Crafty Moira

Random: Love Street Image

2012-02-14T11:55:00.000-05:00

I was searching for a file this morning and came across this image that I made in June 2006. I think it was to accompany a short story I'd written about a girl waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up. It made me chuckle, so I thought I'd share. Happy Valentine's Day!

Art Journal: 31 Faces of January

2012-02-04T10:29:00.000-05:00

In reverse order, here are all of the daily faces that I drew in January. Sometimes I set little challenges for myself (like use only two colors or draw as fast as possible; others I just drew whatever I felt like drawing. I love doing a daily sketch! This month I am doing "scenes" per special request by my facebook friends!

Video: Cat Trapped in Plastic

2012-01-24T16:42:00.000-05:00

I have plastic covering my windows because I live in New England and the houses are all old and drafty. Smudge has ripped the plastic covering the window by my desk multiple times, hence all the tape. This time she ripped it while sitting on top of my cubby storage and managed to fall into the space between the plastic and the window. When I found my cat like this, I couldn't resist grabbing my video camera!

STITCHED: Noughts & Crosses Inspired

2012-01-17T13:04:00.000-05:00

Loving the classes over at STITCHED! I was feeling sick over the weekend, so I spent the day in bed, practicing my embroidery skills and trying out Jackie Bowcutt's Noughts and Crosses. Here's what I ended up with:

I stretched my finished fabric over and 8 x 10 canvas so I can hang it on my wall.

I love the monoprinting technique and will definitely try it again. I was even inspired to do a few test prints in my art journal! I had everything on hand for this one, except the Dye-na-flow paints, which I used to color the fabric. Love the paints, too, and am already planning projects to try out with my teen students this winter.

Next, I decided to dye some zebra print fabric and just kind of experimented from there. The word is printed on fabric using my own handwriting as the font (cool, right?). I did a sort of variation of needle-turned applique to add the fabric heart and the blue furry trim around it. Loving how it turned out!

STITCHED: Sewn Journal Cover

2012-01-13T10:30:00.000-05:00

I decided to sign up for the online class Stitched recently. I'd been eyeing the class up for months, since I'm a fan of Alma Stoller, who organized the class, and Kelly Nina Perkins, who is one of the fabulous teachers. Even though I'm currently teaching my own year-long art journal class, I wanted to sign up for a class for me; since all "work" and no play makes Moira an unhappy girl. (I put work in quotes because, lucky me, my work is play!) I decided to go completely outside my usual media and into fabric.

Don't get me wrong: I do sometimes sew fabric into my journals and make jewelry using fabric, but it's not my primary medium, mostly because I'm pretty sure my sewing machines hate me. I have a huge and beautiful stash of fabric, even though I hardly ever sew, because I just can't resist the stuff! I pick it up from remnants racks and the recycling center all the time, so I decided that in 2012, I'm finally going to BUST my fabric stash. I'm going to sew all sorts of projects, big and small, and use up all that pretty fabric. (And zippers, my goodness, I'm drowning in them!)

(I'll post some stash pictures later this week!)

The first project that I decided to tackle in STICHED was Dale Anne Potter's Journal Your Landscape. Okay, so, yeah, I made myself an art journal and didn't actually bust any of my stash to do it (unless you count the lovely variegated hemp I used to bind it, which you should, since I have a lifetime supply of the stuff).

The cover is made from Lutradur, which I'd heard of but never used. This stuff is nifty! Originally a roofing material, Lutradur has been usurped by artists and crafters worldwide for all sorts of cool projects. This stuff is tough! You can't rip it, I tried, which means it is perfect for a book cover. I'll let you know how it holds up to my art journaling, but I suspect it will weather beautifully.

I bound my journal with three signatures of paper, instead of canvas.

It took me a little fiddling to get my machine at a good setting for sewing it: I ended up using a stitch length of zero and a special foot that might or might not be called a darning foot? I can't remember.

Since I was super impatient and started sewing while the Lutradur was still damp from coloring the cover (dang stuff takes forever to dry!), I inadvertently learned a trick for dyeing my white cotton thread WHILE I'm sewing. Holy cow -- so cool! I'll definitely use that happy accident to my advantage in the future.

I'm super inspired by all of the projects in STITCHED and have already bought fabric for my next project: a baby quilt. (Again, not busting the stash, but need to make a quilt to suit a particular color scheme so there ya go. Here's hoping Project #3 will involve stash busting!

So what are you doing exciting for 2012?

2012-01-12T20:53:00.001-05:00

I have drawn every day in 2012 so far!

Video: Sketching on the Ipad 2

2012-01-04T21:11:00.000-05:00

Video Tutorial: Recycled Christmas Card Gift Tags

2012-01-02T09:32:00.000-05:00

I'm so happy that the holidays over that I decided to hack up my Christmas cards:

One of my goals for 2012 is to post at least one freebie video tutorial each month!

In other news, Weekly Art Date is off to a great start. We've already had two videos and I started a cool month-long journal spread. It's not too late to sign up, since you can work at your own pace and keep all of the materials. You can learn more here.

Literary Tease - use coupon code: THANKS

2011-11-23T10:27:00.000-05:00

Save 10% on already discounted prices:

Literary Tease - use coupon code: THANKS

(All sales start tomorrow at 5 PM!)

Watercolor Face #1

2011-11-19T09:04:00.001-05:00

Watercolor Face #1, a photo by literarytease on Flickr.

I've been working in a new journal using watercolor paints. I uploaded some pictures to my flickr account. Here's one of my faves.

Weekly Art Date: Sidebar Buttons

2011-11-13T16:43:00.000-05:00

I would be super thrilled if you'd like to display my sidebar buttons for Weekly Art Date on your blog! Let me know if you do so I can come and visit! You should be able to copy and paste the code from right underneath the image. Let me know if you have any trouble, and I'll do my best to help.

Art Journal Class: Weekly Art Date Promo Video

2011-11-13T10:32:00.001-05:00

Art Journal Class: Weekly Art Date

2011-11-13T09:08:00.000-05:00

Woohoo! I'm just about ready to roll out my newest online art journal class:

Learn more at the Weekly Art Date blog.

You spend so much of your time taking care of everyone around you. Isn't it time that you took some time for yourself? With Weekly Art Date, you'll have a reason to just say no the next time somebody tries to stretch your resources just a little too thin... "I'm sorry, I can't, I have my Weekly Art Date that night." You can't say yes to everybody all the time, but you can say YES! to weekly inspiration, can't you? Maybe you can't squeeze in time every single day to work in your art journal, but most of us could schedule in some time each week to make the magic happen.

Join Crafty Moira in her studio each week for a little dose of TLC for artists. You're busy, don't we know it, so this course has no deadlines, no time limits, and, best of all, no unrealistic expectations of YOU! Do what you want whenever you can round up a few precious moments of me-time. The course and all the content will be available to you after the course ends (in other words, once you're in, you're in forever!) plus all of the content and videos created by me will be available for you to download to your computer to keep for as long as you'd like.

My Weekly Art Date will run in four parts throughout 2012:

Part One runs from January 1st - March 16th ($15)

Part Two runs from April 1 - June 8nd ($15)

Part Three runs from June 24th - August 31th ($15)

Part Four runs from September 16 - November 23th ($15)

Part Five runs from December 2nd - December 16th (Bonus Course: Free for all full-year students!)

Sign up for the full year for $45, a savings of $15 over paying for each part individually. That's like getting one full course for FREE, plus you get free access to Part Five! That's only $3.75, less than $1 a week, for a whole year of art inspiration!

Need more incentive?

All full-year students will be automatically entered to win in each of the 12 monthly Weekly Art Date giveaways. Prizes will include anything from art supplies to bonus downloads to original art by Moira. No need to remember to sign up by a certain date, and if you win, your prize will be automatically mailed out to you! How awesome is that?

(Don't worry: if you can't sign up for the whole year at once, you can still enter the giveaways! All full-year students will receive one automatic entry, but everyone will have a chance to enter. Full-year students can snag an extra entry by commenting.)

Also, all full-year students will receive a download link immediately upon signing up for my 2012 Creativity Prompt Calendar. You'll be able to print up this gorgeous full-color calendar full of 260 prompts (one for every week day) designed to keep you inspired all year. This bonus download will include a text-free version of the calendar that you can use to design your own calendars in years to come.

(All students will receive each month's daily prompt calendar on the first of the month.)

Already signed up for another paid course with me? Check inside the classroom for a special returning student discount!

If you'd like to sign up for Weekly Art Date Part One only, click the first PayPal button below:

If you'd like to sign up for Weekly Art Date for the full year, click the second PayPal button:

Please note that you do not have to have a PayPal account in order to sign up for the class. Also, please note the following terms and conditions:

Due to the digital nature of this product, no refunds will be issued after the start date of this class, unless you have never been granted access to the paid classroom at artjournaling.ning.com. (January 1st for full year access & each start date for the separate parts). That being said, it's very important to me that you are happy with this class! I encourage you to contact me with any questions, problems, complaints so that I can do my best to resolve any issues for you. While I'm not exactly a technical expert, I'll do my best in that regard. If you need further explanation about a technique or a material, feel free to ask me by leaving a comment in that specific discussion area at the ning site, on this blog, or by email: moira dot richardson, via gmail.

Art Journal: Traveling Journal

2011-11-07T08:57:00.000-05:00

After signing up for Bonita Rose's Traveling Journal, I decided to start my own! The idea is that the journal travels from person to person, each adding their own page to the mix. When it comes home to me, I'll get to see all the lovely art created by my fellow artists. I'm excited about it! I'm about to mail out the journal to the first person on the list, so I want to share the cover of the journal with you:

Pretty!

I made the journal from Fabriano Artistico hot press watercolor paper. I made fringe on the spine like in my Journal Tutorial currently for sale on etsy. The fringe is silk ribbon yarn from Darn Good Yarns.

To make the cover, I coated the whole page with white gesso. When that was dry, I rubbed on color with Distress Ink pads in Tea Dye, Peeled Paint, and Broken China. I used a wet paintbrush to move the color around. When dry, I added more color using a stencil from The Crafter's Workshop and more Distress Ink. I cut the letters out of tissue paper, then covered the whole surface with a layer of gold tulle. This gives it a very cool texture. Next, I added some gold glitter flakes and bits of emerald Byzantia, both from Stewart Gill.

I can't wait to see what everyone adds inside!

Want to sign up? Visit the journal here. On the left column, there's a link that says, "Join This Journal." Just click that, sign up for a free account, and then wait for the journal to arrive.

There are still 6 spots left! It's free to sign up; you just have to mail the journal to the next person on the list when you are finished. All of the pages from inside will be posted online (eventually) so you'll get to see the finished journal in its entirely.

Giveaway Winners & another chance to win!

2011-11-04T18:33:00.000-04:00

Waaaaay back in July, I did a giveaway for the PDF book binding tutorial that I was working on. Well... months and months later, I've finally finished the tutorial and am ready to send it out to the winners! (I know, you forgot all about it, right? Well... me, too, kinda!)

Without further ado, the winners are:

Jingle who said, "This is a fabulous book and I would be thrilled to both create one like and and help you edit your tutorial to bring it to the point you are looking for! What a great idea this is! If it is doable, I would love to create these as holiday gifts!"

Frau S who said, "I would love to try this tutorial. The book is gorgeous and totally different from any journal I've ever made."

and

Nae who said, "I admit it, I haven't made a journal in over a decade. I haven't because I don't really know/remember how to do it! I have all sorts of raw materials and would love the chance to win your tutorial - I KNOW it'll be very inspiring and I'm a great proofreader/attention to detail! Plus I like to make photos too so I would love to help out!"

I'll send out emails to the winners, as long as they left me their emails, but if you are a winner, please contact me for your free tutorial!

Didn't win but really want to tutorial? Give me a good reason to send you a copy and I'll choose another winner from the comments I receive. (If you are a member of Falling For You, you'll be getting a copy very soon!)

Art Journal: Stained Glass Self Portrait - Art Journal Fast Forward

2011-10-31T12:01:00.000-04:00

Art Journal: Portraits Like Wow

2011-10-27T19:08:00.000-04:00

Here are the second installment of paintings in the daily painting challenge that I'm doing with my Nick and Rose.

I decided that I wanted to draw a portrait for this piece. I had a canvas with the splotches of pink from the previous day's piece, so I just drew right on top of that. I used a photograph I found online as my reference. I found the quote on a film noir website and thought it was perfect.

Since I did a portrait and liked it, I decided to try another one:

She is so odd, but I absolutely love her! I felt so inspired by this piece that I drew a bunch more! I love how each portrait takes on her (or his) own personality. I start with reference photographs, but they soon take on their own life. The last two were drawn just from my head, no reference photo. I love even the ones that aren't that great! Which ones do you like?

Art: Film Challenge

2011-10-25T10:44:00.000-04:00

I can't remember for sure if I blogged about the challenge that Nick and I started last week. I challenged him to make a "bad" painting every day for a week. We chose Nature as our theme. The idea was quantity, not quality, though I have to say that we turned out 14 nice looking paintings between the two of us! This week, our friend Rose is joining us, and the theme is Film.

Here are my first two pieces:

When I heard film was our theme, I knew I'd be exploring film noir. I used a quote I found on a noir fans website (a collection of favorites) and an image of Rita Hayworth, that I altered in Photoshop to look like a stencil. (Who knows: maybe I'll carve a stencil of the design for future projects?). I painted the background purple, let it dry, then painted quin. magenta fluid acrylic on top. While it was still wet, I covered the surface with saran wrap (also a "film") and let it dry. This gave me a cool texture. Made a packing tape transfer of the stencil image, wrote the quote using a Copic marker, and covered the whole surface with gel medium to affix the tape transfer. Finished by adding a layer of self-leveling gel (which is still wet, hence the smoky patch in the middle of the image.) This is a 12x12 canvas, which is a new size for me, and I love it! Will be buying more in this size today.

Here's my first piece this week:

Also purple... hmm... maybe I'll stick with the same palette all week? We'll see...

Helped Wanted: Baby Craft Ideas!

2011-10-23T11:41:00.001-04:00

So... I'm not a baby person. I think babies are cute and all, I just don't wanna own one. So baby crafts = not my thang. Now that my sister has officially announced her pregnancy (you know, on Facebook), I can put it out there that I need suggestions for cute baby-themed gifts that I can make! Got babies? Great! I need your advice! My sister is due in April. I want to make something cool for the nursery (ideally that is cute and functional!) and I want to make something cute for the baby. We don't know the baby's sex yet, so preferably something gender neutral, at least for now.

If you have a project on your blog or know one from another blog that you think is super cute, please add it to this linky! It doesn't have to be a tutorial, just something to give me ideas! Or leave a comment below with your ideas.

Random: My Art Gallery

2011-10-22T10:38:00.001-04:00

In yesterday's discussion in my online class, Falling For You, I mentioned that my studio space was my art gallery. I thought I'd post some pictures of the walls in my studio ( / boyfriend's studio / living room) to show you!

Eventually, I'll post pictures of the whole studio to give you a tour, so consider today a sneak peak. This

is the wall right above my desk, which is to the right in the picture. On the far left in my font light that my cat, Smudge, likes to attack when I'm not looking. The white bins underneath the hanging light are where I have sorted my fabric into color families. I have lots of pretty fabric and am working on using it!

Nick hung all of my paintings (some of which have hand-made frames... they all will eventually) for me. I didn't worry too much about the order, other than alternating framed with not framed, because I basically just needed them out of the way so I could make more paintings! I should photograph and list these for sales, but I haven't gotten around to doing that just yet. The empty space in the line up is from the painting that I sold. (Hurray!) I have about 7 more paintings ready to be hung, so some of the empty space will be filled in soon.

In the corner is a vintage oval photograph that I trash picked. It was probably tossed because a part of the frame was broken off, but I just think it's the coolest thing ever. She is kinda creepy, but definitely my crafty muse.

The group of four paintings here are the four seasons doll paintings that I created in Doll Dreams. I think Summer (top left) is the best of the bunch. On the right right is my signed Rasputina poster. (Yay!) The painting in the lower left is part of a creepy nature series that I've been working on this week. I'll post pictures of the completed series soon.

This is the main "gallery" wall. Nick has a collection of black & white images, some are photographs, some are his etchings work, and the text piece was a gift from my friend Jen. I decided that I wanted to have a spot in the room where all the pieces would be grouped together. There are still a few spaces in the area so I'll have to make some b&w art (maybe for this week's "bad" painting challenge since our theme is film?)

To the right and below is Nick's studio space.

The colorful pieces are several paintings by me and three framed prints of my art journal pages. I'll eventually have another row of three above the six that are already there. Below the prints on the mantle are four more canvases, a piano sculpture by Nick's uncle Roger, and some miscellaneous stuff. I'll post better pictures with the next installment.

Art Journal Flip Through

2011-10-16T13:31:00.000-04:00

Recipe: Hot & Sour Eggplant

2011-10-15T10:55:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've shared a recipe here, so I thought that today I would share my current favorite dinner recipe: Hot & Sour Eggplant. This stuff is AWESOME! If I get a hankering for Chinese food, I make this recipe at home. It tastes as good as anything I can order out and it's so very easy to prepare! With the exception of the eggplant, all of the ingredients are things that I have as staples all the time, so no difficult shopping lists either. Plus, it's vegan, how about that?

Tastes better than it looks!

