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Creative Resolutions for the New Year

In thinking about my 2018 creative resolutions, I realized that so much of what I do as an artist is visual. What I select to paint, how I mix a color, and how I place elements within a composition all begin with my ability to see. Every day I am aware that my sight is my partner in my art. I was fortunate to work as a teacher in a residential school for blind and visually impaired children when I first graduated from college. I taught kindergarten there for five years. What I learned there so many years ago has been a force in my life.

creative resolutions
All artwork and photos by Chris Cozen

I learned that seeing is so very much more than what our eyes can pick up. To describe an object to someone unable to see, one must convey qualities beyond color and light. One must describe weight, volume, size, texture, and fragility. This is not always so easy! Models of objects cannot substitute for the actual thing. Sometimes you must just go out and “see” something with your hands, body, heart, and soul.

That brings me to my creative resolutions. This year, I resolve to:

1. Keep my eyes open and look beyond the obvious whenever I am out and about. I know the flower is beautiful, but what about the way the blossom is attached to the stem? Or the shape of the buds, leaves, and branches? And by the way, did you catch that great shadow?

2. Use my camera to record what I discover. My camera is a constant companion, a portable sketchbook, and an amazing resource for developing compositions. I encourage you to try out some of the photo-editing apps, if you haven’t already. Pixlr Express is my favorite. This app allows you to add effects, overlays, and borders to your photos, and crop and resize them.

3. Always look at the negative spaces. These are found between things; empty spaces with great compositional power. Many times the negative spaces are far more interesting than the objects. Get to know them.

4. Do more sketching to capture shape, pattern, detail, and line. I must admit that I am not a big sketcher. I prefer to create my lines, shapes, patterns, and detail straight on the canvas with brush and paint. However, I have taken to sketching on my tablet with one of several drawing/art apps. I can sketch with the digital equivalent of ink or pencil. I am making a commitment to do more in 2018.

5. Revel in beginning paint layers. Taking joy in color and the freedom to explore color mixes always makes me happy. These playful beginnings lead me to exercise more of my visual senses, as I discover what lies waiting.

creative resolutions

6. Stay in touch with the process of making art. There doesn’t always need to be a final outcome whenever you make time for art. Sometimes all you need is to get back in touch with what you have forgotten or have put aside for too long. I recently rediscovered image transfers, and remembered how much I love the way they look.

7. Learn something new. This is wide open for me. I’m excited to discover what it might be. I will keep you posted!

8. Make a lot of mistakes. The more mistakes you make, the better you will get at learning how to do things. Mistakes lead to discovery. Discovery leads to mastery.

I’m excited to be a part of the regular contributors to Cloth Paper Scissors in 2018 with my column, Exploration: Painting. It’s an honor to be able to share with you some of my favorite artists and the lessons I’ve gleaned from them. We can never learn too much from other artists. How we each “see” so uniquely is always a wonder to me.

Chris Cozen is an educator and self-taught mixed-media artist as well as a Golden® Artist Colors Golden Artist Educator. Chris has authored several books, including Acrylic Solutions: Exploring Mixed Media Layer by Layer and Acrylic Color Explorations: Painting Techniques for Expressing Your Artistic Voice, with North Light Books. She has also hosted numerous instructional videos on acrylic techniques with ArtistsNetworkTV. See more of her work at

Get even more inspiration for the New Year with this tutorial on how to make creative dice that will inspire your artwork!

Chris has so many fantastic books and videos that feature tons of great acrylic painting techniques for mixed-media art. Here are just a few!

In the Acrylic Color Explorations eBook, get color-mixing recipes, techniques for developing color in your paintings, and color basics exercises.
Dreading that blank canvas? In the video Top 15 Acrylic Painting Starters you’ll get great ideas for creating fantastic first layers that lead to beautiful compositions.
Texture adds so much to artwork, and in the video Acrylic Painting Techniques: Creative Textures, she shows you how easy it is to add depth and dimension to your artwork, using acrylic mediums, paint, and household items.

Tutorial: Make an Awesome Bingo Planner

A new year calls for a new planner, and this tutorial from Erin Zamrzla will show you how to create your own — mixed-media style, of course! Originally featured in our winter 2015 edition of Pages magazine, the cover of this custom weekly planner is made from vintage bingo card designs. The unique exposed binding is created using a combination of long and link stitches.

Bonus: You can download the cover and page designs; check the link in the materials list.

bingo planner
Erin Zamrzla’s bingo planner is fun and functional. (Photography by Sharon White Studio)

Bingo Planner by Erin Zamrzla

Several years ago, I made my first day planner. I liked the ability to customize the number of weeks as well as the start and end dates. Adding in fun papers and extra space for notes, sketches, and collage was a bonus. Since then, I have made dozens more, for myself and for others.

This project uses an undated weekly planner design. After printing, write in dates on the pages as desired. Each week alternates with a blank spread, allowing room for schedules, notes, and more. The covers, inspired by vintage bingo cards, were printed on cardstock and stitched onto the extended spine, providing both a sturdy cover and a flexible hinge. The exposed binding is a combination of long and link stitches.

  • Computer and printer
  • Planner and bingo cover templates (Download these for free here)
  • Paper, text-weight, thirty 8 ½” x 11″ (I used ivory, 32-lb., 25% cotton paper.)
  • Paper trimmer
  • Bone folder
  • Scrap paper
  • Ruler
  • Pencil
  • Cutting mat
  • Awl
  • Cardstock, two 8 ½″ x 11″ pieces (I used contrasting colors.)
  • Chipboard, 8 ½″ x 11″
  • Glue (I used PVA.)
  • Glue brushes, medium and small
  • Book press or a heavy stack of books
  • Sewing machine and heavy-duty needle (I used a denim needle.)
  • Scissors
  • Photo copy machine
  • Japanese drill or hole punch, 2mm bit
  • Waxed linen thread, 66″, 3- or 4-ply
  • Needle, 1 for sewing, plus 2 more for placeholders (I used size 22 tapestry needles.)
  • Optional:
    • Book cradle

The pages

1. Print the planner template onto your desired paper.

2. Cut each printed agenda page in half, creating 60 pages total.

3. Fold 30 pages in half with the printed side facing out. Fold the remaining 30 pages in half with the printed side facing in. Burnish each fold with the bone folder.

4. Trim ¾″ from the open edge on each folded page so the pages measure 3½″ x 5½″.

5. Nest 6 folded pages (also known as folios), 3 folios from each group, together to form a signature. Arrange each signature so that a complete weekly planner appears across the first spread of 2 pages. Each planner spread will alternate with a spread of blank pages. Repeat, making 10 signatures.

6. Cut a 7″ x 5½″ piece from scrap paper and fold it in half. Unfold the sheet and measure and mark along the fold, starting at the top, at ½″, 1″, 2¼″, 3¼″, 4½″, and 5″ to create a template for punching the holes for binding.

7. Open one signature and place the template at the center. Lay the signature on a cutting mat or in a book cradle and use the awl to punch through all layers at each mark along the fold. Remove the template. Repeat for all 10 signatures.

The cover

1. Print the bingo cover design onto a piece of cardstock.

2. Apply a thin layer of glue to the cardstock and adhere it to the chipboard. Press them together, and allow to dry. Cut 2 covers from this piece, each 3 9/16″ x 5 9/16″.

3. Cut another piece of cardstock to 8 3/16″ x 5 9/16″.

4. Lay the front bingo cover face down on a clean piece of scrap paper. Apply a thin, ⅛″-wide stripe of glue to the back of the cover, along the spine edge. Turn the cover face up and adhere it to the cardstock, aligning it along the far-right edge.

5. Lay the back cover face down and apply a thin, ⅛″-wide stripe of glue to the back, along the spine edge. Turn the cover face up and adhere it to the cardstock, aligning it to the far left edge. Press under weight until dry.

6. Using a sewing machine, stitch along the left edge of the front cover, ⅛″ in from the spine edge, leaving a few inches of thread at the beginning and end. Repeat, stitching along the right edge of the back cover. (Figure 1)

7. Trim the threads to ½″ and tuck them between the cover and the cardstock, applying a small amount of glue to hold them in place if needed.

8. Photocopy the spine hole-punching template (Figure 2) and punch holes at each mark. I created my template on a piece of chipboard. At full size, the spine template should be 5 ½″ high and 1 ¼″ wide (use the solid lines, not the dotted lines, as a guide).

9. Lay the cover on a cutting mat. Center the template over the spine of the cover. Evenly space it between the top and bottom, and the front and back covers. Use the awl to punch a hole at each mark. Enlarge the holes along rows 2, 3, 4, and 5 with a 2mm hole punch.

10. Gently fold and unfold the covers where they meet the spine.

The binding

1. Thread the needle with a single thickness of thread, leaving a tail of a few inches.

NOTE: The link stitch is used across rows 1 and 6. The long stitch is used between rows 2 and 3, and rows 4 and 5. Sew the signatures to the cover from front to back, working from the right side toward the left side of the spine.

2. Slightly open the first signature and place it inside the front cover along the first line of holes. Bring the needle out through hole 6 of the signature and out through hole 6A of the cover. Leave a few inches of thread inside the signature.

3. Go back through the cover, into 6A, and into hole 6 of the first signature. Before tightening the thread,  place a needle through the loop at the outside of 6A to prevent the stitch from slipping through the cover.

4.  Inside signature 1, gently tighten the threads and tie them into a square knot, directly over hole 6.

5.  Sew up along the spine, sewing signature 1 to the cover: out 5A, into 4A, out 3A, into 2A, and out 1A.

6.  Add signature 2 behind signature 1. Take the needle back into 1A and into hole 1 of signature 2. (Figure 3)  Before tightening the thread, place a needle through the loop at the outside of 1A to prevent the stitch from slipping through the cover. (Figure 4)  Sew down, sewing signature 2 to the cover: out 2A, into 3A, out 4A, and into 5A.

FIGURE 3 (left) and FIGURE 4

NOTE: Every 2 signatures share a column of holes in the cover; i.e. signatures 1 and 2 share holes 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, and 5A. Signatures 3 and 4 share holes 1B, 2B, 3B, 4B, and 5B, etc.

