This morning we woke to a bit of slush all around. I did have to shovel (can't get the car up that steep driveway even with the tiniest bit of slush) but at least the schools had a delayed opening. With the extra morning time, I had the chance to read the blog of another member of the yahoo artcharms group, Kia Dallons (see it by clicking here). She posted about these tiny pop-up books she made as charms. They're amazing! This came on the heels of a tutorial another art-charmer mentioned, which demonstrated an easier method for making a little charm-sized book (click here to see it). All day while I was at work, my mind kept ruminating on the possiblities for little book charms, pop-up or otherwise!After work I stopped for a few groceries, and when I got back I was damp and chilled. I made myself a nice hot cup of chocolate, and then I made an interesting discovery: Although panettone is delicious by itself, it tastes even better when smeared with a little Nutella! Actually, that's not so surprising - I thing everything tastes better smeared with Nutella!
While enjoying my indulgent snack, I had the chance to browse through the latest edition of Quilting Arts magazine, which was just delivered today. Lots of fun surface design techniques to try!
After dinner, I finally got some time to play with the book ideas. First I tried the pop-up. I visited Robert Sabuda's website, as Kia suggested in her blog post, and found a simple valentine pattern. I copied it and shrank it down to fit in a book about one square inch. I put a pretty floral cover on it that I cut from a recycled greeting card.
There you can see the little hearts. Cute, but not amazing like Kia's castle and waterfall books! I'll have to keep trying.
My worktable looks like a hurricane went through and scattered all kinds of red and pink beads, papers, stamps, ink pads, and pieces of clay! Once again, I'm trying to do a variety of charms at once, rather than moving from material to material once a certain type of charm is finished. Because Valentine's Day will be here before we know it, I'm trying to complete as many charms as possible, and also trying to make them look as professional and polished as possible. Maybe I bit off a little more than I could chew with such a tight deadline, but I'd rather be doing this than sitting in front of the TV (not much of value on it, if you ask me.)
While enjoying my indulgent snack, I had the chance to browse through the latest edition of Quilting Arts magazine, which was just delivered today. Lots of fun surface design techniques to try!
After dinner, I finally got some time to play with the book ideas. First I tried the pop-up. I visited Robert Sabuda's website, as Kia suggested in her blog post, and found a simple valentine pattern. I copied it and shrank it down to fit in a book about one square inch. I put a pretty floral cover on it that I cut from a recycled greeting card.
There you can see the little hearts. Cute, but not amazing like Kia's castle and waterfall books! I'll have to keep trying.
My worktable looks like a hurricane went through and scattered all kinds of red and pink beads, papers, stamps, ink pads, and pieces of clay! Once again, I'm trying to do a variety of charms at once, rather than moving from material to material once a certain type of charm is finished. Because Valentine's Day will be here before we know it, I'm trying to complete as many charms as possible, and also trying to make them look as professional and polished as possible. Maybe I bit off a little more than I could chew with such a tight deadline, but I'd rather be doing this than sitting in front of the TV (not much of value on it, if you ask me.)Oh - and I have a little good news: A new art gallery is opening here in town called the Look Art Gallery, and I received an email asking for artwork for their inaugural exhibit and sale called "Art from the Heart." Every piece they are taking must be less than 12" per side and they will each sell for $75 as a Valentine's Day special. I looked through my portfolio of completed pieces and finally found something appropriate - it's 12" high but 13 1/2" wide! I thought about creating something entirely new (by Friday!) but with all my energy going into these Valentine charms, I didn't see how I could do it. I didn't want to miss out on another opportunity to exhibit, so I finally e-mailed the owner/artist and she said to bring it on over anyway! So I'm able to focus on the quantity and quality of the charms and still have a chance to sell a piece of art - the perfect resolution! The piece I'm going to put in is one that I like and feel confident showing. It's called "Bleeding Hearts" (appropriate for Valentine's Day maybe?) and I made it almost two years ago. I forgot to put in the photo but you can see it in the original post by clicking here.
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