Hot and Sour Eggplant

You will need:
6 long Chinese eggplants or 1 - 2 regular eggplants*
2 cups sliced bell peppers (any color) -- approximately 2 - 3 fresh or use frozen Melange A Trois from Trader Joes
1 large onion, cut in half then sliced
4 cloves garlic (optional, but delish!)
(Note: You could also use only eggplants, leaving out the peppers and onions. I like to add them in for variety, plus it tastes great!)

* I have made this with both and haven't noticed any difference in taste. I said 1-2 because it really depends on the size of the eggplants that you have available. If it's a huge eggplant, one should be fine. Smaller ones might warrant two.

For the sauce:
6 T. soy sauce (or tamari)
4 T. rice vinegar (any vinegar will do)
4 T. sugar
4 t. cornstarch
2 t. olive oil (sub vegetable oil as needed)
1 T. Wild Thymes Thai Chili Roasted Garlic dipping sauce (to taste! like it hotter? add more! I prefer slightly milder)

Almost time to buy a new jar!

About the Thai Chili sauce: I love this stuff! When I order takeout Nim Chow from my favorite Thai place (Apsara!), I add a little of this to the peanut dipping sauce for zing. Wow! The original recipe that mine is based on called for green chile pepper and chili oil. (My version uses 4 times the sauce, so alter accordingly.) You can buy the sauce online or look for it at a specialty-type grocery store near you. I bought mine at the East Side Market Place in Providence.

Method:

Cube eggplant (no need to peel) and sprinkle heartily with salt (about 2 T.) Cover with cold water and soak for 30 minutes. Rinse very well and lay out on paper towels to drain. The salt removes some of the bitterness that eggplant can have. I don't recommend skipping this step!

Heat 4 T. vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and peppers and cook until softened. Add the garlic (minced) and cook for an additional minute before adding the eggplant. Cook until the eggplant is softened, about 10 minutes.

Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.

When the eggplant is softened, stir the sauce into the skillet. Stir until the eggplant is evenly coated with sauce and the mixture has thickened, about a minute. Serve immediately.

When serving this, I usually serve it over oven-baked brown rice, which if you start it right before chopping and soaking the eggplant, will be ready at close to the same time as the eggplant mixture. Last night, I used a mixture of leftover brown rice and microwaved quinoa. Delicious!

Falling For You: Challenge #3

2011-10-13T18:26:00.000-04:00

Post your entry for the third challenge: Everyone's The Same here!

Art Journal: Free Webinar with Quinn McDonald

2011-10-11T09:34:00.001-04:00

I just got an email from CreateMixedMedia about an upcoming FREE webinar with Quinn McDonald, author of Raw Art Journaling called "So You Say You Can't Draw." I haven't seen the book yet, but I've read a lot of positive feedback about it online. The best thing is that if you register for the webinar, you'll get a free recording of it. That's great for me because I won't be able to "attend" the whole thing live due to work. Space is limited to the first 1000 people, so I suspect this will fill up fast!

Here are more details:

Date: Thursday, October 20, 2011
Starting Time: 1:00 P.M. Eastern Time
Price: FREE!

About the Webinar:
Is your inner gremlin holding you back, telling you you're not an artist, can't draw, shouldn't waste your time art journaling?
In this FREE online event, experienced mixed media artist and certified creativity coach Quinn McDonald will show you how to overcome your own self-doubts and start journaling like you mean it!
Quinn will demonstrate several techniques featured in her book, Raw Art Journaling, to spark your visual creativity, and through a highly visual PowerPoint presentation, you'll learn that it isn't all about the drawing.
During this webinar, you'll learn:
• What Raw Art Journaling is, how it differs from other art journaling and why it's right for you.
• Techniques for working with emotion, playing with words and using personal imagery and mark making in your journaling in place of "traditional" drawing.
• How others have made meaning in their lives and art by following Quinn's advice and working with her techniques.
The PowerPoint presentation wraps up with a Q&A session during which you'll have a chance to ask Quinn questions.
Everyone who registers for this event will receive:
• A FREE recording of the webinar.
• An opportunity to order Quinn's book, Raw Art Journaling (and other goodies!), through ShopMixedMedia.com at a special discount! (Discount will be given to you at the end of the session.)

Art In Progress: Art Quilt, Part Two

2011-10-10T05:52:00.002-04:00

I finished my art quilt... yay!

She is already hanging on my studio wall, and I'm already thinking about the next one... I don't think I mentioned in my last post, but the girl is one of my drawings that I scanned and printed on fabric. The text is my own hand-writing turned into a font and printed on fabric. Cool, right?

I decided to glam her up with a bunch of purple sequins. I did a tiny knot for each one to hold it in place. It was time consuming but so so worth it! I also added a lovely orange button in the center of her flower. Even though I think she's done, if I found some lovely metallic thread, I might have to embellish her eyes. Maybe on the next girl...

Another button and some rick rack! I don't know if there's a certain way you are supposed to sew rick rack, but I just do a tiny stitch at the top and button of each wave. It works for me!

This was such a fun project! I'll definitely be making more of these! I thought I wasn't into quilts... but I was wrong! Still, I don't see me ever making one much bigger than this one (at 8 x 10 inches).

Art in Progress: Art Quilt!

2011-10-09T12:56:00.000-04:00

Here's what I'm working on today:

I decided to step back from my owl painting until I decide what's next. (I have an idea in mind, but I'm still contemplating.) I need to be recording videos for Falling For You and updating my schedule. (Originally, I had a solid schedule for the first four weeks and left the rest fairly flexible. I've come up with new prompts and techniques, so I have to figure out where they will fit in. I think a planning trip to Panera tomorrow is in order!)

I also need to be prepping class supplies for my Bling Bling classes this week. We are making chunky fabric bangles, and I've decided that the best way for us to do the project is for me to precut all of the student fabric choices into the required strips before the class. I was going to have the students cut their own strips but a) I only have one pair of fabric scissors & b) I am kind of fanatical about my fabric scissors not being used to cut pipe cleaners, the other component of our project. Cutting the strips should be pretty fast using a rotary cutter, but I'm procrastinating.

Yes, I consider making an art quilt procrastinating.

I am almost always making something. I'm either working in my art journal, sketching, painting, or organizing my workspace. I make jewelry samples for my classes, research new projects, and buy crafty supplies. The only time I'm not making something is if I'm really not feeling well or late in the evenings when I'm vegging out watching tv. More often than not I'm journaling while I'm watching tv or simultaneously reading a crafty magazine, like ReadyMade or Cloth Paper Scissors. So, yeah, I procrastinate by doing something other than what I'm supposed to be doing.

I've been wanting to make art quilts for a while now. I love that it's sort of like a tactile journal page. I figured that I could apply similar techniques only using fabric. The problem? All of my fabric was stored in boxes on top of my kitchen cabinets (hey, it's a small apartment, gotta make use of the space we've got!). Also, I have no available space for sewing. So I've been thinking about organizing the area for months... and finally got around to it last week.

I bought translucent bins from Ikea and colored coded all of my fabric. I LOVE this idea and can't believe I've never done it before! I have 7 bins of fabric: pinks, reds, black&white, golds/yellows/browns, greens, blues, and random prints that don't fit anywhere else. I set up an extension cord on my huge craft table for my sewing machine and today I finally got to make my art quilt.

I'm really not good at sewing. I don't care about even stitches and straight lines. Truth be told, I have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machines, leaning mostly to the hate side. I am constantly breaking needles, snapping threads and swearing at my machine. Surprising, I had no issues whatsoever with today's project! I didn't break any needles, I only had to rethread the needle once, and I didn't swear even once. Woah!

Add caption

My general method was: I chose an ugly fabric to be my base fabric. I layered bits and pieces of fabric until I liked the look. I pinned everything in place, stitched around the edges, then went in with more stitches to make sure everything was tacked down (I left the side of the green fabric on the left undone because I loved the frayed look of the fabric as is.). I then cut a piece of batting and a random piece of fabric (the pink batik) for the backing. I sewed this randomly together.

My original plan was to bind the edges using black, but I rolled over the backing fabric and decided I liked how it looked. So I trimmed off the extra base fabric, rolled the edges, pinned into place and stitched the edging. Next I'm going to add buttons and whatever else catches my fancy. I'll post the finished piece here when it's done.

Painting in Progress: Owl, Day Three

2011-10-09T08:16:00.000-04:00

Here's where my painting stands right now:

Is it finished? I'm not sure. I might give his eyes some more paint and add more feather detailing... but he might be done. Nick thought I should add a tree in the background, but I'm kinda liking the simple look, especially since there is a lot of detail in the background, it's just subtle. (It doesn't exactly look subtle in this photo, but that's because I had to use the flash to take the picture. The white that shows up with the flash is much more subdued.)

What do you think?

Painting in Progress: Owl, Day Two

2011-10-08T11:10:00.000-04:00

Today I added some burnt umber mixed with glazing medium and two drops of quin. magenta to add darker feathers and to work on the owl's eyes. He's not finished yet, but here's where the painting stands right now:

Next step will be working on the eyes a little bit more and adding white feathers and highlights.

Painting in Progress: Owl

2011-10-07T21:17:00.000-04:00

I've been inspired to paint lately. I finished working through my first box of 20 canvases and am currently working on box number two. I have, let me count, 20 of my paintings currently hanging on my studio walls (it will be one less very soon, as I've sold one of them! Yay!). I also have several paintings in various stages and one finished piece that I haven't hung yet. Woo!

Today I've been working on an owl painting. Why an owl? Well, let me give you my very scientific reasoning: I googled "what should I paint on my canvas" and in the first result link that I clicked, the answer was, you guessed it, an owl. So there ya go. Google inspiration.

Since I have a massive supply of yellow ochre heavy body paint, I decided to use it for my background color. I started with a huge canvas that I trash picked last month. It had a half-finished pastel and graphite image of a long skinny guy walking under a moonlight sky. It was interesting and I should have taken a photograph, but, oh well. I just covered the whole thing with yellow ochre and let it dry.

Next, I sketched in the basic outline of what I thought an owl would look like and painted in the shape with titan buff soft-body paint. Now to work on the background.

In addition to a large quantity of yellow (baby poop) ochre, I have a bunch of ancient modeling paste. I figured I'd put it to good use by pulling out one of my trusty templates from The Crafter's Workshop and my palette knife. I added large circles with modeling paste, as seen here:

(Oh, and the red up in the corner was a test run of Quin. Red fluid acrylic that I just dripped onto the canvas, let it run a bit, then laid it flat to dry overnight.)

Next, I wanted smaller circles, which I forgot to photograph, so I altered my large stencil with painter's tape to make a smaller circle and added those with more modeling paste. Brilliant! I was thrilled with how well this worked!

Once the modeling paste was completely dry, I mixed up a blend of yellow ochre, iridescent medium, glazing medium, and water. I mixed this up in a used prescription pill bottle which worked amazing well! I just shook it up and get to work painting over the whole background. I love that the background now had this monochromatic awesome texture thing going on, but it was still a little too, well, yellow ochre for my taste.

To correct this, I used another pill bottle and shook up a watery gesso mixture, which I painted over the whole background, including the red drips as seen in the earlier picture. Much better!

Now it was time to start the owl, and I have to say, I'm happy with the way it's coming along. I used: white, burnt sienna, and quin. magenta paint for my color palette. I originally painted the eyes white, but decided a few minutes ago that quin. nickel yellow was the way to go. They are crazy bright, but I'll decide how I feel about them in the morning. I still have to add the black part anyway.

The next thing I'm going to do is use a darker brown, burnt umber mixed with burnt sienna, most likely, to add more definition, but my light is bad now, so I'm calling it quits for the evening.

Here's where he stands right now:

Random: My Dream Home

2011-10-02T18:39:00.000-04:00

Nick and I have been saving up for a house, but we're not looking into a traditional home at all. I've been fascinated with the idea of tiny houses for a long time. Each apartment that I live in seems to get smaller and smaller, like I am slowly downsizing enough to live in a tiny house. I'm still aways away from being able to do it, especially since it won't be just me as the original plan entailed, but me and Nick. (Which is way better, really!).

My mom has an acre of land in Pennsylvania. Before my dad passed away, I'd discussed the idea of me building a tiny house at the back of the property, and he'd agreed to the idea. The land has been unused and unloved for at least 15 years. It's overgrown, wild with vines and all sorts of native plants, and it's the most beautiful place in the world. There's a giant patch of blackberries, wild strawberries and wild onions all over the place, a type of cherry tree, among other things. What used to be a yard and a garden is now a baby forest in the middle of rural suburbia.

Even though I have no experience whatsoever in building anything beyond frames for my paintings, and that's a new skill, my dad was a wood worker, which means that any tool I could need is likely gathering dust in the workshop. I've been feeling like Nick and I should be able to accomplish the project, with some help from friends, and this video convinces me that it's a definitely possibility! My idea is to build a tiny house, followed by a tiny art studio, both of which will be on wheels, like the house in the following video, which means when I can finally afford my own land, I can move the house as needed.

I know it sounds crazy to lots of people, but to me, it's perfectly logical and a natural extention of my lifestyle. I've moved around a lot since I turned 18. I've lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and, currently, Rhode Island. My longest stint was in Greensburg for 6 years, but that was about 2 years too many. I start to get antsy if I'm in one place for too long, I guess, but the thing is: I don't really like moving, even though I like being in new places. I am, however, open to changes and the whims of the universe, which is how I ended up as an art teacher in Rhode Island. Stranger things have happened... though I'd never have predicted this career path for me!

Having a house on wheels would be an ideal combination of both worlds: stability and the gypsy in me. For a while, I'd thought I'd satisfy this urge by buying an RV, but more and more, I'm looking at tiny houses. I'm nowhere near having enough money to start the project, but I might be able to start collecting materials next summer. I definitely plan on doing like this gal did: collecting from craigslist, curb alerts, and other free sources. I already have access to an old chicken coop!

Art Journal: Wood Grain Background

2011-09-27T18:12:00.001-04:00

I was experimenting in my art journal this morning and came up with a fabulous technique that I wanted to share. Luckily, I was filming myself working in my journal, so I caught it all on video. Hurray! When I signed into iMovie, I realized I had an updated version now. (We upgraded my hard drive and memory this week... yay!). I decided to play with the "trailers" feature and created this video. It's completely ridiculous and yet quite fabulous, if I say so. I hope you'll agree.

Everyone in my online art class, Falling For You, will be getting the full details with our prompt today, but this is seriously too awesome not to share. So consider this a "sneak peek" if you will of what Falling For You has to offer! This class is PACKED full of content and is well worth every penny of the $20 price. We have 9 weeks left, so there's still plenty of time for you to join in the fun. Plus: you'll have unlimited access to the course content, which includes downloadable videos, PDF files, collage sheets, and digital stamps.

Materials: Sharpie fine point pen in black, ruler, Distress Ink in Tea Dye and Vintage Photo, foam applicator for the ink, scrap paper to serve as a mask.

Method: Draw wood panels on the page using a ruler. Add wood grain details: it helps to look at some wood while you do this! Let the ink dry. Using scrap paper as a mask, color each panel with distress inks. Some I used one color, others I mixed. Add more layers for darker parts. Work from one side of the page to the other. Revel in your ultimate craftiness. Joy.

Art Journal: Progress of a Page

2011-09-26T15:38:00.000-04:00

When I came home from Nancy Rafi's Art Journal class yesterday, this is how my page looked:

Here's what happened next:

I liked it at this point, but it needed more:

I thought I'd messed it up after adding pan pastels and water-soluble oil pastels, because it got too dark. I started to erase the pan pastels, and decided to make these bubbles instead. But it still needed something...

Now the bubbles really "pop" - no pun intended! Also, I have a rule that once I date-stamp the page, it's done, no matter what. Other wise, I might just keep going in there and making changes forever!

Falling For You: Weekly Challenge #2

2011-09-24T10:13:00.000-04:00

This week's challenge is the "Afterschool Special" challenge. Participants must use a childhood photograph and school supplies to create a page that explores schoolyard bullying.

Art Video: Painting Start to Finish

2011-09-19T20:30:00.001-04:00

I haven't really decided if I like this painting or not, but I think the process is cool! AudioSwap on YouTube isn't working, so I hope you'll forgive the music until I can get it changed!

Falling For You: Weekly Challenge #1

2011-09-17T17:00:00.001-04:00

Each week of Falling For You, we'll have an art challenge. Sometimes these will involve using specific materials or colors; others will involve some sort of prompt. All class members are invited to participate and post their creation for the prompt here. I will draw one winner the following week. (Giveaway is open to class members only, though I encourage anyone viewing to "like" their favorites!)

This week's challenge is the "Apple of My Eye" challenge. Participants must use an image of an apple in some way in their page as well as offer a story that explains (whether real or fake) the origin of the phrase "apple of my eye."

Class members: please post your challenge entry here by 11:59 PM EST on Friday, September 23. Don't forget to leave a comment after you post! I'll use the comments to choose our prize pack winner! I'll announce the winner on Saturday when I post the next week's challenge. Have fun!

Giveaway Winner: Free Falling For You Class Spot

2011-09-14T08:23:00.001-04:00

Wow! I had 45 entries in the giveaway to win a free spot in the Falling For You class. And, let me tell ya, your favorite art journal techniques are so varied and awesome! If you are ever lacking for inspiration, take a peek at the giveaway post comments and you'll find something to get ya going!

Some of you love using acrylic paints; others are fans of watercolor. Some like to draw, either with pencils or pens; others love finding the perfect collage image. Some of you love Inktense pencils and color wash sprays, but you all really love watercolor crayons. (Me, too!) A common theme was that everyone loves making backgrounds, particularly with credit cards and baby wipes. We are all, clearly, long lost siblings!!!

