I Can Colour

Octo-Lady!

2012-01-28T18:57:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I wish I had eight arms (and some coordination). Then I could REALLY get things done.

I found a library card that I had liberated from a used book store in my stash yesterday, and since 2012 is the official Year Of Using Up All The Good Stuff, I started doodling on it. I know you're as shocked as I am that it's another octopus. I don't know why I have them on the brain lately, but I predict that you might see one more yet.

I coloured her in with Inktense water-soluble pencils and a water brush, then went over the lines with a Staedtler pigment liner.

Then I thought how nice she would like (and how beautifully she fit!) on the back of this tag in my current art journal and voila! A little bit of messing around on the top of the tag and I called it done.

Bonus photo, because I love these and I know you do too: the journal on my messy, messy desk.

Smooches!!

Love Shelley

Go the f*&^ to sleep!

2012-01-27T09:04:00.000-06:00

My kids have been really antsy at night lately, and can't seem to stay in bed or go to sleep within a reasonable amount of time, which makes me irrationally angry and eye-twitchy and control-freaky. So last night I sat at the kitchen table so they couldn't sneak around without getting caught, and drew a little bit. I had been inspired by Nina Johansson's art, specifically this piece. Don't you love the internet? I've had some really great 'aha!' moments lately while I've been surfing around - like this reminder that you don't have to draw THE ENTIRE ROOM, you can pick a corner or a bit and just draw that. That realization takes away the pressure of trying to figure out how to fit it all in, and where to even start.

Next time I think I'll outline in ink though. The pencil is pretty soft-looking and I think I'd like it bolder. And the perspective issues will probably straighten themselves out with practice, right? (Say yes!)

Over and out.

Love Shelley!

Note to self.

2012-01-20T12:44:00.000-06:00

Because sometimes I forget.

Love Shelley!

Oops, I did it again.

2012-01-19T22:15:00.000-06:00

Last week we spent a few days in Edmonton and visited the West Edmonton Mall. There's lots there to do and our fun didn't depend on the weather. We did lots of cool stuff, including a quick 18 holes at the mini golf course. I fell in love with the scenery - someone did an amazing job of designing all this whimsical scenery, so I took a bunch of pictures and later drew this... marker with pencil while the kids were swimming. I tried something new (I had very limited supplies with me but that only seems to make me more creative!) I used a red Inktense pencil to do the shading on the drawing before I added any water-colour to the drawing.

As I was doing it I wondered why I don't do this more often. It makes sense, because once the Inktense is dry it's waterproof and won't move around. Then I added the yellow and really liked it.

So around the marker, I added a very pale wash of blues and greens, thinking I would add some text later on. Now it's a week later and I really wanted to finish it tonight. That light wash seemed way TOO light, so I started adding darker watercolour with abandon. Then I discovered that the word "MINI" was actually done in a water-soluble pen, although I can't for the life of me remember what I used. A fine liner? Must be. Anyway, it smeared all over the place, so I added more dark blue and purple to even it out. In for a penny, right?

Now, even with the white outlines, I know I overdid it. Again. When will I learn?

At any rate, it was an interesting game. My 7 year old son took WAY more than the 1 mulligan per hole we agreed on, and somehow still "won". My husband, meanwhile, kept giving me suspicious looks when I got par or lower on a hole, and now I'm pretty sure he thinks that I'm secretly golfing when he's not around. I guess it's not the worst thing I could be doing behind his back - wait till he sees me bowl!!

Until next time...

xoxoxo

Shelley

Goodbye, comfort zone. (CAUTION: BOOBIE DRAWINGS IN THIS POST)

2012-01-18T20:26:00.000-06:00

Well so far January has been pretty exciting!

In the last week I've stepped well outside of my comfort zone. First, I did this:

This is the Mindbender, the awe-inspiring roller coaster at West Edmonton Mall. It's 14 stories high, and is the largest triple-loop roller coaster in the world. I told myself 14 stories is no big deal, after all, I rappelled down the front of a 17-story building last summer. Well, the Mindbender makes the DropZone event look like an afternoon in a hammock. It only lasts a few minutes but it's still pretty (terrifyingly) memorable. Also? Turns out I scream like a little girl on fast rides. I did not know that about myself.

********

Then, I did something I've been talking about for the last 6 months. I went to a life-drawing evening. This is way out of my comfort zone because a) naked people and b) I've never gone to anything like this before. It's not a class; so there is no leader as such. It's just a person (NAKED) that we all gather round and draw.

Well it turned out to be a really nice evening. It was my first time sketching; it was the model's first time modelling. In my head I imagined that the model would be silent and aloof and very separate from the people drawing her; but she turned out to be really friendly and cheerful and came around at all the breaks to visit and see what everyone's work looked like. It was a very low-key, casual, and thoroughly enjoyable evening. She started off with 1 and 2 minute poses:

Then moved on to 3 and 5 minutes:

And then 10, 20, and finally a single 40 minute pose at the end.

If you're looking at the pictures and laughing at some of the details, don't worry, I laughed too. But they're pretty strict with the timer - when it goes off, she strikes a totally different pose. So I got interrupted a couple of times. I'll learn to judge my time better and not give her half a head of hair or only one thumb next time. Also my only goal for the evening was to be able to look at my sketches and recognize that it was a human being. So I'm happy with my progress so far!

Now... what will I do this week to keep up this fabulous momentum?

Stay tuned...

Love Shelley!

I have a good feeling about this year.

2012-01-08T17:03:00.000-06:00

I don't believe in the Mayan prophecy... after all, if the Mayans were so smart, there would be Mayans.

So I think 2012 is going to be a really epic year. I feel like in 2011 I was just warming up, just testing my wings. All the big things I did last year were actually just medium things. This year I'm planning on taking off and amazing everyone, even (especially) myself. I don't think there are any limits to what I can do.

This is a small (actually tiny) example of what I'm talking about. I have lots of art journals and I've messed around in all of them. Then a little chunk fell off the back of one that I cut in half (don't ask - you would be horrified at what I did to this poor book). But instead of chucking those pages, I decided that it would be kind of a starter kit. Since then, I've just been taping a new page onto the back of it every time I decide to work on it. I'm breaking EVERY RULE over here, you guys. HAHAHAHA!! Okay, so that's a super minor example, but you get the idea. I'm keeping an open mind and doing things the way I want, not the way they've always been done.

I've also added some tip-ins and fold-outs. Because I love a book that's interactive, that you have to touch to find the secret hidden bits.

I glued two of the tags I had back-to-back and taped them in.

In these two pics you can see the fold-out open (up) and closed (down).

Also, this "page" is actually an envelope I taped on with masking tape. Right now it's the back of the journal but I'm pretty sure it won't stay that way for long. I'm also dreaming up something interesting to put inside the envelope. Maybe blackmail photos or something.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks for visiting!

Love Shelley!

DOOOOOOOO EEEEEEEEEET!

2012-01-05T22:31:00.003-06:00

Hi guys!!

So are you all signed up for Nathalie's Creative Jump Start 2012? YOU'RE NOT?!?! Well GO! GO RIGHT NOW!!!! No really, I'll wait. It's free, and it's amazing. It's amazing, and it's free! Some of your very favourite artists have put together tutorials in various formats that will give your creativity a kick in the pants. It's possible that I'm raving prematurely, because to be honest I've only watched the first video - but you can see by the impressive lineup of artists that this is going to be an EPIC series.

The first artist featured (and wow, did this start with a bang) is Dina Wakley. I've been a big fan of hers for a very long time; her style is very free and inspiring and COLOURFUL! And we all know how much I like bright vibrant colours. Her Creative Jump Start is a warm-up exercise that she does before she starts creating for real. Although you may agree with me that some of her "warm-ups" are cooler than some of my finished work! But that's neither here nor there.

I followed her example, and this is what I came up with tonight. Unfortunately it's a bit too late to start any "real" art, but I really like these the way they are! Check them out:

These tags are basically finished. I'd probably stick them on an art journal page as is. OR cut bits out of them to use on something else. I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists on them, Staz-On black ink for the stamping, and Sharpies to do the writing.

The next three. I'd probably add to these, possibly with some words on Dymo tape; and then use them on art journal pages or in letters to my pen pals. Especially the one that says "Do not look inside." That really has to go on the outside of a cool envelope, don't you think? I like to keep the mailman on his toes. Hee!

The final three. The middle one is the only one where I changed up the technique a little. I got out a stencil and some Mr. Huey's white spray, and gave it a spritz. However, the dark blue ink underneath wasn't dry yet, so the white turned light blue. However, I really like how it turned out. I fiddled a little extra with the one on the right. Dina's work is really organic, her stuff just seems to turn out right away, but I liked the red on the edge so I purposely added more, even though it totally felt like cheating. I was trying to get some yellow in there too but my yellow wouldn't spray so I was just dripping it everywhere and making a colossal mess. SO MUCH FUN!!!!

Just to give you an idea of one reason why this jump start grabbed me so instantly: Dina mentioned that she often does her warm up exercises on manila tags, and I just HAPPEN to have a drawer full of them. That I organized just last week. Serendipity? I think so.

Want to see some close-ups? Well, okay!

On this first one, I loved how the two colours ran together; you can also see a hint of the shimmer that the spray leaves behind.

Better view of the shimmer/glimmer; kind of strangely focused though. I only have my iPhone for taking pics at the moment, but these did turn out surprisingly well!

This one is almost too simple; it definitely needs something. But I so love how the red blends into the orange that I couldn't bear to cover it up yet.

And finally, this one is much more messy-looking but I love the distressed effect that I (accidentally) got.

Now, I just hope that all this mojo lasts until the next time I get a crack at my art supplies. Stay tuned!!!

Love Shelley!

Let's Wrap This Up.

2011-12-31T12:07:00.000-06:00

Hey guys!

I haven't been making as much art as usual in the last couple of months, but I'd love to show you what I DID manage to finish. Wanna see?

This little guy is an ATC. It's a little 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" card, made from some very soft watercolour paper. The little critter is a Blue-Footed Booby. I did him for a swap I was involved in, and he's off in the mail to someone in the US. Safe travels, little buddy!

I waited for what seemed like FOREVER for Jill Berry's new book about maps to come out, and it was worth the wait. I've had a map obsession for years, and now I'm actually starting to make some maps on my own. I started with this phrenology doodle in one of my art journals:

You might see more noggins in my work. I liked being able to pin down everything that was floating around my head and causing me to procrastinate.

Next, I did this compass rose, inspired directly by Heidi LaMoreaux (she's one of the featured artists in Personal Geographies.)

I had so much fun making this. I actually got out my compass and ruler and spent a very peaceful evening creating this from scratch on watercolour paper. Then I used an X-acto knife to cut out all the blank areas. The page is now mounted on vellum, which is that cloudy white behind the compass rose. I have lots of ideas to make more of these, in different shapes and forms. We'll see how many of those actually materialize. : )

And then last night, on a total whim, I stuck five shipping tags together and drew the road I live on. I wanted to capture the stories of all these homes and families on the road I've lived on for most of my life. It's not as colourful as some of the stuff I've been doing, but it does have a certain charm.

After I had an argument with my 7-year-old about which house was ours (he strongly disagrees that we live on that side of the street); I dragged out the old typewriter and typed up a couple of sentences about each house on the map. For me, half the fun and charm is the fact that you can't erase your mistakes; but my kids thought this was horrifying. They both tried their hand at typing after I was done, but beach left the room in tears because they couldn't get it just right. They are definitely children of the technological age! Oh yeah, my 9-year-old also wanted to know "what are all the little poops" on the page. *sniff* It is SO nice to have a family who's so supportive of my art!!

Finally: this is one of my favourite things that I've worked on recently. It's pretty big; 19 1/2" across and 6 1/2" tall. It's on a piece of black heavy-duty paperboard? I'm not sure what it's called. I think you could use it as book covers, it's certainly thick enough. I was totally inspired by this Halloween costume I saw on Pinterest. Pretty sure I like my version better though! HAHA!

That is all for now!! I hope that you have all had an EPIC year, and that 2012 brings health, happiness and lots of art to all of you.

xoxoxoxox!
Shelley

Whew.

2011-10-02T09:17:00.000-05:00

So it's been a while. The short version of the story is as follows:

Things have taken a turn for the awesome around here. I predict amazing things to come. The end.

I'll probably expand on that one of these days but for now, here are a couple of things I worked on this week:

There is more to the address than just "SWARTZ" but I can't just go around giving away peoples' addresses all willy-nilly. The font, called "circus" is one I downloaded from a free font site, printed out, then sat and painstakingly wrote out with a 0.1 Copic multi-liner. I wanted to go for a circus feel, and I really liked that font. The biggest compliment: my son thought the letters were rub-ons.

