stuff about artstuff.

Welcome Fall ... a Couple Days Later

Well, while my computer was down for some minor surgery this week, I seem to have missed some important dates.

First, Fall officially arrived.  Just like that, right on schedule.

You can find this new design as another great RE-flag (all recycled material, how cool is that) by Toland Home Garden in your favorite garden center.

Next, did you know that yesterday was National Punctuation Day?  Ohmygosh, how did I miss that?  I feel terrible, really I do.  I should have celebrated appropriately... I will make up for that by trying to be more diligent about using correct punctuation here in my blog - you know, as a penance of sorts.  Has it been driving you nuts that for the past 139 posts I have not only overused but misused my dear, sweet ellipsis by butting it right up against words on both sides?  The humanity.  I am so ashamed.  I guarantee I will never give up the overuse part, as it is my absolute favorite punctuation ever ... but I will start giving it the respect, and space, that it deserves.

In the mean time, any grammar-junkies out there feeling guilty about missing this important holiday can chuckle and cringe at some of the photos on this page.

And finally (no, I hadn't forgotten) I totally missed the day I had promised to draw names from a hat for the fat quarter bundle of Love to Craft!  So with no further ado, let's get to it.  You know the drill:

Cute vintage hat, check.  Comments printed, cut, folded, check.  Pieces of paper scrambled and scrunched around without looking (do you have any idea how ridiculous this is to attempt while trying to take a picture with the other hand?), check.  Winning slip of paper pulled, check.

Sandy, congratulations!  Once I get your mailing address I'll send your goodies right away!

Blooming Sunshine.

If someone showed me this picture I wouldn't be able to guess what it is.  Can you?

It's this guy.

The other day I thought maybe by taking their pictures I could get my sunflowers to finally open.

They are twice as tall as me, but just barely thinking about blooming.  They've been dillydallying all summer, while everything else bloomed its little hearts out...the sunflowers have just been thinking about maybe someday reaching up there and possibly going to the effort to bloom.  Maybe.  So far, one has decided it's time.

On the other hand, these have been blooming all summer in the LTD catalog.

Another beautifully made product from New Seasons: a sturdy reusable box filled with cute and useful goodies...a notepad and assorted note-cards; even the envelopes are decorated to match.  I do love what they do with my art!

More Cats.

A couple weeks ago in a fit of creative angst (or maybe just anti-admin/accounting angst) I shut down the computer and walked away from my office/studio...in the middle of the day on a weekday and everything.  I know.  I grabbed the first things that I could find to just make something with, which happened to be  2 loose tubes of acrylic paint (raw umber and white) and a set of paper mache nesting boxes...and I sat down in the back yard and started painting.  No plan, just me and the paint.  And the boxes. 

Not too surprising, I guess, that these same weird little cats that have been in my head were what happened that day.

I just put the set of boxes in my Etsy shop.   The largest one is 8 X 10"...they're nice useful sizes for storing all sorts of papers and stuff.  I enjoyed just painting so much that I've painted on some more boxes since then...will be adding those to the store soon.

I hope they find a good home!

Everyone Loves Samples.

I've told you before how everyone in the house gets excited when packages arrive on the porch.  I suppose we all enjoy them in our own, extreme sorts of ways...but this.  This has to win some sort of prize.

I wonder who this could have been?  It doesn't seem to fit any of these mouths that just happened to be here on my desk; if only we could find a mouth that fits perfectly...

Busted. 

Nice work protecting us from that mean little box sitting by itself on the porch.  Fortunately the samples inside were well-packaged with a good barrier of packing paper...and we all know who loves that part the best.

Me, well...I'm happy when the packages hold beautifully-made products featuring my art, like this pretty little Confirmation card for Lawson Falle which was in this particular box.

And then there was this box which arrived the following day.  I was pretty excited because I knew what would be inside...

My new recipe binders by New Seasons.

Some of you may recognize the cover art from my set of kitchen prints produced by Image Conscious a couple years ago. 

I am so pleased by how these turned out.  I have been gushing about this to the amazing design team at New Seasons ever since I got my first proofs.

And the binders themselves...well, see for yourself.

I am loving this product! 

Along with cute recipe cards and full pages ready for printing straight from recipe websites or food blogs (and protective pages for the finished cards to fit into)

there are also several pages of really useful stuff ... ingredient substitutions, cooking and baking tips, ideas for grilling or using herbs, all neatly organized into one place.  Pretty neato.   This would make a great gift for that foodie you know who is constantly collecting new recipes, or someone just starting out on their own in their very first kitchen!

Hey what's that?

Um, excuse me. 

Anyway, as I was saying, there are neato tips and info ... all in one place right at your fingertips, and every inch embellished with fun little designs by yours truly. 

Um, what is it Flossie?

Really, right this second?

