Creating with what I have

I've been looking at Cat Hand stuff again, and she does such wonderful tiny things. So now I'm tempted by Rolodex cards, they are little, and you can put them on a thing that you can turn around and flip the cards, so you could display them when you want. So then I saw a little tiny notebook, it is 3 x 5 index size. I used to use them to put quotes and Bible verses in... and why not decorate one and do that again?? So I decorated the cover with diagonal paper. These are cut from magazines, catalogs, and would you believe the linings of those security envelopes? I would never have thought of that as something to use. But here it is. So there's my art for today, have to come up with a quote for the front. Didn't cost me a cent. 

So then I decided what I wanted to do on this. I do try to do something every day, I don't seem to be able to stop if I wanted to LOL

So I won't know what it will be until it is. Art journal anyway. I love the cover so far. 

And yes it's imperfect on purpose. LOL However, I didn't quite know how imperfect it was going to be. I discovered that the marker I used ran when I put mod podge on the top. Then, one of the strips wrinkled badly, and when I went to try to straighten it, it tore. So I found a little sticker to cover it, and then of course I had to put another at the top. Good thing I already decided to embrace imperfect because it is. But that's ok. I'm going to take my own advice.

I just didn't think I would have to practice what I am preaching to myself so soon...

It is still today, barely, so I thought I would include what I did tonight on the first page.

Art journaling can be quite powerful. I decided to decoupage a napkin or something on the page, and in the box this caught my eye. It's something I knew I would do something with eventually but I've had it a couple years. As I did the page, I remembered the day I found this strange piece of foil wrapping paper.

I was feeling very sad that day, I don't remember why, but the last few (ten!) years have been sad ones, lots of loss. I don't remember what was bothering me that day. As I walked, I saw this piece of foil flying around in the park, so I chased it down and stuffed it in my pocket. Strange, but as I continued my walk, I saw a lady with a jacket that was this color. I laughed, and for some reason, showed her what I had found and we had a laugh. I didn't know her. 

We just started talking. Either she or her husband, I don't remember which, had just been diagnosed with cancer, and she really needed someone to listen to her. So we stood there quite awhile, and she just poured her heart out. 

So I've just been remembering. I've never been to great at that sort of thing, just actually talking to a stranger. But that day I did. So it's a reminder to Seize the Day (just saw the boo boo on the page!!! oh well. Embrace the imperfect, right? )

A reminder, grab those times, when you feel the nudge to just say something. You never know when God will use you. I've passed them by far too many times. I'm glad I didn't that day.

Consolidating stuff and tossing and such.

ah, the Middle Bedroom. It was going to be my craft room, a place to sew, to paint etc. but then Kerry's mom had to leave her home for assisted living and her stuff came here. Of course, there was not much in that room at the time, so it got shoved in there. Then a few years later, my parents' stuff came on by, and of course, into that room.

So the dilemma then is I'm trying so hard to get that room totally usable for me, so I don't have to crawl over anything to reach the ribbons or the large stencils or the wood and cork drawer... or the spot where the beads are stored, so when I want, I can grab them. Or the box where the "current projects" ended up, under everything, so that "current" really means four or five years ago.

I'm ready to get rid of things, for the most part, but right now is a tough time, with friends hospitalized for COVID and other things, and some have died. Of people that I knew well when I was working at various churches, and some from where my mom and dad spent so long... well, since January, I stopped counting at 15 friends and acquaintances gone. Some from COVID and some from Oldness. And one from just here today, and SHOCK she's gone. Our movie and concert buddy. Just gone, just like that. 

Why it's hard, is that emotions are just about ready to boil over, and just a teensy bit more, and my eyes are leaking, and I'm looking for a tissue. 

Anyway. I keep trying to empty boxes and consolidate and put as much as I can in the OUT pile or the TRASH pile... but then I run into things like this. I can't put this in either pile.

Outside, it's quite unassuming. But this book is full of, well, the family book of best loved poems. I memorized a lot of poetry over the years, because I loved it, and so did my mom. This was more worn than her Bible I think, it was pasted back together and taped a number of times. She got a new Bible from time to time, but this book, I don't know if you could find another if you tried.

Also in the book are tucked a number of clippings from here and there. 

So here we are. The trunk is full, I have to make some decisions. I think, well it won't take up much room, or maybe I could do some collage with some of these pages and let the rest go, or put it on a shelf.