The envelope is actually the main event - it's meant to be sent empty. I put a piece of cardboard inside to stiffen it, but sending a decorated envelope was the whole point of this swap. It was based on this book, called Mail Me Art (you can click to see samples inside the book); and I've been captivated by this project ever since I heard of it. This isn't for the same project, it's a swap through swap-bot.

My kids also bring me little bits and pieces of neat things because they know that I like to decorate the pages in my journal. (See? Awesome.) They gave me this piece of cardboard, so I attached some bits and pieces I had lying around, then did a bit of random meandering journaling on it, and cut notches into it so I could slip it into the coil binding inside my book. I hadn't worked in any of my art journals for a while, so this was more of a warm up than anything else.

That's all for now, but stay tuned. More awesome to come.

Love Shelley!

Laid Bare

2011-07-15T12:28:00.000-05:00

This is the cover of my new eight-dollar art journal. I wanted something a little bigger (9x12") so I can make a bigger mess. First I went through the book and tore some pages out, made fold-outs and stubs, and just generally made it a lot more interesting than it was when I brought it home. This is what I've done with the formerly-plain-brown-and-boring cover, and as you might guess, the object of the game is to get right down to the bottom of some stuff that's been bugging me. I have a couple of pages started in it, but nothing ready to share just yet.

But don't worry; there will always be enough silly to go around... after all, this is me we're talking about. This guy was speaking to me so I added him into my book, by gluing him onto a piece of cardboard and then punching holes to make him fit into the book.

This is the back of that piece of cardboard. Sometimes my favourite things are made from things that have no value whatsoever! I guess I should take that to heart and quit buying expensive paper.

HAHAHAHAHAA!!! That will never happen. EVER.

Love Shelley!

All Serious and Stuff

2011-07-04T09:47:00.000-05:00

Okay, first of all that first page says "worth less" not "worthless". I was having some pretty intense feelings when I was working on that page, of, well, being worth less. Not as important, not as worthy, not as accomplished, not as interesting, not as attractive - I'm sure I'm not the only one who's ever felt that way. It's a self-portrait, but to make myself feel better I made my nose smaller. HAHAHAAAA!! Also my eyebrows aren't really that scary, I just got carried away when I was drawing them in. The miserable look was real that day though. (Don't worry about me, this was very temporary. Working it out in my journal really helped.)

The second page - well I love the badass quote, and to be honest, this is how I feel 90% of the time. My heart is guarded, my feelings are well-protected, and most people can't see past that to the vulnerable person inside. Which is just the way I like it. It keeps me from having too many of those "worth less" days. Don't tell anyone, ok? I'm trusting you.

Love Shelley

YAY CANADA POST!!

2011-06-28T12:14:00.000-05:00

SO glad the mail strike is over. I know they don't have all their differences with the union settled yet, but I'm just (selfishly) glad that postal service will resume today. Now I can mail some of these babies out:

I discovered a place in town called Arts Junktion last week. It's in a semi-sketchy area but I went in the afternoon (ie. broad daylight) and everything was fine. If you don't mind following directions that go something like this: "Go behind the building, down the alley along the fence, past the loading doors, then up three steps into a small discreet wooden door" then this is the place for you.

What they do is accept donations of "junk" that artists may be able to use - all kinds of stuff, from legit art supplies, to used binders and other office supplies, fabric and leather scraps, buttons... really anything that COULD be used for art. Then? And this is the part that floored me - you can come in and pick whatever you think you might use. FOR FREE. Yes! Really!!

I was very careful not to go all crazy and grab up everything in sight, I took a few select things that I knew I would use. For example, the three wee paintings at the top there are done with gouache and paint marker on old 5.5" floppy diskettes.

While I was waiting for layers of paint to dry on those, I took a few minutes to put down a background in one of my art journals. I had done half a page in here several years ago (it's horrible, I'll probably never show it to you - or I might paint over it) so I drew a black line with a sharpie and decided the bottom half of the page will be something entirely different. Here it is so far:

I have no idea what it will be when it's finished but at least the colours are fun!

See you soon - go check your mail!!

Love Shelley!

The Daily Doodle

2011-06-09T10:46:00.002-05:00

Do you ever notice that sometimes your random mindless doodling turns out better than any actual art you attempted on purpose in a given day?

Oh. Uh, me either.

Because everyone likes a nice octopus, right?

2011-06-06T09:21:00.000-05:00

I was busy writing a long-overdue letter to a sweet friend of mine and I suddenly started to worry that I was going to run out of interesting things to talk about. The problem was that I had already taken apart several empty envelopes and trimmed them all to the same size and stapled them back together into a booklet, so I was really feeling the (self-imposed) pressure to fill every single page.

Of course this was before my son engaged in a dance-off with a carnie at a rural festival; before my daughter announced she was mad at God for letting her nana's cat get run over on the road; before my husband came home with a recipe for making mini bombs out of stray blobs of mercury; before I played 'make-up bag' with my sister, and before we met the dumbest waitress on the planet (when four people arrive at a restaurant for dinner, and the waitress asks you how many of you would like cutlery... seriously?!) So it turns out I would have had LOTS to talk about, but that's fine, because who doesn't like a nice orange octopus?

*sorry about the facing page still being there - I scanned this one instead of taking a picture, and I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the extra stuff. I COULD tell you what it says, but isn't it more fun to imagine what I wrote?

And that's it for now. I have more but I really have to figure out the technology part before I post this stuff.

Love Shelley!

Some recent journal pages

2011-05-10T12:43:00.001-05:00

I've been busy working on all kinds of journal pages, having fun with stuff as the inspiration hits me. In some cases, I haven't even been waiting for the inspiration, I have just jumped right in, and actually that's how that chicken coop page started. I added the fold-out page before I had any idea what I was planning, but luckily for me it all turned out all right. I always feel a certain sense of relief when an experiment ends up looking like I meant to do that all along.

A friend of a friend very ~~gullibly~~ trustingly sent me a couple of her journals to work in. MOOOO HOO HAHAHAHA! She didn't even set any guidelines, just told me to have at 'er. Honestly, some people will trust ANYBODY!

The top page is done in a regular composition journal, and the bottom three are in a small notebook that's around 4x6". I'll be popping them back in the mail to her tomorrow.

Until then, keep your stick on the ice.

Love Shelley!

Hungry?

2011-05-03T11:35:00.000-05:00

Last week I had to attend a meeting for Cameron's soccer team, and since I work in the city and the meeting was in the city, I decided to stay in the city rather than driving home and back in again. So during the downtime, I treated myself to a burger at A&W... this isn't the actual burger though. It didn't last long enough to pose for a portrait. HA! No, I was way too hungry for that. While I ate, though, I drew the burger off of the coupons they gave me. I just used a red verithin Prisma pencil crayon that I found in my desk at work. Originally I was planning on going over it afterwards with a Sharpie and colouring it in with watercolours, but then I decided to leave well enough alone.

Although.... if I would have painted it, then it would probably be easier to tell what each layer is.

Bon appetit!
Love Shelley

Road trip, anyone?

2011-04-12T10:29:00.000-05:00

I've got my eye on you.

2011-04-10T21:18:00.001-05:00

There are layers of journaling around the outside edge of these pages. I didn't want anybody to be able to read it - I just wanted to unload into my journal and get this stuff out of my head. I always find it helps to do a brain dump now and then!! Anyway, I was feeling as intense as this eagle looks when I did the writing. Afterward I was able to relax a little. More like a ... flamingo? Are flamingos more relaxed than eagles? They look more cheery and pink at least.

Are you still listening to me? I wouldn't if I were you. I'm not making much sense. : )

Love Shelley!

My First Car

2011-04-08T10:42:00.000-05:00

I learned a lot of lessons from this car when I was 17 (and so was the car). How to pour gas directly into the carb when it wouldn't start - and how to thump the starter with a hammer when it wasn't turning over properly. How to give it gas without flooding it. How to do donuts in an icy parking lot. That every car has its little quirks, and once you figure them out, then you can have a beautiful relationship. It was a tank - chrome bumpers, everything made of steel; heavy and hard on gas. I had a flat tire at least once a week, and for a while there I was setting land-speed records - I could change a tire in five minutes. Especially once my dad got me a monster-sized crossbar to unscrew the lug nuts. That was a sweet crossbar... I wonder what ever happened to it? Likely if I had something like that in my vehicle today it would be considered a dangerous weapon. It never really occurred to me to try to figure out WHY I was getting flat tires so frequently; looking back I can't help but suspect sabotage. HA!

I had some pretty good adventures with this car. Camping trips, bar-hopping, a little bit of off-roading. I even got my first speeding ticket in this car! Eventually it went down the line to my brother and I bought a new car. I did some math and figured out that the new car payments would be about the same as just putting gas into this beast. The new car didn't have as much character as this baby though. For starters, it wasn't baby poop green...

I love these old beat-up, solid-as-a-rock, big-steering-wheeled, rear-wheel drive tanks. OR maybe I just miss being 17? ...Nah. It's definitely the cars.

Love Shelley!

Sketchy

2011-04-04T21:32:00.001-05:00

The eyes and nose aren't quite right, but I'm getting there! You can tell it's a person, so I'd say I'm doing GREAT!!!

Love Shelley!

Bright Colours and Shallow Thoughts

2011-04-02T13:58:00.000-05:00

Hey!

I'm still here!

I've been doing some spring cleaning and decluttering, and not surprisingly ... creating more room got my mojo rolling like crazy once again. Here's another one of the daily doodle postcard-sized watercolour drawing/paintings I did.

One day, I'll get there!

(I drew and painted this based on a photo I found on flickr.)

Drew and painted based on a chocolate bar I ate.

Drew and painted based on a daily doodle of Teesha Moore's. I didn't know I was going to take it this far with the plagiarism until it was too late.

I love the free-motion stitching pictures, because they inspire me to try to achieve lines like that with my black pens.

Sure, I try to be all badass... but it's hard to pull that off when you're drinking a bright pink concoction out of a red straw. I have to make more of an effort to like bourbon, I guess. (Bleah)

I have lots more to show you, but this is probably enough for right now. I've been working on some art journal pages - they're just bubbling up out of me right now. Spring break must agree with me!

Hope you're enjoying it too. And if you find yourself sitting on a patio having a girly drink... have one for me too!

Love Shelley!

Nature Lover

2011-03-04T11:22:00.000-06:00

This plant has a lot in common with Fred Penner's cat. I wonder if I gave it to a man going up in a balloon, if he would take it up to the man in the moon...?

I guess it would be more humane than "loading up my shotgun with nails and dynamite." Right?

Love Shelley!

Happy Mail!

2011-03-02T13:59:00.000-06:00

Slightly crooked as usual, and the white words really disappear into the paler colours at the top. (watercolours, sharpies on watercolour paper)

My inspiration:

Just a little bit of the outgoing mail around here lately.

That's all for now. Be back soon!

Love Shelley!

Bonus Day!

2011-03-01T12:34:00.000-06:00

I was all ready to head in to work this morning when I got a call from the bus driver: school is closed! I wasn't expecting that at all. But really, there's no downside (besides getting further behind at work, of course, but I guess I'll just work reeeeeeeeally hard tomorrow.)

The kids were happy that I was here to have breakfast with them; less happy that I put them to work emptying the dishwasher after that, but happy again when I decided to bake! Right now there's a lemon slice in the oven. Maybe later: chocolate chip cookies. After all, if the weather is miserable enough to force us to stay home, then I'm pretty sure some comfort food is in order.

I'm also going to try to get a couple more of these little sketchy things done. I have Big Plans for this collection of stuff. I'm telling you that so that I will be accountable - I know my own tendency to start on a Big Idea and then not follow it through. So I'll share this with you: I want to do 28 of these, and then make 'em into a zine. I've always dreamed of doing zines, and after all, I AM trying to make this an epic year.

Okay. I'm off to see how much butter I have. Cookies and watercolours are the order of the day, and that makes me really happy.

Love Shelley!

You might have to squint a little

2011-02-24T09:07:00.000-06:00

I had a great time this past weekend working on some postcard-sized doodle/paintings. And I just realized that it's already THURSDAY and wow, am I late showing these to you!

Actually I'm only going to show you one for now. I don't know if it's because the watercolour paper is still slightly curled, or if I did something wrong when I cropped out the extra stuff, but this photo isn't exactly accurate.

