Fabrications

Green & Yellow Charms

2012-02-15T20:59:00.003-05:00

These are the various charms I created for the latest monthly color swap in the yahoo art charms group. I thought I would just go through my green and yellow beads and string some on a head pin to make some quick dangles, but that didn't satisfy me for some reason - too easy or too boring or something (I guess I like to try new challenging things). So I made three of the yellow dangles on the left, three of the shamrocks, and three of the "life" leaves (they are polymer clay stamped and accented with gold acrylic paint). I'll send five of the rolled fabric beads (the fabric scrap with the bees on it was just perfect, I thought) and nine of the fabric leaves on the right. All together, I think they make a nice cheerful reminder of spring about to come, don't you agree?

Now my worktable is completely bare of all charm and jewelry-making tools and supplies and I'll be ready to dive into my next fiber art project. Hope I can get a good start on it on Friday, my day off! I'll keep you posted.

Changing Colors

2012-02-12T22:08:00.003-05:00

Ta-dah! Here is the bracelet I made using a few of my own charms, plus charms I received from my last few swaps. The themes were "red/pink" and "all hearts," so together I was able to make this amazing bracelet, just in time for Valentine's Day!

I was also able to get the book below from the library just in time for the weekend. It has some nice ideas for using fabric, ribbon, and cording to make beads and charms. You can see it on Amazon by clicking here.It inspired me to make some more progress on the green/yellow swap I signed up for. To make the leaf charms below, I cut Timtex interfacing into little leaf shapes and wrapped them in a sparkly green fabric. I fused another leaf-shaped piece of fabric on top to cover the raw edges. After fusing everything, I stitched a zig-zag around the edge and free-motioned some veins using a metallic gold thread. Then I added an eyelet and a flower button dangle.
I have 10 of this style and six others. Cute, huh? I like them! I kind of did an assembly line, so they came together pretty quickly. Now I'm finishing up my final 7 charms using some rolled fabric beads. I'll share those when they're finished, and then I'll put all my charm-making tools and materials away for a while and get moving on my large fiber art piece. Can't wait to get started on that!

More Swap Charms

2012-02-08T21:01:00.004-05:00

I joined two more swaps with the yahoo artcharms group and you can see some of my creations above and below for the quick winter swap. I got the idea for the snowmen from some earrings that belong to my daughter. They were made with pearls and silver metal scarves and hats. Since I didn't have those two elements, I made them out of polymer clay. They came out pretty cute! The ones below are also polymer clay, stamped with a snowflake stamp dusted with "perfect pearls" powder.
Now I only have one more set of charms to make: I joined a green/yellow swap with gold colored findings. Below are some of the designs I've come up with. I have a lot of green beads so I'll probably just make a bunch dangles with them. When this swap is over, I'll have to take a break from charm making for a while. I have a big fiber art piece due in early April and I have some other important projects I want to focus on. (Hope I can stay focused!)

Valentine's Day Charm Bracelets

2012-02-04T16:49:00.003-05:00

Here is one of the charm bracelets I've been working on. I've completed 5 altogether and I'm listing some on Etsy while I wait to hear back from a local gift shop. I'm really happy with the mix of red, pink, and white, as well as the variety of materials. These bracelet have more charms than my previous ones did. They are fuller looking, but not so full that you can't see the individual charms. They also feature a silver-plated chain and heart-shaped toggle clasp. Know anyone looking for a unique and memorable Valentine's Day gift? Send 'em my way!

Jewelry Factory at Full Speed!

2012-01-28T21:21:00.003-05:00

This week, I really tried to get in as much time as possible creating charms for more Valentine's Day bracelets. I made another attempt at making a little book. This one is only 3/4" square, so it's pretty small! I added a little cotton loop for a jumpring and cotton strings to tie it closed as you see here.

I wanted to put some Valentine's Day message on the pages inside, but I didn't want to do each page individually. In an effort to streamline and speed up production, I made a word document that contained the phrase "I love you" in 18 languages in a variety of fonts, spaced just right so I could print a page and cut it up into little 1 1/2" x 3/4" pages. I printed the words on pink paper and stamped little hearts and things on the back so when the pages were folded, some would have words and some would have hearts. This is what the book looks like open:
As cute as it is, I still don't think it's small enough to blend in with the other charms I've been making. Maybe I'll put it on a necklace.

While I was frantically trying to come up with other ideas for charms, I received my first swap charms from the yahoo group! Here they are, below. They gave me just the right inspiration and push I needed! Aren't they great? I especially like the two wire hearts in the center, one with the beads threaded on and the other with the coil.
On Friday I managed to squeeze in a trip to JoAnn's Fabrics in between the orthodontist and the grocery store! I picked up some colored wire in both red and pink, some metal charms that say "love much" on one side and "laugh often" on the other, some larger, thinner jump rings, some filagree bead caps, some colorful plastic dice beads, and a few large red wire-wrapped beads. From those materials, I was able to make all these new styles of charms!
Now I have piles of pink charms,
red charms,
and mixed red and pink. I placed an order with Artbeads.com for silver-plated chain and some heart-shaped toggle clasps. As soon as it arrives, I'll be able to put together at least 3 more bracelets. Just in time for February!
I also worked up that glass charm into a cluster necklace hung from a ribbon. While I'm waiting for the chain, I can keep working on these!

Ta-Dah!

2012-01-24T07:53:00.005-05:00

Ta-dah! Here is one of the charm bracelets I've been working on! I really love the way it came out. I have a lot of extra charms and I'm hoping to make more like this, some with red and pink mixed together and some primarily red. I'm hoping to work up necklace or two and possibly some earrings as well, so I can take some over to that gift shop in town by the end of the month. Hope I can pull this off! If not, I'll have plenty of inventory for my Etsy shop!

A Busy, Snowy Day

2012-01-21T19:51:00.009-05:00

We got our first significant snowfall of the year today. I believe by this time last year, we had already used up four snow days on the school calendar. But it's Saturday today so we still haven't used one! It was really nice to be home doing indoor things - no errands and running around, just fun and family time.

The "red-pink-white" charms I made need to be mailed on Monday, so I got busy finishing them up and getting them ready. I had to make 25 charms, so I used 15 of the heart charms I made for the "all hearts" swap and then made 10 of the variety shown below.

I was happy to find these inexpensive pink shell rings on sale at Michael's last week. I wasn't sure how I would use them, but I had so much fun coming up with different ways of combining them with beads and wire. Below is how I packaged the charms. On the other side of the card is my contact information, and on this side I stamped the little bunny and tied the charm on with bakery string (Don't you love bakery string? It's so festive looking. Remember the days when there was always a ball of striped bakery string in the messy drawer of the kitchen, just in case you needed to tie something up or wanted to play "cats cradle?"). The color scheme just seemed to fit!

Below is another charm I made up earlier this week. On one of my last trips to JoAnn's Fabrics, I bought out their entire stock of these cute glass bottles. I used some for my "snowstorm in a bottle" charms on my winter-themed bracelet, but I turned these into Valentine charms. I photocopied and drastically reduced a portion of a song by Andrew Lloyd Weber called "Love Changes Everything" and added that bar of music to the bottle along with some pink beads and red confetti hearts. Isn't it cute?
I also played with another method of making charms. I sandwiched a little collage between two pieces of memory glass one inch square. Rather than buying the premade metal holders for these or using solder to keep them together, I used polymer clay (I really don't feel like investing the time and money in learning to solder at this point in my life - maybe when I retire). I inserted a curved piece of wire to hold a jump ring before I baked it, and colored it with a silver metallic pen after I baked it. It's a little heavy and large for a charm on a bracelet, but it might make a cute necklace. I have a bunch more old stamps ready to turn into charms like this.
I made a few other charms out of polymer clay. I've seen people make miniature food out of clay and thought some sweets might be appropriate on a Valentine's Day charm bracelet. Here is a little mini cupcake...
... and here are some strawberry cream filled chocolate candies. Don't they look good enough to eat? Mmm!
Speaking of chocolate, next month I'll be making a variety of truffles with the adult Creative Playgroup. I needed to test out this easy recipe, and I decided a snowy day would be the perfect time to try it! These truffles are made with 3 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Melt them in a glass bowl in the microwave and then stir in one can of sweetened condensed milk and a teaspoon of your choice of extract. You can then spread the mixture into a pan, cool, and cut into squares for fudge, or cool slightly, then roll in various toppings, as I did. I used almond extract and rolled them in coconut, chopped almonds, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and white sprinkles. I think I like the coconut best. The recipe makes about 6 dozen. Wow! That should satisfy my need for chocolate for a long while! Hopefully, the girls will eat a bunch too - need to get back to healthy eating again!
Next post I'll show you photos of my first Valentine's Day charm bracelet. All I'll say is "I'm in love!"

Making the Best of a Gloomy Day

2012-01-17T23:13:00.003-05:00

This morning we woke to a bit of slush all around. I did have to shovel (can't get the car up that steep driveway even with the tiniest bit of slush) but at least the schools had a delayed opening. With the extra morning time, I had the chance to read the blog of another member of the yahoo artcharms group, Kia Dallons (see it by clicking here). She posted about these tiny pop-up books she made as charms. They're amazing! This came on the heels of a tutorial another art-charmer mentioned, which demonstrated an easier method for making a little charm-sized book (click here to see it). All day while I was at work, my mind kept ruminating on the possiblities for little book charms, pop-up or otherwise!

After work I stopped for a few groceries, and when I got back I was damp and chilled. I made myself a nice hot cup of chocolate, and then I made an interesting discovery: Although panettone is delicious by itself, it tastes even better when smeared with a little Nutella! Actually, that's not so surprising - I thing everything tastes better smeared with Nutella!
While enjoying my indulgent snack, I had the chance to browse through the latest edition of Quilting Arts magazine, which was just delivered today. Lots of fun surface design techniques to try!
After dinner, I finally got some time to play with the book ideas. First I tried the pop-up. I visited Robert Sabuda's website, as Kia suggested in her blog post, and found a simple valentine pattern. I copied it and shrank it down to fit in a book about one square inch. I put a pretty floral cover on it that I cut from a recycled greeting card.
There you can see the little hearts. Cute, but not amazing like Kia's castle and waterfall books! I'll have to keep trying.
My worktable looks like a hurricane went through and scattered all kinds of red and pink beads, papers, stamps, ink pads, and pieces of clay! Once again, I'm trying to do a variety of charms at once, rather than moving from material to material once a certain type of charm is finished. Because Valentine's Day will be here before we know it, I'm trying to complete as many charms as possible, and also trying to make them look as professional and polished as possible. Maybe I bit off a little more than I could chew with such a tight deadline, but I'd rather be doing this than sitting in front of the TV (not much of value on it, if you ask me.)

Oh - and I have a little good news: A new art gallery is opening here in town called the Look Art Gallery, and I received an email asking for artwork for their inaugural exhibit and sale called "Art from the Heart." Every piece they are taking must be less than 12" per side and they will each sell for $75 as a Valentine's Day special. I looked through my portfolio of completed pieces and finally found something appropriate - it's 12" high but 13 1/2" wide! I thought about creating something entirely new (by Friday!) but with all my energy going into these Valentine charms, I didn't see how I could do it. I didn't want to miss out on another opportunity to exhibit, so I finally e-mailed the owner/artist and she said to bring it on over anyway! So I'm able to focus on the quantity and quality of the charms and still have a chance to sell a piece of art - the perfect resolution! The piece I'm going to put in is one that I like and feel confident showing. It's called "Bleeding Hearts" (appropriate for Valentine's Day maybe?) and I made it almost two years ago. I forgot to put in the photo but you can see it in the original post by clicking here.

More Charms, More Goals

2012-01-15T19:25:00.003-05:00

As you can see, I've been at it again with the charms! The yahoo artcharms group that I'm in is holding a "red-pink-white" swap this month. Even though I plan to send the hearts that I made earlier this month, I decided it would be fun to make a whole variety of charms with these colors. I'll let you know more about my motivation for this later in the post, but first, GOALS.

First let's see how I did on last year's goals. I had a long list last year and some I did very well on, others kind of mezza-mezza, and some I didn't complete at all. I did join SAQA, I did submit pieces to 3 different shows (and got something accepted in one - Sacred Threads), I did finish the large piece for my friend's office, I did narrow down my "brand" and signature colors and order business cards, and I did open an Etsy shop! Hooray for me!

I did not do 52 weekly journal pieces. I think I only did 12. If I had kept that up, I wouldn't have been able to complete anything else! I'm not sure regular journaling is for me. I also did not follow through on "The Creativity Book." Maybe I'll revisit that at a later time. I also did not update my blog or website. That is still on the list for this year. I also did not really develop a calendar system to keep track of show entry deadlines etc. I seem to do okay in my own haphazard way, but I'm not sure entering shows is so important to me at this point, so I think I'm going to let that one go.

I had wanted to complete 5 pieces in addition to the weekly journal pieces and the large one for my friend, but I think I only completed two or three. I spent more time on making coasters and jewelry to put in my Etsy shop, so that's the trade off. There are only so many hours in a day. I bought a new light to improve the quality of my photos and also researched how to make a simple and inexpensive light box, but I have not made it yet. I seem to be getting by with the set up I have, so I'm not sure I need that after all.

In addition to the goals I completed, I also made several artcharm bracelets, earrings, and necklaces, and joined the yahoo group. I also revised my manuscript "The Timid Seahorse" and sent it out to two new publishers. One of them still has it, but even if they reject it, I'm still not ready to give up on it.

SO, what's on the plate for 2012? First, I think I'm going to choose the word "open" as a theme for the year. Last fall I read a book called "Open the Door" by Joyce Rupp which was a six-week meditation series on opening your heart to God. I want to keep focused on the idea of openness - being open minded, doing open-ended activities, remaining open to any possibilities. That being said, my goals this year will be to

Continue to look for my authentic artistic voice in all my creations
Update my blog and website to reflect my brand colors and style
Continue to list items in my Etsy shop (and hopefully sell something!)
Possibly approach one or more local gift shops to see if they'll carry some of my jewelry (which is why I want to create some Valentine's Day charms - maybe I'll use the red-pink-white theme as my product debut!)
Revisit my seahorse manuscript again and possibly remake some sample art
Work on a retelling of a folk tale (possibly with illustrations) for submission
Complete an 18"x 8' "totem" fiber piece for a special FANE exhibit (due in April)
Spend at least 5 minutes daily in quiet meditation
Think positively (ban all negative thoughts and words!)
Experiment with adding more text to artwork

There it is! It's ambitious once again, but as they say, if you shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars!

Fabric Postcards

2012-01-13T14:20:00.006-05:00

Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine is holding a postcard challenge, due in their offices next Friday. I knew I wanted to send them one as soon as I read about it in their Nov/Dec issue, but of course with all the holiday stuff happening, I put it off until the new year. Luckily I was able to get these completed and mailed today. The lure of having something published in an upcoming issue is too great (even though my pieces are not selected very often - just once - click here to see).

There was no theme for this challenge, so I had kind of a hard time deciding what to make. I came up with the above little character first, with a little poem on the back: "When stormy rains are falling, put on your happy shoes, with a smile as your umbrella, you'll always beat the blues!". I had wanted to simply stamp the words "Let a smile be your umbrella" on the front of the postcard, but I did some research and found out those lyrics are still under copyright, so I went with an original poem instead. The rules of the challenge require the postcard to be at least 50% fabric, and this one is all fabric, and not fabric that I've stamped, painted, bleached or altered in any way. Cloth Paper Scissors is really a magazine about Mixed-Media, and with no real mixing of media in the above postcard, I decided to make a second one, below.
For this one, I used a background of pretty blue batik fabric. Then I stamped positive words all over some green "paper-cloth" I made last year. I free-motion stitched some leaves around the words and cut them out to be the top of a tree. I stitched a trunk out of miscellaneous yarns and threads wrapped in tulle, then stitched it all together onto the blue background. It's definitely more mixed-media, but I still don't know what my chances are for being published. There are lots of talented people who subscribe to Cloth Paper Scissors! Even so, it was a fun exercise and a nice positive start to the new year.

Christmas All Wrapped Up

2012-01-07T17:59:00.004-05:00

Once December 25th is past, I always comfort myself with the thought that there are twelve days of Christmas and there is still plenty of celebrating to be done. This year my family got together to celebrate on the 28th and my in-laws stayed with us until New Year's Day, so we had a full week of visiting, eating, talking and general merrymaking.

But here it is, January 7th, my in-laws have flown back home, and school is back in session, so we spent the day wrapping and boxing everything up again. Right after Thanksgiving, I almost wince with trepidation at the mountain of tasks I have to accomplish in the weeks ahead. We have to make room for Christmas - we have to rearrange the furniture to find space for the tree, take a few minutes to light the Advent candles every night before dinner, find time in our busy schedules for baking, parties, shopping and wrapping. And somehow we manage it all. We fit it all in.

When we put it all away in January and there are no more parties to look forward to or desserts to bake, things look a little bleak at first. The tree is completely bare of color and shine, the mantles and shelves are empty without the Nativity scene that graced it only yesterday
... and all the jolly carved Santas are safely wrapped in paper and stuffed back in the box, ready to be enjoyed again next year.

I felt so low that I had to go and finish off the last of the box of chocolates I received from two lovely twin girls that come to my Storytime classes at the library! Now even that is empty!
But January is like a clean slate. Long winter nights stretch ahead with very few obligations crowding the schedule. Which leaves me wide open for lots of new art projects! I'm already committed to several projects due early this year and I'm making my final decisions about goals for the year ahead...

A Day Off

2012-01-06T13:40:00.005-05:00

On Fridays I don't work at the library, and I always plan to make it My Day Off, but I usually end up spending it doing errands and chores. This morning I actually went back to sleep after the girls got on the bus at 7, had a late breakfast, skipped exercising the dog, and sat downstairs and played. Yesterday I brought home yet another craft book, this one titled Microcrafts, which has about 25 mini crafts to make. I've seen directions for making mini books elsewhere and this included a new version, so I thought I'd try it out. It's kind of time consuming and I'm not sure this is something I could mass produce for a swap, but they are kind of cute. The book pictured above and below was my first attempt. I folded and cut paper to make signatures, then stitched them together by hand with nylon thread (the time-consuming part) and glued them into this cover. When I looked at it this morning, I decided it was cute, but wondered whether or not I should add words and/or pictures. I hesitated because I didn't want to wreck it after I just made it! But I had recently cut out some uplifting and meaningful words from a cool catalog that I get (Isabella), so I decided to jump in and add some. I started with stamping on the title, "be mindful" because that is one of my goals for the new year - to be more mindful of my thoughts, words, and actions. (More on the rest of my goals coming soon...).
I glued, stamped, and wrote words so they read sort of like a little poem: "think happy thoughts, Joy deep in your soul, Love all around you, Peace & Light, serenity for your Spirit, kindness can transform your world, Be the Change, spread joy, share hope, imagine peace, seek Grace, strength & wisdom, Pray always..." It might make a nice addition to my cluster charm necklace and help me remember to be more mindful.

Then I thought maybe it would be easier and quicker to decorate the pages before they're folded and cut, and then add some things here and there after the book is assembled. So I made another version, below. Of course, none of the words ended up where I hoped they would, but at least the pages have a little color and decoration. I suppose if I were sending this in a swap, I would leave it as is, and let the recipient add their own text.
Now that I've enjoyed most of the day, it's time to get some work done! I need to get to the grocery store and to pack up the cardboard for recycling day tomorrow. Before you know it, it will be time to cook dinner (maybe we'll do Chinese take-out tonight!).

Winter Sets In

2012-01-04T19:11:00.002-05:00

On New Year's Day, it felt like spring, but the last two mornings we were greeted by bitter cold temperatures - single digits, with a daytime high of only about 22. Ugh! No snow yet, but the cold goes right through you! I've been able to settle in in the evenings with some hot food and cozy activities. On Monday afternoon I was actually able to take a Nap! It felt great to curl up on my favorite easy chair with a book and doze off when my eyes got tired. Tonight I made a Chicken Vegetable Chowder for dinner and followed that with a hot chocolate laced with Bailey's Irish Creme and topped with whipped cream! Even though people traditionally put on weight in December and begin dieting in January, I find December is just the warm-up. I get in the habit of snacking on sweets between meals and come January I find it very hard to break the habit. That's when I usually put on weight - during the long, cold winter months, not just during December.
I also started some real work on this 12"x12" project for the FiberArts Northeast group, which is due in early February. I wanted to use two fabrics with a high contrast in texture, but similar color. I layered the backing, batting (I used felt), burlap, and the shiny sheer, then put my drawing over it. I stitched over the drawing and tore the paper away. Then I cut away the sheer fabric in places where I want the burlap to show through, like a reverse applique. I'm trying to say something about our dual nature, similar to the yin and yang symbol - that we are both dark and light, rough and smooth, mortal and eternal.
I'm not sure everything comes across - the contrast is more subtle than I expected (also, it doesn't photograph well - the true color is closer to a golden tan). But there's a FANE meeting tomorrow evening, so I'll bring it and see what kind of a reaction I get. With the holidays behind us, it sure is nice to settle down and get to some creative projects!

Out With the Old

2012-01-01T16:24:00.006-05:00

Today I unexpectedly had a full day to spend at home catching up on some tasks I've been putting off. We were supposed to drive back to LI (we were there last Sunday) for another family dinner, but my oldest was having symptoms similar to the ones she had when she had pneumonia 4 years ago, so we decided we all needed a catch-up day (catch up on rest, laundry, cleaning and organizing etc). We had a great holiday month, celebrating almost every weekend in December, and it felt like a breath of fresh air to just spend a day at home with no particular agenda.

Many of my tasks involved replacing the old with the new. Below is my new OttLite which I hope to set up next to my sewing table soon. I have a good natural light task lamp that I use to light most of my photos, but I needed one on the other side. I hope this does the trick. It also satisfies one of my 2011 goals to improve my photography set up at home.

Another thing I started was hemming and hanging the new curtains in the living room. We've had pleated shades on this window since we moved in 15 years ago, but we were tired of dealing with the cords, so when they finally broke last fall, we thought we might go with curtains instead. I found these in the Martha Stewart section at Home Depot and we rigged a wide pole to go beneath the burgundy valence that was already there. I think I like them; they let in some light, but keep out the cold, they can easily be pulled open or closed, and they add a little warmth, color and elegance that the pleated shades didn't have. I still have two more curtains to hem - maybe tonight or tomorrow.
I also decided it was time for a new purse. I tend to carry the same one through all seasons and they usually last me years. I really liked my old one (in front) but the lining kept coming up and getting caught in the zipper, as you can see in the photo. I didn't feel like dealing with replacing the lining, and I found this new bag which is very similar as far as storage goes. Now I have to find some time to sit down and move all my stuff from one to the other.
Finally, I am moving into the 21st century with my mobile phone. I've lived with a Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go type of plan for the last 5 years, and that's been fine for me, but now all my daughters have phones and it makes more sense for us to all be on the same plan. So now I have a new phone that has a camera and can send text messages much more easily than my old one. I'm looking forward to figuring out all its new capabilities (I'll have to get one of the girls to show me what all those buttons are for!).
Finally, I finished the charms I've been working on for the next swap in my Yahoo group. The theme is "All hearts, nothing but hearts." You saw the beginning steps for these in a previous post and since then I've coated them with a craft glaze and added a beaded dangle to each one. I really like the variety and unique qualities of the set. I'll be able to send them off tomorrow.
Here is a close up shot:
And this is how I packaged them for the swap. I still have many more hearts cut out that can be finished for another swap. These will fit the next one which is "red-pink-white" with silver findings. I enjoyed making them and wouldn't mind making more. But it might also be fun to make some beads out of canes of polymer clay too... decisions, decisions!

A Pleasant Surprise!

2011-12-30T09:44:00.002-05:00

When I checked my e-mail last night before bed, I saw one from a member of the Yahoo Art Charms group that I joined last month. I had sent in photos of the snowflake charms I had finished and was planning on mailing out soon. It turns out they chose one of the photos to be their header photo on the site for the week! You can visit the site (and join if you wish) by clicking here. As part of the swap, each charm is supposed to have a tag with the maker's name and e-mail address, so I tied mine onto tags as shown above. Now I'm finishing up the "All Hearts" charms I'm making so I can mail them out in time for the January 15th deadline. For once, I'm done early!

This is my 100th post for 2011! I think I'll end the year on this positive note and wish everyone a very Happy New Year 2012! See you next year!

Light Holiday Reading

2011-12-29T17:19:00.004-05:00

Earlier this month, I came across this title at the library and had to pick it up. I've recommended it to several dog-lover friends, including my neighbor Gail, and they've all enjoyed it. I even gave it to my sister, the dog groomer, for Christmas. If you love dogs and find yourself wondering what they're thinking, you'd probably enjoy this book (although sometimes I think we personify dogs and exaggerate their ability to actually "think."). It is a touching, memorable story and one worth reading.

After I finished reading that, I kept finding other books I wanted to read, so I borrowed them all! First was Brian Selznick's latest Juvenile fiction novel titled "Wonder Struck." Brian Selznick is the Caldecott-award winning author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret which was recently released as the film Hugo. It's told through both intricate pencil drawings and text, as is this book. Both are full of layers of meaning, as well as being interesting and captivating to read.I also started Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book which won the Newbery last year, but I wasn't able to get through it. It's about a boy raised in a graveyard by ghosts and other spooks and although it was well written, it just didn't hold my interest. Neil Gaiman also wrote Coraline, which I found a little spooky as well. Hopefully I'll get onto Wicked, Beauty Queens, and these others sometime this week or in January.
Finally, I couldn't resist checking out these two books by Ruth Rae, one about fabric collage and one about charms. I've looked through them quickly, but I'd like to spend some more time going over them more slowly to see what new and different ideas she has that I might be able to apply to my collages and charm. Once all the holiday happenings slow down, I'll be able to get back into the creative swing of things. Meanwhile, it's 5:40 and I'd better get dinner started!

Oh, Holy Night

2011-12-24T20:50:00.004-05:00

Tonight we went to the early vigil mass and sang all the beautiful, traditional Christmas Carols with a harp accompanist. It was lovely. We came home and had a seafood feast, with a crisp salad course and a pasta course of fresh Arthur Avenue cheese ravioli. Yum!
I'm even too full for cookies!
The girls are loving their new footie Christmas pajamas. I think they're ready for a long winter's nap! I know I am... but first I have to stop in next door to visit with Gail and her dogs. Her husband Al makes a knockout chocolate martini for the neighbors every Christmas Eve.
Have a Blessed Christmas, everyone!

Edible Gifts

2011-12-21T18:45:00.006-05:00

This year I wasn't sure if I'd get to any of the baking I traditionally do at Christmas time. A great time to get started on baking is when we have a snow day and are stuck at home, but that didn't happen this year (except in October, and then we didn't have power for baking!). I did finally get out the pans and ingredients last weekend and got started. I made some of our old favorites like the Jewel Brooch cookies (see the recipe here) which call for only egg yolks, and Coconut Macaroons which call for only egg whites. In addition, I baked a batch of Chewy Chocolate Cookies which are exactly what they sound like, with chocolate chips in them. I needed something quick and easy to add a little variety to the mix, so I dipped some pretzels in melted white chocolate and sprinkled them as you see above. And last, but not least, I made up a batch of these homemade Peppermint Patties, which I got from the Family Fun website (find it by clicking here).

The batter is really more like a paste of confectioners sugar, corn syrup, water, lemon juice, and peppermint extract. It is very stiff and you basically flatten it out, refrigerate it, and cut shapes with a cutter. Then you dip each one in melted chocolate. Last year I melted semi-sweet chocolate chips, but they were so thick that the coating didn't really drip off much. It used a lot of chips and was kind of slow going. This year, I tried using the candy melts from the baking section of the craft store. They melted easily and went on much quicker, but the taste isn't quite as delectable. I think next time I'll try a mix of the two for a compromise.
Yumm! I sure do love that peppermint-dark chocolate combo!

I've been packing up assortments of all these homebaked goodies and giving them to friends and co-workers as little gifts. I hope I have enough left for us! If not, I'll have to get busy again...

Finishing up some Gifts

2011-12-19T21:39:00.005-05:00

Look what I made! It's a Christmas gift for my good friend, co-worker, and next door neighbor, Gail, the one whose dog had puppies in September. I sort of borrowed this photo of two of the puppies off her Facebook page (I didn't ask her because I want it to be a surprise - I don't think she'll mind...). I printed the photo onto a purchased printer-ready fabric sheet and cut it into a heart shape, then stitched it onto a felt backing, which was also stitched onto the checked background. The base of it is that heavy fusible interfacing (Peltex) and the heart is a gold scrapbooking-type brad. I put a pin back on it because we wear lanyards at work and often decorate them with fun pins. It's about 2 inches square, so it could also be a refrigerator magnet, but I think it will be nice for her to have a reminder of all the puppy love she got this fall while she's going about her day. I'll give it to her on Wednesday with a bunch of cookies (I'll post about those tomorrow!). Keepin' busy!

Distractions!

2011-12-18T21:18:00.005-05:00

I did something crazy, considering Christmas is just around the corner - I joined not one, but two (count 'em - 2!) charm swaps!! I just couldn't resist. After I joined the artcharms yahoo group, I saw a list of all the fun swaps they did this past year and couldn't wait to join one, even though this is such a busy time of year and the last thing I need is another item on my to-do list! The first swap I joined is an "anything goes" swap, meaning you're not limited by color, metal or material. I chose to do these sparkly snowflake charms, similar to ones that I put on my wintery bracelet and cluster necklace. I've made 6 so far, and I think I only need to complete 6 more and they'll be ready to send out. They're not due until January 15th, so I have some time. They are pretty quick and easy, considering I punched out the snowflake shapes using the Accucut machine at the library.

The second swap theme is "hearts." The deadline is also the 15th, but it was too tempting to think of all the creative possibilities for charms with hearts! I decided to do more art paper charms like the leaf ones I did in the fall (see it here). I started by marbling some watercolor paper with shaving creme and acrylic paint. Below is that mixture spread on a piece of plexiglass...
... and here is the paper which I layed on top of the shaving creme and then pulled off.
I left it to dry for a little while, and then rinsed off some of the shaving creme and let the paper hang to dry. Then I collaged some squares of pale pink tissue paper on top of it and added some little hearts punched from a gardening magazine and other assorted papers. After that was dry, I stamped it all over with white acrylic paint and stamps with a leaf print and a paisley shape.
I punched out some hearts from the final collaged paper. I really like them!
I wanted my charms to be interesting on the back as well as the front, so I glued two hearts together and flattened them between two pieces of wax paper in a heavy book. Then I added a few more embellishments with little crystals, sequins, and words like "love" and "joy." I added eyelets, and now I just need to coat them with that Dimensional Magic to protect them.
I really like the way they look and the fact that they are totally unique and not created from store-bought beads and components. I guess I have about two dozen in various stages of completion. There is a "red-pink-white" themed swap coming up next month... maybe I'll join that one as well and use the extras I have from this bunch. Something to look forward to in the New Year... I could make a nice Valentine's Day charm bracelet!

Now I'd better stop with all these charming distractions and get back to focusing on the rest of my Christmas to-do list!

