Miller May Update 2024

Michelle took a photo of the view near our home.

What happened? It was April, then suddenly it’s June?

Still reeling a bit from the back-to-back events at the end of April and haven't quite recovered from the burnout. However, in May, quite enjoyed the improving weather immensely. It feels like only one step ahead of burnout every single day since, even now. Despite that, pleased with our progress compared to where we were last year!

Let's go over what we managed to accomplish in May:

Crafty Card Collective ATC Monthly Event

ATCs are Artist Trading Cards that are 2.5" x 3.5" sized canvases that artists put their art on and either keep to show off, gift away, or trade for someone else's artwork. This art style and form of trading reach all over the world, offering exciting possibilities of receiving art from countries like India, Croatia, Russia, and China!

May was Mental Health Awareness Month, so the topic focused on Mental Health. John and Michelle struggle with communicating via words, so we have used art to communicate for years. Art is used in many ways: to communicate, to process, and to connect. We can certainly vouch for the benefits this process provides from years of participating.

Thanks again to Erissa at Rainy Day Anime for allowing us to use their event center to host our event again!

There were quite a few new faces this time, and it seemed like they enjoyed this art form. It is less intimidating and brings quick satisfaction when complete. A few participants really embraced the theme, creating some amazing in-depth cards. Overall, it was a great time for everyone!

Here are examples of Art Therapy Cards Michelle created as an example of Art Therapy (in terms of Art being Therapeutic, not Art Therapy™).

Michelle's therapist challenged her to draw out her struggles in the form of ATCs. She stretched it into a yearly challenge that started on January 1st. So far, over 150 cards have been made. How exciting will it be to see them all at the end of the year and possibly publish them as a book? There are so many experiences that people could hopefully connect with and relate to.

Michelle had a lot of fun with these and would challenge anyone reading to create one a day for just ONE week this year. Draw out an experience you go through frequently to show others.

This month, we created a few other new ATCs with our style changing a little:

Some of these were graduation gifts while some were just because Michelle had some time to kill. John made a few for Art Therapy but they aren't at a time for public sharing. Keep in mind, for every 20 cards Ichelle makes, John makes 1. Which of these do you like the best?

Plants are moving onto their next stages and we are ready for it!

We Finally Got to go on a Date!

After wanting to go on this date for a few years, we managed to save up for a yearly special day and went mini-golfing! We were supposed to go in June, but suddenly had 4 hours to kill and if we went home, we would collapse. As seen in the pictures, it was such a nice day, and didn't want it to be wasted. Highly recommend visiting Lost Island mini golf in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The place has been updated quite a bit and looks well cared for. We can't wait to go with their siblings one day!

Junk Journals

Michelle is still in the process of completing multiple Junk Journals. These are in the final arrangement stage and now require binding before adding details to the pages. John is building a punching cradle, which should be done sometime in June, so Michelle can do her part. There are over 40 different junk journals of various sizes and pages waiting for the next stage! Michelle will be recording the process of creating each one. For some reason it was more difficult for Michelle to do one step at a time through the whole process to the end. Instead, it worked out better to do multiples of one stage before moving on to the next. Well that just must be how Michelle does things.

This project helps process the over-pile of materials we happen to have. Michelle is now looking at everything a little differently, involving more recycling and upcycling of materials we already have on hand. Join us on Ko-Fi to watch these create videos when they come out.

Remember John making those stamps shared last month? Michelle decided to use them to decorate the envelopes we needed to mail out. These envelopes will be sent to our Ko-Fi members with monthly sticker designs we make for the month! $5 a month will get you the newest sticker design ideas, and you get to vote on which one should be ordered as an official addition to our sticker store.

Cute aren't they? Which one would you love to get?

Scrap Paper Paper

As the title states: Michelle made Scrap Paper Paper! Cheech from Crafter's Clique mentioned an idea of gluing little bits and pieces down that are too cool to throw away but too small to do much with. Michelle recorded the process, and it's a lot of fun to watch this grow. John will be working on making them into videos once they recover and have time. These videos will be available on our Ko-Fi to be viewed by members once John can work on them.

The pieces used here were from the edges or torn-off bits of Ideal Magazine pages that have a very distinct and pleasant feel (as well as color and effects!). Some of the other pages have junk pieces like the security patterns from envelopes and ripped-up pieces from the old Crafty Card Collective and even Crafter's Clique calendars. The pieces shown ended up being pretty thick due to the amount of glue needed to keep the edges down. We will trim, scan, and offer it on Ko-Fi for people to use the design. It's too fun not to use!

Who Gives a Scrap ATC Trade Board Display!

We have updated the board yet again. There should be about 5 different types of free ATC Kits available this month. Some from last month (they did drop off 130+) can still be obtained. Try your hand and see what you can create.

Another month and another set of ATC kits up for grabs. This time, Mosaic themed ATC kits. It has two different ways to approach this, or you can choose whatever you want. The board here is to trade art cards you've made and bring home someone else's art!

We are really excited to share about the upcoming Crafty Card Collective ATC Events for June! We will be having two days of Clear Tape ATC Specialty Cards! On the first day will be indoors at the East Library. We recommend (if you can) bringing a roll of packaging tape and the cutter device that can come with it. Flling these can be quick and easy meaning you'll want to make more faster than we can prep these bases! On the second day, we will be meeting at the Open Space parking Lot by Heler Center for Arts and Humanities for a nice walk and the collection of leaves or petals. We will also go over the general basics of drying out flowers you collect to prep them for future cards that will last longer. Luckily since we are in Colorado, drying flowers is quite easy in this dry climate!

Whelp that's all we got to wrap up last month. We really weren't able to do much and not even half of what we planned. But another month and another chance. We can do just about anything except for socializing (and any tasks that involve keeping us alive). That seems to be the biggest factor that hinders us. So please be patient as we learn to adapt to this sudden collapse as we move forward.

Oh and one last thing! Who Gives a SCRAP is having another Art Swap at Library 21C on the 15th of June from 1pm-4pm. You bring in lightly used or new art supplies to trade for other donated art materials brought in. It runs a pound for a pound: You bring a pound of items and you can grab a pound of items. Join us for Art Swapping fun and make ATCs with us at our craft table! See you there~

We are looking forward to seeing what our future holds. Are you going to stay with us during this next leg of our journey? Great things await!