This is a test

Congratulations.

You are very clever.

If you are reading this

you figured out my trick.

I'm impressed.

If you let me know you saw this,

you might get a surprise in the mail.

So leave a comment.

If you dare.

Offer good only

for the first

three

people.

.

.

.

.

(The above post is written in magic white ink...

except for the periods, which I have an abundance of,

considering Some People aren't using theirs.)

[Apologies to readers who have no clue what I'm talking about..

we will return you to our regular, interesting postings soon!]

Obscure Things

"Most things

look better

when you

put them

in a circle."

Banksy, Graffiti Artist

See, it works. Try it. When you get stuck with something, put a circle around it!

You may have heard of this artist - Julian Beever. He's the one who draws those awesome 3D sidewalk masterpieces. Like these. And here's a video of him at work here.

I just found out he is in Louisville this week (he's in Louisville??) Yes, he's at the Idea Festival (there's an idea festival??) Yes, it's part of the Festival of the Written Word (there's... oh, never mind....) There is information here. I had trouble finding ANY information about it, but it appears he will be making art on the sidewalk all week. I'm not sure what all the rain locally has done to the plans. Also, the web site says Anthony Bourdain from the Travel Channel is one of the many, many speakers there this week. That really doesn't seem like the kind of event where you'd find "the bad boy of cuisine" as he has been called, but I guess collecting speaking fees is a lot easier than eating some kind of unknown main course in the middle of a jungle. At any rate, I sure would like to see the sidewalk art, but the chances are pretty slim of me getting up there. If anyone goes, take pictures!!

Lastly, I saw something about the Public Library in Kansas City, and how the parking garage looks like giant books. What?? Since that's the Show-Me state, I wanted to see for myself. A google search turned up some pictures. Wow. How can things like this exist and me not know about it???

I'm humbled.

Look to the Books

I needed a trip to the bookstore. I haven't been in a long time. It's something I need every now and then, and I was not disappointed. I came home with a couple of great books.

One is this one, "Good Mail Day". What a trip down memory lane, remembering the old days of fun mail art. This book even has blank post cards and stickers in the back so you can mail some mail art. I had heard of these two authors before and had been to their web site.

You can't go wrong with two ladies who have respectable jobs by day and dress like this in their off time! (Note their merit badges for 'zine making, correspondence, etc., which they sell at their website.)

I also got "Nature Inspired" by Tracie Lyn Huskamp. I've been wanting to do some nature journaling, and I think this one may inspire me, especially since the books pictured have so much old lace and fabric on the pages, plus lots of technique tips. I especially like how she used lace on bird wings in a lot of places.

There were a multitude of new books on visual journaling. The pages were a feast for the eyes. To be honest, though, I looked through them and was tempted to bring some home, but I realized that I really need to spend less time looking at pretty pictures and more time getting paint on my hands making my own pages. I love being inspired by other people's work, but I don't want that to become an excuse for never making my own art. It was an a-ha moment for me. Maybe I will actually follow through on it one of these days too!

Feeling All Canvas-y

I'm feeling some excitement and anticipation. Next month, Lisa Engelbrecht is coming to Louisville for a weekend workshop. I just can't wait to slop some paints and inks around on canvas and fabric. Admittedly, I do have her DVD, and I also have her book. But you just can't beat a classroom setting, getting personal instruction, and feeding off the creative energy of your friends.

Last year, when I got her DVD, I did play around with some inks on muslin. And, as I am wont to do (especially when using the word "wont"), I got out all my writing implements and did a test sheet to see what writes well on fabric, what's waterproof and what's not, etc. I used everything from Sharpies to markers to pens, then swiped it with a wet brush.

I will be gathering and assembling for the next few weeks, getting just the right things to pack. Can't wait.

And I'll also be perusing Lisa's Flickr photos, to see what she and her other students have been doing. Love the fabric books!!

Book Slide Show

This is a fabric book I made for friend Paula a couple of months ago. This also marks a new experience for me... making a slide show. I have the patience of ten people when dealing with others, but no patience at all when it comes to dealing with myself and wanting something to turn out the way I want it right now! So, here is my first attempt at a slide show... with music...and I hope it shows up the way it did on my screen when I hit the save button! I still have a lot to figure out. I figured out how to add music, but I had more music than pictures, so I added extra pictures of space (some more than once). Here goes!

Nine Nine Nine

Happy 09-09-09

9 is the name of a movie being released today

9 West is a name brand of shoes

9 Inch Nails is the name of a band

9 is the highest single digit number

9 things in a group is called an ennead

9 is the atomic number of fluorine

9 sided polygon is called a nonagon

9 months is the length of a human pregnancy

9 is the number of innings in baseball

9 is the number of lives a cat has

9 is the number of justices on the Supreme Court

Cloud 9 is a good place to be

Aren't you glad you stopped in today?

