Christmas Bits & Peace(s)

 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

I'm throwing this post together. It's a mish-mash of some Christmas-y things: Past, Present and (hope for the) Future.

First, the Past. Here's a collage image I created one night during college. I think it was productive procrastination before I knew that was a thing tons of other people do, too. I used a good ol' craft knife, construction paper, and magazines. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Next, the Present. My Christmas cards went out with this obvious error on them. Honestly, I'm a little embarrassed about this mistake and not even sure how it happened. Lesson learned: order earlier!

Oh, well. Done is better than perfect!

Finally, a hope for a Christmas Future from my 6-year old. I swear, he found this and did it all on his own. It definitely brought a tear to my eye.

This holiday season has certainly been different than years past. But the meaning of Christmas is always the same; it's a time for peace on earth and hope for all. God bless!!  

Ain't Zine Nothin' Yet

    Here's a zine I made sometime earlier this year while testing out some vegetable printing, thanks to Austin Kleon's post and recommended reading. (Seriously! Sometimes, I think I  buy every book he suggests!) Anyway, I also drew on a couple of cute cactuses ("cacti?") before my 3-year-old added some random letters. Then I took the doodled-on sheet of paper and, almost instinctively, folded it up into a zine. I flipped through it a few times, trying to decide in what order the pictures should appear, but gave up, stuffed it into a drawer and forgot about it.

    During some recent tidying I came across it again. Even though I sorta stalled on the project and left it unfinished, I've decided to turn it into a zine template for whoever might be interested in a creative prompt!

    I invite you to print out a copy of my unfinished zine and fill it in however you like. This zine template is missing the captions. The story is open to interpretation. (Maybe that cactus has a conversation with those tumbleweeds?) Order the images however you like. Folding and cutting is easy. Or, for even more fun, go make your own zine if you haven't tried doing it already! 

    Download and print the PDF.

Walking Solo

I don't get to walk alone much anymore. It was nice to get to do that this evening. Lately, I haven't had time to think. I like to sit down and have a good think now and then-- quite often, actually. But I just haven't been making time for it; I've been avoiding thinking. So, after my walk I did some stream-of-consciousness typing. Here's what I came up with.

 

Tonight's machine of choice:

Smith Corona Galaxie II from 1964. Made in USA.