Gorgeous Day In New York City and Other Happy Thoughts

It was a little chilly and grey when I walked out the door, but I left without a coat or a jacket. 70 degrees by the end of the day with the sun up high, and 70 degrees is what I got when I walked out of the office late this afternoon. Just gorgeous! I like it just this cool because a sweater will keep you toasty and a light scarf will do the job nicely.

I’ve been working on some quotes for a journal swap I’m sending out over the weekend using freehand lettering over watercolor backgrounds. While I’m using the originals for the journal, I’m photocopying the finished work on cardstock and high-quality paper for other uses. (Cards, my “Font Love” folio, and maybe as embellishment for future journals.).

I enjoyed painting the backgrounds ahead and then writing freehand, then drawing the letters as I shaded in and defined the alpha individually.  It’s part of a “Happiness” ensemble I’m creating for the “Decorate a Journal” swap over at Swap-bot.com.

Yesterday was a rather interesting day, but I was too tired to write about it.  I’ve been fortunate to have had a nice past couple of days, and I have to start writing about it before the news gets old and I get lazy again.

Well, for starters, I went on a “craft-day-for-me” field trip last Saturday to Allentown, Pennsylvania.  (Typing that actually literally made me smile.)  Angelo and I had taken a trek to The Ink Pad over at 7th Ave and 13th Street on our birthday date last April 2, and not only did I finally lay eyes on stamping/papercrafting heaven this side of town, but I found out about the bus trip being organized by the store to join “Heirloom’s Allentown Rubber Stamp and Paper Arts Festival“.

It took me a while to make up my mind about going, and when I finally called to reserve my seat ($69 for a round trip ticket on the bus including fair tickets, raffle drawing both on the bus and at the event, and a goodie bag..!), I ended up grabbing the LAST ONE before the trip closed out.  It was on the 13th, Saturday, and my biggest problem was hauling myself downtown to meet the 8am bus departure.  It meant waking up at the crack of dawn and getting to the bus stop in time for the first weekend bus run at 6:30am.   To make sure I made it to the store on time, I hailed a cab right by the Empire State Building on 34th and Fifth Avenue.  I made it to the bus with enough time to spare.

It was a bus full of ladies and a man.  (Mickey, who goes by Scrapamale on Youtube was quite a breath of fresh air and humor — and now, inspiration.  Check out his Youtube Channel here.)  I sat next to Pam who was a retired housewife from whom I learned a lot about classes and offerings, including a craft retreat she is suggesting I attend.  We all went our separate ways when we finally got to Allentown — and we didn’t meet up again until we returned to the bus.

There was much to see and learn about at the craft fair — and it was such an experience watching products and techniques being demonstrated live by the various vendors who were participating.  I ‘oohed’ and ‘aaahed’ over the art tools, many of which I had seen for the first time.  (I am still a craft novice at this point!)

I’m not a heavy stamper, really.  I’m just starting in that department.  I have always tried to get interesting clear stamps but I left much of them with my sister, Ofie, when I went home in December 2011.  I’m just beginning to see their use as far as paper crafts are concerned, and I’ve incorporated them into my artist trading cards and handmade postcards.  I am trying to use more of them in my journaling as well.

I browsed the stores from one end of the hall to another.  There weren’t that many, and the “experts” were saying it was a smaller venue and less vendors — but it took me close to an  hour to do my initial “ocular”.  Then I went into each store to see what was of interest.  Each store seemed to offer something different, so you had something to buy in each one.  Stores from as far as Ohio were participating.  (Little wonder there was a mini-RV section in the parking lot.)

There were samples galore showing what you could do with all the tools around.  I was too busy learning about the products to pay attention to many of the works of art displayed, and I had taken most of my photos really to document what I was putting on my mental wishlist.  It was crafting heaven!

The craft fair experience itself deserves a separate post with all the photos I took — hopefully posted here by the weekend.  Lunch was out in the parking lot where I had earlier seen a cheese steak, hotdogs and burgers concessioe.  I picked through the meat and the fries with a fork and had quite a meal.

There was a Farmer’s Market across from the hall where the craft fair was, but I had to restrain myself from walking in, saving that for the end of the day just before I went back to the bus.  (Grabbed a whole gourmet pecan pie that was totally worth dragging my aching feet through the huge indoor market for… yum!)

