People are so amazing,....

 ...aren't they?  This week I received a package of papers, gifted to me from half way around the world, by Tracy of Sojourner.  Here are just some of the delights I found.

It was such a treat to open, and I can hardly wait to play with all these goodies!

And you know there's nothing more fun than getting snippets of art play from friends, especially when they come complete with a hand-crafted card.  And aren't those two little bits at the bottom fun?  They make me think of beach huts.  

I'm loving the possibilities inherent in the deli paper prints, too, since I have very few of these papers and so enjoy the way the translucency looks over top of other bits of art.

And get a load of these masks - aren't they wonderful?  I can see a gel printing session coming up!

And on the home studio front, my large journal and the black and white one are languishing on the side

while I work my way (slowly) through a binding technique with some 'Head Shots' I did some years ago.

Off to the side there are some dozen and a half mini books in various stages.  It's important to me that I start as many projects as possible while the ideas are fresh, right?  😏

My work tables seem to be heavily loaded to the book side these days, and I'm going to blame it all on Joe Rotella and Vintage Page Designs.  I just can't seem to stop.  If you're a book fiend too, I highly recommend you join the Creating Handmade Books with Vintage Page Designs Facebook group...you, too, will be drooling, stunned and addicted.

I'm wondering about your addictions - do you follow them through at the expense of everything else?  Do you do, and do, and do until you get it out of your system?  Would you rather create than eat (I wish it would go that far!)?  Tell me about your creative life!

Juggling is not a skill...

...that I normally lay claim to, but I rather feel like I'm doing pretty well at it.  Agreed, it's not the physical balls in the air, but the metaphorical ones.

I've been so enjoying #creativejumpstart21 and with all the experimenting I'm doing, I'm waaaaaay behind.  Luckily, I have until November to download all the videos and play to my heart's content.  

I've done at least seven versions of Birgit Koopsen's technique, and it's been a blast.  While most have already been cut into smaller bits for cards, I've saved these two, knowing they'll eventually be part of a larger project.  

Last week I showed you the start of half a dozen mini notebooks, one of which I finished this week.  It, along with the other five, will go out in the mail when they're all done.

I love the physical size of these particular books (4 1/4" x 2 1/4"), the fact that they're made from a single sheet of paper, and the four-page spread.  It's something that's easily completed in a relatively short while, always a bonus in my opinion;  I do tend to be attention-challenged. 😵 Thanks again, Amanda Trought!

I've got another project well on the go, thanks to Joe Rotella.  I've a host of 'books in the making' that have been languishing like proverbial silent screen heroines due to my lack of knowledge of book-binding.  Well languish no longer ladies; there's one in the works.

Doesn't that look pro?  It would be a cheat if I didn't tell you that John, husband-of-the-tool-proficient-kind, actually did the drilling for the holes in this Japanese stab-binding method.  (I SO like that phrase, and think that has something to do with all the murder mysteries I read).    I could definitely not have managed a hand-held drill through 1/4" of wood and 1/4" of paper without adding copious quantities of blood and creating crazily angled holes.  I did, however, manage to order some waxed thread online, all on my own, so I wait with bated breath to finish the project.  Meanwhile, I'll work on assembling the cover.

There are several other tutorials lined up, impatiently tapping their feet, and with small and large art journals on the go, lots to keep me occupied.  I'm hoping John doesn't want to eat for the next two or three months...

In closing and just for fun, I thought you might like to see a bit of accidental art.  It's amazing what kind of shenanigans blobs of Posca pen inks can get up to when one's back is turned.

I'd love to hear what you've been up to in the past week.  And if you're finding yourself feeling creatively flat, I'd encourage you to check out Creative Jumpstart.  It's going to keep me out of trouble busy for the next good long while.