Heidicrafts

E-mail jungle

2009-02-21T20:15:00.000-06:00

I'm changing cable providers, which means that I have to change my personal e-mail address, the one I've used for over ten years. How frustrating.

Which means that I also had to change the e-mail address here at blogger. But I can't use my new gmail address on my Google-Blogger account. Likely because if Google crashes, they can reach me at a backup contact. Safe, but odd.

So, I have been crafting, but life hiccups have kept me from crafting as much. More content soon. After I switch out all of the other e-mail addresses.

Thanks for stopping by.

CMP ATC JUL/AUG - Here to There

2008-09-05T22:18:00.001-05:00

CMP ATC JUL/AUG - Here to There
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

In the span of a week, my church went from fine as it ever was to submerged under seven feet of water at street level (and more in the basement) to filled with residual silt, slime, and flood crud. Not the happy life-giving silt of the ancient Nile, but waters filled with manure, fertilizer, overturned Dumpsters, street oils, boathouse fuels, bird seed, bacteria, anything caught in the path of the powerful river waters.

Our church basement and adjoining office and preschool buildings had to be gutted to the studs. Nearly all papers were unsalvageable. Metal items and plastics without crevices could be cleaned, but porcelain, fabrics, wood, plaster, anything absorbent had to be thrown out.

The sanctuary needed only plaster removed about a foot high, around the lowest parts of the sanctuary.

We had over 200 people from 29 different groups work over 1600 man-hours to get the wet stuff out to the curbs and prepare for the professional drying and biocide.

And now we wait for a plan, for funding, not knowing if our dwindling congregation can afford to stay in this location.

This ATC represents the Creative Mom Podcast theme Here to There (to Where?) as a journey through time at a fixed location. Meanwhile, our congregation has travelled from here to "there," meeting with another congregation across the river.

I also used this card for the Project Spectrum project. I had another project in mind, but didn't finish in time, so I sent these instead. I admit it doesn't use the colors of purple, blue, and black, but it is a testament to the awesome power of water on the move. One building out of nine miles around here and across the Midwest this summer, and now into fall, the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, too, are again hit by the force of water.

Still on the planet

2008-07-26T23:00:00.000-05:00

I'm still here. I'm in one of the many area that flooded this spring. Other activities and people need my attention. I'm still making art, and still reading any comments posted. Go ahead and ask any questions about any of my projects.

Project Basement is also stalled. But I can show photos of my church basement...

Christmas 2003 - my church basement, called Fellowship Hall. Serving windows to the kitchen. Serving table that is actually a sewing / cutting table. IN door is propped open. Entry to the kitchen is on the far left.

The flood crested on a Friday in June - this was taken by a church member on the following Tuesday, the first day that property owners were allowed back into this neighborhood to inspect properties.

The reflection under the windows shows that the waters are still receding. Water escaped through the boiler room drain and down five sinks and two toilets in the basement. But once the water was lower than the toilets, the boiler room drain alone had to remove the rest of the waters.

The water went to 11' 11" from the basement floor, and around 7' from ground level. This is not a broken pipe kind of flooding. This was fast moving waters, stirring up everything. It was polluted with gasoline and oil, sheep waste, Dumpster(TM) debris, fertilizers. It ate the varnish off of the wood finishes. I'm told that at a local cultural museum, it at the paint off the lower half of a portrait, down to blank white canvas, but the upper half looks fine.

The acoustic ceiling tiles disintegrated into blobs of ick, but the frame remained intact.

IN and OUT doors are closed. Drinking fountain has been forced from its usual position.

The wallpaper has an eerie - cool texture. The wallpaper wrinkled, then the silt and slime settled on the ridges as the water slowly receded, creating highlights that resemble shadows. Fascinating, once one is detached from the emotions of loss and of memory.

Slightly different photo angle, same serving window wall. Gone is the wallpaper, the drywall, the sinks, the cabinets, the phone, the dishes and silverware, the refrigerators. No more ceiling tiles or frame, ceiling lights or wires. It is a very solid building, built in 1915, and has a beauty of brick and wood to it. It was well designed for use of space and well constructed.

We did the demolition with over 200 volunteers representing over 25 groups for more than 1600 work-hours. Then we hired out the dehumidifying and the biocide, so also gone by this stage should be the excess moisture, the mold the spores, and the bacteria.

Valentine's Day Countdown

2008-02-15T11:55:00.002-06:00

Once again, quickly, go visit Lisa Volrath at Go Make Something, for her Valentines Day free images. She makes great pieces for collage. And since Valentine's Day was yesterday, go quickly before they disappear.

http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/

In other news, the basement has stalled while the rest of the house gets some attention, we get lots of snow, CHG takes ill and gets some attention, and other life bits.

Wii did it!

2008-01-19T22:30:00.000-06:00

One master goal for 2008 has been accomplished.

"Wii" have set up the Wii Nintendo game system. In the basement. Without a lot of stuff in the way.

At least in that corner of the basement.

I still have boxes and totes in the garage, stacked two units high, covering one shower curtain and one tablecloth. It's more than I need, but I have to weed out the chaff from the wheat.

CHG fetched two more shelving units for me today while I was doing other errands. Same store as in years past, same brand and style, but these are 48 inches across (122 cm) instead of 36 inches (91 cm) like our other eight units. These shelves are intended to hold my hanging files for reference materials and art supplies. These can hold file boxes three abreast instead of two with an unusable gap. I am pleased. They are already assembled and holding enough staged material that I was able to put the couch where it should be. Huzzah!

Still a lot more to process, but this is a milestone for the family.

-- Heidi

Basement Translation Day

2008-01-17T22:15:00.000-06:00

E-mail entry, second try...

Today [Thursday] was Basement Translation Day, in the mathematical sense of sliding something at an angle, without rotation. CHG and I move the bar from the corner of the Craft Zone to around the support post. I think this will work.

Ganoush is eager to get barstools or tall chairs, like at Goof's house. Gonzo was delighted at the open space, then rudely disappointed that the Wii isn't ready yet. We have a goal of Saturday night.

A big mess of stuff is in the garage tonight, which allowed translation to happen. I have extension from CHG to Saturday night to get a car back into the garage. Tomorrow I need to move back the stuff that was in the way of the bar, then prepare a path to move the TV and couch to the desired locations. Then I can concentrate on the Craft Zone and the Art section. I know that all in the garage will not fit. It will still need to be filed, culled, recycled, donated, and all. Still too much
ephemera. Too many possibilities.

I listed categories in my journal, ways that I want my stuff grouped. I came up with at least eleven: cross-stitch, rubber stamping, cards, ATCs, scrapbooking, paper making, yarn-knitting, beads, hot glue, props making, basic supplies, sewing-quilting. Plus the reference files, the collage files, the art bits files, and the uncategorized photos of 14 years (pre-digital). And books for all of these topics.

-- Heidi

Basement East Air

2008-01-15T22:42:00.001-06:00

Basement East Air
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

My design program, Punch! 5 in 1 Home has both a walkthrough and a helicopter view. These highlight the corners of the main part of the basement. The red and purple post in the center is a support pole. The two doorways are to stairs and laundry.

Lots of shelving for my Craft Zone. I think I'll only have to buy one unit, and even then, I'll hold off until I get stuff rearranged.

Thursday is set to be the Grand Shift. I'll move a bunch of unprocessed boxes and gatherings out to the garage to spend the night. Then CHG and will rearrange the big pieces play with it for a while, and see if our design is livable. Once we're set, I'll start *properly* putting away what I'm sure will live where and start stacking up what is still to be processed, so the car can have the garage back.

That's the plan.

More design photos at Flickr.

Ice and fire trees

2007-12-19T23:04:00.001-06:00

Ice and fire trees
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

The sun was captured beautifully in the ice that enveloped each branch. I'm down in the valley where two sledding hills meet.

Iced cherries

2007-12-19T23:03:00.001-06:00

Iced cherries
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

While the kids were sledding, I wandered the park looking for "cool" shots as the sun sank lower. I happened upon a cherry tree of some sorts. If' I'm wrong, please correct me.

Pop over to my Flickr account for more images.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

2007-12-11T12:15:00.000-06:00

Here's how it looks this midday.

Our house is between the left foreground tree limb and the limb across from the postal truck. Our outdoor car is through the downed limb branches and twigs.

I've helped pull four branches or limbs from the street onto curbs or yards. Ganoush, Skunk, and I were outside when we heard the tell-tale crack and saw a limb fall at the white house on the right, down by the curb.

Click to make the photos bigger.

What is falling is rain, but it freezes on contact, so everything is icicles. We had a brief spell of ice pellets, but now we are back to rain.

Icicles on the clotheslines.

Ice on the trees and icicles on the power lines leading to the house. We just learned from CHG last night that there are two insulated wires and one uninsulated neutral wire.

CHG noticed intermittent flickers on the basement lights and his PC since the installation of the generator panel. We learned yesterday afternoon from our electrician that he found the cause - the neutral wire to that circuit breaker was touching the screw but wasn't actually clamped under the screw as it should have been to make a connection.

So last night, CHG explained to us how the power is carried along the wires. I can't explain it here. I didn't learn it that well.

Ice encasing the bushes at our neighbor's yard.

Brownie ceramics

2007-12-02T23:00:00.000-06:00

Ganoush and I went to the local high school for a Brownie activity of glazing ceramics for only $5 per item. The Brownie leader works at Local HS and worked with the art teacher for this opportunity which is much cheaper than the ceramics place we have been to twice in November.

Ganoush painted a plate (excerpt at left) and I made a mug just for me (see below). She was told to write her troop number and name on the back of the plate. She chose to write both on the plate's large rim instead.

Ganoush jumped into the middle section, writing out the "green" letters in her message and pattern just by mental vision and without a guide on paper or plate. She made a mistake and got frustrated. The Brownie Event Leader and I both showed her that she could just wipe off the glaze and start again. We wrote out her message on a handy paper towel and assigned each letter a color according to her pattern.

Pencil marks on bisqueware disappear during firing, so any necessary guidelines can be drawn right on the piece. On my mug, you can see the R and W notes to myself for painting the handle in a Red and White candy cane stripe.When her guidelines ran off the plate center, I offered to make some letters for her if she wished. I rewrote C and KIES.

I wrapped my hand around the mug as if I was warming myself, then I traced my hand. If we had been at the usual, more expensive pottery shop, I could have written more in detail with their puffy paints. But that's the price I pay for spending only $5 instead of $18 per piece.

Ganoush wanted me to duplicate the rings on my own hand to the hand on the mug.

