a lovely brown paper package

about a week and a half back we got quite possibly the coolest package in the mail.  a complete, out-of-the-blue, absolutely delightful surprise of two books…Bee and Bird and Lots of Dots sent to us by the author Craig Frazier.

we love these books.  Craig’s images are playful and fun, the books are visually amazing and playful. Bee and Bird doesn’t have words, just images that play with the concept of perspective.  it’s lovely and fun and, in my opinion, its striking but spare images stretch the imagination in all the right directions.

this whole thing came about when we did an art project based off the images in Craig’s book Lots of Dots after checking it out at the library.  we used dots stickers to make our own images, here is our project.  I emailed Craig’s studio to share our project with him.  I figured it’s nice for me when I hear of other inspired by my classes or projects, so it’s probably nice for an artist to hear they inspired kids.  I never expected to hear from him! but, he wrote back and asked for our address…then I kind of forgot about it.  until this package arrived!

he even signed the books directly to the boys.  isn’t that sweet?  and he busted out some awesome first letters at the top of the page!   both boys are thrilled.  these are really super special books in our family library now.

C keeps talking about how he would like to be an author-illustrator when he grows up (and a race car driver and a Dad, btw).  it could be the equivalent of my childhood dream to be a princess-President or it could be something more grounded in reality.  who knows?  but getting a surprise paper package like this from someone with his dream grown-up life is, at the very least, a seed of inspiration.  thanks Craig! we are fans for life!

look at this cute little bird and her bee!

 

moving into the sun :: the family art room

last weekend we moved my sewing space from the basement up two flights of stairs into an upstairs bedroom and transformed the room into a family art room.  it’s huge. it is still soaking in for me.  I will be honest, this is a big deal.

now, I have talked a lot about how important it is to make space for creative endeavors.  when you make physical space, you make space in your life…making things becomes easy and accessible and it integrates into your everyday.  I really believe this and I also believe that making things by hand can be life-changing.  so, making space is a big deal.  but our house is small and the basement (you can see the old basement studio here) was the only place I could commandeer.  and, I was honestly ok with that.  in fact, I was thrilled.  it was the first time I’d made room for my creativity in a permanent way.

but the fact is I returned from the makerie with a renewed enthusiasm for making things in a beautiful and inspired space.  amy butler is particularly to blame for my new yearning; her workshop included a slideshow with some stunning photos of her home and studio.  it is so beautiful and she emphasized that the world around her keeps her attuned to inspiration and color ideas and essentially full of life.  amy is undoubtedly a passionate and alive person, it is difficult NOT to catch her enthusiasm and be swept up in it.  she is a woman living with great joy and passion.  it was impossible not to catch some of it.  and, I’m so glad I did.

for my part, teaching and sewing is, after parenting, what I spend much of my time focusing on.  shouldn’t I treat it like that?  the basement just wasn’t cutting it anymore. it was time to move into the sun.

so, I suggested that for mother’s day I might take over the playroom and turn it into a home office for me.  this might sound kind of bad.  steal the kids playroom?  but trust me, it is not bad.  it is actually quite beautiful.

{the old playroom}

the backstory is this: the playroom came to being when the boys decided they wanted to share a room.  so, the extra bedroom became their playroom.  except they never played in it.  or they played in it maybe once a week for an hour or so.  it was definitely underused. we made it as nice as we could and they still weren’t interested.

frankly, they wanted to play near us and that meant toys carefully arranged in the playroom would come bump, bump, bumping down the stairs and spread out all over the kitchen.  it frustrated me so much. “why is this big mess here in the kitchen when you have a whole playroom?”  yet, as soon as I considered using the playroom for my sewing space it became so obvious.  I LOVE that I have two sons so interested in being around their parents that they neglect a room full of toys.  it won’t always be like this.  I suppose soon they will be creating greater and greater distances between themselves and us.

now is the time.