7.  Exit hole 6 of signature 2 and then go out 6B.

8.  Remove the extra needle holding the loop of thread outside of 6A. Go through the loop and back into 6B.

9.  Add signature 3. Enter signature hole 6 and sew up, sewing signature 3 to the cover: out 5B, into 4B, out 3B, into 2B, and out 1B.

10.  Remove the extra needle holding the loop of thread outside 1A. Go through the loop and back into 1B. (Figure 5)

FIGURE 5 (left) and FIGURE 7

11.  Add signature 4. Enter signature hole 1 and sew down, sewing signature 4 to the cover: out 2B, into 3B, out 4B, into 5B, and out 6C. Take the needle to the right and carefully slide it between the threads and the cover. This is the first complete link stitch. Go back into 6C.

12.  Add signature 5. Enter signature hole 6 and sew up, sewing signature 5 to the cover: out 5C, into 4C, out 3C, into 2C, and out 1C. Take the needle to the right, between the threads and the cover, and then back into 1C.

13.  Add signature 6. Repeat the sewing pattern until all 10 signatures are sewn to the cover.

14. Once signature 10 is sewn to the cover, exit hole 6F and create the final link stitch. Re-enter 6F and then hole 6 of signature 10. (Figure 6) Go under the thread at the inside of signature 10 and loop back through to tie a knot directly over the hole. Repeat, making a second knot. (Figure 7)

15. Trim the threads inside of signatures 1 and 10 to ½″.

Add dates to your weekly planner pages before you use it, or add dates as you go. The finished planner contains 60 weeks and 120 blank pages.

Erin Zamrzla is a designer, bookbinder, teacher, and author of At Home with Handmade Books and Handmade Books for Everyday Adventures. Visit her website at

Discover creative ideas for arting up your planner pages in this Studio Saturday blog post!

Plus, don’t miss these products for more inspiring book-making ideas:

Get creative and organized with your own custom mixed-media three-ring binder. In this video workshop, Erin Zamrzla will teach you how to make your own binder from scratch, using a few basic materials.
Whether you are about to embark on a new adventure or just getting back from a trip, this video download with Erin Zamrzla will show to how to make a travel journal for preserving those precious moments and mementos.
Discover how to make three variations on folded accordion books start to finish in this video download. Erin Zamrzla will show you how to make an accordion notebook, a flutter book, and a hardcover book without sewing a single stitch.
Discover how to upcycle old fabric and clothing into one-of-a-kind books in this video workshop with Erin Zamrzla.
Inside this issue you’ll find an abundance of inspiration and techniques for bookmaking and art journaling.

Create a Fairy Tale Collage with Cathy Nichols

Cathy Nichols is known for her colorful artwork, and especially for the way she weaves stories into her art. In her January 2018 Art Lesson, Cathy shares how she uses selected words on a book page as a jumping-off point to create her colorful narrative collages. I loved the idea of starting with a book page, so I selected a few pages from a vintage children’s book and got to work.

I chose several words to build my story around, and circled them in pencil: “two girls,” “They were great friends,” and “we’ll go home,” envisioning young sisters who were also good friends. I adhered the page to the substrate and set it aside to dry.

I created several sheets of colorful prints with my Gelli Arts® printing plate, using colors that reminded me of flowers and the outdoors. I was pretty heavy handed with the  paint, so there is plenty of great texture in the prints.

Choosing several colors that evoked a beautiful spring day set the tone for my story.

While the printed papers dried, I applied a watercolor wash to the book page, using blue and green, avoiding the circled words, and set the page aside to dry.

As the story grew in my mind, I started cutting and tearing the printed papers and other collage papers to bring my story to life: land shapes, a sun, clouds, tufts of grass, and flowers, and started adding them to the page.

Storytelling with mixed media is enhanced when you use your own colorful printed papers.

Figures from Tim Holtz® Idea-Ology® Paper Dolls were perfect for my central characters. I added them to the scene and thought about what to add next.

I decided to add some colorful accents with gel pens to make the the black-and-white figures stand out.

Adding color to the girls’ clothing and accessories added interest and texture.

The last words, “we’ll go home,” made a house on the hill a necessity. I cut the house from the printed papers, and highlighted the windows and the door with a white gel pen to make the house look welcoming. I used a brush pen to add a path up to the house, and gel pens to draw trees, grass, and flowers. I really enjoyed adding the details, and had to make myself stop.

Storytelling in mixed media is easier with a jumpstart.

Starting with words from a book page was more relaxing than starting with a blank canvas. As I chose the words, the story grew in my mind, and everything fell into place from there. Give it a try the next time you’re feeling creative, but don’t know where to start.

Click here for more fun project ideas inspired by our Art Lessons!

Drawing Exercises Every Artist Needs!

We’re starting 2018 with an issue of Cloth Paper Scissors that asks you to challenge yourself. Now, I know that’s not always easy—that’s why it’s called a challenge. But I think if you try some of these projects, you’ll see aspects of your mixed-media art practice change for the better. One of the projects features incredibly fun drawing exercises, and there’s a reason I wanted to include this article in the issue.

As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, I started learning how to draw a couple of years ago, and it’s been a revelation. And while you certainly don’t have to know how to draw in order to be an artist, incorporating drawing exercises into your practice can benefit you in tons of ways: They can sharpen your observational skills, make you less afraid of drawing if you’re fearful of it, and help you hone your unique style. But don’t just take my word for it—check out Carla Sonheim’s article “Let Go and Draw” in the January/February issue. I decided to take my own advice and try her three exercises, and I’m so glad I did.

I created a small, simple still life, composed on a vintage plate. Nothing fancy, but I included a few interesting shapes. I worked on inexpensive 90-lb. hot-press watercolor paper and used a black fine-point permanent pen.

Still life for drawing exercises
I created a simple still life for my drawing exercises that included interesting shapes.

The first exercise focuses on drawing with your non-dominant hand, looking at the subject more than at the paper. I knew this would be challenging, but it felt as if I was trying to guide someone else’s hand. I started laughing because my hand wanted to do its own thing, and my brain wanted it to rein it in. I’m not sure who won this round!

This is the result. You can see that the lines are shaky and unsure, but as I drew the still life I had to really focus on getting my hand to do what I wanted it to, and that taught me to slow down, really concentrate on what it was I wanted to accomplish, and coordinate what I was seeing with my hand movements. I do love the energy of the drawing, and the fact that the pitcher looks like it’s melting.

Drawing with the non-dominant hand
This was drawn with my left hand, and the shakiness is pretty evident!

For the second of the three drawing exercises, I did a blind contour drawing. This time I drew with my dominant hand, but I looked at the subject the whole time, and not the paper. This was even more challenging in a way than using my left hand, since I’m so used to looking at the paper when I draw. I tend to be self-critical, and if I create something I don’t like it just puts me in a funk. Going into this I knew it wasn’t going to look anything like I wanted it to, so I abandoned myself to the process and instead concentrated on what I was drawing. When you get lost in the process you immediately loosen up and let go of expectations. This exercise was incredibly freeing, and the anticipation of seeing what you drew at the end was absolutely worth it. Here is the result.

Contour drawing exercise
For the contour drawing, I looked at the subject the entire time instead of the paper.

For the third drawing exercise, I did a contour drawing, again using my right hand, and looking at the subject about 60% of the time and my paper about 40% of the time. I didn’t want to cheat, so I was aware of spending more time looking at the still life. This drawing is still pretty raw, but there’s definitely some improvement in the rendering of the elements. Still missed the boat on perspective and composition, but like the blind contour drawing, I focused on slowing down and coordinating my hand with my eye. Once I started doing this it was difficult to stop—I was having so much fun making these drawings and being smack in the middle of the zone.

Drawing exercises: contour drawing
This contour drawing shows slightly better perspective than the previous two.

But wait, the fun’s not over yet! Don’t toss these drawings when you’re done—Carla suggests using the drawings as a starting point for a mixed-media piece. With that in mind, I added watercolor to the contour drawing, painting loosely and adding a little bit of shading.

Drawing exercises enhanced with watercolor
Give your drawing exercises a little mixed media treat and add color!

I wanted to give the piece a little more zing, so I added collage, first gluing book pages to the top and going over them with white gesso. I used some printed paper cut-outs to add depth and visual texture to the elements and the background, adhering everything with glue stick. For a border, I drew along the edges with a black Stabilo All pencil and went over the lines with a wet paintbrush.

Collage added to drawing exercises
These drawing exercises can greatly enhance your mixed-media art practice. Try them today!

Whenever I feel the need to loosen up, focus, and have fun, I’m going straight for these drawing exercises. One of my goals for the year is do these at least once a week, and use them for a drawing warm-up. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did, and that you begin to see a difference in your artwork. Remember to enjoy the process, breathe, and keep going!

Learn the keys to keeping an inspiration sketchbook in this terrific post from Annie O’Brien Gonzales.

As Carla says, let go and draw! Let these resources help you create a regular drawing practice that will enhance your mixed-media artwork.

Drawing exercises for mixed-media artists in the January/February 2018 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine
Don’t miss Carla Sonheim’s great article “Let Go and Draw” in the January/February 2018 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine.
The No Excuses Approach to Drawing and Watercolor video with Gina Rossi Armfield
The No Excuses Approach to Drawing and Watercolor video with Gina Rossi Armfield shows you how to incorporate drawing into your daily life.
Doodle Drawing by Sarah Skeate
Doodle Drawing by Sarah Skeate shows you how to draw draw lovable and quirky characters.

How Artists Document Their Creativity

When contributors’ artwork arrives in our offices we can’t wait to open the boxes and see the treasures inside. Two artists who have projects in our January/February 2018 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors surprised us by including something else in their packages: beautiful postcards and greeting cards featuring fantastic photos of their artwork and tools.

At left, cards by Rachel Hazell show off her bookbinding tools and artwork. At right, Ailish Henderson’s cards promote her signature stitched self-portraits. (Photo by Jenn Guneratne)

Ailish Henderson and Rachel Hazell both live in the U.K., and used Moo, the online printing company, to create their cards. The cards are obviously a great way to market their work, but in asking what inspired them, we got some surprising answers.

First up is Ailish, who wrote Jumpstart: Stitched Collage Portraits, page 45.

CPS: How did you come up with the idea for these cards that feature your abstract self-portraits?

