Making Journal Cards

What do you do with all those election cards left in your mailbox or tucked in your front door? As you might have guessed by the title of this blog entry, you make journal cards with them! They are typically printed on a thin, glossy card stock and most, if not all of them, usually end up in the recycling bin.

I decided to cut a few of them up and make journal cards. A light sanding takes off some of the gloss and helps the glue hold better. The backs are plain coffee dyed paper and can be written on. The fronts are collaged with coffee dyed music and security envelope papers, book pages, and brown paper bag.

They all spent some time in the book press my son made for me to keep them flat as the glue dried. On top of the collage are Beatrix Potter images cut from books and inked around the edges frame them. The front and back edges of the cards are inked to finish them off too.

I don’t have a journal to put them in right now. They will go into a shoebox where I’m collecting items for future projects or swaps. I have many more of those little Beatrix Potter books to make ephemera from and as the urge hits me, I’ll make some more. I just love those watercolour images.

I Hate Spring!

I know that sounds totally ludicrous to most people. We wait for months for the warmer weather to arrive and here I am complaining about it. I do have a valid reason for it though. Spring brings the seasonal allergies with a vengeance!

In April, it’s the grass pollens. While I love to see the changing of the seasons, and cannot imagine living somewhere that you don’t experience it, it also causes me a lot of distress. I’m sneezing and coughing. My nose is running like tap and my eyes are weepy. The asthma kicks in and my lungs are wheezing. It’s not a fun time.

Then comes May, and the trees will start sprouting their new leaves. The tree pollen will be visible in the air some days, floating around and mocking me. That’s when my breathing really becomes laboured. More often than not, it turns into a lung infection requiring antibiotics. It is a regular pattern for me.

So, please excuse me for being cranky about Spring. It will pass as it does every year. It simply is not my favourite time of year for that reason.

Gratitude Journal

I think that everyone should have a gratitude journal and write in it on a regular basis. We are so busy with everything happening around us every day that we don’t stop to be grateful for all of our blessings. And there are plenty of good things in our lives if we just take the time to reflect on them.

Gratitude and appreciation are powerful tools for enhancing wellbeing by fostering positive emotions and reducing stress. Regular practices like gratitude journaling and expressing appreciation can improve relationships and increase life satisfaction. Cultivating a habit of gratitude promotes resilience & can lead to a more fulfilling life.

A gratitude journal involves jotting down a few things that you are thankful for and can be done daily or weekly as you so choose. Keeping a gratitude journal is a good first step toward establishing gratitude, and it will help you identify and reflect on people, things, or events for which you are thankful. What are you grateful for today? Take a moment now to think about it and write it down.

Wall Art Progress

I’m still not satisfied with the gel prints I’m making for my potential wall art project. I’m likely being over-critical of my work, like always, but I have not given up on the idea yet. Rather than not accomplishing anything on the weekend, I decided to try to make a small ‘test’ piece out of patterned scrapbook paper. I picked out a dollar store 6” X 6” paper pack to make it with. If nothing else, I proved that the ‘concept’ worked.

I will continue to work on the gel prints and try to not be so critical of myself. I may watch a few video tutorials to help me advance my technique, looking for all the tips and tricks I can find. The test piece is 8” X 10” but I want the ‘real’ one to be bigger with more variety of colours. It’s a long weekend, so I will have more time to experiment. Onward and upward we go!

Gel Print Wall Art

I watched a couple of videos this week about creating wall art with gel prints. Naturally, I want to try it. In the first example, you make a lot of layered gel prints in different colours, cut them into 1” strips of varied lengths and apply them to a canvas or board. I could not find a photo to show you, but it would look much like the jelly roll quilt below. The finished piece in the video had multiple colours, not the narrow colour selection like this quilt. Either would work, I think, depending on your personal preference.

The second wall art example was done in a grid formation using multiple 2”-3” squares with a white border around each. Again, this could be created with multiple colours or a monochromatic colour scheme. You can decide what size to make your creation depending on the size of frame you want to use or where you want to display it.

With this wall art goal in mind, I pulled out my supplies to make some gel prints. Well, I was unhappy with the results I was getting and stopped to re-group and re-evaluate the colour scheme I want to go with. The prints that I did pull became potential artist trading card backgrounds. I believe I have enough of those to last me quite a while now.

I will make another attempt at it to see if I can get better outcomes this weekend. Cross your fingers for me!

