Seems Like Old Times

Look at all of these tea bag holders. Probably 75 of them, at least. Every one folded, taped, glued, and beribboned in my studio, by Hannah and me, this afternoon.

It reminded both of us of doing crafts together when she was little--those bead things you iron and make an I-don’t-know-what, maybe a coaster?—stringing pony beads into hideous necklaces, or sculpting Fantastic Plastic into free form shapes to glue onto a pin and call a brooch.

Laughable to us now, it was wonderful to spend that time together.

The pony bead necklaces, not so much.

In the studio, a shriek (of excitement!)

The latest project from my craft room is a tea-bag holder, many of them, designed as a take-away for my daughter's book signing/launch party on August 3 in for her book of poetry entitled, as you may have guessed, In the Kettle, the Shriek.


She and I wanted to keep the kettle/tea theme going, and I found this wonderful card stock at Joann's. Unfortunately, there were only two sheets of it in the book, so we decided to mix patterns in the same color palette.

Here are the steps we took.

First, we cut out the basic shape using the Cricut Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 2 cartridge. Yes, there is actually a shape called "tea bag holder."

The Cricut also cuts the score lines, making it easy to fold in the right place. I use a bone folder to create the crease, apply double-sided tape, and adhere the back flap to the side flaps.

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Hannah and I together chose the fonts we used for the title of the book, printed out two columns on card stock, and used the EK Tools punch shown.

A couple of strips of double-sided tape on the front anchor the silver ribbon simply wrapped around the holder.

Two turquoise brads decorate the label, and the label is affixed with double-sided tape.

Insert tea bag, and there you have it.

Good morning!  I am up much earlier than I need to be this morning, and rather than spend time watching CNN, which is never a good way to start my day, I am here.

I spent some time at the Columbus Arts Festival last year. There are so many creative people in the world, and some of their work brought tears to my eyes, and some a little envy, I have to admit.

There was a multimedia artist named Karyn Debrasky whose framed art drew me into her booth like a magnet. She used textured papers and jewelry findings, foil, buttons, and what looked to me like a lot of the stuff in my own studio. Please check out her website at www.karyndebrasky.com or find her on Facebook: Karyn Debrasky Design, LLC.

Talk about inspiration for a card maker like me! My younger daughter Mara asked me to design something for her that she could hang on the wall, and I'm now taking this as an artistic challenge. My older daughter would also like something, and this was music to my ears. Wow. Create something that would not soon be discarded (hopefully in the recycling bin).

The spirit of her work gave me such hope and I am so grateful to her. And I felt a new connection to mixed media. Could this be the start of something beautiful that could last?

I dunno, but I am open to it. And I've found that once a person says "yes" to a new thing, a lot of times, and a new door opens, well what do you know, in enters the opportunity and creativity to do it

From Russians with love

This afternoon, out of the blue, a patient of mine from Russia appeared at the front desk of our office with some large packages, two for me, and one for my doctor. Though they speak even less English than I speak Russian (read: nil) nevertheless the message was clear: thank you. And then the man crossed his hands over his chest and said "I love you."   The colors and shapes of the tea set and table are rich, and like Proust's memory provoked by the swelling of a crumb from a madeleine dipped into his cup of tea, I hope inspiration for color and shape will develop from my teacup, merely by having them steep for a while.