Scrap bits

Periodic Table..... for Typefaces!

How is cool is this? A periodic table for typefaces! I have always loved the look, and layout, but this one makes more sense for me.  I love type and fonts.

Cam Wilde created this table that represents 100 of the most "popular, influential, and notorious" of the world's typefaces.  You can download a high res version, or go here to order different prints, wall decals etc.

Thanks to How About Orange for the link! I am putting this up on my wall in my new office for sure! I will share photos of that space plus the art wall soon...

LOVING my new iPhone!

I finally got myself an iPhone- I wanted one for awhile....so... Merry Christmas to me!

I am totally in love with Instagram.  What a great app! I have to say I am a little obsessed.

My daughter working on some art...

 

magazines on my night table

 

My breakfast

 

 

My purse

 

love this one... I have it as my screen saver on my iPhone

 

Even a regular old keyboard looks cool with the filters applied!

Follow me on Instagram under tanyascrapbits

 

Link With Love

I follow an art blog by a fellow Canadian, Kal Barteski. Her blog is fantastic, full of posting about her art, being a mom, and trying to find time for it all. She recently had a bad experience with someone stealing her on line art & selling it for their own profit and not giving her credit. Kal turned this bad experience into a positive and started a blog about changing the way we use art/photography and images on the internet.

Here is a quote;

"We believe that intellectual property needs to be handled with love and respect. We believe in the goodness of people. We believe in the power of the internet." 

Huh. Pretty basic & straightforward. I love it!

Take a sec, and check out the Link with Love Blog. Also check out the facebook page, Twitter, and Pintrest.

Come'on everyone. Show the love.

Another version of the starburst mirror

Yes, I love a starburst mirror.  Remeber the one I made here?

Well I just came accross the most fantastic one, which I will be making for sure when I get in my new house.

Come on now! How cool is this? Flamingo Toes has a full step by step tutorial on her blog with great detailed photos.

Free Download Friday- Apothecary labels

Check out this free download for Apothacary type labels from wordlabel.com.  The link is here but be warned: they have tons of free downloads and you may get lost on the site for awhile!

Thanks to Cathe Holden for designing the labels and for giving the heads up on her blog! If you havent checked out Just Something I Made, you are in for a treat!

Got a Favorite pair of jeans? Are they dead?

Anyone who knows me, knows I love my jeans. I wear them all the time, pretty much everyday. When I find a favorite pair that fits just right- I will wear them till they literally fall apart (and even sometimes after that!) They get stitched and patched till I cant stitch and patch them no more. Then I say goodbye.

Weird? Maybe. But if you think about it, your jeans (espicially if you wear them as much as I do) go through a lot of experiences with you. they hold a lot of memories.

Or maybe that's just me.

Any hoo. When I found this today I thought; Brilliant!! What a great way to keep your favorite pair of jeans long after they are dead! The company is called DeadJeans, and they will recycle your back pocket from your jeans, and make a cool cover for your smart phone, or blackberry or whatever. How cool is that?

I {heart} Flypaper Textures

Do you love the look of old film photographs? You know, the bit of grain and noise and sometimes scratches you see on old photographs? Enter Flypaper Textures. You gotta check them out!  In their words;

"Texturing is a creative way of getting back to the analogue roots of photography, when atmospheric flaws in the old wet processes sometimes enhanced images. So today, its a kind of reaction against the ultra-sharp modern day perfect digital imaging."

Cool. 

I purchased their "Summer Painterly" pack, and I have been messing around with it. Check out the results on this photo. I love the feel.

Here is what the picture looked like before;

I did a bunch of stuff to this photo in Photoshop. I brightened up the barn, did a bit of cropping, and removed the yellow lines from the road. Then I had some fun with the textures, adjusting curves, hue and saturation, and just playing around till I achieved the look I wanted.

I will be working on a few photos and adding them to my Etsy shop over the next week or so.

Let me know what you think about the feel of the photo. I think I found just the "look" I have been looking for!

 

looking forward to some good reads....

Don't you love getting a new book? Especially one you are excited to read?  Usually I am a fiction reader, and I have 2 or 3 on the go at any one time.Sometimes they are audio books that I listen to on my ipod while i am in my studio working on something...

I just got back from a visit at Chapters with some non fiction art and craft books that I just cant wait to dive into!

I am looking forward to trying my hand at encaustic painting, so I picked up this book;

Also bought a book for my crafting business which looks promising and is getting great reviews; The Handmade Marketplace"

plus I ordered Craft Inc, another business book for crafts that sounds great as well

On a whim, I grabbed this book, "Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists", which boasts "52 creative exercises to make drawing fun!"  so we will see how that one is, but I flipped through it and it seems promising- something to keep the creative juices flowing, hopefully!

Then picked up the latest issue of Cloth, Paper Scissors. Man- I love this magazine. so full of inspiration! my goal is to get some of my work published in this mag... this year I will do submissions, and go from there!

Looks like enough inspiration to last me a long, long time!! My art business should get a boost with all this business advice and inspired reading!

I will give my review on these books as I get through them.... stay tuned!

Antique finds and- An Africian Safari

It's almost time for the kids to go back to school (Boo!) and thought it would be a nice idea to take them to African Lion Safari. It was pretty cool, but I have to say, not really worth the money, especially now that the kids are older.

We had a good laugh when we got to the Ostrich. They came right up to the window and were pecking at the car- My 8 yr old daughter was a little freaked out, and screeching and jumping-Very funny!

You can see how many were around in my side mirror. 

OK- I just re-read that last bit about us laughing while my daughter was screaming at the attacking ostrich.  Let me explain: they really were pretty mild mannered, the shot above just happened to catch this one with his mouth open and looking particularity ferocious. My girl was not really screaming in terror, but screaming in fun.

Yes, there is such a thing as screaming in fun.

There is.

Anyway, on the way home we stopped at a fantastic antique shop and I found some cool stuff- really old sewing patterns and old music books.

I mean honestly, what's not to love about this old dress pattern- It's fantastic!

I also found an old hardcover book which is some sort of interior design book. Cool vintage photos in this one as well.

I will be using the pages and pattern paper in some mixed media pieces I have been thinking about.  May also mess around with encaustics as well... I have lots of ideas buzzing around in my head. Just gotta get started on them.

I scooped up some old linens too with some really great details- Not sure yet what I will do with them... maybe some sort of stitched sampler, or incorporate the pieces into .... I don't know... something???  They just spoke to me- plus the guy gave me the whole stack for 5 bucks!  How could I NOT buy them?

See? Details!

I like the idea of all this discarded old stuff, getting another go around in something new and fresh. I like old stuff (especially old paper ephemera)  Is it weird that I like this old stuff?

Funny Baby "Instructions"

Found these on the web quite a long time ago. I printed them up and gave them to my brother... you know... just to help him when the baby comes along.  

simple DOs and DON'Ts...

 
 

I think these are so funny!  There are 28 or so of these little instructions. If you want me to send you the full list, let me know and I would be happy to send them to you!  Sorry, I don't have the link anymore.