be still my heart!

I got the most amazing thank you in the mail on Friday from Elaine Kerr
I sent her a few little goodies in the mail and she went over the top and
She created this art doll with my daughters face that she found here

at first glance I just thought that the paper it was wrapped in was just news print... but this was not just any news print Elaine had made up a copy write en-figment story about the Sarah~Jeanne art doll! Elaine you are one amazing and FUN artist!!!
Sarah~Jeanne was very impressed with her self :)

I never take on a commission... I guess its my ego mania, but I could not say no to this one because it was a favor for my aunt... and it is a challenge square side drilled tigers eye! oh my!
what will I do ! I have till the 30th to get this done.. I just started to play with the lay out this morning.
Then I started to do some fabric work I needed to get done, My goal was to work in my studio until 3, then as I stated to sew I ran out of my gutermann thread! and there was not a substitute in site!
So off to the fabric store I went but along the way there was my favorite thrift shop where I got the most amazing crystal fringe for $4.95 ! but to my sadness when I got to the fabric store they were out of my thread! so I had to settle for my next favorite color, then of course there was the drive through Starbucks on the way to get kids... yes before you know it 3 o' clock comes by so fast and not a thing was really done!
so after my son's piano lessons and my daughters shopping spree at the mall (oh to be 16 again!), we grabbed a pizza for dinner then I made it back into my studio and got to finish up on my project!

I really love this little detail there is a flat glass heart on top of the word "Romeo?"
oh be still my heart!

"Nonsense and beauty have close connections." — E. M. Forster

I am a little late with this post this is the fun that was May 5 , 2007!
This is what a fun group of art girls looks like!

here's we all are outside the ArtBar in Santa Anna. left to right starting on the back row there's pilar, jennifer, tanya, julie, Me , beth, maija, mija and sylvia. left to right on the front row there's peggy, sandee, kelly, and mary.


This is Kelly's Amazing husband Tom who took the above group photo and was brave and had dinner with all us wild and crazy art girls!

we started the day off at 10am (ok so maybe I made it by 10:40 but it was a Saturday! and a girl needs her weekend beauty sleep!) it was quite the party a few girls brought goodie bags for all 13 0f us and there were Kelly made wonderful pink cup cakes,


Tanya and Maija were are lovely bartenders and made us all the most delightfully STRONG mango margaritas! all this was going on as we tyred to create bracelets for charms that we all made before hand to swap!

This is how my bracelet turned out :)

Mija was so sweet and gave us all a needle felting demo and gifted us all with felt and needles!
This is my 5 minute attempt at the craft!


at 5pm we head out to dinner but first there was some need for sidewalk dancing now the big treat seamed almost planed outside the was a DJ playing 80's music... now the whole group of us are in our 40's so this was a complete high school/collage flash back for all of us!

after our dinner at Memphis we walked around all the Santa Anna Artist Village art gallery's, I was really taken back by this one artist who's name I did not get!( the top 3 photo's) I only have mango margaritas and pink lemonade Martini's to blame! Thanks girls our play date was a true treat!

STAY CLOSE, MY HEART

I must confess that I am a wild crazy romantic! I just adore cutting hearts out! and pink and red are my 2 favorite colors! and Rumi is my favorite poet!
this little atc card I made to go out with one of my ETSY shop orders yesterday :)

STAY CLOSE, MY HEART

Stay close, my heart, to the one who knows your ways;
Come into the shade of the tree that allays has fresh flowers.
Don't stroll idly through the bazaar of the perfume-markers:
Stay in the shop of the sugar-seller.
If you don't find true balance, anyone can deceive you;
Anyone can trick out of a thing of straw,
And make you take it for gold
Don't squat with a bowl before every boiling pot;
In each pot on the fire you find very different things.
Not all sugarcanes have sugar, not all abysses a peak;
Not all eyes possess vision, not every sea is full of pearls.
O nightingale, with your voice of dark honey! Go on lamenting!
Only your drunken ecstasy can pierce the rock's hard heart!
Surrender yourself, and if you cannot be welcomes by the Friend,
Know that you are rebelling inwardly like a thread
That doesn't want to go through the needle's eye!
The awakened heart is a lamp; protect it by the him of your robe!
Hurry and get out of this wind, for the weather is bad.
And when you've left this storm, you will come to a fountain;
You'll find a Friend there who will always nourish your soul.
And with your soul always green, you'll grow into a tall tree
Flowering always with sweet light-fruit, whose growth is interior.

