stuff about artstuff.

I Made Stuff!

When I was a little girl, I fantasized about living off the land like a pioneer woman; making everything by hand, growing, cooking, and creating every waking moment. My older brother, whom I idolized pretty much from birth, lived in a hippie commune on Washington's Olympic Peninsula for a while in the early 70s.  I was not allowed to visit that strange and magical place so the mystique surrounding the lifestyle was overwhelmingly romantic to my innocent, little-girl senses.  I adored the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, my favorite, of course, was On the Banks of Plum Creek - who wouldn't want to live in a dugout cave in a creek bank?  It's practically a Hobbit house inside a tree!

Even as an adult, the romanticism of that off-grid fantasy still lives somewhere deep inside me, but my reality is juggling running a demanding business with managing our little household here in a city neighborhood where literally everything I could ever need or want is conveniently available "just down the street".  More often than not, I suppose much like I did when I was little, I feed that pioneer fantasy vicariously - through blogs and websites of creative and clever folks who have a lot more time and energy to devote to cool DIY projects than I seem to manage.

One such project caught my eye on Pinterest last month.  It was this delicious looking exfoliating sugar scrub.  I thought, "oh that looks neat, but who has time to make their own beauty products?"  Then I saw that you basically stir 2 ingredients together and add a scent if you like.  "Well, maybe for a special occasion..."

The special occasion came soon after that: a vacation with a girlfriend where we would be in the sun a lot, and pampering ourselves a bit.  I made a little tub to take with us.  For the first batch, I avoided the fresh lemon juice from the original tutorial because I wasn't sure how fast we would go through it (I didn't want rotting lemons in my sugar scrub) but we used it fast!  This stuff makes my skin feel amazing!  I'm hooked.  Husband Guy was intrigued, and when I mentioned that I would be adding lavender essential oil to the next batch, sheepishly requested that I make some that was not so girly - maybe orange would be nice.  By this time I had actually forgotten the lemon juice option, but I think I will try a small batch of that one next time to keep next to the kitchen sink.

So here it is!  This couldn't be simpler:

The basic recipe is 1 part coconut oil to 2 parts sugar.  First I melted some coconut oil in the microwave - this only takes a few seconds, don't cook it, just start to melt it!  Take it out when it looks half-n-half (liquid vs. white chunks) and the rest will soften and melt, like butter does.

I don't measure the coconut oil before I melt it, and I only really measure the sugar by doubling whatever the amount of melted oil is in the cup.  I just pour in sugar until the total volume seems to be about 3 times the original amount of oil. 

For you eagle-eye photo-measurements noticers, part of the melted oil from the previous picture was poured back out before adding the sugar, when I realized I had less sugar than I thought!

And stir it up.

It's that easy. 

It's at this point that you can add essential oils until you like the smell.  I was afraid of adding too much, but all 3 batches so far have been very subtle (with several drops of oil in each).

Pack it into the container of your choice, keeping in mind that it hardens quite a bit once it cools back down again.  I will probably buy some regular old white sugar for future batches - the only reason that I used this more expensive organic unbleached sugar was that it was what I had in the house.

But it's pretty, isn't it?

And one final detail, if you were dumb like me and made this mess on your stove of all places, avoid that mysterious burning sugar smell next time you get ready to cook...

Ok, all better now.

If you're still asking, "who has time to make their own beauty products?" in this case, my answer is everyone!  Even with the extra stove-top cleanup this took me about 10 minutes.  I've since seen a different recipe on Pinterest that has dried lavender flowers in it, that looks cool.  The possibilities here are endless. 

The hardly-any-time aspect of this project has me a little extra intrigued with other neato DIYs from One Good Thing: homemade makeup wipes, homemade "Clorox" wipes . . . underground dugout on Plum Creek, here I come!

Musical Inspiration

I realize I am super-crazy-lucky to be able to have this job and I am grateful every single day that they let me draw pictures for a living, but the only downside is that I rarely create just for the fun of it.  My brain has become so conditioned to create on schedule and per the needs of my clients, that it can be a real challenge to step outside that box and do what comes naturally to my creative soul.

The last few years I have tried to more dilligently keep a just for fun sketchbook (one that doesn't focus on trends or what my clients will need next) and on rare occasions I play along with Illustration Friday, but too often I only create for fun when I'm officially "on vacation".

