Happy New Year!!!!!!

Hello folks, this will be the last post for this year soooooo........
Happy New Year to all of you, thank you for all your kind and warm comments. Best wishes to all of you and be blessed for all the time to come.
Remember to look at what you have and not at what you do not have! There is always something to feel blessed about!
Love you guys......
Andrea.



On the picture in this post are some hearts that I made yesterday with a paper making kit I bought at Walmart..lol. Just wanted to try it. They smell fruity because there is some fruit tea
( unused) that was soaked with the paper first. The paper making kit is actually for kids, I used the blender to speed things up a little. The paper molds that come with it are the actual fun. The kit is fairly inexpensive , it was worth the try.
Take care everybody, stay healthy and save,
God bless you all and God bless America!

I am addicted to playing......

It's almost Christmas...yahoo!!!!
Hi there people, I hope that today finds you all well!
I am addicted to playing with my stuff. Really can not pass a day without at least doing something.
So, yesterday I challenged myself into using up things that were left overs from other projects. Now..the camera died..for sure this time..I am hoping...maybe this Christmas a new one??????
So, I had to put this sort of three dimensional piece into the scanner...what fun.
What you see here is: a cut up piece of a curtain, recycled lace, the angels are what I call a reversed paper cast, the background is an recycled silk blouse, cut up cotton blouse ( the flowers), a left over paper fabric heart, left over polymer clay cameo, the metal in the flowers are from a second hand store bought belt and a left over purple three dimensional flower that's mod podged....pfff..what a list. I might have to ad some hand embroidery but have not really decided what, so will wait till it comes to me.
I have to say that I was surprised that all of this could fit into this quiltie ( is that a word?).
The red thingy in the first picture, seems to be a piece of my sweater that I used to cover up the scanner with, since it would not close the whole way.
Then I found out that the recycled lace does not only have a mind of its own when you sew it on, it does not really like its picture taken either. Anyway, folks did my best to make it work, hope it works for you too..lol.
Since this will be my last post before Christmas.....
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Thanks for your support!
Wishing you the best Christmas ever.....
Andrea.

Award!!!!

..."This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY -nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers, who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I have been given an award...yahoo!!
Sooo, honored! Thanks so much Melinda! (http://melindasfabricfancies.blogspot.com )
Now I have to get busy and award eight more people. Is blogging not fun?
You even get awards...never thought of that.
I am going to celebrate...more coffee and maybe some chocolate?
Thanks so much and...I am lost for words here...guess I will just shut up and saver the moment.
Have to admit that I do not really know how it works to award somebody else but are going to try and do my best. If any of you people read this and think I did it wrong, please leave a comment or mail to tell me what I have to do different..ok?
I am not sure how to get links in here, but here is the list of the people that I think should be awarded with this award too.
Elizabeth :http://elizabethcreates.blogspot.com, this lady has become a friend of mine and shares a lot with us on her blog. She is very talented and such a kind person. There is now way I could not award her.
Martha has been very supportive and you should check out her talent on her blog. I call her my friend too and hope she does not mind! http://m-is-for-martha.blogspot.com
Anna is such a talented person, can only be jealous of her..lol. She is very generous in sharing her ideas. She deserves to be awarded too. ( gosh... people I really hope I am doing this awarding thing right!) :http://annanowicki.blogspot.com
Patricia is a very sharing person with a big warm heart. I really like her work and the warm way she writes, here you go Patricia...here is one for you! : http://theunfinishedflower.typepad.com
Linda and Rosie are very supportive warm and sharing two ladies. They really try to help people to expand the borders that they are working in. Love their blog..check them out at this address: http://bigartadventure.blogspot.com.
Annette is very talented and shares a lot of her stuff with you. I think I never really contacted her, but I have been visiting her blog many a times. Think she deserves this award. You can find her here :http://goannafive.blogspot.com.
For now those are the ones that I have chosen. There is three more to go I know and I will pick those in the next two days...Its hard who to choose..really!
I will have to leave you with this in great gratitude for all the blessings that I have been given.
Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas, be save and healthy, to you and yours!
With love,
Andrea.

Polymer clay and tortured felt.

Hello people,
Spent my time baking yesterday. No, not baking cookies but polymer clay with some of my own made molds. Used a piece of wood from our construction site (studio in progress), tortured felt , acrylic paint. The faces are from a bought mold. That's it for today..sorry not that much time. Talk to you later...remember, think of what you have and not of what you do not have and brighten your day...go and create...
Andrea.

Work in progress...

Hello people...
Just scanned some work in progress, remember the fabric book/journal?
Well worked in it some yesterday and wanted to share that with you. The top picture is what I did with the cover on the front...needs some more embellishment I think.
I found that watercolor paper stitches like a dream and goes nicely on fabric. I also found that melting commercial felt..really smells bad..but is such fun. Just so you know..I am not into wicka.
Sometimes I do day dream about being able to do magic and..well that's another story..lol.
What do you think...these pages are not finished yet.....so I will keep you posted.
For anybody who is interested..its freaking cold here and more snow on its way. Good weather to stay inside and work..create. so I am of and do some more work.
Have a wonderful day...remember think of what you have and not of what you do not have....and brighten your day, go and create!
Andrea.

