Cynthia Shaffer

Fast Cars and Kimchi Tofu Korean Soup

Jenny and I made plans to go out to dinner tonight to her favorite Korean tofu soup restaurant ... I volunteered to drive.

She could hear me coming from way up the street ... This 1980 Z28 Camaro is my husbands car ... actually the first car he owned and drove while in high school back in his hometown in New York.

We had the car shipped to us way back when ... like 18 years ago or so. The car sat in our drive way for a few years until one day we decided to have the smog stuff fixed and order those California plate. Right around this time I met Jenny Doh and we became fast friends with our kids the same ages and lots of things in common ... then the licences plates arrived in the mail ... really ... 3 DOH634 ... what are the chances?

So Jenny jumped in the car and off we went to dinner. She had never driven in the camaro before so this was going to be a treat. She will tell you that she was scared to death, gripping the arm rest with all her might and at one point, when I accelerated on the freeway, you know, trying to get the hood vent to fly open, she screamed really loud. Hilarious!

Dinner was amazing ... Kimchi pork Korean soup and BBQ ribs ... so spicy, literally boiling hot, with flavor that's to die for. 

Loved the miniature clothing framed on the walls.

And I'm thinking this sign says ... "Really yummy food inside ... Welcome." I could be wrong ... Jenny had to give me a quick Korean restaurant etiquette lesson before we got there. She didn't want me to embarrass myself. Too funny!

 

 

I Heart Laguna Beach

The above photos were all taken at Tuvalu and if you ever get a chance to visit this store be sure to bring your camera ... There is eye candy everywhere!

And then there are lots of fun furry friends out for a day at the beach.

There are really no words need here ... The Candy Baron has every type of candy under the sun!

While the sun never made an appearance today, the overcast sky's gave me the perfect amount of filtered light to shoot and shoot and shoot ... Field trip anyone?

One Photograph : : Many Presets

I was out in my front yard talking with my neighbor the other day and at the same time we both turned around  and noticed these little tiny white berries on a very barren tree.

(Untouched original photo)

I had never noticed them before. I grabbed my camera and started shooting away. I fell in love with this photo ... Oh, can you imagine it layered with another photo? 

Then I started playing with it and applied a bunch of different presets. 

Preset: WOW-Antique 10

Preset: Color Creative - Yesteryear 1

Preset: Creative - Split Tone 3

Preset: Color Creative - Purple Glasses

Preset: WOW-c HSL-Only_BRown

Preset: General- Auto Tone

Preset: WOW-c_BnW_02, WOW-d_Bnw_02

Preset: BW/Bodie/Lite

Preset: WOW-f_Vignette_Lt-07

Preset: Color Creative - Cold Tone

Preset: B&W Creative - Antique Gray

Some of these presets are included in Adobe Lightroom3, which is the photo editing program I use, and then some of the presets I have purchased here at RadLab and them a few are from onOne Prefect Presets. 

Oh sure I could monkey with all the sliders in Lightroom 3 and get these same effects, but why when I can just push a button and get these great effects in seconds?

 

Nutella Chessecake : : My Latest Go To Dessert

Nutella Cheesecake ... yup ... the taste is amazing and .... oh, so  easy to make! I found the recipe here, and yes, her's look better than mine, but I'm sure mine tasted just as good! The recipe is so simple I've memorized it ...  

Here's what you do:

Grab about 12 or more oreo cookies and 3 T of melted unsalted butter and pop them into a large zip-lock bag and hammer and crush the cookies.

Press the cookie mixture into small jars ... These are the jar that marinated artichoke hearts come in!

Next, combine 2/3 C Nutella and 8 oz. softened cream cheese and 1 tsp. of real vanilla and cream together with an electric mixer.

Then fold in by hand 8 oz. thawed whipped topping and fill the jars. Top the Nutella cheesecake with whip cream and toasted hazelnut and then chill for a few hours before serving!

So yummy and soooo easy!

Uniform Project : : The Making of the Little Black Dress

After a little bit of brainstorming, I was off and running, searching for the perfect black/dark gray fabric to make our uniforms from. 

