Tattoo Artist

I love tattoos.  If my mom wouldn’t disown me this is how i would look: 

But for her sake i will keep my tattoos on the conservative side and to a minimum.  However, i think that almost always (except for the tragic ones you would typically see at a water park) tattoos are beautiful.  I personally could never be a tattoo artist.  They have to be so skilled and quickly move the ink to create a flawless design right before your eyes.  Oh yeah- and talk about the pressure of not making a mistake!  Knowing myself- i would probably spell someone’s name wrong. 

In a former life i was an art teacher and was always concerned that my young and sheltered students would notice my tattoo and run home crying.  My brother-in-law has a different approach.  He still teaches, and while he will probably never be inked up, most of his students will.  He works with very impressionable high school freshman and is constantly asking them to question whether they are “a tattoo artist or a customer.”   Whether they are going to leave their mark on someone else, or let someone else leave their mark on them.  BRILLIANT- and relevant enough that some of his students actually have listened to him. 

A great quote like this deserves to be on display.  So this is what i gave David for Christmas:

I hope his students enjoy it as much as the mural that i painted on their classroom wall last year…

Happy Leap Day Everyone!!!

Paint-filled Dresser

So i need to admit something...  i am a craft supply hoarder!  The amount of art supplies, free crap that i think i might one day use, and items that i will use someday (when i stop procrastinating) are quickly increasing.  It doesn't help either that i used to be an art teacher and can't seem to throw anything away.  But i have had it with the clutter.  I needed to find a solution to cleverly hide my hoarded treasures, so my friends and family wouldn't turn me in to the state.  Ideally someday i will have a separate art studio where all my supplies can live freely in the open.  But for now i am devoting a space in my bedroom to contain all my artistic junk.  After acquiring a free dresser from a local musician and his wife, i quickly knew what i needed to do. 

This is what the dresser looked like after i unloaded it into my living room- minus the drawers.

And this is what it looks like now.

Trying to not add to my stockpiles of paint, i wanted to use colors that i already had.  So after sanding down the wood, i painted the dresser white, dark gray, and light blue with orange accents.  I am in love with the color combo!

The dresser compliments my room nicely and ascetically conceals some of my art supplies.  I tried to organize each drawer by keeping all like supplies together.  Most drawers hold my various paint bottles, like my spray paint collection in the bottom drawer, which shares space with my sewing box (which is actually a tackle box). 

Another drawer is devoted just to ribbons, staples, and other adhesives.  I am very pleased about getting all of my stuff neatly put away!  But feel that i could do better about organizing the inside of the drawers... so please share your successful ideas!

Now that i have everything put away, I'm feeling inspired to paint!  Hope you are too! 

Handmade Books

During my first senior year of college I took a studio class called Bookmaking from a very inspiring professor.  Her class was the first studio class where I felt completely free to create without any restrictions.  She would begin our class with meditation, and then we would spend the following twenty minutes free writing or free drawing.  This by far was the most relaxing and organic start to get into the creating process that I have ever experienced.  We were all safe in that space to try new processes, materials, and concepts.  Nothing was ever forced or contrived and my classmates were comfortable in their own talents to share opinions and suggestions.  I even looked forward to group projects and collaborative work, a task that I dreaded in other classes.  Since this was my favorite class it is no wonder that I still treasure the books that I made that semester. 

Yesterday I mentioned handmade books on my new floating shelves.  These books were created from cardstock, thread, paper pulp, cereal boxes, Japanese paper, magazines, ribbon, wood accents, and of course- buttons.  Most are functional art that later became a journal but some are almost sculpture.  

This book was made with fiber paper, a vintage pattern, and ribbon.

The ribbon goes through the dress and ties the two covers closed and accessorizes the book. 

This is a mixed media book, with wooden covers, accordion folded card stock and sewn 'pages' that have unexpected messages on the front and back.

This burnt orange book was made with ribbon, wood flower accents, scrap booking paper, Japanese paper, and recycled brown wrapping paper.

'Home' was created with blueprints, vinyl, scrap booking paper, and brown thread. 

 I am excited to see this art form is growing in its popularity and the wide possibilities of being able to create new books out of old books and any found object that you already have lying around the house.  Since i was broke in college it really forced me to be clever in acquiring supplies, most that i got for free at a thrift store i worked at.  The vinyl came from my mother who was reupholstering a retro chair, and most of the paper came from a bookstore on my college campus.

Now that i am not living off ramon noodles and canned tuna, i still think it is smart to upcycle and give items new life.  It’s more of a creative challenge to use what you already have than to run out and buy new supplies.  I think that gives my books more charm and makes them worth displaying.  I was able to be innovative by manipulating unusual materials for my books, and i challenge you to do the same.

Who ever said don't judge a book by its' cover?  I dare you to.