You can't just wait a minute for me to finish...

No, please don't...no, not here...oh come on...

Oh now that's just cold.  Really?  Your bottom?  Oh man. 

I give up.

Ok, well ... you get the idea.  I love this product, and I'm so excited to share it with you.  They'll be coming soon to a retailer near you (I'll let you know as soon as I have more specific info on that!) they're available now at all Sam's Club and select Costco stores across the country, and I promise that if you purchase one, yours will not have been touched by cat's bottom.

PS:  Recipe Binder Refill Page Update!

It's true, the manufacturer of this product doesn't sell refill-pages at this time, but until they do I think I have found a solution for you!

Visit my Etsy Store to purchase and download refill-pages you can print on your desktop printer as you need them!  These are not the exact designs available in the actual binders, but were created to coordinate nicely with them - they match, they're cute, and I do hope you enjoy using them!

Rainbows and Coffee.

What more could anyone want first thing in the morning?  The sun hit the crystal in the kitchen window at just the right angle at just the right moment...should be a good day, you think?

Love to Craft

Do you?

Sure you do.

It's also the name of my new fabric group from the nice folks at Henry Glass.  Remember when I was working on this art?  It hits independent quilt shops this month.

Ta da!

These fabrics turned out just cuter than cute.  I couldn't be happier with the quality and the detail in the designs.  I squealed opening the boxes. 

Yup, actually squealed with delight.  Like someone who might truly believe that cats + yarn, thread, and ricrac could lead to something positive.

Oh come on, where's your imagination?  It could happen, right?

Actually if Flossie was truly the inspiration for this collection, the name would be Love to Sit on Top of You and Give You Stink Eye While You Craft.

She helped me cut some fat quarters, and we're celebrating her debut on fabric with a giveaway.

A fat quarter bundle, all designs in all colorways, is cut and folded and ready to go.

Just leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite thing you've made with your own hands (either recently, or ever) and I'll draw a name from a hat on the 22nd...to celebrate the First Day of Fall.

Sweater Season

I know, it's not really, around here at least.  Yet. 

As a child, that fact was my only gripe with September.  I had just celebrated a birthday, and I was back at school with shiny new school supplies and pretty new school clothes.  But new school clothes consisted mainly of sweaters, thick corduroys, wool skirts, hats, mittens, and the most exciting of all: a new heavy coat.  Stuff that will keep a kid warm and dry waiting at the bus stop or out at recess the rest of the school year.   Around here we tend to get awesomely gorgeous and warm Indian Summers that can last into October.  But real summer was over.  I was back to school; I wanted to wear my back to school clothes.  And I would.  And I would be hot.  Uncomfortably hot.  And itchy.  So non-sweater-weather, that was my September nemesis.

Fortunately, I guess...I no longer start September with a drawer full of that new-wool-smell (mmm, smell that...makes the itchiness worth it, kind of).  So I am loving the fact that although the nights are cooler, and it is dark earlier, I get to enjoy some more summery weather as the rest of the tomatoes ripen in the sun.

But there is still a sweatery theme around here right now.  A couple weeks ago I was thinking about nothing and sketching in my Moleskine, and these guys appeared.

I'm not expecting this to actually make sense to you, but it might make a little more sense if you realize that I draw and sketch from the bottom right corner out.  A habit I picked up early on to minimize the smudge-drag from my left hand.  I even draw that way on the Wacom...I realize smudging is not an issue drawing digitally but I can't not do it that way.

These guys have been kicking around in my brain...really wanting to be realized in their final form. 

No, really...I need to.   It says so, right here. 

So I started digging around through old rag piles downstairs.  Stocked up on some thinning colors in the thread box.  Found those pillows that the puppies chewed up 20 years ago.  Yes, I still have pillows that were destroyed 2 decades ago.

The first sweaters to go under the knife were both thrift shop finds from the 80s.  A lovely, heavy, hand-knitted fisherman's getup that never fit right and always looked weird on.  Didn't really have a front or back.  More like it had 2 backs.  But it was such a great sweater.  So it went into the paint-clothes drawer.  And it got paint on it.  And I tugged at the neck constantly every time I wore it.  The other was a tricky little bugger.  A pretty, sleeveless turtleneck.  It looks so soft, and when you touch it, seems so soft.  But it sneaks up on you.  Wear it for an hour and your neck will run screaming, leaving your head in danger of falling off onto the floor.  This one must be used sparingly.  It's a dangerous little sweater.

My tiny sketches were about as close as I got to a pattern.  I let the sweaters themselves dictate size and shape.  I cut pieces that sort of made sense and started sewing.

Meet Sweatercat.

Because he was sewn during family-time, the project ended up being stitched completely by hand.  Some details would have been much simpler and tidier had I gotten out the machine...but this time, it was more important to enjoy quiet, together time than to complete a project efficiently.  Once finished, though...I realized he needed something.

