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!