Something About Nothing

I hate when I am working on projects which I can't blog about.   I feel like I am hiding, so rather than not blog at all, I thought I'd share some photos of my baby, Keiko, hiding out in my studio. She really likes my scrap bin. . . . . .in the old studio. . . . . . and in the new studio. Recently she found a new comfy place to hide out. I did spend hours folding all this fabric especially for her after all.  I hope to be back soon sharing new projects and discoveries.

Starting today, the Safavieh Event at One Kings Lane is launching! Don't know Safavieh? They are an ever stylish home furnishing brand offering incredible deals on so many of their products right now, so go get to know them! With spring time around the corner, this is the perfect time to freshen up your home for the brighter days ahead and I am always in the mood to make my home that little bit nicer. One Kings Lane has stylish lamps, colorful rugs, beautiful armchairs and ornate side tables (to name a few items) from Safavieh all discounted so everyone can feel stylish in their home!!

These days, its so important to have something tangible to reflect on good times, hard work paying off, or simply being creative. I am totally in love with making Blurb books  for just about every occasion, whether it be a wedding book, a birthday album, a cookbook, all of our family trip pictures, even my Instagram account can be converted into a Blurb book! I have been meaning to make a new book for a while and as if Blurb read my mind, they are offering 25% off purchases from 2/22-2/25. Head over to  Blurb  now and tap into your creative side! More Blurb Ideas... If you would like some more ideas about what to use Blurb for, here are a few other perfect products Blurb allows you to create:  Facebook books that include photos, comments, and captions. Planners with beautifully designed templates and your favorite photos. Notebooks that are filled with photos, can be lined or unlined, and full of plenty of white space for you to add notes, stories or sketches...

It was so nice to just make a regular block today. An Anvil block from the 15 Minutes to Play blog by Victoria Findley Wolfe But as much fun as I had making this quick and easy block (and I think it took me 30 minutes, not 15 - seems to be a trend for me),   I'm glad I only needed to make one . I get so bored making multiple blocks of the same thing. I think I have quilt block a.d.d. Maybe you would like to help Victoria out and make one as well.   Click here to find out why and how.

I participated in a make-along webinar with Cloth Paper Scissors on Valentines Day and made this beautiful heart in just half an hour. It shouldn't have taken that long but I started out without all my supplies together!  It was so easy to make and looks beautiful too which is an extra bonus.  If you check Cloth Paper Scissor's Facebook page you can see all the beautiful variations people made during the make-along.  I followed the directions almost to a T and therefore mine looks a lot like their sample.  Some people are much more creative than I am. ;)  If you missed out on the webinar and would like to make one for yourself, click here for the instructions! I'm linking up to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Fridays .  Hop on over and see all the lovely things people are doing these days!

I've found a new use for my new toy , the Silhouette Portrait : Stencil Making!  Here is my first totally original stencil I designed and then cut out of transparency plastic with my Silhouette.  The design is kind of hard to see with just the plain plastic on this piece of card stock but. . . . . .a bit easier once I painted over the top with a stamp pad.  Too bad I didn't move the stencil off the page all the way. I decided to use the stencil with my other favorite toy, the  Gelli Plate . Usually I remember to place the stencil on the plate backwards so that the print comes out forwards but mistakes will be made. . . . . .so that I can learn and then correct the mistake. I really like how these came out! The second stencil I made is from this photo of fireworks I took last July 4th.  I isolated one of the fireworks in photoshop, duplicated it, cleaned it up and turned it into a png file with the intention of making a thermofax with t...

And since the dyes were out and the soda ash mixed I decided it was time to dye some cotton scarves I picked up at Dharma Trading while in their neighborhood in December.  I decided to dye them a "solid" color and I like how they have turned out! Imperial Purple: Coral Pink:  I really like the texture of this scarf! Remind me to buy this blank again. Orange Sherbert:  I have a few rayon and silk scarves to dye next but I'm not sure if I will stay monochromatic or go multicolor.  What do you think? I'm linking up to "Off the Wall Fridays" with this post. I hope you hop on over and have a look at the other beauties in progress.

Keiko anxiously inspected the dyed fabrics as I laid them out to photograph them. She really likes this piece! It's the top of the snow dye parfait. This is the bottom of the parfait: The colors are much darker on the bottom. This is the orange sorbet, dutch chocolate and rust brown: This is the coral pink, chartreuse and light red: Mister had to inspect them all as well. . . . . .and he wasn't very happy when I decided to put them away. He wants a pretty snow dyed blanket all for himself.

A Blank Canvas can be a beautiful thing. . . just add one yard of soda ash soaked pfd, a layer of snow and powdered dye. . .   . . .and just for fun cut one of those yards in half and create a snow parfait. . . this is the first layer  . . .and this is the second layer. . .  . . .bring it all inside and let the snow melt. . .  . . .then rinse, wash and iron. Tomorrow I'll post the beautiful masterpieces!

After 11 & 1/2 years of marriage, 4 pregnancies (including 2 early miscarriages and their sweet little stillborn, Anthony), my dear friends were able to bring home a very sweet little girl. We went to visit them on her one month birthday and brought along a small gift. I was delighted to be able to hold the sweetie almost the entire time we were there.  She is so tiny and had such an expressive face while she slept in my arms.  So adorable! We also got to meet their dog, Baxter, for the first time. He and I are friends on Facebook but I had no idea how truly sweet and adorable he is! He is a very big sweetheart!

A few weeks ago I found out about a sample giveaway of Atelier Interactive Acrylic Paint on an art list I belong to.  I immediately signed up and received the paint last week.  I needed to make some art postcards to send to Jane Davies (who is trying to save her local postoffice - read about that here ) and so I pulled out the paint samples , the Gelli Plate and my Crafters Workshop stencils . . . . . .and made a few postcards. The paint was thinner than I imagined it would be.  My good quality acrylics are very thick but these weren't quite paste and weren't quite watery either.  They are made with great pigment though and they spread very nicely on the Gelli Plate. Here are the two postcards I mailed off:  The cards really were cut straight, they just look crooked from the angle I photographed them at. I really like the way the paint worked on the Gelli Plate and how quickly it dried on the paper which made it easy to over print almos...