Day 9

Day 9 was from Kim -- The Queen of Arts!


Under the glass bauble it says "be brave" . This is quite meaningful as I just created a journal page that says "you are braver than you think".

I'll be putting this heart on my bedside table!

Day 8

Day 8 in our 12 Days of Christmas Swap was Heather. I didn't want to open it because I LOVE the wrapping paper. And the tag was wonderful!


Inside was an altered composition book. This is perfect timing for me because my current one is full. I use composition books as my journal. It is great for listmaking and gluing things into. And that's what a journal is, for me......


I'm going to use the tag as a bookmark in the journal! Thank you so much, Heather!!!

12 Days of Christmas

I am so far behind with everything right now. School ended on Friday and then I had a little winter solstice gathering on Sunday. Now I can relax for a week! And catch up on everything.

This year I'm participating in the Canadian Chickies 12 Days of Christmas swap. I'm a bit behind in the postings.
Here are Days 1-7!
Day 1: Arlene made us each leather cuffs with some hammered wire detail. I wore mine to school every day last week (after I opened it). Arlene! It is perfect!


Day 2: Brittni made us little books with a tiny turtle dove tucked inside!


Day 3: Mar made us each beautiful tree magnet and a personalized mini painting. The magnet totally coordinates with my fridge (how did you do that, Mar?).


I have the painting right beside my computer. See love birds on a branch -- aren't they so sweet?
Day 4: Kathryn made matchbox shrine necklaces for us. She knows that I love the water, so she made mine in watery colours with shells and fish on it. Inside there is a piece of net and a crystal for wishing.


Day 5 : me!
I sent my Joy banners! Have a joyful holiday!


Day 6: Sabina made little winter fairies in jars. She looks perfect with my winter display in my living room. (I cannot get a good picture of this -- my camera just WILL NOT focus on the inside of the jar....)
Day 7: Dawn made each of us personalized vintage hang -ups and crystalized key necklaces. I have the hanging in my entranceway already!!!!The necklace says "eclectic chickie" on it -- that really sums me up, doesn't it?

ornaments

I puttered around and played a bit today. Instead of writing (and mailing) some Holiday cards, we played with polymer clay. It's nice to put to use some of the knowledge that I learned in a class! (Laurie Mika's polymer clay class at ArtUnraveled in August).


I think that these will be nice additions to a wrapped gift -- or maybe as an embellishment on a cello bag full of cookies?
(the stamps are all from The Old Island Stamp Company except for the star -- that is Stampin Up, I think)

m-is-for-monster!

Today I am at the Movies and Makers Show at the Fox Theatre in the Beach (2236 Queen Street East in Toronto)

I'm selling lots of ornaments!
Some are pretty:(sorry about the indoor shots -- it's cold and dark outside lately by the time I get home)

Some are cute:
Some are scary:(aren't these just the cutest little monsters ever?)

I'm selling some cuffs:
and I'm also selling my JOY banners!
See you there !
(10:30am-5:30pm)
(I'll also be putting some of these in my etsy shop within the next few days)

Sew Somerset

Published again!
A dress from my "Hundred Dresses" series is in here.The series fizzled a bit... but I'd like to carry on with it.....

sweepings

I was cleaning my studio (aka basement) and I swept the debris into a (smallish) pile. But in among the dust bunnies I found some pretty little bits. So I challenged myself to make cards out of the "flotsam and jetsam" of my floor. I layered it onto some blank cards that I picked up in the dollar section at Target... I think that they were 8 for a dollar.....

Inspired Ideas -- Christmas Edition

Have you read Amy Powers' online mag yet? It is beautiful! I was very lucky to spend a few days with Amy last year at our Niagara Girls little retreat. She is one of the nicest people I've ever met. Really. And I've met A LOT of people.
Go here to read it! (and the past issue too!)
(and if you haven't noticed -- I've put links to my favourite online magazines on the sidebar to the right)(please let me know if I have missed any, or if I have missed updating the issues)

Keeping busy with books

I've had to do a lot of resting and waiting lately. I've read A LOT. These are just some of my recent perusings...

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows -- I was a little late to jump on this bandwagon -- but I LOVED it! To me it was about how books bring people together and make life more tolerable -- well, more interesting....

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel-- odd, but so was Life of Pi....not for everyone

The Namesake by Juhmpa Lahiri. Oops -- I had no idea that there was a movie.... and it even opened here at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006. The book was great!

