julie

words and more words

2012-01-29T14:55:00.007-05:00

Every few months I go back to painting interchangeable letters and words. It's calming, colorful, and good practice. Lately, I've been using the Christmas tree/index card technique to put a whole set together that I can scan into the computer and use for other projects. Look for more applications soon - there is so much that can be done with a set like this - card making, art journaling (which I imagine I'll be getting back into after a hiatus of something like eight years?), mixed media...so many possibilities. I'd love to know what other people would do with these as well...incorporated into other pieces.

Other (mostly corporate-related) thoughts:
This weekend I read Mindy Kaling's book in its entirety in one sitting. I recommend it for her take on "Jack and Diane" alone, but the whole book was fun to read.

Picnik is closing and I'm sad about it. I really like Picnik. Now I need to find something else that I will like just as much, that won't cost more than I can afford. And I don't want it to be tied to a social network. All I want to do is edit photos.

The new JC Penney Catalog arrived yesterday and I'm impressed. They are restructuring their marketing and pricing and storytelling, quirkiness, and overall visual quality of the catalog is a good first step. Way to go, company!

I opened a Twitter account last February just so I could open an account on Pinterest, and in that almost-year, Twitter has gone from something-I-forgot-I-had to something-I-check-repeatedly. Twitter has won me over. I've even started tweeting, but I'm reluctant to unlock any of my tweets to the general public, because then it will be quite apparent to everyone that I have more thoughts than I'd like to admit about tv. At least Twitter gives me a place to put them.

This is going to be a crazy week, and I'm looking forward to it!

recent treasuries

2012-01-25T15:23:00.001-05:00

a happy birthday message

2012-01-23T19:07:00.007-05:00

This is Val. This is classic Val, actually, wearing a bridesmaid's dress, boots, a sombrero (foreshadowing of her life-to-be in Mexico?) and one bright orange rubber glove. She's crafty. Today is Val's birthday. Won't you please visit her blog, This is Life, and wish her a happy birthday? Thanks!

1-22-12

2012-01-22T20:41:00.011-05:00

I am glad that I went to see the Lemonheads, even though they didn't go onstage until 10:30 p.m., after two opening acts that sounded very influenced by Mazzy Star (which was a good thing, though not good for staying up late). I went because they played the entire "It's a Shame About Ray" album, beginning to end. How cool is that? Probably worth driving home through freezing rain on an interstate with snow-covered lanes, which is one of my least favorite things ever.

Evan Dando's voice sounded really clear - the band sounded great in general, even if a man was singing the female back-up parts. And unlike their show that I saw in 1994, I felt no impulse to need to stand in the front row (or to stand at all), or to wait after the show and meet Evan Dando (embarrassing teenage moment!). Magazine clippings of Evan Dando were absolutely on my dorm room wall in college. Goodness.

Here are a few lovely Lemonheads videos. (He still has the same haircut! So the show oddly felt a little like stepping back into a 1990s time capsule.)

Rockin' Stroll-I couldn't embed the official videos

Confetti - Look at the haircuts!

And finally, I didn't even know this existed. He wrote this for her - they should always sing together.

1-21-12

2012-01-21T20:20:00.005-05:00

I originally made this for the new year, but it's really appropriate any time, don't you think?

pendant update

2012-01-16T22:31:00.008-05:00

It had been way too long since I've put something brand new in the Mirthmarket! I've posted some of them here, but I'm totally excited about these barely-an-oval pendants. Creating them is fun - they're a bigger surface than the rings I paint, and flatter - so I am able to get really detailed with designs. I'm loving the experimentation with color, too. And I love the process. Each one starts out pretty much the same, and then they find their own design.

1-12-12

2012-01-12T22:12:00.008-05:00

This has been the playlist for my recent commutes from work. Every evening there is a song from Glee in the mix, as well, but those have been different. These have been consistent, good songs for driving home:

Wilco - I Might: I love the sound of this song - the keyboards remind me of 96 Tears.

Flo Rida - Good Feeling: You know that's Etta James, right?

The Strokes - Reptilia: The Strokes are one of my favorites - have I never mentioned that before? Probably my favorite band that I've never seen live.

Speaking of music, this song reminds me of this song. And whenever I hear the former on the radio, I wonder if anyone else thinks the same thing.

Have a lovely Friday!

1-11-12

2012-01-11T22:55:00.004-05:00

At work, I have a new set of Sharpies. They were very useful in staving off my frustration with having to be on hold while talking with one school or another at various points in the day. I just decorated my masking tape instead:

Taking every opportunity to add some color into my life. I hope your days are colorful as well!

playing with color and pattern

2012-01-08T21:41:00.003-05:00

This year I am going to make and post so many more mixed media projects, and hopefully by year's end, I will have a little collection that shows how my style develops over time. Today, no words, and, well...maybe a flower. I like flowers, you know.

1-2-12

2012-01-02T22:38:00.004-05:00

Three pendants are finished and photographed (and three rings!). I'm really happy with them and can't wait to make more! And now, my four day weekend is over, and it's time to get back into the routine...or to figure out what the new routine may look like?

Have a wonderful weekend!

1-1-12

2012-01-01T23:06:00.004-05:00

Someone (or someones) said that the way you spend the first day of the year indicates the way the rest of the year will go. I don't know if that's likely, but if so, it will be a good year. I relaxed. I ate carefully without planning to eat carefully. I had a creative lull when I sat at the painting table with tiny pieces of wood for the first real stretch of time in what is probably months, but then, eventually, I got back into it and painted the pendants above (not psyched about the quality of the iPhone photo, though!). They aren't finished because apparently, my tube of e-6000 is glued shut. So I stopped for the evening and I'll do something about it tomorrow (which means I will probably have to buy more glue). For a little while now (several months) I haven't made any progression with anything new for the Mirthmarket, but today I did. So today was about small steps to progress, pacing myself and enjoying the present moment.

My friend Heather has made a list of things she wants to do this year and documenting it on her blog. It's a good idea to use the opportunity of a new year as a clean slate/fresh start/day one. I like the optimism a new year brings.

I hope the optimism continues for you in the months ahead! I am excited to get back to creating and blogging more often. I think that great days are ahead.

...and a Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T19:26:00.008-05:00

I'm not ready for a new year. I am overwhelmed by the idea of looking back at it - it seems like the last new year happened about three weeks ago. Earlier this week I watched a montage of images, a blur of GabrielleGiffordsElizabethTaylorJustinBieberOsamaBinLadenRoyalWeddingSteveJobsTwitterTsunamiKaddhafiKardashianKimJongIlDanWheldonSugarlandStateFairAmyWinehouseRepublicanCandidatesLadyGagaAfghanistanIt'sFridayFriday and then it was all wrapped up and finished and now we prepare for something new and unknown and we hope it will be so much more than this year has been.

I wish you a safe and wonderful celebration and beginning to a new year that brings you every kind of peace and joy.

