The Things I DO...

...for my husband! Today is his birthday and he submitted a request for his favorite: carrot cake. So, I checked with my boyfriend (which is what my hub calls "google") and found a new recipe. Supposed to be the very BEST carrot cake recipe EVER. We'll see about that. I just finished shredding 6 cups - yeah, 6 CUPS! - of carrots. My hand looks like I glazed it with orange acrylic! Sigh.... but I suppose he's worth it... :o)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LOVE!!!!

FABulous Fabric Finds

On Fiber Art Traders a coupla weeks ago, we had a fun members/vendors sale week. We each posted anything we had for sale, which was fine enough. The really great part was when the vendors posted links to their shops as well as any FAT discount! Boy, I had never been to almost all of those places, and I'm really glad I have now. Talk about eye candy.

I made a purchase of lutradur (FINALLY!), since UK Kathy has teased me long ENOUGH about her fantastic use of the stuff, and a few fabrics from Material Girls in Michigan. I gotta tell you, Barb's fabs are really REALLY nice! I loved how they looked in the pix in her shop. But once I got to see them in my own face and touch them, I was SO glad I didn't listen to the evil plastic guard who resides in my wallet!

For instance, the copper fabric doesn't look brocade-like at all in the pic, so I thought it was a cool-looking copper-colored batik kinda piece. I should tell you here that I am a complete copper nut! But then when my package arrived, I had GOOSEbumps when I saw the pattern on this stuff. OMG, it is GORgeous!

The two Kaufman swirlies are, as usual, completely yummy, as all Kaufman fabs are. But again, I thought the pics looked like the swirlies were bigger. In actuality, they're a lot smaller and I LOVE them even more.

And even though I wanna wrap myself up in that copper piece, I think I gotta go with the Aussie Aboriginal fab as my fave. Once again, the pattern is smaller than thought. It is SOOOO cool!! I don't know what I'm gonna make out of it, or how I'm gonna get the courage to take a rotary cutter to it, but man, it is WONNNNNNNNderful!

Thanks for such fantastic fabrics, Barb - I'll keep an eyeball on your shop! And the rest of you, check it out if you're looking for some top-quality stash additions. Oh, and especially if you like African pieces - she has some of the most beautiful prints of African women in her shop. And a really cute African animals one that I debated on. Now I wish I had bought it. I guess I'll have to watch for the evil plastic guard taking a nap...

REAL Portable Pressing Boards

I got to the end of my rope when I needed to press something this morning (making art, of course, I don't press all of our clothes). I have one of those so-called "portable" pressing boards. Problem is, it's, like, 18" x 24". So NOT portable, if you ask me. I mean, if I wanna fuse something to a post-card sized piece, I SURE as hayll don't wanna get up, draaaaaaaag it out, scootch my chair back, balance it on my lap whilst attempting to hold and iron this tiny piece! Cuz I can guaranfreakintee you, I'm gonna burn myself! SO, there it was, the end of my rope. Time to stop what I was doing and remedy the situation.

I had these birch boards already cut to 12" square. I WAS gonna paint on 'em, but since we live in a place so filled with humidity, it wrecks everything not ziplocked with silica pouches four different ways, they warped all to spit.

Aaaaaanywho, I used those, covered them with 2 layers of cotton batting and cotton fabric. Six long glue sticks later, they're finito! They are SOOOOOOOO great to work with! OMG, I could kick myself for not making these sooner. They slide nicely into my side workbench next to me and the best part is, I don't have to futz with 'em while fusing. Yay for ME! (And, it's about damn time!)

Krazee Kritters

I was on Crazy Art Girl's blog (it might have been an old one??) last night and she mentioned an idea of doing something new each day. Whether it's trying a new technique, or using a new material, it doesn't matter. Just do one new thing each day. And I've had a few projects going for a while and something new sounded great to me! I mean, sometimes ya don't wanna start another month-long project, but you need a break from what you're currently doing. So that's what we did today.

We woke up, the kiddos and I, and wanted to paint. What to paint, what to paint. We went round and round, looked at some new books, then settled on these. We've been drawing "monsters", "critters", whatEVER you wanna call 'em for months now. But since we're getting more and more into dolls, we thought we'd make our creations into something we could hold.

SO... we worked on some basic drawings for a bit. Then I took those and traced them onto white sateen cotton and we painted them. WHAT FUN!! This cotton is a DREAM to paint on! The paint goes on so creamy and opaque. We were happily surprised at how nice they came out! I stitched mine and Chloe's (lavender cat) with a vivid variegated rainbow sulky thread, which looks REALLY great, even though you can't tell. Then, Denny chose copper metallic sulky for his red guy. Again, looks fab.

