Pondering a complicated art situation

For many years, I have enjoyed collage art, altered art, recycled art. The ecology bug hit me as a kid during the energy crisis of the '70s and it has stayed with me.

For many years, I have enjoyed making calendar photos into envelopes or other collage projects. When I worked at BigCo, I would go around in January and ask my fellow employees to give me their previous year's calendar. Many did so.

Our local nature center holds a fund raiser that sells recycled calendar envelopes among other recycled crafts. I have templates for making my own envelopes. I have re-wettable glue for envelope closures.

So this week, I was at the local mall, trolling for half-price 2007 calendars. As I looked at many of them, I noticed a sentence on the back cover.

The removal or reuse of these pages is strictly prohibited.

Well.

My mind tried to wrap itself around the many facets of copyright law and licensing and ownership and all. I frequent the websites of Lisa Vollrath and she is quite rightly protective of her designs and ideas.

She has made me wary of posting the ATCs I have received, for that is a photographic reproduction of someone else's work. I mentioned the posting when I sent the invitation, but Lisa's website advises that I should have written permission from each artist (whether or not they consider themselves artists) before posting their work on my site. Cumbersome, but I understand.

Part of my love of collage is putting together new ideas, joining two items in a new way, for a new point of view or a new statement. It seems odd to me to buy a booklet of reproduced ephemera to use in my art when I could have some actual ephemera. Found items.

Does it apply to art that I would sell? The I would give away? That I keep for only myself but post? That I make and keep to myself? This is yet another arena where technology is growing faster than ethics and law can keep up.

So now, calendars are expressly forbidding purchasers/possessors from altering they images for other purposes. Better they go to a landfill than to have another life. Did I buy the rights to enjoy the images and use the date tracking, but not the right to use that image?

In many cases, yes. I have the shed pages of an old page-a-day calendar with the art of Mary Engelbreit. It is easy to see that I cannot legally, ethically take a page of her art, trim it, glue it to an ATC, and call it mine. But if I start with her art, add glitter glue, a phrase from a magazine, a sticker from the teacher store. Now, is it my art? Legally, no. According to Lisa's site, I am using copyrighted images in my art. Even to make it for my own enjoyment on a wall in my house.

If the copyright expires, then it is a public domain image. Lisa takes many public images bought at flea markets and such, I assume, and tweaks them, gathers them, arranges them, and sells the collection as her own art. Her own work created that collection of found/purchased images.

Ron at Big Happy Funhouse also posts photos he has found or bought. Photos by ordinary people of ordinary things and everyday life events. Does his posting mean that he now owns the images? His cropping makes it his? Can I use an image from his site in art work of my own?

I was taken aback and disappointed in the announcement on the 2007 calendars. I can see that the artists and publishers want to preserve their rights to the images, but that restricts me in the art I want to do. Better that it is put in a landfill than put on a card.

I can still use my own art in my collages. Doodles, painted backgrounds, test printed from Word in a fun font (do fonts have copyrights?). Can I take text from a magazine? From a 1992 Harlequin romance? Very complicated.

I don't have the answers. But I would like to hear how it looks from your neck of the woods.

One sheet bowl / box

This is my other long trip origami, making snack bowls for the kids. These boxes also work well for holding scraps when I am trimming papers for art projects.


In each direction fold the paper in half and in half again. This will give you sixteen parts as shown, four rows and four columns.


Fold the top and bottom short sides into the middle.


Press the edges flat. The gap should be in the middle, running from side to side.

Take one corner and fold it so that the bottom edge is aligned with the quart fold. The top of this new triangle will *not* meet up with the center. That is more than okay, it is the big secret.

Do the same to the other four corners, folding them just to where the bottom edge touches a vertical quarter fold.


Take the the little strip of paper that stick above the corner fold, and fold it down towards you, right where the corner is. You will trap the two corners under this fold.


Do the same to the other side. This "trapping" of the corner folds prevents the box from falling open while in use.


Slide your fingers into the pocket under the little folded strip, on both sides. Gently lift your fingers. The sides you are touching will move apart and start to stand up like a box. The sides you are not touching will start to move closer together and stand up like a box.


Crease the corners and around the bottom.There is your new little box.

One sheet, eight page booklet

Ms. Cookie over at Math Teacher Mambo wrote about a one sheet, eight page booklet. She gave a verbal description, but a commenter asked for visual help.

I make a booklet like this for every long trip we take. They are hand for recording mileage, state license plates seen, silly quotes overheard, and more.


