Monday, Monday

The sun is shining and although there is a lot of snow, the roads are clear and dry. DH had to dig out some, but thanks to our neighbor, our driveway was mostly clean. I had errands to run before the next storm (Tuesday, grr) so I got chauffeured around town all morning.

Went to Michael's for a new clay blade. I have tons of dull ones and haven't figured out the best way to sharpen them, so I had to fork over $5.00 for one blade. Yikes.

I think I'm going to take a break from the collage work and make some jewelry. Making jewelry is what I always go back to and I think my polymer clay is calling to me. Hopefully, I'll have something to post later in the week, jewelry-wise, but until then here is the only art I've done recently... my last two collage journal pages.

My pages are fairly large, 11" x 14", so I have lots of room for my images and lettering. I may have mentioned that I'm participating in a Flickr Collage group, where we all download the same image and create our piece. I'm getting a bit stymied in this type of collage art. For some reason, none of my pages look anything like the others in the group, and I'm constantly comparing myself to them. The group leaves positive comments on my art, but for some reason, I feel like they are dancing around the fact that I'm just not like the other kids. I have always been a bit different, and have been called crazy, weird and my all time favorite...colorful. Ahh, but again, I digress.

Here are my most recent submissions.

The guitars and the necklace were my addition to the supplied images, as were the words and the doodles.


This week's sheet was mostly party images with cake and balloons and vintage photos of fancy ladies. I had some really nice watches cut from a fashion magazine ad, and I added them, but I really never got a feel for this week's images.

With all this in mind, I think I'm stepping away from collage for several weeks and going to play around with wearable art, mostly necklaces. I've done a bit of research on what the new trends in jewelry are and will be trying my hand at a few new ideas.

We picked up my new tri-focals today and am trying to get used to them. I can see much better than before, but there is a learning curve. Maybe if I can come up with a cute way to camouflage my turkey wattle, I'll post a picture of me actually wearing them.

Well, that's it for today. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't get any more snow, but I'm thinking we will. If you get any of this next storm, try to stay warm and safe and enjoy it.

Hang in there and remember to be creative in some way and to love life.

Yes, I'm snowed in

I am snowed in, but I'm not unhappy at all. It started snowing early Friday morning (about 3 a.m.) and now at noon on Saturday it's still snowing. Due to the fact that at times it has been quite fine, we haven't gotten the accumulation that we did on Christmas Eve, but this is a heavy snow that is sticking to everything. Our neighbor had a new blade he was itching to try and he pushed and plowed everyone's driveways. After working (playing?) for hours, he finally realized it was an uphill battle.

He is a great guy and I'm sure when it finally stops, he'll be back out helping us all.

Here is the view down into my back woods...

A neighbor's tree sags from the weight of the snow...

A close up of a tree holding the snow, as if she loves it.

This shot, taken from my deck, shows even the tiniest branches grasping the snow...like it's some kind of winter game. I love it.

It's a good thing this red car has no where to be this weekend. It will take quite a bit of sweeping and a lot of hot cocoa for this neighbor to go out.

To help deal with the weather, I love to do art, especially coloring. I'm so glad to have such a talented artist friend as Jenny, who graciously shares an image to color. Please stop by and visit her and see my take on Jenny's art.

So, that's it for me today. I'll be staying in, having fun and counting my blessings. Power, cable, food and love...things we might take for granted, but really appreciate on a day like this.

Enjoy your weekend and have fun!

It's monday again...

Well, it's Monday again. We had another major snow storm over the weekend with frigid temps. I don't mind at all. I would show you a picture of this new storm, but surprisingly enough, it looks a lot like last month's storm. So I won't bore you with that.

As you know, I am a very lighthearted and happy person. There have been several really sad things happen in our region lately, the finding of Morgan Harrington and also finding little Aveion Lewis. These were two local missing persons cases, that have been on our news recently.

Both of these cases are now murder investigations and we are all saddened by the events. Last week I was going through some of my previous essays and I came across one that I want to post for you today. Approximately one year ago, two similar events happened that prompted me to write this, and it still holds true.

********

Sometimes when I stop and think about all the pain in this world, I wonder is it OK for me to be so happy? I know He wants His children to be happy, but is it fair for me to be happy when others have such grief in their lives?

Babies being killed by family members. Ridiculous. Families being torn apart by the sudden death of a loved one just doing his job, killed while at work, by someone doing something stupid. The people that caused these deaths? How can I feel for them? Is it Evilness? Madness? Spirits...from a glass vessel? What causes their pain, what causes people to change? From the decent souls that you thought they were, into instruments of pain? Instruments of death?

Can I live with myself for being happily married for over twenty years, with hopefully and prayerfully, many more years in the future? Can you be happy for me? Or do you hate me for my happiness?

How can I ease your pain, how can I not think of you, all of you? I am only one person, one silly little girl. Am I masking my empathy for you with my happiness? Do I bury myself in my own interests because your pain makes me physically ill? I have to stay healthy, so when it is my time to do my part, I will be able. Please don't hate me because I'm happy. Love me for it. It is a gift from God....this capability I have to always stay positive, to be able to remove myself from your pain. I have to, I know you don't want me to falter... I have to be here for you.

If I don't cry when I hear your grief, it's because I must not. I would cry all the time. I have to grab the bootstraps on my pink patent leathers and give them a tug. I am here to help you and I can't do it if I am in pain.

Don't hate me because you think I'm happy, or beautiful, or rich or blessed or fortunate. What you may think of me, what you may think I am, have you considered that you just might be wrong? I love you, I love you all...maybe too much.

Thank you for the music. Thank you for the art. Thank you for the healing. Thank you for being you.

It's ok to grieve, just don't give up. Grab the rope and hang on. It really will be ok. I know that in my heart.

Faith, Hope and Love...

*******

So that's it for today. I'll be back soon with some art and something lighter and happier, I promise.

A little bit of art...

Ok, I know you are tired of looking at my ugly mug, so here's a bit of art.

I mentioned this artist in an earlier post when I drew the apple. That tutorial was on how to draw an apple, but until I get my new glasses, I have to hold stuff in my hand in order to see it. Imagine my surprise when I found out his new tutorials are on drawing the hand. Last night, just as a lark and using the tools at hand, I followed his newest Youtube tutorial and drew this pointing hand.

This is an excellent tutorial that starts out with three oval shapes and breaks the drawing down into simple shapes that anyone can draw. It is so non intimidating to draw in this way. I really didn't take that much time on it, but I did use the pause button on the video as instructed, and did some shading with a Q-tip. The pointing finger is shortened a bit too much, and the shading needs work, but all in all for a quick sketch, I'm pleased with it.

Several weeks ago, I was asked to participate in a Flickr art group called Collage Play with Crowabout. The group administrator, Nancy Baumiller, supplies an image sheet, which you download and print out and then make your collage using at least three of the suggested images. This week's images were ones that I did not immediately relate to, but after one unsuccessful attempt, I applied the "if at first you don't succeed" method and I came up with this.

It's done on a fairly large sheet, about 9 x 12, so I had lots of room to write (which is my favorite part of my style collage). The sheet had a cow, several signs (open, exit, road work ahead), an advert with Bill Cullen hawking Tenderleaf Tea, a vintage image of a boy, some fish and lots of stuff about Spam. No offense folks, but for a person who stopped eating pork about fifteen years ago, the Spam ads did nothing to encourage my creativity. But I kept looking at it and finally decided that it needed to be a cowboy collage. Having decided that, it dawned on me that I have always thought that, deep down, all guys want to be cowboys. I have lots of old Look and Life mags and took some images from a Roy Rogers ad for little boy's boots and toy guns and such.

I found an image of Sam Elliott (the hunkiest cowboy around) and some vintage images from a western wear website. All of these images lead me to draw a background of the setting sun and then I did a doodle type border frame. I glued down my images and altered them a bit, especially Mr. Bill Cullen.

