Squigglechick Designs

New for 2011

2011-01-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

Alright, I must admit, I have been VERY bad at "blogging" however, I haven't completely disappeared off the earth. I've been posting in LinkedIn, Twitter, a little bit at StumbleUpon, however, I'm still trying to understand that one & of course on Facebook. All of these social networks, it's hard to keep up!!

I just wanted to share with you a new idea that I've been considering for probably the last 3 months & finally decided this last week to give it a try.....................Wristlet Key Chains made from (but of course) repurposed materials.

All of those little snippets of pieces that have been too small to use in my other pieces, now have a new home, (other than the trash can.) Although I question, "Am I saving TOO much?!" I'd rather you not see me on the next episode of Hoarders!! :)

These wristlet key chains are 6" long by 1.25" wide. I will also be creating others that are a little bit longer & not as wide, so you could attach it to a zipper on a clutch if you'd like.

I'm also planning on some primarily fiber based wristlets as well!!

Diet Coke items seem to be a favorite in my shop!

LOVE Cheeto's so I tend to have quite a few of their empty bags in my studio!! (Have you tried the White Cheddar ones, YUM!! and no orange dust left on your fingers :)

Can't leave out the beer lovers :)

I really enjoy making these & it's always fun to try something new!! My next HUGE jump............zippers!! If I could just get over my huge phobia of them, I think it would open a few doors for my work to grow!! It's probably just all in my head & once I figure out zippers, I'll probably wonder why, I put it off for so long on learning how to sew with them!!

Indie Spotting for the Holidays

2010-11-28T13:22:00.000-08:00

Looking to buy handmade for your Christmas gifts this year? You HAVE to check out IndieSpotting. It's so much more than just a blog!! On this site, you will find great gift guides for any holiday, "how to" items you can create for yourself or give as gifts, featured artists with links to their shops & other artist shop links off to the right of the website. (You'll have to check out my new avatar that I created myself, under Our Sponsors - it's also the new header for my blog.) I actually had hired someone else to create an avatar for me, (since I really wasn't comfortable in doing that myself) & after several attempts at contacting the person to see how they were coming along & never getting a response, I decided to make an attempt at doing it myself!

My shop is featured in their "handmade holidays" section on their IndieSpotting website site & on their sister site An Indie Christmas under their "handmade holidays gifts" section.

If you're looking to support artists, creating handmade unique items & wanting to stay out of the "big box" retail stores, this is a great place to start!!

Who is that artist?

2010-11-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

First of all, grandmas can be SO awesome!! My grandma Elizabeth, is one of them!! I was VERY fortunate to grow up with my grandma & grandpa living right next door. I have noticed throughout the years that I have acquired some of her values, personality traits & "quirky ways" (which I'm very proud to possess!)

It was that same grandma that saved these creations of mine while I was growing up. We came across these little treasures when we moved her from her big 6 bedroom house of 60 years into a 1 bedroom apartment. This first one as you'll see in the picture, was done in 1974 (I was 5 years old).

The potholders (remember the little looms we all made those looped potholders on), I was 10 years old. (I still love weaving today.) At least I had an eye for color in the brown one, not so sure about the other one though :) I remember making TONS of these!! It was so touching to see that grandma had saved these ALL THESE YEARS!!

One of the many things my family did right was to expose me to some type of art since I was 4 years old (I was put into dance classes & didn't stop that until age 16). I was encouraged to draw, to paint, to dance (music was in the house at all times) we went to musicals, I was in art fairs, anything that involved the arts, we were encouraged to participate.. I remember taking art & music classes all through K-12. (Then a college degree in Fiber Art.)

(Time to get on my soap box here) This summer, I went to an Art Fair in Leavenworth, Washington & I had the opportunity to visit with one of the jewelers. He explained to me that 20% of all of the sales of this art fair, which was every weekend for two months, went to local schools so it could help them have an art program, which was one hour once a week. ONE HOUR, ONCE A WEEK? That broke my heart! Apparently, (I didn't know this, since I don't have children) but with budget cuts, in the schools, the Arts are the first to go? That saddens me. Children should all have the opportunity of being exposed to the Arts, encouraged to create & to only get one hour a week to do this? I just hope families are encouraging their children to create at home since they can't get that at school anymore.
(Ok, I'm down off the soapbox, now) :)

I am VERY grateful & thankful that my family encouraged me, while growing up, to be creative!!! Maybe some day, those pieces above will be worth something, lol!!

Fall is in the air...............

2010-10-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

........... the trees are turning, which is wonderful, however, with our falls in Seattle, comes a lot of rain with gray days AND with this being a La Nina winter we're to see more moisture than an average fall & winter. I'm not that thrilled about it, however, the DH is excited in hopes of more snow in the mountains for skiing. I have to admit with Whistler at our back door, it is always a beautiful place to visit in the winter.

Along with fall, come the beautiful browns, reds & oranges so I'd thought I'd share with you my interpretation on the browns, reds & oranges in my repurposed art :)

M&M's always does a great job at creating packaging for all the seasons!!

I'm not much of a chocolate person, however, I do love a Snickers every now & then!!

This is entirely new labeling for me to work with. A friend of mine works in a bar, so she's been saving me labels from liquor bottles. This wallet was made from Knob Creek Kentucky Bourbon. (Now if I could find myself a coffee drinker to save me their bags!) :)

And for the beer enthusiasts ................(I think this one might be my favorite) a friend saved these labels for me. I'm not much of a pumpkin beer drinker, actually, I'm not much of a pumpkin anything person however, I have to admit that there are a couple of pumpkin brews out this season that have only the lightest suggestion of pumpkin & are quite tasty!

You might be wondering with Christmas around the corner, where's your Christmas repurposed art? I worked in retail for over 7 years & I always hated how Christmas came out earlier each year in the stores. I prefer to celebrate each holiday when it comes, so for now, Halloween (one of my most favorite holidays) Thanksgiving THEN Christmas!! I'll have some Christmas & "winter" themed repurposed art, but I promise that I won't put it out until the week OF Thanksgiving :)

Seattle EtsyRAIN Pre-Holiday Show

2010-10-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

I apologize from being SO absent in my postings, but as soon as I heard about this juried show that's put on by my local Seattle EtsyRAIN group, I've been creating like a mad woman so I'd have enough "opportunities" for people to purchase at my booth.

It's a 2-day show, at Intiman Theatre (in the Seattle Center), October 16th & 17th, from 11-5 pm. With Christmas right around the corner, it's a great opportunity to purchase handmade art from local artists!!

If you're in the area, stop by & say hello, I'd love to see you!! :)

Published in the UK!!!

2010-08-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, this have been a fabulous year for me, so far.............wait, find a piece of wood to "knock on" :)

A wonderful friend of mine, Marion Barnett, published a journal of mine that I created using Evolon. You might remember a blog post I did on this journal back in June of last year. Marion introduced me to Evolon, told me to work with it & see what happens. I tried to give up twice, but Marion wouldn't let me & I'm glad she didn't! I was able to have the opportunity to work with a fiber I didn't even know existed & it really challenged me since I was used to working with natural fabrics & this is more of a synthetic. (Which is why I stumbled & hesitated so much!!)

Once I started working with it, it reminded me a lot of Tyvek & since I had played with Tyvek quite a bit, my fear subsided (a little).

Both Tyvek & Evolon can be melted using a heat gun, however, Evolon takes a lot longer to melt & I think it's more toxic smelling than when melting Tyvek, so make sure you wear a respirator & do your "melting" outside, just to be on the safe side!!

You can read about the the techniques I used here. (Thank you Lynda Monk & Carol McFee for introducing me to Golden Fluid Acrylics). The beautiful colors with the synthetic fibers of Evolon created a beautiful shimmering appearance!

I was SO excited to see my work published in Marion's book, that I didn't even notice when I read through it the first time that I was the only US artist published in this book!! (Didn't know I could get anymore excited than I already was, but it happened!!)

THANK YOU MARION!!

Below is an "up close & personal" look at my journal. I think, um..........those might be my fingerprints in the paints (I used my fingers to "move" the color around on the surface) we'll just call those "the artist's textural marks".

Published in Draft Magazine!!!

2010-07-12T12:33:00.001-07:00

Does anyone know of any fiber artists that have recently been published in a National Beer Magazine? I do, I do..........................ME!!! :)

Recently, I was contacted by the editor of Draft Magazine to see if I was interested in sending them some of my repurposed "beer art" to be professionally photographed for their next issue (as you can see, they chose to feature my luggage tags). I jumped at the chance................to have my art published in a National Beer magazine (my other true love) I'm on cloud 9 & still haven't come down yet!!

I've always viewed brewers as artists, refining & crafting their recipes & techniques to create a product that people will want & enjoy (what every other artist strives to achieve!) I've always wanted to work in some aspect of the brewing industry, but haven't researched what's all available for a person with no home brewing experience. The thought of home brewing has never seemed as appealing as brewing in a brewery with all of the beautiful metal beer tanks & working with others that share a common interest.............beer & another reason I haven't considered home brewing is if I take on one more interest, my DH will kill me!! :)

Wow!!! The thought of working in the beer industry & being able to create my art................................sigh!!!!

Repurposed Art from Pacific NW Brewers

2010-07-07T16:54:00.000-07:00

Black Raven Brewing Lanyard

I am VERY fortunate that I live in the Pacific NW for many reasons, but high on the list is the HUGE amount of brewers that brew FABULOUS beers!!

Deschutes Brewery Wallet

Not only do I have the endless opportunities to sample great beer, but also to create repurposed art from the colorful labels on those beer bottles!!

Bridgeport Brewing Hop Czar Wallet

Ninkasi Brewery luggage tags & wallet

For you Ninkasi lovers, I spoke with Jamie(one of the fabulous brewers) & I have GREAT hopes of acquiring some Maiden the Shade labels :)

Rogue Dead Guy wallets & lanyard

I have been fortunate in working with some brewers in obtaining beer labels, others (mainly) are from bottles of beer that I've either purchased or have received from wonderful friends!!

Widmer Drifter Pale Ale wallet & luggage tag

Elysian, The Immortal IPA wallet

And yes, I have been known to buy beers just because the labels looked cool & I have to say, I haven't been disappointed yet :)

You can find my work in my Etsy shop & if you live locally in the Seattle area, Reconstructed Clothing Co now carries my repurposed "beer label" art. If you want something that you don't see in either place, feel free to convo with me. One person from Nashville, Tennessee who's favorite brewery in Nashville, Yazoo Brewing, sent me labels from their beers to make luggage tags for her & her husband. (LOVE the colors!)

The only sad thing is that some brewers either haven't started bottling yet because their in-house sales are so fabulous (Black Raven Brewing) that they can hardly keep up with demand OR they package into aluminum cans, which I have used before in luggage tags. The main two problems I run into with creating my repurposed art from aluminum cans.................they don't lay as flat as I would like & I can really only use them in my luggage tags. With my wallets & journals, there is constant bending of the materials & I'm afraid, the aluminum would eventually crack.

Have I gotten tired of any of this? NO!! I LOVE creating this art. Check back either later this week or early next week, I'll be posting about my HUGE order that I received from Deschutes Brewery!!

Featured on TryHandmade.com

2010-05-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

My repurposed art has been featured on TryHandmade.com's website again, yeah!! (Thank you, Rebecca!!)

May 17-23 is American Craft Beer Week & what better way to support American Beer Craft Week (other than drinking wonderful craft beers) but also by creating art from those empty bottles, beer labels, bottle caps & 6-pack cardboard containers!!

Check out my wonderful friend :), Michelle's bottle cap bracelet!! I think some of those might be from caps that I sent her!! We constantly support each others' art habits by Michelle saving & scavaging curbside recycle bins while walking her dog, Rosi, while I save her all the caps from what I drink & from when I attend social events that serve their beer in bottles. Just last night at my office's Cinco de Mayo party, I was able to get her over 20 usable bottle caps. :) (Will be mailing those out soon with bunch of others, Michelle!!)

I have to say, since I've started creating art from repurposed materials, it really makes you realize, how many missed opportunities, get tossed into the garbage that could have been used to create art. (I have 5 Rubbermate totes FULL of possible opportunities!!)

PUBLISHED!!! 1000 Artisan Textiles

2010-04-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

Woot!!! My Green Apple Martini Quilt aka "GAM" was published in 1000 Artisan Texiles!! What a wonderful book to own, so many beautiful colors, so many wonderful pieces!! A definite "must have" to any art book collection!!

(If you didn't know, I'm the one up in the top right corner!!)

I've blogged a lot about Green Apple Martini in past posts, but for those that are just meeting her for the first time................GAM was created using hand dyed bamboo poplin (LOVE that green!!) She was machine quilted, then layers of hand dyed cheesecloth, misty fuse & Angelina Fibers were added. Metal squiggles & cast paper triangles were added as embellishments.

My intentions originally for GAM were to try to enter her into a couple of shows, but when those options fell through, I decided to put her up for sale in my Etsy shop. A couple of months later, the opportunity arose to submit this quilt for possible inclusion in a new book that Sandra Salamony & Gina Brown were compiling called 1000 Artisan Textiles, so I took Green Apple Martini out of my shop & awaited their answer. Which I am very happy to say was accepted!!

Now that GAM is a star (lol) I can't seem to part with her, so she happily resides on a wall in my home!!!

might have sunken to a new low............

2010-03-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

This post isn't really about the wallet & tag that I created from repurposed New Belgium Fat Tire beer labels, but how I obtained the labels.

I ride the bus to & from work every morning & as I was walking by the copy center that's about a block from where I work, next to one of their trash cans (this wasn't a dumpster) was an empty 6-pack of New Belgium Fat Tire beer bottles (still in the cardboard container). It seemed odd that they were sitting there & with their bottle caps at the bottom of the container (Michelle, I will be sending them to you so you can use them in your work) :)

Were they just waiting there for me to pick them up & give them a new purpose? When I first walked by, I thought, how strange & I took a couple of steps, walking past them, then stopped, turned around & then you cannot imagine the train of thoughts that ran through my brain.