I was exhausted by the time I settled down.  I drifted in and out of sleep and was pleasantly awakened in the middle of a snooze because I won a prize.  (I have a video I will post later of the goodies I won.)

I am actually seriously considering doing the next one near me which will be in West Springfield, MA on June 1 and 2.  I need to plan my logistics because it won’t be worth staying over, but there are buses that head to Boston.  Hmmm..  I am keeping my fingers crossed that The Ink Pad will organize another trip.  Maybe.. We’ll see.

The boys went around the city and picked me up in Midtown at the end of the day, saving me the longer commute home.  My feet were almost numb from all the walking.  (Craft shopaholic!)  But it was SO WORTH IT.  I’m glad I spent the money I did to get there.  The things I saw and learned are worth so much more.

I haven’t really had the chance to unpack the stuff I bought because I’ve been working earnestly on my journal.  I can’t wait to try the new materials I haven’t tried yet.  In time.

Down at work, things have been pretty light because the boss is on holiday.  Still, it only meant a lighter work load, but not the absence of workload.  I have been trying to catch up with the filing.  The meeting requests never end.  I’m already scheduling into June.

Meanwhile, I have a trip to plan in May for Cousin M’s wedding.  Do I really want to fly out and get dressed?  YES!  =)   I wish I could shave off the fat and lose the equivalent of my two thighs but that is not happening in the next couple of weeks.  LOL.   I fly out on the 17th, back on the 19th.  I haven’t even picked out my dress.  But — I have the dress shoes and bag and shawl to go with it, and I already have the pearls I will string into a necklace as my main accessory.  =)  I’m going solo so that’s another “me” trip.  Never been there… that should be interesting.  Oh, and I guess I should book the flight and the hotel this week.  (Panic time!)

In the midst of all this hustle and bustle, the universe asked a question, I answered, and I got an answer back.  Someone once told me that “everything will eventually fall into place.”  (My friend failed to tell me, though, that they won’t always fall where I want them to.  Ha!)   Sometimes, things work out in the strangest of ways.  Sometimes little acts of kindness can be so precious.

I have e-mails to write but I was given a new blackberry today, so I have to reconfigure my e-mail settings again tomorrow.  The e-mails will have to wait.  I can’t believe it’s only Wednesday.  It feels as if the weekend was already here.  Not quite, I know.  Maybe it’s the exhaustion talking.

Watch out for my craft fair post.  I have a couple of videos for editing so watch out for that, too.  I just need to figure out a way to shoot my tutorials from above my hands.  I finally found my video cam (tucked in one of the drawers of my credenza at work — forgotten for non-use.) — I’d need to be able to snap it onto something to do the tutorial, though, and it will need to be plugged into my laptop or PC.  Dilemma there — I can’t do the video at my desk.  I usually sneak away into an empty office or conference room to do my videos.  Plus, it’s quite a production to lug my laptop to work.  (I can, though, if I want to.)  Ipad?  Still have to figure out how to suspend it above me to take an overhead shot.

Midnight creeping up on me in 6 minutes.  Almost there yet my stomach is debating on whether or not to go for a slice of pie — and maybe a scoop of vanilla ice cream?  (Hungry tummy, simmer down!  LOL)  A yawn just slipped out and there goes my answer.  Time to tuck in.  The pie can wait until tomorrow.  Maybe for breakfast?  (Oops.. just remembered, I have to grind some coffee beans for tomorrow’s breakfast.  I guess I’ll just have to do it right before brewing.)

Bitten by the creative bug

I’ve been busy the last 48 hours just creating.  I wish the next phase could be for the store for a change.  (Need to make money on that investment!)

I’m making more Artist Trading Card (ATC) collage backgrounds.  Been tearing up colorful layouts in the magazines and creating a linear collage, then painting the whole canvas a single pearlized color. (I’m going nuts about metallic paints and glazes!)  It’s been pretty enjoyable and not much effort.  I had the finished backgrounds sit beneath three reams of paper today at the office to “flatten” them out and “air out” any bubbles underneath.  Now I can continue to work on them.

I’ve also been painting paper tags with various shades of watercolor and trying to go for more sombre and darker tones.  The top one with the doodle art was a single attempt at drawing and scribbling on a tag.  I ended the day with around 40 tags.  (4 sets of 10 tags in 4 different color schemes.)

