm still evolving my mindthink on this. For example, last night I had almost rationalized doing childhood albums for all 3 of us in 12x12. And then I considered the scanning and 8x8 suddenly became okay, hehe. Heck, 8.5x11 would be good, too, right? And I'm also exploring why I never consider just buying a 12x12 scanner. My Kmarty mindthink sometimes sabotages my finding the best solutions....

So, anyway, thanks if you've read this far. This is all just so so trivial in comparison to LIFE, but hey, that's what I got. That and waiting for the duck eggs to hatch, winkwink. And I'll try to post better, too.

Stamp of approval

2011-04-11T23:25:00.182-05:00

Another week? Just another manic Monday comes to my mind, but about the last 7 days. Hubster has been off work and driving me mad. He goes back on days tomorrow for 4....thank you, Lord!

As for what I've been doing since my last post, I've been pretty much "holed up" doing eventually necessary and important if not immediately necessary organizational craft work...mostly to give myself some down time and space from the spouse.

Seems like whenever he's off, I become his little assistant (he does occasionally make my coffee, though). And because of my Arthur medications, I tend to lose focus and concentration whenever I become said assistant. So the mundane tasks like sorting and categorizing are soothing to me and allow my frazzled brain to recoup.

I have no art creations to share, but I can share a bit of what I worked on which was stamping and scanning my stamp index files. This is a never-ending project that I'm only about halfway through, but what is done is so handy and valuable that I'm determined to finish it. As I have worked through a couple of trials and errors by now with my stamp storage, I can highly recomment my current method!

I now keep most of my unmounted stamps (clear/rubber and rubber cling have separate cases because of their respective depths) in CD cases.

My process categorizes most of them by theme (birthdays, holidays, people, words, alphabets, borders, backgrounds, yadayada). I have kept a handful of stamp sets in their own cases, why, I can't really remember, just felt right. There's always an exception to any rule.

I fill a case with stamps of a certain theme, then I stamp my own index sheet on full-sheet adhesive label paper that I've precut to fit on the case. I then scan in each stamped index sheet and apply the text tool in PSE to label the sheet with the case description. A case of clear and non-cling-backed rubber has 2 index sheets, a case of cling-mounted rubber has 1 sheet (because of how they fit in the case).

So, at this point I have the physical case done and stored by case category and number. And I have the scanned jpg file of each index sheet(s) for each case. I name the file the same as the case name, and then each of my categories have their own subfolder in my Stamp Index folder on my laptop. In a category where I've finished this process, I can now peruse my inventory for that category in Windows gallery on my laptop.

You may have noticed either the "O" or the "*" on the right hand side of the text label I add to the scans. The "O" means clear stamps, the "*" means cling-mounted. Just something to help me know what the stamps are.

This week I worked on my Food & Drugs category. There was a reason as to why when I began that is long gone from my memory, but I could literally just choose any category and have work to do no matter which one, so it doesn't really matter why I chose that one. I have lots of filled and labelled cases that need the index sheets stamped and scanned.

In addition to my Stamps Index folder, I also keep a folder on my computer of the stamps and sets of stamps that I own. It acts as a check on my system, as well as a handy reference to make sure I'm not ordering a duplicate. The folder has subfolders of each stamp manufacturer. I usually just use the company images of their stamps for my jpgs here, and I save them when I buy the stamps.

There has many a time when I wondered if I owned that stamp I'd see and want to buy, so this computer file folder is worth its weight in gold. With so many stamp cases not indexed yet, and with many not even cased yet as well, I'd go nuts otherwise. (This also makes my being backed up with Carbonite more valuable, too. I'd probably pull my hair out if I lost both of my stamp folders.)

I also have many cases that have the case descriptions hand-written. These are the earliest cases I did, before I thought to add text in PSE to my scans. I may at some point use the Clone or Eraser tool over the handwriting and add Text to these scans, but for now they're at least labelled.

I scan in the index sheets at 150dpi in case I ever do finish this project and want to print contact sheets for a binder or something. Otherwise, I would scan them in at 72dpi for viewing purposes only. I also think it would be cool to copy the folder to a card so that I could view it on my phone or my ipod while I am out shopping, in case I get that feeling of dejavu when I see the cutest stamp set ever and want to buy it. To be honest, however, I buy very few stamps that way. The vast majority are bought online. If you are a physical bricks and mortar shopper, though, wouldn't it be cool to be able to check your inventory? I know that looking at what I have will sometimes show me that I already have very similar stamps and that has saved me some money, as well as organizing time and storage space.