We decided on the middle fabric that I found at Fabric Land, my local high-end fabric store. Here's a couple reasons why we loved this fabric ... First we all liked the deep dark color and secondly, the fiber content is a polyester and rayon blend. Easy to wash and wear, and that poly will make the dress industrial strength and the rayon adds a little bit of fluidity and swing.

After taking Jenny's measurements, I then drafted a pattern for her, referring to a little sketch I had drawn and shared with everyone. OH how I love to draft patterns. It had been a while since I had really drafted a pattern and had to use my skills from my days in the garment industry. I loved it then and love it now. There's a bit of creativity in drafting a pattern ... your brain needs to be able to think in 3D terms and there is also a certain amount of math and science involved, which I also love! 

After cutting all the pieces out, I then over-locked or serged all the edges and did a quick stay stitch around the neck front and back and marked the center front with a long hand sewn basting stitch.

Next, I pinned all the pieces together and then basted all the seams together, yes, I run over the pins with my sewing machine!

This dress can be worn forwards or backwards and the insertion of this little pleat in the back or front, depending on how you are wearing it, really gives the dress that extra little flare.

After fitting the dress to Jenny, little to no alterations were needed, so I sewed over all the seams and then pressed them open, set the sleeves, dropped in the facings, marked the buttonhole placement and then stitched the 10 buttonholes! Yes, 10 ... count them. Oh, then came the buttons ... I decided to just use a random assortment of vintage and not so vintage black and gray buttons that I found in my black button mason jar.

And then to finish the dress ... the hem!

Check out Jenny's blog today and check out how many people are receiving fresh clean water! 

She's got this dress all dolled up and ready for a day out!

 

Project Home Ec and Water.org

Have you visited Jenny Doh's blog in the past few days? If you have then you know that she is at it again. This time, in the spirit of the Uniform project, Jenny is wearing a uniform, a little black dress (designed and stitched by yours truly) everyday for the next 365 days, all in an effort to raise money for Water.org.

There's a few of us that will be doing the same, but probably not to the extreme that Jenny is taking it. My promise was to wear my not-so-little black drees, whenever I take a class, teach a class or meet with friends or am at Bible study and so far ... that has been 18 days in a row now!

In addition to wearing the black dress daily, we have all agreed to not purchase any new clothes for a year and instead, make do, mend and alter what we already own.

Welcome ... Project Home Ec.

Come join us won't you? 

 

Photography 101 : Bring It On!

I just spent the last several hours setting everything up for my Photography 101 class tomorrow and I can't wait!

There's 1 spot left in tomorrows class, and a few spots still available in the March 17th class.

Small vignettes and sets are peppered throughout the studio, so that after everyone has a pretty good grip on the basics, it will be all about playing and practicing!

I'll be shooting while tethered to my computer so everyone can see what happens when I change aperture, lenses and perspective.

If you're interested in joining us, check out the class registration information here!

 

Japanese Candy Wrapper Collage : Tutorial

My Husband just called to inform that he will be traveling in the upcoming months ... It's Japan again ... my favorite place!

He travels there often and always returns home with some very interesting candy for my kids. We never know what it will be and I have to tell you, I have only actually tried a few of the 'sweets' he has brought back.

Why you might ask ... well here's why ... I learned early on in his traveling days that a lot of the Japanese candies are made from bean paste ... and I love beans, but here's where I have an issue ... I can not wrap my brain around the idea that beans are a sweet treat. To me the are salty, savory and are often slathered with onions and cilantro. So ... do you understand my problem?

Here's a funny story ... so my mother had a Japanese foreign exchange student named Yoshiko come to live her for a year. We introduced her to all of our favorite foods, including refried beans ... she tried them and nearly spit them out on her plate ... she could not wrap her brain around the idea that they were not sweet! 

Japanese Candy Collage and Doodles

The wrapping and presentation is a feast for my eyes ... I love all the color and love the attention to details.

Japanese Candy Wrapper Collage:

 Unwrap and flatten colorful candy wrappers ... feed the candy to your children!

Cut out random shapes and swirls from the wrappers.

Using a glue stick, randomly adhere the pieces to a panel of watercolor paper.