Christmas Countdowns

2007-12-01T23:00:00.000-06:00

Lisa Vollrath is again featuring her Christmas Countdown of free Ephemera sheets for digital or tactile art. All she asks for in exchange is a link on a blog or on an e-mail list, spreading the word.

Another artsy Advent calendar offers a crocheting pattern every day, here.

Lots of crafts goodness and more in Advent Calendar form from Homeschooling.about is here.

A Google search for Christmas Calendar provides myriad of options. I like the Bach calendar.

And here is a guide you can alter to make your own.

Kid ceramics

2007-11-30T23:30:00.000-06:00

When I made the bulb ornament, the kids each painted a ceramic or two as well. Ganoush made these for Goof and Aunt Equestrian. I can show them, now that the gifts have been given.

Here is the horse for Aunt Equestrian.

The dolphin for Uncle Goof. On the right are the three ornaments made by our tablemates, whose leftover glaze I used for the bulb ornament.

Goof is a Miami Dolphins fan, so Ganoush was deliberate in adding the orange streaks in the water. Goof noticed.

On Thanksgiving Eve Day, Ganoush asked for colored pencils and paper. I later saw her studying our family portrait from 2005 as she completed portraits for her aunt and uncle.

Ceramic bulb ornament

2007-11-29T23:30:00.000-06:00

I thought I had posted the "before" photos, well, before. Perhaps they are only on Flickr.

Here is a ceramic bulb I painted at a local pottery shop. It was spur of the moment at the end of the session, most to use up glazes left be my kids and the other family sharing the table. Before & after, obverse & reverse.

Feedback for knitted ATCs

2007-11-28T23:30:00.000-06:00

I've been knitting some ATC-sized swatches. If you want, pop over here and leave me some feedback. At least one will go out in a swap through the Creative Mom Podcast.

Thanks.

Feeling much better - Crafty bread

2007-11-27T23:15:00.000-06:00

Ganoush and I slept on separate couches in the living room last night. We both feel much better today. For safety of others, we skipped swimming today, though.

Instead, the kids begrudgingly did math and journaling. They finished in time for an art project that both kids embraced.

We took a loaf of bread that no one liked and had been ignored in the freezer for quite some time, and transformed it into ornaments in progress. Each kid had ten slices of bread to work with. As usual, I got the heels. I brought up my boxes of cookie cutters and we attacked the bread. Ganoush tried many shapes. She learned that intricate thin sections do not work with slices of bread. The profile of a reindeer was unidentifiable. Bolder shapes, like rockets, pine trees, bells, and snowpeople did much better.

Gonzo found two metal cookie cutters in the shape of wee gingerbread folk. He set out to make "my army of doomed minions." From his chatter, I believe that these creations are not destined for a tree but for some battlefield of ultimate destruction. Well, no one was going to eat the bread anyway.

Our (the ladies') intent is to let the pieces air dry for two days and then we will paint them with acrylic paints.

I also had time today, while the kids played LegosTM together, quietly (I know!), to tackle a box or two in the basement. I was able to talk with Margaret (who wants a better pseudonym) and redistribute three boxes worth of stuff into, or at least towards, their new Proper Destinations.

Woozy

2007-11-26T23:00:00.000-06:00

From the Creative Mom Podcast's CMP Circle's Haiku Monday:

Midnight "Gastro" girl
Six A M, it found me, too.
Helpful hubby home.

More textures, November 2004

2007-11-25T23:15:00.001-06:00

Three more texture shots from the November 2004 folder:

My parents' piano. It was a hand-me-down from our church before I was born. An upright. When the house is ever sold (48 years with its first owner, my dad), the piano will go with the house, as it isn't coming up those basement stairs in a playable condition.

Pipes spotted on a field trip to the water treatment plant, preparing water for human consumption.

Ripple on the stream at yesterday's bridge site.

November 2004 Nature Photos

2007-11-24T23:15:00.000-06:00

Again with older photos, yet first time on the Internet. These are all from a nature park in November 2004.

Ringed side of a fallen tree, near the entrance of the park's learning center. It is secured from wiggles and kids are allowed to climb on it.

A fallen tree on the trail.

Milkweed explosion.

Many, many of my photos from this session have the wrong depth of field. My camera just doesn't grasp what I really want to focus on. Trade-off for a less expensive model.

The other good shot from this field, depth-wise.

Some sort of fungus on a fallen branch. Great colors and textures.

Little critter paths on fallen wood.

Intentional self-portrait from the bridge over the stream.

Way-back art

2007-11-23T23:30:00.000-06:00

When I was in second grade, every now and then our teacher would select a story for publication. She would discuss with the author where the page breaks should be, then send the story off to a friend, who typed the story on onion paper. Then the author was allowed to *skip* a classroom assignment to do the coloring for each book page. Then the book was sent off again to be bound. The author provided the fabric for the book cover. When it was finished, the author had the option to have the book placed in the school library.

My book was called "My Trip to Marsasip." It started out being to Mars, but that seemed too... ordinary, compared to a fanciful unknown planet.

Here is my book cover. All of the patchwork is factory printed.

Here is the Date Due pocket. It was written in 1975. Many of the reader instances were me or my brother.

Here we see me and Koldy near the end of the book. He has wheels instead of feet and changes his colors and patterns constantly. Not only is that visually interesting, but it tosses continuity out the window. Important stuff to a nine-year-old.

This is towards the beginning of the story, packing in my bedroom.

This is my actual bedroom in 1975. Remember, America's bicentennial was approaching and I fully embraced the red, white, and blue theme.

Going around the room clockwise, there are my bracket shelves of knickknacks, the star-spangled bedspread, the USA curtains. My mom was a straight-line seamstress with her turquoise Viking sewing machine, but she did make these curtains.

Nice big area rug, forty-eight star American flag from my grandmother, antique school desk (my great-grandfather ran an antique shop), Dressy Bessy doll, Waffle Quilt stuffed dogs, fish mobile made from a punch-out fold-together cardstock kit-book.

My antique dresser and vanity set. I still use the dresser. The drawers are quite deep. The vanity is in my parents' basement. It became my computer desk in junior high, holding my TRS-80 Model I, Level 2, with cassette "drive." I still have those lamps, too.

The doll crib was an antique from the shop. The pegboard hold my orange AM radio, some glued-felt-on-masonite art of mine, and two embroidered samplers from my grandma.

Red Hat / Cow sushi plate

2007-11-22T22:30:00.000-06:00

A sushi plate I painted/glazed for my mom in 2005. She likes cows and she is a Red Hat Lady.

Zut alors, il neige!

2007-11-21T21:15:00.000-06:00

My title comes from my first-year French dialogs, meaning: Oh drat, it's snowing.

Snow on my wreath ($10 from my son and his Boy Scout Troop) at 4:00 this afternoon.

Same wreath at 7:30 this evening.

Another texture, snow on backyard leaves this afternoon.

Textures: Bubbles on blue

2007-11-20T22:41:00.001-06:00

Texture Bubbles on blue
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

On my flickr stack, I have added a bunch of texture photos I took in 2004.

Pop on over to have a look.

Fall Photos, 2004

2007-11-19T23:00:00.000-06:00

Not much to report today, so I'll pull a couple of fall leaf photos from the archives. These are both from 2004. I liked how the sunlight was highlighting the turned leaves. I'm sure this isn't a mistake. I can't prove it, but observation leads me to believe that the leaves that get the most sunlight turn colors first. As those leaves fall, subsequent leaves not get more sun, on and on until the tree is empty.

This is completely unPhotoshopped ('cause I don't own the program). I was struck by how the sunlight illuminated the leaf. I was pleased that I was able to capture the look on film (i.e. pixels).

Missed Saturday - Explanation Sunday

2007-11-18T23:00:00.000-06:00

I was trying to achieve NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month - less intense than writing a 50,000 word novel in November) but fell short. I'll keep posting, however. My DH explains why I missed:

I sent Heidi a link to a story, and clicking it cause three help windows to pop up as well as the site. They couldn't be closed by ordinary means, so I nuked Firefox from the task manager (the desktop box being a Windows installation). After that, we heard the tell-tale clicks of application after application being opened in the background. Turns out that about a hundred little help windows were starting, but not showing up on the desktop. Panic is sometimes appropriate, so I hit the hardware reset and started over. So during blog time, the machine was undergoing a thorough virus scan (which it does regularly anyway), and a scrub from Spybot. All seems well now. You may return to your normal lives.
Now for the more interesting part. Gonzo has latched onto dice stacking. He saw a video of it last night, and has in the intervening 20 hours managed to teach himself to stack three dice reliably, and occasionally four dice. I am impressed, and very happy that he's developed an interest in a juggling trick -- as a juggler, I can actually help him with that.

OCT CMP ATC

2007-11-16T23:00:00.000-06:00

My Artist Trading Card for the October Creative Mom Podcast exchange.

The theme was "Tell Me a Story."

Stockings4Soldiers Page 10

2007-11-15T23:00:00.000-06:00

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.

I was asked if I could make another 40 cards. I went ahead and made another 10 more sheets - 100 cards extra. But to save time, I had to craft first, and run them through the toner copier second (to put info on the card backs - my printer is an inkjet and prone to running when wet.)

The art had to be flat, so I went to rubber stamp and direct to paper with my Marvy ink pads.

Cards 1-2: Paint monoprinting, with SPARKLEWORKS added with my 12-letter rubber stamp.

Card 3: Random placement of letters THANKS. Each letter had its own color and each letter in this set was stamped with the negative block font, the serif font, and the ASL fingerspell set. The THANK YOU stamp was added after the cards were cut into singles, for all of these sets.

Card 4: Marvy ink pads direct to paper with a slight twist before lifting, to give little swirls.

Card 5: just random ASL finger letters, more than just the letters in "Thanks," and not really dense enough. My first sheet of that night.

Card 6: Marvy direct to paper without the twist.

Card 7: Marvy direct to paper using just the side of the ink pad. I keep turning the paper as I pounce, to stay random. This style reminds my of the background in the Talk Soup set.

Card 8: Marvy direct to paper with some dragging and swooping.

Card 9: THANKS letters using only the negative block font. I really like these letters.

Unshelved - Pimp My Bookcart 2007

2007-11-14T23:00:00.000-06:00

One of the online comics I read is Unshelved. It takes place in a library.

In 2006, they had a series of comics about pimping (or gussying up) a bookcart instead of a car (a la the TV show Pimp My Ride).

It inspired a contest last year and the results are now in for 2007.

And also check out their Sunday Book Club. Good stuff.