besides, I want to start living my values with the boys.  I want them to see me take myself seriously and bring what I do and what I am passionate about more into their world.  and, then I happened to pick up the book side by side by tsia carson.  tsia believes that parents and children can work side by side on art projects even if they are working on different things….art with children doesn’t have to be centered around completing one project but it can branch out and move in a new, different direction for everyone involved.  her words resonated with me and suddenly the new room transformed into a family art room.  we can make things side by side, of course we can!    I am just getting started arranged the room, it is awfully scrappy looking at this point. but I have moved a lot of the standard kid art supplies up…googly eyes, pipe cleaners, markers, sketch paper, assorted buttons are all accessible to them.  and guess what they hang out there now!  ha!  in the last three days they have worked on two different projects in the family art room…both of their own design.  yesterday, C brought some legos upstairs and worked on a building a fire truck.  the irony is not lost on me that toys are now being brought up the stairs…scoot, scoot, scoot.

{a view of the fabric cabinet with plants (!) and the right hand wall with books and supplies}

it’s funny, I can’t figure out what took me so long! everyone is happier with this arrangement.  especially me.  I can’t help but wonder if it was my husband working from home, would have taken him as long to establish a sunny spot for himself?  I need to keep reminding myself that it’s ok to take up room.  why is that?  for his part, when I suggested I take over the playroom, he was all over the idea.  it seemed so natural to him.  of course I should do that!  It would be great!  my classes are above ground now, it only makes sense that everything else is, too.  between him, amy and tsia…I think I am in good hands.

As I settle in, I will be sharing the decorating and arranging of the room and reporting back on successes and failures.  I’ll let you know how the well the rules about “things that we don’t touch in the art room” are followed.

in the meantime, I’ll be in the sunshine making things!

little linen wallets

on a whim, during a recent trip to the always-inspiring rock paper scissors I picked up the cutest pattern for a little wallet.  it’s from valori wells and the whole pattern fits on a little card called a ‘sewing card‘.  it’s a clever design and a simple project and it has completely sucked me in.  I had no real plans for making little wallets but now I can’t stop. 
these are the first three I made and, trust me, I have made more…I just don’t have pictures of them yet.  these three are made with the lovely hand-printed linen I received in the handprinted fabric swap at maze and vale.  these are made with fabric scraps that lamina from do a bit sent along WITH her fat quarter of handprinted fabric.  the prints are so beautiful and have a lovely quiet but lively style.   the best part is I still have an entire fat quarter of her amazing fabric left to work with!  lucky me.

while making these I was truly contemplating different ways to become a millionaire so that I could work exclusively with lamina’s prints.  her style is bang on…organic prints with a geometric leaning in a stunning repeat.  her color choices pop out at you but not too much and they maintain a wonderful sophistication due to being printed on linen.  it is luxurious.  I’m so happy I got exposure to her work through the fabric swap.  lamina has a great feel for color and she uses bright colors but somehow manages to keep the overall looks so soothing.  It also inspire me to keep hand printing.  nothing beats the look of hand printing, I tell you. 

as for these wallets, they are lined with regular linen and fastened with a cowgirl snaps I got on etsy ages ago (sorry I can’t remember where.).  I kept the grey and pink kitty one for myself and gave the other two as gifts.  

they make great gifts…one of those nice little somethings.  I’m thinking that some of the others I made are going to be great teacher’s gifts at the end of the school year.  probably with a bit of cash inside, teachers deserve a bit of extra cash, ya know.

as an aside, thanks to everyone that entered the sew mama sew giveaway.  you are all so sweet and witty.  it took great willpower to avoid replying to everyone’s comments.  I usually like to do that but I didn’t want to mess with the random number generator by throwing in my own comments.  but, I appreciated each and every comment and was warmed by how many of you thought of others!  then again, that is crafters for you, isn’t it.  we are a good crowd.

the garden state

scoff if you must but new jersey is beautiful right now.  it’s a well-kept secret just how stunning this state can get.  and I don’t mean like Carmela Soprano-on-a-good-night stunning.  I mean, really, truly naturally stunning.

it catches me off-gaurd nearly every year.  I love spring like crazy already but springtime in Jersey is something to see.

