New Wallet

I made the duct tape wallet on the left 3 years ago just before I left on a trip for Ireland. It once looked shiny and new like the one I just made (on the right) yesterday. I think it was definitely time for a new one!

I used paper as the base for the construction and pieced it together bit by bit.

I have about a dozen library cards and an address book and a million bits of paper and such that for some reason I feel I must have in my wallet, so I need something pretty large. This wallet has a three tiered section for all my cards (below) and a large pouch opposite for my address book, receipts and cash.

I love the way it turned out! The great thing about duct tape is it lasts forever and is easy to repair!  Eat your heart out Kate Spade!!!

A Day at the Beach

Took Max to Half Moon Bay on Thursday. I was hoping the weather would hold out for our trip and miraculously we had sunny skies! I've had Max since I was 12 and he lives at home with my parents. I don't get to see him so often, but he will always be my baby.  MJ took some film of him running around. Hopefully she'll send it to me so I can post it soon. Isn't he the cutest?!?

Christmas at the Napa House

Napa house is adorned in festive greenery, lights, and all things Christmas...

Our advent calendar, full of little goodies to enjoy the whole month long.

Beautiful bough of bay leaves and oranges atop our tea cabinet.

Our mantle, with stockings made from vintage blankets.

Our little Christmas tree in jewel tones!

Napa House

Haven't blogged during the move which has stressed me out so badly!!!! I did, however, decorate the girls room in time for their first night. I stayed up until 2am making the bunting. The fabrics are the ones I'm using for their quilts, which will come in a week or two when I get my studio room set up. The Napa House (as we've dubbed it) is beautiful, and I am happy to start this space from scratch with Aaron. Mila woke up this morning and the first thing she said after she opened her eyes was... "This new house is great! Let's never move!" The girls have sung its praises all day, which is a good thing. Another bit of good news is my computer came and I can;t wait to set it up...oh, girls just came down the stairs wearing about 10 of my shirts each and I think its time to go upstairs and survey the damage! Wow! I have an upstairs!!!!

Making Paper Shoes

I've been making paper shoes for about a year and a half, but had a rush of enthusiasm and inspiration last night to make some miniature shoes. These guys are in inspired by Marie Antoinette style shoes, and are in anticipation of selling at the Craftaluma show in Petaluma.
I made several pair, and am excited to make more tonight!

A Venture to Scrap in SF

Went to Scrap this afternoon to check out the offerings. I've heard a lot about this place, and wanted to see what goodies I could find there. Some have compared it to Berkeley's Urban Ore, but it was more in the flavor of Center for Creative Reuse...a place for raw materials and whatnots instead of furniture and architectural salvage.

Scrap has a shelves of paper, rows of bindings and fabric remnants, and much more. Among my favorites, were the spools of thread and old sewing patterns.




We found a couple of good things, but there is lots of promise for finding treasures at a place like this.

Return of the Plastic Camera

I love taking photos and have always been a bit addicted to buying cameras. I recently purchased a stereo camera from eBay (which I have yet to use), as well as a few plastic cameras. My most treasured new purchase however, is the Diana+ camera by Lomo. The Diana+ is a plastic camera, a remake of the 1960s version which failed in its day. This camera is entirely made of plastic, and creates these dreamy vignetted images because of its construction and light leakage. I have owned a Holga for years (a similar plastic camera that also takes 120 film), and it was too perfect, I rarely had vignetting, and I was too lazy to modify the camera. What's so great about the Diana+ is that it also has a pinhole setting, two masks that allow you to take either 12 or 16 exposure per role, plus you can take one continuous panoramic image. This image is of my boyfriend's daughter and is from the first roll of film I shot with the Diana+. Its shot with Fujicolor Pro 400 H, 120. When I picked up the pics from Sarber's Camera shop, I was immediately in love. Check out the lomo website for cool Diana+ pics from other Diana+ users, and flickr has some good Diana+ groups as well.

Am happy to say I made a dozen ATCs last night. In the beginning of my ATC discovery, I started making ATCs with rubber stamps. Soon after I moved into making them with original drawings and paintings, but I love stamps and like using them in combination with drawn images. I pulled out my stamps last night for the first time in months, and made a series of bird themed ATCs (did I mention I love birds)? I posted them on Flickr, and hope to start trading more regularly. Its hard to get back into doing things consistently, making time to build something back into your routine, and it has always been something I struggle with in my painting. I think I have art ADD.

A bit tired tonight, so this post is a list of some of my favorite craft and art supplies, both new and old...
*Twinkling H20s by LuminArt (a new find, pictured above)
* Black Gesso (a staple)
*Colorbox Chalk stamping ink pads
* Permanent double sided tape
* Bone Folder (eveyone needs this, if you don't have one or haven't used one, go out right
now and try one!)
* Tea for dying (tea colored inks work well too)
* Roller ball pen with chocolate ink, my favorite is the Signo by Uniball in size .5
* Business cards size blank cards in Curry and Gravel colors for impromptu notes
* Baker's twine in red and white
* Ribbons, threads, and buttons
* And of course... Duct Tape and Dental Floss (hence the name of this blog)