California State Fair

I had a chance to visit the California State Fair this week.

Just wanted to share some of the beautiful colors that I experienced.

I only wish I could have stayed longer but it was so hot it really wiped me out in just a few hours.

Hope the colors and images give you some creative inspiration too.

Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone

Tomorrow I will be stepping out of my comfort zone and for the first time I will be participating in an open studio. A very nice fellow artist invited me last month but I wasn't able to go. She extended the invitation again to me this month and I said yes.

I am now feeling a little nervous, my art is pretty much all over the place. I paint, I draw, I sew, I create quilts and dolls but I do it for myself and what pleases me. My training has been a little fashion design, interior design, a few art classes here and there, but I'm mostly self taught and I always work alone. I kind of go into my own world. I'm hoping I will fit in with a community of other artists.

The materials I've chosen to work with are my textiles and fabric paints on plain white cotton broadcloth. Next to watercolor painting it's my favorite portable medium to work with. We will be working on a collaborative project to be put together and shown in October. I am equally excited and anxious at the same time.

TGIT Thank God It's Tuesday--A Finished Project

Again I've discovered that when I'm without my computer I tend to be so much more productive. During my computer down time I've found time to not only get some sewing done but to get some painting done too.

I've been wanting to create something using the same colors that are in my quilt. My quilt has an old fashioned kind of elegance but when I started to paint I wanted to keep it simple so I went back to basics. I remembered some of the thumbnail drawings we had to do in my last art class. We had to come up with a number of compositions using different sized spheres and show how light and shadow affected them.

The three paintings all have a look of planets in outer space and I am very happy with the way they turned out.

Happy Birthday To Maya

This month was my granddaughter Maya's 5th birthday. Birthday parties today are very different than when I was growing up and from when I was raising my sons. I experienced my first little girl's makeover party at a place in Los Gatos, California called Razzberry Lips. Maya's 13 little guests were given the choice to become princesses or rock stars. Surprisingly, the most popular choice was rock star.

I watched a team of the most creative, patient young women apply nail polish, glitter, eye shadow, lip gloss, hair extensions, tiaras or microphones to 13 excited kids. When everyone was finished, the team led them in a variety of games including a dance party, a pretend rock concert and a fashion show.

This is Maya's rock star look. She really got into character

This is my other beautiful granddaughter Relena who
who just turned 9 this month too.

I love both of my little rock stars. I am so blessed to have them in my life.

A Finished Project

The beginning of a beautiful quilt. My favorite colors, lots of satiny red ribbon and an exotic cotton print.

I am still nursing a sick computer. Hopefully, this month I will resolve my computer problems one way or another. Anyway, I have used my time wisely and have been able to finish a lot of my art and craft projects and have explored some new ones. I've also had the time to get out and followed my second love, taking photographs. I will try to get some posting done over the next few weeks by begging, borrowing and camping onto whatever computer I can get to.

Above is one of my ribbon quilts that I had time to finish. I have been in a decidedly "red mood" this month as you will see in some of the other finished projects I will be posting.

TGIW??? Thank God It's Wednesday???

I am having computer problems again, so I am once again cut off from the world. I'm using someone else's computer today to catch up on some work I needed to get done. I don't have access to my files and photos so this is a very boring post.

I have put it off long enough. It's time to get another computer. I could take mine in and get it serviced again but it would be the third time. I've been saving money so that I could take a small vacation in September but now I'm thinking, I'd rather have a new computer. I've been dreaming of getting away from Sacramento and getting somewhere close to the ocean or taking a train trip across country to take photos. But I use my computer everyday for so many things. It's like my key to the outside world. Big decision, big decision.

For now, I will be on limited access to my sites and other computer stuff for awhile until I get mine fixed or replaced. Will miss you all.

Happy 4th Of July!!!

Happy 4th Of July To Us All!!

TGIT Thank God It's Tuesday!

Another week is over. I can't believe that half the year is almost gone. This has been one of the most unusual years for weather in California that I've ever been through. It's June 27th, a week away from the 4th of July and it's cold and raining. They are expecting snow fall in the mountains today too. The ski resorts are having a great year, they will be open this year for 4th of July snow skiing.
This time a week ago it was 101 degrees outside and we were all trying to get out of the heat. We had tornado warnings an thunder storms all spring up until three weeks ago. One of my favorite things to do is to watch the sky and the changing weather patterns. These are some of the pictures I took this morning before it started to rain.

I had the opportunity to talk to an astronomy/geology specialist in Starbuck's several weeks ago. She explained that our unusual weather patterns are affecting the whole country as well as the planet in general. She said that this is a permanent change because our planet is now tilted. I know that I must have looked at her in disbelief because I had not heard that before. Later, my son Googled "tilted planet" and found articles on two of the more devastating earthquakes we've had in the last several months in Japan and Chile. The whole Japanese Continent shifted 8 feet in different direction after the earthquake which literally tilted the axis of the earth.

My son jokingly said that maybe now we are getting Washington state's weather. That's something to think about.

TGIT Thank God It's Tuesday

I'm so glad to be posting again. Last week I had computer problems again. I'm so in need of something new. I'm working on it.

This week I'm back to being a doll maker. I am going to try staggering my craft project types instead of trying to do multiple project types in a week. Sometimes my creative spirit is all over the place. I get so many ideas at the same time and I want to start them immediately. I've decided to treat myself as though I am a team. I have 10 minute morning meetings with myself where I do project planning for the day and for the week. I take notes and everything. I'm going to try to "curb my enthusiasm" and focus on completing projects. New ideas will be written in my craft journal in detail and will be started with other similar and compatible projects in their designated week.

