day 3

i missed blogging about this last night but got it up on my FB page!!  i swear i'm not slacking already! 

you may have seen a pic of a pug on my blog before- my niece's/sister/brother in law's.  her name is Hope and she's the funniest little dog i've ever met.  her expressions crack me up!!  she jumps on your gut while you're quietly relaxing but it's just because she loves you and wants to play and maybe cuddle eventually.  so i am always on high alert for pugly things because of that.  i got my niece a few pug things for xmas including making a little jacket for Hope.

so that's what inspired this little embroidery.  it's a simple 4" piece on a tan fabric with black embroidery floss.  i am thinking of making one that looks more similar to Hope's colors with her name under it to give to my niece.  maybe on purple fabric because it's her favorite color.

i love how when i don't feel so crafty i can sit on the couch semi watching tv and stitch away!  yesterday was kind of a sucko work day and i still don't feel great (not sure if it's a cold or allergies but my head is going to explode!) so that's exactly what i did.  i also made us a huge pot of veggie and bean chili that hit the spot perfectly for Chris' lent participation and it feeling a little cold.

day 2

started these last night and finished up this morning!  got a call to go into work so i'm totally annoyed-ya know it's a mannequin emergency!  i had big plans for creating today that will have to wait til saturday now.  i'm procrastinating even calling them back and that scares me a little--my work ethic is usually way better than this....do you think i'm over it and need to be a full time artist??? YES.

ok, on to the artwork!  i bought these pictures at a Pittsburgh estate sale a few years back and have been wondering what to do with them.  i made holiday cards last year with the holiday themed ones from the same sale.  these little cowboy pics are just too cute!  i had this cowboy fabric left over from a project and thought they paired perfectly together.  i added blue hand embroidery on each of them after machine stitching the pics on.

i've decided to sell these as a pair only--i am picturing them on a baby boy's nursery wall.  $40 for the pair.

day 1

for the first day of my 30 day challenge i actually got 3 things made!

i made these 2 wristlets--each has a different stitched design on them.  both are dark denim with a peach zipper and a orange dotted fabric interior.  the stitched circles are in light teal, peach and navy.  the stitched vertical lines are in light teal and peach.  both have a navy dotted handle. 

this is a newish style bag that i just started making this week--this is the 3rd i've made so far.  it's a slightly bigger version of my cross body bag- it measures 12.5"h x 11"w.  it's hard to photograph correctly w/out showing it on a model.  i did a cream strap with random teal stitches throughout.  the cutest bunny fabric is lined with a hot pink and white print.  it has 1 inside pocket that is half yellow and half geometric print.  this style will be $40 once it gets in my etsy or to a market.  it's always interesting to see how a new style goes over.

ok, day 1 completed.  good.  now maybe i'll cut some things out for tomorrow and finish cleaning my house. 

p.s. i made these collages last week and forgot to post them....

hand embroidered skull with machine stitched circles on a backdrop of 4 fabrics--on wooden stretchers ready to hang.

NOLA fabric with a hand embroidered fleur de lis on fleur de lis fabric that was machine appliqued.

30 day challenge

i am super inspired by everyone that is participating in a 365 days/52 week challenge so i've decided to do one myself!  i am sharing this info so i can hold myself more accountable...seems to make sense.  my challenge is to make something new everyday for 30 days straight starting today.  i have applied for lots of markets in march so my hope is that i will end up with a ton of product and be super ready to sell!!  i may just post pics every few days or so...still figuring that part out!

i think it's great having my studio in my house but i tend to multi task so much that i end up not getting much made.  i get too caught up in doing house chores that i get out of my creative zone.

so as of today, YES i WILL make at least 1 new item for sale everyday.
........and GO!!

happy Mardi Gras

i am not missing in action---i am being consumed by my first Mardi Gras!  in between parades, visitors, new friends and life i have been working on some new collages.  i am devoting today to CREATING!  no housework, no tv, no computer.  as you can see i am already breaking that rule.  i got really excited about these and wanted to share....

They are both a mix of machine and hand stitching.  The first one "No Roller Skating on the Ceiling" is made from a vintage shirt and new fabrics.  The left paper is from a pre-fab house catalog (vintage) and the paper on the right is from a pamphlet called "Dancing with Teacher"(also vintage).  My friend Curly gave me the license plate.  I imagine it came from a rockin banana seat bike or out of a box of Sugar Smacks. 

The second collage is called "By Day/By Night".  These are all new fabrics and the patch is vintage.  My story behind this one is she's a stay at home mom- pictured top left doing dishes and other household chores and by night she gets to transform into this top notch bowler.  It's her release from the stress of kids and she's REALLY good at it.  Hence, the League Champion patch.  Her bowling shirt was a tropical print and of course, handmade by her.  There's a pretty good chance her name is  Bea.

skirts, embroidery and more king cake

i decided to make 2 practice skirts before i made my mardi gras skirt in case i messed up.  i found free instructions online that looked pretty simple.  i ended up  altering them a little bit per usual.  the end result was that the skirts are reversible!! this was exciting to me especially since it was a happy accident.  so now i have 3 handmade skirts...not sure if i'll keep the first two or sell them. 

i also finished another embroidery as well as a strawberry king cake from Antoine's.  i'll take a pic of all our king cake babies next time.  I kinda feel like i'm playing the game Life except my babies won't fit in my pink car.  and i don't get to go to millionaire's row at the end.  well....maybe, we'll see.

this collage features a plastic package from a vintage headband.  this was a gift from a friend.  love that people see old garbage and save it for me!  i also used a friendship pin from the forth grade.  yes, i still have all of them and no i'm not a hoarder.  the pic of the guy is a vintage estate sale find- it came from a instructional knitting booklet.  he thinks he's such a player and it cracks me up.

happy new year

a little, uh hummmm, late.  i've been settling into the new year by rearranging my studio once again, feeding my new embroidery addiction and replenishing my inventory.

i've been living in my new city for 6 months now and it's starting to feel like home.  there is still SO much to discover.  it's the kind of city that i think you never get to see everything because really there's that much good stuff going on!  i've been eating my heart out and now need to get my work out back on in a serious way to keep up with all the eating.  i went from the Christmas holiday right into Mardi Gras season and that means King Cake!  it is so delicious and there are so many different ones to try.  and since it's a limited time i have to keep eating to try them all.  ok, so you get that i'm eating ALOT.  onto the crafting....

i woke up super motivated yesterday and have been on a crafting high ever since.  i even went to joann's to get some Mardi Gras costume making supplies.  i started a mask and a headband and got fabric to make a skirt.  i'll post pics as soon as i'm done.

i got several items cut out and ready to sew--i tend to do things like this in bulk- sewing, cutting, etc.   since i was on such a craft high i decided to tackle making a collage clutch since it is an organic flow kinda process.  here's what i do:  i sit down with my HUGE basket of scraps and just start pulling ones i think go together.  i usually end up with a maybe/back up plan pile as well.  then i iron and cut them all to size--well a little bigger actually.  THEN comes the process of laying them out in the order i want to sew them.  i get them sewn and then cut the bag shape.  i pick interior and pocket fabrics and then i'm ready to sew the bag pieces all together.  it's a LONG, fun, creative process that results in a fabulous OOAK bag!  like this one i made this morning.

this particular bag has 17 pieces of fabric sewn together to make the outside.  kinda impressive, huh??