AH: I thought about how I could create a timeless sense for my work. My original art pieces are one offs, and I wanted to keep a visual archive of them. Capturing them in postcard format meant I could show my work to many more people than those who would see the real piece in exhibition (The cards were part of my first solo exhibition last year.).

CPS: Do you consider them a marketing tool, or a way to show more of you as an artist—or both?

AH: Although art is my job and how I make my living, I am a tad complacent when it comes to making things only for monetary gain. I made them as a way to give out special cards to those I care about, and also to sell. They are also useful when sending art to galleries for exhibition purposes, as they have a professional feel and can be used as a “thank you for having my work” card.

CPS: Did you take the photos yourself?

AH: Yes, with my digital SLR camera. Over the years I’ve gone through a lot of trial and error with photography, and it does take time to get it right. The right amount of daylight is needed, along with clear rooms and white walls.

Rachell Hazell, who wrote Books that Speak: Make your ideas come to life (page 80) sent cards that included photos of her bookbinding tools, plus examples of her work, such as sketches and tiny folded works:

CPS: What was the motivation behind creating these cards?

RH: I was looking for something more interesting than a plain compliment slip. Bespoke cards give a personal touch to a parcel and a bit of character to correspondence. I love sending cards at any opportunity!

CPS: Are the cards just for marketing, to show your range as an artist, or both?

RH: They are a subtle method of promotion. So, yes; they are an irresistible marketing tool for someone whose business involves stationery and who is surrounded by special papers.

CPS: What has the reaction been to these since you’ve been sending them out?

RH: Very flattering! Recipients appreciate special touches, such as custom-made cards and handwritten notes. I want people to feel that I’ve taken care of them, even from a distance.

Artful Experimenting

Seeing glimpses of an artist’s creative processes is fascinating and almost magical. Understanding what inspired someone, and viewing the progression from conception to creation, makes the finished work so much more impactful. So it was thrilling to see how Ailish Henderson created her abstract self-portraits (page 45) as documented in her sketchbook, which includes selfies, altered photos, sketches, copious notes about her experiments, and the paper and fabric scraps she used to make the pieces. She writes in the book that the collaged and stitched artwork was inspired in part by childhood memories, life experiences, and by the stories her grandmother told her while growing up.

These pages from Ailish Henderson’s sketchbook show how she recorded her process of making abstract self-portraits. (Photo by Jenn Guneratne)

One of the most exciting parts of the sketchbook is the presentation of her final sample pieces. She stitched pieces together accordion-style to show the progression of her work, from sketches to adding watercolor, then fabric scraps and stitching. Two of the accordions spill off the page vertically, and one stretches across a two-page spread. Detailing a special project or series this way makes sense, and results in a unique work of art on its own. We hope you’re inspired to record your own future projects this way!

Our January/February 2018 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine is filled with more creative ideas and projects. Take a look at our lookbook preview for a special sneak peek!

In the January/February 2018 issue, discover how to create layers, work in a series with collage, create stitched collage artwork, make some boho style earrings, and much more!

Top Drawing Techniques You Can’t Live Without

As an avid art journaler and someone who devours new creative processes, I found great value in the video Top 10 Doodle, Drawing and Mark Making Techniques. This compilation video reintroduced me to forgotten drawing techniques, like pen and ink cross hatching, and showed me new ideas to add to my creative tool belt. The segments are varied, with clips from several of my favorite artists, so there’s something for everyone, from the true-blue beginner to the seasoned artist.

Discover amazing techniques that will take your art journal pages and more to the next level in the video Top 10 Doodle, Drawing and Mark Making Techniques.

The video starts off with light and playful techniques, and I was immediately inspired to try Tiffany Lovering’s “windshield wiper” doodling pattern, which incorporates graduated teardrop shapes, as well as her “shoops” doodle flourishes. I used these in a couple of half-done pages in my art journal, sneaking them in here and there.

Adding these Tiffany Lovering-inspired doodle drawing techniques to my art journal pages gave them great style.

They worked well in the nooks and crannies of my designs, as they appear to emerge from the corners. I used black Sakura Pigma Micron pens for the doodles, and a lavender-colored Sharpie marker to add pops of color. The simple windshield wiper doodles are quick, easy, and oh, so satisfying, and I added some fun details, like dots and zig-zag lines.

Tiffany shows exactly how to create these teardrop-shaped doodles using a simple black permanent pen.

Tiffany’s method of doodling on photographs (portraits of people or pets) was also very compelling. I had a photocopied picture of my great aunt that I knew would be perfect to use for this project, which is a fun way to enhance a black and white or color photo.

New or vintage photos are perfect for adding fun doodles.

To start, I cut out my great aunt’s head and torso and adhered the image to a journal page using acrylic matte medium. I doodled several different patterns around her head, re-creating the look of her hairstyle. I also doodled on her face and neck, giving her jewelry and ridiculous glasses. For this project I used Micron pens, a colored Sharpie marker, and a white Sharpie Paint pen.

Doodles substitute for hair in this technique, which can be used on portraits of pets or people.

In another segment, Pam Carriker demonstrates a dramatic way to shade using Tsukineko Fantastix Coloring Tool, an amazing mark-making and drawing tool. I’d seen these little white sticks in the stamping section at my local craft store, but never knew how to use them. The sticks soak up water and fluid acrylic paint, allowing the artist to use them much like a big felt-tip marker. These unassuming tools are now a permanent part of my art journal toolbox.

I began by drawing a simple face with a sharp 2B pencil, using a photo as a reference. I drew the basic contour lines of the head: the eyes, nose, mouth, and the outline of the hair. A bit of shading was added with the pencil. For the next part, I poured small amounts of fluid acrylic paints on my palette: Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, Yellow Oxide, and Teal. I dipped the Fantastix in water, and then soaked up some of the lightest value of paint, the yellow oxide.

drawing techniques
Shading a portrait is easy, following Pam Carriker’s drawing techniques.

Following Pam’s prompts, I began to fill in the shaded areas of the face and hair, using the Fantastix tool like a marker. I found I could easily adjust the lightness of the color by dipping the tip in more water, as Pam shows. She is a fantastic teacher, and really helped me make marks confidently when shading the face, something I often struggle with.

drawing techniques
Using the Fantastix is easy—it’s just like drawing with a marker.

I deepened the shaded areas with Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold and Teal, using the Fantastix in the same way. The sticks clean up well too—just rinse them in water. Thank you, Pam for this amazing technique. My art journal will never be the same again!

drawing techniques
Learn how to use surprising colors for portraits in this great drawing techniques segment with Pam Carriker.

This video has more fantastic clips too, like Dina Wakley’s ink throwing, an easy and super fast way to start off a journal page with large organic marks. That one is on my to-do list. In fact, I wonder how ink would work in the Fantastix? You’ll find a wealth of information and inspiration in the Top 10 Doodle, Drawing, and Mark Making Techniques video. Enjoy!

Mandy Russell is a full-time mixed-media artist with a darling little studio called The Painted Dog, in the heart of Brunswick, Maine. She has a menagerie of goofy pets, two fabulous children, and a super supportive husband. When life isn’t too hectic, she finds time to clean the house. Read more about her artistic adventures and workshop offerings on her website,

Discover a great way to use doodles and scratch art to create whimsical animals in this blog post!

How to Make a Vision Board That Inspires You

Where do you go when you’re looking for creative motivation? Mixed-media artist Rae Missigman turns to her vision board: a colorful collection of ideas that serves as an artistic prompt and reminds her to create every day. In this tutorial from our January/February 2017 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, Rae shares a series of techniques you can use to create your own unique vision board. We hope your new vision board helps you achieve all your artistic dreams and ambitions!

vision board
Rae Missigman’s vision board reminds her to create every day. (Photo by Sharon White Photography)

Vision Board by Rae Missigman

My intention is to create every day. I have learned that even if I only get 15 minutes in the studio, it is more than enough to stay inspired, and it has been a great exercise in staying creatively active on a daily basis. My focus is always to incorporate three key elements in my work: color, layers, and texture. I have always had a vision board hanging in the studio as a reminder to stay creative. Using the board as a springboard to being inspired, I can glance at it while working and find myself realizing a component of color or texture is missing from a current art piece, or use it as a reference point for a favorite go-to technique. Keeping the board updated with new ideas, colors, fabrics, or trending techniques is a great way for me to stay ahead of my own creative curve. I decided to create a new vision board to use as an artistic prompt, and I wanted something unique. This board is a collection of simple, yet bold and colorful reminders of the things that motivate me to create everyday. I am happy to share three of my favorite techniques with you.

  • Background fabric(s)
  • Sewing machine and thread
  • Seam binding or ribbon
  • Scissors
  • Ruler
  • Shallow pan
  • Spray bottle with water
  • Spray inks, several colors (I used Ranger Dylusions Ink Sprays.)
  • Gloves
  • Small clip
  • Jewelry pliers (I used bent-nose pliers.)
  • O-ring (I used an 8mm jump ring.)
  • Watercolor paper
  • Stickers
  • Stamps
  • Pencils
  • Coloring media (I used Golden® Artist Colors acrylic paint and Derwent Inktense Blocks.)
  • Gel pens
  • China marker
  • Permanent marker
  • Expired credit or gift card
  • Yarn or heavy-duty string, a variety
  • Tape
  • Darning needle
  • Optional:
    • Corner rounder
    • Needle, for hand sewing
    • Small comb
    • Tree branch
    • Rag rope

Create the background

1. Choose a substrate for your vision board. I decided to use fabric in natural shades. I love the organic feel of a neutral background and the look of the raw edges against all my bits of inspiring color. I tore large scraps of linen and muslin fabric, layered them, and free-motion stitched around the border with a contrasting thread. Once the background was created, I added my inspiring bits.

2. Think about the things that inspire you. Determine which will be included on your vision board and how they will be represented. Is this board inspiration for a particular project, or is it to be globally motivating? For example, if your goal is to try hand lettering, you could incorporate hand-drawn fonts as inspiration.

3. Gather and use a variety of materials, tools, and techniques to complete your vision.

Make colorful tassels

When I catch a glimpse of these beautiful handdyed tassels, I see streamers of loose and beautiful color. I love the idea of creating color patterns that cannot be repeated. No two are alike. Each one inspires me to think outside the bounds of the color wheel, and pushes me to mix and blend colors in a whole new way.

Hand-dyed tassels are a reminder to always include vibrant colors. (Photo by Jenn Guneratne)

1. Measure and cut 2 pieces of seam binding or ribbon, one 36″ and one 6″. Place both pieces in a shallow pan and spritz them with water.

2. Spray short lines of spray inks across the lengths of ribbon in several colors, overlapping the colors slightly as you go. (FIGURE 1) Spraying the inks in rainbow order creates a pretty finished piece.

FIGURE 1 (Photos by Rae Missigman unless otherwise noted)

3. Wearing gloves, gather the inked ribbons, and gently scrunch them into a loose ball. Over scrunching will cause your colors to bleed together. Set your ribbon ball on a protected surface and let it dry completely.

TIP: Save the leftover ink in your pan to dye your mini art journal pages.

4. Fold the long length of ribbon end over end until it measures approximately 6″ long. Twist it tightly at the center, and secure it with a clip. (FIGURE 2)

5. Open the O-ring with the jewelry pliers, and attach it around the twisted center. Use the jewelry pliers to close the O-ring. Alternatively, you can slip the gathered ribbon through the O-ring, if it fits.

6. Holding the O-ring, fold the gathered ribbon in half at the center and measure down ½″ from the ring. Wrap the short length of ribbon around the folded ribbon several times at this spot. (FIGURE 3) Tuck the ends in to hide them, or knot them to secure. Optional: Trim the ends of the tassel.

Design mini art journal pages

I love to hang miniature art journal pages on my vision board. They are a reminder that all I need are a few moments and a handful of easy-to-reach supplies to make something beautifully layered.

This watercolor page inspires play and layering patterns and color. (Photo by Jenn Guneratne)

1. Measure and cut 2 pieces of watercolor paper. I used 3″ x 4″ and 4″ x 6″ pieces. If desired, round the corners before proceeding.

2. Mist a shallow pan with spray inks and water, or use the leftover ink from the tassel, and lay the papers face down in the pan. Allow the papers to sit for a few seconds to absorb the ink, carefully flip them over, and then lay them flat on a protected surface to dry.

3. Add stickers, stamped images, and loose pencil sketches and lines to the painted papers. (FIGURE 4)

4. Add more color, filling in around the work completed in step 3. I used acrylic paints and Inktense Blocks to add small sections of bold color. (FIGURE 5) Let dry thoroughly.

5. Make additional marks with a variety of tools, such as gel pens and china markers. Because this is my visual prompt for layering, I like to incorporate different markmaking implements when creating these small art journaling springboards. For instance, combining wet inks and waxy pencils can produce surprising and beautiful results. While the wax pencils do the simple job of mark making, they also create a colorful resist for the layer that comes next.

6. Add a pop of texture by machine or hand stitching the edges of your mini art journal pages, and finish with a bit of journaling. A permanent marker works well for this.

Other ideas for mini journal pages

• Drip permanent ink on your page and use a heat tool to move the ink around before it dries.

• Add a few drops of blending solution to your page, followed by 1–2 drops of alcohol ink. Tilt your page to allow the two to mix and move around.

• Dip an old toothbrush in wet paint and use your finger to flick the bristles, spattering the paint across the page. Or, dip a detail brush in wet ink and tap it to scatter the ink in small pools across the surface of the page.

• Pick up wet paint with a small piece of sponge and rub the sponge along the edges of your page to create a loose, colorful border.

Create a tiny weaving

I love to surround myself with colorful bits of fabric and yarn, two favorites when it comes to adding a tactile touch to a project. The texturized surfaces of small weavings flaunt their pattern and color, inspiring me each time I glimpse them to include some texture in my work. To me, texture is that one final detail that can’t be ignored.

A small weaving reminds me to include texture in my work. (Photo by Jenn Guneratne)

1. Measure and cut slits approximately ¼″ deep and ¼″ wide on both short sides of an old credit or gift card. Bend every other tab slightly forward.

2. Weave a length of heavy-duty string or yarn around each of your tabs, leaving a 3″ tail on the back side of the card, going from one short end to the other and back again (This is your warp). (FIGURE 6) Trim the yarn, again leaving a short tail. Tape the tails down to the back of the card.

3. Cut short lengths of yarn or string, approximately 3 ½″ long, and create a slipknot over each warp string to create small rya knots. (FIGURE 7) Gently tighten the knots, and slide them down to one short end of the card. Repeat across the mini loom, creating as many rows of rya knots as you want. Use a variety of yarns, if you like.

4. Thread a large plastic darning needle with a length of yarn that is approximately 4 ½ times the width of your mini loom. Thread the needle under the warp closest to 1 edge of the loom and just above the rya knots. Pull through, leaving a short tail hanging off the side of the loom. Take your needle over the next warp string, under the next, and over the next. Continue weaving over and under each warp string until you reach the far side of the mini loom. (FIGURE 8)

5. When you reach the far side, loop around the warp string and continue working your weave back in the opposite direction.

6. Use a small comb or your fingers to gently push the weaving down, close and tight to the bottom of your loom, after each few rows.

7. When you reach the end of the length of yarn, tie on a new piece and continue weaving. As you work your weaving you can tuck the knots to the reverse side.

8. Stop weaving approximately ½″ from the top of the loom, trim the weft yarn, leaving a 6″ tail, and give the weaving a final comb down.

9. Lift the warp strings gently off of the tabs at the bottom of the loom, and then lift them off the tabs at the top, pushing your weaving down one final time. Snip the warp strings, (FIGURE 9) and knot them toward the back of your weaving. Use a needle to tuck the tails in on the reverse side of your weaving. Tie a piece of yarn or string onto the top of the weaving for hanging, and attach it to your vision board.

10. Finish your vision board with a hanger. I crocheted over a branch and added some handcrafted rag rope, which made a pretty and vibrant hanger. (SEE OPENING IMAGE.)

My vision board is a colorful and collective reminder to get creative and stay creative. For me, this means staying true to what I love. As I create, I change. I am constantly learning and morphing, and my work changes along with me. Because of this, my vision boards change over time as well. Bits and pieces are added and taken away until eventually the panel is new, inspiring me to create something unique all over again.

Rae Missigman is a self-taught mixed-media artist, who loves to create, blog, and instruct. She has a passion for repurposing found items and turning them into something beautiful. She has a fondness for both pattern and color that has led her to create outside the lines, resulting in artwork that is both complex and polychromatic. Rae‘s new book will be published later this year with North Light Books. Visit Rae’s website at

Looking for more mixed-media inspiration? Make Carolyn Dube’s artsy dice, then roll the dice and create away!

Plus, don’t miss the products featured below for more ideas and inspiration.

Rae Missigman’s Paint, Stencil, Stitch Kit guides you through luscious layers of painting, stamping, printmaking, stitching, and more with 35+ techniques to try. Explore four DVDs and four popular Art Lessons!
The January/February 2017 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors is all about defining your goals, setting time aside to accomplish them, and some fun projects to get you on the right track.
In this Art Lesson, Rae Missigman shows you how to make a personalized, colorful, and textured cover for your journals with your own creative style.

The Evolution of Art Journals

Instead of a choosing a word for 2018, I am adopting a phrase: What’s old is new again. This phrase has been echoing through my head for a couple of months, to the point where it was begging to be explored. The phrase applies to several aspects of my life, but with art, it is specific to revisited ideas and techniques, with a special focus on my art journals.

art journals

My art journals are one area of my art making that have evolved dramatically through the years. I recently had an opportunity to review a big stack of my older journals, and even watched a video that demonstrated how I addressed the journal page back in the day. It was fun to consider these options with fresh eyes.

art journals

I made a “note to self” about many of the things I saw in my older art journals; certain techniques I wanted to try again and incorporate into my present style. I even took photos of some pages and made comparisons across the years and tried to analyze how I had achieved certain results.

art journals

Looking back and thoughtfully considering older work is something that can benefit artists at any level. It’s often quite helpful, especially when you’re working to develop your own voice or move to the next level with your art, to compare and contrast your work over the years. You might be surprised at how consistent you have been, be it with a color palette or compositional choices. You might notice that a certain type of mark making appears over and over in your work. Noticing these similarities can help develop a language and symbolism that is all our own. Through this language we can truly develop our own voice.

art journals

Revisiting older pieces in my art journals feels like spending time with an old friend. In my case, this has prompted me to circle back to themes that I don’t believe were finished for me, themes that are worthy of further journaling. I also want to consider some of my previous color palettes, especially within the context of my newer work. There are even supplies I was using that I had forgotten about—oh, perish the thought!

art journals

I encourage you to gather older work, or even unfinished pieces, and see them with new eyes. I feel sure you’ll learn about your own art making in the process and perhaps even agree that what’s old is new again.

Mary Beth Shaw worked in the insurance industry for 18 years before she quit her job in 2000 to re-ignite a childhood love of art. She is now a full-time painter and internationally known workshop instructor. Her creative process is largely self-taught, spontaneous and joyful. She is author of Flavor for Mixed Media and Stencil Girl, both published by North Light Books, and is a columnist for Somerset Studio magazine. In 2010, Mary Beth recognized a need for artist designed stencils and created StencilGirl Products, which has quickly grown into a respected supplier of high-quality stencils for all media. Living with her husband and three cats, Mary Beth is passionate about every moment of life. See more of Mary Beth’s work at

There’s so much to explore in art journaling! These 10 awesome art journaling tips are sure to improve your next creative adventure!

This great Art Journaling with Mary Beth Shaw download includes two instructional videos by Mary Beth Shaw, a bonus pdf, and a recording of an online event with Mary Beth. If you art journal or want to journal, this download is tailor made for you!

What’s Your Word of the Year?

Choosing a word of the year is something artists love to do; it signals an intention and provides focus for the year ahead. In the January/February 2018 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, we asked our readers to send us their word of the year interpreted in mixed media, and the results were phenomenal. Words like “persevere,” “reach,” and “possibility” were incorporated into handmade books, stitch projects, collages, and abstract paintings. The challenge inspired me to come up with my own word of the year, and to build a pop-up art journal page around it.