Well, I could go on and on about my feelings regarding collage art, but perhaps that is a post for another day. Today, I'm staying close to the Weather channel and wondering if the snow that is in our forecast will really materialize.

So that's it for me today. Hope you are all having fun and being creative. Take care and hug the person closest to you. You'll be glad you did.

xoxo
Susan

Something Fun

Here is something I've been working on this weekend. It's unbelievable that it took me hours to figure out how to do it. Duh...copy and paste.

This is just a small sampling of the colors, shapes and styles that I have sported over the past ten years. Sorry that the first one is awful, I was holding my very, very ill fur baby. I should have found another one, as there are lots of me with this Ric Flair mullet, but you get the idea.

Anyway, hope this holds you over until I can post some art.

Kickin it old school...

Ok, I'll be honest, I really don't know if this quote really applies to this piece, but I just like the sound of it.

I used to think you had to suffer
to be Beautiful, but now???

I'm Kickin' It Old School!

The suffering could be anything from eating all your peas as a child, to suffering through many Lilt or Toni home perms. For me, I still do an occasional Velcro roller set, but no color and no perms for this chick. I still love me some war paint (lipstick and nail color) but I kicked the torture chamber heels for more comfy shoes quite a while back.

This next little beauty is along the same lines.

You know how they say

"A leopard doesn't change Her spots"...

Well, Baby I won't tell if you don't!

This little feline sweetie looks a lot scarier than I intended. I hope I don't seem superficial. "Oh listen to her, she thinks all you have to do is slap some make up on". I have always known that folks can change. Whether is something you have been delivered from, to something like gradually breaking out of a rut. We can change bad habits and move forward. Changes can be made, and you can share them with your friends, or they can be your little secret. But the next time someone tells you that "they'll never change" think of my little leopard with her jewelry and make up, and tell them they just might be surprised.

Well, that's it for today. It's raining here today, so perhaps some needlework is in my future. Hope everyone is having a great week. Take care and keep those cards and letters comin'


disclaimer: please be advised that I am a girly-girl, princess type (Baby Boomer that I am) and you will probably continue to see fashion and glamor in my collages (at least until I get some new magazines), so be prepared.

Fabulous Friday

Can you believe that it's Friday again? I know it is, because all my shows were on last night. The week has flown by, but I did get a bit of art done. I'm still into collage art. I like the whole process, from gathering up magazines, to finding images, to deciding whether to look for colors or themes. Everything about collage art is working for me right now.

This first piece wasn't going well, and I just sort of vented as I worked on it. That's where the therapeutic part comes in. I decided to post it anyway...

This next piece was fun and just fell into place...

Someone gave us a stack of Life and Look mags, dating back as far as 1952. When you have magazines that old, you are sometimes hesitant to cut into them, but when I want an image I want it then. So I clip it out. I could wait and go to the copy shop and save the magazine, but shoot...nothing lasts forever, so I am using them. Any hoo, there was this ad for a product to make silver hair beautiful, so that got me to thinking about my journey into the land of uncolored tresses. It's one of the best things I've done for myself lately. Once again I'm happy with my hair. But enough about me.

Speaking of magazine images, if you don't have a lot of magazines and certainly don't want to put a lot of money into something you are going to cut up, check out your local library.



Our's sells their back issues of magazines for .20 each. I went by today and they had lots of different kinds. Another option is catalogs that you get in the mail. I even ask my dentist for old magazines. DH gets musician catalogs and I'm looking forward to doing something funky with them.

My last picture for today is a somewhat blurry shot of a little red headed visitor we had this week. I had to use my zoom feature and take it through the screen, but you can tell what he's up to.

Not quite as busy as Stan the Beaver, but he was quite intent on his job.

So that's it for today. A bit of art, some prose and a look at our backyard buddies. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Do some art, enjoy the scenery or just curl up and watch a movie, whatever you choose...have fun.

collage art

Just a quick post today to show some of the collage work that I did this week. I think the reason I'm so attracted to collage is the fact that I get to play with fancy lettering. I would like to do one that has a lot of text, but it seems that when I leave the keyboard, my thoughts stay there.

