Back from Arizona

Dylan turned one in February so I stayed in Arizona to stay with him for 7 weeks!  I knew I had an obligation two days after returning this week so I was busy with several projects while there.  I made a fabric stacking toy for a birthday present, made new curtains for April's living room window, completed a felt and sequin Christmas wreath for Dylan (see photos below), attended Dina's class on encaustic collage, taught a class in Mesa to Lena's Mixed Media group, and painted canvas, muslin, and ribbon for the many books I made.

Here is the completed wreath:

 A close up of some of the candy elements:

 And more candy elements:

The books I made were for the Arts Alive program I was invited to attend which was held Thurs. (2 days after returning) at the local intermediate school.  It was essentially an all day program where artists showcase their craft for the students.  One of the things we were asked to do was show the students how to create our particular craft so I took kits and showed them how to create books with a simple 3 hole pamphlet stitch.  It was primarily girls that were interested, but the ones that learned to make the books were really excited about it!  The event coordinator was thrilled with the reception I received from the students.  She said she heard many of them talking about the "book table."  I did sell many items and could have sold more, but many of the students told me they didn't bring money because they were unaware of the event.  I'll mention that to the coordinator for next year.  I'm definitely invited back and I'm thrilled, it was a good day with the kids!  While there I took photos of my table set-up to use for other applications.  There are several events that require a photo of the "booth" when they jury your art.  Baby steps are getting me where I want to be!  I also made a great contact who gave me more information about places to sell my work.  Here are the photos of my table set up:  

 I use an old crocheted bedspread found at an auction and a ratty, stained quilt for table covers.  I also have a large vintage suitcase on the floor covered with lace

 And a smaller suitcase on the table for display

 Dave made the cool peg display racks and they work great for displaying "floppy" fabric books.  I'm at the point where I can set up in a very short amount of time which is great, I don't have to think too much about it anymore!

Yikes!

Has it really been two weeks since I posted?  Yikes!  Not like I haven't been busy creating, but it's kind of cold out to take good pictures.  It's sooo much easier in the summer when we have more sunlight.  Ah, well....  I've been getting projects finished up ready for my trip back to AZ for Dylan's first birthday.  Since he doesn't really need anything I made him this stacking ring toy.  I purchased the fabric and pattern on a trip to Binghamton.  This is one of my UFOs that was fun to make.  The rings were tricky, but the directions were really great so it went together easily.  The top ring is leftover Dr. Seuss fabric from the book I made last year, but it fits right in with the others:

 A close up of the rings:

 Even though the stitching has been done for a few weeks now on the crewel owl that I made for April I still needed to finish it somehow.  It still needs a stick in the tabs for hanging.  She says it will go in Dylan's room with the other owl wall hangings:

 Here is a pink owl needle case that I made and hadn't taken pictures yet.  I'll be putting this in Etsy today for sale:

 And yet another UFO (I have quite a few covers that need to be tweeked and have been slowly getting them to look decent).  This dragonfly cover was supposed to be a tri-fold journal, but wasn't working out so I cut and re-sewed it until it fixed itself!  The pages are a mix of painted, hand made papers purchased several years ago at Art Unraveled, and scrapbook paper.  

Shop Swap fun!

Over at oh,hello friend Danni has started a Shop Swap and it looks like loads of fun!  I checked out a few of the participants' shops and there is some good stuff out there.  It will be like Christmas in February!   Join us!!!!!

Flowers and a crewel owl

 One of the first arts I learned was stamped cross stitch when I was really young.  Since then I have learned many needle arts, but my favorite is crewel.  I have not worked a crewel piece since the kids were little.   I used to take them to the "duck pond" (a park in Glendale, AZ) and while they were skating and feeding the ducks I would work on an embroidery piece.  After sorting through my many, many UFOs last month I pulled out this owl piece to make for April's birthday.  All hopes of completing it by the 20th of this month were dashed when I really looked at the instructions and found that all of the snow sections were *gasp* turkey work.  This stitch is very time consuming and labor intensive and look at all the snow!!!!!!!!  I started it on the first and finished it last week.  Not bad!  The embroidery work is complete, but I still need to back it and get it ready to take with me in 3 weeks.

