another random photo post

I always have these grand plans for writing themed blog posts, but never get around to writing them... So, in order to get the photos out there and posted, I'm doing another "sort-of-random" photo post, starting with leftovers from my Christmas crafting-- a couple commissioned items. (it sounds so grandiose when I write it, but technically they were commissioned; I'm just not comfortable with the word.)

This is a comissioned stocking for a coworker's dog-- I love that he wanted a stocking for his dog!! Since the dog's name is Capone, Mike wanted the design to be sort of "gangsterish" to reflect that, and he's the one who actually gave me the fedora-hanging-on-the-cuff design idea.

I love how this little hat turned out; it totally reminds me of Frank Sinatra!! The only thing I didn't have is something to decorate the hatband with, unfortunately. I am keeping my eye out for a button with a pawprint design on it, and once I find one, I'll add it. Mike said Capone wasn't too excited about the stocking (he was more interested in the rawhide bone inside it!), but he liked it, which is important, since he's the buyer.

These finger puppets were for another co-worker. (well, not for him, but for his daughters.) I was a little leery about making such well-known characters- they're so recognizeable that I was concerned about getting them just "right." After futzing around with them for a looong time, I think there's something a little "off" about Spongebob's face, but then again, I'm my own worst critic. And I love how his friend Patrick turned out!! More importantly, the little girls loved them!

In other news, Prescott has been quite a troublemaker, getting into everything down at his level. Warning-- the following may be Too Much Information, but if you have dogs, you'll understand... He had a couple weeks of "digestive issues" that started with vomiting every time he ate, and moved down his digestive system to become bouts of diarrhea. I was very concerned, took him to the vet, and got him a round of antibiotics. Turns out, what he had a tough time digesting was a pair of my socks! The picture above is an example-- we were just flabbergasted when he vomited up the sock on the left (shown next to an intact one to illustrate that it's NOT all there!), then over the course of the next week or so, the rest of the sock made its way thru his system. We thought we were in the clear when we started seeing signs of the SECOND sock! I still don't understand how he could do it; it would have been soooo dry, sort of like eating a biscotti cookie without any coffee to moisten it! Anyway, he's all over it now, and I don't leave my socks on the floor anymore- LOL!

These are a couple photos from a fleeting moment of doggie togetherness in the kitchen this afternoon. Bisbee still doesn't know quite what to think of him, especially when he wants to snuggle up with her, but she lets him do it.

It doesn't last long, though-- these quick snaps were it, then just a couple minutes later they were off again, tearing around the kitchen and living room. Now if only Prescott would put some weight on... apparently socks are a good weight loss method, although I'm not trying it anytime soon- LOL!

playing catch up...

some photos from the last few weeks, finally off the camera. (I have a problem remembering to get pictures off the camera- I finally HAD to, because the memory card was full and I had to make room to take more pictures!) A couple weeks ago, we drove up to Cave Creek, AZ and spent the a few hours looking in some really neat Western interior decorating stores, and ate at a wonderful Mexican restaurant... the restaurant, El Encanto, had a pond and an outdoor courtyard, alont with some of the best Mexican food I've had in a while. The restaurant had its own floor show; the ducks, geese, and turtles in the pond would hang out and wait to pick up whatever diners would toss their way. This might be hard to see, but the duck on the right has a "top-knot" of feathers on top of its head... it looked quite a bit like a bad toupee!! We had to ask the waiter about it; he said it's just a particular kind of duck, and thast they've nicknamed this particular duck "James Brown!!"

These ducks were quite friendly! This little female was very tame, and would come right up to us. (of course, the "duck-chow" we bought to feed them might have helped, but still, it was fun.)

Here, she takes a bit of kibble from Tom's hand, with a few of her friends waiting a bit farther away behind the fence.

We bought a fresh chili ristra while we were up there. We weren't particularly looking for one, but we've wanted one of these for years, so we jumped at the chance to pick one up. They have a wonderful roasted aroma!! The peppers have dried over the course of the last couple weeks, but they're still gorgeous, and quite a traditional decoration. They should last us for at least a couple years. (we could actually use them to cook with, too, but I think we'll probably just emjoy looking at them.)

now, on to a few pieces of artwork that I've made over the last few weeks. This is a 4x4 canvas piece that I have for sale right now in my new online shop, at ArtFire.com. (check it out here.) It started out as layers of acrylic paint over a collaged base, then I added a bit of text and a distressed photo of a dragonfly (I took the photo a couple years ago when we visited the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson, when my parents and sister came to visit). It still looked like it needed "something" to finish it off, so I added some gold flourishes with heat embossing.

