You can hop on over to the Lark Crafts blog site right now and check out my latest last minute gift idea! The tutorial is all there and then of course you can attach the tag to my Simply Stitched Gifts book!
These tags are the thing I do when I'm feeling creative but don't want to spend too too much time on a big project.
And, add a few words of Thanks, Birthday Wishes or Encouragment and they'll make a nice little gift all by themselves!
Click here is find the exact tag!
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Yay ... it seems like forever ago that I was working on Simply Stitched Gifts, a free motion stitching book ... It's finally out in book stores and being sold on Amazon!
Here are a few of my very favorite projects in the book and actually as I was thumbing through it I was reminded that there really is something for everyone here ... and if you don't know how to free motion stitch, guess what ... instructions are included in the front basics section! Oh and thanks to Jen Osborn for contributing a couple of projects to my book. Jen's honey and wheat market tote is the best!
As you can probably see ... free motion stitching or free motion quilting is one of my most favorite things to do ... it's like sketching with you sewing machine ... it's freeing and really, there are no rules!
In Simply Stitched Gifts I've combined a love of fabric, stitching, sketching and painting to create super fun mixed media gifts to give or to just make and keep!
Here's the thing ... I love to teach ... be it free motion stitching, sewing, quilting, or photography, I just love to teach and I feel like with all my books, that's exactly what I'm doing! I hope you enjoy this book and I hope that you enjoy learning this fun technique ... free motion stitching!
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Look what just arrived from Amazon! Coastal Crafts!
I'm so excited to share this book with you!
I feel like I gave birth to this book years ago ... seriously, it feels like a lifetime ago that I was stitching fish garland and painting seashells!
Here's a few fun facts about this book ... First, it's a multi craft book ... so it's not just sewing, or gluing or painting ... it's all crafty things in one book! And second, I intentionally created every project from supplies and materials that can be purchased at your local craft store like Michael's or Joann's! How fun it that?
Yup, I painted shells all nice and white to make this heart shaped hearth wreath ...
These candlesticks were one of the first projects I created for the book and I think they may be my favorite too!
And I covered these chuncky letters with glue to adorn my front porch!
Here are just a handful of other projects offered in the book to really get you into that beachy, coastal mood ... you know, cause summer is here, right, and who doesn't like a little coastal craftiness in there home during the warmer summer months?
LOVE this lampshade covered with the antique nautical map! LOVE!
And ... Nautical flag garland anyone? Yes, PLEASE!
And of course ... Linen pillows with huge stenciled shells are the perfect coastal touch for any window seat with a garden or beach view!
Oh, and a little embroidery on a few dishtowels make just the perfect hostess gift!
Or how about a little plaster and sand memorabilia!
Ok, so ... what are you waiting for ... seriously ... grab your copy of Coastal Crafts here on Amazon or anywhere craft books are sold, and get your craftiness on! Also, check out this nice post that Lark Crafts has up on their site today!
Enjoy!
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I'm thinking this is the 5th or maybe 6th time I have attended Glitterfest ... and I have to say it never disappoints! The artists that work for months, days, and hour upon hours to bring to the show the best of the best!
I am always blown away by the jewelry that Kerri Smith creates for the show ... She has a tyle that is so recognizable ... I almost always come away with a new favorite piece! I'm thinking these are this years new favs!
Oh, I don't know, maybe this one is my new favorite?
And every year this vendor is here at Glitterfest! I have yet to shop at this booth because I know I would probably drop a few too many bills, or be so inspired and then take up a new craft! (BTW ... Do u see something funny going on in this photo?)
And then there's Lisa Loria's fabulous work! I have been stalking her art all week long, leading up to today ... seeing her pieces in person ... wonderful!
Unfortunately I didn't get the contact information for this booth ... but I do so love the tied button necklaces!
So, stay tuned for the next Glitterfest ... the October show will not disappoint ... It never does!
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It's been almost a full year now, maybe longer, since I was out and about photographing Coastal crafts. I remember on some days it was all cold and windy and on other days the sun was just perfectly warm and soothing. I was reminded that I loved it all!
You see, creating a book full of projects that are inspired by the beach and the coast seemed like a natural fit for me. While I did enjoy making the projects and being creative with sand, shells and jute, what I enjoyed the most was thinking of all the childhood memories that were made at the beach.
My parents once rented a beach house that was right on the boardwalk in Newport Beach CA. It was a slice of heaven ... the warm sand, salty air and ocean waves were all right there outside the front door; a huge inviting playground for me and my sisters to explore.
We took take the ferry across to Balboa Island and walk around eating our frozen bananas, strolling really, visiting with others who were strolling and walking their dogs. We would peer into the small houses that lined the narrow streets and imagined someday living that type of life.
And then there was the time when I mom decided she was going to learn how to sail. She did well from what I can remember ... she learned all the terms and mastered a few things nessesary to be let loose in the bay on her own. And the end of the story ... well, let's just say that she arrived back home soaking wet and wrapped up in a beach towel!
Ah, and then there was the time when just my dad and I took a weekend long vacation to San Diego to visit the area and to chat about whether I should go to college after high school or join the Navy.