My Altered Book has also progressed nicely, with this cut out layout pictured below:

This is actually a multi-page layout I did the alpha for freehand, then I cut them out yesterday.  I will retouch the fuschia pink page which shows some “scratches” from the scissors I used, but I like the over-all effect pretty much.

I’ve had a pretty productive day work-wise, too, even if I’m tired and sleepy from staying up an extra hour last night to do the collage backgrounds on the ATCs.  It’s also been quiet.  (No negative energy or difficult conversations today.  I know it was prayer that did wonders!)

I’m wrapping this up because I want to get on the bus earlier tonight.  It’s one of those few nights when I can actually do it.  =)

Art Journal Every Day: Just Be

Sometimes even I surprise myself.  No zentangling!  But still doodling wordart and all…

I like this Art Journal Every Day entry because I was able to do so many things with it — and I like that I wrote a ton of journaling as well.  I had the general idea of what I wanted it to be — I wanted it to be about just being quiet, just sitting still, not doing anything, and letting the thoughts, messages and feelings just come.  And come they did.

It’s not something that I often choose to do out of my own choice — but I often wander off, just leave everything blank, and just sit… or just be.  Sometimes, even as I get ready for bed, I just stare at the ceiling, listening to the humming of the airconditioner.  I will admit there was a time when I was afraid of the silence because I was afraid of what I would hear then — but these days, I wait, I listen.  As I wrote in the journal entry, sometimes even when I do something routine like washing the dishes, I lose myself into listening to “being”.  And those are the times when I hear my happy, sad, painful, joyful and silly thoughts coming out.

At times I can be sitting down in my work area with my beads and my tools, or painting in the kitchen with my watercolor and creating backgrounds.  Even in doing that, I’m really not doing anything. Or perhaps I am doing something but I am listening.

HOW I DID IT:

I am sharing my how-to not because I consider this a real work of art, but rather because I did these pieces in a basic, non-artistic way.  I want to show those of you who, like myself, admire the works of the real artists and wish that we could come up with those works of art ourselves that yes, IT CAN BE DONE!!

– I painted the swirls background using regular watercolor, starting with the swirls, then filling it in with a lighter color. (Orange swirls with a yellow filling) and chose a darker but muted color like sienna for the background.  (I have to admit, I found it rather childish and too playful, I just didn’t imagine I’d be able to create this layout with the background I originally had!)

– Found this great photo in a magazine supplement which was in heavyweight glossy paperstock.  The back of the cover adhered easily using Elmer’s glue.  But the word art in front was a problem.

– Had some spare color copies of a previous work where I had put in Angelo’s scribbling, and I used that as background paper for a plain watercolor painted “JUST BE”. Cut it out, and since glue would probably not adhere permanently to the glossy cut out, I taped over with clear packing tape.  You don’t even see it!

– Painted the outline of the figure in crimson, red orange and orange progressively.

– I did “No rules” journaling, so if you look closely, some words are broken with no hyphens.

– I rendered the word art in free style lettering and colored them initially with Country Twill which is a khaki-like shade in matte, then chose three words to paint over with Pearl White.  Then I decided to fill in the spaces with more word art in plain black using my regular signpen.

If you want to see more of my Art Journal, please click here, or you can always choose my Art Journal Every Day page from the list on the top left of the blog page.

I invite you to view the Flickr Group dedicated to this endeavor by clicking here, and be inspired to create your own art journal. (Artistic talent optional.)

ART SUPPLIES USED IN THIS ENTRY:

Reeves Assorted 12-Milliliter Watercolor Paint, 18-Pack

Pilot Extra Fine Point v5 signpen

Folk Art Acrylic Paint 602 Country Twill

Folk Art Acrylic Paint 675 Pearl White

Creative experiments

I’m really self taught when I do my art.  I walk into Utrecht and I feel intimidated by the rows upon rows of serious art supplies.  But I love handling them and looking through the different types of paints, papers and canvasses.  My feet normally drag me down to their polymer clay aisle, but from time to time, I stray.  =)  Same thing when I go into Michael’s, although that is mostly for the crafting side of me.  And as working with art materials is more of a hobby for me, I try to be careful with which supplies I choose to purchase.  So I like that I can try one piece of a whole wall of something — like the Art Design markers which I am now totally hooked on.

For “lessons”, I rely on the genuises and the instructors on the net.  For inspiration, I always stop by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s blog and read up on her posts and pick up other artists links from there.