Candy Houses

2011-12-15T18:02:00.003-05:00

Last Wednesday, the library held its annual Gingerbread House decorating program. We provide a plate with 6 graham crackers and an empty ice cream cone and patrons bring their own frosting and candy. Most also bring an empty food carton of some sort to use as a building form. On the afternoon leading up to the event, my colleagues and I each decorate our own little candy houses. Above is my good friend and neighbor, Gail's house. Gail is a powerhouse of positive energy, fun, and laughs, but she claims she is not really artistically inclined. She tends to make many things into a contest and last year was bribing innocent patrons to tell their friends that her candy house was their favorite. This year, we weren't as competitive, but cheered each other on instead. My other co-worker, Joan, and I both agreed that Gail's was our favorite of the three. It reminded us both of the town of Whoville in Dr. Seuss' classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas,especially with that leaning chimney! Don't you agree?

Below is Joan's creation. She really thought outside the box for this one and gave it a hexagonal base. A jewelry lover, she really went overboard on the candy embellishments. Pretty fancy for a bunch of graham crackers, huh? Wow!
And below is my creation. Before Gail and Joan had finished theirs, I was pretty pleased with the peaked roof and the chimney with Santa stuck in there, but now in comparison, I think it looks a little plain. I guess my style is pretty much classic but not ostentatious, do you agree?
If you've never decorated a gingerbread house, get some colorful candy and whip up a batch of royal icing and give it a try!

A Third Tree

2011-12-14T21:17:00.003-05:00

When I photographed and posted the Christmas trees in our house, I forgot to include this one! Every year, I hang it in the foyer so all our visitors can see it when they walk through the door. We made it in 2002 by painting our hands green and printing them in size order onto this piece of muslin to form a tree. Then we dipped our finger tips in red paint to make little red ornaments. We added gold circles and put our names inside, and a gold star on top. Voila` - our own family Christmas tree!

Two Christmas Trees

2011-12-12T17:05:00.005-05:00

This is the advent pocket quilt my mother made for the girls when they were small. Isn't it beautiful? I don't put it away with the rest of the Christmas things in the attic, so we can get to it as soon as advent begins. My 3 girls used to squabble a bit over whose turn it was to take an ornament out of its pocket each day, but this year my youngest does it herself before breakfast (I guess the older two are not as possessive of it as they used to be...). Below is a close up of the tree and some of the cute buttons and little toys she stitched on. It's one of those favorite family traditions.
And here is the big tree! We finally had time to clear a spot in the living room and make the trip into the attic to get down all the boxes. As you may have guessed, it's artificial, and it's pre-lit, so we don't have to go to the store or to a farm to get one and then spend an hour or more carefully stringing the lights. It makes for a much quicker, less stressful (and less grumpy) family activity. The tree pretty much looks the same from year to year - I don't buy whole new sets of ornaments in bizarre color schemes like some of the magazines suggest. We stared off with a core set of ornaments, some of which were wedding favors at our own wedding 19 years ago. We started the tradition of buying an ornament wherever we went on vacation, so we have quite a number of those on there, and for years we would take a trip to a local shop with particularly nice ormanents and let the girls each choose one for the tree. By now, we've got quite a collection!
Here is the ornament from our vacation this year to Herkimer Diamond Mines and that area of upstate NY. I wrapped the largest crystal in brass wire and put all the little ones into that tiny bottle, then tied them together with a nice red ribbon. What Christmas traditions does your family have?

Christmas Preparations

2011-12-10T14:17:00.010-05:00

In addition to the typical shopping and wrapping that goes on this time of year, here are some other things I've been doing to prepare for Christmas. First: CLEANING! Last weekend I did a very thorough cleaning in my own bedroom. I tend to hoard books and magazines to read before I go to sleep and I usually have quite a collection piled on the nighttable and on the floor next to (and sometimes under) the bed. I cleaned it all up and vacuumed up all the dust in the area. I even reorganized my jewelry box, which was sort of overflowing with my latest creations and things I've been wearing more often.

With that job done, I tackled this window in the kitchen. Can you see all the cobwebs and dead bug debris up in the corners? No?

How's this close-up? Can you see it now? Ick!
Well, with only about a dozen paper towels, some good old fashioned glass cleaner, a lot of elbow grease and about a half hour of my time, I transformed it into this:
Much better! Now I can look out the window as I'm cooking or doing dishes and enjoy the view of the lake and morning sunlight pouring in. (There's nothing like a visit from my in-laws to get me to do some really deep cleaning! They'll be here just after Christmas). Just one more window to tackle - the big one in the living room. Then put up the tree and bake a few cookies...

This evening we're going to a friend's for their traditional "Grinch" party. They've been doing it since college; we've probably gone to the last 15 or so. I get to catch up with lots of old teacher friends and we usually have lots of laughs and lots of food. Guests usually bring a dessert so this year I opted for a new family favorite, mini cupcakes. My oldest daughter loves them; she says it's just the right balance of cake and frosting in one little bite! They take kind of a long time for me to bake because I only have one mini cupcake pan, which needs to be reused 3 times to finish up the batter. But they make a cute presentation when they're frosted and decorated.

This time I made some of them in my favorite flavor combination: mint and chocolate! Yum!
Lastly, I started rereading a favorite holiday book of mine that I tend to borrow from the library almost every year in December. It's copyright date is 1964, and I'm lucky our library still has this copy. It is a fictional account of all the characters in the Christmas story as the birth of Jesus approaches, with one chapter devoted to each of them beginning with Mary and Joseph and continuing with the three Magi, Mary's cousin Elizabeth, the innkeeper and his wife, Herod the king, and a shepherd. Norah Lofts makes these characters so human and realistic, not like the fairy-tale saints we sometimes think they are. In particular, the character of Balthazar (one of the magi who is typically portrayed as being black) is cast as a slave. He has given up on gods and religion, but has a vision of a star bursting over the horizon and knows it means a new dawning for mankind. He runs away from his owner to pursue the star and the dream of freedom and justice and receives both as he kneels before the babe in the manger. There are many parts of this book that can move me to tears (but in a good way!). How are you preparing for Christmas?

Latest Addition

2011-12-06T15:03:00.002-05:00

Here is my latest charm cluster necklace. I stuck with the same pale blue, crystal, and white color scheme to suggest snow, but didn't put any actual snowflakes on this one. I picked up some metal clasps for use with ribbons on one of my latest shopping sprees, so this necklace hooks in a more professional way (I'm not averse to knots, but I figure if you're paying good money for something, you want a little better caliber than that!). Anyway, check out my Etsy shop as well as the Etsy site in general for really cool and unique handmade and vintage gifts this year!

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2011-12-04T16:44:00.008-05:00

Here are some of the outdoor decorations we managed to get up this weekend. First, the wreath on the door and the little evergreen trees in the window boxes.
I bought some fancy new lights this year. These come in strings of 10 snowflakes, so I got 2 strings. They add just the right sparkle to Alana's little apple tree (notice it's been propped up since that Halloween snowstorm pushed it over).
I also got the pine roping and ran it around the front door and down the railing. I just love how welcoming it looks.
But I think my favorite part is this Colorado blue spruce which we planted when my oldest was born (she's a Christmas baby!). It gets taller every year and I considered leaving it undecorated this year but my dear husband tackled the job and I must say, he got a touchdown on this one. It looks better than ever!
I'm glad we got our outdoor lights up so we get to enjoy them for the next several weeks. Soon we'll get moving on the indoor stuff...

Snowy Charms

2011-11-27T20:16:00.004-05:00

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it seems like winter is right around the corner! I put together a few pieces of jewelry with the snowy charms I've been creating. Above is a cluster necklace I gave to my mom as a thank-you for a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner. You can see another paper charm that I painted, stamped, and coated with that Dimensional Magic. I added a little crystal jewel for a little sparkle. I also found those cool snowflake-shaped crystals last week. They add just the right wintry touch, don't you think?

Below is another charm bracelet. The large white snowflake is white opaque shrink film cut with our Accucut machine at work. There is also white polymer clay that is stamped and dusted with a pearly "Perfect Pearls" powder. I think my favorite is the snowstorm-in-a-bottle. It's also one of the easiest! As you can see, I'm still a bit obsessed with these charms! It's really fun using all the different materials. It never gets boring!

Paper charms

2011-11-20T05:50:00.007-05:00

I've continued to play with charm-making lately. One of the reasons I like it is because they're small and I can make many of them at once, unlike the stitched collages which take weeks! The book I blogged about here, Making Mixed-Media Art Charms and Jewelry, had a chapter on making charms out of paper, and I've been playing around with that with varied success. I started with some scraps of watercolor paper leftover from a previous project, and painted and stamped them, as shown above. Then I glued two layers of the paper together, back to back, to make it more sturdy, and cut it into various shapes. I originally planned to cut them into square inches to get the most charms out of my painted paper, but I find I don't like the look of squares in my jewelry - too rigid, boxy, and unnatural looking (do we ever find a square in nature?). So then I started making diamond shapes and ovals. I wrapped the edges of the cut up paper in copper foil tape. With a whole bunch of them, I glued on an oak leaf cut with a purchased paper punch. With some of them I wrote words on the back. Unfortunately, when it came to using them, I thought they looked too amateurish and homemade, too clunky and unrefined. I think it was the foil tape and my messy handwriting!

Finally, I made one more and did not wrap it in the tape. I put in a grommet and coated the whole thing front and back with a product similar to Dimensional Magic (a mod podge product). You have to let it dry very thoroughly on the first side before turning it over and coating it on the other side, which is a little drawback, but I was afraid it would require an edge to hold it in, like a jewelry bezel. This thick liquid has a nice consistency and enough surface tension that you can cover the charm completely right to the edge without it spilling over. Here is a finished charm (that I actually liked!) and put on an autumn-themed bracelet for myself. The Dimensional Magic dries hard and clear and is much easier to use than resins that have to be mixed and poured. I can't wait to try some other projects with it!
Below is a shot of the whole bracelet. I think I'll wear it for Thanksgiving and around the library this week!
I've started making a bunch of charms with a snow theme, as you can see below. I just painted and stamped some more paper to make some charms with these colors. Then maybe I'll be able to list a winter/holiday item or two in my Etsy shop before I get too busy and end up missing out on any potential holiday sales. I wish I could work faster so I had more stuff to sell!

Another Charm Bracelet

2011-11-13T21:48:00.004-05:00

Here is another bracelet I finished this week and listed in my Etsy shop. It's got a nice range of fall colors and a variety of shapes and materials, all with an Autumn theme. It's probably a bit late in the season to be posting it, but I like it, so I thought I'd give it a shot. (Right now, I'm working on a second one for myself!). I hope to have some more winter themed things out soon, since Christmas shopping is on everyone's minds already!

Business Card Holders

2011-11-08T18:28:00.004-05:00

After I gave my doctor friend her underwater-themed wall hanging for her office (see a photo of it here), I thought I'd better send her some business cards too (just in case she has a wealthy patient who admires my work and wants a commission!). I got these made up through vistaprint.com and put my little seahorse mascot on them. Then I made the little holder for them. I don't know if they'll have room for the holder at the receptionist's desk, but I thought they would look nice displayed this way. If she can't use it, I'll use it somehow. How do you like the wave-shaped back? I had fun creating it, as you can see.

I also made this fun business card holder and dispenser for another local artist friend, Tabby Marshall. Last week when we had no power, she generously invited over the whole family to shower and have a hot meal (she actually invited several families!). She is a terrific photographer and artist herself (see her website by clicking here) and her home is decorated with a million cool artsy photos and things, and I wanted to give her something cool and artsy, but also useful. This is the front of the wallet...
and this is the back, below.
It has two pockets - one to keep a credit card, money, or photo id, and the other to dispense the cards. What you do is pull on the ribbon, and the card pops out the top (I didn't invent this - Normajean Brevik had an article in Quilting Arts Magazine issue 24 which included directions). Neat, huh? I'd better make one for myself too!

"Going Green" Charm Bracelet

2011-11-03T19:30:00.003-04:00

I finally got some more copper-plated chain and have started putting together some more charm bracelets with some of the charms I crafted earlier this fall. I'm really happy with how this one turned out! It's a nice mix of materials and shades of green and has a nice earthy, organic look to it. Look for it in my Etsy shop!

Freak Storm

2011-11-01T20:54:00.008-04:00

We are still recovering from that freaky snowstorm that dumped more than a foot of heavy wet snow here on Saturday. It was an unusually potent storm and came unusually early. As you can see from the pictures, most of the trees still have their leaves and the extra weight was devastating to branches and trunks alike.

Of course, that meant downed power lines, which almost happened in the shot above. That line didn't go down, but many others did and we were without power for almost 3 full days.

Here is a shot of the poor little apple tree we planted when my youngest was born. I hope we'll be able to push it back into an upright position, poor thing!
And here are the climbing petunias and geraniums that were still in bloom in the window boxes. They actually survived the storm.
But the top of this tree didn't. It came down across our upper deck and just missed crushing the gas grill. All in all, we were pretty lucky. I was even able to stop amidst the chaos and admire the beauty of the sunrise on Sunday.
We spent three very cold nights huddled under sweatshirts and comfortors, playing board games and listening to our hand-crank radio.

Schools are still closed through tomorrow, and now that we finally have the power back on, we'll be able to enjoy our time at home a little more. I hope this storm isn't a foreshadowing of things to come later this winter!

Puppy Therapy

2011-10-27T15:04:00.014-04:00

My next door neighbor's yellow lab, Sophie (Cassie's best friend pictured here) had a litter of 8 puppies about 4 weeks ago. We spent some time socializing with them this weekend. It's like therapy. There's nothing that can lift your spirits like being in a room filled with adorable, curious puppies! Here are some cute shots I took.

When we got there, the puppies had just woken up and were beginning to play. They were all over the place, climbing on the girls and chewing on their clothes and shoes.
At one point, I sat down and two of the yellow ones came along and climbed into my lap. Out of the 8, 5 are yellow and 3 are black.
They are already eating soft solid food and drinking water from a bowl. They have sharp little teeth and like to chew on anything and everything!

After a good 20-30 minutes of playing and eating, they start to get sleepy again. They settle down next to you or climb up in your lap.

Look at that face!

These four have chosen this favorite corner of the kitchen for a nap. They are just too cute! Luckily, my friend has asked us to come back again soon to continue socializing the pups!

More Autumn Inventory!

2011-10-21T19:49:00.004-04:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, last night I held my "creative playgroup" at the library. The women were very enthusiastic and willing to experiment and play with all the materials I brought. We especially had fun playing with the stamps, inks, and pearl-ex powder. This afternoon when I finally sat down to do something creative for an hour or so, I started putting away all the materials from last night, when I decided to play around with everything a little more on my own. I managed to come up with some new color combinations with some of the various stamps. As you can see, I'm even planning ahead a bit and getting in some wintry motifs!

Of course, I was partial to the autumn-toned pieces. I made a bunch of them so I can use them for charms on some of the bracelets I hope to finish up soon. But I also attempted getting two pieces to match close enough to be a pair of earrings - and I succeeded! I think the key is breaking off two same-size pieces of clay and working them together, step by step, rather than completing one and then trying to make a second just like it. Anyway, look what I came up with!I used metallic gold clay with the copper pearl-ex powder and added a few glass beads to the hanging wires. I added these to my etsy shop tonight, but I liked them so much, I made an extra pair for myself!

Busy Week!

2011-10-20T15:37:00.003-04:00

I feel like I've been running full tilt since my last post on Saturday! The girls have been busy with activities, I had a few extra programs this week at the library, and I have my adult evening craft program tonight ("the creative playgroup for women") - we're making polymer clay beads and charms. I took 15 minutes here and there to stitch these leaves onto the heavy interfacing to turn them into autumn coasters. What do you think? I like them, and they're fairly quick to put together. Next time I'll cut the fabric before I print the leaves; it took way too long cutting the fabric up into neat 4-inch squares after they were printed!

I have an opinion question for anyone out there reading this: In the past, I've covered the top of my fabric coasters with a fusible vinyl to protect them. I'm wondering if I should do that here. These are not pieced, so they may not need as much protecting, and I think people may prefer to be able to feel the texture of the fabric and stitch (I know I do). But they are not as protected without the vinyl and may be in danger of being stained by wine, coffee, etc. (Maybe I should go with the vinyl...) Anyone out there got an opinion? I'm looking forward to getting these posted on Etsy...

