The 30 Day Journal Challenge

Hello, everyone!  How have you been?  I've been a busy bee lately.  I'm rushing around trying to get everything ready to go out of town later this week.  In addition to household stuff and gathering up gear, I'm also piling up crafty stuff and art supplies to keep me occupied while I'm gone.

So, have you seen anything about The 30 Day Journal Challenge ?  Well, Janel over at Run With Scissors is putting it on.  So far she's had great prompts.  You should join, I did!

It just so happened that I was about to dig into a brand new sketchbook.  Perfect timing.

Day 1- Introduce Yourself

Hi, I'm Jackson 5.

Day 2- What is the best part of your day?

That's easy.

Day 3- Draw a picture of someone you love.  Then write a letter to them.

No, he's not really a robot.

Don't bother reading it...it's mushy, lovey junk.  It might make you sick.

I'm saving the rest of the prompts so far for when I'm camping.  It'll give me something to do while I'm getting sunburned and drinking beer.

Thanks for looking!  

Have a craftastic day!

Snapshot Friday!

This week just flew by!  It's that time again already.  For those of you who are new around here, every Friday I feature vintage photos.  Some are from my collection, others are from vintage yearbooks.  Once in a blue moon someone nice will contact me and want me to feature their old photos.  Don't hesitate to do that if you want to share some of your old gems.  Even better if there's a story behind them.

On to today's goodies.

I wonder what this group is getting ready for or commemorating.

I have another one with the lady that's front and center.

I wish that this one was in better shape, it's such an interesting photo in terms of the people.  It seems like every person has been randomly placed in there.   They don't even look like they're in the same room, especially the starlet in the front corner.  Wouldn't you say?

I'll be back later with some journal junk!

Thanks for looking.  Have a craftastic day.

A Silly Set of Stitches.

After working on so many time consuming, on-going projects lately, I needed a break from that type of stuff.  I wanted some quick little projects that I could make just for fun.  Nothing too precious, nothing too big... you get the idea.  Not sure what I'm going to do with them but I guess I'll deal with that later.  Besides mounting them on boards, I'm stumped.

A little tribute to the one and only, Leslie Hall.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, I freaking love that woman.  For some strange reason, I can't get her song Craft Talk out of my head lately.  Singing it constantly has even lead to Dillon occasionally mumbling, "You can build it however you want."  Poor guy.

The second was inspired by an online conversation about the ability to offend people by simply being who you are.  It basically means that your awesome level is set too high.  ("Awesome Level" being the phrase used by Maggie.  Isn't it great?!)  I realized that my level is set pretty high, and occasionally it goes even higher.  To the "Kill" level.  Not often, but it does happen.

I used a freebie pattern from Urban Threads for the dial and Sublime Stitching's Glow-in-the-dark thread for the numbers.

I'm using this Light Effects Floss in everything lately!  These last projects went a little haywire though, see how the metallic floss bunched up like crazy?  Well, I can't smooth it out for the life of me.  Not even with an iron!  Any ideas?  It's going to drive me nuts if I can't fix it.
 
Thanks for looking!  Have a craftastic day.

Wowzers!!

I am just overwhelmed by the response that "The Dude and Maude" have received over the past few days.  After it was featured on Feeling Stitchy (accckkk, my first time!!!) it pretty much blew up.  I knew that The Dude had some crafty fans but holy cow, I had no idea it would be that many.  This little ol' blog even got 5 new followers, just that day.  (Hi there, guys!)

I just wanted to say, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  All of the nice comments have been so encouraging for me.  Besides painting, embroidery is pretty much my life.  I hope to make it my career someday and all of your words of encouragement are making me think that I might just get there someday.

THANK YOU!!!!

What The.....Wednesday

Around this time of year on college campuses across the country, the dumpsters outside of Art Departments are filled to the brim.  Filled with sculptures, sketchbooks and paintings; either thrown out by students in a moment of self-doubt or Professors cleaning out their classrooms.  

A week or so ago, Dillon was on campus of the university he attends, uninstalling an earth art sculpture he had made.  On his way back to the car a bright colored object on one of these said dumpsters caught his eye.  After he and our friend had a good laugh, he decided he couldn't just leave it there.

Check out this oddity.

Uh, yeah.  You read that correctly.

Don't ask me, I have no idea.

I just hope that John was a dog?

What can I say, Dillon is an odd duck.

Anyways, it makes a good conversation starter when friends come over.

Found any treasure lately?  I just hope it's better than this one.

Edit:  I should clarify, I'm not in anyway knocking the artist's abilities or work.  I'm simply pointing out that not knowing their intentions and the context in which this was painted makes it quite a mystery.  And it's not the direction I envisioned our home decor going, but hey, I'm not the only one who lives here, right?

 

The Swap That Really Tied The Room Together. Part 2

My turn!  Now that Sam has her package, I can share my pictures of it with you guys.  The idea behind the swap was a movie surprise.  A scene and a quote from a film, and the recipient had to guess what they were from.  Okay, so mine we're really easy to figure out but I just had to do those ones.

