Spring and Summer Colors

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

Dreaming about spring and summer colors while making a snippet color wheel. Or is it a rainbow wreath? Either way....it's a joy thing.

And here's a little color in the still snowy backyard....a fabulous found object! Well done Paul!

Happy Transgender Day of Visibility. I stand with my trans friends and family!

Paul and I are hitting the road tomorrow. Our destination is Perry, Maine to spend a few nights with our dear friends Patsy and Brian. 

And it gives me a chance to post one of my little little maps. We'll take a more direct route....but we won't mind the four hour drive.

There will be good food and conversation. And there will be lot of laughter and cards. Just the distraction we both need.

Timing for my post nuggets might be a little later than usual the next couple of nights.

It OnlyTakes Two

It only takes two to get a conversation going....and it only takes two to do some joyful puttering. I actually do pretty well on my own...but I wanted to try and widen my joy circle a bit.

I'm trying something new at the Handiwork Studio and Market here in Portland. 

The hope is to have a monthly Joyful Puttering session doing simple art projects with anyone who is interested...and my first session was yesterday. 

I'm not charging for these sessions...but I welcome donations to Maine Needs.

We had snow in the morning so that may have impacted attendance. I was hoping for at least two to get things rolling....and that's just what I got. I was thrilled to putter with with Amanda and her daughter Isabelle...and Margot came near the end and might come next time.

We started with simple strip collaging from my recycled cards left over from my Words of Encouragement project....and this particular color scheme that Isabelle created really caught my eye. She cut it up to make bookmarks.

We had a delightful conversation about our art and interests and some of the things they would like to work on. They thought they had friends that might be interested next time and maybe even a few younger kids.

I made cards to hand out with a little bit of my story and contact information and I stitched on some snippets for color and interest. That prompted our next project.

Next time we will collage with my vast supply of snippets and collage paper scraps. I will introduce snippet rolls and snippet color wheels that will be user friendly for kids. 

We'll see how it goes and it if catches on. But really...it only takes two! 

I Love a Parade!

I had to dig deep to find joy in the snow today.

We got about 5 inches...and I wasn't even tempted to get out in it this time.

It's pretty...but it's almost April and in general I'm over it.

But the snowy inspiration word worked to my advantage 
in the Wordle puzzle this morning!

I'm having no trouble at all finding joy in this fabulous wooden puzzle gifted to me by Amy and Lisle. 

Do you see the frog that I just added this morning? 

I've done this puzzle once with Patsy and Jane while we were together in Perry. 

We were all working on different sections so I don't remember that at the very top there is a parade of dancing people. They go in upside down....so I had to flip the photo to share the celebration. 

I do love a parade!

It reminds me of my favorite parade above my front door. What I love most about this parade is that it's led by a little girl.

My sister Angie drew it with with a sharpie and it's one of my favorite pieces of art!

She projected a small image she found onto a piece of paper that was taped to the wall...then filled it in with sharpie. She was so talented in so many areas...and she is dearly missed. 

Figuring It Out

There's really not a difficult thing unless you decide it's a difficult thing. Otherwise it's just the next thing you're figuring out. Flying Edna

Using an idea I've seen here and there I forged into this accordion project for a birthday card without searching for basic directions. Next time I'll do things a little differently because I like the concept. It's just another thing to figure out.

I cut out a butterfly from a book I found at a thrift store...and used some of my greeting card strips for the cover.

I cut out another butterfly and traced it on two different kinds of paper and glued them onto an accordion folded piece of heavy paper. The last butterfly is a colorful landscape scene. 

My accordion folds are WAY too big. Smaller and shorter folds would have allowed for more folds...and more butterflies making it much more impactful. 

It's impossible to cut around the antenna....so I came up with an idea of how to add them back in after. I dissolved a few small scraps of water soluble fabric to create a slurry and soaked some black thread. 

It was stiff when it dried so worked well for the antenna. 

 

(I don't like that I can see the fold above the butterflies...smaller folds next time!)

Altered Art Journal

I've already mentioned that I have been working on an altered art journal for Becky. I altered one for myself based on a Sketchbook Challenge class I took from Design Matters Art and Craft School....and I've been slowly working in it for several years years. There are LOTS of posts on the blog of my progress under the label art journal.

Starting with a commercial sketchbook Becky sent me....I ripped down pages and stitched in bits of art and ephemera from her pile. This eliminates some of those intimidating blank pages and giving some of the page spreads a jumping off point for whatever she wants to do.  

I just finished...and her art journal is sufficiently altered and I will take it to her at the end of April when I visit.  So I can't reveal the whole thing...but I can give you and Becky a little sneak peak at a couple pages.

I left ALL the threads for Becky to do what she wants with.

Some of the page edges are wrapped....making it quite colorful from the side.

Every page is not altered so there are plenty of pages that are blank and whole for Becky to do whatever she wants. 

I thought this was the perfect card to put near the front...and it layered perfectly with a beautiful watercolor that Becky did.

And I love that the It's your turn card is from a heating and cooling company...a perfect found piece of ephemera. I examine every paper product that comes into my house. Is it something or nothing? (That's actually a line from Becky.)

I cut out and stitched on this lovely watercolor tree Becky painted on the edge of one page...

and layered a doodle and a gelli print on another. I really enjoyed pairing and layering the papers.

