JFK

Here's another short post; I just had to share this awesome find with you. These are plastic John F. Kennedy busts that also happen to be pencil sharpeners. Wow, right? I found these at SCRAP on Saturday, they had a bunch so I grabbed lots. I'm keeping a couple, but the rest I'm going to be listing on Etsy, so if you've always wanted a pencil sharpener in the shape of a dead president's head, you know where to go.

mel

ps - I did a little internet research this morning and found out that these babies were made in 1965. Cool, they're vintage!

Shop Updates As Well

I have some new books listed in the shop, including the two seen here, the Herons Notebook and I Love Text Number 4. There will be more coming this weekend, in addition to some new original drawings that I am pretty excited about! At least, I hope they will be coming this weekend; it is starting to get pretty smoky here (there are all kinds of crazy fires burning in Northern California right now), so I'm not sure if I'll have sufficient light to get good pictures. But hey, that might be a great excuse to finally get the scanner up and running! Anyway, be sure to check the shop this weekend!

mel

Too Much Excitement!

yes yes yes! i am getting dark brown book tape! I am so psyched.

Markers

I think I mentioned before that I was using my prismacolor markers to make my spirograph notebooks, and that it was ruining the tips on the markers. I was bummed because prismacolor markers are a bit expensive, and so I was looking for some other way to achieve the same results. My first thought was just to get a few sets of Crayola markers and call it a day, but then I was thinking about the importance of the ink being waterproof. The covers of the notebooks are made of bristol board, which certainly is not waterproof (though it does stand up to water rather valiantly), but still I would want the design to remain unchanged it someone were to, say, get a drop of water on their notebook. So waterproof markers are a must. But which waterproof markers? The first answer is Sharpie.

We have here Sharpie retractable fine tip markers, which have the sort of tip I'm looking for, but a rather limited range of colors, and they still run about 2 bucks each.

Here's a classic, sharpie fine point. This may be the one, but I am a little concerned that tip is a bit to big for the spirograph. But these are only 99 cents if you buy them individually, and they come in about 30 colors. And you can get a set of 29 for $27.99. Sounds pretty tempting right now.

I've never heard of Artline, but their Twin Nib Markers come in a set of the above 8 colors for $7.99 The colors are a little blah though.

Ah, Pentel, the marker of my youth. When I was in elementary school you were so cool if you had a set of these in their yellow carrying case. I wanted them so bad! I've bought them a couple time as an adult, and they did not disappoint. Their nibs are about the perfect size for this project, they come in tons of colors and a 36 marker set is only $18.99. The drawback? Not waterproof, y'all.

And so we come back to prismacolor. Well, after my exhaustive research (ha ha) I think I'm going to try out some sharpies (since I've got some at home already), and test how the pentechs hold up to being dripped on. But I very well may stick to prismacolors...they're on sale right now anyway!
mel

3 pm

All right, so I updated my flickr account to pro today, pretty exciting...I guess. We'll see, I'll have to take some time to play around later today. I got ten free moo cards with my upgrade, which I will use to...I don't know what, I still have an almost full box of moo cards from when they had that deal with etsy. They are nice little cards, I used them as price tags for my books at the Christmas Craft fair last year but that didn't go so well. I guess I can use them as business cards when I run out of my regular business cards.
I did a little extra time at work on monday and got to work pretty early today, and the result is that I get to leave at three today! I'm so excited, I cannot wait for 3'o'clock to come. I have so much I want to do, like go to paper source to get more PVA, go to the art store to get some different ink for linoprints, go to the post office and take pictures of new notebooks...and of course make more notebooks! I'm really excited by the possibilities.
I wanted to share this with you too, stolen from the Turtle Travel blog, it's super neat, animals found in the map of the London Underground! The animals are so cute. I'm going to have to check out the SF Muni maps now (especially with their impending revamp) and see what's lurking and hiding in there! Ha ha, probably not much, our underground lines are a little less complicated. I suppose if you took into account all the bus lines, maybe you could have something there.
mel

Lotta

This was the scene yesterday evening at Craft Gym. My lovely and amazing pal Erin and I dropped in for the launch party for Lotta Jansdotter's new book, and I meant to take a bunch more pictures but I got overwhelmed by all the folks who were also there. It was super crowded! But it was fun; it was kind of a crafting party, they had a long table set up with inks and brushes and stamps and stencils. I enjoyed watching the other people there making lovely designs on their muslin swatches while I waited for a seat to open up. We got to talk to Lotta for just a second, she came over for a bit to give us some pointers on printing. She was really lovely and I was smitten with her accent (she's Scandanavian) and her outfit (she had the cutest sandals). Overall it was a very neat experience and I'm glad I was able to go. Here are some pictures of my printing that I took when I got home.
This was my first try, it's a little muddled.
And this is my second, it's more minimalistic, which was more keeping in the spirit of Lotta's work, I think. I like both of them though. I know Erin took more pictures than I did, so maybe she'll share some with me so you can have some better examples of what was coming out of the party. Erin's swatch in particular turned out quite lovely.