Painted Leaf Prints

2011-10-15T20:47:00.005-04:00

On weekday mornings I'm usually up before 6, making sure the girls are awake, emptying the dishwasher, getting various breakfast and lunch components together. On weekends I have the option of sleeping in a bit, or getting up at the same time and getting in some very valuable creative time while everyone else sleeps in (even the dog!). This morning, I did the latter, and started a new project that I hope to be working on in the next few days.

Of course, it's hard not to be inspired by the colors and shapes of the leaves this time of year. I never get tired of them, year after year. The last few days I've been picking up leaves of a particular size, but a variety of shapes, to make these prints on fabric. Someone from Cloth Paper Scissors magazine suggested using an old phone book for this type of painting and I have to say, whoever it was is a genius! I painted the leaves with paint (I used Pebeo Setacolor) with a foam brush...

and then pressed the leaf onto a nice homespun cloth. When the page in the phone book gets too messy, just turn to the next page and keep going!

I only used two colors of paint (buttercup yellow and oriental red), and mixed them together in various proportions to get a variety of shades of yellow, orange, and red. In the past I've always used cheap craft store acrylic paint that I've treated with a fabric medium. It always suited me fine, but now that I've used the Pebeo Setacolor paint, I'm hooked! The colors are so vibrant and deep and the texture is so smooth and creamy - just lovely to work with. And I love the results! I found myself just doing one more, and then one more after that! Now I can't wait to get to the next step in the project. Stay tuned!

Trying to Add Inventory

2011-10-14T20:40:00.005-04:00

Now that I have an Etsy shop, I'm trying to add items to sell! I've read that you're better off adding one new item per day rather than adding all your items at once. This way you get listed on the "What's New" list, and it's possible your items will be noticed more. And even though I have several other bracelets I can list, it's difficult to find the time to photograph them well and get them listed. I also wanted to list more autumn-themed pieces like the one above - it's been laying around my "almost finished" pile for two years now - but first I had to finish it! I put it on my blog back in September of 2009 (see it here) when it was just the collage - no borders or finished edges. Today I bought a stretched canvas with the intent to attach it to that somehow, but the premade sizes weren't quite right (the orange felt rectangle is 10"x 6"). I ended up backing it with the two different burlaps and adding the decorative hand stitching. It definitely looks much more finished and professional than it did! I even like this photograph of it - but I neglected to sign it! Better get back to the sewing machine, stitch in my signature and rephotograph it!

Perfect Fall Fun

2011-10-09T18:46:00.009-04:00

Cassie was so excited yesterday when we put her "going out" collar on that she jumped into the front seat of the car before we could stop her! She must've sensed we were going somewhere fun - and she was right! It was the perfect day to head over to our favorite orchard, Stewart's Fruit Farm in Granite Springs. They've been family-owned and operated since 1886 and it's our favorite place to pick apples.

We thought we might even be too late to get good pickin's this year, but there were plenty of apples still on the trees. I'm always amazed at the abundance in this orchard. It's like Eden, with boughs bending under the weight of the heavy, ripe, fragrant fruit.
We picked, and picked, and picked!

Luckily, Mark doesn't mind carrying the overflowing and very heavy bag back to the car.

After we finished picking, we followed our noses to Stewart's new bakery. Mmm, the smells that were wafting out the doors were just heavenly - butter, sugar, and fruit all mixed together! Although I have a real weakness for cherry pie and I'm sure theirs was delicious, I managed to content myself with just the aromas. They're free, and they have no calories!
Now we have plenty of apples to make into pies, crisps, and muffins over the next few months - one of the best things about fall!

Open for Business!

2011-10-07T21:18:00.006-04:00

Announcing the grand opening of my very own ETSY shop! Above is the banner I created this week using the free program called "gimp." Do you recognize the background? It's a section of my "Waterfall" piece that was in the show last month. I've been ruminating on my "brand" - colors, font, the general image I want to project. I think I've captured it, between the flowing and sparkling fabric "water," to the coppery lettering.

And below is my new mascot! I've made several versions of him, but I definitely like this one the best. I sponged copper acrylic paint on the wrong side of a commercial print fabric, then fused it to a pale green felt. This prevented a lot of fraying that I get with just the fabric alone. The real coup was his spine ridges. In the past, I've tried to cut them out by hand with a scissors, but I always wanted to try to incorporate rick-rack somehow. I have yards of a very small pale green rick-rack that I painted with the same acrylic paint and stitched along his back. I think it's a vast improvement. I also managed to get a bit of an expression on his face. What do you think? Isn't he cute? I'm using him as my "avatar" instead of a picture of myself. I think it says more about me and my art than my own face would.

I also decided to take a leap of faith and donate 5% of any profits to a non-profit research foundation called "Project Seahorse." The worldwide seahorse population has been dwindling rapidly over the last few decades and Dr. Amanda Vincent founded the organization to study seahorses and work with fisherman around the globe to prevent any further damage to their populations and ecosystem. I just love seahorses; maybe it's because they almost seem like something imaginary, like unicorns, only they're real. They're just so darned cute and interesting to watch!

So anyway, hop on over to my new ETSY shop (I'll have to add a link on my blog somewhere soon) and tell your friends about it too! Every purchase helps save the seahorse!

Daily Commute

2011-10-05T05:48:00.005-04:00

About 10 days ago I hit a cement obstruction with the car (ugh) in a parking lot (it's only about 10" high and I couldn't see it!) and we've been managing with one car since then. It should be back on the road today, but meanwhile I've had the chance to bike to work a few times. I'm lucky that I live so close to the library and am able to get there in less than 15 minutes by bike! First, I head down the road and down this big hill...

Then I hop onto our bike trail. It's one of those converted rail-to-trail bike paths, and just down the road from our house!
Then I stay on the path for a while, probably less than a mile. It's very shady and quiet, a nice way to start the day.
Finally, I cross Rte. 6 and head up a small hill and I'm on Lake Mahopac! Another short trip down the road and I'm there! It's a nice morning trip, but it's dependent on the weather, which has not been very cooperative lately. Also, I'm not always as energetic on the way home, after a long day at work.
...And I've got to get back up that hill!

Weekend Fun

2011-10-02T23:00:00.016-04:00

Here are some photos (courtesy of my husband Mark) of the Great Jack-o-Lantern Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor, where Halloween is already in full swing! They advertise that there are over 4,000 jolly jacks on display, and it certainly looked that way! Some of them, like the one above, look like they were done by local school children - so much youthful energy, enthusiasm and imagination! Below is a shot of a field filled with glowing jacks of all sorts - some were scary & creepy, but there were also animals like cats, even characters like pirates, devils, and clowns. Mark shot the two photos below without the flash so you could get a sense of how they glowed in the dark, but of course the shots are a little blurry because it's hard to hold the camera still enough for the shutter speed. The shot below that shows the manor glowing with eerie lights and images of the Van Cortlandts (I assume) carved into pumpkins too.

There were even jack-o-lantern dinosaurs. The first was taken without a flash, and the second one with a flash. It really illuminates the construction, but takes away from the magic, doesn't it? I really liked some of the displays that featured carved pumpkins hanging from the trees. These are carved with butterflies and really looked enchanting floating under the trees in the dark. There was a similar display carved with fairies with dozens of pumpkins carved with mushrooms and flowers below. I really liked these towers of pumpkins carved to look like sunflowers. There was a similar display that resembled a cornfield filled with crows. It was really amazing! After oooing and aahing over everything for about an hour, we headed home for birthday desserts! Yum!

Two Birthdays

2011-10-01T07:02:00.004-04:00

We are celebrating my youngest daughter's 11th birthday today! We have some fun things planned, including having an early dinner at Olive Garden and then going to "The Great Jack-o-Lantern Blaze" at Van Cortlandt Manor this evening. Hopefully the rain will stop before then...

Meanwhile, I have another good friend at work who shares this birthday (I think I know about 5 people total who all have birthdays on October 1st. Guess what fell nine months earlier - New Year's Eve!). I made her these cute button earrings. She's a real bead and jewelry buff. I thought the range of purples and grays in these would compliment her wardrobe. Also, the fact that they're made with buttons and not beads just might make them a unique item in her jewelry box. Fun!

End of September

2011-09-30T09:24:00.009-04:00

Here are some pictures of how things are looking around here on the last day of September:

Three more!

2011-09-28T19:50:00.003-04:00

Here are three more pieces from the show that I missed in my other posts! Below is "Yella Fella" by Lynn Schwager...

and "Geometric Gray" by Kathi Jahnke...
and "It's Not Easy Being Green" by Sonia Reiber.
It's hard to believe September is almost over and the show has already come down! We are already planning and looking forward to our next show in May of 2012!

All Buttoned Up!

2011-09-25T10:51:00.007-04:00

I finished another charm bracelet, above, with a darker green, tree theme, and then cleaned up my worktable. On Friday evening, I decided to focus only on polymer clay and got out a few stamps and some Pearl-X powder. I came up with the charms, below, which I'll use for future projects.
Then something made me think about using buttons in jewelry and the variety of ways they might be used (I'm not sure what inspired me this time - there are no button charms in that book!). I got out my tub of buttons and started playing around. Here are some of the things I came up with:
Fun! I'm looking forward to incorporating them into some jewelry soon. While I was at it, I made a few other cool charms that didn't use buttons. Here they are below.
And then I got the idea for these bracelets. I had gotten some large jump rings last year, thinking I could use them to hold my sketchbook together, but it turned out they were too small. I wasn't using them much, but they work great linking together these buttons! There are all kinds of possibilities with these too - options for color, size, combinations of the two, even dangling charms off the links! I wasn't the first person to come up with this - you can find them on ETSY, but I sure like the way they turned out! Only thing is, as you can imagine with the beads, fabric, buttons, wire, tools, and other elements I needed for these charms, my work table is all messy again!

Mixed-Media Mania!

2011-09-20T16:33:00.009-04:00

My recent fascination (bordering on obscession) with mixed-media charms has not let up! Last week, I happened to stop into A. C. Moore to check out their bead collection, when I came across this book. I looked through it quickly, but I'd already been through the check-out, and it contains many of the techniques and materials I already know about and use for charms, like polymer clay and shrink film. But I wanted a closer look at the book, I wanted to take more time with it. I couldn't get it through the library, so I went back to A.C. Moore Sunday evening with my 40% off coupon and now it's MINE!!!! Of course, I was pretty content with the charms and bracelets I've been coming up with on my own. Here's one, below, similar to the one I posted here, except with silver-tone metal instead of copper. I like the number and variety of charms and the way they're all related in theme and color, but I found myself leaning towards the more unique ones, the ones you can't just buy at any craft store and hook onto a chain.
And that's exactly what the book covers. As you can see here, it has an opening chapter on some basics ("Charm School") and then a full chapter on each different media, including paper, fabric, glass, plastic, and found objects. I couldn't wait to try them all!
One of the first ones I decided to attempt last night was making these wool "sputnik" charms. I've done a little hand needle felting with wool, but this describes wet felting with hot water and a bar of soap, so I thought I'd give it a try. It didn't sound too complicated.
I dug out some wool roving I had in my chosen color (what else but aqua?) and saw I had two different types of roving. One looked nice and smooth, all combed out and straight, but the other one was still kind of curly, a little tangled and in smaller pieces. I was hoping to get a swirled effect, so I wanted to incorporate the variety of aqua shades in both types of wool. Unfortunately, I should've combed them together more thoroughly, because they didn't incorporate together very well!

These are the three little misshapen balls I ended up with! Pretty funny, huh?

Another drawback to getting involved with a book like this and wanting to try everything all at once is the resulting mess! Look at my worktable!
Even the chair I usually sit in is draped with t-shirts I wanted to embellish over the summer, and new fabrics I picked up to make more coasters. Ugh!
I think the idea is to make many of one type of charm - spend a few days or a week just using the polymer clay, then move to paper, then to fabric, then to wood, then put the bracelets together. I think my next move is going to be cleaning everything up and selecting one medium to focus on for a time. I'll let you know how that goes...

More Show Pieces

2011-09-19T19:24:00.009-04:00

Here are the rest of the pieces from the show. Above is Martha Buhl's piece titled "Golden Opportunity." Below are all the horizontal pieces. First, Lynda Long's "Yellow Spirit Lion."

Above, Claire Oehler's "Green Rain," and "Tree Study IV: Blue Dusk" by Barbara Sferra, below.

Two blue pieces, "Blue Skies Up Above" by Cecelia Leiseroff (top) and Barbara Schiller's beautifully moody nighttime piece below.

Here we have "Vermillion Verge" by Andrea Schedletsky (top) and "Vanilla Fudge Mosaic Swirl" by Maxine Oliver. Click on it to see all the little squares of fabric she fused on to make this very detailed mosaic.

Here are the final two pieces in the show. In "Misty Gray Morning," (top), Joyce Sullivan used pussy willows for the little baby ducklings. How's that for a clever found object? Another clever one below, "Just Zip Through the Red Tape" by Joann Lubchenko.

You must agree, we're a talented bunch (if I do say so myself)! If you live in the area and haven't done so yet, stop by to see them all for yourselves. It's worth the trip!

FANE Artists' Reception

2011-09-18T14:09:00.019-04:00

It was another great gathering of artists and friends at the annual Fiber Arts North East show and reception at the Mahopac Public Library yesterday afternoon! Above is a shot of the gallery hallway with some of the artwork, artists, and spirit flag display in the window. Following are some of the pieces from the show, the first two by Natalya Aikens (left) and Judy Gignesi.

These three (above, left to right) are by Ann Louise Lyman, MaryAnn Healy, and Carolyn Spiegel, and below we have works by Nike Cutsumpas, Carole Hoffman, and Norma Schlager.

The works above are by Vivien Zepf, Jane Davila, and Jamie Horikawa, and the ones below are by Fran Osinoff, Gail Ellspermann, and Barbara Drillick.
I think the whole show was fabulous, with each piece standing out against the cork walls on its white canvas, and the dramatic and intense colors chosen by each artist. I haven't displayed all the pieces here - the ones hung horizontally were photographed individually so I'll save those for the next post. Below are some of my very favorites:
"Black Magic" by Nancy Mirman, "The View From and Old Church Window onto 4o Shades of Green" by MaryAnn Healy, and "A Magical Moment in Magenta" by Ann Louise Lyman.

I also loved "Teal Trio" by Judy Gignesi.

In addition to each artists' piece, Joyce Sullivan displayed the 4"x4" pieces we swapped in 2009. They looked great displayed this way, and filled the perfect spot next to the elevator.

There was also an empty display case upstairs which we utilized to display our mixed-media houses. Don't they make an adorable village?

Here I am standing next to my piece, "Aquatic Exercise I: Waterfall".
Here's a view of the Community Room where we had a chance to sit and talk and enjoy some refreshments together. It was another great success for the FANE!

SAQA Auction Has Begun!

2011-09-14T17:58:00.002-04:00

The Studio Art Quilters Association, of which I am now a member, has an auction every year to benefit their not-for-profit group. This year's auction started on September 12th and works in reverse of a regular auction. The artworks go on sale for a high price the first day ($750) and go down in price on successive days, ending at a final price of $75. The pieces are sold in groups. I donated the above work which will go on sale on September 26th. If you'd like to own an original piece of fiber art, take a look at what's for sale by clicking here. (Mine is shown in group 3b. I wonder if it will sell...).

Remembering 9-11-01

2011-09-11T08:03:00.002-04:00

The Mahopac Public Library is one of 31 places in New York State selected to house a piece of the World Trade Center remains from 9-11. Just a simple piece of the sheeting from the outside of one of the towers, it's surprising how impressive it is. Just looking at it, dented and torn, numbered like an archeological find, it brings to mind that day and all we witnessed on television.

