July 14, 2007

We Love Our Excitable Gay Dog

Say it Loud! Say it Proud!

I don't remember the particulars but there was a previous incident that got us teasing Skippy about being gay (at least bi, he did father Rozee after all). We certainly don't care, we love him regardless. Yesterday was another incident to lean us toward purchasing Skippy a rainbow collar.

I took him to get a hair cut (yes, finally!!) It was a new salon, one recommended by a mom in the brooklyn playgroups I belong to. They let the dogs run around loose in the store and of course, Skippy loved that. He loves meeting new dogs, loves, loves, loves it. This little Pekingese dog came running over to Skippy and of course, Skippy is sniffing his butt. I'm trying to make him behave, I mean, this is our first time there! The next thing I see is the Pekingnese laying on his side, legs akimbo and Skippy is licking the dog's titties. Well, I don't know if they are called tittles on a dog but you know the area I mean. Anyway, I never saw this before!! The Pekingese seemed to be enjoying it cuz the legs were getting wider and wider. The groomer came out at that point so I had to tear him away. So when I come back to pick him up, he's practically all over the pekingese again and looked like he wanted to hump him but in the front! It turns out the pekingese is a boy! Well, I suppose as much as a boy as he can be since obviously some of his parts were missing. It cracked me up and I asked Skippy if he wanted a rainbow flag.

And while I'm at it, I'll show the placemat I made him. The first picture is really just to show how long his hair was.

Posted by luluvision at 10:07 AM | Comments (1)

July 12, 2007

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday was my birthday. Monday was Tammy's birthday. So Tuesday we went out to dinner to celebrate. First we attempted to go to Pearl Oyster Bar but with an hour wait, it was cutting into my bedtime. HA! Then we headed over to Ed's Lobster Bar (who used to work at Pearl!) and it was only half an hour wait. But then we ended up at Cafe Esquina, down the block and we both got yummy steak. I made these goofy placemats for Tammy's birthday using photos from her honeymoon in New Zealand.

As per tradition, my parents bought me a cake and we had that on Sunday. It was vanilla sponge cake with strawberries. The berries were a little tart but the super soft cake was delicious.

On my actual birthday yesterday, I went to the Broadway Mall with my parents. Mostly to get out of the humidity and have someone else pay for the AC! We walked around Ikea and Target and had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's. I had the grilled salmon sandwich, which was disappointing because it was overcooked but I still ate it. Here's a cute picture of my dad with Sienna in the restaurant.

Then after lunch I decided to walk with Sienna in my arms instead of putting her back into her car seat. It was only a short walk thru the mall to the parking lot. She loved it! She was all excited looking around at everything and laughing. It was soooo cute! I only wonder what this means later on. She'll probably want to go to the mall all the time. Groan!!

And here's a cute picture of her waving. She's wearing one of Gabby's old outfits. Or was it Maia's?

Yves gave me a gift card to get a massage (YAY!) and I can't wait to go. He also made me a super cute card with a picture of him and Sienna on the cover. And for dinner we got take out sushi and I got a special roll with lobster on top. It was delicious!

Posted by luluvision at 09:28 AM | Comments (0)

June 23, 2007

On a fabric kick

I'm trying hard not to be a procrastinator (HA!) and one of the projects I wanted to do was cover a baby photo album given to me at my baby shower. Although I already put photos in it, I don't think it matters. I still had the bunny fabric left over from when I did the curtains in Sienna's room.

This is a super easy craft that doesn't require any sewing, just gluing. I got all my materials together and just glued! I also painted some wooden letters and glued them on the side. For the inside, I cut some cardboard and glued some pink fabric (also from the curtains) to them. Super easy! Done in one day!

I also mentioned last week going overboard at the Reprodepot booth

and since I still had fabric that I bought from them at last year's craft fair, I just had to get on the ball. I decided to make this really cute loop bag from here and OH MY GOODNESS! Look!! I did it!!

I took pains to make sure I was doing everything as good as I could. Of course I kinda screwed up the top stitching, it was kinda crooked and I didn't realize you can take a piece off of your sewing machine to fit the bag in through the arm but oh well. There were many firsts with this bag! I made templates out of cardboard (I figured if this bag works out, I'll make it for gifts!) I used interfacing. I made 2 loops. My boxy bottom is not lopsided! Look how cute it is!! I used it to go out to walk Skippy and to run to the store and had handy place for my wallet and keys!

I got so gung ho about sewing, I decided to tackle making a placemat for Skippy. The clear vinyl I ordered came last week and I wanted to try it out before it collected dust. Well, the placemat is still a work in progress. I didn't realize that it was difficult to sew on vinyl! But I found some tips online and will finish it off this week.

Posted by luluvision at 08:49 PM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2007

Happy Father's Day!

Posted by luluvision at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2007

My first mother's day

This shot was taken last month at the park and I haven't had a chance to download more current pics from the camera. She has gotten bigger! Anyway, this picture shows how much like Yves she looks! There's an old picture of Yves that a co-worker of his gave me where he is making a similiar face, a little angrier because he wasn't in a good mood, that would go great with this shot. Not that Sienna is angry but the look on her face is similiar, in a happier way.