"I could really use these in my work. Is anyone around to see me pick up this 6-pk of empties? It's still pretty dark out, could I make it all the way to work without being seen? If I take these, how am I going to get them home on the bus? It's 6:30 am now & no co-workers show up to work until around 7:20, could I get the labels soaked off in our kitchen sink before anyone made it in? It generally takes a good 24 hours to soak the labels........could I actually soak them off any sooner? " (By the way, luck was with me that morning........the labels came off with no problems!)

You can laugh now (if you haven't been already) & now, I can too. I have to tell you that I'm a little embarrassed & have lost a little bit of dignity, but then I look at what I was able to create from them & it makes it all just a little bit better.

Think Pink.....

2010-03-10T06:41:00.001-08:00

Ok, so you don't really have to if you don't want to as some of you know pink is not a color I really prefer to work in, but I think these turned out kinda cute AND I hope it will help mask the thought that I haven't posted in awhile. 2010 has seen a lot of ups & downs for me & it's only March?!!

My most favorite grandma (whom practically raised me) suffered a massive stroke earlier this year. Doctors said she wouldn't be able to feed herself or even get out of bed. We flew back to Iowa the very next day to be with her & right before we boarded the plane, my cousin called to say that my grandma (who is a very tough 'ole lady) had just got done walking 40 steps back & forth down the hospital hall & was feeding herself whole food!! She seemed to sleep a lot while we were there, but she recognized us & was able to carry on conversations. It broke my heart to see her in this condition.

She has improved more than the doctors & nurses ever expected at the nursing home, however, I don't forsee her ever living alone again, which she seems happy with & I do too!! Since my grandma's son, (my Uncle) died of lung cancer a few years ago & her daughter, well, long story, but her daughter has nothing to do with her, I'm the oldest grandchild, so I've been the one that has had to make a lot of plans & decisions for my grandma (with the fabulous help of my cousins, who live close to her.) I wouldn't have been able to do this on my own without their help. So you can kind of imagine the ups & downs & how it really forces you to do a lot of growing up. (I thought I was all done with that!) :)

In early February, we lost my 15 year old Abyssinian, Sydney, to some unforseen illness. It absolutely broke my heart!! He was momma's boy. He would sit on mom's lap while watching TV, but if the heating vents were putting out that nice warm air, you'd find him laying on top of one of those. Bedtime, you'd find him under the covers with mom.

It's amazing how the loss of a pet can really affect you. I felt like I had a permanent dark cloud hanging over me. The creative juices just would not flow & I almost felt like I was in a depression. As you might know, we still have Matisse, our Bengal & Taryn our German Pinscher, but we had Syd for 15 wonderful years & now being gone, there was an empty hole.

About a month later, we rescued Milana (melawna). Well her name was Lizzie at the time we adopted her & she told us that she didn't like that name & asked that we give her a new name. (She thought her new name fit her SO much better!!) :)

As those of you that have had the pleasure of introducing a new pet to your family, trying not to freak out the new pet, while trying to reassure the pets you had in the house before the new one arrived that you still love them just as much. It's been leaps & bounds with trying to get everyone to like each other, but I think we achieved success!!! Milana loves sleeping with us at night (she actually beats my DH to bed each night). You can either find her laying between us or on papa's pillow closely spooning his head, which he still hasn't gotten used to. :)

AND, she's my little studio cat!! She loves hanging out with me while I'm in the studio & her personality really comes out when she's hanging with mom. She's very good at reminding mom, with little meows ,that I should take breaks from time to time to pet & play with her :) She's an absolute wonderful addition to our family!!

One other bit of happy news (I think), I'm doing my first Arts & Crafts fair in April & I'm SO NERVOUS!!! I went out & bought my 6ft foldable table & am slowly gathering items I need, but oh wait............I need to fill that 6ft with my art. My luggage tags & mini wallets are pretty small on that 6ft table, so you can imagine, that I've been a creating machine ever since I found out I was accepted for the show. I have plans for other items as well, but I really don't have a surplus of items I've created just hanging around in my studio, so I will be a VERY busy woman up until the show comes.

Any pointers or helpful ideas for a person who's never done an Arts & Crafts fair, would be MUCH appreciated, since I'm a nervous WRECK!! The one nice thing is that this show is indoors, so I don't need a tent. And, what about a tent? If I'm not sure that I'm going to do many of these Arts & Crafts fairs, is it smarter to rent a tent?

Are You Over 21?

2010-02-03T11:56:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting to create items from repurposed beer labels for so long, but I just haven't had the time. Well this week, I made the time :)

The first two pics are luggage tags made from repurposed beer labels from Flying Dog Brewery in Maryland (very good beer by the way!!) :) These tags were designed just a little bit different than how I ususally make my luggage tags. I usually leave the back of the tag blank, however, the beer labels from Flying Dog Brewery, had so many interesting graphics on the labels, I decided to add some of it to the back of the label. Something only the owner of the tag will know that's there (since the name card will normally be covering it up.)

I'm hoping to obtain some more Flying Dog Brewery labels very soon as I'm really looking forward to creating some mini wallets with them. The artistry on these labels themselves are just fabulous!!

(This might be my most favorite matching set, LOVE the blues!!) This luggage tag & mini wallet were made from Widmer's Drifter Pale Ale beer labels & of course, hand dyed bamboo for the interior.

This tag & wallet was made using repurposed Hoegaarden beer labels & you can find them here in my shop.

LOVE the colors in this luggage tag made from a repurposed Ninkasi Spring Ale label! I almost didn't add this one to my shop, but I decided, I have enough tags & maybe someone else would love this one as much as I do & would like to give it a new home :)

Should you wonder where I get my stock of all of these fabulous labels? I'm very fortunate that where we live in the Pacific NW, there are a vast amount of micro breweries not only in Washington, but also Oregon & California, all creating wonderful beers to be enjoyed!!

You'll have to check back often as I have plans for other items to be made from these labels :)

Wonderful Website for Etsy Sellers

2010-01-27T08:19:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share a wonderful website/marketing tool with you, if you have your own Etsy shop!! It's cr8tivity.com.

There are no membership fees, no log ons with passwords, just enter the name of your Etsy shop in the box & hit enter!! From there, you can see who hearts your shop & where they're from (if they've entered that info into Etsy when registering.) Under the "item hearts" tab, are pictures of each of the items in your shop & how many hearts they have.

(Here's the wonderful thing about this tab)....under each item you have for sale, there is a Twitter & Facebook icon (I haven't tried out the Etsy icon yet to know what it does) but with the Twitter & Facebook icons, you can click on them, put in your passwords that you use to access both applications, type a little something about the item you have for sale & it posts your comment & a link back to your Etsy shop of that item on Twitter & Facebook's site for all of your friends & followers to see. (How awesome is that?!)

There is a shop statistics tab, for you number crunchers out there, a helpers tab, that actually can create product flyers of items in your shop & a widgets tab (LOVE this)!!! If you look up in the right corner of my blog, you'll see a flashing widget of the items in my shop & if you click on it, you'll be taken right to the item in my Etsy shop where you'll have the opportunity to purchase that item that you originally clicked on in my blog. (Nice, huh!!)

Oh & if you didn't notice already, in the photo above (mine's the third shop announcement down) you also have the opportunity to purchase advertising spots for your shop at a very reasonable rate!!

I just think it's a wonderful little site to use along with my Etsy shop & would love to give kudo's to whomever created the site!! Thanks!!

Twizzlers.... As Always a Low Fat Candy

2010-01-18T09:03:00.000-08:00

As a custom order, someone requested that I create a mini wallet from Twizzler bags. I thought about this for a moment & realized all of the clear see-thru packaging & asked if they were sure (since a dyed background fabric was going to show through where all of the clear packaging was), which, if you happen to look at a bag of Twizzlers, you'll notice that it's MOSTLY clear packaging.

She said she was totally fine with it, as I was dragging my heels, fearing that this just wasn't going to turn out ok. So, what do you think? (I think it turned out better than I had planned!)

I have quite a few gatorade labels but have been dragging my feet since I was unsure how to deal with the transparent labels. I think this might have helped me get over that hump.

Free Range Domino's

2009-12-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

Aren't these wonderful? I received these "free range domino pins" from Rebecca in a private swap. Rebecca writes the Going Green Column in TryHandmade.com & I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting her when she asked if she I would be interested in being in her column based upon my upcycled art from chip/soda/candy wrappers.

Rebecca has created some wonderful things in her shop, if you get the chance, you should really check it out (I really like her pendants!)

Thanks Rebecca for the wonderful swap!

Same materials, something new............

2009-12-02T07:01:00.001-08:00

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but with the holidays upon us & the fact that I've been very busy creating the same kind of items for my shop that you've seen in previous posts but from different recycled soda labels/chip bags/coffee bags, I didn't think you wanted to see another luggage tag or mini wallet :)

However, I've come up with a couple of new ideas I wanted to share & have plans for more to come when things slow down a little bit.

(LOVE that color!!) I used Mt Dew & Diet Mt Dew soda bottle labels for this journal cover.

The interior is hand dyed poplin & has a sleeve that holds removable 4" by 6" notepads. (You can find this in my shop, where I've posted more pics of this journal.)

Below (I'm excited about these) are sunglass/eyeglass cases. The interiors have hand dyed bamboo fleece......YUM!!!!

The green & black McCoy's case is from Crisp bags from the UK. Lynda generously sent me a wonderful package full of Crisp bags & I've finally been able to start cutting into & using them. (You know how it is, when you get a new material, you can't use it right away, it needs to sit around for a little while so you can admire it.) I had originally planned on putting all four of these into my shop, but when I brought them in to show to some co-workers, I sold the McCoy's & Dr Pepper cases immediately, so back to the studio to create more!!

Ok, so I had to share a tag & a mini wallet with you that I made from Lynda's bags. The colors are wonderful & it's nice to work with graphics you're not used to seeing. The Walker's Luggage tag has also been featured on the Shop Etsy Blog here.

Thanks for the wonderful bags, Lynda!!

I'm on TryHandmade.Com

2009-11-05T07:01:00.000-08:00

Here's the link I promised you in the last post & for those that didn't see the last post.........

Rebecca Hadfield writes the "Going Green Column" for tryhandmade.com & she contacted me last week about featuring my "upcycled" pieces in her column.

(I'm VERY honored to have my work chosen for her Going Green Column!!)

If you'd like to check it out, you can click here!!

Sorry, couldn't do a blog post without a photo :)

On another note, I had an elementary teacher from Massachusetts contact me to see if I was interested in participating in their Teracycle program & taking a few chip bags that the students had been collecting off their hands. (Of course, I jumped at the chance!!)

Both Rebecca & this school teacher found me through my Etsy shop, which is fabulous!! Ever since I've opened my shop, I've had this underlying fear of, "is my work getting seen" "am I placing my work in the right places for people to see me?" So when opportunities like these two happened, it was SO nice to know that someone out there other than my closest artist friends & family weren't the only ones visiting my shop!!

Lay's Potato Chips from Thailand??

2009-11-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

Sorry that I haven't posted in awhile, but my home has been battling with some type of bug & we can't seem to shake it. The only thing I do know is that it's not the regular flu or the H1N1 flu, thank goodness!!

The opportunites that I have felt good, I've been creating art, like a mad woman, from my upcycled chip/soda/candy wrappers materials!! The custom orders have really been helping since I received word from my "day job" that each of the staff have to take a day off every two weeks until February without pay :( I try to put a good spin on it & look at it as another day for me to create art & maybe clean my house just a little more often. :)

I wanted to share with you these WONDERFUL chip bags I found on Ebay from a seller in Thailand. At the time, the seller offered these with the chips inside, sealed. I was concerned with customs & didn't really need 4 bags of Lay's Sweet Basil chips, so I contacted the seller to see if he would sell them to me empty & sure enough, he did (I wonder if he thought it was odd that I only asked for the bags?)

Aren't the colors just YUMMY?!!! Not sure what to do with these just yet & I'm thinking that they might have to sit in my studio for a little while before getting cut up. I do know that one of the things I make from these will be MINE :)

The Thai language is just beautiful on these bags, even the Nutrition Facts are in Thai. Funny how you can find such beauty in everyday things.

On another note, I'm excited to announce that Rebecca from TryHandmade.com is going to feature me & my art made from recycled chip/soda/candy wrappers in her Going Green column this week. I think it's to be posted this Thursday. I'll post the link here as soon as Rebecca releases it. (I can hardly wait!!)

Keep those wrappers coming!!

2009-10-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

As I was sitting in the airport, waiting to board the plane, a second time, to Iowa, I was fiddling with my luggage tag. I think the DH & I got the idea at the same time. Luggage tags!! I could make luggage tags from my chip/soda/coffee wrappers.

I've never been very thrilled about the luggage tags that are on the market & what a GREAT way to distinguish your bag from the others at baggage claim (& have a really cool luggage tag too)!!

These are my first efforts & I have to say that I'm very happy with them!!

The tags are approximately 3" by 4" & have hand dyed coordinating bamboo poplin on the back. They were then covered front & back with a clear vinyl.

I think the Dr Pepper tag might be my favorite (it's my favorite soda). I had a lot of fun making these & have plans to make more for my shop!!

I was really excited about trying to use aluminum soda cans for my "material" & after my first completed tag, I was sad to discover that it wasn't going to work out as well. My sewing machine sewed right through the aluminum like butter, but it was the holes that were left by the sewing needle & the non-flatness of the aluminum that made me decide that this was not going to work for these. But that's ok, I have many more ideas using many other materials. Now let's just hope other people like them enough to want their very own!! :)

Ok, sometimes it pays to be a packrat.......