My two older girls had just started preschool at our church. That first week, classes were only one hour to ease them into being away from mommy and in a class setting. I dropped them off that day, took a picture of them squinting in the sunshine in front of the entrance (I had forgotten the day before, which was the real first-day-of-school), and headed upstairs to the main church to attend mass with my youngest, instead of driving home for that one hour. On the way out around 9:35, my youngest daughter pointed at the candles we typically light for a special prayer. I couldn't think of anyone I knew who needed any special prayers that morning. It was a perfectly beautiful day, without a cloud in the sky, and all I knew and loved were healthy and doing well. But I lit a candle anyway, thinking someone somewhere must need a prayer that morning.

We still had about 20 minutes to pass before it was time to pick up the girls after preschool, so I put Alana in the stroller and walked around the neighborhood near the church for a few minutes. On the way back, someone drove by with their car radio blasting on a news station. I knew then that something important must've happened in the news. I met a few other mothers waiting by the church doors and one of them asked me if I'd heard what happened. She told me that a plane had flown into one of the twin towers. I had assumed it might be a small private plane and was a pilot error. She told me both her husband and her sister worked downtown in the towers or one of the shorter buildings that were part of the World Trade Center. She said they had evacuated and that her husband was walking the 80 or 90 blocks up to where his mother lived, uptown. We laughed about what a long walk he'd have. We just didn't know the seriousness of the situation.

When I finally picked up the girls and heard the news reports for myself, I was in complete shock. I drove home, but couldn't leave the car because I didn't want to miss a second of the events that were unfolding. Finally, I managed to wrench myself away from the radio and ran in to see everything unfolding on TV. When I saw those towers go down, I knew there was no way anyone could ever survive a collapse like that. I thought of the other mother I had spoken to at church and her sister and started to cry, thinking what she must be going through wondering if her sister were still alive.

It turns out my cousin, a NYC firefighter who worked in the Greenwich Village area downtown, was in the towers helping with the rescue that morning. He was in the lobby of the 2nd tower, helping evacuate, when something told him to get out. He did and soon after, the tower fell. I like to think whatever urged him to get out then had something to do with my candle prayer in the church that morning. He survived the collapse, as did my friend's sister. But many did not, and it's a day many of us will never forget.

In My Own Backyard

2011-09-10T22:47:00.008-04:00

After a busy week of work both in the library and at home, my youngest daughter and I decided to take a mini vacation right in our own backyard. We haven't used the kayaks all summer, so we trotted down to the lakeshore with our paddles, towels, PFDs, and a broom (to sweep out all the spiders and webs!), climbed in, and glided off onto the peaceful water.
Our lake is too small to allow any motorized vehicles, so it is always quiet enough for catching wildlife unawares. We saw turtles,
and water birds, including this great blue heron. We are able to get pretty close in our quiet kayaks. We paddled and drifted for less than an hour, but it was such a relaxing escape from our normally busy world.

After we climbed back up the hill and cleaned up, I opened this lovely package of goodies that arrived in the mail today from artbeads.com. I can't wait to dive into them and start crafting some more charms and bracelets!

Back to School 2011

2011-09-08T14:56:00.005-04:00

It's that time of year again! (Facebook Friends, visit my wall to see some better close-up shots of the girls on the first day of school).

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-09-05T22:31:00.004-04:00

This weekend I celebrated my birthday! It's kind of funny that my mother was in labor on Labor Day, and now every year I get the extra gift of a three-day weekend to celebrate. Saturday I had the day to myself, as my other half took the girls and some friends to a water/amusement park in nearby Connecticut. I've decided to really focus on crafting some more charm bracelets and fabric coasters this fall, in an effort to sell them on ETSY as well as at the PAC holiday sale, and I needed to replenish some of my supplies of beads and jewelry findings. To that end, I visited all three of the local craft/fabric stores over the course of the weekend and had fun choosing some new beads and even adding a couple of new fabrics to my stash. Today I was able to spend some time playing with all my cool new stuff. I'll share some photos of the jewelry soon.

I was also treated to a visit from my parents, who had a chance to stop off at the library for a few minutes to see the FANE show. I took them to see my middle daughter cheer at a football game, and then we had a nice grilled dinner at home, followed by my favorite Chocolate Truffle Bomb cake. Last but not least, I was given my very own brand new hardcover copy of the book A Dance With Dragons, (see previous post) so now I don't have to wait for my copy from the library! Hope you all had a great weekend too! Tomorrow it's back to school!

A Colorful Show

2011-09-03T16:46:00.006-04:00

I'm pleased to announce the opening of the FiberArts North East group's third annual show at the Mahopac Public Library! The show runs through September 30th and includes 28 9"x 20" fiber art pieces. My group members and I were challenged to create a piece with those dimensions, using predominantly one color, and a variety of shades and tones within that color. Pieces could be hung either vertically or horizontally.

The show looks fantastic! As one of my co-artists said, "the artwork gets better every year!" Of course, we are all growing as artists and it shows. Our sense of design as well as technical execution all show tremendous growth. I'm always so impressed by the creativity and imagination that my fellow artists possess. The unique way each artist interpreted the show guidelines is truly amazing. Each piece is visually alluring and the show as a whole is stunning! If you're in the area, don't miss it. Come on Saturday, September 17th from 2-4 pm to meet the artists and share some light refreshments!

(For those of you who are not local, I post some photos of the show soon!)

What I've Been Up to...

2011-09-02T05:45:00.009-04:00

How did everyone fare during Hurricane Irene? I have to admit, I sort of assumed the media was hyping up the storm and we didn't do as much preparation as we should have. We have electric everything here so when we lose power, we can't flush, run water, cook - nothing! I did have some drinking water stored in the garage and managed to freeze a few containers of water for extra ice, which sustained us through the first 36 hours without power. We also made good use of our propane camping stove, backyard grill, and hand-powered radio and flashlights (we weren't totally unprepared!). Mark had just come back from the store with 3 large bags of ice, extra batteries, and more water, when the power came back on about 2 hours later. All in all, we were extremely fortunate to have very minimal damage - just a few branches and many leaves down, as seen above. Others in town are still waiting for their power to be restored and I heard about one home near the Ramapo River in NJ that was practically washed away. We were very lucky that the extent of our discomfort was only a couple of days without a shower and some melted ice cream!

In addition to hurricane survival and recovery, I've continued to make components for more charm bracelets. Here are some of the charms I've created out of polymer clay, bits of quilted collage, shrink film, and paper beads. As you might guess, I'm going with a leafy forest theme as well as a sea theme with the charms. I've completed one more bracelet and hope to have a couple more done soon. (An ETSY shop was in my goals for the year, and it's September already!)
One thing that kept me occupied during those long hours without power were the Game of Thrones book series by George R. R. Martin. Mark and I started watching the HBO series by that title which aired this past spring and left viewers hanging (this author has a habit of doing that). I've been getting the series of 5 books from the library one at a time and just finished the fourth one titled A Feast for Crows. The HBO series seemed excessively graphic in both violence and sexual content and I thought it was just played up to promote the series, but it's all there in the books too. They take place in a medieval-type fantasy world where the king who united seven kingdoms has died and now several kings of smaller kingdoms are vying for the Iron Throne. There are several interesting characters in the series, many of them female, and the plot takes many twists and turns that make you want to keep reading. I'm currently on the library waiting list for the book pictured below which was just released in July. Hope it comes soon!
And the final thing I've been preparing for is our FANE group show, which is currently hanging at the Mahopac Public Library! This one is titled "A Colorful Show" because we each kept our piece largely monochromatic. Group members hung the show on Wednesday, but we have yet to put up the labels for each piece, or displayed the book containing artist statements. I volunteered to collect and print those, and I have almost everyone's completed statemtents... The show should be entirely complete by next Tuesday, so I'll post some photos and the postcard. Our opening reception will be on Saturday September 17th, so if you're in the area, I hope you'll come see it!

Back from a Long Weekend Away

2011-08-24T17:26:00.020-04:00

Last Thursday my family and I headed north, over the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, and into upstate New York: farm country! It was lovely to watch the scenery go by and see the patchwork of fields and woodlands, with the Catskills hovering in the background.
Right after we checked into our little hotel in Cobleskill, we headed out to Howe Caverns, only 10 minutes away. The cool, dark cave was such a change from the bright summer weather, and we all enjoyed learning the history of the cave, how it was discovered (Mr. Howe noticed some cows hanging out in a certain spot on hot days and found the natural cave entrance nearby), and seeing some of the unusual flowstone formations. Howe Caverns has a river running through it underground, so we also got a boat ride on the river "Styx."

The next day, we drove over the Erie Canal and up into Herkimer, NY where we tried our hands at prospecting for the quartz crystals known as "Herkimer Diamonds."
It was hot, dusty work and even though we all had big dreams of finding crystals like the ones I found in Herkimer as a kid (pictured below), we mostly found only small stuff. (Maybe I should make those into a pair of earrings and a pendant. Hmmm...)

Our one big find was this crystal hidden in pocket of rock. It's about a half-inch long. We brought the whole rock home, planning to gently ease it out of there with more precise tools, but I kind of like the way it looks hidden there in its natural niche. I wonder if any more diamonds are hidden in other pockets in the rock!
Once we got home, I took all the little crystals we found and put them together into that little corked bottle shown on the right. I also took the largest crystal piece we found and wrapped some wire around it. These might make nice pendants, or maybe we'll save them for our Christmas tree this year, as a memento of our trip.

The next day we headed back to Howe Caverns to try out their brand new Zip Line! Here is my daughter Sarah flying on her first stretch. The zip line consisted of four towers with the lines stretched between them, so your ride consists of four zip trips. I was content to stay on the ground and take photos (even ski lifts make me nervous!) but the girls and Mark had a great time.
In the center of the zip line, there is a horseshoe shaped obstacle course challenge.
As you can see, the girls are attached to the structure with a line for safety, because it's got several levels and was quite a challenge. It was great to watch them begin a little nervously, evaluate each section, decide on the best approach, overcome fears and doubts, struggle on, and ultimately be succussful. Further successes brought greater confidence and fewer doubts. It really was an excellent activity and well worth the $10 ticket price. They spent about an hour climbing from one end of the structure to the other, trying different sections above and below, until they had done them all.

After another short ride in the car, we arrived at the Ommegang Brewery just south of Cooperstown. We had some fries with different aioli and spiced ketchup dipping sauces (with a couple of beers, of course!) and then got a tour of the place, which included more beer tasting at the end. Now my hubby wants to try brewing his own at home!
And we couldn't get so close to Cooperstown without stopping there to see the sights. The town is lovely, and despite the fact that we are not huge baseball fans, it was fun window shopping and looking at all the baseball memorabilia, as well as the outside of the Hall of Fame and the statue of the "sandlot kid" just outside of Doubleday Field. We also got some dinner and ice cream.

By Sunday morning, the forecast called for rain, so we headed over to Middleburgh for a quick brunch in a cute little cafe` and then headed for home. Even if it's just for a few days, it's always great to get out for a change of scenery and some new activities we could do together as a family. Now it's time for back-to-school shopping, haircuts, and high school and middle school orientations. Here we go again!

Playing with Charms Again

2011-08-16T06:46:00.004-04:00

Last week I stopped into our nearby Michael's Craft store while I was out shopping with the girls and came across a couple of chains marked down for clearance. I couldn't resist this one with its copper patina color, and at only $2.50 for a 24" length, it was a bargain! Over the weekend I pulled out some of my charm-making materials and played with them for a few days, so here's my latest jewelry creation. I do love the way charm bracelets sound, jingling and clinking on your wrist as you go about your day. Of course, I have a ton of beads and such in that aqua color, and happened to discover that if you smear a metallic aqua acrylic paint over copper metal charms (ones with engraving details work best) and wipe off the excess, it's a nice simulation of a patina. That's how I got the color on some of the charms above, especially the leaf-shaped one on the far right, the three little leaves in the center, and the dragonfly wings. I had purchased a bunch of small copper charms from artbeads.com a few years ago (they have a nice selection and don't charge shipping in the US) so I'm still incorporating those into my jewelry and art. One of those was that little picture frame towards the center of the bracelet. I glued in a small piece of quilted "paper cloth" I made a couple of years ago and embellished it with a small seahorse from a tiny paper punch (another bargain impulse buy a few years ago). A couple of the other charms are made from polymer clay and one bead was rolled out of paper cut from an old National Geographic magazine!

I have enough chain left to make 3 more of these! When am I going to get around to opening that ETSY shop, anyway? (or maybe I can try these at the Putnam Arts Council Holiday sale this year...)

A New Twist on an Old Favorite

2011-08-14T19:10:00.006-04:00

Last week I tried something I've been wanting to try for a long time: shaving cream marbling on fabric. I've been thinking about how I can get a nice gentle swirled affect with a variety of shades of blue without dyeing (I'm just not up to tackling the complexities of dyeing my own fabrics, but I am willing to paint and try other surface design techniques). I saw a quick demo of shaving cream marbling on paper and I've heard about other fabric artists who've tried it with cloth, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

What you do is take shaving cream and spread it onto a washable surface (I used a large piece of plexiglass). Then stir in drops or streaks of various paints until the shaving cream looks marbled. Then all you do is lay a piece of prewashed fabric (or paper) over the shaving cream and the swirls of paint will transfer to the fabric. I would've taken shots of myself doing this, but it's amazing how quickly that shaving cream got everywhere so I didn't dare pick up the camera! But above are the peices of fabric I marbled laid out on my outdoor table to dry. Below is a close-up of one piece. Not bad for my first try!

I decided I might as well dive right in and see how it looks as a watery background. I decided to do another one of my favorite little seahorses. I keep doing this over and over again because although I feel like I'm getting closer to the look I want, I still haven't achieved it yet. For this guy, I stitched wavy strips of the sheer aqua fabrics I've been working with onto the marbled fabric, then added the "sand" fabric below, and the seaweed and seahorse. I used copper accents this time, painted on the seaweed and on the seahorse before I cut and stitched him. I also used copper metallic thread.

Here are two close-up shots:

Once again, I think it's closer to the look I'm shooting for, but I don't think this is the "eureka" yet. I want it to really be amazing, I want viewers to feel like he's so life-like and likeable that they just want to hug him. I want them to be able to smell the salt water and feel the cool wetness of it. I want them to feel like it's magical! I don't know if it's there yet...

"Spirit" flag

2011-08-07T12:04:00.005-04:00

Jane Davila, the leader of our FANE group, is always encouraging us to try new things and challenge ourselves. She recently told us about Viveka Dinegre's Prayer Flag Project and suggested we try something similar for our next group show at the Mahopac Public Library (in addition to our 9"x20" pieces). A few members shared their flags at our last meeting Thursday night, and I just finished creating the above flag yesterday. Jane was reluctant to force a religious tone to our flags, being that we're all of different faiths and denominations, but she did encourage us to give our flags a spiritual theme. I immediately thought I'd go with the spirit of Peace, and ended up including the prayer of St. Francis in the background and the words "Create in me a peaceful heart, O Lord." In Vivika Dinegre's project, she encourages a real prayer like this and if I were to participate in her project, I would hang it outside so the wind would carry the prayer around the world, and eventually the flag would weather and be carried away on the wind. Her flags are only 5" wide, where this one is 7" wide, so I don't think I can include it in her project, but maybe I'll make some more. We can certainly use some more peaceful hearts in the world, don't you think?

A Mini Vacation

2011-08-03T20:20:00.006-04:00

Library programming wrapped up last week, so I decided to take advantage of my more flexible schedule and take the girls to visit my parents outside of Allentown, PA for my mom's birthday this week. Here are a few pictures of the local scenery:

Yesterday it was hot and sunny so we splashed and played in the Wildwater Kingdom at Dorney Park (no photos of that, but we wore ourselves out keeping cool!).

Today was a little cooler and overcast, so we tooled around the area and took in some of the local color. We stopped for ice cream and sweet treats at the Premise Maid shoppes outside of Kutztown. The girls each chose a bag of candy as well as an ice cream cone - yum!