The colours are pretty close to the original, but the actual picture is taller and narrower, not short and stumpy and crunched-looking. So yeah, if you squint a little you'll get the idea, but I think I'll try to get better pics to show you the other ones I did.

Back soon.
Love Shelley!

Never had one lesson!

2011-02-13T17:15:00.002-06:00

Okay, that's not EXACTLY true.

A couple of years ago, I signed up for a beginner's art class that was supposed to teach me how to draw. Well, the teacher and I didn't exactly see eye to eye. Her idea of teaching was to repeatedly say some phrases that didn't mean anything to me, like, "Just draw what you see!" (If I could do that, I WOULDN'T BE HERE) and "Compare and contrast!" (?????)

So yeah. I've had a couple of lessons. But on the whole, I just try to draw what I see. HAHA!! Ironic, isn't it.

I didn't see this chicken in person today. Just a photo of him standing atop a building. He's a roadside attraction somewhere, I think. I thought he looked majestic and happy, so I decided to see if I could draw him. I was just playing, nothing serious.

I sketched him out in Sharpie and filled it in with watercolours. He does not look exactly like my model, but if I don't show you that one, then you can't compare and contrast, can you? Basically, if you can tell it's a chicken without me giving you a broad hint, (BAWK!) then I'm happy with how he turned out.

Of course, I can never leave well enough alone. I thought he was a little boring, so I added some extra details to the background.

Can you still tell it's a chicken?

Good. Then my work here is done.

Love Shelley!

True Confessions, Part XXIXVIMXXIV

2011-02-06T20:31:00.000-06:00

So here's something I've been exploring: the "FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT" way of life.

It's kind of cool, actually, as long as you don't lose your nerve. When you can project the confidence that you know exactly what you're doing, that everything is going your way because it simply wouldn't dare do otherwise, that things are working out exactly as they should, and it's all because of your sheer awesomeness... well, even if it wasn't strictly true to begin with, sometimes it ends up actually turning out that way. And somehow, you just make it look easy.

Like magic.

And then you find out? That you had that wild, free-flying awesomeness inside you the whole time.

Trust me on this one.

Love Shelley!

So I have this penpal...

2011-02-02T10:48:00.000-06:00

She's awesome and amazing and has made me realize something about penpals who turn out to be (or turn into) real friends. Just because we live far away from each other doesn't mean we have to follow the traditional penpal rules, where she sends me a letter, and then I send her a letter in reply, and then we each take turns ad infinitum writing to each otherNOOOOOOO. Rules are for people with no imagination!

THIS penpal has sent me three very different items since the last time I sent her anything. And one of them was a quick-and-dirty thinking-of-you note that was actually just as awesome as the other two more elaborate packages. Which got me to thinking: that's right! Every single thing I mail doesn't have to be "ART". Or rather, it can be, but it doesn't have to be the kind that takes four days to put together.

In that spirit, I dashed off a note on a long piece of gray heavy paper I'd gotten at the thrift store (a big pile of these sheets for $0.49!!) and added just a couple of embellishments, nothing fancy at all. Just a quick hello and update on how things are going over here. Then? I didn't even put it in an envelope.

I know! How much less formal can you get? Instead I just folded it up and used these Avery mailing seals to keep it together.

Of course, you kind of have to know ahead of time that you're doing this, so you can leave a clear area for the address, but I think it's kinda cool. Oh, and this also works best if you're just using paper - not adding in little loose things as gifts or anything. If this does happen to come open, nothing will be lost. And a mailman somewhere will be highly amused to read the transcript of a recent prayer I sent up. Win-win, right?

I didn't really do anything fancy with the back, it was getting late and I was determined that this was going to be a quick note, and would be in the mail TODAY.

I'm happy to say: mission accomplished.

Love Shelley!

Giant postcards!!

2011-01-31T10:51:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I sign up to do fun things that have nothing to do with my own art journals, just for a challenge and because they're usually a lot of fun. Plus they always result in getting awesome mail in return.

This one was through http://www.swap-bot.com/, and the assignment was to make a giant postcard for your partner. In the US they can send something up to approximately 6" x 11" (or is it 11" x 6"?) for FORTY-FOUR CENTS!!! Wow. If we had that rate on postage I'd be sending out massive postcards all the time. Oh, plus they can be up to 1/4" thick!! Just think of the possibilities!

Canada Post unfortunately does not have a separate rate for postcards, so I was going to have to pay the "oversize letter" rate. Which to the US is $2.06, as long as it's not over 100g. I figured I'd better get my money's worth. I made a "postcard" out of a cardboard file marker that measured 9 1/2" x 15". Since it was pretty huge and kind of intimidating, I started off by basecoating it with gesso. If I don't have any ideas for something, I'll often start by throwing down a coat of gesso or paint, just so I'm at least doing something, not sitting there stalled. And more often than not, the ideas do come. Unfortunately I ended up covering up every bit of the card with collage material afterward, so the gesso turned out to be completely unnecessary. That's okay though, it got me moving at least.

I started gluing stuff onto the card.

Doesn't that look amazing so far?! Sometimes my genius is almost blinding.

I collaged a whole bunch of bits and pieces to my postcard: a parking pass, some EKG paper, tissue paper, old receipts, a calendar page, some fabric tape, washi tape, rub-ons, a computer punch card, patterned cardstock, part of a flash card, a photo, labels, magazine bits, a piece from a lottery ticket number picker - really anything that was within reach that was fairly neutrally-coloured. Then I started stamping - I used a dotted-line roller, a date stamp, a script stamp, and some number stamps. Oh, also the "UTILITY" stamp that I got at Value Village. I have no idea what it was originally used for, but it's one of my current favourites!

After that I covered the whole thing in a wash of titan buff paint, to blend everything together.

Starting to look like something, right? After that I stopped taking progress pictures, because I kind of got into it. My victim - I mean SWAP PARTNER - likes the number 8, the ampersand symbol, and the colour blue. So my postcard wasn't entirely made up of random elements. I tried to make something she would really like.

The ampersand is actually a thin chipboard cutout, covered in patterned paper and then trimmed and the edges sanded. I did the lettering by hand, which is why it's not always straight. But I do really like how it turned out around the ampersand! It reminds me of an ad for a circus or something.

It's going out in today's mail. Hopefully it arrives quickly; mail from here to the eastern seaboard seems to take about two weeks, for some reason. I sure hope it fits in her mailbox!

Have a fantastic day, you guys.

Love Shelley!

This isn't about the Beatles

2011-01-23T15:33:00.001-06:00

I started this page a loooooong time ago - I put down the background paint, put the gaffer tape around the edges, and glued down the heart and used rub-ons to spell out love love love.

Then I stalled.

I loved the colours, but couldn't think of what else to do with it. So it sat, literally, for a couple of years.

Then a couple of days ago, I made the colours a little stronger with watercolour crayons, and added the black and white dots, and then the rest came pretty easily. I liked how my last page turned out, so I did a couple of things the same - writing over the whole page in pencil and then using stamps to do the big lettering. I just used pencil crayons to fill in the letters, but they didn't cover all that well, so I ended up giving them a quick coat of white gesso first so that the blue/green would actually show up. It was easy-peasy, just a little time-consuming (but meditative!)

The finished product, I have to say, is a nice change from my usual angry pages! But for the last few days I've been feeling pretty contented and relaxed. I was a little worried that without the strong negative emotions, that my creativity would desert me. After all, it has been my outlet for a long time.

The good news is that I have a BUNCH of unfinished pages in various in-progress journals, so maybe I can dump out all kinds of happy emotions into some of them for a change. Maybe the reason I couldn't finish some of the pages was because they were too positive, too pleasant, too sweet and light, and were meant to be filled with love and laughter instead of rage and frustration. Well I guess we'll find out, won't we?

Until then,
Love Shelley!

Well, it looks good from far!!

2011-01-20T11:36:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone!

I'm finally back, and I'm done that sandwich board sign that my brother Neil asked me to update for his church's dinner theatre program. After my sister Kristy and I brainstormed and doodled some ideas, we decided on a layout, and then I put together this idea of basically how I wanted it to look:

Neil had given me the old sandwich board, and the plywood was really too rough to paint on, so we got some pre-primed 1/4" hardboard. Two coats of gesso, and I was ready to put the pattern down.

At this point, I was congratulating myself for being so far ahead of the game. After all, Neil didn't need the board back until February 15. This thing was going to be a MASTERPIECE!! People would come from far and wide to see The Sign! I would be drowning in commissions in no time, because nobody would be able to believe my amazing sign-making capabilities, even though I've never made a sign in my life! (I have a very rich fantasy life, can you tell?)

Only it wasn't meant to be. Somewhere along the line, we messed up the dates. I suspect he said January and I just got it wrong. At any rate, he called me on Monday night and asked if it was almost done yet.

PANIC!!!

On Tuesday evening Kristy came over for a different purpose entirely, but as soon as she walked in the door, she found a pencil in her hand - she got the drama faces transferred to the boards while I started painting with red. Lucky for me she's easygoing, plus it turns out she's really good at this kind of work!

You know what I really hate about red paint? IT DOESN'T COVER VERY WELL.

At around 9:30 my brother Dave showed up, and soon found himself with a brush in one hand and an eraser in the other. Then Mike came home and he got put to work too. I am an excellent recruiter!

Kristy was very concerned about the paint not covering very well and looking splotchy in places. I assured her that people would be mostly looking at it while they were driving past it in the dark. So no worries! (When you have 24 hours to go, your standards tend to fall away pretty quickly.)

Plus the state of the "before" sign ensured that ours would look good by comparison no matter what we did to it. Heh.

Here's the almost-finished product, splotches and all:

Mike graciously dug into his personal stash of red reflective tape and put arrows on both signs for me. Here he is posing with his handiwork. Can you see his brain?

And finally, here are both sides of the sign. Neil can figure out how to affix them to the existing sandwich board - my work here is done!

Obviously, I owe Kristy, Dave and Mike a huge thank-you, because there's no way I would have finished this in time by myself. Plus it was fun working on it as a team - sitting at the kitchen table joking around while we all work together is always a good time.

All in all, a fun project! Working big was a refreshing change, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm looking forward to getting back to my paper art journals. This weekend is going to be a huge treat for me - a bunch of us rent a church hall once a month or so, and spend an entire Saturday working on our art/crafts/scrapbooks/whatever, and that's only two days from now. I can't wait to see my friends, and I am really excited to spend the day doing art stuff. Wheeeeee!

With love and rockets,
Shelley!

EDIT: The sign got lots of compliments - for about a week. THEN SOMEONE STOLE IT.

Well. I guess that is the ultimate compliment. : )

Mean-Yelly-Mom, That's Me!

2011-01-16T17:20:00.000-06:00

I started and finished this page all in one day, which is unusual for me. Usually I have several pages going at once, and I jump back and forth, letting stuff dry and ideas evolve as I work. Otherwise I would totally lose my momentum and I would never finish anything.

Anyway, today this page almost did itself, it came together that easily. I started off by gluing down some paper bits on the plain page, including a piece of paper in a strange language, a piece of a calendar, an EKG, and some washi tape. Then I painted the whole page with watercolour paint, and stamped on those nice lines in grey staz-on (I thought black would be too stark.) Next I cut out some hearts from those dictionary sheets I made the other day, and then lined them in black marker and stapled them on.

In pencil, I wrote a whole page of thoughts, then stamped the words over top in black staz-on ink, and then it took a few tries to figure out what colour they should be. After a few false starts (white? no. yellow? Really no.) I settled on red, coloured them in, and shaded beside them with a charcoal pencil to make them pop off the page.

And really, that's about it. There were no fancy techniques on this page, just a quick, easy brain dump. I was very frustrated this morning because of a sleepover gone bad (five kids, hardly any sleep) and to be honest, I was hiding in the craft room and supervising from a distance because I just wasn't good company and I didn't want to be mean-yelly-mom all day. I'm sure if-I-didn't-see-it-it-didn't-happen mom is way better, right?

I have a couple of other pages on the go, but I have been asked to paint a sandwich board sign for a church dinner theatre production, so that's what I'll be working on for the next few days. I'll post progress pics, and in between maybe I'll get a chance to finish one or two of those other journal pages too! (OR I'll watch all the episodes of Modern Family that I've been saving up since December. Depends on how creative I feel.) I guess we'll find out together.

Have a great week,
Love Shelley!

I Am A Big Chicken Sometimes

2011-01-12T09:35:00.000-06:00

Here's the danger in looking at someone else's art journal pages:

Sometimes you find out more about that person than you really wanted to know. (That's what they call foreshadowing.)