Since I usually create mostly in watercolor and colored pencil, it helps with the reminding-me-this-is-for-fun-and-not-work thing to try something different.  Those paying super-close attention might remember that last year I had a blast playing with Paperclay and acrylic paints on vacation.

This year I had all those amazing beads, and tried my hand at making my own jewelry for the first time in decades.  I sort of had no idea what I was doing; there was an awful lot of un-and-re-stringing and wire-breaking explosions of beads flying in every direction and enough swearing that at one point Husband Guy asked me if I was actually having fun.  I was.  I totally was. 

I call this one my Guarded by Monkeys necklace, the little monkey-charms hang around the whole thing.

I pulled out the acrylics and this time, painted a few pieces on paper.  Somehow, in all these years of making art, I've never put acrylics on paper before.  Don't ask, I have no idea why.  It was fun, too; the paper got real canvassy and soft - I liked it a lot.  An Elton John song came on while I was painting this one, and it naturally became part of the piece.
Where do you get your inspiration?

Beadaliciousness.

This weekend I got to spend a wonderful afternoon with my good friend Elizabeth, and explore an amazing place I'd never been before: Shipwreck Beads.  All I can say is wow.

Imagine the size of a sprawling suburban supermarket. Now imagine that every aisle and every wall in that supermarket are filled with beads.  Only beads.  Well, throw in a little chain and wire and fasten-y things and a few tools, but other than that, only beads.  My inner crow nearly exploded from the shimmery sparkliness.
Walls of beads.

No, really - stand back and look at the wall of beads.  Floor to ceiling.
Fancy stone beads, silly plastic beads, and everything in between.  From keep-in-a-locked-glass-case beads to throw-at-Mardi-Gras beads.  Oh my.
Hung in strands and organized into tiny drawers.
Everything you could ever dream of.  I mean, if you dreamed of beads.

You push around a large flat cart full of old-fashioned school-lunch trays to organize all your tiny pieces.  Oh, the tiny pieces.
You need a couple hours to deal with the mesmirising overwhelmity of it all.  We took that time, wandered, played, imagined, and did some serious shopping. 

I learned that you overhear some of the most amusing conversations in a giant bead store.  Cute things kids say, funny things creative partners discuss - really the audio entertainment almost rivals the visual feast at times.

A surprising number of those conversations included something to the effect of, "well, yes, Michaels does have those too, but they are cheaper here." which was sort of dangerous, because every time my brain processed the words "cheaper here" spoken by a stranger in my vicinity, my unconscious bargain reflex would cause my hand to spontaneously grab something off a shelf and throw it onto my cart.  The result was - um - maybe buying a tiny bit more than anticipated (she muttered sheepishly).
The afternoon with a good friend was way overdue, and the creative excitement from the sparkly goodness - it all left me smiling all the way through to my core.  Good stuff.
Um, guess what colors I like?

I plan on spending some quality time with these goodies when I go on vacation in a few weeks.  I'll keep you posted!

Show And Tell

One of my favorite things about getting to do this for a living is seeing where my art finally ends up - from a few coasters on an end-table or a picture on someone's wall to amazing creations that talented folks sew and craft with my fabrics and scrapbooking supplies.

Because it's always rewarding to get to see when your babies find good homes.

And each little product with my designs on it is just that - my babies.

Whenever I get a chance, I'll share them here on my blog, but too often I don't get around to blogging as often as I'd like, and pictures or links to neato stuff gets sort of buried in my "stuff to blog someday" folder.  So to simplify things a bit, now in addition to every-now-and-again blog posts where I share these fun things, I'm starting a new photo album on my Facebook Page for this specific purpose - just for show-and-tell.
2 very attractive models show off matching gardening aprons made from my April Showers panel by Henry Glass.

If you've sewn something with any of my fabrics, crafted with my scrapbook designs, or if you've just got a really cute corner of your home where you've incorporated my art in some way, I would love to see - and share - pictures of that.  Please feel free to drop me a line and share a photo or a link, I'd love to hear from you and see what you've been up to!

In the meantime, check out a few of the projects already in the album.  I'll be adding more as I dig up photos that nice people have sent me over the years (and find folks to make sure I have permission to share on The Interwebs!) so stay tuned!