I really should be bloghopping more, but I don’t have the time.  That’s the same reason my blog roll disappeared from my sidebar — plus a lot of my favorite bloggers had long abandoned blogging or had taken down their sites. =(   (Missing Jher and Jerome in particular.)  I am going to try visiting other blogs again, though, and hopefully share my “discoveries” here so I can take note and keep going back.

I picked up this set of Metallic Acrylic Dabbers a few days back, and I’m trying it out over watercolor for a layout I’m doing using a silhouette of Angelo’s. I had a lot of fun using it and I can’t wait to finish the layout this weekend (or maybe even tomorrow.)  I tried to be sparing in applying it, blotting a bit here and there and then “spreading it around” with the dabber itself.  I’m looking forward to experimenting with the dabber while using my rubber and clear stamps.

It’s even better in the photograph!  I can’t wait to finish this layout…It’s a take on this photo of Angelo taken two years ago in Washington DC.

I’ve been keeping busy at home and hoping to get more things listed this weekend.  I promised two favorite customers and friends the pieces they requested and I’m well on my way.  (Lou, still piecing together your request, and Cora, I’m working on the opera-length necklace.)  I think I’m back in the groove as far as creating again is concerned.

I always say that you’ll never know or learn unless you venture to try something yourself.  And one can never stop learning, even when you trip all over yourself trying to get something done.  So I keep creating backgrounds in my spare time, and I’ve even got one waiting in the wings for a collage of newspaper clippings.

There is a rhyme and reason to it all no matter how frivolous it may seem.

Art Journal Every Day: Choices

“Everyone has choices to make.  No one has the right to take those choices away from us — not even out of love. — Cassandra Clare”

This particular piece was a work through time.  NO ZENTANGLING THIS TIME AROUND!

Would you believe that this is actually one of the first watercolor backgrounds I worked on weeks ago?  I painted the swirls and then filled in the background another day, refined the swirls again and then put in the wordart.  Today I finally put in the journaling.

I zeroed in on “CHOICES” somehow and browsed the internet for quotes and found this one from Cassandra Clare featured in  GoodReads.   It was rather straight to the point without being too mushy — a quote from one of her books, and I said to myself — that’s what I want to put in my journal.  Yes to that!  How often do we unintentionally make choices for the people around us, sometimes with the (misguided) notion that we are doing this to help another, when in truth, we are taking on the prerogative of choice for that person?

In trying to help, we fail to consider what personal choice might have been made instead of what we chose.

I rendered the quote in Word and I decided to photocopy straight onto the painted sheet.  The copier somehow didn’t “dry” or “develop” adequately to make the toner adhere to the background, and before it all rubbed away, I “doctored” and “repaired” the project by putting transparent packing tape on top it.  It made it look like I had actually adhered a transparent film onto which the quote was printed on.  (Like tape art.)

I didn’t want to muddle the whole artwork which is one of my favorites so far, so I journaled within some of the swirls.  Nondescript and understandable only by me.. just the way I like it.

I’m getting the hang of doing my Art Journal literally EVERY DAY, and having a stash of backgrounds and works in progress has helped immensely.  Right now I have one I’m taking home (another collaboration with Angelo) which I will finish and post over the weekend.  I also intend to work on more backgrounds to keep it going.  =)

I’m trying to experiment more with darker colors for the background and I’m going to work on a collage background after finding all these words that just jumped at me when I browsed some issues of this week’s New York Times.  Sometimes I can’t help but feel like my backgrounds are “too happy” — so much so that I end up passing them up for the “darker” and more somber themes I want to write about.  Or I end up not writing anymore for want of a working background.  I tried to come up with a black watercolor background but ended up with a grey wash instead.  (More paint needed!)

The weekend has begun.  I look forward to it because it means having more time to relax — between the housework and chores, that is.  Sometimes I hardly have time to sit between cooking the meals and cleaning up in between.  And there are things to take care of besides that.  (Working on a few pieces for the shop!)

Last night I started tinkering with this bowl of loose pearls I had collected from various organizer trays and started creating an abstract woven pendant — and before I knew it, it was past 1am already.  I ended up sleeping at close to 2am because of that.  (Which must be why I’m so exhausted today.  Needed more than my usual shot of espresso this morning..)

