Where HAVE I Been?

Arrrrgh! I just accidentally deleted my entire post, and now I must reconstruct it from memory. It was so good too...a work of literary art...it would make you return again and again for more of my elegant prose...well a gal can dream can't she?

Anyhoo...I think I started out by saying that I think I have to face the fact that for right now I am at best a sometime blogger. I'm still trying to find the consistency to blog more than once every so often, so until I do, I hope my few visitors will come back once in awhile to check on me!

So - where have I been? I went to ArtFest! I'm still processing all that I saw and did there. I met lots of wonderful artsy people, many of whom are fellow bloggers. I'm still trying to find them all, and I hope to add their blogs to my list. They all have lots of wonderful creations to share! I have lots of pictures to share and things to post, too...

First, here's what I did before I left. One of the funnest and most popular things to do at ArtFest is to trade things! This year many of us decided to make charms - little tiny, wonderful works of art to share with everyone. Ooookay...what was I going to use to make my charms? It took awhile to figure this out, but one night my eye fell on the stack of CDs I've saved from all those infernal AOL mailings. Somehow I just knew that I'd find a use for them!

...and I did! First I cut out all the pieces and sanded the edges round. Then I painted the shiny side. I needed a way to keep those little pieces from moving around while I painted them, so I attached them to a CD with a dab of glue:



When the paint was dry I added embellishments. It was kind of challenging trying to get all those tiny bits of paper in place, but I soon found a way. When they were all embellished I sealed the charms with a coat of acrylic medium.



After the charms were all dry I finished the backs with a coat of tissue and more acrylic medium. Here they are all ready for jump rings:



The final step was to add a little brass snap swivel I got in the fishing tackle department, and the charms were all ready to trade away:



This was such a fun and simple project, but the best part was all the wonderful charms and ephemera packs and ATCs I received in trade! I'll show you some of them in later posts. Each one is a miniature work of art!