I know everyone is waiting to find out who the winner is, and I am thrilled that you are all so excited about it! So, without further delay, I'm happy to announce that the winner of the free spot in the Falling For You class, per Random.org is:

Congratulations! I will be emailing you very soon letting you know that you've won and sending you an invite to the classroom. [edit - Actually, when I tried to email you, I realized that you aren't set up to receive emails through blogger. Here's a page about no-reply bloggers. Please email me for course details!]

Didn't win? Don't worry! Class starts tomorrow, and you have the rest of the day today to join the class at the discounted returning student rate of $15, which for an eleven week class is a steal! After today, the class will return to the regular price of $20, which is still an awesome price, if I do say so. For today only, I will honor the $15 returning student rate for ANYONE, so hop on that train right away!

So what's up for Falling For You?

Lots of awesomeness! We will be having weekly art challenges coupled with a giveaway. I'm excited about the challenges & can't wait to see what you do with them! We'll have prompts, inspirational image collections, technique videos, and a couple other cool weekly features. I have the first four weeks pretty solidly planned out, and will begin recording the first technique video today: Dirty Dozen -- 12 ways to use stencils in your pages.

When I first got my stencils from the Crafter's Workshop, I had no idea what to do with them, so I just started experimenting. Some stuff worked well, others not so much. I came up with 12 different ways to use them for different looks and I'm going to share them all with you! Cool, right?

[And, actually, I think there will be 13 now, because Bernice left a comment about her favorite technique using water and water-soluble inks.... sweet! Thanks, Bernice! I tried out the technique last night and I love it!]

{Don't worry if you don't have stencils: I'm going to share some information on making your own stencils using things you likely already have around the house!}

Other techniques will be: creating awesome textured backgrounds with a few simple supplies, exploring pastels, & everything image transfers. (The others are still yet to be determined, but will definitely be fun!)

Some days we will have specific prompt assignments or challenges; other days will be all about creative play. We'll have one day per week that is a "catch up day", where I'll post a round-up of images & pages created by students that week.

Can't wait to see you there!

Mixed Media Art: Be A Dreamer

2011-09-13T17:04:00.000-04:00

For this piece, I started with a background layer of masking tape, which I then painted over using two shades of blue craft paint & some Adirondack color wash in Wild Plum. After this layer was dry, I used clear gesso to "seal" the layer and give me tooth for further layers.

Next, I found an image in a catalog (TOAST) and added the iron-on butterflies in the corners. I glued the image with gel medium, outlined it in blue and purple oil pastels, which I blended with my finger.

Then, I traced the girl's face and hands with a black Sharpie pen (note to self: should have done this before the oil pastels because I think I ruined my pen... sad face!). Used a touch of a pink neocolor II on her lips and used 3 shades of purple neocolors to change her hair color.

Added a piece of vintage sheet music and wanted to iron another butterfly on top, but the iron wasn't hot enough & I'm impatient, so instead I used a Sharpie poster-paint marker to write the word "dreamer" and draw a little heart. I went around the edges with black pan pastel, which I just love.

Loved it at this point, but the bottom right corner was looking plain so I decided to find a quote to add to the space. It reads: "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." (Henry David Thoreau)

Since I was using my Uni-Ball Signo UM-153 white gel pen anyway, added some doodles and hearts, as well as some highlights on her face.

Finally, I used one of my new stencils from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's line with the Crafter's Workshop to add the white triangles around the figure. I used white pan pastels and an eraser to get rid of the bits that ended up on the girl.

I am loving this piece! (It it a painting? A mixed media canvas? I dunno what to call my work, but it makes me happy regardless!). I worked on it for at least three hours during crafty morning with my friend, but maybe longer! Still, I consider it time well spent!

{FYI --- We'll be learning the techniques I used to create the background of this piece in my new online art class: Falling For You. There's a giveaway going on right now until tomorrow morning if you'd like to try to win a spot! I promised two winners if we reached 50 entries & we're pretty close to reaching that!}

Giveaway: Free Class Ends Wednesday 9AM

2011-09-11T21:29:00.001-04:00

Only a few more days to enter the giveaway to win a free spot in my new online art class:

Falling For You.

Giveaway ends at (approximately) 9 AM Wednesday morning.

I will select the winner using a random number generator and post the winner before noon on Wednesday. Just a reminder: Wednesday is also the last day to register for the class at the $15 discounted rate! So be sure to check back Wednesday to see if you've won! If you haven't, you'll still have the day to sign up and save $5. Class starts on Thursday!

Enter the giveaway now. (Note: Giveaway now closed!)

Can't sign up in time or finding out about this class late?

No worries!

Falling For You is a self-paced course, which means that you can log in when you want and take your time to finish. You might miss some of the weekly art challenge giveaways, but other than that, you'll be just fine starting anytime! Once you've signed up, you will have access to all of the course materials forever, which means you can take your sweet time!

Tutorial: $5 Camera Stand for Videos

2011-09-09T07:55:00.002-04:00

I have discovered that I really love watching people's art journaling videos, and so I wanted to start making some of my own. There's just something really cool and fascinating about watching a video of a piece of art from blank canvas to a finished state. The problem that I'd been having with making videos is getting the right angle for the shot. I couldn't quite figure out how to have the focus be on the artwork without having it at a weird angle for the viewer. Plus, I didn't want to have to work on it at a weird angle, cuz that would be awkward.

Nick has a giant tripod which I'd been using for my videos, which works well, but I really wanted to be able to focus more on the artwork and less on whether or not I had too much cleavage showing. To be honest, I don't want to be in my videos at all! Well, except for my hands... those clearly need to be involved because I have not yet mastered telekinetic art making.

I knew I needed to have some sort of overhead system, but I wasn't quite sure how to make it work.... until I saw a photo of a makeshift set up on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's blog:

Photo copyright Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2009/07/label.html

I was going to rig up my own system, maybe without the bananas, but then I realized that I could very likely build a satisfactory setup using just a few things from the local hardware store. I found this tutorial which would definitely be way sturdier overall, but I didn't want to work with metal because it would be more expensive and more of a pain to try to drill, etc. It was a huge help to learn that a 1/4 inch bolt was what I'd need to screw my camera onto the stand, just I hadn't quite worked out how I was going to do that.

I did a quick sketch of what I thought would work and then Nick helped me figure out the measurements for the camera height and the width of the stand so that it would fit well on my desk. You could obviously customize this to meet your own needs. First, here's a picture of my stand:

My journal pages are 8 x 10, which means the spread is 10 x 16, just to give you a sense of scale. If you were using a smaller journal, you could get away with a smaller camera stand, I bet. If you need a larger area, you'll need a larger stand. In order to figure out the height, I turned my camera on and held it up over the journal until I got just the right view. [I added 1 extra inch, but if I were to make this again, I'd add an extra two or three, just to enable me to zoom in on a single page if I wanted.]

To build one just like mine, you will need:

1 - 1x2x8 pine board cut into the following lengths: 2x20inches, 2x10inches, 1x24inches + remainder scrap*
1 - 1/4 inch x 1.5 inch bolt (#63332) +
1 - 1/4 inch hex nut (#63301)
2 - 1/4 inch flat washers (#63306)

For these items, my grand total came for $4.21 for this project. (And I bought two extra washers.) If you don't already have 8 screws (1.5 inches or so), you'll need to get those, too. I am assuming you already have a power drill. If not, you might want to borrow one from a friend. You could do the screws by hand, but you will need to be able to drill a 1/4 inch hole in the frame for the bolt.

* I bought my board at Lowe's. They will cut your board for you. The signs always say that you get the first two cuts for free & additional cuts are 25 cents each, but no one has ever charged me extra, no matter how many cuts I've gotten. I do recommend going at a slower time of the day, if at all possible, so you won't have to wait in line.

+ Nick says not to buy galvanized because it's poison. Take your camera with you to test out the bolt to make sure it fits. I'm pretty sure all cameras are going to be pretty standard when it comes to tripod stands, but just in case.

The two 10 inch pieces will be the base of your stand. The two 20 inches pieces are the sides. You want to line up the base pieces so that you'll be screwing through the shorter one inch sides. Attach both bases to the sides using two screws on each then side aside.

Look on the base of your camera to see where the tripod attachment is located. Mine is about 1 inch to the left of the center. Find the center of the 24 inch board then adjust according to the tripod base. Doing this ensures that your camera, when attached, will be positioned in the center. (I.e. for my camera, I'll move the measurement 1 inch left before drilling.

Drill a 1/4 inch hole at the mark you made in the last step. You will drill the whole way through the 1-inch wide part (i.e. in the middle of the 2-inch wide part). Use the scrap piece of wood from the 1x2x8 to protect your work surface.

Screw the bolt into the hole you just drilled. Add the two washers then tighten with the nut.

Take this piece and position it between the two sides you already created. Use two screws on each side to attach this longer piece at the top of the sides. (Note that it doesn't matter which way the bolt faces at this point.)

Once your entire stand is screwed together, position it on your work surface so that the part of the bolt that you will be attaching your camera to faces away from you. Screw your camera into place and make any adjustments as needed. I found that my camera would occasionally slide down, no matter how tight I screwed it in initially, so I use a big push pin to hold it up. My camera is very light weight and this works very well for me. If your camera is heavier, you may need to putter a bit to make the stand work for you.

Here's what my camera sees from its new position on the finished camera stand. Sweet, right?

Art Journal: Falling For You Promo Video

2011-09-08T12:15:00.000-04:00

I hope you'll forgive the bombardment of posts about my new online class this past week! I'm just super excited about it! :)

I made a promo video for the course and would be super psyched if anyone wanted to share it! I'm also open to your comments and suggestions!

Art Journal: Falling for You Test Video

2011-09-06T21:29:00.000-04:00

Okay, so this isn't that great of a video. The stamping bit definitely gets a little boring, so I'm sorry about that, but I really wanted to test out the $5 Camera Stand that Nick and I designed / built today. [Okay, so he built it...]. The point of the camera stand is that I want the videos to be all about the art and less about my cleavage. Most importantly, I don't want to have to wear pants when I work in my art journal, because that seriously cramps my style. (TMI?) I'll post more about the camera stand soon, but for now, I want to share the first video I made with it.

If you haven't signed up for Falling For You yet, what are ya waiting for? (Oh, right, for the giveaway winner to be announced.... riiiight!) Seriously, though, I am super excited about this class and hope that you all love it.

All of the videos for the class are going to have the same intro/outro as in this video. I used a website called One True Media to create it. It's pretty sweet because it's easy to do and if you pay for the premium membership ($4 a month), you can download your clip to use for all your other videos. This makes me happy because it makes my videos all look like they belong together and it saves me work in the long run since I only had to design these once. Score!

DIY Makeover: Ugly Office Chair Transformed

2011-09-03T08:59:00.000-04:00

The chair I'm currently using at my computer is super comfortable, but, up until yesterday, was super ugly with a faded & stained yellow fabric. The fabric was very similar in texture to burlap (heck, what do I know? Maybe it was burlap?) and thus super uncomfortable to sit on when I'm less than fully dressed. [Nick jokes that I prefer to stay home because I don't have to wear pants here. So true!] I got the chair from a curb alert sometime last summer and have meant to do something about its ugliness every since, but just never got around to it.

Well... as luck would have it, I found an AMAZING zebra print fabric at the recycling center this week. It's white cotton upholstery fabric with black flocked velvet stripes. I paid $10 for a giant roll of it. I bought the fabric thinking of my teen and tween students, because this is some seriously "fresh" fabric that I know they will just love. I made this awesome little purse using only a stapler, some duct tape, a zipper and the fabric:

(Tutorial here)

The more I looked at the fabric, though, the more I thought that I wanted to do something awesome with it for myself. I decided that it was darn well time I covered my desk chair, so even though I have a million and one things to do to get ready for the Providence Arts Festival on September 10, I decided to take an hour to recover my chair.

The project was a little more complex than I'd anticipated, and I actually put the chair back together without the height adjustment lever in place. [Nick fixed it for me later.] I had the darndest time trying to remove the staples on the bottom of the seat, and after a few frustrating minutes, I decided to just staple the new fabric over the old fabric, being careful to avoid the old staples. Still, even with a few hiccups, the chair turned out GREAT!

With just a staple gun, scissors, a socket set (is that what it's called?), and my new fabric, I changed dull and dingy to fresh and fabulous.

Before:

I wasn't using it like this, but I had already taken the top off before I thought to do a before/after shot!

After:

Awesome right? I used this tutorial from Curbly. I definitely recommend you give it a whirl if you want a quick update to your space for very little money. I am seriously considering doing my couch in the zebra print next. Hmm...

Giveaway: Free Spot in Falling For You

2011-09-02T17:14:00.002-04:00

I have decided to giveaway one free spot in my upcoming art journal class, Falling For You! Lest you think that this course is only for those who are romantically inclined, please know that I mean this course as a celebration of all things Autumn, my favorite season. You'll get tips, tricks, videos, and all the art inspiration you can handle throughout this fall. Woohoo!

The class starts on September 15 and runs until December 1. You can work at your own pace and download the content to keep. While this class is seasonal, you'll find lots of inspiration that will keep you making art all year long.

Don't let the fact that this class is only $20 fool you into thinking this won't be an awesome class with tons of content! I've been planning this class for two months so I have lots of ideas about how to celebrate my favorite season and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you. And now you can win a free spot!

Already have a spot in the class? You can still enter to win a spot in the class for a friend!

You don't need to be a follower of my blog to enter!

All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment telling me what your favorite art journal technique is -- whether you love smearing on paint with a credit card, doodling with Sharpie poster-paint markers, or sketching in pencil, I wanna hear all about it! If you are brand new to art journals and don't have a favorite technique yet, tell me how you discovered art journals. (If you want to tell me a technique and how you discovered art journals -- sweet!)

For an extra entry, tweet about the Falling For You class to your friends.

Feel free to write whatever you'd like, but if you want a quick tweet, try this:

Looking forward to Falling for You, an awesome art journal class! 11 weeks of art fun for only $20! http://bit.ly/falling4u #fallingforyouart

[The above tweet links to my page about the class itself.]

Or try this one:

I wanna win a spot in Falling for You, an awesome art journal class! Don't you? Contest ends 9/14. http://bit.ly/contest4u #fallingforyouart

[The second tweet links directly to this giveaway page. Either works!]

(Leave an extra comment telling me your tweeted this class in order to get your extra giveaway entry!)

Giveaway ends 9/14. The winner will be notified immediately and given instructions on how to access the class right away.

Are you excited yet? Tell your friends!

If I get 50 entries in this giveaway, I will give away two spots in the class!

NOTE: THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Did you win???

The Case of the Missing House Key

2011-09-01T15:50:00.000-04:00

A few days ago, my friend posted on her facebook that she had a vacation and asked for input on which way to drive. I said that if it weren't for the massive flooding currently going on from Hurricane Irene (this was the day after), she should come visit me. I wouldn't suggest a visit if I didn't mean it, but I was still pleasantly surprised when she said she was coming up. I'm on vacation indefinitely and, quite honestly, pretty bored with not working. So I was pumped. I haven't had a lot of visitors in my new apartment, but I'm really happy with how it's looking (remind me to post updated pictures! The Buy Nothing Summer has definitely helped!).

Let me tell you a little about my friend: She is an amazing person, she really is, but she gets super worked up when she's talking and there are times when it's impossible to get a word in edgewise. This can be grating, yes, like if you have a headache or something, but she's generally pretty self-aware, so it's usually more amusing than anything else. I did warn Nick about this trait before she came up.

The next thing is that she had just found out that her husband wanted a divorce. Now I knew I was in for an unusually high quotient of chatter, but I also really wanted to be a good friend by showing her a good time and helping her see that the situation is actually a positive thing. Her husband is a good man, generally, but there are fundamental differences in their temperments and lifestyle that would be really difficult for any couple to contend with: she loves adventure and travel, he loves staying home and watching sports. She loves going out and trying new things; he is allergic to everything you can imagine, except, apparently, cats. She is a champaign thrift store shopper; he thinks used things are icky. She is super positive; he is Debbie Downer. Plus, they got married 9 days after their first date.

Yes. 9 days is no exaggeration, and I played a big role in bringing the two of them together. They knew each other in passing, because he was the shuttle bus driver at our school. Lest you think of him as a creepy old man, know that she and I were both adult students at our school and they are the same age (or close to it.) One day I rode the shuttle alone and he starting talking about how he was so into her and just didn't know how to approach her in that way. So I threw the boy a bone: I invited him to the party I was hosting that weekend. Long story short: my birthday is December 21 (send presents); they were married by the new year.

Believe me, no one really thought they'd make it. I'm sure everyone who knew her shared a collective WTF moment. I figured if anyone could have a happy marriage, the two of them just might make it. (No offense to married peeps, but I'm just not the marrying kind.)

When I heard she was coming to visit, before I heard about the D-word, I told another friend the story and said, "Well, it's 6 years later and they still are together. They proved everyone wrong!" Oops.

Here's something about me that you don't know: I am the break-up- maker. Like a rainmaker bringing in big money accounts or water-filled days, I bring break ups to unhappy couples around the world. Or, at least, in the eastern united states. I have lost track of how many people I have met who were in unhappy relationships who split shortly after one of the pair spent a few hours in conversation with me. Whether they've been together for a few months or many years, people just seem to break up when I'm around.