And it’s time to go home.. =)  Can’t wait to rest and have my Friday dinner with my boy.. just him and me… which is part of my next art journal piece.  Something special from my one and only son.

If you want to see more of my Art Journal, please click here, or you can always choose my Art Journal Every Day page from the list on the top left of the blog page.

I invite you to view the Flickr Group dedicated to this endeavor by clicking here, and be inspired to create your own art journal. (Artistic talent optional.)

Art Journal Every Day: Tomorrow WILL be a better day

It’s one of those days.. but I’m going home feeling all better, and looking forward to tomorrow.  When things keep going wrong at every turn, the best frame of mind is to keep with optimism and know that there is a new beginning tomorrow when the sun rises again.

If you want to see more of my Art Journal, please click here, or you can always choose my Art Journal Every Day page from the list on the top left of the blog page.

I invite you to view the Flickr Group dedicated to this endeavor by clicking here, and be inspired to create your own art journal. (Artistic talent optional.)

Art Journal Every Day with Angelo: I love Mom

I wanted to keep this as playful and “innocent” as my eight-year-old is at this point.  I asked him to draw me something and I just added a few details and scribbled all around it to make it a collaborative effort between us.  Precious!

While majority of my pieces have been solo works, I decided to incorporate Angelo’s artwork and writings in some of the journal entries I’ve created to help keep those bits and pieces of his second grade in school year alive in my own compilation.  I want to keep encouraging him to write and draw like I had been encouraged when I was younger.  He may be no Picasso or Van Gogh, but the fact that he is able to express what is in his heart is enough to make it doubly rewarding to get these special art works from him.

I just got him his own watercolor palette over the weekend so you can expect to see more of our joint entries here in the coming days.  Below is the original painting by Angelo.

If you want to see more of my Art Journal, please click here, or you can always choose my Art Journal Every Day page from the list on the top left of the blog page.

I invite you to view the Flickr Group dedicated to this endeavor by clicking here, and be inspired to create your own art journal.  (Artistic talent optional.)

Art Journal Every Day: Tears

“Tears are words the heart can’t express.”

Some Art Journal entries take a lot of time to finish and some just come so spontaneously like this one.  I worked on it a total of two nights, and that was with a major re-do when I messed up the black and white clipping.

I had originally photocopied it in a darker black and white after picking up this photo from the New York Times showing the Royal Ballet: Zenaida Yanowsky and Rupert Pennefather performing “A Month in the Country,” choreographed by Frederick Ashton to music by Chopin, at Covent Garden last week.  (Photo credits: Dee Conway/ROH).  I was actually browsing back issues of the newspapers to find a portion I can photocopy onto a watercolored background when I chanced upon this.  It was such a dramatic photo and I started looking for quotes online and found it but without proper credit.  (So they are not my own.)  I started painting the watercolor teardrops and got carried away when I attempted to paint the clothes worn by the two dancers which made a disaster of the whole thing.  Luckily, we had multiple copies of the newspaper in the office, and instead of trying to alter the newspaper photograph, I decided to go with the original and just pasted it onto the mess I made.

To make the figures pop out, I zentangled the dark greys with black ink which made it come out nicely.   After drawing around the teardrops, I realized the bright pink I used was a little too much so I tried to mute it by zentangling over it and I think it came out quite well.   I couldn’t resist putting in a heart for the journal box, and I simply journaled by hand in silver ink and I like the fact that it’s there but not there — know what I mean?  There was a huge empty space on top and the easiest and the only thing that made sense to me was to draw bigger tears and just do them in black and white.  (I didn’t want to risk ruining what was turning out to be something I was happy about.)

I have stopped creating backgrounds for now because I have around a dozen of them, and I have four works in progress which is why I’ve been so prolific.  I read that most art journalers create backgrounds ahead and then fill them up as the inspiration hits them.  I’m just taking their lead.  After my watercoloring spree over the weekend, I’ve zeroed in on what to work on and do a bit at a time.  No pressure.  That’s why I’m enjoying it so much… It is also uncanny how I have buried most of my original backgrounds in the actual entry and they have come out soooo differently.

I’m trying to venture out beyond doing just zentangling or watercoloring, and am trying to do more collage work.  I’m also experimenting with layering beyond just layering color.