~Julie

I wish you a Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T23:44:00.011-05:00

I didn't make a single present this year (at least, I didn't make and finish anything in time for Christmas). I did take a few hours out to make Christmas cards, though. Here's what I did:

First, I painted index cards (maybe twelve or so? I didn't count...) using five paint colors: red, fuchsia, lime green, reef blue, and white. Some were more plain, and some were patterned. Then, I forgot to take a photo of them - but here was my palette.

I cut the cards into little strips and piled them up on the craft table in a big heap.

I used blank index cards as a surface upon which to lay stripes of each design. I glued each stripe down with mod podge.

After the cards were dry, I started to cut each one into a tree-like triangle shape.

Then, in true Julie-fashion, I didn't want to waste the excess, so I made patch-work-esque trees from the scraps.

Here is a little land of trees:

I bought pre-made cards and glitter paper, and used a square of glitter for each background. I used gold foil paper for each star. Everything is held together with double stick foam tape, so there is just a bit of dimension, and no gluey mess. Each card is a little different. And I like that I could write any message I wanted inside.

Of course, you could skip the painting part altogether and just use construction paper or scrapbook paper for the trees. I just like painting.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

(pause)

2011-12-11T22:48:00.020-05:00

Hello, December!

I imagine that I will not reach any blogging records this month. Some months are like that. This blog is mostly about my creative endeavors and sometimes a little more than that...but this month, I am a worker bee, and I need to spend my extra time just holding everything else together. That is one of the lessons about self-maintenance that I keep learning over and over again. Someday I may know how to do that and still maintain some creative productivity. And when I find that balance, I will probably write about it a lot.

I do miss blogging, though, and I have so many plans for updates in the new year.

Today, because I shared senior photos of my niece, I'm also going to share some senior photos of my nephew.

The two sessions could not have been more different. Justin's photos were taken in a little park across the street from his house, just hours before my plane was scheduled to take me back to Indiana from Houston. We were pressed for time.

There was no clothing change. In fact, he wore shorts, which didn't make it into any photos at all. And, he is at least a foot taller than I am. I think he might be the tallest person in the family. He might be six foot five?

The scenery was the opposite of lush. It was all brown and dead-stick-filled, and the lake in the park had mostly dried up, leaving rusty debris. It wasn't even rustic in a cool way. Shooting around those grounds made the photo session even more challenging!

Now that I look at this, the photo above looks kind of greenish. I should fix that.

And, Justin doesn't even really like to have his picture taken. Or at least, I think he doesn't. I was so thrilled that he let me take his picture at all!

He is the king of goofy faces. He is so hilarious. He is awesome at impressions - seriously talented. (There were many photos even more goofy than this one!)

This week he was accepted to UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz. He hasn't even finished applying at schools. We're all so excited for him!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Rest whenever you feel like you need it - whenever you can. It will help. I promise.

recent treasuries

2011-11-25T09:24:00.001-05:00

thankful

2011-11-24T12:27:00.004-05:00

I hope that you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving. This week has been full and fun. Some sneak peeks are below:

hello houston

2011-11-19T22:53:00.005-05:00

I'm in warm, humid Houston, Texas. The flight here was lovely-maybe the best ever, because the plane was sparsely populated and the clouds were just layers of beautiful. I'll be here for a week, and I think there will be some cool experiences along the way.

Have a wonderful weekend!

recent treasuries

2011-11-12T08:56:00.000-05:00

11-11-11

2011-11-11T22:07:00.007-05:00

I am too tired tonight to pick up a paintbrush, but my brain is holding a lot of ideas.

I want to mount some mixed media art on wood plaques.

I want to make felt rosettes.

I want to paint a canvas full of flowers.

I want to be better at integrating creativity into my everyday routine. My energy is poured into work, and sometimes it is an awesomely creative adventure. I painted a lot of paper leaves with watercolors this week for a "thankful tree" that is turning out beautifully (and I don't take credit for it - I only thought of the watercoloring part).

In the meantime, so many ideas crowd the space in my mind. How can I find the balance?

Here are some beads I painted a few years ago. I painted beads pretty compulsively for a while. I don't really feel like painting more beads at this point in time, but I liked these a lot.

Sometime I will have something newly created to post. Just not tonight. :)

11-10-11

2011-11-10T20:55:00.009-05:00

I went with some students from our school on a field trip to PASIC (The Percussive Arts Society International Convention). It was super fun and a nice diversion from the regular routine. Any day that includes playing a steel drum is a pretty good day.

11-02-2011

2011-11-02T23:56:00.006-04:00

Not much to say tonight- I just like the palindrome of today's date.

Here's a photo to make this post even more random (another painted doodle):

11-1-11

2011-11-01T23:27:00.003-04:00

I took a lot of flower photos this summer, and didn't post any at all. This is one of my favorites:

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

me, in costume

2011-10-31T05:04:00.002-04:00

happy halloween! i don't really get into halloween. all i have to share are these vintage (according to etsy) photos i found of me in different costumes, which could be funny, or scary, right?

pretty princess:

pretty (scary) princess (my family was into reusing clothes. this year, i apparently switched it up by putting necklaces around my neck and on my head. also, i did not put on that makeup. and those are not my eyebrows.):

pioneer woman this was not a halloween costume. i'm not even sure what this was for - possibly a play i acted in, or later, maybe what i wore for fourth grade pioneer day. i love the addition of the wig. this must have been for a play:

random dance costume this is not the best nor the worst costume of my nine years of dance. this one is really only unique because i had a tambourine, and i don't remember what dance was associated with this costume at all. those tights were mandatory for every dance costume from about fourth to seventh grade. they were called "toast" colored hose from parklane hosiery at the mall. i cringe. :

baby rock star:

a few things...

2011-10-30T18:25:00.005-04:00

i am moving in slow motion today. i've been working on photo editing to list some new items in the Mirthmarket, which i've neglected a bit lately as far as new content.

i'd like to give my blog a new name and it's time for a new banner, too. name ideas, anyone? i think this blog has had about seven or eight titles. i'm not great at naming things.

i visited friends this week, which was really nice. i love it when i visit with friends i haven't seen in months or years and it feels like no time has passed at all...even when there are now children running around whom i hadn't gotten to know until now.

i bought "mylo xyloto" this weekend on cd. no itunes or spotify for this one. i miss the excitement of waiting for a big album release and then going out to buy the brand new cd, looking through the booklet to see if lyrics were included, reading the thank yous, etc. the actual cd is decorated with a cool, colorful spiral. listening to it all the way through for the first time, i wondered for a split second what music critics would think about it, and then i thought about how it doesn't really matter what music critics say. what matters is how much the music becomes a soundtrack to your memories.

only a little bit crafty lately

2011-10-28T23:58:00.007-04:00

on my last day in michigan, i doodled this with paint before breakfast:

Source: Uploaded by user via julie on Pinterest

(i wanted to try the mobile pinterest feature that lets you add a photo...kind of a cool feature!)

since then, about the only creative thing i have done is carve these oranges, at the request of a coworker, who handed me a big, sharp knife and eight half-scooped-out oranges and trusted me. i had never even considered carving an orange before. the little jack-o-lanterns are simple and a bit wonky, but also cute (she filled them with fruit salad as a tiny snack for kids):

extended stay

2011-10-20T10:06:00.001-04:00

There are a lot of wind advisories today so I'm staying here another day rather than driving through eight hours of rain and gusts. Safety first.

