My first ever Coptic Stitch Book!

I finished my book for Darcy's Postcard Challenge 2012.
It's the first time I've ever done a Coptic Stitch binding and I really like how it turned out.
The pages are alot thicker at the bottom because of the pockets I added to each page to hold the postcards so to accommodate for that I used pretty thick thread for the stitching of the binding.

The binding is one inch strips of tyvek that I painted a copper color with acrylics.
I got the idea and instructions for making this"Coptic Stitch binding for individual pages" book from watching Barb on UStream.  You can see the recording of how to make the book HERE.  Thanks to Barb for always being such an inspiration!
Below are some pictures of the completed book:

I have my postcard started.  I think for me, the hardest part will be figuring what to write on the back.  This creative writing is pretty far out of the norm for me, but always a good idea to get out of one's own normal, right?

Thanks for taking a look!

Postcard Challenge 2012 - The story Begins...

As mentioned in my last post, I am taking part in a really fun challenge for 2012 that Darcy has created for us and explained on her blog.  You can read about it HERE.  The idea is based on Nick Bantock's Griffin and Sabine series of books where mysterious characters correspond.

One of the first things we need to do is create our own story and characters.

Here's what I've come up with so far:

The story begins…

The Characters

#1 is Sabrina.  She lives in a small town on the Oregon Coast but does not spend much time there.  Sabrina is a photo journalist and travels the world photographing interesting locations for the various travel magazines she freelances for.  But she uses a P O Box in Oregon as her mailing address and has friends manage her mail and forward it to her. 

Her address is:

Sabrina Harrison

P O Box 251

Rockaway Beach OR  93137

USA   

#2 is Declan.  It is thought that Declan lives in London.  However he is somewhat secretive.  As the saying goes – he could tell us where he lives and what he does but then he’d have to kill us as we’d know too much.  So, better not to know, don’t you agree?  His mailing address seems to indicate he works for the British Government.  Perhaps he is some sort of spy?  Is there a real life James Bond?  And is he it?  Wonder if we’ll ever know…

His address is:

Declan McCabe 73179

c/o The O.I.C.

Number 17 ½ Downing Street

London

IM2 YR1

UK

As the story begins, Sabrina has received a small package in the mail with a strange London address.  What the heck is “The O.I.C.???

Inside the package she finds a packet of photographs and negatives she had lost on her last adventure.  They were lost somewhere in South Africa.  She had been quite upset she had not been able to locate them as the negatives are irreplaceable.  Without them she would not be paid for her trip all over South Africa.  So you can imagine how relieved and grateful she was to find them in the mail!

A note inside the package states “Dear Ms Harrison,  I found this packet of photos under a bench near the Bull & Bush Pub in Gaborone, Botswana.  Inside was your business card with your information and address inside so am sending them to you.  Yours Faithfully, Mr. Declan McCabe”.

 

Sabrina feels compelled to respond to this Declan McCabe, wondering what is inspiring her to do that.  Perhaps the same feeling that compelled Declan to return the found photos to her in the first place.

 

So, the postcard correspondence begins…

Stay tuned, much more to follow as the year progresses and these characters communicate with one another from locations yet to be revealed.

Thanks for taking a look!

Have a creative week! 

Postcard Challenge 2012

DarcyW, a UK artist, has posted a really great challenge on her blog for 2012.  You can read all about it HERE.

I need a few good challenges for 2012.  And it is one postcard a week.  Surely I can manage one postcard a week.

And the swap is inspired by Nick Bantocks Grffin and Sabine series of books.  I love those books!

I just about have my characters figured out.  Just need to come up with a few more details.

And will finish binding my book in the next couple days.

Here's the start of my book:

Front cover

Inside front cover - I'll insert a written note outlining my characters here

One of the inside pages - with flap I'll slip postcard into each week

The book is 7' by 7".  The front cover and inside front cover flap are bits of paper overlayed with black tulle and then stitched in place.  The postcard flaps are all cardstock covered with maps and deco paper stitched in place.  (yes, I did zig zag stitch around 52 flaps - go ahead, call me insane!  lol).  I got the coptic stitch binding for single pages idea, as well as the idea for using the tulle, from watching my creative friend, Barb, on UStream.  You can find her channel HERE.

I'll be back to post my finished book and talk about my characters soon.  And hope to have a year of postcards to share here.

Thanks to Darcy for such an inspired idea!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Eiffel Tower

I currently love everything Eiffel Tower.  Not sure why, I have no great desire to travel to Paris (but I would NOT turn down a chance to go!).  And no plans anytime soon.  But I am intrigued by the image and it catches my eye wherever it is.

