Orange You Glad it's Friday?

iHanna's Postcard Swap

Hanna Andersson's postcard swap is underway! Here are my postcards that were sent all over the world.
Thanks, Hanna!

It has been so fun to make art for other artists and spread a little love around the planet.

Check out the beautiful and inspiring postcards made by everyone who joined. iHanna's blog
There were over 100 participants and already my mailbox is yielding up some very scrumptious art every day.

Our mail carrier is having a great time with this, as well and becoming quite the mail art connoisseur in the process.

Let's Party!

Happy Birthday, guys and thanks for all the great sales this past weekend!

Went on a solo thrifting flight yesterday and what fun THAT was!

Gathered up some real treasures that I will post pictures of in a bit.

The Haul included:
Martini glasses for a Somerset inspired craft, a bunch of old half gallon pickle jars, lots of old journals and ledgers, a tiny glass for my tiny glass collection, a way cool engagement calendar from 1960, two pillow cases, a pile of vintage snapshots (25 cents each! - a bit hard to reign myself at that price) and a vintage booklet full of printers cuts from a foundry, plus three really nice books. There's more, you'll see.
Since the antique and thrift stores were having President Day Sales, I only spent a total of $14.00 at one store and $14.25 at another. Fourteen was my lucky number yesterday - Valentine's Day! Love it.

Something Old • Something New

I have an old discarded book that I doodle in with markers, while I wait: wait for kids to finish activities, wait in line, wait-wait-wait.

Although I have developed a certain amount of patience over the years, things like this really help the time go by.

I also get a chance to try out new color combos and ideas.

This is my new fave colorway.

It would be cool in crushed velvet.

DIY Busy Board

Now that I am a full fledged Nana, I get to make cool things for the cutest kid on earth.

Our latest effort is this control panel, because we all know who's REALLY in control, right?

This was a family project, concocted to celebrate our first grandchild's first birthday.

Our resident teenager donated most of the junque from his odds and ends collection and my husband assisted with the screw guns, glues and all around mechanical expertise. His uncle donated a big old cutting board and I was the mastermind, designer and baby-safety tester.

We had a similar board when we were kids, with colored buttons and toggles that I spent hours playing with.

It makes noise and lights up and has lots of different things going on. The magnifying bubble pops out so they can put pictures of anything in and the TP tube holder is a short length of PVC with jingle bells inside. I put up it on some little slider feet so he can play with it on the floor and push it around if he wants.

I love toys like this because they encourage imaginative play. It can be the rocket ship engine room, the control panel on a sub or a time machine.

He's just one, so for now, it's a busy board, for a very busy little boy.

Happy Birthday, Kiddo!

Deep Greens and Blues are the Colors I Choose

Over at Artsyville, Aimee went into a flurry of drip-drip-dripping artsy activity last week and showed us all how to make the coolest of cool tiles, with nada but alcohol inks and blending medium.

Eye popping color, eh?

This process is way beyond fun. To watch the inks react with the alcohol blending medium and the colors swirl around each other is simply mesmerizing.

((@)) ((@))
It's right up there with oil on a puddle, and yes, even better than salad spinner art! Plus, the end result is much more utilitarian.

What I really could have used during the entire process, in lieu of self control, was a sidekick to holler,

"Someone make her STOP!"
(as I went a way overboard on the ink.)

Me:
"Just one more drop."
" Wonder what THIS would look like?"
"Hmmm, more solution could be JUST the solution."

...and on and on it went, until these masterpieces emerged (and it was time to pick kid up from school.)

As you can see, I'm still on the dark green/blue kick stirred up by Hanna Andersson's cool curtain photo: iHanna's blog

I am craving summer. Pure and simple. And now I have six little pieces of deep, green, shady woods-in-summer, destined to become a tray, bearing a tall, cool glass of lemonade.

Sewing Circle

The ladies got together for a sewing circle last night, jabbering away as they stitched to their hearts content.

This flip album was created with the same technique I used here -
Paper Tube Album Tutorial

This entire project is green/green - both in color and in the repurposing of all kinds of leftovers.

The front and back covers were crafted from the face of an old reader that was upholstered in that shiny waxed linen. I used my trusty craft knife to slice it down to size and then inked the edges.

Other items - like the va-va-vaoom garter/closure, were attached with a bit of elastic, laced through a slot I made with the X-acto knife.

You might recognize the round frame (on the group photo) as a small tin cover from a pack of scrapbooking flowers.

I didn't have enough people in my vintage photo for a real honest to gosh sewing circle, so I doubled up a few of the ladies to create twins. Love those glasses, ladies!

The whole project was bound with the Zutter.

I used paper tubes ironed flat as a base for the pages. What I really like about using the tubes is that once flat, they are the perfect size for gift cards and all kinda of sliders. You can really go to town with these.

The pockets also makes a great little place to stash sewing bits and pieces you need to keep track of. You can use it for a sewing scissor wallet, floss holder, needle case - pretty handy!