Last night's sunset was one of the best. It was totally worth wearing a down coat and boots on a rocky beach:

happy here

2011-10-19T16:21:00.005-04:00

It's quite different visiting mackinaw three months later than usual. It's so cold that I'm constantly dressed in layers (seven layers, at times), and the sun sets in a different place. It's just so pretty though! Here are some photos from the past two days:

Right now

2011-10-18T11:56:00.001-04:00

I'm painting today. I sure like vacations!

blustery day

2011-10-16T23:23:00.001-04:00

Today i visited a lighthouse, walked on a really pretty nature trail, and stood in a wigwam with my dad. Later, i got caught in a hailstorm. It was definitely not a typical Sunday. We watched the indycar race this afternoon-how shockingly sad to see the events unfold with the passing of Dan Wheldon. The images have stuck with me all day. So sad.

On the road

2011-10-15T22:40:00.001-04:00

I spent most of today on the highways leading to northern Michigan. It was windy and colder than I'm used to, and I was so happy to have had my free month of Spotify in my car for the trip. It was fun listening to a wild mix of songs from wicked, supertramp, Debbie Gibson, Bruce Springsteen, Kesha, van halen, and jj fad, among my usual 80's synth pop and 90's-era 120 minutes tracks.

I'm happy to be here, as always, very thankful.

The photo below is my favorite tree, which I visit on all my journeys north.
It was nice to see it in the fall for the first time.

pretty leaf

2011-10-14T22:48:00.006-04:00

i found this pretty leaf and wanted to keep it here. not perfect, but beautiful.

tomorrow i am driving to northern michigan for a little break. i have never been up north so late in the year, and i'm looking forward to what i will see. i'm also excited to test out the blogger app on my iphone. if the next few posts look a little strange, that might be why.

i should get back to packing and preparing now. i'm not so great at that part.

have a lovely weekend!

recent treasuries

2011-10-12T19:35:00.003-04:00

(so many of these treasuries are now missing some items! i'll do better next time.)

10-11-11

2011-10-11T23:58:00.004-04:00

four more.

10-10-11

2011-10-10T19:03:00.003-04:00

the flower assemblage has now moved on to aceos!

awesome day!

2011-10-08T23:08:00.020-04:00

i had the best day.

it started out okay...i ran some errands, and then picked up my niece, katie.

we ate lunch at creation cafe. our service was less than stellar, but the food was delicious.

then, we set out on a senior portrait photo shoot adventure (katie is a senior in high school).

we walked most of the downtown canal, passing a gondolier, paddleboats, pedal cars, a segway tour, the entire indiana aids walk, and "barktoberfest", a celebration of dogs in their halloween costumes, including a golden retriever in a purple tutu.

we explored the grounds of the indianapolis museum of art and the 100 acres art and nature park. for that segment of the shoot, katie was such a trooper in her high heeled boots.

then, after a brief starbucks pit stop, we finished the photo tour at garfield park. we stopped into the conservatory to see a bat exhibit, although we couldn't find any bats. we liked it though, as we photographed the fish in the ponds were approaching us as if we were going to feed them:

i took katie home, went to adrian orchards, and bought my first apple cider of the year.

i went to church, and heard just the sermon i needed about worry and anxiety. "worry is part of the brokenness of humanity", pastor yates said. yes.

dinner was mexican gumbo from qdoba. i love to cook although i didn't at all today, because i wanted to get home to edit photos:

i am loving this photo editing process, although i'm going to stop for the night to paint for a while, during a brand new snl.

life is good.

already

2011-10-07T23:29:00.006-04:00

one year, i was so consumed in the minutiae of the indoors that i completely missed fall. it won't happen again.

10-1-11

2011-10-01T22:28:00.003-04:00

i'm still making flowers! i will be continuing this for a while.

do you have a favorite?

glitter and glee

2011-09-25T13:20:00.006-04:00

i painted some rings yesterday, and also the tiny canvas above. it's only 3x5 inches. i'm thinking of listing some 3x5 flower paintings in the mirthmarket - it would definitely be a diversion, but i want to diversify more. i have been waiting for etsy to allow multiple shops on the same account for years now, and i don't really want to keep waiting! i used some of martha stewart's glitter paint on this flower. thank you for the glitter paint, martha. it makes me happy.

the third season of glee is now underway, and the premiere was great. i can't wait for the rest, particularly this:

brilliant. and such a better mother/daughter duet than "poker face", even if this is a dream sequence.

gleehab is an awesome resource for news, and all things glee. in addition to the video above, i saw this posted there, too. also brilliant, but in a completely different way:

there are some really funny shows on tv right now. "the middle" was left out of the emmy nominations, but i think it's hilarious. if i could embed a clip from last week's premiere, of the heck family camping and being forced to play a board game that just involved random pieces from the family board game collection (and a dirty sock), with rules that were made up as they went along, i would. but i can't find it online to share.

have a good week!

super random

2011-09-19T22:55:00.010-04:00

A group of kids I'm working with is captivated by insects, and it seems like at least once a week, they call me over in some direction to take a photo of what they've found. Last week there was this dragonfly just hanging out on the bricks. There was also a cicada (alive) that a kid held onto for at least half an hour, and on Friday, a friendly grasshopper that rested on a boy's arm long enough for me to take a video from all angles.

I'm busy and happy. This is the season for the best garden tomatoes. It rained all day today, and it was refreshing. Over the weekend, I slept for almost nine hours after my nephew's 21st birthday party. Sleep has won out over creative time lately so I haven't had much to share, but ideas are still swirling inside my mind. My blog needs a better title. I'm really looking forward to the season premiere of Glee tomorrow.

flower fun

2011-09-17T13:41:00.007-04:00

The fluorescent light of the classroom with additional fourth grader shadows are special additions to this photo of an art project, inspired by the paper flowers I made over the weekend. This time, I showed a nine year old girl how to make her own, and she glued both of our flowers to pink construction paper. It couldn't have taken longer than fifteen minutes. So much fun, really!

this is so much fun!

