No Drinking and Shooting

I made both of the papers used here. When I thought about combining them for a card the cup paper was blue in my mind. Blue and silver...because those are the paints I used. Yet when I glued it down against the copper brown color it seems very green. Green isn't bad but it has this camouflage feel that is a bit confusing. As in, "Why is my martini ready for hunting season and what does this have to do with thanks?"

I'm sending it anyway!

(ps- It's a thank you card for a friend who hosted a cast party at her house.)

Dotted Circle Pattern

I've been making up work hours all weekend on my home computer. Because it has no internet, I'm probably getting a lot more done (or why I'm working today at home again) but I need to find something other than email checking as a bribe to get through a difficult editing chunk. My solution: pattern practice. My goal is to come up with X number of patterns for Christmas so that I can use mostly my own papers in this year's cards.

The first image shows the evolution of one pattern attempt. I still need to add one more circle probably. That need becomes pretty clear when you look at the second set of images. But for the most part I like it. It's not super original, there is paper all over like this, but it's a good starting place. Most of the papers I enjoy using most in my work are pretty straight forward. The day I master damask is the day I'll really feel like I've accomplished a massive goal. Until then, I'm pretty happy with my dotted circles.

PS- You can see the inspiration for this paper in my header. It's the green circle one second in from the right.

Napkin Paper

I'm currently experimenting with napkin collage. Napkins come in so many cool colors and designs I'm trying to see if I can use the patterns to make background textures. Here's my first. It needs more paint (and then of course something on top.)

I used a ton of Mod Podge and napkins. Most napkins have a few layers and only the top one actually has a pattern. Peel the other ones off before you go to glue anything down. They will only get in the way. I used a tiny bit of water to get my strips of napkin to stick to the paper. Then I covered everything with a ton of Mod Podge. Finally I began with my layers of paint.

CHA- a paperaholics dream

Across the country small business owners are staying up late preparing for the Craft and Hobby Association. This is a huge event where retailers go to find merchandise and product makers go to find retailers. We are working overtime preparing for the trip. I've been writing letters to some incredible paper stores (*drool*) and working on graphics for flyers. I spent almost 2 hours fighting Photoshop this afternoon but then accidentally learned how to do something really cool so it was all worth it.

On a completely random note, last night I was in our local craft store (surprise) and I was flipping through a 2007 Sommerset and suddenly was facing really familiar work. Sure enough, there was Sherrill Kahn's name shining out at me. It's so great to meet these artists and to have a personality to go with the names. Such talented hardworking people.

Easter Fun

After so many holidays using one color set it was really a treat to use a different palette for spring. (SPRING!)

Here are some of what I'm working on.

Idea 1:

Instead of Easter Baskets why not give someone a cute Easter cup?! Imagine finding one of these on your office desk or night stand!


Ingredients:
-coffee mugs in a Spring color- check your local Goodwill or thrift store. This cup was .99
-green napkins (Target is a great source)
-four different colors card stock
-pipe cleaner
-and of course CHOCOLATE!

Recipe:
I used cookie cutters to outline the flowers.
-Cut four flowers each a slightly different size.


-Poke a small hole in the center of the cut flower. (A push pin would work)
-Slide flowers onto a short green pipe cleaner.
-Cut napkin as indicated below and unfold.

-Stuff into cute mug and fill with chocolate.


-Plant flowers in. You could even tie a little tag and note with paper and ribbon to the mug handle.

More to come!

Why Yes Please

This weekend I attended the Creating Keepsakes convention in Portland, OR. I didn't take part in any of the classes (I have no talent when it coms to page layout) but I did explore the vendors. If you love paper, ribbon and color this is an event to attend. So much paper potential in one place!

Check out the Creating Keepsakes website for times and places.

The event travels all over the country so there is a good chance it's coming to a town near you!




PS- I'll find the names of the the above booths.

Gloria Day 3

I did my first Creative Catalyst Productions interview today. (!!!) I hope you won't be able to hear the cat snoring on my lap. Gloria's interview was not only fascinating but caused me to reflect on my own life and relationship to craft and art. I'll try to have excerpts in the upcoming being-created-as-we-speak craft newsletter. More on this later in that we drive Gloria to the airport early tomorrow morning (leaving at 5:45 am) where she heads back to her family frantically cleaning house and a garage to repair from baseball sized hail this last spring. It was great to have her here and not only did she leave us way to many fun things to experiment with, but hours and and HOURS of great footage. I'm currently finishing up Claudine and then back working with Sherri Haab. I'll keep you updated.

PS- Gloria and I talked about how she organizes her studio and you can see the physical space at her site here. (Move your mouse around the image at the top of the page)

Holy Moly Mackeroly

Gloria Page finished her second day of filming today and all I can say is GLORIOUS. Her use of design is phenomenal and she wields carving tools and cutting surfaces like the pro she is. I left the studio to run errands (ballot in the appropriate box…finally) and came back to Lynn hastening me upstairs. “You have to take a look at this stuff,” she says. I am not disappointed. We’re already discussing how we’ll kill three hours between bringing Gloria to her 9am flight (7am at airport) and when the Portland paper stores open. I think we’ll manage because these projects MUST BE TRIED. This is one of the major perks of my job.


The last few days have brought a bit of adventure to CCP. Day 1 of Gloria’s visit, someone who will remain unnamed got confused about the time change and set Gloria’s alarm clock ahead an hour. This would have only been so bad, but then Gloria came in after preparing her supplies, looked at the 1am reading on the clock and thought, “that can’t be right.” She went into the kitchen in search of the real time but that clock said 11pm. Her watch (broken) said 10pm. And her other clock said midnight. She went back into her room and decided to be safe she’d get herself up based on the latest one. The result? Gloria awoke and wondering where the rest of the troops were at 4am!!!



Day 1 excitement. Onto Day 2:

Day two was a different sort. Jim woke to a sound in the middle of the night. He thought it was nothing in that the rain has been POUNDING our doors and windows for the past few nights. When he went into the bathroom however, he found a waterfall cascading from the skylight into the bathroom below and threatening the floor/roof below. He sounded the troop (Lynn) and at 1:30am he had to set up a latter and brave the roof to clear what was ever blocking the drains. This is all still IN THE POURING RAIN. Meanwhile in the bathroom, Lynn is grabbing anything that can work as a towel and trying to clean up the gushing water before it drops through the level below.


To say the least: they didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night. We’re hoping for sound sleep tonight.

Gloria Page

Behind me in the studio we are setting up the stage for Gloria Page's workshop DVD. Very exciting! Gloria's work has been all over including Somerset Studio magazine and the Smithsonian. I'll be taking a break from editing Claudine to sit in and watch. More to come!