World Market Intersecting Circles DIY

You might have seen Jodi Fuch's Collective at World market or Z-Gallerie. It's a beauty, isn't it?

If you follow Lindsey, she had an awesome tutorial for how to DIY your own "Collective." Her directions were excellent so I won't try to recreate them and take credit. The only thing I would add to her directions is that you want to select a circle the fits your dimensions of your canvas perfectly. So, if you have a 16 x 16 canvas, you want a 4" circle. I chose a 15 x 30 canvas and used a circle that was just shy of 3". Make sure to chose a circle circumference that will divide evenly into both the width and length measurements (i.e., 3 goes into both 15 and 30 evenly). You can tell my circle was just a tad too small because my points don't match up. Live and learn. If I do it again, I know what not to do. See how my centers of my circles don't meet in points? But I like mine nonetheless.

Here is my almost finished canvas. I would have posted a finished one but I'm still contemplating whether I should leave it unfinished or use black in the unfinished spots. The original piece of art by Jodi Fuchs isn't finished either. What do you think I should do?

Color Inspiration

Do you know about Design Seeds? I stumbled upon Jessica's site one day when I was looking at colors for my blog's redesign. Now, I go to this site often for inspiration. I was thinking of painting my daughter's room so I've been looking at her color charts for inspiration. There's almost too much color inspiration if that is possible. Here's a few of the hundreds of swatches she has posted on her site.

The above inspires my own color palette for my necklaces!

Lime green, Lt. purple, and Dark purple from my shop.

And the below were the colors that inspired my blog!

Embroidered Towels

My friend just finished her basement and she has a new, beautiful kitchen. I decided to embroider some towels for her as a birthday gift. I had purchased the iron-on images some time ago.

I've decided that iron-on transfers are the only way to go. There are some adorable embroidery patterns out there but most all of them require you to use those ink transfer sheets. No matter how hard I press, I CANNOT get the image to transfer over well enough for me to see the image. I end up making some of it up as I go and it isn't pretty. Yup, I'm sold on the iron-ons!

I love this time of year!

I love all the holiday decor around our house! With everything so festive, it makes me want to bake and spend time with my family.

Craigslist Find

I purchased two old 50's style desks on Craigslist. The desks were dirt cheap and in a bit of bad shape. I almost questioned whether I wanted to take the task on but now I'm glad I did. I'm pleasantly surprised by the outcome and the kids LOVE their new desks. First I sanded and primed the desks on a drop cloth in the basement.



I then painted about three coats on the desks. And here they are!

Cherry Blossoms

MiniMe's last room had an incredible striped wall that took me forever to paint. I knew I wouldn't have the energy to attempt that task again so for her new room I had to come up with an idea that would please her just the same. Oh how she loved that striped wall. I found this incredible tree decal on Etsy.

I have a special place in my heart for cherry blossoms. My used to live in DC and every spring she cherished the blooming of the blossoms. The day before she died, she had her picture taken in front of the cherry blossom trees in the Potomac Basin by Jefferson Memorial. After she passed away, I developed the film and saw the picture of her with her beloved cherry blossom trees. At our last house, B planted a cherry tree in our backyard in memory of my mom. That was probably the one piece of our house that was hard for me to leave, but he promises me we'll plant one here.

Anyway, Sunday was the 20 year anniversary of my mom's death. It was a hard anniversary for me. As I was posting this decal on MiniMe's wall, I had a good cry and thought a lot about my mom. At that point in time I wasn't thinking of this tree as a cherry blossom tree but just a pink tree I was hanging. Then I looked at the directions more closely and saw that it was designated as a "cherry blossom tree." The irony hit me about how I was hanging a cherry blossom tree in my daughter's room and thinking about my mom whose very last picture take was with these trees. It gave me comfort and I could feel my mom's warmth in that idea somehow.

Butterflies

I found these cute butterfly tacks at Target. MiniMe loves her new butterfly wall.

Handmade Holidays

I FINALLY found a frame for my embroidered flowers! I embroideed the flowers for my grandma as her Christmas present. I think (hope!) she will like them. My great fear is that the frame will break en route. Please no, please no.

