Using up my Remnants and RAKs

Are you getting tired of all my Art Gallery Fabric sewing posts yet? I promise, I'm done... well... there are a few 1x1 and 2x2 pieces that might make it onto card but I'm more of less done. This pillow is made up of the final bits of fabric I had left from the lovely fat quarters I got. 

I was sewing them into a single piece - seemed easier to store that way - and Brayden commented that it would make a nice pillow front. Smart kid that one. So some dental floss, fabric covered button making, stabbed fingers and a few swear words later I had a pillow I'm really proud of. 

My sweetie came home late last night and promptly fell asleep on it so I guess it makes the cut.

And where did I rest of the fabric go? I went a little scarf crazy. Okay, a lot scarf crazy. I'm doing this Pay it Forward thing in 2011 and I thought some of my cold-climate compadres might like warmer necks. 

Pretty.

Flat Iron Cozy

Flat Iron Holder

Slide it in the sleeve

Tuck in the cord

Do up the button

Managing my flat iron was driving me crazy. It didn't come with a heat proof sleeve so I inevitably left it on the counter... for days on end. *blush*

This works fine at home but isn't so great for travel because getting ready is pretty much the last thing you do before you leave and you end up having to pack a 400 degree iron. Eek. 

We went to the gym on Sunday and I made-do with a wash cloth wrapped around the hot iron and secured with a hair elastic. Not pretty, but I didn't burn a hole through my swim cap either. 

It was just the catalyst I needed to make something better. This project was my first brush with Insul-brite  the cool stuff that lines pot holders and oven mitts to make them heat proof and I have to say it's pretty awesome. And I used some more of the gorgeous Art Gallery Fabric my sweetie bought me. Yay!

I still need to improve my skills beyond those on par with The Grinch but I'm getting there. And my counter looks so much better without being cluttered up with my iron.

Art Journal Every Day... er...Most Days

I've been slacking a bit on AJED as my days have been hard, packed and painful. One thing I've definitely noticed is how much more effort is required to AJ if you put your stuff away. It's a major change from having it accessible and out in the open. But the house is so much neater... what's a creative girl to do?

This page is a sort of personal melt down, rant, valve-opening-to-let-the-pressure-off piece. I wasn't trying to be pretty or eloquent or trendy. Just trying to get through a rough patch without a body count.

I'm really enjoying starting out with painted pages. It's weird as the color scheme is pre-set but it certainly beats the pressure of a blank page. I specifically picked a clashy, chaotic, angry color mix in my journal. I think the color and gashes express my thoughts as much as the words do.

Balzer Designs

Cake #2 - 52 Cakes

There's nothing quite like chocolate cake.

 I decided to make it extra delicious by filling my Chocolate Beet Cake with chocolate ganache

 and topping it with dark chocolate mocha frosting.

Wow. I think I love this challenge :-)

Art Gallery Fabric Scarf

I just love Art Gallery Fabrics and my sweetie bought me the most wonderful gift, a selection of their fat quarters. I wanted to make something with them that I would use all the time and remember how loved I am and what a great guy I'm married to. So I made a scarf.

Grey flannel was the perfect neutral, soft backing:

Here it is in action:

I could really use some prayers. I've been struggling with bone pain again - nasty bone-cutting surgeons - and it's pretty tough to deal with. Not sure I can just run (literally) away from the pain like I've been doing the last while. Thanks so much.

52 Cakes: Cake Number 1

We decided we are going to make 52 cakes in 2011 after seeing all the gorgeous desserts my friend Darcy made. Since it's been a busy week we started off with one of our previously blogged favorites, Snickerdoodle Cake. 

I had... well... lots of unskilled labor helping me out on this one, so without further ado ~

ROFLMBO

Here's how it looks normally:

Hope your weekend is as sweet and as filled with love as our cake.

January Calendar Page Progress: AJED

Today I started my January Art Journal Calendar. 

Here's where it's at, half done but making me happy :-)

First I drew out the grid and border with a waterproof Micron pen. My favorite spacing is the width of my ruler - no need to overcomplicate things. Sorry, I didn't photograph this step.

Next I quickly swiped wide stripes of watercolor across the page and flicked lots of water across the wet paint to make splatters. This step took less then two minutes. Crazy!

Since I'm impatient I dried it with my heat gun.

In December I bought a bushel of Idea-ology Nostalgic Tissue Tape by Tim Holtz and tried it here, hoping the slightly transparent tape would let some of the blue and green show through.

Just rip and stick - this stuff is AWESOME!

Hmmm... I like it, but it looks like a map!

Here's a close-up of the cool tape:

Next, I labeled the days of the week with my five dollar, bare bones, Dymo label maker.

And finally, I gessoed the cells to make them stand out and easier to journal on. I just switched to Dick Blick gesso and it's more transparent (less coverage) then the Liquitex or Golden brand gessoes. I love this as I get the benefits of a lighter area for text while keeping the background color. It really seems to unify my pages better.

That's all the time I had time for - and even this was spread out in two and five minute increments all day.

Tomorrow I plan to add "JANUARY" to the space at the top, number the days of the month, journal the 1st-6th and hopefully add an image... ideally something scandalous.