Logic Is So Overrated.

Look how tidy!  I just had to brag a little bit

I did empty this  - two glasses worth - and today my stomach is mad at me.

I found this which I had totally forgotten about.  It was a learning piece from Subversive Crossstitch.  

I also added a doorknob to this cheap little dresser I picked up.  It was missing a drawer pull. I have plans to paint it at some point.

 

Look, I made an unintentional face.

So now I can move on to some of the million and seven things I want to work on.   I started to work on the journal idea I'm all excited about.  

I cut out the guts of this book.  It's the perfect size for pages that are folded in half regular paper.

I want to add some regular printer paper, pretty paper, some cool looking pages and some random inspiring quotes and bind it all in there. I'm stuck at the quotes part. I know how I want them to look but I think the idea needs to marinate a little bit before I make my quote pages.  I do have a collection of quotes in two separate Pinterest boards with content that overlaps quite a bit.  

Logic is so overrated.  

Plus Life

  

I wont get too much more done today.  I just brought in some wine, it's there on the right.  

 Ugh.  No matter how long I ignore it, my mess doesn't clean itself up.  Remember how I just did a big clean up just two short months ago?  The room did not keep itself tidy.  I know, you're as shocked as I am.

Check out this cool carousel display rack.  For the next craft fair.

 Today I'm trying to tackle it a little bit while making room for paper stuff.  I now have enough paper supplies that I have to acknowledge that I like making things with paper.  The paper needs it's own area.

I'm trying all my collage books in here but I have to many, I think.  I actually sorted pens today.

There are, of course, so many other things I want to do.  Just right up front, I want to do some zentangle drawing.  I want to make some art to mail.  I have some journal ideas I am really excited to try out.  But first, I need to find homes for all my paper and put away the blown out craft sale stuff. 

Plus life.   :)

Curvy As The Learning Process

It's called a learning curve.  We're in one.  First, I'm on my third try at a tank top ala Alabama Chanin (but my size).  Somehow it's not quite perfect but I'm getting there.  

I have gained a huge appreciation for wax paper.  I copied the pattern onto wax paper and altering it is as easy as taping on more or cutting it up. Which is, in case you didn't know, really easy.  

I don't have a picture of the first try because it has already joined the rag pile.  It was a bit small in the bust so I added a little triangle of wax paper to the front of the pattern.  It also had too large of an arm opening.  The side of my bra showed.  That  happens for me a lot with tank tops,  It's so awesome just to be able to add a little wax paper to the pattern and voila:  A shirt that's fit just for me!

2nd try, pretty good, but the little triangle I added in the front made it a little low cut for me.  

Number 3, much better.

What I need to figure out now is how to place a couple of darts - because I'm as curvy as the learning process.  

I think I can figure it out.

Then there's taking pictures for our Etsy Shop opening which is speeding towards us at an alarming rate.  I made a light box using some online tutorials (I love you, on-line tutorials - How did we ever know things before the internet?).  But the pictures taken using it are dim.  I think the bedside lamps didn't quite cut it and we'll need to buy some bright lights with reflectors.  But I did take a little time and f try to edit the picture online.

Can you tell which is which?  I realize that these are very shadowy..learning process, remember?

So we took some pictures outside.  It worked well but somehow books don't belong in the grass.  

Also, what do we do in the winter?  We talked and planned as we snapped pictures and the process of doing it all at the same time was very helpful.  Kind of like doodling while talking on the phone.  

We've come up with some ideas for how we want our pictures to look and what we want our aesthetic to be.  That makes it easier to make choices - kind of like a mission statement.  It's a process and it's really inspiring and enjoyable to be able to dig in and work to make everything come to life. It's a good learning curve, I really enjoy the process of learning now that I'm a grownup and get to pick what I learn and how I learn it.

Blown Out

Well, I had hoped to share pictures of our awesome both set up at Elver Park for the Fresh Air Craft Fair today.  But we got blown out.  Literally.  The vendor agreement said that the fair would go ahead rain or shine; it did not say that it would go ahead with crazy, gusty winds.

So here's our booth part way through being taken down.  That's when I remembered to take a picture.  It looked great and we actually held out longer than the people around us before the big wind came through.  The secret:  Attach the canopy to cinder blocks.  We were helping someone else keep her canopy from blowing away when the wind knocked everything off our table.

Look at the poor gourd lady.  This is when they cancelled the fair.  It was a bummer to do all that prep work and then have it cancelled but, ya know, shit happens and we met some nice people there.  Also, the wind distributed many of our new business cards far and wide.  

So on to planning our Etsy Shop opening.  It's May 21st  and I'm too superstitious to make a crack about the weather not being able to affect that opening.  

Chaos Slowly Becoming Order

Check out that crazy mess.  I've been collecting Mail Art supplies for months.  I knew one day there would be a reckoning.  One day, I would have to organize them all.  

Yesterday was my day of reckoning.

This picture was taken at about the halfway point.  And this is only the stuff that made it to the table.  I'm not a natural organizer and often will ask my husband (who is very organized) to help me figure out where to put things.  But I got through it on my own yesterday.  (Of course, there are, like, five messy piles of paper in my studio but let's not talk about those.)