Last week me and dad took Sienna for her 2 month check up! She's up to 9 pounds and 1 ounce! She had to get shots too which she wasn't too happy about but who would be? But all in all, she was very good. The doctor had me give her some infant tylenol because of the shots but as a preventive measure. Later on that night, she slept the longest she has ever slept, 9 hours!! I don't know if it was the tylenol or what but it was pleasant and almost a little nerve racking at the same time. I woke up around 1:30 in the morning and tip toed into her room to make sure she was breathing!!

Yesterday was my first mother's day and Sienna gave me a cute card. Other than that, we really didn't do much to commemorate the event. Yves worked from home on Thursday and Friday since I had a dentist and an ob appt. so that was present enough, being able to roam the city a little bit.

Here is the card I made for mum.

Posted by luluvision at 08:43 AM | Comments (0)

April 15, 2007

All Hope Is Not Lost!

My creative brain is starting to come back to life, somewhat. I actually had an interest in making some birth announcement cards, they are not as cute as the ones Jessica made for me and sent to me shortly after Sienna's birth via priority mail (thank you Jess!!) but I was glad to be creating!

I think I made about 5 or 6 different variations. I guess my attention span is getting shorter and shorter!

And here are the ones Jess made for me.

And I included one of these 2 pictures of Sienna:

Now onto some thank you cards!

Posted by luluvision at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)

April 02, 2007

Everyday is Like Sunday

I was cracking myself up when I was stamping this last night. I couldn't wait to put it on her today! I knew I had to take a picture fast after putting it on her because who knows how long it will be before I have to change her out of it. We are starting to get more used to her feeding schedule and Yves let me sleep in over the weekend, which was so nice! I've also discovered that the muzak played with the mobile and other similiar toys does nothing for her. She seemed to calm down when I played her Erasure, Morrissey and The Decemberists. That's my girl! Right after my own heart! She'll probably like a lot of others but so far that's what I've been playing. She even likes my singing!!!

Posted by luluvision at 12:56 PM | Comments (1)

February 28, 2007

Swapalicious

Finally, an update on the two swaps I joined in last month. The first swap I joined this year was a handwritten letter/handmade item swap that you can see here. I'm pissed off about the receipient of my creation as she never, ever acknowledged even receiving my swap. I sent her a direct e-mail to make sure she received it. Nothing. I sent her an e-mail via swap-bot. Nothing. I posted a comment on her blog. Nothing. I even discovered that she deleted my comment on her blog! Well, that just tells me she only joined the swap to get free stuff especially since she never sent in her swap. I feel bad for her partner in having received nothing! That just pisses me off. She got good ratings in her previous swaps so I don't know what the deal is. Sheesh. Anyway, I'm glad to report that my partner, Margy sent me a nice Cat Mermaid she made and a nice long letter all the way from Belgium! Perfect for the nursery!

The 2nd swap I joined was called a Photo Scavenger Hunt. Each person lists 15 things she wants a picture of and their partner picks 10 to take and print out. I was a couple of days late in sending mine out to my partner Jennifer because of my hard drive issues. So I decided to get extra creative and put the photos in a stand up album that I got from here. Which of course I wanted to try forever and got the clear envelopes ages ago. The sample only used 3 envelopes and mine was 10 envelopes so I had to use some extra reinforcements with packing tape. I think it came out really cute!!

And I am also happy to report that my partner, Lisa, sent me all 15 images from my list all the way from Australia! She also sent me a zine of hers that she made.

Posted by luluvision at 11:14 AM | Comments (1)

February 26, 2007

Sew-a-thon

Last week I finally made the curtains for the nursery with the fabric I got here. Man, that was harder than I expected! It was harder because I didn't have enough fabric and I had to do math! When I bought the green fabric, I suspected that it would be too much green and I was right. I went back to the store to buy some fabric to add to the side as a sort of patchwork curtain. I couldn't decide between the pink and purple so bought a yard of each. It's a good thing I saw the cute bunny fabric and bought a yard of that too. Who knew that a yard isn't that long? Not me! So they are a little crooked but I think they came out really cute! Of course I wanted the green fabric to be the main fabric (which is on the backside) but this side had all 4 designs so we decided to make this the front instead of the back.

Since I was in the sewing groove, I decided to make some zippered pouches for the bumblebee dinner last Friday (which I'll write about in another post). These pouches are for their Christmas presents. Yeah, I know, that was months ago! Anyway, I finally tried the printing on muslin with the help of freezer paper method that I've been wanting to try forever. Easy Peasy!

I messed up a bit on the Ben Harper image because the muslin was a little too wide and got caught in the printer. I made sure I didn't make that same mistake with Prince's image. I took the Ben Harper image and the picture of Prince was taken by Joy, who this bag is for, if you didn't already know from the "Oh, Joy!" I added. I think it came out really cute!

Here are all 3 bags and the lining.

I've also been wanting to make myself a little pin cushion and finally made a quickie one. Of course, I make it after my sew-a-thon but I do plan on some more sewing (hello Morrissey pillow cover!) so it's no biggie. I used velcro so I could wear it on my wrist or put it on the sewing machine.

Posted by luluvision at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)

February 19, 2007

Happy Year of the Pig!

