here's what i did with the notebook paper collage

it's a card!

well, i say "card" because i used it as such--and wrote "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" on the back--but it's 12 x 12" and one-sided. also it's a bit weird...but then...the base is a collage of NOTEBOOK PAPER so this one was never gonna be hallmarky, was it? :)

i actually began the base collage at work one day, during lunch; i'd intended to use ONE sheet of notebook paper as a background for something, but each of the 6 or 7 different notebooks and binders i found contained a different type of paper, and they all had such interesting variations in color and line width that it made me want to use them ALL! anyway, my friend and colleauge joshua happened to see it while i was working on it and he was very enthusiastic. (he was talking about stealing the idea...a sure sign of approval from a fellow artist, right?!)

(once again i apologize for a truly CRAP photo...i assure you irl this thing is SQUARE and non-crooked; but it's also quite big, and to light it on a rainy day and get a good angle at the same time proved impossible with my limited skills & patience, so i just went with the best shot i got.)

to make it into a "card" i added one of our very favorite douglas adams' quotes (from "dirk gently's holistic detective agency"--josh and i are both MASSIVE fans) which i spelled out using some quite elderly vinyl alphabet stickers from staples. the smaller ones were so old, in fact, that they didn't stay STUCK ON, and i had to go back and staple them the next day! i liked the grungy industrial look of that, so i added MORE staples. i highlighted a few selected words by spelling them using some magnetic letters i found at a garage sale this summer. i intended to add something around the edges...either inking or maybe some stitching...but nothing i tested was quite right, so i let it sit for a few days and when i went back and saw it with fresh eyes i thought, "nope, that's DONE" and i was glad i had taken a little break to decide.

this is definitely one of my weirder ideas, but i have to say (with my usual modesty) that i really like it. more importantly, josh absolutely LOVED IT and was talking about buying a FRAME, so i was pretty pleased all-round!