ATC Trading

I have nine new ATCs posted for trading on the Facebook group I belong to. I tried some new techniques with some of them this time. The middle one in the bottom row has already been claimed.

Here is the first batch that I received in March from different artists.

I realize that I seem to be choosing cards created using different techniques than I typically use, either because I don’t like doing it or don’t feel that I’m very good at it. For example, colouring line images is something that I don’t have the patience for and when I try, the results are not great. So I generally don’t do it. Trying to do something like the one below would put me in the looney bin, for sure.

Collage is another technique that I struggle with. Perhaps it is the perfectionist in me telling me that what I do is ‘not good enough’. But you will notice that I did put on the big girl pants and created collaged backgrounds for three of my new ATCs for trade. It is something that I will continue to work on.

But who knows, maybe some day I will even try colouring images again. And maybe I will get better at it and come to enjoy doing it. Never say never!

I Don't Know

There is a mysterious, unknown entity that lives in practically every home. It’s called ‘I Don’t Know’. I have never actually seen this elusive creature but I’m certain it is somewhere in my house. And it gets blamed for all manner of offenses or I’m directed to it for my answers.

‘Who broke my favourite mug?’ ‘I don’t know.’

‘Where are my slippers?’ ‘I don’t know.’

‘Do I need to pick up toilet paper this week?’ ‘I don’t know.’

‘Where is the small orange plate?’ ‘I don’t know.’

‘Who ate all my yoghurt?’ ‘I don’t know.’

If anyone ever finds this bothersome entity, please give him/her a kick in the butt for me. And tell them to stop breaking my stuff, stop eating my food, start answering my questions when asked and to stop hiding things from me. Thank you.

Hooked on Paper Pads

Over the years, I have accumulated quite a few patterned scrapbook paper pads. Alright, full disclosure here, ‘quite a few’ is a bit of an understatement. They come in various sizes, 6” X 6”, 6” X 8”, 8” X 8” and 12” X 12”. The bulk of what I have are the 12” X 12” size.

I keep telling myself not to purchase any new ones. I have so many, for every holiday or season of the year that I do not ‘need’ more. What I have will keep me crafting for years to come. However, I seem to get pulled in by the buy one/get one free and the post-holiday clearance sales.

Every once in a while, the dollar store has name brand, good quality paper pads for sale and the prices are phenomenal. Last week, I found some fabulous 6” X 8” Christmas themed ones for $3 each. They had five of them. I got them all. Originally, in a scrapbook store they would have cost $13 to $15 each, give or take. What a great deal, how could I resist?

My plan is to make Christmas greeting cards to send to friends & family and the smaller paper pads are perfectly scaled for that. I did start making some last year but the postal strike right around the holiday season interfered with sending them. I will try again this year.

About 7-8 years ago the dollar store had a lot of Martha Stewart paper pads and stickers for Valentine’s Day. I purchased a substantial amount, I won’t deny it. I’ve used some of what I picked up but I’ll be honest, I have a lot left. I was into making pocket letters at the time and used it for those mostly.

I know as much as I keep telling myself NOT to buy more, I will likely buy more down the line. I’m hooked on paper pads and I don’t think there is a ‘cure’ for it.

New Swap Group

I recently joined a new ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap group on Facebook. I dropped out of the ones I used to belong to early this year. I even archived groups that I personally set up for swapping. There were a number of reasons for this.

First, although the groups had lots of members, it was the same few that were participating in the swaps every time. Don’t get me wrong, I love the art I received from them and they inspired me to expand my horizons. But I wanted to ‘meet’ new artists and swap with them.

Secondly, there was a lot of negativity in some of the groups that I found annoying, and unnecessary. We’re all adults here, let’s play nice. The art I/you create might not be something you/I like and that’s okay. But please don’t trash people for it. Constructive criticism is good and helpful but downright nastiness is demeaning and disheartening, especially for beginners. We all started somewhere and everyone needs to keep that in mind when critiquing the work of others.

Sometimes, I look back at the cards I made 10 years ago and cringe (see below). They were so simplistic and crude compared to what I create now. My art has evolved over the years as I expanded my knowledge, experimented with new materials and techniques, and practiced my craft. I also watched LOTS of YouTube tutorials and learned from other artists that I had the privilege of interacting with.

I’m really enjoying this new group so far and look forward to trading ATCs with many different artists. The six cards pictured at the top of this post are the first ones that I made to trade and they were spoken for quickly. And there is nothing better after those difficult days than receiving a constant stream of happy mail! It’s time to make some more this weekend to post next week. Let the fun continue.