Most popular search of the season

2007-11-14T22:30:00.000-06:00

With the free version of Site Meter, I am able track the last 100 visits to my site. It lists city/state/country, how long viewers linger, how many pages are read. Interesting, but I don't obsess over it. My next visitor will be 2,222, though. That's cool.

Site Meter also tracks what brought readers to my site. If it was Google or some other search engine, it usually also lists what the search phrase was that snared Heidicrafts.

In the last week, there has been a noticeable increase in seekers of boars heads (a prop for a madrigal dinner, presumably), so I have moved my tutorial link to the upper section of the right sidebar.

Please, any seekers, feel free to ask a question in the comments if you need more information on any of the topics I mention here.

Sleepy Tuesday

2007-11-13T22:51:00.001-06:00

Gonzo was still awake at 11:45 last night. I got to bed at 12:20. I made it through the day just fine, but I'm sleepy now. Lingering smoke from our first oven self-cleaning isn't helping.

So no big art or events to report tonight - I need to rest.

Stockings4Soldiers Page 9

2007-11-12T22:58:00.001-06:00

Stockings4Soldiers Page 9
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10. These, however, are just nine out of ... I think I made 140.

I was inspired by Lucinda pins and from one of the Usbourne Art books since returned to the library.

I started by going though scraps and cutting house squares. I quickly decided, both for aesthetics and for tome and for sanity that perfect squares weren't necessary. I feel the houses are more charming when they are a little bit crooked.

Then I cut doors and window pairs and glued them on. I ended a night of family and TV and crafting with a pile of over one hundred houses.

Next came running the back text though the toner copier and cutting apart the cards. My first batch were printed on blue card stock, but i ran a few green sheets, too.

I trimmed my cards in clusters and glued long strips of grass, then trimmed them into singles. Later, I added a cluster of snow cards. For the green cards, I added a number of sky strips.

I laid out a bunch of cards, decided which houses looked best on which lots, and then started trimming roofs. I really like the opposing goldenrod on a blue sky.

Then glue glue glue some more (Elmer's purple glue sticks) with fingertip washings at intervals.

Card 1: gift wrap windows, ingredient list door. Grass is tissue paper over construction paper.

Card 3: windows are cut from scraps of painted papers done by the kids some time back. Door is from a junk mail envelope.

Card 5: windows are used gift wrap. I like how the torn paper mimics the snow.

Card 6: Window muntins are courtesy of cutting through the blank middles of school graph paper (construction paper quality). Gift wrap door.

Card 7: Junk mail roof, again looking like snow bits. gift wrap windows and door. Tissue paper sky.

Card 8: Windows and door cut from scraps of calendar pages, left after making a batch of envelopes.

Card 9: Greeting card sky.

Stockings4Soldiers Page 8

2007-11-11T23:15:00.000-06:00

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.

After the initial count of 715 cards, the generosity swelled and the finial count was 754 recipients. So I had to make more cards. Well, I didn't *have* to , but I did.

The star card was from a previous batch. The rest were all collaged on November 7th.

Card 1: Paint and Crayola Stamper marker leaf. All Stamper highlights were added after cutting the sheet of cards into singles.

Card 2: Smeared purple paint, leaf stamped with ink, leaf Stamper marker. (I'm still not getting the layered collage look I so admire. More practice...)

Card 3: Just squiggles in wet paint. A Paste Paper look without the paste.

Card 4: Random leaf stamps, variety of ink colors. Little leaf Stamper.

Card 5: Multiple monoprinting transfers among sheets, using paint in red, green, gold glitter, and silver glitter. Text SPARKLESHINE added on singles using the 12-letter stamper from Oriental Trading.

Card 6: Buzz Lightyear foam paint stamps for room decor - bought a while ago at Big Hardware. ZOOM ZOOM GO with my 12-letter stamp.

Card 7: Paper punches from a previous batch

Card 8: Insect foam paint stamps from Pooh and from a generic Michael's collection. Butterfly and ladybug Stampers added on singles.

Card 9: Larger foam paint gecko stamp.

Stockings4Soldiers Stuffing

2007-11-10T23:00:00.000-06:00

Today, Ganoush and I went to help with stuffing actual stockings for soldiers.

The stocking already had the I Am Loved pins that Ganoush and I helped attached the week prior. We each jumped into the circle of stuffers and picked up a stocking. The donated items to be stuffed were all set in piles on tables. Lip balm, lotion, shampoo, sunscreen stick, yo-yo, fruit snacks, Twizzlers, toothbrush & toothpaste, music CD, New Testament, deck of cards, can cozies, non-battery flashlight, hard candies gathered by a Brownie Troop, flexible fold-up Frisbee, Christmas PEZ dispenser, peppermints, inspirational scripture magnet, ATC, blank ATC, pen, Salted Nut Roll, cheese crackers with peanut butter, wrist bands, and pretzels. Then we each signed a card, "loving filled by:" and passed the stocking to the Shipping Box Filler Guy.

A local news reporter came by to interview project instigator "Whistle D". This project started when a workmate of his was deployed overseas and Whistle D offered to send something to him and his fellow soldiers. It has grown over the last five years to serving 754 soldiers this year. Many groups and individuals are eager to Do Something and are at a loss on how to help, now that To Any Soldier packages are no longer allowed.

Whistle D receives donations of goods from area businesses, donations of money for postage, ink and paper, and gasoline, and donations of time to write, to pin, to create, to stuff, to haul here or there, to fold, and all the little tasks that keep the operation running smoothly.

What a blessing. I'm proud to be a part of it. And I pleased that they aren't shy to say, "Got a minute? Can you fold this stack here?" whenever there is work to be done.

Stockings4Soldiers from Mrs. Pivec

2007-11-10T22:45:00.000-06:00

The only other ATCs that arrived in the mail came from CMP's Mrs. Pivec and her class. Thank you to all of the students for creating and contributing. Your cards have already been sent off to soldiers in either Iraq or Kosovo.

In transit, a few of the sequins fell off, but most stayed on. They were very festive. We put each sequined card into an individual clear envelope; one of the stuffing-helpers had just enough, nearby.

Since my husband and I both juggle, I must say that I like the snowman juggling the sequins.

Stockings4Soldiers Beach

2007-11-09T23:24:00.001-06:00

Stockings4Soldiers Beach
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

These cards are all from one 12yo girl who heard about the ATC donation request.

One last batch of ATCs

2007-11-08T22:45:00.000-06:00

I started another 100 art cards last night. I rubber stamped designs on 10 sheets of cream colored discount card stock.

This morning, I ran the sheets through the copier (toner, not my own ink jet), numbered them, trimmed them, and stamped a "THANK YOU" stamp on each one in a pleasing position. That wraps up a total of 750 ATCs for Stockings for Soldiers. Whew.

Gonzo and I delivered the last batch and were invited to fold greeting cards for the stockings. Then to help move boxes here and there and there to here. Then the kids wandered off to rake the back yard while I divided and counted batches of 5-art-cards piles so they could be directed to this battalion or another. The last group of stuffers will help on Saturday.

Photos yet to come....

Little Houses

2007-11-07T22:45:00.000-06:00

My camera batteries are dying and I can't find the spare, so still no photos.

I completed 130 Little House ATCs this morning, and made 20 more this afternoon. Most were on blue card stock with green grass added at the bottom. Some were on green card stock with blue sky added at the top. One batch of 20 were blue card stock with white snow added at the bottom.

I also made another 90 paint and rubber stamp montage cards this afternoon and all were delivered to the Stockings for Soldiers coordinator. The montages included a variety of fall-colored leaf stamps, some glitter paint monoprints with "SPARKLESHINE" stamped with my 12-letter stamper, a set with Buzz Lightyear wall stamps with "ZOOM ZOOM GO," and a mix of insect paint stamps with Crayola Little Stamper bugs added.

This evening I painted up 60 more to number, cut, and SPARKLESHINE stamp tonight. That makes the 300 cards from 30 sheets that I intended to make for this round. I had intended to do something fancier, but time is now of the essence, so it's paint & stamp montages.

Another small unit has been added to the mix, so instead of 300 more needed in November, it's 340. After I post this entry, I'll rubber stamp 10 more blank sheets, then run them through the copier tomorrow, number them, cut them, and get them all delivered.

More S4S ATCs

2007-11-06T22:15:00.000-06:00

I haven't heard from anyone else contributing ATCs for S4S, so I'm challenging myself to make more. I did hear from one in Canada, but we don't have time for them to arrive if she sent them now.

I'm making assembly line collage house scenes, a la the Lucinda pins I like, only more basic. Here. Go look. No photos here yet.

2006 Stepping Stone by CHG

2007-11-05T22:05:00.001-06:00

2006 Stepping Stone by CHG
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

We included CHG during our concrete art session. He made a lovely symmetrical display. I have fuzzed out his name at the bottom.

2006 Stepping Stones

2007-11-04T22:30:00.000-06:00

In 2006, the kids and I made stepping stones again. his time, we had lots of trinkets from Michael's and we invited the neighbor kids to partake as well.

Ganoush took full advantage of the various glass baubles we had available. She had the mirror tile idea first - I took it from her. As with my creation, the silver backing of the mirror tiles fizzled out over the drying processes of the concrete. If I really tried, I could prolly adhere new tiles to the old with some glass-to-glass adhesive, but neither of us are bothered by this turn of events.

She again put a hand print in the stone, but decorated it much more this time.

Gonzo wanted to do his own thing. He chose only white glass pieces and declared that he was making Pokemon fossils. Specifically, Onmanyte (#138 - a snail-like critter), Articuno (#142 - a large powerful ice bird), and Aerodactyl (#144 - pterodactyl-ish).

So that is what is seen here. I am amazed only in that one never hears of a Pokemon actually dying. In battles they are only stunned or exhausted. Not that I want the pain of death looming over Pokemon, mind you. Just that everything dies sometime. I suspect there is a Pokemon dying ground, like elephants are supposed to have.

2006 Stepping Stone for Forty

2007-11-03T23:15:00.000-05:00

To celebrate turning 40, I made this stepping stone in 2006. I made a handprint of my own and added the blue stone where I still wear my class ring.

The three blue dots at the bottom hold stickers with my initials (fuzzed for the Internet).

The four squares in the lower left corner were mirror tiles. They looked fine while the concrete set, over the week or two of hardening, the moisture messed up the silver backing.

Stockings for Soldiers Update

2007-11-02T22:30:00.000-05:00

We have a total of 415 ATCs to be distributed, out of 715 total needed. Rather than disperse them among the five units haphazardly, we'll give one to everybody in one unit, and likely the last unit won't get any cards.

