Today for Thing-A-Day I finished a mix CD I’ve been working on, tweaking and refining for a long time. I burned the first copy and listened to it to make sure there were no skips and the music all flowed properly from song to song. I am still brainstorming for ideas on the album artwork. I sat down at my drawing table to begin working on the artwork when I remembered a post I saw earlier today.
I saw this tutorial post on iHanna’s blog about making fabric paper and it seemed like fun.
The first one I made I really liked, but then I wanted to “tint” it and added some acrylic paints and I wasn’t thrilled with the outcome. That is more than a light tint, wouldn’t you say? I wanted it to be light yellow with “barely there” touches of green and orange, and instead it became red and green. Go figure.
I had fun though, so I decided to do another one. This one (all the more “white” images above) I left alone. I chose more neutral colored paper bits and I think I might come back over it later with a very watered down wash of white.
What will I end up doing with these? Who knows, but I thought I might scan them in and do some digital work over it for the album artwork.
Today, for Thing-A-Day, I spun for a couple hours. I’ve been working on this super thin yarn that will be plyed with another to make a crazy sock yarn. Normally I spin barefoot, but I just got home so I still had on my shoes. Normally I’ll just spin from a long roving, but because I want the colors to alternate a lot, I’ve been pulling bits the staple length and spinning from those. There are a total of 17 different colors and they are all a really nice merino wool.
I posted an animated gif file I made while spinning earlier this month, but you really can’t see much of a dent on the two hours more I’ve added. It’s so thin that it just doesn’t add up quickly.
The colors may not look that great right now, but once plyed, the finished product will look closer to this other yarn (below) that I spun, only all of that was dyed with kool-aid and it’s a much chunkier yarn.
Tonight my best friend and I went to go see Gaelic Storm (for the second time) at the Historic Egyptian Theatre. We had a really good time and now I’m in a St. Patrick’s Day mood. I always love going to concerts like that because the audiences are so energetic. Mostly, I think it’s the Irish crowd, because it’s the same vibe when I’ve gone to see Black 47 and Irish Festivals.
Here is a quick snapshot of what it looks like inside the theatre. We were sitting on the balcony.
The band performing. One thing that was REALLY cool was that the lead singer told the audience that he met his wife for the first time at Eduardo’s (a well known local restaurant). She was a grad student at NIU. How cool is that? Singer from Ireland, tours the world over and he met his wife in my own town.
And finally, the gratuitous shoe shot. I had to use the upstairs restroom and just loved the checkered flooring in there. Someday I will have black and white checkered floors in my home.
It’s Lost day again! This means I didn’t have much time to work on my Thing-a-day post, but I was able to make a special new someone to bring to the blog.
Today I’d like to introduce you to my little friend Frosty the snowman. He’s about six inches or so, about the same amount of snow we’ve received in the last 24 hours. I froze my little fingers and toes off to bring him here to you.
Now, I am going to go run some hot water in the bath and submerge my fingers and toes to bring back the feeling before we have to jet off to watch Lost. I kid you not.
Cross off one more item from my 2009 To-Do List. #28, I’ve decorated for Christmas. It might be pretty lacking in it’s lame, limp garland wrapped around the front porch, and the plastic tree my cat won’t stop eating, but everything is made better when you view the snowflake curtain I have been working on. I was inspired by this flickr picture and just wanted to make so many snowflakes that were all staggered and overlapping that it was more of a snow storm than anything :D It’s hanging between the kitchen and breakfast nook and makes me so happy that I just want to hang out in there all the time now.
Here’s another holiday picture, but not of my tree, but my friends’ Tom and Nikki. We went sledding last Friday. What a great evening. It was one of those nights, and I’ll quote Nikki “I was laughing so hard I thought my chest was going to explode”. Best.Feeling.In.The.World.
I still haven’t found my wallet BUT I sold another one of my handspun yarns this weekend. That makes me unbelievably happy. I also got a great message from the person who purchased this painting. “it’s absolutely beautiful. Even more stunning than in the photos!” Wow, made me feel like a million bucks.
And last but not least, I’m thrilled to present the following paintings I finished this weekend.
These paintings make me ridiculously happy.
They are all available in my Etsy shop right now. Clicking on the images will take you to their respective pages.
