Anthology

Mother's Day window, third draft

Well, in part, it's a Mother's Day tribute, a tribute to our mother (pictured above, with the two of us at the beach, circa 1975).  As I mentioned earlier, I'm working on details for the window installation, and started thinking about what the window should say, particularly in light of the upcoming protest.

I was thinking about a sign, about the women who have shaped my lives, and about myself.  Who I am, and my response to those who would say that my only value is as a vessel for future generations.  Which, by the way, if that is the only measure of my value, I have utterly failed... and yet, I think the world is a better place with me in it so clearly there is more value to me than just that.

I was thinking about my niece, my hopes that I have for her as she makes her way in the world, and about all the generations of women who have come before, and who will still come.  (Here's our mom and the adorable girl at the UW Arboretum today).

(Please remember that I'm doing all of this on a tight timeline - the protest is Saturday, but more signficantly, the window installation is Tuesday, and I'm going out of town on Friday.  SO, there's not a lot of time).

With those thoughts on Sunday morning, I started a rough draft, which I finished on Sunday evening so I could send it to the printer.  There's not quite enough time for a huge print run as I've done with my "keep calm" print - that may yet be to come.  I need to sit with the words just a little bit longer, make sure I haven't overlooked anything major or messed it up with my inability to edit down any further.  For now, a quick and dirty production.  I have no doubt that I've already overthought the word selection, and every person who contributed their list of women who have shaped them has added a new word to my list.  But I think it pretty much says what I need it to say.

 

I'm looking forward to hanging it up in the window tomorrow.

 

 

 

progress and other random notes

I really AM making progress!  I'm not quite sure why I'm surprised - this early spring has had a full line-up of projects to work on.  Mostly, these are the things that I say, in November/December, "I'll work on in January."  Yet January usually flies by with an assortment of year-end wrap-up, and before I know it, it is February, or March. 

I did manage to get store and personal taxes taken care of.  Obviously, I've made my decisions about the path that I am; I still have my share of general complaints about taxes (to sum up: it seems to cost me more to be in business for myself than it did to work for someone else - that is, personal taxes, notable the pesky "self-employment tax" are higher, even though that is on top of paying sales tax, unemployment taxes, and all the other things that I, or the store, pay to the government.  My issue it not with the taxes, per se, but with the general sense that I'm being punished for showing initiative and working longer hours for less pay.  I would not be happier, but I would paying fewer taxes if I was still at my old job, which just seems strange and bordering on anti-AmericanDream).  It does turn out that the amount of taxes that I owe for 2011 is almost exactly the amount that I had decreased my charitable giving.  So, lesson learned, I'll be more vigilant about those donations.

In my personal "artistic" (or, more precisely, commissioned work) world, I had three big projects: a wedding present quilt for a June wedding, a set of photo snippets, and a Blurb cookbook.  Although the wedding is in June, my machine quilting appointment is in April, as was the deadline for the other two projects.  I'm quite pleased with this new pattern of quilt that I've come up with, though the particular color palate for this quilt made it quite challenging. (In some ways, the intellectual challenge of the quilt was... fun.  I usually do all the thinking at the color-gathering stage).  Plus, Mom and I worked on it together as it was easier to pin and keep track of the pattern with someone else helping me.  We both enjoyed harkening back to the old mother-daughter project days.

I also have quite a lot of Blurb book projects rumbling around in my brain and am getting a little anxious about getting to work on them.  Every year, I make a Blurb book for myself which summarizes the year in projects & pictures.  The 2010 book wasn't done until November of 2011, and I was really hoping to get the 2011 book done earlier so I've been working on that.  (I also hope to make a 2013 journal/planner to sell at the shop.. which would have to be done in time to sell across the calendar-selling season, which starts, oh, 5 months from now).  The Blurb cookbook commission has been on a rather tight timeline which has led to some late nights and some wrestling with my own perfectionism, but there's just a week left on that project and I will have to just let it go.  The amusing thing is that I sometimes wish for a job where I could be doing creative things behind a curtain without the customer interaction - but it turns out that sort of work has its own limitations.  SO I guess the overarching theme of the spring is projects, with challenges.

