If you haven't seen this fun site, you've got to check it out! It's called Big Huge Labs and that's where I made this:
How fun is that?!? I've made a similar grid of images in Photoshop, but this was really quick and easy, and not everyone works in Photoshop... so be sure to visit the site, it's free, but they welcome donations, too. And thanks to Hanna for information on how she made her grid, which you can view at her wonderful site, iHanna. Have a happy weekend, NOW GO MAKE SOMETHING!
Thought I'd share the envelope I sent to France to participate in the "Mail Art Across the World" project... I was fairly pleased with the lettering until I accidently dropped a big blob of ink above the lettering. Hence, the strip of torn paper from an old book.
My husband was kind enough to mail the envelope for me, so unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to see the stamp that went on the envelope. I wish I'd had the time to buy the stamp first, and make the envelope around the theme of the stamp, but I guess this will have to do.
I stumbled upon a terrific calligraphy exchange while visiting my friend Jane's blog, and thankfully it's not too late to participate!!! Just go to this website: Mail Art Across the World for the details, and get your envelope in the mail quickly, the deadline is April 1st! (No fooling!) There's also a gallery of the incredible entries from past seasons, definitely eye candy to inspire even the most timid among us!
This is a chance to participate in a free calligraphy event, one without judges or fees to enter, and entries will be posted on the web. The evelopes will travel around France, Hungary, Germany, Russia, and the Ukraine. This is a terrific opportunity to participate in the celebration of both mail art and calligraphy!
from Celeste
From the very talented Heather Victoria Held
Card for Joan
Hey, wait a minute! How did that picture of Bubba and his Pig get in there?!?
From Rena
It is so much fun to receive something like this in the mail, especially when most of the other pieces of mail are bills or advertisements... so while you're at it, why don't you make more than one beautiful envelope and send it to someone you've been thinking about?!?
I posted this earlier, in March, and just stumbled upon a terrific blog, called How About Orange?, so I had to add a link to this post... and here I thought I was one of only a few who like the color orange! What's not to like, it's almost red, and since red is my favorite color, it's not too much of a stretch to like orange. Be sure to check out Jessica's blog, it's loaded with cool projects, time-wasters (her words, not mine!), and overall great design!
I hope everyone has a sunny, happy, wonderful first day of Spring!
(The image above is out of my journal, and I've put together two cards that are going out in the mail today, using the same colors and flowered wrapping paper as the base for the collage design. )
I'm off to work, so this is just a quick entry... I hope wherever you are, the sun is shining... and I especially hope the sun is shining in Japan, where so many are suffering. My heart goes out to the Japanese people, and I desperately wish I could do more than send money to the Red Cross...
I just took my final exam and have now completed all requirements for completion of my BSN (Bachelor's of Science of Nursing)!!!
Photo of me as Student Nurse, Bronson School of Nursing, Kalamazoo, MI, circa 1978
It's only taken me 20 years to finish, but no matter that, it feels really great to set a goal and meet it.
YEAH!!!!
I'm looking forward to going to a few of the Oscar nominated films, reading the Sunday paper in a leisurely fashion (on Sunday morning), spending time with my family and friends, knitting, reading for fun, riding my bike when it gets warm, and spending large amounts of time in my studio doing what I love most... making something!
In the two weeks leading up to finishing my school work, I taught a workshop for my calligraphy guild and I believe it was pretty much a hit! I know I had fun and I'm pretty sure everyone else did, too! Here's a few photos...
Miss Carolyn and Miss Ora
Student work: journal covers & painted tyvek
Student journal cover: Mick McG.
Student work: Margie B.
Student work: Carolyn
Student work: Linda McV.
The students did really lovely work that I think they should all be very proud of and I learned a lot from the experience of teaching this workshop... I'd taught an abbreviated workshop once before, but this was more than twice as much time allotted and I'd do some things differently next time. I had a great time and felt really comfortable with my colleagues from the guild. I sure hope everyone had a good time and learned a few things they might not have known prior to the workshop.
This past Christmas was quite a holiday at our house... I had been moping around, getting more and more worked up because this was going to be my first holiday without both children at home, and I wasn't dealing with it very well. Tim (my oldest) had recently graduated from ASU with a double major in Finance and in Accounting, and had started his first "career job" with KPMG in Denver this past November. So there was no way he could come home so soon after starting a job, and there was no way I could leave my husband and daughter to go out there for Christmas; so I pouted, cried, moped around the house, and said bad things about the holidays in general.