Letting Go Of Things

I’m in the midst of trying to de-clutter my home. I’ve been at it for a while. It’s amazing, somewhat shocking actually, the amount of stuff I’ve accumulated over the years. A lot of things have been packed in boxes tucked away in closets or the downstairs storage room for more years than I can remember. Honestly, I don’t even know what is in some of those boxes anymore.

But when I open one of those boxes, I find it hard to let the contents go. Why is that? Part of the reason is sentimental, I think. Sometimes I recall the amount of money I originally spent on it and can’t bear the thought of simply putting it in a thrift store donation box or worse yet, tossing it out.

I’ve given a few things away to people who will enjoy and appreciate them but let’s be real here, not many people that we know want our old stuff. It simply is not their jam. I know it’s time to seriously ponder all of the options.

(1) Keep it all. (2) Give away to friends or family. (3) Donate to charity for them to sell. (4) Try to sell it myself on Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji or Craig’s List. (5) Organize a garage sale in the spring. (6) Throw it in the trash.

Let’s examine all the options, one by one. I could keep everything, bury my head in the sand and ignore the problem. Ultimately though, somebody down the line will have to deal with the disposition of it all. I don’t really like the thought of everything being tossed in a dumpster because they do not know what to do with it or just want it dealt with as quickly as possible.

There are some things that I can give to family, especially heirlooms passed down to me from other family members. Donating to charity is always an option so that maybe someone else will get to enjoy them as I once did. Throwing things out, unless they are broken or otherwise rendered useless, is off the table for me.

Trying to sell them online would take a lot of time and energy that I don’t have. The same goes for trying to run a garage sale. These options would take more work than I would likely gain in cash from the effort. So where does that leave me? I guess I have to stand up, put my big girl pants on and make the tough decisions required.

As things stand now, all of this stuff is weighing me down and sucking the life out of me. I know as hard as it will be to part with things, I know that I likely won’t miss them either. After all, they’ve been packed in boxes hidden away for years without a care or thought from me. Wish me luck with it!

Is The Grass Greener?

Why do other people’s lives or situations seem better than our own? Everyone has needs and desires. When our needs are met we then look to fulfilling our desires. And it's only natural for us to look at what we have and compare it with what someone else has. If we perceive they have it better, we wish we were in their position. Thus summarizes the phrase, ‘the grass always greener on the other side’.

But is it really greener on the other side? I suggest that it may not always be the case. Yet we still always covet that which we do not have. And it starts at a young age too. Is this some kind of instinct or behavior trait built into our DNA?

The feeling that other people have lives that are more impressive, fulfilling, or happy than our own can come and go throughout our lives depending on what's going on in our careers, relationships, and families, but it's definitely normal to feel it at some point. No matter how good you may have it, you still have a sense that others have it better, whether or not that's ever the case.

You may, however, be building something up in your imagination to be better than it really is. The grass isn't actually greener; you just believe or perceive that it is. I suggest you research the actions you are planning to take in case you've sugar coated them in your mind. What looks ‘better’ from the outside may be worse for you when acquired. Other people may be hiding the negative aspects of their situation and only putting their ‘best foot forward’ to the public. Be happy where you are, make changes if you can but make them for the right reasons to your benefit, not your detriment.

What is Art?

There was a post on an ATC group that I belong to this morning that really irked me. A new member posted the photo below with this comment…’I am not a real artist but I love to recycle and am enjoying making things with my many vintage playing cards.’

I came right back with my own comment…’ Excuse me for disagreeing with you, but you ARE an artist! If you create art (ARTIST Trading Cards) you are an artist. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.’

She came back with, ‘So sweet! You just made my day.’

To which I replied, ‘Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Keep up the good work!’

It upsets me imagining how many people around her have tried to discourage her and have told her that what she does, and enjoys doing, is not ‘real art’. I agree with the old saying, ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all’.

It got me to thinking about what the meaning of ‘art’ is. What I found was that there's no universal definition of art, though a consensus has emerged that art is the conscious creation of something beautiful or meaningful using skill and imagination.

Yes, this lovely lady certainly accomplished that in my opinion. She used materials that may otherwise have gone to the trash or recycling bin and created art. That is not something that everyone can or will do. I applaud her for her efforts and for the courage to post about it on that group page in spite of what others were saying to her.

NOTE: The last two images are ATCs that I have made in the last year.