Big blue flower to Gloria

The big blue flower was something I saw on Pinterest that looked like loads of fun to copy and it was. It was done on a sheet of paper so that I could fold it wherever I wanted to fold it and make an envelope. But, I couldn't find a stamp that worked, so I used it as a *bonus* inside an envelope that seemed lame on a couple levels. The lame envelope, pictured below was lame because it was February by the time I got around to doing it. The whole red/green thing was not inspiring me.

Note to self. Blah, blah, blah.
Self: Do you even read the notes?
Self: Well, yes, I do.
Self: This is boring. Send them to that blog of the woman who is sooooo funny.
Self: But, she doesn't mention envelopes or stamps.
Self: Yeah, but you two have many similar traits.

OK
Here is a woman who is off her rocker in a way that makes my issues look insignificant.
You really have to dig to find all the stories --- but some of them are hysterical. The one where she asks her husband to cut strips of red fabric is really good because her husband is usually very exacting at projects.

And half the blog posts are about cats and kittens - so if you are a dog person - or a non-animal person - you have been warned. I'm not the only one who gets a kick out of her writing. She has 14.5k followers on IG.

Here is the link where you can decide if you want to kill time.
Below is the link to the page with holiday posts - scroll down to the one titled:
When you assume your husband can help you sew DIY Christmas bows.


https://victoriaelizabethbarnes.com/

https://victoriaelizabethbarnes.com/projects/holidays/

So boring, I was tempted to not even post it.

Bonus post - marker flowers like those brush flowers

Killing time - although, it is a tutorial - so it's worthwhile use of time if you have ZIG calligraphy markers and like the look of those brush flowers but do not want to invest in brushes, etc.

There is no commentary so I will add what I think is useful information. She shows how you can take a darker color and touch the dark nib to the corners of the lighter color nib and transfer some ink. You hold the nibs together for about 15 seconds. This makes your strokes variegated. It lasts for a while (probably long enough to make those two flowers) and eventually the light color returns to the original color. She shows using the corner for fine lines, which will ruin your nib if you press very hard. You need to drag it very lightly. The little leaves are done by placing the nib on the paper and then as you make a small apostrophe shaped mark, you twist the nib, lifting one end off the paper - and then list the entire nib off the the page. A flicking motion. Practice a few times.

Most important thing to notice -- do not worry about flowers and leaves being connected. Some are. Some aren't. When you are light and wispy - you get a fresher look than if you carefully attach everything.

Then, you can wind your way around to the main site @kuretakejapan and probably find a gazillion other things. There is a link to their website.

Regular daily post below.

More from July that might be re-runs.

Even though I asked for people to let me know if they received those birthday candles that ran yesterday, I am going to post some more from the July exchange that I can't find on the blog.

I'm getting so close to the big 10 year anniversary of the blog. Embrace the chaos. Embrace the chaos.

I love Cathy's. I love Lauren's first one and Rachael's and Susan's - even though I did not have enough of the Ellsworth Kelly stamps which would have been so much better.

The second one to Lauren is a dud. But, I love-love-love my giant Copic marker.

There was a bonus post - yesterday at 10 am CST -- so if you are an early bird, you might want to scroll down and see it.

A time killer - if you like stamp-stuff --  Faux-stamps - I like the one in Santa Fe.

From Sam -- 4 owl stamps

Another gargantuan thank you to Sam for sharing her work so that I could bump another holiday post from Jan to November. These stamps are featured on other envelopes - way back when. If I had been smart, I would have been sure to write -owl stamp- or mention every single stamp in every single post - and then we could do a search and see all the various envelopes by stamp. I try to not have regrets - but the opportunity to build in a searchable feature is a missed opportunity of the highest order.

So, I just did a search and there are 9 posts that mention owls, and at least one that shows an envelope that I sent with these stamps. Very pretty stamps.


*****
Killing Time Option.
I'm only allowing the killing of time when it relates to envelopes.
It is within driving distance - and I could stop there on the way to that quilt museum in Lincoln that is on my *maybe* list. Not that I am a quilter - but I do enjoy seeing them in real life.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/world-s-largest-ball-of-stamps

Sam's December exchange envelope - snowflakes

I love this one -- and I loved it even more after I read how she did the snowflakes. Each one is a fingerprint. Isn't that cool? Fingerprints and snowflakes are both noted for being unique.

I love those stamps and remember them fondly.