Chaos temporarily contained.  

This picture isn't of everything, It's just the stuff I'm bringing to Osh Kosh, where my friend/business partner and I are running a couple of workshops.  We so love helping people make stuff, love helping them find their creativity.    

Love it!  It's really exciting.

It's way worth spending a whole day organizing paper scraps.  

One workshop is Mail Art and the other is Making a Piano Hinge Bound book.  

They books are really cool.  You don't use any glue or any stitching.   The binding is woven with sticks.

These workshops are part of a private function. But teaching people how to make stuff and helping them to open up their creative side is something we hope to do on a larger and more public scale as Rusted Thread.  

We're still in the planning stages and it's not unlike the process of organizing my big mess.  

It's like chaos slowly becoming order as we narrow in on what we want to be and how we want to be it.  Exciting stuff!

Halfway and counting down...

I'm calling this the halfway point.  I emptied the shelves and put lots of stuff into bins.  We'll be moving these shelves into the next room and then putting in some way deeper shelves.

Gotta find a sunny spot for my table.  It all looks so spare and tidy now 

But this is only some of what I have to put back in an orderly fashion.  

Actually, I'm going to cal it the thirdway point.

There's more here.  The quarterway point is starting to feel right.  I'd better get up and get moving.  

Super Secret Project

Sorry I've been out of touch.  I'm working on a super secret project that I can't post pictures of.  My hope is that it will include these: 

I may post pictures when it's all done and delivered, that will be entirely up to the recipient.  

Craft Book Review the First

With my Project QUILTING project all done, I'd say it's time for a non-sewing related post.

I love books.  Near the end of last year, the possibility of my writing some short craft book reviews to post on the library's Facebook page came up.  I was all aflutter and for several days lulled myself to sleep by writing book reviews of my favorite craft books in my head.  But then, lots of other things went down at the library and, while I haven't given up hope, the project has fallen by the wayside.  For them. 

Even though the only other book review type post that I've tried on the blog was a chaotic mess, I remain undaunted.  After all, I wrote that using one of those horrible little texting keyboards on a phone and survived.  I haven't written a book review since high school and, even back then, I only wrote about half of the reviews I was assigned.  I even got in trouble once* because I purposely gave a glowing review of a book that I knew my teacher hated and that I had only read half of.  I was not a model student.

Anyhoo, I'm a grownup now and I figure I can write a book review any old way I choose and about any old book I want to write about.  Since I'm writing them on my blog, I don't even have to behave.  If it's fun, this will be the start of an irregular series here at AnotherJenniferMakingStuff.

Here's my rating system.  A book can rate, at the best:  "Go Buy This Book And Pay Full Retail Value Right Now" to, at the worst: "Avert Your Eyes, It Burns, It Burns!"  I also reserve the right to make up the different ratings in between those two as I go along.  

The book I want to write about today is How to Make Books by Esther K. Smith.

This book simply rocks.  First, it's just beautiful to look at.  It's about as handmade looking as a mass produced book could hope to look.  The cover is cardboard, the title looks hand type set and the binding has lines drawn on it that mimic a hand sewn long stitch binding.  She hoped to have it actually hand bound but I'm sure that was too expensive
. 

The inside of the book is lovely, too.  The title page, table of contents and chapter beginnings are all gorgeously typeset.

I really appreciate the step by step illustrations, too,  They're works of art in their own right and are quirky and funny and fun to look at.  Oh, yeah, they're easy to follow, too.

The book is full of projects.  Duh, that's why I like it.  Speaking of that, even the no nonsense, non fancy title is just right.  But back to the contents:

The projects are described in a straightforward, very personal way.  The writer talks about where she learned about the different techniques and what they mean to her.  She's not super overly, crafty, girly, cutesy with her descriptions.  As a reader of many craft books, let me tell you, I seriously appreciate that.  She also doesn't fill the book with stupid puns or project titles that rhyme with themselves.  I HATE those.  But, back to those contents again.

The layout of the chapters is this: She introduces the technique, how she learned it and why she appreciates it and how to do it, obviously.  After that, she shares a few variations on the theme.  All of the samples she uses in the book are gorgeous and creative. Check out the instant book on the next picture down there.  Fabulous. 

There are little asides on different useful tidbits throughout the book like what bone folders are and why they're helpful and what kinds of thread she prefers and why. They come up at the perfect point of the books, like threads when the binding sections begin and that kind of thing.

There are seven chapters with different types of books and bindings.  Within the seven chapter are so many ideas and concepts and ways to use them that you're really getting more than seven new skills.

My favorite project, those of you who know me will know this already because I'm always shoving it down people's throats, is the instant book.  This would be chapter one of the book so maybe it's her favorite, too.  They are so simple and elegant and versatile.

I have used most of the techniques in the book as inspiration for many projects of my own.   That's really saying something because so often, I'll fall in love with one or two ideas in a book but the other thirty eight (just a random number there) do nothing for me.