Free motion stitch the wrappers in place and then onto the card in swirls and loop patterns.

Add some color with watercolor pencils and doodle shapes with a black marker.

Here's to Japanese candy, happy and safe travels for my husband and crafting and doodling!

Doodling Days

Let's just say that I a little bit of time over the holidays to play around with doodling ... I call them doodling day!

While visiting my in-laws in Michigan, I sat for a few days with pens and journal and doodled away.

Some pages were collaboratives with my sister-in-law Brenda ...

And some were just simple faces ...

And simple wispy flowers ...

And at one point a series of bumble bee looking things started showing up in my journal. That's the fun part of doodling, or at least doodling without a plan ... just start and see where it leads you!

Doodling Days = Happy Days!

Bokeh LOVE : : Fun Filter Tutorial

It's all about the bokeh these days ... you know the blur you get in the background of a photograph when you open up the aperture on your lens and then focus in on a subject that's pretty close. This works best with a focal length of 50mm or more and a wide open aperture! 

One important element that helps to accentuate this effect are twinkling lights in the background. It doesn't need to be twinkle lights really but just bits of light shinning through trees will help you get that effect also.

With a little bit of patience and practice you can add some really fun, cool affects to your photographs.

While focusing on a particular subject can be a little challenging, the look is just way to fun to not keep playing till you get a photo that really speak to you. LOVE this love photo!

Ok, how much fun is this photograph? The only thing missing are raindrops on the flower petals.

So ... here I'm purposely out of focus to accentuate the bokeh shaped raindrops.

I love this filter I made. Can you imagine photographing a church or an outdoor wedding using this effect? BEAUTIFUL if you ask me!

Here's what you do:

Trace the lens cap onto a black piece of card stock and cut out circle.

Using a light colored pencil, draw a small shape in the center of the black circle and then cut out using a craft knife.

Cut a strip of black card stock the circumference of the circle and then snip into the strip.

Wrap the clipped strip around the black circle and tape in place.

Now ... go play and experiment!

As you can imagine, the sky is the limit here!

Here are a few other bokeh filters I made. I shot all these at night ... forcing the bokeh effect with the twinkle lights that are hanging from my back patio all year long!

If you're new to this whole photography thing and want to take that DSLR out of auto mode ... You might want to consider taking this class I'm teaching ... Photography 101: Shooting Beyond Auto Mode. I know that the february date is nearly full, but there are still a few spot open for the March 17th date!

My Word ... My Words

I'm not so inspired to find a word or words to live by each year partly becasue it would be the same two words each year. Go. Do. Nothing has changed, I live by those two words every day. Every day I have things I must do and I don't want to do, but I do them anyways ... Go. Do.

I want inspiration to just leap out at me and cause me to create masterpieces ... instantly, but this is  almost never the case. Instead, I must go, do anyways ... just start.

Go, do ... without a plan, just start putting color on a canvas, just start stitching on a piece of osnaburg.

Go, do ... put random words or phrases on that canvas and then add another layer of color ... don't think too much, write what comes to mind.

I love to sing Amazing Grace. It's the song I sing in my head all the time ... those are the words that spilled out of me while I was journaling on this canvas.

Go, do ... cover up the chaos with yet another layer of paint. Watch as the words are washed away with transapent paints. Not gone entirely but covered up just a bit.

And then ... know when to stop and start it all over again.

Go. Do.

Paper Towel Art : : It's all about the details.

Just playing and exploring here.

Trying some new techniques here.

Remembering just how much I love to sew.

Machine stitching, hand sewing and couching ... I love it all.

I love the small little details ...

I love to move fast while I'm creating, not thinking much, just doing ...

Just doing and remembering ... remembering just how much I love to craft and create!

Want to know more about these inky paper towels? Check out this earlier post HERE!

Inkodye : : Apron, Ink, Doodle

Ok so, I have been crafting for lots of years, and tried lots of different products that do lots of different things, but when it comes to something quick, simple and super fun ... Inkodye is it.

So i was moving fast here,not wanting to spend too much time on an apron that is going to get used while I'm painting ... in other words ... there will be paint everywhere on this apron in no time.

