Currently Making:
Comics! Next up: The flute playing pig makes candles-I have the
fist page drawn and have started inking.
Currently Thinking of Making:
Christmas Cards
Tassels
Pillow shams and a Dust ruffle
Vintage Aprons
Currently: Happy Halloween!
Dear Mini Reeses Peanutbutter cups,
Why do you tempt me so? I hate you. I love you.
I bought three of bags of candy a few weeks ago. I hid them as soon
as I came home from shopping that day in a cupboard I rarely open.
This worked great because I had forgotten that they were there.
I opened that cupboard the day before yesterday and have managed
to eat one whole bag of candy all by myself. I am secretly hoping
that we do not get any trick or treaters so I can have the other
two bags as well. I have even formulated a plan where I shut off
all the lights so it looks like there is no one home, but the TV
is in the main room and there is no getting around that flickering
blue glow, even when the shades are drawn. I have not risen above
the need for TV so I abandoned that plan as soon as I thought of
it. Besides, it's sorta lame to hide from little kids...it's just
goes to show you that chocolate and overly salted peanut butter
messes with your brain.
It looks easy enough to make...maybe. I am guessing that you would
sew the two pieces of fabric together, with the batting, turn right
side out and stitch closed? I may have to try this.
This is about the time of year I get really excited for the holidays.
If I were smart, I would act now and channel the energy into something
productive as opposed to telling myself that I still have almost
TWO months! That is so much time and it will go so
slowly.
Oh
god, please forgive me, I
broke a date without even meaning to. Poor Stace, I had been
planning on coming up this weekend, the 2nd. I feel like poo. Thankfully
we have rescheduled and we are on for this coming weekend!
While J and I were running errands this weekend, we happened upon
a gal we have both seen from time to time in our travels. She is
one of those girls who is really stylish, always "put together"
if you know what I mean. She was wearing a scarf that I am guessing
she knitted herself, she wasn't flashy or super trendy, she was
offbeat looking in an artsy sort of way. It got me thinking
about girls I have known in my life that have seemed to run in this
same vain. I felt a pang of jealousy, an urgent desire to go shopping
and transform myself into such a girl. I was stylish, once in my
life, if only for a little bit. It was in my junior year of high
school when my mother still bought my clothes for me. I was consoling
myself in the fact that now I am an adult and I need to pay for
car insurance and the water bill. Never mind the fact I blew 60$
on what are essentially toys,
and another 70$ on
paints and brushes that I already had, for the most part. Priorities.
Here
is a picture of the appliqué goodness I made for the craft
swap. I must give the standard apology for the quality of the picture:
I stuffed them with batting I scented with Lavender and Jasmine
essential oils. I am overall very pleased with how they turned out.
I can't wait to get my swap items and see what everyone else made!
If you have not seen the art of Rasehall
Studios you are missing out. So beautiful.
While you are there check out their fabulous garden.
After seeing this I SO want a japanese maple in a pot. The collections...I
am speechless. And their critters.
I want to reach into the computer screen and scratch those kitty's
furry tummies something awful. Lori, you are my idol!
I have been thinking of experimenting with painting in acrylics.
I still have the set I bought in college and they are either almost
empty or dried out. I also have crappy brushes. Brushes I have left
to dry "bristle-side-down" so now they have a permanent
bend. They look more like hooks. I need to go to the art supply
store today anyway....
Oh..and
before I forget. Trina had another fabulous Halloween idea, a variation
on the puking pumpkin:
"I did a version of the puking pumpkin last year for our
3rd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party. I carved a small green & yellow
gourd into the puke face, placed him on one end of a green oval
platter, then used guacamole as the puke...from his mouth and into
a pile on the platter. It looked gross! But there was no guacamole
left after an hour!
Guacamole: Mashed Avocados Salsa of your choice
Diced Tomatoes
Grated Cheddar Cheese
Chopped Cilantro
Salt & Pepper to taste
I never measure the ingredients for this recipe, because sometimes
I make it for 2 people, sometimes 50. All you really have to do
is get enough avocados for the size of the party, then add the other
ingredients so it looks and tastes good. It's all about the avocado!
Anyway, I plan to do it again this year. And this time I'll take
a picture before it's eaten up! "
One
of my best friends Trina, whom I have known since the third grade,
recently sent me the cutest Halloween project. Milk jug Luminarias:
"I'm attaching pictures of one of my usual Halloween project
decorations, luminarias made from milk jugs. For a few years now
I've made them while watching playoff baseball. Ingredients: milk
jug, tempura paint, kitty litter or sand, and a candle. The alien
came to be because the jug has 2 large round circular indentations
that I could only envision as eyeballs. Before I was limited by
my imagination to skulls [the original instructions showed skulls].
While painting the alien, I thought of many other things I could
possibly make...Frankenstein, jack-o'-lantern, ghost, a cat, perhaps...you
get the idea."
I love
them! The alien is soooo great! I haven't really done much this
year in terms of Halloween decorating. I haven't even gotten a pumpkin
yet. I am thinking that I am going to make the infamous
puking pumpkin, but right now I am feeling that I want to avoid
the struggle and slime associated with pumpkin carving. Feelin'
lazy.
Isn't
this the cutest tape dispenser? I am in love with it.
It's hard to see the tape coming out of his mouth. It's from Flax
Art and Design, which always has the greatest things. I'd also
like to have this Julian
easel (the economy model), I never knew that easels were so
pricey. I may have to start checking eBay.
I have decided to get a head start on my Christmas baking, at least
the planning. Growing up, my mom always made a whole host of treats
and goodies that were assembled into packages and given to neighbors
and friends. The best part was that the neighbors and friends usually
did the same thing and I love the variety of cookies and candies.
I have been wanting to put together a cookie basket for awhile,
but always waited until the last minute and then it became overwhelming.
I have chosen only a few items to make, keeping the labor to a minimum
for my first time out. This has given me an excellent excuse to
buy the Martha
Stewart Gel Colors I have been coveting for a year or two. I
have not purchased them yet since I blew a wad of cash on the Tim
Biskup toys. (I don't know what it is with me right now, but I am
wanting to buy every thing I see. I seriously had to refrain myself
from a couple of Eva Zeisel eBay purchases last night.) So in order
to satisfy whatever creative urge I am feeling with the gel colors,
I decided to write down all 36 color so I can start planning the
cookies decoration and color scheme. While writing down the colors,
I came to the "reds": tulip red, holiday red, red red,
and super red. What could possibly be the difference between red
red and super red? Wouldn't you get super red if you added more
red red? The only thing I can think of is that sometimes when you
are trying to get a real red, you have to add so much coloring that
the icing tastes totally disgusting. I can't wait to find out.
Kim
always sends me the most fabulous links. I LOVE the idea of these
dolls
from LaLasLand,
using old photographs of family member perhaps? She also sent a
link to these great Halloween
paper cones. I love paper cones and have been saving magazine
clippings of them whenever I see them. Martha has a great
tutorial on making them.
Leontine
has also been finding the most fabulous items I am seriously coveting.
I collect Russian nesting dolls and these
are the coolest I have EVER seen. I have a set of blank
dolls taking up space that I have never gotten around to painting....perhaps
it's time to drag them out. The problem I have with my blank set
is that one of the dolls doesn't fit together at all. (note: I did
not buy them from that link above) It's like the top is just a hair
too big for it's bottom. I also have a set of round ones that are
in need of repainting. I painted them a few years ago. PLEASE
forgive the crappiness of this picture, I need a new camera:
You get the idea at least..
Leontine also purchased a set of these Tim
Biskup dolls which are now SOLD OUT. ARRGGGHH...I told myself
to wait until payday..just wait a few more days. Damn. @%#$*!!