I then layered 'em with a back, two layers of fleece and a bit of fiberfill. Although I never quite got back to getting my current projects a wee bit closer to completion, this was a really fun break!

Get the Flock Outta Here!

(aka "For The Birds" ATC trade on Fiber Art Traders)

W.O.W. I got the BEST ATCs in the mail this and last week! As shown above, in order, are ATCs received from Kathy (with an extra ATC and a piece of mystery paper - kinda feels like lutradur, but maybe not), Wanda, Linda, Leilani & Charmion. Charmion also enclosed some extra fibers, which are gonna get used as soon as I finish up my current projects. They are SO pretty, in browns and blues. (And kinda freaky that she sent these colors, because I was just telling Kathy that I'd like to work more with brown combos. It's fate, I tell ya!) Then the bottom pic is of the COOLEST 2-mile long string/thread that Charmion also sent. I mean, it's COOL! It's an aqua iridescent color which I know you can't pick up from the pics, but hey, I tried) and feels like flat fishing line. Wanda, one of the most talented quilting artists, knew what it was, and I'm gonna go and see if I can pick some up tomorrow. I'm dying to make some abstract stuff with it!!

A million thanks go out to everyone who traded with me! Your talent will be forever treasured!! I have to tell you that Linda was inspired by Counting Crows' song 'Mr. Jones', which coincidentally, is one of my favorite songs. Don't cha love it?! And Leilani's owl - is it not the sweetest thing?! I wish you could feel the texture in her piece! Kahty, who never ceases to amaze me, made her little water hunter by FREEHAND machine embroidery! Sheesh! I wish I could learn how to do that, but I'm afraid mine would look more like a coughed-up hairball (which is also why I cannot needle-felt. sigh.....). It probably didn't take Wanda very long to perfect her creations (that's a compliment, Wanda!), but let me tell ya - it's GORgeous in person! The paint and threads on the brown base are really great - and the different stitches around the edge really finish it off. Love it! And how could ANYone resist Charmion's "Birdies On Board" nest?! Not me! It's SO cute in person - I wish the pictures could do these art pieces justice.

Honestly, the imagination on FAT is really growing! If you haven't checked us out yet, you should. I always squeal with delight (sad, maybe, but I DO!) when I see some familiar names signed up to trade with me on FAT! THANKS, GIRLS!!

Garbage Anyone?

I'm a recycler. I don't usually USE things and turn them into useable things. I just place them into our newfangled recycle bin for the garbaggio guy to take. But then I happened upon a technique and I am LOVING it. Turning those plastic grocery bags into art.

Yeah, I hear you loud and clear. You don't need to scream: "WHY ARE YOU STILL USING THOSE THINGS?!?!" Right? Well, FYI, I don't still get them. Ok, except for earlier this week when I zipped off to the store and realized my fabric grocery bags were still in the Exploder, which my hub took to work. However, I have a zillion of these things out in the loft because I saved them and saved them. We have garage sales every year, sometimes a few different ones, so we were always using and reusing them. But from now on, I'm afraid people are gonna have to bring their OWN dang bags to our g-sale, cuz I'm using mine on cool stuff!

Aaaaaanyhoo, I made the above wallet (front, back and front opened up views) with plastic bags, paint, and a LOTTA fun! I'm revamping the process a bit and am really loving them! I'm almost done with a little purse for my 5YO princess. I'll post that once it's done.

In the meantime, Enjoy your day and feel it love you back!! Someone said that to me last week and I LOVED the way it made me feel! :o)

100 Days Brighter

So my 5YO girly came home with this crown the other day (they're forever making crowns in school to celebrate special days, which I love, cuz then we wear them around all the time and feel like the Queens we ARE! LOL!). They celebrated the 100th day of school. It made me stop and think for a minute and wonder if I, too, was a hundred days brighter. I am proud to say that YES, I definitely AM a hundred days brighter!

I hope that you all, even if you're officially finished with school, are also a hundred days brighter. Treat yourself well and never EVER stop learning! Read, check things out from the library, take fun classes, do things with friends and family - whatever it takes. Just keep that brain growing and you'll always benefit from it.

I find this to be especially true during this bad economy (yeah, I'm tired of hearing about it every day, too, but I'm proving a point here). I mean, how much more depressed would we all feel without our art and our constant "yearn to learn"? I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty freaked out. I find solace in creating. In trying new techniques. In receiving trades in the mailbox that otherwise holds WAY too many bills.

Speech is over - now go get brighter!! :o)

Cat Bird

We're at the tail end of another fun trade on Fiber Art Traders. This one's called "For The Birds" (as in "this weather is for the birds!"). I'm always impressed with the creativity of our members in these trades, as pictures posted run the gamut when it comes to birds.

I'm really getting more and more into painting and don't quite feel the same if a busy day goes by that I was unable to get into my art room. So I had a lotta fun painting my Cat Birds. Tweet! Tweet! Meooooowwwww!

Milestone Madness

We have a birthday party to go to tonight and I'm excited about it! My hub's aunt turns 50, so her hub and kids are throwing her a big party. The fun part is what I made for her - these 4 fridge magnets. No, not to be mean. In fact, I bet they'll be one of the few positive gifts she'll get (you know how everyone just LOVES to poke fun at the women getting older!). I think she'll like 'em. I might even put some into my Etsy shop....

...please excuse what looks like defects in the color. It's glare because these puppies are so shiny. They're solid black.

Hard to Let Go

I woke up to a beautiful day, full of sunshine and MELTING SNOW! Yippee! I made some chai tea, then stumbled over to the 'puter to check my email. What's that? I sold something in my Etsy shop? COOL!

Well, I didn't realize how much selling my original work would mean to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful I sold something. And I've sold a few other pieces. But my heart felt a bit less elated than my bank account as I looked at the message, informing me that "Crooked Man Blank Journal" would soon be on its way to the West Coast. This piece has been one of my faves since completion. It's also inspired me to paint more houses, which, surprising to me, is one of my favorite subjects.

So I will gingerly wrap it up and ship it out promptly on Monday. And instead of mourning the loss of a piece of my heart, I will rejoice in the feeling that my art - that the art I made - connected with another human being. Off to console myself with acrylic paint...

Love Grows

Boy, is it COLD outside! I think we got spoiled by a few "above zero" days and now we're paying for it AGAIN. I know I shouldn't complain, as we haven't had any power problems like so many continue to struggle with. I sure wish Spring would quit her dilly-dallying and get her butt HERE!

Not much else to do but stay inside and make art. Too bad, so sad. :o) NOT! So today I have another mixed media piece to show. It's maybe 5 X 7 inches. It's hard to see all of the texture, so I'm gonna try to get some better pix. But for now... Enjoy! :o)

xo debmarie xo

Maternal Privilege

Sharing a new piece with you that I'm very happy with. It's a mixed media piece of paper, transparency, inks, cello, wire, and thread. It was one of those projects where you began going in one direction and then all of a sudden your brain screams, "WAIT! Look at this! Can u see what I'm seeing?!" And it does a 360 on you. I love those moments! I'm working on another piece that's in this same vein.

I hope you're all enjoying a wonderful day. We actually have sunshine and a teensy weensy bit of warmth - it's 25 outside now and supposed to get to 40 this weekend! Wow! Pretty sad that we're excited about that... will Spring EVER get here?? ....sigh......

Stupor Bowl Sunday

Welcome to Stupor Bowl Sunday! I must admit, I couldn't care less about football, Super Bowl or not. And yes, even when the Packers make it. Now, snacks are a whole other story! We're headin' over to my hub's cousin's for the tradition party shortly and I am bringing my first attempt at caramel corn. Not too bad. Hubby says it's really good, but that I should probably make some more soon "just to be sure I know how to make it". Whatever....

Have a fanTAStic evening! Now where did we put those 3-D glasses.....?

House in the Country

Ok, maybe not your average house in the country, but this one's more my speed. :o) I love Dr. Seuss - I could read his books and watch his cartoons over and over!

I painted it on another barn block, which is about 6" square and 1.5" thick.

Building Buildings

Here are a coupla works in progress. The house is on a block of rescued barn wood I cut up into chunx last summer. And the city is on birch plywood. BTW, if you wanna work on birch plywood, GET THE 1/2" STUFF! Avoid the 1/4" at all costs. Yeah, it's cheaper, but it warps, no matter the size. Maybe it's because we have lotsa humidity here in southern Wisconsin, but jeez, it's bad. 'Specially the larger pieces.

Now, the blox of wood are fanTAStic to work on. After I chunked it up, I planed the fronts and left the sides and backs alone, so they look nice and rustic. I like them alot!