While I'm not actively encouraging break ups, generally, I think it's because I say the shit that the unhappy person is thinking but unable to say for themselves. I am tactful, but I also don't sugarcoat the truth. I ask the hard questions. I am completely supportive of their right to find a way to be happy, and if that involves breaking up with their current beau, so be it. I am the one person who says it's okay to do what you want.

Of course, generally I'm counseling the one who wants the split. This is not the case with my friend, though she started owning the divorce during the whirlwind 24 hours we spent together.

Can you sense that drama is coming to this little tale?

So, my friend is a total beach girl, and the whole time she was talking about the visit, she mentioned the beach, so I'm like, "Alright, the girl wants beach, let's give it to her!" Nick and I drove her to South Shore beach late last night (which was WRECKED by the hurricane by the way!) We were the only people around as we drank wine while sitting on the rocks on the destroyed beach watching the powerful waves roll in and out. It was beautiful and scary and sad all at the same time. She only facebooked a little while we were there.

The next morning, I woke up to find Nick had left a spare key with a little note for my friend as well as some delicious chocolate almond croissants for our breakfast. (Best. Boyfriend. Ever.) She woke up shortly after and went in and out for cigarettes breaks at least half a dozen times before 10 am. (Perspective: 6 cigarettes in 90 minutes. OMG.). I didn't care about the smoking, whatever it's your body, but I was a little worried about the fact that she was outside screaming on the phone. I wouldn't have been surprised if someone had called the cops on the crazy crackhead on a rampage. The maintenance guy almost escorted her from the property, until she explained she was staying with me. (My place is like fort knox in a shady neighborhood. This is a good thing.)

At some point between cigarette breaks and coming in and out of the house, she lost the house key. Lost, completely, gone. I mentioned that this is a shady neighborhood, right? Random people sit on my porch all the time to smoke doobies and, probably, some other stuff. We find brown-bagged bottles at least once a week or so. I did not want someone to find the key and think "Alright, moving day!"

Logically, I figured that the key was probably inside the house, since she had managed to get inside the house, but, realistically, that might not be the case. She'd been propping the door open before I gave her the key, so I had no way of knowing for sure. The thing about that key to my place is that it opens every door in the place. Front door, back door, both at the house entrances and in the apartment itself. It opens the basement door. And the deadbolts. Can you see why I might have been concerned?

My friend, however, was not so concerned. She looked for it, but in a half-assed, oh well, it's gone forever, just like my marriage, kind of way. She didn't seem to think it was a big deal at all.

Since we were already running late, I said we'd look for it later. (I did a quick look outside, just in case, but didn't find it.) She promptly forgot all about it and spend the day telling us how she was going to stick up for herself and express herself anyway she wanted. She'd be honest about what she was thinking at all times. She recanted the many battles between the couple, both to us and on her many phone conversations in our company. We drove to Race Point at Cape Cod. The beach was awesome, so calm compared to South Shore the night before. I found it very relaxing. She was distressed not to have facebook connectivity. Still, I thought we were having a good time.

I didn't mention or even think about the key all day, but on the way home, I said that I wanted to look for it thoroughly when we got home. We got home and she seemed to have forgotten all about it again. She was either talking on the phone or outside smoking so I decided to communicate with her chosen form of communication by sending her a text. (I thought about a smoke signal, but I'm not a smoker and not that talented anyway.) The text was non-accusatory, simple addressed the way I was feeling. I said "I am worried about the key being lost and I would like to find it tonight so I don't worry about it all night. I'm ocd, I know it."

It wasn't like I said, "Hey, biznitch, you lost my key and you better find it or Imma cut yo face."

I was perfectly civil and there wasn't a shred of anger in me about it. I just thought, "Oh that ditzy divorcee!" I understand that her headspace was all muddled, and that I was probably overworrying about the key. But here's the thing: I have a touch of OCD in me, probably everyone does. I will often be lying in bed and wonder if the deadbolts are on the doors. I will worry about it excessively unless I get up and just check. Once I check them for myself, I'm fine. It's a mild compulsion, but it's a long-standing one that probably stems from living alone for 6 years. I knew that I would keep waking up in the night listening for intruders (with a key, argh!) if I didn't just find that key safe and sound.

She'd been expressing the hell out of herself all day, so I didn't see a problem in just telling her what I was worrying about. I figured we'd dump her bags out together, look through stuff, and, most likely, find the key. I wasn't accusatory or angry in any way, which is what made her reaction all the more shocking.

She came upstairs and, at first, I thought she was looking in her bags, so I said "where can I look?" I had already torn apart the couch, in case it was behind the cushions, and looked underneath it, too. I looked everywhere that it might logically have been placed by a scattered divorcee, but I didn't look through her stuff, of course. Then I realized that she was packing up her stuff, not looking through it. She said, "I'm going to a hotel."

I said, "Are you serious? You would rather just leave than help give me peace of mind by looking for the key?"

She said, and I quote, "I can't believe you are worrying about a little key when your friend is getting a divorce!"

"Are you kidding me?" I said. "I just want to find the key to my house!"

She's like, "Yeah, well, I lost the key. So sue me. You know what's going on in my life right now."

Oh yeah. I'm the jerk here. In case you didn't know.

I said, "I just want you to look for it. I'll help you. You don't have to leave. This is crazy."

It didn't matter.

She said some more crap. I said "Wouldn't you be OCD if I lost your house key? Don't you think this is a little irresponsible?"

At this point I was completely furious and just walked out of the room. By then, I didn't give a crap if she left or stayed. I was over it. When she came to say goodbye, she was talking to me like I was the crazy one, like I was getting upset over some small trivial thing. I just said, "You know what, Cherie, fuck that."

She left.

Apparently, I am a terrible person for being concerned that the key that opens every single door in my house and to the building was lost by an inconsiderate divorcee. The loss of that key jeopardizes both my apartment and safe well-being, but also that of the other people who live in the building. I have to be honest: I cannot afford to pay a locksmith to change all five of the locks that key opens and for master keys for the other people in the building. How dare I get upset about her complete lack of consideration about a little old key? Seriously, she was so flippant about the key the whole time, when I know full well if the situation were reversed, she'd go nuts.

I just can't believe it and am still completely flabbergasted by the situation. [I love the word flabbergasted and don't get to use it nearly enough.] If I had lost someone's house key, I would feel like a complete shit and I would tear everything apart until I found it. I wouldn't turn the situation around on the person, making them feel bad for something I did!

I just have to hope that she finds the key in her cluttered belongs and eats crow when she does.

I also hope that nobody creepy is planning a visit to my apartment.

Seriously: what happened here? Am I a complete jerk for worrying about a lost key? I don't think I'm in the wrong at all here, but, hey, I've been wrong before. At least I can admit that.

Art Journal Class: Falling For You

2011-08-29T20:57:00.009-04:00

I'm really excited to announce that my follow-along online art journal course, Falling for You, will be starting on September 15.

From September 15 - December 1, you'll find (almost) daily inspiration, technique tips, and creative prompts that will keep you art journaling through the fall. We'll have weekly giveaways and art challenges, too. We'll take inspiration from the world around us to create truly personal works of art.

You'll get:

1-2 PDF worksheets per week that offer a story, art journal images, and techniques for you to try on your pages
6 journaling videos* with tips and inspiration
6 downloadable original collage sheets
6 original digital stamps
1 PDF tutorial loaded with images and all the info you need to make your own hard-back journal.
Surprise extras throughout the class

(* The videos will be downloadable for you to keep, but may be available for only a limited time after the course is over. If they are going to be unavailable later on, you'll receive at least one week's notice before they are gone.)

No special supplies are needed, so feel free to work with what you already have. I will provide lists of the supplies used in each of the pages that I show you through out the course and introduce you to some of my favorite supplies, too. I'll also provide shopping info for supplies you might want to check out!

Come join us to create a journal for your most memorable Autumn yet!

Special: Buy a spot in the class for yourself and get an additional gift membership for a friend for only $15!

The first day of class is September 15th, 2011. This class will be hosted in a private group at Art Journaling. You'll receive log-in information after you sign up. Please feel free to email me with any questions you might have!

Please note: due to the nature of this product, no refunds will be issued after the start date of the class.

FAQs

Do you have a gallery of your work I can check out to see if I like your style?
Yes, please check out my flickr photostream to see some of my work.

Do I have to sign up anywhere to be a part of this course?

Yes, this is a paid course hosted on Art Journaling. You'll need to sign up for a free membership there and then request membership in the Falling For You course. (I'll send an email to you after you pay with more details on this!)

Do I have to love art journals in order to participate in this class?

Nope! Though I hope the love will grow on ya! Although the prompts used in this class will be directed towards those of us making art journal pages, there's no reason at all why you couldn't make a piece of jewelry, a painting, an Artist Trading Card, or something else inspired by the class. That would be great! If you do, please feel free to post images to our flickr group! We'd love to see whatever you create.

What is a digital stamp?

A digital stamp is a black-and-white image (a drawing in this case) that you can print and use as desired. You can resize it up or down to suit your needs. It's basically digital ephemera. You could print it on a transparency, on computer paper and color it, or use it digitally in photoshop. Here's an example from my etsy shop.

Do I need a specific art journal in order to take this class?

Nope! Work with what you've got. If you only have a school notebook and a pencil, you'll be able to participate in this class. If you do want to work in a journal similar to mine, check out this great video series by artist Teesha Moore on making your own "one-page" journal -- the technique I use is a variation of this one.

Are there any specific materials or supplies I have to have to take this class?

Nope! But there will be a whole materials section within the class with some suggestions of what you might want to experiment with in your art journal. A very small selection of the supplies I used this past week are: twinkling h20s, all kinds of Sharpie markers, acrylic craft paints, graph paper, old book pages, gel medium, fabric, clear packing tape, washi tape, rick rack... whew that's a lot! Really: anything goes! Use what you like!

Will this class be available after the eleven weeks are up?
Yes! Once you have paid for this class it will be available to you indefinitely. If for some reason the course needed to change locations, you'd get a link & access for the new location. While you don't need to play along during the class, please note that many of the prompts will be seasonal. (Think: Halloween! etc.) Still, there's no reason you couldn't do this course in February!

What if I don't like a prompt that you posted?

If you don't like a prompt, feel free to skip it! You also always have the option of writing about why you don't like the prompt. That being said, if you don't like a prompt, you can either explore it anyway to challenge yourself or just skip it & make up your own prompt! There are no rules in art journaling, and you aren't going to get kicked out of the class for skipping a prompt. No worries!

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Juice Fast: Day Three

2011-08-10T07:54:00.001-04:00

After watching the movie Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead on Netflix a week or so ago, I decided that I wanted to do a juice fast. Today is my third day. The first day was easy, and it really helped that Nick and I went to the beach. Yesterday was terrible.

I did a four day juice fast a few years back when I still lived in Greensburg. At that time, I was pretty darn healthy. I was eating very well, mostly vegan, which was particularly easy because I worked in a fruit market during the summers. I used to walk with my friend Kevin (who I miss!) all the time, plus we were starting to ride bicycles pretty often, too. I had a gym membership at the local YMCA and would go there a lot.

I'd recently lost a decent amount of weight, and I decided a juice fast was a good way to kick it up a notch. I can't remember the exact program that I followed, in terms of what I was juicing, but I do remember drinking green tea and spending a lot of time in the bathroom. I also remember that I felt like hell for a few days but by the end of it, I felt awesome! I might have continued the fast longer, but I was getting a lot of flack from my friends who thought the fasting was unhealthy, (at the time, I agreed with them) so I broke fast with a fruit smoothie on the fifth day.

I've always meant to do another fast, but just haven't done it. This could contribute to why I've gained so much weight in the last few years. A lot of it came from changing my lifestyle: I just don't walk and bike as much in Rhode Island as I did when I lived in Greensburg. I have a car now, which makes me lazy, and I live in a bad neighborhood, so walking at night, like I did all the time in Greensburg, really isn't an option I like.

When my dad died a few years back, I definitely turned to food for comfort. Old habits die hard. I started smoking again, too, but I quickly nipped that nasty habit in the bud. (I haven't smoked a cigarette for at least three years now; I haven't smoked the other stuff for about two.) The eating, though, continued. So did the weight gain.

I went gluten-free for the first six months of 2011 because I'd been having health issues, all digestive related. The diet definitely helped a lot, but I "fell off the wagon" so to speak as we were moving into our new apartment and I haven't been hardcore about it since. I guess it really is a pain in the ass, though I enjoyed the foods that I was making. I guess it's because it's the summer and it's hot. I don't feel like cooking at all, so we end up with takeout more often than we should.

The point of all this? Things are really out of hand, with my diet, my eating, and my health overall. I feel like crap all the time, though I try not to complain about it as much as I feel it, because who wants to hear it all over and over again? I'm having digestive issues that are really scary (think blood where there should be none) and even though I did fight for a referral to get checked out, because I have no insurance, I'm on a long wait list.

I also got diagnosed with hypothryoid earlier this year,which means it's really difficult for me to lose weight and incredibly easy for me to gain it. I haven't gained any weight this year, thankfully, but I have also failed to keep any off. If I was at a healthy-ish weight, this wouldn't be such a problem, but I am quite decidedly obese. Things have got to change.

So I'm juice fasting. I'm on day three, and to be perfectly honest, I have no idea if I'll make it to the end of the day or not. My goal is to make it a week, but if today if anything like yesterday, ain't happening. Yesterday was awful. I don't remember feeling nearly as terrible the last time I juice fasted, but maybe I was just a lot healthier then. I felt ill and unwell all day. I felt nauseated and I had a terrible, splitting headache. I couldn't even stomach the juices I was making, which meant I was definitely not getting enough nutrients. The juice I did make tasted awful, even though everything had tasted good the day before.

If there's a toxic reaction from juice fasting, I definitely experienced that yesterday. I spent most of the day in bed. I did one drawing, and that was an effort. Usually I sketch a lot or work in my art journal, even if I'm not feeling great, but yesterday I had no interest in anything except getting through the day. By the end of the day I felt so completely awful that I decided I need to have soup. Not exactly juice, but still liquid (I went with a all-organic soup that had no chunks). I only had a small amount, but I felt way better after having it.

I'm hoping today goes better. I stocked up on unsweetened coconut milk, mineral water, and a green juice from Bolthouse Farms. I figure if the juice I make tastes awful, I'll drink the BF stuff. Sure, it's not fresh-squeezed, so it doesn't have as many nutrients, but whatever, at least it won't make me barf. One thing that makes me feel a little bit better is that when I weighed myself with the Wii Fit this morning, I was shocked to see I'd lost 5 lbs! Yes, I'm sure it will all come right back after I'm done fasting and is probably water weight... but I'm not positive since even though I couldn't stomach the juice, I did drink a lot of water to make up for it.

Have you ever fasted? How did it go for you?

(Note: In case there are any haters out there: I'm not juicing specifically to lose weight, though it's a nice side effect. I'm juicing to give my digestive system a break and a chance, I hope, to heal. It took me years to gain the weight and I'm expecting it will take equally as long to lose it. My plan for after the fast is to eat mostly fruits and vegetables, possibly some sort of paleo diet. While I'm not under a doctor's care, I certainly would be if I could get an appointment sooner than three months from now. Doh!)

Art Journal: DIY Copic Airbrush System ABS

2011-08-05T20:28:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I have been coveting a Copic Airbrush system ever since I saw some awesome pages made byJulie Fei-Fan Balzer using her Copic ABS system. I didn't think I was interested in airbrushing, but all of a sudden, I wanted one hard! I even got to the point of bidding on them on eBay, even though we all know I'm not supposed to buy any more supplies until September 7th!

Of course I know that I don't need the airbrush system to make awesome art and I should be perfectly happy with all the wonderful supplies I already have... but that didn't stop me from researching the system. The Copic ABS actually hasn't gotten a lot of positive reviews on the various review sites I checked. I figure, though, that a lot of it depends on what you are expecting: it's not a regular airbrush system and it won't work the same.

The problem I had with it though it that it wasn't the type of thing you could buy once and not have to spend anymore money! You'd either need an air compressor, which I don't have and retails from $100 - $300, or you'd need to buy replacement cans of air all the time, which are $9 - $15 each. Also, you can substitute another brand of air; only the Copic ones will work with the system.

So I started researching DIY methods, and didn't find much, just this video on using canned air, which I like, but it's awkward. I wanted to have a free hand to hold my stencils or masks in place. (Also, since I can't really imagine buying air in a can, I was happy to find that my boyfriend had no such qualms!)

I thought, "Hmm, what can I use?", thinking I'd have to build some kind of rig, then noticed a stretchy headband on my desk. Eureka! I did a little experimentation, and here is the result:

(I'm having camera issues.. will update this soon with the photo!)

I am so stoked with this method. Sure it means that when I run out of spray, I'll probably, gulp, buy another can of air, but I figure I can buy 5 cans of air before it equals the cost of the original set up... and even with that I'd be buying air. Perhaps I'll save for the air compressor set up... or maybe I'll be bored with it by then. Who knows!

Art Journal: DIY Spray Paints

2011-07-30T19:49:00.000-04:00

Here's another video! This one shows ways to make your own spray paint. Enjoy!

Art Journal: DIY "Washi" Tape

2011-07-29T19:41:00.000-04:00

Admittedly, this tape doesn't have the wonderful translucent quality that makes washi tape so awesome, but it's a great way to get the cool look of the tape without the big bucks! This video was made for Mission Nine of the 30 Day Craft Cleanse. If you aren't already a member of this FREE art journal class, you should check it out!

