before the pretty

...comes the hard work. I'll be showing you a little something new tomorrow. It's looking rather wonderful, if I do say so myself.



I've never made it a secret that sewing isn't my thing. It gets me nervous to sit in front of the sewing machine. It doesn't feel like a friendly place for me. Nothing like what I feel with paper and cutting tools in my hands. Regardless of that, I've always been surprised at how giddy I feel when I get some fabric (even in just swatches) with my designs on it.

The most recent package from Spoonflower was no different. This is called Segments and it was completely inspired by this box which evolved from this piece I made ages ago. I know it's a bright set for this time of the year but I just couldn't muster a muted palette. Another trio of colors is coming.

I also posted Slope (I have to reshoot the photo). It may appear a bit delicate at first, but I can see it being used for larger scaled items, like curtains, sheets or large cushions.

I got small swatches that I can use for sachets but I'm waiting for a larger piece of Segments in navy for cushions for our room. I'll show it to you when it's done—soon!

• • •

The difference between try and triumph is a little umph.  ~Author Unknown

making

I'm in the middle of a busy albeit invisible productive week. Invisible because most my work is tucked away in my sketchbooks. Some of you have asked to see them, but to be honest I totally shy away from being that open with my ramblings and doodles. It would be like showing my underwear drawer—although I'm sure none of you are interested in that! I've always admired people that open their sketchbooks to the world.

Now work in progress is another story... That I don't mind showing you at all. Strange?

You've seen these little animals before here (worked from my Animal Friends fabric). They were framed and completely sold out. I ordered some more of the same designs and I'm trying to figure out how I will work with them this time. A combination with paper is a sure bet and small bits of fabric are a possibility. We shall see.

For now, I do know that if I don't start on the little doll that C asked for I won't hear the end of it. But I'm honestly worried if I'm going to do the design any justice—specially since she wants me to combine two designs. Gulp.

• • •

Friday Tidbit
I'm completely inspired by Abigail Reynolds' work. Amazing.

Have a crafty weekend!

frame of mind

I've kept looking at my cube wondering what the next step is and this is what I've come up with so far—a frame. Originally, I was going to place the smaller cube suspended in the center but it seemed a bit obvious. For anyone that's curious—the frame is a 4" (10cm) cube.





If any of you are wondering why I 'waste' my time with this—the truth of the matter is that I'm not too sure how to put it into words. I think it's just a matter of having something neutral to work on. It's not related to either one of my businesses, it's not client driven, there's no deadline and the outcome won't affect anything. It's a mental break type of project that allows me to be more productive when I get back to my 'real' to-do list.

Working with paper relaxes me. I'm curious... what relaxes you?

love comes in all shapes and sizes

Thank you so much for all of your kind words and support. Every comment just made me smile. You're all so very kind.


I've been a little quiet because I've been hard at work on all the great ideas you gave me in my giveaway thread. When I have so many fun ideas in the works I wish I could work at twice the speed or have a week worth of 'just work on what I want' time.

These l.o.v.e. boxes came about because my little C was playing with her alphabet wooden blocks one day and I just had the urge to make them as favor boxes. I will have the complete alphabet available as soon as I finish all the illustrations. It'll just take me a bit to finish 3 illustrations per letter. But I'm really happy with the ones I've done so far. This will be the only set of alphabet blocks that will be red. I'm using a different color palette for the whole set. I can't wait to finish them all.

•••

Mommy snippet - While I was getting dinner ready, my little C decided she needed to put a small stuffed giraffe to bed. She found a toy blanket (which is one I used to use at her age - yep, it's still around) for the bed, a little pillow. All she was missing was another one to cover the giraffe. She asked me to help her find one. I followed her to her room and after we found what she needed she was so happy that she skipped out to keep on playing. Walking behind her and seeing her skipping like that sent such a wave of happiness over me. It was such a very short moment but it was sweet, spontaneous and just plain ol' happy. I caught myself smiling all the way to the kitchen.

varying results

This is going to take a while, but I can't wait to see it complete. This project came to mind as soon as I saw this lamp that Holly bought for her new apartment. I'm going to make a paper version. I'll be cutting a small section at a time, between breaks from my other projects. I figure I'll be done by the end of the week. So far so good.



The lamp idea came about on Saturday, after I tried my hand at sewing a tote of sorts. It didn't work out the way I planned it so I've already pulled it apart. The only evidence it existed are these photos. I still had pins in the bag and I already knew it wasn't working. I wanted a tote but I wanted one that didn't exactly look like one - if that makes sense. The straps were all wrong and the actual bag was too long (it's much wider than appears in the photo - the sides are tucked in). So that was that.

Even though I don't like the bag, I decided to show it here to hopefully show a progression (improvement!) of my sewing projects as I make my sewing machine my friend. But I'll freely admit that it makes me uncomfortable to show something I'm not happy with. No taking it back now.