2009-10-14T07:01:00.000-07:00

God love 'em, but at least 4 generations of the women in my family have been packrats & we're talking serious packratitus. Where upstairs bedrooms are so full of things that "you might need someday" that all you can do is walk into the room & walk back out backwards in your same foot steps. Hallways crammed with filled boxes of outdated fabrics & patterns. Closets of extra serving dishes & platters. My grandpa, bless his soul, also had this "problem" (don't want to call it a disease, since I question if it was something brought about from living during the Depression Era). He would go to estate sales & bring home boxes of "things".

Growing up with this, it seemed "normal". I never questioned the clutter. Once I moved away I realized, "oh my God, these people are packrats!" I vowed from that day on, that I would break that chain in my family.

I did pretty well until I started creating art again. It's a lot easier creating when you already have the paper you need for a journal signature or the right color of thread to finish a quilt. I spoke with other artist friends on how to "cope" with this disease & if it was acceptable or shunned & I was reassured it would be ok, but that I had to be careful, that it could easily get out of control. So, I keep it "in check" by organizing. All of my paints are in 2 clear rubber maid totes, my rubber stamps in another, fusible webs, etc AND they are kept in my studio either in the closet or underneath my work table. I cannot store extra rubber maid totes visibly in my studio, so this is a way of me controlling how much I can "hoard".

I generally give my grandma a hard time about all the things she keeps & shouldn't, but this time, I'm glad she did. When we went back to see her last week, she gave me a grocery bag full of the postcards that you see here. There had to be over 150 of these postcards & in fabulous shape for being over 97 years old!! They're all correspondence between my great grandmother & a friend of her's, most of them still have the 1 cent stamp that was needed to mail them on it still.

I feel like these postcards are a small part of my family past so I won't be cutting them up to use in my art. Instead, I have plans to scan them into my computer & then use them possibly in my work & as for the actual postcards, I think they'll be put into an archival binder where one can easily enjoy them any time!!

Headin' Home to Iowa

2009-09-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

I won't be posting for just a little while since we're heading back home for a family wedding & the highlight of my trip...................to see my 82 year old grandma. That woman is absolutely awesome!! All of her funny little quirks, habits & values, I SWEAR, I take after her :) (I wonder if it's possible for a granddaughter to take after her grandmother?) I did have the wonderful opportunity of my grandparents living right next door while growing up so I guess I can see there being a possibility.

I also took advantage of while I'm gone, my sewing machine is in the shop getting it's 1st year checkup. This worked out perfectly, since I didn't know how I was going to be able to be without my sewing machine for a week. :)

A small favor of those reading my blog.................I'd really love to change my blog background, but haven't really found anything that fits me. Everything I see out there is either too formal or Shabby Chic so this has me toying with the idea of hiring someone to design it for me if I can't find anything out there on the internet. If you have any suggestions for background sites or someone who can create a background relatively inexpensively, please let me know!!

Thanks & have a great rest of the week!!!
(Adriana will be flying back to Iowa with me, so maybe she'll have some interesting pics to post here when we get back.)

Halloween Goodies

2009-09-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

I LOVE Halloween!! I think it's my most favorite holiday & to help celebrate Halloween, I made a couple of Halloween Mini Wallets for my shop.

The first mini wallet was made from recycled Halloween Plain M&M wrappers.

For those that prefer peanut M&M's, the wallet below was made from recycled Halloween Peanut M&M wrappers.

Interiors of both wallets were made of hand dyed bamboo (LOVE that orange color).

No calories were gained by me (having to eat the M&M's to get the wrappers) they were happily donated to my DH's co-workers, who were happy to receive them. :)

I'm Going to be Published, TWICE!!!

2009-09-22T07:02:00.001-07:00

Remember this...............

Sandra Salamony was seeking submissions for her new book, 1000 Artisan Textiles. I submitted Green Apple Martini & it was accepted!! The book is slated to be published May 2010. (I'm not sure if I can wait that long!!)

I also have another piece that is to be published in Marion Barnett's new book, Exquisite Evolon. The publish date for that is right around the corner. Sorry no pics to show of that piece yet, I sent it out the next day after I completed it & didn't have time to photograph it. Marion promised me some digital photos.

I am hoping to add a third piece to my "being published" list this year. I submitted art work to Greencraft Magazine. The deadline was last week & I'm waiting to hear back. Sorry, I can't go into detail with what this may be (don't want to jinx it) but will tell you it's for Greencraft Magazine, that's totally dedicated to art made from recycled materials & it's something I've never created before. :)

Fingers & toes are crossed!!

For Michele & Michelle

2009-09-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

I made each of these wonderful cyber friends mini wallets (I hope they like them).

For Michele, I made her wallet from Torrefazione coffee bags.

I'm not sure I've ever worked in white before, so this was a new experience. I really like how it turned out except for the smell. I washed the bags really well before using them & in all of my handling with them, after they were finished, they still smelled like coffee (I'm not a huge coffee fan).

I made this mini wallet for Michelle from Lay's Salt & Vinegar potato chip bags. Michelle saves wrappers for me & I bottle caps for her, so as a thank you, I asked her what she would like to have her wallet made from, which was the Salt & Vinegar chips, her favorite. I was a little unsure of myself when I first started as I didn't have much for Salt & Vinegar bags to use, so I was actually impressed that this wallet was made from very little "material" & with it being another color I generally don't work in, I really like how it turned out.

Each of the interiors have hand dyed bamboo poplin & on Michelle's Lay's wallet, I went even a step further with recycled materials. The clear vinyl covering came from clear curtain packaging. (I knew there was a reason why I kept that empty packaging!)

40............sigh

2009-09-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am 40 today or as I'd like to say 20 (times 2). :)

A very wonderful friend of mine, Michelle, made these fabulous things for me for my birthday (they're SO cool & they're in my favorite color!!)

40 tudes is a little journal that she made using painted interfacing & on each page is a different technique that Michelle likes to use in her art. Also, on each page is a clear little sleeve that I've been told that are for me to put pictures in of my party that we're having tonight. Michelle has said that she'll be posting on her blog more info about this wonderful little piece if you'd like to know more.

She also sent me these earrings that were made from a Fresca can. (Aren't they great!!)

Make sure you go over & check out her blog & see what she's been up to lately!!

Thanks Michelle, I love them!!

I had planned on doing a giveaway drawing for my birthday, but I've been so busy working on creating a piece to submit to Greencraft Magazine, I didn't have to the time to create anything. After I submit to Greencraft Mag, I'll do a giveaway, maybe a journal from Cheetoh bags or a mini wallet or maybe both :)

Crisp bags from the UK

2009-09-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

My wonderful friend, Lynda, sent me a huge envelope full of Crisps bag wrappers to use in my mini wallets. It felt like Christmas in August!!

I thought I'd share a few pics so my US friends can take a look.

They have flavors like we have in the US, like the Salt & Vinegar, BBQ & plain salted, but there were some that seemed strange like the Chicken & Onion, the Prawn Cocktail (no, I'm not kidding) & then they have interesting ones like the two below.

These bags above are beautiful!! I'd be interested in seeing & tasting the 8 other flavors :)

Thank you, Lynda, for sending me these wonderful Crisp bags, I can hardly wait to start using them to create my wallets!!

ATC's in the mail............

2009-08-28T07:37:00.001-07:00

...........have started arriving from the Surface Design "show a technique" & they're all absolutely wonderful!!!

This first ATC is from Annette in the UK. Annette recycled Crisp bags (what Americans call potato chip bags) which she wove for the background & the beautiful flower, made from recycled sheers, was created by using a metal stencil in which she burned out the flower shape. You can visit Annette's blog here where you can see all of ATC's that she made & also gives a better description of her process. Love the colors & the spiral is just fabulous!! Thanks, Annette!!

This ATC was made by Michelle. I would have never thought of pairing salmon with turquoise but the colors really worked well together. She layered bit & pieces of scrap material on top of cheesecloth & then a layer of silky solvy, to hold it together while she free motion quilted it. After the silky solvy was washed away, she applied gesso, then a layer of emulsion house paint. After all was dried, she then applied color with Golden Acrylics. You can see her process here & view more of her finished cards here. Thanks Michelle, I always love trading with you!!

This beautiful ATC is from Dotti. The black with the copper really makes this card pop!! That rusty brown color strip down the middle was actually created by rust dyeing, which I've always wanted to try but have never had the time (too many ideas in my head & not enough time to try all of them). The copper metal "laugh" plate on this card, reminded me of a book I just bought, "The Art of Stitching on Metal" by Ann Parr. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to sit down & actually read the book as of yet, but at a glance, it appears to be a terrific book!!

Thanks, Dotti for the beautiful ATC!!

Another great swap from a bunch of fabulous artists, thanks ladies!!

Double-sided ATC's ??

2009-08-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

These look SO much better in person! Apparently, I'm very good at creating work that just doesn't seem to photograph very well.

These ATC's are for a swap in Surface Design. We were to "show a technique." They were made using 8 different layers. This wasn't my intentions, but since my first idea didn't work, I ended up using if for the backing.

My intentions were to use layers of black felt, hand stamped with lumiere paint, painted bond a web, Angelina Fibers & black tulle. I then stitched all four layers together. I had hoped that when I hit it with a heat gun that it would melt through the many layers, creating interesting surfaces. I didn't give it much of a chance.......as soon as it melted through the tulle & turned the Angelina Fibers brown, I stopped. I had hoped that the Angelina Fibers would retain their initial color. I then flipped the piece over & started melting through the felt. The stitching worked well & prevented the piece from shrinking or curling very much. The problem I faced as I melted through the black felt was that I could see the purple painted bond a web, but no Angelina Fibers (they were on the other side of the painted bond a web). I then realized that I needed to start over & have the Angelina Fibers facing the black felt, so when I melted through the felt, you would see the colorful Angelina. This seemed to work.

After everything had cool, I then applied color using Shiva sticks, (which I've never been a fan of & after this project STILL not) & Golden Fluid Acrylics. I then used metallic thread & free motion stitched over the entire piece.

I've enclosed closeups so you can hopefully get a better idea of what is happening within the ATC's.

Remember the fumbled first try at these? I ended up using it for my backing fabric which ended up giving me the opportunity to make double-sided ATC's :)

Nacho Average Wallet

2009-08-11T06:57:00.000-07:00

Ok I apologize, that was terrible.

I thought I'd post a couple more for you to see & also for my DH's co-workers. Sounds as if they're a little concerned about why he's going through the trash at work. He then pointed them to my blog, now they're not as worried anymore, lol!!

The Frito's were a custom order for Kelly of Happy Shack Designs. One of her daughters liked my Cheetoh's Wallet & the other liked Frito's, since I wasn't sure which she preferred, I made one from Frito's Scoops & the other from the Original Frito's. She picked the original, so I added the other two to my Etsy shop.

© 2009 Tracy Borders (front)

I like the corn pocket.

I'd love to make some from chocolate bar wrappers but since I'm not a chocolate lover, it may take me awhile to get enough wrappers.

Potato Chip Quilt Block to Mini Wallets

2009-08-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

Remember the Croatin potato Crisp (chip) bag quilt block? I wanted to try to create a clutch purse with the remaining chip bags that I had but wasn't sure how to protect those "bags" after they were sewn together for durability. Some artist friends suggested using clear vinyl for the "outside" of the clutch.

Over the weekend, I started playing with the vinyl & look what happened!! I figured I'd start small & work up to the clutch.

A friend of mine had commented on how she had such a hard time finding a mini wallet, so I made one for her. After I put my biz card in the clear pocket, I realized, "hey, why not a clear sleeve for your ID?"

This wallet was made from some fabric that I had left over from another project (LOVE that color) :) This time, I added the clear sleeve for the ID & an extra sleeve behind it for credit cards/cash, etc. The fabric is hand dyed bamboo, hand stamped with Lumiere, Angelina Fibers, Misty Fuse, machine stitching & hand dyed cheesecloth.

By then, I felt comfortable sewing with the vinyl so I ventured on with some scraps left over from the chip bags (I really liked how it turned out)!!

Since I liked how well this turned out, I tried the one below. I brought it in to show co-workers & sold it in 10 minutes!!

If you'd like to see the others that I made with Dr Pepper bottle labels, other cheetoh wrappers & hand dyed fabrics, they're posted in my Etsy Shop. (I haven't gotten around to making the clutch yet since I'm having so much fun making the mini wallets!!)

I try really hard to not be a pack rat, but now, since I've discovered these mini wallets, I'm saving chip bags, soda bottle labels, beer labels, etc. I hate the idea of collecting trash, but look what wonderful things can be done with something that you'd just normally throw away. I've asked my friends to start saving me their trash, otherwise, I've informed my DH that we're going to have to start eating more junk food (just for the wrappers) & we really don't want to do that :)

(think of me the next time you throw away that empty Dorito's bag) :)

A Beautiful ATC

2009-08-03T13:27:00.000-07:00

I received this beautiful ATC from Kath Loden in England, in a private trade. Isn't it wonderful?!! LOVE the colors (& the squiggles)!! AND she sent it in this wonderful little envelope that she created for the card. Wished I could remember to do things like that, I get so caught up finishing up the ATC & making sure it gets in the mail quickly, I never seem to think about, "what else could I do?"

Thanks for a fabulous trade, Kath!!
(you can see the card I made for her here)

A Journal for Michele

2009-07-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

First of all I have to share with you that it's 102 degrees at my home today, YUCK!! Thank God for central air!! Where I live, our summer temps are generally in the highs of lower 80's (& that's bad enough), so this 100 degree weather is NASTY stuff, actually anything above 80 for us is just plain icky!!

I wanted to share with you a journal I made for Michele of EyEmbellishments. Her birthday was a couple of weekends ago, so I made this for her. It was made by using modeling paste & Golden Fluid Acrylics.

I had seen other artists add beading to the spine to cover the thread from when the signatures were sewn into the journals, so I gave it a try......................it didn't really seem to do much for me, so I'm not sure that I'll try it again.

Got word from Michele, she loves it!! :)

Chips Anyone?

