heart the art: week 9 (waffle)

this is probably the fastest heart the art page i've ever made...which explains why it's taken me over a week to post it, right?! :) no but seriously, when i read that last week's prompt was WAFFLE i knew right away that i wanted a photo of a vintage toaster and an eggo! luckily a google image search made both of these easy to find and then all i had to do was format them for my 4x6 page and print 'em out.

of course, me being me, i wanted to journal ON THE WAFFLE...and have it be removable from the toaster. so i did:

my answer was super easy to write: i've always had a hard time making choices. i don't mean the big decisions...i can usually handle those. no, generally speaking, the smaller the problem, the longer i will waffle!

and thus another page gets added to my book! the new prompt is up, as well...and gina has been ON FIRE the last few weeks: carving stamps, making digi-layouts, and rockin' the art journal in a big way...why not head over to tyggereye art and check it out?! (you can thank me later!)

(materials: photos from internet printed on kodak premium glossy paper; toaster icon formatted in broderbund printshop using chunker and cry kitty fonts; love elsie fabric paper; notebook paper; ranger distress ink; uniball signo pen)

want to ATC what i made?

you may remember a little while ago, the darling stef sent me this awesome set of clear stamps:

which, at the time, i said i thought would be *perfect* for ATC's...which i was longing to make. well, i was right...they ARE perfect for making ATC's! see?!

(stamps: crafty secrets; bling: michaels, k&co, heidi swapp; sprayed inks: glimmer mist, smoosh spritz & grumbacher watercolor paint; ink pads: colorbox, ranger, staz-on; rub-ons: basic grey; tiny metal frame: k&co (i outright stole this idea--framing a teeny embellishment--from gina); flowers: prima; brad: making memories; transparency: staples; adhesives: uhu gluestick, tombow mono runner, mini gluedots; everything else is vintage goodies from my stash: sheet music, text paper, bits of paper & fabric lace, random images, postage stamps, tickets, and my new favorite thing: bits of vintage sewing pattern (which came wrapped around my gauche alchemy goodies!) glued slightly wonkily over some collage bits and under others--i ♥LOVE♥ that the tissue paper is sheer enough to see through and yet it gives INSTANT texture and patina to whatever is underneath it!)

so of course i had to send these babies out to the lovely lady in question, along with a very big

♥♥♥ THANK YOU ♥♥♥

for the inspiration!!!

if i knew you were coming i'd've *SEWED* a cake!

like this one!

i made it for missus trash's birthday. it seemed like the thing to do, what with her being such a smashing seamstress, quilter, and fabric artist...and my having just learned to sew a bit!

i got this FAB pattern from the dollifever etsy shop. it was actually meant to be made of felt, and top-stitched together, but my new-found machine-stitching skills were burning a hole in my pocket, so i decided to attempt to convert the pattern. i added a 5/8" seam allowance to each pattern piece...and somewhat to my surprise...it actually worked!!! i used ribbon for my piping instead of felt, and added pre-made paper flowers on top, et VOILA!

ok, it is just a leeeeeeeeetle bit wonky. (you'll notice there is no photo taken from the front of the cake, staring down the point...this is not an accidental omission!) i definitely need to be bolder when it comes to making the little nips in the fabric where you need to turn the seam quite abruptly. also, i have no idea how to perfectly press tiny sewn things with my big honkin' iron! but all in all, as a first solo project, i am not at all unhappy with my effort, and i was definitely pleased & proud to present it to my lovely friend!

making this card involved scrubbing an entire wall of my kitchen

eta sunday morning: WOW!!! i am honored and completely flabbergasted to be in the FAB FIVE!!! having said that, i feel like this card came out of the blue & had hardly anything to do with me...i am just proud to have gotten it out of my head and onto paper! thank you ever so much kazan & 2S4Y!!! ♥♥♥ (ps: you guys--you HAVE TO go & see the rest of the cards...seriously...WOW!)


the one just over the sink...in order to remove the paint splatter...from the (unsuccessful) watercolor background essperiment. it was a bit non-triumphant, actually, and i was somewhat disheartened. but then i remembered the FLOWERS!

i'd seen them earlier in the day, in this post on iris babao uy's blog. she was showing off the new prima "innoscence" flowers (yes, it is spelled that way; no i don't know why) which come only in white so they can be sprayed, inked, painted, misted or...whatever...to get a custom look. and i said to myself, "hey lauren! you could probably dip/splatter/smear watercolor paint onto any light colored fabric or paper flowers!" and seeing as how my sink was already full of smears, blobs and puddles of watercolor paint in various shades of blue, it seemed like the perfect time to test this hypothesis.

so i did.

