Webcam vacation photo

Last summer, we took the sailboat north on Lake Michigan from Saugatuck to Grand Haven. It was a nice little trip for a Tuesday. My mom was covering at work for me, so when we were coming past the Holland Channel, I called her and told her to look at the Spyglass Webcam, because she would be able to see us. She did and printed out the screen shot to the copier. Sadly, the copier is only black and white, but you could make out a little sailboat. Us! 

I had the black and white copy on the fridge door for about six months when I came across an idea on Pinterest for modge podging photos onto wooden plaques for display. This seemed like a great idea to preserve the copy. I bought a thin wooden plaque at Michaels for $3.99, spray painted it, spray mounted the copy on a piece of red paper, spray mounted that onto a sailboat printed paper and added the screw brads to each corner, and spray mounted the whole thing to the plaque, then covered it with modge podge. Note: if your modge podge was as old as mine, spend the bucks and buy a new container. :)

Anyway, I'm happy with the results and it's a nice little reminder of a fun trip.  If you look real, real close you can see our dinghy being pulled behind.

Happy Valentine's Day! cards

With my knitting obsessions going full force, the date got away from me and I almost missed Valentine's Day. Well, I probably wouldn't have missed it all together, but I almost forgot to make some Valentines.

I remember decorating a shoe box to put on my desk or an envelope to hang off the side in elementary school for all the Valentines I would receive from my classmates. Too bad we can't do the same thing as adults. Wouldn't that be fun?

I love making Valentines (They are more fun than making the Sympathy cards from the previous post.) and if I didn't receive anything else for Valentine's Day, I would be  happy with just a card.

So, yesterday, February 13, I decided I had better get going.

I got a lot of mileage out of the heart stamp that was part of a set from Stampin' Up. All of the paper I had on hand. It's fun going through scraps and finding things that will work. Luckily, I had bought a bunch of brads for a Christmas project, so I had plenty to choose from. However, I am going to have to work on my supply of ribbon. The bow on the one card was recycled from an old card. I'm not even sure where it came from.

(Actually, I think I might have made one sooner to send to my folks in Florida, but it probably will still arrive after Valentine's Day. Sadly, all of these cards except the ones I give to my husband and son will arrive after Valentine's Day.)

I think I made seven cards this year; for my folks and mother in law, for a couple of friends, and for my husband and son. Five of them I finshed up this morning before heading off to work. I even gave one to my favorite barrista. I think it made her day.

So, make and give Valentines to your family and friends, then make a few extra to give to someone else in your life who you think could use a smile or a happy thought. They don't have to be romantic, just "Happy Valentine's Day to my favorite ________________!"

Happy Trees and Happy Cards.

A good friend of mine found this adorable felt tree kit at a thrift store. It had felt to make four of these trees and she and made one up for me. I've since made three more for a friend of mine. Talk about "paying it forward".

Anyway, I was trying to come up with the perfect idea for a Christmas card for her and since I love this tree so much, I thought I would make a "Happy Tree" card. I think it turned out really cute. I may add "Merry Christmas" to the bottom, but you get the idea. I just used some old paper from Stampin' Up for the card and the tree and added the black and pink brads for the eyes and cheeks and then drew in the stitching with an ink pen.

Merry Christmas to all!

Bookmark Scraps

Today was kind of a slow day at work and since I'm the church librarian in addition to the church secretary; I decided I would make some free bookmarks. I love to do something creative everyday and this was the perfect thing.

I have a ton of scrapbook/cardmaking paper, so I took the box along. When you have a lot of paper, it's difficult to know where to start and what papers to choose, so I just started with the first solid color paper I found and then the first patterned paper that went with it.

Some papers were already the perfect size for bookmarks, but some needed to be cut down. Most were around 6 inches long and between 1 1/2-2 inches wide. I then laminated them so that they would last.

Lastly, I posted to Facebook that people were welcome to stop by the church library and check out one of the new books we have added and while they were at it, they could pick up a new bookmark too. I know these will go quick, so I'd better make more.

(By the way, my favorites are the two orange ones with the cut bottoms and the two green ones with the pink hearts. I just might need to snag one of these for myself.)

Welcome to the Cloth Paper Scissors Studios Virtual Tour!

Dear fans, followers, friends, etc.,

(Ya know, BOTH of you!)

I am participating in the Cloth Paper Scissors Studios Virtual Tour,

October 15-17 here on my blog.

