October 2004 Archive

Sunday, October 31, 2004

Friday, October 22, 2004

December!
Guess who bought cocktail umbrellas today?

Here's December:


The objective was to make images that celebrated December as a month of celebrations, instead of using one traditions motifs. And I as working toward a color scheme that brought out gold and pink. Tricky, but I think it worked; especially in the background behind the punch bowl. I spread down yellow acrylis paint and cut a comber piece of cardboard through it to make stripes. Once it dried, I mixed pink acrylic paint with a good helping of gloss medium. Painted a thin coat over that. Tough to see at this scale, but it really reads as too layers, creating a nice effect together.

Monday, October 18, 2004

June!
Here's the June image:


I couple years ago I started compiling a big fat binder full of different themes and motifs for these kinds of collage. I unearthed the binder to reference for this collage, because I knew "bathroom" was one of the themes. In the binder, I made an index card for each motif within a theme. Example, soap, pills, faucet, etc. I liked the arrangement of the bubbles on the index card, so I pulled it out of the pocket. There were two great replicas in two different colorways behind the reference index card! I sort of freaked myself out, having forgotten that I did this much work before. It's good to dig into the layers of work in my apartment. I never really know what I'll find that I've forgotten.




posted on 10/18/2004 11:37:29 AM

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Lemon Lime Fizz Card
One more card design. It was this idea that neccessitated the silkprint of the spores below, and is used on the second bubble down, white ink on egg yolk yellow. I am darn charmed by this design and will have to keep some for myself:


Per usual, if you want a set of ten cards and ten white envelopes in a handy dandy plastic sleeve for $15, lemmeno.

NOW, I need to switch gears and pick up where I left off on a collage calendar I wanted to complete for 2004. I crammed but didn't get it done, so I'm continuing now.

I've got five months done, ideas for 5 more and two months that are flummoxing me. I'm hoping the last two will work themselves out while I work on the next five.

Here's what I've got:
January


March


May, maybe April


July, maybe August


October, definitely October

posted on 10/17/2004 02:32:21 PM

Card Factory
Here's two card designs I made yesterday combining old carved-eraser stamps of a pear and a cherry and two of the "spore papers" I made yesterday:





I don't think I'm going to get any of these cards in the online store until after my craft shows, November 5-6 (Milwaukee) and 13th (Chicago). So, if you'd like a 10 card set of your very own, contact me please.
posted on 10/17/2004 10:55:47 AM

Saturday, October 16, 2004

Crafty Press & Seal!
Woohoo! Innovation!

I use muffin tins to sort out small objects while crafting. Usually beads, in this one card making components. Most all of my work takes place in the Brandysphere, but sometimes I take projects to my crafting group. When I saw the Glad Press'n Seal commercials and heard my mom rave about it, I thought, "Hmmm...I should try that on the muffin tins to transport crafty stuff."

I finally did! Here's the sealed tin:


And the perfectly transported and still sorted pieces:


Yipee!

Next test will be to see if it holds up to the weight of glass beads.

Gocco Organic
I made a new gocco print this morning - a spore-like patterns to use as backgrounds. I collected a whole mess of papers and printed the drawing:


on them with white ink:


A detail:


And now I have to busy myself while they dry.

The light colors, gray, baby blue, off white look super. And the 100% constrast of it on black is super too. And I am super excited about printing it on silver joss paper. I have some that's the thin white paper with a big rectangle of sliver color leaf on it. The gocco screen is almost the same size as the leaf area. So, it looks fantastic printed on it. Only problem is that the on one print a huge chunk of leaf stuck to the screen. Curses!

I'll have to set those aside while I figure out what image to put on top of the silver spore papers. [scratches head]
posted on 10/16/2004 01:05:11 PM

Friday, October 15, 2004

Golden Thanks
Another 4 Bar sized card design. Here's the front, blank inside. The "THANKS!" is DYMO tape. A set of 10 + 10 white envelopes in a handy dandy plastic folder for $15.

Candy Corn Desktop
right in time for Halloween.

And...I changed all the free desktop graphics. Better logo, more attractive. Enjoy!
posted on 10/15/2004 04:18:06 PM

Thursday, October 07, 2004

This Pesky Undergarment Habit
So two bras decorated for breast cancer causes, one pair of undies for a women's music fest. Last night, I decorated another pair of undies for the Who's Panties Are These? contest. The book is a second installment of women's travel stories from Travelers Tales. I went to a reading by four of the authors at The Savvy Traveller bookstore here on Michigan Avenue. If you dig travel, make this bookstore a destination!

The reading was much fun, though we were a lowkey crowd. The admission was two pair of new undies to be donated to a women's shelter and you were welcome to bring a decorated pair to compete.

Mine:







Being the only pair brought to compete, I won a $50 gift certificate from The Savvy Traveller bookstore. Woohoo! Glad I got out the fabric paints last night while watching Law & Order.

Reminds me of this design:

Available here in my CafePress store.