Day 49 - sense of smell

"Make something in which the sense of smell is the essential component."

I often say that popcorn is my favorite food. That is probably a bit of an exaggeration, but it's not too far off. The smell of popcorn is irresistible to me.

Day 48 - white

"Be a minimalist. Work only with white materials today. Try working white on white for a real challenge."

It looks yellow in the photo, but actually the paints are "antique white" and "misty white". Also featuring white craft glue and white glitter.

Day 47 - rice flower, take two

"Quantity over quality. Work with a lot of something."

lots of rice.

For a couple of seconds, I thought about counting the grains of rice. Then, I realized that would be ridiculous. It's a lot. But, really, only a small plastic bag full. Maybe a cup and a half or so. For anyone worried about wasting food, fear not! These rice grains were previously in some jars with tealights as a decoration. Before that, the bag they were residing in said that they were severely out of date. I don't know if rice can actually go bad, but I like to follow those "best-before" dates when possible.

Day 46 - tower of learning

"How tall can you make something that stands up on its own?"

89 books. 75 inches tall.

So, this is not exactly standing up on its own. It is pretty much leaning against the wall. But this was my best idea. Stack a bunch of books up as high as they will go.

Some of them are old text books (why do I still have them?!)

Some are beloved kids' books ("The Sneetches")

 Some are books I've read many times ("1984")

Some have been on my "books to read" shelf for quite a while ("Fortunate Son")

I'm part-way into several of them ("The Body Project", "The Gifts of Imperfection")

And a few of them I've just recently acquired ("An Introduction to Pottery", "A Walk in the Woods")

I like books. I think you can never have too many of them. But, I recommend only stacking them up in tiny towers, not towers to the ceiling. It doesn't work.

(The title of this post is a reference to the Rufus Wainwright song of the same name.)

Day 45 - branch & flowers

"Work with flowers - artificial or real, live or dried, picked or bought."

Well isn't this ironic, since my whole theme is around flowers (sort of). I decided to pick some flowers that I have growing in a pot in my backyard. I don't remember what kind they are. I taped them onto a tree branch that I have over a doorway in my room.

Day 44 - autumn lights

"Make something that lights up. Work with an existing lampshade or put a small electric light or candle inside of something you make."

Well, it was about time to change out my little table decoration anyway, so I made a new seasonally-appropriate one. I used some kind of moss stuff, fake autumn leaves/berries, and a little owl friend. I'm not usually a big fan of the fake tea-lights - I prefer a real flame - but in this case it was a necessity, unless I wanted to ignite something.

Day 42 & 43 - two in one

So I skipped yesterday by accident. I had an exceptionally long day at work and figured it was more important to spend time with friends looking at actual art at an art fair in town.

So, today I ended up doing two in one. One of the days was to "create an image with tape". The other day was, "What can you do with a face?" Sooo...I ended up making a face out of tape, and then drawing on it a little bit. What can I say? Some days are more inspired than others.

  

Day 41 - junk mail

"Turn today's junk mail into something much more appealing."

Made from shredded junk mail, and a crumpled up grocery ad.

Day 40 - acorn

"Think big. Create a large version of something that would normally be much smaller."

I was thinking about things that are really small, and I thought of seeds. I didn't think it would be very exciting to draw a seed. And then I thought about acorns, because they are everywhere this time of year, and they are also seeds (well, I guess technically an acorn is a nut which contains a seed.

Acorns are pretty amazing, actually. They are relatively small, when you think about how huge an oak tree can grow. I also remember a professor using them as an analogy back in school - something about the length of time that it takes them to grow into an oak tree. It's a long time. But, anything that is worth growing or creating requires a little seed, some work, and a lot of patience and waiting.

Day 39 - yarn

"What can you do with yarn? You don't have to know how to knit or crochet; you can try yarn painting or just experiment."

What is it? A wagon wheel? A dream-catcher? A flower? It's whatever you want it to be. Cheers to my new roommate for letting me use the yarn!

Day 38 - snow globe deer

"Work underwater. Fill up a large bowl, vase, or old fish tank with water and create something inside of it."

So, I didn't actually make this underwater, but the thing that I made is now underwater. Good enough.

deer in a snow globe.

I saw this idea in a magazine at a friend's house last Christmas, and wanted to make one. When I saw today's project, I thought of it again, and I knew this was what I needed to make.

Day 37 - haiku

I'm swapping the one for today, because I have a good idea for the one in the book today but don't have the proper materials. So...

"Write a haiku about something that happens to you today or is in the news today."

rain is coming down

wash away the muck & grime

leave your umbrella

Day 36 - staples

"Make something with a stapler."

staples on black cardstock.

At first, I thought to use the staples to form something (above). And then, I thought about the real purpose of staples, and how they connect things together. So, then I ripped up a paper bag and stapled pieces together to form a flower. I kinda like the symbolism of the staples bringing pieces together to form a whole. 

pieces of paper bag, stapled together.

Day 35 - old new again

"Take something old and make it look new."

I got this old bench at a vintage market this summer and have been meaning to spray-paint it. So, I did that today. It's a lovely green color. Unfortunately, the photos aren't great, because it was already getting dark outside.

 I decided to throw on a little flower, in keeping with the theme.

Day 34 - opposite day

"Create instructions that others can use to make something and then have someone try it out."

 I declare that today is opposite day! I'm better at following directions than I am at giving them. So, I found some instructions to make a peace crane, and...I made one.

peace crane a la instagram.

Also, I just realized that this one has nothing to do with flowers or growth. I'm breaking the rules all over the place today.