Why a pop-up? It adds such an element of surprise, and there happens to be a great sophisticated pop-up card project by Debi Adams in the same issue that you must check out. It reminded me how much I love making pop-ups!

My word for the year came to me in a nanosecond: strive. It hits so many key areas of my life, including my job (endeavoring to bring you the best mixed-media projects and ideas in every issue of Cloth Paper Scissors), my own art practice (being motivated to draw every day), and even little things, like remembering to be kind and patient with others and myself. Once I had the word, a pop-up seemed so fitting—it’s something extra, requiring more thought and energy, but with a huge payoff. I chose a butterfly as my focal image because of what it represents: striving to transform, to become something better than you were yesterday.

I started the journal spread by tearing pieces of torn book and ledger pages and adhering them with acrylic matte medium. I love this collage background technique because of the interest it provides, and the fact that you can minimize the boldness of the text with gesso or paint. When the papers were dry I trimmed the edges with a craft knife.

Collaging book pages for an art journal background
Never fear the blank page when you use torn book pages to create an interesting art journal background.

I chose gesso to knock back the contrast a bit, brushing on two coats of Prima Art Basics Heavy Gesso in white. Between the first and second coats I wrote some phrases in pencil to go along with my word—my cursive is exaggerated, so only I know what it says. You can also scratch into wet gesso with the end of a paintbrush to write words or make marks and designs.

Using gesso to take down the contrast on an art journal background
A couple of coats of gesso knock back the intensity of the print.

When the gesso dried I added some color with thinned-down acrylic paint in shades of teal (Ranger Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Acrylic in Ocean, mixed with white) and green (Golden Artist Colors fluid acrylic in Green Gold, also mixed with white). After mixing the colors with water I dripped the paint from spoons down the pages, then used my fingers to add pools of color in various places. I mixed each color with a little Payne’s Gray to get some darker values, and added those shades to the pages as well. Spoiler alert: You’ll see more of these fun art journaling techniques in the March/April issue of Cloth Paper Scissors! Stay tuned!

Creating a painted background for a word of the year art journal spread
Thinking about how you want to feature your word of the year will help you decide how to create your page background.

When that dried I added back some white with an abstract design stencil (I used  “Let’s Doodle” from Red Lead Paperworks). I wanted the overall effect to be loose and somewhat abstract, as a contrast to the carefully drawn vintage butterfly illustrations.

Stenciling in white paint on an art journal background
To create another layer, I stenciled some abstract designs in white paint.

Now, how to add the word…I tried out a few hand-written versions and wasn’t crazy about any of them, so I printed the word in a cool font (Emmascript MVB Std) and turned it into an image transfer. After flipping the word horizontally in Photoshop, I used a Chartpak AD Blender marker to add it to the bottom of the page.

Creating an image transfer for the word of the year
For my word of the year, I created an image transfer using a blender marker.

To pop up the butterfly I created a floating (or table) pop-up for the butterfly, which allows it to appear as if it were hovering over the page. This is super easy and has a big wow factor. One important thing to note: If you’ve never done pop-ups before, making mock-ups is an absolute necessity. There’s no worse feeling than cementing your pop-up in a journal spread or card, only to realize it’s too large, not in the correct position, or doesn’t work at all. The time you spend doing this is well worth it, trust me. I speak from experience.

For the pop-up mechanism, create two open boxes from a strip of cardstock, making sure they’re exactly the same size. You’ll have to measure your image to determine how large the squares need to be. I first created a 1″-square box, but it seemed to high off the page, so I made it ¾” instead. I cut two strips of cardstock 1″ wide and 3 ½” long, marked the strips along the length at four ¾” intervals, and made the last one ½” (see ‘A’, below). It helps when making pop-ups to fold the mechanism with the paper grain; in this case, the grain runs parallel to the short side.

I then accordion-folded the strip at each mark (B). I reversed some of the folds to create a box, and glued the ½” tab to the first fold, using extra-strength glue stick (C). I made one more box exactly the same way, and glued them together along one side, again using glue stick (D). One other important thing to note when making pop-ups: Allow the glue time to dry and set. If not, as you manipulate the pieces they may come apart if they’re not solid.

Pop-up mechanism for a floating pop-up
Making pop-ups is easy, and creating mock-ups is a must!

I chose a vintage butterfly image from The Graphics Fairy and changed the color in Photoshop to bright pink, a nice contrast to the blue-green background. After printing it onto white cardstock and folding it in half, I glued the double-box mechanism to the back side of the butterfly.

Gluing the pop-up mechanism
The pop-up mechanism was glued to the back side of the butterfly.

When that was dry I glued up the two bottom panels of the mechanism, placed it in the gutter of the spread with the seam in the middle, and closed the journal. After a minute I opened it again to make sure everything was working, then closed it until the glue dried.

In addition to the big pop-up, I wanted to incorporate smaller flip-ups that would reveal my specific goals for year. I printed out more butterflies from The Graphics Fairy onto cardstock and cut them out, adding small tabs on the tops of the wings for the flip-ups.

Flip-up butterflies for an art journal page
Smaller butterflies were used for flip-ups on the page.

The backs of the butterflies were painted so they wouldn’t be stark white, and the undersides of the tabs were adhered to the pages. Here’s one of my intentions:

Word of the year intention on a flip-up for an art journal page
An intention for my word of the year!

For a thoughtful inspiration word, I think this spread is pretty fun. Have you chosen a word of the year? If so, try creating a piece of mixed-media art around it, and make sure to see the results of our reader challenge for great inspiration!

Get more techniques for turning flat paper into 3-D art in this blog post, which shows you easy ways to sculpt paper.

Set your goals for the year, and achieve them! We have fantastic books, videos, and magazines to help you become the best artist you can be.

Word of the Year reader challenge results in the January/February 2018 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine
Make sure you check out our Word of the Year reader challenge results in the January/February 2018 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine!
Inspirational Quotes Illustrated by Lesley Riley
Looking for the right words? Inspirational Quotes Illustrated by Lesley Riley shows you amazing ways to incorporate meaningful words in your artwork.
Joanne Sharpe's Inspirational Art Journals video
Joanne Sharpe’s Inspirational Art Journals video is the perfect guide to rendering your word of the year in mixed media, beautifully!
Folded Books and Paper Art: 14 Projects to Create eBook
Unique folded books and paper projects (including an awesome pop-up) are included in the eBook Folded Books and Paper Art: 14 Projects to Create.

Project: Handmade Metal Jewelry

Before I started making my own handmade metal jewelry, I stalked every art fair, craft festival, and artisan shop, looking for signature pieces that could make an outfit. Then I started working with metal, and realized I could make pretty much anything I wanted—any style, color, shape, design. And no one else would have it!

One of the things I love most about handmade metal jewelry is that it doesn’t take a ton of expensive tools and materials to make something fantastic. Something as simple as wire is extremely versatile and easy to work with, and can become anything you need: a necklace, earrings, bracelet, ring, or pin. Also, the techniques you learn making jewelry can be applied to other areas of mixed-media art, like handmade books and collage.

handmade metal jewelry
I made this handmade metal jewelry necklace in no time, using a couple of simple techniques!

Recently I needed a necklace to go with a new bohemian-style blouse, and decided to incorporate some techniques from the book Making Metal Jewelry: How to Stamp, Forge, Form and Fold Metal Jewelry Designs, by Jen Cushman. I started with some pre-annealed wire I had leftover from another project. Annealing is simply heating metal with a small torch to a certain temperature to soften it and make it easier to work with. As you work with metal, hammering and bending it, you’re smashing those molecules together, making the material stiffer and more brittle. In jewelry making, that’s called work hardening. Heat loosens up the metal again, allowing you to continue to work with it.

For this project, you can also use regular jewelry wire without annealing it. I cut a 7″ piece of 18-gauge wire and hammered each end with a ball-peen hammer to create a little paddle. This is a great design element and helps to create a smoother end that won’t snag your clothes.

Hammering the end of a piece of wire results in a flat paddle shape, a great design element.

If you still feel some burrs after hammering it, sand the tip of the wire with a flat metal file until all edges are smooth. Always file in one direction, not back and forth.

Sanding the end of the paddled wire ensures it won’t snag your clothing.

When both ends were paddled I wrapped the wire around a wooden dowel about 3/8″ in diameter. I did a messy wrap, overlapping the wire as I wrapped it. If you find the wire difficult to bend, grab one end with flat-nose pliers and then wrap. You can also use the pliers to tuck the ends in if they’re sticking up too far.

Messy wraps are so beautiful, and they can be incorporated in any number of handmade metal jewelry designs.

I slid the coil off the dowel and made two more. I suddenly realized I needed jump rings—the ones I had were too small. Making your own is so easy, and you can create them in any size, in any color of wire. I found another smaller dowel, wrapped the wire around that, slid it off, and cut rings with a flush cutter.

For the pendant, I wire wrapped a pearl and faceted stone, connected it to a jump ring, and then to one of the wrapped coils.

Yes, you can make your own jump rings from wire!

Two more jump rings were attached to the center coil, and chain was attached to the jump rings. Two more messy coils were added, and more chain. Here’s the finished necklace:

handmade metal jewelry
I love mixing metals when making jewelry—copper, aged brass, and gunmetal look great together.

Those coils can be used in so many more ways for handmade metal jewelry. I used them as the focal point of a pair of earrings with pearl drops:

handmade metal jewelry
Those same coils make great drops for earrings.

I also made another necklace with three more coils. I cut a 2″ piece of the annealed 18-gauge wire and hammered it a little to work harden it. I formed a small loop at one end with round-nose pliers, threaded on three coils and two large beads, and then formed a loop at the other end. After adding jump rings on both ends of the wire, I attached some chain and a closure.

handmade metal jewelry
Viewed straight on, the messy wrapped coils take on a different look!

Isn’t it amazing what you can do with just a few feet of wire and some basic tools? I now have a whole new jewelry wardrobe that I made using one simple technique.

These great instructional resources we have on metal jewelry take you through each technique so expertly that you’ll soon feel like a pro. You’ll learn to etch metal, stamp designs, connect pieces, and more. You’ll also quickly discover there’s something so satisfying about making handmade metal jewelry—especially when you get lots of compliments on your designs.

You can create patinas on handmade metal jewelry using items you probably have in your kitchen! Check out this tutorial on making metal patina on copper.

