sustanable origami....lol

so i ran across something on the internet & thought it was rather interesting. it was a picture of some very happy little seedlings in a sunny window safely ensconced in happy little pots made of what appeared to be newspaper.....   hmmm.
so off i went to see what i could find.

there's this method.... which requires a little tool.  cool.

there's this method...which just uses a can. sweet!       cool *and* easy.

and then there's this method... which *i* personally think is the way to go. one video was labeled "sustainable origami pots"...i love it!

but then i am an origami lover. actual origami where you sit down with a piece of paper & create something by making all those folds. they say that if you fold a thousand paper cranes you will be granted a wish. now i don't know about that, unless your wish is for resolve & tranquility, but i do know that it is therapeutic...really it is. and it's a wonderful resource... this last winter i "origami-ed" a replacement envelope for a bill with a piece of junk mail from my car. and voila! my check was safely tucked in with no danger of becoming separated from the bill it was meant to pay whilst floating around in the nether regions of the payment dropbox. (now *that* is peace of mind!) and it's handy. i learned how to fold a box with dividers & a lid & i make them now for all kinds of things. storage & drawer dividers & gift boxes. oh my!  children (and some adults) are thoroughly fascinated when, at a restaurant, you turn your placemat into something for them to play with...a paper balloon perhaps? how bout a jumping frog? a crown...or maybe just the old stand-by, the paper crane. you could get really fancy too like this rose . ...or this lotus.  
the list could go on & on....lol

and... it's pretty to look at once you've done all the work of folding it.

i turned some origami cranes, some 3D cutwork & a handful of german paper stars (some of which i made of overhead transparency sheets) into a wonderful mobile for my baby nursery.

so anyways, to sum it all up....origami is cool and practical and fun!

go learn some here ---->  go.foldsomething.com <----

well.... go fold something!!!
go on....shoo!  :)

for the love of fonts

i {heart} fonts!
you can use them to create your own art papers for collage or mixed media projects. and you don't need a fancy program...just open your note pad, type something up & save it. then when you need some script all you have to do is go in & change the font to suit your project. you can do it over & over, just don't save it & the original is always gonna be there! or, if you make one you want to save, that's as easy as choosing "save AS" from the file menu...just enter a new file name & it will create a seperate file & leave the original unchanged :)  i have found that fonts are one of my major go-to art supplies... just as essential to what i do as scissors & glue. get a cup of coffee and just go browse!

these sites are free, have alot to pick from AND user friendly instructions for how to download, view & install the files. also, you can type in your own text to see a sample before you d/l.
i've never had any problems with their downloads...which is a real plus, i tell ya! i use'em all the time!
http://www.dafont.com/
http://www.1001fonts.com/
http://www.urbanfonts.com/
http://www.abstractfonts.com/


 there are so many great font artists out there doing really fun work.
*like this guy... his stuff is, ahhh.... a bit different, but i really like it! he has all kinds of interesting stuff on his site. http://www.misprintedtype.com/v3/fonts.php


oh and make sure to check out the dingbat sections! http://www.urbanfonts.com/dingbats.htm   they are offer a wealth of goodness. sounds funny i know... but dingbats are not letter fonts, they are images! think of them as a way to "stamp" on your computer. each character is assigned an image instead of a letter so each keystroke results in what is essentially a stamped image on your printed page. very cool!


if you're anything like me you'll get a bunch of cool new fonts & then need a way to organize & look at them....so you'll need to go here to download a great font viewer
 http://download.cnet.com/Free-Easy-Font-Viewer/3000-2316_4-10070090.html
it's good to have because you can go open that program to view & preview your fonts on a character map instead of in the tiny little box most progams give you! :)


have fun!   :)