Fantastic Mail Day!

Yippeeeeee! I recieved my swap from Fiona, the crafty creator ofhop skip jump. Look at all the fab stuff! I'm especially fond of the cherry ribbon and polka dot ribbon. Cherries! On a Ribbon! LOVE IT! Of course the prize of the whole package was the lion pincushy, which immidiately got snatched away by greedy little Emily hands. She then proceeded to squish and squeeze it while jumping around eccstatically singing "Squish squish squish squish!" over and over again until we finally had to get her to simmer down. It was really cute though. When I finally managed to reclaim the pincushy it was after bedtime and I didn't get a chance to post the picture of the swap package. Oh I can't wait for Fiona to get my package!

The beginnings of yet another project

ColorTest 

These are Dr. Ph. Martin's concetrated watercolor samples. They're not all that true to life, but they're close. I'm using the peacock blue, coffee brown, wild rose, moss green and irridescent brass for a sign I'm making at work. It's going to be...very pretty. I've already got the basic design stenciled onto the paper (Stonehenge for those who care) and the bottom portion masked off with Dr. Ph. Martin's white masking fluid, which is a dream to work with. All I have to do is mask off the top border design, paint in the lower right hand edge of the border and the top. That's that hard part because there are lots of tiny little elements to the design. After that it's a matter of removing the first mask and remasking the design so I can do an overall background wash, add the lettering and then do the overall outlining with the brass ink. I'll take more pictures next week.

For the Love of Puppies.

Today was really really really hectic at work but I had a couple huge perks. One was Puppy No. 5. He doesn't have a real name yet, but I nicknamed him Little Man. We have a customer who comes in just to buy huge sheets of brown paper to line the bathroom floor with for her puppies while they're being house broken. There are 6 of them and they're ADORABLE. I got to meet their dad (his name is Tank and he's built like one too) last week. He's a pitt bull and extremely well behaved as well as friendly and helpful. His owner trained him to carry things and now he helps her lugg stuff around. When they left he was happily carrying a big roll of packing tape in his huge jaws. He sure does make cute babies. Little Man is only 5 weeks old and already super smart and really obedient. I really like his breeder because she makes all her customers sign a contract saying that no matter what the dog's age, if the customer is no longer able to care for the pet they are to be returned to her and not to be dropped off at the aspca. If she finds one of her puppies at the pound she reclaims them and takes the ex-owner to court. To me that says "I love my doggies and care about their welfare". I could be wrong, but happy puppy faces never lie and her doggies are super happy.
Little Man 

It's Gretchen! I made her myself. 

Apple Tartlets and the last goat cheesy croissant. 

Amy Blogeth!

Yay! My bestestest pal ever has a blog here. I just spent a bit reading it and drooling over her fantastic pictures. I guess I didn't get enough time with her when she came over for dinner. We had exciting culinary adventures with goat cheese and salmon. I overclarified butter and it became...not butter. If she hadn't been there to comment I would have still tried to cook with it. This is why she's the culinary genius and I'm the paper wiz. I think she started making soufles when she was 12. I don't know about you, but I am super impressed.
So we made these spiffy apple tart things with left over crescent dough, diced apples, brown sugar and goat cheese. I liked them and so did Marshall, Amy didn't but she doesn't like goat cheese. Chalk one up for experience. Pictures to follow

Running around like the proverbial chicken

Wow, ok so I have five minutes to get out of the house and I'm using them to post. So I made my second little doll ever out of felt and Emily refuses to let it go long enough for me to take a picture so it's a success! She's demanding that a make a whole family so now you know where I'm going to be in my free moments. On the couch, needle in hand. I still have one more package to send out to Paula and then I can really settle down to get some crafting done. I really have to finish up a layout for a contest on CP that really inspired me. How I'm going to do that with my office looking like a tornado passed through it is really quite beyond me. EEEEEEEKKKK!!! I knew taking on that extra job was going to be the death of my creative time. I know that if I just get into some kind of routine everything will be fine....but who has the time to make a routine?!?! Will post pics of the craftiness in progress this week...I hope.
Paula's bag for our swap is so CUTE! I can't wait to get it. I just hope she likes my surprise package as much as I love her bag...maybe I should take a picture of the tags before I send them out to get a final approval. Here's a link to the photo of the bag. I'm such a lucky duck. Ok, the kiddlywink is calling and I need to get my show on the road. Toodles!