I also think, after reading the book, that Esther K. Smith is probably a really nice person who I would virtually (she lives really far away) hang out with.  I'd be a little intimidated at first but then we'd totally laugh at the same stuff and probably get to the level of friendship of commenting on each other's blogs every now and then.  Which is plenty for me because I'm not very social.

I rate this book:  Go Buy This Book And Pay Full Retail Value Right Now!  I sure did.

Of course I'm going to pick a favorite as my first review because that's the first book that popped into my head when the idea came up.  I'll branch out to less positive territory one day...probably.  

You might also like her other books:   Magic Books & Paper Toys: Flip Books, E-Z Pop-Ups & Other Paper Playthings to Amaze & Delight, which I may review one day, and The Paper Bride which I probably won't review because I haven't read it and as I'm already married, wedding planning bores me.  

*  OK.  Way more than once, but that's for another kind of blog.

Please share any thoughts on craft books you would like to see reviewed.  I have a few lined up but it's always the right time to recommend a good book.  

I Can't Stay Grumpy

I'm going to be a presenter at the Wisconsin Book Festival.  Woo hoo!!

I'm going to lead a teen program on making Instant Books.  

Inspired by The Great Good Thing by Rod Townley and How to Make Books by Esther K. Smith; both incredible and inspiring books.  

So, with that in mind, I've been making instant books to use as display items.  

Of course, I had to make one out of denim - duh.

 

I picked a randomly sized rectangle of fabric; I went with slightly bigger than a regular piece of printer paper.  I thought that would be easier to work with than, say, a postcard size or a couch size.

 

If this had been regular paper, I would have just folded it, but I get to iron it because it's fabric.  

I folded/ironed it in half.

 

 Opened it and ironed it in half the other way.

Then, I ironed the edges in to the middle so that it ended up looking like this:

 

Then I folded it like that first fold again.

 

That gave me this cutting line

 

  Which I cut.  Just to the first horizontal fold

Then I'm going to refer you here (steps E and F), because, using floppy fabric, it was really hard to get an action shot. 

 

But, when finished it will be this shape.

 

Here's where I was when I ran out of time.  I need to sew these features on (That thing that doesn't match the rest is another instant book that I made out of paper...clever, huh?) and then I'll probably sew the rough edges together.  Fun fun fun!

Now, I think we should al collectivley shake our fists at Blogger which made me fight to place these pictures in order.  Grrrr Blogger!  

But, since I'm off to a workshop being run by Lynda Barry (!!!!)  I can't stay grumpy. 

No Brilliant Reason.

I made a book!  One of my mail art groups wants to have a journal swap so I made a journal.  It's full of mistakes but I'm good with it.  I learned a ton.    It was so fun to do; I see more journal making in my future.

 

I used Coptic Stitch Binding (I'm sure that doesn't need to be capitalized but it somehow seemed appropriate). I learned about it in How To Make Books by Esther K. Smith.  I used a cereal box for the covers and embroidery thread for the binding. 

 It also gets two pictures because it's an awesome technique.  It was the first time I tried it and it's a little loosey goosey.  

What's that you say?  Didn't I just buy a binding machine?  Why am I binding this by hand?  

I got nothing.  No brilliant reason.  Leave me alone!

Sorry.  I know you're just looking out for me.  

I used paper bags to make the pages.  I used this technique to make them look cool.  I also added some envelopes as pages.  The idea of the swap is that everybody adds to the journal and then passes it on, so I wanted to make different options for people.

 

One of the cool things about this binding is that the book lies flat and I hope that will make it easier for people to add their art work.   It's a long term project but I will post some pictures of it here when I get it back.

This Is What Can Happen

 

I went to the thrift shop to buy more jeans for my unintentional quilt.  I got ten pair (I have nine to work with since one pair fits my son).  But, that's not all I brought home.  

For, you see;  I have a dark, thrift shop secret. 

My love of horrifying ceramics.

I cannot pass this kind of stuff up.  Look:  That girl is totally orange.  And, that's not only a  pastel train it's also a glaring, hypnotist bunny.  And, someone thought it was a good idea to stick a huge hole for a candle in the head of a cloying cute little girl. 

But, wait.  There's more. 

I have more than this.  I took about this size of a pile to the library in the hopes that someone would use them for garden art but they were passed up.  Probably too terrifying.

 

 Here's a small portion which, for my family's sake, I've put in the garage. I don't know which one I love the most, the dolphins swimming in water made of glitter?  Maybe the prairie girl with the bonnet that hides her enormous alien brain?  No, it's gotta be the tall headed girl in jammies carrying her evil puppy overlord in her arms.  The part that's even scarier is that I've only just begun taking them home.  This collection is the result of only two thrift shop runs.  ...blush..

 

 This came home with me, too.  But, somehow, this lives in a different kitschy section of my brain.  It's added to my odd bird corner of the basement. 

 The collection I only realized was a collection during the last time I cleaned up my studio and found I had, like, a million stupid bird things.  This is what can happen when you strive let the unconscious, creative part of your brain take over. 

More birds.  Just sayin'

On the other hand, I got some pretty paper

and some fun and interesting stuff to collage with (Wartburg...teehee).

SHE CAN SEE YOU THROUGH YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN!