Young at Art

It was a rainy Saturday for us and the kids were bugging me for a project. It was decided by them that it is a "painting" day. (I groaned.... wonderful...)
Thankfully enough I had remembered to stop by and pick up some more plaster figures earlier in the week, when my daughter showed me the painting kit she had purchased at her classroom store. I knew that there would be a fight if the other didn't have one for him to paint. I also bought a couple of pieces of wood at Lowe's across the street for another project I had in mind. Here are the kids in their painting shirts working hard...

Here are the finished products:

As for myself, I pieced 2 baby quilts.

I covered the names(yellow fabric) in case their Mommies read my site. Next weekend I will finish the quilting and I will post them up again finished and uncovered once I've mailed them off.

Wayward Frog

I got back our bottle cap creations today! Thanks to Kimhttp://sassycrafter.blogspot.com for dropping it by my work yesterday! Here they are! We were able to make 3 each, some pendants, some magnets. The bottom 3 were my creations. The one on top of mine were my daughter’s. The third line from bottom were my son’s and the ones on top were my best friend’s, who got really creative with beads and cutouts. The frog on top I found in the bunch. I don’t know if Kim had thrown it in there as a gift or if it was someone else’s that got in our pile by mistake. Nevertheless, he has now found a new home with us!

Here's a closeup of my friend's so that you can see the detail. Hers turned out the best out of all of ours, I think...


I am sooooo glad that it's friday though because I have alot of projects that I want to try and start or finish up this weekend. I also received my new issue of Quilting Arts and I want to browse through it.. ahhhhh so much to do and so little time...

Some Pocket Change

Last night I completed the necklace and earrings of one of my students. She had bought some beautiful beads that she wanted turned into jewelry. She didn't want any extras but just the beads themselves. Here's one of the strands that she had brought me of which I added little spacers to accentuate the beads. I forgot to take a picture of the other one.


Now in keeping with my new year's resolution of being "greener", I was ecstatic that the electricians came to my buildings and had them change the ballasts of all the lights. Now the houses are just a little more energy efficient and the bulbs definitely last longer! My students keep asking me why I never have my lights on in my office and I keep saying that I'm trying to save the earth. Now, when they ask me, I can say that it's because the new bulbs are extremely bright! As the electricians were leaving, I noticed a whole bunch of wires and asked them about it. They said that they were going to throw them away!!! So I asked for it. Here they are!!! I think that they would be terrific as movable joints for my art dolls! Definitely better than working with pipecleaners... Here's a picture of the wires, aren't they wonderful? Look at their colors!!


Then lastly, here's a picture of placemat that my Mom had given me. There's a dozen of them. Notice how they curl on the sides? They drive me crazy and I just want to throw them out! Any suggestions on what I can do with them??

On a Sunday Afternoon

We went to Micanopy, Florida yesterday for Kim Taylor’s Bottleshop
Collage Workshop that was held in the Micanopy Branch Library.
http://sassycrafter.blogspot.com/2009/09/sing.html
I brought the kids with me and they had a great time searching through all the books and papers looking for that one special picture that they would like for a charm or magnet. We can’t wait to see how it turned out as we had to leave them there for the resin to dry. I will post them up as soon as we get them!

After the workshop we walked around the quaint little town and my best friend and I fell in love with this marvelous store called The Shop. This remarkable store is crammed full of wonderful treasures and a must see for inspiration!! As a doll artist, I loved Joe Spencer’s creations and am now motivated to get back into the world of art dolls.

I was so keen to get started working on something that I finished up a custom order for one of my felted cloaks last nite. Because I was in such an inspirational high, I decided to make my customer a felted flower brooch from the fleece scraps and throw it in as a freebie. I think she’ll love it, don’t you think?




By the way, a big thank you to my good friend Natalia for modeling my cloak. She only agreed to do so if I promised never to show her the picture! :)

Sewing Itch Be Gone!

I woke up early yet again and it was nice and warm in the house. This weather is why we live here in Florida... Having a couple of hours to myself before everyone gets up I decided to put some mileage on my sewing machine for the new year. I'm a little behind on some of my quilts since all of these wonderful occasions are popping up left and right. This one is for one of my friend's new baby.

Projects On The Run

I have large tote bags each carrying a project complete with all materials needed for the particular project. I have one in each car and carry them wherever I go. The first project is a latch and hook project of which I started a year ago and rediscovered hidden in my studio. It is currently the project that I do to keep my busy while watching TV. It's especially great since Tashi has learned how to help me by linking the recycled cloth pieces. The second project is a knitting project that I started right before Christmas. It is my attempt at self-teaching myself to knit. I learned the basic knit stitch via youtube. I am not using any patterns and have decided to make it a pashmina-like shawl. When done, I will embellish with beads and ribbons. I intend to put both projects in my Etsy shop however, Tashi did help me with both of them so I might become attached to it before I finish and actually end up keeping it in the end.

Tow Truck

This tow truck was created by my six year old. Isn't it just terrific?? Look at the remarkable details! It is made out of dried pasta. I absolutely love it!

Help! I'm Drowning!

This is what my studio looks like currently! I need more space!! I am drowning in my stuff and I promised the hubby that I would not overflow into any other part of the house. What do I do?

But here is the outcome of this mess and my new earrings packaging.

Refreshing Mint Tea

My Sis-in-law gave these soaps to me last Christmas and it's just now that we're using them. They're mint tea flavour and they smell terrific! The kids love them! I think she also must have put some aloe stuff in it because your hands feel great afterwards. The neat thing is that the way that her tea leaves have formed on the soaps, they help exfoliate too. Come visit me... they're in my guest bathroom. ;oP

Nightcap

I had some orders for earrings at work and I told them that I would have some for Monday. Here are six pairs that I made right before bedtime. I think that I'll price them at $8 each. Anyone interested?? Email me!

Writing it all Down

2010. Happy New Year! There, I did it. I accomplished one of my resolutions. I started a blog. I figured that if I actually write things down so that the whole world can see it, then it becomes more legit. Do what I said I would do and be what I said I would be. Of course, this may or may not actually work but I am hoping that at the very least, it'll give me a good account in 2011 of what I've actually accomplished this year.

This will be a short post because there is so much to learn about bringing some appeal to this site of mine... options, labels, what does it all mean??!!!