Welcome to my studio!

Click here for the CPSS Virtual Tour!

This wonderful heavy wood table came from a local restaurant that had a fire, probably 16 years ago. It stunk from smoke, but after it was cleaned up, it made a perfect work surface for the shop.

I love to collect rocks, thinking I'll polish them or whatever in the future. I just started crocheting around them. I've got a very small collection of Gwen Frostic prints too.

Here is a small piece of cork board stuck on one of my cabinet doors. Attached is my first piece of freeform knitting, a wristband from the release party for the seventh Harry Potter book, my first try at knitting a peace sign and my favorite... my "Mind Mush" pin that my friend Jean made back when we were both working retail.

Since I live in an area that has many office furniture manufacturers; I was able to get this portion of a work cubical and turn it into a designated sewing area. The cabinet has some patterns and fabric in it and I use the keyboard drawer for thread and bobbins. The upper cabinets do have doors that close, but they are open in this photo.

Here is another wonderful table that my wonderful husband made for me. It weighs a TON and is perfect for watercolor painting on. My latest work is in the foreground.

When my church tore down it's parsonage, I was able to get these kitchen cabinets. My husband put up a partial wall and installed these. I won't get into the blood, sweat and tears part of this story. Yes, that's some dry erase board on the walls. My studio is not quite a quarter of the basement in our house. The other half of the basement is semi-finished and the other quarter opposite my studio is my husband's shop.

Our old stereo.

One of these old drafting chairs belonged to my father in law, the other was purchased in a secondhand shop quite a few years ago.

The old file cabinet was from my brother in law who was a builder/developer. He didn't need it anymore, so he gifted it to me. We put it up on wood blocks to raise it up off the floor. I use it for watercolor paper, drawing pads, other papers and artwork. I love it!


Who doesn't need shelving? These are some of my artbooks, magazines, photos, and other reference materials. It also holds tote bags and some frames.

These cabinets hold my stash of yarn (though you can see the overflow in the plastic bins), patterns, art supplies, and lots of other things.

Now, if you made it all the way to the end...

Thank you so much for coming to visit my virtual studio!

and...

If you would like to leave a comment just to let me know where you are visiting from,

I would LOVE that!

Libby

Creativity update

I've been working on the coolest cards and little extras for Valentine's Day! The only problem is that I don't know where to stop. One idea just keeps leading to another and most of them are turning out pretty cool. Well, except for the one idea of putting boucle yarn in a bottlecap and pouring "realistic water" over it and letting it dry. No, it does not look like yarn under glass; it looks like wet yarn underwater or strawberry jam or blood and guts in there. Not cool at all, but everything else is.

Ooh, ooh, ooh I can't wait to show you!

I'm also going through knitting withdrawal. I wanted to finish reading "Thunderstruck" (the novel, not the AC/DC song) and I did that (It got better about half way through and was really pretty good.), so now I can knit again, goody! In my quest to "use what I've got" in regards to art supplies; I'm knitting this cute washcloth with hearts on it. I'm using some of the "Sugar & Cream" yarn that was gifted to me. (Thanks again Marylynn!)

So many ideas, so little time...

Oh, and this picture is an ATC I made last year when I decided I was going to make one a day. It is oil pastel and if you don't know, ATCs are 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 size pieces of art that are traded and I just got back into trading them on http://www.atcsforall.com/ (same username there: KayakChickee)

Results from the Creativity Weekend

I got together with my friend Kimberly this past Saturday. We went shopping for supplies and then spent the afternoon making cards. We had a ball! Now I don't need to buy any more supplies for card making for a very long time. Well, maybe some more ink pads, but other than that...

I was just reading a blog about this girl who wasn't going to buy any art supplies this year. The exception was that she was going to budget $24 for the year just in case she ran out of something, that's $2 per month for art supplies. I know I could easily do the same thing and I probably should. Maybe I will.

NOTE: The address for the blog I refer to above is: www.futuregirl.com

Creativity weekend!

I'm looking forward to a creative weekend starting tomorrow with my friend Kimberly. We are getting together and making cards and maybe ATCs and who knows what else. We both have huge stashes of stuff. It's going to be so much fun!!! I'm hoping to post all that we do from this weekend on Monday and maybe by then I'll have the Noro knitted leg warmers all sewn up and have them photographed and ready to post too.