2.24.11 ... miniature idea note sack and follow-up

while organizing my art room and my thoughts today this popped into my head - a miniature idea system with a grocery bag design. i can keep it on my desk without losing much space and have tiny pieces of paper handy for my brainstorms. i can jot them down and stick them back into the grocery sack. the photo above is actually the reverse. the other side has the beginning of the phrase. i just loved this photo for my post beginning tonight.

i used all sorts of scrap papers and trimmed them into 1 1/2 X 2 1/2 inch sheets. i love reusing small pieces of various papers.

here is the front of the bag. small stuff that goes thru my head ...

i stitched some sides and used glue stick for the remainders.

papers i used include bank deposit receipts, ledger paper, used envelopes, utility bill paper - the blank sections, white paper and my favorite robin's egg blue quality cotton paper i got off the clearance table at X PeD X. i also used a few lottery ticket papers.

here is yesterday's project completed. i love the cover and, as you can see, so does my honeymoon moose.

now i have no excuse for not compiling collections of ideas. i only need 310 more for this year's challenge. :)

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

Posted via email from just joon

2.16.11 ... petite spool necklace

i was sorting through and organizing a box of oddments that i have saved over the years. i am going to list some in my joonE vintage etsy shop. this was among the fun finds and i had this idea to turn it into a simple necklace. i think it's quite groovy and decided to list it in my joonwalk shop.

so that is where i'm headed now. well, as soon as we retrieve scout from rehearsal. time to go.

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

Posted via email from just joon

2.12.11 ... teeny little guy space rocket man

how is your saturday, everyone? we've had such a lovely day. i found an old board game recently while thrifting and planned to use it for paper ephemera packets that i am developing for my joonE etsy shop. then we would make a wall shelf out of the board for scout's room because the game is like new. but, as happens quite often here in the wilkinson household, someone falls in love with a find and - change of plans. this game is called rat race. ever heard of it? i had not. it is from a canadian company and i can't find but one or two references to it via google. seems kind of rare. anyway, scout fell in love with it. so she read the directions and she and ev played a test game while i worked in my art room - where i came up with this little guy for ev. he's a magnet surprise gift because ev loves space and because he's been taking such good care of me and doing my house work all week. i will be very happy when my back is all better. but i bet not half as happy as him.

after i made this little rocket man, i joined them in a new game and we had lots of fun with it. so far. no one is winning yet or even close to it. poor scoutie keeps landing on the divorce square and had to go back to a lower class AND pay a bunch of fees. ev has been 'divorced' a couple of times, too. meanwhile...

i haven't been divorced even once but in order to win you need to accumulate $100,000 so you can retire. we played a good two hours and i only have about $27,000. sheesh. times is tough in the old rat race.

oh ... have you noticed rocket man's moon boots? :)

and last but not least, here he is on the {tortilla} moon planting the American flag even. could not believe when this photo opportunity strolled by me. 

time for tea. oh --- dinner: we had cheese ravioli with butternut squash sauce. oh. my. gravy. so delicious. what did you have?

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

Posted via email from just joon

2.8.11 ... bracelet beginning

my back is on a rant and i am moving at half speed until that passes. i started on this bracelet project. here is an in-progress sneak preview and i look forward to completing phase II and sharing it with you. i hope you are all well, warm and happy tonight. ev made bread pudding with leftover homemade amish bread. amazing indeed.

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

Posted via email from just joon

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

Freestyle Quilting

I have been thinking about 'painting' with thread. No forethought or planning. Just start somewhere and doodle until something comes to me and go with it. This is with the sewing machine foot down - not in darning mode. Today was a busy day so I decided to try a tiny sample for my TaD. I love this little thing. It is three layers of heavy duty {theater use} cotton muslin. The photos show both front and reverse views. It's just a few minutes old and already a bevy of ideas are circling around in my brain for what this might become. I'd love to hear yours. Have a wonderful evening.

See the full gallery on posterous

It's a great day for America, everybody. Yes it is.

Posted via email from thing-a-day 2010

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

Introducing joonwalk

On January First I registered my new etsy shop, joonwalk. My goal was to open shop by Valentine's Day. Guess how I spent my day yesterday? Late last night I listed my first 3 items. Mission accomplished! I am proud that I overcame what feels like a million obstacles to get here. My main challenges are me, myself & I and lighting. In theory, only the latter is uncontrollable. Reality finds the former perhaps more so. Like my original shop, my new shop will focus on recycled & upcycled creations. joonbeam will showcase my pinback buttons, magnets & Diamond Girl Thumbtacks exclusively. If things go well, this Spring I will open my fourth and final shop, which will feature small & unique vintage treasures.

I am excited about my new creations.
One is my Vocabulary Necklace which I call true blue & you.

These little cuties are my pocketful of starlight creations. Each one is one~of~a~kind. This one is made from an old hospital gown. I love this fabric. Each star has a coordinating fabric back and each one is hand embroidered free hand, so always different. The star you see in each photo is the star you get. I never feature my handcrafted art with a representative photo.

This little sweetie was my first sale! It is made from an 1970s era worn out quilt I found at a thrift shop and used beyond its time. Still, I had to clip what I could salvage. I just love it. I cover the button threads with a little piece of fabric. How cute is this bunny? {below} It's about all I had left of this vintage piece. There's a bookmark in my flickr pool with the main swatch. The star reverse here was once a {rare} tot Scout dress. I couldn't bear to part with it so into the fabric bin it went! And this is how I do things. Is it any wonder my creative journeys are a long & winding road?

I hope you'll visit my new shop often and see my new creations, all made with Mother Earth and you in mind.
Because peace, love and environment is everything.

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?}

A little flying housewife post

I made this UTZ bag upcycled pocket for a new pen pal friend I met via my flying housewife etsy shop. Yes, some people write back to me! How fun is that? This pen pal inspired me to make this funky new creation. By now, you all know how much I LOVE to recycle and turn trash into functional art. But, guess what? There are more where I come from! Heavens to Murgatroid, can you imagine? It's so true. I would not lie to you. I had been looking at this potato chip bag for a while. I mean, look at that retro gal and the lime green base color? Irresistible. This sprang into my head and flew out on the wind across the miles. I wonder what she thinks of it? Well...what would YOU if it arrived in your mailbox? ox joon



PS. These are regional potato chips. Delicious. Support local products. Buy handmade! Be groovy! I hope this project inspires you to upcycle something from one of your local producers. If so, please let me know. I'd love to see it! Because environment is everything.

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

Yesterday was Mister Mister's Birthday! Hooray for Chippy. He's 8 years old. Scout took this a few weeks ago and I cropped it and used it as my etsy avatar for his birthday. Everyone seems to be enjoying him so much that he has a reprieve and will stay for a few more days.

I just designed and made my very first Mister Rogers Pinbacks with a little phrase I coined myself. You can see the first three on my flickr page by clicking HERE. I am very excited about them. I have had the idea in my mind for months ~ even before I started my etsy shop.

I have been neglecting this blog for a while and the treasury, but here I am and, so too, my new etsy treasury called April Showers. You can find it there until 3:39AM on Thursday. I also have a photo of it on my flickr page, which is why you might be seeing it on your right in the slideshow!

I awoke to the honor of learning I am featured in another artisan's blog today! Jana, who I recently met through my BBEST etsy group, has a beautiful blog, Serendipity Collections. I know you will enjoy visiting her blog and her etsy shop, PaperFields, where she sells gorgeous handcrafted cards that are truly works of art.

I have so much catching up to do but I must leave some good news and excitement for another day so I will see you then. Happy April everyone. Here's to Spring!