a little "how to"....

I've gotten a couple of questions as to how I make the collage cards...so I will try and give a quick explanation.

First I make the little heart charm ....For the heart I used a small piece of painted "timtex" which is a thick interfacing found at fabric stores. Then I put it on a small piece of fabric and then a top piece of sheer fabric, forming a "sandwich". I stitch around the heart closely and then around the edge several times.

Then I fool around with different backgrounds and textures until I find something I like....

fraying the edges for a raggety look...

I glue the layers together and one more layer of glue on the bottom piece making sure to get the corners and edges....spread with my fingers.

For the bottom piece I like to use "scrim" or a nice loosely woven piece of fabric....some of these are from the fabric sample books from our local recycle store called "Art from Scrap" that designers have donated. There are some beautiful linens and cottons to play with in these books.

I carefully center it on the card front and pat to make sure the edges are glued. I use Nori paste for this project...it seems to work well with the fabric and I like the consistency. It is good for collage and bookarts too....because you can slide the paper around for awhile without its sticking too quickly.

I put a piece of waxed paper on top and a heavy book and let it dry overnight....and it's done!

New collage cards and a little treat tip...

Made a couple of new collage cards....

and FORGIVE me...I just discovered a most delicious ice cream ...Pomegranate Chip!!! Have to share this because it is so good! My husband likes a little bite of ice cream before going to bed and the Haagen-Dazs was on sale...of course he probably won't even get a bite of this one....

Here's what it says on the carton: "This unique Mediterranean pomegranate brings a balance of sweet and tart notes and is perfectly paired with dark chocolaty chips. " ...and also, " the apple sized fruit is renowed for its wonderfully unique taste and for being a rich source of vitamain C, folic acid and antioxidents. " So there....all that healthy goodness.

And good motivation for my 1 hour beach walks this week since I am down the mountain at 8 am! And still finding sweaters to felt for 5 cents each at Magnolia Thrift Store...

Zinnia and Buster's

fun shirt in the window of Zinnia!

Before heading home to Santa Barbara I decided to cruise through my old home town of South Pasadena. Drove by our old house, which looked pretty good except it is now painted yellow, and it is a little too bright for my taste. My old elementary school looked pretty good and all the same houses were still there with their big old front porches and the jacaranda trees were in bloom...still one of my favorite colors...those blossoms...

Then on to the little downtown where I finally located a cute shop called Zinnia...but, alas, it was only open on Sunday from 12 to 3pm and it was closed...I got a peek in the windows and it looks like a great place...big long tables for art classes and lots of fun little things in jars. will have to go sometime when it is open and have a look around. Then i browsed in some antique shops and saw a lively spot called Buster's and got a ice blended vanilla mocha latte to get me home. I got home before dark and Dennis had the bar-b-que going for dinner. Had a great day, but nice to be home too.

Reunion at El Sombrero

Had a great time with Laura and her family celebrating her mother, Dortha's birthday. Her sister, Ellen and brother Lybrand, were there with their families and lots of friends and neighbors came to celebrate too. Got to see Laura's beautiful daughters, now in their 20's. I brought old school pictures from Marengo School in South Pasadena and my doll with the little dress that Dortha made. She got a chance to check it out and remembered sewing all those dresses for both her girls and the dolls. We had a nice lunch, birthday cake and lots of fun visiting and reminiscing about our childhood days. Photo of Laura and her beautiful girls, Brittany and Shannon....UCSB girls!

and what did I do on saturday???

My first Saturday off in a few years! Did I go to the Solstice Parade? Nope. I stayed home and made stuff! The boys didn't want to go to the Parade and they were expecting 100,000 people so I thought I'll just stay home where it's quiet and take the day off. So I had fun making some more fiber charms and finishing up these little houses for Syd and I even got the birds made for my Art From Scrap piece. They are all made from recycled linens and fabric from textile sample books that I picked up there. Now to figure out how to attach them to the wooden piece so they can hang on the wall.

And today I head off to Los Angeles once again....my best friend from childhood, Laura, is having a birthday party for her mother who is turning 90 this week. I think we met at Sunday school and then we were in the same classes all through elementary school. We looked so much alike that people thought we were twins! Our birthdays are 20 days apart in February and our mothers were born in the same year. We spent many hours playing dolls, doing cartwheels, and generally just having fun and spending the night at each others' homes. Her mother was always kind and generous and fun to be around. She made all of her daughters school clothes and even made matching doll dresses. I still have one for my 8" Madame Alexander doll and I am going to bring it along to show her. It has tiny hearts on it and red rick rack. She was also really sweet to me when my mother died and had me over for dinner and made sure to take a picture of me in my Prom dress..( I think I later threw it away because I thought I looked stupid..)..Oh well...we will celebrate at a Mexican Restaurant for lunch and I will get to see the rest of the family that I haven't seen in years. If time I hope to visit a store called Zinnia in South Pasadena that is supposed to have lots of cool stuff.

Fabric Bird Book..

