this-n-that tuesday

I got the nicest Valentine’s surprise in yesterday’s mail… Ginny (no blog?) made this collage for me! She packed it with a pretty card and a tin of candy, and wrapped it all in red tissue paper. Very sweet! I think I’m going to fasten a ribbon to the back side and hang it in my studio. Thank you, Ginny :)

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Katie is still camping out in the frog’s room, and lately she has really been camping out in my daughter’s American Girl tent. Pretty cute, eh?

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I received a newsletter from a pretty large company last night, which unfortunately has offended my grammatical sensibilities… how hard is it, really, to employ proper homophone usage ?! I am certainly not perfect, I use way too many commas, and apparantly I frequently misspell apparently. But at least I promise never to offer you a peak at something I’m working on.

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I felt out of sorts all weekend. This was the first time in 4 years that I haven’t attended the Nashville needlework market. But while I missed seeing many friends, the break was kind of nice. (I just needed time off from the design biz for a wee bit… I plan to be back in full swing by the April online show.) I’ve been watching a few of the shop websites to see what they’ve brought home, and I’ve found a few “must haves”, which I added to my wish list page here. Thursday is Market Day at my LNS, but that’s also Valentines day… anyone planning on market day shopping at their LNS?

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Have a beautiful Tuesday, everyone!

 

the gypsy girl

This is what I made today for the Gothic Arches theme of “gypsy”. I used Renoir’s “Gypsy Girl”, printed on laser paper with an inkjet (gives it a pixellated, inky look), stamping on top, oil pastel accents, and a bit of glitter. And I really did spill the glitter… that’s not just a fancy prop :)

I know, this seems to be turning into a different type of blog lately. Where did all the stitching go? It’s in progress, mostly things I can’t show just yet, but I’m still stitching every day. Tonight I worked on a Glory Bee ornament from one of the JCS ornament issues. I just love Nancy’s designs… they are cheerful!

Oh, and today was partner assignment day for the Fair & Square exchange. I will be paired with Georgie. One again, my partner is someone I don’t already know… nice to get to ‘meet’ new bloggers once in a while.

Tanya announced a SAL today that I would reeeally like to join, but I’m not sure I dare. I have a few big projects lined up already. However, if any of you are getting ready to stitch that marvelous Quaker Christmas design, go sign up… I’ll be visiting the blog to watch you all stitch it up!

Today’s simple pleasure: a large pot of homemade chili, not too spicy :)

 

some not-so-good art

This week’s theme on 4 X 4 Friday is “music”; here’s what I came up with. I began with a classical music sheet for the background, added color with pastels, and then decoupaged the modern iPod girl. Looks better in person; the colors are bright.

For the Valentine theme at Theme Thursday, I made a bookmark using a paint color sample strip as the base and old movie stills for the focal points. I outlined everything with silver paint, and covered the whole thing with Mod Podge. I couldn’t get a good pic of the overall bookmark so I included a close-up pic. BTW, to avoid brush marks when using Mod Podge, tap the stuff on instead. It leaves a nice textured finish. The more tapping, the thicker the texture!

I’m not particularly thrilled with either piece, but at least I am experimenting more, which was the whole point of my New Year’s Decisions. I’m slowly but surely getting over my perfection issues, and allowing myself to make mistakes and some not-so-good art.

Today’s simple pleasure: finishing a good book with a cat on my lap, purring

 

first stitches + a 4 x 4

Here are my first stitches of 2008. I made a teeny start on My Stitching Treasures by Jeanette Douglas. The chart called for using just one strand of silk, but I’m doing my own thing (as usual) and using two strands. I like my stitches fat. Here’s a picture of the completed design, if you can’t stand to wait until *whenever* I get around to finishing mine.

And, in keeping with my 2008 goal of participating in more artsy challenges, I created this 4 x 4. The challenge listed on the 4X4 Friday blog was to use punchinella, which is the waste left over when sequins are made. I have TONS of this stuff, in a variety of shapes and colors… never knew exactly what to do with it, so this exercise was helpful to me. I experimented with gluing it down (got glue ALL over my hands), mod-podging (found out that the shiny part turns cloudy so you need to buff it when dry), painting over it (too messy, no patience for it), and finally using a stamp pad over it, which is what you see here. A lot of punchinella wound up in the trash bin today, but I think I learned how to work with it– which is really the point of these challenges.

