Well, if you REALLY need an excuse to visit The Bonbonerie ...

... I'm here to offer one: Paper With A Past is participating in the Cincinnati bakery's Annual Holiday Art Show 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saturday. Yes, this Saturday, Dec. 3. There will be 14 artists in the space between the bakery and the cafe.

My daughter, Laura, will be there selling wreaths (three sizes, $15, $18 & $22) and ornaments (3 sizes, $5 each) from our new Punch Drunk line, above. They're made from recycled greeting cards, file folders, gift bags and anything else in my stash that I'm not using in collages. She'll also have holiday collage gift tags ($5 each), some of the new collage ornaments ($18 each) and the last of the postcard ornaments I've been making for the past seven years ($4 and $6 each).

Me? Well, as promised, I'll have my studio at Brazee open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Then, I'll zip over to O'Bryonville, providing my own excuse for checking out the baked goods.

Click here for more details on the sale, and the bakery.

Welcome December!

I've been working on collage tags for the Fit To Be Tied® line and thought I'd post a pair to usher in December. These screen-printed '20s cuties were together on a cardboard cutout found in a used bookstore. Wish I could tell you who the publisher and artist are, but there wasn't any info on it. I was attracted to them by the unconventional, yet seasonal, colors.

I cut the card in half to make a matching pair. Behind the girl on the left: antique endpaper and an illustration from Christmas: An American Annual of Christmas Literature and Art, which was published by Augsburg Fortress from 1931 to 1997. Behind the girl on the right: vintage sheet music and recycled wrapping paper. By the way, see the reinforcements at the top of them? Well, I hand color each one. Not kidding.

I'm thinking about how to show - and sell - tags online. It's cumbersome for the blog - there are just too many at a given time - so, it may be time to open my Paper With a Past® Etsy shop. Time to wake up that post-undergraduate studio assistant who's working for me 10 hours a week to pay her room & board while she applies to grad school ...