Halloween ATC 2...

Welcome to Blogtoberfest Day 11!

I am in a hurry to get outside and work on the yard clean-up, prepping everything for winter. So today I only  have another ATC for you to see. 

As I have been cleaning and raking and rummaging through my storage/tool sheds, I am amazed how much clutter and junk can be accumulated over time. It is especially bad for Mr. How2 and me, because we remodel houses and own a couple rentals.  We end up with useful looking scraps, extra fixtures, and abandon items all the time. It isn't in my nature to be wasteful, so it all goes into my overflowing sheds, until we find a need for it or it is destroyed by pack-rats. 

This is a habit I am trying hard to break, but it has taken years to build this kind of jumble, and it is consuming months of my life to rid myself of it. I haul off truckloads to charity and post items on Facebook to sell or give away. I have been moderately successful. I try to celebrate this by calling my best friend and doing what we have dubbed, "The Empty Space Dance". We sometimes take it a step further, and reward ourselves with a trip into town for an espresso shake. 

But every time I open another door, there is another pile, waiting to be sorted, cleaned or thrown. I have a dream, that someday the sheds will be all but bare, and what is left will be carefully sorted and labeled. But at times like this, I wonder if that dream is achievable. Right now I am not feeling the joy, more like a grim determination to trudge through this before the snow flies...

Until next time...enjoy!

The Halloween Fun Begins...

Welcome to day 10 of Blogtoberfest!

Today I figured I better get started on my ATCs for this months Flygirls Swap. The theme this month is Halloween and I worked on my backgrounds in preparation for them...

I will be needing six, so I used some scrap foam-core from an artist friend, and cut them down to 5" X 7". This is double the size I will need but it is easier to work with the larger pieces. I will be assembling these digitally, so re-sizing is quick and simple. For me, Halloween means black cats, witches, pumpkins and oddly enough, vintage. I have already collected different elements and clip-art, and with the backgrounds scanned into my computer, I am ready to create...

Here is my first, a mixture of images from vintage postcards, magazines and an advertisement for a funeral home. I just love this ladies costume, all ready for the Halloween Ball! 

More to follow in the coming days...

Until next time...enjoy!

All Packed Up and on Their Way...

Welcome to day 9 of Blogtoberfest!

Today, I finally finished and packaged my second submission to the Art-o-mat Project. I have been slow to finish, summer is just such a busy time, but today I brought the box to the post office...

 This project can be time consuming, there are a lot of little steps necessary to getting the blocks just the right size and thickness. They start with a piece of 3/4" MDF, but need to be 7/8" thick, so a layer of 1/8" Masonite must be added to each block. I came up with quick way to evenly apply wood glue using a small roller from the dollar store...

and clamped the layers 7 deep. These dry fairly quickly, and are then ready for the table saw. I carefully set the fence on the table saw at 3 1/4", and run the now 2-ply boards through, then reset the fence at 2 1/8" and run them through a second time. This sounds complicated, but really you can whip out a LOT of blocks quickly this way. I tried cutting the MDF and Masonite first, then gluing them together, but was left with uneven edges and gaps where the glue didn't fill. This is much quicker, I ended up with enough blocks for almost two shipments! ( They ask that you send 50 at a time.)

Then comes a light sanding, which smooths the MDF beautifully, and a light scuff to the surface of the Masonite, to give it some tooth for gluing on the artwork...

Next, I paint each block with a base-coat color. At this point, I am starting to group them by ten. It makes the time commitment more manageable when I work on only ten at once. After the base-coat, I use a brayer to grunge a second color over the first...

Then I start adding extra detail with stamps and ink. Now my blocks are that old, grungy, interesting look I like, and ready for my artwork...

I have been working on the art steadily over the last few months, so I have a decent variety to offer. I try not to include more than two of any one design. I use GIMP to re-size and enhance my art, as well as add some lettering. Then I cut it out and use Mod Podge to glue it to a block. I like to use the brayer again at this point, to make sure there are no air pockets. A bit more ink applied to the edges give a nice finished look to each piece...

The last step is wrapping each block in a band of cellophane, and boxing them to ship. They are fairly heavy, when you get 50 of them together, but they fit in a Medium Flat Rate box from the post office, so postage stays around $11. 

I hope that if you ever considered participating in the Art-o-mat Project, this little tutorial can help you streamline the process a bit...and should you be traveling and come across an refurbished cigarette machine selling tiny pieces of art for $5 each, I hope you will indulge yourself and give it a pull!

Until next time...enjoy!

Harvest Time and Family Gatherings...

I have been a little lax in posting these last two weeks, so here is my chance to catch up.

  We traveled in our RV to our annual family reunion over Labor Day weekend, an event we haven't missed now for 20 years. Our numbers are a little bit down, we are at that in between stage where all the cousins that were small children together are all graduated and building lives for themselves. Now it is mostly all us empty-nesters and the grand parents. This is a natural ebb and flow, soon these young adults will find their mates and start families of their own, ( not too soon, I hope), and the campground will begin to fill up again.

  I did bring my art kit along on the camp out, but I didn't once crack it open. I just spent my time talking around the camp fire, yard-saling and exploring the farmers market. As you can imagine after 20 years, there are a lot of traditions that have developed and so many stories to tell  and retell of gatherings past...

  I think the thing that amazes me the most is how, even though we don't see some of these people more than this one time a year, there is really no awkwardness in our connections. We just pick up where we left off, with more fodder for our storytelling. I have teased Mr. How2, telling him that becoming part of his amazing and huge family was the best reason I had for marrying him. Don't worry, his ego can take the hit!

One of the traditions is to go yard-saling in and around the town of Twisp. Because I am still determined to eradicate all the extra clutter from my life, I only picked up a couple things, a spice wrack to hold my small bottles of paint, and this little Chinese Calligraphy kit for $1.00. I am intrigued by this art form, and am looking forward to giving it a try. The Twisp Farmers Market is another place we go, and on Labor Day weekend they always host the library book sale. I scored a couple novels for Mr. How2, and a small book written entirely in Chinese, which i plan to use in my art. I had so much fun with the book of German poetry and the a copy of Romeo and Juliet in Russian that I bought at the book sale last year, I just couldn't resist it.

   I finished my "harvest" ATCs this week, about the only art I was able to get to, and will be sending them off tomorrow. Here is a look at them...

I made five this time, our exchange is usually send three, get three back, and most of us make and extra for the hostess to keep. This month, the granddaughter of one of or members asked if she could participate, so one is for her. We again decided to include an inchie, and here is mine...

Lets hear it for an autumn filled with beauty, bounty and warm family gatherings! Until next time...enjoy!