Oh, one more thing as to why I'm considering not printing out the contact sheets. I originally thought it was really important to have an image of each stamp that was at 100%, so I could better gauge size and proportion. However, I think being able to reach for the cd case after looking it up in my computer folders makes having a physical printed binder unnecessary now. The stamped index image is at 100%, so I use that when I need something a certain size. I will continue to keep the option open until I finish the project. Maybe something will be crystal clear by then.

I hope that sharing my stamp organziation process was helpful. I know that an organizational system is one of the biggest decisions we stampers can make, so I wanted to show you how mine has evolved and what is now working well for me.

FlyBy Week

2011-04-04T06:02:00.000-05:00

A Traci Bautista-inspired background for the mixed media calendars I created last year. Digital calendar month freebie courtesy of Creature Comforts blog.
So glad that I thought to scan in most of the backgrounds before adding the 2010 months! Note to file.....

Wow, I don't know about you, but my week just flew by. I can hardly believe we're in April already! Even though I didn't blog, I got quite a lot of detail work done. Since they say the devil's in the details, can I say the devil made me do it? winkwink

In between my Carbonite initial file back up (90% backed up as of this moment-almost done!) and an endless array of little detailed organizational jobs in my playroom that are required because of space reasons before I move the big table and chifferobe and Cricut cabinet in, I worked on altering a batch of padded envie mailers that I wanted to recycle.

I had a stack of them waiting to go in the mailer box, but the box is full, so I set up a little work area and went to it whenever I had a spare moment. Made my own designer paper with some scrapbook paper scraps and stamps...

I brayered with dye ink and then a little dry painting with acrylics.

At some point I wanted to watercolor, so I got out my metallic tube paints and painted lines and lines and lines...

I've re-organized this area a few times, and this is the latest. Took the simple route and clipped hand-written labels on. Most of the little jobs I did weren't really photographable, but I wanted to show at least one thing.

And another one: I re-arranged and added to my inspiration board with some loose sketches I had on another board. I'm planning to decopage that cigar label on a wastebasket for The Hubster's ManCave one of these days.

I did get one card made.

I recycled an old card front that I'd saved, and added the little jewel and paper flowers, then re-matted onto a purple base and off-center onto a yellow card blank so it has that strip of yellow on the spine. It makes me so happy to look at it because it screams Spring to me.

Slacker Sunday

2011-03-28T04:21:00.000-05:00

Today was a Raggedy-Ann kind of day...

Good news to knockwood on! No more attacks *so far* since I regained dietary, supplement and meds control. I talked today to a friend who's a nurse and she confirmed that yeah, not gonna see the vitals I clocked during a heart attack or aneuyrism or rupture. She figures that the combination of foods I ate created a huge amount of gas and hard-to-digest situation. That is, unless it reoccurs while I'm being good, in which case, I'll have to have it all looked at.

One of my organziation chores done in March: Sizzix item # labelling.

So, I've been slacking today, doing remote-control kinda stuff and just piddling here and there. I mix-media-altered a couple of used padded envies to recycle. I'll share once I get photos. I also wadded up client tax papers to burn in the pit. (This could be the world's longest chore to-do left unfilled that has been constantly worked on...after 3 shedders dying, I recently decided to burn the paper.)

Temporary nester: my subscription came with a jokes calendar.

I'm also sharing a few of my playroom's in-process progress. One string of my window lights has gone out and I have been trying to talk myself up about checking the bulbs. I bought a bulb tester last year but cannot remember where it is hiding. And I found a couple of cards I want to CASE, but that's as far as I got. All of this while I continued my initial Carbonite backup. I'm now up to 40% backed up. This may be slower than watching paint dry. Thank goodness they said it would only be this long the first time. {eyeroll}

My inspiration board is slowly evolving...

I joined one scrapbooking community that also has some interesting Photo Shop Elements tutes as well as some activities I think would be helpful for me and my new mission. Joining one is Hubster-approved, so I'm not going behind his back. Since he has been known to read this blog, I very well can't do that...much.
winkwink Just kidding, honey! :-)

Attack of the Whatchamacallit!