Above is a view of one of the beautiful farms in the area, right across the street from the ice cream shoppe.

My mother and I also couldn't resist a quick visit to the Woods Bridge Dry Goods store owned by a Mennonite family. They had a good variety of fabrics from prints to flannels as well as some buttons and other notions, all reasonably priced. Here is a shot of their selection of batiks. I bought a couple to add to my stash, in some of my favorite colors.

It was great to get a little change of scenery, some play time with the girls, and some quality time with my parents.

This evening it was home again, and it's back to work tomorrow. August should be a more relaxed month, since the hectic program and camp schedules have let up and we don't have to start thinking about back-to-school just yet.

Happy August!

2011-08-01T07:40:00.003-04:00

I decided to finish a few creative projects and write a post first thing this morning before work and another busy day. I am outside keeping the dog busy before our daily walk. Here is a morning glory climbing near our deck. They're so cheerful, with their trumpet shape and the delicate folds and stripes.

And here are some more coasters, in a different color scheme this time! These seemed a little harder to me because I didn't have as many fabric and stamp options, but I'm still happy with the results and still enjoyed the process a lot. They're another gift...
And now I'd better run. I need to get ready for work, and somebody wants to play...
Have a great Monday!

Getting addicting!

2011-07-29T18:36:00.005-04:00

I'm having so much fun making these little 4x4" coasters, that I made another set of six and sent them off to my mother-in-law for her birthday. Even though it would be faster to just keep making the same six designs, it's so much fun to sit and play with all the possibilities and see what develops! Here is my second set, above, which does have one design almost identical to one in the other set (the palm tree set on the diagonal). But I cut a fish stamp out of thick craft foam and added that to my stamp set and also did a little more free-motion stitch elements on these.

In the ones below, I stuck mainly to squares and rectangles in an effort to simplify and speed up the process, and even then, I didn't find it boring or repetitive. Once again, if i could find a way to do these more quickly, I would consider selling them on ETSY or in the Putnam Arts Council Holiday sale, or any other venues that might arise. I could do some with seasonal themes, or popular color schemes like blue and yellow or black and white.

The first two sets I made contained six different designs (I wanted to be generous) but this set only has four. I think whenever you buy sets of coasters, they only come with four, and that would make everything easier and faster. Maybe I'll do a little marketing research and keep this idea percolating...

A Fun and Artful Weekend

2011-07-24T15:38:00.010-04:00

My weekend actually started on Friday morning when I snuck away to Joann's Fabrics to do a little artful shopping. I haven't been doing as much of that as I used to because the closest store is now over 30 minutes away and also because I now have a decent stash of stuff and don't seem to need as much. It was Joann's "coupon commotion" so I felt compelled to wander around and see what was new, inspiring or interesting that I could get for 40% off! This trip I only got 3 pieces of fabric: two in my favorite shade of aqua and one plain white to paint on and play with. I also couldn't resist these two sets of pens and markers. One is those "jelly roll" pens in metallic sparkle colors. I just love those - they are so smooth and fun to play with and they seem to be fine on fabric too (but I haven't tested them for washability or longevity). I also got a set of Sakura "permapaque" pens which are acid free and can write on nearly anything - glass, ceramics, wood etc. I especially wanted a white one.

When I got home, I started playing. I first glued these thin foam shapes onto a thicker foam base to make a stamp. The sailboat fit nicely on an empty spool so that's where that went. I used acrylic paints and Stazon ink pads to stamp some of these onto some of my fabric scraps.
Then the fun really started! I ended up making a set of coasters as a hostess gift. As you can see, I have amassed quite a collection of fabrics in the aqua-turquoise-blue range and it was fun cutting and arranging them onto the 4" squares of timtex. It already had fusible on it, but I stitched some of the pieced edges and also all around the perimeter. Then I covered each one with fusible vinyl (yes, there really is such a product!) to make them waterprooof (In this shot, only the one on the upper left has the vinyl on it. Click on the image to see it larger). Aren't they fun?
I had seen this idea in one of the articles in Cloth Paper Scissors, which mentioned the fusible vinyl, so I've been wanting to try it out. Another reason I needed a hostess gift was because I was invited to a cool "arty party" at Natalya Aiken's lovely home. Several FANE members were there as well as some SAQA members from out of town (two were visiting from Hawaii!). It was great to spend some time with such a great group of like-minded highly creative people! We shared some food and wine and chatted about so many things. We also had time to share some pieces we each had brought. Below is a shot of Jane Davila, Vivien Zepf, and Robin Ferrier admiring a WIP of Natalya's which is painted on a small vintage tablecloth.

Here is a shot of Natalya sharing a recently finished piece. The hand stitching on it was really amazing.

Now that my fun and artful weekend is almost over, it's time to be getting back to reality. Look at my work area - there are scraps of aqua fabric everywhere! I really need to spend a little time cleaning up. But I had so much fun making the first batch of coasters, maybe I'll use up some more of these scraps by making a few more. I have some family members with birthdays coming up....

Aquatic Exercise

2011-07-20T19:23:00.005-04:00

Since the main focus of our next FANE group show at the Mahopac Library is color, I've been playing around with my current favorite, this lovely aqua. The title of the piece has to include the name of the color, so I'm calling these "Aquatic Exercise I and II".

I made "Aquatic Exercise I: waterfall" at right first, by weaving strips of sheer fabrics through a piece of painted cheese cloth. At first I planned on hanging it horizontally, but then thought it might look cool with the woven strips either dangling down like fringe, or curled up like the bottom of a waterfall, which led me to the idea of hanging it vertically. Although I like the colors and the thin ribbons of copper running through the piece, I'm not sure it's having the impact I hoped. I want to stitch it to the canvas so the top edge hangs over the top of the canvas, as if the waterfall is pouring out of the wall, but I don't think that will work for the show, because it will leave a four-inch space at the bottom of the canvas and will disrupt the unity of the show.

So I thought I'd play around with my next idea, which was cutting free-form wavy strips of the various sheer fabrics and layering them over each other. Here is the result of that experiment:

I think I like this one better although I didn't expect to (I'm calling it "Aquatic Exercise II: wave theory"). It was very meditative to create, from the gentle cutting of the strips to the stitching of all those undulating lines. I hope it's also calming and meditative for the viewer. It was fairly simple to create and didn't require any special techniques or materials, but maybe this simplicity is also part of its beauty. I'm still debating whether it's finished (does it need anything else?) and if I should leave the edges straight or try to make them wavy to fit the rest of the piece (any comments?)

Mixed-media house

2011-07-17T16:37:00.009-04:00

Cloth Paper Scissors magazine recently featured a "home sweet home" reader challenge. In their May/June 2011 issue, they included a pattern for a little house (about 2" x 3" x 4" tall) and invited readers to use any media they wished to decorate it, then send in some photos. My FANE group decided to make these as well, and they may be included in our next show at the Mahopac Library coming in September.

The deadline for submission was July 1, so I didn't get this done in time to submit it, but I sure had fun pulling out all my boxes and bags of materials! I could think of a bunch of ways I wanted to approach this but decided on a "Four Seasons" theme.
The front of the house is obviously winter, and features a currogated cardboard "log cabin" exterior, two needle felted wool evergreen trees sprinkled with snowy glitter, a rick-rack wreath, and little snowflakes I cut out of a piece of lace ribbon.
Spring features a fabric tree, some blooming seed bead daffodils, and a felt bunny.
Summer might be my favorite. I painted a beach scene with Caran Dache watercolor crayons and added some sparkle tulle for water and sprinkled on real sand. I happened to have a small piece of picket fence I picked up at a craft store years ago but knew I would use some day and today was the day!
Autumn was the first wall I finished. I machine stitched on the yarn for a tree and used some oak leaves I cut with a small paper punch. I glued a little black cat in the window - can you tell?

The roof is a flattened piece of birch bark I've had laying around, which I cut into shingles and glued on. I'm happy with the overall look and really enjoyed playing with all my supplies. It was fun to think of something I might use and then look around to see that I had it and didn't need to run to the store! It was also fun getting to use a variety of materials, instead of mainly fabric. Now I only wish I had made that July 1st deadline!

Home Improvements

2011-07-16T19:47:00.005-04:00

The last few weeks, we've been spending some time sprucing up the deck, refinishing the surface, and adding lots of colorful plants.

We're planning to spend more time out back this summer in lieu of taking a vacation...

so we can relax in our brand new hut tub! Wow!

What a splurge for us! We actually ordered it in mid May, had it delivered about 3 weeks ago, and only filled it up today after the electrical connection was finally installed. Maybe it'll help alleviate all those aches and pains that come with daily life (and dare I say, age?).

But the youngsters in our house had the first opportunity to enjoy it. They even climbed in while the water was still cold. They sure look happy, don't they!

Walking in the Woods: fungi

2011-07-10T20:57:00.007-04:00

Here are a few photos I snapped in the Pennsylvania woods. It rained heavily both Sunday and the following Friday, so everything was moist and mushrooms were springing up everywhere: among the leaves, between rocks, amid the mosses. This first one is my favorite - the Indian Pipes. I love their unusual shape and ghostly white, almost-translucent color.

Here are a few others:

Of course, the main reason I was out in the woods was to walk Cassie. I think she liked all the different and new smells out in the wilderness. She even scouted out a deer skull and a few other bones. But she was very happy to get home to her "invisible fence" so she could run around without her leash!

Luxuriating!

2011-07-07T20:54:00.003-04:00

This is how I've spent the last three evenings! I returned from the Poconos on Monday evening but Mark and the girls stayed there without me. Even though I've had to work all week (and the library is a bustling place in the summer!), I feel like I'm on vacation! After work I've come home, put my feet up, and indulged in a good summer read. The library sponsors a summer reading club for adults in addition to the children's summer reading program and this year the theme is "Novel Destinations." The book I finished last night (Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty, about a set of adult triplet girls) was set in Sydney, Australia. It was fun reading about their highly intertwined lives and how they celebrate Christmas down under (I've always wondered what it's like to have hot weather for Christmas). It's been a relaxing week and a great treat for me to only take care of myself and not have to worry about the dog, the girls, packing lunches, cooking dinner, etc. Tonight I even treated myself to my annual pedicure! What do you think of the color?

I felt a little guilty indulging in so much unproductiveness, but since I didn't have to walk the dog in the mornings, I was able to get up early and start the day downstairs in my sewing workshop. I'm still working on the 9"x20" piece for our next FANE show. I thought I might do both hand and machine stitching on it, so I started with the hand work. That seems to be holding it together nicely without flattening it out too much. I really want to keep an almost sculptural feel to the fabric, so I think I may skip the machine stitching altogether, which translates into slower progress. But at least it's progress! I hope I'll have it finished by next Thursday when we have our monthly meeting.

I'll close with a shot of the sunset over Lake Gleneida which greeted me on the way home from the grocery store. Hope you're enjoying your summer too!

Mid-Year Check-in

2011-06-30T18:07:00.005-04:00

It's hard to believe it's June 30th and half the year is already gone! I've come to believe that time is the most valuable thing we have and I attempt to spend my time only on things I value. That's easier said than done, as there are some necessities in life that require my time, like grocery shopping, house cleaning, laundry, and cooking, but I try to get them done as quickly as possible so I can get on to something more enjoyable and more valuable.

The middle of the year is a good time to look back at my goals from January (listed in this post) and see what progress I've made and what I still want to accomplish. So far I've checked off a few (joined SAQA, submitted pieces to three shows and had one acceptance, finished the large piece I promised my friend) but I still have lots to work on. I only finished one other piece besides the "Caribbean Underwater Ballet" (C.U.B) and that has been donated to the SAQA fundraising auction (more on that at a later date). I'd like to make at least 4 more, one of which is in the works. The look I've been achieving with the sheer aqua fabrics is much closer to what I want my signiture color and "brand" to be, so I hope to focus on that with my next four pieces. That should help me select photos to use for business cards and redoing my website, maybe even with my ETSY shop... Maybe I'll pick up on my weekly art again too- I only made it through about March on that goal and then I got so busy working on C.U.B. with its June 15th deadline, that I devoted all my time to that. I find it very hard to finish something in an hour or so, so when I start something new on a weekly basis I end up with a lot of UFOs and a very messy workspace, as well as divided interests. Maybe my weekly things should just be experiments with new techniques on white fabric, like shaving cream marbleing and sun printing. I'd like to make time for those this summer. I've gotten better at keeping a calendar of shows I'd like to enter and have made 3 deadlines so far. I realized only recently that a great place to keep this calendar is right here on my laptop, on the iCalendar app. I usually only use it so I can visually see how the summer or holiday weekends are shaking out, but I might as well use it for my art deadlines too. I'll try that in the next six months. I think I've also decided I need another good light to help get more professional and evenly lit photos of my work. The one I have is good, but I always end up with a dark corner. I think another light will help immensly and I'm ready to make the investment!

Meanwhile, we're heading to the Poconos this weekend for a little family holiday, a good way to spend time. Each of my daughters has invited a friend, so it won't be complete isolated family time, but at least the focus will be on fun and togetherness! (With 13 people staying in our little 3-bedroom house, there will probably be lots of togetherness!)
God Bless America!

Feeling Droopy

2011-06-24T06:16:00.002-04:00

The roses look the way I've been feeling lately - droopy, tired, worn-out! Maybe it's just the weather. We've been getting many heavy thundershowers in the last few days and in between it's stuffy, humid, and gray. The air is just heavy.

Or maybe it's the declination I got from the Brush Gallery. I thought maybe I had a shot because that piece fit in so well with their theme this year. Realistically, the Brush says this show features "the best of art quilts from the US and Canada," which is pretty high status and I guess I'm not quite there yet. Also, I think my friend Vivien's theory that more abstract pieces are getting accepted rather than representational ones may have some truth to it (read her blog entry about it here). Maybe my current work using those sheer aqua fabrics would've fit the bill better.

Also this time of year can be so bittersweet, with the flurry and excitement of end-of-school parties and ceremonies. This week two of my three girls had moving-up ceremonies, one finishing eighth grade, the other fifth. The older they get and the further they move into adolescence, the less influence I have over them, it seems. They seem to be more and more influenced by their friends and popular culture, and it is a struggle every day to teach them values and keep them grounded in what's really important. Now the summer stretches out ahead of us with less structure for them, but longer work hours for me!

But I have the whole morning off today, and they will be in school for a few hours, so I'll have that time to pull myself together. I'll try to approach everything with more of their optimistic attitude and energy, as shown in this photo I snapped yesterday.

In the Habit

2011-06-17T20:53:00.004-04:00

For the last month or so, I've been using every spare minute to finish my large piece (see previous post), and even though it's now finished, I found myself in the habit of going into my workshop area and doing a little something every day. Of course, I did take it a bit slower, read a couple of books, watched some TV (the new season of the next Food Network star has started!), even napped a little this week, but I dove right into my next two projects (yes, you read that right - two!). I think I was able to work more quickly than I have in the past because in the previous project I became used to just doing, not thinking. I hope I can keep up this momentum!

In planning the previous project, I bought several sheer and metallic aqua fabrics that I thought I might use as overlays to suggest water. I ended up not using them, partly because of the time crunch, but also because I felt they would've obscured all the interesting textures and details I worked so hard on. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to play with all those fun sheers and see what effects I could create, so I decided to use them for my next two projects. The one above will be for our next FANE show in September, so it needs to be finished over the summer. We had a group member serve as a guest curator and she came up with the size and theme requirements for our show. The size is 9" x 20"- interesting and different - and it can be hung either vertically or horizontally. She also decided each piece should be predominantly one color and that the color name be mentioned in the title of the piece.

To explore this idea, I took a long piece of cheesecloth that I had painted with watered-down acrylic paints in the spring, and cut it to about 24" (I always like to have more than enough!). I cut those sheer aqua fabrics into strips about an inch wide, threaded them on a large needle, and wove them in and out of the painted cheesecloth. Right now it's all just laying loose on top of another piece of aqua fabric, but I intend to position it into waves and use both hand and machine stitching to hold it all together. I may do some beading on it as well, as I also have a pretty good collection of beads in this color.

