4.25.11 ... fun with recycled packaging personality

one day last week or so i played around with making my own packaging out of return envelopes provided in bills. now that i pay online - or i am not interested in whatever someone is trying to sell me - i have a lot to recycle. and i use them in so many ways. oh! speaking of that, guess what? i used my homemade stickers - the ones i made from unused envelope flaps - that i shared here recently. for the first time. this flower pot went into an empty tissue box so i cut a card to cover the opening on top and put the address on. there was some type down in the corner so i said 'aha! i can use one of those envelope stickers.' it was perfect. looks great too. i wish i'd gotten a photo. it was a very dark day and i had a hard time getting photos so i was crabby photographer gal.

returning to this project ... i had the red squiggles from a valentine surprise so i mixed in my papers and tossed in some of my miniature hearts. they are hard to see but the next photo reveals a couple of them if you look closely.

the second package really floored me because i reached for a piece of card stock and this one caught my eye. i grabbed it because i loved the color and almost fell off of my chair when i saw the paint name --- swiss coffee! how nuts is that? i love serendipity. i only have four or five of those paint cards and i never looked at the names because we were rushing that day. and, of course, that was before i made these magnets.

these sold very quickly. that's always a pleasant occurrence. it is hard for my handmade shop ( joonbeam.etsy.com ) to get noticed.

i had this idea at the last minute. how cute is this little card? and, again, i can't believe that i found the coffee type. i used one of those silly safety envelopes for this one, too. 

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

Posted via email from just joon

2.21.11 ... little packaging fun . snoopy . gregory peck . home .

today we went on a trash/recycling collection walk about. we collected a total of 617 pieces of litter and recyclable trash in 50 minutes. this is part of my project snowflake. for every item sold in my etsy shops i pick up 13 pieces of litter. i had no idea i was doing so well! i am behind but we made great progress today. i need to clean up 490 more pieces to catch up with my sales. i started this challenge on march 17th, 2010. so far, evan, scout & i have picked up 1330 pieces of litter. it's a good feeling and the neighborhood looks that much neater. meanwhile ...i have four packages to get ready for the mail and these magnet and pin packaging cards are my creations to share for today.

as usual, i had fun with these. the snoopy pin is from a very old paperback book so the paper is very fragile. i folded & sewed it and added the piece of tagboard for extra stability. the 'home' set is on a bit of christmas card. i forgot to get a photo of the back but it has a pretty pale blue card stock with a heart tree stamp that turned out to be exactly the right size and shape.

i hope the recipient will enjoy the presentations. sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

1.3.11 ... our folk art houses

these are our first little house ornaments we made a few days before christmas. they inspire me and i have plans for variations on the theme.

i made the two on the left. scout's are in the center and ev made the polka-dot house.

 today was a busy day and i worked in my art room de-cluttering. we were out all afternoon and evening. this morning scout helped me edit my posterous blog design.  i added a banner and changed a few colors.  i am going to work on an illustration or two before the day ends so i can achieve my goal of creating something every day of this year. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

Posted via email from just 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

Favorite Things...from the past. Snoopy & Woodstock

A good friend and I were talking about our favorite vintage Snoopy treasures and I had just unearthed this in my settling in process. I love hearing about and seeing people's favorite things. I will be sharing more on a regular basis. Up next...a snippet of our decor, expanding on this tiny window...with some more of my all time favorite things.

Do you have a favorite Snoopy, Woodstock or Peanuts vintage keepsake? Or a super funky earring holder from days gone by? Let us know! And, if you post a photo somewhere, all the better. Don't forget to leave the link here.
ox joon