Soul Journalling

Crafting 365, Day 73
Originally uploaded by Mixing-Katie

I ran across the Soul Journalling prompts on Goatgoddess's blog, and I sure am glad I did! These prompts are a lot of fun to work on. I started a new journal to work on the prompts -- an old German textbook. It's over 400 pages, so I've got LOTS of space to work with. I've been gluing several pages together for sturdiness and ripping out pages as I go so that the book will stay closed. A fun activity to work on while watching TV!

From Russia with Love

Wooden dollies!
Originally uploaded by Mixing-Katie

Haven't posted in quite a while! The summer was kind of a blur -- trip to Russia, a new job, and moving back to the East Coast. Now that things have calmed down (comparatively), it's fall already! Hoping to get back into the swing of uploading pics and posting. I've been busy making things, so plenty of art to post about.

Here's a set of nesting dolls I found while in Russia this summer. I was on the lookout for blank dolls the whole trip, but didn't spot these till a few days before we left. The vendor only had one set or I would have bought more. When I was in Russia in 2004 I saw blank sets all over the place and never thought to buy one -- regretting that now! I'm still thinking on how to paint these.

Matrioshka: Create
Originally uploaded by Mixing-Katie

And I've got dollies on the brain lately. I'm hosting a doll swap on ATCsforAll and made lots of matrioshka ATCs. I've also started working on a 12"x12" painting with dolls.

I just can't get enough of these sweet dolls. I love how they open up - it's so much fun to play with them! I've purchased many sets while in Russia, but most

Crafting 365, Day 72
Originally uploaded by Mixing-Katie

ended up as gifts. I've got one set with fairy tale paintings on the tummies. It's a lovely set, five dolls together. Since I'm not sure when I'll be back in Russia to get more dollies, painting some is the next best thing!

Art For All 2009

IMG_7417
Originally uploaded by vintagepix

Last weekend I went to Indianapolis to meet up with people from ATCsforAll. It was so much fun! There was a lot of trading, a lot of creating, and a lot of laughing going on. This is a photo that Vintagepix took during a watercolor workshop. I'm on the right in purple. It was fantastic to meet people that I've only known online and wonderful to try out new techniques with friends. I have a lot of unpacking to do and need to catch up on a lot of sleep!

Lost and Found (again)

Crafting 365, Day 68
Originally uploaded by Mixing-Katie

Sometime last year I got a moleskine sketchbook. I was so nervous about doing anything in it that it stayed blank. Then I started a little drawing in it and a little magazine collaging. And then I took it with me when I visited my parents for the holidays and the poor hardly used journal ended up under some pillows and didn't get packed up when I left. I didn't notice for at least a week.

On an unexpected trip to my partents' place, I remembered to look for the moley and brought it back. It found a home under some dirty laundry. I came across it this week when I finally got around to washing some clothes. I recently got a shipment of twinkling h20 products (serendipity??) and decided to test out the radiant rain daubers on the sketchbook paper to see how much water the pages can take. (BTW, luminarte is having a HUGE sale through June 14) The page dried out nicely and is very nearly flat. I think keeping the book banded shut will straighten it out.

After I smeared on some of the radiant rain color -- of course, I had to try out four colors, why stick to just one?? --I doodled and wrote with india ink and gel pens. Then I decided to see how the gel pens and india ink would do on top of the magazine paper. The two pages don't really match, but they were fun to do. And I've done several more pages since these ones dried.

I'm also planning on making this sketchbook my handy dandy notebook to carry around in my purse and catch ideas.

Sharing Knife Books

Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I just finished the last book in Bujold's Sharing Knife series. I picked up the first book, Beguilement, after finishing her Vorkosigan series and wasn't sure if I'd get hooked on another one of her series or not. I could not put this book down once I got into it, and had to run off to the library to get the other three books.


If you like fantasy with a touch of romance, try this series!


View all my reviews.

Self Portrait with Herman Wells

Self Portrait with Herman Wells
Originally uploaded by Mixing-Katie

Took the camera with me to campus today to get a self portrait. Didn't fiddle with the timer this time.

I'm sitting on a bench with Herman Wells, who was Chancellor of Indiana University. I think most people who come to campus must get a shot of themselves with Herman sometime. He is sitting with his hand in the air, and lots of people must hold his hand because it is shinier than the rest of him. When I sat with him today, someone had managed to prop a pencil in his fingers!