A Flikr account and everything!

I've officially made the leap to craft geek! I now have a Flikr account onto which I have uploaded a bunch of photos of my crafty exploits. That was the one thing on my to do list today and I did it. So proud. So here'sthe link to my Flikr account. Man alive I'm actually documenting the stuff I make. I feel so...creative. I had no idea I made so much stuff. The items that I've posted are just a few of the projects I just happened to have around the house that were accessable. I tend to give away the majority of the stuff I make (for some reason though I just can't get rid of the jewelry the way I'd like to.) and the stuff I don't give away is either now taken over by Emily or stuffed away somewhere in the attic. So here's to me keeping better track of the things I make. Maybe I'll have more respect for myself as an artist...or whatever it is I am.

New job, new routine

So yeah...'ve been pulled into yet another computer contracting job. I'm insane. I have no idea why I always allow this to happen, but I do it at least once a year. The first week is always the pitts. I spend most of my time getting set up...and waiting. Waiting for the configuration guru to get my accounts set up, waiting for the head honchos to get their acts together and give me the stuff I need to get work done. I hate that first week. I'm ready to get moving and it all turns into the "Hurry up and Wait" game. BLECH!
So what does this mean to this blog? It means more money to buy supplies and less time to make stuff. WAUGH! What a quandry. The good news is that I found the eyelets I needed to finish up Fiona's tags, and now all I have to do is find some purple eyelets for Paula's tags and I'll be done with those swaps. I had no idea it would take so long to make them, but they came out so well that it was well worth it. More pictures to come soon. Hey, does anyone here have a Flikr account? If so how do you like it? I'm thinking about getting one to upload all my crafty pictures onto. We'll see. And now...it's back to waiting.

*sigh* if at first you don't succeed, take a nap.

Ok so the Flossy stamps have officially driven me insane.that was the first and probably last time I use that kit. I'm thinking that there's got to be some way of sticking those stamps the the mounting block but I'm stumped. I'll have to figure it out on Monday. Since I promised that I'd send this swap out this week though I definitely wanted to get the project done. So here is an inferior picture of the replacement tags. All I need to do is hammer in the eyelets to reinforce the tag holes and it will be all done. I rather like the way these came out. It's a shame Flossy couldn't be there, smack dab in the middle of all that paisly loveliness. Maybe I'll stamp the images onto carving medium and carve them out instead. I'm so determined to make those stamps work!

too dark! 

Rediculousness!

Ok, everything was going so well! I had designed these increadibly adorable little kitty stamps based on this adorable little stuffie by Fiona. I managed to do everything right...and then it came time to stick the stamps to the bases. They keep curling! They refuse to mount to the wooden blocks. A POX on this glue! I hate being thwarted. I'm throwing in the towel for tonight. You just wait till tomorrow. I will SO glue your little rubber rumps to those wooden bases!


Frustrating Flossies 

More Scrapfest fun

I managed to knock out 6 requirements with this little layout. I'm rather proud of myself. See if you can spot all 6. Layout about a DH or SO, Layout with pink, brown and white, use colored brads, use black and white photos, use epoxy stickers, use rub-on letters/images. My next project is the best friend layout. I'm going to try to beat my all time record of six requirements without it looking too terribly tacky.

Pink, Brown and White layout 

Alter Something

I chose to alter a journal almost by accident for this challenge. I was inpsired by the mini albums in the latest K$Co. catalogue that came to work. I nabbed one of the Moleskin knockoff journals and did a whole lot of adhering. It's a bit bulky at the moment but I hope it will become more flexible and worn with time.
The altered journal. 