2011-09-12T20:41:00.005-04:00

layering these round flowery shapes makes me happy. it's like a culmination of most of what i love about arts and crafts:

*painting (of course)
*doodling
*mixed media
*bright colors
*cutting and gluing/decoupage
*paper punches
*even some glitter

this one would make a splendid blossom, don't you think?

remembering

2011-09-11T15:17:00.009-04:00

the images of 9-11-01 that i saw in church last night and on the television all morning seem as fresh as if they happened yesterday. and yet, i'm certain that some of the elementary kids i work with have no idea that any of it happened at all...and probably whatever the middle school kids know is fuzzy and incomplete. they have no knowledge of how the tv coverage lasted for weeks - there was even a news special for children (remember that?), how every adjustable sign in indianapolis seemed to reflect some kind of 9-11 remembrance theme, how it felt different to greet my neighbors that evening, how lyrics in popular songs developed deeper meanings, how there was no celebrity gossip (or anything shallow, everything suddenly became solemn), how one day i stood in our school's courtyard and felt a chill when i looked up and thought about how there were no planes in the sky.

i was just a girl working in a school in indiana, with no personal connection to the events at all, though it was impossible not to be impacted. at that point in my life, i'd never been to new york city, but seemed like a magical place, like the epicenter of the universe. i'd bought street maps of manhattan earlier in the summer, and i studied them fervently - i couldn't wait to be there. (i did make it to the city the next year, and i loved it!) that tuesday morning was the first day of our statewide standardized (istep) testing. we were instructed not to tell the kids anything (though i wanted to), but every few minutes, we'd sneak down to an empty classroom and watch updates. a few years later, as a counseling intern, i listened to a student who had since relocated from new york to talk about her experiences, and the smell that still pervaded her thoughts.

watching it all again, hearing peter jennings' voice, even - it seemed like no time has passed at all. the memorial certainly is beautiful and moving, but nothing quite seems enough to capture the enormity of what happened.

one beautiful tribute is here.

peace to you today.

what will you do today?

2011-09-10T10:34:00.003-04:00

Today's date is 9-10-11.

(and use it wisely)

something new

2011-09-05T23:54:00.004-04:00

I just posted a new pendant - a different size and shape than before. What do you think?

It's been such a good Labor Day weekend - I saw friends, I saw "The Help" (loved the book, liked the movie too), slept in, made a recipe with an eggplant for the first time, painted a bit, and relaxed a lot.

I also started an altered book project using some discarded baby board books that had been donated to our school's library:

I've never made an altered book, but for the past nine or ten years or so, I've been wanting to make one. It's been so fun to delve into the world of mixed media, and I'm certain that I'm going to keep along that path. At this point, the books are completely black with gesso. I may have painted over some photos of babies inside pumpkins and bunches of hydrangeas. I'm not quite sure what I want the books to be about, so I'll think on it some more.

I just think the photo opportunity above was cool.

The weather was cool today, too...on Saturday it was 100 degrees here, and today (Monday) I think the high was 67. I love that!

Have a pleasant week.

front page makes me happy

2011-09-04T11:38:00.006-04:00

This treasury...

...was so fun to create! This is the first nonteam challenge treasury I've made that has made the Etsy front page. It's a happy morning.

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words. And congratulations to the featured sellers!

new paints

2011-09-02T20:39:00.011-04:00

Have you walked down the paint aisle at Michael's lately? It looks totally different:

The paint aisle, mid-transformation.

The paints are all located on the lower half of the displays now, which means I will continue my habit of sitting on the floor to pick out colors, which I'm used to doing, anyway. The Ceramcoat line is gone (strange, it's good paint), the Apple Barrel line has been updated, and there is a whole section devoted to craft acrylic products from Martha Stewart.

I felt compelled, as a person who uses a lot of 2 oz. bottles of acrylic paint, to try it out, just as a public service.

There are five types of paint. I purchased one of each, and they all seemed to have good viscosity and opacity (well, the glitter was not opaque, but it's glitter paint, and I'll cover that soon). The photo above shows one coat of each type of paint. The gloss was great - it looked exactly the same wet or dry.

I did notice that some of the available "brighter" satin colors look a bit more muted than the color depicted on the label...it's hard to tell this without opening the paint and taking off the protective seal.

I decided to test the glitter to find out how many coats it would take to cover a surface. The display has a hemisphere of glitter and it seems a bit deceiving, because it's opaque with glitter. As seen below, opacity takes about seven coats of glitter paint.

The caps definitely seem like a higher quality than other paints - they close well, which is important. I am a fan of Apple Barrel and Ceramcoat acrylics, and you can tell the difference between these brands and the Martha Stewart brand below.

The coolest thing so far about this line, besides the extensive range of glitter paints, is that it's truly a whole line of products. There are four colors of chalkboard paint. There are many finishes and special effects products. And there are extensions to the caps, like rollers and daubers and texture tools, among other things.

Final thoughts: they were on sale, so I went back and bought more. Paint is fun!

recent treasuries

2011-09-01T06:39:00.001-04:00

paint on paper

2011-08-29T22:07:00.005-04:00

i painted this piece of paper to use in collages. i'd rather not feel tempted to use scrapbook paper that is copyrighted. i finished about one sixth of it and decided it was finished. i liked it just how it was. i painted some other things yesterday, too...and i'll share them soon. i hope you have a wonderful tuesday.

i like this show

2011-08-28T11:30:00.004-04:00

i am about halfway through watching "freaks and geeks", which i haven't seen in ten years, although for most of those years, the dvd set has been sitting in my amazon cart.

the internet is full of raves about how awesome this show is, how unlike even the most poignant and dramatic shows set in a high school, it is the most real, the characters have acne and it isn't even a plot point, the writing is brilliant, the attention to detail using props from several eras rather than just a canned, disco-era 1980 set, the way the characters do "normal" things, and on, and on. what struck me this time around, besides forgetting most of the individual plots of the episodes, was that i'd forgotten who the actors were. i recognized over half of them from current movies and tv: james franco - seth rogen - jason segel? i just hadn't put all of that together.

(um, spoiler for a twelve year old show here): there is an episode where the freak kids get fake ids, just to see a local band that they're really excited about. they get to the bar and cheer for the band and then realize the lead singer is their guidance counselor. after the first song plays, the counselor gets on the mic and gives the kids a shout out and asks for the house to deliver them a free round of their finest pop. the facial expressions and the general mood of that scene were hilarious!

i kind of want to watch the rest now. eight episodes left, i think?

if you haven't seen it ever, or in a while, put it on your to do list. or, you can start here.

alphabet

2011-08-27T23:30:00.008-04:00

In creating a few mixed media pieces this summer, I realized that I really wanted to work on lettering with a paintbrush. I created this alphabet over a few nights last week. I plan to cut copies of the letters apart and use them in other projects. I like the way they look as a group, too.

spin art

2011-08-26T20:38:00.008-04:00

The art teacher at school built a giant spin art machine out of an outdoor fish pond and a fan motor. I love when he brings it to school. He does fundraisers at art fairs with it, too. How cool is that?

Spin art is so cool. These are just regular 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper:

yes

2011-08-21T02:13:00.013-04:00

i took the watercolor sheet from yesterday, photocopied it, painted words on it, and drew outlines and dots with a white gel pen. and i like it, i really do. i'm such a fan of interchangeable words (i've created many variations) that i knew i wanted to do something that i could use in mixed media pieces. and now i would like to stay up all night creating, but sleep calls me. tomorrow, the fun continues!

fun with color and shape

2011-08-20T23:59:00.004-04:00

last night i stayed up late and covered a few watercolor pages with stamp ink, punched starburst shapes, and acrylics, with very little thought given to composition, intending another use for them (i do still intend to do more with these) but this morning i decided i really like this one just the way it is.

painted table

2011-08-16T22:48:00.005-04:00

I've never claimed to be a fan of football but I do like this table:

Mostly because it was the vision of my nephew, Ben, who painted all of it himself, except for the numbers, letters, and horseshoe - just the kind of details that his Aunt Julie likes to paint. Bonus points to Ben for not wanting me to write "Indianapolis Colts" in that annoying narrow western-style font. He thought that freehand serif capitals would be just fine. (Yay!)