I got this fun stamp set that feeds my love of the Eiffel Tower and has alot of possibilities for creating stuff with an Eiffel Tower theme.  Here's what the stamp set looks like -

 And here the tag set I made using some of them -

Below is the 3 separate pieces before I tied them together with 3 strands of ribbon. 

The largest tag is a kraft tag, the middle is a manilla tag, and the smallest is a strip cut from a 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper that has Eiffel Tower postoids on it.  You can see I also used one of the postoids from that same paper on each of the other tags.  I sprayed all the tags with my very favorite spray, Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Saxifrage Olive Copper - you can find it HERE.  Then stamped the images with VersaFine ink.  I added some charms I had to the little strip of postoids (the Eiffel Tower charm I had was the exact same size as the image on the paper - how cool is that!).

I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Now I need to get a couple more Christmas things made so I can play some more with this stamp set!

Hope you all are having a creative weekend!

Happy Holidays!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

Continuing on with quick projects, I've got out Christmas supplies and have been playing around with making tags.  All different sizes, based on 6x6 paper pad and what size scraps I had.

Here's some of the tags I have so far -

All of the rubber stamps used are from a set by Prima called North Country.  You can see it by clicking HERE.  Some of the papers are from the 6x6 collection of papers from the same North Country collection by Prima.  Other papers were stuff I had on hand from other years (I have alot of "stuff".  LOVE my STUFF!).  The die cuts are various die cuts I found on Ebay already cut out.  I don't have any Christmas dies (yet) so had to spend a few dollars to get some stuff from people that do have holiday dies.

It's alot of fun having all kinds of Christmas stuff out and putting together tags.  Now I need to go put some fibers and ribbons on these and see about decorating some envelopes.  If I have your snail mail address you might end up with one of these in your mail box!

Thanks for taking a look!
Have yourself a creative weekend!

Happy Holidays!

Bee Sweet or Be Square

Here's my silly cat, Maui, keeping me company while I art by using the empty box I set on the chair next to me:

She's a lot of help!  lol

Time is a Gift

I've been making small art projects lately.  Mostly postcards and tags. 

Here's a postcard I finished a couple days ago. 

The images are cut out of magazines and glued to a heavy cardstock base.

The letters were printed out on cardstock ans then punched out with circle punches and glued down.

I used Tacky Glue for all the glueing.

Thanks for taking a look!

Have a creative weekend! 

California Dreamin'

I have a friend that is currently living in Ohio due to family obligations.  But is dreaming and planning for the day she can return to Sunny California, preferably San Diego.
In honor of her birthday earlier this month I made her a Folder Tag Holder full of California themed tags (as inspired by my art friend and mentor, Dede - you can see the kits she sells to make these yourself on her Etsy HERE).
I didn't get a chance to take pics of the folder before I mailed it off but I did manage to scan the tags so shared them with you here.
When I first thought of the idea I went on Google and searched for California and San Diego Travel Guides and went to the websites and ordered the free paper copies.  When they got here I went through and tore or cut out many images.  I covered the outside of the book with California maps.  Then gathered a bunch of dyed tags and some watercolor paper scraps and started sewing on images.  I've been having so much fun sewing on paper lately!

I'll get Debbie to take some pics of the Folder Holder for me and share those with you another time.  But wanted to share these with you in case you are in need of some warm sunny thoughts and/or some California Dreamin'!

Thanks for taking a look!

Hope you all have a creative week!

Owl Ornaments for sale on ETSY

You can now find my Owl Ornaments for sale on ETSY by clicking HERE.
Thanks for taking a look and I really appreciate any purchases,

Also while over at ETSY check out the great stuff my friend, Debbie, has listed.  You can find her ETSY by clicking HERE.  She is one of the most creative people I know and has some great ornaments, charms, really awsome hand dyed ribbons, and more.  Including these these great Altered Matchboxes:

Have a great weekend everyone!

It's Raining Owls!

Purple and Green owls

Musical Owls

  Blue Owls

And an assortment of Owls decked out in their finest Christmas attire!

I've been sewing and sewing owls and plan to list them on my Etsy.  I'll let you know here and via Twitter when I get them listed.

The owls are all the same size.  They are approx 3 1/4" tall and 3 " wide at the ears.

They are alot of fun to make.  I swear when I glue the eyes on they each develop their own personality!

Thanks for taking a look!

Hope you have a creative day!

Sewing Postcards

I've had my sewing machine out to make some fabric Christmas ornaments - I'll share those here when I get finishing touches on them.

