more stapled collage, anyone?

to celebrate the stapled collage article i wrote for issue #11 of the daisy yellow zine... (available in the totally awesome daisy yellow art etsy shop) ...tammy and i decided to have a little more fun together, so we're each posting a brand new stapled collage on our blogs today. you can see tammy's by clicking this link. whereas mine is right here:

i have a little confession to make about this collage... rather than my usual one staple, this is held together at two different points: one is at the upper righthand corner of the vintage tarot card, while the other is in the center of the flower/butterfly stack. i even used my tape runner a tiny bit to tack those very-fussy-cut leaves into place, because they were very floppy indeed, and i feared for their safety. but since "stapled collage" is an art form that tammy suggested and i made up, i think it's perfectly fine for it to have many different versions! sure, using as few staples as possible is fun to do and impressive to look at, but you could also try to set a record for using the MOST staples. or you could use the staples to add a pattern and texture to a flat collage. or you could even just work in exactly the same way you do for a normal collage, but instead of "cutting and pasting" you could cut and staple!

hmmmmmmmmm... i think that's given me an idea... i'm off to the art lair to give some of those a try! why not go and see tammy's collage on her blog, and be sure to check out issue #11 of the daisy yellow zine!

softly, softly

this week's challenge at shopping our stash is to use something ♥SOFT♥... such as flock, felt, flowersoft, satin, fabric, puffy tail on a bunny, etc etc; how fun is that?! wouldja believe... soooooo fun i got just the tiiiiiiiiiniest bit carried away?*

ok, so yeah, that's quite a LOT of lace, ruffles, eyelet and trimming, isn't it? but wait-- there's MORE:

uh huh. turns out, the first bag was the sensible one! didn't see THAT coming, now, didja?! :) let me try to anticipate your top five questions:

1. lauren, are you INSANE?

well, um... yeah. pretty much.

2. how much lace did you use?**

the short answer is: LOTS!!!!! 

the real answer is: the tan bag has 8 layers of lace, the white has 6... the bags are like 8" wide by maybe 3-4" deep... i guess that's like 3/4 of a yard per layer; thus... 10-11 yards, i suppose. (aka, "LOTS" as i said, previously.)

3. how did you attach the lace, and didn't it take forever?

i used a low temp hot glue gun, started with the bottom layer, and just worked methodically. i had cut the layers of lace more or less to size before i started and "laid them out" to see which order looked prettiest, had the most contrast, texture, and so forth. yes, it did take a while, but it was pleasant; i only really notice time when i'm NOT having fun.

4. do you have any tips, gleaned from this experience?***

why yes, i do! it helps to put something about the same size of the bag inside it, to help hold the paper flat and make it easy to turn as you work your way around. it also helps to have something besides your fingers to press the lace into the glue, unless you're intending to embark on a tri-state crime spree directly afterwards, and would prefer not to have any fingerprints left to leave as evidence.

5. why, oh WHY, would anyone do this??!

the short answer is: see question one. :) 

the long answer is: these are for my mom and my aunt, both of whom have been helping me make stuff since... well, since i was born, basically. neither of them is shy about speaking up whenever anyone has anything cool that they can't use, they'll immediately chime in with, "oh lauren might like that!" in fact most of the lace (which is vintage) came in a huuuuuuuge liquor-fifth box, from a friend of a friend (and maybe one more "of a friend") of my aunt's, like 4-5 years ago...  and i'm still using it!!! in fact i've only really just started to make a dent! anyway, i usually try to make something especially fancy for the two of them because i know how much they enjoy it; i've taken to gift bags and the kind of box where you wrap the bottom and the lid separately, because otherwise they just WILL NOT OPEN the gift for ages and ages since they don't want to "ruin" it, lol!!!

but actually, the REAL answer is: i love wrapping gifts almost as much as i love making cards; and in both cases, the more crazy and over the top it is, the happier i am!!! so now you know!

another thing that's bound to make you happy is a little trip to SOS to see and admire the amazing things my design teammates have made for your enjoyment! ♥

*me? carried away??! SURELY NOT, lol!!! :)
**i actually know the answer to that, because leslie asked, for real!
***because obviously EVERYONE is going to want to make a few of these, ASAP!

ICAD and i do! :)

i'm heading back to the city today to hang out with the lovely linda brun, but before i go, here are a few more index cards from this week:

002: india stapled collage
the first stapled collage of the 2014 season. wahey!