Happy Year of the Pig! And not just a regular ole pig but a Golden Pig! According to my peeps, this happens every 60 or 600 years years, depending who you ask. Apparently, it's a great year to have a kid as they will be properous and lead a wealthy life. WOOHOOO!!

I made these cards to send out and got the pig from Viva LasVegastamps. I thought the pig was just adorable but couldn't figure out what to do with him, really. It was Yves' idea to put a party hat on him! Inside it says "like it's 4705! Happy Year of the pig!" It looks a lot better in real life, his hat has golden accents and the word party is embosseed in red ink with golden specks.

Posted by luluvision at 10:03 AM | Comments (1)

February 14, 2007

Happy Hearts Day!

Front

Inside

I made this card for my honey for Val's day. The inside says "You make my heart soar." We don't make a big deal about the day but it's also the day he asked me to marry him 6 years ago. He left me a card and a delicious box of chocolates for me on my desk this morning. We got hit with some snow last night and this morning. The baby was also very active this morning. I couldn't get comfortable in bed so I was sitting on the sofa around 3-4ish in the morning. Also my nose was completely stuffed up. I mean, completely! I'm feeling a lot better than I was earlier in the week so I can see the end of the tunnel. Sometimes the end of the tunnel seems close and sometimes it seems far away.

Posted by luluvision at 04:42 PM | Comments (1)

February 08, 2007

Thank you cards!

I wanted to make some thank you cards for the CDMOMERS that threw me the surprise baby shower last month. It took me a few days to make 10 different versions especially since sometimes my mind went blank but I'm quite proud that I made 10 different ones! I hope everyone liked them all. They really look much better in person.

Posted by luluvision at 08:22 PM | Comments (0)

February 05, 2007

Locations and Valentine ATCs

I made these ATCs for the Eclectic ATC yahoo group I belong to. The theme was Locations and Valentines. I was already working on the Locations ATCs when the UHU glues arrived so they were only used in the Valentines ATCs.

The little card fits into the pocket on the ATC. The graphic from the card came from Lisa Vollrath's Valentine freebies from 2006.

I used acetate (really a 120 film negative protector) to cover the ATC on the right and fill it with confetti hearts.

Posted by luluvision at 11:22 AM | Comments (1)

February 04, 2007

UHU glue review!

I received my UHU glue samples a couple of weeks ago and am ready to post my experience. I had a chance to try it out on some ATCs and cards that I've been working on. You can see in the above picture the glues I received and also the other glue stick I usually use. I have to preface by saying that I was not entirely happy with the previous gluestick I was using. That's the brand that Staples sells and the price was reasonable. So I was very excited to try a new brand.

So far I really like the UHU gluesticks! The gluestick dries relatively fast on contact, which could work against you but once you know that, you work with it. So far it doesn't curl up the paper like the other gluestick I used. I would usually have to put my ATCs under something heavy to flatten them out. I didn't have to do that with this brand. I used the twist and glue to glue some acetate together and that worked well. It was sticky enough that the acetate didn't break apart from the other piece while still wet. I also used the twist and glue for some foam hearts onto paper and so far so good.

So yes, this is a positive review and I would totally recommend UHU. If you want to try some samples yourself, check out Maria's blog here.

In the next few days I will post the projects that I made using these glues. I made some Valentine ATCs for an online ATC swap group I belong to, a Valentine card for my honey and some Thank you cards to send to my friends that threw me that surprise baby shower.

Posted by luluvision at 12:44 PM | Comments (1)

February 02, 2007

Happy Groundhog's Day!

I haven't done much posting lately because my external hard drive is giving me a hard time. Whenever I try to access something on it, I have to wait a long time, which is unusual. I'm trying to back up all the photos (of which all my photos are on!) and it was driving me nuts. I was a little successful when I connected it to the laptop with a different firewire cable. It still wasn't smooth sailing but at least I managed to back up a lot of things.

Anyway, I wanted to post something so here is a necklace I made for a swap I joined over on Swap-bot. The swap was to handwrite a letter to your partner and send it along with a little handmade item. Since I always like to personalize, I went on my partner's blog and took a picture of her 2 year old son and made a necklace out of it with a glass marble. She lives in Missouri and I mailed it last Thursday so I hope she got it already.

I kept the necklace really simple because I didn't want to take away from the pendant. I hope she likes it. In today's mail, I received my swap from my partner all the way in Belgium. She made me this adorable stuffed cat mermaid. I'll post about it soon!

And it looks we Spring will come early this season since Phil did not see his shadow!

Posted by luluvision at 03:55 PM | Comments (2)

January 17, 2007

Resolutions

In the year 2007 I resolve to: Procrastinate more. Get your resolution here.

I don't really make New Year's resolutions mainly because I always resolve to better myself on a regular basis. What difference does it make that the calendar says it's a new year? Every morning starts a new day! With that being said, I'm resolving to be more productive craft wise before the baby takes up most of my time.

Back in 2004, my friend Sheila took pinhole portraits of me and Yves on the roof of her building before she moved to Arizona. In October of 2004, we went to Arizona to the opening of her gallery with a show I was in. That's when she gave me the prints. I started this mosaic frame sometime in 2005 and I resolve to finish it before April, 2007.

