*** my iso ***

don't get excited.  this post is all business and no fun, unless you have a lot of crap lying around your house and want to get rid of it!

i am really trying to be a greener artist, using more recycled stuff and making less craft store purchases.  so, this is a list of items that might be in your trash/recycling that i would love to take off your hands.  if you'd like to donate, send me an email.

i will keep this list current, so feel free to come back to it periodically :)

magazines
hardbound books (of little/no literary value)
wooden picture, any size, with or without glass/backing
old t-shirts
fabric
cereal boxes, flatened or not
glass vases, bottles, canning jars
yarn
blender (long shot, but why not?)
felt
embroidery hoops
ribbon


thanks!
jo

thanks you

first, a shout out to anyone who is reading this or anyone still "following" this poor, neglected blog.  i offer no excuses.  oh, well, maybe just one . . .

here he is, my grand excuse.  this is at 7 months, so sometime mid-january.  this little fox of mine started crawling sometime around christmas, but he really started to master the sport in january.

and then here . . .

8 months.  walking.  see how happy he is?  what you cannot see in my rapidly greying hair behind the camera.  that leaf he's holding?  i am sure it was in his mouth meer seconds after the image was captured.  please note that it was an unseasonably warm march day, and therefore the lack of footwear.

oh, and that's not all . . .

9 months.  attepting to defy gravity, and not in the awesome musical wicked way.  he's not being rotten, persay, he's being quick.  he's too quick.  and he is stealth.

one more shot of the boy just to show you how i get through the day:

yes, there he is.  stop it, stop it!  i cannot take the cuteness!  put it away!  when he calls me from jail one day this pic will be what gets me to bail him out.  but anyhow . . .

so i have my hands full.  it hasn't stopped me completely, but production is slower than normal.  i have also been doing a lot of creative cooking and baking so that i can be artsy while also feeding the fam.

here's something i've been working on:

i always see people on etsy selling t-shirt yarn, which made me desperately want to make a t-shirt scarf, which made me rip a perfectly good shirt from my closet and start cutting.

i was really escited about the possibilities offered by using a tie-dyed shirt for this (yes, i tie-dyed this one myself).  no way to know till i try!

ahhhh . . . the prettiest little ball of t-shirt yarn in the whole wide world.  did i mention little?  yeah, i was a little afeared when i saw how tiny it was, so i opted for a skinny scarf for my first go at this. 

i've started knitting, and while i haven't gotten very far, this is what it looks like:

i kinda love it.  hopefully a final product post will be coming soon!

i've completed a couple other scarves, but they need a little embellishing still.  lots of in-process projects!

no telling when i will return, but i promise that when i do there will be more lovliness than you can handle.  deal?

jo

off topic

so we are completely and totally moved out of the old place and that mean that i can devote my energies (or whatever energies i can coax from caffeinated beverages) to our new home.  by "our" new home i probably mean "my" new home - the first home that has ever belonged to me - the first home where i decide what goes on the walls and which colors go where - me.  bliss.

and even while i have been waiting for this for so long, i am content to do everything right the first time even if it means that i search for the right color/fabric/furniture for a while.

such has been the case for my kitchen curtains.  the kitchen is destined to be gorgeous in shades of aqua blues and lime greens, to coordinate with my collections of same colored glasses, textiles, and utensils.  i intend for the bulk of the kitchen to be painted a lighter shade of aqua with one large wall painted white.  i hope to find a fabric for the curtains for the two windows that have such a pattern that i might paint it onto the large white wall in a larger scale.

some fabrics that are front runners at this point:

teja in blue by dena fishbein

flirty dance in lime by patricia bravo

tea garden by dena designs

i really love this one.  if it is not my curtains it will surely be found somewhere else in my home.  i also think i'll have a lot of fun painting it.

mckenzie df70 - aqua by dena designs 

and here's some others that are not entirely eliminated:

nicey jane hb20 by heather bailey

hoot hoot in marchmellow by moda

peacock eye in green by patricia bravo

pop garden wallpaper roses by heather bailey

sanctuary seafoam aromatherapy by patty young

tufted tweets birdie dots grass by patty young

and one more that won't let me cut and paste the image: http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/330065

i have fondness for all of them.

after i choose the fabrc i will choose my paint color to coordinate.

decisions, decisions.


