Z Jayne

You know me and recycled or repurposed products... I love them! I'm constantly doing what I can to turn J's old shirts into clothes for the kids, I've turned old Hawaiian shirts into Father's Day gift bags, I reuse even the timiest scraps and I always try to support artists who reuse... Well, here is a great one! I cat even remember how I found her on etsy, but zJayne (www.zjayne.etsy.com) rocks!
She reuses old tshirts (she's sold over 1000 bags!) and makes them into little pouches and shopping bags. She gives you a billion choices and when it comes to personalization - you can choose your colors, etc.
I LOVE this bag! I'll be ordering more for sure. My kids are getting some cool kiddo mp3 players (link later ) for the holidays, maybe they need cool pouches like these to hold them...

Self Portrait - 2002

I found this tonight in one of my old sketchbooks. J and I spent the afternoon cleaning out the guest house and trying to continue our new organizational kick. (Somehow, I'm much less patient with him than with Tifanie when she's asking me questions about the crap I hang onto.)

Anyhow. I found a great old sketchbook back from before we had kids. This "self portrait" was in it and its fun to see even now. I've always been fascinated by the idea of a deconstructed self-portrait. Of pieces, rather than the whole. I'd completely forgotten about this sketch until today. And I have to say, for those of you who've seen me or seen pics of me - these are pretty true to form. I don't consider myself a great illustrator or even a great drawer - but I do like doing it...

Here are a few more of the random sketches in it... just for fun.

Martha's Pumpkins

Dear Martha. I so often get exasperated by your high standards and sometimes fussy decorating, but I have to say - this one was a winner. When Home Companion magazine went down and my subscription was transferred to Martha Stewart Living, I was pretty bummed. I didn't think I'd even be interested in reading this magazine (which I had enjoyed years ago, but found a little to uptight for my free-loving style). Martha likes to have everything PERFECT. I don't really care about "perfect".The past two issues have been pretty fun though, and as I was peeking through the November issue last night - Thanksgiving IS my favorite holiday, after all! - I stumbled onto these adorable pumpkins... which even Martha described as perfect for a novice seamstress. Which meant that even at 9.30pm I could start it. So I did. And other than the multiple needle pricks on my fingertips. (too lazy to wear a thimble, plus they scare my hubby... being the ultimate in craftiness) - look at how cute these are! I sense there are more coming. I think I may end up with a little pumpkin patch here in my living room.

Placemats

I don't L-O-V-E licensed characters around here, but I understand that they are part of being a kid for a lot of us... ... My kids included. So on the night before Mimi's Hello Kitty themed birthday, I happened to find some HK fabric that someone had donated to me. (score! What to make now?) I set to work with some of that plastic furniture cover stuff that is on rolls outside of mom & pop hardware stores... I'd bought some once, thinking it would come in handy... So I made a super fast little placemat for her, which reversed into the fabric we'd used for the goodie bag napkins for the party. HUGE HIT.
Z immediately began campaigning. I remembered that I'd once bought some Superman fabric at SAS for a few bucks and I offered him a Superman placemat. (I was asked about it almost hourly for the next 2 days).
These are so easy to make! Trace your favorite sized placemat, leaving room for trimming (1/2") around the edges. Make a plastic sandwich over the two fabrics, and then sew a straight line (3/4" from edge). Then trim with pinking shears. easy peasy. (these would also be fun to make for seasonal decor)

More time as art teacher...

I love being the art teacher for Mimi's class! The kids either call me " Mimi's mom" or "art teacher" (both of which I love!) the teacher asked if this week I would do something about apple trees or farms, so I (of course) "googled" that and found the cutest craft - which I modified, of course. The kids traced their hands with crayon, painted that in with brown paint to serve as the trunk and branches of the trees. Then we tore little pieces of paper to make leaves (note: tearing was a little hard for some of these kindergarteners), glued them onto the trees and then polkadotted some apples onto the trees for a final touch. I love how they came out! My favorite part was sewig the different artistic styles come out... Abstract vs. Literal... Minimalist vs. Extravagent...

More towels

We've got some big news to share which is making me scramble to get
things done around here. These towels are for a friend's kids... They
are 2 of 5 that were commissioned for Christmas gifts...

Finally! Some proof! (studies have shown)

I've said this for years and now I have proof! (says Parents Magazine)

Princess Canopy: closeup

The Design Director's birthday present was an easy and fun project...

Tif (who was making an identical one for her step-daughter) and I started with store-bought IKEA canopies and "girlied" them up with adhesive rhinestones, ribbons, hanging fairies, and plastic butterflies. The hardest part was the "false ceiling" on the inside of the canopy - but it was more time consuming than difficult (I was able to use the machine for that, phew!)

We each used different fairies, I ended up with some of the Disney Princess little figurines, hanging by thread. They're sparkly, plastic and super cute.

I once was (collage)

I went to a church retreat this weekend and collaged this in some quiet and thoughtful moments. I don't often share my more personal artwork here, but thought today I would. :)

Designing Moms: What's In My Bag - Libby

Okay, so we all have to admit to being a little bit nosy... right?

I did this post for Designing Moms and thought you might want to see "what's in my bag"

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My kids are finally out of diapers, which means that though I still carry an extra load of clothing for everyone in my overloaded minivan, my bags these days, look a little more sophisticated. This is my latest bag - one I picked up in the San Lorenzo Market when my hubby took me to Florence this summer. It is my favorite souvenir from the trip, in my very favorite color. (It's also quite grown up feeling, compared to the last 5 years of diaper bags!)

What's in my bag?
1 - my lovely yellow wallet. I bought it brand new from my across the street neighbor at her garage sale. We were out shopping once and she said, "I have a wallet just like that!" before realizing it was hers. It's big, fabulous, and my daughter's favorite color.

2 - my (also grown up) prescription sunglasses. I finally turned away from my cheapo glamour glasses that I was always losing and sitting on... and before my vacation this summer got some good prescription sunglasses, which must mean I am old for sure.

3 - my business card case - bought on Etsy from JMorrow, complete with my business cards

4 - my iPhone. I blog from it, I take photos, it's hard for me to even take the trash out without it. It's an addiction (cute leather brocade snap-on case that you can't see from Ultra Case.) While I'm at it, I'll mention that my favorite mommy app is the CameraBag app which makes regular iPhone pictures look fabulous.

5 - my journal. I made it. It's from reused board and fabrics, and has hand-carved (by me) stamp designs throughout the pages. I'm always writing or sketching something... i feel lost without paper on hand.

6 - two things here... the one is my second "key ring" that I use to keep all of those grocery store discount cards, etc, so they don't clutter my already cluttered key ring and the second is my cute little makeup bag that my friend, Amy sent me from Thailand. I love it

7 - my little baggie of "unmentionables"

8 - gum (which I now have to carry in two different flavors for my 2 different kids)

9 - toy cars - never leave home without them

10 - rubber bands - between myself and my daughter, there's always a need

11 - a small sampling of my pen addiction. This is not ALL of the pens I carry around. Usually I also have a Sharpie on hand - often in brown, my favorite color for pens.

12 - lip gloss, mascara, nail clipper... just the basics. I don't primp a lot, but my days are long and if I can get a minute to freshen up, I really should be prepared.

The one thing that I forgot to include here is an image of my keys! I swear that every mom needs a key fob and my favorites are found on etsy - try here. I keep a bunch on hand.