And now it's ready for his annual move to a new space in Bloomington (he is halfway finished with college!) . I can't wait to see a picture of it in his living room.

i like clouds

2011-08-10T23:38:00.008-04:00

sunset at symphony on the prairie, 8-6-11

i am pretty much enamored with clouds and sunsets - not in a scientific way - i can barely remember which are cirrus and cumulus, and i don't even really think about them that way. i like how they're always changing. i like that when i drive home from work, they put on a little evening-time show that feels a lot like driving through a kaleidoscope, always becoming different colors and shapes. i've been driving home right as the sun sets, and it's such a nice way to transition from hectic workday to quiet calm. i love to capture them with my camera. i do remember to keep my eyes on the road, though. rest assured.

happy new year!

2011-08-07T12:53:00.011-04:00

summer, at least in the sense of my routine, has wound down. it wasn't a particularly relaxing summer (except for those two blissful weeks on the lake), but anyone whose life is connected to a school calendar knows that this upcoming season is the kind for preparations, new beginnings, and starting things a little differently, with the hope of something better. it feels like new year's eve today.

after i write this, i will finish making signs that will hang on classroom doors. in a little while, i'll drive to work and set up the room which has just had its carpet cleaned, and fill it with elementary-school appropriate games and decorations, turning it from a bland computer lab into an enrichment area. and tomorrow morning, a new school year begins.

my cell phone was (probably) stolen during a morning of rushing around while enduring a short-lived bout of ridiculous head congestion. i liked that little flip phone, and even though its cover wheel had long been attached with stikkiwax -i'd had it for almost three years, and wanted to keep it a while longer. eventually i accepted its loss, and i bought an iphone yesterday. iphones are nothing new but for me it's new to carry this whole world around with me in my pocket. i'm still learning, but so far i'm excited about instagram. if i can figure out how to properly size photos from flickr, i think this phone and i are going to enjoy a lot of photo/blogging action!

also, i enrolled in kelly rae roberts' "flying lessons" e-course. i feel like immersion in the topics that will be covered is exactly what i need right now. welcome to the new blog readers who have found me there! i notice you in my sidebar, and i'm glad you're here.

happy new year, everyone! may this year be amazing for all of us!

post-pickle-making-post

2011-07-24T23:49:00.003-04:00

A daisy in Michigan, a preview of a post soon to come

Hello. I just canned pickles for the first time. It was fun, and I hope they turn out okay. I like cooking, but I'm not a strict recipe follower. I didn't see a refrigerator dill recipe that I liked well enough to copy it, so I combined a few. And now, I have to wait somewhere between three and seven days (based upon different recipes) to know if I added too much garlic and dill. Or not enough.

Since I last wrote (almost two weeks ago!) I have been on a miniature roller coaster...lots of ups and downs, but minor ones. Still, everything seems to be rushing past. The jolt from two weeks of blissful vacation into full-speed-ahead work mode was more intense than I thought it would be. The heat wave didn't help. And recovery time is not happening, because I just went on vacation. So, I press forward. I try to sleep enough. I unplug for a little while.

There is so much more I want to share from Michigan. For instance, I went to see U2! I was here!:

(I didn't record this, but thanks to the spectator who did!)

The concert was awesome. The strangest part may have been the picketers standing outside Spartan Stadium trying to convince everyone walking in that we were about to go to a satanic rock concert. Certainly they have never listened to U2?

This was a nice acoustic version of a good song - nice, nice, nice...:

It rained today and it's already so much cooler. What a relief after such a warm week. I'm so thankful for air conditioning. I'm so thankful for so much.

pitcher plants

2011-07-12T23:13:00.016-04:00

on my birthday (the weekend before last), our neighbor stopped by to chat, and after just a few minutes of conversation, my parents, brother, neighbor and i all went for a drive to search for the carnivorous plants he had spotted earlier in the summer.

i'd never seen a pitcher plant before. when they were spotted along a stretch of rarely-traveled road, they were just far enough into unsafe territory that i couldn't stand too close. the ground was uneven and the wild weeds grew so high that i couldn't tell how low the ditch was. there was also poison ivy, so i took photos from the side of the road.

across the way, in a swamp-like area, we found some more. i could get closer to these, so thought i could take some close-ups and try to figure out how insects get stuck in them. they didn't seem to open and close like venus flytraps.

when i looked inside the flower, i determined that the insects were attracted to the knobby thing in the center, but got stuck in the gunky insides of the "petals". (wow, i am definitely not a botanist.) i thought this made a lot of sense, since it looked like there were a little black insect remnants inside, so i took a lot of photos of that particular part.

when i returned home, i opened our field guide to north american wildflowers, and it turns out i was really wrong.

the insects get stuck inside the pitcher-like "leaves" at the base of the plant.

i didn't really take many photos of that part. oops.

after a zillion mosquitoes showed up to wish me a happy birthday, we returned home for blueberry pie and ice cream.

it was just one little fun part of a really nice birthday, and one i didn't expect.

fireworks

2011-07-11T23:57:00.009-04:00

i'm back in indianapolis-i've started readjusting to work and routine, and i've started downloading the approximately 10 GB of photos i took over the past two weeks. summer in northern michigan offers the chance to take photos of so many of my favorite photographable things. a week ago, the fireworks were awesome:

so much more soon...i hope your tuesday is spectacular.

celebrate

2011-07-07T22:28:00.000-04:00

I like all of these bright colors. Making this was so fun!

How are you?

this moment

2011-07-03T09:53:00.001-04:00

Today matters.

Again, experimentation with the words. I like that each of the leaves slightly remind me of a chrysalis, which was definitely not intentional, and likely a stretch of the imagination.

I hope your day is wonderful!

a purple piece

2011-07-02T22:15:00.000-04:00

Another mixed-media piece - I wavered on the color of the words, and liked this more than anything else I tried. Part of the fun of making a mixed-media piece is the unpredictability of experimentation.

checking in from the library

2011-07-01T13:48:00.002-04:00

I'm checking in from the library - my access to internet is limited, and I am not technologically advanced enough to know why I can't seem to upload photos to the computers here - although they are just older photos from Flickr - surely that would be manageable?

So while I write a photo-less post, a quick update of my vacation is that I am resting. The weather has been cool on some days, cold on others. This year, the lake has enough fish and algae that I am okay avoiding it - although the sunsets on the beach have been beautiful, and I will share all of those photos as well.

I am painting and experimenting at a leisurely, yet steady pace. My parents are here with me - the television isn't working very well, which makes life even more fun. On cooler afternoons, we've spent the afternoons listening to NPR while my Mom cuts material for quilt projects and my Dad works on his gigantic braided rug project. It's a nice life.

