A Little Carving

What patience this must take.  Do you see the alphabet?

More about Dalton Ghetti here.
  wow

The night was steaming hot...

There was a fan in the corner of the room, slowly turning back and forth.  Its subtle click, click, click was hypnotic, and, combined with the hot still air, made her drowsy as she tried to focus on the papers spread over her desk.  Maybe another scotch would help.  The ice cubes clinked in the glass and started to melt immediately. When would this heat ever end?

Okay, back to reality.  I saw a link on a couple of other blogs for a web site called "I Write Like" -- you paste a sample of your own writing and it tells you who you write like.  I pasted something from one of my previous blog posts, and apparently I write like Raymond Chandler.  He used to write those old detective novels (The Big Sleep is one).  So how about I write all my blog posts like a detective novel?  Here's the link for I Write Like.

A few people asked about the translucent cover on my stencil journal.  This is what I used:

These are Avery plastic dividers.  I saw them in today's WalMart sale paper, a pack of 5 for the "sale" price of $2.50.  You can see my pack was of 8, and I'm pretty sure I only paid $2 or less, but I don't remember where I got them.  I think it was Big Lots, but there is no guarantee they will still have them if I go back.  My stencil journal is about 5 x 7, so I cut the covers to that size from these page dividers.

I still love that little journal and can't stop picking it up.  I have started adding bits from daily life to it.  The main reason I'm posting pages here is because of the t-shirt in the lower right corner.  Finally, a name for us shorties... we are Fun Size!!

I think I am going to like adding things to this book.  No worries about writing a lot in it, just adding little bits here and there.

Love Love Love

Stencil Love.
        Journal Love.
               Tyvek Love.

I finally actually put some of my stenciled pages into a book.

I spray painted some Tyvek with the same paints I used on the pages, and used the Tyvek strips as my "tapes".

There are many places with instructions for sewing on tapes, but the book closest to me was LK Ludwig's Creative Widlfire, so I used her instructions.  I adapted her 3-tape instructions for my 2 tapes.  However, if I were to go back in time, I would add 3 tapes.  I think they would be more stable for my flimsy cover.  The cover is another page divider for a 3-ring binder, cut to the size I needed.  It's a little thin for a cover, which I don't mind because I wanted the translucency.  But three tapes would have held it better.  I still have much journal love though..

Mini Books and Tags

Last week I gave a program to teach a mini envelope book, and it turned out to be so much fun. 

There were lots of pockets to fill and I learned that I could make a tag "tab" out of just about anything.  I used scraps of paper, circles folded in half... even a smaller tag attached to make a bigger tag.  These are all just under 4 inches square. 

The two at bottom left started out as page dividers for a three ring notebook.  I just cut to size for the size tag I needed.  Love that!  I used up a lot of little bits and scraps of paper, fabric and yarn by the time I was finished.   It feels great to use up leftovers like that.  Go Play!

Paper Art

I am guilty, guilty, guilty.  Yes, I have drawers of absolutely beautiful paste papers and marbeled  papers, some I have made myself and some that were purchased.  I am inspired by what these artists have done to put their papers "out there" and not in a drawer!  I especially like the idea of putting them on the wall.

Bookworks

Rollover Minutes

Blogger has some new backgrounds that I want to play with, but right now it's on the list of "things to play with when I get more time".  Someone keeps stealing hours from my day.  If I find out who you are, there is going to be heck to pay.  Someone must be stealing them, because I haven't been using them and they keep disappearing.  Maybe someone will invent "rollover minutes" for real time, not just cell phone plans.  Wouldn't that be nice?  To rollover extra time from one day to another day....

Meantime, I went to Big Lots to look for some cool envelopes Gaye told me about.  Naturally, my Big Lots didn't have the same thing hers did.  Of course, that didn't stop me from spending an hour of my life there and dropping a bunch of $$$.  They did have Krylon spray paint for $2 a can, which made me happy.

I have a two page signature where I am testing writing materials over spray paint.  White gel pen on spray paint - not bad!

I had forgotten I put some Inktense watercolor pencil on some of the circles.  I meant to add water before I took pictures.  Someone stole my attention span before that happened.  I forgot until I saw the close-up picture on my computer screen and wondered what the green was in the circles!  I must go play now...

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....