The Birth House by Ami McKay -- set in Nova Scotia in the early twentieth century. I loved it. (mom, this one is coming to you next)

Continuity Girl by Leah McLaren-- I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did....
Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella (i find these books slightly annoying, but I still have a desire to read them)(plus, I am planning a trip to England in a year or two, and I'll need to know where to shop :) well, where to window-shop, really.....

Bet Me by Jennifer Cruisie -- not one of her best, but it entertained me on a gurney for a few hours.

and The Queen's Lady by Barbara Kyle (love those Tudor romances!) (annoyingly, the second book in the series isn't available at the Toronto Public Library -- yet they have just received the third...)

Inspiration and upcoming Shows!

Someone asked me recently who my inspirations are (art wise). These are just some of them -- I'm sure that I've left a lot out...... This a list of my contemporaries, not historical inspirations:

Ruth Rae (fabric, layering, use of text, style)
Julie Arkell (mix of fabrics, embroidery, vintage, new)and Denise Litchfield too!
Colette Copeland (perfect simplicity)
Kelly Kilmer (ability to "just do it", journaling, paint, paper, tape, white pens)
Pam Garrison (colour, style, embroidery, vintage wallpaper)
Hope Wallace (journaling -- the way that she fills the page, black pens, white pens)
Nami Ogihara (layering, scraps, tape, mix of paper and fabric)
Corey Moortgat (gesso -- her "old style")
Tif Fussel (Dottie Angel)(vintage fabric, doilies)(and she has an Airstream!)
Mary Ann Moss (Remains of the day -- using up all of the "stuff", combining fabric and paper)
Line Juhl Hansen (encaustic -- layering of mixed media, composition, scale)

So, mix them all together and you get me :)


This is an example of on of my recent ornaments. I'll be selling these (and banners, cards and some scarves) at two shows/sales in the upcoming weeks in the Toronto area. The first is a smaller show in the Summerhill area on Saturday November 20. It's called the Handmade Holiday Sale and is at 76 Shaftsbury Avenue (1 block east of Summerhill Subway) 10am -4pm-ish.

The second the Movies and Makers Show on December 4 at the Fox Theatre in the Beach.
(the link above will take you to the blog where you will can "meet" many of the artists!)

Work in Progress

This is an unfinished piece on masonite (8x10) that I started in Raina Gentry and Kris Kollash's class at ArtUnraveled. The horse is a (single use)stencil by Modelo. I've seen their stencils a lot lately in rooms featured in design blogs.... I have another WIP using a similar (larger) stencil from the same class..... . Someday I'll finish.... but I think that painting isn't my very favourite thing to do..... I need to ground the horse a bit and add some collage elements. I'm all about the mixed media.

Banners

I LOVE making banners!


I made this black and white one for my mom's "Noteworthy Christmas" . This year her theme is black and white with naturals and a touch of red. It's all about "notes" . This can be broadly interpreted -- musical notes, hand written notes, notebooks?

I made some other banners for my etsy shop -- keeping with more traditional Christmas colours of red and white. (If you would like a black and white one you can email me!) They are made from muslin and the letters are cut from quilting cottons.
(if anyone has any ideas on how to photograph these better -- please share -- I wanted to photograph them in a doorway, but if I use natural light -- i.e. no flash, then the background is VERY distracting, unless I skew them like this.... And if I use a flash, they are so blown out and not as pretty as they are in real life)

Really pretty fabric ornaments to come!!!! (and lots more for my etsy shop -- AND a preview of what will be in some upcoming shows -- more on that later in the week!!)

I've also put some of my punched aluminum stars in my shop....

Follow your dream

I finished this piece that I started in Cynthia Anderson's class called "Painting Faces" at Art Unraveled in August. I'm pretty happy with it. It is very "Kelly Rae". Thanks, Kelly for the inspiration! (I have it up in my kitchen).

A bit of after Halloween Voodoo

You have to watch this!



too creepy?

Happy Halloween!

Click to scare yourself. Don't my teeth look just awful??? The really scary thing is that they are my real teeth...