2009-07-23T07:10:00.000-07:00

While we were on holiday in Croatia, we discovered these yummy potato chips that we think were seasoned with red bell peppers. Since everything was in Croatian there was no chance at figuring out the ingredients & since there were pictures of red bell peppers on the bags, we assumed that's what they were seasoned with. These were a wonderful snack while on our week long sail (we went through 4 big bags of these.)

The colors caught my eye right away (luckily) which made me think, "I wonder what I can do with these to make myself a cool souvenir from this trip?" (Of course my DH thought I was a nut for flying home with trash in my suitcase), but look how they turned out & he seemed to think that maybe it was a good idea that I brought them home after all :)

Finished, they are each 6" by 6". I used Peltex between the chip bag layer & the hand dyed cotton backing fabric to give the blocks more stability. I just love that I was able to take something that would have normally been tossed in the trash & make a wonderful souvenir from it!!

I still have two unused chip bags & am thinking of maybe designing a little clutch purse lined with hand dyed bamboo fabric? I'm a little concerned though about whether the chip bag "material" would be able to stand up to regular wear & tear. Can it be sealed with a polymer medium or will it just flake off? (Am going to have to consult with a friend of mine that uses the medium in a lot of her work & see what she says.) :)

ATC for Trade, ACEO for my Shop

2009-07-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

Kath Loden (another new friend from the UK, yeah!) read my post before this one & through our conversations agreed upon an ATC swap.

The first card below, is the one I'm sending her (hope she likes it.)

It's made from hand dyed bamboo poplin, black Misty Fuse & Turquoise Eyelash Yarn (LOVE those two colors together). This is so hard to see in the photo, but I then free motion quilted the card & added some Treasure Gold wax on the raised surfaces & added a few sequins with seed beads for embellishments.

The ACEO below, is in my Etsy shop.

This ACEO was created in the same manner as the card above, except more stitching & less eyelash yarn.

I'll post Kath's ATC here when it arrives. It was asked in my last post what I sent Anne for the ATC swap......... I created an ATC like the card in my shop, which you can see here.

Beautfiul ATC Trade

2009-07-13T11:56:00.001-07:00

I wanted to share with you a beautifully cross-stitched ATC I received from Anne Lugherini in a trade. Anne contacted me & said that she had ran across my blog & wondered if I'd be up for a trade. Of course I would!! My first piece of art from a French Artist!! :)

LOVE the little fishies!! You might have to click on the photo to see them better, but she added pearlescent white seed beads that suggest bubbles in the water.

I was honored to discover, I was her first US swap!! Beautiful card Anne, thank you for trading with me!!!

Karma Friends Award

2009-07-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

Cheryl of Scrappy Cat generously sent this to me............

The wording for this award is as follows:

The Karma Award: These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kinds of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Through my blog, I have met & made tons of friends in the States as well as Internationally. (Should we ever end up living in North Carolina or in the UK, I can happily say I have tons of artists friends to go visit) :)

My brain is in a funk.............

2009-07-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

Ever since we got back from holiday in Rome & Croatia, my non-creative brain has been in a funk! One day, I was determined to try to attempt working in my studio & I ended up organizing & cleaning it instead (which was actually needed).

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon working on a single quilt block & didn't get ANYWHERE!! Maybe I'm trying to hard, maybe I'm not trying hard enough? But I'm finding this frustrating & a little depressing!!

I did, however manage to create a journal using Evolon & submitted it to hopefully be published in Marion Barnett's new book. Sorry no pics to share (yet), it was one of those things where my deadline was tight & the last 3 days before deadline, I put MANY hours into it, so by the time it was completed, I was tired of looking at it AND it was finished the night before the morning it was to be sent out, so I didn't have time to photograph. I also wasn't sure if my photography work would be able to pick up the play of light of the Evolon & Golden Acrylics & since Marion is having everything professionally photographed, I wasn't too worried. Sounds like my biggest worry should be getting my journal back. Marion says she's love it so much, she doesn't want to part with it :)

If anyone is interested, I've been slowly adding pics of our trip here to our Flickr account. We took over 1100 pictures & as you can see, I've only added about 1/5 of the photos to our site. All the deleting of the bad photos & putting names to the good ones & only doing about a handful each day, it's taking a little bit of time. Feel free to check back on the site, since I'm constantly adding new photos.

(Hopefully by next week, I'll have some art to post!!)

No art today to share, however...............

2009-06-23T07:25:00.000-07:00

Since I don't have any new art to share today (it's all in progress, either sitting in dye baths or drying after being dyed) I'd thought I'd share with you a couple of purchases I made while in Italy :)

Some of you are aware that I love my green Chucks (Converse sneakers) & that I took them to Italy with me. My motto, "I can never have enough funky (but comfortable) shoes." So, while in Rome, I came across these & HAD to have them. I refer to both pairs as my Italian Pumas :)

While I was admiring my new green shoes, my loving DH, who always says that I have way too many pairs of shoes as it is, locates the shoes below for me. (He always tells me that I have too many, but he's really good at supporting my habit & luckily has GREAT taste. :)

And, can I tell you, that my green is SO popular in Rome right now, it's unbelievable!! Swimsuits, underwear, shoes, socks, handbags, etc. It's all I could do to contain myself. I did, however, cave & purchase an Italian leather handbag dyed green, of course!! :)

Hopefully by next post (if all goes right) everything that's in progress now, I'll be able to soon share with you!!!

Smaller Journals

2009-06-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

Love the size of these & am thinking of making some to sell in my shop. They're each approxiamately 5" by 6".

I included two pictures of them since in the top photo you can see the Angelina Fibers better in the Green, Turquoise & Purple Squiggle journals & the variation of color in the top left journal.

The bottom picture shows the texture better in the middle brown journal.

These journals were made for a swap in the Surface Design Group.

I'll try to explain from top to bottom what each journal is made from.................

the top left journal (peacock colors) & the middle brown journal were made by manipulating modeling paste & then adding color with Golden Acrylics.

The green & brown with turquoise journals were made of hand dyed bamboo fabric, Angelina Fibers & eyelash yarn that were free motion quilted. The purple journal embellished with metal squiggles, was hand dyed cotton with layers of rubber stamping, Angelina Fibers & hand dyed cheesecloth.

I think the colors turned out great in each of the journals & I hope the ladies on the receiving end of these enjoy them as much as I did making them :)

Rome/Croatia Teaser Photos

2009-06-05T06:51:00.001-07:00

We took over 1050 photos while on our trip, so it is taking me awhile to go through each of them & weed out the bad pics & put names to the rest.

So far, I've made it through 72 photos, only 978 more to go, which is ok, because as I go through them it brings up very happy memories :)

When going through our Rome pics, I have noticed that Rome has been documented VERY well in books & on the net. So that pic that I took of the three columns, actually does have a name & it was easy to locate the information.

Thought I'd include a few photos of my most favorite places.................

While in Rome.....................................

The Pantheon was my MOST favorite place!! We had tried to get in to see it for two days & both times, they were having Liturgy services. The third day, we went really early in the morning & it paid off. There were only about 7 people inside including my DH & I. What a BEAUTIFUL & peaceful site!! AND with only the 7 of us inside, it was so quiet & I hate to use the word but "awesome", I found myself quite emotional. I could have spent hours there just looking around & enjoying the site. Unfortunately, that didn't last long, a huge drove of people entered & that calm peacefulness disappeared, which was really too bad.

My second most favorite place, the Coliseum

If you're wondering, the top two photos are not postcards, I actually took those pics, myself & am VERY happy how they turned out.

DH & Me

Those who follow my blog, know this little gal. Adriana went on our trip with us & had a blast. She wasn't camera shy either :) We have pics where she's overlooking Palatine Hill, hanging out in the Amsterdam airport waiting for our flight to Rome, overlooking Old Towne Dubrovnik from our apartment & hanging with mom at the Trevi Fountain & St Peter's Square.

(I had to share this.) While walking the Roman Forum, I came across this beautiful ruin. It was just sitting there looking SO brand new :)

Rome was wonderful to see, all of it's Art history, the culture, the food, but I think we enjoyed Croatia just a little bit more.

It's so hard to explain why.............like in Dubrovnik, the culture, the people, the food, everything seemed more relaxed, seemed like the "old ways" (if that makes any sense). Rome, as we know is "old" too with the art & history, but it seems modernized, tons of people walking everywhere, driving their tiny little cars & riding their scooters everywhere & the feeling I had while staying in Dubrovnik & visiting the villages while on our Flotilla, seemed a lot slower & kind of "old world". It was just wonderful!!

We flew into Croatia around 9:30 at night & this was the most spectacular view from our apartment of Old Town Dubrovnik. (Glad we brought the tri-pod for the camera along.)

Old Towne Dubrovnik is surrounded by a high fortressed wall & you can walk all along the top of it capturing beautiful views. DH took this photo of me resting at the highest point on the wall overlooking Old Towne. (Think he did a great job at taking this photo, even though, he's an engineer, the guy has an eye for art.) :)

There are 6 of us (co-workers & friends) that all enjoy sailing together & about a year ago one of them mentioned doing a sailing Flotilla in Croatia & here we are!! There were 4 of us on one boat & the other 2 invited another couple that were friends of theirs. We had a WONDERFUL time!!

This placed tied with Old Towne for my most favorite place in Croatia. We had one free day & evening to go wherever we wanted to moor. We actually were planning on just anchoring in a cove nearby, but after a day of very strong wind & waves, the women of both our boats (either from being seasick or just "shot" nerves) ruled the majority & "strongly suggested" that we moor here in Trestenik (Trstenik). Apparently, the Ferry used to stop here but has since moved on to a different place to tie up. You can see both of our Sunsail boats moored up right in the very same place the Ferry used to dock.

This little village was absolutely fabulous!! We had coffee & gelato at their cafe & had a wondeful dinner at their outdoor restaurant AND it was so quiet & NO winds tossing around the boat!!

That evening, while on a walk, we discovered the Grgic Winery. The next morning, we visited for a wine tasting. Now you may be thinking, tasting wine at 10 AM? Something I noticed while on this 2.5 week trip, time on a clock meant nothing. Wine tasting at 10 AM, drinking a beer at a cafe at 10:30 AM because it's SO hot & humid, eating hot dogs at breakfast. Now that is an entirely different & VERY hilarious story. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken, but there were 4 witnesses.

We had thee most FABULOUS time while in Rome & Croatia & have already started planning for our next trip? Greece? Thailand?

I'm Back!!

2009-06-01T09:08:00.000-07:00

Bawd (that's Croatian for Hello) :)

I'm back from my Rome/Croatia trip & have to tell you, I had the MOST wonderful time!!! The only reasons I was looking forward to coming home were to see my 4-legged kids, sleep in my own bed & drink a Dr Pepper. (Some people smoke, some people have to have their coffee, I have to have my Dr Pepper.) The only soda that I found in Rome was Coke, Coke Zero, Fanta or Sprite and in Croatia the same with every once in awhile finding a Pepsi. So, I compensated by drinking more wine & beer while I was there (that's another story for later.)

I learned a few things as well :

Americans are always in a hurry
eat WAY too much junk food/greasy foods/foods just in general not good for our health
should have adopted the metric system
don't eat enough gelato (lol)

& oh yeah, somewhat shy about showing skin on Croatian beaches. We saw a lot of FKK (we never figured out the translation, so if someone knows please tell me, but from what we can tell, FKK has something to do with nudity). We saw quite a bit of nudity on Croatian beaches & everytime, it was shocking. And, if any of you are wondering if I participated in this................ARE YOU KIDDING?! Um, NO!!! :)

Anyway, I'm back & I miss those beautiful & wonderful places already. I took TONS of photos & once I can get them all organized with all of the proper names of the places on them, I'll share a few here AND plans are to set up a new site/blog with all of the photos that were taken by my DH, me & the friends who went on our sailing Flotilla with us in Croatia. I'll let you know once it's up, if anyone is interested.

(btw, Adriana went with us, so she has some photogs as well) :)

A Journal for Me

2009-05-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

Looking back at the journals I've made, I think I only kept the first one & all of the rest have either been given away as gifts or sold in my shop or as special orders at my "day job". So, I decided to make myself one for my upcoming trip to Rome/Croatia, which is now only 2 1/2 days away. (I don't think it will sink in until I board the plane on Saturday, that I'm actually going to Rome.) :)

So here she is.......................... (I'm really happy with her)

I just LOVE the textures that you can get with modeling paste & fortunately, with this design, if the paste cracks, as it dries, it totally works with the piece.

This was painted with Golden Acrylics, thank you Lynda & Carol for introducing me to such wonder paint!!

I unfortunately, did not dye the interior fabric. I found this beautifully hand dyed cotton in a quilt store. (This is the first time I've ever included commercial fabric in one of my pieces & I kind of felt dirty for doing it, but I figured I wasn't marketing it as MY work, trying to sell it to anyone & I thought it fit nicely with the piece.)

Ok, so the interior signatures, I couldn't decide between dragonflies & squiggles, so I figured, what the heck, this journal is staying with me, do both :)

On another note, I was very happy to see that my "Green Woven Squiggles" that I donated for Fiberart For a Cause sold the first day!! Thank you, Heather for "bidding" on it & donating to a very important cause!! (Heather, I sent you an email requesting your address, so should it go into spam & you don't see it & you happen to read this post, please email me your address) :)

(You still have time to "purchase" wonderful collages at Collage Mania 2009, for the next two days, so go check it out!!)

Fiberart for a Cause Preview

2009-04-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

Collage Mania 2009 previewing is now open & you will be able to purchase original one-of-a-kind collages beginning May 5th with 100% of the proceeds going directly to the American Cancer Society.

Some fellow artist friends have donated collages & I thought I'd share some of the pages that they're featured on since there are over 39 pages to view & 383 collages to see.