15
minutes later.....I did manage to buy these.
The set of 6 was sold out, but you can buy them individually for
the same price. "We cannot take requests for specific toys,
although we will guarantee that if you order more than one you will
not get duplicates." (here's hoping) Ah....retail therapy....
Don't
you just love Loobylu's
cards? I have been watching her progress on that front with
some interest...after reading all about Mary
Engelbreit's foray into card making, Claire's current endeavor
has made me realize that it CAN be done. I am afraid it is too late
in the game to get started for this year's Christmas batch (sorry
Robs), but I am seriously thinking about looking into it. That,
and giftwrap perhaps? For Penny?
I have pretty much completed my Christmas cards for this year, and
they are pretty cool if I must say so. I will post them next month.
I have never dealt with an offset printer on my own, so it's a little
intimidating. I need to get my business cards and letterhead printed,
so that will be a good introduction I think.
I am trying to get my craft swap appliqués done, and I think
it will be a race to the finish.
What else..oh, last week I was watching Simply
Quilts, and they had a very cool segment on printing
on fabric using freezer paper as a stencil. I know several people
have mentioned ironing freezer paper onto fabric and running it
through a printer. Freezer paper seems to be the magic craft supply.
Not just for wrapping meat.
I bought
a magazine the other day called Legacy.
It's a scrapbooking mag and the image on the front cover is what
tempted me to buy it. It's a scrap of canvas that has been painted,
written on, and has old family photos sewn to is as well. When my
parents were here visiting they had a bunch of old photographs of
my paternal grandmother and her family which were so awesome. Pictures
of old cowboys with their names on their chaps, holding whiskey
bottles; one family member holding her pet baby owl named Hooty...just
great old pictures. I have been looking for something to do with
old pictures like that, something different yet stylish. Which led
me to dig out a clipping
from a magazine I ripped out a couple of years ago that was
about two women in New York that hand paint maps, and their company
is called Red
Stone Studios. They do beautiful work. I was thinking perhaps
I could paint my own map of Wyoming and somehow incorporate those
old photos. I thought I had found my solution to the old photo problem,
but as it happens with creative ventures, the project has evolved
and the photos are out, and I am only obsessed with the map itself.
I am thinking that I may just print the scans of the photos out
on to nice photopaper and frame them something like this.
I was
in the bookstore (Barnes and Nobles) the other day and they had
the greatest Halloween cards. They are from a company called Found
Image Press. I bought this
one. I love those old images, what a great source of inspiration.
Speaking of inspirations, I have been looking to get another Mary
Engelbreit book lately. My mom gave me a Christmas
book of hers, and the way she uses text, and composes her illustrations
has been a new fascination of mine. When I was at B&N I looked
all over that store since she is scattered everywhere (children's,
cookbooks, crafts....) I didn't really find anything suitable unfortunately.
However, J and I went to this great used bookstore called Orca Books
and hidden down an aisle on one of those library-type carts was
a stack of books. On top was Mary
Engelbreit:The Art and Artist for like, 10 bucks. I know that
it was sitting there patiently, in the self-help section, just waiting
for me to run into it. Literally. I whipped around a corner and
bumped into the cart. What's funny about this whole thing is that
I don't really even like her art, or her style. She is a little
too country-frilly-girlie cutsie for me. I don't know how to explain
it. I guess I am able to overlook the things I dislike and admire
the things about her I really do like.
I have been wanting to get some sort of a basic gardening book,
and I finally ended up with Gardening
For Dummies. I would have liked to have gotten something a little
hipper, but since it's basic beginner info I need, I think that
book will do just fine.
I have recently found out about a range of ceramics made in the
1950's that are so interesting and whimsical..I just love them.
They are the Pixieware line from Holt-Howard.
Below is an example of a relish container. Their little Pixie heads
had spoons attached to them.
I haven't been able to find a whole lot of info
on them, but there are tons on eBay.
