Flea Market finds....

One of my favorite ways to spend a grey Sunday morning is at the flea market. This morning was just such a morning... one hour, $60, a few finds, and I was back home to make breakfast for my guys. Another Sunday morning fav.

Go make it a great day happy people!

dyeing with friends

 For the past couple of years I've gathered with a few friends for little explorations in arts & crafts of sorts. It's the perfect way to get together regularly and it's fun to share the things we love the most... making stuff! Unfortunately Connie couldn't be with us, and we all missed her. But don't worry Connie, we made four of most everything, so you didn't miss out completely.

We had decided to eco dye fabric, so with a kiss for good luck we got started....

The indigo is amazing. In the pot it's yellow but, as the air hits the fabric once it's removed, it turns a beautiful blue right before your eyes. Such fun to watch happen over and over!

 We rolled onion skins, red cabbage, and eucalyptus bundles to create printed fabric. These are really reliable produces of color, but we had a bit of trouble with the wind trying to carry away our tissue-lite onion skins.

 We also used turmeric which we later over dyed with avocado as it's sunshine yellow was a little too bright for us.

 All in all dyeing is so much fun, and we each created fabrics in shades of blue, green, purple, yellow, grey, and rust. I'm sure we'll do this again as it is really easy and a great way to play. If any of you have thought of doing this, go for it! There's a ton of info online and lots of good books on the subject.

Thanks Cindy for spoiling us rotten with not only your inviting, happy home, and all the prep you did, but also with such yummy, homemade goodness to top it all off with! Oh, and those snappy, little featherweights you sent Pearl and I home with weren't bad either! xoxo

Joanna Pierotti comes to teach & play

 I had a great weekend with JoAnna Pierotti, as she came to Gilding the Lily to teach her Olde Soul Dolls and then stayed to play for a few days. For years I have loved JoAnna's dolls and I was so glad she came to share them with a great group of fun, friendly women that gathered on Brookdale to learn from her.

 Thanks to Robin, Kim, Glenda, Tina, Dawn, Josie, Ada & Sylvia for supporting our classes. But an even bigger thanks for being such fun, giving, sharing, genuine souls; it makes for such a nice day! And a special thanks to JoAnna for sharing her dolls and talent with us!

Finding my balance...

I've been gone far too long to play catch up... and so I won't. Suffice it to say I have been happily busy with this little one for the past 6 weeks. We spent two days a week together and I wouldn't have it any other way. But admittedly... I am still finding my balance. Hopefully we won't be so long between posts. 

You can't imagine how I contemplated bathing her in the sink. One thing I haven't forgotten is how slippery littles ones can be!

Let's make something!

Ever since I was in high school I've been making books. I started by turning record album covers into book covers, as well as using my old Pee Chee folders from school. I doodled the covers, collaged magazine clippings, and signed my name over and over again, replacing my last name with that of my high school boyfriend! Memories. I'll have to pull out my old high school box and find those one day.

After all these years, I'm still making books. Let me show you how I've been doing it for almost 10 years... it's super easy, and you can make these in a jiffy!

Pick up books from the discard pile at the library.

Look for books where the signatures pull away from the spine, as shown above.

While holding the book pages as in the 2nd photo, wiggle and pull the pages out as a whole. Trust me, it's super easy as long as the pages aren't glued to the spine. They'll come out like butter!

Sometimes I cover the book ends with decorative paper, sometimes not; it just depends on the condition of the book ends. I use masking tape, or washi to finish the spine. I do this for decorative purposes as well as to add strength to the spine.

I typically make three signatures of three papers each. You can use cardstock, watercolor paper, or anything you like. Measure your papers so that they are about 1/4" shorter on all sides, than your book cover, fold in half and punch two holes through the paper, one at the top and one at the bottom.

Punch corresponding holes through the spine of your book.

You'll have 3 signatures made up of three sheets of paper, folded in half. Above you can see that I've taken seam binding threaded it through one signature, and then threaded the seam binding through the book covers, working from the inside of the book to the outside. The signatures are tied next to each other, as opposed to on top of each other. See them side by side in the photo above?

Here's what the spine will look like... tie each signature separately to the outside of the book. I tend to tie mine at the top of the spine.

Lastly embellish as you like!

Last week I made the books above for my girlfriends for our Valentine's Day exchange, and unfortunately I didn't get full photos of the front covers once I was done. But you guys are talented and smart, I'm sure you know how to decorate a simple book. 

Just a little something from me to you! Happy Friday, and happy creating!

Everything old is new again!

I'm not sure if that actually applies to this situation, but I sure feel like it does. Last weeks big floor makeover has my room feeling so much brighter, and that's always a good thing when making art! Basically the only real change is that I decide to float the desk where the suns light would shine in onto my desk. Here's the rest of the room....

Everyone have a fabulous Friday! Go do something fun... make art, call someone dear to you, or get together with fun friends!

Now She Deserves An Award!

Nancy's customers are always asking for soldering classes, and for the past couple of years I've taught the typical Soldering 101 workshop. But after finding a stack of bezeled glass, I came up with something a little more playful.

I used a photo of my beloved grandmother, and I found a quote in a children's book of something she said to me as a little girl. Serendipity! I put together this light~hearted class featuring just a bit of soldering. More than anything we will play will paper, paint, rubber stamps, personal photos and more. I'll supply everything you need to complete this 6x10 inch shield dedicated to someone special in your life. Maybe you'll use a photo of yourself, and print out your mantra for 2013. Whatever you decide, I hope a few of you will join me. You can find all the details here. And for those of you who want to focus on learning soldering, I'll be teaching my Soldering 101 class shortly.

A New Year, A New Art Room...

I'm not quite sure what's gotten into my husband, but I'm sure enjoying the benefits! Over the weekend he decided he wanted to refinish/paint my art room floor for me. He even brought in help to clear the space out this morning. Here's what it looked like 2 hours ago...

In the spirit of honestly, I didn't bother to move the boxes that have collected before snapping away.

I'm not quite sure how this room will evolve as we get it back together later this week. But here's what it looked like emptied of all the stuff I've gathered and collected. My son would rather we turn this into a guest room, or game room... Ha! And my husband told the guy helping us move, that everything was for sale. At least he didn't say they could put it in the trash!

 You know how everything gets worse before it gets better? Well here's the worse... my bedroom now looks like this. 45 minutes was all it took to empty the room, and create a big mess in my bedroom where are the smalls wound up. The garage isn't looking too hot right now either!

I guess as Mr Warren is taking care of the floor, I'll be organizing and hopefully purging a bit of this. Anyone care to join me for the big clean up? I sure could use some help!