Paper Insane

For those who know me, you know I love paper. When I was a kid I used to circle in my mother's calendars the "paper" anniversaries for married couples and I would dream about my anniversary - being showered with different papers. Sad, I know, but I'm a pack rat and "I just know eventually I will use it."

I tried my hand at scrapbooking when it first came out - gathered some beautiful papers (and do my best not to buy new ones) and got bored. I began SoulCollage(R) and thought, "Awesome! I can go through some of my hoarded magazines and use what I need and get rid of the rest." That would make hubby happy right:)? The problem was I went to libraries and got even more magazines and hoarded those as well. Hey, you never know, I may need them for something else!!! Now my SoulCollage(R) cards are done mostly in the computer. Once again I looked at all my beautiful magazines and decided it was time to part.

I work in an agency for mental health (how appropriate for me being a minor hoarder) and decided some of the magazines would be beautiful and calming for the waiting room. The rest I would recycle... After getting rid of bags of magazines wouldn't you know I stumbled across paper beading. What would have been more perfect than all of my Birds and Blooms Magazines or Gardening magazines. I did save a few for another project and found they made the most gorgeous beads. Let the tears flow... now. Yesterday I was curious as to what ATC's were exactly. Needless to say I fell in love with the idea of making mini-art (for me it will probably be collages) and again the tears start to flow... now. I made 2 last night with some old Christmas cards I had and some magazines I hadn't parted with yet, because they were hidden in the vast corners of my bedroom where hubby didn't have to look at them. These are my first 2 attempts: