Tea Cozy Happiness

I'd been waiting to post this because I wasn't wanting to give away the secrets... but I had so much fun making these (and a few others) Tea Cozies recently for some special birthday gifts for special friends. They've all been shipped off now and I know that most of them have been opened already, so I am happy to show you what I was working on for a little while.

And yes, there have been a few references to papal headgear... which I find funny. Which makes me think my tea drinking dad might need one, since his grandpa name is PopE. (now you see why it's a capital "E")

Cafe de Leche

I'm a sucker for a cute latte!
Yum.
The barista was sweet and told me she made the heart just for me.

Scrap-book-mania

I am loving making these. And I've come up with a name, too..."the rough around the edges SCRAPbook"

These are the best. They are refillable, super duper "green" and apparently (as I get feedback from friends) quite enviable. They make the perfect sketchbook or work notebook....
Oh, I'm just so happy about them I can hardly stand it.... Etsy shop, soon...

Designing Moms

The internet is a scary, addicting and wonderful place.
I can so easily find myself sucked into the world of blog-reading - it's amazing, often to learn that there are people out there with really similar interests and passions... There's a new blog on my list that I am checking out daily - as well as being a contributor to very soon, called Designing Moms. It's a great place to be inspired in so many ways.
Check it out and meet some other really inspiring women...

Stamp collection

Oh! These are so fun to make!!!!
Now I just need some outlets for them...

First "impressions" (trying my hand at stamp carving!)

A peek inside my new binder/scrap-book... Look at what I made while the kids ate dinner tonight... Here's the link to the tutorial!!!!
You can see my first hand carved eraser stamp... It was so easy and fun to do that J saw me and said, "I want to do that!" (something akin to whittling, my "old man at heart" felt it calling to him...) If I can get HIM wanting to do it, you know it's got to be fun...

Lenten collages

Though I am not actually Catholic in faith, each year as this season rolls around, the discussion pops up at church (Christian)... "are you giving up anything for lent?" And I have given up coffee, shopping, meat, sugars, and other things different years... But as I thought and prayed about what to "give up" this year, I decided to do something different...
Instead of taking something away, I've added something...**instead of heading straight into my sewing room to work on projects that are on my mind, I've committed to spend at least 10 minutes (or more) of my creative time focused on art that has a spiritual nature or basis...
Kind of a way to refocus myself, both creatively and spiritually.

It hasn't been an every day thing so far (my creativity has been cut short by a root canal crisis that's got me laying kind of low down) , but the new resolution has been really fun for me... I've been sketching a lot... I'm no great illustrator, but i've enjoyed the freedom of making art for the sake of simply making art.  Tonight I focused on collage... And played with the idea of "home"...  (something I've wanted to do a series on for a while) ...in my new binder.

Collage gifts

I've spent a vicodin-assisted evening (thanks to a lousy toothache!) sitting still and working on collages.  The design director asked me if I would do a collage for her in her own salvaged scrap binder while she slept...
... Happily, darling....
So I put this stack of presents in the middle of her book.

Re-purposed calendar gift tags

Afternoon sunlight on an afternoon project... Punching out an old 2008 Snow&Graham desk calendar to use for gift tags...

Recycled (actually re-used!) notebooks

I'm having so much fun making these!
I'm taking cardboard boxes, covering them with fabric and binding them to make journals.
The large one is dually re-used, as its internal paper is made of sheets of old drawings that the kids did. I figure I will just write over or around their drawings. This makes me super happy...