Art Journal: Green-Eyed Lady

2011-07-25T11:49:00.000-04:00

Art Journal: Copic Couple

2011-07-24T23:20:00.000-04:00

I figured I'd post this to prove that I'm going to give the Copic Marker set I splurged on a good run for the money! I don't like the dude's hair, but am happy that my dude actually looks like a dude! I usually draw girls, so I'm stretching my artistic muscles by drawing this couple. I love the skin tone shading, too!

Buy Nothing Summer: I Cheated!

2011-07-24T20:30:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I had no idea if I could stick it out when I started the Buy Nothing Summer on June 18th! The idea of buying no new art supplies for the whole summer was intense... but totally necessary if I was ever going to get my sprawling stash under control. Even though I've made a lot of progress in the past 5 weeks, my apartment is still a mess. I'm telling myself that I'm taking it slowly, but surely, but perhaps I'm moving just a touch too slow.

I have managed to make art every single day since I started the BNS, which is more important, really, and have successfully finished at least one art journal page every single day since at least June 28th. (Can't say for sure before that, because I just started dating my pages!). I've even managed to completely avoid buying any craft supplies for myself and have even been successful in adding stuff from my personal stash into my school bags for the art classes I've been teaching all summer. I've dropped off a few boxes every week or so to local thrift stores, too.

I have avoid shopping almost completely. No retail stores since late June when I bought a couple things I needed for classes. I've completely avoided flea markets, thrift stores, and yard sales, too. I have, however, looked at Etsy a couple of times, even placed a ridiculously low bid on some Copic markers on eBay (I was outbid within minutes); but I haven't actually laid out any cash... until now.

That's right: I cheated. I cheated hard with an $80 purchase. I should feel really bad about this purchase, but the honest truth is that I am elated! I don't regret it one bit!

Don't ask me why I was looking under the "arts and crafts" section of Craigslist yesterday afternoon. That should have been a strictly off-limits zone, but looking I was and what did I see but a listing that said "My art supplies! Cheap!" How could I resist clicking over?

Oh man!

This person was selling a set of 72 Copic markers for $80! I emailed her immediately, BNS be damned! I figured that with a price that good, they'd have been gone already. Or, that it was one of those scams designed to harvest my email address for nefarious purposes. No way could I score a decent set of Copics for that insanely low price tag.

Seriously, folks, I'm not trying to make excuses here, but wow! The cheapest price I'd managed to find before was $3.50 per marker for new Copic Ciao markers or used Sketch markers. I prefer the Sketch, but am happy with any. Since Copics are refillable, buying a used marker is usually a pretty good deal, even if it doesn't have much ink. I haven't been using Copics (or the starving artist favorite, ShinHan Touch Twin markers*) long enough to have to refill them, but I know that buying a refill ink costs about as much as buying a new Sketch marker, but will refill a marker about 5 - 7 times, maybe more. Before the BNS started, I'd been trying to buy a good selection of Copics on ebay for a good six months, getting outbid every single time as the auctions skyrocketed to prices way higher than I could afford.

[* If you can't afford Copics, I think it's great to start out with the ShinHan Touch Twin markers. They are $1.89 each from Jerry's Artarama. The nibs aren't as good as the Copic Sketch markers, but if you are just starting out, I doubt you'll even notice. The nibs also don't last as long as the Copics, either, and they aren't refillable. Still, they work nearly as well for shading at a fraction of the cost. My plan was to start with the ShinHan markers, see if I even liked using them, then add Copics to my stash as I could afford them. I have discovered that I love using the markers, and have slowly added new Copics to my stash by looking for used lots of them on Ebay. I use both markers together all the time with no problems, and the Copic blending pen works well with ShinHan markers.]

Now, I'm all set with Copics for a nice long time. Here's what I got:

These markers have been used... a lot! Some of them have sticky ink on them, probably from being overfilled or not stored well. Some of them have writing on the sides, or paint, or fingerprints. The case has been broken and taped back together with green duct tape and a hunk of foam core. I am seriously in love!

Note that I already made a materials page for the markers. I did it as soon as I got home with them. All of the markers work just fine, though Warm Grey #9 is pretty low on ink. One of the blacks has a broad nib that is a little bit busted up, but the rest are all fine. I expected to have to replace at least a handful, but really, it's not necessary. I did discover that with the new ones, I now have 7 duplicates, which includes two blenders (I already had two E00's), but even with the duplicates, this was such a great score! $1.10 each marker! Amazing! There was no way I could resist this deal. No way!

So why am I even telling you that I bought these markers? Couldn't I have just pretended I was sticking to the plan, man, and not even mentioned the slide? Sure, I guess, but I'm human. I'm not going to pretend that I'm perfect, and, really, I don't think that these $80 purchase has completely derailed my whole BNS summer challenge. I did go 35 days without buying a single art supply, after all, so it's not a total fail. Also, I have decided my "punishment" for this purchase is an extra week added to the BNS challenge. I'm now not allowed to buy anything until September 7th. (No biggie... this markers will be keeping me busy! Haha!)

{The other option was to not allow myself to use the markers until the BNS was over, but I decided that was tantamount to presenting a really hungry chocoholic with the most delicious cake ever and making them swear not to eat it. Ain't happening. There was no way I could resist them that long!}

Also, for anyone else struggling with the BNS challenge or with the 30 Day Craft Cleanse, you should know that no one is perfect, not even me. (Hard to believe, ain't it? Har dee har har!) If you do cave and buy something, admit it, then don't do it again.

It'd be really easy to go on a shopping binge right now, (Perhaps a run to Borders for 40% off everything?) but I'm not going to do it. I chose to splurge on something that I felt was just way too good to pass up, but I'm not going to use one purchase as an excuse to make twenty more and write it off as one bad day.

The lesson, perhaps, is that avoiding temptation really is important. If I hadn't been browsing a "forbidden" zone on Craigslist yesterday, I would have never known about this awesome deal and would never have known that I missed out on it. If you don't go browsing your favorite craft haunts clearance aisle, the same thing applies.

So... take what you will from this! I'm going to take my markers and go play!

Art Journal: A Week Without

2011-07-23T10:13:00.000-04:00

For this week, I'm challenging myself and everyone in the 30 Day Craft Cleanse course to go without our top five favorite supplies. It's pretty brutal, I know, but I'm hoping being forced to try new things will increase everyone's creativity quotient: It's definitely been working for me! Here are my first three pages:

Art Journal: Must Have Supplies

2011-07-19T14:08:00.001-04:00

Mission Six for the 30 Day Craft Cleanse is to make a list of your Top 5 Can't Live Without art supplies. Mine are: Sharpie Poster-Paint markers, gel medium, washi tape, magazine images, and uniball signo gel pens. For this page, I used only my top five.

What are yours?

Art Journal: Two New Pages

2011-07-18T10:11:00.000-04:00

For this page I decided to do the opposite of what I'd usually do, at least sorta. I generally start with pre-painted pages, but so far in my newest journal, I'm starting with white and going from there. I'm not intimidated by the white page!

Lately I've found that I end up not liking the backgrounds and that makes me not want to work on a page. While I do think it's good to test my mettle, if you well, for now, I'm going page by page to see what happens.

For this page, I glued the image of the girl from a catalog (free people, I think) on some layered graph paper, tissue paper, and an old book page. I added blue on the background with Portfolio oil pastels in three shades of blue.

I found the quote "Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. - sam keen" and thought it was perfect for the day I was having. I was sort of being productive, but mostly soaking up the AC and staying out of the heat.

I used a white Sharpie poster-paint marker to journal on the background. I started off with the uni-ball signo but for once, it didn't want to write! Usually, that sucker writes over everything, so now I know it doesn't like the watersoluble oil pastels!

I used a sakura gel pen to add the black lines between the text. That actually didn't work so well either, but I found that by doubling back and tracing the first line, I could get a good line. Plus, I like the kind of faded look of it.

Usually, I'd outline the girl in black, so today I decided to try white. It's kind of neat looking, but also weird. I messed up her eyes, so I drew in the sunglasses. She looks like a member of ZZ Top now, since the shading on her neck looks like a beard. Oh well. At least I tried something new!

I have been suffering from a toothache, so last night I decided to Journal It Out. I started with a circle in the middle, where I wrote about hating going to the dentist, then drew rings of neocolor II's around the circle in rainbow order. I used a wet finger to drag the color from the middle out to blend a little.

When it was dry, I went back in with my trust Sharpie poster-paint marker and added black circle outlines, more text, and doodles. Finished by using a white uni-ball signo gel pen to add accents.

I think it's funny that this page ended up all bright and cheery even though I'm writing about dentists being a little bit evil. Working on this page definitely took my mind off the pain for a while and gave my ibuprofen a chance to kick it. Will have to remember the power of journaling if I have issues again. (I'm sure I will since it takes about a million years for me to get in to see my dentist!)

Art Journal: Artist Insecurities

2011-07-17T11:25:00.000-04:00

For this page, I started with black&white catalog image. I used Portfolio watersoluble oil pastels to create the green & blue background (inspired by peacock feathers!). Then I used black sumi ink to add the black stripes and details on the girl. I let the ink dry overnight (it can take a while) then journaled with white & black gel pens. I am THRILLED with this page. I wrote about my insecurities as an artist.

Text reads:

I’m not sure why I’m always tempted to buy new art supplies, when I already have such lovely supplies at home. Part of it, I’m sure, stems from my insecurities as an artist. I don’t have a degree in art, and I’ve actually only taken a handful of art classes. I’ve always been into art, but I was always good in academics so art wasn’t even suggested, except to fill a requirement.

I signed up for one art class in high school, but everyone stared at me when I sat down, like why was a geek trying to be an artist? I left before class even started.

In college I took 2-D design. I was terrible. Everything I made was ugly and painstaking but everyone else did beautiful work. What I didn’t consider was that most of them had taken art all through high school, but I was brand new. I should have been gentle with myself, but instead I decided that I sucked at art.

I didn’t sign up for another class until the metalsmithing class I took in 2007. It sucked. The teacher was very talented, but the class had no structure so I felt completely and utterly lost. Still I tried. When it came time to order metal for our final project, I was totally broke so I ordered the cheapest thing in the catalog: 50 tiny punched disks of silver that were supposed to be $10.

I didn’t know it was an old catalog. The price ended up being $100 + $17 express shipping. I couldn’t pay it and I was mad / embarrassed. I gave the metal back and never went back to class.

Since I’ve been an art failure so many times, it’s weird to adjust to maybe being good at it. Really, I just love it so I practice all the time. If I didn’t love it, I’d never stick it out.

(Read more at at the 30 Day Craft Cleanse group on Art Journaling -- it's completely free to sign up.)

Art Journal: New Pages

2011-07-15T13:57:00.000-04:00

I've been SO BUSY this past week, but one thing I have managed to make time for every single day is making at least one art journal page. Hurray! I started dating my pages on June 29, and I've made at least one page every single day since then. The streak could be longer, since I wasn't tracking pages before then, but I am pumped about the streak. I'm hoping to keep it up! So far so good...

I like having a daily art practice because it's making sure I do at least one thing for myself every day. When I art journal, it's totally for me. I have no thoughts of selling the work down the line, no particular purpose for the pages, they are just for fun and to develop my artistic vision. I love that!

30 Day Craft Cleanse: Donations Welcome

2011-07-11T20:47:00.003-04:00

The 30 Day Craft Cleanse course is completely free to you, but your donations will be merrily accepted! I'm putting a lot of work into making this class awesome (I hope!), and I'd love to hear your feedback on it, too. Since your donations will make future classes like this possible, I want to reward my potential patrons will a little crafty love. Since you won't be buying any new materials for 30 days, perhaps you will appreciate the small infusion of a little crafty wonder into your life?

Donate $5, get a crafty scrap pack (could include vintage book pages, washi tape sampler, paper doilies, colored hemp, beads, or whatever else I decide to include)

Donate $10, get a crafty scrap pack + a 3 cute magnets made by me

Donate $15, get the above gifts + any pocket mirror or bottle opener from my etsy shop, Literary Tease.

Donate $20, get the above gifts + an 8 x 10 signed metallic print by me (your choice of Boys Boys Boys, Light My Fire, No Rules, Crazy For You, Love Grows, I Miss You, California Girl, Gypsy, Bathing Beauty or Pretty in Pink)

Plus, for every $10 you donate over $20, you'll get an additional signed 8 x 10 print.

Your print options:

I Miss You

Crazy For You

Love Grows

Boys Boys Boys

No Rules

Light My Fire

Pretty In Pink

Gypsy

Bathing Beauty

Art Journal: Free Online Class

2011-07-10T09:11:00.000-04:00

Inspired by my Buy Nothing Summer, I'm doing a free art journaling course that starts on July 15 and runs through August 15, though you can pick up and start at any time. Here's the introduction to the course. Maybe you'd like to stop by the 30 Day Craft Cleanse and check it out?

If it's true that it takes 30 days to make or break a habit, we've got the next 4 weeks to kick those greedy craft demons living inside us to the curb. Hello, my name is Moira, and I am a crafty packrat. There, I've admitted it. Yes, if you were to come to my house, you would find it packed to the gills with crafty wonder. And do I mean packed!

I recently moved from a three bedroom apartment that I share with my boyfriend, Nick, into a one-bedroom place. The reasons for this move were threefold: location, location, location. Also, the price was so very right. Plus, my fabulous crafty diva friend lives right across the street. Things are good.

The problem, as I'm sure you've already surmised, is all the stuff that had accumulated in the two years we'd been in our last place. We were spoiled rotten, all right? He had his studio; I had mine. The living room in our last place started out with good intentions but soon became my crafty storage area. Couch? What couch? Doh!

Where did all the crafty wonder come from? Well, naturally, a lot of it came from arts and craft stores over the years. Super sale? Awesome, I'll take three. Clearance rack? Great, load up my cart. 40% coupons, you are my nemesis.

In addition to a serious craft store habit, I have a tendency to acquire all sorts of things for free. I have found objects on the side of the road, from Craigslist curb alerts, and, I'll admit, I have climbed into many a dumpster in my day. [If you aren't already aware of this, you'd be surprised at the sheer volume of stuff being thrown away by your favorite craft stores. One dumpster hot spot in my old neighborhood was Joann's.]

People who know my crafty ways often present me with gifts of craftiness: stacks of magazines, bags of yarn, beads, you name it.

Oh, and I’m an art teacher. (Insert groans of super organized people everywhere.) I am a freelance artist-educator who provides programming for middle school youth and, occasionally, older teens and adults. I teach classes all around the state of Rhode Island, and all of the many, many supplies that I use for my classes live in my house.

Often I feel like conquering my crafty demons is a never ending battle, one I will never win. So for ages, I have succumb to the demons and allowed my crafty wonder to grow and grow and grow. While I’ve never had a problem getting rid of clothes, furniture, or books, I hold on to craft supplies for years, even if I never use them. No longer!

On June 18 I made a vow. A vow to keep my wallet in my pocket and to keep on walking when the craft sales are talking. I called it my Buy Nothing Summer and started a series of blog posts about the adventure. I decided that if I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of all my crafty wonder, I would do my best to use it up. I am determined to bust my crafty stash this summer. I’m three weeks in and going strong.

What does all this have to do with you?

Well, here’s the thing. when I issued the challenge to myself, I invited other people to join me, and I did have a few brave takers, but the response by far has been, “Gee, that’s great & I should do it, but I could never keep that promise.”

And I totally get that!

The past three weeks haven’t been easy. I won’t deny that I haven’t thought on more than a few occasions that I should just stop at Michaels while I was driving by, maybe just look around a little, maybe buy something small, no one would ever have to know... But I have successfully resisted temptation for these last three weeks, and you know what, if I, Moira, queen of the crafty packrats, can do this thing, so can you. For sure. I know it.

So why not try it? You’ll be in good company here. This is a safe place. And if you fail? So what? Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, put away your credit card, and try not to do it again for the rest of the 30 days. Your wallet will thank you.

I challenge you to make a vow to not purchase any new arts and craft supplies for the next 30 days. Feel free to add a couple of rules to the process like I did, but try not to go overboard. Art isn’t about the stuff; it’s about the creative process. Let’s see just how true that is during our 30 Day Craft Cleanse.

Art Journal: Summer Quote

2011-07-07T09:02:00.001-04:00

Summer Quote, a photo by literarytease on Flickr.

{Looking for the giveaway? Scroll down one entry!}

All in all, not my favorite page... but it's okay, because not every page can be my favorite page. The fun part was the creation: The fiery background was pre-painted back in may everything else was added "on-location."

If you ever visit Rhode Island, I recommend a trip to the Sakonnet Vineyards in Little Compton (go to South Shore beach afterwards!). Although everyone goes and does the tasting, I recommend something different: pack a picnic lunch, drive to the vineyard, and buy a bottle of their most popular white or red, depending on your preference.

[I heard rumors that you should bring your own corkscrew, but it wasn't busy when we were there, so we didn't need it. If you go on a weekend, you might!]

The coolest thing about Sakonnet Vineyards is that they have tables and chairs and picnic tables scattered around the grounds that you can use to have your picnic. WAY better than a tasting, which is usually crowded and kind of overwhelming.

We did our picnic, then since we had some time to kill until 5 pm (when they stop charging $14 for residents to park at the beach... crazy!), so we worked in our art journals. So this page is the result of a nice summer picnic and a few glasses of wine. Oh yeah... :)

Quote reads: "Ah, Summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it! - Russell Baker"

Giveaway: Book Binding Tutorial (PDF)

2011-07-06T06:39:00.002-04:00

Future travel art journal!

Okay, I'll admit it: this is a giveaway with a catch.