While I was playing with that, I started thinking that maybe I should consider creating something for the SAQA auction, which would need to be completed by July 2. That piece has a size requirement of 10-12" square, so I thought I might use some of the same fabrics but in another way. For this piece, I started with a square piece of pale blue fabric and layered wavy strips of the sheers over it to look like water. At the bottom is a soft piece of a tweed-like fabric in peach tones, to resemble sand. I added some hand stitching to this too, to give it more texture and obscure the straight lines a little (you may have to click on the photo to enlarge it to see that detail). There's also a tiny seashell in the lower right corner.
Anyway, it's obviously a seascape and I'm happy with the effects of the layering of the sheers. In person, I feel it really conveys the sense of being by the seaside. Maybe this will be the start of a series (I've got yards of those sheer aqua fabrics!). Once again, I'm a little disappointed with how it looks in the photo compared to how it looks in person. One of my goals for the year is to invest in lighting or some other means of getting better photos. I still need to work on that one...

It's done!

2011-06-11T21:04:00.009-04:00

Here are the images I'm sending off to the Brush Gallery in Lowell, Mass for their 2011 ArtQuilts Lowell show!

I finally finished and photographed it today (a day later than I planned) after a few setbacks. First, we had tremendous thunderstorms blow through Thursday evening, complete with hail and everything, and we lost power overnight, so I was unable to finish the machine stitching I needed to do. By Friday morning I was intent on getting it done as quickly as I could, knowing that I needed to attend two school functions later that day. In my rush to finish, I wasn't as careful and precise as I should've been and in the first set of pictures I took, it looked very sloppy. I ended up spending the afternoon ripping out all the stitching I did that morning and spending the better part of today redoing it and photographing it. I'm satisfied with the results. I'm calling it "Caribbean Underwater Ballet."

Since there's a $30 entry fee for up to three pieces, I thought I might as well add one more. Here is a shot of "Great Blue Whale" which I did years ago. I still like the color scheme and fabric choices, but it seems almost simple to me in comparison with the other one. It's also much smaller - 15" x 19" compared to 27" x 41"!

But I'm thrilled that I completed everything in time to enter. As long as I can get to the post office first thing Monday morning and send the CD two-day express, it should be there on time! Hooray!

Because it's June...

2011-06-07T08:40:00.006-04:00

Isn't the world a beautiful place in June?

I've tried to take notice of all the beauty around me (mostly while I'm out with the dog!) while I feverishly run from home to work to the store or the orthodontist and back home again, and then try to get some more work done on this underwater piece (what shall I call it?!?!). I did spend a good bit of time on it this weekend and yesterday (I only worked a half day) and managed to add these elements: the tarpon (he will be stitched on tonight or tomorrow)...

...and these spiny sea urchins. I actually had to do these twice because I didn't like the way the first ones looked. I added some hand stitching and the piece is just about ready to be trimmed down and bound! Just in time too, because I need to get it photographed and mail the CD before the 15th. If it's all done by Friday, I should make it.

15 Days and Counting...

2011-05-31T21:44:00.005-04:00

As you might have guessed, I haven't been blogging as often because I've been spending every free moment working on this large underwater scene (I'm still trying to come up with a title for it). What I've been trying to capture in the piece is the sense of wonder, fun, joy, and awe we experienced snorkeling in St. John this summer. I've been sort of reliving our favorite snorkeling moments and selecting which fish and other elements I want to include in this piece. One of the interesting things we saw snorkeling in Trunk Bay were huge schools of these tiny silver fish. There were clouds of them that we just swam through. Here is a photo of my oldest daughter hovering above a large school. The water would just shimmer and ripple with the movement of these fish.

At a certain point in the afternoon, we were swimming among these schools of fish when suddenly these two very large (4 ft long) shiny silver fish came swimming silently along behind them. We were amazed at the size of them and assumed they were hunting down their lunches, although we never actually saw them eat anything. But they circled and swam around this area of the bay for as long as we were in the water. I later found out they were tarpon (you can see a photo of one by clicking here), which are characterized by a large lower jaw protruding above the upper jaw, noticeably large scales, and an extremely shiny silver color.

I decided I wanted to include these two elements in my underwater scene, so I got down to business on Friday and put in a lot of hours over the long holiday weekend. First, I painted and stitched a large school of those little feeder fish. Then I got to work on the head of a tarpon, which I plan to have swimming in from the right side of the piece. I wanted him to have the characteristics I mentioned, so I sketched him out and found a nice piece of shiny silver silk for his body. I decided to add scales out of that prismatic ribbon I used for the yellow-tailed snappers, but the ribbon is only about 1 1/2 inches wide. I drew out a diagram of all the scales, put the shapes onto Wonder Under, and fused it onto the ribbon. Then I cut them all out and fused them into place using my diagram as a map (each scale was numbered). I ended up adding some aluminum foil for his face and covering the whole fish with a sheer white fabric. I'm happy with the results, but I'll wait until he's stitched on to photograph him and post it. Here is a shot of him under construction.When I had stitched and painted a large school of the feeder fish, I realized I needed to finalize the placement of the large piece of orange coral and begin to stitch it down. But before I could do that, I needed to stitch all the pieces of fabric together (they were mainly held together with fusible only). It took a good bit of time to get that done, but I finally finished it yesterday and was able to back it with a loftier batting and begin stitching it to the main water fabric. I'm really glad I took the time to piece it together first, because that left me free to stitch it down only where it would have the most impact. I really want this piece of coral to have dimension. I tried to choose a range of oranges from light to dark and place them so the darker pieces are underneath or behind the lighter ones. I under- and overlapped carefully to also help add depth. Finally, I quilted the darker pieces down more heavily so they would recede and allow the lighter pieces to pop up. I don't know if you can see it in the photo below, but I think it worked! You can see the school of feeder fish in the background and two of the other fish that I already stitched on. I just hope I can finish it in the next two weeks....!!!!!

Race against time

2011-05-22T20:55:00.006-04:00

I've been trying to discipline myself to use every spare moment to work on this piece for the June 15th deadline at Art Quilts: Lowell. I know I'll be very disappointed in myself if I'm unable to submit. Here are a few shots of the progress I made in the past week. What I've accomplished:

Stitched on some sheers and laces to serve as background coral formations;
Added some more branches to the central orange coral to make it a little bigger;
Stitched some of the coral pieces together to hold them;
Made a few more fish - fairy basslets and bluehead wrasses;
Couched and free-motioned another brain coral and attached it to the first;
Added yarn in the foreground for texture.

I feel like I'm moving forward at a good pace, and if I can keep it up, I may be able to make the deadline. Maybe I can give up cooking and cleaning for the next three weeks to make extra time!

Finally showing some progress!

2011-05-13T17:30:00.007-04:00

This is how my WiP looks now. Since my last post about it, I touched up the ink and paint on the new background, washed out the resist, basted the whole cloth to the batting, and made a purple sea fan and some brain coral. It's coming along! Right now everything looks like it's floating a bit, because I haven't stitched anything down yet. I want to make sure of placement before I do that. I'll also add more hand-stitched detail to look like sand or coral in the foreground and background.

I was originally thinking I'd only make the central elkhorn coral and some fish, but then decided the elkhorn coral needed to be bigger, or it needed some additional elements. I wasn't about to enlarge and redo that coral I worked so hard on, so I decided on adding more coral. I've always loved those purple sea fans, especially the way they sway with the movement of the waves, so I chose to add some. Here is a bit of a detail shot. How do you like the yellow-tail snapper? I found some prismatic ribbon that I used for his silver scales.

And here is a detail of some brain coral. I chose a pale yellow spotted fabric and chain-stitched curvy lines all over it. Then I layered it with batting and free-motioned with the machine around the hand stitching. I want to add a smaller one to the left of this one and overlapping it. I may also put in some of those sea urchins that were everywhere. Then I need to add a bunch more fish. I would love to get this finished by June 15th, to submit it to Art Quilts: Lowell in MA, but I really would have to make much faster progress. Everything seems to take so long!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T20:52:00.016-04:00

Hope everyone had a happy Mother's Day! We spent a lovely day out and about in Putnam County and came across this funny sign outside a restaurant in Cold Spring.

But first, we walked around beautiful Stonecrop Gardens. We had a sunny morning, but by the time we got there in the afternoon, it was overcast. The flowers and garden structures still looked enchanting and it was a nice escape from the busyness of life lately. Here are a few of my favorite shots:

After working up an appetite outdoors, we headed over to Cold Spring. Outside the Depot Restaurant, a Dixieland jazz band was playing in the gazebo and people were enjoying the music with their meals. Luckily, we had thought ahead and made reservations, but we still waited a long time for our food, which was only mediocre at best. Now I get why most people don't like eating out on Mother's Day. The last two years we cooked at home, so it was nice not to have to worry about the meal this year, despite the lackluster quality and service.

After we ate, we took in some window shopping in some of the antique stores and boutiques along main street. Here are some of the sights:

Of course, the girls couldn't resist getting some frozen yogurt for dessert. I skipped the yogurt because I wanted to save room for the Chocolate Truffle Bomb waiting at home! I'll have to get back to healthy eating again this week!

Creeping Along

2011-05-02T15:25:00.011-04:00

This weekend I was able to steal away for an hour or so to see all the beautiful quilts on display at the Northern Star Quilters Guild's annual World of Quilts show. My Fiber Arts Northeast group was invited to display the pieces we showed at the Mahopac Library last June, so I did have something in the show, but I'm not a member of the guild and didn't submit anything else this year. (I also forgot to bring my camera but hope to get some photos from a friend who was also there, in which case I'll share them with you later this week). As you can probably guess, there were many inspiring quilts there and just walking around gazing at them all left me feeling very in awe of the skill of so many people! There were many fine examples of Art Quilts, including the one selected as "Best of Show." There were also many quilts with traditional patchwork patterns, but what stood out for me was the individualism of each quilt. I've gone to the show for several years and never feel like I'm seeing the same things again and again. Each quilter puts their own spin on a quilt and makes it unique by the fabric choices and stitching patterns. There were some antique quilts also on display, which brought home the sense of how long women have been using fabric to express themselves, even in useful ways like covering a bed. It was really a beautiful show.

I did kind of leave there wishing I could be more productive myself, especially as one third of the year is already behind me and I haven't made any new peices beyond my weekly "quickie" art. But as I headed to the grocery store to buy a week's worth of breakfasts, lunches and dinners, I had to admit that I still don't see how I can possibly fit more into each day. The times I'm not doing something are the times I really need some down time. Otherwise I really keep pretty busy. I do sometimes find myself procrastinating in a productive way, by reading, cleaning, or doing laundry, so this afternoon after work, I made an effort to dig into my second attempt at painting the background fabric for this Work in Progress. I pressed the fabric first, then decided to sponge on some resist to prevent the watery blue paint mixture from coming too far down and covering what will be the sand. After that dried, I went ahead and splashed on the paint. Here it is drying outside on the patio table. I hope I'm happy with the results...!

While the resist was drying, I went back to one of my "weekly" pieces that was supposed to be a goal of mine for the year. I had started this a few weeks ago, but got to a certain point and knew it needed something, but i wasn't sure what. I'm considering using it for our next FANE challenge, which is to make a piece using an object found in an unusual place. The main piece of "fabric," that mottled greenish-pink piece, is not really fabric at all. When I was at the Country Quilter's fall retreat in 2009 at the Interlaken Inn, I happened to notice the exceptional quality of the paper towels in the ladies room! I actually swiped a few of them and have held onto them as possible quilt material. I read a tip recently in Cloth Paper Scissors magazine that suggested you sop up extra paint and ink with cloth or paper towels (rather than dumping it down the drain) and then use the colorful results in your art. So that's where that came from!

As you can see, I'm back in the copper-patina-aqua color scheme. In addition to the paint-splashed paper towel, I have a small square of silk, a strip of metallic lacy fabric I found at Joann's Fabrics, and a piece of copper mesh painted with alcohol inks and stitched on. I had gotten this far, when I stopped to figure out what else it needed. I considered adding more hand stitching, but I just wasn't sure. Then last night, my husband took the last onion out of the bag in the fridge and I swiped it and left it on my art table. I decided maybe I could put the plastic mesh to use...I was also at A.C. Moore last week getting more ink and paint, and these unusual paperclips in the scrapbooking section caught my eye. Aren't they cool? Right away, my oldest daughter hooked a bunch of them together and made a bracelet, but I put the rest away with my other copper and metal things, until this afternoon......when I combined it all with a few beads and things, now it looks like this:

Much better, right? I still want to do a bunch of hand stitching on it, but I'm liking it a lot better than before! (It kind of reminds me of this one I did back in 2008 - maybe they'll be a pair). With all the "found objects" in this piece, I may as well use it for the next challenge! Now I'll go see if the painted fabric is dry and if it looks the way I hoped...

Glorious Colors of the Day

2011-04-30T17:14:00.012-04:00

This afternoon the weather was picture-perfect so I thought I'd share some of the spring colors here. The trees in flower and newly leafed out made for gorgeous contrast against the clear blue sky. It felt so good to finally see that color and feel the warmth of the sun on my back as I worked in the yard!

Here is a glimpse of my neighbor's front yard. She has put a lot of time (and money!) into landscaping in the last few years and it really shows! I'm a little bit jealous of how neat and clean it looks, but I'm glad I get to enjoy the view!

I noticed a lot of lovely lavender-purples everywhere, from the periwinkle on the hillside to the grape hyacinths near the front door and the violets that are springing up just about everywhere.

The andromeda and bleeding hearts are two of my favorites with their little dangling bells and hearts.

The daffodills I planted on the slope in the backyard have been blooming beautifully for the last few weeks. I got to really enjoy them today while I planted the ferns I ordered earlier this month. Here is one of last year's ferns already pushing through all the wood chips I spread around. So nice to see them reappearing!

Before I got a chance to plant all the new little roots I got, my mischievous dog grabbed the bag they were in and ran off with them! As much as I've practiced "come" with her (and I even had a treat in my hand!) she refused to put them down and ran around the yard ripping up the bag and shaking the little plants all over the place! Luckily they were packaged with a small piece of yarn that kind of kept them together and made them a little bit easier to spot in the yard, but it took me a while to gather them all back up and get them in the ground.

Needless to say, she is now on my Very Naughty list, although you'd never know it from the look on her face here, would you? Bad dog!

Now that most of the yard work is done for the weekend (I'm going to let my husband take over tomorrow), I'd like to spend some time on my underwater WiP. Here is a shot of the coral pinned to the background that I painted, with two of the fish I've made. The sand and formations all around the coral at St. John's were grayish white - not a lot of color - so I kept the lower portion of the background pale to resemble the real thing. But it looks to me like the aqua water color crept too far down - I'm thinking of taking another shot at it with the second piece of fabric I have.When I painted the one pictured, I found it to be quite challenging, partly because I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to paint, and partly because the piece of fabric is so large. Since I wanted a really watered down wash, I sprayed the fabric first. I ended up with a huge piece of soggy fabric, which was impossible to keep smooth. I ended up wrinkling the fabric on purpose, in hopes that the rusulting lines and variations in color would look like underwater shapes and forms in the background. I'm not sure if I want to try that approach again, but I do know that I wanted some better paint and ink, as well as sponges to apply them. I did some shopping this week, so I now have everything I need (I hope!) to really get moving on this project. Now I just have to get up my nerve again to dive in and paint...

An Easter Miracle!

