Choi to the World

grove of natural monuments

So here I am three weeks post Artist Row, and I have been virtually absent from my blog and my shop. For two weeks I grabbed any half-busy moment to work on my stock and display for the show. In the frenzy I did come up with a bunch of new cards and ideas galore! So many of the ideas are still whirling in my head because time, oh sweet precious time...

Here is my grove of sweet tree cards gradually appearing in my shop.

 

We have a great swing tree in our yard and now there is one in a card.

Oh sweet prize, an acorn. My dad is a huge fan of the movie "Ice Age" which I didn't even think of when I created this card (I haven't even seen the whole thing).

 

The elegant ginkgo. Already featured on Sun Shines on the Ginkgo Tree.

Weeping cherries. Who decided they were sad. They look bouncy happy to me.

 

The graceful Japanese maple. I have five of these in my yard. They were a wedding gift. Isn't a tree a lovely wedding gift? I sure think so.

There is more to come.

paper 'stache

This is all I got done but it was something. I just had to do it. His outfit reminded me so much of an early 1900s swimsuit. Of course he needed a 'stache to complete the look. We both had great fun playing with this papercut coif for his upper lip. Of course the day he develops any peach fuzz will probably make me cry. For now I will revel in anachronistic cuteness.

Gingerbread paper

Yesterday I trolled some of the blogs featured in Artful Blogging. I was zipping through some images at One More Moore (gorgeous blog, by the way) from a trip she took when I had to scroll back, a virtual double take, something caught my eye. Hubby and I were watching a movie but out came my scrap paper and some scissors.

Before I knew it I was searching Google images for Victorian porches: snip, snip, snip and out came some more...

 

And more...

 

 

I wont talk about what was littering the floor after the Karin Scissorhand Frenzy. Love my Dyson, is all I've got to say about that.

I think I feel a new blog header coming on.

a starry tutorial for you (and me too)

**** after some feedback I received yesterday it seems I'll need to make some adjustments to my photos. Since my computer is on vacation (that is my glass is half full approach, more honestly it is in the hospital) I won't be able to fix the photos for now, but if you double click on the photos they will open larger in a new window.***

I gave myself another assignment -- yesterday was leaves, today flowers. I wanted to employ the little method of making a 5 pointed symmetrical star. Thanks to Betsy Ross we have an easy way to create a perfect little star with a few folds and one snip.

So in honor of the Perseid Meteor Shower, in more magical speak, shooting stars I thought I'd offer this little tutorial for any readers and so I can find it again when I forget the order and proportions needed for this clever little trick.

(I had a star theme for my wedding so we made lots of these little enchanting polygons for decorations. Which are now the background for my tutorial.)

Start with an 8.5" x 10" piece of paper. Yes, you have to trim your standard sheet a bit.

 

Fold it in half.

 

Fold the folded sheet in half vertically and open and then fold it horizontally and open back to the original fold so that it looks like the second picture below.

 

Bring corner A to the right to meet the horizontal center line and crease. Be sure to fold from the vertical crease line. Like so below.

 

Now take point A again and fold it back on itself so the two folded edges are on top of each other like the picture below.

 

Now fold corner B over the top and crease it along the last fold.  The second picture below is a picture of the form from the underside, for reference only.

 

Lastly, fold corner B back and crease it so that the top fold lays along the fold made in the previous step. These directions sound nuts I'd be lost without the photos. 

You should have this nice point where all the folds fall evenly together this is the part that will be your star. All the top points will be cut off. There is a lot of waste.

 

Now the fun part.The one snip that makes all this folding worth it! From corner B cut on an angle down towards the point. Your degree of the angle determines that sharpness of the points on the star.

 

Now unfold...padadadadadadada (that's my drum roll)

 

Magic!

Thanks Betsy!

Now try changing that one straight snip to a curved cut. Flowers! I just love making hand cut snowflakes. Now you can do the same thing to create quaint intricately detailed, five-petaled flowers. Each one a surprise when you unfold it.

 

6x6 @t RoCo

***UPDATE, all four have sold!! WOOT! Check them out. Uno, Dos, Tres, Quatro. More will be in my shop soon.***

My contributions.

Pictures don't do these little piggies justice. They have subtleties. The words are letterpress. Two are debossed. The piggies cut paper.

(Trying so hard to get back in the saddle. I opened my shop to get motivated. Well it worked well because in a couple hours I had a sale. Yikes! I sure didn't expect that. Forget the saddle I need my studio.)

It is a fundraiser at Rochester Contemporary. Each piece is only $20. There are over 3,000 works to choose from. There is still time, you can buy/support online.