The deadline for filling the last set of stockings is for the ATCs to arrive by Saturday, November 10th.

Stockings For Soldiers
1948 Washington Ave SE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52403

If you intend to send one card, ten cards, whatever, please let me know, so we can keep an eye out for the envelope.

Thanks so much...

2004 Stepping Stones

2007-11-01T23:00:00.000-05:00

In 2004, the kids and I made concrete molded stepping stones, adding glass bits we chose at Michael's (along with the kits) and using the three included alphabet concrete stamps.

Ganoush made a blue-haired version of herself, decorated her hand print palm in purple, scattered random glass bits, and wrote the names of the family. I have airbrushed out the names of Gonzo and Ganoush. MOMMY and DADDY are pretty generic and Internet safe.

Using glass "blobs," I made a blue pseudo bass clarinet. With flat glass, I created a rainbow- petaled flower, a heart, purple highlights in a cloud, and a two- pony- tailed figure of me.

With the concrete stamps provided with the kit, I advise that one should: PLAY, DREAM, EXPERIMENT, LAUGH, GROW, and LOVE.

Tabs and Kitty are two of Gonzo's A-list stuffed animals, both from Ty. It was important to him to include them in the stone. Tabs is yellow and Kitty is green (like my blog sidebar cat - Kitty is the inspiration of all green cats).

Nowadays, I haven't seen Tabs in a while, but Kitty is still a key member of Gonzo's entourage.

The upper right corner shows a sun with rays.

He included the names of his sister and himself, which I have airbrushed out.

P.S. My apologies to any RSS/Blogline readers if there are up to four versions of this entry. I tried linking to Flickr photos and only got link boxes, not images. Where's the fun in that?

Stockings4Soldiers Update Again

2007-10-31T12:15:00.000-05:00

I'm done making ATCs for the Stockings for Soldiers project.

Elsewhere in cyberspace is an October challenge to make art daily. I did not participate, but I did make 350 art cards specifically for the S4S project in October, which I think is quite nifty.

My personal numbering of ATCs system was getting a little off, so I started a new number series for the S4S cards. This puts my total at over 1000 for the fourteen months I've made ATCs. Not that quantity matters as much as quality.

And today I'll wrap up the ATC I made last night for the Creative Mom Podcast exchange.

November is the month for Novel Writing and for an entry every day in the blogosphere. No promises, but we'll see what I can do.

Stockings4Soldiers collage

2007-10-31T12:04:00.001-05:00

Stockings4Soldiers collage
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.

Tissue paper scraps on card stock, with a paper punched star. The pink square is my own handmade paper. The black bits are print from its previous life.

Stockings4Soldiers watercolor pencil

2007-10-31T12:03:00.003-05:00

Stockings4Soldiers watercolor pencil
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.

Watercolor pencil on card stock. I found a set of 24 basic Faber-Castell watercolor-pencils in a tube on clearance this summer. Before that, I had only used Crayola wcps, so I really like the wider mix of colors.

I scribble layers of colors and I give them a wash. The sun is darker, thicker. No great art, but quick, easy, fun to see how it turns out.

Stockings4Soldiers Page 7

2007-10-31T12:03:00.001-05:00

Stockings4Soldiers Page 7
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.

Bonus cards not made directly for the trade but added to the mix from my stash of Rainy Day cards without a set destination.

Cards 1-3: My ATC Haiku card. I have a master sheet with ten different fonts and print up a set to decorate as needed. My printer is inkjet, which smears, so I have to use a toner photocopier filled with card stock.

Card 4: Creative cropping from a fruit snacks box.

Cards 5-8: Photos of mine. Card 8 was for the "Reach for the Stars" CMP ATC swap.

Card 9: tissue paper and blo-pen collage.

Stockings4Soldiers Page 6

2007-10-31T12:02:00.003-05:00

Stockings4Soldiers Page 6
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq.

Art cards by Ganoush using rubber stamps and a stray junk mail square. And some glitter glue.

Stockings4Soldiers Page 5

2007-10-31T12:02:00.001-05:00

Stockings4Soldiers Page 5
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.

Card 1: Local autumn leaves again. Trapped in clear Con-tact paper, stapled to a blank parchment art card.

Card 2-3: Collages made using elements from Scrapbooking Crop-a-Day pages from previous years.

Cards 4-7: Creative cropping of Kleenex , Puffs, and store brand tissue boxes. My friend Margaret thinks buying tissues with pictures is extravagant. I think buying art with bonus tissues is a prize. :)

Cards 8-9: Creative cropping of a torn gift wrapping box.

In all, I have created 350 cards this month to donate to Stockings for Soldiers.

Stockings4Soldiers Page 4

2007-10-31T12:01:00.001-05:00

Stockings4Soldiers Page 4
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. These cards are one of a series of 4.

These are all photos. Most of my cards have a stock message photocopied onto card stock, then I decorate the card front.

Here, I composed a sheet of 9 of my photos into a 3x3 grid of 2.5x3.5 rectangles with broad black borders, using MS Publisher. I converted the file to a .pdf and took it to the printer. Less than $1.00 to get a color photocopy onto card stock.

However, during the conversion, Adobe reduced the size of my printout, so each card was a little less than ATC size. So I photocopied my project text onto copy paper, cut them out, and glued them on to the card stock, giving a small white border around the the thick black.

Card 1-3: Dandelions in my back yard. The collages are from previous fun with FD Toys. Rather than resize them, I left white space for rubber stamping. I also used my dandelion seed stamp in silver for a small surprise.

Card 4: A neighbor's tree in winter.

Card 5: A daisy or black-eyed Susan flower had grown up through some Queen Anne's lace at the local nature preserve.

Card 6: Just the way the camera saw it (I don't own Photoshop),, this plant was spotlighted with sunlight filtered through forest leaves at a short trail near our home. It only takes us 20 minutes to walk the trail loop to the creek and back.

Card 7: A photo of Gonzo's beloved Pikachu plushie, Chu-Chu.

Card 8: Backyard Purple Coneflower

Card 9: "Trumpety flower whose name escapes me" at the local history museum's side garden.

Leaf House / Maze

2007-10-21T17:07:00.000-05:00

In the fall when I was a kid, we'd gather at the house down the street (home of the Chicken Pox Giver) and make elaborate house plans with fallen leaves. They would center around the two backyard trees. Two groups would each make a house and then we'd visit / spy on the other group's house or host / defend our house from our leaf neighbors.

When my kids were preschool-ish age, I made a leaf house for them. Except that they had a different vision. Where I saw rooms of a house, they saw passageways: a giant leaf maze.

Every year since, Ganoush especially looks forward to building a giant leaf maze. After a full week of rain, bringing almost three inches of wet, we've had a dry weekend. The leaves are again crispy, not soggy, and just right for constructing. We set to work. I used the leaf blower to gather the leaves to the corners as she raked them into paths. We had conflicting visions and misunderstandings, but they all worked out.

Here are two photos merged to show the front yard view from near the porch.

Typically, the extra rules for Leaf Maze Tag are that It can walk through walls but everyone else can only use doorways. Usually, the game devolves until the chased start making their own doorways and it goes from there.

In recent years past, we have learned that a leaf maze left long kills the grass. Quicker than Brigadoon, this leaf maze lasted only a few hours before we raked it into the street for pick-up.

Our backyard leaves won't drop for at least a fortnight, so we have plans to make a slightly more lasting maze back there. After a few days, we'll rake those leaves onto all of my perennials and tuck them in snug for winter.

Stockings4Soldiers Update

2007-10-20T23:30:00.000-05:00

I have heard from my friend J who is leading the Stockings4Soldiers care package project. The first set of non-local ATCs have arrived, from Florida. She says they are great, but that some sequins fell off the cards while in transit.

I made another batch today, bringing my personal count up to 246 completed and ready to ship. I have no idea how many cards to expect from my Internet announcement, so I wanted to make sure that I was doing my part.

Another friend, Margaret, is contributing in a similar vein. She took card stock to be die cut into either a mitten or a Christmas Light, each about the size of a child's hand. Her Brownie troop members each wrote a message and took a set of cards to their school classrooms and collected messages. I took one packet from her and have shared it around my middle school MathCounts class, my own daughter's Brownie troop, and families at the homeschool roller skating event. I'll need another bag from her next week for my son's Boy Scout troop and friends at our church.

If you have made some ATCs for soldiers, send me a link and I'll post it here. My ATCs list this blog address, so I hope that some soldiers stop by.

My blank cards for all 714 soldiers are already to be stocking-stuffed. I hope that a few soldiers find ATCs to be a creative outlet, either trading on online swaps or just amongst themselves.

Again, if you wish to participate, please send cards by October 26th (give or take a day) to this address:

Stockings For Soldiers
1948 Washington Ave SE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 USA

We cannot promise that any soldiers will send something back - this is a gift of art.

Thank you for your consideration.

Stockings4Soldiers mealtime

2007-10-20T23:19:00.003-05:00

Stockings4Soldiers mealtime
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.

Handy large stamp of phrases about time.
Clock stamp from a scrapbooking grab bag.
Knife fork, and spoon stamps from Hot Potatoes.

Stockings4Soldiers smiles

2007-10-20T23:19:00.001-05:00

Stockings4Soldiers smiles
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq.

Two colorful cards from two kinds of used gift wrap and a mat of pink copy paper

Stockings4Soldiers Page 3

2007-10-20T23:18:00.003-05:00

Stockings4Soldiers Page 3
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.

Card 1: Holiday rubber stamp. String of Lights paper punch.

Card 2: Coffee break. Time stamp, clock stamp, cup stamp from Hot Potatoes, seed stamp.

Cards 3, 6, 9: Apple, Orange and Banana cards. Fruit stickers, Blo-pens, seed and shape stamps.

Card 4: Sea shell stamps, marble crackle stamps.

Card 5: Holiday rubber stamp. Glitter glue.

Card 7: Circle stamps and reinforcement stickers.

Card 8: Real autumn leaf trapped in clear Con-tact paper, stapled to a blank parchment art card.

Stockings4Soldiers Page 2

2007-10-20T23:18:00.001-05:00

Stockings4Soldiers Page 2
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.

Cards 1, 3, 4, 7: Holiday rubber stamps. Glitter glue in the ornament dots for Card 5.

Card 2: Punched snowflakes and stamped snowflakes

Cards 3 + 6: Pumpkins. faces made with shape stamps. Blo-pens for shading.

