Your Favorite Book

That’s the theme of the book I sent ’round to be altered by five wonderful artists over the past few months. I got my book back awhile ago and absolutely lurve it. One of the gals showed us how to make a slide show (isn’t it awesome?!) so we can show off these fabulous spreads!

Barbara’s book is Garden Spells. What a gorgeous garden! I just love the pastel colors. Tammy did The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and her lion is about the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen! Seriously, I want one.

Linda chose The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, and her spread makes me totally want to read this book! Lisa’s very elegant, serene spread is in honor of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Nice work!

Cindy created a very fitting royal tribute for The Autobiography of Henry VIII – wow, love the colors in this one – and I chose to do Memoirs of a Geisha. All in all, a very diverse and fascinating selection of favorite books. I’m definitely going to add some of these to my “TBR”* pile! (Not that I can see a light at the end of that particular tunnel as it is!)

* = to be read (hopefully within this lifetime)

Happy Birthday, Mind Wide Open!

So one of my favorite blogs is a year old now.   Hard to believe Gail has been challenging us every month for a full year already.  I don’t remember doing 12 of these, but it must be so!  Congrats, Gail, on a fabulous blog, and thank you for challenging us to push our artistic limits.

I say this every month (practically), but this image is the best yet.  I love fairies, love the color scheme and love the word prompt, which is “contentment.”

When pondering what to make, I had the idea that the fairy would look cute on a “real” flower, since she is sitting on a dandelion in the picture.  So I made a little bouquet, decorated the leaves with the background from the image and added sparkly fibers and little gems and a crown to the fairy.  You can’t see it in the photo, but the fairy’s wings and the leaves are enhanced with an awesome gel pen called “clear star,” which adds a colorless, glittery sparkle.  (I love this pen more than ice cream!)

I was originally going to “plant” the bouquet in a small glass jar that had held paper flowers, but I couldn’t think of a way to get it to stand upright.  Then it occurred to me that the wrapped stems would fit perfectly in the hole of a thread spool.  I chose a vintage spool of pale yellow (how do I know it’s vintage? It has an 18-cent price tag on it!) and then glued a few white maribou feathers around the stem as an homage to the original dandelion “pouf.”

Does she look content to you?

The Saga…

It’s been ages since I posted; mainly because I started the huge, mind-boggling project of cleaning out my closets two weeks ago and there’s still just barely an end in sight. But it will be nice to have things (somewhat) organized. Eventually.

So last night, I’m driving home from work…

Now normally I am a bit of a speed demon, but when I’m driving late at night (it was about 11:30), I make sure to keep close to the speed limit, ’cause in this little town I have to drive through, the cops really don’t have much to do besides look for speeders. It’s one of those places where the sidewalks roll up at 9:00 p.m. and the only things moving after that are stray animals, cars passing through on their way to somewhere more interesting, and potted plants hanging on porches (and that’s only if it’s windy).

So I’m tooling along on the straight & narrow path, along with a couple of other cars, when suddenly I notice blue lights behind me. All three of us pull over to get out of his way, and the only thing I feel is mild surprise that something cop-worthy has apparently happened in this tiny, dead town for a change.

But then, WTH?!  He pulls in behind me! And I’m all like…

So the cop comes up to my window shining his big ol’ flashlight in my car and he’s looking at me like I’m possibly dangerous or tipsy…

…and asks for my license and registration. The first part is easy, my driver’s license is right there in the new fancy quilted fabric wallet I just bought at the Beall’s Outlet in this same little town about a month ago. The second part – well, not so much. I know my registration is in my glovebox somewhere, but I’ve never been asked for it before.  This was the first time a cop actually asked to see it, oddly enough, and I’ve been pulled over a lot.  And wouldn’t you know it, my glovebox is literally stuffed full of paper napkins and plastic forks from fast-food joints, oil change receipts, uh…certain lady things…OMG, it was embarrassing. Especially when he shined his light in there as I was digging around, and asked, “Does this help?” I was like, yeah, you can read the brand name on those wrappers now, thanks, that’s very helpful. (Gaaah!)

