dear best proverbial friends,

i write you while sitting at my desk in my still-unfinished room (which i feel is impossible to be productive in), when i should be writing a well thought out, expertly crafted art history paper. thus far i have a rough thesis. that's it. no intro paragraph, no body, no conclusion, just a rough thesis that i will eventually tweak, and yet i write...

to you.

i miss you. i miss sharing my creativity with you.

after the holiday of turkey and cranberry sauce i will have one more week of classes, then finals...and then i will return in full creative force with imagery from this past semester. get excited. i am.

with that said, i should probably regreso (that's Spanish for return) to my oh so lengthy paper and stop procrastinating. yes. good idea.

thanks for waiting.

your bpf,
michelle

recycling in the way of handmade books

hello my lovelies! so sorry for the lack of posting as of late. school is making me its captive.

i thought this would be a perfect time to introduce my little handmade recycled envelope books to you. i have been making them for a few years now. i started making them just for fun and as gifts, but am now starting to sell them. i entered one (shown below with the blue-green button) into the "green" show at Artlink over the summer and it sold before the show even opened...how encouraging! i have also had a few friends buy them as gifts to give others. and now comes the excitement...i will be selling a selection at Artlink during the Christmas shopping season! you should go check them out...even if you do not plan on buying anything. (also, i have three pieces in a small works show going on at Artlink right now that is worth checking out...a little self-promo on one's own blog never hurt anyone, right?)

anyway, i have been wanting to make more of these little books and once this opportunity arose, i thought, "how perfect!?!" so now, in the midst of a very large research paper for my high renaissance art history class, another paper for my 400 level philosophy of religion class (still do not know what i'm doing in there), and other projects, i'm trying to justify making time to work on my books...they do take quite a bit of time, believe it or not.

here's to a productive week in the form of recycled envelopes and handmade books!

michelle

goodbye clutter, hello organizational system

two weeks ago i took down the beloved loft in my room. so many wonderful memories i will cherish from the 10 or so years i spent with it. memories of...night-time girl talk with my favorite sister...of repeatedly bumping my head...of fort building...of falling off before the railings were installed...of jumping off onto a pile of blankets and pillows (peter-pan, i think i can fly style)...of trials with sheet-changing...of multiple times of forgetting to turn off the light or set the alarm, causing the down-the-ladder, back-up-the-ladder again frustration...of many good times...and of terrible sleep.

"and of terrible sleep" being one of the reasons i took the plunge and coerced my father into helping me take the loft he built down. i'm 24. it's time for a "real" bed.

organizational space is the other main reason for taking down the beloved loft. I need space. i need a well organized space. i need a well organized space that inspires me to create and simplify at the same time. (lots of i need statements, i know...can't i be a little bit selfish about the room i call my own???) over the years i've come up with some ideas for organizing, but none of them have quite done the trick. non-practical maybe. but, i think i'm onto something now. the loft was just the first step in my "master plan."

step two...i thought it was to pick out a paint color, but when i approached jill, a friend and interior designer, she informed me that the paint color is the last thing to choose when re-doing a room. she explained, stating that if you pick out bed linens, fabrics and accents to the room, you want to be able to match the paint color to them, not try and match your paint color to your accessories, which has proven in the past to be most impossible. good call jill. after this week, she is going to come over and check out my space so we can brainstorm together. i love it!

so excited about my new, organized space to be.
a favorite website to check out: www.thecontainerstore.com
their inspirational spaces are amazing. a little pricey, but i'm just gathering ideas, and will eventually con my father into helping me build some custom shelving. oh so amazing.

(one of my favorite spaces from their website)

i hope this inspires you to go and organize/simplify your own space.
michelle

leah rose

as i entered my folder of photographs on my computer to work on some images for my alternative photography class, i stumbled upon these photos of my niece which i took last january and could not help but share them with you. i clearly remember her being quite mischievous that day :) which is not really much different than any other day. enjoy!

michelle

sneak peak

in my experimental photography class we're working with cyanotype, van dyke, and kalitype chemicals to create beautiful imagery. Part of the developing process for these techniques is exposing pre-coated paper/fabric along with a negative to UV light. Some rinsing and fixing is involved after the imagery has been exposed, a little drying, and a unique print is created.

Shooting for this project has been a bit slow and converting my digital photos into negatives has taken a bit of time as well, but I am now almost ready to start developing. Here is an example of one of the images i took and it's negative. finished products to come :)

sometimes i'm an old lady

i crochet. i also knit. to quite a few people, this = old lady. my friends and i have crocheting/knitting parties where we watch movies and drink tea while practicing our craft. sounds old lady, i know, but the objects we produce are beautiful. the time we spend with each other is lovely. the gifts we give are greatly appreciated.

i just finished crocheting my first bag. quite a feat, since i usually stick to blankets and scarves which are hard to mess up. this particular rust-colored bag went to my friend kate yesterday for her birthday. pretty sure i will be making more, due to requests.

old lady? maybe. but mostly just another way for me to express my creativity.

michelle

simplicity in europe

i miss europe. a whole lot. wishing i could just pick up and go whenever. but i can't. i have school: papers, projects, readings, more projects; work; random side projects i pretend i have time for; family to hug and kiss; friends to get coffee with; and other random occurrences that seem to make their way into my little black book, disabling me to leave on a whim. oh, and there's that money thing. meh.

so, this is me de-stressing, simplifying with some images i took of mr. eiffel tower + one of me atop the massive iron structure. the feel of europe, the mere thought of being there, puts me at ease. although the majority of you faithful readers have not seen my photo montage of all things europe, i look at it frequently...for a little bit of peace amidst chaos. to remember. to simplify.

encouraging you to do the same,
michelle