Note Cards and Post Cards

I love photography, I always have.  Around 2007 I had this crazy idea to somehow turn my photographs into note cards.  I researched prices for paper, printing, envelopes, sizes... the list goes on!  By 2008 I had started selling my note cards at my local farmer's market in Urbanna, Va.  Time went by and I quickly got distracted by my other artistic endeavors.  I tried to quit doing note cards, not because of cost but because of time, but I have 3 loyal customers (my dad, mother-in-law, and cousin).  I have found a new outlet for my note cards!  Mind you I don't make nearly as much as I would if I did it myself but I don't have to do the grunt work plus I can reach a larger audience.

I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with Zazzle and that's where you can now find me! The name you can find me under is Kimagination13 or you can just click here  

I keep adding to my store every day but it takes Zazzle up to 24 hours to post.

If the link doesn't work you can also just type in zazzle.com/kimagination13

I am sorting through literally thousands of my photographs  and I will have obvious categories like Colonial Williamsburg and Amish Life, quilts, animals, flowers and seasons.  But if any of you out there have a weird or strange request I'd love to hear it!

Here is one from my Animals collection:

I am creating note cards and postcards, some with words and some without.  Zazzle gives you the option to create larger cards, etc. with my design too.

Another New Endeavor

In 2000 I started garment sewing.  I eventually started quilting, something I said I'd never do, but that's another story.  It only took a few years for that passion to fade but I still loved my sewing machine.  I think the reason why that passion died was because I could never get the clothes to fit right. Plus I found other artistic endeavors to pursue.  I definitely have ADD when it comes to my creative brain!

My husband and I have been long time fans of Project Runway and for me fabric has always been a great source of inspiration.  I love their challenges!  One of the challenges was to shop a pet store for materials and one contestant made a dress out of dog collars.  One of the things I noticed on each episode was that they used dress forms.  Hmmm, I wonder if I got a dress form in my size would that would help me?  Yes!

(Stick with me here)... I LOVE Pinterest and have over 100 boards on my page.  One of my newer boards is called "Altered Clothing".  Instead of starting from scratch I could piece-meal different clothes.
This was the first piece I fell in love with (not created by me):

And this is another one (I love how she did the flowers):

And one day I aspire to do something like this (if only there were more hours in a day!)

So you guessed it!  My newest endeavor is Altered Clothing!  I went to my local thrift store last week and bought three articles of clothing.  A gray sweater which will be my base piece.

A black net-like shirt for draping:

And a dark charcoal gray knit shirt because I liked the "crochet" detail on the back:
                                                           Front:

                                                        Back:

My first cut was right up the middle of the front of the sweater because my original thought was to make a cardigan like the pink one in the first picture.  I ended up sewing it closed closer to the neck and leaving it open at the bottom, eventually adding the charcoal gray knit to that area so I could wear it like a sweater without my belly hanging out.
I cut the crochet off the back of the knit shirt and hand sewed it onto the back of my sweater.  I had two flowers left over so I added some detail to those and sewed those on the front.  For the net-shirt I used the sleeves.  I reattached these to the cut off sweater sleeves.
And this is the end product:

I finally bought myself a dress form for Christmas and I love it although I do wish I was on the smaller end of the measurements but alas I am not.

More Zentangles

These two statements were taken from a website devoted to teaching people about zentangles: The Theory of Zentangles

Deliberate Stroke
In our Zentangle way, you draw each stroke consciously and deliberately. We are always making "strokes" (thoughts, words, deeds) in our life. By practicing the Zentangle Method's suggestion to make each stroke deliberate, you understand how those apparently small and insignificant "strokes" of our moment to moment lives contribute to an overall life pattern. This is another reason that we say that life is an artform and everyone is an artist. Indeed, everyone draws.


Deliberate Focus
As you make a deliberate pen stroke on your Zentangle tile without concerning yourself of what it will look like when you are done, that very act of putting your pen to paper focuses your attention in a special way. As your eye follows your pen strokes your attention shifts to a state that allows fresh thoughts, new perspectives, and creative insights to flow unhindered by anxiety or effort.

