1.4.11 ... packaging experiments

i have a lot of fun with my packaging as some of you know. i've featured many on my (joonbeam) blog and some of you have received packages from me. today i worked on a triple order and took the opportunity to fiddle around with a semi formulaic approach. no two can ever be the exact same but i do need to make it a little easier on myself because i spend way too much time on preparing my packages for the mail. it's very nice when people appreciate it, but i know there are just as many times when the receiver could care less and here i put so much time, effort and heart into it. which i love to do so therein lies the dilemma. so maybe a compromise can work. here is what i came up with. it's a take-off on the matchbook. if any of you remember those? :)

sadly, it was rainy all day and these are low light pictures so i apologize for the quality. hopefully you can get an idea. i had fun. that's always a good sign. by the way, the bookmarks are something new i started recently. i made these today. i love old postcards and a lot of them actually look better to me sliced into recycled bookmarks. what do you think? i hope the buyer will like her little extras.

the save the whale stamp bookmark was made using the same tagboard - manila folder paper - as the matchbooks. i found this package of paper at the thrift store the other day for a dollar. i don't know why i have never seen it in the stationery stores before. i know i will want more once i run out. i love the stuff. it's so perfect for my earth friendly theme. the fam is awaiting my attention for dessert and west wing so ... thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

ps. i am learning this method of blogging via emailing posterous and it takes some getting used to and tweaking. also, the challenge of blogging every day is a little daunting. but i am determined to improve in all aspects of this venture. thanks for sharing the journey of ineptness with me. please hang in there.

Posted via email from just joon

More Packaging FUN

Here's a recent package 

I sent to my favorite Floridian.

:)

As always, I recycled papers

and oddments.

The bird piece is from a coffee bag.

It is sewn onto a safety envelope bit.

You can see the reverse in last

photo below.

This is the inside of a Daisy sour cream

seal.  I stitched a safety envelope circle

onto it just for the heck of it.

The popsicle stick is from 

our delicious Texas Blue Bell ice cream.

The message continues on side B.

:)

The floral piece is a card section.

The message is on the back.  

I had a good time gathering up

these pieces and creating these

silly bookmarks for my cuz.

Do you have a favorite 

recycled packaging story?

Please share it and a link

if you have one, in my comments.

I'd love to see your art.

Until next time...

ox

joon

New JoonWalk Recycled Bookmark Design

my new fold*over magnetic bookmarks

covers are laminated 

magnets on lower inside covers hold your place

my first batch

some have handwritten quotes on back

the coca cola and clapper board, for instance

vintage gift wrap, stamp collage & book illustrations

are a few of my set themes

this pair features my original artwork

so what do you think?

look for these in my joonwalk shop

ox

joon

Wow! And Thank You...

Map.Whale.1942 Photo.Woodstock

My re*mark™ listing was nominated for Team Eco Etsy's "Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' Birthday" week. And it's a winner. Thank you so much to my fellow earth loving team mates, Kitty's Heart of Nature and Brass Paper Clip Project for nominating me. You made my day. Pour yourself a cup of tea, pull up a chair and take a few minutes to browse their beautiful shops and see all of their uniquely wonderful offerings.

The Team Eco Etsy blog article featuring the winners can be seen HERE.

Thanks, again, Kitty and Cindi.

ox
joon

one example of a calling card & envelope designs

Hello. Today I was preparing a letter packet to go out the door. I made some calling cards using watercolors. This is one example. {phone# and address removed} I had fun making those. The envelope is one style I use often. Something unique about this one is that the snoopy and abe lincoln stamps are on paint samples that have raised elements. The three small hearts to the left of the address and the one up in the return address are signatures of my envelopes. The confetti of hearts on the back is something I have only done a few times. The little monkey is a bit I found in my stash. We printed up a bunch of these years ago. Scout drew him when she was 9. I really prefer to have the stamps on before I take photos but we had to go and the sun would be down by the time we got home so I was in a rush. I always use a collection of real stamps because I love the mosaic-y collage effect they provide. And it's good practice for my math skills. :)

We have always been partial to snoopy but ever since we got our beagle, chip, we are even more so.

This is along the 'top' of the back of the envelope and the abe quote ~ one of my favorite stamps ever ~ is centered on the bottom.

