Journal page 10/30/12

This journal page almost looks like a map, with a small body of water in the right corner, a huge mountain, a long, empty desert, and a puddle of lava?

Too much minecraft, maybe. :3



Here's a little letter traveling via airmail across the whole thing. Love!



Spoooooky micro lava! Don't touch it! 

No really, little beadies keep falling off and getting lost in my clothes. They are little adventurers, those.



Last night while I was working, I was hit by this insatiable urge to doodle lots of triangles. The desire to draw doesn't come as often as it used to so I had to oblige. I used a regular writing pen and a scrap of paper towel - ha!

I will see if I can develop it into a small painting this week, how about it?

Prep Date

Just checking in after a weekend of craft fair prepping! With a measuring tape and a roll of masking tape, I can simulate a booth table  on the floor of my apartment. This way, I can plan my arrangement of items beforehand!

There is never enough space :3

Journal Page 10/26/12

I finally got to play with the new toys and some small fabric scraps that I like. 



Here's a close up of the rubber stamp...



And here are the microbeads. They are bright red-orange so I thought they would be perfect for roses.

And um... half of the bottle ended up on the floor.



Nooooooooooooooooo...

I'm getting close to the end of this journal which means I have to think ahead to the next one. This particular journal was a reject that never made it to the shop (the cover is a bit warped), but I don't have any other mistake journals.

I might have to pull one out of the shop to use! Hmmm which one, which one...

Which journal would you choose?

DIY Frame Hanger

Stickers! How to present them?

I found this cute little frame at the dollar store and thought it might make a simple way to display my sticker sets at craft fairs. :3

Need:
Small frame
Pretty paper
Nail
Hot glue or perhaps a silicone sealant



What I did was remove the glass from the frame, then covered the backing board with a piece of pretty paper. It took me a few tries to push the nail through the board... the board was sturdy enough to hold the nail in place, but the sharp tip stuck out through the back. I covered the sharp end with a large bead of hot glue so that there are no accidents!

For fun, I painted the nail a "Champagne Gold" colour to match the frame. Such a pretty colour!

Journal Post 10/22/12

Well ok, it's not quite a journal post... it's another playdate with Nolwenn! She wanted to try some watercolours so I brought my new unopened stack of papers to play with :) We doodled with them for a while. I will probably chop mine up to use in my journal.



She gave me a few extra things she had laying around and I'm sooooo excited to play with them! I love love love text stamps and I'm so happy to finally have one! hehehehe. The little microbeads are a puzzle though. I'm not sure if I've seen anyone use them before...

Mini Mixed Media Painting - Koi Pond

Between cutting papers and prepping for upcoming fairs, I recorded another mini painting! With this one, I wanted to see how well gel medium worked as a glaze. It's ok, but it's probably better to use a thinner medium. 



 What better way to use a glaze than create a water scene? It's also good for an old style of skin tones; paint an image entirely in greyscale, and then paint thin clear layers of colour over it! It's gorgeous. I might have to try that one again sometime.



Available here.

My Favourite Artist Trading Cards

Here's something I haven't done for a while: make an artist trading card. I was looking through my tiny collection of artist trading cards from across the land and thought I would share my favourites!

:3



Reason why trading cards are cool #1:

It's all inclusive! There is very little, if any, snobbery in the artist trading card community. Kids do it, moms do it, hip professionals do it, teens do it... pretty much anyone can draw a tiny picture, take a pretty photo or assemble a little collage. And then trade it!



Reason why trading cards are cool #2:

Mail is fantastic. Especially real mail with your name on it. Especially real mail with little doodles on the envelopes which are filled with tiny pieces of art and sometimes a letter or a card. If you're really lucky, sometimes the sender includes a surprise extra! Score!



I used to LOVE checking the mail on the way to work and finding pretty things inside.  It's nice to have something to look forward to that only costs as much as a postage stamp.



I don't do much trading anymore (I haven't even made any cards, since). Though if someone were to send me something in the mail, I would definitely reciprocate... :3