First up- The Dude and his special lady friend, Maude.  From The Big Lebowski.  Isn't it funny that we both picked the same movie for each other?

(Please excuse the massive amount of pictures.  When I was all done, I was rather smitten with it.)

Maude took over a whole skein of copper floss.  That's one shiny lady friend.

I also made a Fight Club embroidery.

 I'm sure that you can finish the rest of this quote.  I don't want to get too risque, ha ha.

So, yeah.  Those were my big, secretive projects that I have been so mysterious about.  

 Thanks for looking!  I'll be back later with more stitchy stuff.

Snapshot Friday!

This how I've been feeling today... all week, in fact.  Happy and laid back.  I'm loving everyone and everything.  Life is grand.

Maybe it's the weather.  Maybe it's all the creating I've been doing lately.  I don't know, but either way, it's going to take a lot to rain on my parade.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!  Any fun plans?  I'll be working on swaps, doing a bit of painting and a bit of gardening too.  This weekend is the Harmony Festival.  Steel Pulse, Lauryn Hill...it's going to be a great time, but it wasn't in the cards for us.  Too bad I can't just sneak into the Bazaar part.  There is always a huge Craft Market with handmade goods from around the world!  Can you picture it, "I swear, Officer.  I'm just here to buy some crafty stuff.  You know, like stationary and pretty stuff!?"  Right, that would go over well.

The Swap That Really Tied The Room Together. Part 1

HOLY GUACAMOLE!!!!!  I'm excited, can you tell?  I received my package from Sam for our private embroidery swap.  Of course, she spoiled me.  Check out her awesome piece.

There's painting...and about a gazillion French knots.

And The Jesus even has a real net on his hair.  This pretty much blew my mind.

She even sent me a toe!

I'm such a lucky duck!  Thank you so much, Sam.  You rocked my world.

Thanks for looking.  In Part 2 of this swap, I'll share my pieces with you.  For now it's still a secret.

P.S. Here's a little something to cheer up those of you who weren't lucky enough receive this greatness in your mailbox.  Enjoy. 

Bright and Cheery.

Yesterday I made some new curtains for our bedroom.  I was shocked at how quickly I was able to get them done.  Thank goodness Dillon was around to help with the measurements.  For some reason I'm terrible at that sort of thing, usually no matter how accurate I am something still turns out crooked.

Here, take a look!

I really should have pressed them before I hung them up but my iron has been doing more harm than good lately.  So I wasn't letting it anywhere near these babies.

It's so bright and cheery in our room now, I just love it.  Before the floor-to-ceiling dark green curtains you see in the corners ran the entire length of the wall.  And because they weren't made to go on that type of rod they were impossible to slide open very much.  It was like a cave.  Now with these ones I can slide them open pretty far, and with a whole wall of windows it lets in a great amount of natural light.

Yay!!  I'm so excited to finish off the rest of our room to be bright and happy.  It'll be a big change but I'm ready for it.  I'm also ready to move onto making custom curtains for the rest of my house... kitchen, here I come!  Ol' Bessie and I had quite a bonding experience and I feel like I know her much better now.

Any big changes coming your way?

Thanks for looking, I hope you are having a bright and cheery day!

Snapshot Friday!

It's that time of year again, school's out and everyone is getting ready for a little fun in the sun.  Unfortunately the weather isn't cooperating at the moment, it's just a tad gloomy for fun in the sun around here. 

I'll probably spend most of my weekend stitching.  Despite being up to my elbows in stuff to do, I bought 3 new embroidery patterns on etsy yesterday.  After hearing the tragic news of Rue McClanahan's passing, I thought a little retail therapy was in order.  It didn't help much but I did have a great time thinking up incredibly perverted things to say all day, Blanche would have been proud.  RIP Rue.

Anyone have big plans for the weekend?  Making something great?

Teaser for Sam! Part 2

Another teaser for the lovely and talented Sunnysidey!

Today's the day that I am mailing out my goodies, hopefully they don't take forever to arrive.  I love, love, love the way that everything turned out and can't wait to share them with you.  I honestly think that one of them is the best thing I have ever made.   I'm so glad it's going to go to someone who will give it a good home.

I'll check back in later with more fun stuff to show you!

Thanks for looking, go make something great.

Tuesday's Tip.

Wrap the inner ring of your embroidery hoop with bias-tape. 
It helps to maintain your tension while stitching by preventing fabric from slipping on the smooth hoop.  It's also great for those older frames that might have bent metal pieces... have you ever noticed that sometimes it's screwed as tight as it will go and still doesn't grip the fabric?  Bulk it up a bit and give the outer hoop something to hold on to.

I just used a tiny dab of hot glue on the inside of the inner hoop to get it started.  Then I wrapped it nice and tight.  I finished it off with another tiny dab on the inside again.  Easy-peasy.

Thanks for looking, I hope you have a creative day!