Ok, Who Hit the Hyperspeed Button

on 2008? As in: How in The Hell is it already February!?

I seriously cannot deal if this is how fast the year is going to go by, and me having not remembered any of it passing. It just doesn't feel right, at all. An' I don' like it, nope!

BUT. I have managed to finish up a few things - I finally! mailed a long overdue care package to a fellow artfriend from Nness who needed cheering up ... My painted BG papers and rubberstamp images for a Yahoo group swap (that were due in Nov. Yeah, I'm a leeeetle behind shedju-uhl) are ready, but I still have to complete some decos that need to mail with them. Sigh.

I still owe a "PIF" from this very blog, that I said would be going out last month - not ready. I have a new series of zetti-inspired creepy eye collages that are totally stalled about a quarter way in since I've had no time to work on them. I need to do a major artroom cleanout, or I will never even find them - or anything else I need to work on. I owe my son a long-promised workday of listing some stuff on eBay, or at least a how-to lesson so he can do it himself. I have not taken and thusly, not uploaded, any new pics to Flick'r in soooo lonnng (and that makes me soooo sad) -and- I have three major family birthdays coming up at the end of the month - all within about a week of each other! plus I'm heading up the ice cream fundraiser at my youngest's school which puts me in the cafeteria every Friday during all lunches. (Yeah, WHAT was I thinking when I signed on for THAT? Answer: I clearly WASN'T.) eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

In the good news column: I HAVE sold three prints of my collages: two on eBay, one on Etsy (my 1st ever Etsy sale, w00t!) - and intend to get some new ones listed really soon, the plan is to start focusing more on Etsy listings since eBay has disappointed me too often of late.

Thats enough updatey for this month - I meeeean, today ;)
See ya next time, and hopefully sooner rather than later!

~ gem ~

ETA: Almost forgot! My mom got me a Roomba for Christmas and while I used to look at them and smirk thinking "yeah, riiight" - Oh.My.God. if itsn't the best thing ever, I lovvvve it! It's been sweeping up my tile floors the whole time I've been working up this post. All hail ROOMBAAAAA! Shweeeeee!

Pay It Forward

I've participated in PIF projects at other swap and mailart groups (PIF = Pay-It-Forward, which, in the arts & crafts world is basically: one person offers something up, maybe a small artwork like an ATC or deco or some type of supplies or scraps ... the next person to post claims it then offers their own 'whatever thing' to the next person, and so and and blahblah ) but this was the first one I joined via a blog, and I really like the idea and also liked Sparrow's art and lucked out that I was the last comment to snag hers :)

If you want the breakdown (and I knowww you do) I'm PIF'ing it from Sparrow's Tree, who got it from Blissful Mama, who got it from Not Cherry Pie, who got it from Danielle, who got it from Lori, who got it from Katie (whew!) and I'll pretty much stop there because Katie posts alot and I just couldn't track down the exact PIF thread in her blog ... I don't "know" any of those gals, but have a look at their blogs (AFTER you finish reading this, please, thank you. hehe, 'cause I get sucked away easily too, that's all ...) They all seem to make pretty cool stuff and have interesting things to say ... Anyway! onwards ...

First three people to comment to this post and also pledge to PIF themselves, will get some kind of handmade something from moi within one year (they all say that and I think it's kinda funny, but really - knowing how projects can go, it IS nice to have the leeway, haha!) I promise I'll try to be timely even though it's not my strong suit. And that's it kiddos, see ya later!

~ gem ~

Mermen, Merfolk!

Recently I was in the process of making a little Mermen themed deco for an Nness friend when I came across a want in the Deco PIF (Pay-It-Forward) thread for a Merfolk themed deco ... since I was already doing one, I thought - why not another?
The original idea came about when I was making some new handpainted background papers one day and really liked the aqua-y blue green pages I turned out, they seemed just right for a mystical sea creature project ... didn't wanna make yet another Mermaid themed booklet, so I decided to make a Mermen one instead!

Mermen deco ~ handpainted cover papers with metallic watercolor paints, collaged merman -vintage cartoon image of a king or some royal type figure, with real life fish bodyparts from a magazine, coating of hologram glitter paint for shimmery scales effect- Art Deco style letter stickers for cover text

Merfolk deco ~ this scan is of the interior cover page and front of artists blank pages ... Same metallic watercolor painted background papers for the covers, same method of collage for the "merfolk" as above ... I added divider pages made from discarded map papers (tried to go with ones that had mostly water area showing) in between the blank artists pages, and added a different merfolk figure onto each of the map pages ... The front "Artists Welcome" map page I made by typing text onto a transparency sheet, overlaid on a scrap of the cover paper and attached with small brads, then that whole piece was glued down. In my desire to add an artistic element to the dedication page inside the front cover, I glued down small transparent & iridescent star confetti all around the edge - I used jewel glue and weighted it down to press flat & adhere while it dried, but I noticed after scanning that a couple had popped off anyway. I reattached them and covered the whole page with acrylic sealer (which made the gel pen bleed some, dargghh.) and I don't know if that will be enough to keep them on but lets XfingersX that it does! would really be disappointed to find out it arrived all ... de-starred.

I liked that they were both a bit different take on the typical "mermaid" theme, and I hope the recips like the decos they got from me and they come home filled with really fun, unique bits of art ... I think this is going to be it for me for deco making just now ... I have a few more to work some pages in as soon as they come in, and a BUNCH that need to be sent back off into the world to be worked in by others as soon as I figure out who I should send them to ... but me, myself - I'm really deco'd out these days and think I'm gonna be doing more ATCs and getting into that sewing machine ...

Seeya!
~ gem ~