Wednesday, April 28, 2010
New technique trial
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Tag Sale Season Has Arrived!
But the thrill of finding "treasures" makes it all worthwhile. Like this pile of trims just begging to be glued or sewn onto some paper project. It was all stuffed into a plastic bag, and I bought it for the lace work on the left - handmade, beautiful stuff made by the seller's grandmother. Now, why would someone put Grandma's handiwork out at a tag sale?? No worries, Grandma, it will have a new life in some altered art project, and I'll try to make it worthy of your wonderful work. (I could NOT get this picture flipped -even Google'd it and got some complicated explanation, but no easy fix - grrr)!
I love finding art supplies - some beautiful Strathmore paper in lovely colors and blank cards.
No tag sale outing would be complete without finding some books - this time some great books for our darling little GD. She'll be visiting this summer and we need to make sure her library is well-stocked.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Button stamping
Here are a few cards I made with my new "stamps". I love the grungy look of the buttons! The background is artist paper, the birdie cut from an old French book. The fabric scrap is a piece of worn canvas webbing I found on a beach walk and love the texture and worn green color.
And another - this one with a fun little leather flower.
I love this nature chair stamp and think it fits well with my grungy buttons. Think I'm going to attack the text piece with some tape a la Tim Holtz - don't really need "abhor" on the front - oops!!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Stamp storage
I decided to alter the cover - it was a book I bought for my darling GD as a mailer for scrapbook pages to be inserted into her "real" book. I covered it with some fantastic wallpaper - swirls, text, splotches of green. I added a couple of bronze-embossed swirls, some dictionary paper and stamps. Another dictionary page was swiped with gesso and stamped with a great little Tim Holtz stamp. The metal embellishments are from my friend SRC who snagged them off an old belt!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Paula Poundstone!
Some highlights - a routine about her 13 cats hacking up rubber bands - complete with the noise known to every cat owner, ditto the hunched shoulder pose, and the observation, "do the cats stop eating rubber bands? No, they just think they got a bad batch"! Health care reform - " Why doesn't it go into effect for several YEARS? Apparently the insurance companies need time to understand that they will have to Pay. Money. When. People. Get Sick". On cooking - "I don't cook. I thaw, I heat, but the whole cooking thing escapes me". California - "we're first in line for the "hand basket to Hell".
I got to talk to her after the show and gush like a nit-wit about how much I love her- oh, well! I told her that the "Lake Wilmerdink" episode of WWDTM was my very favorite - when the woman on the show said she was from "Lake Wilmerdink", Paula was silent, then said, "Oh my, how unfortunate"! "How unfortunate" is now our go-to phrase for lots of things! Anyway, PP said the good people of LW sent her a sweatshirt with "Lake Wilmerdink" emblazoned on the front and occasionally people come up to her to say that they are from Lake Wilmerdink - her comment, "Now why would they admit that"?
Brash, funny, self-deprecating, immensely entertaining - don't ever pass up a chance to see her live. Warning - to paraphrase President Obama's assessment of Rahm Emmanel's communication style, if Ms Poundstone had to stop using the F-bomb, she'd be rendered essentially mute! Also, if you sit up front, be prepared to become part of the routine - and your every answer to her questions will have the audience howling with laughter (of, course, they'll be laughing with you, not at you (right!).
Monday, April 5, 2010
Spray starch isn't just for ironing anymore!
The top of this one is gold Pearlex - always looks wonderful. For the bottom, mixed some pink Pearlex into a puddle of starch and flicked it onto the paper, then blew it around with a straw.
The other part of this challenge for me was to use some stamps I had to have but haven't used. I love this Wordsworth quote.
I much prefer painting with spray starch than using it for ironing- my hate-hate relationship with ironing noted here.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Spring Things
I love lamb's ears - every bit as soft as the real things - so fuzzy and new. Our family never got the whole traditional Easter celebration thing going, so I really think of Easter as more the end of winter doldrums and the start of a very brief and oh so much better season of sun, growing, and of course, flip flops.