Start making your own jewelry today using the great techniques in Making Metal Jewelry by Jen Cushman.
Don’t miss Deryn Mentock’s Boho-inspired handmade metal jewelry project in the January/February 2018 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine!
Etching metal takes it to a new level; easy techniques and projects are detailed in Making Etched Metal Jewelry by Kristen Robinson and Ruth Rae.
Tracy Stanley walks you through a number of techniques for creating custom handmade metal jewelry pieces in Exploring Metal Jewelry.
The best beginner’s companion to making handmade metal jewelry is here! The Getting Started Making Metal Jewelry eBook by Mark Lareau includes advice on setting up a home workshop, and shows you the basics of cutting, soldering, wirework, and much more.


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Karen & Marco's Wedding: Martinique Banquets in Burbank, IL

Karen & Marco had a very warm outdoor ceremony at Martinique Banquets; the sun was out in full force during their "I Do's" Their reception was full of surprises, she got him a cake just for him! Their  family made them a really cute canvas and arranged for beautiful live music during dinner. What a great day!  it was wonderful being  apart of it.  Congratulations you two!

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Unnikkoottam Fest 20 17-18
Udaya Province FFT Dept. conducted Unnikkoottam Fest on 2/12/2017 for the Bible Nursery students. The fest conducted at Lisieux complex Irinjalakuda.There were four competitions like action song , vachana bhavabhinayam , devotional song , Introducing the saints wearing their costumes. etc. The function is inaugurated by the Rev. Dr. Jojo Kokkatt , asso. catechism Director, ijk diocese . It was a great success.


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Wednesday Giveaway! Win a book from Andrews McMeel Universal!

ed hardy love kills slowly subversive cross stitch pattern book 263x300 Wednesday Giveaway! Win a book from Andrews McMeel Universal!Happy Wednesday! Today we’re busy in the office with prep for 2013 and all the fantastic issues of Creative Machine Embroidery to come. We’re also looking back at forms of embroidery that didn’t necessarily use a machine. The first embroidery I ever attempted was cross-stitch. I had so much fun making little motifs for my friends and family. Did you know you can cross-stitch with your embroidery machine? Watch for tips on how to do this in an upcoming issue of CME!

With all that in mind, we’re giving away a cross-stitch book from Andrews McMeel Universal, Love Kills Slowly, 30 Cross-Stitch Patterns from Ed Hardy. This book is filled with inspiration from the iconic tattoo artist Ed Hardy. Using his fun designs, you can quickly stitch up a series of skulls, dragons, butterflies and little devils.

If you would like to win, all you have to do is answer one question: What types of hand embroidery do you enjoy?

Answer the question in the comments field below before Friday afternoon, when we’ll announce a randomly chosen winner. Best of luck!

This entry was posted in Wednesday Giveaway. Bookmark the permalink.

16 Responses to Wednesday Giveaway! Win a book from Andrews McMeel Universal!

  1. Jyothi says:

    I enjoy crossstitching

  2. Tracy Bolton says:

    I love to applique and cross stitch it keeps me sain since I became disabled, im partially sighted but can still stitch ooh yes I can, my hubby is a tattooist and Id love to decorate our home and studio with these designs x

  3. Joy says:

    I most enjoy doing hand embroidered blocks of children designs to use in quilts for my Grand-children. I also like the Crabapple Hill Designs.

  4. Jenny Kucera says:

    I made cross stitch Christmas stockings for each of my grandkids, I also enjoy larger projects to be framed and displayed on the wall. Counted cross stitch is my favorite fiber hobby (and I have many)

  5. Barb says:

    i LOVE cross stitch!

  6. Christa nee says:

    I liked crewel embroidery. Once when I quit smoking, I made a big design of hot air balloons in about a week, taking my mind off smoking!

  7. Denise Davis says:

    I especially love cross stitch. I just completed a complicated picture of Jesus as a shepherd. I completed his face first (including outlining) so I would have it to inspire me as I finished the project. It took me a year!!

  8. I’m mainly a machine embroiderer but I do love a bit of cross stitch for those rare hobby time moments! Love alternative stitchery (as you can tell from my website hehe!) so the chance to get my mitts on this rockin’ book could not be missed!

  9. Debbie E. says:

    I have a few Ed Hardy jackets and they’re popular here in LA. I have only hand not machine embroidered cross-stitch and that’s probably my favorite-mostly on tea towels for gifts. I have a great variety of embroidery thread that really needs to be used!

  10. Jory says:

    I love punch needle projects! What a fun book- fingers crossed!!

  11. Judi says:

    I love doing crewel stitch embellishing items, it all started with repairing a Christmas stocking that was made for my husband when he was a youngin’ probably 57 years ago….it has been awhile since I’ve done counted cross stitch, it would be really fun doing a Ed Hardy design in counted cross stitch that would get me back at it!! Just sayin’ :)

  12. Kris Reindl says:

    I first learned hand embroidery using the designs on pillowcases. Then I taught myself how to do counted cross stitch with help from my sister-in-law. I showed my youngest sister how to do counted cross stitch and taught my daughter. My sister still does a lot of counted cross stitch. I still like counted cross stitch but my embroidery machine does it so much faster!

  13. mad14kt says:

    I enjoy cross stitching.

  14. I have done counted cross stitch. Like crewel embroidery. Like to do hand embroidery while watching TV of an evening.

  15. Sue Fox says:

    I enjoy doing counted cross stitch projects of flower and garden scenes, i am learning to do counted cross stitch on my embroidery machine now.

  16. Counted cross stitch is among my many fiber crafts. My mother taught me to do counted cross stitch at the age of 10, that was over 30 years ago! Currently I have a very large and complicated counted cross stitch in progress of a native american in full head dress with wolves mystically hid in the image. It will be a very beautiful piece when completed.

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Haiti sets date for second round of voting

By Moni Basu, CNN
  • Haiti sets a timetable for election runoff
  • The announcement comes as cholera deaths surge past 4,000
  • U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Haiti on Sunday

(CNN) -- Haiti's political crisis will not be resolved until well into spring as the nation's election panel announced a timetable for a runoff and subsequent vote tally.

The Provisional Electoral Council said it will announce Wednesday long-awaited results of the disputed presidential vote, with a runoff scheduled for March 20. Final results will not be known until April 16.

Attempts to resolve the political turmoil came as the toll in the nation's cholera outbreak surged past 4,000, the public health ministry said.

More than 200,000 people have been sickened and 4,030 have died as of January 24, according to the latest report posted by the ministry.

Struck by a massive earthquake a year ago, Haiti has been struggling to recover. Its troubles were compounded first by cholera and then by the November 28 presidential elections that became mired in controversy.

In early December, the electoral council announced that former first lady Mirlande Manigat had won but lacked a majority of votes for an outright victory. Initial results put her in a runoff with Jude Celestin, a protege of President Rene Preval.

The third-place candidate, popular musician Michel Martelly, claimed he had won more votes than Celestin and a review of results by an Organization of American States team supported that contention. That review suggested that Martelly earned a spot in the runoff.

It's unclear whether Preval's ruling Inite (Unity) party plans to withdraw its support of Celestin in light of the election review.

Discontent with Preval and his government manifested itself on the streets of Haiti after the preliminary results were announced. Haitians charged vote fraud and burned cars, tires and Celestin's campaign headquarters in Port-au-Prince.

The electoral council said it will announce the final results of the first round on Wednesday. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Haiti on Sunday. Part of her discussion with Preval will focus on the ongoing electoral crisis.


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CO-LAB Design Office MX.jpg

C O L L A B O R A T I V E    D E S I G N   O F F I C E

Inspired by the natural beauty of the Yucatan, our projects encourage a greater connection to the natural world through design. Embracing sustainable principles, each project carefully weaves the architectural program with the beauty of each site to create unique contextual designs. Locally sourced natural materials and handcrafted finishes render rooms built around views of nature, gentle breezes, light and shadows, to create new compositions and relationships. Seeing beauty in the imperfections of hand crafted finishes and locally sourced natural materials CO-LAB works directly with artisans to create sustainable environments in harmony with their surroundings.

Founded by Joana Gomes and Joshua Beck in 2010, CO-LAB is a full service architecture studio located in Tulum, Mexico. Joana Gomes, (Masters Oporto FAUP), has over 10 years of experience in the fields of architecture and urbanism, including 4 years with Winy Maas at MVRDV in Rotterdam, as well as 4 years as Design Director for FR-EE Fernando Romero. Joshua Beck, (M.Arch., UC Berkeley, B.ENVD., CU Boulder), has over 17 years of international experience in the combined fields of architecture, construction and wooden boat building; including 5 years of collaboration with Rem Koolhaas at OMA in Rotterdam


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Resource Directory

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Dallas County provides resource information as a service to all members of the community. We attempt to verify the information and keep it current; however, if you find that any of the information is incorrect, please notify us at We do not endorse, recommend or evaluate resources, programs, providers or services; therefore, we do not guarantee the quality of the services provided by these organizations.
Please contact Dallas County Public Health - Health Navigation at 515-993-3750 for further assistance.

The Counseling Center

  • Divisions:Mental Health/Salud Mental, Parenting/Crianza de los hijos
  • Phone:(515) 421-4031

915 Main St.
Adel, IA 50003

Programs/ Services:

  • Youth Homes’ Counseling Center offers therapy services to youth up to age 21 and their family members.
  • Therapy Services – Assessment & Individual, Family, and Group Therapy
  • Children's Mental Health Waiver - Family and Community Support Services & In-Home Family Therapy
  • Behavioral Health Intervention Services (BHIS) – Individual & Family
  • Family Support
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• Sync Adapter in Android – A Simple Example…

    Hello all, In Today’s article we will be discussing about the SyncAdapters in Android. SyncAdapter is just a simple plugin like structure for syncing your server and Device. Check out this post about Account authenticator before proceeding. Why do we […]

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Friday, August 22, 2003

The Ultimatum Game

This is the ultimatum game. I have $10. I offer to share that money with you, split however I decide. Once I offer you your share (say, $4), you can decide to accept the offer or reject it. If you accept it, then you get your share and I keep mine. The game ends. If you reject it, however, we both lose all the money and get nothing.

