Oh Pear.

I embroidered this pear while sitting at my last few births......

....then sewed it into this.

Dire conditions at the Kells' home....

.....the can was empty. Not good. Fortunately, the Lady of the house had thought ahead.....way ahead...so far ahead that she had forgotten.

Husband states, "Don't we have any emergency coffee?" 

Lady laughs at husband ridiculousness. 

Husband, pawing around in pantry, pulls out the decaf coffee can and says with a whine, "Is this all we have?"

Husband opens can and lo and behold, look what the Lady had stashed inside!!!

I must say, lady of the house rocks.

Laughter ensues. Husband and Lady decide to take comedy act on the road. On second thought, they will stay home and record themselves as their very own reality show to be shown on You tube for their friends and family's enjoyment.

Dad

Dad was in Shaumburg this week at the annual toy soldier show. Amy and I went to see his set up and then went to lunch with him. 

Here he is playing with his guys ;)

Here he is taking some guys money.

Here we are at lunch.

Here's Sofie...she stayed home to guard the stairway up to the craft room. Good doggy.

Art Journaling. Blue.

So I've wanted to do some art journaling, but I never know what to art journal about. I made this one a few summers back and it was fun. I recently came across this blog where the author, Diana Trout, gives what are called journal prompts.The first one was to take a handful of scraps of paper or fabric or whatever and just glue them down. Easy enough. I started with my mono-printed flower and just went from there. Most of the stuff just came from around my desk (and the floor). It ended up being a study of blue. Fun. Mostly mindless.Art Journaling.

 

The next prompt is to take your camera with you everywhere you went today taking random pics. Which I've done....and am doing.I don't know yet what we'll be doing with these pics....that's next weeks prompt. Looking forward to it!

Monoprinting

I started an art class at Elgin Community College just for the fun of it and......its really fun! This is our teacher, Mary. She is demonstrating how to do mono-printing. Each week, Mary will be teaching us a new art technique. Last week we learned about using colored pencils. Next week, we'll be bringing the mono-prints back to class and embellishing them with chalk and colored pencils. 

Of course I couldn't wait to get home to play some more after class. Here's a little tutorial on what we learned.

First, gather all your supplies. I happily trotted over to JoAnns and bought a new set of watercolor paints. You will also need brushes, a piece of glass (from a picture frame works just fine), papers with different textures (different textured paper gives different looks (Some of the paper I used was from as old cookbook with recipes on them..see below), water, a paint tray and a spray bottle with water in it.

Begin by painting directly onto the glass. You can paint a simple picture or just place random color all over the glass and see what you come up with. I painted a simple flower.

You need to work fairly quickly as the paint dries fast. This is where the spray bottle comes in. If you lightly mist the surface of your painting, it will then be wet enough to transfer.

Next, place a sheet of paper over the top of your painting and press lightly.

Then, gently remove your paper and your image has then been mono-printed!

Very Cool! It looks so artsy!

(MFA will probably say it looks like kid art, but I will just stick my tongue out at her and blow raspberries  ;)

After it dries, you can embellish on top of it.

Here's some pears and eggplants I also did.The eggplant in the middle is on fabric...woohoo! One of the pears is on fabric, too. Let the embellishing begin!

The Dolphin Whisperer

Gretchen, my sister Mary's long time friend, works at the Shedd Aquarium with the dolphins. What an awesome job she has!

Thread Painted Pear

I found this pic on the internet......

....so I blew it up to 8 by 10 and printed it out on white cotton fabric. I then matched the threads and thread painted it.

Here's the back....I thought that turned out kinda cool too.

I really like how it turned out. I'm going to do an eggplant next. Stay tuned ;)

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

Things I love about my mom in no specific order:

She's an awesome mom.

Her clothes always match her socks.

She has a HUGE heart.

She's a really good listener.

She's very cute.

 She would give you the shirt off her back (unless of course it was her favorite turquoise shirt.)

She taught me how to eat really 
healthily. (is that a word?)
She's sassy. (that's where I learned it)
She is compassionate.
She cooks really good.

I have a lot more, but am at a birth so will try and add more during the day. I love you, mom! Have a great day!!

What's are some things you love about my mom?

Beautiful

.....another perfect, God-given ending. Welcome, little one.

Thread Painting

I have succumbed.....

....to cheaters  :(

I recently had my contact RX increased from -5.75 to -6.50 and now I can't clearly see close up

when I'm sewing. Hence, the magnifier glasses. At least they make them in fun colors and you can get them at the dollar store......for....wait for it....a dollar!!

Birthday Bruch for Gramma Lu's 92nd.

My latest inspiration/obsession

So, I doodled some flowers on a piece of my hillbilly dyed fabric and colored them in with markers......

....then, I sandwiched it and began thread painting over the colors.....

....and LOVED how it was taking shape.....but got me to thinking...hhhmmm...this reminds me of those embroidered Mexican dresses.....

 QUICK!!! Get to Google and search images for embroidered Mexican dresses!!!

......I am in so much trouble.....

I LOVE THESE PRINTS AND COLORS!!!!

I CANNOT BE STOPPED  ;)

little quilty houses

I was inspired by this:

So I made this:

But that didn't look right, so I made this:

The door is a bit wanky and the tree trunk is not big enough and the light green should be in the background and the dark green in the foreground......but.....I love the apples in the tree and the pebble-quilted walkway and the blue sky and the picket fence ;)

Notes

Here's the translation:

 Dear Tooth Fairy.

I ate my tooth.

I didn't want to.

Do you Believe me?

 Very SORRY.

 No tooth.

Love Jessica