Textured Scarf No. 1

Remember the yarn I adored a couple of weeks ago?  I bought it without having a project in mind and then decided to make a scarf for myself. 

The yarn is a wool blend and I used a size G (4.25mm) crochet hook.  I used a double crochet stitch throughout and I worked in the outer hoops to add some texture.

For the green ends, I still used the same double crochet/outer loops but turned the rows to make the ends look more finished.  Then I single crocheted around the outside for a green border.  I think it completes the look with the green ends.

I am really happy with the end result.  Perfect timing now that the weather is getting cold again in the Carolinas.  Hope you enjoy your week and stay warm!

Easy Art - 2 Simple Projects

I want colorful art hanging around our house.  Unfortunately, our budget does not allow me to buy much art so we make do with what we do have -- our own hands and some ideas.  I thought I'd share a couple of ideas here.  Two Easy Art ideas that don't require a lot of time, skill, or money!

Doodle Book Pages:
I decided it might be fun to add some colorful doodles to someone else's art work.  I found an old book from the 1970s that was all about Canaries and taking care of them as pets.  There were multiple pages of colorless canary drawings throughout the book. 

What you need:  A book you don't mind cutting out pages to use, Sharpies (or other markers but seriously - who doesn't love a Sharpie?), and something to mat and frame the finished product (or just a frame).

Cut out the pages you want to use, sit down with a marker, and....DOODLE!

I chose 3 canary pages to doodle because I had an inexpensive frame that was matted for 3 5x7 sized spaces.  My pages were just about 5x7" so fit perfectly.

I didn't take a great photo of the actual framed piece because it's currently off the wall while I decide where to put it next.  You get the gist though -- 3 pictures, some extra color, easy art.  Not fine art, mind you, but colorful and fun to hang on the wall.

Photography for Child's Room:
This next little project was something I did for my youngest son's bedroom.  He has always loved cars - the movie, the matchbox variety; you name it, he loved it.  Once he outgrew his nursery and wanted a "big boy room", I wanted to find some art to hang that he would enjoy.

What you need:  a camera, some favorite toys, good lighting, and I used a white sheet for the background.  I also used an editing software to add some texture but that's really optional.

I went outside with a bucket of his favorite cars and took some close up photos.  I used a white crib sheet to for the background and some good outdoor lighting (Thanks, Sun!)



I had these printed locally as 8x10 photographs and it cost me less than $20 to have them printed (I think I printed 7-8 photos total).  I hung them in inexpensive frames around his room.  He loved them!  That was when he was 4 years old, he's now 6 and still loves them. 



There you go -- 2 Easy Art DIY ideas.  You don't have to spend a lot of money or only hang fine art in your house to add some color and interest.  

Out of Focus

This week I managed to somehow stay afloat and make it successful.  It was only a four day work week (well, I had to work a little on Labor Day) but it felt like a really long, short week.  If that makes any sense - it does in my head.

I'm not complaining - it wasn't a bad week really.  It was just a challenging week for me.  I have Fibromyalgia and Essential Tremor Disorder and my symptoms have been on high alert the last couple of weeks.  I also got some answers this week on a non-serious but very annoying ear issue I have.  Add to that, my job, three boys who have school, football, and Cub Scouts, and I managed to eek through the week alongside my rock and my only love, Jay.  Friday evening has never felt so sweet!  With chronic illnesses, some weeks it's tough to push through and appear normal.  I've finally gotten to a point where they don't define me and I don't let it get me down but, some weeks, it gets the best of me.

I think when we have weeks that are more challenging than others, it's good to focus on the big and small things that help us get through them and not wish our life away.  That's always my goal - I don't want to wish life away just because there are a few tough days.  Sometimes the focus gets blurry.

However, no matter how hazy things feel in my head - my guys are always in my sights.  The littlest one brought my spirits up in the most juvenile of ways this week.  At Cub Scouts, he heard the Boy Scout pledge for the first time.  It uses the word "duty" several times.  I looked over at him and he had his hands clasped over his mouth and his whole body was shaking trying to contain himself.  He leaned over and whispered to me,  "She said DOODY!"   I laughed about that the rest of that evening and into the next day.  When in Rome, you know.