Another (very) disappointing ipad issue

And this one is a biggie -- You can't upload pictures from your ipad straight to blogger. I hadn't tried blogging from my ipad yet because I hadn't uploaded pictures to my ipad yet. So I bought the camera adaptor for the ipad, and yesterday uploaded some pics onto the ipad. So far, so good. I downloaded a photoediting app and resized and edited the photos that I wanted (I hardly ever use camera RAW). Then I composed my new post -- but when I tried to add a photo, I hit a wall because there are content compatibility issues with blogger and ipad. You'd think that after 6 months this would be all worked out. But no. Wordpress has its own ipad app. But not blogger (perhaps that is because Google is coming out with their own tablet and wants us to buy one? not gonna happen here).

I'm experimenting with mail posting.

Blogpress has an app that will allow you do do it, but with extra steps -- you have to load your pics to Picassa, then grab them. And blogpress apparently won't let you use bold, italic or add links.... (I'm still researching Blogpress -- the app is only $2.99, but they all add up, you know? Having said that, I'll likely buy it and play with it this week....)

So, I'm a bit disappointed with my ipad. The 2 most important features for me -- reading ebooks from the library and blogging on the go, aren't supported. I'll still be traveling with my Kobo and my laptop.

Dia De Los Muertos

Yesterday we traveled down College street to the ElMocambo. Upstairs was a super cool festival!
There was an escapist, a rockin DJ -- some burlesque dancers, a magician. And lots of cool shopping. I bought a hair clip made from a zipper, and some cool notecards and tags (did I really need these?) and I bought a Frida magnet from Carmi. If it wasn't for Carmi -- I never would have known about the event. Thanks Carmi! I hope that they do it again next year. I loved it. (In the evening there were bands. I'm too old for bands. They all happen after my bedtime)

left: dj misty (she has great playsits on her blog)

centre: red herring (fabulous burlesque)

right: magician gabriello pitman (So cute. So talented)

This picture is from Nancy's blog -- I was so overwhelmed,(and a bit tired) so I forgot to take out my camera!

Head of the Charles Regatta

Lauren is defending her title (with her 3 other oarswomen and the cox) of Lightweight Women's Four, this weekend in Boston. She works (trains) so unbelievably hard. I am so proud of her. Good luck Lauren!

(This is a shot of Lauren and Christina rowing last year -- I don't have a good shot of her in a four)

Why we needed a new comforter

When Mr Bs 19 year old son came to live with us, I put a puffy vintage green and yellow quilt on the bed. A few months later he says "Martha, that blanket has a hole in it" I said "Okay, bring it down, I'll put a patch on it" , thinking that I'd sew a sprinkling of vintage fabric leaves on it....

Ummmm, so here's the hole:

That's not a hole, that's a crater! All of the quilting thread is missing off of the yellow part.....

So I cut out the batting (hmmm, that's WOOL batting... I'll have to save that and dye it and needle felt it into little hearts)(no, I'm still not a hoarder).


Then I cut new batting (cotton) and pinned it all in.



Then I basted the opening down.

Then I pinned and re-quilted the layers. Hey! It worked! The original was hand quilted with embroidery thread, but I machine quilted this. And now I know that I can machine quilt right to the centre of a quilt...(hmmmm .... the possibilities........).


Then I sewed on two strips of fabric... I was planning to sew on the sprinkling of leaves..but I'm going to leave it like this.


Now it will be put away and used when there are guests...

Hold the Presses!

I am rescinding that last comment that I made saying that I am a collector.
I have decided that I am instead a gatherer........
Yes, indeed... that is what I am.

Plates

On Sunday we went for another walk. We had to buy Mr. B's son a comforter (you'll see why tomorrow). Anyway, I also live a short walk from Walmart. I'm really big on "buy local" and "support Canadian" (hmmm, that tape and twine isn't Canadian, oh, just forget about that). but sometimes you just need a cheap comforter, and Walmart is just around the corner. Well, when we were there, we passed the tableware aisle and I spotted some really nice looking dishes! I really wanted the Anthropologie Fleur de Lys plates, but they're a bit too spendy (they cost lots in Canadian dollars)..... So I bought these! Luckily Mr. B was there to carry them. I do't know how they'll hold up over time, but I really like them. This plate makes my ham and cheese look really yummy, doesn't it? (16 piece place setting for $40) (They are Better Homes and Gardens "medallion")(plus some extra $s for some completer pieces like a platter, serving bowls and ice cream dishes). Let's hope that this cools that lust for the Anthro dishes..... Well, if I don't stop going to the website and looking at them, it won't :)

(no mom, I'm not a hoarder.... I'm a collector)

Today is about TAPE!