For the Birds.

 
All week the beach was full of birds.
 
Several hundred at a time would fly past in a cacophonous swarm
 
and settle in on the sandbar, at the surf line, to stand there.
Sometimes they would float on the surf 
but mostly, just stand there.
Facing the surf.
Molly tried this too, she found the standing still part quite Zen.
They were there in the fog and mist 
and (the few times it made an appearance) in the sun.
Crows joined them in the mornings 
and sandpipers would take over in the evenings.
Extremely high and low tides all week seemed to be bringing in a feast on the surf 
and a feast below the sand. 
All day, they'd just stand there
 
until the sun set 
then little by little they would lift off and fly away until the sun returned.

 
One of the little guys I made while playing with my Paperclay is now doing the same thing from the cabin window ... just staring into the surf all day long. 
Like the real gulls, he seems quite content to do so.

Playing.

I think I bought these packages of Paperclay to play with a couple years ago.  They've been sitting on the back of my desk, waiting for me to feel like I have time to just make something for fun.

Vacation.

That's it.

No computer.  No phone.  No clients.  No deadlines.  Just the beach and a couple tubs of art supplies.

Art for art's sake was an important detail of this vacation, falling back in love with creating: I really needed that.  Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful there are so many clients and deadlines.  Lucky to have that.  I know it.  But ... vacation.  That's another thing.  Did I mention I needed that?  Yeah.  Really, really, really did.

The first day I just started molding some globs, not really knowing what I was doing.  Trying very hard to not know what I was doing.  Trying to let go. 
A mermaid.

Why not. 
Then these little guys ... I couldn't stop. 
No plan, just trying to turn off my brain.  Well, at least half of it. 
Pretty soon I had worked my way through 2 of the 3 packages of clay.  Right-Brain could have gone on but Left-Brain made me stop, it reminded me that I may want to dry and paint these things before returning to the Real World again, you know, that place where packages of Paperclay sit untouched on the back of my desk for 2 years. 
And little by little 
I did 
finish them, that is. 
How much fun was this.
 
Oh. 
My. 
Gosh.

 
I hung these guys with old guitar string (how handy is it that Husband Guy changed strings at the cabin?). 
I still need to cut some little pieces of the string to glue to this guy's guitar. 
I could have kept doing this all day every day for ... I don't know, months?  Yeah, at least months.  Nonstop.  Maybe years nonstop.  Playing with clay, drawing, reading, baking, eating, walking on the beach.  I totally could.  That's the problem with vacation ... it ends.  It is nice to be home, I do love home.  But, well, you know.  Vacation.

How Cute is This?

Ooh-ooh-ooh, look at this! 
Cheri Campbell created this adorable little quilt with my Noah's Journey fabric for a very special baby boy (welcome, Rafferty!) and look how cute it turned out!  She used the big panel for the backing and the multicolor polka-dots in a courthouse steps pattern, perfectly framing the little animal squares.  Really nice design! 
Thanks Cheri, for sharing your beautiful handiwork!

Oh, and in sort-of-top-secret news ... rumour has it that Noah's Journey will be reappearing as cotton-flannel later this year!  I will keep you posted...

The Great Outdoors

 Are you a scrapbookingaholic?  If so, you should check out the new Momenta website.  They've been adding a lot of neato stuff including new digital products, free downloads, projects, even video instruction.

They're now selling their great products on the site as well - including my Great Outdoors collection!  It's all awesome quality - nice heavy papers and uber cool extra touches on the stickers and goodies.   I love what they do with my art, and I hope you do too!

I'm just waiting for someone to do some papercrafting with these products to somehow coordinate with a sewing project using my At the Lake flannels - I know there is someone out there who is totally into matchy-poo (besides me) and if you are, and if you do this - please send me a picture!  Matchy-poo makes me happy.  So does neat-and-tidy, but both tend to be a bit elusive in my world.  Oh well.

In the mean time, I hope you get a chance to enjoy the actual great outdoors this weekend.  I plan to try to take the weekend off (gasp) and enjoy some of this!

It may not look like much to those of you in other parts of the country - but after the drearily long and soggy few months we've had around here, this is pretty exciting!  Happy (almost) summer, everyone!

