Have you ever heard of a postcard swap?

You can read all about it here…. but basically, you just go THIS WEBSITE and read about the swap and then join it! The deadline is February 7th so do it today!

You will basically make 10 postcards, “any style (do collage, mixed media, print your own photos, print digital collages, create flat fabric art, alter an existing postcard in your paper stash (!), paint with watercolors, draw mandalas, make postcards with a scrapbook style, embellished, painted, embroidered, etc)!”

…and then you will get 10 in the mail back from other folks!

Art makes itself and then you have to discover it. Or express it. Or get it out of your head. If art makes itself in your head, and you never materialize it, does it exist?

Here’s a video of my artwork:

“All-Round” Birdhouses circa 1956




I found these plans in an old magazine-style book from American Home. The magazine put out an annual book of How-To’s.

These directions are pretty straight-forward and will show you how to construct the really interesting barrel-like birdhouse, which can be painted or decorated in so many different ways!

The instructions say that the basic design is the same, but can be modified for: “bluebirds, robins, or those tiny talkative wrens”. (Instructions show modifications).

If you’d like a high resolution scanned copy of the original plans, I’d be happy to send them to you with just a small donation to cover the expenses.

Send me a paypal for US $2 plus the following postage:
United States 50 cents
Canada 75 cents
all other locations 1 dollar

to the following paypal address: admin@fuzziebutter.com

And I will send you the plans in the mail via US Postal Service!

This is a great chance to reproduce a vintage birdhouse!

If you would construct one of these for me, please send me a quote and I will send you the plans for free.

Today I cleaned up my Etsy shop a bit. I’ve been renovating my home workshop and putting some projects to the side. I decided to relist my pretty little Japanese art screen earrings, though. I have several different pairs for sale. I made some with koi fish which I think are my favorite.

Click here to view the listing.

Well, I thought I’d try to use photography to explore my life’s experience. I’m a very visual person and the images I see influence me really all day long. I even dream in brilliant visual displays of color and movement.

I discovered that I can place some of my photographs for sale at an interesting CafePress Company called “Imagekind”, which allows me to operate an online gallery/shop. Now my favorite photographs can be offered as custom framed art, prints on canvas or greeting cards- delivered straight to your door.

I’d love it if you visited my new gallery and gave me some feedback. Thank you.

I’ve just been working on a small but powerful collection that is really fulfiling for me. Using my new favorite medium, shrinky dinks, I am creating valentine’s hearts opposite of what is usually marketed this time of year.
These hearts have been broken, then mended. Most show that they have another arrow heading straight for them.
I made these pieces into large sized art pins, for lapels, hats, jackets, etc. and am selling them both at my Etsy store and Artfire studio.

My heart warms when I see the buddhist bumper sticker that says, “My religion is kindness”. But how frequently do we really encounter it in day to day life?

Well, I have today and I am really touched by it. My daughter is coming home today on the Greyhound, through a lake effect snow warning, so my mind was filled with caution and fear as I got on the internet to check the weather reports.

I found a message in my inbox that I almost didn’t read. You see, I have a YouTube account, (as some of you know), and having one means that I get a lot of spam messages via YouTube. But this one seemed to stick out as something I should read.

It was a really nice email from a real person, (who I’ll call J). J said that she found my videos on accident. J said they were good. J said that she really liked them! J gave me a short summary of her evaluation and it made me realize that she got it. She received what I was sending out. Nobody has done that before. I didn’t need to explain it. I didn’t need an ‘artist statement’ to make me feel like an artist, to try to make people understand what I was doing. J just GOT IT.

And then, J let me know. She took a moment to actually write me a message and tell me.

What would happen if we all did that today? We would all touch someone and change their day. We would be making a deposit in their bank of self esteem. We would cause them to be gentle with someone today. We would, with our act of kindness, affect the lives positively of several people.

Let’s do it! I’m SERIOUS! Let’s do it. If you are reading this, go to YouTube, Etsy or Artfire. Look through stuff. When you see something you like, send the person a message and let them know. You GET IT.

You see, this is what J did for me today: filled with self doubt, deeply routed in shame, I “disasterized” my daughter’s trip and was on a path of several worrisome hours. But then I read J’s message. I felt validated. I felt good that I made someone happy for a few moments. That was an elixir on the self doubt. That stomped down the disaster thoughts. That released my mind.

Connections like that keep us human.

J, if you actually came to the website and read my blog like I asked you to, please let me know via our conversation on YouTube. I’d like to send you a gift from my Etsy shop. It’s something new I am creating for Valentine’s Day, called Mended Hearts.

Peace.

My shrinky dink art is taking a new turn and is constantly evolving. I have started to incorporate found objects into the shrinky dinking- and adding little embelleshments here and there. I’d sort of like to evolve it into a mixed media jewelry thing.

Until then, I am in the process of creating a collection called “Secrets” which has a distinctly feministic expression. In my first piece, which you will see below, I created a secret necklace. On the outside there is toille and and embroidery pattern from the 1930’s. If you life up the top plate of the necklace, it reveals a nude woman from a vintage 1930’s picture in pose to show her rear end. I have embelleshed the necklace with and “M” for mere, mommy, mother, me, Ms., Miss, Mrs., Madam, Mammary… all the m words associated with mujeres, (women).

I will be offering my mixed media jewelry for sale in My Etsy Shop. I would really appreciate your browsing and your comments.