The opening was crowded, stiflingly hot and fun. I didn't even take any pictures. Steven carried the baby in the sling and he attracted more attention than the art work. Men and women equally swarmed to admire his cuteness. At one point Steven was literally surrounded by women. He loves to quip that the ladies were using the baby as their excuse to get close to him. I know how they feel, I don't need an excuse. Men, ha!

time to dust of my Dirndl

Actually, I don't have one but I should given my strongly Bavarian heritage.  My latest work drips of Dutch/German/Swiss styling with its sweet symmetric scherenschnitte accents. Symmetry goes against my grain, or so I thought. Of course these little strips are mounted in an asymmetrical fashion.
You can see more in my shop and in my last post.

Another venue for my cut paper

Sometimes ideas can be so obvious. I laugh when it seems to take me forever to think of them. When my wonderful husband and I were married a wee bit over four sublime years ago we had a celestial theme for our wedding.
While we were dating and during our engagement we witnessed so many fabulous celestial events it just seemed a natural choice for a theme. We watched hundreds of shooting stars during the August meteor shower. We both witnessed out first Aurora Borealis together, went to the planetarium to view Mars as it was the closest to Earth it will be for thousands of years, danced in the glow of giant harvest moons, laid on blankets to count stars and put together constellations, strained to see the tendrils of the Milky Way. We got engaged just after the massive northeast blackout when we got to just sit among the stars for entertainment.
I made the invitations, place cards, decorations, my veil, favors and a card box. I made a giant card box. It wasn't that I was expecting tons of cards, we kept the guest list intimate, it was meant to do double duty as a centerpiece. It constructed a star shaped box and decorated with intricately cut stars that my sister and I made. It was gorgeous and of course it is still in my studio because I can't bear to part with it and I just don't know what to do with it. It is just so out of this world!

So if you take a giant card box like this and put it into an incredible shrinking machine you get a bank; star, piggy or otherwise! I have started with a swan. Inspired by the signature swans of Stratford, Canada where Steven and I were engaged and where we have returned every August since.
A Sweet Cygnet Savings Bank another way to express my cut paper designs.

**As I was gathering links for this post I learned with shock and great sadness that the longest serving artisitic director of the Stratford Festival died of a pulmonary embolism on Wednesday night. Richard Monette is one of the reasons we fell in love with the festival. Just a couple weeks ago we saw his last directoral effort of Love's Labour's Lost. He had an amazing talent and energy. Farewell.**

Best Friends Forever

Out of this mess...

I got this.

This little card or mini paper sculpture is amazingly sturdy. There is no glue tape or other adhering medium just two pieces of paper fit together just so.

 
It will appear in my shop in the near future. Great for celebrating your BFF, sisters, or even a same sex union. I just love this little creation. I have a feeling there are more designs along the same lines hidden in the pipeline.

I met my best friend when I was 4 she was 5. I always have to remind her that she is older, and for 6 months of the year I get to tease her about how old she is until she gets to return the favor by reminding me, most continually, that I have caught up with her for the second half of the year.

This card is dedicated to her. We have very different lives and really not all that much in common but I love her and I know we'll always have each other. This card is dedicated to her.

a happy day in studio A

After having a couple of particularly productive days. I am happy and want more days like these. But other things beckon ...

Here are some sketches and a few things I have been working on. Some are in my shop now, some are on their way.

These sketches of Astrantias .

Became a overflowing bed of block print flower cards in a lovely shade of red. I love red! I have gorgeous red envelopes to go with them. I love how the red seems to be a different color on each color card. I am going to put them in sets of sunrise, high noon, sunset, twilight. The way the ink changes color on the various colored backgrounds reminds me of how different light throughout the day changes the colors of the garden. I also have various neutral shades that are just so rich with the red blossoms on them. I'll offer them as separate sets.

 

These little cut paper empty nest cards have recently flitted into in my shop. See more details there.

Another card that has landed in my shop? This cute little birdie has a song for whomever receives it.

These colorful petal folders are great for special flat little prizes like $$$, gift cards, sweet little notes or the gift of a special poem and they are all wrapped up with a bow. Cute, huh?

Here is a cute little sketch that will make it into my wacky americana project. Not sure how she made it into my sketchbook. It is as if my future daughter's spirit manifested in the tips of my pencil, the recesses my creative mind. Read more about my adoption here.

I am excited about my progress but I am impatient for more!

all the world is a studio

It is true. That is where our inspirations come from, so naturally that is where we should be working.
I took the studio outside today. I had sun and shade, breeze and a most inspirational surroundings. I worked on a lamp for a customer and savored the time I had outside. My favorite bamboo table and the sweet company of my squeaky bunny, Zephyr. 

... And the added surprise company of this sweet baby bird, hanging out and spinning around my clothesline in the wind. I was pleasantly distracted by a young hummingbird at my feeder as well. No pictures of that little speed demon!