Fabric Trends

Look what just arrived in my mailbox today!  It's the newest issue of Fabric Trends magazine, with an adorable pattern for 2 quilts featuring my Noah's Journey fabric by Henry Glass!

 
You can make a girl's version... 
or a boy's version. 
How cute are these?!  I love the clever applique treatment with the big ark & animals from the main panel.  Super cute quilt design, don't you think?

The spring issue will be hitting newsstands in a couple weeks, so if you aren't a subscriber you can find it then! 
You can order the full kits at Pinetree Country Quilts.

As always, I'd love to see anything and everything you make using my designs so please. if you create something, do share pictures, it would make my day!  Thanks!

Rainy Day Projects

Now that the weather is colder outside, it's time for nesting, holing up and working on creative projects that got put off earlier in the year. At least that's how I feel ... and if you are the same way, well, I have something for you: my 3 newest Creatables from pcCrafter.

Did you go on a family road trip this year (or last year, or the year before) and have yet to organize your photos and memorabilia into a scrapbook? Well, maybe this will motivate you to actually print those vacation photos and get out the scrapping stuff. It's called Route 66 and is loaded with fun little travel icons, borders and backgrounds that will add the perfect embellishments to your vacation memory album. Hey this stuff could even make the Griswolds' trip look fun.

And for you fans of my Love to Craft fabrics by Henry Glass, here is a coordinating Creatable: Crafty Kitties II (you get extra bonus points if you remember Crafty Kitties I). Are you planning (or have you already started) a project with the fabric? Well now you can design and print paper goodies to go with it. How fun is that?

Maybe you're making holiday gifts this year - feeling like going woodsy? Forest Critters is packed with whimsical flora and fauna in soft natural colors just begging to me made into something cute and fabulous!

I hope you enjoy using these Creatables as much as I enjoyed designing them, and as always, I'd love to see pictures of projects made with my Creatables ... please feel free to share! Thanks!

...And Then Suddenly It Was October.

Just like that.

And here I am making homemade soup for dinner, pulling out sweaters from their summer-storage, putting the heavy comforter and flannel sheets on the bed, and of course, thinking about Halloween.

I've had fun painting on some more little boxes lately, and just finished adding them to my Etsy store.

I hope you like them! Happy October to you all!

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!

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.

Adventures in Sewing I: Emergency Shower Gift

So what do you do when you need to come up with the perfect wedding shower gift with a Mexican-honeymoon theme by this afternoon but, well...you're short on cash and in a bit of a panic because you want this one to be extra special? Well, of course, you sew one-of-a-kind his-and-his matching Beth-Logan-Mexican-print swim trunks. I mean, duh.

What? You don't really know how to sew? Oh come on, you've never let lack of skill stand in the way of accomplishing your goals. Aren't you the girl who completed that triathlon a couple years ago by dog-paddling most of the swim course? Sure you are. You don't question logic or safety (or looking stupid) before you leap, you just do it.

I was sulking and staring into the corner brainstorming fabulous gift ideas when the little fabric samples caught my eye, shoved into the shelf over my desk. My 2 fun little patterns produced last year by Robert Kaufman. This was it...this is what I would do. I was determined. So I hit the old Interwebs in search of free or close-to-free downloadable patterns. I figured they had to exist somewhere out there.

For the record, I've never sewn from a pattern before. I may have "helped" Mom with something with a pattern as a young girl, but my machine-sewing experience time-line pretty much goes like this:

1. Mid-70s: a series of sundresses made with that fabric that is already elasticized along the top....requiring only 1 straight(ish) seam. I think I may have added a ruffle or two, shoulder straps, a perky little pocket...maybe some ricrac. Nice.

2. Early-80s: pegged every single pair of jeans I owned so severely I could barely get my feet through the ankle-holes.

3. Late 80s, early 90s: sewed 2 discount-bin sheets together to make a comforter cover, embellished a couple pillowcases to match.

4. Much more recently than that: Pieced and hemmed tablecloths for my Surtex booth.

You see a trend here? Long, (sort of) straight(ish) seams. No shapes, no rules, no instructions, nothing this monkey couldn't have done on his own.

