• Art - Creativity - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: mixed media edition

    Who knew that inspiration could strike while randomly gluing bits and pieces of paper from the scrap bin. Seriously…this is too weird. I was feeling the need to craft something…anything. I had watched a couple of YouTube videos of folks making these insanely beautiful collaged papers. Of course, the bits and pieces that they used were amazing. Pieces that I wouldn’t be “just trying to use up”. But this thought got me to put paper and glue together.serendipity background beginnings

    I started with a double-page spread from a children’s music book. I added bits of paper from my scrap bin until I was pleased or in this case…just “done” with this process.serendipity background

    Not bad right…not super but workable. I added some washi tape, stamping, and stickers.

    Next, I took the sheet to my guillotine cutter and needed to decide how to chop this up.

    serendipity background

    I decided on three postcards and several tags or perhaps journal cards.

    I added some paint and embellishments to the postcards before adhering them to plain paper. I then ran them through the sewing machine to make sure everything stayed firmly together.

    serendipity postcard

    serendipity postcard

    serendipity postcard

    Super fun!serendipity background

    These are the completed pieces that are ready to use. The gaps are still WIP. Not sure what I’ll do with them but that’s ok.

    I had so much fun with this process that I made another collage sheet.serendipity background

    I have 5 postcards and 2 tags with a fun springtime vibe.

    I made this sheet on Saturday…before this happened on Sunday.Merry Eastergiving

    SNOW!! What a crazy weather day. Mini-me and I decided that we should say “Merry Eastergiving” since the outside said Christmas, I was making a Thanksgiving style meal with turkey, all on Easter Sunday for just the 4 of us.

    The card in the collage above was made by a sweet friend of mine.  She is a tremendous card maker. I’ve been sending more cards lately. A card in the mailbox is a tiny bit of joy I can send someone. Just getting a handwritten card by a real person these days is nearly cause for celebration. We need that these days.

    Distance learning continues at our house…both on the teaching and learning ends of things. chromebook styleMy school issued Chromebook is getting a workout. Stickers optional but fun indeed.

    What are you doing today?
  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    Old image, new page

    I can’t even begin to count how many times I have used this particular image. When I was first learning how photoshop and my printer played together I inadvertently printed multiple copies of the same sheet of images…which happened to be all the same image. Since I don’t like to waste and printer ink costs a small fortune, I have become very fond of this odd foursome.foursome art journal page

    I always wonder what the story is behind this photo. Siblings, extended family, sister wives? I decided to play on the latter with a bit of printed vellum.printed vellum loves me loves me not

    The background of this page is simply a book page.  After adhering a piece of Tim Holtz tissue paper over the entire page, I added color with gelatos. I softened and blended the color with baby wipes.

    More instances of this image:

     

  • Art - Blog - Creativity - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: I have no idea edition

    Wow…I don’t even know where to start. I had effectively checked out of blogland for an extensive period of time. I wasn’t creating, feeling like being creative or even enjoying looking at others creative work. A big old funk is what I’m calling it.

    Now perhaps since we are heading into this crazy uncharted waters time of life, I feel the deep need to reach out to my online folk and participate. I hope you will all welcome me back with open arms…because after all…we are maintaining a 6 foot distance.

    I don’t mean to sound flippant about the current state of the world at all. I mean it. It’s serious folks. Life as we know it is changing more rapidly everyday. Schools are closing and moving to online learning models. Case in point….I spent all day today typing online curriculum in the event we go to “distance learning” after our extended spring break.

    J got the notice today that his college has been moved to online learning for the remainder of the semester. It’s really too bad that we had just traveled to Duluth on Saturday to get his laptop and books along with some clothes…now he needs to move completely out. *sigh*

    With all the ever-changing, fluid nature of everyday life we are currently dealing with, it’s nice to be able to share with others some beauty, some stories, some escape. With that in mind I will update you on a few things since I’ve been AFK.

    In the art realm, I’ve been a bit stagnant. I did create this journal page which made me happy that I hadn’t completely forgotten how to art journal.retro color quote art journal page

    I like the ragged edge on this page. It will eventuality get glued onto a black card stock page in a binder journal.

    Over the past few week school and school events have kind of taken a bunch of my time and energy. Our school does a fantastic fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of MN each year. Our students take this very seriously. During the final push classrooms hold garage sales with donated or created items all under $2. Juniper my pet rock

    Meet Juniper, my new pet rock. She lives in my locker. Greets me each morning upon arrival to school and makes me smile.snowshoeing

    My job as a special education paraprofessional has an extremely varied job description. I go from class to class supporting my learners in whatever it is they are doing. Science, math, reading, home economics, technology etc. This day it included snowshoeing. It was actually really fun and not as physically taxing as I had imagined. We traveled 1.5 miles in about an hour through the woods up and down a ravine. Marvin field trip

    Speaking of school…on a workshop day, Marvin went on a little field trip to the high school. Do you see him?cookies

    Mini-me and I worked our district archery tournament right after Marvin’s’ field trip. IT was a busy weekend. Mini-me made lots of cookies to sell for concessions. This picture show the ducks and grey ducks….its a MN thing…and the right thing. Duck, duck, grey duck NOT duck, duck, goose.archery tournament

    I worked the team registration table so I decided that some signage was needed. It turned out really well so it went in the tournament bin for next year. archery tournament

    Mini-me shot her personal best once again. She has been continuing to shoot better each tournament. She shot a 272 out of a possible 300. Now with COVID-19 running rampant, the final tournaments have been canceled. Hopefully they will still grant her varsity letter in archery.painted fingers

    Yesterday I snapped this photo…messy painted fingers. They made me so happy.

    I have two more days of school…with no children there…until our extended spring break. Then who knows what will happen. Mini-me was supposed to get her wisdom teeth removed over break…again…who knows what is going to happen. I guess we all are learning to be flexible.

     

    What are you doing today?