Last night I watched a PBS documentary (thank you, Netflix and iPad!) called Between the Folds. It was about origami as an art form, mathematical challenge, and passion, and (most impressively) its passionate artists. If you have a chance, you should see it.

I was most inspired by the artists themselves: from a simple square of paper, out pops a sculpture: a samurai, a grasshopper, a fish, a free-form sculpture of pure design that "just happened" when the artist began folding paper. "Just start," I heard. Looking for inspiration? Just let your mind rest a while and an idea WILL emerge.

I'm trusting that they are right.

This is a gloomy, rainy day in central Ohio, apparently one of many more to come, much to the chagrin of my husband and his garden. All vines and no tomatoes. Shy flowers, yellowing leaves from too much rain.

Lessons to be learned: timing is important; there is such a thing as too much of a good thing; right place, right time; and it is, after all, what it is.

My studio in the basement is all but devoid of natural light but my bright worklight and all of the colored papers are cheerful. No such thing as overwatering MY flowers! Mine bloom when I tell them to, as if by magic. And with the help of craft punches, glue, rhinestones, brads, and scads of Scotch double-sided tape, they bloom where they are planted and never need weeding.

Till next time.

I need some inspiration! Where is it going to come from? Should I let it be for a while or just do what I love to do: browse the internet and look at all the creative designs other card-makers have come up with.

Maybe I'll experiment with stamping . . .

My daughter, Hannah Stephenson (TheStorialist.com; check it out) writes a poem every weekday. She finds images on the internet that speak to her and out comes a poem. I am amazed by her discipline. It's as if she knows and trusts that the inspiration will comes from somewhere and just looks and looks.

So, Google, Twitter, Facebook here I come. Inspiration, I will find you!

Still inspired by zinnias (perhaps overwhelmed by the vast quantities of them that I punched out of card stock and glued together). Also, square cards! Found envelopes and clear bags at a great site called (as you might imagine) clearbags.com. They had every size imaginable of plastic enclosures for anything, and envelopes galore. Wholesale pricing available. 1,000 A2 bags with self-seal flap for $39.00.

Still liking Mad Men and Damages to have on while I create (I still have to remind myself that it's real art, as one kind card-maker commented).

Finishing setting up my Etsy store this weekend. It's not easy for this gray head to always click in the right place (metaphorically as well). I'm also going to be in my "studio," and I promise that someday I will remove the quotation marks.

Thanks for taking a look!

Zinnias for summer

While I was lunching with my wonderful daughter Mara yesterday (I had two days off this week! Yay for vacation days!), I asked her which of the cards I've made she liked best. Without missing a beat, she said "The vases of flowers. It's like sending someone a bouquet." I took her preference to heart (they were mine too, though lots of work) and spent some hours punching and glueing layers of petals together.

For the paper I used one of my favorite resources: Target. They have a box of 200 plain notecards with 200 envelopes to match. I think the price went up from $10 to $12 or $13, it's worth it for the envelopes alone. They come in pastel, bright, and harvest color palettes.

The vases are circles cut from paint chips (thank you, Home Depot and Lowe's). This one has a sandy texture and some sparkle, which my camera did not pick up.

I hope you like this one, because I'll be at it all afternoon, making more! (Netflix is slower than I am in watching so went to the library and took out seasons 1 and 2 of Damages. Very good. I still miss Lost, though.)

The Midwest Craft Caucus has changed me. I am aware of the existence of a "Handmade Community" and I actually feel part of it. Honored to be part of it. More self-confident in calling myself both a crafter and an artist whose work has value. I stopped judging myself. If you'd like to see some handmade products that ARE art, please check out some of these online: The Candle Lab; Little Alouette; etsy.com; Wholly Craft (a shop right here in Clintonville); Poshta Designs;

TsuruBride; Stinkybomb Soap; Made by AmyD; and ManMadeDIY, a crafting site for guys!

Last weekend I attended the Midwest Craft Caucus. It was inspiring, informative, and fun getting to know fellow crafters and bloggers and tweeters. At the end of each day I itched so bad to create that I stayed up way too late each night in what I now proudly but still a little tentatively call my studio! So here is a sampling of what I did. Since Father's Day is coming up I thought I'd try to make some non-boring Y-chromosome cards, though I must say it is infinitely more satisfying to make flowers and shapes in pretty pastel colors than rectangles in black-plus-a-few-other-colors.