Match Boxes

I used to be able to get Diamond brand matches at the grocery store where the logo had a white edge so could be covered easily.  

I used images from Christmas cards and other colorful papers to cover each side and sold them at our church fair and a few other places....by the hundreds.  But the box design changed and the branding image now wraps around the edge making them impossible to cover.

I continue to make matches for Folly 101 but I buy plain white match boxes from an on-line party store. 

So....what's the point is of this story? 

I came across a whole bin of pre-cut match papers several days ago for the old kind of boxes....pretty useless now. It's hard for me to throw things like this away....but at some point they might have to go.

 But in the mean time over the last few days I used papers from the bin, a 

couple of punches, and a pair of scissors to make 3 more simple cards.

Used what I had....and honors the past.  Win win!

And....I had another evening doing something mindfully mindless that required absolutely no thought or creativity.  I planned ahead and cut all the papers for the inevitable Folly 101 Christmas match order. My future self will thank me!

UFO Victorian Ladies

Paul and I are in Maine for the holiday weekend.  It was hard to leave my puzzle because this one is just as engaging and enjoyable as I thought it would be.

This one is a big square so the top was a long reach.  I detached the lower half of the border and will work my way down reattaching it as I go. I know this is a silly detail to write about....but you puzzle lovers will understand how things like this make a difference.  Every puzzle presents a different challenge and requires unique strategies.  Or at least that's my story....and I'm sticking with it.

Celebrating my perfectly pleasant puzzle place.

And...this is where I left the UFO Victorian Ladies.

Treat

What a treat to be on Casco Bay this evening.  We didn't have much wind...but that didn't matter.  We motored out about a mile, put down the anchor near Clapboard Island and just enjoyed the beautiful sky, the spectacular sunset, and the delightful company!

Thanks Janice and Jay! A great way to kick off a holiday weekend.

Rest

"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."  

Native American Proverb

Transitions can be beautiful! When the fall colors start to appear it means that the plant is starting to rest.  It stops producing green chlorophyll and the yellows, oranges and reds start to appear. 

Janet and I came upon a yard on our walk this morning that has gone wildly back to nature....both of us found it oddly beautiful. 

Just a few days ago I pulled a bunch of this very weed out of my gardens. Here...where it's been left alone...the transition has revealed a lovely shade of red/orange.

After doing a little research I found out it's called "smartweed."  I'm probably going to keep pulling it....but I will admit that it's quite lovely as it starts to rest. 

Color and Shapes

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way....things I had no words for." Georgia O'Keeffe

I dug into my colorful catalog scraps again for card #79.

These glass ball images from an Artful Home catalog have been floating around a while.....now they're shapes of color on card #80.

Then...to round out the colorful trio I used a reject photograph I had taken of one of my paper tube projects.  Either I over edited the photo....or the processing was off because the colors were way to intense to use for anything.....except card #81. 

Mindfully Mindless

Sometimes I need something mindfully mindless....when I just want to be quiet but still do something with my hands that doesn't require creativity or much if any thought at all. And...just for the record...I do my share of absolutely nothing but vegging in front of the TV...because I need that too.

But sorting edge pieces and organizing the new puzzle pieces in my box tops was the perfect mindfully mindless activity last night....

...and I had the border put together before I finished my morning coffee.

I intended to crop this photo....but there are a couple things I thought I would point out. I'm not sure it was wise for me to stand on the chair....I have a perfectly good and much safer little step stool...but it does show the polka dot chair pad made from the same fabric I used for the condo valances.  And....it was a chilly enough this morning to be wearing socks. I welcome and quietly celebrate the slow shift from summer to fall. 

UFO Victorian Ladies

When Kirsten Sevig starting posting about her hand drawn/hand painted UFO Victorian Ladies on Instagram I was intrigued....but I totally fell in love when it turned into a puzzle.  It's filled with intricate patterns, interesting details, and color....just what I like in a puzzle.

"I'm making it up as I go and sharing it with you."
Kristen Sevig

Check out her process and other watercolor projects on her Instagram page.

I ordered the puzzle here.



I'm pretty excited about this one! The pieces are tiny....but well made...it's going to be a fun challenge.  The little seal on the box says

"Woman Owned

90% Recycled Gray Board

Vegetable Based Inks"

Makes me like it
even more!