I went to college, (Cal State University Long Beach) studied textiles (surprised?) and guess what ... I lived right on the boardwalk in Seal Beach and loved every single day of it ... Probably not surprised!
BTW ... Coastal crafts will hit the book store and crafts stores in your area on May 26th! If you want to pre-order a copy, Amazon is selling it right now!
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Stitchy, stitchy goodness ...It's all I want to do these days! I love to free motion stitch ... ok, not that perfect type stitching where you have to follow a pattern and all but that freehand type of machine embroidery, where you let down your hair and let loose!
About a week ago I joined a friend of mine, Tracy Schultz and off we went to LA to take a class at French General.
Mandy Patullo was teaching here in the states for the first time ... The Bonny Birds! What a treat and what a delight to hear her story, inspirations and to learn a bit about her finger turn applique process while creating a bonny bird on an antique quilt square.
Here's how my bird started out ... didn't finish the bird that night cauase of course I started chatting with some of the gals including French General owner Kaari Meng ... only to find out that she's working with the same editor I'm working with at Sterling Publishing in NY ... Small, small crafty world!
So I pulled out my Boony Bird last night and I just started adding bits of fabric here and there to make a wing and an eye.
Added a little chain stitch around the eye and popped in a little button, right there in the middle!
Nexted I added a few French knots to the under belly and the wing, oh and embroidered a couple of bird feet as well.
The little tail was missing something so I grabbed some gold metalic thread and added a few sparkly feathers to the end.
And then the most fun part of this whole project ... a little free motion stitched tree with branch for the little bonny bird to perch on!
At this point I walked away from him for a few hours ... went to a football game then came back and without even thinking, I started painting the tree teal! I was moving so fast here that I didn't even have a water bowl around so I was using my ice tea to water down my paints and to clean my brushes!
Truth be told ... this is not the first time nor the last time I'll be using my tea as water ... gives it all a little antiqued look, don't you think?
I love the teal painted tree!
And branches!
Filled in a few little dots with red paint and set it all aside to dry.
At this point I'm not sure where this quilt panel will end up ... I may mount it to watercolor paper or even stitch it to this tote to carry my knitting supplies back and forth from my knitting group!
Stay tuned ... More stitchy, stitchy goodness to come ... for sure!
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I'm so excited to finally get to show everyone these super fun rubber stamps by Roben-Marie Smith and even more honored to be considered part of a design team that includes some super talented artist!
So there's a little blog hop going on right now ... come along and check out the art that everyone created using Roben-Marie's rubber stamps. You'll soon see that the art is among the best I've seen in a long time ... and the variety is vast and great!
These are the samples I made using the rubber stamps ... One thing you'll notice is that the stamps are really big and so much fun to use in mixed media, shrink plastic and for embroidering on clothing or napkins, or ... well just about anything!
I was channeling my inner Roben-Marie when I creating this tag.
Here's the GIVEAWAY >>> This 6 arrow shrink plastic necklace ... leave a comment, or even just say "Hi" and I'll toss your name into the pot and on May 8th I'll pick a winner!
The shrink plastic necklaces were just too much fun to make ... I couldn't stop ... It's one of those addicting kind of crafts!
And then at some point late one night, I grabed bits of odds and ends and created this little collage masking off one of the rubber stamp to show just one little cross.
And then this happened ... a little bit of embroidery on a panel that was stamped using three of the rubber stamp images and black StazOn ink and then stitched to a onesie!
Ok, I have to admit ... my pieces are a bit out there, but as I was telling Roben-Marie, I am so in love with these stamps that my mind kept jumping from project to project and I my hands couldn't keep up with my ideas!
Here's what I did to make the above shrink plastic arrow necklace:
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It was a crafty kind of day at our house a few days ago. My son Corry, home from college, is loving the quiet of the house with just a few friends near by and the warmth pups! He was looking for something to make ... hummm.
I reminded him of all the hides of leather we recently acquired ... Ok, truth be told ... we went dumpster diving ... So worth it ... we scored 6 huge hides of leather ... and if you can belive it, we didn't take it all. There were several hides I left behind simply because I didn't care for the color. What was I thinking?
Anyways ... Corry loves to draw and paint and doodle, being the art major that he is and so he set out to learn how to make leather journals.
He was out in the man cave for hours ... reading and watching videos, trying to figure out what he wanted to make ... then, these happened!
After several hours, he mastered it! Of course I wanted a journal too and so for this tutorial, Corry made me a journal while I shot the photos and typed away ... Hope we didn't miss any steps!
Here's what you do:
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Just playing around here.
Moving kind of fast and not thinking, just creating.
Being inspired by old botanical prints.
And finding the back side of some of these pieces to be even more interesting than the front.
Happy Stitching, Sketching and Doodling with your sewing machine!
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Here's a funny thing you might like to know about me ... when I have lots of projects on my plate and it seems like I don't have any time to really work on them, I tell myself to just start, just start even if I only have 10 minutes before I need to run out the door ... just start.
Usually that piece that I really quick "just start" creating, will become something at some point.
