Beelieve

2 more books and new carved stamps

While I was making my books my original intention was to do some with my own original hand carved stamp images.  Kiki bird needed a place to perch, after all trees that we are saving are Kiki's home.  I carved a branch and then a separate tiny trio of leaves to add where I may like. I would also like to mention the covers are made from this great matte white cardboard that comes in each bundle of the prescription label packs we use at work.

 

The paper inside the green Kiki book is recycled brown craft paper.

 

The blue Kiki has post consumer white multipurpose paper

 

I hope to get them to my Etsy shop by the end of the day. I will be in the cage for 12 hours today though.

*a note about the cage if you have not been with me all this time~ the cage is the pharmacy I am a pharmacist at and once in there I can not leave for 12 hours and being away from my art is like stuffing me in a cage...the small area and gate have a lot to do with it too!

* More about the recycled cardboard cover material~  My technician has been saving a them for years for a local art teacher.  I have grabbed them from time to time but they never came in white before.  They make for great projects.  I will get the word out to every store in the chain if I have to for saving them.  We fill 200-over 300 prescriptions a day and add new packs at least twice a day.  There are 2 of these pieces in each pack and they are larger than a business sized paper.  I imagine there is a large amount that is being thrown out in the other stores as we are a "smaller volume" pharmacy.  I am on a mission now to save them all! 

upcycling what I have and making blank books

In my combined efforts to "use what I have" and my "mission organization" I discovered I have a ton of paper, card stock, vintage items...you name it. I also love little blank books and journals for all my brainstorms. When I organized them, I discovered I am attracted to ring binding circles. They offer the freedom to remove a page for ease of creating on or to place back in a different section. So why not make some to sell.

I started with bingo cards and pages of cardstock.  These are perfect for taking out a page and altering to create your own version of the ones similar to my "artsy journal"

Then I had fun with words and smaller "key note" books that are a great size to tote around with you.

The big shocker....drum roll please....I added them to my Etsy store already!  Trying to get a bit better organized and cleaning up there as well.  Soon my website will be up and running for purchases as well.

A day after Christmas present

A long 12 hours at work today was soon put behind me when I came home to a nice email from The Cherry Stem saying she included my "kind" necklace in a Reuse Recycle Repurpose Etsy Treasury.  Thank you so much LeeAnn as you are truly a "kind" one to include me.

ps. I am loving LeeAnn's mason jar pincushions!

 

I have a crush on these

Somewhere in my travels I saw a fun necklace with a bead and velvet ribbon.  The key being...somewhere!  So I dabbled a bit the other day...not even sure what day it was since I have lost all track of time after being sick.  Today the morning sun was gorgeous and peaceful beaming through the house.  Our holidays should be gorgeous and peaceful.  Here are 5 ideas to ponder as presents and mantras if you will.  These will go off to Esty later today or tomorrow.

 

"latte"  ~for the gal who loves the lighter sweet things in life

 

"kind" ~for the one who always thinks of others and is resourceful by nature (the linen from this is from an old linen skirt)

 

"greenfield"  ~for the city sweetheart who dreams of country green fields and loves fresh water pearls

 

"spirit"  ~a circle shaped pearl for the woman who knows what goes around comes around

   

and "barefoot" ~for the lass who touches others lives with the ease of broken-in jeans and the class of a pearl

 

Relaxed aren't you?

"Wonder"

Before all the plumbing craziness you  may remember I actually do some art and at the end of my last ATC postI mentioned there may be a clue to my next piece.  The clue was the last ATC with the word "Wonder".  Winter brings some magical things to wonder about.

(scroll down, this scan not great)

 

"Wonder" all started with another 8x8 inch and 1.5 inch thick heavy duty stretched canvas, covered with more book pages from the 1917 book called the "Story Book of Knowledge" by L. B. Franklin.   This time the grand daughter was asking about ice on the window.  A very simple thing to wonder about as a child.

 

Then I painted it with scrapes of white, off-white and a super light peachy, letting some words show.   Then came a branch with berries as if you were looking out a window in winder.

 

Now the fun...the first of many layers of thick goopy string gel!

 

I alternated layers of the sting gel, added paint, gel,pigment powder in  a microsnow white pearl...barely noticeable, then gel, paint, gel...layers of floating ice on the window.  The first scan does not do it justice since the whites do not scan well in the depths of the layers.

 

Here it is through some light reflected by a vase.

 

And the depth of it all!

 

 

rushing to go to work now but will take some better shots of it and list on Esty soon!

I found something to post!

Well, it has been a challenge getting to the computer, let alone having it work when I get there.  I really wanted to spend some quiet time catching up with blogs and emails last night but could not get online.  Think our modem has issues. 

Not much time for creating lately but Monday had some spare time and just dove into my beads.  Did not get very far and I do have a fun assortment to waste time looking at.  So here are just a few simple creations I had hoped to list on Etsy.

This first one is "Fun Squared"and is a mix of shell beads with the red coral on black silk and a simple sterling silver clasp.

