Celebrating a Stress Free Holiday Season with My New Friend Jack

I have a new friend and we have had a fine time together during this holiday time. I have not experienced one bit of stress, not one, tiny bit, thanks to his help. From choosing gifts to sending cards to cookie exchanges to gifts for needy community members, Jack has helped me cope calmly and gracefully. You may know Jack -- his last name is Shit. Jack Shit. As in "I am not doing Jack Shit for the holidays."

When the urge to bake hits, Jack says, "Still your mind! You do not want to go to the store to buy supplies, spend the evening baking, and run around tomorrow delivering them to your fat friends who don't need to eat them. Put on your flannel jammies, flip on the tv and watch a movie. Maybe someone will drop by with some cookies for you."

When I was asked to contribute clothing for needy babies, Jack said, "They'll take cash, you know." So that's what they got. Those babies won't know or care. They'd rather have candy anyway.

Purchasing gifts for friends and family? I was contemplating shopping trips, trekking through malls, driving long distances to get just the right thing. That smarty Jack said, "Wait around for a last minute deal to come in your email and order online." Brilliant! Took me about 30 minutes and that included typing in their names and addresses for delivery.

Christmas cards? Jack advised that I would be killing trees in the interest of sending meaningless greetings to people I talk to on the phone anyway. Everyone else would be thrilled with a lovely digital card from Jacquie Lawson. Jack knows his stuff!

Jack's wisdom includes, "All this so-called seasonal kindness is claptrap. Be good to everyone all the time and relax with a clear conscience in December while everyone else runs around like maniacs going in debt."

He has urged, "Girl, there is no Santa Claus, hell, even Jesus would not approve of Corporate Christmases. Don't do it for them, don't do it at all. That's called not doing Jack Shit!"

Jack has been a good and true friend. To show him my gratitude I am going to do something extra special. Just as he recommends, I am not doing Jack Shit for him.

Carving a Background Stamp

    

While shoving strolling through the 2011 International Quilt Festival shopping are, I ran across the colouricious.com exhibit and found this lovely Indian Printing Block. I was delighted to take it home with me, where it sat unused for about a year.

I had an idea that a solid background stamp would add some interest to the original design, and that I should carve this stamp. I was fortunate to attend, also in 2011, Jane LaFazio and Pamela Underwood's Lavender Sage Art Retreat in Austin, TX, where we carved stamps that we designed. Armed with these skills, I jumped right in.

Here's is what I used:

Speedball Carving Set (carving tool and stamp block blank)

tissue paper

oil pastel in light brown color

stylus for tracing

Stayz-on stamp pads in several contrasting colors

Muslin and paper

Original stamp on tissue paper, outlined with oil pastel

First, I stamped the original stamp on tissue paper. (above) I outlined the shape in oil pastel, which is soft and smeary, just what I wanted for this job. I flipped the design over on to a stamp carving blank block and used a stylus to go over the outline. The smeary oil pastel design was transferred to the block. (left) Using my basic little Speedball stamp carving tool, I began removing the portions of the block that I did not want to include in the image. (left)

Here's what it looked like when I finished carving it and slapped a purple stamp pad on it. It was not difficult to carve because I kept the shape simple, and the image stamped beautifully.

What I have learned about the original stamp is that it does not work well on paper (at least not index cards) because the detail is lost, but that it works much better on fabric, although not as well as I would like. I think this might have had do do with the surface upon which I was stamping. I used a dropcloth over a cutting board and it may have been too hard. 

Stamps on index cards, much of the detail stamp is lost.

Background and original stamps on fabric;

better but not as detailed as I would like.

In conclusion, I think I can get the image that I want by stamping on fabric on a padded surface, yet to be determined. If you give this a try, please comment and let us know what worked best for you.

Update: After all my experimentation, I discovered a video on the colouricious.com site that helped immensely: Inspired Block Printing with Jamie Malden.

Colorado Days

Aspen trees turning

For the last two weeks I have been enjoying southern Colorado. I have family here and I have picked apples, worked in a permaculture garden, built a compost bin, shoveled bear poop (!) out of the back yard, attended a fabulous concert at Steve's Guitars in Carbondale, and generally enjoyed the beautiful weather.

My aunt has a big apple tree in the backyard and for the last several nights a bear has climbed the tree to eat apples. He or she shakes the tree, chomps, grunts, and causes apples to fall. This all takes place right outside my second floor bedroom window, but I have never seen the bear. It's too dark, even with a flashlight shined from the window. This morning we shoveled up a 5 gallon bucket of bear poop. (I debated whether to post a picture of the poop, which is quite interesting, and have decided to spare you.)

My son Henry's girlfriend Shannon

My son has launched a business of installing permaculture gardens in Durango and thereabouts, and I have been assisting him with marketing, setting up a blog, and so on. I visited a garden he installed in Carbondale, and was amazed at the continuing yield of a small garden. (If you'd like to contact him about a garden for your backyard, it's henryellisjohnson (at) gmail (dot) com.

Prayer flags for all beings

I have been enjoying The Prayer Flag Project, and I finally got organized enough to jump in with a few of my own. Instead of overplanning, overthinking, and generally acting perfectionistic, I just did it.

A 50 cent garage sale sheet yielded 72 - 5x7" rectangles to play with. Having so many inexpensive pieces of fabric made me reckless -- if I did them wrong, it wouldn't matter because they were so cheap and there were so many of them. (The obstacles we make for ourselves!)