Day 33 - button bouquet

"Work with wire."

button bouquet.

Day 32 - flower compass

"Use pens as your material/inspiration today."

Ok. I used a Sharpie pen to draw this:

compass-inspired flower. or, flower-inspired compass.

I've been thinking of getting a tattoo of a compass for a while now. Still not sure exactly of the design I want. This (or something like it) could be a possibility.

Day 31 - shadow

"Make something ephemeral. Can you create something using material that will dissipate quickly, like soap bubbles, smoke, butter on a griddle, or cream in coffee?"

Merriam-Webster defines "ephemeral" as: "1, lasting one day only. 2, lasting a very short time."

I made a shadow.

ephemeral tulip.

It's meant to be the shape of a tulip. Thus, the clothespin on my hand to look like the tulip stamen. Shadows last only a short time, since they depend on a light source. Of course, this was done with a lamp, since it's already dark outside. The point would be better made if the shadow were dependent on the sun, since it is more unpredictable.

Day 30 - scavenger hunt

"Make a path for people to follow, and invite people to try it out."

My niece and nephew happened to visit me this afternoon. So, I took an out-of-the-box definition of the word "path", and came up with a sort of scavenger hunt for them to follow around my backyard. Here is how it went:

1. start at the place where you can cook outdoors.

grill.

2. if you want to make a spaghetti sauce with delicious flavors, this is where you will gather some of the ingredients.

herb garden.

3. if you were a bird that needed to get spruced up, this is where you would go.

bird bath.

4. this tree comes from an Asian island nation, but has a cousin from the Great White North.

japanese maple.

5. you can take a rest under the cherry tree.

bench under the cherry tree.

6. go ring a bell!

bells.

7. if you want to have tea with the birds, this is where you'll go.

teapot birdhouse.

"welcome home, birds!"

putting the welcome sign up.

Day 29 - robot

"Work with toys."

"011001100110110001101111011101110110010101110010."

 The robot has a new flower. Cheers to this website for the binary conversion!

Day 28 - disguise

Slightly late tonight. Busy day. Went straight from work to dinner with friends and then a Bon Iver show. So, here is today's project.

"Make a disguise... See if you can fool anyone with it."

"whooooo..."

 I made this owl mask from an old graduation celebration glasses/mask thing. Sometimes it pays off to be a borderline packrat.

Day 27 - school supplies

"Use traditional school materials like number 2 pencils or lined paper notebooks to make something nontraditional."

 Well, it's a good thing I took advantage of those recent back-to-school sales to buy a bunch of supplies for my staff, but haven't actually given any of it out yet.

notebook petals, crayon pollen, highlighter stem & leaves.

I guess I can start giving stuff away now!

Day 26 - mixed media dream

"Use a recent dream as inspiration for what you do today."

I rarely remember my dreams. I like to think that it just means that I sleep really well, but it is kind of weird that I don't dream. I do every once in a while. I actually do remember just a snippet of a dream that I had during some fitful sleep early this morning. I was inside a large building, maybe a warehouse or something like that. At one point, I was peering outside through some kind of a hole in the wall. That's pretty much all I remember.

So, I created this:

I guess this is what's called mixed media. Drawing, photograph, and a pressed flower. The flower really has nothing to do with my dream, but I had to keep the flower theme somehow! You know when you see those flowers that grow out of cracks in a wall? Those flowers are pretty amazing.

Day 25 - moving elephants...

"Make something portable that normally isn't."

Hmm...this one nearly had me stumped.

Sometimes there are things that seem like they're just too big to move. Sometimes those gigantic things have a will of their own; they've gotten comfortable where they are and they won't budge. No matter what tactics you try, it seems impossible to get that huge thing out of the way. But...there is potential. If you use some ingenuity, and ask for some help, that thing actually can move. Asking for help is the hardest part. But, two heads are better than one. No one can move an elephant alone.

Day 24 - stones

"Work with nature. Go to your yard or a nearby park and collect materials to work with."

So, I had some grand plans to do some weaving from pine needles, but it was not to be. The pine needles in my yard weren't long enough to work with. So, I collected some stones from the flower beds and fashioned a flower shape on my front steps.

Day 23 - green

"Work only with green-colored materials today."

I had the idea to make a little greeting card from green materials. So, I looked through my collection of cardstock and found a good green color. Also, I save random pages from magazines with pictures or words that I like. So, I found this page with some green gourds on it, glued it on, and there you have it:

 Next step: write a letter in the card and send it to a friend!

Day 22 - recycling

"Dig in a recycling bin for all of today's materials."

folded/crinkled flower made from a newspaper from my recycling bin. not too creative. i was going to work on the project that i had skipped on day 12, but i discovered that my sewing machine wasn't working properly, so i couldn't do it. after that, i lost inspiration, and my recycling bin did not re-ignite it. here's hoping for a more inspirational tomorrow...

Day 21 - bridge

"Create a bridge. Connect two things in a creative way. It could be small enough for an amoeba or big enough for an elephant to cross it."

Not exactly a "bridge" per se, but it does connect from the wall to the window frame. I suppose an ant could cross it if it really wanted to. I cut flower shapes out of fabric and clothes-pinned them to twine. This one took me a while to think of. Hence, it is coming in just under the wire before midnight.

Day 20 - love story

"Write a ten-word love story. Bonus: Illustrate it!"

Seriously?! That is the assignment for the day? Hmmmm.....ok. I don't know how you can actually write a story about anything using only ten words. Here is my best attempt:

"in a world full of weeds, where can a flower be found?"