A Still Life

I finished up the little book at left yesterday morning and right away hung it up near some pretty blue pottery I'd been given last year. Then I placed the little "fly" piece next to it and thought "what a charming little vignette." Ok maybe I really thought "that looks pretty". But "charming vignette" sounds better.

It is pretty though and I enjoy having the collection in the corner of my dining room. The dining room table is our only table and it's where I do the majority of my art, and writing. So I like to have things I enjoy surrounding me here. Across from where I sit is a shelf with my painting of Venice, some flowers I made and some odds and ends I collected. I also have a collection on a shelf that's just opposite of where I sit filled with what's really the bric a brac of life. But I love it.

Although these are my favorite vignette areas I have mini still life's scattered throughout the house. A few things gathered on top of a table, a collection of photos and jewelry on top of my bureau. As I walk around my home during the day I see these things and although I don't consciously think about it, these little still life's are what make my house a home to me.

Lately I've been exploring collections in my art as well. Grouping two or three or more items together to tell a story. I've been using the shadowbox format primarily but this weekend found myself embellishing this little book. It was done simply, with rub-on's and a few paper embellishments, but I enjoyed the "collected" look of the finished piece. How do you showcase your collections? Do you put them out on display or do you keep them in special "treasure" boxes? Is it enough to have them or do you want to surround yourself with them? Does having things you love around you really effect how you live your life? Or is it simply a comfort? What do you think?

Would I be a different person if I lived in an old stone house from the turn of the century than if I lived in an ultra modern loft? How much do our surroundings shape who we are? I'm not sure. I do know I'm really sensitive to the things around me. But enough to change my personality? Makes me wonder....

Author's Edit: I was just over at An Artful Life by Shona Cole and today's post is a closer look at the treasure box from her book. So for more collecting ideas visit her blog, here.

You Choose- Fear or Faith?

Fear grounds us. It keeps us down on the ground where we're comfortable. It tells us we might get hurt if we venture forth. That it won't work, or that we'll look ridiculous for having tried. Better not to try. Better to stay where we are and hold our ground than to make the bold move forward that might result in disaster. Fear talks to us dramatically. It's always the worst possible scenario we imagine. The worst possible result. We're asked what's the worst that can happen? Fear answers back with a vision of the Apocalypse.

But really- what is the worst that can happen? Realistically. Instead of focusing on the worst possible result, imagine the best. Realistically you might fall somewhere in between, but what would you have gained from having tried? Or lost for having not tried?

At the times when fear threatens to influence me for the worst, I turn to faith to bring a measure of reality. Faith that my skills are there, faith that good will come of the situation, faith that I won't jump off the cliff only to fall, tumbling to the very bottom of the cliff. Faith that God has a plan for me and has given me my abilities, my dreams, and a desire to pursue them for a reason. I might not see it, you might not see it, but that's not to say it isn't there. So I stand here, afraid- but ready to fly.

What challenges you? Is there something you're afraid to pursue? Something you long for and wish to be, but are afraid that if you try and fail you'll never try again? My dream for a long time was to be an artist. Because I was afraid that if I actually tried to become one and failed that I would never be able to screw up my courage to try again, I eventually gave up art all together. But somewhere on the journey I began to have faith.

Faith that God gave me my talent, my personality, and that dream for a reason. Not to hide it all, not to push down that desire, but so that I might have everything I need to live the life He created me to have. I hold onto that whenever I'm afraid, or feel rejected, or think I'm not good enough. Today I want you to look at the pieces you're given. What are your skill areas, are you a good writer, a skilled logician, or do you have some other natural abilities? What are your dreams? What hope in your heart of hearts do you treasure and protect? What experiences have you had in life that prepared you for entering a certain area? Do you have a heart for service, an abusive relationship in your past, and a love for art? Do you dream of helping others with your art? Do look at Art therapists and wish somehow you might do that?Do you have a heart for children, or do you love to create? To introduce beautiful things into the world? To show others that beauty? Give it some thought and then- believe!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!!

Being a mother has gifted me with the ability to more fully understand my mother. I've always known that she loves me, that she cares and dreams and hopes for me. But now that I have a child I understand how involuntary and all encompassing that love is. You don't choose it. You don't ask for it. You don't develop it. It simply is. It's born within your heart as they dawn on your world. Forever changing it.

This year I bought my mother a special gift. Usually I do a piece of art, or frame a photo, or give her a plant. This year I bought my mother Shona Cole's book, The Artistic Mother. It's a book that she's seen and loved and I'm hoping it encourages the artist in her. So Happy Mother's Day to my Artistic Mother. I love you and thank you for being my mother.

A Happy Mother's Day wish for all of you reading who are mothers too. Enjoy your day and know that you are a blessing!!!

The Best Kind of Gift

A few weeks ago I sent some wire words to a new blog friend of mine. She's an artist, a mom, a Christian, and an amazing jewelry artist. I started reading her blog some time ago. Not even sure how I got started. But through her posts and the occasional comments on mine, I began to see Cristi as a kindred spirit.