003: sunshine, blue skies
a little experiment with ribbons and trims... the finished product doesn't completely work for me, but it was fun to make and that's the WHOLE POINT of ICAD!

004: beautiful rainbow
i was playing with different ways to smear drops of paint on cards... this was one of my faves!

005: city, art and friends
slightly cheating b/c i've cut down a painted tag linda made instead of using an actual index card; the map, paint brushes and words were all from various stops on our wednesday with sandi t!

hope you are having the most awesome of weekends and that you'll find time to get artsy! ♥♥♥

what's red and green and christmassy all over?

this fortnight's prompt at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ that's what! because we'd like to see cards that are predominantly the traditional color combo of christmas: red and green! here's my card:

(patterned paper: making memories, basic grey, pink paislee; jenni bowlin digi bingo card printed on kodak premium photo paper; dimensional stickers: basic grey/nordic holiday; leaves and florals: prima; ribbon: girls' paperie; brad: we r memory keepers; border punches: recollections, martha stewart; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine)

i've had this set of dimensional house stickers from basic grey's "nordic holiday" line for... i dunno... 2 or 3 years? i cannot imagine how i've never used them before now, but luckily i hadn't because they were just totally perfect for this! sometimes i get so busy trying to reinvent the wheel that i forget how awesome red and green look together, and how many different looks you can get using readymade stickers, papers and embellishments!

i've been making some fairly flat cards, lately, but this one is less so; i guess i was just in a lumpy/bumpy sorta mood! if you're wondering how i got the bow to lay perfectly straight against the bingo card... i totally totally CHEATED, and you can too! there's a strip of flat ribbon going around the central panel of the card; then i made a separate bow which i attached with gluedots and even added a couple extras to place the ribbon tails exactly where i wanted them. because i don't trust ANYTHING to stay on a card that's being mailed, i also placed my flowers on top of the bow and sent the brad through the ribbon AND the paper panel behind it as well as those flowers. believe me, those guys are not goin' anywhere!!! :)

speaking of things that are both xmassy and awesome, you should probably head over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ right now to see stephanie's card and start planning your own bid for traditional holiday color scheme world domination!

best wednesday ever?

yeah, i'm pretty sure it was. yesterday, i mean. thanks to a couple of lovely crafty friends who let me hang out with them in new york city! the ladies in question are linda brun (who's from norway, here on vacation) and sandi taloumis (who, like me, came in on the train, just for the day). between the three of us we put a sizable dent in the city's stock of art supplies and thrift shop merchandise! here we are at the ink pad, with many thanks to anna for taking A LOT of photos before we managed one without me looking like i was having some sort of weird facial seizure:

 

don't believe me? here's a picture of the three of us on 14th street: sandi has a lovely smile... linda has a lovely smile... lauren looks like she just swallowed a bug. yeah. that's usually what i look like in pictures, lol!

but back to the fun stuff! here's linda outside the ink pad, which has a really cool board that miss hayden (who works there) made:

we also went to ♥SEVEN♥ thrift shops, which might be a personal best for me. in case you're planning a trip to new york and have only a limited amount of time, i will share one of my favorite thrifting secrets with you: on east 23rd street there are SIX charity shops within about three blocks of each other; not to mention a cool art shop*, the subway** and a post office (just in case you buy something HEAVY, lol!) walking east on twenty third street, from lexington avenue, they are:

housing works 

157 east 23rd street 

(betw lexington and 3rd ave)

salvation army 

208 east 23rd street 

 (betw 3rd and 2nd ave)

cauz for pawz 

212 east 23rd street  

 (same block)

goodwill 

220 east 23rd street  

 (same block)

city opera 

222 east 23rd street  

 (same block)

vintage thrift (east) 

286 third avenue

(around the corner from the others... betw 23rd and 22nd streets)

we went to all of the above, except vintage; but on the way there from the ink pad we hit another branch of housing works and angel street thrift shop, both on 17th street, near the rubin museum.*** we found some cool stuff at various venues, though no one made a "big score"; however, i think we could all have come away completely empty-handed and still have enjoyed the "thrill of the hunt" so to speak, each other's company, and some really good exercise!

eventually, we dropped sandi off at grand central. linda met up with her lovely hubby at penn station. and i got on a train back to new jersey. well, a girl's gotta crochet somewhere, right?! :)

i was sad for the day to end, but somewhat assuaged by the fact that linda and i are taking this awesome class with nathalie kalbach on sunday; whilst sandi and i have signed up for two classes with dina wakley in september!

good bye for now, darlings! see you soon!

