Supporting a Friend with Cancer

Looking for just the right card to send a friend with cancer?  Perhaps this one Jeff made says it all.  OOAK (one of a kind), blank inside, includes envelope.  $3.00 + $2.50 postage and handling.  Multiple cards available with variated jacket and paper designs.  Email paperowlartists@gmail.com for information.

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.  

Christmas in July!

It's Christmas in July here at Paper Owl Artists.  We've been busy making Christmas cards for special orders and put up in our Etsy shop.  Christmas trees, snowmen, and snowflakes are the themes for today.  Eight cards - $15, mix and match or make them all the same.  Your choice too of sentiment.  Post a comment or message us if interested or  visit our etsy shop. www.paperowlartists.etsy.com

                                                                   A sparkly shabby Xmas tree

                                                            Embossed snownman cheer

Diamond snowflakes

And request your sentiment from the following:

Remember, it's never too early to think Christmas!

Swap Card

Today I'm making a couple of friendly greeting cards for a card swap I'm participating in through Swap-Bot.com.  It's a fun web site that hosts numerous swaps on everything imagineable.  I like to participate in the postcard, penpaling, bookmark, magnet, and Cardmaking swaps.  The card below is for the "Easy Peasy" card swap.  

                      Inside of card

               (excuse the shadows)

The card was simple to make for sure - a few Sizzix flowers and leaf diecuts, a couple of stamped sayings and some colorful card stock.  Truly easy peasy.   I think I'll make a few more just to have on hand!

Fiddling With a Card Idea

Last night I was fiddling with a card idea. I'd seen a video showing the watercolor technique and I LOVE watercolor and watercoloring.  The demonstrator made the technique look really simple so I thought this should be easy peasy for me to do.  WRONG!!  To start with I should have used watercolor paper but I was too lazy to get some so I used regular card stock instead.  Here was the result of a small sample:

Crummy colors, runny ink.  Miserable looking.

Second try - still on card stock (yes, I was lazy and stubborn) - a little better color choice but not very attractive.  I like the first sample better, if I had to choose - 

Next try, better but still crummy and the stamp is too low.

Final try for the night was this one -

Drippy and messy but the colors were okay.  Later this week I'll try again, this time on watercolor paper and more patience.  Maybe I'll even watch the demo video again. 

Check out our nicer cards at www.paperowlartists.etsy.com

Gift card / Tea bag greetings

Take a look at some of the wonderful gift card / tea bag card holders Jeff recently made.  Perfect for a little tuck-it gift, birthday, thank you, thinking of you, and friendly hello.  We also have some wonderful ones for end of year teacher gifts.  Custom orders always welcome as well.  I'm going to ask him to make me one for a housewarming gift for my daughter and her family who are moving here this week.   All cards are 4-1/4" x 4-1/4" and come with an envelope. All are available in our  Paper Owl Artists Etsy Shop .  And oh yes, the Starbucks cards you see in the photos do not come with the cards!  :-)

Cardmaking and The X-Men

It was a nice day for Paper Owl Artists - a lazy and late start to the morning, card and journal making filled the early to mid afternoon and then for our evening entertainment, the new X-Men movie!  It was fabulous, if you like the X-Men.  I won't give you any movie spoilers here.  Instead take a look at a few if the cards I made today.  All will be for sale shortly in our Etsy shop, www.paperowlartists.etsy.com.  Come visit us for the finest and most unique handmade greeting cards.

Ft. Lauderdale Indie Show

It's been awhile since we last posted.  Life has been busy!  Work, family, new grandchild due soon, and busy making cards and journals.  Today Jeff and I have a booth at an Indie craft show.  It's a fun venue - a funky nightclub.  Our table space is in the mosh pit. :-)  

Sales are brisk.  It's nice to hear people talking about sending cards.  We made some mini-zine business cards to give away.

Next posting I'll tell you about the journal making class Jeff and I took in Sarasota, Fl a few weeks ago.  It, too, was great fun!