jo

it's a handmade christmas!

hello!

oh, i do hope everyone had a wonderful christmas.  mine has been lovely and white and happy, and who wants more than that?  take a look at my kiddos christmas morning >

i am only sad that my family christmas is held on or after christmas day and it is not until now that i can show off this year's gifts!

i have tried year after year to only give handmade gifts.  i have given up on this with my own children - they do deserve to have their zhu zhus and board games like all the other kids.  but my nieces and nephews, parents, etc - i might be the only one giving them handmade presents and i consider it my duty.  my abilities might not allow me to personally make all of their gifts and so i do buy handmade when this occurs.

my mom purchased these two scarves from me for my grandmas.  my mom does try to embrace the handmade, as well.  she also commissioned me to make a photo book for one of them using one of those online photo place, but i left the captions blank and hand wrote those in and drew in a family tree in the back.  sadly i didn't take any photos, but i'll get some eventually.

 

our family stockings.  in order: barry's, georgia's, wiley's, and mine.  they are small stockings, as i think those big stockings are a bit ridiculous (and expensive to fill!)

this is our new nativity.  obviously i did not make this.  i purchased it from an exceedingly talented local woodcarver.  i had looked for years for a nativity that was special AND that the baby jesus was removable.  baby jesus isn't born until christmas, so he doesn't belong in the nativity until then!  anyhow, this fella made it happen.  he makes so many gorgeous things, so you should check him out: http://www.jimcarves.com/

i made this for my 1 1/2 year old great niece, addie.  it's a little felt house that is kinda like a purse and a little colorful egg 'family' that fit inside. 

my niece, baylee (13? 14? - geez, i should know this), has a thing for daschunds and recently took up a cooking class.  why not make her a wiener dog apron?!?!  it turned out super cute, and i made a little matching flower barrette to jazz it up.  i think she's probably too cool for the barrette, but little addie will likely take it off her hands.

i painted this for my mommy.  the colors in her living room are sage greens, tans, and purples.  my mom has a default setting for neutral, and if it were not for my diligent nagging all these years i am convinced that she would be swimming in a sea of taupe.  it's my job to force her to be colorful!  she loves the painting, by the way.

i got these adorable little cars on etsy from mervs cars for my great-nephew and god-son, nicholas.

another gift for baylee.  i got this from etsier bratfactory, and it was hard not to get one for myself.  i am not sure where the mustache craze came from but i am intrigued.

on the left is an image of a very nice 55 chevy bel air, and on the right is a photo of my dad's 55 chevy bel air that is still in early stages of hot-rod-dom.  i gave these photos to a friend of mine, and below you'll see the final product.   

this is airbrushed onto the back of a dress shirt.  gene, the artist, taught me everything i know about airbrushing and is obviously extremely talented.  check him out: airtrixairbrushing.com

my brain must have fallen out of my skull, because i forgot to take pictures of some of the other handmade gifts that i gave. i will have to return with all of those. humph.

until then

jo

i'm back - ish

the move is nearly complete!  we still have stuff at the old place that we are working on clearing out, but we are fully living in our new home, and it's really awesome.

all throughout this move i worked on a custom project - a 60" tree skirt - on the side.  i just sent it off friday, so it's already done and gone, but i wanted to show and tell about it, cause i am pretty pleased with how it turned out.

these are the materials, as requested.  cardinal red and lime green felt, and big lime green buttons for the closure

an early "sketch".  the tree skirt was to be mostly red with dot cutouts to reveal the lime green felt beneath.  i suggested this topstitching to make the skirt more durable, and thereby adding significant time to my work - but it's real cute!

another "sketch".  she didn't end up wanting my little stars, but i made the sketch and i am showing it :)

final product!

i hope she likes it.



jo

my last post for a bit

the craft fair yesterday was a success!  my knitted wares have gone over smashingly, and the headbands are hit as always.  good, good day.

so now we have to focus on the matter of moving out of this home and into our house.  this is no small task, and i will likely not be around for a while.  try to contain your tears.

a few newbies to tide you over:

and i am not so busy to whip you up something for a christmas gift, or to send out something i've already made.  i still have a large inventory of goodies that can be yours!

jo

Dec 4, 2010

you can find me at the ics craft fair in columbia, il (321 s. metter)!  hope to see you there!

jo