Little Cat Feet

The fog comes on little cat feet.

It sits looking over the harbor

and city

on silent haunces

and then moves on.

Carl Sandburg

This is a view from the dock overlooking the lake......

Not really.... it's my neighbors deck overlooking their yard. I can hardly see their house. It could easily be a dock over the lake though. The fog is thicker today than I have ever seen it. Glad I don't have to drive over any bridges....

Saturday Sights

I know it's a long three day weekend for most, but since I have to work smack in the middle of the three days, it doesn't even feel like a weekend, much less a holiday weekend. Nevertheless, I did venture out today. There's a place a few miles away, an old Victorian house. It is owned by a lady who lives in Florida most of the time, where she works at Disney. When she is back here, she sometimes opens her shop. It has an interesting mix of things, from Wizard of Oz stuff, to shabby chic furniture, to old books and games, fun decorative items old and new. This week, she was having a porch sale, and charged $5 a bag for whatever you got off the porch. Most items inside were half price. I did manage to come away with a bag of stuff, plus a box of old linens and gloves. She now has fabric, and it was very nice and reasonably priced, but I guess I wasn't in a fabric frame of mind today. Some of the fabric was left over from Disney costumes, and some was fabric used in the theme rooms at Disney. Since she probably won't be back until next spring, it's too late for me to change my mind about bringing any of it home.

---There were a couple of things that tempted me greatly. One thing was one of those old metal time card holders, with slots from top to bottom. I could have had it for half price, but for the life of me I couldn't justify it or even think what I'd use it for. The other thing that caught my eye was marked as an old barber's cabinet. It was about six feet tall, with lots of drawers and pull down shelves, and was also reasonably priced. I think I liked it because it was turquoise. Like an old turquoise refrigerator from the 50s. But I know for sure I have no place for something like that.

---So, in the end, I was happy with what I got, and happy with what I didn't get. This is the house. The past two winters have been very hard on it, and the owner said she is still cleaning and fixing up.

I stopped at Michael's on the way home, mainly in search of a couple of magazines I've been wanting, and that is one of only two places locally that might have them. They had these charms marked "clearance" but I didn't even know they had these, much less had them long enough for a clearance sale. I think they were marked just for suckers like me--that clearance sign is like a magnet!

And then as I was checking out, something truly, truly awful happened. As if I weren't brainwashed enough already to buy all those number charms (plus a couple of other things in the clearance section), I spied something near the register. I tried to ignore it. It kept staring back at me. I tried to focus on looking in my purse for my sunglasses, my keys, anything to divert my eyes. But it kept staring at me. I was powerless. I couldn't resist. I bought the Hello Kitty mint tin. What's happened to me? If this happens again, I may need an intervention or an exorcism or something. To justify it, I reminded myself that I did use to collect tins. I even decorated an Altoid tin years ago and put a book in it titled Field Guid to Mint Tins, complete with descriptions, reviews, and a map of where the tins were found...just like a field guide for birds! So, is it so awful to get a Hello Kitty tin? Well, in retrospect it was. Because the "mints" were sour apple flavor...yuk. Serves me right!

Meee-yow.

F Words

foggy friday

and found feathers.

(come on, what did you think I meant??)

Older Than A Happy Meal

Holy Cow... I just saw on the news that the McDonald's Happy Meal is 30 years old today. That made me feel old, so I thought I'd make you guys feel old right along with me. I admit that as an adult, I do occasionally get a kids meal at the fast food places. It's quick, (sometimes cheap), not too much food, and you get a toy! For years, I have saved the toys, putting them in a bag in the pantry. I figured I'd give them to my niece. But she's 21 now, so I doubt she'd want them. I just looked in the stash to see if there was anything interesting amongst the toys. I found this Hello Kitty, Hula Hoop version. Stand her up, wind up the key, and wheeeee, look at that hula hoop spin.

[Disclaimer: Note to friends and family.... I do not, nor have I ever, collected Hello Kitty stuff. The presence of Hello Kitty on my blog in no way indicates that I am in need of an onslaught of Hello Kitty trinkets. Got it? Good.]

I feel the need to balance out/purge the cuteness from this post. So here's a sneak peak of a metal book cover I've been working on. The only thing that is permanent on it so far is "Dept. Of The"..... and I'm playing with word tags, metal embellishments, etc. The picture below says "Dept. of the strange and fragile". You can't get much more anti-Kitty than that!!

It will eventually have a leather spine attached. Both fall and spring seasons make me want to create things, and this cool weather has my mind going in all directions. I think I was looking at pictures of some Tracy Moore journals earlier and now I'm yearning to make a metal cover. I was also looking at dj pettitt's blog and am also yearning to make a fabric/paper book. Decisions, decisions...

Go celebrate the happy meal.....