Dispatch From LA

cat figurines & new underpants

blustery & cool here in LA.  i headed out of my house early this morning and made my way to school on rainy streets.

caught these small street scenes as the city was waking up.  sipping my coffee.  driving.  window down a couple of inches to let in some drizzle air.

my bossy camera with a mind of its own.  pointed it up and this is what it wanted me to see.  crooked morning.  pale light.  i love this drive.  looking at the other people in their cars.  wondering where they're all going.  the people waiting at the bus stops.  extra 3-day weekend smiles.  hiya!

made the return trip 8 hours later.  all the way back to here.  home.

started building little collages in my little book.

just an excuse to use my little labels.  little little little.

these dancing robots remind me of tina fey & steve carell in date night.  the robot dance scene in the strip joint.

i think this 4x6 is going to be my quickie cut-um-up-and-stick-um-down book.  a good method of rounding up the stray bits of paper spread across my desk.

my sister and i just had our first squealing facetime ipad yack it up.  i think we showed each other everything.  from new underpants to cat figurines to actual cats.

screams & squeals

a friend gave me the little orla kiely journal.  it's just the right size to have some more fun with my new tape!

my regular camera battery was dead so i grabbed my ipad and used hipstamatic for these quick snapshots.  it's one of the apps that i use the absolute most. 

another one i love is the i-Qi clock alarm i wake up to every morning. worth every one of the 199 cents i paid for it.  and then some!

my sister got an ipad!!!!!!!!!!!!

we talked today on her way home from the apple store.  basically a series of screams and squeals and exclamation marks.  one after another.

pretty patterns

an exhausting day.  whew.  i just wanted to come home and do something purely visual that didn't involve speaking or being spoken to.  or listening to anyone yammer on.  about anything.

in other words.

i wanted to unwrap more of my new tape and stick it onto a white surface.  don't  these patterns just put big old stars in your eyes?  it's a combination of japanese washi and MT. {little happy things on etsy}

and make little paper vignettes.  and think about my norway travel journal.  that i'll be needing in about 4 weeks.  i told you we're going right?

thank you for the BIG quirky label love.  wow.  um.  wow.   it felt like a great big summer party with sparkly streamers and crazy hats and my best pink leather party pants.  the ones with the big 70's foxy script written across my tuckus.  those.

sarah from Yup came over on saturday morning and delivered a whole round of cs5 In Design education.  she'll provide the same door-to-door service to you if you live local and need a sweet patient quiet someone to navigate you through any dicey digital passages.  thanks sarah for shining your high-powered flashlight on my dim brain.  it feels much brighter now that it's been unscrambled.

Quirky Handpainted Labels Are Here!

i've been busy busy busy all weekend getting these babies ready.  they're an instant download so that took additional brain power to figure out.  oh boy!  

all the nitty gritty details down below...

$9

The Details:

• Instant Download
• 15 page high resolution PDF
• 8 red & 8 blue labels 
• 4 sizes {64 total}
• 7 plain sheets + 2 extra sheets with words
• 5 pages {of the 15} of photo pdf with inspiration & suggestions for use
• Transparent PSD files included separately so you can add your own words in PS or Elements, use in digital layouts, or to decorate your blog. (this requires an extra bit of know-how on your part)
• link to download expires 1 week from date of purchase or after 5 attempts whichever comes first

hope you have as much fun using as i had making!!!!!!

xo

almost ready

horse blinders on.  blocking everything out except the sound my scissors are making cutting out each label.  if i had a staff of elves i would sell them cut already.   alas, i do not.

but cutting is fun.  {not lying}

oh...the tape is there because i ♥ all the reds together.  i'll stick labels down with my tombow adhesive.

and there will be png files of the plain labels so you can add any old words you want!

or use in digital layouts, or on blogs, or WHEREVER!

almost ready to put them out into the world.  almost.

thanks for the encouraging comments & emails.  makes me feel warm and jumbly inside.

back to work!

that's what my brain told me to do!

up to my ears in making piles of reject labels and love labels.

i started out weeks ago wanting to make myself a hefty stack of labels that i could have at my disposal.  i have zillions of labels, but i wanted something hand-drawn and quirkier than the standards. 

but then something happened.

and i couldn't stop making them.  but... only in red & blue.  because that's what my brain told me to do!  

i'll have them ready for their close ups within the week.  finishing up some last minute details.

the blossoming

they open.   one by one.  night after night.

this particular epi only stays open for 24 hours.  then those many serrated petals close in on themselves.

collapse.

you have to wonder about the utility of such a plant.  the scientific hemisphere of my brain wants to know WHY.

but the poetic hemisphere just wants to watch the opening and closing of every petal.

at night, this white one has the sweetest freshest scent.  in the day the scent is barely noticeable.  WHY?  

and who, besides me, are they trying to attract with their sprawling lush blooms?  a particular kind of pollinator?  maybe a super bat?  winged racoons?  WHO?

{clicking on any photo will transport you to a world of detail}

getting shaggy

yard work anyone?  my front yard is getting shaggy!

i attached my tunnel vision goggles to my head bright and early and got crackin' on building my label empire.  the path was fraught with distractions.

emails!  phone calls!  cats! 

doesn't mama moss look spiffy and up for anything in her new mother's day shirt?  2 birthdays and 1 mother's day within the same week.  it was a trifecta of celebration in kansas this weekend.  wish i could've been there.  i imagine sometimes living in the same town as my sisters.  wish they'd hurry up and move here.  then they could mow my lawn!  and make me dinner!  i am the youngest child!  i have needs that must be met!

alas and alack i stayed at moss cottage under the big shady umbrella out back and put tape in my old ledger. 

don't feel too sorry for me though.  it was fun!

i marveled at how the old pages were held together with 90 year old tape.  tiny tears patched up.  i did the same thing.

with brighter tape.

i hope someone patches me up with bright tape when i get old.

also, because it seemed quite necessary and important, and also because i was curious, i painted on some of the pages.  they held up just fine.

this is going to be my Fast Fool Around book.  as in do whatever i want and try stuff out.  today i tried out some watercolor brush pens on a few of the pages {not seen here}.  a few splishy splashies and i was done.  super fast.  versus my Slow Fool Around book.  which is my regular visual journal.  FFA & SFA.

it's sunday!  i have 2 hours left to fool around on my ipad, make a fruit smoothie, and watch t.v.  OH BOY!

p.s.  this post has over 10 exclamation marks in it!  sorry!

morning has broken like the first morning

i ♥ liquid sunshine!

and pink flowers...

and painting shapes in an old ledger...

i'm cutting up the vintage paris poster...

from where i sit...

i spy a napping spot for later...

i enjoy every single comment.  yes i do!

happy birthday sister!!!!

i am sitting here sipping spicy christmas coffee.  mmmmm

getting ready to sit down at the art table and put the finishing touches on  my little project.  handpainted labels if you hadn't already guessed.  

it's gonna be a late night here at moss cottage.  music's on.  night sounds are drifting in the open windows.  paint & ink are flying.

i've been in the deep end of the photoshop pool ever since i got CS5.  these little frames are called:  real simple shaped masks by jen allyson.  i got them a little while ago, but hadn't used them.  don't know if they're still available or not, but they're super easy to use.  i added the thin grey outline.

happy friday.  i can't say it enough.  it never gets old.

xo

p.s.  today is my sister's birthday!!!!  monday is my other sister's birthday.  may babies.