3.16.11 ... the spring fair day

we had a nice time. it was peaceful and quiet and we met some wonderful people and i had a surprise visit from a friend. i mean it was a surprise to both of us. how whimsical is that? i should clarify that i would be hard pressed to think of 20 people i know here. and it was right at the start of the day. a good omen. i only sold a few things but i did not expect to sell a thing. it isn't the reason i went. one of the best parts of the day was ...

... when scout had a young gentleman go crazy when he saw these three pokemon drawings she'd made last night for the heck of it. and he decided he wanted to spend his birthday money on them and both she and he were so happy. i wish you all could have witnessed the exchange. i think she is inspired now to make some for her etsy shop which has been languishing for a while. it is always encouraging when you connect with someone who appreciates and loves your art.

i am so glad we went. oh --- i did not get a chance to photograph my display. it was very dark in there. and i spent a large portion of the day cleaning up photos for my etsy shops. the photo above is one i chanced upon. it's a little slice of my art table life. from whence all the creations i made both today and everyday come. so i thought that was a fitting introduction for today's entry.

ps. the leftover apple pie is so delicious. what a treat.

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

Posted via email from just joon

Recycled Improv & Lovely Salads

Scout made us salads for lunch recently.
Isn't this beautiful?

This is the pea salad I made for Kristoffer's birthday lunch.
He requested this. I hadn't made it in so long
that I had to make a second one a few days later!

Scout sold an ACEO and I made a protective pocket for it.
She added the quick illustration.

I made it out of our gas bill envelope. :)
ox joon

Springing Forward in Many Ways

I am participating in my Etsy BBEST Team ACEO challenge.
The theme is SpRiNg.
I LOVE lilacs and I was going to paint a small watercolor of them on my tiny canvas.
Then I remembered this knitting sample I'd made when I was practicing stitches and gauge. Every time I looked at this over the years, through so many moves, I'd think I must be nuts to think it was worth saving and keeping safe, yet, accessibly stored. And every once in a while, I did get an idea. But it was always just not right.
Until now.

I thought I could stitch it onto the paper with my sewing machine set on basting stitch.
But I was dreaming.
I hand sewed the knitted sweetie onto the ACEO paper. Then I started the button search.
I intended to use some creamy off white or perhaps florals or clear. Sparkly? Hmmmm....
Nothing was looking like what I envisioned. I thought perhaps my button idea was too grand and I should consider french knots out of thick embroidery floss. Well, I wasn't even going to try the purples. I mean they'd never show up. All of a sudden, I found these buttons with the cloth bits and I think they represent little lilac buds perfectly. I am so happy. Especially because in all my collection, buttons that haven't been cleaned up of threads or scraps are rare. I can't believe my luck. I hope my friend loves it as much as I loved creating and making it.
For more photos, including the groovy batik back, visit my flickr stream.

We did SpRiNg forward and it has not been delightful. But our new recipes of the week certainly were. Above is our Thai Soup from mid-week and below, our Italian Clam and Bean from tonight. We made fennel bread to go with it. Now, that's delightful.

Last weekend, we watched the film Bottle Shock, recommended by a dear friend. Loved it and now Evan wants to try affordable California wines. My trusty scissor/saving habits came through once more. I found my top wines list from an old Gourmet or ??? magazine. We managed to find two of the wines by going to different shops. It was a fun hunt and this first wine is wonderful indeed.

Until next time, friends.
Bon Appetite.
ox joon

one small step ~ original

This is such fun. The answer: original
To play again see my current treasury: one small step IV

Scout's FIRST Treasury. Isn't it lovely?
Here's her current one: Who's Scruffy Lookin'?

ox joon

The Progression of Skylar ~ ACEO by Scout

Here is the completed ACEO. Scout's commentary and the stages of this beautiful artwork follow. The last photo below is the next-to-last stage. This is a gift from Scout to our etsy friend, Six, of sixsisters.etsy.com. You will want to visit her shop. To see more of Scout's artwork, visit our etsy shop, joonbeam.

No. 1 is the inked stage. I don't have a picture of the sketch because I didn't think to take pictures until this morning.


No. 2 is when I added the highlights. The ones on the wings were later darkened because they didn't show up on the dark green color I chose.

Now I colored and shaded the skin. I'm very happy with this stage because I love shading skin...

Now, after much color contemplation, I added in the wings and hair. You can see how much darker those highlights on the wings got.

Everything sort of started bursting with color when I finished the shirt and colored the braid. At first mom thought this was the finished stage.


After I added the background with a mixture of black and brown markers and pencils, I realized Skylar, the Character, stuck out too much, so I really darkened up the shading on the hair, wings, and clothes. This ended up helping the image because it heightened the effect of a glow coming from the middle of the picture.


And I finally added the "energy ball" with paint! After this, I waited for it to dry and added the finishing touch of a little bit of blue shading inside the white. I'm really quite pleased with the way it came out, and I hope you like it, Six!

etsy love

I have been busy organizing my crafting room and learning how to use adobe illustrator for my word buttons & magnets. Here is my first word button. It is not listed yet. We just got this far - ONE. :) I got the idea from all of us etsians being so in love with etsy and the significant others and family members that might need some reinforcement on where they stand. Yesterday I also listed new buttons - a Peanuts Gang set, and Scout's first original art ACEO. She's very excited. Hope you'll take a look in my etsy shop if this sounds like something(s) you'd like to see. Spurred on by the sale of his heart treasure box on etsy, Evan has started making his gorgeous heart cutting boards. Two sizes. Larger are tiger maple and smaller are cherry wood. He just finished up the first few. Photos and listing tomorrow!

Oh! I almost forgot. I snagged my third in a row treasury this afternoon. It's called WWJDB? To see what that stands for and beautiful etsy offerings please rush right on over! ciao for now. ox joon

A LoVeLy Day ~ Agreed?

I took these photos early this morning. It is just beautiful out today. I snagged another treasury! It's here: Go Tootsie Go

It will be up until Saturday around 11:30 AM. I stayed up until midnight last night preparing it. It was fun, but 5 hours of sleep is not enough for me. I need a nap. I won an ACEO by being one of the first 5 to leave a comment on my new etsy friend, Artmixter's blog site. I can't wait to see it. Her art is amazing. Scout is on a roll with 'Tess', our new Tecre buttonmaker. Oh my do we love old Tess already. I just listed my first buttons & magnets yesterday and the magnets have already sold. (Thanks, Six!) This afternoon I almost lost that treasury opening while listing our first Cinderella series pins. How adorable are these? Scout & I will be listing more from that series along with some Peanuts Gang, Mermaids & the first Maven Haven offering. Stay tuned.

That's it for now. See you soon. Please leave a comment! You know I love mail. :) ox joon