I've been inspired again

I dabble in a lot of different types of media and when I can "marry" the two of them together it is such a thrill for me.

While waiting for my sock knitting book to come in the mail I went to the library just to see what they had, one can never have too many art books.  In my collection one can find anything from sculpey clay books to glass fusing to quilting and embroidery books.  I love learning new techniques and am always inspired by other people's work.  So in the library I found this wonderful "combination" book entitled Knitting with Beads by Jane Davis.  Right up my alley!  I love beads and I love to knit... why didn't I think of this?

My first project from this book is on page 83 and it's called Cascading Diamonds Scarf.  The pattern calls for 2 skeins of yarn and I am to string 725 beads on each skein.  I only have about 200 beads on the first skein so I don't have any progress pictures to show you yet but this is what it will eventually look like:

The color of the scarf in the book is eggplant but I will be doing mine in a marina blue with blue beads.  I will definitely be purchasing a copy of this book after I have returned it to the library because this one needs to be in my collection.

Happy knitting... and beading!

The knitting Bug

Good riddance summer... we are now moving into my favorite season, fall.  I love the crispness of the air, the pumpkins on my neighbor's porches, and the vibrant colors of the changing leaves.  I can wear my hair down again and not worry about it sticking to the back of my neck like it does in hot, humid Virginia.

I have so many creative interests and one ever knows what I'll be working on a month from now.  I may be revisiting old projects or trying my hand at something new.  Well the knitting bug bit about two weeks ago.  With the weather changing as fast as it did it seemed only natural for me to pull out my needles again.  My mom taught me the basic knit and purl stitches six years ago but I have never gone any further than that.  I've knit on circular needles which I find to be tons of fun.

I'm not aspiring to knit a sweater, frankly because I don't wear too many sweaters, but I definitely want to learn some different designs.  I told my husband that I'm going to try not to buy any new yarn until I use up some of my old stuff... and complete some of the knitting projects I started last fall.  I'm off to a great start.  I pulled out the 2 small tubs of yarn I had stashed away.  I inventoried then organized all of it and to my surprise I had many UFO's (unfinished objects) that were nearly done!  Which means I'll be able to buy new yarn sooner than I thought, yeah!

Like I said I'm not aspiring to knit a sweater but I would just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to knit a pair of socks for myself (or two or three).  Last night I got on the computer and ordered, what looked like, the easiest sock knitting book there was.  By the time the book arrives I will have finished two more projects from my stash.  I think that may be enough to treat myself to sock weight yarn... YIPPEE!  

Happy Fall Everyone!

More links, new ideas

To get myself out of this creative rut I've revisited my two all-time-favorite podcasts.  I simply LOVE listening to these two women.  Their podcasts and websites are totally independent of each other.  Sister Dianne writes Craftypod.  And Dianne Ackerman Haywood writes Craftsanity. They have interviewed each other and that's where I found Dianne Ackerman Haywood, Craftypod's Sister Dianne was interviewing her.  I would like to start putting up more links on my blog so I thought I'd start with these two ladies.

This morning, for inspiration, I was listening to Sister Dianne of Craftypod.  Episode #122 was called A New Dress A Day with Marisa Lynch.  I was listening to this podcast in the car on the way to work.  I could not wait to get home to see what Marisa was actually doing! (our computers at work are filtered so we can't surf the web at all!)  Marisa buys $1.00 dress a day from either a thrift store or garage sale, etc. then transforms it into something that is actually wearable... $1.00, one dress, one day for 365 days!  Marisa is AMAZING and so inspirational!  I almost want to run down to my local thrift store right now!  Please visit A New Dress A Day to see what I'm talking about. 

And a big thank you goes out to Sister Dianne for bringing me out of this creative rut I seem to have fallen into.

An artistic rut

I've been in an artistic rut lately.  I've had a lot of things going on in my life and they have taken precedence over my creativity.  One thing that I've found that gives me immediate gratification is drawing zentangles.  This is something that relaxes me and I can immediately see art emerging from my doodles.  Since I have two small children I usually cannot start on a big project (such as quilting) during the day while they are awake.  But then at night after they go to bed I head right for my own bed!  Zentangles are now my art of choice.  I love to pick up my fine point black Sharpie marker and just start doodling.  It is something I can work on for five minutes or 50 minutes.

I have described and given examples of zentangles in previous posts but today I wanted to share with you a deviation I've started working on.  It's a little different and I'm not sure I "love" it or not.  It definitely gives the work a different slant.  I have started using colored pencils in my black and white doodles.  I will no longer call them zentangles as there is a specific definition for zentangle and I don't think color applies.  I have finished two so far.  The third one I'm currently working on I like the best.  I'll post a picture as soon as I'm finished but I wanted to post something so you all don't think I've totally abandoned my blog.