The good thing here, is that the idea is out of my head and I can move on to something different. I had to spend a couple of minutes explaining this to my lovely engineer husband (the part where I didn't consider it a waste of time... lol). I'm trying to decide what to make next. For some reason I think this pattern is better suited for something home related like a pillow, coasters or place mats. Maybe that's just me. It'd be interesting to see what someone else would make with fabric I've designed. Any suggestions on what to make? Not that I'll be sewing any time soon.

I'm going to have a very busy week ahead of me. I'll be editing the manuscript for my book, maybe for the last time, and I need to take more photos. So I've decided that there will be no internet for me. I'm going to my little corner of the world and sticking my head in my work for several days.

Have a great week and good luck to the kiddos that are starting school in the next few days. We're starting our second full week and everything is going great so far. I hope your weekend was as relaxed as our was.

new ideas

This is where I sat this morning going over some paperwork and working on some sketches for a new logo project (excuse the iphone hazy quality photo). I think one of the most exciting parts of logo work is this brainstorming session I have with myself. I can literally dump all my ideas onto paper and not have them dancing around in my head. It's liberating. It's also interesting to catch people trying to take a peek at my sketchbook. I feel like they want to ask me what I'm doing but they don't. If they only knew that I don't mind being asked.

I'm at home now and the weather is so absolutely perfect that almost every window in the house is open. I can hear the birds chirping away and the breeze is wonderful. There is no way I cannot be creative on a day like today.

Speaking of creativity - I just saw this and it is now on my list of summer projects to work on with the kids. It will be a lot of fun (most important!) and it will also help my little C retain her alphabet lessons from this year. The summer is just so long and my mind keeps working on how I will keep the kiddos entertained.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! 
- to Diane for mentioning my diorama project on her blog and congratulations to her for being in the same Craft issue as well. If you've never listened to her podcast you must! It's wonderful.
- to Natalie for featuring my perpetual calendar on Craftzine. I've already gotten messages from people that will be using the calendar as Mother's Day and teachers gifts.

confession time

You have no idea how hard it’s been to be tight lipped about the little story I’m about to tell you. No idea! I didn’t want to say anything until I signed on the dotted line. I just did that today. So here it is: I’ve started writing a paper craft book that will be published in mid-2009. Yeah!! (you can now picture me jumping up and down, up and down, up and down).

This whole thing started last year when my literary agent discovered my work. Thank you K for being so instrumental in all of this, for being so patient with me and for answering all my silly novice questions. You’re wonderful! And of course, a big thank you to my publisher who believed my proposal was book worthy.

The unassuming sketch book you see above has all my project ideas in its pages. I’ve been carrying it around for months and months. It is a treasure trove of sketches and doodles. Most of them will end up in the book and others may make their appearance on some other occasion. It’s been a great experience to stretch my creative muscles and come up with what I consider well designed and interesting projects. I obviously still have a lot of work ahead of me but I’m so very excited with the challenge.

The book will contain paper craft projects for the home and will reflect my typical clean lined and quiet style. I certainly hope that the book lives up to everyone’s expectations but more than anything, I hope to live up to my own worst critic - me.

So if any of you were wondering why my tutorials had slowed down – now you know why. It’s so very frustrating to have so much work that I can’t share just yet. You’ll have to wait and see it all in my new book.

I’m excited and nervous but with my husband and family cheering me on I’m sure this is going to be a lot of fun. I'm also happy to be finally sharing this on my blog. So many of you have been so generous with your comments about my projects that I felt like I was cheating on you by not sharing all of this sooner.

Now I can finally exhale... :)

wip - martha has her version and I have my own

I saw these kits in Michael's today. They're very cute but I had already decided that for the holidays my white trees needed some little houses for company. So here is my first little village house in progress. In case you're curious it's 3" tall. I'm trying to decide if I want to embellish it at all or keep it really simple. I may be leaning towards the latter.

Thank you! - To Molly for posting my magnet project on the BabyCenter MOMformation blog a few days ago and to Natalie for posting my fabric + gift tag on the Craft blog. Thank you so much.

lessons learned

How does that saying go - "measure twice, cut once"? Today I learned the hard way that it really is true. Here is a prototype of a little pear that I was experimenting with. After perfecting it I was planning on using it for a shadow box piece and now it doesn't fit! Grrr... Back to the drawing board.



Inspired by our costume shopping for the kids today (no time to make them this year), here is another little project I worked on today. It was really easy to make but now I have to figure out how to hang it near/or on our front door.

I cut a pumpkin shape out of foamcore and covered it with black paper. As many of you know, there are foamcore boards that already have color on one side so that's one step that can easily be avoided if you feel like tackling this project. There's one tiny detail that is missing. I want to cover the eyes/mouth/nose holes with orange tissue paper on the back side - so they can have a nicer glow to them. The lighting is basically a light rope that is taped to the back and goes around and around. It doesn't look pretty but nobody will see that. I used a pumpkin shape but I can see silhouettes of a haunted house, a cat, a bat, etc that would work just as well. Now to hang it up... dear hubby was holding it up against the wall for this photo. :)



By the way, I purchased the light rope today (in the Christmas decorations section) and was shocked by what I read on another box of lights which I certainly did not purchase. There was a warning label (I don't recall the brand) that stated that there are know cancerous effects caused by handling the wire of those particular string lights. "Wash hands after handling" was part of the warning. Ok... hmmmm what the heck!!!!? And these things are on store shelves among countless other items which may be similar in nature? Unbelievable. Where have I been? I'm normally good about reading a box of anything before purchasing it but now I will really be more vigilant.