 A close up of the owl and the SNOW:

 Cleaning off my table I found a Quilting Arts magazine (April/May 2011 issue) in which I had marked a project that caught my eye.  That led to sorting my small fabric scraps (which is so handy now, I'm glad I took the time) in order to have color schemes for this project.  I played with several color combinations since I had my machine set up for free motion embroidery.  I have one background piece left to work on then I can decide what I want to do with these pieces.  They are approximately 6 inch square since I already had some batting cut in that size.  Needless to say even though I've made four of these so far I STILL haven't made much of a dent in my supplies............ I keep trying!  

Green flowers and purple dots:

 Blue flowers and red dots:

 I think this is my favorite so far:  Yellow flowers and pink dots:

Close up of the flower:

Pink flowers and green dots:

 I had leftover circles from the pieces so I played with them on the felted cover I had made a while back.  I like the flowers and think I'll use them as much as possible:

Duct tape, paint, stitch............

It's been a busy week........... still cleaning, sorting, moving, burning, etc. all of the stuff I don't want anymore............ got rid of lots, but still have lots............. 

I made some simple books from game cards and Anne Geddes greeting cards using duct tape for the spines.    I like using duct tape and I have rolls in many colors to choose from.  The sad thing is each book takes so little that I'm not making much of a dent in my supplies.

 The recent issue of Quilting Arts had a cool tutorial for surface design on fabric (which didn't really work so I made up my own instructions!).  I painted muslin and some distressed cheesecloth and sewed them together.  The pieces are in my "cover" pile to be turned into books in the near future.  I used blue and green for this batch and have purple/pink drying in the studio right now.  There is leftover cheesecloth that will be used in other projects somehow.  An overall view:

The distressed cheesecloth and stitiching:

 

I did use some of the cheesecloth with some of my dyed muslin:

 With some of the other dyed muslin in my stash I practiced free motion stitching ( this is a swirl flower pattern) for some more covers:

Close up:

Corset File Folder Journal

 I made six large (4X6) and 4 small (3 X 3) journals yesterday as well as designing two more (think sweater ruffles!) so I'm on a roll!  I'm listing one journal per day on Etsy (I've heard this is a good way to keep your shop "out there") so today is the Corset journal.  I've had these stickers for eons and what have I been saving them for?  Geesh.......... my whole studio consists of "what have I been saving this for" stuff........USE IT!  I think I'll make that my mantra this year.........USE IT, USE IT, USE IT!  If nothing else April will have less shit crap , er.... stuff (yeah, that's it: stuff) to sort through in 50 years when I die!  Anyway, here is the cover:

A close-up of the corner sticker and purse charm on the spine.

No pics of the cardstock pages, but they coordinate with the cover colors.  Each of the journals (small and large) have 12 pages (24 sides).  This 4X6 sells for $6.00 + $1.50 shipping.  I'm off to finish some more projects!  Stay tuned..............

Trying to De-Stash

 It would come as no shock if I were to tell you that I have waaaaayyyyy too much stuff here.  The problem is that I can't focus or find anything when I want to create.  It will probably take me eons to really de-stash, but I have to start somewhere.  After cleaning through my collage materials and stickers, making a list (partial) of things I have waaaayyy too much of, and then creating a list (again, partial) of ideas for these items I dove in and made some journals.  It really is an assembly line process, but I am making headway (ok, barely, but.......... I've got to start somewhere!).  I have a shitload ton of decorative file folders so I took some coordinating cardstock from my ginormous stash and started cutting...... and cutting......... and cutting, then folding..... folding....... folding to make these small (appr. 4 x 6) journals.  I raided what was left of my stickers and then dumped out my charms.  I've made 15 so far and many more in the studio that need to be bound, but like I said, I've at least gotten started.  Have I made a dent in my stash?  Meh.......... not enough.  *heavy sigh*  

Anyway.......... I think they came out cute and I did use some of my supplies!

I'll be listing one a day on Etsy.  Here's the first one:

 Each book has colored cardstock pages which coordinate with the cover and a charm on the spine:

I didn't take a photo of the pages for each book (it was cold outside!) but trust me, they coordinate.  Here's the sample photo I took to give you an idea:

The 4 X 6 journals are $6.00 each so go get one on Etsy!