Monday, December 29, 2014

It's a Rubber Stamping Wrap!

Jeff's daughter's birthday was this week. She LOVES cats (so does Jeff).  What better way to wrap a gift than wig handmade, rubber stamped and colored cat wrapping paper!  Toooo cute, don't you think? And so easy to make.  Just take a large sheet of plain drawing paper and stamp away with your favorite stamp(s).  If your package is larger than he paper, you can tape a few sheets together.  Here's a look at Jen's gift all wrapped and ready to be open.  I hope she saves a piece of the wrapping paper for her journal or memory box.








Friday, December 26, 2014

The Cards Say It All

I love oracle cards.  It's uncanny to me how the cards can offer messages, insight, and guidance into the questions I've asked, even if it's only choosing a card to tell me what to pay attention to throughout the day.  Today, just for fun, I decided to ask the oracle cards to give me guidance on the word "Art".  I used the deck, The Answer is Simple, by Sonia Choquette, a favorite intuitive, author and teacher whose work I've followed for years.


This set of oracle cards are light hearted, uplifting yet honest in message.  Their intention is to ask a question with the idea that the answer is really quite simple.  So often we ponder over an answer to a question, making our lives much more difficult than they need to be.  With this set of oracle cards, the answer to a question is often an answer that distills the question down to its roots and offers guidance that can easily be followed, if you just follow it.  


So my question for today was simple ... I offered up the word "Art", curious to see what cards I'd be drawn to, their meaning, and their guidance.  I decided to go with a 3-card draw rather than just one card.  Why?  I felt drawn to choose three cards rather than just one.  Let's see what I chose and what the cards meant.


Ha!  Stunning!  The first card I chose was "Reclaim Your Art".  The first card drawn in this 3-card draw represents the attitude or frame of mind in which to approach the question, situation or problem.  I didn't necessarily offer the word "Art" as a problem.  I offered it to the cards with the request for guidance.  "Reclaim Your Art" means to engage in your art, any art, be it writing, music, dance, painting, etc. and not let your ego get in the way like it can so often do.

The second card I chose was "Share Your Gifts".  This second card represents how to use the energy and guidance of the first card.  In this case, the card suggested to me that as I engage myself in my talents, I need to also put them out into the world.  I love to write.  I'm learning to enjoy my cardmaking, watercoloring artistic side more as well.  The "Share Your Gifts" card suggests to me that both Jeff and I need to continue what we're doing with Paper Owl Artists and share it more with the world.

Finally, the third card I drew was "Keep Dancing."  The third card in this type of 3-card drawing suggests what one might be overlooking and needing to become aware of.  In the case of "Keep Dancing",  this card says to keep doing what I/we're doing, to stay focused on this idea of being in the energy of our art (writing, card making, frameable art, and other arts we may be led to this coming year), that by staying focused on and being in action around the energy of this card and this reading, we'll meet with success internally and externally.  

I loved this reading not only because it was a positive reading but also because it spoke to my questions and fears as well as my creative and "I want to be action' parts of me.

Have you ever consulted an oracle deck on your own?  It's fun, it's interesting, it's creative AND, it just might offer some guidance and thoughts that can support and assist you along your life journey. 





Sunday, December 21, 2014

Christmas Tag Making Party

Christmas is right around the corner, just a few days away.  My gifts are all bought, wrapped and tagged but it wasn't too late to make just a few more.

Jeff and I spent a couple of hours at a tag making party.  Our local Stampin' Up demonstrator held it complete with tag making supplies and yummy goodies.  Fun and good conversation were had by all who were there.  Here's a peek at what Jeff and I made.  Wouldn't they look nice hanging on a tree?


We'll be making a lot of these and more for next Christmas, for sure!



Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Paper Owl Artist Santa / Snowman Handmade Gift Card Holders

Looking for the perfect hokder for your holiday gift cards?  It's not to late to purchase one of our Santa ir Snowman handmade gift card holders.  Available in our Etsy shop - www.paperowlartists.etsy.com.




Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Paper Owl Artists Creative Intentions 2015

With 2015 just around the corner, it's time for me to start thinking about my creativity intentions.  In years past I've pretty much gone where the winds of creativity have blown me.  I've tried new crafts, purchasing tons of supplies to support my new found passions only to find my interests wane weeks later, sometimes even days after starting to learn the craft.  Being the perfectionist I am and thinking that everything I try as a novice needs to be perfect, my attempts at various creativity endeavors were often met with tears and frustration amongst other things.  For example, knitting and tapestry weaving became a mess of tangled yarns and fibers.  Years ago I made a sweater with one arm shorter than than the other.:




And the back of my embroidery and needlepoint never looked exactly as the front looked (though I will admit they got much better over time and were crafts I ended up finding very enjoyable to do. :-) )


Bookbinding sounded exotic to me.  I took some classes, made some nice blank journals but then got frustrated because it took me so long to see progress and get to a finished project plus, my fingers kept getting sticky from the glue I had to use on the cover papers!  But actually, I did alright with my attempts at this art.  I just didn't stick with it.


There have been many other crafts I've tried over the years.  As a child I tried my hand at woodburning, copper enameling and pottery (all attempted and enjoyed at summer camp).  Again if I had stuck with the feeling of enjoyment and allowed for patience and the inevitable learning curve, I might have become an artist or craft teacher instead of an instrumental music director and later a long-time psychotherapist.  

Sometime this year I discovered rubber stamping and cardmaking.  I contacted a local Stampin' Up demonstrator to find out more about this craft.  She and I met at our local Barnes and Noble bookstore where she gave me a 30 minute crash course in cardmaking.  I was hooked and as mentioned above, I set out to stock up on all the supplies I imagined I needed in order to make beautiful and interesting cards.  Fortunately for me, Jeff was also intrigued by cardmaking and started making cards himself.  he's actually much more patient at making cards and makes more interesting cards than me.  He has tons of patience, likes complex structures, and can cut and fold straighter than I can (it's that patience thing again for me ....:-)






I found my way to experimenting with watercolor and rubber stamping when attending a local scrapbooking/cardmaking/papercraft expo earlier this year.  A vendor booth was giving demonstrations that transfixed me.  I think I spent an hour at the booth watching the demonstrator make samples.  I was truly hooked, bought a ton of supplise but again impatience and the need for instant perfection kept me from practicing the craft enough to make anything or enough of anything of substance.  Intstead I was overwhelmed with fearful frustration.  This coming year however, is going to be different.

I love watercolors, in greeting cards and paintings, large and small.  I love other types of painting too but I like watercolors because it's something I believe I can do.  2015 is going to be my year to set my intention to become a student of the art and craft of watercolor, rubber stamped watercolor to be exact.  If possible, I hope to learn to do freeform watercolor as well, with the intention of making greeting cards and frameable art.  I guess my 2015 intentions need to also include practicing the art of being a beginner and the patience of practice, practice, practice.  My other intention is to stick with it and not give in to old patterns of behavior.  




Jeff and I continue to be committed to creating a wide array of greeting cards.  Coming soon will also be frameable art using the concepts of greeting card art.  We'll be showing our work at various craft shows, especially the "Indie" shows at which we've done so well and, we'll continue to have our Etsy shop and perhaps an Artfire shop as well.  Our blog will educate as well as showcase our creations.  We have alot of varied interests and would like to showcase interesting websites and artists we discover throughout the year.  It's going to be a fully creative year that we're looking forward to.  We hope you'll follow our blog, visit our store (www.paperowlartists.etsy.com) and support us in our creative endeavors.  













Wednesday, December 3, 2014

How to subscribe to Paper Owl Artists blog

So, I recently learned that people are having difficulty subscribing to our blog.  Phooey! 😁  To subscribe you must be on a desktop computer at our full blog site, www.paperowlartists.blogspot.com. On the right side of the page there is a search box.  Above this are the words, "follow by email".  Enter your email in the search-like box and voilà, you've hopefully been subscribed to receive our postings by email.  Join us, won't you?