Handmade Fodder?

This is stuff I made for a "handmade fodder" swap. The idea is to make accessories, I guess, suitable for including in art journals, as card fronts--basically on whatever project your partner needs a head-start on.

 This is the selection I mailed to my partner.

 I tried to color coordinate bits and pieces. Many of these feature stamps I've carved or experimentation in stenciling. For instance, I made the large loopy hot pink piece by spraying through the six-pack ring that holds sodas together.

 This set also features experimentation in stenciling. The large circle is made by spraying ink through a large bubble wand (the kind that kids use with soapy solution). Meanwhile, the oval on the bottom row is made by playing around with a potato masher and my Gelli plate.

These are just odds and ends that didn't really suit a color scheme. Aside from the collage ATC, they're exceptionally plain, so I'm assuming my part will sass them up and add focal images or words or something.

When "The Feels" Interfere...

I haven't posted in awhile. There was/is lots going on. As the kids say, "I had some FEELS." I won't go into specifics, but let's just say there have been headaches, heart aches, tears, and lots of worrying. I don't see an immediate resolution on the horizon, but I'm slowly doing things. Instead of just coming home from work and lying down for the rest of the evening, I began last week to put in an hour here and there (sometimes in the wee hours of the morning) towards fulfilling my artsy obligations.

This most recent emotional speed bump is really making it clear how much I need to pull back from signing up for these things. While I love the challenge and also the friendships I've cultivated, this stuff is more stressful than fun. The deadlines stress me out when I'm already stressed out.

In the coming months, my goal is to sign up for fewer swaps. Maybe my energy will return. Maybe it won't. Maybe my drive for creating won't feel so squashed in the future. In the meantime, I have to fulfill obligations and do my best not to leave people hanging.

 These are some Valentine-type ATCs I made for a swap.

 And these are some non-traditional Valentine's tags for a swap.

 Ditto...

  I made this for a HeART swap. Unfortunately, I didn't adhere to the rules, which specified there must be a heart somewhere on the item. The feeling and intent is there...

 This is one of 5 greeting cards I made for a swap...

and another greeting card...

 and another...

 and another...

... and the final greeting card in the series of 5.

 Then there's a black and white postcard swap, for which I made this...

...and this.

 I also signed up for a black and white ATC swap. I can never make just one of a thing, so I ended up with a series:

It's good not to be catatonic. It's good to feel I have control of something, even if it is just colorful little pieces of paper.

The Birds Sang and Then They Didn't...

Today began with the birds singing and progressed to running into the saddest news in the worst way. Via Facebook, I learned that a friend of mine had a severe stroke. Details emerged on my friend's Facebook page. People posted prayers and requested  updates. One of the most heart-breaking updates was that my friend's condition only became apparent when she did not show up to work. 

People were wishing her a safe passage and explaining that she wasn't able to swallow on her own.

It's too much information and too little information. I want to know more, and I can't bear to know more.

I'm a soft heart. I cry. I ache. I worry about her dogs and who will care for them. I think about how long it's been since I've seen her in person. I think how life works in such a way that time and distance make friends mere blips on the screen. "Keeping in touch" amounts to seeing Facebook updates. I tell myself I don't have the time or money to call people or to visit.

And then things like this happen.

I spent the day alternately crying and laughing. When I began to cry, my husband would play a funny movie.

We went for a walk in the sunshine and knocked a full 3 minutes off our typical route.

We cuddled.

I worked with color and paper and glue.

I made these houses.

I made this postcard with the scraps.

And I finished this week's DLP layout, whose prompt happened to be writing to a friend. I rarely write on my stuff, but this week the words poured out.

How a Happy Mail Round Robin Works

I'm participating in a Happy Mail Round Robin. I received the package yesterday.

 This letter came with the package and explained the content requirements. Basically, I can take some or all of the envelope contents, but I must replace what I take.

 Unfortunately, I wasn't really sure what was what....

 I selected these items.

 I also chose these items.

 I ended up putting in way more than I took, but I tried to keep things in the same category.

 I also included these things.

And these...

And these!

I will mail it off to another person tomorrow. It will arrive in the mailboxes of 7 more people before it makes its way to the originator--the woman who came up with the idea.

Busy Hands Are Happy Hands

Sometimes I just don't have it in me to create something. Yet I feel unbalanced if I'm not doing something creative. During those times, I engage in maintenance-type activities. I do things with materials and supplies that will later make it easier to create something when I'm feeling more up to snuff.

 In the last few days, I cut out vintage images and recycled the magazines they came in. This reduces clutter and makes it easier to sort through types of images. Thus, rather than flipping through dozens of magazines to find the right image, I can look through smaller pools of data until I find a beautiful lady or a mother image or a little girl with a dog.

I got these out of a magazine called Nostalgia. Most of the issues are from the 1970's. The pages are yellowing. The pages of the magazine aren't the slick texture of most magazines. They're more....cardboard-y...more like children's construction paper. I'm not sure if, in their raw state, they'll survive several more decades, so I am scanning the images. With this pile alone, I have scanned 60+ pages. I can now print them out on acid-free paper or take them to a copy center, so I can do photo transfers with them.

I also have amassed strips of watercolor paper. I can't throw them away. So I spent an evening coloring them. I'll distribute them into my color-coded storage system for scraps. The white and boring scraps assume a new identity this way. They suggest a project. I might sew on them or print words on them or stamp images on top. They have new life.

What do you do to wrangle your ephemera and scraps?

"Arty" Time

Occasionally, I feel guilty about taking a "gift" from a business only to repurpose it. I understand the business is offering magnets and calendars in order to advertise, and when I deface those things, it's defeating the company's purpose.

In all fairness, however, I don't need the company's address, phone number and e-mail. It's 2015, and it's easy enough to look up that information using my cell phone. Some day these bits and pieces will be obsolete. Businesses will realize they're wasting money. When that happens, I'll be a bit sad. 

I often go to Postal Annex for help with color copies. It's not a DIY kind of place. It's not me fiddling around with settings and making a million copies before I get what I want. Instead, the owner and handful of employees take the time to do the job for me. They even color correct. And I feel good for working with local businesses that likely struggle to compete with places like Staples or Kinkos or Office Depot, etc.

Around Christmas, Postal Annex began giving out these calendar magnets.  Yesterday, I altered one. I began by peeling the shiny paper away from the backing. Adhering papers to a glossy surface is an invitation to disaster. 

I'm participating in a time/clock-themed swap. I've gathered a number of interesting papers and tidbits for my partner's package, but I wanted to add some things I made. I cobbled this character's body out of random bits and pieces. I stamped the edges with a hand-carved arrow stamp, which echoes her angular body parts. 

Sending My "Imaginary" Friends Mail

I'll admit, I have more imaginary friends than I do friends in real life (IRL). If one were to count my Facebook friends, I would look like the most extroverted person in the world. Of course, we all know that we need the IRL people--the ones capable of hugs or doing lunch. We need them to come to parties (or host them). We need them to help us move. Obviously, the effect of those IRLs is much deeper and many more blog words than that.

But the truth is, I also really need the ones I've met via Facebook and various online art groups. I need the artists I've "friended" so that their art could feed my soul on a daily basis. I need to carry on conversations about techniques and supplies. I need to share my artistic successes and failures. And frankly, my IRL friends aren't interested. 

One such person I've "met" is Nancy Gene Armstrong. I'm a bit of a fan girl. I love everything about Nancy's work. She belongs to that group of artists who love vintage and its textures: the old black and white photos, the book papers, the sewing notions and various ephemera. She also knows the value of white space.

Nancy recently expressed interested in receiving some art mail. She tossed it out to her virtual friends. I raised my virtual hand as high as it would go and squealed, "Me! Meeeeeee!"

She said sure, and she sent me this: 

It came looking like any other letter, but when I opened it, it waterfall-ed down to my shins. It's long and lovely accordion-fold art. I love it and can't wait to hang it.

Meanwhile, I had been working on my own offering. I like to work on several things at once. Lately, I've been working within a particular color scheme, just to keep things cohesive. I chose copper, white, black, kraft, and any nearby shades.

This measures 8 1/2" x 11." I didn't send her the original, but I scanned it and created and envelope out of it.

 While working on larger projects, inevitably I find myself using scraps to make ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). These will be sent to another lady with whom I'm in a "Tick-Tock" ATC swap. [Side note: The moment I wrote that sentence, I had an 80s-90's moment and thought of the Color Me Bad Song...Remember? Anyone? Anyone? Never mind...It's a naughty song anyway.]

 I ended up making Nancy 4 postcards. Sadly, I was silly and got excited and sealed them up in their package before I took individual photos of the postcards, but I did scan them for future use. So you see the swank lady postcard and the butterfly postcard below her.

 Again, here's a second scan. Ignore the two ATCs you've already seen. Here are the other two postcards I sent Nancy. The top one with the star and the other featuring sewing imagery.