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Showing posts from April, 2014

Stealing Like An Artist

Wow. Work has really taken over my life. While I love working around books and learning how to order materials for my system, I find that I am struggling with my work-life-art balance. On Monday, I needed to get away from my desk (I usually take my lunch there, too) so I brought a book with me to the lunchroom, just to escape the insanity for a while. Over a couple of days I finished reading " Steal Like an Artist ". I wrote about seeing this book three years ago (omygosh) but only now have really taken time for it. One of the suggestions in the book was to create a "swipe" file where you store all the ideas you like of other people's so you can try your own hand at that same idea or process. The point here is that 1) no idea is original and 2) the human hand is incapable of making a perfect copy of something. Therefore, anything you make will actually be different than the original. And it's not plagiarism if you don't claim it's your original

Easter Rocks

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Some families make Easter eggs. I make rocks. Aren't they CUTE? And then some snuck up the tree. And I forgot to take them down so they are still out there. In the dark. Just waiting... This is my rock band shot. It's all artsy with the poses. (Get it? ROCK band?) All rocks were crocheted while watching multiple episodes of the first and second Dr. Who's. Does that make them special?

All Things Paper Book Review

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As someone who loves paper craft so much, I’m always on the lookout for new books on the art. On a whim, I entered a contest on Goodreads and was lucky enough to win a copy of “All Things Paper” by Ann Martin. Ann runs the website AllThingsPaper.net which is full Full FULL of papercraft designs and ideas. In her book she gathered twenty different paper artists together to share their ideas. I hoped to find something new and interesting to try. The Table of Contents divides up the projects by type: Home Décor, Fashion Accessories, Jewelry, and Correspondence. The projects themselves turned out to be fairly standard: candle luminaries, paper flowers, greeting cards and paper jewelry. Each of these fairly common projects is given a twist to make them something unique to each of the artists.  Being that I am a book folder, I found the Phone Book Letter Holder the most interesting idea in the bunch. I saw it the first time I opened the book and was intrigued. One of

Oh Happy Vacation!

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I am on vacation from the library this week and what a joy it is! The list of things to do is long and art is on there in between the trips to the post office and deep cleaning projects... My Mormon Lent is still a-going on in my life and things have happened because of it. Some good. Some not what I expected (and good in spite of that). More people are writing to tell me how they are using the Fancy Folds tutorial . Here's a photo from Stephanie Phillips from Tattered Trinkets who said, " Just wanted to show you my first completed "fancy font" project that I made using the techniques from your instructional book.  Hope it makes you proud!  Lol. I know it does me....your techniques are sooooo much easier to follow than other instructions I found out there....well worth [it]! "    Check out Stephanie's Facebook page for more of her book folding crafts and antiques. While you are at it, check out the Rhymes With Magic Art page, too!

Itsy-Bitsy Teeny Tiny Stars

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This past weekend was General Conference . On Saturday I just sat and listened. On Sunday I decided to use my hands while I listened. Remember back when I made these stars (at Conference, too!)? Well, now I've made them with 1/8" quilling paper. (Thank you, dear Allyson, for my Christmas present!) And I will make earrings with them. Yes I will.