I decided as long as I had the machine set up I would play around with sewing on paper so made some postcards.  Here are a few of them:

I used a combination of magazine images, fabric and stamped quotes.  I had a great time playing with the sewing machine and the zig zag stitch!
If I have your address, you never know, one of these might show up in your mailbox!
Hope everyone has a creative week!
Thanks for taking a look!

Happy Halloween!

Oh, this is post # 100!  Spooooooookkkyyy!  lol

Lilies

Here's my latest journal page:

The background is sprayed with a homemade spray I made with reinkers.  All the pieces are glued down with matte medium (I used Daniel Smith brand, you can\find it here) .  The very back paper is some round ephemera pieces I have, I cut it half and glue the pieces down, then adhered the lilies magazine image I had fussy cut.  The leaf is an actual leaf I had dried between the pages of a book.  "LILIES" is hand written with a Sharpie® pen on a scrap of watercolor paper I painted Lime Green.  And the text is hand stamped (a Printworks rubber stamp).  How appropriate as what has a more wonderful fragrance than Lovely Lilies?!?
Thanks for taking a look!
I hope you are having a CREATIVE weekend!

Magnolia Journal page

Magnolias are one of my favorite flowers.  Awhile back I got a card from a friend that she had made with a magnolia she had put on the front.  A day or two later I got a card from another friend and she had used a Magnolia postage stamp to send it.  Then while out and about I had gone to an antique store that had a painting of a magnolia very similar to the one on the card that had a black background.  A journal page inspiration/idea started building in my head!
Heres' what I came up with:

I painted the background with layers of gesso, black acrylic, and dark green acrylic.  Then I used a Tattered Angels mask for the fence and used a makeup sponge to sponge two shades of green acrylic.  I used another mask and two shades of green again for the mask in the upper left corner.
I toned down the white on the postage stamp with green ink and also, edged the magnolia image I had torn off the card with the same green ink.  The page needed one more thing, I looked through a bunch of magazines and found the center image.  Everything was glued down with matte medium.  The magnolia from the card got a sort of cool texture, almost crackled.  Here's a close-up you can sorta see the texture:

  Cool, huh?

Here's a close-up of the masking also:

I really like how it turned out with the two shades of green.


Thanks for taking a look!
Enjoy the rest of your week!

Ok, I'm ready for the REWARD!

Here's a journal page I made based on a fortune cookie fortune "Your path will be difficult but will be rewarding".
When I got the fortune my first thought was that it would be great for a journal page.  I've had it sitting on my art table for awhile.  While looking through ALL the stuff I'm saving for collage and trying to organize it I came across this winding river image I've been saving for just the right thing.  The two just seemed to go together!

The background is acrylics - maroon, white, and a drop of ultramarine blue.  They are blended and spread around with a palette knife.  I printed the words out on card stock.  I edged everything with an olive green ink pad to grunge it up a bit.  Everything was glued down and sealed with acrylic matte medium.
I put and extra REWARDING at the bottom for good measure.
Bring on the rewarding part!
Thanks for taking a look!
Now - go do something creative!

My Poor Neglected Blog & Postcards

I have been seriously neglecting my blog for over a month now. 
In part because my camera is not working, in part because I've been doing more organizing and consolidating my art stuffs (or atleast trying to) than creating, and partly just being lazy!
I have a couple journal pages I will scan soon.
And I've been playing around with Halloween tags and a few bookmarks I hope to share with you soon.

In the meantime, here's a couple postcards I finished yesterday and today:

 I painted a piece of watercolor paper green to start this pc.  Then sprayed it with Wild Plum Color Wash for the splots.  Then cut up some scraps of decorated paper I had from last year and glued them down.  Then punched some skull and crossbones out of same paper and glued them down.  Also glued down some Halloween confetti.  Last thing I did was edge the whole postcard with Black India Ink (my fav black ink pad).

This one is watercolor paper I colored orange with Inktense Pencils.  Then edged with Black India Ink.  And stamped the quote with same ink.  Then glued the image from a Just For Fun rubber stamp that I had stamped on a seperate piece of paper that had a watercolor background.

Hope you enjoyed taking a look at them and I'll try to post art here regularly!
Thanks for taking a look!
Now go do something creative!

A Day To Remember 9-11-01

A day that changed the world...

In honor of all affected by that day, my mom, my niece and I made the following envelopes as part of 

the Remember September Mail Art Memorial Project.  You can read all about it by clicking HERE.

Above is the one my mom, Myrna, created.

Above is the one my niece Piper, who is 11, created.

And, above is my decorated envelope.

My friend Debbie, is the one who originally told me about this mail art project.  She participates each year and you can see her envelope for this year on her blog by clicking HERE.

Thanks for taking a look at my blog.