So here I am, ready to embark on a new phase of my lifetime sewing journey: Found a pattern for swim trunks. Check. Found some super-light, soft black cotton for the lining. Check. Vaguely remember something about pre-washing being important; washed and dried all. Check. Downloaded, printed, let's go now...

Piecing together the pattern with matching letters/numbers to matching letters/numbers is pretty much the last step inside my comfort zone. From there on out, I have been plopped down onto a desert island, equipped with a fishing pole and compass, but no idea what fish are good for or what North means.

I am feeling proud that I can tell the difference between the parts of the pattern that are to be used and the parts that are OK left on the floor. Yes, actually proud of that.

Having once purchased a deeply-discounted pair of lycra leggings from an outlet store that I later realized had been sewn incorrectly, I think I understand the concept of grain direction (that was an unfortunate $3 purchase, maybe not so bad had I been a toweringly bony runway model); the paper is pinned to the fabric, and I am ready to cut. This is a big moment. It is also my first chance to use my rotary cutter I purchased last winter after bruising and crippling my left hand with those big heavy pinking shears, cutting all those fat quarters of At the Lake. And....oh. My. Gosh.

Do you remember the first time you used a rotary cutter? The bliss, the excitement? The amazement...the smooth cut, the ease of flow as it rolls along...I'm sorry, those of you who have used them for years have undoubtedly lost the childish enthusiasm, the gushiness that oozes from your very being with every little cut.

Oh my goodness. I find it difficult to contain myself just thinking about it.

With all the pieces cut and laid out, machine threaded, and a sudden unexpected rush of nervous excitement, I hit the instructions.

On the soundtrack for this post, this is where you insert a little tuba slide...waaaah, wooh.

It's as if I'm reading a foreign language. Each sentence read aloud over and over and over and over and over again, enunciating each word more clearly and more slowly than the last, twisting and contorting my face with each word. Am I really this stupid?

Apparently I am.

But here I go, connecting pieces and shapes that don't make sense to me...yet.

But wait, what's this?

Are you helping? I don't think you're helping.

But you're awfully cute. Alright, you can help.

Since I'm trying to do this without a trip to a store, I need to find elastic. I have to have elastic here somewhere. Somewhere in the studio. In the basement. In ancient sewing baskets tucked into shelves. I can picture it, I know it exists. A neat little roll, maybe the package was never opened. I dig around for about a half hour before giving in and hitting the rag basket. Underpants. That's it. Perfectly good elastic, hidden inside worn out holey cotton briefs. Once cut away, no one will ever know. Once sewn inside, it will never be seen. I'm pretty sure the recipients of this gift only scroll through this blog looking at pictures and don't read long-winded posts. I can only hope now that's the case. Please don't tell.

Eeeeexcellent, Smithers. We have elastic.

Which might beg the question, "Beth, do you ever sew anything without old underpants in it?" Maybe, maybe not.

Everything seems to be coming along swimmingly (yes, I said swimmingly) when I realize something is terribly wrong with the lining. These bizarre little curvy shapes have not made sense to me from the beginning, no matter how many times or how loudly or slowly (or how peppered with expletives) I repeat the simple instructions. When it comes time to sew them to the inside of the shorts, it becomes apparent that I've sewn them shut. Yup, somehow, there are only leg-holes. I know. Sad. It's been several hours already, the clock is ticking. I have a shower to get to. The lining is tossed across the room, and the shorts are finished without them. So they're not practical swimming trunks any more. We'll call them lounging boxers. Or something.

This hardly dampens the excitement when I turn them right-side out and see...it's a pair of shorts. I've actually made a pair of shorts.

The first pair took me about 5-1/2 hours. Yes, really. The second pair, about a half hour. Cutting the second pair, I even figured out how to add a personal touch...a "signature" in the seam!

They are definitely homemade. Imperfect. Corners were cut. I will admit, I do believe the lining is possibly the most important feature of a pair of swim trunks, but I will pretend otherwise for now, and feel pleased with myself for what I accomplished.

I will also pretend that I hadn't originally planned on cutting them with longer legs than the pattern showed...you know, a little less Magnum PI-ish, then forgot that detail in my excitement and confusion. I will pretend that it doesn't matter that I ran out of black thread halfway through the first pair, then ran out of navy thread halfway through the second. I will smile and skip along whimsically in my pretend world, and happily accept the results: Unlined Lounging Boxers. No problem. Keep telling yourself this, Beth, you'll make it alright.