There are variants for things like multiple rounds, but let's keep it simple. Rational actor theory from economics would tell us that the best strategy is to accept whatever you're offered. After all, it's better than nothing. If I offer you $1 and keep $9, your choice is a) $1 or b) $0. Obvious. What happens when people are actually tested, however (even in cirumstances where they are assured there will be no second round with the same player and thus no chance for retribution or learning), is that people disproportionately reject "unfair" offers. That this is a shock to economists tells us something about economists. What's interesting about this study is that MRI images of the brain taken during the study showed that the portion of the brain responsible for emotion triggered during rejection of unfair offers. This did not happen, and rejection took place less often, when the test subject was playing a computer.


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Colin Finck's Homepage
Colin Finck's Homepage

PE Builder/Windows PE

Related pages
Readout for developers

You can also use Readout features in your own applications. Universal-Readout contains an ActiveX/COM DLL, which provides all features.
At the moment there is not an SDK for Universal-Readout. But you can view the source code of the plugins Word-Readout and Writer-Readout, because these plugins also use the Universal-Readout DLL.
If you have questions, you can also write me an E-Mail.

© 2003-2008 Colin Finck


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The longer game that will reach through the election

Is Bill English slipping behind the play? A 1990s cabinet colleague, Simon Upton, last Tuesday in effect said he is.

Upton was in Wellington to deliver the 2017 Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) review of our environmental performance.

Twenty years back English, a very-up-and-coming MP, used to say that for his generation the argument over the drastic economic deregulation in 1984-92 was irrelevant. A less regulated economy and smaller government was the way, the light and the truth.

But those certainties in turn are now being questioned, including by some next-generation, up-and-coming MPs.

Last week’s specific issue was charging private interests for use of a common resource, water, to make a private profit. English mate Nick Smith called that plain silly because it would destroy the dairy industry. Cows, one might say, are now sacred.

English parked the issue until after the election with the Land and Water Forum’s technical group which is to examine how water could be charged for if no one owns it. The Wellington City Council could tell him: it charges households which chose to go on a water meter what it calls a “consumption charge” of $2.32 a cubic metre. That is, it sells them the water.

English does have a complication: asserted iwi legacy rights to water. Iwi have yet to agree among themselves how to pitch that.

But public support is building for charging private interests for use of water and not just billing them for “reticulation costs”. Natural resources belong to all of us, even if not “owned” as defined in our English-derived law. Should people make a private profit out of a “free” common good?

Upton’s OECD review was blunt. “Resource rentals for water abstraction and pollution charges should be explored.” Translated from OECD diplomatic-speak, that means “should be imposed”.

There would also have to be changes in land use — shorthand for fewer cows.

London-based Vivid Economics said that, too, in a landmark report the same day, commissioned and ticked off by the cross-party GLOBE NZ group of 35 MPs including 11 National MPs. It explored three ways of getting (or not) to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the second half of this century.

Both reports saw opportunities in premium sales to well-off, planet-conscious consumers wanting truly natural products to eat, wear and sit on or, as tourists, to marvel at and experience.

Farmers and the rest of us don’t need to be impoverished, as Smith implied in his comments on pricing water to the dairy sector.

Cows, too, could have a nicer time if not jammed in small part-paddocks.

Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett spoke at Vivid’s public launch. She did not exactly endorse the report but didn’t kick it into touch either.

Bennett has been more words than action in her 15 months in the climate job, as a quick scan of Upton’s and Vivid’s list of stuff to do, including energy efficiency, far more electric vehicles and building and processing heating, indicates.

But Bennett has inquiries under way, including on the flawed emissions trading scheme and adaptation (now left to councils, without resourcing). She has not discouraged former climate change ambassador Adrian Macey from forming a stakeholder group similar to the Land and Water Forum and has said she is open to building a cross-party consensus.

Most of that, too, runs safely past the election.

Contrast Ministry for the Environment (MfE) chief executive Vicky Robertson’s comment last Thursday to a day-long “symposium” on how to build future needs and aspirations into today’s decision-making.

Robertson talked of very long negative and positive lags between human actions and their environmental impact. So, start fixing things now.

Would that be too far ahead of public and business opinion and too risky in the election? Robertson reported finding much louder public interest than even two years ago. Business is more engaged, MfE is finding. Business New Zealand has done its own forward scenarios.

Here’s Robertson on water: “We have undervalued our access” by not pricing such “externalities”, as 1980s economics calls common resources’ contribution to private profits. Looming limits to growth meant that would not work in future. So MfE is leading (with the Treasury) an attempt to value natural capital.

Environmental issues are long-term. Others issues stirred up in this turbulent decade are, too: for example, “work”, “trade”, “health” and “education” (the Productivity Commissions’ final tertiary education report also landed last Tuesday).

Those issues pose a big post-election question: can 1990s-steeped English and post-1990s Bennett take us beyond 2000s arguments to productive ways of thinking for the 2020s?

And, if so, should we expect a pointer or two before the election?

* The Afghanistan rage is over whether, if civilians died, that was intended (a crime) or unintended (collateral damage) and whether the Defence Force dissembled, which it denied in detail yesterday.


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Monthly Archives: July 2014

28 July 2014 – Brooklyn Cyclones at Lowell Spinners

We have all lost the will to win

Last year, the second Cyclones night game in Lowell was rained out.  This year looked like it could be a repeat with the tarp on the field and thunderstorms rolling through at the scheduled game time of 7:05pm.  First pitch was delayed by more than an hour, but this game would take place.  This sloppy mess of a game that went on for more than three hours with six errors and countless more misplays that might as well have been called errors.  Nobody particularly dominated but the Spinners lost control in the 6th to hand the Cyclones an 8-5 victory in front of a crowd of dozens.

Read more »

27 July 2014 – Brooklyn Cyclones at Lowell Spinners

Bark in the Park is bad news for Katz

The Cyclones made their annual trip to Lowell on Sunday and three of’s newly-announced midseason top 20 Mets prospects were in play for the opener.  Michael Conforto (#4) would drive in Amed Rosario (#7) for the game’s first run, but Marcos Molina (#16) didn’t have his best stuff on the mound and didn’t get any favors from the Brooklyn defense (including his own).  Down 3-1 after three innings, Molina settled in and the Brooklyn offense stepped up to take game 1 9-3.  The comeback was sparked by Michael Bernal, who entered the game in the bottom of the third when Michael Katz had to be driven off the field after an injury.

Read more »

Comprehensive Baseball Ink Test: Overview

Now we’re getting serious

Like anyone with a big stack of autographed baseballs, the last thing I want to see happen to them is for the autograph to fade away to nothing over time.  Unfortunately, there isn’t much literature out there on this problem, just collections of anecdotes.  Over the past year, I’ve conducted a couple of tests to help make sense of the mechanisms involved and give me an idea of where to go next.  With the preliminary research out of the way, it’s time to go full-scale and test the key variables to finally answer the question of what a baseball should be signed with.  To get up to speed, start with these posts:

Faded Memories in Ink on Leather

Synthetic Leather Baseball Ink Test Phase 2

Baseball Ink Test Preliminary Results

But first, let’s go over what I’m not accounting for.  One concern that this test will not resolve is about the effect of different pen pressures and stroke styles on the longevity of a signature.  Theoretically, an autopen setup could be used to carefully control these aspects of the test, but I don’t have one.  Also, these factors are out of the control of the receivers of an autograph, so I’m not sure what could be gained.  This is an area where this test will fall short of full technical rigor and I would be negligent if I failed to point that out.

Also beyond the scope of this experiment is the effect on temperature and humidity on the different aspects of this process.  These factors could significantly affect the flow of ink from the pen, the application of the ink to the ball, and the durability of the ink over time.  Environmental conditions will be the same for the initial application of all ink and will be the same within each test location, though these locations will not be maintained to guarantee identical conditions between locations.  Some variation is accepted as a limitation of this test.

Read more »

2013 Futures Game Material Overview

Stars of tomorrow, jerseys from last year

On Sunday, Noah Syndergaard made his second futures game appearance, closing out the USA team’s 3-2 victory after starting off last year’s Futures Game at Citi Field.  It will be a few months before his jersey from this year’s Futures Game makes its way into cards, but last year’s edition is now widely available thanks to last month’s 2014 Bowman Inception.  In fact, Inception seems to have been the destination for much of the material from the 2013 Futures Game, leaving very little to fill the time before this year’s material appears (likely in 2014 Bowman Draft in November, possibly sooner).  While every year is different, here’s a look back at where the jerseys from the Mets prospects in last year’s Futures Game ended up.

For a guide to the various material types discussed here, see this breakdown of the 2013 NL All-Star jersey.

See all Futures Game material in the archives: USA Team | World Team

2013 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects

Players: Rafael Montero, Brandon Nimmo
Material: Primary

Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects is a typical landing spot for Futures Game material, so it wasn’t surprising to see the first 2013 Futures Game swatches show up here.  Of the three Mets though, only Rafael Montero and Brandon Nimmo were featured here and only with pieces of the primary fabric panels.  Noah Syndergaard would not have any material released in 2013.  Dilson Herrera, received in the August trade of Marlon Byrd and John Buck to the Pirates, does have jersey cards here but not as a Met, making them ineligible.  These cards have several serial numbered parallel tiers, but none of them contain any different material.

2014 Bowman

Players: Rafael Montero, Brandon Nimmo, Noah Syndergaard
Material: Primary, Secondary, Side Panel

As usual, the first Bowman product of the year included a few pieces of last year’s Futures Game jerseys.  And by “a few,” I mean 25 of each.  Unlike the more numerous Bowman Draft cards, these contained material from various different parts of the jerseys, including the small side panel sections, as seen in the Montero card above.  This set also featured the first Noah Syndergaard jersey cards as well as another non-qualifying Dilson Herrera card.

2014 Topps Pro Debut

Players: Dilson Herrera, Brandon Nimmo
Material: Primary, Secondary, Patch (Herrera only)

The first minor league product of the year, Pro Debut has a long history (all the way back to 2010) of including Futures Game material.  This year, it was where Topps burned off much of the material from lesser names, meaning Herrera (now shown as a member of the Savannah Sand Gnats and therefore eligible for inclusion here) and Nimmo.  While the material here is not identified as coming from the 2013 Futures Game, its origin is obvious.  The base jersey set (now called “Debut Duds” instead of “Minor League Materials”) featured two parallels (gold, numbered to 50, and silver, numbered to 25) with a mix of primary (front panels) and secondary (back panel) material.  No side panel swatches have been seen so far.  Dilson Herrera was also featured in the jumbo patch set (numbered to 5).

