You are what you think!

Some food for thought...

“Your mind is a Garden, Your Thoughts are the seeds, You can grow flowers or You can grow weeds." - Unknown

I love this quote. Changing my thoughts to grow flowers instead of weeds is an ongoing goal of mine, getting rid of the negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones. :-)

A Bright Idea for Biz Cards!

I made and printed the pin cards (shown above) on my computer for my first craft show earlier this year. They worked out fine to merchandise my items. However, they became a bit tedious, especially since I had to cut out each and every card. After some brainstorming, I thought of using business cards as my cards to display both my pins and magnets. The business cards ended up being the perfect size for my work. Plus, I did not have to print them off on my computer or cut out each of them. Another bonus is that the business card cardstock is thicker than any of the cardstock I could find to use on my printer. Thus, I surfed my way online to Vistaprint and ordered my first set of merchandiser cards.

I found a cute, colorful, and simple template design to use for my merchandiser cards. I wanted the center of the card "blank" since this is the area where my pin or magnet would be attached to. All I added to the card design was my business name and slogan at the top. And then I added my By Hand profile address at the bottom of the cards.

The first set of cards I ordered were vertical. After attaching some of my pins/magnets to the cards, I realized that I needed some horizontally designed cards. I was very happy with how well the business cards worked out for what I needed. All I need to do when I want to attach a pin is punch a couple of holes in the card and then cut a slot between them to slide my pins on the cards. I love them. Plus, they don't cost a lot to use, approx $10 for 250 cards.

My froggy pin on merchandiser cards.

My frog and bunny pins posing on horizontal design.

This is how my pins look on the new cards.

Buzzing Behind the Scenes, Part 3

You've read, you've waited and now it's finally here, my Buster the Bee sculpture in living color.

I tried to take photos from every imaginable angle. Someday I'd like to make a Buster the Bee video to post on youtube. Right now I don't know enough about how to make a video and where to find copyright free music. I'm thinking the song "Flight of the Bumblebee" would be a good song for my Buster buzzing over the field of flowers.

Buster being busy as a...you got it...busy as bee.

Uh-oh, what happened to his picnic basket and tea set?

Buster decided to do a practice flight without the basket and tea set.

He wanted to make sure he timed his flight correctly to Toby's shell for the surprise party.

There he goes buzz, buzz, buzzing away!

And here he is ready for the party!

My Buster the Bee sculpture measures approximately 23" wide by 16" high by 15" deep. It's kinda difficult to measure a sculpture with flowers poking out in all directions. So how do you like my Buster piece? It's one of my favorites, especially because I love flowers and there is a whole field of flowers to see even in the dead of a Wisconsin winter. My next post will feature pics of Buster in the great outdoors.

Missed any of my Buster series?

Buzzing Behind the Scenes, part 1 (features the beginning stages of the Buster sculpture)

Buzzing Behind the Scenes, part 2 (features some of the details of how I made the picnic basket and tea set)

Some Designs in the Works & a little "Idol" chatter

I'm working on some new pen designs right now. Currently I'm getting ready to paint 4 Bumble Bee pen designs. I also have an Apple Design and Unicorn Design in the beginning stages of design for my line of Artful Pens. The four bee designs are shown below. Not too attractive looking at this point, but that's where the magic of color and paint comes in. Once they are painted there's a whole new life brought forth, they will be trasformed from dull to "wonder"ful soon.

My Unicorn and Apple designs are first made with Polymer clay as shown in these photos. The next step will be creating a hand-made silicone mold from each piece and then casting them with my favorite medium, Apoxie Sculpt.

My Apple design shown above needs to be cleaned up a little with some sanding and/or Dremeling. Yay, power tools!!! Each piece is separate, so I will need to attach them all together. I may try drilling a small hole in each piece and connect them with a small wire in each drilled section. This will help keep them together when I make a mold from it.

And now for a little idle chatter, oh, I mean "Idol" chatter. Tonight is going to be a tense night in the world of American Idol. The competition is so tight this season. Any of the three have a good chance of making it to the finale next week. It is going to be a little sad next week after Idol is done for another season and I won't be able to see my fave, Danny singing on stage each week. I guess I will need to keep busy working on my crafts and wait until Idol returns next year. However, I don't know how much I will enjoy next season, after having someone so talented from my home state this year. It took 8 seasons of Idol for a Wisconsinite to make it on Idol. So exciting!

There's Renee with a "paper" Danny while we were waiting for the concert at the Summerfest grounds. We enjoyed our Ga-Ga for Gokey Day! :-)

Danny did a wonderful job last night. "You Are So Beautiful" sounded amazing and a "masterclass" as Simon noted. I sure hope he and Kris are the two finalists. Both of them have a more universal sound in their voices and music versus Adam, who tends to be on the screechy side. I know a lot of people love Adam and his music and his style, but not me. I don't care for his high-pitched voice. The sound makes me uneasy, like a blaring siren. No thanks! I voted for Danny tons of times last night. Can you guess how many times?

Last Friday some of us at the Danny Gokey Day concert were discussing Danny's universal appeal. A couple of people we talked to mentioned that they thought that Danny has a larger fan base than Adam. And they both did not care for his screechy sounding voice. Out of what I've read it sounds like there are a lot of people who do not care for his voice. The people also noted how Danny has never been in the bottom three all season. Way to go Danny! Go, Go Gokey! :-)

Which came first, the Artful Pen or the Artful Box?

I design Artful Pens. What are Artful Pens? They are pens that have their own special style and unique personality. Have you ever seen a pen with a hand-made mini sculpture attached to it? Something with a Palm Tree or an Ice Cream Cone or a Can of Grape Soda? You won't see pens like these sitting on the store fixtures at a retail chain. They are not an average run of the mill pen to be tossed aside. These are pens that you will become attached to. If you are unable to find a design from my selections, you can request a custom order. They can be distinctly designed to suit your tastes, interests and preferences.

How did they start out? Back in college I wanted to design a unique pen for my Senior Art Show for my visitors to use to sign in my guest book. I wanted something distinct and a pen that would reflect my tastes and personality.Another feature that I wanted in my distinct pen was "re-usability." If I was going to spend a certain amount of time creating my pen, I wanted it to be re-usable. Luckily, I found a nice and simple designed refillable gel-ink pen that would work out perfectly for my special pen.

The next task was deciding what type of "artwork" to attach to the pen along with what to make it with and how to make it? Since I was working with Apoxie Sculpt in my sculpture classes, it was an easy decision to make. Apoxie Sculpt adheres to just about any surface and is extremely durable, meaning it was a perfect match for my pen.

For my first pen design, I created a leaf with a ladybug sitting atop the leaf, because I have a fondness for ladybugs. Since there was a metal clip attached to the cap of my refillable pen, I used the clip as the foundation for my piece. While working on my design, I wanted to ensure that the metal clip was completely disguised by the ladybug and leaf. This design/method also ensured that my attached "artwork" would be securely attached to the pen. My ladybug and leaf were not going anywhere except where my pen went.

After designing my pens, I wanted to find a box to properly present them in. Since I couldn't find the right type of box for my pens, I set out to design my own boxes for them. Welcome...the Artful Box! A box specifically designed to present your Artful Pen in. After, much effort of trial and error and testing appropriate materials, I'm getting close to providing the boxes through my on-line stores and exhibits. Please take a look at my boxes and pens to see what you think. I appreciate your feedback and comments. Thank you!