Meet Dickie, Sweatercat's little buddy.

Yeah, Dickie's arms are too high, or maybe his nose is too long.  Hard to tell.  That's what happens when you don't bother with patterns or plans of any kind.  But Sweatercat doesn't mind.

And Dickie isn't at all bothered by the fact that Sweatercat's lips are so dry that they're stuck to his teeth.

They're perfectly happy this way.

And the boxes they're posing on?  More about those in a bit.

After looking at them for a while, there was something familiar...and suddenly I remembered some silly little unfinished drawings that have been filed away in the "to do one of these days" folder for over a year now.

I think this could be Sweatercat's entire family.

OK...I can't stand it.  The boxes!  I can't wait to show you, but it's going to have to be another post.  Later.  Not now.

Oh alright (I can hardly contain myself) here's a little peek...

Bye for now.

Numbers Schmumbers.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not affected by numbers.  To me, numbers are just shapes.  I have to work pretty hard to make them mean something to me.  And I do; I can get by, I can run a business and a household...the left side of my brain isn't completely empty, it's just mushy.

But from the very beginning, others have been assigning numbers to me, and those numbers supposedly mean stuff.  That's alright. 

The numbers that really mess with me, though, are the ones assigned to how many years I've been on this earth.  They make absolutely no sense, seem completely foreign and not at all indicative of just how grownup I think I am.  Today I am assigned a new set of those.  I suppose they are nice shapes, the new numbers...neat and tidy in a way.  Good combination of straight and curvy lines.  But I can't help but make a face when I say them out loud in reference to myself.  Doesn't feel like they really describe me.  Makes me sound old.

So to make myself feel better about that, today I am going to focus on and post pictures of things that are older than me.  I don't have to look very far, most of the stuff I tend to surround myself with is older than me.

 

My house is older than me.  Flattened-out tobacco tins were used as spacers between the cedar shakes on the original roof.   I was fascinated at the original builder's frugal practicality and dug through the rubble on the ground when several generations of roofing material were removed, desperately trying to salvage every last one.  I wondered if they smoked all that tobacco while building my house (if so, they probably did not live to be older than me so officially they can't be part of this post). This one sits in a bed of petrified wood chunks.  Petrified wood is older than me.

So are most rocks.

This Douglas fir was probably planted in the front yard when the house was built.  That makes him older than me too.

I guess some stuff stays shiny and sparkly, even though it's very, very old.

 

I'll keep that in mind when I'm faced with these new numbers.  Shiny and sparkly.  And younger than most rocks.

September Garden Notebook

Nothing to say, really (I know, shocking, right?) but just sharing some things that make me happy...from yesterday afternoon in the backyard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illustration Friday: Magnify

From my garden journal.

I shot a photo of this golden ladybug on one of the daisies blooming in June.  What I didn't notice until the picture was magnified, though, was the bright green little aphid nearby that was sure to become her lunch very soon.

If I would have noticed this little scene of impending garden-pest doom at the time, I may have pulled up a chair and a magnifying glass and watched.  I mean, first of all, ladybugs are so darn cute that even feeding on live prey isn't gross.  Admit it.  They're adorable.  And have you ever seen a ladybug devour an aphid?  Voracious little eaters, ladybugs.  They put mere human-gluttony to shame.  And they're helping out, I mean who wants aphids eating their flowers?  I'm impressed and appreciative.

I've always wished I could keep a lovely garden journal.  But what I've done is very inconsistently compile 20+ years (skipping several as if they never occurred) of random notes and grand-plans-since-scrapped and seed packets from plants-long-dead and photos and diagrams and sketches and records and magazine pages and seed-catalog orders and some pressed odds-and-ends into a large, unattractive and very bulky 3-ring binder...it's a mess, really it is.  Aesthetically, a mess.  As a practical record, a mess.  Did I mention inconsistent?  Random?  I know, but I'm mentioning them again.

Then I fell in love with this neato little book with when I discovered this shop on Etsy last year. 

Cindy creates these amazing little "reinvented" journals and sketchbooks from cool old books she finds in her travels...fills them with nice drawing paper, cool odds and ends (like ledger & graph paper) and fun little random pages from old books that go with the theme of the journal,

(I can't wait to get to this page) then binds them artistically...each one is really a treasure in itself.  If you sketch or journal you really need to check out her shop.

From photos and wish-lists from the Garden Show...

...to notes on tomato varieties...

...to lists of plants I bought and where I put them, I am loving this little book.

And hopefully I will be kept in line by my desire to fill it fittingly...and when it's filled up someday I can thumb through it and smile quietly to myself, maybe even feeling I have finally joined the ranks of those cool people who actually keep a lovely garden journal.