In any event, here you have...


This is a line from the song that Girl Scouts and Campfire Girls sang. I was only a Brownie Scout, so I didn't really understand the lyrics. It's about being in a canoe with a boy and having to decide what to do. The end result being... girl, you better know how to swim.

This next one is something that just evolved as I worked on it...

The image in the lower left is from a hand carved stamp that I did several years ago. I seem to like the visual of someone thinking or speaking the quote. I always thought this was a funny ad. It's from the 60's, back when you could still hardly talk about ladies unmentionables, let alone show one on a model.

Then, last night at a loss for images to use, I started cutting up my Cuisine magazines and my fitness mags and these images just fell together...

It shows the conflict that we sometimes experience when dealing with wanting sweets, when we know we should have fruit. The meditating girl was from an ad in the Fitness mag, the cake at the top was from the food mag, and the strawberry sundae is from an old Life mag. The verbiage at the bottom that is hard to read, says torn between two lovers, which I think says it all.

Hope everyone is staying warm this weekend. We had record cold for several days, but the weather chick is promising warm weather next week, so watch out world.

That's it for today, take care and be creative.

Hello World...

The new year does that to me. I just want to say "Hello World" and twirl around and toss my hat like Mary Richards. I don't do much twirling any more ( although I used to twirl as a majorette) but I plan on doing that and lots more this year.

I've been working on solutions for storing my numerous bottles and jars of sweet smelling loveliness, that I showed you last week. I'm thinking shelves on the wall next to the dresser, but we'll see.

I do a lot of online research and love to learn new things, especially art techniques. I have been using prisma color markers and copics for several years now, but I never thought to combine them with my other favorite medium, colored pencils. There's a young guy, named Merrill Kazanjian, that does amazing art using these and many other techniques.

I particularly like his tutorial on drawing an apple. I used his ideas, but used an apple instead of a picture. I did run into one problem, I need to have my glasses changed. I wear bifocals and I need to have trifocals. I just couldn't see the apple to draw, with it just sitting on my table, so I had to hold the dang thing. Well, that meant I had to draw my hand also, so here is a life sized version of my hand and apple.

Well, that was my first art project for 2010, but I'm really wanting to do some different things this year. That brings us to my friend Shelly, who does the most wonderful collages and I am so inspired by them. I know that I'm not ready for the detail that she puts in her's, but I love studying them. Here is the link to her Flickr page, so check them out.

There's another chick that does collages that my friend Linda and I have been watching. Her name is Teesha Moore and she has a very elaborate web page and she also has lots of youtube videos to watch when you have the time.

So it was off to Michael's for some paint pens, new journals and scrapbook papers. I don't have much in the way of printed paper to work from for collages, so it will be purchased paper and copied vintage photos to start out with.

I just fell in love with the skull paper and while some folks make their own journals, I really prefer the spiral bound art papers for mine. That gives you the option of gluing pages together for thicker pages if you want. Anyway, they were BOGO at Michael's yesterday.

Saturday, DH and I went to our favorite used book store, not only to sell some books (got enough for a fancy lunch) but to check out the old craft books, which I love. Of all the things I have done in years past, I have never done needlepoint. Probably from always having cats in my lap fighting me for the yarn. In any event, I found these two fab books and had to have them.

Don't these look like fun books to have. Can hardly wait to start a needlepoint project.

So that's were I am here on the first week in January 2010. Already learned a new art technique, am chompin' at the bit to do some cutting and taping and lettering on my collages and have needlework projects climbing into my dreams at night. Combine that with keeping the dust bunnies at bay, doing laundry and making sure my hair looks marvelous at all times, I'm also going to be using this book...

So if you want to follow my journey on getting fit and transforming my life, stop in periodically at my other blog (Let's Lose Weight This Year) and check it out.

