I'm Sewing It

Recently I have been inspired by several of the hand sewn little felt plushies I've been seeing on the Internet.

 On a recent visit to San Francisco I went to the Japanese bookstore and treated myself to the most wonderful book of little plushie patterns. These little animals are so cute! I have been wanting to create not just one, but several.

I have been sucked in by these little cuties created by others and am anxious to find a little free time to create some of my own! I have decided to share a little of what I have found with you! I am creating a blog list so you too can admire and perhaps join me in this little creative endeavor! 

To begin the journey, I would like to send you to Creative Breathing , where you will find the sweetest little felt choir boy tutorial and the pattern~ which is available to print.! 

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There are some really cute patterns to delight you at LucyKate Crafts. I have seen at least two or three projects I would like to attempt there. There are several free tutorials there that would be great to start with. 

One real sweet pattern featured is this adorable holiday tree plushie:

but....... If you like pigs, you have to try this little sweetheart:

 

There is a free printable pattern there for you. 

Why stop at one? 

What would it look like to have one little piggy in every color! 

I have seen some really cute dolls available. Such little lovelies at  Gingermelon Dolls. 

There you will see some little hugables!

Get out your needles, there are a few tutorials found here so you too can create your own special friend!

If ornaments are your thing, you can join the party at Fellow Creatives and have a Felt a palooza and create a dozen of fabulous little treasures. There you will find a PDF to download and make dozens of felt ornaments!

  

And now for something very sweet and special,  You must visit Erica who is also a lover of little felt creatures. There at her blog she has special cute dollies for the very young.

She has the most wonderful blog, and even has some patterns available to recreate some of the gorgeous little darlings she has created.

 

 A colorful garland made with birds and owls strung together with trad and beads!

This week I did manage to cut out and a felt project. I took this one to girl scouts this week. I did manage to complete one mitten, but I believe that I gave the other side away. This is a sweet pattern that can be created very quickly and it is so much fun.

I enlarged the pattern slightly so it would be easy for younger girls to sew, however you can also reduce the size and create  smaller ones, in dozen of colors. This one can be stuffed with other little treats, too! I could not resist and created a heart to sew on the top! Find the pattern here. I had so much fun learning blanket stitch for this, I can hardly wait to cut out more shapes and continue this wonderful creative process!

 

I hope you join me! If you can please send me a link to your post project, 

I will be so delighted to see what you create!

What a Wonderful World

This is such a wonderful time to be alive, there are so many beautiful things and comforts around us to enjoy.
For this Pink Saturday, dedicated to giving thanks, I share with you the beauty that I appreciate and enjoy all year long. A beauty that leads to creativity and is truly inspirational.
I am so grateful that I live in an area of the world that allows me the freedom to choose my path, wherever it may lead to- every day of this life. Along that path there are beautiful sights to behold.
Please join me on this path and enter a neighborhood garden with me.

This garden is so very close to my home. What a joy to visit it as the birds sing of joy as they enter this magnificent garden.

I am so grateful to visit this space, it is a place of beauty and a true blessing to be able to enjoy it in the month of November!

 It inspires me to be more creative and to work a plan to have a beautiful blooming garden of my own.

The roses in this garden are so beautiful. The scent of these flowers permeate the air with their intoxicating perfume.

This space is so beautiful with the various colors of roses and other flowering plants. Their beauty is such a treasure. The birds are inspired by it, as you can hear by the enchanting melody of their songs.

This garden was created to be enjoyed both day and into the evening.

Imagine sitting around the fire at night with your loved ones among the stars above and

 statues that decorate this garden.

Imagine sitting at the pond in reflection among the coy swimming under the lily pads.

Be ready to select a handful of blooms to take as a memory to flower, seed and plant again for pleasure and enjoyment.

I give praise and thanks for the bounty of being a part of this wonderful community and hope that you were also inspired by this trip in this magnificent desert, that blossoms like the rose!

Please join Beverly at How Sweet The Sound with Sarah and others as we spend this Pink Saturday with Giving Thanks.

 Please leave a comment on how wonderful world is where you are , I would love to read them!

And There is More

Once I got started on those wonderful ornaments, I wanted to continue creating and that, I did.

One of my wonderful friends, who happened to come over to the house, saw the garland and was so complimentary towards the work, she was quite interested to make the ornaments into gift tags. 