Some other things that help?  Spending an hour on the phone with an old friend, complaining for a bit, and then spending the rest of the time making up ridiculous scenarios.  Focusing on my upcoming craft show -- crocheting, receiving over 450 colorful buttons in the mail, working out some other ideas, etc.  Vodka and pineapple juice over ice on a Friday night.  You know, fun things like that.

Now it's the weekend, I'm listening to The Beach Boys, watching my man work on the yard, planning my creative endeavors for the day, and looking forward to time spent with my in-laws tonight.  Do I physically feel good today?  Nope, but a fresh perspective makes a huge difference.  Knowing I can sleep in again tomorrow helps too.

Happy Saturday!

 

Journals!

  

  I have a journal problem.  I have a difficult time resisting the purchase of a new journal.  I can

  rationalize the purchase by coming up with a new reason as to why I need a separate journal.

 

  "I know I have a creative idea journal but I think I would be more effective if I also had a 

  separate journal for photography!"

 

  "I bet I'd do better with losing weight if I had bright and colorful new journal to track food!"

 

  "Oooh pretty..."

 

  "This one is on sale.  It's a sign!" 

  

 My nook.  During my free time, I sit in a recliner in my husband's office and do whatever it is I want to do

 - write, crochet, play on the Internet, read, jot down ideas, edit photos, etc.  This is what it may look like at any given moment.  Notice 3 journals in this one shot.

A stack of colorful journals - all with a different purpose.  And yet, I dream of additional journals.  Maybe a moleskine, maybe something in a fabric, maybe a plain green journal...

One of my more lasting journal ideas.  A Gratitude or Thankful Journal.  I have actually stuck with this idea which is amazing considering my lifelong stack of journals that are maybe a quarter of the way full of something or other.

 

Almost every morning, I sip my coffee and I open up my Thankful Journal to jot down things I am thankful for at that moment.  I try to do 10 per day but sometimes it's less.  There are definitely recurring entries on any given day.  Some days there are a mix of silly with more sincere.  Every day that I do it though, I feel good starting my day.  It centers me and helps me to focus on the good.

  

Inside yet another journal...this one is more of a Misc.  I jot down quotes from different books I'm reading, jot down things I want to read, or ideas I want to remember.  Sometimes I write a more traditional journal entry in it but I'm bad about doing that consistently.  It's a catch all of journals.

 

My more "in use" journals currently.  I keep a small journal to jot down ideas for blogging or a craft show I plan to do.  My Gratitude/Thankful Journal, Misc, and the Buddy Book.  The Buddy Book is something my best friend and I have had going since 2004.  It deserves its own blog post so stay tuned for more on that.  It's a really fun way to stay connected and document our friendship.

I've always wanted to be the kind of person who journals my life and have volumes of journals documenting my entire existence.  Over the years, I've made the decision that I will journal every day NO MATTER WHAT.  I think the longest I've gone with that is maybe a week or two.  I realize that my daily thoughts and events are quite boring to read.  Now I try to document my life more with photos and I figure historians one day can piece together hundreds of journals with quotes, weird things, ideas that didn't pan out, and will come to this conclusion..."Who is this girl and why the heck are we wasting our time reading this stuff?"

So that's my journal addiction.  I may have more floating around here and now I have an urge to go shopping to find more.  Fortunately today I am without a car so I guess the journals I already own will have to do.

  

Photography - Playing with Silhouettes

We've all taken those photos where the subject is too dark to really make out any facial features.  Until I started learning more about photography, I didn't really know how to prevent this from happening.  Now I realize, if you put the light behind your subject, you are going to have a lot of shadows.  Lighting is such a big part of photography and where the light is coming from makes a huge difference.  However, playing with lighting can be fun and digital photography allows us to do that without wasting film.  Win-win!

One thing I've found to be fun is working with those scenes where the light comes from behind.  It can give you a fun silhouette.  Here are some photos where the backlighting made the photo so much more interesting.

Playing with some self-portraits one day and tried this one.  The light was coming in from the window and the room was rather dark.  A little cheesey but just an example of playing around with lighting to see what you can come up with in your photos.

