Sharing Beauty on a Sunday Morning

Hello Friends. Just found THIS in the NYTimes online and it is a wonderful, inspiring respite to those who appreciate true art. If you love photography, you'll love the feature.

And, how does Robert Downey Jr. fit into all this? Well, not that he needs a reason to fit in anywhere, but he is featured in the presentation. And, complete coincidence: I am listing this set in my joonbeam shop this morning. Just the pinbacks, ladies. The photo stays with me.

How's your Sunday? Well, I believe it may have just improved significantly. :)
ox joon

FriDaY FuNDaY ~ propriety

When I taught second grade, I nicknamed the days of the week. For now, I'll leave you guessing on the first four. Friday Funday was my favorite because we stepped outside of the box and had an interdisciplinary creative explosion. The results of these activities amazed me, inspired me and taught me a lot about being true to my self and trusting my intuition. I loved displaying our projects at the end of the day. It was always a delightful surprise. Like little bursts of genius were sprinkled at my Reebok'd feet & bloomed like magic. Those Fridays are responsible for most of my favorite teaching memories. I wonder if the children remember them.

We've all been under the weather for the past few weeks and Scout is of the mind it's a grand scheme to force me to slow down a half step. Perhaps that is how this idea had a chance to nudge its way in the door. On Fridays I will share the little things that bring us joy and inspiration. I hope you'll find yourself smiling, touched and inspired, too. It's Friday. Let's have some FUN!

Ingredients: One favorite film, two weeks of exasperated sighs, inspiration, fate, vintage vocabulary cards, laminating machine, heart hole punch, ball chain

Makes: This fabulous recycled necklace with special meaning. The word propriety is front and center in one of her favorite What's Up Doc? film quotes. Judy Maxwell {Barbra Streisand} defines it a little differently than our Vis-Ed card. Visit THIS CLIP to see what I mean. The clip is 9 minutes, but, never fear, you will be rewarded {and excused} with comic genius in a mere 2:45 total. Trust me. It's delightful.

"Don't you know the meaning of propriety?" Eunice. {Madeline Kahn} What's Up Doc. 1972

Now for a few questions. What do you think of the Friday Funday Feature? And how do you like my newest product? I will be creating and selling these necklaces in my new joonwalk etsy shop soon. Oh! How cool is this? The film takes place in San Francisco and we did not realize that Scout was wearing her SF electric trolley tee shirt today until we started taking the photos. I love fate. ox joon

A Little Bit Different Style Upcycled Tee Carry~All Tote

This is my first upcycled T shirt Carry~All. I made it for a wonderful friend as a surprise gift. I can't wait until she receives it. It's all ready for the postman. :) But first...

I started by adding a liner {wrong sides together} because the T shirt was quite thin. Oh, yes, I should say here that it was beyond the clothing life stage. The liner is also a former blouse. If you know me even the teeniest little bit, you know they came from thrift stores. This is {at least} their third life.

I wanted this bag to have my own signature style, which I call
Thread Tramp Art ~ with heart :). Here you can see the pinked edges being basted before the next step ~ simply turning them under & leaving them raw.

Just for kicks, I turned one edge the opposite way. I added marbled fabric strips to the straps for 3 reasons: style, durability & added length. A handy key clip extension piece is attached along one seam. It flops inside or out at will!

Inside design is as much fun as outside. The little gecko is from my boys' favorite pair of shorts. They date back to 1980 -ish. Still going strong.

I sewed up the side and bottom. Added the straps and here is the finished creation. As my lovely friend, Pearl, says: TADA!

I love it and I hope my friend will too. Maybe I will make another one. Well, what would you do if your mother asked you? :) {Seuss quotes, anyone?}

A little flying housewife post

I made this UTZ bag upcycled pocket for a new pen pal friend I met via my flying housewife etsy shop. Yes, some people write back to me! How fun is that? This pen pal inspired me to make this funky new creation. By now, you all know how much I LOVE to recycle and turn trash into functional art. But, guess what? There are more where I come from! Heavens to Murgatroid, can you imagine? It's so true. I would not lie to you. I had been looking at this potato chip bag for a while. I mean, look at that retro gal and the lime green base color? Irresistible. This sprang into my head and flew out on the wind across the miles. I wonder what she thinks of it? Well...what would YOU if it arrived in your mailbox? ox joon



PS. These are regional potato chips. Delicious. Support local products. Buy handmade! Be groovy! I hope this project inspires you to upcycle something from one of your local producers. If so, please let me know. I'd love to see it! Because environment is everything.

