Evidence of Love: Artist Trading Card

I made this a few months ago and it got buried in the mess on my desk. Eeek!

It measures 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches. The ruler on the bottom is actually a vintage piece of measuring tape from one of those spools you have to crank back in manually. The spiral clip is an Italian paper clip. The woman image is a rubber stamp. I cut the paper for her to look like a Polaroid picture. The faux manila folder closures are just paper punch circles and eyelets. I used my sewing machine to sew around the edges in an uneven way. (Really, I *can* sew in a straight line!) The card is made on a piece of watercolor paper that I added some gel medium to so it looked like stucco.

I'm thinking I might put this up for sale in my Etsy shop for Valentine's Day. What do you think?

I hope you have a Happy New Year's Eve and a safe night!! Cheers!

Birthday Flowers Never Die

Eleven days later (!!), the flowers Erik gave me for my birthday still live and are flourishing! I've been carefully maintaining the water. The lilies were closed when he gave them to me and the show as they unfolded and opened has been amazing. Now the whole house smells like flowers!

Chippy the Hamster

Meet Chippy the Hamster whom I took care of the week before Christmas before she was gifted to my nieces. Isn't she cute? How could I not miss her? I come downstairs in the morning now and I think, "Oooh, man! Chippy isn't here and I'm lonely." Insert sad face.

I think I might have to get my own hamster now! But I know Erik won't really go for that at all. He kept calling Chippy a "rodent" in a disgusted voice. Scrooge.

It sort of did me good that week to have something tiny and cute to take care of and love. I know I can always pop in to my sister's and visit Chippy since she's only seven blocks away. Maybe it's time to revisit the pet ideas with Erik. He wants a dog really bad and so do I, but it's snowy now. Will a puppy go potty out in the snow to housetrain it? I'm doubting the ease of those training sessions. Plus there's a ton of stuff in the studio that a puppy would rip to shreds in a heartbeat. It would be nice to have some company in the studio though. I am torn on this topic. Lately my brain has refused to be decisive so this may be on hold for a while longer.

Merry Christmas!

I got this as a gift when I was born from a grandparent... not sure which one. My twin sister has one just like it with her name on it. This is one of my most treasured belongings. So that makes it about 35 years old! Yikes!

I nearly died last night when it wasn't in the ornament box as we decorated our tree (rather late, I might add). The box it was in somehow got separated from the Christmas boxes in the basement and it was well hidden in a seat bench. I couldn't find my ornament for about an hour. It was a horrible feeling, but I'm happy now that it is safely on the tree! When my nieces were born I made sure to get one for each of them. It made my sister cry.

These are what I've been working on today and this week.

This one is inspired by Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas 2009: Day 5. These little plastic charms are a product in his line. The images are glued to the backs with Glossy Accents. You can see these pictures bigger at flickr by clicking on them.

I made this tag this morning to give to my mom for Christmas. I really like gold embossing powder! And I cannot let a tag be with just one ribbon. It has to have lots of foofiness!

This tag is for my mom as a gift. She's a big fan of my work! Ha! Anyway, what says "I love you" better than handmade?

I hope you are having a very merry Christmas, if it's your thing! xoxo

Oh, What A Mess!

Click to see it bigger with notes over at flickr

OK. I’ll be the first to admit I am a total slob in my studio. I do not have a “neat gene” at all. I like all my tools to be within arms reach. So it piles up around me. Not too good at putting things away when I’m done with them! I might need it again in another minute! It displeases me to have to get up from what I’m doing to get something for my current project. It’s disruptive. So I have this eternal mess.

It’s an inspiring mess, though. I love to sit and look at the little bits of paper left behind and how they mix with other paper around them. This is a source of design inspiration for me. It keeps my eyes busy and my brain going. I simply cannot work with a clean and organized work table. I’ve tried. It totally freaks me out.

