Small Success on Etsy

I'm so encouraged by the success I've had on Etsy my first month. I fully expected to join the ranks of the many talented people who have to wait months for their first sale. But God has really blessed my efforts! I've sold all but three of the thirteen books I listed! A tremendous boon occurred last week when this little journal was actually selected to take a turn on the Etsy front page. I had no idea why I made four sales in two hours (nothing for some but HUGE for me!), until one of the buyers told me later what had happened. I feel so honored! So now it's nose to the paper cutter to make some more books pronto!

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Coffee-Stained Papers

I had a lot of fun last week trying out a new technique I saw in a magazine. It has that great layered look we all love so much, and it starts with a lowly cup of coffee! I started out very tentatively, but by the end I was slinging coffee all over the place! I ended up leaving one side just stained, so you can see the effect of just the coffee in some of these pictures. I especially like the effect I got when I sprinkled a little salt on the coffee. Very crystal-y where the salt chased the coffee away!

After the coffee, the paper is glazed with cream colored acrylic latex to soften all the edges. Then color can be added. Here I've added a couple of shades of soft aqua. I did another in peach tones. Some I left plain.

The finished result reminded me of illustrations in an old French textbook, so included some of those pages in a couple of little square journals I made with this paper. You can see the at my etsy site. www.usefulbooks.etsy.com

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