I am working on a PDF tutorial for making the journal above. I developed the technique after not being able to find a tutorial available to make what I wanted to make: a hardback journal with a fluffy spine. I don't really know why I wanted to make such a journal, but I did, so I figured out how to do it. I took a bunch of picture of the one I was making last night, intending to make a tutorial for on the blog. I realized, looking at the picture this morning, that they would be perfect to turn into a PDF for me to sell, both on the blog and in my etsy shop. It's really too long for a blog entry anyway.

Future art journal... so pretty, right?

I have bought PDF tutorials from other artists, and I see people selling them online all the time, but I have never taken the time to write one, though there are plenty of projects I could do! [My next venture will be to make a tutorial for the tri-fold wallet I designed around Christmas time - I'm so proud of it!] After working on this one for several hours today and barely making a dent, I can totally see why I haven't made one before! Whew! It's a great thing, though, if it's done well, because you do the work once and theoretically sell it over and over again. I found comparable (but different!) tutorials selling on etsy for $15 - $25. I was thinking $5 - $10, when I started this project, but I might change my mind depending on how much longer it takes to finish it up.

I am doing a really in-depth tutorial. I have 38 high-res photographs and have already identified a couple of places where I need a few more photos to clarify my point. While this makes it sound like the journal is really complicated, it's not, once you get the hang of it. Plus, I have thought of a couple ways to adapt it so that it's like getting a few tutorials in one.

Here's where you come in: I need a tester (or a few) to try out the tutorial once I've gotten it finished. So by entering this giveaway, you are hopefully entering because you'd like to give the tutorial a whirl -and- would be willing to give me feedback on your experiences with it. I teach people how to make things in person all the time, but doing a PDF is a whole different ball game. I need to know what's confusing and what's overstating the obvious. I need to know what questions people might have that should have been answered in the tutorial and I need to know that the way I explain the steps makes sense to people other than me.

In exchange for this service, you'll get a copy of the tutorial free of charge and, hopefully, a beautiful book made by you at the end of it. [I will be available to help you with anything that's confusing, naturally!] Plus, if you are selected and you get back to me with feedback within a timely manner (One week? Maybe two?), I'll send you any pocket mirror, bottle opener, or button you'd like from my shop or make you a custom one with your own image. Not bad, right?

To enter the giveaway, just leave me a comment telling me why you'd like to learn how to make this book. That's it. Being a follower is not required. If you have friends who might be interested, feel free to tell them! If you really, really want to win, tell me that in the comments, because I might choose a few extra people! I will choose a winner this weekend, or when the tutorial is finished, whichever comes later.

Art Journal: In The Sun Round Up

2011-07-05T06:03:00.006-04:00

We're a month in over at Natty Malik's In The Sun art journal course, so I figured I'd share all of the pages I've created for this course to date. I am impressed with myself for keeping up as well as I have! You should definitely check out the In The Sun flickr group to see what all of my classmates have been creating as well. We've got an amazing bunch of artists working together this summer, and I am thrilled to be a part of the fun.

Clicking each image will bring up flickr, where I describe my process and tell you more about the images. I put the images after a break because it's a very image-heavy post.

01 - Introduction

02 - Self Portrait

03 - Gel Medium & Tissue Paper

\

04 - I want my summer to be full of...

05 - Alter Ego

06 - Ideal Vacation Spots

07 - Summer Movie Blockbusters

08 - Summer Date Ideas

After this page, I had filled the small journal I started out using and moved on to a larger hardbound journal that I made myself.

09 - In the Summer, I feel...

10 - Student Feature, so I made up my own prompt! Summer Tastes Like:

11 - Take a Vacation!

12 - Stay Cool

13 - Summer Wishlist

14 - Triple Dog Dare

15 - I just have to...

16 - Summer Rain

17 - Summer Takes Flight

18 - Summer Trend

19 - Roadtrip Playlist

20 - Lazy Days

21 - Beach Playlist

Art Journal: Beach Playlist

2011-07-04T21:24:00.000-04:00

This page was a fun one! I started by gluing half a sheet of old music to the left side of the page. Dry-brushed on some neon green craft paint when it was dry, then used watered-down black craft paint to add lots of drips and splatters.

The image came from a glossy magazine that has long since lost its cover -- no idea which one! (Wish I did! I'd subscribe!) I used a white Sharpie poster paint pen to add text at bottom and a Uni-Ball Signo Gel pen to add white text on the girl. Text is bits and pieces from all of the songs. I used Copics to add color to her face, accented with a black Sharpie pen.

For the list, I tried writing over the background, but none of the colors showed up very well, so I covered it with a graph paper list instead. Luckily, I had the perfect colors in washi tape! (Love the lace one!)

List is:

redemption song - bob marley & the wailers
blue skies - tori amos
summertime - morcheeba
dancing queen - ABBA
summertime - janis joplin
good day sunshine - the beatles
love street - the beatles

Teen Summer Classes: Shrinky Dink Self-Portraits

2011-07-04T10:36:00.002-04:00

This week I taught my first summer Shrinky Dink Self-Portraits class. For the class, students draw self-portraits, which they transfer onto shrink plastic, color, and then bake in the toaster oven I bring to the classes with me.

For the class, I place stand up mirrors at each seat around the table. Students fold a sheet of printer paper in half and draw their self-portrait within the space.

After asking the students to tell me what a self-portrait is, I explain that a self-portrait is more than just a picture: we want our self-portraits to tell a story about who we are to someone who doesn't know us. So if you like cats, you might want to draw a picture of a cat. Or make your drawing of you be wearing a t-shirt in your favorite color.

I always have at least one student tell me that they can't draw, and I tell them that this project is a good way to practice their drawing skills. I tell them that drawing takes a lot of practice and that even people who can draw well didn't start out that way.

I also always tell the students that their drawing don't have to be perfect, because perfect is boring. I love it when I say this, because there is always at least one student who repeats the phrase to herself, like she is trying the idea on for size. I like to imagine that at least a few of my students here and there take that phrase home later and own it.

After the students have drawn a portrait they like, they trace it on to the shrink plastic (rough side) in pencil, and then trace over the pencil lines in marker.

The last step is to add color using colored pencils. Then they bring the design to me, where I punch a hole and bake it until it shrinks. This process amazes anyone who has never seen shrinky dinks in action!

I add a jump ring and ribbon to complete the necklace, and every student left wearing their creation.

I also make take home kits for the students which includes two small pre-punched pieces of shrink plastic, several long ribbons, and at-home instructions. So much fun!

Art Journal: Roadtrip

2011-07-03T11:04:00.000-04:00

One of the recent prompts in Natty Malik's In The Sun art journaling class was to create your ultimate road trip playlist. I like all kinds of music, but love singing along the most, so I chose songs that are fun to sing with... You can listen for yourself:

Buy Nothing Summer: Conquer the Want

2011-07-02T10:29:00.000-04:00

Let me tell you: my bank account balance is LOVING this Buy Nothing Summer challenge that I have issued for myself! Since most of my purchases are generally art or craft supplies, I've hardly touched my ATM card since the challenge started. I even paid off half of my credit card balance, since I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be tempted to go on a craft binge.

That being said, it's not all easy. The hardest part of buying nothing, I think, is conquering the want. Every day I get all these emails about new products being used in new ways. Sharpie just released a line of fabric markers called Stained. Julie Balzer did a blog feature about sun printing with fabric paints. Somebody else used fabulous images from Frankie magazine in their art journal. I want it all!

But, no! I am determined to bust my stash, and the only way I'm going to make a dent is if I don't keep bringing home new supplies. So I deleted the email from Sharpie, bookmarked the sun printing blog entry for future reference, and ordered a free catalog from Peruvian Connection, which might not have images quite as cute as Frankie's, but still great. (In compliance with the Buy Nothing Summer rules, I added another magazine from my stash to the recycling bin.)

If you are battling your own greedy craft demons, you might want to check out artist Leslie Herger's series of blog posts called "The Cult of Stuff." Here's an excerpt:

It’s so easy to pick up a rubber stamp that fit my needs. So much easier than carving a wine cork or an eraser. Or what about some of that premade ephemera? It’s ACID FREE and ARCHIVAL! Why cut my own stencil when I can buy one? Look at all the rolls of shiny tape! I could make my own with plain white or colored but it’s so much easier to just buy a roll.

This is how we end up with totes and drawers full of stuff we don’t really use, stuff we bought on a whim like those really cool looking sandals that ended up being fabulous to look at but were hell on the toes.

Visit Comfortable Shoes Studio to read the whole series (plus a bunch of great art journal ideas, videos, pages, and inspiration!) Also, my interview with Leslie is here.

See all of the Buy Nothing Summer posts here.

For those of you playing along, how are you avoiding shopping overload this summer?

Summer of Color: Thinkin' Pink

2011-07-01T09:58:00.000-04:00

I never plan anything out when I make an art journal page. I might have a vague idea of what I think I might do, but, generally, I just like my artistic sense take over and see where it leads me. For this spread, I started by making a background using homemade watercolor spray paints. I used a paper doily as a mask, which left me with a cool background texture and a pretty doily... bonus! Next, I made a gel medium transfer of a woman's head (from a glossy mag, but can't remember which one).

When I looked at the page, I imagined a mermaid in the space. This is something new for me: seeing something that's not there and then creating it there. It's such a cool sensation! Like being able to see the future, just for an instant. After I drew and outline the mermaid, I thought for sure I had ruined everything. The proportions are off, particularly on the neck, which usually bugs the heck out of me, but I decided to push through it and keep going. Artist Teesha Moore said in one of her video that she feels you should push past the point of feeling like a page is done twice: one to get over any mental blocks, the second to let magic happen. (Okay, she didn't word it quite like that, but you get the gist.) I thought about that idea as I worked on this mermaid.

I used Stewart Gill Alchemy paints for the tail and mermaid body, plus some SG glitter flakes. I outlined everything using my trusty Sharpie poster-paint marker. I added shadows at the bottom with black pan pastel, then highlights above with yellow.

I thought the mermaid was looking pretty strange and kind of beautiful at this point, and I tried to find a "strange beauty" quote without success. Instead, I did my own thing: "There is beauty in all things strange." For the text, I used a regular pink Sharpie, outlined it with the poster-paint marker, added shadow with a ShinHan Touch Twin marker (Cool Gray#5), then added highlights with a white gel pen (uniball signo).

I added doodles at the top, washi tape + doodles at the bottom, and then, because I remembered that this week's bonus challenge for the Summer of Color is to use wax so I added lots of color to her hair using NeoColor II crayons. Even though I didn't like this page at first, now I like it a lot. What do you think?

Photography: Lily Pads

2011-06-30T00:02:00.006-04:00

There was a bit of a miscommunication about what time my class started on Monday, so Nick and I used the free time to get an iced coffee to share and to drive to Roger Williams Park.

I wanted to take a picture of the carousel, but it was closed... again. I saw this bridge across the way and want to walk across it to see where it would go.

I saw lily pads and had to go closer to look. The flowers looked so beautiful and perfect!

The geese came over towards me, but when they realized I wasn't going to feed them, they floated away, but not before I took this picture.

Art Journal: Two New Pages

2011-06-29T09:34:00.000-04:00

I'm a little behind in pages for Natty Malik's In The Sun art journaling course, but I wanted to share my latest two pages since I love them! The above photo is for the prompt "Summer Rain." I made the background by spraying homemade water color spray paints along the top and then adding a spray of plain water to make them drip. I love the effect and will definitely be doing it again in my journal. I cut the girl image from a TOAST catalog and the purple rain drops from a cute piece of tissue paper sent in Natty's collage pack. I added tissue papers along the bottom edge.

The text reads: "We hardly ever get thunderstorms in Rhode Island, and I actually miss them! I love rainy days because they give me an excuse to stay inside and make art... not that I need one!"

For this page, I was going to triple dog dare myself to go to Zumba class at a nearby gym, but instead I went out to brunch with my friend who I hadn't seen for a few months. Doh! I started thinking about how I hardly ever go anywhere except class, since I prefer to stay home and make art. I would worry that I was slightly agoraphobic, but really, I think it's that I'm a country girl living in the city! This is the page that emerged from that line of thought.

The text reads: "Sometimes I have to 'triple dog dare' myself to leave my house... It's nice here & I don't have to wear pants." [Yeah, yeah, TMI. Just keepin' it real.]

Art Journal: Teen Summer Classes

2011-06-28T09:47:00.002-04:00

I must confess that I have the best job ever! My main goal in life a few year's back was to find a job I didn't hate. I've worked a lot of jobs over the years. I used to keep track of how many different positions I'd had, but I stopped counting somewhere around 25. Yes. I really have had over 25 different jobs. I've worked as: a cashier, grill cook, waitress, shift supervisor, receptionist, editorial assistant, supermarket clerk, cleaner, babysitter, post office typist, telemarketer, writing tutor, camp counselor, freelance writer, and an art teacher. I've also had several small businesses (homemade bath salts, hemp necklaces, website design, and jewelry). Now that I'm teaching art classes, I know I've finally found my calling. The best part? My job hardly ever feels like "work"; I put a lot of time into it, sure, but it's so fun that I hardly notice!

This summer I am lucky enough to be working with libraries around the state of Rhode Island. I have three programs on offer: button making, shrinky dinks, and art journals, and each library got to choose which program they wanted me to run. I am psyched about all of the programs, but I have a special place in my heart for art journals.

Once I explain what an art journal is to the kids, they get excited. Most of them have ideas right away about what they want to do with their journal.

I like to fill the tables with lots of supplies: paint markers, magazines, colored pencils, stickers, and washi tape. I have learned that it's better to limit the supplies a bit so that I don't completely overwhelm the kids, so I stick to my favorites.

For this class, we had a mix of adults, teens, and younger kids. Since we had a small group, I was open to having a couple six-year-olds and their moms join us. I wasn't sure how the little kids would take to art journals, but I needn't have worried: they loved it!

This lovely lady had a butterfly painted on her face. So cute!

Justin Beaver: in Progress

This is Justin Beaver, Molly's cartoon version of everyone's favorite tween heart throb. Check out Molly's blog, PugPuppy, to see more of her fabulous work!

Love the text on David's art journal!

Looks like we have a new fan of washi tape!

Buy Nothing Summer: Week One

2011-06-27T16:52:00.001-04:00

I keep feeling like I'm doing a lot of work, but I'm not seeing the results. I decided to take a picture of the state of my studio and compare it to the picture I posted a week ago to see if I could discern any noticeable improvements. It still needs a lot of work, but things are definitely progressing! Considering that I fill three boxes with thrift store donations today, I am making progress, slowly but surely. What do you think?

I can't wait 'til I get to share the "after" shots!!!

Blog Redesign: Unveiled

2011-06-26T18:51:00.002-04:00

Well, it's taken me all day, but the redesign of Crafty Moira is complete (mostly). I have been meaning to do a redesign to this blog ever since I started it. I mean, I know html. I've designed lots of graphics and web pages, so why didn't I take the time to make my blog look nice? In part, it's laziness, I'll admit it, but also: I kind of started this blog thinking I'd get bored with it in a few weeks and abandon it. I never expected that I'd love it so much!

Nick and I did a photoshoot a few months ago, so I used my favorite images to create the blog. One of the pictures was so pretty, with my hair blowing in the breeze and the water of Stump Pond behind me, that I decided to use it as the inspiration for the redesign. (The picture above makes me laugh, especially with the caption I added. It's day 8 of my Buy Nothing Summer, and I'm sure I'll be feeling that way any day now!)

I'd love to hear what you think about the new look! If you come across any problems, please let me know. It's been, oh, a decade+, since I learned html, so lots has changed since then. It's looking good for me on my Mac, but if you are a PC-user and it looks like crap, please tell me so I can try to fix it! All of the tabs at the top work, though the "Classes" tab is still under construction... for now! I'd love to know what you think about the new tutorials page and my new about page! And, hey, maybe you'd like to grab my new button for your blog?

Art Journal: Secret Message

2011-06-24T22:29:00.001-04:00

I received a lovely package of assorted collage materials from the fabulous Ms. Natty of Awkward and Beautiful today, and I just had to incorporate a few of the pieces into my art journal right away. The telephone paper, the scallop circle, and the adorable little envelope all went straight from the mail to my page. The tiny envelope is my favorite part!

Don't ya just want to pull the tab to find out what it says?

Sadly, I don't have anything all that luscious to include as a secret message.

Text reads: I thought it would be cool to write a secret message, but I don't really have any secrets... darn!

After making this page, I worked on organizing my art journal supplies for a while, until this little furry beast told me it was time to take a break.

Hey, kitty, don't mess up my newly organized paints!

I know it looks like the third drawer is full of washi tape, but it's not.... yet!

Buy Nothing Summer: Day Six

2011-06-24T09:45:00.001-04:00

It's Day Six of my Buy Nothing Summer, and I have to admit, so far, it hasn't been that big of a deal. I haven't caved and gone on a crafty shopping binge. Shocker! I did get an email from Sharpie about their new fabric markers, and felt a bit of a pang, but quickly deleted it. So far there hasn't been anything that I wanted to buy, which has made it easy. Just wait until I need something though... yikes!

In terms of organizing, I managed to sort through two boxes of papers on Tuesday. I condensed my keep pile into a way smaller stack, about 1/5 the size of what I started with. This was a huge pile of student papers and assignments, and I've been meaning to go through them for months. I decided to keep a small selection of my favorite student papers (about a dozen, out of dozens), plus some blank worksheets that I know I'll use for future classes. I had about 3 dozen folders that I considered keeping, but then I decided that if I used folders again in the future, I'd just buy more when/if I needed them. I don't usually like to toss something useable (obviously!), but after watching two seasons of Hoarders on Netflix this past week or so, I'm definitely inspired to get stuff outta my house! All of the unwanted papers went to the curb to be recycled and are now out of my life.