First off, I just painted the apron with a red and orange, blending the colors a little. The ink goes on sort of clear, so blending can be a little difficult. Next I place this stencil on top of the apron, the placed it in the window sill for just a few minutes.

You see, the ink is light sensitive, so when it's exposed to sunlight the color develops right before your eyes.

And here it is after I rinse, washed and dried it .. so fun!

Next I tried it on a file folder with this alphabet stencil ...

So fun ... to be used in a future project.

While I was on an apron kick, I decided to use masking tape to mask off strips ... The colors are sooo rich and yummy.

And here it is after I rinsed it and peeled off the tape. I love the way the tape worked ... possibilities ... endless!

Oh, No, I couldn't leave well enough alone ... no, no ... out came the black permanent marker for a little doodling.

Then I white permanent marker , just to pop some of the doodles.

I love the quick transformation of these very simple aprons. Possibilities ... unlimited.

What a great thing to do at a kids party ... they would think it's all so magical!

 

Art Quilt Calendar :: Duet

OMG ... Check out my calendar for the New Year; a duet with Danita! 

I bought this adorable calendar a few weeks ago on Danita's etsy shop, and I love the calendar just the way it is, stacked and resting on the mini baby block ...

 

But the truth is, I kept flipping through all the months to see all the different paintings and it was constantly getting out of order. At one point, I even thought I lost September and turned my studio upside down looking for it!

Since taking Danita's on-line class, I can not stop making fabric paper. For this duet I think I made just the perfect background for her calendar. With the months now stitched to this art quilt, I can  see all of Danita's little paintings every day of every month and I couldn't be happier.

Here are some close up shots of what I did.

After making the fabric paper, I painted some small circles in a few different colors, then added some free motion stitching, oh, and a free motion flower.

Next, came the layers of backing. First there's a layer of cream felt that I painted with gesso and then a panel of burlap.  As you probably know, burlap unravels way too easily, and so I brushed the edges with a little white glue. And then I stitched on a few little strips of painted felt.

To hang the quilt I added a few burlap loops and an old painted yardstick.

Want to learn more about making fabric paper and Danita's art quilts? There's still time to take her on-line class. Trust me, you will not go away from that class wanting. Danita put so much of herself in this class - it's so full of new info and ideas that I'm sure you will want to incorporate it all into your own collages, journals and art quilts.

Happy New Calendar!

 

Christmas Quiet : : 2011

 After lots of preparation, cooking, shopping and wrapping ...

Christmas 2011 is a quiet Christmas ...

Yes, my husband was in town for this Christmas ... Playing with his camera while waiting for our dinner guests to arrive ...

The table was set and ready for prime rib and lobster ... our favorite ...

Then came the sweet treats ...

Yes, that is Harper sitting at the dinner table ... patiently waiting for someone to pop open the lid of that cookie tin.

And a little quick check of facebook ... Really Cameron?

 Then ... the exchange started ... Harper led the way and was more than thrilled with her little chipmunk she got from cousin Lucky.

And there's Corry sort of spacing out after a few too many sweets?

A few things that really stand out in my mind about this Christmas ... lights ...

And even more lights and color ... 

Here's to having a wonderful Christmas with friends, family, lights, color and the quiet.

Merry Christmas! 

The Painting Studio : : Exploring, Sharing, Being

The Painting Studio is a safe place to explore ...

A place to share heart felt stories ... 

To be encouraged ...

It's a place to learn new skills ...

To make a mark or 10,000 ...

The Painting Studio is a place to listen ...

It's a place to connect with the essence of our loved ones ...

And a place to give a little piece of ourselves in every brush stroke ...

To try new things, then cover it up and start anew ...

It's a place to bring back the old and be willing to start fresh ...

And a safe place to make really bad choices ...

And best of all, it's the perfect place to see something through the good, the bad and then on to the even better and finally ...

To completion ... at least for now!

 

 

 

Scrappy Wool Scarf : : Tutorial

The weather has definitely taken a turn around here and in fact it is down right cold out, all the time it seems ... well, not Minnesota cold, but cold for California. And, when the wind picks up a bit, and I'm outside watching a baseball game ... a wool scarf is about the only thing that really warms me up to the core.

