Gathering Dust

Still Can't Shoot or Sew Straight

Last week I decided that I was going to "take the week off".  I was still going to my big girl job, but when I got home, I was going to do whatever I wanted.

(That's not as provocative as it sounds, mostly it meant I did some sewing, crafting and organizing)

I finally finished the cover for my Remains of the Day journal.  I may be the last person on earth who hasn't already taken this on-line class, but I've heard nothing but good things about it, so after three years of pondering, I decided to jump right in.

It's great because not only do you NOT have to sew straight, you're encouraged to stitch crazy- like I did with my wandering seam on the piece of brown tapestry.

(picture borrowed from Mary Ann Moss, creator of the class)

My next step will be to make pages- stacks and stacks of pages like these, hopefully using up many of those little scraps of paper that are too cool or pretty or interesting to throw away but seem to take over.

What I love about this class is that about the only thing you need is a sewing machine and paper- any paper.  And I do have plenty of paper (and other stuff).

Last week, on my "vacation", I sorted some of my paper, housed it in cigar boxes and made labels.

I've done the same thing with this cubby that I filled with cigar boxes. The labels help enormously.

I've never believed in being super organized- I want to be able to find things, but time spent organizing is time NOT spent crafting.  But I keep looking at these cigar boxes and their pitiful handwritten tags and wondering if I should make all new matching labels or tags. 

All printed in the same font, on the same size tag, all with a string, or NO string, but all the same; or all with red Dennison style labels.  It would take some time, but the uniformity might stear me onto more creativity.

I don't know, what do you think?  I know, I know, such problems...storage, scraps and sewing.

Sew Somerset magazine apparently was able to overlook my lack of sewing skills and published a mini quilt I made.  I got my preview copy in the mail yesterday, I believe it will be at the craft and book stores on Jun 1. I didn't know it was going to be published, so it was a nice surprise.

 

What Did I Buy at the Auction?

So much of the time when I unpack my auction or estate sale finds, I realize that besides buying "stuff", I've also bought WORK.

It would be so much easier to be the kind of antique dealer that goes on a shopping trip, buys a vase, a plate, a figurine, a book, a candlestick etc etc and could just slap a price tag on it and call it ready to sell.

But I just seem to be drawn to projects- like this bundle of baby shoes- they'll have to be stuffed with tissue, laced and possibly cleaned before I can sell them.

A stash of beautiful baby clothes- but they need to be soaked, washed, starched and ironed.

I also have a habit of buying items that need "just a little tweak"- like these bank boxes.  One of them I can't open, and the other won't stay closed!

A box of old letters- actually any box of old paper- I can't resist.  But they'll take sorting and bundling to get them ready to sell.

Same with this box of old snapshots.  Great fun to look at, but time consuming.

But really- I'm not complaining.  I enjoy the "work" of getting things ready to sell, and get satisfaction in the cleaning, sorting, arranging and even ironing.

Can't you tell how happy I am?

A Necklace, A Sampler and A Close But No Cigar (Box)

I think if you talk to anyone who's been to an art event, or even just spent a productive craft day with creative friends, you leave feeling re-energized, full of ideas and plans for new projects.

That's been the effect Bird Song had on me.  I finished Karla's necklace project and I think her idea of using a crochet medallion as the focal point was such a beautiful and unique touch.

This is my finished project for Lisa's Faire Theater class. 

This was her example.

I does look like I strayed a little off track- but I couldn't find a cigar box to use for my project.  I know that not everyone travels with a bunch of cigar boxes, but if I'm crafting or antiquing, I usually have at least one or two filled with supplies or things I'm selling. 

So, I improvised- I used a book cover and foam core to make a theater in the round. 

Lisa had beeswax to make fairy wings, but I used it to cover the back of my stage.  I'd never used wax before, and it was fun...I'd love to try more encaustic art.

Another project I finished last week was this sampler.  I've been wanting to do a sampler for a while, and with Memorial Day and 4th of July coming up, I went with red and blue on an oatmeal colored cloth. 

I picked out the alphabet from a book, and the border from another book- but I think it needs something else.

- vines around the letters?

-some kind of filler figure between the letters and the borders?

-something 3-d like sewing on lace or buttons?

-maybe a straight stitch border around the letters and another around the outside border?

Suggestions?

Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller? 

(A not so obscure reference to the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.)

 

Digital Bird Collages

Blue bird postcard on French script.

As part of Bird Song, I hosted a nature journal swap- everyone made six pages, I swapped them out, made covers and coerced the Other Karla into putting the books together for me.

Sparrow on the back of a cabinet card.

I used Picmonkey's overlay feature to create some simple digital collages for the covers.  I was happy with how easy it was to use and thought I'd share the images for you to use.

Bird on sheet music.

Singer Sewing Trade card on postcard.

To save a picture to your computer, click on the image, and it will open in a larger window.  Just right click and pick "Save as".

Birds on French Ledger paper.

Bird on an antique photo album mat.

Happy creating!

Bird Song Collage Elements Project

I was very flattered when Karla invited me to teach class at Bird Song.  I went with a project that could be simple or complicated depending on how much time the class wanted to spend on it. I had enough supplies that some gals were even able to make two collages.

The idea was "collage elements"- make a number of small collages and then arrange them on a background made of different pieces of black and white text- German music, German text, a Kansas City grain report from 1925, and a book of math charts.

The picture above is some samples that I made, and one that Karla made.

I also made an extra large collage and velcroed the elements to it, so I could take the pieces off to show them around the class.

This one shows how I used stamping to make a frame.

This is an example of a contact paper transfer.  A contact paper transfer lets you create a transparent image so you can see the background paper through the image.

I had fun teaching the project and was just amazed with the finished projects that my "peeps" came up with.

Hope they had as much fun as I did!

Bird Song This and That

My pictures of Karla's Bird Song event are a little late in coming.  My plan was to finish some of my projects and then post about the event. But, well, you know how it goes...I'm hoping for some crafting time this weekend.

In the meantime, I've got some pictures of some little touches that caught my eye...like this cute tag that Karla made for all of the gift boxes.  Each one of them has a REAL four leaf clover.

It was nice to see so many familiar faces, and make so many sweet new friends.

Notice the birds and bird cages hanging from the ceiling?

Karla even took the time to decorate the glue bottles!

These coconut birds nests and decorated cookies were just a tiny portion of the sweets Karla had for her "peeps".

One of the nicest "touches" of the event wasn't put together by Karla, it was a surprise FOR Karla.  Laurie had the idea to decorate the fairy trail through woods.  She and her Colorado peeps, Rebecca and Suzanne and Cami and her Texas peeps, Tami and Nicki hung fairies from trees, ribbons from branches and tucked windmill flowers along the trail.

Karla was just tickled because now she knew how excited the kids felt when they walked the fairy trail after she had decorated it.