2011-03-26T23:57:00.000-05:00

I'm now 34% backed up to Carbonite, geez I might be finished next week, hopefully. {eyeroll}

I had the wooorrrssstttt attack this evening. If Hubs hadn't whipped out his blood pressure machine and cuffed me doing a heartbeat of 64 and a bp of 114/66, I would have sworn I was having a heart attack!

{You gotta admit -- those vitals, taken smack-dab in the middle of said attack, are pretty dang good for a 55-y.o. post-menopausal obese smoker with 5 kinds of arthritis, no? I'm actually proud of them, to be honest. But, I digress...}

Anyway...back to my attack. It was like a vise (or a chest-sized bp cuff) surrounded my chest and wouldn't let go. To extend the bp cuff metaphor, that thing was turned on and closing in around me, too. It wasn't stabbing pain, but it was constant painful discomfort that became pain because it just kept on. I could hardly breathe. I finally was able to lay back in my recliner. I cupped my boobs and mashed them into my chest and just tried to be as still as I could. It finally went away as quickly as it came...like 10-15 minutes altogether.

And of course we've googled everything and gallbladder or just real bad indigestion are the top culprits. I wouldn't doubt either of them, as I have been eating everything in sight this week for some reason (probably from the bickering and getting The Ultimatum might have made me a nervous over-eater?)

I have even gained a couple pounds! Even worse than that and that is bad, I stopped my vinegar and honey drinks. So, like I said, I can totally accept that it was acute indigestion and trapped gas in my chest cavity.

Had to call my dad afterwards and he reminded me that my mom had the trapped air chest problem and would be doubled over holding herself like I did. (OTOH, my brother had to have his gallbladder removed about 5 years ago.)

Now, I have big plans to eat nothing for as long as I can. {eyeroll - I need an eyeroll smiley baddddd} I'm going to see if that stops it, then maybe it was just God telling me no more fatty foods. I just hate going to the doctor, that's the truth. They will run every test and still not know squat. I had none of the symptoms that signal anything acute or operable. The stress of it happening again is getting to me, tho, so if I can just make it thru the weekend, I'll decide then how to continue.

I continue to be antsy and anxious over it, so if you know any good diet to keep a gallbladder attack from happening, please email me: aimeslee at gmail dot com --- or my email on the sidebar. I have several. LOL

Bon viva la difference Voyage

2011-03-25T03:54:00.000-05:00

bon voyage: have a good journey, have a good trip. (wiktionary)

I was reminded last night, while emailing a friend and bringing her up to date with my life, that this March is turnng out to be quite a month of new directions and new trips on my journey. Do you ever have a great big project on your list that's been on there forever and just keeps getting kicked forward, until it becomes a permanent fixture, always #1, read every day until one day you simply breeze right over it and now you don't even see it anymore?

You can even remove it from the list, but your brain still knows it is there, because your memory and conscience won't let you forget it? You keep delaying it for the perfect time. But that time never seems to come, and one day someone else makes that decision for you and all of the sudden you are no longer in procrastination control.

As I was telling my friend, dear old Hubster made my decision for me the other day. The item on the list was one that he had requested, I wanna say almost 5 years ago. I guess that makes it understandable why he was a bit upset that I hadn't done it by now.

Card made for my mother in law for her recent trip to Jerusalem...

The project on the list is a huge one. Maybe the hugest project of my life: dealing with our photos. See, I had asked my dad to let me have all of the family photos when he moved down here so I could scan them. Have I done that yet, 3 months later? Nope, not even 25% of them...got started, then got sidetracked. So I guess on top of all of the photos that we have that are still in magnetic albums, photo boxes and my hard drive, that aren't printed out, in photo albums, in scrapbooks, Hubster had reached his patience point. I received my ultimatum.

From now on, I may still email, blog and add to my flickr, but I may not join or participate in any groups, swaps, challenges, or clubs. All I may do is work on the photos and make cards when needed for family.

Upon hearing this, I was seized with fear, pretty much, and blurted out...hell, begged...for permission to take the one class this year I'd sworn to take and participate fully in: Stacy Julian's Library of Memories that begins in June. (I had been thinking about this project all this time and pretty much conceded that I needed to leave it up to the higher power that is Stacy, lol. I probably shouldn't lol, I sincerely feel she is my last chance for any hope in tackling this project).
Much to my delight, Hubster agreed to the class. Further, he even said that he planned to play along with me, probably to make sure that I do indeed do the class and learn what I need to do it to our photos. (Does he know me, or what?)