Fold the paper into eighths as shown.


Fold it the "hamburger" way and tear or cut the middle section from center fold to the quarter fold, as shown.


Unfold the paper. The cut should look like this.


Stand the paper up the "hot dog" way. Hold the left and right edges and start to press your hands towards each other. The middle will start to buckle.


The paper will continue to buckle.


When the center, buckling diamond has collapsed, lay the piece down.


Put your hand under the left hand side and fold it over to the right. You are now touching the cover of your new little booklet.


Your booklet should look like this when you are done.

More craft than art

Ganoush and I took a beginners' knitting class today with the homeschool group. She learned how to cast on well enough. Then she got frustrated, bored, and cast off her stitches. After milling about for a bit, a teacher gave her some burlap and a yarn needle, so she stitched a light blue VW Beetle.



Here is my first ever knitting work, thus far. I did get the hang of the knit stitch, though it isn't second nature yet. I have one errant stitch that wraps around the finished rows, visible as green in the upper left corner of the second photo. I really like working with variegated yarn. It makes it easier to describe the stitching process: the green part goes over the pink part.

We were shown examples of knitting a book marker or a bracelet or a wash cloth. For a wash cloth, they recommended cotton yarn. I will be happy to just make a square. I'll stitch until I don't. I have an all-day car trip in my future. This could be part of it.

I seem to be doing most of my work right on the tips of the needles, but then it feels tight as I push the completed loops farther down on the receiving needle.

The yarn appears to unwind itself as I go. Much like separating strands of embroidery floss. When I go to make a stitch, the yarn on the holding needle is more a set of four strands than a piece of one yarn. I have missed portions of the yarn on a stitch.

I also have had a piece of yarn leap frog over its neighbor stitch. In the first photo, there is a stitch of yellow between two pinks. On the flip side, the yellow is between a pink and a purple. I don't know how I did that.

And I intend to keep this for myself, even though my general philosophy about starting a new craft is:

When trying a new craft, make your first project for your mom, or someone else near to you who will have to love it no matter how it looks.

More art than craft

The kids and I went to a local pottery shop today, where customers buy bisqueware, glaze it, pay for it, and leave it. The owners fire it within a week and it is ready for pick up.

Just before Thanksgiving, the kids went with their class to make something in secret, if they chose. Ganoush made a red white and purple mug for me. Gonzo made a Pikachu mug for himself.

Today, the kids made mugs for their grandparents. Ganoush made a money for herself and a kitten for CHG and me. Gonzo made a kitty for himself and a penguin for CHG and me.

I made a jewelry tray for my dresser. The cats started as foam stamps. I stamped them with water and traced the images in pencil. The pencil markings will vanish during the final firing.

The bottom right cat kind of looks like my former cat, DogFood. The upper right cat isn't calico enough to look like my other former cat, Vicki.

After taking the photo, I glazed the bottom in wild strokes to use up extra glaze. While I was waiting for the bottom layer to dry, I went to the front desk to make my payment. When I returned to my table, Helpful Clerk had removed the rest of my glaze. I snuck over to my friend Elephant's table. She was finishing up a butterfly box. She let me use some of her green glaze to color the edges in green, since some of my under color slopped over to the top edge. Mistakes are just new opportunities.

The finished products will be ready on Dec 7th.

Arts and Crafts Day

Kimzyn and Anoif have declared November 30th to be Arts and Crafts Day.

I will use the day to make ATCs for Dy.

And possibly make reindeer antlers for Ganoush's Brownie troop to wear in the parade on Friday night.


November 30th is also St. Andrew's Day, the patron saint of Scotland. CHG has a theory (and it's his and it is not big in the middle) and this is his theory:

St. Andrew's Day is not nearly as popular as St. Patrick's Day or St. Joseph's Day because bartenders and brewers haven't yet figured out how to make plaid beer.

ATC 40 - Page 17

Cards 1..6 are from ChristineMM, who has a blog about her ATCs.

Cards 1..3 are completed cards. Cards 1 was from an alphabet swap that she was part of.

Cards 4..6 are backgrounds for me to add to, then to keep or pass on to someone else.

Card 7 is from my first junior high choir teacher. She changed jobs and moved to my former elementary school as I started 9th grade, just as my brother left elementary for junior high, so he never had her as a teacher.

She taught general music and choir and I had her for both. I remember studying musicals in her class. My Fair Lady, Paint Your Wagon, and one other. Paint Your Wagon is pretty obscure.

