Monday, January 31, 2011

Sunday Night at CHA


Another fantastic day here at the Craft and Hobby show in California. I know lots people are posting from here and no one does that better than Suze Weinberg, one of my blog links. Her pictures sum up the daily experience for a lot of us! So, until I return, I recommend reading her blog so you can see photos and some of the fun events I am attending!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Greetings from the "Fig"




I am posting for the first time using using BlogPress on my Ipad. We are at the Hotel Figueroa which is an old but well known hotel. I am hoping to experience some paranormal activity...but our window air conditioner is so loud that if a ghost came by I wouldn't hear a thing. The rooms all look like this.
I will have lots to post about when I return. I will just keep to a few short messages until I return.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Felted Heart


Something I made to wear this weekend at the Craft and Hobby Show in Los Angeles.
I am traveling light on this trip. I hope to post using my blackberry or IPad.

Friday, January 28, 2011

The Resin Candy Hearts

I would weigh a lot less if this was the only candy I was exposed to.

This cute heart ice cube tray is at my Dollerama store...for you guessed it $1.
A one dollar mold is fantastic! I am showing this now so that if you do live in Southern Ontario you can run right out to get one. These will not be in stock after Valentines.

These resin candy hearts are made up of two different resin pours. The first was to create a sparkly pink layer.
The second clear pour was to finish the hearts.
I have a fair amount of sanding and finishing to do. I'll start on that next week when I get back from the Craft and Hobby show in Los Angeles.

Are you my Facebook friend?
I am going to do some extra Facebook posting while I am in California.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Felted Brooch

Another sample!

I have looked everywhere for a cotton shirt the colour of the gorgeous green fibers in this brooch. No luck so far.

I always spend an hour or two in the evening hand stitching.

I found a perfect home for this fish bead. I have several. I bought them in Wisconsin in a cute bead shop. I know they are good luck, but they are especially popular in Paris in April. I sure hope I am wearing this brooch there!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Felted, Beaded, Hand Stitched Collar

.I have a little extra time this week to finish some of my felting projects.
Since I am heading to to the Craft and Hobby Show in LA this week, I want to bring along some of my own jewelery to wear.

This collar was an idea I had over the holidays. I finally brought it to life this past week. I stopped and started many times adding fibers to the finished length of new felt.

It is so pretty and so me!
Felted, Beaded, Hand Stitched Collar.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Button Day

I have so many errands to run today.
One stop I need to make is at the Blue Banana, where I have a small selection of my magnets for sale. The board must look awful right now. I have not stopped in since before Christmas. This grouping will refresh my board for sure! I love these little bees! I think I will put them all in one row so it looks like an invasion!

Monday, January 24, 2011

More Happy Layering

Two seriously sweet cards.

These are just two more of the free Crafter's Companion sheets I received in the UK publication; Papercraft Essentials, issue 62.

I have made a 2011 pledge to make something from every magazine I buy...or I am not buying it again. It is so easy to spend a small fortune on magazines. Luckily, the UK magazines give you so many samples in their publications that it is like buying a magazine and a workshop.

I loved making this layered bear! It is a called a circle invertage design. I cut the circles by hand, but it has been designed to work with the Spellbinders Nestabilities Circle...which I own and COMPLETELY FORGOT about. Darn. Oh well, a labour of love.

Then I cut all the square images creating this "pyramage."

These two cards were made between 10 and 11pm last night. I always look for something to do to kill a little time before I let the puppy out one last time at 11pm.

Love Popcorn the Bear!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Regrets, I've Had A Few

Was I crazy?
I just can't believe I didn't buy this necklace! I saw it in April of last year but bought others in the display case...now I am regretting not buying this one. I will return to this Paris shop very soon! I think I would have made a mold of the heart. I am smacking myself.

Felted Beads

Feeling the need to work on something warm, I hand-felted these beads.

Each bead started as a fairly thick pile of wool and silk fibers.

I also added some thick wool strands to each flat felt square,

Here are all the beads rolled, hand stitched and beaded.

I just love the possibility at this point. There was a slim chance that the beads would not be strung. I wanted to keep them just like this.
But in the end I knew that I would rather wear them as a necklace.

If you like this project, it is one of the classes I am teaching at Mixed Minded this May!

Enjoy my Sunday Bead Blogger Links.

A Bead A Day
Lisa's experimenting with alphabet stamps in wood. Please stop by to share your experiences with metal, wood or polymer clay stamping.

About.com Jewelry Making
What do you get when you combine yarn, crystals, and metal? A very cool double strand bracelet!