Cards 8 + 9: Three sizes of star paper punches with Astrobright copy paper

Stockings4Soldiers Page 1

2007-10-20T23:17:00.001-05:00

Stockings4Soldiers Page 1
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.

Card 1-4 + 6: Die-cut squares from maps, junk mail envelopes, bubble painting papers we made when Gonzo was a toddler, and gift wrap

Card 5: Square shadow rubber stamp and six small Christmas stamps

Card 7 + 9: Christmas light rubber stamp. Card 9 is deliberate. Card 7 is how I clean my stamps between colors.

Card 8: Little stamps.

What is an ATC?

2007-10-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

An ATC is an Artist trading card.

You make original art on a card that measures 2.5" x 3.5" (64 x 89 mm) which is the size of a standard wallet photograph or typical trading card (baseball, Pokemon, "bubble gum cards").

Once you have some art cards, you trade them with other artists. I give a bunch away, as in this project. But the spirit of the art is that they aren't sold. Of course, some artists do sell their 2.5" x 3.5" work, but may call it an ACEO, "art card, editions and originals."

Cedarseed continues to be the top Google link. Wikipedia has some good links as well. I'm part of a monthly swap at the Creative Mom Podcast.

The quick history is that in 1997, a Swiss artist made and displayed 1000 trading card-sized artworks and put them on display. The public showed an interest. The artist announced hat on the last day of the exhibit, he would trade one of his if the interest party brought one self-made to trade. One in attendance too the idea to Canada, where monthly swaps started.

The movement is really aided by the Internet, as far as finding trading partners and ideas, but face-to-face trades are still really fun, too.

I got started with ATCs nearly one year ago, for my 40th birthday. Seek posts tagged with ATC 40 Project.

Donating ATCs for soldiers in the Middle East

2007-09-25T11:00:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine is in his fifth year organizing a donation for troops who are overseas in Iraq or Kosovo: Stockings for Soldiers.

He has asked me if I could rustle up 715 ATCs so he could put one in each soldier's Christmas stocking.

I said that all I could do was try, and I here I am.

The cards need to be at their office by October 26th so they can be shipped in time for a December arrival.

If you are interested, you can send one, ten, whatever. Include your kids and friends in the project, if you wish.
We cannot expect to get a card back, but I will write an info sheet for each unit and will send along one blank card for everyone.

These are sent with Christmas in mind, so you could do a theme for that, but they could be autumn or bees or peace or quotes or anything.

Stockings For Soldiers
1948 Washington Ave SE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52403

Thank you for your consideration.

ATC lunchboxes

2007-08-17T08:30:00.000-05:00

My mom found these little lunchboxes at Target, in the seasonal-discount section right by the entry doors. They cost only $1.00 and held a whopping three mini Pops or six mini Rolls.

Ganoush is using hers to hold glass droplets.

Then I realized that they are a wonderful size to hold ATCs. Not too tight, and deep enough to hold 100 blank cards.

I sent Mom off to get some for me, too. Yes, I'll pay her back.

Midsummer Nights Pansy - CMP ATC July

2007-07-21T14:41:00.001-05:00

Midsummer Nights Pansy - CMP ATC July
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Designed on a PC using MS Publisher.

I went looking for a good photo that was copyright friendly. I found this photo on Henry Walloon's blog: Life on an Oxfordshire Lawn. While not public domain, within his comments he wrote that he was open to use of his photos for non-profit, but I asked him directly and he granted permission. THANK YOU.

A number of online sources stated that the flower Shakespeare wrote of was the Viola Tricolor wild pansy.

Other recent ATCs ca be found at my Flickr site. Follow the link with the photo.

Heidi's robot ATCs

2007-07-12T22:37:00.001-05:00

atc_robot_heidi001
Originally uploaded by cottrellbentley.

Imagination Tribe had a swap with a robot theme. I sent in these six.
The robot, ball, boy, brick, cloud, and word balloon are all from one set of storytelling rubber stamps I bought from Chinaberry catalog. I don't think Chinaberry carries them at this time.

The large R is from an alphabet set backed with fun foam but fronted with sponge, for a bubble look.

The word robot on the R card is stamped with Oriental Trading's 12-letter stamp. The ASL fingerspell stamps are from a set bought long ago.

Round Robin Art Journal

2007-06-29T13:42:00.001-05:00

Andrea variations
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

2005 Round Robin Art Journal - by me

Andrea made this graphic of herself for her blog. I dropped into MSPaint and made a number of copies, then played paper dolls for a number of stunning variations.

~~~~~

Some participants of the Creative Mom Podcast Circle have tossed around the idea for a round robin art event, but nearly all have said that fall will be better for participation than summer will.

Back in 2005, I was part of an art journal round robin. I knew about them from the few altered book classes I had taken and thought they were so cool. [ Like being a freshman watching the seniors float through school. ]

Andrea had the idea for a journal to be passed around among friends and returned to her. I added the idea that we all start a book, send them around synchronously, and we all get a wonderful keepsake. It was well received, and then Andrea didn't feel guilty for being the only one keeping the art at the end, she said.

The participants were me, Andrea, TwoPeanuts, and Cait and her daughter K. Cait and K bound small booklets from watercolor paper. TwoPeanuts had a large wire-bound sketchbook. Andrea had a smalled, bound book. I was eager to try altered book techniques, so I started some art in an old Earth Science book that was part of a collection of books bought at an estate auction.

Click on the photo to get to my Flickr collection to see the art that I did in the books that came my way.

Confidential to Andrea:

2007-06-29T13:00:00.000-05:00

Confidential to Andrea:

This photo is for you.

During a wonderful outing this week, I realized that six out the eleven in our group were wearing their Crocs the whole time, out in public and everything. I gathered them up and took a photo of their feet. When I finished directing the Croc-ers, the other non-Croc-ers were laughing. I had gathered the six in front of an office window and the employees inside were curious about what I was doing. After I showed around the resulting photo ("I wanna see next!") to all of the kids, I had to hold my camera up to the office window for the gentleman closest to see what all the hubbub was about. Quite a good laugh.

Father's Day Countdown from Lisa Vollrath

2007-06-17T21:28:00.001-05:00

Lisa Vollrath has great free downloadables for Father's Day. GO now
before they disappear. ATC backgrounds, vintage hot air balloons,
label-maker tags.

<http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/index.html>

Star in the spotlight

2007-06-15T23:46:00.001-05:00

Star in the spotlight
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

We went on a short nature hike last weekend. It was nice weather, too nice to stay indoors. Much to the kids chagrin.

CHG knew of a little trail near our house, just off a side road. Only a ten minute drive. The trail goes down to a creek, makes a broad loop at the bank, and returns the same way it entered the woods.

I took photos along the way. This was the best. The five-leafed "star" plant was in a sunbeam.

(I don't even own Photoshop - if I enhance at all, all I have at my disposal is MS Paint, my Olympus camera software and my HP printer software)

Seven Random Things

2007-06-07T23:00:00.000-05:00

Jessica tagged me a while ago to cough up seven random things about myself.

Completely spur of the moment, top of my head...

1) My left ear curls over a little. My mom's right ear also curls over. My mom hates the way hers looks, so she was always fixing my hair to cover up mine. But I don't even give it a thought.

2) My husband once told me something that my best friend said about me, long after she had said it to him. I was impressed.

"I've never met anyone so comfortable with who she is than Heidi is."

3) My favorite grandma had a white glass hen that sat in a white glass nest. Whenever my brother and I would visit, "Chickie" would have laid some candy for us in the nest. Chickie always laid an even number of items. Smart Chickie.

4) I have short, squarish thumbs. I'm told that my grandma did, too. I found out that an online friend did palm readings. I sent her a photo of my thumbs and this is what she wrote:

Your thumbs have both Thor's Hammer (a blunt end) and Forseti's Spindle (a wasp waist between the first and second joints). Thor's Hammer indicates a strong will, someone who is very outspoken and tends to do the simmer-and-explode thing where anger is concerned. However, Forseti's Spindle indicates diplomacy, tact, and an ability to sugarcoat. So when the two are together, you have someone who manages to quietly go about doing their own thing despite what others are telling them to do. Or put another way, if they are told not to do something that they really want to do, they'll tend to smile and nod and do it anyway. They're also really good at getting their own way without a big confrontation.

5) A work-friend of my husband's made us an Around the World bed quilt for our wedding/marriage. He stopped by my desk on day and tossed me a copy of the Keepsake Quilting catalog. "Pick the medley you and CHG like best," he said. We chose a cat medley of six bright fabrics. The friend bought three more complementary fabrics locally and mad a great quilt.

6) I love the idea of quilting, I watch quilt shows, I bought a sewing machine, I have quilt books. I haven't put needle to fabric yet. I don't think I would like the actual quilting step. I love the math, geometry, and art of the patchwork. I like how one block can achieve so many looks with various fabric combinations.

7) My favorite number is 52. 5 + 2 = 7 and 5 * 2 = 10 and I was born on 10/7, October 7th. And I have a friend born on July 10th, 7/10.

7.5) Both of my kids have the same math equation for their birthdays. Month times four equals date.

-- Heidi

Trying an e-mail post

2007-06-06T23:45:00.000-05:00

Blogger allows remote posts sent by e-mail. Since I have been so remiss in posting these last weeks, I'll try this method. I can always enhance the formatting later.
:
I have been a busy bee for my Summer Band job. I manage the personnel for our 60-member Summer Concerts in the Park. I'm also a musician with the group. My dad just retired from Summer Concerts in the Park after 60 seasons, and my husband has been a sub but this is his first year of nine-week full membership with Summer Concerts in the Park. Hooray for Kid-Watching Grandma.
:

:
But this blog is supposed to be about art. Not a lot of time for art in May. I finished my April bonus card for the CMP ATC swap. I found an ATC magazine: ATC Quarterly. I'll review more soon. Band will move from panic mode to maintenance mode in the next week or two. I need to come up with a card for "At Water's Edge." I have many detailed seashell stamps.... Hmmm. Now I have a crafty idea...

Wings still furled

2007-05-10T10:18:00.001-05:00

Wings still furled
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Our first photo, right after Ganoush's butterfly emerged (pink box).

Gonzo and Ganoush were given chrysalises from their homeschool visiting teacher, part of our association. They made the habitats as a mini-class. We watched them from May 1st and they emerged today, May 10th.

The sponge is for sugar water, but the booklet said we can spritz sugar water onto carnation blooms. The cup has food for the caterpillar. Each made a chrysalis on the lid of the cup and we taped the cup lid to the box top.

Links

2007-05-09T09:30:00.000-05:00

Lisa Vollrath has some free downloadables for Mother's Day.

And check out these fancy cakes from Russia.

And check out All Over Coffee for great sketching.

Signature cards

2007-05-06T22:24:00.001-05:00

I have been thinking about art signature cards lately.

Artist trading signature cards, as I understand them, are cards that tell about the artist who is trading. I first learned about them in the oft-linked Cedarseed pages. If you look, be sure to scroll far to the right. But at first look, you will see artist Joumana Medlej's signature card.

Okay, the idea mainly came from Joumana, for I am not finding much else on the web about signature cards. I did find more, such as Pigpog, Sashvh, Charlene Pregler, and (aha!) the ladies at Sunflower House.

A card I received from a swap had a pre-made identification sticker on the back, made from a sheet of mailing labels, the 10 x 3 arrangement. Type 8160 in Avery numbers. It had name, website, and a little photo of the artist. I started doing that for the last batch I made.

So, mixing ideas around in My Brain (the creative side that comes up with stuff without my conscious effort is affectionately called My Brain. My Brain comes up with the weird stuff that The Rest of Me chooses to filter.)

Where was I?

Ah, yes.

My Brain mixed around these ideas, and tossed in one more idea to come up with my own signature card.

That last idea? Have you even noticed HOW HARD it is to teach something to others something that comes so naturally to you?

I am 40. I graduated in 1985. I was the first kid in my junior high to get a TRS-80 home computer. Programming and I just clicked. Math, Art, Order, Fun. Possibility! My brain was ripe to suck in all of the ideas in BASIC. I had the good fortune to have an opportunity to teach what I'd earned to five of my junior high teacher and the principal. They were eager students. Hey recognized the PC could be a fascinating tool. We were just switching from dial-up with a paper terminal to a real black and white CRT monitor.

But some things were hard for them to understand. And sometimes I couldn't help them beyond, sputterings of "But you just..."

Much like Pythagoras, whose a2 + b2 = c2 theorem was proved with one drawing and the word "Behold!" To him, everything was obvious from one drawing. To my junior high math class, there was still some 'splainin' to do.

My husband was shocked this weekend when I mentioned one part of the music for Local College graduation where I really had to look at the music, to know what came next. "It's Dixieland. It's easy. You just 1-1-1-1, 4-4-4-1, 6-2-5-1." Easy for him. Like breathing. Not obvious to me. I know what it should sound like, I could sing it, but my fingers just don't fall into place, my brain doesn't immediately provide the note names that the page presents. But he can't teach me because he just knows it. (Okay, this may be the Homeschool Blogger part of the entry)

So when I decided to "teach" an ATC class, I was a bit stymied. "You just... make art that is the right size." I rolled around so many examples of works, and yet, I was also able to reduce the entire class down to one haiku. ATCs in 17 syllables.

And that (for now, it could change later) is my new signature card.

Artist trading cards
Two point five by three point five
Create, trade, enjoy.
-- Heidicrafts

I played with fonts, made a sheet of ten, and ran off some toner photocopies (my inkjet ink runs when wet). I'm having fun decorating the cards.

And the class went well. Most just dove right in and only half-listened to my chatter. Some were friends who have watched me do this since October. All seemed inspired by something from my "Art toys" that they could play with. One went to town with scrap papers and a heart-shaped paper punch. Others drew or enjoyed my rubber stamps and rainbow ink pads. Another liked my idea of using the colorful weather maps from the local newspaper. Winter and summer maps are too solidly blue or red when tracking expected temperature, but there are great swirls on a spring or fall temperature map.

I've sent out a few ATC Haikus last week. I still owe a few cards to a couple of CMP (Creative Mom Podcast) folk. Not from the official swaps, but some trades on the side.

And my wrapping up thought that ties all of this together:
I sent a card to a CMP person who had been shortchanged in the March swap. Her card never arrived. Amy gave me the address, but it didn't click that I had recently "met" her through the CMP yahoogroup. I didn't realize that This Name was also That Artist. If I had, I might have done something different with the card. She wrote and said that she likes it, which is good.

Poppins has had the same feeling. The card she sent for my birthday swap, which I so admire, is not the way she would approach the same project today.

Part of the way My Brain works (right-brained, visual-spatial) is in pictures. I really do have a mental Rolodex(R) in my mind's eye, a set of trading cards for people and places. A set of directions can be a mental Trip-Tik(R), a series of place images. When I joined my first Yahoogroup while expecting Gonzo, I had to make a list of the various members, their towns or regions, their DH names, the names for the new kids and older kids. I had to make mental ATC signature cards to keep them straight.

With blogs, I usually don't meet people all in a bunch, but when I join a Yahoogroup, the information comes at me all at once and I need visual cues to help me sort the data. The Internet can link me to like-interested people, but it isn't like face-to-face interaction.

When I teach a class, as we go through introductions, I ask the others to help me "peg" them in My Brain. Because I'll find a hook with or without their help. Just like the naming of the episodes of Friends, My Brain will remember you as The One Who Likes Sushi or The One Who Likes The Red Green Show.

So the idea of a signature card appeals to me to help me recognize which individual in my circles is the one who like Chucks, or is a quilter, or dyes her own yarns, or homeschools, or used to live in my home state.

A signature card let me see how you chose to define yourself, to help me remember you in a way wish to be remembered.

It's such an honor to be nominated...

2007-04-11T15:29:00.001-05:00

As others have posted, I was startled to discovered that I was one of the nominees for the 2006 Homeshool Blog Awards, in the category of Best Crafts, Plans & Projects Blog. Thanks to whomever submitted my name.

I don't know how to make a click on the photo take you to the list of categories and nominees, so here is the main link. The list of nominees makes a great resource to find new ideas on the web, so go forth and find something extra while I gather up new items to photograph.

This should encourage me to post more often.

I'll take a new set of photos from what I've been making and what I've been receiving, what I should be mailing and haven't yet, and what I will be teaching to other families in just a couple of weeks.

