Even though Valentine’s day is not a highly celebrated event at our house, I can appreciate a shot of the brightly saturated pinks around the house in the middle of a Seattle winter. This DIY Valentine is quick, easy, fun, and addictive. Got wooden beads and paint? You’re all set to make these!
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I am really dragging my feet on getting out the Christmas decorations.
I mean, is it really, truly Christmas? So soon?
Instead of facing the thousands of decoration-filled boxes we have in the basement, I did what makes to total sense to no one but me.
I made a new wreath.
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Maybe it all started with the Day of the Dead quilt, or maybe it’s the gloomy Seattle weather we’ve had, but for whatever reason, I’m into Halloween craft projects way more this year than in year’s past.
There was actually a whole bunch of Halloween decor crafting afternoon last week.
Which around here apparently means lots of spray paint.
Easiest wreath ever. The spray paint a bright fluorescent orange, but a green would be fun too. Our porch is a little dark, so the bright is a nice touch. The grapevine wreath is from Joann’s.
Two coats of spray paint later and I hot glued on every plastic bug, spider, mini skeleton head, and rubber snake I could find in our bin of Halloweens past.
The finishing touch is a cover with spider webs.
I’ve been bumping into a stack of my quilts in my studio for a few months now, that is until I asked my really nice husband to make a quilt ladder (also called a blanket ladder). Quilts that are not to be used right away, or given as a gift, what to do with them? After some thinking, I decided it would do my creative soul a lot of good to be able to have them out and see them each day.READ MORE
Added 7/19/21- These are more important than ever now that we live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Moths are RUTHLESS!
Living in the Pacific Northwest requires moth repellent. Growing up in North Carolina, a moth getting anywhere near my favorite sweaters was practically a nonissue. Windows were usually closed up all summer (I always say it was 68 degrees all year long). But in Seattle, air conditioning is not the norm, and windows are usually open during the warmer months. I actually kind of forgot about those pesky moths until a few summers ago when several of our sweaters were eaten up. Now every Spring, our sweaters are cleaned well, folded and stored for the season, and I make up a big batch of this lavender and cedar mix and fill up lots of muslin bags. It seems to work, and has the added benefit of making our closet smell great.
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One of the best parts of visiting our family is the creativity we all share between us when we’re together. On the island last week we did just that. With palm leaves! Palm trees are in abundance there, literally everywhere! Folks on the island preserve the leaves from these trees and use them for all kinds of things- as sculptural pieces in their home, to hold desk utensils, or to serve hor d’oeuvres at a party. I love the idea of bring natural elements like this into our homes, to enjoy up close.READ MORE
I was quite entranced with Spring this past weekend, Seattle truly outdid itself with beautiful weather! We had dinner on the beach (I, of course, brought home more rocks), we walked the neighborhood, dyed Easter eggs, and had Peep jousting wars in the microwave, and made our traditional Easter dinner of ham, carrots, asparagus, etc. I wanted to make the Easter table feel as Springy and came up with this garland after seeing a similar paper version in an old kid’s crafting book from the 1960’s. I love that it creates a really geometric shape and gives a new spin to everyone’s favorite triangular bunting shape. I think these will stay up for a while, I smile every time I pass them.
Here’s how I made them.
So, I’m still stuck on doodles. I can’t help it, I’m just not tired of them yet! Over the weekend, I played around with an Ipad sketch I posted to our family’s sketchbook blog last week. I liked the colors in this one a lot and tried making some shrinky dink jewelry. Super easy and fun!
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Not sure if I am much of an “art journal” person, but I thought it might be fun to try altering a book to create a sketchbook. I have been buying and using spiral bound sketchbooks for my daily sketches because they stay open, but I like the idea of having a full spread to work with too. A duplicate I-Spy book I found in our basement was perfect for this project… it’s large (10″ x 12″), stays open and flat, it will give me a surface to play with my carved rubber stamps, and another book to draw my daily sketches in.
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When I turned in the first draft of the manuscript for my book a few weeks ago, the first thing I did was treat myself to a few new craft books. While busy writing, I had avoided purchasing new books that would distract me. But now I was in the mood for someone to tell me how to make something. I happily flipped and got inspired for a couple of days, and one of my favorites is Geninne Zlatkis’s book Making An Impression. I have been inspired by Geninne online for years, and it was just as inspiring to read about her process of hand carving stamps. And, as luck (and a stocked craft room) would have it, I happened to have some easy carve blocks and the needed carving tool on hand. (I love it when I can immediately jump in!).
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