On Saturday I felt well enough to go for a little walk. We had a lovely walk through Trinity Bellwoods park and then went to The Paper Place and Type. I am so lucky to live an easy 15 minute walk from such fabulous stores!

The Paper Place now sells LOTS of decorative tape!!! It sells many kinds that I have ordered online from Korea (like I used in these collages). And now I can just shop locally. Yay! (don't worry -- I'm sure that I'll still be shopping at Pretty Tape....)


The paper Place also sells Whisker Graphic's Divine Twine if you are in need of some bakers twine (see it here on the Whisker Graphics site)(and while you're there at Whisker Graphics online , check out the printables). It was really hard not to buy an assortment..... hmmm, it's a beautiful day today... maybe I need a walk?????

Speaking of tape though -- have you seen this tutorial? Julie K in Taiwan shows how to make your own faux Japanese masking tape. I'm going to try this out!

ipad update :)

Now that I've found the Kobo app for ipad, I can read my Kobo books (haven't read any yet, so I can't tell you if there are backlit readability issues). I still can' t figure out how to read the library books....... (mr. B, the computer expert, said that I wouldn't be able to read the Kobo books. Big raspberry to Mr. B :) This is what happens when I have whole days to play on the computer.

The problem with ipads....

My ipad was an early birthday present from Mr. B. I think that I squealed and jumped up and down last week when he gave it to me. I find it incredibly annoying, however, that it doesn't support Flash. Pretty much all of the online magazines (independent ones) are done with Flash Media.

Another thing: it's really hard to touch type on the on-screen keyboard. I'll be buying a keyboard and dock really soon. And a camera connector. The ipad seems like a pretty economical alternative to a laptop. But after you buy all of those (necessary) accessories, it's not, really. I'm still jumping up and down and squealing though......

AND the worst part -- it can't read most epub books. How annoying is that? it is definitely not a replacement for the KOBO -- which will read downloaded books from the library. So now I have to carry around the ipad, the kobo and the cell phone. Yes, cell phone. Lauren bought an iphone and I got my cell phone back (after 10ish years). I'm not really into talking on the phone, but I love to text.... I feel so.... connected......

Anyway, I made myself a pretty ipad cover. I'm also making a little board with slippery fabric on one side and flannel on the other to slide into the case to protect the screen from bumps (slippery so it will slide in easily against the fabric, flannel so it doesn't scratch the screen). The little board can be used in all of my ipad covers. Good idea, non?

Resting

So there I was, on the operating table (before the surgery) and I was chatting to the orderly because he was telling me all about the super cool robot that was going to assist with my surgery (it didn't look Edward Scissorhandish at all). A woman came up beside me (I didn't have my glasses on, so I had no idea who she was -- they all had masks on) and she said "I'm just going to give you a happy needle" I said "okay" and turned back to speak to the orderly. Next thing I know I'm in a white fog and I hear "Martha, wake up, the surgery is over, you're doing well... blah blah blah" WHAT???? All I can think of is -- What a rip off. I didn't even get to count backwards from 99. That's my favourite part!

The surgical robot is really cool. Watch it make an origami crane here. You have to watch right to the end of the video. Amazing.

Off now for a nap.... maybe I'll actually have enough energy to journal on a journal page tomorrow......

View from my bed

If you follow my classroom blog you may know that I am off work for the next 6 weeks or so. I had abdominal surgery yesterday -- but am home now and well on the road to recovery. It was REALLY REALLY hard to leave the kids on Thursday. And the parents and my coworkers. I work in a pretty great school and I consider these people my family.......

Hopefully I'll be able to make some art soon, but for now, I'm reading. I have school books, art books and novels. I've just finished Continuity Girl and a very light trashy novel called Bet Me.

I stuck some cards and pictures that the children made for me on the door (please ignore the purple -- I painted the room 2 1/2 years ago but haven't painted the trim or doors yet......). The cards and the pictures make me very happy!
(if you want to see a picture of me right after surgery -- go to my classroom blog after Saturday 8am -- I don't look too bad)
(my bedroom is teeny tiny -- less than 10x10 -- and it has 2 doors and a window. The only furniture in it is the bed, bedside tables and bookshelves. What more do you need? Oh, other than some cardboard boxes to sit my fan on..... Maybe I need a small bench here....)