Inchie box...

Good morning people.
I hope this day finds you well.
Again, I want to thank everybody for their supportive and kind comments, you guys make my day!
Today I included something that I had to try. it was a tutorial that I found on;http://bitze.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/inchie-ornament-tutorial, by Patty Szymkowicz. You really have to check out her blog, its awesome. The link to her blog is in my blogs I follow.
Its about inches( little boxes actually). I have to admit that I cheated, my box was already made but i did not know what to do with. It was painted but not embellished. When I saw this tutorial, I could not help myself. So here it is.. my box. oooh and it is not a inchie..its a little bigger..lol.
Well wanted to share this with you for now. Might be back later today, have to shovel snow first. that stuff just kept falling out of the sky yesterday like it was for free..lol.
If I do not make it back today...have a wonderful day and remember..look at what you have and not at what you do not have! This way we will remember how blessed we are!
Andrea.

Blogging time!

Hello people, time for some blogging!
Wish to thank all these wonderful people that mailed me and or left comments on my blog, thank you...I am honored!
Hoop your are all doing well and are getting into the Christmas spirit. If you are having trouble with that,check out the following address that I copied, maybe that will help! http://www.metacafe.com/w/yt-7hN-4gqlLrc/
( highlight it and then copy it into the search bar)
Ok, the following pictures are of a Christmas 'quicky', commercial felt, Christmas fabric left overs and some funky stitching. Was thinking of putting little bells in the trees as ornaments,what you think? Hoop to spark some ideas here! Let me know...if it does..lol.




The wall hanging on the top here was made for the lady that bought my horses. We have become very close friends and I wanted to make her something like a medicine horse. This is the design I came up with. Do you like it, I hope she will! The background fabric is more red then the picture shows. The Christmas 'quicky does not have white in it, somehow my camera decided it does. Whatever I tried, it stuck with that decision. Hoping for a new cam for Christmas..lol...keep hinting hubby! So the pictures are not the greatest, still wanted to share with you people.
Everybody have a great wonderful day...remember to think of what you have, not of what you do not have..and your day seems to be so much brighter !
With love and gratitude,
Andrea.

Hello people, little thingy today. Sorry not that much time today. The above picture is made of photo gloss paper, gesso, inks,paint, paper and stamps....What do you think of it?
It still needs to be framed, will have to find the perfect frame for it or make one.
Hoop you are all having a great day...talk to you soon, take care..
Andrea.

Hello folks.
First of all...thank you for all the wonderful and great comments...I feel honored.

Today I am going to bombard you with some pictures of some of my previous work.
The pictures bellow are from a quilt that I designed myself and then thru trial and error composed into this work. The leaves around the edge are silk leaves bought in a store. Everything is free motion stitched after it was fused. And as you probably already know my pictures are really not the greatest..sorry!





The idea was to make the viewer ask himself what she was doing there....do you know?


The next one has some borrowed and own designed drawings, stamps and painting.
The quilt is whole cloth, tea dyed stamped, painted,drawn,painted again and permanent markers are used as well.














And yes, the back is a yellow satin. Not the best choice for backing....still do not know why I did that and how I pulled this of. Now the quilting is done from a free Celtic pattern download. I blew the pattern up in the printing program,then printed it as a poster( 4pages) and cut and pasted those(paste=tape). I copied the pattern on tracing paper and stitched thru it.
Well people, keeping it short for today...have great one..and go and create...

Andrea.

Good morning people. I hope you all had a good day yesterday and a even better one today. If not, I am sorry, maybe I can cheer you up with some pictures of a new started project. I hope this way I can get the creative juices flowing...I know that that's something that always gives me a boost. For the ones that did have a great day and started this day great as well...ok...you can tag along for the ride..lol.
Last weekend hubby and I went to Pocatello( that's about 25 minutes south from here). I had just received my 50% of coupon from Jo-anns. Needless to say, it needed to be "used". Decided on a book called 'Fabric Art Journals' by Pam Sussman.
Its something new for me, since the word journals associate for me with a lot of personal writing. Something some of you might have noticed, not always my strongest point. But ok, back to the book....ITS COOL!! I like it the more I read it and I did read it already three times.
I must share with you the fact that I have never been to any class whatsoever and have thought myself by reading and research on the net. I started three years ago That's why I am soooooo great full to all of you out there that share their tutorials and blogs. This blog is meant to give something back and help people that are like me and want to fly on their own for whatever reason they have.
Ooh yeah back to the book...lol.
Started on the cover of my 'dreaming' book. I am into mythical creatures like fairies and wizards and unicorns. Uhem..yes..its the inner child in me I guess.
Wanted to share with what I was up to yesterday.....