Makeshift Mudroom

I have spent a lot of time staring at this entryway furniture from my Pottery Barn catalog. Everytime the catalog comes in, I've looked at the picture and wondered where I could make such a set up work in our house. We don't have a mudroom. Once I figured an area where it could work, I got real and thought about cost. I couldn't justify spending $550 (plus $60 S&H)--not including cushion and baskets. But then I came across this unpainted pine version at Target. At the time of my purchase, Target offered an additional 15% off total purchase and free shipping. I spent $255! I then spent $25 on paint and $23 for fabric/cushion. I got the baskets at Michael's at 50% off. I saved $260 and think the end result is pretty cute.

New Chair for Sewing Table!

So, do you recall my refinished sewing table? If not, read the background here and here. It never came to mind that I'd need a chair for my table. Duh! I was able to find this white beauty! Now here is my next question. Should I paint the chair same color as the table, paint it a totally different color (granny apple green, chocolate), or leave it alone? I have enough paint from the table, that seems the most obvious choice but I'm unsure. What would you do?

Embroidered Towel

Since I took up reading this book, I've been inspired to embroider a towel. Here is my progress on this little lady. She's cute. I used to have a Holly Hobby bedspread. I so loved HH. This takes me back....

Fabric Art-Done!

I finished my Fabric Art project. For background, read here and here. It turned out to be much easier than I thought. I had some issues but they were all staplegun-related. If you are considering this project, have no fear! It was pretty easy.

Fabric Art, Part 2

I worked on my fabric canvas art this weekend. I had purchased five 10 x 10" canvases. I decided that I need to purchase four more because the five get lost on my large wall. See how puny just three look (I know these are off center but that is where the nails of my old art are still)?



I'm going to copy the 3 x 3 pattern listed in the article. More when I finish!

Fabric as Art

I most recently found the answer to my art dilemma in the Summer 2009 issue of Quilts and More. I have been searching for a piece of art for behind our headboard. Since the tornado, I have a fear of putting a heavy mirror behind our heads. Plus, our kids will occasionally mess around on the bed. Leaving it bare is boring! But then I found this!



Here is the fabric I've selected--an array of blues and greens.



And the 10 x 10 art canvases I found on sale at Jo-Ann's.



I'll show you a picture of the finished project. I hope it is as easy as the article makes it sound.

Crochet Fun

I haven't crocheted in a long time. But I've been drawn to all of the flowers I'm seeing on various blogs. We have a bedroom in our basement that I'd love to make a pillow cover or two for. Here are the colors of the duvet cover:

So, B and I had a date night Friday and had some time to kill before the movie and went to Barnes and Noble. I purchased Crochet Motifs.





I've been playing around and made a few circles. It is great and mindless fun!

My Creative Space

Since my creative space is clean, I am happy to participate in kootoyoo's creative space posting. The above is a view from the doorway. I have a sewing table but this tall table and stool are working until my table is back in action. I like to listen to Pandora on my computer. The white clear bins are where I keep my felted purse patterns and mailing supplies for Stripes-N-PolkaDots, my felted pattern company. The jars on the bottom shelf are where I keep my ribbons and brooches for my purses.



Here are my shelves. I have a lot of sewing and knitting books that I'm sure you recognize. I also store all of my Interweave and Quilting magazines here. I store all of my buttons in the green ceramic holder. MiniMe made me that picture in the white frame using her little fingers and paint. And of course, my sweet dolls are sitting on the shelf waiting for someone to give them a home from my Etsy shop.



And here are my shelves for some of my stash (both fabric and knitting) as well as wrapping paper, paper supplies, stamping stuff, felting supplies, stuff for doll-making, and all of my other miscellaneous crafty stuff (glue, glitter, spools of thread, embroidery stuff, tape, inks, beads, etc.) My cutting table is usually smack dab in the center of the room. And my son usually pulls out all of the skeins of yarn that he can reach. The room is more often a disaster but that is when I'm productive! I love this room because it is ajacent to the play room in our basement. MiniMe and MiniB play away while I sew or cut fabric. I never feel too far away from them.