pasture and palace

In preparation for the Sunday schools this weekend, the craft table (and the craft floor, as it turns out) are covered with David-themed items.

David the Shepherd will appear with his sheep in green pastures by cool waters, with sheep and a scary lion and bear. Then the kids will be making their own sheep, which will mostly consist in attaching cotton balls to their bellies.

David the King will reside in a palace, which looks like it needs some more decorating. Even though I think the kings in those days more likely lived in stony castles, we'll stretch history for the sake of prettiness here :) The kids will also make crowns for themselves and participate in a royal feast.

For the David-the-Musician episode, the kidlets will decorate lyres (which I still need to make) and create little books showcasing the themes on which he was singing: creation, Israel's history, life as a shepherd, prayer, God's word, life at Saul's court.

Also on the table - there is a stack of cutouts prepared for the initial pages of the Collectionary that will cover the Middle East trip - we purchased the plane tickets on Monday, so it would be good to start. 

So glad to have a helper on the craft table - I couldn't possibly do it all by myself!

another tag-a-day spread

Wonder of wonders - the second tag spread in my art journal is finished! Where did all these days go? I was doing so well, but now, after a super-busy weekend, I'm three and a half tags behind.

8 - prototype of the bauble card series
9 - first snow
10 - helping with a mailing at the press
11- a wonderful Christmas concert
12 - prototype of the lacy card series
13 - setting up branches in a clay pot, a.k.a. the floral foam fiasco
14 - Egg Harbor Cafe breakfast at work
15 - product day at work

between the kitchen, the bathroom and the home improvement store

The card below, which I started about two months ago and finished this morning, includes some regular scrapbooking supplies (like a punched flower, glitter and shiny cardstock), but then we also have some less obvious materials from my stash, like the blue mesh, which I intercepted when a little piece was heading to the dumpster when our office was being insulated.

For the bathroom, there is the shaving cream snowflake, and also paper dyed with the same plus food coloring. The semi-glossy paper is a scrap from a press where some of my friends work (and bring me the said scraps). Finally, the silvery background for the bauble has been cut out of a fancy envelope we received at work.

And it's all good and fun... as long as you don't mind packratting odd materials at home, and walking from one room to another while constructing a simple card :)

snowballs?

Nope - these are actually experimental beads made from salt and cornstarch. I found the recipe online and tested how it works in real life.

The beads look ok, especially after sanding and painting. They are really hard after they dry thoroughly, and have nice weight.

I really like the translucence of the flatter pieces - maybe it could be the material for some sort of tealight holder?

However, it was much easier to make a newspaper bead (it's the green one on the right); even though it could never pretend to be made of clay, because it's really light, I found it easier to sand it and handle in general.

This is is for a salt/cornstarch experiment - next, we will return to the regular paper programming.

in white and gold

Here is a card created this morning - very simple in the color combination, but akhem somewhat baroque-ish with all the dots and cut-outs. It's Christmas, though - much sparkliness is allowed!

I have also surprised myself with a tag-a-day project; the idea came from Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas, but mine are, of course, waaaaay simpler than his. (His usually require between 30 and 50 steps, plus a mountain of fancy supplies.) I'm really liking this sort of diary, commemorating various experiments (I use tags to create prototypes of cards), and what happened on a given day. Here are the first eight, as pasted into my art journal:

musically, colorfully

Last night we cranked up the Christmas atmosphere by attending a wonderful concert downtown. Some well-known numbers, some that I'd never heard before... and an awesome Hallelujah chorus as the grand finale. I was moved! (And the audience participated throughout the program, which made it even more fun.)

 As for the craft table - not much happened last weekend, but I have a few series of cards from last week to present. Here are some WIPS...

... and the final products look like this:

a pate box altered

There is this popular Polish pate that comes in a tin made from thick aluminum foil, silvery on inside and golden on the outside, and every time we finish one, I have a hard time throwing the container away because it could be turned into something. Realistically, though, I wouldn't have the time to treat all of them, and what would I do with a pile of altered pate cans? So - no, I don't hoard them.

Recently I've turned one into a pretty gift package - painted it with gesso and acrylics and created a lid out of cardstock.

The lid is covered with semi-glossy paper dyed with shaving cream and food coloring. The snowflake is slightly 3D from home-made puffy paint (shaving cream again, plus while glue).

