Marbleized Paper

Last night in Book Arts class we made marbleized paper. It was fun to try various color combinations and designs. The above photo shows a color combination I used without stirring or "design" on brown craft paper. Below are photos of the steps I took and the resulting paper - still quite wet. We filled half the drying racks in the classroom. I look forward to seeing the dry papers next week.

Note: the dark "blob dots" of color are on the bottom of the tray and will not transfer to the paper.

Birds

The nuts and berries from our trees are attracting the area birds. At least, I assume that is what is drawing them to our yard. As they land and take off in large groups, I can't help but think of the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds.

Autumn Leaves LTCs

I received a much awaited package of Letterboxing Trading Cards (LTCs) from a swap I did through the Atlas Quest website. The LTC I made for the swap is shown in this post. Since I made 30 cards, I have about 3 extra. If anyone is interested in trading for one, leave a comment below.

Decorated Matchboxes

I am a member on swap-bot which is a website where people swap hand-made items, things they collect, writings, etc. There are groups for specific areas such as knitting, postcards, and ATCs. In the forum of Zines, Mail Art & other cool stuff, I won a WTA (Winner Take All) for Advent Matchboxes. Less than 25 people signed up so I hope to eventually do the rest myself eventually. I am sharing photos of the decorated, filled matchboxes I have received. Thanks to crescendo, starrgazer, sunnyblueskies, suessstoff, and TangleCrafts for their wonderful matchboxes.

Postcards

Doing a quick entry since I do want to post more often. One of the things I collect is postcards. I especially enjoy receiving postcards from family and friends when they are traveling so I can read about and see a glimpse of their trip. I also like receiving postcards from other states and countries and learning about life elsewhere. Recently I have gotten into making postcards and receiving mailart which can take the form of postcards too. The postcard shown above is one I received earlier this year through PostCrossing. It is a great way to send and receive postcards around the world.

Zines and Books

I have ventured into the world of zines - mini zines at the moment. Zines are self-published magazines. They can vary in size and length. Mini zines are made from one piece of 8.5" x 11" piece of paper. I have done three zines so far with topics of Mail Art, Embossing Powders, and Quotes.
As seen in the photo below, the one piece of paper for a mini zine is folded and then cut in the middle. Pretty easy! Getting the text facing opposite directions is the challenge.
This is a shelf of my hand-made books. A couple missed out on the photo opportunity and you can a see a few without covers yet. Actually the tallest, thinnest book in the middle is a book I wrote and illustrated in 3rd grade and it was bound by my teacher (I went to the Young Author's conference in Indiana with it). I really love taking the Book Arts class offered through the local Parks & Rec Department!

A Day at the Columbus Zoo

Since the November weather has been so nice with high 60's to low 70's degrees and sunny skies, I decided to spend a few hours at the zoo. The Columbus Zoo & Aquarium is rated one of the best in the country.

A new bonobo (the smallest and rarest of the great apes) was born in March - the 11th born at the zoo. I saw the baby mostly hang on her mother and then swing from the lowest bars. Momma bonobo stayed close at hand since the teenager bonobos like to run around and "tag" or grab the baby before running away.


Several young flamingos were on exhibit. They stand out since their feathers are not pink yet (the pink color comes from their food source - shrimp).


I like the penguins but rarely see them in the water in their habitat. Just hanging around.

[I took many more pictures of various animals but want to save space for the videos below.]

The newest and most popular attraction is the polar bear habitat that has above water and underwater viewing areas. The bears are very entertaining to watch and seem to enjoy putting on a show for their audience. In the underwater video when the bear is standing on hind legs, s/he is standing in front of the above water viewing windows.