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I finally managed to get a new flocked mini pack ready. You can see all the patterns here. I decided to indulge myself and put red in the front:)
I've also listed some packs of vintage findings.
Still have things to share but I need to get dinner going now.
I never even considered using the smoochie picture as my profile picture. Not only have I lost my youthful good looks, but I seem to have lost my sense of playfulness. Gees, I was so worried about getting a proper, appropriate photo up that the idea of using the smoochie pic in the profile itself never crossed my mind. I'M TAKING CREDIT for at least being playful enough to put it in the post. So, thanks to the ever youthful (of course she actually is youthful) Natasha, I'll put the smoochie pic in my profile and I'll go ahead and put the mug shot here because I certainly don't want Susan (my SIL) to miss it. It will crack her up. I also don't think Will has seen it. Don't want to rob them of the pleasure.
Here's the mugshot which was briefly my profile picture. Recorded in cyberspace for all time. I guess unless the entire internet crashes some day.....can that happen?????
So, I'm spending today cutting flocked mini-packs. I'll also be working on a unique and most cool kit I hope to have in my etsy shop soon. One more thing....thank you Heather for getting the greens corrected on my blog. I had no idea how to do custom colors and she did it in about 3 minutes. Not kidding.
I'm beginning my much needed blog overhaul and I've been wanting to get a photograph of myself in my profile. It's weird not knowing what someone looks like. Well, I put on makeup and decided I would try to take a decent photo of myself instead of making poor Brian endure the grueling task of taking 100+ pictures of me in order to possibly get an acceptable one. I know; I'm vain. It's hard when the camera isn't nearly as kind as it once was. As Heather so kindly noted, my photo looks like a mugshot. I took a bunch of smiling pictures and they ALL looked stupid. I'll try to get a better picture up soon.
I have quite a few things to show you but I've done enough blog dinking for one day so I'll just leave you with this for now.
I've been trying to talk my friend Susan into starting a blog for months now. She has so much to offer the artist's blogging world and I am thrilled that her blog is up. Bookmark it and visit it often. It won't take you long to realize why I'm such a big fan. Wait til you see her house. OMG....it's my dream house. The only change I'd make would be roof color:)
Susan has two etsy shops. One is devoted to selling her delicious collection of vintage fabrics and the other offers her elegant handmade items all created with vintage elements. Add her to your favorite sellers on etsy. Her fabric is awesome. Some of it is about to be mine:)
Here are a couple of pictures because I CANNOT post on my blog without a picture or two. The first is the little notebook I made for Luke. It sits by my notebook on the computer table. Now we can make our notes without having post-its and index cards scattered all over the place. When we've filled a page in the notebook with no longer needed info, it gets torn out and thrown in the trash. Wonderful organizational tool. When the entire notebook gets used, we can slap the cover in our journals.
BTW, Luke's initials are LOL. Cool huh? He was born before LOL became the widely known acronym it is today. Also, "hope for the deaf" is fitting because, around our house, we are always saying, "are YOU deaf or something?" I think we've all learned to tune out one another's voices. He also likes swords, video games and all manner of weird stuff. Jackson is just the opposite; a total baseball playin', frog catchin' cowboy. He doesn't do much video game playing and really doesn't care much for TV unless it's Roy Rogers or ANY horse movie. Having more than one child gives new meaning the the word individuality.
I spent the afternoon yesterday baking cookies and packaging them for the fund raiser bake sale at our local little league baseball park. Took a bit of digging to find the Babe Ruth image on my computer. I was starting to think I might not have a single sports related vintage image, but alas, I found one! Isn't it great to be able to quickly crank out a collage on the computer?? So nice for this sort of thing.
I've never before done self-promotion on anything I make for the kids activities and events, but I thought, "what the heck.....I'm better known in Japan than I am my own community." So, I put my info on the back:)
I think I'm still having problems adding the Large size photo, but I don't want to take the time right now to check for sure. If I upload it Large, and the right side gets cut off then I have to go back in delete the photo and upload again. Don't want to bother with it right now. Someone left a comment saying they couldn't upload using Full Size, but had no problem with Large. It's making me crazy. I might have to file a help ticket or whatever it's called. I'm sure if you click on my photos they will be ENORMOUS. I've tried resizing them myself and it doesn't fix the problem. Grrrr.
Oh! Got a lot of glue interest. I loved reading everyone's opinions and I learned some things. I'll talk about that soon and share other people's opinions. Love the sharing of this artsy/craftsy community.
One more thing....I should let you know that I am almost completely out of stock on all my flocked wallpaper packs. I have two more large packs and that's it. I'll be working on new large and mini packs over the next several days. I'm also almost finished packaging my Findings assortment. I should have that up by the end of the day. I'll let you know.
Don't forget to check out Susan. You'll love her I promise!