The shower was fun, the gift was unique and personal, and all was right with the world. I hope the shorts don't fall apart or shrink into some weird(er) shape. But most important, I hope the Mexican honeymoon will be filled with happy, romantic and special memories to last a lifetime together...with or without funky little "lounging boxers".

The Fruits of Victory

Don't you love the sound of that? So grand. So strong. Stalwart and proud.

One could say (if they don't care how dumb or corny they sound) that 2009 is the Year of the Vegetable. I don't need to read any statistics or polls to tell you more people than ever are growing their own food this year...I see it everywhere I go. Since early spring, on daily dog-walks through the neighborhood, I've watched lawns disappear, raised beds go in, seedlings nurtured, and gardens flourish. And from the brief, friendly passing chats started with a simple "looking good!" or "wow that's a lot of work!" I've found that many of these are first-time vegetable gardeners.

Much like the Victory Gardens of World Wars I and II, for many folks this is a simple necessity with grocery prices what they are. Many are reevaluating our carbon footprint and finding that growing some of our own food is a simple and enjoyable way to conserve...whatever it is, we're doing it.

Feel proud of yourselves...those of you who dove into it for the first time ever. Congratulations. This is the stuff of homefront war-heroes, self-sufficient DIYers who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty.

Now that you have been relishing the fruits of your labor (literally) you're ready for the next step: preserving and sharing your accomplishments with gifts from your garden.

And for that, do I have something for you!

HugClub members have already received this one...it's my new "Canning Garden" collection from pcCrafter, so you can add a fresh and modern touch to your wonderfully classic and old-fashioned gifts from your garden. For those of you who can and preserve your bounty, there are labels and lid-covers (wide and narrow-mouth sizes). Coordinating plant markers for cuttings and seedlings, and a DIY seed packet that you can personalize with comments about the variety and even add a little photo of the plant in full bloom.

Have you saved seeds before? It's a great way to preserve (non-hybrid) varieties you are especially fond of...and if you're not already familiar with them, you must check out the Seed Savers Exchange. It's a great organization, the ultimate resource for seed-sharing and heirloom plant preservation.

And of course, there are cute tags and little decorative details to personalize each gift from your garden. I hope you enjoy this collection, and have fun finding creative ways to share the fruits of your own gardening victory!

Another Little Box for You.

This one in the form of a crazy cowboy cat. 

And why not?

Perfect for kitty treats or cowboy trinkets...you never know when you'll need a little box with a picture on it of a cat that's a cowboy. But when it happens (and it will) you'll be prepared with this little dude. Printed at 200dpi, he'll measure 2.25" square and 1.5" high. Once again, just click here to download the template. 

And I'm sure you don't need them, but there are always those assembly instructions on this post.  

For this one, I printed the back of the page with my Happy Little Fishbones background pattern from my pcCrafter collection, Cats n Dogs. You, of course, can line the interior of your box with anything your little heart desires. Really, anything. Or nothing.  

And for those of you just joining us from another channel: just a reminder as to what all this free-giveaway stuff is about. It's Blogiversary Week. Whoo hoo, it's a celebration. A kitty-cat hoedown of sorts, from this little fella's perspective. "Darn tootin'", he'd say. Oh come on I'm sure he would, given the chance. 

I don't know about cowboys, but I've never known a cat who could resist a box full of colorful little pompoms.

Have you left a comment on this post yet, to enter the drawing for the At The Lake fat quarter bundle? Well, why dontcha mosey on over and do that now. I'll be drawing a name from a hat on Tuesday. The catch is the comment has to be on this post to get your name into that hat.

And once again, the legal notice:

Downloadable "freebie" images from Stuff About Artstuff are protected under copyright law and are solely for the private use of my readers; they are not to be reproduced for commercial purposes of any kind. If you are interested in an image you see on this site for commercial use, please contact me to discuss licensing terms. Thank you!

Got Books?

Well then how about a couple new bookmarks?

You can download the art for these by clicking here. At 200dpi these will measure 2 X 6.5" each. 