2011-04-24T21:26:00.006-04:00

I am very surprised and honored to share that the piece pictured here which I call "Affirmation" has been juried into the Sacred Threads 2011 show! I've never shared this piece with anyone because I made it purely for myself. A while back (several years ago) I often caught myself thinking negative thoughts and began to make a conscious effort to change that. I started a routine of walking and read various books with positive affirmations. I came up with this four-part affirmation based on something in a book by Shakti Gawain. It reads "The Light of God surrounds me; the Love of God enfolds me; the Spirit of God dwells withing me; the Power of God flows through me." I used to chant it during my neighborhood walks, to lift my spirits and promote a more positive attitude. I decided to make a sort of illustration or visual representation of it, and this was the result.

I entered it into the Sacred Threads this year because it seemed like a good fit, but only yesterday I revisited their website gallery and felt like maybe it wasn't up to the caliber of work they accept, and maybe my photographs were not professional enough. I was bracing myself for another "declined" but today, after a very busy week preparing for Easter and an even busier day pulling off a big family holiday dinner, I finally had a chance to sit down and check e-mail and lo and behold, an Easter miracle! My first acceptance into a juried show!

I don't have a lot of photos of my preparations over the last ten days - it's mostly been food shopping, planning, making lists, cleaning, and baking. Yesterday my daughters helped me frost and decorate these fun spring cupcakes and on Friday I baked the coconut macaroon bird nests with jelly bean eggs. Together they made a colorful and delicious finish for our Easter dinner (along with some chocolates and a sublime cheesecake baked by my sister-in-law!). Happy Easter, Alleluia, alleluia!

Tryin' to KEEP UP

2011-04-14T16:29:00.012-04:00

We're finally getting some spring color around her, and a little sunshine, but it seems like we've had more than our share of April showers already! I don't know if I can blame the weather or my hormones, but I just haven't had much ambition lately, beyond anything Necessary (eating, sleeping, going to work, grocery shopping, cooking dinner, throwing in a load of wash etc.). I did manage to get my oldest daughter packed and off on her long-anticipated 8th Grade Trip To Washington. She's been talking about it and shopping for it for what seems like months now, so this weekend we pulled out the Large Suitcase (not the little airplane carry-on size) and packed her up with all her necessities. We heard from her last night, they arrived safely, and I'm sure she'll have a great time, especially since the weather is cooperating.

In addition to getting that job done, I was able to add a little color to a few spots around the house. I picked up these lovely lavender pansies last week and was able to get them into various containers to add a spot of color here and there. I especially like them in the window boxes (below) because they really bring the Outdoors In, as the magazines always say. I like looking out the living room window...

...or my daughter's bedroom window, and seeing their cheerful little purple petals, even if the sun isn't shining.

This weekend, I also worked in the backyard a bit. One of the drawbacks to living on the lake is the heavily sloping backyard. When we moved in, everything was just planted with grass, but it was too steep to mow, so we've been slowly getting rid of the grass one section at a time, and replacing it with ground covers -something that doesn't require much care. I began planting the area below with ferns two years ago and last fall I put in some bulbs. All winter, a Huge Pile of wood chips sat just to the right of where that row of stones is. We intended to get them spread out before the winter came, but never got to it (it made a great mogul for our sledding run this winter!). Anyway, I got a lot of exercise this weekend filling a large bucket with the chips, hauling them up the slope, and spreading them around. It still looks fairly bleak in the photo, with only one lonely daffodil blooming right now, but I hope it will look a bit better later in the spring and summer when more flowers bloom and then the ferns come in. I ordered 2 dozen additional ferns to plant, which should be here at the end of the month.

In addition to all the yard work, I also did a little work on my undersea WiP. I decided to start with a plain white quilt top, paint it to look watery, and add the coral and fish as appliques. I debated for a long time about how exactly to go about painting the fabric, or maybe I was just stalling because i didn't want to make a Hideous Mistake and ruin the fabric and have to start all over. But I realized I had double the amount of fabric I needed, so I screwed up my courage and just Dove In! And the results are actually okay! Not really ready to photograph and post yet, but okay!

Then I debated for a while about what to do about the sand beneath my lovely large piece of coral. I debated about using sandy-looking fabrics, or going with paint again, when it finally dawned on my that Hand Stitching may be the way to go. So now I think I'm finally ready to begin making some fish and deciding where to place them, then hopefully really begin making some progress on this piece!

However, I can't work on it tonight because I'll be back at the library with the Creative Playgroup. We'll be altering children's board books. I procured a bunch of used board books from our Book Barn (volunteers collect donated used books and sell them for $1 or less) that were in mediocre shape (or were mediocre quality books in good shape), roughed up each page with sandpaper, and then gave them a coat of white acrylic paint. I created two books myself as samples. In the first (one at right and below), I stamped various flowers, birds and things on each page, then added family photos that I printed on regular printer paper. I added some corresponding captions for each picture. It ended up reading like a child's storybook or a narrated scrapbook or photo album. It's very cute!

In another book (at right), I tried various simple surface design techniques. I painted some pages with a wash of watercolor paints. On other pages, I drew designs with crayons to create a resist, then painted with watercolors. I glued some printed papers onto some pages and stamped others with various images. This one would make a nice personal journal or place to keep your own collection of poetry. I wonder what the ladies will come up with for themselves?

Free Stuff!

2011-04-05T21:24:00.003-04:00

I made a quick run to K-mart this morning before work to pick up some odds and ends: snacks for my daughter's trip to Washington D.C. next week, Easter candy, some cleaning supplies, toothpaste, shampoo. I went to check out and gave the cashier my "Shop Your Way Rewards" card, which I show every time we purchase something at K-mart or Sears. I knew I had accrued some major points, since we bought the refrigerator at Sears, and I figured I may as well use them towards this purchase. All the stuff above came to about $43, but I didn't have to pay a dime! My points covered the whole thing, and then some! It sure is nice to get something free! Made my day!

Yesterday I also rambled on over to Kohl's to use my $30 Kohl's cash I earned after spending a hefty sum on spring clothes for the girls. Look what I got for myself:
It was marked $90, discounted to about $54 and I got it for $24. Not bad! I'll wear it for Easter and other special days this spring (we have a First Communion in May and two "moving-up" days in June). I hardly ever wear dresses anymore, but it's nice to get a new spring dress once in a while. Now I have about 3 weeks to firm up my upper arms so I don't look completely flabby (I should be able to tone up and drop a few pounds in 3 weeks, right? If not, I have a pretty cardigan sweater I'll keep handy...)

Weekend Melange

2011-04-03T20:23:00.004-04:00

The weekend started out chilly and snowy - it snowed on and off all day Friday, although it didn't amount to much on the ground. I was feeling a little under the weather so I started the day by baking some Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins. Two of those, with some cream cheese, a cup of hot cocoa, a couple of "cold remedy" zinc tablets, and a nap after the girls got off to school helped me rest up for the weekend ahead.
These muffins are really delicious, by the way. The ingredients are 1/2 C of cooked pumpkin, 2 eggs, 1/2 C brown sugar, 1/4 C vegetable oil, 1/4 C applesauce, 3/4 C molasses, 1 1/2 C whole wheat flour, 1 t baking soda, 1/2 t salt, 1 t cinnamon, 1/2 t nutmeg, 1/2 t ground ginger, 1/4 t ground cloves, and 1/2 C raisins. Mix all the ingredients together, put in muffin cups, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. They really smell like Christmas or Thanksgiving, with all the spices. I baked some in the winter and had some leftover pumpkin in the fridge that I wanted to use up. Actually, my ulterior motive was to clean out the fridge, to make room for this:
Wow! We finally decided to join the 21st century and spring for a new fridge! Nothing was really wrong with the old one, other than we got it 15 years ago, when it was just the two of us, and now it was just too small for our family. It was always a challenge and a bit of a frustration to fit everything in after a big trip to the grocery store (not a bad problem to have really, so much food that we had no where to put it!). But we took the leap to get this Kenmore Elite model with the French Doors, freezer on the bottom, and built in water and ice maker, all huge steps forward for us! It was delivered Saturday morning and already I'm thrilled! Tomorrow I'll make a grocery run and really get to fill all the shelves and door pockets. It will be so much easier come holidays too!

Aside from the big fridge switch, I pretty much played catch-up again this weekend. I helped the girls with some school projects and they helped me get the house clean. I also caught up on ironing, mending, reading, and sleep! Right now, we're going to watch the rest of Gone with the Wind, which we got from Netflix. The girls had never seen it and are actually enjoying it. It's funny how the acting seems a bit sappy and melodramatic compared to modern films, but ol' Clark Gable is as charming as ever!

WIP Update

2011-03-29T21:26:00.004-04:00

Here is my progress on the large coral piece so far... it's coming together nicely! I only tacked it together by lightly ironing some of the fusible webbing, so I can still make changes if I want to. I'm already seeing one area that I think needs some adjusting, but all in all, I'm liking the variety of fabrics and how the darker and lighter shades work with each other. I think I'm going to paint the background a watery aqua color and then add some colorful fish and other sea life. I'm also thinking of layering water-like sheers over the top of it all and quilting and embellishing it with metallic and other specialty threads. Wish I had more large blocks of time to work on it! Coincidentally, this year's theme of the Art Quilts Lowell show (at the Brush Gallery in Lowell, MA) is The Sea. Even if this piece is not done in time, I have several other sea-themed things I could enter...

Weekend Down Time

2011-03-26T22:01:00.004-04:00

The busy winter session of preschool programming has finished up, so this weekend I'm treating myself to some down time. On Friday (my one full day off), I spent a few hours working on the coral in the large piece I mentioned in the last post. It turns out, four orange fabrics were not quite enough. I found a few more in my stash, and altered some with inks and paints to make new lighter and darker shades. It's looking good, but requires a lot of concentration and is a bit tiring to work on for long periods of time. I took a break last night and today, by getting into Sara Gruen's latest, Ape House. I had loved Water for Elephants and Ape House is also very absorbing. It is set in modern times and is more suspenseful than WFE, so I finished it rather quickly. One of her main points in the book is how much like humans the bonobos are, and it makes you want to go to a zoo and observe apes and primates more closely. A great read, if you're looking for one - likable, believable characters, quick realistic dialogue, an intriguing plot.

Spring in the Air?

2011-03-21T20:46:00.003-04:00

Or are those snowflakes? This is what greeted us this morning, the first full day of spring! This winter just doesn't want to give up! The forecast for the week is calling for more scattered snow showers, so I guess I'll have to wait a little longer for spring weather, no matter what the calendar says. Wishfully thinking, I created the birthday card below for a friend whose birthday is this week. It's nice to be playing with some warm colors when everything still looks so gray and cold outside!

Miscellaneous Catch Up

2011-03-18T13:26:00.009-04:00

Here are some of the things I worked on this week. On Wednesday evening, I hosted the "Creative Playgroup" for women at the Mahopac Public Library. We made jewelry with shrink film (remember "Shrinky Dinks?"). Above are some of the earrings I made as samples. As you can probably tell, we used rubber stamps and "StazOn" inks, which are permanent even on plastic. The backgrounds were colored in with colored pencils, except for the black pair on the top. Last weekend I was afraid I wouldn't have enough materials for all the people who signed up (I actually had 17 people registered!) so I took a trip to Michael's craft store and got another package of the shrink film which had a variety of colors (10 sheets, 2 of each type for only $6!). The challenge with the black, bright white and almond types is that they're opaque, so you can't trace through it, and not a lot shows up on the black. You pretty much have to use paint pens or metallic inks. The black pair above was done with paint pens, but we had a lot of success with the metallic inks as well. The ladies had a lot of fun playing with all the materials and watching them shrink in the toaster oven. (Hmm, when am I going to get that Etsy shop open, anyway...?)And here is my weekly 8x10 study, the tenth one I've done (I think I'm behind one week). I got the inspiration for this while walking the dog with my daughter a few weeks ago. As you can see, it was still snowy, and we're walking past these tangled branches, when suddenly we notice a flash of blue. It wasn't just one Eastern Bluebird, there was a whole crowd of them! They looked so bright and beautiful sitting among the dull grays of the late winter landscape. Then in church that Sunday, the gospel was from Matthew, the part about the birds and flowers not worrying about food and clothing, and how God loves us more than these. So I decided to combine the two events into a weekly art piece. I photographed some bare branches in the snow, printed the photo with a laser printer, and transferred it to the fabric with CitraSolv. Then I added the bluebirds I cut from a piece of blue "papercloth" I made a while back. I stuck them on using gel medium and added a few stitches for details. Then I wrote part of the bible verse underneath with a calligraphy marker.And finally, a work in progress. I've been trying to really get going on a large piece I promised I'd make for a friend (it's actually one of my annual goals). I wanted to do this fantastic stand of orange antler coral we saw growing near Trunk Bay on St. John this summer, with all kinds of fish all around it. Of course, I didn't get a photo of it (I think we had used up all our underwater disposable camera shots by then) so I'm trying to just approximate it from memory, and with other images of antler coral I've seen. I have four shades of orange fabric with a small print on it. I drew a sketch of the coral and refined it until I was satisfied. Now I'm in the process of figuring out which branches should be which shade of orange, and how to put them all together! It's kind of like a huge puzzle and I can only work on it in short periods because it's a bit of a challenge. I hope I have more time to work on it today and over the weekend. Happy Friday, everyone!

Spring Rains

2011-03-12T15:27:00.011-05:00

It seems like in the last three months, we've been getting all the precipitation we didn't get last July (see this post here). We have had major snowstorms and now major rainstorms. Here's some photos of how the neighborhood was looking yesterday. There were standing puddles in the streets and rivulets, rills, and rivers running down the sides of roads.

It was actually quite pleasant to walk along listening to the birds sing and the little streams bubbling along next to us.

Another benefit to the rain: all the bulbs are finally making an appearance! Here are some daffodils,

some mountain bluebells,

And some hyacinths. Can't wait to see the flowers!

And as promised, here is the postcard I created for the 3rd Great Big Stitched Postcard swap. The theme was love, and I've been noticing lately that love in the movies is often portrayed as a feeling, but love in reality is an action. It's what you make a conscious decision to do everyday. I thought about including images like a parent getting up early to prepare breakfast or pack lunches, or grocery shopping, or cleaning, doing laundry, helping with homework, going to a job - all the things we do directly or indirectly for the people we love. But since the postcard is only 4"x6", I settled for a simplified version of love in action. Here it is!

News Flash!

2011-03-10T16:15:00.002-05:00

Salley's coming! It all happened so quickly! I e-mailed her this morning suggesting our library gallery as a venue for her traveling exhibit, she e-mailed me back in the afternoon, and it's all arranged! Her gorgeous work will be on display for the months of July and August 2012 and she'll be doing a presentation at the end of August! I'll actually have the chance to meet her and ask her all the millions of questions about her process. I'm so excited! My 14-year-old daughter said, "You're as excited as my friend Amber was about meeting Justin Bieber!" YES! I AM! Salley Mavor is like a celebrity to me!

Absolutely Amazing!

2011-03-09T19:26:00.004-05:00

Today I got to pore over the amazing creations by Salley Mavor in her latest masterpiece, Pocket Full of Posies. If you are not familiar with this phenomenal artist, she makes these enchanting scenes out of felt, stitching (mostly, if not all by hand), beads, and found objects. These very detailed scenes are full of these lovely little characters she creates with felt, wooden beads, wire, thread, etc. This is a book of nursery rhymes, so the characters are all quaintly dressed, with details like acorn caps, embroidered dresses, and tiny shoes. There is an annual award called the Golden Kite given by the SCBWI (Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) for their choice of best picture book, and this gorgeous book won it for 2010. It is a well-deserved honor. The time, talent and incredible workmanship of each page is just mind boggling! Visit her website (click here) for some samples of this unbelievable art. Be sure to see the "About Me" section (click here) for her astounding "self-portrait"! This piece alone would be a lifetime achievement, as would the artwork in Pocket full of Posies. I can't imagine the number of hours that go into each figure, each dress, each leaf, each complete piece! The 51 pieces of art from this book are currently in a traveling exhibit... I wonder if it might travel down to the Mahopac Library to hang in the gallery there... I may have to see if I can arrange that - Wouldn't that be fantastic?