Finally I was able to produce a registration card – likely one of many that were layered in there like some miniature archealogical dig  – and handed it to him, asking, “Is this the right one?” The cop said, “This one is from 2006. But it will do.” (Thank goodness.) He then asked, “Do you know why I pulled you over?” Normally I do know, because, as mentioned before, I’m a bit of a speed demon, but this time I had no clue. He tells me my tag light is out. I’m all like, “Oh, ha-ha! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised! I’ve lost a couple of dashboard lights lately; guess the car is just getting old!” (Ha…ha?) He tells me to “stay in the car, ma’am,” then he says he’ll be right back. And I’m all like, dang, he’s actually going to write me a ticket!  I don’t get tickets!  I always get out of tickets!  WTH?!!  And as it sunk in, I was all…

I mean, he could have just given me a verbal warning. It’s not like I knew the tag light was out and drove anyway on purpose. I’m not a professional driver; I don’t do a 12-point inspection of my car before I get in it!  Dang, why not go pick on a real criminal?!

These are my thoughts as he’s back there in his car writing the ticket – and taking forever about it, too. When he comes back, he explains that the fine is $78-something, at which point I’m like…

And he hurriedly says, “Oh no, don’t worry, it won’t be that much.” He then explains that I have three options. I can get the bulb changed within thirty days and pay a reduced fine (which he explains is something like $25), or I can pay the full fine (though only an idiot would do that), or I could contest the ticket in court. I consider that last option only briefly…

…but then dismiss it immediately (get it? Dismiss?) because I know I wouldn’t stand a chance, and then I’d have to pay even more. So then the cop tells me that the $78 is actually wrong; the fines went up “just today” but because he forgot and used the “old form,” it was only $78. ONLY!!! I actually said out loud, “Gee. Isn’t this my lucky day.” And then I drove home and I was all like…

…and when I got home I left a note for my sleeping hubby to ask if he’d please buy me a tag light bulb on his way home from work today, and now the best part is going to be when he calls me this afternoon from work and gives me a hard time for getting pulled over.  (Because he will.  Despite that he’s had at least a dozen tickets in his driving career and this is only my second one!!!)

Okay, back to the closets…

Wish

That’s the word prompt for this month’s challenge over at Mind Wide Open.  The image is that of a wistful little girl and the colors are quite lovely.  Dude and I went out of town on the last day this was due and I almost forgot to make something!  (Perish the thought!)  I haven’t missed a Mind Wide Open challenge yet, and don’t ever hope to.  It’s my favorite challenge site, which is quite something considering how many there are!

Anyway, I finally got into my studio only three hours before the deadline, so I decided to make a fairly simple collage.  I got the flowers in a kit from a monthly club (which I’ve since dropped) and they’ve been sitting on my table because they were too big to fit in my flower drawer.  The colors happened to go really well with the image, especially after I rubbed some ink on the stem (Ranger color “raisin.”  Don’t you love colors that are also foods?)

The tags were made by using a square punch first, then punching the tag out around it.  I cut up another of the images to put in the tag openings so they’d be certain to match without my having to search through my stash of papers.

The background is a sheet of scrapbook paper that I’m pretty sure I bought in the mid 90s, back when Hot Off the Press was one of the few companies that made it, the only size you could get was 8-1/2 x 11 and nobody had yet even dreamed of putting flowers and bling on a page, much less poke in a brad or set an eyelet.  Those were the Dark Ages of paper crafting, my friends.  Some day I’ll tell you more about those bad old days, but in the meantime let’s revel in the fact that it only took ten years for the crafting industry to come up with self-stick gems (my current favorite embellishment).

King Crow

Whenever there’s a swap on Swap-Bot to alter a composition book, I simply can’t resist joining. It’s one of my favorite things to do. Comp books are easy to decorate and useful to boot.

My partner in this swap likes “weird” art and can’t stand cutesy pink stuff. (Okay, I respect that, though I can’t pretend to understand it.) She has a creative husband, which I think would be really cool – that is, unless he were to start trying to infiltrate my stash; then we’d have to have words. Also, I would be devastated if my husband’s art were nicer than mine.  Fortunately, his creativity is in the area of designing things to build from wood.  He’s quite good at it, but it’s always strictly utilitarian stuff, so I have no fear of competition in the area of painting, gluing, stamping, embellishing and the like.

Anyway, my swap partner’s husband amuses her endlessly by naming each of his pieces, “But, is it art?”  Hopefully she’ll like this comp book I decorated for her. I tried to be weird, and it’s definitely not my usual style, but you’ll notice I couldn’t help sneaking in a flower and some bling. (Okay, to be honest, quite a bit of bling.)

What’s Done is Done

Sure, it’s a weird title, but I couldn’t resist the homage to “LOST” (I’m totally addicted to that crazy show, though I try not to let it seep into my everyday life).

