Christmas in August

Ok, so maybe I'm a month behind on the whole Christmas in July thing- I prefer to think instead that I'm months ahead of the whole Christmas in December thing instead. It has felt like Christmas the last few days. I dug out some ornaments from last year's Christmas trove and dug through my fabric jumble to find all the holiday fabrics. Turns out I didn't really have much left over. But as a friend of mine likes to say: God Provides. Often in surprising ways!!!

My surprise came yesterday when Jasper and I tripped over to a quilt store I hadn't been to before. I was trying to find a sub for some Kaffe Fasset fabric I'd used up and walked into a winter wonderland. Christmas the way I like it with lovely Moda Fabrics draped every where and literally hundreds of bolts of winter inspired fabrics. Turns out that this shop, The Four Seasons Quilt Shop, specializes in seasonal fabrics. If you click on the link to the shop you can get a visual of their shop. I selected a few quickies that caught my eye and thought I'd share them with you.

The swirlies on the far right are Kate Honarvar forTimeless Treasures, the next few are from last year's Joann stash, then I have a couple fabrics from the Figgy Pudding line. If you scrapbook you might recognize the name from a line of Basic Grey scrapbooking paper that came out a few years ago. It seemed so familiar when I saw it- guess I know why now;). It's cute though. The stars pattern is from the Holly Jolly Snowmen collection from Kathy Schmidt for Moda.

More favorites include the Crazy Eight line from Moda. They come by the yardage or you can buy one of these cute little layer cakes that include a piece of each fabric in the collection.

Lots of links in this post- hope you enjoy them!

A little bit of ART

Saw this over at Zinnia's blog and I think it's absolutely charming! Stumbling on things like this always feels like a little gift. So thanks Zinnia!

By the way she is hosting a journaling challenge that I'm sure will be fun and amazing! I can't wait to see the results! In fact, I'm super tempted to do it myself. :)

So Charming- the latest Somerset Home!!!

Ok folks! The latest Somerset Home is now available and has in it a "how to" for my jewelry tree AND my wire bird lamp! The article is titled Art as usual and in it I mention how I discovered that motto and applied it to my life. Which you, my wonderful readers know all about- but I bet you'd still like the "how to" part.

Both the tree and the lamp are classic designs from my Etsy shop but new to this version are the clay charms. I wanted to up the "art" part of the tree for the magazine so I came up with the charms. Here's a little about them...

The charms are made of wire and polymer clay. I used Studio Sculpey brand clay. The stamps I used were from the Magnetic Poetry "family and friends" collection of word stamps. I also used the Studio Sculpey brand of brown antiquing glaze for a slightly distressed look. On the back of the charms I glued on little scraps of fabric to match the tree branches. Just seemed like a nice little finishing detail. They were tied on with little scraps of embroidery floss (DMC 844). It was a fun project!!

This won't be in the book but I will be including a more detailed "how to" of the charms for a charm bracelet project that will also have cute little fabric charms. SO cute!! Hope you enjoy it!

Fall Colors

This weekend was the turning point for a project I've been working through lately. I've been trying to come up with a fall leaf garland and although I had the basic conceptual of it fairly early on some the "how to" was taking it's dear sweet time actualizing. It was the fabrics that were giving me the most trouble. They would define the mood and feel. Felt- a little cozy and comfy but definitely simple and a little kids- crafty. Seasonal Quilt fabric- ok but a little too much in my opinion. It screamed fall and as the shape will do that, so I thought the fabric didn't need to as well. I found a lovely scrolled ornate pattern I liked that would probably work and it came in both orange and brown but no red for the maple leaves. But then I found a scrap of batik I had and I love how the sun shines through this fabric. It would look beautiful hanging in front of a window, which is where I kind of visualized putting it. YAY! Problem solved!

The basic leaf concept I came up last year as I was casting about for some fall decorations. I wanted leaves to hang from my chandelier over the dining room table. For V-day I hang a stitched and stuffed wire heart, for Christmas some ornaments I've made. It's my revolving seasonal display. Thinking about it some- I realized what a big inspiration the calendar can be. Creating your own handmade decor for the holidays and seasons can prompt you to play with color schemes and imagery you might never have tried before. I don't naturally turn to browns and yellows in my work. But I love working with them. I just don't think to. But for fall? I can't think of anything I like better than to be surrounded with the browns and oranges and deep reds and golden yellows that define the season. So think about it. How could you surround yourself with the loveliness of the season? Then let yourself be inspired!

Happy Etsy-versary!!!

Today's the day! One year ago today I listed my first item on Etsy! It amazes me it was a year ago. I am so grateful to the reception my work has received. Very very grateful! This morning I mentioned it to my husband and he suggested I get a piece of cake to celebrate. Jasper and I thought it was a good idea but then came home with this yummy little masterpiece. YAY!

It struck me as a good time to review the amazing wonderful crazy things that God has worked in my life in the last year. So here goes...

Etsy Coolness-
82 Sales + additional direct sales
3000+ hits on my Wire Tree
Front Page 8 or 9 times
528 store hearts + lots of item specific hearts
Sent $300+ to Orphanage
Had visits from over 87 countries
Over 10,000 visits since January this year
Countless conversations
Lots of friendly encouragement
Found 1 kindred spirit (the best of all!!)


Other Wonderful things...
Started blog- and remembered I love writing
Submitted work to 3 art magazines
Published in 3 art magazines!!!
Got crazy idea to submit a book idea
Sent in book proposal with sample work
BOOK PROPOSAL ACCEPTED!!!
Play/meet weekly with local Christian artists
Filled 3 sketchbooks
Appeared on Local News as local Etsy artist
Let God lead me
Debt free!
Set up my very own studio room in our house
Took chances and jumped when God said "jump"!