Becky's is the blue one...and mine is black. I have  six or eight pages or so left in mine.....and Becky has years of creating ahead of her in her altered art journal.

Balance!

The snow is almost melted...and there are signs of spring in the neighborhood!

This quote made me chuckle. And if you can chuckle with all that is going on in the country...that's a good thing.  It's all about balance! 

Junk Journal #2

Subtitle: Pink Things

I fully expected there would be snow in March.

But the truth is that snow isn't quite as magical on March 25th as it is on December 25th.

But it's still beautiful...and it won't last long.

Becky's second junk journal is a little chunkier....and the layered cover just kind of happened on its own. 

Many years ago Becky gave me a stack of cards from her mom's stash. She knew I might have a use for them....some day. Roses were a favorite of Lucy's...and they certainly are a favorite of Becky. So I chose some cards rose cards from that stash and pink things ended up being a bit of a theme.

I didn't originally intend for these two rose cards to become the cover...but I loved the way they stacked up....so decided they deserved front and center. And that tiny black and white leaf peeking out makes me smile. It's on a card from David, Becky's husband.

Like the other one...this one has vintage stationary.....

greeting cards, an old cookbook cover, a couple of recognitions certificates for Becky's teaching, and lots of this and that.

And again, several places for her to add more this and that.

I love the way this velum rose card becomes the spine. 

I enjoyed putting these two journals together....and we're thinking about doing a version of this for our group art exchange. We will iron out the details when I visit at the end of April. 

Junk Journals

Junk journals are kind of a thing these days in the art journal world. They're handmade books created from recycled and found materials and used for journaling and creative expression. They can be any size and assembled however you want....it's just a matter of curating a collection of papers...and stitching them together.

I shared this photo in a post back in February....and this is just one layer of a whole big pile of ephemera Becky sent me to make her some junk journals. And I'm also modifying an art journal like the one I've been working in....ripping down pages and stitching in her stuff. She doesn't sew....so that part has always held her back.

Becky's pile included some of her own art and coloring....vintage and precious papers and memorabilia. There's stationary from her childhood....gelli prints...and even a few things that were originally from my stash that now have found their way back to my studio.

I've put together two junk journals so far...and have enough for another one or two. 

The first journal is small and simple. I used a card from her stash for the cover and reinforced the spine with a piece of fused fabric. I've made a lot of books....but this is actually my first junk journal so I'm learning as I go along. I have no idea if it's what she had in mind. 

It's a mix of things...and there are lots of places for her to embellish....add more art....doodle....or write memories and quotes.

Here are a few spreads from the journal....ready for Becky to add her touch.

It starts with a Mother's Day card from her daughter Emily....mother of Max.

This page hold the famous quote: Where the hell is my pickle fork? I can't have anything nice with you kids. That was the inspiration for my "chuckle" Tiny Pages Art Exchange card I did for her back in July.

And how can you not love this 1958 Super-Service Station receipt for $5.40.

Becky saved this winning score sheet.....

and this note is actually from Margie. 

Yes....my Margie!

I probably got a letter on this stationary when we were young.

And the last page is the inside of Emily's card...which is just so precious. 

Dear Mom,

Thank you 

for having 

Band-aids.

From Emily

There are more pages....but you get the idea. I'll share the second one tomorrow. 

Tiny Bits of Hope

Although I still have faith that ultimately the arc of the moral universe will bend towards justice.....on a day to day basis there are only tiny bits of hope in the news. 

In many of my Words of Encouragement kits I sent along tiny hope tags.

Once I attach a phrase to a tag...I cut it to fit and am using up the short cut-offs for just one word: hope, love, joy or peace.

I sent several of them to Dotty...and this one hangs on her husband Dave's pen holder on his desk.

And these two little cut-offs were too small to punch a hole...but big enough for a tiny hope. 

They live on the laps of these little replicas of Dotty's mom and dad sitting on an adorable little bench. 

And just look at that adorable itty bitty bird! 

In between things today I added this tiny hope on a tag I created for my old tag project.  Other tags can be seen here. The ring is actually kind of full...so I'm calling this project complete! 

Ending my old tag project with a tiny bit of hope from my new tag project seems just right.

Bright and Beautiful

This made me laugh out loud!  

If I'm going to over think something...it might as well be joy.

Paul and I don't go out at night much...but last evening we attended a delightful concert at his church in Scarborough featuring a local folk/bluegrass band called Darlin' Corey. 

And we were early enough to take in the sunset at Pine Point Beach before the concert.

Sometimes joy looks like the bright and beautiful colors of a seaside sunset.

And today joy looked like the bright and beautiful new space for Maine Needs. It's huge....and it's impressive. 

This whole middle section is for clothes and all of the shelving and racks were donated from L.L. Bean from their recent remodel. 

And there's another section for homegoods.

And even more spaces and places for so many other things. 

I worked alongside Amanda...and our first task was to finish unpacking children's books.

This is one of the first things people will see when they come in to pick up their bags. They will be encouraged to shop for books for kids they know who might enjoy them.

The Amanda and I unpacked and organized children's coats.  

Then moved onto pajamas and other kids clothes. 

The space is bright and beautiful...and going to be so much more user friendly place to volunteer. Today the space was buzzing with excitement and anticipation of things to come.