10.28.11 ... muffins and hearts

hello darlings. how was your friday? mine was pretty damn good. this morning i made a batch of my bran muffins but decided to try something different. added a chopped pecan/brown sugar/cinnamon topping from my applesauce bread recipe. oh my gravy. genius idea.

we all loved them.

shortly before dinner fixin' time, we took a stroll. we take mr. chippy with us around one or two blocks and then drop him off (he is 11 and 3 legged). then we go a little farther. and look what i spied. this heart shaped new cactus growth. how fabby is that? scout used her new (thanks, dusty) iphone which is dustin's old iphone but newer than her original iphone. what i am getting to is that the camera in this one is quite lovely. great photos, eh?

and, lastly, i have been working on my newest button haul. sorting, cleaning, organizing for storage. i was messing around and thought it would be fun to arrange the buttons into a mosaic before putting them away. so, as i clipped off staples or threads, i placed the readied buttons side by side. i had just gotten started when scout dropped by and said 'oh i love your heart .' i was surprised to look down and see this heart shape. i didn't even notice i had done that. it's a sign.

by the way, isn't that little floral locket or pendant adorable?

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

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8.4.11 ... hearts and a constellation bookmark

this morning i packaged up this sweet pair of earrings. i know they are a gift so i tossed in some hearts. i made a cute tie, too, but i didn't get a photo. the person who purchased these sent me a sweet message in with her order. you can see what goes around comes around.

here's the second packet. this person also sent me a lovely message in her order. this is a new take on a bookmark. i will tell her that when she cuts off the top piece where the staple is, she will have a tidy recycled bookmark. i chose this vintage constellation page because the ring motif reminds me of celestial-ness.

here is the reverse. hope you enjoyed it. and here's some news. scout opened an etsy shop today for her vintage finds. how cool is that? here's the link:

www.seventeenagain.etsy.com she just set it up and has one item listed. woo hoo.

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

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6.24.11 ... beagle bookmark

i saw this on my art table while i was attempting to clear it off for some sewing. i never did get around to the sewing but i did a lot of useful organizing and i made this little bookmark. i never heard of dogopoly but apparently it exists. i nabbed this card from a fred visit last week. can't resist my beagle.

i know this will make me smile when i use it.

this is a vintage package preparation. i rolled up a little brightly colored 1960s fabric scrap and tied a little string around it and tossed a handful of my miniature hearts inside before wrapping it all up in pretty tissue paper and stickers.

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

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6.9.11 ... sweet hearts and eeyore

today i designed these little scrap fabric heart bookmarks. they consist of two coordinating fabrics with a white piece in between. the ribbons are yarn based and i added an extra square of white fabric to that section so that the yarn is between two pieces on both sides. i had fun making these spur of the moment little recycled treats.

scout found the mint green piece at 'fred' as we call the bin thrift. and, look, it has heart shaped designs! the floral piece is a vintage cotton tie piece. all of these fabrics are 100% cotton. it's the only way to sew, ladies and gents.

the piece seen in the first photo and the center heart shown here are from a designer sample. i've had it for years.

last, but never least, is this cute pin back i made out of a discarded children's book illustration. this is a surprise for one of my repeat customers. what did you do today? time for my home made chocolate silk pudding that ev just brought out.

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

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5.25.11 ... making hearts

i don't waste much. i love making hearts out of my tiniest scraps of paper. i use these in so many projects.

here are the scraps i used today.

and here is the little pile of hearts i made from those few bits.

i am sure i'll be sharing a project incorporating these one day soon. so stay tuned. 

guess what happened today? i replied to one of dule hill's tweets about today being national tap dance day and he replied to my tweet. how delightful is that? what a lovely surprise. life is good. enjoy your evening and the upcoming weekend.

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

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3.24.11 ... brussels sprouts rock

the past few days i've been working on sorting through and organizing my clippings that have been in their temporary folder for many months. and it amazes me that, once again, serendipity rains down on me. look at the perfect pairing of this clipping - and who would ever think it was worth clipping in the first place, no less worthy of filing? - and the brussels sprouts gift. yes, we hang with people who go wild over brussels sprouts, as we all do, right?

so i had this card i'd saved and put these two odd bits together and i love the result. and there is my recycled art project for today. back to sorting and filing for me. minus two. 

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

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2.15.11 ... 1930 era greeting card magnets

i have a collection of very old - 1920s - 30s - greeting cards that my lovely and wonderful sister sent me. i have only used a few of them over the past year or so that i've had them because i find they don't lend themselves to reincarnation easily. at least i am finding them challenging. but today i made these magnets by piecing a few things together in creative ways. i think they came out pretty sweet.

i will list them in my joonbeam etsy shop. and... last but not least... the valentine cookies i promised to show you. they are so delicious.

and pretty, too, don't you think?