So with that here are my latest Zentangles:

And because my 5 year old was so fascinated when watching me that he asked for a piece of paper to create his own zentangle:

To see my previous posts on my zentangles the link is Zentangles

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (almost)

Yes I know I've been MIA for a while but because of my job I now have less time to devote to my artwork.  I love my job (pre-k asst. teacher) and I love my art so I've really been torn these past few months.  But because I am making money as a teacher my artwork had been pushed aside.  During Christmas break I have had time to create again and I love it!  I made 2 fabric bowls for Christmas presents.  One for the director and one for the teacher I work with.  Our theme at St. Andrew's Preschool is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle so the bowl for the director looked like this:

Each of the classrooms is an animal from Eric Carle's books and I am the assistant in The Blue Horse class. I made this bowl for my teacher:

The other things I've done on Christmas break are zentangles, cutting fabric for a new quilt, working on an old quilt AND...

I got a dress form for Christmas (actually it was a present to myself).  I have sewn garments in the past but never with a dress form.  Every season when my husband and I watch Project Runway I get so inspired to start garment sewing again.  I love the fun and funky challenges these contestants must do: create an outfit using only products from the pet store. The beach and the souvenir shop will be the only two places you will be allowed to buy your materials, these were two of the more fun challenges.  I don't think I'll be that "outside the box" when I create my garments but I now have a board on Pinterest called Altered Clothing that has inspired me.  I also have a board called Wearable Art that look more like some of the challenges from Project Runway.

Just because I've been absent doesn't mean I've given up art, on the contrary, I have so many new ideas that I'm not sure when I'm going to have time to work on them.

Beachy Themed Magazine Holder

I love being in festivals, farmers markets, art shows, etc. because I meet amazing people both vendors and customers.  I love when customers have creative ideas of their own, whether it is "renaming" one of my art dolls or coming up with a new idea for a fabric bowl.  I met this lady at the Fall Festival that said her bathroom was "beach-themed" and it would be neat if I could make a magazine holder for her for that room.  All I need is a spark to my imagination and I can run with it!  This is the biggest bowl I've ever done and it took me a lot longer than I thought but here are the results:

This is a look at the back:

This is a custom order but if for some reason it isn't what she wanted it will be for sale in a few weeks.

The Newport News Fall Festival of Folk Life

A BIG, HUGE thank you to everyone that came out to support me.  I ran into old friends and met new ones.  I forgot how much fun these shows are!  The comradary between the artists, the park rangers who took care of the ground bees (I only got stung once) and being able to wave to my parents who had a tent in the marketplace section (I was in the juried section) was a blast!

And some close ups of some of the new items I had for sale:

I got so many new ideas from customers last week that I've already bought fabric for 4 more bowls.  And please remember you can contact me directly (kimberlyjoan1009@gmail.com) for a custom order and I also sell my stuff at a shop in Yorktown called Auntie M's American Cottage

Great news and MORE great news!

My first bit of news is that I got a job!  I have been a stay-at-home mom for a few years now and since both of my boys are going to school full days I decided to look at the job market again.  I know finding a job is hard and career changing is even harder but I have the most loving and caring husband, he encouraged me to find something that I liked and to not take any job that I was offered.  I am excited to announce that I have been a pre-k assistant teacher for four weeks now and I absolutely LOVE it!  This is quite a career change since I've been in the retail industry and in banking BUT since having kids I now know that working with children is my passion, besides art of course.  Art will be in my blood forever.

My other bit of news is that I got my packet for the Newport News Fall Festival of Folk Life two weeks ago and I cannot be more excited about my location!!  I am in J1.  What does that mean?  I'm in the first spot on the juried side, I am the first person you see as you enter the juried section!  Woot Woot!! And since I'm "front-and-center" I figured I better step up my game and order a banner so you all can find me easier.
  

Six days until the Newport News Fall Festival!!!!!

More Art Dolls!

Here is a glimpse of some of my new (and not so new) art dolls that I've been working on this summer:

And now a look at a few "dolls" from my Halloween collection (my favorite holiday)

All of these will be for sale plus many more (including my Christmas collection) at the Newport News Folk Festival the first weekend in October!