I dug around in my art supplies and found some fat tubes of Crayola finger paints, Radiant Rain, and big bottles of Colorations liquid watercolors from Discount School Supply. These materials, like the cotton fabric, will deteriorate rapidly. I think that prayer flags, like prayers, are meant to be transient and vanish into the universe.

I grabbed a few tools for making patterns and textures. One of my favorites is the purple rubber brush thing. It is soft and I can use it on my Gelli printing plate safely.I grabbed a few tools for making patterns and textures. One of my favorites is the purple rubber brush thing. It is soft and I can use it on my Gelli printing plate safely.

I placed the fabric on waxed paper on my worktable. I don't have a photo of this part, but I rolled out some blue fingerpaint on the Gelli and scribbled in it with the purple brush. I mashed each flag into the paint, adding more as needed.

And I painted. I globbed yellow finger paint on the fabric, then brushed it around and let it dry. I sprayed on some green Radiant Rain and when that was dry, added some orange. I like the Radiant Rain because it is sparkly, always a good thing in a prayer flag, I believe. I dropped the watercolors on the fabric to make blogs. When I decided that the colors were what I wanted, I had to decide how to add the lettering. After considering handwriting, image transfer, and printing on tissue paper, I decided on the latter. Easy and quick and more predictable than handwriting.

I stuck down the tissue paper captions with gloss lustre Mod Podge, then later wished I had used matte medium. Too shiny.

In order to hang the flags I added 2 machine made buttonholes to the top of each flag and then strung them on some orange twine I had around.

The flags read as follows:
May all beings be safe.
May all beings be well.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be loved.
May all beings love themselves.

These flags are intended as a housewarming gift for my son and his partner, Shannon. I want them to always be safe, well, happy, and loved.

The gig is up

The emma & abby gig is over. It was fun while it lasted -- going to garage estate sales, arranging the finds in the shop, and eagerly watching what was selling (or not). It began to be less than fun when I realized that I was barely working in my studio, I was spending more time scrounging through other people's castoffs that I was spending cleaning out my own closets, and, well, the glamour was gone. Worst of all, I was not making a profit. It would have been fun for longer if I had been making money, I think. I gave Colleen notice, and packed up my remaining "treasures" on Friday. The boxes, thankfully there are only a few, are in my studio waiting for me to decide the fate of the contents. My son has just rented a house in Durango, and I am going for a visit next week. Gee, I wonder if he needs me to help decorate?

Patience, nature, and addiction

Clouds over my house

No internet connection. No netflix, books, Instagram, syncing 2Do across devices, syncing calendars, uploading and downloading photos, Pinterest, no nothin'. We have had only the most sporadic connection for the last two months. (It's a long story and the ending has not come yet.) We have paid AT&T an obscene amount of money so that we can limp along with an air card and an account for my iPad. I used my iPhone so much that, even though I have an unlimited data plan, they retaliated by slowing down the connection. I depend upon the mercy of my friends and local coffee shops. 

For reasons unknown, I have a connection right now. It could go away at any second. I don't like living in this risk zone.

I tell myself, "Well, buck up, girl. You lived without the internet for most of your life." Problem is, I have come to depend on these devices and apps to keep me organized, focused, and of course, entertained.  

I believe that there are important lessons in this experience and that I had best pay attention: patience, nature, and addiction. Without dragging you through the depths of it, I have realized that I need to cultivate patience. It's not natural in my family. When I am holed up in the air conditioned house, I am not outside working in the garden or just being with Mother Nature. When I am on the internet, as we say, it's like being on a drug. I am enthralled and I can't Just Say No. I have to look at one more blog, one more Pinterest item, upload one more photo to Instagram. I think this interruption of my addiction is a good thing. I am learning how to survive on my own without my drug of choice. As any addict will tell you, this ain't easy but it's worth it.

emma & abby

It started out as, "We need to sell all the cool stuff cluttering up our houses." Then we added, "Hey, we could sell stuff that we make, too." And it went on like that for a while. All talk and no action. Left up to me the idea would have remained only in my head. My friend Colleen, however, is more of an action person. (Granted, she is younger and has more energy than I.) One day she simply found a location for us to sell our stuff and the next day we were moving in. emma & abby was born, named after our dogs, so creative. That's how I got into the "antiques" business. It's not really an antiques shop, but it is located in the back room at Bruce's Vintage Guitars & Antiques.
For the last several weeks Colleen and I have decluttered our houses, stuck price tags on our belongings, and hauled them to our shop as we grandly call our corner of the back room. And that should have been that. Like the rest of my life the situation quickly developed a complication. Colleen suggested that we go to some garage sales and estate sales to pick up a few things to sell. Sounds good, right? Get some great bargains and move 'em quickly through the shop. Wrong. So wrong. Those bargains have trickled into my house faster than the original clutter has gone. A blue and white Portuguese tray with adorable animals painted on it? Wow! Let's put it in the dining room! Hand crocheted pillowcases for $5? Good Lord, I'll never find a deal like that again. Those things are becoming scarce as hen's teeth and this color would look so great in the guest room. And that cherry bookcase? Back the truck in here and let's see if that guy over there will help load it!

My patient husband has refinished a simply darling vanity, a large 5 drawer chest, and has a dining room table and a bed frame stacked in his workshop. My studio is stacked with items that need to be priced. I've lost track of how much I've spent and I am so tired from schlepping stuff home from estate sales on weekends that I need a vacation to recover.

Okay, it's still all pretty good, you're thinking. Have I mentioned that I have sold virtually nothing? Or that Bruce, from whom we rent, has put up the only identifying sign behind some trees? So this is retail. And the contract for the space runs through July. I have an awful feeling that we will be having one big garage sale in early August. See anything you want?