HaPPY, hApPy, H@ppY New YEAR BloG PeepS!

The happy film from Karim Zariffa on Vimeo.

Speaking of Green

We saw the new Muppet Movie over the weekend! I LOVE the muppets and when Kermit sings "The Rainbow Connection" I tear up, probably because it makes me think of the incredible talent of Jim Henson -another soul who was ahead of his time and passed much too soon. Some of my friends also know I have always secretly wanted to be a muppet designer.

With happy shades of Kermit on my mind I was inspired to create my own little green world after seeing a photo in a magazine of unique and fun ways to create Holiday centerpieces. I was inspired to create my own ornament terrarium style diorama -sorry, no frogs but I did have other supplies on hand. When I think of other people’s terrariums, I think of clunky, huge, recycled water cooler bottles with the insides sweating and dripping with so much moisture you can’t clearly see the tangle of overgrown plants. Terrariums don’t have to be big and clunky and now there are many more unique varieties of plantings available.  I picked up some clear, glass ornaments at the thrift store originally market $1, but anything Christmas was five items for one dollar, so they were only about 30 cents for the box! The hardest part was finding small succulents and moss for my mini terrariums at the end of December in Anchorage. This a photo link of the kind of moss I was looking for, but no luck. There is plenty of similar moss in my garden, unfortunately it’s now under 2 feet of snow and frozen dormant! I already had some potting soil and fun little HO railroad scale cows for my ornament terrarium that I could use. A funnel made it easy to get the potting soil in the small opening, a wooden skewer helped plant the succulents, pat the soil down and a few clean Q-tips helped to clean the inside of the glass ornament. We'll see how the little orb world will grow with our low winter light.

 

I found some inspiring terrarium art and imagery while reading that terrariums are making a comeback. Garden Design dot com featured Terrarium Ornaments inspired by the work of Paula Hayes that was at the New York Museum of Modern Art and check out these moss placemats using "SuperMoss" that rolls out like wallpaper -ooo the possibilities! The Fern and Mossery also has a Blog on all things terrarium and The New York Times ran an article on “Terrariums Make a Comback.” Check out the work by Michelle Inciarrano and Katy Maslow who now sell their terrariums at a Brooklyn Flea Market under the name Twig Terrariums. Don’t worry, I don’t have yet ANOTHER medium I'm jumping into, it was just fun getting a bit of dirt under my nails during December in Alaska!

xOx

I like this photo I took of Kristen on Christmas eve, working in my studio like one of Santa's elves to finish her handmade gifts to family and friends.

Wishing you the gift of time spent with family and friends!

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

All is well in our corner of the world. I've got the studio staffed so we may spend the weekend eating, celebrating and opening endless Old English Holiday Crackers with family and friends! I picked up two boxes of the fancy party favors that have us all laughing and trying to solve the silly little jokes and riddles inside!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Big Brother Love

For Willie's Christmas present to Gus, Will called and asked if I would make up some big brother coupons. Will wants to spend more time with Gus and their age difference sometimes makes it a bit harder with all of our differing schedules, but these coupons just might do the trick! I used new and old photos of the kids with a list of ideas Will gave me.  Here are just a few of  coupons that I think make a GREAT gift of TIME.

Celebrating Winter Solstice With a Full House

The studio has been in full production and set up an area for Kristen's sewing machine. I've been sewing and packaging the Raven Garden Flags along with working on other fiber art projects!

This Alaskan celebrates the Winter Solstice with joy of finally seeing the 18-plus hours (on Dec. 21, Anchorage sunrise occurs at 10:14 a.m. with sunset following five hours and 27 minutes later at 3:41 p.m.) of darkness wane and having a full house! And true to years past my studio is humming and the family is a buzzing this Holiday week. With Kristen home for the winter break, all of my offspring have been able to gather at our house laughing, eating and squabbling. The familiar sounds of sibling rivalry occurring in adult size bodies are strangely comforting to me. Though probably not as exciting as seeing Daddy-O in his full construction and tool belt regalia as he starts on our “new” old house interior renovations during his winter break! I’ve made room in the studio for Kristen’s sewing machine and have loved the company while I work. Of course we’re fighting over the choice of my music playing vs. her streaming Law and Order or CSI…  nothing a little hot Apple Cider with Captain Morgan’s won’t cure!

This is the new insert for the Raven Garden Flags!
They retail for $28 and have been fun to make while brightening up the studio.

This is the hang tag I designed to be stapled at the top of the new Art Cloth squares. The size is 8.5" tall x 11" wide, horizontal, and gets folded down the middle to a finish size of 4.25" x 11" supporting the 12" x 12" squares flat so the customer can view the entire cloth pattern.

Art Cloth Fun

After purchasing some beautiful 100% cotton Batik fabric from the Quilted Raven, I was inspired to make some 12" x 12" Art Cloth. I've had several requests from loyal customers for Art Cloth panels that they could sew into small art quilts, pillows and wall hangings. What an opportunity for me to fling some paint around the studio! I made a mess, cutting out custom foam shapes, altering my rubber stamp collection and trying various acrylic paints, fabric paint, Jacquard inks, FW Acrylic Artists Inks. After painting, printing and stamping in layers, I heat set all of the cloth. The pieces where I used high intensity glitter paints, I think, turned out the best. I'm working on the custom hang tags now and the panels will be available at the Quilted Raven!

