pamgarrison

I had so much fun stitching away in Mary Stanley's "charm school" class. Mary had a number of samples and uses for the charms we made. I made a mobile out of the charms because her mobile sample was so cute. Above is a little flower made using one of the buttons I bought on Sunday. Here are a couple other "charms" :

How cute is that acorn charm she taught us to make? she gave us each a pre-drilled acorn top she had collected along the way. Here's a photo of the whole mobile so you get the idea:

        

 

a close-up of the embroidery hoop top:

Charlotte suggested I add a house:

There's always got to be a bird these days, right? And a heart and flower too:

can't have too many flowers:

           As always Mary, I love spending time with you! Mary is just about the sweetest, most soft-hearted soul I know. Genuine through and through and quietly playful to boot. Her classes are always fun and this one was no exception. Thanks Mary for the great class, ideas, and supplies too. xo

Sunday's fun

Sunday morning Charlotte and I met sweet Alicia for breakfast. Neither of us had previously had the pleasure of meeting her in person, and she certainly didn't disappoint. She is every bit as fun, real, and engaging as she is on her blog. I'm just sorry that the time flew by so quickly! But of course, it did. I asked her for directions to Monticello Antique Market and off we went our separate ways. I love to find treasures in a new town. Above are some stereoscopic cards I bought. the green one reads: "Fun in the Studio-(painting)". Had to get that one. And here are some other treasures I brought home:

Some vintage mercury glass buttons and (I think) celluloid buttons too. Some sample trims from a salesman's book of lace.

         

  

Blue tinted MOP buttons, lingerie bags and a pretty blue bowl that Charlotte had a great idea for...you'll see soon when I get it made.

 

A lovely dried flower piece that says "Ben, age 9" on the back. More lace trim, a vintage pillowcase and pretty pink coronation cord.

A wicker and velvet ribbon basket, a roll of wallpaper and a hook on lamp (I've got it hanging on a cabinet door in the art room now.)

It doesn't look like much here, but boy, it sure added up fast! I did get an odd look from the flight attendant when she glanced inside my shopping bag carry-on. I guess they don't see a lot of waste baskets and lampshades ha ha.

 Ok, off to incorporate some of it into the completion of my artFiberfest projects. Hoping to have finished projects to show you soon!

home again

Returned home last night from artFIBERfest, another fun week of stitching and sewing and playing with fibers. But the most fun is being with friends, both old and new.  I have some projects to share, but want to finish them a bit more first. Until then, here's a couple photos from yesterday, when Charlotte and I went exploring before our flights home. It was right in front of this church where I discovered that my suitcase zipper was broken and irreparable! To the lovely lady walking by who guided us to a Fred Meyers store; THANK YOU!!  Thanks to the directions from the passerby, I was able to buy a new suitcase and make it to my gate with 10 minutes to spare before my plane was set to board. Oh, how fun traveling can be!

              

pages in progress in the old (water color paper) journal

Feeling like a neglectful blogger, so I thought I'd cheat and do a quick post with more journal pages. These are in the water color paper type journals, different than the last post. In the page on the left above, many of the images are from Anahata's clip art for artists book that she used to sell. Don't think she sells them anymore, I found them here. And, hey, look, here's more wrapping paper from my doodles, you could always cut that up as collage fodder! I love those peeps at Papaya (and I'm not just saying that because Ana gave me a sweet shout out this week!). Ok, back to the journals. The page on the right has newer wallpaper scraps.

Above I used pictures from an old calendar and copied Gustavo Aimar's birds. Below magazine clippings mixed with Anahata's clip art, wallpaper, an old birthday greeting and ARTchixtudio.com collage sheets.

These pages below were just doodles, watercolor, pens and old paper. You can see more progress in the photo below. Bummed I wrote in the one on the left, liked it better before. But really, it doesn't matter. That's the good part. All just play in progress. Next post I'll be sure to talk about something other than journaling! See you then.

another new journal

I was mentioning that I was starting a new journal, a different style than my journals of late. I wanted to go back to my pre- water color paper days, when I would use any old paper and glue stuff all over it and journal in a more daily-diary form. Not so much painting and pens as slapping down any old thing and grabbing any pen I could find. Very Sabrina Ward Harrison inspired. Her books opened up my world when I discovered them so long ago. I loved them even more because I first saw them at Anthropologie, and they have such cool taste in books. Anyway, I'm feeling the need for both types of journals in my life right now. Surrendering to the fact that I may never be a one type of journal girl. Not a big deal, don't know why I've been thinking I should be in the first place. So above, on the right is my new journal. As I was making it (gluing papers down and doing some page painting), I made a second on the left that I think I'm going to sell eventually. Here's some photos so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Here's some of the Sabrina pages: here, here, here, here, and here. Well, that's what I can find online anyway.

