Tag Archives: unique

New Items on Artfire

I loaded some new items up to my artfire shop. 2 more art covered journals filled with 100% cotton sketchbook paper and original art on the covers. 

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I listed a dozen new jotter sets with mixed paper inside. The paper ranges from lined paper, graph paper, pink, blue, green, to all sorts of natural shades I usually use. I had a box, a large one, from 10 years of binding of various papers I just didn't have enough of to make a full book. I literally shuffled the pages together to mix them up, and used 15 sheets for each jotter, for a total of 60 pages. Each of these jotters is unique and the mix of papers is individual.

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I also listed one NOS or new old stock hedgehog/ moleskine journal. It's covered in this old school leather that reminds me of those old time leather basketballs. I can't find this leather anymore and I used this last piece to make this book, back in 2007. The journal has sat in a wrapper, in a drawer since then. I considered using it, becuase I like the leather that much, but decided against it and listed it again. I've got it up for less than normal.

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I also listed 2 more brand new hedgehogs, one with a chocolate brown leather cover filled with cream paper and another with a bomber jacket brown leather filled with pale green paper.

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I also re-listed the palomino pencils. These are the last packages I have of the HB and 2b, my favorite sketching softness. After I finish with those I'll list some of the other pencils I have left over from my old website. (Does anyone remember when this used to be a website with stuff for sale? Me either.) 

You can follow the links in the text to any of the mentioned items, as always feel free to ask me any questions or for more picture if you're interested.

seriously limited edition one of a kind journals

I've been working on some special journals. What I've done is take one of the posters I make the jotters out of, cut it up into smaller pieces and then I've journaled on it. So each chunk looks like a giant page out of one of my journals, or is a giant journal sheet. It's what I've been working on over the last few days which explains the lack of real blogging, tweeting and facebooking I've been doing. I'm really excited about these journals.

I'm working on 4 of them right now or rather I've got 4 covers completely finished. So far I've got one book completely finished and one more almost done. They are filled with 50lb, 100% cotton bright white sketchbook paper, 200 pages of it and are stitched with a linking long stitch. I used bright red Irish linen thread for the stitching.

The journal art is sealed with clear acrylic varnish, that allows you to feel the texture of the art but wipe it clean with soap and water if you spill coffee on it, and the art should be undamaged.

I'm still working the details of the pricing out but they will eb listed on my artfire account this evening.

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The journal picture is titled "Super Star." I've got more pictures up on my flickr page.

it’s not too early Secretly I hate Christmas

I don't but what I hate is trying to find unique gifts for my family for Christmas. My family is notoriously hard to buy for and this year I'm taking the handmade plunge and going all out and getting only handmade Christmas gifts for some of the hardest to buy for people on the planet.

I got out of my Mom's birthday easy with some handmade beads for her troll bracelet. For Dad's birthday we got out of it easy with a thick book on drying foods. (He's a farmer) Last Christmas I scored with a reusable shopping bag full of thrift store wool sweaters and a vintage polish coffee percolator. The middle brother got something I don't remember and I copped out and got my youngest brother a…. gift card. I hang my head in shame with that one.

So this Christmas I'm going handmade. But what to get. For my Mom I'll probably get her something again for her bracelet- there are a lot of artists selling really cool lamp work beads for troll bracelets.

I'm not sure what to get Dad or Matt. Allen, well, I'll look for something World of Warcraft related or iPod touch and that will be easy.

I have to start early or I"m left scrambling around in the last week looking like a moron at the mall nearby wandering the aisles with all the men who waited until the last minute. My goal is to buy everything handmade this holiday season!

unique teacher’s gifts are in order as school approaches

I used to be a teacher, believe it or not. I taught high
school art for a year and when that fizzled for me I went into working in an
Elementary Special Ed program grades 2 and 4. Both experiences led to many
memorable moments. The teenage girl who drew the penis disguised as a
lighthouse and didn't think I'd notice, the boy with whom I had to have a
discussion "IN MY OFFICE NOW" about respect, the runny noses and hugs
from 2nd graders for whom I was the strange lady who would talk to them like they
were human and doodled in the back of the classroom.

On of the sweetest things about the younger kids was that their parents would
send them in with some unique gifts for the teachers. I used to take these as
offerings to the merciful teachers who would take their hyperactive kids off
the parental hands for 9 months of the year and instill rules, boundaries and
limitations on their otherwise unruly kids. I have a feeling that if the
parents could have sacrificed a goat, sheep or virgin to get the kids out of
their hair they may have done it, but many of the gifts simply said,
"Thank you thank you thank you. I was one step from homicide and the front
page of our small local paper." Their faces told us that they were one
step away from insanity and a trip to the nut farm. As the kids walked into the
door, offering in hand parents looked on, hoping the teachers would be appeased.
The relief on their faces as the doors shut was visible.

Most of the gifts were pretty neat-o: flowers, homemade treats, various
school supplies among other things.(some of which we will not discuss here.)

Now there is no need to figure out a unique gift, a
parent just has to head to artfire.com and pick something and the artisan will
pack it and ship it right to their door. Check out the jewelry section for some
neat stuff. Also check out my shop for some really unique gifts- one-of-a-kind
handmade journals, perfect for note taking or journaling. I know for a fact
that most teachers are office supply junkies and would appreciate a journal
covered in soft leather, or an eco friendly jotter or a larger sized notebook
covered in recycled
/ upcycled sign vinyl.

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The sweetest gift I ever got was a dusty candle holder in the shape of a  watering can,iInside a dusty candle with faded scent. I spent a lot of time working one on one with that kid, helping him with math and reading as well as his speech therapy. At the end of the year he came in with a well wrapped gift for the lead teacher of the classroom and shyly sat at his desk laboring over a gift tag for the candle holder. He then waited until my back was turned and left the candle holder on my desk. Later that day I was talking to his speech therapist who had been talking to his mother that monring. According to the mother the kid had thrown a temper tantrum that morning because she'd gotten an end of yeaer gift for the lead teach but not for me. He woudln't leave the house that AM. He grabbed the candle holder and asked his Mom if he could give it to me. Hearing that story had been one of those moment wher I felt like I'd reached a kid. It also made it incredibly hard when I got the pink slip a few days later.