ATC's at school

I was talking with my friend Mary, who works down the hall at the middle school, a while back when I was headed off to Valley Ridge to take my class with Katie Kendrick. She is the art teacher for the middle school and the Catholic High School in our town. We got talking about many things "art" and then she said something about wanting to show her kids Artist's Trading Cards. I, of course, said, "would you like to see some ATC's that I made?"

Okay, so that sparked my post a while back about ATC's and I showed you some that I had made about 2 years ago in a wonderful class at Art Unraveled. I took them in to her, and she took them to her class to show them. Look what she brought me back!! They made a book to house my ATC's for me!! And even included an ATC made out of Duct Tape for me -- HOW COOL IS THAT>!!?!?!

Here's the book -- Japanese stab binding and all. Mary says there was only a small amount of whining -- "I have to go back through the same hole AGAIN?" LOL!!

This is the cool ATC they made for me out of duct tape -- way cool!! It's in the front of the book.

Now, here's an interesting spot. If you look at my earlier post, you'll see an ATC that's blue, and is of a man smoking a cigarette. Mary told me that one of her high school students wanted that ATC, and asked her to ask me if he could have it. She said she would, but that she was sure that I wouldn't want him to have it. Well, she was telling me about it, while I was oohing and ahhing over the book they made me. (Side note - I'm pretty sure I should never play poker -- see why in a line or two...) Well, I began to snicker a little, and tried to not let on, but alas, see sidenote above. Mary snatched the book from my hands, and said "that little rat" (I paraphrased!) because he had taken the ATC out of the book. I just laughed out loud and told her I couldn't possibly be more flattered -- a teenager wanted to steal MY art! Wow, I've really made it!!! Here's the place where the ATC was located in the book....

the lonely spot where there once was a blue ATC with a man smoking a cigarette. I have to admit that I really did like that ATC, but that's not the point of an ATC -- it's about trading with other artists. Not necessarily the way it's usually done, but how cool is it that one of them wanted my work. I'm just so flattered.

I think I will forever look at that picture on this blog and smile.... A teenager liked my work! HA!

Happy Wednesday!

Fall Colors

Last weekend, the colors in the trees here in northern Michigan were spectacular. What a beautiful show! It was warm enough that we went for a drive in the convertible with the top down & just soaked in the color of the trees & the beauty around us.

That, plus a conversation with friend Kendra, got me thinking about a book I'd made a while ago. (Okay, several years ago.) At that time, I had wanted to try my hand at working with wire mesh, and I had just taken a papermaking class, where we embedded a leaf in one of the sheets we had made. I thought mine had come out quite nicely, so wanted to use it in the book. The book cover that I had chosen to use was in a deep red color, and with the copper color of the wire mesh, the book became a fall type book. Seems like I forget about it until each fall rolls around. I thought I'd share it with you, and also so Kendra can take a look at the page with the leaf.

Today is Parent/Teacher conferences -- on a Friday afternoon and evening. I'm not expecting a great turnout, but I'll take things to do, so that if I'm sitting alone, I can read something inspiring. I think I'm taking Kelly Rae Robert's latest book with me -- it looks really, really yummy!!

Happy weekend to all!

Katie

Katie, the neighbor kittie, has moved -- her owners (our next door neighbor) are moving to Virginia, and decided to adopt their cats out to someone who lives near here, but in the country. I already miss Katie. She was an outdoor kittie, made our cats VERY jealous (you'd see them scowling out the window at Mike or I any time we even noticed Katie, let alone when we'd talk to her or *gasp* pet her), usually had a few knots in her fur, and was a little dirty, but gosh she was nice. She just really enjoyed when Mike or I would stop and talk to her, pet her or just sit with her on the stoop.

Bye, Katie - I'll miss you.

new art

I've been working on Polaroid transfers and emulsion lifts over the last few days in my spare (LOL) time. It really is a great medium to work in, and I'm saddened to think that Polaroid is stopping production on it's instant film. Just means I'm going to go into hoarde mode.

So, recently I went looking for an old electric frying pan to use in working with Polaroids. No such luck at the local thrift shops. But I did find an old fondue pot for $3.00. It was a silverstone lined one, and the lining was looking rather scratched up, so I thought, "what better use for this fondue pot than to make beautiful art, now that it wouldn't probably be good for fondue." Home it went with me, and now look at what I have been doing! These are so much fun. I remember when I took the classes on Polaroid lifts and image transfers from Terry Berg (great teacher, by the way!) she said "you'll get hooked -- these are addicting!" Oh, she was correct! Here's a sample of what I've done recently.

I've also framed some others that I had done -- posted about them earlier. See what they look like! I'm happy with how they look in their frames.

I'm also pleased to present the picture of my new desk/hutch. You can see where I'm currently showing off my Polaroids -- right on top! I think this will prove to be very handy, and it's in a great location in the studio. I've already been using it a lot, and enjoying every minute!

It's a bright sunny fall day in northern Michigan. The temps are warmer than usual, and everyone's out doing things in their yards or strolling downtown. And smiling. There's lots of smiling -- a sunny, warm fall Saturday. It's the best! I hope it's great where you are! Get out and enjoy -- and smile!

Happy Saturday!

The harvest continues

Although I think that harvesting the ornamental corn really signals the end of the season, look at the wonderful ornamental corn that Mike grew! Husking each piece was an adventure, as, like Forrest Gump said "you never know what you're going to get!" Aren't they beautiful?

I keep working on the studio (no, not the closets. What fun are they?) and made a lot of progress -- Mike helped me put together the desk part of my new desk & hutch. The desk & hutch are specificially for crafting, and have 1 inch and 2 inch deep drawers. I could also choose 12 x 12 paper racks, but since stamps, paint tubes, and doo dads dominate in my world, I like the drawers. I'll take a picture once it's done & all the stamps neatly tucked away.

I'm also excited about it, because it has two open spots where I plan on storing my journals & other pieces that I've done that inspire me. It's so much fun to look through my art & see what I've done -- it pushes me to do more! Anyone else feel that way?

Well, today I think I'll try to finish the desk, plus a piece that I've been working on for several weeks. In addition, I have some more Polaroid transfers to finish up.

Happy Sunday!

I stand corrected

It is now the Saturday morning following the Homecoming Parade & Football game in my fair small town. And, I will eat a small amount of humble pie for breakfast, although I don't mind at all. Yesterday, while being bone chillingly cold, was a bright sunshiny day!!! No Rain -- NO RAIN -- on Homecoming Day!!!

Oh Happy Day!

The girl's looked pretty, the boys handsome, and the band -- DRY!!!!

It's the simple things, now, isn't it?

I got an order today from knotsewshabby at etsy.com. If you have never shopped at etsy, I would urge you to do so -- it's a wonderful place to find handmade goods from loads of neat people. I could go on and on about etsy, but 'nuff said -- go there, look around, buy stuff!!

The item I received is going to be a gift for a crafty little girl of 4 -- it will be great for her to take her crayons (I'll put some brand new ones in here before I send it to her -- aren't brand new crayons just about the best? Do you remember the smell when you'd first open the box??) to church and keep busy, or just about any place she's going. Busy girls need a pad of paper to write down their 'notes' so I thought that this would be a good thing!!!

Well, it's a completely 'band-free-weekend' around our house -- neither of us have any work related things going on, so I suspect many things to show you all come Sunday night. I'll be locked away in my studio for at least a goood portion of this weekend.

About those closets a couple of weeks back - um - remember how I got sick that weekend? Well, the closets are still a fright. I was thinking maybe I'd start to tackle one this weekend. Um - well - yeah, right!! I'm going to go MAKE ART!! Happy weekend!