I think I had only done the clear glass and orange glass when I pulled it out during the Thanksgiving holidays. Then I did the blue and reddish glass. All I have to do is cut glass for the outer sections, grout it and then viola! Done!!

I am proud of myself for starting and finished this next project within a reasonable time. Granted, it was a small project but I'll take the credit! I had these wood blocks from a stamp set and the blocks were so perfect, I couldn't bare to throw them out.

I drilled holes in the side in case I want to string them and hang it. Then I painted them and now I'm at a standstill! I guess they are done?

Posted by luluvision at 01:04 PM | Comments (1)

January 15, 2007

Recent creations

I'm slowly starting to get out of my creative funk and of course, I'll probably be full steam ahead right when the baby decides to join the world in April. HA. Here are some Mona Lisa ATCs for a swap on nervousness that I joined back in November.

And I actually made this birthday card for a fellow crafty blogger (which will be late!) yesterday MORNING before meeting my friend Pete for lunch in the East Village. I don't usually have that drive in the morning right before I go out.

And today we went to the Ragshop in Boro Park to find some fabric so i can attempt to make curtains for the nursery.

I couldn't decide which I liked better so I bought both of them. As I feared, there is too much green. I'll have to look in my stash to see what I might be able to pair it with and then I was watching this episode of Uncommon Threads and a light bulb went off. I probably won't do so many different patches but it got me excited! I also really liked the other apron they were making too.

I also got excited about EZ Screen Print that I ordered the starter kit Saturday morning and it came TODAY!! Talk about fast! And they are in Arizona. I didn't expect it to come so fast and can't wait to give it a try since I haven't done any silkscreening since I took the class at Pratt a couple of years ago.

Posted by luluvision at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)

January 09, 2007

The latest creations

I haven't done much stamping or crafts lately due to my fingers being numb all the time due to my pregnancy. I did manage to make a few holiday cards that I turned into New Year cards. I kept it really simple.

I sandwiched glitter filled acetate (really just the protection from my 120 film when it's developed) between the card to make a glittery snowglobe. I made about 5 different variations, changing the cardstock and the photo. All the photos are ones I took of New York, including the Brooklyn Bridge, Coney Island and the Verrazano Narrows.

I made a quick birthday card for my mom-in-law. Nothing too fancy because I wanted to get it out to her and who knows how long things take to get to Jamaica. I put a picture of Skippy inside for her.

Here is a pink and brown deco I participated in from nervousness.org. The picture doesn't really show the shimmery chalks I used for the background.

And now I finally tried this technique I learned from Technique Junkies awhile ago called Opalite on Opalite. I like the way it turned out. It's a thank you card for my former co-worker, Theresa, for surprising me and sending me a pound of LiLac chocolates for Christmas.

Posted by luluvision at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)

November 29, 2006

Must.Do.Art.

I've reached the point where I'm so bored with myself that I'm too bored to try and do anything. I know this is just a state of mind that I will get out of but when you're in it, you think you'll never leave this place. It sucks. I'll probably get into gear like 2 days before Christmas or something and start running around like a chicken without a head. And then it will be freezing cold. Yesterday I was in such a daze that I left my oatmeal in the microwave all day. No wonder I was so hungry at lunchtime! I can't blame that on the pregnancy cuz I've left stuff in the nuker before. I did manage to make some ATCs.

These are for the Eclectic ATC yahoo group I belong to.

Paris is the theme, in case you couldn't guess.

Pop Art

I made these to trade with Ingrid. She gave me a dream theme because I can't work without a theme even though I went off on a tangent on 2 of them. I know, it's all in my head. Click the picture and be taken to a bigger version.

Posted by luluvision at 03:54 PM | Comments (0)

September 20, 2006

Fun mail

Some days I get crap in the mail but I've gotten some fun things recently! Today the postal clerk woke me early to give me Lisa's package. She was my swap partner for the handmade item (my item is here.) She made me this awesome bag from a recycled sweater. I love the colors! I'm debating whether to sew in a lining, since I'm sewing again.

Last week I got a set of 3 ATCs from Teresa. She had promised them to me sometime before the summer just because I posted to her blog but I can't complain that I just got them, they are beautiful! The scan doesn't show the wonderful green iridescent fabric and she handstitched everything!! Great job Teresa!

I was also involved in the Hearts and Stars swap on this yahoo group called ATC Society. This is what I sent in:

And this is what I got back:

Starting from the top left to right; Georgia, Jackie, Carol, Margaret, Laurie and Tiffany.

Posted by luluvision at 01:30 PM | Comments (3)

September 04, 2006

I'm on a roll!

More rain this weekend equals more indoor activities. There's probably a bunch of things I could do like upgrade my blog to get rid of those pesky spam comments or redo my website but I already spend too much time in front of the computer anyways. I decided to make a cover for my sewing machine!! I don't think I did too bad. It's not perfect, I ended up having a little bit too much fabric on one side. Not sure why. But overall, I think I did pretty good for a novice. I would have loved to have made a hole on the top so the handle could come through but I thought that would have been a little too ambitious. In due time, in due time!