Perhaps I was just thinking too much because even the snippets ended up being a somewhat daunting task, mostly because of the volume of pictures that are now generated by digital cameras.  They are part of a series: Balkans, Peru, New Zealand and Egypt.  I do always enjoy the process of photo-snippeting.  The one drawback with a commission is the question of whether or not I am picking pictures that represent that person's trip.  I can pick images that I think are the most interesting or the prettiest, but those might not necessarily be the most appropriate symbols of that person's trip - particularly when I'm only choosing 36 1-inch squares out of several hundred images.  I am also finding that I am a more physical visual person - which is to say that I work much much better when I have the printed-out photographs in front of me.  My brain has a hard time sorting and processing on the computer screen.  Yes, I'm old-fashioned that way.  Still, I am pleased with the finished result, and I do always love the idea of a series of snippets.  I still think it would be cool to fill a room with different sets of snippets - to see if you really can differentiate from place to place based on just the set of 1-inch squares.  Anyway, cross your fingers, they'll be happy with the finished product.

Combined with a busier-than-usual spring (customers respond well to warm weather and sunshine in March), and the way that time goes so quickly (which means that it is time to get the store ready for Mother's Day, graduation and summer tourists), I am feeling a little... unrested. It used to seem like the period after Christmas and before Mother's Day was a really quiet retail season, but there's so much catch-up after Christmas (restocking. ack!  I have to make magnet picture frames, photo blocks, button bracelets, headbands....) and prep work for late spring/summer, it hardly seems like there's much time for resting.

My workshop at Valley Ridge Art Studio is coming up at the end of April: batik papers and encaustic (something I've been wanting to do for a long long time).  To some extent, I'm in limbo at the moment.  It seems like I always get a new burst of energy and direction after a Valley Ridge workshop and since the workshop is relatively early in the season for me, I'm waiting a bit to see where I go from there.  Which shouldn't stop me from working on any number of projects that I started last year, like my altered dictionary of collections or my gratitudes journal. 

That said, thanks in part to Deandra and Pinterest, I've been indulging a newfound obsession with terrariums and succulents, which cannot be indulged in real life because I have a horribly un-green thumb.  Seriously, I can't keep plant alive.  I alternate between forgetting about them and giving them too much attention (water).  So my fascination is taking the form of brainstorming about ways of incorporating them into artwork.  I'm thinking about some little shadowboxes and resined paper, but I also started a painted/collage series.  Perhaps they would be better if I'd waited for the encaustic... because I kind of think of the layers of wax as similar to the layer of glass... but I couldn't wait.  The series is actually a continuation of last year's Valley Ridge works with Michelle Ward, works in paint (with a mostly dry paintbrush and with stencils I made myself) and inspired by some fellow Facebook artist friends who are exploring new color palates and also my color palate explorations on Pinterest (again, I know, I'm addicted).  My fallback colors are purple/blue but I'm trying out some new combinations, keeping in mind that the foreground will have variations on soft greens and other succulent colors.  I'm a little afraid that my background will not fade back as much as it ought to.. perhaps I should have done a little whitewashing before adding the jars.  Hmm.

 

This is all the early stages of background painting, which is fun because it is rather low-pressure since I know much of it will get covered up by collage.  I went to the used bookstore and got some old field guids which I will use to fill in the contents of the jars.

And, finally, I sent off some long overdue packages to two artist friends of mine.   Only to come to work this morning and find this awaiting me:

I have to admit that sometimes I feel overwhelmed with all the creative ideas out there - the blogs, the magazines, the workshops.  My inclination can be to shut down just a little bit - as it is, I don't have time to do all that I want to do, why should I learn anything more?  And I also feel like I have plenty in the way of art supplies and collage ephemera, why accumulate more?  Then again, there are so many fun things to do and so many fun pieces.  The package I received was so perfectly filled with the greatest idea - I'm guessing here, but I think these are all hand-painted papers, which were put through the Xyron machine so that they are STICKERS!  I love it.  I can cut out shapes, tear them, stick them down.... in fact, these might end up as part of my terrarium collages, and they certainly would make great mail art.

