Ring, ring...!

Visiting my parents (yes, I am) means a couple of things
 - lots of food, and lots of talk :)

I need to start working on illustrating the book

I'm supposed to be working on,

but I'm also itching to work with fabric.

I found a few shards of really cute material and

 can't wait to make something out of them. 

And I definitely need to make more of these!

Funky fabric rings are calling out to me!

While The Babies Sleep

 Four little babies fell asleep

Then their friend came and woke them up

This inspired Mommy to wake up too.

And see red.

And gold.

And oval seemed like a good way to go.

Ready to party?

Minty Green Butterflies

What happens when you mix blue with yellow,

or actually, greeny-yellow?

Minty green, of course!

The NanoBot had her fingers in the making of this,

but that was the best part. 

I love 'cooking' with her!

I found this playdough recipe at mini-eco here.

(can you believe those yummy natural colors???)

We wanted blue playdough, but didn't have any red cabbage left,

(chop some and pour boiling water over it,

and you get an intense blue dye

-also thanks to mini-eco.  You MUST check out this fabulous blog)

so I improvised with drink crystals

(which we only use for coloring stuff - haven't tasted them yet :))

The drink crystals were a lovely blue,

but the recipe calls for cooking oil,

and I only had olive oil.

That's where the blue+greeny yellow part happened.

The resulting color was a gorgeous icy green - so cool!

The butterfly pic was taken as daylight was just fading,

and shows the color accurately.

We made lots more butterflies, then put the cookie cutter away.

These pics were taken in yellow light.

I made a bunny face, and the LittleOne made some monsters.

This was the color of the drink crystals

(no idea what flavor that is - I just picked it up for its hue!)

It made for a good lesson in color mixing!

Color, and a prayer

It's white, white outside, so I made me some color...

A funky fabric bag

To go with some funky fabric jewelry

Bring on the snow...

Although, with the storm we had a couple days ago, 

and the snow swirling around us,

I couldn't help thinking how incredibly fortunate

we are to have a roof over our heads

 and every comfort to cater to our every need. 

I couldn't help thinking of the many who are without a home,

 without warmth, without even food. 

Inconceivable, but so real for so many. 

Like I said to the Little One,

the least we can do is pray for such people,

pray for their comfort and safety. 

But that is not the least we should do. 

We all have the capacity to help, and there are

many small ways to do so, both locally and online.

We do food banks and blood donations

(DaddyBoy goes every other month),

and each year instead of doing birthday parties

we sponsor a child in the LittleOne's name,

but I also hope to volunteer at a soup kitchen

with her when she's a little older.

 

Until then, there are so many other small ways to pitch in.

May the cold not be too cold for anyone...

Purple

Purple is an-between color, and it's both calm and passionate.  I'm only recently learning to embrace purple, and in this cuff bracelet I have harmonized it with it's two cousins - red and blue.


The result is very intense, and quite stunning!

Books and the Brocante

I've been struggling with getting the illustrations done for the latest book I'm working on - a cute story about two sisters who find a beautiful necklace, and their quest to find the rightful owner.  They're pretty much all done, except for the cover, but I have a few days for that.  Some pics soon...

Meanwhile, here's what I've been working on alongside - these will be at the Brocante Lux this Friday...I'm excited about how the cuffs turned out, and they look really cool on the wrist, all encrusted with roses and beads and sequins. 

Very quick pics...so they don't show the whole cuff, and I've got them wrapped around an old bottle from IKEA : )

The roses are less orangey and more deep pink,

but somehow it doesn't look that way...

I made a brooch with this same base - see the last picture!

And a few simple earrings...



Looking forward to the show!



Strawberry Dreams

Hand-felted, hand-dyed bag

embellished with a crochet flower

and yummy pink buttons.

Coming with me to
BrocanteLux 
and
The Glenridge Artisan Show