So, the bad news is, I'm not in control with my life for like the next 9 months or so, and all my cute little plans and ideas will have to die on the vine or take up residency in that proverbial back seat for longer than they care to. The good news is that I'm relieved, frankly. I won't have to feel all the guilt and incompetence for not getting this job done much longer. So I'm gonna enjoy this journey that my Hubster charted for us (me mostly). And the coolest thing right now is that I'm not even responsible for the outcome, like if it's gonna work or not. I just have to try.

Sign-ups for Stacy's class begins next month, so in the meantime and before the class begins in June, I'll be getting all our photos backed up to Carbonite (I began the initial backup 3 days ago and am only about 15% of the way done...50 gigs is a LOT, I guess.) And, I'll be uploading photo jpegs to get printed so I can begin filling up several photo albums I've bought. And, I'll be breaking the scrapbooking ice and making up an album of Hubs' 20th work anniversary dinner...I figure that would make a nice present for his birthday in April. (Yup, like see? You said start, I started! winkwink)

Spring gone wild...

2011-03-23T05:40:00.000-05:00

That webcam cameroid app continues to amuse me...

Well, I have another little flare up, in my neck, radiating down my left arm...bigtime. After 3 days, it is finally beginning to lose its intensity. Either that or I'm miraculously used to it by now. Don't think that's it, tho.

Spring's made a grand entrance around here. Lows in the middle 60's at night and highs in the daytime in the low 80's. Sunshine and mild wind. A little bit of wildlife, too.

We have ducks from the nearby bayou who journey to the pond in the field behind my side of the block, and they always end up having a little parade on our street. They are a happily-married couple.

They visit us every Spring and I realized I've never taken photos of them, so I did that today. They must cross a very busy road to get from the bayou to the pond, and our city has an official Duck Crossing with a crosswalk and sign and everything.

Everyone knows not to feed them, even tho it kills me not to. Most of us have tried it once and learned.

If you feed them, they will return the next day and the next, stand in your front yard and honk so loudly that you'd swear it was a car.

It's just best not to get them all riled up, the cuties. The man who owns the pond stocks it with their favorite fishies, so they get their bellies full.

I was also visited by a bright green lizard a couple days ago who found himself inside my house via the front door. He quickly shimmied up a nearby table and has been living there. I have unfortunately not been able to capture him, on film or in my hand. But every time I go to that table and move something on it, he comes out and stands there, looking at me as if to say hello and what's to eat. It got to where I was going to the table a few times a day just to visit him! This evening when the Hubster got home from work, I told him about the lizard and I could tell Hubs did not quite believe me about the lizard being so sociable. We had pizza delivered for supper and as Hubs was standing at the front door, here comes the lizard out onto the carpet to say hi. So I alerted Hubs and he calmly leaned over, trapped him in his hand and returned him to the front yard. Now, I kinda miss the little fellow. What a great story to scrapbook and no photos! Booo!

I'll leave you with the card making for my oldest nephew who turns 18 this week. Here is my kit from my stash for it. Check out the paper strips: We R Memory Keepers, circa 2005. That's practically vintage, right?

I used Clean and Simple card sketch #126. I did some heavy edge distressing on the papers and then I was too lazy to get the messy inkpads out, so I tried running my copics along the edge using the chiselled caligraphy point. Works great! I got to use up some ribbon, some screw brads, an epoxy label frame, some chipboard numbers and a scalloped canvas circle that I cut into pinked edges with my Tim Holtz scissors and then colored with my copics.

For the inside, I lined both sides with paper, punched some diamonds out and used up some sticker alphas, too.

The back of the card was not neglected, either. I hope my nephew likes it. I know he will like the check that's included. winkwink :-)))

Luck O the Irish to Ya!

2011-03-17T07:22:00.000-05:00

Just call me "The Lucky Charmer"

I got a little frisky over at cameroid.com and created that gorgeous cariacature with my computer webcam and the onsite cameroid app. I was on a buy-high, having just successfully ordered Lawn Fawn's new stamp set, Say Cheese!, as well as 3 other sets I like almost as much, thereby getting a free mini-set and free shipping. Score!