Michelle's beautiful Fleur collage is on page 31. On page 8, you can see Virginia's colorful collages along with Fannie's fabulous"watercoloresque" art. On page 11, Sherry has 2 wonderful collages available. (And of course, I'm on page 17) :)

There are so many wonderful pieces, I know I'm going to have trouble picking just one, ok, maybe two.

If you get the chance, please go & take a look & on May 5th, not only will you have the opportunity to own a beautiful piece of art but in doing so, you're donating to what I feel, is a very important cause, The American Cancer Society.

Aqualicious etsyNJ

2009-04-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

LOVE all of the colors that I'm seeing in Etsy lately!! Deb from debkaplandesigns chose my Peacock Colored Journal for her Aqualicious etsyNJ Treasury.

Please check out Deb's Etsy shop, she's offering some beautiful art for sale. Thanks for including me in your Treasury, Deb!! :)

p.s. Please forgive me if I don't post much in the upcoming couple of weeks, our Rome/Croatia trip is right around the corner so I'm not sure I'll have much time to create any new work until after we get home from our trip. (I can hardly wait!!)

EtsyRAIN Springtime in Seattle

2009-04-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

One of the groups that I belong to in Etsy is called teamEtsyRain. It consists of artists that live in the Puget Sound (Seattle, Washington) area. It's a great way to get to know other local artists in the area & it gives one (should you live locally) the opportunity to support & buy from local artists.

Jenny of Flandersfield Photography chose my Lemon Lime Squiggles ACEO for her EtsyRAIN Springtime in Seattle Treasury.

Aren't the colors YUMMY!! :)

(sorry guys, the photograph of the flowers in the top left corner has been sold to ME) but then I'm sure some of you aren't surprised! :)

Thanks, Jenny for adding me to your Treasury!!

Completing my ABC's

2009-04-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

(thanks for help with the title Michelle)

ABC's stand for Anything But Cotton. I'm in a Surface Design swap & we were to create a postcard from anything but cotton. When I first signed up for the swap, I thought this was going to be an easy task, but it proved to be wrong.

I first thought of rubber stamping organza, stitching it down to a base fabric that had been painted & foiled & then hitting the organza with a heat gun. The base fabric.........what could I use that wouldn't melt right along with the organza? Every possible fabric I came up with had some sort of cotton in it.

Ok, how about melting some Tyvek instead? Had the same problem with coming up with a non-cotton base.

I then remembered my Texture Class with Lynda & Carol. In one of the samples I created in their class, I used Peltex, couched yarns & paint (no cotton whatsoever). My first two trials turned out just horribly. They were SO heavy & so bulky, I told Michelle that I'd send one of them to her to use as a door stop for her studio door. The yarn I used for these were just too bulky for what I was trying to achieve.

I abandoned the idea entirely & went back to trying to find a non-cotton base for the melted organza or Tyvek pieces. After a week of stalling & coming up with no ideas, the couched painted threads idea resurfaced. I was really happy with the sample in my class, why had it failed so badly the second time around?

Some lighter weight yarn, this time & more patience & here's what happened............

I couched eyelash yarn & thicker (bumpy) yarn right onto the Peltex. I then painted the entire surface with white latex house paint. Because of the thickness of the bumpy yarn, I had to wait for the latex paint to dry & applied a second coat to achieve total coverage.

I then applied different colors of Golden Fluid Acrylics over the entire pc (it's a good thing it washes so easily off your hands,) a brush couldn't get into all of the recessed areas so I ditched the brush & used my fingers.

After the Golden Acrylics dried, I applied Treasure Gold Wax to the raised surfaces (yes, by fingers) :) It really brought out the texture of the eyelash yarn.

(closeup)

They're quite different from what I normally create & I hope the ladies that these are going to won't be too disappointed, worse case, they'll make pretty door stops. :)

Seattle Mariners' Opening Day!!

2009-04-17T07:13:00.001-07:00

Finally, Opening Day for the Seattle Mariners!!! (baseball for those that don't know what I'm talking about) Adriana went to her first baseball game, although she was heart broken to discover they didn't have a Mariners jersey in her size, she still had a blast!!

Making my art wearable?

2009-04-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

I came across Sandy's Etsy shop, The Gilded Lily, in an Etsy Treasury. She creates beautiful pendants from Scrabble tiles. If you get the chance, check out her shop, she has TONS of really fun pendants!!

After viewing some of her pendants, I had the idea, "I wonder if she'd create some custom pendants with my work featured on them?" Sandy was awesome to work with!! I sent her digital photos of some of my pieces & look what she came back with.........................

Aren't they wonderful?!! Of course, I had to have them all & some others that I didn't get photographed for this post :) I think it's kind of nice to be able to carry around a small piece of your work with you all the time & what better way, in a pendant!!

Sandy created & got these pendants out to me in about three days, which I thought was VERY quick!! She was absolutely fabulous to work with & knows I'll be back bringing her more business!! Thanks, Sandy!!

(See it does pay to have your work seen in a Treasury!!)

Dharma Trading Featured Artist

2009-04-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

Woohoo!! I'm one of the Featured Artists, for April, on Dharma Trading's website!!

A couple of months ago, while reading Dharma's emailed newsletter, I read at the bottom, in tiny print, "if you use any of our products that we sell in your art, please feel free to email us a picture of your finished piece & it might get posted onto our site."

I order all of my dyeing supplies from Dharma & I just love, love, love their bamboo poplin, so I sent them a photo of Green Apple Martini. Shortly after the email was sent, I received a response stating that they would like to have me as a Featured Artist on their home page for April & would I be interested? ARE YOU KIDDING?! Of course, I would!! A few more photos of my work & a write up about me (which I've never been comfortable doing) & here it is!! :)

Sailing the high seas............

2009-04-07T07:05:00.001-07:00

..................well not quite yet. I cannot believe our trip to Rome/Croatia is only a month away & I cannot say there's so much to get done before the trip because, we're READY!! :)

We went sailing last weekend on the Sound to dust off the cobwebs & go over some sailing maneuvers. We thought we should take Adriana along so she could get her feet wet (so to speak), we don't need her getting seasick while in Croatia :)

This is your Captain speaking!

She had a great time..........

Guys, there's nothing

magnetic on this boat, I'm

having to hold on for dear life.

.....although, she wasn't very happy to find there wasn't anything magnetic on the boat to attach herself too!!

I can see for miles!!

Look, I can fit in this winch

handle storage thingy!

Hoist the main sail!!

Look!! I'm steering the boat.

So Cool it's Hot, Electric Turquoise Etsy Treasury

2009-04-01T06:45:00.000-07:00

Jessica at livefunky chose my Turquoise Eyelash ACEO for her Electric Turquoise Etsy Treasury. There are some really nice pieces featured.

LOVE the colors in this Treasury!!! Thanks Jessica for including me in your Treasury!!

Squiggle ACEO's

2009-03-31T06:56:00.000-07:00

Lemon Lime Squiggles ACEO

This is my first attempt at creating a series of ACEO's. Generally, I'll create one or two but this time I made over 17 Squiggle ACEO's of different colors. (I think the Lemon Lime ACEO, might be my favorite, with the Metallic Silver following right behind it.)

Metallic Silver ACEO

Each of these ACEO's were hand painted with Lumiere Paint on cotton muslin & then rubber stamped.

Cherry Red Squiggles, ACEO

I then added layers of irridescent Angelina Fibers, which unfortunately do not photograph well (so I enclosed a closeup so you could see them.)

Grape Squiggles, ACEO

closeup of Angelina Fibers

I then added different colored metal "squiggles" as embellishments.

Dark Chocolate Squiggles, ACEO

I normally don't work in browns, so I was unsure of both brown ACEO's, but the feedback I've been receiving seems to be positive.

Milk Chocolate Squiggles, ACEO

Neon Green ACEO

I had a lot of fun making these & although, I'm questionable about the brown ACEO's & the Cherry Red ACEO (red is another color I normally don't work in), I'm happy with how they turned out.

One More Time!!

2009-03-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

I need your help ONE more time with the Artisans Challenge.

All three of my pieces won the first week, which wouldn't have been possible without all your votes, which are VERY much appreciated!! Now is the weekly challenge where all of those that won last week are to go up against each other. Not only am I competing against others that were picked, I’m also competing against myself. (I also JUST noticed that my favorite ACEO was chosen for Miniature Category & one of my Squiggle Scarves made it into the Clothing Category!!) :)

So if you'd consider voting for me one more time, I’d really appreciate it & thanks so much for your help!! http://blockheadradiolive.com/artisanschallenge

And, if you're curious of the three pieces, my Dragonfly Recycled Journal got the most votes of all three. (It received over 82 votes in it's category!!) thank you!!

You can cast your vote once in each category on the left. The Weekly Challenge is the category of those that won last week & the rest of the categories are this week's new entries for the Challenge.

Time to Vote!

2009-03-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

I need your help! The Artisan's Challenge is now in full swing & three of my pieces was chosen to be in the challenge!!

I am SO excited that these three pieces of mine were chosen to go up against other artists' work.

found under miniature

category

found under paper crafts category

located under 2D category

If you click on this link: Artisan's Challenge it will take you to where you can vote. Pick the category on the left & it will show you the work, on the right, that was chosen & then it's up to you to vote for your favorite. I'm hoping you'll consider me when making your choice!! Voting will close for this weeks Challenge at 9:10 am Monday, March 30th.

Thanks so much for your help!! :)

Collage for FFAC

2009-03-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

I am very happy to donate "Green Woven Squiggles" to the Fiberart For A Cause auction & I'm even happier with myself that I got it done before deadline, which is April 1st. (I'm such a procrastinator!!)

Green Woven Squiggles is made from hand dyed bamboo & cheesecloth, with Angelina Fibers, (that don't like to show themselves in photographs) machine stitching & lumiere paint that was then hand woven together & embellished with painted metal squiggles. I hope that someone is as excited about making a donation for this piece as I was in making it!!

Those that know my work, know that this is the true color of the piece & that the photo hasn't been overexposed :)

Green Woven Squiggles has been donated in memory of my Uncle that passed away due to lung cancer.

Happy St Patty's Day!!!

2009-03-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

Top 'O the Morning to Ya!! Happy St. Patrick's to all of you!!

This is the day that I get to wear my MOST favorite shoes. Not that I need a special day to wear these since I wear them all the time (of course!!)

I LOVE my green Chucks!! We visited a Converse store last summer & there they were. It was that type of moment, when you can see nothing else, but what you HAVE to have. I looked at my DH with big eyes & a smile to match (probably like a kid in a candy store) & he did what he often does with me, he shook his head, rolled his eyes & said, go ahead. Woo hoo!!! I'm getting a pair of Chucks in one of my most favorite colors!!! I must have been the happiest girl on the planet at that moment. :)

The young girl at the check out mentioned as I was paying for my shoes that they were selling a shirt in the same color to match my shoes. I thanked her for letting me know but then shared that I already had two in that color to match at home :)

I've been reading up a lot on my trip in May, to Rome & Croatia & have been hearing stories of others who have gone to Rome before me. I've heard things such as women don't wear shorts in Rome & you can tell if you're American if you wear tennis shoes. I can respect the no shorts, it will be May so the weather shouldn't be too hot, but tennis shoes? I'm going to be walking all over that wonderful city & my feet are going to be comfortable, so I don't care if you can tell if I'm American or not, I'm wearing my tennis shoes. Besides, I'm sure I'll probably stick out anyway - I'm thinking there's probably not many blonde Italians that live there? :) (maybe I'm wrong)

Wonder if my green Chucks should explore the Roman streets with me or better yet, the Old Town of Dubrovnik (Croatia)?

Artisan Challenge!!

2009-03-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

I love visiting Huckleberry Arts . She has such a wonderful blog!! She creates one of a kind original creations, does custom graphics & also has a freebie page, where she generously offers items like buttons, tags & collage sheets. Please check out her fabulous blog when you get the chance, I think I could just spend the entire day clicking on all of the links that she has on her first page :)

She had this posted on her blog & I wanted to share it with all of you (although, I considered not doing it, therefore weakening my competition) :)

All you Artisans out there make a note of this date:

March 23rd

Some may remember... some may be hearing about it for the first time! Either way there's a bit of construction goin' on over at Blockhead Radio as we prepare to relaunch a cool weekly contest. Seriously, if you head over there you will hear power saws, drills and jack hammer's workin' 24 hours a day. Okay, no you won't but you WILL hear some really great music by indie artists :)

Formerly known as the Etsy Challenge (the name was change to protect the innocent...) and then renamed as the Artisan's Challenge because there are soooo many great venues out there for selling handmade.... and then the whole shebang came crumbling down. It was feared that the challenge would never be heard from again.

Yes, the Artisan's Challenge is being dug up from the depths of the internet graveyard!

For those who may have never heard of the Artisan's Challenge, let me tell ya what it's all about. There are 12 different categories with 60 different artisans every week (5 submissions in each category). The winner's of the categories from the previous week then face off in a weekly challenge!

So head on over, read the rules and enter your submissions now! You'll be notified when it's your week in the challenge. Then its up to you to tell your friends... your family... your neighbors... the people in the checkout line at the grocery store... to go vote for you in the

Artisan's Challenge!

What's in it for you? Besides lots of people seeing your item when they vote?? Besides FREE publicity for your shop??? Besides all the fun????

It just so happens that the winner of the weekly challenge will now win a audio commercial with a banner to play the entire following week on Blockhead Radio! That's even MORE FREE publicity for your shop!

Remember, it's ANY selling venue! Entries are being accepted now so hurry and get your submission in.

Another incentive... blog about it & Let Witchy of The Copper Cauldron know you did! You'll be entered for a chance to win a $15 Gift Certificate to The Copper Cauldron. Visit the Copper Cauldron here!! Last date to enter will be March 22nd. Winner will be selected by a random number generator. One entry per blog.

When does Spring start?