Card factory

I've been cutting and gluing daily, nightly and even morningly, preparing some orders, our own cards, Christmas keepsakes... A blissful condition, especially with pleasant music in the background.

The latest series started with testing the bauble design on a tag:

It worked - so a line of cards was created:

They are all a family, but there are no identical twins:

Some details - I've rediscovered Glossy Accents and I'm having loads of shiny fun with the little bottle!

Also, I need to note that today we woke up to the first significant snowfall this season (significant meaning actually reaching the ground and staying there in a visible manner). Another year when I'm going to love the living room view!

almost December...

...and my art journal is still golden, presenting a fall photo with a little poem:

Here is a close-up of the little tiles - I wrapped cardboard with green tissue paper, then drew borders with 3d fabric paint, and when they dried, I filled in the squares with glossy accents.

Another page - still summery, mostly about reading and learning new words.

I'm working on Christmas cards as well - the first series was ordered by Tomek for his part of the family:

So much more to do before the Holidays...

chase bank cooperating with panera bread

Chase Bank used a leafy picture in one of their documents, which I was unable to throw away... (This happens way too often!) Panera Bread, in turn, has those awesome bags made of thick brown paper, really nice to the touch, with subtle pattern imprinted on the front and back.

And here is how they melanged with a few pieces from the scrap box and a quote found in the trusty Quote Garden:

Also on my desk - work in progress on a bunch of post-it-notes, which will be wrapped into purses made from recycled Christmas cards:

And as for the larger sticky notes mentioned in the previous post - they've gained a bunch of siblings, represented here by four members:

it's snowing on my craft table

The snowflakes came out of a Martha Stewart punch (no way I could EVER just cut a shape like this!) Then I treated them with gesso and two pearly colors of acrylic paint.

They ended up on the post-it-note booklets; I think I've finally figured out the sizes and methods, after a few experimental pieces, which did not come out perfect. Oh well. Now I know.

In the morning, I produced another batch of barbasnow, which should be perfectly dry by the time I get back home. Can't wait!

Morning crafts presented in the evening

Early morning crafts are quite enjoyable, but also detrimental to my punctuality arriving at work... The good news is that I have time on the other end, so to say, to stay and make up for lateness, if it happens.

Today I made a briefcase for a little boy, who celebrated his birthday yesterday, so I added a miniature b-day card with a miniature cupcake. It was really hard to stay away from all the girliness for the post-its... cupcakes can be colorful, though, even for a boy!

Also prepared some components for snowy cards. I see another batch of barbasnow coming up in the near future!

And here is another photo to commemorate a date that will not happen again for a looooong, long time.

sticky note experiments

People seem to like the little post-it-note purses, so I thought I'd try playing with the larger format. The purse idea doesn't really work that well here because they are too heavy and just fall over. Other ways of decorating are possible, though, and here is my prototype, where I figured out the sizes and assembly:

I tested fabric as well, but encountered a problem...

...namely ugly corners, as seen on the left! I think I got it right, though, after practicing on some scraps :)

Art journal page

Some art journal pages... ok, MANY art journal pages are born because I come across a photo I really, really hate to throw away; it transports me to some magically beautiful place, or brings back memories, or invokes a thought.

Last Sunday I was trying to call my family in Poland, but the calling card refused to cooperate. I was sitting in my car, dialing the digits over and over again, browsing a travel magazine in between the attempts. A few images reminded me about a conversation from last summer - how the speedy pace of everyday life prevents us from pondering higher, more spiritual matters, from looking deeper, under the surface of the obvious and tangible.

"walk on the surface but look deep inside"

Barbasnow

My dear and extremely patient husband has gotten used by now to less-than-usual activities going on at home, so he wasn't too surprised when I borrowed a little bit of his Barbasol shaving cream to create snow. The recipe can be easily found online - half cream, half white school glue, I threw in a drop of pearly white acrylic paint, mixed well... and here is snowfall accumulated on the roof of a little paper house!

Then I punched a snowflake out of cardstock and thusly made a stencil for further experiments:

I tried to sprinkle my barbasnow with glitter and sugar (sugar doesn't seem really work), mix glitter into the paste and also add snow on top of a stamped image. I would say the experiment has been successful, and now I have a new technique to incorporate in wintry cards!