I've been playing around a bit with old paper. Surprise, surprise:) Remember those Ephemera Lunchbox kits I had in my etsy shop last week? With the heavy matboard type index cards they no longer make? Well I've been making little collages out of the ends I cut off of those index cards. It's fun. (I REALLY wanted to use an exclamation point there). While I make things my mind is constantly in motion. Thinking about all sorts of things. My most often used glue is Golden Gel Medium, but for things like these little collages, I usually use a glue stick. It's just easier. No brush rinsing and water changing. I've heard a good many glue stick horror stories so I never really trusted them until I discovered the now well known Coccoina glue stick. I heard of it about four years ago through Sarah Fishburn's website. There was only one place I knew of to buy them back then, but now you can get them from Cerri or Andrea. I trust Coccoina because the company has a long history and I certainly trust Sarah Fishburn:) I'm pretty sure Teresa McFayden uses them also so there's even more evidence of quality. I also have some of Martha's glue sticks. They don't have a history, of course, but who wouldn't trust Martha when it comes to crafting? I don't think she'd let us down.
Oh, and I use E6000 for the Swarovski rhinestones and the little flower finding. For ribbon and trim I usually use Aleene's Tacky glue unless the ribbon is lightweight and delicate, then I use E6000 applied with a toothpick. It won't bleed through to the front of the ribbon.
I've also been fretting over Ebay's new feedback system. I think I've already mentioned it here once and it's still really bothering me. In the old days, my radar would give the alert signal if a seller's feedback was lower than say, 98.5. Well, since the new system has been put into place, I'm setting my radar alarm at least a full point lower. If you bother to look at actual feedback (particularly for the sellers who sell the stuff we buy), you'll see that most often any negative feedback they have is totally unwarranted. Left by ignorant buyers who don't know a thing about what they are buying or who blame the seller for mistakes made by the post office. What you need to remember is that ebay now gives neutral feedback the same weight when calculating feedback score as they do negative feedback. Insane for sure, but what's REALLY insane is they have gone back in time and counted all neutral feedback given prior to the change the weight of negative feedback. The inequity of it makes me crazy. Anyone who left neutral feedback back when they knew it wouldn't effect a sellers rating clearly chose neutral over negative because their beef over the transaction wasn't bad enough to warrant negative. How incredibly unfair is it for ebay to make this new policy retroactive?? Okay, enough random thought sharing. Now, I'll share a few more photos.
I like to change the contents of this huge jar on occasion. It's had a hodge podge of vintage ribbons in it for a while now it has a bunch of totally cool vintage pin tickets that will poke the livin' crap out of you if you're not careful!
I decided not to crop out my mess so you can have a look around. I always like perusing someone's workspace when it's in active use. It's the nosy neighbor in me. Thought I'd let you do the same. BTW, I've since cleaned up this mess:) Really. See the bare wood right in front of the cutting pad? The surface of my unfinished island. I've decided to make a big collage on the top and seal the crap out of it. I'll paint the rest and I'm considering using flocked wallpaper on the sides. I'm just afraid I'll be a freak about the cleanliness of the flocked paper. I'll probably lint roller it to death. I seriously think I'm going to get on this island project soon.
Do you like old brass findings?? I do. I've decided to put together some brass findings packs for my etsy shop. They will include vintage Swarovski rhinestones in brass settings because ALL THINGS should have some sparkle. This won't be the exact mix, but I'll have it up soon.
I'm also working on a new Flocked Wallpaper Mini Pack. I have many new flock patterns one of which is a gorgeous red on red. I, of course, can't get a great photo of it, but take it from someone who knows......it's the perfect red. Nice and candy appleish.
Lots and lots of various patterns on this paper. Well, that's all for now. Oh! I have added a few more Swarovski Packs to my etsy shop. Now, I bet a million dollars I'll have to go back, after I publish this post, and change all my photos to "small" because I bet the right side will be cut off of every one of them. Is anyone else having problems using the "large" photo setting? *************Of course, I had to go back in and change the photo sizes. I can use medium and small, but not large. I really miss my big photos.
I met a sweet girl not long ago who purchased some wallpaper from me. You know how I love seeing what all you amazingly creative souls do with my papers and Erica, who does not yet have a blog, has blown me away with these. Aren't they cool?? Such a unique idea and perfect for those of us who are a bit obsessed with vintage wallpaper:) Be sure to keep checking Erica's etsy shop called Shadow Box Gifts, for more cool creations. I'll let you know when she gets a blog up. These earrings remind me so much of a card my friend Tracy made me a long time ago. I keep it right on my desk. Right in front of me so I can see it all the time. It's full of T's sense of humor and it's so fitting for me.
Can anyone figure how to make me a dress out of wallpaper???
I've got another etsy friend who makes amazing things. She is working on her blog as we speak. I'll tell you all about her next time I post.