ANYWAY. I started off this page by gluing down this cool rooster I found, along with the big hand from a completely different source. I had no idea where I was going with this, but I was sure it would be interesting and fun. (Because aren't all my pages? Ha.)

So it sat for ... well, a couple of months, to tell you the truth. Then I realized that a CHICKEN could symbolize my FEARS! I know, that's pretty deep. The stuffing pun goes out to my brother John. He loves jokes like that.

I know some of these fears are perfectly justifiable, but a couple are just plain goofy. I love fast zippy rides, but the ferris wheel makes me light-headed with fear for some reason, even the kid-sized one at Tinkertown. And I know airbags have saved countless lives, but all I can ever think of is how if mine ever deployed, it would jam my glasses right into my face - ow. I have a recurring mental picture of accidentally lightly rear-ending someone, and the airbag blowing up, and then me jumping out of the car and weaving around in traffic like a drunk, clutching my face and screaming, "my eyes, my eyes!!" In my imagination I'm actually pretty dramatic, hey?

As for high school reunions... well, I still have plenty of anxiety dreams about forgotten exams, locker combinations, class schedules and PANTS, that I'm in no rush to revisit those days.

Sorry if I put any negative thoughts in your head. I'll try to be more positive next time!

Love Shelley!

Saying "lady friends" makes me giggle

2011-01-11T08:28:00.000-06:00

WELL!!

Another year has passed, and like clockwork, my birthday rolled around again. I don't usually go out of my way to celebrate it, because it's so close to the holidays that I'm all celebrated-out by then. But this year... no. This is the year of EPIC, so I rounded up my girls and we went for drinks last Sunday night.

First, I'm crazy lucky to have such awesome friends - every single one of them came out, and we laughed our asses off all evening. It was a great time.

Second, they all agreed to go along with my (ahem) story about my current age. I figure 29 has really been working for me, so why change things up now? Right?

I'm trusting you guys not to rat me out.

Love Shelley!

I am so smart! S-M-R-T!

2011-01-10T05:30:00.038-06:00

Hey guys!

I had a good time on Friday - I've been really inspired by bright colours lately, so I decided to just play a bit. I ripped three pages out of a really old dictionary and then used paints and watercolour crayons, and pencil crayons, rub-ons, and some paint markers to make them bright and exciting. The plan was to be able to cut out shapes, or rip them up and use them on journal pages, so I wasn't too concerned about the colours not blending together well.

Yep, still addicted to circles! (I know you were wondering.)

Then I used that orange/yellow/pink one in the middle... first I sprayed gold mist all over it, so it shimmers like crazy. Then I drew and cut out a bunch of stars. Then, since I couldn't stand to waste the scraps (PRETTY!), I drew and cut out a bunch of circles.

Then I used them on this page:

And you can click on the picture to make it bigger if you want, to read my genius idea. BUT --- you should know that after I stapled on all the letters to spell "G-E-N-I-U-S", I looked at the package and realized that they are self stick letters. All I had to do was peel the clear backing off, and I wouldn't have had to mess around with the big stapler.

So...not a genius after all. But it's good to have something to aspire to, right? I just have a feeling I'll be aspiring for a long, looooooong time.

Love Shelley!

Happy Colours, Silly Thoughts

2011-01-07T06:57:00.000-06:00

Here's another page from the journal I'm working on for my friend Holly:

After I covered the page in those great pink dots, I kind of got stuck... so I dug through my stash and found a collage sheet I got from Nancy Baumiller's Crowabout shop - honestly, you should check out her stuff. It's amazing, and sometimes it's just the kick of inspiration I need to get me going again. I cut out that semi-circle with the "10" at the top and glued it down, and from there everything started flowing again!

I have the day off today and the kids will be at school, so I'll have just over EIGHT HOURS to do my own thing... now I just have to decide whether I'll spend any of that time doing housework or other mom-stuff - or if I'll just do the mad-scientist-in-the-craft-room routine that I love so much. I'll let you know how it turns out - and if you do come over to visit, don't judge me on the state of my kitchen. Heeee!

Love Shelley!

I admit, I was reaching.

2011-01-06T06:21:00.000-06:00

My long distance friend Holly (BEST PENPAL EVER) asked me if I would be the first to work in a collaborative journal she was starting. Of course I jumped all over that and said I didn't mind at all being first. Then the book arrived and I stared at it for a couple of weeks, just waiting for inspiration to strike. After all, anything I did in the book would have to be EPIC!!! Right? (no pressure...) I did a couple of pages, and wasn't that excited with what I'd produced, and then I ran out of ideas altogether and started recycling. Recycling's good, right?

I went through some of my old stuff and collected a bunch of the bits and pieces I'd doodled, mostly while on the phone.

I added a fold-out. I love hiding places and interactive bits in my journals.

Some close-ups:

As far as the finished page, the only thing I'm not crazy about is the lack of colour. Surprisingly, the monotony of cutting and pasting totally fired my creativity, confirming my theory that if you just keep at it, the good stuff will definitely kick in.

I attacked the next few pages with an explosion of different colours. Stay tuned - especially if you like pink.

Love Shelley!

In Which I Reveal My Dark Side

2011-01-05T06:23:00.000-06:00

Taking a risk here:

I debated a lot before I decided to post this one. It's not because of the gratuitous use of the f-word... it's probably because I was really seriously pissed off when I did this page and I know that the emotion comes through loud and clear.

And I've spent years and years trying to keep people from being able to see what I'm really thinking. I'm like the emotion ninja - no matter what's going on in my head, I can usually paste a pleasant smile on my face and carry on like nothing's wrong.

And now here I go just putting it right out there.

Hope I don't regret this.

Love Shelley

Bad News... and Good News!

2011-01-04T10:35:00.000-06:00

This is where I annoy you by finding the bright side in an otherwise-completely-irritating situation:

Next week, postal rates are going up again.

A letter sent within Canada goes up 2 cents, from $0.57 to $0.59.

A letter to the US goes up 3 cents, from $1.00 to $1.03.

And finally, letters sent internationally go up 5 cents, from $1.70 to $1.75.

The silver lining is that Canada Post has come out with some new low-value stamps, so you can top up the value of the stamps you already presumably have hanging around in your wallet, purse or a glassine envelope prominently placed on your desktop. (That last one might be just me.)

I was at the post office the other day and picked up a few of each - look!

I know my crappy pictures don't do them justice, but they are really pretty. Gorgeous bright colours, black edging to make them show up on your envelopes, and of course, they now come in every domination from 1 to 10 cents!!!

This one's my favourite:

From Canada Post's website: "In this latest tribute to beneficial insects, five more tiny helpers squirm onto the scene in the form of low-value definitives: the paper wasp, the assassin bug, the large milkweed bug, the margined leatherwing and the dogbane beetle. In 2007, Canada Post celebrated five other beneficial insects that roam Canada’s gardens and marshes: the golden-eyed lacewing, the cecropia moth, the convergent lady beetle, the northern bumblebee and the Canada darner. "

I'm partial to the 9-cent stamp too. Tiny art to add to envelopes... for PENNIES!! What could be better?!

Love Shelley!

My 2011 Resolution

2011-01-03T12:44:00.001-06:00

Happy new year, everyone!

So do you guys make new year's resolutions? I used to make massive ambitious lists of stuff I wanted to accomplish for the coming year, and while it was fun to dream about actually doing all those things over the course of a year... well, the reality was that it was really disappointing to look back at the END of the year and realize how few things I'd finished. And this went on year, after year, after year...

So last year I finally wised up and made a different kind of resolution; one that I knew I could keep. One that would make me feel good at the end of the year, not like I'd failed. That resolution was "Keep Being Awesome" and I totally rocked it!

It turned out so great, that I decided to go that route again this year. I present to you, my resolution for 2011!!!

I'll let you know how it goes... but I'm not gonna lie, I think it's going to be pretty great.

Love Shelley!

A Little Rusty But Still In The Game

2010-12-30T13:55:00.001-06:00

Hi you guys!

LOOK!

So you may have noticed, I completely lost my mojo for a while there. Thankfully, (and I mean, I am REALLY grateful) it's coming back... at first just a trickle, but now I seem to back to my standard "barrage of ideas, not enough time to execute them because my pesky kids keep wanting supper. EVERY NIGHT."

At any rate, I knew I was getting back in the groove when I started looking at used envelopes at work with lust in my eye. Suddenly, throwing out all those vast expanses of pristine, beautiful kraft paper seemed so WASTEFUL! NO! It must not be allowed to happen! I could MAKE something with that! My nostrils may have flared.

Of course, I'm limited at work, both in time and materials, but I tore up one big envelope and folded it into this accordion to glue into my journal. The winter tent photo I found in a trade magazine at work, and since the colours were totally irresistible, I ripped it out to add to my inspiration file. Yes, I'm a big garbage picker, don't judge.

Once I got home, I glued the photo onto the envelope and set out to see if I could duplicate it with pencil crayons. I find that trying to copy something is always a good learning experience. Not just for my future career in counterfeiting or forgery if I ever get bored of the financial services sector... but also because once I figure out HOW something is done, then I can go ahead and adapt it to my own style. You know, once I figure out exactly what "my own style" is.

Then on the back, I went back to my other true love: making lists. (Wait, maybe THAT'S my style...?)

Nothing soothes the soul like a good numbered list. Plus it's nice to get all that clutter out of my head and down on paper. Now my head is completely empty, save for the sound of the wind whistling through.

I wish.

No, my head is full of a new jumble of to-dos, thoughts, plans, worries and ideas. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Love Shelley!

Blaque Jaque Shellaque

2010-09-24T08:31:00.000-05:00

Guess who kept me company this morning while I was getting ready for work?

He's probably cooking up a dastardly plot right now.

I don't even know what I mean

2010-09-23T07:59:00.000-05:00

Okay! I'm back. Sorry for the long break - I could regale you with excuses or I could show you some pictures.... which would you like?

I KNEW IT! Okay, let's go!

Last month I had the opportunity to work in a themed traveling journal. Our assignment was to do a "sign-in" page that said a little about ourself, then one or two pages on the theme of "LOVE". Once it's finished, it will be sold to raise money for charity.

For the sign-in page, I kept right on with my circles-and-rays obsession:

And then for the themed page I did, this is what happened:

There's a coat of crackle on the page, which adds an amazing amount of texture, I think I'll have to try that again soon!

As for what I wrote, well. I'm sure a psychiatrist would have a field day with that, but I don't really know why I wrote it or where it came from. It just sort of... spilled out onto the page. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually but in the meantime, I've sent the journal off on its way to Minnesota for the next person to make her mark.

Stay tuned; there's more to come!

Love Shelley!

How quickly things change

2010-07-18T19:08:00.000-05:00

So yesterday was basically the Worst Day Ever. I'll spare you my rant, but the picture below is EXACTLY how I felt last night, no word of a lie. I didn't feel all that much better when I got up this morning and I must say: strong emotion REALLY makes a page come together quickly. HA!

It's not fancy but it really says it all:

Things are mostly back to normal now, but there's a piece of pie in the fridge with my name on it, just in case.

Love Shelley!

F I E R C E

2010-07-17T16:59:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time, people used to tell me I was "too independent." It wasn't a compliment.

Of course, with marriage and children, day-to-day routines and commitments, my tendency to "pick my battles" and basically just the passage of time, my fiery independence has mellowed out somewhat.

Then this past week, I had a sudden flare-up of my old determination and spirit. It actually made me feel a bit more sparkly than usual, which just reminded me that maybe I need to be "too independent" just a little more often. I made this page before I could forget that swaggery feeling. Wait, is 'swaggery' even a word? Never mind, you know what I mean.

It seemed like the perfect time bust out some graffiti-style writing. I'm not so far gone that I'd dare to do this on an actual WALL, mind you - but I did daydream about it briefly. Heh.

Now I really can't wait to see what next week will bring!

Love Shelley!

So let's just keep this between us, okay?

2010-07-07T14:26:00.000-05:00

So I know this is kind of personal, and she'd probably be PISSED if she knew I was sharing this, but my 8-year-old daughter has more than her share of irrational fears, and they traditionally bother her the most at bedtime. I really try to be patient with her and reassure her that a lot of what she's scared of, could not possibly happen, or, if a particular fear IS semi-realistic, we work through the worst-case scenarios together and try to bring some reason to the situation. But for a while there, things were getting kind of ridiculous:

"I'm scared that woodticks will get into the house and try to get me."
"I'm scared that a bear will come and break my window and get into my room."
"I'm scared that lightning will hit our house" (this on a perfectly clear night)

One thing I'll say for her, she has an AMAZING imagination. Anyway, one night after she finally went to sleep at 10:45pm, my own imagination got sparked up, probably because she was coming up with something new and different every single night for a while there.