These are 6x6 collages on 3/4 inch plywood; I bought an entire sheet and had it cut up into different sized pieces to use for artwork. I collaged the background with vintage text papers, then added cut-paper borders, a bit of glitter, and focal images that I hand-cut from black cardstock. The owl is already sold, but the cat's still available. I probably won't list it for sale till next Halloween, though, since Halloween is almost here. (where did the time go, anyway??)

This jaunty fellow (also sold) was also hand-cut from black cardstock; this one took small scissors and an exacto knife-- it was fiddly, but well worth it-- I just love his bow tie! It's also on 3/4 inch plywood, this time an 8x10 inch collage. Sort of like making a journal page, but one you can hang up!! (I will definitely be making more of these.. they're a lot of fun, and besides, since I bought a 4 x 8 foot piece of plywood, I have well over 40 pieces of wood!)

And lastly, here's a tag I made from just the bits and pieces on my desk. I needed a "thank you" gift to put in with an Etsy shop sale, and didn't have lots of time to pull it together. So, I worked with what I had... most of the time, doing that works lots better than I think it will!! (I love that little hummingbird stamp, too... I definitely need to find it on my desk, and put it to work again.)

some crafting has been going on...

I just haven't had much "crafting mojo" lately, but I have done a couple things. (I've got a lot of things half-finished; it's completing them that's the issue, as usual, but more so lately.)

I got out my collection of cigar bands again, and decoupaged them onto a glass saucer I scored at the thrift store. The saucer is only 6 inches across, but it still took a fair number of cigar bands to fill in. I stuck with a more limited number of cigar brands, to make a fairly symmetrical design with a somewhat more subdued color palette.

I started by printing out a clip art image from my computer for the center design, but our printer ink isn't water-resistant, so I had to change my idea. I like what I ended up with, though: two Indian Tabac cigar bands that I trimmed to fit the center part of the plate. These plates take a while to decorate, and are actually quite messy to do (I get gel medium all over everything while I'm working on them!), but I really like the way they turn out when they're done. This plate is for sale in my Etsy shop, so if you know a cigar aficionado who needs someplace to put paperclips on their desk, or something to corral their loose change on their dresser, this is a perfect gift for them!! (another reason to check out my Etsy shop: the site recently changed the formatting for individual shops, so it's been redesigned a bit to make the format wider, with larger pictures... the design isn't quite final yet, but I think it shows off the items nicely! And of course, all sales right now will go towards my 3-Day for the Cure fundraising for breast cancer!!)

These tags are part of a huge pile of manila shipping tags that I hand-dyed over the last couple weeks... I have a somewhat limited choice of inks to use, but these were made by mixing butterscotch yellow and a barn red, to come up with a nice fall-ish orange color. I stamped them with Pumpkin StazOn ink, then added a couple touches of vintage dictionary paper.

I love the glowing orange color; it reminds me of autumn. (Which isn't here in AZ yet, unfortunately- it's been hot and humid, with very infrequent monsoon storms. The storms don't even clear out the humidity.) These tags are also for sale in my Etsy shop- check them out, along with others, in the Tag and Bookmark section of my shop. Look for more crafting soon. if I can remember to post the pictures, that is... :D

New Year's destashing

it's the new year, so that means organizing and cleaning in my art studio... one of the first things I need to do is sort thru my books- I have lots of books and magazines, and I feel bad that I haven't touched some of them in quite a while, so I'm putting them into my Etsy shop for someone else to enjoy and use! All are gently/barely used, and no writing or creases inside. (Check out my Etsy shop, or contact me thru Blogger if you're interested in any of them.) Supply Savvy Scrapbooking- how to make scrapbooking embellishments out of things you have around, and ways to save $$ but still have really cool-looking album pages. 164 pages, published by Creating Keepsakes in 2006. Price: $10 plus shipping (via Media Mail).

Vintage Greeting Cards with Mary Jo McGraw- "how to create handmade cards that capture the look and feel of antiques and heirlooms." Learn techniques for aging paper, how to use unusual materials such as mica, and ways of using metal and non-traditional card-making materials. 128 pages, published 2003. Price: $12 + shipping (via Media Mail).