I hope you have a lovely week.

i like this song

2011-06-29T17:57:00.000-04:00

this is such a lovely song. if you don't already know it, take a moment to listen to it. i hope you will find it as beautiful as i do.

(there is nothing to see here, just something to hear.)

i like going on vacation

2011-06-26T06:41:00.004-04:00

After the U2 concert, I will dwell in this pretty picture-postcard place for a while, with limited internet, and a lot of quiet and calm.
I'll be taking photos, reading, writing, painting, visiting, exploring, sleeping, and relaxing. I'll schedule a few posts while I'm away, and I'll share all the highlights when I return.

i like cory monteith

2011-06-25T19:00:00.013-04:00

Not Finn, but Cory. (For many reasons.)

But this weekend, for presenting the details of his past, in a hopeful way. Cory went through a lot of the things that the kids I work with are going through right now. He was estranged from family, addicted, and even homeless, yet he was intelligent (with a fourth grade reading level as a five year old - I didn't know that before), and he had latent talent. He was challenged, and then found a way to focus his energy into creativity, which became his career. I know that stories about celebrities don't necessarily reveal every facet of a person, but he does seem very grounded and genuine. Cory is now working on behalf or organizations that acknowledge and support teenagers who are going through the same kinds of issues he went through. I think that's so cool, because acknowledging and supporting kids and teens in tough situations is my career, and they don't have enough champions.

The interview begins here.

i like the non-team

2011-06-24T22:35:00.010-04:00

(this treasury challenge was inspired by that cute whale t-shirt and, in a way, sesame street)

because of my impending vacation, i'm on a temporary hiatus from participating in the non-team treasury challenge. when i post recent treasuries (to store them somewhere they'll stay indefinitely), most of those treasuries are non-team challenges. i think the non-team is one of the best parts of etsy, so if you are an etsy seller and haven't heard about it, here's what you should know:

the non-team *is* actually an etsy team. it didn't start out that way, but around the time etsy began to limit what subjects could be discussed on the forums, and forced all other conversations to take place in a team setting (different subject entirely), the non-team became a team. unlike most treasury teams, though, it does not require that you make treasuries with a certain number of other team members items, or that you make a treasury around a particular theme. there is nearly complete freedom over your treasury, except...

one item is featured in all treasuries each week. the seller of that item judges all of the treasuries and chooses a favorite. there is some incredible diversity in the themes based on the featured item, and it's fun to think of a theme, title, and arrangement that is like no one else's. the creator of the winning treasury gets to choose one of their items that is featured in the next treasury, and the cycle begins again, every week.

it's a good fit for me, because:
1. i like making treasuries. this gives treasury making more of a purpose, and more reason to be seen.
2. creative freedom with just enough structure. i don't want to be limited to certain sellers when making a treasury.
3. i am not really a joiner, and the non-team doesn't demand a certain level of commitment. you can just join this team today if you want. you don't have to be approved by anyone. if you stop participating for a while, it doesn't matter.
4. there is a three day window to make the treasury. it's good for busy people.
5. i like a good contest.
6. it's good company - there are some talented treasury makers who take part, and their ideas are fantastic.

i didn't miss any of these challenges at all until last week, and after six months, it seems weird to skip out. i won't be online much so i can't really participate in the off chance that i would win. it would be great to win someday - i've had three honorable mentions in the past several weeks, so i'm still hopeful, even though there are over a thousand people participating now.

and as the non-team grows, it just gets better.

my niece's cat and the flower factory

2011-06-20T00:13:00.003-04:00

my niece katie has a cat named after forrest gump. i am not really a cat-person but this cat is hilarious to me. and he posed for a very dignified profile photo. nice whiskers!

in other news, our local flower factory is closing. the flower factory was once like a craft/floral/party wholesale club where you needed a membership, but more recently, it just sells about anything you could imagine. i have picked up some great deals on martha stewart scrapbook paper and american crafts stamp pads (as well as other fun things!). i will miss this store, with its odd mix of items, like these imported children's funny cutlery and funny tableware:

(Click on the photos for more detail)

Look closely - it says (among other things): "Tell Me! So dear to my heart. To have both the quality of tenacity."

This is even better: Make you of the kid exaltation begins an ability ownly.

Lst' Go!

songs i will probably not hear at the U2 concert

2011-06-19T11:08:00.010-04:00

A week from today, I'm going to see U2 in concert for only the second time. I've been reading set lists getting an idea of songs frequently included on their set lists. Almost every list includes "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" from the 1995 Batman Forever soundtrack (random?), and I know there may be some surprises, but here are some songs I'd really like to see:

"40" - and anything else from the War album, which might be the album I'd take on a deserted island if forced to make a choice.

"Two Hearts Beat as One" would be a great song to hear live:

(and of course, "Sunday Bloody Sunday" or "New Year's Day". The War album is just so good!)

I love the October album, too. "Rejoice" is one of the best from that album - I would love to hear it live:

The Joshua Tree is usually regarded as U2's finest album. The often-played singles from that album are deserving of that, but the lesser known songs deserve some set list time, too. I would love to hear this sped-up version of "Exit". That is some good rock and roll.

U2's albums in the mid 90s were more experimental and pop-oriented, and I like those albums, too. It would be fun to hear "Lemon":

I could list so many, many more. they are playing a lot of their more recent songs (like this one, so good), so there is definitely a better chance of hearing them. That will be so cool. I can't wait.

recent treasuries

2011-06-16T13:28:00.001-04:00

one more

2011-06-14T06:07:00.001-04:00

begin today

2011-06-13T00:01:00.000-04:00

Whatever joyful experience has been continuously shuffled to the end of your to-do list, whatever has seemed too grand to undertake, whatever you have wanted to do this summer or this year or ever...you can begin today.

mixed media morning

2011-06-12T12:28:00.006-04:00

i had some time to spare this morning, and i've had the intent to experiment with mixed media since at least november. this was my first, amateurish foray into mixed media in years. my initial vision was a gray-based painting, but i moved onto bright colors immediately after i made this. i like the next one even more. and i want to keep going!

this has just about everything that makes my crafty heart sing. acrylics, paper punches, doodles, stamps, tissue paper decoupage, notebook paper, letters cut from magazines, iridescence, layers, fuchsia, leafy vines...i'm definitely going to work with this more often. watch for more canvases to be posted here soon. i love it when my fingers are covered in paint.

last night i went to glee live!

