5.18.11 ... potato salad

yes, this is what i made today. it's been a long time. and we also made scout's french dips...

that's what i'm talkin' about. back to the art room tomorrow. see you then.

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

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5.9.11 ... mother's day continued

we interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you a photo. we asked ev to take a picture of us because i wore my new mother's day necklace today. so here we are.

i forgot that i can start sharing our mother's day cards now that the day has passed. i will post a photo or two each day this week. here are three i created recycling pieces from a vintage dr. suess dictionary.

and here is my entry for today. no, i did not create scout today - although i like to think i have a hand in recreating her reality a little each day. just leave me to my thoughts, dear readers. who can it hurt? 

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

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4.26.11 ... piano and mint me up, buttercup treasury

good evening, all. today i played piano for an hour. i don't have any photos - or, lucky for you, videos - of that creative time and don't want to post without one so i created my first vesties team treasury. i recently joined this vintage team. here's the link to the treasury. 

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4db78dc1c47c6d91edc10aeb/mint-me-up-buttercup 

you can now access all of these beautiful shops and their eclectic vintage based offerings. 

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

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4.19.11 ... my first ever rubber stamp

i promised you a substantial creation today and here it is. my little love alligator stamp. i took step by step photos ...

i have made one and only one linocut and i'd love to make more. that one was about 3 years ago. boy am i slow. i've always wanted to make rubber stamps and today i tried my first one. i had no experience at all or any idea of what i was doing. so i saw my ed emberley book and scout really loves his books. so do i but she has more of an influence on my decision making process. i loved this alligator so i started there. i drew an image. i went over it again with my pencil so i could make a rubbing onto the stamp material. i used my bone folder to do that. then i cut the rectangle off of the larger stamp piece and started to carve out my little guy.

when i was done enough that i felt it was time to test it out i made some experimental stamps.

if you follow the numbers you will see how i adjusted the cut design until i got to the final image. i had to abandon the think green which i expected. this is a very intricate design and ambitious undertaking for my first project but i do love how it turned out. and i love that i thought to add the heart. i can write think green - and many other eco happy phrases - by hand.

evan was sweet enough to make me a wooden block and i know i will have much more control over the images with that. the adhesive is setting overnight.i will make some more tomorrow. hope you enjoyed today's creation and post. 

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

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3.29.11 ... mini bran muffins

i did a fair amount of creative activity today, which is gratifying because i must be starting to catch the habit. but this is the one i was able to capture on film. i wish there was film. nothing else sounds as good as that phrase. at any rate, i have been wanting to make these as mini muffins for months so today i found my pans and did just that.

i wonder if they just taste better because they are so darn adorable. i don't know. we all agree they do, though.

so now our freezer is stocked and we're set for a while. there's more batter in the fridge. my muffin recipe is a modification on the well known version. 

these are lighter and just plain divine. did you catch the good wife tonight? love that show and it was extra excellent this evening. now on to regis and dave. 

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

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3.27.11 ... sketch and coconut cream pie

i've been adding sketches and ideas to my little recycled granny photo album that i shared here on 2.23.11 and 2.24.11. you may recognize it. today i was still organizing my clippings and had saved a page with beautiful fabric. i love the style of these leaves so i made a sketch that i can use as a jumping off point for my own something some day. that's the technical terminology. {i like my created word: termiage}

i recycled a bit of used tissue paper which, actually, happened to come with the little box i recycled and covered yesterday.

i also made a coconut cream pie. these photos were taken this evening and are the best i can manage. here is the crust right before i put it in the oven.

here is the cooled pie shell with the coconut cream filling inside.

... and we have to top it with homemade hand whipped cream. thanks, ev. it was divine. well worth waiting all day and evening for. and just think what's next: breakfast!

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

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3.22.11 ... an ephemeral shelf

we moved earlier this winter and this bedside table's shelf is curiously missing. i've been using a basket on the floor but today i went on a quest for something that i could fashion into a temporary shelf. what i came up with is a double thickness cardboard box - 2 pieces - wrapped in paper. it won't hold much but that works for me. i don't need it to be strong. just there.

i love making temporary fixes and, years later, marveling at how incredibly long they lasted.

and here's something that amused us. it was its last day intact so scout snapped a quick photo.

proof that imperfection matters not a whit. we can be put together all wrong and still turn out delightful. yes indeed.

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

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3.18.11 ... upcycled little star booklet

happy friday boys and girls. i hope you had a beautiful day. i made a simple book today. it wasn't planned. i do have this idea for making little books out of discarded books, which i did here, but my original plan is different. i'll make one soon and you'll see what i mean.

this one is made from a discarded eric carle book. we love him. have you ever been to the eric carle museum? it is one of our favorite places on the planet. not to be missed. look it up. and go.

i do have to confess that evan helped me with this project. we like to work together --- most of the time. :)

i think this book turned out so sweet.

i also used some definitions from this fabulous 1957 french text book. i wanted to add the word star but it is not in the dictionary. no matter. it is still as cute as the darn dickens. what do you have on your mind for this weekend? do tell. i hope you're inspired by something and driven to be creative.