New etsy shop!

I opened my second etsy shop last night! It was a long time in the works. I made my banner all by myself. No small feat. Photoshop and I have communication style differences. It's not the banner I envisioned but I like it a lot and at least it got me up and flying. Speaking of flying, here is my little airplane avatar for the housewife! How adorable is this?



I had a sale already within the first hour of listing so I am very pleased and hoping it isn't a one time fluke! Hey, life is a risk. I'm not always big on jumping off the cliff, but I believe in this and it is something I enjoy naturally so I am following my heart.

I have many themes in mind and will be adding to the shop all week. Hope you'll all have a fly by! Here's the link: flyinghousewife

i love you like etsy

etsy has a new trademark agreement policy & my design was approved! Next to sign and return the contract, but, naturally, I wanted to include one of my pinbacks. And, then, naturally, I needed to send it in style ~ my style ~ and then, naturally, once I started browsing for something to catch my eye...and, well, it just kept going from there. This is Manhattan for the love of kismet. I mean, honestly. It was a sign.




Note: Click on the photo above to enlarge and read text with ease.

The toughest part was finding the picture of the earth in the right size. I wanted it to be a balloon. And I wanted an earth taken from space. People, I have only 14 days to return this contract!!! I have standards which does make my life challenging. No, I do not want an earth printed off of the internet. It has to be found in a discarded magazine, book, calendar or ??? Do I have a vault full of these? No Ma'am. No Sir. I do not. I gave myself a deadline. If I couldn't find one by last night, I would have to illustrate (GULP) my own. eek! Desperate times call for desperate measures, folks. I had an earth balloon in my head and come hell or high water, there was going to be one on this collage. No matter that all I sought was a simple attractive square in the first place. Let's be serious here.



There was only one way to solve this. I started working on my new horse linocut. (My first! This is another story. You can see a couple of photos on my flickr or my post on CAD. ) As I was searching for magazine pages for my little pony :), there she was!!!! My little blue planet. She was a little too large, but the thought of resorting to plan B ... Next ... how was I ever going to cut a perfect circle around her? Hey ... this looks like the size of my pinbacks. Hey... wait a minute... and the earth balloon magnet, she is born! Now, the true dilemma... how do I part with this baby? I am sorry, but this is one sweet collage. I am going to send it. And pray that whoever receives it at the other end of the rainbow has a brighter day because of it. Life is a mystery. I'm adding another to the mix.



What would your reaction be if, in the course of your workday ~ this includes you, house people. Remember, I am one of you and yes, we work! ~ you opened an ordinary envelope (OK, we all know, that is not possible here and I will be making a super joonie envie, but... I am overcome with the power of the written word) and this fell out onto your surface? I would love to know. The truth. Thank you for making it this far into my tale.


PS. Be sure and let me know if you'd like to hear how it all turns out, too. Or if your answer to this is: God forbid. ox to you all & happy, happy birthday little blue planet

Front Page of etsy!

I am having a great start to my Friday! Woo Hoo! My first front page as far as I know. How fun is this? Here's to eco friendly handmade. My painting, floating city, is one of two in my etsy shop that I painted onto discarded falling apart vintage book covers. Visit my shop to learn more and see this painting and its sister, JUMP.

Yesterday was Mister Mister's Birthday! Hooray for Chippy. He's 8 years old. Scout took this a few weeks ago and I cropped it and used it as my etsy avatar for his birthday. Everyone seems to be enjoying him so much that he has a reprieve and will stay for a few more days.

I just designed and made my very first Mister Rogers Pinbacks with a little phrase I coined myself. You can see the first three on my flickr page by clicking HERE. I am very excited about them. I have had the idea in my mind for months ~ even before I started my etsy shop.

I have been neglecting this blog for a while and the treasury, but here I am and, so too, my new etsy treasury called April Showers. You can find it there until 3:39AM on Thursday. I also have a photo of it on my flickr page, which is why you might be seeing it on your right in the slideshow!

I awoke to the honor of learning I am featured in another artisan's blog today! Jana, who I recently met through my BBEST etsy group, has a beautiful blog, Serendipity Collections. I know you will enjoy visiting her blog and her etsy shop, PaperFields, where she sells gorgeous handcrafted cards that are truly works of art.

I have so much catching up to do but I must leave some good news and excitement for another day so I will see you then. Happy April everyone. Here's to Spring!