Our Family Scrapbooks, by Lisa Bearnson and Becky Higgins. from Amazon: "Lisa Bearnson and Becky Higgins share their family albums and give you easy-to-implement ideas for creating your own family albums..." Each album shown also includes a sketch and a bonus layout so you can adapt the ideas to your own photo albums. 164 pages, published by Creating Keepsakes company. Price: $10 + shipping (via Media Mail).

Collage Creations... "over 20 step-by-step creative collage techniques to decorate home decor items and gifts with a range of creative materials from handmade paper and collage ephemera to rubber stamps, paints, and other embellishments." 128 pages, published by North Light Books in 2004. Price: $12 + shipping (via Media Mail).

cat postcards- first "mail art"

cat postcards Originally uploaded by crimsoncat05

If you google the term "mail art" you can find some really elaborate, even unusual, art that people have sent thru the mail. Apparently you can mail pretty much anything, from a message in a bottle (mailed in an actual bottle) to a rubber koi. (I found those examples on the internet.) These cat postcards were my first attempt at sending something decorated thru the mail; they were stamped and painted- the mouse and heart are cut paper. The heart includes glitter, and the yarn is real. They were sent out for a swap-bot swap, and made it to their recipients in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada just fine. I think I'll work my way up to the message in the bottle, though!

some of my favorites made with paper, glue, and paint

some of my favorites made with paper, glue, and paint Originally uploaded by crimsoncat05

just a little Flickr fun- a mosaic made up of some of my favorites!! (Click on the photo and you will be taken to the Flickr page; then you can click on any one of the links for a closer look at any of the individual photos.)

Favorite kinds of art: ATCs, journal pages, inchies, mail art, collages...

Favorite things: birds, cats, butterflies, nature...

Favorite colors: soft blues, greens, reds, and pinks...

so, what more is there?? (well, lots, actually- I have over twenty pages of pictures marked as "Favorites" on Flickr, so far. There's so much to be inspired by! And I have been, actually; I have five or six things in progress in my craft room right now... well, I'm off to see if the paint is dry enough to continue!

(in other news: yesterday I had my second lesson in learning to drive a manual transmission... I'm managing quite well, I think, although driving 75 mph in 6 lanes of traffic on the interstate is still a ways off!)

procrastination is the answer...

You know how they say "Necessity is the mother of invention?" Well, I think it's procrastination. I am a terrible procrastinator, always have been... I think it forces me to be creative, though. Tonight, I made ATCs for a swap I have known about for at least a month... I could have made them anytime- the theme was an easy one, I thought: cancelled postage stamps- but I just couldn't come up with any ideas I liked! Now that the due date is finally here, I was forced to do something, which led me to a mad dash around the house and thru my craft room, this evening after work. Hopefully I'm not the only one who sometimes needs this creative "mad dash sprint" to the finish line?? Anyway, these are what I came up with: These first two are not my usual style, at all... The bottom one is a crazy sort of garden, with the postage stamps as flowers... the bumblebee is stamped, and colored with marker, while the leaves and grass are hand-drawn with colored pencils. I like the top one a lot: there's a bit of a glare, but the postage stamp is Cinco de Mayo, so I put together a fiesta-themed card. I found the magazine images a few days ago in a back issue of Phoenix Home & Garden, and put the whole thing together in about 15 minutes. (that was after I searched frantically for the magazine, having mis-placed it, of course... that sort of thing always happens when I'm looking for something specific!) These two were also put together rather quickly. The card on the left is a postage stamp of a lighthouse on DiamondHead in Hawaii, so I made a beach from sandpaper, and a palm tree from torn mulberry paper. I really like the graphic design on the stamp on the right ... I simply found matching cardstock and wove strips together to play up the quilt pattern. (I say simply, although it required some glue and finesse to get it put together...) These are a few more of my latest creations, made last week... I'm also coming down to the wire for an "inchie" swap, which is 1-inch square pieces of artwork. These were also really difficult for me to come up with, even though the artwork can be any theme- you'd think this would make it easier for me, but not really. I decided to go with "abstract" for the style... these were made using a scrap paper towel, actually- I was drying my paintbrush out after rinsing it, and still had paint in it- I thought it looked kind of neat, so just continued painting the paper towel with more colors of paint and water... after mounting the towel to watercolor paper squares and trimming them, I added details with metallic pens, sequins and glitter glue. I have two more sets completed, but still need to make 6 more- the mad dash with those will be tomorrow afternoon's project!

art project pics as promised...