She also showed us a British short film, I think without talking, but certainly with sound. The Protagonist discovers that everyday items start making sounds. Piano-key-looking items make piano sounds. Like the British crosswalk markings, like the stripes on a bobby's cuff, like a pepperpot's teeth. He was delighted, and then the magic stopped. He hopped around the crosswalk in hope of it returning, then gave up and walked along as the ordinariness returned.

Dudley Diaphragm helped up learn how to breathe better.

Card 8 is from my high school English teacher. We had a great time in his class. One fellow student arranged "Welcome Back" parties whenever he was gone and we had a substitute. So on April 22, our assignment was to go to the library and plan a birthday party in Shakespeare's honor for the next day.

We had our finals the day before the last day of classes, so we spent the last day playing Trivial Pursuit.

Card 9 is from one of my high school Sunday School teachers. That's a hard age to work with and she did a great job, sharing her own faith and listening to our questions and complaints.

ATC 40 - Page 16

Cards 1..4 were sent from recently discovered family members.

Cards 5 and 6 were sent from my childhood minister and his wife.

They were from Canada and he took many youth group trips to go canoing in the Boundary waters between Minnesota and Ontario. I was part of his last tour, with my friend Camel. Two other youth group members fell in love on the trip, married, and have a couple of kids now.

We camped for a few days. The day we returned was raining and I was paired with a canoe partner who was just miserable and depressed and crying. I felt for her not liking the miserable conditions but she wasn't doing anything useful (like paddling) to get us out of the situation. My friend Camel had a much better trip back, as she had fallen in love with M. Shades. That relationship didn't last, but it did give us giggles for quite a while because he called he Bunny Toes. I had a crush on both Rosy Cheeks and Max, but they both liked someone else.

The other interesting aspect of the trip was that one of the two vans broke down when we were just 100 miles out from home on our way to Minnesota. The timing gear fell out. Rather than turn back, we voted to carry on in the one good van. Black. Its only windows were the windshield and the front doors. Absolutely hollow inside. A delivery truck, really. We pushed all of our gear to the walls and sat on it or in front of it, an a large circle with our feet to the middle. We slept and rode that way, all the way to Minnesota and then back again. We took several stretch breaks.

Card 7 is from Hello Nurse. She was a nursing student at a nearby college, in the obstetrics class. Just as student teachers work with a class, student OB nurses work with pregnant families. We signed up for the program through our OB doc and were assigned Hello Nurse. She and her teacher gave us extra visits, HN can to a Lamaze class with us, can to an OB appointment with us, and attended the birth of Gonzo, even though he was twelve days late and made some of HN's coursework late as well.

Cards 8 and 9 are mine, sent to the minister and his wife. They returned them. I guess I wasn't clear that they should keep them. Oh, well.

ATC 40 - Page 15

Card 3 and Card 9 were made on site by the daughters of the artist of Cards {1,2,4,5,6}. The photos were taken by a friend I met through homeschooling. They have kids that match Gonzo and Ganoush for age and gender, plus an older daughter. She is a graduate of Ohio State and darn proud of her alma mater. The photo cards are from her trip to the Rocky Mountains.

Card 7 is from my sister-in-law and Card 8 is from my brother. SIL colored the back of her cards with over 50 little dots because she used her new package of 50 markers.


Card 8 is a fair representation of our childhood together. My bedroom was painted with two white walls, one red wall, and one wall with 10" wide red white and blue stripes. It was painted that way from the previous sunny baby yellow in 1975, when Bicentennial Fever was all the rage. My curtains spelled out USA over and over.


My brother wanted a bedroom of black and silver but instead it was painted yellow with orange trim.

Around this time, we owned a yellow van. Then we bought a cream-colored pop-up camper that had an orange stripe. When it was time to repaint the van, my parents chose to have an orange stripe painted around the van as well. It was quite noticeable around town.

On the back of the card, my brother wrote a memorable quote from each set of grandparents

• Wash your hand before you play the organ.
• Mom and Dad have left; now we can really get spoiled.
• With Heidi around, there will always be mulberries to take home for later.
  

ATC 40 - Page 14

Cards 1..5 are all from the middle child in the Scouting family. Card 2 was made at home. He took various elements from the Scouting magazine to make a new person. This person is named Bob. It is a variation of the Bob who had recently appeared on his poster for his Citizenship badge.

Monty Python fans, join with me in saying: There is no Card 6.

Cards 7..9 are by the mother of the artist on Page 9 and the daughter of the artist on Pages 10 and 11. This family has really embraced ATCs.

