rubber stamping, collage, mixed media & altered art

I’m going to be a woman of few words today. I finally finished these canvases I started in Leighanna Light’s class a few weeks ago. I love them! It was fun to take whatever scraps and randomness I had on the table in front of me to create these little rows of houses. I loved “frosting” the canvases with gel medium to create texture. Thanks, Leighanna, for a great workshop!

I was searching for something clever to say, other than “Hey, look at the Moshi Doll I made in Leighanna Light’s workshop a couple of weeks ago!” But I don’t have anything really thought-provoking. I’m so pleased with the way she came out, though. And, as I found last time I took a class from Leighanna, she really helped me stretch myself during the creation process. I’m still in the process of finishing the other things I made in Leighanna’s classes and I love them all.

So, the big exciting news is that Tim and I spent all of Thursday night and part of Friday moving around furniture in my studio/office and I’ve been reorganizing. I’m rethinking how I work, how I used my supplies, and I’m trying to use what I have, both for keeping organized and for creating new pieces. When I’m ready for photos, I’ll put them up. I did sort through my rubber stamps and found a bunch that I don’t use much anymore, so I thought I’d put them on my shop. Come on, you know you need them!

Second bit of exciting news: I set up a Zazzle shop! As time goes on, I’ll add some items with my artwork on them. For now, I just have some basic t-shirts with silly things that randomly came out of my mouth in the past. Check it out!

…Hell, it’s my first foray into fabric art, for that matter. *facepalm* Because I need one more type of craft to get into, right? Right. And you know why? Because Lisa Englebrecht told me so. Well, she didn’t tell me in so many words, but oh my gosh, her work is glorious and she makes it look so easy to make such beautiful letters. I want to make amazing wall hangings, too!
Then it occurred to me that I can use my stamps and doodling to make beautiful lettering. And I can use all of my regular old paper collage techniques and just transfer it to the fabric stuff. Fabric doesn’t need to be scary anymore!

The other revelation of the week is that a sewing machine doesn’t scary me anymore. This is huge, people. I vaguely remember using a tiny sewing machine when I was young. Maybe it was my mom’s old Singer from when she was a kid. I remember sewing tiny pillows and blankets for Barbie and sewing little booklets together. I don’t know just when I started to be completely afraid that I’d sew through my own finger. LOL

Mom wanted a sewing machine for Christmas, so I recommended to my brother to get the Hello Kitty one by Janome since it was highly recommended and inexpensive, but much better quality than that $10 crappy one you can get for paper at the craft store. For some reason, they sent him two, so mom gave me the other one for my birthday.

I received it in February and I looked at the box for months. I took it out of the box after the Lisa Englebrecht classes. I looked at it for a week. Then I took it to the kitchen table and looked at the booklet and learned all of the parts. Then, this weekend, I learned how to fill a bobbin and thread the machine and I played with scrap fabric and stitched what could have been a bean bag, had I had some beans to fill it with.

Upon the advice of Fran, I got a needle to use with metallic thread today and went to town. I started out by using a painted piece I made in Lisa’s class and I stenciled on the swirls with Color Mists. Then I stamped on it with gesso and foam stamps. I wrote the quote with a tough wash pen I bought from Lisa and then sewed on the little dove bead I had lying around for years, waiting for the perfect project.

A chopstick is sewn into the top and I tied cord around the ends. A little handmade bead Andrea sent me is up on the cord, right below where the hanger is. This piece is going to my friend Wendy for her birthday, which is at the end of this month. It isn’t perfect, it’s crooked, and I smudged it a little but I love it and I think she will, too!

I’m in northern California this weekend, visiting a dear friend whose birthday was yesterday. Her husband and I schemed to surprise her with my (and my husband’s presence) and we showed up Thursday after work (after driving all day Wednesday and Thursday). It was pretty cool to surprise her like that. We almost didn’t go on this trip because of a few financial and health related issues, but I’m really glad Tim talked me into it. I have been truly exhausted and drained lately and I think this was just what I needed to help refill my well.

There was a lot of birthday-related activity this weekend, but today we were able to just have some unplanned fun. We four got in the car armed with the names of a few shops and headed to 4th Street in Berkeley to get our craft on. (Well, one husband spent a lot of time with his iPhone and the other husband toodled around pointing out cool stuff that I may have missed, and also took quite a bit of video footage for me.)

First stop was Paper Source, then we headed to Castle in the Air and Scrapbook Territory. Well, nothing had me prepared for the joys ahead. The photos you see here are most of my crafty purchases for today. I spent way more than I intended, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Barely any guilt at all!