Any suggestions for letting go of Parental Stuff, or Mother in law Stuff, or Aunt Loretta Stuff, or whoever else's stuff is hanging around here?? Yes, even ex husband needs to get a box of stuff. And a bar stool, and another little stool he made. And I really ought to let him have some pictures from his children's childhood. And then there's a doll house...

Well, daughter, you better move into a bigger house.

The Dictionary

A funny thing to be sentimental about, I'm sure. A dictionary? 

We were a home school family. I home schooled kids for a lot of years during the 80s and the 90s. This dictionary was something that got used a lot, since it was The Final Word for Things in the English Language. It's full of a lot of things that you don't think of as being in a dictionary, such as Flags of the World or Musical Terms or the Annual Percentage Rate Table for Payment Plans. Well, see the contents page below.

It was a book to grab when you wanted to know something, because there was a lot in it. 

However.

Now I use it for other things. I still look up stuff sometimes, but usually when I open it I am looking for dried leaves, or dried flowers, or papers that need flattening. At the moment it is on top of a linoleum block that needs flattening. As well as holding leaves and a flower or two. 

I don't know if anyone else is sentimental of a dictionary. This is the type of dictionary that was downstairs on a big stand in the library where I spent a lot of time as a child and teenager. The librarians knew me by name, I'm sure. I would enter every reading contest I could. I remember one summer we were supposed to read 25 books, and if you did, you got a little prize. Well I got to 25 pretty quickly, but I was embarrassed, so I didn't claim that I did all at once. The librarian knew, but I didn't tell anyone else. I read more than 100 books that summer. I got a little metal sword for participating in that. I still have it, as far as I know. 

My favorite book to read at the library was, you guessed it, that big old dictionary. In it, I learned that a "dude" was first used  to mean a pimple or boil on someone’s backside, caused by riding in the saddle all day when one wasn’t used to it. So it started out as derogatory term. Bet you didn't know that. LOL

Of course there was much more to know than that. Words are fascinating. Now, we have the internet, but when I was young, you had to look it up in a book. That book had so much in it that it was my first go-to. If I couldn't find it there, then there was the card catalog. If I couldn't find it there, then there was a librarian who knew EVERYTHING. 

I thought it would be fun to be a librarian, but other things caught my attention. 

So I love my dictionary. And the stuff that's in it.

 

how did this get started, anyway?

Sometimes I go into the craft room, and somehow, end up making something. I got these teensy spray things, and have been really disappointed at how they work (or don't work) so I put some ink into a different sprayer, grabbed a piece of card stock, and sprayed. Well, I couldn't stop there, so grabbed some stencils and added some stuff, then had to add some white spatters. I have a mess to clean up now. But there's another art journal page. Just longing for some childhood, simple, wonderful, nonsense.  

painting with nail polish??

Lately, I've been doing whatever comes in to my mind when I walk in the craft room. I consolidate for awhile, throw some things out, look in boxes I haven't seen in awhile and then reward myself by letting myself create. Today I was in the bedroom when I saw a bottle of nail polish sitting there. Now, I hardly ever paint my nails, more often my toenails. But the reason I bought this particular nail polish was to paint something or other since it is such lovely colors, and I thought maybe rocks would like a coat of polish. I've never tried it, it may just peel off, I don't know, but it's worth a try. 

I used three colors, a teal, a purple, and copper.  All are from the Dollar Tree. I've been intrigued by paint pouring, and I've seen it done on rocks, so thought I would try. This looks a bit busy, but it is amazing. It is so satisfying to just watch the colors swirl. A little later I thought about putting it on a turntable and spinning while it drips. I have to be wearing an apron and OUTSIDE to do that though. I've learned the hard way doing some other stuff that it is not all appropriate for Inside. Sometimes it is the smell, and sometimes it is the mess, and sometimes it is both. I remember a project to melt pony beads in the toaster oven. Fortunately I listened to someone who tried it, and told me NOT to use my normal toaster oven, because it would forever smell like melting pony beads. If I ever get to go to a thrift store, and I find a cheap toaster oven, it might get tried. Otherwise, no.

 

Mr. Rock posing with the Polish Girls. POL ish not PO lish. Just to be clear. Well, they aren't clear, they are kind of metallic. The pictures don't do it justice. It's a good start, I think I used too many layers. And I think if I painted the whole thing with polish first then added other colors it might flow better.