 

So, thanks Maria in particular, but in general, for inspiration and color and new ideas, and the blooming of it all into a wonderful bouquet.

Thing-A-Day

Huh....  Well, I did it.  Someone on Facebook mentioned Thing-A-Day and I just decided to go for it.  With very little thought involved as far as what I would make, what time I will need to make it.  This is a classic Laura move: just jump in spontaneously to a project that is big, the kind of project that you find yourself regretting at the end of it (previous examples include making a page for each letter of the alphabet in a 60 books project, making 8 editions of a book that I only need one of, and any other number of unfinished projects for which I prepped pieces for a dozen or so).

Of course, if I count things that I make for the store (including buttons) then I already do make a thing a day, but I have something else in mind - something sort of mapish, but maybe also libraryish.  We just got a huge box filled with library catalog cards and they are very tempting to me for some reason.  Also, I've been thinking a lot about geologic maps and other maps, kind of sciency images that harken back to my past life as a geology major.

I haven't really explored what other people made but I think that making an art journal page a day should count.  From my brief look at the website it seemed like there was a huge range, from photographs and sewing projects, to meals and sculptures.

In the process of rearranging and organizing my living room, I have come across my shelf of blank books.  I can't help it - I love notebooks.  But I'm realizing that the blank page doesn't really suit my style and I've never really been able to sustain my plans for journaling.  Several books have a few pages written in them, and that's it.  I've always been a little envious of those people who have a regular art journal habit.  Perhaps this will get me going AND use a blank notebook while we're at it.

Oh, isn't it fun to start new projects?!  Won't you join me?

 

more love

Well, perhaps the Banksy cards aren't exactly Valentine, but they seemed to fit well with Wisconsin's current political situation.  Miss Forward was holding a big bunch of heart balloons on Wednesday night; I found myself thinking of all the things that have inadvertently become symbols of the Wisconsin protests: plastic palm trees, heart balloons....

Most of my energy this week has been focused on Valentine garlands.  I'm leading a church Sunday school activity on Sunday morning so I've been working on the prototype.  I ended up going rather low-tech: hand-cut and hand-sewn paper hearts, which is just easier all around.

I've been rearranging my living room and studio space at home, doing a little organizing and consolidating (though much more needs to be done).  In the process, I was reminded of the wealth of supplies that I have and was pleased to put some of them to use for these garlands: 1 book of cake recipes, 1 atlas, 1 book of sheet music, 1 box of black & white Paris pictures... all to cut up into hearts.

And as soon as I'm done with the Sunday school activity, the papercrafts will be coming to the craft table for February.  We've been gathering supplies for card- and garland-making: an assortment of papers and rubber stamps.  I might have to reprise my hand-cut doily rubber stamp for my Valentines this year.

The low-tech theme continues with Sachi's projects: hand sewn heart ornaments, with text screenprinted by a local artist.

I also rearranged the front table a bit so there's room for our assortment of Valentine goodies.  The anatomical heart stamp has been particularly popular.

 

Meanwhile, Sachi installed the Valentine's window this week, also chock full of Valentine goodness. 

 

I'm particularly impressed with her embroidery hoops, with song lyrics that she hand-embroidered.  She HAS been busy with hand-sewing this year!

let the projects begin

Well, to be totally honest, I am mostly preoccupied with inventory and year-end business.  I need to spend some time with QuickBooks before the accountant comes.  NOT the most fun aspect of the job.  And then there's the matter of counting everything in the store which usually ends up going faster than I imagine and is perhaps more painful in anticipation than it is in reality.  Sachi and I have been going through the drawers and counting, sorting, reorganizing, restocking.  Today, (January 10th) we will close at 4 pm to begin counting the sales floor and we will reopen on Thursday (January 12th).  Yes, a day is missing in there - we'll be counting all day tomorrow so if you try to stop at the shop, I apologize, but you'll be locked out.  At least for these 9 hours, the accountant/taxman/insurance agent win out over the customer.

Other than inventory, this is a relatively quiet time of year.  There's a lull in new arrivals; we are waiting to see what we find on our San Francisco buying trip.  

In the meantime, as any good procrastinator will do, I've started an assortment of projects instead of concentrating solely on inventory.  First on the list is Blurb, which I believe I posted about earlier.  I have a few different notebooks that I am working on, as well as a commissioned recipe book.  Lucky for my sister, I can't run Blurb at the same time as the cash register so I can only work on that off hours.  Unfortunately for her, I can still look at Pinterest.

Which brings me to the other project I am working on. The art book guild that I belong to hosts a holiday party each year, at which we swap 2" x 2" books and I had an IOU left from our 2011 party.  Par for the course, I had something completely different in mind.  But a thought has been rumbling around in my head, thanks to Quince and Quire, via Pinterest, so I ended up going with that.

It's a 2" x 2" book of constellations, only about as precise as one can get from an internet search, a silver sharpie marker, and a mini hole punch.  Which is to say, not that precise.  Still, I love the idea.  Each page has a constellation from the zodiac, as well as traits of that astrological sign.

I've been playing around with handwriting recently.... Again, thanks to Pinterest, which had the idea of fake calligraphy - the pin for which I cannot find at the moment.  But the basic idea was to write the word with a single line and then go back and fill in the downstrokes to simulate the calligraphic line.  And also thanks to the amazing journal skills of Teesha Moore, whose use of text has always been inspiring to me.

I painted corrugated cardboard for the covers, drawing on techniques learned at Valley Ridge Art Studio workshops (registration for the 2012 season is opening this weekend!): Katie Kendrick and Michelle Ward.  And I got to use my constellation rubber stamps and black & white striped washi tape so that was fun.  Oh, and the paper for the pages was just lying around here at the shop; it must have been scraps from some project - isn't it rewarding when you actually get to use the things you don't throwaway because you might be able to use them someday?

I'm well on my way to completing an edition of four.. and will perhaps expand that, depending on what else comes along to distract me.  I finished working on my 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle and am relatively well stocked as far as items at the shop so I have a little lull in terms of what I will work on in my living room, where there is no inventorying to be done, nor Blurb work.  There is, of course, cleaning to be done, but that will have to wait until there's something else that I'm procrastinating over.  Like taxes.

Blurb love

I'm pretty sure that I'm repeating myself but just in case you didn't get the message.... I LOVE BLURB!  So much.  I can't even begin to say. And, no, they aren't paying me to tell you this. 

Here are the reasons why I love them so:

1. Ease of use.  I am not a computer person.  I can type, click/drag but have never spent any time on Photoshop or any other computer/design program. After you download their software, you take your time on your own computer to create your book, then upload it to them for printing at the end.  There are zillions of layout options and you basically just drag your photos into place.  It is not without glitches (I tend to crash the software when I am cutting and pasting large blocks of text or working with as many photos as I do) but on the whole, I've found it quite handy.

2. Sheer volume of photos that can fit in a book.  Seriously.  The book I made for my trip to Italy had about 1300 photos in it.  I couldn't print 1300 photos for the price that I paid, let alone wind up with them in a bound book.

3. They keep making improvements.  I know, in the computer world it seems like people are constantly coming up with changes that are just aggravating, but it seems like each upgraded version has specifically addressed issues that I was having trouble with - just in the time that I've been using Blurb, they have added calendar pages, new layouts, the ability to make your own layout...

4. Quality.  I've been making 7x7 books with their somewhat glossy paper.  For real durability, a person would probably want to make a hardcover book - their image wrap books are really nice.  The quality of pictures, the color and sharpness, is all great as far as I'm concerned.  There are even options for finer paper if a person should want to go that route.

