Tag Archives: MixedMedia

Mar14

Graphic 45 Design Team 2014 Audition

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Graphic 45 Design Team 2014 Audition

hatching-egg-using-graphic-45-materials-by-Paper-Calliope-web-2

Graphic 45 hatches its new designers for 2014

Open your windows and put out the patio chairs for a new season has arrived. It’s the season when Graphic 45 selects its new design team for 2014.

Just like the Graphic 45 Staples Collection Metal Butterfly, I am irresistibly drawn to this event. The projects below serve as my audition to this prestigious annual event.

 Project 1: Giant Egg Hatches Graphic 45 Logo

Butterfly-using-Graphic-45-Staples-by-Paper-Calliope-web

I made this gigantic egg (you can see it at at the top of the post) to add a little playfulness into the audition. You poor judges can only look at so many scrapbook pages, before getting a little blurry eyed.

The egg stands 11 inches tall and features the Graphic 45 Sweet Sentiments collection. The 45 is the numerical portion of the actual Graphic 45 logo, which I enlarged, traced and then hand cut from several pieces of foam core. I then stacked them together in order to give the 45 substantial depth. Read the rest of this entry →

Feb25

There’s a legit reason for the gigantic egg hatching in my art studio

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There’s a legit reason for the gigantic egg hatching in my art studio

 

You've got egg on your blog.

You’ve got egg on your blog.

Since this blog is so new, and lovely readers like you keep gushing flowing trickling in, I have been trying to make certain everyone understands Paper Calliope is different from other craft sites out in blogland. This isn’t some schmarmy marketing ploy. I’m just trying to save everyone from disappointment down the road.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, Paper Calliope features crafting with a sassy twist. Oh yeah, it has a lot about anxiety too, because anxiety is near and not-so-dear to 97 percent* of the sensitive souls a.k.a. artists in the world.

I liken my blog to being the lovechild of Jenny Lawson, Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey.** I mean, if Jenny Lawson can top the NY Times Bestseller List, there must be a whole lot of people who relate to her unusual sense of humor. Read the rest of this entry →

Feb25

Create a page with the greatest of ease (not so much)

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Create a page with the greatest of ease (not so much)
Create a page with the greatest of ease (not so much)

Paper Calliope is a blog about crafting. It is unique in that it includes humor. The problem is today I’m not a wee bit funny. I’m coming off two long weeks of being sick. I’m crabby and I don’t walk across the room without lugging a box of tissues.

Since this is not a mommy blog you don’t get to hear why I’m crabby–that while I was sick the Husband™ went to conferences in the tropics and left me to single parent, or that while I was sick The Son™ broke the snowblower in the midst of the year’s worst snowstorm, or that while I was sick the dog upchucked all over the Persian rug or….See?! No mommy blogging here!. Nope, not one bit.

So yeah, I may not be funny, but you can be darn-tootin’ grateful I saved you from all that mommy blogging. Here, have a tissue for those tears of joy.

circ-finished-20140223_191853-web-1 Read the rest of this entry →

Feb24

Some things are worth repeating

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Some things are worth repeating
Some things are worth repeating

A long, long time ago, when this blog was brand spanking new (last month), I switched hosting services. I just now discovered that something went awry and the pictures to an early post disappeared. What’s worse, I’m not able to edit the post that was created on the other hosting service.

Since I only had about five readers the first time this was posted (and one of them was my fictional test character), I figure there is no harm in reposting it. If you saw the post the first time around you can compare the experience to re-watching your all-time favorite movie. Because some things are worth repeating.

Honestly, I’m not that arrogant about my work. From my experience, it is pretty near impossible to be cocky and anxious as the same time. However, I do hope you like these pages and inspires you to repurpose unusual materials for scrapbook pages.  Read the rest of this entry →

Feb20

Making my First Artist Trading Block (ATB)

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Making my First Artist Trading Block (ATB)
Making my First Artist Trading Block (ATB)

In the last few months I’ve been fascinated with the up and coming trend of Artist Trading Blocks (ATBs). Basically, the ATB take the Artist Trading Card (ATC) into three dimensions. While I have always loved seeing the amazing ATCs that my instafriends created, I never jumped on the bandwagon. However, something about the added dimension of the ATB. has made this trend irresistable.

One night during a typical netflix-while-crafting-binge, I watched the 1996 Jane Austen movie Emma, starring Gywneth Paltrow. A delightful quote captured my heart so much so that I was compelled to use it for my first forray into the ATB world.

Read the rest of this entry →

Feb19

And by swimmingly, I meant

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And by swimmingly, I meant
And by swimmingly, I meant

So my last post extolled how wonderfully my lastest project was going. That remains true. In fairness, swimmingly is a relative concept. For what I perceive as going swimmingly, others might consider a nightmare.

Really this all comes down to the fact that I need to title my next book*, “The Anal Artist.” I can’t seem to let anything go that I don’t consider perfect. A smudge of glue, a smear of paint–all must be fixed. Read the rest of this entry →

Feb12

An ode to vomit and other disgusting bodily functions–and yes, this still is a paper crafting blog

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An ode to vomit and other disgusting bodily functions–and yes, this still is a paper crafting blog

I apologize for my absence. I have been hit hart by the flu bug. I knew it was bad when in my delusions I started creating haikus about the state of my illness. Want to hear one? No? You are wise, but you are also my captive audience (don’t you dare click that mouse!) so you get to hear one anyway.

The Stomach Bug Haiku

Violent ill erupts
Shiver under blanket mounds
Death would be welcome.
 

Don’t worry, since I am a former English major, I am not deluding myself–I know it is horrible. But it’s about all the blogging I can yet manage, so hopefully the horribleness of it will provide some entertainment value.

The good news i that I am back in the studio a little bit and will soon be able to show you the project that has consumed the last two weeks. I’m happy with the results, but I also learned that bigger projects make it diffidult to have consistent blog updates. Either i have to start working a lot faster, or I will have to have a stash of pre-prepared smaller projects set aside for emergency publication.

I’m going back to my mound of blankets. I will see you on the other side of this bug. Make sure you decontaminate your monitor before hopping to the next blog–I don’t want to be responsible for some virus spreading. (The illness hasn’t affected my puns, they are always this bad awesome).

Feb7

Duct taping the mean girl

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Duct taping the mean girl

Every creator painfully experiences the chasm
between his inner vision and its ultimate expression.
–Isaac Bashevis Singer

 

I came across this quote the other day. Somehow, I thought this only happened to me. There have been so many times when I had a specific idea in mind and the end result was disappointing. Sometimes a project was even an all-out failure.

More often than not, a project turned out “ok”, but a great rift still separated it from my inner vision Read the rest of this entry →

Feb3

Escape to Paris–mixed-media Paris

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Escape to Paris–mixed-media Paris
Escape to Paris–mixed-media Paris

Ahhh Paris…the City of Love. Or so they say. I have to take people’s word on this since my love, The Husband™, has never wooed me with a romantic get-away to France. To be fair, I haven’t wooed him there either, but this is my blog, so it’s all about moi*.

My fifth and final tag of the Valentine series focuses on the City of Love. All of the elements of this tag are either a deep red, purple or silver color. I don’t think this is particularly Parisian, but of course I have no way of verifying that since someone has not taken me there. Just sayin’. Read the rest of this entry →