Actually, Erin and I had quite the full day yesterday; we hit up three of my favorite SF spots: SCRAP, Mission Pie Shop and Philz Coffee, and we eventually ended up at Target, where I was able to purchase a Spirograph! So exciting! I've been thinking about getting one for a little while now. Here are some of my first tries with it:

Aren't they purty? I did these with my PrismaColor markers and I love how the colors came out, but the process really ruins the tips of the markers, which is such a bummer. I tried some with colored pencil, and those turned out nice too, I just don't have very nice colors of colored pencil right now. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the spirograph, but it's fun just playing around with it for now.
All right, I'm going to leave you today with a sneak peak of something that will be popping up in the ol' store soon. Enjoy!
mel

Leaving early

So you may have noticed (but probably not because i think my shop is being very unpopular lately) that i haven't added any new items to my shop in a while. last night i was finally getting ready to reverse this sitch, i was all set to make some new little books, i had my paper blocks already made, i thought to myself, "now i just need to measure out these pieces of matting that will become the covers." which is when i realized that my ruler had been run over by a computer chair and crushed to bitsy pieces. and also that i do not have another ruler. there is not a ruler in my house. sometimes i am really amazed by the things we do not have because they are things that i pretty much take for granted. like rulers. and formerly like staplers, but then it turned out that we actually have two. anyway, the point is that i will soon make new books, but first i am going to have to buy a ruler. preferrably one not made of brittle plastic that will crumble like a tortilla chip.
i am leaving for monterey in a matter of minutes. i hope it will be pretty there and i will take pictures and draw things for your enjoyment.
mel

Frustrated at Everything

Okay, so remember the buttons I was so excited about making? Well, the supplies I bought to make them are totally janky, as in they don't work. So, I am gluing buttons. IT IS TAKING FOREVER. Also, sometimes I have to stop and be sad and frustrated, which is really time consuming.
And I realized I haven't seen a movie in a very long time.

mel

Native American Summer

I've been a bad blogger! It's this hot weather, it makes me lazy! Not only have I not been blogging, I haven't been doing as much crafting either. I've really slacked off on my books. I've made some buttons, because those are a little less time consuming, and more knitting. Actually, I'm more excited about knitting than I have been in a long time. While I was in Sacramento, my mom showed me real quick how to crochet, which is something I've been meaning to learn forever. I love granny squares! I think I might also be ready to try to learn to knit in the round again. I want to make tote bags, and I really want to make a crazy quilt, to use up my stash. The other thing I would like to do is make hats and blankets for charity. If that is something that interests you, here is a link to some programs in the San Francisco area http://www.imagiknit.com/charity.html from one of my favorite yarn shops in the city.

I went to the art store today, which was actually kind of embarrassing because I had just been there yesterday and I saw the same people working there, and I don't really know why that is embarrasing, but it is. I was picking up some drawing fluid and screen filler. I had read about tusche in this really cool old screenprinting book that Steve got me for my birthday, and I thought it sounded like a clean, easy way to make screenprinting screens. Unfortunately, tusche is hard to find, and when you can find it, it's pretty expensive. Today I was looking at the Make It! blog and she was talking about drawing fluid, which I had never heard of before. I looked it up and wikipedia and, ta da! it is like an even cleaner, more modern type of tusche! I am really excited to try it out. My adventures in screenprinting so far have been more like misadventures.

I have to work on my homework before it's time for pub quiz. I have to draw one room in my house in partial blind contour. Ugh. I hope it takes less than an hour.

mel

SCRAP

If you'll recall, I mentioned SCRAP a while ago. SCRAP is pretty much my very favorite place in the city at this time. From their website:
SCRAP is a creative reuse center, store and workshop space founded in 1976 in San Francisco, California. Donations of re-usable materials such as textiles, paper, jewelry findings, wood, buttons and plastics are collected from businesses, institutions and individuals and distributed to art and educational groups.
By breathing new life into old objects, SCRAP reduces the amount of waste going to crowded landfills. By offering low cost art and re-use workshops and providing schools and organizations with badly needed art supplies, SCRAP stimulates creativity and environmental awareness.

What that means is, you go to SCRAP, which is a giant warehouse in an industrial area, and there is aisle after aisle of stuff. Pretty much anything you could dream of in your wildest crafting dreams. The other day when I was there they had about 20 bowling balls (unfortunately, none of them fit my big fingers.). They have a whole aisle devoted to papers; colored paper, lined paper, letterhead, weird cloth paper, rice paper, vellum, carbon paper...the list goes on. I spend most of my time in the paper area when I'm there. Last time, I picked up some letterhead for the San Francisco Chinese Bowling League! They also have tons of fabric, found photos, rubber stamps, National Geographics, wooden dowels, art supplies, greeting cards; I could go on and on. I just think it is the most amazing place, and I am really in awe of the people who run it. While SCRAP is a really awesome place for me to go for my bookmaking supplies, I think it is way cooler that it is an awesome resource for teachers. Hey though, keep it hush hush. I don't want too many people to know about SCRAP!