Blogs you know are funny things. You put yourself out there, revealing thoughts, dreams, goals with whoever might happen to look. You write like no one is reading, as a way to process life. Then, you wish and hope that someone is reading because you hope what you said might be helpful or meaningful to others. Finding new friends is the icing on the cake. No one blogs to find friends, but when you do it's such a gift.

The necklace you see above is a sample of Cristi's work. I absolutely love it. The colors are perfect, and there's the cute little bird. When I opened up the cute little matching box (that says "fly") and first saw it I lit up and went "oooooh".

The necklace was a surprise gift to say thank you for the wire words, way way too generous of Cristi. But I love it. I love that it's her art, and she made it thinking about who I am and what I like. The definition of a kindred spirit is someone who thinks and feels as you do. They are rare and wonderful to find. I am so grateful for the necklace but even more so to have found another kindred spirit in it's maker. So thank you Cristi!

To see more of Cristi's amazing jewelry, check out her Etsy site, here. You'll love it!

Tutorial: Altered Tin Heart

Just a little quickie today. I had kind of a rough day yesterday (and the day before, and the day before) and today's the make-up. It's decided. It's been so dreary and rainy and I'm completely effected by light so things that usually wouldn't have been hard have been difficult. So to perk myself and maybe you up as well- here's a super quick and cute idea of altering a tin heart. Where to get a tin heart? You could try a flea market, or major craft stores sell rusty cut out hearts. I used one of my old cream lunch trays and simply used Tim Holtz's tonic scissors to free hand cut it out. He claimed they cut metal, I checked, they did. Then hit the edges of your heart with either heavy duty sandpaper or a metal file to smooth away any sharp points (sounds like a metaphor doesn't it?).
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Altered Tin Heart: An Easy Way for Applying Text and Imagery to Metal

Materials and Tools
A tin heart
Rub-on's ( I used Pink Paislee)
Craft Stick or Rub-on applicator
Crop-a-dile with grommets

Step One: Use your Crop-a-dile to punch holes in the top of your heart as shown in the photo at right. Then use the Crop-a-dile's grommet setting function to set grommets in the holes. For the how to of using a Crop-a-dile check out this Youtube video here, or a past post using this tool, here.



Step Two: Select your rub-on's and remove their protective protective backing sheet. You should be able to lightly touch the back of the top piece and feel the rub-on's there. They'll be slightly tacky. You may decided to cut out the rub-on's you've decided to use from the rest. (This is important when you're using a rub-on alphabet collection to spell a word- you don't want to accidentally transfer three "e's" when you needed one). Lay your rub-on onto the heart where desired and using the flat side of the top of your craft stick begin to rub-on. As the rub-on releases from the top plastic it should turn cloudy. It will appear crisp on your tin surface.

Step Three: After rub-on your first image, overlap that area with a second image. The Pink Paislee set I'm showing were wonderfully distressed looking to begin with so I was able to do partial transfers and overlap without worrying about the quality of my transferred image.

Step Four: Finish it up! When I worked off the edge of my tin adding rub-on's some of the rub-on extended over the edge. To clean up the edge I used my hand to gently wrap behind or wipe away anything that protruded. Then place a clean piece of plastic, and with a cloth, or your rub-on stick gently rub over your completed transfers to make sure they are all adhering completely. If you want to distress even more, skip this last part and instead hit your surface with the sandpaper again. Sand here or there, or even slightly hammer the tin to give it a mottled appearance.

Easy Gift Wrap Ideas from your Recycling

Scenario #1: You've got the gift bought and you're ready to wrap it and OH NO! Not a shred of tissue paper/wrapping paper left in the house- What to do??? You run back to the store, shell out another $8-10 on a card and a bag (not forgetting the tissue paper) and wrap it in the car, in the Target parking lot. You are, of course, late to your event, and there's tape stuck to the back of your dress.

Scenario #2: You've got the gift bought and you're ready to wrap it and OH NO! Nothing to wrap with. But you're crafty and don't despair because you know there's SOMETHING in the house that you can make look good. You walk over to the recycling bin and take a look and find a few tin cans, some saved brown paper grocery bags, and assorted boxes. A little paint or glue, some ribbon, and you've all you need for a fantastic presentation. Go to it girl!!!

I've had a few occasions to buy gifts for lately and have made the commitment to using recycled materials to wrap them with.The purple can? the previous night's fire roasted tomato's. The paper wrapping? Grocery bags.

Here's a birthday card I did up recently- I cheated with this and used some left over scrapbooking papers and letters I had on hand. But the inside of the card is a page torn from the flyleaf of an old book and technically the button is a found object.... :)

There really are so many options. Sew an old sock shut, use a toilet paper tube, Shona Cole and Lisa Guerin had a fabulous article in the first Greencraft about transforming old cereal boxes into beautiful gift bags. Following their cue, I prepped up a bunch of boxes recently and am embellishing them in my spare time. My hope is to get a small stockpile started so that when I do need a quick bag or box I've one on hand and can avoid that last minute rush to Target. Hopefully this post has given you some ideas too!