Here's the cover of a fabric book that I started last year at ArtFiberfest.... each cloth page will have a different bird on it......may take a while....one close up of the back cover.....

Hearts for Sherri.....

These all have some lime green in them...although some look more yellow than lime green...

Still need to put the pin back on....

freshly made!

a few more cards...

here's a few more cards that I collaged the other day....

And for those locals that may not know...Violet's Rubber STamp Inn (in Ventura) will close in Aug. Everything is 20% off now and the hours are Wed. to Sat. 10 to 5....still lots of good stuff left!

Golden products, rubber stamps, cool paper and books....

Doorway and something new...

finished the "doorway" and got it sent off yesterday....here are a few photos and close-ups.

it is 8 1/2" X 11"

And a sneak peek at another project that is almost completed and needs to be sent off.

Syd and I went to "Art From Scrap" yesterday and I signed up to do an assemblage due Aug. 6 for a show there. You pick one piece to work from and get 5 additional things from the barrels at art from scrap and can use anything from home to create your work of ART. I immediately had an idea to do some linen birds sitting on my piece of wooden scrap...I don't know what it is that I picked out or what it was from...but all the things we had to choose from were parts of a musicial instrument.
We also went to Imagine and Syd dropped off some of her wonderful mermaids, scissors maidens, and felty tree pin cushions....lunch at CPK....errands and home to make more stuff!

For now, I need to do a Heart themed page (or 34 pages) for a fat book for A &S... make more fiber charms...I keep raiding my already made ones to play with....and make lots of stuff to sell at AFF. Next week, I need to take my son to Driver's Ed. classes at 8:30 am ....darn...I was just getting used to sleeping in!

doorway.....almost finished...

still working on the "doorway"..piece.... just a few more things to do and then I pack it off and won't see it until Nov. I took a photo of a wonderful old door from Olso, Norway from the Norsk Folkemuseum that was from a storehouse built in 1300. I loved traveling through Norway, Sweden and Denmark years ago and used this door as inspiration for my embroidery.

Felted Bead and Needle Felting Class at the Art Clinic

Next Sunday, June 24, Colleen Darling and I will be teaching a class in felted bead making and needle felting at Syd's Art Clinic. Come join the fun as we do some wet and dry felting. Refreshments provided! Located in the sunny Santa Ynez Valley in the quaint village of Solvang. Visit http://sheepfloozy.blogspot.com/ for more info...(Syd's Blog)..
I will also be teaching the Felt Bead making class at Art and Soul in Portland in Oct. It will be a fun and relaxing evening class. I will include FREE bonus instruction in needle felting for the bead makers!

One thing led to another...

and I didn't really mean to be making cards...but with all the fabric on my work table....and a nice little cigar box full of stitched charms....I came up with these last night. Little mini-collages that will make fun greeting cards? Also did more work on my "doorway" project....there is someone behind the door....."who?" you ask?....why, my Muse, of course!.... The challenge is called the "doorway to the imagination"....so that seemed like the only way to go....well, for me at least... and sorry the photo isn't better...I just lay them down on the driveway and tried to find the sunniest spot...

Just a quick post...got to go to the Hardware Store today, and Yahoo! ..I will be training Lisa, from the Fibre ARts studio to do register...so it could be my last Saturday shift. I will still be involved with the store but in a more artistic way, I hope.

Doorway...

Here's a little peek at a quilted piece that I am working on for a challenge for Quilting Arts Mag.

Mysterious spirals appear on Santa Barbara Beach

On my morning walk today I spotted these sand "crop circles".....locals admitted to having seen several UFO's recently in the area but this could not be confirmed.

Farther on down the beach I encountered at least 5 differnt school groups having their end of school beach parties...wonderful sand castles, happy kids, swimmers and boogie boarders, even in the 58 degree water.

No heart rocks today, but before going home I took Teesha's advice and bought the book, "Fool's Gold" by Susan Wooldridge for my summer reading enjoyment. I think I want "Poemcrazy" too.

Penny's Playhouse..

houses by Penny..

Penny,Pepa,Susan,Colleen, Susan.....

Marge Dunlap sculpture

We had a fun and delicous day celebrating Penny's birthday. She made us all our own little house to take home...each one especially for us...we had to guess which one was ours...I got the one with kitties on it...because we both love our cats! Penny has made a bunch of paper and canvas houses, all in different sizes and they make up a wonderful little village.

Syd made us each a tiny felted cupcake, too...all different colors!

After a yummy lunch and chocolate cupcakes Penny opened her gifts...lots of cool things, many hand made and many with P.'s favorite colors of red, white and black. I just had to show a few more photos of the cool collections found at P.'s Playhouse....

Charms....