Thank you again for all your orders:) All but 5 have shipped. The rest will go out tomorrow. I'm off to watch a little T-ball action!
......having Pam Garrison show pictures of something you made on her blog. I know that everyone who visits this blog is a fan of Pam Garrison. Well, besides William. Pam's amazing style and obvious sweet spirit has been inspiring me for a couple of years now. I have NEVER seen anything she's made that I didn't completely love. I think that's pretty unusual. When I got an etsy order from her, I went around with my jaw dropped to the floor for a few days. Of course my family didn't get it. Actually, Luke made his best effort to act very excited about it and I love him for that. He's a sweetie. Anyway, I knew I couldn't just send her what she ordered and be done with it. It really didn't take me long to figure what I should make for her. I knew I wanted to send her some special goodies. Things I thought she would use, but also things that weren't run-of-the-mill. So, I sent her some of my Swarovski stash, some millinery flowers of the type I know she likes and a box of teeny, tiny Dennison oval labels that are pretty hard to come by. She probably has some, but can one ever have enough??? I think not. From there it was easy to decide that making a box to put the treasures in was the best thing to do. I have long loved the Art to Borrow she made for Somerset last year, but I can't really use someone else's art for the things I make. Seems like stealing, although, I know she meant for people to use it for their own personal creations. Anyway, it seemed like the PERFECT thing to use, along with wallpaper of course, to cover a box for her.
Interestingly, something happens to me when I'm inspired by love or passion. It happens every time I make something that gives tribute to my family, close friends, my childhood, my mother, father, brother, children. I'm normally very fastidious and bent on perfection, however, when I'm creating from my heart I don't care a fig about perfection. In fact, I don't really want things to be perfect. Making Pam's box transported me into that zone. It's like a chemical is released in the brain and you feel euphoric. I know most of you know exactly what I'm talking about. Pam's box brought me more joy in creating than I've had in a long time and reminded me that I need to be making things from the heart like I did several years ago. Admiration and respect seem to open my heart over and above all emotion. Pam, as most of you realize, manifests a sincere and honest humility even in the very midst of her overwhelming talent. It's rare, refreshing and obviously genuine.
I'll show the sides of the box and the vintage easter grass I used as a cushion. I have a thing for vintage Easter grass, but this is my most favorite. I rarely see this kind. Isn't it lovely??
The new typepad business is getting easier. NOTICE I managed to add the Flickr thingy and the Today's Creative blog blinkie ALL BY MYSELF. Heather did not do it. I'm so proud. A new blog banner is about 4th down on my list. I'm really feeling the need to change the furniture around and repaint:)
I should tell you the Oprah story. The short version. Remember how moved I was by Oprah's hoarding show?? Well, shortly after this post I was contacted by the Oprah show. I called the number the girl left in her email and it was Harpo, Inc.! I left a message and, sure enough, before to long, Harpo, Inc. came up on my caller ID. Well, She asked me lots of questions and I babbled (foolishly) for about 45 minutes. She asked me to send a whole slew of photos. I sent a few photos later that day, but not all she asked for. I got totally freaked out about getting so in touch with what a psycho I truly am so I just tried to forget the whole thing! All my friends were telling me to "send the photos", follow-up. I just couldn't do it. Better to brush those things under the rug if you ask me:)
Thanks to all of you who have visited me through Pam's blog. Thank you Pam for your gracious spirit and for doing something you most certainly did not have to do. I never in a million years expected anything even remotely like it. I will be getting most, if not all, the orders out today. I'm also not sure how many flocked mini-packs I have left. Later today, I will list what remains then I will start working on a new assortment. I went ahead and cut more of the regular mini-packs so I will do a new assortment of those when they sell out. Thank you again for your orders. I'm blown away by it and I hope you enjoy my vintage goodies. I love seeing my papers all over the place in people's work. It really makes me smile. You all are so talented!
I will actually be starting my MAJOR REDECORATING project within the week. The wood for the floors is here and we will pick up the paint today or tomorrow. It's been so long since I've been excited about decorating my house! I love decorating, but my carpet has been so trashed for the past year that I just gave up. Kids, dogs, country and ten years. Bad combo. I actually hate the floors we are installing. It's that laminate wood, but I have to be realistic about what we can afford. My decorating will take the focus from the floor and it will be sturdy and easy to clean. I plan to blog the whole thing so please stay tuned. It promises to be very eclectic; very funky and very much a mixed palette of color. Always, in my decorating, I strive to make sure EVERY color will fit into my living spaces. Bedrooms and bathrooms can have a color scheme, but I like for the other rooms to be able to handle any color. It can be done.....so stay tuned:)
I actually finished my card box tin. I've needed this little storage box for a long time. Barbara asked me to explain how I cut and glue the papers around the handle and latch. I REALLY should have used my Flip camera while I did this today, but it seemed like such an ordeal. Isn't that just great?? I beg for the Flip camera for months so I can do tutorials for youtube and now it seems like too big of an ordeal to bother with. I'm rolling my eyes at myself. I promise I will work on finding a good position to clip my Flip so you can see what I'm doing. It's just getting over that "first time" hump. It'll be smooth sailing after that. Anyway, Barbara, I'll email you and try to explain what I do. It's easier with vintage wallpaper than it is with patterned paper because the vintage wallpaper is more pliable. It's also easier to collage the thing rather than using one paper pattern. And, yes, I do use Golden Regular Gel Medium (matte).