Love Thursday: Cute

Love Thursday: Cute
Originally uploaded by Mixing-Katie

I read about Love Thursday on Art Slam and decided to draw some love today.

This drawing is of a momiji doll -- a teeny doll that holds a message inside. What a cute, sweet way to share love! I drew this momiji, Donut, with a Copic pen and colored it with Copic markers.

Check out momiji at lovemomiji.com. More love!!

Self Portrait Wednesday -- oops!

Self Portrait Wednesday -- oops!
Originally uploaded by Mixing-Katie

Playing in Self Portrait Wednesday this week, but I need to learn how to use the self timer properly! All my shots came out with me looking transparent. Hoping to figure it out by next Wednesday.

Lolcats

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

The Perfect White Pen?

Crafting 365, Day 59
Originally uploaded by Mixing-Katie

Does it exist? That perfect white pen? I've tried several, and here are the three that I use now: Ranger's Inkssentials, Sakura's Gelly Roll, and Signo's Uniball UM-153. I tested them on papers that I use often. When I use gel pens, I scribble a little on scrap paper to get the ink going. If I write on a surface that could clog the tip (like #4 and #5) I scribble again when I'm done writing.

#1: Textured cardstock. This paper has a linen-like finish. The texture showed through at least a bit with all three pens.

#2: Patterned scrapbook paper. This paper is smooth and all three of the pens seemed to work fine on it.

#3: Magazine paper. The Gelly Roll didn't do as well on this one - the line was a lot thinner than usual on this paper.

#4. Text page with acrylic paint. OK for all three. Sometimes on this kind of paper I need to stop often to scribble and get the ink flowing.

#5: Cardstock with colored pencil. None of the pens like writing on this waxy surface. I had to scribble a lot to get these words down. For this sample, I tried writing directly onto paper that had been colored with pencils. I've had more success writing on top of pencil that has been sprayed with workable fixatif.

Etsy Tips: Free E-Book

Just read this free e-book on selling on Etsy. Lots of great tips and links to helpful sites and cool stores. Check it out!

Want want want!

This t-shirt is adorable!! Handmade is Better T

The same store also has a shirt that says "Knitting takes balls" LOL!!

Inchies: Faces

This week's challenge on Inchybyinch is faces, and it just so happens that I finished up some inchies for a swap on ATCsforAll.com. What a coincidence! These are girlies that I drew and colored with copics, then cut out and put on different backgrounds. Some a scrapbook papers, others are 'recycled' backgrounds, and some are marker backgrounds. I like cutting their little faces in half...

I want candy!!

Wow, there are some great blogs offering great giveaways out there! Look at this one: Blogoversary Candy

Waste not, want not

Crafting 365, Day 56
Originally uploaded by Mixing-Katie

When I cut out the ATCs from the free motioned flower fabric, I was left with some itsy bitsy leftovers. Some I stitched together to make Patchwork ATCs, others were big enough to turn into inchies. A really economical technique, practically nothing left over and all the little threads I cut off when stitching can be used in the next batch of these cards.

Blog Candy: Giveaway

Take a look at this awesome giveaway!!

Blog Candy

Free-Motion Flowers

ATCsforAll.com is having a get together in Indianapolis in June. I am super excited about it because members are coming from all over the US and even from Canada and Australia. There will be art workshops and lots of trading! I have finally started getting ready by making up some fabric ATCs. I figured flowers is a theme that a lot of people collect, and I've been wanting to try out this technique again ever since I realized that my machine has the option to drop feed dogs and do free motion.



It took a while for me to figure out exactly how to get my machine to do free motion (I think I need to find a new foot) but even so it went a lot faster than the last time I tried these with just a straight stitch and lots of starting and stopping and rotating the fabric. I'm really happy with how these are turning out. I'm adding lots of beads, which I never do for cards that get sent in the mail.

Self Portrait Wednesday

I saw some gorgeous photos on Misty Mawn's blog. She posted some lovely self portraits, and I decided to post one too:

Wordle

I made this neat image using Wordle. It grabs the words from a website or words that you give it and makes the words that are used more frequently larger. I was surprised NOT to see more art-y words in mine!

Tool Love

I know I don't *need* any new pliers, but look at these! * Glitter Pliers * What's not to love about pliers with glitter-y handles?!?

Tweet!

Finally jumped on the Twitter bandwagon -- it's fun :-)

Spring Break = Breaking Bread

Been on Spring Break this week and trying to fit in as much fun as possible :-) One thing that has been a lot of fun is making bread. I started out with sourdough and then tried to find a recipe for black bread.