I have been to various Paper Source stores before, but I managed to find a few stamps and little bits that I’d never seen before, including the little curse word, the dreams stamp, the face and the little checkbox stamp. oh, and the super heavy chipboard tags with grommets in them. YUM! (You can click on the photos to see larger images.)

Castle in the Air was sweet and funky and very unusual. I found some stamps and other goodies there, as well, including some spun cotton mushrooms (!). I don’t know what I’m doing with them for sure, but I suspect it will have something to do with gnomes., probably from Ellie (I think that’s her name). I’ve been coveting this gnome stamp for quite a while now. I also got a set of 6 metallic Lyra Ferbry pencils and cool birds…I forget what that style of die cut that is, with the little strips that you cut to get them apart, is. They are gorgeous.

Scrapbook Territory — Oh my stars and garters — I have never seen such a bounty of papercrafty goodness. I’ve never seen a scrapping store with such a great stamp collection, there were so many rubber and acrylic stamps, a great selection of Hambly stuff, I could go on and on. Seriously, if you are ever in the area, it is a store to behold. I also found some awesome brads, cool rubons and a clear acrylic tag book. I am drooling just thinking about what I’m going to do with it (I don’t know for sure yet, but the possibilities are endless, aren’t they?).

We also hit Hydra, where I got a few cool bath beads. Then we went to Ghiradelli, where we got some hot fudge to take home. I also splurged and Jennie and I picked out a few bracelets from a sidewalk vendor. I never buy stuff like that for myself and I’m on vacation, so I set myself free for a bit. that made me really happy and now my wrists are all girly and pretty!

This trip, more than any before, has really hit home for me how much I need to take time for myself now and then, and how I need to get my ass out of town and step back from life to rest my soul. I think I learned this from my Artists’ Way stuff I’ve been doing during the past two weeks. More on that later.

P.S. Jennie’s mom is big into decorating gourds and gave me two to take home and art up. I’m really excited. I wonder if that gnome and a mushroom should go to live inside a gourd! Also, Jennie’s husband saved me two cigar boxes and I’ve been saving all sorts of little odd bits and pieces for journaling, etc. Her sister mixed up a homemade batch of color spray using mod podge, water and pearl ex and then showed me her scrapbook pages and her die cut thing that plugs into her PC (I forget the name). It’s been a super crafty weekend, for not having actually made anything!

P.P.S. S.C.R.A.P. is closed on Sundays and Mondays, so we won’t be getting there this trip. I am crushed.

In a fit of madness yesterday, I signed up for all three Lisa Englebrecht and all three Leighanna Light workshops at the Artists’ Nook. It feels like I haven’t taken a class in so long and I’ve been working my ass off for so long and things have been SO FREAKING HARD and disappointing lately, that I deserved to do something for me.

So I did.

I am so excited.

This is the only artwork I’ve done all week. It’s been a busy week, full of work and not feeling all that great. But I was putting together a swap to send out for Stampers Corner and I wanted to do a little something to send back to the girls with their swapped goodies. This is what I came up with. The dog stamp is from Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers. The flowers are from SunSpirit Studio. I don’t know who makes the e=mc2 stamp, but it makes me giggle. Inks from Ranger and Memories and Colorbox.

I did spend some time yesterday and today revamping my shop and I’m hoping to get it live tomorrow. Many thanks to those of you who took a look and gave me feedback. Millions of thanks to those of you who made a purchase! I can’t even tell you how exciting that was for me!

I have a weekend of work ahead of me. I’m hoping to get ahead on a few things so my head doesn’t explode next week. And if I can spend a couple of hours journaling, too, all the better!

I’m still catching up from my trip back east. My dad died, after a couple of weeks in the ICU, ultimately from aggressive pulmonary fibrosis. It’s been a really rough time, as some of you know my grandmother died in December, and I’ve been struggling with infertility issues. There also have been an inordinate number of losses for my family and friends, seemingly all at once, and I am overwrought with hopelessness and despair most of the time. I don’t normally talk about this kind of stuff here, preferring to focus this blog on artwork, but I think that, as I focus on my artwork and therapy in the coming weeks, all of that pain and struggle is going to show up. I thought it was only fair to warn you!

There hasn’t been much time for anything lately, but I did manage to completely finish my online store. If you haven’t checked it out and might be in the market for some handmade gifts or goodies for yourself, please do check it out. Free shipping on all orders over $10! I’m also taking 10% off all orders now through Pi Day (that’s March 14 for you non-geeks)…just use the coupon code grandopen.

I am also testing a new-to-me payment service called e-junkie. Check it out here!

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