It's all about experiments at the moment, and it's about the PROCESS and not the PRODUCT. I don't really care if the results aren't perfect or gorgeous, I'm just doing. 

** so far, I'd say this idea is a fail. Hours later, it isn't dry at all. Still dripping. We will see tomorrow. 

I don't regret it at all. I love the doing and the experimenting. Maybe I'll marble my fingernails LOL

 

Linoleum printing

Found a linoleum print done by my mother in law. I really want to try to print it, but it's warped. So it's going to spend time under The Dictionary. I heated it a bit with my heat gun, not enough to make it soft, but a tiny bit pliable. So after a few days.... we will see. 

I did find MY little container that has linoleum for cutting in it, found a stamp sitting there, stamped on it and carved it. I haven't done this in a really long time and it was not planned. But fun to just jump and do it.

Evelyn's linoleum carving... there's a crack in one corner, but it isn't on a carved spot. I don't know if I will ever be able to get a print from it, but I'm considering just framing IT because it is so wonderful.

LOL my feeble attempt today. I know that the other way (more carved) works much better. I did some in the long past. I don't even know how good the linoleum I still have is, it seems pretty soft. 

I wonder if my rose is around somewhere... I did it both ways, carving in, and one with the rose raised. 

I have done so many things. A little here, a little there. Hand made paper. I ran across the deckle, still waiting for me to have a paper making day. I will!! 

So... keep creating. Keep walking. Keep breathing.

Here are some other things that showed up today. The boys on the left and the right are my creations, the cowboy was on one of Paul's birthday cakes. And where do I put all this stuff LOL And where did Goldilocks dress go?? And there's Laurel Burch's cat. I just love that kitty, it's a stamp but it sits on the shelf, and moves around when I need to get to something. And makes me smile every time. So that's what this stuff is, stuff that makes me smile.

But here's the tastiest thing I did today.

Painting Linda-style

One of the people I admire, art-wise, is Carolyn Dube. I think it's because she just does what she wants, and Perfection is not the goal. I am NEVER perfect, so it's good to be acceptable. This is from a free class I took from her. I recommend it! It really let a light go on with me, and made me realize that my style of "art" is perfect for me. I'll enjoy the sculptor's sculpture, and the artist's paintings. I will just enjoy the color and the texture, and know that if it pleases ME, that is what counts. If I want to use a brush, I will. Or a sponge. Or my fingers. Maybe my feet. Hmm. Probably not. Maybe a baby's foot...

When we were children, we (most of us) loved finger painting, and just digging in and doing it. We wrote on the walls, drew on the sidewalks with chalk. We were joyous and radiant and danced with glee at what we did. 

It's ok to let the child in us come out to play. It really feels good to just slop the paint however it feels good. It helps me deal with stress. It is good. 

 

Some of the things I have painted with....

yes that is part of a flyswatter. Also a piece of a flip-flop. A little plastic cup, and a little sort of squarish thing that used to be one of those ice cube freezing things, but this one broke. Also bubble wrap, makeup sponges, and bottle caps. LOTS of things make good stamps. I have also made my own stamps out of erasers. I once did a print of my shoe. When out and about, I turn to rubbings for texture. A table at Deli Delight. Some sidewalk with exposed aggregate. A tree with interesting bark. Leaves. Then there are stencils and stamps. Gluing stuff on for dimension. 

So that's Linda style. Painting whatever with whatever I feel like. It is good to just be ME...  and once in awhile I come up with something good. 😁

Gelli printing

I did some playing with a gelli plate today, but I didn't get a print that I just absolutely loved. Sometimes it takes a few more layers and maybe some stenciling added or maybe some birds on the top or something. Anyway I made a mess in my newly cleaned room. I laughed at myself, I've never spilled paint on the carpet, but now that the plastic thingy is on the floor I flipped my gelli plate onto the floor... on the plastic so it wiped right up.  It did land on my sock, but no big deal. Made an interesting texture on the print LOL and gave me a good laugh.

It's all cleaned up again, and I went through another box. YAY! I have some plans in my head, just need to figure out how to make it all happen. Evelyn's big table top is on the porch, but I don't know where the legs are. The plan is to re-arrange and be able to put that table in there. Of course there may not be enough space but we will see. Maybe my aunt's round table. 