And of course any self-respecting bookmark must be finished off with some sort of bling that sticks out of the book. If it doesn't, you may as well have used a grocery store receipt or a post-it with someone's phone number scrawled on it to mark your page.

 At the very least, a cute bookmark deserves a yarn tassel. The ones pictured here might not be the best matches for these particular bookmarks, but they'll do in a pinch...the smooth pretty one was the last pre-made tassel I have left from a mass-bookmark-making-project a few years ago...purchased in bulk here for super-cheap, and the sillier looking one I made in about a minute with the closest yarn I could find, some dark green chenille that mostly gets used when wrapping presents.

Tassels are easy to make. Crazy easy. They have to be...see, I made one (in a minute, really).

In searching for a quickie tutorial to share with you, I stumbled upon this neato blog that I will have to visit again when I have more time. Her tassel instructions feature lots of good photos. Then I found these instructions, and darn it if that little cardboard thingy isn't just the dandiest little gadget, albeit not nearly as cute as the little book used in the first link.

When digging through my recycling-bag for a piece of cardboard to make the dandy-gadget with, I found a piece of  a box that already had a little slot cut into it so I just used that, as-is.  And it worked fine, although I can see why the bigger slot works better (next time I'll actually cut one like the one that's shown on the link). 

You might notice that my finished tassel (a minute!) only has one piece of yarn coming from the top, and to attach it to the bookmark like this you kind of want a loop...oops, I trimmed the end off and had to loop it back down in and tie it off again (ok...I'll admit, the extra step probably took another minute...maybe even two, making me sort of a liar about that whole minute thing...but it would have been a minute had I not gone snip-happy the first time).

Anyway, it kind of makes me want to discover more things that need tassels so I can spend a little more time and maybe make some nicer ones with other fun yarn, string, thread, wire, beads...hmmm.

Another week maybe, I've got client deadlines to meet this week...no more time for this crazy over-a-minute craftsy stuff today.

And just because it has to be said (sorry to repeat myself):

Downloadable "freebie" images from Stuff About Artstuff are protected under copyright law and are solely for the private use of my readers; they are not to be reproduced for commercial purposes of any kind. If you are interested in an image you see on this site for commercial use, please contact me to discuss licensing terms. Thank you!

Because I Heart You.

Here's one to get you in the mood for Valentine's Day. Too early? Well then file this away for when we all finish putting away the last of those Christmas boxes...then we might feel more like it.

But here it is anyway, because I heart you: a little gift for you, to hold a little gift for someone you heart. At a sweet little 2-1/4" square (that's saved/printed at 200dpi) it's the perfect size for a bubble-gum-machine ring with pink feathers or a fabulous handmade truffle or chalky-sweet hearts that say silly things on them or even just some chocolate kisses. You decide.  

Click this link for the downloadable art (it will open in a new window).

I chose a very basic square template for this one...you probably don't need instructions at all but here's a step-by-step anyway.  

I wanted the inside of the box to be red...you could glue a piece of red paper to your print-out before cutting, or if your stock is heavy enough on its own, just print a solid color or pattern on the other side of the page.  

You might be one of those fancy crafters with a nice bone folding tool. I'm not. I just scored the fold-lines ever so lightly with my Xacto knife before folding to create a crisp, clean line. I don't recommend doing this unless you don't mind a little of the white paper-guts showing in the fold (a faint white line will appear where it was scored). 

This simple design doesn't really require glue to stay together if your paper is heavy enough, but I dabbed the flaps with a glue stick and pressed them tightly together for perfectly sort of clean edges. Oh, and while doing this, I was firmly pressing the box down on the piece of scrap paper that I'd used for glue-sticking, so the bottom of my box got glooped up with wet glue-stick. Don't do that.      

That's it. It doesn't get much simpler than that.  

Now that it's posed for the picture inside the box, I must go and devour this very last and only piece of Christmas candy left in the entire house...I can't have it just sitting here like this, taunting me.

Oh, and, if you'd like more usable art for crafty-projects with this same look, this heart pattern and "Be Mine" text are also available as part of one of my pcCrafter Creatables.