I have tried to stick to about four colors for now.  To me it looks a little more cohesive but we'll see what tomorrow brings!  Happy doodling everyone.

Swap-bot Part 1

What is Swap-bot?
This is taken directly from their homepage (and I couldn't describe it any better than they did):
Do you like sending and receiving snail mail? Do you like writing letters, making crafts, or putting together fun packages? You should try swapping! Swap-bot is a online service that organizes group swaps and a community of creative individuals. Swap-bot takes the hassle out of participating in group swaps by organizing all of the participant information and doing all of the partner assignments. On Swap-bot, you can host swaps, join swaps, and chat with other swappers from all over the world. Give it a try!
http://www.swap-bot.com/
 

I've been a member for for about a year and a half now and I have to say that it is so much fun!  I go through spells where I'm not swapping but then I find a new hobby and check Swap-bot to see if there are any swaps pertaining to my latest art endeavor.  There is always some kind of swap going on that I am interested in.  That's why I've labeled this post part one because I know I won't be able to cover everything I've swapped in one post.

So I had to dig into my archives (yes swap-bot keeps track of everything you've ever swapped) and my first one was very easy.  It was entitled "Quick Swap - Just Because Card Swap".  I signed up for a few others like this just to get my feet wet.  I signed up for a few postcard swaps and button swaps.  Then I discovered ATC's.

ATC - Artist Trading Card.  It's usually made on heavy card stock and measures 2 1/2" x 3 1/2".    They measure the size of a baseball card and are usually but in sleeves of that size to ship.  I made and traded these for quite some time because it's like your own mini canvas.  You can paint, draw and doodle on them.  You can "scrapbook" on them.  You can make them out of other things such as fabric or felt.  I got the idea to "carve" out foam board and make a frame around mine and I loved the result.  (Those are real sea shells)

I have also made ATC's out of fabric, paint and flat marbles:

And aluminum foil, duck tape and paint:

For these I covered a piece of foam board with fabric then carved out the holes where I wanted the flat marbles to go, glued them in there and the put duck tape around the boarder.  Then used puffy paint to outline and decorate a little more.

When I was quilting I found swaps for fabric.  There were ones for fat quarters, charms, strips, scraps... you name it there is a swap for it.  There are even quilt swaps where you make a block and swap that.  I've done a lot of half-square triangle swaps, this way I can get a lot of styles of fabrics that I might not find in my area.  To date I haven't received any duplicate fabrics.

When you sign up for Swap-bot you fill out a profile, your likes and dislikes.  This way your partner gets to know a little bit about you.  Such as "I don't like anything with skulls on it" and "I love chocolate and black cats".  You can check out my user profile at 

 http://www.swap-bot.com/user:KimberlyJDC  where I'm known as KimberlyJDC

I have not forgotten you

... but we all know how crazy summer can get!  Every year I take a vacation my myself.  My husband and I call it "Mommy's Getaway" to get away from everything and everybody.  I will definitely have an entire blog post dedicated to this fantastic trip but I'll just let you know now that for the past 4 years I've been going to Lancaster, PA.  I am simply fascinated with the Amish lifestyle.  Some people may choose to go to an exotic island or overseas but not me.  Every year I look forward to being among the Amish.  More later.

I have also taken up another hobby: writing.  Not just journalling (or blog posting) but honest to goodness short story fiction writing.  In another blog post I'll have to go into detail what Swap-Bot is but it's basically an online artist trading community.  One signs up for certain swaps (and they have swaps for everything) and one is assigned a partner then there is a set deadline as to when your stuff should be sent.  One swap I just completed was a short story swap.  I am thrilled with the way mine turned out and that has encouraged me to do more writing.

Anyway, that's about it for now.  Traveling and writing, writing and traveling.  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! 

New obsession: ZENTANGLES

FAIRY RINGS

 

RING AROUND THE ROSIE

MOONBEAMS

WORLD'S COLLIDE

TUMBLING DOWN

Digging into the Archives

I just printed new business cards for myself listing my blog address, etsy address and e-mail.  On my card I also listed the artistic things I like to dabble in.  I've been pondering this list for a few days now and have decided to go back into my photo archives and share with you some of my other artistic endeavors.

One of my other hobbies is knitting.  I'm not that great at it and have only made scarves and hats.  My favorite one, that I made two years ago, was for my niece Lainey.  At the time I made it for her she was only six months old so I needed to make it "bitty".  And since my brother went to Virginia Tech what other color was I going to make it than maroon and orange?

And then when I was finished trimming down the HUGE pom-pom I made for the top...

I stitched the pom-pom on and... PEFECTO!