A quick post before heading down the mountain this morning....made these fun little heart charms yesterday. For the inner heart shapes I experimented with several different things: felted wool, tin, and Timtex that Gail sent me. This morning I painted up a bunch more Timtex in more colors to experiment with. It seemed to show up and work the best for this project. The background fabric I found at a store in Santa Barbara called The Remnant Store. They mostly sell to Interior Designers, with fabric on large bolts, but you can find some interesting things in there if you look long enough. I couldn't resist the swirly circles..got it in 2 different colors and have some plans to make stuff with it for ArtFiberfest. I had such a great time staying home yesterday, making stuff in between the laundry, making chili rellenos, my husband's favorite, and wrapping presents for miss penny, who is having a birthday tomorrow!

Some Amy Butler fabric for Amy's Tote...and my new Fabric cutter!

Stopped by the Treasure Hunt Quilt store in Carpinteria on the way to work on Sat. Picked up these fun mostly pink fabrics for a tote exchange that I am in...Tote is due by the end of July. I also couldn't resist the Kaffe Fassett polka dots...for me!

Busy weekend....on Sunday, another trip down to LAX to pick up Jason. Decided to go early and check out the Contemporary Crafts Market held at the Santa Monica Civic. Lots of very cool art and crafts to gaze at. Quite a few of my Santa Barbara craft friends were selling there, too and got to visit a little bit. I actually sold at this show when it first started 20 years ago! I was selling my handwoven and handpainted silks and jewelry back then....before kids!

After picking up Jason I zoomed over to 83 year old rug hooker, Jane Olson's house to pick up a brand new "state of the art" fabric cutter" by Townsend Industries. This time I got a #7 blade which is a little bit smaller than the #8 that I've been using. My old cutter has been acting strangely and after trying this new one out this morning, I am Hooked! It cuts 4 strips at a time and is so smooth....pricey, but, hey, I'm worth it! ( taken from those stupid hair coloring commercials)...anyway, posting a photo in case you are interested....

Hedgehog Dreams....

Here is a little 8"x8" hooked hedgehog piece that I made recently. I will show the before and after photos....I felt like the first one didn't show up the hedgehog enough...so I "ripped" out the hooking and made another hedgie...this time I added lots of "quills" by hooking in black yarn and strands of burlap to give it a " 3 D "affect. The hedgehog is in the forest thinking of mushrooms and acorns and looking for a friend. He is only part way into the picture...don't know why I didn't draw a "whole" hedgehog...it's just the way it turned out.

more houses....

I think I am done making little houses for while! These are ready to go off to cindy for A&S. I put some heavy paper inside the house so the eyelet would stay put. Then some cool yarn from Japan for hanging and off they go.

Fun in Santa Monica...Main Street...

Elephant now made into a pillow....

Had to drive to Los Angeles (100 miles one way) to take my son to the airport and decided to make it a fun trip for myself too. Haven't been to Santa Monica in a while so made a stop and spent the morning roaming around Main Street. Some stores didn't open until 11 am so I just did some window shopping and went into the ones that were open. Some fun things and great windows were to be found...possible birthday presents for the artgirls. Had a great lunch just before leaving at Angelo's (I think that's right). Some of the stores I visited: Homeworks, Framm & Co., Ten Women (a artist co-op) , Bertini Shoes, (just looked), Ritual Adornments (beads), Dwell, and a few more...couldn't find any fabric stores or much with art supplies, but still worth checking out if you are in the area. I am a tea drinker so couldn't resist this china container for my teabags....and some fun soap, too....all on Sale!

Naughty cat, Matilija poppies, and wildflowers...

For some odd reason, cats are particularly attracted to anything "rug hooked"....and Tiger is no exception. I have various rugs in the house but the only ones that he messes with are the hooked ones. When I am in the process of hooking a rug I usually put it on the floor so I can see what it looks like from a distance. This is when Tiger goes to work. He attacks the piece and does that funny hind leg kicking that cats do. I just have to be patient with him...if I try and take it away I will either do damage to the hooking or get a few bites....so I just wait until he is done with his "rug attack"....in the photo he is attacking some hearts that I was working on last night. I tend to give myself little deadlines...like, "you must finish that heart you started last week before you can go to sleep." The idea with the hearts is to try and make a hooked heart garland..with maybe 5 stuffed hearts...will see how it goes...2 more hearts to hook.

On my beach walk today I spotted a solitary dolphin cruising along really close to the shore...like 10-15 yards out...no waves, so it came in really close.....I always feel like its a "lucky day" when I get to see a wild creature like that.....they usually travel in pods so that was kind of unusual.

And today I spotted these wonderful Matilija poppies by the post office! The bees were going crazy! And some sweet wildflowers that are on the side of the road on my way home...

By the way, if you know of any other blogging rug hookers, let me know! Would love to see what others are up to.

Little Elephant

Almost finished with the elephant piece....might hook one more row of blue around the edge...then make it into a pillow.

Mailbox Happiness!

Look at this wonderful fiber heart Charm Bracelet that Gail (runnergurl) from Washington sent me! I love all the different sizes and shapes of the hearts and all the little beads and it even has my name on it! WOW! Thank you so Much, Gail ....I'm feeling Loved!