5. Variety.  I mentioned the variety of layouts, but they also keep coming out with new shapes and papers.  I just received the 2012 calendar that I made myself and yes, I'm pretty happy.  Their new trade & notebook books are even more reasonably priced and are my new addiction since you can write on the paper.  I have ideas for several journal/notebooks for the shop.

5. Having paper copies of digital stuff.  I am definitely a fan of the digital camera, but I find that I'm generating more pictures and printing less.  It's great that I can be more selective and less wasteful about what I put to paper, but what to do with all those pixels that are piling up on my computer?  As a librarian's daughter, a part of me feels that we are losing our history to this digital age.  All these little tweets and texts that are traded back and forth - what will remain of them as evidence of how we've spent our time? And perhaps a photo by itself isn't that great or interesting, but as a collective record of a year, it's worth at least 1/16th of a page.  I'm starting in on my fourth book of pictures & projects, which I make every year.  There's so much in the course of a year that I forget; being a visual person, having a book to look back on is perfect.  Recently, I read a blog about making a ta-da list, looking back on the accomplishments of the year; my pictures & projects book functions more or less that way.  I can't wait to have a whole shelf of books to look back on, and I think every artist/writer should have a book for every year to document what they've been up to.  What a great collection that would be!

Well, I could go on and on but I think that covers the main points.  Like most projects in my life, I am quickly approaching the point where I have more works in progress than works completed...

Completed books: ideas & inspirations creations & celebrations, 2x2: collection of small books made by the Madison Bonefolders' Guild and Milwaukee Book Arts Salon, Year One of Lily (also year two, year three, year four), Pictures & Projects 2008 (also 2009, 2010), 2012 calendar notebook journal, Laura notebook, Here & There travel journal, For the record (travels in France & Italy).

I am particularly happy about my calendar because it always seems like the pictures on my birthday month are not the ones I would have selected.  This way I could pick whatever I wanted for my birthday month, as is proper.

in progress: imaginary French travels (art book), French & Italian travel photos for the shop (minus the family souvenir pics), Pictures & Projects 2011, cyanotype notebook / story of blue, and zillions of ideas for project notebooks - everyone would have gotten one as a Christmas present if only I'd gotten my act together sooner.

I completed one commissioned book of someone's artwork and writings and am working on a commissioned recipe book and a family-history/grandmother-tribute book, as well as my mom's (belated) birthday book.  And I'm helping Mom with her photos and writings from our French/Italian trip, and she's thinking about a book of her personal history.

Most recently - now, okay, maybe this is a little morbid but you don't have to worry about me, I'm fine  - I've been thinking how cool it would be to have a Blurb book as a funeral "favor."  It seems like it would be great to have a book of a person's thoughts/images/wisdoms/photographs/artworks to take into the rest of the days.  Because doesn't it seem like the speakers at a funeral are never enough?  I mean, how do you convey the entirety of a life?  And fine, maybe a Blurb book still wouldn't do it, but I do think that would be an awesome thing to create. 

surprise!

Well, I can't resist...  I know I said that was the last post of the year, but I've been working on a project today and just had to share. 

I was inspired by Pinterest and by Jenna of Capitol Kids, who came to the shop to buy some little trinkets to put into a surprise ball.  We sold these at the shop that I used to work at but it never really occurred to me to make one of my own.  I loved the way Jenna took time to gather lovely little goodies - it is an interesting challenge!

And then I went to the party store to get balloons for our New Year's Eve party (which is just me and the four year-old; I am overcompensating for her lack of other party guests and my desire to not talk to anyone by spending way too much at the grocery store on treats and going overboard with decorations).  While I was waiting for the balloons to be inflated, I walked around looking at cheap trinkets... and there were the crepe paper rolls just sitting there by the register.  At first I was going to get some to decorate the room, but then I remembered the surprise ball idea.

