New to my shop: Eight Nights of Hanukkah Paper Clips Journal!

As I’ve posted about previously, I created a Holiday Paper Clips Journal to sell in my Etsy shop. But… let’s call a spade a spade: it’s a Christmas journal. It’s chock-full of reds and greens and Christmas trees and vintage Christmas papers and… it’s a Christmas Journal. And so I started feeling lame and awful because I have a ton of Jewish friends who, clearly, wouldn’t really benefit much from Christmas-themed papers. Not that they don’t appreciate awesome papers, but… you know.

Sooooo… I was inspired to create a Hanukkah journal, which I’ve dubbed my Eight Nights of Hanukkah Paper Clips Journal. Rather than reds and greens, there are blues and silvers and gold menorahs and stars of David and historical pages about Hanukkah and Hanukkah activity pages for kids and stickers and usable gift tags. Oh, and did I mention that I’ve included 8 dividers with silver number stickers to signal the eight glorious days and nights of the Festival of Lights? Great for keeping track of ideas, memories, gifts, recipes… or to use the papers for scrapbooking and collage projects. The majority of the pages are sized to a convenient 4″x6″ and there’s a mix of vintage and modern pages (just like my Christmas journal).

I’m pretty proud of it. Know anyone who might like one? Click HERE for additional images and ordering details.

Some images:

From my sketchbook…

Some of these are old. Like, from 2002. I’ve never publicly shared the pages of my sketchbook before. Be gentle with me.

Exclusively for Gram…

My grandmother (aka, Gram) is my favorite person on earth. This is not news. My mom, dad, and sisters have accepted this information and have learned to deal with taking a collective backseat. They understand. I mean, hell, Gram is pretty much their favorite person on earth, too. (E.T. is our favorite person NOT on earth. Duh.)

So, sometimes I send Gram little prizes just to remind her I love her and miss her and think of her constantly. See, Gram lives in South Carolina. And I… do not. Not even close. So… it’s hard. Did I mention she’s 91? Yeah. She’s fabulous. She still mows her own lawn. In her navy blue pumps.

I’m completely serious.

Anyway… so, she doesn’t get to see us very often, and “us” includes my baby niece and nephew (her GREAT-grandchildren) who live up here in Mass. with me. So, that’s sad. Really sad. So I periodically get pictures printed off and send them to her. And I try to find creative ways to do so, rather than just sliding them into a stiff photo mailer accompanied by a rather lame “hello” note. That’s so sterile and blah.

Gram deserves more excitement, don’t you agree?

So, this time, I decided to compile some cool papers, clip them together, and write her little notes throughout. It’s similar to the journal I made for my friend a while ago (pictured HERE), except it’s not a journal. It’s just a fun collection of cool images for Gram to enjoy. Mostly images that bear some significance to us and our family.

So I just thought I’d share them with you…

Index cards, kraft envelope, recycled Paper Source paper from my calendar, vintage misc. papers…

Pics!

French is a family thing. This page is from a vintage “Learn French” book that I got at a used bookstore a few years ago, for a dollar. People are crazy.

Gram has always had fresh fruit in a bowl on her table. Nous préférons les pêches!

Gram’s a big Obama fan! Nothing like a 91-year-old liberal! This is a sticker I got from MoveOn.org after the election

La rentrée scolaire!/Back to School!

Another semester begins for me tomorrow. Unbelievable. Almost as unbelievable as the fact that, every September, the “Back to School” theme to Grease 2 is a permanent fixture in my head.

“Gotta go back (back) back, back to school again…”

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And, my personal favorite:

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Don’t spit on the floor or lodge your pen in your ear while in my class, please.

Wordshop Wednesday: Found Paper Co.

I am much indebted to Poppy Talk, who today introduced me to the EXTREMELY drool-worthy Found Paper Co.. Their products represent PRECISELY what causes me to foam at the mouth and, inevitably, pass out from overstimulation. I mean that in only the best of ways. I absolutely LOVE ephemera and the repurposing of vintage papers. Or just gazing fondly at them for hours and never repurposing them at all, because it seems pretty clear that their overall purpose is to exist solely for me.

Unsurprisingly, I basically want to buy out the entire store. So you better get it while you can.

All images above borrowed from the Found Paper Co. Etsy store.

Go forth and purchase!

Wordshop Wednesday: ZippityDooda

For this week’s edition of Wordshop Wednesday, I am extremely excited to present you with the extraordinary project known as An Artful Agenda. Featured on ZippityDooda’s Etsy site,

An Artful Agenda:

“showcases the artwork of eighteen different artists who have donated their art to benefit the Northeast Portland Tool Library (neptl.org). Two-thirds of the proceeds go to support NEPTL. The mission of An Artful Agenda is to harness the power of community through resource sharing, whether it’s sharing skills, knowledge and equipment to create a work of art or sharing tools in a neighborhood.”

There are three different cover designs to choose from, and four different color options. But, in my opinion, the best part is that the book isn’t overpowering in size (it measures 4.25″ x 5.5″ x 5/8″), and it comes with unlined pages. I tend to be vehemently anti-line. 

Here are the three cover designs,
which also showcase three of the different color options:

 

Interior image samples: