Making Time for Crafts

The kids and I had an afternoon to kill at home while Brett studied for a test earlier this week. We'd already gone for a wagon ride through the neighborhood, jumped on our neighbor's trampoline, read some books, made a mess at lunch time, and watched Pink Panther on Netflix.

I decided it was time to introduce Ruby to the joys of water colors. Sebastian isn't always up for crafting when I suggest a new project but he's always up for painting with water colors. He spent a good ten minutes working on his project this time, which is a good eight minutes longer than he used to. That made me happy.

Ruby took to that paint set like it was an old hobby of hers. I did catch her trying to drink the dirty water, sucking the water off the brush, stealing her brother's paint brush, and painting on my arm but she lasted as long as Sebastian and ended up getting some color on her paper coffee filter.

When we were through I had to wrestle it away for a pic. It was headed for her mouth. I may save it forever.

Sebastian ended up with a stained glass effect which I thought was interesting. I wonder what this type of painting is supposed to tell me about my child.

We got the popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners out of the craft box and made flowers out of the paper coffee filters. I have about a bajillion more from a garage sale that may turn into a garland one of these days.

I need to remember to sit down with the paint sets more often. Ruby is much more interested in coloring than Sebastian ever was (or still is) at her age so it's been fun to encourage that in her. I never had to worry about marks on the walls with Sebastian, though. Thank goodness for Magic Erasers.

Sebastian was so proud of his paper flower when he was done. It was a nice little break from sword fights, couch jumping, karate chops, and crashing block towers.

xoxo,
Rachel

Pretending to Fly Away on Paper Airplanes

I'd love to be with my family on a city exploration vacation this week. I've been craving another summer time road trip to an unfamiliar place. One where we can collect those illustrated post cards with the name of the state in bold, interesting type across the front!

Rather than continuing to dream of one, I decided to channel that restless energy into a paper airplane garland to add some whimsy and fun to our dining room space.

I kept the leftovers out from a drawing party that Sebastian and his new friend, Hope, had last night while her mom, Katie, and I discussed our late night crafting habits and what not.

The string has been up since Sebastian's birthday party because I love the idea of a changing garland in this space that reflects each season/occasion. I folded paper airplanes while Ruby explored the underbellies of the new chairs.

Unfortunately, she's at the same sitting height as the uncomfortably hard lip of the seat.

So, while we wish for Brett to come home and take us on an adventure up Route 66, we'll enjoy our travel themed garland and color our own post cards.

Where do you wish you were today?

xoxo,
Rachel

Invitations Are Out

We're having a small little party so it didn't take long to make these invitations. I just cut out some card stock, added graph paper with double-sided tape, layered washi tape, added my information, and addressed and stamped the backs. Post cards!

I got the inspiration from a shower my friend, Ashley, threw for her sister recently. I was able to use things I had on hand and manage to use the color scheme for Sebastian's truck party instead of something overly themed. And since Sebastian can't read I'll share with you that we ordered what we thought was an adult's fist-sized back hoe to match the little dump truck and bulldozer that my grandmother bought him on our Florida vacation. It's hard to translate scale ratios and there wasn't anything to compare it to in the pictures so we didn't realize we had actually ordered something about five times larger. Sebastian is going to be one happy little boy when he opens a back hoe the size of his little sister.

Happy weekend.
xoxo,
Rachel

Interview with Esther Ramirez of Essimar

Esther Ramirez of Essimar has long been one of my favorite mixed media artists and I'm thrilled to be able to share an interview with her here. Her use of color, pattern, negative space, free forms, and lines always inspires me and I appreciate her strong style and playful use of paper. She's bound to thrill if you're not already following her work.

1. How do you describe the style of your work?

Most of my work is made by printmaking, hand cutting, and collage with assembly. Every so often, I like to go outdoors and photograph my work in a living environment, outside of where it was created, or to later be part of an installation. Color is supreme in my work; it is the only constant. Other than that, I like to work outside of a given format. My pieces no matter the medium should tell as simple story through color and pattern--they cannot be explained outside of these elements, because who can explicate, without being boring or pretentious, color or pattern?


2. What is the process you go through from the conception to the execution of an idea? Do you sketch it out first, do measurements, or just go for it?

My process begins with a visual sketch, you can find notes of these little sketches in my pockets daily. Then the sketches are all gathered on my concept wall where I end up choosing a pattern for the day. Most of my work is a small scale schematic of a final larger piece in the works. I push myself to make a piece of work everyday--it could take an hour or all day; I'll even try to create on my lunch-breaks. There is no excuse to not limit your potential creative impulses. Mine are color.

3. Who has influenced your work, or who are you most inspired by?

Bakers. I find a true inspiration from bakeries not just because I have a sweet tooth but because of the daily process. Every morning bakers make fresh batches of bread, cookies, cupcakes... etc for their loyal customers and these little handmade assembled pieces are expected to be fresh and visually appetizing everyday. Repetition and process makes the recipe or the hand better, that is why all of my pieces are really handmade. I make all original pieces because I believe that it strengthens my process and I'm delivering a piece of original art.

7. Describe an average day.

Wake up at 6, work on orders, get ready for work, leave at 8am, get to work by 9, get home after work around and after 6. Work and read until 10 or midnight. Bed and do it all over again, about five times a week. On my days off (Mondays and Tuesdays), I work on everything Essimar Papel about 10-16 hours.