So that's it for today. I'm hyped and psyched and ready to go. Jump in with both feet and join me. You'll be glad you did. Until then,

xoxo
Susan

Let's get ready to rumble....

After staying all day yesterday in my pj's, robe and leg warmers (Hi, Peanut), I woke up this morning to find another few inches of wintry mix. I didn't want to get up and dress, but I knew I had to. I couldn't really figure out what day it was either. I am pretty sure it's New Year's Eve, and that got me to thinking about resolutions and such. I don't usually make resolutions, but this year I am going to try to do several things.

I am going to try to help the hubby feel better. Certain foods cause him gall bladder pain, and he has been using herbal supplements and natural foods to avoid gallbladder surgery. He had done really well all year, then I just about ruined everything with sugary and salty holiday treats. Sorry, Sweetie, I'll get us back on track asap.

The other things that caught my eye this morning were these...


Yep, it's the paint and spackle table where all the magic happens. Sometimes it takes a lot of product to get that certain look. I've always loved cosmetics and make up and I need to make some changes in how I store things.

...and DH is going to create a custom shelving system in the closet, so I can have somewhere to put my shoes.

I really need to work on my jewelry. I have a friend that has an eleven year old daughter and I was going to borrow her to help me work on the jewelry box. The snow put a damper on them coming earlier to visit, but hopefully when she stops by Saturday, she'll have time to help organize this...

Yep, it's one of those four foot tall craft containers and it is full of jewelry. I emptied it several years ago, taking lots of jewelry to repurpose. I have another full one in my art area. Some of it I don't wear, but I'm quite fond of my collection and while I don't want to just do away with it, I'm fully prepared to let her have some if she wants it. Most of it is older than she is.

Last, but certainly not least, there is a project that drives me crazy and I always forget to do it.

I have so many clothes that need work. I have several blouses that the tags drive me crazy. I love Karen Scott tops, but the tags hurt like all get out. I have tee shirts that I need to cut the necks out of completely, because I can't stand anything touching my throat. I know it's silly but I get a choking sensation from the neckline from a tee shirt, so I "flash dance" them, in that always popular 80's style. I'm not one to usually wear a tee shirt when I'm out and about, but for around the house, a gal's gots to have a tee.

All of these projects bring us back to the title of the post..."Let's get ready to rumble". We know that what ever our projects are, we can't get them done until we hop over the rope and get in the ring. So let's get ready to tackle those chores and projects and pounds to be lost. Let's get in that ring and rumble!

Well, that's it for today. I hope everyone has had a good year, and if not, may next year be better. So to you all, have a truly blessed and Happy New Year.

xoxo
Susan

Using Your Brain

I never really knew if she was kidding or not, but my Mom (God Rest Her Soul) used to say things to us like..."use your brain" or "try using your head for more than a hat rack" or her favorite... "if you had a brain you would probably take it out and play with it". I mean, come on now...that's pretty heavy. I always was a visual kid and I always visualized someone playing with their own brain. Now that I'm older and am married to an accomplished musician, I view playing with your brain in a completely different manner.

Sorry for the long intro, but that's what brought this next drawing to my mind.

Be sure to click on the picture if you need to. You will notice that his guitar actually has his brain hooked into it and the cords are veins and such.

I know it's a bit gross, but art sometimes isn't all lace and ruffles, now is it? I'm going to be using my brain more this year. I have spent the past several years learning different techniques in my art. I like to make jewelry and have learned about wire wrapping, chaine maille, and precious metal clay, just to name a few. I love to draw and am always trying to learn new skills and use new products. My painting skills are few and far between. One of the reasons I don't take courses in painting, is that I don't like to have a bunch of canvasses that I've painted just taking up room. Jewelry and polymer clay and drawing seem to take up much less space. I've accumulated so many supplies that space in a studio (or your entire house) is something you need to think about.

Any way, I've got my thinking cap on, and I think I am going to be doing things like beading on and off loom this year, as well as doing some decorating around the house. DH has already been warned and he's up for the challenge.