This piece above was one of of those quick start projects. Seriously ... the kids were all hanging out at our house, which is almost always the case, and they were hungry, of course, so we all decided to go out for dinner. While everyone was putting on their shoes and deciding what's for dinner, I quick created the background for this little panel.
Then, when I returned from dinner and did have a bit more time, my creative juices were flowing and next thing you know ... this little free motion stitched panel has been stitched, painted and embroidered on!
The same thing happened with this stitched and painted panel. While at first it was just a stitched and painted panel, I thought how fun it would be to make a little free motion stitched sampler book.
To make the pages for the book, I used vinyl that I bought at my local fabric store, and stitched pockets on several pages ... slightly wider than the tags I wanted to use.
Next I free motion stitched on a big panel of layered muslin and batting, then cut up different motifs and patterns that I liked. Then, stitched the samples onto the tag and there you have it ... a little book of free motion samples.
NOTE: Before I free motion stitch any project, I do warm up drills on a sandwich of muslin and batting and more often than not, I'll use these stitched warm ups in project or cut them up and make them into a banner or bunting.
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It was weekend of work, work and even more work ... and I couldn't stop the ideas from flowing.
In fact I got up early Saturday morning and then went to bed late that night with my mind still spinning over new ideas to stitch/sketch/doodle/paint on fabric and paper.
I couldn't stop thinking about all the possibilities for this type of organic, free motion stitching, doodling, sketching, painting ... or whatever you want to call it.
Here's what I did:
I first adhered a panel of muslin to a panel of white batting, using spray adhesive. Next I cut out a few circles in a variety of colors and glued them down using a fabric glue stick. And then the fun began ... I free motion stitched around the circles creating flowers and just random shapes.
Next I painted the panel using these acrylic paints. I added color to the insides of the petals and to the outer edges of some flowers. At some point I even went in and added some white paint just to pop a few areas.
And then ... of course ... a little embroidery with white perl cotton adds the little perfect details that I love so much.
So fun don't you think? More samples to come ... Lord knows I made a ton!
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It's a funny thing ... I have never thought much about art journaling, except to think that that's just not for me. I'm not an art journaler type. And then again, maybe I am, but not in the way most people think of art journaling ... Who knew?
I have a few books, old book, that I carry around with me and when my mind needs a rest from life, baseball, photography, I'll whip that book out and just start doodling.
I've found out that before I can paint, like on a canvas, I have to get paint on some sort of surface, just to get the juices flowing again and to be reminded of the feel of the paint ... and ... to quiet my mind.
So what do I paint on, you might ask. Well sometimes it is a panel of wood, canvas or, as of late ... the doodles in my books.
Without thinking too much and often late at night, like tonight, the paint comes out and happens to land on these doodles.
And of course being the stitcher type that I am ... next thing you know ... I'm hand sewing on the pages with big running stitches and French knots. Oh how I love to hand sew!
I'm not sure if these pages are "done" ...
I'm not worried about finishing anything right now, just happy to have my doodles and these old books to embellish, paint and sew!
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Hey, that's me!
Thanks to Cindy Lantier for gathering 3o days worth of interviews and creative energy in one great blog!
You can read the interview HERE! Click on the 2012 and read all the interviews for May 2012!
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I've been carving rubber stamps lately, something that I thought I would NEVER do ... but I have to tell you, it is SOOOO much fun.
Yesterday I woke up to a text message from Jen Osborn, we are friends on facebook and from time to time we chat back and forth ... I love her art. There weren't any words in the message, just a photo of her 2 latest paintings.
So fun don't you think?
I got inspired ... and I loved her barn, tree and of course her signature skeleton head ... I decided to carve some rubber using her images as inspiration.
I know, I know ... the barn is falling over ... oh well, it happens.
So simple and yet soooo Jen!
Of course I couldn't well enoguh alone ... out came the Glimmer Mists.
So sweet don't you think? Love this one ... I couldn't stop stamping ........!
Here's what you do:
Find a simple image that you like and simply sketch it out onto an eraser or this pink rubber. Next, using the smallest carving blade, outline the image and then cut out the details.
For larger shapes just use a scissor or a craft knife and cut out around the image, then carve out the interior details.
Thanks Jen for the inspiration!
Happy carving.
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Crescendoh is featuring my tags this week ...
You can find the entire tutorial here in the Gallery section!
Enjoy and Happy Crafting!
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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!
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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!
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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!
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Just a few photos of my oldest son Corry and his girlfriend Dylan ... all dressed up and heading out to the homecoming dance. Notice the corsage and boutonniere I talked about in this earlier post.
Sooo cute don't you think?
As it turned out, I was taking Flora's painting class while my husband was snapping away here, hence the slightly silly photos!
I'm not kidding here ...
I don't think he snapped a single photo of them looking somewhat serious.
And apparently they were just killing time here and making each other crack up over absolutely nothing.
Really! Now this is a proud mom moment!
And of course as it would turn out ... Corry has a broken finger, just like last year, same time, same place ... oh wait, of course ... it's football season!
Oh my how I love these kids ... so comfortable in their own skins and having sooo much fun during these last few months of high school!
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