On Thursday night, December 23rd, I came home from a twelve hour shift in the ER tired and crabby and in a hurry to eat dinner and get to bed so I could turn around and work another twelve hour shift the next day. And trust me, I crabbed about this, too! I mean, really, who would want to work two twelve hour shifts the last two days before Christmas?!? (Never mind that I had Christmas day off and the following three days after that, and I'd had four days off before the two shifts on the 23rd and 24th! Talk about an ingrate!)
I came in the house with a pizza from our favorite, Buddy's, set down the pizza, and said I needed to use the restroom. My husband greeted me and said "Good! I wanted to show you something I did in the hallway!" (We've been restoring our house for more than a year now, which means there's always something in the works, so this was pretty typical). I walked into the living room and THERE WAS MY SON TIMMY!!!
He'd come home for Christmas with the help of my husband John, my ex-husband (Tim's dad) Rick, Tim's girlfriend Cait and her mom Shirley, and had been in the works since Thanksgiving. It was a group effort to surprise me and I've never screamed so loudly or cried quite so hard as I did on that Thursday night.
All this is leading up to my gift to Tim and Cait, for their new apartment in Denver... it is a collage I showed here quite a while ago, that I had framed professionally, and once I did that, I regretted offering to give it to the kids!
It's not the best photo of the collage, but it's hard to shoot a photo and not get the flash in the way, which I did here, sorry! Here's a scan of the collage before it was mounted and framed:
The framing is stellar and I have to thank my friend Jacqueline Sullivan for it. Not only is Jacqueline a fabulous calligrapher but she is also a professional framer, and her work is just gorgeous. I took the collage to Jacqueline in September or early October and said "Do your magic!", which is exactly what she did! Tim and Cait love the collage and I'm thrilled that they do, and delighted to have been able to give them something so personal for their first home together.
I thought I'd share this year's torn paper collage Christmas card with you... I had hoped to get it printed and sent out, but it's not looking like that's going to happen this year... perhaps it will serve as next year's printed card. Just too much work to make each card by hand, though I'd really like to!
Overall, it looks a bit dull on the computer screen, because the papers that look kind of beige are actually metallic gold and the computer can't show you that... I'll show you some of the others I made, though I thought this card, above, was the best for a printed card.
Version 2
version 3
It's kind of fun to try to represent a Christmas tree in torn paper, and even more fun to use unusual papers that aren't necessarily "Christmassy", if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, the shapes of the trees weren't all quite what I'd hoped for, but I guess that just adds to the "handmade" quality, right?!?
I felt like the luckiest woman in the world yesterday when I went out to retrieve the mail and found this juicy, delicious, spectacular riot of color and joy in my box!!!
I mean, really, how fun is this?!? This is from Miss Rena, artist extraordinaire, and I LOVE it!!!
Inside, I found more delights...
and two of Miss Rena's business cards, which I think are SO charming and delightful...
this is her new card...
and this is her older version...
I honestly cannot say which one I like best!!! Both are so inventive and fun... what's not to like?!? Not to mention, included in the envelope was a Hello Kitty message pad, and who doesn't love Hello Kitty?!?
(Did I ever tell you how my daughter Corey named our big orange kitty Danny
after "Dear Daniel", who is "Hello Kitty's" little brother?!?)
Anyhow, I just want to thank Miss Rena for her VERY generous mailing and I am working on a return surprise for you, my friend!
I hope you all have a wonderful day, thank you for "stopping by", now...
I have been using Derwent Watercolor pencils to do my watercolor experiments, and ended up buying two different types... the Derwent Inktense pencils and the Derwent Watercolor pencils... and because I really couldn't tell all that much difference between the two, I made a little chart, which looks like this:
And so, from this, I really can see how the Inktense colors are more intense, hence, I guess, the name "Inktense"! (My shining brilliance baffles me more often than I can begin to tell you!!!) :D
These pencils are really fun to use and are very portable... just don't forget to take a brush and some water with you! For that, I recommend using a Koi Waterbrush, which is an empty barrel container with a brush on top. (See image below). This eliminates the need to carry around a container of water and a separate brush if you are traveling with your watercolors.
You can purchase these brushes from Paper & Ink Arts, one of my favorite art suppliers, especially for calligraphy supplies. And if you're looking for inspiration, this book,
written by a friend of mine, Janet Takahashi, is a wonderful source for information about watercolor, drawing, and journaling with watercolors.
