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Monday, December 3, 2012

Ridiculous

I knew, even as I was writing it, that today's to-do list was absurd.

I was awake at 5:30, enjoying the silent house.  Basking in the weird blue glow of my light therapy box - savoring my coffee and cats and dreaming of the day ahead.
I started jotting down all the ideas that were floating around.
Onto two pages.

 

So what's the first project I conquered?
One that wasn't even on my list of course.
 
 As I was thinking of the types of gift tags I wanted to make, I thought it would be nice to have some marbled paper in Christmas colors.  It doesn't take much arm-twisting to get me to marble papers.  I spent a pleasant meditative hour making papers like this one:
 and this one:
 and this one:

And then I decided I might want to do some stamping on my gift tags, but I don't have any Christmas stamps, so I decided I'd better make some.
( you may have noticed THAT wasn't on my list either)
But now I have two new stamps.

So let's look at which list items I did accomplish.
I painted a ton of tissue paper.
I lay it on big sheets of freezer paper and it works really well - doesn't move around or tear.
But it takes forever to dry.
So this is what the dining room looked like for most of the day:
 

And now I have a stack of luscious tissue.  I love the way the Golden fluid acrylics look on tissue.  They are translucent, and almost glow, and the wrinkles in the wet tissue make all these cool variations in color.  The tissues look great in collage.

Now it's about 10:00AM and it's time to tackle the Christmas present for my swap partner in my "Super Mail Artists" group.  I have a dozen or so little mail art related packages wrapped and packed in a larger box and ready to go out tomorrow.  I spent a ridiculous amount of time decorating the box.
It was one of those sturdy boxes with a lid that are sold for photo storage.

Side one:
  
Side two:
(notice how I used my new papers?)

side three:

side four:
(my new stamp!)

Lid:
 
The whole thing is so awesome, I'm tempted to mail it to myself.

So when that's finished it's 12:30.
Lunch break, followed by a trip to the library, haircuts for me and Max, spray painting some clothespins, laundry (ongoing), and not going to the gym. I even managed to shower.

I also went out and cut a bunch of greens from the yard and made my window boxes festive:

and I wrapped all the little presents for the SMA Christmas present while we had our traditional Sunday night family movie night.  (Disney's classic 1965 live action feature "That Darn Cat")
Plus it was indoor s'mores night.

But wait, sometime after the haircuts but before dinner/movie/s'mores, I started making tags.  
I decided all the new marbled paper wasn't going to work for this purpose.  The red paint came out looking very pink.  It looks great until you put it up against something red.
So I switched gears and decided to try the polymer clay ornaments that have been on my "try this" list since summer.
I tied them to simple tags made of cardstock and washi tape.  I can put them on a package, and then the recipient can pull off the cardstock and have a keepsake ornament.


Then, since I hadn't used my new snowflake stamp yet, I made some more tags.
All they need are ribbons.

and while the red and green washi tape was out, I made some quick tiny tags.
I think red and green baker's twine will look nice in these, no?

I didn't get to any of the bookbinding or sewing stuff I wanted to do today. No progress on the commission for my sister. No catching up on correspondence.  
(I'm such a slacker.) 
But I did add another layer to the 40 day experiment.
And I drew the winner for the Mail Me Some Art giveaway.
And posted the last of the swap items for the year on MMSA.
And wrote this post.

Not bad for a single day.
I'm off to bed.
Something tells me I'm not getting up in 5 hours to go to the gym.
 

17 comments:

  1. Wow you had an AMAZINGLY productive day! So many things to love and you've inspired my todo list as well. I adore your stamps, your tree is gorgeous! Marbelling paper is something I've always wanted to try. and those polymer clay tags are fabulous!

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  2. What a day! Usually, if I make it to the gym, I feel like my day was full enough....though, when I do miss it, I feel so guilty I can sometimes get a lot more done....haha!

    Your projects are incredible! Those stamps are awesome!
    Your tags are perfect!

    Great idea with the clay ornaments, too :)

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  3. I always knew you had more than 24 hours in your day, and now I know you never sleep. This output is amazing both in quality and quantity. I'm left breathless. You are amazing.

    Karen, seeing how you spend a day, I feel so honoured and happy that you take time out to leave comments on my blog. It makes me so happy. Love you.

    Keep well.

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  4. Maybe I'd get more done if I was up at 5:30 making a list? My house is sooooooo cold at 5:30 though, brr. The dark & cold winter months compresses the amount of time I can be out from under the covers! Hmm, maybe I need an artist date with you to get my mojo back. We drove by your neck of the woods on our way to and from NH this weekend...

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  5. Amazing feats of super creative loveliness. Rockin marbelized paper, I love the globule one, doesn't sound pretty I know but looks amazing.....I would want to mail that gift box to myself too! Cool all around. xox

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  6. You are *SO* productive I got tired just reading this!

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  7. You go girl! What a pile of productivity, a heap of happiness, gobs of goodness, tons of tissue (ha!). You continue to be my hero... and inspiration.

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  8. Such cute tags. I love that the first thing that you did wasn't from your list. Creative minds, unite.

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  9. OK. I was just telling a friend about you and how prolific you are and now you are just showing off. Really. I MUST get instructions on both marbling paper (WHY would I need to buy it in Venice??) and make that colored tissue. Come on -- fess up. Or should I search your blog? Now i want to be half as prolific as you....and of course I loved everything else too....

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  10. PS My to-do lists are very much like you and sometimes they make me get a little crazy!

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  11. OMG karen, i am so tired from your busy day ;) is it bedtime yet? (actually i should be getting ready for bed instead of reading blogs, 1 a.m. comes too fast!) all your projects look wonderful but i especially looooooove that marbled paper, a project i have never tried but love the look of. take a break now and relax.

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  12. okay when do you have time to breath.....you are amazing all you get accomplished I am in awe

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  13. I'm dizzy just reading this :D! Love it all but especially the snowflake stamp!

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  14. Girl, when do you sleep?! My head is spinning with all you did in one day. It would take me a week to do all that.

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  15. I'm worn out now! You may not have done everything, but what you did do turned out fabulous! I love all the Christmas tags. And I just love your stamps that you made, I can't believe how well they turned out. I'd buy that Christmas tree one if I saw it in a store...

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  16. I'm exhausted! Beee...uuuu.. tiful papers.. my goodness, you must show us the marbling.

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  17. Your marbled paper is GORGEOUS! Have you done a blog tutorial on your process? I would love to try it. I love that you have marbled paper and carved two handmade stamps before 10:30 in the morning! I have put so much thought into carving stamps, and have never sat down to do it, and you just whip out two beauties like it's nothing! Your tags look really great, by the way.

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