Card 7 was made when she made an 8.5" x 11" dimensional collage and then scanned the image and cut them into cards. Card 9 was made the same way, except for using only rubber stamps rather than the added dimension of ribbons. Card 8 is a drawing with colored pencil, representing Ganesh, the elephant headed Hindu god.

ATC 40 - Page 13

Cards 1..3 are from the Brownie lass in the Scouting family. Card 1 was made at my party. Cards 2 and 3 were brought from home. Card 3 features three orange pompons, which gives it dimension.

Cards 4..6 are from the Scouting mother in the family. She is the other Webelos den leader. I lead the den with my son and her older boy, she leads the den with her younger son. Then I assist with my daughter's Brownie Troop and she leader her daughter's Brownie Troop. This lady made Cards 4 and 5 at the party. It was so fun to see what other people did with my materials. It was a good shake-up for my own ideas. Card 6 she brought from home, featuring elements of the Scouting world that we share.

Cards 7..9 are from the Artist on Page 12. Cards 7 and 8 are ones he brought from home, Card 9 is the last card he made on site. I really like Card 7. As always, click on the photo to see it larger, but the words around the Mona Lisa say: Who in their right mind would let you play with a masterpiece?

ATC 40 - Page 12

Cards 1..9 are all from one artist. He is a boy in my Webelos den. He brought two cards from home, found on page 13. All nine of these were made at the party. While his mom talked with me and worked with her other two kids, this lad just let his creativity flow and came up with a bunch of different ideas.

He used rubber stamps, shaped punches, sticky-backed foam die cuts, stickers, markers, and colored paper.

I like card 4. It rather captures the attitudes of CHG and me. I've had the Hawaiian shirted penguin stamp for quite some time, since high school. My dad has always worn loud shirts, no matter what style dictates. They were quite the staple among my friends in the high school band. But the cool demeanor better suits CHG. I'm more exuberant, effervescent, perky, like the Snoopy stamp. I bought it when a friend on another e-mail list used the phrase "Snoopy dance" in place of "Hooray."

ATC 40 - Page 11

Cards 1..6 were all made by Ganoush, during my party. I have a set of story telling rubber stamps, which she used for most of the cards.

Cards 7 and 8 are also from the artist on Page 10.

There is no Card 9.

ATC 40 - Page 10

Cards 1..6 are from a dear homeschooling family. Card 3 is from the father, Card 5 is from the mother, and the remaining cards are from four of their eight children. Many of their kids have been on the math team that I coach. The father was an officemate to CHG before CHG and I wed, so we have always known that homeschooling was a viable option for our kiddos.

Card 1 lists digits of pi. Card 2 is a rainbow. Card three shows Scottish items. Card 4 has mathematical puns. Card 5 features a poem from Emily Dickinson.

Card 6 is a landscape. When we visit the family, we tend to have open munchies rather than a sit-down meal. One visit, the kids started making scenes with the foods. Banana slices, green pepper rings, and the like.

Cards 7..9 are from the grandmother of the artist Page 9/Cards 1..7. I had heard some storied about this lady, but I had never met her until she came to the party. On the morning of the party, all three generations of ladies (40yo Page 9 artist, her Page 10 artist grandmother, and Page 14 artist in between) made a whole batch for me.

Bass clarinet photos and comments

Here are some artsy photos of my newly refurbished bass clarinet. It had all of the hardware removed, polished, fixed up. It's so smooooth.
The wood was soaked in oil for three days (sounds like a spa). It was fitted with all-new white leather pads (which were back-ordered, giving my technician fits).

This is my favorite photo, and much like my favorite photo from back in my college days. It has a redder cast to the shot. When I took it, I expected my other bell shot (not seen here) to be the better shot. Sometimes you just can't tell until you see it big.

We had a band concert last night at Local College. It went well. Our only big excitement was that the conductor's uncle passed away mid-week. He and his family attended the funeral, then on the day of the concert, the conductor and family woke at 4:30am in Pennsylvania to make it back in time for the concert. Whew.

All five of our pieces were new to the band. We played:

• "Ride" by Samuel R. Hazo
• "Elegy and Affirmation" by Jack Stamp
• "Tempered Steel" by Charles Rochester Young
• "Thanksgiving" (Movement 3 of Symphony of Prayer) by J. Eric Schmidt
• "Burlesque" based on themes from Symphony No. 9, First Movement by Dimitri Shostakovich.

