Last one, I promise.

Quality time with Mom

GUESS WHERE I AM!

Oh you guys... this is heaven.  I'm in a HOTEL ROOM!  I'm on a weekend getaway with my mom, at a scrapbooking convention.

WAIT!  DON'T RUN AWAY!!!

Okay, I know that doesn't live up to the level of cool that you have come to expect from me.  (Haaaaa!)  But trust me, this is a good thing.

First of all, we found a treasure trove at a thrift store on our way out here.

Underwood typewriter: $4.85.  How they came up with that price is a mystery but OMG FOUR DOLLARS AND EIGHTY-FIVE CENTS?!  Sold.

Huh.  These pics aren't all that great... but can you tell that this book is like 5 inches thick and has TABS?!  I may or may not have snatched it up, clutched it to my chest protectively, and looked around madly to make sure nobody was going to try to take it from me.  And the best part?  Five bucks.  Five bucks!

To be fair the book probably isn't worth anything, in historical or monetary value, because it's been taken apart at some point and rebound with gigantic chicago screws. And while I admire the handiwork, that's just gonna make it all that much easier for me to start ripping pages out to use in my artwork and not feel like I'm destroying a precious artifact or anything. And the covers? Oh my. They are so, so beautiful. Even the spine is embossed. I can't wait to see what I do with those!

Oh wait... here's a pic of the spine:

And then I found a little postage scale for a buck, and after I got over the good old Catholic guilt of ripping apart something that formerly belonged to the Holy Cross Convent (according to the hand-written notation on the bottom), I snagged this tin plate from the front:

Now I'm off to go create something FAB-U-LOUS.  Or at least semi-interesting.  I'm working on a zine project that's almost half-done already.  I'll be back with previews.  It's a gooder, or at least I think so.   : )

So, as Jerry Springer used to say at the end of every one of his horrendous shows, be good to yourself... and each other.

Love Shelley!

PS: And, because I'd be lying to you if I didn't tell you that my sister and I take every possible opportunity to have fun at my mom's expense, I'd also like to share this little tidbit:

Meager

Holy crap, I can't believe it's been a month since I posted anything new here.  I got busy with some other stuff and it took a while to find my way back to my art supplies!

Luckily I'm on a break now between classes, I don't have to coach soccer anymore, and my part-time job is ending in a week.  So now I'll only have one full-time job!!!!  I'm pretty excited about that.  That will hopefully leave more time for getting my hands dirty with bright colours and fun projects.  Oh, also laundry. Aaaaaalways laundry.

In the meantime, I've been dreaming of smoothing colours together, creating shadows and lines, and playing in my art journal to try some different things.  Hopefully that will all come to pass really soon.

Lately all I've "made" is this one drawing of my daughter Joelle.  She was finally sitting still long enough to catch a decent likeness.  Actually she was watching America's Funniest Videos and laughing her ass off, but in between giggles, I caught her "concentrating" face.

Is it just me, or does she remind you of Penny from Inspector Gadget??

Huh.

Anyway, today? There I was walking along, minding my own business, when I suddenly saw something that literally made me do a double-take and go back to see what it was.  Local artist Chris Reid had some of her work set up in this tiny little room at the University of Winnipeg. What caught my eye was a 5-foot painting of some angry flying pieces of toast.  She has some of her other work set up at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre - if you have time and you're downtown you should check it out.  Her colours are amazing - bright and vibrant and wait, do bright and vibrant mean the same thing?  Well, they're really great and eye-catching and imaginative, unlike my vocabulary tonight.  You'll like them.  I especially liked the houses with chicken legs.  Here, check this out:

Seeing it this tiny doesn't do it any justice, it is seriously an unbelievably cool piece of art.

More soon, I promise. I have to go put some clothes in the dryer, then investigate why the children aren't making any noise. I'm deeply suspicious.

xoxo
Love Shelley!

My happy place

This is Group 546.

Our box is number 38, on Rural Route 5.  A lot of people don't know what group mailboxes are, although  they're becoming more common.  They save the mailman from having to make individual stops.  

I get a kick out of putting these crazy things into the outgoing mail at our group mailbox.  It's kind of my happy place.... the mailbox is at the end of the road and it's usually really quiet out there.  So in addition to picking up and dropping off my mail, which is already one of my favourite parts of the day, I sometimes stand there for a few minutes and enjoy the utter peace.  Or watch the neighbour do his loopy morning dance outside, depending on what time I get there.

Plus, I like to think the mailman enjoys this stuff marginally more than just picking up regular old bills.

(I am a master of the obvious.)

The assignment here was to send out a couple of "blank" journals - not exactly blank because the pages inside are all altered and ready for these two people to add their own brand of fabulous.

The trick was that they had to go in the mail "naked" - no envelope!  The idea is that the postage and postmarks and assorted marks from being handled would add to the character of the book.  Knowing that the addressed area is a keeper, I used a bunch of my old vintage stamps to mail them.

I don't know if you can tell from the pics, but the books are actually pretty puffy... I added LOTS of fold-outs, tip-ins, secret hiding places, and doodles to these pages.  And the tags on the second book look pretty 3-D because I went around them with a light grey marker to give the illusion that they aren't stuck right down.  It's like MAGIC.  (ooooOOOoooh!)

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go invite my sister over, and then put up a poster with her picture on it that says "BANNED FOR LIFE" on the front door.  I love messing with her.  Have some fun today... I know I'm gonna!

Love Shelley!

Making some good stuff over here

So I was digging around in my stash yesterday and I was finding so many cool things that I decided to put together a couple of journals for my etsy shop.   It's been really empty and lame for far too long.

You never really know what you have until you start exploring... at least that's been my experience.  No wonder this room is such a mess!

These books turned out so great that if they don't sell, I'll be more than happy to keep them for myself.  Hee!!  That's a win/win situation.  They fit perfectly in the hand, substantial enough to feel like you have something important yet small enough to tuck in your bag and take on the road.

I love the watercolor paper, and the different kinds of blank sheets, but probably my favourites are the bits of goodies that are stuck in, just begging to be doodled on and thickened up with souvenirs of the day.  I purposely used bigger rings than necessary so it has room to grow.

I'd love it if you would check them out.  Let me know what you think!  If they turn out to be popular I'll make a couple of bigger ones next time.  I still have plenty of stash left.

Here are a couple of sneak previews that aren't in the listings:

I hope you're having a fantastic weekend... I'm off to do all the chores I neglected while I was playing working on these.

Love Shelley!

The blooper reel

We all have them: duds, train wrecks, mistakes, boo-boos, and the occasional "What HAPPENED?!"

I have LOOOOOOTS of those.  Want to see some of them?  You can laugh at with me!

Come, take a look:

Here's where I was trying to sketch my husband Mike, but he wouldn't hold still and I accidentally made him look like a hillbilly.

Just terrible.  And this:

What the heck IS this, even?!  Nobody knows.  Maybe a herd of red blood cells?  It's a mystery.


Also, the comment of the week comes from Heather, who said:

"Are you secretly playing a game about how many times you can say "boobie" on your blog?"

I wasn't.... but now I might start.  Heh.


Okay, I'm going to go try to make something that doesn't suck.  You guys stay warm, we'll talk later.

xoxoxo
Shelley!