Beading Arts
Beaded objects don't always have to be wearable. How about some beaded postcards?

Beading & Books
If you make a mistake with a piece of jewelry, do you throw it out, start over, or try to fix it? Michelle shares a mistake she made trying to create a pendant using copper, ink, and a gloss sealant.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi creates a special set of felted brooches for a Canadian company.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy shares a surprise she received during the holidays.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Ceramic pendants with cut-out holes receive a sparkly window treatment in this project using resin from Lima Studios

Katie's Beading Blog
A simple idea for keeping the inspiration flowing.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Using lovely design elements from Artbeads, Jean creates an evocative pair of winter earrings which remind her of seasons long past...

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
This week one lucky winner will take home a beaded brooch by Cenya AND score some Soft Flex flexible beading wire!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Popcorn The Bear 3D Card

This wonderful card represents my time in the studio last night.

A big Friday night for me is an opportunity to just putter away in the studio with the TV for background sound. I was reading this Papercraft magazine from the UK and decided to try one of the free enclosed projects.

I just can't get over the generosity of these magazines from overseas. Crafter's Companion provided all the artwork for this wonderful paper kit. I have so many cards I can make but I was really attracted to the box card.

Popcorn the Bear could not be cuter! These decoupage sheets called to me so I spent a little time cutting them out. The lazy part of me wished they were already die cut...but the sentimental me thought how nice it it is to handcraft a card from scratch. The box was a good challenge. You can't see the lines that are already marked in the artwork. I used my Ultimate scoring tool to score all the lines so the box would have crisp edges.

At this point it occurred to me that my collection of paper flowers would really come in handy to embellish this box.

The magazine provided a "how to" and a photo of their finished card for inspiration.

I really enjoyed building my 3D bear.

My own flowers then created some fabulous borders.

The last step was to mount the paper box to a card body.
I think you know what I'll be doing today......I need a box for this card.

Enjoy your Saturday and my crafty blogger links!

About Family Crafts
The current make-it-over craft challenge is all about making Valentine card and treat holders. Do you have a favorite to share?

Aileen's Musings
Aileen has a new product announcement and giveaway!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi uses some free digital files to create new cards.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there is a tutorial on how to make recycled tape measure bracelets, using portmanteaus in your designs, vampire legends from a bunch of countries, Squam registration info and how to draw cute and crafty ladies such as you might be.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy's done some crafty Valentine's shopping, wee!

Cross Stitch at About.com
The road to success is not an easy path, but the journey is certainly worth it. Stitch the free Road to Success Sampler as a colorful reminder.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Have you ever crafted by camplight? Come on a crafting adventure with Eileen.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Learn how to make custom handcrafted ear wires in this week's video on demand for JTV's Jewel School!

Mixed Media Artist
Give your photos a delightful old-fashioned look, while still keeping the color!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
See how to make a flattened coil and recycled sweater bound journal inspired by the book Creative Bloom

Friday, January 21, 2011

$3.90 of Happy

I love a good sale! And I especially love a new tool at a good price.
I was in Lee Valley picking up some magnets when I spotted this new little gadget. Lee Valley is a Canadian company famous for gardening and woodworking tools and supplies. This is a tape clamp and it costs exactly $2.90. Brilliant idea!

Then I popped into my Walmart. These great clear stamps are $1.
So when you add in taxes I am pleased to say that $5 still goes along way.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Card Inspiration Is Everywhere!

I am sticking to one of my 2011 goals by showing you these two birthday cards.

I love magazines from the UK. They are usually full of extras and often they give you papers, embellishments and other components to make up many different cards. The Complete Cardmaking Magazine is a favorite because it highlights digital card making and each issue supplies you with hundred of digital files you can use. In 2011 I plan to actually do something with ever issue I buy.

From this last issue I pulled out some beautiful background papers. You can't believe the variety and options they provided in the free CD.

Because of the colour palette I decided it was high time for me to also do something with this set of vintage bridge tally cards I bought. I finally scanned them into my computer and cleaned up several of my favorites digitally.

Once I had all my layers sorted I began to think about the size of each finished card.

I took my layers to my trusty sewing machine. Gold thread was perfect to sew all the components together.

You would be amazed at how many layers my machine will sew through. This is such a pretty way to attach fabric and felt to paper.

The gold thread is like a little frame around each element.

The vintage bridge tally cards turned out really well! I printed them onto card stock after I changed the wording to "Happy Birthday." I then choose to attach them to the card body with double sided foam tape.

The cards were done...and then I found one more embellishment. My little resin filled square was the thing I attached to the blue card.