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Showing posts from June, 2011

Intentions

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Having a blog is like being a glutton for punishment. You say things that you are doing or are going to do or whatever and, so often, nothing comes of it. I see that when I was growing up, I would say over and over that I was going to do something... but often did not. My husband says he knows I'm serious about doing something if I say it three times. Hmm... so perhaps it is not a sin to say you are going to do something and not do it right away. I just hope that I didn't seem like the type of person who was all talk and no action - or a person you couldn't depend on doing what they say they will do. I mention this only because when I put something here on my blog, I probably seem like I'm doing whatever it is I'm posting about ALL THE TIME. The truth is that I'm not. I'm waking up in the morning, trying to exercise to lose this 80 lbs I've put on since I got married, fending off a four-year old who insists on TAKING ALL OF MY THINGS AND SCATTERING T

Folded Block Letter Patterns

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Okay World, here is my heart on a platter for you: I have listed my Folded Block Letters tutorial on Etsy. It includes all the patterns for the complete alphabet with a few variations thrown in for good measure. This one only took FOUR months to do instead of a year. I'm getting better! Next on my agenda - hearts and circle patterns.

Word Work

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There are times when I cannot work on folded books because I'm back to the jewelry. This was a special order for a neat lady who had looked through all my sold items on Etsy and begged for the return of a few old favorites...

C is for Many Things that start with C

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Cloop is the sound a cork makes coming out of a bottle. And now you know. Please see the Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary, Unabridged Second Edition if you don't believe me. I think I'm going to add a few more pages to the left side of the letter to give it more definition. And I need to fix that bizarre long bottom page on the lower right. It makes it look G-ish.

B is for Better?

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I'm plodding along with this new scrollwork alphabet based on vintage cross stitch patterns. They are about 80 steps each. I made this one last night while watching "Miss Potter" - probably my favorite movie right now. I love seeing movie sets of artist's studios. They are always so beautifully put together and romantically lit. Right now my desk has three folded books, three old moldy books to make into Halloween designs, two trays of beads in different stages of doneness and a plastic drawer with my jewelry-making supplies - most of which are spread out on my cutting mat, making a special order. Neither beautifully adorned nor romantically lit. Still, that's life!

A is for AAAAARGH!

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I'm experimenting with some new letter patterns. This is a capital A. Honest. In person, it looks great! The problem is, you can't see it in a photo like you can in person. In a photo, you can only see one side of it. Hence, the AAAAARGH!

Dusty Olive Paper Flowers

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I love paper punches. You can't make me confess how many I've accumulated over the past couple of years or so (has it really only been *that* long?). Please don't make me confess.

Work for This Week

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    What I've been up to lately - another piece of Press Forward (done correctly). Now I just need to get the corrected pattern out to all those people who bought my tutorial. :)

Alphabet Tutorial

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This is the fancy "how-to-read my pattern" page BOOYAH! I have finished with the rough draft of my Folded Alphabet Tutorial. I am in the process of trying to convert this sucker to a PDF so I can send it out to some people to look it over before putting it in the shop. To make sure there are no inadvertent bad words in it and that type of thing.

Encyclopedia Finished!

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Woo hoo! More than 1000 pages folded. I am amazing. At first I wasn't keen on the tabs, but they look kinda cool now. It's pretty from the top, too! Close up and personal...

New Work

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Question: How in the WORLD should I name these things? So many titles of art are pretentious. So many titles *I* come up with are pretentious! How about numbers? Dates?  I don't want to be pretentious. I want to be regular-people like.  And the pictures aren't turning out well. It's CLOUDY outside. Son! Go get your jacket! After all, it's still JUNE in Bakersfield! Weird.

Encyclopedia Foldeum

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I started working on this encyclopedia/dictionary a couple of weeks ago while driving to the coast . It's been a bit of a chore for two reasons: 1) the pattern I followed out of my OWN TUTORIAL WAS WRONG and 2) it's a really big book (more than 2000 pages). Now I need to get in touch with everyone who's bought my tutorial and send them revised directions (I figured it out at church yesterday - yay church!). Ugh. I'm working on this piece a little bit every night while I listen to lectures about the church presidents given by Truman G. Madsen. (count all the prepositional phrases in THAT one!) That's what Brian and I have been doing each night. It was supposed to be scripture study until I pointed out that this isn't scripture. Now we're doing it for the learnin'. Cos we're eddy-cated peoples. So there.

Pretty Pretty

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It's very pretty here at my home right now. I'm loving it.

Ever-lasting Spring

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This was the sky when we returned from the beach on Saturday...  We rarely have much of a spring in Bakersfield. It usually goes from bone-cold to skin-peeling hot in the course of about two weeks. This year is different and we have perpetual spring. I can't explain the wonder I feel each time I wake up to clouds outside my window. They are so rare that I simply gape at them. Yesterday, I looked at the upcoming weather report and announced with the same type of glee usually reserved for long-awaited pregnancies or engagements that IT'S GOING TO RAIN THIS WEEKEND. You might just have to live here to understand.