2014 Bowman Inception

Players: Rafael Montero, Noah Syndergaard, Dilson Herrera (patches only), Brandon Nimmo (patches only)
Material: Primary, Secondary, Patches

After a wait of nearly a year, Bowman Inception finally delivered Noah Syndergaard’s 2013 Futures Game material in quantity.  Syndergaard and Montero were both featured in the base memorabilia set with many parallels and variants containing material of various types, with many (but not all) of the low-numbered variants containing patches.  This is also the product that got most of the remaining large patches, including the apple ASG logo and letter patches (the 2013 Futures Game logo patches from Montero, Nimmo, and Syndergaard remain available for future products).

2014 Bowman Platinum

Players: Noah Syndergaard, Dilson Herrera, Brandon Nimmo (blue parallel only)
Material: Primary, Secondary, Side Panel

Bowman Platinum was absolutely loaded with memorabilia in 2014, much of it from the 2013 Futures Game. The bulk of it is from Noah Syndergaard and Dilson Herrera, including the elusive side panel swatches. Brandon Nimmo shows up in the retail-only blue parallel with primary and secondary swatches, leaving just his side panel swatches left to appear.

2014 Topps Heritage Minor League

Players: Brandon Nimmo
Material: Primary, Secondary, Side Panel

And in the final prospect product of the year with material from the 2013 Futures Game, we get that last missing piece – Brandon Nimmo side panel swatches. And his primary and secondary swatches as well. That wraps things up for 2013, on to 2014…

Product Spotlight: 2014 Topps Archives

Send in the clones

Two years ago, Topps brought back the Archives brand for the fourth time (following 1982, 1993-1995, and 2001-2005), once again changing the formulation to fit the modern collecting landscape. 2013 brought a few key changes to Archives, some of which were kept in 2014’s iteration along with a lot of significant additions. In the end though, 2014 saw the smallest autograph checklist ever in Archives and the least variety in card designs, with parallels attempting to make up the difference.

Card Design

Like last year, 2014 Archives uses a more vintage card stock than the 2012 version. The years selected for this go-around are a bit odd. 1973 is a classic design that looks great with today’s printing technology. 1980 is also a solid design, but it was one of the featured designs in 2012 Archives. Too soon? And then there’s 1986… If there’s an ’80s Topps design to skip, that’s the one. 1989, also featured in the die-cut minis in 2014 Topps Series 1 and Series 2, is a reasonable choice considering its 25th anniversary, shared with the movie Major League. Unlike previous years though, the short prints did not feature any additional designs and were instead limited to these four. Even the Fan Favorite Autographs only added the base designs from 2013 Archives. I really don’t get what Topps was thinking with these choices.

Mets Selection

Six Mets made the cut in the 200-card Archives base set. Travis d’Arnaud and Wilmer Flores are the default Mets Rookies in everything this year, Tom Seaver and David Wright are franchise players, and Matt Harvey and Curtis Granderson are somewhere in the mix for additional filler. Sadly, there’s not much star power on this team, so this is about the best that could be expected. One disappointment is that only the 1973 and 1989 designs are featured, but the SPs take care of the rest.  In terms of photography, most of these look like spring training photos, which look great on these designs.  The Wilmer Flores photo adds another to the list of Mets shown in Los Mets jerseys in 2014 Topps products.  The Granderson though looks awful.  And awfully familiar…

Once, twice, three times a photoshop

Really, Topps? You didn’t get even a single picture of Granderson in spring training? By the end of May, there is no excuse to be using lame photoshop jobs for a player signed last year. Series 1 and Heritage get a pass, Gypsy Queen is pushing it, but Bowman and Archives are simply unacceptable.

One other change to this year’s Archives SPs is the appearance of active players among the 50 SPs. Zack Wheeler is the lone Met in the 1980 design and Mookie Wilson and John Olerud have 1986 covered. With no alternate designs, many retired players appear in designs from outside their playing years, which was previously only seen in base cards. Also like the base cards, the SPs use the same pseudo-vintage card stock as the base set. The only things setting the SPs apart now are the card numbers and insertion ratios.

Like last year, all 200 base cards have a gold rainbow foil parallel numbered to 199. I still prefer the gold foil used in the 2012 Archives parallel, but I appear to be in the minority. New for 2014 and following in the silver trend seen in several other Topps products this year is a silver rainbow foil parallel numbered to 99. As in previous years, the SPs do not have parallels, which is a bit disappointing considering that most of the key RCs are SPs in 2014 Archives.

Mini Topps Deckle Inserts

In 2012 and 2013, the Archives Mets team set has been heavy on SPs and light on inserts. 2014 flips that around with only 3 SPs and a whopping 10 inserts. Unfortunately, three of those are of the mini deckle variety. The whole mini thing is so overdone at this point that, short of bringing back a Topps Leaders product, I would prefer to see all of these minis retired permanently. On top of that, the deckle edge die-cut pattern around black and white photographs with blue facsimile signatures creates one of the ugliest looks in all of sports cards. And yet it keeps coming back. I’m glad to see more John Olerud Mets cards, but I could do without this one.

1987 All-Star Inserts

This one is even more loaded, with Dwight Gooden, Gary Carter, Howard Johnson, and Matt Harvey featured here. These use the familiar design of the All-Star Commemorative Set cards inserted in rack packs from the ’80s. Unlike those cards though, these do not use glossy card stock and instead use the same standard card stock as most of the rest of the inserts. With so much of an emphasis on recreating vintage styles, the lack of high gloss here is a big miss and keeps this great design from really popping.

Other Inserts

But that’s not all. After getting Seaver in the 1972 basketball design last year, 2014 Archives brings us Seaver in the 1971 hockey design. Is football up next in 2015? Sadly, no Mets were featured in the most interesting insert set, the die-cut wood Firebrand insert set. 2014 Archives also featured two retail-exclusive insert sets, 1987 Future Stars and 1988 All-Stars (named “Retail Chase” for some reason). Howard Johnson and David Wright represent the Mets in those sets, respectively.

Fan Favorites Autographs

As always, the real draw among the common inserts is the Fan Favorites Autographs set. 2014 Archives features the smallest base autograph set of any Archives product with just 38 players signing this year. Five of those, John Olerud, Lenny Dykstra, Mookie Wilson, Howard Johnson, and Lenny Harris, are shown as Mets. Unlike the two previous Archives products, active players were also featured in this checklist, though none of them were Mets. Also unlike the previous Fan Favorites Autographs set, this year’s set features a few duplicate players from the 2012 and 2013 sets; Johnson and Wilson were also featured in 2013’s set and Olerud appeared in 2012’s set as a Blue Jay. Oddly, the lightened signature area that was introduced in 2013 was removed this time around, making the signatures harder to see (particularly on blue areas like Olerud’s jersey). The biggest change though would bring back something only previously seen in 2005.

Parallel Autographs

Parallels! The only time Archives autographs have had parallels before was back in 2005, and those were rainbow foil (similar to this year’s silver parallels) parallels numbered to 10. 2014 Archives went in a different direction with multiple tiers of colored border parallels: gold (retail exclusive, numbered to 50), silver (numbered to 25), purple (numbered to 10), sapphire (numbered to 5), and printing plates (four each numbered 1/1). Like we saw last year though, that doesn’t work for the 1990 design, so instead we got tinted background variants for those, which ranged from somewhat noticeable to nearly indistinguishable. The 1986 design fared somewhat better, but that’s really lipstick-on-a-pig territory:

And so it goes. The other designs looked decent, but purple? Silver I get because of this year’s silver fetish, but purple is an odd choice. First 2014 Bowman introduces purple base parallels numbered to 10 alongside the usual purple ice parallels numbered to 10 (not to be confused with the unnumbered retail exclusive purple prospect parallels), now this. It’s an odd time for Topps to start being consistent with its parallel numbering.

Other Mets

Several notable former Mets appeared in the 2014 Fan Favorites Autographs set with other teams. Carlos Baerga and Orlando Hernandez had their first certified autographs since the ’90s and Don Zimmer had his final autograph card to be issued before his death. Rickey Henderson also had a limited number of cards issued as redemptions.

The Rest

In addition to the Fan Favorites parallels, 2014 Archives featured several other low-numbered Mets autographs. David Wright and Mookie Wilson were in the 1981 mini autographs set, combining an awful design with the hated mini format. Gary Carter and Howard Johnson had 1987 All-Star autographs while Wright was featured again in a Retail Chase autograph variant. Darryl Strawberry, who was featured as a Yankee in the 1967 Winners Celebrate box toppers, was featured as a Met in the autograph variant. And that rounds out the Mets in this year’s Archives.

The Verdict

From a retail standpoint, the reduced production run (about half of last year’s Archives, or about 800 hobby cases plus retail) and the hot-selling Major League autographs made 2014 Archives a successful product. From a collector standpoint though, the value was limited unless you were lucky enough to hit a big card. That’s the norm these days, so it isn’t a surprise. Some of the base autographs held decent value, but the parallels, rather than adding value, devalued many of the base autographs. All five of the base Mets autographs were readily available for under $10 and even some of the printing plate autographs could be had for less than $20. No matter how you look at it, adding more of the same can’t take the place of variety.

The Mets team set has a different composition this year but still comes in at about the same size as always. Fewer SPs, more inserts, fewer autographs, more parallels, and no relics. The first Lenny Harris certified autographs and the first John Olerud Mets autographs since 1999 were definite highlights, but Topps missed the mark on several fronts. Between the odd design choices (and lack of design variety), the lack of gloss on the 1987 All-Star inserts, the underwhelming overload of parallel autographs, the return of mini deckles, and the awful relic design (with no Mets at least), there’s a lot of room for improvement. And that’s not even getting into the absurdly tiny (4 cards!) Major League insert set and the last-minute cancellation of The Warriors cards. Two years after bringing back a classic, Topps is spinning its wheels more than realizing the potential of the Archives brand.