 

Next some "Holiday Snow" earrings again of shell and red coral

 

last is "Simply Neutral" a fun wood, shell and forgot what the bottom bead is already.  Looks great on though.  These and more to come will go to Etsy soon for very reasonable prices.

Therefore: I put a handle on country living

One of my favorite books to rip pages from is "The Sparrowgrass Papers: or Living in the Country" by Frederic S. Cozzens (1860).  I wish I had actually read the whole thing before ripping and cutting from it.  I had marked a page I did read.  A poem called "Therefore"

Therefore

I’d kind o’like to have a cot
Fixed on some sunny slope; a spot
      Five acres more or less;
With maples, cedars, chesnut trees,
And poplars whitening in the breeze.

’Twould suit my taste, I guess,
To have the porch with vines o’erclung,
With pendant bells of woodbine swung,
      In every bell a bee;
And round my latticed window spread
A clump of roses, white and red.

      To solace mine and me,
I kind o’think I should desire
To hear about the lawn a choir
      Of wood-birds singing sweet;
And in a dell, I’d have a brook
Where I might sit and read my book.

      Such should be my retreat;
Far from the city’s crowds and noise
Where I could rear my girls and boys, —
      I have some two or three,
 And if kind Heaven should bless my store
With five, or six, or seven more,
      How happy I would be.

 

I loved how "Crow" turned out on a day of distraction.  As luck would have it, I had another handle...another 8x8 inch canvas...and of course book pages.  More specifically, these pages.  I had a different idea at first, then the background came out darker than I had planned.  So, I went with it.  I cut and pieced a heart with the poem and this perfect little flaw of white remind me of a farm house off in the distance.

 

Well if it wants to be a farm house then let it I say.  In fact, let it tell me the story.  "It was night in the country...the littles had just gone to bed exhausted after a day of fresh air and searching for bittersweet...   I picked up a good book and began to read because if I don't a crazy artist will get a hold of the pages and rip!"   Next thing I know the painting told me to coat it with bees wax and put a handle on my art again!

 

 

 

 

I took some pictures then grabbed "my little" (as good as any seven) and we headed up the hill to get some bittersweet.

The rest of the story ended up like this, as I imagine any great story about country living does. (I might not know...rip!)

Going to Etsy soon!

 

I like to bee distracted

The fall colors are so abundant and so beautiful right now.  They are also hard to capture in a photo.  I decided to capture some of those colors in a mixed media painting.

I started the 8x8x1&1/2 inch deep canvas by blanketing it with book pages, fairy tales more notably.

 

I layered on vibrant colors with a credit card until they were just the way I wanted.  Guess who came next?

 

"CROW"  and his magic flower.  The final steps I"messed it up" a bit.  Added a funky handle to the top and coated it all in bleached bees wax to preserve the color.

 

I left the sides unpainted, just distressed a bit and coated in wax as well.

 

"Crow" is available at my Etsy shop.  Remember, it is a magic flower and proceeds in October go to the American Cancer Society!

UPDATE:  "Crow" is sold

She...

...is off to Etsy.  This is Daddy's Girl and thought "SHE" would bee perfect for a pocket mirror for my Etsy store in the month of October especially.  I am donating as much of the proceeds as possible to The American Cancer Society.  I chose to make a mirror "Daddy's Girl" bee-cause someday I hope all the Daddy's girls of the world will not have worry about breast cancer.

Then I got brave and tossed this original painting in my Etsy Store too!

Baby steps...that's it.  A little at a time, when I can.  When I approached my supervisor from my "cage" job about cutting back on my hours as a pharmacist to focus on what my heart needs to do I had printed out a copy of something I read over and over for her to keep for her own goals and to understand why and where I am headed.  I am headed to something a bit more beautiful in my eyes.  That "something" I gave her is "The Daffodil Principle" and I encourage anyone who has never read it to do so.  Especially if you want something as glorious as this in your life.

I took the Etsy plunge

Hello, my name is Karen and I now have an Etsy store. 

hee hee

Ok, never in my master plan did I imagine  I would start with a pocket mirror of my "Harmony" painting.  There were much bigger plans indeed.  Etsy will say one item listed but there are 5 of these mirrors available on that listing.

The bigger plans were "Blue Bee for Boobies" and pocket mirrors of my gratitude mirror painting.  A painting which is very colorful and vibrant.  I made some and not loving them.  I think the size can't handle the business of the colors or something.  See what you think below.

Of course if anyone is interested in one I know how to list now so I can do that.  I am offering a portion of all my sales this month to The American Cancer Society.  I really do not have all the proper links to everything set up but they will come. 

I also need a business mind for the original art piece of Gratitude Mirror.  I plan on donating proceeds for that as well, the thing is I am still unsure of how.  I received a great suggestion from Sherry to do a raffle by selling tickets via pay-pal and donate that money.  Hmmm, how much for a ticket then.  Or do I just toss it on Ebay?  Or should I slap $100-$150, list on Etsy and pray it sells!  I want to raise as much as I can and the art piece really is so much nicer than I can seem to capture on a photo.

Here are few more shots I just took.

ok, off to draw something little for the big draw!