A “4 x 4″ is a 4 inch square piece of artwork… can be any medium; the whole point is the size. They are most typically used for collage work, though. I enjoy the size because it seems to be enough room for me to experiment, yet not so big that I feel married to it. Plus I love, love squares! There’s just something about their perfectness that appeals to me, especially when there’s lots of swirly stuff going on inside the square. I’m sure that has a deeper personal meaning… psychotherapist, please?

Today’s simple pleasure: creative time

 

2008 decisions

Goodness…the last few days have flown by! I’ve been stitching, beading, sewing, and painting; also catching up on a few household chores and pondering moving to a little cottage in Vermont.

I’ve made a few decisions about 2008. I won’t call them resolutions, or even goals, as I don’t want to think of them as things I’ll try to do but rather as things I will do. What I’ve decided:

• I will answer at least one call for entries every month.
• I will submit a cross stitch design for publication at least once per quarter.
• I will participate in at least two blog-based challenges each month.

A roundup of links to blogs with challenges that sound interesting to me:

Think Monday- Think ATC
Mixed Media Monday
Gothic Arches
4 x 4 Friday
Inching Artists
Salt
Theme Thursday
TGIF
Skinny Saturday
Arty Girlz
GPP Street Team
Step Outside Your Box

I have signed up for Sharon B’s Take it Further challenge, which will require developing a theme into a finished design on a monthly basis. There are almost 300 of us participating and I’m really looking forward to this!

I have joined a new stitch along for 2008, the Bride’s Tree SAL, which is open for more members… there’s still time if you’d care to join this one.

And I’ve signed up for round 5 in the ever popular Fair & Square exchange. Signups are still being taken if you’d like to play, too!

OK, this looks like a lot now that I’ve typed it out. Hmm.

 

art fair day

What a marvelous day! The weather was perfect, I was feeling fine, and there was an art fair on Main Street…my daughter was at Grandma’s house so I had the whole day to just meander and get lost in the beautiful things. I got busy looking and forgot to take many pictures, but here’s two of the general area:

This was the Mosaics Festival for the Arts, held in one of my favorite areas– St. Charles, Missouri. And of course, no visit to Old St. Charles would be complete without a pop-in at my LNS… picked up my JCS ornament issue and LHN’s “Curly-Q Ewe”.

 

it was there all the time, waiting for me to see it

A few weeks ago I discovered this wall in my basement. I say discovered because although I knew it was there, and I saw it every day on my way to the laundry, I never really noticed it before! You know how you can look at something all the time but never really see it? One morning as I was getting towels out of the dryer, I looked over and there it was: not just a wall with junk stacked by it, but a wall full of shelves and lighting; with a built-in easel and rows of paint; little containers full of beads and buttons and glitter; a fantastic jar of freshly sharpened pencils… so I built this:

There are 3 lights, which will connect to a power strip mounted near the desk (handy for plugging in the heat gun, too) and the easel on the wall is 4 feet wide by 2 feet tall; I still need to mount the bottom tray. The shelves are a wee bit crooked in places, which doesn’t exactly match my vision but certainly suits my personality. I will have a storage unit between the pole and the desk to house my canvases, drawing pads, and sketchbooks, too. It was my original intention to paint the wall and shelves white, but I was getting impatient for this project to be finished. And anyway, if I paint them I’ll feel the need to be more careful and isn’t it a lot more fun to be able to dribble paint and pastel dust without worrying what it’s landing on?

I started loading my art supplies last night and it just felt right… I’m sure this space will be a wonderful tool to get me back into a creative routine like the one I enjoyed in college. (”Studio D” in the Fine Arts Building was a second home to me for quite some time… maybe this space should become my “Studio 20″?) BTW, I apologize for the picture quality but for some reason my computer and camera have decided they are no longer friends. Until I can figure out how to get them to work together without killing each other, this will have to do.