To end with something a little more fun... Check out a Blogger feature, that I just found out about, called Blogger Play. It allows you to view photos that have recently been uploaded. It's fun to sit and watch for a while. Enjoy!

EDIT: Lori just made a comment below that the BloggerPlay feature may come with adult content. I read up on this before posting about it and in the FAQs Blogger states that they are trying to catch any adult content from making it onto this feature. Apparently they can't catch it all. My apologies! So basically you enter at your own risk. I've been lucky and haven't seen anything...

thumbelina

A little girl in a great big forest. That's how I feel right now. Only my forest isn't really full of trees but mountains of things to do. I guess that's a good thing but sometimes I wish there were more hours in the day!

Here is my latest addition to the shop - Thumbelina.



If you click on the image below you can see it a little larger and clearer.



I really like how these are all turning out and I have a lot of fun making them. This weekend I realized that I can't see myself making more than one of each. They just wouldn't feel as special. I initially offered to make them limited editions but now they are going to be one-of-a-kind. Once each is sold... that's it. I do think I'll make more of each character or idea but the composition will be different for each.

One thing I may not have explained about my pieces is that each layer (typically two per piece) is entirely cut out of one sheet of paper. There are no bits and pieces. The only obvious additions that are small and added last are the colored pieces of paper. Other than that they are full sheets placed back to back.

I'm also thinking of making some new block prints to my new collection. My linoleum blocks are calling my name.

This is a little recycling project that I've been working on since last week. It's taking much longer than I expected and other things have pulled me away from it. Hopefully I'll have it completed by the end of this week and I'll be able to show it off.



Have a great day everyone! :)

polymer clay + linoleum block

I used a little break from playing with the kids to make something quickly. This left over polymer clay (from this little test) had been sitting as a little lump of nothing long enough. Today I had the block that I made this print with nearby so I created these two little buttons - if you can call them that. Before setting them I made a hole all the way through the circle and the rectangle cutouts in the other. The color of this clay is not my favorite but I'm trying to stay in a "use what you have" mode (easier said than done!). My plans for these involve my sewing machine and the linen in the background. Yes, I said the sewing machine - shudder!

For now I'm just waiting for book revisions. It's going to be another long night...

what I do at 2am

It was a very uneventful weekend. It doesn't help that I was working on Friday and Saturday night until 3am. I'm helping put together a book that will be, in the near future, reaching a Barnes & Noble near you. My part of the project isn't too terribly exciting. I'm just designing the simple inside text part of the book (black & white). However, it is exciting that this project is finally coming to life. I'll post a link to the book once it gets published.

As I was working on chapters and waiting for revisions (2am-ish) I felt I needed to do something other than surf the net or do any "thinking" work. I needed to relax and stay awake! So I started carving a new block using one of my most recent doodles as inspiration. These ovals have been popping up a lot in my sketch book since I worked on this.

The top right orange card is what I started with and the left yellow card is what I ended up with after I decided to keep carving. I used a 3 x 4 block but what I really wish I had was HUUUGE piece of linoleum that I could carve and print on fabric! Wouldn't that be fun?!



EDIT: I posted a new interview at Crafty Synergy - finally! :)

new projects

We had a calm weekend and I had some time to figure out what new projects I'd like to work on next. I love to crochet and knit and I haven't done that in a while. I'm going to work on both simultaneously. I'll be knitting a blanket for our bedroom and ripple blankets for the kids. They picked out three colors each and I'm set to start.

I'm going to work on my blanket square by square (as in granny blankets) but I'm going to knit each square differently. I prefer very simple designs so I picked out this book from the library and I'm picking out my favorite patterns to piece together the blanket. I figure that by making squares I'll feel like I'm making more progress and they will be like small projects instead of one big one. My blanket will be an off white color. The one place I can't find myself to bring color to is our bed. It's all white.



This is a project in the making. I'll be ready to show it at the end of the week and it will be for the shop!



This is a small surprise I found when I was going to download photos. That's what you get when you teach your 4yr old to handle the camera and you leave it within reach. ;)



And now we're off to swimming lessons!

still busy

I'm back...sort of. I'm still busy but I figured it'd be nice to check in. As much as I enjoy blogging it was actually nice to take a break from it. I caught up with some of my design work among other things and now I can work on getting the shop going. Another reopening date has come and gone. I really really hate that but I'm not going to dwell on it. Being a mom/wife/professional well... something has got to give at some point and I'd rather stay sane than try to get everything done.

To keep it short and sweet here are a few more things...

I've been turning my block printing/embroidered practice pieces into the real deal (to be sold as limited edition items)


Carving more trees (this one is already spoken for even before making it into the shop!)


Some mommy/daughter time


Little C takes a shot of the park