Winner

Congratulations Corrine you have won Je' Temie
(please email me your address so I can get it in the mail)

I have been busy working on the last little bits of "a charming exchange"
Kelly has done one fantastic job writing for our book! now its just up to me to finish up a few little things :)


These Dolls will be going out to Tammie today for her Halloween paper doll swap. I made them when I was in Reno for Nancy's Birthday! ( I will share with you 2 amazing art studio's I visited when I was there next week)

"Je' Temie"

This will be post 300 for me! its hard to believe that on Sunday, November 06, 2005 I started this Blog with the intent to keep a journal about my art and my jewelry classes (that I used to teach)... along the way I some how fell in love with fabric and sewing!

It is almost pain full to look back at my old posts and see that I could not even add a link or post a photo! but it is amazing to be able to look back and see how roots really do have wings! so if you do not have a blog yet and are afraid to try all I can say it go for it! it may be a little hard to start but once you do you will be glad that you did !

I am away from home right now in amazing Reno... I came out for Nancy's Birthday and we have been having a amazing time! I have been taken pitchers and will be sharing all the fun we have been having! today we will visit her friend that is a weaver and she has a most amazing studio that I will share when I come home on Tuesday :)

but for now to celebrate post 300 I have decided to offer a giveaway as a "Thank You" for all your kind words and support of my blog.

please resound to this post to enter and on Tuesday I will pick a winner for Je' Temie.

good luck!

"The Art of Procrastination!"

"Anyone can do any amount of work providing it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment."

~Robert Benchley

(close up of "wisdom")

I think my next book will be called

"The Art of Procrastination!"
here is a view of my desk top and in the background behind youtube (Damien Rice) you can see that I am trying too get the words down for "A Charming Exchange", our dead line is at the end of this month. Kelly and I had a meeting of the minds a few days ago and we worked on who needed to do what for our book.


this is my manuscript that I am working from, when I received this in the mail, weeks ago the excitement quickly turned to fear... I said to my self : "oh my this looks like home work! I do not do home work very well"! and "oh my how ever will I do this!?"

(a peek at the manuscript)

if you read my blog , you would have noticed that I have a quirky spelling style...
I am extremely dyslexics , I was so good at overcompensating in school that I was not diagnosed until I was in the 4Th grade ( this was in the 70's when California's class room size's were 38 kids to a room) when a teacher noticed that I was holding a book upside down reading a passage out loud... much testing followed and at the age of 11, I was barley reading at a second grade level... again being a child of the 70's this was all going on before they had special classes for learning disabled kids there was not yet a distinction between learning disability's and handicaps, so I was pulled from normal classes and put in with Handicapped children, because they felt that they could give me one on one action that I needed in hopes that I could catch up some how... I always knew I was different, I always knew I did not get things like other's but when they put me in a class with kids with down syndrome and brain damage who were strapped into wheel chairs, it was hard to understand at such a young age, I understood that even if my lot in life was hard others still had it harder. and a challenge after all is not a challenge with out some difficultly.

As the years passed, with a lot of hard work, I was able to break the code with in my head and understand that how I see and process is different from the masses. By high school I was reading at a 7Th grade level and was main streamed to "normal" classes.

( Baxter my small dog is sitting on my BIG manuscript)

As I sit here trying to write this book, there is some fear... in many ways I am still the 11 year old girl who does not understand, but I never say never, and I only say "I can't do it" a few time because I know that I really can. I think back to my amazing 4Th grade teacher, miss Falkner who discovered that I had a special gift, she loved my drawings and told me that I would be a good child's book illustrator.

But as I grew my art went from drawing to Jewelry and mixed media and
"A Charming Exchange" will be the book and its time to get it written! so I will stop with my procrastination and get back to work!

("wisdom" full view )

"Procrastination is my sin.
It brings me naught but sorrow.
I know that I should stop it.
In fact, I will - tomorrow!
Gloria Pitzer

Mary Ashby (little bird)

I made this for a vintage banner exchange... I have no business joining swaps and exchanges as I am still writing my book! But I guess its the rebel in me, I just love to do everything but what I am supposed to do! ( does this make me a procrastinator?)


"Mary Ashby"
(little bird)

I stitched a vintage belt buckle used as a frame for this little scrap of ledger paper from 1871
that reads "Mary Ashby" I think she would like this banner that I created around her name :)
I used felt as my base then I use some old sheet music lots of lace and a vintage "happy new years card" with a bird on it.

two mother of pearls buttons, one I altered with a rubber stamp and some ink, old velvet leaves
and a pearl clip on earring along with some tinsel and some pearl trim, glitter letters with the word "JOY" and some pom pom fringe . and a candler crystal.
This is the back of the banner
and this is Bruizer he was following me around as I was taking these pictures :)
(oh my! I just noticed that my banner looks like my dog!!! you just never know where inspiration can come from!)

"a little bird"

A little bird
Perches on a branch.
A beautiful, golden-feathered
Little bird.

Her eyelids
Are closed in sleep.
She may have beautiful dreams,
Perhaps.

How wonderful to be
A little bird,
To wake up
And fly away.

by Magdalena Klein

creativity is courage

“Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.”

Albert Einstein quotes

(bursting with joy)

“Another word for creativity is courage”

George Prince quotes

(his mouth)

“The creative person is both more primitive and more cultivated, more destructive, a lot madder and a lot saner, than the average person.”

Frank Barron quotes

(sweet harvest)

“Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.”

Pablo Picasso quotes

(joyful hearts)

“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.”

Edward de Bono quotes

clean stuido?

"Cindel"

Today I was going to clean my messy studio, but I just did not know where to start so I made up this little Halloween paper doll for Tammie Moores swap, I had so much fun! this is my first paper doll ever, I wanted to use all fabric for her clothing but I made myself us at least half paper. I had not a clue how to go about make a doll I even sent out a email plea for help to Holly but I was in the need to instant gratification so I went on a web search and I found Hazelruthes really cool blog with all the paper doll info a girl could need and I used this template for my doll.

Cindel even has a magic wand ! I glued down paper stars and glitter inside of her cloth cape. I still have to make 2 more :)

Then I started to clean again ( I think it lasted about 3 minuets) I started to trash things then I found I had some really cool scraps on my desk so I started to make some atc's

"bashful"
(this is my favorite I will use this in a larger piece .)



"ART life"
(this is all fabric)

This set was made for a fabric atc swap group


Then before you know it I lit my candle and started burning stuff...

"faith and justification" these were made for a fall atc swap group, I torched the felt and then I blister the top with a flame to reveal the paper fragment.

a few more burnt atcs

so there you have it my day... nothing got clean but I did have some fun :)
oh well, there is always tomorrow.

"words of wisdom cones"

A thing of beauty is a joy forever; Its loveliness

increases; it will never Pass into nothingness." — John Keats.

I call these "words of wisdom cones" they are filled with words to inspire and delight. there are made from felt, altered fabrics and hymnal sheet music and measures 7" x 3". I just put these for sale here

(front view with contents spilling out)


(inside view)


(back view)

I have been busy this last week getting the young ones ready and back to school...

Brian my 8Th grader is 13

Sarah my 11th grader is 16!
oh where oh were did my little ones go!?