Take a picture quickly becomes MAKE a picture, for the crafty type person that I am. However, my vision often outstrips my skills in the "drawing stuff on paper" realm.

So: I take a bit of free vintage clip art that I love, and plan to modify it just a little bit. I'll remove the letters from the pages of the book that the owl is holding, and add in my nifty handle: Libris (Latin for books, or library, which is both my vocation and avocation) Craft (as previously mentioned, I'm the crafty type).

So, into Paint goes my clip art, and the letters are quickly erased. But! There is a book, but no signifier of the crafty part of my nature. So, I add a paint brush (drawn by mouse. In Paint. Oh, the annoyance of fulfilling a vision!), and then find a pair of scissors to splice* in as well.

Then, I take my image, drag it kicking and screaming into Publisher (all my graphic design friends hate me, but I have it, and I know how it works). I fiddle with the font (Yes, I'm a font junky), and the layout for FAR LONGER than necessary. But: it is lovely.

And, I could have stopped there. But: I like making physical things. So I decide that I need a little notebook for keeping notes of my adventures. AND, I want to use an awesome technique from Cathie Holden that I have wanted to try for a while now: using tee-shirt transfers on leather. To the office supply store!

I get a small purse sized notebook (on sale!) and my tee-shirt transfers (not on sale at all, wow that's a lot for five sheets of transfer paper!), and a number of other things because I was at an OFFICE SUPPLY STORE and I'm not made of stone, ok?

I fight with my printer. First, the cord has come loose, so I must move heaven and earth (or just the scanner, the stuffed Farscape character who looks like a toad, half a ream of paper, and three tons of dust) to plug it in again. Then, both my yellow and magenta ink has run out. I install new cartridges. Then, it lets me print my test sheet. I fiddle with my sizes, then print the transfer ink page.

I carefully cut out the image, and apply it to the journal (with a little help PEELING the darn thing from Bvt. Major Misanthropology). Then, it gets ironed on.

Then, I have to wait for it cool. So, I have lunch.

Then I can peel off the transfer paper. And go outside, and ask Bvt. Major Misanthropology to take my picture, with my lovely new journal.

Then, there was much rejoicing, for the first task had been completed. Now, I just had to get my praxis ready to submit.

* That word really wanted to be spice. I re-typed it three times.