Swoon!

Definition: A water-soluble pencil that will mark clearly, densely and legibly on any surface including acetate, paper, glass, metal, photo and film. Wipes off with a damp cloth on smooth surfaces and erases on paper.

Can also be used on the skin for making temporary tattoos, creating sketches for Mehndi designs or when you are feeling really brave drawing something across your forehead. My personal favorite is the giant tattoos my daughter draws on my back. Fish, people, dogs....just about anything. AND, during your next shower it rinses away. No soap required. HA!

Why even bring up this pencil? Because it is one of my new favorite mixed media implements. I have also been turned on to the Stabilo "Woody" 3 in 1. Definition: A chunky pencil that comes in 18 colors including the perfect black. It is a coloring pencil, watercolor pencil and wax crayon. Can be used for inventive applications in mixed media, encaustic art applications and can color alternative surfaces such as glass.

I have a project idea involving acetate, Woody and possibly a two part epoxy resin.

Two weeks ago, just as I was leaving for vacation a big heavy box showed up on my front doorstep. In my rush to pack and everything I quickly popped it open to find a small, non-descript note and FIVE brand new crafty books. The note said, "Congratulations! You won our CRAFTSIDE-MAKERFAIRE raffle. Enclosed you will find 5 of our newest craft books just ecause you stopped by our booth. We hope that you enjoy them."

I swear you could have knocked me over with a feather. I never win anything and to win something that encompasses to of my favorite things, books and craft....well it was almost as good as winning the lottery. Here are the five books I won and I can only say that I am slowly making my way through the first one with the other four patiently waiting.

I recommend checking them out and check out the Craftside blog. Lots of wonderful things to read and the blog is completely dedicated to covering crafty books. :-)

Here is a little Amazon widget of the books I currently have in my studio and either reading or getting ready to read. My list is always long.....*sigh*.

This is the Colorless Chartpak Blender Marker. What is that you say? It is a clear marker that you use to transfer anything printed via photocopy or laser jet (must be toner based) on to a surface/substrate. As you can see from the photograph we have a white piece of paper printed on the opposite side (face down) on a canvas.

Rub the marker on the area you want to transfer and it makes the paper wet. When you pull the paper up you then have a reverse image on the substrate. Does that make sense?

Quick tutorial:

1) Take a photocopy or laser print of your image, a subsrate, spoon or bone folder, and the Chartpak colorless blender.

2) Put your image face down on paper or fabric. The right side of the paper and the right side of the fabric should be touching. Cover the entire area of the image with your pen until it is completely wet and you can see your image through the paper.

3) Now use the spoon or bone folder to press firmly on the image as you would with a rub-on.

That's it. You're done. You now have a fancy transfer to use in your art. You may consider heat setting with an iron on fabric or a heat gun on paper.

*Contains Xylene® for blending colors, transferring images, and other special effects.

The first time I ever layed eyes on Steampunk jewelry I was skeptical. I've grown to appreciate it more and more. I very much like this whole idea of Steampunk. I have flashes of Bram Stoker's Dracula when I think Steampunk. Enjoy the video and if you want the jewelry check out http://www.steampunkcellar.etsy.com

Last week I ran across a cute and informative site called Paperclipping. The site focuses on scrapbooking and teaching all kinds of techniques to scrapbookers. But, let me just say that if you are a mixed media artist and think scrapbooking is NOT something you would EVER do let me ask you to think again. Scrapbooking and mixed media art is really a blurred line. From the mediums and media used the scrapbook and mixed media world are converging. Mixed media artists can learn a lot and find a lot of products to utilize in the scrapbook world. Forget your sisters scrapbooking, seriously there are amazing artists in the scrapbook world. Case in point, Noell Hyman at Paperclipping. Check out her site, check out her videos and see what she is doing. It really is very interesting.

Then if you are looking for interesting mixed media products visit Scraplovers with open eyes and an open mind.

I haven't spent as much time on 1000 Markets as I'd like and I am actually thinking of opening a store on it. Anyone with positive or negative comments are appreciated as it relates to their experience.

So, today I was cruising the site to see what I could see and came across these pretty little things. Check them out when you get a chance.

Leather and metal cuffs from Michelle Mverbeeck

I am driving myself to distraction with all this Twittering, Tweeting, whatever. I know, you think it is crazy but I promise you it is pretty interesting. While I consider myself an artist there was a time in my life when I worked in the hi-tech world and I think it is that part of me that is fascinated with Twitter. I still don't know what their business model is but I am going to do a little research. If you know what it is I'd be interested in your comments.

So, I am actually Tweeting for myself as charmingsam AND amysteinberg plus I am tweeting for my DH psteinberg (although I haven't done much with the DH's yet) and two others. wickedlychic2 and scraplovers2 That is a lot of tweeting. I manage all of them thru my iPhone app Tweetie and thru HootSuite when I am at my laptop.

There are some interesting features in Twitter and some of its 3rd party applications. Why did I write this random post to my blog? To see if my RSS feed from my blog will now up date several of my twitter accounts! Ha-ha! It is the wild west out here and I'm having a ball!

Looking for someone to augment your tweets? Send me a message.

A new week and I've found an interesting if not a little disturbing artist by the name of Aunia Kahn. Beautiful and detailed her work is what you make of it based on your personal perspective.

Personally I really like the art and find it thought provoking.

Visit her Etsy store!

Tomorrow night I'll be at the Mezzanine in San Francisco from 8:00pm to 2:00am.

This show is a lot of fun with great music and fabulous trend designers, artists & DJ's.

Come see me and all the other fabulous designers, artists and musicians!!!

I created this document to explain how I make my jewelry. I think it is clear but I'd be interested in comments.

Yeah, I got chosen for an Etsy Treasury. This is my third treasury at Etsy and a thank you to http://darkridgecreations.blogspot.com/ for including me in her very nice treasury!!

You can link directly to my Italy Ring on Etsy here - http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23054437

I have some wonderful new art travel earrings in sterling silver Like them? Email me for a special code to get 50% off!

amy@charmingsam.com