in retrospect i realize it would've been a good idea to photo the flowers on their own after painting, but as soon as i saw them, i mentally imagined them as the stars of a card made based upon kazan's sketch 47 from 2S4Y:

and i mean, i suddenly saw the whole entire card, like a snapshot: the flowers, wonkily concentric circles of bling & stitching, the corrugated cardboard, the swirls of wire. only the chinese newspaper, the leafy ribbon and...believe it or not...the bird (!) were not present in my "vision". other than that, i promise this was 95% complete when i saw it in my head:

(patterned paper: my mind's eye & current + bits of chinese newspaper, corrugated cardboard & notebook paper; kraft cardstock: bazzill; bling circles (re-colored w/copics): heidi swapp; bird clipart: anahata katkin; flowers: vintage silver and tiny purple flowers from michaels, both painted with various shades of blue watercolor paint. copper wire & millefiori beads from a beading store; ribbon: may arts; ink: ranger; rub-ons: american crafts; adhesives: hot glue, tombow mono runner, 3m foam tape, mini gluedots, sewing machine)

all i had to do was make the thing, which i did almost feverishly, in case the idea should evaporate completely whilst i worked. luckily it didn't, and i was able to pull all of the ingredients together quite quickly. by far the longest step was figuring out--after i had everything arranged--how to attach all the various bits and in what order.

the background papers & chinese text are machine stitched. the copper wire is wrapped around the corrugated cardboard, twisted around itself, and then both are attached to the card with hot glue in the center, and staples out at each end. the circle is reinforced with a bit of thin chipboard, hot glued onto the corrugated cardboard, and propped with two layers of foam tape under the bit that overhangs the background. the flowers, beads, and leaves are tacked at strategic intervals with mini gluedots, and anchored more securely with dabs of hot glue anywhere i was able to hide it.

at the very end i added a rub-on sentiment and a little swirl...and called it a night! yep. totally worth cleanin' that wall. :)

if i am in charge of packing your lunch...

occasionally, you're going to find something like this in there:

"hola. me llamo ferrero. soy muuuuuuuy rico!"

why?

because i've got a weird & tangential sense of humor.

because i have googley eyes and gluedots...and i'm not afraid to use 'em!

oh, just...BECAUSE!

♥♥♥

the continuing saga of happy mail (♥♥♥!)

i knew these tyggereye art stamps were coming:

i bought the dandelion when gina posted her most recent designs in her etsy shop; then she offered to carve me a custom butterfly...and there's NO WAY i'd turn down the offer of ANYTHING made by my stamp-carving, art-journaling heroine, is there??!!?

by the way, if you've been wanting to ask me, "hey lauren, do you have a special place where you keep your tyggereye art stamps, all together, near your desk, where you can see them?" why yes. yes, i do. since they're softer than commercial stamps, gina warned me that they have to be stored a bit carefully. thus, when frankie the flamingo arrived, i put him on my bookshelf until i could think of a nice safe place. but then i got the monstaz (mick-n-keef) and i couldn't bear to pack them away... (also, i daren't leave them unsupervised!) ...so they went on the same shelf. now i have a collection, which i consider sort of half art supplies and half decor!

♥♥♥

the fabulous & delightful leah mentioned in an email that she had spotted something she knew i would enjoy and was sending it along. i had no idea what to expect, but i knew it'd be gooooooood b/c leah a) knows me and b) does not do tat! :) but seriously, how cool are these paperchase monsta magnets, and as for the card... duuuuuuuuuuude! you can't get much happier of happy mail than this, can you?! i LOVE this card!

♥♥♥

however, when this arrived it was utterly unexpected and unbelievably cool. i didn't recognize the address on the package, but i often order things from half.com which arrive bearing the addresses of the individual sender. this WASN'T one of those, though, this was an incredible pack of vintage ephemera from a site called the paper flea market sent to me by my lovely friend and former 'varkmate tanis giesbrecht!

do ya see those vintage illustrations? the old business forms? that cool 1960-ish ibm punch card?! the milk bottle caps and trading stamps??! this is the vintage paper equivalent of a box of godiva dark chocolate truffles. i am drooling. seriously.

but the very best part is the enclosed card from miss tanis, thanking me for being me. is that about the nicest thing you can imagine reading, or WHAT?! (i confess, i got a tiny bit misty!)

♥THANK YOU♥

lovely tanis for the goodies...

...and especially for those very kind words!!!

