Today I found Lisa Vollrath's instructions for a Recycled Envelope Book on Go Make Something and today's Make It Monday Challenge was to use postage. Watching the Oscars and the PBS documentary, American Stamps, last night was really inspiring. I pulled these together and made a Black History Month envelope book and a postage stamp tag featuring journalist Ida B. Wells. I also did the first spread in the envelope book using Black Heritage Stamps I've been collecting, including Oscar Winner Hattie McDaniel.
Torso Tags
I don't know how I missed last week's 
at Lisa Vollrath's web site (free registration required to access the torso tag template). The projects are so much fun, they really are quick and inspiring, and my favorite, they are letting me use up that pile of scraps that was morphing into a mountain until I organized them in baggies by color groups after the first Make it Monday. I made all four of these tags from scraps (left to right) a stamped image gone wrong, a leftover from the serendipity squares I did last week, and two pieces of an experiment with resists. Wow that was fun!
Interesting Reads
Anne Morrow Lindbergh: Gift from the Sea: 50th Anniversary Edition
Source of the Simplify APC quotation for 4/21/09.Susan Pickering Rothamel: The Encyclopedia of Greeting Card Tools & Techniques
An exhaustive resource, including interviews with career cardmakers, a list of world holidays, quotations and sentiments for priming the creative pumpJulia Cameron: The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity [10th Anniversary Edition]
Summer is the time for getting back to basics such as writing morning pages and taking artist dates as popularized in this now classic creativity guide.Julie Morgenstern: When Organizing Isn't Enough: SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life
I'm only on the third chapter and I've cleared BOXES of books from the floor of my office, making space for what's next. Very informative and inspiring with great exercises and examples from her clients. Purchase price includes an online assessment.Cathy A. Malchiodi: The Soul's Palette: Drawing on Art's Transformative Powers
Graham Rawle: Woman's World: A Novel
A funky gluebook-style novel that almost didn't make it past the 50 page mark, but then there was an interesting twist that's got me reading to the end. I bought it for the style, I'm reading it because the story gets interesting after those first few pages.Eric Maisel: The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person's Path Through Depression
I avoided this book for so long UNTIL I saw Eric Maisel at Artella as part of his virtual book tour. The book accomplished its goal and I'm working on a new research project. Something I haven't done in way too long.