A few weeks ago, I mentioned my notebooks and sketchbooks. I also keep a calendar-style scrapbook, using a 9” x 12” wirebound mixed media Strathmore Visual Journal as the substrate. Each two-page spread covers a single month. I glue in decorative paper, photographs, ticket stubs, and ephemera I’ve found along the way. By the end of 2013, my scrapbook documented two years of my life. It had grown fatter than its spiral binding could accommodate,…
Have you ever thought about what the phrase “You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear” really means? It’s another way of saying that you can’t make a high-quality product from poor-quality materials. Don’t waste your time and money using cheaply made, sub-standard materials; it will only cause you frustration and end with work you simply aren’t satisfied with. If you want to produce quality product, use quality materials. (If you are patient…
I keep two notebooks consistently: my sketchbook and my daily notebook. My sketchbook captures ephemeral content from my right brain: sketches, doodles, scribbles, random creative inspiration, and color combinations. This is the notebook I also take to meetings and workshops, where I can let my right brain run loose while the left brain pays attention. My daily notebook stays with me all day to capture the mundane contents of my left brain before they leak…
I don’t buy greeting cards. I make them. It lets me be creative, and I never have to fret about Grandma receiving the same card from us and from one of the cousins. (It also gives me an excuse to horde decorative paper, but that’s fodder for another post.) My cards may not be as sappy or as snarky as the ones you buy down at Walmart, but they do come straight from the heart. About the…
I am addicted to paper. Some artists “collect” fabric, others yarn. I collect paper. The worst thing that ever happened to my wallet was the day I discovered decorative scrapbooking papers. Put it on sale and it’s like crack for me. I always need more. To be fair, there is so much I can do with it. I glue it to the front cover of my sketchbooks and spiral notebooks. I tape it to empty…
