Playing and tweaking

Hiding in Plain Sight

I like being sneaky.  When it's for a good cause, that is.  So when I posted back on July 6 and had a picture of some unfinished book pages, little did my friend Paula know that her birthday gift was right there for her to see.  You just have to look under the stenciled pages and painted pages.  But there it is.  Her Fish Book!

It was late for her birthday, but she finally has it now.  It's another one I made in the "Remains of the Day" style.  I used pages from post office magazines, old security envelopes, fabric, odd papers, photos, and some shopping bags from the stamp store that used to be in Louisville (very cool brayered paper).  I loved the book and so did she.  She doesn't know how close I came to keeping it for myself!  I'm content to use one of the photos as a screensaver for now.

For more of the book, see the slide show here. 

Back to School

I started to title this "to be young again" but decided I didn't like the sound of that.  I don't really want to be young again.  Well, maybe I'd like parts of me to be young again!  I do wonder if the youngsters these days realize how much great stuff they have access to.  I love the Back-To-School sales.  So much cool stuff there for artists.  Like this:

This is a mini-curtain for the school locker.  It has a magnetic strip at the top for hanging.  I have already been taking it apart and using the "tags", which is what they are to me!  (Available at Target)

This is an ad for back to school shoes (I don't know what store). 

I'm so sad.  Why are the Cat in the Hat shoes wasted on kids.  If they came in my size, I've have them today!

And scissors...

I don't even need to say anything else about the scissors (Target).


Speaking of school, you remember the Periodic Table, I'm sure...  Have you ever seen one in calligraphy?

I was the only bidder for this in a recent fundraiser.  No other geeky calligraphers out there?  Go figure.  I can't wait to frame and hang this!
(Calligraphy by the late Ann Van Tassell of Blacksburg, Virginia)

Happy back to school shopping!

Possible Cover

So here's what I'm thinking...

...for now anyway...

The wide twill tape was sprayed in a previous play session, just as an experiment.  I think I may spray the black matboard and spray some more twill tape and give it a go.

More Pages Please

Yes, I'd like some more spray painted pages please.  I spray a little here, and a little there, and suddenly I have more.  I think I have enough for a book now, added to the other stack I had. 

I love these lasercut scrapbook pages.  They came in monthly kits from Paula's Kit Club and I forgot I had them.  Absolutely great for sprayed designs, plus they are the standard 12 x 12 scrapbook page size, so you can cover a large area.  They would ordinarily be too flimsy, but once they have a few coats of spray paint on them, they are getting sturdier all the time!

Paula's Kit Club has been in danger of going under, and if you like to support small businesses, go on over and check out the goods. She has jewelry kits too.  I keep trying to drop my membership, but she always has great themes lined up for future kits.  Always quality stuff, too.  Even if you don't get the kits, she has great collage sheets and other leftover doodads!

Nail Pen Revisited

You remember Miss White Nail Art Pen.  I mentioned her in May here.

Yes, it's a she, because of the flower, ya know.  Anyway, Karen left a comment about getting one in silver and using it on fabric.  I could not imagine it would work that well on fabric.  My white pen didn't work that great on fabric at all.  But I found myself thinking about it off and on, wondering if maybe the metallics had a different consistency that worked better on fabric.  The next time I was out and about, I looked at these pens again.

Wow, they had a whole bunch of new colors!  But I must have been really tired, because I was distracted when I saw "Purple Chrome".  All I could think was "ooh... shiny and pretty".  And I bought one.  Only after I got it home did I realize I had not paid attention to the packing one little bit, and this was not a nail art pen with the fine point, but a brush tip with a clicker on the end to pump the nail polish to the brush.  Hmmm. 

So, Miss Pen now has a Mister to join her, but I wasn't crazy about it myself.  I tried it on fabric and it mostly soaked in.  I tried it on a couple of other surfaces, and it was only okay, but it was hard to control the brush for "painting" or writing.  Amazingly, it worked great on my thumbnail.  If I were a girly girl who painted my fingernails a lot, this was the ticket... nice even flow without constant dipping into a bottle... 

Anyway, I decided I had spent more than enough on nail polish pens for awhile.  But I found myself again near some nail polish and took a chance on Little Miss Gold Pen.  She's a star, she is. 

I liked it on slick surfaces as I did with the white.  But then I tried it on fabric.  Oh, my!  I finally knew what Karen was talking about.  I just loved it on dark fabric.  But the best part was, the more it dried, the sparkly-er it got!  I'm sold on this one.

Groovy!  (By the way, the lighter word "test" was done with the nail art pen, and the brighter white words were done with a Signo gel pen.  There is a swash of the purple chrome on the fabric piece too.)

This is what the three tips look like - two fine point art pens and one brush pen.

I still don't know how long they will last.  I have to admit I'm pretty stingy in using mine, so they may last me a little while I hope.  But I am already wondering if they can be refilled.  I will definitely be trying that when they run dry.

Photo Play

I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking I know how to manipulate photos and create something like that big eye in the last post!  I would have posted the website where I did that, except that I made that photo months ago and couldn't remember where I bookmarked the website!  I finally found it.  I'm a fan of places that are free - so you can go there and use your own photo to create fun things, then save it to your computer.  The one where I did the big eye was at PhotoFunia.  Not everything is free, but there is enough to entertain you for a little while!

The other one I played with last year was Dumpr.  I still like these weird eggs I made there.  I had taken pictures of some practice pages and put them on the eggs.  You never know how they will turn out until it's done. 

I See

I see someone is having a birthday.

Happy Birthday Paula!!!!!

No Comment

Sometimes I just don't have anything to say.

Especially when I look at all the things I have started and not finished!  Imagine how much I would have to talk about if I turned all my fun pages into real books....