The pictures did not end up on following order...guess who gave me trouble..yep, the cam...gonna drown it one day in the bathtub. Then hubby will have to buy a new one that actually WORKS for me also..lol. Above you see commercial fabric, its on the back side of one of the inner pages that I started. There is some spirals that need to be 'plucked' out and redone, that's what you get when you move the fabric faster then the machine. Sometimes you need to check the tension too. Me, I was just speeding along and now I will have to pay the price..lol Did I mention I am not the most patient person in the world?
Top here is some hand dyed silk with wax resist, its on the inside of the cover.
Here is the outside of the cover. Want to remind you..nothing is even close to finished yet. The fabric is commercial.
Hand dyed and wax resist silk with paper cast.

The paper cast wizard comes from a stamp from 'Stamps Happen'.I think he looks cool. He was colored with water colored pencils,paint and markers. Remember if you put mod podge on your stamps(thin it up with a little water),your cast will stay in one piece if it gets a little wet.
Now I have a wizard on a page floating in the middle of nowhere. Well I will keep you posted what planet he will land on...That's it for today folks. As always, if you have any questions mail me or make a comment and I will answer..promise!
What ever your doing today, have a great one and remember create!
Andrea.

Hearts....

As always, any questions about how to make these, email me.

the one above was where the cam started rebelling again..sorry..

Christmas day is spent at my sister in law's house. We do some presents exchange there.
Wanted to come up this time with something different for name labels. When visiting a blog called http://theunfinishedflower.typepad.com/, by Patricia. A idea hit me. Check out her blog and the beautiful things she makes!
I made heart tags. Here are some pictures of them. As always...battled the camera for some viewable pictures. Hope these are good enough for you to enjoy and maybe inspire.
Take care...go and create...
Andrea.

In my thoughts and....

Hello people!
With everything going going on in the economy, it was hard not to think of all these people that have lost jobs and or their homes. It did hit us here in Idaho too, it took some time but it did. One of our close by biggest employers is laying of about 80% of their employees. Just could not bring myself to put up Christmas ornaments in the house. We do have the yard lit up,but it just does not feel like Christmas.
Now the snow has come and that always lights up my spirit some.
To anyone out there that reads this and that is going thru a difficult time right now..MY HEART GOES OUT TO YOU AND YOU ARE IN MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS!!!!

Good morning people,I guess its time for an update. Took lots of pictures of some of the latest projects. (Noo...the studio is not finished yet,but very close to it.)
Ok, I will show you some pictures of projects made with paper fabric and some projects done with paper casting.
Paper fabric ( fabric paper?) is where you glue thin fabric and paper and pieces if scrap fabric,yarn etc, anything that's flat between another thin piece of fabric. I like to use sheers on the top and sometimes tulle.
As a glue for this I use Elmers all purpose, that gets thinned up with water so it will spread easier and soak in well. They are stitched on wool felt that I found in a second hand store.
Painting the edges of the pieces on top ads more dimension to it I think.
The "batting " is Timtex, you will need a stiff interfacing or something like Timtex. Layering the fabric paper(or paper fabric..lol) and the embellishment will make it need the support.

Paper casting...
I just love the way color came out on this one.
This should make something interesting in a journal or altered book.
The top one of these two has Mod Podge on it, that's why its glossy.

Paper casting can be done in many different ways, I like to use the less messy and cheapest one(only logical right!). Toilet paper spread in separate pieces over your cast, stating with 2 layers.
Once you put those on your lets say rubber stamp(that's what I used for the ones in the pictures),
you take a paint brush that's not to sturdy and tap water on the toilet paper,making sure you tap in into every detail. Note!! Tap do not rub or wipe, toilet paper does not like to be abused and will tear. Ad another layer still using a little bit of water to direct the paper where you want it to go, tapping it. Then ad at least two more layers(or more if you want). Let dry and peel of carefully and voila, you made a paper cast. While drying you could ad some paint or ink on the back, or ink up you stamp before putting the paper on. The ink will run but that will just ad more dimension to it. Go ahead and try it, find something in your house that could be used as a cast and have a go at it! Let me know how it turned out.
The two stockings on the quilts were made with fabric paper, and painted and embellished with sequin, beads and paint. Well go and have fun and take care!

Good morning everyone! Hope you are having or going to have a great day.
Meet Joyce..she is a very happy spirit and even when it is a chilly day, she just puts on her head band and her wool vest and smiles!
Yes..I know the pictures seem to be different in color. If you have read my previous blogs, you know that the camera and me are not the best of friends on certain moments. Can you believe that these pictures were taken on the some time at the same place, all I changed was turning Joyce around so she could show of her pretty fabric and vest.
Between you and me...I think that one time that my hubby and I were in Yellowstone and he dropped the camera, did not do the thing any good. It got literally dropped on its head..and this is what became of it...I am sure of that..lol.
Thinking about doing a class on these dolls...these are such fun to make. It is a thrill to give them there own personalities. Well people give me some input here and again have a wonderful day!
Take care,
Andrea.