Let's see if I get more accomplished with this plan.

This week my "plan" is to finish some of my poor naked, bald headed dolls that I started weeks and weeks ago. The two 'ladies' above are Charlotte and Samantha. They are so excited to finally be designed, styled and dressed. I'm kind of excited too, I'm looking forward to getting the girls ready for the world.

Finished Project: My First Male Doll

Well, he's finally finished, my first male doll. It was a little harder than I thought'

There are different details you have to pay attention to in order to give a doll a 'masculine' look. He did tell me his name is not Keannu but Jeff. He looks a little like my son's best friend's little brother.

The challenge for me was designing clothes for him that weren't feminine and and giving him hair and facial details that were masculine. Girl dolls are a lot easier.

I will definitely do more male dolls. I have a request from a friend to do a doll of here son.

Finished Project

I've been having computer issues again so I haven't been able update my blog but I'm up again.

This is one of this week's finished projects. I'm still working on products to sell in my booth. this is the fourth purse I've done from the same design. I love the bold print in black and shades of blue, green and turquoise. I accented it with sequins in the same colors.

The Wiz

I had a relaxing finish to a hectic week. I decided to allow myself to go into 'veg-out mode'. No crafts, no art, no home based business this evening

As I was changing the channels on my TV I found a movie I haven't seen in years, "The Wiz". I remembered watching it many years ago with my sons when they were kids.

Tonight, it was the perfect fantasy escape movie. It was so good for my creative spirit to see the great costumes and hear the music. The most special thing was to see the beautiful Miss Lena Horne, who played Glinda the Good Witch sing "Believe In Yourself". It was a much needed inspirational message.

Finished Project

It's been a really busy week. I finally finished re-designing and changing my booth at The Market Place and I'm very happy with the new look. It now has a boutique look rather than a mini gallery. With this new concept I'm able to feature and sell a wider variety of my crafts as well as my art and of course, my dolls. I'll share pictures with you later this week.





My finished project this week is one of the items that I will be selling. I needed to put together something really quick that went along with my new concept but looked beautiful and would appeal to my customers. I created this really simple design for a summer purse and chose three bold fabrics to create them in and big whimsical buttons to compliment them. I also made some soft exotic printed scarves that go well with the purses.

This one is an earthy batik print in shades of latte and chocolate brown. The scarf is a sheer Asian print in turquoise and taupe.

This print reminds me of a pretty French watercolor painting.

This is my favorite one. It is a bold graphic floral print in red, yellow and black and the scarf is a red and black Indian sari pattern. All of the purses are plushy quilted cotton, lined with a coordinating cotton print, have an inside pocket and are completely washable. They are 'The Perfect Little Summer Bag' to carry your sunglasses, cell phone, keys, a bottle of water and all of your summer essentials. I will also be featuring them on Etsy. I made them and I want this purse myself.

Thank God It's Tuesday!

Another week ends, another week begins. I didn't have a chance to take pictures for this post. Last week was moving week for my retail space. It took about 2-1/2 days to break down my booth, move it and set it up again. Like housecleaning it gave me a chance to 'purge' and eliminate some of the things I've been trying to sell for almost a year. Some of my artwork is a little edgy and now that my dolls are the 'stars' of my space I made the decision to re-design my 'image' and give it a softer, friendlier look.

This coming weekend, The Market Place in Rancho Cordova California where I work is hosting an Arts and Crafts Faire in our parking lot and The Second Saturday Art Walk inside of our store. I'm working on some new pieces of my own to get ready to display and sell. The key word for me this week is "focus, focus, focus". I have five new items finished already, they were in earlier reveals on this blog site and my goal is to finish five to seven more pieces by Friday. I promise to share them here with you, lots of pictures coming soon plus pictures of my booth. It's almost 9:15 am here, so I'm off and running.

Finished Project

Just wanted to share my latest completed project in textile art. This was an experiment in batiking but instead of using traditional wax or gutta resist I used Elmer's Washable Gel School Glue. It was a little tricky at first. I think the first bottle of gel glue that I used was old and it made it hard to squeeze it out of the bottle.

On this pillow I used a sun stencil and applied the glue by dabbing it in the stencil opening on the white fabric. I dried it with a hair dryer and then measured off the center frame with a ruler and air soluble ink. I free-handed the border with red fabric paint and dried it with the hair dryer. I set the dye by ironing it with a dry iron and then painted over the red border with gel glue. I again dried the glue with the hair dryer and then painted the whole pillow cover with a sponge brush and black fabric paint. I dried it again with the hair dryer until just dry enough to pick up. I ironed it again with a hot dry iron and then put it into the dryer for 30 minutes to 'cure'.

I hand washed the piece in mild soap and warm water to remove the excess dye and the glue. It took a little soaking and scrubbing to get all of the glue out and rinsed it well. The fabric was firmer but still soft. I Ironed the wet fabric to dry it. I was anxious to see the finished piece.

This pillow pattern I kept a little more simple. All of the white areas were just covered with gel glue and left to dry. I painted all of the orange areas first. I randomly painted orange blotches in the border. when the orange dye was dry, I covered the orange blotches in the border with gel glue and let it dry. The last step was to paint the remaining areas with red dye and let it dry also. I heat set the dye with the iron again and then repeated the finishing steps above.