Skull ATC, Bird Stickers, Ticket Stickers, Gelliprint Tags

Hey, hey. It's the end of the day on Tuesday and I think I did a good job today with managing my time. I usually have babysitters on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays for about 4 hours so I can get work done, listen to my podcast playlists, fill orders, run errands, do art, and basically have alone time. I love being able to make a list of tasks that I've been meaning to get done and actually doing ALL THE THINGS. It happened today, it just so happens that the last thing on my list is a blog post. So here's my update!

I did a little bitty swap with an old Craftster buddy, AlwaysInspired. She just wanted some blank craft stickers (of which I have a whole roll), but I wanted to make something for her. So I made this skull ATC with paint, inks, gelatos, etc. The base is another gelliprint from Audio. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, especially the light peony doodles in the background.

 This grouping of birdy drawings made me smile. There's something about feathers. These are also for swapping, and they're all drawn on sticker paper for extra function and coolness.

 Also, swapped these altered tickets. (I got the idea from another craftster pal, Smmarrt). They're alien cats, because I love cats and I love weird things. Also, I made these into stickers using my Scotch ATG. Fun fact: there was also a blue ticket in this set, but I turned on my fan and it vlew off the table, presumably into an alternate universe, because I couldn't find it.

Last, I made some gelli-printed tag stickers out of blank labels that aforementioned Smmarrt sent to me. They turned out soooo cute and I can't wait to make more. They're gonna be perfect to use in my planner.

So, I hope everyone had a beautiful, peaceful MLK weekend. Mine was pretty okay, and I got to spend time looking after my poor unfortunate, pained husband who was separated from his wisdom teeth last Thursday. Until next time, I'll be making art when I can and sharing it here :) Have a really, really good week.

Captain's Log: Full Waiting Room

Written as I sit in a waiting room full of Alabama's senior citizens and one kid. So much Southern accent happening up in here. So. Much.

Today, Bob is getting his wisdom teeth pulled! All three of them. I had mine yanked last year. It wasn't bad. I only had two. Yes, I did say some goofy things afterward, the most notable: I yelled,  "I AM THE GAUZE BOSS!" because they gave me a ziploc baggie full of fresh gauze to replace the gauze in my mouth when I got home. 

I'm looking forward to taking video of Bobby when the doc is done with him. Fingers crossed that he says something awesome.

So last night, I had some time to craft a little bit. I wanted to go to bed early because I've needed extra sleep with this sickness happening. 

Here's what I made:

 

Some altered paperclips. They could be way cooler... if I had more time to spend. It's like inchie badges! Little bitty cute arts for your planner or other paperclip needs.

I'll make some more this weekend if I have time.

Until next time! I'll just be here waiting for Bobby to get his toothuses yanked...

Achievement Unlocked! 10 out of 10

Holy meatballs, y'all, I did it. With time to spare.

Wanting to be more creative and bloggy in 2017, I challenged myself to a Work Table Declutter Challenge and I flippin' owned it, son! Granted, it wasn't TOO hard of a challenge, but I still feel good about myself. I need that. My goal was to create and send 10 quality Happy Mail Envelopes using only what junk and supplies that live on or have pooled up on my worktable. I send out the final six envelopes today. 

Each one of these envelopes contained a Kitty Sticker and postcard (blogged here), along with a grumpy octopus sticker and scrappy bookmark. 

 I drew these when I was channeling a wee bit of rage. Budzone was sick this past week and as a result has been whiny and screamy. Kip did not catch the sickness, but he did get some of the awful-behavior through some kind of baby-osmosis. I was at my wit's end, so I placed my children ever so gently on the playroom side of my studio and drew disgruntled octopi on a blank shipping label until I felt a little better.