The new year is almost here, what kind of things are you thinking about doing? Have you done anything recently that you think I might like to try? I don't get to bounce ideas off of many people, so that's where you come in. Let me know what you love to do.

Well, that's it for today. Remember to use your head for more than just a hat rack and if you take your brain out to play with it, remember to put it back!

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas to all my friends...




Enjoy the holiday and watch out for the weather!

Relaxing on the Deck

I talked the hubby into leaving the snow on the deck, cause I wanted to make a snow man. So he shoveled me a path....


I bundled up in layers. Put my bright yellow rubber gloves on over my fuzzy warm gloves, got a spoon and a bowl and made my...

Snow Woman!

With her book and soda, she's just taking it easy. That's what a deck chair is for after all, right?

It only took about 30 minutes, and I would have given her more detail, but the snow just wouldn't cooperate. I was afraid she would fall apart, so I called her done.

We stayed up late last night and the hubby is taking a well deserved nap. He hasn't seen her yet, but I'll bet he'll think I'm crazy.

Well, that's it for today. Hope everyone is enjoying their Monday. Take care and remember..."If life gives you snow...make a snowman".

Yep, they were right

The weatherman hit it on the head this time. We haven't had any measurable snow for several years. This measured in at 15.5 inches so far.

We're thinking about making a snowman on the deck. The hubby is a bit concerned about the weight of all this snow on the deck. I hope those lag bolts hold, cause it's going to be a while before I start shoveling.

If you're in the path for the storm, hunker in and get ready, it's a doozy.

Be sure and post pictures as you can. Be back soon. Take care and have fun.

My Decorations

This is the extent of my Christmas decorations (with the exception of some holiday dish towels).

I suppose I should go get some greenery from the yard and plop it down, but I'm too lazy.

It was easy to create, first take one DH that has an extensive record collection and was happy to supply the red vinyl Christmas 45's. Then take two oranges out of the bag that you paid $5.00 for and are completely inedible and dry them. TAA, DAA!!!!

Don't know how to dry oranges? Here's an easy way and this is quite similar to what I did. After I dried them in the microwave, I also placed them on the lowest setting in the oven for about an hour. Then I placed them on a clean paper towel and they finished drying overnight. Place them in a bowl that you won from the "pitch a nickel" stand at the carnival in 1970 and there you go.

Well, that's it for now. We are expecting a "wintry mix" tonight, so I might have to get out the ingredients and make some oatmeal-raisin cookies to enjoy tomorrow. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekends. Take care and stay creative!

Color or Black and White

After sketching these first in pencil, I drew these faces in black ink using a Pigma Micron 03 pen. I love the look of pen on paper, and sometimes I add just a touch of color. Often times, I go all out and color just like a child, except instead of crayons, I use copic markers. Several years ago I was given a nice set of Copic markers for Christmas, but the colors are all quite vivid and dark. Last Christmas, I asked to pick out Copic marker in flesh colors from Dick Blick. It's not easy to tell exactly what color the pens will be when ordering online, but I was pretty happy with them. So here is what I have been doodling around with recently.

This first one looks like Paris Hilton, quite by mistake to be sure. I find it hard to draw faces without a picture and they often look more "cartoonish" than I'm aiming for, but I usually end up liking them. I do like to come up with different backgrounds after drawing the face.

I am showing my hand in this shot only to show the size of this sketch book. It's hard for me not to get bogged down in detail, as tightly detailed pen and inks are my favorite thing to do. Just trying to lighten up a bit here.


On this little lady...

I was going for a 50's-60's look and a different shaped face. I had fun with the background in her's also.

Let's usher in the 70's with a big eyed hippy chick. I can't decide whether to color her in or not.

One of my favorite vintage pictures is of a lady named Faye, which was in with my uncle's military memories. I have had the original copied and I use it quite often in mixed media pieces, but I decided to try my hand at drawing a more realistic portrait using Faye for my model.