♥♥♥

 *da vinci artist supply, 23rd st and lexington ave
**the 4 or 6 train at 23rd st and park ave; the n or r is a block further west at broadway
***which is utterly amazing if you like asian art at all. which i do! we didn't stop there this time, however. :)

calling all critters!

we're looking for pets and animals this week at shopping our stash and we want to see projects which show off your favorites! my post is a little different this time, as i'm inspired by TWO of my favorite bloggers. i'm stealing (AHEM!) ...or rather, paying tribute to... (that's better!) a gorgeous card design by my lovely friend shanna, the stamping banana* with what turns out to be the most straight-up CASE i've ever done. meanwhile, i'm also "paying tribute to" the work-style of my lovely friend and fellow SOS dt member, leslie, aka the crooked stamper by making several different versions of the same card. at the same time, i'm embracing the SOS ethos of using up older stuff by making my cards entirely from scraps and leftovers. surprisingly enough, i really like all five (!!!**) cards i made, but this one miiiiiiight be my favorite. well, it's pink, isn't it? 'nuff said!

(patterned paper: adrienne looman for prima, basic grey + the "friend" page from an actual vintage (falling apart) dictionary; tapes: love my tape, freckled fawn, recollections, heidi swapp, bazzill; butterfly die: quickuttz; bling: recollections; ink: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

for the next one, i went sort of unisex. turns out, i have a LOT of neutral-colored tapes:

(patterned paper: glitz design, k and co; black glossy cardstock: ranger; tapes: love my tape, recollections, heidi swapp, oriental trading co; butterfly die: quickuttz; bling: k and co; ink: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, sewing machine)

i was using leftover pre-folded-but-abandoned card blanks as well as scraps of paper for backgrounds, so some of these are oddly shaped. but there doesn't seem to be a BAD way to do this. 

(patterned paper: amy tangerine/american crafts, authentique; tapes: love my tape, freckled fawn, recollections, bazzill; bling: recollections; butterfly die: quickuttz; ink: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

the card above made me think it might be cool to do one with the tape placed horizontally, so i did. i went slightly further into neutral territory, too, in hopes of making a "masculine" version; which i think works pretty well.

(patterned paper: glitz design, k and co; white glossy cardstock: ranger; tapes: love my tape, recollections, 7gypsies, oriental trading co; butterfly die: quickuttz; bling: recollections; ink: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, sewing machine)

the last one is the most like shanna's original card, and those colors just soooooooo totally POP, don't they?!

(patterned paper: basic grey, prima; tapes: love my tape, recollections, hambly oriental trading co; butterfly die: quickuttz; bling: prima; ink: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, sewing machine)

you'll notice is that i didn't put a sentiment on any of these. i actually need a few "no occasion" note cards to send right now, and plan to save the extras for future use. i really like keeping a few cards uncommitted whenever possible, because you just don't know when you'll suddenly need a thank you or a get well or... whatever... and these are so flexible, they could pretty much be turned into anything.

thank you, shanna for permission to CASE and share your design. thank you, leslie for your hilarious and scientific "anatomy of a card" posts, of which this is a very pale imitation. thank you, everyone else who's reading, for coming along to hang out!

there's tons more critter-based fun at shopping our stash, so be sure to check it out! ♥♥♥

*best blog name ever or what? yeah, i think so too!
**i know, i know, i'm on record as HATING to mass-produce, but there were sooooo many fun possibilities, i just got on a roll somehow! ♥

happy june, happy ♥ICAD!♥

it used to be that memorial day was the unofficial start of summer, but the last couple of years, for me, it's been june 1st. because that's when the index card a day project-- also known as ICAD-- starts up at the daisy yellow blog, bringing with it 61 days of art fun! so now without further ado, here is day one:

but that's not all i made yesterday, no siree bob! because in the laureniverse, one can't really be said to have officially embarked on a project until a little book (or box or... SOMETHING...) has been made to contain it. so behold the 2014 ICAD book:

here's the back:

because yeah, i'm that much of a geek! i've already put card one into the book, which looks impossibly small and floppy right now, even on the tiniest bookring, but on august 1st it'll be a big lumpy messy sprawl on a huge ring, just like last year's. wahey-- i can't wait!

check out the daisy yellow day one link love to see what other people have made, and then why not grab an index card and a pen? 61 days... they're callin' ya!!! ♥♥♥