It was described as our sit-down marching band concert, because of all the sound and energy we put out. Tempered Steel has a prominent, recurring bass line with some tricky fingerings. The bass clarinets also have an ethereal section that used a handful of note in arpeggios, but there isn't much of a pattern; we had to read every measure. There was no repetitious groove. It sounded appropriate for Halloween, or like something from Michael Daugherty.

The conductor described the Burlesque to us during one of the first rehearsals and we laughed so much, we insisted that he share the story with the audience at the concert. Shostakovich was supposed to be the great Russian Symphony Composer, outshining Beethoven. His works vacillate between pleasing the Russian State and thumbing his nose at them. This ninth symphony was expected to be majestic, greater than Ode to Joy, but instead it opens with trills that sound like raspberries.

Thanksgiving was an easy piece for most. We called it the Cowboy Thanksgiving, because of its hoedown feel. We practically played it twice. After 107 measures, we go back to the beginning, replay 106 measures, then jump to the coda of only 5 more measures to wrap it up. I suppose that helps pad it out to 5' 30".

The Elegy and Affirmation was to honor both the recently retired band director who dies of a heart attack and also a recent Local College graduate and current high school band director who died in a car accident last spring.

Coming up next month are more familiar pieces - warhorses? We'll start "Chester" by William Schumann and "Russian Christmas Music" by Alfred Reed. I have played both of them before and will enjoy playing them again.

Mentos & Diet Coke revisited

The newest Mentos & Diet Coke experiment from eepybird (the Las Vegas fountain guys) came out this afternoon. Our family rates it Way Cool times four. Go see it.

ATC 40 - Page 9

Cards 1..7 are from a friend from my Scottish group. She is exactly one day younger than I am. In her mid-30s, she started belly dancing lessons and really enjoys them. Recently she started lessons in Indian dance, even though many in the class are half or a quarter of her age. She talks to the moms, she says.

She made me three cards to keep and four cards that I can decorate and pass along. A round-robin card.

Card 8 is from my best friend from school, Reve. Thangai is Tamil for little sister and Akka is Tamil for big sister.
On the back of the card, she gave a Krypto:

{1, 3, 7, 11, 12}
{2}

Use all five upper numbers once and only once, in any order, to achieve the answer of the bottom number. If you solve it, leave the answer in the comments.

Card 9 is from Reve's mom, who I call Periamma, which means Aunt Who Is Older Than My Mother.

ATC 40 - Page 8

Cards 1, 2, 3 are from Kim of Relaxed Homeskool. I asked her if she wanted to participate and she did. And they liked it. Hooray. Card two is quite dark. It says "Don't stop blogging" and has a magnifying glass over some of the letters.

Card 4 is from the organist at our church. Now in her seventies, she started playing at church when she was sixteen.

Card 5 is from Gonzo. It is me in my summer hat.

Cards 6 and 9 are from a couple at church who passed 40 a while back.

Cards 7 and 8 are from a friend and his young family. We met in 1994 when I was volunteering at his high school to teach the Pascal programming language. He was the first person to know me only by my married name and not by my maiden name. CHG knew his dad through ham radio. My friend eventually also earned his ham radio ticket, but his dad was less successful at the juggling CHG, me, and his son all do. At my party, I got to meet his wife and their 4mo daughter. My friend looked at my blog and admired my Crow Head, so he drew a card with an MST3K theme. His wife "flew" their daughter over the rubber stamp and ink pad trays and she chose whichever pieces the wee lass grabbed at. It was a team effort from the ladies.

ATC 40 - Page 7

Cards 1, 2, 3 are from the wife and son of the artist on Page 1, Card 4. At the festival, the wife took an art cards from me and a blank card and said that she had an idea but that she would have to do it at home. The quilt block and the fabrics on Card 1 represent my home state. Card 2 is by the son and Card 3 is by the wife during my party, using my supplies.

Cards 4, 5, 6 are from Kiti, a long-time friend who lived across the street during my childhood and who dated Goof for a time. All three were crafted on site and have some secret meanings tucked away. During our visit, she quizzed me on old story punchlines and I remembered every one.
"Can I have his hat?"
"Twenty-two and a half."
"The key bye."
"That Zappa serenade"

Cards 7 and 8 were crafted by her husband, Buni. He was involved with the local theatre group I used to volunteer for and now he teaches at a college. He had his light template with him and drew a little mini light plot that one would use when hanging and focusing theatre lights. WARNING: LESSON AHEAD.