I need to get the studio cleaned up and add an extra table for Kristen's sewing machine. She's coming home tomorrow for the Holiday break and my studio is going to look like Santa's workshop because we're going to be knee deep in team ART MAKING!

One place I forgot to clean up yesterday was the bathroom near my studio where Daddy-O found my large, rubber halibut and other fish molds floating and soaking in the sink when he went to shave this morning! Thankfully he's used to life with an artist!

Personalizing

I ordered some woven labels from “It’s Mine!” to sew to the back of my art quilts. I had been using a fine point sharpie to write the title of the quilt along with my name but wanted to add a more professional touch. Sometimes the sharpie was hard to see against the darker fabrics and feel that these labels, once sewn on, will also last a bit longer with the work. “It’s Mine!” offers a number of different styles and it was hard to choose which style would be the most versatile. Before I ordered I looked through my growing stack of small art quilts and settled on the white stitching on navy, simple, horizontal design. The labels arrived as promised and even earlier than stated! Just in time for a couple of special gift-giving projects I’ve finished. With the large selection of styles and sizes, these labels are also perfect for artisans working in fiber arts, sew in clothing for kids going to day care, camp or for an elder person's belongings in an assisted living facility.

The last couple of weeks I’ve had loyal customers call and request gift certificates for Holiday gift-giving. If customers were not able to find what they wanted at the Gallery, or wanted something specially created, a gift certificate works great. I need to take care and stash the money I receive from the certificates so I’ve not spent it before the work is completed –not so easily done, especially during the Holidays! I purchased some cool paper and larger presentation folders at the office supply store to use for the certificates (printed up in word using a fancy-italic font, Sterling, along with my logo) and added my new gold foil labels for a touch of sparkle. I feel the added touches make for better gift giving instead of just an ordinary white envelope. For a finishing touch, I’m going to tie a lovely sheer purple ribbon around the outside of the folders after the customer views the certificate –and double checks my spelling!

"hiBEARnation" art quilt detail. I had fun free-motion stitching the den grass in gold and brown threads and the ice and snows in aqua and blue threads.

And speaking of finished –the bear in a den quilt is finished. I’m thinking of turning him into a pattern because it was so much fun to make! I enjoyed cutting the swirling browns of the den, the blues and whites of the ice and snow. I was thinking he could even be a brown bear if somebody chose. Oh, and before I forget, here is a wonderful link to some FREE Holiday Gift Tags! “How About Orange” one of my favorite creative Blogs is offering these downloadable and very cool labels for FREE! I was thinking of printing them onto whole sheet label paper and tah-daa they are ready to address and stick on your gifts (you are finished with your shopping-right?)! Here is the link to the cool, FREE GIFT TAGS!

Completed "hiBEARnation" art quilt, 14" x 14".

A Bear Den Kind of Day

After reading the article "Art is in the House" in Cloth Paper Scissors, I was inspired to make some "home" art. I was liking the idea of art making various types of homes like animal dens, cabins, Quinzhee (ice shelters) or other non traditional shelters. 

 Today we are having crazy high winds (from 118 MPH to 58 MPH!), a strong Chinook which made the temps climb into the 40's and 50's. The National Weather Service reported

...HURRICANE FORCE WIND GUSTS AND UNSEASONABLY WARM TEMPERATURES FOR

SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA...

A POWERFUL STORM MADE IT'S WAY OVER SOUTHCENTRAL OVERNIGHT BRINGING WITH IT HURRICANE FORCE WINDS AND WARM TEMPERATURES TO MUCH OF ANCHORAGE AND NORTHWARD."

All of our beautiful, early season snow is now puddles of blowing water. Spruce tree needles and fallen birch branches are littering our yard. I moved away from a large picture window this morning where I was enjoying the Sunday paper and my coffee (actually Daddy-O treated me to a Skinny Latte with a half shot of Caramel(!) before he went skiing -big smooch here). The winds were so strong that an enormous Spruce tree was swaying and bouncing in the wind and the house shook with the strong, early morning gusts. Thankfully everything at the new house is secure and our trees are healthy. It's the neighbor's birch trees I'm a bit worried about... one tree deposited an enormous branch, larger than my car(!) in our side yard. The tree looks a bit rotten... Some people have lost their power, felled trees are across driveways and side roads are ice rinks. If the temps drop we may get a weather day from school tomorrow. I know Gus is keeping his fingers crossed.

Working in my cozy studio, looking out through the rain spattered windows, I could hear the wind howling through the porch pickets. Poor Olive, is curled up tight on the floor right next to me, following me everywhere and the gusts of wind come and go! This weather makes me feel like curling up with a good book and a mug of tea! Which is exactly what I did after making this mini art quilt. I still need to quilt the piece which will make the bear's details stand out. Maybe I will get to do that if we get a weather day tomorrow?! My new book this week is "The Secret of Lost Things" by Sheriday Hay. I treat myself to about a novel a week from the thrift stores or Title Wave Books -and on these stormy days it's my little indulgence to read during the day and not save my reading for night time!