 it seems that everything is blooming but especially the boxwoods.  the new growth popping up everywhere makes it impossible to resist…feels like a requirement to sit outside; watch a few bees do their busywork and daydream a little bit.  for us that always means plans.

lots and lots of plan-making…from A NEW HOUSE! to big, huge international travels! right on down to carrots vs. lettuce in the vegetable garden!  most of the plans are just mental wanderings but I love these kinds of conversations so much…where are we going? what exciting things are coming next?

spring seems to bring with it room enough for all of these plans and more.  even if the planning never goes any further than the bottom of my margarita glass.  the ritual of dreaming out loud makes for a happy spring.  I’m hoping you got a little bit of that, too.

 

sew mama sew giveaway!

I have been exceptionally lucky lately.  and, not just in the healthy kids, awesome husband, hilarious friends, grass-in-the-backyard kind of of way.  but, really, unusually lucky…in the past month I have won a sewing machine (yup!), two sewing patterns, and was randomly sent two beautiful picture books…I promise to share more about that later.  It’s raining crazy luck over here.  so, it is high time I give back.

that is why I’m linking up with the wonderful giveaways going on at sew mama sew.  if you are here because you saw me over there, WELCOME!  I’m truly happy you are here.

I’m giving away two wonderful books sure to spark some creative projecting:
1) Cool Girls Quilt : More than 15 Fresh, Fun and Funky Projects by the lovely Linda Lum DeBono
2) Out of the Box : Unleash your Creativity Through Quilts by Mary Lou Weidman.

both book offer colorful, inventive project ideas that go beyond the ordinary, run of the mill quilting.

they are colorful and lively and encouraging.

there are a few different way to enter to win:

1. leave a comment on this post.

2. follow this blog, either on bloglovin’, or by email (add your email to the box on the right) and leave a comment to let me know you did that.

3. follow me on Facebook and let me know in a comment.

each comment will count as one chance.  good luck!

UPDATE: thanks to everyone who entered and are now following, it’s nice to have new friends!

the winner using a random number generator is #79 Jennifer  Thompson! Yay! [sound of crowd cheering].  Jennifer, I will be in touch by email.  Congratulations.

 

covert robin :: winner time!

it’s winner time!  wahoo! yippee! it’s exciting to be announcing the prize winners the covert robin! it was so much fun looking through all of the great projects that were linked up!  everyone made such amazing things for their partners!

without further ado, the lucky winners are…

winner of my creativity pack  is: Nissa of Nissa Made.  Congratulations Nissa!  Rachael will be in touch with you about claiming the prize, I am looking forward to sending it out to you!

the winners of the other co-host prizes are:

winner of a vintage sheet fat quarter pack from Cassie (elegantitus) is: Shannon of Sweet Puddles

winner of a gift certificate from Clara (Clover & Violet) is: Ruth of ruth plus two

winner of a lotta scrap bag from Courtney (mon petit lyons) is: Bobbie of From This to That

winner of a handmade market tote from Jane (buzzmills) is: Wendi of Sew Cat Sew Creations

winner of a fat quarter bundle from Jill (Made with Moxie) is: Samantha of At Home with Mrs. H.

winner of pdf patterns from Karen (Sew Well Maide) is: Melissa of a happy stitch

winner of a gift certificate from Kelley (casa crafty) is: Lilly of Lilly Hillage Urban Textile Art

winner of a creativity pack from Melissa (a happy stitch) is: Nissa of Nissa Made

winner of an embroidery kit from Rachael (imagine gnats) is: Lisa of In The Boon Docks

winner of organic zippers from Stephanie (The Crafty Kitty) is: Kelley of Casa Crafty

~

a huge thank you to everyone who took part in the exchange. I can get a little sappy about these things but I really, really love how it feels to exchange handmade goods. there are so many things out there trying make us cynical and worried and afraid of each other. I like to think that exchanging something you made with your time, your heart and your hand is a little spark of good in the midst of all that. and, just like that we are all winners!

special thanks to the amazing Rachael of imagine gnats for being the bestest hostess! she is just the cleverest.