My parents have a cozy house in the cove of a nearby lake.  One morning my dogs woke me up early so I grabbed my camera and went down to the dock.  It was foggy and the sun was starting to come up behind the view from the dock.  I love the foggy silhouettes of the trees, the neighbor's dock and boat, and the reflection in the lake. 

My husband and I took our 3 boys to the park one evening and I took my camera.  The sun was setting and was on the other side of the slide.  I was able to snap some photos just as it slid behind the slide for a great silhouette shot.  These aren't my kids (my timing wasn't THAT great) but I love this shot.



This was in Hawaii in 2010.  I had just been learning about lighting and this silhouette effect.  The whole time we were there, I wanted to take this photo.  This happened the last night before we left.  We went down by the water outside of our condo at sunset, I relayed my vision to my mother-in-law, and she snapped the photo for me.  We had a lot of photos from that trip and I think this one captures the entire vibe of the trip. 

Over time I've learned to purposefully look for these types of shots but there have been many times that they happened on accident.  Sometimes it can be a happy accident so don't be so quick to delete photos that don't turn out exactly as you wanted.  Look to see what you can make of it first.  You might find a good one that surprises you!

Feel free to share links to some of your favorite silhouette photos in your comments.  Enjoy!

Folky Fiber Book

My mom is a quilter.  A few months ago, she came to visit and we had lunch and visited a local fabric shop.  I've always been drawn to colorful and patterned paper, beads, markers, felt, yarn, and anything else that is colorful.  Only recently have I caught the colorful fabric bug as well.  The problem is that I don't really sew and I don't quilt.  I don't have a clue how to use a sewing machine.  Regardless, I've gradually started incorporating fabric into different projects. 

This particular fabric shop was like a candy store - colors, patterns, textures - it was intoxicating.  My mom insisted on buying me some fabric (and who am I to refuse).  I brought it home and then it sat here for a bit because I wasn't sure what to do with it.  I tend to do that sometimes.  I am mostly self taught in many different arts and crafts.  I am always wanting to learn something else.  I am often envious of people who have just one passion and excel at that one thing.  Lately though, I started thinking about the different mediums and things I know how to do.  What if I started to find ways to pull it all together?  Photography, writing, crochet, embroidery, chainmaille, jewelry, recycled materials, etc.  That is what set the idea of this blog in motion.  Maybe my passion is to combine art forms into one that suits me.

As that idea came together, I started this project as a gift for my mom.  She was my inspiration.  I wanted it to be colorful, full of texture, use mediums that I know she likes, and full of positive words.



I started by crocheting the front and back cover for the book.

I then worked on each page of the book.  I'm new to embroidery and I kind of make it up as I go along.  I worked a word into each page, embroidered on fabric, and then sewed the pages onto 4x4 pieces of felt or crocheted 4x4 granny squares.

The pages started to stack up as I went.  I worked on this over the course of a couple of months.  I wasn't always consistent with how often I worked but I tend to work that way.  I would prefer to finish a project I love as it comes to me, rather than force myself to finish sooner and then not be crazy about it.

Music always helps the process flow.  I was digging Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros quite a bit during this project. 

More pages...one is a textured felt background and the other is a granny square of the same size in white acrylic yarn.

Putting it all together was the tricky part for me.  I started out by binding the pages to a sturdy piece of felt.  I figured this would be a good way to bind the pages and make sure they are secured and can still be turned easily.

Once they were bound to the brown felt, I crocheted the spine and sewed the felt with the pages to the spine.

The bound pages from the inside of the book.

The spine attached to my cover.  It must be my folk roots but I love a rustic feel to my projects.  I left the edges of the fabric on my pages frayed and I crocheted the edges of the spine to have a frayed look too.

The front cover and the finished product.

My mom loved it and I was really pleased to see my idea come to fruition.  I'm excited to try some other ideas for mixed media fiber books.  I'm thinking about incorporating some different chainmaille techniques for a more industrial look and maybe trying to incorporate fiber and paper collage art.

First blog post complete!  I have more projects, ideas, and snippets of things I'm working on in store.  Please feel free to share my blog with others.  Thanks for reading!