She has such a sweet, but sassy look on her face in the photo that was a bit hard to capture. To me, though, art is all about practice. I sometimes keep trying to achieve a specific look, simply to see if I can accomplish it. Other than high school art in 1970, I have no training, so I'm not too hard on myself.

This last drawing was supposed to be an anchor from a news show. She is very angular and has a larger neck than some women. When I drew her from memory, she looked more masculine than I wanted for the portrait, so I softened her jaw and made her neck smaller and she ended up looking a bit more like I had actually intended.


I have always loved to draw and I have an old notebook from my childhood that has some of my original girl drawings. I wanted to be a fashion designer, or a hair stylist, or a model and I expect that is why I love drawing the female form in some way. I still draw clothes and hats and such.

Oh well, I suppose that's it for now. If anything interesting comes up (like snow), I'll let you know. Take care and have a great weekend.

Let's finish our scarf...

Yummm, Yummmm. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. It's back to business now. The next order of business? Gift giving! As I mentioned last post, scarves are a great thing to make and give and you can be as elaborate or simple as you want.

The first step in this project involved cleaning off my table. It actually looks pretty good this time. Is your's clean?

Ok, the work area is neat and we have already decided on our fabric and got the store to cut it to the width we want. Our next step is to even up the edges. You might think that if you had it cut to the desired width at the fabric counter, it will be even...not necessarily so, for a variety of reasons. If you ask nicely, they may even it up there at the cutting counter for you, thus eliminating this step. It's not crucial that the edges be perfectly straight, but my fabric really needed some help. So let's gather up our tools, scissors, a ruler and if you are using a cutting wheel, a self healing mat.


Anyway, what I do is take my fabric and fold it in half and make sure there are no wrinkles and then take it to the cutting mat and straighten it up either with your cutting wheel, which you should already know how to use, (if you don't know how to use a cutting wheel, please don't buy one for this project, they are very sharp and dangerous) or with your scissors. Most of us have handled fabric and know how to do an accordion type fold and are able to achieve this next step.

You place the ruler to the the shortest edge that is closest to the "body" of the fabric, line up your ruler and either cut with your wheel, or make a mark along the edge of the ruler, then pin and cut with scissors.

Depending on the fabric, you could actually be done at this point. The fabric I chose, doesn't ravel, and is in fact, stretchy enough that the edges curl in slightly and that eliminates the need to finish the long edges. So you could actually wear your scarf at this point. Really, you can.

If you want to put some fringe on the ends, you can go several ways. You can purchase pre made fringe, or you could buy pre-beaded fringe from Michaels. It is easy to pin and then sew on. You might be able to use fabric glue, if you don't sew, but I'm not sure about that. If you choose a non ravel fabric you can simply cut the edges and make fringe. Like I did on this scarf made I from polar fleece, where all I did was cut the ends in 1/2 in strips for a fringed look.


But on my crushed velvet scarf, I felt the need to embellish the ends a bit. First off, I chose my thread, finding the perfect match...

The top right spool was an exact match. Since I am going to make my own bead fringe, I decided to turn under about 1/4 " on each end and top stitch it, giving me a good base for my fringe.

After top stitching both ends, I went to my stash of seed beads and picked out several tubes that I thought would compliment the fabric. I didn't want to go "matchy-matchy" on the beads.

I then proceed to make beaded fringe for my scarf. Making bead fringe is quite easy once you know how. There are several on line tutorials (this is a fun one) for bead fringe, it just takes time, patience, beading thread, the proper sized needle and good vision to thread this tiny eyed needle.

My finished scarf is perfect. It is comfortable and the slight weight of the seed beads makes the ends of the scarf lay perfectly in place.



Hope this little tutorial made sense. The next scarf I make will be the type that you pull threads from the ends of the fabric and then twist and tie to make fringe. If anyone wants to see how I do that, let me know.

That's it for now. Hope everyone is geared up for a new week, a new day or just a new thought. Take care and have fun.