Now, first of all, I didn't totally practice what I preach, because I did succumb to a few cheap plastic trinkets made in China.  If I had planned better, I would have saved the cool rings I got from Capitol Kids' wild & wacky stocking present wall and rolled them into the surprise ball instead of putting them in the girl's stocking.  Ah well.  Necessity is the mother of invention...?  I got some stickers and candy and a few plastic trinkets at the party store, but then went home and hunted around my place.  I would also recommend finding more flat things for the outer layers - my surprise ball is a little on the lumpy side because there are some dimensional things that didn't get buried under enough layers of crepe paper.  On the whole, though, what a fun project!  I'm sure I could refine the wrapping project, but the crepe paper goes pretty smoothly into a ball.  I think I have to start gathering pieces to have this as a craft table activity!

Contents:

Cars stickers, assorted sequin shapes, a silver shell, a crystal snowflake from Mom's jewelry box leftovers, a ballerina charm, a plastic ballerina, a mini tiara, a mini rubber duckie, those rubber band bracelets, M&Ms (one at a time), a sea shell, pennies, a quarter, a mardi gras necklace, a princess necklace, a pearl bead, some polished rocks, chocolate coins.

 

Thanks to Pinterest, I found links to many other blogs on the topic, which might give you further inspiration: Kind Over Matter, Shiso Mama, Hula Seventy(and again), Craftzine, Not Martha, On Hand Modern.  It's a fun kids' gift/activity, but also would be fun to send to a crafter such as described at Go Make Something.

 

P.S.  What a fun night we had!  The adorable girl really loved her surprise ball.  Four times during the unwrapping, she got up to give me a hug and say thank you.  Here's a picture of the contents: the necklaces came from the party store, as did the chocolate coins and rubber band bracelets, but pretty much everything else was from my stash (helps to be a crafter).  At this age, it is fun (and easy) that a princess necklace is as valuable as part of a silk flower.  I probably could have used pieces from my craft supplies only, but couldn't resist the princess necklace.

travel journal: done, mostly

I think.  Well, there's pretty much no more room so I think I'd better call it quits.  Although I trimmed the cover too much so I might need to do some work on the cover to make it fit the interior of the book.  Plus I was going to add some text to the cover too.  Hmm, forgot about that part.  Well, the inside is done anyway. 

I didn't quite think through the binding so the book does not stand up on end.  The pages are all sewn but along the centers of each page.  One perhaps should have measured the same distance up from the BOTTOM of the page, and that way the lower edge of the book would be even and it could stand up.  At least, for a change, it kind of actually sits and closes, which is pretty amazing considering how much stuff I packed in there.

I did substantially edit the photographs that are in the book, with just a sampling of the many that I took.  But I didn't do as well on editing the ephemera.  There are some maps that I just put in as is; I could have made snippets or something and reduced the bulk.  Ah well.  Also, the ephemera is in order and the journal writing is in order, but they don't exactly match up with each other.  I should have spaced my writing out more. 

As far as the technical details: photos and ephemera are attached with a mix of sewing machine stitching, double-sided tape, washi tape.  Pages are a mix of white (drawing? painting? paper; not as heavy as watercolor paper though), scrapbook paper, maps/ephemera/bags gathered on the trip, hankies, notecards.  Pages are sewn to the cover in four signatures.  What else?  Some pockets were created by sewing photographs on only three sides, other pockets were made by incorporating envelopes onto pages.  I have some text I might add in as captions to pieces of ephemera and photographs, and there are still a few odds n' ends, but it's mostly done at least.

travel journal in the works

Well, I'm making progress.  At least on this trip, I kept up and managed to write in my journanl every night.  Mostly just little notes, which fit the size of the paper and those little boxes that I had on the pages. 

About four days into the trip, I started to face up to the fact that there was no way a single signature (a bundle of pages that are sewn together) was going to work for the structure of the book.  That's nicer because there's less stitching to be done, but with as many pages as I had (plus as many as I was going to add), I decided it would close better if I had several signatures.  The pages were thrown off a bit at the beginning but I think it won't be so obvious once I add the photos and the other ephemera.