I also fixed that bag I made! I ended up opening up my turning hole, pulling it back through and sewing it up more on the sides. I'm too chicken to cut off the zipper. It worked!

Posted by luluvision at 08:11 PM | Comments (1)

August 29, 2006

Rainy day activities

It's been raining for the past 4 days so I started and finished some swaps I'm in on swap-bot. I made this domino pin for the Handmade Item swap and I was going for something like this but didn't want to stamp in black. Instead I stamped in purple and it wasn't dark enough. So I decided to start coloring it in with my new favorite pens by Sakura, the souffle and glaze. It's kinda cool, maybe I got carried away, I don't know but I hope my swap partner likes it.

I also sent her this stamped vase with flower stamps and alcohol ink (she likes gardening).

For the Decorate a switchplate, I used a daisy picture I took and decoupaged it onto the switchplate. I think it came out cute!

Of course I noticed some little dirt that must have stuck on there with the decoupage but I hope the person likes it anyway.

A couple of weeks ago, Yves asked me to make him a little pouch for his sharpie markers and I finally made it today!!

I've had the fabric and the zippers for a long time. I used this tutorial and only had to redo something once but also noticed one tiny, forgiveable mistake. I was so excited! And Yves loves it, he thinks it's cute. The inside is lined with tan felt since I don't have very many 'manly' type fabrics. I was so excited, I made another one but I will definitely have to do it over. Not sure why the zipper is sticking out, maybe I didn't sew far enough up and it's a little too long. HAHA

Posted by luluvision at 07:10 PM | Comments (2)

August 14, 2006

The Latest and Greatest ATCs

So I've been lacking in updating my blog with the ATC swaps I've been involved in. So I'm going to post a whole bunch! All these swaps are from nervousness.

Things that Scare Me ATC swap
This is what I sent. I made it a folded ATC so the top left hand side is the back.

This is what I got back.

Everything French ATC swap
This is what I sent. I used actual photographs from my trip to Paris.

This is what I got back.

Mad Libs ATC swap
This is what I sent. This one was really fun. We had to send in 5 cards, each with a number, adjective, verb, noun, and adverb. I sent in 4 silly girls laugh loudly.

This is what I got back. Sixteen spotted cows fornicate quickly.

Song Lyrics ATC swap
This is what I sent. My ATCs were inspired by Death Cab for Cutie's Soul Meets Body, The Smiths Bigmouth Strikes Again and the Bee Gees You Should Be Dancing.

I did receive cards back but I can't find them on the mess of my desk.

Posted by luluvision at 02:33 PM | Comments (0)

August 12, 2006

Adorning my neck...

Here is my first piece of PMC that I worked on at home. I have to tell you, I was quite nervous doing this at home because I was afraid I would forget something. I was so anxious that I did forget to texture the piece. And I think I made it too thin. But no matter, I just gotta keep it up.

Originally, I had the big pinkish bead hanging from the bottom but once I put it on realized it was too big. I switched it to crystals instead and looks a lot better. The pink that fills the heart is resin colored with perfect pearls. I read people mix resin with Pearl Ex but I didn't have any of that.

Here is the microscope slide necklace I finally finished of Yves and Skippy. First it got delayed because I wanted to print the picture on better paper, like photo paper but found that the heat (I think) was affecting the emulsion of the paper underneath the glass so it messed it up. I made another one on matte paper instead but then realized the photo was too red probably because my monitor is not calibrated with my printer. Or maybe my printer just sucks because I'm using cheap ink. Then the 3rd one I made was delayed by waiting forever for my new soldering iron to come. One of the extra tips I ordered with it wasn't in stock (which turned out to be the wrong tip) so they didn't send it out until it was complete. The LOVE charm is the second PMC piece I did at home and I do like it better. I want to fill the heart with colored resin but I'm not mixing anymore resin until I have a bunch of pieces to fill. I still want to get a tumbler so it could really shine the little crevices.

The silver heart chain is actually a bracelet I cut in half. And actually, the photo makes the picture in the slide more red than it actually is. Obviously, I didn't color correct these photos!

Posted by luluvision at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)

July 31, 2006

ATC Monogram Card Swap

For a recent swap I did. You had to make ATCs with monograms of the people in the swap and put it on a card. I used the packing tape image transfer method and pictures from a photo magazine.

Close ups

My favorite one because of Jayne Mansfield

Posted by luluvision at 04:48 PM | Comments (1)

July 18, 2006

The 2nd piece

that I made at my newly re-modeled work area is a postcard from Serendipity. She fell in love with this dancer on this postcard advertising Feria de Primavera, a Spanish Spring dance. This is the postcard:

and here is what I did with it:

Does the background look familiar? I ended up mailing it in a little clear plastic envelope because I was worried about the stickiness since I used Xyron to stick all the images on it. The buildings were stamped onto a AI covered matte glossy paper.

Here's another postcard I did for the Handmade PC swap at swap-bot.

I liked the way it turned out. It's an old postcard that I painted and added the asian image from a travel catalog and the chinese characters I embossed onto a cardstock several times and then stamped it when it was still warm.

