Another Good-Bye Card

As you know, I collect used Christmas cards, and sometimes people give me other kinds of cards like Valentine's Day or Mother's Day cards.  

I love roses, and they are a frequently used symbol in connection with St. Teresa, our parish patron, because she promised to send "a shower of roses" on people who pray for her intercession.  (People have received all kinds of answers to prayers that came through roses thanks to the little saint of France.)

I decided to use roses cut from cards to make this new card.  I wanted it to be nice and large so that multiple folks at the party could sign it.

Cutting roses from cards rather than flower catalog worked really well.  The cards are more sturdy, and if there is anything on the reverse side, it doesn't show when the image is wet with glue.

 I trace the saying in pencil first.

 You'll see below that "strewn" has two 'n's.  That's because one was too far from the 'w' and looked like this: "strew n."  So I slipped another "n" in between and made plans to cover the extra with a rose.

 I added a light wash over the text by mixing paint with water.  I just used regular tempura paints, the kind that comes in a big bottle for 99 cents.

It looks rather blank unsigned, but I put it near the desserts at the party so I'm sure it soon got signatures!  :)

Life Hack #9: How to get organized without buying anything

Here is the before.

 

The problem?  Lots of wasted space.  Lots of inaccessible items.  General chaos.

I used stacking boxes in order to make better use of the space.  It isn't ideal, but I'm trying to use a space for something that is not intended, so it is inevitably a makeshift solution.

The black box on the lower shelf is empty.  It's used as a riser.

Virutal Upcycle Art Show

Here are pics from the Upcycling Art Show in Beatrice that closed on Saturday.   Enjoy!

First, some from some of the other artists:

I think this is one of Nancy Hagler-Vujojic's pieces.  She wasn't sure if the toaster would still work.....

 More after the jump....

Paper Mache Mirror Frame: A Work in Progress

I will post a tutorial when it is done (if it works!) but in the meantime, here's some of what I've been up to: