Jump Start

The wonderful girls at Copy + Paste are having a 12 Days of Handmade Christmas Class, and I've signed on for a little inspiration & clearing of the decks. We get to "shop our own houses" and to play along, here's my questionaire answers. How many days till Christmas?? 1. It would be amazing if my house was a shop like ...Anthropologie meets Goodwill treasures. 2. But at the moment, it's more like...a bookshop meets Lego Store. 3. The best stocked area of my house has to be...the boys Lego dept., the bookshelves, and my craft area. 4. But I'm not sure I would take stock of my...Christmas ornaments. 5. I could actually open my doors and sell off most of my...fabrics & sewing notions {and paper in general, but I never EVER would sell!}...and I'd still have plenty left over. 6. If I could go shopping in someone else's house I'd choose...my mother-in-law! 7. With the money I'd save by shopping at home for my supplies, I could buy...more paper :) 8. During this class I hope to "buy"/revisit/finally use my stock of...paper milk bottle caps. 9. The best thing about shopping at home will be...making space for new stuff! 10. Shopping at home will mean I can get away with wearing ...comfy-est yoga pants with the little bleach spot & bare feet...which I'd never dare go 'real shopping' in!

Apple Jacket and *the Quilt* part 1

First, the Apple Jacket: is this not the most whimsical use for a half-ball of left-over cashmere?! You can find the pattern here, or go through Ravelry.com. It only took me (me, the s-l-o-w-e-s-t of knitters!) a couple hours. And that's because I completely free-handed the leaf. It's kind of early in the year for apples, but perfect for protecting them in backpacks and handbags. Next, I'm starting a quilt. It's my new family job at the 4 yr old's nursery school, and I'm so happy to have a creative job after 3 years of more email-oriented ones. I'm making sketches, and have a game plan. I've chosen a color scheme, but alas, must go fabric shopping. The quilt will be raffled off at our Spring Auction in March 2011. I think I'll be very sad to see it go, but it's all part of the process. I've got about 7 months to sew and quilt something that represents our community, therefore I'm using a house-theme, surrounded by natural elements. It'll be bright and quirky. Come back soon for more!

embroidery floss?

Do you stitch? My first craft was embroidery, taught by my grandmother. She gave me a little printed sampler in a small plastic hoop, and showed me a few stitches. I've always used the DMC floss, but sometimes I see samplers with really luscious, thick floss, and I'm wondering if people have recommendations. I saw a snippet from Teresa McFayden's blog, and am *so* imspired by her mixed media sampler. Time to dig out that hoop!

Dover Sampler

If you hop on over to the Dover Publication site, you can sign up for their weekly sampler of copyright free imagery. They have everything from paper doll costumes to coloring pages to vintage luggage tags. I save a few images from the sampler to my Dover file each week. Above a two recent ones. I doubt either of my boys wants a bo-peep dress for anything, but maybe for a pre-school project.. :) My favorite are the background patterns which you can recolor and use for just about anything!

Camp!

This week I signed myself up for camp! In Idaho! And I am so thrilled. Check out these inspiring women, and what they're up to in the Idaho mountains. I'm joining Melody Ross, her sister Kathy, and a group of other equally brave gals for 5 days of creating! The recommended art supply list is brief, but I think that's one rule I'll have to break. I can't wait for this retreat!

A quick, quiet page

Yesterday I took the stack of scrapbook pages and actually put them in an album. And filled it right up. The kids were so delighted to flip through the pages, eager for the next one featuring them, a favorite toy, or friend. So now we're sorting pages since they want their own separate books. Here's a page from Matthew's reminding myself to enjoy the little mouse before he's tucked away at school all day.

supplies: cardstock> Bazzill. patterned paper> Hambly. alphas> AC Thickers. stickers> Kaiser Craft, Chatterbox. brads> Oriental Trading, My Mind's Eye. ink> SEI. stamp> Stampin' Up. other stuff> old book page, butterfly & vintage trim, Prima florals, Jenni Bowlin accents.

Amateur marbeling

Borders Bookstore has this new collection of classics with gorgeous cover designs, so I'm visiting an old process...

A while back, I found myself a marbeling kit, and made my first batch of imperfectly marbeled pages. I love this process, the mess of it, the dry time, the textures. This weekend, I'm at it again, paying more attention to the palette, and mixing some custom colors. I thought these papers might make amazing frontispieces in my little handmade books, but I'm seeing that they may just work for scrapbooking too (if I can get the colors right). 'bye!