What a wonderful idea! I had to make at least one to share, so I began with by cutting out the templates. They can be downloaded from the Creations from Adela site

So I cut out a handful of ornaments!

To give them a little depth and dimension, 

I added a little ink around the edges with two colors of ink applied with brush. 

A light and a dark shade of blue was selected.

With the shading complete, a few embellishments were created to apply to the ornament.

 One more finished ornament to add to a pretty gift wrapped package or onto the garland!

There are so many wonderful templates to chose from Adela, that I had a hard time picking just one, so I selected a digital stamp to use to make a card, called Ho Ho Ho.

This cute guy was colored with pencils and blended with mineral spirits, cut out and glued onto a paper punched and sewn embellished card. The little snowflakes shine and sparkle with a little Stickles applied to them. A sharp sewing machine needle threaded with a complimentary color of thread was used to attach the background papers to the card. What fun this was to make!

I hope that you, may be inspired to create some fun holiday projects, too. Please leave me a comment to share any  holiday projects that you have created with me! I would love to see them!

Holiday Blog Hop

Creating for the holidays not only creates fabulous cards, decorations or party favors it also creates great joy. Crafting for the holidays and participating in the Paper Craft Planet AR Customer Blog Hop  is no exception. While visiting some wonderful blogs I see many banners and garlands and have always wanted to create one for my home. Adela creates the most wonderful templates, so I thought there would be something wonderful to start with. And there was...her Ornaments cutting file are brilliant.

The three different shaped ornaments are a perfect size for decorating and displaying a festive message.

I copied the PDF and cut them out by hand, it was so easy! Next came the decorating! A little ink, some stamps and glitter and you have created a wonderful decoration!

The paper used had wonderful snowflakes printed on it and they are so beautiful when glittered up to make the ornaments shine!

The finished  ornaments were hung one by one on a handmade fringed crepe paper streamer giving the garland a festive look. And your ready to hang to make that special space a little festivity!

Thank you for visiting during the Creations by AR Customer Blog Hop(http://www.creationsbyar.com/)
Customer Blog Hop will begin at 6:00 AM Eastern Time on Saturday, November 17. There are nine blog participants waiting to inspire you with their Creations by AR template projects. You are invited to hop and leave some love (comments) along the way. One randomly chosen commenter will receive a CbyAR gift certificate. Comments will remain open until midnight (Eastern Time) on Monday, November 21 with the winner being announced the following afternoon on the CbyAR FB page and on my blog. if you haven't visited the other participants find them here:

Here is the complete Blog Hop list:
Lisa http://craftingwithprincesslisa.blogspot.com/
Debbie http://www.atimetostamp.com/
Lyn http://lynspaperpetunia.blogspot.com/
Mary http://handmadeheartfelt.wordpress.com/
Diana http://kreativfenster.blogspot.com/
Carolyn http://www.grandmacarol46580.blogspot.com/
Raissa http://www.raissastamps.com 
Rhonda http://bluepoohbear753.blogspot.com/
Gigi http://sunshinelollipopsandbutterflies.blogspot.com/
Once you are don hopping, please visit the Creations by AR Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Creations-by-AR/154314751303824
Have fun and Happy hopping!

Creative Inspiration

Autumn is a wonderful  time of year here in Arizona.     There is beauty to be found everywhere you look.   

The blue of the sky, the green of the winter grass coming in and the beautiful birds with their enchanting melodies that come south for the winter. 

 

It's also fun to get away from the city and pack up the car  and take a drive into the mountains and enjoy the beauties of the high desert. Enjoying the scenic views  abundant with Aspen trees and Ponderosa Pines.

There is so much beauty in the high desert, from the beautiful foliage along the road to the majestic silhouette of the San Francisco Peaks. If you look carefully along the roadside you might find a pair of eyes looking out toward you.

 What you may find along the way are visitors taking the train to view this beautiful setting. 

Once you do get up to the Rim you see a great deal of wild life just grazing the area. 

They come so very close to you it's both enjoyable and spectacular.

 

The are deer and elk are in abundance. You need to pay attention as you drive through the mountains as these animals  wonder into the road frequently and can cause accidents.

There are always birds circling above waiting to drop down for a tasty dinner.

    

 Once you drive beyond 7,000 feet the air really does get chilly, and you can begin to expect to see snow.