Here's what I did to make this quick scrappy scarf:

• First I gathered a couple of wool sweaters in coordinating colors. I found these 2 sweaters at my local thrift store, and the pink one had been felted, just slightly.
• Next, I dusted off my serger and then just dove right in and serged the bottom rib, cutting off about 1/4 inch as I went.
• To make the knit ruffle, all you have to do is pull or stretch the sweater as it is going under the machine foot. If you want the serged stitch to be dense than shorten up the stitch length on the machine.

• Then, I just started cutting out panels from the 2 sweaters. Each panel measured about 8 inches wide and as long as I could possibly get. I even opened up the sleeve and found a nice long 8 inch wide piece there too.

• After I had several segments cut, I lined up the pieces the way I wanted them and then started serging the seams together. Note: If you look really close at the above photo, you can see that I have serged the brown piece to a non-ruffled pink piece, then placed a ruffled pink piece overlapping that seam but meeting at the top of that non-ruffled piece. 
• Now seam the 2 or actually 3 pink pieces wrong sides together.

• Piece the scarf together until you have about 70 inches total in length.

Ok so, as you can see these are pretty darn cute and so simple to make and makes really cute Christmas gifts! Needless to say, the cost was minimal as well ... let's see, I think each sweater was $1.90 and I still have lots of the brown sweater left to make a second one in a different color way ... 

Enjoy and Stay Warm!

 

Family Photo Shoot

Meet the Furry family ...

Such a great fun family of 6 ...

Here's Jen and Larry ...

And Ella ... We started up on the train tracks and then ventured down to the river bed ...

Here's little Olivia ... so sweet and innocent ...

Until all the attention is on big sister Ella ...

Mom Jen and the girls ...

Dad Larry and his boys ...

We were starting to lose them towards the end here. Mom was pretty determined to get all the shots done and was not humored at all by this time ...

And things got a little out of hand but I just kept on shooting ... Some of my favorite shots here!

But by the end of our time together everyone was back to holding hands ...

Infinity Scarf + Rolled Roses

How cute is this? Doubled up or hanging down!

While I'm on a roll here, making these infinity scarves from old tee-shirt, thought I'd show you my version made from a tee-shirt my husband tossed in the Goodwill bag!

The funny part to the tee-shirt story ... there's a part of this tee-shirt that I cut off and am saving for a later project that says ... "I'm probably not" ... Soooo my husband ... kind of surprised he was tossing this tee-shirt out.

Another infinity scarf, this time made from thrift store finds, then cut into strips and the tied together. This could be a no-sew project, although for this scarf, I did do a little hand sewing to add a little stitched interest.

Needless to say, the rolled roses are super addicting, and make that perfect little something to pull the scrappy look of the scarf altogether.

Oh, and these would make the best little decorations for ballet flats, headband, or just to clip on the outside of your purse!

Happy Thrifting ... Happy Crafting!

 

 

Yesterday : : So Cozy ... So Great!

Just a few photos of your 'Oh So Cozy" class yesterday at Studio Crescendoh ...

The room was set and ready ...

After everyone had arrived, Jenny gave a little welcome and housekeeping speech ...

Then a quick ice breaker with lots of laughter ...

And in no time we were doing a little embroidery ...

Doing a little planning, cutting and sewing of our neck cozies ...

And making these beautiful rolled roses, all from recycled thrift store finds ...

Here's Wendy and Lynn ... showing off their finished neck cozies ... so fun ...

And Amber arranging her neck cozy to show off the super fun screen printed words she loved ...

Even Baby Zsa Zsa was sporting a neck cozy by the end of our day ...

Here's Tracy Schultz demonstrating a few skills needed for Lorrie Spotts to finish up her cup cozy ...

And Jenny  helping out Lynn as she dives into the world of crochet ... 

In hopes of creating one of these Oh So Cute ... apple cozies ...

And best of all ... connecting with old friends and making some new firends all while crafting and creating during this Oh So busy time of year!