2009-03-10T07:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no pics to post as of yet. Remember the studio remodel & laying the teak flooring? The last thing to be finished is my work top area. My wonderful DH made the cabinet for me (which I will post photos when all completed) & now he's putting in tons of drawers to hold all of those little things that can easily get lost & big drawers to hold my many clear shoe box containers of dyed cheesecloth, misty fuse, cording & clasps for my journals, etc. I'm going to be so organized, it's going to be scary. To be able to actually find something that I'm looking for & finding it the first time, I can't even imagine.

So, with that said, I haven't been able to finish any of the 3 pieces that are in progress right now. I have plans to send one of my pieces off to Virginia for the Fiberart for a Cause, Collage Mania. Just a little hint, I'm using my funky green, dyed on bamboo & there will be squiggles involved :)

As I posted the question at the beginning, "When does Spring start?" We have had some of the strangest weather here the last 3 days. It seemed as if every time I looked out the window, this weekend, something different was happening. We had light snow, then sun, then sleet & then sun again. Later in the day, it was raining snow, I can't think of any better way to explain it. It was coming down fast like rain drops, but was actually snow & all of this happening with the weather being around 42 degrees.

Saturday evening, while barbecuing (one of the wonderful things we can do year round here) it was snowing & we saw lightning. Sadly, we don't get to see very much lightning, so this was quite odd. While at work yesterday, round three - snow, sleet, sun, hail, blizzard-like conditions & thunder (all within about 2.5 hours). Yes, snow thunder. I didn't think it was possible.

You say "global warming" & some people roll their eyes, but in the 12 years that I've lived in the Pacific NW, I think the climate has really gone through some changes. The summers are getting hotter & the winters are getting a lot colder. We never used to see temps below 38 or above 78. The last couple of winters we've had quite a few days hovering around the mid-20's & the last couple of summers has seen quite a few days around the upper 80's & lower 90's. Today, while waiting for my bus, in 24 degree weather, to get to work, I would have happily embraced one of those upper 80 degree days :)

Adriana considers hand modeling

2009-03-06T07:10:00.000-08:00

Before I get to Adriana's short lived career of hand modeling, I would like to share with you what Michele from EyEmbellishments made for me, isn't it just fabulous?!

She made this beautiful little dish of squiggles & ocean colors to commemorate my sailing trip while in Croatia this May. All it's missing is the artichoke spread, a few crackers & a bottle of wine :) Thanks Michele, I just LOVE it!!!

I have a huge respect for pottery artists!! It's just something that my hands can't do, which is probably a good thing since I'd have vessels ALL over my home & have some of the most funkiest serving dishes.

And now for Adriana's short lived career as a hand model.

She was all excited about the possibility of earning a few dollars to help support mom & her art "habit", then sadly realized, she didn't have hands. She said she didn't feel too upset, since she was concerned about being on her feet all day, under those hot lights of the photographer & what those hot lights might do to her painted body. She said that she'll have to think of something else to do so she can help contribute to the family

Look we match!!

Um, these pearls are a little heavy.

Which color do you

think goes best with

my coloring?

A journal for Michelle

2009-03-02T07:42:00.000-08:00

Michelle, if you're reading this, look away, don't go any further. It will spoil your surprise. I knew you wouldn't listen to me :) Actually, Michelle knew she was getting this, she just didn't know what it would look like.

I was hostess of Bingo in our Dyehard_Runoff group, where everyone was to pick 12 words that you think of when you here the word, Spring & Michelle won. So, Michelle's prize is this journal.

LOVE that dragonfly button :)!! I used black elastic cord that wrapped around the journal & then the button to keep the journal closed. I would have preferred using brown or turquoise instead, but I looked all over heaven & earth & could only find colors of black, white, metallic red, silver, gold & green. Maybe I'm not using the proper words to search online? I know that florists use other colors, but I just cannot seem to locate those sources. If anyone has any other ideas where to look, please feel free to let me know!!

This journal was made of hand dyed bamboo & turquoise eyelash yarn & inside, there is removable notepad (which I made, have to use up those 500 binding combs!) I'm really starting to like this style of journals. When the notepad runs out, you add another & NO signatures to sew in. My stitches never seem to line up very nicely on the outside, if I could hide them so you couldn't see those stitches on the outside, I'd consider going back to sewing them in.

Michelle was my guinea pig with these new labels. I had these made from an artist who has a shop on Etsy. (You might have to click on the photo to see them better.) I've been wanting a label with my Etsy shop's name & website on it so I can add it to the items I have for sale. This label can be ironed or stitched on.

Hope Michelle will be happy with this journal!!

Adriana & her new sibs

2009-02-27T08:06:00.000-08:00

Our German Pinscher, Taryn had surgery last weekend to remove a "bump" on her chest, luckily it turned out to be harmless, however, she had to have a few stitches. Adriana decided it would be best if she stayed home all week with her new sissy to help watch over her & take care of her.

Unfortunatley, I think Matisse was jealous that Taryn was getting all of Adriana's attention :)

Something old, but is actually quite new.....

2009-02-24T10:59:00.001-08:00

It's journal time again :) I just love making journals & this one was for a co-worker of mine. I call this one "Faux Leather". It's actually made from modeling paste that I have hand rubbed in MANY layers of Golden Fluid Acrylics' Iridescent Micaceous Iron Oxide, Interference Oxide Green & Iridescent Bright Gold. (It's a very good thing that the paint washes off your hands very easily, what a mess, which I'm a pro at making!!)

As I've mentioned in previous posts, one of the wonderful qualities of using modeling paste & paint, is that you can use any old ugly fabric that you like since you'll be covering it completely with the modeling paste & the Golden Acrylics.

I love how the modeling paste gives off the appearance of a really old & worn book. If I had to recreate that same texture, I'm not sure I could. I spread a very thin layer of modeling paste onto the fabric & then went back in with a putty knife & made big "swoops" (is that a real word) into the paste & then let it dry. This time, I was pleased to see that there was some cracking in the dried modeling paste since I was able to make those cracks work with this piece.

As for sealing this piece, it could probably float in a bath tub of water for over a month (but please don't try it) this journal has at least 7 layers of Golden's Polymer Medium on the surface. I had a small issue with 3 tiny cracks when I was finished with the journal & I wanted to make sure that the cracks were painted & sealed well & they still worked well within the journal.

The interior, I painted canvas with the same Golden Acrylics & sealed it (only once) with the Polymer Medium. I'm not sure I'd use the canvas again as it was a little stiff & didn't want to cooperate well when it was folded over to be closed. I made the removable note pad that fits inside the journal. Still not sure what I'm going to do with over 250 binding wires cut in half, which makes me now 500 binding wires, but hey I got a great deal on them & that's totally ANOTHER story!!

As for the closure, I always seem to get hung up on the finishing details of a piece. I was happy with what I ended up using. The co-worker I made this for, needed it to open very easily & she didn't want to have to mess around with a cord that would have been wrapped around the journal & the button a few times, so I used elastic cord. It was easy to create, opens quickly with it & it doesn't detract from the journal overall.

LOVE how this journal turned out!!

Hand Dyed Bamboo Gradations

2009-02-23T09:27:00.001-08:00

For sale in my Etsy store.

I added some dyed gradations of bamboo poplin to my Etsy store. They're a 9-step gradation using Procion Dyes. For the set above, I used a deep navy.

For Sale

I think the Moss Green, above might be my favorite of the three!! Kym from kimbuktu Etsy store, did a trade with me for some of this fabric & she made the MOST beautiful bag from my fabric. I told her, if I didn't already have one of her beautiful quilted bags, that this one would be mine!! I have a feeling, this bag might sell pretty quickly!

For Sale

This was dyed with Turkish Red. Kym also received some of this color but her's was dyed with cotton muslin. Check out her bag she made with this fabric. LOVE those squiggles :). It's so nice to see what someone else can do with the fabric that you've dyed. Thanks Kym!!!

Visiting Laura Bee Designs

2009-02-20T07:00:00.000-08:00

I had to pick up a handbag that I had Laura Bee Designs custom make for me over the weekend & Adriana wanted to go too. This is my second custom made bag from Laura & I love it as much as the first one she made for me. It is a very cool store! There are design tables & all the materials needed to create your very own unique handbag.

Here's the first handbag she made for me. I must have done something right since I see now that they offer that exact bag on their website. Laura has also made me a mini wallet, wristlet & what's called a Wendy wallet, all to match this handbag. (A girl's gotta accessorize!!)

I LOVE this bag, it's huge inside, it can hold a water bottle, my wallet, keys & cell phone & still have plenty room for other things, the problem is that when I wear my winter jacket it doesn't match (I know, what a terrible thing) but it really is, since my winter jacket is an olive green. So how do you fix that? I know, have Laura create me another handbag. She has visited my blog & knew that I love green & we came up with this bag below & as an added bonus, check out the interior color she did for me. You can only see it when you unzip the bag :)

So after the business part was done, Adriana was off to check out the shop.

I need a handbag this big.

Possibly something in red?

This is a nice color.

Look at all the pretty ribbon.

I like this button!!

I like the gray wristlet.

Look at all the pretty wallets.

Laura's pretty handbags.

Are you related to my momma?

Adriana & I had such a wonderful time at Laura Bee's. If you live locally, you really need to check out her shop, she has a lot of fun items, from mini wallets to messenger bags & you can design your own one of a kind handbag. If you don't live locally, Laura is really great at working with you through her online site, Laura Bee Designs.

Thanks for two VERY wonderful handbags Laura, you know you haven't seen the last of me (but don't tell my DH that.)

Something different.............

2009-02-17T07:01:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have this happen when you're at an Art Fair or you see something in a magazine & think to yourself, "I wonder if I could make one of those?" One of my friends has one of those drawstring backpacks that she got from the company she works for as a promotional type gift & it was kind of tacky, it was made from cheap acetate-like plastic & it had the company's name imprinted HUGE on the bag. I thought to myself, she wears that bag all of the time, what a great idea to try making her a nicer one & give to her as a Christmas gift. Here's how it turned out. Just to let you know, I had no patterns or instructions to follow & I learned A LOT as I was making the bag.

I hand dyed raw silk & cotton velveteen in different gradations of brown. (The colors are a lot richer than what you see in the photos.) I'm not sure I'd use those fabrics together again when constructing a piece. The fabrics moved all over the place. They were both somewhat stretchy & worked against each other while I tried to sew the blocks together, so I fixed that by adding a fusible interfacing to the backing of both fabrics. For the inside, I lined it with hand dyed (brown) cotton & added a couple of pockets, which I learned later, should have been placed towards the top of the bag instead of the bottom (everything seemed to land into the pockets at the bottom of the bag.)

(That's my friend modeling her new bag.) I vowed after I made this one, that if I wanted one for myself, that I would buy one. Maybe, after I've been away from it for awhile, I might go back & try to make one for myself out of bamboo, NOT velveteen or raw silk!!

Work day for Adriana

2009-02-13T08:19:00.000-08:00

Adriana wanted to go to work with me & promised me she'd behave, but as you see, she was in to everything!!

Don't you dare!!

No, this is not a shower!

Wow!! Monkey bars!!

Look no hands!!

Adriana, Queen of the Jungle

Let me bind for you.

She finally calmed down & spent the rest of the day at my desk.

Hangin' out with mom at her desk.

I'm going to Laura Bee Designs tomorrow to pick up a handbag, I had Laura custom make for me & yes it's green, I can hardly wait!!! Maybe Adriana will come along & check things out!

I can't wait to show you my new handbag, TRUST me, I'll be blogging about it next week!!

I Love Jesus but I Drink a Little

2009-02-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

Jennifer aka "Blueskysunburn", from Trial & Error posted a comment on my blog & when I went to visit her site, she had this posted & I HAD to share it with you. I laughed so hard that I cried, so I thought I'd share it with you hoping that maybe you might get a little giggle out of it as well :)

Turquoise with Purple Etsy Treasury

2009-02-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

Kim from ThatSomething chose my Peacock Colored Journal for her Etsy Treasury. I love the colors that she chose, so nice & bright. Thanks, Kim!

When you get the chance, check out her Etsy store, she has some really nice pieces!

On Cloud 9

2009-02-09T10:04:00.000-08:00

I've been dyeing fibers for over 20 years & for 15 of them, Dharma Trading has kept me in the supplies I need to create my art. Dharma is a fabulous company to do business with, from their high quality fabrics, their wonderful customer service & their attention to the environment.

I subscribe to their monthly newsletter, like I'm sure some of you do. In their newsletter, you can see below where they have sections for Featured Artists, new catalogs, sales & new items just added to their store.

As I was reading at the bottom of the screen, in tiny, tiny print, they mentioned that if anyone had used their products in finished pieces, to please email them & they might include those photos on their website. Since I do most of my hand dyeing on their bamboo poplin, I sent them photos of 3 different pieces. Within 15 minutes, Sam from Dharma emailed me & said that they would love to have me as a Featured Artist in their newsletter & will be featured on their home page!!! I was & STILL am SO excited, I still get goose bumps just thinking about it!!

So, come April, those that subscribe to Dharma's monthly emailed newsletter, you'll see me as one of their featured artists!!!!

Newest Member of the Family

2009-02-06T07:51:00.000-08:00

I would like to introduce to you Adriana.

Adriana arrived on my doorstep, wrapped in a very beautiful golden Pashmina via Michele at EyEmbellishments. Michele has a weekly Sunday post on her blog dedicated to her Sock Sibs. They get to go on all kinds of adventures & sometimes get themselves in to trouble. I had mentioned to Michele that if one or two of them would like to go to Rome & Croatia with me in May they were more than welcome. Then Adrianna showed up on my door step. My very own Sock Sib, how generous of Michele!! Adriana is the twin sister to Hobie Obie that you can view on Michele's blog.

Hobie & Adriana are the envy of all the other Sock Sibs. This brother & sister duo have special powers that the other Sibs don't. They can stick to magnetic things & they can hold things in their arms.

Look ma, no hands!!

Adriana, you've been here one day & have already

found the liquor cabinet, will have to keep an eye on you!

Mom, is this for me?