At least I feel hopeful that this is going to get cleared of everybody's stuff but mine.

A few of the prints, that may or may not be done. What I do with them is either make them into cards, put them on journal pages, or tear or cut them up for collage. I love the color and texture...

Proud of myself

I spent ALL DAY in the craft room today. Not a bit of painting or stamping. I cleaned. Oh my. The biggest problem is this.------------->

We had this carpet in our house when my kids were little. The whole house. When we left that place I thought I would never have to see that ever again. HA. Here it is, still in the bedrooms that haven't been remodeled since... well. That was in the 70s. 

Imagine this. Amazingly, I have not gotten paint in this carpet. I picked out plenty of pins today however, and scraps of paper. Modern vacuum cleaners cannot handle shag carpeting. So I spent lots of time on my hands and knees today, with my little dirt devil hand held, which didn't tangle in the shag. It was actually kind of fun watching all the paper scraps disappear. I decided to do all this when being barefoot in there became a land mine. You drop something and it is sucked into the abyss...

My goal was to take the old plastic thingy that goes under desks for rolling chairs, that was my mom's and doesn't have a spot here, and put it on the floor, so maybe things wouldn't disappear into the carpet. However, I found out that it has been folded for awhile and was stiff. So it's in there with a bunch of stuff on it hoping that it relaxes and gets flat. If not, it's going on the driveway tomorrow and hopefully the sun will flatten it. Otherwise it will be Plan B, which is just shag carpeting LOL

Another good thing about cleaning stuff out is finding treasures. Apparently I took some lovely hot tea in there last year, I know it wasn't recent... and I don't drink hot tea in the  summer.  I've been wondering where this mug went, it's my favorite, and it's been MIA. Found it!!!

So I got a lot done in there today, finally tackling a little of MIL and Mom's stuff. SIX PILLOWS. So have some decisions about our pillows and if I want to trade some, or if I need to keep some for toy stuffing, but I can't imagine doing a lot more toys, and I have a lot of stuffing up in the closet. So I'm thinking of garbage can. 

Clearing out is a long journey, and I hope I'm done before you know what so my kids don't have to do it. This pandemic gives me extra incentive since it's more of a reminder that we sure don't know the future and we better make the best use of our days as we can. 

Joy to the Craft Room. 

My Happy Place

Another Cat Hand main dish #6 My happy place canvas

It was an odd day. I started on this project, then I got angry about something. So then it struck me funny, here I am trying to do MY HAPPY PLACE and feeling like painting RED. LOL

So after I giggled a bit, then I finished it. It is actually on an art canvas, but it's a flat one. I don't remember when or why I got a set of those, I guess I had plans, but never used them. So there are several reasons then to use one, first, that was part of Cat's challenge, and second, I'm trying to use my stash.

You might notice that I used a couple of other projects on it, the wooden embellishment and the puzzle piece. I never turned it into an ornament. Those were so fun to do, and it was really cool to just have them to use. Now I want to do more. I still have 23 more puzzle pieces lol and I got some more wood, so it will be a fun project. 

Now it's on the wall in my craft room. I am so blessed to have the room. I have to clear out Mom's and Hubby's Mom's stuff out of there so I can move my sewing machine off the dining room table and my mom's computer out of the garage. 

One day at a time. Meantime I will enjoy my happy place.

antes y despues. Before and After.

Esto es un experimento. Es papel marron pegado a la pagina. Primera pintado con pinta azul metalica con mis manos, entonces con pinta de oro con un cepillo de pintura. Este es muy hermosa. No se que mas ahora. Estoy emocionada escribir en espanol sin tener que buscar cada palabra!

(so I put those words into the Spanish to English translator to see how I did. I only had to change a couple things!!! I had to look up "glued" and "paintbrush" and somehow I said brown brown. And I think there's a different word for brown paper bag color, but I don't know it LOL And the accents are not there, I don't know how to do that yet) well I asked what "light brown" is and it is marron claro. Just like azul claro and verde claro. Which is strange since "claro" means sure in English. Ok. Who knew. Now I do.

this is an experiment. It is brown paper glued to the page. First painted with metallic blue paint with my hands, then with gold paint with a paint brush. This is very beautiful. I don't know what else now. I'm excited to write in Spanish without having to look up every word.

antes de la pintura (before the paint)

despues la pintura (after the paint)

no worries, I am not going to switch to Spanish. I've just been working hard, and I wanted to see how much I could write accurately in Spanish. It's been a long time, and a lot of review. It's coming back, slowly.

