happy halloween

haunted bouquet

one of the things I love about halloween

is how my housekeeping

(or lack of it)

becomes part of the decorations

dust, spiderwebs and dead flowers just add to the spooky atmosphere

:)

project tea

I'm working on Christmas gifts for all the teen, between and pre-teen girls in my life

machine sewing is a tedious task.

instead of having a handful of candy corn or m&m's after every seam, 

I think I'll have a sip of tea

in fact machine sewing is so tedious

that I just got distracted with the beauty of these scraps

what's the project?

I'm making flowers to stitch onto hair clips

:)

what are you working on while you sip your tea today?

I hope your day is beautiful, peaceful and joy filled

xoxo

kimmie

fingerless gloves

I had a turtle neck sweater that was too itchy on my neck

so I cut off the ends of the sleeves and made these fingerless gloves

I snipped a hole in the side seam where my thumb could go

... then I blanket stitched around the hole and added a little stitched flower

I folded up the cut edge and hemmed it with embroidery floss

now I'm scavenging my closet for more itchy sweaters that I don't really like

:)

more pogo

I thought you might like to see some of the fun things I've been doing with my pogo printer

(see this post)

I discovered that you can manipulate the prints  to get different effects ...

Try

soaking in water (for about 20 minutes):

and blast with heat (like an embossing tool or blow drier):

or try sanding the photo paper

before printing:

you can also sand it again after printing:

or do all of it ... like in the lower right hand picture here

someone had assumed that it only prints in black and white

(because of my earlier examples)

but you can print whatever is on your digital camera 

- whether it's black and white, color, cropped or doodled -

(hey - I ought a get money from polaroid for pushing their product - but that's not gonna happen to this 99%er)

morning tea

morning tea is in the dark


and in the car


on the way to school


in the fog


today's fog is the good kind though:)right now it's 8 a.m. and the fog has already burned off
where are you having your tea today?

my pogo

I first saw this on jean's blog (bluebirds in the meadow) a few months agoI just tucked the thought away in my brainand it resurfaced recently when I saw it on another blog (I don't remember which one - sorry)


it's a portable printer that hooks up directly to your camera and prints 2x3 inch photos on their own special photo paper that has the ink embedded in it (no ink cartridges)


since polaroid is the master of instant photography ... I thought it was a good bet that it would be a good product


the prints have a peel off sticker backing which make it ideal for journaling


I did this little journal page this morning in about 45 minutes


what I'm discovering is that the photos alter beautifully


this one was gessoed, sanded, gessoed and sanded again


(I bought mine on e-bay for about $40 including 40 sheets of paper. The individual paper comes in packs of ten - typically running at 3 packs for around $10 - so about 30 cents a sheet)
... I'll show you more possibilities with this little gadget in future posts as I play with it some more ...

verbs

here's another quilt square I've been working onit was slow going and I'm ready to call it "done"I don't usually work in black and white - so it was a bit of a struggle


I'm calling it "verbs" because of it's other themeI was well into selecting words out of book textwhen I realized all of the words I was choosing were verbs


verbs - those wonderfully alive words that describe the intent and purpose and the world of the doer


for the black and white pictures in the center, I used my new Polaroid PoGo printerone word for that(this time an adjective)F U N !
... more to come regarding the PoGo ....

gifted tea

today's tea was a gift(from the ever lovely Pat at Artfully Ooglebloops)


the tea is just part of the giftbut what a cool tea it is!the tea bag nests right in your cup(Ineeka is the brand and HERE is the link)


my cup and saucer are stepsistersthe orphaned saucer is happily paired with my saucerless mug


.... and this is the treasure box from Pat ....


I was blown away to tell you the truththere is so much here!lots of vintage treasures ... just begging to be remade into cool stuffI can't wait to dig in and create something special to send back to her :)


thank you Pat!and thank you to all of you who stop by for tea on Tuesdays!it's nice to take a break with you!

slingshot

this is a piece I made this week


it started as an homage to summertime


... but as I work, other thoughts mingle ...like daughter's reading assignment, "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury


and Steve Jobs reaching for the sky


and Amanda Knox wanting to lay down in a field of grass



ingredients:bottle labelmat boardshell buttonshand printed flour sack fabricdictionary pagecalico fabricreading primer textembroidery flossstraight pinswatercolor paperwatercolor paint

thanks for coming by, it means the world to me

apple

October tea

the girls have been asking me to make caramel apples


you really only need one of these in a yearif you're a kid, maybe 2


it makes my teeth hurt just to look at them:)


the girls can chomp their applesI will enjoy my teaa wonderful blend of cardamom, vanilla and cinnamon


a perfect and beautiful October afternoon

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives. - Albert Einstein

what is beautiful in your day today?