Matisse, my bengal, was kind enough to introduce himself to his new sister the night that she arrived. (I think Adriana was a little nervous.)

I cannot wait to take her with me in May, we have plans to visit Vatican City & Adriana wants to see the Coliseum (me too!!)

I hope to post Adriana's adventures here every Friday, so check back & see what's she's been getting herself into. She just went to the office with me yesterday & had a wonderful time. I'll post those pics next Friday. Here's a small sample of what I caught her doing.

Adriana, don't you dare!!

Another painted bondaweb piece......

2009-02-03T09:39:00.000-08:00

.........(& probably my last). This piece developed from my sampling with painted bondaweb & Angelina Fibers.

I left the backing on the bondaweb & painted it with Golden Acrylics Dioxazine Purple. After the paint dried (still leaving the backing paper on) I fused Angelina Fibers to the surface, using a pressing sheet & waiting for it to completely cool before I removed the pressing sheet. I then, peeled the backing paper off VERY gently & cut it into strips of different widths.

Sitting that aside, I hand dyed bamboo poplin & cheesecloth to match the purple color from the painted bondaweb. I then fused the cheesecloth, with white Misty Fuse to the bamboo. Before I cut these into strips, I fused bondaweb to the back side of the bamboo fabric & peeled away the backing paper. (This step really comes in handy a little bit later.)

After the first two rows of bamboo poplin were woven, they were then fused (ever so gently) with a Teflon pressing sheet, onto a piece of Peltex that was precut to finished size. With the bamboo being backed with bondaweb & the painted bondaweb, they fused to each other & to the Peltex all at the same time.

If you're wondering what type of bondaweb was used, I used the fairly inexpensive, thin type that's sold at JoAnn fabrics. I've talked to others that have tried this technique & discovered that they had problems with thicker & yes older, bondaweb that they had laying around in their studios for awhile. Apparently, they had problems with it not completely releasing from the backing paper.

As I stated before, I think this will probably be my last project with painted bondaweb. Handling the bondaweb, from removing the paper backing after applying the fused Angelina Fibers to weaving the strips required great patience & total relaxation on my part. It's quite fragile to work with, so I found myself walking away during the weaving process a few times just to relax myself & to calm down :)

Think I'll just happily go back to how I like to use it...............for bonding one fabric to another :)

Beautiful ACEO's

2009-01-30T09:59:00.000-08:00

Remember my post about this...............

........well I made it for a Technique Swap in Surface Design & I traded one of mine for each of these fabulous ACEO's below.

This was made by Michelle Bonds. She used UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) on fabric & while the UTEE was still warm, pressed rubber stamps into & then painted it. (I've tried using UTEE many times before & have never really liked it, but I LOVE it used here!!) Thanks Michelle!!

This wonderful ACEO was made by Aynsley McKay (sorry no blog). Her daughter saves her the funky plastic bags you get from stores & Aynsley fused many sheets of these bags together & printed with a rubber stamp on top of them. I think there might be a "how to" on something like this in the last Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine? Aynsley & I have traded many times before & I'm always excited to see what she's going to do next!! Cool colors, Aynsley, thanks for another wonderful trade!!

This precious ACEO & the beautiful envelope it came in was made by Marga Korioth. The envelope is just as wonderful as the ACEO that Marga sent me. She used untreated canvas, paper & watercolors. The colors are just gorgeous, thank you Marga!!!

This wonderful ACEO was made by Mags Roberts. Mags painted papertowels & then machine stitched it & rubbed a little Treasure Gold onto them to highlight some of the surfaces. (Love, love, love the colors!!) Thanks Mags!!!

I have a great admiration for people who can create landscapes from fabric (because I cannot) & what's even more fabulous is that Judy Alexander created beautiful landscapes on such a tiny scale. (Judy gives a full description on her blog on how she made these.) Thanks Judy!!

This soft & fuzzy ACEO was made by Jan Ziebol. Jan created this card using wool, silk & soluble bonding and stitched over that to hold everything in place & then disolved the bonding. Love the colors & the depth of the card. Jan & I have traded many times before & there's never been a disappointment! Thanks so much, Jan!!

LOVE this ACEO that was made by Debbi Baker. (I wonder if she knew that I'm a squiggle gal?) :) Debbi painted & stamped crinkled tissue paper & then machine stitched it. (She gives a better description of the techniques involved on her blog.) Thanks for the really cool ACEO, Debbi!!

The work that came from this trade was absolutely fabulous & it's nice that I've made some new artist friends from it as well. Thanks ladies!!!

Etsy Treasury... and a ruby slipper too...

2009-01-27T10:30:00.000-08:00

Etsy Treasury by kimbuktu

Kym of kimbuktu was kind enough to select my Peacock Colored Journal for her Treasury. Thanks Kym!!

Kym creates beautifully quilted bags, which I can say, I'm now the proud owner of the green one in the background photo shown on her Etsy site. Kym & I arranged a trade, where I sent her a nine-step gradation of some hand dyed bamboo poplin (which I plan to sell in my Etsy shop very soon) & I received one of her beautiful bags. Kym said that she would like to try to make one of her bags from my hand dyed bamboo. (How cool is that?!) :) I'll let you know as soon as she has one featured in her shop!!

Woven ACEO's

2009-01-26T08:54:00.000-08:00

ACEO stands for Art Cards, Editions & Originals.

These were made for a Technique Swap in Surface Design.

I thought I'd give you a little "how to" on how I made these.......have any old ugly material that you don't know what to do with, but you just can't bring yourself to throw it away? Here is the perfect opportunity to use it.

I used some old Christmas fabric. I cut two panels to work with. One, I sat aside to use as is & the other, I fused (undyed) cheesecloth to it. I then fused Wonder Under to the back sides of both panels (this will come in handy later on.) I then cut both panels into various sized strips & wove them back together. (Here is where the backed Wonder Under comes into play.) As I would weave every 3 or 4 rows, I would hit it with a Teflon pressing sheet & iron. This would keep the woven strips from moving all over & fuse it to the Peltex below.

Since I needed to make 8 ACEO's, I created strips long enough to create 3 ACEO's in each row (& a couple to add to my Etsy store). I could have made each card individually, but since there were many steps ahead, it was just easier to fuse all 4 rows onto the Peltex. Below, is a closeup of the woven strips.

Next, I had to cover up all of that Christmas print. I painted both the back & front of the piece with white latex house paint. Yes, regular old, whatever you can find in the garage, white paint. If you wanted, you could used Gesso or any other undercoating, but why not use house paint? I'm sure we all have some hiding in our garages somewhere. It's cheaper than going out & buying a jar of Gesso & it works just as well.

This house paint, seals the fabric underneath & gives the paint you're about to use on the surface, something to grab on to.

I applied two coats to the back side of the panel & only one to the front, since I wanted to make sure that the latex wouldn't clog & cover up the cheesecloth texture.

Now comes the time for adding color........... I applied many layers of Golden Acrylics's Magenta, Turquoise, Purple & Oxide Green. (You can see three of the colors I used in the photograph below.) I know, at this moment, it looks really nasty, but if you look at the photo below this one, it actually comes out really nice!!

After the many layers of drying paint, I then cut each strip into 3 ACEO's & touched up the edges so you couldn't see the white Peltex.

All of this & not once did I use my sewing machine!

Part of this technique I learned in Lynda's & Carol's Textured Surfaces class.

GAM In the Spot Light

2009-01-16T08:01:00.000-08:00

Green Apple Martini (aka GAM)

For Sale

Remember this piece? She's now featured on Embellishment Village's Inspirational Gallery for using their Angelina Fibers!! I'm so honored to be featured amongst other wonderful artists that have used Angelina.

I actually discovered Angelina Fibers by accident. I was in a quilt store & in a discounted bin, there were bags of assorted colors of Angelina Fibers. It was such a deal, I couldn't pass it up & this gave me the opportunity to try something that I had been curious about for some time. My first experiment with Angelina was Green Apple Martini, pictured above. After that, I was hooked!!! I now use it in many of my pieces. It gives that nice little shiny "pop" to my work. (Wished it photographed just a little better.)

Green Apple Martini is for sale in my Etsy store & I have decided to leave her there for a year & should she not sell, then it's the Gods' way of telling me she should hang in my home :)
(I just LOVE those colors!!)

A Scarf for Mia

2009-01-14T07:06:00.000-08:00

I'm a HUGE fan/collector/owner of some of Michele's work at EyEmbellishments. Michele creates the most wonderful ceramic embellishments for you to use in your own work, but the way she sells them in her little collages, it's hard for me disassemble them & use them in something else. It's like that fat quarter of fabric that you just dyed & love so much that you can't quite cut into it yet & that it needs to sit on a shelf somewhere & be admired for awhile.

They're such wonderful little works of art!!! Warning though, you can't just have one, they're addicting!! I have at least 4 of her collages hanging in my house not to mention the many loose ones that are taped to the pieces of card that they were shipped on.

I also follow Michele's blog, religiously & she has a Sunday section dedicated to her Sock Sibs. She has created each one of these & they're all quite the little characters, all with their own personalities & always seeming to get into trouble. Mia, (below) is a little rock star, she loves going for drives with the top down & her I have something in common, we both love a good martini so I decided she needed some accessorizing & I made her the little hand dyed silk scarf that she's modeling below. I rubber stamped it with martini glasses & shakers & then added green seed beads to represent olives in the glasses.

Mia in Chicago

Mia in Martini Sari

Mia doing the Marilyn Monroe pose

(Told you she was quite the little character.) Michele's sock sibs like to go on adventures, so I had mentioned if a couple of them would like to tag along on my trip to Rome & Croatia, that they are more than welcome. Michele informed me that she was going to create for me, my very own personal sock sibling to take with me on my adventure. (I can hardly wait!!)

Painted Bondaweb

2009-01-12T07:09:00.000-08:00

I never make a New Year's resolutions because I can never follow through, so my thought is why set yourself up to fail :) Instead, I make plans, have hopes.

My plans, this year are to be more involved in a couple of art groups that I belonged to last year but never really participated in much. I feel that these groups can really help me grow as an artist.

In Dyehard Surfacing, we were to create 4" by 6" pieces using painted bondaweb as a technique. These cards did not have to be finished. It was more about learning the technique & what you could do with it. If you felt that the card needed embellishment, you were welcome to add whatever you felt the card needed.

I really struggled with this swap. For me, bondaweb was a tool that I used to fuse Angelina Fibers or dyed cheesecloth to other fabrics. To use it for anything other than that? This was going to be a challenge.

I started by painting several pieces of bondaweb with Golden Fluid Acrylics (thank you Lynda for introducing me to these wonderful paints) & others with Lumiere paint. After the paint was dry, I bonded Angelina Fibers on top of the painted bondaweb. After everything cooled down from applying ironed heat to bond the Angelina to the bondaweb (key words here..........wait until completely cool before removing Teflon pressing sheet). I didn't, so some of the web stuck to the pressing sheet & I ended up with the torn pieces as seen in the card below. Luckily, I was able to make it work for me.

I flipped the bondaweb over, so what had the Angelina on top, now would be bonded to the black cotton background. The Interference Oxide Green (yes it comes out orangy brown looking) painted web looked to bold against the black, so I placed another thin layer of Angelina Fibers & a layer of black Misty Fuse over the entire surface. It seemed to help mute the copper color & I think it helped pull the piece together. I still had some of the Oxide Green bondaweb left so I used it in the piece below.

Problem was, there wasn't enough of it to cover the entire card, so I cut the web into pieces & before bonding it to the black cotton, layered Angelina Fibers under the painted web. After I pulled the Teflon sheet away from the card, it looked horrible. The cut edges were too sharp & again, the bold copper against the black was just too harsh. I was at a complete lost at "what next?" I grabbed a piece of bondaweb that had been painted with black Lumiere paint & bonded it to the top, hoping maybe it would calm down the copper color, having NO idea what would happen. I pulled off the Teflon sheet & wow!! It came together. The negative space created in between the cut bondaweb reminded me of tree trunks & the horizontal black lines & the coppery backgound, that of a sunset. I had created a landscape without any planning.

Normally, the way I approach creating art is by having an idea, drawing sketches & before I actually start working on the piece, I pretty much have an idea of what it's going to look like finished. The piece may change a little through the process, but not by much. I know I should work on this & try to be more flexible & let things just happen. It did with the two cards above & I'm totally thrilled!! I had no idea going in what was going to happen & I really like the finished product.

With the second card, I went back in & thread painted some trees, to give them more definition.

Both of these cards, I used Golden Acrylics Interference Oxide Red. I also left them on the backing paper that you find on the bondaweb. I liked how the web pulled away from the paper when it was painted so I thought I would work with that idea & free motion quilt around the lines. It reminded me of tree bark & that rock where you see variations of reddish brown & white throughout. I also added Angelina to these cards to give it a little bit of "shine."

I can say that I learned a lot & it has allowed me to learn that you can use a material for more than one thing, but I think I'm going to go back to using it as a mechanism to bond other materials to each other :)

missing in action...............

2009-01-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

...................but I have a good excuse!!

For over 3 years, I've wanted to remodel my studio & finally this Christmas, I got my wish. The carpet in my studio was there from the last owners that had children & no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the stains removed. (Who puts white carpet in a small child's room anyway?)

So now to look for flooring.............. we tend to do the remodeling ourselves in our home & I have to say that Daryl (dh) is quite the carpenter. We try to be as green/recycled/reclaimed as possible when remodeling, cork flooring in the den & library, plans for concrete kitchen counter tops, possible salvaged ceramic tile for the bathroom (a project for next year), etc.

I looked at bamboo flooring in hopes of staying "green". What a let down. I've heard that bamboo is quite hard, when in all actuality, it's quite soft. You can get hard bamboo flooring but to do that you remove the term green since you need to add glues and the formaldehydes that's needed to harden the bamboo. Since I have three-four legged children, I decided with their little claws it would be best to find something harder. There is another kind of bamboo that is naturally harder & it's called twisted bamboo. When you see bamboo flooring, it's either laid side by side or turned up on it's edge & laid together that way. The twisted stuff is actually that. They take the bamboo & twist it tight & then lay it side by side. What I didn't like about the twisted bamboo, is that it looked like regular wood, it lost it's bamboo "look".