Anyway, here are some pictures from my walk last week from my sewing class to SCRAP:

It's pretty, right? I know, I was surprised. It actually kind of reminded me of Sacramento; flat, dusty and dry. It was much more pleasant than I had expected. I love discovering new areas in San Francisco, I'm always coming upon some neighborhood I never knew existed.

Oh, and here are a few really crappy photos of the album cover notebook I made for my friend's birthday:

Really, it looked way cooler in real life. The middle picture is the inside cover.

Finally, here are some elephants that Sarah and I drew:

And for those of you waiting on this with bated breath (oh, I know you're out there) the new digital camera is scheduled to arrive fedex on the 30th of this month. Until then, I am busily churning out the crafty goodness, so expect my etsy shops grand opening to follow soon after.
mel

busy busy

Yesterday was a busy busy day! I took a half day at work, which was really really nice. Then I tried to buy some muslin for my sewing class on Saturday...but that did not work out. Then I did a million loads of laundry and got stuff tidied and then my friend Erin came over for some heavy duty crafting. It was super fun. I really like having "craft nights." I made ten more of my "gumball" sculpy magnets and for some reason it took me about three times longer than the other day when I made seven. But they turned out pretty nice. Ooh, and we watched the new Laguna Beach (which is now set in and called Newport Beach or Harbor or something), and it looks exactly like the first season, meaning awesome.
Oh oh! I bought a new digital camera yesterday! I'm so psyched! It's a HP photo M something or other. It was on a really good sale, and the reviews seemed mostly positive. It's coming in the mail, hopefully by next week. I can't wait! I am so anxious to get my Etsy shop up and running. Also, I bought some Crayola Fabric Crayons today, because...well, I don't know why, because I am a sucker for that kind of thing I guess. Novelty products. I am excited to try them out tonight though. I am envisioning an awesome big rig truck and one of those funny Toyota trucks, in red...I'll let you know how it turns out.
mel

i'm a Cutter

Well, the digital camera is still broken in that it will not take pictures, but not broken in that I was able to upload all the pictures that were on it! I was so relieved. I was already thinking about getting a new digital camera, and now I guess my mind has been made up for me. All suggestions are welcome, since I have little to no experience or know how. Let me know what has worked for you.

I went to IKEA today (I don't know why exactly I'm writing IKEA in all caps), and I got the cute little red cart drawer thingee, and I also got this which is really cool (and cheap!), you buy little bins to put in it (it holds 12), I think it will be perfect for storing paints and brushes and other supplies. Now though I'm tired from driving around in the East Bay heat (Steve's car doesn't have air conditioning) so I am blogging instead of putting my new stuff together. Organization may have to wait 'til next weekend.


Anyway, like I said last night, I was crafting all night long, so I wanted to share some pictures of that with you. Here is one notebook I made:

Note the clutter. I really like how this book turned out, I used all the same lined paper, it's about 100 pages. The paper is really thin, I was writing on it last night and it's really nice, especially for pencil. It's really smooth.

Also last night I tried out my Crayola Cutter that I got for my birthday. As soon as I saw the Cutter I knew I had to have one, my craft knife skills are so mentally challenged. With this you use it like a pen or pencil, it feels very natural. Here is a picture of me working on a cute little tag I made, and a picture of the completed tag:

The picture doesn't really do justice to how cute it is. Finally, I made another book as well, I don't have any pictures of the final product because it was completed after the camera was broken, but here is a picture of it in process:


There were a couple neat things about this notebook, one was that I used my corner rounder on it, which I've had for ever but hadn't tried until last night. At first I was having some trouble with it, but I got the hang of it after a while and it really made for a neat look. Secondly I used this vintage Laura Ashley wall paper as the binding (the pattern is the first picture at the beginning of this post). I am really excited about that wallpaper because I saw it at SCRAP (more about SCRAP later) a week or two ago and wanted to get it but I already had soooo much stuff that I passed, but I when I went yesterday and it was still there I had to snatch it up. It was only four dollars for the whole roll! I can't wait to use it more, it's so pretty.
The last thing from last night, I tried making a felt magnet because I had a bunch of felt and a bunch of magnets, so ... why not?



I'm not sure how I feel about it...it's kind of nice, but I'm not in love with it. I'm not really that into flowers, but I wanted to do something quick and easy while I was still experimenting. Maybe dinosaurs would be better...

Well, I feel pretty refreshed now so I think I'm going to go work on putting my IKEA stuff together. I have to hurry though because I'm seeing Superbad tonight! I am so excited. Oh, speaking of Michael Cera, if you haven't already seen this, seriously, you have to. It is genius.
mel