Make it yourself

With the holiday season upon us, lots of us want to express our love and gratitude with hand made gifts. Whether it's an edible treat, like a make it yourself mix recipe presented in a festive container, or a sock monkey ...just remember to think about the recipient of the gift. Will they really appreciate the time and talent, as well as the thought, that the gift represents? Sometimes when you think you know someone quite well, they still may recoil slightly from a homemade gift.

My own mom comes to mind here. One year a good friend of my sister worked all year long on a crocheted shawl with collar for my mom. The workmanship was marvelous and she even had it professionally blocked at the dry cleaner. My mom was gracious when she received the gift, but years later, after her death, when cleaning her house to be sold, I found this once beautiful shawl, still on the hanger, but never worn. Alas, it was now obvious that it had been used as building material for various yarn loving mice that had unknowingly taken up residence in Mom's back bedroom..

With all this being said, I did want to let you know that you can make a beautiful gift for someone that probably wont be relegated to the mouse condo...

That brings us to Part One of a tutorial that I hope you will enjoy.

Making a Scarf

I know this seems like a overly simple accessory for a "how two", but I really love neck scarves and if you're like me, you hate to pay $10, $20 or even $50 for one in the store. When you take your time and choose some lovely fabric from your local yard goods store, you can get a nice scarf in a color that you or your best friend will really love and wear.

These three pieces of fabric cost $3.00 each. I got 3/8 of a yard of the fuchsia colored and 1/2 a yard each of the purple and green. So even if a fabric is expensive, it's affordable when you only need a small amount.

What I did was take my favorite neck scarf to the store with me and walked around and compared it to various bolts of fabric. If you aren't going to have something with you to use as a "go by", keep the following things in mind...

* What type of scarf do you want to make? You have to keep in mind whether it will be used for inside wear (almost like fabric jewelry or wearable art) or if you want to choose a warm fabric for looking cute when you're out walking with your honey on the nature trail.

* Comfort and drape are another area of concern. You can pick the most gorgeous fabric there is in the entire store, but if it is itchy or too stiff to whip sexily around your neck, you have wasted your greenbacks.

When choosing your fabric you also have to remember how much or how little sewing you want to do.

Ok, now you have decided that you can sew a bit and you want to pick your fabric based on color...STOP...you have to remember to check to see how much the fabric ravels, as that is a concern if you want to fringe the edges. I say this because, the green and purple faux crushed velvet fabric that I love, love, love...does not ravel, so I will have fringe it in a different way.

After you have found the type of fabric you want, the fabric that you have held in your hands and scrunched up and made sure it's not stiff and scratchy, or made sure it is warm and cozy...then you can think about color.

Since the fabrics I chose are for me, I was looking for bright colors that will be close to my face. I wear a lot of black and lately, as the hair becomes more silver and the green eyes get lighter and lighter, the black seems to wash me out (either that or I am slowly becoming a zombie). Anyway, I read somewhere that wearing colors close to the face combat this wash out.

So that is the first installment of the scarf tutorial. This week I will be working on actually making the scarves and taking pictures as I go (boo boos will be documented if and when they occur) so hopefully there will be plenty of time to get to the fabric store before the gift giving season is over.

Since this is a fabric related post, I'll show you the cross stitch I have been working on. I got a kit many years back and finally started on it. For some reason there wasn't enough floss to complete the lettering and I had to fill in with some I had on hand. Of course, it didn't match completely, but it's close enough. Some folks insist that you must do your lettering after the rest of the design has been done, but as you all know...I am a rebel. Plus I find it comforting to read the message while I stitch.

As with most cross stitch instructions, it suggest using masking tape to keep the edges from raveling, but I actually think that it makes the fabric too stiff to work with. I'll probably take the rest of it off.

Any way that's it for today. I did want to let everyone know that DH is doing quite well after his dental surgery. Still on mashed potatoes and oatmeal, but he's been a good patient and hasn't complained too much about not being able to eat. Thanks for all the well wishes.

Take care and stay tuned for the progress on the scarves.