I don't know, I think he's kind of cute! I know you can't tell but his teeth and eyes are all shiny because I used a Glaze pen on them. I'm especially proud of his nostrils and tail.

Yeah, I know, now I'M being ridiculous. SOMETIMES IT'S A COPING MECHANISM, OKAY?

: )

Love Shelley!

Nope! Not done with these yet.

2010-07-06T08:12:00.000-05:00

Here's an envelope I was working on last night. There are many, many layers on here since I kept changing my mind on what I wanted it to look like - and it never seemed quite "done". It's still not perfect but it's going in the mail today anyway. I was going to show you a second picture - what my kitchen looks like since I farted away the evening working on this instead of washing the dishes... but I don't want to scare people away. It's enough that you know that sometimes I get sucked in by the craft room tractor beam and my housework goes undone. Pretty sure the Queen went back to England, so no worries about drop-in company, right?

By the way, this envelope is bigger than it probably looks - it's 5 3/4" x 9 1/2". I'm just going to add the address and a stamp and off it goes to California!

Until next time,

Love Shelley!

Sometimes I get really mad.

2010-07-05T08:42:00.000-05:00

I seem to have gotten into a bit of a habit of using these messy circles and the rays... and I don't want to become too repetitive but I have a feeling I'm not quite done with them yet! I used to try to do something completely different every time I started a new page, but lately I've realized that some things just have to be worked out of my system in their own good time. I don't always feel like I'm in control of this process, but things go a lot more smoothly if I just let these things happen. I'm probably not POSSESSED or anything... obsessed maybe?

As you've probably guessed, this page was my response to a big pack of lies. I was feeling pretty fierce when I was working on this! It's amazing how your thoughts get clarified when you put them down on paper like this. The best part is that I realized that there are certain things I won't put up with, and last week when I was put to the test I rose to the challenge and even impressed myself. Someone I know was up to no good, which is generally none of my business - except that he was conducting his 'no good' on my turf. I'm generally pretty easygoing but this whole situation made me really uncomfortable and I called him on it. He might still be up to no good - but at least I don't have to see it. I win!

Right?

Love Shelley!

Journal Spilling

2010-06-29T14:46:00.000-05:00

I recently picked up Diana Trout's book Journal Spilling and WOW is it awesome. This is my version of one of the exercises she describes:

It was supposed to be a self-portrait but it didn't quite end up that way - this doesn't resemble me at ALL. (I wish...) Anyway, it was still a fun page to work on, and I still love working in my newsprint journal. In fact I think I might make more pages and add to it. That's the beauty of making a book with binder rings, it's so easy to add or remove pages and to work on one page at a time by removing it from the book. Plus the pages are 9 inches SQUARE and sometimes I just love to work on a square page for a change.

Okay, back to the drawing board!

Love Shelley!

Shhhhhh....

2010-06-24T08:56:00.000-05:00

This is one of my favourite recent pages. I don't think the colours are exactly true on this picture but at least you get the idea. It's a pretty bright and fun page! Lots of watercolour crayon, and of course alphabet stamps. Where would I be without my alphabet stamps? I'D BE SAD AND LOST, THAT'S WHERE.

The quote is about not announcing your plans to the world. I think that for some plans, it's great to spread the word, because you get help and support from the most unexpected places. But sometimes, things happen much more easily if you just go ahead and make something happen instead of talking it to death first.

By the way, I hope you don't come here looking for me to say something intelligent. HA!

Anyway, that's all for today. I'm off to Minneapolis tomorrow for the weekend and hopefully I'll have some good road trip stories to share when I get back. I'm going down with a toothbrush and a pocketful of bail money. What could possibly go wrong??

See ya Monday!

Love Shelley

Cookie Therapy

2010-06-23T11:28:00.000-05:00

I was recently given a piece of really good advice in the form of a quote:

"We each have two cookie jars inside of us. One is for ourselves and the other is for all the people around us. We have learned to fill the cookie jar for the others and we bake a lot of cookies for this cookie jar. We have been trained not to bake cookies for our own cookie jar and we have also been trained to not even think about doing this for ourselves. Somehow, if we keep on baking cookies for others, our cookie jar will have cookies in it. Supposedly, others will be baking for us and everyone will be happy. But in reality it does not seem to work this way. Our cookie jar is usually empty and if someone does put cookies in it, they are never exactly the kind that we want at that time. No wonder that we start to feel deprived and resentful and angry as we watch others eating the cookies that we have baked. The paradox is so simple: fill your own cookie jar first with exactly what you want and let the overflow go to the other cookie jars. Keep your cookie jar full. Teach your family members to fill their own cookie jars first.” (Susanna McMahon)

I had this page started in one of my art journals, where I had tried out some copper paint and just basically played with some colours and made a mess. So I came back to it to do this page - and where I tried another experiment on the bottom right corner and it bombed, I just stamped that number stamp over top to hide it. Nobody was more surprised than me when it actually seemed to balance out the page! Another happy mistake... I love those.

This is making me hungry for cookies!!! Maybe I'll bake tonight. I love baking cookies from scratch but right now I'm thinking of Pillsbury rolls of cookie dough and it's making my mouth water. What's your favourite kind of cookie?

Love Shelley!

Personal Growth - No, Really

2010-06-22T09:04:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I was at an annual conference that I like to go to because I ALWAYS win a really good door prize, and also they serve grown-up dainty food like wee bits of toast with salmon and goat cheese and I get to pretend to be fancy for a couple of hours.

Anyway, this year's speaker was a local woman named Stephanie Staples and honestly, she was one of the best speakers I've seen. Maybe because she seems so refreshingly normal - she shared stories of goofy things she'd done, which made me admire her unself-consciousness, and was very encouraging, with lots of practical ideas. She seems like the kind of person you could drop in on for coffee in your pajamas. Anyway, one of the best things things I learned was this:

This explains A LOT. It's not that it's BAD - this is probably the quality that lets me strike up conversations with strangers in public washrooms, and long lineups, and elevators. And put all my ridiculous ramblings up here without really giving much consideration to my own public speaking career... HAHA! Just joking. Really though, the less I care what other people think, the more satisfying my life becomes.

Aaaaaaaand, that was probably my last heavy thought for the week, hope you enjoyed it!

Love Shelley!

I love my penpals!

2010-05-03T10:25:00.000-05:00

I think my friend Holly will have received this book in the mail by now, so it should be safe to post. We've been writing to each other for a while, but this last time she wrote to me, she had the genius idea of writing in a notebook so that a) we can comment on each other's letters, and b) so that we can remember what we wrote last time. Anyway, the front cover was a plain yellow classic scribbler cover, and I decided to alter it. I hope she doesn't mind. Moooo hoo ha ha ha haaaa! Actually at the rate we're going, it will only have to go back and forth one more time and then it will be full anyway. I think next time it will be her turn to decorate; I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

And while I had all these colours out anyway, I also did a journal page - I didn't take a picture of it yet though, so you'll have to wait to see that one. Actually come to think of it, I haven't even done any actual journaling on it! Maybe I should think of something to say first before I start showing it off and calling it an art 'journal' page. : )

So yeah, that's all for now, but yes, I'm alive and slowly working on a couple of things. More soon... I promise!

Love Shelley!

Why yes, I HAVE been busy this weekend.

2010-03-14T22:37:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been using up a lot of discarded paper goodies that were destined for the garbage can at work. They make GREAT mail art!! This time, however, I got my ~~trash~~ art supplies from other sources. When I see promising bits and pieces, my eyes light up and my pulse speeds up and it's as if I had just seen a big plate of hot gooey cinnamon buns, not some junk paper. But hey, whatever rings your bell, right?

I have a few penpals that I just love writing to (and receiving letters from) and this is a blank booklet that I made up on Friday night. I've already filled it up and it's going in the mailbox tomorrow morning.

And if you're planning on making booklets like this, I really recommend picking up one of those loooooooong staplers so you can easily put them together. I use mine all the time, and I think it was only around twenty-five bucks. My kids love making their own books too, so it gets a lot of mileage.

Anyway, here is the envelope that that little booklet ended up in:

(front)

(and back).

That one... is sideways. (I'm saying that in my very best Horatio Crane voice, where he says one line and then they cut to a commercial.) (THIS is where I should have mentioned the looooooooong stapler!)

Um. Where was I? Oh yeah! I think I may have overdone it with the spots on the back of the envelope, because it looks a little chicken-poxy, if chicken pox ever showed up in a uniform sort of way. It's just that I was having so much fun with the ink and I might have gotten a little carried away.

Also, you should know that I didn't intend to end up with this colour scheme again, but I guess I haven't worked it all out of my system yet. Will there be more? Yep, probably. I still really like it. I just have to remember who I've sent these ones to so that people don't end up getting repeats!

But no worries, my little chickadees - I still remember how to use colour. Here are two more envelopes that I worked on today while my kids were out bowling with their Nana. I think I might send her flowers tomorrow...

And now, since Blogger is acting so weird and I don't want to lose all this stuff that I just typed up, and plus because it's getting really late, I'm going to wrap this up. It's time for a bowl of cereal and then bed.

Goodnight everyone,

Love Shelley!

Just a little snail mail

2010-03-14T16:01:00.000-05:00

Well, this started off as just a manila envelope, and I decided to draw a little birdie on it. Of course, once I drew the little dude, then decided that he needed a proper tuft of hair, which was soon followed by the scallops at the top, and soon it got completely out of hand. So much for a simple bird doodle!

This pic looks a little washed-out; it's a bit more vibrant in real life.

I'm a bit behind on my mail so I'm trying to get caught up. I'll show you all the outgoing stuff as it's completed.

Love Shelley!

The moose's name is probably Harold

2010-03-07T15:31:00.000-06:00

I found, quite by (lucky, eye-poppingly amazing) accident, a how-to video by Roben-Marie Smith, showing how she makes envelopes out of old file folders. Guess who has old file folders (I DO) so I thought I would try a couple of these. They were so much fun that now I want to make about 25 more. The only snag I ran into is that my file folders are pretty cheap ones - I don't remember where I got them from but they're at least years old; and although at first glance they look perfect for this project... well, they're not square. So I had to do some fancy folding and cutting to get the edges to all line up. At first I thought I must be doing something wrong, but I guess my only mistake was buying el cheapo folders in the first place. (The $20 sewing machine is a whole other story...)

Anyway, who needs files? These are way more fun, don't you agree?

Love Shelley!

I feel dirty today.

2010-02-17T20:15:00.000-06:00

I started with a really pretty background, but grunged it up with spray paint and some quick-and-dirty lettering.

This is one of those ideas that's been floating around in my head for a very long time, and once I started getting it down on paper, this all went very quickly. So: not pretty, but this is one less thing rattling around in my brain. Win!

Probably three more pages, and my head will be completely empty.

Love Shelley!

One of those days

2010-02-13T08:12:00.000-06:00

I watched the Olympic opening ceremonies last night but I'd had such a bizarre day that I wasn't really in the mood. I found it a little boring, to tell the truth... I really think it would have been more interesting if they'd have let a bunch of lions loose in BC Place once everybody came in. Just like the original Olympics! Heh.

And that's probably more about me than you needed to know.

Love Shelley!

I ANSWER TO NO MAN!*

2010-02-09T21:05:00.000-06:00

Here's a sneak preview of a few things that will be going out in the 9am mail tomorrow. Only one is staying in Canada, and that's the valentine. The rest are headed south.... where it's a little warmer and sunnier. Ohhhh, how I wish I was going along for the ride. Maybe if I slap a red label on my forehead and smile really friendly? I've seen it work in cartoons...

Fine. I'll stay here, spreading joy and cheer by telling people it's "almost Friday." They love that. Heh heh heh. OR! Maybe instead I should start saying, "three more days till the next Lotto Max draw, and it's up to THIRTY MILLION!" and then give them an enthusiastic two thumbs up. What, it's better than squawking about the weather, right?

Love Shelley!

* That was for Kristy. She wanted me to yell it out the next time Mike asked me to do something but he's been disappointingly agreeable all evening. Geez. Men.

I hate Valentine's Day.

2010-02-08T17:44:00.000-06:00

But I really love making valentines!

I know, that's weird.

This is actually a postcard. I made it by layering a bunch of 4x6" pieces of newspaper together, giving each sheet a good coating with a glue stick, and using a brayer to get it nice and smooth. Then once it was done, I think with 8 or 9 layers, nice and thick, I put it under a heavy book overnight so it would end up nice and flat. Of course once I threw cheap craft paints at it, it did curl slightly. That's okay though - I really wasn't going for the perfect look here. The edges are raggedy and the paint is splotchy and the lines aren't even, and I KINDA LIKE IT.