I do keep using supplies from my stash, but the problem is that I keep using little things, which hardly makes a dent in the pile! In order for me to get this place organized, I need to start tacking some of the bigger projects. When I think about what takes up the most space of my consumable stash, it's zippers, papers, fabric, and blank canvases. Although the zippers are currently tucked away neatly, I do have a cool idea in mind for those that I'd like to try this weekend. To do so, I'll need to access my sewing supplies.... yikes! Wish me luck on that one!

Next, my goal is to tackle one box a day (at least!) of unpacked craft items. When I come to an item that doesn't have a "home" just yet, I'm going to have to find a use for it pronto! I do have an empty storage drawer under my desk, so I'm going to work on figuring out what I'll be using it for. For the last few days, I have managed to meet my goal of unpacking one box a day. Here's hoping I can keep it up!

Finally, someone mentioned that they keep daily supplies separate from occasional supplies. I thought that was a great idea! I have quite a few supplies for metalworking jewelry, but I haven't done anything with them for a year. I know I should get rid of them, but I do have hopes that I'll eventually be able to experiment more in that area. I managed to condense those supplies into a small plastic shoebox plus my soldering iron. This will be packed away into the 4 feet of currently unused space in my linen closet. It's really inconvenient space, so I figure it's perfect for occasional projects. Perhaps if I never miss these supplies, I will get rid of them later.

I have a tall storage unit with 4 small drawers and 3 large drawers that I think I am going to use for my art journal and collage supplies. The top drawers will be for my current journal-in-progress, markers, pens, pencils, washi tape -- all the smallish stuff that tends to clutter my desk. The bottom three drawers will be for vintage photographs, printed collage sheets, magazines, and other paper ephemera. The goal, and I don't know if I can really do this, is to get rid of whatever paper doesn't fit in this unit, preferably without it being crammed to the point of being difficult to use.

I just spend half an hour arranging space under my desk so that I can store my two show suitcases (a pair of Mary Kay suitcases that I snagged for $7 at a yard sale last year). I am storing my tent, tables, and tent weights in my friend's massive basement storage unit across the street, but I don't want to store inventory down there because there was a huge mold problem two years ago that ruined a lot of my stuff that I'd stored there when I was out of town for two months. (Ugh, that sucked!) I figure if the suitcases are under my desk, they are safe, secure, and convenient, if I need something from inside. Considering that I just dropped off tons of inventory at two of the places where I sell my work, I shouldn't need to access them until September, but if I do, it won't be a huge pain.

My goal for today is to finishing packing away the rest of my inventory, mail out my etsy orders for the week, mail out my zipper giveaway prizes (I'm seriously delinquent on those!) and move furniture a bit so I can have the storage unit for art journal stuff right next to my desk where I work. After that, I want to unpack my sewing machine so I can get started on my zipper project. Hurray!

See all of the Buy Nothing Summer posts here.

Art Journal: Mini Washi Tape Spools

2011-06-23T10:15:00.000-04:00

I'm teaching art classes around the state of Rhode Island this summer, and the classes I am most excited about are the art journal ones. I have been in love with art journals since I first discovered them, and sharing the joy with my students is a real blast. Each student quickly develops his or her own style, and it's so fun to see all the different ways that they tackle the concept.

One of my new favorite things for art journaling is washi tape. I resisted the lure of the pretty Japanese paper tape for months and months, but after a great day at the Providence Arts Festival earlier this month, I decided to treat myself. Since I've been having so much fun with washi tape, I definitely wanted to introduce it to my students this summer. Since I can't afford to buy a roll of washi tape for 176 students (!!!), I needed to find a way to make smaller rolls. In the past, I have wrapped masking tape around cardstock for the kids to take home, but this idea is way better!

I found an etsy seller who sells "Washi Tape by the Foot." You get up to three feet of your choice of their many available washi tapes and it comes wrapped on a wooden spool. If you are interested in trying out washi tape, this is a great way to get a selection without spending a fortune! For me, however, I already know that I love it and need so many spools, that I knew I could do it myself for very little expense.

I found wooden spools in packages of 20 at Michaels for $2.99 each. [If you wanted to get crazy, I found a site online where you can buy them in packs of 100 for $9.99 + $10 shipping. Can't find the link right now, but will update if I track it down.] I measured out 12 inches of tape and carefully wrapped in around the spool. It's actually harder than it looks to do this straight! Still, I was able to get 140 wrapped while watching television yesterday afternoon.

In addition, I wrapped another 20 spools with more tape (maybe 5 feet?) that I will have on the tables for the students to use during the class. Using these instead of the full rolls means that: a) the full rolls won't get destroyed in one class, b) I can have multiples of each color so students get a variety at each table, and c) students will know what the spools are in their kits! Each student will get a take home kit with a marker, a pen, a glue stick, some scrap paper, and one spool of washi tape all of their own. Fun, right?

Art Journal: Vacation-Inspired Page

2011-06-21T09:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's vacation video prompt in Natty Malik's FREE online art journal course, In The Sun, inspired me to create this tutorial on making your own DIY mini polaroid prints. (No Polaroid camera required!) Today, I want to show you what I created using those mini prints. [Ironically, yesterday was my first day back to work after a three-week vacation!]

For the background, I wanted to do a blue similar to the blue used in the Young Veins video. As I was painting, I decided I didn't want to do the whole spread blue so I just did the edges on the left page, plus added some texture with sequin waste. I used orange and yellow homemade spray paints (just acrylic paint and water in a spray bottle) to brighten it up.

When I looked at the solid blue page, I decided I didn't like it all solid, so I wanted to do something to break that up. I suddenly imagined a palm tree there. I'd had a magazine earlier this week with a palm tree on the back cover, but I must have recycled it already, because I couldn't find it. I did, however, know exactly where my green tissue paper would be. I ripped the paper into shapes I hope would approximate a palm tree, then when I looked in the tissue paper box again, I realized I still had some brown tissue paper that my friend, Cherie, had given me years before. I made a trunk for my tree using that. I used gel medium on top and bottom of the tissue to add it to my page.

I played around with the DIY polaroid prints a bit until I found an arrangement I liked. I attached these using my Tombow, but I'm sure gel medium or double-sided tape would have worked well, too. When I came home from work and looked at my spread in progress, I thought of the Weezer song, An Island in the Sun. I decided to use the lyrics for the page, since it sure looks like the kids in the photos are having lots of fun: "On an island in the sun, we'll be playing and having fun."

I really love how the text turned out! I did the text in a blue Decocolor market. Then I outlined slightly inside the letters with a white Uniball signo pen (best pen ever!). After that, I traced around all the words to add brightness with a yellow Sharpie poster-paint marker. Finally, I outlined the letters with a black Sharpie poster-paint marker.

Here's the finished page:

Well... I think it's finished anyway. I might end up adding some detailing to the tree on the right side, but, really, I think it looks great as is, so I might just leave it alone. What do you think?

Tutorial: DIY Mini Polaroid Prints

2011-06-20T12:35:00.000-04:00

When I watched the video for today's prompt this morning for Natalie Malik's free online art journaling class, In The Sun, I knew instantly what I wanted to do: polaroid pictures! I know that I have an actual old school polaroid camera under my desk, but I wanted to use my Polaroid POGO printer to make mini polaroids. So tiny! So cute! I haven't done my page for today yet, but I'm so excited by my mini-project that I wanted to share right away.

To make your own DIY polaroid prints without a polaroid camera, you will need:

photo prints of images you like [Note: If you don't have a POGO like I do, you could get one-hour prints at your local photo shop very cheap. Or you could just use images from a magazine cut to size... why not?]
3x5 blank white index cards, or any white card stock {You could just plain white printer paper, sure, but using card stock gives the mini polaroids a bit of heft like a real polaroid would have.}
glue (if you aren't using a POGO)
ruler
scissors or exacto knife

Choose the prints you want to use for your mini polaroids. Remember that you will be cropping the image into a square shape, so try to choose images based on what will look good in a square shape.

If you are using a POGO print, you just have to crop one-inch from the longest side of the print. You can see that for some images, I just cut an inch off the side; for others, I trimmed a little from each side. I have a metal ruler that is two inches wide, so I used that as a cutting guide. You could also draw guidelines with a pencil.

If you are using a larger size print, you can make a square by cropping the long size to the same length as the shortest side. (I know, duh, right?) Or you could make a square viewfinder in a plain piece of card stock (just cut with an exacto knife) and use that to find the best part of your image to crop. This would work well for finding an image in a magazine, too.

For the POGO, you'll affix your square using the sticker back. For another print or magazine, use a glue stick or your choose of adhesive. After making this first two prints, I realized I'd have less cutting if I placed the image in the corner instead of towards the middle. I was able to make two mini prints from each index card. Trim to size. I just eyeballed this. Basically, the bottom is about a third the height of the image, give or take. Then you'll have a thinner border at the sides and top. If you wanted this really precise, I'm sure you could find the exact dimensions online, but I didn't care if it was exactly right.

Enjoy your cute DIY polaroid prints! You'll be seeing mine soon in an art journal spread. I'll link it here whenever it's done. Have fun!

Buy Nothing Summer: Day Two

2011-06-20T09:10:00.001-04:00

The Before Shot

Just to give you (and myself!) a sense of scale for how much crafty stuff we're talking about here in my major summer-long destash and shopping moratorium, I decided to use my fancy new camera to take a panorama shot of the pure chaos that is my art space. I took the shot by standing in the kitchen. The door on the left in the picture is the front door to our apartment. The sheer magnitude is staggering, right? It's a little embarrassing to put this out there in cyberspace for the whole world to see, but in order for anyone to understand why I'm being so crazy as to pledge not to buy any new supplies for eleven weeks, I need to share.

To be fair, we've only been living in our new place for three weeks now. It's not that I've been living with this mess for months and months. (That would drive me completely insane, I'm sure. I'm already a little insane.) The boxes aren't unpacked because I haven't figured out quite where to put everything. In addition, I am combining what was three separate areas in my old apartment into one: school supplies, art sale supplies, and my own personal stash. Keep in mind, too, that we recently went from living in a three bedroom apartment, where we each had our own studio and a gigantic living room to a combined living area / dual studio. [If you are wondering why we made such a drastic switch, let's just say the price is right, the location is stellar, and the place is beautiful.]

School supplies are supplies that are kept separate from my own stuff (at least in theory) and are used exclusively with my tween students. The supplies are currently being stored under my large craft table and have not been well organized since classes ended on June 2nd. [Supplies get crazy during classes, so I reorganize everything in between sessions. I'm behind because of the move!] I definitely need to destash some of the school supplies, because what has happened in the past is that stuff gets destashed from personal to school, but that's lower on my list right now since I have until September before I need most of this stuff. Oh, and I'm deciding right now that if I add from my personal stash to school, I need to get rid of something from the school stuff in order to accommodate it!

Art Sale supplies includes both display items that I use in my booth and finished inventory. This stuff was previously stored in its own closet, but will now all be stored under my desk. Since I am taking items into two different consignment shops this week, I haven't put it away yet. I'm hoping to have this stuff stored by the weekend. I won't need most of it again until September 10, unless I sell a lot of items on etsy between now and then.

Personal Stash is a little bit of everything and seriously out of hand. This is the bulk of what I'll be tackling this summer during my Buy Nothing Summer challenge. I want to have it both culled in size and better organized by the end of the summer. Wish me luck, because I sure need it!!!

If that wasn't bad enough, I do have crafty stuff in two other locations in our apartment. (Please bear in mind we have a one-bedroom apartment... yikes!)

I currently have all of my fabric, yarn, and sewing supplies stored on top of the cabinets in the kitchen. There's four feet of space up there, and I want to make use of it. Eventually, I'll like to have well organized school supplies up there instead of boxes of sewing stuff. I put the sewing stuff up there because even though it's still in boxes, it is actually somewhat organized, and I figured I don't have a place to sew yet anyway so why have it in the way. I destashed a lot of sewing stuff before the move so this is the creme de la creme. Haha!

In addition, and I don't have a picture of this, I have 14 plastic tubs full of zippers, organized by color family, currently stored in the bedroom closet. Like the kitchen, there's a lot of space on the top shelf so I'm trying to use it wisely (or, perhaps, unwisely). I did recently develop a cool technique for those zippers, so expect to see more about that here in the coming weeks! (Sorry to keep you in suspense, but I want to be able to show you pictures when I reveal my cool idea!)

Now that I've shown you the complete chaos that is my crafty life at the moment... have any tips for me? If this was your stuff, how would you start addressing it? I've tried starting in one corner and working my way around, but I keep getting overwhelmed and/or inspired to start creating. I've made art every day since I've moved in (which is amazing!), but I haven't made much progress in getting organized. Help!

See all of the Buy Nothing Summer posts here.

Make your own Buy Nothing Summer pledge! Feel free to grab this button for your blog:

Make up your own rules for yourself, addressing whatever your problem area is, and comment here with a link to your blog. I'll be posting a list of participants in a few days. We need the support!

Buy Nothing Summer: End of Day One

2011-06-19T21:44:00.001-04:00

I would have preferred for my first day of the challenge to be one where I completely avoided temptation, but I needed to go to Michaels to pick up wooden spools for a project I'm doing with my students this summer. [You may remember that one of my exceptions to the Buy Nothing Summer challenge I've set for myself is that I can still buy supplies for the arts classes I teach for teens.] Luckily, even though Michaels is packed full of crafty goodness, I knew I could resist buying anything, especially if I stayed away from the clearance aisle. I do shop at Michaels, but generally it's for class supplies, not as much for myself. I buy most of the supplies I use online, in thrift stores, at yard sales, or at Jerry's Artarama. Michaels I can handle.

I walked in and headed straight to the wood crafts section. I didn't look around, I didn't meander, I didn't check out the clearance area. I found the packages of wooden spools. I grabbed what I needed and beelined right to the register. Nick didn't say anything at the time, but later he told me he was impressed at how quickly I was in and out. I was, too!

After Michaels, we headed to Target, since Nick needed headphones. He suggested I check out the sports tops, since I've been saying for weeks I need to buy new ones. Luckily sports top are not remotely close to craft supplies, so I didn't feel all that bad about spending $3.74 (Yes!!!) on a cute tank top with a built-in bra. I'll be wearing it to the Zumba class I'm taking with my friend Jen on Wednesday. [In addition to losing lots of crafty supplies, I need to lose some serious weight!]

I think there's a definite danger in swapping buying crafts supplies with buying something else, but I gotta say that I don't feel like spending money is my problem. I am a cheap ol' miser girl if ever you met one. I rarely go out to eat since I am a good cook and enjoy preparing my own food. I hardly ever drink, and you will never find me in a bar unless I have been coerced with the promise of free drinks and no pressuring of oneself to sing karaoke. (Why do I fall for it?) I have a bad habit of wearing clothes until they literally fall apart, and I probably look like a bag lady half the time because all of my shirts are splattered with paint and dried up gel medium. Likewise, I wear shoes until it is physically unsafe to do so, and I swear I felt like a big spender when I paid $25 for a pair of clearance brand-name sneakers last summer. I haven't paid for a haircut in at least five years. (No wonder my hair reaches halfway down my back, eh?)

My problem is sheer accumulation of stuff: I went for a spell when Nick and I were searching for curb alerts every weekend. I came home with all sorts of wonderful, weird items, some of which actually got repurposed as planned, the rest of which is now in boxes in my apartment or, more likely, returned to whence it came. {One of my favorite finds from last summer is a vintage photograph of an older woman under a curved dome of glass in a gold frame. Josephina is now my crafty muse. I'll post a picture as soon as she's settled into her new home!} Like most people, I cannot resist a good deal, particularly when said good deal is a lifetime supply of beautiful hemp for $4 or scores of pretty zippers in all shades of the rainbow for $16. I have the hardest time resisting a seriously good deal.

While I might not have purchased any crafty supplies for myself today, I didn't exactly make any progress on using up what I've already got either. Part of this is because we spent the afternoon with Nick's Memere, who was initiated into Moira's Sweat Shop. Together, the three of us bound over 50 handmade journals for use in my summer classes! Wow! Oh, wait, I guess I did use some of the beautiful hemp for that purpose! Hurray for me; I destashed, what, 1/10000th of my stash? Well... it's a start!

Tomorrow, I start my new job and will be teaching 16 kids how to make fabulous buttons in the evening. Before that, my goal is to set some sort of crafty schedule, as suggested by Laila, and to choose 5 specific items that I want to work on destashing this week. In addition, I have decided that you, yes you!, out in the blogosphere can help me with my task! I am going to start a collection of items that I will put up for grabs in a giveaway at the end of Week One of the Eleven Week challenge I have set for myself. Stay tuned soon for details on what you can win and how you can win it. (Hint: you will definitely get hemp and zippers!)

See all of the Buy Nothing Summer posts here.

Buy Nothing Summer: Day One

2011-06-19T10:15:00.000-04:00

It's day one of my Buy Nothing Summer. How do I feel: fine. It's going to be wicked easy in the beginning, because I know I don't need anything in order to continue making what I like to make. I suspect it will be harder sometime in August, because, ideally, by then I'll be starting to run low of some items. In a comment on yesterday's post about Buy Nothing Summer, Laila said that she has set aside one day a week for sewing projects. I like this idea because it definitely seems that there are projects that I'd like to do and just never get around to doing. Sewing is definitely one of those projects. I have lots of really gorgeous fabrics that I've been saving over the years, but, really, what's the point of pretty fabric if it's just sitting in a box somewhere? I'm going to think about this concept today and decide if a crafty schedule will work for me this summer.

I decided to make a page in my art journal about the challenge I set for myself. I used the dog image from a takeout bag from Spike's Junkyard Dogs. It was in our recycling pile, but I just had to snag it for art making. Instead of putting it away in a drawer somewhere to promptly forget all about it, I used it immediately. The button in the lower left corner was a button that Nick gave me the day before. I looked at it, decided to punch two holes in it using my Cropadile Big Bite, and last night I sewed it into my journal using bright blue hemp. I don't usually add 3-D embellishments to my journal, so this was something new. I also used lots of washi tape, graph paper, Sharpie Poster-Paint markers, and a blue Decocolor marker.

I guess at this point that the only thing I am worried about in this challenge is the possibility of thinking, "Oh if only I had item X, I could do this with Y, Z, and beyond." If that happens, I will just have to figure out another way to do whatever it is I was thinking of doing! I'm an artist; I'm supposed to be creative and inventive. Let's just see how true that is.

See all of the Buy Nothing Summer posts here.

Busting that Stash: Buy Nothing Summer

2011-06-18T22:47:00.002-04:00

Okay, I've been thinking a lot about the abundance of crafty stuff in our home, and not just because I've recently started watching Hoarders on Netflix. Nick and I moved from a three-bedroom apartment to a one-bedroom place, so there's considerably less room for all of my supplies. I did downsize quite a bit before we moved, I swear; I even gave away several giant boxes of mixed media items to an artist in Connecticut and sold most of my yarn at a huge discount to a woman who teaches disadvantaged teens who to knit. We made many, many thrift store runs before our move... and yet the boxes are still piled up.

The problem is that everything has a potential use. I'm definitely not a hoarder holding on to completely useless things, but I do, admittedly, have many more things than I am likely to find time to use. I think the problem with letting crafty things go is that a use always turns up... eventually. And frequently after I've given said item away. Sigh...

The issue is that limited space really limits my options. Not only to I need to be super organized, which ain't my strong suit, let's be honest, but I need to get rid of more stuff. If I can't part with it by making donations, then the only logical thing is to part with it by USING it. I have already make a window privacy screen and a Swiffer cover without having to buy anything, so those have been small steps to busting my stash... but I completely countered that, I suspect, by giving in to my desires and buying a bunch of washi tape. (To be fair: I have used said washi tape every day since I've bought it, so I think it's a completely justified purchase.)

So, here's the plan: I'm going to buy nothing for my art from now until September 1st. No new markers, pens, or pencils. No giant dictionaries (ask Nick & he'll tell you that me + dictionaries = obsession). No more washi tape from Pretty Tape or Happy Tape.* No pretty yarns from Darn Good Yarns. [I have been coveting this one for weeks!] No boxes full of recycled wonders from the local recycling center. {This one might be impossible, but I'll do my best!} No yard sale treasures brought home to add to the clutter.

*Full disclosure: I ordered a huge stash of washi tape just this morning. Mwuahaha!

The only exceptions I'm going to make this are:

1) I'll definitely need to buy supplies for the classes I'm teaching. These items are strictly for student use and a required for my work, so these won't count in my Buy Nothing plan. I am, however, going to work on busting my stash by using as much of my own stuff (specifically: scrapbook papers, magazines, & other collage materials) as possible.

2) I might need to make an exception to this rule for business purposes, if I sell out of lockets or something in my etsy shop. This is pretty unlikely though since I think I'm well stocked on most items right now. Still, since I have a huge art sale on September 10th, it's possible that I might need to buy supplies for prepping inventory. Generally, this includes glue dots, zinc washers, and E6000. Maybe some 20 gauge wire or necklace chain. Possibly a spool of thread. Probably I have everything I need on hand or can make do without it if I don't. I am almost out of business cards though, which aren't a craft supply anyway. Just wanted to remind myself!

3) Um, yeah, so if I find something on the side of the road and I gotta have it; it's okay to bring it home. If I do bring something home; however, I must donate or trash something from my stash immediately to make up for it. I am, however, going to avoid my favorite "curb alerts" most of the time... I will be too busy making art anyway!

That's it! Eleven weeks (!!!) of buying nothing for my art. Can I do it? To be honest: I'm not sure! But I'm sure going to do my best! I'm pretty sure I have enough crafty goodies around me that I could craft all day every day for eleven weeks without running out of potential projects! I definitely have enough supplies to make:

a dozen or so art journals, especially if I make a journal using recycled cardboard and whatever random paper I find in my stash. It's totally possible that with a little ingenuity, I could double this number.
several full-size quilts or a bunch of smaller art quilts. (unlikely, but possible)
two decorative styrofoam head sculptures (hey, I gave away two!)
20 or so embroidery hoop wall hangings
10 mixed media paintings on canvas
about a billion hemp bracelets
300 or so optical lens pendants (seriously)
umpteen Scrabble tile necklaces
several dozen bamboo bracelets
5 dozen dictionary pencils
1 funky recovered couch and 2 matching pillows
countless zippered pouches

What should you buy less of this summer? I challenge you to bust your stash this summer, too! If you are going to join in the fun, leave me a link to your blog and I'll post it here.

If you decide to participate, feel free to grab this icon and link back to Crafty Moira.

190 x 200 pixels

Art Journal: Artist to Watch

2011-06-17T18:21:00.000-04:00

I was clicking around on Flickr today and found the work of The Kathryn Wheel. Gorgeous stuff! She's hosting a giveaway right now of her two new Art Journaling DVDs, and I so want to win! I would totally buy the DVDs, but the postage is so much! Sad Moira!

The Kathryn Wheel

Art Journals: New Journal Cover

2011-06-17T13:15:00.003-04:00

I have been wanting to make myself a hard cover art journal for a while now. A week or two before we moved, I finally did it! I used 2 8x10 canvas panels, three sheets of Fabriano Artistico HP watercolor paper (140lb), some book cloth tape sent to me by Nancy Rafi, and some heavy duty black cord. I decided not to start working in it until after the move, though I was unable to resist painting some backgrounds. I would have started working in it on June 6th when the FABULOUS In The Sun art journal course started... but, um, I couldn't find it until Tuesday. Doh!

I used my favorite homemade spray paints to create the background, then did an image transfer using the cover of the newest Free People catalog. I used a paint marker to make the word "art" then embellished it by tracing the letters with a Sharpie Poster-Paint marker and uni-ball signo pens in gold, white, and silver.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I started, but I ended up doing the spiral around her eye with the uniball then decided to embellish her eyes more. I used a neon green Sharpie poster-paint marker to draw the vines all over the cover. I love how it turned out. I'm not entirely sure if it's finished or not, but it's definitely a great start. I've already done some very summery backgrounds inside, so expect to see more from this journal as the summer progresses. Yay for art!

I know it's probably pretty dorky to write "art" on the cover of my art journal, but I wanted to make sure there was no mistaking it. Haha!

Art Journal: Summer of Love

2011-06-16T22:26:00.001-04:00

Ah, summer, I have a love-hate relationship with the summer. I spend much of the year wanting summer to get here.... then when it does, I'm too damn hot and sticky to do much of anything except hang out in the air conditioning. I do love Rhode Island thought because we get lots of nice sea breezes which helps break up the heat... plus it's always cooler near the water.

I had fun making this page on an art date with my boyfriend, Nick, tonight at Panera. Panera is a fantastic place to art journal because you can get free refills on coffee and tea, the food is fabulous (when you aren't being gluten-free that is, sigh!), and they have nice big tables. This started as a prompt from the In The Sun online art journal class. I wanted to work with the color blue for the Summer of Color class that I just discovered... two birds, one journal page. (Psst... both classes are FREE!)

I glued a vintage dictionary page and a paint splattered paper towel with gel medium to make the background. I added blue with Portfolio watersoluble oil pastels (love these!). When Nick was cutting stuff out of a magazine, I saw the white-framed blue image so I asked him to cut it out for me. I drew the flower on top with paint markers. I journaled on graph paper (my new favorite-- thanks, Natty!) and cut a scallop shape on one side to show off the lovely washi tape better. At first I put down the yellow, then decided to pull it up and put down the black&white so the yellow would pop better. When I pulled it up, part of the dictionary page came with it & I think it looks so cool! Might try that on purpose for another page!

I used a Dymo label marker, old school, for the "summer of love" text. Put that on washi tape to bring everything together. I decided to do a dashed line down through the middle of text, then decided to extend it the whole way around for an off-center rectangle. The left side needed something after that so I started drawing the half circle shapes. At first I thought, "Oh crap, I messed this up" but then I kept going and decided I loved it. (Art is awesome, isn't it?) I then decided that I needed to cut the side of the page into the scallop shape. I totally didn't realize until after I was done that I had continued that scallop shape subconsciously. Very cool.

I adore this page. I am pretty sure it's my all time favorite that I've made... Yay!

The text reads:
Summer makes me feel:
* sticky
* like taking lots of showers
* happy when the skies are blue
* up for an adventure
* young @ heart
* creative
* melancholy for summer's past
* glad it's not winter
* cranky, if there's no shade
* athletic (almost!)
* night owl - I want to take siestas!

DIY @ Home: Crochet Swiffer Cover

2011-06-16T12:46:00.000-04:00

Look what I made!

When Nick told me yesterday that he was going to buy Swiffer sheets today, I remembered a tutorial I'd seen for making a crocheted Swiffer cover. I showed him, but he wasn't all that impressed. Plus, both he and I doubted I'd get around to making one any time soon. Well, we were both wrong! I was feeling both lazy and productive (yes, I often have conflicting emotions like these), so I chilled in bed, crocheting and watching Hoarders.

Hoarders is my current Netflix addiction. I have always jokingly thought of myself as a hoarder, since I definitely have those tendencies and they run in the family, but watching the show actually makes me feel a heck of a lot better about my mess. I mean, I might be a craft-addled slob sometimes, but at least I'm not gross. (Okay, I totally used to be gross, years ago, when I was depressed and living on my own. I am not totally ashamed to admit that I have on more than one occasion bribed people with Taco Bell and drugs to wash my dishes. I have also, on multiple occasions, filled up the bathtub in order to wash dishes. Thank goodness I have a dishwasher now!)

Reverse: Improvised for a snug fit

I love crocheting because it lets me feel both lazy and productive. I watched a few episodes of Hoarders and instead of just feeling like I wasted an hour or so of my life, I have an awesome Swiffer cover to show for it. I feel so eco-friendly now! The best part is that the cover didn't cost me any thing, since I already had acrylic yarn in my stash. (Actually: I was lucky I did, since I thought I'd sold / donated all of my acrylic stuff!)

I used this pattern from CraftyStylish as my inspiration. I followed it pretty exactly, only because my second acrylic yarn was thicker than the first, I ended up adding an extra row of single crochet between the bumpy bits. Then, after following the pattern exactly to make the sleeve part, I discovered it didn't fit, so I frogged it & improvised using double crochet, which is stretchier than single crochet. I really love crochet because it's so easy to improvise!

Try as I might, I cannot train my cat to clean.

If you don't crochet, this is a collection of Swiffer cover patterns, so even if you knit, sew, or just like to wear socks, you'll find something that works for you. While I was poking around, I found this pattern for a reusable Swiffer Duster cover. Man, I love crafters!

DIY Decorating: Free Window Treatment Tutorial

2011-06-15T08:52:00.001-04:00

Okay, so calling this window treatment idea "free" isn't exactly true: if you don't have the few required items already at home, you'll have to buy a couple things. Even if you have to buy everything you'll need, you can do this project for under $10, probably even under $5! And, since clean up and removal is a cinch, this is a perfect project for renters!

How awesome is this:

I have an enormous gorgeous window in the bathroom of my new apartment. There is a beautiful tree right outside the window, but in addition to the tree, there's a view of the street. Since I don't like people peeping in on me while I'm in the bathroom, I need something covering the window. But I hated to block out the view of the tree in the top half of the window. The apartment came with blinds, which would be a-okay except that my cat, Smudge, has a strange penchant for crawling through the blinds to peer at birds out the window. I've been meaning to do something about this for the two weeks we've been living here, but when I walked into the bathroom to see the blinds looking crazy askew, I knew today was the day. I really don't want to have to replace the blinds before we move out because I was lazy, ya know?

Originally, I figured I'd make a curtain, but then realized the cat would promptly destroy it. So I thought about contact paper or window film. Contact paper isn't exactly designed for windows, but I know it would work... but did I want to deal with cleaning up the adhesive later when I had to remove it? Nah. Window film is specifically designed for windows, but the size of the glass panels in the window are just a little too big for me to get away with using one roll of film. Did I want to spend $40 on window film? Nah.

Then I remembered having once read a blog about using spray starch to add fabric to walls in apartments when you couldn't paint. I figured that if it worked on a wall; it would probably work on a window so I did a little searching and found this entry from all buttoned up. She used cotton fabric soaked in spray starch to cover her window. What really sold me on the idea was that she'd edited the blog a year and a half later to report that the window treatment was still holding firm.

So, then, I thought "Where the heck does one buy spray starch?" since the last thing I ironed was paper that I'd glued together with gel medium. Just as I was about to head to the store, I thought, "Wait a minute? What's in spray starch anyway?" Turns out it's wicked easy to make your own spray starch. You need, literally, corn starch and water. How awesome would it be if I could make a successful window treatment without even leaving my house or spending a penny? Uh, totally awesome!

I remembered that I'd gotten a bunch of polyester lace for free back when I bought my massive stash of zippers, so I went into the kitchen, where I am temporarily-forever storing my sewing supplies on top of the kitchen cabinets. Luckily, the first box I grabbed was the one with the lace. But I had a problem: I had pink, purple, red, blue, and black lace... but none of those was going to work for my bathroom. I kept digging and then I found it: a large piece of kinda ugly white lace. Perfect!

The first recipe I tried, one for DIY Spray Starch, was an epic FAIL when it came to the windows. {It might work wonderfully for ironing, which is why I still included the link!} Yes, it looked gorgeous; yes, I was able to snap the above photo, but five minutes later, the whole thing fell to a soggy mess on the floor. I reapplied it only to have the same thing happen immediately after. By this time, I was frustrated and also thoroughly committed to making the idea work. I sent Nick to the drug store for a can of spray starch.

While he was gone, I started searching again and came across a post from How About Orange included a recipe very similar to the one I'd used except that it was cooked and thickened. That made so much sense to me! I needed the heat to activate the starch, which is probably why the first recipe would be great for ironing; not so great for plastering shit to your windows. I made a colorless, flavorful gravy using this recipe, very slightly adapted from the original. It worked! It's gorgeous! It's still up after being up overnight. My boyfriend is so impressed with my crafty ingenuity right now. We'll be returning the can of spray starch to the store.

If you'd like to make your own (almost) free window treatments, you will need:

a ruler
scissors
enough fabric to cover your window glass*
large-ish paintbrush, optional, but nice
corn starch
water
large saucepan
rubbing alcohol or spray glass cleaner

* I suspect that natural fibers like cotton would be best because it will soak up the liquid... but so far so good on the cheapo polyester lace! If you aren't sure, just try it. You can also wash out the starch if it doesn't work and use the fabric for something else. The starch will make your fabric less transparent, so if you want to let in light, get the thinnest, most translucent fabric you can find.

Clean the windows. I used rubbing alcohol all across the glass, but this probably isn't strictly necessary. Just make sure they aren't gross, a'ight?

Place two cups of water to boil. In a separate saucepan, whisk 1/4 cup of cornstarch with 1/2 cup of cold water. Whisk in the boiling water and bring to a gentle boil until the mixture just starts to thicken. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, measure the glass in your windows and cut your fabric to fit. You'll see in the picture that mine ended up just a touch too big. I'm going to trim that later, once it's completely dry, and hope everything stays put. It's easier to make the fabric smaller later than to try to add more to it. Err on the side of big.

Add fabric to the saucepan, making sure to coat, and allow to soak / cool until workable. I waited about 15 minutes, but I was really impatient and it was still pretty hot when I started. You might want to do one fabric piece at a time. The recipe I did was enough for two 14 x 36 inch panels, with a little starch to spare. If you have more fabric than this, you could always add up to 2 cups extra water when you are initially cooking the starch mixture.

Place a towel on the window ledge to catch drips.

Pull out the panel, let it drip a bit, but don't wring it out. Apply to the window by starting at the top, smoothing it into place, and working your way to the bottom. Use the paintbrush to paint a layer of starch on top of the fabric panels.

Allow to dry. Leave the towel in place for a long time, because it will continue to drip. I wiped away the starch drips a couple times during the day with some tissues. This cleans up very easily, so don't panic. I was able to clean the windows very easily from the first recipe I tried and don't anticipate any issues with this one either.

Revel in your crafty bad self. Enjoy your new window look!

Art Journal Pages: The Inner Heart

2011-06-11T11:41:00.001-04:00

I would have blogged about the fabulous free art journal course currently being offered by Natty Malik, one of my favorite bloggers, sooner, but I am still (STILL!!!) without internet in my new apartment, so my time online is infrequent at best. The course is called In The Sun and runs all summer long. You should definitely check it out!

Here are the pictures of the pages I've made since the course started on June 6th:

You can see close ups of all of the pages plus details about each page by visiting my flickr page.