watermelon case

My first attempt at sewing a zippered case turned out pretty well!  I used these instructions from design*sponge and found them relatively easy to follow.  There was only one point towards the end where I got confused- how are you supposed to turn the case right side out when it's zippered shut and the zipper is on the inside?  I was able to get the zipper open a little by pulling it through the fabric.  I must've made a mistake at some point, but couldn't figure out where.  I used a hot pink slightly nubby linen for the outside and a striped cotton for the lining.  With the green zipper it makes me think of watermelons =).

more birds

Just wanted to share with you a peek at my little collection of white birds that I've been gathering over the years.  The sunny yellow of the shelf makes me smile =).

Lazuli Bunting

This is a project that I did for a class.  The assignment was to depict a bird of our choosing, and make a 3 section tunnel book incorporating some of the facts we learned through researching the bird, such as coloring, habitat, and behavior.  I chose the lazuli bunting because I love turquoise blues.  We only did 3 sections but you could do many more and make it pretty elaborate.  The hard part was deciding which layer to start with.  All the paper that I used I had decorated in class using techniques like splatter painting, blowing paint through a straw, droppering water then paint onto the paper, scraping the paint with different items, etc...  When I sat down to get started I had a whole stack of papers to sort through and find the color and/or pattern that I needed.  I was happy to find a sheet that looked like mountains, which worked really well for the background.  That one was made by squirting paint onto a brayer and then rolling it onto the paper, then doing it again with a different color, and so forth.  I'm going to see how it looks when I scan the piece in flat, and I may be offering prints of it =).

another map makeover

Here's another good way to make use of old maps.  We got this ikea bureau from friends who were moving out of state and didn't need to take it with them.  I was thinking about painting it, but ended up not wanting to go to the trouble. The top drawer originally had a glass panel that was broken and removed at some point.  I fitted the empty space with foam core and then cut up an old atlas book and used glue dots to adhere four overlapping pages to the front of the drawers.  I especially liked these maps because of the interesting combination of pinks and blues.  The map hanging over the bureau is of the clans of Scotland that I found at a library book sale.

Treasury

One of my etsy items, well actually the only item in my shop right now (but not for long!), was included in a treasury. Thanks susantique =)! Check out the full treasury here.

Whales

Lately, I've been working on some small collage pieces for fun...this is a finished one.  I have so many clippings and bits of paper that I figured I needed to start using them, and it can be soothing to cut out all the little detailed areas.  After we moved I was arranging my art stuff and came across a plastic bin of miscellaneous paper and images.  It wasn't a large bin but the lid almost wouldn't close because it was starting to overflow, so I decided to organize everything by categories and some sub-categories.  Now if I'm looking for something specific, I can find it easily, or just flip through the folders for inspiration.

There's still a big miscellaneous folder up front =).  In the back, you can kind of see some of my grandmother's old sewing files from when she was a home-ec teacher.  She retired before I was around (she's 99!), and I love having her old files.  They're useful too- each folder is labeled with a sewing technique and inside the folder is an actual example of that technique.

Yes, I'm an organization enthusiast, and I guess I know where I got it from.  Thank you Grandma! =)

New Year

Happy New Year!  A little belated, but that's okay.   The holidays were made especially busy this year due to moving the week before Christmas.  We moved locally, but it was still a lot of work.  We're for the most part done getting settled, all the boxes are unpacked, but there's still a little arranging to do.  One of the best parts of our new place is that we had enough room for this big ikea expedit bookcase:

Seriously, there must be about 15 boxes of books and other stuff on that shelf- it was a huge help in getting organized.  Another really nice thing is that there's an extra room for an office/studio...still getting that set up.

I realized that I haven't taken many pictures over the last month or two so I'm going to try to do more of that in the next few weeks.  I'm looking forward to sharing many projects and inspirations with you this year!  Thanks for reading this blog, and I hope you'll check back in here often!