Now. Who shall I send it to??

Love Shelley!

Another example of my stellar planning skills

2010-02-05T06:48:00.000-06:00

One of these days I'll get the hang of getting the entire word on the same line. Hee hee!

It felt great to get this page done; this has been bothering me for a long time and I needed to get it out. Plus I like how grungy and messy the background turned out.

Hm. I think that's all for now. Over and out.

Love Shelley!

I like peace. You got a problem with that?

2010-01-26T09:33:00.000-06:00

I'm just not one of those people who picks a fight for the fun of it. Sure, I'll mess with people, but only if it's funny; never to start an actual conflict. I agree to disagree. I'm a lover, not a fighter. Live and let live, everyone's entitled to their opinion, let it go - that's me.

Anyway, this whole topic makes me feel defensive, but don't worry. I'm not a sissy or a doormat. And it turns out you can accomplish a lot with a raised eyebrow and a "Pardon ME?!"

That's all for now.

Love Shelley!

By Special Request...

2010-01-25T17:59:00.002-06:00

No, really. Someone actually specially requested this!

These are so much fun to make that I practically yelled YES before she even finished asking. It's on its way to her right now. I hope she likes it!

More fun coming soon.

Love Shelley!

An Experiment That Only Went SEMI-Horribly-Awry

2010-01-24T13:41:00.000-06:00

Okay, it's probably not that bad. I was looking a little 5 minute tutorial that Pam Carriker did at Stampington Studios the other day and I decided to try what she had done.

She demonstrated her technique on an ATC but I decided to try it on one of these little 3x3 canvases that my friend Debra sent me from Dick Blick. WOW do I love them, especially on their tiny little easels!!

Anyway, mine is not as nice as hers and I found that blending the paint on the canvas was a little tricky but overall I'm still quite pleased with it. I might actually try this again, only with an original idea this time. Heh.

Love Shelley!

Please try not to laugh too hard.

2010-01-23T16:44:00.000-06:00

My word for 2010. I know I already have a lot of responsibility but I mean BEING responsible. Like being caught up with my work so that when opportunity knocks I don't have to stay home and do the laundry I've been procrastinating. Also being able to sleep at night because everything that has to be done, is actually done. Like that.

Yeah, I'm not sure either... but it's worth a try, right?

What's your word?

Love Shelley!

Sneak preview of some outgoing mail

2010-01-21T14:27:00.000-06:00

I'm working on a couple of things but nothing to show yet. In the meantime, here are a couple of envelopes that went out today.

That's all for now, but stay tuned...

Love Shelley!

Next thing you know I'll be tagging train cars.

2010-01-11T06:49:00.000-06:00

Hi guys!

Here's some outgoing mail. I've been admiring graffiti-style writing from afar for a long time now, but this is my first attempt at doing any myself.

Yeah... um, I really REALLY LOVED MAKING THIS!

Somebody hide the spray paint.

Love Shelley!

PS: The lettering was done in regular sharpie and white sharpie paint pen.

My Detailed and Cross-Indexed Master Plan for 2010

2010-01-07T21:37:00.000-06:00

Why, what kind of resolutions did YOU guys make??

Cookies, lesbians and assassins.

2009-11-25T10:40:00.001-06:00

So this past weekend, me and 9 of my besties got together and rented a church hall for the day. We each brought a potluck dish and kicked in five bucks for the rental, and we got to sit there ALL DAY and work on our scrapbooks, art journals, and Christmas cards. It was pure bliss.

I had already started this journal page but was able to finish it on Saturday. I think the scanner cut off the very left and bottom edges, but you're not missing much... you still get the idea!

Turns out I'm not the only one with this problem - the person who sat next to me (no, not you Mom!) said that for some reason she attracts crazy people too, but also lesbians! Interesting...

Hey, did you hear? There's a new movie out called Ninja Assassin! I only heard about it on the radio, but I'm definitely going and I'm making my sister come with me. I bet we'll be all "Haki saki HA!" when we come out of the theatre. Hopefully I don't pull a muscle in my butt again doing those crazy roundhouse kicks. I have no idea what the movie is about (do you think there will be a plot?) but I'm going anyway.

In the meantime, we're going to start making our Christmas sugar cookies tomorrow night. Hijinks will definitely ensue; photos to follow.

Love Shelley!

More Mail Art!

2009-11-23T10:32:00.001-06:00

Oh you guys, I had just the BEST weekend. I got to get together with some great friends and we all sat around and worked on our creative things. Among other things, I made a couple of envelopes to mail out some goodies (with addresses whited out to protect the privacy of the innocent):

The first one was a plain white envelope that I painted with watercolour crayons, then doodled on a little bit:

And the second one was a plain red envelope (very heavy, lined with gold foil paper, and huge! I've been saving it for a special occasion) that I just doodled on with white paint pen.

I know you're envying my MS Paint skillz. Let me know if you want ~~any lessons~~ me to stop it already.

Hope you're having a magical day!

Love Shelley!

The cover... so far.

2009-11-19T08:58:00.000-06:00

So. Even with a pretty pink hat, everybody that I've shown this to thinks that this chick is downright creepy. I found the skull (and all the extra arm and leg bones) in a National Geographic magazine in a story about an archeological dig site. But I think the red shoes, purse and cocktail sort of bring it all together, don't you? I am a good accessorizer. Yes, that is too a word.

Anyway, everyone so far has been pretty repulsed by this one. I may have to change it to something a little more... socially acceptable. I did have one brainwave: LIPSTICK! But oh yeah, she has no lips.

Now what? I can't decide whether to make her even more disturbing by painting on some bright red lipstick like old ladies do, completely disregarding the actual shape of their lips; or if I should just ditch the skull and put in a regular lady head instead. Suggestions?

Oh hey, and while you're telling me what to do, what about the background? Leave it as is, or add white swirlies and stuff? Or something completely different?

HELP! I'll wait here.

Love Shelley!

Journal page AND mail art!!

2009-11-18T13:05:00.000-06:00

So here's the second page, all fluffy and cheerful. (Wait till you see the cover, yikes.Not fluffy, not cheerful. May still need some work. I'll let you express your opinion once I get it up on here!)

Please note that I kept the language clean. Instead of "buttload" I really wanted to say "metric shit-ton" but sadly my kid can now read. Which is kind of a bummer when I'm trying to EXPRESS MYSELF!

And here is a piece of mail that I made for Ginny at Small Studio:

We don't know each other; I just absolutely adore her blog, so when she put out a call for decorated envelopes, I was all over that. Of course, I second-guessed myself all the way to the mailbox, but hey, maybe this will lead to a beautiful lifetime of correspondence and I'll get more chances to make pretty stuff for her. The end.

Yes, welcome to the non-stop dialogue in my head. How do you like it so far? : )

I hope you're all having a magnificent day!

Love Shelley!

PS: The art journal is hand-lettered; the mail is stamped and then doodled on.

I'm a copycat, and I'm okay with that.

2009-11-18T08:28:00.001-06:00

So yeah, I'm sure I'm the last one on the Teesha bandwagon, but now that she's posted all of the COOLEST. VIDEOS. EVER! I had to try a journal like the one she demonstrated.

Here's the first page I completed:

And I'll have another one for you shortly. We've figured out some of our technical difficulties so I think I'll be able to post on a fairly regular basis again! YAY! (Of course, I'm still crap at photo editing, so if you see big areas of white space that shouldn't be there, just squint and pretend, k? Thanks.)

Love Shelley!

PS: That is not a quote, I actually made it up myself. It's about a cat we don't have.

Are one of these for you?

2009-10-28T12:16:00.000-05:00

I've been sending out so many letters lately that I decided to fancy up a batch of four (plain white) envelopes all at once. The colours are a bit off (they are bright in real life, but not as gaudy as they look here!) but I still think they'd be fun to get in the mail.

These were a ton of fun to make, although I think I might add a little bit of detail here and there before I actually send them out. I tried something completely different on the back of one that got me all excited to make a brand-new batch. One thing really leads to another when you're playing with paper!

I'll keep you "posted". Get it? (boooooooo) HAHA! The only person who would appreciate that joke is my brother John. Sorry, everybody else. : )

Love Shelley!

You Asked For It.

2009-10-22T11:09:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, someone asked if I would share a photo of my desk. The place where I create, where the muse visits me, where THE MAGIC HAPPENS. Well, she didn't put it quite that way, but I'm feeling dramatic.

Anyway, here it is. I've highlighted the exact, actual spot where THE MAGIC HAPPENS. **jazz hands**

So... now you know.

I'm kind of sorry you had to see that. But I'm just keepin' it real. HA!

Have a great day, everybody. Love Shelley!

Where you get a glimpse of just how dumb I am.

2009-10-21T10:37:00.000-05:00

So I was cruising a used book store earlier this week and among other things, I found this little treasure. There was no dust cover on the book but it did have some really nice debossed letters on the fabric cover. Not that I can read them; they're in Russian.

Inside the front cover is this inscription: "Purchased at the Montreal World's Fair Oct 10 - 1967 by Albert Pitz." At least I THINK it says Albert Pitz. Could be Litz. Albert didn't have the greatest penmanship.

As I was flipping through, I glanced at all the old black and white photos inside, thinking they would be perfect to make envelopes out of, or use to decorate other works of art.

A riveting game of chess...

Aw! This guy loves his kitty.

The whole FAMILY loves their kitty! I haven't seen too many family portraits with the cat included before. Interesting!

This one reminds me of our sponge hockey team photos.

See? They just have a bigger roster.

Also...

Those other guys seem a little more, um, RESERVED than we ever were.

But I digress.

Here are two gentlemen enjoying a nice visit together.

Hey! Is that the same guy again?

Huh. He looks kind of snooty here.

Wow, this guy AGAIN?!

Vain.

Mr. Serious Pants

Geez, you'd think this guy thought the whole book was about HIM.

So each photo has a nice descriptive caption underneath; sadly they're all in Russian so I really don't have a clue what's going on in this long book but I'm thinking that worst case scenario I can just cut out the entire text block and use those lovely covers to make a completely different book!

THEN... I flip to the back to see what kind of shape the inside back cover is in, and THIS falls out.

Oh.

A page! Yes, really!

2009-10-20T19:05:00.000-05:00

I know, it's been far too long. But our internet has been down, blah blah blah. I'm sure you don't care about my excuses, just SHOW THE PAGE ALREADY, WOMAN!

Okay, fine, you don't have to yell.

Here it is:

It's okay, it's true. Also, I have other pages in progress. Yes, really!

Also, tomorrow: I'm not the smartest person you know. Find out why.

On this page: Golden fluid acrylics; old dictionary bits; stickers, stamping; india ink; charcoal pencil.

Way more fun than a phone bill!

2009-09-22T09:47:00.001-05:00

Hey!

Just a short snapper. (I love saying that.)

I've always had pen pals but lately I've been meeting some new and VERY interesting people that are also into the postal arts.

I do have some cute stationery but I usually prefer making something up on my own. Lately I've been using things that would normally go in the garbage or recycling bin, making them a little prettier, and giving them a second life by mailing them to ~~unsuspecting suckers~~ people around the world who share my love for sending and receiving interesting mail.

I whited out the name and address on this one but I'm sure some of you will recognize the Timmy's bag that used to hold a Turkey Bacon Club sandwich. There is only a letter in there. I ate the sandwich.

Do you love that green carpet or what? I took these pics at work with my phone. So I can honestly say these are unretouched photos!! Okay, sure, that's not necessarily a good thing. But at least you get the idea. One day I'll learn some photography skills and then I'll be unstoppable!

Here's another one that just went out this morning:

And here's the back (because I know you were wondering...) (Fine, you weren't, but I'm gonna show you anyway.)

Aaaaaand that's all I have to offer for today. Oh, except for this conversation yesterday when I picked up Cameron from the new daycare.

Her: So Cameron and I played cards together this afternoon when all the other kids were napping.

Me: Yeah, he loves playing cards.

Her: He knows how to play RUMMY!! (side note: he's four.)

Me: Yeah.... by the way, don't play him for money. That's a free tip.

Come back soon! I'm working on a journal page and I'll post it here when I'm done.

Love Shelley!

Feel free to skip down to the picture if you want.

2009-09-06T07:38:00.014-05:00

So the other night, rather late, Mike and I were sitting on the couch. I casually asked him if there was any way to cut the cord on my broken lamp without getting electrocuted. He looked at me in silent horror, probably picturing raising the children on his own; then croaked, "What?"

