Homegrown Hospitality

Do What You Love Summer Tour 2013

I am kicking off my summer road tour "Do What You Love" as I head to Whim-So-Doodle in St. Petersburg, FL for two jam packed creative days that include mixed media Doodling Stamp Carving Coloring Stitching
and really..who knows what else!

I am ready and excited (except for the fact that Good Morning American Weather said there is a tropical storm/hurricane/rain headed to the same place!)

Next month, I will be teaching the Doodle, Carve ,Color,Stitch TWICE when I head back to   Florida when I visit The Craft Shack in Longwood

and then to Selah in Las Vegas (only 4 spots left!)

I hope to see you somewhere along the way this summer!

Something Special

A reminder of a past blog post that goes perfectly with my photos of this past weekends creative camping crafts of simply painting on rocks and leaves, and sticks....well, and tree bark. “Creativity is a God-given ability to take something ordinary and make it into something special.  It is an openness to doing old things new ways…The creative spirit is part of our heritage as children of the One who created all things.  And nurturing our creativity is part of our responsibility as stewards of God’s good gifts.” - Emilie Barnes, The Spirit of Loveline

Monday Morning Color Play

I am not a professional when it comes to color combinations & the color wheel, but when I see combos that move me I either pin it to my Pinterest board or, if I have a similar marker colors, I re-create the combinations for later use. I have been working on paying more attention to colors, not just as they are, but more about how they make me feel and again, I am not a color professional so I don't know what the meanings of the colors are. (Maybe I should have will look up the meanings for next weeks post.)

In addition to paying attention to color, I am also re-inventing my love for scrapbooking, my once upon a time hobby that became the beginning of my creative industry career.  The main color combination of the pages I worked on just about the entire weekend were black, white, kraft, dark red with a side of gray.

Along with the color combinations, I am learning to pay better attention to patterns and all of the patterns of the Me & My Big Idea Pocket Pages cards are doing just the trick for me. With this palette of colors, you can add any color with it to compliment the photos you are working with and it automatically works, which is good for me, the born again scrapbooker that needs a little reminder and encouragement here and there.

Look how it all changes with just a little dash of color:

Today, pay a little attention to color combinations and if they move you, make note of them for future use.

I Love to Make Things

Have I mentioned that before?

I do, in case you forgot, and I have been really just letting it all happen, even scrapbooking (I know!) using the new Me & My Big Ideas Pocket Pages (online something coming this summer with Lain)

Yep, I professed this past "Just Make Stuff" weekend that I am a born again scrapbooker and am anxious to pull it all back out tonight and work more on my pages.I had to clean it all up on Sunday because this entire past week I have been kitting, kitting and kitting.
Cutting, stitching, measuring, trimming, doodling, packing, shipping and preparing kits for what I am calling the "Do What You Love" Summer tour and want to thank my friend Lisa for helping me with all of it! (During our break time we carved and stamped, hey you gotta take breaks to feed the creative soul!)

I am finding myself super excited & anxious to come teach, inspire, encourage and create with you.

This time in two weeks I will be in Florida at Whim-So-Doodle getting ready for so mixed media madness on Friday night with my 52 Pickup Class and then "Do What You Love" on Saturday with doodles, carving, stamping, color and stitching all...day...long!

Hope to meet you there!

Just Make Stuff

I had an idea the other day (i know. crazy, huh?) so (probably after I take a nap because I got up WAY TO EARLY today) I am going to set up a table, get out my supplies and...
Happy Friday!

Monday Morning Color Play

There was a box of happy on my porch on Friday when I got home. Have you met PB & J from Basic Grey?  It is kinda dreamy.This is the fabric line and the colors and patterns, well...they make my heart really happy.  I know that sounds REALLY dorky, but it is true and for those of you who know that feeling of when you see a new paper, fabric or color combo, then you know exactly what I am talking about. Hello, I love you.With my practice of loving and working with color, I was able to grab coordinating marker colors from my bag.  Prismacolors - Peacock Blue, Muted Turquoise, Goldenrod, Burnt Ochre & Scarlet Lake and scribble out the color combination for something that coordinates with my project.and then I continued to sew, cut, smile, sew, cut, smile (while dreaming big dreams)and today, I am going to continue to cut, stitch, cut, stitch...
and dream about the day I can cut and stitch my very own fabric line...Remember, Dream Big Dreams and play with color at the same time.

Thank you Basic Grey...LOTS more to come...

Artful Blogging

I wanted to share that I have a little 'bout me in the new issue of Artful Blogging by Stampington on newstands for the summer months. If you are here after reading the article, Welcome. If you are here because you come to read on a regular basis, welcome back and thank you.  I mean, really...thank you...thank you all for comments, emails, messages..okay even for the criticism..I take it all into consideration and use it to keep on bloggin...and creating.

Again, if you are here for the first time, again, glad you are here and I hope that you keep coming back.  I do want to explain that sometime my blog is like a pinball machine because it goes from one thing to another to another....

sometimes I am stitching the next moment I am doing something more mixed media Other times I am dabbling into paint or mixing fabric and paint well, and sewing or washing, chopping and cooking well, and doodling.... Simply put, I love to make things and not just one thing...all things.  I have been arm wrestling with myself for a long time on ONLY doing one thing, when really, if I want, I can do all things. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean I can do everything..BUT I am working with the ebb and flow on creating whatever I am inspired to create from paper, fabric, paint, ink and so on and so on. 