Yes, I have officially cheated on my Supplies Moratorium. But, wouldn't you? This stamp set is like the most in-demand set right now, having quickly sold out on 2peas and everywhere else it was marketed. Polaroids are hothothot right now and with this stamp you get the frame to put your photo in....sweet! Plus you get a stamp of a polaroid camera, so hey. As for the other 3 sets I ordered, well, they were cute and I certainly could have lived with the Say Cheese set, no biggie. {snort} winkwink

So, today being SPD and all, I have 2 very special (to me) cards to share with you. I really like the way that both turned out.

My first card is a humorous one and began with me coloring this Janlynn stamp image. I didn't think about the plan for this card other than the set-up and punch lines.

So, here is the card front. Yes, I know that Bragh is misspelled. (Pssst - that's part of the set-up. Patience, grasshopper!) And here is the inside:

Okay, you know you either ARE laughing or ya wanna! Hehehehe. Yeah, okay, so that was sent to Missy.

True story: almost sent it to my cousin, until I remembered she's had breast cancer, and so I thought okay, I'll stamp my pink ribbon stamp on it to make it good...but then I could not find that stamp (found my bra stamp but not the pink BC ribbon stamp. Figures! I'll be sooo happy when I get all my stamps cataloged and indexed!) I then got so flustered about it that I sent my cousin a very simple shamrock card and totally completely forgot to scan it or photo it until about an hour after I mailed it {eyerolling myself}.

Here's the card front of my second card, which is a sweet and nostalgic one with an original poem inside, written by lil old me. The wee lass on the front is a Stampavie stamp colored with Copics like the first one. The front has a rainbow (a paper scrap that looked like it could be a rainbow, so it got used up), the lass, and also winter snow and spring thaw and blossoms.

And here is the poem that is the reason for all the elements on the front of the card. I've always been a bit bothered by Groundhog Day, so I let my inner revisionist go to town to write my own version of the Spring myth. This card went to my Dad who likes this kind of card and will be sure to ooh and ah over my poetic abilities. :-)))

Hope you liked my cards and here's to a great and gorgeous SPD!

Just because

2011-03-16T09:29:00.000-05:00

Hey, remember that card kit I was working with? In the instructions (above) is pictured a perfectly good "just because" note card, right? Uh-oh, here it comes. I wasn't warming up to that metal buckle and that twill ribbon used like that, so...

I took a little detour and made this card instead. In the embellishments trade-off, I acquired a metal buckle/tag, but I got to use up a round tag, a flower and a chipboard photo corner. Advantage: me. It's all done in micro-inchies, doncha know. One tiny brad or eyelet at a time... {evil laugh}. winkwink

I'm actually happy to acquire the metal piece because I've had a set of Making Memories steel stamps (the kind that you whack into soft metal with a hammer) that I have used only like once or twice. So, I see some practice taking place and the metal is better than thick foil like I have the most of. That's the game plan right now anyway. Tomorrow, who knows, what with my insane imagination. I am just glad to not have used the tag like the kit card sample did...maybe too dated?

Why ever I made that choice I couldn't say. It's like this book I read once, called Blink. I trust my gut a lot and don't really analyze it. He says that for certain people, who have had a long time in a skill set that requires repetition that reaps excellence (as opposed to working on an assembly line), you can probably be right in the gut trust. It has something to do with having developed and sharpened innate decision-making by developing certain skill sets. Some skill sets do that, some do not. The book is an anectodal rambler so I don't know as I'd recommend the read, but I was reminded of it so there's the mention.

This is what I am reading right now (shown above, along with my lumpy well-used cotton gauze purple pillow that was cushioning my neck while I was reading). The author's point of view is very original. Not sure about why he is sooooo insistent upon the requirement that the successful person be a wolf (and endure loneliness), but the book is definitely recommended as worth a read, if only at the least to present a fresh perspective on keys to creativity. His big thing is, your choice is to be a sheep and endure boredom, or be a wolf and endure loneliness. (I'm still not sold on that being your only two choices, but for the sake of argument, we'll assume it so.) For me, no contest. I'll be the wolf any day. I always choose to be alone with interesting things to pass my time, rather than not be alone and be bored. If the book were any longer, it would start to be a pain, but it's not and thank goodness.

Enough for now. I'll leave you with my newest lurker infatuation: a scrapbooking kit club that's fake...er, um, you create your own kit at home using your stash. It's called the Counterfeit Kit Club. It's a challenge blog. Every month they take a real kit club kit and then everyone replicates it as much or as little as each wants. They even have tutorials to help you knock-off the embellies that are in the real kit. Then you use up your kit during the month on cards and layouts you were otherwise gonna do.

