Hot, Hot, Hot

(This necklace will be added to the shop later today. It is a larger version of the necklace in the giveaway. )

Summer has finally arrived in my corner of the world. It apparently has decided to come in full force, August-type weather, with the sun and humidity competing to see who can be more wicked.

When its like this, I just try and survive. We don't have central air in our house, which normally isn't a problem but now it is. There are a few cool pockets here and there, usually right in front of a window air unit or fan. But you can't spend all day in front of an air conditioner (believe me I've tried), you have to get on with the business of life.

So one of my favorite (air conditioned) places to go when its like this is the library. The library is great for so many reasons but most of all for free books. I can pick up some new books for my daughter and a few Charlaine Harris books for me (I love watching True Blood so I picked up her books and love them too, perfect summer reading).

I have also started perusing the art and craft books the library has. I've recently picked up Altered Art by Terry Taylor. I put Kelly Rae Roberts book Taking Flight on reserve and can't wait to get it. I love these kind of books because they really spark my imagination. I get so many ideas and I can't wait to try them out, even if they are just for play. And I will, once I get a new fan for the studio.

Day 7 - Miscellaneous stuff

I started this "project" without any real set goals as to what I was going to do while crafting. I was just going to go with the flow, which is good and bad. Its good because I can have a day like Monday where I manage only to crochet a row of a sweater (which needed to be redone yesterday by the way).

But its also bad because some days I don't know what to do. Should I paint? Should I draw? Should I make jewelry? Should I crochet? Should I collage? Should I do a little from column A, a little from column B with some column Z thrown in?

Yesterday was one of those A, B and Z days. I did a little bit of everything but not enough to have something to show for it. Which is fine, I kept my resolution. But it kind of makes blogging about it boring. But since I've resolved to blog anyway, you my dear readers, get to hear about a lot of nothing. Lucky you.

Over the weekend I bought the book Lotta Prints by Lotta Jansdotter. Which is about printing with things like stencils, leaves, potatoes and linoleum. I bought it for inspiration and to try out some of the projects (its not really a project book but this is what you need to try x type of printing).

I thought I'd try making my own stencils first but I didn't have the supplies. So I figured I'd just put the book aside until I could get them. But when I opened the phone book a leaf fell out. I forgot Bunny and I had collected them during the fall and pressed them with every intention of using them later. Well now was later so why not try leaf printing? I hadn't done it since girl scouts it might be fun.

It was kind of fun but dried leaves don't really hold up too well. They tend to crumble a bit when you move them around. The ginko leaf completely disintegrated over the course of the experiment. The juniper leaf lost several needles. So while the effect was cool, the practice was kind of messy.