{BS}

Floating Books

One of my many New Year's Resolutions was to get ORGANIZED this year.  Organized like- no more piles of clutter, or stacks of projects that i am working on, or spending countless hours shifting things to look for other things that i have misplaced.  My new found love is The Container Store that has graced Nashville with everything  you could possibly need or want to get your act together and make your life amazing.  I can easily talk about a two dozen products that i have recently bought that have saved me time and space.  But today i will just mention my first favorite solution for my cluttered book problem.  I want to become an avid reader but didn't have the space (until now) to store books that i have purchased and made. 

This is what the wall looked like pre- floating book shelves.  Empty and not using the potential vertical space.

After drilling screws through the floating bookshelves that i got from The Container Store, and mounting them to the wall...

I was able to chose one book for each shelf that would become the 'base' of each shelf.  The back cover hooks into the bottom, and the front cover rests on top of the extending metal. Which ultimately hides the shelf itself. Brilliant!

I am so amazed at how many books i was able to put on my floating shelves!  Having these books on the wall opened up other space in my room and de-cluttered my nightstand.  It also is a great way to display some of my decorative handmade books.

And of course i had to add an owl to the bottom shelf!  So wise!

I'm excited now to finish reading the books that i started so long ago!  Resolutions here i come!

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I’m Back!

Hello friends! Sorry if you were starting to worry about my absence, and i apologize if you never knew i left... but this is my first post in about two months and it feels like a lifetime since i have created and blogged.

A crazy amount of change has happened in my life. With the whirlwind of the holidays, illness, and my computer getting a virus worse than mine, i feel that this weekend was the first time in a long time that i could literally breathe and relax.

Since i have last spoken to you guys my little blog has done something i never thought that it would. It won not one, but two awards! I am so blessed that i have been able to accomplish what i have, but still have so far to go. If you are visiting from Two Hoots & a Holler or Shoe String Bean, i welcome you! You are the reason that i have started this little crafting blog!

I started blogging so i could start to document my creative processes and finished products. Through this outlet i have begun to build a new artistic and creative community that is more supportive, encouraging, and inspiring than i ever imagined. I cannot thank Julia and Mae enough for their words of affirmation and backing my crazy ideas (and lending their amazing ideas in the meantime!)

Okay so enough of me pretending that i am on the Golden Globes of blogging. i need to stop feeling guilty about winning an award while not actually blogging and get to work! Stay tuned for actual crafts and pictures and less ramble of words.

It's so good to be back!

{BS}

Merry Indie Christmas!

Welcome from the Follower's Fest!

Thanks for checking out my blog- leave a comment and a link and i will check out yours!

On with the spirit of Christmas!  I have been dying to post about my Santa that i found for free at a yard sale several months ago.  I love a good find, especially when the 'find' is FREE.  The women who's house the sale was at seemed super eager to have someone get the Santa (among several other things) off her hands.  I gladly took the Santa plant holder knowing what potential he held.  This is the Santa pre-craft intervention:

 Gotta love his mustache!

After cleaning him up, i took a can a Holiday Red spray paint to him and gave Santa three good coats to make sure he was completely covered.

After Santa was solid red, i went back and spray painted his bucket Holiday Green and added white to make his mustache pop! 

Like i have mentioned before, i have zero ability to keep plants alive, so instead of adding something green to the plant holder i opted for CANDY!  Now my Santa is a candy holder and i can't wait to go out and buy candy canes to go in his bucket!

This project has put me in the spirit to decorate my house for Christmas!

Early Season Greetings to everyone!

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Frames and Twine...

Since Christmas is just around the corner, and i tend to always procrastinate, i wanted to go ahead and start thinking about gifts i can make for my family.  Each year i force my hand-made projects on them discreetly wrapped in really adorable wrapping paper with hand stamped tags.  I found out today (at Thanksgiving dinner) that some of these gifts were conveniently left at my parents house and never brought home last year.  Apparently my cute chalkboard frames were a little too cute for my younger brother, and i am finally taking a hint.  I should probably step away from the chalkboard paint and broaden my crafting horizons before someone gets hurt.  So after seconds of research on pinterest i found a great idea for frames that doesn't involve chalkboard paint:

Inspiration from a really cool lady- gotta love her birds.

So of course after seeing that i immediately had to jump on the frame train and create something just as adorable.  I took an old oval frame that i had lying around and removed the boring print from the back and sprayed painted the frame white.

After the paint had dried i gathered some small screw hooks, twine, and miniature clothes pins.

I screwed the hooks into the backs of the frames trying to keep them as level as possible.  After the screws were in place i looped twine through the hooks and tied it tightly, creating several different rows.

 

I then cut the extra twine off and hammered the hooks flat against the frame so they would have flush against the wall.

I love the way these turned out!  I plan on hanging these in my kitchen to use it as a recipe holder and message board.   This Twine Frame would be great for photos, jewelry, or even to organize mail or bills.

I loved this so much i had to make another one! And of course add a bird to mine! 

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and can find some time this weekend to get a head start on Christmas crafts!

{BS}