Cupcakes + Melt & Pour Frosting = Mess

Marshall has been craving desserts so I told him I'd bake a cake, which then got edited to cupcakes for ease of eating. The only frosting I had on hand was the Melt and Pour stuff and cake without frosting to Marshall is no cake at all. The batch on the left was frosted via the pour method. Not so good. The batch on the right was frosted via the dip method. Take cupcake, invert and dunk in frosting. Those look much nicer, but the stuff is still messy. I also had enough batter left over to make a very thin sheet cakelett which I then took cookie cutters to. All around a fun project, but I doubt I'll do it again for a while.

How not to frost cupcakes. 

Hooray for new supplies!

So I put in an order of Basic Grey paper items at work and have been waiting for it for almost 3 weeks now (a very long time for me) and it finally came in!I'm so psyched. Now I can really get started on my Basic Grey book for the contest they're featuring on their site. Want to know more? Go to BasicGrey

Yay! My BasicGrey order came in today! 

me 

The Origami Doll

I had been eyeing this really adorable origami doll kit at work and finally caved in. It took me about a week or so to really give it my full attention (the first couple tries were so attrocious that they didn't even get heads). I managed to finish this one up today and it only took about an hour. I altered the hair because...mine is long and brown, not short and black. I also added a flower instead of a bow because it's cuter :D . Maybe I'll make her a little warrior hat to match her Kimono.

My first completed attempt at an origami paper doll. Kawaii!

Scrapfest 2005

Wow, I stayed up pretty late last night to finish this up. The Creating Pages site has a contest running right now that gives 150 different challenges and the person who uses the most of them is eligible for a gift certificate. I managed to use 6 in this layout...you know I was impressed with how many challenges I used until I typed that post. Ok so the supplies I used are predominantly Urban Lilly papers (Check them out at http://www.urbanlily.com.au/) and there is hidden journaling behind the picture on the bottom right that tells all about Emily's likes and dislikes at 2 years old.
To check out all the requirements for the Scrapfest contest click on the link below.
CreatingPages Forum
I gotta run, it's time to go to Church!

One Down....100+ to go

First contest entry for the Summer Scrapfest contest on Creating Pages

Birds of a feather and all that

I was just trying to figure out this site and check out the features when I stumbled on the profile search thingy. I have to say that I'm extremely amused to find that when I search on Bella Morte (the band) the majority of the results are similar to my blog in more than one way. Either we share the same template, a few of the same interests, both, or very rarely, nothing at all. And here I thought I was unique ::chuckle::

In the Beginning...

This will be my second attempt at a blog. My first one was so depressing and random that I eventually gave up. I'm hoping to chronicle my adventures with paper. You see, I love the stuff. I work at an art store, where I'm in charge of the specialty papers. Hand made papers, marbled papers, Japanese lace papers, Indian rag papers, papers of all sizes and types. We have a whole small warehouse of papers and they bring me great joy. Really, this is my dream job. I lurked around this art store for 4 years and begged for this job until they finally gave in. I'm really not sure if that's something to be proud of, but everything seems to have worked out. I work hard but it feels like playing, and I get along with almost everyone there.
I also Scrapbook, so that I have another reason to buy lots of papers and cut them up. I used to be squeemish about slicing all of those pretty papers up, but now I consider it a compliment to the people who make them. After all, they didn't make those papers so that they could crumble away into nothingness due to neglect. I'm not really sure why I love paper so much but I can list the ways that I love it. I love the smell, the textures, the maliability and potential. I love the little thrill I get when I slide out a 27"x35" sheet of Rakusui Lace paper, pristine and untouched. The few moments of quiet before I start to manipulate it into the shapes and folds it takes to become a finished project. I love the sound paper makes as you run a bone folder over a crease, or the susserating sound of paper sliding over paper. I love showing off my finished project to people I like, not because I want them to compliment me or the objet d' art but because I'm sharing a piece of me with them, another means of communication.
So yeah, I'm a paper freak. I'm ok with that. It hasn't completely taken over my life, but it's definitely a big part of it. I hope you'll stick around to see the messes I make and share my anticipation as I try to get my works published and maybe start a business. Enjoy.

The Paper Doll