I got this idea watching a video of someone using brown paper varnished as a floor covering. How I got there I have no idea LOL but I wondered how it would look in a smaller scale. I did two pages of brown paper, the other one is not painted yet, and I'm thinking of dry brushing brown on that one. Right now I am just doing pages without planning, and who knows where I am going. But that's pretty true of life right now, I feel like I am wandering. So all ok. 

And I finished the "despues de pintera" on the other page. It kind of looks leathery, and is really soft, in contrast to the other page which is harder but shinier. It will be interesting to see what ends up on the pages. 

crazy/not crazy

I've gone months without posting on this blog, and I've been doing this on and off for a lot of years. Today, it seems crazy that I feel so pushed to do this so often at the moment, but then I remember "pandemic" and then maybe it isn't so crazy. I go days without talking to anyone other than hubby, and most days he's not much of a talker anyway. What keeps me not crazy is the amount of art I am currently cranking out, and then posting a lot (not all) of what I do. I decided to do a plastic wrap background, then I did that and had no idea what to do with it, but the opposite page of the book begged to be a collage. I know, pages don't actually talk to me, don't worry. I saw a National Geographic sitting there, already missing pages from something else, and that great big You Don't Have to give up" yelled at me. Some days it is hard not to give up, although really we have no choice, we just have to keep going. In order to see what inspired this, you have to look closely, there's writing here and there, and is it right side up? There isn't a "right side up". If you click on the picture it will enlarge it. 

And then there's plastic wrap painting.

With this technique, you paint over the paper/cardstock/whatever and while the paint is still wet, cover it with plastic wrap and smoosh it. Let it dry awhile and then pull off the plastic wrap.

This one is going to sit awhile until I figure out what it will be. Right now I'm seeing mountains. Who knows what it will turn into.

I was thinking about friends that are artists. One is a sculptor. Another does these wonderful realistic watercolors. Another works in acrylics. One is very detail oriented, another just paints until she likes what she sees. We're all different. Some of us have had lots of training (not me, just high school and college basic art classes) and some do not. Some work with paint, some with fabric, clay,  yarn, plants... a bonsai artist!  and some make the most amazing dinners and plated beautifully. Some make music.  All of it makes me smile. I am blessed with creative people around me. And I'm sure there's a lot of creating going on that I never see...

keep creating.... keep putting one foot in front of the other. I'm talking to myself, but also to anyone who might stumble across this. 

you have to look closely to see the mountains. You have to use your imagination. On the left it says "I am dreaming of the mountains" in Spanish. I am studying Spanish again, and that's how it came into my mind. 

#3 post of the day.

 

I did something I've never done before. Green tomato pickles. Are they good? I don't know. The recipe calls for garlic, peppercorns, dill... of course vinegar and water and salt. And sugar. I added bits of red and yellow peppers and bits of onions too, since I wasn't sure I had totally enough green tomatoes. Turned out I did. So I still have a few green tomatoes, last year they ripened on the counter.

Oh this feels so GOOD. I haven't preserved anything in so long. Maybe since Evelyn died. Probably, because that last year of preserving with Evelyn was bittersweet, I knew it would be the last one, and she felt like she was passing on her skills to me. I have done lots of canning with my mom, and by myself, but I learned some stuff too.

These particular pickles don't require canning, and they aren't long term storage ones. I figured for the first time in a long time I wouldn't get out everything for 2 pint jars of pickles. I'm thinking they could have fit in my spaghetti cooking pan, but this will be great. I didn't have fresh new lids anyway. I hear they are hard to find. Might have to try.

The peppers came from my husband's artistic efforts every Halloween. They turned out wonderfully! Since we won't be "doing" Halloween this year because of the pandemic, he did it early, and after pictures the peppers went in the fridge to actually get used. He fixed a wonderful omelette yesterday with the orange pepper, and I used a little of the red and yellow ones... this brine has turmeric in it, so who knows what color they will be. I am looking forward to it but have to wait a week or so to let them pickle.

Happy Autumn!