Soooooooooo. I hadn’t had coffee for weeks, since before I had my wisdom teeth out, as I didn’t want to have hot hot liquids. Well, today I’m 3 cups in, and I am just zinging. Ask Roxanne, we went for Starbucks and I talked her ear off. LOL I have been inspired though, so off to the craft room I go! I may emerge later for crafty blogging.
For days 18 and 19, I worked on a few journal pages. I was inspired by a similar project I saw online, but I for the life of me can’t find the post now. 
Anyways, How I did the backgrounds for these, I cut vintage papers into various sizes of rectangles and squares, and then glued them onto my page, completely covering the page. The first I did in my new mini sketchbook. After getting the bits of the background glued down, I have the whole page a gesso wash. After that dried, I stamped the images. I had bought a fantastic set of bicycle stamps on Etsy, and thought this one would be just the thing for this page. What do you think?
For the 2 page spread in my art journal, I made the background the same way, but then I did a line drawing of Luna on the right page. I then did the rest of the background in a gesso wash as well. I added the quote with sharpie, and then covered the whole page in beeswax, which really brought out the browns of the aged papers on Luna.
Here are my beeswax tools. They’re both awesome! A little crock pot for melting wax to brush on, and a little travel iron (flat on the bottom, no holes) for spreading wax around the whole page.
While I was in the craft room working away, Rob brought be a snack! Yum!
Today I did a little painting. Among the things I worked on, I finished up this component for the junk journals I’m making for me and my Mom. They’re polymer clay, embellished with paint. I’ll post more about the junk journals when I get them done! 
Day 16 -For today’s craft I continued working in my new little sketchbook, and I doodled what’s called a zentangle. A zentangle is just a doodle, usually randomly divided, with all sorts of different patterns in each little space. They’re fun to do, in all sizes from inchies to big BIG! My favorite zentangles are done in black ink, but I wanted to do something a little different, so I used a light blue fineliner. (note – ignore the eraser booger at the top by the spiral binding, hehe)
Day 15 -I’m super excited about the new little sketchbook I got at Deserres in Halifax, but then again, I have a thing for shiny new EMPTY books! I get all excited thinking about what I could put in said book. This particular little book measures a mere 3″ X 5″, is spiral bound, and made by Strathmore. It’s super thick too! I meant to buy the mixed media one, which has thicker paper, but grabbed a drawing one instead. The paper in it is still pretty sturdy, so I’ll have to give it a try with mixed media too. Today we received a very beautiful wedding invite in the mail, in black and hot pink <3, which was the inspiration for the colors of this doodle. The style of flower was inspired by my friend Roxanne, she draws lots of cute little flowers like this. And the quote is from “Get Happy”, originally sung by Judy Garland, but I’ve been hooked on the rendition they did on House a couple of weeks ago. The whole thing was awesome! They jazzed it up, added dancing, a top hat, bow-tie, just crazy awesome stuff.
Day 14 -Today Rob and I went to Halifax for a road trip. We actually went to see Sue the T-Rex, the largest and most complete tyrannosaurus skeleton ever found. She was amazing! For a period of about 5 or 6 years when I was a kid, I had my heart set on being a paleontologist. I’m not sure whatever happened to that dream, but I’m still feeling the dinosaur love apparently, because I was SO excited to see Sue!
While in Halifax, I of course had to visit Deserres, a big art store downtown. I was so excited to score a supply I’ve been looking for for awhile. They’re called Shiva Paintsticks, and they are oil paint in a solid crayon shape. They feel somewhat similar to oil pastels from what I’ve seen so far, except you can manipulate and blend them with a brush, palette knife, or your finger. And, unlike oil pastels, they actually dry after about 24 hours. I played with them a little in the car on the way home. I just played with blending a few colors, but that’s the only crafty thing I was able to squeeze in on our road trip, so this is it. I played in my new little chunky sketchbook I also got there.
Day 13 – In keeping with my spring mood, I created some little wearable chocolate bunny brooches! They are felt, and all hand stitched, on Easter-colored backings of course (except for baby yellow – pale baby yellow felt apparently does not exist!) These measure about 2″ High, and will be listed on Bubblecup.etsy.com tomorrow,
Day 12 – For day 12, I created some much-needed labels for some buttons I’ll be listing on retroheart.etsy.com this week, using Photoshop. Watch for them!
*Whew* I’m finally all caught up on my 365 Days of Creativity Challenge. It should be smooth sailing here on out *knock on wood*. I’ve been working on a few things the past few days, here’s a little sneak peek of what i was doing today:
Weee, what fun! I can’t what to show you what that’s all about. I’ve also been working on another little Easter project, maybe I’ll finish that for tomorrow. I’ve also resolved to make 2011 the year I finish up some old half-done projects. I’ve been doing good so far, with the tree-skirt, so hopefully I’ll get some more done and posted soon. I’ve got lots of good ideas for more projects, so keep an eye out! 
Day 11 – Happy St Patrick’s Day! For today, I made a cute little chipboard shamrock, free-handed and decorated with glitter. I was thinking about gluing a pinback to it and wearing it all day, but I didn’t get around to it., so he’s just a shamrock without a purpose.
Day 10 – For today, I finally created a poster for my craft room that I’ve been meaning to do for awhile. If you craft, you understand how hilarious this statement is. Once you have glitter, you will never get rid of it. My sister-in-law says she knows when my niece has been at my house, as she finds glitter on her when she gets home. The majority of the jobs I’ve worked in the past have involved glitter too, lol. Face painting, I’ve worked at 2 craft stores, and 2 home decor stores, which surprisingly see a fair amount of glitter. hehe Oh, and ironically enough, when I was making this poster, as I was trying to put the dark blue glitter back in it’s container, I somehow dumped a bunch of it down the front of my shirt. The girls were looking mighty fine!