I kind of can't believe all the wonderfulness that has come into my life this year. And it all started when I risked rejection and made my work available to the world. Letting others see my work was probably my biggest hurdle. Starting my site on Etsy and feeling all the love and support there has let me open my life to possibility and God's plan. I feel so very very grateful!!! Thanks to you all for your comments and encouragement too! I love my blogging family and you are all part of it!!! I am very grateful for you. AND I can't wait to see what the next year brings!!!

Making Flowers from Fabric

I've had a fuzzy image in mind of some fabric flowers I'd like to make. In the past I've done ribbon roses and plenty of knit one's too but thought I should try some using the quilting scraps I have. The patterns on these fabrics are so bright and pretty I just love them but when I tried creating what I had in mind they just wouldn't work. The image I have is of multi fabric flowers, that are 3d and kind of shabby chic. So some of these are close but not quite what I was thinking yet.

I'll keep trying. Do you ever get those glimpses? I can't just whip out the flower because I can't completely see them. It's frustrating but from past experiences I know that if I keep going I'll get there. And each attempt is a step closer because I've tried something that either does or doesn't work. That's knowledge.

So that's one of my little projects. Hope you enjoy them!

At the Lake...

We've been at the lake for the last few days. And July, I decided, really the best time to be here. Minnesota winters last a long long time and so many of our trips to the lake don't include any lake activities. But in JULY- we've done boat rides, Jasper's gone fishing and swimming and tonight we'll do a campfire. Very nice to be here. I'm also getting some work done, some writing done and some projects defined. Played with chicken wire this morning and will play with plaster this afternoon. What could be better?

Hope you are all finding the time to enjoy right now as well. Happy Summer!!!

Life Close Up

Close up everything looks different- Sometimes it looks big and overwhelming. Sometimes we see parts we never saw before. I had a spider crawling across my wall yesterday and before I could give it a good smack my son stopped me. "Wait Mom, I want to see it close up." Then he got as close as he possibly could (inches) and just looked. He counted it's legs, he tried to figure out where it's eyes and mouth was and really looked. I'm fine with the things outside but absolutely hate how many we have living inside with us. They look like mini tarantulas. So icky. I wouldn't have looked twice at it. But because he did I did too. It was kind of cool. I'm glad he stopped me from just reacting and made me appreciate the spider for just a minute. I still whacked it... but I did appreciate it before I did. Still doesn't sound good. Oh, well. Life.

My thought is that looking close is an important part of observation. Which can be a huge source of inspiration. I'm thinking in particular of Monet's water lilies. I was able to see the panels the MOMA has in New York several years ago. They were just beautiful and the result of his fascination with his subject matter. Monet himself referred to himself once not as a painter but an observer. Which puts other series of his, like his studies of light and haystacks into a sort of Leonardo da Vinci like recording of what he sees. What amazing art was the result of these two men's interest in observing nature- closely.

My self assignment in my sketchbook will be, I think, to observe something CLOSE UP and see how my observation of it will change with the change of perspective. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Some Thoughts on Motivation

Lately I've been shamefully neglecting my blogging goals. Which was basically to blog all the time. Have to say though that I blog when I'm creating and excited to share what I've been working on or I blog as a way to explore ideas through writing. Neither of which motivations have been happening the last week. I hit the deadlines I'd been working towards and kind of just stopped everything. I did that thing that we did in college after exams. You know push and push and push and then CRASH!!!

I would feel horribly guilty about it, knowing the next deadline IS just around the corner, BUT I think I needed the time to seperate. Get back to life a little and relate to the other people who live in my house (husband and son).

A couple nights ago I had a friend staying with me and we got to talking about goals. How important are they? Do they just set you up for feeling badly when you can't meet them? There are the specific goals- like blog 3-4 days a week. And there are the unspecific goals like treat my self well. Then there are the really big too far a way to be sure of goals like "take art classes in Italy and paint in Provence". These are great dreams but as goals.... Yeah I'd like to work towards them but I'm fonder of my more specific and immediate "to do" lists. They make me feel good. I'm rather shameless when I make them too. When I sit down in the morning at breakfast and make it I put down things like, "take a shower, make breakfast, write to do list..." Then I can cross some things off right away and I feel like I'm off to a great start.

Although I argued for setting some mid term goals as well. When I started to play around with the wire and fabric I set a few goals. My first was to let myself learn without constantly critiquing my work. Another was to submit to a magazine within the next year. One was permission to play and the other was a challenge to work towards. I completely committed to both. For maybe the first time in my life I was determined to try for something real. Hard to kid yourself with the "someday" I'll make a difference in my life when you have a concrete timed deadline you've set for yourself. Hopefully, this makes sense to you all. I admit I'm trying to work through my thoughts on all of this myself. I've been trying to identify what was different about this time. I've tried things before but never gotten as far as this. Usually I'm a get excited and try, hit resistance, fear failure, and retreat sort of girl. But something has changed. Maybe it's a sense that the impossible is possible. Maybe it's a willingness to be gentle with myself. Maybe it's my newly found sense of discipline. I don't know. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks!

At Last! New Listings on Etsy

Seems like it's been forever- but I now have some new items listed! There a bunch of new wire words, some wall size and some embellishment size. I love these stitched to either canvas or my mini art quilts. There's also my favorite of the new listings- a scribble pear and scribble apple. They're the perfect "pear". Ok sad thing is I used that in the listing too.

Next on the to do list- I have 5 finished book projects due soon (luckily I also have a mom and dad who are willing to babysit next week).

I'd love it if you'd check out the shop to see the rest of the new items! Thanks!