8. Biggest challenge to date?

Working a full-time job, being in school and growing Essimar Papel.


9. Most exciting moment to date?

I love having breakfast in the mornings with my boyfriend. Walking to Intelligentsia before and after work. Going out dancing once in a while. Catching the Metra and visiting my parents in the suburbs. Riding the CTA observing rooftops and graffiti. Finding color paper. Riding my bike again to work from Hyde Park to the city.

About a month ago, a very big art store in Chicago closed their doors and had an assortment of the most high quality of printing papers at ridiculous 90% markdowns. My boyfriend kindly helped me cart everything back to the car and now I have fine printing paper from all vendors for the next ten years.


10. Where would you like your work to take you?

Eventually I would like my work simultaneously sold in Target and Marimekko.


Thank you, Esther, for sharing a peek into your life and work and for motivating all of us to make beautiful, meaningful things! Search through more of Esther's work in her Flickr feed and see what she's up to on her blog.

xoxo,
Rachel

I Live In A Halfway House

Notice my halfway finished quilt.

Halfway finished cushions (well, I am still deciding on colors
but these are probably my fabric choices).

A halfway finished painting for Ruby's room.

A halfway clean workspace. Okay, so it's not quite halfway clean but it's been worse! I've got important company coming this weekend (hi, Dad!) which always motivates me to get projects finished. We'll see what happens!

Do you live in a halfway house, too?

xoxo,
Rachel

Tell Your Story : Class Registration Here

Tell Your Story is a six week online art journal class. Elsie and Rachel will share a personal art journal page with a challenge or fun technique each day (7 days a week, for all 6 weeks!). In addition to the Daily pages we will share tips and tricks for creating six unique art journal books that are sure to inspire!

Details

- A six week online class that is designed for you to go at your own pace. You don't need to be online at a certain time to participate. Busy students can still join us as the class posts are up for a full year!
- A prompt every day for six weeks plus tips on how to make/bind your own journals mixed in.
- Weekly chats including video and live chats in the comments section of our private blog. (this is the only thing that happens live and the hours will change weekly to fit as many schedules as possible)
- Class starts April 26th
- You'll receive a bonus art journal page tutorial to work on as soon as you log onto the private blog to get you started before the 26th!

Registration Details

Class Closed

'Tell Your Story' Online Art Journal Class

with Rachel and Elsie

See you there!
xoxo,
Rachel

Coming Soon!

Tell Your Story from Elsie Flannigan on Vimeo.

I'm so excited about this class. I hope you'll join us! Class spots are available for purchase Wednesday at midnight/Thursday morning.

xoxo,

Rachel

December Daily

Hi! I am Vivianna from Polka Dot Robot. I am super excited to be on Smile and Wave today.

This year I am trying really hard to get into the holiday spirit. Every Thursday on my blog, I do a post on handmade holidays. I know that it is really early to be thinking about the holidays, but due to my calendar I have to. Today, I want to talk about documenting your holidays. There is a trend going around the scrap blogs called December Daily that Ali Edwards started a few years back.
You are invited to join me in December Daily project.
December Daily is an album project that documents the 25 days leading up to Christmas. Many people start their documentation earlier and many people go longer. I have found that 25 days is just right for me. One of the keys to success in this project is getting an album structure set-up in advance of December so that during December you can enjoy the season & enjoy the process of documenting your days without having to be putting the entire thing together at the same time. It is not meant to be stressful. It is meant to be a way to creatively celebrate the season and document your special holiday memories in one album.
Before you get started you should read the basics. Then if you have questions about this project, read this.
STEP ONE: GATHER & ORGANIZE YOUR MATERIALS Easy enough. Get all your holiday stuff in one location. Having it all in one spot and accessible makes the entire process that much easier. My organizer for this project is usually just a box or basket. While you are gathering your supplies it's also a good opportunity to purge things you might be ready to pass along to someone else (think school, church, retirement home, shelter, etc). Read Ali's blog for the rest of the steps. She only has two right now for 2009.
Ali's 2009 December Daily

Ali's 2008 December Daily

There are some December Daily kits that you can buy.

(click on the image for kit info)
Now if you want a little more help or planned out ideas then here is a class for you.

An online class for the holidays :: Journal your Christmas

Here is a little info about the class. I pulled it from Shimelle's blog:

Every year, Journal your Christmas includes daily prompts from the 1st of December to the 6th of January, the twelve days of Christmas. The 37 illustrated PDF files are delivered straight to your inbox so you can read them over your first cup of coffee and mull over each topic for a full day. There’s also an archive of the class materials online in case you can’t get to your email or in case something dreadful happens to your computer. And like every year, you can go it alone or be as social as you like, with a private discussion forum where you’ll find other Christmas journalers who will cheer you on and share your excitement, but if you prefer to stick to the prompts only, that’s completely fine too. And like every year, if you’re participated once, you can join us every Christmas for as long as you like at no extra cost.

The best thing about this class is you can register all year round. Once you join, you're a permanent member. Can't get much better than that!

Rachel is offering a tutorial on helping you stay organized this holiday season with this cute mini book.

However you choose to document this holiday season is up to you, but have fun!

I have not started my December Daily yet, but I will be as soon as I return from New York.