In the Artful Blogging article, there is a little shot of this doodle: 

I love it not only because of what it says, but also because I did it one early beautiful humid morning as I sat on a lounge chair in Maui with my mom and dad, waiting for the rest of my family to wake up and join us at the pool for the day. (hey if you want the good seats, ya gotta get up early!)  

THAT is why I blog, why I create and why I share.

It is my Purpose....To remind & inspire you (and myself)  that it is not just about making or creating something, but more about what it is, who you might have done it with and the meaning behind it.
Thanks again for being here!

One Thing Leads To Another

I am working on a few new things and wanted to share just a lil peek at what's to come this summer...
eeek!

Monday Morning Color Play

Ya know...you can doodle with fabric and thread, just substitute the paper for fabric and markers for thread.  This past weekends color play started with an idea which was spurred on by a phone conversation that I had on Friday.

I grabbed my scraps and started cutting letters.  Yes, I hand cut them, but you could use a die cutting system if you want.  I LOVE to sit a cut letters out.  For some reason, it is relaxing to me. 

I stitched each letter on with a coordinating thread.and just kept going until I got to the last letter...and I did not have room to finish.

whoops.

It read HANDMAD.Then, out of the blue, I got a great idea. I sat my stitching aside and doodled out the word and then colored it just like (well, sorta just like) the fabric that I had just stitched.  What a great way to create doodled letters. Use the fabric and the colors for your inspiration..duh! (notice I had not stitched an "E" on yet...)
Alright, so I went back to my stitching and thought (for reals) "What would Ma Ingalls do?" sooo I hand stitched another piece of muslin to the original piece and kept going. ( I know, I am a dork, it is ok!)

Then I cut out a really random flower, just like a doodled flower, a circle for the center and of course a leaf, and stitched those on. Then another flower to cover the blue paint that was at the top of my muslin scrap. (oh, and I did stitch on an E)I sorta completely LOVE how it is coming out and I love that it was a total game of picking out the fabric. The one I touched was the one I cut and stitched.  If I would have taken the time to sit and fuss over matching it, it would not have been as fun and I suppose it would have been too matchy.  I am finding that I am really becoming attracted to mixing patterns and incorporating more color to my work everyday. I am feeling a shift.

oh, and what is this HANDMADE thing anyway...

soon.

details soon.

Now go make something colorful!

Pintested Project No. 1

In my quest to Re-Purpose in 2013, I will be trying testing out some of the things I "pin" on Pinterest by using the things I have here at home.

First up is a salt dough recipe that I thought I pinned but it figures, the first project I make, I didn't actually pin.  I just clicked over to Pinterest to find the pin I thought I pinned and DUH, there are probably 1.2 million different pins of this recipe, so let's just go for it.  This is what I tried, what worked for me, and what didn't.  The first 8 photos are marked with numbers.

Preheat Oven to 250 degrees.

Photo 1. Tools: bowl, measuring cup, rubber stamps, Exacto knife, Pampered Chef zigzag cutter thing, meat thermometer, waxed paper, rolling pin, cookie sheet.

Photo 2. Ingredients:

1 Cup Flour

1 Cup Salt

1/2 Warm Water

Photo 3. Spread out the waxed paper on a smooth surface and sprinkle with flour.

Photo 4. Mix dough together with spoon and then with hands, form a ball and place on waxed paper. Wash and DRY hands.

Photo 5. Roll out dough

Photo 6. Try cutting with Pampered chef zig zag thing and try using rubber stamps to emboss images and words into dough. Keyword: Try.

Photo 7. Try lifting cut and stamped dough off of waxed paper. Keyword: Fail.

Photo 8. Scrape off dough, replace waxed paper, re-flour waxed paper, form a new ball, roll out dough and start again.

Now we move to a closer step by step look at what I did and how I did it.

I decided I just wanted to make a heart.  I do have a heart cookie cutter which would have been 10,000 times easier and quicker, but I wanted "my" shape of heart, so I tried cutting it with an Exacto knife.

IT DOESNT WORK

so I grabbed the Pizza Cutter.  Cuts like a DREAM, but only in straight lines.

Start by cutting one diagnoal line to the right:

Then another diagonal line to the left (creating the bottom point of the heart) Now form the top of the heart by cutting and manuvering the pizza cutter in several short turns until you get something that "resembles" a heart. (kinda like a 5-point turn: go forward, stop, backup a little, stop, go forward and turn a little, stop...) Pull away excess dough and tadah, you have a sorta heart that now needs to be GENTLY shaped. (see a cookie cutter would have been easier)

I found that if I held the heart in my leaft hand and used the inside of my right pointer finger (curved to look like the top part of the heart) I could shape it nicely.  Did you understand that? Curve your right pointer finger to form a Caption Hook, hook.  See..that is the right top side of a heart...oh, nevermind, I think you'll get it. Now take the meat thermometer and take the temperature of the dough.

Just kidding, I wanted to see if you were still reading.  Really, place the heart on your baking surface (aka cookie sheet) and pierce a hole (or two) in the dough heart.  Now this is optional, but if you have unpainted metal eyelets, place one in each hole.  Use a toothpick to clear out any dough that is on the inside of the eyelet. (p.s. I mentioned using unpainted eyelets because I am not sure what the paint would do in the oven) Bake at 250 degrees for 2 hours.  NOTE: I should have baked them longer.  Maybe another 20 because mine is a teenie tiny soft in the middle, probably because it is a little thicker.

Dry Completly and then embellish.

Here is what I did:

Spray with Dylusions Postbox Red and dry with heat tool.

Using twine, thread through eyelets and around the top of a canning jar and smile.
This concludes the Pintested Project No. 1