Posted by luluvision at 06:00 PM | Comments (1)

July 16, 2006

Easy Acrylic Background

So far my first project using my wonderful clean space is the Easy Acrylic Background on the recent Try It Tuesday blog that I discovered. This was from week 1 and yeah, I know, they are up to week 7 but I wanted to do something Easy. So I only had a chance to do one before I had to prepare dinner but I like how it came out!!

I was concerned at first because I wasn't sure if it was really going to turn out. I skimmed an important part of the instructions, the part where it says make a color wash of 1 part paint to 3 parts water. I did it more like 1 part paint to 500 times water. HA! So I improvised and squeezed some paint on the paper and used the heavily diluted color wash to squish it around. I used pink, lime green and orange. I can't wait to try more!

Posted by luluvision at 12:13 PM | Comments (1)

Wow! A clean desk!

I'm very excited because yesterday my wonderful hubby, Yves, put up 2 shelves above my worktable for me. I've always had orgranizational problems and when I first got the 12 drawer Ikea desk, I thought my problems would be solved. HA! Those drawers filled up pretty fast and not surprisingly, the tabletop was getting cluttered. It got so bad that I end up with a tiny area to do my work. I just couldn't go on like that! So we went to Home Depot yesterday and got 2 shelves. Look how clean my work table is!!

As you can see, the shelves are already filled up. I really am going to try my hardest to keep my area clean. I moved the inspiration wall to the left but will probably hang some stuff right under the bottom shelf. Yves is also going to put up 2 shelves in the deep closet that we have so that should help also.

Posted by luluvision at 11:54 AM | Comments (1)

July 14, 2006

Matchbox Shrines

I made these matchbox shrines a couple of weeks ago for a swap. It's the first time I ever made them and they were fun! The heart is a pin I made by gluing paper together and coating it with a secret ingredient. HA! It's clear nail polish! The imagine word inside is made out of shrinky dinks.

Posted by luluvision at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)

June 21, 2006

Swaps

Some recent swaps I participated in via swap-bot:

Better Rome CD mix swap, make a mix with music not in the mainstream. Most of my collection of music is not in the mainstream so it was actually kinda hard for me to pick! I had to make 2 different mixes but I'm just showing one here.
Tracklist
The Flood in Your Old Town Candy Bars
Charlie says Jude
Blow My Mind Davíd Garza
Cold World The Electric Soft Parade
Cha Cha Cha Little Ones
Just Dreams Tapes N Tapes
Raised By Wolves Voxtrot
Mount Wroclai (Idle Days) Beirut
Nine Forward, Russia
Lounger Dogs Die In Hot Cars
Brakelights Man in Gray
Break The Cinematics
Skeleton Key Margot & The Nuclear So And So's I so love this song!
mayday Elvis Perkins

Some bottlecap magnets I made for a magnet swap. I have to take a picture of the magnets my swap partner sent me. Super cute!

The awesome stash of unmounted rubber I got from Holly and Ashley. I clearly made out like a bandit!

Posted by luluvision at 10:32 AM | Comments (2)

June 19, 2006

SierraGrannie Challenge #1

I'm in the SGC on Kat's pad and every 2 weeks in June and July, 1 member takes turns sending out a packet to the other members containing enough stuff to make 1 card. It's fun to see what different things everyone comes up with. Here's the content:

And here's what I did:

Posted by luluvision at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2006

Renegade

That's Karen Duffy being interviewed.

Went to the Renegade Craft Fair with Brenda and Pete. Me and Brenda got there around 12:15 and they ran out of goody bags already! wow! I was able to resist buying the ton of cute stuff until I got to the Repro Depot. They had scrap fabric, $16 for a pound. I ended up spending $23 and the scraps were actually pretty big.

Then I couldn't resist these skull and crossbone charms and kissing charm from Sacred Kitsch Studio.

Then we found these awesome first aid buttons from Scraps of Paper. The woman said she found this Better Homes and Garden First Aid book from the 70's. Pete bought like 10 buttons (including a Nancy Drew one) and bought the last one of a guy giving a piggyback ride to another guy. The crabby button is from Fishcakes.

Then I couldn't resist this laughing bunny pouch from Sewing Stars.

It was fun to walk around and see what everyone had. Some things were hard to resist but then I ran out of cash and was getting hungry. Pete took me to this polish place called Raymund's Place.

YUMMMMMMMMM!!!!

Posted by luluvision at 08:54 PM | Comments (2)

June 03, 2006

More crafty goodness

I swear, I will scan some holga shots this weekend!!

But in the meantime, here is a wooden frame I decorated in a Spring theme for a swap on Kat's Pad. I made it for Dana and she got it so it's safe to post.

And some cool mail art from Barb!

Posted by luluvision at 12:19 PM | Comments (1)

June 02, 2006

Hello I'm a Craft-a-holic

I have 4 rolls of Holga pics from Joshua Tree that I need to scan but I've just been a craftaholic lately and haven't taken much pictures. Plus I got called into a job 2 days this week. Plus I have BBQs on my mind. And I'm home today waiting for the carpet guys to finish putting in the carpet. But I've been keeping busy doing mail art and ATC swaps. Here are some recent pieces:

For Lorra in PA. Background done with Alcohol Inks and then stamped on. I'm still experimenting with these inks. I don't think the scan shows all that well.

