My Favorite Piece of Art

This blog is supposed to be all about my art, not a diary of my life. I just decided that when I created it, but isn't a human just like a piece of art, especially when she looks like this? This is my one and only grandchild, although she is soon to be a big sister which will double my joy. She is just so stinkin' cute, I had to share.

Valentine inchies

The ever so kind Marylin Huskamp has a Yahoo! inchie group, and she let me hostess a swap there. These are the inchies I received. Most of them are ones group participants and Marylin are getting back. A few are special ones participants made for me as hostess gifts. Not everyone did all of theirs exactly alike either, so what people get back might vary slightly. I l . o . v . e . inchies, so I am happy to add these to my collection.

Valentine Swap Revealed

In a previous post, I mentioned that I was asked to participate in a Valentine's exchange in which each participant decorated 3 boxes and put goodies inside which had to include a handmade item. These are the boxes I made using real wooden cigar boxes, the goodies, a closeup of one of my handmade items, and what each box looked when it was opened. My handmade items were domino pendants which you can see in the photo as well as in another post and fabric and lace notepads that contain lots of funky papers I cut up just for these gifts. I hope everyone likes them. It sure was exciting making them.

Crazy Business

Call it crazy business or whatever you want. Moving here from the old blog just had to be done so it would be easier to keep track of everything in the long run. We'll just leave it at that Uhmmm K?

Published Again!

I've been published before, but this time, I couldn't be more excited. If some terrible tragedy occurred, and I could only have one magazine, hands down it would be Sew Somerset. That little slice of heaven makes my heart sing like no other. I actually left my house after 9 pm, on a weeknight with work the next day, a few weeks ago when a friend emailed me to tell me the latest edition was on the newsstands. I, of course, called the nearest Barnes & Noble to be sure they had my personal copy still there and that no one had beaten me to it. Sure enough, they did, and the goddess of art theft prevention on the other end of the phone promised to put a hold on it until I could get there to bring it home. She even offered to hold it a few days. I thanked her kindly but explained that even 30 minutes longer was not even an option. I was lucky I didn't get a speeding ticket on the way.
Now, I am happier than I can say to report that I got an email today telling me that Sew Somerset wants to do a feature article on my Scrappy Journal I submitted! I have to do some writing. I only sent in 200 words with my submission, and they are looking at about 800, but I will be honored to do it. And I'm feeling a whole lot better about missing out on those workshops I wanted to go to to learn more about making fabric journals. Apparently, I knew a little something on my own about putting some fabric, thread, and some other fun stuff together to make it funky, and not making it in to those classes forced me to further develop a style of my own which paid off.
I owe part of my creative thoughts to my fabulous "art daughter" Kelly who taught me to play with scraps of paper when I took a class from her locally which made me want to do the same with fabric. First paper, then a little fabric in my paper books, then mostly all fabric with a helping of Jane, and it flies on its own.
By the way, if you need or want a little inspiration, Kelly has lots. She is teaching online now, (Yes, really!) and you should check her classes out. Over 120 other people are sitting in class with her now. And if you are lucky enough to be in the Phoenix area, she will be here in person next weekend teaching her little heart out, and inspiring the masses.

Meanwhile, back in the studio...

I decided to photograph these inchies and call it a weekend. The hearts are on little quilts I made by cutting and weaving strips of fabric and sewing them down to an uphholstery substrate.





Then it was back to work on my fabric books I showed the covers for last week. This book is finished for now. I left space to journal later if I decide to keep it or for whomever else might get it. The other book is still waiting to be finished to the degree this one is.

What Do I Do With All My Papers?

Someone in the Collage Unleashed Yahoo group posted a question asking what people do with the papers they make using the ideas in Traci Bautista's book, Collage Unleashed. These are samples of what I did with mine. The first two are papers neatly measured and made into covers with undecorated paper inside. I just sewed down little doodads and transparencies I made using the pages in the back of the book provided for personal use. The next photo is the cover for the rest of the pages in the rest of the photos below it. I used random sizes and just sewed them in some heavy upholstery fabric after sewing down pieces of my doodling, paper I painted on in Traci's class, and random trims to the front.