Margarine Star

2007-04-09T17:55:00.001-05:00

Margarine Star
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Art is a way of seeing. Art is how you look at something with open eyes.

My kids and I always try to notice and appreciate the star on the top of the tub of margarine, made when the factory machinery fills the tub quickly with a bloop of margarine.

A good friend once spoke of her family phrase, "Breaking the Smooth." It needed to be done with a little reverence. There is something about disrupting the form of a product as presented, altering the star into "just" a tub of margarine. Changing the sacred into the mundane.

My husband thinks we're all weird in this regard, and never shows us the star if he opens a new tub.

Where did you find art unexpectedly today?

Journal and Tags: Sept 2006 to March 2007

2007-04-03T11:45:00.000-05:00

Had I realized how much the kitchen remodeling took over this journal, I would have put it on the cover. But I didn't. I started with my beloved Chucks.

I use my journal to encapsulate everything in my life: meeting notes, sketches, Cute Things They Say, and lists of things to get done (all noted with little boxes, waiting for that check mark.
Then add all of the samples of the kitchen old and the kitchen new, next to glued-in photographs and tucked-in event programs... This book will not close.

My life is too big to be fully captured. ;)

Journal and Tags: Sept 2006 to March 2007
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

I have date tags in colors of fall and of my new kitchen. I chose fun fuzzy yarn with the kitchen colors, too.

I attached the Formica(R) laminate sample for easy Show & Tell. When the walls were painted, I took a little paint from the bucket and painted the back of the laminate tag with wall paint. You can see a little on the edges.

When Former President Ford died, I was researched flag etiquette for my Scouts. I learned that for a fixed flag, one on a pole that cannot be set to half staff, it is appropriate to hang a length of black ribbon from the top, folded or tied so two ends hang down. To remember that event with my journal, I added thin black ribbon to the edges.

Six Pink ATCs

2007-04-03T11:40:00.000-05:00

Six Pink ATCs
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

Six ATCS for my first swap with Imagination Tribe. Theme: Pink.

They are cut from one greeting card that I started and then it really didn't go anywhere.

Pieces are from my daughter's art: the yellow-pink swirly hearts, the star on construction paper, the fuzzy fabric from her poodle skirt project. She makes more art than I can keep, but it makes great collage fodder.

The lower heart on the upper left card is punched from a glossy ad, showing a sliced tomato.

Six Princess ATCs

2007-04-03T11:30:00.000-05:00

Six Princess ATCs

Ganoush made six princess ATCs for a trade.

The Disney images are from a local DIY store. A roll of cellophane tape with images of Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. Some of the paint stamps are also by Disney, bought a few years ago at the same DIY store.

On the lower left card, with C and SW, Ganoush stamped an apple for Snow White on the card's back.

Rose Vase ATCs

2007-04-03T11:20:00.000-05:00

Rose Vase ATCs
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

ATCs numbered 3 through 6 My second-ever attempts.

The roses in a vase came from a tissue box. I choose my tissues based on the box art. The base is purple index cards.

The text is from a financial planning catalog that had great colors on the cover. The shapes are all from the catalog as well.

I made these in early 2006, with friend Andrea of Atypical Life in mind, then I set them aside and lost them. And now they are found! I sent two to her and two for me.

Imagination Tribe hosted a trade of Puzzle ATCs. Nine cards that could stand alone or make a 3x3 larger image. I did not participate, but this idea might have worked. Can you see where I cut the rose vase?

Burgundy Gold ATCs

2007-04-03T11:15:00.000-05:00

Burgundy Gold ATCs
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

My very first two ATCs, from around last spring. A collage on chipboard of gift wrap, candy foil, glitter glue, and torn tissue paper.

Flickr

2007-04-03T11:14:00.001-05:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Double writing in Flickr and here

2007-04-02T14:00:00.000-05:00

I've been posting a bunch of my recent art on my Flickr account, shown on the sidebar. I leave detailed comments, then I don't want to re-write the text here in the art blog as well. Ah, these modern dilemmas.

So, go look at some ATC photos there.

I'll work out the balance thing.

Easter Countdown

2007-04-01T18:00:00.000-05:00

Lisa Vollrath has added an Easter Countdown to her site. It's the same URL for each countdown. If you want to participate, add a link in a blog or forum and head on over.

St. Patrick's Day Countdown with Lisa Vollrath

2007-03-17T15:17:00.000-05:00

I like Lisa's art.

Every now and then, she offers free downloadable images, usually pertaining to a holiday.
This time, she asks for a link first. Fair enough. Here is the link for St. Patrick's Day images.

If you do link and load, please don't pass those images on to others. Invite them to download their own copies directly as well.

But her clock is ticking. They'll likely be gone in the next couple of days.

Feb CMP ATCs

2007-03-06T20:45:00.000-06:00

I participated in the Creative Mom Podcast ATC swap for February.

Some swaps ask for participants to mail the art to the host, who mixes or matches and re-sends out. This works well for large projects like an alphabet swap. 26 participants are each assigned a letter and make 26 cards for that letter. The host receives the 26 "L" cards and put one each into 26 participant bags, like Valentines. Then, every participant receives an alphabet deck with 26 letter cards from 26 artists, included one's self.

The CMP swap is easier. Rather than mailing all cards to Creative Mom, we send just our address. She does the mixing and sends each person the name and address of their recipient. It is not a matched group. I send to Person R, I receive a card from Person V. Next month, I'm assigned person B and get a card from Person H.

I received this art card in the Feb Swap. The theme was Alphabet Soup. This has nothing to do with the theme, but who cares. It is sunny and bright in midwinter and I learned on the swap page that it was one of her first ATC attempts.

Here is the back, with contact info fuzzed out.

Here is my contribution. I love playing with font and color and shape of the alphabet.

The Concert

2007-03-01T18:00:00.000-06:00

I can check some info about my blog visitors through Site Meter. One bit of information is what key words were put into Google or other search engine to bring that seeker to me.

This week, someone was seeking with the words {short British crosswalk piano}

I know exact what you mean. I loved that little moive when I saw it in junior high music class and I still remember chunks of it fondly.

The IMDb says that it is The Concert (1974).

Ordinary Guy walks into a London black and white striped cross walk and hears piano music, as if he were stepping on large keys. He investigates for a while, puzzled, then delighted. He plays on the wristcuff of a London Bobbie / police officer. He taps a trill on an old lady's teeth. Anything black, white, and vaguely rectangular becomes a music making device.

Then, just as abruptly, the gift has run out and the concert is over. He hops expectantly through the cross walk and hears nothing by typical street sounds. He re-composes (ha, ha) himself and goes on his way.

Alas, I cannot find it on You Tube.

Arrow of Light arrows

2007-03-01T08:56:00.000-06:00

I have been a Cub Scout Den Leader for just over four full years. My six Webelos are crossing over to Boy Scouts soon (as soon as this weather lets up). As a remembrance, I took ideas from other Scout Leaders and made career arrows for my boys. I chose to use beads to represent the accomplishments they archived in their time with us.

Here is a full shot of a different boy's career arrow.

I chose feathers of blue & gold (Cubs) and red & green (BSA).
I attached them with hot glue, then lashed them with gold cord, just like in the Webelos book.

I added name beads (fuzzed out for posting) on a pipe cleaner / chenille stem, with a blue and yellow glow bead.

(I love glow stuff. Our den behavior markers were glow MegaBloksTM that were my wedding gift from my husband.)

I used translucent and opaque tri-beads to represent each segment patch they earned. There is a stopper bead on the end. The hole was small, so I used elastic gold cord.

Next are shiny pony beads to represent beltloops, silver for sports and gold for academics, just like the loops themselves. I couldn't find copper beads for the BB and Archery loops, so I used shiny red. These holes were large enough to use yarn. I used variegated rainbow yarn.

The large orange bead represents the Tiger badge. It was a plain wooden bead that I colored with a dry erase marker. I couldn't get paint to look good. Each Rank bead has matching glow beads above and below it. I used opaque tri-beads for the totem beads, with a glow stopper bead

Finally, the blue bead represents Bobcat. I added two shiny blue pony beads to represent the 8 steps to earn the Bobcat.

Red wooden bead for Wolf badge, yellow pony beads for the progress towards rank beads, a gold oval bead for the gold arrow point and silver oval beads in two columns to the silver arrow points earned. The oval beads have small holes, so I used gold cord.

Teal wooden bead for Bear badge with red progress beads

Dark blue wooden bead for the Webelos badge and unpainted wooden bead for the Arrow Light badge. The star beads are in five colors to represent the five categories of activity pins. These are the exact beads we had on pipe cleaners for each boy's den doodle. Earning the compass badge added a fat blue disk bead. Earning arrow points after each four more stars placed a shiny purple pony bead on the stack.

The arrowhead was purchased at our Scout Shop. I used hot glue to affix it to the dowel (painted with gold glitter paint) and then lashed it on, knotting in the back and sealing the knot in hot glue.

The arrow has glow Rexlace for hanging purpose.

Knitting update: projects 1, 2, 3

2007-02-17T11:45:00.000-06:00

My first try at knitting grew and grew. What started with 30 stitches was stopped when I realized that I was now doing more than 60. Sometimes, the yarn untwisted enough that I put the needle through only half. Then I knitted the other half, too. Other extra stitches appeared with no understanding.When it was done, it was not a square. It is a Rorschach test. Everyone sees something that it *could* be.

So when I started my second project, observers asked, "What will it be?" and I replied, "A square."
"No," they all countered, "what will it be?"
I explained. "The last time I tried to knit a square and failed. This time, I only hope to make a square." and I succeeded.

I really like using verigated yarns. It helps me keep track of my stitches much better than if I was looking into a sea for sameness. I like the surprised of what goes with which. What combinations appear that I wouldn't have chosen but now rather like?

For my third project, I wanted to branch out a little. I am attracted to fun fibers and wondered how they would knit. I wanted to make a small swatch, only 13 stitches across. But once I got started, in a gather of homeschool moms, I was encouraged to continue on. "Make a scarf," they said.
"But it's not really all that soft," I protested.
"Make a Fashion Scarf," they said, and one showed me her accent scarf, worn in that loose Lark's Head way.
"I am the one who wears a lizard hat," I reminded everyone.
But I'm making a scarf now, anyway. I like having one 13 stitches before flipping.

I'll declare that for Project Spectrum, CHG is reading aloud "Wintersmith" for the family. The third Tiffany Aching book from Terry Pratchett, it is full of grey skies, white snowflakes with curious properties, and the little blue Wee Free Men, the Nac Mac Feegles. While he reads, full of spot-on voices, I knit.

I really should try knitting with something blue, grey, and white, but I like these colors. I'll think about it. I have a second set of #10 needles, which are grey.

I'm coming along nicely. It reaches from my palm nearly up to my shoulder now. I expect that I'll keep going until I finish the skein or reach my arm's span across.

Kitchen switch and outlet covers on display

2007-02-17T11:30:00.000-06:00

The ceramic covers have been fired, picked up, and installed around the kitchen. They add a lovely, personal touch to the place.

These are Ganoush's. She included her initials, which I have craftily disguised using MS Paint. The pink puffy paint that she had used is now purple. It does not affect the design.

This was CHG's first time with ceramics. He did a lovely layering on the leaves that is hard to see now. The dark greens overpower the lighter greens. The stripes are bold.

On the flip side, my leaves could have used more layering. I used rubber stamps, and they are difficult to align for second or third stampings. The boldest fern, I went over the paint with a brush, but it seemed too thick. I do like it. I just wish that the leaves had come out darker. I also initialed (and masked here) my work.

Gonzo's Electric-type Pokemon cover turned out great. It features Voltorb, Electrode, and Pikachu.

Valentine's Day Countdown

2007-02-11T18:15:00.000-06:00

Lisa Vollrath is having another Countdown giveaway.

Do not pass along the pictures you may download from there. Just spread the news and let everyone download for themselves.

Hats

2007-02-11T18:00:00.000-06:00

I like hats. Hats add to or enhance my character. Hats keep the sun out of my eyes.

In the summer, I wear a brimmed hat. I pin buttons and pins on it. Once, a librarian found a pin in my vicinity and asked if it was mine. It was not. "Oh, well," sid the librarian. "It should be," and gave my the button. A quote from Albert Einstein about education. Rather unschooly.

My hat has style ~ Heidi style. It is not a Tilley. It is from Lands' End. CHG has a real Tilley.

They are white-ish to reflect away sunlight. They are green underneath to minimize reflection into one's eyes.

They have a cord for windy days. I usually tuck mine up and around the back to keep it out of my way.