Some ATCs from a swap with the Kat's Pad girls. My theme was Fe-Mail Art

ATCs for the 'Pay It Forward' section of nervousness.org. I used the postcards that my friend Pete was sending me.

Posted by luluvision at 02:38 PM | Comments (1)

May 28, 2006

New addiction

I've been wanting to try Silver Art Clay for the longest time. I don't work with polymer clay because I am just too lazy to do all that work even though the results are really pretty cool. But I was willing to try silver art clay because I love silver and it didn't seem as time consuming. I finally found a class for it at a Park Slope art store, The Artful Place. Fuji also holds mosaic and beading classes and her brother teaches drawing and other fine art classes. Here is my first ever silver piece:

I added the green glass bead later on. I just love it! I'm sure Fuji probably thought I was a pyro because every time it was time to use the butane torch, I'd get excited. It was just that Yves was so adamant that I do not work with fire in the house. Here are the earrings I made:

First I made the bottom squares and I wasn't happy with them because they were so small and kind boring. So I thought of making a longer piece to go on top. I think it worked out well! I was so excited when I got home and starting looking for supplies on the internet. I think I was able to talk Yves into letting me work with fire. As long as there is a fire extinguisher close by.

Posted by luluvision at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)

May 23, 2006

Micro crazy

For the past week, I've been really getting into making microscope slide jewelry/hanging pendants/decorations. I made my very first one for Bobbie in IN because she was the one that sent me some to use. The edges were quite rough and I had redone it once. I didn't have time to do it over a second time because I wanted to send it to her for her birthday. I told her not to wear it around her neck unless she wants a bloody neck. LOL.

Griffin and Lainie

I got way better on the ones I've made after that! This one I made for my sister in law.

Maia and Elianna

Then I made these because I like the images.

I was having trouble with getting the jump rings on cuz they are so small and it's tricky. Then I saw a That's Clever segment of a woman that makes these too. She uses a clamp to hold her pieces upright. Wow! Lightbulb! I went out and bought these clamps at the 99 cent store. I haven't tried it yet but I imagine it will make things so much easier!

I stuck the clamp in a coin counter to keep it upright.

Posted by luluvision at 04:49 PM | Comments (1)

May 15, 2006

Happy Mother's Day

I made these cards for mother's day.

for mom in law.

for mom.

for grandma.

We went into Queens yesterday for family dinner. That same restaurant on 38th Avenue. The food was ok, they were extra slow with coming out with the food because it was so busy. The portions seemed smaller too. On the way back home we got stuck on the Van Wyck, a car had caught on fire. It must have just happened as we got on. We had to go on the Jackie Robinson Pkwy. We got off Woodhaven and went home from there.

Posted by luluvision at 09:41 AM | Comments (1)

May 09, 2006

Orange and Yellow swap

I participated in the May colorific swap on flickr. The theme is orange and yellow so how can I not join? I made these things for the swap, my favorite being the domino pin. I got the dominos on sale for 25 cents for a pack of 7 or 9 with stretchy cord to make a bracelet at AC Moore. What a bargain, I should have bought out the whole stock!

THe reason I made it 3 tiered was because they already had holes in them so why waste the holes by just making one?

I painted this wooden box (and made the pebble magnets inside) and glued on the flower on the lid. I love these flowers and used them on the mother's day cards I made over the weekend, which I'll post next week.

My least favorite item, I traced over this fish with the fake leading and the orange is acrylic paint since the 'stained glass' paint didn't have orange and I didn't have enough red to mix with the yellow. I initially was very unhappy with it and was going to cover it with an orange bandana but then thought it had a certain charm to it.

Posted by luluvision at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)

April 20, 2006

Mail art and swaps continued

Still catching up with everything and as I started yesterday, here are some more creations!

I made these lavendar satchets for a swap on Kat's pad. They were fun to make but also reminded me that I still can't sew that great! HA!

Here are 3 ATCs I did for a swap on swap-bot. You have to make 3 for 2 partners and so far I've only received 1 set from 1 partner. They were only due to be sent out last Friday so it's still early in the game. I'm still waiting for swaps that were due 2 weeks ago!!

And some recent mail art I've received!

from Becky in California

from Barb in WA

Posted by luluvision at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2006

Postcards and swaps

I've been a little lax in updating my blog in terms of stuff I've received and sent out so I'm going to make one big entry.

My friend Pete wanted to jump on the bandwagon of filling my mailbox with fun stuff so he started sending me these great Chronicle Books postcards. He'd include quotes and tidbits from OverheardinNY.com. At first I didn't realize it was him because he didn't sign them, even though he said he was going to send me stuff. Here are a couple of my favorites:

And my favorite quote and OverheardinNY.com tidbit:

I recently did an altered trinket swap with the ladies from Kat's pad. Here is the one sent to me from Barb. I wanted an Asian theme:

And here's the one I did for Barb. She wanted a woodsy theme. The side is a quote from Henry David Thoreau, Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.

Posted by luluvision at 02:48 PM | Comments (1)

April 06, 2006

Handmade Card Round Robin

Write to me. Rubber stamped and embossed.