I hope the recipient will enjoy seeing this in her mail box. Until tomorrow ~ sweet dreams. It's a great day for America, everybody. Yes it is.

Posted via email from just joon

Where Have I Been?

It was a dark and stormy night...

It's been a long time since I've blogged.
I missed it a lot. But I was busy.
And still writing.
In fact, I was writing and writing...

...and writing...
I participated in NaNoWriMo.
That's National Novel Writing Month
and it takes place every November.
Since 1999. And it's international now.

The goal is to write a brand new
50,000 word {175 page}
novel in rough draft form
in the 30 days of November.
That's 1,667 words a day.

Evan, Scout and I all joined in.
Scout {15} wrote 20,611 words.
Evan wrote 51,600 words
and finished his novel.
I wrote 65,542 words.
Maybe first time's a charm because...
We did it!
But I wasn't finished with my novel...

So I kept at it until
at 10:00 AM on December 8th
I finished my novel
with 70,444 words.

It feels great.
It was really. really. really. hard.
It was also fun, satisfying and incredibly rewarding.

Now I am working on: Draft II ~ The Revision.
And I love it.
It's the best feeling to be reading
an entire novel from start to finish
~ that I wrote. It's surreal.
I highly recommend the experience.
Have a look around their site.
I would love to have you as my NaNoWriMo Buddy
in 2010.

In the meantime,
please read panel #3 above...
I am going to work my way
back into writing regularly
here at joonbeam. I want to say
THANK YOU
to my visitors who have
faithfully checked in during
my absence. I appreciate your patience
and thoughtfulness.
So please come back often for more
earth friendly creations and tips,
favorite family recipes
and tales from my crazy journey
through this journey we call life.
"Don't leave me!" she cried.

ox
joon

Earth Friendly Tip: Stamps Online Save Sanity Too

My favorite new stamp design

I remember when the mailman would deliver
an order form for stamps through the mail
every so often. As a busy mother, I loved that option.
In the past few years, I only see that in my mailbox
once or twice a year. And, they offer a small, and
most importantly, common {dull} selection. Pish Posh.

I was OK with that for a while because I liked
going to the Post Office in my small towns
and visiting with the clerks, perusing all
the new stamp designs and choosing my favorites.

The past few years I have lived in cities and
one would think the service and selection would
be at least as good as, if not better than, the
small town post offices can offer.

Like too many things that make absolutely no sense
with the passing of time, I was becoming
increasingly frustrated by my consistently disappointing
{that is so beyond mild, I deserve a halo, please.}
post office experiences.

I hope you're one of
the lucky ones, but, if, like me, you begin to
dread your next trip to the post office, or even if
you don't, I hope your life will be brighter in the
postage stamp arena of life
after you consider this.

Read on dear friend...


I decided to check out this ordering online option
because the post offices never had the stamp variety
that they advertise all over the walls with giant
promotional posters. Maybe if I never saw the
gorgeous stamp I wouldn't be so crestfallen.
But there they are. Larger than life. So pretty.

Sorry. We don't have those.
We ran out of those two days after we got them.
I have never seen that stamp in my drawer.
I don't know anything about what's on order
or when or if we'll ever have those.
They don't tell us anything.
Oh, those stamps aren't out yet.
***Gee, that seems highly unlikely as the issue date
{again, larger than life} is just last week.***
Oh, then they must be all gone. They're
not making those anymore.

Are you with me?
This is only the half of it.
Other reasons I cringe at the
thought of a post office visit:
Long Long Long Long Lines
5 stations, 2 clerks
clerks that argue with me about my envelope/package's postage
{which I already correctly calculated online}
clerks who take my handcrafted envelopes and
slap a metered postage sticker
haphazardly, so that it looks like
a 3 year old in a pitch black movie theater
placed it there. While watching the film.
And holding a 32 oz. sugary fizz-something.
All of this AFTER I specifically request
they just tell me the postage and I will
place my own stamps on the item.

There's also the limited hours of operation,
the abysmal parking scene, the weather...
and, even if you never have any of these
disheartening experiences like I do,
there's the environmental impact:
adding to traffic & pollution.
And your auto costs, energy & time.

