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!

Post craft show post

Yesterday's craft show went great - as usual, there were really busy times, and also slow ones. The word of the day was "cute", since this is what most visitors say seeing the little post-it-note purses :) Note to self - bring a calculator next time, since multiplication of prices involving quarters gets tricky! I'm just too excited while talking to customers to use the same brain to do math :D

This is what the stand looked like, including the picturesque pipes and doors behind it:

A few details:

I thought some kids were playing with instruments in a rather incohesive way, but then the curtains opened and a band showed up! They played some Christmas music and a few other pieces, and it was lovely.

And finally - an overview of the hall:

A new page in the art journal

After a while I have returned to my art journal - sometimes images or words go through my hands, and it's just nearly impossible to throw them away. So they end up in the journal, which is bursting in seams; looks like it's time to start Volume II!

The theme is my new fascination with cooking and baking, doing it "from the bottom of my heart" and not to just avoid starvation :)

And here is a work-in-progress photo if some post-it-not purses for Saturday:

I came to work on Monday...

...and there was this gorgeous pile of Christmas paper on my chair! Nothing better to start the work week than a present like this. And they smell good, too!

So, in between the little purses for this Saturday's craft show in Elmhurst, I've been playing with this stack, and here are a couple representatives of the Triangular Tree series:

More to come, most definitely!