2011-06-03T22:55:00.012-04:00

though our seats weren't spectacular, this show was great!

i am such a fangirl.

recent treasuries

2011-05-31T09:10:00.002-04:00

squirrel session

2011-05-30T22:52:00.006-04:00

apparently, this squirrel thought he had scheduled a portrait session with me on sunday.

he was a decent model, until he decided to jump into a different tree, and run up a branch behind some leaves.

have a splendid week!

exhale

2011-05-29T13:23:00.006-04:00

Creativity, at least for any kind of personal project, has nearly slowed to a halt in the past few weeks. So has communicating with people outside my immediate family and co-workers. The last few weeks of the school year are always a flurry of activity. This year closed with a spirited Awards Day Celebration and a slideshow of students, with photos chosen to synchronize with the lyrics to Katy Perry's "Firework", a song that often makes me cry, because it reminds me of them. The slideshow easily took 10-12 hours to create, even with student help, and it was worth it. The day before, we held a Field Day with a lipsync competition - the teachers and a former student performed Alice Cooper's "School's Out" in wigs and crazy outfits - like, realistic stuffed animals incorporated into their accessories, and one band member even outlined his eyes with permanent marker. Unbeknownst to everyone until that moment, they ran through the rows of the audience, pelting the students with confetti, paper shreddings, and silly string. It turned our crowd of reluctant-to-applaud teenagers into giggling, joyful kids, if only for an afternoon. It was wonderful.

baby boy

2011-05-22T20:37:00.001-04:00

Jenni delivered a baby boy this morning. I can't wait to meet him!

painted plate

2011-05-16T05:26:00.002-04:00

i picked up my plate from you are the potter, and i'm happy with it.

(i was concerned about it.)

a painting for my office

2011-05-15T11:08:00.009-04:00

i'm setting up a new office at work. it's larger, has sturdier furniture, and a different configuration that has left me feeling perplexed about arranging it. there is a high shelf that doesn't really seem to fit. there's also a large, empty cinder-block wall opposite the door.

it needs a painting.

here is part of the sketch (not a great photo, sorry):

it has been a long time since i've painted a canvas this large. i wonder how long it will take?

i'll document its progress here. i'm envisioning bright colors, but maybe slightly more subdued than usual (i know, you are looking at a pink and orange flower up there and wondering how i could ever consider that to be subdued). let me know what you think along the way.

in other news, i think i accidentally deleted my entire link list. two years of links. bummer.

pendants coming soon

2011-05-04T06:55:00.003-04:00

i finished two pendants this weekend, which i'll list on etsy soon.

while photographing these pendants, a sheet of vellum covered the red and white pendant - i thought it looked cool that way!

recent treasuries

2011-05-03T06:03:00.002-04:00

blessing bead

2011-05-02T05:46:00.000-04:00

i went to a mother's blessing yesterday. everyone brought a bead for jenni to wear on a bracelet while she is in labor. my contribution was this little painted bead, with a tiny welcome message for the baby, and a message of hope for strength for jenni.

may flowers

2011-05-01T12:17:00.007-04:00

may day always reminds me of my friend and college roommate heather k. heather k., do you still read this little blog? i never really knew anyone else who was so inspired by the first day of may, and mayday flowers.

i never knew anyone who ran around a maypole. that sounds pretty, though...like a pretty alternative to tetherball?

tulips are nice. take time to enjoy this month.

for you

2011-04-25T05:56:00.000-04:00

i painted this flower for you!

have a lovely week.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T20:37:00.002-04:00

good weekend

2011-04-18T06:23:00.001-04:00

this weekend, i painted this zebra-inspired ring for a friend's daughter. it was so much fun to paint that i think i'll make more:

i also saw rock of ages starring constantine maroulis. he was perfect for the role - i think that i forgot how much i like to hear him sing.

i thought of this:

(actually, i like simon's reaction here - but i couldn't embed that version).

and then tonight my church held a passion play and it was pretty awesome, too.

good things are all around! i hope your week is good, too.

oh, antiquated world

2011-04-17T11:35:00.013-04:00

stowed away in the school where i work, i found this tiny box of "consumer sequential cards" from 1978. i'm certain they were once a helpful manipulative for determining the order of things, while facilitating discussion about real world skills. but now, they are just really interesting photos of common scenarios that don't really happen that way anymore. they'd probably just confuse a lot of kids today, so i'll post them here instead:

going to mcdonald's for breakfast:

along with the many, many advertisements for hashbrowns, check out the uniforms! and, of course, the styrofoam packaging. this one is not really that odd, just old-fashioned. just wait.

calling from a pay phone booth:

i can't recall the location of any glass phone booths anywhere anymore. i don't know if you can tell from this photo, but a phone call in 1978 was 20 cents.

waiting while a gas station attendant provides full service:

she waits while the attendant squeegees the windshield clean, in her red pacer, with the same door handles as the similarly red amc spirit that we had around the same time. my memories from this era are fuzzy if anything, but i do remember those door handles. i don't remember ever having an attendant provide car service, unless you count some experiences in the past few years when i've turned into a gas station and not realized that was the process for that station. what do you think she was listening to on the radio? i think it was the carpenters.

buying a coke out of a vending machine:

i love this photo. the orange pants are perfect for it. we drank bottled coke when i was young so these cans look strange to me, especially that someone actually used their index finger to open the can. sidenote: i remember that in elementary school if we won a contest or something, the prize was always being able to walk into the teacher's lounge and buy a tiny bottle of coke out of the vending machine. awesome.

this part is especially weird now. after you drink the coke, you throw the can in the garbage, where it will probably land on a pile of styrofoam egg mcmuffin containers.

selecting ice cream at baskin-robbins:

i think he is taking a number?

this scene really does remind me of childhood. one of my brothers used to pick me up from kinder care and take me to baskin robbins sometimes. remember the clown cones?

my favorite part is here:

my initial thought was, "he took his ice cream cone to school? and his school had pink desk chairs!" then i realized that he is probably still at baskin-robbins, and they offer school desks as seating. i don't think the baskin-robbins in the greenwood park mall had school desks, but they probably had a lot of people dressed like this guy.

have a wonderful week!

spring break

2011-04-09T22:24:00.011-04:00

during spring break this year, i went to work twice. on the other days i did fun things like:

sort paints! this wasn't fun for me, but i have a new understanding of how much of a craft stash i have created. it's a bit overwhelming and makes me want to paint a lot.

i took a brief trip to cincinnati to visit the jorgensons. i had a whirlwind day of shopping with jenni and aven. after breakfast at ikea, we went to jungle jim's (always a favorite), met simon for lunch at a delicious middle eastern restaurant, went to some nice local shops, and finished at crate and barrel and the container store.

at ikea, aven immediately claimed this adorable broccoli stalk friend. she carried it all through jungle jim's!

when i returned, jenni and i quickly made this tree decoration for aven's wall from ikea cork placemats and coasters:

the next day, i met jenny, heather n., and shellie at you are the potter and underestimated how long it would take to paint this:

i haven't picked it up yet, and i think that the pastel pre-kiln paint color hides what are certain to be flaws from rushing the process. but it was good to go there again.

almost a week has passed since spring break, and now my thoughts are focused again on work: getting ready to move into a new office, taking some students to bloomington tomorrow to watch their guitar teacher perform, and many other activities that will make the next few weeks seem to pass so quickly.

fun, fun, fun, fun.

