another snowy day

As you can see out the window, we had another snow day. Since I couldn't go anywhere, I took advantage of the time to do some more sewing projects. I'm sending Stacey 4 shopping bags, 2 hats and a bunch of cup sleeves.

I'm hoping that this year won't be like last year with snow every week and no melting in between. I'm tired of shoveling.

Christmas projects

I spent Christmas working on some sewing projects for my friend's shop in Vermont. http://www.inkspots.etsy.com/ I want to use up the piles of fabric that I have had for a while now. Thses 2 fabrics happen to be some of mine and Stacey's favorites. I made a hat to give to her and loved it so much I had to make one for myself. I like that the brim can be folded up in different ways to give different looks.

I'm also planning on some coasters, cofee cup sleeves and maybe some placemats. I want to make things that might normally be disposable to encourage reusing. Lotta Jandotter's book "Simple Sewing" has some great ideas which is where I got the hat pattern.

95% completed

The downstairs bathroom is now my favorite room. Mike and some friends helped with the tile and installing the new fixtures over the past 2 weeks and had it ready for my holiday party last Friday. i love this little boutique bathroom.

pup art update

Tuesday was the opening of our staff art show and the dog paintings were a hit! Everyone loved them and had nothing but good things to say about them. 2 of our big doners, Steve and Reba Savageu also loved them which meant a lot because they are an art dealer and a fine artist respectively.
http://www.savageauart.com/

more pup art

pup art

the staff art show is coming up again and i figured i'd enter something this time. i entered my first year at the library but after seeing the art pieces from other staff members... well i felt that my stuff was more craftsy than artsy. i mean some of them are real artists. so i didn't enter the second year.

this year i figured "what the hey" and painted max and noel. i really like my style of painting and feel inspired by the wieners.

meat toys

Here's my latest quick craft inspired by http://www.sweetmeats.etsy.com/
these two work for the dogs because it's a piece of foam. they would pull the stuffing out of the ham. i'm trying to think of other flat foods to make into chew toys for them. so far i've only come up with toast.

Some folks may pooh-pooh the idea of adults dressing up for Halloween. I can't get enough of it and love any chance to wear a costume. Here's my jellyfish which was a big hit at the parties. The bonus is that afterwards, I have a spiffy new umbrella.

spider eggs

Our traditional party fare done up for Halloween.

bathroom

bathroom
Originally uploaded by paintedfish

we've been keeping busy with remodeling the house this summer. is it remodeling or redecorating? we're still waiting for the stair flooring to come in but we did get baseboards which we'll cut and paint this week. we also picked out tile for this bathroom, the kitchen and a little hallway. the original idea was for all three of these areas to be the same tile and the same wall color (blue). my reasoning was that the hardwood areas are the same sand color, and since you can sorta see everything at once on the first floor, this would tie everything in together.
once at the tile store though, plans changed. we found beautiful natural stone that we wanted to use somehow. mike was also liking the black stone but i felt it would make the kitchen and the little hallway too dark. (they're already pretty dark to begin with). so we decided to give the little bathroom a black granite floor with 3 of the pricey black pearl onyx tiles to punch it up.
this bathroom has already had a couple of transformations as i see more ideas on decorating blogs. i wanted a bit more fancy elegance instead of all the mexican fish i had before. we got a beautiful chandelier that looks like water drops and i cleaned out some of the clutter. i also found these 2 peacock embroidered pictures at goodwill which i thought was cool since peacocks are really hot right now.
well now the thought is "if you're gonna do a bathroom remodel, why not do a bathroom remodel?" so we've been looking at new sinks and toilets. which means that we would need more tile since we would be taking out his huge sink cabinet and putting in something smaller and nicer.

apron swap

apron swap
Originally uploaded by paintedfish

here's my apron for the next swap. unfortunately she doesn't get to be international as she's only going as far as minnesota. this was from a retro apron pattern i got from my grandmother and i used some fabric my mom got for me from reprodepot.com.
www.homeof thesampler.com offers subscription packages of indie crafts. you pay for a month and you get a sampling of different handmade things like jewelry, cards, soaps and stuff. i'm going to send off some in the pockets as a little bonus since there's no way i can use all of that stuff.

cactus

cactus
Originally uploaded by paintedfish.

reference is kind enough to let me have a creative outlet by decorating the desk on occasion. this occasion is the library's summer of reading "ride into reading". it's a train/western/desert theme and i wanted some retro-y cacti at the desk. i swiped this pattern from some cacti that were made for another branch. super easy to make and pretty cute if i do say so myself.

jet setter tote

I found a great craft site some months back called One Hour Craft, it's linked on the right. Aside from craft ideas, they have swaps and the first one I entered was a tote swap. Pretty easy, make a tote and send it to your partner who is sending you a tote. Here's the tote I got from my swapper in England. Super cute and perfect for a grocery shopping bag.

So now my bag is living the dream in jolly old England.

The next swap is an apron swap so we'll see if my apron gets to visit an exotic locale as well.

pup art

this christmas, i did paintings for the dog park folks. they turned out really nice, i think. i liked how they came out so much that i took photos and want to frame them for here at mike's. it'll be tucker's wall of buddies.