SWEET! My Shop on Handmade Spark!!!

Handmade Spark is a blog/e-newsletter I mentioned several posts ago that I LOVE and read every day and today I'm super excited to have found out that my etsy shop is featured as Today's Spark. I AM SO EXCITED by this. I really admire the work that Tim and his staff does promoting and encouraging the handmade community and to be part of that is really an honor for me. So THANK YOU Handmade Spark!!!

You can check the article out here. YAY!!!

Immortalizing My Favorites

Every once in a while, I'll find something I love so much I'll want to compose an ode about it.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, I am a horrible poet so nothing ever rhymes and I never get very far, but the sentiment is there. A couple of things I've felt like composing about lately are my crop-a-dile and my new 7 Gypsies Venice gaffer tape set. I love them both.

Ode to My Crop-a-dile
I love my crop-a-dile, it works with such ease, and it chomps through metal like butter.

But my newest love is the 7 gypsies tape. I had a little free time yesterday so I was going to try adhering the broken pieces of carpenter ruler around my shadowbox frame. I've had trouble with that lately, I don't get a strong bond. But then my eyes lighted upon my new tape and I had one of those moments where an idea comes, and it feels slightly audacious. Would it? Could it? Will it work?

It did. I was able to use the tape to cover the edges of my frame and honestly, it looks fabulous. Then, when I was trying to figure out how to attach the copper sheeting I wanted to place behind the word "soar" I reached for my tape again. Using one of the other patterned styles that came in the set of three. So easy and I like the taped on look.

So I have yet to actually compose an ode to my tape, but I am certainly in love.

Author's edit: OOPS!! Forgot to mention my Craft Sheet- LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!

Creative Storage Ideas for Art Supplies

Storage is the problem all of us artist's seem to share. Not only do we lack it, but we want it (when we get it) to be attractive. I've been collecting tin cans, cereal boxes, old metal trays, boxes, books, and papers for a while now and my collection piles are starting to get pretty precarious. My husband and I have started to hear odd noises in the night. Although at first we were puzzled, I've realized that the sounds can usually be traced back to something in my studio falling over. Or off the wall, or the shelve, or out of the closets. You get the idea. My piles of junk are toppling over.

I've started to take action. A couple of posts ago I showed you my new shelf inserts to seperate my fabric pieces. They insert right into my Expedit book shelf from IKEA. I love how that looks now. But what to do about all the little things? I did buy about 5 drawer inserts as well that hold the smaller items that had just been piled up on the shelves. Now there's no more toppling. In the photo you can see my cigar box of colored pencils, and my watercolor crayons, even some glitter mists fit into just one of the drawers.

Then, when over at my parents I found the cutest storage solution for all those supplies that you'd like to keep out on your desk but don't really have a spot for. My mother had an old tin lunchbox that she converted into a little art caddy. Now to find a lunchbox of mine own...

For those big 12 x 12 pads of paper I found an old file cabinet for $2 at a garage sale that I use. I liked the color of the green paint but one day decided it needed a little embellishing. Luckily, I had a decal from Single Stone Studios that only took a minute to apply, and now that cabinet totally makes me smile whenever I enter my art room.

So there you go! A few more ideas. I'd love to hear more from you!!! What have you done to organize? Have you seen any cute ideas? Or transformed a storage container from drab to fab? We could all use some more ideas, so please, leave a comment and links if you have them!!! Thanks :)

Scams that Target Etsy Sellers

So I received another convo from a supposed Etsy buyer this morning. I've gotten about 4-5 of these now and although they vary somewhat it's not that much. Here's the convo:

My name is _________ and am interested in purchasing your (item) with no
delay,but first? Is the price firm?Or how much are you taking?Will you be
accepting a US certified Check or money order? Contact me with the present
condition of the item and your contact information to mail out the payment to
you as soon as possible. Name you want on check: Home Address:
City: State:zip code: Country: Phone Number/Office Number so plz if you are
interested in selling your item to me reply to my e-mail xxxxx@xxxxxxx

One variation is that they're traveling and would like me to send them my bank account number so they can transfer money. It's a scam. Each and every time when I look them up on Etsy the profile either doesn't actually exist OR they joined Etsy either that day or the day before. I'm not great at spotting phishing scams or the like but it's getting pretty easy when they're all pretty much the same. It's almost always my highest priced item that they are proposing to purchase (my wire jewelry tree). I guess that's the snag. SO I thought that I'd mention it to you all today and make you aware. I know there are people out there preying on artists and writers that have lots more evolved hooks than this... ie self publishing, or marketing, or the like, but this is the one I see most. When I get one of these I just ignore it. The first time I wasn't sure what it was so I e-mailed the person asking for specifics. The next e-mail they sent was extremely transparent, so I didn't continue communicating. Since then they're all pretty much the same as the example above. So that's my public service announcement for today. :) Hope you have a great Monday!!!