Now, for the problem of never having time to make my own cards. I solved it:) I ordered from a lovely etsy seller I've known for quite a while. Met her on ebay a while back. Go check out her etsy shop for the most delightful handmade cards and tags. I totally love her style. So, I am all set. I'm quite sure I'll be putting more of Ellen's cards in my box:)
I also wanted to thank you for loving and buying my Swarovski packs. I wasn't sure if you all would be as enamored of them as I am. You are going to really enjoy using them. I promise:)
I have finally put together a mix of Swarovski crystals for your embellishment pleasure. I tend to put a little Swarovski on just about everything I make. It's definitely one of my favorite embellishments and there is NO WAY I would use a rhinestone other than Swarovski. Once you've had Swarovski, there's really no turning back. I did the best I could with the photography. My camera was certainly not designed for capturing things like this. Just imagine the crystals way more vivid and way more sparkly. You can find them in my etsy shop. Now, this is normally the kind of thing I would hoard for a lifetime, but I have large quantities of all these stones and there is no good reason for not letting some of them go. Plus, if I do let some go, I can buy more:)
Here's an example of how you can build on the components.
If you don't want them to dangle from something, you can use wire cutters to snip off the loop. I've written about them ad nauseum in my etsy description if you're interested. I'm a bit of a fanatic.
Off to do something productive within the 30 minutes I have where Jackson will actually watch TV. Why-o-why can't he be a TV junkie??
I've been doing quite good for me. I've stopped thinking about all the projects I'd like to do and have actually started doing them. Remarkably, it's not that hard. I just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I've listed a few destash items in my etsy shop. Remember the 3 Provo Craft lunchbox tins I blogged about a while back? Well, I finally worked on the box I plan to keep for storing handmade cards and I actually listed the other three filled with gobs of ephemera. I decided to collage my box for two reasons. 1) I like the look (obviously:) and, 2) it's much easier because you can just slap stuff on. So here's an example of my box which is not finished, but is far enough along to get an idea.
Here's some photos of the ephemera included with the box.
I love using old paper in collage. It's funny how if you just read through an old advertisement, magazine, label, etc. you will always find something appropriate for your collage. Like "Home Notes" on my box. Totally fittin'. One of my wallpaper mini-packs would be FAR more than enough wallpaper for this project.
I also added a couple of little vintage kits to my etsy. Vintage rayon velvet ribbon, buttons, etc.
I bought a ton of the red/black bingo cards with the idea of using them as journal covers and selling little journals. Well, come to find out, that's been done. I was so pleased with myself for having an original idea and, of course, I find out it's not original at all. So, I'm still planning to do little journals with the Bingo cards, but I'll try to put my own spin on them. That project is about 5th on my list at the moment.
We're still busy with baseball and we managed to actually watch an "R" rated movie over the weekend. Well, Luke and I did; Brian had to go in the bedroom with Jackson and watch Roy Rogers. This is one of the hard things about having kids 8 years apart in age. Anyway, Luke and I loved No Country For Old Men. It's a masterpiece of filmmaking as is everything done by the Coen brothers. I was completely intrigued by the fact that the movie has no musical score. It works in a powerful way. This is definitely a film I wish I had seen in the theatre. It would have been even more gripping. Since The Eyes of Laura Mars Tommy Lee Jones has been one of my favorite actors. I love a movie or book you go back to in your mind. No Country For Old Men is haunting. For sure.
I'm way, way behind in blog visiting. My time sitting in this chair in front of the computer has become so limited because of my stinking back. Actually, my back problems are much better now that I've been undergoing treatment, but I will forever have to modify my lifestyle to make sure I don't do anything to cause adverse effects. I think the answer is a laptop. If I could sit in my living room chair with the computer in my lap, I could spend many more hours on it. So, a laptop is on my list. Pretty high on my list. Keeping my fingers crossed that Brian is able to keep the sub-contract of a large subdivision which has recently changed developers. Construction is scary. Say a prayer if you will. Losing that subdivision would be pretty devastating for us right now. The industry is currently in a lull.
I'm off to glue paper. I hope you can spend some time gluing today too:)
