A New Thing: Bubble Paints!

Wow. Look at all of you out there!In the last week, the audience of my wee neglected blog has doubled! I suppose this means I have to start posting more than once in a month.

To Do This:
mix liquid soap and water in a bowl. Mix until bubbly. Add paint, dye, or whatever coloring agent you favor. Drink mix, maybe?

Put a piece of spare paper behind the bowl, as a splashguard. Trust me.

Grab the paper you want to bubble-paint.

Grab a straw. Put it in the soap mix; blow bubbles. Really go to town!

Lay your painting paper gently, directly, flat side down, on the bubbles. The bubbles may pop, they may melt, they may even cluster on the paper and let you push them around with a brush! The randomness is what makes it fun!

Do Not Do This:
Let the cats in right after adding the paint.

Start bubbling the paint before the cats have settled in and gone into furniture mode.

Inhale in shock when the cats decide to use human feet as their Safe Base in Cat-Tag, noted by swiping with a paw.

Inhale about 50 quarts of soap mix and paint.

Spend fifteen minutes coughing, choking, and wondering if the paint has gone far enough up your sinuses to turn your eyes green in a weird fantasy movie way.

Drink a soda any time in the next ten minutes. Owww, ow, fizzy owwww.

But I think I got a rather nifty set of textured papers out of it! Here are just a couple:




What can I do with textured paper? That's another post...but I bet some of you paper crafters are already making up your own answers!

Etsy Blogger Nico Designs, and Even More OWOH!

If you're looking for my One World One Heart Post, it's here:
http://caramakes.blogspot.com/2010/01/one-world-one-heart.html

I'm all wrapped up in Magic Carpet right now (whoa, FOUR prize packages coming! Hurrah!), so I'm being a horrible failure as an Etsy teammate!

One of my Etsy Teams, the amazingly active Etsybloggers, spotlights one of its members every month.
This month, it's the sweet Nico Designs who makes the darlingest wee dollies and dainties. You should really go look at her shop, moreso since I am encountering technical difficulties on posting images that aren't born on my desktop. Dear Blogger: WTH?

But even more, you look at her One World One Heart Giveaway! No mystery here, it's an adorable bit of a doll, and something else, which she will reveal when you visit! Go, get some Aaawwww! In your life!:D

One World, One Heart, One Very Important Rule

Hey, Passerby! My One World, One Heart post and GIVEBACK is just over here!

http://caramakes.blogspot.com/2010/01/one-world-one-heart.html

Wow, the Magic Carpet Ride is blowing me away! Already I've got 300 comments, which means-- yahoo! AT LEAST THREE SurPrizes going out to lucky clever people. I am so excited about this-I can't wait to see what sort of package I'll be assembling! No folks, I don't know either-- it's up to you!

I'm also just dancing my socks off over having so many intriguing and clever comments. I promise, when the madness has died down and we've all got a bit of time to breathe, I will visit and email EVERYONE who's been nice enough to leave me a personal message. And we can plot our Zombie Survival Strategies over gluten-free cookies and tea on lovely pink cushions with a cabbage rose pattern.

But I am not entirely pleased. No, no I am making the stern face at some of you. Believe me, this is a terrifying stern face. You would feel bad if you saw it. Take my word for it. I do not deploy The Face lightly.

But some of you-- just a few!--did not TELL ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. Or your three favorite things! This is horrible, tragic, awful, upsetting. Because what if I draw YOUR entry, and I can't get hold of you? Because you did not TELL ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS? Perhaps worse, what if I can email you, but don't know what to send you? Does the zombierifficness of my intro teach you nothing?!? I have no sense of propriety! You might get a bag of bugs, a cupcake, and some old autoparts! Because hey, I like bugs and cupcakes and old auto parts. I do! Or worse, what if you get Zombie Cupcakes? Because apparently that's a thing of mine. And unless you tell me what YOU like, I have no option except to abide by the golden rule. And very few want done unto them as I want done unto me,really.

So, hey, go look at my OWOH post! Riiiight under this one. And please, leave a comment!You don't need a blog or to visit my Etsy store or to invent a Zombie Survival Plan. But you do need to TELL ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!

One World, One Heart

***
OWOH is OVER- at least for this year! Thanks for playing, everyone! I'll announce winners tonight!

***



A giveaway, in which I am bad at introductions.

Hello, One World One Heart riders, and readers new and old! It's lovely to meet you.

Here's the thing, I'm no good at talking about myself from a dry start. Not at all. I need a prompt! Being an inveterate geek, I fall back on: The Zombie Apocalypse. What should you know if you're deciding to share a compound with me against the ravening hordes of brain-eating undead?