♥♥♥

but this one's all on me

yep. i made another digital "top 100" for the same challenge at digichick. see, when i was making the original page, i noticed that i had at least 15 or 20 new york things: museums, restaurants, etc; and it occurred to me that i could probably fill an entire list with just new york things and free up some space! for this one, i got a bit artsy with the design: including photos, and frames, and what-not; so again, i had spent most of an afternoon by the time i finished. but holy moly did i have fun! which is about all you can ask from a sunday, really, isn't it?

oh yeah, i almost forgot, i used a sketch. it was diana's from sketchy thursdays a couple of weeks ago. i liked it very much, so even though i couldn't quiiiiiite see how to make a card out of it at the time, i saved it anyway. when i started working on this, i realized it'd be great incorporate some pictures, and that this sketch would be *ideal*. (which it was!)

(~digital materials~ papers: "urban energy", gretchen thomas & notebook paper pack, katie pertiet, both designer digitals; "bennett's hammock kit", roben-marie smith, digichick; "back 2 school", shannon freeman, free pea kit; frames: notebook edges #2 & classic curled photos, both katie pertiet, designer digitals; stars: "peace & quiet kit", gypsy couture, digichick; brads: "bennett's hammock kit", roben-marie smith, digichick; tag: "my drama queen kit", vinnie pearce, pixel canvas; apple clipart & nyc photos & all fonts (chonker, brando, susie's hand & misproject)downloaded from the internet; software: broderbund printshop & adobe PSE5)

and now i think the next thing i make needs to be something quite messy, with real paper, and loads of ink, and quite a bit of bling!!! :)

**********
once again, in case you cannot read the list...and for some reason WANT TO...here ya go (you'll have noticed i make lists thematically, as i think of them, rather than in any particular order):

♥ 1. the grid system 2. the subway system 3. the subway map (both as useful tool & as graphic art) 4. art deco tiles on subway platforms 5. buskers 6. central park 7. shakespeare in the park 8. the metropolitan museum of art 9. the view of #6 from the roof of #8 10. noodle shops 11. ciao bella gelato 12. grimaldi's pizza 13. the view of the brooklyn bridge from #12 14. park slope 15. the brooklyn museum 16. brooklyn botanic gardens 17. chip shop 18. the view of the statue of liberty from brooklyn heights 19. the bollywood theater in jackson heights 20. jackson diner 21. the angelika 22. film forum 23. the pedicures at hee-soo salon near union sq 24. canal street/chinatown 25. pearl paint 26. pearl river emporium 27. housing works book shop/cafe 28. the strand 29. the mysterious bookshop 30. (the very sadly missed) murder inc, foul play, shakespeare & co, colliseum, & gotham books 31. the ink pad 32. kate's paperie 33. century 21 34. (the late lamented) virgin megastore in times square (w/bollywood-movie theater in the basement!) 35. MOMA 36. the asia society 37. the guggenheim 38. the frick 39. cooper-hewitt 40. the cloisters 41. neue gallerie 42. the gift shops of any of the museums listed above 43. the postcards at the gift shops of any of those museums 44. the restaurants at #8, #35 & #41 45. dim sum 45. tea & sympathy 46. a salt & battery 47. radio city music hall 48. the rockettes 49. the "xmas spectacular" at #47 50. the xmas windows at macy's, lord & taylor, saks, etc 51. the xmas tree & decorations at rockefeller center 52. the xmas tree at #8 53. the touristy tours of nbc studios, radio city, etc 54. cafe mozart 55. the film theater at lincoln center 56. city opera 57. the bronx zoo (but quel schlep via subway!) 58. the world's fair unisphere in flushing 59. terrace on the park 60. burritoville 61. krispy kreme donuts in penn station 62. tacky souvenir shops on 5th avenue 63. bloomingdales 64. the tacky but weirdly cool train car restaurant in #63 65. the hamburgers at jackson hole 66. le pain quotidien 67. the shop next to E.A.T. 68. (the original incarnation of) the russian tea room 69. the "ultimate blini" at #68 70. skyline books 71. forbidden planet 72. JAM paper 73. the bus ride up madison ave 74. the bus ride across the park from #8 to #76 75. the bus ride down from the cloisters 76. museum of natural history 77. curry hill 78. the raj mahal 79. amin in brooklyn heights 80. lion brand studio 81. flirt/home ec. in park slope 82. taking classes at 80 & 81 83. the "yarn bus" to irvington 84. the train ride (beside to the hudson) from irvington to #93 85. the pavillion theater, park slope 86. coney island 87. the original nathan's at #86 88. the brooklyn aquarium 89. walking a block from the subway at #86 & seeing the atlantic ocean 90. richmond hill 91. the "doubles" at sandi's roti in #90 92. the lions at the main branch of the ny public library 93. grand central station 94. the empire state building 95. the view from the top of #94 96. the statue of liberty 97. looking up from a random point in the city & unexpectedly seeing #94 or #96 or one of the bridges 98. the hello kitty store on 42nd st 99. trinity church, wall street 100. the high line ♥