• The large letters mark areas on the stage floor.
• The number on the top is the light is the number of the circuit the light is plugged into.
  
• Each light shape represents a different style of light. Fresnel (fruh-NELL) or Leko (LEE-koh)?
• The line running through the lights represents the pipe or batten. A real light plot would have many battens. The number and type of lights on a batten determines how many counterweights are needed to balance the pipe on the fly lines above the stage.
  
• The number inside is the number on the light board that will control that light.
  
• The letters in front of the light describe which area(s) the light should cover, or a specific area such as door or desk.
• The "R" and number in front of the area describes the color of gel that should be placed in front of the light. R is for Rosco, a gel manufacturer. Scroll down on this page to see the range of colors. Giggle at color 02. When mixing colors of light, amber is made with red and green. This gel is amber that has no parent colors, hence...

Card 8 is just a good life lesson from a longtime theatre draftsman.

Card 9 is from CHG. Count the zeroes for the secret message.

ATC 40 - Page 6

Cards 1..7 are from some of CHG's Scottish-descent relatives. Card 3 is from CHG's aunt, listing Celtic bands that she likes. Card 6 is from CHG's uncle, showing scenes of Scottish culture. CHG's aunt takes care of her daughter's three children. The trio made cards 1 and 2 for their parents and cards 4, 5, and 7 for themselves.

When Pounce and Lady J wed in August of 2005, young Card 7 Artist was feeling a bit fussy. He didn't want to do what his mama asked of him. Just as the minister asked "Who gives Lady J to this man, Pounce?" Card 7 Artist boldly told his mama, "NO, NO, NO!" much to the amusement of the congregation. A coincidence we will tell often.

Card 8 is from the teacher who did attend my party, known as Short. We had three math teachers in our school system who all had the same last name. Short as at junior high, and the other two were known as Teacher Upstairs and Teacher Downstairs, much like a Tomie de Paola book. Short is my favorite teacher. I had her for seventh and ninth grade math. She is the one who taught me Krypto and the Cyclic Math Card Game and the Math in Your Head game that I never kept up with.

She is drawing for me what I drew for her. In ninth grade, my first period class was a runner for the attendance office. I had to take the mimeographed purple list of the day's absent kids to all of the teachers. On Short's copy, I would draw pictures.

When one is adding equations, and one equation has a term such as 4x^2 (four ecks squared) and the other equation didn't have any x^2 term, one was advised to write a 0x^2 (zero ecks squared) as a place holder, much like 405 has a place holder in the tens slot to keep it from looking like 45.

Mathy-artsy me saw 0x as an ox, and drew an ox. Thus, 0x^2 must be an ox that is drawn square and 0x^3 must be an ox that is drawn cubed. And Short remembers this, 26 years later. Cool.

She also said that she considered drawing her signature self-portrait of Mean Person, but didn't, and that a card from the elusive Maynard was lost. I suspect he spilled lemonade on it.

On the back of the card, she gave me a Krypto to solve.

{5, 27, 9, 12, 3}
{4}

Use all five upper numbers once and only once, in any order, to achieve the answer of the bottom number. If you solve it, leave the answer in the comments.
Typically, we keep the numbers between 1 and 20, inclusive. I mentioned that she went out of bounds with 27. Every other Krypto fan who saw her car noticed and commented about that as well. In this case, it can help to make a cool roundabout way to get to 4, involving sine.

Card 9 is from my mom. She likes cows so much she once drove a van that was painted white with black splotched. She likes stickers. She likes me. I'm glad that we get along so well.

ATC 40 - Page 5

Cards 1..5 are from a homeschooling family. Card 1 is from the mom. She punched the cat shape, then backed the card with purple construction paper.

Card 2 is from Son Number 2, who was in my MathCounts class for three years. Last year, we joked about pumpkins and pi and then the family carved a set of foam pumpkins for the Math Team teachers with a Pi letter carved out.

Card 3 is from Son Number 3, who was in my class for just one year. He made cake and Neapolitan ice cream for me on the card.

Card 4 is from Son Number 1, who I also had in class for only one year. This card suits him well. He produced a video promo for the homeschool Honor Society that had a spy theme to it.

Card 5 is from Son Number 4, who would have been in my Math Olympiads class this year, but isn't. I was also fond of drawing rainbow concentric outlines around shapes when I was in junior high. Our band folders featured a profile silhouette of a band in the bleachers and there were just too many cool shapes for me not to play with them.

Card 6 is from my junior high social studies teacher. My mom thinks he's cute. For my high school graduation, he gave me two pairs of nifty socks.

An aside:

I teased my mom before my birthday party. When I graduated from high school and mom hosted the typical graduation open house, at our house, she specifically asked me not to invite any of my teachers. Teachers made her nervous. She felt judged. Like they were going to grade her on decor or dust? I honored her wishes, though.

It disappointed me, because I have always like teachers as people. It took me quite a while to understand the term "brown-nosing" because I never expected to benefit by a grade for being friendly with my teachers. Maybe because my grades were good enough anyway. Sure, I liked the attention from them and the virtual pat on the head, but mostly I just liked talking with my teachers. I thought that someday I could be one. (Look at me now.)

So I teased Mom, telling her that I invited a lot of teachers to my birthday party. Ha. Ha. Ha. Only one was able to attend, but many have sent cards.

Card 7 is from someone who first knew CHG and then became my friend, too. While visiting another church once, I saw a note on the bulletin board from her, asking for crafting playdates. So I called her, we set up a time, she had dinner with the family and we made some cards. It's fun to play with someone else's supplies. New ideas can spark. She makes her own line of greeting cards, decorated with flower petals in a smearing wavy way. This card is on watercolor paper and cut with deckle scissors.

Cards 8 and 9 are from a musician friend from both my summer and Local College bands, and from her 21mo son, whom my mom babysits once in a while.

ATC 40 - Page 4

Slots 1, 2, 3 are all from the lady who taught the Altered Book classes that I have taken. Slot 1 is the actual card. Slot 2 is the envelope that held the ATC, with the template found here. Slot 3 holds two stickers for labeling the backs of ATCs that she sent along for me to use. She used one herself, too.

Slots 4, 5, 6 are from a former homeschooling family. Daughter, Mom, Daughter. The Mom wrote on the back, Thank you for always bridging the gap" and says that this is the Duluth Ariel Bridge.

Slots 7, 8, 9 are from our minister's wife and her two grandsons. Grandson (4yo), Grandmother, Grandson (6yo). The Grandmother was reluctant to take a card, not knowing what to do, telling me that she was not an artist. I suggested that her older grandson could help her. As he was standing nearby, he overheard and eagerly agreed to help her. He also took cards for his brother, mom, and dad.

ATC 40 - Page 3

Card 1 is from my first grade teacher. It portrays a trio of in-jokes from third, second, and first grades.

• In third grade, we saw her on the steps in front of school, with her *boyfriend* and he called her *Barbie doll* GASP!
• In second grade, we saw her with a magazine from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and we kept asking her what an Uck-Lah was.
• In first grade, we had to read along with the guy ion the tape recorder. He lengthened the vowel in "bulb" to "buuuhlb" The others in my reading group all thought sounded silly.

I laughed so hard at the card that only she could have given and she did. Hooray for Miss E.

Card 2 is from my dad, including three notes in bass clef spelling out DAD.

Card 3 came from serendipity (what a great word). This card about the Grinch, just the right size, was found as a book marker in a Pokemon book that Gonzo had checked out from the library.

Card 4 shares a favorite verse from neighbors across from my parents (next door to Kiti's old house) [Zephaniah 3:17].

Card 5 is again from Ganoush, describing my basement crafting area (which spills out to the rest of the basement).

Card 6 is from another April Mom and Cards 7 and 8 are from her daughters. Card 7 is completely laminated in clear 1/2" tape at varied angles. Great texture.

Card 9 is from the mother of my 1988 prom date. She just became a grandmother in September as Mr. 1988 and his wife had a daughter. This artist also apologized for her lack of talent. I sure don't see the lack.

ATC 40 - Page 2

Card 1 is from Ganoush again. She found a "40% OFF" line in a Sunday ad and declared that she "knew what to do with it."

Card 2 is from my Aunt "Maria", wife of my dad's younger brother "Georg" who died a couple of years ago. Aunt Maria wrote that she isn't an artist. I was getting a lot of comments like that. But obviously, she knows how to have fun with a four-color pen.

Card 3 is from Ganoush again.

Card 4 is from a friend in band. She attended Local College when I went away to My College. When I graduated and moved back, Local College's band was small and I was asked to sit in. This friend has also just graduated and stuck around to help out the trombone section. We are both still playing with Local College. My dad played with them for few years, and CHG also joined, when I told him that not only could he borrow a tuba, but he could start playing again...

Card 5 is from a homeschool mom. The article is about how sisters gave birth on the same day, resulting in this mom and her cousin. I did not know this about her until I received the card.