So what’s done?  The round robin hosted by lovely Lisa the Librarian over at Simple Journeys, in which each of us sent around a board book to be arted up by the others.  I finished the last spread in the last book last night (and I can’t end this sentence without typing “last” one more time, simply because it’s close to “LOST,” which have I mentioned I’m addicted to?) and so at last it’s time to “close the book” on this “chapter” in….okay, I’ll stop.

Anyway, the theme of this (last) book is “what a wonderful world” (ha! now that song is in your head) and we were to do a spread on what we considered the most beautiful place in the world.  Fortunately it was not required that you choose a place you’ve actually visited.  My grandfather took up world travel after he retired, and Japan was his favorite destination.  He always talked about how beautiful it was, and the photographs I’ve seen are breathtaking.  It’s on my “bucket list” to visit Japan some day (though admittedly that possibility may be as unlikely as some of the other entries on that list, i.e. “Get cuddly with Naveen Andrews” and “Win the lottery so you can buy the entire inventory at Dick Blick“).

The background was done by rubbing chalk on dried gesso (a favorite technique).  I learned how to fold a kimono here, in case you want to make one for your next page about Japan. 

How to Make an ATC – Part Deux

Challenges are so much fun!  In the “Complicated Swap Lovers” group on Swap-Bot, we’re doing another “How to Make an ATC” swap, and this time the first seven people who signed up got to choose a step in the process.  We had to do these steps in order, leaving out none and adding none, to make our ATC:

1. Start with a patterned background.

2. Outline the edges with a metallic marker or ink pad (any metallic color).

3. Add two or more circles.

4. Draw, glue, sew or otherwise attach an image of your favorite bird.

5. Attach a non-round button or brad.

6. Add a piece of ribbon or fiber.

7. Write, draw or stamp something in ink on the bottom half.

8. Use something found or recycled.

I think it’s pretty obvious just from looking how I did each step, except probably the last one.  The green heart was punched from a paint chip from the home improvement store.  (The color, if you’re interested, is “basil.”  It’s rather nice, isn’t it?)

Oh, and my contribution was number 2. 

Queen of Bling

I belong to a group on Swap-Bot called “Need…the Preciousssss,” which you may recognize as the catchphrase of  Gollum from Lord of the Rings, who is our beloved mascot.  Like Gollum,  members of the group are irresistibly drawn to treasure; in our case, stuff like squished bottle caps, rusted bits of metal, old paper ephemera and ”alterable” thrift store junk.  Everything has potential, after all, whether to save the Shire from evil forces or just to adorn a pretty necklace.

In the group’s latest swap, we’re to decorate a Queen from a deck of playing cards to represent what we’re the “queen” of when it comes to our favorite collection of treasures.  At first I couldn’t decide whether I was the Queen of Glitter or the Queen of Bling, but then I decided that glitter falls into the “bling” category, as does anything sparkly (my favorite kind of stuff)!

When I was looking through my collection of random playing cards, I found most of a deck of “Fancy Feast” cat breed cards that I’d gotten for free a few years ago as a bonus for buying something cat-related (can’t remember what off-hand).  There were only two queens left in the deck, which was perfect, since I had to make one card each for two partners.    And the subject of the cards makes my “royal title” more accurate: I’m also the Queen of cat hair, at least one of which manages to sneak under the tape of every swap package I send out!

Finally found a use for these awesome crown brads I bought last year. 

I Have a Fairy Name!

Check out the sidebar (under the calendar) – you can discover your fairy name, too!  I mean, if you’re into that kind of thing.  I’m not completely thrilled with mine, Bramble Icefly, but you have to admit it’s unique.

I belong to a group that loves fairies over on Swap-Bot and in their latest swap, you’re to create something for your partner based on their “fairy name.”  I’m not real sure I’m going to join this one, considering how bizarre my fairy name is, but I did join a group swap for fairy bookmarks recently.  The background is stamped with Versamark and then rubbed with chalk, and the image of two fairies reading is a bookplate stamp I’ve had for a bazillion years, which I embossed on metallic copper paper.

It Must Have Been the Sprinkles

I won a cupcake ATC contest over on Swap-Bot!

How cute are those prize ribbons, anyway? Many thanks to the hostess, “HelloZombie” (whose avatar, a clearly undead Hello Kitty, is one of my favorites on the site) and congrats to the two runners-up!