ABC Book

I finally got a project done for my littlest boy.  I made him a learning book out of hand dyed canvas and muslin. Here are a few photos from the book.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Janelle

More letters

Here are a couple more letters that I have made.  So far I am using the first letters from my children's names.

 They are fun practice even if they aren't as great as I would like.  I plan to continue with this project when ever I have the time.
Janelle

Random Creations

I have been busy this last week.  In fact I have been so busy that I haven't been posting much or commenting on other posts.  I hope you will forgive me.  I have caught a few moments here and there to read what everyone else has been up too.  Sometime soon I plan on commenting on everyone's lovely work. 

I have made a monster.  He is a wonky little guy, but lovable.  I plan on making a few more of these soft fleece hugable monsters.

I have fused fabric for a book I'm making.  The hand dyed fabric is going into a canvas learning book for my little guy.  I will post more pictures when I get it made. 

  I have been crocheting a bit.  This is going to be a scarf after I get it finished.  I love these colors and the slubby yarn.

I also want to show a bit of the card I made for my niece.  I shimmers a lot more than the pictures show.  She liked the card and the money I included even more.  

 I will try to post more soon and show my progress on some projects and some other things that I have been up to.  

Janelle

Letters

Jodi Ohl was talking about making letters on her blog so I thought that I would give it a try.  http://sweetrepeats.blogspot.com 
I made a couple of letters last night for two of my boys.  I was just playing while watching a movie.  Here are my results:

Making these letters is fun and I am really looking forward to making some more.
Janelle

Another Birthday

Today is my son's eleventh birthday.  He is growing into a young man.  It seems like such a short time ago that we brought him home from the hospital.  I have been busy getting ready for Christmas and Birthdays all week.  I finished my last choir dress on Monday afternoon.  That was a massive chore that took a lot of time the last month, but now I get to concentrate on making Christmas presents.  I have three different projects going each one for multiple children.  I can't wait until I can show them off.  Now I am off to celebrate a birthday and enjoy time with my family.

Birthday

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my daughter.  She has enriched my life in so many ways.  Now she is eighteen and I have to start thinking about her as being grown up (at least a little).

She has changed a lot over the years, but she will always be my little princess.

December

I thought that I would write a quick post.  I have been keeping busy hemming, crocheting, and making birthday cards.  I can't share pictures of what I have been working on yet though.  I will share pictures of the cards that I am making after the recipients get them.  For some reason my family has been blessed with many December birthdays.  My niece turned 11 yesterday, my daughter turns 18 on Sunday, and my son and another niece have birthdays next week.  That is only a part of the December birth month.  I always am really busy with shopping and planning and hosting birthday parties this month.  Needless to say, but I always go broke with all the presents too.  You can't disappoint the children so I make it work.  I do love the Christmas season and everything that goes along with it.  I think that the highlights are watching the kids open their presents and going to the Christmas church services.
After I get the rest of the dresses hemmed, I can start to make presents for my family.  Then I will have some more pictures to share and fun things to talk about.  Right now I will share a picture of a little purse that I made from an old pair of jeans.  I had just started learning to free motion stitch and I put one of my practice pieces on the front of the purse.

Have fun creating,
Janelle

Christmas Mandala

Here is another mandala that I managed to squeeze in between other tasks.  I used  Christmas colors this time. It is time to get into a Christmas mood and start decorating soon.

Enjoy your weekend!

Janelle

Snow

It is a winter wonderland here today.  I sent my daughter out to take some pictures and I thought that  would share a few.  My kids are all home from school because of the snow and ice.  The country roads don't get plowed here unless we get a lot of snow, which makes it tough for the buses to pick up kids.

Now I am off to crochet and hem choir dresses.   One and a half  weeks to get these dresses done, a few choir moms and many many dresses.  I will be going a bit crazy now.
Have fun,
Janelle

Another Mandala

This is the mandala that I made this weekend.  I am still finding it fun and have many more that I want to make. I would like to practice the techniques that we are being taught in the mandala class.  I guess that I will have to keep on making them.

 Janelle

Thankfulness

Happy Thanksgiving.  I am thankful for many many things this year.  Having more art in my life is one of them.  I am also thankful that there are people to share my journey with.
I thought that I would share one of the things that I have been up to today in preparation for my family get together tomorrow.

Dark chocolate cream pie

Here is a picture of my little guy too.

Mono-Print Quilt

Have been working on my quilt slowly among all the other art, mothering, hemming, and life that I have been doing.  I wanted to share a few pictures of what I have done so far.

Art Papers

I have been experimenting a bit and making some art papers for book collages.  Right now I am just playing around and having some fun.  I want to find out how each paper and paint react.  Someday I will put some together and make collages for some art books.

Have fun,
Janelle

Mandala

Here is the mandala that I made today.  I am finding these to be a lot of fun.

ATCs and Mandalas

I have been practicing free motion satin stitching lately because I am using that technique on my mono-print quilt.  I made three ATCs.  I had various degrees of success on these little cards, but I have been working on my quilt too.  The larger format of the quilt is easier to work with and has been turning out quite nicely.  I will share pictures when I get more done.  I volunteered to hem dresses for my daughter's high school choirs, so that has to be my first sewing priority.  I am also taking a free Mandala class on willowing.com, so I have been practicing drawing mandalas a bit yesterday.  

These are my first two Mandalas drawn from a template.  I haven't colored in the second one yet.  

Crochet

I have been learning how to make crocheted basic finger-less gloves and flowers.  I has been a lot of fun.  I wanted a pair of these gloves that I wouldn't mind getting paint on since I paint in my basement and it is starting to get cold down there now.  Now that I have made a basic pair I want to make some thing a little fancier.  It is a nice thing to do while hanging out with my family and watching Dr. Who.  My oldest daughter knits and she is mad that I can crochet these so much faster than she can knit them.  She has only been knitting for a year though, so I'm sure that she will get faster in time.  

My flowers are a little lopsided, so I will have to practice those more.