Accounting Cards

Mig has been sick and asleep most of the weekend (only the Packer's have roused him) and so I have used some of the quiet time to make more cards.You can see the others over on my flickr page.

Valentines- Just the Beginning

I've begun making valentines, I believe these ones are just warm-ups... we'll see in the days to come.

Looking back, it was this time three years ago, while making valentines, that my collaging ventures got seriously started. The pictorial chronology can be found on my flickr site.

Gratuitous Pet Shot

aerogarden update....

Day 12all but cilantro has sprouted...

Valentines Crafting

As one season segues into the next in stores and ads you'll find me equally propelled by the calendar in my craft-making. This week during one of my once-every-three-or-four day trips to (insert your favorite crafts supplier here) I found lots of christmas makin' supplies that work perfectly for valentines cards, for a fraction of the price. Hot Damn! Here is my spread for this weekend's upcoming card-making binge:

And a close-upThe little black and white bag in the background is the "embelishment poncho" I found during my last thrift store visit, it's supposed to be for makeup but it holds pinking shears all the same...

Yay Christmas: aerogarden

So this christmas my mom got each my sister and I an aerogarden. I "planted" mine last sunday and I am already getting some pretty impressive results.

Day 3

Day 6

Day 7

These are the chives... the basil (both purple and straight-up green) have sprouted too and are about an inch tall. The mint has barely started and it's little leaves are really efin' cute. I hope to harvest the fields in less than a month, if so... this thing kicks ass!!

2008 ATC Calendar

Due to a flaky swapper I have made a couple more ATC Calendar's to send to one of the participants in my swap who didn't receive one. Though I wasn't planing to, I am pretty happy that I had to re-visit the project because I came up with a couple of new designs.

This one has collage images from a Sears and Roebuck catalog dated 1900. It's a little crazy to think about how consumerism has evolved since that time.

Heres the full length of the calendar.

This design is a tryptic that's connected on the back by the months of the year. You may have noted in this photo a lovely new (old) tray. I went to the thrift store under the pretext of donating clothes and books... and you know, since I'm here.... 1 tray, an "embelishment poncho", a 999 piece + 1 missing puzzle later I have fulfilled my shopping desires for the weekend. Here is the collage before I took the exacto to it. A tray samwiched in... and the backside of the calendar.

Happy New Year

Trays

I am finding that I have an obsession for trays, I find myself collecting and making them. They are extremely handy so the obsession is easy to justify. I have been experimenting with making trays out of the little bill/credit card holders one usually sees in restaurants. I collage an image on the bottom and then cover it with resin. The resin part has been the hardest process, how to get smooth unbubbly results and not ruin the sometimes thin and penatrable paper it's protecting? Trial and error, just like any craft... the last series of three turned out not so bad, here is one of them:There are two slots for credit cards on either end of these trays which make them perfect for inserting and displaying ATC's. I found an order of twelve trays through an online bar supplier and the resin at Michael's. I will post more soon...

Ideas for Serial Collage swap

This is the first in a series of postcards I will be sending for the Serial Collages swap
As most creators and swappers know, this project could morph into something else entirely so I don't feel like I am giving away any suprises yet. Luckily there is enoughtime to experiment and come up with lots of good material in between now and swap date.

Planet Earth

I got the BBC series Planet Earth as a birthday/Christmas gift too. We have spent many hours since then watching all it has to offer.
The technology used, combined with the dedication of the film crew, and the budget available puts this series at the top. The shots are pure eye-candy and the commentary can be eye-opening.

One of the first ones we watched about caves featured a part of New Mexico that I never knew existed and I wasn't alone in my ignorance until recently. I was blown away when I saw the footage of La Lechugilla Cave that is part of the cave system in Carlsbad, NM. The cave was completely unexplored until 1986.
You can read more about it and see more amazing pictures at wikipedia.org

Thrift Store Love 2

Hello and welcome back, to me... I haven't blogged for about half a month now. I am not sure why I chose today to begin again considering my brain is barely limping along after many days of celebrating, appropriately capped off with a booze-filled night ringing in the new year... *groan*

I am going to try and attempt to catch you up to speed because while taking a hiatus from the computer I haven't been from my craft and design world.

For my birthday earlier in December I received some $$ with strict instructions from my Grandma S. to spend it on something fun and for me... I took the instructions very seriously and here is what I found:


This tray is silver and highly reflective, almost like a mirror. Perfect for my table with all my girly-girl things for my hair, skin, nails, etc. The tea cup has the best color combination with a sweet soft minty green lined with gold. The detail inside is such a lovely touch, I'm a sucker for cute designs. I was told at the thrift store that the cup was an antique that belonged to a famous Santa Fe woman Concha Ortiz y Pino whose family has been in Santa Fe since about the late 1600's. I'm psyhed, especially since I have begun to read Blood and Thunder which is mainly the story of Kit Carson but inevitably includes New Mexico and Santa Fe history. I'm feeling like a nerd by being so excited about New Mexico history...