...although a little late. Life intrudes at the most inopportune times, doesn't it?? I was planning on posting these pictures yesterday, but I had an extra-long day at work (FDA auditor + Monday... 'nuff said!), and didn't feel like doing anything once I got home except falling asleep on the couch in front of the TV after eating Filiberto's leftovers... it's a sad way to spend the evening, isn't it? I agree, but sometimes, it's just what happens. Today is another day, I left work at the normal time, and the audit is now over, with no observations- yay! Anyway, these pictures are from this weekend's crafting... I spent the afternoon cutting, pasting, and painting (I still have some acrylic paint underneath my fingernails... note to self: be extra careful with the black paint!) I am still not comfortable working with overly-large projects, so these are 4 x 6 inches, postcard size. These first two pics are a technique I saw on Flickr (I think from Jeannine P, although I don't remember for sure- there is such wonderful inspiration everywhere on that site!)

The colored sections are regular old Crayola crayons, scribbled onto a piece of watercolor paper. While I was doing this, Tom had to smell them, to reminisce... I think I heard somewhere that crayons are one of the most recognizable smells anywhere- I know they are for me. After the crayon scribbling, I covered the entire thing with a coat of barely-diluted black paint, then wiped it off the crayon areas, to create a "resist" effect. The circles are "stamped" with white acrylic paint, using lids off a couple drink bottles. (I have quite a collection of these odd things going; unfortunately, sometimes Pandora finds them, and we're woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of her shooting them across the kitchen tile...) The quote is a rubber stamp- that portion of the card was covered with a clear sparkle glaze, which was done to cover up a bit of a smudge, actually... but don't tell anyone!

These two pieces of paper were just to test out a couple of my newest toys, Heidi Swapp masks... they're cut-out images made of adhesive-backed plastic, and you use them like a stencil (only it's the opposite: the paint ends up around the image, leaving the image itself blank). I just realized this combines some of my very favorite things: books, the color blue, and plants and birds- funny how that happens, even when I'm not trying to do it. These bits of paper will be used for something- not sure for what, though...

This picture is also pieces of 4 x 6 paper, and it's another technique I've been wanting to try , seen in a recent issue of Somerset Studio magazine. It uses torn strips of regular masking tape and torn strips of magazine pages. The strips were attached to the background paper in an alternating pattern- the lighter strips are the tape, and the darker strips are the magazine paper. After attaching them, you get out the acrylic paint, start painting, and see what happens- the colors of the magazine paper are affected differently depending on the paint colors used... I also added some clear glitter glue for added interest, too. It was a bit futzy to do, but I like how they turned out. Here is the pink piece, finished off with a bouquet cut from a catalog and an edging of blue watercolor crayon. Now, I'm off to work on inchies for a swap, and maybe cut a few more pieces of 4 x 6 inch watercolor paper... (maybe I'll even mail some of these, seeing as they ARE postcard size!!)

burst of creativity

wow, it's been a while... like usual- I really admire people who can post regularly, but I will never be one of them. Obviously, I did make it back from Chicago- finally. I was sooo glad to see the lights of the East Valley appear out of the airplane window as we came in for a landing at Sky Harbor Airport!! For a couple reasons- two weeks is too long to live in a hotel room, at least for me- I really missed our house, with our things and our furniture; I really missed Tom and the pets (two weeks is about the longest we've been apart since we met); and I was good and sick of all the cold and snow in Chicago! I took some craft supplies with me to Chicago, but didn't do too much with them... not sure if it was the cold weather, the impersonal hotel room, or the early darkness. Finally this past week, I've been in a creating mood again. These first two pictures are decorated envelopes for a swap on swapbot- mostly stamped, which I haven't done much of in quite a while! The swap was for a set of 10 envelopes to two partners. The only rule was that they couldn't be plain. Mine ended up mostly being rubber stamped (see all of them on my Flickr page). I haven't stamped like this in quite a while; it was really fun, and I ended up wishing I had made some extras to keep for myself. It was difficult to pack them up to send them off; hopefully the recipients will like them as much as I liked making them!