The wreath on the postmark is nicely placed.

Lovely.

I bet *we* could figure out a way to do valentine fingerprints.

******

OK, this really is the last Time Killer Link.
I just saw that Jean Paul Gaultier had his final runway show. He is not retiring, just not doing any more big runway shows.
Jean Paul and I have so much in common.
Born within 13 days of each other
Named Jean
Rebellious
Practically fraternal twins, eh?
Gray hair

So --- you might not want to slog through all 174 images. Most of them are goofy. But, there are details that tickle my funny bone. The very first dress is a baby doll dress made out of baby dresses. And so on and so forth.

Again -- skip it if you think avant garde fashion is a ridiculous waste of time.

The other Jean

Lauren's Birthday -- Go wild!!

This envelope was left over from a birthday mailing for a 2 year old who had a wild animal themed party. The envelopes coordinated with an invitation that had a leopard print design.

Lauren deserves something wildly better than this -- but, she had the misfortune of having a birthday in December - the overloaded month.

Note to self, do a better job of keeping a birthday calendar of the exchangers so that you can be prepared.

Even though it's not spectacular -- I do like any kind of envelope that has comments scattered about. I do not know if Lauren likes wine. The supply of orphan stamps is dwindling. (clapping hands emoji)

*****
Our final Time Killer Link -- it's been fun, but it is time to get serious about some of my hoard reduction. Not only is this an inspirational space -- the links at the bottom look mah-ve-las.

Narrowest House

Leslie's Happy Splats

My favorite part of this one is the juxtaposition of the precise grid with the happy splats.

More pink and green. I'm thinking that she might have gotten out some pink and green and then found as many ways to use it as possible. It's not that much fun to get a lot of different colors out. You need a different brush to mix each one and then you know you'll have a lot of brushes to clean. Cleaning up is not  that much fun. I totally get it why artists had assistants. Or apprentices.
One of those things I'll never get to experience. Although - it's hard having people work for you. I had *underlings* a couple times and I did not enjoy the part where I had to correct something. It was painful finding a way to point out a mistake gently. Clearly I was not successful, as we all know my nickname is Mean Jean. But that was probably more from the parented people.

The flip side:

Killing Time on Thursday:

This is so amazingly wonderful. It is taking a lot of self control to not look at all of them right this minute.

365 day challenge

Thanks to the BigHelpfulBrother for sending this to me.

Going to his IG account is an easier way to see all of them.

Sam's BigCopic

It might have been better with just the black and no outline. The first outline looked lonely, so I did a second outline and it did not help, so I colored purple over the inner line to look like the lettering on the stamp. Not resolved - but mailed.

At least I had the perfect color envelope for those stamps.

*****
Wednesday's Time Killer:

My 25% Finnish DNA is wildly crazy about this restaurant.

Tiny Restaurant

Years ago, there was a restaurant in Chicago called, Minnie's - and everything was miniature. Tiny sandwiches, etc on small plates. Tiny beverages. A happy memory - glad I got to visit that one time.

Leslie - pink & green & versals

Very clever - hellO - using the stamp as the O.

The name and address are covered up. I'm guessing the name is Liz - although when I first read it - it looked like Lil.

Pink and green and versals - it would be hard to mess up that combination.


*******

Tuesday Time Killing Option.
A delightful house in Sweden.
More than just a house. Studio space, guest house, workshop.

Swedish house, etc

Bonus Post - Monday morning time killing opportunity

Today's regular post is right below.

I found a website where you can create faux-logos. They only have a few - but it was fun to plug in a few names. Above is the Converse logo. If you don't want to get going with your Monday chores, you might want to surf through the site. They would be fun to use on envelopes if you are a digital artist.

https://www.festisite.com/logo/heineken/

Lego

Nike

Prada

Tsingtao

Versace

killing time

 i ran across this board on Pinterest.
1,891 pins and many of them are drop dead gorgeous. she has some of jackie davis' work pinned and some of my wacky envelopes and then there are links to some of the serious rock stars in the world of calligraphy. a very wide range of pins. i could have easily spent a day or two following pins. instead, i blogged it and might come back someday if i am ever sitting around with nothing to do. i have a new label called *killing time*


https://www.pinterest.com/kkscribe/art-calligraphy/

 i like the envelope.
it was done by this calligrapher.
very nice penmanship - a tiny bit casual and just the right amount of flourishing.
http://www.papineaucalligraphy.com/