 

However the weekend is short and it's time to drive back down the mountain , in fact it doesn't take long to get down the mountains back into the city, where you begin to see again the desert bloom jutting out from under rocks and around trees enjoying the warm sunshine of the desert.

Several weeks ago the wonderful Birgit of Swapping Howdies, wrote about the wonderful festival in October that is held in her part of the world. It was such a wonderful post. She also had a little blog candy to offer her readers. Well, I was so delighted when I was told that I had been selected to receive the fabulous gifts. The gifts arrived here wrapped beautifully , by the amazing Birgit. The collection is so wonderful and I am so delighted with these goodies. They will certainly be useful to keep me organized with the activities I am currently participating in.  Thank you so much Birgit, thank you for sharing your life on your blog as well as offering and delivering such wonderful blog candy! The photographs are from Birgit's blog site, please visit Birgit, if you haven't already, her posts wonderful.

It has been a fabulous Pink Saturday, time spent with friends , time spent with children, time spent doing all those things that are put off during the week. Thank you for spending part of your day with me! To enjoy what others are serving for this Pink Saturday, please visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound and enjoy visiting so many wonderful places on this gorgeous Pink Saturday!

A Little Crafting Going On

Life has been passing by so quickly it seems that the today's are becoming yesterday's and as I cross these days off on the calendar I wonder if there will ever be time again for creativity and crafting. So when the opportunity arises for a creative project to give to others, I immediately seize the opportunity to be a little crafty.

Such an occasion appeared and did I create!

The creations were little birdcages glued onto a clothespin with a magnet on the back, this little piece can hang photos or any important papers the recipients may have onto their refrigerators.
A sample was created first to establish how much time and what supplies would be needed for each piece. 

After the sample was approved, production began! The first step was to die cut all the bird cages. I just adore this die. It's from the Tim Holtz collection. You can find the die at Tim Holtz .

After die cutting the cages,  scrapbook paper was then cut into rectangles and glued to the backs as the substrate for piece.   Next a quotation was selected and printed on 90# white index and punched from a label punch. Afterward this quotation was applied with glue to the front of the bird cage.
The bird and branch punched from Stampin' Up in coordinating paper came next and was then assembled and glued onto the label. Next came the piece of ribbon and flower punched paper. To give a finishing touch Stickles was applied to flower centers and on leaves. After all was glued and in place on the front,  I had a friend help me glue  the clothes pins- clip style, which were painted white, complete with the magnets previously applied to them onto the backs.

 You can see the finished project modelling on my refrigerator.

This project was so much fun and the results were so pleasing. It was enjoyable to hand them out to  friends to commemorate this event, they were so happy and grateful to receive their gift!!

Extraordinary Things

Happy Pink Saturday!
I have been gone for quite some time. Here in the desert summer means high temperatures, so getting out and about and traveling to cooler climates and higher altitudes is a must and this year I was no exception!
In addition to several weekend escapes, I moved into a different home at a moments notice. This has had a tremendous impact on my lifestyle and I have yet to bring over and unpack the stashes of art materials that I have enjoyed using to create the wonderful pieces of art for challenges and swaps that I would so frequently post on this very blog!

Today, however,  I wanted to share the events of the most recent trip that I had taken to visit my sister who lives south of San Francisco, in the magical place known as"Silicon Valley".
The trip was taken to commemorate the visit of 'Abdul-Baha's historic visit to America 100 years ago. It was quite an  incredible visit, the San Francisco events theme was "Celebrating World Peace". It was a wonderful trip celebrated with so many family members and friends.

San Francisco War Memorial Opera House

On the Saturday night of the trip, I took a ferry ride with the children from Pier 39 in San Francisco to Sausalito, California. It was such a beautiful evening. The sail over was fun and the weather was perfect. It was dinner time when we arrived,  so while the others were seeking a bowl of clam chowder to eat, I became captivated by this sign and ran right over to this place to explore this most intriguing space. I immediately walked in the door and was filled with surprise and wonder with what I saw . The room was filled with absolutely gorgeous works of art. The pieces fantastic, colorful and whimsical. My only sadness was that I would not be in town to celebrate the grand opening event of this wonderful place which took place last night!

This  invitation was created for the grand opening event.

Daniel Merriam Art

Want to see more? Go for a visit to Daniel Merriam Art and enjoy the extraordinary works of art on display and be prepared to be amazed! One point before you go, he encourages guests to dress for the occasion, so done your fancy dress and take a trip over, you will enjoy it!

What a wonderful Pink Saturday! Beverly has so many wonderful friends who participate in Pink Saturday it's a pleasure to be one of them. Please enjoy more Pink Saturday with Beverly at How Sweet The Sound.
I made me happy to visit many of the friend's blogs on Pink Saturday even when I was unable to put together a post. It's such a joy to visit so many wonderful friend's and share in their lives. Please take a moment and share your thoughts, I would love to hear from you!
Enjoy this glorious day! Happy Pink Saturday!

Polka Dot Bonnets

 Polka dots have always been a favorite of mine as far back as I can remember. I adore anything with dots on it. Helga, who is a super talented artist and blogger and entrepreneur and owner of Artchix put together a digi freebie with dots to go with her creative dot tutorial, so I thought I would give dots a try.
The outcome....2 Dreaming of Pink Atc's.

I began with a dictionary text for both backgrounds....and added a white paint wash to both. This first one had a little pink paint added to the wash and when dry some dots were added. I used a pink pen to outline the dots above and a black pen to the dots below. Each ATC was finished with lace and a black outline?

Which background do you prefer? Please leave a comment below, I would love to read what you think!
 I have some collage goodies in Pink to give away, so I will pick one winner from the comments for next weeks Pink Saturday!
There are so many gorgeous Pink Saturday posts to enjoy, please find them at How Sweet The Sound, where Beverly is the wonderful host! Have a beautiful Pink Saturday!

If I Only Had More Time

Time has been passing so quickly,
I couldn't resist having a time out from life to create some timely moos!
I grab a few supplies...
Oh my, I had so many ideas, that I had to take the time to explore each one!
Each one of these Moos were created from my collection of Rubber Stamps, inks, markers and chalk pencils!

This vintage Moo inspired from the Tim Holtz stamp collection.



A cute little retro "Kit Kat" Moo.

This timely Moo was inspired by a Tablet revealed by Abdu'l-Baha which was also set to music by my creative and musical friends friends Eric Dozier and JB Eckl on their Badasht Project II CD.

And lastly always take time to laugh !
It's been fun creating these Moo's and share them with you.The Moo-Mania blog has many more Moo's for you to see, so for more inspiration and fun, please visit Moo-Mania!
Thank you for coming to visit, I would love for you take the time to share a thought with me.

Pink Piggy

I have been altering today, but not the type of project that I normally do with paper, tins, fibers or ribbon.
Today, I have been altering a water bottle, with the girls scouts for recycling day and made it into this sweet little pink piggy!

It was the first opportunity I had to use "Cloud Clay", which was very nice to work with, had a pleasant smell and did not stick to anything but itself! I was told that the best place to purchase it was from Dick Blick.

To make pink we mixed red & white.

To create this fun little piggy grab your supplies: a shortened water bottle, some pick cloud clay, a piece of foil, a rolling pin and two wiggle eyes.

Clear the piece of foil and place the clay in the center and roll out an amount that will wrap around the water bottle completely covering it, make sure the clay is thick enough not to tear.

After the clay is smooth and the body is covered, a small half circle is added an the top of the bottle for the nose, two small ovals are added and bent over for the ears and a little coil was made and attached to the back for the tail! Two small flat circles were made out of clay and the wiggle eyes were set in them and placed onto the front of the pig and four small round balls were made and attached to the bottom on either side of the clay seam and then pressed flat to make the legs allowing the little piggy to stand. The finishing touches were the little white dots scattered on the top of the piggy. And she is complete.

It took the girls about an hour to complete their pigs with minimum help.... Oh it looks like someone didn't quite understand the project!

Pink Saturday is so very special~ Beverly at "How Sweet The Sound"is our host for this very special blog event, so please visit every Saturday and come share the pink in life!

The Wings of Spring

It seems that every minute of the day is packed with so much activity, the day is behind us and the opportunity to be creative is gone.
However, at the very end of last week I took a five minute moo break.
The result?
This touch of nature, moo. The challenge was to create a moo drawing and painting, so a butterfly was drawn and watercolor pencils were used to give it some color.
The result, a small piece of "Nature".
Creating Moos can be quick and they are so much fun.
If you haven't tried to create this size of art, I so recommend to try it.
Please visit Moo-Mania for more wonderful drawing and painting moos, there are some truly delightful artistic moos to enjoy!