2011-03-31T23:09:00.012-04:00

hooray! one of my rings was on the front page of etsy today, and it sold! i'm so thankful for the shop exposure. twenty-six people included me in their shop favorites today. i know that's not unusual for some sellers, but it's still a big deal to me! little happinesses are all around.

more little happinesses:

this treasury was featured on etsy's front page tuesday. thank you to BeCharmedDesigns, who was included in this fuchsia treasury. she responded by adding me to the treasury that made it to the front page today. cool!

the rebecca black video is already classic. in fact, i'm certain i was about three weeks late for it. i love the reactions to it as well. sped up, slowed down, dubbed over with eazy-e, analysed by critical teen reviewers, covered by acoustic guitarists and a meat loaf tribute artist, or just completely parodied by snarky kids who are actually pretty hilarious. i'd post links but you can find them all in the youtube sidebar.

also three weeks after the fact (but really, i just learned of these things): did you know that jimmy fallon now has his own ben & jerry's ice cream flavor? you should know this. you should also know that it has potato chips in it. will i try it? yes, i will.

happy april! (i will try to write about things other than treasuries.)

recent treasuries

2011-03-28T08:26:00.002-04:00

internet issues + inventory of supplies and materials + lots of other things = i will have more to say soon, but right now i will add more treasuries

picking up a paintbrush

2011-03-07T00:28:00.001-05:00

this is what i've wanted to do for a while. these images - loud, crazy flowers - are living inside my mind and i am so happy to create them on canvas. creating is so calming. it's not just the spilling of an idea that helps. it's also the focus it takes to blend colors convincingly, and to balance light and dark on the canvas, and the method to choosing which colors of squares will work beside each others, and the carefulness of each brush stroke - all of these things force me to concentrate and takes my mind from the million other things that tend to occupy it. it's mihaly csikszentmihalyi's flow. (fun fact: in graduate school i learned how to spell that name, unfortunately, i've forgotten since then and had to look it up!) it's about the process, and i'm happy that i set aside some time tonight to paint, even if i didn't finish.

one of my mom's friends, upon seeing a ring i'd painted, said something like, "painting that small would stress me out!" i said, "this is the least stressful thing i do". and maybe it is the least stressful thing i do that's somehow productive, because i certainly may have watched a few interviews with charlie sheen this week. maybe.

i need to let myself stop and paint more canvases. i will share them with you whenever possible, and we'll see what happens.

recent treasuries

2011-03-06T21:00:00.004-05:00

dear etsy,

i miss being on the front page.

~julie

2-21-11

2011-02-21T17:18:00.012-05:00

I've never done a Start-To-Finish post about how I paint rings. There is no mystery involved, only tiny paintbrushes.

Most of my rings start out as a 3/4 inch roundhead plug. Why else would anyone use these? I buy them in the wooden craft section at Michael's. Other craft stores have similar pieces, but I think these are just about perfect.

They aren't perfect, though. Most of them require sanding. Sometimes the wood grain is coarse. Sometimes the shaping of the plug makes some really evident circles on the surface. Sometimes the plugs are too damaged, and not usable for ring making, but that doesn't happen very often. I've learned to check the packages carefully before I buy them.

For most rings, I choose one color as a base coat. I tend to choose darker colors, but I'm becoming more brave. Lighter colors take many more coats and are less forgiving of mistakes. I've become more careful in the process so now I'm more open to using lighter colors as a base. I still prefer darker colors, because I love the way other colors stand out!

The best part is painting the designs on the ring. This is where I get really creative - it's my favorite part of the process!

After the design dries, I coat the underside of the wooden piece with matte Mod Podge. I'm really happy with the result of using Mod Podge as a varnish. Maybe someday I'll find something I like more, but until then, I am stocked in matte Mod Podge and intend to keep using it.

I often work on several rings at once, and I use acrylic paint bottles to hold the wood pieces as they dry. That way, I don't lose them among other projects, and they don't get knicked or touched by accident.

When the Mod Podge dries, I use e-6000 glue to affix the ring base. Ring bases aren't sold at many big box craft stores, and I really can't figure out why. They should be! I buy mine on Etsy.

The ring sits upside down on a paint bottle until the e-6000 sets. I haven't timed it, but I usually do something else for a few hours and then come back to the rings.

I hold each ring by its base when I varnish the top and sides with more matte Mod Podge. Then I carefully place the ring between two bottle caps. This is the real process - I don't have any cool drying racks or anything. Just bottles.

Two coats usually works best. Several hours of drying time in between coats works best, too.

That's the whole process! It is so much fun - I never get tired of making rings. And now that any potential mysteries are debunked, it's time to work on listing all of these green rings!

snow leopard ring

2011-02-20T20:48:00.001-05:00

i used a printout of a snow leopard pattern as a guide for painting this ring. i hope i did it justice.

recent treasuries

2011-02-14T05:01:00.000-05:00

marker test

2011-02-13T21:47:00.009-05:00

i tested a few bins of aging markers while watching the grammys tonight. after making many, many little hearts, squares and circles, over many, many tiny notebook pages, i have determined that:

*pentel markers last forever. i think i have had mine for 17 years.
*mr. sketch markers are not far behind that, and they still smell awesome.
*crayola markers get goopy and crystallized with age. yuck!
*marvy le plume markers weren't consistent in their rates of decay. some were like new, while others were a faded mess. i think that is probably my fault.
*paint markers should have an expiration date.
*my american crafts markers are only a couple of years old, but are faring beautifully.
*i miss gel pens. i used to write with them so much!
*my permapaques are still fantastic, as well. i only threw away one of them tonight, after ten years. also, i am happy that they are still using my patchwork box on permapaque packaging. hooray for sakura!
*big smelly permanent markers tend to stink more with age.
*i have a lot of sharpies.

flower doodles

2011-02-12T08:38:00.005-05:00

i have more canvases than i can store right now.

i want to turn these flower doodles into paintings!

(look around...do you have a favorite?)

ice storm

2011-02-01T12:14:00.012-05:00

i ventured outside today to take some photos of last night's ice storm. there will likely be another in a few hours. the next storm may cause more ice everywhere, which would take these scenes from beautiful to dangerous.

i forgot that ice storms make noise. the wind makes the icy branches crackle. it's pretty loud given the typical muffled quiet of winter storms.

hot chocolate and a book sound really wonderful right now. if you are anywhere near these storms, please be safe.

the book of wonderful things

2011-01-16T15:53:00.008-05:00

in college, i started collecting quotes in this humble little blue binder. it's full of tattered, college-ruled notebook paper, and dozens of spirited, photocopied handouts from my two years as an RA, which i eagerly three-hole punched to use as inspiration for roughly 40 bulletin boards and the monthly newsletter i posted in the bathroom stalls, aptly titled "tinkle talk". it's one of my favorite keepsakes.

i used to retreat into the book stacks of bracken library and read magazines from the 1940's, and i'd bring back books of quotations to copy during slow shifts at the front desk of my hall. my pre-RA-years roommates, heather and catherine, have written some of their own favorites in the pages. i miss them.

i've been wanting to experiment creatively. ideas are plentiful when i'm painting tiny jewelry, but there is more to be made. i have so many awesome art supplies that have gone unused. i don't want to forget how much i like using them!

so from time to time, i am going to pick out some quotes, turn them into projects with different techniques and materials, and i'll display them here. i don't know how often or for how long, but i'm so excited to begin.