I also started a couple other projects this weekend. One is a visual journal, which I've wanted to do for a long time, but I've been reluctant to start it (that's because of my inner perfectionist, darn him- I've never done anything like this before, so I don't think my pages will be "good enough" so I just don't start). I finally got past the scariness of the "blank white page" by painting some backgrounds. I hauled my notebook, paints, and palette out onto the dining room table, so I could paint while we watched TV and waited for the Sprint Cup race to start... (Tom wasn't feeling good this weekend, so he hung out on the couch most of the time. )

Now that I have some pages started, I can take the next steps and add more paper, stamping, texture, and all that other fun stuff! And then, of course, there's the cover, which looks pretty boring now, with only a black and white design... (see more of these pages on my Flickr page, too)

Next weekend is the Spring Fling rubber stamp show in Mesa, where I'll get more inspiration and ideas ... Sedona has an appointment at the groomer's, so I'll have a few hours of time to kill while I wait for her to get beautified... so I "have" to go, right?? lol!!

root canal part 2... and crafting, of course!

Root canal, part 2... worse than the first, I think because I knew what to expect. Not pain (although it did take 3 Novacaine shots to make everything numb), but because I knew I'd have to sit there with my mouth open for more than an hour. By the time he was done, my shoulders and back hurt (a lot!), just from being tensed up for so long. And, it took quite a while for the Novacaine to wear off- I was numb up past my ear, and practically all the way up to my eye, on that side of my face. But, at least I can eat without worrying about the temporary filling falling out, now... I'm still not done with the dentist, though- the cracks in my tooth are still there, so I'm not out of the woods until the crown gets completed. I have no idea what caused my tooth to crack, but I think I'm going to try and stay away from the hard candy from now on. (I'm one of those people who has to chew a Lifesaver, or any hard candy, for that matter, to bits as quickly as possible... probably not the best for my teeth!) These are yesterday's collages... I worked on designing them in my head all day long... on the way to work, I listen to NPR- I don't remember what the subject was, but someone used the phrase "circles of knowledge" during a story, and that was my inspiration. These took me lots longer than 30 minutes, though... first I prepared a few pieces of watercolor paper, and let it dry while I dug through my stash of papers... the paper I used for the circles includes vintage music, a diagram from a nature book, a page from a book in German that I got in a trade, and text from a couple other vintage science books. It's hard to explain, but the "plant" is loosely based on a giant tree in one of the alternate worlds in the 2nd and 3rd books in the Golden Compass. The first collage is 4 x 6 inches, and the second is ACEO sized. Since my dentist appointment was this morning, I took a personal day off of work (by the time I would have made it to work, it would have been just about time to come home). I stopped at the video store on the way home, and picked up a couple movies... I now have the urge to get out my watercolor paints, because I watched the movie Miss Potter, starring Renee Zellweger as Beatrix Potter. I have absolutely ZERO chance of painting anything remotely as cute as Peter Rabbit, though, so I know better than to even try. Instead, I'll probably get out some rubber stamps, paper, and glue, and see what happens!

I've been featured! (...and I've been crafty, too...)

My Etsy shop was featured today on Funky Finds, a blog that features and promotes independent crafters and artists!! How cool is that?!? I got an e-mail this morning from Jessica, the author, letting me know... quite a nice change from the spam and junk mail that sometimes makes it into my inbox! She has found some really interesting sellers; when I have time, I'm definitely going to read more of her posts. Now, to the crafting: I made a few new domino keychains... In this post, I showed a keychain with a tiny rubber stamped birdie... I decided that although the birdie was a pain in the neck to cut out, he was so cute that I would turn him into a series... Birdie could get into quite a few adventures, maybe do some travelling and exploring... This is Birdie Flies a Kite- birdie is enjoying the fresh spring air! (we don't quite have any of that here in Arizona yet, here, but hopefully sometime soon...) Find Birdie, and other Crimson Cat goodies, in my Etsy shop.

This is another of Birdie's adventures, Birdie Visits the Seashore. Birdie is keeping his feet clear of the waves, and relaxing on the beach (made from actual sandpaper). The waves and clouds were drawn with marker, and the sun was stamped and cut out. This one will be in my Etsy shop soon, so keep checking!

And now, for something totally different...