And finally, I know I don't have to tell you this, but I can't not say it:

Downloadable "freebie" images from Stuff About Artstuff are protected under copyright law and are solely for the private use of my readers; they are not to be reproduced for commercial purposes of any kind. If you are interested in an image you see on this site for commercial use, please contact me to discuss licensing terms. Thank you!

Angel Repair 101

How many terrible rock songs refer to an angel with a broken wing? Or good ones, for that matter? I could have taken that awful cliche and run with it in this post, you should thank me that I'm not. Believe me, you are much happier this way.

So I tackled the first project in the fix-it box. As I'm sure you've guessed by now, it was the angels. A potpourri of angels, with a potpourri of necessary repairs. Some just needed a quick wing stuck back on, a new little ornament to hold in their pipe-cleaner hands, or their hanging-wire replaced. Others, starting to look naked and/or bald, were in much more dire need of a complete makeover.   

In the center of this shot, you can see some failed attempts at replacement hair...and that dark grey clump of gross mystery fuzz? At one time, I believe it was that white spun angel-hair stuff. I picked little globs of it from their armpits, necks, and tangled in what hair some had left. Not so angelic any more. Oh, and since it's very old, once again...probably terribly toxic.

I'm the first to admit that these girls have seen better days, even after their little spa-day. 

Replacing disintegrating tulle stretched over wired wings is something I'm not quite ready to tackle (maybe next year). I'm thinking maybe just a second layer added behind the original disappearing one? That way the original beads and glitter (often the only things holding them together from what I can see) can remain intact. Suggestions, anyone? 

2 of these girls are violinists...the others just had sad little empty hooks for hands. One got a cluster of very old tiny ornaments, the other...I know, I broke the rules...I added something new to an old piece. She got a little red bird to hold, which I painted with glue then tossed in a bag of glitter, Shake-n-Bake style. 

They were all missing varying amounts of something in the middle...their pipe-cleaner arms wrap around their bodies (or rather, their creepily-long ceramic necks) and I think at one time the pipe-cleaner-fuzz was full enough in the middle that it covered them modestly but 2 were looking awfully naked so I gave them little feather-boa wraps to keep their skinny little torsos warm. This also masks the deep grey dirty look the white pipe-cleaner has taken on over the years. The other 2 just had awkward necks which got wrapped a couple times with glittery string...that seems to do the trick for now.

It was difficult to tell what kind of hair these weird little gals had in the first place, they were bald when I found them. It seemed like there were fragments of feathers remaining around their halos, so I cut soft downy clumps of feather and glued it to their gross bald little heads. As the glue dried and became clear, I realized I should have maybe painted their heads white first, because sickly pink spots started appearing in the thin areas and I had to add more layers of feather-fuzz. And the more feathers I glued to them the wackier their hairstyles got...they're a little more rocker-chick than I was going for, but...well, once again refer to the first sentence of this post. I promised I would refrain. Oh the obnoxious places I could go with feathered-hair comments...but I won't. 

And these sad little things. These were the extreme-makeover angels. They both had this gross little Moe Howard thing going for them...between the 2 of them I was able to cover one of their heads with their original golden curls. There was exactly 1-1/4 wing between the 2 also, so the full wing will be part of another project someday, and they both got new wings (made with old stuff from the ribbon box). That's an old crystal, like from a chandelier, the one is holding. It was hanging from one of the other angel's dresses, for no apparent reason. 

Well, no apparent reason, except that my Granddad liked his decorations to sparkle like magic...and anything he found that would add to that, he included in his designs. Some of these angels were part of a sparkling little diorama in a wall alcove...one of my favorites. A little motor hidden behind some sort of crinkly-silver-goodness kept the angels flying around in circles; lights, the actual bulbs also hidden from view, changed colors, reflected and shimmered like nothing you'd ever seen before. One of the features of this little scene were these amazing little silver shapes (also spinning on a little motor) that reflected light in the most unique way, like little stars captured right out of space...and most folks had no idea what they were.

They were the little foil guts of used square flash-bulbs used on instamatic cameras.

So, there you have it...I think that will be it for the fix-it box this year. It's not much, but it's a start...after years of not even opening it, I feel better now. And come November when I unpack the decorations, these special little things will be ready to come out with the rest of them. And I managed to share my broken-angel story with not a single cringe-worthy bad-rock-song metaphor...I think I've done very well today, if I do say so myself.