And I haven't even touched on
the people in line. That would need
a book chapter.

If you're a germaphobe like me,
there's that, to avoid {like the plague,
I should say, no?} as well.

After reading just these few anecdotes,
you may be able to see that
my true fright is my head exploding.
And, honestly, we cannot have that.


Now for the beauty of online ordering:
It is pleasant & simple. Takes mere minutes.
You have every selection & option your heart desires.
You can do this in your jammies.
While eating lovely bon bons.
The shipping is a mere $1.00
NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU ORDER.
The stamps arrive in 2 days. Yes.
Look at the packaging. Sweet.
You have now avoided every
mind numbing bit of insanity
mentioned up above.
And there's more....



Perhaps my favorite aspect of this online ordering
is the recycling 'gifts'.
First of all, you have the fabulous
Tyvek envelope. So pretty & white, to boot.
Then you have all of those perfect
cellophane enclosed cardboard pieces.
They not only keep your stamps handy
& damage free, but you can reuse these
no end! For free. You never receive your stamps
in these at the post office.

It's a win.win.win. situation.
Try it. You'll like it.
And you'll save our pretty blue planet.
And your sanity.
Or at the very least, mine.

ox
joon

Scuppernote ~ A Happenstance Design

Last year's calendar & other recycled papers get a new life.
Tri fold notebook with velcro closure.

This afternoon while Scout was resting and the sky adhered to gray mode with a vengence, I worked on a new design. My objective was to create a notepad with a pencil attached. That didn't work out, but I love this design, which sprang from that template and formed as I went along. Here's the short of it:

Random papers are cut to the proper width. They will be stitched together & slipped into the reusable paper case (a folded magazine slice), which, in turn, will slip up into the paisley (vintage tie) fabric, which is sewn onto a card stock remnant & tucks into the inside pouch seen here:

The calendar is 2008's Scuppernut All Year Long . The view below shows the back of the note pad. If you look closely you can see that the fabric pocket wraps around the bottom edge, is pinked & stitched in place. The policeman fending off 'alligators in the sewers' (of NYC) is from a discarded Children's book. You can see the velcro closure in his choppers. Anyone else hearing little Drew Barrymore in their head right now?

Here is a view of the notepad insert system:

And here it is in place:

The finishing touch ... a denim shade cotton yarn bit with a vintage bunny button I've had forever and then some, as my favorite cousin would say. My pencil challenge is also solved as this led me to the answer that will see my design work. My template was made first, this evolved, so I abandoned that, but now as luck would have it, I am all ready for my next happenstance adventure. I'll see you soon ~ pencil me in, won't you? ox joon

A Little Bit Different Style Upcycled Tee Carry~All Tote

This is my first upcycled T shirt Carry~All. I made it for a wonderful friend as a surprise gift. I can't wait until she receives it. It's all ready for the postman. :) But first...

I started by adding a liner {wrong sides together} because the T shirt was quite thin. Oh, yes, I should say here that it was beyond the clothing life stage. The liner is also a former blouse. If you know me even the teeniest little bit, you know they came from thrift stores. This is {at least} their third life.

I wanted this bag to have my own signature style, which I call
Thread Tramp Art ~ with heart :). Here you can see the pinked edges being basted before the next step ~ simply turning them under & leaving them raw.

Just for kicks, I turned one edge the opposite way. I added marbled fabric strips to the straps for 3 reasons: style, durability & added length. A handy key clip extension piece is attached along one seam. It flops inside or out at will!

Inside design is as much fun as outside. The little gecko is from my boys' favorite pair of shorts. They date back to 1980 -ish. Still going strong.

I sewed up the side and bottom. Added the straps and here is the finished creation. As my lovely friend, Pearl, says: TADA!

I love it and I hope my friend will too. Maybe I will make another one. Well, what would you do if your mother asked you? :) {Seuss quotes, anyone?}

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

Front Page of etsy!

I am having a great start to my Friday! Woo Hoo! My first front page as far as I know. How fun is this? Here's to eco friendly handmade. My painting, floating city, is one of two in my etsy shop that I painted onto discarded falling apart vintage book covers. Visit my shop to learn more and see this painting and its sister, JUMP.