So, bamboo was out & should I decide to work with liquid dyes (ever in that room), cork wasn't a good idea either, so we went to the opposite side of the spectrum.......................Daryl & I are kind of wood snobs. Or maybe I should say, have an appreciation for fine wood :) Our front porch (we rebuilt) with beautiful ironwood & we're slowly removing the hollow core interior doors with beautiful solid maple doors. For flooring, we found the most beautiful quilted maple engineered flooring from a local store. We paid for it & waited for it to be delivered to the store so we could pick it up. It arrived late one afternoon to the store & we were told we could call the next day to pick it up. The next day, I couldn't reach a live body by phone & when you drove up to the store, there were signs on the door stating the store was closed (for good) & a phone number was posted, which went to voicemail.

(the wall quilt in the photo, was one of the first quilts I ever made, it's over 20 years old)

For three days, I tried tracking down the flooring that we bought that was sitting in that store. I finally found out, they closed the company & filed for bankrupty. We're still working with our credit card company to get our money back, which I think shouldn't be a problem & since then, we found a local place that had their flooring in the "back room." We bought it that day & took it home with us. We found solid hardwood flooring & saved about $500.00 from what we originally purchased & it's absolutely gorgeous!!

It's Brazilian Teak & these were all of the colors in ONE box. Teak is a very hard wood & we also discovered that UV rays will not fade or darken the color of the wood, so what you see is what you get.

Now to put everything that was in that room back into it, sigh.....................!! Oh how I'd just love to throw it all out & start over. Less is more, right?!

So there's my excuse, my studio has been torn up & what was in that room is now all over my house (what a mess)!!

I have been working on some pieces that I hope to photograph over the weekend & post here next week.

Happy Birthday!!

2008-12-28T18:49:00.000-08:00

Today is Taryn's birthday & she wanted everyone to know that she turned 6!! Taryn has been one of the best additions to our family!! Our children are of the 4-legged kind & we have 3 wonderful kids!!

LOVE those ears!! We chose to not clip her ears after she was born. Taryn is a red, German Pinscher & at the time we got her back in 2003, German Pinschers had only been AKC recognized for about a year, they were UKC recognized originally. In Europe, it is common to not dock the tails or clip the ears. We had her tail docked (when she was first born), but liked the look of the original ears (besides, we felt clipping the ears to be cruel.)

We often get comments, when we take her on walks or to dog parks, "she looks like a deer." If you ever watch her run through tall grass, she does leap like a deer & she is fast, she LOVES to run with the greyhounds at the dog park.

Every spring/summer, we tend to have problems with moles (oh did I tell you, she's a ratter, since her breed was originally bred with terrier) as for kills, she has 2 moles, 6 rats & an oppossum & she wants you to know that the squirrels keep her busy, running along the back fence in the summer. Anyway, when the mole mounds pop up in the yard, my DH will go out, Taryn following, & we will place mole traps in the yard. To place the trap, we have to dig out the dirt from the yard, so the DH will flip it all over the yard. Taryn LOVES to try to catch the dirt clods & yes, she's fast!

This was her very first day with us, poppa's laying on the floor to play with her. The first few nights were rough since we think she was having separation anxiety from her mom & her siblings, she'd cry through the night, so poppa slept on the kitchen floor with her the first few nights. (I never thought we'd make it through potty training!)

Our little girl is so absolutely fabulous & we love her SO much!! And poppa says that momma spoils her too much, but I don't think poppa is too far behind. He's the one that told her that we'd got to Dairy Queen to get her ice cream for her birthday tonight, vanilla of course!!

This & That........

2008-12-22T16:52:00.000-08:00

Sorry, it's been awhile since my last post. Remember the cold I thought I had? It ended up being a sinus infection AND it happened around the same time as the snow storms we keep seeming to have. Eventhough, the snow kept me from getting to work, I really didn't feel well enough to do any creating except for the journal below, that was a custom order for one of my co-workers.

This journal is made from raw silk, hand dyed brown, Angelina fibers & turquoise eyelash yarn. The turquoise strap is leather & I just love that dragonfly button. I've actually found a bead store that carries these in quite a few different colors.

I was very excited to see that one of my molding paste journal pictures was chosen for the Yahoo Group, Surface Design's home page photo.

I have to say, this might be my most favorite journal yet!!

I mentioned the snow earlier..........first of all, let me say, in Seattle, we might see a total of 2" of snow all winter (if we're lucky) & many winters we don't see any. Over this past week, we have seen up to 18" of snow in some areas. At my house............9". We've had two snow storms, one with wind gusts in the foothills as high as 90 mph. We're to see another snow storm tomorrow night. I'm really tired of shoveling my sidewalks and driveway, which I might add, no one else seems to know to do this. The DH and I grew up in Iowa, so we learned, after a snow, you dig out. You can tell who the transplants are around here by who shovels after a snow. (I bet the neighbors thought that we were nuts shoveling at night and first thing in the mornings.) But I have to tell you, we're the only ones around now with dry sidewalks & the driveway.

Here's just a couple of pics from of our house and all of the snow. How soon 'til summer?

Proximity Award

2008-12-16T10:44:00.001-08:00

Sherry has shared the Proximity Award with me. Thank you Sherry!!

This award states that: This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY- nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends, they are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.

I would like to in turn share this award with Michele, Michelle, Lynda, Carole & Cheryl.

Not only did Sherry give me the Proximity Award, but I think she gave me her cold too. :) It has been slowly coming on for about a week now & I woke up on Sunday with NO voice & no energy whatsoever. I stayed home from work on Monday, to save my throat (since the main part of my job is communicating verbally, whether on the phone or in person). Went to work today (will see how long I can last). As for a voice, I now have that deep phone sex voice, so I don't think I'll be answering my phone at work today. :)

A Little Bling...............

2008-12-12T07:08:00.000-08:00

Well, the visiting family is gone & now back to work!! Am so excited, a co-worker placed a 4 piece custom order (possibly 5) with me & she needs it by Christmas. Fortunately, the company I had was understanding enough to allow me to do a little each night to work on these four pieces. Should every thing go as planned (which it never seems to do), I should have them finished by Monday & I can start working on another custom order that I just received yesterday from another co-worker. If I don't think about it too much, I won't stress that I have only two more weeks to get all of the pieces that I had planned to get done, done by Christmas.

Every year, the company that I work for, picks 1 or 2 families that might need a little extra help at Christmas. We all sign up for different items on their wish lists. I saw that the mother wished for bracelets, so I signed up & made these for her. The two outside bracelets are made from Bali silver & fresh water pearls. I scored those brown spiral beads in the center bracelet, while I was shopping for something completely different at a bead store. Don't worry, I picked up extra "just in case" I want to use them for something for me. :)

(I hope the mother likes these.)

I came across this necklace below, this past weekend while out doing the "tourist" shopping thing with my visiting family.

I fell in love with it right away. One of my friends loves Celtic things so I bought it for her for Christmas. I might have to go back & see if they have another one for ME :)

(if you're wondering, because it was my first question too, this is not made from bone, it's actually made from porcelain)

Wonderful weekend!!

2008-12-02T15:13:00.000-08:00

I was able to complete over 9 art projects during my 4-day holiday weekend. It was wonderful!! I felt like a machine, but that was ok, it kept me from getting bored & snacking all day. Hmmmm, could creating art possibly become a new diet? :)

I created 3 different journals, 2 for my Etsy store & one was a custom order for a friend. The first journal below, I think might be my absolute favorite!! The photos just don't do it the justice that it deserves. If you can imagine the colors in a peacock feather, this is the colors that you can see in this journal & the light plays with the colors as you change the angle of viewing at this journal.

For Sale

This entire journal was an experiment. New materials, new clasp, new idea of adding a refillable pocket for a spiral notepad (that I made) instead of sewing in signatures. (Love the new clasp!)

Not to break my arm patting myself on the back, but I figured out how to add the refillable pocket to hold the spiral notepad on my own. I could have checked out Fibre & Stitch's free padfolio pattern, but I wanted to figure it out myself, since everything else was an experiment with this journal.

A little note that might make you giggle about the notepads. I had this brainstorm to make my own notepads.......make some with "art" chipboard fronts & some without to just fit in journals like these. Well I needed the wire binding combs. Do you know how hard it is to find wire binding combs locally? It's impossible. So off to the internet to surf. I searched for over a week to find the smallest quantity I could order for the best price......................yeah, I now am the proud owner of 140 wire bindings combs, but wait................ I can make two spiral notepads from one binding comb, so now I have 280 wire binding combs. Ok, so it is funny, but it ISN'T!! I'm never going to go through THAT many combs & the worst part, finding a place to store that huge box. Don't think the DH has seen it yet since I haven't received a scolding yet :)

The journal below, is made from painted brown paper bags & I decided to create lined pages for the signatures this time.

For Sale

The closure, seen in the close up below is made from Ebony. I learned a lesson when cutting this wood on my DH compound saw, you know the saw you can use to cut mitered edges? If you seem a little nervous about cutting a small piece of wood, let the DH do it. I tried to cut it, but apparently didn't have a firm grip on the piece of wood. When I brought the saw down to cut it, it ripped it from my hand, the piece of wood, circled around & came back & smacked me VERY hard on the knuckle right above my wedding ring & turned it purple instantly. I found the piece that hit my finger, but have NO idea where the other piece landed. So while I was icing to get the swelling to go down, the husband cut the wood for me. It's now day 5 since the accident & it's just now starting to feel better. I think I can say happily, that it's not broken.

The hurt finger didn't stop me though, I was able to continue creating. I was able to finish some Christmas ornaments for a swap that I'm in. I tried many times to photograph a couple of hand-dyed cotton velveteen ornaments & for some reason, the colors never seemed to turn out well, so am sorry that I'm not able to post those here.

I did manage to get a couple of Rayon/Silk Velvet scarves hand dyed & stamp embossed.

Not For Sale

The scarf on the left is dyed with Pro Chem's Deep Navy & the beautiful emerald green scarf is dyed with Dharma's Better Blue Green.

I almost forgot......................a post or two ago, I mentioned about making a journal cover using molding paste & how I had such a hard time with it cracking while it dried. Well I was able to make those cracks work for me in this photo below. Am thinking of adding them to a journal cover front. I rubber stamped the molding paste while it was still wet. After it dried, I applied Golden's Iron Oxide & then lightly buffed it with a soft cloth to remove some of the color. Reminds me of old stone tiles.

I probably won't post much the rest of this week since I have family coming in for the first part of next week. I do hope to have another journal cover finished by the end of next week to post that I've been working on. I used molding paste again & squiggle rubber stamps. Intentions were for it to be in my store, but I think that I'm liking it so much, I just might have to keep it :)

I'm Featured in an Etsy Treasury

2008-11-28T10:58:00.000-08:00

View my scarf

I've been featured in my first Treasury!!

Riskybeads chose to add me to her Etsy Treasury, thank you Lori!! If you get a moment, check out her Etsy shop, she has some really nice pieces!!

(I have to admit, the scarf she chose of mine, is one of my favorites that I've recently made.)

Ornaments for the Holidays or for Whenever

2008-11-26T07:47:00.001-08:00

I always enjoy making these!!

They're both approximately 8 1/2" long by 3.5" to 4" wide. They're both made of hand dyed bamboo poplin (of course) & hand dyed cheesecloth.

The blue ornament below, has been machine stitched & hand stamped with squiggles. Angelina Fibers (the iridescence that you can see) were then fused between the bamboo poplin & hand dyed cheesecloth. If you're curious about Angelina Fibers make sure you check out Embellishment Village's vodcast on Beginning Angelina Basics. It's an excellent 10 minute video on how to use Angelina Fibers.

For sale in my Etsy shop

The red ornament (yes the color is that vibrant), also from hand dyed bamboo, has layers of machine stitching, fused cheesecloth (the white misty fuse gives it a nice little bit of added glitz), more machine stitching & hand beading.

For sale in my Etsy Shop

The nice thing about these is that with the colors & designs I use, they can be used all year around. They'd hang nicely on a Christmas tree or wrapped gift or hang in your studio or office. It would be nice if you could hang them from your rear view mirror, but the direct sun light would fade the dyed fabric.

I have ornaments in different stages, waiting to be finished, in my studio in colors of purple, possibly turquoise & of course my signature neon green. I'm also working on some embossed hand dyed velvet. I'll post them here when I finished. (Am hoping with this 4 day holiday weekend, I'll have a lot to post here next week!!)

I have a new label.................

2008-11-14T14:08:00.000-08:00

I've been called many different things (think nicely, here) :)

I've been called an artist, a Fiber artist, a quilter, a surface person, a dyer (I've never really considered myself a mixed media artist) but now I have a new title to add to my list..............."cross-over person."

I'm so lucky, my quilting store & bead store moved in together so now I can visit one store to get fabric & beads.

I went in to get thread for this...........

This is going to be a cover for a new journal. It's molding paste, stitched, painted & beaded. The color in person is so much brighter, think peacock feather & you've nailed the colors.

And beads for this............

This is hand dyed bamboo poplin that I've free motion stitched. Plans are to bead it & create holiday ornaments or gift tie-ons.

I'll post pics of both once they're finished & yes, they'll both be in my Etsy store!!

Back to my new title...................as I was checking out & visiting with one of the ladies that works there, she asked what I did. As I showed her these two pieces, she said, "oh, you're one of those cross-over people, you know, that do beading & quilting." And I said, yes, I guess I am. So, now I have a new title to add to my list. Are you a cross-over person?

By the way, I've created some blank note cards for my Etsy store. You'll find a closeup of Green Apple Martini & a blue woven bamboo strip squiggled pc there.