Okay, as you would expect, it was love at first sight for me! At last, a challenge blog where the challenge parallels my own stash challenge! But, lemme tellya, it ain't quite so easy to replicate without investing hours and hours of pulling out papers and matching them, then same for all the other piece elements. I suppose if I had about a tenth of what I've got, it would be easier as I could remember more of what I have. But the few times I tried to compile my own kit, I failed. I have a new appreciation for all those kit club put-em-togetherers. It's hard!

My full participation in Counterfeit Kit Club will have to wait until I get moved into my Playroom and can pull out all the stuff without a nuclear meltdown occurring. But I plan to do some form of it as soon as I'm able, because it's an awesome premise. Check it out here.

Birthday Vacay...

2011-03-15T04:54:00.000-05:00

Wow, I knew I was gone longer than I meant to be but even I'm a bit surprised. It didn't seem like 2 weeks+, I swear! lol

So, I took a week off and just unplugged because...nothing was tasting good anymore, online-wise. When I felt like creating, I did...and I felt that way quite a bit. No deadlines, really, as I've been working ahead quite a bit. Even managed to print out some photos I want to scrapbook, in an attempt to motivate myself toward that end.

None of my birthday dinner photos were ones that featured my best looks, frankly, and being that we went to my fave Mexican food joint that has the huge birthday hat and serenade, that photo is the cheesy bad one with the requisite embarrasment factor, but sheesh, I don't really care...that much.

I also have head shots of me with Missy, my dad, my brother and family, but they are all pretty redundant so I chose the best one of me, lol. At any rate, it was fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thoroughly enjoyed getting my inspiration the unplugged old-fashioned way with these books. The Print and Stamp Lab book was my favorite. It's got me looking everywhere for little doodads to stamp with (as if I needed anything else to stamp with...).

I also got sick with a flare-up of my Arthurs while I was gone, but who wants to talk about that, not me. I'd rather get started showing all these unseen cards I made. This one is a friend notecard, shown below:

Making this card was a total playdate with myself. I really enjoyed getting out of my comfort zone and combining different patterns and strong colors.

I used a Mojo Monday sketch (#177):

Back on the blog wheel, I hope. More tomorrow, already tired. Peace out. xoxo

Kits and kaboodles

2011-02-27T01:09:00.000-06:00

My apologies for, in yesterday's post, my stubborn misuse of the word *kit*. When I read my published post, I saw that I'd written *kits* instead. All I can offer as an explanation is that I must have had temporary George W. Bush Internets Disease. {snort} winkwink

My foray into card kits got me going, as they say. I had another one of those kits card bases, from Lasting Impressions I *think* (but am mostly not sure). I shared a birthday card recently from another one of the bases, and am finally remembering enough to guess the company who made it. Suffice it to say, it's old, at least 5 years. Anyway, I had the base and decided to compile my own kit parts to go with it. Lord knows, I've plenty of supplies! So, this is my kit:

I was able to look no further than the Scrapworks papers and embellies that I'd been using.

Hey, the colors were copacetic and complementary, so why not? Lasting Impressions met Scrapworks, and another 30-minute quick card was born:

This one is for our dd, Missy. She recently had her first job performance review and was rewarded with a promotion and a 7% raise, which in this economy is not too shabby at all! It's actually practically amazing. She totally deserves it, too, and I am so thankful that her employer knows the awesome employee they have in her. There have been times in the last 6 months that I was a little concerned with all the long, hard hours she was putting in, and I frankly just trusted that they would recognize it and appreciate it. This is proof that they do. So, I wanted to make her a little something to commemorate. And thanks for letting me brag a bit. We are so so proud of her.

Before I go, I wanted to show you what I did in our study/office for a wall calendar this year. It is very simple and easy, but it gets the job done and from a distance creates a neat pattern for the eye.

I downloaded the calendar from Creative Mamma and printed them out in black and white on my laser printer on green cardstock. Then I cut out each month and arranged them along a strip of white 12x4" cardstock. Very simple and basic and quick. I like it right up at the top of the bulletin board so that it is always in view. If you are looking for cute and colorful calendars to download and print (free!), then go check her out. I plan to print a few of the others out in color on my inkjet...one day! winkwink