Day 9 – For day 9, I crafted out of necessity. As an Etsy seller, I like to tuck a little hand written thank you note into each package I mail out. So, I make these little cards, decorate them, and write my thank you. I do a bunch at one time, so I have a stash of them for a bit. When I run out, I cut, punch, glue, and write up a bunch more.
Day 8 – I’m feeling really blah lately, what with all the trouble I’ve been having from my wisdom teeth extraction, being stuck in the house, not being able to eat much, etc. So, I’ve been trying to work some spring things into my day. Spring is happy, it’s refreshing, and pretty. I made these little origami butterflies in pretty pastel colors, just right for spring. I strung them all on fishing line, and hung them in my front window. Artemis was all about this project, from folding, to stringing, to hanging. hehe
Day 7 – For day 7, my creative project was inspired by my friend Nick. He described it, and I felt the need to draw it. It is indeed me, and a muffin. It was a quick little drawing, so I wasn’t going for neatness or perfection here keep in mind. hehe
Now, days 5 & 6 are where my 365 Days of Creativity Challenge fell apart. I was in pain, a bloody mess, and hopped up on Demerol for those days, so honestly, no crafting got done. So, what I am going to do to fill in for those days are share a couple of projects I did in the past couple of months. For my posts thus far, I have been doing paper crafts, as that’s what I’ve been in the mood to make lately, but these are actually both cross stitch!
First, I was very happy to finish a huge project I’ve been working on for years. Since 1999 to be exact. As my husband puts it, there’s a lot of cross stitch in this project…maybe not 11 years’ worth, but still a lot. LOL But, this is the way I craft. Do cross stitch for a few weeks, then get bored and stash said project away to work on my next whim, until someday when I get the cross stitch bug again. This year however, I’ve resolved to get some of these old projects done and OUT of my house! I made this Christmas tree skirt from a Dimensions kit I believe it was. I made it for my mom, who loves animals, so I knew she would love it. Now, over the past few years, she knew I was working on something for her, but had no idea what. I was hesitant about finishing this project as well because I put so much work into it, but I hadn’t pre-washed the embroidery floss, so I was scared when I washed it, it would run. Which it did – I was so horrified. But, after many sessions of soaking in water, almost all of the dye did come out. I was also scared to cut the tree skirt shape out of it, in case I cut wrong, or messed it up after all that work stitching. I finally made myself do it though, and that part turned out great. I trimmed it in red satin ribbon (which I of course couldn’t find at Michaels, so I bought wired and pulled the wire out of it. Nothing is ever easy for me. LOL)
Anyways, here’s my Mom with her tree skirt, the day I gave it to her. She was so excited. <3 Not half as excited as I was to be done it though. haha
Another stitching project I did just after Christmas, was inspired by an inside joke between myself, my hubby Rob, and my friend Roxanne. I think she liked it:
For this day, I made a couple of sets of little upcycled envelopes. Upcycling is a play on recycling, but it’s when you take something old and remake it into something new. I scored this little book about White Highland West Terriers (or, Westies), at a thrift store, and had it stashed away to use for just this purpose. I have an envelope template somewhere, but I couldn’t find it, so I just cut one out of a cardstock ad. Here’s a little mini tutorial for the envies:
What I did first was take out all the pages I wanted to use. You can find free envelope templates online that you just print out, or you can even just carefully unfold any envelope and use it as a template. I make a couple of different sizes, and for these smaller ones, I like to have the negative space as my template, instead of the envelope itself, as that way I can position the photo just where I want it on the front.
Then, I trace around the template on each page, and cut out the envelopes. Then it’s just folding up the envie, gluing the tabs on the sides, and voila! These small envelopes are great for tucking a little note into a gift. I’ve listed these envelopes on my etsy shop for sale.
Day 3 – Day 3 of my crafting journey was the day I got the phone call that the dental surgeon had an opening that afternoon, so I got my wisdom teeth out a couple of weeks early. So, on day 3, I made a page in my art journal about it. Excuse the scribbly messy writing – I was a wreck, and my penmanship is horrible on a good day! I did this page with ballpoint pen, ink pads for the background color, a little collage in there, and colored pencils.
Day 2 – For day 2, I holed up in my craft room, cat in tow, and made some inchies! What are inchies you ask? Well, they’re little tiny 1″ X 1″ pieces of art! You make ‘am and can trade ‘em online. I fell in love with them as soon as I heard of them, because a) I love all things mini, b) you can do anything for them - paper craft, sewing, paint, draw, collage, etc, and c) they’re trade-able!! I’m working on a whole set with monochromatic inchies in each color of the rainbow, so today I was working specifically on green inchies. ♥ This set I’ve painted some watercolor backgrounds on cardstock, then went to town with collage, stickers, magazine cut outs, ribbon, glitter, rhinestone, paper punches, gel pens, etc. In the pic you can see some finished inchies on the right, and some in the works on the left. This is the way I work on inchies. Instead of working on one at a time, I work on a whole bunch, moving elements around until something grabs me.
And, here’s my inchie storage container. I keep all my blank inchie backgrounds I’ve cut in here, as well as ones in progress. All my inchies in one tiny box! I wish everything else in my craft room would fit in boxes that small. hehe
Oh, and Artie was happy to be back in the craft room, on his chair.