Card 6 is from the daughter of Card 5. She is in my homeschool Math Olympiads class this year.

Cards 7, 8, 9 are from an April Mom. We have stuck with our on-line, international pre-pregnancy group and still talk about our youngsters (and everything else), ten years later.

ATC 40 - Page 1

[1 2 3]
[4 5 6]
[7 8 9]
Numbering will always be top to bottom, left to right.
The cards are in plastic sleeves.
There will be a bit of a tilt to avoid flash reflection.
As always, clicking on a photo will show a larger view.

Ganoush made my first card. While I was crafting, I explained about the trading idea, so she made one for me as I worked on backgrounds.

A contrabass clarinet player made the second card, demonstrating Huygen's principle. I looked it up on Google and decided not to pursue it.

The third card was made during the Scottish event. A young friend sat with me during my shift at the schoolhouse. He was eager to make a trade and started drawing on site. He used my watercolor pencils and the blender brush, which he enjoyed using. He told me that he used to make pottery and would take pieces to art fairs to trade with other vendors.

The fourth card is a dragon, Welsh, perhaps? Also drawn on site at the fest, by a piper friend.

Card Five is from one of the homeschool teachers. She has done projects for on-street sculpture decoration and guides cancer patients through art therapy. She loved the ATC idea and was eager to take part. The other teachers were curious and open to the idea, but haven't yet returned a card.

Card Six if from my aunt and uncle, my dad's older brother. He has been a rock hound and a tatter for much more than forty years. When we would visit, he would always have his rock tumbler going in the garage. He would make jewelry from the rocks. Someone asked if his tatting was needles or shuttles. I don't know, but I'll find out. My uncle is in poor health and is under hospice care. Goof, he may not make it to Thanksgiving.

They gave us a matted doily for our wedding. Having another small piece, especially under these circumstances, is a treasure.

Cards Seven, Eight, Nine are from a friend at BigCo, where I worked for eleven years before my layoff in 2001. That was when she started an interest in rubber stamping and now she is quite the card artist.

Birthday Art Adventure

Well, the birthday art adventure didn't live up to my high hopes, but it was a wonderful 40th birthday. Two longtime friends (Reve and Kiti, my two bridesmaids!) were both in town from separate states for different events held in town that evening, so both were able to spend some time at the ATC open house. A few other in-town friends I thought couldn't be there arrived anyway. Others who said they would be there ended up missing it. C'est la vie. That's how an open house goes.

Today in the States is Columbus Day.
From Stan's Wikipedia entry:

Then there was this little exchange, as Freberg's Christopher Columbus is "discovered on beach here" by a Native American played by Marvin Miller. Being skeptical of the Natives' diet of corn and "other organically grown vegetables", Columbus wants to open "America's first Italian restaurant" and needs to cash a check to get started.

• Native: "You out of luck today. Banks closed."
• Columbus: "Oh? Why?"
• Native: "Columbus Day!"
• Columbus: "Oh, yeah." [pregnant pause] "We going out on that joke?"
• Native: "No, we do reprise of song. That help, but..."
• Columbus and Native together: "...not much, no!"

Well, not only are the banks closed today, there is not mail delivery. {Sigh} So no new ATCs today.

BUT! AND!

I have a delightful collection of art cards from before and during the party. One of my young Scout friends was so inspired by my supplies that he made ten ATCs in addition to the two he brought from home. His brother gave me five and three each from his sister and his mom.

My junior high math teacher "Short" stopped by and gave me a card reflected an in-joke, copying math drawings that I used to make for her 25 years ago.

Buni used to be my tech director at a local theatre. He had his lighting template with him (Doesn't everyone?) and made a little light plot for me.

CHG and Gonzo stopped by for a while during their Guy Time. I had a package in the mail from my One-Back ex-boyfriend. One-Back has been in a few bands in his Big City and he sent along six CDs from his performances and those of his buddies, plus a T-shirt from his current band (URL on request).

I got the cards from Relaxed Homeskool. Way cool. Kim, I'll answer you offline, but the answers are all about the same - I've already started doing that, being forty isn't what made the difference.

Kids were certainly more open and relaxed about making the art than most of the adults. Yet some adults were excited to give it a whirl, and others are starting to look into making more ATCs. One lady made a cool 3-D collage and scanned it. Another gave me some half-done cards for me to finish up. I've read of Round Robin cards on the web for some swaps.

The photos are of me with my cake and of all of the crafting supplies I provided.