I told him that my lamp has been broken for quite a while but that it's plugged in behind my two-ton desk. I'm trying to avoid having to move that mofo, but... (deep sigh) ... if I have to I will. But I really don't want to. Mainly because I'm lazy I would have to move all the stuff off of it. And trust me, that could be an all-day job. There is a LOT of stuff on top of my desk. A lesser desk would have collapsed by now.

He said he would take a look. (Lesson: if you are incompetent enough to possibly be a danger to yourself, your husband WILL help you.) So he pulled all the junk out from under my desk, grumbling under his breath about "too much crap" and "what IS all this stuff" etc. (Precious art supplies if you were wondering. Oh, plus a bag of diapers, which made him pause for a moment. HA!) Since the desk has almost a full back, with only about a 3" gap at the bottom, he couldn't really sneak his massive, muscular forearm in there to try to pull the plug.

So he moved out of the way and I crawled under there. My arm slid easily into the gap, and he said, "Okay, now the plug should be just over to your lef- what?"

"I'm stuck."

"What?"

"I'm stuck."

"What do you mean you're STUCK?"

"I'm stuck."

"Uh. Okay, roll onto your back so your arm turns a little, and - "

"OW. Okay, hold on, maybe I can wiggle it back ou- OW. I'm stuck."

We look at each other for a full minute. Visions of firemen charging in brandishing axes are running through my head. I stifle the urge to giggle. And then my sweet, sweet husband says, "Well, since your arm's already in there, see if you can get to that plug."

I start trying to wiggle my arm over to the left but all I'm doing is giving myself a really good scrape. I try again to sneak my too-big forearm out of the gap. Really, I have to stop working out so much, clearly I've become too muscular. I guess in the meantime all I can do is try not to flex.

I can see that he's starting to wonder how this is going to end. Will he REALLY have to call for help? Will I have to sleep under here? Who will make the pancakes in the morning? I'm still rolling around and wiggling and scraping, and while I'm struggling to free myself, he's snooping around beside the desk and finds that he can actually reach the plug from there. Now I'm stuck AND feeling even dumber than before, if that's even a possibility. I've had this broken lamp taking up valuable real estate on my desk for over a month, and I could have just gotten to the plug from the side. Ugh. He triumphantly pulls the whole lamp assembly out from its anchor and presents it to me, bending down so I can see it from my uncomfortable position under the desk. I give him a one-thumb thumbs-up, then grimace as I roll over and continue my efforts.

Finally, by doing some complicated acrobatic manouvering, I managed to get free. And now my lamp is unplugged. AND I'm not electrocuted!

I love a happy ending.

Oh yeah, and here's a journal page I finished today:

Sideways. What the hell, Blogger??
Oh well.
Love Shelley!

'Cause I'm gonna always love yew ew ew ew ew ew!

2009-08-17T19:39:00.003-05:00

Guess who put on the Muppets CD (super loud, no less) and then went outside to play? Little rodents.

Anyway!

Here's the latest. I've been working on backgrounds for a bunch of pages at once and then I figured I can just do the actual journaling on whichever page seems the most appropriate depending on what topic is on my mind at the time.

It goes against my urge to fill my journal chronologically but I'm pretty sure I'll get over it.

Anyway, this page really is about a dream I had - and I know, NOTHING is more tedious than someone who insists on telling you about their dreams. But you can just look at the pretty colours and ignore the writing, I'm totally okay with that. I hope everyone has sweet dreams tonight!

Love Shelley!

A couple of new journal pages

2009-08-15T08:38:00.006-05:00

So I've been rockin' the art journal lately. Here are a couple of pages that are finished.

I have a few more in progress; I'll keep you posted. Cards may also be imminent.

Love Shelley!

Taking a break from the "cute"

2009-07-27T19:00:00.004-05:00

Mike had to attend a funeral today so I put together a nice sympathy card for him. It might not be super-fancy and loaded with 'bling' but I think it turned out well. The warm colours make it look kind of soothing, I think. And it actually looks a lot warmer in person than it does in my pics - I took these shots at 6 this morning, which is not the ideal time to get great colour.

Anyway, here's the inside. I LOVE this sympathy stamp - it's quite large and makes a nice substantial impression.

I added my own handwritten note with our own condolences for the widow...

and then Mike forgot the card at home. Booo.

Okay. Back to cute stuff!

Love Shelley

As promised... Happy Bird-Day!

2009-07-27T17:15:00.003-05:00

I made a batch of these cards for a swap I'm involved in, so I had to follow certain rules:

1) everything on the card has to be currently available Stampin' Up! product
2) the card has to have at least two layers and one embellishment
3) the theme was "show off the new stuff!"

The new catalog was recently released, and although I don't have much, I'm sure happy with the stuff I did buy!

This card has a couple of the new In Colors, uh, colors; (that sounds so repetitive - sorry!) and some of the new Razzleberry Lemonade designer paper. It's... GORGEOUS. The colours are rich and delicious, as you can see here:

That little birdy is from the Pun Fun stamp set, which isn't a new release but I still love him anyway. I coloured him up using ink straight out of the lids of my SU ink pads.

And voila! Here's the inside:

Whoops! I was going to put the "happy bird-day" sentiment on the inside... but I forgot. Too late now, I've already licked all the envelopes closed. Luckily for me you can't get kicked out for sending an un-sentimented card.

Yep, I just made up another word. I have to keep up with my sister, you see. She was ahead by one, using "rye-arrhea" this weekend to describe her hangover. Aren't you glad you read this far????

Have a great day!

Love Shelley!

Happy birthday, Wyatt...

2009-07-26T21:09:00.003-05:00

You little monster!

HAHA! Just kidding. Wyatt is my youngest nephew and he just turned two years old. He's not a monster at all - he's actually a total sweetheart. But then again, so are these three characters:

I know I should have put ribbon into the little slots on the happy birthday tag, but none of the ribbons I had looked right. So I just stapled that sucker right on there. Wyatt does not have discriminating taste, luckily for me! (Just another reason why I love him so very much.)

Just enough fancy on the inside for it not to be boring!

Tune in tomorrow for another "bird-day" card. I hope that doesn't ruin the surprise...

Have a great evening!

Love Shelley

One! One wedding card!

2009-07-19T10:49:00.005-05:00

Okay, actually I made two of these but one's already bought and paid for, so technically I've only added one more card to my stash.

This circle stamp is from Stamping Bella, and I just love it! So elegant. The background paper has a pearly shine to it, which I think shows up in the picture; but I also put shimmery white over the dress, and I don't think that shows up too well here. Oh well. You'll just have to take my word for it that it looks better in person!

I left the inside fairly plain. I figured that a wedding card is where people are likely to write the most, so I left lots of room for good wishes to be added.

Okay, can't talk - gotta go make something else! I'm on a roll...

Love Shelley!

I am very irresponsible.

2009-07-18T14:21:00.006-05:00

I have a bunch (a BUNCH) of card orders to fulfill, and yet I couldn't resist starting a new art journal page last night.

Then I was having so much fun, that I carried on this morning and finished up about 20 minutes ago. Yep, I've blown over half a day on this little project, but you know what? I sure had fun with it.

Oh right. WEDDING CARDS. I'm on it.

Back soon,

Love Shelley!

I should seriously be forging expensive paintings

2009-07-16T18:17:00.005-05:00

Because look how good I am at copying stuff!!

Yep, I found this card on Paula's amazing blog and I really don't think it needed anything else - it was absolutely perfect. So once I got my act together (yes, that is the part that takes the longest around here) I finally finished a batch of these little babies.

What do you think of that new Basic Grey Lemonade paper? I KNOW!! I can barely keep myself from licking it. Uh, but if you were thinking of buying a card from me, don't worry - I was able to contain myself.

I even did a simple bit of decorating inside. No sentiment, because really? Little Henry (yeah, that's his name!) could be celebrating anything, right? It's up to you to write whatever you want inside.

That's all for today - I have to go shoo the kids outside to bring the slop pails to the pigs next door. YEP - in addition to actually finishing a card, I also cleaned out my fridge. I KNOW! Sometimes I even amaze myself.

Next up: a wedding card. Stay tuned...

Love Shelley!

Aaaaaand, back to cards.

2009-07-15T18:12:00.003-05:00

My sister Kristy came over last night to watch the finale of Canada's Next Top Model. After our mutual horrification at the "blonds" she-man designer in the tight pink dress, a commercial came on and she asked me what was new. So I told her that I made a card, and since we were already all jacked up about the guy and how he was standing with his legs firmly crossed to keep his "tuck" intact, she immediately started to make fun of me for only making ONE card yesterday. "Ohhh, you're right, you should start slow," she said, nodding exaggeratedly at me with wide eyes like I just got off the short bus and also might be a tiny bit scaring her.

You should know that Kristy is not into cards. Or crafts. Or, you know, being polite. So I flared my nostrils at her, growled and maybe also smacked her once in the side of the head. Anyway, after we wiped the tears of sisterly laughter from our eyes, I showed her the card.

AH! Suddenly she's a little more respectful! I smacked her again anyway.

Just kidding! I should have, though, that would have been funny. So I also tried to get a clear picture of the inside but that IS a lot to ask. Here's a fuzzy version.

Since it turned out so amazing, (if I do say so myself,) I made a second one before I forgot how I did it. So yeah, TWO cards in one day.

Suck it, Kristy.

Love Shelley!

Guess what I made?

2009-07-07T19:05:00.003-05:00

Yep! Another guest book. All of the other ones I've made (3 now!) are spoken for. This one, on the other hand... is up for grabs!

The cover is cream and black, with black fabric for the spine, and white ribbon for the binding. The inside covers are covered with coordinating cream-patterned paper (not shown.)

This one has 40 leaves of paper, and on the right side of each is a vellum pocket to put the signed cards in. They're 3x4, and the book comes with 120 of them. The vellum is slightly transparent, allowing you to see the cards in the pockets.

The left side of each spread has four black photo corners sized to perfectly fit a 4x6" photo; so the album holds not only the personal greetings of your guests, but 39 photos as well. The back of the last page is blank.

The front of the first page is currently blank so that personalization can be added. A special photo, or names and dates in calligraphy - whatever you choose to add.

All the pages are deckle-edged, just like the other ones. I like the way it looks, and I'm not bored of doing it yet!

And of course, thanks to blogger, one random picture will now appear sideways for your entertainment. Feel free to squint if you have trouble making it out!

And that's all for now! But don't worry - I'll be back before you know it.

Love Shelley!

2009-06-29T20:54:00.005-05:00

So there's this guy at work who has seen the cards I make, and asked me to do up some "manly" cards for him. "You know," he said, "Something with hunting, or fishing, maybe with GUNS on the front or something."

Eeeeeeyeah.

I told him I would see what I could come up with.

I'll admit, I'm having a hard time with this assignment. I found some fishing stickers that I thought might work all right... here's the first card I made. Do you think the colours are manly enough? (And I couldn't resist, I had to put those little bubbles over the fish. Some habits die hard!)

This one will be a retirement card, once I pick out a sentiment for the inside.

I eked out a second card, not that I love it or anything, but who knows... he might! It's hard to make fishing cards when you're not really feeling the fishing love, you know?

And then finally I think I hit my groove. I quite like this one, with the fish all popped up on various combinations of pop dots to make it look like it's mounted on a plaque on the wall. Do you think the stripey paper makes it look like wallpaper?

I still have to make a few more, so hopefully I can keep coming up with ideas. Strangely enough, there aren't many stickers or stamps with GUNS on them... heh. I guess it would be worrisome if there were. Why can't this guy be into flowers, or sunsets, or BUNNIES or something???

Stay tuned. (Also, send help.)

Love Shelley!

Your lips are venemous poisooonnnnnnn.....

2009-06-26T17:30:00.007-05:00

Oh, hi! So I find when I'm making things like this guestbook...

(that have the same binding as the last one I made)...

where I have to do repetitive tasks like deckle-edge all the leaves of paper...

and glue in countless envelopes and photo corners...

that it really helps if I listen to a little Alice Cooper to get the blood pumping!

When I showed up with the guest book for the shower I went to last weekend, I walked out with an order for another, more formal guestbook. This one is for a 25th wedding anniversary, and it's a bit of a different style, but still the same size and layout as the first one.

This time I was able to use fabric for the binding by learning all about fusible adhesive, which is my new favourite thing IN THE WORLD. Look for the next one to have an AMY BUTLER POLKA-DOT FABRIC SPINE I KNOW!!!!!