Magic of Music. Rubber stamped and embossed.

Some recent pieces I did for a Handmade Card round robin on postcrossing. Unfortunately, you can't tell from the scan but the stamping along the top in the first one is glittery embossed. The 2nd one, the music sheet is stamped in a pearlescent ink.

Posted by luluvision at 11:12 AM | Comments (1)

March 02, 2006

It's No Secret!

Here is the Valentine's day card I made for my honey. I know it's a little late but better late than never! I got it from the book Suprisingly Simple Novelty Cards. I only made one from the book but it was really surprisingly simple!

Folded closed

Opened up

When you close up the flaps, it opens another flap that is otherwise hidden, pretty cool!

Posted by luluvision at 12:11 PM | Comments (2)

January 24, 2006

Art in the Mail!

I recently put a call out for some mail art in exchange for some rubber stamps that I haven't used in years. I used to be a huge rubber stamper back in college and even before that. I had a gigantic collection, mostly which I sold but I still had a box full of stamps that I put on wood myself. I still rubber stamp but not nearly as much as before once I started finding other mediums and became more of a computer geek. Well, the ladies at my new favorite site, Kat's Pad came through with some terrific mail art. Here is what I have gotten so far, and there will be more coming too!

This came through the mail exactly how Sue from Virginia sent it. This is the front.

and the back.I love the film negative!

Here's Dana's fun card! I love the art/time theme!

the front

the back

Posted by luluvision at 10:44 AM | Comments (1)

January 16, 2006

A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

I am totally in love with the DCFC song Soul Meets Body. I know it came out months ago but I never really listened to the words until I watched them perform it on SNL this past weekend. How can you not love lyrics like

Cause in my head there's a greyhound station
Where I send my thoughts to far off destinations
So they may have a chance of finding a place
where they're far more suited than here

and then

I do believe it's true
That there are roads left in both of our shoes
If the silence takes you
Then I hope it takes me too
So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you're the only song I want to hear

UPDATE! Someone was kind enough to upload the video from SNL here

Well aside from listening to this song over and over, I finished the scarf I was crocheting for Yves. It's super long, down to his knees, the way he wanted it!

and look at Skippy in his little jacket. Good thing we got that for him as it was FREEZING yesterday and we also got some snow.

Posted by luluvision at 11:50 AM | Comments (1)

January 08, 2006

She's crafty!

I am so proud of myself! I joined a handmade jewelry swap over at swapmeet via swap-bot and I finished my swap with 2 weeks to spare!! I think it's safe to post the necklace I made since your swap partner is a secret. I hope she likes it!

Posted by luluvision at 04:32 PM | Comments (0)

December 13, 2005

Satchet, Sashay!

I'm pretty confident that the people who I made these satchets for don't read my blog so I could post this.


It's made from an old t-shirt, one of the infamous head shots printed onto iron on paper and sewn. I also put some lavendar in them along with the fill. My glue gun crapped out after making 1 so I had to use tacky glue for all the others. A little messy but I think they came out ok. The fuzzy ribbon worked better than the silver one. Since these turned out so well, I'm going to make some for Christmas as gift tags but they won't be as big.

In other news, I think this new apartment has bad internet vibes. Friday the cable modem was soooo slow. The funny thing was that it was still online but loading pages was slower than dial up! It was still messed up on Saturday so I called Cablevision and they sent someone over on Sunday. Of course Sunday it seemed to be running ok. Now it's being slow again! WTF?! Someone was supposed to come today between 11 and 2 and it's now 1:20 and they just called saying someone WON'T be able to make it out today after all. WHAT THE FUCK?! That is just so annoying. Does that mean that a lot of people are having trouble with their cable modem because I'm pretty sure not a lot of people have the actual cable since there are so many satellite dishes around here. So I'll have to wait for Thursday.

Posted by luluvision at 01:03 PM | Comments (1)

December 04, 2005

Snow=Sew!

Today we woke up to about an inch or 2 of snow. The first of the season, I believe. It was a cold and overcast day so I took this opportunity to practice my sewing. First up, a tote bag!

ok, it's not very pretty, I used old sheets to practice on and the pattern from the Sew Fast So Easy book. It's got a lining and a pocket! I don't think I did too bad considering this is only the 2nd real time I'm using my machine. Since I was on a roll, I decided to tackle the curtain!

I didn't make it, don't get excited! It was one big curtain I had to cut it in half and then sew the hem along the sides. We took the doors off the closet and wanted to hang a curtain instead. This curtain was from our old apartment. It wasn't too bad even though it was a long piece, about 7 feet!

Posted by luluvision at 07:50 PM | Comments (2)

September 25, 2005

Ipod cozy and Neo

woohoo! I finally crocheted a little cozy for my ipod. It's not much and this is the 2nd version since the first version would fit a pack of cigarettes better than my ipod! I didn't sew the button on yet but was just excited that I finally made one! I haven't done much crocheting lately.



and I couldn't resist taking some pictures of Neo. This one looks like he's doing a self portrait! He's so cute. I'll have to remember these times because as soon as Skippy comes, his life won't be the same!

Posted by luluvision at 12:06 PM | Comments (1)