They have a fun foam insert inside the pocket inside the top; this will help it float in water.

The sides can snap up, though I don't wear it that way.

They have grommets to let the breeze blow through.

I can found in a crowd. The lady in the hat.

When I have summer band concert, the hat means that I am the personnel manager. I take attendance. When I remove my hat, that means that I am ready to be a musician.

In the winter, I wear a hat that was a gift for my son when he was younger. But I liked it much better than he did. So now it is mine. It was made by Doni Jo McBeath at Art for Your Frame. Go click. Not only does she make lizard hats, she makes chicken hats, rabbit hats, Knights visors, Viking hats with Brunhilda braids attached. She also makes coats for wee ones and pillow.

She is delighted that I send her an e-mail every year, letting her know that one lizard is still out in the world, making people happy. When we coordinate, she says she can make a winter hat for me with a brim. A duck in a pond.

Drivers are nicer to pedestrians that make them chuckle.

People smile at me when I wear the hat. I smile back. I rifle through my mental RolodexTM. Do I know them? Do they know me? No. They like my hat. Brave people find the courage to say out loud, "I like your hat."

There is a wire in the lizard's tongue. It usually keep it pointing up and out of my way.

If we have a large snow, I need to brush the snow from the roof of my car. In doing so, snow usually get on the lizard. Typically, I brush off my car because I intend to use my car, so after brushing, I get into my car. I turn on the heater. The interior warms up. The snow on my lizard hat melts. It drips. On my face. While I'm driving.

Lizard spit.

Valentine ATCs

2007-02-06T21:00:00.000-06:00

Since I don't sign up for swaps much, mine are more AGCs, Artist Giving Cards.

My kids don't want to make their own Valentines for their exchange. I don't want to buy licensed cards. So they contracted me to make their cards. I was delighted.

These were for Ganoush's exchange. The background is Marvy ink pads, direct to paper. The patterned pink is store bought tissue paper. The bright pink hearts are just Astrobright copy paper. I added the Snoopy stamp after they were punched. For a time, Ganoush would hold out her arms, throw back her head, and tappity tap dance whenever she heard the word "Snoopy," as shown in this stamp. She was tickled that I used it on her Valentines. And it added that wee bit of licensing that the kids have come to expect.

I also broke my big heart punch during this session and had to make it work without its plastic casing.

I finished up with a lit of little "exploding heart confetti" stampings and one heart with wings stamp.

Gonzo's cards have a more masculine look. The cards are darker. I had started with the same pink and purple, but overstamped them with Marvy orange direct to paper.

All of the hearts are punched from one page from TV Guide magazine. The ad is for Cheez-its. The ad shows that a Cheez-its brand cracker is small but shows it next to a large block of cheese to represent the big taste.

Again with the exploding heart stamp and the winged heart stamp.

Gonzo surprised me with his thoughtfulness. On the cards to his close friends, he is adding original art tailored to their preferences. Pikachu for one, light sabres for a couple of others.

Ganoush has one friend in Gonzo's class, so I made this card extra for Ganoush to give and for Gonzo to deliver during the exchange. It will be a surprise when she looks at her Valentines.

Same formula. This heart is punched from some random paint art that Ganoush made one day. Most of our painting sessions end with time for "let's use up all of the paint you guys poured out but haven't used yet" background making.

And in true ATC form, I am continuing to number them. My last card was #658.

Ganoush's exchange was today. Gonzo's will be next week.

Ganoush's received cards had many kittens, kittens with puppies, Veggie Tales, and a few Disney princesses. She likes the card of Will Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Her b-o-y-f-r-i-e-n-d drew his cards on copy paper, saying "Best Firend" and showing a bald head and a head with flip curls. Ganoush said that he made those for everybody. She said that he doesn't know yet that he's her boyfriend. She didn't know until last night that the boy's father work with CHG. They have had a chat about their children. As far as I know, nothing about dowries was mentioned.

She received candy on about half of the cards. I don't believe in giving out candy. It makes it too much obligation. But I did accept the Hershey's mini-bars, Bottle Caps, and Butterfinger hearts that she didn't want.

Project Spectrum 2.0

2007-02-05T11:00:00.000-06:00

February / March
Blue, White, Gray

April / May
Green, Yellow, Pink

June / July
Red, Black, Metallics

August / September
Brown, Orange, Purple

Poppins has been excited about Project Spectrum and I'm ready to give it some attention. This was started last year and basically asks folk to be aware of color in their lives. It draws attention different colors each couple of months, and certainly invites craftiness if that suits one.

I have some ideas, but nothing to show yet.

New outlet and switch covers

2007-02-03T16:30:00.000-06:00

The kids and I like visiting a local pottery store. We can paint bisqueware with glaze, they fire it for us at the store, and we pick it up a week later.

Since the kitchen's design phase, I have had a dream of each of us in the family decorating an outlet cover for the new kitchen. Today, my dream came true. We were all available to go painting together.

We realized that their stock had just the right switch covers for all of our configurations as well. Each of us now has ownership of one corner. The pink spells out "dad."

Near the dining room are the pieces by Ganoush. She made the three-switch plate and the outlet cover next to it. She finished early, so she also painted a cat.

The electrics between the stove and the garage door were decorated by CHG. His pieces are at the top, striped or leafy. What looks like a cover for one switch and two outlets is really for three outlets. Original to the house, at least since we've been here, is one "regular" switch for the kitchen overhead light, and two left-to-right switches, one over the other, for the light in the garage and the light for the landing just before the garage.

The corner by the pantry is mine. I used rubber stamps to make a leafy theme. The kitchen has a lovely summer to autumn feel without really having any glaring orange in it.

The three of us used the same palette of three green and three wood-beige colors.

Gonzo went off and did his own thing. He didn't use any of our colors but had a definite theme in mind. He drew Pikachu from Pokemon. He also drew Pokemon Voltorb and Electrode. These are all Electric type Pokemon. For an electric outlet cover. Cool.

The big revealing entry!

2007-02-03T16:00:00.000-06:00

We've moved the dining table back to the dining room part of the house. We've written big checks. The Access Key box has been removed. The kitchen remodel is done.

Last week, we hosted my mom, my brother Goof, his wife Equestrian (sounds nicer than Horse), and their college chum, Raven's Path. They came over for a day. We played Apples to Apples with the kids. We left when the smell of varnish got to bothersome to a few.

We had Final Christmas with my family. We were showered with Target gift cards, most of which are already spent on the kitchen.

But you want to see photos of the finished product, don't you?

This is the view from the dining area.

Over the fridge is more once-a-season storage. Not full. Yea!

Everyone who saw the refrigerator in the dining room and the space that was reserved for the fridge was certain it would not fit. It does.

The little cabinet by the fridge. Gonzo noticed that we still have the little shelves around the garden window. I liked those in the old design. Open, airy. This one holds meds. It isn't the shelf visible from the living room. The paper towel holder was from the Target cards.

Here is my fancy new super Flylady-shiny sink, all polished and pretty.

The sink in use. We bought a sink guard at Bed, Bath & Beyond when we bought the pans, since I scuffed the sink when I washed the crock pot. New cookware is drying in the rack because none of it can go in the dishwasher!

There was a small leak under the sink. It soaked the lower third of the box of dishwashing detergent.

We called back Top Jimi. He tightened the connection between the handle and the silver pipe leading to the dishwasher. We all agreed that if the trouble was with the red plastic pipe, we were calling in the plumber. So far, no more leak.

Lower shelf holds baking utensils, upper shelf has food storage. Target gift card bought the new RubbermaidTM storage set with handy-dandy holding frame. The nicest part is that the two large sizes share one lid size.

This long shot shows the little pocket lights over the sink, replacing a small fluorescent fixture.

I really like the pantry. Lots of roll out shelves.
The lowest shelf is for baking foods: baking powder, brown sugar.
Next up is for pasta. A box of lasagna fits exactly from side to side. Gotta love industry standards.
Then semi-snacky foods: graham crackers, peanut butter, Nutella, raisins.
Then canned goods.
The fixed shelves hold Coke with Splenda and coffee for CHG, Cub Scout microwave Double Butter popcorn.
The upper section holds really-snacky foods on the roll-out. Pretzels, blue chips, Girl Scout cookies.
The uppermost shelf is out-of-season storage.

Here is the view from the landing, as I had taken at other times. The step stool is where the stove used to be. If you click to the larger view, look at just how close the top of the PringlesTM can clears the underside of the roll-put above it. If the can is under the roller track, it won't stand.

Bulk food storage to the right of the stove. Good stuff. Falafel mix, oatmeal, unbleached white flour, whole wheat flour, corn meal, burger mix, varieties of beans, and we finally started using the oil decanter from Endora, Christmas 2005.

Top Jimi made this special over burner cover for me. It has little feet that reach out over the stove and rest on the counter, like a little bridge. Extra counter space, protect the glass top. Way cool.

This shows the inner wall without the stove cover.

The main hub. Dishes, bowls. Overflow bulk food. CHG wants a different plate holder. Not one that is white. We'll look at BB&B this weekend.

The new spice rack bought with Target gift cards. And bananas. And the Lego model of the kitchen that Ganoush and I made. [See below.]

The drawer holds silverware and "fixin' food" utensils: cheese slicers, apple slicers, can opener.
Below is the cereal shelf. The lower shelf holds the toaster and water bottles. The theme there was: They both fit.

The angled appliance cabinet.
Wedding-gift heart-shaped-waffle maker.
Blender.
One-Cup-at-a-Time coffee maker v. 2 after the wedding-gift v. 1 died last year.
Popcorn popper (behind the blender, that splash of green) From my nine months at the apartment, I think.
Steamer. Pre-wedding.

Close-ups of the LegoTM model for Ganoush's Kitchen Remodel display for the Homeschool Share Fair.

We dug through the bins and even found pieces to make the Vanilla Wafer colored wall. White for refrigerator, black for dishwasher (though Top Jimi spray painted the Harvest Gold to be Spruce Green), blue for sink, green for lower cabinets, red for stove, yellow for upper cabinets, flat pieces for the flooring. She even found a garden window piece and I found some roof bits.

Then she found little LegoTM people to be those involved. Designer, painters (stormtroopers), carpenter (Top Jimi was a ninja), banker, plumber, electrician, dry wallers, appliance guys, and inspectors.

Pondering a complicated art situation

2006-12-30T21:54:00.001-06:00

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

2006-12-16T20:45:00.000-06:00

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

2006-12-16T20:15:00.000-06:00

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

2006-12-01T22:18:00.000-06:00

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

2006-11-30T17:00:00.000-06:00

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

2006-11-29T22:48:00.000-06:00

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

2006-11-24T13:30:00.000-06:00

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.

Heidicrafts

E-mail jungle

CMP ATC JUL/AUG - Here to There

Still on the planet

Valentine's Day Countdown

Wii did it!

Basement Translation Day

Basement East Air

Ice and fire trees

Iced cherries

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Brownie ceramics

Christmas Countdowns

Kid ceramics

Ceramic bulb ornament

Feedback for knitted ATCs

Feeling much better - Crafty bread

Woozy

More textures, November 2004

November 2004 Nature Photos

Way-back art

Red Hat / Cow sushi plate

Zut alors, il neige!

Textures: Bubbles on blue

Fall Photos, 2004

Missed Saturday - Explanation Sunday

OCT CMP ATC

Stockings4Soldiers Page 10

Unshelved - Pimp My Bookcart 2007

Most popular search of the season

Sleepy Tuesday

Stockings4Soldiers Page 9

Stockings4Soldiers Page 8

Stockings4Soldiers Stuffing

Stockings4Soldiers from Mrs. Pivec

Stockings4Soldiers Beach

One last batch of ATCs

Little Houses

More S4S ATCs

2006 Stepping Stone by CHG

2006 Stepping Stones

2006 Stepping Stone for Forty

Stockings for Soldiers Update

2004 Stepping Stones

Stockings4Soldiers Update Again

Stockings4Soldiers collage

Stockings4Soldiers watercolor pencil

Stockings4Soldiers Page 7

Stockings4Soldiers Page 6

Stockings4Soldiers Page 5

Stockings4Soldiers Page 4

Leaf House / Maze

Stockings4Soldiers Update

Stockings4Soldiers mealtime

Stockings4Soldiers smiles

Stockings4Soldiers Page 3

Stockings4Soldiers Page 2

Stockings4Soldiers Page 1

What *is* an ATC?

Donating ATCs for soldiers in the Middle East

ATC lunchboxes

Midsummer Nights Pansy - CMP ATC July

Heidi's robot ATCs

Round Robin Art Journal

Confidential to Andrea:

Father's Day Countdown from Lisa Vollrath

Star in the spotlight

Seven Random Things

Trying an e-mail post

Wings still furled

Links

Signature cards

It's such an honor to be nominated...

Margarine Star

Journal and Tags: Sept 2006 to March 2007

Six Pink ATCs

Six Princess ATCs

Rose Vase ATCs

Burgundy Gold ATCs

Flickr

What is an ATC?