Industrial Chic

Well, a little bit of industrial chic, and a little bit of shabby-industrial chic...

metal + fabric necklaces...

 

Still vintage, new, repurposed..

Still fabric, lace, cord...

Just ever so slightly edgier...

Also, a quick way to make something when you're in the middle of

a bunch of illustration assignments :)

Featured

I'm sharing page space in Niagara Interiors magazine with some

pretty cool Niagara artists. 

Not sure where they saw my work, but I'm thinking it's from the Brocante Lux exhibition in September.  The editor emailed me for my address and even sent me two copies of the magazine, which was great.

You can see the whole thing online here.

Ahhhhh - DEADLINES!!!!

So I had just submitted my pics for the first of the four books that form a series, when the publisher emailed me yet another book to illustrate - and this one takes precedence over the series, so I have to think about some new characters, and soon!  Meanwhile I still need to keep working on the other books, not to mention a whole different book from some time back that I have not yet finished.  Ahhhh!!!!

Sometimes when I'm faced with too many tasks I just do something else altogether to clear my head and gear up for the work - sort of mentally rolling up my sleeves by just letting my brain rest with a different activity than I'm pressuring it about.

So I made this little piece today while the NanoBot was also painting.  I love the shimmery summer colors in it (it's dark and rainy outside today) and the profusion of white, which is less stark actually than it looks here.

Today I also go to a book club meeting, and I want to make some apple crumble to take with me.  I made some last weekend for a small party and it was a big hit, so I'm gonna fall back on it for today as well!

Now back to work :)

More heart brooches...

Fabric brooches - gifts for some special ladies I'm thinking of...

The first of the five books I'm illustrating is DONE, and I sent it out for the publisher's OK.  I start work on the second one today, at least mentally :)

Meanwhile, these little fabric brooches are wonderful to make,

and I hope will be wonderful to receive!

It's actually way too nice outside to be sitting indoors with anything, though, so I'm not!

Hope you too are enjoying the outdoors this weekend!

Watching the leaves turn

"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn."

- Elizabeth Lawrence

Funky Fabric Jewelry: Heart Brooch

I took a break from my drawing work last night (one book half done - YAY!) and made this Fall-colored fabric brooch. 

The brown and orange-red shades are exactly

what's on the trees right now,

and the beads add more autumn tones. 

 It's a beautiful time of year, for sure!

Making (Dubious) Connections

I suddenly have five books to illustrate.  Yes, FIVE. 

Party!!!...not :)

So to get me warmed up to the task, I must play with something else altogether, of course, hee hee.

This is a lamp post down the street we used to live on. 

Black and white, and one wild color.

Got your creative juices flowing too?



Gypsy Princess

Didn't know what else to call this...

Fall-ing For Gold

Gold - that's the color most evocative of Fall, don't you think? 

Everything is turning amber, honey and caramel - delicious!

Long dangly earrings - all gold upon gold. 

Gold is timeless, but especially perfect for this season.

Hello, Fall!

Life and Learning

Idzie, who writes a thoughtful and illuminating blog about unschooling, was one of the speakers at the Toronto Unschooling Conference this past weekend.  For those who couldn't attend (like myself), she has broken down her speech and is posting it on her blog in installments. 

I just read the first part, and I really like these words of hers:

Unschooling, at its heart, is nothing more complicated or simple than

the realization that life and learning are not two separate things. 

And when you realize that living and learning are inseparable,

it all starts to truly make sense.

There are many reasons why some parents choose to not send their kids to school.  For me, it's less about the cons of institutionalized learning than it is about the pros of learning from real life, and most importantly, playing an active part in that learning - it's so much fun to discover the world along with my LittleOne, why would I not want to be part of this wonderful journey?

Do you homeschool, or unschool, and why? 

Be Jeweled!

UPCOMING SHOWS:
September 17: The Brocante Lux
September 18: The Glenridge Artisan Show
 
Reclaimed fabric scraps + beads + sequins = yummy loveliness...

Fully lined at the back, these earrings are finished on both sides.

Their organic shapes are completely hand-sewn and embellished.

They are ever so slightly different from their pair, and of course,

absolutely one-of-a-kind!

Funky fabric jewelry.

Eid!

I'm always sorry to see Ramadan go, but Eid is a wonderful way to say goodbye to this month of blessings.  It's great to make your own decorations and gifts - handmade rules! - and I wanted something that would do double duty, since I already have two shows in a few days that I need to prepare for as well...

If you remember, some of the beautiful rocks I collected last summer
I turned into this:

It took me a LOT of time!

I had more rocks left over that were so inspiring in their lovely, soft shapes, but I did not have the hours to cover them up in fabric. 
I still wanted to use them for an Eid decoration idea.

So I decoupaged them with used gift tissue (hey, I love the three R's!) and then remembered my white pens, with which I'd had a lot of fun
until I forgot about them.

Remember these?

So this is what I did:

The layers of tissue paper created a wonderful, subtle leathery texture, and the varnish gives them a very lacquered look, with their
deep, deep, shiny, shiny red. 

I'm also making some in my favorite, black and white!

They look great as Eid decorations,
but will also make wonderful gifts, InshaAllah.

If you are celebrating it, have a wonderful Eid!

Colors

Colors always excite me.  I think my favorite thing to say about anything is that it has a juicy color!  The sky, water, a lovely fruit, a piece of silk,

color is an incredible thing to behold. 

I recently got some beautiful Fair Trade felt bags from Nepal that I am working on.  These bags were hand felted and hand dyed by women, and I feel good about supporting them in their livelihood.  They usually sell them with felt embellishments attached to them, but I ordered them plain so that I could finish them up with my own personal touches. 

Here's one.  I stitched up an assymetrical strip of a whole bunch of layered fabrics, and then sewed on trim, beads, sequins, leaves and the rose.  The back is studded with more beads.  A nice little purse for day and night!

The colors in this one are blues and greens with metallics thrown in.  Blue with green is my all-time favorite color combo, and it really tones down the indigo of the felt.

The other bags are in other shades, and I'm working on similarly exciting color layerings on them too!  More pics soon!

Sorry, this one is in yellow light!