Shade

It's hard to capture vibrant colors in the bright sunshine.

But all I had to say to capture these amazing colors was "I wish they were in the shade".....and Paul made it happen. He's a good sport.

Note to self: "always say out loud what you wish for....because it just might come true."

These tiny, colorless mushrooms were nested in the grass and I just had to pick one up to look more closely.  It was like a little fuzzy snowball....even white photographs better in the shade.

 

Blue Mosaic

Today I made a third photo card....this time a little blue mosaic. I pulled a few more sky photos to punch and came across a photo of blue wool and thought it would add interesting texture. Punching new squares also gives me a chance to show my process again for making a photo mosaic.

Since the photographs have a white edgeI outline them with a sharpie....

giving them a nice little frame and the effect of grout.

This time I experimented with glueing them onto deli paper making them quite easy to re-punch.

It's helpful that I can see what I'm punching in the view finder.

 I outlined them again with the sharpie.

I didn't have enough to cover the card....and I wanted keep moving forward

so I stitched a reference line/frame to work within and glued on the mosaic squares.

Laziness?.....or good design?....maybe a little of both.

And there you have it....mosaic blues of #78. Generally I glue the original squares on black paper so white doesn't show between the small pieces....I think I like that better.  And I can see that I should have rotated a few so small pieces aren't right next to other small pieces....but all in all I think it works OK.

and...I think they make a colorful photo trio.

New Love

I'm going with with the photo theme.....and today it was all about purple in honor of my "New Love" bush clematis that's just starting to bloom. 

All the squares came from that same box I found yesterday.  It was my friend Lynn from Madison who first introduced me to putting the squares at an angle.  Check out this post to see a photo collage she made for me in a blue theme.

The New Love clematis shrub is neat and tidy and it blooms in clusters along the stem....often hidden from view. It's always nice to have new bloom this time of year....and this plant is just getting started.

Golden Yellow

"We are who we are when no one's watching."

This quote really struck me today....I want to be proud of who I am when I'm alone.

Anita and I saw lots of late summer golden yellows on our walk this morning.....and Black-Eyed Susans are a classic.  My sisters and I used to dry the flowers in cornmeal and use them in fall arrangements. They kept their shape and color for a long time.

The fuzzy tansy in Janet's garden also reminds me of my younger days....it grew wild along the country roads. 

On Anita's way home from our walk she spotted tansy in the garden at the Hancock-Clarke House...one of our historic buildings in Lexington. Ironically enough the house itself is golden yellow. The sign by the plant said that it was "a household herb hung in kitchens used to repel mosquitoes, flies, and ants; also used for embalming."  Who new! 

I came across a little box of punched squares left over from various projects including a photo mosaic mirror I made back in 2016.  I knew I could come up with something for today's index card.

I made this mirror for my first art show and it sold very quickly....I may have to revisit this idea again! I wrote about the process here where I punched...then re-punched.

I pulled out some greens and golden yellows in honor of the finds on our walk....and made a simple card.  There was one punched square in the box that was sunlight through the clouds with a bit of glitter on it....I couldn't help but add it to the card for a little focal point. 

I glued the squares in a brick pattern then trimmed up the edges at the end.

I sense a photo theme coming on!

3/4

I made one more card before I headed back to Lexington today....I'm 3/4 of the way through my 100 day project. 

I collaged the background with circles cut from a paper napkin and stitched punched velum circles left over from some mobiles I had made.  It's got a little whimsy....I like that.

Catch-Up Day

My guests headed home today and I had a catch-up day here at the condo....inside and out.

These two leaves caught my eye....the one on the left looks like lace thanks to some sort of bug.

The mushrooms are out in force....this one also kind of lacey.

This one was impressively large.....

...and these were impressively tiny.

I played catch-up with some cards I had in various stages.

The geometric pieces are from mixed media collages that I cut up.

The blue one is a doodle done with marker. The pieces of laser cut card stock on top were used as a resist on a gel plate experiment....that's why they're blue.

The orange one features one of Becky's coloring flowers on a watercolor background.

Here I chained up precut catalog circles left over from a previous project.