Wanted: A Little Courage

So I have been trying very hard to tie up loose ends on my project list. I have completed and cleared all my ATC/LTC swaps. Finished! I have a single postal letterbox to complete and that is only a logbook and I've already got a good start on it. It's a "greek temple" logbook that only needs some information and adornment. I did up my stamp and cards for the upcoming Steampunk Halloween event and at this point, it's really too late to do anything else for that. My brother and I leave on Friday for our drive to Maine and I'll be working all week. I will only have time to pack and double check that I have everything and then check out other letterboxers PTs and stuff.

So I'm basically in pretty good shape for the upcoming holidays.
And that means, I can now work on stuff without a looming deadline. To be honest, I think I work better with a deadline. It makes me focus and make decisions. It makes me accept a piece as it is or I may just keep working on it, adding here or there, or deciding that "it's not good enough" and trashing the thing. A deadline with people relying on you to meet it, allows me to ignore the inner critic and GET IT DONE.

So now I can focus on my art journal a bit more. I have done some more pages and I do need to take some photos of what I've been doing.

Now I can play with some of the stuff I've been hoarding over the summer.

Now I can get to work on inventory for an Etsy shop. Yeah, I may take the plunge and try to make an Etsy shop. I'd like to sell greeting cards, tags, and altered books. I'm a bit nervous about it.
One, I'm not professionally trained and/or educated about Art. Is my stuff good enough? Would anyone buy it?
Two, do people really still mail greeting cards and use the post office anymore? Is there still a market for it? I hear that Hallmark is shutting down a plant that is 1/3 of it's operation. The post office is closing centers. Is Mail going extinct?

But even though all that seems practical and reasonable; I get so excited when I think of opening the shop. I think that I'll make my own paper goods and sell them. That maybe I can do it and say "that's my job".

So here's to liberation! To freedom! To dreaming the big dreams!

I've been using manilla tags (#5) to mop up my ink messes from my art journal and other projects. I am now getting a chance to go back and decorate them up and play with them. On many, I just practice my Zentangle (of which I do so hope to get better at but some designs I just don't like. So I'm sticking with the ones that grab me). This tag, however, mopped up Black Marble Dylusions Ink spray and a touch of Broken China Distress, I think. It just whispered Halloween to me.

So I stamped the background lettering (an ATC background stamp by Lost Coast designs) in Fired Brick (Distress). I dabbed a bit of water here and there to make the lettering bleed a bit. I stamped my focal skull (Craft Smart...from the dollar bin in Micheals...seriously) in black Color Box pigment ink and embossed with Ranger's Black Sparkle embossing powder. The skull and bones were colored in with Smooch ink, some form of red. (My bottle isn't labeled with which color it is, sorry.) Added Washi tape to top and bottom. Glued on black vine and added a paper rose which was ivory but I colored it with a Festive Berries reinker (Distress, Ranger). So yes, I painted the rose red just like in Alice in Wonderland! (hmm, now there's an idea!) Then, stained the plastic white skull accent in corner with Gold Adirondack Alcohol Ink (Ranger) and glued to tag.

Before I put it on a card front, I'll thread some black and red ribbons through the hole to finish the look. Overall, I think it will make an interesting card front. I might not be able to give it away; I'm so in love with it!

Wy
"A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage." ----Sydney Smith