Well, , I am indeed an inveterate geek, which means I know the proper zombie engagement procedures. I'm also a fairly stereotypical Texan, in the sense of being ready, able, and quite willing to put bullets in things of a shambling nature. I know first aid and very basic herbalism; I can bake, make simples and extracts, do some basic sewing and pretty complicated cooking, and I'm immune to poison from bees, wasps, and scorpions. I can tell good stories, and as long as I get to have my naps and some decent food now and then I'm aggressively cheerful. I have no major addictions except caffeine, and provided we're still in Texas I know how to get that even without coffee or tea.

On the downside, I am, in fact, a big ol' spaz. Actual seizures and stuff. Aaaaand I'm pretty much a cripple, so it's a darn good thing I can shoot, 'cause I ain't gonna make it through a horde o' Zeds with hand to hand combat. But you shouldn't fight zombies that way anyhow, their bite is toxic and all.

I did mention the geek thing. You read all the way here, you have only yourself to blame.

And since we're unlikely to be locked in a Zombie War anytime soon, you might be more interested in knowing that I love artsy craftsy stuff, and blather about it a good deal. That's my Etsy shop/online gallery over thar, on the side bar. I like fairy tales and science history and stories of all kinds; I read books by the pound. Although rarely the blockbuster stuff, with the exception of King and Pratchett. I don't normally talk about zombies quite so much. And I love, love, love finding out about other people. I'm very nosy. I will probably read all your blogs. Which brings us to...

The Prize! Yay, Prizes!

Yeah, I know. You didn't even read the intro. Or maybe you read to "zombie apocalypse" and looked down here in sheer trainwrecky horror. Well, there's a prize anyway. And how zombieriffic it is is up to you, gentle appalled reader.

See, I racked my brains thinking about what I could give away that lots of people would want. And....I got nothin'. But for myself, I like a suprise! Especially if it's tailored a little to me. So to enter my giveaway, tell me three things that you love or enjoy-- it could "tea,snakes, the color green" or "labor history, gluten free baking, personals ads" or "rainy days, the zoo, atrocious pop music earworms". Whoever I pick-- and I'll pick one winner for every hundred comments, if it comes to that- will get something special, made just for them. It could be a packet of collageable papers, homemade envelopes, a little clay pendant, a spell...it'll all depend on what you like! That way it'll be a surprise for both of us.
And because I am an artist, and understand well the power of procrastination, I'm leaving this open until midnight, Feb. 14, 2010, Central (Texas) Time.

So that's it-- leave me a post telling me three things you love, by Feb. 14, WITH YOUR EMAIL! Gah! How tragic if you don't tell me your email, and you can't get a shiny prize! And be sure to check out the other OWOH participants, following the finely crafted link at the top of this post. I'll announce the winner on Feb. 15, barring a colossal internet denial of service.

Or, you know.

In case of Zombie Apocalypse.

Mysterious Mysteries: Paper Blight of Aught-Whatever!

A mysterious phenomenon has recently come to my attention. Across the blog-o-sphere I have of late seen crafters telling tales of paper scarcity. Not current paper scarcity, understand, but paper scarcity of youth gone by. Or, in one case, granted, current, but in Finland. Not a total lack of paper, in any such case; but paper too scarce and precious to be used for children's random art projects.

And I can only say: what the hoppy hippy bththday?

This is an extremely mysterious mystery to me, because I've never lacked for papper in the slightest. I have reams of it at this very moment, in a wide and startling array of finishes and poundage. The ready availability of paper, even in my somewhat impoverished youth (we never starved, but we often lacked power or tv or other American standard amenities) has always been one of my many points of evidence for why modern times are the best so far. Paper, at all times, was a freebie, one thing I could always get from the adults around me, like "water" and "soap". No one ever said "Cara, stop wasting paper!". Now, perhaps this was because everyone accepted that I would indeed be marking something, and paper was cheaper than the walls, but I do not think so. I think it was because paper was a cheap flippin' commodity, that could be pilfered with impunity from schools and offices, and that indeed even my teachers tended to throw my way with vague instructions to keep myself occupied.


So, tell me: have you experienced trouble getting hold of paper? Not fancy paper, mind, but standard looseleaf, printer-or-notebook, give it to the kids for school kind of paper. Was it super expensive at some point? Rare? Limited in quantity? If so, when? And where were you when this strange scarcity occurred? And have you any idea why?

The truth must be known!

Resolutions, only a little late

Well, obviously I did not resolve to be more punctual this year.

I did, however, microwave several bars of soap.

And join a sample box with Best of Etsy.

And participate in hosting a treasure hunt.

Because my New Year's resolution, belated as it is, is to try at least one new thing every week. In this I am being aided vastly by the internet's vast store of home chemistry experiments, and the wonderful array of artists on Etsy who are so generous with their knowledge and suggestions.

So, besides microwaving soap, I have attempted my first object collages, one still in progress:




and one finished and awesome and listed on my Etsy shop, which you should totally check out, if you haven't-- I put a lot of neat stuff there!

You should also microwave some soap. I'm not gonna tell you what happens, but it's pretty dang keen.

Any new things you're trying this year?