1.19.11 ... mouseheart matchbook mini note pad

i've been wanting to make one of these for a long time and i was playing around punching out hearts today and got this idea when i spied this little vintage book mouse piece while i was looking for something else. this was fun. it measures about 3 1/2 inches square-ish and is filled with 12 sheets of recycled paper scraps. i added a piece of fabric on the back bottom to tone down the staple bump. the polka dot is tissue paper.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

and here are the photos i promised you last night:

hope you enjoy today's post. sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

It's a Great Day in Progress

As any of you who have looked at my posts have guessed, we are huge Craig Ferguson fans. I have something to send him, which I will include in my finished post. This is the envelope. Recycled. And from England ~ that tickles my funny bone. And I think it might give Craig a chuckle, too. Since I am re-using the envelope I am decorating it with one of my collages to cover the address. OK, I would do all this anyway, even if it didn't need it. The reverse side ~ the new front ~ also has this building/NYC/America theme, but, as you see, this is still in the working stage and none of this is set in place. So no photo of that side yet. This side will have a few changes and needs a couple of additions, but for the most part I am pretty happy with it. It is so cold, dreary and just plan wintry here today. It's actually snowing here in Austin. I guess that's quite a big deal. We moved here from New England so what do we know? :) Anyway, the weather convinced Scout and me that another batch of pretzels was in order. They came out just as lovely as the first batch. She has a picture of them on her TaD post: HERE along with a link to a little video we made spontaneously yesterday afternoon using my pony (iphone). It's here on my sidebar as well. She's singing One Song Glory from RENT. I hope you are all warm and dry and enjoying your evening. Until tomorrow....

:)

Posted via email from thing-a-day 2010

James Q Superior

Just a little something I created this afternoon. We finally had a gorgeous day here in Austin and went down to walk by the lake for our first time so I was short on time for my TaD. I love maps and collage and combined the two here. I named it James Q Superior. Couldn't resist. I hope everyone is well this evening and enjoying life. Until tomorrow...

It's a great day for America, everybody. Yes it is.

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from thing-a-day 2010

Presidential Potato Salad

You know the question 'If you could have any three people for dinner...?' Well, Lincoln is one of my choices and I am pretty sure he would love my potato salad. :) We're having BLTs tonight and I got a cabin fever craving for this. I hope you all are warm and dry this evening. Oh ~ adding a few photos from my secret valentine stash from last week. I will post a few along with my current TAD every day. Ciao!

See the full gallery on posterous

We've always called our two boys and Valerie our Boston Baked Beans. This is the first time I have drawn these beans, though. I recycled a safety envelope bit and a lottery chad {?} I don't know if these things have a name, do you?

See the full gallery on posterous

I made this reusing their wedding invitation envelope from last winter. :) I just love this blue paper. It's a great day for America, everybody. Yes it is.

Posted via email from thing-a-day 2010

Springboard Mosaic

This afternoon I enjoyed designing this little collage. The sun was going down so I took the photos before permanently attaching the papers. I'll do that in the morning. The papers are from my stash of vintage children's books discarded from the library. These pieces were already cut ~ they're extras from other projects. Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. I'm really enjoying your art. It's a great day for America, everybody. Yes it is.

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from thing-a-day 2010

i love you like etsy

etsy has a new trademark agreement policy & my design was approved! Next to sign and return the contract, but, naturally, I wanted to include one of my pinbacks. And, then, naturally, I needed to send it in style ~ my style ~ and then, naturally, once I started browsing for something to catch my eye...and, well, it just kept going from there. This is Manhattan for the love of kismet. I mean, honestly. It was a sign.




Note: Click on the photo above to enlarge and read text with ease.

The toughest part was finding the picture of the earth in the right size. I wanted it to be a balloon. And I wanted an earth taken from space. People, I have only 14 days to return this contract!!! I have standards which does make my life challenging. No, I do not want an earth printed off of the internet. It has to be found in a discarded magazine, book, calendar or ??? Do I have a vault full of these? No Ma'am. No Sir. I do not. I gave myself a deadline. If I couldn't find one by last night, I would have to illustrate (GULP) my own. eek! Desperate times call for desperate measures, folks. I had an earth balloon in my head and come hell or high water, there was going to be one on this collage. No matter that all I sought was a simple attractive square in the first place. Let's be serious here.



There was only one way to solve this. I started working on my new horse linocut. (My first! This is another story. You can see a couple of photos on my flickr or my post on CAD. ) As I was searching for magazine pages for my little pony :), there she was!!!! My little blue planet. She was a little too large, but the thought of resorting to plan B ... Next ... how was I ever going to cut a perfect circle around her? Hey ... this looks like the size of my pinbacks. Hey... wait a minute... and the earth balloon magnet, she is born! Now, the true dilemma... how do I part with this baby? I am sorry, but this is one sweet collage. I am going to send it. And pray that whoever receives it at the other end of the rainbow has a brighter day because of it. Life is a mystery. I'm adding another to the mix.



What would your reaction be if, in the course of your workday ~ this includes you, house people. Remember, I am one of you and yes, we work! ~ you opened an ordinary envelope (OK, we all know, that is not possible here and I will be making a super joonie envie, but... I am overcome with the power of the written word) and this fell out onto your surface? I would love to know. The truth. Thank you for making it this far into my tale.


PS. Be sure and let me know if you'd like to hear how it all turns out, too. Or if your answer to this is: God forbid. ox to you all & happy, happy birthday little blue planet

Love Our Earth & Things Can Be Pretty! by golly!

Today I have a joonbeam blog first. I always make my own envelopes and packages when I can. The other day I was cutting a grocery sack so I could use the body. Normally, I cut down one side first and slice all the way to the base, discarding the bottom. Maybe it was my tired brain ~ I had seven packages to prepare that day! - or maybe it was celestial intervention, but, for whatever mysterious reason, I cut across the fold first instead. Then I looked down and, by golly, I said to myself, that is an instant large envelope! So I grabbed the camera and, by golly, I had brainstorm #5,067,876,439,274,183,201. My first blog tutorial. Woo Hoo!

Here you see the cut across the sack. Next, the item placed inside the envelope. I wrap things in wax paper, bubble wrap or glad wrap to protect my paper items from potential moisture.

Then, I place the collage (just my style. Not necessary, of course!) and address right over the folded closed opening. Viola! Instant sturdy envelope for your larger items and you saved money, energy, time, trees, the environment, the world! From now on, I will be using all size brown bags for this purpose! I mean you have instant four sealed sides. How great is this? Can you tell I am excited?

Here are the tools of my trade. I adoringly use Yes! Paste for all of my paper projects. And I reuse all kinds of paper and envelopes. Do you see my return address? That is a remnant of the postage kiosk stamp. It comes out of the self service machine as a sticker. And I found that I can make two self sticking return address labels with the leftover! I am hard core saving woman, but why not? It's easier and more efficient, too.

Here is the back of the envelope. That Pottery Barn catalog theme came in so handy!

This tutorial is dedicated to Mister Rogers. Just when I thought I couldn't love him more, we saw an episode where he was demonstrating how he and you can reuse envelopes by simply slicing carefully along the lines and turning it inside out. A little tape, glue or paste and... New envelope! Thanks for reading my post. I love everyone and everything ~ Let's all love our earth a little extra in celebration of today, the first day of spring! Try something new. Use something old. You'll feel great. Really. You will. Habits...the more good ones you curate, the less room in your life for the bad ones. It's a win, win, win situation.