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

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2.14.11 ... valentine's day ♥♥♥

happy hearts day dear readers. i do hope it was a lovely one for each and every one of you. we made old-school cookie gun heart shape cookies with sprinkles but i was not able to get a photo so i will do that in the morning. meanwhile, i took these photos last month in preparation for today's post.

this arrived a number of years ago in my mailbox from a sweetheart of a friend. anyone who knows me knows of my aversion to all things barbie, but those feelings melt away in a heartbeat where this is concerned. i just love it. it's one of my favorite things. i miss my friend very much and seeing this i am sure you can easily understand why.

i really love the dodge truck bit. the whole concept is perfect. hope you enjoy seeing this and that it inspires you as much as it does me. {for those of you who do not know, before i was joon, i was laura. so there's that.}

and here is what scout came up with for our email wishes. ...

isn't this wonderful? enjoy your chocolate high. sleep tight. extra oxoxoxoxo for you all this evening.

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

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2.7.11 ... aquarius capricornus vintage library pocket and sweet wrapping

i needed to package up this sweet zodiac ring and had a couple of ideas. one was to make some teeny shredded tissue paper to decorate the inside of the ring's travel method - a miniature ziploc. i also thought it would be fun to toss in some of my mini punched hearts.

here is my hearts jar and below you can see the filled ziploc...

then i wanted to make something astrology themed as a little extra because i have this nifty old discarded book that is about the constellations and planets and the universe. i also have these unused vintage library book pockets. i found that the page & illustration i wanted to use was a perfect fit when trimmed just right. so i covered the pocket with the constellations on the front and the text on the back.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

i love the result. lastly, i made one of my thank you for caring bookmarks and taped the ring packet to it to stabilize it for its postal journey. i made a tiny note card from a security envelope and slipped a piece of lavender thread through it to attach it to the bag - which already had a teeny hole built in.

i do hope the recipient will enjoy the packaging and the little extras. i loved creating everything.

evan made two loaves of amish bread yesterday which is soooo deliciously delightful. tonight for dinner we had bacon, avocado, tomato, lettuce and home made blue cheese spread sandwiches on that bread. oh my gravy. outstanding. you might want to try one yourself one night soon. 

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

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1.27.11 ... pencil valentine & pastel flower magnets

i was cleaning up my art room a bit and sorting through papers and came across a rescued paper pencil bit that i had clipped out of a discarded children's book and punched a row of mini hearts across. that gave me the idea for this illustration with the single heart punch and the traditional puny sentiment. i used my regular colored pencils for this drawing and my beloved le pens for the sentiment.

then i dug out my pastel pencils and made these simple flower magnets based on a little sketched flower i had done one day and saved. i love how they turned out. i don't have many opportunities to use my pastels because they smudge easily but the mylar on buttons and magnets preserves them. so they're good for these projects. i also made the background paper using the three flower color schemes. all in all, highly satisfying creative spurt. ciao for now.

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

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1.24.11 ... confidential valentine

we found this fabby office supply resale place today and scout spied these message pads (10 cents). irresistible to the both of us.  we also found a CONFIDENTIAL stamp in the old stamps bin (1.00) . again, could not resist.  we were gone most of the day and i needed to accomplish my project late this evening so i knew it had to stay simple and be something we could scan instead of photograph. this is the idea that came to me.  i made a template of different sized hearts so i could stamp their shape with the confidential stamp and then stamped the word in the message space. checked the urgent box and there it is - an old school hand made valentine that's one of a kind and ready for personalization.  hope your day was a lovely one. 

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

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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

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1.14.11 ... my zine cover

it is still cold here, as in too cold. very hard to accomplish art when i am spending my energy just trying - mostly unsuccessfully - to get warm. looking forward to a day or two from now when the forecast is much better. it is also dreary. felt like 5:30 PM all day long as far as light was concerned. i am not a fan of that either. i need light. i joined stumble upon this morning. that's as far as i got. i don't know anything about it. sounds intriguing. we went thrifting this afternoon for a bit. i found some groovy old books and a map that i am going to incorporate into future paper projects. in one of the cookbooks there was a tip on how to calculate celsius to farenheit and then vice versa and, for whatever reason, it struck me and scout as rather hilarious. i am going to make a corner bookmark with that. if i can make it through without cracking up too hard.

i worked on my zine for a while. mostly on the cover. i have been wanting to write zines for a long time and i think the first one may be the hardest. i am determined for it to be done by the end of this month. i have a layout/format and am plugging along. my problem is that i have too many ideas and, hence, don't know where i want to start or which ones to incorporate. decisions, decisions. and because it is another new thing to learn and i am a bit overloaded on learning new things, much as i love learning. and then there's the non creative aspects of the project that get in my way. the layout and scanning and preparing it for print stuff. read: i need to work with my house assistants to accomplish some of these tasks. i suppose too many ideas beats no ideas. and having people in my family willing to help me get through the less thrilling aspects of the project does lend me a significant advantage. i am sure to approach this with renewed vigor tomorrow, don't you think? so i don't have any zine prototype photos. but i do have some photos of new handmade calling cards i made last week. i hope you enjoy them. i will dream of sunshine and hopefully we'll see some tomorrow. how was your day? hope it was beautiful.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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

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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.

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