It wasn't until I recently discovered Mary Ann Moss and her cool blog that I really felt inspired in this way again. It was this series of hers that opened that wonderful, free, easy, no-judgement-journaling door for me again. Nothing is too precious (like the watercolor paper being too nice for me to totally cover up. -silly, I know), the emphasis on collage and paper scrap vs. paints and writing and all the pens and other fun journaling supplies. Both types are great, and it feels good to have both types of journals in play right now. (I'm going to add a Moleskine type illustration journal to my pile as well, like that Youtube video of Gustavo Aimar's in the previous post...how amazing is that one? Just have to try that type...)

And speaking of amazing ...how about this journal entry of Mary Ann's (is that what she goes by, or is it Mary?I ask those of you in the know)  Well, it is to die for in my opinion. 

Ok, there are so many great visual journal styles and so much inspiration out there, don't you want to jump in? Do it any way that makes it simple for you, this kind, that kind, that other kind, any kind. Start there. All right, off my soapbox - I realize not everyone journals, but for those of you that think you might want to, consider this a kick in the pants!

inspired by gustavo aimar

I love love love everything Gustavo Aimar creates. I mean seriously, how cute are these?!? And his illustrations? Darling. He makes wonderful collages too.  But after seeing his paper mache bird, I had a sudden desire to try my hand at some paper mache type play. Above you see an owl, and here's a birdie:

and a mushroom in progress...

Lots of ideas in my head. finding the art of paper mache a bit tricky, but a fun challenge. Going to keep having fun this way until I get it out of my system! Might have a few of these for sale at artFIBERfest too...

I just found this youtube link if you want to see more of the amazing Gustavo. Enjoy!

journal spreads in progress

I'm making myself a journal the way I used to, yearning to journal that way again; more masking tape and staples and rough backgrounds, on paper other than water color paper. With the expensive water color paper I only collage bits of the page because I feel it'd be wasting the paper to paper over too much of it. So there is a different feel to the end result.  Once I have it made I'll show you what I mean. I'll try to find some old pages from those type of journals too, but for now I thought I'd share some of the spreads from my current journals (2 of the 3 I have going right now). All of these have been painted and collaged on, next they'll get writing and who knows what else. I'll show you them again when they've been played on some more.

switching my stitching to sweatshirts

I bought a sweatshirt on sale at Target and decided to use it as a new sampler background. The sweatshirt had some pencil lines, "New York", and bits of color on it to start, but it looked more like I had spilled Kool Aid on it than an intentional design. I took it as an excuse to stitch away. Here's a better look so you can see what I'm talking about.

I'm going to try to show some restraint and stop stitching on it now, but it's not easy when you are addicted to adding bits and bobs. Off to find a sweater, or apron, or birdcage cover or a skirt to stitch on...oh, the possiblitlies are endless, aren't they? And, in case you were wondering, it's already been through the wash too and came out A-ok.

i've been stitching again

It's just so relaxing. Found a link to this site that offers free tutorials on stitches and lots of other information for hand embroidery. I watched three videos and found out all sorts of things that I've been doing wrong. I'm been a make-it-up-as-I-go-along-girl so far, but it inspired me to learn the true techniques. If you've been wanting to start, you'll find the info over there helpful and it'll keep you from having to re-learn your bad stitching habits :). 

 Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

in a 70's sort of mood

When taking photos of the wall project of last post, I edited out this plant, but then I started taking pictures of it and the other two I had recently bought for inside the house. It surprised me how much of a 70's vibe the plants have to me. This next one is in the living room and I had been looking everywhere for one (although I don't know the name of it, sorry) as I had seen it in every home magazine and wanted one for a giant pot I have. Isn't it funny that plants go in and out of fashion? This big leafed beauty is even in the current Pottery Barn magazine for proof of that point.

 

And while at Home Depot this past weekend figuring out a way to hang the wall art boxes, I stumbled upon this guy and couldn't resist bringing him home. All the plants were bought at Home Depot in the houseplant section, but none had tags on them, so I don't know what it is either. Here it sits on the dining room buffet. That's a French antique wine bottle drying rack on the wall next to it. I've got a good idea for it to come in a future post!