Welcome newcomers and old friends visiting from the SewMamaSew Giveaway Day. My name is Robyn and I’m an inspiration junkie. I always say I have my hands in all areas of the arts and crafts. For example, I work as a print designer, and just today, I came home and began working with my handspun yarn, and then did some painting on canvas, and finally this evening worked on binding a book.
Last spring I participated in my first SewMamaSew Giveaway Day and gave away 2 sets of my handmade Recycled Envelope and Stationery Sets. It was a huge success with 150 comments left on that one post. My stationery sets are a hit and so I’d like to continue with that, but shake it up somewhat. Please read below to find out how to qualify and win.
Here’s the scoop: One lucky winner will receive one of my Recycled Envelope and Stationery Sets AND one of my Reproduction Prints from my Etsy store. To enter, just leave a comment on this post (just say hi and let me know which reproduction you would choose if you won). Leave your comment before Sunday, December 6th 2009, at 8 p.m. (CST) at which point a winner will be drawn randomly from all the comments. This drawing is also available for those outside of the United States.
Each stationery set is compiled of 10 handmade self-sealing envelopes made from my personal (and constantly growing collection) of old papers, calendars, magazines, posters, massive vintage clipart books, maps, etc. Each set also comes with 20 pieces of stationery designed by myself, on a high quality recycled paper. Oooh, la la! I recently redesigned the stationery with a breath of fresh air. Finally, each set also has 10 labels so that you can easily mail them. Come on, who doesn’t love sending and receiving handwritten letters? It’s a welcome break from the bills and junk mail.
My reproduction prints are all printed professionally from my original artwork. You can click on each one to visit its own page or click on this link to browse all of them at once.
Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out what I have to offer. You can also find me on flickr, etsy and twitter. Please come by again, let’s be friends.
I really wanted to play too, so today I contributed to the What I Wore Today (drawings only) group pool on flickr.
It’s no marvelous work of art, and I’m no fashionista. I’m actually the girl who was just in Macy’s recently, running around saying “wow, they have really nice clothes here” in a truly surprised fashion. My actual outfit was pulled together entirely from Old Navy (the skirt and the tank top) and Target (the cardigan and the purse). I really wouldn’t have bothered to draw the purse if I hadn’t just changed it out for another bag I’ve been carrying all summer. Once I slung it over my shoulder I was surprised to see that the exact same color of my cardigan was matched in the pattern of the bag. I’m not the type to try and attempt or even care about such things normally, but I was drawing a self portrait of myself today.
Check out the flickr group and if you contribute, send me a link!
I just hobbled out to water my plants and was surprised to see I’ve got two little tomatoes growing. I squealed when I saw “a”, which is probably the diameter of a dime (if even) and then shocked when I saw “B” (probably the size of a half dollar) because ‘How had I not seen this big ol’ tomato yet?!?!’.
For my first container garden I said I’d be pleased if I got one fruit or vegetable off of each variety of plant I grew. As I only had one tomato plant, that seemed reasonable. Then I thought “oh no, do tomatoes self pollinate or will I have a fruitless plant because I only had one?” but it worked. Multiple tomatoes off of one plant (so far).
My mom told me, since I’m enjoying my container garden so much this year, that if I wanted, I could till up a section in their old garden (which has just become one with the rest of their lawn) and have a garden there. I think I might take her up on that. I have dreams of making a little fenced in garden area, like my grandma used to keep, where things are all planned out and have their places. I’m learning a lot about that after seeding and planting so many in just the containers this year.
I’m excited for Tomato a and Tomato B and the rest of the gang to develop and ripen.
I’m sure they will all be delicious. Is that disturbing? Naming and then eating your produce? I promise not to get too attached :D
We’ve been and will be under heat advisory for today and tomorrow. I’m tired of summer already, yes two whole days later :p
Today my final rag bracelet fell off. Last year I posted a link to this tutorial to making a summer rag bracelet and I’ve been wearing some ever since. I started with solid black, solid gray, and black & white striped bracelets and they went great with my black jelly bracelets that I always wear. Slowly though, they’ve been ripping and unraveling, until today the final one basically disintegrated in one spot and fell off. Funny enough, it wasn’t at the knot. Well, summer is here again and it’s time to make some new ones! We should all make wishes when we put them on and when they fall off our wish will come true.
Also, with heat indexes in the hundreds, it might just be time to bake some cookies in your car :)