 

In addition to these folded pages of drawing/watercolor paper that currently make up the book, I plan to cut up some of the brochures and maps that I picked up and make them into pages, as well as putting pieces into the little spaces still left that I didn't write in.  My mom was smart and brought along her double-sided tape so she could attach things right away.  I will need to lay everything down on the living room floor and plan out where everything goes. 

One drawback to my approach is that the text is in relatively big blocks.  I'm inspired by the journal pages of Teesha Moore but can see that I would have gotten closer if I had done my writing later after more images were incorporated onto the page.  Then again, there's no way I would have remembered all the details.  I suppose one should have a rough draft journal and then a final draft?  But that seems kind of silly.  I could have left more room around the text as I was writing...  Maybe next time.

I'm particularly pleased with myself... later on in the trip, with how I started to break out of my usual writing style and do some larger script to fill the spaces. 

And, yes, there are still some blank pages so there will be room to add photos and little bits.

Next step is sorting through all the pictures to find some to print out.  Or, rather, winnowing down the pile of pictures.  I'm going to make a Blurb book to hold the bulk of the pictures, so I just have to find a few representative pictures - so probably not print out all the pictures of windows with shutters or charming village scenes...

I have some time in the coming week so I am hoping to finish it up soon and then can report back with the finished product.

regrets

I'm making progress at least, but seriously, why do I keep doing this to myself?  The Wisconsin Book Festival is coming up soon, but before that, I will be departing on my vacation.  So, naturally, I had to come up with a book art piece that involves making 10 mini books, make that 11, to celebrate the decade of the book group of which I am a member.  And I couldn't come up with that plan at the beginning of the year with plenty of time to work on it.  And now it is...  4 days before the deadline and 7 days before I depart.  Five of the 11 books are done.  Sigh.  I wonder if it is too late to add "incomplete" to the title of my piece.

 

I finished the canvas out at Valley Ridge so at least that is taken care of.  It's a long narrow piece with a column for each year.  The engineering/logistics are going smoothly enough so I don't have much in the way of troubleshooting.  Thank goodness for small mercies. (I think it will look better against a white wall, and the engineering isn't perfect, but basically one pair of eyeglasses (with a story inside) will hang below the column of each year).  I really just made the canvas as a vehicle for the eyeglasses since I couldn't think of another way to hang them on the wall.  I kind of feel like the canvas is stronger than the story eyeglasses, but since this is a BOOK festival, I can't quite just hang the canvas.

 

But, really, I couldn't have just come up with one book that summarizes the decade?  I had to make a separate book for each year?  At least they are a simple accordion shape so they are not technically that difficult.  But I was taking care of the adorable girl for the past four nights and did not get much work done, nor much sleep for that matter.  We already had to run to Savers to get a few pairs of eyeglasses for the project.  And I have to scrounge up one more pair - I was NOT doing my math right and added an extra year to the decade, and that story is already written.

I did have one ulterior motive fulfilled.  My sunglasses have been missing a screw and somehow all the ones that I had in my little kit were not quite the right size.  In all this work with eyeglasses, I did manage to find a screw that fits so now I don't have to worry about losing that lens.  Yay.

At least I will be on a plane soon enough and can leave all this behind.  I am SO ready for a vacation.  I really think the world would function much better if everyone worked 4 day workweeks.  This week is 12 days for me, hence the crabbiness.  Now to just get through the rest of the list that needs doing before getting on the plane.  I'm still in that moment of having a long list of things to do and some delusion that I will get it all done if I only work fast/long enough.  I'll be ready to give up that illusion... and throw myself into taking pictures of France and Italy and soaking up the inspiration.  Sachi just got back from New Orleans and had a very inspiring time.  I might make her sit down and write a guest post here - sounds like there was lots of creativity in the air.