Whoa, sorry, I got all excited there. Okay. So in the first picture, the little bundle that's wrapped up in red patterned paper is the insert cards that people will fill out and put into the envelopes. (Makes for nice presentation, doesn't it?) That paper is actually what I used for the endpapers - it's red with small white printing that consists of Shakespeare's writings on love. Very romantic!

The letters are all brown chipboard, and I used two flatback pearls to accent the spaces between the years. Hm. I think that's all!

So what goes good with Amy Butler fabric? Maybe a little Def Leppard! And of course, a nice cold can of Coke. Mmmm. I'll have to think on that.

Okay, gotta run, the kids want supper for some reason.

Love Shelley!

Awww...

2009-06-19T06:02:00.003-05:00

I got a few of these Rachelle Anne Miller stamps and this was my first chance to use one of them. They are all completely adorable, and really, the only reason I chose this one to play with first was because I needed a Father's Day card to a daddy from his one-year-old. That kind of event definitely calls for something cute. You'll be seeing the other ones soon, they're pretty hard to resist! Check it out:

I layered two kinds of ribbon together, and then I also used two buttons. The bottom one is so thick that the top one just sort of sits inside it - it looks pretty cool like that! I wouldn't do this fat of a card if I had to mail it but I happen to know that this one will be hand-delivered so fat is okay in this case.

I used ribbon instead of paper to jazz up the inside of the card this time:

And that's all for now. As usual I have at least 25 ideas perking in my head, but I have to go to my day job now, since cranking out one card in a day doesn't exactly pay the hydro bill. HA! Anyway, I'll be back soon with more fun things to show off.

Enjoy your Friday!
Love Shelley

Well, if this isn't the dumbest thing...

2009-06-16T06:17:00.003-05:00

I've never had this problem before, but for some reason, Blogger wants these pictures to be sideways.

So, I guess you can tilt your head to see them properly, or squint a little, or maybe pick up your screen and give it a quarter turn to the right. I am mystified. Don't you love technology?

Anyway, I will not be vanquished. Ha, Blogger, you don't intimidate me! Here's a Father's Day card I made. It's mainly copied from someone else's work on splitcoaststampers.com, but I can't remember where I found it, so I can't give her the credit she deserves. It's neat, don't you think?

And if your arms aren't too tired from holding that monitor up, here's the inside:

Aaaaaand, workout complete. Go have a piece of pie, you deserve it!

Love Shelley!

Deadline: MET.

2009-06-14T18:40:00.004-05:00

I was asked to make the guest book for a wedding shower, and since I'm one of the bridesmaids (and I'm a sucker for projects like this) I quickly agreed. I think all together it took between five and six hours of work to put this one together. Probably more because of my indecisiveness than because of the actual hands-on work, though. Now that I know what I'm doing I could probably turn another one out a LOT quicker!

Here's the binding. It looks super-fancy but it literally took under 10 minutes to put it together once all the holes were punched:

I hand-tore all the white cardstock pages so they have deckle edges all the way around.

Since I helped the bride with her wedding invitations, I was able to secretly snag a leftover piece and use it on the title page.

The pages look a little plain right now, but will soon be much more exciting. On the left side of each spread I put in photo corners sized for a 4x6 photo. My plan is for her to put pictures from the shower throughout the book. On the facing page are two little envelopes. I also cut a bunch of little cards - each guest can write their little message and tuck it into the book for Heather and Chris to read together later on.

Here's the finished product:

The final dimensions of the book are 10 1/2" x 5". I added in extra sheets of cardstock inside the spine to compensate for the extra thickness that will be added with the photos, envelopes and insert cards. Otherwise the open end would fan out and the book would never lay flat. Hopefully I added enough - I'm sure I'll hear soon enough!

So now I have the urge to make about 20 more of these in all different shapes and sizes... some with different sized envelopes inside, others with the traditional lined sheets for signatures, some landscape-oriented like this one, and at least one in portrait orientation. I want to try different materials for making the spine, and maybe even some different bindings. And what would I do with twenty guestbooks? I guess hope I get invited to lots of events that need a guestbook! Hee hee! Actually I have to get back to Father's Day cards first. It's only a week away! EEK!!

Have a great evening everybody. (YES ALL TWO OF YOU I KNOW)

Love Shelley!

Ah, the sweet smell of... dandelions.

2009-06-07T09:51:00.003-05:00

Well, now that I've gotten that pesky Christmas card off of my mind, I was free to work on a Father's Day card. This one is for an order but I like it; I think I'll make another one for the sale box!

Here's the inside - simple, just like Dads like!

And now if you'll excuse me, I have about two acres of grass to cut. Then if my hands aren't numb from the steering wheel on the lawn tractor, I might just make another card.

Have a great Sunday!

Love Shelley

2009-05-31T11:12:00.003-05:00

Okay, if you usually come here looking for cards, I apologize for the detour off into other topics... but in case you ARE interested, here are some pages from the art journal I've been doodling around in. First up is the cover:

I actually used painted aluminum and embossed all the designs right into it, then sanded the black off so it shows the aluminum underneath. To me it looks pretty unbalanced and messy but it's my first attempt and I'm going with it! After all, the pages themselves are made from 9x9 pieces of old newspaper stuck together with glue stick, so it's not like I have a lot invested in this project. Actually, that makes it easier to experiment, knowing I'm not messing up something "nice" or expensive!

See? This next one is totally not what I'd call "awesome" or even "hey, that's nice," but I had fun fooling around with paint and stuff making it. It's about where my mind randomly goes sometimes.

And here's a page that is just waiting for some love. This is the back of the cover. I had taped the metal to the cover with that polka-dot gaffer tape, and folded it over; so the back has an instant frame. I love it already just the way it is; so it might be hard to start adding stuff to it.

Working on this loosy-goosy painting stuff really makes a nice change for me from making cards, because they tend to be fairly nit-picky to make. But now that I've got that out of my system: cards. I have to; I have orders to fill! Wheeeee!

More soon,

Love Shelley!

Where IS that girl?

2009-05-30T08:09:00.003-05:00

One of the things I worked on this week was this book of lists for a swap I was involved in. Don't you love that cover paper?

I started off with two of these daytimer booklets that I had lying around. I took them apart and threw away the covers first. And before you get all, "Oh-emm-gee, she knows BOOKBINDING!" um, no. Not really. I just folded and stapled the new cover onto the two sets of book innards, see? The paper is simply double-sided cardstock.

I put a strip of black cardstock along the spine to hide the messy staples and to make the whole thing look a little more finished, and voila! Fancy shmancy.

A prompt on each page, with random stamped images throughout, and a little love on the cover, and it's done. It only took a few hours (mostly for the prompts, not the cover treatment) and I'm happy to put my name on the back. Wow, do I love that paper. I'll have to find something cool to use the scraps on!

Next up: I'll show you what I've been doing with that art journal I've been working on. In the meantime, I have to make some CARDS! And then I'll show you those too, pinky swear.

Enjoy your weekend!

Love Shelley!

The Best Laid Plans. Pfft.

2009-05-14T22:14:00.003-05:00

Oh yeah, did I tell you? I was going to make a heroic attempt to make and post a card every day. Or at least every other day, since it was working so well at the end of April. But then... but then... well, I don't really know what happened. The magic stopped. The run of inspiration ended. I got busy doing laundry. Anyway, I've been experimenting in the craft room and I'll have more to show you soon on that topic, but in the meantime, I HAVE DEADLINES TO MEET!

So without further ado, here is the card I'll be delivering tomorrow for a very sweet customer. A close friend of hers is moving away and she wanted something with happy colours, because she's already afraid she's going to cry when she has to say goodbye.

I just want to tell you, I had SO MUCH FUN making this card. I got to cut, and paint, and paint some more, and doodle, and, even though I had a mild panic attack worrying that it wasn't going to come together - well, it did. Phew! Now I kinda love it and I want to make one for myself!

Here's the inside:

She picked the verse herself, so I know it will be just right for her. I printed it in dark brown ink - black would have been too stark for this card. I don't usually line both sides of the card, but I thought I would leave her a bit of extra room to add her message, since this isn't your garden-variety happy birthday greeting.

Anyway, I'm kind of buzzed now that it's finished and I can't wait to get back in there tomorrow! Hopefully I can sleep tonight... sometimes visions of patterned papers dance in my head. : )

Love Shelley!

Second verse, same as the first!

2009-05-03T08:06:00.003-05:00

So I changed up the colours a little. Still working on Mother's Day creations, but this blue and green was just so pretty that I couldn't resist. Especially once I discovered that I had the perfect buttons and flowers to match!

I rounded the bottom edges just to soften the look a little, and some faux stitching since I ran into a bit of trouble with my new-to-me sewing machine when I tried to do this with real thread. That's why there will only be two of these cards; I messed up the third one pretty good!

The inside, with a little bit of the outside on it:

Ready for someone to list all the reasons why they love their mom and wish them the best Mother's Day EVER!

Love Shelley!

NOW we're getting somewhere.

2009-05-01T17:59:00.003-05:00

Um, except for with the photography portion of this programming. Somehow this card came out looking a little walleyed. But it's clearer! And the colours are pretty true! So really, two out of three ain't bad, right?

I just LOVE this young lady, she looks so very sweet! She's a Sugar Nellie stamp that I ordered all the way from Scotland. Believe it or not, that order was delivered in five short days. Yay for fast shipping!

Anyway, since I had already picked out the patterned paper I wanted to use, it was pretty easy to colour her up to match. The trim and the letters are actually cardstock stickers, and I used the same trim on the inside of the card.

See? That's a lot more how I picture the insides of my cards turning out. I think I'm finally making progress!

I coloured three of these and I've almost finished putting the finishing touches on the other two cards. Each one will end up with a different trim pattern, but they're all pretty, so I'm cool with that.

Okay, gotta go. I'm going to pack the kids some sandwiches and let them eat their "supper" in the old car. They already have an entire plastic tea set out there, so now all they need is some grub. I never thought I'd be so happy to have an old abandoned car in my driveway, but I should totally be inviting the neighbourhood kids over and CHARGING ADMISSION! Heyyyyy..... that's not bad. HAHA!

Later gaters,

Love Shelley!

I Can Colour

Octo-Lady!

Go the f*&^ to sleep!

Note to self.

Oops, I did it again.

Goodbye, comfort zone. (**CAUTION: BOOBIE DRAWINGS IN THIS POST**)

I have a good feeling about this year.

DOOOOOOOO EEEEEEEEEET!

Let's Wrap This Up.

Whew.

Laid Bare

All Serious and Stuff

YAY CANADA POST!!

The Daily Doodle

Because everyone likes a nice octopus, right?

Some recent journal pages

Hungry?

Road trip, anyone?

I've got my eye on you.

My First Car

Sketchy

Bright Colours and Shallow Thoughts

Nature Lover

Happy Mail!

Bonus Day!

You might have to squint a little

Never had one lesson!

True Confessions, Part XXIXVIMXXIV

So I have this penpal...

Giant postcards!!

This isn't about the Beatles

Well, it looks good from far!!

Mean-Yelly-Mom, That's Me!

I Am A Big Chicken Sometimes

Saying "lady friends" makes me giggle

I am so smart! S-M-R-T!

Happy Colours, Silly Thoughts

I admit, I was reaching.

In Which I Reveal My Dark Side

Bad News... and Good News!

My 2011 Resolution

A Little Rusty But Still In The Game

Blaque Jaque Shellaque

I don't even know what I mean

How quickly things change

F I E R C E

So let's just keep this between us, okay?

Nope! Not done with these yet.

Sometimes I get really mad.

Journal Spilling

Shhhhhh....

Cookie Therapy

Personal Growth - No, Really

I love my penpals!

Why yes, I HAVE been busy this weekend.

Just a little snail mail

The moose's name is probably Harold

I feel dirty today.

One of those days

I ANSWER TO NO MAN!*

I hate Valentine's Day.

Another example of my stellar planning skills

I like peace. You got a problem with that?

By Special Request...

An Experiment That Only Went SEMI-Horribly-Awry

Please try not to laugh too hard.

Sneak preview of some outgoing mail

Next thing you know I'll be tagging train cars.

My Detailed and Cross-Indexed Master Plan for 2010

Cookies, lesbians and assassins.

More Mail Art!

The cover... so far.

Journal page AND mail art!!

I'm a copycat, and I'm okay with that.

Are one of these for you?

You Asked For It.

Where you get a glimpse of just how dumb I am.

A page! Yes, really!

Way more fun than a phone bill!

Feel free to skip down to the picture if you want.

Goodbye, comfort zone. (CAUTION: BOOBIE DRAWINGS IN THIS POST)