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

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3.13.11 ... making cool books

still not feeling well so i did some quiet creative activities today. here is one i completed before sundown. i want to organize my paper patterns to some extent. i recycle envelopes into small file pockets. they work well and are handy to carry around to another room if i need more space or just want a change of scenery. but i can use a little more organization than envelopes in a box so i label them in different styles. it helps me recognize and remember which one has what inside if they are all unique. then i nest them in a medium size rubbermaid and there i have a simple little storage filing system and everything i need is handy.

my little houses patterns and snap bracelet pattern envelopes differ in wording styles and sizes. it's a funky system but it amuses me. and that helps me stay inspired and productive. i hope you all enjoyed your spring forwarded shortened day. here's to a good week for all of us.

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

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3.4.11 ... tuna salads and recycled book cover envelope

today's creations ... a homemade envelope with pizzazz. this book cover is too pretty to discard. the book is also pretty. i've been using the salvaged pieces in many projects but this is the first time i've had just the right type and size package to fashion the cover, which i have saved for an embarrassingly long time now, into an envelope.

listen to this: i had two etsy sales yesterday, which is lovely but unusual. today when i packaged them up i thought i was seeing things. one street address was 2838 and the other was 4828. seriously. how bizarre is this? i can't imagine what the odds are on those numbers turning up in my inbox on the same day.

i love the coated paper. it makes a sturdy envelope. and saves the earth a little. every little bit helps. this envelope can even be reused.

and i hope it will be.

this is my lunch plate. i made tuna salads and ev and scout went kind of crazy over them so i snapped a few photos in case this was all i got around to making today. the envelope came later so i am ok. this creating every day is not as easy as it sounds. and it doesn't sound all that easy either.

it was a delicious lunch i must say. at the moment we just finished watching footloose. i have never seen it. very interesting. seemed interminably long. it was kind of like glee on valium. ev is making some chocolate drop cookies. warm cookies at almost 11 pm. we're living crazy here tonight, folks.

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

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2.20.11 ... pooh ephemera magnets

today i made pooh magnet batches. the papers are original, as always - these from a discarded 1942 copy of winnie the pooh and other stories. i named the sets. the one above is a hand colored embellished set named, simply: adventures with pooh

this one, also hand colored accents: april showers - pooh floats

this is one of a set {see group photo below for its mates} called: ho hum. it looks like rain.

this set: pooh thinks. therefore he is.

this is one of a set of five called: isn't it funny how a bear loves honey?

these will all be listed in my joonbeam etsy shop asap.

i fought with the sun today, once again. i did enjoy the process from start to finish, though. this took me most of the day. interruptions included, naturally.

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

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2.19.11 ... photo play and vintage cookbook magnets

ev and scoutie made pizza this evening. i experimented with some low light photos to document the event.

the dishes never stop. catching up while the pizza bakes.

where's that pizza? it smells sooooo good....

oh happy day. pizza night.

all ready to dig in to the piece de resistance...

barbecue chicken, black olive & banana pepper pizza with (not pictured) homemade ranch dressing. scout made the (coca-cola) bbq sauce, dressing and learned how to make ev's dough & sauce. meanwhile, back at the ranch aka art room, i made some magnets...

i will list them in my joonbeam shop. i've needed to make some for a while now. here is one last photo --- thought you all might like to see a process phase photo:

decisions, decisions. 

we watched baby mama tonight. it was really sweet. not at all as advertised. movie studios are strange birds. you'd think with so many talented people in the world, the cream would rise to the top and yet it is always a crap shoot. i wonder why. anyway --- we are happy we chose it & recommend it.

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

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2.18.11 ... be squared

i love squares. here's another idea i've had for a long time. except not with the 'be'. that came to me this afternoon because we stopped at a thrift store for a few minutes before closing time and i found an amazing vintage speedball book (50 cents) on how to hand write all kinds of groovy fonts with your speedball ink pen. i only had a few minutes so 'be squared' it is. picksey agreed to model for me again.

i am going to enjoy that book. my other finds are a 1956 amy vanderbilt etiquette book with unbelievable - even to me who lives in the past - questions and answers. but the hook - before i even had a chance to browse - was seeing the two artists - the second being 'andrew warhol'. little andy before he was famous. doing illustrations of place settings and how to eat a lobster. it's a fun find for 3 bits i must say. i've had an odd day, all told. i am glad the day is winding down. sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

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