My hunny calls the studio “The Fire Hazard”. I’m too embarrassed to show you the rest of it, to be honest. It’s really just more of the same from the work table, just spread out over a 10’ x 15’ room. Ugh. I cringe when people say, “Hey, can I stop by the studio and see your work?” Sure thing… if you can even walk into it! Welcome to the mess!

Not helping is the fact that I am a paper freak and collect it like it is gold. I have lofty plans to use it in collage work. But working on the size canvases I do (on small dominoes) not much of this paper collection gets used up. A domino maybe uses up 1.5 square inches of paper.

I would love it if you shared a photo of your studio. I like to see how other artists work. It’s very interesting to me. So please share!

Winter Wishes Tag

This one was inspired by Tim Holtz’s 12 Tags of Christmas, which is sadly over for this year. I learned a lot of new techniques from Tim.

I had to improvise some of his instructions, as I didn’t have the same stamps or grungeboard. So I used chipboard from a cereal box for the snowman instead. I also don’t have a Dymo but I have the next best thing: a faux Dymo font in Photoshop. That’s where I made the “Winter Wishes” text and printed it on matte photo paper. The icicles and sparkliness on the snowman and flourishes is Stickles, a kind of glitter glue. It’s extremely sparkly and the snowman looks frosty. I made him a little scarf from some red ribbon printed with French words about love. The crackle in the background is Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. It’s the best one-step crackle I’ve ever seen!

Hope this puts you in a winter-y Holiday mood!

Still Time to Ship for Christmas!

This Paris Postage Altered Domino Pendant is one of my very favorite designs. At the home jewelry show I did at my sister’s house it sold right off my neck. So I knew I had a winner! I made two more this past week. One sold out of my shop in less than four hours. Have not had that happen before! I went to go check on the views on it and it was gone! I still do the Happy Dance of Joy when I make a sale!

The comment the buyer wrote humbled me: “This is a gift for my mother -- she loves Paris and spent hours playing dominoes with my grandmother, who died last year at the holidays. So this is a perfect gift. Really need to have in time for Christmas! Thank you!”

The "perfect gift"! I love hearing things like that! (Do not worry! You will have it in time! I shipped it yesterday!)


There is still one in stock so if you want it, don't delay! The domino is very vintage. The dots on the back are nice and big and have a rich patina on the off-white color.

Right now through December 20th I’m offering free worldwide shipping! Deadline for orders to be shipped in the US in time for Christmas is December 20th so I can get it in the mail to you by the Post Office’s cut off of December 21st. It’s currently too late for on time delivery outside the US but a late gift is better than no gift! ☺

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade inmyheadstudios.etsy.com

“The Journey Awakens the Soul” Tag

Getting into the spirit of Tim Holtz’s 12 Tags of Christmas has me making tags, tags, tags! I am waiting on more supplies to come by post to make tags inspired by his art. So more tags to come!

I bought some of his stamps at the craft store. I highly recommend his clear stamps. The quality of the material surpasses any other clear stamp around. They aren’t mushy at all. Each impression is perfect. They don’t have that give like most clear stamps have that often result in a blurred impression. Also, they stick to the acrylic blocks like nobody’s business. (What does that expression even mean?)

I didn’t have any tags in the right size so I made this one out of cardstock. I made a faux paper re-inforcer for the hole with two hole punches. Tags are a great size to work on. Not too big to be daunting but more room than an artist trading card. Plus I get to use my bits of ribbon and lace for the hanging part. Foofy!

If you have not checked out Tim Holtz’s blog, go there now to see the awesome inspiration he provides during the 12 Tags of Christmas. Each day he just blows me out of the water with his ideas! Plus he’s doing giveaways each day so be sure to leave him a comment!

Season's Tweetings: An Etsy Treasury

This is such a gorgeous Etsy Treasury that I've been included in (Candy Cane Domino Christmas Tree Ornament)! I love the cute little Santas by SassyPackRatStudios. There are several items in this Treasury that would make great gifts for someone on your list. Go give it some click and comment love! Buy handmade for the holidays!

Created by EndlessSunner.etsy.com
Expires December 4th