This is a 4 x 6 inch piece titled Dead End Road- Collage #1, made last night using various materials, including scrapbooking paper, pattern tissue, and pages from magazines and catalogs glued onto a background of watercolor paper and accented with markers and Staz-On ink.

It was created as part of a new creative venture... I joined a fun and motivating Flickr group started by some fellow Etsians for creating and sharing collage art, Collage a Day. I've never really tried "real" collage, although I guess you could say some of my ACEOs and keychains might qualify as collage, since the definition of collage is: " technique of composing a work of art by pasting on a single surface various materials not normally associated with one another, such as newspaper clippings, parts of photographs, theater tickets, and fragments of an envelope." I have a growing collection of "found" papers, scraps, catalogs, and such, but don't usually use them for this kind of art- Collage a Day will hopefully get me to be more creative with these materials, and actually use some of them instead of just collecting them. Although I did find myself digging through the recycle bin this evening, trying to decide "this security envelope pattern is kind of interesting; can I use it for a craft project??" Maybe this isn't such a good thing, after all... we'll just have to wait and see!

I almost forgot- the Christmas crafts!

I did do a little crafting before Christmas, that I couldn't show till after I was sure the presents were opened... we pick names in my family for the "big" gifts, and exchange stocking stuffers with everyone. I decided to make some of my stocking stuffers, after seeing an article in the December issue of Somerset Studio magazine. These pictures are what I came up with! The ornaments are paper mache, from Michaels. I base-coated them with gesso, then painted them with a mixture of acrylic and Lumiere paint. (Lumiere is more like a glaze, and has gold or other shimmery colors mixed in.) Then I added clip-art angels and a border of gold acrylic paint dots .

The backs were covered with scraps of vintage music paper, then dry-brushed with gesso and gold to lighten it up.

The colors I picked for these ornaments are a little brighter than my usual comfort zone, but I really like how they turned out.

I'm really proud of how this one turned out, too. I made this one for my mom, to remind her of the birds they feed outside the kitchen window every winter. It started with an empty Altoids tin (I have quite a few of these stashed away- since they're metal tins, I always feel bad about just throwing them away). I painted the outside and inside edges with gold paint, and added teal glitter for sky, and mica flake snow. (I should have built up the "landscape" with polymer clay or something, but I didn't think of that till later.) What I did use was lots of PVA and E6000 adhesive, which took a while to dry, but it worked out. I glued two tiny birch twigs into the snow, sprinkled some "snow" on them, and perched a mushroom cardinal on the branch. Sheer chiffon ribbon was wrapped around the edge of the tin to use as a hanger.

I have more empty Altoids tins, and more paper mache shapes, so I think I will make some spring ornaments, too- flowers, perhaps, or maybe Easter bunnies, or chicks?? I'll just have to see what I come up with...

crafting HAS taken place...

I just can't show the entire pictures yet! These pictures are sneak peeks for a couple swap-bot packages I sent out, and I want to make sure the recipients get them first... I don't want to spoil the surprise!

These two images are peeks at two ATCs I made for a "Back & Forth" swap- my partner sent a packet of paper, embellishments, etc. to me, and I made two ATCs from them, using the materials she sent (along with a couple of my own things). I sent paper and other materials to my partner, and she sent me back a really cool ATC using the menu from our favorite Chinese restaurant, along with a fortune-cookie fortune, and some origami paper. (I will post it as soon as I take a picture.)

These two pics are sneak peeks at two sets of inchies (1 inch x 1 inch collages) I made for another swap, "Recycled Inchie Art" that was a bit challenging for me... I'm still not used to the 1 inch size, and had to work a bit finding small enough images. It was all about using things destined for the garbage or recycle bin; once I got into it, I had a good time finding papers and images to use in unexpected ways- I dug thru my recycle bin for teeny paper scraps, went thru some junk mail and pamphlets, and scavenged from the Ikea catalog, a catalog of posters, and a home decorating catalog (all of these things were dug out of the paper recycling bin). It's amazing how much paper and cardboard packaging we get; it was nice to use at least a tiny bit of it for an art project.

My next swap is also going to take some thought- it involves finding seven specific elements to decorate 2 ATCs with... it should be a lot of fun, once I get into my stash of stuff! I also dug into my stash of felt and am working on some new fall-themed felt pins, since it's starting to cool off here and feel a bit like fall. We don't get fall-colored leaves here in the desert, so I'm going to make my own!