~Rumi (translated by Andrew Harvey)

(atc cards going out to Heather)

The best and most beautiful things

At the first of the year I had a goal to update my web site... this never really happened !
I did a small update tonight but the site truly needs time that I do not have right now! if you go to my site you will be able to view the fabric jewelry that I created for Cloth Paper Scissors larger then life! (remember I said I did not have time for my site and this included reformatting pitchers to fit the site!) but please take a peek all the same hereNow if you find your self in Claremont over the next mouth the sew charming group of fabric bracelets are on display at stamp your heart out


I updated my ETSY shop as well today and I noticed that I work in blocks of colors, the reason why I do this is because when I paint and dye I do it in a big batch of one or 2 colors the last project that I was working on was for a rain journal so I played around with the color blue... and the coffee dyed fabric... well what can I say I am hooked on the muted tones!

these are the 6 new art quilts on sale at my ETSY .
"The best and most beautiful things in life cannot be seen, not touched, but are felt in the heart." — Hellen Keller

create with the heart of a child

Happy May Day!

I made this for the artsymama's mayday swap...

when I was a kid I used to make paper cones and put flowers in them for tree neighbors on my street...

Ms Brown who used to read to me, Ms Jones would teach me how to sew and needle point then there was Ms Dines, she was the outdoor girl of the bunch and when ever there was a little bird that fell out of it nest she would call me over and give it to me so I could try to mend it... most did not make it but I did end up with a pet crow and a squirrel :)

"It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness." — Unknown

Many fellow art bloggers heads have turned to artist blocks lately...
just like flowers its so easy for us to think of rain...

"will I ever come up with a new idea? will I always be stuck in this place? I am a fake a phony! nothing new will ever come out of me again! its all over!"

as we all know none of this is true! it may take a little time but the sun she always comes out to shine again :)

May Day, by Sara Teasdale, 1884-1933

A delicate fabric of bird song
Floats in the air,
The smell of wet wild earth
Is everywhere.

Red small leaves of the maple
Are clenched like a hand,
Like girls at their first communion
The pear trees stand.

Oh I must pass nothing by
Without loving it much,
The raindrop try with my lips,
The grass with my touch;

For how can I be sure
I shall see again
The world on the first of May
Shining after the rain?



As I tyred to decide what I wanted to do for the May Day swap I took a minute to reflect on what May Day meant to me then I started to think about the paper cones I made as a child..
and now as I look back my childhood came flashing back...
I was the kid that was always making stuff... always had my hands all messy and full of mud... I loved to be in the garden and be surrounded by nature... I did spend more time with adults and animals then with other children because I was forever busy creating in my own magical world filled with fairy's and far away places.

Now as a adult I do still play in the far away world of my imagination... but reality is a lot closer and so is self doubt and the inner critic.

But the May Day cone reminded me that its the PLAY that I love the most as a artist... the creating for the joy of creating and the reason why I blog is much for the delight I received when I was a young girl and would leave flowers on my neighbors door steep and ring the door bell and run away it was for the unknown delight that I surprised someone :)

Mother Nature Fabric Charm Swap Bracelets

I wait till the last minute every time...
I made all 11 bracelets before I made my charms...
I guess I need a time line to break me down and make me work!

(Side A of my bird/nest charms)
(Side B)
For this swap I choose a theme of mother nature with a color pallet of blues, green and sepia tones. The 11 girls from this swap are from a yahoo fabric group that I am part of.
I love it when I am all done and get to see everthing all lined up! The colors and texturs of all the charms are amazing! everone one did such a great job!
now its time to pack them all up and ship them off!

atc's

My creation, originally uploaded by ruthrae.

when I have a million other things I need to do, I like to make atc's...
its has turned into a addiction !

I went to a local ATC trade this afternoon, it was fun ... its always so interesting to see the person and what card they pick out... some people just grab one and do not even peek into the pile where others like to look at each one... I like to look at each one to admire other peoples creativity.

I took 20 cards in all to the trade if you click on the pitcher it will take you to the set.

I also opened a etsy shop today (the link is on my side bar)... it was one of my goals for this year, I have 5 fabric pieces in there now, but I will also add some jewelry as well over the next few day :)