Painterly:: Day 3

 

At this point in my week of painting, I'm wondering if I should tell you that the lighting in my art room stinks? Or that I do know the purple up there looks just awful! Or that these are just backgrounds. I still have to collage and then paint in the details (the fun part). But I won't tell you those things because this week I'm just posting photos - real photos of my process for all to see. xo

Painterly:: Day 2

Painterly:: Day 1

Tuesday Tidbits

1. I have a new color option in my love cocoons that will be added to my etsy shop today! I love this color so much - it is delicate and classic. I'm going to call it "dune blue."

2. I'm honored and delighted to tell you that I will be part of this year's Show Me Etsy at the Contemporary Art Museum. Thirty etsy sellers are selected each year to participate. More details as we get closer to the December 8th date!

3. Have you heard of Heartsy? It is like a groupon for Etsy. You do have to register, but the deals are great and the gift idea goodness (the holidays are approaching) almost overwhelming! (almost)

4. I start a new 8-week collage class at this school today. If any new parents are here checking out my blog, welcome!

5. In art news, I'm also in a fine art (juried! hooray!) show in November so next week I will be painting everyday. I'm thinking about just showing segments of what I'm doing with no text. If you check in and have an opinion - about my work or the new posting style - please leave a comment!

xo

Super Model Visits St. Louis

Well, super model in some circles. Some very important Groark-Blank circles...

My niece arrives today from Hawaii. To those of you who have purchased or received love cocoons, she is the "model" on all of my wrapping! I'm selling about a cocoon a week (more when I have a show obviously) and I'm still enjoying knitting them up so much! I also have a new color - a very pale dusty blue - that I'll show you next week.

Happy Weekends! xo

Headbands in the shop!

 I have a whole bouquet of headbands available for sale in my etsy shop!

  I would like to thank this funny face, Miss E for modeling for me. 

She chose the photo below to go on the blog...

...and I chose this one.

  Awwwwww....go buy a headband! xo

Yes, of course you could make your own!

Here are my tutorials (1 and 2) for making felt headbands.

Fall Felt Flower Headband {tutorial}

Here is a simple tutorial for making a fun fall headband!

 You will need: felt or material in graduating colors, scissors, pinking shears, needle and floss, a fun button and a headband of your choosing.

 Using your pinking shears, cut out circles in your graduating colors.

Select a button to be the center of your flower/circle and sew it into place. You will also be sewing all of the felt circles together.

When you're done, leave the thread. Don't cut it, because you will use it later to sew your flower to your headband.

Take your regular scissors and cut little triangles out of your smallest circle. Then go to your next circle and cut triangles out from the same space. Continue until you have cut triangles out of each circle.

Now your flower is done. Select a headband to use. I linked to the headbands we use on my Valentines tutorial. My daughter loves these and thinks they're the most comfortable. They also provide a lot of give when sewing your flowers to the band.

If you like your work to look neat, you can cut out a small piece of complementary fabric and glue it to the back of your flower to hide your stitches. This is just an extra - not necessary.

You can experiment. I didn't cut petals from the blue circles and on the purple/grey headband, I made the circles askew (love this one!).

Ta da! If you like this idea, but don't have time to make one, I'll have a whole new headband selection in my shop tomorrow! xo

A Few Notes:
If you make a really large flower, I would not cut the petals from the outer two circles until after the flower was sewn to the headband. This will just ensure that the petals are cut as evenly as possible in case they pull a little when being sewn to the band.


It would be really fun to mix fabrics and felts - and maybe even some paper. I'm going to try that next.


Try embroidering something on your smallest circle - an initial, peace sign, leaf, snowflake?


To new bloggers, I thought the wrinkled fabric background in my photos here would look kind of vintage/old school/cool. Nope...it just looks wrinkled. Lesson learned. Backgrounds should be plain and simple (and neat).

The Upcycle Exchange

Hello locals!

Have you visited the Upcycle Exchange? Do you know about this amazing resource in South St. Louis?

The Upcycle Exchange is a pay-as-you-wish resource for post-consumer (donated) art and craft supplies.

Autumn Wiggins is the founder of the Upcycle Exchange (and the Strange Folk Festival, coming up in two weeks).

 

Located in historic Dutchtown, The Upcycle Exchange is part of a professional collective that also includes a therapist and a graphic artist.

And "pay-as-you-wish" is not a typo. Each customer is welcome to dig through the impeccably organized Ikea-fied space, fill a bin and pay what s/he believes is fair. 

Each month, 10 percent of sales is donated to a local charity.

 

The selection is incredible: rubber stamps, glitter, fabric, yarn, jewelry components, paper, frames, watercolors, oils, crayons, glue, ribbon, tools...

If you are making a quilt, helping a child with a diorama or looking for that perfect piece to finish your next assemblage, chances are you'll find more than you need right here.

My daughter made a great purse by sewing together two complementary upholstery samples (with grommets already in place looking very cool), an old belt from one of the bins (for the strap) and a vintage pin (bling). She finished it in a day and it is darling.

 

The vintage jewelry always seems to be stocked with something new.

And there's humor too. Yes, that bin reads, "A Hot Mess of Lace." I have not yet found high-end yarn (which, honestly, is a relative term), but I have been so impressed at the quantity of supplies for beginners and artists who may consider their needs a bit more "seasoned."

 

Here's my favorite table of course - paper. The old books are so special, as well as the vintage sheet music, wall paper samples, old stationery, craft magazines and more. I seek out the old, but we have found plenty of brand-new-never-opened supplies too.

It's a good idea to visit their website to check their hours. While you're there, check out their wish list for things they're hoping to have donated.

Upcycle Exchange

3309 Meramec

St. L, 63118

314.282.7042

What a lovely, community-building, good-for-the-earth idea. Let me know if you go! xo

welcome change

To those of you still checking in, thank you! THANK YOU!!! I have had all kinds of "aha" moments in the past few weeks and will share the good ones here eventually. For now, I just wanted to check in and say that blogging will resume and I am delighted. I love blogging! To those of you on the fence about it, just begin. Embrace the challenge, don't set your sights too high right off, and enjoy it. 

My kids are back in school, my house is now quiet in the day and I'm rediscovering my proverbial path over here. More soon. xo

Goodbye Summer...

I'm still having technical difficulties...please hang in there (here) with me. Blogging will resume this week for sure. xo

C'mon...you've seen kids pose with weirder...

 

Happy Labor Day Weekend! Thought I'd let you know that my website is still down (very disappointing), but my elusive cucumber plant is producing! We're getting about two cucumbers a day - normal-sized cucumbers. And we've had one giant that needed to be photographed! They look weird, but they are delish!

Have wonderful weekends and remember to take a moment or two and send healthy wishes/prayers/karma/energy to all our neighbors still dealing with the work of Irene. xo