This is one of my works in progress where I color photocopied a portion of the newspaper onto a watercolor background painted sheet and then I tried painting over the top portion again which washed out the newsprint photocopy.  It makes it appear that I had painted over a newspaper sheet which is going to be very difficult given that newsprint doesn’t work well with anything that has to do with water, and newspaper ink will easily mix with any color you put on top of it.  So here was a work around.

I don’t know if it’s just the photocopier but it doesn’t always come out right nor “fully developed” when I pass a watercolor painted sheet through the machine.  It’s an ongoing experiment, so bear with me.

I haven’t quite made up my mind about what this sheet is going to be about, but I like toying with the possibilities I’ve explored so far.  I keep staring at it as if it’s speaking to me.

Someone told me I’m an artist and I still refuse to accept that.  I am just very expressive.  I’ll take that I’m crafty, yes.  It helps me to keep busy and let’s just be thankful I’m not into wood working or carpentry.  =)  And in art journaling, there are no rules.  You make them as you go along.  How I envy the artists who can draw up real tapestries with pastel, watercolor, acrylics and mixed art.  That’s THEIR art, though, and I’m happy to admire from afar.  They are the geniuses who continue to inspire, and they have provided me with tons of inspiration indeed.

My Art Journal, though, has taken on a very funny shape, but I like that it reveals how I’ve progressed in my work.  That’s another blogpost coming one of these days.

If you want to see more of my Art Journal, please click here, or you can always choose my Art Journal Every Day page from the list on the top left of the blog page.

I invite you to view the Flickr Group dedicated to this endeavor by clicking here, and be inspired to create your own art journal.  (Artistic talent optional.)

Art Journal Every Day: Summer

Don’t throw away those brown bags that your grocery and food delivery come in because I find them so useful in writing the actual journaling in my scrapbooks and my art journal.

Finally finished it.  See the artwork sans the journaling below.  And I’m trying to cook up some ideas to work with the art work that Angelo came up with at the bottom because I promised him I would post this in the blog and then work on it.  (He’s been curious about how I come up with these and hope to one day be able to produce the same thing.  I told him all it takes is practice.. and Mommy’s watercolor set.)  I like encouraging his artistic streak — I remember when I was his age, I loved to get those Disney marker sets that always came in very vivid colors and which I tried so hard not to use so generously because I wanted to keep them forever.  (But of course I never succeeded!  Using them was just too tempting!)  Well, he got me with the “I love Mom”…

This actually came from one of the backgrounds that I wasn’t quite happy with — and I painted over most of it except for the wordart which is in the original.  I know.. I buried everything else in another layer of zentangling and watercolor — and I think it came out rather nicely.  It gave me a chance to experiment with the new watercolor pallette I’ve been using, too.  Love it!

If you want to see more of my art journal, please click here or you can always visit it through the page directory on the top of this blog anytime.  The Art Journal Every Day FLICKR group is found here.

Painting away

Crossposted from Gotham Chick

If you’re a mom to a gradeschooler like I am, you would have received the leftover school supplies from the previous school year the past week.  And I’m sure the thought had occurred to you — “What do I do with these school supplies?”

Some of them, like the pencils, can be saved for use next year.  Others, like the broken crayons and the used watercolor set are “barely there.”

Watercolor painting is something I’m trying to learn, and since I have no time for lessons, I do a lot of experimenting.  I find myself oooohing and ahhhhing over the fabulous works of the people who participate in Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s Art Journal Every Day challenge that I have been trying to get creative to make up for the lack in artistic talent that all of them ooze.

I got myself a set of hardware brushes from the dollar store and picked one of the smaller one (around an inch wide).  How do you create those seamless overlaps of color?  My guess was it was the water.  Sunday evening saw me cooking arroz a la cubana for dinner, and between letting the viand cook on the stove and preparing the rice cooker, I whipped out my art journal pages and started painting away.

I have to say I was quite happy with the way it came out for a first attempt.  I experimented with just pouring watercolor on the sheet and letting is flow this way and that, and even splashing paint drops onto the paper.  If it weren’t for the fact that I had to serve dinner, I would’ve painted on and on.  Thanks to the summer heat, the watercolor dried rather quickly, and I pressed the crinkly sheets between the mattresses overnight.  This morning, they were quite flat and should be easier to work with.

I intend to use some for the art journal and some for cards and scrapbook layouts.  I might even experiment with stamping and handprints with Angelo over the weekend.