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.

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.  

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?

Thank You Quinn McDonald

One of my favorite bloggers to follow is Quinn McDonald of Quinn Creative .  I sometimes want to change places with her.  Her blogs are always interesting, varied, and show her multi-dimensionality, as well as her wonderful artistic and writing talents.  I encourage you to visit her blog and see/read for yourself.

One of the things Quinn stresses in her postings is the need to get past your inner critic and just step into the waters of creativity of "do it".  Children "do it" all the time.  As we age, just doing it sometimes gets hard.  Like Quinn McDonald, both Jeff and I are multi-dimensional creatives.  We both like to make cards, do art, write, even loom knit.  I once tried my hand at tapestry weaving and years ago spent most of my creative time needlepointing and embroidering.  Jeff loves to bookbind and make handmade boxes.  He also cuts rocks and minerals into cabochons for jewelry.

Yesterday Jeff and I made our holiday greeting cards.  Later last night, I rubberstamped and watercolored a new stamp I recently received in the mail.  I love the cards we made (see yesterday's posting) but am especially pleased with this rubberstamped watercoloring I made. It was relaxing to play with and see what I could do with it.  I felt like an eight year old with a new set of paints.  A not-to-often-felt experience for me.  Usually I ponder, plan and worry about how to execute something creative rather than just let me go and "just do it".  For a first try with this stamp and to watercoloring in general, it's pretty darn good.... and it was fun to do!  Fun!  How about that!

Today, I plan to spend the day writing.  I have an e-book I'm working on in my head.  Today is the day I start committing it to paper. I also have an idea for some new greeting cards, inspirational ones.  I'll spend some time sketching them out.  Oftentimes what I see in my head looks much better than what I put on paper.  Sometimes what I see in my head never makes it to paper.  Nevertheless, today, I'm going to get past my inner critic and keep moving forward.  The "yes but, well but, no but brothers" have been internal friends of mine for years.  They know my weak spots, know how to distract me from doing what I say I want to be doing.  Today is going to be a creative and productive day.... and fun as well.  

How about you?  Do you have an inner critic (or two?).  How do you calm yours down, get past it, put it in its place?  What creative endeavors have you been wanting to try or make time for but haven't?  How do you have creative fun?  What can you do today to start?  

Quinn McDonald doesn't know she's one of my inspirational mentors.  I should write her and let her know.  I think I will and when I do, I'll tell her thank you for how much she's contributed to my life.  Inspiration, the breaking down of the inner critic and the moving forward into creativty and productivity come in many different shapes and forms.  Today, Quinn was one of mine.  If you have a few minutes, visit her blog.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.  

Making Christmas/Holiday Greeting Cards for Friends and Family

Jeff and I started our holiday cards for friends and family.  Lots of stamping, coloring and even the use of Diamond Glaze this year.  

Paper Owl Artists plans on being busy in the coming weeks creating new designs for the shows we do and our Etsy shop.  Look for us soon on Artfire as well.    In the meantime, have you started your holiday shopping yet?  Cards too?  Remember, it's not too late to order so custom designed holiday cards for giving or mailing.  We have and can discuss a variety of design ideas with you.

And if you haven't already, we'd love it if you'd tell your friends and family about us.  Subscribe to our blog for postings about our cards, the history of ketter writing, paper, interesting facts about printing, writing and even greeting card art.  Look for the email sign up box on the right hand side of the blog.  And if course, join our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/paperowlartists.

In the meantime, we wish you happy and stress free holiday shopping, and other preparations.

Jennifer

Finding Inspiration in Steampunk/Shabby Handmade Greeting Cards

It's been a little while since we last posted.  Sometimes you just need to take a break.  I know that's true for me.  For awhile I thought I'd lost my interest altogether.  I wondered if my inner critic had finally won out, stripping me of my creativity, my feelings of inspiration and being called to do something.  Jeff was still making cards throughout my greeting card funk.  While I turned to reading and studying intuition (a topic and practice I'm very interested in) as well as writing family photo stories, Jeff continued be inspired, trying new card designs, posting to our Etsy shop, and just letting me cycle through my interests.  Last week he showed me a new design he'd been working on - collage cards.  Steampunk/shabby in feel, Jeff was experimenting with them for an off-beat indie craft show we'll be at in October.

I loved them and wondered what I could come up with if I tried my hand at some.  Here are my first attempts - a little dark and cluttered looking, but a start nonetheless, and a great way to spend a VERY stormy Sunday afternoon.

If you happen to be in the Delray Beach, Florida area come visit us at the Stitch Rock Indie Craft Show, Saturday, October 4, 2014, Noon - 6 p.m.  We'd love to see you!

Celebrating Diversity

Jeff has been busy making new cards for Paper Owl Artists.  His latest cards reflect and support diversity. We hope you like the cards as much as we do.  Please keep us in mind and refer us to others for your greeting cards needs.  We're always open to custom orders.  Just email us at paperowlartists@gmail.com to discuss your individual needs.