When I lived in Russia I was across the street from a store that had fresh bread delivered every day. All different kinds, and I think I tried them all! The one that reminds me most of Russia is the black bread, but I haven't been able to find anything like that in the States - at least in the small cities where I've been there's no Russian bakeries.

So how lucky to find a recipe for sourdough rye! Sourdough seems easier to me because you don't have to start with yeast again every time. It's not exactly like Russian bread, but it's close enough! Here's a link to the recipe I used: Sourdough Rye.

Reading for Fun

Just finished reading The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf yesterday. I kind of stalled in the middle of the book, but by the end I couldn't put it down. It was so interesting to read about America, Islam, and religion in general from a different point of view.

There are so many books on my 'to read' list! I think 2009 will be a good reading year for me :-)

Art Supply Love

I joined an ATC swap with the theme 'Art Supplies' thinking it would be pretty easy to draw art supplies. Well, I didn't realize how fun it would be! I think I kinda made a connection to my markers and pencils when I was drawing them :)

Recipe Card

I've seen some lovely altered recipe cards online lately, and decided to start a collection of my own. Hopefully having pretty cards with recipes on them wiill make me more likely to cook! ;-)

Here's the first card I've done - for a yummy oatmeal recipe that can be made into cookies or bars. I saw Sara Snow on an episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8 and she made some oatmeal bars with Kate. I did a search online and found what I *think* is the same recipe.




I used some pretty Basic Grey papers from one of their 6 x 6 pads -- turns out they're perfect for recipe card bases, cause you can get two 3 x 5 cards out of one sheet, and you're left over with a 1 x 6 strip to make into inchies!

Beading Kick

I've been doing lots of bead-y stuff lately. Found a magazine that I bought last year and have done a few projects from it, super fun! Here are a few pics:

Cheerful Picture Frame

I was home for about two weeks for the holidays and got in lots of crafty time with my Mom and my BFF. Here's a shot of the supplies that I packed up to take. Maybe I went a bit overboard!! I packed all this up WAY before I even thought about packing clothes, so I guess that shows something about my priorities :-)

And here's a pic of one of the bigger projects I did while I was there, a bright happy picture frame. We found wooden picture frames at the craft store and worked on them while our guys were watching a movie.
The first thing that I did was the checkerboard pattern in the lower right corner. I penciled in a grid, then used a woodburner to go over the lines. Then I used Portfolio water-soluble pastels to add color. I colored hard, then used just a bit of water on top. I drew the flowers and swirls with colored pencils and the pastels, then used gel pens and acrylic paints to add accents. Finally, I slipped in a picture - that's me and my husband right after we got engaged. Here's a close up of the woodburned section -- I really like how the burnt wood looks with the white pastel.

I had so much fun with this frame that I picked up a couple more to play with. This square frame comes with an extra piece of wood that lets the frame stand up, but I also found some rectangle ones that I think would be nice hanging on the wall.

Random Music Video

I don't understand a word, but this song made me smile:

Surprise Ball

I saw the instructions for making surprise balls a while back on Go Make Something, and have been wanting to make one for a while. I finally got around to it over Christmas and took pics of the process.

First I made up some ATC blanks to put in the center of the ball. I cut the blanks from white cardstock and used black permanent ink to stamp the ATC blank - it's a great stamp from Catslife Press. I wrapped the blanks in some ribbon to keep them together.

Then I added the other large-ish items: a rubber eraser and mini compasses on one side, a few stickers and red electrical tape on the other. This 'yarn' is more like ribbon, but stretchy. I decided to use different fibers to wrap this ball because I'm trying to tempt my friend into doing chunky books with me. I figure she'll be more likely to do it if she has a little stash of fibers to chunk up the pages. After these bigger items were securely attached, I switched to another funky yarn.



I used some birght, fuzzy yarn to stick in a few small things - scrabble tiles and mini dominoes perfect for altering and some fabric flowers to use in ATCs or cards or other projects. Once I started using the fuzzy yarn the ball really started to take shape. It began to get rounder and rounder, and the corners of the ATC blanks started to get covered up.



The corners disappeared for good with the next layer - blue sparkly yarn. I stuck in a few more flowers in this layer. Then it all got covered up with pink. I sprinkled in a little star confetti too.

It was fun to make, and also fun to watch my friend unwrap it all.