 These are the bookmarks that I made. The backgrounds are all paper scrap from a catch-all scrap basket glued onto scrap chipboard. Luckily, there were a few lengths of random used baker's twine in the aforementioned basket to tie onto the tops. I am really happy with how the houses turned out, too. I've always admired cute little crafty houses that people on Craftster would make, and then I'd try and they'd look like.... not.... good. So, I think I was doing the roofs too big. I've cracked the formula. Don't make the roofs too big or the houses look like arrows to space.

Speaking of space, check out this moon drawing I did last Inktober. (That was an incredible space segue, I know.) I just wanted to show you guys because I hadn't yet.

At any rate, I'm glad to be back in the bloggosphere and I hope to stay in orbit for good. It's in my goals. And I intend to crush it.

Kira: OUT

Kitty Stickers

I deleted the Facebook App from my phone (again). I was just spending too much time reading my trash newsfeed. As Aziz Ansari put it, I was on page 1 million of reading the worst book ever. As much as I kept telling myself that I couldn't live without the memes, I know I want to be so much more deliberate with my time. I'm always thinking that I don't have time to blog or read or whatevs because of the kids, but I spend a lot of time on FB on my phone. So I want to replace that with better stuff. It'll take me a while to become unglued from my phone, but hey, it's a start and a step in the right direction.

I'm laying here on the couch and the kids are napping, so obviously out of habit, I reach for my phone. Checking Craftster, Instagram and playing Disney Emoji Blitz have taken the place of Facebook for now. I thought maybe times like this would be a good opportunity for me to update my blog. So I just dropped $5 on this app for my phone that will let me blog via the couch without having to run down to my studio and use the computer. I hope this app works better than Google's stupid blogger app.  

Anyway, I'm sick. I feel like I got pummeled by the Hulk. Now I know why Buddy was such a turd this week. I want to curl up in bed and hide from the world. Instead, I'll mope and update my blog. I made these kitty stickers on Friday night. I have a big roll of kraft stickers that I want to start using, so I'm pleased. These will be part of my Happy Mails for my Workspace Declutter Challenge.

 

They're things that I think cats would say, but I think I can relate to all of them. My favorite is the pooping one. I don't poop outside, but would if I had to. TMI! TMI!

In addition, I completed some other postcards for the challenge also. A set of six, using more gelli-print from Audrey. 

 

This one is my favorite. This is sass fish. I am sass fish. I want people to treat me right. I want people to be cool. I want a chicken sandwich. I want to nap whenever I want. I want justice. Aren't we all sass fish?

Well, until next time. I hope your weekend has been great :) And a little sassy.

4/10 Done: Work Table Declutter Challenge

Alright, I'm well on my way! In my previous post, I challenged myself to make and send 10 pieces of quality Happy Mail using only the junk and supplies that had pooled on my work table area. Let's just be honest: I'm crushing it. I sent out four arty little Happy Mail envelopes today. Each one was a decorated envelope, a lil piece of collage art, a tag, a little package of miscellaneous sticker flake, all attached to a hand-drawn/painted postcard. Here's the loot I made:

These collage pieces are all 1.5x2.5" in size. They're cut from a couple of pages of Readers Digest Condensed book (yup, lucky enough to have a page with black and white pics!) along with washi and some gelliprint scraps given to me by my illustrious #BAFF Audio. (Best art friends fo'ever.) The cut out phrases have been collecting on my desk for months and ages and centuries. I use them whenever I can. 

These are the postcards I drew. They're abouuuut 4x6, but really are whatever size the chipboard sheets were that were there in my catchall paper scrap basket. Fortunate... These are just random doodles. My favorite is the wild and free ape. The backgrounds were painted first with craft acrylic, then doodled on with a paint pen, colored in a bit with gelatos and then accented with Uniball Signo opaque pens. But they should be called MILKY PENS because, childhood. (Does pentel even make them anymore? Meh. 20 years ago...) 

And here are the embellished envelopes, covered in paper scraps and rogue worktable stickers. They're each on their way to some lucky recipient. Six more happy mails to go until I've completed my challenge! I'll finish this post off with gratuitous close-up shots of my postcards. Happy Tuesday, y'all.